Gulatta!
Right.
So, awhile back I was thinking about the 07 Convention season, and more specifically, I was thinking about promo items. Obviously, my first thought was to do what I usually do, and work up a handful of little minicomics, which I could sell for 50 cents. As I was thinking about it, I thought about the Cons of doing the minis. For starters, they were small, so it was harder to draw the minis. Secondly, there wasn't enough pages to really tell a cool story. I had to get in, do something cool, and then write The End. Sure, Walt and Sped worked surprisingly well in that format, but my Clown mini-stories got repetitive real quick. Also, I always thought they looked a little shoddy. Lastly, they were a lot of work (I hand made them at Kinkos) for virtually no payoff (Each mini cost 49 cents to make and I charged 50 cents or gave them away free with purchase. In a case of SUPREME stupidity, at SPACE in 2005 I made minis that cost $1.00 per unit to make and only charged 25 cents, or gave them away with purchase. So if you've got a copy of SDF: Space Case, cherish it, cause you've got 75 cents of a moronic self publisher's money.)
At the same time that I was trying to think of a better promo item, I was toying around with an idea for an All Ages Book. The reason why I wanted to do an All Ages book was two fold. 1) It could be something I could market to younger children and the more conservative types, thus broadening my audience, and 2) I just kinda wanted to do something laid back and fun, sort of a homage to 60s comics and the old Gladstone comics. Anyway, the idea occured to me to combine the two ideas into one new one. I could make it a 12 page book, print it on cheaper paper, chuck the glossy cover, and I would have a book that was comic sized, long enough to tell a decent story, but still cheap enough to produce that I could sell it for a buck without losing my shirt. And thus, Gulatta! was born.
The concept of Gulatta! is pretty simple. The story is set in Big Town, a city populated almost exclusively by Freaks, Geeks, Monsters, and Masked Wierdos. "Normal" people are in the minority. (Sorta the opposite of the Clown's Mud Village, where CJ, Dolly, and Pengy are only a few of the oddball characters in town, while the majority of the village is populated by normal people) Big Town is divided into a number of offbeat districts (more on that in future issues). Despite its oddball populace, Big Town is a very peaceful town. Or at least it would be, if it wasn't for an evil spy organization called O.V.E.R.T. For some strange reason, the human agents of O.V.E.R.T. are continuously launching attacks on the populace of Big Town, using hi-tech gadgetry to even the odds with the supernaturally powered denizens of Big Town.
Even though it's a Black and White comic, the setting and characters of Gulatta! are very colorful and offbeat. It's an All Ages book, so there's no bloodshed or gore or cursing or sexy stuff, but there's still plenty of action and much of the usual TORC craziness. Also, there's some cool new characters introduced, such as:
Akuma Boy- A Japanese Chaos Spirit trapped in the body of an American Punk!
Mr. Dark- The Mysterious Masked Man whose Secret Identity is Everyone Else!
The Puzzelor- Who or What is the Puzzelor?
Anyway, it's 12 pages in glorious B&W for $1 plus $1 S&H. It can be ordered online at www.torcpress.com/comicshop.html or via snail mail at:
TORC Press
c/o Joseph Morris
330 S 5th St SW
Clay City, IL 62824
So, awhile back I was thinking about the 07 Convention season, and more specifically, I was thinking about promo items. Obviously, my first thought was to do what I usually do, and work up a handful of little minicomics, which I could sell for 50 cents. As I was thinking about it, I thought about the Cons of doing the minis. For starters, they were small, so it was harder to draw the minis. Secondly, there wasn't enough pages to really tell a cool story. I had to get in, do something cool, and then write The End. Sure, Walt and Sped worked surprisingly well in that format, but my Clown mini-stories got repetitive real quick. Also, I always thought they looked a little shoddy. Lastly, they were a lot of work (I hand made them at Kinkos) for virtually no payoff (Each mini cost 49 cents to make and I charged 50 cents or gave them away free with purchase. In a case of SUPREME stupidity, at SPACE in 2005 I made minis that cost $1.00 per unit to make and only charged 25 cents, or gave them away with purchase. So if you've got a copy of SDF: Space Case, cherish it, cause you've got 75 cents of a moronic self publisher's money.)
At the same time that I was trying to think of a better promo item, I was toying around with an idea for an All Ages Book. The reason why I wanted to do an All Ages book was two fold. 1) It could be something I could market to younger children and the more conservative types, thus broadening my audience, and 2) I just kinda wanted to do something laid back and fun, sort of a homage to 60s comics and the old Gladstone comics. Anyway, the idea occured to me to combine the two ideas into one new one. I could make it a 12 page book, print it on cheaper paper, chuck the glossy cover, and I would have a book that was comic sized, long enough to tell a decent story, but still cheap enough to produce that I could sell it for a buck without losing my shirt. And thus, Gulatta! was born.
The concept of Gulatta! is pretty simple. The story is set in Big Town, a city populated almost exclusively by Freaks, Geeks, Monsters, and Masked Wierdos. "Normal" people are in the minority. (Sorta the opposite of the Clown's Mud Village, where CJ, Dolly, and Pengy are only a few of the oddball characters in town, while the majority of the village is populated by normal people) Big Town is divided into a number of offbeat districts (more on that in future issues). Despite its oddball populace, Big Town is a very peaceful town. Or at least it would be, if it wasn't for an evil spy organization called O.V.E.R.T. For some strange reason, the human agents of O.V.E.R.T. are continuously launching attacks on the populace of Big Town, using hi-tech gadgetry to even the odds with the supernaturally powered denizens of Big Town.
Even though it's a Black and White comic, the setting and characters of Gulatta! are very colorful and offbeat. It's an All Ages book, so there's no bloodshed or gore or cursing or sexy stuff, but there's still plenty of action and much of the usual TORC craziness. Also, there's some cool new characters introduced, such as:
Akuma Boy- A Japanese Chaos Spirit trapped in the body of an American Punk!
Mr. Dark- The Mysterious Masked Man whose Secret Identity is Everyone Else!
The Puzzelor- Who or What is the Puzzelor?
Anyway, it's 12 pages in glorious B&W for $1 plus $1 S&H. It can be ordered online at www.torcpress.com/comicshop.html or via snail mail at:
TORC Press
c/o Joseph Morris
330 S 5th St SW
Clay City, IL 62824
2 Comments:
Gulatta! was pretty damn good, in my opinion. Great character designs as well.
My guess for the Puzzelor: Steve Rogers.
I was thinking Corey Haim.
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