Updates soon.

Lots of stores, art and stories coming soon...like tonight. Just been busy.

1st Day out selling!

So I went out selling yesterday. I finally got everything geared up and ready and I went out. The first day had eight stores on the list...none of which I called to let them tell me no on the phone. I know it is taking a chance on wasting some time, and I may change my strategy after too much time lost, but for now...it is my chosen strategy.

I am going to be brutally honest about the stores I visit. I am going to grade them here on a number of criteria. Each will be on a scale of 1-10 and a final tally for a total store scoring from me will be at the bottom of each store description and report.

1) Appearance of store
2) Use of space
3) Cleanliness
4) friendliness (before they meet me)
5) Did they greet me at the door?
6) Willingness to carry indy titles
7) Parking
8) Signage (is it visible?)
9) Salesmanship (does this retailer actually sell?)
10) General feel (what vibe did I get?)


The first store on the list was WILD PIG COMICS in Kenilworth, NJ. They turned out to be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. I was not terribly impressed with the store from the outside. They had a sign on the door that stated that they were sold out of CAP #25. This kind of annoyed me because I would think that any chance to get someone in the door is a good thing. If it were my store, I would verbally tell people and then ask if they want me to see if I can get it...then talk to them about other things. I would ask questions and such. Maybe I could make another sale. Having the sign on the door turned people away before they even came in if the customer was simply looking for that one book. Also, I noticed very sun washed cardboard stand-ups in the window where I could literally see the dust build-up through the not very clean windows. I will go back here, but I wasn't impressed for a first visit. They are probably one of those old stores with a huge pull list. How can I know without talking to someone? No score can be given.

The second place I stopped in was COMIC EXPLOSION in Nutley, NJ. Scott is the owner here. He greeted me at the door, even though he could sense I wanted to sell him something. That was good of him not to judge. The store does seem like it has been around for a while. It is clean though and he uses his space as best as he can. He has a slightly defeatist attitude when he talks about his clientelle. It can be understood, I guess. If you step outside of the store and look down the street, you can literally see the EMPIRE STATE BUILDING...and know that JIM HANLEY'S is right there. His store certainly seems small in such a shadow, but it is a good, well run store, it seems. He has about 200 subscriptions. He did buy from me and I also agreed to come back on April 4th to sell and sign on a Wednesday.

He bought:

(2) OBS trades
(2) OBS V.2 #1
(2) OBS V.2 #2
(2) OBS V.2 #3
(3) HERETIC #1
(2) D2D #1
(2) D2D #2
(2) D2D #3
(2) D2D #4
(2) D2D #5
(1) Project Eon #1
(1) Project Eon #2
(1) Project Eon #3
(1) Scatterbrian #1
(1) Scatterbrain #2
(1) Scatterbrain #3
(1) Scatterbrain #4
(1) Dark Mists #1
(1) Dark Mists #2
(1) Dark Mists #3
(1) Dark Mists #4


Here are the scores for COMIC EXPLOSION:

1) Appearance of store (8)
The store was clean and neat, if not somewhat dated. Still, I didn't feel like it was a dingy old place to shop.

2) Use of space (5)
There is not a lot of room in the store, but I think that the racks are confusing. I saw an issue of an EVENT COMICS Painkiller Jane/Hellboy up there. I would think that should be in the back issue bins. I think Scott is on the right track, just a little more organization could help.

3) Cleanliness (9)
No issues here. It just looks a bit old is all, but is certainly clean and well kept.

4) friendliness (before they meet me) (10)
Again, Scott met me at the door with a greeting and a smile.

5) Did they greet me at the door? (10)
I know this is redundant, but there is a difference between getting greeted at the door and a feeling of friendliness as you shop. Scott was very pleasent.

6) Willingness to carry indy titles (7)
I know this is due to space limitations, but he seemed to have that general feeling that indy comics can't sell because his clients do not buy them. But it is a vicious circle. If they are not available, who can buy them? He did have some up there though. The big small guys like DYNAMITE and IDW. If you haven't guessed by now, I do not count IMAGE or DARK HORSE as indy in my world because they are not bunched in the back with all of us fighting it out in the trenches. This is not a insult to those guys...just a observation. I would rather be IMAGE or DARK HORSE so we could be in the front of the book.

7) Parking (3)
They have a couple spaces out front on the street, but I can see that I would have to park as much as a block away if I were a regular.

8) Signage (is it visible?) (10)
No complaints here. Good signage.

