DC Conspiracy[dots pattern]

12.22.2005

J. student's article on DCC

A University of Maryland student studying journalism recently wrote an article on the D.C. Conspiracy for a class project. Below is the story, which she sent to us. (Nice job, Jennifer!)

By Jennifer Fu

Dr. Dremo isn’t just the name of a rough-and-tumble bar in Clarendon, Va.; he’s the time-traveling, evil space lord presiding over multi-dimensional galaxies and the protagonist in a wacky comic book published by D.C. Conspiracy, a group of local comic book creators.

An underground group of young, creative professionals crowd at the bar devising plots and characters for the next issues of their self-published comic books in their spare time. By day, the members, aka conspirators, go to work as economists, graphic designers or museum employees, but on nights and weekends they spend their time sketching and writing dialogue for their next comics.

“I’m still a contractor by day, that’s what finances all my fun,” said 27-year-old Jason Rodriguez, one of the group’s core members.

The D.C. Conspiracy members, mostly in their 20s and 30s, meet every month at Dr. Dremo’s Taphouse to talk shop about comics. With pitchers of beer to go around, about 15 members show up to share recent books they have read and discuss drawing and publishing techniques. Topics include everything from the types of pens, printers, paper and publishers they use.

Members also help each other on their projects.

“It’s basically a big network; it’s a great way to meet people and fill a niche that you need in your book,” Rodgriguez said.

For instance, Even Keeling, 28, cofounder of the group, said he is working on a three-man project. He is penciling the illustrations while two others will write it and fill in his sketches with ink.

In the dark basement of Dr. Dremo’s Taphouse, the group held their first event in November, the D.C. Counter Culture Festival, a gathering of D.C. locals selling their handmade comics, jewelry, T-shirts, purses and artwork. Visitors floated around tables checking out the work of local artists.

At one pool table in the back, four guys who run an online comic, www.dirtytissues.com, an online saga about their escapades in the suburbs, started an impromptu drawing contest and scribbled away with black squeaky markers.

The D.C. Conspiracy members handed out the first issue of Doctor Dremo, a group comic-book project. Each member wrote and illustrated four pages. The title is a tribute to Dr. Dremo’s Taphouse, where the group holds its monthly meetings. The group has begun on the second issue and is aiming for a third.

Matt Dembicki, 35, a journalist by day, founded the group with Keeling, who started writing comics last year and works designing museum exhibits for the Smithsonian.

The group has helped organize local comics creators.

“There’s actually a lot of people in the area,” said Dembicki. “It hasn’t been very centralized or organized, like in New York there’s a lot of small press people that get together and hang out; for some reason people in Washington just kind of do their own thing.”

Since the group started last winter, it has grown to 53 members.

Dembicki and Keeling met last year in Bethesda, Md., at the annual Small Press Expo—a festival where independent cartoonists and comic book creators showcase their work. D.C. Conspiracy is part of the small press community, a group of individuals who self-publish their own books. They either pay printers to publish their work or go to Kinko’s to hand-make the books—everything from copying and folding the pages to binding the cover.

At Dr. Dremo’s, Keeling displayed his comic, Ataxia Overdrive, a booklet no larger than 3x5 notecards. He also handed out bumper stickers that matched the comic’s red and yellow cover. Keeling began self-publishing because “It’s getting my story out there the way that I want to get it out there,” he said.

Unlike others, Keeling reduced his printing costs by printing his comics at work for free and used thick exhibit paper for the cover. Any extra copying he did at Kinko’s.

“I’d love for somebody to pay for my stuff to be printed, but ultimately if I don’t do it no ones going to do it for me,” he said.

For Dembicki, the group started as a way to share ideas and styles and get inspiration.

“At one point, I did this one religious story where it looked kind of like stained glass; I kind of like to experiment with different things,” Dembicki said.

Dembicki has been creating comics for three years. He started drawing when he was 11. When he was younger, Swamp Thing was his favorite comic because of the “moody drawing,” he said. “I thought that was so cool.”

But he lost interest in college and started again when he met his wife Carol. His two comic series, titled Mr. Big and Attic Wit, are vastly different. Attic Wit is more serious, about war and death, but Mr. Big’s light humor focuses on pond animals, inspired by a snapping turtle near his backyard. Dembicki said he also wants to publish a collection of comics on CD with other members.
The members also find strength in numbers. numbers.

