Aces Weekly is the award-winning, exclusively cyberspace – NO PRINTING, NO PAPER – comic art magazine from David Lloyd – the guy who brought you V FOR VENDETTA! Every Monday, serials and short stories designed specifically for your tablet, laptop, desktop – AND SMART TV – are ready to read at your command in massive, seven-week volumes featuring top talent from across the globe. David Lloyd was nice enough to stop by First Comics News and let our readers know all about Aces Weekly.
First Comics News: You have worked with all the major publishers and some of the most notable writers in the industry, what made you decide to start Aces Weekly?
David Lloyd: Because it’s the 21st Cent, and in repro and distribution, the computer/internet can’t be beat for comic storytelling unless you happen to think comics have to be a thing and not a great way of storytelling that doesn’t need to be a thing.
1st: How much of your time does Aces Weekly take up?
David: All bar essential relaxation and sleep.
1st: How much harder is it to do a weekly instead of a monthly?
David: No harder – but then prep for digital isn’t hard at all. Just slot files of art into place and go live every Monday for subscribers.
1st: How many stories are there per issue?
David: There are six ‘ streams ‘ in every 7 week volume made up of six 7-part serials or shorts : e.g. 5 serials and a stream of shorts. Each week has 3 page episodes from those serials or shorts plus Extras, making over 20 pages per week
1st: How many creators do you have working on an average issue?
David: Well if its six teams doing serials then it’s 12. Could be more with added creative input, of course, or shorts making up a stream.
1st: What happens if a creator misses a deadline?
David: I have backup work in hand always. And the creator has to stay alive to finish their work, so I never act on my first impulse when that happens.
1st: How do creators pitch to Aces Comics Weekly?
David: We have a contact address on our site to which intial samples and proposals can be sent. We answer quickly mostly.
1st: Do you just select stories from the pitches you receive to do you, recruit creators, as well?
David: When we began I invited all the good people who knew me to take a shot at it, but now we mostly benefit from submissions. There’s lots of great talent out there that doesn’t get enough exposure.
1st: What type of stories are you looking for?
David: We deal in everything. We’re a non-thematic anthology. It has to be said that creators seem to gravitate towards sf more than most other things, so you’re liable to find lots of that in our volumes.
1st: How far in advance do you have to work?
David: Every creator has as long as they need so we place them in a volume far ahead or closer depending on their work pace.
1st: Ace weekly started 7 years ago. With 52 weeks over 7 years, how is it that we are on Volume 40?
David: Our volumes run 7 weeks then we have a two week interval before starting the next.
1st: Are each week and each volume a standard length?
David: 21 pages minimum per stream but creators can do more if they want to. Minimum per week episode is 3 pages.
1st: Do all the stories begin and end in the same volume?
David: No, some continue into the following volumes, consecutive or with breaks. But we keep the mix, importantly. We’re always fresh – and literally surprising, because no subscriber knows exactly what will be in each volume.
1st: You charge £1 per week, how does that split work between all the creators and a profit for the business?
David: We’re not making a profit, we’re still trying to. It’s split 7 ways, to the creator/teams and to the admin.
1st: If the work appears in Aces Weekly, is it exclusive to Aces Weekly?
David: For two years from date of appearance in English ( they can republish in any other language immediately ). After that they can republish anywhere. Settings and characters don’t count. We only want the benefit of the story itself they’ve done with us for that 2 years.
1st: If you don’t want the weekly subscription can you buy the completed volume?
David: As soon as a 7-week volume completes it becomes a Previous Volume and can be bought as a separate item. All Previous Volumes are listed in our Buy section.
1st: How much is a volume?
David: US $9.99 for up to 150 fantastic pages.
1st: It the experience the same on a tablet, laptop, desktop, smart TV and cell phone?
David: We were never designed for phones – too small. Comixology has 18 of our volumes in a tailor-made format that have the guided view facility for those who need it. Across other screen formats we have consistency of appearance via our commitment to landscape – the natural ratio to maintain look across our designed-for devices.
1st: Why should no true comic fan not miss an issue of Aces Weekly?
David: Because it’s great, different, surprising, new, pioneering, and of NOW, and a bargain – that is unless you must have dead trees and expensive delivery in your entertainment choices.
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