Come with Me If You Want to Live

Newsarama posted an article on their blog about a tweet Scott Kurtz made about buying the new Justice League on his iPad and why should he go to his local comic shop to grab a copy. (You can read that here if you like.) It was a kinda stupid article, but it got me thinking.

As local comic shops are closing all over the country, how do we and they prevent this? Especially faced with the "digital revolution" or whatever the hell you want to call it? How are shops supposed to offer extra value as an incentive to get customers through their doors?

Frankly, I think shops are going to need to up the ante here. I've been to a lot of comic shops over the years in the Buffalo area and you know what? Most of them suck. The owners are aloof elitist pricks who look down on you if you don't like the same things they do. The shops are generally dirty, dingy, and dark. And the half the time I have to order in the shit I want. Who the hell wants to shop in a place like that? I don't.

Then I did a signing at Two Kings Comics in Rochester. The shop was clean, very well lit, and the owners were some of the nicest dudes I've ever met. Plus they stocked product that I read! Holy shit! It was a comics Mecca for me! To sweeten the pot, the guys had a section just for kids' comics, an X-Box 360 hooked up to a flat screen TV, a cooler with drinks for sale, and couches and other seating. It wasn't just a store, it was a place to hang out! It was a place to make friends with other customers or the owners. If it wasn't an hour and a half from my house, I'd be there all the bleeding time!

I really think more shops should follow that line of thinking! Make your shop a home away from home for your customers. There are so many shops that I go into, grab my shit, and get outta Dodge! A friendly, clean, well-lit environment goes a long, long way. I spent like 8 hours in that shop and had a blast. I never felt bored or unwelcome. The guys were happy to shoot the shit with every customer who walked through their doors that day. (I think there were about 200 of 'em.)

So guys, it's either time to bring your A-Game or wither away and die. The choice is yours. I hope you choose to survive.

P.S.:
I still love Queen City Comics here in Buffalo. The owner, Emil, and his son run a tight ship and I love shopping with them.

The Creator Owned Battle -- Part II

Ah, once again we're back to the Creator Owned Battlefield. In recent months I've done a lot of thinking about all of this craziness and have noticed something kind of unnerving.

A lot of independent comic creators don't buy other creator-owned comics. I'm not saying they don't buy other indie comics, which can be rough sometimes, because they vary in quality so much, but some of these guys straight up only read DC and Marvel books. So I'm calling bullshit on these guys!

You can't expect folks to support your creator-owned project if you don't support other creator-owned books! Practice what you preach, man! You look at my shelf and sure, I've got some Marvel and some DC stuff, but the majority of it? Creator-owned, sucker. You'll find stuff like Hellboy, The Goon, The Walking Dead, Jesus Hates Zombies, 30 Days of Night, American Terror, Girls with Slingshots, Sin City, Honey and the Whirlwind, and whatever else strikes my fancy.

It drives me insane to hear these guys bitch about no one buying their new series when they won't take a chance on something else either. I'm a big fan of trading with other creators. Hey, check out my book and I'll check out yours! It doesn't cost you any cash outta pocket and someone else is gonna read your book! It's a great trade-off. And if you like it, tell other people! Lend it to a friend. Whatever, let other people know you dig it! I can't express enough how important word of mouth is for creator-owned books.

So in short, I'm calling you out, comics creators, buy creator-owned books. Or fuck off.

*Art by Jeff McComsey and Danilo Beyruth

M.I.A.

Howdy folks,
If you frequent this blog, you probably think I've been M.I.A. as of late. Frankly, you're kinda right. However, I've just been hard at work working on new content for you kids!

I have a huge announcement coming regarding Igor: Occult Detective which, sadly, I can't make just yet. Though I am writing Issue #8 as Helaine is working on Issue #1, and we will have a one page story appearing in the upcoming Issue #3 of Washington DC comics magazine Magic Bullet.

I also worked with Ronald Montgomery on the story "The Bedroom" for Black Ship Book's Horror Haikus #1 which can be purchased from Lulu.com

My story is well and done for FUBAR Vol. 2: Empire of the Rising Dead which was illustrated by the ever-amazing Rob Croonenborghs (FUBAR Vol. 1, Jesus Hates Zombies: Jurassic Kinda Life)!

Finally, I finished the short story "Spaceman Jack and the Planet Zorgadon" for the Small Press Commando's Kirby Challenge which was written by the awesome Phil McClorey and can be read for free here!

Oh! I also worked with Phil (as my editor) on the story "A Devil Came to Oregon" for his as of yet untitled horror western anthology, which I am obscenely excited about.

Well, that's about all the news I've got for now. I'll post again when I have more concrete news for you all!

Pulp Volume 1 is here!

