D.J. Coffman - Sequential Artist, Thinker

Weekend update…

First… I just want to say thanks to a few online friends here. You know who you are, and there have been a bunch of you, Al, Scott, Glenn, Mark, Dan and more… You’re all right, I’ve been a crybaby a bit too much about my problems, and I need to move forward. I guess this just takes awhile to really SINK in under the anger and frustration, but I do feel it all melting away. I want to thank all of you for caring and being supportive and telling me the truth from the heart, and not from some personal agenda or something. It means a lot to me guys.

For a few weeks, my computer has been making a pretty rough sound, I figured it was a fan of some kind in there, but it was always really hard to get down and unplug everything and get it out of the desk cabinet. That’s one of my biggest pet peeves I think computer wise. First thing this morning I rearranged the desktop and brought the CPU back up top, just to keep it from getting all dusty. Still the sound would come and go and I couldn’t pinpoint which fan it was until now… when I was adjusting the CPU around on the desk i bumped the video wire from my Cintiq and heard the noise come on which made me immediately crack open the case to identify the vibration… it was the little video card fan rubbing on the edge of the chip under it. Annoying! So I kind of adjusted it for now I guess. Probably going to have to get a new video card at some point, but I was releaved to find out it was only THAT and not something major.

Work wise I’ve been focusing like a laserbeam on stuff for the Flobots, some new shirt designs which should be on their way to the printer very soon (like maybe today! the flobots don’t mess around!) — I can’t wait to see them out there, and as a fan, I want these shirts too! I need to come up with a more cute one for the female audience as well, that’s probably next on my agenda this week. So, anyways, that’s all good. I’ve officially signed on as their web assistant, handling a whole bunch of things for them, website design, updating, etc and I’m doing some more work with the non-profit side too soon. Lots, LOTS going on. That’s an understatement! Working with them makes me feel really good and gets me out of the mental funk I’d been in. The first chapter of the Flobots comic will wrap this coming week as well… then we’re taking it to whole other places and levels. So, if you’re looking for new comic stuff by me, check http://flobots.net

Will Draws: Thanks in part to the writeup and attention from Rich Johnston’s article I have a crap-ton of Will Draw Anythings to do. I plan on probably doing some today in a big batch, and then devoting the whole day tomorrow to doing them and getting semi-caught up. For one, they’re fun and keeping me sharp. Two, it’s weird the little job offers that are springing up from doing these. One thing that does annoy me are the people questioning the cost being too low, or some idiots out there assuming I’m desperate for money and that’s why I’m doing it… but wow, do the math!? Why would I draw 100 images only to make 50 bucks!?? It’s not really about the money at all. But yeah, for those waiting… I’m gonna get to your drawnings ASAP! Wasn’t expecting a rush of them like that… I’m gonna get to draw a whole bunch of variety of comic characters though, ones I’d never ever think to draw, like Multiple Man in a chorus line? Some Dr. Horrible stuff, etc… it’s a lot of fun, because… well, I LOVE to draw. — For the past couple years, I’ve barely had time to sketch for fun, and every time my pencil was hitting the paper it was for a specific project or deadline, so this is a breathe of fresh air. Fresh, crazy air.

New Toy: Snagged up a FLIP video camera. They’re tiny, and take 60 minutes of good video. Trevor Mueller of ASSHOLE, showed me an Ultra Series version when I was in NY, and it was pretty nifty. This MINO version is smaller than my iphone and charges with a built in battery.

Dr. Horrible: Is horribly AWESOME. Just watched Act 3… I want more of this! I reckon they won’t make more, but WOW, if they did, it would be something I’d pay for. I had already slapped down my 3.99 for the Itunes feed after watching part one. I’m not even a HUGE Joss Whedon fan or anything like that, I just like it because it’s so clever to me in some way. It would be FRAKKING AWESOME to get to draw a Dr. Horrible Webcomic or something. Expect fan art! One of my favorite things… highlight for spoiler: BAD HORSE is an actual fucking HORSE! hahahahah!Yeah… too awesome.

Dark Knight the movie: Holy. Shit. I don’t know if I can even classify this as a “super hero” movie. It is just one GREAT piece of film. You’ll hear all about it elsewhere, but two things from me here…. #1, from the first scene Heath Ledger OWNS the joker role and brings it to a whole other level of pschiotic greatness. When he walked in the scene I thought… “awh man, there’s Heath Ledger…” — and as soon as the head hits the pencil, for the rest of the movie I forgot it was Heath Ledger at all, until the VERY end when Bob brought it up to me and turned to say…. “Goddamn it man, that guy is a GREAT actor, there will never be anymore of him as the joker…” — and that just brought me WAY down. I seriously forgot it was Heath Ledger at all. — #2, I think Bob summed it up with the feeling when we walked out… ever been in a car accident or in the middle of danger and you’re now safe and happy to be alive? THAT was the feeling walking out of there. That was like being in the middle of several car crashes in a good way. — Oscar to Ledger because he fucking deserves it. Would that be the first real actor oscar to a comic book movie??? I’ve never seen an IMAX movie, nor do I know where an imax theater is around here, but goddamn it I want to go see this in IMAX now for sure.

