The Comics Experience Blog

Brian Donnelly Goes Back to the Once and Future

Brian Donnelly‘s Mythographer’s Workshop began life as a spark in the Creators Workshop. It’s since grown into an indie publishing house dedicated to charity and equality, inspired by Brian’s own life.

His current project, Once and Future: Finest Hour remixes Arthurian legend and sees the mythic king reincarnated as a girl during World War II. It has all the romance, drama, and epic acts of derring-do as the classic and familiar tales of yore, transplanted into a brand new setting. And like all good kings, Brian doesn’t ride alone. He is joined by Jean Pedroso on art, Ed Dukeshire on lettering and assembly, and Livia Prima on cover art.

For the next couple of weeks, you can sponsor this project on Indiegogo! Brian shares more about the project, as well as his history as a comics creator and publisher.

Comics Experience: Can you tell us more about the founding of the Mythographer’s Workshop?

Brian Donnelly: Sure. I first attended one of Comics Experience’s first script writing classes back in 2012. In 2013, when my wife was a few weeks pregnant with our first child, I learned I had a brain tumor, epilepsy, and autoimmune encephalitis, an extremely rare condition where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks healthy brain cells. I underwent brain surgery when my wife was five months pregnant with our first daughter and seven months of immuno-infusion therapy. It was during my recovery that I decided to pursue a passion I had since the 1980s. I formed a comic book publishing company, Mythographer’s Workshop, to create professional creative works.

CE: What led you to want to make comics as a child?

BD: I bought comics like most kids in the early ‘80s from 7-11s and news agencies and then the direct market really came of age in the late 1980s. I hung around a local comic shop and actually got hired by the manager to help stock the shelves, bag the back issues, work the register, etc. I got store credit as part (most!) of my salary, so I used it to buy comics. Again, this was just as Todd McFarlane was coming of age at Marvel, comics as a result of the direct market was becoming an investing ground (bad and good things from that), the Michael Keaton/Tim Burton Batman movie was launching, and comic books as a whole were having this amazing renaissance. I just got swept up in it.

CE: How has the Mythographer’s Workshop changed since its founding?

BD: Haha – well it was a bit of learning from doing. Much like other small publishers, I have tried every avenue to turn a buck and the direct market through Diamond is very formidable. Further, relying on things like comiXology and streaming to make a buck won’t work. Turning a profit in this industry is EXTREMELY difficult. You read about big publishers going out and don’t forget even Marvel was in bankruptcy at one point. So don’t kick yourself. But I think the avenue for small folks is to look to crowdsourcing like Indigogo and Kickstarter (I have been successful on both) as really viable sources to get your work out there.

Also, nothing beats the hard work of building up your audience through cons. Work on building up a base of different books that are attractive to different audiences rather than one sweeping space opera (unless money is not an issue and you just want to get your space opera out of your head). Look for new talent you can pay an affordable rate, but spend a lot on your cover (even if you are the artist) for a professional artist.

Personally, for us, Mythographer’s Workshop has moved to a “comics that wanted to be in Diamond and on the shelves turning a huge profit” to a publishing company with a purpose. All of our work will have a substantial portion of proceeds donated to charity and have a commitment to diversity – drawing on talent from a large pool of humanity. Once and Future was written and produced by a white guy, drawn by a Latin American guy, lettered by an Asian-American guy, and the cover was done by an Indonesian woman.

CE: What can you tell us about Once and Future? What excites you the most about it?

BD: Well, I was able to capture the Arthurian legend against the backdrop of WWII in 120 pages. But I think the thing I am most proud of is adding to the Arthurian cycle (in my own small way). There is a very specific reason Arthur returns as a young girl. Once and Future is not just a throwaway title, and Arthur returning as a girl is not just a gimmicky catch. There is very real meaning to both. If you pick up the book and read the forward and the whole thing, it becomes clear what I am contributing to the Arthurian cycle. The message I am sending is very important and I am proud of it. My hope is it will become part of the Arthurian cycle for future generations. Pick up a copy here.

