Monday, December 10, 2012

Production Blog 12

Well I hope you enjoyed your holiday gift, and now it's back to my normal blog.

I've really gotten myself back into the swing of things. The exposition pages are now all done so now it's on to the big actions scenes. Sadly this also means we're getting into spoilery territory so I will probably be a bit less forward with the pics I post and there will be mosaics and blurs from now on.


Monday, December 3, 2012

Production Blog 11 Holiday Edition

Hello Again. Well it's looking like these things are coming out on Mondays instead of the intended Fridays. But here we go. Well I've continued working on the pages that I wrote about last week and I've finished a couple but this week I wanna talk about the Christmas card.

Ever since 2004 I've made a "Christmas card" for my comic as a little something for the people kind enough to read it. And this year was my first card to feature the characters from my new comic The Super Cliche Hero Chick. 

More after the Jump...

Monday, November 26, 2012

Production Blog 10

The Marker Experiment
Sorry I missed last week between Thanksgiving and an involuntary trip to the Negative Zone. I've been AFK for a bit. But I'm back so here I am. Well during the last two weeks I've really gotten back to work, starting on Four pages a drawing and my Christmas card. Due to Hand pain from caulking and painting my dad's storage shed I mostly worked in pencil only recently have I started inking. I'm working all Four pages at once so none are complete yet but they will all be done soon.

As for the Drawing I've begun a working with grey markers. Thank you Copic promo at LBCC. And I've been Experimenting with Photoshop colour "washes" over them the results look promising. "why are you wasting your time with this" I hear you ask. Well my straw friend I'm hoping this will become a new way that I can do my cover Illustrations.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Seriously! Really!

A Warning the subject I'm going into is one that probably will make it hard for me to keep my normal polite scholarly tone so I may get a bit colourful in my use of language from here on out.... 



Well I'm making my blog rounds Tuesday morning I head to one of my favourites the informative and fun DC Women Kicking Ass and I see this

It Can be seen in context here apparently Tony Harris is a Comics Artist, I don't know him or any of his work, but what I do see here is the tired old Fanboy bullshit of "Cosplay girls aren't real fans."  And it makes my piss boil that this opinion is so damn prevalent on the Internet from fans and professionals.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Production blog 9

Hello. Not much to say this week so I'll keep it short. This page which has occupied me for this week and much of last is a interpolated scene, which plays a pivotal point in the narrative that is why I've redacted the <redacted> and the <redacted> that it produces. but if you really wanna know what <redacted> does. I probably have posted an image where I didn't redact <redacted> or what it produces.

Well enough of that silliness. I will be moving on to the bigger scenes of the book now including the action. So things should be speeding up soon.

This page also marks the first in book appearance of Dr Mishlov the self proclaimed nemesis of Hero Chick. She has already appeared however in the first set of Interwebz Adventures of Hero Chick 

instead of giving you my normal pretty pictures. I've decided to give you the progress of a single panel after the jump.   

Monday, November 5, 2012

Long Beach Comic and Horror Con 2012

Me at the booth  photo Nick Newman
Well My first con season in support of The Super Cliche Hero Chick  has come to an end the same place it began last April, at the Long Beach Comic and Horror Con (LBCC). This is always a fun con with a very good atmosphere. I did pretty well, getting my comic into the hands of more people than all the other cons of the year. I also met a lot of people, and may have gotten some future Illustration opportunities. While I've never had truly bad neighbours at a con, I was pleased and honoured to have some wonderful neighbours. First Richard Holmes and Shelly from Orion's Belt with whom I had the great pleasure of talking about pop culture and the art of writing for many of the slow moments of the con. And Illustrator Terry Huddleston who shared many a clourful story about the failings of The Dark Knight Rises. Good neighbours means a good con and therefore I had a great con. Saw some great cosplay as well, including a group portraying the X-men of the 90s and a great Fourth Doctor. What's neat about doing these cons in the LA area is that I'm starting to recognize and know con-goers and they are starting to know and recognize me. It kinda shocked me when a lady was passing by and said "oh it's that Hero Chick I saw the other day" these are the moments that make life good.    

