December 2008 Archives

"We'll be brief: Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn.") and is said to have called it his best work. So we asked sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writers from the realms of books, TV, movies, and games to take a shot themselves." LINK TO WIRED ARTICLE

I know this isn't exactly how this is played, but since I've had to get my "elevator pitches" locked for the books I've done, I decided to apply the "6 word synopsis" to my three graphic novels:

"Lost in space, she finds purpose."
LITTLE WHITE MOUSE

"Upper. Lower. Between, Simone chooses equity."
MOPED ARMY

"Perfect beat. Imperfect life. Journey continues."
B.P.M.

">

You want weapons grade awesome? Here it is.

This week's Warren Ellis REMAKE/REMODEL thread: old school comic artist Basil Wolverton's SPACEHAWK:
Here's a link to Ellis' description at WhiteChapel: SPACEHAWK BIO
Here's my pitch:
"As his spaceship more and more becomes his home and eventually his world, SpaceHawk begins to detach himself from the original concepts of enlightened cosmic justice (along with his humanity) he once sought. Convinced that the small, perfect world of his ship represents the way to achieve intergalactic harmony, the elimination of all not like himself becomes his one goal. And the universe becomes darker than before..."

Special thanks to Dave Glide, who helped me focus in on the "Space Don Quixote" angle that led to this version. And nothing like going back to the masters of evil propaganda design for inspiration on how to brand mass genocide.

On a lighter (?) note, here's the "real" comic cover from the 1940's...

I also did a logo study for this character:

2008 has been an interesting year.

2009 will be a challenge. Or a right bastard. Or both.

The ability to find the things in our lives that are important and basic to what we need will become more important than ever before. The excessive things in our lives may need to fall away, and we'll come to recognize that which does truly sustain us.

The power that art, music and creative pursuit provide are now more important than ever. We will need these things to balance out the practical and numerical parts of our lives; we need to rediscover the simple pleasures that we get from seeing and creating art, and from making and dancing to music. Especially when we feel that it's the last thing we should do, that's usually a sign that we need to do it more.
Art still matters.
Music still matters.
And they both give as good as they get. More important that we remember to bring our best each time.

Peace and love for you and yours during this holiday season.
Share the simple gifts you have with others and let yourself be empowered by what they offer as well.
And thank you for all the support you've given to me and my work.
If it gives you happiness, joy, something to think (or swear) about, or entertains you, then my job is done.
And for God's sake, get out and shake your ass to some music this season!
Year end thoughts coming soon...

Warren Ellis has begun another round of his "Remake/Remodel" thread on his WHITECHAPEL forums. Each week, he posts info about a public domain character from the past, usually one in serious need of updating or re-imagining, and then lets his forum artists have at it, re-tooling this character to make them worth seeing and caring about. The results are pretty astounding, and his first round of these last year generated really cool stuff, most notably from the late Mike Wieringo, who did a killer re-think on Buck Rogers.

Anyway, I wanted to show the current work I've been doing on these threads, as they are really great exercises and have made me think and draw faster, and made the quaity of work go higher (hopefully). I've been posting these at my DeviantArt site as well, but I thought what the hell, why not have them here as well, so this entry is my catch up session for the last three weeks. I'm also including links to the threads that hold these threads, so you can check out the other entries as well and see the background info Ellis provides.

WEEK ONE: IRMA VEP"

WEEK TWO: CAPTAIN JUSTICE

WEEK THREE: DOMINO LADY

Nice online review from Iain Jackson, via LiveJournal:LINK

B.P.M. (Paul Sizer; Cafe Digital)
$15.99, 94p.
50 page preview online at paulsizer.com

"Roxy wants to be a DJ. In fact, she is a DJ, but she wants to be a great one, not just a good one. She starts investing more of herself in finding out just how to do this, spending more time with her friend Atsuko, who is a very good DJ, with her friend Dominic who is both a DJ and a recording engineer. This causes conflict in her romantic relationship with her girlfriend Hannah, who wants Roxy to spend more time with her. At the same time, Roxy gets some unsolicited but very good advice from this guy whom she's never met before. After doing a little research, she discovers that he's Philippe Robicheau, a one-time luminary on the club DJ scene who self-destructed in a haze of drugs and sex, among other things. She starts working with him, absorbing his knowledge to make herself a better DJ. In the meantime, her relationship with Hannah pretty much implodes, and Roxy's forced to make hard decisions about her life. How much does she want to give to her work? How much to a relationship? Where does she want her priorities to lie? Just how much does she want this, anyway?

Sizer does a very good job of depicting how it feels to be a young adult, just beginning to take your work seriously, deciding just how driven you are and how successful you want to be, and what sorts of sacrifices it takes to get where you want to be. Roxy gets portrayed a bit inconsistently -- in most of her life, she's forthright and assertive, but when it comes to the breakup of her relationship with Hannah, she just takes the hits without pointing out that Hannah's doing the same thing that she's doing, prioritizing her career over the relationship. That really is the one character quibble I do have about the story. Sizer's New York is also very inclusive -- it takes place in a New York with all sorts of people, as opposed to the "Friends" New York, for example. The colors are strong and vibrant throughout, with a playlist running along the bottom of the book for evocative music. The one place where the artwork has a few -- a very few -- problems comes in his depiction of faces; there's something about a few of the faces where he's drawing them full-face or close to it where they look clunky and squished; a perspective issue of some sort. Again, that's in a very few places; otherwise, the faces are very expressive and distinct.

BPM is a very enjoyable read. Older teens and adults who like stories about music and the people who work in that world might like it very much. Highly recommended."

And B.P.M. is also the featured review for Diamond Bookshelf, based on the Publishers Weekly review from a few weeks back:
LINK

It's now official; "B.P.M." is a nomination for the American Library Association's "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" list, winners to be announced at the ALA Winter Conference in January.
"Great Graphic Novels for Teens" 2009 Nominations
Fingers are crossed for "B.P.M." to make the Top Ten list this year!