This is some great shit. Did anyone else get a Philip K. Dick vibe from it? I liked that you were dropped in this world, had your assumptions about the "MMO" aspect of it, and then the 'reality' isn't actually similar to our own. Really looking forward to seeing where this is going.

Nate showed me this at ECCC back in March and I was floored! Unfortunately PREVIEWS order deadlines for it had passed so I couldn't add it to my pull list. Long story-short, I went to 2 stores and both were sold out. Ordered the 2nd printing though!

M!

Thoroughly enjoyed NONPLAYER #1. Nate's a pretty cool dude.

I was concerned to hear that issue 2 won't be out for a few months. I spoke to Nate about it at WonderCon and he said he's taking his time to complete the second issue. We all know what late books mean, wonder how Image prepared for this.

Hi Nathan, Darren, Mitch, and Jeremy!

Thanks for the kind words, guys!

Yeah, I sure do like Philip K. Dick! Especially the Man in the High Castle. I'm also super into Vernor Vinge and Neal Stephenson. If you haven't read A Fire Upon the Deep yet, get thee to a Barnes and Noble, pronto! And of course Snow Crash is a pretty big influence.

As for my "taking my time" with issue two -- I should make clear that I'm putting in 12-13 hour days on the book. Somehow, "taking my time" evokes a leisurely stroll in the park, which is pretty much the opposite of the hair-tearing, teeth-grinding, stomach-churning scramble that takes place in my studio every day. It's cool that the first issue seems to be selling well, but that puts a lot of pressure on the second issue not to suck!

And on the subject of Image's preparedness -- we've all been open with one another and with the public about how long this book is going to take. We're trying to take the long view, which is that once the TPB is out, hopefully nobody will remember how slowly the individual issues came out. Or maybe they will! Either way, I didn't have the resources to draw all six issues on my own without seeing any sort of a return, so this was the only avenue available to us.

I will say this: it's pretty darn scary to jump off a cliff and try to sew a hang-glider for yourself on the way down! It may turn out to be a huge mistake, but I've been given blessedly few options. It's either fly or splat!

Thanks again, guys!

-Nate

No worries, Nate.

We believe in the book. We all know the amount of work it takes to complete a comic, and that's not even taken into account if it's any good.

You should be extremely proud of what you've created. I think it's a really great concept and well executed. It's also really cool that Image is behind you 100%, says a lot about their faith and commitment in their creators.

Keep 'em coming!!!

I'll be looking into those PKD stories now while I wait on issue 2.

I will say this, as someone working on another side of image, I'm curious about the way this formula will work. There's obviously a difficulty in sustaining momentum over wide gaps between release, but on the other hand, Mr. Simpson is doing something bold and refreshing: he's putting the quality FIRST.

My expectation is that for my patience at the bookstore, I'll be getting work that is so good, it simply can't be done quickly. That was clearly the case with issue 1. You want a book that looks this nice? The price is patience.

I might argue that if this book was monthly, I'd appreciate it less, too. Like a delicious dessert to be savored in small bites :).

But, Nate, I think I speak for everyone here when I say I'd like to hear you talk in detail about the pros and cons of your release plan, and what you did and didn't anticipate. Comics is an evolving medium and you may just be on a new forefront.

Nate, I'll buy the second and third issues and so on whenever they come out. I haven't read issue one yet, as I won't make it to the LCS for another week or so, but I'm more than willing to give the book a chance! Also, as I shop on a budget, spreading it out means I don't have to add/drop my pull list, so bi-monthly or whatever will NOT offend me at all! Do the best you can do, man! The book looks breathtaking, and that shouldn't be sacrificed for anything!!!

Did you guys know that comic artists in France receive a government subsidized stipend that allow them to take more time to complete work?

BLACKSAD is a prime example. The quality is so high because they aren't sweatshopping the work at a grueling monthly basis.

Nate may be proving this very point with NONPLAYER. Quality can't be rushed and that we need to have more loyalty to the creators. The American attention span is dismal, this needs to change.

Love to BLACKSAD.

Nathan, I think monthly is the best formula for books in the current market (maybe planned outages a 'la Skullkickers) with a certain amount of good will towards some of the more detailed work. I'd be interested to poke around James Stokoe's Orc Stain sales figures sometime. I'll also say that I went to three LCS's this past week trying to pick up books I hadn't pulled and ALL THREE (since I was hunting Image books) had a conversation with me about NONPLAYER's second issue not being solicited. The stores know, and while they aren't "happy" about it, they are at least trying to build expectations-- although some of those a humorously overblown, as one store told me it was going to take "far more than a year" for a second issue to happen.

