Don’t you just love when we learn things from our children? Usually they are just reminders of lessons learned long ago and forgotten, lost in the redundancy of our daily lives. Sometimes we have to watch our kids suffer through the same trials we did to remember why those lessons were so valuable.

This week my son Michael had the amazing opportunity to run for President of the New Jersey Association of Student Councils. He was challenged by a very worthy opponent and some unfortunate circumstances and did not win the election. His disappointment was heartfelt. As painful as it was to see him victimized by the agony of defeat it was as much a joy to see him concede with class and good sportsmanship. He picked himself up, dusted himself off and moved on to the next challenge, a performance of stage illusions before a packed auditorium at his school two days later.

The pride he felt after that successful performance and his facebook post, “Being a part of amazing shows like Cabaret Night help remind me why I go through all the hard work and effort to do what I love most ” reminded me of what it was like to be young, daring, industrious and resilient.

Thanks, Mike!

Thirty years ago when we were puttering around and laying the foundation for Comico we had all those fine qualities. There were plenty of obstacles, defeats, and disillusionments but every time we were knocked down, we got back up, learned a lesson or two and forged ahead. With all that “hard work and effort” Comico became a contender in the comics industry but eventually the haymaker did come and the defeat was as bitter as it could be.

Sometimes, as Mike proved, it’s better to redirect, let the wounds heal, and regain your confidence. This of course is easier done when you are young and bereft of responsibility.

Bill Cucinotta and I as former partners at Comico and now as partners here at CO2 Comics are proving that it is possible to pave a comeback trail and that even tough we are not the twenty-somethings we were when we founded Comico we still have the drive to do what we, as artists, love most and that is make comics.

Looking past healed wounds and a sea of scar tissue it is nice to see that there is still evidence of the impact that our earlier achievements had on the industry not the least is the creators and readers that have put their faith in us by joining us in our CO2 Comics venture.

This industry is in the middle of a massive evolution and we know that we can expect to be taking it on the chin once again as we go toe to toe with seemingly insurmountable obstacles but hey, it’s only been thirty years since we set out on that mission before and now we have a new weapon, inspiration from our own children.  How can we expect to teach them the lessons that Michael has learned if we don’t lead by example?

Celebrating Thirty Years of Comics History!

Gerry Giovinco

I can’t believe that 2011 is finally behind us! The year sure went fast and boy was it rocky but hey, some of us enjoy a wild roller coaster ride. Now we have to look forward to the brave new year of 2012. Thanks to the Mayan calendar and a few other prophetic hijinks many fear that this year is targeted to be The End of the World.

Bring it on Baby!

Regardless what the predictions may be, you can bet 2012 will be the end of the world as we know it, especially in the field of comics. 2011 set the foundation for the Digital Age and I think that this year you will see comics taking a foothold as a dominant player in digital media.

Beware of the little guy!

The nature of digital marketing and distribution as it stands today will make the market an open free-for-all and don’t be surprised to find some of the smallest fish making the biggest waves because of their ability and willingness to navigate freely, unencumbered by bureaucracy, corporate red tape, and allegiance to traditional systems of distribution.

This sounds like a lot of hype from an Indy guy like myself plugging a web based comic site here at CO2 Comics with my partner Bill Cucinotta and a loyal roster of comic contributors that for the last two and a half years have been plugging away diligently.  We are happy to be little guys in times like this because we have been there before and we know the potential of the current environment.

Gerry Giovinco, Bill Cucinotta & Phil LaSorda

2012 marks the thirtieth anniversary of our first attempt at publishing comics as Comico the Comic Company. Bill and I, along with former partners Phil and Dennis LaSorda, were little guys with not much more than a dream when we attempted to tackle the then fledgeling Direct Market with our first black and white  anthology comic book, Primer #1. Within a few years we had surprised the industry  as we grew to be a dominant player, publishing acclaimed color comics, securing daring licensing deals, and working with a long list of some of the most talented artists in the field.

A lot has changed over the last thirty years, in the industry, in the world and in our lives, but one thing is still the same. Bill and I, along with the rest of our CO2 Comics family, have big dreams about creating comics and we know first hand the potential of being the little guy. I am a sucker for nice round numbers and twenty twelve rolls of the tongue in a robust kind of way but a thirty year benchmark is a great excuse to stand up and want to be accounted for.

This year for us will be a celebration of our past accomplishments  and a reminder to ourselves and the world what we are capable of. 2012 may not really be the end of the world after all but don’t be surprised if a new world emerges, especially where CO2 Comics is concerned.

Happy New Year!

Celebrating Thirty Years of Comics History!

