Knighthood: Justin Melkmann

Many of our contributing artist's tend to work in a variety of mediums often not limited to illustration.

Justin Melkmann is one of them, creating his webcomic Earaches & Eyesores while touring with the band World War IX and making some awesome noise. His comic details much of his travels with the band, their gigs; their parties, as well as his much more personal decision to quit drinking. 

In this "knights" spotlight we get to discover a little more about what makes ol' Justin tick, the inspiration for his book as well as the fuel for his musical passion.

With a diverse range of creative options what made you decide to start a comic book?

Well, I wanted something that is both heart-warming, as well as knee slapping to read, so I figured I’d have to do it myself! All not kidding aside, I wanted to catalogue/bind together the oodles of material that I’d drawn for the mighty NYC barroom monthly art and music paper, The New York Waste. Roughly every two years I’d have enough Waste material for a new book. Oh wait, are you asking why did I print them in book form, and not just post on the web? I like having an old school genuine comic book to have and to hold. Plus, if it falls in the toilet, I’m only out $3 and not $5000. iPads cost about $5000 right?

Your book currently has 4 full issues, however two are no longer in print. Why did you stop printing the first two issues?

Actually there’s 5 issues of Earaches & Eyesores, and one other book that chronicles my devotion to one of punk rock’s most polarizing figures, GG Allin. That’s my best seller. That one’s called Slap In The Face: My Obsession With GG Allin. As far as why I don’t reprint the first two issues of my Earaches & Eyesores series…I’m embarrassed of the artwork. The stories and the writing hold up just fine, but the drawings? Oy vey. Not good. I’d been drawing/doodling all of my life, but I didn’t develop any kind of discipline or style until I started with The New York Waste.

What do your bandmates think about the comic as it often features them? Do they have any input to the book?

They love it! In fact, it’s odd, they all seem to like the ones that feature themselves the most!!! “You know which one is the best? The one with ME doing that hilarious THING, that’s your best work man.” And yes, they absolutely have input. Our drummer Jon is always noting which gut wrenching scenarios would make for a funny comic. Our bass player Brian recently told me how disappointed his 15 year old self would be if he could see him now. He wasn’t pitching it as a comic, but man, I’d love to do it as one.

With all the crazy stories in the book are there any you didn't include?

Sure! I got a million of ‘em! I love being in a band, so when even something that may seem boring or stupid happens, it seems larger than life to me and comic worthy. Walking to practice could be a freaking comic. But you asked for a crazy story. I don’t know about crazy, but there’s plenty of absurd Spinal Tap-like stories. There was the time my wacky idea to have a bubble machine completely backfired on me. I wanted to spruce up our live set with a bubble machine, but when I switched the cheap assed Halloween store machine, a wall of soapy suds just poured out in a narrow stream all over my head. I wanted the room to fill up with bubbles like it was New Years eve, but instead I was merely covered in sticky dish washing soap. Just recently we got to play with The Murder Junkies, which had been a dream of mine for about 15 years, and during our set the sound system crapped out. That fucked me up mentally for days. There it was, my big chance at playing with some of my heroes, and we blew it. Talk about embarrassing.

How does music influence your creative outflow?

Music influences my creative flow a ton. I listen to music while I draw, so I can only assume that if I’m listening to Tom Waits, I’ll draw something very different than if I’m listening to say The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack. Sometimes I’ll pick a band to listen so as to create a mood. I can’t very well draw kittens and flowers if I’m listening to Poison Idea. Though, those would be some fucked up flowers and kittens. Plus, most of my ideas come to me while I’m listening to my ipod while I’m walking to work.

Have you created any other comics or have plans for anything new?

Well aside from the GG Allin book I mentioned, I’m doing a comic a week for the most excellent hardtimes.net. That’s that killer punk rock satire site that’s in the style of The Onion. Also, I’m writing and drawing the definitive, no holds barred World War IX bio-comic. My band has been through, and done a lot over the past 12 years, and our story MUST-BE-TOLD! Beside, who the hell else is gonna tell it but me, right? All I read is rock biographies, so I wanted to add to the pile.

World War IX has toured much of the states, made a bunch of music and have had numerous highs and lows: so what's next for the band WWIX?

More of the same I hope. We’re going to do what we’ve always done, make records, play shows, produce music videos, fall on our faces, throw temper tantrums, pat ourselves on the back, make fun of each other’s short comings, lose money, get stuck in traffic, and laugh ourselves silly. We’ve already got a few new tunes being worked on, and there’s a bunch of places around the country that we’re looking forward to playing again.

The artist formally and still known as Justin Melkmann can be found all over the web! Including tumblr; his book "Earaches & Eyesores" can also be read on Gryphonknights. You can find his band World War IX and pick up some merch on their website! 

Webcomic Review: Starlight Tavern

Starlight Tavern is a enjoyable sci-fi comic strip created and Written by Bob Salley and Jason Sparich and illustrated by Juan Calle. This hilarious series of strips pokes fun at many archtypes and tropes in the plethora of science fiction franchises.

The Starlight Tavern is its own absurd restaurant at the end of the universe run by a plucky ragtag group of peoples who are just trying to keep service running smoothly despite inevitable chaos that often haunts their little deep space establishment. They are often visited by familiar denizens of the galaxy such as the Lost in Space crew, Mr. Spock or even Flash Gordan singing his own theme song to provide some entertainment (A comic that I had to share in this blog as it is my favorite as of yet!).

However, not all their patrons are as well behaved as those mentioned; like most drinking establishments its not without its bit of scum and villiany as monsters litter it's tables and restrooms as well.

