Milk -- It Does a Body Good

PARKER SMART had the same dream that a lot of comics fans do -- to create their own comics. The big difference between Parker and most comics fans is that he did something about it. Founding his own company, Spilled Milk, to produce his ideas and protect himself legally, Parker has been trudging along for a couple of years now, perfecting his vision. Spilled Milk's first mini-series, CiCi, is nearing completion and should be published sometime this year. In this interview, Blue Phoenix Publisher Cecil Adkins talks with Parker about his company, his comic, and his views on the comics industry.

GOT (SPILLED) MILK?

Cecil:  Why create your own company just to make comics?

Parker:  It seemed to be the right thing to do. I wanted to make sure that the business and my personal assets stayed separate and creating an S-Corp. was the easiest way to go about it. If Spilled Milk were to be sued, then I would not be personally liable and my assets would be protected. I needed a catchy name too, so I came up with Spilled Milk and it just kind of stuck. It's also a great way to deduct those junkets to San Diego. I'm kidding of course. The only reason I travel to San Diego is for the comic convention and nothing else.

Cecil:  Are all the time and money you've invested worth it?

Parker:Sometimes I don't know about this one. I guess I don't really know yet. I've invested tons of time and lots of money into this. I have hope. I just don't really know yet.

I had fun at first, but some of the people I've worked with have made it not fun.

Cecil:   What is the high point of your efforts so far with Spilled Milk? The low point?

Parker:  I love to create. Bottom line. It seems there is nothing you can't do with nano-technology. I love coming up with new villains or new weapons that are truly unstoppable. I love thinking up new scenarios to try to really make people think about their belief system and life in general.

My low point. Hmmmm. Sometimes I feel like people's own personal ATM. Since this is my first venture in the comic business (or any business for that matter) I was duped. I wish I could go into more details, but I really don't want to get sued. Let me just say these few words of wisdom and you should be able to grasp my low point. Business is business, even if you have to be a total jerk about it.

NEVER pay out advances. No matter what that person tells you or how badly they need it. Even if they tell you it's standard practice in the industry. Don't do it. Not ever. You never know when you'll see that money again, if ever. And when you don't then you have to take your precious time and haul their butt to court, which I don't have the time to do. So sometimes you have to take the loss.

NEVER have a "no deadline" deal, even if it's among supposed friends. Always have a deadline for pages. Even if it's six months or something, at least you've got a date to count on or there will be repercussions. Once you start paying people to do the work, they view you as "The Man" and you can never be on equal ground with them. It no longer becomes a "jam" project. People keep quoting your "no deadline" rule and slack off `til there's no tomorrow. Even if you have family crisis after family crisis, why not say you can't do the work and bail out. Let somebody else have a crack at it.

Sorry about that I just had to rant for a few. I'm done. Well I think I'm done, unless there are more questions like this one.

Cecil:   Can you tell us a little about CiCi? What type of story is it? How close are you to publishing it?

Parker:  I think now I can. I figure that my ashcan is going to press really soon and it will have all this good stuff in there so people will buy the book.

The basic premise is that CiCi is a clone. She's not a clone in the sense that she was grown from an embryo and hatched out of a test tube. Well she was hatched out of test tube; a really big one. CiCi was made from an exact duplicate of the original, Cynthia Christiansen (kind of like the movie Multiplicity). Every molecule in her body was scanned by nano-machines. Their locations and composition were logged in a huge database. Several months later, CiCi was created after many fouled attempts using the same technology in reverse. The nano-machines are able to break apart and fuse atoms at will in order to create the necessary structures in the body. Once every molecule is back in place, you've got an exact copy of the original with all the same physical features and memories of the original. The fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it) is that the clone does not know she's a clone. As far as she's concerned she just woke up from a nap.

Cynthia's background is deeply religious, and therefore CiCi is too. Once CiCi finds out she's a clone she battles with her beliefs and wonders if there really is a soul, or for that matter, a God. How could she possibly have a soul if the original Cynthia is alive and well?

The Garbage Collector is one of the villains and it's also a term from a programming language called L.I.S.P. This guy is relentless and was a product of the nano-machines too. In L.I.S.P. the garbage collector's job is to collect unused memory and return it to the heap for reuse. The same goes for my garbage collector, although he hunts down clones so their resources can be reused. Pretty cool. Pretty nerdy. Although with all those web-savvy kids these days, I think I'll hit a pretty good niche.

So as you can see, the story is obviously science fiction. I really want people to grasp what this technology can do and how it can benefit our species, but also how really frightening it can be. But in the same light I want to go into how it will affect humanities greatest meme, Religion. Meme is a term coined by Richard Dawkins (who wrote The Blind Watchmaker, The Selfish Gene, and others) that means an idea that is transferred from generation to generation just like genes are. Now maybe this book might turn out to be controversial, but I think that's what will make it sell.

