Blog-It Llama!

By Superherologist - September 1, 2010

Earlier this year, DC Comics ended the monthly competititions for webcomic creators to win contracts with their Zuda Comics line. Soon after that, DC pulled the plug on Zuda altogether. Some Zuda creators got to continue their comics in a new DC format, but the most recent winners generally got left out in the cold. Right after Zuda’s collapse, we re-visited Adam Atherton whose comic Lily of the Valley will carry on at DC, and now we visit with Michael Jasper and Niki Smith, last November’s winners whose comic IN MAPS & LEGENDS launches today at http://inmapsandlegendscomic.com/.

Llama: Zuda – what went wrong?

Mike: The iPad happened. Seriously, though — the way people are buying and reading comics is changing so fast, it’s hard to keep up. The same goes for text novels, but the ebook revolution is in the early stages there. Comics are ahead of the curve, and I’d say the way comics look on an handheld tablet computer has a lot to do with the growing popularity of electronic, downloadable comics. I think webcomics may have had their run, and people are finding better, more comfortable ways to read comics, instead of being forced to sit at a computer and a keyboard. Also, on a business level, Zuda simply wasn’t a moneymaker for DC, so when new upper management took over, they were looking for someplace to cut. Zuda paid handsomely for their monthly contests, and I loved following them and voting in them as well as competing in the November contest, but it didn’t pull in any revenue. In hindsight, they were smart to make the leap to digital comics as opposed to webcomics. I won’t even talk about the shortcomings of the Flash reader (which I actually liked, for the most part, except for the fact that you couldn’t read it on an iPhone or iPad).

Niki: I wouldn’t go so far as to say webcomics have had their run– I think it was mostly how Zuda presented itself. The Flash viewer was clunky and slow-loading (unless you tweaked the preferences yourself, which you should never have to make a casual browser do). The *vast* majority of webcomics readers I know follow series with RSS feeds– Zuda series had none. People forget you if they have no way to keep updated. There was also no way to go straight to the most recent page, or link someone to one you really liked. But most of these things have been discussed over the few years Zuda ran its web competition– in the end, I would say yeah, it was that Zuda wasn’t a moneymaker.

Llama: How much advance notice did you get before DC publicly pulled Zuda’s plug?

Mike: About two or three hours. I’d rather not think about that day, to be honest with you…

Niki: We all got told that morning. It was out within a few hours, but you could see reactions on twitter.

Llama: Did the end of Zuda catch you off guard or had there been warning signs?

Mike: I got relatively pessimistic when Zuda ended the monthy contests. I was hoping for the best, and I was still surprised by how fast it all went down. In hindsight, though, I think it all turned out for the best, and it’s wonderful having complete control over our comic, with the added bonuses of being a contest winner and part of something created for DC Comics — Zuda gave us a great launching pad and access to a lot of readers. Now the ball’s in our court.

Niki: I’d been hoping they’d transfer everything to the apps, since they’d mentioned plans for a few. Sadly it didn’t turn out that way. So we’re forging ahead and doing it ourselves.

Llama: Here you are now, ready to relaunch your winning comic. Why did you feel compelled to move ahead with it?

Mike: Stubbornness, mostly. I want to tell this story, and I want to keep working with Niki to see what amazing pieces of art she’ll create for the next page of the next issue. We’d invested a lot of time and energy on the comic, and to not continue it would’ve been foolish. I do feel like we’re working without a net, however, as we don’t have the backing of a big corporate published like DC Comics, but at the same time, it’s a huge rush to leap into the unknown and learn new formats and work with new distributors, all of whom have been quite incredible to us. You can check out the results of our labors from the past 2 months (http://inmapsandlegendscomic.com).

Niki: The first issue (20 pages) was already finished, even though it hadn’t been shown on the Zuda site. We contacted a few distributors and when the reaction was unanimously positive, we knew we had to go for it.

Llama: Zuda’s creators had to make their art and storylines fit the viewer shape, the weekly pace, and the annual contracts, so you should now have greater freedom to tell your story however you please. Have you already found yourself crafting the comic differently?

Mike: I already had the first 60 pages scripted out, with an overarching outline for the first 9 or 10 “issues” for Zuda, and I’d set up the comic as 20-page chapters, so for me the transition has been pretty painless. We’re keeping the horizontal format, and having 20 pages to tell a story is so much better than the glacial one-page-a-week pace that Zuda had. The biggest change for me has been timing — where all of my work was essentially done until next spring, when we’d be up for renewal for season 2 at Zuda, now I’m working on the script for issues four and five, and should have the whole 10-issue initial story arc scripted in the next month or two. In a way, it’s great not having to worry about getting renewed with Zuda and having to do all that campaigning there. We just have to do our own promo and keep the story firing on all cylinders. Piece of cake, right?

Niki: I’ve certainly had to pick up speed. We’re hoping to release a 20+ page issue every 6 weeks, which is three or four times the amount of work I’d been doing before. It’s a lot to juggle as the sole artist/colorer/letterer, so I’m trying to figure out if I can streamline things even more. Wish me luck, please!

Llama: Back during the November competition, you mentioned that you hadn’t met in person. Have you by now?

Mike: Nope — though we have chatted on the phone a couple times. Does that count?

Niki: Nope! Maybe someday at a convention.

Llama: You met through twitter, right?

