WTF?? Sunday Catch Up

Been three weeks, but it's been a good two weeks. Lots to do, Motor City to attend, papers to distribute, news to decipher. Let's see if I can cover it all quick enough so you don't get to bored.

Actually going to save the Flint Comix report for another day since there's so much little things to cover here- sorry, but that report WILL take awhile, and I'm shocked to say it is practically all good things. I will say that issue 2 is out and OUT OF PRINT and go on from there.

I wanted to discuss the recent movies as well, and I have some opinions on Trek and Wolverine to share, but I'll leave them to another separate post as soon as I see Terminator:Salvation. The word I have been reading online of the reviews for that film warrant me seeing it, just to see who I agree with.

Local news overrunning most everything current seems to be the fact that our local paper, as well as most of the papers in the state for that matter, are all knocking down to three days a week- that's a cutback of 4/7th of their output, though they insist that it's a GREAT thing- I would show you the local spin from one of the editors, but for whatever reason it won't load up on blogger. Instead, here is the addy, and you can check it for yourself:

Executive Editor John Hiner addresses coming changes.

http://www.mlive.com/flintforward/

Or not. The video clip is about halfway down the page.

Sounds way too good to be true doesn't it? Plus I have yet to read how they'll be treating their comics section- just their assurance that there WILL be one in every edition- whether they'll catch up from their off days seems to still be in question.

I worry for all the daily strips out there. If most of the papers abandon the daily strips it might mean the end of them. Yet another format for comics that will be kicked in the balls when they're already down. Typical.

The newspaper business was a hot topic of discussion at The Motor City Con last weekend. It was the consensus that it would mean the decline of all local investigative journalism or not- time will only tell I guess- but seriously, hard investigative reports are hardly the forte' of blogs- at least for the most part. This from a "blog" yet.

The convention was great BTW, and I apologize for not taking my camera with me and taking a few shots. Here's a quick video report, via YouTube, from think Twice News:



Saw the upfronts for the Network TV fall line-up, and here are some random thought about that:

If Leno is successful @ 10pm, then I expect all the networks to follow their lead, solely on the thought that they are all cheap executive bastards.

Don't expect too much from Flash Forward (Lost Lite) and Vampire Diaries (Twilight Lite-er), while both V and Human Target look okay, both of those shows are set of Summer.

Dollhouse got more than it deserved by being renewed. So did Chuck and Heroes.

Smallville, now in it's final season for the fourth season running, has been shown to be the "red headed step child" that it's original producers always said it was in the CW evec's eyes. They had stuck it in a Friday night deathslot to rot away until it dies. Too bad it's still doing better than 7/8 of the CW's other shows and yet CW refuses to do a spin off or concentrate any more time on it. Typical executive stoopidity. Last season has it's severe ups and downs, with it ending on a horrible "down" that I'm sure will be an "Imaginary Tale" Expect a whiplash effect for the timeline to correct itself by the end of the season, if not by the end of the next episode.


Sci-Fi Channel will soon be "Sy-Fy" so they can copyright the name, as well as to get the channel's name better in line with their ever limpy-ing line of programming. It's gone from "The Science Fiction Channel" the "The Sci-Fi Channel" to now being "Sy-Fy". I wonder if those execs are doing it consciously as their programming goes in the same progression- from serious to limp wispy- to WTF.

Flint Comix update coming asap. Movie thoughts as soon as I see this Terminator. See you then and remember to:

WAKE UP!

WTF??

You KNOW that it's exactly this kind of spectacular video that YouTube was made for!

Via Fark and YouTube I bring you what you've always wanted to see; A big burly man fighting a stuffed Giraffe on his snowy porch while smoking a cig and listening to Afternoon Delight! It's the payoff at the end that sets it off for me- I still can't watch this without giggling, then bursting out in dead laughter. Enjoy!



Wake Up!

100 Days of "Fair and Balanced"

I thought this clip collection was interesting. From Fark.com through YouTube.com, from mediamatters.org, here's a look at some of Fox News' coverage of Obama's first 100 days in office.



The spin here is obvious, but honestly there isn't a news media outlet in the mainstream media that doesn't seem to have their own agenda- it's just sometimes it gets WAY too obvious.

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Just So You Know...

From the Sick and Wrong Podcast- via You Tube- via MadTV, you KNOW someone's working on perfecting this invention even as I type this and when they do they are going to be RICH! Enjoy:



Wake Up!

Is It Just Me Or

Does anyone else get the same thoughts every time they see one of these billboards:



Maybe it's the additional banner along the bottom saying that they are sponsored by a local church called "Mount Hope", but for me, every time I ever saw these billboards the same two words always sping to mind:

"Anal Rape"

Probably just me... Also probably a good thing we're not treated to the entire picture of the guy. He sure looks like he's in pain. Remember "NOTHING'S too hard for God!"

