Category: Editorials
Best Time to Attempt DIY Mold Remediation
You can get rid of that mold by yourself at home without inviting any professional to get things done for you. This way, you can save the money for professional hire and spend it on other very important things. You should explore this possibility especially if you are living on a budget. It will do you a world of good financially. The truth is you are not alone in search of DIY mold remediation methods; many home owners are also searching for ways to get things done by themselves; I mean, who does not like the idea of saving money? Doing it yourself also comes with huge satisfaction. If the truth must be told anyway, there are some very important situations that would require you to invite professionals to help get rid of the molds in your home.
When can you handle the job by yourself?
As hinted earlier, it is not all cases of molds that you can handle by yourself. If the mold growth is not yet at advanced state, you will not need to invite any professional to help get things done. If for example the growth area of the mold is still very small, the mold can be removed easily without external help. If you find the mold growing on very easy to clean surfaces in the home, like the sinks, tubs, tiles, metal and glass, you will also not need to invite a professional to help get things done. Just wipe it off using bleach solution and that will be all.
You can also carry out the DIY mold remediation by yourself if the mold is growing on such areas like carpet and furniture. It is hard to remove mold from these surfaces, but such materials can be easily removed and replaced. If you know how to replace such materials, then there is no point in calling in a professional. Before you ever attempt to carry out mold remediation, first consider your health status. Never get involved in this if you have any health condition like asthma, which may be complicated by the mold. If you have any health condition whatsoever, first check with your doctor to find out if the condition will not be complicated by exposure to mold. If any complication will arise, then it is better to invite an expert to help get the job done.
In contrast to the information given above, the DIY mold remediation idea may not be an entirely perfect one if the mold is growing across a larger area, something more than 3 feet in diameter. In this situation, you may have to invite a professional to help out. If not, you may risk spreading the mold to other parts of the home. You may also have to call in the professionals if the mold growth is consequent of earlier flooding incident. In the course of the flooding, contaminants and infectious agents might have been brought into the home and the atmosphere in the home would not be safe. The professionals will help get rid of the mold and also help to decontaminate the home.
Read This and Live Forever: ‘Mars: Space Barbarian’
Not much can be said about Mars: Space Barbarian that isn’t already conveyed by its title. It’s a webcomic about, well, a space barbarian doing what space barbarians do best: stabbing things with a spear while looking like a real badass. With razor-sharp artwork by the Andrew MacLean, a killer opening arc by writer Jim Gibbons, and insanely vibrant colors from Ryan Hill, Mars: Space Barbarian is out of this world… sorry about that.
Check out a little of the comic below and read the rest here.
Panel Bound Indie Spotlight: Dark Ink Pictures
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Sarah Hoppes, the executive producer of Dark Ink Pictures and the wife part of a husband/wife team. Dark Ink currently has several comics that are out for download and your reading pleasure, and you can find them here. This is excellent information for those of you who are looking to pitch your comic in the near future.
What was the inspiration behind Dark Ink Pictures?
Dark Ink Pictures is the brainchild of myself and Chris Rizzo, who is a writer, editor, and now the Creative Director at Dark Ink. Chris and I both spent many years working in the advertising, film, and editorial worlds, and are grateful to have had the opportunity to hone our skills there. We eventually found ourselves growing unsatisfied with bringing other people’s visions to life, when we knew we had ideas of our own to share. We wanted a creative outlet, where we could put our efforts into telling our own stories, making our own art, and building something we could be proud to leave behind. In the fall of 2011, we launched Dark Ink Pictures to do just that. Dark Ink Pictures is a multimedia production company, and our goal is to tell stories, without limitations on the medium.
You go beyond just comics, what else do you do?
Currently, our biggest focus is on comic books. We’ve released the initial issues in two ongoing series, Planet of Women, and Cursed Mountain, along with two one-shot comic books, The Patient and Hunters since our launch in October 2011, and we have several more comics in various stages of production.
In addition to comics, we work in photography and film, and we have plans to expand to music and podcasting in the future. We did a spec commercial, Justify My Burger, which applies a high fashion sensibility to the concept of fast food advertising, in 2012, and we have a short film in the works to be released in 2014. We also did a photo shoot to promote our comic Cursed Mountain, where we brought characters from that world to life. We photographed three models as the members of “Debbie Does Deathmetal,” an all-girl zombie thrash metal band, and we have plans to do photo shoots with more characters from Cursed Mountain, as well as the characters from Planet of Women. We also have plans to release a sci-fi podcast drama with a comic tie-in.
