Sorry, sorry. Mood's been in the toilet the last...30 years or so, and I'm trying cut back on the public moaning about how awful life is. It's unseemly (even if it is accurate).
So, not a lot of posting coming from me lately, and honestly, I don't see a whole lot more in the immediate future. But here's one bad thing I can whine about because I'm not doing it on my own behalf, and some good stuff that's going on.
First, the crappy thing. You may recall a year or two back I and Nick Johnson joining the online comics collective The Chemistry Set, where we released THE HOLIDAY MEN in THE MASSACRE MEMORIAL DAY SALE MASSACRE. There was a lot of good comics material on the Set, much of it unfinished for a variety of reasons, many relating to creators needing to do something other than a non-paying online comic to eat. Many, but not all.
For isntance, my favourite strip (other than the one I co-created, obviously), FCHS by Vito Delsante and Rachel Freire, stopped its ChemSet run after finding a print publisher.
FCHS, frequently pitched as "Riverdale, 90210", was a story about a group of teenagers in high school. Not the sort of subject matter that particularly appeals to my sensibilities, but Vito's writing did manage to hook me--the situations and characters rang true for me, something that's probably related to the story being at least semi-autobiographical.
But for me, FCHS's real draw was Rachel Freire's pared-down, cartoony artwork. Her FCHS work read to me like a cross between Dan DeCarlo and early Paul Grist. I loved it. My biggest gripe with FCHS's initial release on the ChemSet was that the creators had elected to work in a rigid three-panel strip format. I didn't mind the strip idea--in fact, I think it was great--but three panels every few days, well, I just wanted more.
Then Adhouse came along and agreed to publish an FCHS book. Vito and Rachel pulled FCHS from the Set and started retooling for print publication (losing the three panel tier along the way, which I still think is a shame.)
It was heartening to see Adhouse really get behind the book. In addition to Vito working relentlessly to let the online community know about the project, Adhouse released an FCHS teaser issue for Free Comic Book Day. I don't know the details of what went on behind the scenes, but as far as I can tell, a lot of people put a lot of effort into marketing a book I was looking forward to finally being able to read in full.
It's recently come out that Adhouse didn't get enough preorders and FCHS has been canceled. And that sucks.
I'm hoping Vito and Rachel come back and manage to find a new home for the project, either a new publisher or online. Not for them, but for me. As always, I want more FCHS, damn it.
***
GOOD STUFF
Happy Harbor Comics continued to earn its 2007 Outstanding Retailer Shuster Award this past weekend by raising in excess of $2700 for Alberta Literacy via a 24 Hour Comic event. HH is kicking in 10 cents for every dollar raised, which puts the total the charity will receive at over 3 grand.
That was last weekend. This weekend sees the launch of the Gilbert Bouchard Memorial Art Show: Visions of Comics. An exhibit of works by local artists, the show celebrates the creators, icons and history of the comics medium. The opening, at 7:00PM Saturday night, will have...cheese or something, and it will have me. I got my crummy sketches I did of Will Eisner in San Diego that I also got Will Eisner to sign shortly after the panel I drew them in framed. There is a reasonably entertaining story to go along with the piece--longtime readers of this blog (provided this blog is LiveJournal) might remember me relating it, but if you don't, or you want to hear the live version, or you just want to support the community and remember Gilbert, you should come down to Happy Harbor Volume One Saturday night.
Finally, thanks to Diamond electing not to release new comics on the Wednesday between Christmas and New Years this year, the Harbor's declared that Local Creators week. For those seven days, the New This Week shelves will feature comics almost exclusively by local creators. I believe Jay's talking to people about doing signings too. I wonder if I could talk Fiona and Nick into coming up...
***
SPEAKING OF FIONA...
...This used to be the weirdest interview with her ever, but apparently who- or whatever replaced words in her answers with more Lovecraftian language ("comic" became "jocose") has undone what they did. Still a nice interview, but I kind of miss the sensation I got when I first read it that I'd either fallen into a David Lynch film or suffered a massive stroke.
***
ALSO...
There's talk of someone doing a movie of Chris Carter's MILLENNIUM, with original series star Lance Henriksen reprising his role as profiler Frank Black. Sounds like Carter might not be involved, but then, I don't know how involved he was in the second season of the show (my favourite), either.
Millennium had two of the absolute best season-ending images ever, the super-bleak "We probably won't be back for a third season" S2 finale, and the final image of season 3.
Now all we need is for David Lynch to return to Twin Peaks and I can die of geek nostalgia-induced bliss.
A
Showing posts with label linkblog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label linkblog. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Un-F*#&ing-Believable.
(EDIT TO UPDATE: Apparently, the story linked to below was from 1970. Why it's on Time's website now, I've no idea, but I'm glad to discover the world's not as completely bats#!& insane as I thought it was a few minutes ago.)
There are times when comedy and satire are unable to keep pace with reality and just break down. Take, for instance, this story about a New Jersey judge denying a couple with "high moral and ethical standards" the right to adopt because they don't believe in a Supreme Being.
I happen to believe in a supreme being (I married her), but even if I didn't, I mean, Jesus Christ...
A
There are times when comedy and satire are unable to keep pace with reality and just break down. Take, for instance, this story about a New Jersey judge denying a couple with "high moral and ethical standards" the right to adopt because they don't believe in a Supreme Being.
I happen to believe in a supreme being (I married her), but even if I didn't, I mean, Jesus Christ...
A
Monday, August 17, 2009
Mumbles (incoherently)
It's hard to express what's on one's mind when what's on one's mind would best be expressed by a phrase like "Frgghluh mmlrrgh nurr. Nurr, nurr. NURR." But it's been a week and I feel like I really ought to post something, so NURR it is...
***
This is pretty awesome. "This" being a post that features Carson van Osten's "Disney Comic Strip Artist's Kit." Everyone who's interested in comics (strips or otherwise) as a storytelling medium really owes it to themselves to look at the Kit. I'm glad I encountered it now, just a few days before I do a public critique of Jay Bardyla and Daniel Schneider's WEIGHTLESS (not FLIGHTLESS, as I previously referred to it, in fact, pretty much the polar opposite of Flightless.)
Link via The Beat.
***
The intense pressure of posting two to three times a week at Mightygodking has had an unforeseen effect on my general online demeanour, leading to me doing something I don't think I've ever actually done before, and definitely haven't done more than a handful of time, if at all, which is to post something and then delete it without someone else asking me to. This turns me into something of a hypocrite; I've long maintained that people should have the guts to 1) take responsibility for what they write by signing their name to it, and 2) stand by what their words, taking the heat and apologizing for them if they were out of line, but not deleting them.
Earlier this year I broke the first rule, posting under an alias at Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood site. As long-time readers may recall, I felt so bad about this that I immediately wrote a post exposing my own hypocrisy, if only to the two or three people who read this thing.
The second rule I broke a few days ago over at the Canadian Geek forums, after I launched into an unnecessarily snarky reply to another poster, accusing them of resorting to cheap rhetorical tricks to try and score points for a weak argument while using pretty much the same cheap rhetorical tricks to attack them. So I deleted it, I'd say less than a minute later and I think before anyone had a chance to read it. Even so, it makes me feel a little squicky.
The whole incident did bring my attention to the aforementioned effect posting at MGK has had on me. To me, the site's strong point has always been owner and prime mover Christopher Bird's humour, so when I was given a shot, my intention was to post primarily humourous pieces over there (something I wasn't entirely successful with this last go round.) But humour's not really something that comes naturally to me, it's something that I really need to work at (at least I need to do that to get it right.) In the face of needing to find two or three things I can spin comedy out of a week, I find myself framing everything I come across, every interaction I have as either grist for the mill (which is mostly OK and something I reckon most writers do regardless of what they're working on) or as a potential target for ironic mockery.
This is fine when I'm coming across, say, Sarah Palin being a lying, idiotic cowbeast. It's not so fine when someone who doesn't deserve to be a target ends up in the crosshairs. And that's what happened when I posted at C-Geek. Someone said something that pissed me off, and I opened up with both barrels when all that was really required was a flyswatter. I don't think I wrote was particularly unfair, or even unreasonably rude, and some of it I think was mildly amusing. But what I do think it was was unhelpful and unnecessary. Letting it stand wasn't going to help anything and in fact I think it would've pretty much killed any possibility of a civil discussion going forward. In the face of that, I did what I never do and deleted the comment. And under the same circumstances I'd do it again. But hopefully, now that I've noticed how I'm approaching things at the moment, the same or similar circumstances won't happen again.
A
***
This is pretty awesome. "This" being a post that features Carson van Osten's "Disney Comic Strip Artist's Kit." Everyone who's interested in comics (strips or otherwise) as a storytelling medium really owes it to themselves to look at the Kit. I'm glad I encountered it now, just a few days before I do a public critique of Jay Bardyla and Daniel Schneider's WEIGHTLESS (not FLIGHTLESS, as I previously referred to it, in fact, pretty much the polar opposite of Flightless.)
Link via The Beat.
***
The intense pressure of posting two to three times a week at Mightygodking has had an unforeseen effect on my general online demeanour, leading to me doing something I don't think I've ever actually done before, and definitely haven't done more than a handful of time, if at all, which is to post something and then delete it without someone else asking me to. This turns me into something of a hypocrite; I've long maintained that people should have the guts to 1) take responsibility for what they write by signing their name to it, and 2) stand by what their words, taking the heat and apologizing for them if they were out of line, but not deleting them.
Earlier this year I broke the first rule, posting under an alias at Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood site. As long-time readers may recall, I felt so bad about this that I immediately wrote a post exposing my own hypocrisy, if only to the two or three people who read this thing.
The second rule I broke a few days ago over at the Canadian Geek forums, after I launched into an unnecessarily snarky reply to another poster, accusing them of resorting to cheap rhetorical tricks to try and score points for a weak argument while using pretty much the same cheap rhetorical tricks to attack them. So I deleted it, I'd say less than a minute later and I think before anyone had a chance to read it. Even so, it makes me feel a little squicky.
