[With reality TV and reality contests everywhere, people have been wondering when someone would start a reality TV show about the comics industry. That hasn't happened yet -- maybe because sitting at a drawing board all day doesn't make for all that exciting a visual. However at least one comics creator is currently starring in a reality show: Jesse Blaze Snider, the 27-year-old son of Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider is on A&E's Growing Up Twisted, which airs tonight at 10/9c. Although Snider has had much previous TV exposure, he considers writing comics the career he wants to follow. We were interested in finding out how someone with experience in so many fields balances all these different outlets. Currently the author of BOOM!'s Toy Story: Tales from the Toy Chest, Snider chatted to The Beat about his writing, being a reality star and his very colorful family.]

BEAT: Jesse, in reading up a bit about you, I see you have done everything there is to do from having a band to acting to voice acting to writing to playing football. It is tiring just to read about! But you have also said that writing comics is what you really want to do. Sitting in front of a computer typing seems like the least exciting activity on your resume…so what gives?

Jesse Blaze Snider: I love it. I really don’t know how to answer that any better, but I love writing and I love comic books. I love entertaining people. Telling a good story. I really have a drive to give back to other people what my favorite writers and stories and movies and shows have given to me. I get such a thrill from finishing something good and then seeing it come to life.

You know, when my elementary school teacher told me I could be anything when I grew up, I believed her. I still believe her, but there is one thing I can never really be…a super hero, with super powers, fighting the good fight and righting wrongs and…you know, I get to live all of my dreams that are actually possible on a daily basis, but inside the pages of my comic books I get to do the impossible everyday and I get a vicarious thrill out of that.

That was a good question. It kind of puts the whole thing in perspective really. I guess I must really love writing comics, because all that other stuff is a hell of a lot easier.

BEAT: How did you get started wanting to write comics? Were you always a comics reader?

JBS: My dad turned me on to comics when I was like 10, but I never really read them, I just sort of looked at the pictures and occasionally read the dialogue of the characters who I thought were funny, like the Thing and Spider-Man. It was during the really stupid period of comics in the 90’s where everything was a number one or a foil cover and Image had just exploded onto the scene. I ended up really liking Youngblood and specifically the character Bedrock, who was the only character in the book who’s dialogue I actually read. I was 10 and Bedrock was a juvenile version of the Thing.

One day, I spot Bedrock on the cover of a book called “The Savage Dragon” and the two of them are going at it. So, I pick up the book immediately and read it outside the store. Bedrock, my then favorite character, gets his ass handed to him for 22 pages and thoroughly embarrassed by the Dragon and by the time I finished reading, I had a new favorite character and my love of comic books had officially begun.

Savage Dragon was actually the only comic book I read for a bunch of years and then one day I heard about Joe Kelly’s Deadpool and I picked that up and started reading it religiously. Shortly after that Marvel launched the “Marvel Knights” line and that really grabbed me, a year later and I was reading like 20-30 monthlies, a year after that I was working in a comic shop, catching up on classic stories and reading an easy one hundred plus comic books every month.

I started writing short stories in high school and quickly realized that I wanted to write comics, which made sense, because that was the bulk of what I read. I’ve been busted my ass trying to “break in” ever since. Going on like 10 years now.

BEAT: You also played high school football. How can someone be both a nerd and a jock???

JBS: I actually still play football, semi-pro for the Brooklyn Mariners and I’m a national champion actually, my team is pretty good. I think you’d be surprised how many nerd/jocks there are. I’m surprised there aren’t even more of us. When you read comic books Superman is like average build. I’ve always wanted to be like these heroes, in shape and ready to do the right thing if the need arises. There are a lot of things that super heroes do that I can’t, but being athletic isn’t one of them. Plus, football is the closest I’m ever going to get to be the Juggernaut. I do gymnastics too, I’m no Dick Grayson, but I can do back flips and stuff, just enough to make me feel cool.

BEAT: How did you finally break in?

JBS: My break at Marvel came with a tip from my friend Chris Sotomayor that Andy Schmidt was taking 8 page submissions for a new volume of Marvel Comics Presents. Pretty much everything I’ve done since then is because of the 8-page Deadpool story that I wrote for that book. Before that, I wrote a lot of scripts, had some editors like Marc Sumerak and others take an interest in me and guide me along the way, which is such a huge help when you’re just starting out. I remember Marc gave me like 10 pages of notes on one of my scripts and it was such a big help to me.

I also hired two artists to produce a book with me that was a sample of two creator owned books that I wanted to do. One of the books was called “Wreckless” and I hired one of my favorite artist Chris Cross to draw it. Cool thing is, Chris liked it so much he said he’d do it if somebody picked it up and I actually got Image to green-light the book last year. Now, I just have to find the time to do it. I’ve got a wife, a daughter and a mortgage, so it’s a lot harder to write for free these days.

BEAT: In DEAD ROMEO, your miniseries for DC you took the assignment of writing a vampire story and kind of went nuts with a story about a rock star and eternal damnation and seven evil Hollywood vampires. Was this a topic that particularly inspired you?

