What's Up.

Well, that was an appallingly awful ten days, spent mostly lying in bed hoping against all hope for the sweet release of death.

But it's over now and time to get things moving again. Unfortunately, almost everything that matters in my professional world is currently moving towards San Diego for the big comic con next week. With no books to show this year and no recognizable success getting work or even useful connections out of attending from previous years, I have elected not to go this time (in my ideal world, I would elect not to go any time--the thing is just too much: too big, too hot, too loud, too crowded.)

Which is for the best, I think, but it appears to effectively mean I'm going to spend the next couple weeks in limbo as everyone else trucks over to the coast for over-priced drinks and heatstroke. Not that I couldn't develop heatstroke right here at home, the way the weather's been lately.

Most critically, and frustratingly: all paying work is on hold, supposedly until after the convention when at least UP1 is supposed to resume. We'll see if that happens--right now I'm not feeling terribly confident about it, which sucks, because, though it didn't pay particularly well, it was at least going to pay, and money is an issue at the moment (not as big an issue as it would be if I was going to San Diego. As a matter of fact, going to San Diego last year combined with a couple publishers breaking their promises is arguably why it's an issue at all now.) (It's not a great argument, though. Tiina and I are terrible when it comes to money.) (Still, going to San Diego last year really hurt us financially. Which is another reason I'd rather Never Go Again at the moment.)

The absence of paying work is not without its advantages, however. It gives me space to work on and develop my own projects, ones that I'm passionate about because they excite me even without an imminent paycheque attached.

On Monday I was contacted by two different artists, who are both interested in working on two different projects with me (come to think of it, I should really e-mail one of them back tonight...). So VANQUISHED and ERSATZ are suddenly moving forward again (VAN more suddenly than Ersatz, to be sure.) And Nick Johnson delivered some more character designs for THE HOLIDAY MEN (come to think of it, I should really e-mail him back tonight, too...).

All three of those landed at the tail end of The Oozing Infection, during which time I was all but useless, on a work level. It's hard to write when every strike of the keyboard sends a lightning bolt of pain coursing through your face. Still, on Friday I found myself wanting to get something done.

My general writing practice is to sit around and not write for days on end (paraphrasing someone regarding Douglas Adams, "not starting writing until every newspaper possible had been read and every last cup of tea possible had been drunk"), just thinking about how I'm going to do a story. This mulling eventually hits critical mass and I start typing in a mad rush, often into the wee hours of the night. And then, when I actually do lie down, all I can think about is getting the first run-through...well, run through.

Once I've gone through, got everything that will make sure the story is a story in place, the real work begins. I can't recall who said when you can't write something good, write crap, because then at least you'll have something to fix, but fixing my crap is where I like to think I really shine.

I'm an obsessive polisher of almost everything I write. Even e-mails get proofed and tweaked at least once, often more. Blog and messageboard posts take a stupid amount of time for me, as I struggle to make sure my phrasing is saying exactly what I want it to. After years of doing this, I now realize going to all the effort is bordering on insanity, but I can't stop. The upside comes when I'm actually writing something Important--then my incessant need to work and rework words is an advantage (and also a burden--I probably don't need to spend as much time proofreading and tweaking panel descriptions only an artist, editor, and letterer are likely ever going to see, for instance.)

Of course, the trick is knowing when to stop, and it's a trick I haven't mastered yet. Left to my own devices, I'd probably still be polishing the first story I ever wrote. Deadlines are wonderful things, if only because they let me know when I've got no choice but to stop, no matter how much I want to go through the thing just one last time.

Anyway. Unable to focus enough to polish stuff like CCCC#2's script into fighting form, but still feeling the overwhelming need to write (there's only so many YouTube clips of Fry and Laurie one can watch in the course of a week), I elected to work on something from the ground up. I settled on an idea for a television show I've been nurturing for years. I felt like I had a pretty good grasp on the characters and themes I wanted to hit with the thing, and as I lay in a semi-conscious state I put together an actual plot for the pilot episode.

Working on a screenplay made a lot of sense at the time--rather than trying to rally the mental energy to describe how I envision a comic page might look, I could keep descriptions to a minimum and focus what energies I had on the part of writing I like best: dialogue.