Even with these recognizable guest stars the cast  of Starlight holds its own, and refuses to be overshadowed by such well known faces. The colorful cast of the overworked and underpaid staff try to make it by interacting and flirting in a well executed sci-fi version of "Waiting." The wait staff are emotionally inviting providing more than just punchlines, as a welcoming lens of familiar in the midst of the strange intergalactic goings on that passes through their establishment.

They add to the a-list by adding their own new alien characters to the mix, exploring strange scifi what ifs. Like the more recent strip where they reenact elements of Deer Hunter in space. They also relive other famous movie moments often calling In its supporting cast whose unique hijinks keep things familiar and fresh. Such as its own Stormtrooper knockoffs that act as the Moe, Larry, and Curly of the group getting into trouble and sabotaging each other.

Flash Gordan serenades the bar

Though a parody comic, they don't hold back on the art, which is well crafted using thick lines, bright colours and two-tone shading techniques to bring the book to life. One of my favorite things to see is watching artists expressing familar characters from popular series using their own style, and its exciting to consider who might show up next. I have been hoping to see a Farscape cameo, but none as of yet-which means I just have to keep reading.

But it doesn't start at Starlight Tavern as it seems to be its own spinoff of the creators comic series, Salvagers; a story that explores the dirty blue collared element of the galaxy. You don't have to read Salvagers to get Starlight as it holds its own even without a strong linear narrative. Instead I find myself curious about the comic from reading the webcomic. A humorous webcomic featuring much of the familiar in scifi is an innovative way to invite interested readers into a whole seperate series which features elements that are found in Starlight Tavern.

So i'd recommend giving Starlight Tavern a pour and then try out some Salvagers for the next round!

Sir Thomas J. Gryphon is a blue collared fellow, that is dead broke from illustrating books like WOW Signal for biscuits. You can see his work at Gryphon Knights Comics.

Bib
http://www.starlighttavern.com/salvagers.html

http://gryphonknights.com/wow-space-race.html

The Archie Kickstarter: Good Business or Bad Business

By now I believe most in the comics industry have heard about the Kickstarter that Archie Comics had put up. They were asking interested parties to help them crowdfund $350,000 to help reboot their age old franchise of Archie comics and accelerate the production of three new comic book series. The backlash of a large 75 year old company asking for handouts was immediate and while the Kickstarter quickly garnered over 600 contributors in the short time it was active, Archie Comics chose not to deal with industry outrage and shutdown their Kickstarter.

A date with Archie as a kickstarter reward? I
bet most of the money came from Veronica

Did Archie do the right thing? They obviously had supporters, and perhaps the flaming was simply the overstated voice of trolls; also was this public frustration justified? Other notable individuals like Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing, Old Boy) have also used Kickstarter to fund and create projects without so much negative feedback. It could be that since the comics industry while rapidly growing is still very small, and an individuals voice has more weight. Archie wasn't even trying to make a ton of money, just accelerate production of these titles so they could bring their audience more content sooner and appeal to a new generation. Marvel has been doing something similar with its titles; hitting the refresh button for this new consumer, but Marvel has the financial backing to reboot over 20 titles. Between the Panels made a great point citing that "...this situation serves as a reminder that when it comes to comics, everyone that isn't Marvel or DC counts as 'the little guy.'"

I think more recognized names, like the respected Archie Comics, or even the derided Uwe Boll, shows that Kickstarter is changing, it is no longer just for indies. As big names seek out funding for their larger projects it may seem untoward that Kickstarter, the company that have put many independent creators on their feet is now kowtowing to individuals and companies that many would feel have an unfair advantage financially as well as their reknown. I can't agree with this perspective, however, and firmly believe that larger companies reaching out to crowdfund projects is the evolution of business and only advantageous for us as the consumer and the company itself.

Crowdfunding mediums allow direct access to the consumer-ideally that means the product being created end up with less hands sullying it. Less editorial, less interference from large investors who have way too much sway in how the product ends up. Editorial is how Sam Rami's Spiderman 3 ended up being as terrible as it was. Those providing funding or running the studio wanted to throw in as many villians and popular characters not to tell a story but to push its wow factor and allow for more merchandising. As has been seen time and again this kind of creative interference can destroy a product, it also perpetuates the concept that a few individuals wielding too much power can ruin everything for everyone. So when a company is trying to create something and has a really stupid idea its less likely that individuals will put out money to make it happen. In fact its almost like a really solid entertainment democracy that happens. It means when fools like Uwe Boll, (responsible for such terd nuggets as Bloodrayne, and Farcry films) try to start a Kickstarter campaign the get phenomenally shot down! Suddenly instead of investors interested solely in profit they have investors that are interested in the product. Money coming direct from the consumer helping regulate trash media, and things that belong in the garbage get there while its still in the conception stages and not before tons of person-hours or even product are left as refuse.

Some of the Atari dump

Filtering terrible products and entertainment, crowdfunding evidently can also help on an environmental level. When the videogame industry went bust it was no secret that Atari had to trash large portions of its stock because it was effectively worthless. Companies have always faced this issue-where is the sweet spot in supply and demand? Certain books can be overprinted, marketing can miss their target and a bunch of stuff created can end up as trash. Garbage product is still a concern, but companies can use the level of success of their crowdfunding project to predict earlier the amount of demand that a creation might have. Not only can they use that to figure out how much to create, they can also find out where their contributors are from and use that to better target the region that has shown interest.

So what if a big company like Archie wants to crowdfund a few books. Who cares if some of their rewards seem silly, such as following a contributor back on twitter. To some people that may be important; if you are a comics creator having a large comics company on social media can really help you garner a following. Either way if you don't like the reward, then you don't donate-its how our system works. Money equals support, ideas that aren't supported do not get money.

