Grubbs Sunday Comic Strip

Here's a recent Grubbs comic strip. I'm happy to say we've had a good response from newspapers, particularly independently owned papers, the lifeblood of the industry. Grubbs also has gone international, appearing in a European publication.

Grubbs Trade Paperback

This is the cover for the Grubbs trade paperback. We're getting closer to having the comic books printed and released. Grubbs is also now appearing in several weekly newspapers.

Grubbs Website

The Grubbs website is now live (mostly). Grubbs #1 is available in B&W as a free downloadable PDF. Let me know whatcha think!

Ted

Comic Books for Kids

One of the things I like about Grubbs is it is appropriate for all ages. My kids, 6 & 9, both get a kick out of it and have even helped. My daughter has been my official eraser, and has worked hard and put a lot of care and personal pride into her work. My son has helped with the coloring and has been a big asset, taking on a big job for his age.

While putting together the comic book, my wife looked through it and startled me with some out-loud laughs... and she is no fan of comic books.

I probably learned to read from the comics, and it breaks my heart that there aren't more comics out there for kids... on the newspaper comics pages or in the comics shops. The comic book companies are finally realizing there is a whole new audience out there, and that they need to reach it or else all they'll have is a bunch of 65-year-old comic book fans before too long. And it is the independent comics creators who showed them that it needed to be done, and how to do it.

There are no more turnstile racks in local stores any more, so it's hard to reach kids directly. Yet even the libraries have finally realized that comics are a great way to get kids to read. Parents are out there as well, looking for comics that are appropriate for kids, but having a hard time. So here are some comics that the kids and I have enjoyed.

First up is The Dreamland Chronicles by Scott Sava who, with Herobear's Mike Kunkle, published the Spooner comics. The Dreamland Chronicles has built up quite a following and Scott, besides being a terrific guy, tells a great story and creates a whole new look with his 3-D animation style. You can also read it weekly online.


Another book we have enjoyed is Owly, by Andy Runton. Owly is mostly a wordless comic and great for younger readers. It's just cute as heck.


My son and I really enjoyed the second Gasoline Alley collection, Walt and Skeezix. It collects the third and fourth years of Gasoline Alley comic strips (1923-24) after baby Skeezix was left at bachelor Walt's doorstep. Frank King was one of the best cartoonists ever, and I've never read a classic comic that holds up so well. It's just perfection.


I'm not real enamoured with DC's Tiny Titans, but the kids like it. The stories are as simple and silly as you can get, but the art is fun, with drawing chores by Art Baltazar, who also creates the comic Patrick the Wolf Boy. My son prefers the in-between version, Teen Titans Go!, but it was canceled in May.


Another fun, well-done comic is Power Pack, a sisters and brothers team of superheroes reinvented for Marvel in an anime look. Libraries usually have hardback copies of the limited run, and the series is supposed to start again this year.


You can also check out the link to the right, Kids Love Comics. And of course, you can find lots of old Archie, Richie Rich, Casper and Disney comics on ebay, even though ebay sucks.

And keep your eye out for Grubbs.

Ka-Blam Digital Printing

I needed to make some good quality hard copies of the first Grubbs comic book. I had run across a POD (print on demand) printer called Ka-Blam that specializes in comics. Believe it or not, it cost less to have a few full-color comics printed than it would have cost to have laser prints done at a copy shop... in this case, just a tad over $3 a book.

This is great for printing out a good quality dummy to proof before going to print, or for just printing up a short run if you're not ready to have a couple thousand copies printed up. And the cost is less than $2 per book (for 32 pages) if the interior is black and white, making it affordable if you want to print up a few dozen and sell them yourself.

The quality is pretty darn good, and Ka-Blam met their turnaround deadline, and actually got it to me a couple days early. Based on this experience, I would recommend them to anyone who is considering a short print run.

The colors are a little off, because for some reason they require the files be RGB rather than CMYK. They say this is to make the pages more vivid with bright colors, which is understandable, but converting to RGB might require going in and doing a little color tweaking before delivering the files. The color quality is great; it's just that colors change when you convert from CMYK to RGB, and I didn't do any tweaking.