It took me from Friday till Sunday to get from beginning to end of my initial Crapdraft. And on Monday, lo and behold, I was feeling human again.

So I started polishing. I was up till 2 in the morning the last couple nights, both times working on getting the script into fighting shape. This morning I went through it again, and, because I thought at the time paying work was going to resume, I sent it off to the manager for her thoughts.

In light of what I've learned today, I wish I hadn't done that. Because all I want to do at the moment is go through it again, fine-tuning it further. I know that's not an efficient use of my time, but it's a compulsion I find myself barely able to resist.

At least typing this post gave me forty minutes of thinking about something other than going back in. It's time to move forward on something, not back into my first spec pilot script, cerrtainly not until I've got some feedback from someone who knows how to read scripts.

And I've got a couple artists waiting to hear back from me. So.

Onward!

Foley

It's Alive! IT'S ALLLLIIIIIIIIVE!

(cross-posted to LJ and MySpace)

I am beginning to feel faintly human again.

Well, as human as I ever feel, anyway.

Now, there is work to do. But first...

***

THE FUTURE OF COMICS (I) IS NOW (READ "NOW" AS OCTOBER)

My DONE TO DEATH collaborator Fiona Staples takes another step towards what in comic terms qualifies as The Big Leagues, and it's about damn time someone with a budget recognized her talent. From DC/Wildstorm's October '07 solicitations:

TRICK ’R TREAT #1-4
Written by Marc Andreyko
Art by FIONA STAPLES, Grant Bond and Mike Huddleston
Covers by Breehn Burns, Sean Galloway, Ragnar and Michael Dougherty
In the best tradition of horror comics comes Trick ’r Treat, a 4-issue, weekly shipping miniseries based on the major motion picture written and directed by Michael Dougherty (co-writer of Superman Returns and X-Men 2), produced by Bryan Singer, and starring Dylan Baker, Brian Cox, and Anna Paquin.
Each issue presents a vignette and weaves together four tales of terror and laughter as we witness a sleepy suburban neighborhood’s transformation into a Halloween horror! Small towns have never been so full of creepy characters — from a serial killer who specializes in poisoning candy and a group of mischievous kids who unearth their town's dark secret, to a young woman hunted by a masked stalker at the local festival, or a cantankerous old hermit dealing with a demonic trick-or-treater…these stories will grab hold and pull you in — whether you like it or not! The first issue ships during the opening week of this major motion picture from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures!
Issue #1 on sale October 3; issue #2 on sale October 10; issue #3 on sale October 24; issue #4 on sale October 31 • 1-4 of 4 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • MATURE READERS

I'm not sure which issue(s) Fiona's working on, yet.

In spite of the fact that I am now officially Small Potatoes, Fiona still wants to do SIX SHOTS, which makes me a happy, happy man.

Well, as happy as I ever feel, anyway.

A

The Latest

O CANADA, I STAND ON YADAYADDAYADA...

Chimaera head honcho George Singley likes the first issue script of CCCC (not its final name), and furthermore likes my idea for promoting it on this side of the border. I hope we can pull this one together. Was up half the night sweating in the ridiculous heat thinking about #2.

***

BIG PICTURE/SMALL SCREEN

Just pitched my TV Show Idea to the manager. She's lukewarm at best on the idea of me pitching a show from my current position as Absolutely No One in the industry, but I gave it my best shot. If she doesn't think it has a chance, I'll go back to sitting on it till it does. A few more years wait shouldn't hurt. Unless someone else scoops the idea, which is the sort of thing someone should've come up with years ago, but, as far as I can tell, hasn't.

Even if someone else does come up with it, I've got other ideas (this one is the One That Will Only Work As A Television Serial and Not As a Comic, Film, or Anything Else). The Token Goblin could make an interesting television show, if the budget was there...

***

DOING TO DEATH

Sounds like a local filmmaker's come across D2D and Parting Ways. A mutual acquaintance tells me we'll be "doing a meeting" sometime in the foreseeable future.

