Kickstarter Highs and Lows...

 

Kickstarter can be a really strange place.  Take our current outing with The Book of Stephen.  On the first day of the campaign, we managed to attract several first time backers and several high priced reward tiers were selected.  I mean, Wow! What a way to kick off a campaign.  But since then, we’ve only had a slow trickle of new followers to the campaign and even fewer new backers.  I’m no sure what happened, but I have faith that it’s going to work out.  I’m continuing to shamelessly promote the campaign on social media, and I feel like it’s getting a lot of positive response.  I have a feeling that the majority of our funding is going to come in the final week of the campaign.  The last campaign we launched for the Freedom Fighter Comic book had a similar kind of backer pattern.  It wasn’t until the last 48 hours of the campaign that we managed to pull in the rest of the funds needed to meet our goal.  We even went over our goal some, which was an outstanding feeling! 

The idea of canceling the campaign, revamping or even relaunching on IndieGoGo has crossed my mind, but I think should see this one out.  Meeting the goal on The Book of Stephen Kickstarter is really all that I would like to do.  However, I do dream of the opportunity to announce some great stretch goals and surpass our goal by hundreds, maybe even thousands!  It can still be done!  There are still 16 days in the campaign.  We can still do this!

If you haven’t yet, please check out The Book of Stephen Kickstarter.  If pledging isn’t something that you can do at this time for whatever reason, I really would appreciate if you help spread the word about this campaign.  I think that we have some great rewards and add ons, so hopefully you can find something that suits you.  If there’s something you’d like to see, by all means reach out and tell me.  Maybe I can make it happen. 

THE BOOK OF STEPHEN ON KICKSTARTER

As always, thank you so much for your help and support in the past and whatever you can provide now.  I hope that you are all well, and still supporting indie comics everywhere!

Review: The Catch (Comic Series)

Ok, let’s talk about The Catch.  A series from Atomic Tiki Studio, The Catch is a fun twist on the superhero genre.  The book is brought to us by Steve Bryant (Writer & Letterer), Ismael Canales (Pencils & Inks), Roger Surroca (Colors), and Chris Murrin (Editor).  The Catch is another book that I found on Kickstarter, and this book certainly attests to the idea that the best comics out there today are indie and are found on crowdfunding sites.  

The Story:  Lucy Chase is a skip trace, however in her world a lot of the skips that she is tasked with tracking down are super powered criminals.  How is this regular world girl able to get the leg up on some supers you might ask?  Well, for starters she’s very witty, clever, and she was trained by the best, her father.  Also, because of her appearance, it appears that some of her adversaries underestimate her abilities.  It also doesn’t hurt that Lucy’s mother is the Deputy Marshal.  Oh yeah, and she maintains a complicated romantic relationship with a detective under her mother’s command.  These two relations allow her access to some helpful devices in securing her target.  While tracing one of her targets, Lucy stumbles into a multifaceted conspiracy to retrieve a flash drive that contains information compiled by the recently discovered deceased superhero, Mid-Knight.  The information on the drive?  Well, it’s only filled with contingency protocols on how to stop every super powered vigilante and criminal on the streets!  Lucy has gotten herself into something deep, and I just know that the story is just beginning.

First off, the art team knocked it out of the park.  From the line work, to the logo design, to the coloring, the book is put together very professionally.  Obviously, artwork that is consistent and easy on the eyes makes for an enjoyable read, and this creative team delivers.  

I am hooked into this story so far.  I have read issue 1 and 2, and I totally dig the characters and their back stories (or at least what has been revealed to us so far).  Yeah, some of the characters are obvious parodies of other popular heroes from other mainstream books; but in my opinion, these types of familiarities are what help to draw a reader into a new title.  However, the characters that are not familiar in some way still come off relatable.  Lucy’s personal struggles appear to always be looming, but she uses her devotion to her craft as a skip-trace to ignore them.  It’s only a band aid, and I think she knows that it will eventually peel away; but these are ideal elements to build a complex character that a reader can relate to.  

The Catch is really a fun read, and I would certainly recommend that you find a copy and read it.  I myself am looking forward to reading issue #3 and further.  Oh, well look at that, the creators have just launched another Kickstarter for the third book!  Now might be the perfect time for you to catch up.  If you check out the rewards, you will find that you can get the other books in this campaign as well.  Go on, check it out and support another great indie comic series!  Thanks, and keep reading!

Check Out THE CATCH on Kickstarter!

Acts of Contrition Vol. 3 Is Coming to Kickstarter!

 

The Third and Final Installment to the Acts of Contrition Graphic Novel Series is coming to Kickstarter!

It's bitter sweet, but the series that I've poured my heart into is coming to an end!  The Neo Noir Crime thriller will come to a conclusion in "The Book of Stephen."  Of course, bringing this final book to Kickstarter wasn't the original plan; but because of the current global situation, it seemed to be the most logical one.  On account of the COVID19 pandemic, I have not been able to attend any comic conventions this year which is where we tend to make most of our sales and get the most exposure.  Late last year, we successfully used Kickstarter late to fund the printing of Freedom Fighter #10, and we gained a lot of new readers because of it.  My hope is that the Acts of Contrition series will receive a similar response with The Book of Stephen Kickstarter.

