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| QUICK LINKS:
FGP Retailer: New England Comics At Last: The Salvager Kain Webcomic, at www.salvagerkain.com Upcoming Appearance: Heroes Convention 2009 Major Changes Salvager Kain #4 Is Here! FGP Retailer: Castle Perilous FGP Retailer: Amazing Fantasy Great APE! - Alternative Press Expo 2008 Con Report FGP Retailers: Laughing Ogre, Comix Experience and Comic Relief Sweet Cheesecake, I'm Looking Forward To SF Back From The Next Panel Independent Comics Expo FGP Retailer - 2008 Convention Freebee The August Update I'm Going To Be At APE This Year Salvager Kain #3 I Also Have A Website For My Animation Personality |
FGP Retailer: New England Comics Here's a great addition to the comic shops selling Salvager Kain issues: three fine locations of the Boston-area's own New England Comics! The people of Massachusetts, they love their minicomics! Follow the link to the Buy page to get their street and / or web address.
At Last: The Salvager Kain Webcomic, at www.salvagerkain.com!
Yes! Finally! Salvager Kain finally moved out of the house and got his own digs, which means (you guessed it) I get my sewing room back. No, seriously, this is something I've been looking forward to for a long time: the Salvaging Shoveller finally has his own site, his own masthead (a dream I'm sure we all share) and a regularly updating webcomic. The interface design could use some originality, I know, but it'll come... and at least it's begun, hallelujah! You should pop on over to see the full deal, but to give you the short of it, it's the start of the fifth issue of Salvager Kain (the first few installments of which had previouisly been parked over here), and it continues RIGHT from the point where Salvager Kain #4 ended... in mid-swear, no less! The first four issues will NOT get uploaded to complete the story;they are and always will be print-only. What you will get is a certain amount of recap within the new installments, to cover the basics of what you happened before... that is, if you don't already know. I'll just shut up now and let you check it out. Enjoy!
Upcoming Appearance: Heroes Convention 2009
I'm so excited about this I could spill coffee out my nose -- I'll be attending this year's Heroes Convention from June 19-21 at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. While I haven't been there before, the Heroes Con looks to be a good size show without being crzay huge, and the guest list has me wanting to be more fan than creator. I missed the deadline to get in last year, so I'm glad to say I'll be there this time -- baby carrots and all. Ideally I'd like to have another issue ready for sale at that point -- SK5 completed, perhaps? -- but as the other posts today show, I've got my head focused on All Things Web for this spring, and if that precludes the completion of another new mini in print, so be it. First priority, now that the new site is up & running, is to keep installments coming once a week (and I've already got a buffer going, so that's aces); the next priority is to build the online store. But who knows -- there's always the allure of making something short, sweet and deliciously random. Odd-Job Rod #2?
Major Changes What can I tell you? With the completion of Salvager Kain #4 -- what I've been referring to as "my last standard minicomic" -- I'm now changing the process of making Fool's Gold Press comics. That doesn't mean abandoning the print medium, but it does mean starting the next chapter of Salvager Kain as a webcomic, in order to reach more people and try to build up a bigger audience. There's more to write about the why's and wherefore's about this change in the next few weeks, especially as we closer to changing over the webcomic interface, but for now -- thanks for your time, and I hope you stay with me to see where I'm planning to go!
Salvager Kain #4 Is Here! Yes -- the reason why I've been remiss in updating the website was to devote all my time to finishing this fourth chapter, long overdue.
The fourth issue picks up not long after where the third left off: Kain has just obtained Snake's map of the tunnels that should lead him back home, inside the Kingdom! The problem is he can't find the tunnels' entrance... and everything and everyone in the crazy forest outside the wall seems to be driving him nuts! SK4 also works as a transitional chapter, since you've probably already noticed the start of the NEXT chapter of Salvager Kain as an online webcomic on the index page of this site! If you haven't read it already, go ahead and take a peek -- it won't spoil the story of the fourth issue. But if you want to know how he gets to this point, do yourself a favor and read Salvager Kain #4! Additionally, the fourth issue has an extra four pages this time, since there was so much going on... but the price is the same as always -- my gift to you.
