Comments on: Rock Stars and Comic Books

By: ck

ck — Tue, 04 May 2010 01:22:43 +0000

well the way that you are doing it is the good way and the proper way to bind a book. Its the new philosophy of books in the digital age…the book as desirable object. Cheaply produced junk is a dime a dozen. People are willing to spend money on books if they will last for a long time.

FYI, fee free to ask me when you’re close to that, but signatures require your pages to be in multiples of 4′s. Depending on how many you have it changes things. Thats something you should talk to the printer about. Its an easy fix, just add a sketchbook section to fill it out. =)

By: Jason Brubaker

Jason Brubaker — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:37:32 +0000

Yeah it sounds like what I’ve been getting quotes on. It’s almost like a library bound book. They fold nice and flat and don’t break the bindings when you try to look into the gutter because the binding is sewn together instead of just glued.

When I was at the Ape con in 2007, I noticed that all the nicely bound books were actually selling while the cheap thin comics were harder to move. So instead of starting with a cheap version, I want to start with a nice hardcover version. If I can get the Xeric grant then most of my printing costs will be covered too. Fingers crossed.

By: ck

ck — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:29:35 +0000

jason,

are you talking about binding the book into signatures like you might find on a higher quality omnibus or deluxe $60+ trade (a bit like a staple bound magazine) so that it lays flat?

The standard graphic novel/trade binding is a stab/smythe sew which binds single sheets together close to the edge. It totally devours the gutter and i hate it, but its much cheaper.

if your’e going signatures, its much nicer, much more permanent and another selling point =)

By: Rand

Rand — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:00:48 +0000

Sorry about my thumb. I suck at taking pictures. =P

By: Jason Brubaker

Jason Brubaker — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:37:46 +0000

Thanks my friend.

By: Jason Brubaker

Jason Brubaker — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:37:32 +0000

Great point again ck. I’ve heard the same thing with film and directing. So much stuff is spoon fed to viewers and it’s a relief when the audience is able to think for themselves. I’m glad you think it’s working in this case too.

By: Jason Brubaker

Jason Brubaker — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:35:58 +0000

I design it with print in mind only. I never considered putting them on the web until 6 months ago and I’ve been working on it for 4 years now.

As far as the information in the gutter is concerned, I am purposely leaving the gutter somewhat full of art but it’s the parts that are not as important to me. I’ve seem some books that use the gutter as part of the layout and I’m tying to do the same with this. It’s been something I’ve been very aware of from the start though.

I’m also going to print it hard bound so that the pages can be folded completely open. Perfect bound comics are hard to see in the gutter but I don’t plan on printing it with perfect binding. If all goes according to plan, it should be a unique book in this matter. I hope anyway.

By: Arioch

Arioch — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:47:42 +0000

Do you design your two-page spreads mainly with web in mind or mainly with print in mind? Many of your spreads have seemingly important details down the center that look like they would get clobbered by the gutter in a printed version (this page is not one of them).

By: ck

ck — Mon, 03 May 2010 17:34:14 +0000

nice spread. i think you should trust more of your gut on those kinds of things. A legendary magazine/book designer once told me “people aren’t stupid, you don’t have to spell everything out for them” (or something to that effect) sometimes when you don’t show it, it has more power. yup. I think with comics, readers are already visually sophisticated. They can figure stuff out on their own.

thats rad about rock stars. ha.

By: Jason Brubaker

Jason Brubaker — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:09:26 +0000

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Rand! My IT guru. He is the reason reMIND blog is sooo nice looking!