Sunday, September 17, 2006

Down in the park where the mag men, the machines play kill by number. Down in the park with a friend called five. I was in a car crash, or was it the war but I've never been quite the same.

Item One: How did I miss this? You'll find it mentioned it later in my interview... WITH KRIS OVERSTREET. Yup, The Magnificient Milkmaid in webcomic form.

Item Two: New Italian actress find, with the big boobies.

Item Three: The first of this week's pieces by Kulli... boob and FMG.

Item Four: Kulli does big boobs.

Item Five: Tigra!

Item Six: Another Tigra!

Item Seven: Sutibaru delivers a BE manga.

Item Eight: Sutibaru art trade. (BE)

Item Nine: Medabots BE from 4chan.

Item Ten: New DA BE sequence.

Item Eleven: Other side of Sutibaru's art trade. Equally good. (BE)

Item Twelve: Jolly Jack's prelims on a fairy getting too big (Growth)

Item Thirteen: Some TF and TF/TG here.

Item Fourteen
: Dogmorph!

Item Fifteen: ZeFly gives you a love Caitlin Fairchild.

Item Sixteen: Illustrious commissioner GreatDragon AD brings you MORE art than you could ask for.

Item Seventeen: I must credit Lingster for netting this wonderful 3d-art find of BE. Quite wonderful.

Item Eighteen: Powergirl.

Item Nineteen: Just a six-pack I liked.

Item Twenty: Bit of quick FMG.

Item Twenty One: Arch master Galvatron and his sidekick Angelus have done some more work on Undeadrobot and "The Inconceivables".

Item Twenty Two: Something of a flash comic about Monkeyman and O'Brian... there is growth oh and superhuman strength.

Item Twenty Three: First of this week's DA highlights... SHfan has growth and TF plenty.

Item Twenty Four: Boobs, demons, boobs... Lord Coyote has those things.

Item Twenty Five: Amazeroth2002 - many excellent BE gifs.

Item Twenty Six: Kind of like a bra simulator... but with more realism.

Item Twenty Seven: This guy is probably doing the next TOB covergirl.

Item Twenty Eight: Pegasus and Dolphin TFs... I thought I'd put them in to be nice.

Item Twenty Nine: She-Hulk (you were waiting for that, right?) and Power Girl.

Item Thirty: Yatz makes good on a horrible film with this FMG Alienator!

Item Thirty One: Item for AR/AP fiends (and BE fans)... some manga...

Item Thirty Two: Manic has another page of awesomeness! (BE, growth, TF)

Item Thirty Three: Many asked where She Giant Artist went? Well... here. (TF, Growth)

Item Thirty Four
: DCM delivers another page of Tetsuko!

Item Thirty Five: Last DA plug, Zeartist - FMG mainly.

Item Thirty Six: Tjohnta tracked down the BE and growth in Onegai my Melody. Behold.

Item Thirty Seven: Nice site for big boobs and big muscles.

Item Thirty Eight: Busty Brazilian video.

Item Thirty Nine: Manic actually did some more work at the AltaWoman yahoogroup...

Item Forty: Purely because I want forty items, addventure thread for you all here is a tale of naked super powers and... shrinking.

So here we go... an interview with Kris Overstreet...

Prophet Tenebrae: So, Kris - you're the lord and master of WLP... I suppose the obvious question is, what made you start White Lightning Comics?

Kris Overstreet: Many years ago, I was hired by Antarctic Press as a warehouse manager and general gofer. The first few months I worked there were quite fun, but then the focus of the company changed from making fun comics to making a profit, regardless of the product or the enjoyment of the creators. In 1996 I was downsized from my salaried job, and I decided to work towards starting my own publishing company based on the premise of producing cool comics first, profit firmly *second*.

PT: I'm not sure everyone will have followed the fortunes of WLP in the decade or so since you started working on it. Perhaps you can give us the highs and lows?

KO: Well, as a general rule, profits have remained second, all right... in fact, most of the time there haven't been profits. After starting in a small way with reselling comics and printing fanzines and art portfolios, WLP began publishing in late 1998 with The Magnificent Milkmaid #1. From 1998 to August 2000 we enjoyed steady growth, but with the dot-com bust came a great drying up of free spending which hurt our main profit source - convention appearances. From then on WLP has struggled to break even, and the past two to three years we've remained active almost entirely due to the charity of a few of our fans.

PT: Any of whom you'd care to lavish praise on?

