Name: Shannon Chenoweth, Christian Beranek, Scott Ziolko, Chris Moreno

Book / Series: "The Line." "Dracula vs. King Arthur," "Test-Tube,"

Diverging Comics:  Alright, guys. Let's begin

Diverging Comics:  Can you guys give a short little description of who you are and how you are involved in comics?

Shannon:  I'm Shannon Chenoweth, creator of the upcoming book, "The Line" and "Coastal Engima." As well as numerous other entities jumping around in my head

Christian:  Christian Beranek -- Writer for Dracula vs. King Arthur, Silent Devils and Silent Forest

Christian:  Actually co-writer for Dracula vs. King Arthur

Christian:  My brother Adam writes it as well

Christian:  I am also the EIC for Silent Devil

Scott:  My name is Scott Ziolko. I'm the writer, artist and publisher of the mini-comic "Test-Tube", which has sold about 200 copies nationally.

Shannon:  yeah, let's NOT take all the credit for stuff we didn't completely write ;-)

Shannon:  hehe

Scott:  I am also working on "NINJAS", due out in January 2005

Christian:  :)

Diverging Comics:  Awesome, guys. Thanks. What do you think of the state of independent comics? What sort of place is it in right now?

Scott:  And I'm trying to get "THE ABNORMALS" off the ground

Scott:  I think they're better than they were 10 years ago

Christian:  I think independent comics are on the rise

Shannon:  I think Indy comics are in a good place right now. Alot of readers are taking notice, as they should. The independent comic world is a GREAT place for a creator to show what they can really do.

Christian:  There is a ton of great stuff coming out that is getting noticed by a lot of people

Shannon:  While in "mainstream," you are a bit restricted

Diverging Comics:  What about the current independent scene is making it more appealing to readers, though? You've all said "It's on the rise" but what has changed over the last couple of years to cause more people to sit up and take notice?

Christian:  The recent success of companies such as Top Shelf, IDW and Oni bodes well for up and coming publishers

Shannon:  not that you can't be creative there, you can...it's just different

Christian:  And guys like Raven Gregory are putting out Top Cow quality books on their own

Shannon:  The internet

Shannon:  BIG influence

Christian:  Agreed

Scott:  Success of indy creators like Bendis, Mahfood, Morse, and such is giving them notice

Scott:  or former indy creators, in some cases

Shannon:  the 'net is such a great place to be whether you are a creator or a reader

Diverging Comics:  What about the internet has been such an influence? Just because of word of mouth?

Christian:  Bendis is the biggest indie-success story of the past 10 years

Scott:  If it weren't for the 'net, I'd have only sold about 5 copies

Christian:  that and Blankets

Christian:  The net has helped us out a ton

Shannon:  Well, I agree with that Christian about Bendis

Shannon:  but

Scott:  Word of mouth and the chance to actually show people samples of your stuff

Shannon:  Mack is as well

Shannon:  look what he has done with Kabuki

Christian:  Message boards really bring a sense of community to the industry

Scott:  Communication lines open where they weren't open before

Christian:  Mack is a great guy

Shannon:  such great things

Scott:  I love Mack

Shannon:  ha

Shannon:  its the Mack love session

Diverging Comics:  Stop Mackin' on Mack

Scott:  I think there's more indy books available now too

Shannon:  seriously though, Mack is a great influence on the industry

Scott:  the internet makes it possible to order books that your LCS wouldn't usually

Shannon:  I mean, the man is in a class all his own

Diverging Comics:  Available in local comic shops or over the internet? Is that part of the influence of the net?

Scott:  I think so

Shannon:  helps upcoming creators see that they can be different

Shannon:  do what feels natural and right to them

Scott:  Lots of people have ordered my books on the net

Christian:  The net levels the playing field

Scott:  It accounts for over half of my sales

Shannon:  Making your books available online as well as local shops is a great thing

Shannon:  powerful tool

Shannon:  not all shops can carry everything

Christian:  That is true

Scott:  Sometimes the shops won't take a chance on an indy book

Diverging Comics:  It's a lot easier to have your books available over the net than it is convincing a store owner to carry them too, isn't it?

Shannon:  plus indy books are a risk to retailers

Scott:  Sometimes

Scott:  Depends on the owner

Scott:  Consignment deals decrease the risk to the comic shop

Shannon:  I think both can be done successfully

Diverging Comics:  Have you guys found many owners open to the idea of carrying your books? Has it been a struggle?

