Did indie comics save comics?

Welcome back fellow web travellers. It's been a while, but don't fret. I'm not here to bore you with broken promises of writing to you more or staying a bit current with my blog that was supposed to be weekly but now is whenever i feel like it. Currently I'm writing to you during my morning constitutional from the toilet at work.
Isn't that a pretty picture.
Today I'm going to talk to you about comics, and not Garfield or Charlie Brown or whatever it is they rin in newspapers these days. No I'm talking about comic books. Stories about larger than life characters and stories of the fantastic. Of course if you're a fellow web rider you already know of them and probably follow several yourself.
I've noticed throughout my long and arduous love affair with these picture books that they have had slumps in interest. Now many would argue that today they are going strong. What with the many movies coming out based off of our favorite heroes from these books. That I think is only partly true.
Yes the new Avengers movie or upcoming BatmanvSuperman movie will drive the average joe or jill back into their local comic shop and get them to capture a liece of their nostalgia from their youth or even sate the appetites of their own young ones who are now infatuated with these beings of enormous power, but these movies haven't always been around.
Sure growing up we had Nicholas Hammond as Spider-man or Dolph Lungren as the Punisher, but that clearly was not enough. To us fans of comics at the time we craved more from our funny books. It did help at the time that we had pioneers like Frank Miller, Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, and Epic comics or even Heavy Metal magazine to grow our comics up a little, give us somethimg more than just smiling heroes punching frowning villians, the same recycled stories over and over. It really makes one lose the dream of a man can fly.
Now there were pioneers of independant comics such as the Freak Brothers or American Splendor, but those could usually only be found in smoke shops and not readily available for most of us. These great works shpuld be credited though because without them I'm sure some creators would never think I can do this. I don't need approval of the large publishers.
What I'm talking about though at least for my generation, if I'm allowed to call it that, was the great walk out. The day when Todd Mcfarlane, Jim Lee, and Rob Lifield walked away from Marvel to start their own publisher, and create their own titles. Now if course it was huge news and they sold lots of books. Even if some of them weren't really the best or happened to be clones of other more popular titles. The point is they did it. They made their own properties and inspired a whole new generation of creators. Letting them now it was possible.
I'm sure some of you are reading this and thinking of much earlier indy pioneers. Probably cursing me for my lack of knowledge and what have you. Believe me though they are just as important. I can only relate to you what I personally experienced.
After working in a comic shop for ten plus years and frequenting the same shop eve after I've quit. I noticed something. The independant rack that used to only be one small four foot by four foot shelf is now more then half the size of the big publishers shelf. Another thing i noticed while working there is people who were once big followers of the big two stayed with comics because they were reading crwator owned titles and returned to the big two after their books got better. I've seen people drop popular books they used to love to get lesser known titles that are self published because they enjoy them so much better.
Did indy comics save comics? Maybe but i think more importantly it showed people who thought they would never have their voices heard realize that it could be done. 
Thats all I'm off my soap box. I hope you enjoyed my rambling thoughts.

Here it is everyone. My next book! I wish i could say it was just in time for the holidays but I've been a bit behind on my blogging lately. If you like to read books on kindle you can get it there or you can find it on amazon.com. Search for Child of the Moons by Jonathan Davis. If you're really daring you can find it here.

https://www.createspace.com/5797207. 

The cover was done by my closest freind Eric Swanson. He does amazing art. I will try to get a link up to his stuff. Check it out it's really great. Thanks again everyone for the support. You all are the best.

First signing event thing.

I want you all to know I wrote this blog already. It's true I really did, but you see I wrote it on my app and it happens to crash everytime i try to upload. So here we are writing it on the internet, which is acceptable. It has been awhile and I apologize for that, but writing books and having a full time job and a family can make hard to keep up with a blog. I will try to post more though. Even if it's not writing news.
Anyway my first signing event thing. WOOT! Well it wasn't mine specifically but a local bookstore putting on a local book fair that I was at. Kinda the same thing. It was a lot fun though and I sold all the copies of The Wendigo and the Werewolf that I brought. Met some very nice people too. It was only a couple hours long which is understandable. We all only had so many books and we all have more to write to share with you wonderdul people. I did have a bit of an apithany while I was there.
This may not be news to some bit I realized that my biggest fans were those close to me. The ones who pushed me to go further, the ones who buy copies of everything you do and share with people they know, and support you in all you do. I told them that at tue book fair and almost started crying. I realized that those arw the people you want around you. Not these negative people who don't think you will succeed and put you down at every corner. The kind of people who won't even acknowledge what your trying to and consider it a waste of time. If you find yourself struggling with your craft ir your dream. Examine the people close to you and how they feel about what you're tryi g ro accomplish. If their attitude is negetive it might be time to set them loose. They could be sabotaging what you're trying to do. Not directly of course but just their bad attitude could be contaminating your brain to guide you to fail. Take from me I've been there before. Time and again I would try to do something more to escape the mundane of the 9 to 5 drull and it wasn't till I found the right people that I began to flourish and felt proud of what I have done so far.
Just a little insight that I hope helps. Here are some pictures from the fair. I would like to thank my cousin, aunt, and in-laws for the pictures.
Till next time late...