9) Salesmanship (does this retailer actually sell?) (5)
I am not quite sure how to handle this. It seems he does sell to the best of his ability. However, I feel a retailer is best selling when they are utlizing their subscription base. If you have ever heard me on CGS, you know that I believe in selling to your loyal customers, which he doesn't do to the extent that I suggest.

10) General feel (what vibe did I get?) (8)
I got the feeling that Scott is not too far gone. A lot of retailers will not even give a chance to small press. Scott did. I think he is somewhat jaded living in the shadow of the huge stores just across the river like MIDTOWN and JIM HANLEY'S, but he cares for his store and I would certainly not mind calling this my LCS if I lived in town.

Totak score for COMIC EXPLOSION: 72 out of 100



The third store of the day was KRYPTONITE COMICS in North Bergen, NJ. This store seems to be out of business or has moved.

The fourth store on the list was A&S COMICS AND CARDS in North Bergen, NJ. The only person there was a worker and not a manager or owner. I spoke briefly with him and he gave me the name and number of the manager. It turns out they have two stores. I will contact the manager.

Here are the scores:


1) Appearance of store (3)
Apart from some very cool, home made drawer boxes made out of wood, the store was not a store I would say somebody cared for and took the time to arrange. Nothing was marked and it was a mess.

2) Use of space (4)
This is a tiny store, but they must have a better way. Nothing was easy to find at all. Tiny rack also which told me that there was going to be a hard sell ahead of me as their rack does not even have the size to carry all of DC or Marvel's titles in a given week.

3) Cleanliness (1)
Honestly, I don't think this store has been cleaned in a long...long time.

4) friendliness (before they meet me) (10)
I do have to say that the owner and manager picked the right fella to run the store in their absence. They have a very friendly guy working there. He smiles and seems knoweledable about everything but indy comics.

5) Did they greet me at the door? (10)
Very nice greeting.

6) Willingness to carry indy titles (2)
If I can get our books into this store, it very well may be the first indy comics from the back of PREVIEWS in this store.

7) Parking (2)
This is a main street. Hardly any parking at all.

8) Signage (is it visible?) (2)
Unfortunately, the sign does not jump out at all.

9) Salesmanship (does this retailer actually sell?) (2)
While he is konwledgable, the employee didn't seem like a salesman at all. Very friendly, just not sales minded.

10) General feel (what vibe did I get?) (5)
Thanks to the friendliness of the employee, this is not a 1 or 2. I would certainly seek other stores if I lived in this town, however.

I know these reviews seem critical, and they may even hurt feelings if they are viewed by the stores I am reviewing, but it is important I think to treat your comic book store as a actual business because it is and every dirty and poorly run store means less new comic fans in my opinion.

Total score for A&S COMICS & CARDS in North Bergen, NJ: 41 out of 100

I then stopped by LEFT FIELD COLLECTIBLES in North Bergen, NJ. This store also is either out of business or has moved.

Next up? Reality's Edge in North Arlington. This store is also either closed or moved.

I then drove up the road in North Arlington and found PARADOX COMICS. Carol and Scott are the owners. Scott was not in and he does the ordering. I had a great conversation with Carol. She said that they will probably give Markosia a chance and I am supposed to call back to talk to Scott.

Here are the scores:

1) Appearance of store (10)
They had a great stand-up, wooden painted Spiderman out front. The window was not cluttered with out of date posters that have been faded by the sun. Walking in, you knew that they cared and cleaned. The stores was small, but laid out with a lot of tought behind it. Great first impression!

2) Use of space (10)
For a small place, they really do a great job! They have a very unique way of displaying action figures so they do not take up shelf space. (it actually reminded me to start bringing my camera with me.) I was very impressed. Their new arrival racks are big for such a small store.

3) Cleanliness (10)
Clean as a whistle. Well kept!

4) friendliness (before they meet me) (10)
I had a great feeling being in this store. Carol is a sewwtheart.

5) Did they greet me at the door? (10)
Yes. I received a nice hearty hello upon entering.

6) Willingness to carry indy titles (7)
They had a lot of DYNAMITE and VIRGIN and a few IDW and DEVIL'S DUE. They seem open to more.

7 parking: (4)
They are across the street from a huge cemetary. There really only seems to be parking on one side of the street and could be a problem on Wednesdays.

8) Signage (is it visible?) (9)
If it only had lights for nightime...but the sign is huge!

9) Salesmanship (does this retailer actually sell?) (5)
Carol is obviously not someone who grew up hoping that one day, she would marry a man who would then open a comic book store where she would work...but that said, she does her best. She has learned quite a bit. She is also very pleasent. If they sold to their pull lists, it would be even better.

