Our Summer Signing series continues at Flying Colors Wed July 31 at 11AM with TV writer and Sitcomics publisher Darin Henry!
Darin Henry is an Emmy-nominated writer/producer. He's written for television sitcoms including Seinfeld, Futurama and The Ellen Show. Darin spent three years living in London where he served as writer and co-executive producer on the hit BBC1 sitcom My Family. More recently, Henry wrote and executive produced the popular Disney sitcom, KC Undercover starring Zendaya (you know her as MJ in the recent Spider-Man movies) and developed a pair of sitcoms for Netflix.
Darin's comic book company, Sitcomics, gives popular comic book genres a sitcom twist in a unique 64 page format called a Binge Book... for just $3.99 each.
Sitcomics currently has six ongoing series featuring talented veteran artists including Ron Frenz (Spider-Man), Sal Buscema (Hulk), Al Milgrom (Avengers), Jeff Shultz (Betty & Veronica), Craig Rousseau (Batman Beyond), Tom Richmond (MAD Magazine), Corin Howell (Dark Red) and many more. Henry resides in Santa Monica, California with his actor/producer/director wife Ursula Burton (The Office, Hart of Dixie) and their two adorable children.
Flying Colors Comics is pleased to be working with artist Dan Fraga
on an Exclusive Signed Bookplate Edition of his forthcoming graphic novel THE GRAVE from
IDW Publishing.
Exclusive signed bookplate editions of THE GRAVE (still at cover price!) are
available to preorder order now! Ordering info is below.
OFFER EXTENDED! The release date for The Grave by Dan Fraga has been pushed back to early June. So the new deadline to preorder your signed copy is Saturday May 18.
For ordering
info, please email coolstuff@flyingcolorscomics.com.
Copies can be reserved and picked up
in-store at Flying Colors (THE GRAVE releases in June).
Please note: Mail
order copies are available at cover price plus shipping.
As a Contra Costa native now living outside of Atlanta, we
wanted to catch up with Dan Fraga to look back at his formative days with comics and to talk about his career now.
FlyCoJoe: Dan, thanks for taking the time to talk bit about
your career and your new graphic novel THE GRAVE. It seems your art career really
started with a love of comic books. How did you get into comics when you were a
kid?
Dan: My interest in comics started like most kids. I got my
first comics as a 7 year-old at garage sales, then later at convenience stores.
It wasn't until this time at the local Quick Mart that I picked up a copy of
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe # 5 off of the spinner rack and
saw that heroes and villains had first appearances.
I asked the clerk if he had a certain issue in the back because I wanted the first
appearance of a character. He explained to me the comics were dropped off
and picked up every couple of weeks. Then another customer told me about Comic
Shops. I had no idea at that point that there were such a thing as comic shops.
Of course I had to go!
FlyCoJoe: Growing up here in Contra Costa County, there were
other comic shops here when you were first diving into comics. What do you
remember about those shops?
Image from Dan Fraga's THE GRAVE
The first shop I'd ever been to was a shop called The Land
of Nevawuz. It was in Pleasant Hill near Pacheco situated next to an arcade and
a movie theater. I was blown away at first because I'd never seen a comic shop before. I
remember putting Amazing Spider-Man #121 on lay-away and mowing lawns for weeks
to purchase it. That shop was all about selling high ticket items and less
about the culture of comics.
I eventually found Flying Colorsand needless to say, the environment and vibe
was much different. For starters, you had an incredible stock of trades, art
books, back issues and other memorabilia. The one thing that struck me like a
bolt of lightning was your bulletin board where you'd let artists post their
work. I fell in love with your shop instantly, as I could see there was real
love for the culture as a whole. FlyCoJoe: I met you first when you were 15 years old in 1989 and you were
doing the Comic Talk program for local cable TV. I want to thank you again for
shooting the earliest video inside Flying Colors. I laugh now when I look at
that video, because there we were-- in a super fun place---and we were both so deadly
serious. Why so serious?
Dan: Ha! Yeah, I recall wanting to be taken as a serious
journalist! Back then, and even now, when I embrace something, I go all in.
FlyCoJoe: I noticed right from the start you were eager to learn everything you
could about comics, comic art and the business of comics. How do you think that
helped you back then?
Dan: Honestly, when there's something I'm passionate about,
I can't help myself but to be eager and have a voracious appetite for all
things involved in whatever it is that I'm into. I think that it's helped me
immensely.
That voracity kind of put blinders on me and I went after things full force and
without fear. It's how I was able to just walk up to Jack Kirby and ask for his
phone number... or to cold call Rob Liefeld on a weekly basis. All when I was
just a kid!
Image from Dan Fraga's THE GRAVE
FlyCoJoe: As a comics creator, how important are comic shops
to the work you do?
Dan: Comic shops are very important! It's the only place you
can actually hold the books and have discussions with like-minded people in
person. I find comic shops to be invaluable.
FlyCoJoe: You were there in the early days of Image Comics. How crazy
was it to be a part of that?
Dan: Being part of Image in the early days was absolutely
nuts. I met Rob Liefeld when I was 16. I had met Todd McFarlane a few months
prior... same with Erik Larsen and Jim Lee. But I talked with Rob on a regular
basis. I basically sent him my artwork via fax anytime I'd draw something new.
