Welcome Dave Sim!

[doxbane]

Hi Dave!

I'm trapped at work here at City Hall, about a block away from you, and looking forward to reading more about Glamourpuss and what you have to say today. Just ordered a pair of issues of Glamourpuss # 1 from Duane at LFH and can't wait for them to get in.

Thanks to the Comics Bulletin for hosting this!

Mike

[Dave Sim]

Originally Posted by doxbane

Hi Dave!

I'm trapped at work here at City Hall, about a block away from you, and looking forward to reading more about Glamourpuss and what you have to say today. Just ordered a pair of issues of Glamourpuss # 1 from Duane at LFH and can't wait for them to get in.

Thanks to the Comics Bulletin for hosting this!

Mike

Hi, Mike and thank you for the welcome to Comics Bulletin (formerly Silver Bullet Comics). What department are you working in at City Hall? I was just there doing my morning constitutional -- ten flights of stairs starting next to the wedding chapel and ending on the cafeteria level. Then back down for decaf and cookies in William's Coffee Pub.

Is there anything that better epitomizes the Internet revolution in the comic-book field than a guy three blocks away welcoming me to a message board headquartered across the ocean? Hello to all long-time readers on the other side of the Big Pond. Looking forward to seeing all of you at the big Bristol show in '09!

Okay, I have a post-it note here reminding me to "stay on-message" -- particularly on these high traffic, high prestige sites: So, I'm not sure what the situation is in the UK but most comic stores in Canada and the US should be getting their COMIC INDUSTRY PREVIEW EDITION of glamourpuss No.1 in the next day or so as part of their Diamond Dateline package for Feb 13. If you have any hesitancy about signing up for a subscription to glamourpuss -- and with all the creative curve balls I've thrown in the last thirty years, who can blame you? -- here's your chance to flip through and/or read all or as much of issue No.1 as you care to before making your decision. It'll take about twenty minutes. As the saying goes: I can't give you back the 20 minutes, but I might be able to save you three bucks.

In addition there are 100 stores in Canada and 200 in the US and about a dozen in the UK that have autographed copies of the Preview Edition for you to look at right now. Many of them are also holding a drawing for the autographed copy with the names of all the new subscribers put into a hat. So far, none of these copies have showed up on eBay (which everyone told me was an impossible dream a month ago), so thanks to all the retailers for really giving this advance promotion that unbelievable and truly gratifying level of support.

And thanks for mentioning LFR, Lookin For Heroes, here in Kitchener at 93 Ontario St. S. right across from the Grand River Transit Authority Terminal. In business since 1989, it is now your comics. gaming and card headquarters in beautiful downtown Kitchener.

Duane says hi. Actually, he's vacuuming and watching a South Park DVD but if he wasn't, I'm sure he'd say hi.

[CraigRJ]

Hey Dave,

Craig from CV again - so can we pencil you in for Bristol 09, or pen it in?

On glamourpuss - do you have rough idea from retailers as to how the orders will pan out for #1?

On Cerebus - given your work on glamourpuss is there any chance of the Miscellany appearing in the next year, or not until gp has finished?

On Image - are they going to print the colour Cerebus pages in one book?

Cheers,
Craig.

[doxbane]

Originally Posted by Dave Sim

Hi, Mike and thank you for the welcome to Comics Bulletin (formerly Silver Bullet Comics). What department are you working in at City Hall? I was just there doing my morning constitutional -- ten flights of stairs starting next to the wedding chapel and ending on the cafeteria level.

Howdy Dave

I work in Corporate Security, so I see you quite often around here but don't chat, both to avoid the 'creepy factor' and also because while I've been a fan of your work since the 80s, I really have very little to say, other than I am looking forward to you putting out fresh new work for us to digest.

One thing that I am wondering about is the publishing side of Glamourpuss, and alternatives to Aardvark-Vanaheim -- do you think there would be any advantage to using a creator-friendly type of publisher such as Avatar or IDW Publishing, as they may have the inroads to the US market to put more copies on shelves than Aardvark-Vanaheim?

It seems that one of the positive fallout of the 90's comic scene was an emphasis on the creators being the thing that drives sales as opposed to the characters/title, so that has opened up things in such a way that creators can actually be compensated better on a lower-selling 'creator-owned' title than if they were working for Marvel or DC.

Brian K Vaughn made this point recently about how much better he fared by owning Y: The Last Man vs. his other work.

