It’s a lot more work than you might think.

If you’ve never put together a comic books or graphic novel before, it is pretty easy to underestimate the time, effort and resources that go into getting a book market ready.

Most single issue comics weigh in at about 21 pages; it can be quite easy to flip through one in a few minutes if you aren’t really interested in the story or if you are in a hurry. So, how long did it take to create that book you just flipped through?

I am fortunate to work with some very talented artists who have decades of experience in creating art. Even then, a page could be a full day of work, maybe even more depending on the level of detail. As a non-artist, I usually can’t provide much help beyond a description or visual reference, so these are people that sometimes have to literally pull an idea out of my head. Not easy by any means.

And then of course, the script. Like any writer, I tend to have moments of self-doubt, over plan, and re-write a script over and over. Then, when the artwork is finally ready I start the lettering process [note: not all writers do their own letters, but I do know a few indie comic writers like myself that prefer it]. This is yet another opportunity to decide that guess what? I don’t like the words or direction of the script. I have yet to have my script make its way word for word to a completed page; there is always at least one change. Sometimes I just don’t think the dialogue matches the scene, or if it is my first time seeing a character represented by artwork, I decide that it may not fit. Lettering a complex page can easily be an hour of time. Also, many of our titles are available in Spanish, and a direct translation doesn’t always do. Often, we need to localize content so that it sends the intended message to our audience.

Once all of this is done, I once again drive myself (and my creative team) nuts with two important items. First, we come up with interior credit pages, splash pages, chapter breaks for our graphic novels, etc. I think these are really important; they help as a guide to the reader and really set the tone for the book. Next, I ask our creative team to give me short write ups or sketches so that we can share how the development process works with our readers.

Once we have all this, comes the part that I really dread: masthead or title text. This doesn’t mean simply slapping “Usud” or “Failsafe” on a cover in arial font; this means essentially designing a logo for each series that fits the look and feel of the story. This logo needs to convey the emotion that I want to elicit from the reader. As you can guess, this process tends to involve several iterations.

Once this is all ready, then we (finally!) have a book that is ready to share with the world. Up next? Printing…

I ended up getting placed with Lucha Comics, and honestly could not have asked for a better business to work with. Rodolfo and I have discovered that we share a lot of common interests, especially in comic book movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (highly anticipating this April’s release of Avengers: Endgame, but in the meantime check out Rodolfo’s post on his Avengers: Endgame theory!).

I love all the amazing art I’ve been able to witness. I grew up taking visual arts lessons and even worked as a caricature artist at Canada’s Wonderland, so I have a special appreciation for cartoon art, and I was amazed at how advanced digital art has come and how good the comic book artists really are. I’ve also been able to help a lot with the operations of Lucha Comics, helping preview manuscript submissions, seeing if the format, font, art style, and story are fitting for publication. Because of my interests in marketing, I’ve helped research demographics of a target market for a project Rodolfo wanted to pursue and some digital distribution channels. I’ve also been able to draft some social media posts on Plannable for Lucha Comics social media accounts.

Pictured above: Some of my cartooning caricatures I’ve drawn at my job

In this internship, I’ve really been able to get a good grasp of how the comic book publishing industry works, and preview some amazing works of art. I can’t wait for the rest of the year, especially since I’m about to help out with some of the formatting of the comic books as well. I hope the rest of my internship will goes as well as it has gone so far. Even after my internship concludes, I hope to remain in contact with Rodolfo, and I can’t wait to see where Lucha Comics goes in the future!

-Grace

***Update: If you are reading this, you may not now about our latest kickstarter project, which you can view here – Macbeth: The Red King***Late last year, we took a big leap and launched our first crowdfunding campaign via kickstarter. It was perhaps the most stressful experience I’ve had in the 2 years that Lucha Comics has existed, but it was definitely one of the most satisfying as well. From a slow start, to getting into Bleeding Cool, and (just barely) crossing the finish line, I figured I was long overdue in reflecting on what I believe was our largest accomplishment to date.

