From Caliber to Transfuzion

It’s hard to believe, to me anyway, that Transfuzion will hitting its 5^th anniversary soon.  The timing is a little off because the official announcement was in August 2007, the first books didn’t actually ship until February, 2008, and Transfuzion existed prior to it becoming an actual publishing company.  But it was July 2007 that the entity of Transfuzion Publishing was enacted although three was no clear delineation of a “breaking ground” exact date, which I’ll explain in a little bit.

What is even more surprising, and I had to double check myself, that Transfuzion is about to release its 50^th graphic novel.  And I’d like to point out that ALL of the graphic novels released by Transfuzion are creator owned.  That’s 50 creator owned graphic novels from a publisher that many comic fans have never heard of.  I’m not upset, depressed, or even that concerned with our relative obscurity in the comics market…it's just the reality of how it is.

There were five books announced with the official launch, three came in February of 2008 and two followed in March.  In looking at my production notes, the first actual book produced by Transfuzion was Saint Germaine: Tales of an Immortal.  It seems only fitting that the 50^th book is Saint Germaine: The Magus and Other Stories.  Saint Germaine was, and is, my favorite series that I’ve written.  It was originally released by Caliber with the first storyline collected by Image Comics prior to Transfuzion starting.

Having 50 graphic novels released in that time frame averages out to about a graphic novel a month.  When I look back at Caliber and the 11 or so years that company operated, we released some 1,400 comics and about 80 graphic novels so that was an average of 11-12 per month.  Of course, most of the time I had a staff although the first few years it was usually me and one, maybe two people.  However, like with Transfuzion, they were primarily creator owned so the books just needed production work, not creation.

So between Caliber and Transfuzion, I’ve published somewhere around 1,400 creator owned comics and books and somewhere around 500 different titles.  I’m not bothering to do an exact count.  But the funny thing is- I’ve never considered myself a publisher in the traditional sense.  I’m a creator, having written some 300 comics and books that were creator owned (by me).  Obviously, being the publisher on many of them makes it a bit easier to get myself published but I’ve gotten over any self doubt of being accepted only because I inhabited the same body as the publisher.  Having work released from Penguin, Simon and Shuster, Image, IDW, and others took care of that----not that I was really worried about it as my first comic written was nominated for a Harvey Award. (Of course, I do realize that it was Guy Davis' art that captivated everyone...but such is the way of most writers in comics).

I consider myself a writer/creator and the publishing role as more of a facilitator.  I helped creators who HAD their projects and worked with them to get it printed, distributed, promoted, etc.  Yes, those are the roles of a publisher but dealing with creator owned titles, meant that I did very little in editorial direction.  I’ve always felt that as a fellow creator…and as “publisher” of creator owned comics, I either accepted the work…or not.  Sure, I’d give input if asked or if something was obviously wrong but creators do that with fellow creators all the time.  Frankly, I’m a horrible editor.  I tend to view things as how I would do it or how “they” would do it and finding that middle ground…that editorial ground…is tough.  Of course, I’m not talking about obvious things like grammar, punctuation, and sure fire holes in the plot but general overall narrative and story structure.

After Caliber closed and I stepped away from comics for awhile, I was brought back in by Byron Preiss as well as Joe Pruett.  Image started collecting some of my titles (Saint Germaine, Renfield, Red Diaries, and Dead-Killer) and I starting writing a new Deadworld series for them.  Not sure how it happened but started talking to my friend, Rafael Nieves, and we decided to start up a writer’s studio called Transfuzion Studios.  We would create scripts and bring in artists to draw them.  We soon asked Steve Jones and Randy Zimmerman to join us to give us more diversity and to deal with all the initial responses we got.   However, that was too vague and we couldn’t expect artists to draw issues without some idea of where it would end up.  This was before digital really started taking off and webcomics were still trying to find revenue models, and well before Kickstarter and IndieGoGo.

Eventually, Raf and I decided to just collect our stuff and put it under the Transfuzion imprint. We had little expectations beyond making it available in print and since we had to scan in the physical copies for the eventual digital, packaging those scans into collections was an obvious next step.  But then we started getting a lot of other creators asking about if Transfuzion could bring their material back into print as well.  And being a publisher, and it seems too many, any publisher, we were flooded us with submissions.  So, in addition to the collections, we would do some new material.  But doing complete graphic novels with no guarantee of sales or revenue seemed too much so we decided to concentrate on anthologies.  Artists would only have to do 8-12 pages rather than 80.

