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Okay, a little explanation is in order for that comment. D.J., it’s been, what, a month or so since the Hiatus for Hero By Night begun. So what have you done? Well, you got Yirmumah going again, that’s good you need a place to vent. You have your political comic going with Flobots and you need a place to voice your political convictions too. That’s all fine. What pisses me off is you have awesome talent, you are a great artist and storyteller and writer, but your not doing all you could. Hero really proved what you could do! I know it hurts, you got screwed regardless of whether they meant it or not, the results are the same. They control HBN.
You have gotten a lot of inspiration from Jack Kirby, so here’s a little more. How many setbacks did Jack get in his long career? He really put his all into the Challengers of the Unknown for DC in the late 50’s. He got canned because of an editor who had it in for him. With the industry in a slump and tittering on collapse he ended up back at Marvel having been there before with Joe Simon almost 20 years earlier creating Capt. America, but now he’s doing monster story after monster story. Big thrill for him, I’m sure! Then at his lowest ebb after having created dozens of characters and titles for other companies, intellectual property he no longer had control over, he creates, with Stan Lee’s help, the Fantastic Four, The Hulk, Thor, X-Men, The Avengers and practically the whole Silver Age Marvel Universe! Then after a decade of success, but with little to show for it, even though promise after promise was made to him, he moves back to DC to a promising deal. But again promises are not kept and after giving it his all again and creating another Universe of characters which DC is still living off of, he swallows his pride and goes back to Marvel. It doesn’t work out after a couple years so he invents Capt. Victory and Silver Star, properties he finally owns. Still the market won’t support the guy that created so much of it so what does he do? He goes back to where he started working for animation studios and retired much beloved and highly respected. Here’s the point, Jack never wallowed in self pity, he knew he had a family to feed so he kept churning out idea after idea, characters and titles one after the other. If one did not sell he went to the next one.
So here’s what Jack is telling you now, D.J., with his life’s example. Get to work! You got much better to offer than Hero, Yirmumah, and Flobots! Stop feeling sorry for yourself and fight! Forget HBN and Platinum for now, if it works out great, but that’s the past, you can’t count on it because you don’t have control over it.
Now if this sounds mean and unsympathetic and makes you mad, GOOD! Maybe you will get mad enough to get off your ass and do something! Sorry, but I can’t sit back and watch while everyone else pat’s your knotty little head telling you “It will be okay”. It will be okay IF and only IF you will do something. ‘nuff said!
Hey Mark, no I appreciate you comments. Oh, believe me brother, the ghost of Jack Kirby lives in my head, and is constantly kicking me in the teeth with reality checks. Don’t think I don’t see both the irony and inspiration in all these things. Keep this in mind though, I’ve never quit or stopped to feel sorry for myself either. I sometimes go, “Well, this sucks.” but I move directly onto the next project. I was lucky to have the Flobots comic in the works anyway, and I always felt like I’ve neglected Yirmumah a bit since going full time on HBN. I’m pretty greatful to have had that full time work for 2 years. I can’t complain about that.
There’s an old code of ethics that people like Jack Kirby and Will Eisner had, not one that many publishers lived up to, or still don’t today. But for better or worse, I have that code of ethics as well. Where you could take a guy at a handshake or their word, and if they went back on their word, especially after breaking written contracts, then you have to take those people to task.
Here I am, 7am on a Saturday morning, up and working on comics. So I wouldn’t say I’m just sitting around on my ass and not doing anything though. Like I said, I can’t really think of anytime in the past 10 years that I’ve sat around feeling sorry for myself or not working on something. But I know what you were getting at. ;
Yeah, you’re getting what I’m saying. Yirmumah and Flobots is good, don’t get me wrong, but no way do they replace Hero By Night! They are just not in the same class. They will not appeal to as big a segment of the population as Hero does. You need the next Hero By Night like concept, you have it in you you just have to dig it out. That’s what I’m saying. You want to make some money don’t you? It can be done with web comics if done right and you know how! A better concept than Hero By Night will earn good money as web comic. Others have made more with less! The public is waiting for something better than anyone has out there right now. If you had done Hero on your own, without Platinum, it may have taken longer, but I still think it would have become the “#1 Super Hero web Comic”. That wasn’t just hype was it?
Jack would have had half a Universe created by now! None of us will ever be Jack Kirby, he set too high a standard, but his is the standard to aim for. Keep doing Yirmumah and Flobots AND that next HBN concept. You have it, it’s in there, you just got to get it out. Peace out!
oh man!
ya know i was thinking the other day “god i wonder what happened to Yirmumah?” and today here i am happy to see you back at it. I liked ur hero by night stuff but really missed this strip.
Any chance you can do this as some sort of print? It made me feel so much better after I came home from work saying the same things as in the first panel.
Most Recent
June 19th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Aw wittle sweawin’ wabbit! - Gav - http://www.whitehawkstudios.com
June 19th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
That brought a tear to my eye. Thanks, DJ!
June 20th, 2008 at 6:55 am
(\__/)
( ‘ - ‘ ) FUCK!
(”)_(”)
Wow I feel better already.
