Well, another holiday season is upon us all–and that, as usual, also signifies that another year is coming to a close, so it’s time to take stock of how 2007 acted out around these parts. Here’s a rundown of the highs and lows of the past year.

One of the largest of the things that have changed–and the regulars and longtime fans are already very aware of this–is that Claypool Comics, the publishing company that I co-founded back in 1992 (publisher of the ongoing ELVIRA® MISTRESS OF THE DARKâ„¢ comics series, plus the three FEAR CITY titles, PHANTOM OF FEAR CITY, SOULSEARCHERS AND COMPANY, and DEADBEATS), has gotten out of the publishing business–paper publishing, at least. Our (and everybody’s) distributor to the world of specialty comic book stores, Diamond Comics Distribution, decided that our ongoing efforts to get buyers to purchase our product weren’t working to the extent that they required, so they informed us that they wouldn’t be carrying our comics anymore–effectively cancelling our entire line. The irony is that our comics were selling well enough so that our publisher, my partner Ed Via, was perfectly satisfied with our sales levels (and very supportive of our editorial direction), but without Diamond, there’s no efficient means to get our comics to the comics stores, so we went out of the business of publishing paper comics, effective as of this past February. Diamond was considerate enought to allow us an extra six months on our schedule to settle up some long-running plotlines, publish work that was already in progress, and to prepare our readers (and freelancers) for the coming cancellations, so we’re coming out of this relatively inventory-free. The final Claypool published product (for now) was the third DEADBEATS trade paperback collection (published May 2007) and from that point on, we’ve had nothing on the docket to be printed and distributed to the comics specialty store market.

Media distribution is a-changing now, during the computer age, and we’re adapting as best we can. If we’ve got no route to reach the comics reader we’ve been courting all along (“Comics for People Who Love to READ COMICS!” is our catchphrase–we’re supplying writing and concept work for intelligent, thoughtful, disciminating adults, and we’re certain that there are many of them out there), then we’ll find some other path. That path is the Internet. As of April 30th, 2007, our new, redesigned website debuted, with new entries for our talented creators (including credits, resumes, and some contact information for commisions and such), a PayPal installation for purchasing any of our available back issues, and–most importantly–the beginning of the new online DEADBEATS website comics series. That’s right, the Claypool series that inspired the most powerful loyalty, “Comics’ Premier VAMPIRE EPIC,” has moved to the Internet–a new format, a new frequency, but the same commitment and intensity. The series picks up immediately after the climactic events of the final published story cycle–”The Fall of Fear City”–with Kirby Collier (the series’ young hero and one of the sparse survivors of the town’s destruction) embarks on a mission to determine the level of ruination that Mystic Grove and its inhabitants have suffered. Along the way, Kirby and his companions-in-peril have to contend with their own regrets, their own losses, and–each night–the menaces that still infest Fear City, including the devolved horrors that once were the canny, calculating vampire band known as the DEADBEATS, but are now semi-human freaks known as Vampire Mutates.
The quest for righting the town’s ultimate wrong turn is conceived as an extended story arc, one which will involve many familiar faces, as well as a battery of new characters. A new installment of the ongoing series is uploaded every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Everyone’s encouraged to check in early and often at the claypool website and follow the link on the home page, .

Also, for the past few months, we’ve been “in talks,” as the expression goes, to revive SOULSEARCHERS AND COMPANY as an Internet comic–not on our website, either, rather on a new comics-content site which would run NEW adventures of our gadabout group of ghostbusters–in color (!) and by Peter David and an art-team-yet-to-be-determined. We’re also exploring the notion of posting the content of our back issues on this same website. So not only is Claypool not in full decline, we’re on the brink of staging a major comeback.

