Best of Trees & Hills comics for MoCCA?

[barlow...@gmail.com]

Hi everyone -

Well, January is over and we no longer have excuses not to talk about
the exciting projects we have going this year!

First things first - do we all agree that we should do a Trees & Hills
best-of paperback collection, published through Lulu or some other POD
service, for MoCCA this June?

If everyone says yes - and I hope they will - I'll start contacting
contributors from our first four books to get permission. And then a
handful of us (I'll volunteer - but need at least two more people)
should start deciding which comics are reprinted and which are not.
Ideally, I would like to publish at least one comic from every
contributor just to be fair. And let's not forget new material!

-Dan

[Colin Tedford]

Yes, and of course I'll volunteer to co-edit. I think the actual decision-making group should be no larger than 3, but of course should be open to input from others.

Colin
www.colintedford.com
-------------------------------
Trees & Hills Comics Group
Bringing together cartoonists in VT, NH & western MA
www.treesandhills.org

[Keith Moriarty]

I vote "yea."

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
-- Albert Einstein, as quoted in "What Life Means to Einstein : An Interview by George Sylvester Viereck" in The Saturday Evening Post Vol. 202 (26 October 1929), p. 117

---

Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 23:26:10 -0500
Subject: {Trees & Hills} Re: Best of Trees & Hills comics for MoCCA?
From: colint...@gmail.com
To: treesa...@googlegroups.com

[Mattyoung]

Would the book be in the traditional T&H format?

I ask because I have a story I did about music that might fit in well
with the other stories that I'd like to offer. I just have to see how
it looks that small. (It was done for a regular american-sized comics
antho, but it was also before I got a handle on how legible writing
can be at smaller sizes, so its got huge lettering).

I'll offer my services editing if no one else will, although I'd be
more than happy to help with layout and design-y stuff for the
collection. That sounds like a lot of fun.

-Matt.

[Daniel Barlow]

Yeah, we are planning on keeping the 5.5″ x 8.5 size. But it would be great if we could get a comic from you in there too, especially one that tied thematically into a prior book.

 

We might take you up on the design side of things ...

 

-Dan

[Daniel Barlow]

Should we keep the comment period open for a few more days ...?

 

-Dan

[Marek Bennett]

Is this a BEST OF ?  It seems like you might be opening a Pandora's box by accepting submissions that weren't already in the anthologies.

 

-- M

----- Original Message -----

From: Daniel Barlow

To: treesa...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 10:34 AM

Subject: {Trees & Hills} Re: Best of Trees & Hills comics for MoCCA?

[Colin Tedford]

How about "retrospective or overview with bonus material"? Including new pieces would just help round out the contributor list (possibly including some pieces that weren't finished in time for deadlines) for a more complete representation.

Colin
www.colintedford.com
-------------------------------
Trees & Hills Comics Group
Bringing together cartoonists in VT, NH & western MA
www.treesandhills.org

[Daniel Barlow]

I agree with Colin. Putting in a handful of new pieces always us to include creators who are excited about Trees & Hills, but were not involved in our first four books. It also gives people a reason to buy the collected edition even if they already own and love our first four books!

 

I don't think we should go out and say we are accepting new submissions as much as we should approach certain people we think should be included (although several of them are probably on this e-mail list!).

 

Marek had a good recommendation last week: We should have members suggest their three favorite comics from each of our books to create a baseline going forward in choosing which ones to reprint.

 

-Dan

[Marek Bennett]

Absolutely.  Good idea, sir!

 

I'm not sure if Dan mentioned this, but I propose putting inclusion to an email vote from all T&H members.  Each member could vote for three features (NOT their own) from any of the anthologies... OR, alternately, three features by THREE DIFFERENT artists, but maybe including their own?

[Marek Bennett]

This would give T&H officials a sense of the relative "success" of the pieces among our members...

 

For example, I genuinely wonder if certain pieces would be on EVERYONE's lists, or if everyone would have WIDELY varying lists? 

 

(Also, I like the idea of not being able to vote for our own work.  For contentious selections in a classroom, when everyone's clamoring to be chosen, I'll often invite students to "nominate somebody ELSE" for the honor.  It totally changes the timbre of inclusion, making it less of a "hope I get in" atmosphere to a juried, peer-supporting, care-n-share "I nominated you!" spirit.)

 

ALSO also, I propose we invite participating artists to give a self-portrait sketch with their bio (themed to the selected work?)...  That could add a cool "extra" feature to the artwork.

 

ALSO, I propose we include a FREE special hand-folded origami "pine tree on hill" (3'6"x1'6"x1'6") with each copy. ( http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-christmas-tree.html )  Ha ha!  Not really.

[mo...@simons-rock.edu]

I like the idea.

I don't want to be the one collating the votes. Have we thought about the
hugeness this entails?

(Who's the naysayer now, Colin? :) )
A.

**********************
www.mymonsterhat.com

one-of-a-kind
custom made
monster millinery
**********************

[Colin Tedford]

Do we restrict this to people who've read all four anthologies?

Colin
www.colintedford.com
-------------------------------
Trees & Hills Comics Group
Bringing together cartoonists in VT, NH & western MA
www.treesandhills.org

[Daniel Barlow]

Let me see if I understand the plan - do we make a public call out for suggestions? Consult all the contributors of the first four books? Just the T&H brain trust.

 

I wouldn't mind a combination of all three. We do a public call out, get some responses. Contributor call out probably yields a larger response. And a committee of three finally picks the list.

