Rustle the Leaf

Rustle the Leaf is an environmental comic strip that was published from November 2004 through July 2007, and is still available online through various environmental and earth science web sites. At the height of its distribution, the weekly comic was featured on over 70 Sierra Club Chapter and Group web sites, on the home pages of the U.S. and Canada Green Party web sites, on several college and university web sites, and on hundreds of environmental, natural products and science web sites around the world. From February 2005 through February 2007 the strip was the weekly comic feature on the web site for "Orion", a publication called "America's finest environmental magazine" by The Boston Globe.

The strip's characters were created in late 2002 and early 2003 by Dave Ponce, a Central Indiana-based marketing consultant, and were proposed as a comic project to Steve and Melissa Zeitler, founders/owners of Citra-Solv, LLC., a manufacturer of natural, eco-friendly cleaning and personal care products. Ponce provided consulting and creative services to the Zeitlers, and believed their philosophy of sustainable lifestyle practices would resonate with a larger audience if presented in an engaging, humorous, noncommercial, less politically-charged context. In January 2003, the Zeitlers agreed to fund the development of "Rustle the Leaf," and to make it available on their web site at www.citra-solv.com. Although Ponce had knowledge and experience writing environmental articles, and was a devoted follower of the comic strip medium, he did not have the art skills to draw Rustle the Leaf, and tapped friend and digital illustrator Corey Wilkinson to bring the characters to the page.

Development
Early versions of Rustle the Leaf were developed as multi-panel strips that filled an 8.5 x 11 page. The cast of characters included "Rustle," the leaf of a Basswood tree, the title character and its most prominent personality. Rustle's comedic sidekick was "Rooty," an angry, wise-cracking acorn sprout. Also in the cast were 6 other characters: "Dandy" (a persecuted, paranoid Dandelion seed), "Fuego" (a firefly), "Paige" (a water drop), "Dizzy" (a helicoptering Silver Maple seed), "Professor Oakmont" (a sagacious Oak tree), and "Amelia" (an adventurous dragonfly). Wilkinson drew the strips digitally using Adobe Illustrator (vector-based) software. Editorial (character dialog and direction) was provided by Ponce. In this formative stage, the strip was directed toward children, and was therefore too broad and without nuance. It lacked the sharp edge, humor and intellect required to address diverse, complex, often serious environmental issues. Although several monthly strips were published on the Citra-Solv web site, and hundreds were downloaded for use in lesson plans and for other teaching purposes, "Rustle the Leaf" needed a more experienced, more credible creative engine to drive its art and editorial content. By May of 2004, it was clear that Rustle the Leaf was not achieving Ponce's creative vision, nor Steve and Melissa Zeitler's distribution goals, and it was suspended until a more clearly-defined direction could be established.

Six weeks after "Rustle the Leaf" production was suspended, Ponce contacted his friend Dan Wright, a seasoned, nationally-proven comic strip creator, who's strip "Wildwood" was syndicated by King Features from 1998 through 2002. While "Wildwood" was in syndication, critics compared Wright’s comic strip panels--especially his nature scenes--to those of the legendary Walt Kelly. In late June 2004, Wright and Ponce began meeting in Muncie, Indiana several evenings each week to discuss the Rustle the Leaf project, and to develop a new creative direction for the strip.

During these development meetings, Wright's experience creating over 1,500 "Wildwood" strips provided the necessary context for how Rustle the Leaf should be approached. Wright's first priority was to address the "special world" in which the comic strip existed. He was uncomfortable with the mixing of plant and insect life in the cast, and believed the strip would be more successful if the characters were limited to the plant Kingdom--something fairly unique, and which would challenge Ponce and Wright creatively. Over weeks of development and discussion, the strip's cast was paired from 8 characters to 4, and Ponce and Wright began to iron out personality types and relationships among the remaining characters. The new version of "Rustle the Leaf" would include Rustle, Rooty, Dandy and Paige. The characters who would most frequently appear would be Rustle and Rooty. Dandy would appear in about a third of the strips, while Paige appeared only occasionally. Both Wright and Ponce had trouble relating to Paige, a character who's existence was due to a suggestion and sketch made by the Zeitler's pre-teen daughter (of the same name). Ponce (and then Wright) thought it made business sense to include the Paige character, and she appeared from time to time as an intellectual foil for Rustle and a personality foil for Rooty.

