You're Invited to a Dead Man's Party
At the Great Allentown Comic Con earlier this month, I had the pleasure of sharing a table with artist Scott Barnett. Scott and writer Jeff Marsick are the co-creators of the gritty crime comic book series,
Dead Man's Party
. When the world's top hit man is convinced he's dying, he decides to go out the honorable way--by taking out a hit on himself (aka a Dead Man's Party). Unfortunately, things do not go as planned for our world-class assassin and he changes his mind.
But of course, it's too late for that.
Today, we chat with Scott about the origins of the story and what goes into producing an independent comic book.
First, tell us where we can find you online.
I’m always loitering around the Dead Man’s Party Facebook page or our website
www.DeadMansParty.org . You can also find me on my personal FB page or by my Twitter handle, @ScottBarnettArt.
What inspired the idea for Dead Man’s Party and what brought you and Jeff Marsick together for the project?
Jeff (DMP’s co-creator and writer) and I have been friends for many years, and we’d been trying to find something we could work on together for a while. One night a few years back, I’m watching TV and an idea pops into my head: a hitman putting out a contract on himself. I wrote myself a page of notes, with a note to call Jeff about this. The very next day, he e-mails me, bringing up the subject of collaborating again. “Funny you should ask; I have an idea." I outline my concept to him, and I can almost HEAR his jaw drop. Turns out he had a hitman idea floating in the back of his head forever but didn’t know what to do with it. His idea was the competition of the Dead Man’s Party itself, complete with the name. Our ideas intertwined so well, we knew we had our concept right then and there!
For those who’ve never heard of the book (shame on you, by the way), Dead Man’s Party is a crime fiction comic series about a world-class assassin and what happens when he’s forced to arrange a Party, which is a competition amongst a hitman’s peers, giving them thirty days to compete for his scalp and his Swiss bank account (there really is no retirement plan for that career path, after all). The invitations are sent, the killers are coming... and that's when things go horribly wrong. If you’re a fan of the Jason Bourne trilogy, this series is right up your alley.
What advice do you have for those that might be interested in producing an independent comic book?
I don’t want to sound too much like Nike, but JUST DO IT! The opportunity to do your own thing has never been greater. The technology exists to be able to do virtually everything yourself. You can create your book with standard art software like Photoshop and Illustrator, write your scripts with a wide variety of scripting tools, websites have never been easier to create with all the services that supply customizable templates, and of course, social media like Facebook and Twitter are there to get yourself in front of a global audience. You can even print to your individual needs. If you can’t afford (or don’t need) large print runs, there are digital printers who will print exactly whatever small quantities you need.
The trick is balancing two factors- time and money. If you can afford to bring in people to help you with creating the book, promoting it and selling it, that’s awesome. If you can’t, that’s okay, too- it’s just going to take more time. If you’re committing to a self-publishing venture, you’re going to have to put in a LOT of time. That’s just a simple fact. But if you have a passion to tell that story of yours, you gotta go for it.
Can you expand upon that a bit? Where are the primary expenditures (layout, printing, binding)?
We’ve found that there is SO much more that goes into the process of creating an independent series than we realized. Actually creating the content (the writing and the art) is only about half the work. There’s printing, creating (and updating) a website for it, promoting it on social media, making appearances at comic shops and conventions to sell to the public and spread the word, and visiting comic shops to sell product to. As I mentioned before, the tools exist to do as much of this as you’d like, to save money, but it takes more time, and more likely than not, you’re already working a ‘day job’ to make sure the lights stay on at home. But it is doable- I know many people besides Jeff and myself who juggle jobs, their personal lives and their labor of love.
But for the sake of answering the question as stated? Besides creating the actual content, you simply need the services of a digital printer, preferably one that specializes in printing comic books. By that, I don’t mean the printer in your office. I’m talking about a printing service that specializes in small print runs. Off-set printers usually require large print runs (in the thousands) to justify the costs of setting up their presses.
A digital printer, however, doesn’t use printing presses. They print from computer equipment, I believe, which allows them to print whatever quantity you’d like, even one copy at a time, if you so choose. The advantage to this is that you can print based on your demand. If you know you can’t sell 5000 copies and don’t want to keep that much inventory, you can use a digital printer to print you the 150 copies you think you’re going to sell. In dealing with a digital printer, you don’t need to worry about laying out the whole book or how it’s going to get bound. They take care of that- all you need to know is exactly what format your printer requests for your individual page files and the order in which the pages will run. It’s really that simple.
What can readers expect from you next?
Well, Jeff and I are currently working on the fourth, and final, issue of Dead Man’s Party, which should be available during the first quarter of 2014; issues one, two and three are available now. I recently did a cover for M3 , an independent crime series from Vices Press; my cover (issue #10) is a few issues away from publication. Jeff is also currently wrapping up the first mini-series of his other creator-owned series, Z-Girl and The Four Tigers with Kirk Manley (co-creator and artist). And Jeff and I will be sitting down shortly to discuss our plans for a sequel to Dead Man’s Party.
