Monday, September 28, 2015

So, you wanna publish a comic book, eh?

            It’s sort of a surreal moment, seeing your name on a title page.  I’ve never quite gotten over it.  But then one day, Casey sent it over for approval.  And there it was.  And this all became very real.
What I'm getting at is that ACT I Book is DONE…and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of this team.  Casey, Evan, Joel and Manny gave this book so much love and life that it’s unfathomable to me that this book is something I’m a part of, let alone finished.  We put out a page last week, and your guy’s support and love was overwhelming.  It’s amazing to see that with any kind of art, but if that’s how you feel about a page…I can’t wait to show you the entire book.  And that brings us to the point of today’s “Hello, Dear Hunter Fans…” post…the really tough part…getting it out to you.

That was pretty leading, wasn’t it?  Let me explain:

            It seems pretty simple.  We print the book, you get it.  But the thing that’s important to remember about what we’re trying to do with the Act books, is give you way more than you expected.  When Casey handed me the reigns for this, we both agreed what we did not want to do was make a ‘when you hear this…turn the page’ kind of book.  These books need to live and breathe on their own. 
Comics are for everyone.  Even ones about pimps, priests, hookers, forests and beaches.  You guys are the key demo for this book, you’re our litmus test, because if you guys are into it, then it’s a good Dear Hunter book.  But the book needs to live elsewhere besides at the merch table. 
It shouldn’t just be supplementary material for the first record.  Our hope is you guys read it and say, ‘I love this part…but this is new!  That’s so cool!’ because there’s stuff we added that’s pretty between the lines, and then there's some stuff we added to flesh out the story.  There’s a new character you guys will see, entire sequences not covered in the record…and that’s what we wanted to give you guys, was something fresh that accompanies the source, celebrates it…and then enriches it.
But you guys know the story.  It’s the rest of the masses we want to see this and take a look at what we’re doing.  Because if we’re not growing our fan base, then what are we doing?  It’s just like sharing a Dear Hunter record with a friend:  You want them to share in this experience with you.  Because what Casey has done is really kind of magical.  So, in terms of publishing, we’re at a crossroads:  Do we go it alone and put it out ourselves?  Or do we find a publisher to get it to everyone else?
It’s not a matter of what’s right to do, it’s a matter of what’s right for us.  It’s not just a matter of doing the profitable thing, because anyone who gets into comics can tell you…we don’t do it for the money.  We want everyone to see this work we’ve done, and we want to see how everyone reacts to it, you guys and newcomers to the story.
The bottom line is you guys have been super patient…and we’re going to get this book to you soon.  We just need to figure out what’s right for us in terms of getting it to you.  In the meantime though, here’s something cool to look at with words:

Page 3...this should be familiar to some of you...



Talk to you guys soon, hopefully at a convention or something sometime.  You never know…