Once the cast and their relationships were established, Ponce and Wright began "playing with" their personalities, and Wright began recreating the characters visually. One of the reasons Wright was intrigued by the "Rustle" project was the strangeness of its characters--especially "Rooty," whom Ponce had conceived as an acorn with green "root-feet" appendages, and an oak frond shooting up from under its cap. "I saw that thing and thought: 'Wow--that's just nuts. It's one of the most original comic character ideas I've ever seen.'" Ponce cites a "watershed moment" for his enthusiasm with Wright's creative direction and artistic gifts. In one of his sketch books, Wright had drawn an early version of his interpretation of "Rooty," standing on one root-foot, gesturing with the other as he belted out an eco-conscious version of "Home on the Range." "At that moment," Ponce would later say, "I knew Dan and I were going to take 'Rustle the Leaf' someplace it deserved to go."

In August 2004, Melissa Zeitler met with Ponce and Wright at a Panera Bread location in Muncie, and the creators presented her with new character studies, new character personality profiles, and sample strips. Six days later, Steve and Melissa Zeitler contacted Ponce with the news that they would fund the new version of "Rustle the Leaf," which meant Dan Wright would leave his position at a local ad agency and work on "Rustle the Leaf" full time. Ponce would continue his other employment as a marketing consultant, but would donate 20 hours per week to the co-writing of the strip, research and writing of a monthly "Rustle the Leaf" lesson plan, and to the development and implementation of a new web site to feature the strip.

The Zeitler's formed a new corporation, "GO NATUR'L STUDIOS, LLC." in which they and Ponce owned stock. Following each year of Wright's employment, he would also earn stock in addition to his regular salary and bonuses. On September 1, 2004, GO NATUR'L STUDIOS, LLC. opened a small production studio/office in downtown Anderson, Indiana, on the third floor of the historic Union Building, located at the corner of Meridian and West 11th Street. Ponce drove from his home in Fishers, Indiana to Anderson 3 to 4 times each week, and the pair worked feverishly toward a comic strip and web site launch date of November 1, 2004. The goal was to have a "cushion" of 15 strips written, drawn, inked and colored by the launch date.

Early Success
For the two months during which Ponce and Wright worked to write and produce new strips, Ponce worked on creating a new Rustle the Leaf web site, and on researching, writing and producing monthly lesson plans for distribution from the site. In the evenings, Ponce began contacting hundreds of environmental activists, web sites and organizations--one by one--via email. In early October, one of Ponce's emails was forwarded from the owner of an environmental education web site to Ed Paynter, then the Information and Technology officer with the Sierra Club national organization, who happened to live in nearby Indianapolis. Paynter called Ponce late one evening and asked how he could help get "Rustle the Leaf" to the masses. Paynter, a lifelong environmentalist, also happened to be a lifelong comic strip aficionado, and his enthusiasm and credibility within the greater environmental movement would lead to enormous opportunity. Chief among Paynter's accomplishments on behalf of "Rustle the Leaf" was the facilitating of an agreement between GO NATUR'L STUDIOS, LLC. and the Sierra Club national organization, which allowed all Sierra Club chapter and group web sites, newsletters and publications to use "Rustle the Leaf" comics and editorial content. It was the first agreement of its type between the Sierra Club and a third-party organization that was NOT a nonprofit. Paynter was also instrumental in introducing Ponce, Wright and Rustle to a broader base of environmentally-conscious educational organizations and activists. By the November 1, 2004 launch date, dozens of environmental organizations were already linking to the weekly "Rustle the Leaf" comic feed on their web sites.

