The Great Comics Dare

Yesterday I asked a person I consider to be a knowledgeable and enthusiastic comic book fan to walk me through the New Comic Book Day shelves and recommend to me a bunch of titles I may or may not be familiar with. I was not able to buy everything, but I purchased 8 of the recommended titles:

Booster Gold
Big Hero 6
Hellblazer Presents: Chas The Knowledge
The Incredible Hercules
Daredevil
Criminal
House of Mystery
Justice Society of America

As I've said, some of these titles I have read before, and some are brand new.

Now I'm going to jump in and read them and gauge what level of "old skool comics appreciation' each title engenders in me. Will let you know.

Is anybody reading these books?

Parents Who Don't Like Their Kids Reading Comic Books

If you are lucky, when you were a kid you had parents or guardians who didn't completely hate the idea that you liked comic books.

My mother absolutely hated the idea that I collected comics. Not for the usual Wertham-esque reasons that comics would rot my brains or make me into a serial killer, but because they weren't feminine enough for me. She thought they would muck up my teenage socialization because they were a non-"gender appropriate" activity.

And to be terribly frank with you, she was right to an extent -- I got teased a bit in school for being a comics fan (this was the mid-80s, to give you some perspective). Now, how much of that teasing was for the simple geekery of being a fan and how much of it was for being a female collector? Who can say?

But I still would have liked support at home, regardless of my hobbies. Instead, my Mom engaged in a war against my comics, the crowning achievement of which was to tear the comics up in little postage-stamp-sized pieces and throw them in the air like party confetti.

A word to any parents out there who might be considering a similar tactic to rid their kids from habits they don't like: it doesn't work. It only imprints in their mind, at a time of their lives where they're just looking for something to rebel against anyhow, that it is heroic to "not give up the fight." You create stubborn children this way.

A friend of mine's father took things one step further. He took all of my friend's comics and burned them into ashes in an oven. My friend grew up to be a comic book hoarder.

Seven Ways To Market Your Comic Book And Yourself

So you have a comic book -- be it from a major publisher, an indie imprint, or self-published.

Any way you slice it, you are going to need to effectively market yourself.

Notice I said "market yourself" -- not market the book.

Hell, of course you have to market the book. But, in such a highly competitive arena in which you have found yourself, You as Creator will be just as important as Your Book.

Here are a few tips:

1. Think Small
Imagine, if you will, how many e-mails a typical online editor of a goodly-sized comic book website must get. A great portion of those e-mails are, "Please feature/review/promote/mention my book."

Now, what you have to ask yourself is, "how am I going to stand out in that crowded inbox?"

One strategy you might find useful is to not depend on the bigger sites/blogs but concentrate on the key smaller ones. A key smaller site/blog may not have as many hits as Newsarama, but would have good writing and a core readership.

This is not to say you shouldn't send your PR e-mails to the large sites. You should definitely cover those bases. But sometimes it is better to be a well-featured fish in a smaller pond than a drop of water in a big ocean.

2. Don't Assume Your Publisher Will Handle the PR
Even if you're with a bigger publisher, it is still up to you to promote your book. Don't assume that your company will do that for you, leaving you alone to concentrate on the finer points of Milkshake Man.

Sometimes your publisher WILL go all-out to promote your book. And sometimes, especially if you're starting out/you are not high-profile/your book is not high-profile, there will be a lack of PR. It's just a matter of how thin the publisher can spread their public relations budget/time.

Bottom line: always proceed as if your publisher is under-promoting your book, and the job is on your shoulders. That said, please mind the individual "disclosure" policies of your editors/companies.

3. You Are Selling YOU.
If you're a freelance comic book writer or artist, there is a good chance that you will need to line up another job after this one. You, as a freelancer, must "sell" yourself PR-wise all the time.

Especially for the bigger/edgier publishers, you as a creative entity are a Package. You are your talent and You. In some cases, with some people, that will be more blatant than others. And there are some publishers and editors who do not care about stuff like that. But, this is becoming more and more the trend.

So, there are certain things you should keep in mind:

• It is important that you have another non-comics stream of income either coming in or immediately waiting in the wings (unless you are already able to comfortably able to support yourself purely on your writing/art). It's important because if you seem desperate, if that next comic is going to be the difference between you paying your phone bill or having to use smoke signals, people are going to pick up on it. That sort of neediness and desperation drives potential editors away.
• In fact, you always want to be in a position where people come to you, and not the other way around. Approaching an editor for work puts you at a disadvantage. To the editor, you are just one more out of the countless people wanting something from them. But, if you conduct a proper PR campaign (and if you have actual TALENT), you can get the word out there and increase the odds that people come to you. Not a guarantee. I'm just describing the ideal situation.
• Do a quick check on your overall image. You certainly don't have to be a Brad Pitt (or a John Cassaday), but you should be able to present yourself well. You should be able to be interviewed well. You should speak clearly. And you should be positive about yourself and your accomplishments.
• If you have conducted an objective analysis of your image and find it lacking, don't kick yourself over it. Image is just a bunch of crap used to help with sales & stuff. It's not an accurate reflection of your worth or who you really are. But if you think that you are standing in the way of your own publicity, consider getting an agent or some consulting.

