We recently had a Guestbook post from a visitor, which we felt deserved an in-depth reply. Here is our response, along with the points put forth by the poster:

“I really think your missing the boat on your project. I personally thing you should make the comic to be web based project rather than a book. Times gentlemen have changed since you first began with a book based project.”

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us and, as we value all input, I thought it would be a good idea to respond to the points you presented. Before I go further, it should probably be noted that KJ’s professional experience is in Marketing/Advertising. His experience encompasses trends not only for the last part of the 20^th Century, but well into the current market climate, including the use of the internet to augment sales and activities. That said, he and I both have extensive collections of books and artwork and we appreciate the tactile experience of holding a book or work of art in our hands. We do recognize the changes that have taken place, with regards to digital technology and the attention span of many new readers. However, we are ‘old school’ and know that true collectors of good illustrative art will want to have a concrete object to hold, and to add to their collections. Even some of our younger fans have mentioned how they are looking forward to having something that is not tied to their computer and can be read on sailboat, far from land, without requiring electricity.

KJ and I envision young people propped up on their elbows, smiles spreading across their faces, as they witness the miraculous activities of the Boys of St. Precocious Academy. We even dare to hope that a casually discarded – for a moment only – copy of our work(s) may be discovered by another actively seeking answers to the questions that have made themselves present in his or her thoughts. Can a computer offer this possibility? Perhaps, if one were found digging through someone’s files. It is more likely to occur when a brightly coloured book is found lying about.

“I think now it should be website based where you can set up a the on going story line. I for one don't need a book in my life. Your fans can easily print out the images if they want to and the text.” Added in new message: “I neglected to mention I fully expect it to be a pay as you go site. I'm not asking you to give your hard work away for free.”

Perhaps the addition of a book is of no interest for you, and we appreciate different points of view. The suggestion you put forth would make our site be like any other pay site. Initially, we were approached by many different outfits telling us how we could make money by letting others use our site for advertising, as well as providing links that would provide us with additional money from ‘clicking forward,’ which we summarily dismissed as unappetizing for our fans, and dismal for us. Our site is not about money, although our illustrated tome will be sold at a reasonable price. To offer a ‘Download Now’ option would put us in the same league as the Czech sites offering half-dressed urchins for viewing. A basic review of the internet will demonstrate how often people who download from a site where they had to pay a fee will then post the items for others to consume for free. It is their erroneous assumption that they paid for the goods, so they can do with them as they wish. This copyright-ignorant attitude is the majority mindset on the internet, and we have enough understanding of this to do everything in our power to avoid it, prodigiously. As I mentioned earlier, KJ has a great deal of experience with matters such as this. I am no virgin, either.

In summation, I would suggest that trends are trends, and KJ and I subscribe to the concept that ‘only dead fish flow with the current.’ It’s just the way we are. We do hope that you will enjoy our work in whatever format it is delivered.

Danke,

DDM

Summer, at last!

In spite of the odd weather around the globe, summer has made its presence known at the studio. Thunderstorms followed hot and humid days, and that can only mean one thing: it's time for the beach! If you haven't already made plans for a visit to a body of water for this activity, we suggest that you do so now. We'll post a new pic or two after you get back from your dip.

Progress is being made, but KJ is due for a small surgery to the eye, so his creative time will be impacted for a while, after the 16th. Nothing major, but bloody inconvenient, from his perspective.

Stay healthy and have some fun.

KJ & DDM

Talent...

As many of you know, we are occasionally introduced to new talent, and after the Justin Bieber thing (thank you for not sending his vids to us, by the way), we thought we should save new ones for a later date. Now, we feel like this young lad could use a bit of exposure, and he is very talented. Let us hope that he gets the attention he deserves. Here's a bit of Ryan Beatty performing Bruno Mar's 'Talking to the Moon'...



Remember, if you do like him and visit him on Youtube, be gracious.


KJ & DDM

"May the bunny rabbit of happiness fly up your birdbath..."

