Speaking of which you’ve recently been added to ComiXology‘s site and iOS app, tell us how that came about and what did you make of the new ComiXology Submit function?

TG: Lets just say someone who had some pull and some contacts helped make that connection, and once ComiXology saw it they were happy to help out and get on board.

I think the Submit programme is fantastic. They’re not opening it up 100% like Amazon, but they’re keeping an eye on the quality of what gets though. But they have been really easy to deal with, and really supportive of the project.

I think people get distracted by the technology of digital comics in terms of storytelling (the way I can effect the consumption of the story using changing panels, or by adding panels), but I think the most important innovation is the uninspiring idea of global digital distribution. It now takes as much effort to get your digital comic into the biggest digital comics sales platform in the world as it does into your local bookstore.

Why have you made the decision to name each chapter as a ‘season’? Is this just a reflection of how you released it as a web comic and it is now collated? Or did you make a conscious decision to give it a kind of TV/event feel?

TG: Having some demarcation in the story helps me a lot as a creator, it allows me to focus and keeps me disciplined in terms of ‘what needs to happen.’ I am also scared at how webcomics, in particular, tend to expand endlessly like a George RR Martin series. It’s a way of attempting to control what is called ‘feature creep’ in the games industry – just adding more and more stuff until the original conception is buried under detail.

And yes, there is also something to be said for the marketability of a ‘end of season finale’ or a ‘season launch’ that soap operas or webcomics can’t make use of.

Any idea how many seasons you think the story will run for and will each season feature different characters and events or will season 2 still feature Governor McCaw and co?

TG: My current run is planned for four seasons (or 8 issues on ComiXology). I expect to be able to completely destroy some character’s ambitions while rising others up by the end of this arc. It ends big, in the way that you can when future seasons are up in the air. Much like a TV show, getting more Moth City beyond that point is up to the audience response. When creators are able to produce work sustainably (ie they are able to receive enough support for their projects to produce more of them) then we are in a good place. At the moment me working full-time on Moth City is far from sustainable beyond those first four seasons.

Season two expands some characters that we’ve meet in passing, introduces Moth City‘s communist underbelly and delves further into the psyche of Governor McCaw. It has a great mid-season twist and like Season One, it has a killer ending 🙂

You’ve worked with web comics and now digital comics, so what do you think are the pros and cons of the digital comics revolution for a writer/artist like yourself? Does it help you reach a global audience like never before?

TG: If you’re willing to do the work, yes. Otherwise you’re just another little stall in the endless mall of the Internet. Except you get no walk-in traffic. So you *can* reach a global audience, but you won’t unless you work hard at it.

Are you an iPad user yourself, and if so what books do you read and recommend?

‘Valentine’ by Alex de Capi and Christine Larsen is a great digital read and is free to download, ‘Red Light Properties’ by Dan Goldman is also an interesting look at the form and ‘The Eight Seal’ by James Tyrion IV, Jeremy Rock and Nolan Woodward has some great explorations of horror and suspense.

What’s next for the world of Moth City and also for you personally as a writer/artist – what can we see from you next? Will we see Moth City in print or other formats for example?

TG: Moth City is now being serialised on Mark Waid’s digital comics site, Thrillbent.com as well as mothcity.com which is exciting. I’m hoping it will introduce the story to a whole bunch of new readers and allow me to reach out to more creators about future projects.

I would love to do a print run for Moth City one day. It collects into a very tidy Graphic Novel package, and I create ‘print friendly’ versions of all the pages as I go.

Meantime I have a lot more attention that I need to pay Moth City and the fans I’ve collected so far, but yes, the future is bright 🙂

For more informtion on all thing Moth City and for regular new episodes visit mothcity.com and follow Tim on Twitter @tim__gibson. You can also purchase Season 1 part 1 from the ComiXology app for £0.69/$0.69 and part 2 for the bargain price of £1.49/$1.99