The whole incident did bring my attention to the aforementioned effect posting at MGK has had on me. To me, the site's strong point has always been owner and prime mover Christopher Bird's humour, so when I was given a shot, my intention was to post primarily humourous pieces over there (something I wasn't entirely successful with this last go round.) But humour's not really something that comes naturally to me, it's something that I really need to work at (at least I need to do that to get it right.) In the face of needing to find two or three things I can spin comedy out of a week, I find myself framing everything I come across, every interaction I have as either grist for the mill (which is mostly OK and something I reckon most writers do regardless of what they're working on) or as a potential target for ironic mockery.
This is fine when I'm coming across, say, Sarah Palin being a lying, idiotic cowbeast. It's not so fine when someone who doesn't deserve to be a target ends up in the crosshairs. And that's what happened when I posted at C-Geek. Someone said something that pissed me off, and I opened up with both barrels when all that was really required was a flyswatter. I don't think I wrote was particularly unfair, or even unreasonably rude, and some of it I think was mildly amusing. But what I do think it was was unhelpful and unnecessary. Letting it stand wasn't going to help anything and in fact I think it would've pretty much killed any possibility of a civil discussion going forward. In the face of that, I did what I never do and deleted the comment. And under the same circumstances I'd do it again. But hopefully, now that I've noticed how I'm approaching things at the moment, the same or similar circumstances won't happen again.
A
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Fool me seventeen times, shame on me.
A few days back, in my ongoing quest not to do what I really ought to be doing with my time, I came upon the blog of reality TV producers Joke Fincioen and Biagio Messina (found it via Chad Gervich's Script Notes.) I haven't had a chance to read much of it yet, but the post "How You Get Your First Job in Hollywood" caught my attention, largely because I haven't gotten my first job in Hollywood yet (and I am looking. That's right, Hollywood, I'm aVAILable...)
There's a parallel between the way they describe their first H'wood job and the way many (including myself) approach(ed) the comics industry.
Regarding the odious terms they were forced to accept to get their first producing credit, Messina says they were "Happy to be screwed out of every single penny ... Why? Because for us, it was the opportunity we’d been begging for. The chance to step it up and prove we could do the job."
Pretty much any time anyone in the portion of the industry where creators receive actual money for their work talks about what it takes to reach the ranks of the full-time professional comics writer, the first thing they say is "You need to get something published somewhere else."
Which makes sense. Independently developing and actually producing a complete comic, even a 22 page one, isn't the easiest thing in the world. Getting it published by someone other than yourself is even harder. Ask any writer who's been kicking around comics for any length of time, and they all have horror stories about artists who flaked out on them. Ask any creator-owned comics publisher and they all have horror stories about creators who flaked out on them. Speakeasy Comics' founder placed a good portion of the blame for that company's demise on creator-owned books that failed to be delivered in a timely manner. I don't know if that was really the cause or not, but I do know that it happened: a lot of creator-owned books were solicited based on creators' promises to meet certain deadlines, and those deadlines got missed, a lot.
I still haven't been paid anything for Age of Kings, the first graphic novel I wrote for Platinum Studios. I didn't even get the standard thousand dollars creators of the bulk of the projects they developed or acquired received for their work. I wrote it, as I did everything I wrote for that company, with the expectation that, more than an actual cheque, the payoff would come in the form of a writing credit and a finished, professional-looking book I could show editors who might be willing to offer me something more than a thousand dollars for 88+ pages (after AoK I did start getting some money).
I did this for a very long time, literally years, without complaint. Because I believed I was paying my dues.
Of course, Platinum never published the majority of the stuff I or anyone else wrote for them, which, honestly, may be a blessing. I was learning how to write (and, as if not more importantly, to edit) comics all the way through the process. While I still like the scripts for JEST CAUSE and THREADS, I'm not at all sure I wouldn't be embarrassed if anything else I worked on for the company actually saw the light of day. I'm certainly not thrilled about the way the one Platinum project I was involved in that actually got published turned out, but then I don't think anyone who was part of the thing was.
On the other hand, I don't have a body of published Platinum-published work to show editors, which was what I (and, I suspect, the bulk of Platinum's other creators) was doing the work for.
If dues are paid in the wood with nobody around to notice you paying them, are the dues truly paid?
Not really. While I've recently gotten some mileage out of having my name associated with the comic currently being developed for film by the guys who wrote Star Trek, the vast majority of whatever progress I've made towards the ultimate goal of carving out a writing career for myself* has come from PARTING WAYS, DONE TO DEATH, and THE HOLIDAY MEN in "The Massacre Memorial Day Sale Massacre". None of which have, to date, made me a cent. In fact, one of them personally cost me upwards of $15,000, and another cost me in less tangible but far more personally traumatizing ways. All that aside, I now have three books I'm happy to show people, secure in the knowledge that, good or bad, they're at least an accurate representation of what I'm capable of as a writer.
While there are some parallels between comics and the first Hollywood job scenario described by Messina, there are also some major differences. Whenever someone in television says they didn't make much money off their creative work, my gut instinct is that they still made a lot more than someone not making much off their work in comics. Many comics creators are desperate to have something published, to the point that many of them, myself ten years ago included, are willing to literally give away their intellectual property for the cost of a printing bill and solicitation text in Previews (and even that's getting iffy, these days.) Too often, these creators see themselves as indebted to a publisher. Way too often the publisher also sees creators as indebted to them, a mindset that's come to absolutely sicken me over time.
Comics have a few things over traditional prose publishing; one of them is a model of successful self-publishers. The notion of a vanity press, if it exists in comics at all, at least doesn't preclude the possibility that someone publishing at their own expense might still be producing something of value. The cost of self-publishing ten years ago was an expense some creators were unwilling or unable to afford (I originally had a plan to self-pub PARTING WAYS, but art took a couple years longer than planned and by the time I had it, I'd run out of the capital I'd intended to use for printing and promotion. Fortunately, Speakeasy sprang into existence around the same time, and the rest is history.)
Though I'm a natural-born luddite, even I have to admit that the internet and print on demand technology's made it easier than ever before for creators to get their work out--and get it out without losing their intellectual property, which is the only thing a frighteningly large number of "comics publishers" are interested in. Granted, most of these creators won't make money off webcomics, but then again, the odds are they aren't going to make money off comics published through anyone who doesn't pay a page rate or advance up-front, either.
And, in the event that Hollywood comes knocking, it'll have to talk to someone for whom a property's creators' goals are the highest priority, rather than a company agenda that, as often as not, places the egos of whoever got his Mom to cough up a couple grand for printing over the well-being of the people who actually created the work. I know tons of people who had the intellectual property they created simply given away for little to no money, by publishers desperate to establish themselves--or at least be perceived as having established themselves, or, worst of all, to delude themselves that they'd established themselves--as movers in Hollywood. They're like many unpublished comics creators, now that I think about it--willing to give away everything in order to hopefully get something slightly better than nothing.
If anyone's going to get slightly more than nothing, it ought to be the creator. But until creators stop accepting the notion that any deal is worth it just to get a book in print**, it's not going to happen. Fortunately (if that's the word for it), the generation of readors coming up now and the one after it will likely see reading comics on-screen as a perfectly normal thing. If and when that happens, intellectual property hoarders (which I've no problem with in principle, providing the principle includes creators getting paid decently at some point) will have to offer a lot more to their marks, er, creative partners than many do today.
It's never been easier to pay dues in the comics industry than it is now. A whole, frustrating, frequently dysfunctional buffer between the creator and the audience is eroding. Now someone just has to figure out how to make what's left over pay, and we'll be onto something.
*More than a lot of people, but not nearly enough.
**And hey, I've been in that position. I understand why people do it, because I did it myself. But, to paraphrase Steven Grant, "I never knew anyone who signed away their rights at 20 who didn't regret it by the time they hit 40."
A
There's a parallel between the way they describe their first H'wood job and the way many (including myself) approach(ed) the comics industry.
Regarding the odious terms they were forced to accept to get their first producing credit, Messina says they were "Happy to be screwed out of every single penny ... Why? Because for us, it was the opportunity we’d been begging for. The chance to step it up and prove we could do the job."
Pretty much any time anyone in the portion of the industry where creators receive actual money for their work talks about what it takes to reach the ranks of the full-time professional comics writer, the first thing they say is "You need to get something published somewhere else."
Which makes sense. Independently developing and actually producing a complete comic, even a 22 page one, isn't the easiest thing in the world. Getting it published by someone other than yourself is even harder. Ask any writer who's been kicking around comics for any length of time, and they all have horror stories about artists who flaked out on them. Ask any creator-owned comics publisher and they all have horror stories about creators who flaked out on them. Speakeasy Comics' founder placed a good portion of the blame for that company's demise on creator-owned books that failed to be delivered in a timely manner. I don't know if that was really the cause or not, but I do know that it happened: a lot of creator-owned books were solicited based on creators' promises to meet certain deadlines, and those deadlines got missed, a lot.
I still haven't been paid anything for Age of Kings, the first graphic novel I wrote for Platinum Studios. I didn't even get the standard thousand dollars creators of the bulk of the projects they developed or acquired received for their work. I wrote it, as I did everything I wrote for that company, with the expectation that, more than an actual cheque, the payoff would come in the form of a writing credit and a finished, professional-looking book I could show editors who might be willing to offer me something more than a thousand dollars for 88+ pages (after AoK I did start getting some money).
I did this for a very long time, literally years, without complaint. Because I believed I was paying my dues.
Of course, Platinum never published the majority of the stuff I or anyone else wrote for them, which, honestly, may be a blessing. I was learning how to write (and, as if not more importantly, to edit) comics all the way through the process. While I still like the scripts for JEST CAUSE and THREADS, I'm not at all sure I wouldn't be embarrassed if anything else I worked on for the company actually saw the light of day. I'm certainly not thrilled about the way the one Platinum project I was involved in that actually got published turned out, but then I don't think anyone who was part of the thing was.
On the other hand, I don't have a body of published Platinum-published work to show editors, which was what I (and, I suspect, the bulk of Platinum's other creators) was doing the work for.
