Eggs and Juice with Toast

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Monday, October 3, 2011

Brief Thoughts on Each of DC's New 52

Adding to Pull List
Action Comics
Here's a shocker: I actually give a shit about Superman. Who would have guessed?!

All-star Western
I've been wanted to get into Jonah Hex for awhile, since I heard it's good, but never knew where you jump in and wound up never making the plunge. This is better than I expected, in fact, one of my favorites from New 52. I need to take that plunge and find some Hex trades.

Batman
Batman and Harvey getting along? Madness. Capullo is perfect for this book, and I was a huge fan of Snyder's last arc before the reboot. A book I instantly knew I was adding to my pull list.

Batman and Robin
I was a big fan of the dynamic between Dick and Damien, but Bruce and Damien are great too.

Batwoman
I'm really just happy to be getting more Kate, since the previous series was so fantastic.

Detective Comics
Brutal, gorgeous, and awesome. The first book I knew I was adding to my pull list.

Justice League
Decompressed storytelling, sure, but not in a annoyingly Bendis way. Great interaction between Batman and Green Lantern, and a killer last page. Definitely looking forward this.

Will continue for first arc, then decide
Animal Man
Creepy, but in an intriguing way. I'll ride along and see where this thing goes.

Aquaman
Much like Action Comics, Aquaman is suddenly entertaining?! What is happening?!

Batgirl
I'd like to see this go somewhere... I'm just not sure where. It would be great is Barbara realized she did and could continue to do more as Oracle than Batgirl (with or without use of her legs, I really don't care), but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Batman: The Dark Knight
The weakest the Bat-titles, in my opinion.

Batwing
That's one helluva last page. The concept is weird, but I'll hang around a bit and see if this thing has staying power. It could really use some more backgrounds, though.

Birds of Prey
It's just good.

Blue Beetle
A couple of things... really kinda creeped out that so many old-looking dudes want to have sex with a 14 (almost 15!) year old girl. Not cool. Two, if you're going to "translate from Spanish" TRANSLATE FROM SPANISH. Otherwise, kill the asterisk and keep the Spanglish. Pick one. Also, why is the short-cut to the girl's house through the warehouse district? That makes no sense. And finally, why did Blue Beetle get turned into a Green Lantern stand-in? That's really unnecessary.

Captain Atom
Really, the only things I know about Captain Atom are him blowing up in Kingdom Come (was that him?), and blowing up again in the Wildstorm universe. I was kinda hoping for a Dr. Manhattan take on the character, but it was still pretty interesting.

Catwoman
Unlike everyone else on the Internet, I liked Catwoman. The sex scene was not gratuitous and make perfect sense.

DC Universe Presents
Real surprise here, since I was totally prepared to continue not giving a shit about Deadman. But this book was compelling in a way practically requires me to continue reading.

Deathstroke
This is what Grifter SHOULD have been. Title character beating ass and being awesome. Well done, sir. Please continue.

Demon Knights
Solid first issue. I'll be sticking around awhile to see where this thing goes.

Green Lantern Corps.
I've always liked John more than Guy, but in this, they work together in a way that makes both shine. Also, way to work educating the audience on the characters without it being weird. Some of the other books should take note.

Green Lantern
I've never liked Hal, and really don't care why Sinestro has a green ring. Still, the stuff between Hal and Carol was priceless.

I, Vampire
I don't know what the fuck is going on, but will shell out at least a few more bucks to try and figure it out.

Justice League Dark
I have no idea who most of these characters are, but it was cool to see a partial Justice League get schooled by magic. I'm already intrigued by Zatanna telling Batman "no," and would like to see more.

Justice League Int.
Another book where I have no idea who most of these people are. The trouble is, I don't know if I'm supposed to, or if they're new creations. Not that I'm overly concerned, because I assume we'll learn. Still, I though more highly of the book during week 1 or 2, before more of the books had launched. It may not last long, but the interactions with Batman between Guy and Booster were great.