Beyond that, I’ve begun working for the mainstream again, collaborating with Kurt Busiek. Kurt’s an old friend and a multi-award-winning comics scripter (mostly for his creator-owned and much-lauded KURT BUSIEK’S ASTRO CITY series) who’s in the process of an ongoing contractual relationship with DC Comics and is–currently–the regular writer of DC’s SUPERMAN series. Recently, Kurt and I co-plotted and I laid out (to be finished by the excellent Eduardo Barreto) a one-issue “SUPERMAN” issue which guest-starred Wonder Woman and introduced Khyrana, a new super-villainess into the DC universe. Our editor (and Kurt) thought that Khyrana presented enough story material so when Kurt proposed that he and I explore her potential in four additional issues of WONDER WOMAN. This sideline activity is scheduled to effectively claim most of the professional time that had previously been dedicated to editing (and co-plotting, and sometimes writing and/or drawing) the now-departed three Claypool series, SOULSEARCHERS AND COMPANY, PHANTOM OF FEAR CITY, and ELVIRA® MISTRESS OF THE DARKâ„¢, so I’m neither idle nor starving.
Interestingly enough, Kurt called me this past Memorial Day weekend to remind me of the following factoid: That it was twenty-five years ago that week that he and I “broke in” to the big-time comics business, each being hired by DC then-editor Ernie Colon to write (him) and draw (me) a back-up “Tales of the Green Lantern Corps” feature for GREEN LANTERN #162. I hadn’t thought about that particular milestone in anything but the abstract for quite a while, but it’s somewhat sobering: Twenty-five years in the business–and I was already mostly consumed by the whole comics-creator experience. My creator-owned “alternative” comics series PORTIA PRINZ OF THE GLAMAZONS (“The World’s Foremost Pseudo-Intellectual Super-Heroine!”) made her debut in 1974, was first published in 1977, and is still extant in some form or another (Portia popped up to guide Bridget and Baraka of the Soulsearchers through the Artsy Dimension back in SS & CO. #65, May 2005, for instance).

There were a few other reverses this past year, too. A minor annoyance: The fellow here in town who’d been, for the past two years, a friend, a mentee, and–for one of those years–my Editorial Assistant, decided that since he wasn’t actively working for me (or learning from me) anymore, he was entitled to keep the various monies he owed me and property of mine that he’d borrowed. Naturally, I took exception to this, and after waiting for about seven months after he’d started his new job, finally confronted him about it. His response was to pay me a fraction of what he owed, request change (?), and then completely stop talking to me. As might be imagined, having a former friend flamboyantly snub you in the street is rather awkward, especially in a tiny town like Leonia. I haven’t given up on the whole mentoring process, but I consider this one–both the experiment and the subject–to be failures of the first order. Add to that some stress-related medical issues over the Summer, and the home life took something of a hit.

Somewhat more successful, although also troublesome in its own right, was my attempt to inch forward into the twenty-first century. Now that Claypool was in the process of becoming more and more Internet-based, I needed to upgrade my computer and elecrtonic systems, including my phone and cable (for high-speed Internet). It was a many-tiered undertaking, since the older computers I had wouldn’t accomodate OS 10 and I needed at least that in order to shift to high-speed and digital and all that. Basically, about seven different pieces of progress had to be implemented, and they all had to be done more or less concurrently. Of course, some things didn’t unfold precisely as they were supposed to, and the nice support staff of Time-Warner Cable became very familiar with my voice and face.
It took longer than I’d hoped to have the new system up and running with any assurance, and so I’ve really not devoted any time to all the various subsidiary advantages that my computers can provide–like iTunes, burning DVDs, or even scanning. I’m just glad that I can get my E-mail, access the Claypool website, and play around on Google, eBay, Amazon, etc. Eventually, I’ll be able to upload visuals directly to the website (and not have to rely exclusively on the expertise–and patience–of our webmaster Thom Zahler).

I’m still making appearances at comics conventions in Manhattan a few times per year, which keeps me in touch somewhat with the trends in the business and keeps my face out there somewhat in front of comics fans. I plan to continue this practice, and each and every member of the Claypool faithful is encouraged to stop by and say hello.

So I’m hoping, this holiday, that each and every one of you reading these words is/are as secure and satisfied with your lives as I am with mine, that the old maxim about good things happening to good people holds true, and that we’re all in comfort, if not necessarily in clover.

My best wishes to all, during this season of joy, and highest hopes for our futures.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 3rd, 2007 at 3:27 pm and is filed under the latest news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.