Category Archives: The Comic Stop
The Comic Stop: Guest Blogger Emily McGuiness On The Origin Of Her Book Ties
All month long at Biff Bam Pop we’ve been featuring various origin stories. Today I asked comic book creator Emily McGuiness to share her own origin story and that of her graphic novel, Ties. Take it away, Emily!
My name is Emily McGuiness and my origin story is quite a tale. I am a comic book creator and all around art maven. I am the writer, penciller and inker of my slice-of-life comic book Ties: A Chronicle of Letters and Scotch. I also have my hands in about a million other projects like gallery shows, film, illustration, etc.
Hoax Hunters, Mad Men, Swamp Thing And The Art Of The Origin Story With Guest Blogger Michael Moreci
All this month at Biff Bam Pop we’re looking at Origin stories – from films and comics and debut albums, to authors and their work. As part of this, writer Michael Moreci has written about the origin of his new series Hoax Hunters (you can read our previous interview with Michael here). For all you aspiring comic book creators out there, this is great insight into one artists’ creative process. Without further adieu, take it away Michael:
Origin stories are boring.
There, I got that off my chest (and I even mean it, in a way).
The necessity of origins stories is an unusual thing, I think, because it’s so exclusive to comics. Not to say other mediums don’t incorporate origins into their narratives (they do), they just don’t have the same level of devotion as comics do. Let’s face it: Comics are obsessed with origins. Year One, Earth One, Season One, reboots, secret origins, on and on. It never stops.
Now, before getting any further, let me preface what I’m about to say with a simple disclosure: I will never, ever be the creator who tracks down reviewers and confronts them about a bad review. Unless the critic gets something egregiously wrong or insults a member of my family, I won’t dissuade—or worse, bully—them from holding whatever opinion they have. So there. That said, I can express some frustration I had over a few reviews of Hoax Hunters #0 in a general way for the sake of this topic.
Like this:
Titanic Teams Collide In The Comic Stop: AvX:VS #1
What happens when there’s just too much action for one series to contain? If you’re talking about Avengers Vs X-Men, the huge miniseries that Marvel Comics has been building up to for nearly a year, you create a separate series of rock ‘em, sock ‘em action called AvX: VS.
Biff Bam Pop’s The Comic Stop Exclusive Interview: Peter Bagge On His New Dark Horse Series Reset
What if you could do it all over again? Talk to that girl or guy in high school that you always got tongue-tied around. What would you say? Would it be any different this time, or would you make it even worse than before? That’s what beloved Harvey Award winning writer and artist Peter Bagge asks with his new Dark Horse Comics series Reset, in which down on his luck comedian Guy Krause is offered the chance to reset pivotal moments in his life via virtual reality. Peter was kind enough to answer some questions via email about Reset, his inspiration, creative process and much more.
Andy Burns: Congrats on the first issue of Reset – as someone who often wishes they could go back and change some pivotal moments in my life, I really enjoyed the story. On that note, what was the genesis of Reset?
Peter Bagge: Like I assume everyone else that ever lived, it started with me wondering “what if” and “if only.” I then tried to imagine it actually happening, but had to ground it in reality somehow to make it work as a story for me. The whole “relive your life VIRTUALLY” thing was the only way I can see that happening. From that starting point I had an easier time imagining the bugs and pitfalls of such a thing than I did any potential fun or benefits. I’m a hopeless cynic.
Biff Bam Pop’s The Comic Stop Exclusive Interview: Michael Moreci Kickstarts His Book Reincar(Nate)
This past Thursday JP Fallavollita and I had the chance to talk to the creative team on Image Comics’ Hoax Hunters – you can check that out right here. Along with Hoax Hunters, writer Michael Moreci is also working with artist Keith Burns on their title, Reincar(Nate), but rather than going with a traditional publisher, the duo are looking to get their physical book into people’s hands utilizing Kickstarter. Michael Moreci answered some questions via email about Reincar(Nate), Kickstarter and why it can be a good tool for creators.
Andy Burns: You recently started a Kickstarter campaign for your book Reincar(Nate) – first off, for readers who might be unfamiliar with Kickstarter, could you explain what it is?
Michael Moreci: I think Kickstarter is a lot of different things to different people. My approach to it with Reincar(Nate) is a pre-order system, one that is not totally unlike the current system that supplies 99.9% of all comics to shops. Kickstarter is more direct, though, and comic shop stock isn’t predicated on a certain goal being met (usually), so there are differences.
Basically, Kickstarter is a great DIY method to get passion projects off the ground. You start a page and explain what your project is about, what funding you’re looking for, where the money will go, etc. It’s pretty cut and dry. And based on that, people have different levels at which they can contribute, and those levels offer various rewards. For Reincar(Nate) we have a lot of cool stuff–original artwork, a behind-the-scenes digital packet, even an opportunity to be illustrated in the book.
Reincar(Nate) is a project I’ve been working on with artist Keith Burns for quite some time. We have a deal to release the book digitally with Viper Comics, but we’re old school; holding the book in our hands means a lot to us, and we think it does to others as well. So we’re raising money to help make that happen.