What does one need to do to be published with you guys?We are very open to collaboration, and we consider it to be a valuable part of our business model. Our goal is for the artists who work with us to succeed as we succeed. When we sign on an artist, we always add a link to their work on our site, and we include that link when we mention the project anywhere on our site, and we make every attempt to mention the artists in any press we get about the project.Currently, we are only publishing comics based on our original concepts and characters, all written by Chris. We are always on the lookout for new concept artists, pencilers, inkers, and colorists, because we are constantly adding new scripts to the lineup.
For artists interested in collaboration, we ask for an email explaining their experience in illustration, particularly in comics, and examples of their work in visual storytelling and sequential artwork. Then, we set up an interview to discuss the project/s further. If the artist seems like they’d be a good fit for a comic, we send out a contract for the project, with a detailed schedule, and we start the process with concept art. Often, we sign on people to do concept art and a promotional poster at first, to make sure everyone is happy with the workflow and that it’s a good fit, and then the comic illustration is a separate project.
Explain the process of getting Planet of Women out there.The first two issues of Planet of Women are available for digital download at amusedom.com now. This is a six-part series, and when it’s complete, it will be available in print and digital formats as a stand-alone graphic novel, and will be around 350 pages. As you might imagine, the process of illustrating 350 pages is a long time commitment. Chris wrote the script in the fall of 2011, and we first started working with the illustrator, Dan Wolff, in the winter of 2012. The full series is slated to wrap by early 2014.
Chris’ script and Dan’s artwork are so engaging, we didn’t want to wait over a year to start promoting them, so we’ve been releasing chapters of the book as individual issues. We also created a trailer to promote the first issue, and we released promotional illustrations for the series.
The biggest thing we’ve done to promote the series is to put the books and promos in front of fans as we visit comic conventions across the country. Last year, we went to New York, Ohio, West Virginia, and Tennessee. This year, we’ll be in New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Texas. You can view our full convention schedule on our news page. At our convention in Texas (Wizard World Austin), Dan will be joining us and drawing pin ups from the series.
Indie Comic Spotlight: Carpe Chaos
This week we have a mammoth interview and spotlight event going on with the guys from the web comic Carpe Chaos. Those of you not familiar with Carpe Chaos here is a little synopsis from the crew…
Carpe Chaos is an independent science-fiction space-opera webcomic about five alien races who learn to travel between stars, and it focuses on the ways their cultures collide and how they work to solve their problems. Each story stands on its own, but because our stories follow their histories over several thousand years you can get a really wide perspective on their societies and personalities if you read through the archives.
When I first approached Carpe Chaos I literally had no clue what to think. But after reading through their work I was hooked. The amazing part about Carpe Chaos is the diversity and depth that they have managed to capture in this saga. Each writer,creator,and artist in this series has a defined concept of the scope and voice of not only every creature but every alien race.
Jason Bane is the editor, one of the writers and project leader. Eric essentially created the universe and is the second main writer. Anthony, Daniel, and Joeare all artists on the series and have contributed to different stories.
Today I wanted to feature a few pages from one of the Carpe Chaos story lines that I personally really enjoyed. It’s called Filter Dregs and, well it speaks for itself. So head over to the Carpe Chaos website and read the rest of Filter Dregs and also check out the rest of the series. Tomorrow we will be putting up an interview that we did with most of the Carpe Chaos team. Until then enjoy some free awesome web comic goodness, thanks again to the dudes at Carpe Chaos for sharing their great vision with us.
Skullkickers Creator Jim Zub Has Some Of The Best Comic Writing Advice Online
Here is something for you aspiring comic writers out there. Friend of the site and all around nice guy, Jim Zub from Skullkickers has put up some pretty great writing tips and tricks on his personal blog. Apparently, tired of shooting advice back and forth on Twitter, Zub started posting writing tutorials on his blog starting with part one, “brainstorming,” which offers advice like:
“The first thing I do is brainstorm a series of point form ‘things’ – facts that need to be relayed to the reader so the story makes sense – character traits, settings, antagonists, goals, character changes or revelations. It’s a giant jumble of story ideas, characters and key moments – the raw story ingredients all piled up.”
Skullkickers is a wonderful comic that has some of the best writing on shelves right now. Zub is a master of the comic script and his advice is certainly something you will want to look into. Zub’s tutorials are on their fifth part right now and range from pacing to scripting.
