The time is upon us, or rather, me: the first two chapters of Family Man are coming into print as Family Man Volume I.
I’ve drawn two complete chapters, learned through experience how to design, print, publish, and ship books. All that remains is for me to finishing laying out the book and design a really snappy cover!
Oh, yes, well, also, to raise the money. It’s going to cost me $10,000 US to print this book the way it deserves, and I’m just too much of a self-employed 26 year-old artist to have that kind of scratch lying around the house.
So I need your help. For the last four years I’ve kept the comic 100% free of advertising and have never solicited donations to keep it running. If you’ve enjoyed it and have been looking for a way to support the project, this is your chance. I’ve put together a bunch of packaged options for pre-ordering the book, to suit any budget and degree of fervor, and I think they are genuinely pretty damn cool. You will like them! They are neat!
So, without further ado:
Revolutionary stuff, y’all. When the comic takes place, the concept of the card catalogue was still just a glimmer in the eye of the increasingly moribund French state.
BUT, MORE PERTINENTLY:
Beginning on Monday, April 5th (Easter Monday and the last or penultimate day of Passover, depending on your affiliations), pre-orders for the first print edition volume of Family Man will go on sale in my store.
Copies will start at $20 (+$5 s/h) for the basic model and go higher for increased fanciness! The book alone is going to be an 8.5×11″ glossy sepia beast.
The pre-orders will directly fund the print run, so if you’ve been looking for a way to support the comic, this is how to do it! I can’t print it unless I get an enthusiastic turnout from you, dear readers.
I’m aiming for a July release, with the book debuting for the general public at the San Diego Comic-con. Pre-ordered copies will go out as soon as I get ’em in, so if you want the jump on the rest of the world, mark your calendars for Monday!
…Christ, I’m nervous.
This cup of coffee and I are currently recovering from a long but successful weekend in Seattle for the Emerald City Comicon. Thank you to everybody who came by and said hello! It was a much-needed morale boost for me, here at the tail-end of this Winter of Ultimate Suck.
Thank you especially to everybody who asked me (often aggressively!) when the first Family Man book will be coming out. The answer: as soon as possible. I’ve got several requests out for quotes, and as soon as I receive one that sounds good, I’ll kick into pre-press mode. It’s going to be a lot of work to get it into shape (Dylan of 2006 didn’t quite know what she was setting herself up for…) and I’ll be taking preorders/Kickstarter to help cover the costs.
On to other business:
My lovely friend, sometime-collaborator, and all-around champion YA author and youth librarian Sara Ryan is tackling an excellent project.
She’s in the process of writing a graphic novel to be illustrated by Carla Speed McNeil, and, being a good person, decided to ask all the artists at Periscope Studio about their pet peeves when it comes to comics writing.
I chimed in. I write for myself, I’ve written for others, and I’ve drawn scripts from other people as well, so I am just full of annoying advice!
My first item:
1) Don’t say “Have fun with this!” Unless the writer actually knows what I find fun. “In this panel, we see an elegantly-dressed 18th century intellectual riding a dragon” would, for me, be fun. For somebody else, eye-stabby.
Behold! I am reinstalled in my life here in Portland and almost out from under the massive backlog of orders, business chores and work; tomorrow I might even unpack the suitcase. Luckily for my sanity, I get to ease back in with another one of these handy chapter transition images. Next week we’ll have Luther and the library and hijinks will ensue. Hurray!
Then the week after that I’ll be due for another round of page notes, although they might be a bit scanty given the hunting interlude. (I do promise I’ll post links to the rabbit skinning tutorials I found on YouTube. Like a banana, gang. They peel like a damn banana.)
I’m still scrumming around for a reliable, quality printing company with good communication skills, located outside of this here continent (with prices to match). If you’ve had any good or bad experiences printing a publication in four colors with an overseas printer, please pass that information my way, so I can locate a solid vendor and have a Family Man book for sale at San Diego this year.
Oh, little Ariana. You are going to be making that face a whole bunch more as time goes on. And so will I if I have to draw too many more pages of grass. (I’m kidding, it’s actually kind of a relief to do something loose; it’s just a pain to ink all those blades.)
And hey check it out, kids, if you order a copy of Bite Me! between now and Christmas you get a free drawing inside. If you order the fancy package that already includes a drawing, well! In addition to a drawing of one of the main characters you ALSO will get the complimentary addition of a chicken looking on at them. I know how to bring it.