The Dark Age #1 June 16th, 2011 - Ian Struckhoff Tonight, I am sending our next book, The Dark Age #1, off to the printers. Thanks to 63 amazing Kickstarter backers, and some incredible artists, my next full size story has come together wonderfully. Watch this space soon for news about our next Kickstarter, and our first one-shot comic, FAILSAFE with artist Ryan Cody. Keywords: The Dark Age, All the Magic is Gone, Issue #1, Printing, Progress Report, Failsafe New York Comic Con 2010 Wrap-up October 17th, 2010 - Ian Struckhoff Sorry for the delay, but I finally have a chance to tell you all about how New York Comic Con 2010 went for me, for The Deathlings, and for Black Label Comics. In short: It went well. I went to the convention to accomplish three things (four if you count drinking milkshakes). First, to see some of my friends and collaborators in the industry, many of them for the first time. Second, to spread the word about our books to the fans (and sell some copies). Third to work on pitching The Deathlings, and plant seeds that could help some of the books find publishers. I can confidently say that each and every one of these went well enough to justify going to the convention. Especially the milkshakes. ;) THE PEOPLE I imagine it won't surprise you to hear me say that the most important element of any venture is the people, and that goes doubly for an event like New York Comic Con. I was able to meet with some collaborators in person for the first time-- Including Craig Yeung, Reuben Negron, Jon Gong, Daniel Govar, and Nikki Cook. This was also only the second time that I have met Juri Hayasaka in person, and the first time I met big supporter (and comics veteran) Matthew Dow Smith. And of course I shared a table with my old friend Blair Shedd, who I have only seen a handful of times since High School (uh... a long time ago). Here's the thing, though. While we did talk about comics, it was about more than that. We got to have a drink (milkshake and/or beer) together, to talk about whatever came up, and to get to know each other. It doesn't seem right listing everyone by their full names here. I got to hang out with Craig, Reuben, Jon, Dan, Nikki, Juri, and Matt. These aren't just names, or even just fellow creators-- they are all people I really really like. A chance to see them all in the course of a few days, and cement friendships, is a profound thing, and something more valuable even than our creative projects. So yeah. Comic Con was pretty cool. THE FANS I would say that the show was also a success in terms of reaching out to fans, new and old, and giving them a chance to hear about, and most important to read our comic. Literally hundreds of people came to our booth. (I gave out 200-300 postcards, so I know that's true.) I'm sure thousands of people saw the artwork. Even better, by my estimates, we sold about 75 comics. Before the show started, we had reached almost 700 Facebook fans. I hope that many of the people who stopped by the booth count themselves as fans now too. For everyone who bought a comic, at least one person said they wanted to know when they could find it in their local shop. It's really gratifying that people seem to like the idea of our stories, and the gorgeous art. PUBLISHERS I am also happy to say that I was able to drop off the first issues of The Deathlings and Black Label Comics with a bunch of publishers. Some of these will only take writing submissions in person at a show, and others will be easier to reach once they see the quality of the books we have put together. This opportunity was a big reason for going to New York. I want to share two great moments out of these visits, which I hope are a good sign... When I visited the booth of one mid-size publisher, I spoke with one of their editors. It turns out she had actually seen The Deathlings before when I made a quick submission of the early version of Issue 0. She remembered the book right away, and was happy to take a finished copy. It got even better when I visited another up and coming publisher. One of their founders was at the table-- When I asked him a similar question about leaving some stuff for him to check out, he very quickly responded, "The Deathlings? I know you guys from online!" He seemed interested in checking it out. What this means to me is that we are a year ahead of where I thought we might be, in the process of finding a publisher. I knew that going to the show was about planting seeds-- So that people might recognize us at the next show. The fact that two editors were already familiar with The Deathlings strikes me as a good sign. This may still take a while, but I think we have real momentum. MILKSHAKES I love milkshakes. I think I had all but one of my meals over the course of Thursday through Sunday at diners. Okay, Okay-- I'm really just using this header to talk about the stuff that doesn't fit under any of the other categories... Like a friend who works Marvel coming