FGP Retailer: Castle Perilous I've also added another retailer in Carbondale, Illinois that's selling Salvager Kain issues: the excellent all-purpose gaming and book store, Castle Perilous! Links to the real and web addresses for the store can be found on the Buy page.
FGP Retailer: Amazing Fantasy Yup, it's true, Salvager Kain is now a balanced part of your Bay area Amazing Fantasy! (I wish I could type sentences like that every day.) Yup, I've added another fine comics establishment from San Francisco to the list of retailers that carry Fool's Gold Press minicomics -- you can find them all on the Buy page.
Great APE! - Alternative Press Expo 2008 Con Report
Five days or so after, and that con feels like a lifetime ago -- that's the kind of week it's been, and it's still got a ways to go. Wow, what a great con. Why is it that APE speaks to me? I mean, I'm just there, doing my thing, trying to be a professional comic creator and always ending up an amateur... but in San Francisco, maybe that comes off as being "honest", and therefore trustworthy? The heck if I understand it. All I know is, while that con has always been good fun in the past, this year it was the best yet. My table was RW-ADJ, which means "rear washroom-adjacent". I just made that term up, but it's safe to say a spot like that, in the back of the hall, by the can, one row of tables lining the outside of the restrooms -- it's the kind of location where you feel like you ought to be handing out towelettes. But even so, EVEN SO, this was still an excellent spot, since a) that line of tables was totally full, no tapering out of exhibitors the closer you get to the sound of flushing and b) each and every one of those tables had some good amount of talent behind it.
Let me talk about that for a second -- I know "Alternative Press" can sound like a bit of a catch-all for crap, stuff like illustrated fanfic and noodly ball point pen modern hobo poetry zines drawn on tree bark. But certainly everything in my corner of the hall... the quality level of the region was just stunning, and humbling. I hadn't been there since APE 2005, three and a half years ago; did everyone just finish art school at the same time or something? That being said, I didn't walk away with a ton of goodies, just a smallish-size stack. It would have been great to check out all that was there, but it also would've required a separate two days for me, without customers, to get a good and proper look at all that great stuff. On average I don't circulate around through conventions as much as I ought to, but this time around I was particularly keen to stay at the table. Let's face it -- I know I'll have other opportunities to buy small press comics, but I had roughly fifteen hours' worth of opportunity to actually talk to other folks about Salvager Kain and the rest of my crap. And with my shut-in routine here in C-Dale getting old, and the question of "what DO people think of SK?" ringing out unanswered, not to mention a long (and pricey) trip across the country for the main purpose of selling my comics -- of course that's what I'm going to try and do.
And you know what? I love selling comics person to person. Being behind a table hocking my wares is the perfect way to exercise my extrovert. You get a real range of passers-by, and it's fascinating to see what chances you get to engage them in conversation about ANYthing. Believe me, I've got plenty to say about my comics, but I'm more fascinated in just getting someone in the area to chat about anything, because that beats the pants off of sitting around doodling. I can doodle in C-Dale, or in an airport. Talking with someone who just *might* be interested in buying comics? heck yeah. Make them laugh, or even chuckle, if I can -- something to remind me that I can entertain someone if I try. Alright -- some specific points about this specific year. For those of you always living in the "now", last Saturday, APE's start, was the day after Halloween. Interesting choice, for the organizers. That might have brought a little more life to the pre-registration Exhibitor party Friday night (Halloween, for those keeping track) but not enough that I could tell (they really ought to save that party for the Saturday night, so new exhibitors will have already met over a day of selling comics). It rained like crazy on the opening day, and the attendance seemed to reflect it. I was surprised by the number of locals affirming what I had thought was a more Southern Californian condition: when the rain comes out, the people, they get timid. You also had to wonder, though, how many people were sleeping off their candy & costume hangovers? So yeah, a little quieter on Day 1, but thanks to all those who did make it through the rain... and especially those who came in costume, too.