KO: Well, one Wayne Garmil in particular financed the printing of Bootleg #13, and by extension all subsequent issues - without him we'd already be out of comic publishing. But most of my praise I'd lavish instead on the WLP artists who have been VERY patient as regards payment of royalties- since most of our current projects aren't bringing in much money at all. Particularly BAR-1 (Ben Rodriguez) and DarkZel (Zel Harris), who do a lot of work essentially free, and Larry Mann and EvHor as well.

PT: That's a long list, certainly but it seems that in recent years and months you've moved away from the printing presses and more toward the webcomics. What's behind the move?

KO: Unfortunately, yes. It's not entirely by choice. The simple fact is that the old style comic magazine format - the saddle-stapled pamphlet everyone remembers from childhood - is dying out fast, and sales with it. When we finally got an artist for Milkmaid #2, sales dropped WAY below break-even. Even our flagship anthology, Bootleg, had to have its print run cut with issue #15 to remain at break-even... break-even for print costs only, never mind royalty payments to artists.

PT: Well, I think the Internet has fundamentally changed the way people consume material... and it's not looking so good for the printed word... do you think WLP will be able to survive in the new climate?

KO: At present the strategy is to provide web comics free, and then subsidize their creation through the sales of T-shirts, comics, graphic novels eventually, posters, and other merchandise.

PT: So, you're still very much reliant upon readers to do more than leisurely read the comics and assume they'll just keep on coming?

KO: Slow down, I haven't answered the last question yet. But yes, that's exactly the problem. PayPal blacklisted WLP in 2004 - I can never get a PayPal account again so long as I should live. YowCow, the service we went with next, went belly-up in 2005. All other electronic payment services, including most credit card processing services, have a strict no-adult-materials policy, which makes it very difficult for supporters to donate cash to us... What's worse, past cash crunches caused a lot of mail orders to be BADLY late. We lost a lot of customers through that, and now our mail orders are a trickle at best. We need to get people to donate AND purchase stuff, and we need to get that stuff to them in a timely manner, if WLP is going to recover and survive.

PT: OK, let's concentrate a little on the actual creative process. You’re currently writing…

KO: I write The Magnificent Milkmaid and I – script - Chocolate Milkmaid, but the story ideas for the latter come from Lawrence Mann. I also write Peter is the Wolf and The Misadventures of Chichi-chan. I also, on occasion, do commissioned writing, when I can find time and energy for it.

PT: got a webpage for people that might like to commission you?

KO: My current commission rate for fiction is on the front page of my fairly outdated personal site, http://www.wlpcomics.com/redneck/

PT: Still, that’s 4 comics to write/script a week – that must be quite a challenge.

KO: I don't do them one page at a time - it's more like, "Let's see how far I can get with Milkmaid, there's ten pages, tomorrow I'll come up with some gags for Chichi-chan..."

PT: That makes sense... I'm sure it would be a strange writer who just spat out one page at a time.

KO: One – comic - page, yes. A comic page averages, oh, about 300 words, with panel descriptions and dialog. When I have nothing else to do and can devote my full attention to it- which isn't often- I can produce about 3,000 words of original work in a day. That doesn't sound like much until you try to think of new stuff to write about, without any notes or guidelines to help you.

PT: 3,000 words a day for a month will get you a novel, so it's a pretty commendable achievement but more than that, it must be fairly gratifying to see so many of your typed words to be turned into comics.

KO: Yes - well, technically it will get you into novel length. I wrote over 50,000 words of a sci-fi novel in April - I really need to get back on that project - and although that's minimum novel length, it's at best only half through the first draft.

Seeing my creations in comic form is usually a wonderful experience, especially the first few pages of a new project. Of course, sometimes the artist and I don't have compatible visions, which can make it quite frustrating. I'm especially happy with Peter is the Wolf, which is a true collaboration with artist BAR-1, who does a good bit of rewriting dialog and adding little jokes of his own in the creative process. It's fun to see what he comes up with.

PT: I know it's a question most creators dread - but who is your favourite character and why?

KO: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm... I'd have to go with Beth Dorman aka Milkmaid. She's fun to write - a strong young woman who, despite having magical powers, really does get the shit end of the stick most of the time. I'd like to think that I'd cope as well with the sort of stuff she goes through.

PT: Was she your original foray into character creation?

KO: No, no, no, no, no. I've been creating characters since grade school.

PT: Of a sexual and transforming nature?

KO: Mmm, on that score it's possible. I certainly can't recall any breast expansion characters I'd created prior to her but the notes for her were begun in late 1997 and early 1998, so that goes back a ways.

PT: Was she inspired by anyone or anything in particular?