If dues are paid in the wood with nobody around to notice you paying them, are the dues truly paid?
Not really. While I've recently gotten some mileage out of having my name associated with the comic currently being developed for film by the guys who wrote Star Trek, the vast majority of whatever progress I've made towards the ultimate goal of carving out a writing career for myself* has come from PARTING WAYS, DONE TO DEATH, and THE HOLIDAY MEN in "The Massacre Memorial Day Sale Massacre". None of which have, to date, made me a cent. In fact, one of them personally cost me upwards of $15,000, and another cost me in less tangible but far more personally traumatizing ways. All that aside, I now have three books I'm happy to show people, secure in the knowledge that, good or bad, they're at least an accurate representation of what I'm capable of as a writer.
While there are some parallels between comics and the first Hollywood job scenario described by Messina, there are also some major differences. Whenever someone in television says they didn't make much money off their creative work, my gut instinct is that they still made a lot more than someone not making much off their work in comics. Many comics creators are desperate to have something published, to the point that many of them, myself ten years ago included, are willing to literally give away their intellectual property for the cost of a printing bill and solicitation text in Previews (and even that's getting iffy, these days.) Too often, these creators see themselves as indebted to a publisher. Way too often the publisher also sees creators as indebted to them, a mindset that's come to absolutely sicken me over time.
Comics have a few things over traditional prose publishing; one of them is a model of successful self-publishers. The notion of a vanity press, if it exists in comics at all, at least doesn't preclude the possibility that someone publishing at their own expense might still be producing something of value. The cost of self-publishing ten years ago was an expense some creators were unwilling or unable to afford (I originally had a plan to self-pub PARTING WAYS, but art took a couple years longer than planned and by the time I had it, I'd run out of the capital I'd intended to use for printing and promotion. Fortunately, Speakeasy sprang into existence around the same time, and the rest is history.)
Though I'm a natural-born luddite, even I have to admit that the internet and print on demand technology's made it easier than ever before for creators to get their work out--and get it out without losing their intellectual property, which is the only thing a frighteningly large number of "comics publishers" are interested in. Granted, most of these creators won't make money off webcomics, but then again, the odds are they aren't going to make money off comics published through anyone who doesn't pay a page rate or advance up-front, either.
And, in the event that Hollywood comes knocking, it'll have to talk to someone for whom a property's creators' goals are the highest priority, rather than a company agenda that, as often as not, places the egos of whoever got his Mom to cough up a couple grand for printing over the well-being of the people who actually created the work. I know tons of people who had the intellectual property they created simply given away for little to no money, by publishers desperate to establish themselves--or at least be perceived as having established themselves, or, worst of all, to delude themselves that they'd established themselves--as movers in Hollywood. They're like many unpublished comics creators, now that I think about it--willing to give away everything in order to hopefully get something slightly better than nothing.
If anyone's going to get slightly more than nothing, it ought to be the creator. But until creators stop accepting the notion that any deal is worth it just to get a book in print**, it's not going to happen. Fortunately (if that's the word for it), the generation of readors coming up now and the one after it will likely see reading comics on-screen as a perfectly normal thing. If and when that happens, intellectual property hoarders (which I've no problem with in principle, providing the principle includes creators getting paid decently at some point) will have to offer a lot more to their marks, er, creative partners than many do today.
It's never been easier to pay dues in the comics industry than it is now. A whole, frustrating, frequently dysfunctional buffer between the creator and the audience is eroding. Now someone just has to figure out how to make what's left over pay, and we'll be onto something.
*More than a lot of people, but not nearly enough.
**And hey, I've been in that position. I understand why people do it, because I did it myself. But, to paraphrase Steven Grant, "I never knew anyone who signed away their rights at 20 who didn't regret it by the time they hit 40."
A
Sunday, July 26, 2009
The Con Gamed
“This is the most fun I’ve ever had drawing a comic.” Fiona Staples, who apparently wants to hurt my feelings. Between that and her NORTH 40 editor believing her work on the upcoming TRICK 'R TREAT was "the first full-length comic Fiona had ever drawn", I'm starting to feel sorry for myself...
Oh wait, I already felt sorry for myself. Never mind, then.
So the "big news" out of the San Diego Comic Con this year seems to be the acquisition of a number of loose superhero properties by major North American mainstream publishers. Last year, DC announced the return of the Milestone characters and the acquisition of Archie Comics' Red Circle superheroes; this year, they announced that they've finally got The THUNDER Agents, which, along with the Justice Machine, is a group of characters I've long had an attachment to for no rational reason I've ever been able to articulate.
Dark Horse has got Jim Shooter working on some characters he's already given a booster shot to back when he helped build up Valiant Comics, Gold Key properties like Turok and Dr. Solar.
And Marvel managed to get loads of PR by strongly implying that Alan Moore's lost/Neil Gaiman's unfinished superhero masterpiece will finally be found/finished, while pointedly not saying anything of the sort. Over at The Beat, Heidi McDonald quotes one-time Eclipse Comics honcho Dean Mullaney saying point-blank that the Miracleman version of the character isn't what Marvel's managed to get hold of. All this talk of Marvelman being "the JD Salinger" of comics characters loses a lot of (if not all of) its weight if what's actually been acquired is a blatant fairly Captain Marvel rip-off, rather than Alan Moore's other major comics work deconstructing the superhero. If it's the latter, it's an exciting development for people who don't feel like shelling out hundreds of dollars for the now very difficult to get hold of story; if it's the former, it amounts to pointing out a molehill and pretending it's a mountain while leaving enough wiggle room to say, "Hey, I never actually said it was a mountain" when someone examines the thing a little more closely.
I completely fell for the hype myself, and sat there reading Newsarama's live updates of the Quesada panel, waiting for the Big Announcement, which I seriously believed would involve Harry Potter--something that might have carried a little weight in the wider mainstream and offered a potential infusion of new readers to a medium that could frankly use it. It was not to be, but as a comics fan, I was excited to learn that Marvelman would be returning, right up until I noticed what wasn't being said.
But hey--The THUNDER Agents are coming back! And Fiona Staples is having a lot of fun drawing NORTH 40. And I didn't spend a couple grand over the last five days for the privilege of sweating and getting frustrated in a distant city. So that's all good.
A
Oh wait, I already felt sorry for myself. Never mind, then.
So the "big news" out of the San Diego Comic Con this year seems to be the acquisition of a number of loose superhero properties by major North American mainstream publishers. Last year, DC announced the return of the Milestone characters and the acquisition of Archie Comics' Red Circle superheroes; this year, they announced that they've finally got The THUNDER Agents, which, along with the Justice Machine, is a group of characters I've long had an attachment to for no rational reason I've ever been able to articulate.
Dark Horse has got Jim Shooter working on some characters he's already given a booster shot to back when he helped build up Valiant Comics, Gold Key properties like Turok and Dr. Solar.
And Marvel managed to get loads of PR by strongly implying that Alan Moore's lost/Neil Gaiman's unfinished superhero masterpiece will finally be found/finished, while pointedly not saying anything of the sort. Over at The Beat, Heidi McDonald quotes one-time Eclipse Comics honcho Dean Mullaney saying point-blank that the Miracleman version of the character isn't what Marvel's managed to get hold of. All this talk of Marvelman being "the JD Salinger" of comics characters loses a lot of (if not all of) its weight if what's actually been acquired is a blatant fairly Captain Marvel rip-off, rather than Alan Moore's other major comics work deconstructing the superhero. If it's the latter, it's an exciting development for people who don't feel like shelling out hundreds of dollars for the now very difficult to get hold of story; if it's the former, it amounts to pointing out a molehill and pretending it's a mountain while leaving enough wiggle room to say, "Hey, I never actually said it was a mountain" when someone examines the thing a little more closely.
I completely fell for the hype myself, and sat there reading Newsarama's live updates of the Quesada panel, waiting for the Big Announcement, which I seriously believed would involve Harry Potter--something that might have carried a little weight in the wider mainstream and offered a potential infusion of new readers to a medium that could frankly use it. It was not to be, but as a comics fan, I was excited to learn that Marvelman would be returning, right up until I noticed what wasn't being said.
But hey--The THUNDER Agents are coming back! And Fiona Staples is having a lot of fun drawing NORTH 40. And I didn't spend a couple grand over the last five days for the privilege of sweating and getting frustrated in a distant city. So that's all good.
A
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
This post isn't going to involve me complaining at length about fruitflies. You're welcome.
Some stuff from the "Well it made me laugh" category today:
"This is the sort of comic that would've been useful if you worked at Abu Gharib and were getting tired of boring old rape and electrocution." - Not even close to the funniest line in Tucker Stone's reviews of a few DC Comics from last week, but the funniest I could find that didn't involve profanity (this is a Family Blog. I think about the children.)
"Family Guy got nominated for an Emmy for Best Comedy today. It's the first time that an animated show has been nominated in that category since 1961 (when The Flintstones lost to The Jack Benny Show). 1961! Alaska had just become a state. Internet porn about pregnant chicks was still a crazy, futuristic dream. And the leading cause of death in our nation among males age 18 to 40 was whistling at white women." - Family Guy writer Patrick Meighan tries to minimize the degree to which 30 Rock is going to crush his show at the Emmys.
"I remember the good old days at the Zoo, when you could drink and smoke and make out with the animals." - TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE mastermind Michael Kupperman has a twitter account. This is darn near the only thing that could get me to actually go out of my way to read a twitter account. I can't start one, partly because I don't have a cellphone and tweeting without a cellphone seems kind of sad and pathetic, like creating your own wikipedia entry (which I honestly didn't do. I did correct it, though. And the bit about me being a masterful lover? That was all me), and partly because you couldn't write sentences like this one in 140 characters or less, and I write a lot of sentences like this one.
How did I find out about Kupperman's twitter account? From an Onion AV Club interview. Which isn't particularly funny. Kupperman strikes me as someone who's serious about comedy, and he's really good at it. But an interview about being funny and how to make things funny isn't necessarily going to be funny itself. Anyway, to cut what could become a lengthy ramble short, you should run to your nearest comic shop and order TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE Volume One. Like, right now. I'm serious. Go.
