The F.A.Q.

I'm answering a lot more questions from folks these days -- mostly about the Eltingville Club comics and pilot -- and a lot of the same questions keep cropping up. So I'm hoping this FAQ can help me save some time and still answer the questions I'm getting from fans. I'm going to make this an open post that I can direct people to. I'll edit/add to the post if needed. Okay? Okay.

GENERAL

Q: Do you ever do conventions?

A: I used to, but I took a year off, then Covid hit and since then I've had very few invitations to any events. I enjoy meeting fans and seeing friends in the industry, but I'm not in a financial position to pay up front for travel, hotel and table expenses on my own dime. If you want to see me appear at your local show, contact the convention promoters and let them know.

Q: Do you do commissions?

A: I haven't solicited commissions in some time because I'm horribly late on a batch of drawings I owe people. When I do open up the list, Patreon backers at the top two backer tiers will get first shot at it, then it goes to the lower tiers and then to the public. I have no idea when that might happen.

Q: Do you sign books through the mail?

A: I don't. I might start letting folks in the $10 tier of the Patreon send books to get signed/sketched in, but I'm still figuring that out. It takes time and I'm responsible for other people's property, something I'm not a great fan of.

Q: Do you review portfolios? Will you read my comic pitch? Do you do critiques of people's work? Can you tell me how to get into comics? 

A: No. If I'm at a convention and things are slow, I'm usually happy to talk about people's work and look at their art, maybe give a few pointers and answer a few specific questions. But we're all really busy and my time is short, especially when I'm answering so many messages these days.

MAKING COMICS

Q: Do you have any general advice about making comics?

Sure. There are countless online resources for young artists and cartoonists out there. Look for them. Play around with various art supplies and find what you're comfortable with. Expensive supplies doesn't always mean they're right for what you want to achieve. Do the work. Draw a lot, make a lot of bad drawings until you make better ones. Learn the general rules of drawing and comics so you know the fundamentals and can choose how and when to break them. Look at the cartoonists you like and break down what they do -- drawing-wise, storytelling-wise, pacing-wise. Make comics. Worry about telling simple stories before you start messing around with fancy panel layouts. make comics. Practice lettering. Look at the lettering in comics, how messy but readable some of it can be, how it fits the artwork. Look at newspaper comic strips, the lettering isn't always that Marvel/DC etc, style everyone goes for. If you have to use digital lettering, don't go with generic crap. Never use AI anything, from getting answers to making art. Advice isn't always good advice, so do want you want and see how it goes with readers and who might come along for the ride. Own your ideas. Don't apologize for your art, just do better. Show new art to people, not old. Don't go to your loved ones for a critique, they love you and will likely tell you "everything looks great!". Find a person you trust to say things like "I have no goddamned idea what's happening on this page." be open to honest criticism, try to push bad faith and hateful comments aside. You'll never do work that everyone likes, worry about what you think and hope others will feel the same way about what you're doing. Make the comics. Work creates work, you have to make a thing to have it done and in readable form and move on to the next thing. If you want to make comics, make comics, not covers and pinups. Do the work. make comics. Have fun. If you're not having fun, something's wrong. Making comics can be difficult but it should involved fun. Discard advice that doesn't fit your needs. The only way to get better is to do the work and make comics. Do the work. Make comics.

Also, take care of your drawing hand and watch your posture. Take breaks. You'll need that hand in good operating order when you're older. Now stop reading this and go make some comics or draw or play with your cat or something. If you don't have a cat, go get a cat. Cats are awesome, except when they walk on your artwork while you're drawing.

Q: Do you have any advice on how to break into the comics industry?