Thats it for me… lots of drawing to attend to…

I saw the news come across the wire last night around 1am about George Carlin and was bummed. I guess when you take into effect that he was 71 and his prior health issues and problems with addiction, he’s lucky to have made it that far. That’s a really good run! I loved Carlin– I remember first experiencing his comedy and it let me know it was okay to laugh out loud over those darker things you hide in your mind and think about. There were times I’d tell myself that some dark humor I had just written was TOO FAR, and then I’d think about the comedians out there who make me laugh so hard you cry or pee or cringe, and George Carlin was always at the top of that list. What would George Carlin do? Would he censor himself? This guy spilt the truth like none other.

A friend over on our forum mentioned how his death was just in time for the 4th of July:

“When I die, I don’t want to be buried, but I don’t want to be cremated either. I want to be blown up. Put me on a pile of explosives and blow me up. Or throw my body from a helicopter. That would be fun. One stipulation: wherever I land, you have to leave me there. Even if it’s on the mayor’s lawn. Just let me lie there. But keep the dogs away.”

I find myself in a pretty ackward situation here. But I want to be transparent with the fans of Hero By Night, who are the people who originally voted for it to win the first Comic Book Challenge and who made us the #1 Super Hero Webcomic online, with more regular returning readers than many mainstream titles by the big two.

A couple weeks ago I had reported here on my blog, that Platinum Studios had brought up to me the idea of getting me the print and web rights to Hero By Night back to allow me to continue Hero By Night on my own. This would not be in lieu of any money they owed me, but just something that could possibly keep HBN alive in some form on my own. Not full rights, Platinum would of course still handle all the tv and film and general “hollywood” stuff that’s their bread and butter. Well, that post ended up igniting some controversy and drama around the comic news sites. Not long after that, I did get a check in the mail for some of what I’m owed in back pay, which was pretty helpful for me to payoff some bills that had gotten backed up here. There were a lot of people who wanted to change the whole news into some creator rights fiasco or a “D.J. Coffman was screwed”  story or headline, of to which I actually went out and defended that this wasn’t the case, it was just a case of really bad timing, and late pay. Nobody was refusing to NOT pay anyone, there was just no real clear communication on when past due pays would be showing up, and it was growing increasingly frustrating as time dragged on and I heard disturbing rumors crop up from other creators.

A long story short, I had emailed the folks at Platinum to inquire if there had been any movement about the rights issue so that I could possibly get moving and publishing at least the webcomic on my own before the audience that we built for 2 years completely dropped off. I pretty much got this form letter sounding reply that included this statement:

…Please be advised that due to the controversy stirred up as a result of your recent blogging and interviews, all discussions between us regarding any potential licensing back to you of limited rights to Hero By Night are on hold.  At this time, we cannot say when those discussions might be resurrected. - Brian Altounian

To summarize, “we were gonna, but you talked, and now we’ve changed our minds.” Fantastic!

Wow. This immediately had struck me as a “You’ve been a bad boy, DJ” type statement, and they had gone back on what they had agreed to. I was pissed the moment I read it, but honestly, it’s within their right to completely change their mind or go back on their word. They don’t HAVE to give me back anything. And, obviously, inside the company they were obviously pretty pissed about me saying anything about pay not coming on time. That lead to Rich Johnston reporting on it at Comic Book Resources, and other creators who are not happy coming forward to thim — I’m not sure if by sending me that statement they thought it would make me be quiet now as a “Well, don’t say anything more and MAYBE we’ll “resurrect” talks with you, but that’s how I read it. I received no follow up emails or communications to my reply to them.

Like I said, they have every right to not deal with me now. But I question if that is the right thing for them to do, ethically at this point? If ethics are out the window in this conversation, then fine, so be it. I think the win-win would have been for them to allow me to continue producing it on my own, toss me that bone. The company wouldn’t be taking a loss on it anymore and content that they still could have represented would have been being made with no new costs coming out of research and development. Even if you were completely pissed off at me and hated my guts for telling the truth, this would have been the smart business decision. I know they have similar deals with other creators (Rob Liefeld, I think) , so this clearly feels to me, in my own opinion as just a slap on the wrist to keep me quiet. Wow, that worked out swimmingly, didn’t it.

