Ballsy Costumes of NY Comic Con 2011 (for which I had to scrounge flickr)

These probably would have made the list this year, if I had been able to get pictures of them when I first saw them. Since I didn't, I trolled flicker through 37 pages of "ny comic con 2011" tags and got most of them. All photos were free-use, except for the ones I stole for my personal collection. Sadly, you're not allowed to see those here.

X-Men - Man-Phoenix

Pretty sure I can see exactly how ballsy this guy was.




The Family Guy - Meg Griffin

This girl wasn't hideous, but she was pretty plain and kind of frumpy. All-in-all, it was an incredibly bold move to dress up like such a loathed character. That's just inviting hilarious punishment from fans "playing along."

X-Men - Dazzler

So … those might not technically be "balls," but I could certainly strip down to my skivvies on a beach and volley those back and forth in slow motion as keytar riffs from Kenny Loggins' "Playing with the Boys" echos through the surf, if you know what I mean.


Dr. Who - TARDIS Girl & Weeping Angel

You had a pretty sweet TARDIS dress, and the police box hat you made was the better of those I saw. Your weeping angel friend was really well down also, but I couldn't find your photos online.

Final Fantasy - (Black) Black Mage

The one I mistook for Orko last year was a bold move.

However, that guy didn't have to worry about all the "black" jokes. Ballsy move, Black Black Mage.


South Park - Girl Mysterion

That was a wicked question mark you had on your sweet-ass cape. Brava.

The Legend of Zelda - Navi

Why it's ballsy:

Because everyone wants to fucking kill you.


The Venture Bros. - Female Hench-Person

You could have gone for the Dr. Girlfriend, or Dr. Mrs. The Monarch like eight other women, or her White Queen costume, or even just plain college-age Sheila.

Instead, you went for the equal opportunity cosplay. Well done.

Final Fantasy VII - Sephiroth and Jenova

One is a pretty girl, and the other has a giant penis…

…coming out of her blue navel.


Star Trek - Fat Admiral Kirk

That was ballsy. Not only was your admiral's uniform movie-accurate, you padded your frame pretty plumply.

Had Robert Kirkman wandered past me on his cell phone, trying to locate a lost associate, I totally would have stopped you for my first picture taking opportunity Thursday preview.

But, man, Kirkman's got a powerful beard.

The Venture Bros. - Sgt. Hatred

So, you're overweight, over 25, and you're going to dress up like a known pedophile. Awesome. Great. Where's Chris Hansen?

(And no, he's not 'reformed' when he's wearing that costume.)


X-Men - Wolverine (Height Accurate)

Short of not having the perfect, admittedly huge and complex facial hair, you were my favorite Wolverine this year, because you were, well, short. You might have actually been 5'3", which would put you at just about eye level with the comic book depiction of Logan. Plus, I was just wishing for a short Wolvy about 5 minutes before you walked by, Saturday, so that was really convenient.

Fastball Special!

The Best Costumes of NY Comic Con 2011

New York Comic Con this year had certainly fewer costumes than last year, but upon inspection of what I deemed the best of the best, I have to say that the average upper-tier costumes were a grade above what I was expecting. To that end, this year I am announcing a few categories for costumes of different types.

First the second-runner-up category, Thank You for Not Sucking. These costumes are usually so terribly done that to craft and enact one well is itself a meritorious feat.

Photo © Alex Erde

1. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Midna (imp form)

This is a costume usually performed by an overweight girl of modest stature donning a baggy, painted Lycra suit, flecking paint. Not only was this girl's headdress perfect, she had the height appropriate to an imp. She still had curves appropriate to the character, but the shape was right and so was the bodysuit.

Makeup and prosthetics were top-shelf, so thank you, Random, Possibly Asian-Looking girl, for taking an overused and under performing character and letting her shine.

2. Panty & Stocking with Garter belt - Panty and Stocking

I saw a few Stockings, throughout the weekend, but I suppose a decent number of those could have also been generic gothic lolita fashion girls, as opposed to simple, poorly executed Stocking costumes.

Panty is looking like a complete bitch who thinks she's wat hotter than she actually is, which–frankly–is perfectly in character. Considering they were also with another couple girls cosplaying related show characters, They are granted bonus points.

Thank you, Not-Sucky P&S!

