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Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Strangers in Paradise, Most Recent at Top [Help]
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1. Interview: Colorist of BONE Steve Hamaker on Making His Own Webcomic PLOX

Scholastic’s editions of Jeff Smith’s BONE were what originally put Steve Hamaker on the map, and he’s only improved since his introduction to the comics scene. After coloring over a dozen BONE graphic novels, Hamaker went on to color Jeff Smith’s follow-up RASLStrangers in Paradise-related projects for Terry Moore and Scott Kurtz’s webcomic Table Titans. Recently he’s been producing his own webcomic named PLOX that shows off his illustrative chops as well as his honed coloring skills. I spoke to Steve about his background, workload and growth as a creator and storyteller.

 

Photo

Let’s start with the origin story. What brought you into comics?

I was working for a small toy design company that worked on license action figures.  We did toys for lots of properties, like Street Fighter, Sonic the Hedgehog, Speed Racer, and BONE.  I was the designer on BONE, so that’s where I met Jeff Smith.  He hired me away from that job, basically the day I was being downsized, so it worked out perfectly.

Was coloring comics always the goal?

Actually no.  I’ve always wanted to make my own comics.  The toy design thing was a stepping stone, but I really did enjoy that as a creative career.  Jeff inspired me and then taught me how to not only make comics, but how to self publish and promote them.

Line art by Jeff Smith.

You only work with a select few artists. Jeff Smith, Scott Kurtz, Terry Moore… How do you decide who to collaborate with?

Well, Jeff happened to be my boss, so that was an easy choice [laughs]. Coloring BONE was a huge undertaking for us both. It taught me every technique I use, and made me fall in love with the whole process. Terry Moore is a good friend of Jeff’s, so that was also very natural to work with him. I have been a fan of Scott Kurtz’s since he started PVP, so I stalked him early on, and once the coloring of BONE got more and more attention he took notice. We became friends along the way too, so that adds another layer to it. Coloring BONE was really the flood gates opening for people taking notice of me. I have a lot more choices to be selective, and that makes a difference in how I approach the work.

With those artists and with PLOX you’re aiming a little outside the typical Wednesday Warrior demographic. Do you have any desire to color a “mainstream” comic?

I would be interested, sure. It would have to be meaningful subject matter to me, so hopefully the right book will come along. Technically, I have done some work for DC with Jeff’s Shazam story, and Marvel was very nice when I colored a Thor story for Terry Moore. Ironically, the bigger publishers pay better, usually give cover credit, and even pay royalties in some cases. That’s not why I would do it, though. It’s just good to see them treating colorists in an increasing positive way.

An example of a reward for Patreon subscribers.

You mentioned marketing earlier. What kind of efforts do you make to market PLOX?

Right now it’s mostly social media, cross promotion with other online comics folks and general word-of-mouth. Terry Moore is running PLOX ads for me while I color his new SiP Kids mini series. Scott is obviously a great help with his PVP audience. He runs banners for my comic and I get to attend shows with him like GenCon and PAX.  The audience building has been one of the most incredible experiences in making this comic. Seeing the reader numbers increase, but more importantly knowing that so many of them are genuinely invested in the comic.

I’d say your Patreon campaign is another form of marketing.

Yes! I haven’t given Patreon quite the love and attention it deserves, but it’s a great tool for reaching your audience. It’s tough because I have to spend so much time coloring or creating PLOX that I can’t devote the time to making the Patreon really engaging. It’s a Catch-22 of sorts. I hope to change that in the future.

It must also be hard to use something ongoing like Patreon that it is to promote something one-off like Kickstarter.

Yes. I haven’t done a Kickstarter yet for PLOX, but I plan to. I want to make sure the Kickstarter for the collected book is really well organized and rewarding for the donors, and especially that they won’t have to wait two years to get their stuff! I will most likely tackle that when I am really close to being done with the first PLOX story.

When will that be?

