TJIC [Member Since: October 17 '07]

I’m one of the founders of HeavyInk.com.

I live in a house with two dogs, a pile of books and comic books, and five lathes (three metal lathes and two wood lathes).

The dogs are a 12 year old male Australian Cattle Dog named Strider, and a 2 year old Corgi / Australian Cattle Dog mix named Ocho.

I was interviewed about HeavyInk over at ComicsReporter.

HeavyInk was profiled in MassHighTech here.

Blurbs

Mander says:

That’s awesome. Zombiedictator and I have thought about getting an ACD. They are awesome dogs too. You know you have an awesome dog when there is a comic written after it. :)

TJIC said:

That’s a cute corgi! I’ve got an Australian Cattle Dog, and a half-ACD / half-Corgi myself.

justin.datared says:

Hey thank,

If you’re in SF this weekend, you can get a sneak peek!

TJIC said:

Dynamite Pilot sounds interestng – I’ve just subscribed!

Agrajag says:

It’s Beartato from http://www.nedroid.com/

TJIC said:

cute avatar – is it from some comic book?

SunToucher says:

I am an Environmental & construction/brushing consultant in the Utility & Oil and Gas Industries. I ensure that when projects are being brushed and constructed that they are done in a manner that is in line with all environmental & construction acts, polices and laws.

TJIC said:

Your blurb says that you get paid to do work that’s similar to reading comic books. What is your job?

Dana says:

I meant Travis! Sorry :P

Dana says:

Hey Trevor,

I was hoping to possibly interview you (preferably over the phone but I could do an e-mail interview as well) about HeavyInk. I’m writing a magazine article for a class at the University of Utah about comic shops vs. their online counter parts. The article is called “In the Comic World, HeavyInk is the New Black”. I love HeavyInk and want to weigh the pros and cons of the online format vs. in store. Your input would help to give the story weight. There is a possibility the story could be published.

I’d need to have the interview finished by Oct. 31. Let me know if you can and if you can’t please point me in the direction of someone who could.

Thanks :)

Dana

Oscar G says:

I’m kind of confused =| I subscribed to the nightwing comic book. Will it charge me automatically and send me the comic book? or will i have to buy each issue buy clicking the buy button.

thanks and sorry

vimian says:

yeah exactly…its called a duck-walk…brutal on the whole body…and I must agree, my arms do look damn sexy in that pic. cheers dude!

TJIC said:

Dude – you’re buff!

What’sthat thing that you’re man-handling? Some sort of T-bar with plates at the end?

Dana says:

I have tried my best to get my friends into comic books. In fact, I even started a group in my city for the book “Drawing Words and Writing Pictures” (if you haven’t already, you should check it out)so a bunch of people can come together and learn how to create comics. However, I’ve come to find that most of my friends are more into drawing comics than reading them. All I can say is that they’re missing out.

daynah says:

Marketing books always strike me as a whole buck or facts about psychology with no data or sources. The Marketers who write the books are so gosh darn good at their jobs that the students believe it unquestioningly and soak it up like a sponge. If you want a real good basis you marketing, get some kind of major/miner combo in Psychology and Business. Or heck, skip the business altogether, since both marketing and psychology is the study of searning about and controling other people’s minds. I wanted so desperately to be a biopsych major… basically controlling minds with drugs..

Alex Sheikman says:

The bowl from your May 27th post is awesome! What is the wood and what sort of finish did you put on it?

Thank you for supporting Robotika!

Dana says:

You have created a great thing. Also, I want a corgi, they are big dogs in small packages.

pat514 says:

Hey, are you guys planning on setting something up for comic-con (the one in San Diego) this year? This is going to be my first one and I’d be psyched to see something from Heavyink at the con!

Comics Monkey says:

Yeps – I’ve been LARPing since before I worked for TVR. I also do things for a LARP con in Boston. Since I’m just THAT much of a geek. _

TJIC said:

You LARP?

nzc says:

You know, I just realized that it would make an awesome forehead tattoo. I’ve got to get drunk, pronto!!!

TJIC said:

Just noticed the new avatar. Ha!

MotherFirefly says:

Thanks! I wish I was cool enough to wear combat boots and a skirt.

TJIC said:

Most excellent avatar! (I love Daria!)

nzc says:

HAW! HAW! HAW! —j. chick, noted theologian

TJIC said:

Just noticed the new avatar. Ha!

daynah says:

He has been rightly chastised.

TJIC said:

Daynah, we are definately going to create T-shirts (including limited edition ones), and because you’ve been such a great customer (blogging, forums, all that good stuff) you were already on the short list to get a freebie in the mail.

Someone (cough) has been a bit tardy in delivering the T-shirt design, so it’s not going to be done in time for your con…but keep checking the <s>skies</s> mailbox!

daynah says:

I will be working at a convention on Memorial Day weekend… and I haven’t decided what to wear yet! The only rule for staff is that we wear… “clothes.” If there were a magical heavyink shirt that existed, I would be very happy to wear it for some of the con (not every day, ew).

Scott Wegener says:

Great interview with The Comics Reporter!

http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/cr_newsmaker_interview_travis_ji_corcoran_of_heavyinkcom/

(Sorry I don’t know how to link properly to that.)

