We’re back with more interviews from SDCC 2017! In this installment of our Comic Con adventures, Maddy talks to Rebecca Sugar (The creator of Steven Universe — ALL HAIL!) about musical theatre being the voice of Marceline’s mom on Adventure Time, what to expect in Season 3, in what order she first drew the Gems & more.. Then she also chats with the voice of Steven, Zach Callison about stuff like his favorite fan theories and what’s in store for Steven next season. And she doesn’t leave the Cartoon Network press room without speaking with Ian Jones-Quarty about his brand new show, OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes, what he learned from working on Adventure Time & Steven’s Universe, and Legend of Zelda on Gameboy.
So what’ll we call today? Well, look outside. Ever see such a gorgeous summer day?
Since I (kind of) recall that yesterday the weather map guys were predicting Tuesday storms. Maybe this is national Meteorologist Mistakes Day. You might argue that such a festivity shouldn’t exist because somewhere – lots of somewheres – the weather is conforming to weathercasters’ prognostications and so there, wherever “there” is, the weather folk are dead on.
Somewhere – perhaps in your home town – the gutters are overflowing and lightning splits the sky and thunder rumbles and you are racing down the sidewalk, your windbreaker already soaked, your hair flat against your scalp and boy, was that guy on the 11 o’clock news ever right about the kind of Tuesday was darkening the clouds.
He didn’t use the word “rotten” but he should have. Damn spacey-brained weathermen!
But you’ve reached your destination. In through the revolving door, pause to let some of the weather drip onto the floor, and then your journey continues. Past the long wooden tables – that guy on the end is snoring – and on back to the stacks, thousands of books, some of which must be a hundred years old – could Mark Twain have stopped here during his rambling days to finger one of these cracked bindings when it was still new? (How old would he have to have been?)
Now, deeper into the building, past something that would have been impossible to find here when Dad stopped to return a map – family vacation coming up! – and allowed you to wander around for a while. Comic books! That’s what wouldn’t have been allowed on the premises when you first began to cultivate your library habit. More. But regardless of how they were packaged, these comic books were trash and anyone who’d never read one would have been happy to tell you so, back then.
And finally, the books shelved against the rear wall, where the fluorescent lights were somehow dimmer and a pleasantly musty odor scented the air. It was and is the library smell and it encouraged browsing, seeking treasures you hadn’t known existed until you held them in your hands.
These days, you still browsed, but it was a different kind of browsing. You looked at pictures on computer screens and if you saw something interesting, no problem. One click and it was on its way, this thing pictured on the screen. You could browse another kind of screen, a television screen, and if something caught your attention, click! And sink into the couch to be entertained. But the hard metal and glass of your home electronics devices didn’t smell like anything in particular and so something, some tiny inconsequential something, was missing from the experience and that was not a happy thing.
Ask… who? The weatherman? Okay, yeah, sure, the weatherman. Just don’t expect good information. And happy holiday.
I have no idea why someone said, in the year 2016, “Hey, what this world really needs is a Betty Boop
comic book!” It seems like an odd and unlikely thing to say, even if one happened to work in licensing for an entity that happened to own the rights to Miss Boop.
But it must have happened, because that comic book did come out, in four issues, and they were duly collected under the simple and obvious title Betty Boop. (Because, even if this isn’t the first Boop comic ever in the history of the world — though it may well be, for all I know — there’s no possibility of confusion in the marketplace with all of the other Boop collections.)
Luckily, whoever the person who had the brain-spasm in re Betty had the good sense to hire Roger Langridge to write the Boop comic. Langridge has previously translated musical comedy into comics both in his own works (The Show Must Go On
, for example) and licensed properties like The Muppets
. Since I can’t think of anyone else who has even attempted musical comedy in comics form — most people think not being able to hear the music is an insuperable obstacle, which has never stopped Langridge — he was clearly the best and only choice for the job. The fact that he also has a love for old bits of popular culture, particularly cartoons and comics (see his work on Popeye
for another example) is only lagniappe.