Men of War
I wasn't expecting much from this before reading it, but after getting past the awkward first pages, it was pretty cool to see a human level take on super hero activity.

New Guardians
A great first issue, once we got past the Kyle origin. Take a lesson from Green Lantern Corp and work the origins into the story itself.

Nightwing
Not real clear on how Dick can go from whooping ass as Batman for a year, and then get stomped at the end of this issue. He should be better than this.

Red Hood & the Outlaws
The Starfire thing is regrettable, but the interactions between Arrow and Hood are fantastic.

Red Lanterns
The feral space cat is my favorite, but this book will need to up its game to keep my interested.

Teen Titans
See Superboy, below. The book is pretty pretty much Justice League #1, and I'm still trying to figure out which character is Kid Flash. I'm guessing Bart.

The Savage Hawkman
The last page didn't carry as much weight as I think the writer was trying for. Mostly because the antagonist isn't built up properly. Skipping over that awkward fight scene, the rest of the issue was tense and interesting.

Stormwatch
I was hoping for more Authority, and less of... whatever we got. Still hoping Apollo and Midnighter ditch those terrible new costumes they've been given and put some decent clothes on. Also, Jack has tread hands? Was that always true and I missed it until now?

Superboy
Still trying to figure out the timeline of Teen Titans/Superboy, since the Teen Titans don't exist yet, but Superboy was created to destroy them...

Supergirl
I'm curious how she got powers so quickly after arriving on Earth, or why she heard two lines of text from Gotham, but whatever. It's cool.

Superman
Easily the densest book this book; there's just straight-up a whole lot of words in this book. That's not a complaint, it's actually a compliment. By far, of all the 52 books, this felt like the most happened. A two-hour premiere versus the

Swamp Thing
I had planned to skip this book until I saw it get four stars on CBR. Turns out to be pretty interesting.

Wonder Woman
I've never read an issue of Wonder Woman, except the one where she kills Max Lord. I'd still prefer if she was in pants instead of Star-spangled underpants, but I'm willing to give Azzarello some leeway.

Unlikely to continue purchasing. Not much to say about any of these. They all used to be higher, firmly in the Maybe group, but wound up here after reading all 52.
Frankenstein, Mister Terrific, Voodoo, Legion Lost, Legion of Superheroes

Won't be Purchasing
Blackhawks
Not sure who these people are, and at the end of the issue, I still didn't care. I think the writer wanted to make a TV series, but wound up writing a comic instead.

Firestorm
I tried to read this but gave up about 1/3 of the way in. Flipped through the rest, read the last few pages, and I'm sticking with my decision.

Green Arrow
Interesting, but not good.

Grifter
Just awful.

Hawk and Dove
Liefeld? Fuck no.

OMAC
Weird, but not in a good way.

Resurrection Man
Interesting, but not good.

Static Shock
Zero Interest.

Suicide Squad
Torture porn? No thanks.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Facebook Be Damned

I need boredom. Sometimes I forget that, but it's absolutely essential. I always talk about how I work too much, and those that know me well will remember stories of how I loved match class in high school because I was so extremely bored I was able to do massive amounts of writing.

Tonight, I turned the TV off and instantly was able to start writing better and faster than I have in weeks. I don't know what's special about tonight versus any other night I've done the same thing... but tonight, I'm bored. It's invigorating.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Vagrant Vaqueros Script

No new Vagrant page this week - Mark's getting caught up. But we'll be back soon with new pages and continued adventure. Until then, I thought I'd post some of the work that went into the creation of Vagrant Vaqueros. Below is half the first draft of the Vagrant script.

There was no title yet, loads of info on Jack, the jail scene has a completely different internal monologue, the old lady is more long winded, and a small preview of things to come.

The reason only half the script is here is because I really had no clue what the hell I was doing and crammed to many panels per page in. Immediately after finishing this draft, I sent a shotgun email out to a bunch of people and they very politely informed me what I had written would be hell on any artist. So I stretched the original 8 page script out to 15.

