D.J. Coffman – Sequential Artist, Thinker

Long time no speak! – As always if you’re looking for regular updates on my life, follow me on twitter. http://twitter.com/djcoffman

I have a lot going on and a lot on my mind. Here we go!….

CROSSROADS: This year feels like a giant crossroads in my life, both personal and professional. On the professional side, I’ve sort of divorced myself from the comic book industry a bit. Maybe we will remarry some day, or get together for lunch, but the events of last year leading into a really bad winter for me left me kinda disillusioned about the whole process. Sure, there are the “shoulda, woulda, coulda” crowd who email me (and thanks for your words), but I guess the truth is, I spent a good amount of time pouring my soul and LOVE of comics into a thing (Hero By Night) which is now pretty much locked away in corporate land. Over time, that feeling has really taken the wind out of my sails and I’ve felt a bit defeated and depressed.- But yes, that whole ordeal really took my “love” of comics away. For a long time, this made me sad, but I’m over it.

I nearly lost EVERYTHING.

I still have the desire and love to draw comics. I just don’t want to play “the game” right now.

My work for the Flobots has been… well, amazing. If I laid out the sheer amount of work I’ve done (web design, graphics, layout, new media planning, etc) I can’t believe it’s just ME doing it. And in the time I’m doing it in as well! I don’t stop to think about it often, but it is pretty darn amazing. And I can’t say enough how REFRESHING it is for my soul to know such GOOD people who want to change the world… and are doing so in the process. I think just knowing them and learning from their messages and purpose, I’ve actually transformed myself for the better. Little by little, whatever had poisoned my soul, has been sucked out.

FAMILY. Last but definitely not least… my family! Watching kids grow is amazing. It can be sad too sometimes.  This past six months has been a real transforming era for my inner circle, my wife and children. My wife has had her own crazy awesome transformation with Roller Derby, and watching that and supporting that has been lots of fun. I’m always a bit shocked to hear that other spouses don’t support the other gals as well. I’m fascinated by the things that I hear come out of my children’s mouths, or how fast they can pick up on things and learn. My one son watches youtube and crafts crazy origami and even has learned to play a little guitar. He’s a natural talent engine. My oldest boy is a walking history almanac, AND a walking Star Wars almanac as well.  The youngest son is CRAZY. Not sure where he’s going to land yet, but I have a feeling he’s going to be a real ladies man and charmer. He’s also a real spitfire of temper…. flaming red hair. But don’t call it “red” , he will exclaim “IT’S NOT RED, IT’S ORANGE!!!!” – I think all of my authority problems entered into him, so that’s going to be fun to deal with as he grows. At least he has ME to guide him.

VACATION! – From July 12th-July19th I’ll be on my first REAL adult vacation with the family. We’re headed down to Myrtle Beach. Gonna soak up some sun, meaning my pale cartoonist/hermit skin will likely be baked to a crisp! – But I’m REALLY looking forward to recharging my batteries and figuring out HOW to relax for a week. My wife assures me that she will show me how. I know a big part of it consists of NO WORK, and no internet. But I will be twittering from the iphone and sending photos to my Facebook profile. — This is not only the first REAL family vacation, but it’s nice that it was actually planned well in advance when there was still snow on the ground… we decided to pinch our pennies and make this happen. It’s been fun watching the boys save their money as well. My youngest son can’t believe he has 61 dollars in cash, not to mention the “credit” line they’ve been building. We’re also going to stop on the way back to spend time with some family in Raleigh, NC too. I’m looking forward to the road trip. It’s about a 10.5 hour drive. Never looked forward to one of those before. A good start!

I’m still alive! As you probably know if you frequent this blog, I don’t post here as much as I used to. I did the daily blogging thing for almost 10 years! Crazy. Now I spend a lot of my social media time at my twitter.com/djcoffman account and over on facebook, so if you’re ever looking to see what I’m up to or thinking at a moment’s notice, that’s probably the best bet. Every now and then though I like to pop on here and unload some thoughts that can’t possibly fit into micro status updates. Here goes the MIND DUMP!

LIFE: Life is pretty awesome. I’m just letting the universe guide me wherever at this point. There have been so many weird things in my life this year that I can’t explain. So much unexpected, some good, some bad… but in the end it’s lead to a much more awesome life for me.

