Dallas Comic Show

This past weekend, I was a featured guest at the Dallas Comic Show. This is a fun show, most of the featured guests are comic creators with a handful of media guests and cosplay guest. The big focus of the show is the comics. 

This was my first show as a featured guest. I have exhibited before at cons but this was the first time with my name on the marquee. It was a great time.

A few days ago I posted about my concerns bringing a preview book that only had a portion of the first issue of Sword of Freyja and those pages didn’t have the final colors. Looking back in hindsight, it was the correct decision.

The show gave out a copy to their 150 VIP attendees and because I am completely OCD on things, I noted each interaction with the fans. 

54 people brought their copy to be signed by Matthew Waite (artist), Elizabeth Breitweiser (cover color) and I. We got a lot of great feedback, most of it positive. Even the negative was constructive so I will consider that positive in the long run.

Signing books

One thing I did learn at the show was, I need to work on is my quick pitch for the book. We had several folks who didn't get a VIP copy come up and ask me what the book was about. For the first few, I found myself stammering around trying to explain the plot for the first story arc. 

After doing that three or four times, I finally got it down to a more concise pitch. "The Sword of Freyja is the story of Jenifer Nguyen, who has just recently gotten out of the Army and started her first civilian job. It should have been easy money, going on an archeological dig for the tomb of the Goddess, Freyja but once they find the tomb, things go horribly wrong. Talk about your bad first day on the job."

This provided enough information to start a conversation without overloading the person with a lot of details that they may not have cared about.

So to summarized, Dallas Comic Show was a great time, the gamble of doing the preview book paid off because we got a lot of great feedback and it gave me an opportunity to practice my book pitch.

So now it's back to finishing the book. We still have to find a interior colorist and finish the last 10 pages of issue number 1. I will try to give you some sneak previews along the way.

See you in the funny books,

Allen

Elizabeth Breitweiser and I in front of the my banner

Matthew Wait and I pitching the book!

Three for the Show

Yesterday, I told you a bit about our new book, The Sword of Freyja. Even though issue #1 isn’t complete, I decided to take advantage of an opportunity. Since artist Matthew Waite, cover color artist Elizabeth Breitweiser and I will be at Mark Walter’s Dallas Comic Show on August 6^th & 7^th.  I offered to make a special preview book for all the VIPs ticket holders.

The preview book has the first 6 pages of Sword of Freyja #1 plus another Vanbreed Studios story featuring the work of Ron Marz, Darryl Banks, Terry Austin, Ross Hughes and Troy Peteri. So it will be a pretty cool little keepsake that is exclusive to the show.

This is a bit of a gamble for a couple of reasons. The biggest challenge is; we don’t have an interior colorist yet for the book so we had to do gray scale backgrounds. So while the art is there, it doesn’t come to life the way the work of a good color artist does.

The next challenge, we didn’t have enough time before having to go to print to have Rachel Deering do the lettering, so I picked up that task. I can do an ok job but no one will confuse my work with a pro like Rachel (check out her great work on Amelia Cole sometime).

As I said, this is a gamble. You are always concerned when you don’t put your most polished work out there but the opportunity to get the preview in the hands of a couple hundred people while a big part of the creative team is there was too great to pass up.

I will let you know how it goes. If you are a VIP at Dallas Comic Show and get the book, let me know what you think.

As a little bonus, here is the cover by Matthew and Elizabeth plus a really short print cover I will have the show for sale.

See you in the funny books,

Allen

Here We Go!

So a new blog, huh? Yeah, I want to share my journey as I attempt to write my own comic series. Full disclosure, comics aren’t my day job, I am a Microsoft programmer/architect to pay the bills. Creating comics is more a hobby (as Jim Zub says a very expensive hobby).

Also sharing a little more truth, this isn’t my first comic either, I have written short stories in 8 Percent and Vanbreed Studios Presents (both on Comixology at https://www.comixology.com/Vanbreed-Studios/comics-publisher/2426-0). 

This will be the first time I have tried to do an on-going series. Luckily, I am not going it alone. Matthew Waite (Deadpool, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers) is doing the line art and Ron Marz (Green Lantern, WitchBlade and a ton more titles) is doing the editing. We also have the talented Rachel Deering doing the lettering.

So, I have pretty much buried the lead, the book is called Sword of Freyja, which ironically enough is about a sword and a Norse Goddess named Freyja. It’s not a Sword and Sorcery book, per se. More of a “what happens when a crazed ego-maniac gets one of the most powerful artifacts in all of history and ruins your life with it” kind of story.

This won’t be a hype page, though if you get hyped about the book I won’t complain. This is more about what I learn about creating a comic and how I work with my team. I will share some script notes and art work along the way to demonstrate some of these points.

So stay tuned.

Allen