Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Apr 16, 2015 21:02:58 GMT -6
Wes Locher’s inspiration for Unit 44 came while he was watching Storage Wars: “I asked my wife, what would happen if someone opened a storage unit and found items the government had been hiding. I turned off the TV and started writing.”
www.newsherald.com/entertainment/area-51-meets-storage-wars-in-psj-writer-s-comic-1.465050
Area 51 meets ‘Storage Wars’ in PSJ writer’s comic
‘UNIT 44’
What: Humorous sci-fi comic written by Wes Locher of Port St. Joe
Where: Available digitally through Comixology
Details: WestonLocher.wordpress.com
PORT ST. JOE — Inspiration comes from unexpected quarters. In the case of “Unit 44,” a new comic book series written by Wes Locher of Port St. Joe, the inspiration came from an episode of “Storage Wars.”
“I asked my wife, what would happen if someone opened a storage unit and found items the government had been hiding,” he said. “I turned off the TV and started writing.”
Locher, 31, has been on staff at the Port St. Joe Star for two years. He’s been writing for all of his life.
“My dad was a journalist, my mom was an English teacher, so I don’t know if I really had a choice in the matter,” he said.
Locher grew up in Ohio and moved to Orlando at age 19 to attend college, where he studied audio engineering and played in rock bands. He moved to Port St. Joe, his wife’s hometown, in 2013.
“I come from a small town, so it’s familiar to me, being somewhere everybody knows each other,” he said. “My wife grew up here, which grandfathers me in, so I haven’t felt like an outsider.”
Breaking into the comics field is a “Catch 22,” Locher said: Publishers don’t want to hire writers or artists that don’t have credentials, but writers and artists can’t get legit credentials until they’re published. As a result, he decided to self-publish some projects to act as a portfolio for future work.
“I wrote short, five-page stories, found an artist and collaborated, which meant we brought potential publishers a finished product,” Locher said.
Those projects helped Locher find homes for his heist graphic novel “The Undoubtables” (Markosia Enterprises, 2014); a crime-fiction miniseries, “Chambers” (Arcana Studio, 2013); and the community web comic “Innovation.” He also contributed short stories for anthologies published by Titan Comics and GrayHaven Comics.
With “Unit 44,” Locher teamed up with artist Eduardo Jimenez to tell a four-part story about what happens when Area 51 employees forget to pay the rent on the facility’s off-site storage unit, and the secret contents are sold at public auction.
“What’s really cool is, while we were running the Kickstarter campaign, Don and Laura (Dotson, the auctioneers on ‘Storage Wars’) contacted us,” Locher said. “They got behind it, and we owe a lot of the success to them.”
The series is being published by Alternia Comics (alternacomics.com) and is available on all major digital platforms, including Kindle, Nook, Google Play, Scribd, Comicsfix and Comixology for $1.99 an issue.
Locher does most of his comic reading digitally, at least in part because there’s no comic book store in the Port St. Joe area. The first issue released in March, with each subsequent issue released monthly; issue 2 publishes on April 22. After all four are published, a collection will be printed in trade paperback format.
Locher self-published a book of humorous essays in 2009, inspired by the work of columnist Dave Barry. When he set to writing “Unit 44,” he wanted to instill the same sort of irreverence and humor into the action.
“Comedy is not an easy sell in comics,” he said. “But this time the publisher came to me, and we did a Kickstarter to fund it. I’m familiar with their books, and they wanted to handle the digital release.”
Locher plans to be at Arena Comics in Panama City for Free Comic Book Day, May 2. He also will be at PC Creative Con at Gulf Coast State College on Aug. 1. For more on his work, visit WestonLocher.wordpress.com
www.newsherald.com/entertainment/area-51-meets-storage-wars-in-psj-writer-s-comic-1.465050
Area 51 meets ‘Storage Wars’ in PSJ writer’s comic
‘UNIT 44’
What: Humorous sci-fi comic written by Wes Locher of Port St. Joe
Where: Available digitally through Comixology
Details: WestonLocher.wordpress.com
PORT ST. JOE — Inspiration comes from unexpected quarters. In the case of “Unit 44,” a new comic book series written by Wes Locher of Port St. Joe, the inspiration came from an episode of “Storage Wars.”
“I asked my wife, what would happen if someone opened a storage unit and found items the government had been hiding,” he said. “I turned off the TV and started writing.”
Locher, 31, has been on staff at the Port St. Joe Star for two years. He’s been writing for all of his life.
“My dad was a journalist, my mom was an English teacher, so I don’t know if I really had a choice in the matter,” he said.
Locher grew up in Ohio and moved to Orlando at age 19 to attend college, where he studied audio engineering and played in rock bands. He moved to Port St. Joe, his wife’s hometown, in 2013.
“I come from a small town, so it’s familiar to me, being somewhere everybody knows each other,” he said. “My wife grew up here, which grandfathers me in, so I haven’t felt like an outsider.”
Breaking into the comics field is a “Catch 22,” Locher said: Publishers don’t want to hire writers or artists that don’t have credentials, but writers and artists can’t get legit credentials until they’re published. As a result, he decided to self-publish some projects to act as a portfolio for future work.
“I wrote short, five-page stories, found an artist and collaborated, which meant we brought potential publishers a finished product,” Locher said.
Those projects helped Locher find homes for his heist graphic novel “The Undoubtables” (Markosia Enterprises, 2014); a crime-fiction miniseries, “Chambers” (Arcana Studio, 2013); and the community web comic “Innovation.” He also contributed short stories for anthologies published by Titan Comics and GrayHaven Comics.
With “Unit 44,” Locher teamed up with artist Eduardo Jimenez to tell a four-part story about what happens when Area 51 employees forget to pay the rent on the facility’s off-site storage unit, and the secret contents are sold at public auction.
“What’s really cool is, while we were running the Kickstarter campaign, Don and Laura (Dotson, the auctioneers on ‘Storage Wars’) contacted us,” Locher said. “They got behind it, and we owe a lot of the success to them.”
The series is being published by Alternia Comics (alternacomics.com) and is available on all major digital platforms, including Kindle, Nook, Google Play, Scribd, Comicsfix and Comixology for $1.99 an issue.
Locher does most of his comic reading digitally, at least in part because there’s no comic book store in the Port St. Joe area. The first issue released in March, with each subsequent issue released monthly; issue 2 publishes on April 22. After all four are published, a collection will be printed in trade paperback format.
Locher self-published a book of humorous essays in 2009, inspired by the work of columnist Dave Barry. When he set to writing “Unit 44,” he wanted to instill the same sort of irreverence and humor into the action.
“Comedy is not an easy sell in comics,” he said. “But this time the publisher came to me, and we did a Kickstarter to fund it. I’m familiar with their books, and they wanted to handle the digital release.”
Locher plans to be at Arena Comics in Panama City for Free Comic Book Day, May 2. He also will be at PC Creative Con at Gulf Coast State College on Aug. 1. For more on his work, visit WestonLocher.wordpress.com