CE: What did you learn from Comics Experience and the Creators Workshop that helped you grow Mythographer’s Workshop?

BD: Wow. I would not have been able to do any of my graphic novels without Comics Experience. I had no idea how to write a script! I can’t believe it’s been about 7 years since my first course. Learning to lay out scripts, what could and could not happen, rising and falling action, character development. Andy Schmidt was awesome. I also learned that I had talent. That there are a lot of folks who are kind of interested in comics writing, and take up a course, but fail to make the connection between the ease of reading a comic and how hard it is to write a comic (let alone producing one).

It takes a lot of work, and mistakes, and learning from mistakes. You have to take risks and make yourself open to criticism. And having opened yourself up and received criticism you are able to provide criticism – constructively and properly – to help other folks that are out their trying. One way you do that is you can weed out the trolls that have never done either and just forget about them. I went from never writing a comic to winning a national award with Stan Lee and William Shatner and I could not have done it without my course at Comics Experience.

There’s less than two weeks to support Once and Future on Indiegogo! To donate to the campaign, click here.

Want a Free Copy of Gamal Hennessy’s Book? Here’s How!

Gamal Hennessy is known around the Creators Workshop and Comics Experience as a Renaissance man of many talents. A lawyer, a comic book professional, and a marketer, he dishes out valuable advice on everything from contracts to post-production. Aspiring and established talent alike seek him out, and you can, too!

All subscribers to his newsletter, The Professional Comics Creator, receive a free 30-page excerpt from his book, The Fundamentals of Independent Comic Book Marketing! This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about… well… you read the title, right?

Gamal talked to us about his passion project.

Comics Experience: Why the decision to give Fundamentals of Independent Comic Book Marketing away for free for your subscribers?

Gamal Hennessy: Marketing is one of the biggest obstacles facing the comics industry today. Comic creators need to know who is interested in their story, where to find those people, and how to connect with them. This will give them a chance to reach the best audience for their book and avoid wasting time and money. Fundamentals gives creators a foundation for that process. It introduces ideas that they can use in their long term marketing online and in the real world.

CE: What elements of Fundamentals are you most proud of? Why should subscribers get excited to read it?

GH: Fundamentals offers a concrete framework subscribers can use for their specific book. Among other things, I explain:

  • how to define your ideal reader
  • how to measure your competition
  • how to expand the number of potential readers for your book
  • how to make a connection with your readers that can grow over time

The best part about Fundamentals is I’ve tries to distill a system that can potentially create the same type of long-term loyal fans for Comics Experience creators that the Big Two have built in their 80 year histories.

CE: What else can subscribers look forward to in your newsletters?

GH: The Professional Comics Creator Newsletter is part of a wider effort to help comic creators understand the industry as a whole.

Fundamentals explains the basics of marketing, but that’s just one facet of publishing comics. I’m also planning a seminar later this month that covers the entire framework of independent comics publishing, including marketing. The seminar itself is based on my upcoming book The Business of Independent Comic Book Publishing, which takes a deep dive into comic book every aspect of the business.

But because new developments happen every month in the comics market, the Newsletter keeps readers current on all the major shifts. All these efforts together will help creators on all levels have more success publishing comics.

CE: How did you work with Comics Experience help inspire Fundamentals?

GH: I think both Fundamentals and The Business Independent Comic Book Publishing took some inspiration from the members of the community and the comprehensive nature of the courses.

Several Comics Experience members have been clients of my firm. I’ve always been impressed with their drive to overcome the challenges of creating comics by learning as much as they can. My work is an attempt to give them information to make their comic publishing better.

At the same time, Andy has made sure the Comics Experience courses give members a solid foundation on the creative aspects of comics. My work is designed to be a complement to those efforts. My ultimate goal is to give comic creators the business tools they need to make the most of their creative efforts.

Convinced? We would be if we weren’t already. Sign up for Gamal’s newsletter The Professional Comics Creator and receive your FREEEEE(!!!!) 30-page excerpt from Fundamentals of Independent Comic Book Marketing here!