And YES. I realize I might be an idiot for even opening my mouth and jeopardizing those talks. If they want to take this other path, I’m not going to be heartbroken about. I’m a smart person and I knew that was a possibility, But like i said before, the readers are very important to me, I had to let them know why issues they were buying, even in the TOP SELLING titles at sites like HeavyInk.com on preorder for weeks, wouldn’t be coming out afterall. And it wasn’t because I didn’t live up to my deadlines or anything in my own contract. I’ve been told by some people that I was actually TOO NICE in my original statement, but I didn’t hold any malicious intent or ill will for Platinum, I wanted to see the company do what was best in this situation where everyone was being told to hold on, and that they understood I needed to do what I needed to do. The plain truth is, I asked several times to several different people there, what should I say? What should I do? How long should I wait? What should I tell the fans? — and I got no clear answers from anyone, and I was left with the tough choice I had to make. It would have come out either way I suppose, but I didn’t feel right with having our readers or sites like HeavyInk preordering our issue 5s that wouldn’t be coming out.– I guess I could have said NOTHING and just went radio silent. Let fans wonder where their books are, or assume it was the reasons that are usually why books are late. But Jason Embury and myself always took great pride in being on time and delivering vibrant, quality and entertaining books.

I guess to the people at Platinum Studios, I’d say it’s not too late to do the right thing here. I know they won’t be happy about me writing this, and probably leaves an unpleasant taste in their mouth, but to them, I say, for all the times you praised me or my work ethic, and told me that you wished all creators worked like me, for all the times I went to bat for the company or people there, for all the times you needed something tomorrow and we had it to you today– make this situation right somehow. Because, at least to me, it feels pretty wrong right now.

I’m the same straight shooter that they hired in 2006, and praised for it. I’m afraid they can’t have it both ways.

I’ve had a lot of private conversations with other creators who have approached me, none of which I’d like to get into in detail yet unless those people want to pipe up themselves. But I can say this… these creators are pretty puzzled that they haven’t been paid, some pretty past due and in worse situations than I am, but then they see all the great press releases about Platinum upcoming movie deals, and the real kicker was hearing that Platinum was firing up a whole new line of comic publishing with Vanguard Animation. Some of these creators have told me privately, they are afraid to speak up, thinking they won’t ever be paid, but I’m not afraid to let both Platinum Studios and the world know that at least 7 of these people think that news about a new comic publishing line was ridicously unethical when you owe a bunch of current creators money. I had no idea the situation had gotten that bad behind the scenes with other creators or a breakdown in clear communication, but it’s really sad.

I always said from the get-go this wasn’t a creator rights issue, but now with talking to other creators, I think it’s sort of become one as I hear the other stories. I kinda feel like I’m not only speaking up for myself, but a lot of those creators who are currently pretty frustrated and pissed off, and possibly future creators out there, to maybe not go blabbing and being as transparent as D.J. Coffman. Or, maybe as others have suggested, this is how things get accomplished, and things change for the better. For creators AND publishers.

I guess it’s safe to say I’m pretty transparent. I’ve been “blogging” since 1999. There are times though where I can’t talk about something that’s too personal, or if I’m working with companies I can’t go around blabbing about things I overheard, or told to me in confidence or trade secrets, or who’s in talks to play what on what movie before they’re locked in, that sort of thing. I think it’s just that I like being honest, I think it’s the best policy, in all things.

Also… Ethics. I like thinking about ethics, more and more as I grow older. There are indeed different forms, based on different codes of morals, from Stoicism to Determinism, Causality and on and on… but they all boil down to a few things. Seeking the truth, getting to the truth, finding the truth, telling the truth, and doing good things to others. Most of society now have lost many of these values, instead people are just out for themselves. Many more than not will say anything or do anything to protect their own personal bottom line, even when it’s not the truth and not the right thing to do.

I bring up ethics because, as I was taught, these different codes of conduct all came about by great thinkers, who would try to determine WHY something was the right decision to make, and when do you know how to come to that decision and what it is. Some codes even go as far as to look beyond what the consequences might be, and you know it’s the right decision if ultimately the path lead to something good.

So yeah, I guess I know what’s right and wrong pretty well. I know how to dance the line between, the tightrope called satire. There’s a reason in my bookmarks I call some of my favorite bloggers “thinkers” instead.

Transparency can get you in trouble I guess too. I know a few bloggers who were fired from their jobs because of something they wrote or expressed. But was it the truth? That’s what I would ask. Here’s something, a story that just popped to mind, and I won’t name names in case said person is reading and doesn’t want his situation outed, but the story should be told.

A cautionary tale, I suppose.