The most inappropriate logo of all-time

In the 70s, this picture stood for God's children. Now it just stands for boys giving priests a good ol beej. Yes, this is an actual logo designed in 1973 for the Catholic Church’s Archdiocesan Youth Commission. It even won an award from the Art Directors Club of Los Angeles.



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Random Thought

Just had to make a note of this:

I was visiting the Motor City Comventions HQ today, setting up a few things (like "guest appearance" "publisher's booth" and such), and we got to talking about the fact that it was the twentieth year anniversary of the MOTOR CITY COMIC CON, and the fact that the t-shirt design this year should be special- just to celebrate (I've done their t-shirt work for 19 of those last 20 years- and you don't have to guess which shirt out of their 20 was the worst seller- =) ).

Anyway, it was pointed out to me the fact that the only character Marvel apparently created exactly 20 years ago was USAgent, and the first thing that popped into my head was "Marvel has sucked for that long?!? Wow."

Honestly- that's the first thing that I thought.

WAKE UP!

JUST BECAUSE...

You can never have enough insignificance:


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STATUS: FLINT COMIX WEEK 3

It has now been three weeks since our initial distribution of the first issue of Flint Comix started. We have less than 1000 issues undistributed of the initial 10,000 print run and over 225 drop off points to date.

We are having a rough time keeping places stocked. I tell folks "Hey, who doesn't like FREE comics?", but seriously we underestimated the amount we have been dropping off to folks drastically. I have tried to drop off no less than 25 to any drop off point, and there are a number of points that I am now on my 3rd and 4th time stocking. Some places are well into their second hundred, while others still have 11-13 copies left of their original 25. It all depends on how visible we are displayed and the the obvious traffic flow in and out of the location. To date our best places are family restaraunts, especially those where we are the most visible (like placed on top of gumball machines). There are 2 such drop off points within walking distance of my house and both are past the 75 copy mark in distribution. I'll be dropping off 50 copies initially to each point for issue 2.

We also discovered that a lot of party stores and family restaraunts have open wire rack space designed for free publications. We're using these drop off points as often as possible. We are keeping track so hopefully with issue two we'll be able to distribute the issue within a matter of a few days as opposed to weeks. Now that we have points established, all we'll have to do is keep feeding them to keep them, while we continually search for more. What takes the longest is the initial contact and permission asking. I have only been turned down distribution from about a dozen places that we have asked, and most all of those places telling us no are from femaile managers/owners with little, if any sense of humor. I can tell if they'll say yes by how quickly their faces light up when they see the paper. Those that look like I just shoved a piece of poop under their nose are not very likely to allow us to leave it there (again, I'm typing the obvious...sorry).

The Flint Journal discovered us this last week and ran a pretty good article on us in their Thursday edition as well as their online site. Here is a link to the online article HERE: http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/flint/index.ssf/2009/04/flint_comix_and_entertainment.html.
Any publicity is good publicity, and despite the "It's a bird, It's a plane..." opening, and the little graphic explosions with "Bam!" and "POW!" in them (That were cliche' from the era of Adam West's Batman), it was a nice article and a small bump in our email traffic.

We've found a few more local talents out here and plan on printing them in future issues. One cartoonist especially does a good 4 panel strip that we plan on incorporating into out standard strip pages. He's professional enough and skilled enough that we'll have to run a header strip telling folks that he's actually a local talent- that's how good he is.

Our main website foundation was installed and put online last week. Still not enough information on it for my taste. but much more is on the way for it. If you have the chance to check it out it's at http://www.flintcomix.com. there is an original modern day Spark story there as a reward for anyone surfing the site.

Response has been nothing but positive so far, and quite frankly that makes me really happy, if not a bit nervous.

I'm working on the second issue now, I have 2 comic pages, and a Flash Gordon page mostly done, while I'm scanning in The Fool #1 and am thinking of serializing it over 3 issues, just so no feature gets more than 3 pages at a time.

That's about it for now. PLEASE remember that these updates are only for you, the Spank blog reader, and I'll update you again as soon as I get more news and a chance to put it here.

Wake UP!

Hey WTF??!! FLINT COMIX!!

Sorry I haven't been blogging folks, I've just been SUPERbusy working on the FLINT COMIX paper and I've been neglecting Spank altogether. I promise he'll be back soon in one form or another, In fact I've already been offered a regular spot in a newspaper, so it might only be a month or 2 before there's new SPANKage.

ABOUT FLINT COMIX

I'm laying low in the comic market for at least the next few months while I MAKE SURE this baby turns out as hot as it looks like it's going. I'm not even offering or sending any copies outside the county lines for another couple of weeks (except for those few places outside the county lines where we place copies in stores and outlets. IF you are still reading this blog (and THANKS for even looking here after almost an entire MONTH of not posting), I can tell you these small points:

* I started a local newspaper that's almost all comics and local entertainment based. Advertiser supported, FREE to readers, with comic stories, comic strips, single gag cartoons, editorial cartoons, FLASH GORDON, and a few other text pieces ("Tales of The Weird" and "Strange But True"), as well as an article on the comic book art exhibits at our local Institute Of Arts.