There may be people out there who can speak learnedly to the Boop milieu — who will know precisely how canonical her job as a waitress at the Oop-a-Doop club is; when her friends/co-workers Bimbo, Sal, and Koko the Clown first appeared; her tangled relationships with boss Mister Finkle and bandleader Scat Skellington and villain Lenny Lizardlips and her Grampy; what tunes the songs in this book are to be sung to and any relationship those songs have with the historical Betty Boop. I am not one of those people. So I’ll point and say that all that stuff is in this book.
(By the way, the cover is actually a variant from issue 1 by Howard Chaykin and doesn’t quite look like the Gisele Lagace art inside. It also implies a relationship between Betty and Koko that in no way appears in the book.)
I know Lagace’s work mostly from her sexy webcomic Menage a 3
, but others may have seen the work she’s done in comics (for Archie properties mostly, I think). Either way, she has a known expertise for drawing attractive girls, but she’s also just fine with the cartoonier aspects of Betty’s world — and, since this is a Depression-Era world, there’s a lot of cartoony elements. She also manages to keep Betty’s ridiculously oversized head look reasonable and consistent, possibly through secret black arts.
Again, I have no idea why anyone thought a Betty Boop comic would be a good idea, or if this one made more than ten cents total. But it’s a lot of fun, in a not-entirely retro style, and it has the feeling of those bouncing, singing old black-and-white cartoons on the page. It’s a massive success at something weird and unlikely and quirky, which is the kind of thing I like to celebrate.
Donald Trump has been trying very hard to do a lot to this nation, thus far with pathetically little success. However, while he might not be making America great, he’s most certainly been making American comedy fantastic.
Take Stephen Colbert. After he took over The Late Show, he has been losing badly to The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon. Then the Manchild from Hell won the election – thanks to a little help from his friends – and that very evening Colbert had something of a nervous breakdown, live on CBS. To his vast credit, he put all that energy into his job: making jokes at the expense of our Megalomaniac-In-Chief. Now, six months later, he’s leaped over Fallon in the ratings.
Certainly, there’s no shortage of material. Indeed, many other comics have made similar journeys on the Trump Turnpike (“what will that asshole think of next?”). Seth Myers, Samantha Bee, John Oliver, Bill Maher, Trevor Noah… let’s face it, if you’re a comedian who is disliked by the far-right minority, your career has had a great six months.
And so, amusingly, has Mad Magazine.
When it was founded 65 years ago – yup, it can file for Medicare but it should move fast – Mad became a major influence in the development of adolescent rebellion. It was the cutting edge of American humor at a time when professionals such as Ernie Kovacs, Lenny Bruce, and Lord Buckley were breaking down the barriers that had been surrounding stand-up comedy. Mad had a major impact upon at least two generations.
But, over time even the sharpest knife finds its edge going dull. Eventually, television shows such as The Simpsons, Beavis and Butt-Head and South Park became the rage (literally; parents raged against each of these shows) and Mad started to look positively geriatric. Sure, they struggled. They hired new talent, fussed with the format, and added interior color but, in my opinion, they remained trapped by that which always had been.
Last month, DC Comics hired a new showrunner for the vaunted magazine, and I don’t think they could have found a better person. Bill Morrison, who has been Matt Groening’s longtime collaborator and the first editor-in-chief of Bongo Comics (The Simpsons, Futurama…) was given the keys to the prop room.
But, as it turns out, it is Donald Trump who is holding those doors open.
During the past several months, Mad has been following the path of Colbert et al. They’ve been doing some great stuff, and much of that has been at the expense of the poster boy of the paranoia marathon. They haven’t turned their backs on their roots and Mad does not follow the path of the former Mad writer (and Yippie! co-founder) Paul Krassner when Paul invented The Realist. Pop culture references abound as always, and even the great Sergio Aragonés remains along for the ride.
Bill Morrison has one hell of a leg up. Whether he can restore Mad Magazine to its greatest glory remains to be seen, but now it’s The Simpsons and South Park that are beginning to show their age. I don’t see anybody else in the on-deck circle, so he’s got one hell of an opportunity to make lightning strike twice.