I am proud to announce that Pulp Vol. 1: The Old Kingdom is now available from IndyPlanet.com! Click the link here to grab your copy! This TPB collects issues #1-4 of Pulp, introduction by Stephen Lindsay (Jesus Hates Zombies, Lincoln Hates Werewolves, FUBAR, Massive Awesome), a map of Edelgrond and more for $17.99!

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The Creator-Owned Battle

Art by Jeff McComsey and Jim McMunn
I'm going to talk about something here that's pretty damn important to not only me, but also a lot of my compatriots: Creator-Owned Comics.

As a lot of folks know, the comic industry is dying a slow and miserable death. Now it's, of course, easy to blame Marvel and DC for only putting out books that involve the same superheros every month... (how many Deadpool and Batman comics does the world really need, anyway?) And while they are partly to blame for putting out comics that are stale and nearly impossible to jump into without knowing decades of back continuity, it's not entirely their fault.

This is difficult for me to talk about, because a big part of the problem rests with, us, the readers. We need to be supporting creator-owned books or publishers aren't going to want to put them out. At the end of the day, publishers are businesses and they need to do what's best for their business. So if superhero tripe continues to sell, they're going to continue to make it.

But for all of you complaining about the state of DC and Marvel and the state of comics as a whole, go out and support original creator owned books! Go grab that copy of Hellboy, The Goon, Fear Agent, 30 Days of Night, The Walking Dead, Savage Dragon, Mouseguard, Powers, Wormwood, or whatever instead Issue #105,367 of Spider-man! Even better go pick up something by an up and comer like Stephen Lindsay or myself!

If you want a jump start on some interesting reading materials here are a few recommendations from yours truly:

American Terror by Jeff McComsey
Jesus Hates Zombies by Stephen Lindsay & various
Novo by Michael S. Bracco
FUBAR by various
Vic Boone by Shawn Aldridge & Geoffo

All of them are available through Diamond so get orderin'!

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Buffalo Screams!

This past weekend I was involved with the first-ever Buffalo Screams Horror Film Festival! Buffalo Screams was held at The Screening Room on Sheriden Drive in Amherst, NY. I'm going to attempt to break this down by day as there was a lot that went on.



Day 1: Thursday October 21, 2010

Day 1 started off around 2:30pm where I met up with Greg Lamberson, Emil Novak (both of which pretty much organized the entire festival), along with Nick Anderson (local actor, photographer, and editor), Chris Scioli (from Buffalo Movie Makers), and Chris Wroblewski (local actor) to deal with all the set up.

We figured out what prizes were going to be given out across the four days of the festival and got all of the vendors' tables set up and ready to rock.



A little later guest of honor, the ever-lovely actress Debbie Rochon (Tromeo & Juliete, Night of the Living Dead, Slime City Massacre, Colour from the Dark). I met Debbie briefly last summer on the set of Slime City Massacre, but we never really got the chance to really sit down and talk. So it was nice to have the time to really do that this weekend.

Thursday I was able to catch a couple great films including Under the Scares a documentary about the trials of low-budget film-making featuring the likes of Debbie Rochon, Amy Lynn Best, Mike Watt, Jimmyo Burril, April Burril, and Herschell Gordon Lewis made by Canadian film-maker Steve Villeneuve, The Facts in the Case of Mr. Hollow by Rue Morgue's Rodrigo Gudino, What are They by local film maker Kash Coster.



Thursday also saw the premier of John Renna's long-anticipated It's In Back! which saw the largest turn-out for the evening.

Day 2: Friday October 22, 2010

Friday started off at 2pm for set-up. We had to pretty much tear down and set-up everyday because we set up in the mall outside the actual theater. We were also joined by Ron Mckay, Troma's east-coast convention representative in the dealers' room. (Ron is now my new bud.) Ron also donated several DVDs to add to our contest prizes.

Unfortunately, I only got to catch one film on Friday, but at least it was the excellent Night of the Living Dead: Re-animated which featured over 100 artists re-creating George Romero's 1968 classic all in 1 minute increments.

Friday was Zombie Friday featuring a heavy-dose of zombie-centric films including The Duty of the Living, Resident Horror (a locally-made Resident Evil video game spoof), Cabine of the Dead from France, and a section of Emil Novak's Decayed anthology entitled "Adrift." There was also a zombie costume contest which brought in some awesome costumes including a fellow dressed up as Greg Lamberson's Johnny Gruesome character!



Day 3: October 23, 2010

Day 3 was by far the longest clocking in at about 12 hours for those of us running the show. But it was also one of the most fun.

Saturday's films included Werewolf Fever a hilarious werewolf flick, House of Horrors: The Movie, Mold!, and Damn Your Eyes an ultra-violent western with a solid dash of humor, which is part one of a proposed feature-length film.

