no one of consequence

MoCCA Art Festival 2008

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:39:47 GMT

I'm going to be exhibiting at the MoCCA Art Festival this weekend for the 6th year in a row. I've been at MoCCA every year since it's inception and it remains my favorite show to this day.

I'll be selling copies of my latest book, PICTURES OF YOU, which was written by myself and drawn by series co-creator Tatiana Gill. PICTURES OF YOU is the second book in a three book series that we've been calling the "Cure Trilogy" I'll also have copies of some of my other recent books like A STRANGE DAY, THE WHITE ELEPHANT, and TEMPORARY.

The show runs Saturday, June 7 - Sunday, June 8 from 11am-6pm each day. I will be setup at table A45 in the "big room" alongside my good friend Pete Stathis who will be selling copies of his EVENFALL series, which he has recently been streaming online at his website.

In Defense of Odd-Numbered Sequels

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:21:49 GMT

Along with my lifelong love of comics, I have also had the same passion for the epitome of nerd culture, STAR TREK. And like comics, STAR TREK has been a fixed cultural point from which I map many of my formative experiences.

One such ceremonial practice that began in childhood was the viewing of the third and fourth films, THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK and THE VOYAGE HOME respectively, whenever I was waylaid at home with some illness preventing me from my academic betterment.

I didn't own copies but my mother would rent them for me every time, included with the ginger ale, ice pops, saltines, and other sick day supplies she'd gather. Watching them, again and again, always made me feel better. So much so that I began to look forward to sick days.

The second film, THE WRATH OF KHAN, has always been my favorite, and I tended to save that one for special occasions, and I think the sixth entry, THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY, is probably the best of the films starring the original cast, though it had not yet been released when I was enjoying my STAR TREK movie home remedy.

Many STAR TREK fans have long lamented the perceived lack of quality in the odd-numbered films, namely THE MOTION PICTURE (I), THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK (III), and THE FINAL FRONTIER (V). This trend seemingly continued with the NEXT GENERATION cast in their debut, GENERATIONS (VII), and in their penultimate adventure, INSURRECTION (IX).

With the exception of THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK, which I think is a good film in its own right and a worthy second act to the trilogy like storyline began in WRATH OF KHAN and ended in THE VOYAGE HOME, I too held with those that prefer the even-numbered STAR TREK movies.

Until now.

Having experienced a bout of the flu recently I kept up with tradition and watched my favorite double feature, though now on DVD thanks to Christmas gifts from my wife, and the viewing left me wanting more TREK. So, over the course of successive weekends I watched WRATH OF KHAN, UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY, and FINAL FRONTIER, in that order.

And it was as the Enterprise traversed the Great Barrier in search of the God of Sha-ka-ree that I finally realized it. STAR TREK V isn't the worst of the films, it's the best.

Well, maybe not the best, that may be pushing it. But it's the truest to the original series episodes, far more than any of the other movies.

The trinity of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy is at the forefront and remains the core of the film throughout. The aliens are silly, red shirts bite it, Kirk gets into fistfights, Spock and McCoy argue endlessly, the ship gets captured effortlessly (and later retaken effortlessly), and they cross "The Great Barrier" to find GOD!, who turns out to be some very powerful and cranky alien that tries to kill them.

It's like elements from an original series episode plot generator!

This discovery led me to watch both THE MOTION PICTURE (which I count as a sequel to the TV series, despite being the first film), GENERATIONS and INSURRECTION again to see if this same conceit held water.

GENERATIONS and INSURRECTION definitely fit this bill. In fact, I recall most fans complaints for both of these were some paraphrasing of "It's like one long Next Generation episode."

GENERATIONS was like "RELICS" or "UNIFICATION" where an original series character inexplicably turns up in the 24th century to help the Next Generation crew save the universe. Only instead of Scotty or Spock, this time it's Captain James T. Kirk himself, who helps his fellow Enterprise Captain at the cost of his own life. It's also the only Next Generation movie with Guinan, which makes it even more like the series.

INSURRECTION had the flavor of "PEN PALS", "THE ENSIGNS OF COMMAND", "HOMEWARD", and "THE INNER LIGHT" where the crew finds themselves saving a more primitive culture, occasionally in violation of the sacred Prime Directive.

And THE MOTION PICTURE, while not like an original series episode did capture the spirit of STAR TREK, Roddenberry's original vision, better than any of the others.

What is it about these movies that best channel the feeling of the TV series upon which they were based that causes them to be ranked lower than the rest, and even labeled cursed by fans?