Wow! Conan O’Brien hosting the Tonight Show. I had chills. I remember watching him when he had a night to night contract (as the legend goes)- Hearing Andy Richter introduce the Tonight Show, and the first musical guest is my all time favorite band Pearl Jam, and they debuted a new song there. Did I experience a bit of ShangRa-La? Seriously, it feels like my generation has finally stepped up to take the reigns of our whole society for the next 20-30 years and that feels awesome! – And to think in a round about way, I’m sort of connected to COnan O’Brien history with that shirt I created for AndyRok, which he then gave to Conan off his back. Sweet! — Anyways, watching Conan step up, was like watching an old friend you knew get the greatest job on the planet and know they deserve it. I actually want to watch TV at 11:30 now!

Work- I’ve been doing a ton of stuff behind the scenes. Most of it is writing and designing stuff for the Flobots, both the band and working on some upcoming New Media stuff, and with their non-profit Flobots.org. We’re doing a bit of a relaunch on the FightWithTools.org site in July, and I’ll also be flying out to Denver around June 18th to spend some days working on some things in person. All of that is pretty vague, I know, but it will become much clearer in the fall.

Comics! - Yeah, I know you haven’t seen much of that from me in the past couple months. But I’m still working on the Flobots comic slowly but surely and my main goal is to have a nice little Graphic Novel out at some point. I have two other projects I want to be working on more, one is a fantasy type (sword and sorcery)  story for Jason Embury, and the other one has been slowly forming in my head since January and I think it’s finally come together as something I’d like to put some time into. I don’t want to jinx it though, so mums the word on what it’s about for now.

Yirmumah- I launched the new Yirmumah site “anti-social network” at http://yirmumah.ning.com a bit ago. I planned on doing more live drawing and exploring my darker humor side there, but I really haven’t had as much time to work on it as I’d like. I’ve been terrible at budgeting schedules lately, but I haven’t given up on this. I think it’s a matter of coming up with some form that pleases me the most. Possibly short stories like the original Yirm were, instead of just throw away gags. Although the throw away pop-culture gags always call to me as well.

More COMIC thoughts – & Pittsburgh Comic and COllectible Show: Was at a one day comic show this past Sunday, put on by Todd McDevitt of New Dimension Comics. I have to say it was busier and bigger than I thought it would be. Some Pittsburgh Steelers were also signing next door so that brought some traffic to the mall that day as well. I was sandwiched between two legends, Joe Jusko and Ron Frenz – huge talents. They of course have TRIPLE if not quadruple the experience and skills I have. I usually don’t feel this way, but I was feeling a little inferior looking at my “cartoony” work and kinda feeling DOWN about the whole “comic book industry” experience. Honestly I’ve really lost some bit of passion I once had. Maybe it’s because I’ve not only looked behind the curtain, but I’ve roamed around behind that curtain and what I’ve seen and witnessed wasn’t what I thought it would be. Most of it is just bullshit and smoke and mirrors. — But I was pleased that Joe Jusko stopped to say thanks for the copy of the Hero By Night hardcover I had sent to him a while back. I had forgot I even sent it! – He had kind words about the story and the feeling and vibe it brought back to comics for him. It was a sincere comment That reminded me that my work isn’t done… which is a whole other nut to crack.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I used to have a real sex drive for producing comics. I’d pride myself on how much I could accomplish or do in short periods of time, and keep it quality and entertaining. I wanted to be like Jack Kirby– those stories of how many pages he could draw per day always inspired me (still do!) — but I think I’ve come to the realization that I’m not that. All those years of pumping out daily comics while also drawing monthly comics and side projects, it felt good when friends and colleagues would be amazed, but I look myself at where it’s gotten me and I’m not so sure if it’s the right path. I was explaining this to another friend of mine who didn’t quite understand what I was saying. I was a bit frustrated that ALL THAT WORK I did, and people only mostly remember the drama that ensued and my “character”. All that work. All those hours. And barely anyone talks about the actual COMICS. And to think that I could have, I almost WAS, one of THOSE GUYS… the guys who ruin their lives around them because of this obsession to produce. Where the only time a comic news site will report on you is when someone owes you money or there’s dirt to be dug up. The only emails I’d get would be “what’s the latest dirt!?” — I just don’t want that kind of career.