10) General feel (what vibe did I get?) (9)
I really liked this store. I would be happy to call it my LCS if I lived there!

Total score for PARADOX COMICS: 84 out of 100



The eight and final stop of the day was a visit to North Plainfield, NJand a stop at JC COMICS. I met the owner there and I honestly believe he thought I was a mini-comic guy or someone just starting out and making copies of my comics at KINKOS or something. (This is not a insult to those guys because I have been there and it is hard.)

I had to explain who I was because he had never...EVER heard of anything that has to do with Markosia and didn't even know that there was a STARSHIP TROOPERS series. He does not do the ordering and referred me to his partner to call.

Here is how JC Comics scored:

1) Appearance of store (10)
Very nice, modern and clean store in a shopping center.

2) Use of space (7)
While they use every bit of it, a little creativity could go a long way.

3) Cleanliness (10)
Not a spek of dust that I could see.

4) friendliness (before they meet me) (5)
They were not rude, but were not terribly friendly.

5) Did they greet me at the door? (0)
I was there for five minutes before anyone even came out from the back. I noticed no cameras and thought it odd that they would not want to watch me...a stranger. I could have jacked a statue or something.

6) Willingness to carry indy titles (4)
This is going to be a hard sell, I think. They do not carry very many indy titles at all it seems.

7) Parking (10)
Nice sized parking lot.

8) Signage (is it visible?) (7)
This isn't really their fault. They are right next to a blockbuster and they tend to get lost. It is a major busy street and unless you are looking, you will miss it. However, kudos for the placement next to a Blockbuster. They get great foot traffic it seems.

9) Salesmanship (does this retailer actually sell?) (2)
I did not get the feeling that they sell at all.

10) General feel (what vibe did I get?) (5)
Nice looking store but not the most friendly.

Total Score for JC COMICS: 60 out of 100

On the production side, Bruce McCorkindale has been busy. here are a couple more pages from Heretic:









I also sent out 10 copies each of OBS tpb, S&M tpb and THE HUNGER tpb to In Stock Trades, which is a re-order, so they must be doing ok.

The Bethlehem Public Library also bought about 9 trades.

Every one counts!

Research

I am rocking on this new idea! I was at the library this morning to check out about nine different boks for referance. They are going to help big time. At this point, all I can say is that it deals with a couple of my favorite subjects...theology and spies!

I even started the first page of script. I am sooo diging this!

I gots me an idear!!!!

Man...

I am so freakin' excited.

I was in the office...and by in the office, I mean in the bathroom. It is where I get my best thinking in, like any red blood man. And it hit me!

I am so ready to do a series like this. I can't say what it is, but it is timely, topical, action packed and features a main character that is unlike anything in comics! I can't believe nobody has thought of this before. I am getting some research in and writing a script for a five issue mini-series immediately and will find an artist as fast as I can!

I love this part of the creation process. This is when I get jazzed!

Good Stuff!

Bruce McCorkindale sent in a penciled cover for issue four of HERETIC. He is freakin' knocking me out! I am so proud of this series so far and I sure hope Joe Nassise has been as proud. I have to tweak the next script for Bruce by the weekend as he will be done with the issue he is currently working on. Here is the cover.


I am excited to rent CASINO ROYALE tonight. Chris hasn't seen it and I have to say that it is my favorite Bond film.

Speaking of films.

I absolutely loved 300. I am so happy to see it do the numbers it did for a couple of reasons. The first is my "I LOVE FRANK MILLER" reason! He is just about my favorite creator of all time and he inspired me to write comics. I am happy to see his visions hitting the screen with success. The second is my "I LOVE ME" reason. The better comic properties do, the more of a chance OF BITTER SOULS has to make it in TV. One can hope!








Dan O'Connor also is hard at work on pages for KONG: KING OF SKULL ISLAND. Here are a couple pages.

























Things are heating up with SMOKE & MIRROR. Daniel Bradford has finished layouts for the entire second issue. (script by Andrew Foley)


I'll have some of that soon.

I am going to be hitting the road soon. I will be going to as many retailers as I can over the next months, stopping in in person, as I had hoped to do last year. I am starting next week on Monday. I will probably be in New Jersey for a few weeks on day trips. The good folks at COMIC GEEK SPEAK have been helping me by telling me about all of their LCS locations.

If you are reading this and you are not a member of the COMIC GEEK SPEAK community, you really should be checking it out. Just go to click here.

I re-read my ABSOLUTE DARK KNIGHT again. Man, do I love that work. DK2 tends to grow on me.

