Anthology Available at DCBS

Pick up Tales From The Comic Experience at Discount Comic Book Service! Get a huge discount and a signed and numbered Animal Control: Special Creatures Unit mini poster. Check out all the details HERE.

Joe Sergi Talks About The Anthology On CGS.

Hey, check out Joe Sergi talking about the anthology on the latest Comic Geek Speak podcast, available here or search on iTunes. Joe comes on about an hour into the show.

6 Questions With...FREDERICK KIM

Here's Fredrick Kim, his story is called Bugged, with art by Antonio Bifulco.





Tiny Electric:Is this your first published work?

Fredrick Kim:My first published work was a short story set in the Star Trek Universe, published in "Strange New Worlds VII," by Pocket Books. It featured Captain Picard. But "Bugged" is my first published comics
story.

TE:What's the sentence pitch for your story?

FK:"Bugged" is about a man with a shady past who decides to commit one last crime, for all the right reasons ... but ends up damning the world through his actions.

TE:Was your story an idea you already had, or did you come up with it in class?

FK:Ermm... a bit of both, actually. When I signed up for Andy's class I thought we would be writing stories about Spider-Man or Wolverine, so when he asked us to come up with original material that first day, I didn't have anything ready to go. After thinking about it, I decided I wanted to tell a story with a noirish vibe, and I
created the protagonist as an entirely new character. The villain, however, is a character I previously came up with for a sci-fi television pilot script that I wrote.

TE:Do you hope to expand it into something longer?

FK:There's a relationship between "Bugged" and the television pilot I mentioned earlier, so, yes, I'm hoping to do more with that universe. Right now a production company in Hollywood is interested in optioning the pilot, and turning it into a series of animated webisodes. If those do well, they'd consider bringing the concept to a studio, in the hopes of getting a television series made. Nothing's set in stone yet, though, so stay tuned...

TE:Talk about your artist and the look of your story.

FK:I'm really grateful to one of our fellow classmates, Rob Anderson, for being able to find Antonio Bifulco. When the anthology was still just a vague idea we were tossing around, Rob went out and found a bunch of artists online and then posted their information for our group to peruse. When I saw Antonio's work on the web, I thought he'd be great for "Bugged" -- his art displays a level of attention to detail that really helps sell a story like mine, which is supposed to have this dark and gritty vibe.

Antonio's a real pro, and it was a genuine pleasure collaborating with him. Through his art he brought in elements to the story I hadn't previously imagined, but what he came up with fit in with what I was trying to achieve, which shows he was really thinking about how to enhance the story through the art. I'm extremely pleased with the way everything turned out -- the end result (including the lettering and logo by Dave Sharpe) just went beyond my expectations.

TE:What comics have you been reading lately?

FK:Recently I finished The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures, which is just amazing to look at. Also, I've been on a DC kick for the past several months, because as a Marvel fan since childhood, I haven't been that familiar with the DC Universe, beyond Batman. So I've been going through Crisis On Infinite Earths, The Sinestro Corps War, Infinite Crisis, and of course Blackest Night, and now I'm finally starting to feel like I have a sense of what the DCU is all about. On there commendations of friends I've started reading the trades for Invincible, which I'm really enjoying, and right at this moment I'm into the first volume of DMZ.



You can check out Fredrick's website here.

6 Questions With...ROB ANDERSON

Here's Rob Anderson, his story is called Animal Control:SCU, with art by Leandro Panganiban.



Tiny Electric:Is this your first published work?

Rob Anderson:Yes, this is my first published comics work. My other published work has all been non-fiction -- stuff like newspaper columns or journal articles, that sort of thing.

TE:What's the sentence pitch for your story?

RA:Animal Control: Special Creatures Unit follows the lives of two animal control officers in a world where scientific breakthroughs led to the spread of patchwork, designer animals like Panda Dogs, 'Gator-Snakes and Horned Mastiffs.

TE:Was your story an idea you already had, or did you come up with it in class?

RA:The idea long pre-dated Andy Schmidt’s Comics Experience class, but it was the class that finally helped me take it from a bunch of partial drafts and plots to finished stories. AC:SCU is a concept that has been rattling around in my head for about a decade, at least since the year 2000, when artist Eduardo Kac convinced a French geneticist to create a "transgenic" rabbit with jellyfish traits that glowed in the dark. Things have gotten stranger since then (here in the real world) and when it eventually, inevitably gets out of control, there will be Animal Control officers dealing with the mess.

