Canister X – A.P. Fuchs: Zombie, Paranormal Romance and Superhero Novelist, Blogger, Artist, Publisher

In reply to the wonderful essay on Brian Keene’s website by Weston Ochse entitled, “The Great and Improbable Secret to a Great and Improbable Writing Career,” I said:

Are you true to your craft? Are you doing things to better yourself and understand the craft of writing?

Yes. Absolutely. Won’t claim perfection—who can?—but I write following the writing rules I know, staying true to the ones in stone, bending those that can be bent, and just being myself. I read everything from novels to non-fiction books, to comics and graphic novels, to poetry and news articles, magazines and more. I pay attention to their construction and try and apply those lessons to my own work and that of others when I edit them.

Do you seek out as many edits as possible? Note that an editor has to have some sort of training. Merely calling oneself an editor isn’t good enough.

Yes and no. I do believe in over-editing, that is, where you revise and revise until the whole thing starts coming apart like repeatedly cleaning a garment. The fabric can only take so much picking. But I do have an editing system: first three drafts are by me, fourth is by an editor, fifth is me going over his edits (of which I accept around 95% of them), sixth is another draft by me, then seventh is my wife as first reader who just reads to enjoy but marks down anything that jumps out. At that point, my books are pretty clean, and my editor is notoriously picky and hard to please.

If you’ve self-published, did you do it because it was on your own terms, or was it because you were too impatient for the impossibly slow and laborious publication process?

As a long time advocate of self-publishing—since 2004—I originally did it because I was duped into subsidy publishing via a vanity press in 2003. Was a nightmare start to finish, but ironically I fell in love with the book-making process and since my original goal was to be a self-published comic book creator—think Image Comics style—I simply applied my entrepreneurial spirit to writing and publishing books. It’s worked out well for me and it’s how I make my living, and this was before the Kindle hype and all that nonsense, you know, when the midlist dried up and midlisters self-pubbed out of desperation. Some found success, others didn’t. Now it’s a bandwagon, etc., and, it seems, new writers are self-publishing first before going traditional. Doing it all wrong, mind you, but doing it nonetheless. Some are lucking out and finding success, but most aren’t. I have a book on it coming out in June called, Getting Down and Digital: How to Self-publish Your Book, plug, plug.

My company has dealt with Simon and Schuster and the like. It’s fine, but for my own work, unless a really sweet deal came up, I’m better off going it alone. I also write niche-specific superhero stuff and some monster stuff so I’m not exactly doing mass market material. I was actually a guest at a writer’s conference a few weeks back and got some behind-the-scenes details about certain NY houses and what their writers go through. If anything, for me, it reaffirmed my decision to go it alone. I really don’t want to be a cog in someone else’s machine and pretend as if I’m really a writer staying true to his/her vision as a result. Money’s not my motivator. Whether I made six figures a year or just enough to live on, I don’t care. My goal has always been to support myself with my art, but dollars and cents don’t drive me—as in give me more, give me more—and I’m content with whatever comes my way. Money’s overrated anyway.

Are you true to yourself? Are you writing what you want?

See above. Absolutely. I tried to write to market as an experiment—did a trilogy of paranormal romances—to see if genre would affect sales. It didn’t. The joy of self-publishing is I can fool around like that. Got more stuff on the horizon. Are they popular ideas or sure fire ways to reach the masses and make money? Time will tell. Is reaching the masses and making boatloads of cash why I do this? No. If it happens, it’s a side benefit. If it doesn’t, hey, most artists—and I include writers in that label—have to duke out a living anyway. Publishing is a crapshoot. There is no secret formula. If there was, it would’ve gotten out by now and we’d all be doing it.

Good essay, Weston. Didn’t realize you were all the way up to book thirteen. Congratulations.

There comes a time in every superhero fan’s life when he looks at a character and just stands in awe. I am a Superman fan. Have been always and always will be, but this new trailer for The Dark Knight Rises looks so incredibly good that–gasp!–I think it’ll rival, if not outdo, The Dark Knight and any other superhero flick that came before it. Except maybe Watchmen, but that’s a whole other thing. I know they used part of the Bane-breaks-Batman’s-back storyline from Knightfall. I also recall seeing thumbnails of the graphic novels inspiring this flick and Batman: The Long Halloween was on there. These are incredibly good stories and doing an amalgam of them–plus the various plot points from the previous Bat-flicks–is genius.

I mean, c’mon! Look at this trailer!