SANTA MONICA, CA (July 28, 2017) – The dead aren’t the only things to fear when The Walking Dead” The Complete Seventh Season arrives on Blu-ray (plus Digital HD) and DVD August 22 from Lionsgate and Anchor Bay Entertainment. Rick Grimes and his hardened band of survivors face their greatest challenge yet in Negan, the volatile leader of an opposing group. The Walking Dead” The Complete Seventh Season stars Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually), Norman Reedus (Boondock Saints franchise), Lauren Cohan (The Boy), Danai Gurira (All Eyez On Me), and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Magic City).
Picking up immediately after the thrilling cliff-hanger, Negan forces Rick and the group to fall under his will, brutally convincing them to live by his rules. To prevent further bloodshed, Rick genuinely believes they can make life under Negan, however terrible, work. But he soon learns that Negan can’t be reasoned with, and they must prepare to go to war now. Victory will require more than Alexandria, and Rick will need to convince their new allies from the Kingdom and Hilltop to band together with the common goal of taking down Negan and his army.
The five-disc home entertainment release of “The Walking Dead” The Complete Seventh Season features hours of never-before-seen bonus features including audio commentaries, deleted and alternate scenes, and nine featurettes looking behind the scenes of the show, delving deeper into the characters and checking in with The Walking Dead writers. The Walking Dead The Complete Seventh Season will be available on Blu-ray and DVD for the suggested retail price of $80.99 and $70.98, respectively. Season eight of The Walking Dead premieres Sunday October 22 on AMC.
It’s hard coming here to review Atomic Blonde after ripping in to Valerian last week. I said Valerian was a gorgeous movie with well-executed action sequences that didn’t click for me because the script was a genuine chore to think about. Atomic Blonde has a lot of the same problems, and at times looks like someone’s aesthetic Tumblr came to life on the condition that it had to recite a tired spy story to stay alive. I’m not sure why, but it works for Atomic Blonde. Maybe an overdone spy story is just more fun than an underdone science fiction story. Maybe Charlize Theron and James McAvoy are just that much better than Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne. It could be as simple as grey and neon and the fall of the Berlin Wall is a better mood than the promise of a fantastic science fiction world if you get beyond the bland corridors.
Atomic Blonde has the kind of story you swear you’ve seen a hundred times but can’t quite place any of them. It’s kind of Skyfall meets The Usual Suspects if you only pulled the worst bits from the latter and the best bits from the former. It’s set in 1989 just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and a file containing the names of every agent from every country working in Berlin has fallen in to the wrong hands. The list also contains the identity of a notorious double agent. MI6 sends in Lorraine Broughton (Theron) to retrieve the list and rendezvous with David Percival (McAvoy) an agent who has been without supervision so long he has “gone native” which in this context seems to mean that he’s playing a Mad Max villain dialed down to 70%. The story has enough twists and turns to keep it interesting, but I never felt like anything made enough sense. The combination of the unreliable narrator and the endless double crosses makes everything one or two degrees too muddled for me. Not that this is a movie that wants to be remembered for its plot; it wants to be remembered for its action.
This is a movie directed by someone that started as a stunt coordinator who then hired a top notch crew of stunt and fight choreographers. The action beats in this movie are completely nuts. There’s a one-take continuous fight scene that travels through an entire building that is spellbinding. Because movies have become so enamored with quick-cut action scenes this becomes instantly anti-cinematic and feels even more real. A rejection of the Bourne model of fight scenes (ironically made by people who did work on fights in those movies) and a statement that this is a movie where fights are longer, more brutal, and have a more lasting effect. The other fights are also superb but they were also universally featured in the trailers, including the climactic fight scene, so it felt like I had seen everything else before I got there. I know that the people who make the movie don’t cut the trailers but the marketing people did this movie a disservice by putting out so much of the good stuff for free.
I don’t tend to like movies that use grey as their primary color, and Atomic Blonde uses an awful lot of grey, but it works here because they use it exclusively to allow pops of other color. Berlin is dreary and sedate in this film but none of the characters are. Everyone has something about them that jumps off the screen be it hair, clothes, some kind of prop. Lorraine gets all three. The locations sometimes defy belief (there were neon pink lights in flop house hotels in 1989 Berlin?) but I like beyond belief if it lends itself to a better looking film. Atomic Blonde is slick without being shiny and that’s worth a lot for a movie that’s supposed to be set in such a pivotal moment. I would roll my eyes at any movie that wanted to end with the backdrop of fireworks, but if the Berlin Wall is falling and the fireworks look like the kind of thing you see from people in cities where fireworks are illegal it kind of makes it okay.