Already, you can find pictures out there of things like a mouse with a human ear growing out of its back -- although it can be hard to sort out the Photoshop fakes from the real transgenics. I've had more than one person come to the Panda Dog Press website via search phrases like "how to make a Panda Dog" and "are Panda Dogs real"? (ha) They're not real! (yet)

TE:Do you hope to expand it into something longer?

RA:Absolutely! I'm self-publishing right now, but my goal is to do an initial 3-issue miniseries with an established publisher. I have ideas that would fill a monthly series for a very long time.

At this point, I've got three stories completed and headed to the printer -- two AC:SCU stories that follow the officers, and an all-ages spin-off set in the same universe, Panda Dog Adventures, that follows my favorite mischievous hybrid.

The very first AC:SCU story appears in our Tales from the Comics Experience anthology available via IndyPlanet now. All three stories will appear in a Preview comic that will be available at some conventions this summer (first up, Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC on June 4-6) as well as via the Panda Dog Press website.

TE:Talk about your artist and the look of your story.

RA:The AC:SCU story in Tales from the Comics Experience was penciled and inked by Leandro Panganiban, a very talented guy based in the Philippines. I was looking for an artist that could give a realistic feel to the book, despite the unusual animals. Leandro had done some sample Spider-Man sequentials that really showed his ability to draw real-life scenes -- great facial expressions, realistic proportions on the people, etc. His style of artwork was just what I envisioned for AC:SCU and he delivered, and then some!

The collaboration with Leandro has been great, and he's actually just finished penciling the second AC:SCU story, "Feral." He raised his game to another whole level in this second story. I can't wait for everyone to see it. I hope Leandro and I (along with Letterer/Designer E.T. Dollman, and now also with inker Steve Bird and cover colorist Coleen Allen) get the chance to play in the AC:SCU universe for a long time.

TE:What comics have you been reading lately?

RA:My "can't-wait-for-the-trade" favorites right now are Walking Dead, Fables, Terry Moore's Echo, and Luna Brother's The Sword. My favorite recent trade paperback was Locke & Key, Volume 1. I keep lobbying to break that one down in Andy Schmidt's Book Club. That's some entertaining sequential storytelling, and one way or another, I want to spend some time studying it. (ha) Basically, I have an entire bookshelf of backlogged trade paperbacks. It's overwhelming sometimes, but I just keep buying them. I'll never catch up!



You can check out Rob's comics at PandaDog Press or follow him on twitter.

6 Questions With...J.D. OLIVA

Now here's J.D. Oliva, his story is called Well Beyond Reason, with art by Jesse Kornhardt.




Tiny Electric:Is this your first published work?

J.D. Oliva:Yes, this is my first published work. I've spent most of the past five years developing indie films and short documentaries.

TE:What's the sentence pitch for your story?

JO:An arrogant reporter and an elderly priest must save the life a young child before she killed by a Satanic cult.

TE:Was your story an idea you already had, or did you come up with it in class?

JO:I actually had this idea for a few months before class. The basis of the story was taken from a "Demon" story I wrote for a talent contest. I reshaped it to fit "Charlie Welles," a character from a short film that I made last year. I was already planning on writing a five page story before I enrolled in class. When I found out about Comics Experience with Andy Schmidt, and the five page story we were required to write for the class, it just worked out perfectly.

TE:Do you hope to expand it into something longer?

JO:Absolutely. I would love to do a whole series about Charlie Welles and his ventures into the macabre. I've been writing a lot of Charlie stuff that could go either way as film or comics work. The next few months will kind of shape the route I'll take with him.

TE:Talk about your artist and the look of your story.

JO:Jesse Kornhardt is awesome. I actually got in contact with Jesse a few months before class. I was planning on doing my Charlie Welles comic stuff and I put a Craigslist posting out looking for an artist. Jesse was the only serious person that I talked to and it helped that he has this great, dark sensibility. After I finished the final draft of "Well Beyond Reason" I forwarded it to Jesse and he started work on the story. Jesse has a background in photography and has a very cinematic eye, which works really well with me being an indie filmmaker. He gave our story this ethereal, noir-ish tone that works perfect with the story. Visually speaking, I think our story really stands out. We have a real good understanding of the character and the direction we'd like to take this story in the future. He's my partner on this story for the long haul.

