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In looking into new ways of publishing comic books in color, at affordable prices, we came up with this website as our final solution. We designed this site because we wanted to reach a larger audience, and going through the standard distribution chains made that difficult. It's hard to get the distribution necessary to make money when you are a small press comic book publisher often publishing your work in black and white to save money. Printing in color is much more expensive, though more marketable. At the same time it's hard to get enough sales to make small press publishing financially viable, regardless of which route you take, because you are small and no one has heard of you. It's like burning the fuse at both ends. Besides that, you have to market to the distributor to get them to carry your book, but that doesn't mean that you've marketed properly to the stores that will carry it, or the public that will eventually buy from the retail store. You have to hit all three in completely different ways to be successful. And then you are still competing with the large publishers, who can out produce, out market, and outsell you. So it was obvious
to us that we had to do something completely different, in order
to publish the type and quality of comicbook we wanted to, and
to reach the market we wanted to reach. And no one can beat our prices, because all our comic books are viewable online for FREE. How can we possibly make any money letting the world view our comic books for free? The same way Hollywood producers can produce a weekly Television show. Their sponsors pay them to advertise during the shows they produce. The better the television show, the bigger the viewership, and the more money the sponsors will pay to advertise during the television show. That's what commercials are for. Originally comic books used the same method to pay for their newsstand production costs. The advertisements in each comic book paid the production costs to produce and distribute the comic book to the newsstand. That's how the newsstands could tear off the cover of every comicbook they didn't sell and ship it back to the distributor for a refund, and the comicbook publisher still made money. So all we're really doing is returning comic books to their roots, in a brand new medium. If we produce great comics, we draw more readers, which increases traffic to our website. The more traffic we have, the more potential viewers we have for our sponsors, and the more they will reward us for our efforts. If you like what you see on this site and would like to see us produce more projects, or continue producing the projects we currently feature, then it's up to you to help us make it happen. Tell everyone you know about us. And keep coming back on a regular basis, so we can keep entertaining you and giving you the best of ourselves. We promise to keep producing the best comicbooks that we know how. And please visit our sponsors. I hand picked most of them, and am very honored to have the quality of sponsorship that we have behind us. You hold the power in your hands by the click of a mouse, and are in charge of what comicbooks we produce. We will occasionally offer oneshots (One issue of a comic book.). You can decide whether it remains a oneshot, or an ongoing series. How? By writing us and letting us know what you'd like to see more of. Contact Us, to let us know what you enjoy the most on our site, and what you'd like to see more of. Sign up for our mailing list and be notified the minute we upload more pages or announce new projects.
Who? : D. Mark McElligott - Creator of Starchy the Dark Spud.
Work History: Mark has worked on various independent comic book projects over the past few years. He's worked for such publishers as: Buffalo Nickel, SSS Comics, Image Comics, and Excel Graphics. He's also done some work for Fisher Price, and is an excellent portrait artist.
Got Mad Skills: Mark writes, pencils, colors, and has been known to do some lettering in a crunch. He's also an accomplished painter, and a pretty handy with an airbrush.
Bio: It all began in a little one room log cabin for Mark McElligott. He grew up in the back woods of Illinois teaching himself to read and write using chalk and an old shovel as a chalkboard. He grew to be a great debater and eventually a lawyer and after years of public service he became the 16th president of the United States of America. After freeing the slaves and healing this great nation from it's devastating civil war he was arrested and charged with plagiarism of Abraham Lincoln's life. It was at this point that Mark dropped it all and began drawing super hero potatoes. Mark's comic book career has given him countless hours of enjoyment and he hopes someday it will bring some enjoyment to at least one other person... at this point he still holds to the dream. Mark is also the author of the controversial blog "And that settles that" where he infuriates the masses by acting like he knows everything. Because of just such behavior Mark is recently separated, so if you are a beautiful woman between the ages of 18 and 25 and are into older balding pudgy men who smoke too much, feel free to contact him... Send pictures.
