A new week is upon us, and my poor brain is a-whirl with the possibilities!  Or, maybe I’m just dizzy . . . sometimes it’s hard to tell.

I went to the Indiana State Fair yesterday, and I marched around for about six hours with a Johnny Saturn t-shirt on.  This might have once seemed a bit odd to me, but then I saw a multitude of people wearing shirts with Batman or Superman or Green Lantern emblems, and a host of other DC or Marvel licensed likenesses.  Well, I had Johnny Saturn on, so I get all the cool, Indie cred!

There were a lot of groups displaying what they do and how to join them in the “Our Land” building: “Our Land,” of course, meant “Indiana” in this context.  I was less than delighted to find they had cockroach racing, live veterinarian demonstrations neutering live animals, and some crazy sculptor making a two-ton cheese sculpture.  At first, I wondered why the Indiana Web Cartoonists didn’t have a table there, but then I figured they couldn’t possibly compete with live operations on a dog.  (No, I did not stay and watch the operation.  Once the vet drew an incision line on the dog’s shaved belly, I was out of there!).  I can also say that I was uncomfortable with the wastefulness of the ridiculous cheese sculpture, even though the artist claimed that it would all be re-processed as a binding agent for animal feed.

Anyway, Benita and friend Sandy sat spinning and promoting the benefits of the fiber arts in the “Our Land” pavilion for four hours.  They had good crowds, and educated the public on what they were doing.  Modern people are a long way from the farm, and seeing people spinning, weaving, or practicing any of the other traditional crafts is a new experience to them.  According to Benita, one fellow didn’t know what a sheep looked like, and attempts to tell him simply further confused the matter.

In the Family Arts Building, I had the chance to wonder through the art entries at leisure.  It seemed that a reasonably large percentage of these works were done by artists associated with the Indianapolis Art Center, and I recognized many of the names of people I knew as well as many of the models I had often drawn in the pictures themselves.  It had never occurred to me to enter work in the state fair, but apparently I was somewhat unique in that oversight.  Still, because of the subjected nature of judging this type of event, it seemed that many works of stunning beauty or powerful artistic statement were overlooked.  I guess this is how it often is, but still…

Yet, I wonder, isn’t that subjective nature representative of the artist’s life?  Once we put our work out in the public eye, we can’t control how the public perceives it, or what it does or does not mean to them.  There’s some deeper wisdom to found in this observation, I’m sure of it, but it escapes me at the moment.

Scott.

Blog post for 11/7/2008 4:56:45 PM
Spotlight on: Johnny Saturn by Scott and Benita Story

This spotlight is on Johnny Saturn a graphic novel webcomic by Scott & Benita Story. It’s a superhero comic but let’s not get fooled by thinking it’s your run of the mill Saturday morning superhero cartoon or Marvel/DC comic that pretends to be edgy.

Johnny Saturn IS edgy. It has complicated and well thought out plots. Citizens and supers alike have enough thought put into each and every one of them that you imagine this was written as a book and put into graphic novel form.

I can only compare Johnny Saturn with Batman from DC… if Batman actually wasn’t a pansy who never got hurt. Ever notice how Batman never *really* get’s hurt… in ALL those fights he’s had his body isn’t torn up with scar’s and traces of fighting, if there ever was a fight and he got hurt, two panels later he’s fine and dandy.    Johnny isn’t and it shows that he’s worked hard to protect the innocent.

My song pick for Johnny Saturn will probably surprise Scott Story himself who suggested alot of older 70′s style songs.   This song by Oingo Boingo really struck me with it’s fast  individualistic energy and determination.   .. “Who Do You Want to Be” by Oingo Boingo.

To read this with all the pretty pictures and music included, please go to this link

Setting Realistic Expectations:

When I first began to seriously draw comics, I gave myself six years to break into the big time—I was aiming at Marvel and DC, and anything less simply would not do. That six-year break-in period came and went years ago, and I spent a lot of time in turmoil, feeling as if other artists had taken my well-deserved place at the top of the food chain.

As you have probably already surmised, I needed a serious attitude adjustment. I had made all sorts of ridiculous assumptions, and I had based my self-worth as an artist on them. For example, I believed that the only way to have a worthwhile career was to work for Marvel or DC, which is simply untrue

Another fallacy was that I spent more time waiting around for the opportunity to break big, and less time actually drawing. I think I believed that if I could attach myself to the right writer, or meet the right editor, or create the perfect submission package, then I would be vaulted to stardom. Once again, I was simply wrong.