Copyright 2010-2011 by A.P. Fuchs. All rights reserved.
45: Old School Comics

Immediately I swung around, lashing my fist out and connecting square with the creature’s jaw. It was a bonehead move. Had I been off by even a couple millimeters, I could have easily snagged my knuckles on its teeth and probably would have gotten infected. The zombie shuffled back a step, paused, then stumbled towards me again, arms out.
My heart pounded—but not from fear. Only anger. These guys had caused so many problems and had hurt me personally with making Selena one of their own. Worse, making many Selenas one of their own.
The sound of shoes scraping against the sidewalk behind me forced me to reconsider decking the zombie in front of me. It was run or be killed. So I ran. I dodged around the nearest two undead, their hands raising into the air a second too late to grab onto me. Another I shoved to the side as I bolted down the sidewalk, hoping Jay was somewhere nearby.
Don’t go too far, I thought. We need to stay in the area. For now, anyway.
I scanned the undead that were a block or block and a half away. None of them looked like my sweetheart.
A figure ran out from between a couple of fallen sky signs just ahead. A pack of zombies lumbered after him.
Jay.
“Hey!” I shouted, waving my arms and hoping he’d heard me. It didn’t seem he did because he kept running and disappeared between a pair of apartment buildings across the street, the zombies still keeping after him.
But someone heard me. The undead in my nearest vicinity immediately set their rotten gaze in my direction and started towards me.
“Oh man . . .” I breathed, glanced back over my shoulder, and tried to come up with a plan. It seems there was only one in this undead world: run.
I took off further down the street, but a pack of zombies up and to my right saw me and joined their brethren in their mission to take me down.
A blur of color materialized on my left as I ran past an outlet store, then quickly disappeared. I halted my run, turned, and headed back. It was a comics shop, the kind that still sold old paper copies of comic books that nowadays most people read on their eReaders and telecom units. Maybe they had a back room I could hide out in. Maybe even a room with a lock on the door. Its large front window had been smashed during the riots when the zombie plague first hit. I stepped over the frame, my shoes crunching against the broken glass on the floor. Comics and old school graphic novels littered the floor like a squirrel’s nest, panels of Axiom-man, Superman, Captain America and others catching my eye as I stepped quickly through the shop and to the rear of the store. This was a place I had meant to go into back before all this chaos started. Interesting I was here now, looking to save my life amongst images of heroes that did it all the time.
A dented and overturned moneycomp lay on the counter to my left. Whoever smashed it up must have thought that because this place dealt in vintage comics, it must have dealt in vintage cash, too. Idiots. Paper money and coins were phased out completely a good ten years ago if not longer.
Behind me, undead feet shuffled through the scraps of comics on the floor. A loud thunk made me look over my shoulder only to see one of the zombies—a much-decayed one—had tripped over the window frame and landed on its face.
I was already at the back of the tiny shop, with nothing near me to use against them. Just a bunch of very old collectibles, some hanging on the wall behind me, others on the floor at my feet. Most of them were action figures. One was a Spider-Man webshooter for kids. There was a Superman costume, a plastic lightsaber, and a cap gun. I thought maybe I could get away with using the lightsaber, but its plastic handle was already cracked, presumably from whoever had been in here before me. There wasn’t a back room.
Adrenaline quickly kicked in and I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it out this time.
The zombies drew closer.
My foot stepped on something soft at first, but it gave way and my heel landed on something hard. I kicked at it through the scraps of comic pages covering it.
It was a sword. A fake one, but one that would still be dangerous regardless. Kind of. It was still in its black cardboard package, a red logo with what looked like a wild cat roaring, followed by silver letters reading: THUNDERCATS. Never heard of them.
I quickly bent down, picked up the sword and ripped it from its package. Crap. It was plastic, its gleaming silver paint job having fooled me. But the plastic felt hard, solid.
Realizing how stupid this was, a brief note of hope still sounded in my heart. I lifted the blade and wound it back like a baseball bat.
The first zombie moved in.
I took a swing.
< Last Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter >

My wife Roxanne has been publicly doing comics for a little over six months now, her first published project being a webcomic (with print alternatives) called Fuzz Society. I thought it would be fun to interview her here at Canister X and help her spread the word about what she is doing, so show her some love, read on, and visit the links when they appear.

Thanks.

1) For those who don’t know you, why don’t you introduce yourself and tell people a little bit about Fuzz Society?

My name is Roxanne Fuchs, and I grew up wanting to create, whether that meant doodling my own characters, making crafts, learning to knit/crochet, sew (I used to love embroidery as a young adult), web design, listening to and playing music (though I did not get formal training, I’ve always tried to teach myself).

