I'll be on display and present at the Naked City Taphouse this Friday, January 8th from 6pm to 9pm. They'll keep my art on display and for sale the entire month of January as well.

Naked City Taphouse
8564 Greenwood Ave. N
Seattle, WA 98103

Wanted to apologize to everyone that I've been slow in the posting of blogs and info on the industry, it's been quite hectic over the last two months as I bought a new house, moved and been working on the house (it's a fixer-upper). All while trying to find time to work.

Anyway the house is pretty much ready, I just need to get  caught up inking some pages over the next week or two. Then hopefully I'll get to posting again.

We are making progress on having our comics online for free again - the Wowio debacle has been over for us for awhile. Hopefully we'll have it ready in a month or so.

Best,
James Taylor
Publisher, Rorschach Entertainment

Comic-Con is next week and Rorschach Entertainment won't be there, though make sure to look for Sean Dietrich (Small Press Table N12) as he'll be setup selling artwork and of course his books (Industriacide, Fervor, Mess). Though we've been there a few times since 2003.

Now the question is, is Comic-Con worth cost and time for a creator or publisher?

I'll be giving my input over the next few days, so keep checking back. But for this First Part, I'll go over the costs of working the show.

So I’ve asked a few publishers that I’ve known over the years and not a single person has mentioned not getting paid from Diamond.

Also the Comics Reporter mentions none of his contacts saying they are owed money.

I think this is safely a scam by the publishers in order to delay payment to the creators.  Retail sales in comic shops and bookstores are down, so those publishers are seeing smaller revenues and using Diamond as an excuse to delay payment. It happens quite often with shady publishers, blaming their distributors or whoever else they get money from.

It’s just one of those things, if you hear it enough times it becomes true… well enough publishers used this same lame excuse and word spread. As far as I can tell, this whole thing is crap.

And for those of you who think that Geppi’s financial woes are tied to Diamond are deluded. It would be illegal for Geppi to drain money from the company; he just makes his regular paycheck and has had bad investments in other companies.

- James Taylor

Rumors, possibly facts, are going around that Diamond (the main distributor of comic books in the U.S.) owes money to indy publishers and those publishers in turn owe money to creators/freelancers. Now nothing has come out as fact at this point and nothing has been reported, at least at the main news sites - some of whom at least check sources first.

Hard to believe that he was 72 as I grew up watching Kung Fu (though haven't seen an episode in quite a few years). Guess I'm getting older as well.

Initial reports say that he was found hanging in his Bangkok hotel room - where he was filming. Truly sad if this was a suicide, he always seemed to be happy in life.

So as you may have seen in the news post, we had to cancel our trip to the Calgary Expo because we were caught bringing in goods for resale without disclosing the product. I did mention having some comics as well as tools and a hand truck, because I was also visiting my sister and her kids as well as helping them move. I just didn't mention the comics were for sale and working the convention.

Truth is we wouldn't have gotten through even if we did disclose it because I didn't have a work permit - which I didn't know I needed for Canada. Admittedly my fault but I wasn't told by the show about the work permit either.