This is one I've been meaning to do for a while. 2010 saw the comics industry as a whole take a pretty big hit as far as sales. If you weren't Batman, Green Lantern (or loosely related), Avengers, Walking Dead, or Scott Pilgrim, your sales sucked. I highly doubt this single post made on a blog that no one reads will change things, so I'll try to bring awareness to some books that I feel may be overlooked.
This isn't really in any kind of order. I'm not one of those habitual readers who reads something because I've been doing so for X amount of years. If it sucks, I hop off. If it's good, I'm there.
1) Elephantmen. This is an odd book to describe. The brainchild of letterer extraordinaire Richard Starkings, the origins of this book can be found in the Hip Flask books that Starkings co-wrote with Joe Casey with painted artwork by Jose Ladronn. The ongoing features humanized rhinos and hippos in a futuristic world where people are trying to kill them or befriend them or any other thing. The cast of characters is huge, and the book features the best "world building" I've seen in a creator owned book since Astro City came out regularly.
The art is pretty good and seems to be a "breaking in" book for a number of people like Moritat (the artist on the current Spirit book from DC) and Marian Churchland (Image's OGN Beast).
And for no reason, the 25th issue, while being part of the ongoing story, was also a tribute to Mark Gruenwald.
2) G.I. Joe: Cobra. Ever read Sleeper by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips? What happens when you take out the superpowers? What happens when you replace I/O and Tao's organization with G.I. Joe and Cobra? This. You get this. Chuckles is the main character as he gets sent undercover to join Cobra. To say more would be a spoiler.
3) The Sixth Gun. This Oni Press title mixes "western" with "horror/supernatural" to deliver a compelling read. I've seen this series show up on a lot of "best of 2010" lists. I'll let the FCBD site set the groundwork for me:
"During the darkest days of the Civil War, wicked cutthroats came into possession of six pistols of otherworldly power. In time, the Sixth Gun - the most dangerous of the weapons - vanished. When the gun resurfaces in the hands of an innocent girl, dark forces reawaken. Vile men thought long dead set their sights on retrieving the gun and killing the girl. Only Drake Sinclair, a gunfighter with a shadowy past, stands in their way!"
Also available by the same creative team, by the same publisher, is The Damned.
4) Fantastic Four. What? A mainstream superhero book? Yeah, that's right. For the first time since Mark Waid (at least the first half of his run), someone comes along who "gets" what this book/team/family should be. The first few issues of Jonathan Hickman's run are a little slow, but after the first few you'll start to see the bigger picture. Hickman brings the tools he utilized in his creator-owned work at Image to breathe new life into Marvel's First Family. As much of a slow burn parts of the run are, there's a synergy with another title that's called...
5) S.H.I.E.L.D. Seriously...what other Marvel title can you point to that features Leonardo da Vinci as a main character? I need to reread this with Hickman's Fantastic Four to see how all the Nathaniel Richards appearances line up.
6) Nick Spencer. Yes, I realize that's a creator and not a title itself. 2010 was undeniably Nick Spencer's year as he became the MVP of Jim Valentino's "Shadowline" imprint at Image Comics. His rise started in 2009 with Existence 2.0 which proved successful enough at Existence 3.0 was greenlit soon after. A story in Shadowline's Fractured Fables OGN soon followed, as did Forgetless, Shuddertown, and his current and in my opinion, strongest work to date, Morning Glories (4 printings of #1, bitches!). DC has recognized his talent by giving him the Jimmy Olsen backups in Action Comics, the Thunder Agents reboot, and Supergirl (or not). Soon he'll be teaming up with Barry Kitson at Marvel for Iron Man 2.0, starring War Machine.
And I knew him way back when he was just some dude on a message board.
7) True Story, Swear To God. Really, dude? A "romance" comic? YES! This comic chronicles the real life romance between cartoonist Tom Beland and Puerto Rican Radio/TV Personality, Lily Garcia. It talks about how they met, the struggles of a long distance relationship (especially when there's a Hurricane involved), and some nice how-to advice on self-publishing. The funny/sweet tone of the book is something I'd like to channel for my 2-pager due later this year.
Unfortunately Tom has had some health problems like a tremor in his hand that have prevented him from putting the book out regularly for the past 2 years or so. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
My odd Thursday...