Freddie E. Williams, just before he went exclusive at DC, did a piece for the cover of the OBS V.2 Trade Paperback. My friend, Fiona Staples did one, but I am going to use that for the back cover due to the fact that while, it has grown on me and I love it, I am not sure it works for the cover.


Here is the colored version of Frediie's cover:


























And here is Fiona's piece. Man, I love her work! I wish to Hell I could use this for the cover. Markosia thnks it may be better used elsewhere. She also drew DONE 2 DEATH, which I love.




















I'll have more soon!

Self Important comic book pro pictures

Has anybody noticed myspace, comicspace, blogs, Wizard and other sites where comic book pros seem to look like they have posed for the cover of "serious self-important people" instead of just, People?

They kind of remind me of zoolander.

Here is what I mean:

Waiting on reactions...

I wanted to get to my LCS today, but never got there. I am excited to hear what the reactions are on HERETIC #1. It was a releatively slow day. I cleaned my writing studio though. Dan O'Connor and his wife, Kayla came over to scan the cover to #0, so I didn't want him to think I am as much as a pig as I really am, so I straightened everything up. Since it was a really boring day otherwise, I thought I would take pictures of where I write. Yes, it is that boring of a day from a production standpoint...

This is a shot of my uber geek comic book racks right in my writing studio. BY the way, writing studio in my house stands for poorly lit basement shared with storage and the Markosia stock pile.
The pictures on the right side of the filing cabinent is by Fiona Staples and it is a promo for DONE TO DEATH, by Staples and Andrew Foley. Uhmmm...the gray box above and to the right of the filing cabinent is a fuse box.
That gamecube on the floor is where my son plays video games. The rackon the right is where I keep copies of comic sthat I have written. the comic rack on the left are comics I currently read and collect.

This picture is my collection of PREVIEWS and COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE. I tried to collect Wizard and nothing against it, but I am not really interested in that magazine as a creator. Instead, I read COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE. Ok, I am competely lying. I really don't even read CBG. I swear I don't. I simply read through looking for reviews of my stuff as well as reviews of my friend's stuff. On the rare occasion when one has a review of mine...and one of my friend's projects...I then pay close attention to who got a better review. That is how vain I am.
The OF BITTER SOULS banner is from when I was with Speakeasy. It is the cover to issue three of the first volume.








This is a shot of my "writing studio". The empty space in the forefront is where my 11X17 scanner used to be. Dan borrowed the scanner for the time being so he doesn't have to keep coming over to scan KONG pages.

The poster on the back wall is a cool CBLDF poster. Also, there is an EARTH X poster by Dave Riske up as well. Dave did some covers for SMOKE & MIRROR and he did the variant cover HERETIC #1.



I watched LOST tonight and I really have to say that it is losing me big time. It just doesn't have the same umph that it used to. It has completely "lost" my wife and my brother, who was over for dinner, left to go home when it came on. I am still digging BATTLESTAR though. HEROES is cool, but I am not sure they are going to keep me. It doesn't seem to me to be going anywhere. I don't know. We'll see. The shows I absolutely dig the most are BATTLESTAR, DEXTER, THE DAILY SHOW, COLBERT REPORT and I am absolutely looking forward to THE RICHES on FX.

I'm definitely looking forward to 300. I am going with some friends tomorrow night. My dad works in a theater during his retirement from Mack Trucks and that means, since he is the projectionist, we can go in on Thursday night when they are screening the films to make sure nothing is wrong with them. I am also looking forward to the release of CASINO ROYALE on DVD. I saw it in the theater, but my wife didn't. I think it is absolutely the best of the BOND films I have seen...and I have seen a lot of BOND films.

Lots of writing to do. Got to go.

HERETIC #1 is out today

Hey all, my new series, HERETIC begins today with #1 as it hits the stands. I hopes ya dig. Please give it a try.

On another note, I forgot to mention that Andrew Foley wrote the script for issue 2 of SMOKE & MIRROR, for which I posted images yesterday. We worked the story together and he helped me out of a scrape. Thanks, Andrew.

KONG Issue Zero Cover is in

Dan O'Connor delivered the final approved cover to issue zero of KONG: KING OF SKULL ISLAND tonight. That was a treat. He is already hard at work on the eight page teaser story in issue zero.

I am so stoked for this project. It is an icon and I get to write him for his 75th anniversary. Wow!

We are talking to the Empire State Building to have a possible gallery show and party for KONG's 75th! Jim Hanley's Universe (my buddy, Vito) is across the street and will be hosting a signing for issue one the same night. I'll post when I know the date. We are also thinking about drinks at the eatery right inside the ESB, Heartland Brewery.