Draft work

What is it about reviewing and editing a draft that makes it feel so rewarding. Is it because you are birthing something into existence that wasn't ib the workd before? Is that the right analogy? As a writer can you accurately compare yourself to that if a new mother giving birth to child?

Kinda, maybe?

While the child is in the womb we dont look it over and over again trying to change it. We only try to mold it after its been releases into the wild and given its wits to survive. Then we can trybto shape it into a somewhat functioning adult. So maybe writing a new book isnt quite the same.

I suppose it would be closer to assume that we like blacksmiths hammering away at our manuscripts. Making them the sharoest and most lethal weapons we can imagine, or fashioning cookware and s hooks. Depends on the kind of blacksmith you wish to be i suppose.

These analogies I hear quite often. It makes me wonder does anyone else have writing analogies for line of work. Like perhaps its the opposite. Does an expecting mother think if her newborn as a new book shes releasing into the world, to be judged and loved by millions?

Hm. Thats not a bad comparison.

Whether or not it does happen i cant help but think these things while working on my current manuscript. I'm on my third run through it and I can't help but think these things. In the process I tend to like the blacksmith analogy because i feel like with each time I go through it, it just gets better and sharper. Plot holes get filled, characters become more defined, and scenery becomes more clear. If only we could harness thus editing and revision to our lives perhaps we could become the sharp deadly weapons of the world we strive to be...

Or not thats a little far fetched. I mean come on half us can't use there, their, they're correctly.

Welcome to the internet. I am the Bearded Jon the Lone Writer trying to make it in this cutthroat publishing game. I'm currently self published with one book under my belt, and have one more soon to come. A third is in the works as well...Why self published you ask. It's an easy answer. Rejection! I know for some writers going through all the rejection letters you get from publishers and agents is supposed to be a right of passage, but I said FUCK THAT! Now please believe that I by no means think I am the next Stephan King or Tolkien, but I really enjoy the stories I tell. I did try too. I sent in my query to several agents and publishers and got nothing but "Oh I'm sorry but we're a little busy at the moment." or "I'm sorry your story doesn't sound like something we handle."

That's great.

Now it may have been impatience or inexperience, but I needed to share my work with the world, or at least my immediate friends and family. So I did it. I put my book on createspace and kindle. It was a little scary, but their instructions were the easiest I've ever read. I uploaded it and what do you know I have a published book easy as that, and you know what I was selling them. That I mark up to my awesome friends and family that shelled out their hard earned pennies for my two hundred page masterpiece(at least I thought so).

As time went on of course sales drop. One thing that publishers and agents do for you is ADVERTISE. Which is totally necessary if  you ever want to sell a damn thing in this world. So here I begin my tale. It's been about three months, sales are slow, but I have my first book out before I'm thirty and people are reading it. AWESOME!!!

Again I know what you're what you're thinking. "So what the hell is this book about?"

It's The Wendigo and the Werewolf. Think of it as a supernatural western. Our story follows a woman trained by her late father to hunt and kill monsters. It's got violence, monsters, gunfights, adventure, a smidgen of romance, and a promise of continuity.

If you get a chance give it a gander. It's something that I enjoyed writing. If you do let me know what you thought. Good, bad, I want to know.

By the way this blog will not be nothing but shameless plugs. I may just have rant about somebodies hygiene or how some people are extremely annoying. Maybe about particular books, comics, or movies I like.

Who knows. 

By the way all of this I owe to my excellent, dead sexy wife. Without her I wouldn't have had the drive I do now. What they say about pairing up with positive people really works.