The campaign has not yet launched, but I plan to hit the "Go" button in the next couple of days.  I'm really just waiting on Kickstarter to approve the campaign.  In the meantime, I wanted to share a preview of the campaign with everyone in hopes that I could get some feedback before the launch.  Tell me what you think of it.  Are the rewards exciting enough?  Do they seem fair?  Any misspellings, or awkwardly composed sentences?  

So, please, if you have a moment, follow this link and see what you think.  I hope you consider following and backing the campaign.  I will post again when we launch!  Thanks for reading!

The Book of Stephen Kickstarter

 

Review: The Reset (Comic Book)

Okay, I really wanted to pace myself on writing this review.  The Reset is another book that I had backed on Kickstarter.  This was actually a book that I had been looking forward to for a long time, as it promised a “comic of high concept sci-fi action, time travel and corporate espionage!”  Well, let’s dive right in.

The Reset is brought you us by:  Writer:  Matt Kund  -  Artist:  Kevin Zimmerman  -  Colorist:  Ertan Ceyhan  --  Editor/Letterer:  Noah Ray

The world is about experience a catastrophic event.  A scientist, Mr. Crais, has discovered some sort of time travel/teleportation that will allow him to “reset” the world to a certain point in history to essentially save the human race.  The Reset follows James, Mr Crais’s former partner, and James’ team as they try to stop Mr. Crais and his plan, which is to allow the rich and powerful of the world to maintain their wealth and power after the “reset” for a fee of 20%. 

***Maybe Some SPOILERS Below***

On the first page of the book, right away, I am intrigued.  The artwork sets a somber mood for the situation at hand, and in five panels and less than ten words, I already want to know more about the world that this book is based in.  Unfortunately, things get a little choppy from here on out.  We meet the main character, James, as he heads into work.  What he does for a living is as much of a mystery to us as is what the world he lives in.  James rescues a homeless child from being beat up by some looters inside James’ place of work.  James decides that the child can make it up to him by cleaning some labs.  Kind of strange, but I assume that this will be a fun Indiana Jones/Short Round friendship throughout the book.  Wrong.  Though the child appears to be part of the “team” in the next few pages he disappears from the cast faster than he appeared.  We do meet James’ female teammate whose name is… hmm…  I don’t think they ever mention her name anywhere.  Anyway, the pair is soon joined by another character named, Alan.  Together, they track Crais’s movements, and try to steal and recreate Crais’s tech.  Meanwhile, Crais is wining and dining with the rich and famous as they all contend for their spot in the reset.  The story advances pretty fast for a complex story, and in the end, I’m afraid I really don’t understand what happens.  I’m not sure if the reset happens, or what James’ team was really trying to accomplish, or if they even did it.

The artwork in the Rest is amazing.  The colors and linework are on point and they set the mood for all the scenes.  However, I feel like a lot of the story telling was put on the artists shoulders by the lack of advancing dialogue.  The effort was obviously put forward, but in the end, I was still quite confused on how the story ended.

The story concept was intriguing; The world is ending, and a miracle breakthrough in science will allow the human race to survive in the past… but at what point does the world reset too?  Of course, giving one person the power to decide the fate of the world is going to breed corruption, that plot device is no surprise.  Where I feel the Reset falls short is their characters.  Short of the first names (at least in most cases) we know extraordinarily little about the cast other than they are super smart and sneaky.  Okay, we at least also know that James was previously partners with Crais, but what they actually did together, and what caused them to break their partnership is a complete mystery.  On top of that, James and team’s plan isn’t exactly clear either.  It’s clear that they are capable of infiltrating Crais’s labs undetected, so if stopping him was the plan, I’m not sure why they couldn’t do that with the skills that they possess.

I wanted this book to be a great read, I really did.  It had a lot of potential.  This isn’t a terrible read, but I feel I must give it no more than 3.5 Stars out of 5.  The characters just were not relatable and there wasn’t enough context to the story.  Maybe they tried to squeeze way too much into 20 pages?  Perhaps it would have been better to plan it as 4 issue series… or perhaps a short introduction in the front of the book to set the scene?  Maybe I missed something, or maybe I just had higher expectations for this book, either way, this is just one comic reader’s humble opinion.  Please feel free to make your own judgements.   You can find The Reset here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mattkund/the-reset?ref=discovery&term=the%20reset  and  Here:  https://www.facebook.com/theresetcomic/   

Review: "Sidekick For Hire" #1 & #2 (Comic Book Series)

Sidekick For Hire is another book series that I had recently backed on Kickstarter.  We always hear the story of the superhero—the main character wearing the cape and struggling to balance his/her everyday life with their hero persona.  But what about the sidekick?  On the outside, this book looks like a fun and sometime quirky superhero book, but it also manages to twist in some seriousness to the main protagonists life choices.