Hopefully later this year. I keep writing new scenes that push the ending back.

Early Page 4

Now a question I’m sure you’ve been asked many times: what does “PLOX
mean?

I chose PLOX for the title from the idea of how our language has been affected and truncated on the internet.  The word ‘please’ change to ‘pls’, then to ‘plz’, then gamers would type so fast that it became ‘plx’. Then people started speaking over the internet with Teamspeak and Ventrilo, and they would phonetically say “plox”.

It also looked cool as a logo.

How is “please” central to the story?

The word isn’t important really. It was the idea of how the internet can affect things like language, and in the case of my story, relationships.

Hallucinations

Since the story is centered around a World of Warcraft-like game it would be easy to include a lot of fantasy visuals, but there aren’t many in PLOX. Was that intentional?

Starting out, I definitely envisioned that I would do in game cut-aways, like we do in Table Titans. After writing the first 3 or 4 chapters, I realized that the game isn’t the central ‘thing’ about the story, and it didn’t seem appropriate anymore.

The dream sequences were key for showing the in game avatars, however. That was a big breakthrough for me in writing this.

It’s really important to me that people can read PLOX and not have to know everything about Warcraft. The story is semi-autobiographical, so I felt like I had to include the game because it was tied up with my emotional state and daily life during that time.

It’s a story about three people. That’s hopefully compelling enough [laughs].  I’m half-kidding. I love that it has the gamer slant to it, and it affords a lot of opportunity for comedy, but I don’t want it to be a barrier of entry for my readers.

Chad would be a dick to his Bingo group down at the church. The game could be anything.

What do you like about the square page layout?

It looks good on the computer [laughs]. Honestly, I wanted the comic to take up more space.  I could have gone rectangular sideways, I realize.

The format was kind of mystical for me actually.

It kind of cracked my brain for writing and layout… in a good way! I was struggling with writing a comic page in the conventional format, and the square page just liked me more. I can see pages and scenes before I draw them much more easily.

Early Page 2

So you find the four or less panels a page more freeing than restricting?

Exactly.

I think a lot of people who come from more of a writing background would feel the opposite.

I wouldn’t doubt that. I’m not complaining, but It’s a very daunting task to write, draw and color a long form comic. It was a crucial thing for me to overcome in order to move ahead.

Oh, totally. I was just kind of musing on the differences. I feel like in the creative process artists (whether they be illustrators, writers, etc.) do best when they limit the number of things they take chances with. Like how you should only have one or two variables in a science experiment.

I think it’s different for everyone, to some extent, but I agree that limits can (not do) make better art.  You can agonize over every aspect of the writing or drawing, but in the end, you need to stop and share it with the world. That’s why God created editors and deadlines.

Homosexuality

Where are you kind of taking risks with PLOX?

I don’t have as many fears as I did when I started.  The risks were numerous. Can I write, draw, and color the whole story by myself, will people like my art… or my writing for that matter!

The character of Kim being gay was also scary for me.  I’m not gay, so I had this huge weight over my head that was telling me to abandon it.

The more I wrote and thought about each character the less scared I was. It sounds cheesy, I know, but they really started to tell me what they needed.

I think of a setting or a story from my own life, and the characters just kind of embed themselves into it like they were always there.

I know I’m not a really great writer, but I try to be honest with the story in every way.

I disagree with that last part, but well said! Last question: what’s inspiring you? Whether it be comics, stories, life, whatever.

Well, thank you. I’m proud of the writing, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t have an inflated ego that I am doing something new or groundbreaking.

The last few years since I got married and my son was born, my real life has been the most influential. I have art and music that I enjoy, but my friends and family are the ones that really push me forward.

Cover

You can check learn more about Steve at his website, follow him on Twitter, support his Patreon campaign and read PLOX at plox-comic.com.

