THE STORY
BLUEPRINT SAINTS MAGAZINE VISION AND MISSION STATEMENT:
Blueprint Saints Magazine is truly the first of its kind within the concept of "An Open Source Envrionment for Comic Creators". It is actually the world's first "Open Age Magazine", and is one of the first project to ever be produced by the Comic Arts Partnership. BPSm is founded on the primary principle of a free place that is a comic gallery for creators to be in print in their own region.
We want to preserve the visceral experience of comics, so instead of a comic feeling like you are paying for access with a digital version, we want to step out and maintain that sense of ownership that a physical comic gives its reader.
As a body of 124 comic creators, 12 Fine Artists, and 24 writers, BPSm is setting a mile marker for what can be done in the world of comics. As founders of "The Open Age of Comics" in 2005, we realized that we were doing something substantial that would make our lives and leadership deeply accountable. The last time something this major happened in comics was in a restaurant where Harvey Pekar and Robert Crumb fused together with their talents as writer and illustrator and ushered comics into an entirely new era. Blueprint Saints Magazine is simply the next step in the evolution of comics. Every new age is in reaction to a culture change, a technology chance, an artistry change, or an audience change. The Open Age of Comics is simply a reaction to the Internet in a way that maintains the physical comic in brand new ways.
This magazine is venturing forward into undiscovered country with the hope to transform lives and transform comics by giving individuals a chance to be seen outside of the endless wasteland of web-based imagery and to infuse the reality of a community of endearing hope as we create comics not merely as a group of individuals, but as a family of artists living and dying together.
What makes this happen is heroic unity, singular purpose and sacrificial commitment. These principles embody the core values of the leadership at Blueprint Saints, and will be the DNA that is imprinted into the fabric of the magazine.
The landscape of comic Art is about to change fundamentally, and the tectonic shift will begin here in central Kentucky. Hangon to your hats, it's going to be a wild ride.
FURTHER READING FOR UNDERSTANDING
What's Your Favoriate Kind of Comic?
Everybody likes comics. Many have favorite comics. But what if comics could be more that what people are used to? What if a magazine could give the everyman a chance to read something they've never seen before? On the streets? In their hands? City specific?
If you're a comic reader, than you know how influential comics can be, and you've been praying for a magazine like this to break from over the horizon. We know that comic shops matter, and in the age of digital distribution, it would seem that it would be a mistake to make a print magazine. Wrong. Our model is the saving grace to the comic shop. Again, our focus is not digital, but organic. We don't want to be involved with iphone comics, or mobile e-reader comics, but we certainly want our comic creators to be. But digital distribution isn't the point of our project. We want to make a physical object that the people get to feel, hold, and keep -for free.
You can read comics on the web anywhere, but what makes this magazine unique is that it is made up of people right in the city of Lexington, Kentucky. Were doing everything we can to foster the creativity of a local, willing and humble talent-base, giving them the communal chance to make an extraordinary product for the city they live in. And, it's not a trade rag with ads or noise. It's a high quality magazine with nothing but comics, visual Art and creative writing. Yes, we're giving the people comics, but we hunted for Artists that wanted to break the mold completely.
Six years in development, we've been pushing toward a slew of new ideas, so we're not just a one-hit-wonder. We're always finding more and more potential for future projects.
As for how the magazine feels?
If you're used to Garfield or Dilbert, than you're about to wake up to something brand new. With this magazine, you're going to get all sorts of exposure to other types of mediums and comics. One of our venues is called, "GNA", or Graphic Novel Artists. We publish sections of graphic novel works in the hope that people who are used to Dilbert will in fact come to appreciate this other type of comic. That may sound lame to dedicated comic readers and comic creators, but this magazine is made for readers from all sorts of backgrounds.
Our hope is that if you know very little about comics, that this will actually birth admiration in you and get you into the local comic shops and buy a physical comic. And if you know a lot about comics, we hope that when you hold this you will understand how unique this magazine is not just for Kentucky, but for anywhere in the world.