One could carry this logic into other lackluster sequels as well. X-MEN 3 is a terrible movie. But it's the closest thing to an X-MEN comic book on film. Professor X dies! he X-MEN must save the very humans that would destroy them. Jean Grey dies, again! The Beat says "Oh my stars and garters!" Wolverine must kill her, but he loves her, but he kills her anyway to save everyone! Magneto loses his powers! But not really!

They may not be the best films, but if you watched those shows or read those comics pining for a big screen treatment of the original material you were a faithful fan of, consider this when you browse the TV schedule and see FX running X-MEN 3 or SCIFI showing THE FINAL FRONTIER and GENERATIONS back to back.

That exact pairing may be my new sick day treat.

Originally published at Ninja Convention. You can comment there.

Uncanny

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:07:55 GMT

This was originally posted on my new blog: NINJA CONVENTION, at ninjaconvention.blogspot.com, and I am likely going to stop cross-posting here.

Since my new book, ONE YEAR, focuses so much on comic books, and more specifically comic books from my own youth in the late 1980s to early 1990s, I've been re-reading a lot of books from that era. When I started writing the rough narrative for the book, back in July of 2007, I was upstate at my Dad's house (which was empty during the day and made an ideal place to work in quiet solitude) for a week. I dragged out what remained of my comic book collection from the basement and every day at lunch I'd read through a dozen or so comics that had some relevance to the story I was working on.

This was ideal in a number of ways, but primarily for the visceral experience of touching and smelling the books themselves. That extracted more memory than reading them did. And it was far more important for me to remember how it felt to read them, as opposed to simply remembering them.

I've continued this research at home, through a box I brought back with me and through reprint collections. I re-read DAYS OF FUTURE PAST this weekend (in a Marvel Essentials volume) for the first time since I was in Junior High. I owned both the old style Marvel Graphic Novel paperback version of it as well as the original issues, but couldn't find either while upstate. It's still one of my favorite X-MEN stories and I enjoyed reading it again. In just two issues it serves to epitomize the entire 16 year run from its rescue from reprints to the splitting of the X-MEN volumes.

It's odd, but I somehow thought that Dave Cockrum drew these particular issues, but it was John Byrne, and I further remembered having Dave Cockrum sign these issues for me at this tiny comics show held in a church in the town I grew up in.

I was drawing on this particular memory for a scene in the book where the main character goes to such a show with his friend and there he meets Cockrum and embarrasses himself by not really knowing who he is and is impressed that he worked with Chris Claremont whom the kid adores as obsessed with Marvel's Merry Mutants as he is. Which incidentally, I fortunately did not do, but thought it and felt guilty about it even then.

I did have him sign some books for me that I bought from a dealer, and I'm reasonably sure they were X-MEN #141 and 142. I also had him do a sketch of COLOSSUS for me, which made him smile since every other kid wanted WOLVERINE and I proudly said I wanted one of his characters. Of course, I may have had him sign two comics he never drew while gushing about how I had the graphic novel version and that it was my favorite X-MEN story.

I hope I didn't offend him, but I since he was so friendly and the free sketch (ink and all!) being so good, I imagine that if I did get the issues wrong he let it go. In ONE YEAR the comic book the boy has him sign is a reprint copy of GIANT SIZE X-MEN, but maybe I'll change it now. I guess sometimes truth can be more awkward than fiction.

The Sandbox

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:58:22 GMT

The following was originally posted on my new comics blog, NINJA CONVENTION, ninjaconvention.blogspot.com

There was a story on Rich Johnston's (congratulations on the birth of his daughter Alice by the way) excellent and always fun to read comics gossip column, Lying in the Gutters on Comic Book Resources, about a blog he recently discovered that is written by a purported Marvel Comics employee going by the moniker of Marvel_B0Y, which in itself makes it sound fake. And whether it's fake or not doesn't really matter since the feelings expressed seem to be resonating with some of the anonymous commenters cheering the mystery blogger on.

The crux of the blog is a very cynical bitch-fest as the writer lashes out at his employer in the sort of way I overhear dozens of people on the subway every day trashing their own jobs and all the people within that give them grief.

This is most likely what has interested most comics readers that have come across it since, unlike the subway rants, these names are recognizable ones being the very writers, artists, and editors responsible for half the new comics on the shelves any given week. And like all gossip, it can be titillating.

But what really struck me is how quickly this blog went from the point of view of an optimistic comic fan, working in the hallowed halls of a company that has created some of his favorite products to an angry worker feeling put upon by the powers that be and wallowing in the complete disillusionment of his childhood fantasies.

