Hey All!

Wanted to post an update on what's going on with the Benefit Project.

It's canceled.

No big whoop-I'll send friend requests to all people that have been friend-listed, but it's over folks.

Thanks for your interest.

I'm personally disappointed, but hey-I get that alot! :-)

-Brian Zastoupil (lordbronco)








*Snip of of old material*

We are looking at measures to make the final submission process as secure as possible, and ensure both Josh and creators that this is a legitimate project-in fact the one and only benefit project if there is to be one.

The good news is that there has been a plan from the get-go addressing these concerns. In fact, I would not have started the project if I had not figured out a way to do address these issues. Over the weekend, I came up with several new ideas, which can add additional layers of security.

Josh has indicated that he is incredibly busy, and we can all see what a great job he has been doing implementing great new features to the site.

Also, there have been "mirror" sites similar to this one already spotted-and Josh's concern is in making an official location directly under his control. I have volunteered already to hand this one back to his direct control, and I will be happy to do so if that is what he wants.

Though I'm dying to really get rolling on this project, and I appreciate that many of you are as well, I'm thinking that ironing out the problems now is much better than having issues later.

As it's envisioned right now, this is a very ambitious project. A printed product that is to represent ComicSpace as a community needs to have a lot of serious thought put into it.

Based on the excellent level of expertise I have already seen in out Creators, I'm not worried about the quality. However, Josh is correct in putting on the brakes while he has time to assess the proposal.

I have also raised the idea of getting *other* editors to help with the screening process-making it more of an editorial committee type situation, and other ideas as well.

So, I will let you know as soon as I do, Josh has been monitoring this project. He is just darn busy right now.

I will continue to friend-list anybody who is interested in being a possible Creator, but outgoing correspondence or new creator acceptances will not be issued until these issues are addressed.

Creators already on the list are encouraged to send private messages to Josh saying that your participation is real and that you would like to see it happen!

The staggeringly positive response so far has actually been one of the most positive experiences in my career so far! It has been great talking with the just the people I have met so far!

Thank you all very much!

-Brian Zastoupil
(lordbronco)

The proposal follows below:

Here's the deal!

100 Creators draw *others* original creations.

Here's the list so far:

Ferra Olivier (Tuss)
Chris Carpenter (Hard Way Studios)
Luther (LuthaHorse)
Michael Furious
Abraxas Comics Group
David Miller (Pariah)
Gary Mitchell (dubbery)
E.J. Morges (Press Oblivion)
sharkeyes (Ned)
Chrissy Delk
teksitune (Tim Georgi)
AlternaComics
Construct (Mike)
Cary (Cary Kelley)
m1keyby (Mikel Whelan)
jgiar
licensefarm
ITPstudios
RobJonesArt
teseract727
pabmarti
drunknmonkey77
FBWPeace
TWL
Chris McJ
Confetti_Surprise's
Dermybest
NoParking
lordbronco

Who am I? My name's Brian Zastoupil also known as lordbronco. LordBronco is my pretentious nom de gaming handle, but Brian works fine for saying howdy!

Thanks for *everybody's* interest! Peeps get friend listed as soon as the requests come in!

I also ask that once you have taken a look, send a comment asking to be included into the project. You can be a friend without participating!

I will update the list once a day, when we hit 100 hundred-It's On!

We donate all proceeds to site maintenance.

Artists retain all rights to their original works, which can also make excellent pieces to donate to the ComicSpace benefit art auction.

This location's comment list is a great place to comment on what features would make you feel comfortable participating!

Also, I wanted to thank those creators who have already shown so much enthusiasm as well as critical thinking concerning this, a truly unique project!


Who: 100 Creators create 100 original artworks based on original characters!

What: The pieces will be *actually printed* via a Print-On-Demand Printer service called Comixpress (here's their link http://www.comixpress.com). The book will be 120 pages in full-color, with the extra pages having space devoted to credits of creators, interviews with josh, free ads or previews for the cover artist's current projects.

The price point for the entire full-color prestige bound book is only $14.95, which I think it makes it something that has value for not only the creators, but also makes it something affordable for people who purchase it.

Why: We are doing this for many good reasons, but first and foremost, we are doing this to donate the proceeds to ComicSpace Site Hosting Fees, which are already out-stripping Josh's mortgage payments! We are doing it because a graphic novel like this actually makes 4 dollars of profit per issue sold, and that if just the 100 creators buy a single copy, that makes a decent little payment towards site maintenance.

If people who just wish to help with site maintenance start buying it, it can actually make a decent amount of money...