I would absolutely watch Atomic Blonde if I saw it on HBO, I might even buy the graphic novel to see if it makes the plot any easier to understand. I appreciate that I seem like a hypocrite for praising this movie after slagging a movie with similar attributes a week ago, but I don’t care. Cool counts. Atomic Blonde is cool and catchy and sticks with you. It pushes itself above mediocrity through grit, charisma, and gumption.
Pat Shand is a prolific writer and editor of comics and prose novels. In the past year, Pat launched his own publishing arm, Space Between Entertainment, to launch new graphic novel series including Destiny, NY which had a successful Kickstarter for its first volume last fall.
With the Kickstarter for Destiny, NY Volume 2 just one month away, I talked with Pat Shand about this new volume, running a publishing arm and using crowdfunding to make it all happen.
JC: The first volume of Destiny, NY wraps up nicely with a pretty happy ending. Can you tell us a bit about where the story is going in Volume Two? Any new characters or developments people can look forward to seeing unfold?
PS: With the first volume, we introduced this world where magic is a real and accepted part of everyday life. It’s mundane, to an extent. Logan is our lead character, and she was the subject of a prophecy when she was a kid but she fulfilled her destiny at the age thirteen. Our story is about what happens after that. Now that she’s in her late twenties, how does someone who has been told she’s already done the greatest thing she’ll ever do figure out how to live a normal life?
Now that our world and cast are introduced, we’re digging into the relationships. It’s personal this time. Logan has been dating Lilith, the daughter of a broken mystical crime family, for a year now and life is starting to fall into place. But Lilith’s past is coming back to haunt them, and Logan gets a surprise that leaves her relationship in jeopardy. We’re also getting to know the other characters, like Gia and Anthony and Joe Rollins and Cherry, a lot better.
This volume is a lot longer, too, and spans more time than the first. We’re putting everything into this story.
JC: Rosi Kampe is taking over as the series illustrator while Volume One illustrator, Manuel Preitano, is returning for a short comic to be including in Volume Two. What made Rosi and excellent fit to take over main illustration duties and what are both the similarities and differences fans of Volume One should expect in their approach to your scripts?
PS: Rosi illustrated a short Lilith story at the end of Volume One, and that was pretty much all we needed to see. I’ve always been a fan of Rosi’s stuff, so when we were figuring out the direction for Volume Two, Rosi was the first and only artist that came to mind to take the reigns from Manuel, who established all of the characters with his amazing work in Volume One. Rosi is bringing heart, beauty, dynamic realism, and a ton of style to the book. The pages are coming in now, and it’s the most stylish book I’ve ever worked on. It feels like I’m in New York City when I look at Rosi’s pages, which is exactly what we hoped for.
Also, Manuel is co-creator on Destiny, NY so he’s also doing the cover and all of the chapter breaks. He’ll be back for more stories down the road.
JC: What makes Kickstarter the best avenue to make Destiny, NY and other titles from Space Between Entertainment a reality? What advice would you give other comics creators looking to fund projects through Kickstarter?
PS: I pitched Destiny, NY around a bit at first and it got really close to getting picked up by a publisher I love. When that didn’t happen, and I saw so many creators I admire succeeding on Kickstarter, I knew that it was time to give it a shot. Now? I’m so glad no one picked up Destiny, NY. It would’ve run five issues, probably. With the series fully under my team’s control, it’ll go for as long as we want.
Every time we do a Kickstarter, once it’s clear the book is going to be successful, the offers start flooding in. And listen, I’m always looking to put new creator-owned books out through other publishers, but once we’re funded on Kickstarter, what’s the reason? I get that distribution is a major perk of pairing with a Top 10 publisher, but having 100% creative control is a much, much bigger perk.
The only advice that I can give is to be genuine and put out great, unique content. Every campaign I see is different. Anyone who tells you they have the Kickstarter advice hasn’t run enough campaigns to see that there is no real key to winning. Adapt to the situation, because it really will be different every time.