For a publisher that was strictly digital to do an initial run of 350 copies of a full length graphic novel wasn’t easy, but thanks to some great people we made it. So, I would like to share the top 10 things that our campaign taught me.

1. Not all crowdfunding platforms are created equal.

One of the first things I encountered was trying to decide if I would choose Indiegogo or kickstarter. It took a lot of research, and really trying to find a platform that best matched what I wanted to accomplish. I also researched other comic book projects, read blogs from other successful crowdfunders, and looked at how many friends I had on each. In the end, kickstarter beat Rocket Hub and other sites handily, but narrowily came out on top over Indiegogo.

2. Flexible funding may not be as great as it sounds.

Now that I had a platform, I really had to consider how I would fund my project: flexible funding (keep whatever you raise) or go the all or nothing route. In the end, I decided that I wanted to fund an entire project, and that I wanted my supporters to know that I was fully committed. All or nothing it was, and yes I almost regretted it – but now I don’t think I would ever do a flexible campaign.

3. Calculating your goal should be a well thought out exercise.

You really need to be careful here since you can’t adjust your campaign once it is live. I cannot stress enough how much thought and planning should go into this. Do not rush this part, because a) you don’t want to set a goal so high that you can’t possibly hit it or b) you may be stuck trying to deliver on something that you can’t afford, even if you fund to 100% or even 125%! Let’s start with point a):

Be optimistic, but realistic. It is far better to set an attainable goal and blow it out of the water then set something massive and barely make it or fall short. It looks far better to fund a $2,500 to 100% than fund a $25,000 project to 75%. Do not set yourself up for failure: if you ever want to do another kickstarter, you want your supporters to see that you are building on success and offering something that you can deliver on. Now, let’s tackle point b).

Once you know what you need to do and what you can reasonably raise, do not just ballpark your budget. Do some research, look at similar projects, and understand what you are promising to deliver. Many crowdfunding campaigns have pissed off some loyal people because they were unable to deliver. Sure, some of these might have been pure scams, but for the most part I feel that these failures to deliver were a result of poor research and planning. Here are a few tips that worked for my comic book project, The Kursk by Sasha Janowicz:

• Have firm quotes for your book from at least reputable suppliers, and use the highest one as your goal
• Factor in 10% for crowdfunding and payment processing fees
• Have a contingency of at least 10%
• Factor in the costs (if any) of not receiving your funds for 30-45 days from project close
• And the one that almost got me: shipping

Shipping was a real killer here, because (unbeknownst to me) shipping costs are calculated towards your goal. Here is an example:

I set a goal of $3,000. My early bird reward was $10 + shipping. For this example we will assume someone ordering a reward in Canada at a rate of $5, so their total pledge would be $15. This means that their entire pledge (including the shipping fee) counts towards your goal. My project was broken down as follows:

$2,700 printing + contingency costs
$270 kickstarter fees
$250 Approximate shipping costs

Giving a total of $3,270. Since this was my first kickstarter, I wrongly assumed that shipping was extra and above and beyond the amount that I needed. Fortunately, my contingency covered my shipping costs, and in the future I will be sure to calculate this amount better.

I know this might sound confusing, or not a big deal, but for a small publisher that swore up and down to his partner that there was no way the kickstarter could possibly cost us anything out of pocket, it was a real concern. Basically, you need to guesstimate how many backers you will get, what your shipping costs will be, and add that to your goal. If this or any other point here still sounds confusing, please, please, please feel free to get in touch and I would be glad to elaborate.

4. Make the length of your campaign just right.

This was a bit tricky. Too short and you can fail; too long and people may lose interest and just not care. Personally, I like a 30 day campaign, regardless of the amount trying to be raised. If your goal seems huge, you likely don’t have a timing issue, you probably have a cost or you set a goal-so-massive-there-is-no-way-in-hell-that-you-are-going-to-hit-it-even-if-everyone-you-now-kicks-in-$10 issue.

