Is reading the comic free?

Yes, completely; Family Man is hosted on Webcomics Nation, and is open to all.

However, donations are always (always!) welcome, since in a better and more honest world, I would be able to pay rent with this work.

To that end:

How can I follow this comic?

An RSS feed, as well as tooncasting capability, is available through the comic's host, Webcomics Nation, and is linked at the top of each page. Additionally, you can follow via OnlineComics.net, or subscribe to my journal. Or, to be old-fashioned, you can just click on the link to this week's page to see the latest addition! The URL is constant.

Who are you, and what is this?

I'm a young woman named Dylan Meconis. I live in Portland, OR, and recently graduated from Wesleyan University with a plucky little degree in lit, history, and philosophy. I'm a cartoonist, writer, and illustrator. I'd like to make a name for myself in comics, but failing that, I bet I'd be a really cool librarian.

Family Man is a graphic novel - which is Snob for "comic book" - and is historical fiction (with a twist or two). It's published weekly on the internet, where I'm free from the constraints of print, and coincidentally, from the constraints of getting paid. This means I get to do whatever I darn well please, and if you like it, I'm more than a little happy.

This comic is for mature readers, so if you know yourself to be queasy or impressionable about the usual Bad Things, best look away.

Is this a prequel to your other comic, Bite Me?

No, not really. You'll recognize a character or two, but the events of Family Man won't particularly anticipate or reference the events of Bite Me. It's meant to stand completely on its own, and present a considerably less cartoony world.

My intention was to do other projects before this one, since it's always nice to branch out as far as humanly possible from your freshman effort, but sometimes you don't get to choose.

So, instead, you get a comic with vague connections to Bite Me, but about as completely different in tone and structure as you could aim for. Compromise!

Bite Me is currently making its way towards a print volume, like a salmon slowly fighting its way upstream. It's still available for free reading at Girlamatic until I get through pre-press, at which point it should be available for online purchase. Check its website or my journal for any breaking news on seeing my work in print.

Werewolves? What?

Wait on it.

What are you using to create these pages?

Pencils are done with mechanical pencils that I steal from my housemates and grey gum erasers that my cats find fascinating, inks with cheapo Faber-Castell Pitt Artist pens (mostly the brush tip, with some help from the technical tips for lettering and details), all done on smooth 9x12" wind-power Bristol paper from Strathmore, which is a little wider than a standard skinny comics page (better compositions result, in my opinion).

Then I scan using my trusty old Epson Perfection 1240U onto a G4 Power Mac, and do the shading in Photoshop with the help of a bitty little Wacom graphire tablet.

Like all comic book artists, my technique is horribly flawed and backwards and nobody should try to replicate it.

What else have you done?

I'm currently at work on several projects, both as a comics artist and freelance illustrator . On the web I'm also the creator of Bite Me, a wacky vampire farce set in the French Revolution, and a bunch of ickle bittie things.

I am indeed working on other major pieces, but they're not open for viewing yet. And as always, I create commissioned comics and illustrations for publications and companies. And individuals who ask nicely!

What kind of research have you done for this?

A fair amount, although nothing I could get a doctorate with. Some of my sources include:

Grace, Talent, and Merit : Poor Students, Clerical Careers, and Professional Ideology in Eighteenth-Century Germany, bv Anthony J. La Vopa

A History of the University in Europe:Volume 2, Universities in Early Modern Europe (1500-1800), edited by Hilda de Ridder-Symoens

Germany in the eighteenth century:The social background of the literary revival, by Walter Horace Bruford

And some other stuff that's either so tangential or so plot-related that I won't bother you with it. Visual research for costuming, architecture, objects and the like come from wherever I can find information, through Internet databases, film, and books. Given the narrowness of my topic (and the desire to occasionally see sunlight), a lot of guesswork is involved.