A secondary reason, but one of the better ones when viewed from the creators point of view, is this will make an amazingly effective form of self-promotion.

I am blessed on my friends list to have several veteran and current comics professionals included, but this project isn't going to benefit them nearly as much as someone who has never seen their work actually printed. (Though they are highly to encouraged to participate!).

Artists retain their original artwork pieces free and clear, and may choose to donate them the ComicSpace art auction, should they choose to. The important point is that the original character copyrights remain sole property of their original creators!

Participation in this project is not like Marvel/DC Comics-You are not signing away any current or future rights to your characters, nor are you committing your time to any future projects! I am more militant about this kind of thing than most people-believe me!

One of the most important parts of the book is going to be the credits section, which will have not only creators ComicSpace links, but also any other links they wish/choose to include. (I have even thought about having little thumbnail photos, all kinds of stuff).



Where: The pages are created by you using any digital or analog means of production you wish. I.E. there is no preference over one medium or another, no requirements that the piece has to be full-color, though it is nice to take advantage of. There is no preferred genre, either, no "it has to be a superhero piece versus an anime piece, versus a comedy piece".

One of the neatest things about ComicSpace is the mind-blowing span of genres, art styles, etc-and that's something I'd like to preserve with this project.

The where is you send copies to me digitally at 300 D.P.I., in the standardized template, and I will collate the project into a final format that will work with the printer, and I submit the entire project to Josh via DVD. He will submit it in his name directly to comixpress. If there's ever a profit, he'll decide what to do with it. This is important!

When: Update! We're are looking at about 3 weeks from now, maybe 4, and it's on!
The response so far has been overwhelmingly positive, I'm simply floored by so many of the Creators skill level's-it's quite humbling.

Proposed schedule as it's looking (subject to change by a week or so)

*ON HOLD*

Send Private messages to Josh-he's draggin' his feet!

This schedule works better with the quarterly billing system that is utilized by the printer, as well as giving people time to do their best work.

I want the quality of the work to be something people would be willing to pay for, and I want people to have time to enlist friends/collaborators of theirs. ComicSpace seems to be OK for now (knocks on wood), but we want to have an excellent product available to help Josh at the end of July.

To participate, there are very few requirements.

Creators are asked to post a gallery that features original characters, pieces, and to identify them as the ones you wish to appear in the Benefit. Artists or creators who wish to sponsor friends' projects for inclusion may do so as well. One artist may sponsor multiple possible projects, but only one will be chosen by the collaborative team.

I myself have been having problems posting galleries via the updated Firefox, so links to secondary sites like DeviantArt, Live Journal, Renderosity and private dedicated websites work fine.

With our newly enhanced timeline, there is time to negotiate and work with collaborators. Teams are encouraged to be flexible. Also, the lottery is a starting point, and only a suggestion for the 100 Creators.

Nobody is going to be forced to adhere to the random lottery or eliminated from the 100 because they wish to draw their own projects.

This has been the number one concern raised, and I feel that it is completely legitimate. We need your best work, and if that is only promoting your own project so be it.

Other than picking a project you feel comfortable working with, all that is required is a legitimate commitment to doing your best newest work on a single page, and working with me to make sure it looks it's best when it's printed.

I'm happy to walk anybody through the pre-production stuff, scanning images, etc. If you don't own a scanner or use digital stuff, I'll find a way to get your hand-drawn work looking it's best!

To sign up, friend list the ComicSpace Benefit Anthology Comic main site (this) site and send a comment/message saying "I'm in".

And that's it!

I hope people will realize what a great opportunity this can be for everybody involved, the fans, the creators, but most importantly the community at large!

Personally, I have to say that ComicSpace is the single coolest webpage I have ever run across!

It makes my day everytime I open it up and see some other inspired gallery by somebody I've never seen before, and find a new comic friend!

I would like to see this site around for a long, long time!

-Brian Z (lordbronco)

Normally, I'm a pretty silly guy with lots of emoticons, jokes, and funky posts, so I've made a conscious effort to make the above presentation succinct and professional. It is also why I split it off from my home page, where I can go back to and just kick it, so to speak.


Modifications to Project Proposal based on Creator feedback:

From people on the 100 list already, I have received very strong thinking, suggestions, ideas, so I'd like to address those:

Q. Why only single page submissions, why not double page gatefolds?

A. Do understand that we have a hard page count cap at 120 pages, so right now I'm leaning towards diversity-I'd love for there to be a hundred artists/projects as opposed to 40 or 50...

In addition, most people are so busy that even doing one page is a serious commitment of time and resources, which is taking away from their professional commitments.