My Copic Sketch card
A cool thing at this con is that Copic a con sponsor gave everyone in Artist alley one of their awesome and pretty expensive markers. And I had a lot of fun toning my artist trading cards. I'm really thinking of getting back into marker toning my stuff again... So mission accomplished corporate advertising guy.

My nieces with their copies of SCHC
On Sunday I got a nice visit from my cousin's husband Nick and my adorable nieces. They where happy to see me and  I them. It's always nice when friends or family stop by at a con, it reduces the feeling of isolation (that at least I get) and gives you a nice second wind during the long day. They liked their copies of my comic. My younger niece insisted on hold hers downside up because "now the girl is right side up"
the Doctor and his sketchcard portrait.
Something that I've enjoyed about this con season is that my book has attracted many female readers. While I'm not really going for a female audience specifically (I truly believe an audience chooses your work not you your audience), but I was always hoping my little funnybook would appeal to both gals and guys. And I find it exciting  that it not only does but that it seems to appeal more to gals.  What do these observations mean? I don't know for sure? but it's exciting none the less.
The best X-men Cosplayers ever
So all in all the LBCC was a great end to a really good con season. I think The Super Cliche Hero Chick launched quite well, all things considered. I've learned a great deal about promoting at a convention, and I hope that next year's Con Tour will be even better.
Bye

Speaking of the next con tour the dates are shaping up (none are yet confirmed)
Free comic Day Bases Cards and Comics May 4
The Long Beach Comic Expo May 11
Stan Lee's Comikaze 2013 Nov 2-3
Long Beach Comic And Horror Con 2013 Nov30-Dec1

Later 


Friday, November 2, 2012

production blog 8

We do it with SCIENCE!
Hello sorry I didn't post last week I was real busy and I had F'all to post.

Well I've gotten started on a one page scene, and I've taken my time with it (aka been faffing about) but I got some good looking stuff on it. I won't get to much this weekend as I'll be at the Long Beach Comic and Horror Con.

I also have been designing a new character for the upcoming fourth issue of The Super Cliche Hero Chick. I'll go more in depth on that after She's introduced.
well that's all for now so here's some Purdy Pictures.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Production blog 7.

Not much to say this week except I finally, finally got past the first scene. Between work and other BS I could never seem to get any sort of flow with this scene. Well here's to hoping that I can get into a groove on the next group of pages.

In other news. I've gotten some notes on the next stories from Ruben, and we're steadily progressing into the writing of the future issues.

So not much this week so here's some pretty pictures.


Friday, October 12, 2012

Production Blog 6

Well Sadly Not much to post this week between other obligations and a crippling malaise, I haven't been able to get much done on the book. Not that I haven't been working, it's just I haven't been working enough. I'm still on the same pages as last week. And I'm hoping to get them finished this weekend. Not much more to tell so enjoy these pretty pictures.

























Saturday, October 6, 2012

Production Blog 5


Well not much to say this week. I'm started on the next scene. Which is oddly enough the first scene of the book. It also marks the first time in the series that all three of the main characters have been on panel together with the first real appearance of Erin (she featured as the Innocent bysatander in issue one's back page funnies.)

Unfortunatley I'm suffering from Comic Page ADD. Akin to writers block, Comic page ADD is my term for when I can't keep focused on a single page for a length of time. it usually stems from boredom, fear of a panel or background, or too much caffene. My cure for Comic Page ADD? I work on more than  one page at once. And when I  get a bit of a block on pencilling I letter or ink what has been done. Because when your working on a Comic or a picture book. The most important thing is to keep the pen moving. If you're not working on that book everyday you're hosed.

Well that's this week and I have some pretty pictures for you. Thanks.
Erin Makes her appearance


Friday, September 28, 2012

Production Blog 4

Gus
Well the hangover from Comikaze lasted a bit longer than I'd like. and I started no new pages this week. However I did finish all of the pages I had in progress. So the first full scene (though it will be 'intercut' with the big fight scene) of the book has been finished. As well as that I did a lot of design work on the characters that hadn't been fleshed out the Monster and the two blokes. 