Gerry Giovinco

I have said many times that I do not regard a comic complete until it is in the hands of the reader. I say his because I believe that the presentation of the material is itself a critical element that impacts the readers appreciation of the work. Most of my career in comics has been on the side of producing the final package wether it be in print or digital format. Bill Cucinotta and I take as much pride here at CO2 Comics in packaging other creator’s comics for final presentation as we do writing and drawing our own material. This was also true when we were partners publishing comics under the Comico label back in the 1980′s.

Last week I wrote about accessibility, primarily focusing on characters remaining accessible to their audience after decades of continuity that might obscure their fundamental characteristics that make them unique and even iconic. To many, however the concept of accessibility as it relates to comics refers more to the availability of product or more precisely, the delivery of the product.

Ever since the rise of the Direct Market, beginning in the late 1970′s, it seems that  the accessibility of the comic book to the general public, or more accurately the casual comic book reader, has diminished with the relative extinction of traditional mass market outlets that drove the sales in the Golden and Silver Ages of comics.

Overlooked however is the fact that comics do exist outside of both of these markets and are thriving.  Comics may be more accessible to readers now than ever before. Comics are offered in such a tremendous array of packaging and subject matter that surely there is something for everybody and comics as a medium is poised to be recognized for its ability to have universal appeal.

I am going to attempt a breakdown of venues through which comics are currently being enjoyed. some are traditional formats others are new and still others are vehicles of marketing or use of comics as a form of communication. This includes strips, panels, short form and long form presentations. Please, if I miss any don’t hesitate to to send along your suggestions.

Newspapers – strips and panels – newstand distribution, subscription

Magazines -  strips and panels – newstand  and mass market distribution, subscription, internet sales

Comic Books – long format – Direct Market, Bookstores, subscription, internet sales

Graphic Novels – long format – Direct Market, Bookstores, internet sales

Small Press – Boutique format – Direct Market, internet sales, conventions

Web comics- Any format goes including infinite canvas – usually free on internet, some by subscription, some get collected into print packages.

Digital – comics collections on disc or via subscription on web sites.

Cell phone apps- comics downloaded to cell phone

e-reader apps – comics downloaded to e-readers like i-Pad, Kindle Fire, BN Nook

Print on Demand- Comics available as books printed to order from POD producers like LULU.

Zines – usually produced as fan publications, printed at home and mailed or distributed as PDFs via e-mail

Tracts – small religious pamphlets done as comics usually handed out freely by true believers.

Educational -comics used to illustrate a point, often seen in textbooks or educational magazines. The military uses comics to educate.

Institutional- I’ve seen comics used to describe museums and historic landmarks to name a few.

Premium -  This includes everything from free comics in Bazooka Joe Bubble Gum to comics in cereal boxes.

Instructional- Comics are used all the time to show instructions from everything to setting up a computer to flight safety on airplanes.

Promotional-comics used to advertise a product in ad form or catalogue form. I’ve seen promotional comics on comics on place mats in restaurants.

Journalistic- comics journalism has come a long way and can be found as panels or strips in newspapers to magazines and on the web.

I know that there is plenty more out there, I’d love to see samples of comics used in unusual formats, it always fascinates me so please share links or upload pictures to our facebook page.

Comics are everywhere. They are so ingrained in our culture that idioms like word balloons, panels, page layouts, effect splashes, production techniques and genre references are so common place they are easily taken for granted.

It is time for comic creators to lose the sensibility that they are purveyors of a fringe medium whose target audience is a focus group of geek culture and recognize that comics as a medium is one of power through its ability to communicate effectively to the masses in a simple, cost efficient manner. This cultural repositioning of the medium will be necessary for creators to establish their value to a market that will witness an ever increasing demand for this wonderfully versatile medium.

Making Comics Because I Want To

Gerry Giovinco

Since this is my last blog before Halloween I thought it would be fun to take a jaunt down the old, haunted Memory Lane starting with an illustration I did of a baby Bela Lugosi for a project as a student at the Philadelphia College of Art.

Thirty years ago, when Bill Cucinotta and I were still hacking away with friends at our student newspaper, DUCKWORK, Matt Wagner had joined our little band of ducks. The DUCKWORK staff had that year, by proxy, become the Arts Council of the college and it became our job to coordinate the 1981 Annual PCA Halloween Ball.

Matt accepted the responsibility of designing the poster for the event which we screen printed with black ink on white paper and added a touch of red by hand. The original prints were roughly 14×18 inches and were posted around campus for all to see.

I came across the preliminary sketches that Matt had made in one of my sketchbooks, and since I am lucky enough to have the poster as well I thought it would be a nice Halloween treat to share.

The following October, DUCKWORK would be gone, but as Comico, Bill and I, along with partners Phil and Dennis LaSorda would publish our first comic book, Comico Primer #1. Matt Wagner would introduce his popular Grendel character in issue #2 and the rest is history.