TE:What comics have you been reading lately?

JO:I love superhero stuff, so I've been all about Green Lantern Blackest Night, Batman, Spider-Man, The Avengers titles, Captain America. Andy Schmidt', our beloved mentor's stewardship of the transformers franchise has brought me in but I've become a big fan of Mike Costa's handling of the characters. I'm also a fan of Dirk Manning's Nightmare World, which I think is some of the best horror stuff in comics right now.


Check out J.D's film at Vimeo.

6 Questions With...JOSHUA OSBORNE

Here's Joshua Osborne, his story is called The Struggle, with art by Branco Jovanovic.



Tiny Electric:Is this your first published work?

Joshua Osborne:A few years back I got a couple poems published. I was trying to win a poetry competition, and though I didn't win, the poems were published. They were even put onto a CD read by a 'Professional Reader'. Not exactly sure how you get into that profession, but to each his own. This will be my first published comic of any kind.

TE:What's the sentence pitch for your story?

JO:Well the story that I actually did wasn't the first idea that I had. My original idea was based on Chris (My Protagonist) training a sidekick, but it was decided that their wasn't enough action going on, so it was changed to The Struggle. However, because of the sudden change in story, I never did a sentence pitch. Alright, so when does this interview start?

TE:Was your story an idea you already had, or did you come up with it in class?

JO:I came up with the idea in class as I was fleshing out Chris's character biography. It wasn't my initial focus, but I changed it to my main story idea a couple weeks into class.

TE:Do you hope to expand it into something longer?

JO:Yes, The Struggle is only the beginning. Chris's story will continue in a future Anthology, hopefully a sequel to my classmates and my 'Tales from the Comics Experience' Anthology. He's destined to be the greatest super hero the world has ever known. But that's something that's a little hard to believe based on his demeanor in The Struggle. He's unstable and depressed and doesn't think he deserves to be loved. He'll get closer and closer to reaching his ultimate destiny in each story that is told in future Anthologies.

But The Sidekick, which is in development right now, will take us forward several years to see the great super hero that Chris has become. It's the story of Chris's tragic tale to train a sidekick to replace him for a future that he won't be a part of. The story will center around Tyler, Chris's sidekick, and Joey, a random thug, as well as those closest to them. You'll see that the line diving good and evil is a very gray line and that sometimes good people do bad things for good reasons. Expect 'The Sidekick' by the end of the year or early next year.


TE:Talk about your artist and the look of your story.

JO:Branko Jovanovic was the artist for 'The Struggle'. He's got amazing talent and his style is very reminiscent of Mike Deodado. I'm a firm believer that every story should have a certain look to it, and I went into my artist search wanting an artist with a very dark style, as my story is dark and depressing. I found Branko and new immediately that he was the artist I wanted to work with on this project. I hope to work with him again on my future Anthology stories.

TE:What comics have you been reading lately?

JO:Sadly, my comic book reading has been limited ever since I bought my house. I've only been able to afford mainstream books for the most part. Astonishing X-Men, Siege, Batman & Robin, and Uncanny X-Men are some of the few books that I have been able to pick up and read though.




Check out Joshua's work, including updates on The Sidekick on Twitter.

6 Questions With...GEORGE O'CONNOR

Here's George O'Connor, his story is called Mr. Awesome Saves The World...Maybe, with art by S. Griffin.




Tiny Electric:Is this your first published work?

George O'Connor:It's my first published work but it's also coming out at the same time as my first full comic, HEALED.

TE:What's the sentence pitch for your story?

GO:MR. AWESOME SAVES THE WORLD... maybe: A reluctant and disenchanted super hero, Mr. Awesome, is forced to put the tights back on to save his secret love.

TE:Was your story an idea you already had, or did you come up with it in class?

GO:After the first class, I realized all the ideas I brought to the table didn't fit how the class was going to be taught. That night, I literally shot up from a dead sleep at 2am with the Mr. Awesome story formed.