Overall, though, the books look like "real comic books" as my kids said. The paper is nice and one could confidently sell these to readers. It's also an efficient way to make sure everything looks right before sending things to the printer.

I think it is also a great resource for kids who are creating their own comic books. This service is easily affordable and blows Lulu out of the water. Kids can make their own "real" comic books and sell them to their friends.

To find out more, check out Ka-Blam's website.

Grubbs #3 Cover

Grubbs #2 Cover

I'm not quite sure about this one. Something is not working, but I'm not sure what it is.

The Daily Rebel

I was researching the latest paper to run Max Weaver's Grubbs comic strip, the Garhwal Post in India, and ran across the story below.

We've grown pretty lacadaisical about newspapers in the United States, both on the readership end and the publisher side. We all seem to have forgotten what newspapers can deliver that other media can't, and worse, why they should.

In many other parts of the world, newspapers are thriving, and where they are not thriving, their need is recognized. As an example, the Garhwal Post is the only English-language paper in Uttarakhand. This story reminds us that Whoever controls the media can in many ways control the People, because we can only make decisions based on the information we have access to.

Today most American newspapers are owned by a handful of media conglomerates, and studies show a level of distrust in American media that is higher than any time in this country's history. While media conglomerates continue to cause their newspapers to self-destruct, I look forward to new, independent publishers entering the field who aren't afraid to take risks and know what newspapers are all about.

Ted

Garhwal Post Workers Manhandled

DEHRADUN, 1 Oct: As many as 15 youths, reportedly on the way back from the launch party of a newspaper, manhandled employees of Garhwal Post who were pasting promotional banners on Tuesday night. Youths manhandled employees, put a bundle of flex banners on fire, and pulled down some GP hoardings. Manohar, an employee of Garhwal Post, was supervising two other hired employees in the putting up of banners at Behl Chowk on Rajpur Road at around 1:30 a.m. Inebriated youths who were on motorcycles stopped them from doing so and manhandled them before snatching the banners. They youths even threatened the employees that their bicycles would be set on fire if they continued to put up the banners.The youths then asked them where they had put similar banners and proceeded towards Clock Tower. When Garhwal Post people inspected the area, they found that banners and hoardings had been pulled down from many places including the Clock Tower, Gandhi Road and Chakrata Road. A complaint has been lodged with Dalanwala Police in this regard. Senior police officials were also immediately informed.
The youth are believed to be working in a national English Daily launched few days back.

Link

Grubbs

Sketched & inked in ArtRage2.

Grubbs #4 Cover

Mystic Woods Sketch

I'm doing some more work on Mystic Woods this week in hopes of developing it as a junior graphic novel. This was drawn in Sketchbook Pro. The little guy's name is Boo.

Today I spent time working with the kids on their cursive lettering, and then to make things a little more interesting we did some calligraphy. They really pick things up quickly.

Penciled one Sunday strip and began another. I ran out of caffeine-free Mountain Dew and had to drink the hard stuff. The new Mountain Dew logo sucks! It is one of the worst I have ever seen. What happened to all the great logo designers? They've been replaced with people who fiddle around in Illustrator and never sit down with pencil and paper, using good design principles. Even my 9-year-old son thinks it's awful, without any prompting.

Talked with a really nice newspaper publisher today who said their readers are enjoying Grubbs. It's nice to have actual contact with newspaper people.

Just finished reading Steve Canyon book 2, 1948. Milton Caniff was a genius. I've never seen better storytelling, and its awesome seeing his art at its peak. He was so heavy with the brush, at least 50% of the space in his strips was black. A little too heavy at times, but mostly to good effect. It's almost as if he was painting with ink rather than drawing. Highly recommend it.

It's been a challenge keeping my basement studio warm. It takes two space heaters on the coldest days. I don't mind it being cool that much except it is harder to draw with cold fingers. I have some animator gloves but just can't draw with 'em. Last winter I was doing a lot of work on my tablet PC, so I worked upstairs more, and anyways, the computer is a source of warmth. Good in winter, bad in summer.

I got a little disgusted yesterday reading about a company that is laying off thousands of workers, and upon making that announcement, its stock price rose considerably. It's hard to tell which companies are really hurting and which ones are taking advantage of the economic climate to expedite cutbacks.

Burn Notice is back on. I love that show.