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May. 31st, 2020 01:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolariThoughts Before Bed.
Since High School, I had it in my head that I'd have a comic book company called "Blacktab Comics." On and off from 1987 to 1994, I looked into what it would take to get off the ground.
That all came to and end once I walked away from anime and comics in the mid 90s. It wasn't until 1997 that I thought about it again when I began looking into putting Closetspace online. I already had dolari.net and I'd considered putting the comics there under an official "Blacktab Comics" banner. I'd even taken the old "header" I'd mocked up as a kid and made it official (pic 2). It's actually appeared on the Closetspace CDs I made for the Trinoc conventions.
That ended up not happening, but about 2010 or so, things coalesced and got SUPER close to actually happening. At this point, I'd moved in with Crystal who had actually printed comics and Liz, another artist. We all worked in a tiny little studio where, unless you were arting, you weren't allowed in there. Even had a mirror on the door to keep that energy in. And between Crystal and myself, Venus Envy and Closetspace were at the height of their popularity.
About this time, I'd also started connecting with the old Comico publishers, artists and editors, just because I could. And the itch to publish started up again. I decided to steal an idea from Comico's publisher, Gerry Giovinco, and put a 21st Century twist to it.
The idea came from 1982's Primer from Comico. Each of us had a story to tell...what if we did it as a book? 28 pages, divided by four artists - each of us gets 7 pages. I'd be doing a story that was welling up in my head that had a working title of "The Military Story." Crystal would have done either a Venus Envy spinoff or a story that took place in Ancient Rome. I'd approached Liz with the idea and she was considering it. I waffled between several people to be our fourth artist. Justine Coven, Elizabeth Troub and Tess Flynn/Pazi Ashfeather were in the running.
The way the comic would have been published was we'd completely pay for the comic upfront. And not take any cash right away. Crystal already had publishing experience, so I planned to lean on her for that. Once we had the run, each of us, on our own websites, would advertise the print comic.
Any money we got selling the book would immediately go towards printing costs for the second book. Once we reached that point, we'd start work on Book 2, and any money from Book 1 that was still coming in would finally be distributed to the artists equally.
We would tell continuing stories in the book, and soliciting responses from the buyers as to which was their favorite comic. After Book 4, the most popular story would get spun off into it's own comic line. A new artist would come on, and start their story, and the whole cycle would start over again every two books.
We'd have a strong line of comics, each run based on popularity, and a showcase for new talent to either tell their stories in the Primer-like book and end, or possibly expand into their series.
Things got so far as me getting permission from Gerry to use the name "Primer" for the original book (although I found out way later that Andrew Rev might have had something to say about that), and trying to figure out what imprint to print the book under. Crystal's "Maniacal Platypus" label or my "Blacktab" label. I was working on a Graphic Novel of AWFW to be our first trade paperback.
Then I got diabetes, and all the costs that came with that, and it fell apart. There was some (very short-lived) interest from Pazi in trying to revive the book, but between the move to Seattle maxing out my credit cards, and my insulin quickly draining my bank account (not to mention my health going down the tubes, and my eyesight going bad for almost a year after I was diagnosed), it all fell apart in the end.
I actually thing it falling apart was a good thing. This was all very 1980s and 1990s thinking, and in hindsight, I doubt it would have been profitable for us to keep it going. Venus Envy and Closetspace were free online. Would they buy comics from us directly? Consistently? Once a month (or in the Blacktab version of Primer, Quarterly?). Probably not.
Blacktab will probably never happen. In fact, I'm sure of it. But we got close and it was fun ride until the end.
Since High School, I had it in my head that I'd have a comic book company called "Blacktab Comics." On and off from 1987 to 1994, I looked into what it would take to get off the ground.
That all came to and end once I walked away from anime and comics in the mid 90s. It wasn't until 1997 that I thought about it again when I began looking into putting Closetspace online. I already had dolari.net and I'd considered putting the comics there under an official "Blacktab Comics" banner. I'd even taken the old "header" I'd mocked up as a kid and made it official (pic 2). It's actually appeared on the Closetspace CDs I made for the Trinoc conventions.
That ended up not happening, but about 2010 or so, things coalesced and got SUPER close to actually happening. At this point, I'd moved in with Crystal who had actually printed comics and Liz, another artist. We all worked in a tiny little studio where, unless you were arting, you weren't allowed in there. Even had a mirror on the door to keep that energy in. And between Crystal and myself, Venus Envy and Closetspace were at the height of their popularity.
About this time, I'd also started connecting with the old Comico publishers, artists and editors, just because I could. And the itch to publish started up again. I decided to steal an idea from Comico's publisher, Gerry Giovinco, and put a 21st Century twist to it.
The idea came from 1982's Primer from Comico. Each of us had a story to tell...what if we did it as a book? 28 pages, divided by four artists - each of us gets 7 pages. I'd be doing a story that was welling up in my head that had a working title of "The Military Story." Crystal would have done either a Venus Envy spinoff or a story that took place in Ancient Rome. I'd approached Liz with the idea and she was considering it. I waffled between several people to be our fourth artist. Justine Coven, Elizabeth Troub and Tess Flynn/Pazi Ashfeather were in the running.
The way the comic would have been published was we'd completely pay for the comic upfront. And not take any cash right away. Crystal already had publishing experience, so I planned to lean on her for that. Once we had the run, each of us, on our own websites, would advertise the print comic.
Any money we got selling the book would immediately go towards printing costs for the second book. Once we reached that point, we'd start work on Book 2, and any money from Book 1 that was still coming in would finally be distributed to the artists equally.
We would tell continuing stories in the book, and soliciting responses from the buyers as to which was their favorite comic. After Book 4, the most popular story would get spun off into it's own comic line. A new artist would come on, and start their story, and the whole cycle would start over again every two books.
We'd have a strong line of comics, each run based on popularity, and a showcase for new talent to either tell their stories in the Primer-like book and end, or possibly expand into their series.
Things got so far as me getting permission from Gerry to use the name "Primer" for the original book (although I found out way later that Andrew Rev might have had something to say about that), and trying to figure out what imprint to print the book under. Crystal's "Maniacal Platypus" label or my "Blacktab" label. I was working on a Graphic Novel of AWFW to be our first trade paperback.
Then I got diabetes, and all the costs that came with that, and it fell apart. There was some (very short-lived) interest from Pazi in trying to revive the book, but between the move to Seattle maxing out my credit cards, and my insulin quickly draining my bank account (not to mention my health going down the tubes, and my eyesight going bad for almost a year after I was diagnosed), it all fell apart in the end.
I actually thing it falling apart was a good thing. This was all very 1980s and 1990s thinking, and in hindsight, I doubt it would have been profitable for us to keep it going. Venus Envy and Closetspace were free online. Would they buy comics from us directly? Consistently? Once a month (or in the Blacktab version of Primer, Quarterly?). Probably not.
Blacktab will probably never happen. In fact, I'm sure of it. But we got close and it was fun ride until the end.
