Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Bret Juliano. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Bret, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you’ve thought about whether to sign with an agent or manager?
In 2012, when I started my comic career and worked on my debut project, the Dust Bunny Mafia, a newspaper-style comic like Looney Tunes meets The Godfather, traditional newspapers were a dying breed. Ever since I was young, I knew I wanted to write stories and draw cartoons. Still, it wasn’t until after I graduated college and started working that I began to dive deep into pursuing comics as a hobby and a side business. It’s been over ten years since I first published the original Dust Bunny Mafia comic strips, and the brand is stronger than ever. I am an independent creator who utilizes the power of Kickstarter to crowdfund new projects. Then, I sell my creations at local arts and crafts shows, literary festivals, and author events, mainly in and around the Chicagoland area. Through my self-published work, the Dust Bunny Mafia comics have been shared coast to coast across the United States and have fans worldwide, including England, Germany, Australia, and the Czech Republic.
Bret, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Bret Juliano, an amateur true crime historian and creator of the Dust Bunny Mafia comic. Ever since I was young, I was always doodling and telling stories. From a young age, I wanted to be an animator and had drawings everywhere, from the margins of my notebooks in school to the piles of sketchbooks and notebooks around the house. When I started creating the Dust Bunny Mafia comic, I intended to find a new way to unleash the creative energy I had built up while working my nine-to-five-day job. The criminal mind has always fascinated me, and when I graduated college and started working full-time, I realized that with the power of the internet, nothing stopped me from creating a comic and telling the stories I wanted to. The Dust Bunny Mafia harkens back to the “old days” of rival mafia families fighting over their piece of the profits with their slick hats, fancy cars, and an arsenal of weapons at their disposal.
When I relocated to Chicago in 2016, the Dust Bunny Mafia comic had over 300 strips in its archive, and my interest in true crime skyrocketed as I started researching the town I began to recently call home, Oak Park, Illinois, where infamous mobsters like Al Capone once walked. Notable gangsters, including Al Capone and his associates, recognized the strategic advantage of these suburbs as they could establish speakeasies, gambling dens, and other illegal operations away from the intense scrutiny of city authorities. With a vivid history like this, I started making comics that retold mobster stories with my unique spin and then gave a small blurb of information based on real-life crime stories. I have produced five mini comic collections containing over a hundred comics for this “Based on a True Story” series. With these Based on a True Story series, I am actively looking for fun and unique stories that are often not mainstream information and will go into full journalist mode to ensure that I get the facts and story straight for my True Story-inspired comics.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
The best thing society can do to support artists and creatives is to support them, both online and at in-person events. Digitally, it’s so easy to help an artist/creative extend their reach without spending any money: liking their photos costs nothing; commenting gives them motivation; sharing introduces their pages to others; and saving posts helps with engagement. The same principles apply to online event posts; even if you’re not going to an event, simply marking an interest in it (or sharing it) can help extend the reach of that event far beyond the reach of the individual artist.
For in-person events, take their business cards and buy their products, whether a $2 sticker or a $20 book. Even the smallest sale can make a creatives’ day. When it comes to holidays, shop early and shop small. Yeah, you can get almost everything under the sun at Amazon. Still, so much good art, music, and movies are being constantly created by independent artists who would appreciate your money way more than Amazon does. And if you buy something and realize it’s not for you, re-gift it. No harm, no foul.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being a creator is fan engagement, whether through money, such as someone purchasing my comics at a show, backing a Kickstarter project, or simply engaging with me conversationally based on my art. With my Dust Bunny Mafia – Based on a True Story series, I wanted to bring light to a world of real people and real stories that are stranger than fiction, which often happened in places near where I was selling my products. History can be much more interesting than what is usually taught or experienced in school. The Dust Bunny Mafia has given me a chance to tell stories and give people a break from the pressures of life. I hope to do that for a long time, whether in my comics, novels, playing cards, or simply through other mediums I’ve only dipped my toes into, like t-shirts and art prints.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/bretjuliano
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dustbunnymahfia
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DustBunnyMafia/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bretjuliano/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/dustbunnymafia