3. Durarara - Celty

There were two or three Celtys in total this year, but this was the only one I saw who was the right height, the right gender, the right physique, and had both a (well-fitted) motorcycle suit and a real motorcycle helmet. Even the "ears" were made of the same material as the rest of the helmet.

Plus she had her scythe with her.

For those not familiar with the cute ensemble cast show recently airing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim anime Saturdays block, Celty is a "dulahan," a Celtic faerie type that is immortal, powerful, and carries her own head around with her while riding her horse across the countryside.

Of course, Celty 'lost' her head and with it her memories, so she turned her horse into a bike and set off to find her head, wherever it went.

Thank you, Not Sucky Celty.


Extra Nerdy Awards

Photo © Alex Erde

1. Internet - Longcat

Thank you, internet, and thank you, all of you people who made a Chinese dragon of Longcat and paraded around the Javits center holding this monstrosity.

Your work and sense of humor (and camaraderie) is greatly appreciated.

Photo © Alex Erde

2. Axe Cop - Axe Cop

An ordinary cop, until he picked up a fireman's axe and became … Axe Cop.

Originally, this was a comic drawn by a talented artist depicting stories narrated verbatim by his–I think–then nine-year old cousin.

Astounding.

3. Mega Man - Cutman (vintage)

This costume is wonderful in how bad parts of it are, while other parts remain incredible: boots, gloves, and especially helmet - all awesome. Look at that, he cut sheet metal to the proper configuration and bolted it stylishly to a batting helmet. Well done!

Then again, he's out of shape–was he ever in-shape to begin with?–goateed, and is wearing a baggy, white sweatsuit.

This is what I talk about when I say that a crappy costume, meant to be crappy, can be awesome.


Best Cross-Gender Costumes

Photo © Alex Erde

1. The Labyrinth - Female Jareth (David Bowie)

Dude, I'd consider banging David Bowie in The Labyrinth and he's still technically a guy. (Though, if I may quote Family Guy, "Androgynous enough that we could both feel attracted to him and it not be weird.")

Props on the epic hair, perfect to character, the frilly blouse, vest, gloves, and the contact juggling ball. Really, the only inaccuracies here are

a) I don't think she has a penis, and
b) Her eyes are both brown. But I begrudge no one for not possessing dichromia like Bowie and I.

Photo © Alex Erde

2. X-Men - Female Gambit

First off, really cute Asian girl. Who's into comics. And has fashion sense. Thank you.

Secondly, this was by fath the best Gambit costume I saw all weekend. Thursday I saw one that might have been on-par, but it was movie Gambit, not comics Gambit.

This one is badass, appropriately tailored, and altered only in so far as the costume needs to fit a woman's frame instead of a Cajun man's. It is faithful to the comics, the '90s cartoon, and about 837,000 fanboy fantasies now, I'd suspect.

Photo © Alex Erde

3. Iron Man - Female Tony Stark

Again, Asian girls just seem to have more technical prowess than us white boys.

Alex dragged me over to get a picture with my counterpart to the costume I wore last year.

Alright, I had a real beard, but my chest piece was a Tap Light© covered in gorilla tape and strung around my neck with twine.

This girl built a fully working Arc light prop from internet tutorials and glued it in place with bandage tape.

Oh, and she's currently working on the Mk III "triangle" piece.

Most impressive.

Photo © Alex Erde

4. Conan O'Brien - The Flaming C

Brilliant.

Obscure, accurate, flamboyant, and–like all good Rule 63–perfectly altered for depiction by the opposite gender.

Girl even had a hand-made jai alai scoop!

Also, epaulets are totally in fashion right now. Women's clothing really picked up on the men's military dress trend.

5. Deadpool - Deadpool in a German Bar Maid Dress

To be fair, I don't think this was a woman.

I took a look just to be sure, and those boobs were not exactly in the proper placement and orientation for real boobs, nor did they possess a natural form as (s)he walked. Also: almost no hair.

Based on gait and physiology, I had to surmise that this was a man wearing a Deadpool costume, who then donned a beer wench costume.

Why?

Because Deadpool, that's why. Of course he would do that. I'm sure it even made sense. To him. For like a second at least.

Nice gams.


Adventure Time Awards

 I am giving an aware to everyone who wore awesome Adventure Time costumes.