This is where the difference between me and Rafael came into play.  I found the process of bringing writers and artists together to and act as an editor to be too time consuming.  As I said, I’m a lousy editor.  When I get a script, I can look at it and even without agreeing with what the writer is doing, I have a hard time interjecting my thoughts towards it.  It may not be my way, but it’s the writer’s way and I tend to leave it at that.  I have trouble finding that helpful medium of inputting suggestions, discussing how to handle specific scenes, etc.  

Raf, on the other hand, is completely hands on.  He loves dissecting scripts with the creative teams and working with new artists especially.  He is more than an editor, he is a nurturer and freely plants himself with both writer and artist to bring together a true collaborative effort.

So, I handled the collections and Raf was to handle the anthologies.  It became quickly apparent that this was the time anthologies were being looked down on.  No one really wanted them and many of the titles distributed by Diamond fell on hard times and even long running titles like Dark Horse Presents and Negative Burn were not getting the acceptance they had previously. (Ironically, one of the great successes of Kickstarter is the rebirth of the anthology).  It just didn’t seem worth the effort so Raf turned to creating new longer works,  He did The Apocalypse Plan and then the comic series, Bob Howard, with artist and co-creator, Dan Dougherty.  But Raf hasn’t given up on the anthologies and is launching a few of them with Kaleidoscope, The Horribles and others.

Transfuzion continued with primarily collecting out of print comics but we have ventured into original graphic novels.  Call of Cthulhu, Chillers, Savage, the Assemblers, and more are all new material in print.

The model for Transfuzion works for us because being mostly collections; it doesn’t involve new material from artists. Diamond has carried about half the line as they decide which ones they’ll support and that’s their prerogative.  But with direct sales and online sites like Amazon, every book we’ve done is either profitable or within a few dollars of being so.  The entire line, along with much of the Caliber titles that I own or control, are being prepped for all the digital platforms with some already available.  The big launch of Caliber Digital (which the Transfuzion titles fall under) will be announced soon.

Some of the books sell well, very well.  One title broke into Diamond’s Top 50 graphic novels for the month and we’ve had some in their Top 300 list.  Some titles are consistent sellers online and have far surpassed what we did or could hope to sell in the comics market.  A title that I’m particularly proud to be associated with, Vietnam Journal, has had eight graphic novels released thus far and each continue to get consistent sales.

The early part of 2012 saw a slowing down of the releases mainly because I over-extended myself with my own projects and school (I teach college biology courses and the last couple of semesters, took on too heavy of a load).  But the second half of this year will see quite an expansion of releases as we have so many books nearly ready to go. We already released one color book and another is coming soon, this one a step away from the creator owned as it is a licensed---one that originally came out from Caliber

The second fifty will come much quicker than the first 50 books did.

Read more »

Deadworld Rising.

Lots of things going on with Deadworld and reflecting back, it’s been a busy year or so for the comic series.  IDW had released two volumes of Deadworld Classic which reprinted the original series and includes up to issue 16.  They also released the Deadworld Omnibus which collected Requiem for the World, Frozen Over, and Slaughterhouse.  And most recently, they published Deadworld: The Last Siesta which was an original graphic novel set in the Deadworld.

The big news is the new series, War of the Dead.  I’m looking forward to seeing this in print as it will be the first time that Deadworld is in full color.  The art is by Sami Makkonen who also drew the Slaughterhouse graphic novel and he really took advantage of being able to work in color.  IDW decided to make it the event  book of August as the entire five issue series will all come out in August, one issue a week.

I have to admit that I’m a bit worried about that.  That’s asking people (both fans and retailers) to commit to all five issues before they see how the first issue turns out.  But I guess I can look at as being almost like an original graphic novel, just spaced out over a month.  The key aspect will be for fans who want the series to make sure they let their retailer know.  That’s why I put together a “reserve” sheet so that fans can download it and turn it into their store, ensuring that they get the series.  This is found on the Deadworld website, along with the promotional video, the preview, and the facebook banners that anyone can use to promote the series.  http://www.garyreed.net/Deadworld/WarDeadsellsheet.htm

Following the comic series’ release will be the trading card set coming from Breygent and that looks really cool.  They are also producing a new t-shirt with art from Vince Locke.  Following that, later this fall, is a new Deadworld anthology which will feature a lot of artists doing different scenes and characters from Deadworld which I’ll explain more about when the time comes.