So I’ve been flying under the radar. Thinking about, and taking action on reinventing myself. Transforming into something better. And when I’m done, hopefully the work will shine and that is what I’d like people to talk about and remember.

I have a TO DO LIST post it note hanging on my desk. It only has one thing on it.

#1 – BE AWESOME.

Hi there. I am busy living life and working quietly on a number of things. Taking stock of priorities is not an easy thing to do when you’re a professional dreamer. Here’s is today’s mind dump.

BREAKING IN: Over the years, even when I was much less “known”, I would get emails from young aspiring creators looking to break in, or that MAGIC formula for doing so. There is none. It’s true what they say, it’s all hard work, determination and a bit of luck. And the real truth is, there is no “breaking in”– I get this email this morning:

Mr. Coffman, I really want to draw comics for a living, where would be the best place for me to start? Any tips on breaking in? How do you draw so well? – M.T.P.

Now, I’m polite and direct people to the books I read, or especially in dealing with comics now I direct noobs to two books, “Comics and Sequential Art” by Will Eisner, and “Making Comics” by Scott McCloud. Both are bibles of the craft, carefully thought out by their masterful creators.  — But the truth is, there is NO BREAKING IN. And ask yourself, what do you think you are breaking INTO? The comics industry is vapor, really.

Is it fame you’re looking for? - Go down to your local barber shop, you know the kind, the ones with the spinny color bar outside, where they talk and know about EVERYTHING. Go in and ask if they know who Brian Bendis is, or Frank Miller for that matter. There’s probably a 1% chance they MIGHT have heard of Frank Miller because of his “weird movies”– the point is, if you’re looking for “fame”, you’ll find that is more like “cottage industry fame” – a fake fame.

Do you want that feeling? – Sure it’s fun to draw all day, but be careful what you wish for.  Comics is something I just always felt I HAD to do. From a very early age. Sometimes it feels like a sickness, or a drug, or an addiction to said drug. There are highs and lows. It is very rewarding to me, but I’ve seen the type of passion and commitment it takes to the craft destroy people’s lives. Be mindful of that and don’t let it.

Is it money you’re searching for? - Please don’t bother with comics if money is your first goal. You’ll either fail miserabley, or you will be one of the many douchebags I run into who tells me I should be doing this book about GIRLS with scanty clothing because it fits a “market” . Or you’ll be so lazy you’ll just come up with “one sheet” pitches trying to make a quick buck, or the lottery mentality of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. That sucks. There are way too many of these guys stinking up the place. Do it first because you totally love it, and do stories and art that make you happy…. or you will end up miserable. I triple dog guarantee it.

Lastly, I suck. – Never really ask another artist for advice on how ot better yourself or break in. If they are douchey egoists, they will give you bad advice or discourage you, thinking it’s going to help. They don’t want competition in this tiny market! – If they are nice guys like me, I’m going to be honest with you and tell you that when I look at my own artwork I’m rarly happy with it. I know I’m not GREAT. But I try to draw as much as I can, every day, and I get better. Always try to be improving your skills or your process. I believe, from all that I’ve learned so far, this is the best approach to have. Be a bit humble and human. Don’t aspire to be the next “hot” shit. Because, well, hot shit doesn’t stay hot for very long, and it smells forever, even after it’s white and petrified. Ask Rob Liefeld.

I jokingly tell people “DON’T” when they ask for advice on getting into this field, but I don’t mean it. I love comics, I sincerely do. The best place for you to start now is WEBCOMICS. Whether you are awesome already, or just starting out. It’s not HARD. Look, I made a guide for you.

Get used to producing on a deadline consistantly. It makes your art better, it grows your fanbase, and you’ll have people rooting for you on those “bad” days. You’ll also have constructive criticism, and negative ones. This will  help you as well, learning to brush off the overly negative douchebags. It’s VERY hard to do, and something even the most successful webcomic “stars” can’t shake. Somebody recently said, the more you’re loved, the more you’re hated, and that has to be true. This is what happens when egoists clash. When a young egoist sees an older wiser egoist doing well, but thinks he’s WAY better than the older/wiser creator. So instead of focusing on their own work, they knock the big guy on the block. I’ve been there before, with that “why that guy?” feeling. I think every cartoonist has, even back before the internet, they’ll look at newspapers and say “this guy sucks! I can do better” — It’s healthy though. It’s human.