1. Manliest Finn


















2. Most amazing  Fiona.

Not only did she nail the costume, she had a sick Cake the Cat, and her friend there was dressed as the male version of Marceline (canonically called "Marshall Lee," a name a refuse to acknowledge in favor of "Man-Celine).

Manceline even has a hyper-sweet reproduction of Marceline's battle "axe."

They were amazing and I love them both forever.

3. Best Cake the Cat

This was a crocheted backpack critter type thing. I don't think it held or did anything, just hung around this girl's back.

I felt like a total skeever taking this picture too, because the girl was like 15 but I couldn't resist such a sweet, sweet crochet job.

4. Most accurate Princesses

Alright, Princess Bubblegum I could take or leave. She was well done here, but honestly, if not for her voice actor in the show, I don't care for the character. Too easy.

Lumpy Space Princess, on the other hand, that is an impressive costume.

That's a ballsy move for the little girl inside that big, purple cloud shape. All hot and gross inside, suffering for her comedy.

Because make no mistake, the only reason to go as Lumpy Space Princess when you could be Bubblegum or Fiona, or anybody else, is it is hilarious.

Photo © Alex Erde

5. Best Universe-Shattering Slash Fiction

Him: A Finn cosplayer

Her: A Fionna devotee.

Together: The most adorable couple's costume at the whole con.

Somewhere, Pendleton Ward just sat down after experiencing a great disturbance in the Time, as if thousands of voices suddenly cried out in cheer on the internet and began furiously typing up fan fiction, then were suddenly never silenced ever.




Just Awesome Costumes:

(In no particular order.)

Photo © Alex Erde

X-Men - Archangel

Blue face paint is a commitment.

Giant steel wings that must weigh a ton and could probably really hurt someone or at the very least impare your mobility in a crowded convention center:

That's some semper fi marine shit, right there.

Photo © Alex Erde

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Casey Jones

Yeah, I'm ignoring April O'Neil here.

I'll tell you why:

First: she's not that good. I saw a much sexier, much more cartoon-accurate April on Thursday, and if you remember the cartoon, you remember that girl had some Barbie-doll level of impossible proportions on her. And Thursday's April met them. Pretty sure she was even a natural redhead.

Secondly: Casey just kicks ass here. Ratty old golf bag full of five-irons and hockey sticks? 2000s accurate cartoon mask? Hell, by that iteration of Casey, even the sweat pants, sneakers, short shirt, and ties/wraps are accurate. Plus, he brought an entire girlfriend as an accessory, and she has her own accessories. She's like a Ken doll, to stretch the previous analogy.

Hellblazer - John Constantine

Perfect costume, with "lit" cigarette (think it was an LED), and the schtick of following around other obscure comics heroes and skulking in the background of their photo opportunities?

That's John, for you.

Darkwing Duck - Darkwing Duck, Morganna Webb, and Megavolt

… Just … I-

Simply amazing. So freaking funny, accurate while also more realistically anthropomorphic, amazing accessories for everyone, and, I don't know if you can see this so I'll give you a little close-up:

Those duck feat are made from three pairs of Converse All-Stars painted orange and white.

They used the same technique in the Whoopi Goldberg vehicle "Theodore Rex."






 

Photo © Alex Erde

X-Men - Hank McCoy

Speaking of blue before, here's some commitment for you:

Dressing like a giant nerd at a convention of nerds nerdy enough to know how big a nerd you are for pretending to be a specific giant nerd.

Who is also blue.

And dressed like an associate professor a at state school.

Epic facial hair, though.

Marvel Comics - Luke Cage (1970s)

Okay, you can't really tell much scale here, but this guy was, no lie, not shorter than 6'10". He was just enormous. People were walking by him and grown men stopped at his collar bone.

Plus the costume was 100% comic book accurate. Forget all the She-Hulks in "4" leotards I saw all weekend, Luke Cage is my favorite substitute Fantastic Four member from this day forward.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Master Shake

Asked if he had anything to say after the costume contest, Shake had only this to utter:

I should have been in the contest.

Marvelous.

That straw's a giant foam pool noodle, by the way.

Photo © Alex Erde

Another giant man.

This one dressed as The Rhino, from Spider-Man, complete with latex chest pieces and headgear, and just generally gargantuan arms.

The feet are a nice touch, to grab attention away from the mamoth sweat pants.

Batman Forever - The Riddler (Jim Carey iteration)

This is another bold move.