This Marvel_B0Y's blog is probably one of the best examples of this sandbox comics entitlement that I've always found sort of fascinating, and have wondered if it is the relatively small and open comics industry that promotes it or if this particular phenomenon is both present and thriving in other creative industries as well?

I mean, I know many people who dissect the latest episode of LOST, pointing out it's flaws and even suggesting better (in their opinion of course) ideas and directions, but not too many of them then claim that a) They themselves should be writing the show, and b) That they themselves SHOULD be writing the show, that somehow fate has conspired against them and thwarted their destiny.

What is it about comics that fuels this sense of entitlement? And when I say entitlement I'm not referring to simply wanting to write comic books. I think the need to create anything, be it a comic book or a rock opera is up to the person creating it, and a fine thing to do. What I'm talking about isn't even the desire to write SPIDER-MAN, it's the assumption that you SHOULD be writing SPIDER-MAN and not those hacks currently rattling off pithy fight scene dialogue and deciding the best place to use THWIP!

What young comic book fan (most started as children or at least they used to) hasn't dreamt up their own stories starring their favorite characters and wanted to see them come to life? I know I did. And when I first started to write my own comics in Junior High, my greatest ambition was to write the X-MEN.

But even then I realized that Marvel probably wasn't going to let a twelve year old kid write the X-MEN so I made my own X-MEN, put them 1000 years or so in the future, and called them MAX-FACTOR (yes, after the cosmetic line) and together with my friend Joe wrote and drew (Joe was the artist) many of their adventures. I think we finished half an issue before abandoning it, but I probably wrote about twenty or so stories all lost to the ravages of time and overzealous spring cleaning.

As an adult I've actually written two X-MEN stories for Marvel, published in their second volume of the anthology X-MEN UNLIMITED, and it was sort of fun. I hadn't done any mainstream comics and wanted to see if it was for me, and I learned that it wasn't and I think both me and Marvel are both better off.

When I first got the assignments to write the stories I did feel a faint childhood itch being scratched, but the adult reality of it overpowered it when it came time to be let into the sausage factory and see the extent of the corporate enterprise behind the four color adventures I grew up on. To be honest it was a fairly neutral experience, neither especially bad or good, but in the end I enjoyed writing those MAX-FACTOR stories with Joe a hell of a lot more.

Which is why I wonder so many comics writers I've met at various conventions or read online in blogs or message boards burn with this desire to play in the Marvel and DC sandbox? Even if superhero comics are your thing, why not make your own? These characters are mostly elemental and social icons as old as the Gods and Heroes of ancient myth. There is likely no story you cannot tell without your favorite company owned superhero in it.

And why the sense of entitlement that sometimes comes with it? What is it about comics that instills this sense of ownership? I've thought before that it's the small world nature of the comics community, from the ease of participation and acceptance via self-publishing, the shoulder to shoulder camaraderie of exhibitors at conventions, to the open access model of the internet allowing many creators to form intimate relationships with their fans. Does familiarity breed contempt?

Lately I've wondered if it goes deeper, that reading these stories and following these characters during one's formative years creates some sort of unbreakable bond that carries with them into their adult life and their personal attachment to the characters causes them to still see them through a child's eyes and when, like in the case of Marvel_B0Y, Willy Wonka takes them into the depths of the chocolate factory and their fantasy shattered, they naturally get angry.

The truth is anyone who wants to make comic books can. I love the fact that the so called barrier of "breaking into comics" is breached by simply making one. Quality is the true equalizer. Sure, marketing dollars helps sell more copies, but you can be work in the medium of sequential art and participate in the comics community with nothing more than a Visa card and the ability to read. Whether or not you do well is up to both the quality of your work and your own personal benchmarks for success.

This post is more of a question than an answer. I don't understand why more people intent on making comics don't just do so and not lament their missed opportunities that never truly existed. And perhaps Marvel_B0Y's posts are just the venting of a disgruntled worker whose story is no different than millions of other cube dwellers across the universe, but I suspect it goes deeper than that.

Comics are powerful things.

One Year

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:03:44 GMT

The following was originally posted on my new comics blog, NINJA CONVENTION, ninjaconvention.blogspot.com

I've been working on a new book that I started this past July. This is my first new comics work since I finished writing PICTURES OF YOU nearly two years ago. It's tentatively called ONE YEAR (a life in comics). So far I've described it, in a very tag line'ish sort of way, as a graphic novel about beginnings, endings, childhood, fatherhood, and comics. I've always had a very hard time describing my books, even after they were completed.

