Arisia 2019 Schedule and Balticon!

Spent some of this weekend getting my act together for Arisia 2019. It comes up fast once you flip the calendar! Two weeks away, now. January 18-21st - now at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, as the original location had a labor strike going on. Not cool.

Arisia is "New England's Largest, Most Diverse Sci-Fi & Fantasy Convention" - (Arisia.org) and this year, proud to say, I'm on four panels, throughout the weekend. Here are the day, time, name and descriptions provided by the convention:

Friday at 7pm in CABOT it's FADE IN: Speculating in Other Media - Stories and novels get most of the attention in workshops and panels like these. What are some other outlets for writing? What should an aspiring speculative screen writer know about the art? How hard is it to become a comic book writer anyway?

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Saturday at 4pm in FRANKLIN – Writing for Comics - Writing for a comic book is very different from writing poetry, novels, or short stories. Our panelists discuss their tactics for writing comics and also offer up their advice on "making it" in the industry.

Saturday at 5:30pm in NEWBURY - Indie Comic Revolution - Image is no longer a small, specialty publisher. Kid-focused companies like BOOM! and Action Lab are making lucrative deals with big-name cartoons. Creators are finally getting credit for their creative energies. Independent webcomics are some of the highest grossing Kickstarters. This panel explores the rise of modern “indie” comics, the move away from superhero comics, and how creator-owned content is the future of the industry.

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Sunday at 10am in WINTHROP – Make It Yourself - "If you don't like it, make it yourself" is the blow-off line delivered to fans who complain about the low quality, poor handling of characters, or lack of diversity in comics. But how exactly do you start "making it" yourself? This panel will explore the steps it takes for you to start making your own comics--from scripting, to drawing, to publishing. Our panelists can help you with tips, tricks, and advice on making comics for yourself. By the way? I'm Moderating this one! First time I'm moderating at Arisia, we'll see how it goes.

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So that's my Arisia 2019 Schedule.

Same day I got my confirmed schedule, I received my email inviting me to Balticon 53 (Balticon.org)! So yes, I'm planning to return to Baltimore's inner harbor once again this coming Memorial Day Weekend - Back to Balticon!

Black and Blue From the New 52

This is not a complaining, bitching and moaning blog post. Got no problem with the New 52. I approve of the idea, the sort of risk-taking relaunch DC approached but failed to follow through on before – they almost did it a few times. Kudos to them for finally following through. It’s working. Sales are up. Digital sales are finally beginning to uptick. The timing on that couldn't be better with the excitement for new tablets and the market exploding right in front of us. Those new toys are going to need content. Could be time for a new comics renaissance. The future looks bright.

But right now? OW! OUCH! CUT IT OUT!

I’m getting black and blued by the New 52!

Call it "sucking all the air out of the room" or "dominating the market" or whatever you’d like, DC’s New 52 initiative has grabbed hold of the comic world’s collective consciousness and ferociously refuses to let go. Even now, Google "New 52" and you’ll discover article after article, blog post after blog post on "The New 52 – Two Months In!" and the like. The coverage is intense and exhaustive, from the highest trafficked websites down to the smallest comic book bloggers.

Hell, s’pose this is even more coverage... hurm.

This is all great for DC. As a fan of their iconic characters, gifted artists and talented writers, I’m happy for them. But their market saturation and domination makes the life of an independent comic creator an awful tough slog right now – it’s not easy for the little guy to fight against Supes, Batman and the rest of the Justice League!

My new book The Adventures of Alibi Jones #1 came out last month from small indie publisher Earthbound Comics. It’s a pretty sharp 40 page black and white comic with fantastic art and pretty good writing and lettering, if I do say so myself. It’s gotten a couple of great reviews. Just a couple, though. Because Alibi Jones is no match for Superman – it’s been almost impossible to garner coverage and reviews for my little indie book in the wake of the New 52.

Comic book blogs and websites aren’t doing anything wrong. They’re covering and writing about what the comic book buying public are spending their hard-earned cash on. I get Gary Scott Beatty’s Indie Comics Magazine’s emails. Today’s triggered this post, as I read, "DC had 51% of the comics unit share in October. That was a whopping 21 points over Marvel. My diamond brand manager said indie books are still struggling, some canceled, going up against books like Action Comics #1, #2 and #3."