I think the big dogs using crowdfunding media means that there is a potential for a creative golden age as consumers have more say over the media they want. Does this mean that Indies are now bust as far as funding? No. There are so many other crowdfunding outlets-Patreon, Indiegogo, T-spring.

I think the outrage was just growing pains from new innovations being homogenized by the industry-its evolution in a nutshell, its painful scary, and also temporary because soon something different will come along. Archie Comics good for you for trying something new!

Sir Thomas J. Gryphon is just some another Millennial who is evolving to better understand his place in the comics industry and the universe.

Bib.
"Atari E.T. Dig- Alamogordo, New Mexico (14036097792)" by taylorhatmaker - Atari E.T. Dig: Alamogordo, New Mexico. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Atari_E.T._Dig-_Alamogordo,_New_Mexico_(14036097792).jpg#/media/File:Atari_E.T._Dig-_Alamogordo,_New_Mexico_(14036097792).jpg

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/15/between-the-panels-archies-kickstarter-sheds-light-on-a-larger-problem

Knighthood: TONY WOLF

These artist spotlights give people a chance to learn about the people we work with as well as insight on what they create and their inspiration behind it.

With a Metal name like "Wolf" you can only anticipate excellence, and Tony delivers. A jack-of-all trades in the entertainment industry, he is constantly pushing himself to his creative limits. He's hosted a webshow, been a host for glamorous celebrity fundraising affairs, performed as voice-over talent, acted in both theatrical and televised media... but before all this, he was an illustrator and especially his work with hand illustrated text make him a talented creator.

A Greenpoint resident for almost two decades and comics aficionado, Tony was eventually inspired to write and illustrate his own autobio comic, Greenpoint of View. 

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Between performance and Illustration, do you have a creative preference or do you simply like creating?

First and foremost, I'm an actor and voice-over guy, and my goal is to be acting and voice-overing full time.  There's something about the full-body enjoyment and expression of performing - plus the joy of the collaboration that performing always entails - that's very special to me.  Drawing and comics come second on the list, but they are certainly dear to my heart.  And creating in general is always fulfilling and exciting, even when - at times - it's frustrating.  Really, I just want to make things.  I'm a huge fan of movies, music, storytelling, and comics, and to have a chance to contribute anything to those fields is really gratifying.

What books are you currently reading? How do they inspire you?

I read a lot of comics and graphic novels, but I always take care to read some prose and novels (especially biographies or autobio books) once in a while so I don't start to view things through an only-comics lens.  Although lately it's been more comics than anything else. Just read a graphic novel from indie publisher Hic & Hoc Press called Unknown Origins & Untimely Ends: A Collection of Unsolved Mysteries, which is amazing.  I'm really digging Silver Surfer by Dan Slott & Michael Allred, Daredevil by Mark Waid & Chris Samnee, and Alan Moore's Crossed +100 series lately.  Seth Kushner sadly just passed away after a battle with cancer, but he'd written several comics that will be completed by the artists and co-creators involved - The Roman Nose with George Jurard and The Brooklynite with Shamus Beyale.

Greenpoint of View is not your first comic project. Can you tell us about previous comics you've worked on?

I wrote and drew an 8-page short story with writer Alex Hernandez about the open-source character Jenny Everywhere, called 'Say The Word'; otherwise, I've worked as a storyboard artist for several indie films and was always writing and drawing my own comics from elementary school onwards, including the very silly 'Super Pickle' (done in 4th grade) and my Gamera ripoff comic series, 'Beware of the Turtle.'  I did a continuation of the Star Wars saga after return of the Jedi based on a weird dream my friend Jason had called 'Return of the Jedi 5.'  Wrote and drew a superhero comic from 7th grade to first year of college which was my homage to 80s superhero stuff a la John Byrne, Frank Miller and such. And I drew a 5-page flashback sequence for your book 'Frankenstein vs. Dracula' where I got to draw the two iconic monsters battling atop the Hindenburg blimp!! That was actually what really got me back into drawing more frequently, so thank you, Gryphon Knights team!

What inspired Greenpoint of View?

I had a lull in my acting and voice-over work last year, and was itching to create something. Something that wouldn't require me being picked for someone else's team. Friends like filmmaker Mike Turney had prodded me for years to get back to making my own comics, and I had always been a big fan of autobio comics like Harvey Pekar's American Splendor, Dean Haspiel's work, Maus, Persepolis, and the Schmuck series by comics creator Seth Kushner.  Reading Seth's Schmuck series (stories about his dating life in the years before he met his wife) inspired me to make my own autobio series... but what would I write about?  I didn't want to do the same autobio stuff we've seen many times before... I wanted to be a brutal editor on myself and at least attempt a new angle on something.  

I had just read one of Harvey Pekar's final works, Harvey Pekar's Cleveland - and he seamlessly (along with brilliant artist Joseph Remnant) wove his autobio material into the history of the city itself.  It was like half the story was about the city, and half was about Harvey. I recalled that anytime I was at a party and told people I'd lived in Greenpoint for over a decade, they would always go 'Whoooaaaah!!'  Once I realized I had a unique perspective, having lived in Greenpoint for (at that point) 17 years, and was there before people even cared about nearby Williamsburg, I figured it might be fun to try the same sort of Harvey Pekar's Cleveland approach, making the comic as much about the environment / neighborhood as it was about me. (This was also a way to get around my perceived weaknesses as a writer and a possibly boring life.)

