Tomorrow, the final trade paperback of my 28 Days Later series hits bookshelves. It collects the last 4 issues of the series and wraps the story up in a nice, neat little blood-soaked bow. Below is a preview for your perusing pleasure. Make sure to stop by your local comics shop, bookstore, or online retailer to get yourself a copy and complete your collection.
Ever wanted to write comics or just curious about what goes into making a comic book? Then join me on December 20th live over at Comics Experience for their Creators Workshop. I’ve never done anything like this before, but it looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun. So join us!
Earlier today, a video went up on the website Bleeding Cool, and in this video, you see me burning copies of my new comic series Valen the Outcast. If you haven’t seen it, take a look.
The video then made the rounds on various social media sites and I’ve since had numerous people asking me, “Why? Why would you do such a thing?” It’s a very good question and I want to take this opportunity to try and answer it as best I can.
First, let’s take a step back for a minute and look at the macro of the situation. Right now, the comics industry, along with the rest of the planet, is struggling. It used to be said that comics were recession-proof. Well, turns out they’re really more recession-resistant. The current global crisis is an equal opportunity money thresher and no industry is immune. Brian Wood had a great post the other day addressing this issue (re: day and date digital release). If a creator as talented and prolific as Brain Wood is struggling, what does that mean for guy like me?
Now, BOOM! and I are launching a brand new, original, ongoing comic book series titled Valen the Outcast. Pretty straightforward, right? That’s what comic book publishers do. But there are a couple of hurdles that we’re facing right off the bat. It’s new. It’s original. And I’m writing it.
On the best of days, a new series from an independent publisher is competing with hundreds of other weekly titles for readers’ attentions, the vast majority of that competition coming from DC and Marvel. And with massive storylines/reboots/relaunches like the New 52 and Fear Itself, you begin to feel like a juggling mouse vying for the audience’s attention while stuck at the bottom of a bear pit during the prize match between a mecha-riding Kodiak and a diamond-skinned rhino. It’s pretty easy to get stepped on.
And being that the Valen the Outcast is new and original, there isn’t an established audience or any character loyalty to rely on like you could with a licensed property or a new series for an established character.
Finally, I’m writing it. Why is that a hurdle? Even though I’ve been writing comics for seven years and have written over 120 single issues for dozens of series, most comics readers have never heard of me. Now, that’s not a woe-is-me-nobody-reads-me-wah-feel-sorry-for-me statement. Not at all. Let’s be honest. If you’re a customer and can only afford one comic, are you going with the book about a character you’ve been reading since childhood or a book by some guy who includes his middle name in his credit like some self-important twit? The math is simple. Childhood Hero > Self-Important Twit.
That said, I’ve been fortunate enough to have people take a chance on me and many of them can now be called my fans, for which I am incredibly grateful. I believe, as does BOOM!, that if you read one of my books, chances are you’re going to enjoy it and want to read more. The problem is getting enough people to pick up that first issue.
Which brings us to the situation at hand.
As I said before, I’m in competition for your reading dollars. And I’m up against names like Moore, Bendis, Morrison, Waid, Aaron, and Ellis. Mouse in a bear pit indeed. And since retailers have limited shelf space, they’re going to want to fill that space with books that have a greater chance of selling. So how do we convince a retailer to take a chance on a new, original, ongoing series written by someone like me? Well, one way is variant covers.
I know that a lot of readers have a visceral dislike for variants. I’m not sure exactly why that it, but I assume it’s because it feels as if a publisher is trying to get extra money out of you by selling you the same thing twice (or more). I disagree with that sentiment, because no one is forcing you to buy more than one copy. But I understand it. It can feel like a gimmick and that someone is trying to take advantage of you (BTW, we’re not). The thing is, variant covers sell more comics. If it didn’t, we wouldn’t do it. And selling more books is good for us, good for retailers, and I’d like to think good for readers because if enough buy a series, the longer that series gets to stick around for the readers to enjoy.
Yet, sometimes just printing variant covers isn’t enough. That’s where the Joe Jusko cover comes in. We needed an incentive for retailers to take a chance on our new series, and we wanted that incentive to be something special to reward them for taking that chance. So, if a retailer bought 200 copies of Valen the Outcast #1, they would get a 9.8 CGC rated and slabbed copy of Valen the Outcast #1 with the naked Joe Jusko cover.
That, in and of itself, isn’t terribly special since any book can be slabbed. And since most printers have a minimum print run, there were hundreds of extras beyond the slabbed copies that went to retailers. So, in order to make that incentive special and rare, we decided to destroy the remaining copies, making the Joe Jusko variant a very limited issue.
That’s why we burned them.
We burned them and recorded it to prove that the Jusko cover really is as rare and collectible as we said it would be. From my understanding, there are only 25. That’s it. So, if a retailer purchased 200 copies, they get one of those 25 slabbed variants. Because there are only 25, it is drastically more collectible and, in theory, more valuable and will net the retailer a greater profit. Good for them. And now they have 200 copies of the other variants they need to sell and will want to put in readers’ hands. Good for us. And it’s only $1.00 and a great frikkin’ read. Good for you. All the while garnering more readers and, hopefully more fans, more customers, and more enjoyment for everyone.