I know a guy who worked for a company in New York involved with real estate. I think it was real estate, but that’s probably the wrong industry, but it involved this company buying out other companies, sometimes buildings and property, and then resell it to other companies. Sort of like an auction maybe. Well anyway, this agent guy I know, he was their best agent. Always on time, bringing in different deals, always talking up this group and how great his job was. Then one day he was on the instant messenger in a very bad mood and his status line was disturbing so I asked what was wrong. He told me he hadn’t been paid for awhile, like 4 months, but continued closing deals for this company. Why would he do that?! Well, they kept making him promises of this and that to make up for the lateness, and he trusted them because they all seemed like good people with good ethics that would do the right thing when the time came. Plus, he had a contract, which ironically the company had broken first by not paying him on time. So they promised him this house in a really nice area of New York, it was “like a Puff-Daddy” mansion, his words. My friend also found himself spending money he didn’t have to get by. He’d been living off credit cards and loans thinking he’d be able to pay it all off easy. Well, suddenly the well ran dry, and he got an eviction notice, he was losing his apartment. From his Dad’s place in New Jersey he made an update on his blog, explaining the situation he was in so his friends and family would know where he was at with limited net access, etc, but he finally had to tell the company he was done doing deals for them until they paid him what he was owed. He wasn’t happy at this point. I asked him, how could this company not afford to pay him what he was owed, but they’re selling all these high rises, and in some cases bringing in income from some of the office rentals? He said he was told it was because of budget errors, where they had bought other properties ahead of time in hopes of selling them off, they had golf courses, office buildings, small companies they owned, but nobody was buying as the market had bottomed out. Maybe that was the truth, and it was just a shitty situation. My friend didn’t feel that way though, he was pretty infuriated. The company in trying to buy some time with him dangled the offer to  him again on this house near the Hamptons, but my friend knew he couldn’t afford the gardner bill at this point, but he figured if they wanted to give him this property he’d try to make this work while waiting to be paid.

Weeks went by, and there was no word, only voicemails unanswered. When he finally did get ahold of them about the “deal”, they said they had changed their mind because they had read his blog post about not being paid, and it had stirred up a bunch of controversy. He was one of thier best agents afterall, and they blamed him now for some deals not going through, and some properties being complete losses to them and that’s why he and the other agents weren’t being paid. The company took no responsibility whatsoever. Suddenly, these people he thought were good friends, were reduced to a cold email that started with “Dear John” - He said the last contact he had with the company before they went bankrupt 2 months later was them telling him in a round about way to be quiet and maybe they’d get back to talking with him about his deal. My buddy ended up persuing legal action of some kind, but he said it wasn’t worth the time or money, he basically got nothing. I asked him if he regretted blogging about it, and he said not at all. He gave me the advice that if I were ever in a similar situation, to tell the truth. And to not wait as long as he did. He wished he would have spoke up sooner when they originally had broken their contracts. My friend is doing well again for himself, and that story is just a cautionary tale from his past.

This is a very odd to me, because I find myself in a  similar situation now, not the same, but similar to the point where it makes you wonder if there are patterns in these things . My friend e-mailed me and said, hey, remember when I worked for that property company?…. yeah. yeah, I remember.

I guess no matter what, I have the truth. People should ask themselves though, are the decisions I’m making the RIGHT thing to do? Or am I just being a dick?

Maybe I’ll have much much more to say about this topic if situations don’t improve within the next 24 hours.

Wow… such a surreal week it’s been. A lot of hard work going on behind the scenes to get ready for last night– from meeting with the Flobots on Monday, to doing site design stuff behind the scenes,– I can finally make a couple announcements.

First though, I’d like to say– WOW… I’m so honored to know the Flobots– Jamie, Stephen, Mackenzie, Kenny, Andy, Jesse (didn’t meet Joe) — the thing that strikes a chord with me initially and made me contact them some time ago before I knew they were on the verge of blowing up on the charts and TAKING OVER— these guys and gal CARE about the people, just like I care about my own fans. They care about the world, and they want to do something with their platform. I’m so happy for them right now– I’m so proud of them— and I’m energized with this feeling that somehow– some way, destiny is calling all of us to a higher purpose of some sort.

Here’s a screengrab from them last night on Leno…

Wait… Did you notice his shirt there…

A couple weeks ago, I was honored to be asked to be a part of this new movement, and help lend my TOOLS to the America Will Be campaign. I won’t say much more about it, and let you all discover it as we go, but it will be evolving and changing throughout the summer with new things to look at and ponder on. You can begin to explore it today at AmericaWillBe.org

I’m also working with Flobots.org now– a non-profit organization lead by the Flobots to help bring about real social change in communities around the country, around the world even. They have a group called “Street Team”, but it’s not what you’d think of, like putting up posters or your average band street team– this thing will focus on giving members information and tools to REALLY make a difference… and they’re even planning on having other bands link up with this effort to speak to their audiences. It’s very exciting and i hope everyone who reads here checks it out. FLobots.org

If you want o know what their all about, see the interview with them in Wide-Eyed Magazine which is featured on the site.

