Process/Story Time: 2016 FCBD SpongeBob Comics Layouts

Chris Duffy is a name well known to the bulk of North American comics creators of my generation, as well as readers of the late, lamented Nickelodeon/Nick Magazine's comics section (or the Bizarro Comics project, for that matter). During his tenure at the magazine, (with cartoonist Dave Roman as assistant editor), hundreds of comics creators were hired to write and draw over 1300 pages of comics, gag panels and comic strips -- along with covers for each month's Comic Book section. Along with the expected work-for-hire assignments on Nickelodeon characters such as SpongeBob Squarepants, Jimmy Neutron and The Fairly Odd Parents, a surprising amount of these comics were original and creator-owned. Unlike our other steady magazine client, MAD, the creators kept the rights to their original comics work. Disney Adventures also ran some material that was creator-owned, which is where our Kid Blastoff comics originated. 

For freelance cartoonists Nick Mag was a beacon of light in a darkening publishing landscape, with rates falling and magazines jettisoning comics from their pages to try to cut losses in a plummeting market. Practically every 90's-era New York City-based cartoonist seemed to have at least one credit in The Comic Book, along with many others across the country. It was often joked about that Nick Mag kept dozens of cartoonists from becoming homeless, most of the contributors were dedicated indy/alt types, or genre-hopping gate-straddlers like myself. Sam Henderson had a monthly "Scene But Not heard" strip, James Kochalka and Steven Weissman were regulars, Johnny Ryan was usually doing gag panels, other contributors included David Mazzucchelli, Michael Kupperman, Ellen Forney, Mark Newgarden, Craig Thompson, Jen Sorensen, Richard Sala, Kaz, Kim Deitch, art Spiegelman, Jason Lutes, laura Park, Richard Thompson, Mark Martin, Tom Gauld, Emily Flake, Roger Langridge, Jay Stephens, Todd Webb, Dave Cooper, Stephen DeStefano...the list goes on and on and on. I always wished they could have put together a big omnibus of The Comic Book, it would have made a really sweet book.

After Nick shut down the magazine in 2010, you could practically hear the sobbing of a few hundred freelancers across the world. There wasn't anything around to replace that semi-steady gig, if you weren't doing some kind of animation work it was a dagger in the heart. Mainstream publishers were closing the door to a lot of the "oddball" cartoonists waltzing around SDCC and NYCC, there were fewer and fewer opportunities to do a few weird pages for DC or Marvel or even Dark Horse, as anthologies and humor-based special projects started drying up in the direct market. 

One small, remaining haven was Bongo Comics. While the Treehouse of Horror annuals employed guest "name" creators, at one point they started reaching out to a number of alt/indy types to contribute to the Bart Simpson series. Another venue opened up when the SpongeBob Comics line started up (distributed by Bongo, coincidentally). Chris Duffy was hired on as managing editor, and the SpongeBob series continued the Nick Mag tradition of providing work for a group of "cartoony" cartoonists. Contributors such as Maris Wicks, Joey Weiser, Jacob Chabot joined Nick-era veterans like Sam Henderson, James Kochalka, Graham Annable and others from Duffy's rolodex. 

If I remember correctly, I was asked to do something for the regular series but wasn't able to schedule it. In 2016 Chris asked me to write a story for that year's Free Comic Book Day issue, and at that point I was looking for work wherever I could find it. I was asked to do a Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy story -- which was going to be drawn by the great Ramona Fradon (!). I had never seen an episode of SpongeBob, but between memes and pop culture saturation I knew the characters and basic set up. I had no idea who Mermaid Man or Barnacle Boy was, though. But I needed the gig and I really loved the idea of working with Ramona Fradon (!). So, Chris sent me some comics, and I watched some stuff online with the characters. The comics stressed the Aquaman inspiration, with adventures mimicking the overall goofiness of DC comics from the Silver Age. I pitched a goofy story, Chris accepted the idea, and asked if I'd be interested in doing layouts for Ramona Fradon. So I ended up doing layouts as well as the script. It was a lot of fun, as was seeing my name in the credits of a comic along with Ramona Fradon, who if you don't know, drew some of those Silver Age Aquaman stories that inspired Mermaid Man. 

I had previously done scripts and layouts for a few Nick mag gigs, the one I remember most was a Fairly Oddparents story -- I put so much work into the layouts that Chris Duffy tried to get me paid for finished pencils. There was some weirdness involved with the "Fairly Oddparents" people or something, the people they used for art got the nod over Chris (and me). Or something like that. The artist traced off my stuff. That's on me, really, my anxiety and imposter syndrome stuff. MAD helped me kick some of my worries over layouts, but at the time of that particular story I was feeling very stressed and overly eager to please. Not a good way to freelance, especially when you're already established and working with a good, friendly editor who has your back. Live and learn.

Sadly, not only is Nick Mag gone, but so is Bongo and SpongeBob Comics. A lot of fun comics got made, though. 

Most of the cartoonists are still cartooning away. It's an illness we all have, that keeps us goign despite everything. 

It's called Comics.

Up above: complete layouts for the 12-page story, an example of a finished page penciled and inked from my layouts by Ramona Fradon, and some character designs I did for the comic.