This just in from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles showrunner Josh Friedman:
"FRIEDMAN-CON TO FINALLY SPLIT WITH COMIC-CON, COMPETE FOR SCI-FI FANS' HEARTS AND MINDS AND MONEY
"After years of sharing The San Diego Convention Center venue with Comic-Con, organizers of the JoshFriedmanCon Corp. have decided to finally take the ridiculously lucrative Convention devoted to all things Josh Friedman out on its own...
"'There's a number of reasons we've decided to end our partnership with Comic-Con," says JFCC co-founder Josh Friedman. "It's become clear recently that Comic-Con's interests and Friedman-Con's interests were beginning to diverge. Comic-Con has gradually changed from its early roots as a colorful sanctuary for the comic book industry and its fans to something more akin to a corporate trade show focusing on broader marketing objectives in all corners of entertainment culture. JoshFriedmanCon, on the other hand, has been and will always be singularly devoted to Josh Friedman. And that's what our fans want.'"
Again, I can't really quote the choicest bits without a Mature Readers warning (and come on, how many people reading my blog are actually mature? I know the guy writing it isn't.) Read the rest of the press release here.
Finally, a word to anyone reading this who happens to be going to the Big Con this weekend: while you're standing in lines, sweating profusely, going deaf from Stephenie Meyer fans screaming, and paying frankly insane prices for drinks at the Marriott and Hyatt, I'll be sitting here enjoying the cool breeze of a fan and the gentle purr of one or more of Tiina's animals, and a nice, cool Caesar I didn't have to take a mortgage out to obtain. Even so, I'm insanely jealous of you and I hate you all right now.
A
"This is the sort of comic that would've been useful if you worked at Abu Gharib and were getting tired of boring old rape and electrocution." - Not even close to the funniest line in Tucker Stone's reviews of a few DC Comics from last week, but the funniest I could find that didn't involve profanity (this is a Family Blog. I think about the children.)
"Family Guy got nominated for an Emmy for Best Comedy today. It's the first time that an animated show has been nominated in that category since 1961 (when The Flintstones lost to The Jack Benny Show). 1961! Alaska had just become a state. Internet porn about pregnant chicks was still a crazy, futuristic dream. And the leading cause of death in our nation among males age 18 to 40 was whistling at white women." - Family Guy writer Patrick Meighan tries to minimize the degree to which 30 Rock is going to crush his show at the Emmys.
"I remember the good old days at the Zoo, when you could drink and smoke and make out with the animals." - TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE mastermind Michael Kupperman has a twitter account. This is darn near the only thing that could get me to actually go out of my way to read a twitter account. I can't start one, partly because I don't have a cellphone and tweeting without a cellphone seems kind of sad and pathetic, like creating your own wikipedia entry (which I honestly didn't do. I did correct it, though. And the bit about me being a masterful lover? That was all me), and partly because you couldn't write sentences like this one in 140 characters or less, and I write a lot of sentences like this one.
How did I find out about Kupperman's twitter account? From an Onion AV Club interview. Which isn't particularly funny. Kupperman strikes me as someone who's serious about comedy, and he's really good at it. But an interview about being funny and how to make things funny isn't necessarily going to be funny itself. Anyway, to cut what could become a lengthy ramble short, you should run to your nearest comic shop and order TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE Volume One. Like, right now. I'm serious. Go.
This just in from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles showrunner Josh Friedman:
"FRIEDMAN-CON TO FINALLY SPLIT WITH COMIC-CON, COMPETE FOR SCI-FI FANS' HEARTS AND MINDS AND MONEY
"After years of sharing The San Diego Convention Center venue with Comic-Con, organizers of the JoshFriedmanCon Corp. have decided to finally take the ridiculously lucrative Convention devoted to all things Josh Friedman out on its own...
"'There's a number of reasons we've decided to end our partnership with Comic-Con," says JFCC co-founder Josh Friedman. "It's become clear recently that Comic-Con's interests and Friedman-Con's interests were beginning to diverge. Comic-Con has gradually changed from its early roots as a colorful sanctuary for the comic book industry and its fans to something more akin to a corporate trade show focusing on broader marketing objectives in all corners of entertainment culture. JoshFriedmanCon, on the other hand, has been and will always be singularly devoted to Josh Friedman. And that's what our fans want.'"
Again, I can't really quote the choicest bits without a Mature Readers warning (and come on, how many people reading my blog are actually mature? I know the guy writing it isn't.) Read the rest of the press release here.
Finally, a word to anyone reading this who happens to be going to the Big Con this weekend: while you're standing in lines, sweating profusely, going deaf from Stephenie Meyer fans screaming, and paying frankly insane prices for drinks at the Marriott and Hyatt, I'll be sitting here enjoying the cool breeze of a fan and the gentle purr of one or more of Tiina's animals, and a nice, cool Caesar I didn't have to take a mortgage out to obtain. Even so, I'm insanely jealous of you and I hate you all right now.
A
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Much Adoodle-doo.
Hey everyone! Let's get angry about stuff that's really kind of silly! Stuff like:
HOLLYWOOD'S FORCING CANADIAN ACTORS TO SETTLE FOR PLAYING CRAPPY SUPERHEROES (quick, someone tell Glenn Beck canuck and ozzie actors are stealing all the great superhero roles from hard-working Americans, those lousy immiguhnts)!
MOVIES AFFECTING PEOPLES' VIEWS OF SIGNIFICANT ISSUES (because people are that stupid)!
COMIC STRIPS NOTING THAT THE OLD TESTAMENT GOD WAS KIND OF A DINK AND SNARKING ON BANKERS ARE ANTI-SEMITIC!
Look, bankers are @$$holes.* They just are. That's a comment on a profession, not a religion. It's got everything to do with bankers' actions and absolutely nothing to do with which Old Dude in the sky they happen to worship.
And you know who else was a bit of a @$$hole? The character of god, as presented in the old testament. Frankly, he's no great shakes in the new one, either, but at least there he's not throwing temper tantrums, condemning those he claims to love to suffering and death because because they raided the fridge and ate the special apples he was saving, or killing hundreds of thousands of people because they never come round to visit anymore...
As someone who generally strives towards some level of, if not political correctness, at least politeness, I should probably just shut my mouth when it comes to this stuff. But I believe in anger as a potentially positive force for social change, and it bothers me when people get mad about (what Mr. White Male Privilege here sees as) relatively insignificant, if not entirely imaginary, slights. There's so much stuff in the world that deserves our anger. To me, this sort of thing is akin to expending energy focusing on your stubbed toe when it would be better spent dealing with your slit throat.
Also, OK, history's not really my thing, but am I reading the ADL's statement correctly: Christians forced Jews to commit usury? They put guns (or slings, I guess) to Jews' heads and said, "Lend us money but charge us interest, or we fire?" That seems off to me, but again, I'm no history expert. If anyone reading this could clarify, either in comments or e-mail, I'd appreciate it.
(*In my opinion, based on what I've read and my own personal experience. Much as I want to malign the entire profession, I have to acknowledge that, somewhere out there, there's a chance one or more bankers who aren't @$$holes exist. On a quantum level, anything's possible.)
A
HOLLYWOOD'S FORCING CANADIAN ACTORS TO SETTLE FOR PLAYING CRAPPY SUPERHEROES (quick, someone tell Glenn Beck canuck and ozzie actors are stealing all the great superhero roles from hard-working Americans, those lousy immiguhnts)!
MOVIES AFFECTING PEOPLES' VIEWS OF SIGNIFICANT ISSUES (because people are that stupid)!
COMIC STRIPS NOTING THAT THE OLD TESTAMENT GOD WAS KIND OF A DINK AND SNARKING ON BANKERS ARE ANTI-SEMITIC!
Look, bankers are @$$holes.* They just are. That's a comment on a profession, not a religion. It's got everything to do with bankers' actions and absolutely nothing to do with which Old Dude in the sky they happen to worship.
And you know who else was a bit of a @$$hole? The character of god, as presented in the old testament. Frankly, he's no great shakes in the new one, either, but at least there he's not throwing temper tantrums, condemning those he claims to love to suffering and death because because they raided the fridge and ate the special apples he was saving, or killing hundreds of thousands of people because they never come round to visit anymore...
As someone who generally strives towards some level of, if not political correctness, at least politeness, I should probably just shut my mouth when it comes to this stuff. But I believe in anger as a potentially positive force for social change, and it bothers me when people get mad about (what Mr. White Male Privilege here sees as) relatively insignificant, if not entirely imaginary, slights. There's so much stuff in the world that deserves our anger. To me, this sort of thing is akin to expending energy focusing on your stubbed toe when it would be better spent dealing with your slit throat.
Also, OK, history's not really my thing, but am I reading the ADL's statement correctly: Christians forced Jews to commit usury? They put guns (or slings, I guess) to Jews' heads and said, "Lend us money but charge us interest, or we fire?" That seems off to me, but again, I'm no history expert. If anyone reading this could clarify, either in comments or e-mail, I'd appreciate it.
(*In my opinion, based on what I've read and my own personal experience. Much as I want to malign the entire profession, I have to acknowledge that, somewhere out there, there's a chance one or more bankers who aren't @$$holes exist. On a quantum level, anything's possible.)
A
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
DRIBS, WITH A DASH OF DRAB
The parents called last night but didn't leave a message, which makes me think I'm probably overdue to blog about...something. Mum seems to worry when I'm not doing the digital equivalent of standing on a street corner screaming incoherent gibberish at random passersby. It's how she knows I'm...well, not OK, exactly, but at least more or less the same as I was last time we talked.
The problem is, I don't really have much of a desire to blog right now. The stuff I'd like to talk about here I just don't have the time or energy to get into in any kind of worthwhile depth. So it's hit and run time...
***
YOU HAVE MEHMEL
Calgary writer Jason Mehmel is doing everything he can to get his blog numbers up. And I mean everything, including asking if I'd mention it here. Which I've no problem doing, but I still find mildly amusing, as I generally work under the assumption that no one who didn't give birth to me actually reads this thing. And I'm pretty sure even Mum just skims it. Anyway, if you've got some time to kill--and if you're reading this, you do--you might want to check out the Mehmelblog.
