It's been almost a year since Mularam exhibited its debut comic at the Frankfurt Book Fair and much has happened since then. Given that the next Book Fair is soon approaching (sadly we wont be at this one, but aim to be for 2011) we figured it only right that we look back and see where we are a year on.
Please sir, can I have some more...
There were many lessons learnt following our first time in Frankfurt but the one that stayed with us was that in order to successfully exhibit alongside the big boys of the comic world, you need content. Mularam had a 2x2m booth and exactly 1, 35 page comic to display. When we were setting up it quickly became apparent that this simply wasnt enough and that all those around us had book upon book lining their shelves. In many ways we stood out for this very reason and while the novelty of this drew in some admirers, it didnt do anything to aide our professional credibility. The publishers we showed it to commented on how they needed to see more, to see a final product and not just its first part. We quickly understood that in order to succeed at Frankfurt we needed to return with more ammunition. Since then, we have bolsetered the 'Last Days of Apocalypso' story to a full 240 page novel (still being illustrated as we write this) that we hope to have ready for the start of 2011.
Read, Read and Read some more...
Since September 2009 we have both made it our mission to know as much as we can about 'the biz'. The first place for this is to consume as much literature as humanly possible. The majority has of course been in Comic or Graphic Novel format (the rest supplimented with books/blogs etc about the industry) and we now both know about such wonders as Sandman, Hellboy, The Goon, Fables, Bone, Will (shamed to have not done prior) Eisner to name but a few. It's been said a million times before and will be written a million times more, but in order to know how good you are, you have to know how good other people are. Compare yourselves to the greats and you'll have a pretty good benchmark to work from.
Think Big
We made sure that even though the our first fair didnt end up with a publishing deal (would have been the stuff of dreams), that we come away from it with a clear focus for how to improve upon what we had. From the people we met to the information we digested, what we learnt was that the Book Industry is currently undergoing its biggest shift since its inception, namely the age of the digital. Not groundbreaking news for many Im sure but we got to see how the industry and those within are preparing and how Mularam can capitalise on this shift. As we are a Creative Digital Agency, it makes sense that we weave our previous skills into this market to offer an entirely new way of reading and interacting with literature. We learnt that we needed to look beyond one project and think about how we were going to position ourselves so that when the time is right, we can offeer something truely new and engaging to this special field of art.
Fair's Fair
On reflection, we questioned whether the Franfurt Book Fair was the best place for us. Sure it's Europes biggest and there were plenty of great companies there for us to approach but ultimately it's not a Comic Fair. We felt that the likes of Comicon and Angouleme would be better places to exhibit next time in order to meet the right people and to reach the public we want to share our work with. For those reading this who havent been to Frankfurt before, we would say think about your objectives wisely. It's mostly companies who are selling the international rights to their books and so very few new works get a look in. It's a good place to talk to publishers and show them your work but there may be better suited, smaller fairs to start at.
The Goons
The highlight of our time at Frankfurt was listening to Eric Powell give an interview about his masterpiece The Goon. Neither of us had read so much as a single page of The Goon but were really impressed with not only the artwork we saw but the way in which Eric described his road to success. The humble origins of The Goon were through Erics own publishing company Albatros Exploding Funny Books and through hard work and perseverance his books got picked up by Dark Horse Comics. If you haven't yet discovered these books then we highly recommend checking them out. We got to chat with Eric after the interview and pick his brain about what we could do to repeat his success and to give him a copy ofour comic Last Days of Apocalypso: Goodnight My Love.
So there you have it, a retrospective of a year gone by. We now have more than one comic to our names (watch for future blogs for details) and a clear idea of where we are headed. The time spent at the fair was like a ring to a Gollum; truely precious. We're sad not to be there again this year but happy in the thought that we might have inspired two more schmucks to try their luck, rent a booth and pretend to be comic book writers for the week.
David Ramsbottom
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