Posts Tagged ‘webcomics’

I know I promised a while back that I was going to try to post something every day here, or at least as often as possible. Sadly, in the hectic (but happy!) life of Pj, “as often as possible” is often not often at all. Sorry about that. But I’ve been extremely productive, not only getting caught up on producing the semi-weekly webcomic The Utopian, slinging journalistic assignments and overseeing the launch of a whole friggin’ comic book company, but also planning out your weekends for you.

Yes, I’m throwing a party for you kids. OK, fine: It’s a party for me. More specifically (as the title of this post may have led you to believe), it’s a release party for the launch of The Utopian print comic. And it not coincidentally is the same weekend as the Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival (to which I know you’re all coming, right?). Here’s the flier:

No cover! $5 Corona buckets! Door prizes! Doesn’t it sound great already? No. Oh … well, I’ll be there. And Yayo Taco (4632 S. Maryland Parkway) has like the most awesome tacos ever. And we’ll just be hanging out, drinking and eating all in mutual love of comics. How much better does it get? It doesn’t. So be at Yayo on Sunday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. Early enough for you to get in bed for work on Monday but late enough for you to go to church or nap or whatever. And if you are on Facebook and are planning on coming, please RSVP and let me know. It helps to have an idea of how many peeps are coming, you know?

In the meantime, I’ll be doing stuff. That’s all you really need to know.

I know I promised a while back that I was going to try to post something every day here, or at least as often as possible. Sadly, in the hectic (but happy!) life of Pj, “as often as possible” is often not often at all. Sorry about that. But I’ve been extremely productive, not only getting caught up on producing the semi-weekly webcomic The Utopian, slinging journalistic assignments and overseeing the launch of a whole friggin’ comic book company, but also planning out your weekends for you.

Yes, I’m throwing a party for you kids. OK, fine: It’s a party for me. More specifically (as the title of this post may have led you to believe), it’s a release party for the launch of The Utopian print comic. And it not coincidentally is the same weekend as the Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival (to which I know you’re all coming, right?). Here’s the flier:

No cover! $5 Corona buckets! Door prizes! Doesn’t it sound great already? No. Oh … well, I’ll be there. And Yayo Taco (4632 S. Maryland Parkway) has like the most awesome tacos ever. And we’ll just be hanging out, drinking and eating all in mutual love of comics. How much better does it get? It doesn’t. So be at Yayo on Sunday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. Early enough for you to get in bed for work on Monday but late enough for you to go to church or nap or whatever. And if you are on Facebook and are planning on coming, please RSVP and let me know. It helps to have an idea of how many peeps are coming, you know?

In the meantime, I’ll be doing stuff. That’s all you really need to know.

Curt Franklin and Chris Haley — I wouldn’t call ‘em dear friends, but I would call ‘em internet acquaintances (I’d also call them webcomicdom’s non-couple power couple) — create one of the most clever, well-written, ably-drawn, entertaining webcomics on the ol’ interwebs. It’s called Let’s Be Friends Again, and it features, um, cartoon, Bizarro-world versions of Curt and Chris talking about comics. Sometimes it features parodies of comics. And movies. Or cartoons. But mostly it’s just Curt and Chris being all … them.

Apparently, at one point in the recent past — though not that I remember — I said something vaguely amusing about the guys’ strip. So what do I find on the back cover of Let’s Be Friends Again‘s first print collection, Under Pressure, but this:

Yep. If you’re going to buy this 64-page book, don’t do it because it’s chock full of four-color fun and creator commentary. Do it because you are a Pj Perez completist, and must have every piece of dead tree bark upon which my name appears.

I’ve talked about the process that goes into making The Utopian webcomic, and how sometimes I script a chunk of pages in advance, and sometimes I just work from a loose plot and script it after the fact. I’ve been using the latter approach lately, essentially creating a one-man “Marvel” method of comic book storytelling, where, as an artist, I move forward the action of the strip, and then the writer side of me interprets the action to write the words that match it. Basically, I’m doing this stuff on the fly now, which has allowed me to come up with certain plot points and twists even I didn’t see coming, which keeps the thing fresh for me. Which is good, because I had the realization this week that I am six months into this comic, and probably have six more months ahead of me. That’s a long time to dedicate to just one story.

An example of one such instance is the reveal about Michelle’s reasons for pursuing journalism from pages 39 to 42. Originally, that was supposed to be a two-page scene. Here’s what the original plot notes read:

Page 039-040: Michelle in school paper office, alone (think Chloe style from “Smallville”). She’s considering mock-up of paper w/Utopian reveal. James enters. They talk and stuff.

