Nov 232005
 

Mummy and Raven and Dog, tooSo what would you do if the Rapture, the biblical end of the world as foretold in Revelation, came to pass? Raven and Mummy go on a roadtrip! To read the 24 page comic for free go here.

The backstory: a year ago, when An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil came out, I posted one entry a day to the faux blog. On it was an online poll that asked readers if they thought the character Lilith was really a demoness or just delusional: I said that I’d write a spin-off story depending on how the vote went. Of the 500 people who weighed in, 55% of you thought she was unholy rather than unhinged.

Supernatural, then.

The Bold Explorers coverWhile I was touring with Unspeakable Evil, Bush took the election in the States and it seemed hard to get weirder and more sinister than real life. But it made me think about the Rapture and how a lot of the religious right believe that it will literally happen. What if it did happen? It’d be a pretty wild post-apocalyptic tale straight out of the comic books.

And as it happened, at the end of Unspeakable Evil, Kate and Bruce start working on a comic book together called The Bold Explorers. Montreal illustrator Michel Lacombe stepped up to the plate and together we’ve made that 24-page comic, and one of my geek-boyhood dreams has been realized.

If you’d rather hold the thing in your hands, you can. As an experiment I’ve made The Bold Explorers available for sale through lulu.com, a print-on-demand service. I uploaded it last week and have a copy in my hands today. It was free for us to upload, and the comic is sharply printed on nice quality paper. However, it’s a bit pricey: with shipping, it comes out to $9 US or (choke) $15 Canadian. Michel and I get about a dollar of that to split.

  7 Responses to “My Evil Comic Book”

  1. It’s important to note that the above link to the print-on-demand controversy and Jeffrey Yamaguchi’s article is extremely outdated. Yamaguchi qualified his criticism of print-on-demand providers here: Since his initial, 2001 article, services like Lulu.com have become available, which allow users to upload and publish their book for free, and then sell their product on the website. I wish NoMediaKings would update the link to the debate. Yamaguchi’s 2005 article still presents both sides of the debate, and, most importantly, it’s much more accurate.

  2. Hi Lauren– thanks, I wasn’t aware he’d updated the article. I’ve changed the links on this site to his updated article although I think people should check out the discussion it sparked with various people who were considering or had tried POD.

    Personally, my experience with lulu.com in regards to setup, ordering and receiving the finished product has been excellent.

    My reservations with POD are now mostly with my experience that nothing sells a book like the book itself — not having the physical item in stores means that a critical part of promotion is missing. Even with all my efforts in selling the book online, 90% of my book sales still come from bricks and mortar stores. (And of the 10% that do buy online, a lot of them have bought earlier books at bookstores.)

    Solidifying my suspicion of some POD publishers was an email that I received minutes after registering with Lulu: “My name is Tracey Rosengrave, Marketing Manager for Xlibris Corporation, a Print-On-Demand Self-Publishing company. We are sending you this email because we have either learned about your passion for writing or we have had the pleasure of coming across some of your work. If you are interested in self-publishing, I’ve included a brief description of who we are below.”

    They must have bots combing the Lulu site. Kind of predatory.

  3. Hey,

    Loved the comic. But you’re a big goddamn tease. Do we get more of this story? It seems like there’s so much more to tell. Even if it’s not in comic format, I’d be happy with just the written version.

  4. It’s meant to be a stand-alone story, open ended in the tradition of sequential comic books. But it *could* keep going, couldn’t it? *grin* No plans at the moment, but stay tuned, true believers… sign up along the sidebar if you want to get the earliest notice.

  5. This is my new favorite eComic. When Raven and Mummy are in the house, I especially like the shot of joe citizen standing in the doorway with the sword. It made me think he was an archangel, but it makes no difference to Raven, just another idiot left over from the rapture. Great job guys! Another issue perhaps? =)
    t-

  6. Trafford.com was the publisher I went with. They did build my hopes up. I spent 1,000 bucks. They did do little things like placing it on borders and amazon.com. They also gave me a web page on there site. I do regret all that work and little sales. I’m trying to move it online as best as I can.

  7. Dear Jim,

    I recently read your sequel to the story above called “Therefore Repent!” I enjoyed it immensely. It is definitely one of the most fun and yet procative graphic novels I have read. I certainly hope (and request)that you continue this story again. I enjoyed the surprising twists and turns, hoping to see what develops regarding the “battle”.
    As for the story above (The Bold Explorers), it gives some good prequel backstory to the main characters of Raven and Mummy face.
    These stories remind me alot of other post apocalyptic/human character study titles, such as the comic “Strange Girl” and Richard Matheson’s “I am Legend”.
    As far as the rapture part…it is good to see people thinking about it, even if only as a fictional device. According to what I have read and studied, the rapture is nothing compared to what happens during the tribulation (both man made judgments and God’s judgments). People often wonder what the future will bring and yet there it is, all in black and white for us in the Bible.
    Thanks for an interesting point of view and I am looking forward to any future contination of the story with much anticipation.
    Best wishes to all your future goals!

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