Shannon:  but

Christian:  Silent Devil does not do consignment deals anymore

Shannon:  convincing a retailer to buy your book is harder

Christian:  I found it is hard to keep track and collect payment

Shannon:  its almost like pitching your book to a publisher

Scott:  I have to, since I'm still a mini comic and work at a lower volume that you guys

Christian:  Gotcha

Christian:  That I can see

Scott:  My LCS pretty much said yes immediately

Christian:  We used to do consignment

Christian:  Stuff for record stores and all of that

Christian:  Guess we got burned a few times

Shannon:  My local shop, which is a chain of stores is very willing to carry my books

Diverging Comics:  Christian, you talked about how hard it is. Is that part of the difficulty of being an indy creator? The fact that you are running the entire show while still being a creator?

Scott:  I get burned a couple times too

Diverging Comics:  How did you get burned?

Scott:  Just losing track of how many books you sell at one place

Shannon:  in this industry, you have to be ready for rejection during every stage

Christian:  Yes, we run the entire show

Scott:  It's no big deal, since mini comics are reletively inexpensive

Christian:  It is hard because it is such a drain on time and money

Scott:  But for Christian, it's probably more of a risk

Christian:  But I love what I do

Scott:  That's what counts

Diverging Comics:  How do you handle that rejection, though? Being a "small-time" creator must be a little depressing a times. You don't have the support of a large corperation like Marvel/DC

Christian:  And I'll never give up

Scott:  Eh, you suck it up and keep going

Shannon:  yeah, if you love making comics, the money factor just comes with the territory

Shannon:  you spend what you have to

Christian:  I got burned because said people sold the books but never paid us for them

Shannon:  and can

Shannon:  to get your book out there

Christian:  It can be disheartening, but if you love what you do people want to help you succeed

Christian:  We have a ton of amazing people that support us

Scott:  Don't act "small time" and people won't treat you "small time"

Diverging Comics:  Is that a goal all of you share? Being able to work on comics for a living or is the joy of creating enough?

Shannon:  you take whatever support you can get

Shannon:  family, friends

Christian:  But it took time to convinvce people we meant business

Shannon:  there's ALWAYS a support system somewhere

Christian:  My goal is to be happy

Scott:  You're a publisher, and you gotta act like you're just as important as DC or Marvel

Shannon:  and, you have to support yourself

Scott:  Joy of creating is enough

Shannon:  yes, I agree Scott

Scott:  I'm not in it for the money

Scott:  I'm in it for the fun

Diverging Comics:  And the interviews :P

Scott:  If I was in it for the money, I'd me in big trouble ;)

Shannon:  getting into comics for money is crazy :)

Scott:  Oh sure. I love the attention :)

Scott:  I've been in newspapers all over MO, and I'm just a mini comics guy

Christian:  It would be nice to support myself through comics, but to tell you the truth I make more money in music and films

Shannon:  Having your name on a book, now that's something else

Christian:  I will never leave comics though

Diverging Comics:  Why do you think indy comics, and comics in general, aren't more popular? It's an age-old question at this point. You'd think that any medium as good as comics would be able to get people interested. Why hasn't it?

Shannon:  I feel that I have finally found a wonderful outlet for my love and passion for writing in comics

Scott:  Because people have this pre-conceived perseption of indy books

Diverging Comics:  What is that notion?

Christian:  Agreed

Shannon:  the only other place I could see myself being that happy is writing tv or films

Scott:  People are convinced that indy books are of lower quality than the big two

Scott:  And that's bullshit

Shannon:  well, for one alot of indy comics are B&W

Shannon:  I LOVE that

Christian:  Only in America are comics percieved this way

Shannon:  but alot of readers dont

Diverging Comics:  Do you feel that they are higher quality sometimes? I know from personal experience that most of the time indy books are just much more satisfying in terms of story and emotional connection

Christian:  Taki and I talk all the time about how other countries accept comics

Christian:  of all types of subject matter

Diverging Comics:  Japan is a good example of a country that LOVES comics of all shapes, sizes and genres.

Scott:  I think indy comics are more free than most mainstream books

Scott:  I personally think well over half of what Marvel and DC do is complete crap

Christian:  I like a book if it is good regardless of the company that puts it out

Shannon:  Americans don't give books other than Spider-man or Batman alot of opportunity

Scott:  I think there's probably a higher ratio of good/bad indy books than good/bad mainstream book

Christian:  Do people really care if a movie comes from Fox or Universal?

Shannon:  they see a book that has Spidey or Supes on the cover and they pick it up right away

Scott:  That's a good point, Christian.