Please check out the new blog: How To Die Trying
Same blog time. New blog channel.
xoxox
Monday, February 20, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
a string of events
Some BIG news this week.
I turn 34 tomorrow. (that's not the news) Somewhere between 29 and now a lot of things changed in my life. Diabetes. Divorce. The break up of a band I'd been in since high school. New job. Travel. Now comic books.
I'm not sure I've ever worked this hard in my life, and that's saying a lot.
Which is why it hurt pretty bad to find that I had to change the name of my book. I've been calling it "Interface" for nearly a year. I think I would have kept bouncing ideas off of my friends forever if not for Alan.. (assailant logo creator and all around smart guy).. who told me to make a decision and stick with it. The problem had always been that the names I was coming up with never felt right. "the human interface" "interfacer" and "interface: the last days of alex carter". Not terrible, but all left that taste in my mouth like I had just eaten shit. I really loved "interface". It was kind of my baby. The other names were part of what I liked and part of something else.. you know... NOT getting sued. I don't mind compromise, but I'll be the first to admit that I'm a stubborn bastard.
Within 15 minutes of Alan's comment, I had the new name. It's like someone acting hysterical in a movie. You slap them in the face and they come back to reality. That's what happened to me.
So.. a couple of major changes at the last minute before printing. No big deal.
The new book title is:
Binary Gray
I love this. It's original. It's slightly abstract sounding, yet still fits perfectly within the context of the story and Alex's struggles in the book. His powers of course... but the line that he walks in the book is right on the edge of good and evil. Not really black. Not really white.
The second big change is to Alex Carter himself. His name anyway. (So glad I hadn't printed the book before this happened) Meet ALEX GRAY. A simple name change gives the book title another level of meaning and cool.
I loved "interface". I thought it was cool and sleek, but when I look at it now, it feels kind of generic. "Binary Gray" just feels right to me. When all of this renaming business went down, I was pretty upset. (again - it was just bad research on my part) But I thought deep down "you know.. i might come up with something i like better". When that didn't happen a bit of panic sunk in that wasn't much fun to deal with. Then this. I DO like this name better. I did reach that plateau. It feels good. Maybe a little panic is just good from time to time.
Ok.. enough of that. Book 1 is nearly complete and Book 2 is currently being colored. I've made the decision to print both books at the same time. The Assailant Comics website will open once the digital versions are available to purchase, with the print versions following a couple weeks after. I think that makes the most sense. If everything goes as planned I'll have both books for the first convention this Spring. If it doesn't go as planned, I'll be handing out a lot of promotion material and probably sobbing at my table. If that happens, just take a free sticker and move on.
The other big news is that this will be my last blog entry here. My good friend Dan has offered me a spot on his site, MyComicBlog.com, where I've been writing reviews for the past few months. It's not up yet, but very soon all of my new blog entries will be there and archived on that site. I'm keeping my personal blog separate from the Assailant site. It's just what feels right to me.
I like detailing the good and bad that I have to deal with and have dealt with through this process. It's like a public business diary where I can tell bad jokes. Hopefully that will bring additional traffic to my blog and additional traffic to the Assailant site and people will actually buy my books. It's worth a shot anyway. I'm excited for the change and I'll certainly make one last post here with the link to the new blog address.
In some other news... Work on Sleepless continues to look great. I just completed my first draft on my first screenplay. I have a follow up meeting for that this week but the general consensus was that it was very well received. That was a great break and fun to write. So now it's back to writing "Things Behind the Sun" and a couple of other short stories I've been working on.
Assailant shirts and stickers came in and they both look great. I'll be ordering more stickers shortly.
I'm not sure what else to say. Finger crossed. It's getting closer every day.
xoxox
I turn 34 tomorrow. (that's not the news) Somewhere between 29 and now a lot of things changed in my life. Diabetes. Divorce. The break up of a band I'd been in since high school. New job. Travel. Now comic books.
I'm not sure I've ever worked this hard in my life, and that's saying a lot.