Fuzz Society is really a comic geared towards girls and women, though guys may find it cute too, but I’m really using it as a means of communicating the stuff many females experience in life, and reaching out to those around me. It circles around a group of friends, who’ve met mostly because of Lyra Ladybug, the tie-in character and cutie pie who is very much like myself (minus the wings and antennae. of course)! Its starts out with her grabbing onto a gum wrapper one day and finding herself lost as she explores a place she’s never been to. She’s led a very sheltered life until now, and so almost everything is new to her. But as she meets new animal friends, she also learns about love and friendship, and the differences in the ways males and females think. It’s a manga/anime inspired adventure, with romance and all the wit you can handle! For more info, I also have a FAQ page on my website at http://www.fuzzsociety.com

2) Anyone particular that has heavily influenced you as an artist?

In terms of Japanese art, I’ve always loved the girly stuff, so I enjoyed the Sailor Moon series a lot, and video games like Street Fighter, Final Fantasy, etc. In general, though, I would say I’ve always just tried to keep drawing and doodling since I was very young, including drawing superheroes and my favourite cartoon characters. I’ve always wanted to be good at what I do so I’d always practice. And after reading the Bone series, Jeff Smith inspired me a lot as I admire his line work and characters. In particular, though, the anime style has stuck with me the longest.

3) Most comic creators have their own way of putting their story to paper. How do you go about creating a page?

I would say, it’s a bit different than most people do it. I start out with my general idea for where I want my comic to go, then I do a mini sketch on note paper, and afterwards, I’ll jump right into sketching the real thing on Bristol board. This process can take a while as since I don’t have a full script written out, I never know for sure what’s going to happen on that page; it’s always an adventure! Then I get my husband, A.P. Fuchs (editor’s note: that’s me), to edit it, I ink it, erase the pencil lines and scan/clean it up before posting online. It’s quite the process if you think about it, and I’m hoping all the TLC is obvious in the final product.

4) Fuzz Society has been running since October. I know you’ve done a few other non-published comics before, but were you always a comic creator or an artist? When did you start making comics in general?

Yes, I would say I’ve always been an artist. I remember I would grab hold of whatever paper I could find and doodle on it. It didn’t matter if it was my school binder or a scrap of paper from a flyer. I started drawing comics in junior high, just for myself. It was partially an escape for me, me always having enjoyed reading fantasy and watching sci-fi stuff. So yeah, at a young age I was trying out comic art. And before that, I was always collecting superhero comic cards (back when they still made them, anyways). I’ve always been a creative type of person, never knew what I wanted to do for a living as a kid, wasn’t even sure as a teenager. I tried to pursue “regular” jobs and schooling, but it didn’t pan out, and after having the opportunity to work from home on comics, I thought I would give it a shot. At first it was quite daunting, and intimidating the thought of putting out an issue, but now I’m really getting into it, and it just flows much better.

5) Why did you suddenly move from just drawing and making comics for fun, to actually releasing the material both online and in print?

My husband (editor’s note: that’s me again ) really encouraged me to do this, as he saw the potential in me, and I’m glad he’s been so supportive of me. Plus, after going to a lot of conventions, I’ve been inspired to finally do something with my art, and just see where it goes. It’s quite exciting really.

6) Are you a full-time artist?

Yes and no. I would say, yes in the sense that I’m always thinking about what my next page will be about, so my head gets full sometimes, but that’s how it is. And no, in the sense that I’m a full-time mom so most of my day is spent either with my boys, or running the household. There’s not much time for art, so it is usually tricky to find the time to work on it, at least right now.

7) What are you favourite comic books or graphic novels?

I’m a Dazzler fan (old school), the Bone series, Black Cat and Rourouni Kenshin, the old Avengers comics (because it’s been a while since I’ve read them), and Watchmen to name a few. I just found a new webcomic I’m enjoying called Super Siblings as well.

8) Where can people learn more about you and Fuzz Society?

www.fuzzsociety.com or on Facebook, there’s a fan page as well.

9) If you could spend a day with any comic book character, who would it be and why?

I would love to hang out with Dazzler, sing along with her at some different gigs, and really experience the thrill of being a rock star. I’ve always enjoyed singing, so I’m kind of partial to her.

10) Any last comments?

Yes, thanks for doing the interview! You’re super, man!

This book from longtime zinester, John Porcellino, is amazing. It’s the first graphic novel in a series of King-Cat graphic novels from Drawn and Quarterly that collects the best comics from the early years of Porcellino’s 20-plus-year comic book zine, King-Cat.

I strongly recommend it for anyone searching to read comics with meaning, depth and something that celebrates the ups and downs of life.

Click Here to Order from Amazon.com

Another year of reading has gone by.

In 2010, I read 48 books, the majority of which were graphic novels and, yes, I consider graphic novels “real” books, as they carry the same depth and amazing storytelling ability that novels have.

