Barbelith Underground > Creation > Jenny Everywhere

Bastard. We're always thinking of the same things at the same time.

I had always envisioned that if I were to ever create or help create a comic that one of the cool things to do would be to create an original story as a promotional teaser. I hate when previews are just a few random sample pages, usually without any closure.

Please, PLEASE keep in mind that the dimensions of your page MUST be width = 2/3 height (or height = 1 1/2 width). This is standard comic book page dimensions. The industry standard is 10 inch width x 15 height, though you can go smaller or larger, so long as you stay in the same proportions! I cannot emphasize this enough. Do not just take an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper (A4?) and have the borders run right along the edge of the paper. If you screw this up, I can guarantee you will not make it into the printed version!

And don't forget to check your legibility. Make your lettering is clear and not too cramped (unless that's what you're going for). Make a sample page, take it to a photocopier and shrink it down to the size of an average comic. Is it legible?

Whew.

OK, a few more stupid things. The reason I was holding back on the original tpb proposal was because I understand the comic book market much more than I do the book market. That said, I'm all for a full-scale tpb thing. Definitely. If it goes well maybe we can make it a yearly event, though there's no reason to get that far ahead of ourselves.

Though I will have all sorts of time this summer, next year is going to be even busier for me schoolwise. So I'll be doing as much as I can before Fall, but if it's going to be up to me to see this thing printed, it probably won't be until next Summer. I'll do some research on the tpb thing, but Cameron, if you're working on something similar I might come pestering you with questions eventually.

When I originally suggested the Jenny thing, it was for a bit of fun. Hopefully it still is, to an extent. I had hopes of starting a website with the stories and making a photocopied zine. Someone misunderstood me and thought that I meant a professionally printed comic. See, for me comics are just a hobby. I love making mini-comics for fun, and don't really have any ambition to go beyond that.

My idea of what Jenny's about is still relatively the same. When we were originally discussing "open-source" characters, I took a look at some of the other stabs at the idea. Most of them pretended at being free and clear while still having all sorts of strings attached to them. Most of these attempts petered out because there were so many hoops you had to jump through that it defeated the purpose, and nobody wanted to get involved.

My main goal (and obviously this is not necessarily the goal of other individuals or the collective as a whole) was and is visibility, accessibility and fun. To get some really cool stories out to as many people as possible and invite them to join in the party. Money doesn't really enter into this other than to keep the party going. I will not be making a cent off of this and I do not expect to recoup any money I invested personally. If Jenny does turn a nice profit (unlikely, but you never know), investors will obviously be repaid if desired. However, expect the majority of funds to go back into the bank to keep this thing going. In fact, it's my hope that because we're doing this without salries or overhead that we will be able to keep the actual price of the book at a decent level, or at the very least have the preview be absolutely free (even if it means just making photocopies). Imagine taking part in Free Comics Day!

I think it's always a good idea to plan ahead in the event that a party should break up. A few things we should decide upon.

If you invest in the project then decide to back out after the book is printed, you will not get your money back until and unless other investors get theirs. I'm really cool about people deciding that this isn't for them, all the way up to and including deserters starting their own Shifter publication (though we'll have to look into trademark issues, since I don't think the same title can be used as it will create consumer confusion). I realize that nobody here would ask for their money back immediately, but I thought I would spell it out just in case. I can ensure you that I am one of the most easy-going guys that you will likely to never meet, and if someone decides to leave there will be no hard feelings on my part.

Related to this is the possibility that someone will want to take their story with them if they leave. If we do sell out of copies (Big if) and decide to reprint, it would be nice if we had made sure where we stand on the publication rights. Would everyone be cool with the notion that once your story is printed, the collective has the right to reprint it in that particular book only? Under no circumstances will ownership of the title belong to the collective, though it would be nice to have perpetual reprint rights so as not to have a big gaping hole in subsequent editions. You are, of course, free to publish or have published any of your stories concurrentlyin other venues, whether you're still with the collective or not.

I know this all seems like we're putting the cart before the horse, but I've been involved in a great many collaborative efforts that have fizzled out, and it's always been far easier to sort things out when the ground rules have been set up from the start.

Though I think these are things worth discussing, and if you disagree feel free to mix it up, let's not forget that we have some fucking comics to create.

TOAST!

Jenny Everywhere - Updates