Sidekick For Hire is brought to you by:  Writer:  Kristian Herrera  -  Artist:  Rick Alves  -  Colorist:  Veronica Saraceno (Issue #1) & Jimmy Greenhalgh (Issue #2)  -  Letterer:  Toben Racicot  -  Logo Design:  Winston Gambro

The main character, Leo, is currently the sidekick to a hero with a bit of a reputation:  Captain Ultra.  Leo is going by the alias of Kid Alpha.  Leo reveals that he had achieved this “position” by placing an ad on an online job search site; he simply posted that he was looking to be a sidekick for pay.  From the start it looks like Leo is doing his sidekick gig with ease, but he apparently isn’t very good at it.  While busting up a gang of thieves, Leo takes a moment to check his messages and because of this careless interruption, Captain Ultra is shot and killed from behind—Tragically, this apparently isn’t the first time a hero has died while Leo has been assisting.  I suppose that if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again… and again.  Leo places another ad online and awaits his next job offer.  Meanwhile, we get to see how Leo has been balancing his crime fighting career with his regular life.  Leo is in school; he has a male friend that he confides his alter ego life to, and he has supportive yet clueless parents that he visits regularly.  On top of that, it’s pretty clear that Leo’s poor ability to juggle his two lives is going to cost him a possible relationship with the girl that he’s obviously crushing on.  By the end of issue #1, it’s revealed that something more went on the night that Captain Ultra was murdered; something that will haunt Leo for the rest of his life. 

Okay, let’s unwrap this thing; I love this story concept.  I’ve read other sidekick books (from other creators) in the past, and this one holds up alongside them in my book.  Sidekick For Hire adds the twist that the sidekick is an actually occupation.  Leo is a pretty relatable character.  Although he has some fighting skills and dubs himself a “has-been gymnast,” he’s also a pretty clumsy guy that makes a lot of mistakes.  As far as villains go, Leo really is his own worst enemy.  He knows that he can get other jobs—safer jobs—to pay his bills, however he decides to follow a very unconventional occupational route just because he can’t stand working a regular job.  Not very smart, but it makes for a fun read.   

The artwork fits the book on every level.  I like all the colorful scenes, and the fun character designs.  I think that the concept for this book was well planned and had a firm theme that they had set in place.  Kudos to the art team!  They are all certainly working on a professional level!

As enjoyable as these first two books were, by the final page of Issue #2 it’s clear that these first two books were only setting the stage for the real story to begin. 

I love super hero comic books, but it’s important that we don’t forget about all the sidekicks out there that usually keep them from getting killed.  I give Sidekick For Hire a solid 5 out of 5 Stars.  I’m assuming that SideKick For Hire #3 will most likely come in the form of a Kickstarter campaign, and if so, I would recommend getting in on that one!  Sidekick For Hire is also available on ComiXology:  https://www.comixology.com/Sidekick-For-Hire-1/digital-comic/820948

REVIEW: "From Blood" (Comicbook Series)

So, I just finished reading issue #3 of From Blood, from Cosmic Times.  I supported this series on Kickstarter on their issue 1 campaign, where I was able to secure one of the foil covered variants of the book.  Somehow, I missed the Kickstarter campaign for issue #2, but I made up for it on the Issue #3 campaign and picked up all 3 issues.

FROM BLOOD is brought to you by the Following:

Story, Script, Pencils & Inks By:  Zach Bassett -- Story & Inks By:  James Whynot  --  Script & Edits By:  Martin T. Pierro  --  Colors By: Victorino Muyo JR  --  Letters By:  Michael Moore  --  Published By: Cosmic Times 

First off, From Blood is a little different from the books that I’ve seen come out of Cosmic Times.  In the past I had considered Cosmic Times to be more of a “family friendly” publisher that steers away from the heavy violence, blood and profanity.  Other than the profanity being bleeped out, From Blood covers all the rest of the bases that they had steered away from in the past.

The story opens in a mental institution where Dr. Reese is trying to make some sense of her patient, Patient 27, who has not spoken in 10 years and is prone to violent fits of rage.  As Dr. Reese attempts to make an emotional connection with Patient 27, she discovers that Patient 27 apparently can not be harmed—his body is indestructible.  Key the violent riot, and suddenly Dr. Reese and Patient 27 are escaping the mental institution to find out what gave him his strength, and what terrible sins it is that he is hiding from.  All the while, the couple is being chased by a covert government agency hell bent on unlocking Patient 27’s power for their own diabolical schemes. 

The cover art was the first thing that drew my attention to From Blood.  It shows Patient 27 crouched, with a powerful stare that is meant to instill fright, and his body appears to be covered in blood.  A lot of questions stirred in me, mostly that I wanted to see if this character had any depth or if this was just another gore filled splatter book?  But before I get to that, let me stay on the art.  I love the artwork.  It is readable.  I can’t say that about every indie comicbook that I read, either.  It’s clear what’s happening in every panel, and the art tells the story even when text is not present.  That’s what makes good comic book art.  That being said, it certainly didn’t hurt at all that the line work, and colors in From Blood are spot on also.  The use of all the “cool” tones sets to mood for the emotion that Patient 27 is experiencing—it puts you in the mental institution.  Great work by the art team.   

So, on the outside, yeah, the squabble for a super soldier serum kind of storyline has been done a million times over, so what makes From Blood stand out?  It’s the characters.  Each character had a well thought out personality and back story that adds to the suspense and the twist to the arc.  Dr. Reese, a divorcee that struggles with her own insecurities in her life choices and her faith—Marco carrying a heap of guilt and uncertainty in his actions against his friend—and of course Patient 27 and the source of all his rage and his drive—each character has an interesting part to play in this story and in turn engages the reader to root for them.  I can’t say this enough, characters are what make a good story. 

