And there it is … on shelves as we speak.
I snapped this photo at Midtown Comics on Friday April 13th. As I was lining up the shot someone picked a copy from the stack, looked at the cover, flipped through some pages, and added it to their armload of purchases for the week.
The cynic in me says “lucky me, happening upon the stack of Mixtape comics the very moment the one person who bought a copy at that store happened by.” Of course, I got to that store after a couple delays, so the odds are good someone else bought a copy sometime between April 11 and 13. Then again, on the 11th, I witnessed Forbidden Planet sell out of their last copy of Mixtape. They’ve assured me more are on the way, so if you’re looking for a copy, and are NYC based, they’ll fix you up.
Did I mention this was all unexpected?
Diamond, the main comic book distributor told the publisher (who subsequently told me) the date of publication was April 18th. I actually found out through a post on Twitter, where a fan wrote he was thrilled Mixtape #1 finally arrived. Brendan, the book’s editor and co-publisher, found this out while ducking into the shop down the street from his offices, and was informed by the owner he had new book out this week and that said book was selling.
Hopefully this raises the bar on solicits for #2. Second issues typically get a lower number, as the general consensus is that issue #1 is the collector’s item. I also received the final pages for #3 last week, so we have that on the boards too.
[Regarding subsequent issues, I plan on announcing where we’re at with those soon. We’ll be doing something cool in tandem with them, and as issues 4,5, and 6 are probably my favorite of the first arc, I’m as anxious as you to get them out the door]
To be frank, it’s a strange feeling, walking into your local comic book store like you have countless times before, and seeing YOUR BOOK on the shelf along with the other new releases. A book you’ve been thinking and dreaming about for the last three and a half years; a book that, with its publication, finally gives me the right to call myself a comic book creator. At least I think it does — feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
So if you’ve been following my Mixtape antics, I’d appreciate you supporting the book and spreading the word about it. Mixtape has always been a comic book for people who don’t normally buy comic books. As I’ve said before, the characters in Mixtape don’t have super-powers. They don’t fight zombies or date vampires or have crazy adventures. The aim was to tell real stories about real people — people you or I could have known (or indeed may have known) in High School, no matter what your age is now, or what era you were a teen in. So far I’ve received some nice comments about the book on its FB page. One reader wrote “I felt like I was back in high school and I see my old friends in each character.” Another said “It more than lived up to the expectations. Memories have been kickstarted after reading issue one and I am currently playing 7″s on my floor from the 90’s.” That was really the goal with Mixtape. To tell stories that prompt them to do stuff like that — drag out the old 7″s, dust off the boom box and those old cassettes, switch from the morning news on the commute to music. To unlock those memories we all bury, and discover we’ve spent the past twenty years or so running away from our teen years, only to wonder why we ran so fast and so far.On a sidenote, I am talking with a couple local stores about doing a signing. If anybody has any suggestions please message me here.