Stephen interviews Stephen!!
SW: What are you currently working on?
Stephen: Right now I am working on finishing the first issue of Diner Of The Dead. It's a 3 issue mini - series with Ben "1314" Hansen.
SW: What is it about in a nutshell?
Stephen: Zombie chaos comes to small truck stop diner.
SW: What sets your book apart from the other zombie books out there?
Stephen: Well for one I would say we have a good story. So many zombie books out on the market are just about non stop gore with next to no character development. We have some great characters and a cool look for our ghouls. We also have some very nice artwork adorning our books! I realize our book being primarily black and white there might be people wanting to compare it to Image Comics "Walking Dead" but they really are very different books in feel and tone
SW: Who is publishing the book?
Stephen: We are self publishing under my comic company Monster Island Studios. We are going through Kablaam for the printing.
SW: Why self publish and not try to be published by a major company?
Stephen: Well one of the main reasons why is creative freedom. This is our own universe we can do anything with. If Diner goes over well then we do have ideas for continuing stories set in the same world. Another is that we can choose when we get to put it out. If we had tried to pitch our idea to a larger comic company usually it takes months to maybe even years to hear back from them and even after all that they might decide they want a different art team on the book. We would also lose most if not all rights to the property as well.
The downside of course is that we have to cover all the costs ourselves. We pay for the printing costs and promos. This is what is different from self publishing vs publishing. Some people don't seem to really get that concept. A person who has little knowledge of the comics field who is starting out and self publishing might tell folks at conventions that they are published when in fact they are "self published".
SW: Where can we buy the book?
Stephen: We are going to be selling the books at comic conventions and hopefully through some local stores. The first issue is going to be prepped and ready by late June/early July 2012. I'll keep everyone posted.
SW: Why not just do this book as a web comic and save printing costs?
Stephen: It was a thought early on for the book but even in this age of Kindles and iPads I am still a firm believer that most people still like having a tangible product. I love taking in the artwork of a comic and the print smell. Some people think that print is dead and I say that's bullcrap. Print is going to be around for a long time still. Webcomics definetly have their place and there are some great ones out there so I don't want to come across like I don't like them.
I think some small press people and self publishers get frustrated at poor convention sales so they will just say that print is dead because they didn't make dollar one. Truth be told if the product is good then people will buy it- whether it's in print form or a pay web comic. Be personable with the con goers and make connections and you will also start building a nice fan base that will look for you specifically at conventions and buy your prints and comics.
Some conventions can be slow and others can be hoping. You just have to roll with the punches or your not going to make it in this biz!
SW: Anything else you'd like to add for the readers out there?
Stephen: I have been learning so much from doing this book! I am becoming a better artist from it and am very lucky to have a partner in this with Ben Hansen. For those that don't know Ben is a comic book artist who has been published by comic companies Bluewater, Moonstone, and Arcana. He has also had artwork featured many times in Strange Aeons/Planet Lovecraft magazine. Ben was also recently a feature artist in the Emerald City Comic Con "Monsters And Dames" artbook- quite an honor!! I really look forward to selling our book and hoping that people will really enjoy it as much as we do and we get to sell a lot of copies!
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