Rustle The Leaf - Early Success

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 Chair of the national Sierra Club's volunteer Information and Technology Committee, 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 2004 to inquire about web publication. In February 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 2005 until August 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.