I know it's a little disappointing not to have a new page this week, but I hope you find this a little interesting and/or entertaining. Back with more soon. Onto the script...

UNTITLED WESTERN COMIC

**************
Characters
**************

"Jack"
Caucasian male, around 25
Twin pistols
Dirty blonde/brown hair, medium length, somewhat scruffy appearance. Brash, implusive, and lucky. Raised as a rancher and farmer, herding cattle(?)
Visual reference: Josh Holloway (Sawyer, from Lost) de-aged into his 20s

Double holster references:
http://media.costumesinc.com/costumesinc/SKUimages/large/73062-12.jpg
http://www.historical-firearms.co.uk/acatalog/PHHR002Close.jpg
http://www.leatherbywc.com/dbl.gif

[ the rest of the cast has been removed ]
Other characters:

For all demons in this series, use black speech bubbles with white text. If you can make the "bubbles" non-standard and extra gritty, that would be even better. Also, their eyes should be a telling sign. If you could come up with a clever way of showing that (black pupils are pretty standard, but maybe work actual fire or flames into their eyes) that would be cool.
Demon 1 - Should look like a regular human, except for his eyes
Demon 2 - Visually similar clothing to Demon 1, but less human in appearance. Taller, unnatural skin color, I'm thinking like a brownish red clay color.

**************
Story
**************

Page 1 - Jack killing demon
Page 2 - Jack taking the necklace and getting caught
Page 3 - Jack in jail
Page 4 - Story of the necklace
Page 5 - Bar 1
Page 6 - Bar 2
Page 7 - Jail break
Page 8 - Running back to horses

Page 1

Panel 1 - Long, page-width panel. Two silhouettes face off in the middle distance of the setting sun.

Panel 2 - Demon 1, seen from the waist up:

Bubble 1 - "Jackie-boy, you don't really want to do this."

Bubble 2 - "Especially not without the rest o' yer crew."

Panel 3 - Similar waist up shot of Jack, throwing back his long coat to reveal holstered revolver on his hip, "Let's just get this over with."

Panel 4 - Demon 1's hand now hovering over his own pistol, "All I'm saying is, it don't gotta be this way..."

Panel 5 - Another long panel, similar to Panel 1, the sun a little lower and darker than before.

lots of little zoomed-in panels: one panel each for both men's guns in their holsters, a dust cloud rolling, coat flapping in the wind, one panel each for both men's trigger fingers twitching, the corner of demon 1's mouth curling into a smile, Jack's eye squinting

Panel ? - One panel, split diagonally in two, of each man grabbing his gun

Panel ? - Not a traditional panel, just the sound effect "PA-KLOW"

Page 2

Panel 1 - Demon 1 still standing, small smoking hole in his chest, black ooze spilling out, "*"

Panel 2 - Long shot, from behind Jackie. Demon 1 is seen halfway fallen over, his gun has slipped out of his hand.

Panel 3 - Demon 1, now collapsed onto the ground, gun out of reach, dust cloud raising around him, with a "KLUMP" sound effect. Jackie is walking towards the demon, his gun still drawn.

Panel 4 - Shot from Jack's point of view, looking down his arm and gun, pointed at the demon's face. "Come on then, boy. ...Finish the job." Mess with the lettering here to make it apparent he's struggling to get the words out.

Panel 5 - Now looking up at Jack's determined face, we see the flash of his gun go off, a small spray of blood hit the side of his face. "BLAM" sound effect

Panel 6 - I'll leave the details of this panel up to you, but I'd like to make it apparant Jack shot the demon in the face, without it being too graphic or grotesque (We don't want Zuda censors coming down on us).