4. YouTube It.
I have found that that the comic book-related tags on YouTube are very popular but relatively underused. Consider shooting a small videocast about yourself or your comic and posting it. I just post some little vidcasts and I get a bunch of subscribers. If you have a hair's more talent than I do with my crappy little video application, think of what you might accomplish. And you have a comic book to promote! Images! Be creative! (again, if working with a bigger publisher, make sure you know their policies on this and don't piss them off).

5. Educate Yourself On The Internet
There is a lot of inexpensive/free options out there on the Web to promote your comics and you. Educate yourself about them. Make sure you have the basics: a website, a Facebook, a MySpace, a blog. Because you might not have these things -- but your competitors do!

6. Network Network Network
A big portion of the sweet deals in comics in general are made through one's Network. Your Network is made up of all the people you've met and worked with along the way:

• If you want to build or increase your network base, be "cool" about it. Don't seem like an opportunist. Opportunists are talked about behind their back and called Opportunists. You avoid this by relating to the people you wish to network with as human beings and not Editor #5 or Big-Time Writer. Be natural.
• Remember the old adage, "the people you see on the way up are the people you'll see on the way down." Say you're moving up the ladder and you decide to treat Assistant Editor Y like crap. Assistant Y could be the guy in charge of hiring your ass one day. He or she could be in charge of the whole editorial department, even the president of a company. This happens more times than you think. And now Assistant Editor Y, who you dissed eight years ago, tells everyone: "don't work with X." And you're X! Don't be X. Don't even be W.

7. Reach Outside The Comic Book World
The success of comics like Perry Bible Fellowship and Y The Last Man have largely come from outside the standard comic book community. There is a whole untapped market of potential readers out there. Don't stick all your PR eggs in all one comic book media basket. Find other on-comic niches that might cotton to your comic and reach out to them.

Extra-Credit:
Professional Lettering
If you don't have professional lettering on your book, and the lettering looks like crap, you are in a big big big disadvantage. If you are promoting your smaller-pub/self-pub book or shopping it around, make sure you have invested in quality lettering. This is make-or-break stuff. Same thing goes for quality inking.

Well, I hope this little guide to help market your comic book and yourself helped you a little bit. There's a lot more that goes into a successful marketing/PR campaign for a book, but these are some good basics.

Remember, though: you have to have good content to "market." Most of the time.

How I Found Sex & Love At The New York ComicCon
Part One

Slow dancing with David G. in his kitchen to Richard Cheese singing a lounge version of "You Oughta Know." Two sets of plastic Marvel Comics action figures watch from their discreet perches above his kitchen shelves -- roughly 200 of then separated out by good guys and bad guys. Across from us an Archangel figure is mounted on the wall like a piece of modern sculpture.

"Marvel Legends," I remember telling him when seeing those toys for the first time. "Whoa. Good stuff. Good sculpts."

What does dating a fangirl really mean?

It means exactly that -- being with a woman who doesn't see 200 action figures in the kitchen as a minus, and who can appreciate the difference between the Marvel Legends line and that early-90s Toy Biz crap.

I never planned on dating David.

No, that's not true. When I first saw him at the New York Comic Con in February, I eagle-eye zoned in on him and planned on dating him. I rarely use such forwardness. Despite periodically joking that comic cons are my "meat market."

But on that Sunday as I walked into the crowded convention center, I had no intention of getting involved with another man. I wasn't even really intent on doing the ol' comic book pimparoo -- passing out business cards, shaking hands, and making a lot of crazy promises.

I didn't exactly want to be there at all. I was tired. I had spent every free moment working on the manuscript for my agent. I was physically and emotionally spent. And the act of so intensely reviewing every aspect of my life as a comic fan left me ambivalent regarding the industry. Well, ambivalent was a plus, a step up from abso-f**king-lutely jaded and spent. But still.

I was also intensely ambivalent about running into any of my former DC cohorts. Honestly, I preferred not to. I stuck w/Marvel & Artist's Alley. Sometimes, I would catch a glimpse of so-and-so and squint and think, "Hm. That's him now. Three years." Then it was back to Artist's Alley, or hanging out with one of several pockets of friends & associates.

I had a Catwoman mask in my knapsack. There were always chicks at these cons dressed as Emma Frost & Black Canary & whatnot & I thought I might experiment. I said to my friend Hassan,

"Dare me to put this on & pull a Sean Young?"

