Gubaba Posted August 31, 2012 Posted August 31, 2012 C'mon, people... can't we just be happy that a Macross Worlder has gotten his book published WITHOUT getting all bitchy about it...?
Gian Posted August 31, 2012 Posted August 31, 2012 Good luck with the sales. I'm not a comic guy myself, but your work looks very well done. Congrats!
badboy00z Posted August 31, 2012 Posted August 31, 2012 Would there be an issue where Captain China and Captain American meet and fight or team up? I wouldn't imagine so because of legal issues but that would be cool to see. lol
Gubaba Posted August 31, 2012 Posted August 31, 2012 No, because it would be like a comic book that glorified the Nazis and the holocaust. I invoke Godwin's law. You lose.
Fly4victory Posted September 1, 2012 Posted September 1, 2012 No point, I'm celebrating the Cultural Revolution! Yay! May Chairman Mao rise from the dead and live on as the son of heaven for a thousand years, leading China on to great prosperity! Dude! Don't know what to think of that. Do you polish that giant Mao head statue in Richmond?
EXO Posted September 1, 2012 Posted September 1, 2012 No, because it would be like a comic book that glorified the Nazis and the holocaust. No politics please. There's a whole thread on nazis on the moon and that one manages to be civil.
sketchley Posted September 1, 2012 Posted September 1, 2012 Whether people were for the book or against the book, my sales still shot through the roof during that time period. So peter, let me politely ask you this question: What else would you like to tell me (or the rest of the world) about China & Mao that you think I wouldn't have heard or expected by now? Careful. Careful. The last time a moderator said no politics and someone continued a political discussion, that someone got banned.
Fly4victory Posted September 1, 2012 Posted September 1, 2012 (edited) no politics By your Command! helped propel my no promotional budget book into becoming a world wide phenomenon. Was the no promotional due to a dislike of hype and marketing? I don't know many writers but the few that I do absolutely hate marketing. Looking at what ‘hype masters’ like Bay produce.... I hope to see more stories that are advanced on merit and not glitz. Edited September 1, 2012 by Fly4victory
cwmodels Posted September 1, 2012 Author Posted September 1, 2012 By your Command! Was the no promotional due to a dislike of hype and marketing? I don't know many writers but the few that I do absolutely hate marketing. Looking at what ‘hype masters’ like Bay produce.... I hope to see more stories that are advanced on merit and not glitz. The reason is very simple. I have NO money. This book was done with a shoe-string budget. Careful. Careful. The last time a moderator said no politics and someone continued a political discussion, that someone got banned. I am not talking about politics. I am talking about sales gimmicks.
EXO Posted September 2, 2012 Posted September 2, 2012 If you have any political views or opinions that are not allowed by the rules of the forums please PM the author directly. Any such talk or encouragement of talk will result in suspension, possible ban if you have been warned before in the past.
Fly4victory Posted September 2, 2012 Posted September 2, 2012 The reason is very simple. I have NO money. This book was done with a shoe-string budget. That being the case, how many e-copies need to sell before hardcopies are printed? I know the 21st century is going paperless but consider all that has already been lost in the technological transfer from film to video tape to DVD.... not just talking about the effects of a strong magnetic field... but of those productions that were 'obscure' productions and considered unworthy of transfer like Tom Selleck's "High Road to China".
cwmodels Posted September 3, 2012 Author Posted September 3, 2012 That being the case, how many e-copies need to sell before hardcopies are printed? I know the 21st century is going paperless but consider all that has already been lost in the technological transfer from film to video tape to DVD.... not just talking about the effects of a strong magnetic field... but of those productions that were 'obscure' productions and considered unworthy of transfer like Tom Selleck's "High Road to China". In general, most digital books sells only 2-3 thousand copies (even for Marvel & DC), so even under best circumstances, digital sales can barely pay for the production of the book. The main problem with printing hard copies is that most small press sells only 5000 to 10000 copies through Diamond Distribution in North America. And even that is hard to reach because Diamond do not help push unknown publishers. So I simply chose not to go to print at the moment due to saving money on printing cost and not having to go through the hassle of dealing with Diamond.
