The Chicago-based comic publisher Iron Circus is now, officially, a multimedia company.
With the successful (and then some) Kickstarter fundraising campaign for a cartoon based on Tracy Butler’s Lackadaisy webcomic, Spike Trotman’s Iron Circus is now getting directly into the business of animation – not through licensing or an outside company, but by hiring and overseeing it themselves.
With work already begun, Newsarama caught up with Trotman to talk about branching out into animation, Lackadaisy itself, and a general check-in on how Iron Circus is doing in these difficult times.
Newsarama: Spike, before we dig into it- how are you doing right now with all this happening in the world right now?
Spike Trotman
Credit: Iron Circus
Spike Trotman: Honestly… Not so bad?!
Banned Book Club is on a freighter somewhere in the Pacific, and should be in everyone’s hands by May. It’s our biggest print run ever, and it’s already half spoken-for, which is exciting!
Plus, we have at least four Kickstarters planned for 2020, and the first one has already taken off like a rocket. It’s probably gonna overtake The Complete Girls With Slingshots as our biggest single project ever.
We’ve missed out on some really profitable cons we like to do every year because of the pandemic, but with a little luck, by this time next year, we’ll barely remember it, ledger-wise.
Nrama: And how about projects for the future?
Trotman: Oh, there’s always lots going on over here. [Laughs]
We’re signing new titles, preparing to launch new titles, and… forgive me, becoming a “multimedia company.”
Like, I genuinely hate saying that, it sounds so self-important! Every publisher launches as a “multimedia company” now, it feels like. And I always just envision a kid clomping around in their parents’ shoes, wearing a coat five times too big for them and dragging it behind them on the floor, declaring “I’m A Real Company! I’m a Big Company! Take Me Seriously!” But… what else do you call a book publisher that also produces animated shorts? That’s multiple kinds of media. And this current Kickstarter, it’s not intended to be a one-off. We want this to become a long-term element of who we are. So, y’know. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, so on so on so forth
Nrama: They say don’t blow your own horn, but ‘Toot toot.’
Let’s get to it then – the Lackadaisy Kickstarter is a big success, currently almost triple its $85,000 goal. Coronavirus has taught many of us about preparing for bad things to happen, but with someone like this Kickstarter how do you prepare for something so good to happen in terms of response – and financial backing?
Trotman: [Laughs] Yeah, honestly, we’re thrilled with the response!
But while I always stress anything can fail, anyone can fail, and it’s healthy to remember that? I like to stack the deck. I like to make Voltron, bring together multiple strong, independent elements and ensure success by having everyone work in tandem, and play to their strengths. (I think running so many anthologies has given me a ton of practice at that.)
And part of coordinating a response to the kind of reception we’ve gotten is understanding the Kickstarter, the actual campaign, is the easy part; the most difficult part will be following through on what we’ve promised. The money, honestly… I don’t even regard it as money, so much as fuel for the project. When it lands in the Iron Circus account, it’s just numbers. A lot of it is already earmarked, spoken for. It doesn’t feel like money. I’m getting the occasional tweet now like, “OMG what if it hits half a million?” and all I can think is, “That is a large number.”
Naturally, the most basic response to a Kickstarter like Lackadaisy is making sure to say “Thank you”, frequently, sincerely, as much as we can. But after that? We get to work. We keep our backers updated, and we do what we need to do, the way we said we were going to.
Nrama: This could have been seen as a risk, as its Iron Circus’ first multimedia Kickstarter. Now you still have to make it, but what made this idea worth the risk?
Trotman: It’s pretty simple: I wanna make cartoons. I want Iron Circus to make cartoons, to be more specific.
And I approached that the same way I approached comics; I wanted to make comics, so I made some comics. To be fair, everything I’ve built is so on the outside of pre-existing structures in their own industries, it’s the only way I know how to do things. To just go do them. My professional approach to pretty much everything, ever, has always been “I can’t find the door/The door’s locked. Okay. I’m gonna saw a hole in the wall.”
Nrama: What was it about Tracy and her work that made her a business partner you wanted to work with?
Trotman: Honestly, Tracy’s work is just beautiful. Unusually beautiful, I’m fond of saying. Arresting. And that’s something I look for in the cartoonists I work with; art that stops me in my tracks and makes me want to keep looking. It’s the first door any potential reader of a comic needs to happily walk through, so I’d better breeze through, no problem! Looks matter in comics. [Laughs]
But simultaneously, I always felt Lackadaisy had the potential to be a huge deal. Huge. It was a success all by itself, afforded Tracy ‘The Dream’ of many independent artists – a dedicated fanbase and a living off of her work. But why stop there?
Nrama: And creatively, how did the story of Lackadaisy speak to you and Iron Circus’ broader goals?
Trotman: The mission statement, the publishing philosophy of Iron Circus is “Strange and amazing.” it’s something I saw on a circus freak show banner, and it’s something I try to embody; I try to make stuff that’s different. And Lackadaisy is definitely different. This polished, researched, fun and beautiful comic about bootlegger kitties! And sometimes, the kitties strafe one another with automatic gunfire! It’s so weird. It’s so compelling. Where else can you find something like that?
Nrama: So… it’s a success. Have you already thought of another Iron Circus animation project?
Trotman: Beautiful weather we’re having.
Nrama: I see what you’re doing there.
Last question then… with all that’s going on – what’s a message you’d like to tell fellow comics people?
Trotman: Hang in there. Google “1000 True Fans,” then get out there and find yours. Also: You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.