A Tough Announcement

Getting the word out about a brand new comic with two unknown creators is more than an uphill battle. There are worse jobs in the world (ditch digger, roof tarrer, Kim Jong Un's food-taster), but it definitely isn't easy. And like every other comic creator out there, Ludo and I feel that if we could just get people to read Tart, they'd love it.

And we've got some people to read it. And most who've read it have told us they love it. Now we don't quite believe our moms' opinions, but we believe the rest of you like it on its merits.

But last week at Megacon was a huge eye opener to me. It was nearly impossible to get anyone to even look at our book in artist alley. And with an eye toward success, we have sent some emails back and forth across the Atlantic discussing some possible solutions.

And sometimes you have to take one step backward before you can take two steps forward.

With that said, Ludo and I have come to the difficult decision of splitting from What the Flux Comics. We have some ideas we're thinking of implementing that do not align with WTFC's philosophy. And instead of asking them to bend to our ideas (Heck, we don't know if they'll work, or at some level even what they are, so how can we ask them to change the way they do business to accommodate us?), we're going to make a clean break.

Which leaves us in a bit of a quandary. With issue 4 just off the presses, and pre-ordered copies still undelivered, what do we do. The people at WTFC, (still our friends) have agreed to continue to sell the book under the WTFC banner for the entire month of April. After that, Tart will be unavailable in a physical format for an unknown amount of time. So please, please, please... if want a copy of Tart go to www.whatthefluxcomics.com/webstore.php and order a copy. They still have a great deal on Vol 1 combined with issue 4 so you can have first printings of all the Tart books published by WTFC (which might become collectors items as we've sold in the low 100s so far).

And since we still love them at WTFC, please feel free to pick up a copy of "Red Angel" (who's author Erin Pyne was a godsend at MegaCon helping sell one of the few copies of Tart we were able to move), "The Grove" which is a promising looking title starring animals that have experienced genetic experiments trying to survive in a post nuclear holocaust world populated by murderous mutated humans, and my favorite "Mac And Trouble" which is a humor mag I read the weekend of MegaCon penciled by Dan Gorman (who was nice enough to give us half his space or else I wouldn't have even been able to spread the word on Tart as much as I did).

"Mac and Trouble" is hilarious. Two cats fall through a wormhole and get a job with a group that fixes glitches in history when they pop up (think an Indy Car suddenly appearing in a Roman chariot race. Better yet, think of it as a parody of Tart even though they didn't know Tart existed when they created it). I can't recommend this book enough. It is silly, cute and often enough, laugh out loud funny.

So spread the word. Tart is Good. But if you want a copy, the time to act is now. After April is over physical copies will not be available until Ludo and I figure out if we're publishing ourselves, submitting to new publishers, kickstarting books or returning to a digital only format.

For now though, Tart's story continues. Issue 5 is being prepped for art. It kicks ass. Issue 6 is scripted. It kicks major ass. Issue 7 is partially scripted, partially in my head. It chills out a little and answers lots of questions (ass kicking commences, but it's definitely a decaffeinated type of ass-kickery).

Ludo and I have a story to tell with Tart. Please help us get through this momentary stutter-step so we can come out as strong, or stronger than ever.

issue 4!

Oops... been away... for awhile

I knew a girl who once skipped 6 weeks of high school. Not in total. In a row.

She says her friends wanted to skip a day. So she said sure. Who cares.

Then they had fun. And when you have fun like that you really want to do it again, so they skipped the next day. Well that second day they skipped was Thursday, and if you've skipped Wednesday and Thursday, she and her friends reasoned, why go back on Friday.

Well Monday rolled around and she felt guilty. And her friends did too. If they went in they'd have to explain how they skipped most of the last week. So they didn't go in. All of a sudden it was two weeks of school, and then she said she just couldn't go back. She'd skipped two weeks! How do you explain that?!?

Eventually a cop came upon them and they were brought back to school a month and a half later. She admitted to me that she was so relieved when that happened because it was literally the only way she could go back. She wanted to go back, but couldn't get over the embarrassment of how long it had been since she'd last been to school.

That's how i feel about this blog. I skipped. And then I skipped. And then a month had gone by. And then two. And then... well I can't blog without admitting how long I'd gone without blogging.

Long story short, I'm a horrible person and I suck at life.

But I do have a tremendous review of Tart # 4 which is coming out in a few weeks (you can preorder at what the fluxcomics.com) from jaybwebb.wordpress.com. So please read that.

And please forgive the fact that I haven't blogged in too long a time to mention.