JBS: Not really, but you try and make the best of every assignment. DC told me what they were looking for and I tried to give them what they wanted. The only reason I made him a rockstar was so I could give him a cool costume, because at the end of the day I’m a superhero guy. But I’d never written a romance before and I could only really draw from personal romantic experience, so it ended up being a bit more personal then I ever intended, that just sort of happened though.

It was weird, because I don’t believe in Hell and I really hate stories that actually take place in Hell, so when they asked me to write a story about a vampire who escapes from Hell, falls in love and has to defend her, my first question was, “Do I have to actually show Hell?”

It really wasn’t something that I would have ever chose to do on my own, but it was my first big assignment and I threw myself into it and really tried to make it my own. It ended up as “Best Vampire Series” on Aintitcoolnews, so I guess we did something right, but it was definitely a different thing than I ever imagined myself doing.

There was actually a really cool high concept idea that went along with it that was in my original pitch, which if they’d let me do that would have made it a bit more of something that I might actually set out to write, but I was asked to scale it down a bit and keep it to the simple vampire romance formula. There is some fun stuff in there though and I definitely drew from my musical knowledge and experiences.

It was great for me any way you slice it. I worked with some great people and got published by DC Comics. Made a lot of friends and got my first trade paperback with my name on the binding. I still love that cover to the first issue and the title, “Dead Romeo.” Very direct.

A lot of people kind of wrote it off sight unseen, because they connected it with Twilight and thought the vampire/rockstar thing was a take on Lestat, which it wasn’t. That was just window dressing and writing what you know, it didn’t really affect the story one bit, he could have been a plumber and his costume would have been his ass crack, but I figured you’d prefer not to see vamp ass crack. It was so unimportant that I did not include it in the original solicitation, but I think DC liked the idea of the musician’s kid writing a book about a rockstar vampire. Whatever, I’m proud of it, it was a fun book and I think succeeded in the personal goal tat I set for myself and that was to write a vampire story that was for girls and boys at the same time and not one or the other.

BEAT: You’ve done work for Marvel and DC and now TOY STORY. How did you get that gig?

JBS: I wanted to write the Muppets! I pestered editor Aaron Sparrow about a really awesome Muppet project that he seemed to like, but the timing was off. So, he reached back out to me and said he liked my ideas, but what he really needed was Toy Story and Monsters, Inc. pitches. I sent him the outline for what would become the first arc of the ongoing series and the rest is history.

Plus, that allowed me to finally write a Muppet book! Not the one I really want to do, but a fun take on Muppet Snow White! I am the biggest Muppet/Jim Henson fan in the world! I think the only reason I am in the music business is so I can eventually be a guest on a new Muppet Show. Still waiting for them to start a new one though. But I am a patient man.

It was definitely weird though approaching Boom Kids while Dead Romeo was still coming out, but I really liked the idea of my next project being so far the other way.

BEAT: Have you seen TOY STORY 3? Did you cry like everyone else?

JBS: Of course! I loved it! And I’m a father now, so it hit me in a bunch of ways that I’ve never really felt before. But yeah, I laughed I cried, I screamed, “Damn it! I was gonna do that in my comic!” It’s a great movie. It is really an amazing thing to be able to associate myself with Pixar on any level, that company can do no wrong in my eyes. I’m hoping that one day I can do some writing for the real thing.

BEAT: Some people felt that TS3 was too similar to plot elements of the first two movies. Did you feel it completed the trilogy on the right note?

JBS: Absolutely! And it really left things in a great place for more with that sweet little girl. I really want to catch up to that timeline and write the book from there. Hopefully we’re around long enough to do that. Outside the comics market the book is actually selling amazingly well.

BEAT: When is the comic set?

JBS: It is still taking place in between the first two movies, but when we relaunch in two months as “Toy Story: Tales From the Toy Chest” it will be taking place after the second movie and we will be introducing Jessie and Bullseye!

BEAT: Buzz, Woody and the rest are such icons — first as well known toys and then as the lovable personalities we’ve gotten to know through the movies. How did you approach writing them? Who is the most fun to write?

JBS: I’m a voice over actor and a song writer, so I’ve always been pretty good about getting voices right on paper, so my approach was just accuracy. As far as who I like writing the best, that’s a tough one, because I like Woody the best, but Buzz is more fun to write, but I like Woody better despite that.

For me the fun part about writing the Toy Story series is playing with the whole “what if toys were alive” concept. That is what is most fun. The last arc got a little tired for me, because I had to write some fill in issues while we were waiting for approval on our next epic and the concepts I was given to work with just aren’t grand enough. I’m not happy unless I’m telling stories about mundane things that we do to toys on a daily basis that would be utterly devastating if the toys were alive.

I’m working hard to get “Toy versus Machine” across the plate now, which is all about how neglecting your toys and playing video games makes them feel and some other less metaphorical but really fun stuff mixed in! It is the toy equivalent of the story of John Henry.

