2018 3RD QUARTERLY EDITION

RETAILERS ROUND-UP ROCKIN' & ROLLIN'

After a series of false starts, flame-outs, and down outright failures, QEW Publishing's Retailers Round-Up program now finally appears to be working. Retailers Round-Up was the idea to initiate a practical and cost-effective marketing, distribution, and sales campaign for the comics currently available here from QEW Publishing. In earlier attempts, no clear and consistent protocol for presentation had ever been applied effectively enough towards the campaign and there were no variables to offer any incentive that would lower substantial risks to encourage retailers to consider participating. This was resolved by two pivotal factors that were introduced. The production and release of QEW Publishing's formal sell sheet to present to prospective retailers, and then Retailers Round-Up campaign's newly inserted policy of providing to comic retailers a one-time offer of limited complimentary stock As a result to this date, there are now a total of eleven retail stores, whose owners have registered as wholesale buyers directly with QEW Publishing. While there had been a goal set to have a total of twenty retailers carrying QEW Publishing comics before the end of 2018, that effort has been somewhat diminished due to some abrupt monetary issues at this time. However, the intent to resume this effort will most certainly carry over into 2019.

NEW RELEASES RELEASED--FINALLY 

Unfortunately, QEW Publishing did not release Dark Powers #1 and The Gifted #1 as initially intended. Blood & Silver #4, the latest issue of that 6-part mini-series, and the complied trade paperback edition of the 4-part mini-series Zevon-7, were released instead.  As of now, though, the timing for releasing Dark Powers #1 and The Gifted #1 appears to be aligning just right. Production for Dark Powers #1 has been fully completed and the lettering and editing for The Gifted #1 is nearing its completion as well. There's even now the possibility for the release of a new compilation trade paperback edition of the 3-part mini-series Kristarella. QEW Publishing is proud that each of these comics are currently in the line-up as 2019 1st Quarter New Releases for March 31, 2019.

BACK TO PATREON

Sadly, there's been serious slacking off with efforts of promoting QEW Publishing's ongoing, online crowd-funding campaign on Patreon. But a new resurgence of enthusiasm to get back into it has finally occurred. Since the Retailers Round-Up program has finally begun to successfully usher comics into retail stores and new comics are becoming set again to be new releases next year. Patreon's mantle as the primary funding source for aiding to offsetting production and marketing costs has been renewed. Just as what's occurred with the revival of Retailer's Round-Up, the same must happen for the Patreon campaign as well. There must be a way, a method, an event--something that will encourage more people to go online there to support QEW Publishing's efforts by committing a monthly pledge to the reward tiers there. QEW Publishing's Patreon campaign is located via this link right here.

ARACHNE ARTIST REAFFIRMS

Steven Millage

QEW Publishing happily encountered artist, Steven Millage at this year's Olympic Collectibles Expo, which was held at the Kitsap Mall in Silverdale, Washington. Steven is the penciling illustrator for the graphic horror novel, Arachne. While he's managed to achieve some significant progress on the production, he's hasn't submitted any story art to review for quite some time. He's also been unfortunately incommunicado, too. So it was actually pretty refreshing that it was Steven himself, who not only initiated his re-connection with QEW Publishing at the Expo that day, but also reaffirmed his commitment to complete Arachne's production. Although he confesses in full candor that cannot invest very much time in doing so, as he pursues his own creative ambitions. QEW Publishing can be satisfied enough with that he at least shares the intention to see Arachne's ultimate fruition and publication.

