FANTASY FEMALE FAILINGS
I’ve been reading quite a bit of negativity about current fantasy films with female leads failing, with the prevailing belief that audiences don’t want to watch female lead characters. I’ll venture the opinion, as a publisher and a content provider for other publishers, that guys do NOT hate women in leading roles. They hate 1.) […]
THE SCHOOL, NOT THE OLD
I had a conversation today with an editor buddy of mine who was put out to pasture long before his expiration date. And that got me wondering. Y’see, yesterday I went into my friendly neighborhood comic book shop and thumbed through a bunch of new comics from Marvel, DC, and several other companies — some […]
THE COMPULSION
TRUE STORY: What is this compulsion artists and colorists have to showcase their worst work in their portfolios? When I’ve reviewed samples across the decades, I’ve included notes on what to revise to make the pages usable. The hope, of course, is they’d make the revisions to create a publishable page and also show how […]
SCAMMERS EVERYWHERE
Sometimes these reminders need to be said: MUCH of social media, in particular Facebook, consists of scam ads. The too-good-to-be-true advertisements that show up in your feed usually are. If you see a marvelous product you want with a really low price and free shipping, use your head. Use Google to search the product, and […]
SCAMMERS BE SCAMMIN’
TRUE STORY: One of our artists brought us a client who wanted design work done. They asked him to start and would pre-pay. So far, so good. Even before we received the check, the client sent me multiple emails requesting a deposit receipt to confirm we’d received/ deposited the check. While doing so, he wrote […]
TODAY’S ART REVIEW
<<<Thanks for showing me. The work isn’t quite at the level we need for our clients. In terms of page details, a few quick notes: * Page 1 – Establishing shot/setting problems. In the panel 1 establishing shot, the only things to Bruce Banner’s right are double-doors, a smaller window, and the fast food service […]
SEEKING ADVICE
Today I received this email: “I’m looking for some advice. I’m an aspiring comic artist, I’m still learning by attending the last year of comic school. I’d like to know what a professional penciler or colorist portfolio should look like for you.” Here was my answer: Before submitting your portfolio, take the time to check […]
THE ELECTRIFYING TALE OF TESLA
True story: Two writers with whom I work dreamed up a TESLA comic book that teamed the real-life genius inventor Nikola Tesla with his real-life author friend Mark Twain for a buddy-action-movie-style series of adventures. At once clever and exciting and (overall) historically accurate, the scripts were illustrated by Filipino artist Bong Dazo, best known […]
UNREALITY CHECK
True story: A publisher planned to make a big splash at Comic-Con. He had an impressive 20’ x 20’ booth space in a desirable location and wanted to make the most of it. He’d ordered a massive metal booth from China that got shipped in directly to the Con. It all sounded great. The booth […]
POSTER CHILD
True story: A publisher made a deal to produce comics and posters featuring a popular YouTube celebrity. Glass House Graphics created 10 painted covers for the project. Because the celeb agreed to attend Comic-Con and spend the whole time signing at the booth, the publisher decided to release all the images as retail posters. “We’ll […]