Here's where I have to throw up my hands and admit I have no idea. So much has changed since I broke into comics into 1986, and finally broke in full time as a freelancer in 1991. The internet has, as in most fields, changed everything. Even before the web became a part of everyday life things were changing -- publishers stopped accepting script and art examples through the mail, stopped allowing freelancers to come up to the offices and meet with an editor. Nowadays I have no idea how anyone breaks into the industry. I assume a lot happens at conventions, that editors look at portfolios online, that someone is putting their comics on the web and has attracted some notice which rolls into work. I have not experienced any of this. I've been around long enough that I've stuck with some publishers and fans. I barely know anyone at the publishers anymore, I have longterm rlationships with the folks at Dark Horse (since 1991) and Oni (whose editor-in-chief is my former editor on Beasts of Buden at DHC). Most editors and publishing workers only know my naeme from solicitations and social media, if they know me at all. The industry is always losing people and gaining people, which is one reason creative people need to stick around for the long haul, even just in trying to break in. You never know when tastes will change in your favor, when new editors and/or readers will fall on your work and find it worth pursuing. But, again, none of that is super-helpful in etting into comics or making money in comics (another thing I don't know much about anymore). You have to make comics -- not covers or pinups -- and make a portfolio site and post your comics in the hopes of catching eyeballs. Engaging with other cartoonists and creators might help you figure out the ropes, as it were, what's possible, who knos where eyeballs may be found, who knows where a sympathetic editor might be at. But it feels like most young folks -- especially if they're not interested in superhero or mainstream work -- nudge in through webcomics and the webcomis community. Just like there are sites designed to help folks with making comics, I assume there's information on pushing through to readers and editors out there. I know that isn't diurect advice, but it's all I got from my aging, out of the trenches perspective. Even if there was no internet I couldn't tell people exactly how to break in, for me it happened in a convoluted way -- I was gunshy of interviews and never had a proper physical portfolio to show publishers and editors. I stumbled into my earliest jobs more for my personality than my talent. I basically can't tell people "meet a writer through the comic shop you work at who drags you to interviews where you don't get work but years later someone remembers you", or, "go to SDCC and get drunk with folks at publishing companies who will remember you years later when they're in a hiring position". Maybe they both can still work but I don't think it's something that you can plan out. If I had to start out tomorrow to try to break into comics I don't know if I would ever get into comics, especially considering how shabby my early work was. It was a smaller, different, more intimate and open industry back then. I don't really know what it is nowadays, but the good news more types of comics are being published online and in print, my more types of cartoonists. That is heartening, to say the least. Good luck on your very tough assignment!

Q: What do you use to draw with?

There are posts with images of the art supplies I use to draw and make comics with. Search "Process" or "Art Supplies" to find them. But for the FAQ: I draw with Tombow pencils and use Col-Erase red and blue pencils for roughs and layouts. I erase using Vanish erasers (after cartoonist and friend Bob Fingerman clued me into them, they're excellent) , kneaded erasers and still will use plastic erasers in some situations. I ink with Tombow calligraphy pens, Microns, rapidographs and Pitt brush pens. I used to ink with dip pens, using Hunt 102 and 22 nibs and g-nibs. I letter with rapidographs, sometimes microns.

THE ELTINGVILLE CLUB

Q: Is an Eltingville animated series ever going to happen?

A: Never say never, but as far as I'm concerned the pilot is all we're going to have. As much as I wish it went to series, it's nuts that there's a very expensive animated cartoon based on my work, which I had a hand in producing. I'm grateful we got it done and people still have an interest in it.

Q: Can't you pitch an Eltingville series around and try to get it revived?

A: I'm not a name by any means in animation, I no longer have contacts in the field and I can't just go out and decide to make a cartoon series on my own. And reviving the series as it aired could only happen with the Cartoon Network. They own that pilot and the new content/specifics could only be used in another production if someone bought the pilot. And as I said above, it was an expensive project, and it failed, so, I wouldn't bet on that.

Q: If a studio or production company approached you about a new adaptation, would you be interested?

A: I wouldn't rule it out! But I've never had any inquiries from anyone interested in taking another swing at it.

Q: Will the Eltingville Club comics collection ever come back into print?

A: Yes . The upcoming NERD INFERNO Omnibus will collect The Eltingville Club, Milk & Cheese and Dork in one 656-page paperback book. It will include all the extras, so the Northwest Comix Collective story and a few pages of designs for the Adult Swim Eltingville pilot will be in there as well. Ordering info is here: https://tinyurl.com/yfw59k2r

Q: What inspired The Eltingville Club?

A: back in the 1990's, a friend of mine was writing for DC Comics, and he got a batch of hate mail and some death threats for killing off a character in a story. He called me up to blow off some steam and read me some of the letters, all of which were stupid, and some of which were vile. This got me angry on his behalf, and that led to me coming up with The Eltingville Club. I drew the characters and thought up the basic idea for the story that night. Anger can be a creative catalyst.

Q: Is Eltingville based on a real place?

A: Eltingville is a neighborhood on Staten Island where I worked as a manager at a comic shop called Jim Hanley's Universe (still in business as JHU Books and Comics, with new owners). The fictional Eltingville is basically all of Staten Island. And basically stinks.

Q: Are the Eltingville Club members based on real people?

