Quick update tonight.
Issue one of Widowed is almost a wrap. Joaquin is finishing up the last few pages of color, and then it's off to prospective publishers in search of a nice home.
Until then, I've posted the first five pages here. Check it out, leave a comment, or even better, tell you friends!
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Portfolio Updates
Mission: Help Adam Quit The Day Job...
Step 1: Update portfolios.
Lettering -- CLICK HERE
Logo Design -- CLICK HERE
Monday, July 2, 2012
The Hot List: The Walking Dead - Rise of the Governor
I read The Walking Dead: Rise of the
Governor over the weekend and it was awesome.
I should start by saying I love both
The Walking Dead comic book and the television series, so when I sat
down with Rise of the Governor I immediately found myself in a
familiar world. If you read the comics, Rise of the Governor is like
time traveling back to the beginning of the series. You will learn
how one of the nastiest comic book villains rises to power, and
your reading of the comics will be a whole new experience.
If you've only ever watched the
television series, read this book before season three starts. That's all.
Just do it. And seriously... read the damn comics. They're amazing.
The Walking Dead comic book is coming
up on its 100th issue. That's a lot of comics. That's a
lot of character development. That's a lot of shit these characters
have been dragged through. If you've been reading along from the
beginning, you have grown with these characters, and you've probably
forgotten a lot about what those early days of the horrific zombie
apocalypse were like for Rick and his crew. What Rise of the Governor
does, and does well, is transport you back to the earliest days of
the outbreak, it's like going back in time and seeing everything you
already know, but from a different perspective. The twist is this is
the perspective of a character for which you already know the ending.
Or at least you think you do.
If you read this book, and if you're a
fan of either the show or the comic I highly recommend it, you will
relive a lot of familiar themes and events. You follow Blake and his
companions through small abandoned towns, crowded highways, back
alleys, and the rooftops of Atlanta. Tough decisions will have to be
made. People will die. You've been there before with Rick, and you
might find yourself thinking that it's just the same story with
different characters. In some ways you would be correct, but that's
kind of the point. Rise of the Governor is about so much more than
the Governor. It's like a parallel universe where new questions are
raised about Rick and what the world has become. In both of the other
incarnations of The Walking Dead we watch Rick turn into a different
person. In Rise of the Governor, you watch Blake become someone
different too, and you can't help but compare the two men and wonder
what would have happened if they're positions were flipped from the
start.
Read this book and you will want to go
back re-read the Governor issues of the comic. You'll look at that
character with fresh eyes, with some level of understanding or maybe
sympathy. And, if you stop and think about it for a moment, you'll
realize you are experiencing something else too. You will realize how
this Walking Dead world changes perspectives. You saw The Governor
through Rick's eyes. You saw an evil man who thrived in an evil
world. After Rise of the Governor, you will see a good man who
succumbed to a broken world.
And then you will immediately wonder
what the people of the Hilltop see when they look at Rick.
The Walking Dead - Rise of the Governor
Written by Robert Kirkman & Jay Bonansinga
Thursday, June 21, 2012
PROGRESS REPORT - WIDOWED
Just a quick project update today.
Joaquin Pereyra just finished up the colors for two pages of Widowed. It looks fantastic. Click here to see them.
I also have some very good news. I will be self publishing the first issue of Widowed. Marcelo has several projects currently on his drawing table, so we're looking at an end of summer release (time to complete the art, have it lettered and printed). Whether or not this first print run will be in full color or black and white will depend on how much money I can scrounge up before Marcelo finishes the pages. Fingers crossed!
Stay tuned...
- Adam
Joaquin Pereyra just finished up the colors for two pages of Widowed. It looks fantastic. Click here to see them.
I also have some very good news. I will be self publishing the first issue of Widowed. Marcelo has several projects currently on his drawing table, so we're looking at an end of summer release (time to complete the art, have it lettered and printed). Whether or not this first print run will be in full color or black and white will depend on how much money I can scrounge up before Marcelo finishes the pages. Fingers crossed!
