June 3rd., 2008

  I had a pretty cool dinner at Wizard Philly. On Saturday night before the Big City party, I was invited by Rene, a public relations rep to have dinner with her and a couple of friends. Those friends as I sat down in the lobby for a drink with them before dinner were her client Michael Golden (Marvel Legend), Chris Claremont, Liam Sharp and Jerome a comic book news reporter. As I sat down with Rene and this group of brutally gifted and historic professionals, Rene asked. "Jeff, you know Chris Claremont". I said I know Chris but I don't knowwwww Chris. We shook hands and I sat down,

  Sitting there listening to convention stories and times past with these icons, I became energized about our industry and what Big City could do in it. As we walked across the street to Chili’s, I couldn’t help but smile. As we waited for our table in the bar, I kind of hinted to Jerome how this was the Gold standard of convention groups and how I was amazed at how there was still a lot of “fanboy” in me.

February 11th, 2008
    Funny how things just get away from you. I've been so bust I forgot that I should be letting you know what's going on. Well, Mario is taking over Omega One as of issue 5 and I've seen the pages.  They are really good. We've been nominated for New Publisher of the Year which is pretty cool too. 

   We have a new promotions manager Frank and things are moving forward.  I'd like to thank all of you for buying the books.  All I can say is sometimes I get lost in the day-to-day crap and forget that it's about the work.  Oh yeah I hope you like the look of the new site.  The old site was really bothering me so I spent about five hours redesigning it.

January 12th, 2008
    Well, I guess you've heard we're going to war.  As an Army veteran, I know I am using the term a little too loosely but what would you call a long term fight to protect something you love. I’ve had the good fortune to fight and win in many arenas but very few mattered as much as this one.  

    At the start of my legal career, I had the opportunity to represent thousands of children who got themselves on the wrong side of the law.  A lot of them had bad moral compasses… Bad parents…Bad friends….Bad Luck….but in the most part it was simply bad decision making ability.  I’m not saying that reading comics guarantees that you’ll be a good person but just a better one. 

    On an interesting note, we are currently working on the preproduction of the Ant animated cartoon and have been contacted by Cartoon Network about our other books so cross your fingers.  We also have FX in Orlando at the end of this month followed by Megacon in March.  We have New York Comicon in April and Wizard Philadelphia and Chicago after that so we’re a little busy. Hope to see you.

December 13th, 2007
Spent about two and a half hours with Tommy Castillo working out issue 5 of Tempest.  Josh is working his ass off getting solicitations in and making sure the books are on schedule. I just listened to a podcast from Fanboy Face-off. I can't tell you how cool it was hearing the comments they made.  When you put a ridiculous amount of time and energy into a company it's just nice to know someone liked it.

Mario's book hit the stands today and I'm waiting to get my ass handed to me.  Even though I put a good size warning on the book, I just feel uneasy.  While I promised him creative control, my "spider-sense" is giving me a migraine.

The first Zombie Fest commercials went up.  While some are definitely better than others, I have to salute the guys who busted their asses putting them together.

December 2nd, 2007
Lots have happened in a month.  Our first three titles came out.  Dragon Cross and Tempest sold out at the distributor and Totem has only 50 copies left.  Mario Gully is back penciling Ant Unleashed after doing the variant covers for February’s books.  We had a blast at Wizard Texas. Zombie Fest 2007 was a big success and we will be unveiling the Zombie Videos by this Friday.  Also some surprises a little later in the week.

November 2nd, 2007
The books are at the printer and we have a tentative release date of November 14th.The Gully Variants came in at the last minute for the preview guide coming out in December so we’re in business.  He did all five variants and they are one long continuous piece which is pretty cool.  We’ve got Wizard Texas on the 17^th and are ramping up for that too. Hope to see you there.

October 21st, 2007
This month has been brutally busy.  All three books for November are at the printer.  The Zombie Film Festival is coming up and we are currently working on the second four issue of Omega One with a new line up and a new artist.  As you may not be aware, it takes about 2-3 months to produce a painted book, so we basically have three painters working on three different chapters at the same time so it will be monthly.

Also, we are currently in preproduction on 9/11, Spy and our new dare I say it Zombie book We look forward to letting you know more when things come to ahead.  