 

Also - on an unrelated T&H topic, I had a great talk with a guy named Ben Matchstick here in Montpelier. He is involved with the Langdon Street Cafe (suggested we do an art show there!) and he also runs a youth cartooning group at the Montpelier library (the one Pat Leahy gave his Batman money to!). He mostly works with kids 8-14.

 

Well, I mentioned that we have several members with expertise in this area (Marek!) and he mentioned that he does have a budget from the library. Anyway, I think we could host a great T&H show there - cartoon with the kids, sell SEEDS to their parents.

 

Ben also mentioned that we would love to connect with the CCS/WRJ cartoonists communities too ...

 

Also, I convinced Bear Pond Books in Montpelier tonight to carry our comics - but I figure I'll wait till we reprint SEEDS. They have great GN novel shelfs in their adult and kids sections (the kids section is especially good: Kochalka, Bone, Tin Tin, Hope Larson, etc).

 

-Dan

[Marek Bennett]

Wow, Dan... you're racking up the news items here!

 

Please send the library people on to my site:

http://www.marekbennett.com/comicsworkshop

... where they can gather ABOUT info and look for available dates on my COMICS CALENDAR.

 

This kind of promoducational event is exactly what I'm scheduling around NH-ME-MA-VT for March and April... getting the word out, selling books through shops, testing the word-of-mouth (& word-of-tech) promo systems for off-beat (but skill-based DIY) events.

 

If you forward the Bear Pond Books contact person's email, I'll approach them, too.  Then maybe we could do a double-header!

[Daniel Barlow]

I'd love to get this announcement out by the end of the week.

 

Three-pronged approach?

 

-Dan

[Colin Tedford]

I say yes - three prongs are better than one.

Colin
www.colintedford.com
-------------------------------
Trees & Hills Comics Group
Bringing together cartoonists in VT, NH & western MA
www.treesandhills.org

[Daniel Barlow]

Which e-mail addy should we have people send in their favorites to?

 

-Dan

[Colin Tedford]

orga...@treesandhills.org, of course!

Colin
www.colintedford.com
-------------------------------
Trees & Hills Comics Group
Bringing together cartoonists in VT, NH & western MA
www.treesandhills.org

[Marek Bennett]

Or pr...@treesandhills.org ...

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Colin Tedford

To: treesa...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Monday, February 09, 2009 11:13 PM

Subject: {Trees & Hills} Re: Best of Trees & Hills = Voting by Members, for Members' Work.

[Daniel Barlow]

Sounds good ... Colin, you volunteered to be on the selection committee with me, right? Anyone else?

 

-Dan

[Daniel Barlow]

It really should be theprong...@treesandhills.org

 

-Dan

[Colin Tedford]

pro...@treesandhills.org for the general call, prong2 etc.,etc.

Colin
www.colintedford.com
-------------------------------
Trees & Hills Comics Group
Bringing together cartoonists in VT, NH & western MA
www.treesandhills.org

[Daniel Barlow]

Ha! "I'm sorry, that prong is unavailable right now. Try back later."

 

-Dan

[mo...@simons-rock.edu]

::rolls eyes::

a.

[Colin Tedford]

Should we maybe ask people to let us know which, or at least how many anthos they've read when they vote, just for persepctive?

Colin
www.colintedford.com
-------------------------------
Trees & Hills Comics Group
Bringing together cartoonists in VT, NH & western MA
www.treesandhills.org

[Colin Tedford]

Also, if no one wants to collate the votes, I'll do it; I don't think it'll be that hard.

Colin
www.colintedford.com
-------------------------------
Trees & Hills Comics Group
Bringing together cartoonists in VT, NH & western MA
www.treesandhills.org

[Daniel Barlow]

Colin; yes, we probably should ask them which books they are familiar with ... bet we'll see a lot of weight toward Field Guide and Swingin' Hits? My guess.

 

-Dan

[Mattyoung]

Groooan.

On Feb 9, 11:26 pm, mo...@simons-rock.edu wrote:
> ::rolls eyes::
>
> a.
>
> > Ha! "I'm sorry, that prong is unavailable right now. Try back later."
>
> > -Dan
>
> > On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 11:19 PM, Colin Tedford

> > <colintedf...@gmail.com>wrote:

>
> >> pro...@treesandhills.org for the general call, prong2 etc.,etc.
>
> >> Colin
> >>www.colintedford.com
> >> -------------------------------
> >> Trees & Hills Comics Group
> >> Bringing together cartoonists in VT, NH & western MA
> >>www.treesandhills.org
>
> >> On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 11:16 PM, Daniel Barlow

> >> <barlowdan...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >>> It really should be theprongappro...@treesandhills.org

>
> >>> -Dan
>
> >>> On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 11:15 PM, Daniel Barlow

> >>> <barlowdan...@gmail.com>wrote:

>
> >>>> Sounds good ... Colin, you volunteered to be on the selection
> >>>> committee
> >>>> with me, right? Anyone else?
>
> >>>> -Dan
>
> >>>> On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 11:13 PM, Colin Tedford

> >>>> <colintedf...@gmail.com
> >>>> > wrote:
>
> >>>>> organ...@treesandhills.org, of course!

> >>>>>>>>>>> raindog...@lycos.com>
> >>>>>>>>>>> > wrote:
>
> ...
>
> read more ≫

[Marek Bennett]

Aye!  Yes!  Important readership info!  What other demographics do we want to collect? ~ M

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Colin Tedford

To: treesa...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 5:58 PM

Subject: {Trees & Hills} Re: Best of Trees & Hills = Voting by Members, for Members' Work.