Friday, September 21, 2012

Production Blog 3

 Hello Again. Last weekend I didn't work on Issue three. Because I was at Stan Lee's Comickaze! The con was a lot of fun and I sold pretty well for me, better yet everyone who bought seemed to really like the book's idea. But it was the biggest con that I've ever done, so I was in survival mode for about half of Sunday. I literally can't remember much of what happened after 1:00 PM.

Anywhoo...

The Last Flight of Endevour.

This morning I took this picture of Endevour taking off on it's last flight over the town in which it was built. It was exciting to see the old girl in flight one last time but sad because it was so final. I look forward to visiting her in retirement at the California Science Center.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Production blog 2

 Here we go week two. I got three pages started and one finished. It's not unusual for me to work up multiple pages at once, keeps things fresh and the continuity good. All in all it was going good until I spilt coffee on one of the pages.

And the page was going so well too. So yesterday instead of Finishing a second page I was light boxing the good bits onto a new board and starting over. the good news, the lettering looks better. Well, that's all for me this week! see ya next Friday.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Production Blog 1

click to embiggen
Welcome to my first production blog for "The Super Cliche Hero Chick #3". This week I began work on my first page of the story. However it is not the first page of the book. That's right I'm doing the book out of sequence. The reason I'm doing it this way is so that I can get a better consistency with each setting and group of characters. For instance scenes set in the lab will all be drawn together, thus the lab will look the same in all of them because I'll be drawing it all at the same time. It's kind of like how a movie will film all of it's scenes on one set then move on to the next. I've done it before back on Neuropsychosis, but stopped when it became a twice a week web comic. I'm glad to be doing things this way again. of course the key to doing things this way is to have a tight script and thumbnail sketches. For info on that see the prologue.

The Hero Chick Production Blog: Prologue

I find that when I'm working on my comics I neglect my blog. I know all three of you are saddened beyond belief. Silliness aside I really do try to keep writing something on this thing just to keep up my writing skills at the very least.  So what I've decided to do, is make a production blog following the creation of "The Super Cliche Hero Chick #3". That way I'll be motivated to keep moving on the project and keep the Wonderblog active. I plan to update every Friday night, but may post on Saturday if schedule doesn't permit. Next week due to my appearance at the Comickaze Expo (Sept.15-16 at the LA convention center), I'll be posting on Thursday (Sept. 13). However since I decided to do this only when I'm starting on the artwork. I noticed it would skip an important part of the process, the writing. That's the purpose of this prologue.

I decided to do something new that I have never done before with Hero Chick #3. Write a good comic! Actually, it was taking on a co writer, my cousin Ruben. I wanted from the beginning to be open to collaboration on this project,  and when I was showing Ruben my stuff while drawing the first issue I noticed he had ideas for the book and not just ideas of the "hey I got an idea" variety that every writer hates to hear, but good ideas that gave me ideas. So at our niece's birthday I asked Ruben if He'd like to be a part of Team Hero Chick*

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Happy Birthday Batman The Animated series!

Twenty years ago today, Batman: The Animated Series began to air of Fox TV. And the world of Super Heroes on TV Changed. The DC Universe began in this series is still going strong today.

So I'd like to thank Bruce Timm and all of the folks who helped this part of our childhood come to be.

Kevin Smith interviewed Bruce Timm on his Fat Man on the Batman podcast during Comic-Con last July*. He had some great things to say about the origins of the show, check it out.

Batman the Animated Series © Warner Brothers




* I was in the audience neener neener neener.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Because No One Asked.... My Opinion of DC's New 52 One Year Later.

Last Wednesday saw the release of the final twelfth issue of DC's line wide relaunch, which was an apparent attempt to gain new or lapsed readers. Since a year is passed I figured I'd  Hop on the Internet machine, and give my thoughts to the first year. And overall it's a resounding.

Meh!

The New 52 as it was so "hiply" called Started out strong, mostly on hype (Everything except the bat books is gonna change!!!) but very soon it devolved into same shit different day. True we had status quo changes except the bat books and hip and not so hip artists and writers on all steam but it really scarcely amounted to anything. I think it comes to two things. 