One of the priorities for the new "Rustle the Leaf" strip was to get print distribution, something the strip was never able to accomplish on a regular basis. Inquiries were made with traditional comic strip syndication groups and with members of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, with little success. One alternative newspaper, The Boulder Weekly, did carry the weekly strips for most of 2006, but little else emerged in the way of print opportunities. However, one highly respected, critically acclaimed publication, "Orion", had been looking for a comic feature for its web site, and Orion's Associate Editor, Peter Stiglin, contacted Ponce in December of 2004 to inquire about web publication. In February of 2005, Orion and GO NATUR'L STUDIOS reached an agreement through which Orion Online would publish a new Rustle the Leaf strip each week, for which GO NATUR'L STUDIOS would receive payment. Stiglin served as Orion's ongoing contact with Ponce and Wright, and also provided extremely valuable editorial critique and direction for the strip. Ponce said of Stiglin's involvement: "Peter was almost always spot-on with his suggestions for editing content, for--as he called it--'removing the extraneous.' He made 'Rustle the Leaf' a better strip, and challenged Dan and me to be better at what we were doing. If we submitted strips and Peter was enthusiastic, it made our week. If we submitted strips and Peter had insightful suggestions, it made us feel like someone 'had our back.'" Orion Online published "Rustle the Leaf" from March of 2005 until August of 2006, when the Orion editorial staff changed the mission of the web site. Not long after, Peter Stiglin left Orion to join a leading, New York-based book publishing company.

Rustle Becomes Semi-Famous
Within 12 months of the re-launch of "Rustle the Leaf," organizations of every shape, size and political stripe were publishing the strip online, and were contacting Ponce and Wright about getting permission to use the strip in nonprofit newsletters, in educational presentations, in sales meetings and more. In October of 2005, the online environmental publication "Grist" requested to use a "Rustle" strip, and then requested and published additional submissions from Ponce and Wright over the course of several months. In December of 2005, a "Rustle the Leaf" holiday-themed strip was featured in a feature article at treehugger.com, one of the world's most-visited environmental consumer web sites. Visits to the "Rustle" site skyrocketed, and sites from around the globe began linking to "Rustle" content. In January, Ponce and Wright began producing the "Leave It Green Podcast," which featured fairly high production and editorial values, humorous banter between Ponce and Wright, and an interview with some leader or contributor to environmental causes or efforts. By March of 2006, the "Leave It Green Podcast" was named "One of the World's 10 Best Environmental Podcasts" by treehugger.com. Monthly "Rustle the Leaf" web site hits grew into the hundreds of thousands; the highest month--March of 2006--topped 750,000 hits. In the Spring of 2006, the Zeitlers funded production of 150,000 copies of "Rustle the Leaf's Earth Day Book," a 16-page educational book with comics, puzzles and games, aimed at elementary and middle school students. From their Connecticut offices, the Zeitlers distributed the books free of charge to educational and environmental organizations in the U.S. and Canada. Because news of the publication spread via the worldwide web, requests for the copies of the book came in from organizations and nations around the world--including requests from the National Army of Pakistan, the Canadian government, a leading luxury hotel chain based in Indonesia, NASA's Langley Research Center, and an EPA regional office, which asked to be supplied with books anonymously for fear of reprisals from the Bush Administration. Sites linking to "Rustle the Leaf" weekly comics and monthly lesson plans continued to grow, but none of the distribution, notoriety or accolades for the strip was translating into capital to keep the venture going. The hope was that, with 150,000 Earth Day Books in the hands (and homes) of children, parents educators and government officials, "Rustle the Leaf" would see a significant boost in web site traffic and public notoriety following Earth Day 2006. Unfortunately, it was not to be, and the "Leave it Green Podcast" was discontinued in April 2006.