My ex stopped by. I knew this was going to happen. I figured she knew I was basically here by myself and was going to keep me company for the day since my Stepdad is kind of standoffish. That wasn't really the case.
She arrived and said "hi" in a low and slightly grizzled voice. She's upset. Okay. She must have had a bad morning at work. I let her in and she walks all the way up here to the 3rd floor without saying a word. She put her bag down and took her coat off as I sat down on my sofa and looked up at her.
I should probably name her after all these entries. Her name is Jenn.
Jenn said, "I know Amanda's not here but pretend she is, okay?" Amanda's our mutual friend and my best female friend.
"The past two times she's talked to you, she said you were drunk as shit. You're complaining to me about not having anything to eat but you can go drinking? How can you afford that? I know you're upset about your mom but don't do this. It's time for you to grow up and get a job."
Here come the tears.
"I lost my Grandmom when she was 52 and it sucked. I don't want for you to have to go through the same thing. It's time to be an adult."
"Get up." I do.
"That was me being nice. I was ready to kick your ass when I came in here."
She noticed I was wearing the Punisher shirt she got me for x-mas.
"I'm glad your shirt fits."
Then she hugged me.
She sat down in my computer chair and dried her eyes. She calmed down a bit and we started bullshitting like any other time she's come here in the past few months. She talked about how she wanted to see Ireland. I forget how that came about. She asked me where I wanted to go, if I had the chance. Then, she hijacked my computer and looked up plane ticket prices, travel times, and even the currency of these places. During all this, my mom called.
I put her on speakerphone so we could both talk to her. My mom told us she'd be coming home the next day. Both Jenn and I were pretty excited by the news. We all spoke for a bit, then we both told her we loved her before hanging up. Jenn hi-fived me after that. Eh...it's a thing. We ordered pizza after that.
While waiting, Jenn went back to looking up currency of these countries. She even found a site that shows how much our Dollar compares to the currency of pretty much any country. I remembered I had a box in another room with currency from a few countries, so I showed that to her. She got a kick out of that. Food finally came. While we ate, Jenn called Amanda and put her on speakerphone. Then they started talking about taking a cruise and seeing how much that would cost. Pretty expensive.
Eventually we got off the phone with Amanda and ate dessert. The last time Jenn was here, I had two pints of Ben & Jerry's "Pumpkin Cheesecake" ice cream. We each ate half of one before they started melting so I saved them. We finished them this time.
Jenn wanted to see my EyePet next. It's a PS3 exclusive game that works with the PS Move and the PS3 camera. You basically aim the camera at yourself and you show up on the screen, the game basically superimposes the pet over the "video" of yourself, and you interact with it via the Move. It's a family game, mostly for kids, but I got it because I thought Jenn would like it (and I thought the Sports Champions game looked shitty), and she did. A LOT. She's not really one for video games but we were quickly switching off challenges. It was fun. Easily the highlight of the day.
Eventually Jenn had to leave so I turned the game off and walked her to her car, because I'm nice like that. When she hugged me before getting in, she said "Don't turn into an alkie." I exclaimed that I wasn't. Then I thanked her for not beating me.
"I'm saving that for in case I see Nick." was her response. That's her ex, the kid who broke up with her last year at the 11th hour when he was supposed to move in with her.
"I plan on ripping off all of his meaningful organs."
I said, "So you're pretty much going to leave him alone, then?"
She looked at me a bit puzzled.
"You said you were going to rip off his MEANINGFUL organs."
She laughed then got into her car, then she rolled her window down. I reached in and gave her another hug, through the window. Very awkward. I'm hugging her as she's rubbing my head.
"Why are you rubbing my head?" I asked, as I let go.
"It was the only part I could find. Would you rather I not touch you at all?"
"Hey, you can touch me wherever you want."
She smiled a big smile, laughed, then drove away.
Not long after she left, she sent me some strange texts. I'm still trying to decipher the last one.
Jenn: When I looked up at you from my car, I felt like I was in a time warp. You looked exactly how you were in 1999. The only thing missing was your thick hair.
Me: Trying to figure out if that means I looked hot, young, same-y, or what.
