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The Rant Shack
(Wherein We Rant)
Mike Says:
(07/01/04)
THE NICE GUY RETURNS!!
Okay, so it's been a while since you've heard a rant from me...and it's been a while since there's been a Nice Guy update! We were gone for the whole month of June, for reasons detailed in the Nice Guy Newsletter that those of you hip enough to join Club Nice received. A lot of stuff's been going on since then, but not only are we back, but it's officially the biggest Nice Guy month ever! Thanks for waiting around for us. We hope we're worth the wait. Now, on with all the big news! There's a lot, folks!
NICE GUY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY
It's officially one year, Nice Fans. One year since Tim and I went live with this sucker last summer, with a few measly strips and very little idea what we were doing. To say we've come a long way, looking back at how we started, is an understatement. The Nice Guy fan base has grown BIG time, we've had more traffic on this site than we ever imagined, and the book is actually done (more on that below). All our carefully laid plans have come to fruition, and we owe a big thanks to all the folks who helped make it happen. Folks just like you!
So this month, we are celebrating, big time. First, we're ringing in the anniversary with Fandom Month, and in doing so, going weekly with the updates. That's right, you're going to get FIVE Nice Guy strips in the month of July, just as our little thanks to ya. Plus, as you may have noticed noted on the site, we're also offering you your own copy of "Nice Guy: Pilot" for purchase off this site. Just check out the new Buy Stuff page, and the first ever print issue of The Nice Guy can be yours!
Plus, you'll get to get all the skinny on the big Nice Guy events...like our first official appearance at Comic-Con International July 22-25 in lovely San Diego, and our Nice Guy World Premiere appearance at A-1 Comics in Roseville, CA, on Free Comic Book Day (July 3). And if you happen to be in San Diego or Roseville on those dates, you can drop by and celebrate with us in person. But it's BYO, just so there's no misunderstanding...
FANDOM MONTH IS ON!
"Fandom Month?" Yeah, Fandom Month! Oh, what IS fandom month, you mean? Simple idea. Tim and I decided that to celebrate the 1-year anniversary, we'd go weekly on the strips. Then we thought we'd give it a little theme, too. So we decided to do it up for the fandom people...you know, people really into certain genre shows or movies? The most die hard fans on Earth? What better way to celebrate fans than to hook up the super-fans, right? So, we did. You'll see a mix of stuff this month, some of which you'll recognize immediately (like this week, most likely). Some, not so much. The great thing about fans of fandom is that they get crazy over stuff that no one else has heard of. So, if you're unfamiliar with the source material represented in these strips, consider this your chance to step into the world of fandom and take a look around. Pretend you're one of them. Put on a Star Fleet uniform. Collect specialty TV Guide issues. Start referring to action figures as "collectibles". Get on the bandwagon!
THE NICE GUY GOES PRINT!!!
Wow, did that take a while and a lot of sweat--along with unexpected twists and turns--to make happen. But sure enough, we now have "The Nice Guy: Pilot" in print and ready to sell. We all put in a lot of work--me, Tim, and J'amal--and the 24-page intro issue of your favorite characters is live. To be clear, this is not reprints of the stuff on the site you've already seen. This is one big 24-page story, all-new, never-before-seen, with full-color covers and beautiful grayscale interiors (and staples, too!). This has been our goal throughout this project, and our baby's finally birthed.
Now, when last we spoke on this subject, I was telling you how we were putting together a package for Diamond, the comic distributor, to try and get it into comic stores across the country. Well, I also told you at that time that Diamond rejects 78% of the stuff that comes to them. Sadly, we fell into that 78%. So you won't, right away, be able to walk into your local comic store and pick it up. We'll be trying them again with our second issue, but for now, we're going to be following through with another distributor to get to stores. That comes after the summer, though, as we've gotten too busy with other stuff. But you'll be able to order the book (as mentioned) right here on this site for now, or pick it up at select stores that are already planning to carry it for us in Sacramento and San Diego (more on that later). Or, you can show up at Comic-Con and buy it from us right at our table.
Click to view larger images
Back Cover |
Front Cover |
We do hope you enjoy the longer, print version as much as the online strips, and, as always, we do want to know what you think, either way. So please, grab a copy. Grab some for your friends. Buy your Christmas gifts early this year!
THE NICE GUY WORLD PREMIERE AT A-1 COMICS July 3!
Once again, our old pal Brian Peets, owner of two A-1 Comics locations, is backing us on the Nice Guy. On July 3rd, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., as part of the Free Comic Book Day celebration (please note that ours will not be free...), he's got us set up at a table at the Roseville store to premiere the Nice Guy. We'll be selling books, signing autographs, shaking hands, selling books, meeting people, selling books... We're looking forward to meeting some fans (hopefully some will show up then...) and making some new ones.
(click image above to see larger image)
So, I know it's short notice, but if you happen to be in Roseville, CA on July 3rd (in like 2 days, but there's probably still time if you get in your car now...), we'd love it if you'd drop by and see us. And you can do so at:
A-1
Comics Roseville
1850 Douglas Blvd. Suite 514
Roseville, CA 95661
Phone: (916) 783-8005
THE NICE GUY AT COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL JULY 22-25!
A year ago, we were just strolling around handing out Nice Guy cards. This year, The Nice Guy is an official presence at Comic-Con International July 22-25. Fool Court Press (meaning me and Tim) will be representin' at a table in the Small Press area of the convention. You know, shaking hands, signing autographs, selling books...