Both for the leotard on someone so gangly, and the hair, but in-character both work perfectly. He was also flappy and jaunty and doing a lot of physical stuff Carey did in the movie.

It's also bold since that was a terrible movie and the worst version of The Riddler. I'm not saying it was Batman and Robin bad, but it was the next thing over.

This kid pulled it off, though.

A Nightmare Before Christmas - Jack Skellington

This guy actually won the costume contest. Amazing tailoring, and if you couldn't tell, the walking stick is because in order to look appropriately freakish and lanky, this guy was walking around on stilts.

Batman - Bane

This is the guy I was actually rooting for to win the costume contest.

Paul, as I found out, says,

"I have never seen someone as Bane who was in shape. They were all either fat or wearing a muscle suit. So I worked out like crazy and dieted for 6 months lol.

LoL, indeed, Paul! Not only was his costume spot-on, he pulled out all the stops with matching shape and having poses and a full act handy, where he would drag Batman around all day by the limp ankles of neck, and then "break" him over his knee with a lumbar-twinging floppiness anyone familiar with the comics is ecstatic to witness. You can see a sweet pictorial and write-up of it here.

Paul doesn't have a website, but if you're interested in seeing his other work, he has a Dark Knight-styled short film giving the Nolan treatment to the origin of Harley Quinn over on YouTube.

Advice from NY Comic Con

1. Walking

• Like Sand People, always ride single-file, both to hide your numbers and so people in a hurry can get around you.
• Fat people, especially take note.
• Hold hands to stay together, but trust that feeling the warm touch of another human is assurance enough they are still back there. Stopping and turning every six seconds is annoying to others.
• Walking hand-in-hand, side-by-side is especially frowned upon.
• Fat couples, really take note here.
• As with guns, don't aim for where the open space is, aim for where it is going to be.
• Experience playing "Frogger" helps.
• You are going to see many interesting things. If you can help it, never stop in the path of foot traffic. Aim for a nearby corner, wall, or divider, and stay out of the way.
• Unless they are going your way, never get stuck behind large or bulky costumes, or people in wheelchairs [or baby strollers].
• If they are going your way, ride in their wake.
• "Follow the Wookie" was something I never thought I'd joyously live to hear.

2. Personal Space

• You don't have any.
• Wear deodorant.
• In fact, bring an extra stick. Even travel size. Maybe breath mints too.
• Don't be the awkward old Asian man on the subway and start getting handsy with the cute girls. Most of them will take a photo with you in ridiculous poses as long as you ask. You can even touch them if you're not a creep about it. Just keep it to G-rated behavior, dude.
• Be mindful of protruding parts of your costume.

3. Further Photo Etiquette

• Always ask before taking a photo of someone unless they are already in the process of posing for someone else, in which case a simple head nod and smile is usually sufficient to beg a few seconds more of their time.
• Offer your business card or email address in case they would like copies.
• If you post photos online, credit the models where possible.
• Compliment the costumer's performance
• Do not take photos of a group and leave out certain members. Pull one aside and at least explain that you'd just like a special pose of said character in addition to the group shots.
• Always thank the people when you're done.

4. Miscellaneous

• Hitting on Booth Babes is like hitting on bartenders: don't do it while they're working or still in uniform.
• Chat them up nicely, don't take too much of their time, offer to socialize if they have free time after they finish up and feel up for it. Do not be pushy or overeager.
• Bring a big, empty bag. You will need it.
• Hydrate.

Kindle Fire, DC Comics & Comixology: "Let's all lose money."

It was at a panel at New York Comic Con a few days ago that Comixology, the online comics reading platform, acknowledged the announcement that Amazon's Kindle Fire would receive exclusive digital publishing rights to certain DC Comics graphic novel titles, including Batman trades and Alan Moore & Dave Gibbon's masterpiece Watchmen.

Comixology, of course, is relevant to this deal in that they power the official Marvel and DC Comics comic book apps.

Yup. Both of them. Online, iDevice, Kindle, and any other proprietary app those companies want. They even do Dark Horse. Cute, right?

Here's where we play "Good Idea/Bad Idea," dedicated to Steven Spielberg and the executives of daytime programming at Warner Bros. studios back in 1998.


Good Idea: Securing awesome, exclusive content for your new device from a major industry player.

Bad Idea: Refusing to allow users of any other device access to the same digital content.


