Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

How do I get your attention?

We’ve talked about all the hard work it takes to create a comic book. The plotting and thumbnailing and writing and sketching and scripting and inking and all the rest.

Phew. That was exhausting. Now what? You’ve got a stack of art. You’ve got the story ready for reading. You’re putting it all together. But if you don’t tell people about it, no one will know about it.

But when you work up the nerve to start blasting people on social media about your new creation, you’re met with…crickets. Everyone and Todd McFarlane’s dog have a story and they want you to read it. How do you set yourself apart? What does a creator with no following gets people’s attention?

Do you give stuff away? This picture I drew last night on substack livestream will go home for FREE to the first person who supports the campaign when we go LIVE tonight, Monday Feb 16th at 830pm EST. But free stuff costs money. And even if it’s a drawing, the cost is time, which we all know is perpetually in short supply. (We’ve got comics to create, after all!)

Even at 51, I’m relatively new at this, but if there’s one piece of advice I can give you, it’s this…

Don’t give up. I know it feels like winning comes easy for some people. We’re seemingly surrounded by overnight successes. Maybe you think I came out of nowhere with all these comics. Maybe Alpha Red feels inevitable. (I happen to agree BTW.) But my beginnings were humble. And the journey started a long, long time ago. In a place far, far away. For real.

I drew this picture in 2011. That’s a LONG time ago. No overnight success going on here. His hero name was always Alpha Red but his real name started out as Sam. No last name. Just Sam. Not Calvin John Wesley. Alpha Red #1 finally debuted back in February of 2013. So why are you reading an article from a guy who took over thirteen years to get to the 8th issue of his comic? Because I didn’t give up.

You put one foot in front of the other and you draw one page after the next. Days become weeks. Weeks become months, then years, and even more than a decade later, those pages become comics. One after the other, they eventually become a graphic novel and suddenly you look around. You’ve got a series.

If you stick it out, issue #1 will be read for the first time by a new person, who turns into a new fan. They find that you stuck with it and created #2. #3. #4. You get the picture. That’s how you get to #8 of your comic, eagerly chomping at the bit to get to issue #9 so you can tell people what happens in issue #10, which pivots in a new direction that you CAN’T WAIT to share with your fans. The ones who have never heard of Alpha Red yet. Who will pick up Alpha Red #11 and want to know how we got to Abadon. They’ll want to know why Alpha Red has to find the Relic and follow his journey back to Diver City.

Many are the adventures that are yet to unfold. How do I get your attention? One page at a time. One comic in a long line of stories yet untold.

I want to send you this comic book for free. Yes, it will cost you money. But the variant edition you pay for is limited to THIS campaign and comes with EXTRA pages of art and more information about the creators. If enough people help buy the exclusive edition, THIS regular edition will come with your physical reward. For free. :)

Thanks. James.

Support on Kickstarter HERE or on FundMyComic HERE

Join me for the Launch Party HERE