Comics Are Great! 84 – Should You do Free Work “for Exposure?”

Working for money vs. working on spec, Ryan Estrada, and more!

Is there anything wrong with agreeing to do some work for free? After all, it might catch on with the Internet, and you can cash in later.

And this is the webcomics model, after all! You put out consistent and professional-quality work for free, hoping to attract an audience, and only begin to sell to them once you’ve got 5,000 fans or more. It’s an investment!

Or you may just be doing your work for “the sake of art.” And if this is so, what’s wrong with others asking you to do the same work, in the same name, for them?

I’m joined by Ryan Estrada, creator of the @forexposure_txt Twitter account and producer of the For Exposure dramatic readings series, for a discussion on the perils and misconceptions of “working on spec.”

Later we’re joined by Sharon Iverson of the Ann Arbor District Library for another round of book recommendations!

Links mentioned in this episode (thanks to Eric Klooster for collecting the links!):

• Comics Are Great! 82 – Funding Your Kickstarter
• Kids’ Comics Revolution! 09 – Kickstarting Your Graphic Novel
• Comics Are Great! 29 – Just Be Interesting!
• Aaron Diaz weighs in on “doing it for the sake of art”
• A comic inspired by a speech by Bill Watterson that sparked some debate amongst cartoonists on the topic of “following one’s dream”
• (and David Willis’ reaction to said comic)
• Rob Stenzinger’s Polytechnicast on “doing what you love”
• Harlan Ellison’s stance on whether or not artists should get paid (NSFW – SWEARS)
• The Submissions Guidelines for Every Comic and Manga Publisher in the Universe
• Lean Into Art Cast 84 – Getting a Reaction and Showcasing Yourself
• My Three Sons

Book Recommendations:

• Astronaut Academy: Re-Entry
• Lunch Lady and the Author Visit Vendetta
• Mal & Chad: Belly Flop!
• Tales of the Brothers Three: Mustaches, Monsters, & Other Hairy Situations!
• Aki Alliance

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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Comics Are Great! 83 – Drawing Dynamic with Tony Cliff

Character Design! Delilah Dirk! Tony Cliff, and more!

Comics may be a static medium, but the best cartoonist create an illusion of movement so convincing we’ll often forget that we, the readers, are creating the movement in our minds. How do they do they pull off this trick? And what’s the “secret” to writing engaging and interesting casts? Is there one? Or is it a simple matter of doing one’s research and writing characters with contrast?

Tony Cliff of the recently released Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant stops by the show to share the secrets of creating dynamic and interesting characters, reference strategies for your story’s location, and “The Importance of Being Important.”

We’re joined at the end by Rachel Moir of the Ann Arbor District Library for another round of book recommendations!

Links mentioned in this episode (thanks to Eric Klooster for collecting the links!):

• Tony’s appearance on CAG 77 -Action and Comedy
• Tony’s Tumblr
• Calista Brill (and check out Calista’s talk on pitching books on CAG 75!)
• Jerzy’s take on Delilah Dirk
• Foreshortening
• Eric Orchard
• Dan Mishkin
• Fustanella
• Star Wars art books
• Elmore Leonard and his Ten Rules of Writing
• Jane Austen
• Jake Parker and his amazing Pinterest boards
• Corbis Images
• Jon Klassen’s refrence Tumblr
• Jerzy’s take on the Masters of the Universe
• Calvin and Hobbes: Santa’s a CIA Spook?

Book Recommendations:

• Superman: Birthright
• Gunnerkrigg Court
• Koko Be Good
• Good Dog
• Astronaut Academy: Re-Entry
• Relish: My Life in the Kitchen
• Hilda and the Bird Parade

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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Jerzy on Google+
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Comics Are Great! 82 – Funding Your Kickstarter with C. Spike Trotman and Laur Uy

Crowdfunding! Kickstarter! Self-Publishing! Getting the Word Out!