Which is why it hurt pretty bad to find that I had to change the name of my book. I've been calling it "Interface" for nearly a year. I think I would have kept bouncing ideas off of my friends forever if not for Alan.. (assailant logo creator and all around smart guy).. who told me to make a decision and stick with it. The problem had always been that the names I was coming up with never felt right. "the human interface" "interfacer" and "interface: the last days of alex carter". Not terrible, but all left that taste in my mouth like I had just eaten shit. I really loved "interface". It was kind of my baby. The other names were part of what I liked and part of something else.. you know... NOT getting sued. I don't mind compromise, but I'll be the first to admit that I'm a stubborn bastard.
Within 15 minutes of Alan's comment, I had the new name. It's like someone acting hysterical in a movie. You slap them in the face and they come back to reality. That's what happened to me.
So.. a couple of major changes at the last minute before printing. No big deal.
The new book title is:
Binary Gray
I love this. It's original. It's slightly abstract sounding, yet still fits perfectly within the context of the story and Alex's struggles in the book. His powers of course... but the line that he walks in the book is right on the edge of good and evil. Not really black. Not really white.
The second big change is to Alex Carter himself. His name anyway. (So glad I hadn't printed the book before this happened) Meet ALEX GRAY. A simple name change gives the book title another level of meaning and cool.
I loved "interface". I thought it was cool and sleek, but when I look at it now, it feels kind of generic. "Binary Gray" just feels right to me. When all of this renaming business went down, I was pretty upset. (again - it was just bad research on my part) But I thought deep down "you know.. i might come up with something i like better". When that didn't happen a bit of panic sunk in that wasn't much fun to deal with. Then this. I DO like this name better. I did reach that plateau. It feels good. Maybe a little panic is just good from time to time.
Ok.. enough of that. Book 1 is nearly complete and Book 2 is currently being colored. I've made the decision to print both books at the same time. The Assailant Comics website will open once the digital versions are available to purchase, with the print versions following a couple weeks after. I think that makes the most sense. If everything goes as planned I'll have both books for the first convention this Spring. If it doesn't go as planned, I'll be handing out a lot of promotion material and probably sobbing at my table. If that happens, just take a free sticker and move on.
The other big news is that this will be my last blog entry here. My good friend Dan has offered me a spot on his site, MyComicBlog.com, where I've been writing reviews for the past few months. It's not up yet, but very soon all of my new blog entries will be there and archived on that site. I'm keeping my personal blog separate from the Assailant site. It's just what feels right to me.
I like detailing the good and bad that I have to deal with and have dealt with through this process. It's like a public business diary where I can tell bad jokes. Hopefully that will bring additional traffic to my blog and additional traffic to the Assailant site and people will actually buy my books. It's worth a shot anyway. I'm excited for the change and I'll certainly make one last post here with the link to the new blog address.
In some other news... Work on Sleepless continues to look great. I just completed my first draft on my first screenplay. I have a follow up meeting for that this week but the general consensus was that it was very well received. That was a great break and fun to write. So now it's back to writing "Things Behind the Sun" and a couple of other short stories I've been working on.
Assailant shirts and stickers came in and they both look great. I'll be ordering more stickers shortly.
I'm not sure what else to say. Finger crossed. It's getting closer every day.
xoxox
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Two steps forward, One step back.
It is my sad duty to inform you that I cannot use the title "interface" for my book. Epic Comics (an offshoot of Marvel) released a comic book called "interface" in 1989 that ran for 8 issues. I'm not sure how I missed that while researching, but I did and there's not much I can do about it now.
I'm pretty down about it honestly, but thankful that I caught it before the first issue went to print. I've spent the last few days learning a great deal about copyright and trademark law. Neither is very fun or interesting. I would just like to get my story out there without having to worry about getting my ass sued off despite the fact that the book has been out of print for over 20 years. That's just part of the game, I suppose.
The new title will be announced shortly.
The full artwork for the cover of issue #1 (with the old title of course) is up on the TriStateCon website. Check it out if you're curious. It's a great piece of work.
I've also been delving into the world of promoting and marketing my books and Assailant Comics. There are a ton of options, none of which are free (haha), but I'm looking forward to the days ahead where I can focus more on that and less on the start up aspect, getting everything together, trudging carefully through each step trying not to make too many mistakes. Getting back to a steady writing schedule will be nice as well.
I received my new Assailant Comics business cards, promotional postcards and some assorted goodies today, so that was fun. Didn't it sound fun in that sentence? Yeah, it did.