Going over all of this advice again while writing this post, I can tell you that pound for pound this is some of the best comic writing advice on the Internet. The whole reason we started Panel Bound was to find more information about creating comics for both writers and artists. Zub’s advice is some of the best out there especially for writers. Check out all of the writing tutorials at Zub’s blog here.
Manga Recommendation: Kamisama Hajimemashita
It has been a while since I have brought you kind readers my latest favorite Shoujo manga, but today, you folks are in luck. When I first discovered the beautiful piece of artwork that was Kamisama Hajimemashita [or Kamisama Kiss depending on where you’re looking], I was flippantly browsing through the manga section of my local book store while waiting for Matt to finish work so we could go home and read comics and interview people and other things we comic people do. I picked up Kamisama Hajimemashita and started reading. Three volumes later Matt showed up and informed me it was time to go but I merely hissed at him and backed farther into the corner hugging the 4th volume as though if it were to be removed from my grasp I would die instantly.
Why is this manga so good you ask?
For multiple reasons. Let’s do an overview of the story first. Not only is it a creative new twist on a Shoujo that I had not seen in a long time, it was my first introduction to Japanese mythology. It is the story of a young homeless girl Nanami who, through a series of events, becomes the land goddess of a local shrine. Tomoe, a fox yokai, is the guardian of the shrine and begrudgingly helps Nanami bring the shrine back to it’s former glory all while attending class and helping other gods. This story seamlessly integrates the complex ideas of Japanese mythology into an easy to read and beautiful story. It does take a minute to get used to all of the new names, however once you get used to it, the read is easy. Although it may seem like a lot of work, I would keep a list or Wikipedia handy to do a little research on what you are dealing with. It opens up a whole new world of demons, monsters and deities that you can put in your list of information you really don’t need to know but can definitely impress others in the right circumstance.
Now onto things like the artwork and the characters. The artwork is wonderful in this. It has a kind of whimsical organic quality fitting of a story that has the fantasy that Kamisama Hajimemashita has. The characters are all complex with a good amount of comedy running through them. You can feel for each and every one of the characters. From the deep dark past of the committed but fiery Tomoe to the happy go lucky but equally hard working Nanami.
I highly recommend this manga. Every time a new chapter is released and I finish it, I table flip all the things that could possibly be table flipped and sit in a corner just waiting for my email alert to let me know the next chapter has been released.
Manga Recommendation: Kamisama Hajimemashita
It has been a while since I have brought you kind readers my latest favorite Shoujo manga, but today, you folks are in luck. When I first discovered the beautiful piece of artwork that was Kamisama Hajimemashita [or Kamisama Kiss depending on where you’re looking], I was flippantly browsing through the manga section of my local book store while waiting for Matt to finish work so we could go home and read comics and interview people and other things we comic people do. I picked up Kamisama Hajimemashita and started reading. Three volumes later Matt showed up and informed me it was time to go but I merely hissed at him and backed farther into the corner hugging the 4th volume as though if it were to be removed from my grasp I would die instantly.
Why is this manga so good you ask?
For multiple reasons. Let’s do an overview of the story first. Not only is it a creative new twist on a Shoujo that I had not seen in a long time, it was my first introduction to Japanese mythology. It is the story of a young homeless girl Nanami who, through a series of events, becomes the land goddess of a local shrine. Tomoe, a fox yokai, is the guardian of the shrine and begrudgingly helps Nanami bring the shrine back to it’s former glory all while attending class and helping other gods. This story seamlessly integrates the complex ideas of Japanese mythology into an easy to read and beautiful story. It does take a minute to get used to all of the new names, however once you get used to it, the read is easy. Although it may seem like a lot of work, I would keep a list or Wikipedia handy to do a little research on what you are dealing with. It opens up a whole new world of demons, monsters and deities that you can put in your list of information you really don’t need to know but can definitely impress others in the right circumstance.
Now onto things like the artwork and the characters. The artwork is wonderful in this. It has a kind of whimsical organic quality fitting of a story that has the fantasy that Kamisama Hajimemashita has. The characters are all complex with a good amount of comedy running through them. You can feel for each and every one of the characters. From the deep dark past of the committed but fiery Tomoe to the happy go lucky but equally hard working Nanami.
I highly recommend this manga. Every time a new chapter is released and I finish it, I table flip all the things that could possibly be table flipped and sit in a corner just waiting for my email alert to let me know the next chapter has been released.