BEAT: I know a lot of people (myself included) who have had dual loves in music and writing. In music you had what seems an obvious “in” in that your father fronted a very iconic band, Twisted Sister, and has done it all in the music biz. Has pursuing a writing career been more difficult or is there less “history” to live up to?

JBS: Following in your parents’ footsteps is infinitely harder. There is just an inherent expectation that you have to constantly exceed in order for people to walk away with a positive reaction. As a musician, I am the equivalent of a movie that you’ve heard good things about, now that your expectations are higher, I have to really impress you in order for you to leave the theatre and tell a friend. If I meet your expectations, that’s not enough. Plus, most people don’t want to like me, because in their mind I’m getting everything handed to me and it’s easier for me. None of which is true. I am basically the exact opposite of an American Idol contestant, for all the reasons people are rooting for them to succeed people are rooting for me to fail and if I am not at the top of my game every step of the way, I will.

Writing comics is way easier. My parentage is just a fun little aside for people. “Hey, fun fact: do you know Jesse’s father is?” And really if that makes somebody actually remember me the next time we meet then it actually ends up being a little helpful. I actually prefer working in comics for those reasons. In comics I am judge by my writing and that’s it. That sort of even keel is impossible for me to achieve in the music business and a lot of other fields as well.

BEAT: You have a new TV series now airing. Can you tell us about it?

JBS: Yeah! It’s called “Growing Up Twisted” and it premiered on A&E July 27th at 10PM with two back to back episodes. I actually just found out that they are using a song that I wrote for the theme song! I’m really excited about it. Its all about my family and the different things we do together. We’re all in the entertainment business, my brother Shane is a comedian and comedy writer, my brother Cody is an amazing director, my in music and comics, my dad in all sorts of odd things, my mom is an F.I.T. graduate and does hair, makeup and costumes and my little sister is only 13, but she helps out too.

My family is just unbelievably talented and funny and…just great people. They’re my best friends and we all will usually jump at any opportunity to help each other out, whether its filming a funny viral video that Shane wrote, where Cody directs, my dad acts, my mom does makeup and costumes and I did all of the art direction and set dressing. Its family, you do whatever need to be done. Or my brothers short film that he just completed which was based on an independent comic book script that I wrote and was supposed to do with my “Hulk: Let the Battle Begin” collaborator Steve Kurth until he went Marvel Exclusive.

We help each other with everything and we are all very opinionated and because of all that we usually end up fighting quite a lot, but we always make up in the end. I’ve seen three episodes so far and they were all really funny and heart warming. I truly believe that if people give the show a chance they’re gonna love it.

The coolest part of the whole thing is that every episode has great additional content outside of the show. Like the first episode is my daughter Logan Lane’s christening and I sing her a song I wrote for her called “Go With Me” where I basically promise that if I have to go on the road, that she is coming with me. And if you like the song its available to download online. Same thing with the 4th episode about my brother Shane’s sketch “My Roommate Poseidon,” if you think it looks funny you can find it on youtube and you can find the trailer for my brother Cody’s short film if you’re intrigued by the final episode.

No one in the family is resting on their laurels and wants to be reality stars for our life and live off our parents. We are all hard workers and we are going to do anything we can to help each other until we all reach our goals and I think that is the kind of family values that everyone can understand and relate to. I’m really proud of the show, I hope people give it a chance and don’t just assume that we are a lazy waste of life, like some many other children of celebrities.

BEAT: Does the show reflect the fact that you are a writer at all or is it more about the flashier aspects of your life? How do you feel this will affect your writing?

JBS: Well, we shot plenty of stuff that touches on my comic book writing career, but so far the only mention of it that I think might actually make it into the show, is the fact that my brother Cody’s film was adapted from a comic book I wrote. The good news is, we did a cool day a shooting on Free Comic Book Day where I went to my old comic book store and sign free copies of Toy Story for little kids and that is getting chopped up and released online as a webisode for “Growing Up Twisted” proper. So, that is cool.

It will affect my writing in two ways. First off since we’ve been filming it has been way harder to really stay on top of pitches and pester editors until things go through, which, make no mistake, is a huge part of getting anything done. If you are completely unwilling to annoy people, nothing will ever get made. Secondly and this is big, people who I know in the business are going to watch this show and if I come off like the kind of person that they don’t like, then they aren’t going to want to work with me, because however this show portrays me will be how I am known. Fortunately, from what I’ve seen so far they really aren’t trying to make any of us look bad, so I may be in the clear.

Other than that it is business as usual. I’ll still be pitching and writing everything I can get my grubby little hands on.

BEAT: When you and I were corresponding about this interview you mentioned that you didn’t want to be seen as a “comic book interloper.” It does seem that a lot of people are getting involved in the business because it is a fast way to get a movie pitch out there. I have kind of mixed feelings about it myself. It is crappy that some of the interlopers get more attention than real cartoonists, but I do find it amusing when people try to adapt to the “glamour” of comics. That said, you’ve been at this quite a while and even worked at a comic shop, which is a common way of paying your dues in the industry. What is it about comics that attracts so many people who have fame in other fields?