Eventually, he'd tell me of his plans to start a company with Erik and Todd.
That later became Image. My first visit to Extreme was February 1992. The day
after I arrived was the day CNN came to the studio to do a news feature on the
newly formed Image comics!
There I was with the pantheon of comics' greats... watching history happen in
real time. Later after the news crew left, we all went to get Chinese food. I
remember sitting there with Marat Mychaels and the seven Image founders and
thinking "How the heck am I even sitting here?" It was literally a
dream come true.
FlyCoJoe: Since your early days at Image, you have taken your art into
other media. How did your experience in comics help you when you were an animation
director?
Dan: The last full comic I had on stands was August 2002
Black Panther #50. I left comics
to pursue work in the entertainment business.
I found that working in comics prepared me in a
few ways. For one, having a sense of storytelling was essential, and for
another, dealing with deadlines and production teams was also an asset. I
started off storyboarding commercials, then later features like Transporter 2
and The Fighter. Later around 2010 I started directing on The Ricky Gervais
Show, then I moved over to Mattel to help direct Monster High,Max Steel, and
Hot Wheels.
-->
Now, I work on the Doom Patrol TV show as their storyboard artist.
I found that my experiences in comics have been
very useful, almost in a Swiss army knife sort of way. My skills, like drawing,
storytelling, time management, and teamwork were all forged in comics. Those
have all been used in the work I do now. FlyCoJoe: What current projects are you working on? Dan: Currently I'm back at drawing storyboards. I'm the regular board artist on
Legacies for the CW, Doom Patrol for DC Universe, American Saga for Hulu, and
Tales for BET. I also storyboard music videos for Taylor Swift, and recently
drew the Nacho Fries campaign for Taco Bell.
FlyCoJoe:That brings us to THE GRAVE. It's an unusual project for any
comics artist because you drew it one panel a day for an entire year. What led
you to work this way?
Dan: I worked that way out of pure necessity. I was working
a full time job, I had a three-hour commute... and a wife and three kids at
home. The story had to be told and I needed to tell it.
I found a book called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield in which he talks
about having no regrets creatively. That we must create, that we shouldn't wait
for giant blocks of time, but use the time we do have to make our projects
happen. I knew I could manage a panel a day, so that's what I did.
FlyCoJoe: How does the story in THE GRAVE circle back to
your own coming of age years?
Dan: There are a lot of real-life tidbits in THE GRAVE.
There are conversations and events that managed their way into the story. I
based a lot of the locations on places in Martinez. I used to get my comics at
a corner store called Case's where the boys in the story get theirs... etc. I
remember going from junior high to high school being a major step at the time
for me. THE GRAVE is a story about the transitions we go through in life and
making an effort to live life to its fullest... without regrets.
FlyCoJoe: Did I see something about you returning to Black
Flag which you created for Image 25 years ago? What can you tell us about this
and any other projects you have coming up?
Image from Dan Fraga's THE GRAVE
Dan: In my free time, I've been working
on bringing my comic Black Flag back.There seems
to be a demand for it. I get requests on a daily basis to do something with
those characters. I've heard the requests and I've written a story arc that'll
be sure to make the fans happy. I hope to announce it officially
I've also got a YouTube channel and Instagram called Couchdoodles. Where the
mission is simple: To illuminate and empower creativity in others through
example.
The show features interviews with creative professionals, and also has
reviews, tech talk and how-to-draw segments. I am very passionate about
Couchdoodles. It's my way of giving back.
FlyCoJoe: I love it! It's like Comic Talk from your high school days except
with the added richness of experiences you've had over the last 25 years of
your career and a mission to empower creativity. That's full circle!
About THE GRAVE:
For fans of coming-of-age stories similar to Stephen King's The Body;
the movie based on it, Stand By Me; IT; Stranger Things; and E.T.
Drawn
one panel per day over a year, follow the story of three boys who
discover a
Image from Dan Fraga's THE GRAVE
shallow grave while on a weekend camping trip. But that's
just where the mystery begins. The unexpected find reveals a cigar box
containing seven mysterious items: a knife, a coin, a pocket watch, a
rare baseball card, a gold ring, a silver spoon, and a strange manga
comic. How are these items connected? Whose body lies buried? Find out
in this once in a lifetime tale of friendship, mystery, suspense, and
growing up.
Ordering instructions:
If you can pick up THE GRAVE graphic novel in person at
Flying Colors Comics in Concord, CA please PayPal $20.00 for each copy to
joe@flyingcolorscomics.com.
If you are in California and need to have THE GRAVE graphic novel mailed to
you, please PayPal $27.50 for one copy to joe@flyingcolorscomics.com. Please
add $20 for each additional copy.
If you are outside of California and need to have THE GRAVE graphic novel
mailed to you, please PayPal $25.50 for one copy to joe@flyingcolorscomics.com.
Please add $18 for each additional copy.
We ship securely via USPS Flat Rate Priority.
Please note: These prices are for shipping in the United
States only. Due to excessive shipping costs and extra time & paperwork
required, we are unable to accept international orders.
Our Summer Signing series continues at Flying Colors Wed July 31 at 11AM with TV writer and Sitcomics publisher Darin Henry! 