REPO KATZ & MAGISPHERE PROGRESS SLOWED

QEW Publishing is keeping a very close eye on the productions for these two comics. There were some concerns that penciling artists, Hakan Aydin and Narayan Baidya, were somewhat beginning to waver on their commitments to complete their respective illustrations. Hakan Aydin is the penciling artist for the action-adventure graphic novel, Repo Katz and Narayan Baidya is the illustrating artist for action-fantasy graphic novel, Magisphere. Both artists have three-fourths of their respective productions nearly completed, but their consistency of submitting their art for review appears to have stalled. After some effort, however, QEW Publishing, has managed to reconnect to them and attain fragile reaffirmations from each of them. Hakan says he remains committed to complete all of the penciling interior story art for Repo Katz and Narayan has agreed that he'll endeavor to complete the remaining penciling art for Magisphere. Even though communications from either of these two individuals is sparse at best, QEW Publishing will remain vigilant and determined to see that illustrations for these two comics are ultimately done. 

PUTTING OFF 2019 CONVENTIONS

QEW Publishing has only attended two comic conventions for all of 2018: WenCon and the Bellingham Comicon. It was already previously reported there would be cutbacks on getting to such events this year, and sadly it appears that it may be the case again for 2019 as well. This is all due to limited resources, mainly funding, and the in-house decision to concentrate expenses more on production, marketing, and distributing costs via the Retailers Round-Up program. There remains some hopeful intent to attend events like the Jet City Comic Show, WenCon and Bellingham Comicon, again, and if at possible, the Lilac City Comicon, but it can only be under the condition of improved funding. QEW Publishing is continuing to work diligently at resolving this issue.

CD POE

CD Poe

QEW Publishing also happily spoke briefly with artist CD Poe at this year's Olympic Collectibles Expo. He'd indicated that he'd just recently returned to the comic convention circuit after a sabbatical for personal reasons, but was kind enough to share a moment of his time to consider a possible collaboration with QEW Publishing. CD Poe has a unique and fascinating illustrative style. His artwork is currently displayed here. QEW Publishing would like to work with him on a future developing comic book project, Big Green Monster. CD actually seemed somewhat intrigued by the premise for the project and QEW Publishing hopes that he'll eventually become interested enough to produce some conceptual artwork for it. So even though there's no definitive affirmation that's taken place as of now, there's hope a seed has been planted for such a joint venture in the future.

ANTARCTIC PRESS

The 2017 4th Quarter edition of QEW Publishing Quarterly had reported that a few of QEW Publishing's in-house projects would be considered to be selected as possible submissions to other publishers. QEW Publishing has been considering submitting proposals to Action Lab Entertainment in order to establish rapport with other creative imprints and initiate openings for new networking ventures. Recently added now to this short list of possible outside publishers is Antarctic Press. There's some serious concern that such an endeavor could develop into something that could become counterproductive to QEW Publishing's own efforts at honoring and supporting it own brand, but the primary purpose of these submissions would simply be to attain some reaffirmation for the quality of QEW Publishing's creations by them being accepted by any third-party publisher. This would also hopefully create an alternative revenue flow for QEW Publishing, too. For now, however, it's merely a matter of selecting the particular projects that would be submitted. There will be more to follow on this.

NEXT UPDATE: DECEMBER 31, 2018

2018 2nd QUARTERLY EDITION

CHALLENGES AND CUTBACKS ABOUND

"Serious cutbacks gotta be done!!!"

From creation to production and from production to publication, the struggles that arise in pursuit of each of these goals here within QEW HQ, continue to bombard the efforts and threaten to erode the morale to achieve them. Compounded setbacks with the costs for production and publication have forced major changes here at QEW Publishing. There have been too many projects on the Active To-Do List, which has exceeded budgetary limits and greatly effected new-release deadlines and printing services. New comic books that had been scheduled for new-release dates have already had to have their dates pushed back several times. Meanwhile, any effort to establish a consistent distribution process to retailers has been thoroughly diminished. The resulting domino effect has been a stifling delay upon the crucial phases of production of every other project, which even includes the phase of writing--particularly even with the late publication of this periodical blog, QEW Publishing Quarterly,(and which is assured to be released on time next quarter) However, rather than ultimately become overwhelmed, QEW HQ has taken pivotal measures to salvage its efforts by cutting all of its productions in half and dispensing the rest from the Active To-Do List in order to both save cost, and refocus again on writing. It was a painful choice to make, given QEW Publishing's contending contractual obligations that actually remain active, but it is a choice that was certainly nonetheless necessary.