If I had to pick on something in From Blood, (which I don’t have to, but I will for the sake of balance), it would be the final antagonist in the story.  I found him to be bland in design and his back story was too much evil political scientist that somehow appears to have a license to do whatever he wants.  To me From Blood is a character driven story, and the villain’s character just felt a little blah compared to the rest of the cast. 

This series is a solid 4.5 out of 5 Stars for me.  A very entertaining read that I'm proud to have supported.  I would highly recommend you give this title a chance and consider checking out more titles from Cosmic Times!

Where to Find it:  http://cosmictimes.net/shop/

So, I know it's been a really long time since I posted anything to this blog, but I'm here today with some new stuff!  My comic book series, Freedom Fighter has been reaching new heights recently, and we've decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign for the release of the Milestone 10th issue! 

This is all super exciting for me, and a little nerve racking.  This is our first Kickstarter for Freedom Fighter, and I really want it to go well.  We've set our goal at a reasonable $800 to cover the printing and shipping costs for the book.  So far, we have reached 52% of our goal with 22 days to go!

Freedom Fighter is about a superhero that is owned and operated by the government; he's kind of a superhero spy.  Over the past 9 issues, Freedom Fighter has found that he can't be sent on a mission without discovering a new conspiracy that his superior officers are trying to cover up.  Now he's discovered a big one:  The Unity!

Freedom Fighter is 007 crosses Inspector Gadget.  So, if you're a fan of fun superheroes and witty spy thrillers, then you should definitely check out Freedom Fighter on Kickstarter Today!


We have a lot of great Rewards for your pledge, as well as some cool Milestone Rewards that will be unlocked as the campaign progresses.  Please consider pledging to our campaign.  And if you can't, please at least consider sharing it on your social media.  The only way that we can get funded is if people can find the campaign.  Thank you to everyone that has helped out so far!  Let's get this book funded! 

FREEDOM FIGHTER 10 ON KICKSTARTER

What's up in 2018?

Woah!  It’s already the middle of November!  2018 will be here before you know it!  So what have I got planned for the coming year?  Let me tell you, so far it’s stacking up to be a big year! 

In January we’ll see the release of the Freedom Fighter #5 Death by Allegiance; the latest installment of the Freedom Fighter ongoing series from Insane Comics.  It’s also the beginning of a three-issue arc that will begin a mixing pot of revelations for our title character.  New characters will be introduced that will play a pivotal role in Freedom Fighter’s expanding world.  We’ll be sharing more pages and new character bios in the coming weeks in this blog and on the Freedom Fighter Facebook Page.  If you haven’t paid the Facebook page a visit, please do!

Also, is January we’ll see the release of my graphic novel, Acts of Contrition, also from Insane Comics.  This massive crime/noir thriller is no doubt going to be turning a lot of heads.  Acts of Contrition has been in the making for several years, and it’s finally going to have its day in the sun, all 164 pages of it.  (If you like, flip back a post or two on this blog to learn more about Acts of Contrition.)  

February and March are going to be big show months for me.  On February 3^rd, I’ll be hanging out at the Insane Comics booth at Cedar Rapids Comic Con in Cedar Rapids, IA talking to fans about Freedom Fighter and Acts of Contrition.  If you can make it, you’ll want to check out the exclusive CRCC variant covers for Freedom Fighter #5 and a few of the other amazing books from Insane Comics.  These covers will be exclusive to this show, so get them while they last!  March 9-11, you can catch me at LexingtonComic Con in Lexington, KY.  I’ll have all my books and many extras on hand.  Following that, March 30 – April 1, I’ll be at the great Indiana ComicCon in Indianapolis, IN.  I always end up missing this show year after year, but not this one.  

I’ve got a couple of other pending appearances, but hey, I’ve only really covered the first quarter of the year, so I’ll save those for later.  There’s so much more to come, so please keep following and invite your friends.  I’m going to be sharing some exclusive sneak peaks of Acts of Contrition and Freedom Fighter in the coming weeks. 

Thanks for reading! 

COMING SOON: Acts of Contrition

So, I’ve just finished up the final edits on my latest Graphic Novel project, Acts of Contrition.  This graphic novel is weighing in at 164 black and white pages of crime noir greatness!  The inspiration for this book, believe it or not, comes from my own life growing up as a teenager.  It’s a long and complicated story maybe for another time.  Am I overselling it?  I sure as hell hope not!

  

“Deathly” Daryl Malone is a mob enforcer on his death bed.  In a selfish act of redemption, Daryl teams up with an angel with hopes that he can right the many wrongs that he’s made in his life-time.  As Daryl’s quest to redeem himself intensifies, the angel’s seemingly psychotic methods come into question.  It isn’t long before Daryl realizes that the angel has his own hidden agenda… and the angel is ready to cross hell to reach it.