JC: There are quite a few smaller comics publishers out there trying to get by. You had left a position as an editor over at Zenescope to focus on starting up your own publishing arm. I imagine that wasn’t an easy decision. You said that having 100% creative control is a big perk, but what are some of the other ups as well as some of the downs, other than not having the same access to major distribution, of taking the route of starting your own publishing arm?
PS: It’s the difference between getting a rate for a gig and playing a long term game to turn your passion into your living. I’m still freelancing, but I was working 18 hours a day on books that I didn’t own, that I had no stake in. It would’ve been smart to leave a year earlier, but in the end steadily paying work in comics is very hard to come by, so I didn’t.
Major distribution is definitely a hurdle, but it’s one that we’re working toward overcoming. I think something that holds a lot of publishers down, bigger ones too, is that they see other publishers as competition. That isn’t the case. If you’re creating unique content, your only competition is the limitations you set for yourself.
JC: That’s a great, positive perspective and I hope that’s something people take to heart when reading this. Representation is very important to you. You write a lot of stories where women are the key players as well as showcasing the LGBTQ community and other underserved communities with Destiny, NY possibly being your best example of that yet. Why is representation important to you personally and how do you tackle these characters and their stories as an ally who doesn’t have the first-hand experience with some of the issues presented?
PS: I’m writing the world that we live in. There are probably more stories about New York than any other city in the history of fiction, and it’s rarely depicted as the city I know.
I used to write a lot of theatre and would produce plays and staged readings in the city, and the environment there did not prepare me for the world of freelance comics. I’ve been told by publishers that writing one queer character in a world where literally hundreds of characters exist borders on unrealistic. I’ve been told it looked like we were “trying too hard” when I pitched the idea of a more diverse cast of a book that had eight lead characters, four of which were blonde women. That kind of shit just doesn’t reflect our world in a genuine way.
JC: It’s horrible that there are still people like that in power that feel that way. Not only do you advocate for representation on the page, but behind it as well. There are a lot of different kinds of people from all backgrounds that are contributing to Destiny, NY Volume 2. As a creator and an editor, what makes a diverse talent pool and hiring people of different backgrounds important to you? What more do you feel needs to be done in the business overall?
PS: Bring in new voices, foster new talent. The industry’s fatal flaw is that it is almost entirely insular. People who have read comics their entire life are the ones who grow up to write them, and so on. That makes for some great stories, sure, but when it is the story of almost every creator, that means we have an industry of content designed for people who already love comics. There is a decreasing window of growth. I want to read books unlike any I’ve ever read before by new creators with new voices and new things to say.
There’s a reason that everyone watches movies and TV, everyone reads books, everyone listens to music… but comics is still a niche art form. Let’s look outside of ourselves and build.
JC: Speaking of other contributors in Destiny, NY, both volumes have multiple back up stories which is fairly uncommon in the market today. What inspired you to take that route? Can you tell me what readers can expect in this next batch of backup stories?
PS: We have a really big supporting cast, but the focus is heavily on a handful of characters. Logan, Lilith, Augusten, and Gia get most of the page space, but I wanted a place to tell self-contained stories about the rest of the cast. I thought of doing them myself first, but the idea of collaborating with other creators seemed so much more fun. Also, it’s a way for us to bring in creators whose content we love to tell stories that are important to them using our characters.
Shannon had the great idea to bring on Jenny Owen Youngs and Kristin Russo, who do (among other things) the Buffering the Vampire Slayer podcast, Everyone is Gay, A-Camp… a ton of amazing things. One of my favorite vloggers, Lauren Reilly, is scripting a story for us about Logan’s cat, Brody. Erica Schultz is pairing with Natasha Alterici to tell a really personal story through the lens of Lilith and Song’s relationships. It’s a way to explore aspects of the characters that won’t fit in the ongoing narrative while collaborating with our favorite writers and artists. It’s one of my favorite things that we do.
JC: When it comes to indie comics one of the most underused and underappreciated contributors is the editor. You have extensive editorial experience yourself. Could you tell us about how you got Shannon Lee involved, why editors are so important for indie and small publisher comics, and if you could, share a moment where Shannon really helped you realize something you hadn’t thought of before?
