All the line art for Volume 2 is done; Ronda is coloring the fifth and final issue; and soon Jeff will make my dialog look like it’s worth reading. We are on track to have everything ready on schedule. Maybe a little early. Team Robo loves you that much. Kinda like a Skrull god.

Volume 2 Issue #3 comes out in a couple weeks — Oct 15th, mark your damn calendars! I’m curious what the reaction will be. Every issue of this volume is faster and crazier than the one before it. Issue #3 is the divide between the somewhat realistic walking tank action of the first two issues and the vat-grown soldiers and intercontinental rail guns you’ll find on the other side. Y’know, the stuff They keep out of the history books.

Meanwhile, I have turned my attentions toward Volume 3: Atomic Robo and the Shadow From Beyond Time. It’s another five issue series. The structure is something of a mix between Vol 1’s time-hopping and the thematic cohesion of Vol 2. Which basically translates to time hops starting in the 1920s and ending in the modern day with a common thread that ties every issue together.

This just in: we’re participating in FCBD ‘09 with an 8-page story. I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about it, but I will ’cause it involves a character I’ve been trying to introduce since the first volume, Dr. Dinosaur. I’m not sure what else Red 5 will pack with our story, but I assume it’ll be some of the new titles they’ve got in the works. Like Brothers Gemini why not. I read the first issue a few days ago and would be very pleased if Robo’s FCBD story were to be used as a gateway drug for it. There’s another title they’re trying to get into print, a webcomic, that could benefit hugely from some delicious FCBD exposure. I’ve been wanting to tell you guys about it since San Diego, but I’m sworn to secrecy on that one for now. And, no, it’s not 8-bit Theater, it’s a webcomic that deserves to be in print.

You may remember that Diamond worked out a deal with Red 5 to keep up to 250 copies of Atomic Robo and the Fightin’ Scientists of Tesladyne in stock at all times. If they dipped under a certain target number, they’d automatically order back up to 250 copies in addition to whatever was needed to fill orders. The idea was that this would solve the problem of Diamond showing that Robo v1 was out of stock, therefore unavailable, therefore 95% of retailers wouldn’t bother to order it, therefore Diamond wouldn’t get more, etc.

Well, that plan worked. For one day. That’s how long it took Diamond to sell all of their reserves. Red 5 Comics was able to work out a new deal with Diamond. It’s the same as the old plan, only now they’re keeping 900 copies in reserve.

So, retailers. I say to you. If you’ve had trouble getting the first volume of our trade, then now is the time to order.

Scott and I stumbled across this blog where a seven year old reviews comics. We wanted to ask them to review Atomic Robo, but they beat us to the punch! I don’t know why, but this review means a lot to me. I guess it’s confirmation that we’re on track.

Moving on to our next issue: it was supposed to come out this week but some kind of delay at the printer has put us back to next week. I assume it’s a delay at the printer because we turned in everything for this issue early, like we normally do, so whatever’s going on has nothing to do with Team Robo.

But let’s look at the bright side. That just gives you an extra week to bask in advance reviews! …C’mon, people. Work with me here, I need a positive spin on this!

Comics Bulletin must have liked Dogs of War #2. They gave us our highest score yet over there! Kleefeld gave us a right nice review as well. I always enjoy that he picks up on the characterization I sprinkle into every issue of Atomic Robo. A lot of reviewers seem to think that characterization is something you can only do once you’ve paused the story or action to take the reader aside and tell them “Spider-Man feels guilty” or whatever. Kleefeld doesn’t make that mistake. As Dwight Moody and Lord John Whorfin tell us, “Character is who you are in the dark”. Well, character is also how you choose to bludgeon a giant ant to death.

As the myths go, someone asked Scott what he thought about Kirkman’s little speech. This was a couple weeks ago now, so in internet time it took place somewhere in the previous Ice Age. But Scott promised we’d talk about it, and so we are talking about it!

I’m not sure I have much of a response to it. I mean, super paraphrased here, he said that comics creators should concentrate on creator-owned works and to stop thinking of working for Marvel or DC as the goal.

