Dear friends...I wish to share with you some preoccupations we have here at the Estudio, which have forced us to look for new alternatives to continue ahead with our goals. It's for all well known that the economic situation is just terrible, and regardless we continue with our dreams of editing comics in paper, just as we're doing it with "Karmatron" (issue no.12 coming soon), we'll try more seriously with the so called web-comics, and here is when our doubts start concerning our readers and ¡Ka-Boom! Estudio's followers.
As you know, during the time we started working on comic books, the publishing house industry generated a lot of money with which everyone who dedicated ourselves professionally to comics could survive. Ever so often, comic books appeared and disappeared because there was a great demand, but above all, family-themed comic books were done. This was later forgotten and everything that had been gained just tumbled down, since there was nothing left for the children and the family, a problem which we had already talked about before. Children's comic books were not done anymore and now we're suffering the consequences...Manga is now the master and lord.
But well, we shall talk about that in some other occasion. Many old and new artists lived from doing comic books for many years, and during the 90's we started feeling some silent devastation caused by diverse circumstances, and that's how our struggle to reactivate our industry and generate job sources began. We've done many attempts which as independents they've been difficult to survive, even the simple fact of trying. Even now publishing Karmatron, we won't be able to to do much until it reaches the wished periodicity and when we have from 2 to 3 titles, for us to start as a company to really get launched economically. So, what else can we do as sequential art professionals? How can we manage to support ourselves simply just for eating? I'm saying this because we really are an endangered species, and in spite comics are raw material for film, tv, videogames, etc., everything stays inside the inkwell, the good stuff only occurs in countries where industry really exists, not in Mexico.
The ones who know us, know about our dream and that we don't do this just for absurd nationalism. We truly believe that our country is a great talent and stories producer, and it's got potential readers, who along with these ingredients, our industry may reborn. The problem is to get enough fuel to launch, and either there's none or the ones who have it just don't want to share it. And I'd like to express and in spite of the circumstances, at least from our part, that we won't give up and we'll keep trying once and again to give out products specially for our Mexican readers and also, why not?, for people around the world so they get to know our stories.
It takes a long time and a lot of effort to do our job, which takes most of one's time. Sometimes we need our days to be of 48 hours or more. The problem is that either we work to gain money with our art or we upload it to the web so that everyone may get it for free, and literally, we wouldn't have any income source for our basic needs. To do comic books implies to really do them with the same traits as the printed ones are done, with periodicity, professionalism, dedication and high quality; it's not only to play doing comics and experiments, since to dedicate a 100% of one's life just to upload something to the web without any retribution won't create a real virtual product.
In regard to web-comics, at least in our country, one cannot live from this yet, and unfortunately, it's the path for us to follow. Even though there have been attempts, and they do have generated some money for their creators, it's still not the ideal option, but I repeat, it's the path to follow provoked by the circumstances.
We, the ¡Ka-Boomers!, have several projects to be printed on paper, but as things are going now, we believe we can upload them to the web, and later in the future publish them for the audience that still prefers printed comic books either due to their personal preference or their lack of internet, and they don't wish it. In the internet the game's rules are different even for publishing a web-comic, it has its special traits, one has advantages and disadvantages, as in everything else, but we think it is a medium to intensify the flame of fantasy and illusion to impact traditional media.
We'll soon upload our comic strips and pages site, in English and in Spanish, adding it to our virtual publishing house, K'az In Vol. This is why I'd like to ask the readers of our creative group and those who may sympathize with our cause, if they'd be willing to pay monthly whatever amount you may consider our work is worth (this, of course, is voluntary), from one peso to 25 pesos. Either way you'd be able to see them for free. This is a matter of consciousness and valorization of our work and as a support in order to continue producing our virtual comics to entertain you, and also to gather founds for us to finance our paper publications. We've reached the end of the road, where, according to circumstances, either we'll have to work for other companies, and Karmatron and the rest of the universes created by us will remain as an illusion, or...our dream may become concreted.