So you heard it here first. If you see any other books beat me to the punch, you'll know they're the hacks not me.

I hope to publish by the end of the year provided that I don't get any more excuses about people not finishing work in a timely manner.

Cecil:   Any plans on branching out, publishing more of your own work besides CiCi? How about publishing other titles, not created by you?

Parker:  At the moment I don't plan on branching out. I've gotten tons of offers from people who want their books published, but for now I'm sticking with what I know best. So far that's CiCi and her troubled future. I feel like diluting the main title is exactly that. It's taking away from the core, which can't be good.

Cecil:   Where do you see your company five years from now? Ten?

Parker:  I would hope that the comic is successful and it's an ongoing title and not just a bunch of mini-series or one-shots. I talked with Adam Kline productions, but they are already doing a "clone" movie. My idea is very different, but it still would be possible for ideas to mix and there might be a conflict of interest. So I guess I'd hope there'd be a feature film some day. I feel like I've already been doing this for ten years. I've been jotting ideas down and dating them. Some date back to 1989.

ON COMICS AND THEIR CREATION

Cecil:   It's not easy to break into comics. How do you find the motivation to keep going?

Parker:  Part of that is the money I've invested already. I've invested so much into this project that I really want to see it through to the end. I keep feeling that I have to see the return on my investment or I'll just feel like crap.

Most of the motivation comes from the dream of being published. I see it happening and it will happen (sooner or later). The fans on the mailing list keep me going too. They allow me to vent every once in a while. They're curious how things are going, and I tell them like it is.

Cecil:   Creating comics isn't on anyone's list of the top ways to make lots of money or be famous. Why do you do it?

Parker:  I've always wanted to be published. Of course during high school I thought I'd write a math textbook or a computer manual. I thought it would be something "respectable". I'm definitely not doing this to make money. I'd love to break even. Having this venture pay for itself and I get to create; that'd be the best. I already do the "respectable" creating at work where I get to write software and dream up new and improved user interface. I love that challenge. The comic allows me to express myself in other ways.

Cecil:  Any advice for would-be comics creators/self-publishers?

Parker:  I think I ranted enough in the previous question so I'll try to tone this down a bit. Invest in lawyers. They're really out to help you (not get you). Granted, they cost quite a bit, but it's a great investment for down the road.

Keep your ideas secret for as long as possible. I question the validity of people summarizing their stories on the Internet way in advance of publishing. Sure you're stuff is copyrighted, but you just never know what adjustments will be made to circumvent the law.

Cecil:  On your website, you make it obvious how strongly you feel about copyrights and trademarks. Has someone ever ripped off one of your ideas?

Parker:  Not yet. People might even say that I've ripped off somebody else. I read quite few comics and I haven't seen anything quite like what I've got. I like to say my comic is a cross between Witchblade and Ghost in the Shell. The metallic costume morphs much like Sara's, but in all reality I wanted it to look more like the costume was coming from within her body. But it ended up looking like the costume was forming around her body much like Witchblade. The techno / manga look of the costume is much like any Ghost in the Shell type book. We didn't swipe any one design, but I hope the manga feel is conveyed like Shirow's creation.

When I've told a few people at last year's San Diego con, they said it was kind of like Transmetropolitan. I haven't read it yet, but I will definitely pack it in my carry-on for the ride to San Diego this year. I'm sure some ideas get reused in just slightly a different way. My former inker says that all the original ideas have been used up, but I still like to think of mine as very original.

If my comic is a success I'm sure I'll have to deal with knock-offs like anybody else. I hope by then I have the financial stability to go after them. I'm sure by then I will. When this is successful. You gotta think positive.

Cecil:  Whose work are you inspired by?

Parker:  Frank Miller. If I could only give one answer it would be him. If you know his work, then -- `nuf said. I also like Garth Ennis (Preacher and The Darkness) and Warren Ellis (he's written a ton).

Cecil:  Have you attempted to sell your work to an established company? If not, would you consider it?

Parker:  I did. I had Image look at it. The first time I pushed it through them was about a year and a half ago when Larry Marder was heading up the ship. It eventually slipped through the cracks. I followed up for about four months after I submitted it and my contact never got back with me. It's funny what a little power will do. Not a "yes". Not a "no". Not a "we're still looking at it". In the mean time I'm worried that my idea is being swiped.

During last winter's local comic convention I met Sharon Scott of Liar comics. She told me to submit it again to Jim Valentino. He at least replied immediately and said that they weren't doing "good girl / bad girl" comics anymore. I really wonder if this is the case, because I keep seeing them coming out of Image. I was totally surprised to see this reply coming from Image. He must have glossed over all the other characters and found them uninteresting. You got the two Max Helix's, Linda, and the Garbage Collector. There's some pretty good depth to the story. It's not all about CiCi. Oh well. You can't win `em all over.