Acts of Contrition is a project that I have really been working on my entire writing career.  It's a story I first came up with when I was fresh out of high-school.  I’ve written this story at least five times as a novel.  As I wrapped up each attempt, I knew that the story was missing something.  Even with all the tweaks and additions - the new characters and the new situations that I had made over the years, the book was coming off a little light on the emotional effect that I wanted the story to have.  It had some, but I wanted this to be perfect.  There was only one way that I knew that this book was going to really knock it out of the park:  It needed visual effects.  And since it was doubtful that I could get a movie studio to pick it up right away, this past year I decided that a graphic novel setup was my next best bet.  I’ve been writing comic books and scripts for a while now, and seeing Acts in this format was what I wanted. 

I wrote a ten-page script of the first scene of the book.  The scene felt good; it was dark and gritty and I could picture it panel for panel on the page.  I handed the script off to the one person I knew that I could trust to give it his best, AJ Fulcher, and he worked his magic.  After seeing the first few pages in black and white, I knew that this was the ticket.  This was what the book needed; the emotional effect that I wanted was shining through.  I showed the finished ten page scene to a handful of other creators that I frequent with, and the response was overwhelming for me.  Everyone wanted more of this gritty story!  I went to work on the scripts right away. 

Putting Acts of Contrition into script format was much harder than I thought it would be.  In all of my previous attempts to write this story, I ended up with anywhere from 90k – 100k words.  This all needed to be condensed down to a graphic novel of viable size.  It pained me to do so, but many scenes had to be cut.  Many plot points, and side plots had to either be scrapped or changed to fit the size.  But not to worry, I’ve taken all of those scraps and cut scenes and have reimagined them to play a part in a sequel should this book take off like I hope it will. 

It's been a long road since I first imagined the project, and it’s certainly turned into a completely different animal than I had expected it would, but that being said, it’s also turned out much better than I expected.  With this project finally completed, I really feel like I’ve grown as a writer. 

I submitted Acts of Contrition around to a handful of Independent publishers, and I was surprised to get more than one positive response from more than one publisher.  Three publishers immediately took the book under review, and just recently, Acts of Contrition settled in with InsaneComics.  Not to discredit the other publishers I had submitted to in any way, but Insane Comics is the publisher that I really preferred to work with.  Insane currently publishes my other comic book series, Freedom Fighter, and I’m fond of the publisher’s platform and their way of working with their creators to get the books realized.  So, for them to take a chance on another of my books was a great feeling.

Acts of Contrition is slated to be released later this winter.  It’s not a long way off, and I can’t wait till it’s here.  In the meantime I’ll be posting updates about the book here and on the newly created Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ActsofContrition/

Keep reading!

FandomFest or FandomF***Up? Depends on who you ask.

Alright, I attended FandomFest, in Louisville, KY over this past weekend.  I’ve been to this show a few other times in previous years, but this was my first time setting up a table at the show to sell my work.  I reserved the table way back in January, so I’ve been looking forward to attending it all year.  It’s usually a great show with a lot of traffic and a lot of great talent and celebrities attending.  However, as luck would have it, this year was going to be a little different.

The Convention Center in downtown Louisville is where the show is normally held.  But since the building is currently being extensively remodeled, the show was moving out to the Fair and Expo Center which is outside of town, but a much larger venue.  Sign me up, right?  Well, about two weeks before the show, I received my vendor information packet.  About four days later, I finally opened it to find out that the show was now going to be held even further out of town at the old Macy’s building connected to the Jefferson Mall. At this point, I was a little disappointed about the venue, but I was still looking forward to the show.  Even with all the turmoil stirring on social media about the shows move and canceling guests (look it up if you're curious), I wanted to make the best of it.

 I arrived on Thursday for early setup to kind of feel the place out.  The building was as bad as one could imagine a run-down Macy’s store would be.  The floors needed a vacuum run over them, the bathrooms were less than adequate to be honest, and on the day of setup the air conditioning wasn’t even on.  They’d put all of us creators, artists and writers on the second floor of the store.  I was in the "Misses" department.  It’s a good thing there was an escalator, otherwise I don’t know how many guests would have made it up to see us.

On Friday the show was off to a slow start, but people came through the doors and before long the place was crawling with plenty of fandom seeking patrons.  Was it the crowd size we expected?  That’s hard to say, but fans were everywhere, and many were at my table buying books.  It was a great time just meeting the fans and telling them about what I was working on.  Freedom Fighter was a big hit with the comic book fans, but my best seller all weekend was my children’s book, The Dinosaur Farm.  A lot of parents and grandparents found the idea for the book amusing and picked it up for their little ones.  A couple kids sat right there on the floor and started reading it while I spoke with their parents.  I ended up coming out okay on sales by the end of the show on Sunday.  Nothing to write home about, but it covered the cost of my table and I had a little left over (most of which I spent at the show on goodies!)  

I asked a lot of the patrons what they thought of the venue; some didn't care for it, but most didn't seem to mind.  One commented that since most of the Macy's shelving and counters were still in the store and in use for the show, it flet like one giant "Nerd Store."  I guess it kind of was.  