However, if individual Creators need an extra page to entice their participation-we have space in graphic novel format to accommodate you.

Q. Who do I draw or why to I have to draw other peoples characters?

A. I am going to pull a randomized lottery, which matches creators with other creator's projects. Short answer is-you do not have to honor this system, but it is encouraged for you to team up with a new creator.

I like the idea of a big artistic mashup. However, people have responded to this with legitimate concerns.

A big mashup exposes people's creations and their creators to artistic challenges, and introduces them to collaborating with other creators. This is often the most educational pursuit you will ever experience, so I am not willing to throw it out of the window just yet.

We already have several independent and professional creators involved in the project, and I am sure that you will be amazed by the treatment your original creation receives in their capable hands.

What I would "like" to do, or think would be cool goes right out the window if it is turning people off from participating in the project.

So no, you can draw your own characters, publish older art, but I think it'd be great to do something new, when you know you're getting something new in return created by another excellent creator.

This also adds a lot of value to the pieces created for the project- you may just end up auctioning the piece to the individual you created for, without ComicSpace being involved at all.

Q. Why would any Artist/Studio be interested in volunteering a multi-person Cover piece?

A. Because they and their studio would receive 6 pages of interior art as a place to print and promote existing projects. They may print sample pages of existing art, post interviews, host ads for other studios-whatever they want…

This would be beneficial to Independent Creators, but I would not rule out a more mainstream studio as well.

Though I like that there are 100 hundred projects on the interior pages, I don't think such a stipulation should be placed arbitrarily on the proposed cover artist. Nor are there rules imposed on the artist other than make it look really cool and something you can work with.

I would like as many characters represented as possible, but beggars can't be choosers.

And I am serious about getting an amazing professional like Brian Bolland, John Byrne, George Perez or Jim Lee for the cover. I want somebody awe-inspiring for this thing, but I realize that they might need as much incentive as we can humanly bring to secure their participation.

Q. What about professional creators who are back-logged with existing commitments-do they have to donate an entire page and donate all the time it entails?

A. No! A "Convention Sketch" would be more than enough! This is a brilliant suggestion from Mr. Rob Jones of DC Comics! If a veteran or professional creator can spare us an hour or two, we would all love it a lot, and it would add so much value to the project that the contribution would be priceless.

We would ask that the veteran at least entertain the idea that somebody else might attempt to fill in the backgrounds and/or color the piece. This is not mandatory, but we ask that the veteran take a look before saying yes or no.

Q. I have private, non-published friends who specialize in commissioned pieces that are utterly amazing. Can they donate an older piece, assuming the client says yes?

A. Yes to this also! Many commissioned artists are backlogged as deep as 3 months trying to catch up-the benefit project has no wish wish to exclude them or their clients in any way.

Q. Why aren't there more independent/anime/manga/women/western/christian/cartoon/military/alter
native/CGI inspired creators on the list of the 100?

A. I'm killing myself to try and get more diversity, more genres, and more up and coming creators represented in the 100!

There's one gal at TokyoPop who's so good I'm dying to try and get her on the project. She's too busy right now! There's also tons of talented people who haven't even heard of ComicSpace yet.

I am telling you guys, if there's somebody who belongs on the list and doesn't know it yet-Let 'em Know!

Find your fun, talented friends and tell them about it! My big point is is that you guys know who deserves attention. Please direct them to the site as soon as possible!

I am hoping you can all help the project by utilizing your critical faculties, and making this the most awesome project ever!

Q. What about the technical specifications? I want to start right now!

A. Those are available on the comixpress website under FAQ's. They prefer pdf. contributions at 300 D.P.I., but that is not the only file format they can work with-they are familiar with the various pre-production utility graphics programs, so go check it out! I will post a follow-up about this…

Q. Why is there such an emphasis on professionals and studios in this benefit graphic novel proposal update? What happened to the independent creators?

A. I am and always will be an independent. I own my own copyrights, trademarks and characters, and no one can take them away from me. The big studios have historically done some major errors, but this is possible a new future.

I wish to acknowledge the experience of organized studios and people that have already wrestled with self- publishing or professional publishing. These are people who have already faced how hard it is to get a product in front of fans.

As well as how hard it is to make that project successful.

Comic books in general have been having a rough last decade, to the point of nearly disappearing entirely in North America!

We have been reading their stuff for years, and they are cool people working with what they got.

I am hoping a few of them will help us out!

I think we're gonna fix this problem by ourselves, and it's only gonna take about a month.

And that's it!

This proposal is now 90 to 95 percent done, and I appreciate people's patience.

I hope this helps!

-Brian Zastoupil (lordbronco)