You Talkin' To Me? : Though we aren't looking for talent right now, Mark is the guy you would send submissions to. He handles all of our critiques an submission reviews. He also loves to hear from people, and likes to talk about his pet project, Starchy the Dark Spud. So by all means, write him at: darkspud@earthlink.net
An Interview With Mark McElligott, Creator Of The Dark Spud: Chester Carpenter here with the first ever interview with Mark McElligott, the creator of Starchy the Dark Spud, a new comic publishing venture coming out of Buffalo, New York. We'll begin our interview with the man behind the only potato to fight crime, Mark McElligott. Chet: So, how did you come up with the idea for Starchy? Mark: I was on the phone with my sister one day, telling her about the Para-Cops project I was working on when she told me, "Mark, I'll tell you what, after all these years of drawing comics, if you really want to get rich, you've got to do Starchy." I, of course, said, "Who?" She said, "You know, Starchy. He's a potato that fights crime." Well, I kind of laughed it off, like I do frequently with [my sister] Amy, and suggested some sort of medication for her delusional state, but a year or so later it came up again. "If you want to be famous, you've got to do Starchy!" I had forgotten about him and she tells me again, "He's a potato who fights crime!" Now, later on I was hanging out with the Brain Trust (the guys I work with on different products at Excel) and I mentioned that it might be a funny idea to put together 5 or 6 pages of a goofy Starchy story, and immediately Dan Rice suggested that he have a sidekick named Small Fry. Next thing you know, we were throwing around all sorts of ideas, making each other laugh with it, before long I was thinking that it might be a worthwhile project to pursue. It all just sort of went from there. The more I worked on it, the more I just fell in love with the character and it grew until it became the juggernaut that it is. Now I'll just be forced to get rich like my sister said. I guess I'm gonna owe her some serious royalties when we get into the action figure market! Chet: So what kind of humor is this? Is it specifically aimed at kids or adults? Mark: It's a little of everything. I toyed with the idea of making it Flintstones-esque type of humor where everything relied on the fact that these were all vegetables, foods, and your basic kitchen items we were dealing with, but that can get old really quickly so I decided not to make that the entire source of the humor. That's when I decided to delve into some of the bizarre humor. When I did that, it got away from the kid humor and went into the Bullwinkle realm, where you've got a level that appeals to kids and a whole separate level that adults would enjoy. And, of course, an entirely separate level for the clinically insane (insert clinically insane laughter here). Chet: All righty then. Now tell me, exactly who are these characters? Mark: Well, of course there's Starchy and Small Fry. Starchy doesn't have a secret identity yet; he just sort of sleeps in the mask, showers in the cape, you get the idea, he's just always Starchy. In fact one of the stories will delve into his search for a civilian identity. Chet: Well, that's a new twist. Mark: And Small Fry is just a teen who somehow got caught up in the crime fighting scene and is digging the whole thing. And as for the rest of the cast: there's commissioner Julian Fries and Sgt. O'Brien, his partner; Starchy's butler is named Alfredo (ha ha!). Chet: I'm sensing a trend here. Mark: Well, in some ways it's a Batman parody, but in others it's a Captain America parody. I guess you could say it's a parody of super hero comics in general, and you should see some resemblance's in the book to characters you know and love, hopefully not ACTIONABLE resemblance's, though. Starchy is the Grim Defender of Alphabit City, he has terrible road rage and he's always trying to jump over the hoods of cars, but he never, never, ever makes it. Chet: Now what's with this, "Ow, my eye!" bit? Mark: I just found it to be a funny idea that he's always bumping an eye, being a potato and all. You slap him on the back..."Ow, my eye!" You kick him in the shin..."Ow, my eye!" Some time soon, you'll see a pair of glasses on a night stand in the background that are out of Salvador Dali's nightmares! Chet:...Interesting. Any more characters to speak of? Mark: Oh, man! Look in any cookbook, menu, or shopping list! We have Starchy's Sensei and mentor, Fortune Cookie; there are villains like Rapscallion, the onion who's Starchy's nemesis; Tony Sacabrillo, an abrasive guy who rubs people out; Cereal Killer; Squash; Jalpeño; the Grapes of Wrath, who would be truly threatening if they could only remember to attack in a bunch. The cast of characters with grow as my dementia increases. Chet: (Ha!) Where are you going with this? How far do you plan to take this? Mark: Until I'm filthy rich and can own my own island. Or until I can pay someone else to do it for me. (Ha) But at this point, I've got the next three issues all mapped out, first he has to deal with Commissioner Fries' Evil Triplet, then he faces the Brotherhood of Dangerous Ingredients, (A star-studded issue featuring Nectarine and Armin Hammer); then there's the origin issue with Fortune Cookie. Chet: Sounds like you're rolling right along. Mark: I've even been toying with the idea of asking people like Stephen King or Dave Barry to write an issue of Starchy! Could you imagine the Dark Spud as told by Stephen King? I'd be afraid to draw it, but it would be spectacular. Chet: Yes, it would! Well, I had no idea you would be the least bit interesting, consequently I didn't allot you much time...so, good luck with Starchy, and thanks for the interview! Mark: You're very welcome, Chet. I didn't find you interesting either.
Also read: A Brief History of the DarkSpud Character. Click here to read.
Who? : Dr. Fred Archer III - Yep, that's right, even Doctors do comics. Fred was also an excellent writer, before he ever thought of Doctor'n. Of course, he's also a great Pediatrician.