June 20th, 2008 at 10:16 am
yay! The Fuck Bunny returns!
June 20th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Oh, yeah? Well fuck you too, asshole! Whew! Now I feel better! Thanks.
June 20th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Okay, a little explanation is in order for that comment. D.J., it’s been, what, a month or so since the Hiatus for Hero By Night begun. So what have you done? Well, you got Yirmumah going again, that’s good you need a place to vent. You have your political comic going with Flobots and you need a place to voice your political convictions too. That’s all fine. What pisses me off is you have awesome talent, you are a great artist and storyteller and writer, but your not doing all you could. Hero really proved what you could do! I know it hurts, you got screwed regardless of whether they meant it or not, the results are the same. They control HBN.
You have gotten a lot of inspiration from Jack Kirby, so here’s a little more. How many setbacks did Jack get in his long career? He really put his all into the Challengers of the Unknown for DC in the late 50’s. He got canned because of an editor who had it in for him. With the industry in a slump and tittering on collapse he ended up back at Marvel having been there before with Joe Simon almost 20 years earlier creating Capt. America, but now he’s doing monster story after monster story. Big thrill for him, I’m sure! Then at his lowest ebb after having created dozens of characters and titles for other companies, intellectual property he no longer had control over, he creates, with Stan Lee’s help, the Fantastic Four, The Hulk, Thor, X-Men, The Avengers and practically the whole Silver Age Marvel Universe! Then after a decade of success, but with little to show for it, even though promise after promise was made to him, he moves back to DC to a promising deal. But again promises are not kept and after giving it his all again and creating another Universe of characters which DC is still living off of, he swallows his pride and goes back to Marvel. It doesn’t work out after a couple years so he invents Capt. Victory and Silver Star, properties he finally owns. Still the market won’t support the guy that created so much of it so what does he do? He goes back to where he started working for animation studios and retired much beloved and highly respected. Here’s the point, Jack never wallowed in self pity, he knew he had a family to feed so he kept churning out idea after idea, characters and titles one after the other. If one did not sell he went to the next one.
So here’s what Jack is telling you now, D.J., with his life’s example. Get to work! You got much better to offer than Hero, Yirmumah, and Flobots! Stop feeling sorry for yourself and fight! Forget HBN and Platinum for now, if it works out great, but that’s the past, you can’t count on it because you don’t have control over it.
Now if this sounds mean and unsympathetic and makes you mad, GOOD! Maybe you will get mad enough to get off your ass and do something! Sorry, but I can’t sit back and watch while everyone else pat’s your knotty little head telling you “It will be okay”. It will be okay IF and only IF you will do something. ‘nuff said!
June 21st, 2008 at 7:09 am
Hey Mark, no I appreciate you comments. Oh, believe me brother, the ghost of Jack Kirby lives in my head, and is constantly kicking me in the teeth with reality checks. Don’t think I don’t see both the irony and inspiration in all these things. Keep this in mind though, I’ve never quit or stopped to feel sorry for myself either. I sometimes go, “Well, this sucks.” but I move directly onto the next project. I was lucky to have the Flobots comic in the works anyway, and I always felt like I’ve neglected Yirmumah a bit since going full time on HBN. I’m pretty greatful to have had that full time work for 2 years. I can’t complain about that.
There’s an old code of ethics that people like Jack Kirby and Will Eisner had, not one that many publishers lived up to, or still don’t today. But for better or worse, I have that code of ethics as well. Where you could take a guy at a handshake or their word, and if they went back on their word, especially after breaking written contracts, then you have to take those people to task.
Here I am, 7am on a Saturday morning, up and working on comics. So I wouldn’t say I’m just sitting around on my ass and not doing anything though. Like I said, I can’t really think of anytime in the past 10 years that I’ve sat around feeling sorry for myself or not working on something. But I know what you were getting at. ;
June 21st, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Yeah, you’re getting what I’m saying. Yirmumah and Flobots is good, don’t get me wrong, but no way do they replace Hero By Night! They are just not in the same class. They will not appeal to as big a segment of the population as Hero does. You need the next Hero By Night like concept, you have it in you you just have to dig it out. That’s what I’m saying. You want to make some money don’t you? It can be done with web comics if done right and you know how! A better concept than Hero By Night will earn good money as web comic. Others have made more with less! The public is waiting for something better than anyone has out there right now. If you had done Hero on your own, without Platinum, it may have taken longer, but I still think it would have become the “#1 Super Hero web Comic”. That wasn’t just hype was it?
Jack would have had half a Universe created by now!
None of us will ever be Jack Kirby, he set too high a standard, but his is the standard to aim for. Keep doing Yirmumah and Flobots AND that next HBN concept. You have it, it’s in there, you just got to get it out. Peace out!
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:31 pm
oh man!
ya know i was thinking the other day “god i wonder what happened to Yirmumah?” and today here i am happy to see you back at it. I liked ur hero by night stuff but really missed this strip.
bookmarked yeow!
August 18th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Any chance you can do this as some sort of print? It made me feel so much better after I came home from work saying the same things as in the first panel.