No I'm not bitter I wasn't at San Diego Comic Con
What would you like to see in this column going forward?
Editor’s Note: It’s Wednesday, so that means it’s New Comic Book Day and another edition of Amazing Journey!
The Amazing Journey column will touch on a comics-related topic, such as writing the first issue of a series, what it’s like to run a comic book store, working with artists, and how writing comics is different from writing prose.
Amazing Journey back issues
True believers unite (#1) | My comics origin story (#2) | Comic event series (#3) | The comics of Kickstarter (#4) | Single issues or trades? (#5) | From prose to comics (#6) | Adapting a celebrated fantasy series into a comic (#7) | Charting a career in comics (#8) | Comic book spoilers (#9) | Lessons from Kieron Gillen’s masterclass (#10) | Comics marketing 101 (#11) Designing memorable characters (#12)
Today marks three months since I restarted this weekly comics column. I’ve written about comic launches, marketing, designing memorable characters, the poor working conditions/pay in the comics industry, comic art, comic writing, and more.
It’s been fun putting in my two cents on all of the above, but one thing I am a bit frustrated with is the lack of progress in completing my own comic. I started this section of the newsletter to share my comics journey as I produce my first issue and unfortunately, it’s been much more slow-going than I would have liked. The structure of the issue is set and pretty much scripted through page 17, but I have been battling against resistance and fear as I try to finish.
Part of that comes from the feeling that I haven’t quite nailed the ending in a way that will wow the reader. This series (which is a spin-off from my urban fantasy book series) will be coming out via Kickstarter, and that means that each issue will be released many months apart. And so, I’ve perhaps put more pressure on myself to make this one of those comic issues you will be thinking about days or weeks later. That’s not an entirely fair thing to do, but on the flip side, I do not want to put out something mediocre or merely OK.
These feelings dovetail with reading and seeing all the awesome stuff going on at San Diego Comic Con this past weekend and me wishing I was there selling my own comics and meeting fans. This is also maybe not a realistic goal to have at the moment, but walking Artist Alley at NYCC the past two years was really invigorating and motivating, and I’d rather set high expectations for my work, even if they might never get met.
But I’m not giving up and I’m getting closer by the day to making my first comic a reality. That being said, while I would be happy to keep this column going as is (a commentary/coverage of the comics industry with occasional work updates), I want to hear from you!
What topics do you want to see me address in the coming weeks and months? Are there comic writers and artists you would like to see interviewed? Any other feedback you want to give?
Consider this the Question of the Week and your final chance to enter the July giveaway. To enter, simply leave a comment with your answer to any of the Questions of the Week from any July Amazing Journey post.
This month’s prize: a copy of White Ash #1 (physical copy for U.S. subscribers & digital copy of ex-U.S. subscribers)!
Welcome to White Ash, a small smudge of a mining community in Western Pennsylvania, where the secrets are buried even deeper than the coal under the mountain. If you’re a fan of Supernatural, Twin Peaks or Lord of the Rings, you’re going to love getting to know our mysterious town.
Read the first page of [title redacted]
Here is an exclusive sneak peek of page 1 of my forthcoming comic, title to be revealed at a later date!
Page 1
Panel 1
Beatrice Stallard, an early-20’s blonde chemical engineer is sitting in a small cubicle somewhere in a giant office tower in Midtown Manhattan. It’s late at night and she should be home sleeping or out getting drunk or God forbid hooking up with the hot PE analyst she met the other week at that trendy bar in SoHo. But instead she is still in her office, trying to stay awake in front of the bulky old monitor. Something pops up on the screen, but she doesn’t notice right away, because she’s half asleep. We can’t see what it is in this panel, but only some squiggly lines or a maybe a green light emanating from the screen indicating the pop-up has appeared.
Caption: So you find the Quest Board and it seems like this incredible thing.
Panel 2
Beatrice is now alert looking at the screen, somewhat dumbfounded.
Caption: You can't believe it. A hidden game right in New York City!
Panels 3-4
Close-up of computer screen, on it is written in ASCII font:
Welcome to the Quest Board!
Complete a Quest, get a token.
Complete more, get more tokens.
Get enough tokens, you level up.
Panel 5
Beatrice stealing a vase from a table at a farmer's market when the proprietor is looking the other way.
Panel 6
Beatrice receiving a token from a slot in a metal door. She has a big smile on her face.
Caption: Except here's the thing they don't tell you…
What’s the thing they don’t tell you? Sorry to keep you in suspense, but you’ll have to wait a bit longer!
What I’m reading this week / Variant Watch
X-Men Hellfire Gala 2023 #1 - Whereas the first Gala at 2021 took place over a month’s worth of issues and was almost all smiles, this year’s Gala is all dread and the question not whether something bad will be happening to the mutant nation of Krakoa, but will there be anything left of the island and/or how many mutants are going to die? We’re still feeling the repercussions of the millions of Genosha mutant deaths in 2001 (that are still being reversed via the Five), so I hope we don’t get a “nuke the mutants” moment today. Shout-out to David Nakayama for one of my favorite variant cover series, the Hellfire Gala fashion magazine covers (see one of the latest below) and over/under on how many variants of this issue I am going to end up buying against my will is a solid 5:
Ultimate Invasion #2 - A Jonathan Hickman-written Marvel issue is always a must-buy, even though I am slightly disappointed that the new Ultimate line was explicitly teased as being announced at the Saturday SDCC panel and then apparently not mentioned at all!
Invincible Iron Man #8 - Gerry Duggan is firing on all cylinders here, as Tony’s world becomes more intertwined with the X-Men. Next up is his wedding to Emma Frost!
Fire Power #25 - Robert Kirkman and Chris Samnee’s martial arts series returns after a nine-month break with a double-sized issue!
What are you picking up this week?
I loved seeing your page one panel for your comic. Are you doing the art yourself or have someone picked out? It might be cool to see prototype art and/or hear from the artist and person doing the lettering (I can't remember the technical titles for these people in comics but maybe share more of the process of how you are putting yours together and trying to get it out into the world... like a 101 on comic writing, design and publication). I've always thoughts comics were a cool idea but my art skills pretty much begin and end with stick people.
As for what I'm reading this week, I just picked up a copy of Nouns #1 from Titan Comics, Dead Lucky #1 from Image and snagged comics #1-6 of Black (2016) from Black Mask from my local comic shop that I'm excited to read. Oh, and Void Rivals #2 and Antarctica #1 and Wytches (2014) #1. I know, I'm all over the place with the comics I read.