Bruce is coming along with pages for HERETIC. Here is one. He is kicking ass on this project. He is literally my favorite artist to work with thus far into my fledgling career. He is just a workhorse and we have a ton of similar interests. We have vowed that someday we will earn enough money to quit comics and join the world poker tour.

We had our first review for Heretic today at www.bookgasm.com . It was fairly cool but I think the reviewer may not read too may comics. He liked our version of HERETIC, but I don't think he understands comic book art.

HERETIC #1 comes out tomorrow in NOrth America. I hope people dig it. Bruce and I (especially Bruce) worked hard to bring Joe Nassise's book to life. I hope he is proud of it.

On other fronts, SMOKE & MIRROR is coming out later in the year to finish what we started. Daniel Bradford is back on art and he is looking good. I am so glad we are back on. There really isn't any other artist in my book for the series anymore. It is kind of like Breyfogle with OF BITTER SOULS. I would have a tough time working with anybody else for that series just like I would have a hard time working on SMOKE & MIRROR without Daniel Bradford.

Check these out:

If I haven't shown any art for NO OTHER GODS (which I am co-writin with Brian Augustyn) then here is Alessandro Scacchia:

I started 13 STEPS #2 tonight. I am going to try and do that, finish HERETIC #3 edits, and write KONG #1 all before the end of this weekend.

Monday...ugh

The weekend is over and I actually got my script for KONG: KING OF SKULL ISLAND #0 turned in. I didn't think it was going to get done. I ended up having to bring my little guy, Luke to a birthda party and Chris had to work yesterday. I really thought I would miss my first deadline and consequently let Joe DeVito, the creator of the book, down.

But I dug in...and finished it.

Dan O'Connor, who is awaiting approval from Joe for the cover, has started some thumbnails for the pages. Here is one:

On the 13 STEPS front, I heard from Phil. Kevin Mellon, who penciled GEARHEAD from ARCANA (which is in PREVIEWS now) is definitely going to be the penciler.

He gave us a couple of character sketches this weekend. I am very excited to work with Kevin and I really believe 13 STEPS is going to do well. I am very proud of the script that Phil and I put together. I think working with Phil brought out the best in me. My dialogue on this book is spot on and there are some very very funny lines. I even got to swipe a line in homage to one of my favorite movies...THE BIG LEBOWSKI!

Below are the character sketches from Kevin:

On the Faragut & Foster front, Sal Cipriano, who co-created the series with me, just lettered Karl Slominski's pages and I have to say...this is one cool looking book.

Check these out:

NO OTHER GODS is going well too. We heard from Alessandro and he says he will be needing the script to issue two right away. He is kicking out some amazing pages. I'll post some of those soon. No word from Dan River on CLOUD 9. I also should probably check in with Daniel Bradford on the SMOKE & MIRROR relaunch.

Dan O'Connor is having fun with his new toy. Joe DeVito gave him a foam rubber KONG of his own design for posing. Here he is with his own little KONG.

KONG CAMP!

Dan O'Connor (Kong artist) and I are going to the home of Joe Devito, creator of KONG: KING OF SKULL ISLAND. We are getting schooled in KONG so Dan calls it going to Kong Camp. This is actually very cool. Joe is pretty much the world's foremost authority on KONG and it turns out that the three of us live only thirty minutes apart! That is amazing.

I'll take pictures today and show you the studio of the Kong King.

This has been a somewhat stress free day...thank God! I started KONG in earnest today, working on an eight page adaptation of the two page prologue from the book. We are doing a issue zero that sets up the series. It will also contain series sketches and a preview of issue one. It should be pretty cool.

I think we are coming close to a deal with the artist of the very best book (other than mine... :) ) that I saw at the con, GEARHEAD. Phil Hester and I are co-writing a series called 13 STEPS and this artist, Kevin Mellon (spelling?) is my first choice. I am just waiting on Phil.

I pitched Marvel an idea today. I got fairly close a few weeks ago with something for MARVEL PRESENTS, but it didn't happen. Hopefully this new one will get that long sought-after yes.

Still working on that list of books and trades and ogn's.

I heard from Sal Cipriano today. He is almost done with the letters for the first eight pages of THE UNCREDITED HISTORY OF FARAUT & FOSTER: ADVENTURERS FOR HIRE. We'll be pitching in earnest soon. I am very excited for that series to get pitched. Karl Slominski is doing an amazing job. Here are some of his pages...

More tomorrow.