* We printed a mock-up of four pages to show advertisers and was met with mostly blank looks from business owners who could not wrap their heads around what I wanted to do.

* I had a rough time (at least a rougher time than I ever thought I would have) talking to national syndicators about what I wanted to do.

* I got enough material (actually MORE than enough material) to make an edition, BARELY enough advertisers (I had a big number of folks say they were advertising until it came time to pony up the money- then about 80% of them backed out for one reason or another).

* In the process I had to "promise" a business owner or five that Spank would NOT be in it- so Spank is NOT in it and our content had to be softened down to a high PG rating.


* All this inside the county that FLINT MICHIGAN is in. Michigan has the highest unemployment rate, and our county has the super highest unemployment rate in the state, so that literally makes us the hell-hole of unemployment and devastation in the country.

BUT...

* We lined up a couple of big corporate sponsors to multi-issue contracts (THANKS Little Caesar's!) and it gave us more than enough to print.

* The paper is 24 tabloid newspaper sized pages, 8 of them are in color with the rest being in black and white (actually I "desaturated" some of the color strips offered to me to break up any kind of "coloring book" effect printing in black and white might have), mostly on 35 pound newsprint.

* We printed 10,000 (that's EASILY 3 TIMES more than any Arrow Comic has been printed in the last 15 years!) and distributed then LOCALLY, most within the county. We're still distributing them to the farthest reaches of the county.

* Get this- there's places that we left copies at that ran out of copies WITHIN HOURS of us dropping them off. Now I'm dropping off no less than 25 copies no matter where we go. We have three drop off points that have moved through nearly 200 copies EACH.

* We've almost passed 200 drop off points and we'll be gaining more for the next week or so, all while trying to keep some of our busier places properly stocked. I'm hoping for 300+ drop off points before the first of the month.

* "Where are we dropping these papers off at?" you ask. Nearly everywhere; obviously the comic shops and coffee shops, but also all the restaurants (Mexican restaurants seem to move through our product with alarming speed- the closest one to my house has probably moved 50 copies by now -I'm checking them tomorrow.), convenience stores, doctors offices, auto repair shops, even grocery stores (our local Krogers around here are all closing on moving 100 copies each for us). I've only been turned down by 3 businesses where I offered to leave copies- 2 because they said their corporate offices have policies against putting out free publications, and one because the owner was probably too old to read comics, let alone enjoy them.

* No one has voiced one negative opinion of the paper once they hold it in their hands. I did have one comics professional tell me "Print is dead" when I told him what I was doing, but honestly the way this seems to be going I think he'll be out of a job long before I am.

* Since we started distributing I've been bombarded by folks offering me material to print, local cartoonists and writers just looking for exposure and to be in on any part of this fun that they can.

AND FINALLY..,

* I'm having a BLAST doing this. Pasting up pages, handling it in print, even talking to people and the (GASP) media who want to know if we are insane or not by starting a newspaper in the area where our local daily newspaper just announced that they are cutting from 7 days printing to 3 (don't get me started on how stupid I think THAT move is- just read my posts on Circuit City to understand why).



* I'm printing Flash Gordon for the first time EVER in the mid Michigan area that I know of.

* Now here's the REAL point to all this; I'm doing a product of COMICS, that is being WIDELY accepted by a MASS audience of mostly non-comic readers, MOST of whom have never walked inside a comic shop before and know comics mostly from newspapers and movies, AND THEY ARE LOVING IT!!! I am widening the acceptance of comics in my area, and if all goes well for the next issue or two I should be making a nice bit of profit doing it.

All this at a time when Diamond Comics Distributors have announced employee cuts, new restrictions and limitations on books they distribute to a limited and ever shrinking comic market they couldn't expand if they distributed material from seven of the top ten movie blockbusters of the last decade (which they do).

This COULD turn out to be something. This COULD be big. Was all the lost hours pasting up and distributing worth it? I'm not sure yet, but it sure has been satisfying knowing folks are picking up stuff I've done (I included a Fool story, an original Miss Chevious story, and a recolored and pasted up page of the Golden Age version of Spark- a Flint based electrical hero- in this issue), supported by advertisers who are SUPER satisfied (at least so far) about what we've done, and it looks like next issue will contain twice as many advertisers (we're looking at perhaps going to 32 pages, or PERHAPS even twice a month) especially if this level of reception keeps up and advertisers pony up more money this time.


We have the next issue scheduled for release at the end of April, just to give us a few extra days to finalize our distribution lists, get more advertisers on board, and wade through some of the submissions we've received.

I'll keep YOU posted, But ONLY YOU for now. I'm not going to start screaming about this to the comic media until I KNOW for sure it's something big and not just a "flash in the pan".

So far so good.

Thanks for being here.

WAKE UP!