I’d better go practice a little of what I’m preaching.

I made this 4 minute video showing the different steps of how a custom card gets made, and also showing you the band member’s cards which were given to them last summer. You can also check out a gallery of finished bot cards which have some not seen in this video.

I’ll be producing these original art cards over at http://flobots.net/tales – They will be available for order to the public on Monday-ish in two levels. Regular, and Custom. Regular cards are randomly assigned numbers and designs and will cost $50. Custom cards you can choose your own Flobot number (above 102 and up if available) and also choose your own characteristics to go with your bot character, perhaps your Flobot is a busdriver in the future, a soldier, or likes snowboarding or riding a bike with no handlebars? If you know the “model” type you’d like as well, you can select what model style you’d want.  The custom cards will run $100. Proceeds will go toward supporting the comic AND raising money for the non-profit FightWithTools.org which is building up street teams around the country committed to making change in their communities- I like to think of them as little bands of heroes doing good all over the place, finding a need and meeting it. – These also are not just regular old sketchcards, your Flobot Number will be important in the future for neat things the band or I dream up–trust me, there are tons of ideas floating around.  –

If you’d like to pre-order cards from now until it launches to the public, you can paypal me your order along with any details at djcoffman@gmail.com- For custom cards, please input 3 of your your favorite numbers starting at 102 and up in the order you’d like it assigned if the number is not available. Thanks.

You can also check out a gallery of finished bot cards which have some not seen in this video.

Over the weekend my friend and I had a chuckle about the “bad economy” and how we’re pretty fortunate that it’s not effecting us at all (yet?) – Lower gas prices, stores having massive sales. Sure, there are stores that are closing and “going out of business”, but they were stores we never shopped at in the first place. Linens and Things? I mean, did you really need that overpriced bed skirt? – I’ve heard of people not being able to get loans… but you have to ask yourself… did they REALLY need that loan in the first place– and in general, do we need all this STUFF!? This STUFF seems to have gotten us into a heap of trouble. Actually, it’s not the “stuff” at all, it’s the untangible side of things that has the world’s economy quite screwed.

It’s not that we find joy in watching rich people suffer or people lose their jobs because of the rich people squandering things away. We just thought it was ironic, coming from what we came from and where we were 15 years ago to where we are now, and realizing that it seems that our lives get much better when the rich get poorer. Everyone around us will be losing their jobs and struggling, but we’ve somehow set ourselves up in careers and mindsets that don’t suffer during “hard times”

I guess we just kind of find it hard to feel sorry for dudes in suits begging for 25 billion dollars while they flew into town on private jets?

As far as people losing their factory jobs…. that sucks. I’ve been there and done that. I live in an area that was once dependent on these big factory jobs, but one by one the factories closed or moved away to a new country. I even thought I had myself locked in for a lifelong job at the Sony plant, with retirement and benefits and solid job security…. nope! It was back then I think I had the crazy epiphany that I’d had better kickstart my creative side to make ends meet in the future, because I wasn’t going to be able to rely on big corporations to take care of me or my family. Maybe it’s time for the world to get creative in it’s thinking again to fix things…

Seth Godin had a great post about fixing Detroit. And if they listened to his idea, we’d see a whole new revolution in the American auto industry. You should read the whole article, but here’s the jist of what he wrote:

What we don’t need are giant companies with limited choice, confused priorities, private jets and a bully’s attitude.

I’d spend a billion dollars to make the creation of a car company turnkey. Make it easy to get all the safety and regulatory approvals… as easy to start a car company as it is to start a web company. Use the bankruptcy to wipe out the hated, legacy marketing portion of the industry: the dealers.

We’d end up with a rational number of “car stores” in every city that sold lots of brands. We’d have super cheap cars and super efficient cars and super weird cars. There’d be an orgy of innovation, and from that, a whole new energy and approach would evolve. Betcha.

Could you imagine living in that kind of world? How interesting it would be to look at with truly innovative design. We’d have real working electric and water engine cars in no time. FRIGGIN WATER!!!!