NEW RELEASES NOW PUSHED TO 2018 3RD QUARTER-END INSTEAD

"Ughhhh! Not again!!!"

After sadly missing all of last year's deadlines and then both 2018 1st and 2nd quarter-end deadlines for new releases, some serious reflection has had to take place here at QEW HQ. The reins of leadership here have had a very loose hand, so it was now high time they were held again more firmly. The cause of these delays was mainly due to the lack of oversight, regarding the lettering process. This combined then with the neglect of carefully calculating lead times with submitting print orders, QEW Publishing has failed twice to release its new comics in a timely manner, so far, this year. A new goal has been established to release BLOOD & SILVER #4, THE GIFTED #1, and DARK POWERS #1 now as 2018 3rd Quarter-End new releases. QEW HQ will reset new deadline productions with artist, Miguel Caraballo, to have the lettering for all three of these books finally done, and there will be earnest attention to coordinating better with print order submissions for them. Failure to reach a goal is a painful thing, but it can help provide insights to reasons why it occurs. It can even help to motivate the tendencies to overcome it and ultimately succeed.

SCREENPLAY IN PRODUCTION

Kelly Young

QEW Publishing is currently producing a screenplay that is intended to become a full-length film. In the QPQ 2017 1st Quarter-End Edition blog, QEW Publishing announced its hopeful, budding collaboration with writer, Kelly Young. Well as of June of 2018, it has finally emerged into fruition and been made official. Kelly is now commissioned to produced QEW Publishing's first original screenplay. The project titled, SHE OF GLORIOUS STINGING, is a horror yarn based upon an in-house treatment of QEW Publishing's that had initially been intended to produce a graphic novel. Kelly Young is the perfect match for this new venture. Not only is he an accredited and imaginative writer, he is the truest avid fan of the horror genre. He'll be more than capable of weaving SHE OF GLORIOUS STINGING into a suspenseful and tantalizing tale that could become produced into a movie imbued with Lovecraftian flare.

ANOTHER ARTIST FOR P.I. McQUEEN

"Another new artist...Seriously?"

A series of challenges seems to be the ongoing theme with the production of this project. The primary issue has been an inability to recruit an artist who would commit to completing all the interior pencils and inks required for story art. To this date, P.I. McQUEEN has lost a total of three very talented artists, who have for various reasons chosen not to stay aboard. Quite frankly the one critical factor each of these individuals all had in common was that neither of them had never really begun to produce in the first place. Character model, Melissa McQueen, the muse inspiring the creation of this entire project, has been uncommonly gracious with her exemplary patience with the series of setbacks that have plagued its production. So QEW Publishing isn't giving up on P.I. McQUEEN at all. Although there will be temporary hold on finding another artist until the Visual Plot scripting is totally completed. Once that's done, then efforts will resume to finding a new artist.

RICK ROSENKRANZ

Rick Rosenkranz

It's funny how some ideas actually become the catalyst for new, developing projects. One particular idea started out as a shared running joke with author, Rick Rosenkranz. The joke had initially started out about superheroes and trusty sidekicks, but then quickly transitioned to a series of "what-ifs" involving some made-up C-List type superhero characters who possessed skills or powers that were highly impractical with commonality of a what a superhero really is. After sharing this ongoing levity for several years, Rick had finally become compelled enough to began developing a treatment for what has been has jokingly referred to as THE UNUSUALS. Over these several years of joking about them, an interesting and amusing cast of so-called heroes and villains have collectively created. And now thanks to Rick, there's finally a bit of effort being invested to developing an engaging and entertaining story for the comic book genre of comedy. 

