A Melancholy Defeat

Above is the Spirit of Failure. He’s a character who haunts Ranklechick.

I’ve been red-eyed and bleary for a few days now. I thought of sticking my head in the oven but Tavisha reminded me that it’s electric.

Ranklechick and His Three-Legged Cat will not be coming out in November. I spoke with Slave Labor Graphics friend and publisher, Dan Vado, and he tells me we just were not able to interest the direct comics market* with this title. They looked at Ranklechick and said, “this is not a comic — we’re not interested.” Four hundred and fifty orders is not enough, obviously, to print a 312 page full color illustrated novel with sections of sequential art. So, regretfully, I’m doing the only thing I can do — I’m quitting the comics shop direct market as a place of interest for Tavisha and my work. I just don’t write the kind of stories that comic shop patrons, in general, want to read. That’s obvious. ShutterBox can sell above 20,000 in book stores but barely 1,000 at comic shops. We have to go where our audience is.

What this also means is that, at least for now, we won’t be creating any of our own books with the intention to sell them to the direct comics market. This is particularly heart breaking because we love Slave Labor Graphics, and they are primarily a direct market publisher. They’ve been the sole reason we’ve come back to the comics-direct market again and again over the years. Dan, and Jennifer, and Deb, and Joe, and everyone else — they just treat people right, and that’s a quality that’s very hard to find in this overly competitive boutique-market. Dan Vado is trusting and sincere and Jennifer de Guzman not only understood what it was I was trying to write, but she also helped me to come to terms with my faults, and helped me comprehend my own writing style.

I spend all my time trying to discover what isn’t being said, or trying to read past what is being said badly in order to discover the definition of a problem. And what hasn’t been said, and what I’m just coming to terms with, is that I’m just burnt out. I’ve been completely spent for some time now. I don’t know how Tavisha can’t be, but then she doesn’t tend to trap herself up in problem-solving like I do. She just ... does things! She’s very spirited. In the months that followed the completion of ShutterBox Volume Three and Ranklechick, Tavisha has had to endure hearing me say again and again that I just don’t know what to do with myself anymore. I mean, yes, I’m doing things. I seem to be caught up in writing all these books — the novels and such — and that looks to be the direction I’ve been returning to for some time — and the writing has been on the comic shop wall for some time: everything I do isn’t comics anymore — or if it is comics (ShutterBox), it sells where comics don’t usually sell — or at least where comics didn’t used to sell well: regular book stores like Borders. I guess what I’m feeling is the transition. In comics these days, besides ShutterBox, I’m more a comics maintenance man than a comics creator. Right now, comics-wise, in between writing ShutterBox Four for Tavisha, I’m coloring Eric Jones and Landry Walker’s Little Gloomy comic for Disney. It’s a lovely comic and I appreciate the much needed work, but it serves to underline my feeling that the comics industry has become just my day job, and that something else, novels and graphic novels, is where I’m meant to be (but that doesn’t mean to stop giving me color work yet).

So I need to stop caring about the direct comics market, and just go where I seem to be going: novels on one hand and manga-sized graphic novels on the other. (I’ve been perusing the red head who doesn’t care for too long — meanwhile the pink and blue-haired ones keep baking me cookies. Sure, the pink and blue-haired ones have this strange penchant for adding ‘neko” and “chan” “and baka” into their vocabulary, but the cookies are pretty good.) It is with regret then, that I am taking Ranklechick and His Three-Legged Cat away from SLG and to another publisher — what publisher, I don’t know yet. That’s to be decided by our manager. No, Ranklechick will not be available in November of 2005, but if we can convince another publisher in the regular book market that this is something they want, then hopefully we will have a published book available to the public by the end of 2006.

I have actually written two versions of the book. One is the full color, fully illustrated version, and the other is a prose only, un-illustrated version. We will be shopping both versions, although with greater emphasis on the illustrated version, of course.

In the very long meantime, I have re-uploaded the preview of Ranklechick (Link: http://www.rhumbaghost.com/forsadcircus/rankle01s_ebook.pdf ) to now include up to chapter five. I hope this helps to relieve the sting for those of you who were looking forward to Ranklechick in November, and I thank you for all your support thus far, no matter which market you call your own.

-Rikki

*For those unfamiliar with the terminology, there are two markets for comics distribution. One is the “regular” book market, the other is the direct market. There are several very large distributors for the regular market and it is the main vehicle that brings books from publishers to places like Borders and Barnes and Nobel. Books that sell through this market are at the publisher’s expense. The book stores do not own the product and destroyed and unsold books can be returned to the publisher at the publisher’s expense. It also takes a long time for the publisher to receive payment from the distributors when books are sold at shops. In the other market, the direct market, there is one primary distributor, called Diamond. The comic shop owners buy the comic books outright from Diamond and Diamond in turn pays the publisher within thirty days of the release of the title. This system allows publishers to instantly know how many books they have to print to match orders — but it also puts a lot of power in the hands of shop owners, and not readers. It is my belief that the inventor of the direct market should be given an award.

Comments

[Mia]

W-...wow. I hope you can acquire a new publisher soon. Just know that, even if (god forbid) it takes another decade for "Ranklechick and His Three-Legged Cat" to be published, there's still a few out in the world who are willing to wait for it. Hang in there, Rikki!

[Crowbar]

Geez, SLG won't accept your work huh? Thats never good. But never stop doing what you put so much heart into, you have fans, you have the ability to make a person smile with a pencil and paper. Don't ever quit, there is always going to be someone who appreciates your work. And even if it's just one person, be glad you lightened their lives a little by giving them an escape from reality. This is what comics did for me, and once I get everything done for samples and all that loveliness, then perhaps I'll have that power to influence a person, and giving them the chance to smile, wonder, imagine, understanda and just know that there is worse in the world. This is how I make them grin. But of course this is all sentimental material, weather or not one appreciates it is their choice.

You'll always have me as a fan...

[Colleen]

Whoa...they didn't accept it? My whole view on life has just spun on its ass.

I think the reason Shutterbox is selling so well is becasue it's tokyopop and tokypop snags all the anime kids who sit in borders for hours and hours reading manga and don't visit comic book stores very regularly or at all..

I'm so sad that you have to leave for a while...I want to cry. But I won't.

Feel better! It's close to Halloween and the Nightmare Before Christmas playstation game is out tomorrow!
~Colleen

[Rikki Simons]

The problem isn't with SLG. SLG accepts Ranklechick, that's a given. The problem is with the direct market comic shops, who SLG sells to.

-Rikki

[brittany m.]

aww...SLG seemed like family to you guys,will you still be at convintions?

[Mia]

Urrg. Damn comic shops...

[Rikki Simons]

brittany m:

We'll always be at anime conventions. Comic conventions like APE and Comic Con, most likely.

-Rikki

[Jules]

I'm so sorry.

It's never easy when it comes to "family," is it?

I know it's remote comfort but you and Tavisha always will have 3 very devoted fans in a tiny house somewhere in the east. 8^)

[Rin Innakita]

I shall also always be a devoted fan! Even if you don't create any more comics or anything any time soon, I don't mind.
You be t3h rawkzz0rz! :D

--Rin-chan

[Althalus]

That's sad indeed. At least I can say I was one of the 450 (since I live outside the US I have to preorder everything at my LCS). I hope you'll find another publisher soon.

[Rin Innakita]

Ne, Mr. Simons, do you think Tokyopop would take Ranklechick? They have alot of American-made things. Anyway, I hope your search for a publisher goes well. oo;

--Rin