Ever wonder what's going on months later with someone that's already been interviewed? Well, I was, so I decided to check in on Cooties creator Nick Perkins to see where his head is at these days. I provided the questions, he provided the answers. Take it away, me!
1. You've been plugging away at Cooties for a long time now. Is it where you wanted it to be at this point, and define success for us, at least in your eyes.
Unfortunately, after two years I am still in the midst of my first storyline; however, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. I've got so many other (and shorter) stories I plan on telling with this comic, and I'm finally at a point in my quality and productivity with the comic that I have just started beginning to advertise. I am having a blast with this point in the story (the lunchroom brawl was so dang fun to draw!).
As for success, for me it can be defined in two ways. My greatest hope is eventually having someone at Dreamworks or some such entity pick it up for a computer-animated movie or Saturday-morning series. Hey, if you're gonna dream, dream big, right? At this point, though, success for me is keeping my readership growing and my quality increasing, which I have and am still accomplishing.
2. I see you've recently moved your domain to Spiderforest. How has that transition been for you?
The move to Spiderforest has been better than I'd hoped. I'm grateful to ComicGenesis and my time there, but there is a stigma in the webcomics world attached to having a CG domain. I think it's highly undeserved, myself, but to each his own. The main reason I left CG was the opportunity to be part of a more tightly-knit community and the chance to get a little more exposure. The people at SF were extremely welcoming, and helpful with getting my new site set up, and with ComicPress to boot! It's great to have Cooties surrounded by so many quality webcomics.
Having an all-ages comic, I was a little worried about being in a community with some that were definitely not; looking at it realistically, though, that problem was magnified a hundredfold being a CG comic anyway, so I made the leap. As of yet, I have had no reason to regret it (especially since my readership has doubled since I first went to SF!)
3. I see you've gone for more of a dynamic, full page comic book style for Cooties. Do you plan on staying with this style or eventually trying something different?
I really like the current format. I like having the comic fill up the whole screen. I'd like to keep it that way through the end of my first storyline. After the first storyline is done, I may do gag-a-day newspaper style strips for a while; at the same time writing, drawing, and coloring the next big storyline. When that's all done, I'll run that story five days a week for its whole duration. Having a story drag itself out over 2-3 years will be a thing of the past, hopefully. I think I've reached a point in my productivity where that will be doable. My readers will definitely like it.
4. So the political race is heating up faster than my grandmas flapjack griddle. Have you ever considered adding some jokes taking jabs at Obama or McCain?
I'm an editorial cartoonist for my local newspaper, so this election is definitely catching my attention. Having said that, I don't want to interrupt Cooties' story flow right now; and this seems to be a perfect question in which to shamelessly promote my brand new strip, Dadmocracy. I needed an outlet in which to use all those comic strip ideas that I couldn't put into Cooties, so the new strip was born. I've made a strip involving Governor Palin, and you should see Obama & McCain show up within the next few weeks.
5. Do you have any webcomic recommendations for the readers?
I actively follow between 40-50 different webcomics. Some of my favorites that not everyone may have heard of:
Ardra
One Small Step
Imy
Union of Heroes (found by reading Webcomic Asylum, natch!)
and my fellow SF-er, Avernyght!
6. Let's just imagine you have 60 seconds to promote your sites in front of a crowd of a million people. Go!
Cooties - Nate, Jake, Carmen, Lori and Sam - a group of ordinary kids dealing with school, friends, parents, government agents and an alien invasion. One of them unknowingly holds the key to Earth's fate, but he'll need all of his friends' help to save humanity from mind-controlling conquerers...
Dadmocracy - A weekly semi-autobiographical comic dealing with fatherhood, politics, media, and other assorted chuckle-inducing shenanigans!
El Cartoonista - my blog features a new comic each weekday, from classic strips to current Cooties & Dadmocracy comics to blog-exclusive goodness. Your one-stop shop for all my scribblings.
That was great! Thanks to Nick for sharing his thoughts with us. Give Cooties a shot, and be sure to check out his other sites. Till next time....!
No comments:
Post a Comment