Jenn: You had life again.
Um...what????
She arrived and said "hi" in a low and slightly grizzled voice. She's upset. Okay. She must have had a bad morning at work. I let her in and she walks all the way up here to the 3rd floor without saying a word. She put her bag down and took her coat off as I sat down on my sofa and looked up at her.
I should probably name her after all these entries. Her name is Jenn.
Jenn said, "I know Amanda's not here but pretend she is, okay?" Amanda's our mutual friend and my best female friend.
"The past two times she's talked to you, she said you were drunk as shit. You're complaining to me about not having anything to eat but you can go drinking? How can you afford that? I know you're upset about your mom but don't do this. It's time for you to grow up and get a job."
Here come the tears.
"I lost my Grandmom when she was 52 and it sucked. I don't want for you to have to go through the same thing. It's time to be an adult."
"Get up." I do.
"That was me being nice. I was ready to kick your ass when I came in here."
She noticed I was wearing the Punisher shirt she got me for x-mas.
"I'm glad your shirt fits."
Then she hugged me.
She sat down in my computer chair and dried her eyes. She calmed down a bit and we started bullshitting like any other time she's come here in the past few months. She talked about how she wanted to see Ireland. I forget how that came about. She asked me where I wanted to go, if I had the chance. Then, she hijacked my computer and looked up plane ticket prices, travel times, and even the currency of these places. During all this, my mom called.
I put her on speakerphone so we could both talk to her. My mom told us she'd be coming home the next day. Both Jenn and I were pretty excited by the news. We all spoke for a bit, then we both told her we loved her before hanging up. Jenn hi-fived me after that. Eh...it's a thing. We ordered pizza after that.
While waiting, Jenn went back to looking up currency of these countries. She even found a site that shows how much our Dollar compares to the currency of pretty much any country. I remembered I had a box in another room with currency from a few countries, so I showed that to her. She got a kick out of that. Food finally came. While we ate, Jenn called Amanda and put her on speakerphone. Then they started talking about taking a cruise and seeing how much that would cost. Pretty expensive.
Eventually we got off the phone with Amanda and ate dessert. The last time Jenn was here, I had two pints of Ben & Jerry's "Pumpkin Cheesecake" ice cream. We each ate half of one before they started melting so I saved them. We finished them this time.
Jenn wanted to see my EyePet next. It's a PS3 exclusive game that works with the PS Move and the PS3 camera. You basically aim the camera at yourself and you show up on the screen, the game basically superimposes the pet over the "video" of yourself, and you interact with it via the Move. It's a family game, mostly for kids, but I got it because I thought Jenn would like it (and I thought the Sports Champions game looked shitty), and she did. A LOT. She's not really one for video games but we were quickly switching off challenges. It was fun. Easily the highlight of the day.
Eventually Jenn had to leave so I turned the game off and walked her to her car, because I'm nice like that. When she hugged me before getting in, she said "Don't turn into an alkie." I exclaimed that I wasn't. Then I thanked her for not beating me.
"I'm saving that for in case I see Nick." was her response. That's her ex, the kid who broke up with her last year at the 11th hour when he was supposed to move in with her.
"I plan on ripping off all of his meaningful organs."
I said, "So you're pretty much going to leave him alone, then?"
She looked at me a bit puzzled.
"You said you were going to rip off his MEANINGFUL organs."
She laughed then got into her car, then she rolled her window down. I reached in and gave her another hug, through the window. Very awkward. I'm hugging her as she's rubbing my head.
"Why are you rubbing my head?" I asked, as I let go.
"It was the only part I could find. Would you rather I not touch you at all?"
"Hey, you can touch me wherever you want."
She smiled a big smile, laughed, then drove away.
Not long after she left, she sent me some strange texts. I'm still trying to decipher the last one.
Jenn: When I looked up at you from my car, I felt like I was in a time warp. You looked exactly how you were in 1999. The only thing missing was your thick hair.
Me: Trying to figure out if that means I looked hot, young, same-y, or what.
Jenn: You had life again.
Um...what????