SAVING THE COMICS INDUSTRY

Cecil:  There's been a lot of talk, by people like Warren Ellis and others, about what the comics industry needs to survive. What do you think the comics industry needs right now?

Parker:  This might be a totally utopian idea in the comics industry, but here goes nothing. I think that artists should be happy to share their tricks and techniques. I feel that the medium would grow faster as a whole. Oh sure, you've got your "How to Draw Sexy Women" books, but they don't really cut it. I know as a programmer I'm happy to share my tricks. When I do; it kind of boosts my ego a little. I'm sure there's enough ego in knowing something that somebody else doesn't, but there really is something in sharing too. It's what most scientific communities do. That way they don't have to reinvent the wheel every time they prepare a beaker of something. Even in the graphic arts world they fill you in on how something was done. I don't think everybody, present company included, can sit down with the Photoshop manual and start making masterpieces. It takes many hours of working through tutorials to become even a basic user of Photoshop. I wish I had the time to sit down with somebody and design a program that would be geared for producing a comic. It would have everything from the penciling, to inking, to coloring, to lettering. The whole enchilada.

In comics, you should be confident enough with your ideas and abilities to be able to share the small tricks with others. I feel this would keep artists on their toes and they'd have to keep growing with the medium.

I'm pretty sure this will never happen.

If somehow comics could be "cool". I know I get funny looks when I'm out in public and I'm reading The Darkness or Witchblade. None of my friends read comics. My younger nephews think it's cool that I read comics, but they don't read many themselves. They only read the ones I buy them. And I'm sure their friends would chuckle and call them comic nerds if they were caught with one.

Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One" got me hooked. Why can't this be required reading in some classes? That would be awesome.

Cecil:  There's a lot of high-profile stuff going on in comics right now, aimed at the non-comic reading audience: Frank Miller doing a Dark Knight sequel, Stan Lee writing for DC, even Marvel doing a line of comics that revamp and rethink their core titles. Do you think this will make the industry grow, or is it just a quick fix to sell a few more books in the short term?

Parker:  Like I said before. Required reading. I can't even read a regular book anymore, because I've got too many good comics to catch up on.

I'm anxiously awaiting the X-Men movie and I don't even read the titles. I've read a few trade paperbacks (The X-tinction Agenda), but not any of the ongoing stuff. I'm just a big Patrick Stewart fan at heart. I even bought Marvel stock way back when hoping one day an X-Men movie would be made. I never happened and I took a bath when Marvel went belly up. I really hope this will boost the industry as a whole. But when Virus came out, did people know that it was a Dark Horse Comic? I don't think so.

Dark Knight Returns: The Movie. `nuf said.

Cecil:  Who's doing the best work in comics today, in your opinion?

Parker:  Alex Ross. Hands down. What he's doing in the comic industry is awesome. Look at Marvels, Kingdom Come, Peace on Earth, etc. To bring the "real-life" aspect into a comic is great. It's something you can identify with. The characters look like regular people. Batman looks like a detective. It's what I would expect Batman to look like when he got older. I'm a HUGE Batman fan, but what he did with Superman was amazing. I've got a few of his prints hanging in the "Bat Cave". When people come over they always seem to comment on those pieces (and statues). These are regular, non-comic reading people.

He made Superman the father figure that everybody admires. That stern, human quality is present in everything he does.

My hat goes off to Alex Ross for bringing the "human" into super-human. I wish I could do what he does.

Cecil:  In an industry crowded by mediocre product and fly-by-night companies, what makes CiCi and Spilled Milk better? What is it about them that will make readers plunk down their cash?

Parker:  I know what you're talking about. I've read a lot of crap out there and probably collected more of it. I've put down my fair share of comics too, I just couldn't stomach what the writers were getting at. I know what I like and I hope it's what other people like as well. I want the writer to get to the damn point. He should try to write as if he's only got a 50-word limit. Granted I'm exaggerating, but you get my point. This interview is definitely not representative of the way I write a comic. Sure at first I spill out all my ideas, but then you've got to say it. Then say it again with fewer words. It would be a shame to cover up all that beautiful artwork. I know there are many writers out there that write just to hear themselves talk. It may seem that I'm the same way, but in a comic I'm totally different.

I think initially it's the cover. If nobody pulls the book off the rack, then it's not getting purchased. I think Monte Moore fits that bill, and people will be at least picking the book off the shelves and opening it. The great artwork will keep the people flipping through the book. I hope the first couple of lines or at least the introduction will draw people into the story and they will want to find out what it's about.

Wizard will get wind of this interview and want one of their own. My story will be well known and the issues will just fly off the stand. Hey a guy can dream can't he?

Retailers will want to buy the book, because they will have already received a black and white preview of the first issue and they can check the rest of it out on the website. They can write to me if they've got questions. And I've got a lot more thought provoking stories where that came from.