When I told my friend Mike the basic concept for the series (I hadn't even brainstormed a name yet), he said immediately "And here's your title: Greenpoint of View."  I said "Done! Sold! That's it."  So he got a special thanks in the book itself. 

What other stories do you want to tell in this series?

Greenpoint of View #4 will be about a surprising encounter I had in the subway, on the G train, back in 1996.  Future stories will involve more history from the neighborhood and the time I had to break into my own apartment. I have about 12 stories total in mind for the series.

Are there any other projects are you currently working on that you wish to share?

Having gotten a pretty good reception from the first 3 Greenpoint stories, I got the idea to do occasional autobio short comics stories that have nothing to do with Greenpoint... to open up my storytelling beyond the neighborhood.  I just started work on the first one, which is about being a teenage comic book fan in the mid-80s. Just did a pin-up for Sean Griffin and MJ Steele's crime comic from Gryphon Knights, Getting Away With Murder. Also did a double-page spread for actor/writer Gianmarco Soresi's upcoming charity children's book.

Any nuggets of advice or encouragement for those trying to break into the entertainment industry?

Honestly, the arts are just very difficult in general. You have to just do your best work possible, hold yourself to very high standards and continually put yourself out there. Networking matters a lot - you can be doing solid work, but if no one outside your friends knows about it, it may just end up in a void. Practice as much as you can, and realize that total strangers (in the comics world, editors or reviewers) will need to be moved or excited by your work. It's that balance between making art for yourself and challenging yourself, but also thinking about what might interest your audience. Persistence is key. We've all heard of writers and artists collecting tons of rejection letters from publishers. Also, as we often hear: "Make the story you'd want to read."

Self-publishing is also essential now - even creators like Brian Bendis started out as small press guys and self-publishers of their work. Connecting with other creators who are passionate about what they do - like the Gryphon Knights comics collective - is really helpful as well. Using your time efficiently matters too, especially since most of us - myself included - have to hold down a regular job too. Charles Soule is a practicing attorney and still writes about 3 hit Marvel Comics a month, plus his Image creator-owned project! That demands serious time management. Those 3 hours of the day in which you might usually just unwind and watch TV could be used to write or draw your own comic! So get to it!  :) 

Self-Portrait of TWolf from GPOV

You can find Tony Wolf on Twitter at https://twitter.com/tonywolfness and at his personal site http://www.tonywolfactor.com/

Webcomic Review: Starveil

David Rapoza is an artist that continues to grow in popularity and whose thoughts on the freelance industry are great to chew on. His artwork is gritty and detailed and fun to stare at, he even has instructionals on his process up on youtube. What gained him a lot of notice was the hi res, & detailed ninja turtles that he created over 4 years ago.

Its always interesting to see when an artists creates solo work, the piece he started a few years ago was a webcomic called Starveil. This webcomic kinda feels like an homage of everything that was awesome as an American boy growing up in the 90s. It seems to have elements of Dragon Ball Z, Mad Max, old anime, space operas all thrown in a blender. "Will it blend?" Hell yeah it does.

Along with his gritty style the book is fast paced and displays plentiful and powerful action. The palatte he chose for the backgrounds allow for his characters to pop off the page, and the faded pastel colors make the world he's crafted thus far seem truly alien. A feature that is emphasized by his use of negative space is sublime as certain elements spill out of the panels and into the gutters.

My only qualm artistically with the book is his lettering. While I still love his color choice in bubbles and have no issue with his decision in font, its the layout that bugs me. It seems to have many errors of a neophyte letterist, such as bubbles being to long, or dialogue not being centered and touching the bubble borders... Bubble Borders.

The story isn't anything ground breaking, as of yet, as the "hero" of the book is trying to rescue a beautiful stowaway from his crashed vessel and encountering antagonists on the way. What is innovative is how Rapoza takes advantage of tumblrs' gif ability and uses short animations featured in certain panels that help bring the book to life. Action scenes come alive as characters walk toward you, or energy beems fly across the page and increase the already speedy pacing of the book and makes you feel like you should be listening to DragonForce while reading.

The dialogue tends to verge on being a little slow, and self aggrandizing. Though I feel like this element is homaging the taunts and challenges of characters from certain series like Dragon Ball Z or Conan the animated series. It could also be a nod to the silver age of comics as panels used to be densely packed with words and exposition.

What I've really enjoyed from the series isn't even in the book itself but in his extras, the portrait gallery. The character designs there are so eye catching and colorful as classic cartoon heroes used to be. Its even more enjoyable when a character from the gallary enters into the book and you can see them in action. Its kind of like when your favorite X-men was finally featured on an episode of that 90s X-men animated series.

The series so far has me wanting more but unfortunately there has not been an update in a while. Rapoza has a patreon running for the creation of this webcomic and has said that certain contractual obligations have forced him to keep it hush hush for now. He has also posted random images from the book on his tumblr showing that work is still continuing on it and it may yet still see print. However if you want more of his comic work now you can always check out his hilarious series Steve Lichman about a Lich trying to get by in these crazy modern times.


That guy Sir Thomas J. Gryphon is okay, but overhauling the Gryphon Knights website has driven him batty. You can see his own sci-fi work on series like FvD or WOW Signal.

Webcomic Review: George Jurard's STAR WARS in 365 Days or (Darth Days!)

Escape from Mos Eisley

I missed "May the 4th be With You" but while its still "Revenge of the 5th I wanted to share a Star Wars webcomic with you.

While not a webcomic in the traditional sense, nor holding an original narrative of its own George Jurard's A scene a day of the original Star Wars trilogy, or "Darth Days", acts as a countdown clock to the release of Episode VII.

