I am currently writing a comic book series with my friend Nate. It is a post-apocalyptic, globe-trotting Vespa scooter science fiction adventure in four parts.
We should be finished with the first six-issue arc's scripts in the next week or so. Then we need to (a) find an artist to illustrate it for us or (b) illustrate the damn thing ourselves. I think we are leaning towards option b. We are thinking of handling the sequential art in more of a graphic design/mixed-media format. But, we are still a little ways out from starting the art.
We feel that we want to have the most air-tight script possible before doing anything else.
I think that what is a little different about our series is that we are writing the ENTIRE thing up front. We pretty much know what needs to happen in each issue to get to our predestined ending. We have the entire story in our heads. The hard part is getting all of the minutae onto the page in script form.
But, I think we have finally found our "method". We spend a couple of sessions writing out our story onto sticky notes and then arrange them on the wall of our writing studio. We then create a rough draft from that. Then we write all of the dialogue. Then we create all of the panel descriptions. Then we have to repeat these steps for each new issue. It is kind of exhausting because neither of us type well. But, we have yet to have even a moment of "writer's block".
One thing that is unique about us is that there are very, very few writing teams in comic books. But, I don't think that I could do this by myself. I think that maybe more comic writers today SHOULD work with a partner. It really helps to keep your shit in check. Maybe there'd be a lot less crappy books out there right now.
Anyway, I am going to start using this blog to track the progress of our book. So, check back for sneak peeks and stuff.
So, I went to the Emerald City Comicon this weekend. I always go to the comicon, but this time was different. This time I was attending as an aspiring comic-book writer. But, I'll get back to that later.
Since I was a kid I have had an on-again/off-again relationship with comic books. I religiously collected them starting at around 12 years old with great books like Batman, Swamp Thing, Daredevil, Iron Man and X-Men. In my teenage years I discovered Frank Miller and Alan Moore and I was fucking hooked! The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen are still two of my favorite series to this day. I have reread them both many, many times.
Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah...in my early twenties I was enthralled with more adult fare such as Sin City, Lobo, V for Vendetta and the like. But then something awful/wonderful happened. I got a copy of Todd McFarlane's "Spawn" and was blown away not just by the story and the artwork, but by the beautiful presentation of the book. I had never seen colorizing done that way before or the crazy die-cut, foil covers and whatnot. It was the textbook definition of "eyecandy"! So here's the awful part...I got so overwhelmed by the hypnotic power of the eye candy that I began getting every Image Comics title thrown into my box at the comic store in Anchorage, Alaska. God-Awful titles such as Union, Prophet, Cyber-Force, WildCats, etc. One day I stepped back and realized that, for me at least, comics had gone to shit. They were being made to sell action figures to little kids. I was spending a lot of my hard earned money on crappy ass comics. So, I went to the comic store and cancelled my box.
That was probably back in like 1995.
Late last year Nate, the keyboard player in my band, loaned me a copy of the trade paperback of Robert Kirkman's "The Walking Dead Vol.1". He was always reading comics in the studio or on the road. Anyway, He gave me a copy of this zombie book. And, I'm like..."Zombie comic? Are you fucking kidding me? How can you make a Zombie comic? They don't do any thing and they're really, really slow". Well, he managed to talk me into reading the book. And Jesus Christ am I glad he did! It is the best comic ever. This writer guy Robert Kirkman has created the first characters that I have really felt that I "knew". He makes you actually feel something for them. Then he actually renewed my faith in superheroes with his excellent "Invincible" series! The man is a genius. A God. That may sound corny, but he's single-handedly responsible for my renewed obsession/addiction to comic books. Through him I discovered other great creators such as Brian Wood (DMZ, Couscous Express, Channel Zero, The Couriers), Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night), Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man; a seriously AWESOME book), Mark Millar (Wanted, Kick-Ass), Jonathon Hickman (The Nightly News, Transhuman) and Brian Michael Bendis (Jinx, Goldfish) and quite a few more. I have finally taken the plunge and started a "Pull Box" again at a super cool comic shop in Ballard called Arcane Comics. I am fucked!
But,actually, I never completely abandoned comics. I have gone to the comicon a few times since then. But as I said at the beginning this time was different.
You see, I may have lost my mind or I may have found my true calling. But, I have been playing, recording or touring in bands for the past 25 years. And, that is one hard-ass fucking business right there. Six months ago I finally gave it up. I needed to find a new passion. A new artistic endeavor to channel my creative energy. So, at 38 years old, I hatched this idea with Nate to write a comic book. It has been totally amazing so far. Unlike with the band, the ideas just seem to flow and flow. There just isn't enough time in the day to get it all on paper quick enough. We have come up with a pretty epic idea. We have it mapped out to be a 30 issue series consisting on five 6-issue story arcs. We have talked out the entire story from beginning to end. We have written first drafts of the first 3 issues and expect to have the first arc completed in the next 3 weeks!
So, back to the comicon...we decided to "attack" the convention with a more professional focus this year. We went to panels, asked lots of questions, schmoozed a few industry types and met some of the world's greatest living comic book creators. I even met ROBERT FUCKING KIRKMAN!!! Oh yeah, they had Stormtroopers acting as "Security". It was sort of like when they hired the Hell's Angels to work "Security" at Altamont back in '69. Only way, way geekier! Now, I've been to many Music Conventions such as CMJ, NXNW, etc. One thing I can say is that the comics industry people are a lot more approachable than the shitty, pretentious, arrogant music industry people. The comicon actually inspired me.
By 6PM on Day One were pretty much finished with the comicon. Almost. We decided to say goodbye to our buddy Scott who owns the local comic store that we shop at.
