In 2007, Daniel Bradford and I had a problem; we booked a table for the Phoenix Comicon, I had bought plane tickets to fly out for the show from NYC and we were all set for this to be our point of entry into the Comic world as legitimate Creators… except we didn’t have a book to show people.

At the time, we had a contract with a publisher to put out our first Graphic Novel. Everything was just about ready on our end, and we booked the show in anticipation of Debuting it in Phoenix. The problem, however, was that the publisher in question was having all sorts of internal issues and was indefinitely putting all new books on hold. And the “Best” part of that news was we only found out when we spoke to the owner about where & how to upload our files for printing.

Obviously, this was a HUGE disaster as far as we were concerned. Neither of us had the funds to just blow off the show and eat all the expenses incurred, and we didn’t want to accept defeat, either. What happened next was a huge turning point for Blacklist Studios and for Daniel & I on a personal and professional level. Rather than have an empty table, we created KING!…

And this brings us to the first and most important Mantra in Indy Comics Failure: “Failure is directly proportional to your lack of Drive.”

Sloth, it turns out, is not only one of the Seven Deadly Sins, but it’s probably the first nail in the coffin in every comic creator’s failure. Yes, it’s not always easy to make comics. Yes, writing a good script takes effort. And YES, putting in the long hours perfecting sequential Art sucks like a Hoover… But the Truth is, while money doesn’t grow on trees, a lazy fool will often be found sleeping under one instead of working.

Am I implying that hard work and drive to make comics equal “Success?” Far from it! I have seen quite a few people try very hard at comics and fail. On the other hand, people who give up easily and aren’t willing to bust their ass to do good work ALWAYS fail in the end.

Now you may ask, “Does it matter what motivates my drive to make comics?” For the purpose of today’s lesson, I will answer you a resounding “NO!” While some motivations sustain themselves better in the long run than others, what is important to your Failure is that no matter what motivation may stir within you, don’t let it Drive you to action. When Daniel and I produced the first KING! One-shot, we pushed ourselves to write, pencil, ink, letter, color, print, ship and promote the whole thing in 5 weeks.

When the time of the show finally arrived, KING!, the book that almost never happened, was somehow the hit of the whole convention. We only printed about 250 copies of that one-shot, but to this day it’s all I ever hear about when I am in the Phoenix area and talk to comic fans. Who knew, right? Certainly, we didn’t or we would have done KING! Right off the bat. The core idea, in fact, was something that Daniel tried pitching to me for years and the main reason we jumped on it this time around was we had no time to develop anything else…

Was what drove us to do that the kind of motivation that usually encourages success? Not in the slightest! At the time, however, having an immovable deadline and utter catastrophe looming was what we needed to get us going. Different things at different times will “inspire” you to create- if you aspire to Fail, don’t give in to that! Let the golden opportunity pass by! Waste that cool idea by not taking time to develop it! Or better still- slack off all together and spend all your time reading other people’s comics rather than making your own! In the end, you will see that lack of Drive rewarded with the inevitable “F” stamped across it.

If, on the other hand, you insist on having that Drive to make comics, don’t worry. You can still Fail! Admittedly, allowing your motivations to push you into action sets back that timetable of defeat but there things which can make even the most Driven comic creator Fail…

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