Kneeling down beside the dead demon, Jack rips open the demon's shirt, he's still holding his gun in his right hand. Under the shirt is a silver medallion

I'll let you come up with the medallion design, but I've included a few examples below. I'm thinking roughly the diameter of a coffee cup.

http://www.brandlighting.com/images/focalpoint/81624.jpg
http://www.rocklove.com/images/MedallionCrest.jpg - about this thickness
http://www.jonskoolstuff.com/images/AztecGoldCoinMedalion_lg.jpg - on a string like this

Finally, there should be a small speech bubble with small letters (that can still be easily read) "The shots came from over here!"

Panel 7 - With his left hand, Jack rips the medallion from around the demon's neck. There should be some small "KLOP KLOP KLOP" sound effects here

Panel 8 - Three marshalls on horseback, two with their rifles drawn and aimed at Jack. We see Jack still kneeling beside the demon in the distance. Much larger "KLOP KLOP KLOP" sound effects again, around the horses.

Panel 9 - In the distance, the marshalls still have their guns trained on Jack. The lead marshall (no gun out) yells, "Hands in the air!" In the foreground, Jack pockets the talisman out of marshalls' line of sight while raising his right hand and letting go of the gun's grip - it spins slightly to balance the trigger gaurd on his index finger.

Page 3

Panel 1 - Ariel shot of the town mid-morning. It's smallish, all one- or two-story buildings, with a water tower, all the buildings made out made of wood and/or stone.

Panel 2 - Two of the marshalls from the previous page (the two with their guns out) - one is holding a jail cell door open as the other shoves Jack into it. "Listen guys, I'm trying to tell ya..."

(In my head, I was modeling the jail off the one they stick Jack in at the beginning of the first Pirates of the Carribean - stone walls, hay and dirt floor, crisscross metal bars, window to the outside, and more bars between the individual cells, not stone walls)

Panel 3 - The jail cell door slams shut, "CLANG" sound effect, as one of the marshalls cuts Jack off, "Don't want to hear it. The magistrate will sort this all out in a couple of weeks."

Panel 4 - The two marshalls leave the cell area, Jack is holding onto the door of his cell.

Panel 5 - Jack kicks at the ground, forming a small dust cloud, "Damn it!". Text box with, "They say you can tell a guilty man from the innocent by who's able to sleep."

Panel 6 - Jack plops down on the cot in his cell. Text box with, "The innocent are too worried to sleep..."

Panel 7 - Jack getting comfortable and removing his hat. Text box with, "... but the guilty know they've been caught..."

Panel 8 - Jack in a mostly laid back position, hat over his face, arms folding over his chest. Text box with, "... and are able drift right off."

Page 4

Panel 1 - Text box with, "Several days ago"

Same Panel 1 from Page 3, by now it's late evening - the Moon is low, sky is dark, but the lights from the town light the scene fairly well.

Panel 2 - Establishing shot of a upscale home. There's a light on on the main floor, though the curtains are drawn shut.

Panel 3 - Inside the home, Jack sits in a parlor with a well-dressed woman in her mid-50s. Her long white hair is held in a tight bun atop her head. Woman: "I know all about you and gang, 'Jack.' My niece has been kidnapped, and likely killed, by two demons. Along with my niece, they've also stolen an artifact of immense power." On a small end table next to her, stands a picture frame with a woman in it.

Panel 4 - Jack, flippantly, "Demons? Listen lady, I don't know who you think I am, but-"

Woman: "Do not feign innocence with me, boy. Or do I need to prove my knowledge of such things to you by sharing what I know of the events in Culver City?"

Panel 5 - Jack, in stunned silence.

Panel 6 - The woman, passing the framed picture from the table next to her. We now see the old-looking photograph in detail - a young woman in a low-cut dress. Clearly visible around her neck of the woman in the photo is the medallion. "I see I now have your attention. The artifact that was stolen, the necklace pictured here, can be used to open a gateway. That must not be allowed to happen."

