Comic books as a medium were originally a cheap alternative to visual art and literature, combining the two in yellowish newsprint. They were an approachable middle ground that kids and adults alike could find in grocery stores and corner shops. But years have changed the industry in many ways; though one may argue that the quality of comics has never been better, inflation and soaring paper prices have not been kind to comics’ overall accessibility.
Now, with the sustained, agonizingly slow death of physical magazines and newspapers worldwide, comics have become these niche collectibles often sold in specialty stores, a decidedly expensive hobby in the digital age. For a 22-page single issue, the average price is around $4.99, half the cost of a streaming service subscription.
Aces Weekly is one of the alternatives to this increasingly inaccessible landscape, an online anthology magazine that offers a wide array of stories from global creatives. Founder and editor-in-chief, David Lloyd, made his name through his groundbreaking artwork on V for Vendetta with writer Alan Moore. What many may not know, however, is that their seminal graphic novel started in Warrior, a British magazine not unlike Aces Weekly (the only difference being the former’s printed format).
David Lloyd. Courtesy of creator.
It’s easy to forget that most iconic comic book characters, from Vendetta‘s V to Superman, often started in an anthology collection. Anthologies are the perfect testing ground for ideas, housing short stories that can spin off into their own titles after gaining popularity.
A Comics Democracy
Lloyd aims to bring that old feel of reading comics to the modern age of cyberspace. He skips the high prices and places comics right at your fingertips, with diverse creators handpicked by the man himself. His pricing (around $1.37 a week) gives readers access to 20 pages of short stories every Monday, which are later collected in 150-page volumes.
When asked about the main goal of Aces Weekly, Lloyd offered up this summation to AIPT:
“To put regular comics on screen instead of paper — that’s all that we do — to gain wider access at minimal cost and maximum effectiveness. And when I say ‘regular comics,’ I mean the traditional, panel by panel, page after page, with balloons and captions comics. Apart from basic maintenance costs, online comics have no need to pay for repro, printing, packaging, and distribution. The pages are just files to be slotted in, sometimes just before the day they’re due to be read, and it’s all just sent down the super highway.
And it looks better on screen — no bad printing to worry about — and you can have it really big on your smart TV! Sadly, the mass of comics readers are still hopelessly in love with their customary form on paper and cling to it with annoying tenacity, so despite all the good things we offer for a good cause, we’re still battling for it.”
Aces Weekly not only democratizes comics for readers, but also for creators. It opens its doors to more than established writers and artists, giving up-and-coming creatives around the world a shot at breaking into this lovable medium. Skipping the middleman, Lloyd gives ambitious creators an easier barrier of entry if they can prove themselves with a unique idea and the skill to deliver it. People from America and beyond often ask, “How do you work for DC or Marvel? How can you get into the comic book industry?”
One of the creative teams for Aces Weekly’s upcoming volume — Carlos Yacolca and Alberto Rayo — offered AIPT one intriguing answer.
The Marathon of Making “Before We Sail”
Hailing from Lima, Peru, Yacolca and Rayo are the writer-editor of “Before We Sail,” a seven-chapter story starting in Aces Weekly’s forthcoming 75th volume. The pair summarized the story as two survivors trying to flee Lima from a zombie apocalypse, taking to the sea toward freedom. The story is framed within scattered letters written by the protagonists that hint at their increasingly deteriorating mental states.
When asked how the comic came to be, Yacolca said, “It was very chaotic.”
Yacolca had met Lloyd by chance at a convention, and he used that opportunity to pitch his story. But Yacolca soon learned that making comics isn’t a one-man show. Behind any page are a lot of cooks in the kitchen. Unlike movies, where every shot has unsung heroes like the boom guy in the background, in comics, you can see just how the letterer depicts sound effects and how the colorist shapes the mood. Everyone’s work is visible in the final product, requiring a lot of teamwork and alignment of vision.
Courtesy of Aces Weekly.
“It was like a marathon,” Yacolca said.
His novice experience was a lesson in restraint. As with any newcomer to the industry, he needed to dial down his ambition. Because even when he felt he’d done all he could, there were still 10 miles left to run, three months more of edits and streamlining. Adding another wrench in the works, Yacolca opened up about living with chronic depression and how that lived experience both halted and helped his story.
“I find gratification in the higher scope of things,” Yacolca said. “In the process of doing anything, for me it’s hard, it’s like a real marathon. It’s like fighting for myself, knowing that I’m going to feel better when I finish this or when I see the whole picture, in a way.”
