« Sketchcast: Con Survival Guide. | Main | Sketchcast: My Kid Could Paint That! »

September 29, 2007

Templar: Everything good happened to me all at once.

New page, and that's the end of The Mob Goes Wild. An intermission begins next week, And then chapter three.

New vote sketches too, of course. Two fairly sensible, one damned weird. I love the weird ones.

I thought yesterday was special because of an eBay auction I won, where I snagged this book at less than half the price than the cheapest reseller was offering on Amazon. I didn't know the half of it, though.

First, I finally heard back from Diamond. "Templar, Arizona: The Great Outdoors" has been accepted for distribution to comic shops, and it'll be listed in the December issue of Previews for February delivery.

This is sort of a big deal. It means selling hundreds of books at once to sit on the shelves of comic shops all over the country. And with this as an official Sure Thing, as long as I meet my benchmark (~250 copies ordered through Previews), financing for chapter two's print run is completely assured, even if no one pre-orders a single copy.

Silly as it sounds, this really makes me feel legitimate. Like, I'm making comics for real, now. Like I couldn't take myself seriously until THIS went down. And it finally did. So... I guess I make comic books. Officially. Professionally. Wow.

And that wasn't even the end of yesterday. Or Super Yesterday, as it shall evermore be known.

I also heard back from a publisher I harassed at the San Diego con this year, prompting me to get in touch with an artist friend for a possible proposal. This is also a big deal, and the first project where I'll be just writing instead of writing and drawing. This is obviously a lot less of a sure thing, but I truly didn't expect it to happen at all.

Double Wow.

And as if I weren't happy enough, one of you lunatics ferreted out my Amazon Wishlist, skipped over the ten and twelve-dollar paperbacks, and dropped some serious cash on a pair of out-of-print and collector's edition books I do not deserve in any way. I'm always completely shocked when this happens, but an act this unbelievably generous had me speechless.

Hey, you. You know who you are. Thank you. Thank you a hundred thousand times. I was overwhelmed.

I love everyone and everything.

Back to work.

Posted by Spike at September 29, 2007 12:05 PM

Comments

AAAAAAAAHH CONGRATULATIONS!
Holy shit, Diamond? That's big stuff! Also, I'm glad to hear you'll be writing something for someone who actually has, you know, time to draw. :)

Posted by Ainsley S at September 29, 2007 12:36 PM
128.32.85.90

Big Congrats on being accepted to Diamond!! Woot!

Posted by Seth at September 29, 2007 02:41 PM
65.122.54.238

That's AMAZING! Congratulations! That's a HUGE deal!

Also, awesome chapter. I just went back and read the whole thing at once- and now I'm doubly excited for the next one.

Posted by Magnolia at September 29, 2007 03:20 PM
198.7.242.130

Wow, congratulations, Spike!

Posted by Jill D. at September 29, 2007 03:31 PM
74.73.13.198

Hi spike! Thanks for introducing me to sketchcast!

I mentioned you in my first SC. http://sketchcast.com/view/U8LQ1oS

Posted by Nate at September 29, 2007 04:07 PM
74.140.6.96

Spike, That sounds like one GREAT day! Congratulations.

Posted by Dean R at September 29, 2007 04:48 PM
203.87.41.6

Congratulations on signing up with Diamond. This is great news and well deserved.

Posted by nanojath at September 29, 2007 05:04 PM
209.162.5.199

CONGRATS, SPIKE!
IŽll try to import one of those as soon as I can!
IŽve been a HUGE fan of your work for quite some time now.

Congratulations once more
and Cheers from Brazil.

Posted by Moebius at September 29, 2007 06:11 PM
201.53.64.139

holy shit that's awesome.

also:
holy shit you have good taste in books.
by chance are you reading morbidanatomy.blogspot.com yet?

Posted by miss lila at September 29, 2007 06:33 PM
70.126.195.182

YAY!!!!

It's been so inspiring to me to watch you just get out there and make your work HAPPEN. I know exactly what you mean about feeling legitimate, but at the same time, I hope you see how your not waiting for permission is what made that deal go down for you.

Trying to learn somethin' here -- and just loving the comic, too, of course.

CONGRATS.

Posted by sweetlife at September 29, 2007 08:06 PM
66.25.165.87

You know...I rarely buy at comic stores anymore because I am dead, flat broke and in fact have negative money, but this one I think I'll pick up, because you're doing something different from everyone else out there, and you need the support.

Also, I'm about to start making hand screen-printed dog clothing for an Etsy shop. Got any requests for your naked doggy?

Posted by louisa at September 29, 2007 10:47 PM
205.188.116.16

Woot ! This looks like ne hell of a yesterday ! A yesterday to keep pickled in a jar of formaldehyde for the education of later generations !

Congratulation for the Diamonds thing. So you'll appear at what letter ? What's your publishing name ?

Oh, and I'm guessing Dr Bash has a copy of this civil war book in one of his boxes...

Posted by Wood at September 30, 2007 01:05 AM
90.32.39.54

I know it's been worn in in the first first posts, but congratu-fraggin-lations, Spike! I just picked up a Previews today, so I'm gonna look through it and see if there's any mention of it - probably not, but I'll be sure to keep a look out in the December issue.

You deserve it! The Industry(R) needs more people like you!

Posted by Alan Tyson at September 30, 2007 01:01 PM
69.41.110.91

Y'know, news like this gives me hope for webcomics as a whole. I'm a pretentious, idealistic lady - I really do believe that this marvellous self-publishing dealie provided by the internet can allow artists to shine, and that - hope beyond hope - it can actually make money for the deserving (few). Well done, Spike. You're keeping that cultural dream alive.

btw, my husband has only recently thought of himself as a Legitimate Practitioner in his own field. He's a lawyer. He's just graduated from a PhD at Cambridge Univeristy here in England. Cambridge has the best law program in England - second best is University College London, and he's just landed a job as a lecturer there.

To repeat - he has ONLY JUST NOW seen himself as a legitimate practitioner.

I trust you see the parallel.

Incidentally, UCL was founded by Jeremy Bentham, a philosopher who, among other things, invented the panopticon - a silent prison based on isolation and the omnipresent observation of inmates. Only one was ever built, but it's worth a google - short version, every single inmate went mad. Bentham's corpse is still on display in the university library, his skeleton coated in wax. All, that is, apart from his skull - it's been stolen by students so many times that it was eventually replaced by a wax cast. No-one's sure whether the skull in secure storage is his or not.

Just thought that story would appeal...

(in a final note, on auspicious occasions Bentham's bones are actually wheeled out to the University committee's meeting table. His attendance is marked as 'present but not voting'.)

Posted by coelacanth at September 30, 2007 04:25 PM
81.101.141.159

You cracked Diamond. Wow. *applauds* And (and this is where I sneak in a little bit of gloating) even though MY book in Diamond will appear a month before yours, you did it completely on your own self-published with your own title, without having to share the book with eight or nine other people and rely on an existing publisher. And yours will also most likely outsell mine. ;-)

Posted by jdalton at September 30, 2007 10:50 PM
216.232.229.226

Oh wow, that's awesome!! Congrats, Spike! :D (And whoo for Chap 2's print run!)

Posted by Lynn at October 2, 2007 12:02 PM
216.170.142.201

Post a comment