Stay tuned...
- Adam
Friday, June 8, 2012
WHY THE AVENGERS MATTERS
“If you build it, they will come.” That might work for baseball fields, but it definitely doesn't for
comic books.
I've seen Marvel's The Avengers four
times now, each time with a different group of people who were all
seeing it for the first time (okay, I'll admit it, once by myself).
Of my four viewings, two of them were opening weekend, one was in the
film's second week, and the final time several weeks after. The one
thing that was consistent was that each time the theater was jam
packed. Each time the movie garnered laughs, cheers and applause, and
all along the way I watched the box office numbers climb. It topped $200
million dollars on opening weekend. Then a billion
dollars worldwide in less than 20 days. As a life long comic book
fan and reader this had me thinking, how many of the people that
loved The Avengers movie have actually read an Avengers comic?
So, I
did a little digging, crunched a few numbers, and discovered that
there is a vast chasm between the number of people who actually read
comic books and the number of people who could
be reading comic books.
First,
given that I've seen the movie several times myself, I realize that a
lot of those ticket sales went to repeat viewings. What I wanted to
know was how many people who saw The Avengers were unique
viewers.
This is almost impossible to do with the resources I have available.
So instead, I've done a little magic math-estimation. In 2011, the
average movie ticket price in the United States rose a few pennies to
about $8 (source). Taking increase prices for 3D into
consideration, I'm going to use an average of $10/ticket in my
calculation.
I will also only use the Avenger's
domestic opening box office figure because, A) the US is the primary
market for American comic books, and B) as the weeks go on the box
office numbers will more than likely reflect a higher percentage of
repeat viewers.
The Avengers domestic opening weekend
total at the box office was $207,438,708.
So with a $207,438,708 box office haul,
at $10 a ticket, that leaves approximately 20,743,870 tickets sold on
opening weekend. Now, there were most definitely repeat viewers on
opening weekend. To account for that, let's say only 50% of the
opening weekend sales were the unique viewers
that I'm looking for. That leaves us with a little over 10 million
individuals who plopped down in the theater to watch a group of comic
book superheroes unite to fight an alien invasion.
I'm also only concerned with people who
are potential comic book readers, and let's face it, some people are
predisposed to never pick up a comic book. So, maybe only five percent of those unique movie goers are the type of people that
already read comics or are potential comic readers. That's 500,000
people who should be reading the comics. But the true numbers are far from that.
Now, let's look at comic book sales figures from
April of 2012 (source). Because we're talking about an Avengers
movie, I'll use Avengers v. X-Men #2 (AvX) as my example of a “top
seller” comic. For April 2012, AvX #2 sold about 158,000 individual
copies. If we assume that each and every one of those copies were
purchased by a unique reader and not collectors purchasing multiple
cover variants, that leaves 342,000 potential comic book readers that
remain untapped for one reason or another. And this is a very
conservative estimate given that AvX is a “big event” series that
almost always garners increased sales when compared to the standard
monthly titles. For example: The Avengers #25 sold
65,000 copies. That's less than half of what AvX sold. Another popular title, Uncanny X-men
#11, sold approximately 69,000 copies.
Another interesting factor is that
these numbers don't necessarily represent actual readers. If you're
familiar with the direct sales market then you will understand why.
If you aren't, let me explain. Comic book shop owners purchase all
their books several months in advance based on the estimated demand
of their customers. To more accurately predict this demand most comic
shops will offer a subscription service or “pull list” for their
customers. Essentially, a customer agrees to purchase the new issues
of his her or favorite comics each month, and in doing so, the shop
owner relies on the amount of pull customers to gauge how many copies
of each issue to order. Comic shop owners will almost always over
order books like Batman, Avengers, X-Men, Justice League, Spider-Man,
etc, because these are “high profile” books that the shop owners
know they will have a better chance of selling to the uninitiated
walk-in customer.