Time sure flies when your making comics. Three decades later we’re still at it, bringing our readers great comics right here on the internet with CO2 Comics. We do sure miss the smell of paper though so stay tuned for another treat that will be announced sooooooooooooooooooon!

OH, and have a Happy Halloween!

Making Comics Because I Want To

Gerry Giovinco

Steve Jobs’ passing was no surprise. His failed health had been quite public and his recent resignation as CEO of Apple was a clear sign. The dignity with which he handled his final days in public is as much an inspiration as his life and the impact his vision has had on the world.

It is hard, now, to imagine a day without some technological influence that Steve Jobs and the company he stewarded did not have some impact on. As a comic creator, I can tell you that the course of the entire comics medium has been redirected, in large part due to innovations derived from Apple.

There certainly were computers before Steve Jobs and Apple came on the scene. In 1974, when I was in 8th grade at Saint Titus in East Norriton, Pennsylvania, I had access to an already obsolete computer that had been used for actual Apollo moon missions. It was a clunky machine that had to be programmed with binary punch cards and its output seemed no more sophisticated to me than that of the newly released Mini Bomar that launched a frenzy of low cost handheld calculators on the world.

Learning to program that two digit dinosaur was a real trial and to this day the words of my Math teacher, Rev. Joseph Oechsle, ring in my ears, “Trash in, trash out!” The lesson was that computer was only as good as the person programming it.

Vintage home computing

A few years later I would sell computers meant for the home as part of my job working in the electronic appliance department at K-Mart where I tried making some extra cash while we struggled to build our fledgling comic company, Comico. I sold machines like the Texas Instrument TI-99/4A, the Commodore VIC-20 and the Commodore 64. These computers saved data on audio cassette tapes and sophisticated gaming was PONG.

By that point in my life I had no interest in computers. I  was totally focused on comics and the ugly pixelated images and type that these computers could barely generate were of no use to me and my aspirations to be a comic artist and publisher. I was blind to their potential.

This all seemed to change in 1984 when the hammer was launched into a giant screen during Apple’s first and most memorable Super Bowl commercial. Not only did it change the impact that Super Bowl commercials had–it changed the way the world would look at personal computers. It also introduced Graphic User Interface (GUI) which put icons on our desktop suddenly making computers much more intuitive and useable to the general public.

We had one of those Macs at Comico when it first came out and immediately we used it to generate all of the type that we used for our letters pages, graphics and editorial columns. Between the Mac and our photocopier we had practically eliminated our dependancy on our local typesetter and the graphics house where we had most of our photostats done. This transition to a variation of desktop publishing ended up saving us us a ton of money.

In 1985 First Comics published Shatter by Peter B. Gillis and Mike Saenz. This was the first all-digital comic commercially published. It was created on a Mac exactly like the one that sat in our office at Comico.

Digital comics have come a long way since Shatter. Where Shatter’s pixelated digital imagery made it obvious that it was generated on a computer and was in fact a badge of honor for its accomplishment, today it is nearly impossible to tell which comics are drawn by hand on paper and which are generated completely digitally.

Michael Saenz interview from Comics Interview #21, © Fictioneer Books

Steve Jobs recognized the power of digital art which was evident when he bought Pixar from Lucasfilm in 1986. Under his guidance Pixar changed how animation was created and delighted the world with Toy Story in 1995 followed by a long list of incredible 3D CGI films that set new standards not for just animation but entertainment in general

3D CGI has had its affect on comics. Many creators use it to create their comics entirely, others use it as a form of reference for everything from anatomy to architecture.

The biggest impact that Steve Jobs has had on comics in my opinion, however, has been in the area of web comics which would not have ever been possible without the advent of the personal computer. Since the turn of the century (boy that sounds weird!) digital comics have been proliferating on the internet at a rapid pace. Almost anyone with a computer, a scanner, and internet service can now publish comics on the web.

Thanks to the personal computer there has never been more diversified work available in the comics medium. We take full advantage of that here at CO2 Comics. The computer and the internet have given Bill Cucinotta and me a chance to publish comics again and to reach an audience that before was never possible.

Distribution of comics is also changing thanks to Mr. Jobs and company. Just as Apple redefined how music was heard around the world with the 2001 introduction of the iPod and iTunes, the iPhone and the iPad are quickly becoming the place where people read their comics with apps purchased through the App Store. These of course are not the only options for digital comic distribution, but as with the introduction of GUI and the Macintosh personal computer, Apple seems to always be the innovator of record.

Maybe I’m biased. This blog is spat out of my dependable iMac every week and Bill does all the designing on his. We’ve both done our fair share of work on other PC’s but it is our Macs that have always been the faithful workhorse. This is a certain to me as the notion that the future of comics is brighter and more diverse now than ever dreamed possible thanks in large part to innovations set forth by Steve Jobs and Apple.