Karmatron's printed edition will continue to be published, since I have an agreement with the printer, we only have some delays, but we want to live our adventure with the web-comics in a serious and professional way, I repeat, not as an experiment but as a way to generate a type of continuous entertainment so that it may benefit the creators and the readers.
As you know, during the time we started working on comic books, the publishing house industry generated a lot of money with which everyone who dedicated ourselves professionally to comics could survive. Ever so often, comic books appeared and disappeared because there was a great demand, but above all, family-themed comic books were done. This was later forgotten and everything that had been gained just tumbled down, since there was nothing left for the children and the family, a problem which we had already talked about before. Children's comic books were not done anymore and now we're suffering the consequences...Manga is now the master and lord.
But well, we shall talk about that in some other occasion. Many old and new artists lived from doing comic books for many years, and during the 90's we started feeling some silent devastation caused by diverse circumstances, and that's how our struggle to reactivate our industry and generate job sources began. We've done many attempts which as independents they've been difficult to survive, even the simple fact of trying. Even now publishing Karmatron, we won't be able to to do much until it reaches the wished periodicity and when we have from 2 to 3 titles, for us to start as a company to really get launched economically. So, what else can we do as sequential art professionals? How can we manage to support ourselves simply just for eating? I'm saying this because we really are an endangered species, and in spite comics are raw material for film, tv, videogames, etc., everything stays inside the inkwell, the good stuff only occurs in countries where industry really exists, not in Mexico.
The ones who know us, know about our dream and that we don't do this just for absurd nationalism. We truly believe that our country is a great talent and stories producer, and it's got potential readers, who along with these ingredients, our industry may reborn. The problem is to get enough fuel to launch, and either there's none or the ones who have it just don't want to share it. And I'd like to express and in spite of the circumstances, at least from our part, that we won't give up and we'll keep trying once and again to give out products specially for our Mexican readers and also, why not?, for people around the world so they get to know our stories.
It takes a long time and a lot of effort to do our job, which takes most of one's time. Sometimes we need our days to be of 48 hours or more. The problem is that either we work to gain money with our art or we upload it to the web so that everyone may get it for free, and literally, we wouldn't have any income source for our basic needs. To do comic books implies to really do them with the same traits as the printed ones are done, with periodicity, professionalism, dedication and high quality; it's not only to play doing comics and experiments, since to dedicate a 100% of one's life just to upload something to the web without any retribution won't create a real virtual product.
In regard to web-comics, at least in our country, one cannot live from this yet, and unfortunately, it's the path for us to follow. Even though there have been attempts, and they do have generated some money for their creators, it's still not the ideal option, but I repeat, it's the path to follow provoked by the circumstances.
We, the ¡Ka-Boomers!, have several projects to be printed on paper, but as things are going now, we believe we can upload them to the web, and later in the future publish them for the audience that still prefers printed comic books either due to their personal preference or their lack of internet, and they don't wish it. In the internet the game's rules are different even for publishing a web-comic, it has its special traits, one has advantages and disadvantages, as in everything else, but we think it is a medium to intensify the flame of fantasy and illusion to impact traditional media.
We'll soon upload our comic strips and pages site, in English and in Spanish, adding it to our virtual publishing house, K'az In Vol. This is why I'd like to ask the readers of our creative group and those who may sympathize with our cause, if they'd be willing to pay monthly whatever amount you may consider our work is worth (this, of course, is voluntary), from one peso to 25 pesos. Either way you'd be able to see them for free. This is a matter of consciousness and valorization of our work and as a support in order to continue producing our virtual comics to entertain you, and also to gather founds for us to finance our paper publications. We've reached the end of the road, where, according to circumstances, either we'll have to work for other companies, and Karmatron and the rest of the universes created by us will remain as an illusion, or...our dream may become concreted.
Karmatron's printed edition will continue to be published, since I have an agreement with the printer, we only have some delays, but we want to live our adventure with the web-comics in a serious and professional way, I repeat, not as an experiment but as a way to generate a type of continuous entertainment so that it may benefit the creators and the readers.
