Stay On Target

That project I told you about is coming along nicely. To be a little less cryptic, I'm trying to put together an online magazine of sorts (similar to Nerdist, Machinima, etc) that covers my myriad interests. Years ago, when I started Surfing the Bleed, which then morphed into PING!, the goal was to educate people about how to break into comics. While the blog was never a massive traffic generator, I did achieve a very positive presence in the comics industry and like to think I helped out a few people along the way.

With this new project, I'm hoping to give the same attention to my other pursuits (advertising, stand-up comedy, film) that I've given comics. That's not to say that this new venture won't also cover comics, but the reason for Surfing/PING! when I started was to create a resource for new creators. When the blog began, there still weren't a lot of guides on how to break into the industry. Since then, many creators (Kurtis Wiebe, Jim Zub, etc.) have taken it upon themselves to impart their wisdom and the wealth of knowledge available to a new creator now is vast. I'll still continue to talk comics and do interviews, but it's time for me to expand.

So what you'll see with this new platform is not only comic book news and theory, but also stuff about advertising, film, stand up and improv comedy, a podcast and, if the good lord's willin' and the creek don't rise, a webcomic. In a word: content. And it won't just be from me. For a long time I've wanted to bring other contributors into PING! to get their perspective on things, but the focus of this blog was rather myopic. With the new project, there will be a lot of room for various viewpoints and I for one couldn't be more excited.

So hold onto your butts, true believers. The future is fast approaching.

Starlord

This week it was revealed that Chris Pratt (Parks & Rec) would be playing the role of Starlord in Marvel's upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film.  I'd like to start this out by saying that I don't have anything against Chris Pratt.  He's one of the things about Parks & Rec I like the most.  And a recent action turn in Kathryn Bigelow's  Zero Dark Thirty gives him some serious chops.  But Starlord?  I'm just not sure.  What's holding me back from embracing this casting choice?

Nathan Fillion.

As a diehard Browncoat, I'm the first person to admit that we sometimes have trouble seeing the forest for the trees.  When it comes to roles that either embody the spirt or the aesthetic of Captain Malcolm Reynolds, we just can't let Firefly go.  When it was time to cast the Green Lantern, fans everywhere made a strong case for Fillion donning the ring.  Given the success of that film, maybe Warner should have considered him over the former Two Guys cast member who did get the role.  While there hasn't been nearly as vocal a contingent trying to get Fillion cast as Starlord, it's hard to imagine a better person for the role.  But even as I type that, I have to ask myself, can I not imagine a better person for the role because I'm such a fan of Fillion as a swashbuckling astronaut?  Am I not seeing the forest for the trees?

I'm a big fan of Guardians of the Galaxy and the Starlord character is one of my favorite of all time.  I guess part of me just got excited at the prospect of my favorite sci-fi captain coming back to play my favorite comics buckler of swashes.  Que sera, sera.

Too bad he's too old to play the younger version of this handsome devil.

An Update

I apologize for the lack of content over the last, well...nine months.  No, I'm not about to announce a new baby or anything, unless you can count my finishing portfolio school as something of a baby.  Because that's the thing that's been eating up all my time.  Just so you know, PING! still exists and I'm still committed to it.  Here's how.

In the past year I also launched a blog intended to shine a light on my enjoyment of pro wrestling.  The Smark Tank was a joint effort between myself and my friend Ed that we, to say the least, have neglected.  Hell, it never even really got off the ground.  I intend to change that over the next few months.

School requires a lot of my money and a lot of my time.  Beyond that, what little time I have left is typically devoted to writing the Black Wraith and my new project which will hopefully be my second published comic.  If there is any time left after that, it usually goes to social engagements.

I can't promise that the blog will come first, or even second, in my hierarchy until school is done.  But I am going to make a conscious effort to put more content here.  On top of that, I want to eventually combine PING!, the Smark Tank and a podcast that will be coming down the pipeline as well.  I'd like to do all of this under one umbrella site, which I'm working on setting up now.

So thanks for sticking with me true believers.  2012 was great, 2013 looks bright as well.

Hamburger, anyone?

