Creator Spotlight: Michael Corley
This week’s Spotlight Interview is with Michael Corley, creator of Vox in a Box, and a fairly active voice in a couple of webcomic creator Facebook groups I’m a part of. Remember that if you’d like to interviewed, all you have to do is ask 🙂
D: Michael, tell us a little about yourself.
M: As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a voice actor.
Wait, no, that’s a lie, it was my junior year in high school. But since THEN I’ve wanted to be a voice actor. And I am one! But like all actors I’m always looking for more work. So in 2008 I had the bright idea to make a comic for my voice acting site to help bring new potential clients that way.
I originally made Vox in a Box (putting the “voice” in comics… get it? eh? eh?) on Bitstrips, but slowly the comic grew from gags about being a voice actor into a story with monsters, magic and general mayhem.
By 2010 I had garnered such a following (to date my strip has had over 350,000 views on bitstrips) that I wanted to make it my own thing. Over six months I taught myself to draw and started publishing Vox in a Box as a hand-drawn comic in October of 2010. Since then I’ve begun hand lettering and added color, all to help tell the tale of Michael Vox, a young man with the soul of a girl trapped inside him. Both are trying to deal with romance and the supernatural, often at the same time.
And that’s the story of Vox in Box!
If you’d like to know more about me in addition to being a cartoonist I am a professional storyteller, voice actor, podcaster and magician. You can see my magician site at michaelcorley.com.
I also have a weekly podcast with several thousands of listeners also called “Vox in a Box”. It’s telling the story of the X-Men, one comic at a time. You can give it a listen here.
D: Before I get on to some other questions, tell me a bit more about Vox in a Box.
M: Vox in a Box is the story of a choice.
Eighteen years ago Michael Vox was born with a deadly disease. With days to live his father made that terrible choice. He bound the soul of an unborn girl to Michael, saving his life. But all magic has a price. When Michael reached manhood both souls were to be sacrificed!
Now Michael has turned 18. The soul inside him has awakened and all supernatural creature want the soul for their own!
Vox in a Box is also a romance comic. Chase, the Shaman with the body of a model and the soul of a hipster dates a shape-changing faerie with a love of the 40’s. Malcolm, the aspiring wizard is in a long relationship with Gen, the hyper-intelligent librarian with a penchant for solving crimes. And Archer, the two-timing filmmaker who is so awful to women one went so far to curse his fedora, forcing him to wear a rather graphic talisman to keep him from a gruesome death! And of course there is Michael Vox, who is beyond awkward with women, despite having a girl’s soul inside him. And that soul, Aura, has the deepest crush on a biker named Tony, who is both dangerous and handsome.
But most of all, Vox in a Box is a supernatural action adventure! Each storyline is a tale of a new dark foe from the beyond that Michael and crew must defeat. Two faced vampires, demons with poisoned breasts, Medusa and monstrous lizard men are just some of the creatures they face.
If you like romance, humor and the supernatural, then give Vox in a Box a try! It’s at VoxBoxComics.Com.
D: How does one become a voice actor? Can I find you on IMDB?
M: I am indeed listed on IMDB, though not for my voice work. Like most voice actors I also do “normal” acting. IMDB only lists large release projects. I played the Secretary of Abraham Lincoln.
D: I’ve never heard of Bitstrips before. Are your comics there still available for viewing?
M: Bitstrips is a site designed for making comics if you can’t draw. Which up until 2010 I couldn’t. About a year ago they started making it avaialable for Facebook, which really helped them but unfortunately made it difficult to just make regular comics. You can still read my original Vox in a Box here. I also did a movie based comic, Two Movie Guys, which ran for years with over a thousand strips.
D: What, you’re a magician?! Can you do a trick right now?
M: Yes, I am a magician. 🙂 I can do any number of tricks, but it would help your believability of me if you could see me do it!
D: What is your favorite trick/experience working as a magician?
M: My favorite trick currently in magic is levitation. I like to close my shows with different kinds of levitation, from making a ghost float to making a ring spin and fly through the air.
D: You’ve obviously created a very unique persona for yourself that expands well beyond Vox in a Box. Do you feel that that is important for a creator? How/what would you recommend that other creators do to build the same sort of persona?
M: I think that creating a persona for yourself is incredibly important. YOU are intimately your brand. Think of any comic you follow, how much do you associate the creator with the strip? To others thinking about creating their personal, think about the kind of reader your persona will attract. My persona is that of a hard working fellow who dives into multiple projects and loves comics, nerdy subjects and bats (my comic features a talking bat named Clive). Because of this people seek me out to share nerdy things, cute bat pictures and stories about the X-Men. I know it sounds corny, but you reap what you sow!
D: What have been some of your most successful self-marketing tricks?
M: I have SO many marketing tricks, as I’ve worked in marketing for many years, but let me share this one: Many artists do graphic design and freelance work. Want to get more business TODAY for FREE? List yourself on Yelp! Why? Because Yelp is how Siri on Iphones locates businesses. Just by making sure Yelp has your info anytime someone searches for “graphic designer” or “freelance artist” ect. on their iphone, you’ll have a much better chance at coming up first!
D: If you had to pick, which of your creative endeavors have been the most fulfilling? Any good stories you’d like to share?
M: For me storytelling is my one true love. All my other projects are outflows of telling stories. I’d be happy to share a story, but they loose a great deal when they’re just text. If you ever want to hear the best scary stories around, just let me know!
D: Any pearls of wisdom you’d like to share, for creators of comics or otherwise?
M: For comic creators my best advice is to think where you’d like to be (do you want to be a full time artist? Do you want to go to conventions? Do you want to just sell digitally?) and work your way backwards. If you’re going to go to conventions then you’re going to need physical products to sell. Make plans to be as successful as you want to be!
D: Mike, this was awesome. Thank you so much for sharing.
M: I hope it was helpful, Dan. If you’d like to give a special treat to your readers, if any of them e-mail me at mrcorley (at) gmail (dot) com telling me they heard about this from your site, I’ll make them a hand-drawn and colored caricature for free!
Remember, you can contact Michael in a variety of ways.