Deadworld has become the book that I’m most associated with.  I’m not sure how I feel about that.  Yes, I appreciate that a creator owned title has had such a long history and seemingly has a dedicated fan base…one that I hope to grow.  At the same time, I don’t want to be pegged as a zombie writer (not that there’s anything wrong with that…).  But I’ve pretty much only done creator owned comics my entire writing career and I identify more closely with titles such as Saint Germaine, Raven Chronicles, and Renfield.  Deadworld was a title I took over and for the most part, never felt like it was “mine”.

Maybe that’s why I’ve taken Deadworld into a different direction than most zombie comics.  Sure, there are the interactions amongst humans dealing with this new world but there’s been a lot of that over the last 60-70 issues of Deadworld.  I’ve shifted the emphasis more towards the remaining humans trying to defeat the menace, any way they can.   That means doing whatever is necessary even if it’s going to impact some of the survivors.  The greater good for the human species, so to speak.  I’ve also delved more into the aspirations of the intelligent zombies.

I feel more affinity towards Deadworld after I rebooted it with the Image series a few years ago.  That became the Requiem for the World storyline.  I then allowed writer Mike Raicht to play with it in the Frozen Over storyline while I worked on the Slaughterhouse series which was eventually released as a graphic novel.  It was with Slaughterhouse that I felt it becoming more of “my” Deadworld and of course, this continues in War of the Dead.  Now, even though some of these characters have been around before I was involved, are mine.  I understand them more and in my writing mind as I move them around, I know exactly how they would react in situations, what their motivations and goals are, and how they will all play out.

As with any new release, a creator obviously wants it to succeed.  I really want War of the Dead to do well, not just for the sales but to be successful enough to continue as I have a number of story ideas that I want to explore and good sales will allow me to do that.  Deadworld is now at a stage that I really enjoy writing it and I’m excited about the possibilities that have opened up.  It seems that each aspect I bring in lends itself to more exploring, more developments. .  It seems that way with most writers…we’re selfish.  We want people to buy our stuff, not just for the sales but as a confirmation and an allowance to permit us to continue.

Whether I can do that as a comic series in the traditional sense, I don’t know.  But they will be told.  The ending of this story arc leads directly to the next one yet I think ends in a complete and satisfactory way.  I may have to pick it up with the Deadworld novel which is nearly complete and War of the Dead dovetails into it perfectly.

Regardless, Deadworld is now, more than ever, alive.

Read more »

Doing Creator Owned Comics

It’s convention season and that means panels…and lots of panels.  One of the topics that frequently is covered in these panels are creator owned comics.  Last year, there seemed to be a wave of attention drawn to creator owned comics and while the area still gets some play, it seems to have abated quite a bit.  I think the reason is that many comic fans just don’t care.

With the excitement of the recent Marvel movies, especially Avengers, the equation of comics equals superheroes has become even more entrenched.  A lot of fans do support something like The Walking Dead and can justify their “support “of creator owned comics while at the same time, maintaining their true interest in the superhero titles.  

When I had Caliber, it started off and-basically remained- as completely creator owned titles and even though I was the publisher, I’ll go ahead and count my contributions as creator owned although I had an easier path to get the publisher to print it than anyone else.  Many of the titles I created at Caliber have moved on to other publishers (and still creator owned): Renfield, Saint Germaine, and Red Diaries went to Image; Baker Street went to ibooks/Simon & Shuster; and of course, most went to Transfuzion which really doesn’t count since I am also the publisher of that company.  However, the title that has moved around the most is Deadworld.  Started at Arrow, then successively to Caliber, Image, Desperado, Transfuzion, and now IDW.  That book gets around.

Deadworld is also a bit different because it is a creator owned book but I didn’t create it.  It was conceived by Ralph Griffith and Stu Kerr when they launched Arrow Comics.  By issue 8, the company had folded and they turned over all the rights to the artist, Vince Locke.  Vince brought it to Caliber and after a few issues, turned it over to me.  It is more detailed than that, but that’s the end result.

So, I didn’t create the original Deadworld but I still count it as a creator owned book and myself as a co-creator.  Sure, I wasn’t there on the original launch but I got involved early on and of the 80+ issues, I “directed” at least 75% of the issues and wrote nearly the same.  What it started off at and where it is now are vastly different so the Deadworld you see today, or the last 6-7 years for that matter, are completely me. If someone wants to argue that, fine.