Join Andy Schmidt This Weekend in Baltimore!

Baltimore Comic Con runs October 18 through 20, and Comics Experience founder Andy Schmidt will be covering 4 panels (at least one each day!) throughout the show! If you’re planning on attending, pop on in to see Andy do what Andy does best; dish excellent professional advice on working in the comic book industry, tempered with humor and some good stories (see schedule below)! He’ll be at Source Point Press Booth #2301 when he’s not out and about sharing his knowledge on these panels.

Andy’s panel schedule is as follows:

Breaking Into Comics

Date: Friday, October 18

Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET

Room: 345-346

Description: Andy Schmidt, former Marvel and IDW editor, comics writer, and founder of Comics Experience (the world’s largest online comic book school) and guests de-mystify the ins and outs of the comics industry, breaking down what it takes to get published or publish yourself. Whether you want to write or draw comics, this panel is an invaluable resource for those on their way in and up! Panelists: Greg Pak, Vito Delsante

Writing Perfect Panel Descriptions for Comics

Date: Saturday, October 19

Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET

Room: 345-346

Description: One of the hardest things to teach is how to write clearly and effectively in order for someone else to draw from your work. Join former Marvel and IDW Editor Andy Schmidt as he covers one of the hardest aspects of writing for comics. Andy is an Eagle Award-winning author of both The Insider’s Guide to Creating Comics and Graphic Novels and The Comics Experience Guide to Writing Comics with over 15 years of industry experience ranging from indie and self-publishing to big-dog publishing like Marvel Comics. Panelists: Justin Jordan, Frank Gogol

The Evolution of Source Point Press

Date: Saturday, October 19

Time: 2:45 PM – 3:45 PM ET

Room: TBD

Description: Being a small publisher in comics is not an easy task. However, Source Point Press seems to have the right stuff. Join us for a panel full of so many creatives it will make your head spin. Come listen to the tales of the Source Point Press creatives! Panelists: Andy Schmidt, Travis McIntireBob SalleyShawn DaleyKasey PierceFrank GogolGarrett GunnChristy Blanch, and more!

The Fundamentals of Visual Storytelling for Comic Artists

Date: Sunday, October 20

Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET

Room: 345-346

Description: Join Andy Schmidt, former Marvel Comics and IDW Editor and Founder of the world’s largest online comic book school, Comics Experience, for an impactful dive into the world of visual storytelling – getting behind what looks cool and into what drives your visual story and how to bring it to life on the comic book page! This is an invaluable resource for any comic artist, whether you’re new or an old pro! Panelists: Cully Hamner, Jamal Igle

See you in Baltimore, friends!

Bruce Kim Offers a Taste of Wild Strawberries at the World’s End!

Halloween horror with Source Point Press and Comics Experience continues with the October 30 release of Wild Strawberries at the World’s End! Written by Bruce Kim and with art by Katia Vecchio, the suspenseful story takes place in a rural South Korean town during the mid-’90s. There’s murder. There’s cults. There’s mystery. There’s the supernatural. It’s a perfect autumnal read when you want to enjoy a hot drink and a tingle up the spine.

But why don’t we let Bruce tell you more about it in his own words?

Comics Experience: How did you come up with and develop Wild Strawberries at the World’s End?

Bruce Kim: I grew up in Korea until I moved to New York for college. I visited my hometown in Korea again when I turned 30. What really struck me was how familiar and foreign at the same time it felt. The streets and blocks that I have vivid memories of were populated with unfamiliar faces and new stores. In Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries (an obvious inspiration for the title) the main character Isak, an old professor, visits his childhood home and sees his past memories coming alive in front of his eyes. That’s how I felt during my trip.

I wanted to write a story that captured and process what I felt at that time: the sense of longing and anxiety you feel as you enter adulthood. I wanted to write a story that was specifically Korean. In Wild Strawberries at the World’s End, the main character (Te-Su) comes back to his hometown for a friend’s funeral. While investigating his friend’s death, Te-Su confronts his regrets, nostalgia, and anxiety. The book explores these themes with the prism of a Lovecraftian mystery. I think the regrets you have as you get older can feel Lovecraftian.