5. You need some kind of video if this is your first campaign.

An image really isn’t enough. You need a cool video that not only describes your project, but also allows you to connect with the audience. It should be visual, but really get to the heart of why you are doing this and why you need help from backers. This also becomes something that is easy to share across social media. It doesn’t need to be Academy Award winning, but try and make something nice (even if you are terrible on camera like me as you can see below). Having a Mac (or a friend with one) certainly helps! Which leads me away from the technical points and towards the qualitative stuff that really made a difference…

6. People aren’t buying your book

Ok, so maybe a few are, but generally people weren’t buying my book, they were buying the chance to support me because they really believed in Lucha Comics. While this changed the marketing message, it really made the whole process more rewarding – someone actually cared about our brand.

7. Now isn’t the time to be shy.

I hate to feel like I am bugging anyone, but with a short time frame to raise funds, you really need to promote the hell out of yourself. This is not the time to be shy; reach out to all facebook friends and followers, twitter, followers, friends, family etc. I would say that 75% of my time went to outreach, which is far different from blind promotion. Ask people to share your campaign with others without asking them to feel obligated to contribute. It’s a win-win for everyone. By the time I was done my campaign, everyone knew that I was a comic book publisher, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

8. You need to get in touch with influencers.

Fortunately Lucha has a track record in the digital space, so I was able to reach out to people at ComiXology, and my friend Ian Yarrington of ComicBooked.com to let them know what was going on. Taking my own advice from my point above, I went even further and decided to E-Mail Rich Johnston at Bleeding Cool, and guess what? They agreed to carry our story. These little bits help to give you credibility, and it is a nice confidence booster when someone agrees to help promote you when there are so many great projects out there to talk about.

9. Kickstarters can draw in new fans.

People that had never read a comic book or graphic novel before decided to put down some money for The Kursk because they saw it on kickstarter. I was really amazed at the first time readers, and the kind of attention that kickstarter can get you. Overall it was great to see readers that were not only new to Lucha, but also to the comic book industry.

10. Your fans are awesome people and they want you to succeed.

As invested as I was in my project, the fans really made it special. I was overwhelmed by the support we received, and how they wanted to get involved. Your fans are great, so make sure that you treat them well post-project. If someone puts down a pledge for your book, remember that they really want to see it happen.

This is probably one of the longest blogs I have ever written, and it could have easily been twice as long. If this came off like me bragging at all then I apologize because that was never my intent; I just wanted to reflect on a great experience that was only made possible by some great people who decided to take a gamble and show their support for us. Hopefully, this article can help someone else to experience the same.

This isn’t an easy one to answer; like many, I grew up with print comic books. I love them. I love the smell, the feel, and the nostalgia that they invoke. A part of me even loves stressing when I see a crease or a flaw (yes, I am picky as hell when it comes to collecting comic books). I am sure that I could go on, and even if I dedicated my entire entry to my love of printed comic books, I probably still wouldn’t get it right. So, what’s the fuss with digital?

1. Imagine iTunes 11 years ago.
Our world is going digital. Music, movies, books, and eventually comic books. I can’t remember the last time I bought a CD (no matter how cool some of the lining notes are). Whenever I buy a movie, I look for those that come with an Ultraviolet copy. And as an avid reader, I hate carrying a pile of books, so now I buy most of them on Kobo. Why would I shift my buying habits so much? Imagine iTunes 11 years ago. No one really understood it – why would anyone pay for something that they could pirate? No one would have imagined Apple becoming the world’s most valuable tech company.

2. Collecting isn’t what it used to be.
Traditional collecting, especially with physical things, is about rarity. Enter collecting 2.0 – completion. Those in the digital age may not care about having a copy of The Walking Dead #1 that is CGC graded. Rather, they want to read the whole thing. Why watch the best episode of Breaking Bad when you can binge watch the whole thing on Netflix? The same principle applies here.

3. It’s cheap and easy.
You can view digital comic books on a PC, phone, or tablet, and if you want to read a bunch at once, you don’t need to carry around a longbox. Want to read 100 issues of Batman without having to fish through tons of polybags and boards, or worrying about damaging them? What about picking up something that is rate and expensive? And one of my favourites is picking up independent or digital only books that I simply would not find in my local comic book shop.

