Recently I have read in more than one place that the movie Captain America: Brave New World is a flop. I am not going to link to some of the sites that have stated this as I do not agree and do not want to promote them because of this. So is it a flop? IMO no. It had an estimated budget of 180 million dollars. That is a considerable amount for a movie that doesn’t have the star power of some of the other MCU movies. Stay with me here… It has almost been a month since it’s theatrical release and has grossed over 177 million dollars domestically and grossed over 371 million worldwide. Right now the estimates are that the movie will make about 5 million over the budget in the US domestic market release. Now that is not as large as some of the other MCU movies but that still does not qualify it as a flop. IMO if a movie made more than it cost to make (it’s budget) then it can not be a flop.

Here is where my mind is going when it started connecting the dots… This is just for the theatrical release. This does not include DVD/Blu-ray sales. Exclusive streaming on a streaming service (even better if it is their own). Cable or FAST streaming afterwards. All of which makes the movie have more viewers. Meaning it makes even more money. Over time some of these “extra” sales opportunities have become less relevant (hard copy sales in DVD/Blu-ray have dropped off and cable has become less desirable since streaming has gotten more popular). Personally, I think it would behoove those in charge to keep these sales opportunities relevant as it makes it much easier to make more money from the same product.

So, I have been thinking about comics (you know those things that these movies are based on). Most comics make their money via a monthly (or so) serial release. If they are lucky they get collected into a trade paper back. Some companies have a form of digital service as well. Do you see where I am going here? No? Okay, I’ll try to explain a little better. Above is three different sales opportunities for the same product. Like movies you can take a comic and offer it to wider audiences this way. Mean more opportunity for more sales. There are some differences as other than the digital services which could be a monthly fee for unlimited reading or just individual comic sales that you can then read via their service. Right now though much of this is in flux for multiple reasons. Diamond Distributors (a major comic distributor) recently filed for bankruptcy protection which has mucked up the physical copy sales at your local shops as they have had to switch to other distributors. Add on to that the fact that Dark Horse Comics has shuttered it’s own digital service and stated that all sales through it are in essence lost as what you bought was the right to read the comics through that service.

Why am I bringing up these bad things for an industry that does not need more bad press? Because these events have cost people, many people, money. Some have lost their investment and access to purchases. Some companies are having a hard time surviving. Some people have lost their jobs/livelihood. All of this for an industry that has been the bulk of the creative stories for many of the movies over the last two decades. This bring me to my point. If the comic industry is going to survive it needs to find a way to continue to make money off the same product much like the movie industry. Maybe that time has past already too. Look at the snack industry. They offer multiple sizes for bags for chips or soda. It is the same product you are just paying for the sample size of it. The smaller the size the higher the cost for what you get so buying in a bigger bulk size gets you a better price for what you get. This is how comics have been done with their physical product for quite a while now. The problem is they are stuck with monthly comics and trade/ collected volumes and that is it for physical product. All while sales have been falling as people are not happy with the rising price of the physical product. I have a few friends who have stopped collecting the physical product all together and now rely on the digital services as their source for stories of the characters they love. As I have stated about how Dark Horse handled things I thing the same can be said for other companies as well. We are only buying access to read meaning we do not own any actual product. So we are in essence paying for a streaming service.

Music went to streaming a while back and most of the time you have to go really searching to find new music from older artists. Sometimes even when you follow them via your streaming services. Which is very annoying as one would think that was the purpose of following them. Then the artists (or the music publisher) have complained about compensation or royalty payments from the streaming services. Movies have done something similar in recent years with the various streaming services. Since COVID movie theaters have been struggling to stay open as movie goers just do not go to theaters as much. Add on to this that stores have almost stopped physical copy sales of music and movies and now you have to wonder how much money have they lost due to streaming taking over.

If streaming services are how we are going to consume our music, movies and comics then how long before the traditional ways of consuming them disappear? Music stores are mostly gone. Movie theaters are also having a hard time staying open. The same can be said for Comic Shops. If these places fall to the wayside then how do the people making the products make money?

Before you start laughing I want you to think about it. Can you remember a time when you had more ideas? It does matter if they were off the wall or even made sense.

I used to have too many ideas. My imagination wouldn’t stop. I’ve got notebooks full of stuff. Looking at some of it recently made me wonder what happened to THAT guy. I’m much older now and have more responsibilities and a full time job. I’ve had that for many years now. I think somewhere along the way I stopped using my imagination and started relying on my knowledge. It was around that time that I stopped having time to do things like draw, write creatively, or play music. All things I loved doing when I was younger and didn’t have the responsibilities of adulting. I still have ideas but find they are more bland now then they were. Not that they are bad but they are more linear and tell a more direct story without as many twists and turns. This ,to me, seems less exciting or at least less thrilling to me while writing it then it had when I was younger.

I tried drawing from those ideas and tried to do some actual drawing but my mind couldn’t come up with the mental pictures. So I had no idea where to start the image. Like I had lost my imagination. This is why I pose the question… Can you lose your imagination?

Wow, it has been almost two years without any movement or updates here. I would not be surprised if no one reads this as even I have pretty much given up hope of something was going to happen here. And yet… Here I am giving an update.

So, my web host provider notified me that they were going to be leaving the business and the people who were going to take it over wanted to charge WAY TOO MUCH. Leading to me needing a new provider and home for this. I am hopeful that this is it. It is not too costly and seems to have the right features that I need if/when I go forward with this. Yes, that IS still the plan. When? I can not really say. What I can say is the story is progressing behind the scenes and the only thing holding me back right now is still time. When I have time to dedicate to getting some stuff out I will put an update here.

Until then…

It’s been a long time since I started this site. It’s been a long time since I restarted this site. As time continues to go it seems like it will be a long time before I get to do anything with it.

Has anyone else noticed that time seems to keep going and while it is supposed to be a constant it seems to be going faster? I use to have free time. I use to have time to dream. I use to have time to make plans and see friends. Some how life has gotten so busy and all I seem to do is sleep, eat, and work my daily job for which I am grateful. I should feel blessed for the life I have, and I do/am, but I also feel like I should be doing more. The problem is I don’t seem to have the time. The problem is if I could do more it would be on things I should be doing more of and not things I want to do. The want to does and the should does don’t seem to be lining up and I think that is my problem with not having the time. Time will tell…

If you had a chance to redo something would you? What if that something just kept festering inside your mind for years and occasionally made it out in various ways? Would you pursue it? Even if you felt you did not have time? Or worse felt you did not have the ability?

I find myself in that very situation. The thing is as it keeps coming back I seem to be making more time for it. I guess that is in the hope that maybe, just maybe, I will not only get enough of it completed but feel confident enough in my chops that I will release it all upon you.

I have been trying my hand at artwork again still proving to myself I do not have what it takes. Digital art is more forgiving but also seems to take more time for me. Yes, I am getting older and yes, I probably should just hire someone to do the artwork. The fact that I do not have the money to pay someone to do the art (I suppose I could work around that somehow) but the problem is then I couldn’t and wouldn’t say it was mine, or more accurately “just mine”. At that point I would have a collaborator and my vision would now be our vision of any of these various projects. Yes, my mind is a messy place to hang out and yes, these are actual things I think about.

Yes, after too long this site is back! As you can see we do not have everything in it’s place yet so check back soon and see if you find something to your liking.

It is kind of sad having to restart this from scratch but at the same time it allows it to start over. This site has been around since 2003 so next year will be our 20th year. Stay tuned as we hope to have some exciting new stuff in the works. We can not say much yet as not everything is in place but you will probably start to see things popping up on here soon.