JBS: Yeah, I really don’t want people looking at me like I’m Tyrese Gibson. Comic fans are so turned off by that and we tend to boycott those projects, just to show them we don’t care and as a newer writer who really wants to do this forever, I can’t afford to have people boycotting my work because they see me as some sort of free loader. I am a comic fan and I have been since I was 10. I am a comic book writer and I have been since I was 17. This is what I want to do with my life. Music will not last forever, but I can write comics until I’m old and gray and be very happy doing it.

You know when I was young I got my eyebrow pierced before it was something that you saw a lot and for a while I was really cool. Then it became cool and I was just a part of the fad. Then it was uncool and I was uncool because I still liked it, then eventually things leveled out. Right now comics are the cool thing and it hasn’t quite lost its shine yet, once it does, trust that I will still be here with all of you, just like I was before it became so cool to be uncool.

BEAT: This is a little off the beaten path but I was watching some TV show that was about celebrities and the supernatural and your father had a very scary story about a ghost. Were you involved in that at all?

JBS: I was not involved and I believe I am the only member of my family who has never had any sort of supernatural experience and doesn’t really believe in any of the various ghost stories that they tell. Crazy things always seem to happen when I’m not around, but they seem convinced.

BEAT: What’s you dream comics project? Do you want to write well known characters or do more creator driven stuff?

JBS: Both. My dream comic project is Deadpool. I want to make people care about Wade the way Joe Kelly made me care. He’s being used often, but not as well as I’d like to see. I’ve got a lot of fun things that I’d really love to do with the character and mark my words, one day he will be mine, oh yes, he will be mine.

I’m also a big Lobo and Blade fan and came very close to getting my hands on both the daywalker and the main man, but both opportunities slipped away due to some bad timing.

Also Batman and Nightwing. I’ve always viewed my dad as Batman, with me as his Nightwing trying to prove myself in his shadow and I’d love to take that very real perspective that I have and bring Nightwing into his own a bit. Chuck Dixon had it down for a while, but since then Nightwing has been a little mopey. I know he is Batman now, but Bruce is coming back and I want Nightwing to fly in Bludhaven again!

Outside of that, maybe some Star Trek comics, I’m a huge Trekker. Got to write the Muppets, so that’s out of my system, Trek may be next on the list.

I’ve got tons of fun creator owned books that I’d love to get to eventually. Its hard to buckle down and write them when I’ve got a lot of paid work and I’m so busy with everything else, but I’ll get around to them soon enough.

BEAT: What do you want to be known for?

JBS: I want be known for leaving the world a little bit better for me having been here. I want to entertain people, give them some laughs, some moments worth remembering. I’d like to be the guy who with the big ideas and the interesting takes on old staples. Most of all, I think I want to be known for a youthful enthusiasm for creativity and childish things that never goes away no matter how old I get. When I was a kid my mom kept waiting for me to grow out of various things, like playing with toys, reading comic books, playing football and here I am at 27 and I’m doing all those things and more. Everything is still familiar for me, I feel like I never grew up and I think that is going to keep me young forever. It would be nice to be known for that.

[Growing Up Twisted airs Tuesdays at 10pm on A&E.]

This weekend before MoCCA will be the second Drink & Draw Like a Lady, hosted by Hope Larson & Raina Telgemeier. Both ladies also have new YA graphic novels out this spring, creating a synergy that demanded an interview this week!

What are your new books about?

HL: Mercury is the story of two girls living in a fictional part of Nova Scotia–Tara, a present-day teenager, and Josey, a farm girl alive during the 1850s–the mysterious connection between them, and a hunt for buried treasure.

RT: Smile is an autobiographical story chronicling my tumultuous middle school years. I knocked out my two front teeth when I was 11, and the story revolves around how awkward it was to try and have a social life while missing half of my smile.

Hope, was it more challenging to write historical fiction?

HL: Yes, definitely. If you’re writing straight fiction you can make up whatever you want, but with historical fiction you’ve got an obligation to the facts. 1850s Nova Scotia isn’t a period or a place people know much about, especially outside of Canada, and I wanted to portray it as honestly as possible. On top of that, I’m American, so all through the writing process I was aware of myself as an outsider, and doing my best to get it right.

Research was a challenge because there isn’t a lot of literature about people living at the same time, in the same place, and in similar economic circumstances to Josey’s family. I read a lot of books about Canadian pioneers, and I read a couple journals written by wealthy girls and women living during the 1800s, and I pieced “the facts” together from bits and pieces. I also visited the Ross Farm Museum, a “living heritage farm” in Nova Scotia, which was incredibly helpful.

The hardest part of writing historical fiction, though, was finding a “voice” for the 1850s characters. Originally they sounded more modern, but my editors suggested I dial it back a bit, and I think that was the right choice. It’s not so much that they talk differently, though, it’s that the things they’re talking about are different from the things you and I talk about.

Raina, how was writing about yourself in Smile different from your fiction projects?

