The Xeric Foundation

You know, one of the coolest things I've seen in comics since I've been reading them is the Xeric Awards. The Xeric Foundation was set up by Peter Laird (of TMNT fame) as a way to get money to aspiring comic book creators to get their work published. They've given out a lot of money, and the Xeric-winning books that I have read were all very good -- but probably would not have been published were it not for the grants. I think it's supremely cool that Peter was able to set something like this up, as it's been great for creators and readers both. I'm sure I wouldn't like/appreciate every Xeric comic that's been published (they tend to be fairly low-key and a great many of them have flown under my radar) but I appreciate that someone will like and appreciate it.

I've long kept their name tucked in the back of my mind as someone to tap if/when I ever get my own comic book together. One of their stipulations for applying for the grant is that your book is at least mostly complete -- not surprising since the money is intended to help with printing costs. But that means creators have to survive in their day job(s) while they're in the struggle of creating the comic before they can might get some help with it. And given my level of illustration skills -- serviceable, but dreadfully labor-intensive -- I don't know that I could realistically work on something like my "Propaganda of the Deed" idea (new artwork at right, courtesy of Hero Machine) from a story-telling perspective. Since it's been a couple weeks since I've mentioned it, let me put out the call again for any artists who might be interested in working with me on this. I've gone through all my friends who have some degree of artistic talent -- all of whom were already swamped -- so I'm using my humble blog here to see if there's any like-minded creators out there.

But, back to the Xerics, great idea, great implementation. I really should resolve to spend more time/money/effort tracking down Xeric books because, like I said, the ones I've read so far have been very well done.

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