BeyondTheGrave Posted September 3, 2012 Posted September 3, 2012 What about doing a collection of several issues in one printing? Also congrats.
sketchley Posted September 3, 2012 Posted September 3, 2012 (edited) I've always been less than impressed with Diamond's services. Damn you Marvel for f#cking over the industry in the late 90's and ruining Capital City, the superior distributor! There's also print-on-demand services, but the end cost for the user is quite pricey. Not to mention mailing costs. On-line distribution, though limited, is still the best option to reach the title's market. Especially as cwmodels probably doesn't have the money nor space to tie up with the boxes of extra copies that result from print run numbers that give a reasonable print-cost per item (had a friend who did the self-published comic route about a decade and a half ago. She had big boxes in her garage for years. Not sure she ever managed to sell off the excess copies in the end.) cwmodels: have you thought about sponsors/advertising? Aside from the big and obvious insert pages, there's also the more sneaky product placement route (like Tiger Bunny's sponsor logos actually on their superhero uniforms). I remember hearing somewhere that the profits for comics actually comes from the advertisers, not the sales... but that may be more applicable to the majors, who have large print runs and sell at low prices due to retail markup (if memory serves, the company is getting only 1/4 or 1/3 of the cover price, and even then, they still have to pay the printer.) Edited September 3, 2012 by sketchley
Fly4victory Posted September 3, 2012 Posted September 3, 2012 Damn you Marvel Since you cast the first stone at the giant, I have read in some of the other blogs, English and German, that Captain China is just a knock-off of Captain America. OK.... and the Buran wasn't a knock-off of the space shuttle or the Sukhoi T-50 the same of the F-22. Similar technology that looks the same because they are based on the same scientific principles as explained in issue 1: During the cold war each side would want a super solider. What is kind of insulting is that the Ultimates is a knock-off of the Avengers but not many cried foul because Marvel owns both franchises and Colonel Abdul al-Rahman was the worst stereotypical knock-off of Captain America. ------ Yes and for hardcopies, a graphic novel collection starting with the origin story and then following issues with a theme that ties them all together should work if e-sales are high enough. Advertising costs money but just word of mouth alone can get confusing. If you google “Captain China” without comic you get a 1950’s movie. I hope that your venture becomes a success but if it remains on the fringe and there are no hardcopies then in a few years technology will no longer allow your creation to exist. Just imagine what would have become of “The Rocketeer” or “Ninja High School” if they were limited to e-copies or how many books that didn't become popular until long after the author had passed.
Ivan Posted September 3, 2012 Posted September 3, 2012 (edited) Looks like some dudes in Hong Kong have already done a mock up of what the real life version would look like. In case you are wondering, the guy in the pic is a relatively well known actor in Hong Kong Edited September 3, 2012 by Ivan
cwmodels Posted September 3, 2012 Author Posted September 3, 2012 What about doing a collection of several issues in one printing? Also congrats. The first story arc for the series is 12 volumes and there is a clear break dividing the story into 2 parts. So there is already a plan to collect volume 1-6 into book 1 and volume 7-12 into book 2. I've always been less than impressed with Diamond's services. Damn you Marvel for f#cking over the industry in the late 90's and ruining Capital City, the superior distributor! There's also print-on-demand services, but the end cost for the user is quite pricey. Not to mention mailing costs. On-line distribution, though limited, is still the best option to reach the title's market. Especially as cwmodels probably doesn't have the money nor space to tie up with the boxes of extra copies that result from print run numbers that give a reasonable print-cost per item (had a friend who did the self-published comic route about a decade and a half ago. She had big boxes in her garage for years. Not sure she ever managed to sell off the excess copies in the end.) cwmodels: have you thought about sponsors/advertising? Aside from the big and obvious insert pages, there's also the more sneaky product placement route (like Tiger Bunny's sponsor logos actually on their superhero uniforms). I remember hearing somewhere that the profits for comics actually comes from the advertisers, not the sales... but that may be more applicable to the majors, who have large print runs and sell at