In the meantime, D2D is doing the rounds in H'wood, being sent to people the Manager thinks will get it. The trick with D2D when it comes to H'wood, apparently, is that it's a hybrid--a horror and a comedy. Or, as the Manager described it, "cool and unique but tough to sell."

I have a hard time coming to terms with the existence of an entertainment industry that isn't chomping at the bit to buy stories that are both cool and unique, but given what I've heard about H'wood from People Who'd Know, the place is ass-backwards when it comes to entertainment. There's too much money involved; nobody wants to/feels they can afford to take any risks. Or, as someone put it (I think I got it off Steven Grant, but I could be wrong and even if I'm not, it might not have originated with him), "Nobody in H'wood wants to be first; everyone wants to be first to be second."

The sequel is King.

Foley

CCCC

First draft script of #1, page one of Chimaera's Canadian Champion Contingent:

(O/P=Off-panel, ET=Electric Word balloon tail.)

(My dialogue emphasis doesn't seem to have survived the cut and paste. Oh well.)

PAGE 1

PANEL 1

Panoramic shot of the Calgary skyline. A nice day in February. Clear skies, sun shining down. From the top of the biggest skyscraper comes a word balloon:

SIMPSON: …AND SO, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, LET ME PRESENT THE MEMBERS OF CANADA’S FIRST OFFICIAL SUPERHERO TEAM, THE CALGARY WHITE-HATS…

CAP: CALGARY, ALBERTA.

CAP: CANADA.

PANEL 2

Panels 2-5 will all be the same size--either two tiers of two or one tier of long vertical panels. Each will be basically the same shot, with the corporate toady SIMPSON at the bottom right, gesturing excitedly to the main portion of each panel, a large projection screen on which we’re going to see the members of Phoenix Petroleum’s corporate-owned superhero team, the White-Hats. In this panel, the focus is on THE STAMPEDER, a seven foot tall, heavily muscled man in a sleeveless black leather trenchcoat, black gloves, who’s actually wearing a white cowboy hat (the others will have a white hat symbol on them somewhere, in much the same way cover girls on Playboy have the bunny logo somewhere on them) (almost exactly the same way, actually.)

SIMPSON: …FIRST UP IS THE STAMPEDER.

SIMPSON: THE NEVER-SAY-DIE SPIRIT OF CALGARY, GIVEN HUMAN FORM, THE WHITE-HATS’ RESIDENT POWERHOUSE HAS A HEART OF GOLD WITH A REDNECK EDGE.

PANEL 3

Same angle, but now we’re looking at the scantily-clad, well-endowed form of SUNSHINE, whose costume (what there is of it) looks like it’s been painted on. She’s wearing a come-hither smile; a white hat medallion hangs from a thin golden chain between her massive breasts.

SIMPSON: NEXT WE’VE GOT SUNSHINE, OUR FEMINIST ICON. SHE’S HOT, IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD, CONTROLLING BOTH HEAT AND LIGHT. THE ROOM BRIGHTENS WHEN SHE WALKS IN--AND I MEAN THAT LITERALLY!

PANEL 4

Same angle, but this time the screen features KID KALGARY, a forty-year-old ad executive’s idea of what’s “fresh” for the teen set. A fifteen year old boy who looks maybe thirteen, dressed in a variety of clichéd fashion. His baggy t-shirt has a white hat on it, his baseball cap is turned sideways at a jaunty angle, he’s got a rocket-skateboard under one arm, long, baggy shorts over big, stereotypically amerimanga-style boots that fit into slots on the rocketboard.

SIMPSON: HE’S FRESH! HE’S HAPPENING! HE’S KID KALGARY AND HE’S GOT A ROCKET-POWERED SKATEBOARD!

SIMPSON: (CONNECTED)(WE’RE CURRENTLY TAKING BIDS FROM TOY COMPANIES TO PRODUCE K-K ROCKET-BOARDS--IT’LL BE HUGE NEXT CHRISTMAS!)

CHINOOK: (O/P) K-K ? HE SPELLS CALGARY WITH A “K”?

SIMPSON: YOU BET! HE’S THE SHIZZLE, YO!