***
BECAUSE YOU REALLY CARE: WORK-FOR-HIRE COMIC PROJECTS I'D LIKE TO DO SOMEDAY & THE PEOPLE I WANT TO DO THEM WITH
FANTASTIC FOUR. I was originally going to say I wanted to do it with Mike Allred, but while he's definitely got a Kirby vibe going on, I'm not sure he'd want to deal with the way out cosmic feel I'd likely be going for with the project. Maybe Bruce Timm.
AQUAMAN, with Bill Sienkiwicz. Because it's dark, cold, and really kind of creepy that far underwater.
VAMPIRELLA, with Fiona Staples. Because Fiona wants to work on Vampirella and if I got to write it she'd be hard-pressed not to work with me again. Is it possible for writers to stalk artist collaborators?
DEADPOOL: ONE MORE POUCH, with Nick Johnson. To be followed up by the sequel DEADPOOL: BRAND NEW POUCH.
HELLBLAZER/DR. STRANGE, with Sean Phillips. Actually, I'd like to do almost anything that had Sean Phillips on art.
***
STUFF & NONSENSE
Gilbert Bouchard is still missing. Damn it.
Big Hollywood Producer sent me notes on the last version of the screenplay. I had my standard response: freak out over how everything needs to be changed and seethe with fury over the dumb ideas I'm forced to deal with, then get on with changing the script to conform to the dumb ideas, then realize the ideas weren't really that dumb and the changes are overall for the good of the story, then resent having to do a bunch of work because I didn't have the not-that-dumb-after-all ideas myself.
The standard response would change dramatically if there was actually money involved. But there isn't, at least not yet.
We got a price quote for fixing (read as: "tearing off and rebuilding from scratch") the roof this morning. Ow.
A Canadian producer contacted PARTING WAYS artist Scott Mooney inquiring about the book. Unlike almost everyone else who's asked after the rights, this guy's actually gotten some stuff made, including what sounds like a nifty black comedy. It's not Hollywood, but it's close enough, so I'm going to assume absolutely nothing will come of this, but it's nice to think people other than Ty Templeton see something they like in the story, even after all this time out of print.
I haven't recovered from the Calgary Expo, much less Free Comic Book Day yet. Even if I was, the weather's grinding its heel into my face.
If you aren't already, will you be my friend?
Well, I tried, but there's just no way to put something like that previous sentence out there without looking pathetic. Fortunately, I'm used to looking pathetic.
Back to the grindstone. And by grindstone, I mean the couch in my office.
A
The problem is, I don't really have much of a desire to blog right now. The stuff I'd like to talk about here I just don't have the time or energy to get into in any kind of worthwhile depth. So it's hit and run time...
***
YOU HAVE MEHMEL
Calgary writer Jason Mehmel is doing everything he can to get his blog numbers up. And I mean everything, including asking if I'd mention it here. Which I've no problem doing, but I still find mildly amusing, as I generally work under the assumption that no one who didn't give birth to me actually reads this thing. And I'm pretty sure even Mum just skims it. Anyway, if you've got some time to kill--and if you're reading this, you do--you might want to check out the Mehmelblog.
***
BECAUSE YOU REALLY CARE: WORK-FOR-HIRE COMIC PROJECTS I'D LIKE TO DO SOMEDAY & THE PEOPLE I WANT TO DO THEM WITH
FANTASTIC FOUR. I was originally going to say I wanted to do it with Mike Allred, but while he's definitely got a Kirby vibe going on, I'm not sure he'd want to deal with the way out cosmic feel I'd likely be going for with the project. Maybe Bruce Timm.
AQUAMAN, with Bill Sienkiwicz. Because it's dark, cold, and really kind of creepy that far underwater.
VAMPIRELLA, with Fiona Staples. Because Fiona wants to work on Vampirella and if I got to write it she'd be hard-pressed not to work with me again. Is it possible for writers to stalk artist collaborators?
DEADPOOL: ONE MORE POUCH, with Nick Johnson. To be followed up by the sequel DEADPOOL: BRAND NEW POUCH.
HELLBLAZER/DR. STRANGE, with Sean Phillips. Actually, I'd like to do almost anything that had Sean Phillips on art.
***
STUFF & NONSENSE
Gilbert Bouchard is still missing. Damn it.
Big Hollywood Producer sent me notes on the last version of the screenplay. I had my standard response: freak out over how everything needs to be changed and seethe with fury over the dumb ideas I'm forced to deal with, then get on with changing the script to conform to the dumb ideas, then realize the ideas weren't really that dumb and the changes are overall for the good of the story, then resent having to do a bunch of work because I didn't have the not-that-dumb-after-all ideas myself.
The standard response would change dramatically if there was actually money involved. But there isn't, at least not yet.
We got a price quote for fixing (read as: "tearing off and rebuilding from scratch") the roof this morning. Ow.
A Canadian producer contacted PARTING WAYS artist Scott Mooney inquiring about the book. Unlike almost everyone else who's asked after the rights, this guy's actually gotten some stuff made, including what sounds like a nifty black comedy. It's not Hollywood, but it's close enough, so I'm going to assume absolutely nothing will come of this, but it's nice to think people other than Ty Templeton see something they like in the story, even after all this time out of print.
I haven't recovered from the Calgary Expo, much less Free Comic Book Day yet. Even if I was, the weather's grinding its heel into my face.
If you aren't already, will you be my friend?
Well, I tried, but there's just no way to put something like that previous sentence out there without looking pathetic. Fortunately, I'm used to looking pathetic.
Back to the grindstone. And by grindstone, I mean the couch in my office.
A
Monday, January 5, 2009
Anybody out there got a barn I can borrow?
I need something to go get shot out behind of.
I don't know what happened last night, but I know what didn't: me sleeping. Around 8 AM I drifted off for a fitful couple hours. And that's today's hope for accomplishing anything useful shot all to hell.
One good thing to come from the entire episode: I got to listen to Tones on Tails' POP album in the ideal state of mind in which to listen to Tones on Tails' POP album. If ever there was music designed to be experienced when your connection to physical reality is tenuous at best, when shadows are starting to grow mouths and there's a small army of dwarven creatures swarming in your peripheral vision, it's POP.
***
There's a whole bunch of stuff I wanted to blog about once I returned to blogging, but I can't remember most of it. The only thing that's sticking is that today's the official debut of a couple of welcome additions to the comics webosphere.
First, there's the long-awaited* debut of Robert Burke Richardson and Stehen Yarbrough's THE MATRIARCH, in webcomic form. Haven't had a chance to read it yet--for some reason I'm having a little trouble, uhhhhh...
Focusing. Right now, but I'm looking forward to it. There's a few pages up to start with; I believe there'll be one page updates more than once a week, but I could be really, really wrong about that. Frankly, it's borderline miraculous I remembered to mention it at all, in my current fragmented state. Check it out if you've got a few minutes. Robert's one of the many people whose coattails I plan to ride to comics glory.
That last sentence made sense in my head, but looking at it onscreen I'm now wondering if I should have kept it trapped within the confines of my skull...
(*Long-awaited by me, if no one else: RBR mentioned the project to me when we first met more than three years ago. This is, regrettably, not an unusually long period of time for a comics project to lag in the comics version of Development Hell--which is like Hollywood's Development Hell, without the paycheque.)
Secondly, I have it in my head that today's the Official Premiere of Robot 6, the new blog by the former Blog@Newsarama crew, at ComicBookResources.com. This in spite of the fact that there's been a fair amount of posting there over the last few days, which makes me wonder if I've misremembered...
Nope, there's a big notice on the CBR homepage introducing R6, so I guess they were just building a little content prior to walking the virtual red carpet. To my mind, the previous incarnation of Blog@ was the best part of the corporate-controlled Newsarama, so Robot 6 is a welcome...comic weblog thingie. God, I'm tired.
Not terribly keen on the name, though, even though it does make for kind of a neat logo image.
***
Kernels Popcorn has altered the packaging for their popcorn spices, which is fine. Unfortunately for me, they also seem to have altered the formulation of their Dill Pickle flavour, dulling down the harsh, inner-mouth blistering quality of the good stuff in favour of a weaker, saltier flavour that resembles nothing so much as the popcorn flavourings I try to avoid whenever possible.
This is probably a good thing for my overall health, but from a personal Foodie POV, I fear it's the end of an era. My palate will never be the same. For one thing, it'll no longer be an unhealthy chalk white, peeling fragments of skin into the rest of my mouth.
Deep sigh.
A
I don't know what happened last night, but I know what didn't: me sleeping. Around 8 AM I drifted off for a fitful couple hours. And that's today's hope for accomplishing anything useful shot all to hell.
One good thing to come from the entire episode: I got to listen to Tones on Tails' POP album in the ideal state of mind in which to listen to Tones on Tails' POP album. If ever there was music designed to be experienced when your connection to physical reality is tenuous at best, when shadows are starting to grow mouths and there's a small army of dwarven creatures swarming in your peripheral vision, it's POP.
***
There's a whole bunch of stuff I wanted to blog about once I returned to blogging, but I can't remember most of it. The only thing that's sticking is that today's the official debut of a couple of welcome additions to the comics webosphere.
First, there's the long-awaited* debut of Robert Burke Richardson and Stehen Yarbrough's THE MATRIARCH, in webcomic form. Haven't had a chance to read it yet--for some reason I'm having a little trouble, uhhhhh...
Focusing. Right now, but I'm looking forward to it. There's a few pages up to start with; I believe there'll be one page updates more than once a week, but I could be really, really wrong about that. Frankly, it's borderline miraculous I remembered to mention it at all, in my current fragmented state. Check it out if you've got a few minutes. Robert's one of the many people whose coattails I plan to ride to comics glory.
That last sentence made sense in my head, but looking at it onscreen I'm now wondering if I should have kept it trapped within the confines of my skull...
