Year in Review: Johnny Saturn
As 2008 winds down, and Benita and I make big plans for Johnny Saturn in 2009, I think it’s worthwhile to review our year. In many regards, this year was huge for us. In other regards, it was a “rebuilding” year.
The biggest event of our year was the publication of our graphic novel, “Johnny Saturn: Synns of the Father.” It was very heady for us as the book’s listing came up on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, and numerous other websites. Later on, we also published “Johnny Saturn” no. 6, and the “Johnny Saturn Pinup Gallery.” This latter was particularly satisfying, because artists from all over the planet contributed pinups.
Next up for us was building of the current johnnysaturn.com site. Prior to this, Johnny Saturn was distributed among Graphic Smash, Webcomicsnation, Comic Genesis, and Drunk Duck, while the blog was located on Myspace. We had pretty much maxed out the scattershot approach, and now it was time to consolidate. In June, we discontinued or downgraded all those other sites and established a WordPress-based, Comicpress run site to be our hub. This was a titanic undertaking, one that involved reformatting all the old strips, learning new skills, and eventually even changing web hosts.
The third biggest coup for the year, and arguable more important than the first, was placing twice in the Webcomic Readers Choice Awards, winning first place for Antagonist of the Year (Dr. Synn), and third place for protagonist of the year (Johnny Saturn). Many benefits issued from this honor, including the friendship of Phil Hofer, aka Frumph, of the Frumph Webcomic List.
After that, the comic collective Palace in the Sky asked us to join, and we happily did so. This collective is primarily made up of high quality fantasy comics, but Johnny Saturn, while not a traditional swords & horses fantasy, came to fit in quite well in their lineup. Palace in the Sky continues to be one of our big referrers, and we are proud to be associated with them.
Also of note, 2008 saw Benita and I interviewed on a Podcast for the first time, and our friendship with Chuck Moore of Comic Related. I had one article in Sketch Magazine this year, and have submitted two more. Benita and I joined the Indy Webcomics Group, a local collective of cartoonists who have garnered national attention.
All in all, this was a year to remember!