RT: I haven’t written a lot of fiction, so it’s hard to compare. I’ve illustrated fiction, but most of my writing is partly or entirely autobiographical. I’m not even sure why that is; I’ve always felt more comfortable writing about stuff that’s happened to me or people I know.

You both have focused on writing books in which the protagonists are young women. What made you focus on YA graphic novels?

HL: It’s what interests me, and what I’m good at. I’ve written a screenplay about 20-somethings, and I’m working on another one, but YA is something I think I’ll always return to.

RT: I remember being really attached to and absorbed by the books I read when I was in late elementary and early middle school. That was a time in my life that I really clung to strong female characters I could identify with, because there were so few of them elsewhere in the media.

YA prose has exploded in the last ten years, but comics are just starting to crack the surface of this genre. It just feels right to me, to be creating graphic novels for this audience, at this time. And based on the responses I’ve gotten from middle school girls, there is a market that’s very hungry for it.

What are you working on next?

HL: I have three projects in the works right now, and I can’t say much about any of them yet, so please excuse me for being cryptic. They are:

1) An adaptation of a classic YA/middle grade novel, which I wrote the script for and am also drawing.
2) A series of YA graphic novels, which I wrote but won’t be drawing. I’m still trying to lock in an artist for this.
3) A screenplay (on spec). It’s set in the 1920s and it’s based on the true story of an American actress, a British con man, and the massive publicity stunt they embarked on together.

RT: My next project is a (currently untitled) graphic novel about high school students on stage crew. It’s not exactly a sequel to Smile, but it feels kind of like a spiritual successor.  I’ll be starting the artwork for that this month.

What comments would you be happy to never read again in your reviews?

HL: I don’t read my reviews. My husband reads them and feeds me bits and pieces, but I’m too neurotic and obsessive to ingest that sort of criticism.

RT: Male reviewers love to start out by saying  “I am not and never was a teenaged girl,” and as such, they don’t know if they can give a book a fair review or not. I don’t believe that’s true. Did they like the book or not? Why? That’s all I’m interested in.

artwork by Lucy Knisley

What made you decide to start DDLL? How did you guys team up?

RT: Hope gets most of the credit: the whole thing was her brainchild. On my end, I live in New York, so for last year’s event it was easier for me to scope out locations, drop off postcards, and invite the local lady-comics crowd to the party.

HL: Raina, Lucy Knisley and I had brunch during MoCCA in 2008, and I wanted to do something similar in 2009. It quickly became clear that there were too many awesome lady cartoonists in town to fit them all into one restaurant, so we decided to throw a party instead!

Where are this year’s DDLLs at?

HL: The east-coast DDLL, in NYC, is located at 192 Books, which is managed by Lucy Knisley’s dad. Last year we held it in a bar, and addition to being forced into a 21+ event–both are all-ages this year–it was dark and loud and so many people showed up that we spilled out of our allotted space. There was also a singles event happening upstairs, and guys kept drifting over to see if we were there for that. Sorry, no.

The west-coast DDLL, in Portland, OR, will be in the ballroom at Secret Society . I’m a little nervous about that, because it’s our first year in Portland and I have no idea what to expect!

How have people responded?

HL: The response has been incredibly positive. So many people came up to me last year and thanked me for putting the event together that I had to do it again this year. I get the odd complaint about DDLL being sexist, and it is a sexist event by nature, but I think it’s important for women just finding their way into the comics industry to feel that there’s a support system in place for them.

RT: I’ve been surprised to hear how many women felt there was a real need for an event like this. And the guys seem interested, too, but for all their jokes about going off and creating an exclusive men-only event, it hasn’t happened.

artwork by Erica Moen

Who are your favorite women cartoonists?

HL: I’m friends with so many women cartoonists that I don’t think it’s fair to name names. I’ll go with Lynda Barry and Vanessa Davis because I love their work but I don’t know either of them personally.

RT: My two cornerstones of inspiration are Lynn Johnston (For Better or For Worse) and Lynda Barry (Ernie Pook’s Comeek). I’ve been reading both of their work since I was a pre-teen, and have wanted to follow in their footsteps ever since.

Challenge: How many women cartoonists can you name?

HL: This is going to betray my reading habits for sure.

Lynda Barry, Vanessa Davis, Raina Telgemeier, Jessica Abel, Gabrielle Bell, Faith Erin Hicks, Vera Brosgol, Dylan Meconis, Erika Moen, Jen Wang, Amy Kim Kibuishi, Jillian Tamaki, MK Reed, Yuko Ota, Tintin Pantoja, Kate Beaton, Lucy Knisley, Katie Skelly, Rebecca Kraatz, Lindsay Cibos, Star St. Germain, Lea Hernandez, Hellen Jo, Annie Wu, Meredith Gran, Rivkah, Willow Dawson, Liz Baillie, Nikki Cook, Joelle Jones, Rene Engström, Ariel Schrag, Alison Bechdel, Jill Thompson, Sara Varon, Julia Wertz.