0 Comments on Interview: Colorist of BONE Steve Hamaker on Making His Own Webcomic PLOX as of 1/1/1900
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2. Terry Moore Talks Rachel Rising, Sales Falling and the Rewards of Self-Publishing [Interview]

By Matt O’Keefe

Terry Moore has been writing, drawing and independently publishing comics for over twenty years, consistently to critical acclaim in an ever-changing market. I spoke with him about his most recent works Rachel Rising, which just completed its first long “act” with Issue 30, and SiP Kids, which has two issues out. I also talked with Moore about the comics industry as a whole and how his place in it continues to evolve within it. Read that and more below.
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Do you consider Rachel Rising #30 the end of the series’ initial story?
More like the end of an act. I never really thought about Rachel Rising as short story arcs. It was all kind of one long story to me. The original story was Lilith’s revenge, so [Issue 31] is a nice regrouping point.
Do you have an idea of how long it will go?
It depends on so many different things, but I do love the work.
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Do you think you could go as far as Strangers in Paradise or is that always gonna be your longest work?
I doubt I’ll ever do anything that long again. I think it’s difficult to sustain a series in today’s world. It was a different climate then.
Do you know what series you want to do after Rachel Rising?
I have a couple ideas, one pretty fleshed out, but I haven’t made a final decision. I’m kind of waiting until the moment comes. In the past, when I thought I had something ready for the next series, I chickened out when the time came because it didn’t feel fresh enough. So now I keep the ideas in my head and, when the time comes, ask myself if it feels right. I like to write for the now.
sip2

Color by Steve Hamaker.

You’ve also been publishing SiP Kids recently. What was the impetus for that?
Two-fold. Robin, my wife, wanted me to do something all-ages, and I did, too. I come from an all-ages cartooning background so making comics like that comes naturally to me. I also wanted to revisit the Strangers in Paradise characters. I think they’re strong characters and they work nicely when you put them in different situations. It’s just a good ensemble cast that is very flexible. I wanted to get some SiP stuff back out there. This seemed like a fun way to do that without [doing] anything too heavy.
Are you still planning on publishing Strangers in Paradise novels?
Yes. The trick has been for me to manage to do that while continuing to keep a comic book deadline, and it’s been difficult for me to do anything over the last twenty years as I try to stick to a six-week schedule. I’ve noticed that most of the guys who are on steady monthly books are not the kind to be at conventions. [Drawing comics] is very time consuming work. It’s hard to sustain the effort needed for a novel [in addition to that], but that’s where my heart lies. I really want to get more out there.
San Diego Comic-Con 2013 Exclusive 20th Anniversary Color Strangers in Paradise #1 Cover Artwork by Terry Moore

Color by Steve Hamaker.

