New Review and Other News

After a day of schlepping the graphic novel at the Boston Comic Con, I googled the title to see if there were any new references to Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy on the world wide internet and found a new, unsolicited review of the book on the comic book website, comicrelated.com:

BUSINESS CASUAL STAG DEVIL DEATH BOY (BCSDDB) creates a dark mood early on and doesn't brighten any too much by the end. With a small cast:Glenn Caperton, Paula the Pretend Punk, Ms.Sundrapery and Cubicle Croc (the wildcard), Mr. Dan Nolan visits many of the angst-filled situations that arise in our post 2001 World. Obviously "Office Space" and "The Office" are forerunners to this work. The office location and black, existential comedy is now a genre of Its own. Mr. Nolan takes this idea and runs it even further up the weirdness pole. The cast's blithe acceptance of the blood-epaulet wearing BCSDDB is a humorous conceit. His never changing expression (he's got a flaming skull for a face!) is read by his office mates as a validation for their own bizarre rants.

The panel layouts are quite varied, especially the dream sequences of which there are many. The art is cinematically influenced in the differing angles and numerous strange compositions. Each character is well developed given the length of the novel. Many of Mr. Nolan's panels are so expressive that he doesn't even need text to explain the action. The expressions and body positions speak for themselves. This is an area where choices between Art/Text must be made. It's not an easy issue to decide. Nr. Nolan takes pokes at Abstract Art, the Child/Adult relational paradigm, and other cultural topics, while still giving us a good read.

The story's ending is surprising and open-ended. Many interpretations are possible, the most likely being that BCSDDB assumes his rightful purpose at last. There's a lot to process in the novel's 189 pgs. but the time invested is worth it. Many of the images and quirks of the tale stayed with me for days after reading it. I look forward to future work by Mr. Nolan.



Not too shabby. In other BCSDDB news, you can now purchase your very own copy at the Cambridge, Brookline, and Allston locations of New England Comics.

The Book. She Lives. BCSDDB. In Print.

I'm happy to finally announce that you can now order your real live, perfect bound, paperback, print version of Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy online at comiXpress. It's $17.99 plus shipping.

If you live in the Cambridge/Boston area, you can pick up a copy at Million Year Picnic in Harvard Square, Pandemonium Books in Central Square, or *update* in Hub Comics in Union Square (it's soon to be in New England Comics and Brookline Booksmith too). It's a few dollars more, but I would consider it a "solid" if you helped me get a foothold in the stores and I will buy you a reasonably priced "liquid" sometime. (Also, both of those stores are owned by righteous dudes, so giving them money is righteous. QED.)

It was a medium-large sized hit at the Boston Zinefair this weekend. People are talking. I don't want to call it a "buzz" yet, but it's definitely a murmur. Well, a warble. It's at least a warble.



[UNINTENTIONAL COMEDY UPDATE - I was just checking out the wowio link for the free online preview of BCSDDB, and it turns out that Talbots is the sponsored link for the page. Talk about your business casual!]

[UPDATE TWO - And thanks to the unsolicited and favorable props and promotion on their sites from two people I met at the zinefair: yunchtime and alternating current. For the record, I did eventually finish that peanut butter sandwich.]

The Big Update - so close i can smell it.

The world of Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy is flooded with new developments these days. There's a new website, there's an online merchandise store, there are online presences on youtube, facebook, flickr, wowio, comicspace, and soon comiXpress. There are personalized BCSDDB portraits going on. What else. Oh, and there's the real live, printed, non-digital, hard-copy graphic novel.

The Hard Copy



I got the proof copy of the final book in the mail yesterday and was relieved and ecstatic to see that it looks great. It really takes on another character when it's laid out on paper, perfect bound in a 6.5 x 10 inch book. The coloring, alignment, and quality of printing were spot on. The first printing of the books will arrive here on September 19th, at which point I'll start sales and distribution. If you live in the Boston/Cambridge, Rochester NH, Chicago, Detroit, or Dallas areas you'll be able to pick up a copy at your local indy-friendly comic book store. If not, you can order the book online via print-on-demand through comiXpress or you can just contact me.

The Website


I registered the domain names bcsddb.com and businesscasualstagdevildeathboy.com and, for fairly obvious reasons, I decided to house the main website on the bcsddb page, pictured above. It's a thoroughly unmemorable url, but so is the title, so I already have that strike against me. I like the title Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy enough to roll with it. The blogspot page is still up and linked to through the website, but I thought it would be more professional to have a "real" site. I'll probably publish news and updates on the blog, but use the website as the main online presence.