And for manga…  Rumiko Takahashi, CLAMP (4-woman mangaka collective), Riyoko Ikeda, Fumiyo Köno, Naoko Takeuchi, Hiromu Arakawa, Moto Hagio, Erica Sakurazawa. To be honest, because I’m not familiar with Japanese names I have no idea whether most mangaka are male or female.

I know there are tons more. I shudder to think who I’m leaving off.

RT: Abby Denson, Ai Yazawa, Alex de Campi , Alexa Kitchen, Alisa Harris , Alison Bechdel, Alison Wilgus, Amanda Conner, Amy Kim Ganter, Amy Reeder Hadley , Ann Nocenti, Anne Gibbons, Ann Telnaes, Anne Timmons, Annie Wu, Anzu, Ariel Bordeaux, Ariel Schrag, Ashley Quigg, Audra Ann Furuichi, Becky Cloonan, Becky Dreistadt, Benita Epstein, Bisco Hatori, Britt Wilson,Bunny Hoest, C. Tyler, Carol Lay, Carla Rodriguez, Carla Speed McNeil, Carla Ventresca, Carolyn Belefski, Cathy Guisewite, Cecil Castellucci, Chari Pere, Christine Norrie , Chynna Clugston, CLAMP, Cliodhna Lyons, Colleen A.F. Venable, Colleen Coover, Colleen Doran, Colleen Frakes, Colleen MacIsaac, Cori Doerrfeld, Corinne Mucha, Dame Darcy, Danica Novgorodoff, Danielle Corsetto , Deb Aoki, Debbie Huey, Debbie Drescher, Delaine Derry Green, Der-shing Helmer, Devin Grayson, Diana Cameron McQueen, Diana Tamblyn, Donna Barr, Dorothy Gambrell , Dylan Meconis, Elena Barbarich, Elena Diaz, Ellen Forney, Ellen Lindner, Emily Horne, Erica Sakurazawa, Erika Moen, Faith Erin Hicks, Fumiyo Köno, G. Willow Wilson, Gabrielle Bell, Gail Simone, Gina Biggs, Hanni Brosh, Hellen Jo, Hilary B. Price, Hilary Florido, Hiromu Arakawa, Hope Larson, Hwan Cho, Isabella Bannerman, Jamaica Dyer, Jane Irwin, Jean Ciolek, Jen Vaughn, Jen Wang, Jenn Manley Lee, Jenn Moore, Jennifer Holm, Jenny Gonzalez, Jen Van Meter, Jess Fink, Jessica Abel, Jessica McLeod, Jill Thompson, Jillian Tamaki, Joanna Estep, Joelle Jones, Joey Allison Sayers, Johane Matte, Jordyn Bochon, Julie Doucet, Julie Wertz, Kaja Foglio, Karen Luk, Karen Sneider, Kasey Van Hise, Kat Roberts, Kate Beaton, Kathryn Immonen, Kathryn LeMieux, Katie Skelly, Kris Dresen,Kt Shy, L Nichols, Lark Pien, Laura Park, Laura Williams, Laura Wilson, Lauren Weinstein, Layla Lawlor, Lea Hernandez, Leigh Dragoon, Linda Medley, Lindsay Cibos, Lisa Hanawalt, Liz Baillie , Liz Prince, Liz Hickey, Liz Lunney, Liza Donnelly, Lucy Knisley, Lynda Barry, Lynda Barry, Lynn Johnston, Lynn Lau, Margaret Shulock, Margo Debaie, Mari Naomi, Mariko Tamaki, Marilyn Scott-Waters, Marion Vitus, Maris Wicks, Marjane Satrapi, Mary Fleener, Megan Baehr, Megan Kelso, Melissa DeJesus, Meredith Gran , Meredith Scheff-King, Michelle PalumboMihona Fujii, Mikhaela Reid, Ming Doyle, Minty Lewis, Miriam Libicki, Misako Rocks!, Miss Lasko-Gross, MK Reed,Monica Gallagher Monique MacNaughton, Moto Hagio, Naoko Takeuchi, Natasha Allegri, Nicola Scott, Niki Smith, Nikki Cook, Nina Paley, Paige Braddock, Pam Bliss, Pancha Diaz, Patricia Burgess, Penina Gal, Phoebe Gloeckner, Posy Simmons, Rachel Dukes, Rachel Hartman, Rachel Nabors, Raina Telgemeier, Rebecca Clements, Rebecca Kraatz, Rebecca Sugar, Rene Engstrom, Renee French, Renee Kurilla, Rina Ayuyang, Rina Piccolo, Risa Itō, Rivkah, Riyoko Ikeda, Roberta Gregory, Robyn Chapman, Rosa Colon, Rosemary Mosco, Rosemary Travale, Roz Chast, Rumiko Takahashi, Sally Bloodbath, Sara Varon, Sarah Dyer, Sarah Glidden, Sarah McIntyre, Sarah Oleksyk, Shaenon K. Garrity, Shannon O’Leary, Shayna Marchese, Shelli Paroline, Sophie Crumb, Spike, Star St. Germain, Stephanie Piro, Stephanie Yue, Stevie Wilson, Sue Coe, Susie Cagle, Suzanne Baumann, Svetlana Chmakova,Tania Del Rio, Tara O’Connor, Tara Tallan , Tatiana Gill, Tintin Pantoja, Tracy White, Trina Robbins, Ursula Vernon, Ursula Murray Husted, Vanessa Davis, Vanessa Satone, Vera Brosgol, Vicki Nerino, Willow Dawson, Yali Lin, Yuko Ota

Sorry if I missed you & that I couldn’t put in everyone’s website, but add yours in the comments!