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Ugg!

I wasn't planning on writing anything on the wonder blog until I made my "Year in Review of the new 52" then I saw this over at DC Women Kicking Ass.
According to writer Geoff Johns This is the new Status Quo, not a one off. Sometimes I despair.

(Goes and gets a whisky)

Alright,

This is a pairing that has never worked for me, and I've had to endure it in almost every Elseworlds as well as most of the Millerverse. It is the most fanwankish of fanwankish stories, as it only works in the physical, and usually stems from an over thought carnal fantasy ala Brody Bruce ... and really who wants to be him. really other than he's super, she's super, and she's invulnerable enough, what reason would there be for this pairing? On a character level they have close to nothing in common, they're even too far apart for "opposites attract" Superman's a farm boy She's an Amazon princess who is also a Demigod. True they care about justice but that only makes them co workers*. leaving once again the only point for them being together, sex. So in other words fanwank.

I will concede I may be being unfair to this, it may be a fling that leads Superman to fully realise how much he loves Lois, and Wonder Woman Steve Trevor, but with the way they've been sidelining Lois...  One thing I'll give em at least they did this early in the new DC universe, instead of trying to tack it on later.

Geoff Johns is a capable writer, even great from time to time, but this is why I have never liked him. He writes well in the technical sense, but many of his stories that I've experienced, have been Fanboy pandering, and don't let the talk of daring new ideas fool you, giving a group of vocal fans** exactly what they want is not daring and new it's pandering, but that's for the aforementioned "Year in Review of the new 52". This is not new and daring it's slash fiction.



*Also as a writer I believe that a superhero's best friend and or lover should not be a superhero, there is much more drama and capability for humanization of the superhuman character, that way. This opinion doesn't enter into my argument, but fuels it, so it's presented as an aside. 

**Silver Age fans I'm betting, many Dark Age fans hold a Lois is the love of his life opinion, and modern "new readers" raised on the DC Cartoons would probably prefer a Batman\Wonder Woman pairing ala "Justice League the Animated Series." 

Monday, August 6, 2012

Hero Chick #2 is Off to the Priters

"The Super Cliche Hero Chick #2" or as I like to call it "Hero Chick vs The Robot OF DOOM!" has been sent off to the printers. It has a publication date of September 7. This book was a blast to draw and the fastest turnaround between issues I've ever had. 

I will of course have it at Stan Lee's Comikaze, and The Long Beach Comic and Horror Con.

Cool Pictures

Last night the Curiosity Rover landed on Mars and here are some awesome pictures.

one of the first panoramas...
And this is cool, the orbiter got a picture of Curiosity parachuting down. You gotta admit that's awesome


Monday, July 30, 2012

The Comic-Con 2012 Interviews Clark Kent and Lois Lane.

And last but never least my favourite coplayers of the con, this charming couple dressed as the Fleischer era Lois Lane and Clark Kent. They have a wonderful story but I'll leave that to them...

 

Due to the noise and lack of an external microphone I was unable to get further back allowing you to see more of their costumes. I do have a picture of them but as I am pretending to be working right now I'll have to tide you over with this pic I found at io9.com.

The Comic-Con 2012 Interviews Supergirl and Nightwing

Here are a couple dressed as Supergirl and Nightwing from DC Comics. She is one of the best Supergirls I've seen.
Due to the noise and lack of an external microphone I was unable to get further back allowing you to see more of their costumes. And since we where in a crowded area it would have been a bad idea to take a picture. luckily I found this pic of Supergirl by David Ngo sadly I haven't found anything of Nightwing.



Photo by David Ngo  http://www.dtjaaaam.com/


The Comic-Con 2012 Interviews Hernando from Abstract Studios.

As we continue My cousin and I's series of Comic-Con interviews, we talk to Hernando, booth guy from Terry Moore's Abstract Studios. As we where constantly visiting this booth we decided to interview Hernando about what it's like working a Huge con like San Diego.  He had some interesting answers.
Abstract Studios website is http://terrymooreart.com/  if your not reading Mr Moore's comics What's wrong with you. Start!