Darth Vader in his Tie Fighter

It captures all the pivitol scenes and dialogue of the original trilogy in beautifully rendered landscape panels. Each panel varies in its portayal, some with detailed colors while others use a monochromatic or limited color palatte. Seeing a new panel everyday will have your mind wandering back to your multiple viewings of the OT, and hungering for the newest chapter.

The below panel, a scene which portrays the first meeting of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in person, (that is outside of the new Star Wars comics continuity). This pane while my least favorite in the nostalgic inducing series still has some remarkable intuitiveness to it. In the films the scene was rich in color, powerful warm red reflections off of cold metal interrupted with pillars of blues; I still feel anticipation when rewatching the as Luke slowly walks into the room. Here its rendered almost as if those colors were inverted and desaturated. You would almost say that the image doesn't capture the elements of the original. That is also why I love this piece, because Jurard seems to do three things in creating these art pieces.

1) He never repeats a patter, if you look at the over 100 images he's created so far you'll notice not one is colored or rendered the same as another, and you can imagine the struggle it is to think outside of a linear pattern of production. Perhaps the reason this room isn't red and blue as image 19/365, which I've also included above in this blog, already has these color elements.

2) This is his own telling of the original series, in this way he's become the director, and created these thumbnails that are reminiscent of the film while unique in their presentation.

3) He captures the emotions of each scene plucking those most memorable instants to retell the whole of the trilogy in only 365 images!

These are not easy tasks as trying to create artwork that properly homages a creation that has become a classic and legendary in itself, bears with it a fear of misrepresenting that franchise and angering a ferocious fanbase. Something that this franchises own creator has encountered. Its been a work that I've thought about for a while, and how he overlays his own vision onto a scene without stealing that emotion you felt when first watching the films. If anything his portrayal is more accurate to how we see images in our memory, similar to what is but not clear or exact to what was.

I  look forward to every new update and as George Jurard is almost 2/3rds into completion of his project I hope that he is able to encapsulate it into a book, that is simple to flip through, so that in a glance one can return to a galaxy far far away...

Sir Thomas J. Gryphon is no Padawan to Star Wars lore, he has enjoyed the EU and is looking forward to the retelling of  the series including the prequel remakes Disney has planned. In the Meanwhile he is telling his own sci-fi on Gryphonknights called the WOW Signal!

Creating a Comic: The Initial Concept

The Quack Addict? 

Creating is a strange process, at times its like we are possessed and the only way to excise the muse is in forging a world. A story can be crafted after years of notes, writes or rewrites, as in the case of the exhaustively detailed lore of Middle Earth, at others its a few notes and a doodle on a beer napkin a la Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Either process took bringing a concept from mind to paper.

Its not just full time artists who have ideas burgeoning in their head. Plenty of people have had conceptualizations that knock around in their brains from childhood, festering as they get older. A creative thought can decay the longer you have it in you, losing bits of it as time go by. Outside of it your brain though, that's where a brainchild can evolve.

I made it the bad habit to follow the former path. I was often impatient in the planning processes and so I never made notes, never wrote an outline or a script, didn't create sketches, or conceptual drawings or even storyboard. I just began illustrating comic pages. Some interesting stuff came of it, but honestly, while I improved artistically, the stuff I created was real dren. I ended up starting over, the right way making notes, storyboards and outlines, and the book, WOW Signal, ended up being much better for it!

I suppose I went in with a rather arrogant assumption that my raw creativity was the best work, and that any sort of edit or revisions simply
watered it down. Sure I wanted work out there as fast I could, but overestimating the value of my initial concepts ended up creating wasted time. So I guess my first point would be that it doesn't hurt doing things the right way.

This is a space cruiser I created in 1996

As far as creating a concept itself, sometimes I would take old work I had done, some of which was decades old and recreate it in the present breathing new life into it with more refined ability. Sometimes these old creations we made up during childhood with a little tweaks can be remarkably awesome. Going through old sketches I found a galaxy worth of doodles of planets with notes on each, and while some was I'm sure lifted from TV at the time others were quaintly bizarre.

I would warn people who want to get ideas, that watching, reading or just hopping into other media makes it easy to an set you up for hijacking creative material without meaning to. Instead just make notes on things in life that inspire you, and you can add a fantasy or sci-fi twist, like how some monsters are made by combining to regular creatures or how Henchgirl is as autobiographical for the author as it is fantastical! If you feel you need something to inspire you then consume older public domain work that you can be influenced by with fear of legal retribution.

As you go about crafting a world, bring a pen with you everywhere. You never know when inspiration will strike, and I'd say carry a notebook too but for me that's cumbersome. Instead I write notes on random pieces of paper, envelopes from opened mail, my hand, and napkins among other things, which are certain not to get lost.

When you've got enough put together its always nice to bounce thoughts off others, just to help further refine good ideas and bad ideas. Just don't bounce ideas off Stan Lee who knows where they will end up

That guy #SirThomas is okay, he's been making stuff since he was young and not all of it was poop. You can see his work on books like Frankenstein vs. Dracula, or many of the issues of Meanwhile...

Getting Away with Murder: A Comic Book Kickstarter

I can’t say I had it tough growing up. At least, not in an outward way that would make sense of the heroin cravings and passionate strangulation of “Getting Away with Murder: A Lowlife Story”.

For me, the mental maelstrom and cynicism I experience daily is what shapes my characters. This inner struggle reacting to an outside force is where my stories start. The chaos and constant fight of addiction and the overwhelming corrosive force of guilt are the internal struggles of the nameless main character in, “Getting Away with Murder: A Lowlife Story”.