Think that digital comic books are just a fad? They are here to stay and I am positive that in a few years they will make up the majority of the marketshare, but – and this is a big one – it will take a long time for collectors to die off, and I feel that there will always be room for great stories in print.

1. Marvel and DC aren’t all that I want

While I am more of a DC guy, I certainly enjoy a lot of Marvel stuff. I grew up with batman as my favourite, but have always enjoyed Punisher, Alpha Flight, and most recently Hawkeye. While the Big 2 put out some of the best comic books in the world, they sometimes aren’t enough to satisfy me as a reader. Imagine going to a movie theater, and only being able to watch Die Hard or its knockoffs. Things would get boring quick, wouldn’t they?

2. Image, BOOM! and others are awesome

Image Comics is awesome. I love The Walking Dead, (and did before it was so mainstream!), read many early Image Titles, and enjoy some of the quirky stuff that they put out. I really enjoy Mind the Gap, Chew, Morning Glories and more.

When it comes to BOOM!, Mark Waid’s brilliant Irredeemable is still one of my all-time favourites, and I was completely blown away by Suicide Risk. BOOM! just makes really good comics.

So, what does this have to do with me? These creative studios have proven that the industry has matured, wants more variety, and that ultimately the market will reward those with a quality product – even if it isn’t wrapped in capes and tights.

3. There are many great stories that deserve to be told

Digital comics have revolutionized the industry, and made it accessible to a great deal of talented people. 20 years ago, there are books that would have been impossible to read – no kickstarter, no iPads, and no real way to get into comic book shops without a massibe budget. Now, I can bring fellow comic book lovers hidden gems like The Kursk, or never before available in English graphic novels like Boom. I can reach out to those that miss Westerns, and War books, or have just had enough of The Avengers or Batman. All of this is due to the fact that digital has lowered costs and barriers to entry, and there are markets, like ComiXology, to discover new books. These all point to new, incredible reads that make comic books fun and new, all over again.

This is just a little bit of insight as to why I jumped into a fun, crazy and exciting industry. I am determined to make a real go of this, and turn Lucha Comics into a viable publisher that brings you awesome comic books that you won’t get anywhere else. Be sure to follow @LuchaComics, and if you know of a comic book that we should add to our catalog, get in touch!

In August 2000 The News of The Kursk disaster exploded on the network channels around the world and I, like many, watched the events unfold in
silent horror in what became the first submarine incident in the history of all Navies, transmitted almost literally live on Television. Like many, I hoped for a successful
rescue of the sailors for those long eight days.

The news blamed the Russians for not asking for international help soon enough and thus jeopardizing the chances for the rescue; they commented on the ailing state of the
country and its fleet; they speculated about alleged attempts on behalf of the Russian Government and military authorities to cover up some mystery concerning the submarine and its mission, and about their inability to rescue the seamen and suggested that only the American and British Naval rescuers could do the job if called upon in time. Then, at the end, along with the world, I saw how Norwegian divers finally tore The Kursk’s escape hatch open with a powerful robotic arm which released a small air pocket from the already flooded submarine, taking away with it the last hope for survivors. I felt that something broke inside me.

Powerless fury – that is what Albina Konolova, the Liason Officer of the 7th Submarine Division (where The Kursk belonged), called that feeling.

I refused to believe some of the media reports, particularly those which alleged the delay of the rescue operation. I also wanted to learn the reason for the tragedy. For the next few years I collected information and talked to specialists in the field. In my studies, I found the rescue operation was record-breaking in many aspects: the submarine was found very quickly, the rescue submersibles were delivered and dived only around 14 hours after the submarine was discovered – the rescuers showed true heroism working against the bad weather above the Arctic Circle, risking like and limb around the clock for ten days trying to save their comrades, fighting until it was obvious that there were no chances and beyond. Nevertheless, the negative coverage continued to reappear in the Western Media.