Work History: When Fred is not busy saving lives, yes he's our real life Super Hero, he spends time what little time he has writing for some small press comic book publishers. He's written for Buffalo Nickel and Excel Graphics, but his best work is yet to come. Just wait...
Got Mad Skills: Oh yea! He's not only skilled with a scalpel, but also a practicing professional Husband and Father. Though he would say that the pen is truly mightier then the sword. And that's what he uses to write some of the most entertaining stories you may ever run across. He's also not above doing a little character and costume design for his lowly artists that do their best to turn his stories into illustrations.
Bio: Get on Dr. Fred to write up his bio.
You Talkin' To Me? : Fred can be contacted at: thefred72@hotmail.com He doesn't mind giving a little writing advice, or talking a little Sci Fi or sword play. Just don't ask him for any free medical advice or he's liable to write you into his next story as one of those background characters with no name, and non lines. And we all know they never get to be in the next story. So... just don't.
Who? : Jim Woodyard - Co creator of Nuts & Bots. Or as we affectionately like to call him, Woody. Though, not the one that hangs out with that Astronaut guy.
Work History: Woody has worked for a metric butt load of small and big press publishers. Some of which are: Image Comics, Vertigo, Dark Horse, Excel Graphics, Caliber Press, and Slave Labor.
Got Mad Skills: In spades. If you value your money, don't challenge him to a Poker game, or you'll get the baddest whopin' of your natural life. When he's not whupin' butt at Poker, he's also a moderately exceptional writer, a semi out of this world inker, and an in your face mind blowing artist. Just ask him. Don't call him a tracer though. Fred is still patching up the last poor soul that made that mistake.
Bio: Woody grew up in Iowa, writing and drawing comics with his Brother John. Together they decided that they would one day rule the comicbook universe... or just create some really cool comicbook stories and characters. Jim has been inking and writing comicbooks for over 18 years now. He's already worked for some the biggest publishers in the industry. He now lives with is wife and two children, and writes and draws the kind of comics he chooses to. Look for some of his newest work on this website in the future.
You Talkin' To Me? : You can contact him at: gonuts@earthlink.net If you are real nice, REAL NICE, and beg him a lot, he might even write you back. Might...
Who? : John Warren - He's sorta the guy who put all of this together, as well as the one that keeps making all these lame jokes. Hi...
Work History: He's done a couple of things, mostly through Excel Graphics, Image Comics, and SSS Comics. He's also somewhat adequate at web design and BS.
Got Mad Skills: He does some writing, inking, coloring, lettering, and occasionally some penciling. He also does quite a bit of graphics, and dabbles in web design.
Bio: I've been drawing comics as far back as I can remember. I can recall drawing Spiderman as far back as 1'st grade. When I was 15 I began completing entire comic books, rather than just doodling or drawing sketches. I wasn't very good at the time, but that didn't stop me.
I had drawn my first three complete comic books well before I turned 18. I wasn't much of an inker in those days, so they were just in pencil on paper that was inappropriate to ink on anyway. The scripts, which I also completed, were just written out in notebooks. George Lucas still writes his screenplays in this manner, so I guess it isn't that unprofessional. I was just happy to be finishing complete comic book stories and drawing complete panel to panel art boards before I was 18.
I self published my first comic book at age 20. It was an anthology featuring stories by various talented artists, which were also good friends of mine. Eight pages of the comic book, Tales From Ground Zero, also featured artwork from one of my first stories that I'd drawn when I was still a teenager. I managed to learn to ink my own pencils adequately enough to complete the artwork for publication. I also did a somewhat below average job of lettering the pages. It was all mine though. I did everything on the story and besides publishing it myself, I also ran the printing press that produced, it in my garage. As I'd purchased my own printing press expressly for the purpose of self publishing and printing my own line of comicbooks. I point all this out, not to brag. Trust me, anyone could learn to run a small printing press with practice. And anyone will a little skill can learn to write, draw, ink, and even letter sequential art. Though, not necessary well. I'm simply pointing out how far I was willing to go to see my dreams come true, and how deeply I loved drawing and producing comic books.
Heck, in those days, if I'd had the money, I probably would have stood on a street corner handing out copies of my comic books for free. Just to share my love of the medium with everyone I could.
Several years later I published another six comic books. This time I went through a printer, avoiding a huge headache, and left the production work for someone else. Then I put self publishing on hiatus for awhile and did some small press work. In the meantime, I kept looking into new ways of publishing comic books in color, at affordable prices.
My final solution is this website, where I can finally do the comics I want to do, the way I want to do them. And it's all free for the world to see. You can't beat the price.
You Talkin' To Me? : E-mail me at: gonuts@earthlink.net and let me know what you think about our online comics, what else you'd like to see us do, and how we can serve you better.
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