Get real, Hans! Think global, act local!

An on-going thinking proces. An artist's journey of rethinking the way comics get published. This blog is supposed to be all about finding out if it's possible to get rid of the middlemen\phoney stuff\coorporative way of publishing comics.  Using the internet. Maybe discovering new comic continents on the way! This blog is about trying to find new ways to get people involved in comics and stuff.

You know what? A few weeks into it, I find that blogging in the English language to an imaginary world-population is starting to feel kind of difficult to me. English is not my first language, so I find I keep having some trouble expressing the finer nuances of what I am trying to say. 
Yes, I can see advantages in communicating to "the world". English is supposed to make this blog accessible to nearly everyone interested. People from all over the globe could join in the discussion and later read the book. If I would do that in English too. That's the thought.
But, in practice, being Dutch, I find I am constantly trying to communicate to Dutch readers in a . . . foreign language. Explaining stuff every Dutchman knows. Using English is starting to put up some kind of barrier, rather than a bridge. It feels phoney. I feels silly.

Sooo, with deepest apologies, I think it's best if I switch this blog over to Dutch. From now on, from the next posting onward, I'll talk Dutch here.

And hey! Know what! THIS might very well be an important  first step, in my journey!  Wasn't this blogging all about trying to create a community?  There are some advantages in starting small, you know.  Leaving out these faceless, English speaking zillions ( for now) will make this blog our exclusive  . . . er . . . Dutch club.  Shut out the world  ( for now) to better start communicating to my fellow Dutchies? Hmm.

And on the more practical side, what if I finish my book, would I arrange payments and send  packages all over the globe? On my own? Who am I? Amazon?

Nope. Step one: Get real, Hans. Go Dutch.

Going DUTCH ???

Since I started this HMR-"redefining comics"-weblog, exactly one month ago, I have found out that apparantly more people out there were beginning to see what I thought  I was seeing. The comic industry is changing in front of our eyes. I have had a lot of people reacting on my questions and thoughts. Here and more directly to me.  I have had offers from friends, collegues and complete strangers, to sometime get toghether over coffee and discuss all this. And I can say I allready have and will do again. This discussion was exactly what I wanted! Thank you all !

 

At this stage, it's hard to draw some first conclusion.  There seems however to appear some analogy with the music industry. You know. CD's are out, live concerts are in.

Mass distribution of comics are developing into this race to the bottom. Free stuff is everywhere. You can download an endless number of comics and never pay. Some comics-apps have been introduced that offer the possibility of micro-transactions, so that authors may eventually earn a micro-income, but no one has been able to get this stuff working as far as I know. Nope. Mass distribution is dead. 

But THEN what? Live comic concerts?

(by the way, why am I doing this blog in english? Statistics tell me 90 percent of  you readers is Dutch or Belgian! )

The beginning . . .

Comics start out like this this:

Nono, that's wrong. They start like THIS:

Well, this comic started FIFTEEN YEARS ago. Writer Hanco Kolk's first idea's for an epic adventure comic set in the early part of the sixties, was born somewhere in the nineties. Starring this rather special heroine: 22 year old, card wizard, beauty and petty thief Rhonda Kaplan. And errr . . . I forgot to mention: somewhat of a trapeze-artist . . .

Looking around in the VANO studio.

What's that? You 'd like to have a look around the VANO studio, now? To get some idea what all this material is coming from? Why, sure! Top floor of the house. Step right this way, madam, sir. Don't mind the dog. Our Nell is quite harmless. Wellcome, wellcome at the VANO studio.

Well, this is it, then. This is where is it all comes from. This is the place I did most of my drawing the past few years. Drawing table right under the tile roof. Computer to my right, illuminated table to my left. Yes there is a view. There are some nice neighbour gardens there.

And here's page two . . .

 

Worldpremiere of  "Help Me, Rhonda" page two.  Check it out!

HELP ME RHONDA Page one . . .

Fantastic!!! This weblog really seems to ignite the discussion I was hoping for! About the future of comics, and stuff. For now, mostly in Dutch!  Check out my prior postings. Some blurry shapes allready seem to cristalize:

1. I need to build some kind of community  around this comic. Maybe even around VANO, the artist?
2. I need to really involve the readers in the creative proces. Using the internet.
3. All this will culminate in a super-exclusive comicbook. Very limited edition. For HMR-believers only.

Okay, let's make a real start then. HERE it is!!! World premiere of  "Help me, Rhonda" page one!

Sequencing