The Store

Oh shit. Here he goes. First his big pitch to sell the book, and now he's pushing the merch on us? I know. Tacky. But first let it be said that I'm taking a loss on every book sold. I'm not making my first million on BCSDDB. The store's just for fun. I don't actually expect you to buy a Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy Skateboard. Anyways, I'll be putting up some more images for the shirts, mugs, ties, aprons, etc soon.

The Personalized Portrait

Since, I've already crossed the threshold into shameless self-promotion, let me ask you this: Have you ever wanted to try your own luck peering into the sunglasses of Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy? Longtime VTK reader lc did and, with her permission granted, here's what Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy reflected back to her. In addition to personalized oil painting cartoon portraits, paintings of individual pages or panels will be on sale on the website.

Alright, I just hit the promotion wall. It's new territory for me. I've always been comfortable with the creative side, but I had no idea how big the other side would be. For that matter, I had no idea I'd stumble into an industry less lucrative than portrait painting. I have to admit that I do relish the underground angle of it all. I'm sure I'd enjoy it less making a few bucks more, but cowtowing to a publisher's demands (and power to take my product out of print). Self-publish, kids. Fuck it. You made it this far and then you're going to give it all (all being practically nothing in profit) over to someone else? Fuck that. And maybe I'm just dedicated to my own poverty, but why would you make it this far, then resist giving it all over to a publisher, and then give it over to a distributor. Any way you slice it, that's an industry taking care of its own, paying the middle man and ostracizing the direct market creator. Write it, draw it, print it, sell it. And eat a lot of rice and beans.

Going to print!

After a couple bumps in the road, the money is raised, the images are reformatted, and Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy is ready to go to print through the online, pay-per-print site ComixPress.com. I'll be ordering a whole mess of copies and doing the distribution myself. Hopefully, I won't make any comic faux pas in soliciting stores to carry the product. In addition to selling it in stores, I'll be selling it direct out of my living room. Printing in full color is very expensive so I'll be selling them at cost (no profit for me) to keep the price down. Just trying to get the book out there. You'll also be able to buy the print version directly through ComixPress - again, it'll be priced at cost, but the shipping will increase the price a bit. This is my first time working with ComixPress (first time working with anyone), so I'm not sure exactly when it'll be available, but I'll keep you posted here. I'm guessing you should be able to hold your very own print copy of Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy within two months.

BCSDDB Mailbag - Actual Reader eMail

The following is an email I got last night from someone I don't know:

Hey there,

I just discovered and finished reading your graphic novel, "Business
Casual Stag Devil Death Boy." I don't know whether or not it was your
intention, but I found it to be absolutely haunting and disturbing. I
don't really know what more to say of it. There are parts of it that,
actually, I'd rather "un-read" because now there are points in my
daily life that have been somewhat infected by it. Maybe I can
eventually work through this, to go back to seeing my daily routines
exactly the way I have for many years, rather than from this new
terrifying alternate vantage point.

The story is ostensibly about office life - though it *isn't* really, is it?

I started reading the story on Saturday. I was interrupted by a phone
call from a former co-worker. We had worked together in a small
corporate cafe several years ago. We met up for the first time since
2005 in a different small corporate cafe from the one we had worked
in. I told her I liked her new hair color. She told me I made her
feel as if her life wasn't so bad, after all. After two hours of this
sort of thing, I still didn't catch what she had been doing over that
time frame. We basically exchanged thinly-veiled insults and
unrealized unspoken fantasies. We promised to do this more often. We
were both lying, though. We'll probably never reconnect with each
other again - not unless one of us gets a negative prognosis or
something else "life-changing."

Anyway, I went back to reading the story yesterday (Sunday). Life
kicked me in the teeth, though (figuratively speaking, obviously), and
I wound up consoling myself by walking through the closest mall. I
didn't buy anything. No, actually, I did buy something - a fruit
smoothie (I wanted to know what all the fuss was about regarding those
things). It wasn't very good.