September 23rd, 2007
Just got home from Orlando-con. We had a blast and met some great people. Drank with some old friends and some new friends.  Created some new characters and enjoyed my time with the guys who make "the city" possible.  Conventions are clearly an important way to dump the crap which this business throws your way.  I will post pictures from the con soon.

For the past couple days, I've been defending my artists, my company and myself on forums, pod casts, blogs and in public. If I had spent as much time promoting then defending and attacking, I believe the company would have been better for it.

Even after a great convention the Image stuff was still pissing me off and then my wife told me to grow up.  She's right.  Defending my company and my friend while important it just feels like it got out hand.  I've got a company to run and have spent too much time battling windmills. I guess I've just come to realize that even if you win a pissing contest, you can still wind up covered in piss.

I guess it really hit home when a friend of mine at the con said they like "The Mice Templar" then apologized because of what was going on with us and Image.  It made me feel stupid especially since I myself buy Invincible and Spawn which I enjoy a lot.  

The last couple of days reminded me of  a trial where I let myself get caught up in how I felt about opposing counsel and it almost cost my client his freedom. I apologize to my team and every one who makes me proud of the work this company has already produced. There's a fine line between defending a position and getting lost in the fight. I'll try not to let that happen again.

September 16th, 2007
Well every day can't be roses. An old letterer wouldn't return my e-mails or phone calls for a couple months concerning Totem Issue One files that we needed. When he finally did return my e-mail he asked me if he was able to find the files "what was in it for him". Since I had paid him in full for the work already, I was beyond amazed at the sheer nonsense of his statement.  I then e-mailed him back that I thought he had a duty to provide the product I paid for.  After not getting a response, I called Mario to see if he could get a response.  Mario tee'd off on him and he provided a crappy version of the files which we can't use but at least Mario got a response. 

This morning we discovered that the letterer contacted a reporter at CBR to complain that Mario was heavy handed. Let me make this clear, I fully supported what Mario said because this guy put us in such a bad position that it seemed anything less would have gotten the same result that I had received from him before.  Even though I have to pay 1800.00 to get the work recolored and lettered I appreciate what Mario did for the company and each and everyone of my artists for standing behind him for fighting the good fight.  Here is a copy of the article. story) .

August 6th, 2007
Worked out the last issue with Diamond.  Being a publisher really is a bear compared to just producing your own book but at least I know what I'm getting.  There is a much bigger risk but we control our own destiny.  Mario (writer/artist Ant) and I at best are having artistic differences.  This new version of Ant is brutal and will have a mature viewer stamp as big as Texas.  The crap we took on issue 8 with Image is nothing to what's coming our way so I'm looking at different options.

As publisher and editor in chief, I've been asked by Jason Embury our V.P. of Creative Development to make sure none of our artists call him between the hours of 9pm and 9am because it is negatively effecting his cycle.

JULY 26th, 2007
Finished writing issue one of Omega One and am currently working on issue 3 of Tempest. I also locked in a new penciler for Totem and an inker for Dragon Cross.  San Diego is going on and I'm here in Orlando.....it sucks but I would feel like such a tool going to the largest convention on the planet without the new books in hand. We're also trying to get as many books in the can as much as possible and no work gets done when your at a convention. We had already committed to Wizard Chicago and Texas, Baltimore-con, Orlando-con and one more before the year is up so the plate was just too full.

JULY 16th, 2007
The forum is finally up so all you readers griping on Image's site can get the 411 here. We've been busting our asses to get this company where we want it to be.  We plan to do things that haven't been done and take care of retailers and readers in really cool ways.  Wait an see. A little hint "Zombies".

JUNE 27th, 2007
I spent the day printing our books out to send to Diamond and riding Elvin about his artistic brilliance. Elvin explained to me that drawing more than two people in a panel takes a lot of time, so from know Omega One the team book only has two members. I hope that will work for you Elvin. God forbid he lands that Marvel job because I've been dying for someone to spice up "The Fantastic Two". Thank you I'll be here all week.

On a sad note, we had four pages of inked Dragon Cross pages stolen from the office so if anyone ever sees pages 4-7 of issue one

JUNE 26th, 2007
I spent the weekend doing business in New York and Niagara and got to spend a couple hours with Tempest artist Rob Doria and his wife. Oh yeah, the new website is up.  It was done by The Rift™ writer and Graphic Illusions Studios creative director, Andrew J. LoVuolo.

There's lots of excitement on the horizon. Still need to get with Billy on the new book but our sixth book is knocking with the possibility of finally doing “Native”. 