A: They're based on me and my friends in the 80s, to some degree. We played D&D in basements, we argued a lot, we sometimes fought, but it was never over collectibles, movies or trivia. There was a fight or two because of D&D, though. We were pretty positive about our interests, the actual nerd rage wrapping was taken from my "comics life" -- reading letters pages and fanzines, going to crappy comic shops, seeing how uber-fans and creepy dealers acted at cons, going to shows as a professional and dealing with some Eltingville-like fans. Etc.

Q: Are any of the characters based on yourself?

A: Unfortunately, I'm the template for Bill, the worst of them all. His anger and obnoxiousness is based on my younger self. I was often a shitty, angry and defensive jerk who made fun of stuff and pissed a lot of people off, especially at the comic shop where I worked. Some people thought Eltingville was just about crapping on fans, they never got that sometimes I was also taking shots at myself. Fun Trivia: I'm still in therapy!

Q: How old are the Eltingville Club members?

In "This Fan, This Monster" someone refers to the boys being under eighteen. They're high school seniors, they could all be seventeen, but I don't know if any of them skipped a grade.

Q: How tall are the Eltingville Club members? How much do they weigh?

A: I don't know. I never needed that information worked out.

Q: What are the character's birthdays?

A: I don't know.

Q: Can I ask you a hypothetical question about the Eltingville Club members?

You can ask, but I probably don't have an answer for you. If your question involves a "What if?" or speculative/alternative universe scenario, I probably won't have an answer for you. I didn't work out extensive backgrounds and futures for the characters, I concentrated on what I needed to know about them for the stories. I "know" the characters to a large degree, but I don't know their histories, and I don't know what they'd be like in a mirror universe. Meaning, if you ask me "What if?" questions about how the characters would behave if they were gay, or bi, or trans, or if they were girls, or animals, or non-toxic fans or parents, etc -- I don't know how to answer those kinds of questions, because that isn't how I wrote the characters, and isn't something I ever thought about while making the comics. They'd be different characters with different attributes, characters I haven't written or thought about and don't have time to write or think about. That's one reason why we have fan fiction, so fans can work those kinds of questions out for themselves.

Q: Is it okay to make fan art or fiction with the characters?

A: Of course! That's what fan art and fan fiction is all about. If someone started making a ton of Eltingville merch to sell, that's where I'd have to send out a polite but stern e-mail in the Mighty Eltingville Manner. I'm constantly seeing bootlegs of the shirts we do, sometimes on teepublic where our store is. I send take down notices but it's like playing Monkey Mole Panic. It's obnoxious because it's not like I'm getting rich shirt sales, we can use any sales we lose to these creeps. Anyway, it's not like I'm searching the internet to yell at someone making a bunch of Jerry pins or whatever. I just have to make sure my work is protected, and I hope fans respect that and don't do anything too egregious.

Q: What kind of music does the Eltingville Club listen to?

Bill isn't really interested in music, because he has no soul. Josh likes movie soundtracks, any classical music that sounds like a movie soundtrack, some basic classic rock that's easily accessible. Pete likes metal, especially death and black metal and especially any band that has a horror theme. He also likes some commercial rap music. Jerry likes video game soundtracks, 8-bit music, some prog rock, RPG video game, anime and fantasy movie soundtracks. He's the most open to different kinds of music of the four.

Q: Can you tell me more about (Club Member's) childhood?

Not really. I touched on their childhoods and parents so the reader knows they weren't happy kids, and their parents weren't supportive or understanding of their interests and needs. But the details aren't something I had to get into, and I didn't even really deal with that much until the last few stories. I know some things about their families only as generalities. If the pilot went to series or I continued the comics, we probably would have started dealing with their home lives (especially Bill, as he had a sister), but I wanted to keep the parents away as much as possible to isolate the characters.

Q: Why is Jerry called "Jerome" most of the time, but sometimes his first name is "Gerard"?

A: I screwed up and called Jerry "Gerard" at least once. Hoping to fix it for the next collection.

Q: In one story, Pete is sometimes called Phil. Why?

A: I really screwed up and mistakenly lettered "Phil" instead of Pete. I wonder if it's because I had a character named "Phil" in the Bill and Ted comics. We fixed it for the collection.

Q: How can I order the Eltingville Club T-shirts and posters and stuff?

https://www.teepublic.com/user/house-of-fun

Q: Why don't you ship shirts to (name of country)?

I don't know why Teepublic doesn't ship to certain countries. It sucks but it's not under my control.

Q: Are you ever going to make any merchandise other than the shirts?