So no… I don’t have a lot of pity for the guys in suits who aren’t being creative. I think it might be too late for them to start being creative. Instead of sitting in their cushy offices they are so proud of and thinking to themself “what can we do now to fix this” they’re often thinking “how do we get out of this mess?” — and many of them are getting their angles in order before filing bankruptcy papers as we speak. That is the end of the conversation, the end of the story for non-creatives.

I told my wife… maybe this is just what the doctor ordered? A sort of economic enema to wash out all of the bad stuff. People need to learn to live within their means. Only spend the money you DO have.

In October, as the markets were collapsing on a crazy rollercoaster, Comic Book sales broke a records,
and just this past weekend a science fiction movie without violence or sex pulled in 70 million at the box office. And bullshit cold-reading “psychics” are back in business big time. We’re seeing the start of a new age of escapism.

Without money to bring you all the things you thought your heart desired, you’re left with nothing but your imagination. Some people don’t know what to do with that, and some people do. It’s time to get creative.

Create or Die!

Almost along the same lines of yesterday’s thinking about why flash based webcomic players are bad for classic sequential art, there’s an uptick in the “motion” or “animated” comics. Where they take a classic sequential page, have a program like ToonBoom or flash and chop them up and move them around and add a voice cast. It often feels wonky and out of place, because it is. A rundown of my thoughts.

#1 It’s wonky and out of place. Much like me asking the question of WHY use a flash viewer to view webcomics, I ask, why do we need this? What is the point? It’s lazy content milking of classic sequential art. Wonky, because the movement is often bad and lazy (more on that later) and out of place because often the voice casting is terrible. Take the Watchmen moving comics on iTunes, Silk Spectre’s voice is a MAN. So she comes off as having a bad smokers throat at best. See, the thing is if you’re going to take a GREAT comic like Watchmen and then do something like that, you’ve just sort of dumbed the content down. You’ve probably made fans of the book throw up a little in their mouth.

#2 Stop calling it “animated”. Just because something moves around or tweens does not make it an animated cartoon. It’s a real insult to REAL animators. Why not hire them to do an animated series right!? Oh, that’s right, the comic book industry is notoriously low on cash to pay people what they’re worth. Seriously, calling this stuff “animation” or animated anything is an insult to animation. Ask John K. what “animation” is – A good example of just how wonky this is would be to tell you that i have

#3 Talking Paper Dolls - That’s pretty much what they’re doing. Fancy paper dolls. I want to see comic companies say, “Check out or PAPER DOLL THEATER version of Watchmen!”- Imagine if I told you that I had ACTION FIGURES, but then I whipped out cut-outs that you could dress or pose, like those old stick-up books back in the day. Hey, I mean, it’s the same, right!? You can totally play with them even though they don’t have articulation and stuff, and it’s SO cheap to make, we just cut out the shapes of the characters in different poses and VIOLA!!!! McFarlane Toys, eat your heart out, we’ve got PAPER FUCKING DOLLS!

#4 Why? - The only answer as to why do this is because it’s EASY. The stuff has already been drawn and colored by a team. It’s just sitting there waiting to be cut out! It makes sense from a weasily business perspective. But why not hire a small animation company to do it up right? I happen to know a guy who owns an animation place, they put out dvds and everything I hear… and guess what? He’s a webcomic dude. Comics like Least I can Do, PvP, Ctrl+Alt+Del and Looking for Group all have animation through them. I guess my point is I’d rather see something like “Secret Saturday’s” come out than the shaking paper dolls of something like Invincible.The answer to why is always MONEY. It’s easy because the content is there to chop up, and if you can trick a company or network into paying you for this content that’s not in demand, god bless you, but can’t we do BETTER? It’s a little embarrassing. The talking paper dolls.

#5 There is no demand – If people were beating down the doors for this type of crapola, then Platinum Studios would be rich by now off of these things. I saw somewhere that Watchmen said it was the “FIRST” animated comic, but wasn’t sure if they meant the first DC Comic, because Platinum have been experiementing for some time with paper doll animation. They even have their own player called “Splastk”. And yes, they even have a Hero By Night paper doll theater on there in 6 parts. (which they still need to pay me for) Right now it’s even sponsored by the HULK dvd, but nobody is making money off of it somehow. Go figure, huh??? I must admit, as a creator, it’s nice to have someone show you your sequential art moving around and talking in paper doll fashion, but my readers, the actual comic fans out there, they don’t give a rat’s ass. They see it for what it is, LAZY animation. Smoke and mirrors and paper dolls.