Oh yeah, also got with ex-professional wrestler Smoke who's interested in playing a vampire in Tempest.  – J.K.

JUNE 18th, 2007
Got back from Wizard World Philadelphia late Monday had a great time. We signed up two inkers, two pencilers, a possible colorist and maybe a book with Billy Tucci. Elvin, Rob Richardson and Jason Embury were with me. Ate and drank way too much. – J.K.

JUNE 12th, 2007
Getting ready for Wizard World Philadelphia. The banners came in today the skirting was wrong but the four back banners rock. Had to dump a potential book that'll remain nameless. They just weren't ready. In the last two weeks we all had major ego checks. Elvin had to redo the Omega One cover because it kind of sucked. Jason had to redo the colors on the Dragon Cross cover because they kind of sucked and I had to redo an Ad which took me five hours to do because it really sucked. That's the rule at Big City all artists, writers and support staff have opinions that matters. We want to learn from the mistakes of our last company and do things right. As a publisher, I have a duty to not be a tool and realize that I can be wrong and will be. Its funny but I felt uneasy talking to Elvin and Rob about their work but they were really professional and just made the work better. That's what I love about the people here. We're all in it together

I've been working with Rob Richardson on Dragon Cross and believed heavily on a scripted format, but Rob works better with basic plots. After reading his writing on Page One I learned that, while my situations and dialogue are okay, he blows me away with his captions. A little humbling. Mario and I were talking about the feeling of the new Ant book. He wants it to be more "Urban" (inside joke.. only Mario and his ex-publisher will get it). I wrote Ant as a hero book and understand that he needs to do it his way, not Arcana's way, not Image's way but Mario's way and from what I've seen it's his best work and puts Ant in a better light.

We've also made a decision as far as creator control. There will be an editor attached to each book. Most independent companies are more like brokers and do a disservice to their creators by not helping them when they basically create crap. How we determine what is crap and what is not crap is simple. If the editor thinks something is crap, he discusses it with the creator, the artists and other creators and artists at Big City. This really allows our creators and editors to work together to put out the best product possible. Oh and the question on all your minds is does the publisher who also is a creator take crap when his work is perceived to be crap? The answer is more than anyone else here because nobody gives a damn about my status or my ego which is exactly how I want it. By traveling around the country meeting with retailers I have learned if they think the publisher is a smoldering "turd-snack" they won't by your book. Retailers are our life blood and deserve the respect and admiration of taking the risk on our books in a market with very low profit margins.

I'm really looking forward to Philly. I miss all my convention buddies. I'm supposed to have dinner with Billy Tucci (nice name throw) Friday in Philly. Most of you don't know he's an ex-green beret. I was only airborne but I guess it's better than being a "leg". I told him how we are moving from a studio to a full publishing house and he said he might have a book for us. No not "Shi" our good friends at Dark Horse are handling that. I've learned a lot from Billy. The only piece of advice I can never follow is "never spend your own money". I'll get it someday Billy, or be forced to go on welfare which ever comes first. Look forward to seeing you all in Philly. Oh yeah, Elvin, Rob Richardson, and Jason are also coming. – J.K.

MAY 29th, 2007
Weird day. Conference with Jason about more details concerning the structure of Big City. Mario kind of surprised me by deciding to go with Big City to publish Ant. He had a lot of interest in the book--offers to buy it-offers to produce it-- I guess Mario and I have a basic trust from working with each other over the last two years. Still haven't typed in the Tempest pages for Rob but I didn't want him thinking about the pages while he was on vacation. – J.K.

 MAY 28th, 2007
The website has just been redone and I'm really happy with it. There is obviously some tweeking that needs to be done but it feels good. I'm meeting with Elvin tomorrow to get some more pages. I've been a little lazy and haven't retyped the last ten pages for Tempest Issue 2. Talked to Josh about a new project but that'll be in the news section latter this week. Also, I have to find a new penciller to finish Totem Issue 2 since Mario has been busy busting his ass for Marvel. He's currently working on issue two of Treasure Island. Issue 1 comes out soon. I'm happy for him. It's his dream and I can only support him.

Rob Richardson has been taking care of business on Dragon Cross. I wasn't a big fantasy story guy but after working the plot out with Rob since 2005 when I met him at the FX convention, I felt it was a project that could really blow up and it was time to move forward. –