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The Rant Shack
(Wherein We Rant)
Mike Says:
(03/15/04)
START THE PRESSES!
Very exciting time here at the Nice Guy, let me tell you. Last week I mailed our submission package to Diamond Comic Distributors, along with the proof copy of the completed Nice Guy: Pilot--the first print incarnation of The Nice Guy.
In case you're not comic book savvy, here's how it works. Diamond is THE distributor for the comic book industry. Every month they put out a publication called Previews, which lists all the comics for sale through them. Stores and fans can then order the comics using an order form. This is how you get your comic into stores.
The process works like this. You send Diamond a submission packet. This includes, as I said, a copy of the comic pages themselves. Our completed, colored and lettered pages were printed out--from PDF files--by our pal and my roommate Aaron (the Kinkos guru). Aaron printed to covers in color and the pages in black and white, as the book will be, and bound the whole thing. I sent this off, along with a press release and other info about the book, to Diamond. They confirmed it was received. Now comes the review process. Diamond doesn't just automatically list and distribute your comic. A panel there has to review it and make sure it's worth their time to distribute. They actually only accept about 32% of the comics submitted to them, so things aren't over yet. We have to hear back from them on this. If we're a go with them, The Nice Guy: Pilot will be listed in the May issue of Previews, which means it will be available for sale in July.
Can't tell you how exciting it is to actually hold a (mock up) copy of the comic. That's a very important step. Having it on your computer is one thing. Actually holding it means, "Holy crap, we actually finished a comic". It'll be even more exciting come June, when we get the PDF files off to our printer in San Antonio and get our boxes of Nice Guy comics in the mail. That will be the final triumph. That will be the point when it's really done. Then whether it sells or not is mostly out of our hands. We'll have done our part. Then the money rolls in...which will hopefully be enough to cover all our printing and distribution costs, and maybe some of the cash it's going to take us to manage our Comic-Con booth and trip this summer. But it's not really about the money (yet). Tim and I are doing this for the "We did it" factor. We've talked about it for many years. To finally publish something together will be a major milestone. And, I imagine, a major incentive to keep going with this thing. Next stop--Hollywood!
As for the title of the comic itself..."The Nice Guy: Pilot". This thing had first been "The Nice Guy #1". But Tim and I discussed it, and since this isn't a regular series (yet), but a series of one-shots, we felt it best to just title the first couple or three issues instead of number them. That's for practical reasons, too. Diamond has this thing about a comic series. If you're a series, they want to see that your first three issues at least are done before they'll want to carry it. As we don't HAVE three issues done and don't feel like waiting to publish until we do, we decided on the one-shot route. Hopefully things will take off with TNG and we'll have the time and dough to do a regular series. Keep your fingers crossed.
QUE PASA, FOO'?!
You may (probably didn't) have noticed that there's a slight change in our company name in that upper-left corner logo. Where we were once "Full Court Press", we've now became "Fool Court Press". This was a last-minute decision made before sending off our submission packet to Diamond. Why? Real simple reason. There's ALREADY a Full Court Press out there. Several, actually. None of them make comics...most are related to basketball. We just figured for legal and other reasons that we should choose something no one else has...and for that matter, a name we can actually get the domain for. Which we have. Foolcourtpress.com is now ours. No site up yet, but there will be sometime soon, so we'll let you know when that happens. From here on in...we're Fools.
NICE GUY LIVE
We've already mentioned a number of times that there will be a Fool Court Press booth at the San Diego Comic-Con this July, and Tim and I (and our trusty Team Nice Guy volunteers) will be there for the full four days, pushing the book and making connections.
But we'll have a chance to test out our people skills a little bit before that. Tim and I are now booked for a live appearance at the Small Press Expo at A-1 Comics in Sacramento on July 3. Tim has already repped us at that location once, but this'll be the first time we'll be doing it together. We'll get you more details as the date gets closer, so if you're going to be in the Sac area, we sure hope you'll drop by and say hi. And, if we're lucky, we might even have the comic all printed up in time and be able to sell books there. Sweet! Guess I'd better hurry up and move to Sacramento, huh?
SERENITY NOW!!
You've heard me pimping the (sadly) cancelled TV show "Firefly" on here before, created by genre master Joss Whedon. A lot of us loved that show and were very sad to see if taken away from us. We got a little follow-up happiness, though, when the series became available on DVD, as I mentioned before (and everyone went out and ordered their copies, right?).
Well, we just got a lot happier.
It's official. Universal Pictures has given the greenlight for the big-screen continuation of Joss's show. This May, principal photography begins on "Serenity", the Firefly movie. The title comes from the name of the ship they all fly around in. And Joss wanted a different title to get across that this is a different animal than the show--much bigger, more epic. Same story and characters, though. The script pics up six months after the final episode of the TV show. As of now, all but 2 of the original main actors are locked into contracts. We're all still sweating until we hear that the final duo (Ron Glass as "Shepherd Book" and Alan Tudyk as "Wash") are on board, too. Wouldn't be the same without them. The film should be out next summer ('05), and I'm sure you'll be hearing me talking about it lots up until then.