It's a fictional story about a thirteen year old boy at the end of his comic book collecting days, chronicling the last year he spends immersed in a hobby that has not only been his obsession, but has become fully integrated into his identity. As things begin to break down around him, the escapism he has always found in comic books fails him as well, leading to dissolution with what he once held so dearly.

The book is narrated by the boy's future adult self, who is also experiencing a year of loss and change, his tone informing the narrative somewhat as looks back on this particular time in his life. The pages dip further into the past as well in the form of mini flashback episodes, stories within the story, exploring the boy's love of comics and that experiences that shaped it.

The writing process for this book has been different from any I've attempted before. As someone who was once a comics obsessed boy myself, the writing has caused me to bring a lot of my subconscious thoughts about comic books to the surface, and as a result I find myself thinking about the medium, both objectively and emotionally more than I ever have before.

So, I've kinda wanted to have a comics related blog for awhile now, some sort of space to vent my brain, talk about my work, and to keep writing on days when I don't touch my manuscript. And I think this may be that space. I've had a LiveJournal account for awhile now, but I mostly use that for keeping up with other people, and I like the features of this one better. I might cross-post the first few.

In case you are wondering, I have no intention of this being anything other than a personal journal filled with opinion. I'm sure I'll be writing about others' work and comics industry related matters but not in any sort of credible way like a comics journalist or reviewer. These posts will probably only be interesting to me, and that is ok. The internet is a big place.

it begins!

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 01:58:32 GMT

i've decided to embark on a strange summer project.

click here for more info --> WORLD....WAR....BLOG!

mocca arts festival

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 01:50:52 GMT

i will be at the mocca arts festival this weekend, june 23-24. it will be held at the puck building on lafayette and houston in nyc.

mocca is my favorite show and i have been going every year since the inaugral one in 2002.

i will be helping to run the alternative comics tables and i'll have postcards for my new book, pictures of you, due out this september from alternative.

hope to see you there!

goodbye, daniel robert epstein

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 01:10:14 GMT

i just read on newsarama that daniel robert epstein, an extraordinary writer and journalist for that site and many many others, died this morning. he was 31.

dan was one of the absolute best comics journalists in the field. he also wrote incredibly funny and relaxed interviews with writers, actors, musicians and other pop icons.

besides enjoying dan's work for years now, i've had the opportunity to meet him and talk to him at comic shows over the past couple of years and he was just as engaging in person, and a really genuine person at that.

i will miss him.

i also cannot help but feel the shock of his young age. i'm 28 with a wife and daughter and my heart breaks for his family.

where it's always sunny

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:25:40 GMT

i will be attending wizard philly, a comicon extravaganza at the philadelphia convention center this weekend, friday june 15 through sunday june 17.

i will have copies of all my books on hand as well as promoting my new book, pictures of you, the next book in the "cure trilogy" with the beautiful and talented artist, tatiana gill.

i'll be in artist alley alongside longtime cohort pete stathis who will be sketching up a storm as well as selling copies of the recently released second volume of his critically acclaimed series evenfall.

hope to see you there!

i'm back

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 02:39:48 GMT

...and i am embracing all things comix. more to follow.

one year later

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 15:56:29 GMT

i've decided to take a break from writing comics and the comics industry. my self-imposed exile is currently set for one year, and when that year is up i plan to take stock of where i'm at and proceed from there.

i've come to a crossroads in both my personal and professional life and i feel like this break is necessary for me to pursue some other creative projects that i have desired to do for some time, but never really had the time to do them.

i'm still going to be writing, and i'm still going to be reading comics so for my comics friends, please don't keep me out of the loop or anything, i am still very interested in your work and projects.

this will also most likely be my last post in this particular blog that has centered itself around comics. i kind of like writing these entries from time to time so i am thinking of creating a new one. we shall see.

i think this break is a much needed one and I hope to return from it refreshed and re-invigorated. I sincerely doubt that I will leave comics for good, but I think that this re-evaluation is for the best.

an update and such

Thu, 09 Mar 2006 20:36:30 GMT

like most things, i have been letting this journal go as of late. this is one part not knowing what to write sometimes, as i never really kept any sort of journal before, and two parts laziness.