by my booth, to drop off a whole bunch of comics, and pins, and a poster-- Because she knew I would be too busy with my table to come by the Marvel booth. (How sweet is that?! She was busy too!) Or staying up until midnight talking with a fellow creator about a fantastic idea for a project. If there's anything more fun than collaborating on a story from start to finish, and brainstorming to create entire world, I don't know what it is. Or seeing the first sketch in my girlfriends new theme sketchbook ("your favorite character, with a cat")-- a gorgeous little illustration of Matt's character Fade with a curious black cat. Or Blair's sketch of Ada's dad the crazy dentist as, you guessed it, an even crazier dentist. Or visiting the site of John Lennon's death (and much of his life) and the Sullivan Theatre, on the artist's birthday. And walking up Central Park West, and by the Lincoln Center, and on Broadway to Times Square. All with new friends. Or talking a bunch of people into coming to my own local show, Boston Comic Con-- which is fast becoming a major regional show in its own right. Okay, you get the idea. It was a blast. I got to meet amazing people, see good friends, share our books with new fans, meet some of our amazing fans, enjoy the show and the city a little, and share our books with a bunch of the best possible publishers. Let's do this again next weekend! Keywords: NYCC, New York Comic Con, Convention, Artist Alley, Black Label Comics, Black Label Comics Tuesday Oct. 8th - 10th - New York Comic Con (Table R-15) October 5th, 2010 - Ian Struckhoff There is no bigger news this week than New York Comic Con 2010. That's true for the industry, but it's true for us as well-- We will be there, and it's our first big convention! Here's the thing you need to know most: Black Label Comics will be in Artist Alley at Table R-15. We are sharing a table with my old friend, and Black Label Comic #1 pin-up contributor Blair Shedd of OneGemini Studios-- artist on the "Keep Off the Grass" arc in IDW's Doctor Who ongoing series. In fact, we're right next to our friend, regular Doctor Who artist Matthew Dow Smith! I will be at the convention from Thursday night for the warm-up and setup, and then at our table all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I will be spending most of my time very easy to find at our table, and occasionally visiting the show floow to check things out. It won't just be me, though-- The real draw is that this is the first place to buy Black Label Comics #1 and The Deathlings: Anne's Story #1, and believe me when I say we will have a lot of copies available. There will also be huge posters and prints at very friendly prices-- $10 for an 18" x 24" poster, $8 for a 13" x 19" print, and only $5 for clearance 11" x 17" and 8" x 10" prints. We even have a set of 4" x 6" mini-prints for just $1 each, three for $2, or free with purchase. Finally, I want to invite you to a very special event. We're going to be getting together with some friends, some other Black Label Comics and Deathlings creators, fellow members of Latchkey Studios, some fans, and some comics pros, and going to The Shake Shack on Friday nigth after the show. We're calling it... I hope to see you there! Keywords: NYCC, New York Comic Con, Convention, Artist Alley, Black Label Comics, Black Label Comics Tuesday Welcome to Our New Site September 12th, 2010 - Ian Struckhoff After a year of work, Black Label Comics have now produced the first issue of our first ongoing series The Deathlings: Anne's Story, our first double-size anthology Black Label Comics #1-- and finally even our own website. This site will be a lot of things... The core of the site will be this blog, with our perspective on making comics, news about the books, and more. We want to make the page worth looking at, so we promise it won't just be about our own work. You'll see articles by me, the artists, and our colleagues on the comics industry, including reviews, news on our idols and friends, and so on. We're also working on-- and we know this is ambitious-- at least three webcomics. We plan to update The Deathlings often as a webcomic, with previews of our first issue, plus short comics. (Once the schedule is finalized, we will let you know.) You will also be able to read a preview of Huginn & Muninn. Finally, we hope to make all of The Dark Age available as a webcomic, one page at a time. If you hunt around the site, you'll find quite a bit of stuff. There's info on all of the comics, an art gallery, and more. Soon we will have a shop, so you can order our comics directly-- but for now visit our Kickstarter to pre-order. If you are interested in our books, be sure to visit the links to our Facebook and DeviantArt pages. Finally, we hope you'll all visit us in person in the Artist Alley at New York Comic Con. Keywords: The Deathlings, Black Label Comics, Webcomics, Huginn & Muninn, The Dark Age, Kickstarter, New York Comic Con.  |