(*Long-awaited by me, if no one else: RBR mentioned the project to me when we first met more than three years ago. This is, regrettably, not an unusually long period of time for a comics project to lag in the comics version of Development Hell--which is like Hollywood's Development Hell, without the paycheque.)
Secondly, I have it in my head that today's the Official Premiere of Robot 6, the new blog by the former Blog@Newsarama crew, at ComicBookResources.com. This in spite of the fact that there's been a fair amount of posting there over the last few days, which makes me wonder if I've misremembered...
Nope, there's a big notice on the CBR homepage introducing R6, so I guess they were just building a little content prior to walking the virtual red carpet. To my mind, the previous incarnation of Blog@ was the best part of the corporate-controlled Newsarama, so Robot 6 is a welcome...comic weblog thingie. God, I'm tired.
Not terribly keen on the name, though, even though it does make for kind of a neat logo image.
***
Kernels Popcorn has altered the packaging for their popcorn spices, which is fine. Unfortunately for me, they also seem to have altered the formulation of their Dill Pickle flavour, dulling down the harsh, inner-mouth blistering quality of the good stuff in favour of a weaker, saltier flavour that resembles nothing so much as the popcorn flavourings I try to avoid whenever possible.
This is probably a good thing for my overall health, but from a personal Foodie POV, I fear it's the end of an era. My palate will never be the same. For one thing, it'll no longer be an unhealthy chalk white, peeling fragments of skin into the rest of my mouth.
Deep sigh.
A
Sunday, November 30, 2008
The Comics' Biggest Blight
thread on Canadian Geek has transformed into a more general discussion about the state of the industry between a frustrated, successful comics retailer (Happy Harbor's Jay Bardyla), an equally frustrated, not nearly as successful comics creator (me), with occasional interjections from other people trying to get a word in edgewise.
***
Andrew Sullivan on why he blogs. I've only read a page and a half, but it includes some interesting historical bits, including the origin of the term "log", which make it worth mentioning right there.
(via Chad Gervich's Script Notes blog)
***
NO QUARTERLY ASKED
The Future of Comics (I) Fiona Staples has a variant cover on VAMPIRELLA QUARTERLY, and I either just noticed or noticed earlier and forgot. Probably the latter, that sounds like something I'd do.
Anyway. Now she just needs to do something (official) for Red Sonja and she'll have worked on the Pre-1990s Scantily-Clad Ass-Kicking Babe Trifecta, which also includes Sheena. Then she could go back to drawing MY stuff*...
If anyone out there is in touch with someone in a position of authority at Dynamite Comics, please tell them they should hire Fiona for an RS book. End the insanity, before it's too late.
***
DON'T WANNA, NOT GONNA. MAYBE
I don't want to write a zombie story.
I DON'T.
***
I JUST DON'T SEE IT
OK, yeah, there was a communications error and we did the wrong strip.
I still don't understand how you didn't notice that the jet plane was missing, or that there was a robot completely unrelated to the strip in practically all the panels until we were done lettering.
Argh.
thread on Canadian Geek has transformed into a more general discussion about the state of the industry between a frustrated, successful comics retailer (Happy Harbor's Jay Bardyla), an equally frustrated, not nearly as successful comics creator (me), with occasional interjections from other people trying to get a word in edgewise.***
Andrew Sullivan on why he blogs.
I've only read a page and a half, but it includes some interesting historical bits, including the origin of the term "log", which make it worth mentioning right there.(via Chad Gervich
's Script Notes blog)***
NO QUARTERLY ASKED
The Future of Comics (I) Fiona Staples has a variant cover
on VAMPIRELLA QUARTERLY, and I either just noticed or noticed earlier and forgot. Probably the latter, that sounds like something I'd do.Anyway. Now she just needs to do something (official) for Red Sonja
and she'll have worked on the Pre-1990s Scantily-Clad Ass-Kicking Babe Trifecta, which also includes Sheena. Then she could go back to drawing MY stuff*...If anyone out there is in touch with someone in a position of authority at Dynamite Comics, please tell them they should hire Fiona for an RS book. End the insanity, before it's too late.
***
DON'T WANNA, NOT GONNA. MAYBE
I don't want to write a zombie story.
I DON'T.
***
I JUST DON'T SEE IT
OK, yeah, there was a communications error and we did the wrong strip.
I still don't understand how you didn't notice that the jet plane was missing, or that there was a robot completely unrelated to the strip in practically all the panels until we were done lettering.
Argh.
***
DEAR GOD, WHY?
I have an idea for a reality-TV show.
Please, shoot me.
***
SCREW YOU, BRITISH COLUMBIA
You know what you did.
A
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Quotes of the Linkblog
"I know that many times, in my life, while living it, someone would come up and, because of I had good readiness, in terms of how I was wired, when they asked that—whatever they asked—I would just not blink, because, knowing that, if I did blink, or even wink, that is weakness, therefore you can’t, you just don’t. You could, but no—you aren’t." George Saunders in The New Yorker, talking about how he's qualified to be the Vice President. Or Something like that. It's funny. Just read it.
"He claims that agents and editors are always on the lookout for the next hot female writer. Which is awesome, because I've got two books in various states of disrepair. Do I sent the ovary in the envelope with the manuscript, or separately? What's the conventional wisdom on that?" Teevee Writer Kay Reindl kicks the crap out of Stephen King's latest Entertainment Weekly article.
"You can expect, at any moment, to turn on the TV and see a weathergirl pointing to some radar blob out in the Gulf of Mexico and making two basic meteorological points with her best Southern drawl:
(1) There is no need to panic.
(2) We could all be killed."
Scott O. Brown, on the best way for people in Alabama to survive hurricane season.
Scott's also got a new strip running in DC's online Zuda Comics contest, MY DADDY'S A SUPERVILLAIN, which you should go and vote for because Zuda's stupid system still refuses to let me register and vote.
A
www.newyorker.com/humor/2008/09/22/080922sh_shouts_saunders?currentPage=all
http://seriocity.blogspot.com/2008/09/doll-parts.html
http://sobstories.blogspot.com/2008/09/storm-watch-evac-notice.html
http://www.zudacomics.com/node/674
"He claims that agents and editors are always on the lookout for the next hot female writer. Which is awesome, because I've got two books in various states of disrepair. Do I sent the ovary in the envelope with the manuscript, or separately? What's the conventional wisdom on that?" Teevee Writer Kay Reindl kicks the crap out of Stephen King's latest Entertainment Weekly article.
"You can expect, at any moment, to turn on the TV and see a weathergirl pointing to some radar blob out in the Gulf of Mexico and making two basic meteorological points with her best Southern drawl:
(1) There is no need to panic.
(2) We could all be killed."
Scott O. Brown, on the best way for people in Alabama to survive hurricane season.
Scott's also got a new strip running in DC's online Zuda Comics contest, MY DADDY'S A SUPERVILLAIN, which you should go and vote for because Zuda's stupid system still refuses to let me register and vote.
A
www.newyorker.com/humor/2008/09/22/080922sh_shouts_saunders?currentPage=all
http://seriocity.blogspot.com/2008/09/doll-parts.html
http://sobstories.blogspot.com/2008/09/storm-watch-evac-notice.html
http://www.zudacomics.com/node/674
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Dribs and Drabs
Chris Striker of The Higher Authority website has interviewed The Future of Comics (I) Fiona Staples. Which is cool.
***
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"You know that story about the frog and the scorpion...? He's the scorpion." Lee Nordling, who gave me permission to quote him, but not to say who he was referring to.
***
IMPALIN
A Palin I can believe in.
A
***
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"You know that story about the frog and the scorpion...? He's the scorpion." Lee Nordling, who gave me permission to quote him, but not to say who he was referring to.
***
IMPALIN
A Palin I can believe in.
A
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Ring a Ding Dong Dandy
- My mind's still recovering from the nostalgia high of seeing The Great Gama throw fire in the eyes of Mike Avery, enabling Gama Singh Jr. to win the PWA Championship last night. And my back, which is still improving but nowhere near ready to be sitting in an uncomfortably hot gymnasium waiting for that moment for three hours, is still recovering from said waiting. Here's some stuff that's been keeping me occupied in the meantime.
***
MANY MILES AWAY, MANY MILES AWAY...
Scott O. Brown and Horacio Lalia release the beginning of their sci-fi epic RED ICE at Zuda Comics.
Just weeks later, ice is discovered on Mars.
Coincidence? Or something more?
Who knows?
But if you don't vote for RED ICE and there isn't an alien invasion, you're always going to wonder what COULD'VE happened, if you'd just made with the clicky...
***
MAD MEX: BEYOND CHENEYDOME
Die for oil, suckers. Potentially, anyway. Can you imagine how stupid you'd feel getting knifed in the back after waiting around two hours in blazing heat for what amounts to a little over 25% off a gas station trip?
***
WHICH ONE DOESN'T BELONG?
The Heroes Con State of the Industry panel, moderated by Tom Spurgeon, featured DC Head Honcho Dan DiDio, Image publisher Erik Larsen, Boom! Studios EiC Mark Waid, and inker and sometimes comic writer Jimmy Palmiotti.
I'm sure this is just a fluke of scheduling and Palmiotti is certainly qualified to comment on the state of the industry, and it's just an interesting coincidence that his name's been making the rounds as a potential successor to DiDio lately. (That last sentence was not intended sarcastically.)
At the same panel, DiDio's quoted as saying, "We have the same characters... There's only so much you can do with them. You've seen it all, you've heard it all."
While I'd say this is both true to an extent--and that it being true to that extent is actually a good thing--it's kind of a stunning admission, coming from a guy responsible for the creative direction of a major comics company.
Of course, the proper strategy to deal with this problem--if problem it actually be--is "simply" to invest in developing new characters that haven't all been seen and heard yet. But that would require a lot of time, energy, and capital, first to create, then to support while the "fans" get over what seems to be an aversion to concepts that aren't comfortably familiar. It's a tricky situation for a guy running DC to be in: why put money behind a book that doesn't feature Superman or Batman, when you can use that money to create a Superman/Batman book that has a built-in audience?