on the writing side of things, i am nearing the end of the draft of say goodbye to magic sam, my latest graphic novel. it is turning out to be a bit longer than i first thought, but i think that due to me actually taking my time on this one things are coming together much more organically. i think i will finish it soon, once i get to the end like this i tend to write in a marathon till the last page. then after a few people read it, comes the editing and re-writing, and then josh hagler gets to live with it for the next several months, bringing it to life. that, of course, is the part that is most fun for me. my hard work is over and all i have to do is look at pretty pictures.

i have some ideas for new stuff that i want to work on, but they will have to wait until i finish both magic sam and the treatment for a screenplay i'm writing for a friend of mine, who is a director finishing up grad school at afi. that story is called danny donovan's birthday party. i'll prolly write more about it here later.

also in comics news, i just handed off the script for a short piece (16 pages), called to ireland, to dan goldman (dangoldman). to ireland is going to be released as a single stand alone comic book this summer, debuting at the mocca art festival. it will also be part of a collection of short works that i'm looking to have out next year.

tatiana gill (suxdonut) and i are also planning to have a minicomic preview of our next book, pictures of you, at mocca as well.

i've been reading a lot of short stories lately. two collections by richard ford, rock springs and a multitude of sins. both are excellent. the sportswriter and independence day (the frank bascombe books) are amongst my favorite novels. also, at dangoldman's suggestion i picked up tobias wolff's the night in question, also a collection.

if anyone has any other short story writer recommendations for me, pass them on. i already own all the works of hemingway, tc boyle, raymond carver, and john cheever.

of mice and comicons

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 19:00:39 GMT

comicons always wear me down, but at the same time, i usually leave them inspired to work harder on my own comics.

what wears me down is that they are usually long (2-3 days, san diego is 4) and they are crowded. i'm not one for crowds really, i tend to get overwhelmed. people come up to the booth to talk to me and i feel like i can either barely hear them or barely focus on them. so if anyone has ever spoken to me at a show and thought i was nuts, you're half right. cons tend to be psychologically damaging as well. comics is a small industry and it is comprised mostly of very creative people who work jobs they would rather not and produce their comics whenever and however they can. that said, i find it depressing seeing the chosen few (typically at mainstream shows) that do this for a living. i'm not really sure i would want to write spider-man full time, but i'm also sure that it would take less than 40 hrs. a week and be more fun that working elsewhere.

but, on the uplifting side of the coin there are the creators. i feel extremely fortunate to have been at this long enough to be friends with in some cases, and acquainted with in others, such amazing and talented writers, artists, and cartoonists (the combo i envy), and at each show i meet new ones. they and their work truly inspire me. i love going to shows and having conversations with these people and seeing their new work. it always sends me home with some new ideas to chew over for weeks and months to come. and i love the weeks after the con when i can pore over the new books i've gotten.

a side-note, yet somewhat related. my friend neil kleid debuted his gorgeous hardcover with dust-jacket (oh so jealous) graphic novel, brownsville, with artist jake allen from nbm at the show this weekend. this book has been a long time coming and i've been lucky to be privy to its development. this is an amazing book and i truly believe it will be neil's real breakout work. he's been really active this year already, but i think this work will be what defines what looks to be a great year for him.

as for me, i've got a lot of thinking to do and some stuff to work out. the most important thing right now is for me to finish the script for my new book and then sort out my plans for the rest of the year. i anticipate a lot of resolution in the next few weeks, hopefully for the best.

comix in the city

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 20:58:16 GMT

this weekend was the inaugural nyc comic con at the javits center. i went friday and saturday but made an early decision to stay home on sunday and i feel that decision paid off as i was able to crash and sleep and prepare for another week of soul-crushing work.

it was a good time at the show. i arrived early on friday to lend a hand to fellow alternative comics cartoonist, josh neufeld (4_eyez), who was the booth ringmaster in the absence of our leader, jeff mason (indymag), who was sidelined due to jury duty. running the booth is a herculean task, but josh did so with style and things went very smoothly. friday was a light day and i got a chance to drop off some sample packets with some mainstreamy publishers and talk to some friends.

friday afternoon i met up and coming marvel artist clay mann who drew my most recent x-men story, cartoonist ellen lindner who was very cool, neil kleid's (rantcomics) beautiful fiance laurie, and my french publisher serge ewencyk who is just as much an amazing gentleman in person as he is over email, a true joy to work with.

i went out friday night with my friend and favorite producer of minicomics, jamie tanner and gb tran. seriously, jamie is putting out some of the most unique and exciting stuff i've seen. whenever friends visit me at shows i always send them to jamie's table to buy his comics, and they are always glad that they did. we went to jigsaw for jim dougan and danielle corsetto's release party for their book, crazy papers, and then to hi-fi for drinks before heading home.

