James Turner, the Canadian comic artist behind Rex Libris and Nil: A Land Beyond Belief, knows the truth of this better than most.

When I spoke with him last year for the Fabler, the Ontario-based illustrator/artist had just recently received some disheartening news about his latest project, Warlord of Io.

Io was to be his latest miniseries, published by Slave Labor Graphics and starring a young galactic prince who wanted to be a rockstar but was instead saddled with an empire.

Diamond Comics Distributors, the primary distribution channel for comic book publishers in North America, declined to carry Io on grounds that it didn’t meet its new benchmark standards.

You see, last January DCD raised their advance sales order minimum by roughly another 2/3rds over what it previously was.  This spelled doom for indie creators trying to get a new product into distribution.

The first two issues of Warlord of Io, as well as a one-off special issue titled Warlord Of Io And Other Stories , were made available for digital download. Plans for the book were shelved.

DCD proved the insurmountable obstacle that would end Turner’s ambitions for making Warlord of Io available in comic shops across North America.

Fortunately for all of us, this Warlord wouldn’t be beaten so easily.

Turner pressed on, completing enough of Warlord of Io to assemble a 206 page graphic novel.

The Warlord of Io graphic novel is due out in July, and is presently being solicited in the May issue of Previews. It features a complete story about Zing (the unwilling Warlord) and his out-of-this-world companions.

I chatted with Turner about the new book, and the resulting interview is below:

KD: When we last spoke, the chances of Warlord of Io seeing a retailer release via Diamond Comics Distributors were looking pretty bleak. With that in mind, it must have been a fair-sized gamble for you to go on ahead and complete enough of Io to fill an entire graphic novel, on hopes that as a standalone full-sized release it will do better against the benchmark.

What made you decide that this was a gamble worth taking?

JT: I was already heavily invested in the project, and I figured that the higher price-point would make it a good bet for distribution. The higher the price, the fewer orders you need.

But if that didn’t work, I intended to put the whole thing up on the net. Either way it wasn’t going to just sit on my shelf. That kept me going.

KD: Why was it so important to you that you see this story release as a hard, physical copy? Why not just keep releasing the individual issues as purchasable digital downloads?

JT: While more people are reading online, most still want to read a hard copy, and the Warlord of Io digital issues simply did not sell in large numbers. Some people refuse to read comics online.

I also have an attachment to printed books that people who drink Pepsi may not share.

KD: Let’s talk about what exactly is going to be in the graphic novel. Will the first 2 issues presently available for digital download form the beginning of the tale? What about the W.o.I. & Other Stories one shot?

JT: The story begins with the one-shot. It goes on through the first 2 issues that are on the net, but I’ve altered them.

I took advantage of the cancellation to delete and add material, refine dialogue, enhance backgrounds, and generally polish it up.

Once I’d finished the whole work and gotten the ending ‘drawn’, I went back and pulled the rest of the book tighter together. It was all plotted out, but as you write, you discover, alter and add things. It’s harder to go back and ret-con elements if it’s the material already published in pamphlet form. After having some people read the first draft, I emphasized some elements more, and pulled other parts back.

KD: You’ve said that Warlord of Io is the breeziest work you’ve  done. Could you elaborate on that?

JT: Picasso apparently said that art is the elimination of the unnecessary.

I’m well known (infamous?) for text heavy work, particularly with the first few issues of Rex Libris. Well. It was about a librarian, after all. And the comics I read as a kid were much more text heavy than they are now. In any case, the density of the text alienated a lot of people.

And since these days we’re constantly bombarded by information (by magazines, newspapers, television, radio, film, games, email, ipods, etc) people are skimming more. They want the information delivered distilled. I can understand that.

KD: You mentioned in our last interview that accessibility was a big priority for you with this particular project. Now that the book’s completed, do you feel like you achieved what you set out to do on that front?

JT: I’d like to think so, but the verdict won’t be in until the book comes out in July. It’s a very tough market out there, and it doesn’t support idiosyncratic work as much as it did just a few years ago.

I don’t think Rex Libris would last two issues if it came out now. It helps if you have a natural, mass market sensibility.

KD: Just for fun, let’s rock the book description Mad Lib style. Fill in the blanks:

JT: I’d say…

Warlord of Io is like The Lion King crossed with Flash Gordon, dripping with a healthy portion of Star Wars and served with a side of Doctor Who.

KD: What are some of the highlights of what Io fans can look forward to as Zing’s adventure continues in the graphic novel?

JT: Imperial Ion Rock music, asteroid belt jungles, space battles, massive electrical storms and charged ion clouds teeming with plasmaforms, floating calciferous slabs the size of continents, megalomaniacal villains, and pirate treasure.

KD: The universe you’ve built with this story is, much like your other books, as distinguishable by its unique visual style as it is by its creatively curious language.

When you were making up names or phrases while you put together the book, (like for instance, “minnow suicide torpedoes”, “Moxy Comet”, or “Dak Wyr Plotka”) did they just pop into your head as you were writing or did you ever have to actually sit down and brainstorm some of the more fantastic stuff?