#6 You know the only people benefiting from this?

• Voice Actors
• Whoever is collecting that Ad money from the Hulk DVD on Splastk?\

Of course this is only my opinion here. Maybe there is a whole slew of people who LOVE these and clammor for more. I’ve never talked to a single comic fan like that though. Most of them when the topic comes up they sort get a “cringe” look on their face and make a sound like “meh.”– I guess there is something to be said for a paper doll theater version of INVINCIBLE (available on itunes) which isn’t half bad at all. But why do I think it’s different when I look at it? Is it because the paper dolls shake more and FLASH! Is it better voice acting or the animated word balloons that type across as the people are speaking for no apparent reason I can think of but to be built in closed caption for the deaf? — No, it’s probably because I’m just an Invincible fan. But even though I love the comic and own the hardcovers, I still haven’t watched a full episode of the “animated” series. The argument for that could be that this is targeted at non-comic readers, and may even, according to some reviews on itunes, bring more readers back to comics or bring first time readers back. My kids didn’t like it though. I use them as a litmus test sometimes. They’d rather run and watch “Secret Saturdays” — but heck, Kirkman gotz an MTV payday of some sort, but that’s not something to build a business model around, which I think he’d agree– it’s what they call in those circles “rarified air”   – He’s rare because his comics he’s adapting don’t suck. What about Watchmen though? THAT is a great book, but a pretty terrible paper doll theater.  I guess we’ll only know if it was a huge success if we see more and more seasons available or produced.

I’m willing to concede that there is a way to do this RIGHT. We haven’t seen it yet though. Might I again suggest hiring ANIMATORS to actually animate?

This past week I was sent a couple links of new or upcoming webcomic efforts by publishers, both of which were flash based viewers that zoomed and had fancy doo-dads. While these look good and pretty on the screen, it just doesn’t make sense for alot of reasons for companies to be using these. And unfortunately, there seems to be a “follow the leader” approach here where some smaller comic companies (zzComics?) who are getting out of traditional comic publishing seem to think they need a flash player to be taken seriously or work efficiently. This is definitely not the case.

#1 Load times aren’t optimized well. Let’s just use Shadow Line Webcomics as an example. To get to one webcomic from the main www.shadowlinecomics.com homepage I have to search for the link far up in the right hand corner, tucked away there where the eye patterns usually don’t flow online. Once you do open the player, even on my blazing fast cable connection the player is slow, and each page seems to take 3-5 seconds of the swirling “i” logo. Yeah, that’s a minor complaint, and i’m personally willing to let that slide when I’m enjoying comics, but it takes you out of the flow of a story and on the internet, 3-5 seconds between pages can take people out of the flow of a story. Then the browser seemed to lock up on me in the middle of a story. These things could be rectified with an image preloader loading the images in the background of the FLash File while you’re reading, but most of the flash comics I see online aren’t using them.

#2 – They’re missing out on pageviews and internet reach. When you open a flash file it might count as ONE pageview when I’ve been cruising Shadowline’s webcomics for 15 minutes. It doesn’t look like Shadowline is ad supported so it probably doesn’t matter revenue wise, BUT, the other thing about having an entry for each page with tagged topic lines is that you suddenly get sent out into the blogosphere to new readers who would have never found your work. This can’t happen with a Flash file.

#3- I can’t read it on my iphone. Yeah, that’s REALLY picky, I know, I know.. but the point is… why make a site that isn’t viewable on all browsers and devices? A Flash player is coming for the iphone, but even when it does come, the fact is the flash players, while “flashy” and pretty, don’t really have a POINT to them beyond that. There is no reason to use FLASH players for comic pages online at all.

I’m not picking on Shadowline, I just used them as an example off the top of my head of a recent one I was shown. There’s also Zuda Comics, who’s comic player is OK at full size, but sometimes the lettering is tough to read and the load times vary.

#4 If you HAVE to use a flash player, use it like Dark Horse Presents on Myspace does. Go there and notice how the main page loads and the first page of the issue is down ther already. By the time you hit the next button, the pages are already loaded and instantly pan to the next. No zooming, no special toolbars needed, they get right to the meat of the comics. As far as comicbook company to webcomics go, Dark Horse is doing it the best right now in my opinion.