low prices due to retail markup (if memory serves, the company is getting only 1/4 or 1/3 of the cover price, and even then, they still have to pay the printer.) Since I do have a small anime shop now, I have started looking into print on demand. That may come about very soon becasue I now have ways to move physical copies of the book. Sponsorship and advertisement can only be done when you can sell enough print runs to convince the advertisers that their products can be seen by a certain number of audience or target age group. Marvel & DC can do it because they have years of statistics and sales to back it up. Since you cast the first stone at the giant, I have read in some of the other blogs, English and German, that Captain China is just a knock-off of Captain America. OK.... and the Buran wasn't a knock-off of the space shuttle or the Sukhoi T-50 the same of the F-22. Similar technology that looks the same because they are based on the same scientific principles as explained in issue 1: During the cold war each side would want a super solider. What is kind of insulting is that the Ultimates is a knock-off of the Avengers but not many cried foul because Marvel owns both franchises and Colonel Abdul al-Rahman was the worst stereotypical knock-off of Captain America. ------ Yes and for hardcopies, a graphic novel collection starting with the origin story and then following issues with a theme that ties them all together should work if e-sales are high enough. Advertising costs money but just word of mouth alone can get confusing. If you google “Captain China” without comic you get a 1950’s movie. I hope that your venture becomes a success but if it remains on the fringe and there are no hardcopies then in a few years technology will no longer allow your creation to exist. Just imagine what would have become of “The Rocketeer” or “Ninja High School” if they were limited to e-copies or how many books that didn't become popular until long after the author had passed. The funny thing is, there was a very distinctively different reaction to Captain China from the Chinese and the Americans. Taiwan Yahoo was the first to break the new and they simply cried foul toward the character due to the fact they thought it was a book created and produced in Mainland China. The early articles that circulated were all misinformation but it reflected the political stance Taiwan have against China. A lot of the fan reactions from China were actually quite supportive toward the idea that they finally have their own super hero (and having a comic book that actually has some professional quality to it - they also thought it was produced in China). The Hong Kong fans were dissecting the book trying to figure out who created it and where it is from and to their credit did have a lot of correct info in their discussion. The American reactions range from a full out blind hatred against communism and Chinese piracy to finding the concept quite amusing or being really favorable toward the character. The book somehow brought out all kinds of emotions and political views and it is something that I have not witnessed in American comics for the past 20 years. If you are a long time American comic reader, you know both Marvel & DC have been ripping off each other for ideas and characters since the beginning of time. There is absolutely nothing new under the sun in the super hero genre. The real trick is in repackaging, restructuring, and updating for each new generation of fans. But since most Chinese have never really been exposed to American super heros besides seeing the recent movies, they just don't grasp way American comics are handled. But within the first issue story, I already address the fact that Captain China is a failed copy of the American counterpart. So people calling him a knock-off is quite accurate! Looks like some dudes in Hong Kong have already done a mock up of what the real life version would look like. In case you are wondering, the guy in the pic is a relatively well known actor in Hong Kong Yeah, saw that before, kinda funny.
Golden Arms Posted September 3, 2012 Posted September 3, 2012 Hello CW, Good luck with the comic. The idea of a chinese superhero marketed to mainland chinese readers is brilliant. I'm not that familiar with what many chinese read, do they have any equivalents to American or Japanese comic books? Have you thought about trying to get your book published in any major chinese websites? If you went to print, what are your thoughts on having the book collected in a manga format?
Fly4victory Posted September 4, 2012 Posted September 4, 2012 Yes, I know you had addressed this in the first issue but the bonus is your posting more art from the book. Don't like the real world mock-up. He needs the cross breasted jacket and a broom handle pistol. I get to be the first to say, stay true to the comic.
EXO Posted September 4, 2012 Posted September 4, 2012 Did they make Gollum on that EW cover Chinese also?
cwmodels Posted September 5, 2012 Author Posted September 5, 2012 Hello CW, Good luck with the comic. The idea of a chinese superhero marketed to mainland chinese readers is brilliant. I'm not that familiar with what many chinese read, do they have any equivalents to American or Japanese comic books? Have you thought about trying to get your book published in any major chinese websites? If you went to print, what are your thoughts on having the book collected in a manga format? Thanks. China do have comic books over there but are heavily influence by Japanese Manga. And generally very poor in it's production and entertainment value. I have thought about publishing on Chinese websites but have not found the right/suitable sites yet. I have no problem collecting the book into a Manga format. Did they make Gollum on that EW cover Chinese also? I think so!
cwmodels Posted February 11, 2013 Author Posted February 11, 2013 I originally planned to have the second volume of Captain China released by August 2012, but a lot of unforeseen events delayed its production. But it's finally out and here is the cover! Captain China Volume 2: "I am China!"A mysterious man from Captain China's past reappears to challenge him! Two super-powered beings from the Enhanced Soldier Project must now fight for the honor of becoming China's Greatest Super Hero!Captain China is a propaganda-styled comic series aimed at capturing the main-stream consciousness of China. The stories will reflect and give insight into China's current political stance, social environment, and cultural differences by combining complex characters, historical information, geographic locations, comic satire, and over-the-top explosive action! The comic book is presented in full color for Amazon's Kindle Devices. But for those who do not own a Kindle or any other digital readers, you may download either "Kindle Reading App" or "MobiPocket Reader" for FREE to view the book after purchase from Amazon. Captain China volume 2 Purchase Link:http://www.amazon.com/Captain-China-Volume-2-ebook/dp/B00BD2394S/Kindle Reading Apphttp://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771MobiPocket Reader http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/default.asp?Language=EN
Old_Nash Posted February 12, 2013 Posted February 12, 2013 WOW!!!! Have a Vol. 2 XD Crossover with Ultiverse?
slaginpit Posted February 12, 2013 Posted February 12, 2013 (edited) Ah jingoism ..... And why isnt this thread locked? Edited February 12, 2013 by slaginpit
terry the lone wolf Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 Looks good. Reminds me a little of Fist of the North Star..
peter Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 Ah jingoism ..... And why isnt this thread locked? Haha, you can't talk about politics here, but for some reason, you can talk about a comic that is TOTALLY POLITICAL, yet if you critisize the comic for what it is - printed POLITCAL matter, you get your post deleted, censored, if you will, just like the very government this comic book is about. Why this thread wasn't locked from the beginning is beyond me.
Agent ONE Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 Ah jingoism ..... And why isnt this thread locked? Locked!? Would we lock a thread about Captain America. I could call Captain America jingoist also. This isn't political guys. China is growing and is a proud nation. Lets be happy for their people and their comics.
azrael Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 If you don't intend to read the book, aren't interested in comic books, nor interested in cwmodels artwork or trials and tribulations of getting a book published, then refrain from posting.
cwmodels Posted February 14, 2013 Author Posted February 14, 2013 WOW!!!! Have a Vol. 2 XD Crossover with Ultiverse? Technically I've got 36 issued planned for the entire story. So far artwork for Volume 3 & 4 are already in the can and Volume 5 is currently in production. By the way, here is Captain China's facebook page, I've got some pages from book 2 uploaded there. Just look into album section if you are interested: http://www.facebook.com/capchina
Gubaba Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 Haha, you can't talk about politics here, but for some reason, you can talk about a comic that is TOTALLY POLITICAL, yet if you critisize the comic for what it is - printed POLITCAL matter, you get your post deleted, censored, if you will, just like the very government this comic book is about. Why this thread wasn't locked from the beginning is beyond me. Well, there are rules in place about attacking other members, aren't there?