This evening, I finished reading the last half of the story.
Actually, before I finished reading it, I should tell you that I fired
an email off to my boss. My supervisor, my manager, my department
head (she goes by all three interchangable titles, plus a few others
that aren't coming to me right now)... Anyway, late this afternoon, I
emailed her my desire to leave my position at the office. I was vague
in my explanation - quite frankly because I had no real explanation.
I told her I felt as if I had a "different calling," not really
knowing what that calling is precisely (but of course I didn't share
this detail with her). Clicked on the SEND button, then clocked out
for the day. I made a beeline for my vehicle and drove home. I live
ten minutes away from work by car. I've been wondering whether or not
she received that email yet. I wish I had been brave enough to tell
her to her face that I can't tolerate working there anymore. It's not
such a bad place, but after five years of such work and finding that
I'm still treading the same waters that were there when I began...

I guess it's not all that important, really. I'll continue living.
Just because I have no idea of what tomorrow will bring doesn't
preclude some vast personal deterioration, right?

And then I came home, took a nap, and then finished reading your
story. I think it had a greater impact upon me because I suddenly
have this surreal feeling surrounding me, having quit my job in so
cowardly a fashion and all. But I also think that I did what was
right for me, at least what was right for me at that specific time.

Thank you for creating such a brilliant work. I should probably go
back and reread it in a few years. I really should. Right now,
though, I don't think I will. I'm going to have enough trouble
sleeping as it is, what with having taken that nap earlier and all...

- [name redacted]

Updates. (or FREE GRAPHIC NOVEL!!)

With much assistance from my Chief Production Assistant BVM, I was able to magically transform all the individual images into a compact and comprehensive pdf file. Check out these screenshots from the opened pdf file:







The magic pdf file allowed me to do two things: print out 6 copies to send out to the Xeric Foundation in a grant application and put the whole file up on Chief Server Assistant SB's server space to allow people to download it for free.

Update # 1: The Grant Application
The grant application topped off at a cool eleven pounds of BCSDDB and assorted cover letters, statements of purpose, resumes, and budget projections. That's some serious postage there. Actually, it wasn't that bad: $11 for overnight delivery with insurance. I'll take it. I'll also take that grant if offered to me by the Xeric folks. I hate to beg but: please please please.

Update # 2: The Free Online PDF!
Some say that I'm giving the milk away for free, and in so doing eliminating the demand for the cow. Perhaps, but hopefully you'll like the milk so much that you'll opt for the 300 dpi, 6.5 inch by 10 inch print version of the cow that should be available in the near future. Buy it and I'll send you a secret treat. So you see? There's the carrot. Now you've got the milk and the carrot. I don't see any need to bring the stick into this, do you? No, no, of course not. Anyways, click HERE to download the 150 dpi pdf version for free. It's 38 MB and it's NSFW.

Update # 3: The Copyright.
The copyright for Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy was officially approved. Kudos to the American Government for officially recognizing the entity that is Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy. We in the BCSDDB Administration are currently looking for office space on Pennsylvania Avenue in which to establish our embassy.

Done.

After a frantic week of nit picking and final touching, I finished BCSDDB on Friday afternoon. I made all the adjustments that I wouldn't have been satisfied without and drew the title page and cover (left). What a triumphant moment. There were firecrackers and champagne corks a-poppin' and high fives all around. All that is true except the part about the firecrackers and champagne corks a-poppin' and high fives all around. It was more like me reheating my coffee in the microwave, shaking my head convinced that there was something I forgot to do, and heading down to the subway, where I commuted into the financial district. That's right. Subvert the system from within the system, man! I managed to finagle my way back into the belly of the beast to use a friend's company's graphic design department. The friend got me past the bored security guard and helped me through a mere seven hours of formatting it took to get the images compiled on an easily readable pdf format (thank you very very much, friend). Then I spent another hour or two burning discs. I'm off to the Boston Comic Con, to see if I can do any networking, and then next week I'll send in my application to Xeric for a grant. If I can't get someone to publish it, I'm going to self-publish. Hard copies should be available soon, but if you can't wait and would like to check out the pdf file, let me know (email through profile link or comment below).

And now to start the layout for the next project: Archimedes and the Great Paper Cut Caper.

almost done ...

Well, the scanner is back in the box and the pens and pencils are in the drawers. All the drawings are officially done, scanned, and pre-colored on Photoshop. All that remains is to complete the final coloring and shading on a few pages and then to go back and be an annoying perfectionist about little stuff that no one's going to notice. Which should take a while. But I'm about ready to format and load the pages up onto a pdf file for distribution. If anyone knows any publishers, let me know!

[full description of the graphic novel below]