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Sparky Greene, a writer and film producer from Malibu, has created a fantasy universe with his new graphic novel, "Age of Insects: Not Human."
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Jason Redmond / Star staff "The Age of Insects: Not Human" graphic novel author Sparky Greene shows one of his hissing cockroaches at his office in Ventura on Thursday. The first story consists of six installments, the first of which was released Feb. 27. The next will come out in May.

Courtesy of Critical Mass Media Group "The Age of Insects: Not Human" is set in a fantasy universe created by Critical Mass Media Group in Ventura.

Spider-Man is nearly 50. Batman is almost 70.

The beloved superheroes might be aging, but they've still got it — commanding an enthusiastic audience at the movie box office and in comic book shops.

But Sparky Greene, a writer and film producer from Malibu, wants a piece of that market. He and a small group of designers and artists have created a fantasy universe with a new graphic novel, "The Age of Insects: Not Human," with characters they say are more appealing in some ways than the old heroic archetypes.

Greene launched a publishing company, Critical Mass Media Group, to produce a series of books out of a recently opened office in Ventura.

He described a graphic novel as a cross between a comic book and an illustrated novel. Unlike a comic book, it does not contain advertising.

Though some might view these differences as perks, the fact that "The Age of Insects" is not a traditional comic book makes it a tough sell, said Ralph Holt, owner of Ralph's Comic Corner in Ventura.

And most fans stick to what they know.

"If you don't have Spider-Man slapped on the cover, it's a hard sale," Holt said.

At the same time, the market is flooded — Holt estimates 600 or 700 comic books are published every month — and it's difficult to get a foothold and stand out, Holt said.

"The Age of Insects" is certainly trying. Its creators say the book is different because it contains "ephemera" pages that add color. For example, a page with newspaper articles depicts an event that happened in the story.

A 57-page book, the first of six installments, was distributed in February. The plan is to release subsequent chapters every three months. The last part of the first volume is due out by mid-2009. All six sections will be bound together as a trade publication. Greene hopes they will be available at stores such as Barnes & Noble and Costco.

Book One is now on sale for $5.99 at Amazon and some comic book shops, including Ralph's Comic Corner in Ventura. A note on the back cover cautions: "Suggested for mature readers." Nearly 3,000 copies have been sold to date.

A complex plot

The hero, Flynn Morgan, is a conflicted entomologist struggling to get his doctorate, who believes evolutionary change is happening, but he can't seem to prove it.

The story is about the rise of another species humanoid that challenges humans, and about a hybrid, caught between the world of man and the world of hybrids, Greene said.

The hybrid is a genetic combination of homo sapiens and classes of insects that look more human than insect and live among humans, he said.

"He (Morgan) has inner turmoil," said Jillian Palethorpe, designer for the book and Greene's wife. "He fights his demons, so he is like most of us. We may not be fighting another humanoid species, but everyday, we fight our own natures to go forward. So I think that resonates."

Greene doesn't want to spoil the story, so he's more than a little secretive when asked about plot and characters. But he does reveal they are attempting a big, Greek tragedy.

"At the heart of it, this is a story about what separates man from beast," Greene said. "What is the essence of life, what are the things that drive us to survive and evolve?"

Greene hopes the book will lead to other book volumes, as well as video games and motion pictures.

"This is really not just about publishing," Greene said. "If it were just about publishing, it might be too hard a business."

In today's multiplatform world, Greene knows he has to offer more than just books to appeal to the mainstream.

Holt agrees because comic book readers are aging and dying off. Rather than reading books or comic books, young people are seeking entertainment through video games and on the Internet, Holt said.

"You have to find some way to get into people's faces," he said.

If a video game for "The Age of Insects" becomes popular, more people would buy the books, Holt said.

"Content is like ice cream," said Louis Pieper, artist for "The Age of Insects." "It's a matter of what flavor you're having at that given moment."

Even Marvel Comics, once a publishing company, has rebranded itself as an intellectual property company that happens to also publish comic books, Greene said.

Greene's company is planting seeds for bigger things, but right now it's about the story and building a fan base.

The same underlying principles of the classics are present in "The Age of Insects" — the fundamentals of good characters, solid storytelling and interesting circumstances, Pieper said.

Overcoming obstacles

Talk about survival — odds were against "The Age of Insects" from the beginning. The highly competitive comic book business is dominated by one distributor, Maryland-based Diamond Comic Distributors Inc. That means if you don't have a distribution with them, you're out of the business, said Greene: "You can just forget it."

There are hundreds of comic book creators trying to get published every month and break into Diamond's comic book market, said Holt, adding that Diamond weeds through a "morass of stuff."

Greene's idea was rejected four times by Diamond before the company accepted the book in October. Palethorpe thinks that the company's strong presence at Comic-Con in San Diego in July is what grabbed Diamond's attention. At their booth, they had a young woman, dubbed "Insect Girl," who was decked out in a see-through dress with live, hissing cockroaches inside the lining.

Photos by Jason Redmond / Star staff Designer Jillian Palethorpe, her husband and author, Sparky Greene, and artist Louis Pieper produce "The Age of Insects: Not Human."

Jenny Christopher, purchasing brand manager for comics at Diamond, said she was impressed with the extensive marketing plan Greene put together.

"Sparky has this incredible enthusiasm," she said.

Based on a critique of the work's writing, artwork and story line, Diamond decided it would be beneficial to expose the book to a wider audience, Christopher said.

"Unless you can get a reputation built up somehow, it's really tough," Holt said. "At least 80 percent of new titles fail."

That's partly because many comic book stores don't bother to stock merchandise that is not Marvel or DC, Holt said. And a tough market is growing even more grim, he said, because people have less money to spend on comic books as gas and groceries cost more.

Media companies Marvel Comics and DC Comics control about 93 percent of the market. The rest are smaller "companies like us," Greene said, referring to Critical Mass Media Group.

"Ultimately, this will only be a viable business as a publishing business when we have more than one title," Greene said.

Critical Mass is working on another book related to the "The Age of Insects," told by the novel's antagonist — the military.

Greene is hesitant to release the company's projected annual revenue, saying it's miniscule. He expects to gross less than $1 million this year.

"For the first few years, it's not about making money," Greene said. "This is not like the route to riches at this point."

On the Net:

http://www.ageofinsects.com