Panel 7 - The woman now passes Jack a wanted poster with Demon 1 and Demon 2 on it. "These are the men that captured my niece, demons both. In a week's time they will use the necklace to summon a far greater evil than you've ever confronted before. You must stop them and retrieve the necklace before that happens."

Panel 8 - Jack, looking determined, "I'll do it, you have my word on that, but for a woman who's niece is 'likely' dead you sure don't seem too broken up."

Panel 9 - Woman: "Not everyone turns to anger and self-destruction, as you have, in times of mourning."

Panel 10 - Jack, grinning slightly, "Anger and self-destruction just make me better at what I do."

Friday, August 6, 2010

A Day at the Mall

This is positively ancient, dating back to February 07, 2003. By way of the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, I was able to find some my Gabe's and my short stories from back in the day. Without any editing or updating, I give you:

A Day at the Mall

I'm standing in a mall in Akron Ohio, 3 dozen zombies devouring the last of the mid-week, afternoon shoppers before me.
...And that's just what I can see from having just walked in the door.

My entrance hasn't stirred them from their feast, and they probably won't take notice of me for at least another few minutes, until the scent of flesh that's filling what's left of their nostrils is nearly gone and they catch my scent.

I begin maneuvering around a coffee shop, and out into the main hall of this giant shopping mecca for middle America. For the time first one of these places will actually serve me a purpose, the over-powering smell of coffee in the air will help to mask my scent for a few additional moments before I have a horde of walking dead attempting to lock their teeth on me.

After eventually reaching the corner of the coffee house chain store I peer out and get a glimpse down the main corridor of the mall - there's at least another five dozen undead consuming what remains of the local shopping populace. I'm gonna need more ammunition.

Not knowing the full scope of the situation, I'd only grabbed a handful of shotgun shell boxes as I rushed out of the door - none of which were anywhere near full. I know Frank had sounded frantic on the phone, but I'd never imagined the zombie infestation he was alerting me to was of this magnitude.

Zombies normally hunt in small packs of three to eight, I have no idea what this many are doing in a single place, but big something is going on.

I started slowly moving back around the corner of the coffee house, back the way I'd come, when everything in the mall went silent.

Zombies have a hard time breathing through their noses, if they're lucky enough to keep it for any length of time, and so they typically breath through their mouths. When eating, this makes for an incredibly grotesque sound of open mouth chewing mixed with their loud breathing and audible ripping of flesh and breaking of bone. The sound of the seventy plus zombies doing this at once filled the sizable mall, and every one of them had just fallen silent.

Looking up, I could see their eyes and empty sockets all fixed squarely on me.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Character Names, and How I Choose Them

I thought about writing this on Twitter, but quickly realized there's no way I could cover everything in 140 characters. Then, I considered typing up something longer on Facebook, before I remembered that I don't actually care about that site.

A significant portion of this past weekend was past creating characters and a world for them to inhabit. Once I know what kind of character I want, I start thinking about names, and I have three general techniques for how I choose them...

Make 'Em Up
Just string together letters or full syllables until coming up with something that looks and/or sounds cool. Something like Alania Kastanyonka or Trolav Grundernick. This usually works best for Fantasy or Sci-Fi stories where the audiences can expect characters to have uncommon names, but the same can be applied to stories set more firmly in reality, especially with last names.

Take From Life
Ever since high school, when I started to consider writing seriously, I've kept a list of names I'd like to use as characters some day. Some are real names of people I know, others are celebrities, or even characters from other stories. Toast's android computer/assistant "Madelyn" came from a character in the La Femme Nikita TV series. I had a girlfriend for one of my character's named "Marlena" from the song 3 Marlenas; she needed a last name, so I used "Bautista". I keep a list of all the names in a notebook that's always handy, or in a pinch I'll use my cell phone to make myself a note if I find a new one.

Use Baby Name Websites*
If I'm looking to name a character, and have that name mean something, I'll use baby name websites. This past weekend I did a lot of "India boy name meaning", "South American girl name meaning", "Caribbean boy name meaning", etc. all to varying results. From there, I checking the meaning of names until I'd found something a) I liked, and b) had a meaning that fit the character.