Well, I'm depressed.
***
BUTCHERING MARVEL
Chris Butcher, manager of The Beguiling comic shop, finds it...interesting that Marvel's releasing an unusually high number of comics this week, including several high-profile titles (BOTH Bendis Avengers books?), the same week that DC releases the second issue of DC's big 2008 event book, Grant Morrison and JG Jones' FINAL CRISIS.
***
GIVE ME MORE
What've you been reading online that I ought to be?
A
Sunday, June 15, 2008
More Sunday Night Rambling
This week...this #*&%ing week...It's been one long sinus headache, and it only seems to be getting worse. My teeth are now throbbing, and I've already taken double my daily codeine dose and maxed out on sinus meds as well. All I've got left to help me deal with my discomfort now is a sharp blow to the back of the head...
***
HAPPY FATHERS DAY
If you're a father, I hope you had a good day.
If you're not a father, I hope your day stunk.
Joking.
***
I WANT MY COMICS NEWSSITES BACK
Is it just me, or do the (relatively) new sites for the comics bulletin, Comic Book Resources, and Newsarama all look: 1) Disturbingly alike and 2) Less utilitarian than their previous incarnations? It's like all comics newssite design is now coming out of Stepford or something.
***
LINKS O' INTEREST (FREE COMICS!)
Two comics previews I'm looking forward to reading when this headache eases up:
-Fifty pages of Ray Fawkes and Cameron Stewart's long-awaited THE APOCALIPSTIX graphic novel, and
-A 24-page preview of Barnaby Ward's SIXTEEN MILES TO MERRICK collection of comic stories.
Something I read even though I had a headache, because it seemed like it might be relevant to someone who's currently making more money editing comics than writing them: Greg Hatcher on some of the things comic editors are SUPPOSED to do, using FINAL CRISIS and Chuck Dixon's abrupt departure from DC to illustrate his points. Dixon shows up in the comments, too, talking about how DC is run these days. "Directionless gladhander with a ouija board" strikes me as a very apt description of many, many people involved in comics these days. Of course, most of the ones I know about personally are involved in the small press--it's a little depressing to think that the situation might not improve as one reaches the upper echelons of the industry...
Canadian Professor Michael Geist's iOptOut website--which will hopefully give me and Tiina some peace from goddamn telephone solicitations that have been coming with increasing frequency this last month. I try to be nice to the people calling, on the assumption that they're not total asshats and are just people doing a job and trying to get by. When someone's trying to sell me something, I usually ask if they're on commission or an hourly wage. If the latter, I let them give me the spiel, if the former I tell them they'd be better off not bothering because it doesn't matter what they're talking about, I'm not buying. But my patience is wearing thin (this headache isn't helping), and I may yet be reduced to trying something my father suggested years ago, which is blowing a referee's whistle into the phone every time someone I don't want to talk to calls. I'd feel really bad about that, but part of me would also get a LOT of satisfaction from it.
A
***
HAPPY FATHERS DAY
If you're a father, I hope you had a good day.
If you're not a father, I hope your day stunk.
Joking.
***
I WANT MY COMICS NEWSSITES BACK
Is it just me, or do the (relatively) new sites for the comics bulletin, Comic Book Resources, and Newsarama all look: 1) Disturbingly alike and 2) Less utilitarian than their previous incarnations? It's like all comics newssite design is now coming out of Stepford or something.
***
LINKS O' INTEREST (FREE COMICS!)
Two comics previews I'm looking forward to reading when this headache eases up:
-Fifty pages of Ray Fawkes and Cameron Stewart's long-awaited THE APOCALIPSTIX graphic novel, and
-A 24-page preview of Barnaby Ward's SIXTEEN MILES TO MERRICK collection of comic stories.
Something I read even though I had a headache, because it seemed like it might be relevant to someone who's currently making more money editing comics than writing them: Greg Hatcher on some of the things comic editors are SUPPOSED to do, using FINAL CRISIS and Chuck Dixon's abrupt departure from DC to illustrate his points. Dixon shows up in the comments, too, talking about how DC is run these days. "Directionless gladhander with a ouija board" strikes me as a very apt description of many, many people involved in comics these days. Of course, most of the ones I know about personally are involved in the small press--it's a little depressing to think that the situation might not improve as one reaches the upper echelons of the industry...
Canadian Professor Michael Geist's iOptOut website--which will hopefully give me and Tiina some peace from goddamn telephone solicitations that have been coming with increasing frequency this last month. I try to be nice to the people calling, on the assumption that they're not total asshats and are just people doing a job and trying to get by. When someone's trying to sell me something, I usually ask if they're on commission or an hourly wage. If the latter, I let them give me the spiel, if the former I tell them they'd be better off not bothering because it doesn't matter what they're talking about, I'm not buying. But my patience is wearing thin (this headache isn't helping), and I may yet be reduced to trying something my father suggested years ago, which is blowing a referee's whistle into the phone every time someone I don't want to talk to calls. I'd feel really bad about that, but part of me would also get a LOT of satisfaction from it.
A
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Stuff and Nonsense, 12/06/2008
Scott O. Brown offers his choice for the greatest sentence ever . I still maintain the greatest sentence ever is something like "Here's your five million Canadian dollars, Andrew Foley; no, seriously, I'm not joking, this is real money and it's all yours, please take it."
Over at Nick Johnson's blog, Nick Soup, he's been showing off some designs from the upcoming second episode of THE HOLIDAY MEN.
Steven Grant talks about small press publisher warning signs creators should be wary of. A must-read for anyone thinking of getting into the business.
Potential McCain Vice President Candidate Bobby Jindal apparently experimented with spontaneous exorcism in college. Fill in your own "An exorcist is just what the White House needs right now" joke here.
***
MATURE SUBJECT MATTER
Two e-mail subject headers that have shown up in the ol' inbox over the last few days that amuse and frighten me:
"Visual Gifts to Stimulate Your Rods and Cones!" - which somehow sounds much naughtier than it actually is, and
"I hate comics with my penis!" - which doesn't.
A
Over at Nick Johnson's blog, Nick Soup, he's been showing off some designs from the upcoming second episode of THE HOLIDAY MEN.
Steven Grant talks about small press publisher warning signs creators should be wary of. A must-read for anyone thinking of getting into the business.
Potential McCain Vice President Candidate Bobby Jindal apparently experimented with spontaneous exorcism in college. Fill in your own "An exorcist is just what the White House needs right now" joke here.
***
MATURE SUBJECT MATTER
Two e-mail subject headers that have shown up in the ol' inbox over the last few days that amuse and frighten me:
"Visual Gifts to Stimulate Your Rods and Cones!" - which somehow sounds much naughtier than it actually is, and
"I hate comics with my penis!" - which doesn't.
A
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Totally Grey
Blargh?
It's been an ugly, grey day on pretty much every front. The sky is overcast. It's been dropping rain, lightning, sinus pain and tornado warnings all day. A tornado probably wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world, at least it might have woken me up, which nothing else seems capable of doing right now.
Trying to get my brain screwed in properly to get some work done, but it's not going well, to put it mildly. The script for the Zuda thing is written, but I can't get it out of my head. From the eight screen story I've found myself developing an actual storyline for the thing, which is as great a creative waste of time as I can conceive of. Trying to focus on working screenplay style on something, while staying on top of the editing.
Anyway. Couple of notes of interest to touch on while I wait for the pizza to cook.
***
PLATINUM CORRECTION and THE LATEST
As correctly pointed out in the comments last week, the ILLEGAL ALIENS Platinum's planning to develop with Vanguard Animation is not the ILLEGAL ALIENS Rob Moran created for them several years ago, but another ILLEGAL ALIENS altogether. I feel doubly stupid on this one: I skimmed the article I linked to, which was pretty clear about who created the property in question, and my friend Scott O. Brown is actually writing the Moran version of ILLEGAL ALIENS (which has apparently been retitled THE HUNTER).
As for the wider Platinum Studios situation, Rich Johnston posted a "confidential" letter from Platinum Chief Operating Officer Brian Altounian to the people who hadn't been paid in his Lying in The Gutters column yesterday, explaining and apologizing for the situation (and reminding everyone they had confidentiality agreements and shouldn't be doing things like sending the letter to Rich Johnston). This was subsequently picked up by The Beat and Journalista, among others.
I didn't get the e-mail, possibly because I'm not owed money (I'm actually a little surprised about the situation, in my experience Platinum could always be counted on for sending out a cheque very soon after receiving an invoice), possibly because I'm no longer "a part of (the company's) long term plans" (I was told that I was several times over the years, but that no longer seems to be the case--which, if creators aren't getting cheques promptly anymore, may be for the best.)
I don't really know what to make of all this. There's certainly a bit of car crash fascination about the whole thing, but I still know and like several people working with or for the company. In a comment after Publishers Weekly's THE BEAT column on the situation, Lea Hernandez counts Platinum as one of numerous "Big companies with big talk collapsing under their own awful weight." What worries me is that, if this is, in fact, what's happening with the company, the awful weight's going to collapse on a bunch of people who're doing their jobs in good faith and don't deserve to have it fall on them. For that reason if no other (and I do have others), I hope the company manages to hold on.
***
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Glad he likes it. I shall add his kudos to my collection. It’s getting quite large, but I think some of them are going off, there’s a weird smell coming from the kudos cupboard." The Future of Comics (II) John Keane, responding to positive comments from the writer of the comic project he's currently working on.
A
It's been an ugly, grey day on pretty much every front. The sky is overcast. It's been dropping rain, lightning, sinus pain and tornado warnings all day. A tornado probably wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world, at least it might have woken me up, which nothing else seems capable of doing right now.
Trying to get my brain screwed in properly to get some work done, but it's not going well, to put it mildly. The script for the Zuda thing is written, but I can't get it out of my head. From the eight screen story I've found myself developing an actual storyline for the thing, which is as great a creative waste of time as I can conceive of. Trying to focus on working screenplay style on something, while staying on top of the editing.
Anyway. Couple of notes of interest to touch on while I wait for the pizza to cook.