Amazon, great job. You gave yourself a definite boost. Even if this fails miserably, you got a couple extra nerds to buy Kindle Fires they would otherwise possibly pass over for a competitor. Savvy move.

DC, are you legitimately mentally handicapped? Who told you this would be a good idea? Did you see one too many "Call of Duty" commercials where preordering through a specific retailer or for a certain console gets you an exclusive bonus? Did you not realize that those features are generally available to all users after a set amount of time? Or that every platform gets it's own exclusive extra content, while everyone shares the basic game features? At what point, DC, did it seem like a brilliant idea to take your most profitable stories ever, and make them exclusive to one device?

I understand you're backstepping a bit by admitting that you can't promise anything yet, but the exclusivity isn't permanent, and you just wish you hadn't signed that non-disclosure form so you could tell us when you were planning on unscrewing your fans. You're even trying to taut the Kindle app as a go-between despite prior comments to the contrary. I get it. There's fallout you didn't see coming and now you're on damage control

It's still not stopping Barnes & Noble and other booksellers from removing all physical copies of the "exclusive" titles from their shelves.

Hey look! It's that time again!


Good Idea: Boycotting products for which your supplier is trying to grant your competitors certain exclusive permissions.

Bad Idea: Boycotting those products and now making them actually exclusive to that competitor's device.


And while we're at it, Bad Idea: Trying to force a weak business model where digital comic sales are designed to encourage physical comic sales, and then accidentally making your comic sales preclude physical sales. Oh, and now your digital sales are slipping. Congrats.



Comixology, I'm so sorry you got stuck dealing with these kids. I bet you feel like the guy who hired Larry, Moe, and Curly as bakers because they came so very highly recommended.

Official Rules of Costuming | Dispatches from NY Comic Con 2011

There were some pretty weak costumes at Comic Con this year. I overheard several exhibitors and attendees complain that there was a greater commerciality about the event this year, an air of Big Business and less of an emphasis on independent artists.

But mostly we were all just unimpressed with most of the costumes we were seeing. Expect a teardown of the best costumes in the next couple days, but for now, let's establish some ground rules so as to avoid these issues in the future:


Rules of Proper Costuming:

1. Costumes may not be purchased as-is. Yes, NY Comic Con is in October, but this isn't Halloween.

2. Costumes must fit your body type/ethnicity. No scrawny Supermen, no morbidly obese Deadpools, no Caucasians posing as Japanese 14 year old school girls.

3. If you choose an iconic character, you must have a spot-on likeness. Do you look nothing like your favorite character? Don't feel like making an effort to look more like him/her? Then don't do it. Find a character that suits you better or skip it altogether. We're not against enjoying something even if you don't look the part, but remember that you are judged on quality at Comic Con.

4. Interesting and interactive costumes are more impressive than even the most perfect reproductions. Of course both is the best case scenario. Have a good pose ready, at least, for those who want to take pictures with you.

5. Group shots are less impressive with three Dragon Ball Z villains and a Power Ranger. Two people, fine. You can be different. I saw a couple dressed as Misa and her giant, creepy shinigami from "Death Note."

Awesome. Yet they were walking with a white (rage) Asuka from "Evangelion." I took their pictures separately, and one of them was for pity's sake. You can still see her in the edge of the frame, yet to be cropped out. Why is she so pissy looking? Because she's been a third-wheel all day and she's tired and getting a yeast infection from her plug suit while the scrawny blonde is going to have sex tonight.


6. Know what the hell you're dressed as. It's cool to get your girlfriend to put on a Mary Marvel costume while you wear red and run around shouting "SHAZAM!" But for gods' sake, give her a little back story. Last year a comedian asked a smoking hot Green Lantern girl which Lantern she was, paired to her boyfriend's Hal Jordan, and she didn't know. He just dressed her in an outfit that showed off her ass. Thank you, but you looked like a fool and we all knew what was going on.

7. Some notes on quality:

• No camel toe. Ladies, double up on underwear. Men, get a friggin' cup. I know you played peewee something back before daddy gave up on your sports career.
• No papier mâché or visible cardboard. If you can't make it yourself, commission it. If you can't afford it, don't do it.
• Avoid wigs unless A) you can't physically grow your hair long enough in time, or B) physics otherwise would preclude natural hair from taking that shape. That said, a box of hair color and some industrial strength holding spray go a long way.