I know you've been at the forefront of self-publishing and creator ownership since the beginning, so what is your opinion about publishers such as the ones I've mentioned...is their 'cut' still too painful or are they actively helping the industry by creating alternatives for creators?

thanks for your time,

Mike

[Dave Sim]

Okay, I think I might be doing that "hiding in plain sight" thing again -- at least until people realize that I'm here under "Welcome Dave Sim" instead of "glamourpuss Dave Sim" so, in the interests of staying "on message" again:

A lot of the basis for this promotion campaign is summed up as cooperation between creators and retailers: Shared Risk, Shared Responsibility, Shared Rewards. Simply put, if we had the work ethic on the creator side of comics that we see -- daily -- on the retail side, this would be a much healthier business.

It took me five weeks to write and draw glamourpuss No.1. That's the reason that I announced it as a bi-monthly. Although common in the field, the idea of saying "Well, I'll get faster as I go along, so I'll announce it as a monthly"...I really don't think that's responsible behaviour. If I can get three issues out on a bi-monthly basis, comfortably and if I'm able to build up some lead time, at that point I can CONSIDER making glamourpuss a monthly. But if it consistently takes me five weeks -- or even four weeks -- to produce an issue, that means there is no margin for error built in and I'm really just asking to be off-schedule inside of six months.

It isn't a matter of having two issues "in the can" or three issues "in the can". If it takes you ten weeks to draw an issue and you announce it as a bi-monthly, you will be off-schedule -- SERIOUSLY off schedule -- within four issues. To me, that isn't Shared Responsibility: the retailers show up for work EVERY morning. If they don't they're out of business sooner rather than later. If you want to know the Big Secret to comics success, there it is. 90% of it is simply showing up for work every morning and doing your job.

Ger and I always treated CEREBUS as a job and as a result the book came out on schedule from 1990 to 2004, every month, and concluded on the exact date I had announced in 1979: March, 2004.

In comics, with retailers and their customers, you ARE your track record.

Okay. End of lecture. Sorry about that.

[CraigRJ]

Dave,

I guess this is the tenth time you've mentioned this, or the tenth message board you've visited so far - has it got old yet?

Has four years away from Cerebus given rise to any thoughts on your part about wishing any part of it was done differently?

Best,
Craig

[sbcomics]

Dave:

Thanks for sending out the preview editions, and for being focused on the health of the direct market.

As a retailer, I'm wondering: What's the best "five-second pitch" to sell Glamourpuss?

As someone who writes for a newspaper, I'm wondering: What's the best mainstream "hook" for Glamourpuss?

Thanks!

- Matt Price
Speeding Bullet Comics, Norman, OK
www.speedingbulletcomics.com
The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City
blog.newsok.com/nerdage

[Dave Sim]

Originally Posted by CraigRJ

Hey Dave,

Craig from CV again - so can we pencil you in for Bristol 09, or pen it in?

On glamourpuss - do you have rough idea from retailers as to how the orders will pan out for #1?

On Cerebus - given your work on glamourpuss is there any chance of the Miscellany appearing in the next year, or not until gp has finished?

On Image - are they going to print the colour Cerebus pages in one book?

Cheers,
Craig.

Hi Craig.

1) Yes, you can definitely ink me in for Bristol '09. Stephen Holland at Page 45 said you were more than generous with the arrangements you were willing to make and Stephen's word is always good enough for me.

2) Absolutely no idea how the orders are going to pan out on glamourpuss No.1. It's now down to the last fifteen days of the 90-day glamourpuss promotion campaign and all I can say for certain is that Ralph DiBernardo is still signed up for 250 copies...

(he's the retailer who bought 150 copies of TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES No.1 from a "couple of scruffy looking kids" who came up to his booth at a local flea market in New Hampshire and "talked me into it". He always remembers the number of copies he ordered because he VIVIDLY recalls handing over a cheque for NINETY DOLLARS and thinking, "Man, I sure hope I make at least SOME of that back". He went on to buy another 350 over the next year and was instrumental in making the book into a cult hit in New Hampshire before it started catching fire in the Direct Market. He recalls -- somewhat ruefully, as you can understand -- cutting up mint copies of No.1 to make flyers advertising the book. The way he looked at it it was cheaper to cut up the books than to get good photocopies made of different panels and cut those up!)

...and long-time CEREBUS reader Robert Rowe is up for 100 copies -- which he's prepaid for. I'll find out what the orders look like mid-March when I get my TRU Report from Diamond by fax.

The clock is ticking and February 27 at 7 pm when Lookin For Heroes closes for the night, the glamourpuss promotion campaign comes to an end and I fly out to Columbus Ohio for S.P.A.C.E. 08 (March 1 and 2) and the official announcement and exhibit of Secret Project One.

At that point, the fate of glamourpuss is completely in the hands of the retailers.