One of the high-lights was the showing of Slime City Massacre. This was the second time I got to see it, and I enjoyed it even more! Afterward, there was a Q&A session which I was honored to be able to participate in. (I played a homeless fellow who eventually gets turned into a Green Slimehead.)



Afterward, I actually got to catch what ended up being my favorite film of the festival El Monstro del Mar! Directed by Australian film-mark Stuart Simpson (The Demons Among Us). The best way to describe it is a combination of exploitation films and Lovecraftian sea-monsters. Frankly, it's utterly fantastic! The girls are sexy, the acting great, the monster... well monstrous!

The night wound down with the wonderful documentary Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore from Frank Henenlotter and Jimmy Maslon.

Day 4: October 24, 2010

Day 4 started off with Ron from Troma bring me an awesome gift... The Demons Among Us on DVD, Stuart Simpson's (El Monstro del Mar) first film. I, also, got the opportunity to chat with film-maker Brett Kelly whose Avenging Force: The Scarab showed later.

Born to Die from Buffalo-native and friend Jay Mager (The Pigman) was the first film of the day. There was a nice turn out for the local film-maker. I had a small bit in Born to Die and contributed the art work along with the title cards for the opening and closing credits.

Other films that showed included The Black Cat, Triptosane, Gitchy, and M.

For Sunday's festivities I was joined by MonsterMatt Patterson (author of MonsterMatt's Bad Monster Jokes Vol.1 which I illustrated) along with his eldest daughter.



Sunday ended with dinner and an awards ceremony, which I unfortunately could not attend. They honored Debbie with a DEDICATION TO EXCELLENCE IN INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING award and the short film Desperately Seeking Debbie. The winners were as follows:

BEST ACTRESS – Marianne Porter, TRUE NATURE

BEST ACTOR – Daniel Reininghaus, EYES BEYOND

LOCAL HERO — Michael O'Hear

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY — Marco Fargnoli and Evan A. Nesbitt, TRUE NATURE

BEST EDITING — Aaron Doolittle, DAVIS

BEST MAKE-UP EFFECTS — Emma Julia Jacobs, M

BEST SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS — Carl Cabrino, THE BLACK CAT

BEST WNY SPECIAL MAKE-UP EFFECTS AWARD — Andrew Lavin

BEST SCREENPLAY — Cody Zimmerman, THE FAMILIAR

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY CONTEST — DESERT DOGS

FILMMAKER TO WATCH — Sam Qualiana, NO ROAD OUT, and Kash Costner, WHAT ARE THEY

LOCAL GRINDHOUSE AWARD — Jay Mager and John Renna, for IN THE BACK and BORN TO DIE

BEST DIRECTOR — Stuart Simpson, EL MONSTRO DEL MAR

GENRE SPIRIT AWARD — Brett Kelly, AVENGING FORCE: THE SCARAB

BEST “MORE THAN HORROR” SHORT — DAMN YOUR EYES

BEST “MORE THAN HORROR” FEATURE — TRIPTOSANE

BEST HORROR SHORT — THE FAMILIAR

BEST WNY HORROR SHORT — DAVIS

BEST HORROR FEATURE — EL MONSTRO DEL MAR

BEST WNY HORROR FEATURE — HOUSE OF HORRORS: THE MOVIE



Overall, this weekend was amazing and I had a blast. I'd like to thank the following: Greg Lamberson, Emil Novak, Debbie Rochon, Ron Mckay, Kristy Jett, MonsterMatt Patterson, Nick Anderson, and everyone else involved!

FUBAR Now Available for Pre-Order

Hey folks,

So the time is finally upon us. After months of hard work and preparation FUBAR is now available for Pre-Order from your local comic book shop!

If you're not familiar with FUBAR, it's a World War II zombie comic anthology featuring some of small press comics' brightest stars including Jeff McComsey (American Terror, Jesus Hates Zombies, Atomic Robo: Last Stop), Stephen Lindsay (Jesus Hates Zombies/Lincoln Hates Werewolves, Massively Awesome), Benjamin Truman (Conan), Steve Becker (Atomic Robo: Last Stop), Jonathan Moore, Rob Croonenborghs, Lonny Chant, Dominic Vivona, Shawn Williams, Darrin Stephens, yours truly, and so many more! It's 168 pages of black and white zombie glory with 13-short stories plus other goodies packed in!



You can currently pre-order FUBAR from your local comic shop using Diamond Previews Code: SEP100743 for only $11.99! If you can't make it out to a comic shop near you or there aren't any in your area, you can also pre-order it online from Things From Another World or Urban Collector!

We would really appreciate your support on this project that over 20 people worked insanely hard on and truly brought their A-Games for! I've already read the whole thing a half dozen times or so, and I keep coming back to it! And I only have a PDF! So, please, pre-order a copy today!

Much Love & Sincerest Regards,
Kyle

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