Zack Soto

<img src="http://studygroupcomics.com/zacksoto/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/SV2_P5_09a.jpg" title=""> Hi! I've been a professional cartoonist, editor and small press publisher for about 20+ years (publishing for many of those under the <a href="http://studygroupcomics.com/main/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Study Group</a> banner) and was recently an editor at Oni Press for four years. I have been working full time in publishing at Oni for <a href="https://www.thepopverse.com/companies/oni-press" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the last 4 years</a>, and it's been tough to get new comics made due to the all-encompassing nature of the job. (to say nothing about Covid and corporate takeovers and uh climate collapse etc—anyway...) I think it's actually a pretty common trope at this point to see creatives disappear into editorial or publishing careers, so you probably know what I'm talking about.Lately—no joke—I've been drawing some of the best comics of my entire life... when I could find the time/energy to do so. It has been pulling at me with more and more gravity as time went on: "This job (which I do love) is making me crazy, and I sometimes feel like I'm grinding my face against the gears of the publishing world, while I just wanna make books and putter around my workshop..." Add to that the feeling that we probably don't even have twenty years left of things like "book publishing" (at least as we know it) and the hinky feeling started turning into a full-blown Pivot Point.Soooooo: I quit! Yep, I totally quit. To be an active artistic person again. With love in my heart for the team at my old job, and an overriding desire to make stuff for myself again.To say I'm excited about that would be an understatement. It's also sort of scary! To say I am starting out from nothing would be an overstatement, but...not much of one! 😅 Your Patronage not only gets you realtime access to my creative output, but it also could allow me to extend this fertile period indefinitely—your interest in my work and my survival as a creative being is humbling and much appreciated.THE BASIC PITCHI have two major projects (graphic novel series The Secret Voice and Power Button) in progress, and a bunch of others waiting in the wings. But YOU can help me get them ALL done!🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯While I've done a bunch of short stories and anthology comics, <a href="http://studygroupcomics.com/main/category/title/secret-voice/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Secret Voice</a> is probably the work most people know me for. <img src="http://studygroupcomics.com/zacksoto/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/SVp116_117_spread.jpg" title=""> The <a href="http://studygroupcomics.com/main/category/title/secret-voice/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Secret Voice</a> is my version of an "epic fantasy-adventure comic," though there are elements of metaphysics, art comics, super hero fiction and science fiction to round it out. In The Secret Voice, warrior-monk Dr. Galapagos races against time to stop a war, save himself, his world and everyone he holds dear. There's action, mysticism, kung fu, trolls, epic battles, conspiracies, hand-to-hand mayhem, secret societies, romance, psychic showdowns, bloody battlefields, and dark forces! (Reviews:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43015208-the-secret-voice" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">goodreads</a>/<a href="http://www.brokenfrontier.com/zack-soto-the-secret-voice-floating-world-comics/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">broken frontier</a>) &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <img src="http://studygroupcomics.com/zacksoto/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/sv-v1-cover-1.jpg" title="">The Secret Voice Volume 1 is out now<a href="https://floatingworldcomics.com/shop/comic-books/the-secret-voice-vol-1-by-zack-soto" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> from Floating World Comics</a>. It's for sale there, at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/FEB191772" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">your local book/comic store</a>, and all the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.powells.com/book/-9781942801870" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">usual</a> <a href="https://amzn.to/2FTf11o" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">online outlets</a>. You can actually read the bulk of Volume 1 for free on <a href="http://studygroupcomics.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Study Group Comics</a> right now.If you just discovered SV, you don't have to wait a year or two before you find out what happens next. I'm going to serialize The Secret Voice Volume 2 here on Patreon, exclusively for backers—with a brand new page every other week, starting in November. When things start chugging along, and if this patreon is successful enough, I'll start upping the frequency.The other big project I have going on is a middle grade series called <a href="http://studygroupcomics.com/zacksoto/comics-2/power-button" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Power Button</a>. Designed to be an ongoing series of graphic novels, it’s a bit of a love letter to the anime, sci-fi, and tokusatsu shows of my youth, with a sprinkling of super heroic flavor on top.There’s epic space battles, wildly powerful combatants, weirdo monster men &amp; women, and most importantly a strong family dynamic. <a href="https://lernerbooks.com/shop/show/23061" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Volume one</a> is full color, 200 pages long, and comes out November 7th, 2003 from Lerner Books/Graphic Universe.I'm feverishly working on Volume Two right now, and I won't be posting final pages for that here, but I WILL be posting a LOT of work in progress shots and process posts.<img src="http://studygroupcomics.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/in-this-issue-logo.jpeg" title="">BUT ALSO! A PODCAST!In This Issue… is a podcast about formative comics reading experiences, with a focus on the single issue format. Every episode finds myself and a special guest doing a close reading of a comic book (not a graphic novel!) and havin’ a lively chat about it.<a href="http://studygroupcomics.com/main/category/podcast/in-this-issue/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> I did 10 episodes last year</a> in the middle of some very tumultuous times—but had to put it on hiatus this year, which was somehow even busier than last. I'm SUPER EXCITED to get back to this and already have a lot of neat guests and comic subjects scheduled for SEASON TWO!If you back this Patreon, you'll get access to new episodes of In This Issue…Season Two a week earlier than regular folks. I might even manage to get some extra podcasting content in there, but again I'm not trying to over commit. We'll see!So, that's the pitch for the basic $3 tier: Exclusive Secret Voice webcomics, early access to In This Issue... and regular Power Button sneak peeks.<h3 style=""></h3><h3 style="">WAIT WAIT, WHAT'S THIS ABOUT A "PHYSICAL TIER"?!</h3>Additionally! I'm gonna be making zines! Actual physical zines, of varying types/level of craft/print type etc. I definitely don't think I'm going to get one a month out or anything like that, but I have one in progress now, I'm very fired up about it and hope to put one out every couple months. Some will be simple, maybe not much more than an excuse to mail some doodles and a sticker to you, some will be full on review zines and so on. This will start in November, which is when I am planning on releasing my first new zine. Any printed books/zines/comics that I publish for the foreseeable future are available to the $5/month backers and will be mailed directly to you via USPS. (outside the US? Let's talk about postage!)---------<img src="http://studygroupcomics.com/zacksoto/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/patreon-2-webcomics.jpg" title="">

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The Good People of Earth

$3 a month gets you access to The Secret Voice Volume 2, with updates posted at least twice a month, Power Button Volume 2 sneak peeks and process posts, and new episodes of my podcast In This Issue... before anyone else can hear them!

Webcomics and Podcasts

I'm gonna be making zines! Actual physical zines, of varying types/level of craft/print type etc. I definitely don't think I'm going to get one a month out or anything like that, but I have one in progress now, I'm very fired up about it and hope to put one out every couple months. Some will be simple, maybe not much more than an excuse to mail some doodles and a sticker to you, some will be full on review zines and so on. This will start in November, which is when I am planning on releasing my first new zine. Any printed books/zines/comics that I publish for the foreseeable future are available to the $5/month backers. Outside the US? Let's talk about shipping!

Zack Soto

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