#5 DON’T USE FLASH! – There’s still a whole bunch of people who don’t like reading comics on the screen and all the fancy doo-dads and toolbars and load times ain’t going to help them cross over or ease their pain. Want an example of someone doing it the right way with a big name in comics? Check out Freak Angels by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield.

Here’s why Freak Angels and the Wordpress system works 1000 times better for comics and comic publishers big and small online…

#1- Freak Angels loads right up. Again, the content clearly where you can’t miss it. No clicking on cover graphics or wasting people’s time.

#2 – Everytime they post an update, the RSS gets beamed out to fans. If they wanted to with that setup, anything they put in the news postings there or chapter descriptions also gets fed out via tags to be gobbled up by search engine monsters and the blogosphere.

#3- Page views and reach. Freak Angels is not ad supported, and I don’t know what kind of pagviews they are bringing in, but the point is, a read through just their comic pages is going to get them about 160 pageviews per new reader who gets hooked, maybe more. With a flash comic, someone is going to load your page and not return because of the clunkyness, and even when they load it, it’s counting as ONE view.

#4 - It’s a destination. Much like appointment tv, you know when your favorite show is on and you’re sure to go back on Friday’s to read it. Or if a favorite comic of yours updates Daily, or M-W-F, etc. Those kinds of sites end up in people’s RSS feed readers like GoogleReader, and shared with friends… a clumsy flash file does not.

In summary and in conclusion, I am Tim Calhoun and I’m running for… (sorry, bad SNL joke)

In summary, every time I see a new “flashy” webcomic player, I cringe a little inside. It also makes me wonder who is consulting these companies as far as these things go? Or are they just looking up friends or graphic designers who know how to make a flash file? They need solid web consulting from experts. I guess the experts would be people that have been doing “webcomics” for ages now. If they don’t have money to pay an expert, they could probably email a successful webcomics guy or gal who’s been making a living off their comics without flash for sometime (someone like R. Stevens?) and show them two different site links, one flash, one not, and I bet they’d choose the non-flash one. Or they should just look and see the WHAT and WHYS of what’s been working for successful webcomics for over a decade now. And why the flash based player comics in flash mode aren’t generating links all over the place?

There’s no need to reinvent this wheel yet.

related: “How to Host your own Friggin’ Webcomic!”

On Sundays I get to do a lot of thinking and not much drawing. We have the kids football games pretty much filling up the entire day. Here are some things I thought about yesterday.

Tax bailout… conspiracy theories be damned, but it’s looking more and more like the New World Order plan that so many conspiracy dudes have warned would happen. Well, I’m not cool with it, conspiracy or not. Our tax dollars shouldn’t be used to bail out companies when CEOs are walking away with millions. I hope the Democrats stay firm here in making sure if this happens that they roll in a mortgage plan for regular people who are losing their homes… I’m down for that. But this bailing out of huge companies with our money and we’re not asked about it or even given details, not cool. Someone tell them to leave my tax dollars alone. Starting to look more and more like socialism than a free market.

Comics Comics Comics… When I have time to think, my mind floats through concepts I’ve had for years and years (decades). Somewhere I even have a list of concepts I’d like to do. This is the list I grabbed Hero By Night from a couple years ago, and while that was great, i know there are even better ideas on that list. So I sit and think, how will i get to all of these concepts and get them out there in some format? I’m leaning toward doing 80-120 page graphic novels I think. I have no idea what I’ll do with them when they’d be done, but I reckon that if I had a good solid book completed my options would be much better than where I sit at the starting line. Find a real and honest publisher? Publish myself, serialize it as a webcomic, then print as trade. Those are all the EASY parts. The hard part is getting started and picking one to go with. I think I’ve settled that I will not pick one from my old list until I have completed my plans with Flobots comic, which I’m not sure how long that will be…which leads to my next thought…

Almost done wrapping up the 2nd chapter of the Flobots comic, IRAQ. The 3rd chapter will be getting into some science fiction territory. I don’t really want to discuss too much more than that to spoil where the stories are going, but I promise that it will all tie together in a very cool way later on. I basically found a good story element that allows me to mix every day life stories with some of the SICKEST science fiction stuff I’ve ever dreamt up. I try not to think too hard about it, because it’s so powerful I believe it could melt minds. Stay tuned for that….. I will say though that yes, there will be FLOBOTS. Think robots, but only way the hell cooler.