“They talk and stuff.” Wow, real nice piece of work there, Peej. Of course, when I provide a full script to another artist, it includes scene direction, full dialog, sound effects, etc. But since I’m the only one who has to figure out what I’m doing here, that kind of vagueness is usually fine. But when I started drawing the pages, I realized there was no sound way for me to get James to talk her out of publishing a story about his dual life. And I just let the characters tell me what was going to happen. So instead of having James talk her down, we see that Michelle already made the decision to can the story. And then Michelle needed more layers, more motivation for what she’s doing. And an inherent way of maybe coming around to James’ cause (also, she was pretty unlikeable up to that point).

The case is the same for Nate in today’s comic, though this I really didn’t see happening until after I drew the page. I’ll let you actually read it for yourself so as not to ruin the surprise (though, OK, I did give it away in the title of this blog post, I guess), but once I realized what was happening in the panels, a light bulb went on in my head. I think what eventually came out in the script gives Nate more depth and definition, moving him away from generic bully/jock status and into a character who may be somewhat more sympathetic.

I really owe anyone subscribing to this blog an apology. The days go by pretty quickly around here lately, and every time I start a new entry, I get about half way through, wander off onto tangents, and then leave it to sit in my “drafts” folder indefinitely.  It’s a far cry from the days when I maintained a LiveJournal, posting updates daily, if not two or three times a day. But I guess that’s what I’m doing on Twitter all day, and sometimes even Facebook, so if the tools have changed, the message is the same: Pj does stuff, and sometimes it’s cool.

Most of my spare time has been sucked up by producing two pages a week of The Utopian, a webcomic that, on the outset, appears to be about a bored high school kid trying to shake things up a little, but as regular readers will learn, nothing about the strip remains constant. I’m about to majorly shake up things again, so I’d recommend getting caught up if you’re at all interested, because the roller coaster is making its big climb starting this week.

It may not be obvious to anyone outside the comic industry just why writing, illustrating, coloring and lettering two comic pages takes up so much time, but it helps to know these tasks are typically broken up amongst at least five people, all specialists in their respective roles. For more insight on that, check out the blog post I wrote on the process back toward the start of The Utopian.

In much more exciting news, pre-order sales have opened on the first print issue of The Utopian, for both consumers and retailers. This means the covers for the standard (black & white) and deluxe (full color) versions of the debut issue have been released finally! The standard edition features a cover by Mark T. Zeilman, who, aside from being an acclaimed local artist and former gallerist, is also the bass player in As Yet Unbroken. The deluxe edition’s cover is by Hernan Valencia, a stellar graphic designer, former co-worker in my pre-awesome days, and coincidentally, also a bassist himself. Check out their work:

Two very distinctive, very diverse styles, right? Which both put to shame my mediocre scribblings inside. But that selling point thrown out there (ha!), why else would someone want to buy a copy of The Utopian when they can get the story for free online? Glad you asked. I give about a half-dozen real good reasons on the pre-order page, including a whole bunch of exclusive material in the print version not found elsewhere. Plus, I don’t know about you, but I like to have a real comic in my hand when I’m eating lunch, riding the bus or visiting the men’s room. That’s right, kids: The Utopian is great bathroom reading. Buy extra copies for every toilet in your house!

In the event you like to get your comics the old-fashioned way, from a comic book store (though I guess “old fashioned” would be more likely a grocery store spinner rack), you are strongly encouraged to ask you favorite shop keep to pre-order The Utopian from Haven Distributors ASAP. The item code is UTOPPOP001 and the more comic store pre-orders we get, the more likely Haven is to continue carrying Pop! Goes the Icon comics.

Speaking of which, you may be ready to accuse me of launching Pop! Goes the Icon simply as a means to foist more Pj-spawned media upon the world. Well, to you I say: OK, you’re half-right. But the half-wrong part of you may want to pay attention. PGTI is launching a new comic book anthology series as soon as humanly possible, and that means I am now accepting pitches from creators or creative teams to be featured in the proposed quarterly series. If you are one of, or happen to know, those creative-types out there, please let them know about this endeavor. I’m really trying to push new talent out there, and help out using the distribution and publishing channels I’ve already established. Plus: 100% creator owned and royalties are paid on all sales.

OK, I think that’s all the comic-related news you can handle. Stay tuned this week for more on my journalistic endeavors (yes, I still do that!), upcoming As Yet Unbroken performances (yes, that too!) as well as … OK, more comic book stuff. And thanks. For reals.

I really owe anyone subscribing to this blog an apology. The days go by pretty quickly around here lately, and every time I start a new entry, I get about half way through, wander off onto tangents, and then leave it to sit in my “drafts” folder indefinitely.  It’s a far cry from the days when I maintained a LiveJournal, posting updates daily, if not two or three times a day. But I guess that’s what I’m doing on Twitter all day, and sometimes even Facebook, so if the tools have changed, the message is the same: Pj does stuff, and sometimes it’s cool.