You guys were our Knight in Shining Armor with that whole Atomic Robo/Diamond fuck up.

Thanks again for getting the book out to people!!

daynah says:

I hope you deal with your loss with grace

FrogMan says:

hey there, Gravel has me intrigued but I see it linked to Strange Kiss (and the sequel) on some reviews on the web. I saw you really didn’t like the Kiss books but yet are pulling Gravel. What’s your take on it? Good, not good, interesting? Many thanks in advance.

MattC says:

hey – go check out http://dreamcafe.com/firefly.html, where awesome scifi author Stephen Brust posted, for free, his own novel set in the ‘Verse (set between the end of Firefly and the events of the movie)

Duggan says:

Hello – Thanks for ordering, taking the time to read, and then your very thoughtful review of my new comic – THE INFINITE HORIZON. It makes all the difference when a shop owner or in your case – a site operator gets behind an indie book like ours. Thanks for that. I noticed that you’re sold out – I’m sure that’s do to your kind words. I hope you like the rest of the series – issue 2 and the reprint are out in January. Thanks again, and Happy New Year – congrats on this cool site too – Best, Gerry Duggan

MD says: xkcd is comprised entirely of win. I don't remember how I discovered it ages ago (I mean, the comic was still in the 20s) but I have since performed exacting and rigorous scientific tests on it. We have confirmed a concentration no lower than 94.27% win with a .03% margin of error.
Todd Michael R. says: Thanks!
Todd Michael R. says: Good job on the cover thing..was that you? I justs pent way to much time clicking it...good job.
Todd Michael R. says: Hey, do you have a personal e-mail I can write to?
Todd Michael R. says: When I figure out how and where I'm going to publish it. I'm actually quite proud of the title, I can't wait to get the book done and out there... I'll probably let you guys see it before it's done, because you're all so cool and what not p.s. why are there so many freaking private profiles on here?
Chet says: This. Is. Cool. I suspect I'm about to spend money on comix again.
Todd Michael R. says: Thanks man! wait until you see my NEXT post...
Todd Michael R. says: TJIC, is there a way to search though users?
Dan says: Wow - 544 users! Sweet.
Todd Michael R. says: Gentleman, good job. I'm VERY interested to see how this'll turn out. -mE!
Wes says: You guys and this site has gotten me back into comics and for that I am very grateful. Thank You!
Matt says: Congrats Travis...nice writeup!
Drew says: Congrats on the new venture, and hello from the less-antagonized Horn.
jclemons says: Are you guys going to be offering toys and such, the same that we would find @ a comic shop?
Matt says: That service vs. price comparison is gonna be a key differentiator when it comes to marketing this bad boy. Also, the usability of this website far surpasses anything else I've seen in terms of strict comics retail online--that alone is worth paying for.
Matt says: I would take a rock-like state over a regular fleshy human one, any day.
TJIC says: When I'm very very mellow, I transform into a regular fleshy human, but the rest of the time I hang out in my rock-like state...
Matt says: Do you transform into that rock creature when you're angry, or just whenever?
TJIC says: Ngrvd wrote "I thought you were going to go with a cartoon icon?" Ha ha. :-/ Grrr....
erica says: Just placed my first order! w00t, etc.
nzc says: I thought you were going to go with a cartoon icon?
Comics Monkey says: Wonderful! Love the design. Mazel tov on the birth of a beautiful website! May it have a long and healthy live. L'chiam! ^_^
nzc says: There's still a sloppy joe and some oven fried chips waiting for you here.
Matt says: It looks amazing! Congrats!
TJIC says: Thanks!
nzc says: Nice job, guys.

Mentioned in Hacking Netflix

by TJIC at 12:36 AM on November 03, 2007 00:36
We got a nice mention over at Hacking Netflix

One reader there criticized HeavyInk thusly:
<!-- comment list -->

20% off and free shipping is going to be a tough sell, good luck to them. I buy from dcbservice.com and they offer the majority of stuff at 40% off, with some 50 and 75%. Indy stuff tends to be 25-35% off.

I responded:

DCBS does sell at 40% off.

However,

(a) they lock folks in to pre-ordering three months in advance, and once you're preordered, you can't cancel

(b) they don't sell individual issues

(c) they don't carry or sell back issues

In the post-Amazon, post-Netflix world,
their shipping charges of $6 up to $20 are outrageous.

At DCBS four $3 comics at 40% off, plus $6 in shipping comes to $13.20.

At HeavyInk, the same four comics, with free shipping, are $9.60.

Plus, DCBS doesn't offer anything approaching HeavyInk's "triple your money back" guarantee.

Also, many consumers don't like to have a limited selection, and also don't like to be locked into preordering a substantial fraction of a year in advance.

We did extensive customer surveys while figuring out our website features (recommendations engine, social networking, extensive talent database, blogs, etc.) and pricing model, and have found that there is a very large group of people - not necessarily the most hard-core, price-sensitive fans - who are more interested in the service and price point we provide.

The great thing about a competitive market, though, is that there doesn't have to be just one solution that's right for everyone - the more the merrier!

I was actually struck by the total-price comparison - here's a massively-deep-discounting competitor, blowing away our "puny" 20% discount...and then they slap on outrageous shipping fees!  We're actually the cheaper source.  Surprising!  ... but good!