JT: A bit of both. Moxy Comet is meant to follow sci-fi and fantasy conventions. Combine ‘Moxy’ (or Flash, or Buck), which she has in abundance, with a ’space’ term, such as ‘Comet’ (or Skywalker or Starkiller. Maximillian Zing(Max Zing) follows the same lines. I wanted them silly but not too silly.

Minnow suicide torpedoes are named after their minnow crew, and are a reference to the TTA (Terran Trade Authority) books I read as a kid, which had an Alphan ship called the ‘Minnow’.

Dak is a term for general in Ionian; I wanted to have a few, not many, just a few, custom terms. Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs has hundreds like this, as do many other sci-fi books. You can really over do it, but in moderation I think it’s a fun (and funny) convention. So I added in a few terms that had the same sort of sound and feel as Burroughs.

He had his own units of measurement (haads, for example) and time for Mars, so I have Ions measure time by Tics and Tocs. Not different enough to be unrecognizable, but hey, it’s another planet so you have to rename ordinary things something else. Like hydrospanner instead of screwdriver, or visiscope instead of telescope.

Plotka is an acronym for Press Lots of Keys to Abort. Text messaging is going to have an effect on language, so I put in some texting abbreviations. I stripped some of them out of the final graphic novel, but there are still a few left.

Other names were just meant to be evocative of a similiar term, like Grymak and grime. Another sci-fi/fantasy convention.

KD: Is Warlord of Io: the graphic novel going to be Volume 1 of a larger series? Could you see yourself taking it beyond the current story that you’ve fleshed out for the book?

JT: Both. It can end with this volume, no problem. It’s got a good wrap up. I’d like to do a sequel, as there’s lots more stories to tell about Io, but if there’s no demand, well, no one is left hanging.

KD: How has the whole experience of getting Warlord of Io onto the shelves of comic book stores affected your perspective of Diamond Comics Distributors or about the distribution process for independent publishers in general?

JT: I think pamphlet comics are going to die off as far as independent publishers are concerned, except as promotional pieces distributed at cons for upcoming graphic novel collections. Otherwise, the big shift is to the internet for instalments.

DC and Marvel will keep them going for awhile yet, I imagine. They’re all about keeping IPs alive, and if they lose a bit of money on publishing pamphlets, so what? Their real revenue is in movies, toys, lunch boxes, tie-ins, and the like. The pamphlet helps keep the property in the public eye.

As far as graphic novels are concerned, the Direct Market is more friendly for small publishers (as comic book shops actually buy their work) than the big bookstores are (who can pulp the ones that don’t sell and not pay), so I hope it persists.

A big thanks to James for providing us with some lovely preview art from the forthcoming graphic novel. You can watch a trailer for Warlord of Io below: (In case you’re curious, the appropriately cinematic voice of the narrator does in fact belong to James Turner himself.)

For more from James, you can check out his website at jtillustration.com.

-Interview by Kevin de Vlaming

Known for combining high brow intellectual concepts with fantastical high-impact art and accessible, fun stories, James Turner’s work in comics has defined him as one of Canada’s most innovative contributors to the medium.

His breakthrough graphic novel Nil: A Land Beyond Belief, released in 2005, served up a poignant vision of a nihilistic dystopia marked with a sharp sense of humour not often found in books with such lofty subject matter. Later that same year, Turner began an ongoing series chronicling the metafictional adventures of a thousand year old librarian bad-ass. The series, titled Rex Libris, ran from 2005 to 2008. Rex Libris  and Nil (both published by the indie comic publisher Slave Labor Graphics) were regarded highly by critics, and helped build Turner as a celebrated name in Canadian independent comics.

So why is it that his latest series, Warlord of Io, was cut before the first official issue even hit the stands?

The answer to that has everything to do with Diamond Comics Distributors and the new minimum sales order policies they implemented earlier this year. DCD is known to many as the largest comic book distributor in North America. Its virtual monopoly on comic book  circulation guarantees that when Diamond introduces a new business process, there are going to be widespread ripples throughout the industry in North America.

Essentially, what they did was increase the minimum advance sales order from $1,500 to $2,500 US dollars. If DCD does not receive at least $2,500 in orders for a given comic, it will not distribute that title at all – thus forcing many indie comic creators and publishers out of the market.

It was Dan Vado , owner and president of Slave Labor Graphics, who rang up Turner earlier this year to break the news to him that his comic was declined distribution by DCD. Since the announcement was made public in May, there has been a flurry of discussion surrounding Warlord of Io on blogs and newswires across the internet. Some suggest Warlord of Io is an ominous portent of where the industry  is headed, while others are simply peeved that they might never get to see the series in physical, hard copy form.

Turner took the time to field some questions for the Fabler about Warlord of Io, the state of the industry,  and whether a Rex Libris movie and/or animated series is still, in fact, in development.  He was also indulgent enough to answer a fanboy question that I’ve been wondering about Nil for some time (I admitted to him that I count Nil as among my personal all-time favorite graphic novels).

The transcript of the interview is below:

KD: Though I suppose it means this interview will be moving chronologically backwards, let’s start by talking about Warlord of Io.

What was the initial pitch for Warlord of Io?

