The Four Color Media Monitor

Castanet has an article about an artist and specialty store manager from Kamloops (British Columbia, CA) who published a comic that's meant to be a fantasy in the style of Bronze Age, but the downside is that he's also relying on pamphlet format:

Writing, drawing, inking and colouring are all part of the process for a local Kamloops artist who has now released the second issue of his self-published comic book series.

Nick Klie, manager High Octane Comics, says when he published his first issue of Life The Necropolis last year he thought he would have to do everything in his power to sell the hundreds of copies he printed over a year’s time.

“I sold out within under two months,” Klie said.

“It just went over really well here at the store. It went well online. I was just starting, I didn't think it was going to do that and to be honest, I didn't print enough — I should have printed more.”

Klie said he has now followed up his success with a second issue, titled Life The Necropolis: The Red Wizard.

The series follows a travelling space mercenary named Life. Klie said the first issue isn't required reading for the second, with each issue serving as a self-contained story with different characters, places and conflicts.

“It's kind of like an Indiana Jones movie — it’s his next adventure,” he said.

“Completely different characters, except for the main character. Life is still there.”

Klie said the series art is drawn in a retro 1970s fantasy style, and he hopes his new issue will show how he’s grown as an artist and writer over the previous year.

Look, it's great if he's made significant sales, but even so, why must he stick with the pamphlet format and not publish it all in paperback/hardcover? And if he only printed hundreds of copies as opposed to thousands and millions, doesn't that say something? It's worth considering that if Klie would arrange with publishing houses to print the stories as a whole book with several chapters, it could possibly find more audience and sales.

I do think he's got a good idea how to develop storylines, with stand-alone approach and even the artwork style he's employing doubtless has value, but I just can't understand why almost every creator today still insists on relying on the outdated format of pamphlets, when here, many have a golden opportunity to set a better example by going for paperback/hardcover, which betters the chances of selling in commercial bookstores, and finding more audience than this GN series may already have. Klie's premise is welcome and admirable, but it's regrettable the pamphlet format remains firmly stuck upon by modern creators.

Labels: indie publishers, msm propaganda, sales