With few exceptions, I’ve only worked on my own titles and many were mini-series or one shot graphic novels.  But Saint Germaine had about 15 issues and Raven Chronicles has 17 although I only wrote 8 of those and brought other people under my direction to write the other issues.  I even created a few properties and gave them to writers to flesh out and script and on most of those, the writers share in the ownership.  With Raven Chronicles, I even created a sort of shared universe and many of my other titles exist in the same world as Raven Chronicles (Saint Germaine, Helsing, Red Diaries, etc) although there isn’t necessarily a direct cross over.

That’s one of the inherent problem in discussing creator owned titles…there’s a lot of different types of creator owned comics.  In a blog last year, I went into more detail and instead of revisiting that, here’s the link to that http://reedgary.blogspot.com/2011/07/creator-owned-comics-are-not-all-same.html.

Although it doesn’t seem obvious that creator owned comics are the future, in a way they are.  If comics every want to get out of this little niche basket we’re in…and have been in…it will have to be from the creator visioned comics.  Really, who wants to read yet another origin or marriage or death of the superheroes?  I am constantly stunned at why they maintain any kind of popularity at all (and I do realize the numbers are down significantly from their peak in the 90’s).  Could you imagine if any few years, Harry Potter was released with completely new storylines and revamped continuity and only the character names remained?  Only in comics. Wait… I stand corrected…also in films but then again, it’s almost only in films based on superheroes.

There are a lot of great titles coming from the creator owned side of things yet fans don’t seem to flock to them.  Is it because most are finite?  Is it the new-network TV – syndrome that fans don’t want to get emotionally invested because they don’t know how long it will be around?  Or is it just that comic book fans just really only get satisfaction from superheroes?    I don’t know the reason but being mired in superheroes does seem to limit what the market is…and will be.

What’s the answer?  I don’t think there is one.  I understand the limitations of the market and many of the titles that I do with Transfuzion aren’t even offered to Diamond.  Dealing with my rep, we discuss the various titles and I think we both have a good idea of what will do well enough to actually solicit.  There have been a couple of titles that Diamond offered that just didn’t do as well as either of us hoped but Diamond honored the orders and issued the purchase order, so I can’t complain about that.

But there is a market out there for many of these titles.  I don’t do a lot of conventions but sometimes I’ll sell out of a book that Diamond didn’t carry.  On some of the graphic novels from Transfuzion, we sell enough through Amazon and other sources over the course of a year, that they would have made Diamonds Top 300 list easily but they’re ignored in the comics market.  They may not get the initial sales hit from a Diamond purchase order but I only have to sell about 25% as much to make the same profit.  And I’ve always been one to concentrate on profits rather than sales.  Of course, there are some titles that just don’t sell very well at all, but every single book will make some money, regardless of how small that revenue is.  Of course, who knows what will happen in the digital market and Transfuzion, along with 100’s of comics in the Caliber library, will roll out to all the digital platforms this summer.  Will be interesting to see.

One key point that sometimes gets lost about creator comics is that just because it is creator owned doesn’t mean it automatically should have fans….especially those fans who have a passion for superheroes.  For the most part, superheroes are what those fans want and they don’t care about anything else…and of course, that’s their right.  I see a lot of misplaced anger towards comic fans because they don’t support certain books but I don’t understand that logic.  Sure, you can complain about retailers not ordering…or Diamond not carrying…but in both of those cases, the market has shifted to those avenues being nothing more than order takers.  Ultimately, it comes down to consumers driving the interest and sales.  

There was a recent discussion about how retailers were the actual customers and when I had Caliber, that was always our internal motto.  But I don’t think that is necessarily true anymore. Sure, some retailers stock for the shelf, but on a lot of the creator owned titles, especially the independents, retailers have to rely on their own customer interest and demand.  There’s just no way a store can order everything like it was in the old days when I had my stores.  In those days, I carried quantity on just about every title available but that strategy wouldn’t work today.  Even though I have nearly 20 years of comic retailing experience, the market today is far different than even a decade ago.  I would have to approach it completely different now than I did back then.

I do see some hope, though, and oddly enough, it’s because of the success of the film and tV exposure of comics, which again, is mostly superheroes.  It keeps the public’s awareness of comics up and although it may not lead to a lot of cross over to creator owned titles, we’ve moved past the “comics?  They still make those?” stage.  

Now, the trick is to get those “non-comic” readers to look at titles that may appeal to their general interest (crime, horror, etc) at “these” (creator owned) instead of “those” (superheroes). 

Read more »