THE BEAT: So tell us where we’re at with LongBox?

HOSELEY: We’re officially launching public beta at Emerald City Comicon — public beta in the true sense, anyone can download, register, and install it and have at it.

THE BEAT: How did you get to this point?

HOSELEY: We went to private beta in November. Our original intention was to launch the public beta in December, but in October we were contacted by a media company who offered an intriguing proposition. But after a month and a half of due diligence and multiple meetings and a plan to announce at CES [in the end] they offered us a document that was significantly different than all the previous negotiations. While there might have been some advantages for LongBox, it was a bad proposition for the comics industry as a whole and very much flew in the face of our entire intention of doing this in the first place, which was to create a comprehensive platform for comics—comprehensive in every sense of the word in terms of digital distribution on any digital entertainment device and the support structure given to publishers and creators. We’ve committed to the tools and production support given to publishers as well as sales and tracking on a dynamic ongoing basis — whether you’re talking the ability for the direct market and print retailers to leverage off of digital sales rather than it being a bifurcation, as well as the concept of being able to read content across multiple devices without multiple fees.

THE BEAT: So there was no agreement?

HOSELEY: With three days to go on CES we told them that the deal was not acceptable. It would have been flown in direct contradiction to things we had promised publishers and creators – as a creator myself it would have been repeating the sins of the past and the failings that the current distribution model has in the print world. They were seeing this as a typical tech investment; their primary interest was adding another widget to the piece rather than looking at how do we grow this when you have an industry that despite its current restrictions still does $700 million+ a year in revenue. Yes, comics are a niche market but it’s a niche market with legs, especially when you think about the barriers in distribution. Our goal has always been to reach a larger market. Plus you should leave the dance with the one that brung you.

We’re concentrating on reaching that larger audience but not completely disregarding the comics fans that have kept the industry going for years. Much the same way, look at the video game industry. When a console releases a new platform they always want to reach the mass market but at launch it is your hardcore early adapters who determine partially your momentum and become evangelists for you.

It was one of those situations where after looking at it, it was, I wouldn’t say it was a struggle to come to the decision, but it was certainly one of the rubber meets the road moments where the choice is do this right or shut this down entirely, which route are you going to take? We decided we ware going to do this right. We have too much invested in the comics industry and our love of the medium, for anything less than do it right,

If a partnership comes along that makes sense that’s fine, but we’re not going to let potential partnerships shape the direction or put us in a position to put our current launch plans on pause. It’s a much better tactic to take because we’re much stronger in terms of infrastructure with the application and multi platform support.

THE BEAT: Let’s talk about platforms. Of course, the shiny new bauble on the horizon is the iPad. Will LongBox be available on the iPad?

HOSELEY: We have an iPad version in development and an Android tablet version in development and we’re currently looking at the newly announced Winmo 7. In all of these cases it’s not just a matter of the technical adaptation, the bigger issue for us is that we’re not interested in just being in the user interface over to a tablet. There are distinct user interaction requirements that so many people seem to be failing at and that are failing on what the phone, much less what the tablet interface is going to be like. They are not thinking about the usability aspects of it — how is someone going to be holding and navigating this, how is someone going to interact with this device. Making sure that those interactions are consistent in this application [is key for us.] We’ve been thinking about things like the tablet interactions since day one.

THE BEAT: What kind of content is available at launch? 

HOSELEY: The first launch phase is very similar to what the content in the private beta; with a couple of exceptions all content at the initial launch will be available for free, around a dozen that are clearly watermarked; every account has a number of comic block credits you can access without having to pay anything for content.

Phase two is code redemption. That began last week — we’re giving out codes which can be redeemed for comic blocks which can be used to purchase titles which are more general books that are not visually watermarked that are not outside of the sample range that are actually content that you would purchase. Code redemption phase will be through promotions via Asylum, Comics Alliance, promotions on CBR and IGN and some other sites both in terms of comic oriented sites and more technology and entertainment geared sites. And that will run through the next phase.

The final phase will be the eCommerce where you can purchase titles from the initial launch where we have watermarked titles; this will ramp from about 12 to 120 to 200 books. We’ve already got over 100 books that are currently on our internal servers; part of it is using the beta to stress test the system in a global manner. Part of it is also debugging the various platforms. Ironically, handhelds, phones and gaming devices are more defined pieces of hardware, as opposed to the PC market where you have a million different combinations of processors and ram configurations. So the beta is going to test this how this would work on a truly global market of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of users; it’s a much better cross section. Doing it in three phases allows us to stress test the different aspects of the application and the production structure.