Rest in peace, Steve Jobs but expect your legacy to survive for a long, long time. You made a difference in the world and it will always be remembered. Thank you for making a difference in the world of comics, wether you intended to or not. The art of making comics is far richer thanks to your innovation and inspiration.

Making Comics Because I Want To

Gerry Giovinco

Remember the commercial where one person eating a chocolate bar collides with another eating peanut butter presumably inspiring Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups? The ad capitalized on a well known fact that some of the best ideas are the results of accidents.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could anticipate these unlikely turn of events and forecast an outcome accurately in advance? Scientists attempt this all the time and perform experiments to prove their hypothesis.

Well, I’m no scientist but I think I know a few things about comics and I have been witnessing some developments in technology, distribution and comic art production that lead me to believe that 3-D is the key to a bountiful future for the comics industry.

(Laughter?)

I know this is  a daring statement considering that 3-D has never been anything other than an eye-blurring, headache-inducing fad requiring optical accessories that defy all fashion sensibilities but the stars of fate are lining up like the reflection of lights in disco infinity mirror!

Ever since the incredible commercial success of AVATAR, Hollywood has been cramming 3-D films down the throats of audiences in theaters everywhere. Any film that can be remotely adapted to 3-D is going under the stereoscopic knife. Still, most audiences prefer the traditional 2-D  versions so what is the rush?

There is a 3-D technological boom on the horizon.

3-D has been steadily infiltrating our homes as more and more HD televisions are equipped with 3-D capability.  Though these televisions still require the use of eyeglasses with polarized lenses or more the sophisticated shutter glasses, the 3-D effects, especially on large screens, are astounding.

Hand held mobile devices, however, are poised to overtake the market using a new technology called APB or Autostereoscopic Parallax Barrier. They are capable of displaying crystal clear 3-D on their small screens without the need for any special glasses. These gaming units, cell phones and, soon, tablets are also being equipped with 3-D cameras making them capable of capturing, sending and sharing photos and video of unique 3-D content.

Content is the magic word!

For these new 3-D devices to succeed there needs to be content. Lots of it. Hollywood is scrambling but it can’t make it fast enough. Video games, tapping into the already present 3-D CGI will be broad providers of  material. Web developers will employ more and more 3-D imagery as the viewing devices become more readily available. Manufacturers are betting the house that users will become the biggest provider of 3-D content simply by sharing their images and video. Anaglyphic 3-D content that requires the use of the old red and blue lensed glasses is already proliferating on YouTube, paving the road for the more easily viewed autostereoscopic material.

I believe that no media can produce more dynamic 3-D content at an economical cost than comics. Comic art is a natural for 3-D with its traditional dependancy on line art and frequent use of dramatic forced perspective.  The effects in 3-D comics are enhanced and the layers of depth are more clearly defined than traditional stereoscopic photography and even 3-D CGI. Comics also give the reader a greater opportunity to appreciate 3-D in each static image of a story while in a 3-D video the effects stream by quickly, offering little chance to digest the depth of the graphics.

Motion comics offer the best of both worlds. In fact it was my having watched DC’s commercial for the New 52 and noting its achievement  of creating the illusion of depth with its graphics and motion of layers of art, combined with an ad for a newly released 3-D cell phone that includes a 3-D camera that  pushed the chocolate into the peanut butter for me. I had already seen the trailer for Green Lantern displayed on a 3-D capable  Nintendo 3DS and was quite impressed by the technology and the clarity of the image. The idea that any user could easily generate this type of 3-D photos and videos with their cell phone camera gave me hope that comic artists could do the same with simple ingenuity and the help of a program that could generate stereoscopic images from line art.

Click and Visit M2

I came across a 3-D motion comic made by the guys at M2 on Bleeding Cool that is a must see if you have an old pair of red and blue anaglyphic glasses on you. It will give you a chance to see the potential of motion comics in 3-D.

M2 : 3D Sizzle Reel 2011 from M2 on Vimeo.

If you are enjoying the motion comics please be sure to check out Bernie Mireault’s Jam motion comic right here at CO2 Comics. I’m sure you can easily imagine how great that would look in 3-D.

Check out Bernie Mireault's The JAM Motion Comic

I have always been intrigued by 3-D possibly because even though we live in a three dimensional reality it is so hard to capture. As an artist the biggest challenge is being forced to capture that third dimension on a two dimensional canvas.

My first experience with simulated 3-D was with a Viewmaster.  We all had them as kids, staring through those binocular-like viewers at a disc with a series of transparent slides. They were a toy adapted from basic stereoscopes that had been around since 1838.

