Well, as of this week I am all out of guest comics for reMIND and so this webcomic/blog will officially be just a blog until I can start posting new pages of reMIND volume 2. I was hoping to be further along than I am now with the new pages but I never thought it would take me almost a month to send out books to everyone who ordered. I thought it would take a couple weekends. HA! Boy was I wrong.
Anyway, I assure you that I’m still working on Volume 2 as hard as I can and I’m going to keep working on it until it’s finished. I know it’s a big risk to follow a new artist these days because most of the time you never get to finish reading their story because it was abandoned. All I can say is I’d be a complete idiot to abandon reMIND at this point after all the great success that has happened with it. I only wish I could work on it more than I am allowed to at the moment and I am working my tail off to make that possible. Speaking of this, did you hear about Daniel Lieskie, the mastermind behind The Wormworld Saga? He just quit his day job to work full time on his online graphic novel! I love hearing stuff like that because it only helps me push harder towards that goal myself knowing that it’s possible. Definitely check out Daniels graphic novel if you haven’t and throw some support his way.
Because I don’t have any new guest art comics and I keep telling you that I’ve been working on Volume 2 but never showing anything, I decided to preview a little sample. It’s not much but here you go.
My goal is to finish Chapter 4 and 5 before I start posting Volume 2 online. I hope you can bare with me. I did have someone complain the other week that I need to start posting pages again but the last thing I want to do is rush through Volume 2 instead of making it as good as I can and here’s a good reason why.
Remember over a year ago when I blogged about my original dream of getting an agent so I could contact Random House or Scholastic to see if they would publish one of my books? Well, an editor from Scholastic emailed me a week ago saying they loved reMIND and wanted to see what else I was working on. Yeah, you heard that right. Scholastic, emailed me out of the blue even though I don’t have an agent (who I was told you needed in order to even talk to a publisher like Scholastic) and we have been having a nice conversation about my future story ideas. I’m not saying that anything has happened but I AM saying that it’s the coolest thing ever to be contacted by one of the top children’s book publishers because they read reMIND online and liked it! After thinking about our conversation for about a week I decided to finish up and send a few of my next story treatments to see what they say. After all, it’s not every day that you can pitch a story idea directly to an editor at a company like Scholastic. In some ways I feel this goes against everything I’ve been blogging about for the last 2 years but… well, no it doesn’t. One of my very first posts talked about this.
Okay, obviously you can tell I’m still trying to figure this all out. It’s just cool news I guess.
So one more thing! I’m going to be at the San Diego Comic Con this year in Small Press O-07. Just think of James Bond 007 to help you remember my table number. Easy right? Here’s one more thing I wanted to throw out to give you enough time to think about it. I’ll be giving discounts to anyone who comes to my booth with a reMIND shirt, hoodie, I’ve seen the Lizard Man shirt, home made reMIND shirt, or full on costume! I always thought it would be cool to see a fully functional Victuals walking the convention floor someday and to encourage this to happen sooner than later I’ll be giving away a cash prize for your efforts at the Comic-Con. You might think I’m crazy for giving you money or discounts but in reality, you are advertising reMIND when you ware a shirt or make a full on costume. People start asking questions and start taking pictures if it’s good enough and it’s about as good of exposure as I could ask for. So here are the rewards I’ll offer if you come to my booth with any of the following.
Make sure to print this reMIND reWARDS page out and bring it with you or it doesn’t count! No cheating either! (whatever that means) I’ll be the final judge if you get a reward or not so don’t try to pull a fast one on me. I have helpers who have Ninja skills too.
Oh man, if I was in the country!! I’m curious to see how many people show up in a full Victuals costume… how many $100s can you spare? hehehe (you don’t actually need to answer that.
Yeah, I started worrying about that after I put this online. I’m betting that nobody will actually make a full Victuals costume with super suit but I’d gladly pay if someone does. If there are more than one then I’ll start sweating though. haha
“Cheating” would probably mean wearing your friends’s custom\shirt after they already got money for wearing it. I guess. Kinda hard to prove on the shirts, though… I hope you won’t regret this hahaha it’s a really cool idea!
I could do something like sign the shirt with a sharpie or something. I figure that real fans wouldn’t want to cheat me out of money. Well, hopefully.
Can’t make it to Comic Con unfortunately. Will send pictures and plush though once I finish making Victuals.
Scholastic contacted you? Bravo! You’re moving on up!
And Daniel Lieske is quitting his job to work on his own stuff full time? Wow…I wish I had the guts to do that. I’m too scared to even think about it until I at least have a concrete business plan.
$100!!! You are brave my friend! I can’t wait to see what happens!!!
I think the contact you had recently by the Scholastic agent really supports all the advice you have been saying……namely, that for creators to get noticed, they need to post their work all along the way for the world to see for free and not just wait until their project is finished.
It is clear to me now that to get noticed you need to let it all hang out there and not worry about pirating and making the money at first.
That is amazing news! I hope that all goes well with Scholastic. Hopefully we’ll see the Scholastic logo on one of your future endeavors. And take your time with Vol. 2 – you’ve come this far, we know that you’re gearing up for a terrific ending to Victuals’ story. Have fun at Comic Con and take pics of all who wear Sonja and Victuals’ costumes – that would be AWESOME.
Congrats on the Scholastic contact! and thanks for book 0666 :-D
You know, if I flat iron my hair and get a pair of cargo pants, I could pull off Sonja. Hmm….
Jason,
Only a few days away until I meet up with the master in real life! :)
I’ve just finished my amazing adventure in Vancouver and the Canadian Rockies, I’m at my relatives place using the internet to do some much needed catching up on updates!
Holy cow, you got an e-mail and possibly an offer from Scholastic? That’s insane dude. I’m reading a scholastic novel entitled ‘Geronimo Stilton’ at the moment, I wouldn’t be surprised to see something with your creation and name on it a ‘Scholatic-published’ book one day!
Anyways I’m really excited about all of this since Comic-Con will be my first ever experience too. I’ve traveled half way across the continent to meet someone special like you, nothing will get in my way! XD
Ha ha! Awesome idea Jason, I’d love to see someone ear a full blown costume of Victuals! Should I spot the dude/dudette who does it before anyone I’m going to take a snap with him/her! XD I’ll see if I can find a printer store nearby San Diego downtown to print off a T-shirt with the artwork I did, it’s the least I can do to help advertise on my two day visit to Comic Con 2011! :D
Anyways take care till then and see you real soon buddy, your blogs continue to be an inspiration! *thumbs up*