it was very surreal to go to a comic show in the city i live in. a first for me. to go home friday night and sleep in my own bed felt weird and getting up to leave sat. morning was difficult. i just felt like staying home and reading the books i got on friday.

saturday was a very busy day, and complete clusterfuck as you may have heard. i had no issues since i had an exhibitor badge, but saw many, many upset people. i cannot imagine traveling to a show and to then be denied entrance after paying in advance.

luckily saturday morning i managed to see some cool people, like the amazing and inspiring rick spears and rob g., mike dawson who is producing an incredible graphic novel right now, liz prince (comicnrrd) who is a friend of a friend and author of will you still love me if i wet the bed, and i got a chance to talk to some fellow alternative comics cartoonists like joel orff and nick bertozzi (bertozzi). i had lunch with vertigo editor pornsak pichetshote, who i am developing countdown with, and friend/cartoonist dan goldman (dangoldman).

that afternoon i met artist tj kirsch who i am planning to be working with on a book later this year, and journalist <a href="http://www.suicidegirls.com>daniel robert epstein</a> from newsarama/suicide girls. when i left at 7:00 i was very tired but still had a friend's birthday party to go to. that was a lot of fun. we saw a bunch of friends we don't usually see from out of town, plus our local crew. so, there's the rundown. i have more thoughts on this weekend, but i want to write about it later when my head is clearer.

i love the smell of comics in the morning

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 03:35:39 GMT

it's only 10:30 and i am feeling the zen like peace of having my box o' comics packed for the con, my packets stuffed and in my bag, my markers, pens, and cigar accessories packed. i am ready.

i got the tools, i got the talent. it's miller time.

but since miller is fucking disgusting, i'm drinking some interesting spanish wine and catching up on a little web reading.

for those interested, i'll be at the alternative comics booth on:

friday
10-12
2-6

saturday
3-7

see all you nyc and visiting comickers tomorrow.

laziness: 0 damon: 1

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 20:32:29 GMT

so, sometime last night i decided to get off my ass and put together some materials for the comic con tomorrow.

after a quick trip to staples and some surreptitious use of the laser printer here at work i now have a stack of business cards and ten very nice packets to give out to some publishers. it is amazing what one can accomplish when they get up from a sitting position, buy stuff, return to said sitting position, and then move their arms.

tonight i need to put comics in these packets, seal em' up, and pack copies of the temporary trade paperback, a strange day, and the white elephant to sell at the show tomorrow and saturday.

i am still not sure when i will be doing said selling. i imagine i will either get the schedule tonight or find out when i get there in the morning.

i am looking forward to seeing some folks i haven't in awhile and seeing what they are up to. it should be a good time. viva la comics!

bi-mon sci-fi con

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 21:15:49 GMT

so, the nyc comic con at the javits center is the weekend. as per usual i have known about the show for several months and as it approached i did nothing to prepare and now as it is two days away i have still done nothing. alas, i will never learn. i think i've been extra lazy for this one since i live in brooklyn nowadays and can just take the subway there and sleep at home.

fortunately i had not intended this to be a big exhibiting show. my publisher, alternative comics, will be there and i will be doing some selling and signing at their booth periodically. Other than that it will just be walking about, talking to some friends, and meeting some people face to face for the first time, including my french publisher serge.

i sometimes wish i was a bit more proactive about these things. every time i do a show i say that the first thing i need to do when i get home is make and order some business cards. but i never do. i also think, hmmmmm, maybe i should put together a little pitch packet for prospective publishers - a nice letter, some copies of my recent work, said nonexistent business card - but i never do that either.

oh well, i think that while i enjoy the writing and creation of comics i'm not much for the business or salesmanship part of the industry.

in other news, the draft of say goodbye to magic sam is almost done and is going fairly well. i'm very excited to see what josh does with it so am anxious to finish the draft and start the editing process.

books

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 13:07:26 GMT

things are progressing nicely on say goodbye to magic sam. i think i'll have a rough draft completed by next week. i've been doing some little edits as i go, but it will still need a re-write. i'm in that phase when writing a book that i love it and think it will be pretty good. i love this phase because it is so fleeting and it never comes back for the particular work. once i'm done and some time has past i'll see only flaws and vow to do better. i think it is healthy to feel this way, but at the same time i wish this honeymoon period would last a bit longer.

