I did something that, as a writer, you’re never supposed to do. I read the reviews for my book From Parts Unknown. And I have to say -- some of those reviews were right. So let’s get into it. My name’s Adriano. I’m a writer here at Pesto Comics, and the publisher, and we get all kinds of books out there into the world. One of the series that is ending very soon in the direct market is From Parts Unknown. The first four issues are available widely. I’m not counting the Kickstarter run here, because I will say that the Kickstarter crowd is a totally different crowd. Everyone is there because they want to be there. If they have anything negative to say, they certainly keep it to themselves. When we get to the direct market, we are going wide. We are getting every type of person, and not everyone who took the risk knows what they’re getting into right away. So you do get a little bit more of a distilled opinion, where on Kickstarter people are going to be generally supportive. They’re there to support indie comics, warts and all. And I do appreciate those people. You people have made it so that I can get as far as I have, and I always, always appreciate the feedback I get. It does mean a lot. But I will say the direct market can be vicious. All that said, most of the reviews of From Parts Unknown have been wonderful. Everyone has really enjoyed the series. But there’s always that naysayer in there. You can get dozens of people saying how much they enjoy the book and one person who says they don’t -- and that’s the person that gets all of your energy. So I’m not here to fight the reviews. That’s not what we’re doing today. But I do want to talk about something that I think led to those less than generous reviews, and it’s because of something I did intentionally. Writing for the Trade vs the Issue So today I want to talk about writing for the trade or writing for the issue. That’s really the difference here. With From Parts Unknown, this was the first series I had tackled, and I had been coming off of writing one-shots. One-shots were basically my big, big ideas distilled into as little as 24 pages, up to 32 pages. But that was all the space I had to really get in, make my point, and get out. As a film school student who did a lot of short films, it felt very much in my wheelhouse to do. However, I still wanted a little bit more space to tell a story. So when I started writing From Parts Unknown, I didn’t think of it as an issue-per-issue exercise. This was always written for the trade. So the storytelling is decompressed. The storytelling takes a lot longer to get to the point, for lack of a better term. I did make sure that each issue did end on some kind of cliffhanger, that it was somewhat episodic, that there was a reason for you to come each week. But really, all of the meat of the story takes place in issues #4 and #5. And if you were reading issue #3, it may have felt like, “Okay, let’s get going.” I totally get that. That was slightly intentional. That said, if I were to start over, I may have changed the pacing a little bit to make it a little quicker. It’s something to keep in mind for the sequel series that we’ll be coming out with in 2027. I’ll make sure to really ratchet it up and keep the pace and the momentum going a lot faster than we did with the first series. But again, the idea was this was a short story told over five issues instead of one, and that may not have been what everybody was signing up for. So I totally get that. And again, those reviews were actually kind of constructive. Nobody was actively malicious about this. Everybody was just like, “Not my style of storytelling. I’ve had enough of Bendis-style storytelling. I don’t need more of it in my life.” And that’s fine. Not everything is for everyone, and I appreciate that input. I don’t resent the feedback. Like I said, it’s something I’ll be taking forward with me. However, I am capable of writing for the issue. Writing for the Issue - NKW Anyone who has read NKW, or Naked Kaiju Woman, knows that I’m capable of doing that. That series is very much written to be in a sequelized manner, is how I like to call it. Each issue stands on its own, but you certainly get more out of it if you’ve read issues #1 and #2 when you jump into issue #3, for instance. It was really written with that in mind -- that you can still get a full story not knowing the characters, not knowing the setting. You just jump in, enjoy the story, move on. So those are two totally different sides of the spectrum. And then there’s SNIP, that I think falls right in between. It’s not decompressed. It’s definitely written for the issue, and the story is told from beginning to end. But there’s a big story being told over the five issues that’ll probably read great in trade, but can also be read well as a single issue. That’s something that I hope those of you who have backed the Kickstarters know that I’m going for. So it’s really about being able to take these different disciplines and adapt based on the story you’re telling. New Ongoing Series Now, I’ve been working on some new stuff with a couple of artists that you’ve seen work with Pesto Comics in the past, and we’re not doing a five-issue mini this time. We’re doing something that is planned to be ongoing, for lack of a better term. We’re talking about two years, in some cases, worth of story. So it’s flexing an entirely different set of muscles. It’s making me think: “How, over 27 issues, over 30 issues, can I keep people engaged week after week after week, while still telling this huge meta story that goes over everything?” Knowing Your Story I think the important thing in all of this is to have a good idea of the story that you want to tell before you ever start it. You don’t necessarily have to know where you’re landing in the end. Me personally, I like to have everything outlined as much as possible so that at least I know where the story is heading as I’m writing. But at least you need to have a target that you want to hit, so that you can make sure that you’re getting there in time and with the proper pace -- so that people aren’t going to feel like they’re not getting enough for the money that they spent on your comic. Because at the end of the day, it’s a serialized medium. People are paying $5 for a story, not for a part of a story, or a story that goes between commercial breaks. They want something with a beginning, middle, and end. So I think knowing at least where you’re heading, knowing the ending, is very important if you’re going to tell a story. And then knowing how you want to tell it is also very important. Is it one story that you’re telling over many episodes? Is it many episodes that tell a large story? There’s a difference in there, even though it doesn’t really sound like it. I think the expectations that you set up with the reader will allow you to tell the different kinds of stories and how you might tell them. It’s something that frankly I’m still learning and still trying to get better at, and I hope that you’ll be along for the ride with me as I do it. As we continue to build this catalog of Pesto Comics, hopefully we build this into something where I’m not the only one telling stories -- where we can get writers with similar mindsets into this company and release their books as well. But right now, Pesto Comics, these are all stories coming from me. It’s something that I’m trying to grow into something hopefully much bigger, so that we can bring a lot of people under the tent. For now, I’m trying to tell all these different stories, and I’m doing my best to make sure that we’re pleasing as many people as we can as we do so. Leave a Review If you’ve read From Parts Unknown and you’ve enjoyed it, I encourage you to go on League of Comic Book Geeks, look up From Parts Unknown, and leave your review. Hopefully it’s a good one. If it’s not, that’s fine too. But if you’re going to do it, be kind. You can leave a bad score, but don’t be mean about it. Please leave a review of From Parts … This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pestocomics.substack.com