PS: Shannon and I were co-workers at Borders Books, back when that was a thing. After our location Chapter 11ed, we remained close friends. She has always been an art fanatic, so I would send her stuff from Destiny, NY for fun as our first issue came together. When we were moving into production on the full volume, I thought back to this time when I was in Borders on break, racing to meet a deadline to submit a short story to this zombie anthology. Shannon came in and coached me through it in a way that was empathetic and creative but also forceful, which is, I now know, the exact (and rare) combination that makes a perfect editor.
Shannon was instrumental in making Destiny, NY: Volume One what it is. There are entire scenes that exist because Shannon said “Hey, this storyline needs something more” or “This doesn’t get answered in a satisfying way.” She also talks me through big moments, asking about my motivation and directing, debating with me over possible ideas… everything, really. I think Destiny, NY is my best writing by a large margin, and that’s in part thanks to Shannon’s presence.
It’s why, when I decided to go all in with my company Space Between Entertainment, I brought her on as Editor-in-Chief. I’ve seen her dissect the projects she’s worked on and study the beating heart of each title. A good editor finds out what works about a book and helps the book be the best version of that.
JC: Before we wrap this up, I want to ask you why you feel Destiny, NY is an important story to tell.
PS: On one level, because it’s the most personal story I’ve ever told. The relationship, family, creative, and more existential struggles I have are all in there – Destiny, NY has become my way of asking the big questions. It’s the book I put everything into.
From a genre perspective, the hook is that this is the part of the story you don’t see. Prophecies are such a huge part of fantasy, and the story always ends when the protagonist fulfill their destiny. To me, the most interesting part of that is the “What next?” you know? How can someone like Harry Potter live a normal life after doing what’s supposedly the greatest thing he’ll ever do at 17?That’s our hook, and of
That’s our hook, and of course, the book is about so much more than that, but I do think that core concept is what sets us apart. We take the idea of an urban fantasy and ignore the magic. What happens to US as humans in a world like this?
JC: Thank you for taking the time to chat with me, Pat! Everyone else keep an eye out on September 1st at 10:00 am EST when the Kickstarter for Destiny, NY Volume 2 goes live!
SANTA MONICA, CA (July 26, 2017) – Fear knows no limits when the suspenseful horror-thriller It Comes at Night creeps its way onto Blu-ray™ (plus Digital HD) and DVD September 12 from Lionsgate. From acclaimed writer/director Trey Edward Shults (Krisha), It Comes at Night tells the story of a man who will do anything to protect his family, no matter who or what the threat might be. Theatrically released by A24 and starring Joel Edgerton (Loving), Chris Abbot (A Most Violent Year), Carmen Ejogo (Alien: Covenant), and Riley Keough (American Honey), the Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh It Comes at Night is an “all-consuming and deeply disturbing chiller” (Collider) that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Heart-pounding suspense and razor-sharp tension highlight this highly-acclaimed thriller. 17-year-old Travis, secure within a desolate home with his protective and heavily armed parents (Joel Edgerton and Carmen Ejogo), watches his world abruptly change with the arrival of a desperate couple (Christopher Abbott and Riley Keough) and their young child. Panic and mistrust grow as the dangers of the outside world creep ever closer… but they may be nothing compared to the dangers within.
The Blu-ray and DVD releases feature an all-new featurette called “Human Nature: Creating It Comes at Night.” The It Comes at Night Blu-ray and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $24.99 and $19.98, respectively.
BLU-RAY/DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
“Human Nature: Creating It Comes at Night” Featurette
I’m pretty much stuck at home these days because of the fractured ankle. Can’t go to my day job for six to eight weeks, per my orthopedic surgeon, and even with the walking boot, the orders are to stay off of it as much as possible. The first couple of weeks I probably walked and stood more than I should have, but as I will snarkily tell my doctor when I see him on August 10 that that’s what happens when your mom dies. Amazingly, there was barely any pain, though perhaps that was a function of the Advil and the Pinot Noir at dinner afterward. Yes, we had a Jewish version of a Christian repast at my mom and dad’s favorite Italian restaurant. (And perhaps my mom was intervening.)