I felt I needed to speak about it. the form of a stage play seemed, to me, the most appropriate. Quite a few books on the subject were published by journalists. The english language print, however, followed the ideological default: when speaking about Russia, speak negatively. The interesting, well-grounded materials appeared in Russia and were unavailable for the English speaking reader. Besides such books are released in limited numbers of copies and relatively few people get to read them. Making a film was out of the question, not only because of the lack of resources, but also because a film is a passive experience on the part of the viewer. Only a live theatrical experience, as opposed to a simple delivery of facts and images, seemed appropriate for sharing my knowledge and feelings with the audiences.

For those who lost their relatives on board The Kursk, this tragedy will never lose its relevance. But as the sinking of the boat becomes an increasingly distant historical event, the uneasy questions about what actually happened to the 118 men, or what could have been the consequences of it, are slipping out of the public focus.

It is not, however, in the headlines anymore; there are new stories of grief and distraction around.

The powerful images are shown on screens every day and become almost a part of the household furniture – something common. It takes the human experience away from the tragedy and turns it into statistics. Also common is the ever-renewing nature of the news broadcast, which bombards the viewer with new information every day, replacing the previous sensations. Today’s sensation is tomorrow’s stale gossip.

Those who control the media know this all too well and manage stories accordingly. The French government, for example, decided that the documents concerning the loss of one of their submarines in the distant 1970 would not be made public until 2078 – long after that entire generation is gone!

By then it will become just a piece of trivia. Thus the questions that are so painful and important in the present (like what gives the authorities of any country in the world the right to push humankind to the brink of a global catastrophe?) will become a mere anecdote of history in the future. Truth can be buried, forgotten, and reality changed so that the lessons of the past remain unlearnt. We have developed an alarmingly short historical memory as a civilization. This means we are sailing without a compass. We must become aware of the course before we get where we do not want to be.

In the words of the leading character from Vladimir Gubarev’s play Sarcophagus: “According to Socrates, all our troubles stem from ignorance.” [London: Penguin, 1987]. To avoid it we must question, because knowledge allows understanding, understanding invokes compassion, and compassion denies confrontation.

With this story, I want to share my grief of the loss of life and truth because I believe that by sharing grief we remind ourselves that we are human.

– Sasha Janowicz, December 2008

Want to learn more about The Kursk? Get The Kursk #1 on your preferred platform:

    

9. Customer Service Guy
It was time to move away from home after being PC Exporter guy didn’t pan out. I left London, Ontario for the big city of Toronto, and my first job was that of Customer Service Representative at Nikon Canada. I worked with some great people, but soon found that the pay wasn’t very competitive, and the IT systems really needed updating. I also learned that Mexican work ethic could outdue the Japanese if it was needed, and I was fortunate enough to learn a bunch about digital photography. I also learned that my gut wasn’t particuarly bad when it came to tech: I remember making the argument for better connectivity, and being told that Digital Cameras would never really be consumer goods, they were more the high-end amateur. I was allowed to borrow some sweet digital cameras (keep in mind that this was over 10 years ago; a D-SLR was probably worth about $20,000 and shot at between 2 and 4 Megapixels). I got to meet pro-photographers, but after being passed up for promotions, I decided to move on. Lesson here: don’t wait to get pushed out of job. Jump – you’ll be far better off.

10. PC Wholesale Guy (Again)
I connected in Toronto with someone from my old gig, and under better leadership I was made Internet Sales Manager, learned a ton about eBaying, and about standing your ground. There was a ton of conflict between the guy that brought me on, and the owners (husband and wife). They also over-expanded. Unfortunately, the razor thin margins in the PC industry really impacted the place, and so I lost my job as the company massively down-sized. Lesson learned: don’t over extend, and don’t let someone else’s personal conflicts drag your career down.