Don't ask. It's an expression an old friend once used to extend best wishes to others. His sanity was often questioned, although not by us. We're just as demented as was he, as most of you well know.

It being Easter and all, DDM decided to make up a little treat for everyone. You can visit it here, and there will be new images up by Monday night, if KJ can keep his schedule rolling along as intended.

Have a wonderful weekend and please be safe out there.

KJ & DDM

As promised, no joke...

DDM and I did manage to wind down our four-year project on March 31st, which will now allow us to muck about with writing, comic and other fun pursuits. We greatly enjoyed what we were doing, but we needed to refocus on our creative work, and now we can.

As we mentioned a few days ago, we hoped to add new images, alter pages and otherwise fluff up our site before midnight, tonight (GMT) and it appears that we have managed to do so. Will miracles never cease?

There are new characters to meet, and other changes which we hope everyone will enjoy. We will be devoting more time to sharing our work - now that we have a smidgen more time to spare - so we will be updating regularly. Have a look around, and be sure to poke around in all of the nooks and crannies. You may find all sorts of things hanging about.

We would also like to ask that viewers leave a note on the guestbook, or the blog, if you enjoy our work. Public feedback is always welcome and it's a shame if only DDM and myself get to read the kind words of encouragement we receive in emails. Leave a note, when you can and enjoy.

The emails about David's video were so positive that we felt it would be a shame if it lost its place just by the introduction of a new blog, so we are including it in this blog post, as well:



Remember, you can find the intrepid David Paris (Paris D'Avignon) on Facebook. He's a very gracious lad so get to know him.


KJ & DDM

No Joke...

DDM and myself are winding down a four-year project on March 31st - one which has taken a huge chunk of our time. It was a challenge we loved and now we can focus on our everyday living, comic and my writing. Ah, summer will be special, this year.

To commemorate our new freedom, we will be posting new material to our site before midnight, on April 1st. There will also be an introduction of new characters we have created as well as further good news: with a small story alteration, Paris D'Avignon will now be introduced near the end of our first issue. One should not have to wait for all good things, should one? And, here is the inspiration for our character to entertain you until the 1st:



You can find the intrepid David Paris (Paris D'Avignon) on Facebook. If David is new to you you can trust us when we suggest that you will enjoy the experience. He's a likable lad, and extremely easy on the eyes.


KJ & DDM

Friends, As a few of you may already know, MySpace deleted our profile. It began when they blocked us from it for more than three weeks, after we notified them that the changeover to the 3.0 system prevented our use of our .eu email address, for signing in. The path they took us down was unbelievable, and eventually it became clear that they had no intention of letting us have access to our profile. We saved all of the communications and we will be making a rather fun post with a few visuals, after the end of the year. For all of those poor souls who have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with MySpace 'support' staff, you have our sympathy. Since we had already decided not to create a new profile on MySpace, we went for a bit of fun with it, instead of letting the mind-numbing ignorance we experienced weigh us down. It's too close to Christmas for that, oui? Oui. So, we will be posting our updates to our website, via the blog, and we welcome comments here, as well as our Facebook page, a link for which is now located where the MySpace link used to be. It was sooooo easy to change. Technology is cool, is it not? We hope you will all have a safe and fun-filled holiday.


KJ & DDM

T'is the season to be...

It would appear that MySpace has run into a few glitches, with music players not functioning, their 'Contact MySpace' option only putting out a little idiot window that says "Oops! You forgot required info' or some such nonsense thereby not allowing you to send a note (a rational mind would know that this is probably done on purpose so that the techies don't have to read all the problem-laden emails), and the inability to handle .eu email addresses for signing in. Although MySpace can send us the proper form for resetting our password, they cannot seem to recognize our email address as being valid for signing in, although we have used it for ages. Rupie and his henchmen must be going through a meltdown of sorts. Imagine, trying to be like Zuckerman. Why would one want to, one might ask? Facebook is about as boring and vanilla as one could find on the internet, and it does not need a sibling.