Back when I was more of a musician, playing shows all around New York, my band had played a show at this lounge in Brooklyn. The lounge has since closed down and at the time it was not thriving with activity. But when you walked in there was a huge empty floor with a couple pillars disrupting the view across the lounge. There was a stage that was painted the same matte black that coated the whole interior of the building and just past it was a hallway to a couple dressing rooms. There were three acts playing that night and only two dressing rooms. We were first to arrive so we put some of our equipment in one of the dressing rooms thinking ourselves grand that we had as large a room to occupy before going on.

However, as the other acts showed, we were relegated to the hallway, letting the “bigger” acts have the preparatory space. I remember having forgotten a piece of equipment in our former dressing room. I opened the door while knocking, not expecting anyone to be naked but instead seeing the 12-piece band, the headliner that night, all turn to look at me, aghast that someone should walk in. The lead singer was hunched over in front of the makeup mirror, the kind with the clear bauble bulbs so bright you don’t see a crevice in your skin, with a line of coke just below his nose. Their brief look of fear quickly changed to anger. Who the hell was I and all that nonsense.

But really, who the hell were they? We were, all of us, nobodies.

Our story, “Getting Away with Murder: A Lowlife Story” came somehow and somewhere from that idea. The main character, a rocker who had a brush with money and fame, now forced to live a middle class life not only addicted to heroin but addicted to the thrill of playing. He thirsts for the old days of people cheering for him, of having “rock star privileges”, and the parties where he’s the focal point. He’s on the downslide of stardom, plummeting toward being a nobody and it’s the most painful thing. Also, he just killed his ex-groupie.

Two MoCCAs ago, I was walking the floor when I met MJ Steele (MJ's Site). He had an 11” x 14” inked drawing of Kurt Cobain mid-air playing his lefty fender strat in a warehouse to a silhouetted crowd, the Seattle Space Needle seen through one of the warehouse windows. No doubt about it, I had found the artist to help me tell this story. 

MJ’s style could be compared to more known talents like Sean Murphy or Rafael Albuquerque. Could be. If I were forced to make the comparison. The reality is, he draws inspiration from those artists while still maintaining his own unique style. He’s a balance of precision and broad strokes. Sharp black lines meeting swooping water colors. MJ studies illustration and cartooning at the School of Visual Arts.

Once MJ started churning out fully inked and beautiful pages, we need a letterer. We were lucky my brother, Thomas Griffin (Tom's Art), who can do any part of comic work artfully and skillfully, stepped in. He lettered the pages without the black outlines typically seen on word bubbles and captions. This let the bubbles fit MJs artwork without the obvious outside source that can sometimes disconnect the words from the pictures.

Currently, we’ve started a Kickstarter campaign to help us raise the funds and some buzz for this one-shot comic. Check it out at this link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/583569168/getting-away-with-murder-a-lowlife-story

Help support us by donating and sharing. If you donate a minimum of $10 and mention this blog post you’ll get a special little something extra.

Article by Sean Griffin. Sean is a writer and co-founder of Gryphon Knights Comics. He currently writes the comic book "Hero" for GK and is studying Creative Writing for his MFA at Manhattanville College.

Webcomic Review: Black Mudpuppy or "How the Word Chumblenuts Invaded my Vocabulary."

Face the god of death... I mean 

The Black Mudpuppy is a action comedy webcomic written by Ethan Kocak. The first question you might have when you read the title of this webcomic, is "what the hey is a black mudpuppy." Well a mudpuppy is a type of salamander. The same type of critter that the protagonist Xolotl, the crazy god of death, is imprisoned in by another god Quetzalcoatl, for blowing up goats and terrorizing villagers. Now imprisoned in that form he terrorizes local small wildlife for 500 years until Quetzalcoatl offers him an ultimatum, be good and slowly he can regain his godhood.


Now as the Black Mudpuppy, Xolotl muddies his way through trying to perform good deeds while accidentally destroying charity buildings. The book is filled with such amusing ADHD antics that might remind you of some gems in the 90s, like the Warner Brothers and Freakazoid. While it starts off slow investing in the book is well worth it as its curve balls are sure to make the sternest person chuckle. To give you an idea some of the highlights; there is a brawl between a couple of dinosaurs from hell Stego-Stalin fighting Hitlersaurus Rex. Another nemesis is the evil anti-Ghandi whose passive aggresivism will leave you very upset!

Make my monster GROW!!!

The book slowly evolves from a bunch of gags to a more meaty storyline that is seasoned with bits of Aztec mythology and characters from those same tales, and truly challenging the english speaker in pronouncing something wholly different.

The artwork too takes a bit of warming up to. While rough at first the ink work begins to take on a liveliness and dynamism that resembles books like Bone and the colors go from a flat to dynamic lighting. Additionally the character designs, influenced again from Aztecian designs culture are refreshing and interesting. T
hey are so simple and visually inviting, as too often I think people think detail makes a dynamic and eyecatching spectacle.

The fresh injection of Aztec stylings and the clean cartoon asthetic make Black Mudpuppy a great tale to enjoy. My only regret is that there isn't an animated series yet...

Listen chumblenuts, Sir Thomas J. Griffin is a force to reckon with, as he is the god of gingers trapped in a speckled body creating work like Frankenstein vs. Dracula for Gryphon Knights Comics. 

The Daunting Comic Convention: Making the Sale

The last part of this series I talked about a hard seller. It was my feeling that hard selling is a broken method for a few reasons. Foremost was a quote from our neighbor at the last con "When people buy from me I love them, when they don't I hate them." Its treating people as a resource that you tap into and then throw out when its dry. Among this terrible perspective are a few other things that make hard selling simply terrible:

Fighting a hard seller.

