Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy, the graphic novel, is a dark, surrealish satire set in an office. The characters see themselves in the reflection of Business Casual Stag Devil Death Boy's sunglasses and take his silence for understanding. Dulled by the banality of the office, and comforted by the reflection of familiarity, they find themselves at ease with his presence and ignore his outrageous appearance and any potential implications that it might have.
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 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.