This magazine is made up of many venues. You can read about each venue and get deeper into artists profiles and videos right in the "VENUE HUB". And the fun part is, if you live in Lexington, you'll probably run into the creators of this magazine -we're kind of unavoidable now.
We hope that you will find a favorite comic ( not that we play favorites here at the magazine ). We also hope that you will not just read the comic that is in print and keep it as the collectors item it is, but that you will keep coming to our website.
What you have to know about this website is that we will not be hosting any comics here, but the direct links to the artists websites. Were not here to profit off these artists, but to be a pointer system to their digital lives, not just in print, but digitally. We won't be a comic label, a store, or a comic host. We are nothing but an Arts organization that generates the audience and points to these artists directly.
We are going to do our best to be a launch magazine for many new careers. We wouldn't be surprised to see most of these artists get fantastic opportunities that they otherwise would not have had without this magazine -which is the point.
We encourage you to pick up an issue when it's darned ready for the public. When we are done with production and it's out there, you'll know. Until then, have fun with this website as it develops.
When you get to have one of these 10,000 magazine, just know that this magazine will not run the issue in a second printing -so getting a copy of this magazine is a little like getting the "Golden Willy Wonka ticket." These magazine are not for sale, so you can't get them anywhere in the world but in this city. When all 10,000 are gone, they're gone to the collectors. Be a collector of our magazine! It's first come first serve.
*Our magazine is not made up of Open Source Comics. Open Source Comics implies that the works of art within our magazine can be replicated, manipulated and sold as if they are the property of the public. That is not what we are doing.
We are not making Open Source Comics.
What we ARE making is an Open Source Environment for Comic Creators (we were the first to coin the term). This term means that the actual object template has been created with an open architecture so that comic creators can put their works in and retain all legal rights to their work. The clearest way of seeing this is that what we have created physically is say, an iphone. We own that piece of hardware and its operating system. However, the applications are fully owned and designed by a slew of individuals who get all legal rights to their work. We take no percentages or ownership of their comics in any way.
This magazine has no membership dues, no fees, percentages, contracts, ownership of Artists work, and will not be a comic label. This magazine is a free gift to the city of Lexington and has no ads.The creators of this magazine pull no funding for themselves in any way from this project.
This is again, a free magazine for the people of this city and will remain that way.
This is what makes an Open Source Environment for comic creators so exciting for us.
With the idea of Open Source Comics floating around, we realized that that is not what we are doing. No single person will have the legal right to manipulate, print, copy, sell or redistribute the works of these comic creators, and the comic creators are giving us their comics only for placement, not for sale or ownership.
I think weve always been pretty clear on that, but hey, it'll be on our boxes soon.
What Are the Venues??
What are these venues all about? Why so many?
What makes this magazine special is that it is comprised of several different kinds of comics. This magazine has specific venues for a specific kind of comic.
An example of what this means is that some people like graphic novels, while others like daily funnies. The objective of this magazine is that each reader will have a favorite venue, and we are catering to each section of a comic audience.
Are the venues in this magazine always the same?
Yes. The main venues never change. Every issue of Blueprint Saints Magazine will have the same structure and layout so that you can find your favorite comic or artist right away. This keeps this large magazine from being confusing. The artwork in each magazine is radically different, so the actual venue structure puts a bit of order into this free-form Art gallery.
However, each month, this magazine will change dramatically. Its look will change due to these 89 comic artists creating a different comic each month. Even though the structure is the same with venue placement, the comics are different enough each month that the magazine is always fresh and alive.
Are the artists always the same?
Yes. We are devoted to our 124 comic creators and have given them lifetime placement. We're not looking for new talent except for our "Guest Artist" section which always allows a chance to new local talent. For our 124 comic creators, there is no contract binding them to us in any legal manner, but these comic creators are asked to submit their comic for their entire life so that this magazine remains a gift to the city -the people of the city getting the chance to follow each creator as they grow and change. Some will move to New York or over seas, but they are still making this magazine for the local community -sort of like local famers selling to local people.