THE BEAT: What do you see as the potential audience for this?

HOSELEY: I think the potential audience is amazing. Our entire business model was structured on being sustainable with 5% of the numbers done by the print market and every indication that we’ve seen both within the digital comics market and in the larger global digital entertainment consumer market has been that the market is much, much larger than that. I can’t even tell you how many meetings I’ve been in with [non habitual comics buyers] who says that they are a fan of comics but they don’t buy them because they can’t find them or they’re too expensive or it’s 2 in the morning and Amazon doesn’t have monthly comics available. Being able to remove those barriers and make it possible for comics to be an entertainment impulse buy again is really key. Mark Waid did a great post on the idiocy of people who keep talking about bringing back the spinner rack — kids are not in drug stores any more. If you want to capture the impulse market and want to grow that market you need to go where they are and they’re online. They are consuming content through phones and game systems through computers and that is the reason that you have such success with groups like Netflix and Hulu and Amazon Digital; it’s not a hard sell for them. Every game system has Netflix.

THE BEAT: Is it a harder sell for publishers?

HOSELEY: It really isn’t. The amazing thing is when I first started this from a technology development standpoint over three years ago, meeting with publishers across the board – mainstream publishers, middle level even smaller publishers — there was nothing but opposition. Digital comics — it’s the end, dogs and cats living together, stealing content away, trivializing the value….etc etc etc. Every argument. It’s really telling both the state that the comics industry is in as well as the widespread acceptance of being able to consume digital content on any device, that there has been a complete sea change. A thing that has blown my mind is that a couple of very well known creators who are iconic brands more on the indie side who go back decades in this industry and who are just by the nature of their personalities the last people you would expect to be interested in and much less embrace digital have contacted us because they want to get on this platform. It’s very telling.

THE BEAT: What about the last frontier…retailers?

HOSELEY: Even if you go back the first non private showings of LongBox a little over a year ago at NYCC 2009, the reaction at retail at that show was mixed. There were some retailers who were “how can I work with you?” and some were very, very adversarial about it. And just in a year the number of them who have changed their stance is remarkable.

We’re making the effort to set up in an infrastructure so we can use this to help grow the whole market. So let’s figure out how to work together and part of that that’s going to be an ongoing evolving process. We definitely want to support retailers, especially the good retailers. There are some fantastic retailers out there and for a good shop you cannot replicate that experience in digital. It’s an environmental thing, it’s not just I bought this content, there is an atmosphere and a knowledge base and the whole social aspect. The really progressive and successful shops emphasize that and we are trying to work with those retailers so that they can be successful and grow the market so that it is profitable for everyone. This is our mutual goal. The complication is that the current distribution system for print makes that very, very difficult. It doesn’t make sense for retailers or LongBox to lose money on every sale. We’re working on a retailer advisory panel to help define how we can work together to overcome those things. We all see there’s a solvable problem there, and working on the same page is part of the evolutionary process.

Larry Marder and Scott McCloud and I have talked about this a lot. The thing we want to make clear is that that we have a bridge to cross now we have to have an infrastructure dealing with the content that is coming out now. Part of our entire production process for publishers and creators is that digital content in their future can be unique in a way that print can’t be and print is unique in its own way,.

When I was putting together Comic Book Tattoo [the Eisner-winning anthology of comics based on songs by Tori Amos] I was in the middle of putting together LongBox and there are things print can do that digital can’t, and vice versa. I think you’ll see over the next few years that kind of emphasis on things that are done in print. And I say all this with the caveat digital doesn’t mean you are going to get motion comics.

THE BEAT: What else should people know about LongBox going public?

HOSELEY: Over the last few months we’ve done major revisions to the user experience in direct response to the private beta and people’s suggestions of usability and clarity, We look forward to more feedback and input from comics fans and users. We’ll have a forum for suggestions to give input on what pieces we are developing for upcoming builds and also if they have suggestions or ideas that they feel would make them better. Also sometime within the next four weeks we’ll release the documentation for skinning the app so if users want to make their own custom skins we will be supporting that as well.

[Hoseley and Dean Trippe will be at Emerald City meeting fans and talking about LongBox. Readers and publishers who are interested are welcome to grab us on the floor or swing by Dean’s table in Artist’s Alley.]

Adams talks about the dominance of event-driven comics, how to combat that, growth in bookstores and Amazon and the expanding digital world. His thoughts there show that he’s answering questions no other comics publisher is asking yet:

Who’s buying comics digitally?
I think it depends on the market.  The PSP market is clearly a gamer.  The device itself is designed in large measure just to play games.  I think you’re talking about probably an audience that’s male, mid-to-late teens would be my guess.  Sony has a lot of interesting demographic information although it doesn’t filter down all the way to who’s buying the comics.  The PSP is a device that’s not just U.S.-based.  We’re seeing some nice sales not just in the U.S. but also in the U.K. and Europe.  

When you talk about the iPhone, I think it’s probably a little broader as far as the demographic goes.