But the other day, right after the almost week-long heat wave in the NYC metropolitan area broke, it was just gorgeous out, and I said to myself, “Self, I have just got to get out and enjoy this weather,” so instead of having my groceries delivered I walked down the block to the supermarket, but I forgot to figure in the walk around the store plus the walk back up the block to my apartment building, a walk hindered by the added burden of my food-laden tote bags – leave it to say that I hobbled my way back home. And once home, I remembered that I had clocked it once wearing a pedometer, and the total distance is actually close to ½ a mile. Oops.
I haven’t repeated that exercise.
So what have I been doing? As I mentioned two weeks ago, “I’m working on a story for a major project thatComicMixhas put together that we’ll be announcing in a bit over a week. And I’m also putting together a proposal for a graphic novel,” and as it turns out, it’s a good thing that I do have lots of time, because I’m learning about myself as a writer, even at this late stage:
(1) I am not the most patient writer in the world;
(2) I am too much of a goddamn perfectionist; and
(3) I am terribly guilty of the most common illness found in the demographic known as writers – procrastination.
But I’m also learning “how to deal.”
Procrastination. I tend to wake up early without setting an alarm clock – 7:30 at the latest. And I am developing the habit of getting out of bed, going to the kitchen, making my “cuppa tea,” and sitting down to write. And it’s working! I write straight through to 11 or 12 and take a break. If I break at 11 I watch The Price is Right because I really like Drew Carey – if I break at 12 I usually eat a salad for lunch and then read or log on to Facebook to express my opinions on all things Il Tweetci the Mad, or do a crossword puzzle or stream something on the television or computer. The hard part is getting back to work. But I’m getting there. Even if the end result is only another paragraph or a bit of dialogue, I’m disciplining myself to get back to the job at hand.
Being too much of goddamn perfectionist. That means I can get stuck rewriting a sentence, a word, a paragraph more times than is good me. Literally, I can cut and paste for an hour. (Hell, I’m doing it right now.) I really have to discipline myself not to revise and rework sentences, words, and paragraphs left over from yesterday – or even an hour ago. That’s harder.
Patience. Patience, for me, is hard. Really hard, because I’ve never been a particularly patient person. When I want to know something, when I want to do something, I tend to want to know it, to do it, now – which is probably the reason I love spoilers, by the way. But writing demands patience; waiting for the right phrase, the right dialogue, the right action to come. It’s not a race, I keep having to tell myself. (Well, except for deadlines.) And then there are the times when I just get stuck. And that’s the hardest time to have patience.
I have always tended to write straight through the story, i.e., begin at the beginning and keep going to the end. (Impatient.) But two days ago I decided to try something new.
The middle of my story for the ComicMix project isn’t entirely clear in my head – oh, it’s there, but it hasn’t yet worked its way down from my brain to my fingers and keyboard. But the ending has been there right from the start – it was the flame that lit the fuse.
So instead of struggling with the portion that was being stubborn, I decided to write the climax. There’s not much I can do about my perfectionist streak – I need for it to be “just right,” so I am switching and shifting words and sentences and paragraphs – but to my delight, this method is also clearing the logjam. Here’s a metaphor:
When I was a kid growing up on Staten Island, my father would drive us over to Fort Wadsworth to watch the construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge between the Island and Brooklyn. First, one tower went up, then the other. Then they strung the cables between the towers. With these pieces in place, they began the construction and placement of the roadway, the actual bridge between the “beginning” and the “end.”
Get it?
Many writers use this “connecting the towers” method, but it’s new for me. Is it making me a better writer? Will my story be more cogent and stronger because of it? Perhaps. I think so.
There’s a common refrain from longtime fans that San Diego Comic-Con isn’t about comics anymore. I understand that point of view, but I don’t really believe it. In fact, I’m developing a theory that San Diego Comic-Con is really about a lot of different things, but each and every one is so big and boisterous that they eclipse comics. But that doesn’t mean that comics aren’t there.
With that in mind, here are a few comic discoveries from this year’s Comic-Con:
New publisher Black Mask had a modest booth, but it was bursting with talent and creativity.
Black – Jamal Igle was a friendly face in the Black Mask Booth. He’s a tireless creator and was proud of his latest comic, Black. It’s a super hero comic that takes place in a reality where only black people have superpowers. It’s gutsy and compelling.