I saw the mask as part of a possible "Occasional Superheroine" crimefighting costume. Every superheroine should have at least a mask or knee-high vinyl boots.

"Occasional Superheroine" was a name that, among other things, stood for personal female disaster. It stood for this "batshit insane" rant written one tense morning following a humiliating failed attempt to talk down my $11,000+ bill at the hospital. It was a laundry-list of every man who let me down in my life. It was pretty damn-near nihilistic, the narrative of a personal apocalypse.

"Sorry very much for the incidents that destroyed you," wrote one overseas reader. The use of the word "destroyed" hit me particularly deeply.

Was I destroyed?

Could there be a "chapter two?"

I was still scared of sex. I couldn't give sex to men. Me and Donovan gave it the old college try. But I felt damaged, unmarketable. Or, if marketable, only as an "angry comic chick."

The day I met David, I was wearing a tight T-shirt that depicted Snoopy sticking his tongue out and had the phrase "Stop Staring At Me!" on the top.

I think Snoopy was right over my boobs.

David had showed up for the Valiant Comics panel, which I was scheduled to speak at. The only reason I decided to attend the con at all was to fulfill my obligation to panel moderator Jeff Gomez. Jeff was one of my old co-workers at Acclaim/Valiant. So was Hassan. Was it not for them and the Valiant Fans network spearheaded by John Rosas, it is likely that I might not have had the stones to attend these comic cons. But here I was, dragged out of my Batgirl Cave yet again.

And among the smallish but enthusiastic crowd gathering to attend the panel I saw David.

And I said to Self,

"Him. I want to know him better."

Totally unplanned. I literally pushed another person out of the way to talk to him. I pressed my business card (okay, an index card with a hastily-scribbled phone number) in his palm and said, "We should hang out."

"That would be awesome," he answered.

"We should really hang out," I repeated for emphasis.

Then I said,

"You know, we should really hang out."

"That would be awesome," he replied.

David didn't exude the usual fanboyness (besides the fact that he was attending the Valiant Comics panel discussion), so I was caught a little off-guard. No superhero shirt. He had a portfolio in his hands filled with samples of his advertising work, which he showed me. In the seconds before the panel started, I hastily tried to figure him out, to pin him down. He was different.

My cynicism, finely tempered through various and sundry events including a torn cervix and boyfriends who wanted to get an agreement up-front that I was "down" for pregnancy termination in the off-chance we screwed up, hemmed and hawed:

"Watch out, Xena," Cynical Superheroine cautioned, "This might be a trap. Ares might be behind it. You're better off playing pinochle with Joxer, drinking a warm beverage, and calling it a night."

But then I thought, as I approached the podium for the panel discussion, as I saw David in the crowd --

--what did I think? Should I tell you? Should I tell you what I thought, this utterly jaded, angry, distrustful, damaged Occasional Superheroine?

"Oh God...I know this sounds crazy. But. Please. Him."

Will Date For Ghost Rider Premiere Tickets

Will Date For Ghost Rider Premiere Tickets

Actually happened:
"Browsing" one of those online community bulletin board types of things -- you know, for research -- and a guy had an ad for the Ghost Rider premiere, he had one extra ticket and wanted to take a lady.

And I was like, "damnit, I want to see "Ghost Rider!"

So:

My e-mail (more or less): "Hi, I normally don't do this sort of thing but I'm a big comic book fan and I would like to go to the Ghost Rider premiere with you. I hasten to mention that I really never answer ads like this, but I really want to go. I'm 5'9", 125, and reasonably good-looking. With a great sense of humor. Also, I'm female."

His response: "The premiere already ended tonight. Sorry."

My response: "No problem. But if you get tickets for Spiderman 3, let me know."

Now, this ad was clearly under the "strictly platonic" section of the bulletin board so it wasn't like I was whoring myself for Ghost Rider premiere tickets. Of course, I gave a description of my physical features, but this was just so he would know what I looked like so when we met up he'd recognize me.

What I'm trying to say is,

I'm a liberated woman and I don't need to turn to bulletin boards to score me some Ghost Rider tickets.

Damnit, after work I'm going to see Ghost Rider!

I'm liberated! I score my own comic book swag!

***

Nick Cage is weird and a little self-important but I'm totally into him. Anybody who names themselves after second-string Marvel characters from the 1970's has a level of self-realization that I am only now starting to achieve.

***

In an interview, Cage credited Karen Carpenter as one of his inspirations for "Ghost Rider." I immediately thought this was because she was bony. Sometimes, I'm a frickin' idiot.

***

Will date for "Supergirl" comps. But only if they are of good quality and paint a picture of blond blue-eyed alien adolescence that squares away with my own set of values. If they are generally exploitative and have all the depth of a later episode of the the "Saved By The Bell" canon (after Mario Lopez left), am only willing to talk on phone for ten minutes about weather and politics.