How I learned to critically review and love Indie Comics

How I learned to critically review and love Indie Comics

Morning! I wish I could say something like sit back, grab a comic, and relax. But then you wouldn't be able to read this newsletter at the same time. So maybe read this one first, then go grab one? I'm all about compromises here. This is now a problem solving newsletter.... alright fine. I'll stop writing jokes. 

Nate how did Newsletter #1 Go? 

Just wanted to start and say I absolutely loved the response I got on the first newsletter. This is so exciting and fun. I feel like every day I'm overwhelmed with meeting creators but I'm doing my best to keep my head straight and focused. We're going to start diving deeper into stories and minds behind them in the next few weeks as I'm still finalizing interviews with folks! In the meantime, I wanted to talk about something specific and give a shoutout to those I think do it well. 

Personalization or Thank you's! 

I feel like this might be a controversial take (but prolly not). I really have no idea what industry standard is but I absolutely love a step above just signature from the creators on the comic itself. Well.... I didn't know I loved this until I started to receive them in the mail. Let me explain exactly what I mean. 

I'm not even a digital fan; I typically always adore physical copies of media over that of digital. I have both a very large Super Nintendo and 4k Bluray collection. Butt, when it came to buying hundreds of comics in a single day that one thing I did to reduce time of delivery and cost was purchasing digital comics. I bought from GumRoad, Comixology, Scout, and many other sources. I regret this. Mostly cause wow is it cool to hold these comics and see when you have a nice friendly note from the creator. 

Let me show you. 

Examples.

Sharksquatch by Shawn Gabborin and Team. 

So first question. Do you love or hate this? I think my first gut feeling is to hate this. He wrote all over the cover! Why would he do this! Then I sat it down and thought about it. I opened the comic, read a bit.... and dammit I love it. I know this isn't that personalized but it's part of the experience of connecting as creators and I just adore this. I'm not just believing in Sharksquatch, I'm believing in Shawn. 

The Sea Shepherd by Sean Azzopardi 

Another great read and for an amazing cause and story. The art in this book is so unique and beautiful I highly recommend picking it up if you can but we ain't talking art today. Let me show you how Sean added to my experience of The Sea Shepherd. Sean was like alright, I don't want to deface this cover. Lemme hit you with that first page action. This really is thoughtful. You're Welcome Sean. I love this book. 

The Ferryman by Daniel Bell

Alright so Dan did something really neat here. If you are a creator and you absolutely refuse to sign your front cover or inside cover, Dan is brilliant. I'm sure for him this was quick to whip up but that little extra effort made me want to jump into this story. Sitting on the top of the sleeve is a nice little post it note. 

It's a post it note. It's going to be recycled but this is just awesome! It's not like something I'm going to keep forever but this little note was so inviting to Dan's story that even after I already purchased the comic, this sold me on Dan. I looked over to my fiancée Allie and said hey this dude drew himself! That's cute. Wait? This is the main character of the story!? That's awesome. Dan if you are reading this, please dm me on Twitter and confirm or deny you actually look like this. 

Alright so what did we learn?
100% signing your comics is a cool thing to do. But just from creator to creator and thinking of the overall experience I just want to share that going above (even small in effort) goes a long way. If you are a creator and thinking about signing your comics. Write a bit more. 

And I know selling through publishers and store fronts removes you from the supply chain and ability to do things like this, but if you are capable. Please do. This is awesome. 

I would love to know others' opinions on this as well. Feel free to reply to this newsletter or dm me on twitter. Do you love or hate when creators do things like this? 

Ending Notes and Additional Shoutout

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival starts today! The event runs today May 8th through the 15th. It is a totally virtual Comic Conference showcasing speakers, games, comics, and creators. There's some really neat indie creations and I'm excited to pick up a few! 

It's a little weird to navigate but all the information can be found at https://brokenpencil.com/tcaf/

Special shoutout and Recommendation to check out Matt McGrath. Matt made me aware of this event earlier in the week and is one of the featured exhibitors throughout the week. I just started to read Matt's ID-10T Error and woah. It's weird exciting mix. Get it. Matt's direct link to his exhibit is here! Please support Matt and the other creators. 

Alright, that's it. Go read that comic you've had in your hands since you started reading this. Or drink coffee. You do you boo. <3
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