“Since we got this group we’ve been getting so much more attention, so we’ve just got these opportunities to promote ourselves as a group rather than individuals,” said Chris Piers, 30. This past September, the group got more publicity when they exhibited their work at the Expo. Wonkavision, a Philadelphia-based music magazine, published an article about the group.

Rodriguez, a Boston transplant, is one of the few members who work in the comics industry as a part-time editor for Hoarse and Buggy Productions, a small California-based comic book publishing company. Working mostly with creators from New York and Los Angeles for his editing job, he joined the group to meet local writers.

“Washington, D.C., wasn’t known to be a comic creating community, and now we’ve proven them wrong,” he said.

At the Counter Culture Festival, Rodriguez sold copies of a comic he helped edit, Western Tales of Terror, a story of dueling cowboys and gunslingers in the Wild West. But judging from the stacks in front of him, good thing he’s got a day job. Thirsty, he disappeared upstairs to the bar for another pitcher of beer.

He said he got interested in comics while writing plays in college.

“This friend said this is the worst f------ play I’ve ever read, but it’d make a great comic book,” he said.

Like most writers, artists and other creative types, the members aren’t in it for the money and have their day jobs. It takes time to create a following. Dembicki said he just started making money off of his work, which sell from $1 to $10.

“It’s one of those things you have to do for a couple years and people get to know you and like the stuff you do,” he said.

“A lot of people who work in comics or do comics, very few actually end up doing it for a living,” said Chris Harback, 33, who works for an Internet banking firm. “I would love to be able to quit my job.”

Chris, who said he likes “anything but superheroes” in his comics, works with his wife Kate to create their comic called RobotGuy. Sitting next to Rodriguez at the festival, he handed out free copies of the one page comic strip.

“Our ultimate intention is to get our own publisher, but I like to think of this group as like a sounding board,” Chris said. “It’s great to see how other people do it. It’s sort of intimidating otherwise, and you get people’s opinion on your work and you help other people on their work.” Chris illustrates and Kate writes the dialogue.

A common thread among the members is a love for small press comics, and some members don’t follow the books from large mainstream publishers, like DC Comics or Marvel.

“The bigger places, they have a certain style, and all the artists almost draw all the same,” Dembicki said.

“I think that a lot of the creator-owned books, there’s a lot more passion with what the writers and editors have to say,” Piers said.

For these small pressers, the main goal isn’t to make money—they have their day jobs to support their night-time alter egos as writers and illustrators. It’s about the process of making something they want to read.

“I like the craft aspect of it,” Dembicki said.

Dembicki at 8:47 AM  |  link to this     

1 Comments

Seeing this article made me think of another avenue for exposure to the work of DCC. This might be a bit far-fetched or even useless, but perhaps reaching out to local (and even non-local) universities might be an idea. Collaborating with various student organizations in various fund-raisers where you sell comics as part of a package deal(this year's hurricane relief anthologies from the Baton Rouge cartoonist Society comes to mind)could reah a new audience. I can see Matt's Mr. Big stuff tying into fundraisers for wildlife and local habitat preservation, even naturalist centers or museums.

I remember seeing the work of Robert Crumb displayed at a show in Pittsburgh last year, and of course there was plenty of merchandise to go along with the exhibit. I wonder if on a smaller scale any galleries would be willing to host an actual small presser's art exhibit where actual panels are framed and displayed and books go for sale as well at the reception, and even after the reception. I could imagine merchandise even--t- shirts with Robot Guy, Mr. Big, some of Deb's work, etc. Even postcards taking an excerpt from a page or strip. Why not? That isn't selling out and while it may seem beside the point, again, it's getting the message out. Somebody could even host their own party/exhibit where books go for sale, as well as related items. It could even be an ongoing event (like the CC Fest at Dremo's). I know that the Paping group from NYC have an annual soap-box derby and sell work there. And finally, what if you set up tent in venues such as the Eastern Market or other flea markets like the big weekend one in Bethesda. I seem to be rattling off nonstop here but I thought I'd throw these ideas out there while fresh in my head.

steve at 12/22/2005 2:13 PM   

Post a Comment | Back to DC Conspiracy | Blog