Many of the plot points were taken from my personal experience. Korea was in a transitional period in the ’90s. We still had shanty houses all over the cities right next to new high-rise apartments. I grew up with friends who lived in makeshift houses, and those shanty towns all disappeared at some point. Now there are nice parks and malls on those spots. I’ve always wondered where all the people who lived in those towns went. And this became the inspiration for one of the central mysteries of the book.

CE: What is your process like with Kate?

BK: Before we started working on the project, we had research sessions. The book is set in rural Korea and capturing that local texture was crucial. Katia is an Italian artist, so bridging the cultural gap was important. South Korean new wave thrillers were key influences for the book, so I recommended 4~5 Korean movies to Katia. The most important one was Bong Joon Ho’s Memories of Murder (a serial killer film set in 80’s rural Korea) which we directly reference in one of the panels. In addition, I’ve created a detailed visual reference guide. In addition to being an extremely talented and versatile artist, Katia was interested in Korean culture and captured the texture of ’90s rural Korea perfectly.

My script (you can find it in the Comics Experience database) is much more detailed in its visual directions than standard comic book scripts. I often had specific ideas about panel layout, scene composition, and color palette. I knew how good Katia was as a visual storyteller, and I wanted to lean on that strength as much as possible. In comics, every text on a page needs to justify its existence. Either the text conveys information you absolutely cannot convey with visuals only or the prose has to be very memorable. (There are times when you need text to control the time a reader spends on a page, but this wasn’t an important consideration for our book) I was specific in my visual ideas to provide a jumping-off point to Katia. I wanted my script to start a discussion rather than stifle Katia’s creativity. I continued to cut down on texts as I got the sketches from Katia. I’ve also used Ales Kot and Morgan Jeske’s Change to size how many texts can fit for a given panel size – I almost used that book as a ruler. Change is a good book to use as a reference as it experiments with various panel layouts.

Grant Morrison once said that every issue of comic book needs one sequence that the reader has never seen before. And it’s something that I always think about. I think every book needs a formally inventive sequence that punctuates the story. For us, the key sequence is the wordless 12-panel grid + page-turn reveal sequence. In the sequence, lightening intermittently illuminating a pitch-black room reveals a stranger slowly approaching. Building suspense with a grid structure layout is not easy, and we went through multiple iterations to get it right. Katia’s subtle command of timing and facial expressions made this sequence possible. It is still the section that I’m most proud of.

CE: How did your involvement with the Creators Workshop and Comics Experience shape Wild Strawberries at the World’s End?

BK: I’ve posted my scripts in the creator’s workshop forum, and the feedback I got was critical in shaping the story. The members who’ve helped me out will notice that the key plot twist is different in the final book. I want to be a little cautious here not to spoil the story, but the feedback from the members made me realize that the initial twist was overcomplicating the story and undercut the theme of the story. It was very unwieldy on hindsight.

More importantly, many of the feedback had very thoughtful reflection on what the theme of the story was. At times, this made me realize subtexts that I didn’t realize I had. And it also crystalized what ideas weren’t working. This opportunity to self-reflect helped me streamline what ideas I wanted to explore more.

I think many members will notice that the second half of the book is quite different from the initial script. I’ve reread my 1st draft recently, and I was cringing the whole time. I believe that every Comics Experience member who gave feedbacks on the script are editors and collaborative partners of Wild Strawberries at the Word’s End.

Remember to pick up your copy of Wild Strawberries at the World’s End on October 30!

Tim Bach Unearths The Family Graves for a Trade Paperback!