Hooray! Thanks to services Kickstarter and Indiegogo, we finally have a mechanism to fund our dream project! But is it as easy as just asking your friends or audience to support your thing? It sounds like a lot of work. And how do you avoid annoying everyone with tweets and updates during the campaign’s run? Suppose I raise a boatload of money during the campaign: Do I get to keep the extra income, or does it have to go back into the project?

I’m joined by C. Spike Trotman and Laurianne Uy on how to run a successful Kickstarter campaign. Spike and Laur spill their secrets to engaging an audience, managing costs, and building a system of reward tiers that will elicit support for your dream project.

We also have our regular round of book recommendations with AADL PLA Rachel Moir!

Links mentioned in this episode:

• CAG 72 – Living Well on Less with Spike and Laur
• Spike’s Kickstarter advice
• Spike’s Kickstarter campaigns: Poorcraft, Smut Peddler, and Sleep of Reason
• Laur’s Polterguys Kickstarter campaign
• Zach Braff’s Kickstarter campaign
• The Penny Arcade Podcast Kickstarter campaign
• Laur’s essay on tabling at ALA Annual
• Ryan Estrada
• Wil Wheaton
• Neil Gaiman
• Kris Straub’s Broodhollow Kickstarter campaign
• The Sullivan’s Sluggers Kickstarter campaign
• The Order of the Stick Kickstarter campaign
• PHPBB
• Spike’s Iron Circus
• Kids’ Comics Revolution! 09 – Talking Kickstarter with Alexis Fajardo

Book Recommendations:

• Ava’s Demon
• Namesake
• Lady Sabre & The Pirates of Ineffable Aether
• Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant
• Taboo Anthology
• Museum of Terror

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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Comics Are Great! 80 – Public Domain Comics with Barry Gregory and Kim Holm

Copyright! Public Domain! Fair Use, and More!

What is the benefit of working with public domain characters and stories? Is it just fun to play in “someone’s sandbox,” or is there a larger cultural benefit to authors building on and expanding the works of those who came before? What might happen if more creative works were to enter into the public domain? And is copyright “stealing” from the public?

I’m joined a great roundtable to help navigate these challenging questions! Barry Gregory is the man behind Ka-Blam Digital Printing (and the provider of audio hosting for this show!). Barry teamed up with Steven Butler to create Gallant Comics featuring public domain characters created by Jack Kirby, Bill Everette, and others. Kim Holm is the author of the graphic novel adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s Pikman’s Model, which you can purchase or download for free on archive.org.

We’re joined later by Erin Helmrich of the Ann Arbor District Library for another round of book recommendations!

Links mentioned in this episode:

• CAG 38 – Ideas are Crap
• CAG 12 – Calling all LCS
• CAG 68 – Watson and Holmes
• Public Domain
• “Greatest Story Ever Told”
• Cthulu (South Park)
• John Aman, Prince of Orphans
• The Amazing Man, John Aman
• H.P. Lovecraft
• Sergio Aragonés
• The definition of “Free” software
• DreamStudio

Book recommendations:

• Red Handed: The Fine Art of Strange Crimes
• My Dirty Dumb Eyes
• Rob Hanes Adventures
• Genesis by R. Crumb
• Neste gang blir alt riktig
• Letting it Go

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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Comics Are Great! 79 – The Final Superhero Discussion with Dan Mishkin and Dean Trippe

Superheroes! Batman! Superman! Dean Trippe! Dan Mishkin, and more!

Over the past years we’ve seen more and more summer blockbusters featuring superhero characters and stories. Are they just fashionable again, or is there something to these kinds of stories that connects us to them? What characterizes an effective superhero story? I’m grateful to be joined by two of the best sources on the topic for a walk around this idea. Dan Mishkin is the co-creator of Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld and Blue Devil (with writing credits on stories about Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and more) as well as one of the founders of the annual Kids Read Comics Celebration. Dean Trippe is the creator of Butterfly, co-founder of Project: Rooftop, co-host of The Last Cast, and owner of the most Batman-filled Tumblr you’ve ever seen. Together we have the definitive discussion on the hows and whys of superhero stories.

