TWO FISTED HOMEOPAPE September/19 - Quiet Quitting Social Media
Is calling me Chris Traeger actually a compliment? Let me know in the comments :]
♫ I applied for a rescue dog,
But if I get you dog,
You're rescuing me ♫
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2022 -- bounce.
Finding a new equilibrium.
The Kickstarter is over - I am now finished beating any kind of drum on any kind of social media for…a while. I appreciate that people let me slam their feeds full of teenagers with rings and sisters punching on - though I always appreciate that it was explained to me that most people either won’t see your stuff, or will only see it once, because then I feel like less of a burden to their day by linking my comics once more.
Realistically, if I post 10 times in one day, once an hour or so, then for someone to see all 10 posts they’d need to be online for 10 days. Wait, but algorithms bounce stuff all the time, so maybe even just in one hour you’d see all 10 posts and then hate me for life…? Nah, probably not, never heard of any algorithm working to help promote someone’s work like that before.
Besides: I’ve never once begrudged someone posting 10 times a day about the story they spent years making, so if anyone is the type to get annoyed by me just trying to literally manifest my dream into life, then I guess they were here for the wrong kinds of content anyway.
There’s also the chance I overthink this stuff to a fair degree :]
Anyway, the fundraising has raised the funds [and how] and now I can settle back into the olde goal of quiet quitting social media. Which is not just because I find social media laborious [it is], or because I proselytise daily in classrooms about how social media is ruining brains [I do], but mostly because I only have so much energy and time in any day, and I want to use it as best as I can, and I have plenty of good stuff to focus on.
Someone described me the other day as Chris Traeger - and because I’ve not seen PARKS & REC, I did not get the reference. A quick link from the person showed me the character is very upbeat, fairly intense, and somewhat robotic in intentions. I think I’m taking this all as a compliment, ha.
So I’m adopting that Traeger energy and just aiming to do my best at all times, even if my best at some times isn’t very good. This year has seen my focus kind of scatter, so it’ll be nice to rein things in and just focus on a few high quality things.
The day job continues to intrigue and delight - this week I’m teaching story elements in THE JAUNT by Stephen King - really diving into what the characters represent. I see the kid, Ricky, representing childlike curiosity, and the dad, Mark, representing the forever feeling of parental guilt when something goes catastrophically wrong for your child.
I’m looking at the first issue of WHAT’S THE FURTHEST PLACE FROM HERE? By Tyler Boss and Matthew Rosenberg to consider storytelling structure in a post-apocalyptic setting. The way it starts on one person, they spirals out to show us his community in the record store and then spirals further to showcase the world [and the conflict to be found in it] is really tightly done.
I’m also aiming to show how listening to random songs can give you ideas by unpacking how I got a snippet of a post-apoc idea from listening to NO APHRODISIAC by The Whitlams, and then I’ll also play ONE CROWDED HOUR by Augie March.
I’m prepping the specific page layouts for A FISTFUL OF PAIN, and finalising things to send to the printer. I’m also still writing more of this other new book - scripts are coming along and the art for the first issue is all in the can!
I’m also considering 3 pitches. One is [THE BLUEPRINT PROJECT] which I really like and should be able to fire off soon once this upcoming book is a little more written - I do not have the bandwidth to write more than one thing right now, so I’ve kept this one in the chamber for a while. Another is [THE CROWN SHYNESS PROJECT] which I want to run past a firm favourite publisher of mine very soon. And now a third possibility has landed as an artist has run an idea past me and there are many intriguing ways to possibly run with it.
So, I need to focus, keep the energy steady, stay strong, hold fast, and see what comes.
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New Newsletter News
I’m stupidly happy with that little title - it really is the tiniest things in life that bring me joy.
Anyway, as much as I get excited about comics, I get excited about people who make comics doing newsletters, and new things with newsletters.
The Substack Pro grants went out like a year ago, and we saw waves of people come out with new comics and teaching courses and artwork and discussions - I sub to many of them. Now we are seeing some new stuff enter the fold, and two of them have me very excited.
Ashcan Press Comics Corporation - this is Matthew Rosenberg’s newsletter
He’s long been a good mate, and a phenomenal writer, and it excites me to see him bringing a bunch of new projects out through his newsletter. I’ve enjoyed reading his thoughts on life, his comics, chocolate milk, and more. His voice comes through so easily and brings a smile each time - I wish I could write a newsletter more like him.
His creator owned work is always so staggeringly brilliant, so I look forward to seeing whatever he decides to drop over there.
Josh Williamson’s Super Scary Newsletter - this is…well, it says it right there.
Josh Williamson is another spectacular human. I’ve known him for over a decade, and he’s always been kind with his words and supportive with his presence. I got to spend a little time with him at a con many years back and he’s just genuine and passionate and everything you want a really successful comic creator to be - awesome. The guy is awesome.
Josh bringing out more of his own stories is always excuse to smile, so go get into it.