3) No, I wouldn't be looking for the CEREBUS MISCELLANY anytime soon. There are too many loose ends. Should it include the complete Turtles/Cerebus crossover? Should it include the Spawn/Cerebus crossover? Would Pete Laird and Todd McFarlane be willing to give permission for that? Or Mark Bode with MIAMI MICE? Do I reprint the entire story for the sake of the one or two Cerebus panels?

There isn't even a consensus among the CEREBUS Yahoos -- some want a narrative book to fill in the holes in the Cerebus trades and some want a COMPLETE CEREBUS -- convention program booklet drawings, the Now & Then Books matchbook cover, etc.

Feel free to join the debate at the CEREBUS Yahoo discussion group: there's a link at www.cerebusart.com.

4) Erik Larsen was nice enough to show up for a few minutes on the Comicon appearance and I mentioned it to him at that point. But, same deal, what SHOULD be included in the book. If the answer is EVERYTHING in colour then you're talking about a very thick book.

Or is the preference for a complete covers book, or just a slim Young Cerebus from EPIC volume?

Questions, questions, questions.

[Dave Sim]

Originally Posted by doxbane

Howdy Dave

I work in Corporate Security, so I see you quite often around here but don't chat, both to avoid the 'creepy factor' and also because while I've been a fan of your work since the 80s, I really have very little to say, other than I am looking forward to you putting out fresh new work for us to digest.

One thing that I am wondering about is the publishing side of Glamourpuss, and alternatives to Aardvark-Vanaheim -- do you think there would be any advantage to using a creator-friendly type of publisher such as Avatar or IDW Publishing, as they may have the inroads to the US market to put more copies on shelves than Aardvark-Vanaheim?

It seems that one of the positive fallout of the 90's comic scene was an emphasis on the creators being the thing that drives sales as opposed to the characters/title, so that has opened up things in such a way that creators can actually be compensated better on a lower-selling 'creator-owned' title than if they were working for Marvel or DC.

Brian K Vaughn made this point recently about how much better he fared by owning Y: The Last Man vs. his other work.

I know you've been at the forefront of self-publishing and creator ownership since the beginning, so what is your opinion about publishers such as the ones I've mentioned...is their 'cut' still too painful or are they actively helping the industry by creating alternatives for creators?

thanks for your time,

Mike

Very nice of a high profile creator like Brian K. Vaughn to say that publicly, I must say. The more hard information aspiring creators have, the better off we're all going to be.

I'd have to say at this point that if I don't hear from Erik Larsen in the next while about any specific plans, I'd have to say that IDW would be my strong second choice. They have a great line of books and Ted Adams has been great about sending me comps through the Blog & Mail Year.

But I wouldn't consider moving the "in principle" agreement from Image (and Bob Chapman at Graphitti Designs) to IDW until we have a specific project proposed. Which is why I would recommend any interested individuals get involved in the debate over at the Yahoo Cerebus Newsgroup. It might just be a matter of the Yahoos putting together a "rough cut" of everything and then letting Erik and Bob offer an opinion on what they think "their" volume would look like and then seeing what the Yahoos think of that. There might be enough there for an Image volume, a Graphitti volume and an IDW volume. The Yahoos are the Primary CEREBUS Audience so I wouldn't make a move without their approval at this point.

[Dave Sim]

Originally Posted by CraigRJ

Dave,

I guess this is the tenth time you've mentioned this, or the tenth message board you've visited so far - has it got old yet?

Has four years away from Cerebus given rise to any thoughts on your part about wishing any part of it was done differently?

Best,
Craig

1) No, not at all.

Given that this is the first time that anyone has done 100 hours on the Internet to promote a new title (as far as I know), I consider it both a privilege and a serious responsibility as with just about everything else I've done associated with self-publishing and the Shared Risk, Shared Responsiblity, Shared Rewards pact I've always had with the retailers. If it works -- if it generates sales that everyone is going to agree wouldn't have been there if I hadn't done three months of promotion -- then it becomes a template for the future and gives "one book" creators a distinct advantage over mainstream companies who have to divide their promotional resource pie into really tiny individual slices. Since Marvel and DC have so many advantages we don't have, I think it points towards a more level playing field -- as long as the "one book" creator delivers on his or her promises.

That's too important to even take a chance of messing it up, as far as I'm concerned.

2) There are times that I think it would have made a lot of sense to put CEREBUS on hiatus back in '92 and do a six-issue mini series through Image at the time when anything they put out was selling a million copies.

Today, the revenue from six million comic books would certainly be buying me a much higher grade of tuna fish.

Of course I would never actually have done it. It would have sent out the wrong message to potential self-publishers: go to Image instead. It would've undermined everything I was working for at the time with the '92 Tour and the Spirits Stops.

Tempting, though.