Let's just start with the basics.

I'm lazy and I'm an idiot.

Sure, I generally exercise an hour a day and like to drop words like "mellifluous" and "apocryphal" into every day conversation, but when it comes to the creation of comics, I like to keep things as simple as possible.

In my thirty-plus year long career, I've had the great good fortune to be able to work with some of comic's legendary writers, as well as with Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis ( I kid ), but, as great as those opportunities have been, I've gotten to the point in my life and my career where I am significantly happier and far more satisfied doing my own thing, as well as concocting insanely long run-on sentences, such as the one you're enjoying now.

Sketching at conventions and doing commissions have been fun and easy to do, as are covers and pin-ups but, in truth, I get far more satisfaction as a storyteller than I do as an artist. For me, a funny, unexpected moment is more lasting than a well-drawn page. If the only thing I'm remembered for on the Superman books I've done was the father who took horrible pictures, I'll be fine with that. It was a tiny bit done in a small panel, but more people talked about that than any of the double page spreads I did. I love creating moments.

So that's how I'd like to focus the last stretch of my career. Telling stories. My dumb-ass stories. And selling them here.

Why sell them digitally on Gumroad you may be asking? The answer is simple.

Complete and utter independence.

It all crystalized for me months ago when I was listening to an interview with comedian Bill Burr. He discussed two things that really hit home. One, he LOVED doing his podcast, as opposed to doing exactly the same thing as a radio show. He loved it because he didn't have to answer to anyone. There were no "notes", no meetings with mid-level executives to discuss ratings and advertising. He was his own boss. Secondly, he pointed out that you could make a much better living selling 2,000 copies of something you control rather than 20,000 copies of something someone else controls.

That was about the time I became aware of Gumroad and learned that they sold comics digitally. One of the things that appealed to me about them was that I didn't need anyone's permission to do it. Getting my stories out into the world didn't require the support and approval of an editor or a publisher or a Comixology board. (Although, it DOES break my heart that I won't be able to contribute just a little bit more to Jeff Bezos' new yacht. I hear it's a beaut! ) In this venue, I can do WHAT I want, put it out WHEN it's done, and have each issue as long as it needs to be to tell the story I want to tell.

Now, true, Kickstarter could have been an option and that's where the "laziness/keeping things simple" part kicks in. I really don't want to deal with everything involved in that process. The pre-ordering, the printing, the shipping. Too much other "stuff." Part of what I love about doing it this way is that if I'm done with an issue on a Tuesday morning, I click a button and you're reading it anywhere in the world Tuesday afternoon. Simple! Just how I like it. I REALLY just want to spend the lion's share of my time creating comic stories. Just focusing on putting out the next issue and little else.

Therefore, for starters, I'm putting up my 12 part "TANGA" series from a decade ago, finally collected in one volume for the very first time. I've waited a long time for people to be able to read it in one convenient sitting instead of stretched out over a long 16 months. It was supposed to be released from Image as a trade paperback last year. Contracts were being finalized, solicitations were written up, but then the pandemic hit. Things were put on pause until afterwards when, much to my surprise, they decided not to publish it. That decision played a huge part in my current course of action.

Following up, I've had a number of creator-owned ideas that I've been developing over the years and, at my advancing age, if I don't start doing them now, they ain't ever gonna happen. The first series in line is a space book called "THE COSMIC BADLANDS:The Worst F***ing Place In The Universe". Think of it like a workplace sit-com set in Kirby's Negative Zone. I'm putting the final touches on the first issue now and it will be available on this very site in June. I've got ideas for at least 5 story arcs for this series. Will there be trade paperbacks somewhere down the line? Maybe? Probably? I don't know.

On top of that, I'll be doing some things on this site I've never done before, in specific, merchandising and memberships. When exploring Gumroad, I read about their integration with a site called Printful.com. They make t-shirts, mugs, sweatshirts, all kinds of merchandise and I like their concept. You provide the art, put it on the site and when someone orders a t-shirt, Printful prints it up and ships it out. That's it! I don't have to do anything else. Simple! But what do I do? I can't do Blue Beetle/Booster Gold t-shirts. What else might people want from me? After a bit of thought, I asked myself, "What do I LIKE to do?" That's when I'd stumbled on an idea- weird monsters + goofy expressions + wise-ass comments = right up my alley. I call them The Merry Magsters because I am just that clever.

I've also extended that title to the membership. It's something new to Gumroad and it's a bit like a Patreon. For years I've had artists far wiser than me tell me I should do a Patreon, but I never did. In setting it up, again, I wanted to keep it simple and decided to just have one tier. No class system. Everybody's equal here. I'm a bit excited to explore the possibilities here. I can put up work-in-progress pictures and videos, do some blogging, and I've even been thinking of riffing movies.

So that's it! That's what I'm doing here. Starting an all new chapter to my career. Being outside the "system", I have absolutely no idea how this will do. This could be the single greatest move I've ever made or an utter waste of time. After all. there are SO many options for comic fans out there. But, for me, it's long overdue. I'm not striving to sell tens of thousands of copies of each issue, that's not the ultimate goal. I'm just seeking out an audience on the same wavelength as me and hoping to make a decent living creating some light entertainment for them.

Right now, I kind of feel like I'm opening a fruit stand on the outskirts of town. I can't compete with the big city supermarkets but if I sell damn good apples, then maybe word of mouth will see me through.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Have fun!

Kevin