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Thoughts on DC Universe Online Beta part 2
Everyone gets the same introductory mission, regardless of what side of the morality line they fall in. You're on one of Brainiac's ships (if you don't know the story by this point, please look up a trailer or two) and you've been captured. Depending on if you're a Hero or Villain, Oracle or The Calculator will direct you towards escape. It's basically a tutorial on how to play, though they don't really seem to explain much, at least in the beta. At the end, you meet up with either Superman or Lex Luthor, and fight waves of easy bad guys until it stops, then you teleport off the ship to either Gotham or Metropolis.
I must say, the cities have a very Iconic feel to them. All the "boroughs" of the cites are there. The landmarks are present also. If you want to see the Daily Planet building, the LexCorp tower, or even the Superman statue in the park, they're there. Crime Alley? Arkham Asylum, Wayne Tower? Leslie Thompkins' hospital? Those are all there also. Gotham is always night while Metropolis is always day. Heroes can teleport to the Watchtower in order to teleport between the cities. Villains have the Hall of Doom that functions the same.
As far as playing, the missions are basic but fun. You're always transporting, defending, destroying, defeating, or retrieving some person or thing. It feels like the free-roaming Spider-Man games but with two huge cities to play with. There's even time-trial "races" and tokens to collect. But...oh yeah...there's people EVERYWHERE playing. The only part you do solo is the boss fights, where you enter an area like the Gotham Sewers or the Metrodome and then you're alone.
Lots of glitches and bugs, though. I was playing on Saturday and fell through the world three times within an hour. Also, there's "exploration" quests where you explore one of the boroughs and activate kiosks there with voiceover from the one and only Booster Gold talking about the history or importance of that specific place. The problem is, sometimes the kiosks aren't there. Sometimes you can just run around the block and come back to find it but other times you may have to leave the city and come back.
This is supposed to come out in just over a week? These aren't the only problems I've seen.
All in all, a very fun game. I don't think I'll pick it up personally, since I'd rather not pay for my online usage.
I may do a follow-up detailing some things I left out but I think this gives a pretty detailed view of the game so far.
I must say, the cities have a very Iconic feel to them. All the "boroughs" of the cites are there. The landmarks are present also. If you want to see the Daily Planet building, the LexCorp tower, or even the Superman statue in the park, they're there. Crime Alley? Arkham Asylum, Wayne Tower? Leslie Thompkins' hospital? Those are all there also. Gotham is always night while Metropolis is always day. Heroes can teleport to the Watchtower in order to teleport between the cities. Villains have the Hall of Doom that functions the same.
As far as playing, the missions are basic but fun. You're always transporting, defending, destroying, defeating, or retrieving some person or thing. It feels like the free-roaming Spider-Man games but with two huge cities to play with. There's even time-trial "races" and tokens to collect. But...oh yeah...there's people EVERYWHERE playing. The only part you do solo is the boss fights, where you enter an area like the Gotham Sewers or the Metrodome and then you're alone.
Lots of glitches and bugs, though. I was playing on Saturday and fell through the world three times within an hour. Also, there's "exploration" quests where you explore one of the boroughs and activate kiosks there with voiceover from the one and only Booster Gold talking about the history or importance of that specific place. The problem is, sometimes the kiosks aren't there. Sometimes you can just run around the block and come back to find it but other times you may have to leave the city and come back.
This is supposed to come out in just over a week? These aren't the only problems I've seen.
All in all, a very fun game. I don't think I'll pick it up personally, since I'd rather not pay for my online usage.
I may do a follow-up detailing some things I left out but I think this gives a pretty detailed view of the game so far.
Thoughts on DC Universe Online Beta part 1
Glitchy/buggy as hell, but a lot of fun.
Let's see...first off, I'll talk about the character creation.
You start out choosing your gender, then body type. There's small (teen), medium (uh...medium), or large (think Solomon Grundy or Killer Croc). After that, you can choose a preset based on existing DC characters. Or you can customize it completely.
I prefer customizing from scratch but here's the current list of pre-existing DC characters you can base a character on, just to be thorough:
Batman
Superman
Catwoman
Lex Luthor
Joker
Flash
Wonder Woman
Deathstroke
Bane
Circe
Beast Boy
Mister Freeze
Green Arrow
Steel
Martian Manhunter
If you choose a preset, it gives you a generic imitation of the costume of whoever you chose.