Are these comics from all over the world?
That depends on how you look at it. Yes, they are from all over when it comes to home towns, but these artists are mostly Lexington, Kentucky residents. Almost none of these artists have been in print before. This magazine exists to give unseen comic creators a chance to be seen in print.
Why did you make this magazine with only Lexington comic creators?
We could have opened up our magazine to national comics, but that's not our focus. The idea was to find people in the city of Lexington, KY that had never been seen and that is our passion. We want to use local talent, and local printing companies so we can give the magazine to local readers. We want a new voice to the comic world, but we want these comics to be known in the community they live in not just by the other comic creators that are walking this walk with them, but by actual city readers who follow this vision.
It certainly would have worked just the same to open up to national comics, but thats been done before. The better idea was to get our own comic community connected and woven so that these people get to know each other, and the community of artists would be solid enough to create a city buzz and experience that simply couldn't go unnoticed.
Why did you pick the team this way?
This was not an easy team to build. We faced some serious opposition along the way by many comic creators. Our final comic team was assembled by hand one at a time, meeting with them where they were. The goal was to get these people connected and woven so we could begin a more solid comic community in Lexington, similar to starting a new music scene.
(We do not support any comic community or comic label in Kentucky as we function independently of all comic organizations-which is why we are within THE COMIC ARTS PARTNERSHIP -our parent organization.)
Are you taking more people on board?
Always. We are planning on several spin-off magazines. Submissions are always welcome.
We have various administrative leaders, all of which are volunteers. The founder and publisher of this magazine is B.D.Kuchera. His partners are Joe Lewis ( 10th Chair BPSm Board ) and Anthony Jones (Chief Operating Officer).
What is your budget?
We are a non-profit Arts organization funded by grants, foundations and donations. We didn't really answer this question because we take yearly assessments of needs and disclose those publicly with our financials.
When does this magazine run?
We plan on releasing this magazine when it's ready with 10,000 issues a month. Were going to make sure this thing is perfect before we do anything that would jeopardize the project. This has never been done before, and when something new happens, resistance always appears.
Can I get involved if I'm not a comic?
Yes. You can send us an email so we can start talking with you about that. We never turn away a potential genius.
What are these venues all about? Why so many?
What makes this magazine special is that it is comprised of several different kinds of comics. This magazine has specific venues for a specific kind of comic.
An example of what this means is that some people like graphic novels, while others like daily funnies. The objective of this magazine is that each reader will have a favorite venue, and we are catering to each section of a comic audience.
OUR VENUES IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
GNA:
GRAPHIC NOVEL ARTISTS:
"GNA" is made up of 10 graphic novelists from Lexington. They are the featured artists at the beginning of the magazine. A graphic novel is a type of comic book, usually with a longer and more complex narrative similar to those of novels.
GRAFFITI VENUE:
"Graffiti" is a venue that contains the work of several graffiti artists from the region. In this venue, they get to "spray paint" in our magazine. We have some of the best graffiti artists in Lexington involved with this venue.
GUEST ARTISTS VENUE:
Due to the nature of our magazine being comprised of local talent, and that our comic creators have lifetime placement, we have opened up the magazine with several spots in this section so that we have openings for additional talent each month. These are local, national, and international guests. Being a guest in this magazine is an privilage, not a right.
DEEP GROUNDS VENUE:
"Deep Grounds" is the biggest venue in our magazin. With this venue, we hope to bring you some of the most experimental comics since Crumb hit the scene. Deep Grounds comics are by nature darker in content and have a more organic feel to them than STREAM. The lines are sometimes spotted, the backgrounds shaded with a more ominous feel. The goal is to meet these artist where they are at, and give them a chance to express themselves freely, even if the comics are a bit more on the edge.
EVERGREEN:
"Evergreen" is our creative writing section of our magazine. It gives a chance to some of our writers to express themselves with the written word.This writers team also allows the visual arts element of this magazine to be supported by an entirely different medium. Our writers work within different facets of this project. They work on the fake ads, the classifieds and personals, and ofcourse, the Evergreen venue itself.