1. Hard selling often works on pressure shame and guilt; these are the same things that have made Church so unpopular over the centuries. It pushes consumers away and doesn't invite people into your work, in addition most people are at conventions to enjoy themselves, not be slammed as "Bad parents" because they didn't buy their kids a book on comic history (True Story).
   
2. While there is not anything wrong with grabbing peoples attention, screaming at them and insulting them to pressure them to buy is counter intuitive. It works on a flawed concept. Pressuring people to buy comic book entertainment at a convention is yelling at a person in a grocery store to buy food when they are hungry. Screaming at them tends to just make them feel uncomfortable.
   
3. Finally you end up making yourself a Pariah; fellow sellers are going to not want a table near you, or want to work with you. You've made a name for yourself, but a bad one, and angry people who are losing sales because of you, then complaining to the convention managers could eventually get you banned from cons.

All this nonsense ends up alienating everyone! There are better ways, and they start with making a connection. Talking with people at cons might seem distracting to the major Ferengian goal of profit, but creating an impression is more important even than direct gain. The other gentleman made an impression, but it was a bad one-When a person talks badly about an experience they had at a store its likely to make them never visit the store again, its likely to make the listener choose to never visit that store, or even if they had visited the establishment to rethink their visit next time.That's why impressions are so vital; creating positive ones make people talk and advertise for you. 

Additionally making a connection makes them invest in you as a person. It will more than likely visit your table at the next con, and make them consider buying or setting a certain amount aside to buy from you next time. 

That is why I try to help people see beyond the direct buy or die relationships some salespeople have with their consumers. Its much longer term, and an impression made now can help you further down the line as you are adding to, if not your consumer base, then your fan base. Where the alternative is slowly burning one person at a time which will result in a dwindling pool of potential consumers and investors.

In the conversation you have with them you need to assess their interests. Ask them questions, like what genres do they like, or even subtler what movies do they enjoy. If they are into mystery and all you have is sci-fi... well then its likely they won't be personally interested, however you should tell them about your product anyway, because their 3rd cousin's sister's best friend might LOVE sci-fi, and need to have it. When you are engaging with someone its not just them, but their entire network!

If they do seem interested though you shouldn't sit there silently and wait for them to say "I'll take it!" Instead after talking with them and garnering what their interests are ask them if they would like to buy! Its as simple as that! Especially if you think they would love your book! Additionally you can offer other incentives like a free small sketch perhaps even in the book that makes the book unique and gives it more intrinsic value.

Gotta have that sales
 knock out punch!

One last thought I will leave you with. You need to have a concise summary of what your work is. Going on a long schpiel and telling people spoilers to try to get them interested can result in them losing focus. Greasers in Greece while not our strongest artistic piece always piques peoples interest. Especially when our summary of the book is "what happens when you put Grease and Sparticus together" or "what Grease would be like if it was directed by Zac Snyder." Simple one sentence summaries can really boost peoples interest, work on them and have them ready for a con!

Now go... Sell my minions!

You can only slighty trust Sir Thomas J. Griffin as he is a ginger and will try to consume your soul. He will then turn your essence into paint, from which he creates comic covers like those for Greenpoint of view and other works for Gryphon Knights Comics.

The Daunting Comic Convention: Neighbors

Conventions are always filled with many characters! 

Neighbors... They can be amazing, sharing a spoon of sugar, a cup of salt. Or they can blast R&B music at 4am during the work week. They truly can make life hell.

In the case of conventions especially when you are just starting out its good to find people to share tables with. This can help cut costs and help your table appear full if you still only have a limited amount of product. The right person can also help you engage your audience and customers, as well as share their convention experience with you, for example providing insight on what are good events to attend as well as what the audience is like at those events.

To find people to table with you can attend a convention yourself, and search around. If when talking with someone at a table you gel well you might consider requesting to share a table with them in the future. Additionally you might want to share a table with someone whose content is different from your own. For example two people sharing a table that each have their own noir stories might cause a bit of redundancy, and end up unintentionally cutting out sales for the other.

A hard seller can be a bit threatening
and intimidating

At a convention its not just table partners that can depend on your success its also neighboring and nearby tables. These neighbors can either make or break your success as a salesperson. We've been fortunate to have had really good neighbors. The Barbarian Brothers, Henchgirl, Monster Haiku, Immortal Lycanthropes; these have all been amazing people to meet, and work near, even share a table with. People like these create a great atmosphere and help engage with the community of convention goers. However, everyone is not the salt of the earth like these. Recently however we attended a convention were our direct neighbor was a hard sell.


Hard sellers are individuals who use any method at their disposal to get people to buy. From spouting
the merits of their work to all out guilt and shaming anything goes with a hard seller. Our table mate
at this convention had this to say about our hardselling neighbor:

                     "The guy at the table next to us at East Coast Comicon was a real 

                hard sell guy -- he literally demanded a customer go out and prostitute

                himself to make enough money to afford the wares he was selling.

                Presumably he was joking. But he wasn't joking when he demanded that 
                people who already owned his book give it away to "a worthy friend" and 
                buy another copy RIGHT NOW. "Be a man! Be a man!" he screamed at 
                people who would not buy, as they slunk away from his table."

Its hard to do anything in this situation. You can't reprimand them or lambaste them as it only creates an escalating conflict. In addition to these comments the gentleman wreaked of weed and the smell and his shaming would have people steer clear of him, this included avoiding that section which included our table. In the end we did the best we could in light of the circumstances, but this is reality. You will always encounter individuals who tend to alienate people for their gain.