But, I'm only concerned with actual
readers. So, while comic shops might have ordered 65,000 copies of
Avengers #25, only a percentage of that number walked out of the shop
with the comic in hand. The surplus copies, however many that may be,
are sitting on shelves in comic shops around the country waiting to
be either purchased or, eventually, banished to the dark corners of
the back issue long boxes.
See, there is that gaping chasm between
people who like what comics are about, but don't actually read
comics.
Comics do this on a monthly basis. |
For
the hundred or so thousand people who went to see Avengers and can't
wait for the sequel, they can find twice as much action in the comics
every month. One of
the best thing about comic books is that there is no budget
to adhere to. An editor at Marvel or DC is never going to tell their
creative team that they can't have another space battle because of a
funding issue. In comics, if it can be thought up, it can be drawn,
and when comics are done well, there isn't a better form of
entertainment out there for your money.
But,
this is all considering just the “big two” books and the household
names like Batman and The Avengers. What frustrates me even more are the
independent books that suffer in sales while their counterparts in
other storytelling mediums thrive. Take for example Scott Snyder and
Rafael Albuquerque's American Vampire,
published through DC's Vertigo imprint. While Stephanie Meyer sells
bazillions of copies of Twilight novels, and at least one Vampire
movie a year fills up theaters, American Vampire is selling less than
15,000 copies a month – And it's better than any
of those other vampire tales across the board. Consider that for
every book like American Vampire,
there are three or four books that are just as good but get canceled
because of low sales. This is a tragedy of the highest order.
There
is an audience. There
is an audience that likes stories about costume heroics, or dark and
lusty vampires, or military espionage, and many more. Unfortunately,
this audience is flocking to novels and movies while completely over
looking one of the best storytelling mediums out there.
There is no good
reason for this. Comics are simply another valid medium for telling
stories, and people love stories, they've been telling us that with
their hard earn dollars for decades. The seemingly unanswerable
question is how to get these people to the comics.
But
there is an answer, it's just not an easy one. It's going to take a
group effort, from publishers, comic shops and fans alike. Publishers
are trying. The emergence of digital comics has reached into a small
sliver of that untapped fan base. But that's not enough. Comic shop
owners need to realize that the pull list customers they have had for
20+ years will not be there forever. Comic shop owners should have
been standing in The Avengers line at the movie theaters handing out comics with
their business cards attached to them. It's time to pull the posters
off the comic shop windows and show people that you aren't really a front for a head
shop. And us fans, it's time to turn “read comic in public day”
(August 28th)
into every day. We can show people that it's okay to read comics. We
can show people that if you liked the Iron Man, Thor, Batman, Green
Lantern, Hulk, Captain America or Avengers movie, you can experience
that and much, much more every month in the comics. And if capes
and spandex aren't their thing, then we can show them that there is so
much more out there.
There is something
for everyone in comic books. I don't think comics are dying, they
will be around in one form or another for years to come. But if we,
the publishers, the shops, the fans, want comics to flourish and push
what they can be to the limits, then we can't sit back and think it
will happen on its own.
We have to make it
happen.
Adam Wollet
For the Love of
Comics.
Friday, June 1, 2012
PROGESS REPORT
Here are a few quick updates for some of
the projects I've been working on lately.
I've added a few more pages of lettered
pages to my lettering portfolio. The new pages are from a project
titled Liberty At Arms and is written and created by Brandon Gish
(twitter) and Randy Holliday, with pencils by Nicholas
Valente (deviantart),
inks by James Whynot, and colors by Ross Campbell.
Next, I have an update for one of my
personal projects, Widowed. Click here, or on the Widowed link at the
top of page for an early look at character designs and the first few
pages of art. I've teamed up with Marcelo Salaza again
for this project. You've previously seen Marcelo's work on Kingdom
Bum, and as good as those pages were, Marcelo is bringing a very
different style to Widowed. Check it out and leave a comment to let
us know what you think.