NOW– even more exciting than all of that stuff for me is– We’re launching the Flobots Webcomic on MONDAY. It will be housed on Flobots.net — The stories will be, as Jason puts it, “Social commentary is about to COLLIDE full force with the energy and creative power of bomb.”

I have no idea what “creative power of bomb.” means, but that sums up what this project will be to us. We’re going to dive into some real issues, from real people in real life, then there will be a sci-fi twist to all of this. The stories are amazing. We’re working closely with Flobots on this, and have some more exciting plans in the future, but for now, we’re going to launch this thing and see where the community takes it– then we’re taking it to a whole new level.

Stay tuned here to the blog for more info on the Flobots Comic launch— I actually have to go WORK now! I’m excited to be using not only my comic book storytelling muscles again, but also old school graphic design and stuff– Back to the drawing board…

It’s my oldest son’s birthday today. He’s 11. That’s tripping me out. I can remember clearly, very clearly when I was 11. My son is also probably the #1 Hero By Night fan out there– I’ve tried to sugar coat the fact that it’s just on “hold” for now, but he seemed really bummed, and then that bummed me out. Maybe I’ll just draw comics for him, and no one will ever know. — I remember when I was 11… do you?

The Flobots are on Jay Leno tonight–

pay attention to Jonny 5’s shirt.

It begins tonight.

Back to the drawing board for me.

Ok, so I decided to take the trip to Cincinnati with my wife to meet the Flobots while they’re out on tour, this was the closest they’d be to Pittsburgh. It was a really great experience. Thought I’d talk a little about it, a little about them, what plans are happening now, etc…

I’ve been talking with the band over email and the phone for a while now, but I really wanted to talk face to face and see them live in concert. The drive to Cincinnati was pretty darn easy and went by fast on cruise control. We were going to meetup for their soundcheck at the Mad Hatter, then grab some grub and talk about the takeover, er, revolution, er… comics and stuff. They were running a bit late, so my wife and I were hanging around at the club waiting for them to show up. — After awhile, a big ol’ tour bus, I’ll call it the FLO-BUS,  rolled up with “DENVER” in the destination spot. My wife and looked at each other and got a laugh thinking, “They’re driving their own bus around!” — They quickly got off and began unloading their own equipment and merchandise boxes— I was immediately impressed that it just yelled GRASSROOTS to me. It reminded me of the small press, hand stapling days of Yirmumah, and trucking a spin wheel around to shows and making my own merchandise, etc. It had that feeling to it. — I guess having a name like DJ and also having radio station stuff there, over the noise of the bus, it was a little confusing as to just who was introducing myself to– I nudged Andy the guitarist first and he was very nice– I asked if they needed a hand carrying things in, and he told me they were all self contained and just to relax and I didn’t have to do anything—- Again, it didn’t occur to me that he thought I was jut someone from the club or the radio station at that moment— I found Jamie (ahem, JONNY 5) and introduced myself to him, and immediately got a big hug and thank you for all I’ve been doing for them behind the scenes. He nudged over Stephen, re I mean, Brer’ Rabbit… and I got another big giant hug from him— lots of smiles and laughs. Stephen mentioned it felt like an internet date meetup. Ha!–

So there was a soundcheck, and a ton of fans starting showing up outside the venue and lining the street. Inside is when Andy and Jesse (guitarists) realized who I actually was, and then they went to a whole other level of nice in telling me how awesome I am and how I GET their message and visuals and it’s really bringing it all together for them— When you’re on the road like that, you gotta get laundry done somehow, so they asked if my hotel had laundry-  Mi Casa es Su Casa— if you look closely in this picture you can see them with their laundry bags slung over their shoulders near the back of the FloBus…

As we were standing back there, with kids looking at us like “HEY, DONT BE CUTTIN IN LINE!” we could hear the crowd mingling “There’s Brer Rabbit! — Is that Jonny 5?? I think I just saw Mackenzie!!” — it was funny, because as they then caught up with us, my wife said people in the crowd were looking like, where are they going with THOSE people… and so we coasted down the road, got some hot tea for the boy’s voices– and we talked a bit about future plans and activation… I can’t talk about any of that stuff YET

