When a comic isn't for me (a.k.a Scarenthood)

So, whenever I talk about a comic, I try to be positive.

I mean, sure, I'll mention something about a comic I don't like or didn't work but, overall, I always try and find something good about every comic I read.

Sometimes though, that just isn't something I can do.

I've read two comics back to back in the past two (ish) weeks that have been that way and to say it is disconcerting is a little bit of understatement. It causes me a little bit of fear because I worry how many more from my 'to read' list are like this? Am I facing a long, drawn out period of time (like the whole of 2023) reading stuff that just plain bores me.

The catalyst for this train of thinking came predominantly from Scarenthood, an IDW mini-series (well, I think mini-series. The ending certainly hints at more to come) by Nick Roche and Chris O'Halleran. This series tells the story of a working father named Cormac, who struggles to raise his daughter and work while his wife is mysteriously absent. One day, on a dare from some other struggling parents from his daughter's playgroup, Cormac enters a crawl space where a young boy disappeared 40 years earlier. However, when Cormac discovers and then breaks a statue hidden there, he finds himself the target of a mysterious and dangerous force.

I can't remember where I'd heard about this title, suffice to say that I know that appeared on a best of list for someone in some year (isn't that helpful!) and so I added it to my wish list, leading to it being received as a Birthday gift just recently. Therefore, I was eager and interested to get a better idea about what this story was about.

Unfortunately, Scarenthood just didn't do it for me, although the why is a little bit of a mystery to me. The story, while a little slow, comes across as a solid mystery story. Meanwhile, the art is equally as good, with a style which reminds me of Paul Grist's Mudman, although a little smoother on the pencils.

I do think that what my problem is with this comic series is the basic concept and its execution. This is because, when you boil the premise down to its most basic, Scarenthood is about a man who struggles with being a parent. Now that's totally relatable, what parent can't understand a character who no matter how hard he tries fails.

However, where it loses me is when Cormac's encounter with 'the other side' brings about scenarios where his treatment of his child feels dangerously incompetent and, as a result, it just started to feel all to real for me.

Scarenthood, did have some good moments and, as the end approached, it did start to become an interesting read. However, it was a case of too little, too late as the underlying topic kind of hit a nerve with me.

So, I've ended up waffling on more than I had planned, but the point of it is this: sometimes, even I find a comic that I can't get on board with. Of course, that doesn't make it a bad comic because all things are subjective. Everyone doesn't have to read the same stuff.

It also means that I have to remember that just because it didn't match my expectations doesn't mean that all the others I have to read won't. I just have to give them a try and, regardless of the outcome, move on to the next.

Finally, a dream accomplished (well, nearly)

For the longest time, I've wanted to make a comic.

I could say that it's been about seven years, ever since I made a comic to try and get in the back pages of a Matt Garvey comic and subsequently talked about it. However, the truth is that I think I've wanted to do it for even longer than that.

I remember, back in the late noughties (God, that feels like a long time ago), I'd go into what was then my local comic shop and, as we were all facing the influx of comic book movies we now take for granted, I would more often than not chew the poor manager's ear off about my ideas about various sequels of these films.

So, maybe it's been closer to twenty than it has been coming up to 10. That said, after years of writing and re-writing, umming and arring, finding the confidence to try and then subsequently losing it, I'm finally at the place of no return.

This past week (and a bit) I've been building a kickstarter project for my first (well, second) comic, Predators. This is a story about when a man meets a woman, although what comes after that moment certainly doesn't really have the makings of a rom-com (Good thing I don't plan on launching it on Valentines Day).

This was an idea I put together thanks to the wonderful British News (although I'm not really sure I should be thanking it) and quickly wrote a script for as the thoughts came together in my head. Then, thankfully, after a few years of sitting on it, I was able to put the first couple of pages together thanks to the help the great Robert Ahmad (who I always said I'd work with the moment I saw his stuff in Matt Garvey's Devil in Disguise).

Now, though, comes the hard part as I can't really afford to get any more pages created. Therefore, I decided to create a Kickstarter and try my luck.

Having seen a lot of Kickstarters run over the years (and read a lot of their successful creations), I have to hope that this can get my dream to the finish line. However, I am aware of the hurdles I face in doing so.

Firstly, I'm not exactly a known name. I'm some guy. One of millions (well, 3.5 billion to be more exact). I've never made a comic before and while I've certainly written my share about a lot of comics, I'm under no illusions that anyone might go "Hey! I know that guy!.

Also, I'm not really offering much given that I want to keep my costs down. I've gotten a truly great artist who is helping me out for a steal of his actual worth (I mean, come on! Rob's work is awesome!!) but, beyond that there is little that this comic has going for it as I'm avoiding physical copies just to stay away from both the costs and the stress.

Finally, possibly the biggest hole I'm digging for myself is the price, which is a solitary £1 (or $1USD as the Exchange rate roughly equals to that. Now, I've mentioned my plans for this to a couple of people and I've been called mad but there is method to my madness. The fact of the matter is that I'm offering a 12 page comic as a pdf with nothing but the artist to hang my hopes on and, truth be told, if I was looking to buy this rather than sell it, I would tell the writer to 'get lost' rather if he asked for close to a reqular comic price.

But, here's the other thing, as I look outside and watch the news and skim social media, all I see is how the world is squeezing every last penny from people worldwide and, as much as I want to make this comic happen, I'm not willing to justify asking for obscene amounts of money from people who just don't have it.

On top of that, though, there is one final reason for such a low price. You see, when I'm not talking about comics, I'm an accountant (although maybe not a good one) and it has always been my belief that the lower your price, then possibly the higher your sales (the business term (I think) is 'Loss Leader;, although I'd like to avoid a loss). Therefore, maybe if I ask for a little from everyone, then everyone will be happy to offer that little.

These are noble, if naive, reasons for doing so and maybe they will turn and bite me in the arse. However, it's what I feel I've got to do and so hopefully I'll get lucky.

I think I should be super positive at this point and talk about my plans post this, ideas for stretch goals, coming up next, etc, but to be honest, I'm mostly hanging my hopes on this. When all is said and done, I'm not looking to make money from all of this (which is good because, as I live in Britain, I'm unlikely to make any), I just want to prove that I can do this.

And if, worst case scenario, it all fails spectacularly, then the least I can say is I tried. 

P.s. If you made it this far (first up, congrats!), here's the link if you wanna check out the Pre-launch page.