While I do know a little about stand up comedy, I must admit that when my friend asked me to review the comic he's involved in about stand up comedian Neil Hamburger, I was at a bit of a loss.  Admittedly, I don't know much about Neil Hamburger, other than the photo of the man that used to reside on my best friend's refrigerator.  What I do know is comics, which is why aforementioned friend came to me to help promote his comic.  Still, without knowing much about the founder of the feast, I wasn't sure how to go about it.  Luckily, the Grey Lady herself gave me a pretty good description of one Mr. Hamburger.

The New York Times describes Hamburger as, “a brilliantly awful persona of an old-school, C-list funnyman – the kind with an ill-fitting tuxedo and an enormous, greasy comb over – on a very bad night.  Neil Hamburger toys with an audience's expectations (and patience), and indeed his act is a kind of rude commentary on stand-up comedy altogether."

The Neil Hamburger Comics Digest is weird.  I mean, it's some strange, bawdy, funny stuff.  Which is pretty much exactly what you'd expect from anything branded "Neil Hamburger".  This is comix with an X, and that's appropriate, because it's sort of an x-rated comic book.  And that's fine.  That's great, in fact.  Because what this digest captures is just the overall abnormal feeling necessary not just for the comedy of a man like Hamburger, but for the style of Crumb-influenced underground comix you'll find within these pages.

Published by Blank Stare Entertainment and  written by Phill Hillenmeyer and Gregg Turkington (aka Neil Hamburger), Neil Hamburger Comics Digest features art by indie fan favorites and critically acclaimed cartoonists  Darick Robertson, Jeffrey Brown, Batton Lash, Chris Wisnia and more.  And the artists' love of the project is evident in every line, every panel.  The people involved in this book were clearly honored to be a part of it.

Coming into this review, I didn't feel like I knew Neil Hamburger very well.  After going through the book, I'm not sure I know the man himself much better, but I am damn interested in exploring his particular kind of loose tie, matted hair, watered down blended scotch style of comedy further.  And that means this comic does exactly what all great comics should do, and that's appeal to an established audience while grabbing a new one.  I say job well done for Hamburger and crew.

The Black Wraith Cometh.

It's here.  This is the day.  From this moment on, whatever else you can say about me, you can't say that I've never written a comic.  The first issue of my first book from Monkey Pipe Studios, the Black Wraith, is in the can.  Quite literally, as it exists as an ashcan right now.  A black and white version (full color to follow) is available for distribution to certain interested parties.  I couldn't be happier.  I'm proud of this book and what it signifies not just for me, but for a lot of people.  This is hard work personified and I hope it begets much more hard work of its kind in the future.

I freaking love comics.  I could do this all day.  Hopefully this is the first major step toward doing exactly that.

Black Wraith #1

The time is nearly upon us.   Black Wraith #1 is currently being lettered and will hopefully be available in time for Christmas.  So if you're looking for a great Christmas gift for the superhero fan in your life, you could do worse than the Black Wraith.  Also, because I love you guys so much, I'm going to give you all a preview of the first couple of pages.  That's right, FREE COMICS right here for your eyes.  Well, at least a tenth of a free comic.

ENJOY!

If you're looking for more great self published comics, don't forget to check out all the titles available from Monkey Pipe Studios.  And look for a seven page preview of Black Wraith #1 in the upcoming Department O by Jamie Gambell and Andrew MacLean.

PING! Mark Andrew Smith PING!

Mark Andrew Smith is the co-creator of the Popgun Anthology which has helped to further the careers of some of the top talent in the comic book industry.  He is also the brains behind the excellent Gladstone's School for World Conquerors and half the muscle behind one of the most successful comics projects in Kickstarter history, Sullivan's Sluggers with Orc Stain's James Stokoe.  PING! Mother Box PING! sat down with MAS to talk about Kickstarting, Sullivan's Sluggers, being an editor, loving comics and grabbing your dreams by the horns.

One thing I like to ask everyone I interview is, what got you into comics?  Do you remember the first comic you read that really stood out to you?

When I was a kid they stocked comic books at 7-11, so I’d always go in there, camp out and read everything.  No one minded or said anything because I was six.  The first comics that really stood out to me were Amazing Spider-Man and then the Mirage run of TMNT.  I was a child of the 80s and 90s.  

Was comics creation always something you pursued or, like many creators, did you exist on the periphery of the industry for a time until something sparked the realization in you that it was a viable career option?