If you're starting from scratch, your next choice is Hero or Villain, then a basic "stance" similar to the Smackdown games how you could choose a pose for when you weren't in motion. After that, you choose a mentor, which basically determines what city you're going to start in. Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman for the Heroes, Joker, Lex Luthor, or Circe for the Villains. Batman and Joker will start you in Gotham, while the other four start you in Metropolis.
Now, it gets kind of weird. Next, you choose your power. The choices are Fire, Gadgets, Ice, Mental, Nature, or Sorcery. I haven't experimented with all of these yet, but it's a nice variety. It seems that each of these goes with what's called a "role" in case you start or join a group with other people playing. I haven't done that yet.
Next up is Movement. Fun stuff. Only 3 choices, and it's the same for both Heroes and Villains. Flight, Acrobatics, or Super-Speed. On the PS3 you can click in the left analog stick and toggle these on or off. There's upgrades you can earn in the game that either make you more mobile or gives you some kind of attack.
Time for your other attack ability, which is what weapon you use. There's a Bow, Brawling (think Superman, Doomsday, Bane, etc), Dual Pistol, Dual Wield (two swords/knives/axes, etc), Hand Blast, Martial Arts, One-Handed (like a sword or club), Rifle (AK47. Sorry, snipers), Staff (like Tim Drake), or Two-Handed (like Steel's sledgehammer).
On PS3, square is your "power" button and triangle is your "weapon" button. There's combos you can unlock as you level up though they're all pretty basic. Seriously. Dual Wield has a combo that's push square 10 times.
Time for how you want your character to look. Pretty much the same type of deal as most other create-a-whatever games. Mix and match the parts, see which ones go well together, and change the colors. Coloring your costume is kind of lame. You can only choose 3 colors that will count towards your entire outfit. Let's say you chose the Batman preset. You have black, gray, and yellow to play with. The game will automatically color them in OR you can do each piece one-by-one BUT you must stay in those 3 colors. For the Batman example, I could make the mask, cape, gloves, and boots yellow and make the belt black. Or go all gray. Whatever. You can pick any 3 colors and go nuts.
Pick a name, hope it's not taken, and away we go!
Let's see...first off, I'll talk about the character creation.
You start out choosing your gender, then body type. There's small (teen), medium (uh...medium), or large (think Solomon Grundy or Killer Croc). After that, you can choose a preset based on existing DC characters. Or you can customize it completely.
I prefer customizing from scratch but here's the current list of pre-existing DC characters you can base a character on, just to be thorough:
Batman
Superman
Catwoman
Lex Luthor
Joker
Flash
Wonder Woman
Deathstroke
Bane
Circe
Beast Boy
Mister Freeze
Green Arrow
Steel
Martian Manhunter
If you choose a preset, it gives you a generic imitation of the costume of whoever you chose.
If you're starting from scratch, your next choice is Hero or Villain, then a basic "stance" similar to the Smackdown games how you could choose a pose for when you weren't in motion. After that, you choose a mentor, which basically determines what city you're going to start in. Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman for the Heroes, Joker, Lex Luthor, or Circe for the Villains. Batman and Joker will start you in Gotham, while the other four start you in Metropolis.
Now, it gets kind of weird. Next, you choose your power. The choices are Fire, Gadgets, Ice, Mental, Nature, or Sorcery. I haven't experimented with all of these yet, but it's a nice variety. It seems that each of these goes with what's called a "role" in case you start or join a group with other people playing. I haven't done that yet.
Next up is Movement. Fun stuff. Only 3 choices, and it's the same for both Heroes and Villains. Flight, Acrobatics, or Super-Speed. On the PS3 you can click in the left analog stick and toggle these on or off. There's upgrades you can earn in the game that either make you more mobile or gives you some kind of attack.
Time for your other attack ability, which is what weapon you use. There's a Bow, Brawling (think Superman, Doomsday, Bane, etc), Dual Pistol, Dual Wield (two swords/knives/axes, etc), Hand Blast, Martial Arts, One-Handed (like a sword or club), Rifle (AK47. Sorry, snipers), Staff (like Tim Drake), or Two-Handed (like Steel's sledgehammer).