Scott told us that some Anime Company had failed to show up to the convention. Their empty booth was right next to Arcane's. So, he managed to get that booth for his shop for Sunday.
But, the booth wasn't gonna set itself up!
He asked us if we might be interested in helping out.
What he meant was..."Can you guys come to the shop at 7AM and load a shitload of heavy ass longboxes of comics into a moving van, then meet us at the Convention Center, unload it, move the shit to the new booth, alphabetize it all, set up the booth and then run it all day for free*?"
With an offer like that, how could we refuse?
So, we're at the shop at 7:30 the next morning. We load the shit, move the shit, unload the shit...
So, Scott may have got the sketches, but I got the experience!
Oh yeah, one of my other "Jobs" was to wrangle Suicide Girls and other costumed Comic Models to pose in front of the Arcane booth. And, I found time to take photos of some costumed freaks. It was rough.
Anyway, two really cool things happened at the end of the day.
First, Scott grabbed the "Goon" banner and told me to follow him. I complied. He went over to the table where "The Goon" creator Eric Powell was set up and asked for a moment of his time. Scott then showed the artist the banner with over 30 sketches of his character on it (by literally the best in the business). Mr. Powell was sincerely blown away by it. Especially by the Ryan Ottley sketch (that I got). He was TRULY touched when Scott handed it to him and said, "take it". It was a really moving moment.
The MOST cool thing
(for me) was after we had loaded the whole booth out to the loading dock. I went
back inside the now empty Convention Center to use the restroom real quick.
On my way back to the dock, I pass this empty table and Robert Kirkman is just
standing there. I thank him once again for talking to me and signing my books. He tells me
to keep on writing and offers to take a picture of us together. I look
around and there's no one to take the photo. He says, "gimme your
camera, dude. I've gotten pretty fucking good at this". He takes the
camera in one hand, extends it out in front of us. He grabs me by the
firmly shoulder and snaps the shot. He looks at the screen and before he hands it to me he says, "See? I
told you. I'm good!" ... Yes you are, Mr. Kirkman. That, you are indeed.
* At the end of the day, we didn't work for free. Scott was MORE THAN GENEROUS in his compensation. I now have more graphic novels and comics than I can possibly read for the next month or two. He really didn't have to do that. It was a cool experience to be a comicon "insider" for once. I hope he knows how appreciative I am for his generosity. So, you can be sure that we will help him out next year!!!
I design posters for the Seattle live music venue El Corazon. Here are some of them.
My wife Kari and I just went to South Africa. Here is what we saw in totally random order 'cause I'm selectively lazy. Meaning that I have the energy to travel to Africa, live out in the wild with the animals for a week, travel to Cape Town and take thousands of photos along the way (scratch that last one actually,Kari actually took ALL of the pictures and uploaded them to Flickr), But, I don't have the time or energy to write a blog post about everything that we experienced. And, since they say " a picture is worth a thousand words" I figure these photos are the equivalent of a Russian novel.
So, please take a look and feel free to ask me any questions about any of these and I'll fill you in.
So, I get this call from my wife while I was at work today. She tells me that our good, longtime friends Dan and Julie's Saint Bernard "Saint" died in his sleep in their bedroom this morning. Dan was hoping that I could come and bury his dog for him as he and his wife (both in their late 40s and early 50s) were so distraught that they couldn't do it themselves. I suggested that they call Animal Control and have them take his body, cremate it and return his ashes. But, they were having no part of that. They wanted him buried in their backyard next to their duck pond. So, I told them that my wife's cousin Casey and I would do it.
My
wife and I then did a little research to see what it takes to legally
and safely bury a dog of this size (over 150 lbs.). We found that you
should wrap them in plastic and put them into a wood or steel box and
them bury them at least 2 feet below ground. I had no idea where to get
a box of that size so I called a pet cemetary in Kent and got a quote
of $120 for a sealed dog coffin that would hold a dog of Saint's size.
So, I jumped in the car and drove all the way to Kent to pick it up.
When I get there the guy greets me by telling me that he had made a
mistake and that he was out of the coffin he had quoted me. All he had
was the "next one up" which was a far superior coffin than the one he
had quoted me. What a bastard! Casket salesmen are the scum of the
earth. I remember a similar thing happening when my mom was taking care
of my grandfathers' funeral arrangements. But, I digress and I am
trying to get this out of my system.
So, I pay the extra $80 and take the coffin home.
Casey shows up at my house a little later and he and I head over to Dan and Julie's house. We get there and Julie's in the other bedroom depressed and sleeping and we could tell that Dan was out of his mind with grief. So, I tell him to let us go into the bedroom where Saint is, close the door and let us take care of him. One good thing about the casket salesman was that he gave me all of the instructions for how to handle this situation. Julie had wrapped him in a sheet already, but we had to unwrap him to see how he was laid out. It was so horrible to see his poor lifeless body there like that. We put on our latex gloves and rolled Saint onto his back. We then had to "massage" his limbs to be able to fold him into a sort of fetal position so that we could fit him in the coffin. He was totally stiff. We managed to get him into the coffin along with his favorite toy and get it sealed. Casey and I then carried the 150+ lb. casket to the backyard and began digging our 4 foot long by 2 foot wide by 4 foot deep hole in the hot, hot late afternoon sun. Eventually the hole was big enough and we gently laid the casket into it.
I went inside and got Dan to say his final goodbyes. Dan collected some flowers from his garden that Saint used to like to pee on and threw them in on top of the casket, He then shoveled the first shovelful of dirt and walked away sadly. Casey and I quickly replaced the soil and packed the sod on top.
Dan then insisted on taking Casey and I to dinner where he spoke fondly of all the good times he had had with his pal Saint. He was a good dog. As horrible as it was to do, I am glad that I could be there for my friend.