March Highlights

Ending Easter On My Own Easter Egg Hunt

Happy Easter! Find anything that sweetens your mood?

As for me, getting back into doing stuff I’ve put off feels pretty good. Not so much on Gutternaut, but stuff I’ve neglected. Need to enjoy having more than wanting.

Tailwind, Buffer, and AI

I’ve recently gotten back into using services like Tailwind to help give me something to help build a following. Try as I might to make posts on popular places like Instagram since TikTok is too much work, having something to give me focus is great. It’s how I got this post here on Substack to the point of being quoted with something I ad-libbed.

Although I have been using AIGPics for those posts… They’re not monetized! I just need something better to express a post’s message without exhausting myself in trying to get something together on Photoshop.

Nowadays it feels harder and harder to actually post on social networks. So having Buffer for places like Mastodon is okay. But the AI prompts I have the option for just didn’t appeal to me that much. It felt like every thing I wanted to write on there was getting co-opted by a corporatized take. Ironic then when the post was about a post about a robot falling in love with a woman and the AI prompt I tried out on there spoke more about optimization.

Sales, Bundles, and Computer Memory

I’ve reached a point where my desktop is now just the place where I keep every digital comic download. But I’ve been running out of space and had to remove some apps I wasn’t using. It all started with a Spawn Bundle collecting everything up to the latest King Spawn albums. It’s not easy to be a collector especially when clean up comes with so many moving pieces.

Not to mention sales from various online stores. I try to only get the things that feel worth it. DriveThru has plenty of sales especially when buying them on PayPal comes with a dollar donation option for tax deductibles.

But periodic sales like on the struggling Scout Entertainment is a different story. Trying to find what’s worth some money even half off is a challenge when organizing everything for specific items can be a problem. Since reviews for series from Scout are so limited I had to think more creatively. Rather than review aggregates like Comic Book Round Up or Goodreads, the Hoopla library service was my best option to find quality series. But that came with another obstacle, what I wanted can only be in certain formats. For example, I couldn’t find the By The Horns story in digital album form so I had to take the Comic Tags option. An admittedly cheaper and more collectible option than the normal formats. But getting more than one of them has to make it worth the shipping prices.

Second Guessing My Reviews

I’ve always had periods where I recheck some of my comic reviews. But the one that sticks out the most is probably Finale. This was a one-shot that every other alternative/indie comic reviewer finds more enjoyable than I do. Even I got on board with their reasons since everybody praised the music and structurally sound surprises to make this memorable. But I just couldn’t enjoy it the way they could.

That’s when I realized, this is a “me not you” deal. Reading post-apocalypse dramas just doesn’t sit right with me. Not this, not the Walking Dead, not even East of West. I’m just not into the dourness or taking something so not-serious so seriously.

That’s also why I rate Deer Editor (will be updated for the album) and Scoop so highly where life’s oddities and their healing qualities are treated as mundane rather than miracle cures.

Mad Cave Really Doesn’t Let Up

These Mad Cave reviews are probably my most regular updates on Gutternaut. But it also comes with how it feels like Mad Cave is going in on the flood the market option without paying attention to quality control.

Because I’ve been noticing some patterns coming out.

Recognizable or IP from decades ago like Dick Tracy and cult classics(?) like King Arthur & The Knights of Justice. Both of which have varying levels of quality. One tries to bring in the classic elements of a comic strip in the noir style of Ed Brubaker imitators. The other feels like it tried to cram an entire TV show into just one book.

But that last bit hits me in a certain place because that has gotten me a direction to work with. Unlike one other graphic novel I dropped because it had no direction at all. The Mushroom Knight was… nothing. It was just a lot of world building and clunky character arcs that went off in so many directions, I couldn’t tell if there was a plot at all. I had to drop it because I just couldn’t write anything about it.

Not only that, but I get so many email requests from Mad Cave I fail to notice that they aren’t always in order. I actually missed the FOC for Love Me because it’s email came so late compared to the others.

Right now, I’m glad that I don’t have to worry about that with Mugshots. Or Edenfrost since the writer sent me material instead of the company. Plus, I look ahead and now I’m primed to update Deer Editor.

Not My Only Request

Thankfully, I did get a request from something very unlike anything before. It’s a little indie thing called MeSseD about sewage workers that is weird in some good ways. The always changing artwork isn’t the prettiest but the quirky cast and out of this world campiness makes it easier to look at a dirty job.

What I Like Doing

So reviews aren’t the only thing I do. There are times I get the chance to do posts about things with the right push. Like how franchise reboots get a bad rep because of corporate greed and creative differences throwing them off their structures.

But more importantly, there’s keeping my word about specific posts. As much as people told me to ignore and not make commentary about the Comic Hashtag Wars, that’s ignoring the effect it has on comics. Because when it looks the only way to go viral and get a sustainable fanbase is getting under people’s skin, you have to look at the different angles.

The Indie Sustainability Problem

Part of what pushed that post was how JL Johnson Jr. is ending his epic fantasy indie comic Ennead early and leaving comics…

II. I'm Quitting Comics

This series was highly reviewed in several places. I was lucky to get a black and white trade at a convention. I feel like this could have been a huge sensation to rival even the biggest comics. But now I can only hope it doesn’t end up like a growing number of comics with potential from the big places. Like say Black Widow by Kelly Thompson…

The money’s one thing, but the work necessary to make it sustainable can really get to people. Just ask MatPat, who left to be a producer of the Theorist Network instead of the host because it started to eat at his downtime. It’s that kind of burnout that can really affect people.

The Search For Inspiration vs. Downtime

In my search for topics of people I could work with, I came across a list of superhero books on Goodreads. I found some sad realities to people working on a budget and getting so little reward. Sometimes they have to use public domain stock images for covers to cut costs. Sometimes despite the high praises, reviews, and best-seller status, authors had to stop writing and get 9-5’s. All because they never went viral.

In the end, is there even a point to putting all of your effort into something when doing everything to succeed can still come up short?

Not just in money but how people spend their time. Who wants to wake up in their family home and dread speaking to the people you love and support you because it’s another business meeting?

Short-Term Downtime Leads to Long-Term Payoffs

On a personal level those comparison posts I want to do, don’t get much traffic yet. How can I be so optimistic? Because one thing I did the month before has been getting attention. And a year-old post about why Occult Comics need a lot of time to love has been gaining traction.

Sure they get attention, but my best performing posts are always about individual creators or how other countries make comics. I’d like to go back to these, but they’re a lot of work that can cross into time wasted.

Frankly, I’ve been spending as much time between comics I want to read from downloads, apps, etc., looking through the best of pulp characters for inspirations, and catching up on things I’ve saved. Like an indie tokusatsu movie that still inspires me not to worry about woes so much.

Now I watch Netflix and feel like it’s worth the money I spend to keep the account going.

That gives me enough time to finish up my drafts for The Wire Fence: Re-Opened…[Name Pending].