At some point I changed my mind, and I came to the conclusion that I could have a full and exciting cartooning career in the indy/small press scene, and that it would be better to produce the comics I love and publish them myself. I wasn’t looking anymore for someone else to grant me my big break—I was doing what I wanted to do in the first place, and that was drawing comics and getting them into people’s hands. This time it depended on my work ethic, not the blessing of some editor. I had taken control of the situation.

I had changed my expectations. You could say that I had scaled down my goals to something I could achieve, and you would be right, of course. But, consider this: There are only a limited number of jobs in the big two, and a huge collection of people who are capable of doing those jobs. If you get one of those assignments, great; if you don’t, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you aren’t good enough; it doesn’t even mean that you aren’t the best artist trying for that gig. If anything, it probably most depends on who you do or don’t know. Your self worth should not be based on these long odds.

Recently, America went through another harrowing presidential election. There was no shortage of qualified men and women trying for that job. People who wanted to become the next president wanted it very, very much, yet only one person could cross that finish line. With every election, life-long dreams are made or broken. Does this mean the candidates who didn’t get elected are of no worth? Obviously not.

I haven’t sent a submission package to Marvel or DC since 2000, and I don’t expect I will again. It would be great to get tapped to do some work for these publishing giants, but that would be a feather in my cap, not the cap itself.

So, that’s me. I love self-publishing, and I love working on our own, creator-owned properties. How about you? Are you goals achievable?

Consider it this way—Are your goals something that you can go out and simply do, making it happen if you put you heart into it? Or, are you depending on a stroke of luck or a one-in-a-million break to achieve your heart’s desire? As an example, if your goal is to become a kick-ass musician, and entertain people, that is doable. If your goal is to become a superstar musician and get inducted into the Rock-&-Roll Hall of Fame, then you have set yourself up for bitterness and disappointment.

I would never tell someone not to shoot for the stars—obviously, some people do become huge stars and experience tremendous good fortune. What I am saying is that you should choose an achievable goal, and if you over-achieve, then good on you.

Scott.

This review popped up in my incoming links, and I thought it was well written and thought out.  In fact, I feel like the writer, Crackwalker, ‘gets’ our comic.

Johnny Saturn by Scott Story and Benita Story
(http://johnnysaturn.com/)

Superheroes have been seeing a renaissance since Hugh Jackman first popped his claws back in 2000. The potential of the genre has been increased as these stories have broken out of the confines of nerdy obscurity, and they have become familiar to a wider audience. There’s been an explosion of interest in masks and capes as people are cluing in to the huge potential of this storytelling form, a modern-day mythology that allows us to reflect on the big issues while delivering heroic thrills.

Many of these characters have been used and abused over the years. There are many superhero stories that don’t bother trying to reach for mythological greatness, but instead wallow in cheap commercialism. And there are very few that reach for the great height achieved by Alan Moore in Watchmen. Enter Johnny Saturn. It’s bloody, it’s rough around the edges, and it’s epic. Scott and Benita Story take the superhero story into a place that’s both dark & gritty while still being earnest & heartfelt.

The story begins with the funeral of Johnny Saturn, where are grateful city pays its respects to their fallen hero. We are introduced to a world that has superheroes as a part of its culture, as a combination of celebrity and additional level of law enforcement/national defense. This motif is familiar to those that read conventional comics from Marvel or DC. But rather than set up a status-quo and then return to it, the universe of Johnny Saturn evolves and changes as it progresses through the chapters.

The quality of the comic also evolves. I’ve said this elsewhere; for me, this is one of the joys of webcomics, the diamonds-in-the-rough. The joy of witnessing talent in a raw form, people working on something just because they love it. Johnny Saturn is a labour of love. This is evident in every panel. Part of what kept me clicking ‘next’ was the sense of urgency that is imbued into this work. The author was driven to create this comic, as driven as the titular character is on his mission of vigilante justice.

