The Outer Box

Local independent comic publisher Chalkline Studios will be releasing the the third comic anthology Unleashed. I sat down with founders Rob Jones and David King to find out what Unleashed is all about…

OB: Give us an brief overview of Chalkline Studios…

DK: Chalkline is a group of up and coming comic book artists and writers that got together to have an outlet to create our own stories.
RJ: ChalkLine Studios is a group of artists here in Jacksonville who all wanted to put out some comic books, so rather then do it on our own we joined up and developed the anthology book “Unleashed”.

OB: Tell us how you guys got the idea to start Chalkline Studios…

DK: I think the idea came from all of us hanging out at Comics & Classics (R.I.P) Everyone just hung out and talked comics and did sketches. The next natural progression was to start creating our own stories. Rob had already self published, so we latched on to him and got started.
RJ: The group started when our friends opened a comic shop at the beach (Which unfortunately has since closed) and we all started to meet up there. We all sat around and talked about doing something together and then finally we stopped talking and started drawing! Book 1 was completed pretty much on the tables of the comic shop and at the Mudville Grill (Where Beach and Atlantic meet) where we have our Wednesday night get-togethers. If your reading this and are a local artist interested in comics feel free to stop by- We’re there every Wednesday around 8!

OB: Tell us about “Unleashed”…How did you guys come up with the name(for both Chalkline and Unleashed)?

RJ: I think it was David who came up with ChalkLine… He can tell ya more about that one! I think I came up with Unleashed, but again it’s hard to tell since we were floating so many ideas at the time… Some of the rejected ones may show up at another time though… Take Luck Studios, or Poor Precious… Great names!!!
DK: We wanted to do an anthology book, because one team doing a full 22 page book is very tough. We also wanted everyone to get a chance to be in print. I think I came up with the name Chalkline, I honestly don’t remember where it came from. We seemed to have a lot of darker horror type stories, so I think the idea came from a crime scene chalk outline. Unleashed is the book itself, and I think Rob came up with that name, because there is a lot of new talent being unleashed with this book.

OB: What are the future plans for the company?

DK: Well we have 3 completed books in our first year. That is big accomplishment for a start up studio, our next step is national distribution. Rob and I have already made some progress in that area and we should be getting that started with our fourth book. We also are looking at possibly putting out some trades and collections. I don’t want to sprint before we walk, but there is some exciting things coming up!
RJ:The future plans for ChalkLine are to continue doing anthology books and to collect the completed stories into trades or stand-alone comics when there’s enough material. The next big step is to get national distribution, which we are in the process of doing now so we should have books on store shelves nationwide by years end! I wish I could say that we have a grand plan for how the books come together but really when someone shows up to our meetings with a cool idea it basically comes down to how many pages are going to be in each issue. Issue 3 was interesting because we had so many stories come in that we had to bump our 2 regular stories (GearShift Jitters and my story Perfect Storm) to the next issue.

OB:How many artists do you have contributing to the comic? What are some of the recurring stories/characters?

DK: Actually right now, we have more writers than artists, that is very rare! I think we have about 6 artists and about 10 or 11 writers. So the artists in our group work their drawing hands to the bone! The only two stories that are reoccurring are Perfect Storm, by Rob Jones, and Gearshift Jitters, by Cesar Corderro.

OB: What do you guys do to promote the comics?

DK: We make convention appearances to promote the book. We also link our Myspace to any site that the individual studio members have. Once we get in the Distribution catalog, I’m going to get the phone and start pushing the book to any comic shop that will listen.
RJ: To promote the comics we try to attend as many conventions as we can, as well as publicize them on our individual web sites (Oscarandsid.com, perfectstormpublishing.com), myspace pages, facebook pages, and blogs.

OB: What is the convention atmosphere like as a independent publisher?

DK: It’s pretty cool, it’s kind of surreal to be sitting on the other side of the table. It’s a long weekend though, you really do get worn out by Sunday. I really enjoy interacting with the fans that come by. When you draw a comic book or comic strip, you don’t get much interaction with your fan base. This is a great way to get an idea of where you stand!
RJ: Conventions are both fun and hard work at the same time. Fun that you get to see people that you don’t see often and meet artists who’s work you admire, but also hard work because your constantly selling- Pushing your book and yourself to new people who don’t really know who you are yet. If your not good at that it’s very stressful- It’s no problem though for David…

OB:Which is your favorite convention so far?

DK: It has to be Heroes in Charlotte! It is just about comics not the Anime thing. It also seems to be a convention that is for artists to be fans! It’s the best by far!
RJ: My favorite convention by far is HeroesCon in Charlotte. It’s a fun, family run show where everybody is there to have a good time and it shows. Other good shows include the Pittsburgh show and our own MegaCon, held in Orlando in February/March. They are trying out a second show this year August 22 and 23rd and it’s the last show of the season for most of us so your readers should definitely come out- It’s a great time!!!

OB:When are your next appearances?

DK: Heroes is this coming weekend in Charlotte. Our next convention will be Mini Megacon in Orlando, That is this August. I think we are also working on some local comic shop appearances.
RJ: Well, our next appearance is HeroesCon in Charlotte next weekend (June 19-21) where we will be debuting issue 3, then August in Orlando where the plan is to have issue 4. I will be heading up to the Pittsburgh show in September, but as far as the whole group I think Heroes and Mini-Mega in August are our only 2 shows left for the year.

OB: Tell us about Oscar and Sid.

DK: Oscar & Sid is my daily web comic. I have posted around 215 strips, and there is brand new one 7 days a week! Oscar & Sid has their first ever collection coming out this summer. It is going to be called, Oscar & Sid: And it Was Good. I am in talks with a few different syndication companies to be published in a few newspapers, here’s hoping that works. I’m also getting interviewed for the Florida Times Union this week, so check out the website and I will link the interview to it. My site is www.oscarandsid.com TELL A FRIEND!!

OB:Thanks for taking the time to talk to the Outer Box!-eb5k

For a sneak peek at some of the pages click here!