I knew it wasn’t just me. Hard for all us little guys to go up against the Superheroes at full strength. Bad time to try getting an indie book noticed. 

So this post is a bit of a plea. If you’re a web site reviewer, reporter, writer or blogger, please consider reviewing or covering an indy book or two this week. If you’re a comic book reader, please consider buying an indie comic book this week. You can find them at sites like IndyPlanet.com and DriveThruComics.com, to name just a couple.

Of course I’d love you to check out my new book The Adventures of Alibi Jones #1... more at http://AlibiJones.com. If you review or cover comics and want a pdf of the book, please email me at mike (dot) luoma (at) gmail (dot) com.

It’s hard out here for an indie comic trying to promote. Show your favorite indie creators a little love if you can this week. The future is looking bright, but right now we’re all a little black and blue from the New 52.

New Anthology on the Way From Earthbound Comics!

I've been working hard on the new anthology from Earthbound Comics this weekend - pushing it over the finish line! It's now off to Ka-Blam for print copies and up on Drive Thru Comics for digital downloads. Official release date is September 1st! I'm proud of this book, even though I've only got a four page short story in it's 36 pages. I've been working on the production and helping pull together the book - it's really the first Earthbound book that I've been full time production manager on, as The Longhunters #1 was a previously released work. I helped to give it it's new look, and get the book out... but the new anthology is a bit more my baby. Well, it's a book with a bunch of fathers and a couple of mothers - all the creators involved have a lot to be proud of.

Here's a look at the cover, and the book info follows:

Earthbound Comics Presents #1 - The new anthology from Earthbound Comics! Travel to dangerous, distant parts of the universe... and run into nearer threats just down the road a ways. Meet Villains – naturally - and some heroes, too. There's horror, and comedy - get a taste of what's to come from the new era of Earthbound Comics!

"The Core" - Story by Max Fauser and Ethan Slayton - Art by Ethan Slayton - Letters by Nikki Foxrobot

"Shots Fired: Shake And Bake" - Story by Buck Weiss - Art by Ruth Garcia - Letters by Nikki Foxrobot

"Alibi Jones In Over His Head" - Story and Letters by Mike Luoma - Art by Juan Carlos Quattordio

"Villains: Preview" - Story by Ethan Slayton - Art by Ben Ferrari - Letters by Nikki Foxrobot

Cover Art by Federico Guillen

For Earthbound Comics - Ben Ferrari: Publisher and Editor in Chief - Mike Luoma: Production Manager - Buck Weiss: Web and Promotions

Earthbound Comics Presents #1 Published by Earthbound Comics. 1826 Silverwood Drive, Concord CA 94519. Earthbound Comics copyright Ben Ferrari 2011. All stories and related characters, logos and trademarks herein are copyright by their respective creative teams 2011.  

Teaching myself to letter using InkScape

Decided recently that I needed to learn how to letter my own comics.
I've hand-lettered my stuff, but never used a program to do it.

I tried to add text using the image manipulation programs I've been using, Photfiltre and GIMP, but neither really had the functionality needed to do a satisfactory job - not in any kind of timely fashion.

Juan Carlos Quattordio, the artist on my Panthea Obscura, is working on the lettering for our new comic, Everybody Lies. He's not an experienced letterer, but is doing his best. I am very critical, though, and I know he's just barely putting up with my critiques!

As I sent off my latest list of critiques, I realized I had to do it - had to learn lettering. I know how it SHOULD look, and JC's been cool about my feedback... but I didn't have a graphics program that would let me get it looking the way I knew it needed to look.

In the intervening years since I last tried lettering, new graphic freeware had been released. I discovered INKSCAPE! There are several tutorials out there on how to use it. I'm impressed, so far. It's like a free version of Illustrator, they tell me.

Spent today learning the basics I'll need for lettering. I lettered these two pages today. Took me a while! Think the time will be reduced as I learn what I'm doing! Check out the pages, let me know what you think. I'd love to get critiques from working letterers. I've got a long way to go, but it's a start: