Had you always planned to move into comic books once you'd been doing sketch card sets on a regular basis?
No, not at all. But, we didn't anticipate our products selling out so quickly, in most cases strictly based on pre-orders. So, the comics are another way to offer the sketch cards. For instance, people have been clamoring for another Zombies vs Cheerleaders sketch card series, but we were not ready to go back to that well so quickly. We figured producing comics and offering new ZvC sketch cards as an incentive was a cool idea. So, for every certain number of copies one orders from 5FINITY directly, you get a sketch card. These sketch cards will be exclusive to each issue and they will all have different designs to set them apart. We plan on offering this incentive on other books, too, such as Moonstone's upcoming Honey West title.
Can you say if the partnership with Moonstone books is ongoing? Will there be more comics based off of the 5FINITY brand: 5FUNITY?
It is. We had a lot of success with our Moonstone Maximum series, featuring The Phantom, Zorro, Domino Lady, Kolchak, and others, and Moonstone is publishing our ZvC title, so it is a good partnership. We might do more comics based on upcoming 5FUNity (our licensed properties) products.
Are there more Zombies vs Cheerleaders books in the works? Can you go into detail about them?
Yes, the book is a bi-monthly title. It is an anthology book, so different writers and artists will be working on it. The stories will be eclectic, but each will feature zombies and cheerleaders. There will be 3-5 variant covers per issue and each issue will have a sketch friendly back cover so fans can get work done on the back at shows and so forth. Writers such as Rich Koslowski and Brandon Jerwa are contributing, as well as artists like Rich Bonk, Ben Glendenning and Mark Bloodworth. Oh, and that Jess Hickman lady.
You're the writer for issue 1. Will you be doing more comic writing in the future?
I think I will have at least one story in every issue. But, we want to mix it up and get as many writers and artists on here as possible.
Will you continue with 5FINITY card sets?
Yes, of course, that is our main objective. We have a great line-up of projects coming down the pike. Dead@17 and another Mandy series this spring and The Pro this summer. One dealer was relaying to me a story of how a buyer wanted a card from a particular artist this dealer had. This collector bought this artist's cards religiously and spared no expense, but balked at buying one of this artist's Voltron sketch cards (just released) because it is a fringe product. We like fringe. That is why we started. The big guys are not going to produce cards for some of these great indie comics or retro cartoons. We will. We're fans first and foremost. By the way, the guy bought the card and the dealer didn't give it away cheap.
Will we see 5FINITY at comic and trading card conventions in the future?
Not likely, only because we don't usually have product to hawk. We offer limited quantites and we have been blessed to sell out in a timely manner. But, we will be at this year's Crypticon in Seattle this summer giving out copies of the ZvC comic because our favorite comic shop is sponsoring it and it is a local show for us. I like to go to the shows and meet the artists and find new talent. I'd rather go as a fan than as a business person.
You have a lot of very talented artists working with your sketch card sets. Would you be open to collaborating with some of them in the future on specific sketch card properties (yours or theirs), and possibly turning those into comic properties?
We are open to a lot of things, as long as they make sense for the market.
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