One of the greatest revelations about comics that I ever read came from Scott McCloud’s incredible Understanding Comics which in my mind is one of the finest and most important comic works ever created. Scott describes “the gutter,” the space between panels, as the host to much of the magic and mystery that are the very heart of comics. This is the intimate space where the reader connects the panels, lead by the comic artist, to experience a unique and personal concept of space and time. Scott refers to this space as a form of Limbo.
Limbo.
This is where I feel that I’ve been since the late 80′s regarding my experience in comics both as a publisher and a creator. I stepped out of a panel where I had a brief whirlwind career as a founder / publisher / art director / writer / artist / letterer etc. of Comico the Comic Company. Now I prepare to step into this next panel with Bill “Cooch” Cucinotta, my longtime friend and former partner at Comico, to develop CO2 Comics, an on-line cooperative for select comic artists that is intended to explore the options that the future holds for the comics medium.
I have often looked at the gap in my comics career as time lost, but as I reference Scott McCloud’s ideas regarding the gutter I appreciate now that I’ve been in a very magical place that gives me a new, intimate and unique perspective of comics as a medium and an industry.
My time away from comics has been spent, mostly, performing as Captain Visual, the World’s One and Only Super Clown! If you don’t believe me visit captainvisual.com. I left Comics to become a living cartoon character and have spent an exciting career staring into the wondering eyes of audiences both young and old who are fascinated by a clown wearing a cape and a space helmet. I have lived the magic of comics.
Inspired by Paul Smith of X-men fame I became an influential balloon artist and teacher, authoring a number of books on the subject that have been published both in the mass market and as Print On Demand (POD) via lulu.com Using Scott McCloud’s definition of comics I discovered that my balloon books qualify as sequential art and confirmed that comics continue to run in my veins.
Through the years I have stayed in touch with Bill Cucinotta, often commiserating over our place in comics history. Bill’s experience working in comics retail, publishing, advertising and creating has always made him a tremendous asset as a partner and friend regarding comics. His design instinct makes him a natural front man as a logo designer and comics packager. He was with me in college as we developed Duckwork at the Philadelphia College of Art, a partner in the dawning days of Comico, a vital part of Matt Wagner’s Bain Sidhe Studios and instrumental in the look and success of Comic Zone comics. A more comprehensive look at his accomplishments can be found at billcucinotta.com .Today he is the main driver in the creative development of the CO2 Comics web site.
With the passing of our former partner Phil LaSorda last year and my own very recent “cardiac event” it has become more urgent for us to act if we intend to stride into the next panel of our comic careers.
We have jointly created CO2 Comics as an experiment with a name right out of a high school science lab class. Our Welcome Page does a great job of briefly describing our intent and why we chose the name.
Nothing here is locked in stone. We intend to explore format, both in print and on the web. We want to inspire creative diversity, and promote the medium to different audiences. We want to explore new areas of revenue for creators and much more.
This Blog, “The Gutter” will be a place for us all to play, roll up our sleeves and get dirty. Lively discussion here will lead to a new “House of Ideas” and it can be a glass one where folks throw stones because a little fresh air from a broken window can be a good thing.
For now, “The Gutter” will be updated weekly as we focus on recruiting and posting comic content for the overall CO2 Comics site. Some will be retrospective material from the good ol’ days while other material will be new, experimental, and, hopefully, trendsetting. Please return regularly to enjoy and participate.
We urge you be open with your feed back, it is valuable to us as artists. Bill and I agree that the interaction with creators and the audience has always been our personal favorite experience in the comics industry. I don’t expect that to change.
Don’t be shy. Leave comments, reminisce, make requests, offer suggestions, be critical, offer praise and support. Most of all, have fun. If CO2 Comics becomes, at least, a community of comic enthusiasts and artists that can revel in hearty discussion then this will be a successful experiment.
Now get your mind out of “The Gutter.”
Go enjoy the rest of the site and stay in touch.
Gerry Giovinco
Andrew has also written a fine novel of the future Steel Sky and is an award winning Creative Director of Art for Brainworks Communications. Please click on the embedded links and support his endeavors.