Most of my spare time has been sucked up by producing two pages a week of The Utopian, a webcomic that, on the outset, appears to be about a bored high school kid trying to shake things up a little, but as regular readers will learn, nothing about the strip remains constant. I’m about to majorly shake up things again, so I’d recommend getting caught up if you’re at all interested, because the roller coaster is making its big climb starting this week.

It may not be obvious to anyone outside the comic industry just why writing, illustrating, coloring and lettering two comic pages takes up so much time, but it helps to know these tasks are typically broken up amongst at least five people, all specialists in their respective roles. For more insight on that, check out the blog post I wrote on the process back toward the start of The Utopian.

In much more exciting news, pre-order sales have opened on the first print issue of The Utopian, for both consumers and retailers. This means the covers for the standard (black & white) and deluxe (full color) versions of the debut issue have been released finally! The standard edition features a cover by Mark T. Zeilman, who, aside from being an acclaimed local artist and former gallerist, is also the bass player in As Yet Unbroken. The deluxe edition’s cover is by Hernan Valencia, a stellar graphic designer, former co-worker in my pre-awesome days, and coincidentally, also a bassist himself. Check out their work:

Two very distinctive, very diverse styles, right? Which both put to shame my mediocre scribblings inside. But that selling point thrown out there (ha!), why else would someone want to buy a copy of The Utopian when they can get the story for free online? Glad you asked. I give about a half-dozen real good reasons on the pre-order page, including a whole bunch of exclusive material in the print version not found elsewhere. Plus, I don’t know about you, but I like to have a real comic in my hand when I’m eating lunch, riding the bus or visiting the men’s room. That’s right, kids: The Utopian is great bathroom reading. Buy extra copies for every toilet in your house!

In the event you like to get your comics the old-fashioned way, from a comic book store (though I guess “old fashioned” would be more likely a grocery store spinner rack), you are strongly encouraged to ask you favorite shop keep to pre-order The Utopian from Haven Distributors ASAP. The item code is UTOPPOP001 and the more comic store pre-orders we get, the more likely Haven is to continue carrying Pop! Goes the Icon comics.

Speaking of which, you may be ready to accuse me of launching Pop! Goes the Icon simply as a means to foist more Pj-spawned media upon the world. Well, to you I say: OK, you’re half-right. But the half-wrong part of you may want to pay attention. PGTI is launching a new comic book anthology series as soon as humanly possible, and that means I am now accepting pitches from creators or creative teams to be featured in the proposed quarterly series. If you are one of, or happen to know, those creative-types out there, please let them know about this endeavor. I’m really trying to push new talent out there, and help out using the distribution and publishing channels I’ve already established. Plus: 100% creator owned and royalties are paid on all sales.

OK, I think that’s all the comic-related news you can handle. Stay tuned this week for more on my journalistic endeavors (yes, I still do that!), upcoming As Yet Unbroken performances (yes, that too!) as well as … OK, more comic book stuff. And thanks. For reals.

We’re about to round a corner with the completion of this week’s two pages from The Utopian. Page 31 is now live, but Friday’s strip is not only the tense conclusion of Part 4 of the serial (“Out of the Closet”), but also will be the last page in the first print collection, which will be released this fall. I received cover art from Mark T. Zeilman (also bass player in a certain awesome local rock band) last week, and, well, I am trying really hard not to post it yet, because it’s pretty rad.

As I’m heading to San Diego for Comic-Con International tomorrow, there will be no new Utopian pages posted next week, but I’ll be back with Part 5, “Revelations,” the first week of August. Which is, coincidentally, 33rd Annual International Pj Week. Bring your party hats.

I’m sure I’ll have all sorts of news for you after I get back from Comic-Con, but until then, chew on the latest article I posted on Examiner.com about Nevada Ballet Theatre’s fall season, and keep your eyes out for tomorrow’s Las Vegas Weekly, in which there should be a Pj-penned article about fast-rising Vegas electro-core band This Romantic Tragedy.

Oh yeah, if you want to be really amused, check out Cracked.com’s “Worst Webcomic” forum, in which the forum trolls dwelling there do their best to ooze snarky criticisms all over The Utopian. Of course, since someone started posting links to my webcomic over there, traffic on my site has increased hundredfold, so I guess that goes to prove, once again, there’s no such thing as bad press. If I get really bored one of these days (because, you know, that happens), I might address each of their complaints in a blog post in my own refined and delicate manner.

And to end on a more positive note, how about good press? Internet pals Kevin Church, Benjamin Birdie, Max Riffner and others get some love for their webcomics over at NPR.com, which is about the most awesome sauce you’ll ever taste.