Just in time for Halloween, Comics Experience course alumnus and Creator’s Workshop member Timothy Bach‘s The Family Graves hits shelves as a Source Point Press trade paperback on October 23! Inspired by science-fiction films and the Universal monster movies that Timothy loved as a child, the story follows the adventures of a crime fighting family of monsters. Basically, if The Munsters joined up as Avengers. Also on this wacky ride? Brian Atkins on pencils and inks, colorists Dijjo Lima, Brandon Daniels, and Ander Zarate, and Marco Della Verde on letters.

“After creating a number of short comics and one-shots, getting better each time, I felt ready to tackle a mini-series that was also a team book. I had a few ideas, but I knew I needed a little more structure, so I took one of the advanced writing classes with Andy. Eventually, I honed things down to a superhero team of monsters, and that quickly became a family of monsters—who also happened to be a team of heroes,” Timothy says.

“But behind all the scary monsters, this is a story about family. It’s sort of equal parts horror, heroics, and heart. Having worked with Brian Atkins on Gargoyle by Moonlight, I knew he was the perfect artist to bring humanity to these all-too-human monsters. So I pitched him the idea, and we decided to take it forward and pitch it to Comics Experience as part of the publishing initiative.”

The Family Graves began as a four issue miniseries, but Timothy says there’s more to come for his venerable beasties in 2020. And yes, you heard that from us. After all, Comics Experience helped provide him with the foundation he needed to launch his career.

“I probably wouldn’t be making comics if it wasn’t for Comics Experience. I was already writing my own stuff and working in a creative field, but I didn’t know how to get my work out there. I didn’t have a plan. I lacked follow-through, and, really, I was just fumbling around going nowhere,” says Timothy.

“Comics Experience gave me not only an education in making and marketing comics but also a community of motivated people focused on making comics. Taught by working pros, the courses are excellent. I can’t stress enough how valuable it is to learn from seasoned pros who are so generous with their time and advice… More specifically, I wouldn’t have met Brian or Marco if I hadn’t been a part of Comics Experience. I’ve also met a lot of other great people who teach me and challenge me. And I try to give back by sharing what I know or making an introduction to someone I’ve met.”

Pssst…

…If you want a preview of The Family Graves trade paperback, you can head over to Moonrise Comics or follow Timothy and Brian on Twitter as they tease their way toward publication.

You can pick up your copy of The Family Graves trade paperback from Source Point Press and Comics Experience at your favorite local comic book store and online October 23!

Experience the Gutter Magic with Four New Covers!

Comics Experience alumnus and Workshop member Rich Douek‘s indie success Gutter Magic is back in print as of last week (September 25, if you want to be all exacting about it) thanks to Source Point Press! The four-issue fantasy series – whose team includes Brett Barkley on art, Jules Rivera on colors, and Nic J. Shaw on letters – now features four new covers by Fei Chen to celebrate the re-release.

“One of the reasons we wanted to rerelease the original issues is so that new fans can get into the series from the beginning, and not be confused by feeling we’re starting in the middle of something. But, we also wanted to give existing fans something new to get excited about, so we started to look for artists who could bring something new and awesome to the table,” Rich says.

“We found that in spades with Fei Chen, who created a slate of new covers highlighting the main characters in some of our favorite scenes from the book. She’s got a style that’s different from anything we’ve done before, but undeniably feels like Gutter Magic, and we’re really excited to get them out there.”

Gutter Magic started off as a 5-page short in the Introduction to Comic Book Writing course, and grew into a full series – first as single issues, then a trade paperback from IDW. A spinoff series, Tales from the Gutter, met its Kickstarter goal and expanded the alternate history steampunk universe further.

Rich says, “During the publishing process, Andy was an invaluable resource as an editor and advisor. It’s safe to say that Gutter Magic wouldn’t be what it is without Comics Experience, and I’ll always be grateful to it for helping to get my comics writing career off the ground.”

Make sure to keep your eyes out for the Tales from the Gutter, coming soon from Source Point Press! This will be the anthology’s first time in print.

If you’ll be at New York Comic-Con this weekend, make sure to catch Rich at Andy Schmidt’s Writing Comics Like the Pros panel, and pick up the new Gutter Magic at the Source Point Press booth, #2243.