Irony Exemptions:

1. You can alter the race/gender/physical profile of any character if it is well performed. Black Ken and Ryu? Sure, they had great costumes. Sexy Girl Han Solo? As long as you have the right clothes and gun.

"Hana Solo?" I'd herd her nerfs, alright.

2. Your costume can look like crap if the joke is it looks like crap. Cardboard box robots and child-sized Halloween costumes stretched over 6-foot grown men included. Hell, buy a generic Superman costume and add black rimmed glasses and a cardboard sign with "Totally Not Superman" scrawled on it, and you'd got the best Clark Kent costume I've ever seen. (Wit > Visuals.)

Or you could be this guy. Hilarious commentary. Good quality; homemade. And child appropriate.

 

NY Comic Con: Sunday | Photo

So, Friday night I was at Rock Comic Con at a bar called "Tobacco Road¹." Great song, fun as hell bar. (I'd actually been there before, for a book signing where the ticket booking agency somehow let my credit card number get out, but that's not TR's fault and I don't hold anything against them.)

Aside from amazing bands like Kirby Krackle, Paul and Storm, and H2Awesome, artists were there getting tanked and drawing artworks for charity. At one point, some guy named "Filthy Rich" asked for a Jameson, and, well, I was feeling shit-faced and generous. End result: Free sketch.

Drunken request?

"Boba Fett?"

"Sure."

"…Getting kicked in the balls?"

"Hahah, okay, but who could do that?"

"…Yoda?"

"You got it." Amazing.



¹Actually 355 West 41st, between 8th and 9th. Don't know why it's wrong, but it's a hole in the wall you'd never find off of 9th. You really have to be on 41st to see it.

NY Comic Con: Saturday | Photo

Cutman will cut you. Cut you so bad, you gonna wish he didn't cut you so bad.

NY Comic Con: Saturday | Photo

Mandos know how to party, damn it.

NY Comic Con: Friday | Photo

Mandos know how to party, damn it.

Comic Con: Thursday VIP Night | Photo

I … I certainly will!

Tally-Ho! | Natalie Nourigat Of 'Between Gears' Talks Digital Comics

When I sat down to start submitting my manuscript to agents, I found one of my lead chapters relied kind of heavily on what public figures have said on the internet. I kind of … don't feel so great about that. I mean, it's here's the internet.

Flat Earth theorists have the right idea.

Now, as far as the internet is concerned, I, Dave Zucker, a man of prolific brilliance and staggering wit, have espoused the belief that we live on a plate of matter suspended in the ether by the steady hand of divine providence and little else. Depending on interpretation, it may ride on the back of several elephants and/or a tortoise, or it could just be turtles all the way down.

To remedy my situation, I have decided to track down every artist whose opinion my original college essay regarding digital comics (webcomics) cited, and interview them to get the words knowingly and even more elaborately from their own mouths (keyboards).

I worked at a pretty professional college paper. We won awards. We were frequently praised for achieving this while outright refusing any "adult" oversight. We were damn good at what we did and we made sure we succeeded on our own. Wonderful!

Of course, I was the Fun Page Editor, so I never, per se, interviewed anyone before, but I lived with a reporter. I read interviews. And I get the feeling this will pretty much be the only time when drawing and publishing so many comics probably help my journalistic tendencies, so here goes!

***

I honestly do not remember how I came across Natalie "Tally" Nourigat's work and I'm a little ashamed of this. I have memories of reading her comic blogs in college, but it's honestly not possible; she didn't start her big internet comic until I had already graduated. So what was I reading in the newspaper office all night when I should have been working?

From best I can tell, I found her story already started at Between Gears right when I was looking to get my own life moving forward. The original idea was simple:

Between Gears is an autobiographical comic that covers my senior year of college (September 2009 - June 2010), with one comic page for each day.

Hand-drawn panels and lots of gentle curves.
Very few straight, even-thickness lines.

So, I'm old. But it was a fascinating read, and right up my ally at the time, as a daily-writer. Every day, Natalie wrote down notes and maybe sketches which, sometimes months later, she would come back to to draw, getting to relive the most important and sometimes the most seemingly inconsequential moments of her life and commit them to paper.