He also shone a light on how aspiring comic book writers need to pay attention to other aspects of their lives before they can begin to create.
Courtesy of Aces Weekly.
It turns out that making comics is not so different from a superhero’s alter ego. There’s a lot of juggling between jobs and personal life. But unlike superheroes, aspiring writers also have to save money to pay artists, and shave a little time off work to finish a page. All in all, it’s a big balancing act.
“All my life is a marathon,” Yacolca said. And creating a comic book is a marathon in more ways than one.
Implementing The Right Feedback
Sometimes, first timers can be overly ambitious, and that’s where editors come in, fresh perspectives to point out what’s most likely to go over people’s heads and which darlings to kill. A smart story is meaningless if only the creators know what they mean. And it is the editor’s job to make sure the message gets delivered to the audience.
Courtesy of Aces Weekly.
“David was really focused on the comic not breaking the suspension of disbelief,” Rayo said. “I think that’s something that a lot of people forget in general. People want to make like this really cerebral, smart comics, but it’s more important to have the story understood by the reader.”
Rayo continued by saying, “Lloyd would often respond with, ‘How can these words be said or these speech bubbles be told in a better way?’”
Lloyd prefers clarity in the comics he publishes through Aces Weekly. He doesn’t want beginner writers to lose the plot. That’s why there were changes to the original idea of “Before We Sail.” At first, the story was more sprawling and politically aware. But what the team learned from Lloyd was to balance out big ideas with simpler executions, so that the writers and artists don’t bite off more than they can chew.
“It was a very geopolitical comic,” Yacolca said. “But I changed the direction.”
Rayo added, “I remember that the pitch was established quickly at the beginning with Lloyd as ‘Zombies and Pirates.’ And I think he warmed up to that quickly because zombie stories have been made a lot of times before, but never set on or around the ocean. He also liked the swashbuckling aspect of it. Even when the original story changed a lot, the core material of the story and the world-building remained. It was post-apocalyptic, it’s very South American, a Peruvian story. And in both cases, a story about mental health and remaining true to yourself, even when you have to survive. That’s the core of the story.”
The Format
Perhaps due to their immense volume, or the varying degrees of quality, webcomics are often glossed over in the West; in fact, many have compared Aces Weekly instead to the more popular WEBTOON. But both Lloyd and Rayo disagree with this comparison — Rayo likened Aces Weekly to other online publishers (while mentioning Panel Syndicate by comic artist Marcos Martin).
“Aces Weekly is more similar to other webcomics than WEBTOONS,” Rayo said. “The difference mostly is that all the comic was made before the publication even starts, while a lot of the comics in WEBTOONS are made two days before publication, and it is really stressful there. Very, very stressful. In a sense, it is more calming to make this comic because there isn’t any hard deadlines.”
In Aces Weekly, the publication date is only discussed as soon as the comic is finished, and the format of a story is split into seven weeks with a short chapter each.
According to Rayo, who has written for Heavy Metal magazine, Aces Weekly bears more resemblance to that publication as well as the equally classic 2000 AD. Just like it is there, Aces Weekly is a tour that takes readers around the world and beyond — except here the pages are paper-free. With this unique delivery system, creators have to learn how to tell a comic in short, five-page bursts where each chapter has a beginning, middle, and end, so that the story can be read weekly, while also accounting for the fact that people will read it as a completed whole.
Courtesy of Heavy Metal.
A Message to Readers and Aspiring Creators
“Before We Sail” is just one of the stories included in Aces Weekly’s volumes. There are plenty of others with different art styles and settings, a whole library of adventures that Lloyd has prepared for your convenience. If you’re a reader, the stories are a click away, and if you’re an aspiring creator, your dream of making comics has never been closer.
About the key to a good Aces Weekly story, its head honcho believes you have to see it with your own two eyes.
“There’s no rules to that,” Lloyd said. “We have a policy of allowing our Aces to do what they want and in a variety of styles and ways of storytelling. We’re an anthology, so we have some stories that some of our readers might like and think are ‘good’ while other readers may disagree with that assessment. But there’ll always be something in the mix to satisfy most if they’ve been attracted to us by seeing and appreciating the variety we offer, which is pretty clearly evidenced through a visit to the site.”
“Before We Sail” debuts in Aces Weekly volume 75, which drops July 7.
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