Mike: Yep — Niki sent out a shout-out tweet a little over a year ago, saying that she was itching to draw a comic if someone pitched her a cool idea for a script. So I threw about half a dozen ideas her way, and she latched onto the IN MAPS & LEGENDS pitch (I was hoping she’d like that one best!). At the time, Niki and I shared the same literary agent, but like so many other things in this evolving publishing climate, we’re both working without agents right now, having let that agent go at separate points in the past year.

Niki: Twitter is great– the networking and opportunities that are available are limitless. We’d chatted a few times, sharing the same agent, and when he pitched me a cool idea I latched on. I’m @niki_smith and he’s @michaeljasper if anyone wants to say hey!

Llama: Social media outlets like Facebook and twitter create opportunities for immediate feedback from your fans. Have your online friends and fans surprised you during the comic’s forced hiatus?

Mike: I think the best thing that’s happened that surprised and pleased me to no end was getting our first few bits of fan art for the comic. The first came during the November contest, from artist and designer Kevin Czapiewski, which was a great shot of Kait in her map room. The second came from fellow Zuda creator Martin Morazzo, which was an amazing image of the mysterious Bartamus (and friend) — Martin did the art for the SF adventure comic ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDE, with writing by Robert Burke Richardson, and that’s a comic I’m really, really hoping to see again as well, as they had just started their run at Zuda when the plug got pulled. Both images are at our Facebook Fan Art album.

Niki: The fanart was great! I completely agree. It meant a lot to still get comments asking about IN MAPS & LEGENDS’ future plans in the months when we still weren’t sure if it had a future at all.

Llama: Now that IN MAPS & LEGENDS is back, is there some part of the story you’re particularly eager for readers to see?

Mike: Well, I can safely say that I’ve looked over Issue 1 so many times now it’s hard for me to even SEE it, so just getting to Issue 2 is going to be great for me as well as readers. The first issue sets a lot of different things in motion, and in Issue 2 we get to see some of the crazy results of that. We’ve got flashbacks, robots, floods, airships, volcanoes erupting… and more maps. Can’t wait to share it all with the world!

Niki: Hah, I’m kind of torn there! The big flashy scenes, the fires and floods — first I’ve got to make sure I’m up to drawing them!

Llama: What’s the next thing we’ll see in the comic?

Mike: Issue 1 launches in early September, with some digital formats lagging behind (mostly the iPhone and iPad versions, thanks to Apple’s lengthy review process). With issue 1, we finally get to complete the story we started way back in November, and share the previously unseen pages that wrap up that issue with a bang. Then, in mid-October we’ll have issue 2 for sale, with a new issue every 6 weeks or so after that. For those of you who remember the crazy image on page 8, where we get to see a hint of Bartamus’ world — hold onto your hats. There’s more where that came from!

Llama: What methods are you using to deliver your comic? Microsoft threw a rooftop party during Comic-Con where Kevin Mann impressed the heck out of us with graphic.ly, and they told us they were extremely interested in the displaced Zuda winners.

Mike: Actually, graphic.ly was the first company we talked to, and our comic will be available through them very soon on a range of platforms — web, iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, Mac and PC. They’ve been incredible supportive and open to all of our ideas, and they’re also packaging a lot of “extras” into each issue, sort of like the goodies you get when you buy a DVD — the special features. We’re still hammering out the details, but you can expect to get some audio extras, a map, and some fun stuff you can do with the art (like “erasing” the colors to see just the inked art, for example) — all for the same price as other downloads. We’ll also be up soon on Robot Comics with a version for the Android phone, and Comixology on the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad and their Web reader. We’re currently live on the Kindle. For people who don’t have gadgets or who prefer to read on a computer, we have full-color versions for sale at DriveThruComics, Wowio, and Scribd. We wanted to make the comic available in as many places as possible, to make it easier on people who’ve already gotten used to a particular distributor.

Niki: What he said — we’re hoping to be available on any device readers feel most comfortable with. If you think we’ve missed something, PLEASE let us know and we’ll see what we can do! We’re trying to make ourselves available as widely as possible, all for $.99 an issue.

Llama: What lessons have you learned from all this?

Mike: In a way, I feel like I’m launching a new small business. It’s both exhausting and invigorating at the same time. I’ve learned a lot about reading contracts, about how various digital distributors work, and about how to best sell our comics. I’ve gotten pretty good at writing press releases. But most of all, I’ve learned that the comics industry is full of people who love good stories and great art, people who work long days and weekends to make comics available to everyone. It’s been a rollercoaster ride, and I’m grateful for the chance to learn so much and stretch as a writer and amateur entrepreneur. I’ve also learned that to be a comics creator, you do a whole lot more than just write a script or pencil and ink a panel. That is just the beginning.

Niki: It’s certainly a full time job– I don’t know how comic artists who self-publish through traditional routes manage, with even more to think about. And even when things end up splitting into different directions, those in the comics community always have each others’ backs.

http://michaeljasper.net
http://niki-smith.com
http://inmapsandlegendscomic.com

Categories: Interviews, Zuda
Tags: Adam Atherton, airships, champions, champs, competition, contest, DC, DC comics, digital comic, digital comics, Flash, floods, In Maps & Legends, Interviews, iPad, iPhone, Lily of the Valley, maps, Michael Jasper, mystery, Niki Smith, online comic, online comics, robots, RSS, volcanoes, webcomic, webcomics, winners, Zuda, Zuda Comics