That's it for now. I should have more Widowed pages to post soon. I'm also working on some ideas for a logo. Once I get a few that I think are on the right track I'll post them up here as a test run.
Thanks for taking a look!
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The Hot List
To start, I'd like to say a little bit
about this blog. Simply put, it's about comic books,
that should be obvious. This blog will function as a hub for all the
comic projects I'm currently working on, as well as a sounding board
from which I will heap praise on all the comics I'm currently reading
and loving. Finally, this blog will focus on only the good in the
comic book industry. If you want to read about who is suing whom, the
daily twitter spats or rumor mongering, there are dozens of other
websites out there for you to pour over. There is a lot of negativity
on the internet about the comic book industry. Here I will focus on
the amazing people and fantastic work, which are far more numerous
than all the negative stuff anyway.
Speaking of the good, here are some of
my favorite comics I've read recently.
(Okay, I feel I should offer a
disclaimer: I am almost always behind in my comic book reading. I
work a lot, and a good portion of my free time is spent writing my
own comics, or working with others on theirs. So, the comics I talk
about here might not always been most current weeks pull, but they
will all be worth talking about. Also, I buy a lot of comics, but
there are also a lot that I can't. So, if I've missed a comic that
you think is amazing, by all means let me know.)
First up:
RESIDENT ALIEN
Written by Peter Hogan
Art by Steve Parkhouse
This story was first serialized in Dark
Horse Presents, but I didn't discover it until it was collected and
released as Resident Alien #0, but man, am I glad I did. The story is
a simple small town murder mystery, but the man tasked with solving
the crime, Harry Vanderspeigle, isn't a man at all – he's an alien,
marooned on Earth many years ago. “Harry” maintains his secret by
using his mental powers, forcing others to “not see him as he is”.
I fell into this comic immediately,
mostly because it's an interesting twist on an alien story. Harry
doesn't seem to be the “destroy all humans” alien. Instead, he is
a peaceful, all around good guy, who is just trying to fit in as best
he can until he can find a way home. Make no mistake, Harry is the
real draw here. As a reader, I instantly liked Harry. He's
introspective, and thoughtful, and he's been stranded on Earth long
enough to assimilate our cultural habits, even though he still
doesn't understand some of them.
Another thing I loved about this first
issue is the story economy. Hogan and Parkhouse tell you just about
everything you need to know in the first three or four pages. There
is no wasted space, each panel matters, and the pacing is spot on.
After this fluid setup, the rest of the issue is spent progressing
the story, building up Harry's character and dropping hints to the
larger mystery at hand.
Resident Alien reads like old school
science fiction with a modern polish. It's definitely a must read!
THE WALKING DEAD #96
Written by Robert Kirkman
Art by Charlie Adlard (pencils, inks) & Cliff Rathburn (gray tones)
Lettered by Rus Wooton
Let's be honest here, The Walking Dead
isn't wanting for praise. A zombie story that has lasted for 90+
issues speaks for itself (not to mention the television series, board
game, video game, action figures, and whatever else I'm forgetting).
But, issue 96 stands out to me because it marks a true turning point
in this long long story.
Up to this point, Rick and his crew
have had no identity. At different, and sometimes overlapping times,
they have been survivors, scavengers, fighters, farmers, and more,
and this whole time they've done so on their own. This issue marks
the “adult years” of Rick's crew. They've spent the last 95
issues like infants thrown into a crazy new world, fumbled their way
through the emotional teens, and now the people they have grown up to
be have been identified – they are the grizzled warriors. Rick said
it himself, they don't have much to offer for trade other than their
hardened ability to fight off just about anyone. They might be the
founders of the new worlds first true army.
Or, I'm completely wrong and they will
all die by issue #100. Either way, issue #96 marks a new direction
for The Walking Dead. There are other civilized people still alive in
the world. Things can't stay the same from here.
If you're not reading this comic
by now, you should be. Between weekly reprints, trades, compendiums,
and digital, you can find this comic just about anywhere. Trust me,
you won't be disappointed.
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