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Knock-Down Drag-Out

Paul Milligan & Aaron Hall

(Knock Down, Drag-Out is a weekly IM conversation between Aaron Hall and Paul Milligan about a pre-selected topic that will hopefully devolve into cussing, scratching and hurt feelings at the end of each and every edition!) FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! Aaron: Like a hawk snatching a shark from the ocean, I have arrived. Paulie: You really think a hawk could do that? Aaron: A mechanized hawk that I was piloting by lying inside its beak. Paulie: Awesome. Aaron: Yeah, I am gonna devote my life to creating it. So, today going any better than yesterday? Paulie: Yeah. I'm a little less worn out than I was yesterday. Aaron: That's good to hear. I didn't get much sleep but for some reason have had a really good day, so I ain't gonna question it. Awesome email from Myk (http://www.solidideas.com/). Thanks for forwarding that to me. Paulie: Yeah, it was good to hear from him, he’s an awesome guy. I need to reply to him tonight. Aaron: Cool, cool. So, you up for a quick version of KDDO? Paulie: I thought we had already begun. BOOYAH! Aaron: Wow, you're way ahead of me. Paulie: Wow, that was an unnecessary "booyah" huh? Aaron: Most “booyah's” are. Paulie: BOOYAH! Aaron: See? Paulie: Yep. Aaron: So.... Free Comic Book Day 2005 Paulie: Yes, sir. Aaron: We showed up, had a few laughs. Paulie: It was an experience. Aaron: I gotta say, just broadly speaking. FCBD was a success for us personally, but a giant failure for the industry. I don't see that comics gained any new readers from that at all. Paulie: Yeah, I like the concept, I think it's great but it doesn't ever seem to be carried out very well. They should advertise on TV, radio, everywhere. Granted, we only saw a small aspect of it but I know what you mean. Aaron: And the thing is I feel like Titan Comics (the store where we were at) set it up as good as possible. I've read some stories on the net about stores just throwing all the free comics in a box on the floor or only letting people take 2 total, that wasn't the case at Titan. They went all out and set it up really well, but it just didn't seem to matter at the end of the day. Paulie: Not many people seemed very aware of it did they? They were just stopping by and saying "Hey, what's this?" Aaron: Exactly. Paulie: But Titan did an excellent job and I thank them for hosting all of us (and giving us pizza). Aaron: Yeah, I mean just chilling with some professionals and making a few new connections, that was really good for us. Getting to just chat with Greg Gatlin from Viper was cool, and especially the caricature master Myk. That guy was awesome. We'll scan in some of the drawings he did soon and post them up for you all to see, this guy is hilarious. Aaron: But other than the "hobnobbing" there really wasn't much point to being there. I felt sort of bad that Titan put so much time and energy into putting the whole thing together. Paulie: Well, it still seemed pretty damn busy to me and they were going through quite a few free comics. Aaron: Yeah, but let's be honest, what happened to your free comics once you got home? Paulie: They are in a stack with the other comics I bought. Aaron: You think you'll read them? Paulie: There is a couple I am really looking forward to reading. The Sharknife/Hysteria flipbook for one. And some of the other independent free comics (Superior Showcase from Adhouse Books, The Adventures of Paul from D&Q, Owly from Top Shelf, Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards from GT Labs). At least those are original and have some effort put into them. Not like Marvel or DC who slap a Free Comic Day tag on some seemingly random book. Aaron: What percentage of people who picked up the free books do you think will read them? 25%? Paulie: I honestly couldn't say how many people will read them. Maybe 50%. Aaron: I flipped through a few of them and then wondered why the hell I even picked them up. Paulie: Free Comic Book Day is like Communism. It works in theory, but the application leaves something to be desired. Aaron: The fact is, you're not gonna get non-comics people in the stores no matter what. What needs to happen is for comic readers to bring in their non-comic friends on FCBD. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like most of them did that. Paulie: Like I said, I think it's a valid promotional event; it just needs more exposure to do what it's supposed to do. When only comic fans know about it, it's a little redundant. Aaron: Yeah, I agree. Wow, not much Knocking Down or Dragging Out going on this week. We're tired . . . hahaha Paulie: Hmmmm, okay . . . Free Comic Book Day blew my ass outta the water! You're wrong!! AND HOUSE OF M BLOWS!!! Phew, that wore me out. Aaron: Yeah, I just don't have it in me to argue this week. Wanna talk about our dime novel? Paulie: No. Okay, yes. Aaron: For those of you who weren't lucky enough to come by and watch us entertain ourselves and laugh like lunatics (and witness my amazing art abilities!), we did something a little different for Free Comic Book Day. Paulie: Very different (from the initial Twilight Preview Book anyway). Aaron: We created a prose story about one of the main characters from our comic Twilight and then had superstar Australian artist Kevin Steele do some illustrations for it. It clocked in at 49 pages and really did a lot to add to the story of Twilight. Paulie: Yeah, it made me realize how much we could do with Twilight, how much history and space is available. Aaron: Yeah, it actually worked out really nicely. I was a bit skeptical at times, but overall I would call the experiment a success for sure. Paulie: It almost made me never want to write a prose story again. I wrote 50 pages and I was stressin'. How the hell do some guys write a whole book? Aaron: Drugs. Paulie: It must be. Okay then, gimme the drugs. Aaron: And now Twilight is almost shelved in a way as far as we're concerned. It makes me sort of sad. Paulie: Not me! I'll be glad to step back from it for a little bit. Putting this dime novel together was a loooong and tiring process. It was still fun, but I'm looking forward to a small break. And really, I don't see our involvement lessening too much. Aaron: From 3% to 2% hahahaha. Paulie: Wow. I didn’t realize we were that involved. Aaron: This whole thing made me fall in love with the idea and the project again. Which makes it a little painful to realize that it's just in art stages and there's not a lot I can do to help it along, you know? I just can't wait to get it out there for people. Paulie: Well, I think we are about to be a lot closer. Kevin seems energized to tackle the remainder of the inking and with some luck we will have a complete first issue to show at WizardWorld in November. Now that will be exciting. Aaron: Agreed. Paulie: I'm looking forward to having a table and actually selling something. Aaron: Yeah, I agree. And it'll be so nice to start planning early and have plenty of time to get things done. We're the kings of the "no huddle offense", but it sure takes a lot out of you. Paulie: You say that now. Before you know it, it'll be 6 AM on the day of and we'll be folding and stapling! HAHA! (shoot me) Aaron: I hired someone to do it for me. He should be there . . . about . . . wait for it . . . now. Paulie: I am dead. Aaron: How are you still typing? Paulie: … Aaron: So, to recap, Aaron Hall is the sole owner and copyright holder of Twilight. And I'm willing to sell it to the highest bidder. Paulie: … Aaron: A kid from my apartment complex just traded me a partially chewed up nerf football for the rights to Twilight. I turned the scripts over to him. Paulie: … Aaron: It was a good run. But Paul is dead, and I no longer have any legal right to produce Twilight. But damn is my new nerf football da bomb! (Aaron loads his own revolver) Hahaha . . . BLAM!