The Tick wants your help

***UPDATE***

(Tick sneak previews below…right after the info you need to get it/rant about independent publishing)

When you have things published in the comic book industry and you are not part of the big 2 ( Marvel and DC) you have to work your ass off, take no chances, and get a lot of help.

That first one might be an unfair shot at people who work in the big 2 who also work their ass off. Some of them do great work. Some of them just coast and bask in the glow, and lie to themselves about the value of their contribution because the fact of the matter is, they are working on “insert 50 year old character here” and they will get many thousands readers no matter how awful their work is because there are 50 years of people with an emotional investment in that character and they will buy that book because they love the character and if your work sucks…they’ll just push through until someone better takes on the reigns. So some of them don’t do great work. some of them. There is a safety net of generations of readers with the big 2, is my point.

Publishing independently is another matter. You are at the beginning of something and every aspect of the book has to be better, or at least different in some way than everything that came before it…otherwise, what reason does anyone have to pick it up instead of something they already know about?

Publishing something for the big two is like a boxing match, it takes a level of skill, but as long as you show up for the match, you’re getting a paycheck. Publishing independently is like a knife fight in an alley…you come out on top or you die.

Even with a book like The Tick, you can’t take chances. It may be an even more precarious predicament. A lot of people know and love The Tick, but most of them know of him from T.V. Many may not even know he is a comic book character. Those people and even the ones who know, have to be informed that a new series is starting. This is the “more precarious” part. The Tick is well know and will get some notice, but he’s not as well know as most of the big 2’s characters. The Tick is relatively young, but not brand new. The book isn’t a plucky underdog and it’s not Batman. It’s an independent book competing directly with the big 2 for exposure. The worst scenario would be for everyone who loves The tick to assume it can live off it’s own reputation and doesn’t need their help spreading the word.

The Tick has had a cartoon, and now two t.v. shows. If this was 1990 that would make it a big fish in a small pond. But it’s 2017 and that just makes it a medium sized fish in the Atlantic ocean.

So, I hope you’ll understand that I’m going to raise hell about this non-stop and ask you to spread the word as well. This is a knife fight, and I’m not going to stop stabbing until someone pulls me off the body.

This brings us to the semi confusing way in which comic books are ordered.

The Tick is in the distributors catalogue now. This is the catalogue stores order from. Stores order, the distributor gives the count to the publisher, the publisher sends the books, then you get them at your store.

Success or failure is going on RIGHT…NOW. Right now is when everyone who wants The Tick to have a nice long successful run needs to make sure their store knows about it. That catalogue it is in, is the size of a NY phone book, so just assuming stores have noticed The Tick is not a good policy.

All the info you or any store could need is below. If you don’t have a local store there are plenty of online comic shops that will place the order for you now (NOW). Pretty much all of those online stores are good. Like…if you wanted to make money scamming people online, setting up a front to fake order 4.00 comic books isn’t the way you’d go about it. But if you want a recommendation, this store here is solid and I’ve used them before.

and if anyone wants an interview for their website, just let me know at douglaspasz at arseniclullabies . com.

Below is the page of the catalogue featuring The Tick no.1 Most stores only need to know it is published by New England Comics, but just in case…here’s a shot of the whole thing.

*Here’s a link to that page in case you wanna email it to anyone

There is the cover you see above and an alternative cover (below). I don’t actually know how you order that cover, maybe it comes out later?…I’ll try to find out for you.