I can tell you this. There will be a Flobots comic coming at you REAL soon. Like, if I can get some other things done, “NEXT WEEK” real soon. They mentioned how impressed they were with me, wherein they needed a couple websites done up, visuals, BAM– it was done. I’ve been working on www.flobots.org which is the hub for their non-profit site. Check it out– while you’re there, go join the STREET TEAM— their goal with that this year is to sign up 50,000 new voters. They also do some AWESOME things with the Denver Children’s home– and they want to basically take what they’ve been doing on the grassroots level in their community and BLOW IT UP ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. That’s what Street Team is all about– get in on the ground floor people. —

While we were chatting about comics stuff… I looked up at Stephen and said– HOLY CRAP!– there was a big Dragonfly hanging out on top of his hat. We all grabbed our cameras and snapped photos… here’s one…

He just let it chill, and it ended up going to the rim of his hat like some sort of hood ornament, overseeing our talks. The dragonfly approved. I wondered later if that was some sort of omen or something. I just looked it up– it’s an omen of change. Of seeing through illusions… and this story i found online about symbolism of a Dragonfly sums up how I was feeling about this trip too…

The dragon fly is symbolic for change and being okay with it. Here is a story: The Dragonfly Once, in a little pond, in the muddy water under the lily pads, there lived a little water beetle in a community of water beetles. They lived a simple and comfortable life in the pond with few disturbances and interruptions. Once in a while, sadness would come to the community when one of their fellow beetles would climb the stem of a lily pad and would never be seen again. They knew when this happened; their friend was dead, gone forever. Then, one day, one little water beetle felt an irresistible urge to climb up that stem. However, he was determined that he would not leave forever. He would come back and tell his friends what he had found at the top. When he reached the top and climbed out of the water onto the surface of the lily pad, he was so tired, and the sun felt so warm, that he decided he must take a nap. As he slept, his body changed and when he woke up, he had turned into a beautiful blue tailed dragonfly with broad wings and a slender body designed for flying. So, fly he did! And, as he soared he saw the beauty of a whole new world and a far superior way of life to what he had never known existed. Then he remembered his beetle friends and how they were thinking by now he was dead. He wanted to go back to tell them, and explain to them that he was now more alive than he had ever been before. His life had been fulfilled rather than ended. But, his new body would not go down into the water. He could not get back to tell his friends the good news. Then he understood that their time would come, when they, too, would know what he now knew. So, he raised his wings and flew off into his joyous new life!

And that kinda is a metaphor for me on this trip now that I think about it. That was such an ODD experience to have that Dragonfly show up like that– I think everyone in the room knew it meant something. Stephen said his Dad told him that Dragonflies were good luck and that they were “medicine men” because when they fly it looks like they’re carrying a medicine bag.

I was feeling that feeling of CHANGE the whole trip. Of what could easily be. To get out of the muddy water, and fly off somewhere else. Everything we talked about, seemed to be clicking, and we’re all on the same wavelength with what our goals are with these projects.

I felt very rejuvenated on this trip. It was good to meet people who are suddenly experiencing CRAZY success, and it’s not gone to their heads– they’re down to earth. They see all these things as TOOLS– almost like, “Now what can we do with this to help?” — It was refreshing to see and feel this energy and to have a renewed faith that there are GOOD people like this out there, people who aren’t only concerned with their bottom line, but with the REAL BIG PICTURE.

I also got them the shirt that he’ll hopefully be able to wear on Jay Leno tomorrow night– crossing fingers. I don’t think there should be a problem, because it’s not a “logo” shirt, they made it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, because it’s just an AWESOMELY positive thing.

Had a quick bite to eat with Stephen, Jamie and their manager J.J.– J.J. is also a really stand up honest guy, you can just immediately feel that he’s got everyone’s best interests in mind.  They had to run to get back to the show and prep and we’d meet up afterward  back at the hotel– so my wife and I went to change and get to the show….

THE SHOW.- I was a FAN of the flobots first and foremost. So seeing them LIVE was going to be a treat on it’s own. The show was killer– My wife and I talked about how it was surreal to see them on stage, as if they were ON, and sort of transformed into these ROCKSTARS before our eyes– we laughed and said “They’re dirty laundry is on our room right now!” CRAZY. So we geeked and nerded out in a fan-like fashion on how surreal that moment is– I could go on and on about how awesome they are live, but take my word for it. All of the pics I had inside the club came out a bit blurry, but here’s a good one of Mackenzie rocking people’s asses off during an encore cover performance of “Heartbreaker” -

And here’s Jamie and Stephen doing their thing…

– After the show, we were good fans and hit the merchandise table for some official FLOBOTS T-SHIRTS.