Day 2, I can't recall ever seeing an APE that busy, it must have been "Show A Friend Your Hobby Day" or something. I was inclined to knock people out and stack them up by the table in case things got slower later on, but it didn't -- just a nice steady stream of people used to getting words with their pictures and vice-a-versa. Less than usual amount of people asking for sketches; folks seemed to have money and a serious intent to shop, their challenge instead being having to choose which cool comics, books, prints, t-shirts, pins, cards or toys to spend their funds on. I had my best con sales ever that day, which, mind you, could just as easily have happened if someone had left their wallet at my table. And for the first time (perhaps first con) ever, I wasn't packing up early at the end of the show because I had to / wanted to drive home before it got stupidly late. I was staying in town that night and I wanted to stay at APE as long as they'd let me. No way is every comic convention that satisfying. It's getting late and I need to get this update done before I pack it in, so I'll speed though my quick list of cool people and comics from the event that I feel I must plug, in a salesman kind of way. Good friend and fellow gun for hire Elan Trinidad shared some of my table selling his Theory Of Everything comics -- for $2, a veritable steal, I tell you! Go read his Speak No Evil: Melancholy Of A Space Mexican, it's f@cking brilliant and original. A big stubbly "heya!" to my con-neighbors Rebecca Hicks (and her stalwart man James) of "Project Elohim" and "Little Vampires" fame -- thanks for raising the creative standards of the RW-ADJ; together we could have opened our own store, seriously! Thanks to James Courtney of NakedComix for (um, wait, is my mom going to read this someday? crap...) the EXTENSIVE TALK ABOUT ILLUSTRATOR COLORING TECHNIQUES. My sincere apologies to Aron Nels Stienke for being so immersed in our fun-time nostalgia-chat about the overlap between Vancouver Film School and International Rocketship principals that I forgot to buy one of his Big Plans. Alina Pete does a damn fine job on Weregeek, even if I wish she'd have it hand-lettered; don't fret, I wish that for every computer-type comic. One of my favorite minis from the con, somebody handed to me -- Math! Comics by Kevin Woody -- I wish I'd paid money for it, it's that good. And lastly, the thing I had to have, couldn't live without, must collect all six, and YOU MUST TOO (thanks for getting me hooked, Elan): the Comfort Guide series of pamphlets. I ask you, how have I made it this far in the world without them?
I'd *like* to post more photos in the next couple days -- but again, it's been that kind of week. I'll be lucky to have time to draw... but if I am, that's just lucky enough.
FGP Retailers: Laughing Ogre, Comix Experience, Comic Relief Hey guess what? l've tricked even more stores into carrying Salvager Kain minicomics! As always, you can get links to those stores and all the others that carry Fool's Gold Press minicomics on the Buy page.
Sweet Cheesecake, I'm Looking Forward To SF
The Alternative Press Expo comic convention, this coming Saturday and Sunday, at the Concourse Exhibition Center, 620 7th Street, San Francisco! What's not to love? Personally I'm looking forward to catching up with some good friends, having myself a few too many DAMN fine cups of coffee, and drooling over as many sandwiches from Molinari's as I can safely fit in my grubby little hands. Here's a deal for you: stop by the table and mention "sandwich drool" and I'll give you the "lazy eye" discount!
