Why Ravenhammer Comics is going to put heads out in 2011...

Pimpin aint easy, and neither is self publishing your own comic book. The life of a self-publisher/writer is a lonesome, pride swallowing, and often self-degrading siege which can drive one to the brink of either insanity, epileptic fits, or just flat out acceptance of the regular 9 to 5, non-creative life. What writers and artists must some day completely understand is that like great athletes, we are despised by the common folk because they cannot do what we do...therefore we are either put on pedestals or disregarded as introverted freaks that were born to struggle, starve and be depressed because of our creative faculty. This is a non-creative world. Your company does not encourage creativity. They encourage fear of being destitute and absolute conformity to their Policy and Procedure manual. If you were to become too creative in your thinking, you might take over that company...and that would of course benefit you but not your overseers. Those of us who generate just enough escape velocity to wrench ourselves away from the gravity of modern slavery and economic bondage are then faced with the acceptance or non-acceptance of our artistic aspirations by family, friends and lovers. When I was nine years old, I boldly came out of the closet one day while sitting in the backseat of my father's creme colored 1976 Grand Prix and told him I wanted to be a comic book artist. He looked at me suspiciously in his rear view mirror with a sarcastic grin on his face and said simply, " Have you ever heard the term "starving artist"? And therein lies the dilemma of being born creative...no I don't want to starve! But nor do I want to be a worker drone for the rest of my life...toiling to achieve someone else's dream who could give less than a damn about me and my family. What about my dream? What about my legacy? A 401k? A couple of plaques that prove I was at work on time every day for 25 years? A retirement luncheon where 15 minutes after I've left the building, I will have ceased to matter in any way to that company? I have nothing against working for a big company...I have done it for most of my adult life. But very seldom have I encountered a benevolent corporation that really sought to be anything other than a meat grinder, mincing and mulching human lives into a bloody pulp for the sake of those dead presidents. Yeah, some of us make huge salaries...come home to a ridiculously huge house and own t.v's that could double for big screens down at the local multiplex...but at the end of the day...the price you pay for all that is your deferring your dreams for somebody else's. Brian Williams of Ravenhammer Comics has decided to stop putting his dreams off. 2010 was supposed to be the year in which my company...Ravenhammer Comics LLC...along with my artist and partner Christian Colbert, was supposed to come of age. Instead, Brian got kicked in the ass by life and suffered about as many disappointments as one could imagine. The reason why I am so sure about the success of Ravenhammer Comics in 2011 is because I am still standing. Like Tony Montana at the end of Scarface...machine gun in hand...ready to take on the world...Brian Williams is still standing. That means that if I can survive all the nonsense that life threw at me during this very unstable period of self-publishing my book...I can keep on surviving. Right now, we are having a great deal of trouble with the output of artwork at Ravenhammer. My blog is not a place for me to vent personal feelings about the work ethic of others...when you are trying to manage a job and produce an independent comic book...things get hectic. But having that "Tony Montana" sensibility about myself, I will say that at some point somebody's gotta draw the book. If it's not Christian Colbert, then it will be an artist that is equal to his caliber or better. But one monkey does not stop the show as my grandmother used to put it. Christian has had a series of dilemmas this year but that soon gets tiresome to people who are about something; people who are trying to create a new product have to dig that much deeper than the established competition. This should be a no-brainer but often-times you get a person who believes that they are the whole show...and if they don't feel compelled or motivated to get the work done...then the others have no other recourse. Not true in the case of Ravenhammer Comics. My dedication to making my dream and the dream of those around me happen is unparalleled. I have borrowed money, bought people computers, paid for artwork, hotel rooms and convention tables for the past two years. I have promised my investors returns and success for my fledgling comic venture and despite the less than spirited output of my collaborator(s)...I will make this happen. Losing is not an option. Not delivering an issue two or three...or four and five for that matter is not an option. It is the solemn vow of Ravenhammer Comics to go out of 2010 screaming like a bat out of hell. For the next two months, me and the boys plan to make plenty of noise...not pin-ups...not concept posters. BOOKS...STORIES...ISSUES. The website is going to be reconstructed and even though I like it right now...it has to be better, so fans of Ravenhammer can constantly know what products are available and what they can depend on getting from us every month. Now an introspective reader of my blog might read between the lines and say, "You sound like one of those unfeeling corporations you were railing against earlier..." Its true. Maybe that's why those big companies are like that. Maybe there are those of us who were born to be leaders and those of us meant to follow. Through my uncanny ordeals this summer I have finally learned that it's time for me to accept the fact that I am a leader. And if I behave like anything less then the world is going to let me know about it. So as the leader of Ravenhammer Comics thus far...I promise to you faithful Hammerheads, facebook fans, customers, friends and family that issue 2 of Lucius Hammer will be in your hands by the end of December. Issue three will be completed by the end of February. Issues Four, Five and Six will all be released by the end of next summer completing an arc that will then be collected in a beautiful trade edition. Christian and I have both discussed these deadlines and barring any serious matters of death in the families or serious injury...you are going to get your comics from Ravenhammer. It's time for us to get serious about what we say we love to do. As for the Harlem Shadow, my regular artist, Rodolfo Buscaglia is on board for the long haul and we shall also be seeing another five to six issues of the Birth of the Cool story arc. So keep it locked...RAVENHAMMER is for real and doing big things. Trust and believe!