peter Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 (edited) Well, when you have a comic book that glorifies a government that’s responsible for the death of tens of millions, you start to wonder if maybe someone wrote a comic book about the Nazis or the Taliban maybe it would get the same support? (Mao:45,000,000 Hitler:12,000,000) And have we completely glanced over the fact that this comic book is about POLITICS??? So, we're not allowed to talk about politics here, but we're allowed to talk about a comic that's about politics, that makes sense. Personally, i'd like to be able to talk about gun control laws and how stupid they are over in the weapons banter thread, but since it's political, we can't talk about it. Why aren't we allowed to talk about politics? Why can't we talk about religion? Because we don't want to start topics that offend people right? Well, as a person of Chinese ethnicity, I find it offensive that this comic book even exists, let alone the fact that it's being actively promoted here. I find it as vile as a Jewish person would towards a comic book about Captain Holocaust. If we're allowed to talk about this comic book, then I think we should level the playing field and open the floodgates to allow other politcial and religious discussions, including why people hate Harmony Gold, Robotech and Macross 7. The same arguement could be made of any such topics "If you don't plan on supporting the neo nazis, please don't come into this thread, it may contain material that could be offensive to you" Edited February 14, 2013 by peter
sketchley Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 Peter, this isn't a topic about the real world. It's about a comic book. I (and I suspect a bunch of other people) are getting fed up with posts that not only have nothing to do with the topic, but continually say the exact same argument that was posted last April. We get that you have rage. This is not the venue to vent it. Cwmodels, keep up the good work, and your posts on the challenges and success of getting this out there are always entertaining. One question: this latest cover strongly reminds me of the Japanese sentai hero "Kamen Rider". Have you been continuing in a sentai-styled approach to villain design, or have you gone a different route, say something reminiscent of the legendary Chinese hero/villain designs, like iHong Kong's Legend of Emperors (天子傳奇)?
peter Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 (edited) Peter, this isn't a topic about the real world. It's about a comic book. I (and I suspect a bunch of other people) are getting fed up with posts that not only have nothing to do with the topic, but continually say the exact same argument that was posted last April. We get that you have rage. This is not the venue to vent it. Cwmodels, keep up the good work, and your posts on the challenges and success of getting this out there are always entertaining. One question: this latest cover strongly reminds me of the Japanese sentai hero "Kamen Rider". Have you been continuing in a sentai-styled approach to villain design, or have you gone a different route, say something reminiscent of the legendary Chinese hero/villain designs, like iHong Kong's Legend of Emperors (天子傳奇)? So, you're saying that a comic book about Captain Holocaust hunting Jews is perfectly alright because it's not the real world? You're right, this is not the place to vent about it, because I think it should have been locked in the first place. Lock a thread over someone who lists why they hate M7, but allow a comic book that praises the Chi-Comm government that slaughtered milliions, that's just gravy man. Next time I see a a person who had family who was a victim of 9/11, should I roll my eyes and say "I understand you have rage, get over it"? The very nature of this comic book is political, so why isn't this thread locked? Where is the line drawn? What if Neo-nazis, the Taliban and the KKK had comic books? Can we post them here and talk about the comic, and not the content? Ho-ho-ho, it's just a comic, it's not real. Well, it was pretty damn real for at least 45 million Chinese that died as a result of this government. Forty-five million, do you understand this number? Let me put this in fantasy world language for you, that number is a lot higher than all the orcs and men that died in Lord of the Rings. As an American, as yourself how you would feel if there was a Manga or comic about Tojo merrily bombing not only Pearl Harbour, but other American cities as an alternate reality You wouldn't have to ask yourself that because not even the Japanese would come up with something like that, it's absurd, just like this comic book. Edited February 14, 2013 by peter
EXO Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 Wait a minute. I just went thru the thread and guess who is the one that started talking politics and is insisting on continuing. Several warnings have been posted on this thread. Don't post or even read it if you can't keep your personal feelings out.
Recommended Posts