Mighty_Mouse_3D

I was also a big fan of 3-D baseball cards that used lenticular graphics to create the illusion of depth. I at one time even owned a Nashika N8000 35mm 3-D camera that took photos that were processed and printed with this same lenticular process as the baseball cards.

3-D Comics have been around for a long time. The first 3-D comic featured Mighty Mouse and was published by St. John Comics in 1953. The 3-D effect was created by none other than the legendary Joe Kubert along with Norman Maurer and his brother Lenny. The 3-D comic fad in the 50′s was short lived but 3-D comics enjoyed a comeback in the 80′s under the guiding hand of Ray Zone.

We published a  ROBOTECH 3-D comic in 1987 while at Comico aond used Ray Zone’s expertise to produce it. Of course it contained pencils by CO2 Comics contributer Mike Leeke. Here are a couple of scans that you should be able to enjoy with a pair of 3-D specs.

With all of these new viewing devices and autostereoscopic technology 3-D may be here to stay permanently and comics may benefit. Digital comics will have an opportunity to separate themselves from print entirely offering an eyeglass-free experience that cannot be had in book format. Will the added dimension create added value? More importantly will it create an interest in comics that attracts a broader audience? I’m betting that if it helps to sell more 3-D devices then the answer is yes. Only time will tell if my hypothesis is correct but right now I’m in the mood for a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.

Making Comics Because I Want To

Gerry Giovinco

Monkey & Bird…a Love Story by Joe Williams and Tina Garceau is AVAILABLE NOW!!!

The highlight of my week was receiving a copy of Joe Williams and Tina Garceau’s printed mini comic, Monkey and Bird, in the mail. Snail mail, that is.

Back in August we featured a couple of posts by Señor Williams that outlined his experience personally  making the mini comic. He peppered his posts with so many juicy details that almost anyone could go out and make one themselves.

I’ve known Joe and his lovely wife Tina for years, we go all the way back to our college days at PCA and I am well aware of both of their incredible attention to detail and quality not to mention their brilliance as designers yet I still did not expect to be so taken by what a gem their mini comic turned out to be.

Holding Monkey and Bird in my hand as a mini comic was a defining moment for me especially after having published it as a web comic here at CO2 Comics for the last two years. Maybe my reaction is a reflection of my long history of publishing on paper or just evidence of a generational  preference for things printed on paper, but I liked it. A lot!

The web affords us comic creators so many options to be able to present our labors of love to a potentially vast audience with minimal expenses compared to the printed product. Everything about making comics for the internet is so much more convenient and spontaneous that it has given us the opportunity as creators and readers to be able to witness the biggest creative explosion of the medium in its history. All those virtues, however, in my jaded eyes, do not supersede the experience of reading comics in print. I will always have a warm place in my heart for the tangible paper package.

mathmanauts

Mimeograph machine

It has always been clear to me that a comic is never complete until it is in front of an audience. The reader’s experience is a much a part of the final execution of the comic  as any step taken in the creative process along the way. Because I have always felt so strongly about this I began publishing my own comics almost as early as I began creating them. My first published comics were printed on a mimeograph machine. My audience had as much fun smelling them as they did reading them. I slowly graduated to photocopiers and small offset presses before finally dealing with  large, commercial, four-color presses to make Comico comics.

Comico Covers

As I sit here holding Joe and Tina’s  32 page (including covers),  full color, 4 x 5.5 inch, landscaped pamphlet that  is hand folded and saddle stitched with a good old-fashioned Swingline stapler I can’t imagine what my comic producing  experience would have been like if I would have had these production capabilities available to me back in the seventies. I would have traded tracing mimeo stencils and hand cranking purple inked copies for full-color pages spat out of an ink jet or laser printer in a heartbeat!

I did not have an opportunity to go to SPX this weekend but my fond memories of past shows include my amazement of the array of unique and creative packaging techniques that are always displayed. Monkey and Bird would have fit right in! Today’s community of independent comic artists and publishers take full advantage of the technology available to make comics that deliver an experience well beyond panel-to-panel sequential art.

Many people are pondering what is to become of the familiar pamphlet style comic that has been a fixture in the industry for over seventy years. Most believe that digital content will force it into extinction in the not too distant future, watching the sun set on a beloved package.

When I look at my little copy of Monkey and Bird, or think about what I witness at shows like SPX, APE, MOCCA, PACC and Stumptown, I see a different horizon, the shimmering rays of a new day cast by the lights of endless creative opportunity that will offer comics in print and digitally in infinite shapes and sizes. Each format, unique to its creator and not limited by the constraints of a few publishers or a single distributor.