We’re joined at the end by Erin Helmrich of the Ann Arbor District Library for another round of comics recommendations!

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Spider-Boy
• A review of Dan’s work on DC Comics Presents #50 – where Clark Kent teams up with Superman
• Footprints in the Sand
• Strawberry Shortcake
• Last Cast #9 – Amalgam Comics
• Superman 141 – Superman returns to Krypton
• Curt Swan
• the Stuff Said podcast
• Ryan Estrada is a superhero
• Dean Trippe’s You’ll Be Safe Here
• Flavors.me

Book Recommendations:

• Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade
• Showcase Present: Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld
• Chickenhare
• Mermin
• Vader’s Little Princess
• My Dog: The Paradox

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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Comics Are Great! 81 – Pacific Rim and the Analytic Eye

Pacific Rim! Jaegers! Kaiju! Dave Roman! and Spoilers!

I’m joined by Dave Roman for a talk on how the author’s analytic eye affects his or her enjoyment of media. What happens when you can’t stop picking at story when reading a book or watching a film? Besides making you insufferable at parties, are there any other side effects? Benefits?

Spoiler alert! Throughout our discussion we use the film Pacific Rim as a basis of meditation. So if you have not seen the movie yet and hate spoilers, I suggest you wait before listening to this episode!

Links mentioned in this episode:

• CAG Episode 40 – Jim Henson was Complicated
• The Kids’ Comics Revolution Podcast
• The Saturday Supercast
• Astronaut Academy
• Star Tours
• Ben Hatke
• Raina Telgemeier
• Zack Giollongo
• Dean Trippe
• Speed Racer
• Man of Steel
• the Toy Story trilogy
• The Incredibles
• Monsters, Inc.
• Monsters University

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing.

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Comics Are Great! 78 – Cartoon Appeal with Chris Giarrusso

Designing characters with appeal, G-Man, writing from life, and more!

It’s hard enough to learn how to draw, but things get even dicier when we start talking about what it takes to create appeal. Fortunately I’m joined by Chris Giarrusso of the eminently appealing G-Man series and Dave Carter of the University of Michigan comics and video game Library. Together we discuss how using kid logic, exploring character choices, and trusting your voice are essential elements to creating a story with appeal.

We’ve also got another round of book recommendations with Sharon Iverson of the Ann Arbor District Library!

Links mentioned in this episode (thanks to Eric Klooster for collecting them!):

• G-Man vol. 3 is out now!
• The Kids Read Comics pre-conference: Comics, Collections, and the Common Core, June 21!
• The Kids’ Comics Revolution Awards, where kids vote on their favorite comics
• The Stuff Said podcast (episodes 1 and 2 feature an in-depth interview with Chris)
• Silver Age Comics
• Comic Strip Syndication
• All the things you can’t do in animation
• Thor
• Dan Mishkin
• Wendy, Marvin, and Wonderdog
• Delilah Dirk
• The Oatmeal
• XKCD
• Cyanide and Happiness
• Paul Giamatti

Chris’ G-Man commercial (a great parody of the infamous Rob Liefeld Levi’s commercial)

Book Recommendations:

• Justice League Unlimited, Vol 1
• Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong
• Ghandi: a Manga Biography
• Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales
• Pandemonium
• Will and Whit
• The Mighty Skullboy Army

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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Comics Are Great! 77 – Action and Comedy with Tony Cliff and the Houghton Brothers!

Chris Houghton! Shane Houghton! Tony Cliff! And more!

How do you design awesome action sequences? What’s the secret to writing scenes that make the audience roar with laughter? I know I couldn’t answer these questions on my own, so I’m grateful to be joined by the perfect roundtable for the job: Tony Cliff, author of the soon-to-be-released Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant, and Chris and Shane Houghton of Bongo’s Simpsons Comics, Adventure Time comics, and Reed Gunther! Together we explore why understanding character is so crucial to comedy, and why understanding movement is so crucial to action.

