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GGR: How did you get into the Indie Comic Scene?<\/em><\/p>\n Ken:<\/strong> You know, I was trying to get that straight in my head just the other day after watching the new documentary about Todd Loren and Rock N Roll Comics. \u00a0I was wondering if his books were the first \u201cindies\u201d I ever bought\u2026 \u00a0But they couldn\u2019t have been in retrospect. I\u2019m pretty sure I read Matt Wagner\u2019s Grendel books before that. \u00a0 I know that I bought some of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles after the Palladium RPG came out in the mid 80s and TMNT was still indie.<\/p>\n I guess it wasn\u2019t until college in the late 80s that I was exposed to what would be prototypical of what most people think of as indie modernly: \u00a0Love and Rockets, Neat Stuff and Punk Magazine.<\/p>\n Mostly I was an off the rack comic kid; First at convenience stores and later at comic shops. \u00a0I don\u2019t know if I ever felt like part of an Indie Scene until I started publishing myself.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n GGR: What made you want to start Nix Comics?<\/em><\/p>\n Ken:<\/strong> I dunno\u2026. \u00a0The little blue men who whisper things to me as I drift off to sleep?<\/p>\n I wanted to be a comic book artist as a kid\u2026 \u00a0All the way up until college when I became frustrated with what my actual skill set was. \u00a0At the time I was a junkie for the highly rendered stuff of the day\u2026 Byrne, Perez, et. al. \u00a0I just can\u2019t draw like that and I gave up. \u00a0(Sadly, I might add. \u00a0At the same time in college I was discovering the Ramones and the Replacements and other terrific rock bands that didn\u2019t let a lack of perceived talent stand in their way of making great music. \u00a0I was following in the footsteps of the wrong heroes.)<\/p>\n I never quite let go of the love of either medium. \u00a0I\u2019ve twice tried to open brick and mortar stores that sell both records and comics, both times failing because I didn\u2019t have deep enough pockets to make things last through tough times. \u00a0I successfully sold records on-line for many years\u2026 15 or so\u2026 \u00a0But that\u2019s not super satisfying. \u00a0There\u2019s no love in on-line sales.<\/p>\n Tired of selling on-line, I sold off most of the records on ebay for cheap and used the money to launch Nix Comics \u00a0I\u2019m not sure when the sea change from frustrated artist to confident publisher happened, but I\u2019m happy it did!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n GGR: The writer Walker Percy once wrote, \u201cThe search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life. To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something. Not to be onto something is to be in despair.\u201d How do you think the characters in Nix comics are either \u201con to something\u201d or are in \u201cdespair\u201d?<\/em><\/p>\n Ken:<\/strong> I like to think that I write in fables as opposed to any sort of modern tales. \u00a0My characters are mostly archetypes who are representative of my own cultural perceptions (literally in the case of Bus Stop Ned whose dialog is taken directly from conversations I overhear on my commute to work.) \u00a0 \u00a0I don\u2019t think that archetypes lend themselves well to the kind of existential thinking that you\u2019re hitting at. \u00a0I wouldn\u2019t ask the same question of any of Aesop\u2019s characters, for instance.<\/p>\n But I don\u2019t want to dodge the question entirely. \u00a0The characters are reflective of my personal search. \u00a0Each one a tool I use to work through my personal philosophies and politics. \u00a0I try not to write just \u201cripping yarns\u201d or whatever\u2026 \u00a0I like subtext hidden within my yarns.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n GGR: What advice would give for someone wanting to break into the Indie Comic world?<\/em><\/p>\n Ken:<\/strong> Yeah\u2026 Probably too much advice for a guy who hasn\u2019t worked out the kinks himself yet\u2026 But I\u2019ve started doling it out only on a person to person basis. \u00a0The fact of the matter is that there are a zillion ways to make comics and what would be good advice to one creator might not be useful to another. \u00a0Any blanket statements would just be platitude.<\/p>\n Specific advice on how to do a call for artists\/submissions, how to find a printer, how to find your price point, etc.? \u00a0Happy to talk about that.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n GGR: Tell us more about the Indie Go-GO campaign<\/a> and how people can support Nix comics. Ken:<\/strong>\u00a0 I\u2019m SUPER excited about this project. \u00a0Mark is a super writer and artist and his work for me in Nix Comics Quarterly #3 and #5 are some of my favorite stories. \u00a0I was introduced to him \u00a0by Denver Brubaker (who does the terrific Checkered Man web comic) at SPACE in 2011. \u00a0Not long after, Mark shared with me a graphic novel about a record store closing which had been released in only a very small print run. \u00a0I fell in love with it and \u00a0I just had to see it back in print!<\/p>\n This is the kind of project i would like to do more of with Nix Comics. Not only will it help me build a diverse backstock, but it will help my favorite contributors stay in print. \u00a0With any luck I\u2019ll be reprinting Darren Merinuk\u2019s Rockin\u2019 Bones comics from the early 90s next!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve been floored by the response to my \u201cIndie\u201d comic artist interviews. Thanks for sharing your stories with me. Let\u2019s keep promoting Indie Artists work! So, next up is Ken Eppstein. He is a writer, artist and owns Nix Comics\u00a0right here in Columbus, Ohio. While Ken and I have been unsuccessful in trying to get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1351,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[494,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/326\/2013\/05\/533882_10151352310716050_1780453994_n-300x225.jpg\" "\\"533882_10151352310716050_1780453994_n\\"")
<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/326\/2013\/05\/512410353-200x300.jpg\" "\\"512410353\\"")
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