I remember the first glimpse I ever had of this expanding possibility. In 1980 I was mesmerized by the first issue of Francoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman‘s anthology comic magazine RAW. The full color view out the window of a man committing suicide had been pasted on to the black and white cover of the tabloid sized periodical publication that featured an insane amount of groundbreaking comic art between its pages. The simple collage of the cover alone was enough to have numbed my creative mind for decades, especially in regards to packaging.

RAW

That, to me, was the beginning. Now, the art of making comics has firmly expanded from mastery of designing a page to the mastery of designing the whole package wether in print, on the web, or digitally for a specific device. The day where packaging that requires an entire production team is passing. The comic artist, if they choose, now has the ability to have complete control over the reading experience of the audience if they want it.

As a publisher, like CO2 Comics, today’s technology gives us the opportunity to open new doors of creative discussion with the artists that makes making comics more exciting than ever before. We plan to enjoy every minute of it!

Making Comics Because I Want To

Gerry Giovinco

AZ #2

I recently had an opportunity to reread and old blog post by Tom Spurgeon on his site The Comics Reporter. In the blog post Tom takes a look at one of our old Comico publications, AZ by our late partner Phil LaSorda.  Tom questions the cultural impact that such an obviously crude attempt at making comics may or should have on the market and the medium.

Now I along with my current publishing partner Bill Cucinotta who was also a partner back in those early Comico days may be biased but we also have a unique perspective just by having been there. We know, retrospectively, that the work we did in those days was seminal at best and was often criticized as being crap. It is easy to look back and be embarrassed by our rudimentary attempts to both create and publish comics. The irony, I suppose, is that as rudimentary as that material was, we are both still very proud of it for many reasons, so much so that we published it all again, right here on CO2 Comics.

Slaughterman #1

Skrog #1

SLAUGHTERMAN and SKROG may not have had many more redeeming qualities than AZ but they were all cornerstone publications that established a foundation that Comico, one of the most influential independent publishers of the eighties, was built on. For this reason alone, despite their critical ineptness, yes, they had, and continue to have cultural impact.

I remember a scathing review by Cat Yronwode in the Comics Buyers Guide that questioned, “who gave us the right to publish such crap?” My fiery response was that we all have the right to publish what we want to in America and that, crap or not, it will be the market that decides the success of the product. I wish I had those CBG articles today.

One thing we did well at Comico, in those early days, was to learn from our mistakes. It did not take long or us to realize our success would come from publishing others. It was, however, our relationships that we had developed hanging in artist alleys at comic conventions, and our ability to relate to young and maturing talent that allowed us the opportunity to work with the likes of Matt Wagner, Bill Willingham, Sam Kieth, Chuck Dixon, Judith Hunt, Neil Vokes, Rich Rankin, Reggie Byers and many many others.

We also published a new talent showcase called Primer where we published the earliest work of many other budding artists who were not quite ready for the Big Two.

Comico Primer #1-6

To me the biggest impact that Comico had on the comics industry, was that it gave evidence that if a handful of guys with apparently limited talent and experience could build a company that at one time was ranked #3 behind Marvel and DC in monthly sales, then maybe, just maybe, anybody can.

I believe we created an opportunity for creators to get bold enough to publish their own work or feel more confident when presenting it to others. We all did it as artists, looked at other work that we considered weak and say, “hey, I’m at least as good as this, if this can be published than so can mine.”

Gerry Giovinco, Bill Cucinotta & Phil LaSorda

We may have been naive or overconfident when we launched Comico but we had one mantra that we held to that was first spoken by Phil,  “We don’t want to look back years from now and regret that we didn’t try when we had the chance.” To us, the fear of failure was never as great as the fear of never having the opportunity to make comics professionally.  To do what we loved.

Today the internet is the greatest thing for young comic artists and for the entire medium. Anyone can publish on the web and, yes, there is a ton of incredible crap out there but more people than ever are taking a shot making comics and we fans of the medium are the winners because tremendous comic talent that may have never tried before is now offering our eyes a feast of variety that has never existed in comics.

So to answer Tom Spurgeon’s quote: “The question that many of us near comics ask — if only to each other — is if the art form can survive without the occasional cycling back to cruder efforts like this one, unpretentious material devoid of any hope for life or riches beyond its publication schedule that helped revitalize the art form four or five times during a low ebb.”

No! The art form, or more accurately the medium of comics or any medium for that matter, cannot survive without a cycle that includes cruder efforts. No crude efforts would imply no young talent and with no young talent to revitalize a medium, that medium will die a death of eventual mediocrity.

To paraphrase McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc, “When you’re green you grow. When you’re ripe you rot.”

So, be brave and create! Express yourself as well as you know how and be willing to show the world.  Make mistakes. Learn from them. Never stop growing. But when you do someone new will begin making their own mistakes and we will all have the pleasure of witnessing their adventure.