Sooooo, for the time being, we don't have access to our MySpace account, which saves us a bunch of time, so a short vacation is not an unwelcome event. We'll let you know when Rupie and his boys get things sorted out. We wouldn't suggest holding your breath for more than a few minutes, though. We don't want to lose any of you good people. In the meantime, you can still find us on Facebook (between the gelato and the sorbet) http://www.facebook.com/kristophe.johansson . Who knows, we might even begin to find Facebook fun, now.


KJ & DDM

PS: Happy Turkey Day to our American friends.

It Gets Better...

DDM and I made a commitment to each other, that our Kristie and the boys would be a project that would be about fun, love and spirit. To that end, we have kept our message on the fun, loving and spirited side of things. Today, we feel that this blog should be about something more important than our work.

If you haven't yet heard about Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" project, on YouTube, it is highly likely that you will. Both DDM and I support it wholeheartedly, and if you have a story to tell that may prevent a young boy, or girl, from leaving us before he/she should because of bullying, please go to the "It Gets Better" YouTube page and add your contribution to Dan's project. Here's one boy's contribution:




KJ

Well, it's summer, and the August holiday season is upon us. A full month of holiday and it comes at a good time. DDM has aired a desire to hit Provence, and KJ is looking to the Atlantic coast for some sea breezes. We'll let y'all know how it turns out for both. In the mean- time, we understand your desire to check out our work, but, for this month, we heartily suggest that you push away from the desk, unhook the computer and get outdoors!

As always, play safe and play fair,

DDM & KJ

The sun is finally out, although the rain returns to the studio frequently, and keeps the ground soggy. Fortunately for our boys, they live at the beach, so life is always fun for them.

DDM is busy with life and making new character images and pages, and KJ is 'building' cars in the St. Precocious garage. We will show you one or two of them in the very near future, along with some new interiors and other images. As we are having to rebuild the comic (see past blogs about new laws in the EU) we have been occupied with that, primarily. Every image we produce for the website takes us away from repairing the comic, so we ask for continued patience. KJ is also working simultaneously on three new books, as well, so time is precious for both of us.

We want to thank those of you for sending emails of encouragement, and we are committed to completing the comic, so worry not. It shall be done. The format is changing, slightly, to include more text along with the images, to make a stronger story, since we can no longer have some of the content we had intended to include. This means that KJ is writing a fourth book, actually. Some call this sort of comic a 'graphic novel,' but ours will have so many images that this phrase doesn't really cover what we are making. You'll just have to see it, we guess, and then maybe someone can tell us what it is.

We recently had a question asked about our plans for distribution, and we feel confident that we will be able to distribute our work to most of the developed nations of the world, with the possible exception of the UK and some states in des Etats Unis, wherein nudity is considered to be an affront to the common man. They are comic images, but that doesn't seem to matter, to some folks. Our legal beagles are still researching this for us, and we will follow their advice.

We hope everyone is enjoying a great spring and summer is coming, so get the swim suits out and watch out for the sun.

DDM & KJ

We wish everyone a wonderful, safe and sane New Year!

Sorry for the long pause between blogs, but we have been busy with regular life, and KJ needed his annual hospital surprise to keep things interesting. We won't bore you with the details, and will only say that he is happy to be home and looking forward to the healing process. He promises to update the blog with something fun, very soon. Have you stopped by the galleries to see the new work that was posted? Enjoy!

In the meantime, we hope you will be content to view the image above, which was shot from KJ's hospital bed, the morning that he was released from the clutches of his white-uniformed captors.


KJ & DDM

The comparison...

Freunden,

We have received a couple of emails asking if our Aly (aka Alain, Scruffs) was modeled after the young Dutch singer, Tom Klijbroek. So, we looked up the little scamp to see what the fuss was all about, and we were rather surprised to see that the lad did look a little like our Scruffs, or is it the other way around? Anyway, we thought we should clear the air and say that although we feel that Tom is a very talented young man, and great things will be coming his way, our Scruffs is unique, and not modeled after Tom. We would also believe that Tom is in no way modeled after Scruffs, since we created Scruffs a few years after Tom was born and it is doubtful that the universe works that way - although that, too, would be an interesting discussion. So, we give you the talented Master Klijbroek, and we highly recommend that you all take a listen to his music. He's rather good.