KO: Well, I first encountered the BE scene in 1996 or thereabouts, and about the same time I first encountered John Barrett's artwork. Before then I didn't really recognize any particular kink in my own preferences, except perhaps that I liked women as tall or taller than myself. But the exposure to John's work especially led me to consider creating a character whose signature feature, as an erotic character, was lactation on a truly cartoony scale. That, plus the old term "milkmaid", was what got it started.

PT: And so, a legend was born.

KO: A very small, quiet, barely-sung-of legend.

PT: One can only hope that she - and your other creations will go on to gain the critical and financial success that they deserve within the community in the years ahead... which leads me to my next question... you've been faced with obstacles at almost every turn - not least, the loss of John Barrett as the artist initially behind Milkmaid. It was literally, years before you found a replacement. Just how did you persevere?

KO: Well, the subscribers who are still waiting for their copies won't believe this, but mainly it was my promise that the series would go forward. A significant number of people - forty or so - had put down money to support the Milkmaid project, and one of the reasons for the new webcomic is to see that their support and the various creators' work isn't wasted.

PT: I'm sure that the subscribers will be grateful to know that you've done something so useful with their contributions and I think that a great many people probably sitting on their hands agree.

KO: They'll be more grateful to see their books in the mail - when I can afford to do that, hopefully VERY SOON NOW. ^^;;;

PT: I'm sure that WLP isn't adverse to hosting banner/adverts of some description to expedite that?

KO: Oh, no, no, not at all! WLP has banner ad rates available at http://www.wlpcomics.com/adv.html

PT: Goodo.

KO: Also, Peter is the Wolf has signed up with a webcomics advertising collective, so hopefully we'll see some revenue come in from that eventually.

PT: It's good to know that WLP is adapting to new circumstances. Now moving on, I know you're not a big fan of spoilers for your stories, so I won't ask you for any... but can you give us any hints about the upcoming project you mentioned recently on this very blog?

KO: That was for the Milkmaid webcomic. Which just debuted this past Sunday. As for spoilers...

In Peter is the Wolf there's going to be a bit of fun with the Capture Squads trying and failing to catch Sarah, a major change in Peter's living arrangements, and a brief glimpse into Butch Cramer's life at home with her father Gus... at a weekly basis that'll all probably take til spring to play out...

Beginning next week Chichi-chan gets to play with her giant robot from back when she was an anime star in "Giant Robots, Giant Headaches"...

Those who read the old Milkmaid story outlines know this chapter introduces JuGGG's, who might just be bustier even than Milkmaid herself...

... and those who follow Chocolate Milkmaid really don't need spoilers to know what's going to happen THERE. }:-{D

Oh, one other thing...We're trying to encourage donations by offering readers a chance to vote with their wallets - dedicating donations to a specific outcome, with the option that raises the most money being the one included in the comic.

PT: And is there a link for people that might want to do that RIGHT NOW?

KO: In Peter is the Wolf, fans get to vote for Sarah Hazen's college major; in Chocolate Milkmaid, the vote is for the final punishment for the frat boys in the current story; and next week Misadventures of Chichi-chan will get to vote one of three minor characters out of the strip - Fujikun, Chichi's mom, or the slime monsters.

Unfortunately, no link - remember, PayPal blacklisted us? You'll have to go to the webcomic sites and scroll down to the News sections of the index pages for more info.

PT: That is unfortunate but I'm sure those motivated will be sufficiently diligent to find it.


KO: I hope people are motivated - only one person's donated thus far in the PitW contest, and only one in the CM contest thus far. Unfortunately it involves checks in the mail, which people seem very reluctant to do.

PT: I think people are often worried about sending cheques with their real names. Especially if it can be traced back to something to do with porn.

KO: If you'll notice, PayPal isn't anonymous anymore, either. The only anonymous cash transfer is just that - actual cash. Everything else is tracked and regulated - in most cases heavily regulated.

PT: True enough, I think people just feel that doing things on the Internet insulate them from the real world. What could be further from the truth... but anyway, is there anything else you'd like to add?

KO: One thing, yes. Just because it's available on the Internet doesn't make it yours, or free. WLP's artists put a lot of labor into each page of each comic on the site. Please DON'T repost or redistribute it elsewhere... and if you can, please support WLP or the individual artists with your donations, purchases, and art commissions.

PT: Kris Overstreet, it's been enlightening, thanks for your time.

KO: Thank you, appreciate it.

All done for another week... next weeks interview will either be two ladies who give their outsiders take on the female transformation community. Or ErikZ aka Mr. HHH founder of The Overflowing Bra.

End Transmission.