First, I’d just like to say hi to all who read this journal and let everybody who has posted in the comment sections know how much I enjoy the feedback and, in some cases, additional knowledge you give me—a special hallo to Dahlia who is the only one to comment on my most infamous entry, “Spent all my money on booze and strippers.”

So, you may or may not know this, but the primary reason for the existence of Jennworks.com is to provide a home for my comic, Dicebox. The thing is, it was Dicebox and the time I need to dedicate to it that inspired me to begin this journal, as a way to keep my various and sundry dear ones apprised of my doings and random musings as I attempt to sequester myself to do comics.

And it’s Dicebox that I am here to talk about. A few months back, I had the pleasure and honor to be invited to join Girlamatic.com,
the latest Modern Tales subscription site. After some back-and-forth with the site‘s editor, Lea Hernadez, I accepted and signed the contract.

What does this mean? Well, beginning with chapter 3, it means that you will have to pay a monthly or annual subscription fee, $2.95 a month or $29.95 for the year if you want access to the archives. The first two chapters will remain free and open to the public at Girlamatic.com as well as here on Jennworks.com, but in order to read the archives from Chapter 3 on, you will have to be a member. Actually, each new page will be free to the public for a week—until the next update—but then into the members-only archive it will go.

I was a bit torn about the decision to move to Girlamatic, but not too much. I admit, my first hesitation was in response to a women’s web cartoonists site. I mean, I’m a cartoonist first, woman second!

There were a couple of things that softened my stance when Lea approached me, the first being, as Lea has pointed out time and again, it’s a women-focused website, as opposed to Women Only. This does mean a predispotion of inviting women cartoonists and exploring those type of stories designated as women’s interest—for all that means. But men cartoonists were not excluded out
of hand. The second was the line-up she had secured. Other Girlamatic cartoonistsinclude: André • Donna Barr • Kris Dresen
• the team of Shaenon Garrity and Vera Brosgol • Rachel Hartman • Jesse Hamm • Jen Wang • Lisa Jonté • Layla Lawlor • Carla
Speed McNeil • Dylan Meconis • Jason Thompson • Harley Sparx • Spike.

And if that wasn’t enough to convince me, then there was the brouhaha on various forums criticizing a website and concept as yet unseen. Keeping in mind that I already said yes, after reading what I did in the various threads, I suspect I would have joined partly to spite such faulty arguments. I won’t go into the gory details, but one poster said that it would be different if they were proposing a story genre site, say, Science Fiction. This from the side decrying Girlamatic as a Ghetto. Dicebox is technically Science Fiction, but I wouldn’t say it fulfills the general expectations of Science Fiction, especially in a visual media. Not only would it be an uneasy fit for me, I wouldn’t be reaching the majority of what I imagine my audience being.

Honestly, there is something to be said about being able to point to a cartoonist collective of, say, fifteen artists and have twelve be women and three be men instead of the other way around. Comics being still quite a male-dominated field, no one blinks an eye at a grouping of, say, twelve impressive male cartoonists. The women always seem to be sprinkled through out, something of oddities. It‘s a pity that there is still a point to make about this, but one of the ways to get over the hump is to explore dynamics like Girlamatic.

Regardless, it’s going to be an awesome anthology site. The last anthology that I was consistently impressed with in regards to consistent high talent and story quality was a print comic put out by Eclipse in the late ’80s called the Dreamery. It was in this book that I first encountered Donna Barr’s Stinz, as well as Lela Dowling with “Alice in Wonderland” and “Weasel Patrol,” Cathy Hill‘s “Mad Raccoons,” and Diane Duanes’s “The Tale of Prince Ivan the Not-Too-Experienced.”

For me, comics on the web is all about breaking out of ghettos, cliques and preconceptions. Not only in story types or interactive possibilities but in how one approaches the story itself and fundamentally tell it. I was very gratified by a recent review of Dicebox by Kelly J. Cooper in the most recent Comixpedia– beyond the very flattering things she had to say, she clearly understood that
I am in no hurry to get to the meat of the story. In fact, the title of Book 1, Wander, is a pretty good descriptor of the story and plot. This holds true for the titles of the other three books that will comprise Dicebox, so much so that they are almost spoilers. And actually, I‘m not sure Wander has a plot per se—but it does have a direction.

The bottom line is that I don‘t have to come up with a zip-bang-pow first issue in order to grab my audience at the expense of my story. Because, just like Wander, the title of the first chapter, “Pre-ramble” is pretty much truth in advertising. And yes, there is the legitimate idea of doing one’s graphic novel to completion before release, but it was the isolation that was hampering my output these last several years.

Kelly Cooper also had a legitimate point in the fact that the story works much better in good-size chunks as opposed to the one-page weekly installments. So why not wait until I get a chapter at a time done, in the fashion of Justine Shaw? Well, personally, for me, it‘s good to have the little goals and a consistent schedule. Also, the Chapters will range anywhere from 16 to 45 pages each, which goes back to the whole isolation problem. (Oh, and did I mention the terrific sense of freedom in allowing one’s chapter length
not be constrained by a printer’s spread?)

Besides, an internet audience is pretty forgiving, partly because it‘s free, to be sure. And, according to my statistic report, a good number are willing to stop by every week to check things out. Which I honestly appreciate beyond the active interest—keeps me honest and gives extra meaning to a self-imposed deadline on a project that I under take after a day job and the mundane chores that comprise life.

Then there’s the freedom in the art, to be sure. Beyond the freedom to do color, I felt I have had the chance to figure out how to do the type of art and rendering I want and then explore what direction I ultimately want to take it. This has led to some discrepancies in the art—as Erika Moen noticed and pointed out in a post on the Pants Press Forum, citing how “at times the positioning of hairlines and other minute things of that sort shift around.” Honey, that ain’t the half of it— color palettes, face lengths, texture techniques and approaches to the line art vary throughout. About eighty percent is due to my experimenting somewhat while allowing the story to continue forward.
Then there’s drawing things I never had cause to draw before—space ships, dimly lit hall ways and fight scenes. I do plan to go back through earlier pages and spend the half-hour to four hours to get each to be acceptable to me, even redraw the odd panel. Which, as I haven‘t yet committed to a print debt, I can.

The thing that really came close to making me hesitate joining was that I had always planned on leaving the first three chapters of Dicebox free to the public, mostly in consideration of my slow plot build, but also because I do believe that by the end of Chapter 3 I will be hitting my stride artistically speaking.

But beyond the honor of being invited to join Girlamatic, there is the issue of what I affectionately call my encroaching bandwidth problem. I am now at the max allowance of bandwidth I can buy reasonably–the next step would be a secure server or high use fees. On the one hand, it’s kinda cool that I have put out a good amount of work that an ever-increasing audience is reading. On the other hand…

There are certain very practical advantages to moving Dicebox to Girlamatic. Beyond having my web hosting effectively subsidized, I stand the chance to to make some money. Probably not a lot, but enough that I won’t feel obligated to to take the odd freelance job that comes my way and instead stay focused on Dicebox. Then there’s the possibility of reaching an even bigger audience. And! (my readers should love this) I am under contract to update on a certain day of the week, every week!

On that note, allow me to use this Journal for it’s original purpose:

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope all is well with you. If you do not hear from me over the next few weeks, it is due to the fact that I have to do an insane amount of art between now and March 31st, the launch date of Girlamatic.com. I look forward to visiting
with you all almost as much as sleep.

Much love,
Jenn