Greetings everyone,
First off, before we recap our conversation with Jimmy Palmiotti, let’s talk about Torchbearer and the state of things.
By the time this is published, I should either have 10 colored pages of Torchbearer 3 published, or just 1, waiting for me on my DropBox around 12 noon. Which means either two things: either the issue will be available for release next week, or we’ll have to scrap it and restart the issue with another team. It’s unfortunate, but in business there are instances when tough decisions have to be made, especially those that hurt in the short term, because in the end it’s the best thing for the company. And unfortunately we find ourselves at this point where we will very likely have issue 4 ready before issue 3 is done.
Crazy, I know.
Should this be the case, what we will do is release issue 3 and issue 4 within weeks of each other, and for those of you who’ve been patient with us: issues 3 and 4 will be on us. When we’re ready for release, we’ll open up a submission form for you to enter your email and your preferred platform and we’ll make sure you get your copies.
It really is the least I can do to somewhat make up for this chaotic situation.
In any case, here are some rough pencil pages of Torchbearer #4!
Our artist, Michael Montenat, who has previously worked with MonkeyBrain, IDW, Top Cow and Red Stylo, has been amazing thus far and we are very glad to have him on board!
Oh! Before I forget, two things: First, we did get a rather well-done video of us (mainly me, really, unfortunately. I personally think Victoria would have been more pleasing to the camera. But I digress) at our booth at C2E2! It’s by the folks at LeftTurnOnly TV. Enjoy!
Second, we’re running out of first issues of Torchbearer #1! Seriously! We’re almost out of our initial print run of 1025 issues! And no, we haven’t given almost all of them away (truth be told, only about 70 issues have been given to reps, friends and family). And, this was done at both NYCC and C2E2. At the end of the month, we’ll be going to PhillyCon and if all goes well, we’ll have a few issues remaining alongside our trades for when we come back to the cons in September at Baltimore Comic Con!
I mention this to those creators out there wondering how it’s possible to break in to the comics industry. Cons are by far the best way, as your would-be audience is right there, waiting to hear what your story has to offer them. And, slowly but surely, even us will be able to turn our convention visits into completely profitable ventures!
Now, onto Jimmy.
For those who don’t know, Jimmy Palmiotti is a comic book everything guy: he writes, he inks, he draws, he slices and dices and makes a mean supper (I’ve been told). Aside from working on All-Star Western (which stars Jonah Hex. And yes, the same Jonah Hex as that movie that everyone kindly likes to forget about. Shame the movie butchered the character). He also is a talented storyteller in film, video games and pretty much in life. Even talking to him is like sitting across the campfire, waiting to hear what new stories he has in store.
Jimmy is also known as a very successful Kickstarter campaigner. All of his projects have met and exceeded their goals (an amazing feat, really). And, as part of my rewards for supporting one of his campaigns is how I had a chance to Skype with him. We talked about a great many things: firstly, how I couldn’t hear him but see him and he could hear and see me (lip reading FTW). We also talked about where we are in life, what our plans are, how coming from different fields (Jimmy was in advertising before jumping into comics) is, we feel, an advantage in our line of work. We also talked about NYC in its glorious past and how it so very much wasn’t, and how our writing styles differ (Jimmy starts the character creation process and asks “what do they love?”, “what do they fear?”. I ask who a character is that would behave like X, and then iterate in revising both the character and the reactions until I get to a point that I feel strongly about it).
Well, to make a long story short, Jimmy stressed that it’s paramount that we build up our library beyond Torchbearer. And the faster this can be done, the better. With those words, we have outlined a superhero tragedy graphic novel (we don’t have the title yet) that we plan for it to be in the midst of production over the summer. Right now, it calls for 72 pages and features a gay couple as the lead protagonists. Should be quite exciting to write. We will also complete the novel we started writing for CampNanoWriMo in April. That’ll probably be completed by July, and released (after editing) maybe in November? It’s a little early to estimate on that. We are also participating in some screenwriting contests over the summer, which should be fun. All in all, we are definitely heeding Jimmy’s advice and building up Odd Truth’s library of works.
It’s a great time to be alive!
Also, a horrible time to feel tired.
🙂
Next week, we’ll talk about conventions: some strategies you can use that have worked for us, how to make the best of your placement and how to formulate your convention strategy.
Until then,
Best,
-Nick D.