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Lone Justice #33
Published by ComicMix, August 2009
The calm before the storm?! Don’t bet on it!
Credits: Mark Wheatley (Artist), Mark Wheatley (Colorist), Mark Wheatley (Letterer), Mark Wheatley (Writer), Mike Gold (Editor), Robert Tinnell (Writer)
More: Lone Justice
Comments (8)
Russ Rogers (11:46 AM on Mon Aug 24, 2009)
I want to tell you once again how much Lone Justice has become a highlight to my Mondays. It's so sweet! If it's Monday, I know a new episode of Lone Justice will more than likely be at ComicMix.
Here's a question: How much does Robert Tinnell do at this stage of the process? Was his part of the process mostly done at the beginning, brain storming, developing, polishing completing the script? In other words, are you working from a finished script with finished dialog? Or are you working from an outline, a general idea of what the action will be and a rough idea of where dialog will go and then finalizing the words after the pages are drawn?
Has the direction of the story changed since you started drawing it? Have the characters surprised you with how they wanted to say things or new scenes or directions they wanted to story to go?
I like how you are letting tension grow over these pages. I'm glad that McDuff and Octavius don't buy into the Mayor's line of hooey. I like the implied threat of the Mayor telling McDuff that he will be listening to his broadcast of the events of the evening from a safe distance. I'm assuming that Scion's cue to begin with the mayhem will be when McDuff begins his broadcast.
I've decided that drawing realistic smoking characters is even harder than kissing characters. Why does McDuff's cigarette have that HUGE plume of noxious smoke wafting off panel? Is that just to make him recognizable in a crowd? Smoke just doesn't billow out constantly from a cigarette like that. Ah, why do I have this neurotic need to incessantly nitpick!
MARK WHEATLEY (7:10 PM on Mon Aug 24, 2009)
At this stage of the process, Bob Tinnell basically tells me what a great job I'm doing. The main reason is - I'm working from a full script that Bob and I finished almost a year ago. But - I'm also ignoring a lot of what is in the script. I tend to re-stage the action and pacing as I go along. This also results in my needing to write additional dialog. I consider it a success if Bob doesn't notice. This is a normal working style for me - even when I'm working from my own solo full script.
When we were writing the script the characters did haul us off into some interesting territory on several occasions. But they never really surprised us. It was more a case of Bob calling me and saying, "We should have expected this, but you know what Jean just did?" I'm always most delighted during the writing process when a character does something delightfully on target - something that defines them and reveals them. Not so much a surprise as a recognition factor.
Drawing characters kissing is harder. The smoke is indeed a visual aid. In fact the only reason McDuff smokes is so we can see him wandering about in a crowd.
Kyle Gnepper (8:05 PM on Mon Aug 24, 2009)
I always look forward to the next installment in this series. Please keep em coming.
MARK WHEATLEY (11:04 PM on Mon Aug 24, 2009)
Thanks Kyle - we've got quite a bit of material to cover before the story ends - so you should be able to count on a LONE JUSTICE Monday for a while yet!
Kyle Gnepper (11:30 AM on Tue Aug 25, 2009)
Mark, you've just made me day.
I don't know if this has already been covered, but do you know when I might be able to get my hands on a collected copy somewhere?
MARK WHEATLEY (12:49 PM on Tue Aug 25, 2009)
Unlike the publishing plan for EZ STREET, HAMMER OF THE GODS and FRANKENSTEIN MOBSTER that will be going straight to a graphic novel, the IDW/ComicMix plan for LONE JUSTICE is to launch with a monthly comic book series beginning in April 2010. Bob and I could not be happier!
Meanwhile - your only recourse is to show up here every Monday!
Lord Snooty (1:26 PM on Mon Sep 14, 2009)
Great to hear Lone Justice is getting an monthly book as I feel it helps the "pulp" story to have it in parts ! Just a quick question, seeing you have put this on comicmix in smaller parts do you as a writer/artist miss the "22 paged" format or even worry how it will look seeing you have had more freedom in putting it out as you saw fit ?
MARK WHEATLEY (1:34 PM on Mon Sep 14, 2009)
Interesting question.
I have to admit that my first response on having to fit any of these ComicMix web comics into a print format was a bit like trying on an old coat that was now several sizes too small.
And the process of segmenting LONE JUSTICE will be a challenge to get a reasonable chunk of story that will make for an exciting issue and not get chopped off at an unfortunate place. We have been playing with it a bit and it looks like it will work great on just about every issue - with one issue being just a bit tricky.