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1.0 THE PROLOGUE

Hello and welcome to the first edition of THE PROCESS!

The Process is less a column than it is a creative journal (a blog, if you will). In the end it is a conversation I will be having with myself, which I invite anyone who’s interested (you, I hope) to interject themselves into. And, if you do join the conversation, I will enjoy the benefits of your wisdom and a satisfaction that I am not, in fact, a nutjob.

Here I will be offering a narrative for my first real, solo creative endeavor, one that shall be released in the early to mid-2008. I’ll do my best to be frank and honest, because, who knows, someone else may want to try this for themselves. I won’t sugarcoat it for you. The ups and the downs will be immortalized for all to see.

So, what is it I’m doing? In October of 2007 I took the first steps toward creating a story to be translated into a comic mini-series. My intention; to release this comic via the internet for all the world to see. The best analogy I can come up with to describe the feeling of it would be to say that I’m entering into a career in porn. Artistically I am laying myself bare before the world. From where I sit, and maybe other artist/writers quietly think the same thing to themselves, is that all my flaws will be out there for all to see.

I’ll also be facing a major juggling act. This comic will have to fit into a tightly packed life of work, family, friends as well as a goal to live a healthier lifestyle. I’ll have to make the time to fulfill my goals in all of these areas while maintaining a decent work schedule on this story so I can release it on a schedule that readers can count on.

For the premier of The Process I’d like to cover two subjects: 1) Who I am and 2) why webcomics.

Who am I?

Once upon a time I was an aspiring creator. Back in the mid-1990s I worked with a few people to create an easily forgotten comic and company. I spare myself the public humiliation by omitting the names. Needless to say, the experience was unsatisfying. Not because the book was a complete and utter failure but because I was not as actively involved in the creative process, as I should have been.

The character was mine but I passed on all of the creative tasks to others. I told a story and someone else wrote it. I designed the character but someone else drew it. I created it and yet created nothing. I ran the business side of things and because it was someone else’s money and effort I did not make the responsible decisions that may have saved the book and the character. In the end the company collapsed, friendships went up in flames AND to top it off I lost that character… my character.

I disappeared from the scene for a few years. I got a quiet job that allowed me time to draw and support my ever-growing family. It was not an art job of any kind but it allowed me to expand on my skills between my regular duties. Then, when that was done, I stopped drawing. Different job and family needs took precedence over my art.

Time passed and the urge to create something returned. Instead of drawing I wrote. I wrote and wrote some more to develop an idea that had lingered since those early days. More and more it became a reflection of what I wanted a book to be. Cliché or not, it entertained me but more on that later. Then I went to make my first mistake in this process… I asked someone to work with me.

That didn’t happen. Instead I spent the next five years working on a little website called Hero Realm. Maybe you’ve heard of it.

During that time I focused on a couple key things that would affect the last few years of my life. I alienated the industry by inciting negativity toward certain companies and their policies, I befriended the Darth Vader of comics (Bill Jemas), and continued writing. My writing efforts landed me a chance to create a limited series for Marvel’s stillborn Epic line. I’d chosen Silver Sable, an alabaster haired mercenary Spider-Man fan may know, for my Epic mini.

I worked on Silver Sable for a year. Revision after revision showed me a bit of what the process really was. Line editor Teresa Focarile had notes, Stephanie (I forget her last name now) had notes, there were calls from Bill Jemas and finally a whole slew of revisions offered up by EiC Joe Quesada. I wrote and rewrote that sucker so many times I forgot what the idea was that got me in the door in the first place. It tested my fortitude and my commitment, and often times I failed the test. Then, finally, it was approved.

Of course Epic went the way of the Dodo when Jemas left Marvel. With Epic gone there was little interest in either my Silver Sable story or myself in general. But I had a taste for this whole writing thing. I showed my work around (Bill Rosemann, at the behest of Mark Alessi, read and supposedly liked what I had done) and was ultimately asked by Josh Howard to write a short story for his Dead@17: Rough Cut.

That led to another short story and finally a mini-series for Viper utilizing Josh’s wonderful characters. Regrettably the mini-series, Dead@17: Protectorate was not as much a fire starter as it was an extinguisher. I had jumped to the head of the line with only the minimal amount of writing experience and had finally shown I wasn’t ready.

I was sent back to GO. I didn’t collect my $200.

For the next couple years (man, has it been that long?) I continued to feel it gnawing at me. I wanted to create something, anything, but was at a loss of both confidence and resources. I’d become someone people really didn’t want to be linked to creatively. I was the guy who said that thing about Grant Morrison that one time, you see. Then something changed (maybe for the better).

I got a message via Myspace:

Alex,

Curious?

Uh… wha--? It’d been twelve years since anyone talked about that particular character and yet here was someone messaging me about him. Now it’s key to realize that this particular character was one I felt a fondness for. The one I was working on before the whole Hero Realm incident happened. The one I wanted to do.

Now this person wanted the character. That’s it. Simple as that. He/she liked what he/she saw in my design and wanted to tell their own stories with it. That’s fine. I could’ve said no instead of setting myself up for frustration. Instead I decided to pursue the big no-no in my life: collaboration.

He/she seemed interested but then the phone calls dried up like Phyllis Diller’s uterus. I’m going weeks without hearing anything and being forced to send that awkward email asking “where’d you go?” It does have the added bonus of making me look pathetic too. Excuses and more excused were followed by longer and longer periods of silence. All the while I’m trying to find another artist, writing the f--k out of the story and trying to ignore my lovely wife, who’s adopted the mantra “why don’t you draw it yourself?”

Then it occurs to me: Why don’t I draw it myself?

I wrote it by myself. I guess drawing it can’t be any harder than that, right? Right? Either way I’m drawing it.

There are lots of things to do. There’s legal stuff, a studio that must be set up, a website to create and so on. All stuff I’ll get into as I tell the story as it happens. But for next time I’d like to go into the reasons I’m choosing to do this as a webcomic instead of the traditional paper and ink method. I’ve got my reasons, which I will go into in my next installment:

THE PROCESS

Why Webcomics?

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