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BULLETPROOFING Bulletproof Comics was my first tentative step into the world of comics self-publishing and – after fifteen years of movie- and comic-related fanzines – my first attempt at swimming in the “big pond” of national distribution. BPC #1 had been planned, more or less, as an upscale fanzine; it was offset printed, but with a simple 2-color cover, and I basically had little aspiration beyond sending copies to my friends, and selling it by mail-order, as I’d done with my previous zines. Sure, I submitted it to Diamond Comics Distributors, but I had no real hope that they would pick it up. But pick it up they did, and I was suddenly faced with the prospect that the book could be ordered by hundreds and thousands of comic book shops all over the world. The endorphin rush of having “made it through the door", coupled with my inexperience and naiveté about the marketplace in general gave me a false sense of security about Bulletproof’s prospects. I thought just being in the catalog would net me a healthy chunk of orders. Well, you live and you learn. Despite considerable upgrades in its physical appearance (the fanzine-style BPC #1 had already been printed by the time the Diamond orders came it, so that simple red-and-black cover was my first representation in the marketplace) and me working my butt off to produce the best comic I was capable of, Bulletproof was completely and utterly ignored by retailers. The orders never got above 160 -- appallingly low, even given my “nobody” status –for any of the three issues that were offered through Diamond. And so, when BPC was dropped from Diamond’s catalog after its third issue failed to post increased sales (to stay in Previews, you have to sell roughly 1000 copies per issue), I began to cast about for advice from other self-publishers, retailers, and the comics community in general. I posted topics on internet message boards (particularly my home-away-from-home, comicon.com, a site created and maintained by swell guys Steve Conley and Rick Veitch), asking what others had done, what had worked for them. I tried to absorb as much as I could, to learn from my mistakes. Because I definitely wanted to try again. CITY LIFE Bulletproof was primarily a gag strip, a parody/satire of superhero comics (and comics in general) that was mainly concerned with getting a laugh. But even in its earliest formative days, I had planned to expand the series with a broader range of characters, and guide it more towards adventure/humor rather than just straight jokes. When I began considering options after the demise of BPC, the notion I liked the best was to leapfrog ahead and reboot the series as a SF/adventure/humor book. I knew that the new series would not star Bulletproof; one “truism” I heard from several sources was that independent superhero books always fail because (a) the superhero fans hate them because they’re in black-and-white and (b) the independent crowd rejects them because they don’t like any superhero books. These are broad generalities, of course, but hearing virtually the same advice on a number of fronts convinced me to move BP to the sidelines. This didn’t really bother me, as I had always known he was a rather limited character, and I wanted the relaunch to have much more verisimilitude (to nick Richard Donner’s favorite word) than Bulletproof’s just-for-fun approach. In other words, even though I wanted to shift gears, I didn’t want to abandon this “universe” that I had put a lot of creative time and energy into developing, and which has already brought me a lot of joy. I liked these characters, and I wanted to keep telling stories about them. And so, rather quickly, I decided that I would call the book Complex City, firstly because I liked the play on words (it was one of the first jokes I’d written when creating Bulletproof in the early ‘90s), and secondly because I thought the book might adopt an anthology format. People often ask me if Complex City is a takeoff on Kurt Busiek’s Astro City, and the answer is a resounding ‘no.’ Although I was a big fan of KBAC, and counted it among my favorite comics when it was being published regularly, and I had no desire to goof on it, as it’s a fine, fun book. But I did think that I might mirror its anthology format, that the comic would focus on the city as a whole, with different characters having their own story arcs. I began to sketch out what I anticipated would be the first segment of the series, which would feature a supporting character from the Bulletproof series called Bulldog Malone. BULLDOGMA
In Bulletproof Comics #2, BP gets a radio message from an off screen character named Bulldog Malone. We don’t actually see this character for a page or two, and when we do – surprise! – he really is a bulldog. In retrospect, it’s not a great joke, but it made me smile, and I loved the idea of incorporating an anthropomorphic character into the Bulletproof universe. Bulldog played a pretty minor role in the final two issues of Bulletproof, but when revamping for Complex City, I thought Bulldog would be a perfect character to bring center stage in the first arc of the new series. But, as I got deeper into the development and began to actually script the first issue, I quickly came to the realization that Bulldog was the heart and soul of this universe. The story of CCity was the story of Bulldog Malone. Complex City would not be an anthology – it would be the life story of a six-foot talking dog. And so, with the pieces more or less in place, I set about completing the artwork for the first issue. With an able assist from pals Jerry Ordway and Mark Stokes, who provided the inks and colors (respectively) for the cover of issue #1, Complex City made its debut on October 18th, 2000, and continues on today. Complex City is, by design, a very elastic format. It allows me to stretch in several directions, to explore different genres and tones. At its core, it is a lighthearted science fiction adventure, but I like the fact that it allows me to take virtually any detour I want. I don’t know if it’s my life’s work, but it is definitely a project I have a great deal of passion for, and I sincerely hope you enjoy reading it. To read my commentary on the individual issues of Complex City, click on the links below. |
| Complex City © 2002 | Last Update: Friday, July 25, 2003 |