If you don't know (and if you didn't read my rant about it last year), Comic-Con International is THE largest popular arts convention in the world. Thousands and thousands and thousands of people roam through the ENORMOUS San Diego convention center, buying stuff, meeting creators, checking out the companies, and catching panels with some pretty major celebs (Quentin Tarantino and Halle Barry last year, to name a pair). Well, we're hoping a good number of them line up to meet a couple of MINOR celebs, too...like me and Tim.
We'll be at our table all four days with a stack of copies of "The Nice Guy: Pilot" to sell, some flyers to hand out, and a couple of freebie giveaway items (like the Nice Guy temporary tattoos). I trust this will be a much better method of turning people on to TNG than just leaving a stack of cards on the convention giveaway table like we did last year. Tim and I are both pretty hyped (and stressed). We have a room for the week, and we'll be driving down that Tuesday. Wednesday is set-up day, when we'll be finding out where our table got stuck and getting it all set up. Then it's lots of sitting on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and hopefully lots of sales, too. Then, spent, exhausted, and dealing with our new-found fame and reviewing all the many phone numbers chicks will have given us, we'll be driving back to Sacramento on Monday. Should be a heck of a week in sunny San Diego.
If you've never been, and you're going to be in the area, this is the perfect time to try out the Con...and hey, to meet us. Check the Con's site for all the details, and when you get there, grab that handy Events Book you get with your registration bag and look up Fool Court Press and track us down!
More info on this as the big event approaches.
VAN HALEN FANS KICK ASS!
So you may have read the "In Halen, Ex Halen" Nice Guy strip in our Comics! section. Well, you'd certainly be in a whole lot of good company. Once we put that strip up, I thought I'd send an e-mail to the guys at the Van Halen News Desk. I didn't figure we'd get a mention on the site, since all the big news about the band reunion and tour dates was taking up so much space. But sure enough, they were nice enough to give our Van Halen-themed strip a mention in their news headlines.
Wow.
Van Halen fans freaking FLOODED the Nice Guy site. They were coming from all over the world! I got fan mails from Australia and Spain, and lots from other less exotic places (you know, Cleveland and the like). The traffic was staggering. In the month of May, thanks largely to the VH faction, The Nice Guy site had almost 86,000 hits. 86,000!!! And we're not even porn!!
So a special thanks here to the Van Halen News Desk for helping spread the Nice Guy news, and most especially to the Van Halen fans who dropped in for some comedic lead singer debate. Keep on rockin', ya'll, and keep on coming back to the Nice Guy.
OUR STORY THUS FAR...
Oh, and just a few things have happened to me since last we spoke. Got through the exciting kidney stone surgery (you don't want details) and got back into at least baseline health. But right in the middle of all that came the need to move, and move fast. My roommate's plans came together and he was up and taking off for Seattle, which means I needed to be heading to Sacramento, and needed to find a job and a place to live, really really fast. Which, as it turns out, I did.
I'm now living back in Sacramento, home of famous Nice Guy artist Tim Watts. While still recovering from surgery, I had to hop a plane for a whirlwind 3-day weekend for a job interview and apartment hunting, both of which panned out really well really fast. Had a job offer within a week, and found the perfect apartment, one but a few short minutes from Tim's place, so getting together for Nice Guy jam sessions (which we do on Sundays, currently) is nice and easy. It was tough leaving San Diego behind after 6 and a half years, the city that had become home to me, but I do still plan on moving back in a few years (knocking wood as we speak). But no regrets. Making the decision to move was the tough part. Once I did, and everything fell into place so smoothly, I knew it was the right choice. It's good being back home, seeing lots of friends and family again. This'll be a good rest stop on the road to fame and stardom. And having Tim and I in the same town again should (in theory) make for a lot more Nice Guy production. So Fool Court Press officially has one home office now. Next time you're in Sac, ask the local tourist bureau to book you a tour. Just bring us snacks, okay?
And if you missed the newsletter back in the first week of June, things got a little whacked. Just prior to update time, my newly established computer network went wrong, and I lost all internet access on the main computer (the one with all the Nice Guy files). This also took place right before I was leaving for 2 weeks of job training in Atlanta. And due to some inexplicable e-mail error, J'amal never got the June 1st strip from us anyway, so it wouldn't have been colored/lettered in time. I had to send off an e-mail from my laptop to everyone on the mailing list advising there'd be no June 1st update because of the outage, AND no June 15th update because I was in Atlanta "training" (that's a code word for getting paid to live in a Residence Inn for two weeks, party, have a blast, and watch the Lakers go down with a bunch of Laker haters from around the country...glorious!). It was hard, because since we made the choice to go bi-weekly last fall, we hadn't missed a deadline until then. But these things will happen, I guess. And, again, we're hoping to make it up to you with more than double the strips in July.
BRING THE INK
Just thought we'd give a shout out to (and a plug to) the good folks at CalicoUSA.com for cooking up the sweet full-color Nice Guy temporary tattoos that we're using as giveaways at both A-1 and at Comic-Con. They're 2 inches by 2 inches and feature the Nice Guy logo. I was very happy with the product, and hope to make use of their services again. If you find yourself in the need for any temporary tats, drop by their site and check 'em up. Way to go, Calico!
DISTURBING INTERNET IMAGE OF THE WEEK
If this image somehow perfectly captures your love life, then join me at the bar.
UNTIL NEXT WEEK!
Back in a week, with a report on the A-1 appearance, San Diego updates, a new strip and a new wallpaper...and maybe even more! Don't miss it as fandom month continues, Nice Fans!
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!