Panel Bound Recommends: PHERONE
Here at Panel Bound we are huge fans of Blue Estate and it’s creator Viktor Kalvachev. I spoke with Viktor and Blue Estate writer Andrew Osborne a few months ago about their creator owned comic out with Image, and we also have posted reviews for past Blue Estate books. What I was unaware of is the fact that before Viktor was creating Blue Estate and doing covers for Men of War he released a graphic novel called PHERONE. As supporters of both Blue Estate and pulp crime books we have to recommend this title. If you head over to Viktor’s website you can find a ton of great sketches and sample pages. Below is a promo trailer that was put together for PHERONE, check it out it will make you go out and by this graphic novel.
5 Comics That Will Change How You Read Comics
As a would be comic book writer I sometimes have dry spells of creativity, some days I just can’t get to the next level of a story. As of late I have been working on a few stories and for one of them I was having trouble getting pen to paper. Regardless if it was taking the plot in a natural progression or creating an organic sense of anticipation it wasn’t happening for me.
In moments like these I must remind myself that the reason I want to be in this business is the simple fact that I love comics, to me they are a well spring of creativity and what better place to find inspiration to take my scripts to the next level then in comics. So I present you several comics that represent the epitome of artistic epiphany in my humble opinion.
B.P.R.D Plague of Frogs Volume 1 & 2 By Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, Guy Davis, Dave Stewart
If you have been visiting Panel Bound for a while then I am sure you have noticed my adoration for just about anything Mike Mignola and John Arcudi put out. I was luck enough to get a copy of these books from the dudes and Geek of Doom and this series completely floored me. Mignola and Arcudi manage to create the most compelling storyline I have read in years with Plague of Frogs. It’s like any other B.P.R.D book however they bring it on such a large scale that it actually managed to get under my skin and legitimately spook me, giant bug monsters, people melting, constant decapitation, these book have it all.
Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine
True Story I once met Adrian Tomine at a indie comic convention and he was less then cool to me, I get that he was probably busy and all that but still I just wanted to tell this dude that Shortcomings was a life changing read. I digress, Shortcomings is exactly that a life changing read, before I read this book my pull list only consisted of comics about monsters and the heroes that bashed their heads in. After reading Shortcomings though I realized that this was the start of a new generation of the comic form and Adrian Tomine was at the forefront. This book literally changed the way I read, bought and cared about comics.
Skullkickers by Jim Zub, Edwin Huang, Misty Coats
I first heard about Skullkickers at San Diego Comic Con asI was creeping about the Image booth trying to nab interviews for the website. I was initially intrigued by this comic because the guys doing signings were probably a few years older than me and this both bummed me out (whenever I see people my age making comics professionally I get a little jealous) and made me want to check this books out immediately. I couldn’t believe that this group of creators in their (probably I am guessing) mid 20′s were creating such a polished and clean looking book being put out by Image. After checking out the first issue of Skullkickers it all started to make sense why Image was rallying behind this book so much, it’s comedy and action writing at it’s finest. The art is superb and is by far one of the most polished comics out currently.
Animal Man by Jeff Lemire
By now everyone had heard the hype about Animal Man, it’s by far the best rated New 52 title and it’s being written by a relatively new comic writer. Jeff Lemire began with his creator owned title Sweet Tooth with Vertigo which gained so much praise that DC chose him to pen Animal Man. Not only do I love this comic for it’s great writing and general sense of horror but it also to me represents the fact that if you are talented enough and create a good enough title that even the big guys at DC will take notice. Also it’s about a man who has the powers of any Animal he wants, I think that speaks for itself.
The Goon by Eric Powell
I don’t think I need to say to much about why this in my opinion is the best comic series that has been put out recently. Of course I am counting out all the series drama comics that are amazing, but pound for pound when it comes down to comedy and action The Goon has them all beat. If you haven’t read any of The Goon yet stop reading this now, throw your computer out the window and run not walk to a comic shop and buy everything with the words The Goon on them. I also met Eric Powell at SDCC and he was the nicest guy I have ever met which only added to how much I liked this comic.
Every week I will be adding to this list, mainly to remind myself of why I love comics so much and also maybe helping someone else find a comic that will inspire them to be a better artists, writer, etc. If you have comics that do this for you drop me a line at matt@panelbound.com and let me know, I would love to share your suggestions at the site and spread the word.