Holy crap, it’s the circle of life, comics style.

Making Comics Because I Want To

Gerry Giovinco

Howard The Duck button

Waaaaagh!!! What can I say? Ever since I first laid eyes on a Howard the Duck comic book I was smitten with ducks. I’m not sure why, but I think that what Steve Gerber did with the character opened my eyes to what could be done with comics beyond superheroes. It helped a lot that some of my favorite artists had drawn the character. Val Mayerick, Frank Brunner, Gene Colan, Sal Buscema and Michael Golden always left me wanting more and the iconic image by Bernie Wrightson on that campaign pin just sealed the deal!

howard wearing pants

Later when Gerber launched his creator’s rights battle with Marvel and when Disney challenged Marvel over trademark infringement, causing Howard to be forced to wear pants so as not to look like Donald Duck, Howard the Duck and ducks in general became a symbol to me of some sort of rebellious, creative attitude.

When I was in high school at Bishop Kenrick where I first met Phil Lasorda and Vince Argondezzi, my original partners in Comico the Comic Company, it was tradition to use acronyms to represent our party when we ran for office. When I ran for school president, the name of my party was, of course, D.U.C.K., Demonstrating Unity in the Community of Kenrick. I copied that Wrightson pin and made it school colors of green and gold. I even had a  mascot that crashed a student assembly in a duck costume! I lost… but the power of the duck stuck with me.

My fancy for ducks followed me to the Philadelphia College of Art now called University of the Arts where it did not take me long to establish a group of rogue comic artists called Ducks that strove to publish a small newspaper called DUCKWORK.  The thinly veiled connection to the school was a central courtyard that had two Peking Ducks inhabiting it and a bag lady that “quacked” as she walked in the area by our school earning her the name Duck Lady.

I wrote about  DUCKWORK In a previous blog and in an effort not to be redundant I invite you to check it out for the full scoop here.

Duck SuspenseStories

It dawns on me now that those six issues of DUCKWORK probably have some redeeming collectible value for their role as a precursor to the founding and publishing of Comico comics , CO2 Comics and for representing some of the earliest published works of the widely acclaimed Matt Wagner which can be seen here shown for historical purposes, of course.

Duck Throat

Duck Wish

Raiders Of The Lost Duck

Rollerduck

This peek at the credits and a dedication to Wally Wood who had passed away just prior to that particular issues publication in 1981 shows our devotion comics and  to the comic legend.

Duckwork dedication to Wally Wood

It also offers evidence of our lousy typewriter and some Ducks that went pro, Myself, Bill Cucinotta former Comico Partner and partner here at CO2 Comics, Dave Johnson of ROBOTECH  fame, Matt Wagner, Joe Williams CO2 Comics contributor and missing, somehow, is another ROBOTECH  vet and ELEMENTALS penciller, Mike Leeke.

Punk Duck 1

Ducks were infectious too. Not only did the DUCKWORK crew quickly assimilate to drawing the feathered fowl, I  recently discovered this incredible project by Martha Erlebacher, an anatomy teacher at PCA when we were students there.

Could it be remotely possible that our parodies of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus

Hatch of Venus

and Marcell Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase published in DUCKWORK somehow influenced one of our world class teachers? We may never know the answer to that but I think CO2 Comics contributer and another former ROBOTECH  vet, Reggie Buyers was tipping his hand when he sent me this fax of Jam Quacky in 1991.

Jam Quacky

Jam Quacky #1

Outside of DUCKWORK I had a propensity to parody superheroes as ducks and could often be found at comic conventions drawing Bat Duck, Spider-Duck, Silver Surf Duck, X-Ducks, Red Sonduck, you name it. The ducks were my gimmick, I guess, and littered my sketchbooks. They certainly helped me attract attention in those early days and develop lasting relationships with talented comic artists that helped to build Comico and CO2 Comics.

Bat Duck

Silver Surf Duck

Sonja Duck

I still love drawing those ducks so don’t be surprised if you start seeing them pop up here at CO2 Comics or on ebay. Hey, commissions aren’t out of the question either! If you have a passion to see your favorite character parodied as a duck just drop me a line at gerry@co2comics.com.

Making Comics Because I Want To  “QUACK!“

Gerry Giovinco

Can you believe it? Two years have gone by since we launched CO2 Comics hoping it would become a unique cooperative of comic talent featuring a collective of great comic features. Naturally we initially turned to our long time friends and allies that have had ties with us since our days as founding publishers of Comico the Comic Company.