I met a lot of great talent at the show, and made a ton of connections too.  I only hoped that they ended up doing as well as I did.  Unfortunately, after speaking with several, some took a loss.  A couple drove in from Florida, and two artists I met drove in from Texas to do this show, so they all had travel and lodging costs to figure in.  I knew as well as they all did that these shows can go either way when it comes to making money.  But I really feel like FandomFest dropped the ball on this one.  They had advertised all year long that the show would be at the Fair and Expo center, but at the last second they told us that they couldn’t come to terms with the contract for that venue.  Shouldn’t that contract have been finalized months ago?  I don’t know what really happened, and they’re being kind of vague with the explanations.  Would the turnout have been better at the other venue?  Did the change of venue have anything to do with all the celebrities backing out?  Would I have sold more books sitting on the first floor of the show?  Probably a bunch of questions we won’t get clear answers to.  All I know is what I saw: A lot of great talented creators making a tough situation work for them and doing their best to enjoy themselves and entertain the fans at the same time.  Well done to all the creators and celebrities that did attend!  It was a pleasure meeting and connecting with you, and I hope that we cross paths again and in better circumstances. 

Inspirational Rejection

Someone asked me the other day, “Why did you change the name of your blog?”  The answer’s simple really, I just remembered why I started writing in the first place.  It’s just as the name of this blog implies, I write what I want!

In a recent interview, I mentioned a box that I keep in my closet that is full of rejection letters from publishers and agents that I’ve collected over my years of writing and submitting.  Yeah, there’s a lot of them.  That’s back before everything was done through email.  Fresh on my mind after the interview, I decided to pull that box out and have a look at a few of them for nostalgia sake.  Pretty much laying on top of the stack, was a letter I remember quite vividly.  It was a rejection letter from an agent (I’ll keep the name of the agent to myself) who simply replied: “Your books just aren’t mainstream enough, sorry.”  Now before you go assuming that I was submitting to the Jerry Maguire of Literary agents, I can assure you that I was thinking small back then.  I was a little nervous and overwhelmed with the idea of getting an agent in the first place.  This guy was a member of a smaller agency that represented a lot of what I’ll refer to as “rip-off” material of more popular books.  No disrespect to the authors that he represented by the way. 

I wasn't angry about the rejection, after all, it wasn't like it was my first.  In fact, of all the reasons in the world to reject one of my books, this was one of the most inspirational.  Yeah, you read that right, INSPIRATIONAL.  Why would I want to write something mainstream?  Why would I want to write about what everyone else is writing about?  I want to be different.  I want to write things that I know; things that gel well in my mind.  I get it, little boy witches and shimmery vampires is what people were paying for at the time, but when I started writing it really wasn’t about making a lot of money.  My great-grandmother was a writer, and she had assured me that there usually wasn’t much money in it from the start.  No, I was writing because I liked to.  I had an idea that flew into my head one day while I was walking out of a store, and I thought: damn, that would make a great book!  And so it was.  I grabbed a notebook and wrote every single page of it by hand in the next few months (didn’t have a computer at the time.)  I didn’t have a lot of time to write back then, but any chance that I could, I was scribbling away.  It was something I needed to do everyday, and I could do it very easily.  I may not have been the best writer, or any kind of writing prodigy of course, but I figured that I would improve with every word I wrote.  I think that I have.  

Maybe I'm just doing like they say; Something about making lemonade from lemons or what have you...  Anyway, it doesn't matter.  I was writing for me back then.  I was writing what I wanted to write, and I still do.  So don’t forget, I Write What I Want!  It doesn’t mean that you won’t like it, but if you do, chances are we have something in common.  See you next time!  Happy 4th everyone!

Freedom Fighter: Death By Allegiance

Okay, here it is at long last, the cover and the title to the next Freedom Fighter story arc:

FREEDOM FIGHTER:  Death By Allegiance

Cover artwork by the one and only AJ Fulcher who will also be tackling the pencils for the interiors.  Death By Allegiance will span three issues (5-7).  

After the events of issue #4, Freedom Fighter is confronted with more truth's stemming from the mysterious Fourth Quarter and it's original creators.  A new enemy is rising, (or rather, rising again) and the Freedom Fighter may not be able to defeat this enemy alone.  Unfortunately, because of recent events, Freedom Fighter can't seem to keep from pushing his friends and allies away.

Scripts are finished for this story, and we're shooting to complete the art before the end of 2017.  Check this place and the Freedom Fighter Facebook Page for more info as it comes available.  And don't forget to visit Insane Comics or ComiXology to catch up on the first four issues of Freedom Fighter!

Ahhh, Submissions...

Ahh, there's nothing like the submission process!  You know, the one that you really look forward to as you're writing your amazing manuscript.  All the way up to those finishing edits, you can't wait to throw that baby out there to wow an editor.  Then for the next few weeks you check your inbox daily if not hourly, anticipating their reply of how much they loved your work.  But that doesn't always happen does it?  Actually, much more often than the preferred, rejection letters will fill the inbox.  But you know what?  That's okay with me.  I appreciate that they took the time to look at my work and respond to it.  And if they took the time to tell me specifically what they didn't like, or what I needed to work on, that's one hell of a gesture that I'm grateful for.  I don't expect everyone to like what I write.  Read the blog title, I write what I want.