Ideally, by using these sites, you'll wind up with a list of names and their meanings. Even if you don't necessarily care about the meaning of a name, they're a good place to start. Often, you may also come across lists that all begin with a certain letter (Asian names that begin with "N", for instance). I prefer the lists and meanings, since I just want a good name, regardless of what letter it starts with. You may already know which letter you want the name to start with and can use that as a jumping-off point. Unfortunately, I don't have a list of good go-to sites for you to use, but if you're reading this right now, I trust you know how to use Google.

*Be mindful of tweeting about the use of baby name sites, since I alarmed at least one friend and received some bizarre DMs from random strangers about pregnancy nutrition and baby advise after doing so.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Thoughts on C2E2

Besides the occasional AnimeCentral convention, this past weekend's C2E2 is the first time in years I've been to a convention as a consumer, rather than as someone with a table trying to hawk my wares.

Firstly, it's fantastic to actually be IN Chicago, rather than one of the outlying suburbs. This is great for all of the out-of-towners that always want to see Chicago-proper, but wind up elsewhere (typically Rosemont, for Wizard). Additionally, the McCormick Place is an ideal location, not only for it's skyline views, but for possessing a view at all. Several of the people I spoke to commented on how nice it was to have windows and natural light instead of simply four walls.

The other comment I heard frequently was less-than-expected foot-traffic. I was only able to make it to the convention on Saturday, which is typically the busiest day of any convention. Crowds were light, which was great for moving around and seeing everything, but not so much for the many companies and individuals trying to recoup expenses. I understand the economy is still a major factor, but I'll be interested to see if Reed makes any changes for next year, in an effort to increase attendance.

Immediately upon entering the hall, it was clear this was a much classier convention than Wizard. It's not quite the extreme (or excess) that San Diego is, but it's a level we haven't seen in Chicago since the pre-Wizard days of Chicago Comicon. One layout decision I found striking was how the carpeted area of the floor ended just before Artist Alley. Are they trying to tell us something?

My favorite booth, by far, was the Archaia set-up. Tons of books, creators signing, chairs to sit down in, and books to sample before you buy. Combine that with they Buy-One-Get-One Free Sale, and I walked away with some new hardcovers. Kudos, gentlemen. Oni had a presence, which I'm always glad to see. Top Shelf was there too, but looked somewhat cramped in their space. DC had lots to look at, but really only the Ratchet and Clank toys caught my eye. Marvel was largely wasted space - the stage was mainly used as a poster dump, and the outer edges tried to sell you on some flavor of digital comics. There were signing areas, but the lines wrapped around the booth, only increasing the amount of space Marvel took up.

I'm slightly torn on the decision to include a separate section for Webcomics. While it likely means those walking through are more open to webcomics than others (unless they're just trying to get to the Batmobile, DeLorean, or Iron Man auction pieces), it also means those uninterested in webcomics could safely ignore the entire area, potentially meaning even less people walking by during an already crowd-starved convention.

Artist Alley was packed full of great artists. A higher quality of Artist than Wizard's average, and the lack of porn stars was very welcome. I saw and met people I'd never seen at a Chicago convention before, which both surprised and pleased me to no end. I tend to do my retailer shopping on Friday's and Sunday's at conventions. Friday's for smaller crowds and Sunday's for the best deals. Since I was only at C2E2 the one day, I didn't spend much time browsing the retail section... though I did have a run-in with a fully-painted Pandora woman, asking if I played Magic. When I told her, "No" she replied "bummer" sped off in the opposite direction.

Shout-out to the random dude that asked for my autograph while I was eating lunch - create a character! Get in VOID! And say, "hi" to Mamoru for me.

Assuming they keep the Webcomics section around, I look forward to returning next year and setting up shop there.