The comic has ended.
Just a cover to do, fix errors in all the pages (I estimate that'll take a week or so) and then I start on the painful trek to publishing. I'll try my luck with the Greek publishers first, at the annual Comicdom Convention that occurs on 16. 17 and 18 of this month. If you're Greek and you'd like to meet me you can seek me out at the fanzine room as usual. I'll post about it when it's about to happen, again.
If you have any thoughts on the comic you could share them in the comments. I'll be tweaking the art and writing in the past pages but probably not posting them hey, I have to save something for the printed version, right? The meanings of the comic will not change so although this is not yet the definitive version, it is complete.
- Helm
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14 comments:
One word: beautiful.
I wish you the best of luck finding a publisher.
Thank you. Want to color/draw/design the cover? I promise to credit you inside the book this time :P
Well, it's been a very interesting journey up to here, and thank you for making my Mondays a little more full. I think we'll get a chance to talk more about the comic soon at Comicdom, "up close and personal", the way I like it.
RothmanSmoker.
Really looking forward to it.
I've never read a comic before in my life, but came here because of the quality of your music commentary.
I'll be reading more after this. I always thought they were about superheroes and crime fighters... not about "real life." And beautifully recounted renditions of it at that.
I wish you the best of luck during publishing. More people should see this gift that you've given to us for free.
Thanks again.
-Tom
Tom, that's very nice of you to say.
There are many comic artists that are doing comics that aren't about superheroes and other such bespandexed power trips. You could start with stuff like
Dan Clowes - David Boring
Charles Burns - Black Hole
Chris Ware - Acme Novelty Library
David Mazzucchelli - Asterios Polyp
to mention some at the top of my head.
Thank you again for your comment. It's a strange thing, this is the first time anyone's ever told me my comic was the first comic they read in their life. I'm trying to wrap my head around that, heh
I'd be happy to colour something for you :) Provide me lineart and it shalt be done!
Wonderful pages, congratulation on completing the comic.
Good luck to find a publisher from my side too!
Are you planning to review your journey in a future post? I mean in the way of your growth as an artist (and maybe human being)? Not so much on a technical side, because there is already tons of useful stuff in your posts.
I seriously doubt you'll find difficulty publishing this masterpiece, even in greece. If someone turns you down, give me a call. I'll drop by with a helmet and iron baseball bat and 'impore them to reconsider'
Markus, yes I do plan to do a retrospective and a gamasutra-esque coroner's report too. What went right, what went wrong, how it made me feel. But for now I'm basking in the glory of 'having finished something'. I did fixups for the first 17 pages too!
Vak, thank you for your kind words, but I think you might be too optimistic :)
Congratulations for finishing the comic Helm. I got feeling that this work was something you HAD to do. T'was a great ride for me.
Tom: Yeah I guess it's a common misconception that comics are all about superheroes and ego trips for teenagers but there's a lot more to it than that. And you can do some nice things even with superhero comics. Take Watchmen for example.
Thanks a lot for doing this! It was a highly enjoyable ride.
My friend introduced me to this blog 2 years ago, but they've since stopped following it as avidly. When I told her that ZX wasn't a real robot months ago, she claimed it ruined it. While I associate some sense of loss with the revelation, I feel this is in keeping with the comic's themes and that it was something that had to be done. After all, it wouldn't be the story you planned to do if you didn't do it, right?
I'm reminded of Grant Morrison's New X-Men run, specifically when it's revealed that Xorn is Magneto, and the resulting loss of a rather cool character. Given the previous comments, I feel kinda embarrassed talking about a superhero comic!
Anyway, I look forward to being able to buy this. Do you have publishers in mind? I bet Drawn and Quarterly would take it, if that appeals to you.
I hope your friend gives it another shot at some point, now that it's fully finished.
I certainly can understand the feeling when a comic pulls an 'M.Night.Shamaliaananaan' run under the reader, it can feel cheap. But yes, the 'revelation' wasn't the point of the comic in itself, I'd find that infuriating too. The point of the comic is about regret and belated realizations and not wanting to look directly inside a wound. That situation I felt and feel is worth exploring more than a 'cool robot buddy, it's like he's almost human but he's a robot!!!'.
I remember a friend of mine reading the X-men run about Xorn, I'm afraid I had given up on x-men comics at that time. Though I enjoyed the Josh Whedon run as much as I've enjoyed any x-men comics in all my life.
I was thinking Fantagraphics, Drawn and Quarterly, Last Gasp, perhaps Dark Horse and Image, I don't have high hopes for the last two but you never know.
Sergio, I don't remember you telling me anything of the sort, but as you seem to have more pedantry of recollection you are probably right.
I think I would have said that because I was enjoying the juxtaposition of reality and ridiculous at the time. The story from the beginning was something I was relating to. Perhaps this comes from my own conviction that we live in an invented reality anyway. I know I have several different lives running at once, dependent on which viewpoint I wish to take at the time. This is essentially what stereotyping and caricature are, that is, a selective viewpoint of certain points of reality, and probably what all story telling is also.
The revelation of ZX as form of emotional self management took my ability to relate away. Not because I have no loss to deal with, but because Stephan is forced to face his realities, and I am reasonably sure that like most people, I will usually take the easy way out and choose to never notice the reality exists. Because once that point is passed, it cannot be retrieved.
I find myself feeling hollow at the end of this story. Something so conclusive is very difficult to feel optimistic about. However this reaction is probably all about 'not wanting to look directly inside a wound.', therefore the point is essentially achieved? Besides, a story that leaves me feeling less than happy is a story that will stay with me for longer. Satisfaction is easy to forget, discontent rankles longer.
I don't know if this comment knows how much I enjoyed engaging with this story, because I really did. It's the whimsy and human weakness intermingled with the tragedy that get me hooked. Like Shakespeare who could never stop making jokes even when all his characters died in the end. Life just isn't made to be take seriously because so many things go wrong that what can but acknowledge the ridiculous? Even when you are in love you are always going to be thinking about how your pants are itchy or the dishes need washing.
Anyway, I'll be buying this when I can, and reading it several times over.
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