MUSICAL SOUNDTRACK PROJECT

Music Producer Jesse Allcott

A thematic musical soundtrack can become every bit as essential to a comic book project as it is to a movie nowadays. A number of exciting opportunities are now available when it comes to cool marketing ideas, thanks so much to the advancement of modern technology. The challenges remain, however, of forming a collaboration with talented musical producers and a videographers. QEW Publishing intends to reach out to singer/musician, Jesse Alcott, a member of Hands of Deliverance, a metal band based in Renton, Washington. 


THE BUGS NEXT DOOR HAPPILY PROCEEDS

THE BUGS NEXT DOOR excerpt Panel 4 of Page 11

Great news! The production for THE BUGS NEXT DOOR is still moving forward! After the shake-up from financial setbacks, which were followed by a series of production cutbacks, the particular comic book project was gladly spared removal from QEW Publishing's Active TDL (To-Do List). And now that some sensible budgetary control over production operations has been restored again, a renewed earnestness in finishing up all the interior story art pages is now a priority. Pages 1-18 of fully inked pages have already been completed and artist, Rowel Roque, is more than committed to see that remainder of these pages are produced. 

REPO KATZ COMPLETION DELAYED

REPO KATZ #1 Cover art by Hakan Aydin

Serious contentions delay this mini-series, which should have been completed years ago. The visual plot scripting for it has been lagging for far too long and despite all the stellar amount of story art he's produced for it, the commitment of Hakan Aydin, the project's penciling artist, has begun to waver. However, with only twenty-five pages of story art remaining to be produced, Hakan has expressed assurances that he will complete his task. So there a new earnestness to complete all the VP scripting will be now be applied.


NEXT UPDATE 
SEPTEMBER 30, 2018

2018 1st QUARTERLY EDITION

2018 1ST QUARTER NEW RELEASES NOW 2ND QUARTER NEW RELEASES

QEW Publishing missed its goal for the 2018 1st Quarter New Releases! Sadly, the new comic books that had been selected for publication were not ready by their March 31st release date. This was due to some delays with production and budgeting management. Nevertheless, here at QEW HQ, the objective to publish BLOOD & SILVER #4, THE GIFTED #1, and DARK POWERS #1 still remains in focus. Although a series of technical difficulties configuring image files of lettered story art pages in their required format had been slightly part of the problem, that's now finally beginning to work out. Lettering for BLOOD & SILVER #4 has been completed and the image files for those are currently being properly reconfigured for re-submission. The books are now set to be 2018 2nd Quarter New Releases. THE GIFTED #1 is currently being lettered with DARK POWERS #1 to be next. QEW Publishing is hoping to have the books available for showcasing before its first schedule convention exhibition of this new year.

MASTER 2 MASTER NOW INACTIVE

It is very sad to report that any efforts to proceed with the production of MASTER 2 MASTER have been officially spiked. For whatever reason, artist, Mick Nave may have declined to continue with its production as he'd originally agreed upon with QEW Publishing. The project had seemed to be coming along quite nicely. Initially, he had submitted fantastic penciled/inked story art for pages 1-4, but hasn't submitted anything else since then, and he's unfortunately been incommunicado for quite some time. QEW Publishing has conceded that there's no need to continue wasting efforts and limited resources on this project. MASTER 2 MASTER has therefore been rendered inactive, removed from QEW Publishing's Active TDL, and set aside indefinitely. 

AMERICAN RIPPER STILL A GO

Very happy to report that production is still in its stages of progression. No story art or communications hadn't been received from artist, Conan Momchilov, for some time now. However, he has reached out recently to inform about personal issues that have been imposing setbacks on his production efforts. He also says that in spite of this, he's remaining committed to see this project's production through to its completion. This is absolutely relieving news. A significant amount of time and resources and effort have been contributed to AMERICAN RIPPER's creation. David Berner's scripting is a fitting and essential factor to the telling of this suspenseful historical fantasy. Reassurances from Conan Momchilov will certainly help to make this happen.