***
PLATINUM CORRECTION and THE LATEST
As correctly pointed out in the comments last week, the ILLEGAL ALIENS Platinum's planning to develop with Vanguard Animation is not the ILLEGAL ALIENS Rob Moran created for them several years ago, but another ILLEGAL ALIENS altogether. I feel doubly stupid on this one: I skimmed the article I linked to, which was pretty clear about who created the property in question, and my friend Scott O. Brown is actually writing the Moran version of ILLEGAL ALIENS (which has apparently been retitled THE HUNTER).
As for the wider Platinum Studios situation, Rich Johnston posted a "confidential" letter from Platinum Chief Operating Officer Brian Altounian to the people who hadn't been paid in his Lying in The Gutters column yesterday, explaining and apologizing for the situation (and reminding everyone they had confidentiality agreements and shouldn't be doing things like sending the letter to Rich Johnston). This was subsequently picked up by The Beat and Journalista, among others.
I didn't get the e-mail, possibly because I'm not owed money (I'm actually a little surprised about the situation, in my experience Platinum could always be counted on for sending out a cheque very soon after receiving an invoice), possibly because I'm no longer "a part of (the company's) long term plans" (I was told that I was several times over the years, but that no longer seems to be the case--which, if creators aren't getting cheques promptly anymore, may be for the best.)
I don't really know what to make of all this. There's certainly a bit of car crash fascination about the whole thing, but I still know and like several people working with or for the company. In a comment after Publishers Weekly's THE BEAT column on the situation, Lea Hernandez counts Platinum as one of numerous "Big companies with big talk collapsing under their own awful weight." What worries me is that, if this is, in fact, what's happening with the company, the awful weight's going to collapse on a bunch of people who're doing their jobs in good faith and don't deserve to have it fall on them. For that reason if no other (and I do have others), I hope the company manages to hold on.
***
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Glad he likes it. I shall add his kudos to my collection. It’s getting quite large, but I think some of them are going off, there’s a weird smell coming from the kudos cupboard." The Future of Comics (II) John Keane, responding to positive comments from the writer of the comic project he's currently working on.
A
Friday, March 14, 2008
Where the wind blows.
Weather is changing. After a week and a half of above zero temperatures, snow has started to fall. I feel like someone has kicked me in the brain.
***
SELF-REFERENTIAL LINKBLOGGING
As you may recall, a couple days ago I referenced the recent practice of many small press comic publishers of creating comic projects that are intended less to be successful comics than they are cheap back-door pitches for movie and television properties.
The very next day, Dirk Deppey, the guy behind my favourite comics blog, The Comic Journal's !journalista!, ran a good portion of an interview with Barry Levine, the guy behind a new comics publisher with that very business plan, Radical Comics, accompanied by the occasional snarky comment. You know you're in for an entertaining time when the intro to a story begins with an intro like this one: "The Hollywood connection continues to attract parasites to comics publishing..."
Or maybe you just know *I'm* in for a good time when that happens.
***
SELF-REFERENTIAL LINKBLOGGING #2
Over at the Andrew Foley Writes Things blog, Scott O. Brown, the guy responsible for my March 11 Quote of the Day left the following comment in response to it:
"Expect a package."
Oh yeah. When it comes to giving notes, I've still got it.
***
SELF-REFERENTIAL LINKBLOGGING #3
Happy Harbor Comics has put up photos from the Make-A-Wish event on Monday featuring Udon Studios artist and all-round good guy Joe Ng, including one of me, Jayce Morrow, and the sketch of the Decepticon BARRICADE I did for him. That hour and a half at HH was the highlight of my week in a lot of ways. Certainly it put me in as good a mood as I've been in for too long awhile.
***
SELF-REFERENTIAL LINKBLOGGING #4
After a number of false starts at other small press comic publishers, George Singley has decided it'd be less of a hassle to publish Chimaera Studios comics himself.
I did some writing work on the Chimaera RPG, as well as the upcoming TITUS: HEROIC FAILURE miniseries--a book I put a lot into and will be happy to finally see published. T:HF is pretty much the direct creative forerunner of THE HOLIDAY MEN, so if you like that, you'll probably like Titus. On the other hand, if you like pretty much everything else Chimaera's doing (which tends to be in much more of a straight superhero vein), this is something you'll probably want to avoid.
I'm also informed that T:HF now has an artist, one I'm very happy with, but I don't think I'm supposed to talk about it yet.
***
THE TO-DO LIST (weekend edition)
-Finish first 20 comic pages of script of MASTER OF THE HOUSE, so Fiona's got everything she needs when she starts drawing it in May.
-Talk to editor about the shape (or lack thereof) of GONE.
-Dig up projects a prospective new collaborator might like to work on.
-Work on the textras for THE HOLIDAY MEN print version.
-Do Not Panic.
A
***
SELF-REFERENTIAL LINKBLOGGING
As you may recall, a couple days ago I referenced the recent practice of many small press comic publishers of creating comic projects that are intended less to be successful comics than they are cheap back-door pitches for movie and television properties.
The very next day, Dirk Deppey, the guy behind my favourite comics blog, The Comic Journal's !journalista!, ran a good portion of an interview with Barry Levine, the guy behind a new comics publisher with that very business plan, Radical Comics, accompanied by the occasional snarky comment. You know you're in for an entertaining time when the intro to a story begins with an intro like this one: "The Hollywood connection continues to attract parasites to comics publishing..."
Or maybe you just know *I'm* in for a good time when that happens.
***
SELF-REFERENTIAL LINKBLOGGING #2
Over at the Andrew Foley Writes Things blog, Scott O. Brown, the guy responsible for my March 11 Quote of the Day left the following comment in response to it:
"Expect a package."
Oh yeah. When it comes to giving notes, I've still got it.
***
SELF-REFERENTIAL LINKBLOGGING #3
Happy Harbor Comics has put up photos from the Make-A-Wish event on Monday featuring Udon Studios artist and all-round good guy Joe Ng, including one of me, Jayce Morrow, and the sketch of the Decepticon BARRICADE I did for him. That hour and a half at HH was the highlight of my week in a lot of ways. Certainly it put me in as good a mood as I've been in for too long awhile.
***
SELF-REFERENTIAL LINKBLOGGING #4
After a number of false starts at other small press comic publishers, George Singley has decided it'd be less of a hassle to publish Chimaera Studios comics himself.
I did some writing work on the Chimaera RPG, as well as the upcoming TITUS: HEROIC FAILURE miniseries--a book I put a lot into and will be happy to finally see published. T:HF is pretty much the direct creative forerunner of THE HOLIDAY MEN, so if you like that, you'll probably like Titus. On the other hand, if you like pretty much everything else Chimaera's doing (which tends to be in much more of a straight superhero vein), this is something you'll probably want to avoid.
I'm also informed that T:HF now has an artist, one I'm very happy with, but I don't think I'm supposed to talk about it yet.
***
THE TO-DO LIST (weekend edition)
-Finish first 20 comic pages of script of MASTER OF THE HOUSE, so Fiona's got everything she needs when she starts drawing it in May.
-Talk to editor about the shape (or lack thereof) of GONE.
-Dig up projects a prospective new collaborator might like to work on.
-Work on the textras for THE HOLIDAY MEN print version.
-Do Not Panic.
A
Monday, January 14, 2008
Linkblog
Dental problems continue to vex me, and the last minute rush to get the second installment of THE HOLIDAY MEN up in 13 hours or so has me preoccupied. Still, some interesting stuff to read kicking around the web this morning...
I'm the Guest Writer at this month's Writer's Corner at the Edmonton Public Library. Not entirely sure what I'll be doing there, yet. From what I can tell, the format of the gatherings is extremely flexible, but I'll probably be reading from a couple things, just because I like doing that and I haven't had a chance to do it publicly for a year and a half.
From Dirk Deppey's !journalista!: As much as it pains me to find myself siding with long-time personal irritant and serial fuckwit Ezra Levant, if there isn't more to this story than he's being forced to defend himself legally for simply reprinting (presumably with the cartoonists' permission) the infamous Danish anti-Mohammed cartoons, well, damn it, I guess there is something to that whole strange bedfellows thing after all. Now will somebody please get this asshole out of my bed?
SF Author Lyda Morehouse on how supposedly negative emotional states can inspire productivity. Speaking for myself, jealousy and competitiveness have long been major personal
From Todd Allen's column at ComicBookResources.com: A link to the Hollywood option document for Platinum's COWBOYS & ALIENS. I'm going to need to be in a substantially better mood than I have been for the last 15-odd years before I read it.
Warren Ellis is letting independent comic creators plug their work at his Whitechapel forum.
A little more than twelve hours till the new installment of THE HOLIDAY MEN goes live at ChemSetComics.com. I'm still getting butterflies in my stomach from getting it out there...
I'm the Guest Writer at this month's Writer's Corner at the Edmonton Public Library. Not entirely sure what I'll be doing there, yet. From what I can tell, the format of the gatherings is extremely flexible, but I'll probably be reading from a couple things, just because I like doing that and I haven't had a chance to do it publicly for a year and a half.
From Dirk Deppey's !journalista!: As much as it pains me to find myself siding with long-time personal irritant and serial fuckwit Ezra Levant, if there isn't more to this story than he's being forced to defend himself legally for simply reprinting (presumably with the cartoonists' permission) the infamous Danish anti-Mohammed cartoons, well, damn it, I guess there is something to that whole strange bedfellows thing after all. Now will somebody please get this asshole out of my bed?
SF Author Lyda Morehouse on how supposedly negative emotional states can inspire productivity. Speaking for myself, jealousy and competitiveness have long been major personal
From Todd Allen's column at ComicBookResources.com: A link to the Hollywood option document for Platinum's COWBOYS & ALIENS. I'm going to need to be in a substantially better mood than I have been for the last 15-odd years before I read it.
Warren Ellis is letting independent comic creators plug their work at his Whitechapel forum.
A little more than twelve hours till the new installment of THE HOLIDAY MEN goes live at ChemSetComics.com. I'm still getting butterflies in my stomach from getting it out there...
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