everytime i do an autobio story like this, anything personal, i feel more determined to write fiction. i can write fiction much faster and with more confidence. with my own stories, i have to take the time to detach myself from it and write from as outside myself as i can, which is difficult since it's an impossible goal.

i already have plans for my next book which i think is going to be a collection of short stories that are loosely connected, mostly thematically. i think i'd like to have it be an anthology of sorts and work with a variety of artists. my only question is whether to round up the usual suspects or to seek out some new people to work with.

i'm reading an interesting book right now called, the accidental, by ali smith. it's been out in the uk for over a year but was just released here. so far the narrative has been from a supremely introspective 12 year old girl.

i just finished a nonfiction book called, how soccer explains the world, by frank foer - a journalist. i love both soccer and politics so this intrigued me. it was a really fascinating book and i'd definetely recommend it.

on the hemingway project i have read/re-read so far:

green hills of africa
a moveable feast
the old man and the sea
several short stories

and i'm still reading islands in the stream.

as for comics i've been reading and re-reading the ingatz series of graphic novels from fantagraphics. they've released 5 or 6 so far and i've bought each one i've seen. i especially loved gigi's the innocents. i've read it 5 times already. it's a great book.

snow!

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 12:55:01 GMT

according to yahoo! this was the second largest snowfall in nyc. biggest was in 1947. we took a walk into prospect park on sunday (forgot the camera for that outing) and the snow came up over my knee.

here are some pics from later in the day after getting home from a matinee showing of the pink panther, which was pretty funny. how could seeing jean reno dance and slap his ass not be funny?

man and x-man

Thu, 09 Feb 2006 17:22:24 GMT

so, my second mainstreamy marvel story came out yesterday in the very colorful pages of x-men unlimited #13. i thought it came out well. the artist, clay mann, did a great job and we've been corresponding since creating the piece and i very much hope that we will work together again.

i went up to midtown comics yesterday after work to pick up a bunch of copies. i don't get up there as much as i'd like, it's a great store and my friend gahl who works there is awesome and very helpful. it was fun to watch customers pick up copies of the book, flip through it, and then put it back on the shelf. unfortunately unlimited is the red headed step-child of the x-books, but i'm just happy to be there.

i'm pretty happy with this story. it's a bit more involved than my last outing and getting to create characters was fun. my friends nick and john (the two detectives in the story) are now owned by marvel. i'd like to use those two characters in another marvel project if given the chance. i've got a pitch in now with my friend neil kleid that needs a couple of detectives for a brief scene, so maybe.

here's the cover of the issue for those interested:

nah-nah nah-nah nah-nah nah-nah x-men!

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 19:21:38 GMT

my second foray into the world of mainstream comic books is out tomorrow, with a story in x-men unlimited #13. it's sort of a "what if superman were crazy?" kind of story about a former superhero trying to find his missing wife and discovering that his entire life was one big fantasy.

it ties into the recent house of m/decimation/etc. storyline in the x-books at marvel. either way it has an "x" on the cover and will outsell all my other comics (except for my first x-story) by a factor of 10.

if you happen to read it, please let me know your thoughts. unless they are negative, then keep them to yourself.

my own personal countdown

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 15:51:37 GMT

over the past year i developed a pitch for a 12 issue series for dc/vertigo called countdown. it would follow a family of five through the last 12 years of life on earth, before an asteroid ends it all. each issue would be a story set within that year, and focus on a single character, counting down to the end.

it's a bit sci-fi, but mostly it's sociological and about how we face death and live life.

well, the pitch is done and has gone to the head editor there, karen berger, and is now sitting on her desk waiting to be read. so, as one can imagine i'm quite nervous. it's out of my hands now and all i can do is wait. if it happens it will mean a lot for my comics career and mean a lot to me personally. this is a book i've wanted to do for many, many years and working with vertigo would be a dream come true.

so, it's pins and needles until then. and the clock is ticking.

we are born lucky

Sun, 05 Feb 2006 23:29:32 GMT

it was a good weekend.

i had my first comics related outing since moving to new york on friday night. i met up with the brothers goldman, dan and steve, for dinner and then on the kupperman signing/party at rocketship in brooklyn. it was my first trip to the store and i was very impressed with it. it was clean, nice, and well appointed. in other words it was a proper bookstore. they seem to have a great selection, and since i recently received a generous gift certificate from my friend chris as a birthday present, i plan to return soon and make good use of it. it was a good night and i'm glad i went. i always feel a bit like a kid on the first day of school at these events, but after seeing more people i know like my extremely talented friend jamie tanner i felt much better. i met a few people who i knew only fron their work previously, like leland purvis, a partner in act-i-vate: a web comics project dan is a part of, and heidi mcdonald who does many wonderful things including the beat which is one of the two comics websites i hit daily. i was surprised she knew who i was. afterwards i went for some drinks with dan, dean haspiel, and a friend of dean's. all in all a very good time and i hope to do it again in the near future. it was nice to pretend to be a comic writer for a few hours.

