 |
| about
this issue Indie Comic Creator Interviews: Jay Payne Steven Myers William Dean Blankenship, Jr Ted Intorcio Lucas Herr Troy-Jeffrey Allen Jeff Gibbons Brian Hagen Nils Balls Eric Grissom Eric Ratcliffe Steve Peters |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
May 2013
Name: Ted Intorcio
City: Denver CO
Comics: Homesick (publisher), Head & Torso, Bright Futures
Websites: www.Tintopress.com
QRD – How old were you when you first got into comics & did you always stick with them or did you come back to them?
Ted – I first found comics when I was around 12 when a comic book shop opened in my neighborhood. I fell out of comics gradually. I read very few of them in college, mainly because I had no money. It wasn’t until I moved to Denver in ‘05 that I gave them another try & discovered the world of non-superhero comics that has fueled my interest to the present day.
QRD – What was the first comic book you ever bought?
Ted – It was probably a Captain America or Spider-Man or something.
QRD – How old were you when you put out your first comic?
Ted – I guess I did a really crappy little comic as part of an anthology that my local comic shop put out. I think I was 13 or 14.
QRD – What decade do you think produced the best comics?
Ted – This one! I’m finding new stuff all the time that I’m really amazed by. I just read a book by Julia Wertz that’s da bomb!
QRD – Why comics instead of just writing or drawing?
Ted – I dunno, why movies? why music? painting? It speaks to me as a medium. It’s possibilities, endless.
QRD – Do you see mini-comics & indie comics as paths to mainstream comics or as their own unique media?
Ted – They are unique. I think superhero comics are dead/dying. They have no future because they don’t create anything new. They are a never-ending soap opera that recycles the same air that was fresh in 1963. I do think that indie comics inform mainstream comics a great deal though.
QRD – How many copies of your comic do you print in your first run?
Ted – It depends on how I’m going to try to sell it. If I’m trying for distribution, I’ll print 500 on the first round & get an ISBN, write a press release, etc. etc. If it’s my own personal stuff, maybe 50 or 100 that I can sell to my friends & at shows.
QRD – How much do you think comics should cost?
Ted – I wish comics could be cheap & I long for the days when I could get a couple of comics for a buck. That’s just not in the cards in today’s economy. I think it’s important to try to price them as low as possible & still make a profit or at least break even. When you’re dealing with wholesale & distribution you have to figure about 3x the print cost in order to at least break even.
QRD – How many books do you produce a year & how many would you like to?
Ted – I only do two or three a year, but I would love to publish 20 or 30 & develop my publishing business to be my sole means of income.
QRD – Do you think stories should be serialized or delivered as complete works?
Ted – However the creator wants to.
QRD – How long is it from when you start a comic until it’s printed?
Ted – It usually takes a couple of months at least.
QRD – What do you do better with your comics now than when you first started?
Ted – I think the act of doing comics is always improving them on every level.
QRD – Do you do thumbnails?
Ted – I do. It’s important to design the page before you do a finished page. Some people can do that in their head. I can’t
QRD – At what size do you draw?
Ted – I draw (roughly) at a 10x14” size for reproduction at 6x9” digest size.
QRD – What kind of pens do you use?
Ted – I like the Pentel Pocket Brush, the Windsor Newton Series Seven #2 Brush & Speedball Ink. Any kind of pens are great.
QRD – What does your workstation look like?
Ted – It looks like a couch with a TV in front of it
QRD – At what point in the artistic process do you work digitally?
Ted – After it’s inked
QRD – What do you think of digital comics & webcomics?
Ted – They’re great! Though I prefer print.
QRD – Do you prefer working in color or black & white?
Ted – No.
QRD – Ideally would you self-publish?
Ted – I used to think it would be nice to have someone else pay for it, but now I think I prefer to have the control in publishing
QRD – What conventions do you try to attend & why?
Ted – I like SPX. I go to Denver Comicon because it’s close & not a bad con. I’d like to go to CAKE, MOCCA, & TCAF.
QRD – What do you do to promote your books?
Ted – Press releases, review copies sent out, webpage, Facebook ads, convention tables, approach comic shops....
QRD – Do you consider yourself a comic collector or a comic reader or both?
Ted – I used to be a collector. Now I’m a reader who needs to purge every so often. :)
QRD – What would you like to see more people doing with comics?
Ted – I love biographical/autobio comics, but I would like to see people steer away from fantasy & stop trying to make their work look like everyone else’s. Everyone has this wonderful, unique point of view & that’s what I want to see in comics.
QRD – Anything else?
Ted – Don’t be afraid of a day job.