Back From The Next Panel Independent Comics Expo
Last weekend I drove up to Champaign, IL to attend a small con (with big heart) called the Next Panel Independent Comics Expo, which from here on out I'll abbreviate as NPICE. That looks like a mix between "NICE" and "SPICE", and I'm okay with that. Held on Friday October 24 & Saturday October 25 in the Link Gallery of the University of Illinois Urbana -Champaign, the NPICE was a compliment to the comic art show recently opened at the Krannert Museum (also on campus). That exhibit -- "Out of Sequence: Underrepresented Voices In American Comics" -- is an amazing collection of original comic book and comic strip art, digital print enlargements, sample reading copies and video presentations made by a broad range of creators, in a variety of media and formats, the diversity of all of which was sadly missing from the "Masters of American Comics" show that's toured in recent years. I've got show envy, just so we're clear. Whether or not my "voice" is underrepresented or not is beside the issue; I didn't learn about the show OR the con until about five days before they both started, so we'll never know if I could have qualified to be a part of the exhibit. But that show is AWESOME, and the fact that it happened within a few hours' drive of Middle Earth (where the Home Office is) makes me full of a kind of happiness that's hard to fully describe. The con wasn't the biggest show I've ever attended, and in fact it may have been the smallest, but the folks who ran the NPICE did everything right for a convention this small; well advertised, easy to get to, and an excellent location with good proximity to the exhibit. Plus, I really enjoy comics shows held on-campus; it seems like even if the students passing by aren't inherently fans of comics, they're willing to come take a peek at what you're doing, something about that whole "curious minds" thing they think will serve them well in life. Fools! They'll learn, later in life. It was good fun getting to chat with the incredibly talented, friendly and quick-witted artists and writers in direct proximity to me -- Mshindo Kuumba, Grant Thomas, and Dan Hill, among others -- and I apologize for exposing them all to my non-stop two-day comics sales pitch... a banter usually involving blank paper, felt markers and any angle I think might make me appeal to the passers-by. I'm shameless, or, um, hungry. Lastly a shout-out to Ryan Claytor, a familiar face from APE's past -- welcome to Middle Earth! -- and big thanks to co-curators Damian Duffy, John Jennings and to Chris Schaede at the Krannert Museum, for helping organize such a great event.
FGP Retailer: Comics Dungeon Thanks to the great folks at Seattle's Comics Dungeon shop for choosing to sell Salvager Kain on their shelves! You can find info about them and other stores that carry Fool's Gold Press minicomics on the Buy page.
2008 Convention Freebee
The cover pretty much says it all, doesn't it? A summary of Salvager Kain characters and plots, a four-page preview of Salvager Kain #4, and a bonus fun page full of sudoku puzzles, word search games (hunt for words like "betrayal, self-preservation, cannibalism") and more! Honestly folks, I can't wait to show you all the next issue of Salvager Kain, "Drowning In The Buzz". It's time to meet the beeeeeeees....
The August Update
Hey my little internet wonders, this just in -- I've been working! On what? Well, first let's cover what's new to the site: • as well as getting Fool's Gold Press minicomics into a few new stores in Georgia (the state, not the country), Maryland, Texas, Virgina and Washington state, I've also revised that list of stores by state (or province, for my Canadian brethren), as opposed to by city. As to what I've been working on, admittedly part of that answer involves not-comics work, because the money wheel has to keep turning, but the fun half of the answer is the next two chapters of Salvager Kain, which (can't give too much away here) need to be developed simultaneously. Yeah, I know -- sounds pretentious! I've also got a few promotional projects in mind, at least one of which I'd like to realize before diving deep into SK4... more on that very shortly.
Site Redesign
Yes, it's crazy-links-go-nuts here as I've retooled the FGP website to finally cover a few blank spots. Let me tell you about it, Bob: For the first time ever, I've got dedicated pages for all the Comics I've made (as Fool's Gold Press -- check out the F.A.Q. page to learn a little more about what that means)... AND ALSO for the first time, I've got free PDF Previews for each comics, over on the Webstuff page! The Archives page is pretty much empty at the moment, since that's where all this stuff will go when it's no longer news. How obvious is that? Anyhow -- thanks for checking me out, internetistically. If you're so motivated, please and let me know what you think, because you know -- sometimes it's hard to get a clear look out when you're submerged in it.
I'm Going To Be At APE This Year For those who don't already know comics acronyms by heart, that's the Alternative Press Exposition, in San Francisco, CA, November 1 & 2, 2008. Here's their official site. To know how to find me this time, look for the tall clown with the baby carrot:
Salvager Kain #3 Now Available! If it wasn't already clear from the animating logo up at the top, I finished the third issue of Salvager Kain in June; it's called "Snakes and Ladettes"! Click here to learn more about the story! Or, click here to go the Buy page find out how to get a copy.
I Also Have A Website For My Animation Personality Check it out, should you be so inclined. |
This is like the back of the barn.
Watch where you step! |
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