JT: Spoiled, rich kid rocker inherits planet of ruthless warlords, and things go horribly wrong.

(for more about the concept behind Warlord of Io, check out the Warlord of Io FAQ on Turner’s official website)

KD: How did you plan to approach it differently than your previous works?

JT: Well, I wanted to make it faster paced and more accessible to a general audience. Unlike Rex, I intended it to be a mini-series from the get-go.

KD: Obviously you’re in a position where DCD (its decisions, its position as a monopoly in comic book distribution) has had a significant impact on your work as a comic creator. What are your thoughts regarding the experience, and the effects Diamond is currently impressing upon the market?

JT: I don’t know what Diamond’s financial books are like, but I would imagine the recession is hitting them hard like everyone else. Comic book sales overall are down. They may have a monopoly but it’s of a withering market. The raised minimums are meant to cut costs and protect their bottom line, which is perfectly understandable. Businesses that don’t do that don’t remain businesses very long.

To be honest the greatest surprise came not from being cancelled, but from being cancelled so early. I knew that launching an ongoing independent title these days is no easy feat, so I intended the series to be limited in length in the hope that it could finish the story before the sales numbers fell off. Either I miscalculated with the content or the market is even tougher than I’d thought. At any rate, the first official issue never hit the stands.

The bottom line here is that the pamphlet format is becoming a less viable platform for small independents. I don’t think this will be as great a problem as it might have been thanks to the internet. Artists can easily float their ideas online. Those who succeed in building an audience will attract publishers who will print collections of their work. I can see that as a possible new paradigm, but with technology advancing and changing so quickly, who really knows?

One problem with the online only model is that trying to monetize material on the net is a difficult proposition because piracy is so easy. Films, videos, music, comics, books, can all be downloaded. It’s just information. The first official issue of Warlord of Io (the follow up to the one-shot) was pirated and put on torrents within a week of it being available online, and It was only 99 cents. This suggests that advertising and merchandise are going to become key for creators in the future. At least T-shirts and vinyl dolls can’t be duplicated with the click of a button, but advertising will only be helpful once a large audience has been built.

But I’m just guessing here, really. There are people who are already running webcomics who can give you a better picture. I suspect the new break-out comics will start online more and more often.

(I would like to insert a thank-you here to James for his thoroughly presented views on the subject – he raises some interesting points, specifically about where comic books fit into the jigsaw puzzle that is the struggle to make money off of media on the internet.)

KD: Onto Rex Libris. Now that the series is finished, (and the second volume TPB is out, as of June 1st) how do you feel looking back on the run? Did you feel like you accomplished what you set out to do with the title?

JT: Yes and no. There was so much more I wanted to do with the series. I never even made it back to Benzine V to revisit Simon and see what he’d been up to as ruler. On the other hand, I think the potential of the series is clearly shown.

KD: I had heard some time ago about potential plans for a Rex Libris movie, then back last year you announced an animated series that would be airing this year. Where are either/both of these projects at now?

JT: The movie is still in development. Mark Burton is writing the screenplay. The TV animated series was just a flight of fancy, I’m afraid. A hoax. I put disclaimers with it, but somehow the idea took off anyway. Producers take note! People want a Rex Libris TV show. I know I’d watch it.

KD: Since we’re in backwards interview mode, it makes sense to move to a few questions about Nil, your first excursion into graphic novels -

How long did you carry the idea for Nil around in your head before it became a reality as a working project?

JT: That was a while ago now. I think it was percolating, popping in and out of the probability foam, for as many as six months before I started typing it into my computer.

KD: What motivated you to take the leap and put out that first graphic novel? As I understand it, by that point in your career you had already been working as a successful illustrator for quite some time.

JT: I was feeling limited by the illustration format. I wanted to go longer, and expand the scope of what I could cover. Bringing in text and narrative added a new level of interest for me. A whole new playground.

Like going from 2 dimensions to 3, in a way.

KD: This is a question I’ve wanted to ask you since I first read the book  – with Nil, were you inspired at all by Terry Gilliam’s film ‘Brazil’? I’ve personally always likened the tone of both works to each other, something about the ‘cog in a machine trying futilely to work his way out in a dystopic setting’ theme.

I really like the Gilliam film. It’s fabulous, but it wasn’t the inspiration for the book. I’ve always had a fascination with dystopias. I was thinking more of Russian Constructivism when designing the look of it, and the work of el Lissitsky, Rodchenko, and the architect Melnikov. The material itself came from reading history and the general absurdity that underlie politics and human civilization. We’re pretty funny when you think about it.

KD: So as to not completely end the interview with past tense, what are you working on next? In the May interview you did with Newsarama, you mentioned a wariness to approaching any new projects at the time – say it isn’t so!

JT: Ha! Thanks. Nice to know someone cares! My main goal at this point is just to get Warlord of Io finished and out the door. Right now I’m working on some 3d spaceships for it. After that, I don’t know. I’d like to do Hell Lost, but I can’t really afford the time investment. If anything, I’ll probably try to do shorter, smaller, self-contained projects that I can do as a hobbyist, and go from there.