Economic Realities Close the Book on "Rustle"
Much to the surprise (and chagrin) of the Zeitlers, Ponce and Wright, it became clear that--despite all the enthusiasm and acceptance for "Rustle the Leaf" among tens of thousands of readers worldwide--there was little opportunity for the strip to become self-supporting. The Zeitlers were enormously patient and generous in supporting Wright and (for a four months in 2006) also supporting Ponce, but all efforts to find additional sponsors, or a meaningful revenue stream, fell short. From the time the Zeitlers agreed to fund the original version of "Rustle" through the discontinuation of the strip in June of 2007, the Zeitlers invested over $200,000 of their own money on the project. Thousands of phone calls, emails and other inquiries were made on "Rustle's" behalf; none of them ever generated a credible revenue stream.

One revenue possibility that was explored (and also funded by the Zeitlers) was the addition of one of the world's leading comic strip licensing experts, Bruce Cantrell, who was the head of licensing for Paws, Incorporated--the corporate entity behind Jim Davis and his record-breaking comic strip and multimedia phenomenon "Garfield." Davis (who had a place in his heart for two comic strip creators who were also from Central Indiana), knew Wright from his "Wildwood" strip, and knew Ponce from a prior "Garfield" licensing deal with one of Ponce's clients. Cantrell approached Davis with the idea of providing guidance and lead generation for licensing "Rustle" intellectual properties, and Davis agreed to let Cantrell "moonlight" for a few hours each month on behalf of the strip. Despite Cantrell's gracious guidance and tireless efforts, no real licensing opportunities ever emerged, and Cantrell's participation ceased after 6 months.

In May 2006, Steve Zeitler had to make what was undoubtedly one of the most difficult phone calls of his life, and informed Ponce that he and Melissa would not be able to continue fully funding "Rustle the Leaf." Wright's funding was partially continued, and Ponce worked with Wright through the end of 2006 to create new strips and to try to find additional revenue or sponsorship. By April 2007, with no real prospects on the horizon, the Zeitlers were unable to continue any funding, and Wright officially stopped working on "Rustle the Leaf" in May of 2007. For a few weeks following, Ponce posted some previously unpublished strips on the site, but all new material stopped in July 2007.

What Remains
Despite cessation of new production, the "Rustle the Leaf" web site still generates thousands of hits and visits each month. A comic viewer still functions, and visitors can read all strips published between November 2004 and July 2007. All lesson plans are still available for download, as is the digital version of "Rustle the Leaf's Earth Day Book." Despite the ups and downs, Ponce and Wright remain friends, and still believe that "Rustle" was a viable creative and business opportunity, but one that was a victim of bad timing. "We launched the new 'Rustle' site the day before the 2004 presidential election," said Ponce. "Following that controversial election--and the fact that there would not be an 'eco-friendly' shift in national policy or a new occupant of the White House--we had to struggle to find support. A year later, only days before we attended the first ever 'Sierra Summit' in San Francisco, Hurricane Katrina ripped the Gulf Coast apart, and environmental organizations of all types lost donations as Americans redirected their giving to rescue and recovery organizations. Everyone who was committed to environmental causes was financially strapped. In 2004-2005, our president still was not acknowledging the existence of Global Warming. There was no 'Inconvenient Truth' to start grass-roots dialogue. By the time that film came along, we [Rustle] were running on fumes economically. I think the whole thing was a matter of timing. It certainly wasn't a lack of investment on behalf of the Zeitlers, nor a lack of talent on behalf of Dan Wright. From every credible forum and authority, "Rustle the Leaf" was considered to be a funny, intelligent, beautifully-drawn comic strip. One of California's leading environmental education groups called it 'the Green Calvin and Hobbes.' For us, that was the highest possible praise. For a few exciting, roller-coaster months, Dan and I had the opportunity to do something we loved, and we were fortunate enough to create several thousand fans along the way. Other than the big hole left in Steve and Melissa Zeitler's bank account, I wouldn't change a thing. And I believe their ongoing connection to "Rustle" [through Citra-Solv] has provided both direct and indirect economic benefit for them--and will continue to do so into the future."