Mark G. Heike and Stephanie S. Heike, comic book creators!
News and Updates from Steph'
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June 01, 2009 Busy ghost working on Futuramalamadingdong pages--hate this stuff. Ugly design,
ugly concept and it's unfunny, dismal "ax to grind" agenda of no hope for mankind. Bleah.
Really want to work on something bright and positive!
Yeah, FF #149 is out, go order it. I did pencil roughs, plotting, dialogue and lettering
on one story--the usual stuff that I do; plus lettering and additional dialogue on the Italian giantess story.
So, if nothing else comes up after these pages clear the decks in a week or so,
I'm back on 21st #3! With my luck, something will happen that will put that back on the back burner once again.
Got some "glow green in the dark" Chucks for $10 bucks at the outlet mall. Wearing
with grape purple socks, lemon jeans and lavender Tee.
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May 22, 2009 Still working on #149. We're fine.
You may or may not have seen reports of the "tropical storm that is not a tropical storm".
It's been raining solid since Sunday, heck, we've even had rotational winds(!) BUT tropical storm
season doesn't "officially" start until AFTER Memorial Day and we don't want to scare the tourists
from a three day wekend in Florida sunshine, now do we? Hmph!
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May 08, 2009 Not much new to report other than we have reports of the missing FF #147 finally shipping
this week at comic shops, after #148 already shipped on-time. That leaves two issues of BOTW and a DVD unaccounted for.
Working on #149--
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Apr 18, 2009 No, we're not at FX show ($50 to just walk around? plus park?! LOL!)
We had fun playing video trivia last night and getting kittay foood for the kittay. (she's a sweet kitty!)
Am eatin leftover Krystal Chik and a Capri Sun.
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Apr 15, 2009 Working on stuff--mostly for #149, the rest is on 21st.
At AC, Mark is going nuts because Diamond is failing to ship ( P.s.--it's four out of six products) to retailers various AC products that we shipped back in Feb-March and are reporting
these books as "lost" at their brand new incredibly incompetent Olive Branch warehouse that apparently can't find any of our comics
or dvds in boxes that are clearly marked with the title and barcodes on them. Diamond is calling us
this week to request proof of delivery or reship and we have proof of delivery through
UPS that EVERYTHING arrived in Diamond's hands, with what time and who the person was that signed them in.
Heck, we've already gotten paid
for the products, but retailers and fans who ordered
the books are calling us angry that the comics and dvds haven't shown up yet. The later they ship, the lack of confidence will be
on OUR product and not squarely on the distributor's end where it should be.
Back in the 90's, an entire shipment of FF was lost and AC had to reship, so we keep fastidious track of books shipped out from us.
(the "lost" issues ended up in repackaged plastic bags of "Hey Kids! Comics" that were at my local
Target that had tons of them on the back wall. Apparently someone made a deal to convieniently
"lose" a niumber of 90's issues from various publishers and resell them. GRRR...
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Apr 6, 2009 Yes, FF #148 is out, wrapped that up this week.
rough pencilled 7 pages for Mark to ink, co-dialoging scripts (with Mark) and lettered 10 pages--it's done.
Working on 15 pages of freelance stuff, when I get through with that, do it all over again with scripting,
pencilling and lettering for FF # 149--no rest for me!
That also means more delays on 21st, which has taken some major hits
from the freelance work and Femforce this year.
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Mar 22, 2009 No, no updates. YES, AC is still publishing, YES, stuff got cancelled
through Diamond. Retailers who ordered
stuff that got cancelled lost income because a lot of that pre-ordered stuff was paid for in
advance by fans. Prices on our books are going to go up
essentially because our distributor Diamond says they should. Back to the AC grind.
Life sucks, we're doooomed, blah blah blah....that about covers it.
