Story by Mohammad Mondal & Vonnie Maddox

Vincent Tijms earns our respect for being a great guy and showing support for Xero Error. Vincent, the owner of Exclamation Comics, an online comic store in the Netherlands helped out with ‘The Art of Xero Error Competition’. He distributed our flyers through his store mail outs and also handed them out to his customers at a local book fair.

We had the opportunity to have a one-on-one with him:

How did you find out about Xero Error?

I might be constructing this retrospectively, but I think I first noticed Xero Error during the Facebook Comic Con, in which our store participated. Ashraf had put up a description of the project and was running the art competition at the time.

What made you want to get involved?

The contest was a design competition and I knew quite a few of our customers had impressive DeviantArt pages and might be interested in participating. It seemed like a good idea to send out news about the competition to our customers, both as a service to them and to support the Xero Error project.

What do you like about Xero Error?

From what I can tell, Xero Error is an example of a ‘let’s-see-if-we-can-pull-this-off’ enterprise. I admire the courage and the belief that are necessary to do things like that. Besides that, Xero Error is really open to working together with people from across the globe: the competition I mentioned, for example, was open to all world citizens. These, I think, are wonderful aspects of globalization and I think it’s great Xero Error adds to that.

What do you do(work or business)?

I am 50% of the owners at Exclamation Comics, an online comic book retailer from the Netherlands. We supply U.S. comic books through the E.U. (and occassionally beyond). It was through this background that I came into contact with Ashraf Ghori.

How have you helped?

I sent out flyers advertising the art competition among the comic packages Exclamation Comics sent out, and handed them out when we were present at book markets. The competition and the Xero Error project were also mentioned in our newsletter.

What was the response you got?

Ashraf reponded positively to my initial offer to spread flyers through Exclamation Comics. Recently, I managed to get him involved as a jury member in a character design contest hosted by us. I hope we will be able to keep up this reciprocal helping out!

What was the outcome?

To be honest, I have no idea whether any of our customers actually entered the contest. I am pretty sure it did generate attention for the Xero Error project among our customer base, though.

What do you think about the way people are coming together from all over the world to volunteer for project Xero Error?

I think it’s magnificent. All too often art is viewed as merely a product, put out there for consumption. I think the approach Xero Error has chosen shows that the creation process itself – whether you’re doing design, production, promotion or anything else involved in getting the film out – is what brings people together. In a time in which divisions are once again emphasized, it is good to see people from across the globe work on shared passions.

Do you have a message for us or the fans?

I admire the passion with which so many people have come together to make this film a reality. Once it is, let’s find a new project to work on together!

Vincent wrote :

“Somewhere between protecting our books from gusts of wind and trying to keep my two-year old niece in close range of me and at a distance from the more expensive merchandise, I managed to get a *few* snapshots with my phone. Two customers with the Xero Error flyers can be seen, at the Wijk aan Zee book market. “