You know what really bugs me though?  It's when the editor doesn't take the time to respond at all; not even with one of those cheap automated rejection letters that they've downloaded from somewhere on the internet.  They'd much rather throw your submission to the side and move on.  They don't even consider the idea that I'm sitting here wondering if the email even went through in the first place.  Or, maybe I sent it to the wrong person?  Did it get stuck in their spam folder?  There're are so many uncertainties.  Hence, a simple, "I got it, and it's not for me," would suffice.

Often the publishers will list directly in the submission guidelines that they only respond to manuscripts that they accept; I hate that!  I just have to say, I know you're busy, but what the hell?  Back before email, when the submission process was solely reliant on envelopes, stamps, and the guy in the mail truck, I could easily see that responding to every submission would be nearly impossible, and take far too much time.  Yes, back then, even if you included a SASE with your submission, I get it; an editor has more important things to do than fold, stuff and lick every envelope.  But now days, a simple click of the mouse and an automated rejection letter is on it's way to me.  It takes twenty seconds tops!  You can even set it up so that I can't reply back with a, "<Sob...> Why didn't you like it????"  Why is it that we as writers are not allowed this simple respect? It just seems flat out lazy to me.  Yes, you as an editor have a big job, but as a human being, how about a little common courtesy?

And don't get me started on "No Simultaneous Submissions" policies.  So, you don't want me to submit to other markets until I hear back from you first?  Oh, and lets not forget that you may not get back to me for several months if you get back to me at all.  Really?  I'm sorry, but I think that I have far better things to do with my time.  When I'm looking for a publisher and I run across either one of these policies in their submission guidelines that publisher is moved to the back burner.  There are other publishers out there that understand what personal attention means, even if it's just a simple gesture like clicking the mouse to say I didn't like your work.

I'm sure there're are some out there that will say I'm just throwing a fit because I was once again overlooked by a publisher.  That's fine.  There's nothing better to call this than a rant.  But if you're a writer, I find it hard to believe that you've not felt this same way at some point in your career.  Consider this: in this current world we live, most people respond in texts via their phone hundreds of times a day to the most absurd foolishness in real-time.  Is a simple reply too much to ask?

INCONJUNCTION!

So, it's official, I've secured a booth in Creator's Alley at InConJunction Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention this year in Indianapolis.  The date is June 30- July 2.  I don't have a booth number as of yet, but I will update this space as soon as I do.  That way you can easily find Freedom Fighter and all the crazy stuff that I write.  Also I'm going to have a special sneak peak binder of what I'm working on next; guests will be able to flip through and give me some feedback.  Hope to see you there!

Making Freedom Fighter: The Surprising Superhero With A Surprise Ending!

Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s been a long time coming, but the first full story arc of Freedom Fighter is now available for purchase!  With the release of Freedom Fighter #4 from Insane Comics last month, it’s all out there and ready for you to divulge!  If you’re one who hasn’t got a copy yet, here’s the link: Click Here

The task of getting Freedom Fighter onto the page has been a long and at times an uncertain one.  Not exactly sure, but best guess is eight years ago, AJ Fulcher and I met online and pretty much instantly, a friendship in making comics was born.  We were both novices (still consider myself so) and we knew just enough about the business of making comics to be dangerous.  Sadly, I don’t know how Freedom Fighter was truly conceived.  I remember we wanted to create a superhero book, and we wanted to build a history with the character.  I’ve always liked conspiracies, so wanting to do something along those lines clearly had something to do with Freedom Fighter’s creative birth.  At the time, AJ and I had both considered the book to just be a practice book; something to get our feet wet.  We figured we would break out with something much bigger in the future; but as we built our story and creative team, Freedom Fighter took on a life of his own.  When I finished the first drafts of the scripts I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out.  It tuned into something much more exciting and original than I had expected for a superhero story.  Weird, right?  Shortly afterwards, AJ finished the character designs; at that point it was clear that Freedom Fighter was more real than we had anticipated he would ever be.  He was there to stay.

Obviously, we thought that our book was going to be great at that point, but the big question was: Would we be able to convince anyone else that they should check it out?  Reality was sinking in, and we realized that an Indie Super Hero comic book was going to be a hard sell.  There are so many bigger mainstream options out there, there was no doubt our little practice book would be swallowed up.  But once again Freedom Fighter was destined to surprise us.  We submitted Freedom Fighter #1 to nine publishers at first (Three of which were bigger publishers that were most likely out of our meager reach).  About a month later, Freedom Fighter was picked up by Outpouring Comics.  AJ and I felt like we had made it.  We were going to be published comic book creators.  And just as amazing, Freedom Fighter was going to see print. 

A few more months passed and we were knee deep in promoting the release of Freedom Fighter #1!  It was an amazing feeling to have a printed copy of our character’s book in our hands.  And the feeling was only amplified by the fact that we had a team of people inside out publisher’s company that were supporting us and helping us push the book out there.  The whole experience was extremely satisfying.  But even with a great publisher helping us promote the book, AJ and I still didn’t know if we were making the impact we needed to.  I had promoted my books in the past to book sellers and readers on the internet, but selling a comic book felt like an entirely different animal.  But more on promoting later…

Outpouring Comics took our book to several shows in the course of our time with them.  In all honesty, I had low expectations of how the book would perform; I wanted to keep them that way in case of a massive failure.  But once again, Freedom Fighter pulled his surprising tricks.  Sales were great!  Better than great, the publisher informed us that Freedom Fighter was one of its top 3 sellers in print!  And to ice the cake, Freedom Fighter #1 held the number 3 spot on DriveThruComics.com for digital sales!  Talk about feeling on top of the world!  How was that for a surprise?!  Alas it’s true what they say:  The higher you are, the further you have to fall.