On PS3, square is your "power" button and triangle is your "weapon" button. There's combos you can unlock as you level up though they're all pretty basic. Seriously. Dual Wield has a combo that's push square 10 times.
Time for how you want your character to look. Pretty much the same type of deal as most other create-a-whatever games. Mix and match the parts, see which ones go well together, and change the colors. Coloring your costume is kind of lame. You can only choose 3 colors that will count towards your entire outfit. Let's say you chose the Batman preset. You have black, gray, and yellow to play with. The game will automatically color them in OR you can do each piece one-by-one BUT you must stay in those 3 colors. For the Batman example, I could make the mask, cape, gloves, and boots yellow and make the belt black. Or go all gray. Whatever. You can pick any 3 colors and go nuts.
Pick a name, hope it's not taken, and away we go!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
X-Mas haul 2010
Money!
Playstation Move
EyePet (don't judge me!)
CrossEdge (time-eating JRPG)
Brutal Legend
Punisher shirt from my ex
Absolute New Frontier
Flash: Blitz TPB (!)
Avengers Forever OHC
Starman Omnibus vol. 1
True Story Swear to God Archives (essential/showcase of the pre-Image series. Great stuff)
Asterios Polyp
Essential Avengers vol. 7
Blacksad
Apparat vol. 1 (doubt there will be more since Ellis can't seem to put creator-owned work out these days, but hey)
Mad Men seasons 1-3 on DVD
Playstation Move
EyePet (don't judge me!)
CrossEdge (time-eating JRPG)
Brutal Legend
Punisher shirt from my ex
Absolute New Frontier
Flash: Blitz TPB (!)
Avengers Forever OHC
Starman Omnibus vol. 1
True Story Swear to God Archives (essential/showcase of the pre-Image series. Great stuff)
Asterios Polyp
Essential Avengers vol. 7
Blacksad
Apparat vol. 1 (doubt there will be more since Ellis can't seem to put creator-owned work out these days, but hey)
Mad Men seasons 1-3 on DVD
Saturday, December 11, 2010
So yeah...The Gathering.
I'm sure anyone who's read BleedingCool.com has seen Rich Johnston promoting the fuck out of this thing. Yes, volume 1 is out. Yes, it's good. Yes, Gail Simone has a story in volume 2 (!). Yes, I will be in volume 5.
The romance volume!
I kind of wanted to be in more than one volume but I didn't want to work with anyone I didn't know (at least not yet). I also didn't know how far apart the deadlines would be. Turns out, far enough. Oh well.
I can't recall what volume 4 is, but volume 5 is romance and volume 6 is mythology. The head honcho put out the call and basically gave us a week or two to get pitches together and send them to him.
I had nothing.
Then all the shit with the ex went down. It wasn't really much of anything. It's just impossible for me to be "just friends" with her. I didn't exactly make a secret of that, either. She called me out on it, said she couldn't be my girl, yadda yadda. I felt like it would be best if I walked away, then. She walked me out but I took the time to say bye to her cats. I had a feeling it would be the last time I'd see the one since she'd been sick for a while. Anyway, she walked me to her front porch and started crying. She said she was tired of hurting me and that she didn't want me to hate her. I grabbed her, kissed her on the forehead, and said "I can't hate you, I can only love you." Then I turned around and walked away.
I walked home for an hour and a half. In the rain.
The next day I told Jude what had happened. We were having close contact since we were trying to come up with something to pitch. I just got a blank stare from Seth when I asked him what he wanted to draw, so I kind of wrote him off. Jude said it was a pretty powerful story and that we should pitch that instead of something fictional. Suddenly, we had our pitch.
We each emailed the guy. He had a lot of pitches to go through. We got the okay. I didn't want to, but I started thumbnailing what I wanted the pages to look like. Boy, are they terrible. It's more of a guide than anything. Obviously I would want a few things to be concrete but the rest is up to him. We have 2 pages.
It's been weird so far. Seeing this stuff turn into art. I'm glad Jude has so far been able to decipher my shitty thumbnails and turn it into something that's good.
My idea for the story would be to have page 1 be random moments in time that mean something to me from that time in my life, with a "letter" overlapping parts of the panels. Page 2 would be the night I left. The thing is, my memory is kind of nutty to the point where I can basically provide transcripts of conversations I had 15 years ago. So...it's kind of weird to be doing my first comic story without any kind of script. I'm sure I'll write one up to show the head honcho, to make sure we meet the "all-ages" criteria.