We’ve worked hard to make Valen the Outcast the best it can be. We believe in this series and are extremely confident that if you get a copy, you’ll enjoy it and want to make it a regular part of your monthly reading. We’re not trying to dupe anyone, swindle them, or live out some morbid fantasy of getting our hate on.* We’re simply trying to market this book as best as we can.
Even if that means setting the bear pit on fire.
*Just to be clear, I’m fully aware of the optics of burning books, but I hope that everyone can see the clear difference between what we’ve done here and the appalling actions of zealots and extremists. If you can’t see the difference, go fuck yourself in the neck.
For me, naming characters is one of the most difficult aspects of creating a story. Granted, I could just go to the Big Book of Baby Names and pick one at random (I’ve done it many times before), but most writers prefer to have the name really speak to who the character is, either through its meaning or its phonetic quality. When it’s done wrong, well, a name is just a name. But when done right, the perfect name can tell you everything about the character before you even meet her on the page.
Coming up with ‘Valen Brand’ as the name of our hero in Valen the Outcast was a group effort, and not an easy one. We bandied about nearly 50 possibilities, and while many of them were good names, none of them were quite right. We wanted a name that sounded regal and strong without coming across as too guttural. If the name sounded too harsh, the character would come across as brutish; just a big guy with a big sword who kills things. Which is certainly what Valen is, but he also used to be king. He’s a thinker. He knows strategy, diplomacy, law, and history. We had to make sure that his name reflected his intelligence as well as his strength. Or, at the very least, sounded strong and intelligent.
I think Ross was the one who eventually brought Valen Brand to the table. Phonetically, it works on all levels. Its strong but not brutish. But the meaning behind this choice of name really made it click.
Valen = fallen
Brand = branded, marked
Once we saw this, we knew that this was his name. And it looks good on the page, too. We even used it in the title (more on that farther down).
Now we move on to our bad guy, Korrus Null. His name actually came to me rather easily. I wanted something that was dark and ominous without sounding like he came from one of my D&D campaigns I ran when I was twelve. His name needed to have a sense of gravity, of size and scope. So, I came up with this:
Korrus = chorus
Null = well, null
He is the silencer of many voices. Pretty straight forward. I just changed the spelling of his first name to make it not quite so obvious and voila! Baddie named.
Next is our resident femme fatale: Zjanna. Now, I chose her name simply based on phonetics (if you’re unsure of how to pronounce it, it’s zhah-nah). It sounds (and looks) exotic without being a mouthful (there’s nothing worse than coming across a name that has eighteen syllables and only one vowel). And it fits with her fictitious native tongue that she speaks from time to time (it’s a mix of fake Russian and Old English—I knew my English degree would come in handy someday). Her name also lends an air of mystery about her, which is perfect for the mysterious nature of her character.
And lastly, we have Alexio Cordovan. I chose Alexio because it has a suave, Mediterranean flavor to it, but Cordovan is the name that tells you everything you need to know about him. If you aren’t familiar with men’s shoes, there is a type known as shell cordovan. They are very expensive, look wonderful, and are made from the shell (muscle) beneath the hide of a horse’s rump. And that is this character to a T. He’s charming, elegant, handsome, but can be a real horse’s ass. Perfect.
As for the title change, there’s a good write up over at CBR that explains it best. And, to be honest, I really dig Valen the Outcast. Funny how things work out, isn’t it?
Issue #1 hits bookshelves tomorrow.
This week begins a new ongoing series of mine titled Valen the Outcast, drawn by Matteo Scalera and colored by Archie Van Buren. Normally, I’d post a preview of the series here, but since you can find the preview of this first issue elsewhere already, I thought it’d be fun to show you the evolution of one of my favorite pages from this issue instead (and you won’t find this one in the preview, so bonus!).
Take a look at these…
What I love about this page is how Matteo creates such a sense of dangerous motion. You can almost hear the fire raging and the timbers cracking and you share the character’s sense of urgency. Oh, and that last panel is just sick. Also notice what a great job Archie does in the lower half of the page, creating a sense of atmospheric density as if the smoke is getting in your eyes, clouding your vision yet still keeping everything clear and visible. The farther down the page you go, the thicker--and metaphorically more dangerous--it becomes. Metaphor through color! Seriously, how awesome is that? It’s all just so damn good. And the art gets even better from here.
And here are some nifty original character sketches of our main characters.
One of the best things about this job is seeing the artist bring your characters to life. It’s such a unique feeling to see something born inside your head materialize into something tangible. This series is looking better than I could have ever hoped.
Issue #1 hits bookshelves this Wednesday, so make sure to go to your local comics shop and pick up a copy.