10. ESL Instructor
With nothing left for me in Toronto, and just being fed up with the life that I had, my (future) wife and I decided to go to Korea to be English teachers. Our concerns over North Korea never happened, and overall we had an amazing time! I learned a tiny bit of Korean, learned about Korean and Asian culture, got to work with kids, and just had a great experience. There were definitely some negatives here, but this is something I’ll never forget. Lesson learned: go abroad while you can; I would have hated to look back 20 years from now and say “Gee, I wish I had gone to Korea”

11. Insurance Agent
My wife and I decided to leave Korea early, because she received the opportunity to do a Master’s at Queen’s University on a scholarship. So, time to leave the surreal world of Korea which offered tons of wages, the easiest job I’ve ever had and bizzare little adventures. Now I had to re-enter the real world. I applied to work with a wonderful woman named Mary Quist, who was like a mentor, a mother, and who showed me that I could have a better career then just above minimum wage. I was taught to be professional, to listen to people, and how to really work in a team to achieve results. I knew nothing about insurance going in, but more importantly didn’t know anything about sales. With Mary, Nicole, Melissa and Karen, along with all the other great people that I met, I really had a chance to grow professionally. Leaving this job to move closer to home was heart-breaking. It also killed my love of the insurance industry. My professional development took years to recover from this, because I knew that I was leaving something that couldn’t be re-created. I can’t do this part of my career (like many others, such as Korea or Mexico) justice in one blog post. Lesson learned: it’s tough to let go of a good thing.

12. Insurance Agent (again)
After moving to London, I became an insurance agent again. My heart just wasn’t in it, despite working with some fantastic people. Lesson learned: it’s good to specialize but know when to move one, because after this I decided to move on to…

13. Insurance Agent (yup, again again)
I tried going independent as an insurance guy. I had grandoise visions, but with my kids being young, I was losing their childhood to something that made me little money. But more importantly, I didn’t love the financial industry anymore. It was time to move into the world of consulting, where I took the best of this industry (working with Small Businesses) and got rid of the worst (doing the same thing over and over). Lesson learned: failure isn’t always bad, but know when you have failed.

14. Landlord
I played landlord with our rental property, and all around just got screwed by business partners who pretended to be friends but turned out to be terrible human being. I hate that I wasted time, energy and money with them, and again missed time with my babies. Long-story short, it took nearly 5 years to smarten up and get out, and culminated with my “partners” fleeing the country on fraud charges and their proceeds being paid into the courts. Lesson learned: bad partnerships can’t save an otherwise good project.

15. The Non-Profit Sector
This is what helped me to find my passion again. I focused my efforts on the non-profit world, where I had the opportunity to learn something new, work with great people, do social good, and really take ownership of something and create it. This still is a very important committment for me, and I still love it. Lesson learned: new career paths & industries can revitalize you.

16. Project Manager/Consultant (again/concurrent)
…and this is my night job (which I just finished at about 1:00AM). I am part of a start-up with some friends of mine looking to take EHR functions and data into the cloud. I am learning about software development, MYSQL, HTML5 and some other really cool stuff. It’s a lot of fun, but like a lot of tech startups it doesn’t really pay. I do really enjoy it though, and it doesn’t detract from my day job so it can’t hurt too much. Lesson learned: bootstrapping.

17. Consultant
This has been part of my professional identity for over 10 years, and something that I am proud to be part of thanks to my beautiful wife. She has always pushed me to do better, and through our firm Reimar Group, I have learned how to write effectively, grow businesses, and just work with people to help them reach their goals. For those entrepreneurs getting started, we also developed an inexpensive way to lend them our expertise – BizMula – start-up business plans in about 2 hours for $199.This has been a fun, but long process, with the software taking way longer then anticipated. Lesson(s) learned: software dev takes forever, entrepreneurship is awesome, and most importantly, be professional and always give truthful advice to your clients.

I think that just about does it. I really don’t want to sell any particular aspect of my professional development short. It’s been a long path, and each part has been integral. I’m glad that along the way I have picked up the skills needed to fulfill a boyhood dream: to be involved in the comic book industry.