No.  I entered as a comic book writer in full.  I always liked comics and wanted to create comics for my job ever since I was ten years old.  It’s pretty cool that I do that now, and 10 year old me, well his head would explode I think knowing what I do now.  I fell out of comics after the 90s bust, and rediscovered them in college while in film school, also reading everything I could about comic theory.  I caught up on all the books I’d missed and saw the range and potential for comics, and that and being in film school, it was the perfect storm. 

Your first book was discovered by Eric Stephenson.  How proud does it make you now to be able to work alongside Stephenson in this current publishing landscape where Image is really dominating the market in quality?

Image has flourished under Eric Stephenson’s direction, and he has excellent sensibilities as a publisher. 

Being an editor yourself, what tool set would you say a really great comics creator should possess?

You need a lot of tools.  You need a Batman utility belt of tools.  So bring everything you can.  

You co-created the Popgun anthology which has done a lot to highlight newer talent.  How important do you feel anthology publications are to the medium and are they still sort of the best way for a new creator to break in?

Anthologies are a great way to break in, because an artist can draw a few pages and get their feet wet.  Then when they go up to a publisher at a con, they can say ‘I’ve done such and such a book’ and that’s an in.  

You’ve had a fairly dichotomous career path, with titles under your belt like New Brighton Archaeological Society which are geared toward an all ages audience and your new book Sullivan’s Sluggers with Orc Stain James Stokoe, which surely is not.  Have you found maintaining that balance to be difficult?

No. I’ve always written a wide range of material and tried to diversify genres.  It just so happens that the all ages material is the work that found its way out first.  

You and Stokoe decided to fund your project through Kickstarter, which was a rousing success. I’m sure you’d seen Kickstarters go well beyond their original funding goal before, but did you have any idea there’d be this much support for yours?

I was going to be happy if it was 30K, I told myself.  Now for the next one, I need to keep those same expectations, and just stay realistic.  It was huge to see that much support for our book and this is a new model.

You’ve decided to offer the book exclusively to those who contribute to Kickstarter, choosing to cut out the middle man and handle distribution yourselves.  What was the impetus behind this decision?

I’ve been publishing for nine years, and never made anything on books, or I’d lose money.  In this system it’s backwards and everyone gets paid before the creator does, and sometimes everyone makes money and the creators are stuck with debt from creating the books.  I knew that to win the game, you had to reprogram everything, and rewrite the rules.  That’s why I did it.  I wrote about it in my ‘A to B Manifesto’ that you can find online.  

Sullivan’s Sluggers is about a team of baseball players set against a town full of monstrous denizens.  Did this book grow out of a love for baseball from either you or Stokoe, or did you both just think it offered a chance for some interesting storytelling?

It started because I liked the imagery of baseball players as a team beating monsters bloody to a pulp with baseball bats.  The book grew and grew into something rich and complex, and still fun, and meaningful.  The story telling and action really are minute by minute and second by second, which you don’t see very often.  

Sullivan’s Sluggers was kind of a long time in the works.  Did you try to pitch it to traditional publishers to no avail, or was it always something you worked on as a pet project when you had time off from other projects?

It was picked up and going to go out into shops, but the original book was going to be a lot shorter, and as I was writing it, it grew and grew.  

Now that you’ve spearheaded a very successful Kickstarter campaign, what advice would you give to those creators considering using crowd sourcing as a way to fund their books?

I have too many tips, and I think I’m going to write my tens rules of Kickstarter soon in the future.  J  I think a good one, is don’t guilt your friends into buying your book, just ask for their support by having them hit ‘Share’ and ‘Tweet’ about it, and those go a really long distance.  I didn’t ask any of my friends to buy ‘Sullivan’s’ but did the later and it paid off.  To pull off a good Kickstarter, you’ve got to plan it out months in advance, and just think about it for a month or two. 

Lastly, what advice would you give to creators just starting out in the industry about how to break in, and, more importantly, how to stay confident in the face of rejection?

People are always saying ‘follow your dreams’. But, to simply follow them is not enough. It’s passive and wishful thinking. The reality is that you have to chase your dreams down, grapple with them, body-slam them, get them into a submission move, and to hold them down for the 1-2-3 count. That’s how dreams are made reality because nothing in this world is easy.

Mark Andrew Smith's "A - B Manifesto" can be found here.  He is also on Twitter (@MarkAndrewSmith) as is his Sullivan's Sluggers co-creator James Stokoe (@HeGotGronch).  Sullivan's Sluggers #1 is currently available through Comixology.