saturday was spent watching movies with my lovely wife kate, cozy with the rain and fog outside our window making the verranzano bridge disappear from sight. it turns out that wedding crashers was much better than i thought it was going to be. i love owen wilson, but moreso in his own writings like the wes anderson movies, but vince vaughn was fucking amazing. he must have ad-libbed some of the better lines and his delivery was great.

today was spent working on my new book, say goodbye to magic sam, and then lunch with my friend cyn - a belated birthday present. kate was out for the day with her grandmother so i spent the remaining daylight hours in the park smoking a cigar and reading the old man and the sea in one sitting. as part of my endeavor to read all of hemingway's works straight through this was an excellent experience. i first read this book in middle school and haven't since so it felt very fresh. it was a suberb piece to read in the waning afternoon sun in prospect park. afterwards i watched some of the pickup soccer games going on in the field below me. they have such fantastic arguments in their island accents, and the soccer is pretty good as well. i still cannot believe how nice the weather has been this winter.

the subject of this entry comes from my favorite quote from the book:

"i am glad we do not have to kill the stars.
imagine if each day a man must try to kill the moon?
the moon runs away.
but imagine if each day a man must try and kill the sun?
we are born lucky."

football and life

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 20:51:50 GMT

somewhat related to my previous post of my love for hemingway, i have been thinking a lot lately about life and how people like him lived it. he lived, as my friend matt might say, a life of leisure and adventure.

most people, even most creative people, work day jobs in order to eat and pay bills. this leaves not much time or even money for leisure and adventure. at my current job i have a lot of vacation time, but not a lot of extra money and with my wife's work schedule (overlapping classes she teaches as an adjunct) we are left with not much time either. being a defeatist this is where i give up and decide that we won't be traveling anywhere this year, thus no adventure.

of course being a defeatist i fail to realize that i happen to live in new york city. a place that people from around the world spend enormous amounts of money to travel to. a place that more than likely has more to offer me than i have inclination to take.

i think i just don't know how to live. a gentleman who works in another department here at tisch was talking to me about football (soccer) with me today. he was mapping out the upcoming world cup schedule for this spring. the matches were laid out on a page with certain teams circled. my first thought was that he was placing bets. he told me that he was planning out where he wanted to be. i thought he might be going to the matches, but what he meant was that he was planning on where in the city he was planning to be to watch some of the matches. he wanted to be in the right pubs with the ethnic group represented to watch the match, but really just for the experience and fellowship. this i could grasp as i became a liverpool fan last year in a small pub just outside liverpool during the european cup final against milan.

i was left with the feeling that my own laziness and lack of imagination is why i do not live a life of leisure and adventure and that it has nothing to do with time or money.

and despite knowing this i doubt that it will change it.

the complete works

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 20:37:00 GMT

ernest hemingway is my favorite writer and in my opinion the best america has to offer when it comes to its writers. this is just my personal opinion of course and has nothing to do with machismo, misogny, or any other m words papa is sometimes attributed with. he may very well have been an asshole, and being a bit of an asshole myself - i don't entirely care. for me it is his work that matters.

well, i've read a lot of his work but it occured to me this morning that i have not read all of it. i was introduced to hemingway from my aunt when i was pretty young, like 10 or so. i was not much for sports as a youth (or now for that mattter) and i read a lot and at a fairly high level for my age so this was not out of the ordinary for her. she gave me a copy of his first novel, the sun also rises, as a present for completing the fifth grade and with it elementary school. i read it that july and have read it every july since (and once in august) july is a fine month to read it in since it takes place then and the heat helps the experience i feel.

since then i have gone on to read nearly all the novels and most of the short stories. this morning when i realized that i haven't read all all of the work of my favorite author and that i may die any day, i decided that i would do so, starting now. i'm going to re-read the works i read as a child/teen since i'll most likely have more appreciation for them now, and in interests of the endeavor of reading the complete works back to back.

having just read both green hills of africa and a moveable feast back to back (xmas presents) i'm off to a good start. i began islands in the stream last night. i think i will write my thoughts on each work here as part of my project.

i won't be reading them in any particular order, just as i feel like it.