I wasn’t ready for what would happen next.  We were gearing up for the release of Freedom Fighter #2 which was less than a week away.  I’d scheduled appearances to a few cons in the near future, and ordered plenty of copies of Freedom Fighter #1 to stock up.  Out of nowhere, (No Warning Signs, Period!) I get a call from our publisher.  He explains to me that they are changing the direction of their company to publishing books of their own creations, rather than everyone else’s.  Long story short, Freedom Fighter, along with a handful of other books, would be dropped from their roster.  Yeah, that happened!

I felt betrayed, left out in the rain, screwed over.  There’re a lot of euphemisms that I could use to describe my feelings of the situation, but I think you get the point.  The question was, how was I going to handle it?  Certainly, cursing the publisher and going public wasn’t a great option; it wasn’t going to help my situation, it was only going to make us look like some unprofessional whining babies.  Perhaps we had grounds to sue, but for what?  The minimal cost of the books I had preordered?  The cost of my show passes?  Emotional distress?  Was a legal battle really going to be worth it?  No.  AJ and I decided that it was best to dust off our feet and move forward, and that’s exactly what we did.  But where would forward take us?

Re-submitting Freedom Fighter to other independent publishers seemed like a dead end to both of us.  It wasn’t long ago that we were realizing that an Indy Superhero book was tough sell, and on top of that, what publisher was going to pick up a book that had apparently been dropped by another publisher?  That being said, we sent out about a dozen more submissions for the hell of it.  In the meantime, AJ and I had decided that self-publishing Freedom Fighter was our best option.

For the next few weeks we worked on page formatting and placement building the print files for Freedom Fighter from scratch.  We worked out the numbers, and it appeared to be most profitable and suitable to publish the entire story as a graphic novel.  It wasn’t what we preferred, but it was what made the most sense.  After finally formatting the book to our liking, we sent the file to be proofed.  There was nothing more to do but wait.  It would take a few days before we heard back from the printer, even so, I checked my email daily hoping to find the final proof ready.  What I found instead was that Freedom Fighter had yet another surprise in store!

Opening my email one afternoon, I found that Insane Comics, a fairly new publisher that was making big waves in the industry, was interested in publishing Freedom Fighter.  After answering a few questions and a little back and forth through email, Freedom Fighter had found a new home!  Insane, right!?  And as it turns out, it was the perfect home.

We’ve now published Freedom Fighter #1 - #4 with Insane Comics.  I’ve attended two comic cons with the publisher, and have tables reserved at a few shows later this year to promote the book.  We’re also talking about putting together a Trade Paperback of the first story arc which will include a ton of extras!  More on that later…  But Freedom Fighter in TBP form will open several other sales platforms for the book which is nothing short of super!  And get this, later this year we’re expected to release Freedom Fighter #5!  That’s right, surprising us once again, this little indie superhero practice book has warranted a second story arc, at least!  Surprised?  I’m not anymore.  In fact, I think Freedom Fighter is going to be turning a lot more heads in the very near future.  Let’s see what else this little book that could has up its sleeves!

Read on…

Follow and Like Freedom Fighter on Facebook! 

ENTER THE HERO: It's finally finished!

After nearly seven years of hard work, the artwork for the final page of my graphic novel, Enter The Hero, is finished.  Huge congratulations to Simon Butler, the artist who pulled off the 135 page, full-color feat with the many personal struggles he had along the way.  Now off to editing, and some polishing up.  Won't be long till Arcana Comics is shooting this puppy through their printer and sending it out to the many comic book shelves across the country.  I'll post more updates as we have them.  Hopefully, it won't be another seven years till he gets here!

 

www.EnterTheHeroComic.com 

FREE: Download Becoming Mortal gods to your Kindle today!

Just a quick post here; I want to make sure I get the word out that my book, Becoming Mortal gods, is available for FREE to download today through Thursday from Amazon.com.

Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Mortal-gods-Michael-Heitkemper-ebook/dp/B004JHYNEO/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1394977796&sr=8-1&keywords=michael+heitkemper

I'm trying to generate reviews for my book, so if you can help in any way, even if you just share this post, please do.  Thank you!

This Blogging Thing...

So, I know, you don't have to tell me, but this blogging thing is not really my cup of tea.  It's hard to come up with things to write about often enough to post on here.  Plus, I want the posts that I put here to have some kind of purpose or meaning; I don't want to write posts like this one, just to be posting something on my blog.  I've had a lot going on for the past year, (writing, reading, starting a new business, fathering...) so maybe I've just been too busy.  Well, we're already a month and a half into this new year, and this is my fist post.  Maybe I'll get better, maybe I won't.  Maybe I'll drink another.  Only time will tell.