I guess Scott and I are ahead of the curve since we never had any real interest in working for anyone but ourselves. I mean, if Marvel or DC wants to toss some work to either of us, and we can do it without interrupting Robo’s schedule, and it’s something we’d enjoy working on, then sure, why not? Their money is as green as anyone else’s. But it was never and will never be the goal for either of us.

Kirkman didn’t say anything I haven’t heard creators talk about privately and publicly for years, and that was before I was “in” the business. These were probably sentiments that were rumbling around several years before I ever caught wind of them. What’s interesting about Kirkman giving this message is that he’s in a fancy position at one of the larger American comics publishers. Maybe now the message will be heard by the people who need to hear it: the other publishers. Maybe he can help to frame the message in a way that interests them. Because, right now, the big plan is to gut them of their major talents. Perhaps you can imagine why these publishers don’t do anything to encourage that?

Something’s got to be done though. American comics is an industry in the decline. The only thing keeping it afloat right now is the ridiculous influx of interest and funds from Hollywood, and when that bubble bursts…well, I don’t know. Some folks seem to think it won’t be that bad. That comics will weather it much better than the ’90s speculator bust. I have my doubts. The speculator craze drove readers away. The readers we have left today aren’t buying enough copies to honestly justify about half the titles out there. Once you remove Hollywood money (or the potential for it) from the equation, you’re going to see a lot of titles and publishers go missing inside of a year. What kind of effect is that going to have on your average reader? Your average retailer? I like to think we’d survive, but I rather like a thriving comics industry better and I just don’t see that being sustained for very long. If I’m wrong, man, that’d be great.

There is one major problem with the “only do creator-owned work”. And this from someone who only does creator-owned work. There’s not a tremendous market for it. Kirkman’s Invincible and The Walking Dead are very popular indie books, but combined they sell a fraction of the number of Amazing Spider-Man comics that are sold in a week. This isn’t an indication of quality, it’s just that very few indie creators have the kind of forty years of promotion and branding that Spider-Man and its ilk enjoy. I guess what I’m saying is that it’s not economically feasible, at all, for most creators to go the indie route. Atomic Robo is probably the indie success story of 2007, but after #6 went on sale two things became immediately evident.

1) People loved Robo and they wanted more.

2) It was mathematically impossible to us to afford to do any more ever.

For a book in its position (unknown title, unknown character, unknown creators, unknown publisher), I think Robo broke sales records for this particular era of the industry. I consider it to be exactly the kind of book this industry needs. Reviewers, bloggers, and readers agree. And it still wasn’t earning enough to be self-sufficient. Let me be absolutely clear on this point: Red 5 Comics made Volume 2 possible. Without their support, I’d have long since gone bankrupt and there’d be no new Robo comics for you.

So, that’s the kind of barrier that’s facing creator owned works. When one of the best titles to debut in years can’t keep itself afloat, there’s a problem.

From my position as an indie creator and as a retailer, the problem appears to be that there’s too many of the wrong kind of reader. I’m talking about the lifers who stick to Marvel and/or DC. People who routinely shell out $50+ per week on books they don’t even really enjoy, but who are afraid they might “waste” $3 on something they “might” not like when they acknowledge to throwing away $50+ on books they largely dislike.

There’s too many of that kind of reader because Marvel and DC did everything they could to create them. These were the kinds of readers they needed to get through the long cold winter. And now we’re stuck with them. These are the readers who are keeping the industry’s output in a perpetual infancy. These are the readers who have built the comics market into a giant barrier that actively discourages exactly the kinds of new content and new readers the industry needs.

That’s how I see it anyway.

I don’t know if Kirkman’s plan, insofar as there is one, is the solution. But if it gets publishers together to talk about it — or, hell — if it just raises fan awareness of how the industry works and why it’s in their interests for us to change that, then that’s good enough for me.

Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War #4 is available for pre-order at fine comic shops around the world.

Pick it up locally or online. Team Robo suggests Heavy Ink, but of course use the store that works best for you.

If you need it, the Diamond order code is SEP084251.