THINKING INSIDE THE SQUARE

So a lot has happened in the last month.  Jet City Comic Show in Tacoma was my first show 100% solo, and also my first one-day show.  One of the most interesting things about attending comic cons as an exhibitor is all the people-watching, seeing how we react to one another in a fairly confined area, a common interest linking us together.  A little microcosm of life.  But no real guns allowed inside the convention center.  Perhaps the most enjoyable thing I discovered during this show is that during a one-day show, when someone tells you they'll be back later to buy your book, they might actually come back!  So to those of you who came back for Undertow, thank you!  I hope you enjoyed to book, because I have officially bled for it.  On my way back to the car at the end of the day, the wind caught my exhibitor badge, whipped it up in my face, and cut me on the bridge of my nose.  And then upon returning to my car, I found a $35 parking ticket on my windshield!  Touche, Tacoma, touche.  I still had a good time.  But I will do my damnedest to never again part at Republic Parking Northwest, because I'm fairly certain that whoever was monitoring the lot that day stole my parking money from the box, and possibly wrote me the ticket as well.

While at the show I met one of the designers of Amazon's Kindle Comic Creator who was looking for feedback on their program, which they use to upload comic and graphic novels in their Kindle Store.  I told him I'd love to help, and this past week I have done just that.  So as of right now you can buy Undertow #1 (1st printing) on Amazon.com in their Kindle Store for $1.99!  And now I'm going to tell you exactly why that is so cool.

Kindle Comic Creator

Digital comics are changing the way we read comics.  This is my third time formatting Undertow to be read digitally, and each time it's become more involved in an effort to make the reading experience more fluid and uninterrupted.  Initially, digital comics were a PDF file, stringing together images, basically the same as you'd see on printed paper.  Last year, I submitted Undertow to comiXology, which I was told (correctly) was the shit.  ComiXology gave digital readers the option of viewing an illustrated sequential page more sequentially--who the heck could have thought of that besides some twisted-ass comic book genius?  I didn't have a true appreciation for what those villains did until I tried this panel-by-panel breakdown myself with the Kindle Comic Creator.

comiXology (reader)

Basically, where comiXology took the individual panels off the page and put them in front of the reader, one at a time, Kindle got their double-think on, and put those panels back.  It sounds like plain lunacy, and probably is, but I dig it!  It took me twelve hours to go back through Undertow #1, reformat all the pages, and input them to my specifications, but it was worth it for a couple of reasons.  It brought me closer to these stories from back in the day, and also heightened my awareness of how the images, and the captions I put on the pages (both as words and as images) work together, or should work together.  The basic tasks are fairly mundane, re-sizing panels and changing their level of magnification, but the end product really brings each image and moment of the story to your attention.  Highlights, even.  It works, and I'm very pleased with how Undertow turned out.  You should definitely check it out, especially definitely if you haven't read Undertow yet.  If you're a comic creator, give Kindle Comic Creator a crack with you own book--you won't be disappointed.  Even better, after submitting the book it was available in the Kindle Store the next day.  Undertow #2 and Undertow #3 will be available there also, before the end of the year.

This past week 7th Wave Comics was also featured in Self Publisher! Magazine!  There's a four-page interview with Gibson Quarter and myself about how Undertow came to be, what it is, and what it will be--read it!  The interview is in issue #69 that you can download for FREE by clicking here or on the cover image below.

And one final news item (for the moment)--there's a new 7th Wave Comics website in the works!  The domain will remain the same (www.7thwavecomics.com), and the blog will be integrated into the website.  There will be more content up from myself and fellow Undertow creators, and the website will be a big improvement all around--more professional, as Gibson Quarter would say.  And speaking of GQ, here's some professional OG boo-tay from the upcoming Undertow #4, available at Emerald City Comicon March 28-30 here is Seattle.  You should do your best to attend--come see Greg, Adam, GQ, and myself--it's going to be a blast!