We’ve also got another round of book recommendations with Erin Helmrich of the Ann Arbor District Library!

Links mentioned in this episode (thanks to Eric Klooster for collecting them!):

• Cosplay
• Nickelodeon Animation
• Disney Animation
• The Illusion of Life
• The Animator’s Survival Kit
• Scott McCloud: Blood in the Gutter
• Scott Adams
• Stalactites and Stalagmites
• Lajos Egri
• G.I. Joe: Retaliation
• Brandon Dayton
• John Carter
• Invisible Ink
• LA Story
• Wreck-It Ralph
• Rejected Comics by Chris and Shane Houghton
• The video trailer for the Kairos BD

Chris and Shane make a deal with the devil!

Book Recommendations:

• Stargazing Dog
• Relish: My Life in the Kitchen
• Hilda and the Bird Parade
• The Doug TenNapel Sketchbook
• Chris Schweizer’s Sketchbook
• Not My Bag
• Snow Crash

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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Comics Are Great! 76 – Bringing the Gods to Life with George O’Connor

He-Man! Zeus! Posedion! Olympians rule! George O’Connor, and more!

What better medium than comics to capture the majesty and mayhem of Greek Mythology? Especially in the hands of celebrated cartoonist George O’Connor, creator of The Olympians series from First Second books. Together we talk about kid logic, how an author must get to the heart of their characters, and how the poetry of a visual medium like comics can be utilized to express larger-than-life (yet true-to-life) ideas.

Links mentioned in this episode (thanks to Eric Klooster for collecting them!):

• King Randor
• The mini-comics that came packaged with He-Man figures
• Olympians: About the Gods
• Clawful
• Wun-Dar
• Walter Simonson’s Thor Omnibus
• Volstagg
• Heracles
• Theseus
• Major Bludd
• Prince Valiant
• The “Shut up and take my money!” image
• The Superego podcast
• Superego studies G.I. Joe
• Dungeon
• Love and Rockets
• The Comics Journal interview with George, where you can find out more about The Thunderers!

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

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Comics Are Great! 75 – Editing Graphic Novels with Calista Brill

Editing, writing, graphic novels, First Second Books, and more!

I’m excited to talk with Calista Brill, Senior Editor at First Second Books, about the entire process of developing and publishing a graphic novel. What does a good pitch look like? What qualities are editors looking for in a graphic novel proposal? Once the book is acquired, what happens then? How does the editor/author partnership work?

It’s a really fun and instructive conversation with one of the people responsible for the terrific changes happening in the comics publishing landscape.

We’re also joined by Sharon Iverson of the Ann Arbor District Library for another round of book talks!

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Thien Pham
• Dave Roman
• Tony Cliff
• Calista’s blog post “When to Give Up”
• Dave Roman’s blog post “Before You Give Up…Try Changing It Up”
• Gina Gagliano’s blog post on “Publishing vs Kickstarter”
• Gina’s appearance on CAG 65 – Behind the Scenes of Publishing
• Astronaut Academy Day and the Astronaut Academy Pre-Order Event

Book recommendations:

• Astronaut Academy
• Prime Baby
• Sketch Monsters: Escape of the Scribbles
• Reed Gunther
• Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant
• I Kill Giants
• Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong
• Sumo
• Relish
• Primates
• Jerusalem
• Odd Duck
• Robot Dreams
• Sweaterweather
• Red Handed: The Fine Art of Strange Crimes
• A Bride’s Story

Live streams every other Wednesday at Comicsaregreat.tv and on Google+!

Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing. This episode was recorded live at the Ann Arbor District Library.

Follow Jerzy and First Second Books on Twitter!
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Support the show and get a PDF comic!
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