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Feb 17, 2009 Still working on updates. As most of you know the delay on 21st Centurions #3 is because I've
been working on freelance stuff and FF leading up to the landmark 150th issue, which means all of Dec and January I haven't
had a chance to do anything substantial on my own book (or on the website for that matter). Got a schedule gap right now after
I finish two covers for AC books sometime tomorrow,
(well, as much of schedule gap as I get!) so I'm back on 21st Centurions--but with my luck, something new work-wise will come up.
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Feb 11, 2009 New previews of 21st Centurions are live (issue one that is!) Working on the rest.
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Feb 02, 2009 Whoa! The malls are packed with shoppers! It's insane!! I mean regular malls, high
end malls and the outlet malls that are never busy!!! The parking lots are wall to wall
and I see tons of people with shopping bags! It looks like late December out there!
I've been everywhere around here because the shoes I waited on buying three weeks ago
for my birthday are freaking sold out and I can't find them anywhere! The "current
financial crisis" has gotta be bovine stuff! The politicians are lying as usual just
to pad out their bank accounts and their buddies' bank accounts, the economy is fine
and booming out there! Let's go help the people in the Midwest that are snowed in without power! Now, that's a crisis!
I spent all last month working on "other people's comics"!! ARRGH!
In other non-news, independent comics aren't selling because no one stocks them!! We checked out two new comic
stores in our area--all the Big Two corporation-powered comics: Marvel and DC stuff.
Smattering of Dark Horse and Image. Nuthin' else. Not even kid's books at the newer one.
No back issues to speak of. Toys, statues and t-shirts. They're not like your old geek-run
shops with fat and skinny guys jokin' and eatin' Taco Bell (unless Micky D's had a hot
new toy/drink cup promo) while discussing who'd win in a Thing vs Hulk battle, more like an
austere and snooty "high end collectible" stores with some high falutin' dude you'd expect
at an art gallery sipping his coffee--(who's obviously not geek and just using the locale as
a tax dodge). I couldn't find anything to buy. Okay, there was a Bettie Page tee I kinda liked,
but that just makes me sad right now.
P.S. No, we didn't tell them who we were--they couldn't
have cared less--like going to an art gallery and saying "Hey! I do pictures!" It doesn't matter
if you're better than any of their stuff, you're not who they're trying to sell or sell to.
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Jan 19, 2009 People have often told us AC is the "canary in the coalmine" for the comics
industry. Cough-cough! The old hardcore fans who loved the "comics like they used to be"
are dying out, those guys who were reading comic books as kids in the millions before the
1960's--hardcore fans that made up the foundation that AC Comics published for. One fellow
expressed that we "just need to go in a different direction and increase sales" like Joe and
Jack did back in the 50's with romance comics, when everyone was doing crime comics. Sadly,
that doesn't seem to be the answer anymore. Is the modern wave grim and gritty/ crime style
working? Are manga/shojo sales up? Heck, fun, brash heroics simply won't sell anymore. I'd love
to say we need to go in a new direction to increase sales, but that doesn't seem to matter anymore.
Retailers across the board in the current financial crisis are playing it safe and
are not ordering anything except from the Big Two Marvel and DC publishers--it's like
the 70's all over again. If you're an independent publisher, it doesn't matter what you
publish, it doesn't matter what genre, what creator/s, how good or how bad it is--if it
isn't from the corporate publishers, retailers simply won't order it. Go in any new comics
shop, you'll see tons of Marvel and DC and maybe one or two books from Dark Horse and Image--nothing
else! Oh, sure, the handful of hardcore fans you've had since the 80's and 90's order your books but
you won't gain any new readers if your comics just go in the pull boxes and retailers won't order any
for the shelves.
Yes, I'm still going ahead with 21st Centurions #3. I love it, I believe
in it and I want to finish the story arc I've set up. Yes, it's fun, brash heroics
and it's cute too AND it's not Marvel or DC--but I'm doing it anyway. It's a bad time
in the market right now to release it but it's not finished yet, so it's a moot point.
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Jan 12, 2009 --Yes, I'm still here, still working. We've been
lucky enough to be getting some freelance work, so it's been nose to the grindstone
on other people's comics.
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