They showed up at the hotel about an hour or so later to chill some more and go over plans. But it was odd, because I swear, it was if they went back into Clark Kent mode and I didn’t even recognize who they were on stage. Not visually I mean– but it didn’t feel like the hip-hop stars who are sitting at the #1 spot on charts were hanging out in my hotel room. That still kinda blows my mind. I can’t even imagine how THEY must feel. — After some good conversation, J.J. mentioned they actually had to be leaving THAT night to get to Detroit– no time for Laundry Dr. Jones. — Stephen sighed, “Man, no laundry again.” — I joked with them that I caught my wife rifling through their dirty clothes, and to check ebay in the coming days.

We drove them over to where they stashed the FLObus, said our goodbyes, but we all knew it wouldn’t be the last we’d be seeing of each other. I’d love to get out to the DNC in August– there’s going to be a LOT of action going on there, plans, etc.

My wife and I then proceeded to sleep very little, and then battle against Tornado watches and heavy rain on the way home. Got home tired, but feeling SO MUCH BETTER.

So yes… in light of everything else that’s NOT been going right in my life, THIS has been the one constant thing keeping me sane. I think I might have found some weird “calling” to public service or non-profit work too. I’d never really thought about before seriously, but being around these guys and talking to the entire crew– it’s inspiring. New American Insurgents, indeed.

That’s my break for the day— back to work for me. There’s much to do.

Dont let it kill you baby, dont let it get to you
Dont let em kill you baby, dont let em get to you
I’ll be your breathin heart, I’ll be your cryin fool
Dont let this go to far, dont let it get to you

I can’t remember a time in my life where I was more energized and excited about the future–but completely nervous as all hell at the same time.

First the nervous part— My finances have been, well, to put it bluntly, completely jacked up the past month. My pay didn’t come on time as expected, not sure when it’s going to come although I’m sure it will at some point– but it’s lead me to make some pretty tough decisions personally and professionally here. My production schedule has pretty much been boned here, and it’s out of my hands now.  I can’t sit living off my savings and watching it dwindle down to nothing. My wife is back out now on job interviews, thank god for that stability, although I’d rather her not work and stay home with the kids– but this isn’t the 1950s I guess. People are often shocked when I say my wife hasn’t been working. Checked the mail… the closest thing to money was one of those “pre approved $5500″ loans offers from CitiFinacial. It was the first time I was actually tempted to call and take it…. but I’m smarter than that.

The exciting part though– I feel like I might have found something that was missing from my life, and a way to channel that inner rebelliousness that’s been there all along. I use to do it through satire– but now I think I might have put the pieces together in a way where, by god, it could actually make a DIFFERENCE out in the world. At least once or twice a week I get emails from people saying how my work has inspired them to go on with their own art and comics work, or peruse their dreams— and that feels pretty great– but now I’m thinking of expanding that to life in general. The idea that someone might read a story I’ve done and just not want to give up on life. To know they aren’t alone in their situation and that others have pulled out of it. TO hang in there! — Channeling my inner “Ben Franklin” as well, with some powerful imagery and counter propaganda. Finding these people of a similar mindset seems like a bit like the fickle finger of fate brought us together in some way. —

I’ll be able to show off some new stuff I’ve been working on real soon. Until then though, it’s back to the drawing board and the waiting games. The waiting is the hardest part.

Thought I’d let the cat out of the bag here about “top secret project X” - I’ve had a lot of people asking what it was and what I was up to– and I’m not sure why it was kept a secret in the first place, just that I wanted to make sure it was go– and since we’re ALMOST go, here it is.

Yup. I’m doing a FLOBOTS comic. Readers here know I’ve been yammering on about the Flobots since I first discovered their music back in April… the comic won’t be launching JUST yet, but let me talk a little more about how it came together and what the goal is here, what it’ll be about, etc… this might take a moment as I ramble…

This whole entire year, I’ve felt pretty politically charged up. Back in January, I heard that Speech from Obama in Iowa, and the ones that followed… it gave me JUICE. Hearing lines. I felt like FINALLY someone is coming in and talking about real change– things I’ve thought about in my own head that I wish would be said out loud, this guy was speaking them. “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for” — I was so inspired, I drew a little sketch of Obama one morning in January– I laughed to myself and said, some day I’ll meet him and he’ll sign this.– In March, that happened. I’d get to meet Senator Obama only about 20 minutes from my house. He signed the sketch and thanked me for drawing his ears smaller.

After I started openly supporting Obama in my area (southwestern Pennsylvania) I began coming face to face with closeted bigotry and racism– sometimes from people I actually care or cared about. It was sort of a wakeup call to action. That’s when I painted the Obama “vote for change” sign for my yard before the Pennsylvania primaries. - This was right around the time I discovered the Flobots online and downloaded their album, and it chimed right in with how I was feeling. When I was away at New York Comicon, my wife let me know the sign had been stolen and she had been scared that somebody might come back and do more damage to the yard— I was a little scared, but furious. –Instead of sitting down and letting someone get away with that, I painted ANOTHER sign and put it out, because I felt like no matter what, I wasn’t going to allow somebody else to smother my freedom of speech and expression on my own property or anywhere.