Our own belief in salesmanship is a bit different than this character but we'll cover that next week in "Making the Sale."

Sir Gryphon is trying to sell people on edible chia pets, and Frankenstein vs. Dracula with Gryphon Knights Comics. Please patron to help these visions come to light and for blog content to continue!

The Daunting Comic Convention: The right convention.

Being an artist is tough, one of the difficulties is garnering an audience. Some are wizards at networking or social media, others not at times it may seem impossible to make dough, even elicit attention for your work. One sure way to garner the attention you need is having a table at a convention, and putting up a sign that says free candy. That's the way to reel'em in... BAIT!

Candy won't be enough if you don't have sufficient content to litter your table with. Having a book or two out even having some free swag or other extras like posters and stickers for sale will help you sell. Not everyone wants the same thing so having diverse merchandise is more certain to earn a sale. "Don't just hit up any convention!" He warned earnestly, as going big or going home can be soul crushing in this industry.

NY Comic Con might be your initial thought. It's one of the best promoted and largest conventions, touting an amount of traffic that would have the BQE jealous. They have an artist's alley for those newbies. Still the table costs are outrageous and your sales skills might be crushed under the pressure of breaking even over the long weekend.

It might be easier to start with cheaper cons like the Garden State Comicfest. At 150 bucks for two days its harder to lose out. Sometimes you can even find smaller inexpensive 1 day events like the recent con in Queens, First Con-tact. These are good testing grounds for what sells, though every convention is a bit different: sketchcards, indie comics, prints, toys, stickers, and anything else your twisted mind can conjure depends on the convention. Over time regularly attending a show can help you learn the audience better and adapt your skills.

In addition certain shows like the one in Boston seem to have attendees with deeper pockets who are into dropping fives for random memorabilia like stickers, or trading cards.

Other things that can help or hinder you at cons could be splitting a table with someone... But we'll talk about that in our next blog about conventions called "Neighbors"

The entity known as Sir Tom Gryphon is at a table in the dark waiting to throw goods onto passerbys for Gryphon Knights Comics. Some of these goods are books he's illustrated like HERO and WOW Signal and lettering books like Getting Away with Murder.

SASB: Artists Are Like Drummers

When Gryphon Knights first got their start around 2011 it was fueled by dreams and idealism. It was this tingling excitement that drew almost 2 dozen people to the company for that very first meeting. However after many shared what their hopes and vision for this group would be, it became quite evident that at the time we didn't have the organization resources or the manpower to bring to fruition the fictional universe we imagined. In the end many lost steam and it wasn't until a few years later that things kicked off again and we started small.

However, in all that ruckus one thing stood out. It was very difficult to find artists.   

Moral of the Story: Dreams and Idealism is bad fuel

Not that they were impossible to find, but it was gaining the talent of an artist and then retaining them, a process that was made daunting for 3 reasons:

1) THE MONEY: It was difficult finding an artist who would work for a percentage of the profits of a produced work. At the time that's all we could promise people as any assets were fueling the company. This is not an unreasonable thing when you garner a little bit of cynicism and actually see how many comic book projects are out there. It can be daunting putting in the amount of work for you to succeed, and often you have to have multiple releases before you get any attention at all. Additionally we were just starting, its hard to garner attention when all you can promise someone is a percentage of potential. Many artists would be happy simply to have the exposure, but again we were a no name company at the time, so our exposure was 10 people (including mom, dad, and the dog)!

2) RELIABILITY: Even if you do end up finding someone that's willing to work for a promise of glory its often a cointoss whether they are consistent or just blowing steam. Actually its more like a dodecahedron toss that has to land on 4 whether they are consistent. Even finding an artist it can be difficult for them to follow through. This could be because they are occupied with too many other life tasks or responsibilities or it could be they are just flaky. George once said "To get anywhere you have to be stupid and just love creating, because most of the time it won't take off." Another friend of mine who is a graduate from SVA and writes for a living said to me that she only knows two other people who graduated with her that are actually working in an artistic field. Its tough and to do it you just need to love doing it.

3) DIVERGENCE OF VISION: So you have someone working with you and they are fantastic. They make deadlines, they are consistently creating and investing in the work but suddenly you hit a roadblock. They don't like your story, or they think something needs to be different. That's the problem when someone is working for free: They get emotionally involved in the storytelling, because that is the thing they are most invested in. How many times do you hear people parting over creative differences? Well its not much different when there is no money involved, there is just no press about it. That's why sometimes people will have contracts at the beginning  so they can retain sole creative rights over a project.

So what do I do?

Well my friend, if you keep hitting blockades in trying to build a creative team, the only thing you can do is keep putting your work out there, telling people your stories, and one day you might meet someone that says "Wow... I'd really like to draw that."

If it kind of sounds a lot like dating it is. You really have to meet a variety of people to find a compatible creative team that shares a passion, drive, and vision with you. You can meet artists by joining clubs, going to conventions, or even find a bunch at www.deviantart.com. Another thing I found is if an artist's ability is still unrefined, but they are a beast at consistently producing work, you want them! If someone is consistently creating there is no way they won't improve, especially if they are open to critique, and they will appreciate the chance to work on something (Sounds kinda like the plotline of strictly ballroom).

Another way finding a good artist is like dating... If you have money, it becomes easier.

Sir Thomas J. Griffin is an artist and reluctant writer that has had nothing but maggoty bread for three stinking days. He has been too busy creating books like WOW Signal for GRYPHON KNIGHTS COMICS to go shopping.