PANEL 5

Same again, but this time the screen shows a huge, Kirbyesque monster who nevertheless manages to give off the air of a teddy-bear. BIG OIL’s body is composed entirely of, well, oil. He’s wearing tight shorts, the belt buckle of which is a white hat.

SIMPSON: ECOLOGICAL DISASTERS AREN’T ALL BAD--YOU COULDN’T HAVE BIG OIL, HERE, WITHOUT AN OIL SPILL TO TRIGGER HIS LATENT SUPERPOWERS!

SIMPSON: HE’S THE MONSTER VILLAINS FEAR AND KIDS LOVE, AND NO WONDER! BIG OIL IS--

MRS. KING: (O/P, ET) I BELIEVE I’VE SEEN ENOUGH.
***

I wrote a first draft script of the other 21 pages of #1 in the last 48 hours. More fun than anything trying to pass itself off as work should ever be.

Foley

Cooking.

Progress of a sort is being made, or at least it was till the heat rammed into my body like an out-of-control freight train about an hour ago. Still, I'm a solid 10 comic pages of script into Chimaera's Canadian Champion Contingent, and Nick Johnson and the artist for Web Project 1 both seem to be gearing up to get down to work.

For myself, I shall just be getting down to sleep, I suspect. The heat around these parts is already atrocious, and it's supposedly going to rise to 33 degrees on Thursday. I've got a feeling I'll be doing whatever work I get done in the next few days in the living room under the giant fan.

There's something very pleasing about being unable to sleep because you're running story scenes through in your head and then you get up and several hours later, boom, you've got ten pages of those scenes plus a couple others written.

The CCCC book is going to be fun, in a completely different way than TITUS: HEROIC FAILURE is fun. CCCC will be good, clean fun; THF is bad, nasty fun.

If we sell more than a thousand copies of each issue, I'll fall out of my chair.

Foley

Happy Harbor II and III filming back-to-back

This just in (if by "just in" you mean, "It's been in the works for weeks and I found out about it last night"): Happy Harbor Comics Volume III, is opening in early November, 2007, at 10320-81 Avenue, a space currently occupied by Warp One Comics and Entertainment. Tell all your friends.

TELL THEM!

Speaking of the Shuster Award-winning comic retailer, Blog@Newsarama ran an interview with co-owner Jay Bardyla yesterday: http://blog.newsarama.com/2007/07/01/blogcanada-day-canadas-best-retailer-happy-harbor/#comments

EDITED TO ADD: This really is just in, from HH's mailing list:

Saturday - MAKE POVERTY HISTORY - 7% of all sales on Saturday at the Downtown location will be donated to help fight poverty so make sure to pick up your file or make an extra trip this week to the store and do your part to fight poverty. Why? Because you can.

http://07for07.googlepages.com/

***

CANADIAN SUPERHEROES

Here's a website I'll be reading closely in the next few days. And hopefully adding something to in the next year or two.

Foley

To Do List: July 1, 2007

Still waiting to hear back from the manager on ERSATZ and others, and the Big Publisher. Both are now running later than they said they would.

This is not exactly a surprise.

Paying gigs are all on hold at the moment. This is a great opportunity to do a bunch of things I want to do. An opportunity I will doubtless squander, on the grounds that "It's Canada Day!", but still.

Things To Do, in no particular order:

-Get more work on HOLIDAY MEN #1 script for Nick.

-Work on SIX SHOTS proposal, specifically the issues 3-6 outlines.

-Finish writing synopsis for first volume of MAXXED OUT! (outlines for vols 2-4 are already in.)

-Start picking at ERSATZ in some form or another.

-Head back in to the SPOOKY KIDS: INCISION script.

-Catch up on e-mails.

-Check in on the artist for AS REAL AS MONSTERS and see if he's ready to get going.

-Finish outlines for Chimaera's Canadian Champion Contingent and TALES OF STUPEFICTION. Start scripting.

-Get back to the RPG stuff. I actually forgot about that one for the last few weeks. Whoops.

-Do other things I'm probably forgetting I'm supposed to do.


The Not To Do List:

-Go back to bed.

Good night.

Foley