400. That’s the number of Will Draw Anythings I’ve done so far. I wanted it to be more at this time, but time is a major problem when juggling so much. I still have 568 in the queue as of this morning and more coming in all the time. People don’t seem to mind the wait, which I greatly appreciate. Once I can get these BIG days out of the way, the 15 order days will breeze by. I think right now I’m going to limit myself to Will Draws and Flobots work. These two things make me the happiest work-wise right now.

Back to the drawing board…

Did an interview with ComicMix, you can read it here: “D.J. Coffman on politics and webcomics”

This might sound weird, but I often forget that I have “fans”. I never really ever think about it, honestly. Somewhere in my mind I guess I just consider people who talk to me, or email or call, as sort of friends or “friendlies.” I always try to respond to every email or letter, and answer any questions as best as I can. It’s just weird to hear that I have fans. But I appreciate the fact they are there, and more over that they CARE!

I got an email this past week from a HUGE Hero By Night fan asking me if I’m ever going to do it again. Telling me that whatever bad blood there was between myself and Platinum, that I should do my best to keep it going and they listed off all of the great things that were going on in Hero By Night. It served as a reminder to me, and half a bummer that I had many many plans and many stories I wanted to tell. I think the thing that set me off the most wasn’t the money issues, it was the ethics issues. I was left with no other choice but to tell the fans and retailers the truth, that HBN was on hold because we hadn’t been paid. Behind the scenes I was told I’d be able to continue it on my own (meaning they wouldn’t be paying me) which was fine, I’d take the reigns and self publish online and in trades, and Platinum would have still had their bread and butter being able to pitch offshoots of the continuing universe as I kept it going. It would have been a win-win for everyone involved, especially them. But getting that email that they had changed their mind because I had blogged about not being paid… that’s what really sent me over the edge. As many readers here and the press have also reported, I bent over backward to tell the truth, and to be fair to Platinum as well.

I’ve been involved in other businesses in the past (screenprinting, advertising, marketing) where they tank miserably or become PR nightmares because the people in charge at companies aren’t willing to admit publicly when they were wrong, or when they fucked up. Instead they only want to paint a rosy picture to the public, and make excuses and point fingers elsewhere when things go bad. The companies that make it and are respected are the ones that step up to the plate, admit when they were wrong, apologize and then do their best to make things right. It’s probably way too late for that to happen for Platinum Studios. The only positive thing there is that they are left as an example of what not to do and how not to go about your business. Make promises? keep them. Make mistakes? own up.

So to all the Hero By Night fans out there who often email me, I don’t want to say it will never happen, but at this point, the only way I’d do it would be to have the FULL webcomic rights back to me, and that would include the ability to print collections of the webcomics as well, and merchanidising based on the webcomic continuity as well. , No ties to Platinum other than the fact they could still represent it in film or tv and be connected in that regard, with no amendments to that contract that still exists. If fans of Hero By Night wanted that to happen, they could write emails to Platinum or contact them. That’s the only way the series will be continued. Now, I didn’t say NEVER… but that’s a near impossibility at this point. Stranger things have happened though… hell, Rob Liefeld is back publishing with Image and having dinner with guys who said some pretty bad things about each other. But… that’s business!

Well, this post was supposed to be about the ComicMix interview, so make sure you exit here to read it.

Creator, Robert Kirkman just released this video tutorial on Comic Book Resources, encouraging more top creators to leave Marvel and DC and do creator owned work… and how it can save the comic industry. I think he’s dead on. Watch here, or over there.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I’ve been really dwelling on COMICS and the craft lately. Sometimes I think I might be the only mothercrunker taking things so seriously when I talk about what we’re leaving behind for my grandkids, and how magical comic books are as a medium all on their own. Kirkman is right in another point too, where he mentions now is not the time for the comics industry to rest on it’s laurels when there’s a small upswing. I very well feel that these could be the end days of comic books as we know them unless enough people step up and speak up. I’m glad he’s using his name and voice.