A: I'm probably not going to make anything by myself, other than maybe add designs to the Teepublic store. I'm working on a design for a possible project, and I'm still hoping I can get a set of Eltingville mini-figures done with H&H Toys, who made the Milk & Cheese figures a while back. I'm basically a one-person outfit so it's hard to get to everything I'd like to do.

Q: Can I be (character's) #1 fan? Can I be (character's) official partner? Or sibling?

I'm sorry, but I get asked these questions more than you might think (which is why it's been added to the FAQ) and I don't want to choose anyone in particular over everyone else who asks. No one will be anointed as any character's #1 fan, unless they save a baby 's life or give me a million dollars or something like that which might sway me.

Q: Can I DM you on social media? Can I send you my OC?

I don't accept DMs on Bluesky, but I try to reply to any questions people post to me there. I try to answer all my messages on Instagram and Tumblr but it's taking me longer nowadays, sometimes weeks. I'm happy to see your OC drawings but it's best to post them to Bluesky and tag me in, or to Instagram. I try to answer every message I get but I do miss some.

MILK & CHEESE

Q: How did you come up with the idea for Milk & Cheese?

A: I was waiting for food in a Mexican restaurant with friends (Brian and Tony). We'd been to a ska show at CBGB's and I was pretty drunk. I had a habit of drawing on napkins while waiting for food and that night I drew an angry carton of milk and an angry wedge of cheese beside a highway saying "We're from Jersey", "No cracks!". I liked them and started drawing them on art packages and replies to fan mail and at conventions. Eventually I started making comics with them, at the urging of Kurt Sayenga and Steve Niles (who published the first M&C comic in their music/comics magazine, Greed). Brian still has the napkin.

Q: Will you ever do any new Milk & Cheese comics?

A: I'll never do an issue #8 (or #Hate, as it was going to be called), but I still hope to put a few new comics together before I kick off. They're my babies. I love them.

Q: Will there ever be a new print edition of the M&C collection?

A: The upcoming NERD INFERNO Omnibus will collect Milk & Cheese, The Eltingville Club and Dork in one 656-page paperback book. It will include all the extras from the Milk & Cheese collection and the extra M&C strips that ran later in House of Fun/Dork. Ordering info is here: https://tinyurl.com/yfw59k2r

DORK

Q: Is Dork ever coming back?

A: I'm still making new comics on the Patreon whenever I can, and I hope to compile them into an issue #12 one of these days. There's also a batch of Fun Strips that ran in a Heavy Metal one-shot after the Dork collection came out that I'd include. I hope to at least get that taken care of.

Q: Are any of the Devil Puppet's stories true?

No. But a few are based on things that really happened. The TV show Bewitched was beloved in Japan, many details in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade story are based on fact.

Q: Will there ever be a new print edition of the Dork collection?

A: The upcoming NERD INFERNO Omnibus will collect Dork, Milk & Cheese and The Eltingville Club and Dork in one 656-page paperback book. It will include all the extras from Dork and House of Fun. Ordering info is here: https://tinyurl.com/yfw59k2r

BEASTS OF BURDEN

Q: Will there be more Beasts of Burden comics?

A: Yes. Life threw me a few curveballs and new stories that I had started writing were put on the back burner. I hope to get back to writing the series asap.

Q: Is Beasts of Burden okay for my kids to read?

A: I'm never sure how to answer that. The series initially looks like it could be all-ages, but there is gore, harm to animals and scenes that might upset some kids. And some adults, as we've found (mostly because of the story "Lost"). I'd say it's a PG, maybe a PG-13, in movie terms, but horror is subjective. Parents know their kids' reading and watching habits better than I do, obviously, so I suggest going through the comics first to make the call.

IN GENERAL

Q: Can I make merchandise of The Eltingville Club, Milk & Cheese, etc?

A: Fans can make things for their own personal use, shirts, keychains or whatever. Making merchandise to sell at conventions or online crosses the line. So, please don't do that.

Q: Can I get a tattoo of one of your characters or a drawing you've done?

A: Sure. Just remember you'll have to live with it.

WINKY

Q: Is Winky the Pirate Cat a girl or a boy? Does she really have only one eye?

A: Winky is a girl. She only has the one eye. 

Q: Have you thought about getting Winky an eyepatch and a pirate hat?

A: Sarah made her an eyepatch and bought her a hat. Winky refuses to wear them. We tried.

 Photo up top of Bill Dickey birthday cake by @nihilisticfolk.bsky.social‬