Galaxy of Brutality – I also purchased the first issue of Galaxy Of Brutality by Alexis Ziritt and Fabian Rangel, Jr. The art grabs you by the throat in a grindhouse way. If Mike Allred had a bad boy cousin, this is what his art would look like. It’s full of coarse language and in-your-face adventure.
There’s Nothing There is another new series that was previewed in the back of Galaxy of Brutality #1. I’m glad I was exposed to it. This is an intriguing series that goes into the “note to self: pick-this-one-up” category.
The publisher Humanoids’ upbeat booth and knowledgeable booth workers were very focused on comics. It’s evident their staff at SDCC believe in their product and have had some sales training. And for anyone who was open to trying something new – they were ready. I ended up snagging two gorgeous graphic novels:
Miss is a film noir crime thriller. Ed Brubaker’s impassioned forward was the thing that ended up selling me. Miss is a gritty story with rough characters doing nasty things.
Olympus is a story originally created over ten years ago by American creators Geoff Johns, Kris Griminger and Butch Guice. It’s an adventure story featuring two gorgeous sisters studying abroad. And wouldn’t you know it? They stumble into a mythological adventure.
TwoMorrows Publishing
I’ve recently started writing for one of TwoMorrow’s comics-focused publications, Back Issue Magazine, and I’m happy to report that the current issue sold out at Comic-Con. Their booth was bustling the whole time, and I was particularly intrigued by a couple of comics-focused publications:
Kirby 100 is another celebration of Jack Kirby’s Centennial. One hundred top creators are interviewed and discuss their Kirby influences. It’s by John Morrow, a soft spoken Tarheel and a 2017 San Diego Comic-Con Guest of Honor and Jon B. Cooke. This book brings to life exactly how Kirby’s vast body of work influenced a diverse line-up of creators in so many different ways.
Reed Crandall: Illustrator of Comics is a look back at another one of the Golden Age’s greatest artists. He’s always been a favorite of mine. This new publication is a great way to enjoy his work again and learn a little more about the man.
Titan Merchandise & Titan Comics
Titan’s booth always has a plethora of fascinating licensed merchandise, and this year was no exception. At the heart of it, Titan Merchandising’s Andrew Sumner is a major fan who wants to create top-notch stuff for other fans. And beyond merchandise, Titan’s robust line of comics continues to grow.
Fighting American – They’re relaunching the classic Kirby & Simon character, Fighting American in a new series by Gordon Rennie and Duke Mighten. The #0 issue debuted at San Diego Comic-Con and was a lot of fun. I look forward to the ongoing series.
Indy Creators
I remember reading one time about Mark Evanier’s strategy to walk through the Independent Creator’s aisle at conventions. The goal would be to discover new things. He’d plan for a set amount to spend. I’m not always disciplined enough to make this strategy part of my convention routine, but I try. This year I stuffed a few extra bucks in my shirt pocket and went on a little walkabout.
Native Drums – This is a self-published comic by Chuck Paschall and Vince Riley. These dedicated, drinking-the-Kool-Aid creators were working the aisle. They were a figurative “Exhibit A” to the truism that you need both talent to produce a comic and marketing to get it out there. Native Drums is an apocalyptic thriller with a strong female lead.
San Diego’s hometown publisher, IDW, had so much going on. Scott Dunbier’s newest Artist Editions were gorgeous and the display copies at the IDW booth gave every fan the chance to feel like they were actually handling original Kirby or Simonson artwork. After hours, Dirk Wood’s band rocked it downtown in a truly memorable party.
But comics-wise, I was really impressed with Ger Apeldoorn and Craig Yoe’s new collection, Behaving Madly, published by IDW. It’s a celebration of all the MAD second-tier knock-offs. These were the short-lived imitators that weren’t as successful as Crazy or Cracked. The book is chock-full of funny stuff from great comics artists like Severin, Ditko and that guy named Kirby.
It’s not really that insightful to write “Comics are still at San Diego Comic-Con.” But it was easy to zig and zag through the hype machines and find some outstanding comics. I’m still busy reading them all.