Since you opened the discussion towards new format, though, and I know you've created a spot blessed with visits from Image's newest and brightest, may I put forth a discussion of anthology (as we see in the East). I hear lots of talk about bi-monthly with moderately longer books, jumping to trades/novels-only, and other such adjustments; but I really and fully believe the "safest" future for fans and creators rests in anthology books. While there is something to be said for individuality in design and knowing you are established fully and justifiably in your own right, how nice would it have been to launch one of your books directly bound with some of the other quality being put out at Image right now? While the creators in our example would have some extra work to do up front, the payoff in being able to skip a month without irrevocably damaging sales or expectations to ME sounds fantastic. There's a sweet spot in safety where I assume a newcomer like Nate would love to know his book is in an anthology selling well (say alongside a "Who is Jake Ellis") and then turning around you get a bump for your third "issue" as folks scramble to get the premiere of a hot new title in the anthology "NONPLAYER". Add in the increased flexibility in printing format / cost and I believe this is where the PRINT future of comic books should be. Lots of logistics would need working out, but I think there would be great benefits to creators and to fans who enjoy already enjoy a diverse pull list. I'd love to hear the thoughts of others on this! Am I the only fan interested in this? Do creators find the logistics too much of a burden?

If this could be done consistently, I'd certainly be open to it.

From a collecting standpoint, I am partial to having my creator's work separated though. But if anthologies were to be some kind of standard, my brain would eventually adapt to the new aesthetic. I think...

With the pace that American Comic creation is currently at, I think it would require a major overhaul of the system. But I could be wrong. Nothing is impossible.

I personally believe that floppies will eventually phase out to purely digital, and anyone interested in a printed copy can purchase the TPB later. I think this would be the most seamless transition into digital without completely killing off print.

But in the context of your idea, Nolan, it wouldn't really apply. I personally love everything in print. I've read digital copies and just don't get sufficient enjoyment out of the experience. The more I think about it, the more I'm liking your idea here. It would push print ahead of digital as you'd get WAY more bang for your buck and it becomes instantly collectible. I'd get the enjoyment of keeping up with my monthly titles AND get to enjoy collecting subsequent volumes without the hassle of storing single issues.

I miss anthologies. My friend, Kenny Keen, puts together a horror anthology book every year. It's got a lot of different people from varying places and talent levels. Really an eclectic mix. I usually throw one in it, and it's alwayus fun! My books are typically 20-24 pages, so doing up a 5-12 pages story for an anthology (which I usually write as I go) is really fun! I actually did 2 different stories in last year's anthology.

I don't know yet whether this "slow-cooked for maximum flavor" approach is viable. I am certain that I'll take a hit on sales of individual issues -- as you know, there are people out there eager to find something to hate about Nonplayer, and my speed is definitely a big fat target (followed closely by the lettering). So the longer I take, the louder those voices are likely to get.

I guess the real question is "if I can keep myself afloat financially until the TPB comes out, does it matter that much if the individual issues don't do blockbuster sales?" That's where the real experimentation is happening for me right now. The trick is to find other ways for Nonplayer to generate income without diverting myself completely from the work of finishing the book. Among the options I'm exploring: merchandising (already underway in the form of posters), foreign language versions (already negotiating with several territories), and licensing the IP to film and other media companies (this is the ultimate best-case, because I'd be able to focus completely on the book without worrying about whether my phone service will be cut off).

The other thing I'm trying to do is to manage expectations from the beginning, both at the retailer and reader levels. Nolan, it's great to hear that all three retailers you spoke with mentioned the slow release schedule -- that's probably because I sent out emails to several hundred retailers last week, explaining that the book would not be monthly and why that was the case. I've also added a "letter from the artist" to the second printing of #1, explaining the situation directly to the reader. People don't like to be blindsided with a revelation like that, but if they know what to expect in advance, hopefully they'll be more forgiving.

I should add that if it takes me "more than a year" to finish #2, something has gone very, very wrong.

Anthologies are a very interesting idea. I think the main concern there is that I heavily revise dialogue (and even entire pages) throughout the book as I get close to the end of each issue. So if I'm releasing the book in six-page chunks, that removes my ability to live with page 1 for a few months and to expunge clunky, on-the-nose dialogue. I review and modify every page, every day (I print out all the pages and mark them up with a pen about once a week). Of course, I suppose I could finish an issue's worth of content and then just release it in little bits over time... it's sort of academic at this point, because I'm locked into this format for Nonplayer. Definitely something to think about for whatever comes next!

