I’m not a whiner, nor usually a beggar, but I figure best be honest about what’s going on and hope. Like a lot of comics guys getting their own thing rolling, I’ve been self-funding Arctos Comics from my day job as a web and graphic designer. I live in Michigan, those of you who pay attention to the ecomnomic updates coming from Michigan may see where this is going.
I got laid off today.
The biggest casualty of this layoff is going to be Belter, which is almost ready to launch. That will be postponed indefinitely. I plan to take the five penciled and inked pages I have as well as the 20 pages of script and offer them around to see if I can come up with a publisher. Wish me luck on that. Karl and I are both willing to jump back in and finish this work if we can find an alternate funding source.
As for Orion, again, I need help. I don’t want to ask Joe to go without payment for all the hard work he puts in. I’m already paying him far less than he’s worth. He’s far too professional in both ability and attitude for me to ask that of him. I’ve been there. Wanting it so bad, loving what you do so much, that you are willing to let yourself be taken advantage of. I won’t be the kind of publisher that does that. I’d rather be a Wal-Mart greeter.
So I’ve added a donate button to the site. Hopefully some of you will feel inclined to help keep us going. Not to pay me, or pay for my time. God knows I’ll have enough of that on my hands for the foreseeable future. Every penny will go to the site and to paying the artists. On that you have my guarantee.
Same thing for advertisers. Our ads keep us going, click a few and you’re helping support what we do. Same for Digging, Tweeting, FaceBooking and Stumbling. Those buttons help bring us new fans. Spread the word if you like what we are doing.
So click an ad, buy a t-shirt, tweet, Stumble or Digg this article or the comic, or use that donate button to throw us a couple of bucks.
Thank you for sticking with us. I hope to have better info soon.
Living in Michigan is a bit of a bummer, but on the bright side you now have tons of time to work on Orion the Hunter. Site redesign with a CMS. Get Orion posted on every blog and comics forum available. Generate additional side stories without graphics. The world you’ve created in just a few pages is fantastic. How about offering a pdf of all the current pages for $1? Wouldn’t take much to generate the pdf, and you could offer the link to download after the PalPal transaction.
We intend to offer Chapter 1, and subsequent chapters for $1. Each will also include pin-ups by established artists like Guy Davis, Larry Stroman, Joe St. Pierre and some other old friends. I currently waiting for the first of the pin-ups to come in before putting up the digital books in PSP compatible, CBZ and PDF formats. We should see those by the end of the month.