Below is what I took in last year (<- weird saying that). I also linked the books up to Amazon (where able) in case you wanted to add one or more of these titles to your personal library.

Books Read in 2010

1.) The Holy Spirit by Billy Graham (finished from 2009)
2.) Sin City by Frank Miller
3.) How to Make Webcomics by Brad Guigar, Dave Kellett, Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub
4.) Gross Movie Reviews Volume One by Tim Gross
5.) Jumpstart Your Book Sales: A Money-making Guide for Authors, Independent Publishers and Small Presses by Marilyn and Tom Ross (finished from 2009)
6.) MacFish by Sean Simmans
7.) Animal Behavior and Other Tales of Lycanthropy by Keith Gouveia
8.) Bigfoot War by Eric S. Brown
9.) Zombie Fight Night: Battles of the Dead by A.P. Fuchs
10.) Alec: The Years of Have Pants by Eddie Campbell
11.) Judenhass by Dave Sim
12.) Do Anything by Warren Ellis
13.) All Star Superman Vol. 1 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly, with Jamie Grant
14.) All Star Superman Vol. 2 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly, with Jamie Grant
15.) Transmetropolitan: Back on the Street by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson
16.) Praise the Dead by Gina Ranalli
17.) Transmetropolitan: Lust for Life by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson
18.) Transmetropolitan Vol. 3 by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson
19.) Stargazer Vol. 1 by Von Allan
20.) Magic Man Plus 15 Tales of Terror by A.P. Fuchs
21.) Madman Vol. 1 by Michael Allred
22.) The Superman Madman Hullabaloo by Mike Allred
23.) The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies by H.G. Wells and Eric S. Brown
24.) King-Cat Classix: The Best of King-Cat Comics and Stories by John Porcellino
25.) Luke’s Story (The Jesus Chronicles) by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (finished from 2009)
26.) Possession of the Dead (Undead World Trilogy, Book 2) by A.P. Fuchs
27.) Transmetropolitan: The New Scum by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson
28.) Transmetropolitan: Lonely City by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson
29.) Transmetropolitan: Gouge Away by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson
30.) Supreme: The Story of the Year by Alan Moore et al.
31.) American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar by Harvey Pekar et al.
32.) Invincible Vol. 1: Family Matters by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker
33.) Invincible Vol. 2: Eight is Enough by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley
34.) The Walking Dead Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore
35.) The Walking Dead Vol. 2: Miles Behind Us by Robert Kirman and Charlie Adlard
36.) Phase 7 #001-004 by Alec Longstreth
37.) Supreme: The Return by Alan Moore et al.
38.) Spawn Vol. 1 by Todd MacFarlane
39.) Spawn Vol. 2 by Todd MacFarlane, Alan Moore and Frank Miller
40.) Our Cancer Year by Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner and Frank Stack
41.) Spawn Vol. 3 by Todd MacFarlane et al.
42.) Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? by Alan Moore and Curt Swan
43.) The Walking Dead Vol. 3: Safety Behind Bars by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard
44.) The Weaponer by Eric S. Brown
45.) Final Crisis by Grant Morrison et al.
46.) Transition: Phase 7 #010-011 by Alec Longstreth
47.) The Black Cat and the Ghoul by Edgar Allan Poe and Keith Gouveia
48.) Making Comics by Scott McCloud

Canister X Newsletter Vol. 1 No. 7

October 2010

As noted in the last newsletter, September was a whirlwind, and in a lot of ways, October was, too. It was very much a month of aftermath of all of September’s hard work.

The beginning of this month was difficult for me after September’s all-out writing-fest. I was pretty burned out and, though I worked during the day, my productivity level was down. Thankfully, by the second week or so, I had recovered.

I launched Possession of the Dead earlier this month, both in print and in eBook. I was also in the newspaper and on the radio. Tonight I’m off to sign books at Coles, then this weekend is the Central Canada Comic Con so I’ll be selling a TON of Coscom books there.

Go, go, go. That seems to be the mantra here.

My wife, Roxy, is in the same boat. She just launched her webcomic, Fuzz Society, and aside from her posts on Tuesday and Thursday, she also got her art ready to sell as prints at the con. We’re off to the printer this afternoon to pick up the hardcopies of issue one, and we’ll be picking up the prints tomorrow. You should also join her Facebook group.