That's all for now.
As always, thanks for reading.
I'm pretty down about it honestly, but thankful that I caught it before the first issue went to print. I've spent the last few days learning a great deal about copyright and trademark law. Neither is very fun or interesting. I would just like to get my story out there without having to worry about getting my ass sued off despite the fact that the book has been out of print for over 20 years. That's just part of the game, I suppose.
The new title will be announced shortly.
The full artwork for the cover of issue #1 (with the old title of course) is up on the TriStateCon website. Check it out if you're curious. It's a great piece of work.
I've also been delving into the world of promoting and marketing my books and Assailant Comics. There are a ton of options, none of which are free (haha), but I'm looking forward to the days ahead where I can focus more on that and less on the start up aspect, getting everything together, trudging carefully through each step trying not to make too many mistakes. Getting back to a steady writing schedule will be nice as well.
I received my new Assailant Comics business cards, promotional postcards and some assorted goodies today, so that was fun. Didn't it sound fun in that sentence? Yeah, it did.
That's all for now.
As always, thanks for reading.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Up and At Them!
Bulk shirts ordered today. I hope someone buys them. haha. I love my sample shirt, but I guess I'm a little biased.
Half of Interface #1 is being lettered. I received the remaining colored pages today. With a couple small fixes those will be ready to be lettered as well. I still have to get the inside cover info together and figure out the layout for the logos and whatnots. fun stuff. (not really)
Here's a sample of the cover by David Hollenbach. (this is the fun stuff)
Printing is right around the corner now. Issue 2 pencils/inks are almost complete. If everything stays on track I should have the first two books ready before my first convention at the end of April.
Received the first character sketches from Joe this week for his Sleepless story. Really nice. I love the process of seeing everything come together. It's all very fulfilling. It's still new, but I don't see how this could get old.
Confirmed for Cincinnati Comics Expo, SPACE and TriState Con. (go me) My info should be up on their sites soon, but definitely check out the other exhibitors and dates so you can come say hi to me.
I have a new review up on MyComicBlog of an old classic. The first Batman story in Detective Comics #27. Definitely check it out. Fun, short and free.
I completed a new short story for Sleepless, which will be penciled and inked by Rowel Roque (Interface). I'm pretty excited about that. I also started work on a screenplay for a local film studio. More details as I can share them. Completely sidetracked myself from Things Behind the Sun, but I know it'll be there when I'm ready for it. I now have a huge list of story ideas. It's hard to pick what to work on.
Still tweaking the Assailant site, but it shouldn't be too much longer before the book is done and everything is up and running and I'll know if I'm in over my head or not.
The real question is - who will take over if I ever get to take a vacation?
Good luck to us all.
xox
Half of Interface #1 is being lettered. I received the remaining colored pages today. With a couple small fixes those will be ready to be lettered as well. I still have to get the inside cover info together and figure out the layout for the logos and whatnots. fun stuff. (not really)
Here's a sample of the cover by David Hollenbach. (this is the fun stuff)
Printing is right around the corner now. Issue 2 pencils/inks are almost complete. If everything stays on track I should have the first two books ready before my first convention at the end of April.
Received the first character sketches from Joe this week for his Sleepless story. Really nice. I love the process of seeing everything come together. It's all very fulfilling. It's still new, but I don't see how this could get old.
Confirmed for Cincinnati Comics Expo, SPACE and TriState Con. (go me) My info should be up on their sites soon, but definitely check out the other exhibitors and dates so you can come say hi to me.
I have a new review up on MyComicBlog of an old classic. The first Batman story in Detective Comics #27. Definitely check it out. Fun, short and free.
I completed a new short story for Sleepless, which will be penciled and inked by Rowel Roque (Interface). I'm pretty excited about that. I also started work on a screenplay for a local film studio. More details as I can share them. Completely sidetracked myself from Things Behind the Sun, but I know it'll be there when I'm ready for it. I now have a huge list of story ideas. It's hard to pick what to work on.
Still tweaking the Assailant site, but it shouldn't be too much longer before the book is done and everything is up and running and I'll know if I'm in over my head or not.
The real question is - who will take over if I ever get to take a vacation?
Good luck to us all.
xox
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