Some days' pages are filled with friends, delicious food, love, family, warm and snuggly cats, even singing along to iPods off-key. Other days can be a pit of wallowing in fear and pain and outright despair at the prospect of growing to trying to be what you really want to be. Tally doesn't spare these. They were just as much a part of her life as the happy memories, and both forged her into who she is as a person and an artist.

The tree acts as both background and frame.

I got to see Natalie work on her senior project, Over the Surface, about a young high school girl in an ambiguously European, mid-century town who is obsessed with fighter planes and just generally being a strong female lead right at the cusp of starring in her life's big, incredibly awesome plot line.

Her lines are fluid and expressive. Shading is gorgeous, and her sense of layout and composition makes it a little hard to believe she hasn't been slaving at a major art house for years already.

Actually, she only just joined Periscope Studio after interning there, but already has two graphic novel projects, a children's book, and–oh, yeah–Image Comics is collecting BG for publication in 2012.

Not bad for a year's work.

***

When I first emailed Natalie, she got back to me in just a couple of days. I had actually been looking into what she was doing professionally for a few days, determining if she would be a good person to add to my original interview list (she was beyond that), so I was shocked when she got back to me in just a couple days.
She was gracious, curious about my project, but immediately on board with any project that took an academic look at comics as an evolving art form. I fired off my questions attached to a resounding thank you that night, also explaining the nature of my work, a discussion of digital-media comics as the evolution of the art form.

"I'm really excited whenever I hear about comics being regarded in an academic light," she says. I toss out that I may have gotten my writing degree by taking five different classes about comic books. We switch to social media to start off the formal question-and-answer period.

Me: Do you use Twitter at all to communicate with readers, or is it just for friends? ("I'm a Twitter Luddite," is also a perfectly acceptable answer.) Do you think it helps your art and business to be able to communicate with readers so closely?

Tally: I use Twitter quite a bit, and I use it to interact with readers about as often as friends. Updating once or twice a day to say that I am working on a certain project or to post a sneak peak at art from upcoming projects reminds people that I am alive and I think it helps to build interest in my work. In the 140-character format, it is extremely easy to be accessible and responsive to a large group of people. There is a fine line you have to walk, though, when your online presence is connected to you as a professional. Ideally, you are friendly and relatable, but not so crude, casual, or personal that you turn off possible employers who might happen across your feed without context.

M: What are your thoughts on webcomics that offer free updates but rely on or at least supplement those with "premium content" for paying subscribers?

T: I drew a comic for Wirepop in college that offered the first four chapters for free but only provided the subsequent pages and updates to monthly subscribers. I don’t believe the pay-off from that kind of model outweighs the costs. Some readers got hooked and were angry when they realized they’d become invested in something that was ultimately going to require a subscription to read. Very few people sprung for the subscription, and then they felt cheated if updates weren’t regular. I think that readers are much warmer to the idea of the comic being free, but extras like wallpapers, screensavers, or early updates being reserved for people who donate money to the comic or are part of a subscription program.

M: In addition to other artists' collections and books, do you personally buy single-issues or trade comics from any of the 'mainstream' publishing houses?

T: I buy about five trades per month, and usually only one of these is from Marvel or DC. I have tried buying single-issues, and given stories up to a year to hook me, but I don’t think that format is the one for me.

M: 
You've posted some fanart from time to time; how would you feel about drawing a well-established character for DC or Marvel, say? Perhaps Studio Ghibli?

T: I have the most fun doing fan art when I understand the character and his or her story and world well. I would feel the same way about taking over a well-established and well-loved character’s story; only comfortable if I knew the property by heart. I would LOVE to work on a Studio Ghibli property; I watch their films, study their behind-the-scenes segments and interviews, buy their artbooks, and read the comic adaptations of their films. There are some DC and Marvel characters I feel a connection to, especially in the Avengers and the Batverse, but the continuity in most mainstream comics is intimidating. I wouldn’t be comfortable taking over unless I really understood the history of what I would be working on.

M: Do you have any thoughts about these companies selling digital copies of their monthly titles? Price-points are on-par with single issues, each uses proprietary file formats, subscription fees, that sort of thing?

T: I don’t have much to say about this. I don’t buy comics digitally, and I don’t care to. I think that comics look best on paper, they are fun to flip through, and I like displaying them around my apartment, leaving them on the Periscope lunch table for others’ perusals, and lending them to friends.