Just a few days ago I was talking to my friend Zeb (known in some parts as Leviathan). He's published in the aforementioned first volume of The Gathering. Since he's written a 2 page story, I told him my idea. He made a few suggestions, all of which were great, but there was one that really stood out. Swap pages 1 and 2. Simple, but fantastic. Once I thought about it, I realized how much stronger the story will be by doing that. Narrative flow!
There's more to it, but I'll save that stuff for another time.
http://www.thegatheringcomic.blogspot.com/
www.grayhavencomics.com
The romance volume!
I kind of wanted to be in more than one volume but I didn't want to work with anyone I didn't know (at least not yet). I also didn't know how far apart the deadlines would be. Turns out, far enough. Oh well.
I can't recall what volume 4 is, but volume 5 is romance and volume 6 is mythology. The head honcho put out the call and basically gave us a week or two to get pitches together and send them to him.
I had nothing.
Then all the shit with the ex went down. It wasn't really much of anything. It's just impossible for me to be "just friends" with her. I didn't exactly make a secret of that, either. She called me out on it, said she couldn't be my girl, yadda yadda. I felt like it would be best if I walked away, then. She walked me out but I took the time to say bye to her cats. I had a feeling it would be the last time I'd see the one since she'd been sick for a while. Anyway, she walked me to her front porch and started crying. She said she was tired of hurting me and that she didn't want me to hate her. I grabbed her, kissed her on the forehead, and said "I can't hate you, I can only love you." Then I turned around and walked away.
I walked home for an hour and a half. In the rain.
The next day I told Jude what had happened. We were having close contact since we were trying to come up with something to pitch. I just got a blank stare from Seth when I asked him what he wanted to draw, so I kind of wrote him off. Jude said it was a pretty powerful story and that we should pitch that instead of something fictional. Suddenly, we had our pitch.
We each emailed the guy. He had a lot of pitches to go through. We got the okay. I didn't want to, but I started thumbnailing what I wanted the pages to look like. Boy, are they terrible. It's more of a guide than anything. Obviously I would want a few things to be concrete but the rest is up to him. We have 2 pages.
It's been weird so far. Seeing this stuff turn into art. I'm glad Jude has so far been able to decipher my shitty thumbnails and turn it into something that's good.
My idea for the story would be to have page 1 be random moments in time that mean something to me from that time in my life, with a "letter" overlapping parts of the panels. Page 2 would be the night I left. The thing is, my memory is kind of nutty to the point where I can basically provide transcripts of conversations I had 15 years ago. So...it's kind of weird to be doing my first comic story without any kind of script. I'm sure I'll write one up to show the head honcho, to make sure we meet the "all-ages" criteria.
Just a few days ago I was talking to my friend Zeb (known in some parts as Leviathan). He's published in the aforementioned first volume of The Gathering. Since he's written a 2 page story, I told him my idea. He made a few suggestions, all of which were great, but there was one that really stood out. Swap pages 1 and 2. Simple, but fantastic. Once I thought about it, I realized how much stronger the story will be by doing that. Narrative flow!
There's more to it, but I'll save that stuff for another time.
http://www.thegatheringcomic.blogspot.com/
www.grayhavencomics.com
Yeah, fuck this year.
So that 12 year friendship ended for all of a week and a half, if even that. Things are still a little rocky there. This was my ex, btw. Her cat died and I knew the cat since she first got it back in what...2002, 2003? I was a little shaken by the news so we started talking again.
Blah blah blah.
First Saturday of November, she texts me around mid-day and says her back hurts. Evening comes and I get another text saying she's at the hospital waiting to be diagnosed. At this point my friends Mike and Seth are over my house helping me with various things (installing a new laser in my PS3 which ended up being a dude, and setting up a new PC). She texts me again. She has a kidney stone. Great.
My mom had one in the spring time, then it came back in the summer, so I told her and had her call my ex to kind of compare notes I guess.