That same week I was fired up, I emailed the Flobots because I was thinking a lot about the social messages in their music and how well it was put together– I wanted to know if they’d be down for a webcomic of some kind or graphic novel. I never expected a reply…. but they indeed replied right away.

To my surprise, not only would they be down, but they had actually heard of my work and read Hero By Night before as well. We shared ideas through email about what we could accomplish with a webcomic or something bigger. The idea of somehow involving the community, or inspiring others to activate in their community— I shared my story about the Obama signs with Flobots member, Brer Rabbit– I kinda told him my frustration and how “I would have painted 1000 signs if you know what I mean.” — His response was…

Let’s paint those signs!
This is the time, man.

This lead to some deep phone conversations with Brer Rabbit about comics, politics– It was pretty clear that these guys had a real love and passion for comics too. My goal is to be able to do with my sequential art, what Flobots are doing with their music. Communicating ideas…. activating minds. They forsee a much bigger picture than JUST music, they see it all as art and creativity– Making people think… inspiring people to stand for change. The kind of revolution they propose isn’t one that involves violence or storming the White House, it’s about being creative and sharing stories with one another– fighting with TOOLS– they have their music, my tools will be the comics– but it’s the same ammunition we’ll be firing.

They actually have a great non-profit group being setup, Flobots.org which can be read more about here.

All along, I had no real idea just how BIG Flobots were blowing up, and are currently in the process of blowing up even more. I’m pretty humbled to even be working with them on this project, and the fact that they’re pumped up by what I’ve shown them so far. I want to launch it as soon as possible here, but there are still a few kinks to hammer out– But definitly stay tuned here on my blog, and you’ll know when it happens because I’ll be yelling it from the rooftops. Things are happening pretty rapidly all around.

All I can say is… it’s pretty amazing how this all came together. I’m pretty stoked.

To prime yourself, go checkout Flobots.com - Buy their album (7.99 at Best Buy!) and LISTEN to their lyrics and enjoy.

Kids didn’t have school today. I slept in. Now I’m up and working away on Top Secret Project X and other things.

I’ve been in and out of sour moods the past week. A lot of friends have asked what’s wrong, etc… and I’ve kept it pretty vague and I’m sorry about that— But in clear transparency, it’s Mostly based on the fact that I’m, uh, pretty much BROKE and waiting on pay to come, which hasn’t come yet for vaguely unknown reasons. I’m sure it will all be okay, but in the meantime, there are bills to pay and such. I’ve been struck with a mini panic that I should be doing something else, possibly looking for a job or starting to do commissions (caricatures) or something to earn some side safety cash. But yeah, things are pretty friggin unstable right now all around, but not to worry….

You’d think that would make someone really on the edge or nervous. Sometimes it can be downright depressing– but there are big moments where I just like to embrace the unknown. When you struggle against the current of where the universe is taking you it often brings you more problems. It’s always best to just go with the flow and not worry too much about where it’s taking you.

You kinda HAVE to think that way if you’re going to remain creative during tough times. I think of it almost like a test or something. Discipline!

All that being said…. I hope the mail delivers my check THIS week or there’s going to be a fucking meltdown of some kind that I won’t be able to keep under control because it will be out of my hands entirely. Literally. Vague enough for you?

______________________other items on the brain….

Oh! Flobots are on Carson Daly tonight… record that or watch it live. I’m planning on driving to Cincinnati on June 2 to meet them in person and talk about some awesome things that can change the world– can’t wait.  Their album officially drops in stores tomorrow– BUY IT! Listen to it a 1000 times. I have.

COMICPRESS 2.5 and more! - Comicpress is an awesome wordpress theme created by Tyler Martin for publishing webcomics that just got awesomer with the release of 2.5– now there are more layouts, more features, etc. And there’s a cool plugin that goes along with it called Comicpress Manager which makes launching your own webcomic 10 times easier. Maybe 100 times? — Seriously, I was mucking with this last night on another TOP SECRET site and it made me want to launch like 5 comics. It also makes it easy for you to take bulk archives and upload them to wordpress— great for moving those big archives around!

BOOM BLOX - is an addicting game for the Wii. I bought it actually for my wife and I to compete and play, but the whole family loves it, fights over it… and for some reason, time really goes by fast when you’re on it. 2 hours melt away.  Which isn’t so good when you have work to do.

I’m still selling Hero By Night rings– if you want one for your collection, you’d probably better buy one this week or next because if I don’t get enough orders for the batch, I don’t think I’ll be making extras or a second run. So this is extremely limited. See here for details.