COMIC ROCKET - TAKE YOUR COMIC TO THE MOON AND BACK

Quite a few years ago, Dutch scientists did an experiment where they went out onto the streets and willingly offered people money for nothing. Now at first nobody was willing to take up their kind offer, because they were very apprehensive about their actions. But as time ticked on -- well -- Ka-Ching! And that could happen to you too, if you check out this interview I had with my mate, Andy, only the other day, whilst mugging a Dutch scientist on the street.





1) What are your own origins, Andy? Plus what path did you take in life before you got to where you are today?   Wow. That's a big question. My relevant origins in comics are that I have been in and around comics in one form or another for decades. In the 80's I used to volunteer for San Diego Comic Con. (I even met my wife at the show!) In the 90's I wrote comics including two issues of Spawn. In the 00's I did everything from publishing my own comics to lettering manga. And in the 10's I co-founded Comic Rocket. I read comics, I write comics, I letter comics, and I collect comics.

2) In your own words how would you describe ‘Comic-Rocket’? And what is your role within this organisation?   Comic Rocket is a list of over 13,000 webcomics and serials with tools that help users discover, read, and bookmark them. My role in the company is creator relations. As 'Chief Creative Officer' I handle everything to do with the people who make webcomics from helping them claim their info pages to placing their Comic Rocket Ad Network advertising boxes.

3) What have you and learnt about yourself via this endeavour? And were their any unforeseen obstacles you had to contend with?   If I've learned anything, it's to be more adaptable and more patient with my choices. We've had all sorts of obstacles that we've overcome, but the biggest was probably convincing the community that we're on their side; we don't make money from the comics we list, and in fact we pass the traffic through to their actual sites! We're trying to make money FOR the creators by helping them get wider exposure.

4) If ‘CR’ was a song, what song would it be and why?   And to think I write music too. This is an impossible question! Ha ha. I'm going to go with a classic Beatles tune: All Together Now.

5) How easy is it for a creator to join ‘CR’, plus what is it’s biggest advantage?   It's as easy as signing up, adding your comic, and claiming it with our author tools. All easy steps that I'm also standing by to help anyone with. Our biggest advantage is that we understand the plurality of the community, that there's more than one list, more than one advertising network, more than one way for everyone to play together. We recognize that there is room in the ecosystem for everyone, and we're helping creators take advantage of it too via our creator's Genie system.

6) Same question as up above, but from a users perspective.   As a reader, your biggest advantage is probably discovery. You have 13,000 webcomics to choose from, but once you've read some then what? You find other comics that are like the ones you're reading via our recommendations.

7) What’s the biggest difference between this site compared to others of it’s ilk?   We offer more services than our competitors and we're going to double down on that in the coming months.

8) If you could get a celebrity – either living or dead – to promote your service, what person would you get, and why would you want to choose this particular person?   Carl Sagan would be my choice. He was a dreamer as well as a scholar and I think he had a penchant for new and neat things. Besides, our CTO, Jamey Sharp, is really into rockets and it would tickle him no end.

9) If your ‘Comic Rocket’ had a motto, what would it be?   All the comics all the time for all the people.

Wow! Sound's like Nirvana, Andy. Don't you agree, dear readers? Yes? So what are you waiting around here for? Go on. You know what you have to do. Scram. Check out www.comic-rocket.com today. Plus don't forget to do the tweet-tweet / face-face thing too.