TE:Do you hope to expand it into something longer?

GO:I do. I could see this story being a 3 to 4 book story and a lot of fun to write.

TE:Talk about your artist and the look of your story.

GO:I've known Griffin for years and when I started thinking about writing comics, he was gung-ho to jump on board. He's a great artist to work with because I can explain a scene and he'll find ways to fill it out and add his own slant. He thinks up things that never crossed my mind and that's the kind of collaboration I love.

TE:What comics have you been reading lately?

GO:The Walking Dead, Scalped (I bought the trades and just tore through them), Invincible Iron Man, Secret Six, Chew, Irredeemable, Incorruptible, New Avengers, The Last Days of America Crime, Daredevil, Uncanny X-Men, Invincible



You can check out George's new comic at Homelesscomics.com
and follow him on twitter at HomlessComics or LazyHorde

6 Questions With...DAN RIVERA

Next up is Dan Rivera, his story is called Gabriel's Regret, with art by Antonio Bifulco




Tiny Electric:Is this your first published work?

Dan Rivera:Yes it is. In fact, this is the first story that I have finished since college.

TE:What's the sentence pitch for your story?

DR:In post apocalyptic America, a monk named Gabriel is reminded of the senseless horror of this new age.

TE:Was your story an idea you already had, or did you come up with it in class?

DR:This came to me in class. I originally wanted to do something with an espionage slant, but it didn't work. That is the beauty of the class. Andy is so honest about what works and what doesn't. I've always been fascinated by "post-apocalyptic" fiction because it is driven by a fear that most of us have and we are powerless to fight against.

TE:Do you hope to expand it into something longer?

DR:I was thinking about it, but then I started reading Wasteland by Antony Johnston and Christopher Mitten and it blew me away. They have taken post apocalyptic fiction to another level. I may revisit Gabriel and his world in the future because there are a wealth of stories that can be told, but that will have to wait. I carry a Cirque du Soleil notebook with me everywhere so I can write down an idea the minute it enters my head. There are quite a few notes about Gabriel's future adventures, so who knows...

TE:Talk about your artist and the look of your story.

DR:Antonio Bifulco is an Italian artist that I saw on deviantART. I was drawn by the more kinetic pieces on his page because I needed someone who could handle the action sequence in my script. He did a great job and if I decide to revisit this world, I'd like to use him again. I think in retrospect I should have used more widescreen shots to demonstrate Gabriel's solitude, but we only had 5 pages. Antonio was a pleasure to work with and is a fantastic collaborator. He was also able to turn the pages around in a relatively short amount of time. I have to credit Rob (Panda Dog) Anderson for finding him for me in time to make the deadline for the anthology.

TE:What comics have you been reading lately?

DR:I am a trade paperback guy because of the limited space in my apartment. Aside from the previously mentioned Wasteland, the regular stuff that I read are Scalped, DMZ, The Walking Dead, Captain America, Ignition City and Daredevil. I also just received Incognito by Brubaker & Phillips and The Life and Times of Savior 28 by DeMatteis & Cavallaro. I'm dying to get into those books!




You can check out Dan's work at Emptyholsters or on Twitter.

6 Questions With...JOE SERGI

First up is Joe Sergi, his story is called The Prisoner, with art by Marc Jameson.



Tiny Electric: Is this your first published work?

Joe Sergi:This is not my first published work. I have published several short stories and articles in the science fiction and fantasy genres, including in the Trail of Indiscretion Magazine (Issue 6/Death Imitates Art), Comics Now! Magazine (Issue 3/Man and Superman), Metahuman Press (Psi-Kotic, appearing monthly), 23 House Publishing/Atriad Press (Nights of Blood II/Give Until It Kills (2009)), A Thousand Faces (The Issue #10/The Return of Power Boy, (Forthcoming Dec. 2009)), Whortleberry Press (Christmas in Space Anthology/The Gift of the Karisma (Nov. 2009)) and the Guild Publications (Worlds Beyond/It All Started with a Mouse) (Forthcoming 2010)). My first novel, Sky Girl and the Superheroic Legacy was released in March, 2010. In addition, I have also published comic stories, including The Red Line (in U is For United), Economy of Scale and The Phantom Rickshaw (in From Here to There from Resolution Comics), The Body and Through the Eyes of a Child (in CGS Anthology 3), A Penny for Her Thoughts (Rendrwrx Productions (forthcoming 2010)), Cinderfella, The Impossible Dream, and The Adventures with the Prince of Humbug (in the online and print versions of Iconic 2 Guild Works Publications forthcoming 2010), and Carnies (A three issue limited series from Resolution Comics (Forthcoming 2011)). I was selected as a semi-finalist in the Who Wants to Create a Superheroine contest sponsored by the Shadowline Imprint of Image Comics. I have also worked as an editor on The International and Comparative Law Journal, Tax Information Update, World's Beyond, Iconic 2, and CGS: The End.