Rodolfo Martinez
Senior VP of Arms about to fall off after a day full of typing, Lucha Comics

1. Helping my dad at this farm with their computer systems
(This job happened sporadically and really is still kind of on-going)
I have never been handy or good with anything farm related, but I took to PCs quite young. When I first got serious about working on them for other people, my dad took me to the farm where he still works, and I would do some training, troubleshooting, and trying to implement the vision that he had (which was way ahead of its time for the Canadian Dairy Industry). To give you an idea, I still remember paper spreadsheets when I first arrived, moving to Lotus 1-2-3 (for MS-DOS of course!) and finally getting to the promised land of Excel. Since then, I have helped troubleshoot automated milking systems and a Bluetooth Milk Tank. My how things have changed 🙂 Lesson learned: adopt technology or stay behind.

2. Paperboy
I found that working at a young age was very helpful; it builds work ethic, and if framed correctly work can be kind of fun. This didn’t last long, but it did allow me to re-connect with my grade 5 teacher (thanks Mrs. Matthews for all of your hard work!) and taught me the value of being on-time. Lesson learned: get your customers to pay – ontime!

3. Carwasher/Book Keeper/Bartender
After Grade 9, I moved to Mexico for 2 years with my family. My father’s cattle exporting business need the chance to grow, so we moved. I remember crying, wanting to stay. Looking back I am grateful that my father gave me this opportunity. I brushed up my (at that point) almost non-existent Spanish, re-connected with family there, and got to spend more time with my Dad. I got to learn more about his business by travelling with him to client meetings, and got involved in his car repair shop. I washed cars, and when money went missing I learned how to book keep. It took years for me to realize the amount of trust that was placed in me, and the accounting was kind of fun. I did manage to find significant amounts of missing cash. Later, at the age of 15 and part of a highschool co-op, I bartended. Not legal to drink, I was pouring drinks all day long. Leaving Mexico was bittersweet, although driving back with my father was a fantastic experience; seeing the transition from a suburb of Mexico City, to the US/Mexican border at Nuevo Laredo, to the farmlands of the Southern US, and back to St. Thomas, Ontario (a city of 25,000 vs. Mexico City’s 25,000,000) was mind-blowing. Lessons learned: way too many, but trust that if you have a family that loves you, they’ll be around longer then some of your highschool buddies.

4. Tobacco Farm-hand
This job was BRUTAL. For the first month, I would wake up at 4:30 AM, get to the farm for 6:00AM, work until about 2, come home and be asleep by about 5:00PM. Yeah, seriously. Dinner at 4PM. Heatstroke, having chunks of my finger tips just kind of torn-off/disappear with no real bleeding (still trying to figure that out). Jumping off a 12 foot drop that my buddy swore to me was only 2 feet, getting pesticide sprayed in my eyes by the machine we rode to pick on, and having to learn to work fast, efficiently, in a team, and basically try to become twice as strong in a matter of weeks (bags of wet tobacco leaves are heavy!). This was a test of my endurance, and one that I like to think I passed. Overall, it was fun. Lesson learned; hard work builds character and tests your limits.

5. Working at a Compost Site
So, who would take a job working in a warehouse full of smelly compost that needs to be kept at 45° in the middle of summer? This guy 🙂 I worked with some interesting characters, amongst them a super-serious boss who could not change his facial expression or show any real emotion, was super efficient, worked like a robot, yet could not seem to show up to work in a T-Shirt that was not Rage Against the Machine, Metallica, etc.. I also had the chance to meet a cool individual from Africa, a gentleman by the name of Ring, who told me something that I had a hard time understanding: he had not seen a movie before the age of 15 or so. The movie? Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. It really puts things into perspective, like the things we take for granted. I’ll go home and watch Netflix, while many people on this planet have never used a telephone in their lives. Lesson Learned: if you have the ability to read this, you are probably lucky.

6. Working at a Poolstore
This was a bit odd, as I actually got to work with the father of one of my best friends from elementary school. Suddenly I was working with “Dave” instead of “Mr. O’Grady”. It’s funny how we drill into kids that Mr. & Mrs. are forms of respect, yet the act of being allowed to be on a first-name business with Dave really earned him points in my eyes (of course I respected him before; he is one of the nicest people you will ever meet, a life-long learner, and just all around bright). I learned a lot about warehouse type stuff, and to never, ever mix muriatic acid and chlorine. A fun summer gig, but one that I had to let go because of a spinal cord injury. Lesson learned: respect is earned, and can be earned easier then you think.