EVERGREEN SECTION 1: INTERVIEWS
Each month, within Evergreen, two pages are devoted to an intervieew with one of our artists. The artist on the cover gets a two page interview in section 1, and that gives our readers a chance to know these local talents.
EVERGREEN SECTION 2: WRITERS
Section 2 of Evergreen is the creatrive wrting aspect of the production. This is where our team gets to experiment with the written word extensively. We called this entire writers team venue "Evergreen" because of the idea that the writing in this project is not dated, but "EVER - GREEN".
FINE ART:
We're not just a comic magazine, but a visual Arts magazine.. Each month, we release a magazine with two pages of local Fine Art talent. We hope you'll join in on some of the local Gallery hops to support these artists.
STREAM:
MAIN STREAM COMICS.
"Stream" is a venue that focuses on comics that range from The Far Side, to Dilbert, to Doonsbury-like comics -visually lighter, but not necessarily in tone. These comics have never been in syndication -they are all new to the world via Blueprint Saints Magazine.
FACE LIFE: EXPRESSING LIFE WITH AN EXPRESSION:
"Face Life" is a venue unlike anything youve ever seen. The purpose of this venue is that our 124 comic creators, each month, draw faces that express the various emotions that they feel. Some of the faces may be people they know, people they have seen, or even themselves. The idea behind Face Life is that a reader, when opening this magazine, can expect to see a collage of faces that they may identify with -be it sadness, joy, anger, jealousy, fear, passion etc. Expect to open these two wordless pages that say worlds about humanity with only a face.
FAKE ADS:
We thought the best way to make fun of the idea of advertising was to make our fake ads section -in a way saying that we built this thing on the impossible, and ads aren't our focus. So, why not make fake ones, right? We promised ourselves that we wouldn't make a trade-rag. Our project simply has no room for ads. Need we say more?
STIX:
ALL ABOUT THE STORY
"STIX" is a venue that is also the first of its kind. Stick figure comics are all the rage on the Internet, but this is the first magazine to make an entire venue of it. Imagine that what you see isnt nearly as important as what is happening. Stix gives a voice to the tireless writers, much like Harvey Pekar. It lets them draw their universe in the only way an untrained artistic hand can do -with stick figures that say a million words. Expect to see some writing genius.
YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS:
"Your Friends and Neighbors" is a venue that features the work of world-famous comic creator Emerson Quillin and Don Clarke. These two men are dealing with issues of social faux pas.
EVERGREEN SECTION 3
CLASSIFIEDS AND PERSONALS:
One of our favorite venues is the "Classiieds and Personals" section. This section gives our writers a chance to have a blast making fun of "for sale" products and items, as well as "Date requests" and "odd community asks". Sometimes, it's okay to be really silly, and this is the venue for precisely that.
DOUBLE PRINT:
We wanted to reach the latino audience, so we have one coimc in this magazine that is printed twice -once in English, and again in Spanish. We hope that this comic bridges a gap we otherwise would not be able to meet.
TEAM BLUEPRINT:
"Team Blueprint" is a video venue that follows the lives of our comics. It is also the name of our magazine team. Together, good or bad, were a team -picking each other up, investing as friends, planning, dreaming, making. Team Blueprint gives a chance for the readers of Blueprint Saints Magazine to see that our artists make up much more than a magazine -were doing life together.
THE VENUE HUB IS
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
THE COMIC ARTS PARTNERSHIP:
The Comic AP fosters talent by creating city specific magazines, comic communities, and careers by giving individual comic creators access to a print platform. The projects funded through the Comic AP are also all non-profit, and each product produced through this organization is filtered through the ideals of The Open Age of Comics (which you can read about at www.comicap.org. Our goal is always making physical objects, not virtual, and giving a chance to these comic creators, and giving a project to the public is our foundation.
The Comic Arts Partnership, or Comic AP can be found at: www.comicap.org.
(under construction)