For anyone who's ever had their favorite show cancelled, you can understand how exciting this is for a fan. Just when you think it's all over, someone decides to make it a major motion picture? Unheard of. But then, Joss is the king of that. Again, if you haven't had a chance to sample the funny, dramatic, action-packed show that Fox SCREWED so completely, you can order it off Amazon for a reasonable price. Give it a try. I guarantee fun.
BORN TO BE KINGS
In case anyone didn't notice, Chris Webber is finally back with the Kings. Bobby Jackson is still down with injury but should be back soon. Did I mention that these same Sacramento Kings are leading the western conference, and are second in the NBA right now? Playoffs are coming. Things are getting exciting. If you, like many people, happened to watch the Kings play Dallas last Thursday night, you're probably going to agree that we've got a serious shot of going all the way this time. Playoffs are coming! I want them Lakers! And I really want Denver to make it into the playoffs this year, too. After being a league joke for years, they're tearing it up this year, and are currently sitting in the number eight spot in the west, which could have them playing the Kings and round one of the western conference finals. A couple of teams (mostly Utah) are right behind them, though, and are ready to knock them off. Stand tall, Denver! You deserve your time in the spotlight! Hope to see you in April, ya big nuggets!
MY OSCAR HAS A FIRST NAME...IT'S R-I-N-G-S...
One of my predictions actually came true! Time to get out to the race track! As you probably noticed, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King swept every category it was nominated for, including Best Pictures and Best Director. Time to give an official Nice Guy "congrats" to Peter Jackson and all his people for finally getting a fantasy film into the big awards. Not even Star Wars pulled that off (and they're not likely to anytime soon). Was very happy for them. Was happy that Sophia at least got Best Screenplay for "Lost in Translation". It didn't deserve to win in the other categories, to be honest, but I'm happy it was nominated, and it won the one it should have. I was just sad for Bill Murray. I wanted him to win. I could tell HE wanted to win. But I had to swallow my sentimentality and admit that Sean Penn's performance really did deserve it more. Maybe next time, Bill. Time to start thinking about Stripes II, my man.
I CAN'T GET NO...SATISFACTION
Still dealing with medical issue with the kidney stones. OH what a fun couple of months it's been. And I just took a trip to the doctor Friday that told me that it looks like surgery. Apparently I have one stone that's not likely to pass since it's so freaking huge. Looks like I'll be surgery bound by the end of the month, which will, they tell me, knock me out of work for a couple of weeks. Greeaat. Surgery ended up being the final option after I learned that Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck weren't available after all to drill and explode the thing. Ah, well. Looks like it's laser time for me.
But perhaps you can help. Click here to participate in a simulation of my kidney stone procedure, and see if you can do any better than my doctor.
DVD LOVE
Let me tell you the one thing I have learned after dealing with this stone thing and spending so much time living on my couch and being up all night (and missing work). The greatest invention on EARTH is the 5-disc DVD changer. My X-Box DVD drive started crapping out a while back, and I learned that it's not a great idea to use your X-Box as a DVD player anyway. So I had to go out and pick up a new player, and I decided to spring for the multi-disc one. Couldn't have come at a better time. I've been sprawled out on that couch many times lately, armed with a couple of bottles of Sprite, a box of M&M cookie bars, a few cigars, a bottle of vicodin, and my remote control. I've been doing TV show DVD marathons. I just load up 5 discs and don't have to move. I ended up watching the whole first 5 seasons of Buffy that way. If there's a silver lining to being in too much pain to get up, it's having enough DVDs and a 5 disc changer to get you through.
DISTURBING INTERNET IMAGE OF THE MONTH
Got Wood?
OUT LIKE ROSIE
We'll see you next time, Nice Guy fans. Be sure to get those taxes done on time (says the guy who hasn't done his yet), and stayed tuned for news about Fandom Month coming in May to the site!
Michael
The
Nice Guy
“Pilot”
Now on Sale!
ITEM!
New strip added in the Comics! section: "Kneeeel Before Zod"
ITEM!
New update in The Rant Shack...with the news on the A-1 Comics Van Fundraiser...and the shocking Tim Watts finger news...
ITEM!
Update to the Photos page with A-1 Comics shots! Sorry, no shots of Tim's finger...
ITEM!
Always find out the latest NG News in the What's Cookin' Section
ITEM!
Look for new material on the 1st and 15th of every month!
And now available for purchase! "Serenity", the film continuation of Firefly! Order yours now!
Want to see more? How about watching the first 9 minutes of the film for free? Click below!