Friday, July 27, 2012

Jamal Igle Talks about Molly Danger.

While at Comic-Con 2012, I got to meet one of my favourite Comics artists Jamal Igle, loved his Supergirl, but that's another post. And we got to talking about his new creator owned series Molly Danger. Then remembering that I had this Flip thingy  I asked  him to say a few words about the series. So enough of my talking here's Mr Igle


Anyone who's been reading my blog knows that I believe Superhero comics are in trouble unless some change, especially in the area of  kid friendliness, occurs. And it warms my heart that great talented professionals like Mr. Igle are stepping up to make a difference.

For more information on Molly Danger check out the production blog

For More info on Mr Igle's work, check out his site

There will also be a Kickstarter Campaign, beginning Aug 1, So if you like what you can contribute at www.MollyDanger.com

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The inevitable Comic-con post.

Well I'm back, had my dehydrated sleep deprived first day, and now life is back to normal. I of course went to the Comic-con International in San Diego. And it was a blast. It's funny I've been going to this show since 2001 and with all of the changes and the ever expanding crowds I'm always waiting for the other shoe t to drop, when I'll come home having had a terrible experience but that's still never happened. Maybe if I hadn't grown up with the con that would be different.

So what did I do? well I went to my first TV panel, for the MythBusters on Saturday night, that was quite fun. I really admired how Adam, Kari and Tory actually did their own handouts when people where in line. I'd experienced lines before at Comic-con, sometimes to no avail, but this was the first LINE I ever was in, we had actually given up but after meeting Kari Byron and realising that it was only twenty minutes to panel we figured "what else are we doing" It was a fun panel and we got to learn things like what's the most embarrassing question (who' Kari with) what was their favourite explosion (the water heater) and what myths would they like to do but the insurance won't let them (nuking the fridge).

I also went to see the thirtieth anniversary panel for Love and Rockets. The Hernandez Bros comic series has been a favourite of mine for some time, and it was great to see a talk by all three brothers. The panel included a belated awarding of the inkpot award to forgotten Hernandez bro Mario.

As well as the few panels I went to, I also took part in the Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog Singalong which is always fun, took in a performance of the nerdcore band Kirby Krackle. And was in the audience for a recording of a Kevin Smith Podcast Fatman on the Batman, in which he interviewed Batman: the Animated series producer and designer Bruce Timm.

Most of my time I spent in the exhibit hall where I met some of my favourite Comics artists (some of them for he manyith time) and admired cosplayers. Amongst the artists I met where Terry Moore whose Rachel Rising is a current favourite, Jaime Hernandez, Jamal Igle (of whom you'll be seeing a video interview soon), Bernard Chiang, Adam Warren, Bruce Timm, Frank Cho, J. Scott Campbell, and some of my favourite guy's Reed Gunther's Shane and Chris Houghton.

Oh and I nearly puked in my mouth when i saw the line for commission pickup for Rob Liefeild.

I can't say I really had any complaints about the con this year. But I do have to praise one thing. Comic-Con got rid of the unfriendly and useless  Elite Event Services. I had grown quite displeased with the staff over the last couple of years and it was good to see them go. In their place was not one but two staffs one for the exhibit hall and one for the rest of the center. I found that plus a staff of friendly volunteers efficient and as pleasant as a group of people looking after a large crowd can be.

Overall I really enjoyed Comic-Con 2012, and if the new pre reg system works out in my favour I hope to keep enjoying the con for the first time in years I don't feel like that shoe will drop any time soon.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Marvel NOW.

Well the other shoe has dropped, DC having done "well"* with their new 52. Marvel wants a bit of the Reboot action as well. So they will be launching the "it's not a reboot really" Relaunch of many of their big titles called Marvel NOW. Launching "new and daring" new versions of some of their popular titles. But call it a reboot and Marvel will kick your ass. Marvel is very touchy about this whole reboot business, trying much of the last year to re craft their universe without a continuity shift, which lets be honest Marvel's pretty broken and could use one.

