First Comics News: Richard, you provided me with a link to several comics you have published in the past, which I clicked on. They ALL look very interesting! For my first question, let’s lead with this: How did you get started in the comic book business, and are you an artist, a writer, or both?
Richard Carrington: I’m very much a comics writer. I started out writing, drawing, inking, colouring, and lettering the first six issues of my first comic, The Guys, which is how I know I’m a comics writer!
1ˢᵗ: Do you publish these comics yourself, or do you do it with Kickstarter or a similar platform?
Richard: I self-publish all of our books, but yeah, Kickstarter is our bread and butter. It’s still the best game in town for small-press comics, but that said, I haven’t tried any of the other crowdfunding platforms out there. I might have to experiment with our next launch!
1ˢᵗ: How long have you been at it? Or, to put it another way, when did you start publishing comic books?
Richard: I started out writing and drawing my own comic called The Guys when my first daughter was born. I wasn’t going out as much and was home a lot in the evenings, so I took the opportunity to focus on a lifelong ambition to make comics. My daughter just turned thirteen, so that’s pretty much how old Hardline Comics is. It makes it easy to remember her birthday, at least!
1ˢᵗ: Are your comics print-on-demand? Which would make perfect sense, given that there seems to be, quite literally, hundreds of comics published per month these days, from dozens and dozens of publishers!
Richard: No, we don’t offer print-on-demand. Maybe we should, but I always find that the price per copy is higher than I’m comfortable with offering readers. We do have all our digital back issues available on our website, hardlinecomics.com, and a few other digital platforms. But for physical back issues, we always offer them as an add-on to our Kickstarters, so that readers can always plug a gap in their collection.
1ˢᵗ: Are you working on a comics title right now? And if so, what is it, and what can you tell our readers about it, the plot, etc.?
Richard: I’m always working on comics! The lights never go out here at Hardline Towers. Our flagship book, Mahoney’s, a comedy set in a bar for supervillains, launches issue nine on Kickstarter sometime in September. We’re following that up with The Nightcowl Files, a collection of origin stories for characters from Mahoney’s.
Then we’ve got the next issue of The Guys coming out shortly after, and I just finished a one-shot called Rage with artist Samir Simao, which is a bit darker than our usual books, but it’s turned out great. The good news is, all these books are 100% complete already, as Brian and I wanted to get ahead of the game for the next year.
We only ever go to Kickstarter when our books are ready to go. I always hated pledging for a book, then having to wait 18 months to read it! A lot of creators ask for the funds first, then they make the book. I always thought that was the wrong way around.
1ˢᵗ: Can your comic books be ordered from a particular website, or do they go to stores?
Richard: For digital, your best bet is hardlinecomics.com, and for physical copies, get in touch or wait for the next Kickstarter, as we always offer catch-up bundles on all of our books, which will work out cheaper. We’re passionate about always offering value for money.
1ˢᵗ: Are these all your characters in these comics? And which characters are your favourites, and why?
Richard: Ah, that’s like asking which of your children you prefer, and you’re supposed to not answer, but as I know EXACTLY which of my two kids I prefer, I’m going to answer with Billy from The Guys. He says the things I wish I could in real life!
1ˢᵗ: Richard, I know this is likely a tall “order” (polite request), but for the benefit of our readers, why should our readers be buying your comics, and what are they about? Asked in a completely friendly way!
Richard: Good question, and there’s no way of saying this and staying modest, but I think our books are pretty industry standard, from the writing to the art to the print quality. And they’re fun. They’re what comics used to be and should still be: a bright, colourful, fun, exciting, funny book!
I think we tap into a time when comics were exciting and full of creative energy on every page.
1ˢᵗ: I would agree with that! What can you tell us about both Mahoney’s and The Guys that will intrigue our readers?
Richard: Elevator-pitch-wise, the breakdown of the books is that Mahoney’s is set in a bar for supervillains, and The Guys is about five slackers who get superpowers that they don’t even want.
You’ll see plenty of recognisable comic book tropes in our books, but all with a bit of a twist to make them into something new and unique!
Then we have a series of one-shots that are like mini “What Ifs.” For example, the one-shot comic Limits asks, “What if you had the world’s most powerful weapon, but no way of recharging it?”
The Long Game asks, “What if a guy without powers got sent to a prison full of supervillains?”
And The Claws asks, “What if the hero gets killed off on page 7?” And we go from there.
But as ever, there’s always plenty of twists and turns in the story!
Richard: Yes, at last count, there’s over 140 original characters across all our books in the interconnected (and woefully named) Hardline-verse. There are so many, I often have to refer back to my own books and reread certain issues, because even I can’t keep track of them. I remember reading that Stan Lee had a similar problem, and if it’s good enough for The Man, it’s good enough for me.
1ˢᵗ: I just read the one-shot Limits, featuring the Dyna-Man comic you sent me a link to; I really enjoyed that one!!
I don’t want to spoil the ending for anyone. I just don’t understand why he did that at the end of the story! Is there any way whatsoever that Dyna-Man can return? This story and character really “reached” me!
Richard: Thanks, glad you liked that one! Yeah, we were of two minds about ending the book that way, but if you think about Dyna-Man’s actions throughout the book and how he felt about his powers dwindling, then the choice he makes on the last page really makes sense for the character.
Hopefully, that’s an intriguingly vague enough answer to make people want to read that book now!
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