P.I. McQUEEN CHALLENGES REMAIN

Production of this comic has been regretfully stalled. Significant setbacks have been due to non-production. Since signing on about 3.5 months ago, no actual story art has been submitted for review from artist, Antonio Goulart, and there hadn't been any direct communications from him, either. But he did finally respond to report that he's been recovering from injuries he'd sustained in an accident. Antonio said that he had fallen, which resulted in a dislocated wrist and a cracked rib. According to him, the splint that he'd been wearing has long since been removed and he now seems to be recovering favorably. Antonio also said that he'd managed to produce only five pages of story art, which QEW Publishing is hoping to receive for review very, very soon.

ZMZ PROMO & PRODUCTION REBOOT

QEW Publishing believes that the stagnancy from the lack of production progress on this mini-series and its fundraising efforts have been tolerated long enough. It's high time now for a full rekindling of some momentum on it. To begin this restart, QEW Publishing has reached out to ZOMBIES MINUS ZERO co-creator and Dark One Closet founder, Isaiah Jenson, agreed with this, too, and wants to see some results with promotion and production as well. He's already reserved an exhibit spot for Dark Ones Closet at the annual horror convention event, Crypticon-Seattle 2018, scheduled for May 4-6. QEW Publishing intends to extend its merchandising efforts and possibly recruit and active ZMZ promotion agent or two. New ZOMBIES MINUS ZERO Go Fund Me promo cards, custom tank tops, stickers, buttons, and even a video ad are on the list of ideas, as well as forming a ZMZ promo team for Washington and Oregon states. QEW Publishing is aiming for everything to be ready on time for Crypticon.

BLOOD ROOT TO RESUME PRODUCTION

The sabbatical on producing QEW Publishing's first novel of vampire fiction has gone on long enough. There will be renewed efforts to set aside time to resume working on the rough manuscript for BLOOD ROOT.
Six or seven rough chapters still remain to be composed. For the next following three months there'll be focus on doing just that. QEW Publishing will also be considering being more earnest in forming a special beta-reader group as well. This could help with generating new inspiration and maybe provide constructive criticism. Snippets of  updated rough editions of BLOOD ROOT may be even posted periodically on QEW Publishing's intellectual property subsidiary Facebook Page, Strike Point.

NEW VENUE DEVELOPING FOR INDEPENDENT COMICS

It's extremely difficult for small press independent comics to be consistently distributed to retail stores with any favorable consistency. So what if there was a retail venue established exclusively for small press independent comics? It would be the ideal venue made solely for independent creators and publishers, who would be paid on a simple, mutual consignment basis. QEW Publishing is actually working on spearheading the creation and eventual formation of such a place. A name has already been given to this project and a candidate, who'll be appointed as its manager, has already been selected. Once it's established, QPQ here will reveal more about it as submissions of indie comics will be sought to help fulfill this long overdue idea to finally become a reality.

WEN-CON 2018

In the last QPQ edition, QEW Publishing had reported that it hadn't planned on attending very many comic book conventions because it was more focused this year on publication expenses. But thanks to THE GIFTED mini-series' creator-owner and artist, Chad Dulac, QEW Publishing has been invited to attend and exhibit at Wen-Con, Wenatchee, Washington's local pop culture convention. Initially, it had been Chad who had been offered an invitation from Wen-Con to attend and exhibit his artwork. While he was grateful and honored by this, he instead graciously suggested to Wen-Con that his invitation be extended to QEW Publishing. So despite there not being any intent this year to attend any shows, this could still be a wonderful opportunity to showcase QEW Publishing's indie comics to Wenatchee locals and possibly have a chance to solicit its books at its comic retailer there, Galaxy Comics. This is also a motivator to ensure that printed editions of THE GIFTED #1 are made readily available to showcase there.

NEXT QPQ UPDATE JUNE 30, 2018