But Why is Marvel so, so, so, resistant to calling everything that their doing what it is. A Reboot. probably because they created this whole continuity business to begin with. See no matter what the fanboys'll tell you. DC really doesn't have a proper continuity before 1986. Sure there was a consistency of story and occasionally, very occasionally, they would reference an old story. There was Earth 2, but that really wasn't to "preserve" the golden age continuity as many claim, but kind of a retirement home for the golden age characters. But in the late seventies and eighties DC started to get the continuity bug, which led to the first real reboot in comics history, Crisis on the Infinite Earths. But why this change, one guess is that across town Marvel Comics was killing them and DC was trying to be more like them, even luring Jack Kirby away. And Marvel had this thing called continuity.

DC is over 77 years old and their characters have changed greatly with the ebb and flow of the years. but Marvel on the other hand for all intents and purposes is only 51. And for the first ten years all of the Marvel comics where made by only a handful of men, notably Jack Kirby, and Editor writer Stan Lee. So what happened with marvel, is that for ten years and hundreds of issues, they produced mass market comics with an auteur sensibility. And this included a rich well maintained history which we comics fans call continuity. And it continued well after the founders of Marvel moved on. It's actually really neat to this sometime. Get a run of any marvel comic that started under Stan Lee + and read it until about what was published in the late 80s. It's really amazing how well it flows as one story even with more obtuse titles like  X-men. This however started to fray in the 1990s when more titles and creative teams got involved. And into the first decade of the twenty first, Where a year is a long run for a creative team and two is forever. There have now been so many cooks in the kitchen, that it should be nos surprise Marvel is serving spoilt soup. Marvels continuity was a good run but fifty years is a long time to be telling one story, and a reboot isn't a bad idea if they want to keep these media properties fresh and exciting. But one has to understand Marvel's reluctance, the whole notion of continuity and timeline is what their company is built upon.  


* It's not really clear how well the new 52 is doing, the initial sales where great but now the sales of DC are apparently back to pre New 52 levels, and their farce of a Nielsen survey is close to useless. Of course it's never been exactly clear what exactly DC wanted out of the reboot.   

+I recommend the essentials collections for this exercise. 

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

It's Official.

Recently Lego Released a really cool new game, Lego DC Super Heroes.

What? Never heard of it?

Of course you haven't because it's not in fact called that it's Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes. The Game is probably awesome don't get me wrong. No Lego mashup game has been less. But it makes me sad, because it's now official, the DC Superheroes are now Batman's sidekicks, at least in marketing. 

I have gotten so sick in the recent years about DC and Warner's inability or unwillingness to market any of their heroes except batman, it started bad last year when the big re boot of DC The New 52 happened and Batman was left untouched (save for the removal of a few support characters). Really DC you thought nothing at all was wrong with Batman's status quo these days? Of course not the character is in those movies by that Nolan guy that print money for us right now. Feh. 


Honestly, Batman has not worked for me as a character for a while now, but that aside, it just burns me that They have so little faith in a game of DC Superheroes under any name other than Batman. And don't give me that "they already had a Batman Game" line. DC Superheroes as a name can sell, there are many cartoons with the characters and the kids love 'em. Plus even if the name recognition isn't there. Anyone when they saw a Lego version of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and yes Batman it will excite. But did DC, WB, or Lego  have faith? 

No the made the DC Universe Batman's sidekicks. 

Rant over.  

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

In a Perfect World This Would Exist.

This been making the rounds, but this Mangaesque re-imagining of Wonder Woman. That artist Ben Caldwell submitted to DC comics looks great. And I wish I and my niece could be reading it.


http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?333339-ww-manga-blah-blah&p=11646885#post11646885 

Art By Ben Caldwell Wonder Woman is the property of DC Comics

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Wonder Woman Movies.