KJ & DDM

Summertime...

and the livin' is cool, rainy and what the blazes happened to summer in middle Europe? We've had a few warm days, but it is July, and we are in rainy and cool, which is not seasonal. Ah, yes, global warming - yet it's cool. Hmmmm....

In the midst of several projects, we are working on the rebuild of our comic, after the surprising new laws enacted in Germany, about which we informed everyone in our last blog. It goes to show you that there are no accidents in the universe, and had we printed and offered up our first issue, there might have been a reason for them to spank us...or not. As we mentioned, though, we had created this story with several directions available, so the outline was already in place. Now, we just have to redo a few sections and we'll be back on track.

KJ is still busy with writing and working on two other projects and trying to build the strength back up in his legs. So far, the long walks in the countryside are doing the job. Let's hope improvement continues. If you would like to have a look at KJ's first book, which is now available, stop by his other site - Kristophe.com - and have a look. You'll get a chance to see David Paris' lovely visage on the cover, if you do. You can also keep abreast of his activities (KJ's, not David's) on KJ's MySpace page, as well. Y'all know about Kristophe's MySpace page, of course. Stop by and have a look around, if you like.

DDM has his toy back for the summer, a vintage Peugeot convertible, just in time for the rain. And, he just bought a nifty original side mirror for it, too. Bugger. Let's hope the weather changes before we head back to France in August. One must have sunshine in France, non?

Thank you, one and all, for your notes and emails, and we hope everyone is having a great summer (or winter, for our Aussie friends)!

DDM & KJ

Censorship is alive and well, in Deutschland and the European Union...

Friends,

Many of you have been anticipating the arrival of our first issue of The Boys of St. Precocious Academy, as have we. We have spent many long hours on its creation and we had hoped to have it finished very soon. However, we have just been thrown a rather substantial curve.

Our studio is located in the southern part of Germany, and we anticipated printing the comic in Germany, as well. While we have been busy, the European Union set up new guidelines for pron that encompass the younger years, and parts of it are rather distressing, and a bit over the top. Germany has decided (as of November, 2008) to employ the most Draconian of measures to fall into step with the EU's requirements. Even the members of other EU states have expressed surprise, although the UK is following suit with its own craziness.The German law (and the forthcoming British one) not only disallows any cartoon or drawing of teenaged boys engaged in any sexual activity, they will also disallow any image wherein anyone might ASSUME the character is not over 18 years of age. In other words, the character must be unambiguously viewed as over 18. In the vernacular, this means that Kristie would have to grow a beard.

Manga and Yaoi are no longer legal in Germany, and will not be legal in the European Union, shortly. Although we never intended that our younger characters would engage in such activity, we had assumed - by current European laws - that the older boys could have a bit of fun. This is no longer the case, and the penalties are severe. We cannot imagine how we can make Alain, Kristie, Ethan, Nicky and many others appear to be over 18 to ALL people, and the courts are already arbitrary enough without this kind of freedom to play with people's lives. Did we mention that this is unconstitutional, in Germany? It is, but who has the money to fight this idiocy? Well, there is one guy, and who would guess that it would be Larry Flynt who would come along and sue the German government for this new law? I didn't, and god bless him for doing so. Now, we wait to see what happens, although his suit does not address drawn images.