I’m also excited for her because Coles has graciously allowed her to sit in on my signing tonight to hand sell her comic without paying any commission to the store. (Good deal; if I could do that for my own books, I’d avoid that 40% discount they require, but ’tis the biz.)
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Got good news from Hollyweird as there’s been interest in one of Coscom Entertainment’s properties. Here’s hoping the book in question gets optioned for either film or a TV series.
____________________________________

If you haven’t already been tuning in to Zomtropolis every Friday, please do so. My hope is to get the book going twice a week, but until things settle down, I simply can’t. Hopefully at some point during November, but no guarantees.
____________________________________

In reading news, I’ve been gorging (almost literally) on graphic novels. Since I last wrote, I must have read at least five or six of them. For sure I read: Invincible Vols. 1 and 2 by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, The Walking Dead Vols. 1 and 2 by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard, Phase 7 #001-004 by Alec Longstreth. American Splendor by Harvey Pekar et al. is there, too, along with Supreme: The Story of the Year by Alan Moore et al.

All of the above was just terrific. All completely different comics, all differently paced, all with different styles. And they were all pure good.
____________________________________

Also, Axiom-man trading cards came in the mail the other day. He’s part of the massive comic book crossover, War of the Independents. Creators with characters involved who also wanted to be part of the trading card set sent in art for it. In return, we got a free deck of the entire set (50 cards). I also ordered in an extra set at discount and 100 Axiom-man cards for the con this weekend. Not sure if I’ll sell them or give them out as incentives for the books, or whatever. We’ll see.

Speaking of the con again, Axiom-man cover artist Justin Shauf is coming into town. Originally from Saskatchewan, he moved here for school (where I met him), then a few years later he moved back. It’s awesome that we’ve stayed friends for about ten years now despite living so far apart. He’ll have a table in Artist Alley at the con, so if you’re in Winnipeg this weekend, stop on by the Convention Centre and say hello to both of us.
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That’s pretty much it for me. The clock is ticking and there’s loads to do.

Peace out for now.

Best,

A.P. Fuchs
Winnipeg, MB
October 28, 2010

Click Here to Order from Amazon.com

5 out of 5

MegaMan and Lan venture into the UnderNet in this third installment of Ryo Takamisaki’s manga. And it’s this UnderNet (the “under/darker” side of the Cyber Network) that’s the realm of the black shadow and home to PharoahMan, plus four deadly NetNavis that are each more powerful than our blue-clad hero.

This is manga action, bang-bang-bang-zoom!

This third book is the darkest one so far, the majority of the story taking place in the UnderNet. Takamisaki did a fine job when designing this realm of villainy, its awkward shapes and harder angles a sharp contrast to the more round and smooth motif of the Cyber Network. Really an up meets down, white meets black kind of contrast, this difference in places setting the tone of the entire story.

Volume three is a little more goofy, too. Everyone seems to be making jokes, not just Lan and MegaMan. Fortunately, the jokes weren’t campy and I found myself smiling at most of them. Only once or twice did I think, Okay, didn’t really need that joke there.

This story also further explores the Full Synchro concept, where the Netop joins their NetNavi in a NetBattle. Cool stuff.

Don’t expect a resolution to the story though. There’s a cliffhanger ending, but if this latest volume is any indicator, volume four won’t be disappointing.

Click Here to Order from Amazon.com

5 out of 5

In the year 200X, the whole world is connected to the Cyber Network. People jack in to the Net using handheld PCs called PETs, and each person has their own artificially intelligent avatar called a NetNavi.

Lan Hikari’s is MegaMan, a truly sophisticated and powerful NetNavi programmed by his father.

Like any fifth grader in DenTech City, Lan passes the time by having NetBattles with his fellow classmates, pitting MegaMan up against any who would challenge him. The problem is, NetBattling is illegal unless you have a special license. But that’s only part of the Lan’s and MegaMan’s problem. An evil organization called World Three is infecting computers with sinister viruses with the hope of one day taking over the world.

Lan jacks in and sends MegaMan to stop these viruses before it’s too late.

This manga, which is similar to the anime of the same name, was a blast to read. Ryo Takamisaki’s storytelling is topnotch—quick, exciting and a whirlwind of adventure from beginning to end. His art is your classic manga but with a cartoon flare, and the dialogue is perfect, conveying to us everything we need to know about the story, without it coming off as long-winded explanations for “what’s happening.”

The banter between Lan and MegaMan is priceless, even better than in the anime.

This volume also contains a very intriguing cliffhanger ending and a fun bonus story.

Recommended.

The Crow by J. O’Barr is easily one of the greatest graphic novels of all time, and definitely strikes a chord with those of us who have lost someone dear.

Excellent art, brutal, daring, bittersweet and a poignant love story, you need to read this book if you haven’t already.

Though the movie was good, the graphic novel is better.

Click Here to Order from Amazon.com