Check out some cover art and a sample from Dead Man's Party...
But of course, it's too late for that.
Today, we chat with Scott about the origins of the story and what goes into producing an independent comic book.
First, tell us where we can find you online.
I’m always loitering around the Dead Man’s Party Facebook page or our website
www.DeadMansParty.org . You can also find me on my personal FB page or by my Twitter handle, @ScottBarnettArt.
What inspired the idea for Dead Man’s Party and what brought you and Jeff Marsick together for the project?
Jeff (DMP’s co-creator and writer) and I have been friends for many years, and we’d been trying to find something we could work on together for a while. One night a few years back, I’m watching TV and an idea pops into my head: a hitman putting out a contract on himself. I wrote myself a page of notes, with a note to call Jeff about this. The very next day, he e-mails me, bringing up the subject of collaborating again. “Funny you should ask; I have an idea." I outline my concept to him, and I can almost HEAR his jaw drop. Turns out he had a hitman idea floating in the back of his head forever but didn’t know what to do with it. His idea was the competition of the Dead Man’s Party itself, complete with the name. Our ideas intertwined so well, we knew we had our concept right then and there!
For those who’ve never heard of the book (shame on you, by the way), Dead Man’s Party is a crime fiction comic series about a world-class assassin and what happens when he’s forced to arrange a Party, which is a competition amongst a hitman’s peers, giving them thirty days to compete for his scalp and his Swiss bank account (there really is no retirement plan for that career path, after all). The invitations are sent, the killers are coming... and that's when things go horribly wrong. If you’re a fan of the Jason Bourne trilogy, this series is right up your alley.
What advice do you have for those that might be interested in producing an independent comic book?
I don’t want to sound too much like Nike, but JUST DO IT! The opportunity to do your own thing has never been greater. The technology exists to be able to do virtually everything yourself. You can create your book with standard art software like Photoshop and Illustrator, write your scripts with a wide variety of scripting tools, websites have never been easier to create with all the services that supply customizable templates, and of course, social media like Facebook and Twitter are there to get yourself in front of a global audience. You can even print to your individual needs. If you can’t afford (or don’t need) large print runs, there are digital printers who will print exactly whatever small quantities you need.
The trick is balancing two factors- time and money. If you can afford to bring in people to help you with creating the book, promoting it and selling it, that’s awesome. If you can’t, that’s okay, too- it’s just going to take more time. If you’re committing to a self-publishing venture, you’re going to have to put in a LOT of time. That’s just a simple fact. But if you have a passion to tell that story of yours, you gotta go for it.
Can you expand upon that a bit? Where are the primary expenditures (layout, printing, binding)?
We’ve found that there is SO much more that goes into the process of creating an independent series than we realized. Actually creating the content (the writing and the art) is only about half the work. There’s printing, creating (and updating) a website for it, promoting it on social media, making appearances at comic shops and conventions to sell to the public and spread the word, and visiting comic shops to sell product to. As I mentioned before, the tools exist to do as much of this as you’d like, to save money, but it takes more time, and more likely than not, you’re already working a ‘day job’ to make sure the lights stay on at home. But it is doable- I know many people besides Jeff and myself who juggle jobs, their personal lives and their labor of love.
But for the sake of answering the question as stated? Besides creating the actual content, you simply need the services of a digital printer, preferably one that specializes in printing comic books. By that, I don’t mean the printer in your office. I’m talking about a printing service that specializes in small print runs. Off-set printers usually require large print runs (in the thousands) to justify the costs of setting up their presses.
A digital printer, however, doesn’t use printing presses. They print from computer equipment, I believe, which allows them to print whatever quantity you’d like, even one copy at a time, if you so choose. The advantage to this is that you can print based on your demand. If you know you can’t sell 5000 copies and don’t want to keep that much inventory, you can use a digital printer to print you the 150 copies you think you’re going to sell. In dealing with a digital printer, you don’t need to worry about laying out the whole book or how it’s going to get bound. They take care of that- all you need to know is exactly what format your printer requests for your individual page files and the order in which the pages will run. It’s really that simple.
What can readers expect from you next?
Well, Jeff and I are currently working on the fourth, and final, issue of Dead Man’s Party, which should be available during the first quarter of 2014; issues one, two and three are available now. I recently did a cover for M3 , an independent crime series from Vices Press; my cover (issue #10) is a few issues away from publication. Jeff is also currently wrapping up the first mini-series of his other creator-owned series, Z-Girl and The Four Tigers with Kirk Manley (co-creator and artist). And Jeff and I will be sitting down shortly to discuss our plans for a sequel to Dead Man’s Party.
Check out some cover art and a sample from Dead Man's Party...
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