Comico The Comic Company owners, Top: Dennis LaSorta, Phil Lasorda, Bottom: Gerry Giovinco, Bill Cucinotta

Chris Kalnick, Joe Williams, Andrew C. Murphy, Reggie Byers, Bernie Mirealut, Bill Anderson, Rich Rankin and Neil Vokes all contributed to the early success of the realization of our goals for CO2 Comics. The faith that they all had in our ability to  present their work while respecting their rights as creators, supporting their complete ownership and actively promoting their features and services as artists was a complete and humbling honor.

It became our duty to surround their works with with other great features and talent. CO2 Comics was always intended to be a place where readers could come to enjoy one feature and discover other comic treasures that they may not have found if those works had stood by themselves.

In just two years the list of contributers has grown to include twenty-two talented creators and two dozen exciting comic features. The impressive list of talent yields a number of nominated and award winning creators along with brilliant new talent that will deserve recognition for their mastery of the medium.

Take a look at the roster of creators here at CO2 Comics and you are bound to be amazed at the comic book pedigree and variety that exists on our site:

Bill Anderson – Skrog

Kevin Atkinson – Eaten by Planet 29

Mike Baron – The World of Ginger Fox

Reggie Byers – Crescent

Bill Cucinotta – Death for a Dollar

- Skrog

Tina Garceau – Hot Topics

– Monkey and Bird

- There’s No Escape From A Deadline

Gerry Giovinco – Slaughterman

Robert Jackson, Jr. – The Amazing Liberteens

Chris Kalnick – Depth Charge

- Non

Onrie Kompan – Yi Soon Shin

Steve Lafler – Dog Boy

- El Vocho

Mike Leeke – The Amazing Liberteens

Liberteens Update

Don Lomax – Captain Obese

Bernie Mireault – Cable

- Death for a Dollar

- Isaac vs. Eli

- Of the Spheres

- To Get Her

- The Jam Lives (a motion comic)

Andrew C. Murphy – Pressed for Time

- Reflections

- Victor

Mitch O’Connell – The World of Ginger Fox

Rich Rankin – Gauntlet

Raine Szramski – Heaven and the Dead City

Frank Thorne – Ribit

Giovanni Paolo Timpano – Yi Soon Shin

Neil Vokes – Gauntlet

Joe Williams – Hot Topics

- Monkey and Bird

- There’s No Escape From A Deadline

Besides having published over 800 pages of comic art in the last two years we have also taken on the monumental task of publishing David Anthony Kraft’s COMICS INTERVIEW: The Complete Collection. The first of the eleven volume set had 680 pages that were painstakingly cleaned and reproduced in both paperback and hardback editions. Volume two is currently in the works. This project is the testimony to our love of the comics medium and its rich history.

COMICS INTERVIEW: The Complete Collection

Our commitment to the history  of comics and the current state of the industry is also highlighted weekly on our CO2 Comics Blog where we feature a  weekly article covering everything from our Comico history, production techniques, creator’s rights and frequent editorializing on the state of the market have drawn a lot of attention industry wide.

As if publishing a ton of great comic related material on the web and in print is not enough for two guys,  we needed to create a new imprint, CO2 Publications so we could publish a 372 page literary book, FOR THE CONVENIENCE OF THE GOVERNMENT A Memoir of Veteran discharged from the Navy for being Gay  written by  George Richard Phillip Zimmerman, Jr. which was just released over Memorial Day Weekend.

For The Convenience Of The Government

Over our first two years we have published nearly 2,000 pages of material and maintained a rigorous schedule on an exciting site that has attracted over 4.6 million hits to date.

The best part is, WE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED! Last year, as we celebrated our first anniversary, we compared our accomplishments to our early publishing days with Comico and noted that we were far out front and we still are, thanks to the support of all the great talent that joins us and allows us to present new work daily.

We also need to thank our readers who continue to grow in numbers. Thanks for stopping by and for sharing with your friends. We became comic publishers nearly thirty years ago because we believed our comics were not finished works until they were experienced by the readers. We recognized early on that as publishers we played a significant role in the realization of a comic as a completed work and we intend to continue to be that conduit. CO2 Comic’s mission is to get great comics in front of as many eyes as possible. Please help us with your enthusiasm by continuing to share the comics you enjoy here with your friends and by returning often.

Finally, it is no mistake that we celebrate our anniversary  over the Fourth of July weekend. As publishers we have always been motivated by the spirit of the Independent movement with our emphasis being on creator’s rights.  Comics, for us, are a medium of freedom. Free thought, free speech, free enterprise.

We want to turn  Independence Day into Independents Day for comic fans and make it a time to celebrate the diversity that all of the Independent comics publishers have brought to the world. There are a lot of great comics out there that are not brought to you by the usual pair of suspects and we hope hat you will continue to find some of the best of them right here at CO2 Comics.

Making Comics Because We Want To

Bill Cucinotta and Gerry Giovinco