A few days pass. The ex's mom posted early the next week on facebook that the pain was too great and now she's in the hospital. A few more days pass and suddenly she's in the ICU. Official freak-out time! I visited her on Friday, which I believe was her first full day in ICU. I was a bit concerned, seeing her like that. IVs in both arms, oxygen mask, the whole fucking deal. I got there just as they served her lunch, which she barely touched. She was coughing up some blood and a few times she took the mask off to blow her nose, which led to more blood. She started nodding off after she told me that they'd given her morphine the night before. She stayed up long enough for me to give her a hug and a kiss on the forehead, then I left.
I walked to Mike's house and stayed at his place until Sunday. My mom and stepdad picked me up and we went to visit her again. She was in a different room and thankfully she didn't have the IVs anymore. She had the mask if she needed it but she didn't use it when we were there.
She got out on Monday. Her brother's girlfriend posted on facebook that she was getting out and I hopped on the first bus that came by and waited with the brother's girlfriend for her to get home. She was surprised to see me.
So what the fuck happened?
Well, it turns out the kidney stone somehow got dislodged from her kidney and blocked off the passage to her bladder, so they had to put a stent in. There was also a real nice infection caused by all of that.
Oh, I would like to take this time to point out that this hospital sucks big fat cock.
Why do they suck big fat cock? I'm glad you asked. The ex has an underactive thyroid. If you want to know what that entails, please research it. The one key point about all this is, is that they should not have given her morphine. Morphine and an underactive thyroid could have caused her heart to slow to the point where it could have stopped. She could have died. Anyway...they gave her blood thinners which gave her a nosebleed. She swallowed some of the blood, which is where coughing it up came from. The thing is, these people were so stupid that they thought she had a blood clot in her lung.
She still has the stent in. She still has the stone floating around in there somewhere. She can get the stent removed but her 2.5 jobs aren't making her enough money to take care of that.
And my comic story will still go on unhindered.
Blah blah blah.
First Saturday of November, she texts me around mid-day and says her back hurts. Evening comes and I get another text saying she's at the hospital waiting to be diagnosed. At this point my friends Mike and Seth are over my house helping me with various things (installing a new laser in my PS3 which ended up being a dude, and setting up a new PC). She texts me again. She has a kidney stone. Great.
My mom had one in the spring time, then it came back in the summer, so I told her and had her call my ex to kind of compare notes I guess.
A few days pass. The ex's mom posted early the next week on facebook that the pain was too great and now she's in the hospital. A few more days pass and suddenly she's in the ICU. Official freak-out time! I visited her on Friday, which I believe was her first full day in ICU. I was a bit concerned, seeing her like that. IVs in both arms, oxygen mask, the whole fucking deal. I got there just as they served her lunch, which she barely touched. She was coughing up some blood and a few times she took the mask off to blow her nose, which led to more blood. She started nodding off after she told me that they'd given her morphine the night before. She stayed up long enough for me to give her a hug and a kiss on the forehead, then I left.
I walked to Mike's house and stayed at his place until Sunday. My mom and stepdad picked me up and we went to visit her again. She was in a different room and thankfully she didn't have the IVs anymore. She had the mask if she needed it but she didn't use it when we were there.
She got out on Monday. Her brother's girlfriend posted on facebook that she was getting out and I hopped on the first bus that came by and waited with the brother's girlfriend for her to get home. She was surprised to see me.
So what the fuck happened?
Well, it turns out the kidney stone somehow got dislodged from her kidney and blocked off the passage to her bladder, so they had to put a stent in. There was also a real nice infection caused by all of that.
Oh, I would like to take this time to point out that this hospital sucks big fat cock.
Why do they suck big fat cock? I'm glad you asked. The ex has an underactive thyroid. If you want to know what that entails, please research it. The one key point about all this is, is that they should not have given her morphine. Morphine and an underactive thyroid could have caused her heart to slow to the point where it could have stopped. She could have died. Anyway...they gave her blood thinners which gave her a nosebleed. She swallowed some of the blood, which is where coughing it up came from. The thing is, these people were so stupid that they thought she had a blood clot in her lung.
She still has the stent in. She still has the stone floating around in there somewhere. She can get the stent removed but her 2.5 jobs aren't making her enough money to take care of that.
And my comic story will still go on unhindered.
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