Just as a final point, I totally agree with Jeremy that digital will replace floppies. I'm waiting with baited breath for a 300dpi full-color e-reader that has the necessary screen size to view standard-format comics. For whatever comes after Nonplayer, that'll be my main focus, and I'll release nice meatspace versions of the book for collectors, sort of like the comic version of releasing LPs. And the cool thing is that the print versions in this scenario can go super-plush, with a larger format and better print quality. You know, like they do in Europe.

Rockin' thread, guys. I'd love to hear more of your thoughts.

I think Nate is being realistic about this. While all of us here might understand the work that goes into an issue, especially one like NONPLAYER where the detail is ridiculous (in the best way possible), there are a lot of comic readers who don't know or don't care. They want their comic now! Late comics is complained about all the time, and although Nate and Image are being upfront about how long issues are going to take - some people are so used to a monthly schedule that they will still see this as being "late", and some people won't have known about how long it will take between issues. Either way, I agree with Nate - NONPLAYER is going to suffer from decreased sales on subsequent issues, but how much or significantly I've no idea. Some people won't have the patience, other people will just prefer to wait for the trade. Some might have the best intentions to buy all the issues but when issue 2 or 3 comes out they'll look at it and go "what the hell happened in the last issue??" and decide then to wait for the trade. All anyone can hope is that it gets enough sales to keep Nate going. Maybe it will completely surpass that and do more than just keep Nate going... but I prefer to err on the side of caution ;-)

Also, I agree, this is a really interesting experiment and it's great that Image have been agreeable to this. They must _really_ love NONPLAYER!

As for anthologies - apart from actual collections in a graphic novel style, I'm not really a fan. If I bought a monthly anthology and liked half of the stories enough to follow them, and didn't like the others, it would be kind of crap having to pay for those stories I didn't like, just to get those I did like.

And digital replacing single issues - can we all not talk about that? It makes me cry :'-( Seriously though, like Nate said, give me a larger, colour Kindle and I'd be all over it. I've gradually come round to the idea - so much so that I'd be one of the first to buy one. I'm not sure how viable it is though. I'd be totally for digital single issues along with more "deluxe" paper collections with extras and stuff - "stuff" meaning a ribbon - you gotta have a ribbon :P - but this has been talked about for years.

On a side note, has anyone seen the Action Double Feature digital comic? I haven't got it (cos I don't have an ipad) but it has stuff like - the ability to turn on commentary for each page (eg notes from the writer and artist about particular things on the age - influences etc) and the option to see the art in inks and then all the way back to just pencils! THIS is what makes digital comics unique from paper comics. Digital comics might be cheaper (sometimes not) and more convenient than paper comics but I sometimes think that to win over the masses you need something more - something unique to the digital comic. Action Double Feature did this exceptionally well. But you'd also have to wait til most people have an ipad, or til there's a cheaper (comic sized!) comic reader.

Hurm. Sorry for the derailment. I talk too much.

I love my iPad. Comics look sooo good on them.

I don't have an ipad, but sometimes I take my boyfriend's iphone and hold it closer to my face, just to pretend.

Haha.

I've yet to get into reading comics digitally. Call me an old-timer. BUT I have read a comic on the iPad and man.....wowee.

Having spent five years working for the company, you'd think I would be impressed...

NateSimp- Read Nonplayer today. Enjoyed it! You make feel like a total amateur looking at your artwork! No matter the amount of time it takes, I'll happily await the arrival of the next issue. Loved it..

As for the story, I enjoyed the premise. It has the potential for some really complex stories. Yes, I found this first issue to be mostly setup, but it was DAMN good set-up. Really enjoyed it, and I look forward to more.

As for digital comics, I've yet to get into them. I can't afford an ipad or an ipod, and I have no need of either, really. I understand the need for them in this digital age, but they're just not for me, honestly. Also, it's easier to hand my daughter a 25 cent Spider-Girl comic to carry around the house than it is to hand her a 300 dollar ipod and say, "go play with this". Just sayin'.

I'm really hating because I can't afford an I-anything. iBroke is the only thing I've got.

Hey NateSimp!
I've been following Nonplayer for quite some time, and I am 100% in love with Issue #1!
Is there any estimate for how long there will between issues? I don't mean to be rude, I'm just really excited about this series!
Good luck with the creation process!