There is another, equally disturbing aspect to this law which is even more bizarre, and that is the prohibition of any writing which describes the sexual activity of any person under the age of 18, whether real or fictional. (When you get done shaking your head in disbelief, remember to bring your lower jaw back up to meet your upper.) Yes, they have now banned any literature, comic
or printed material of any kind which has any description of such an activity. Hmmmmm...a few biographies just got thrown off the bookshelves in most libraries. We'll put them on the pile of rubble with the pottery, sculpture, paintings and drawings that we just removed from museums in Berlin , Hamburg, Munich and many other cities in Germany. One of KJ's books will also have to be added to this pile, if he tried to print it in Germany or the UK. He won't, of course. Who knew that censorship of this magnitude would ever surface again? This aspect of the new law is also in direct conflict with the German constitution. Freedom of thought and word is a right, here, as it should be anywhere.

To see if this law has affected businesses in Germany, we searched on Amazon.de and other sites, and noticed that books in violation of this new law are still being offered. We have also seen that Manga and Yaoi are still available, as well. This is not surprising, since there was no fanfare about the new law. And, one has to keep in mind that LEA never go after the big boys when they want to set a precendent in law, for it is much easier to squash a mosquito than an eagle. Hence, our desire not to place ourselves in the position of being the mosquito. This is not to say we wouldn't fight such ignorance. It is astonishing that folks have already forgotten the history of seventy years ago, in Europe.

We are currently redesigning the first issue to comply with the new law, and we will keep a watchful eye on the bureaucrats to see how this all develops. In the UK comic artists and illustrators have formed a group and are pushing for a hearing on the upcoming changes. We wish them good luck, and we wonder where the German artists and illustrators are on this, since we haven't heard a peep out of them, yet.

We'll keep you posted.

KJ & DDM

A new year, and an update on our progress...

Friends,

Yes, I (KJ) am back at the studio, although my movements are still a bit restricted. I have faith that things will improve, as time goes on, and I thank everyone for their emails and notes. I will answer all of them, as soon as I can.

Although I have been a bit handicapped, of late, we have been putting the comic together, and what we have so far looks great - in our estimation. Of course, it will be y'all who will make the final determination, but we are still having fun with it, and we think it will work out the way we want, now. There is an incredible amount of detail going into each image, and when one thinks about how there are sometimes more than twelve-twenty images on a comic page, one can get an idea of why this is taking us a bit longer than we had hoped. We have included a portion of one image at the top of this blog, to show everyone how detailed the pics will be, and this is just a pencil image, enhanced in Photoshop, so you will be able to get an idea of what we are doing. Add this visual to our colour images that you have seen and you will now have a clear sense of what our task entails. Yep, it's a bugger, but it's also great fun. We are committed to publishing the completed work, this year, and after seeing the first part put together, we are even more excited about what we are doing, so I think we will be able to keep this commitment we have made to ourselves. We'll keep you posted.


KJ & DDM

We think the image will speak for itself. Wishing you all a very safe and pleasurable New Year!

KJ & DDM

The Boys of St. Precocious Academy wish you all a happy and safe holiday!

KJ & DDM

We apologize for the delay in updating the blog and site, and these are tasks usually performed by KJ (moi), who has just returned from five weeks in hospital. There will be an update about that posted to our MySpace page as soon as KJ (moi) writes it. In a couple of days, we hope.

We have received several inquiries regarding the development of our first issue, and we can say that the comic is moving along. Because we are using a more complex and detailed means of articulating our message and visual ideas, a 30-page item takes a bit longer, and we feel that the quality will be well worth the effort. It should also be noted that most comics are drawn by one person, inked by another and then coloured by yet another. We do not have that process, as we prefer to do our own styling and colouring, which we feel is the best approach. It would appear, from the fan mail, that this is a good thing, and since we are compelled to create that which we see in our minds and hearts, we must do as we think best. Oui? Oui. Oh, and there is that pesky little nuisance called 'life,' which impacts our work efforts on a daily basis. Whatever happened to that time-honoured thing called 'patrons of the arts?'

Speaking of the arts, we have attached a vid for your enjoyment. Some think that opera in anything but Italian or German is like swimming in treacle. We beg to differ. This is an excerpt from Kenneth Branaugh's 'Zauberflöte' (The Magic Flute). Beautifully done, and the harmony is exquisite!


KJ & DDM