The numbers that I have heard in terms of digital comic sales are laughably low for the amount of debate they have kicked up. That said, I do believe they will grow into a more significant percentage of overall comic sales, and are not something to be ignored. They could put comic shops at risk, they could bring in new readers, they could boost sales in the comic market, they could allow for new features in comics, like movement and sound.

M: 
I know you're familiar with downloading anime and other video; often these come with wonderful little fan warnings: "Not For Sale Or Lease," was a favorite, asking the viewer to only download that show until it became licensed in the States and suddenly "sharing" became "stealing." How to you feel about "Comics Piracy" as a concept and practice? The sharing of scanned issues and trades that aren't freely available?

T: I’m in favor of free sharing, but it is ultimately up to the copyright holder what is or isn’t ‘right’. I believe it is in a comic’s best interest to be widely read and sampled for free. The readership is small enough as it is; don’t set up any more barriers or reasons for people to not read comics.

I myself am not willing to buy almost any comic without having read a good portion of it and knowing that I like it. Even if an entire comic is available online, if I like it and want to read it again, I will buy it. Also, there is a good chance any popular comic will end up online for free whether or not you authorize it, so why not take charge of how it is presented and offer it yourself? Make sure that the comic looks good, isn’t covered with unauthorized advertisements or other brands, and earn some goodwill with readers?

A favorite story of mine is how a scanlation of Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber’s independent comic Underground [Note: now available through Image] popped up on 4chan. Neither of them made money from the comic; it was a labor of love and it was being shared for free online. Instead of freaking out, though, both creators engaged the forum, answered fan questions, and basically consented to the scanlation, but asked readers to please consider buying the comic in print if they liked the comic. Even though they were advertising the print copy in the same forum where readers could get the comic for free, Parker and Lieber saw an incredible spike in sales, along with unprecedented goodwill from the typically antagonistic 4chan. They set up a PDF download link on Underground’s website shortly afterward with a donation button, which also did very well.

M: With the shift from Comic Books to Webcomics, where do you see newspaper comics fitting in? Do they serve a purpose or are they something of a hold-over from 'days gone by' papers with cartoons and a crossword puzzle?

T: I do not read newspapers or newspaper comics, and I haven’t for a long time. I hope for the sake of their creators that they have some place in the future of comics, but I can’t picture it.

M: 
Webcomics seem to have picked up a reputation for being less legitimate because the artists also sell merchandise, even though I can pull a Batman shirt out of my closet and no one says a word. Do you think this is because webcomics are generally independently run? Is monetizing the same as "selling out"?

T: I am not aware of this. That seems strange, since webcomics are free and creators are likely to need merchandise sales to make the comic possible. A lot of readers want to own something that supports their favorite independent comic and proves that they are a ‘true’ fan. I do think it’s dangerous to focus so much on merchandise that your comic takes a back seat, but even then I don’t begrudge people trying to make a living.

M: 
Finally, do you see major comic houses like DC, Marvel and Dark Horse surviving the next 20 years and if so how? Could they change or will they just cling in desperation until the last paper mill is demolished by iPad-driven bulldozers powered by cloned whale oil?

T: Why is that not a comic? xD

I see them surviving, but I hope it will be because they embrace new readers and changing tastes. The ‘house styles’ that some companies keep really baffle me. They can be extremely off-putting to readers who grew up on webcomics or manga, to young readers, and to women and feminists. Gritty realism and stiff characters don’t do it for everybody, so why don’t publishers diversify their art styles? I find the Marvel Strange Tales issues to be some of the most interesting stuff the company has released.

Also, the continuity thing is a huge barrier to new readers. I wish there was some kind of ‘starter’ trade every couple of years that could serve as a starting point for people who want to get into a popular character. How many people walked into a comic shop this year when the Green Lantern film was released, only to be accosted by 4 different GL series running simultaneously? That’s no way to capture a new comic audience.

M: Lastly, and this is purely selfish, we East Coasters can't expect you at NY Comic Con or any of our other local-ish conventions anytime soon, can we?



T: I applied to TCAF for 2012, and I also plan to apply for NYCC 2012! I really hope that they both work out; I’ve heard great things about TCAF and I had an excellent time attending NYCC in 2010.

***

Apparently we missed her last year in our nerd-drunk stupor of being first-time con goers. Ah, well. Here's to good things for everyone in 2012!