So yes, it’s a bit rough around the edges. Hell, it’s rough in the center as well. Professional work is always guaranteed to be of a certain level, but it’s also guaranteed to stay within certain boundaries. The plot of this comic goes out of bounds for the usual superhero story. Waaay out of bounds. I admit I was lost in the wilderness at some points. Not knowing what’s going to happen next is a kind of thrill that can be hard to find in printed comics. I would assert that this is a good thing, and it’s what makes this story transcend the bounds of popular fiction. It strives to become something more; if art is too strong a word, then literature at least.

Does it hit the mark? Not exactly, but it reaches for it. And that makes it well worth the price of admission.

posted by Crackwalker at 5:44 PM

Yesterday I went to Downtown Comics, my local comic shop, bought a few things, and gabbed with good friend Pete Kilmer, one of the DTC managers.  I hadnÆt been in a comic shop for a good while, and it was pleasantly overwhelming to see all the comics.  Really, if I could afford it, there are things I would buy: For example, this Dark Reign storyline and the Avengers line as a whole looks right down my alley.  It would be great to chart the rise, and eventual fall, of Norman Osborne, the key villain in the Marvel Universe.

Yet, I have to wonder, would it be that great to follow it?  Marvel has begun raising its comic prices from $2.99 to $3.99.  Four dollars is an awful lot of money for a magazine thin enough that you can read them in fifteen minutes.  Some fans would argue that you donÆt just read comics once, that you read and re-read them.  True enough.  I do that.

I stopped buying the monthly comics because of two reasons: It cost too much, and I was running out of room in my house to store them.  When I can, I pick up trade paperbacks.  IÆm not alone in this change of purchasing trends.

When I dropped away from the monthlies, and turned to trades, I discovered that my buying habits in trades are different from the monthly titles I collected.  Suddenly, I was not so quick to purchase Thor, or Fantastic Four, or Avengers, or JLA, or JSA, etc.  Now, in trades, I had quirkier buying habits.  Supreme, Black Summer, Watchmen, Project Superpowers, etc.  I still loved good superhero stories, but I wanted stories that actually had something to say and a witty way of saying it.

At Downtown Comics, I was pleased to see that they had set up Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Warren Ellis, and Neal Gaiman sections, and this had reportedly done well for sales.  These writers are the superstars of the comic industry, and with good reason.  Pete noted that he should put up a Grant Morrison section, and I heartily agreed.  Morrison is my favorite writer, after all.

Scott.

Sorry I didn’t write a Chicago Comicon 2009 (fka Wizard World Comicon) earlier.  I should have done it, but I was just so darned tired from the show.  I still am tired, but happy.

Normally when I write convention reports, I produce a long list of old friends I caught up with and people I met.  I’m not going to do that this year.  Everyone was great, and it was great seeing everyone.  I will mention that again this year our table neighbor was Tom Stilwell of Spinner Rack Comics.  Tom is a dear friend, and one of the more admirable people I’ve met.  He’s also a fantastic writer.

Benita and I went into this show unsure of what we’d encounter.  Marvel, DC, Image, and Dark Horse skipped this convention, and that implied so many things that could go wrong.  We needn’t have worried.  The crowds beat all former attendance records, and fans made a point of visiting Artist’s Alley.  It really did get quite busy!

Complaints?  The 90 degree heat and the crowd’s body heat overwhelmed the air-conditioning for a while on Saturday.  And, the PA system was incredibly loud, and busy with repeated and highly annoying announcements.  But, these are not the worst things we’ve ever faced at cons, and they were at worst minor inconveniences.

I’ll let our photographs tell the rest of the story:

Some of these I took, some of them Benita took, but there’s no rhyme or reason to it.

I’m going to start taking commissions soon, so if you have something you’d like me to draw shoot me an email.  I try to stay away from drawing comic characters owned by other people (such as Marvel or DC), but that still leaves characters from Johnny Saturn, characters in public domain, your own original characters, monsters, whatever.

The public domain covers a huge cast of characters, from the Black Terror or Fantomah, to Dracula, the Frankenstein monster, dragons, werewolves, Hercules, Artemis, etc.  I have a long pedigree in fantasy art too.

I know some of you have been interested in buying Johnny Saturn shirts, and that’s coming quite soon.

I’m busy rendering that block of pages that were flatted but not fully colored from last year, at the end of issue 10 and the beginning of issue 11.  This is what has held me up from publishing issues 10 and 11, as well as getting the second trade paperback ready for publication.  But, it will happen!

As you can tell, we have all sorts of activity going on at Story Studios, LLC.

Scott.