What’s it like working with Steve Hamaker on SiP Kids and the Strangers in Paradise Anniversary Edition
He’s wonderful. It’s easy to work with him, he understands [what I’m going for] and he brings so much to it. I love his textures and little touches. He goes every pencil so everything is right and it’s wonderful
Did you learn about him through Jeff Smith?
Yeah. Back in the 90s when [Jeff Smith and his wife] came to San Diego they went with Steve. That’s where I got to meet him and become friends. I’ve known him for a very long time.
RachelRising9.9
You mentioned the current climate for the comics industry. As sales go down prices naturally have to go up. Do you worry about having to charge $4 for a black-and-white issue that’s around 18 pages of comics?
Yes [laughs]. If I could charge $1.25 I would. I really would. But I can’t. Nobody can. The problem with the business of comics is you have grown men with families trying to make a living off them. That demands certain economic standards that everyone’s trying to struggle to keep up with. It’s not like it’s a business full of greedy old rich men trying to soak every penny. It’s just people with families trying to make a living. So it is what it is.
Sales going down changed everything. It put all the distributors but one out of business. It put most of the printers out of business. Paper has become super expensive. All of that business side of comics is unfriendly. It’s sort of an obstacle course that creators and publishers have to run before the book even gets to the comic book store. When it does it has this price tag on it and a struggling college kid looks at that price and has to make a choice. They really can’t walk out with ten books. They have to take closer to three. And the competition is just amazingly fierce right now. I honestly work much harder now to make the best comic I can than I ever did before because the competition’s so fierce. Being black and white and having a very strong price point I’ve got to make a good reason for somebody to invest their money. So I’m trying to make sure I’m making the book the best I can and that it has something fresh and interesting in there that they can’t find anywhere else. That’s really the only reason to keep buying a book, I guess, the hope that it is giving you something nothing else can. So I try to work on that level.
Have you ever considered transitioning to a bigger publisher like Image? I know Rachel Rising appeared in the back of an issue of The Walking Dead not too long ago.
I always loved the security of some father figure company taking me on and giving me some sort of lifetime security. That’s the fantasy of every writer, I think, but it doesn’t really exist. I’ve been with publishers in the past and it never quite turns out to be the security blanket that you want because you have to share the income and it comes down to a numbers game. I actually think one of the reasons I’m able to continue doing my books is because I stayed indy. I’m not sure if I’d have kept doing Strangers in Paradise and Echo and Rachel Rising if [I was with] another publisher that required minimum orders and things. So it’s a balancing game for me. How long can I hang out here on my own in this big ocean where big companies and their IPs fill cruise ships full of people? They’re big operations and I’m like this little one-man sailboat in the Atlantic [laughs]. So far I’ve survived. How much longer I can do it I don’t know, but it sure is nice to do something without having to check in with other people. You get to be flexible every single day about what needs to happen next. So that’s the good thing about being indy. And I get to do my own stuff so I’m still enjoying the rewards of being an indy book.
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Rachel Rising #31 is now on sale. Issue #32 and SiP Kids #3 are coming soon. You can find Terry Moore on his website, Twitter feed and Tumblr page.

4 Comments on Terry Moore Talks Rachel Rising, Sales Falling and the Rewards of Self-Publishing [Interview], last added: 2/18/2015
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3. The Stranger in Paradise Omnibus is back in paperback

sip omnibus slipcase The Stranger in Paradise Omnibus is back in paperback

If you’ve ever wanted to own the definitive version of Terry Moore’s Strangers in Paradise saga, it’s available once again in Omnibus form. Originally released as a hardcover, the 2400 page two-volume collection included what Moore considered the final version of the story, with censorship removed, and storytelling smoothed out. However, that edition is long out of print, as Moore explains on his website:

Five years ago 1,250 hardcover edition box sets were offered and sold out immediately. It was grossly underprinted due to low pre-orders. (Pre-orders paid for the printing and that was all we could print.)

Now, finally, we are making an affordable, softcover version. The Strangers In Paradise Softcover Omnibus box set includes the same two 1200 page books containing every page, every story ever printed relating to SiP! The price for this 2400 page collection in a boxed slipcase? $100.

I can’t make it any more affordable than that, folks. That’s 4 cents a page for a labor of love I spent 14 years making.


Moore and his wife Robyn have committed to a 5000 copy printing and they’re doing it the old fashioned way—no Kickstarter for this self-publishing warrior. They’ve paid for the entire printing and are using pre-orders to recoup.

The cost of printing the softcover Omnibus is shockingly high. But after 5 years Robyn and I have decided it will never happen if we don’t go out on a limb and take the risk. So we are printing the book at great personal risk, because we believe the fans and retailers will support us and buy the book once it is available. I’ve always believed in SiP. Now I’m putting my money where my mouth is. But I need your support.


An exclusive print will be included with every pre-order — It’s a good deal, folks!

A different print will be available with books ordered through Diamond.

Could Moore have raised more money to fund the reprint via crowdfunding?

Probably.

But this way, he just has to print and ship his books, and not worry about all the reward fulfillments that have bogged down many a post-Kickstarter creator.

3 Comments on The Stranger in Paradise Omnibus is back in paperback, last added: 3/14/2013
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