TE:What's the sentence pitch for your story?

JS:Justin Tishun, an agoraphobic, weighs the alternatives and must decide whether to leave his sound-proof, airtight, temperature-controlled brownstone after he believes the outside world has been destroyed in a terrorist attack.

TE:Was your story an idea you already had, or did you come up with it in class?

JS:I didn't know we needed to come up with an idea for class. Strange at it may seem, my original idea was to have Justin try to ask a girl out on a date. But, when as I waited for Andy to call on me, the idea for Prisoner began to develop.

TE:Do you hope to expand it into something longer?

JS:I am toying with the idea of a conceptual sequel. To bring a dangerous outsider (and love interest) in for Justin. To help her, he must leave his apartment and overcome his fears. I am in the advanced writing class, but I'm going to go with something else as my project for that.

TE:Talk about your artist and the look of your story.

JS:I had previously worked with Marc Jameson on a horror story, I immediately knew his dark style would perfectly suit the tone and creakiness that permeates The Prisoner, which clearly is not a puppy dog and rainbow tale. We are currently working on a pitch package for Madame Magnificent (my Who Wants to Create a Superheroine submission). His website is http://autoganzfeld.blogspot.com/

TE:What comics have you been reading lately?

JS:I read pretty much everything and, much to my wife's dismay, spend a large chunk of disposable income on comics each month. I have really been enjoying Blackest Night and Siege from DC and Marvel. Robert Kirkman's Invincible is one of the best books out there. I also read a lot of small press independent comics since making friends with folks in the industry. For example, the guys at PKD Media are putting out some high quality stuff. I also like Digital Webbing's Fist of Justice and Resolution Comics' Layfield Incident (which was drawn by Marc). The same is true with webcomics (which in my mind are reminiscent of the San Francisco underground Comics movement) and I've been reading Girls with Slingshots, Mumblepuss, Oceanverse, and far too many others to name.



You can check out Joe's work at joesergi.net and skygirlnovel.com

Coming Soon...

Alright, enough about me. There's a bunch of stories inside Tales From The Comic Experience, time to put some focus on the other creators working on this book.

Stay tuned for the first edition of 6 Questions With... coming soon.

Anthology Now Available Online

Tales From The Comic Experience is now available at Indy Planet for $8!

Check it out HERE.

Anthology Cover? No...I Don't Think I'll Be Able To Show You That..

Lied.

The Anthology...What Is It? (and another 'glimmer' sneak peek)

What is this anthology I'm talking about here? Well...

Last October I enrolled in the first online comic writing class ever offered by Comics Experience. The class was fantastic, Andy Schmidt(IDW, Marvel) was the instructor, his easy-going style was great, he was very knowledgeable and easy to learn from. There was also a great group of like-minded writers who made up my virtual classmates. Everyone stayed in contact throughout the weeks, we read and critiqued each others work and (speaking for myself at least) improved as writers overall.

I guess the idea kind of came from Andy when he mentioned how former classes he had taught had gone on to work together putting out comic anthologies. By the time the last class had ended, I think we had already started hatching a plan to put out our own group anthology(why waste time, right?). Keeping in mind that our class ended in November 2009, I think it's pretty amazing that by the end of February 2010 ALL 13 of the people in the class managed to find an artist, and produced the five page script we had written in class. And on top of all that, Andy has also written an introduction to the book(we're almost professionals here!).

I've got a comic coming out...
...crazy.


Here's a look at the rest of page three(again, why half a page? just go with it.)