7. Warehouse Worker/Proof Reading
Municipal World is a very interesting business – it is a publication for municipal governments, and they also handle materials for municipal elections. It was there that I met my buddy Craig (who is a fellow wrestling fanatic), as we did warehouse type work. Our bosses were super-cool, and I feel that I learned a lot. Beside the warehouse and election components, Municipal World also helps to draft municipal law, and I was allowed to assist in proof reading, and reviewing some French content. It was just a really unique experience. I’ll never forget the interview process – “Yeah looks good. Can you start right now?”. Lesson learned: you can learn some cool stuff at jobs that might otherwise seem crappy.

8. Exporter, Wholesale PC Equipment
This was a job that just felt a bit over my head. Fresh out of school, I worked for straight commission. My job? To export refurbished/off-lease PC equipment to Latin America in wholesale quantities – i.e. in 20 and 40 foot containers. This is where I learned about NAFTA, how it prevented the importing of used PCs into mexico (my homeland and the largest target market in Latin American for us at the time), and trying to do business with Cuba. I made virtually 0 dollars, but had a delegation from Cuba come to visit where I leanred the ropes of translation. I did speak Spanish, but never really had played translator before. Our delegates didn’t just want our hardware; they also wanted to tour a manufacturer of water treatment equipment, a health software development firm, and a few other places. I learned and had to translate stuff related to a bunch of industries on the fly. It all went well, but unfortunately a greedy boss threw it all away. Lesson learned: take control where you can, because one bad apple can piss away a great deal. I did get a chance to make some great friends though.

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Ok, so I’ve just realized that I’ve had a ton of jobs. I’m going to break this up here, and hopefully you’ll find this interesting enough that you’ll want to read part 2 of Almost There!

Rodolfo Martinez
Jack-of-all Trades, Lucha Comics

To be fair, she has been quite supportive, but as a young family with a limited budget, I decided that if I really wanted to do this, I was going to make some sacrifices to get this thing going. This meant it was time to go into the basement and sell some of my coveted Walking Dead books. I’ve told myself that if I make a go of this thing, I’m going on eBay and buying myself a nice copy of a #1, even if I pay some ridiculously inflated price. Anyway, without any further ado, here are the sacrificial lambs that made Lucha Comics a reality:

Sacrifice #1: The Walking Dead #10 & #11

I picked these up off of eBay awhile ago. I made a bit of money off of them, but not a ton. While profit is nice, I told myself if I can turn some books into cash, it can help me to get things going. Parting with these hurt a bit, but not as bad as the next one…

Sacrifice #2: The Walking Dead #27

I’m not going to lie – this one hurt (Especially since I scored this at a local shop’s back issue bin for cover price less than 2 years ago – this was an absolute STEAL). Yes, besides The Walking Dead 1 and 19, this has got to be the most sought after issue. Before this, the world knew not of how awesome and sadistic the Governor was. Despite the fact that I have more valuable comics in my collection, this was probably one of the hottest books that I had. Letting it go wasn’t easy, but I had a goal to reach, and while I could have saved over a few paycheques to make this happen, I really wanted to see if my comic book collection could spawn a comic book business.

Other Sacrifices:

Other sacrifices included The Walking Dead #20, #42, #61,63, #85-91 and the variant of #75, and some DC New 52 stuff. So, what did this leave me with?

Enough funds to get my friend Emilio (the most talented visualizer I have ever met) to come up with an awesome logo for my brand, and a new website design that will be rolling out here soon. It also covered some web hosting costs, and, in case if I ever learn to draw or can find an intern, a Bamboo tablet. While this doesn’t sound like much, it’s more then enough to get me going. Now I just need to finalize some content deals and get some cool stuff out there…