Dave Sim was right about my work. I DO need to shorten my page quota....

I always used to think of the page counts of my books in terms of "400", "600", "2,000", and "6,000" "pages" Those were idealized estimates, incredibly unrealistic in light of my actual work rate and achievements in terms of page output. I'm actually slow as hell. And you're never going to make it to 6,000 pages of original comics if you're just getting started at the age of 29 and your work rate is slow as hell, as mine is. Dave Sim sent me a little wake up call, as I trust his judgement, seeing as he's one of the biggest names in indie comics and a long time personal hero of mine. But I got so caught up in analyzing other creator's work rate, it blinded me from accurately judging my own capabilities. 10, 20, and 30 pages at a time is all I need. Though I am a huge fan of longer literature in all it's shapes and sizes, and thicker printings of books and comics like Akira and Cerebus and DBZ, I've come to realize if I focus on a handful of pages at a time and shorter form literature, 5-20 pg. one-shots and whatnot, I'm infinitely more powerful that way, as both an creator and an artist. 

Also, one thing I've learned from Dave Sim's letter and his decades of experience in professional comics is that, yes, there is an genuine age range of success, a time period in a young comics artist's life when he achieves his highest level of success and peaks. Most of the biggest names in comics peak between the ages of 20 all the way up to 40s. When you get into your 40s, you start to lose the energy of youth you had between the ages of 20 and 40, so says Dave Sim. So yes, being young IS an asset every comic book creator needs to value, especially those who are approaching their 20s and 30s, which is one of the most important times in any underground comic book creator or manga creator's comics career (and) life if they're going to be successful commercially and artistically.

-JM