And while we’re being honest, I’ll just add - man, I’d love one of those Pro Grants, but scaled down to like just a small 5 figures. Just enough to make like 2 OGNs for the year. I don’t have the bandwidth to scale out like that, but I do know how to make a few little tight things that are gorgeous, so a man can dream…but dream is all it’ll be as I have no idea how to even start to consider walking in the right direction to make such a thing a reality.
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No trades, not yet.
Looks like the trade for BLACK BEACON has been delayed into next year.
So now that’s the EVERFROST and BLACK BEACON delayed - and it’s apparently mostly an issue with supply chain stuff and paper and whatever.
It’s just a shame to have both stories not crossing that finish line - not taking their final form - and there’s little-to-nothing I can do about it.
Apparently SPEED REPUBLIC hit shelves last Wednesday, but I haven’t had confirmation this actually happened.
A shame, but I have to hold onto hope that we will get there. It’s always nice to get those collected editions of your work, both symbolically, but also as something to sell at a con.
If they don’t land soon, I wonder if I should invest in some copies of the HEADSPACE and NEGATIVE SPACE trades for local shows…?
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PERHAPS YOU'D CARE TO SAMPLE
THE DARK TOWER Visual Explanation - this video is a big web/map of how The Dark Tower is linked to a huge amount of Stephen King’s bibliography. Really, watching this just gave me fond memories of all the different King stuff I’ve read and loved.
PLOUGHMAN on Kickstarter - go back this comic now! JP Jordan is one of the best people, and Aaron Losty’s art looks perfect!
WASTED SPACE Omnibus on Kickstarter - this sci fi comic from Hayden Sherman and Michael Moreci is wild and good stuff. Go get yourself this massive complete collection!
FOULBROOD on Kickstarter - another awesome comic, Claire Roe and Christopher Sebela are clocking past halfway on this miniseries and it’s looking really good! Chris is a really talented writer, and he’s an old friend who I miss greatly, so it’s always nice to see good things happening from afar!
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GRIST FOR THE MILL
SEVERANCE - this Apple+ show is intensely my jam. I didn’t realise it was such a Philip K. Dick idea. Office workers enter the workplace and forget the outside world and their life in it, and when they leave, they emerge forgetting the work day. Sounds like a good deal, but for the office worker half of you [the innie] it just feels endless. They leave work and to their consciousness just instantly walk back in the door a moment later with no memory of the time or rest or activities they may have undertaken. But their body is rested, they are ready to work, and work they do. Naturally, the out of work consciousness [the outie] has its own issues of not know what they are doing at work - and I can only imagine maybe feeling a little salty that they get half the hours of the day, but spend so many of them sleeping. Which is maybe the point, right, why do we get personal hours outside of work but have to commit so many of them to the pursuit of just continuing to survive? Sleep, showering, food shopping, maintenance, etc. It all interrupts whatever else you’d want to do with your life.
Naturally, in the show, there’s a bigger mystery afoot - why would some company need its workers to not know what they are doing? And we see what they’re doing and it’s some weird DHARMA Initiative type stuff. All in all, a really interesting idea, skewed in a great way, and beautifully shot and paced and acted. I find myself just constantly thinking about the concept, and looking forward to getting back to the show.
THE WALKING DEAD #1-100 - I just spent some time rereading The Walking Dead. I’ve been deep in marking territory - 90 papers, about 80 are 1000 word essays - so I haven’t started a new novel to read [I don’t even know what i’m going to read, and I need to make that choice soon before my two week holidays starting next week] and so at night I’ve been reading a few issues of The Walking Dead so I can catch up to where I dropped off and then aim to finish off the series.
I have definitely been enjoying the continuous storyline at this pace, rather than the once a month I was following along at during the time of those issues. There’s a tonne of growth for all characters, and you never have to wait long before a huge shocking moment occurs. But then #100 hit and I forgot just how heartbreaking that comic, and one major sequence, is. Just gruelling stuff.
It’s a good comic that can make you care so much. I have also been impressed by the character arc of Rick, and the group as a whole represented through him, as they go from survivors, to thrivers, to survivors again, to hard asses, to an almost aggressor state. If Rick and the gang stumbled across the same group from issue #6, you can’t help but wonder how that confrontation would go down. You’d like to think the heart of the group still exists, no matter how scarred and broken it is, and that things would go well, but there’s no guarantee. A great tale for looking at how trauma and life and time can change us all and what we’re willing to do and become.
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Be one of the good guys, because there's way too many of the bad.
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Who is Ryan K Lindsay?
I’m an award-winning Australian [in that order] comic writer. I’ve been published by Black Mask, Dark Horse, ComixTribe, IDW, Mad Cave, Heavy Metal, Vertigo, and a few more. Kickstarter has been a home for many short comics. I often get to collaborate with great mates, and this brings me joy.
I write about balancing this creative game alongside a full teaching load [currently College English] and a lovely family load and the forever melting brain that is modern man. I think about a lot of stuff, I still don’t know if it’s the right stuff. ymmv.
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POST CREDITS SEQUENCE
Yesterday I was standing about 3 metres up in some branches, and hacking off limbs above me with a tree saw, and I think I only have a few years of this kind of malarkey left in me.
Reading your newsletter is always time well spent. Thanks