I was reading recently, most likely on DC Women Kicking Ass, that Warner Bros. once again has plans for a Wonder Woman movie. Now I've never been a big fan of Wonder Woman, but she's one of the great heroes that should be a no brainer to make a movie based upon. However Wonder Woman continues to elude, filmmakers. Part of it is the sexism of the industry, with people still believing that female led action movies don't sell. But recently I read another reason, in a quote from writer director Joss Whedon, who was once connected as a writer to an aborted Wonder Woman movie. He also Knows a thing or two about the Superheroes. In this interview Whedon had to say this to add....

"She has no city,'' Whedon says, ticking off a list of problems he had with the character when Silver hired him to write and direct a Wonder Woman film five years ago. ''She has no great rogues' gallery [of returning villains]. And she's distant from people in a way that makes it hard to create identification. Spider-Man is a nerd. Batman is in pain. But Wonder Woman is from an era where superheroes were supposed to be like Greek gods. She's above us and different from us. That makes it hard to make her emotionally relevant. I tried, and some people think I succeeded, but none of them were the people I worked for.''

Now that is interesting, as a reader who grew up with Wonder Woman, I never gave this much thought. but her lore is missing a lot of the "stuff" of the common superhero movie. This is a big problem, as audiences of super hero movies do crave definitely two of the things Whedon Mentioned. The relatabileness and the villain. But this, I don't think matters as much now because last year the answer came.

THOR.

The Character of Thor has many if not all of the problems (albeit Loki is semi Iconic amongst the Marvel Zombies) that Whedon points out exist for a Wonder Woman movie, save of course the sexism thing. And it did wonderfully. Director Kenneth Branagh took care of this by basically making it a warring gods movie. I believe that the same can be done with Wonder Woman, using the Mythology of the character. I'm no screenwriter but here's my attempt at a mini treatment for a Wonder Woman Movie.*

Prologue: In the ancient world a group of trans dimensional beings came to be worshipped on earth as gods. The god Ares in a bid for the hearts of man attempts to send the ancient world into the abyss of endless war. But there are those who resist the Amazons, led by the goddess Athena. they rise up against Ares, but are defeated, through trickery and retreat to the island of Themeschyra. Man falls to Ares (the middle ages). But in the age of enlightenment, the world of man begins to free it's self from Ares' pull. Until the twentieth, century. Meanwhile on Themeschyra, the Amazon queen Hippolyte under the guidance of Athena, creates from clay a future champion for the worlds of Amazon and Man, Diana.

Act I: Diana is now a young adult. We see her train, and her life in general. Being the only child for millennia Diana is a bit a spoilt brat (the charming type) and a trouble maker. She is especially troublesome to  her retainer, trainer and friend Artemis. This is where we get to see Diana as a human she endears herself to the audience. Meanwhile Air force captain Steve Trevor, crashes on Themescyra. Trevor finds the city of the Amazons and is taken prisoner,Diana after griping that she gets no "real duties" is assigned to guard him. Diana befriends him, and eventually the Amazons give him more liberty. Meanwhile, the amazons see the armourment of Trevor's F-16 and deduct that man is once again at war. We then find out that ares is making deals with  millitary leaders. At Themeschyra the Amazon's oracle, discovers that Ares is on the move. Hyppolite decides that the Amazons, need to send an Emissary to man's world. They hold a competition to choose the hero. Diana is banned from participating, but does so anyway in disguise. Diana wins, and much to Hyppolite's dismay Diana is sent out into mans world as Wonder Woman.

Act II: Here we have Diana getting used to man's world, in the guise of Diana Prince. Steve Trevor would be her guide through the world. this is where we can get some good humour from culture shock. As well as some genuine horror of how harsh Man's World Can be.  Upon seeing crime, Diana uses her abilities to stop it, and begins a career as a sort of Wonder Woman. As Diana of Themescyra she tries to convince the powers that be that Ares is trying to send the world back into war again. The General under Arers' sway. Diana is saddened by her failure, and will not go back to Themescyria in shame. So she continues as Wonder Woman, in which she discovers Ares' influence on military policy, thus she begins working her way up the food chain, with the aide of Trevor and his friend officer Etta Candy. They eventually uncover the general's plot to take over the US for Ares.

Act: III The General enacts his coup. And Ares immediately betrays him taking mind control over the general's soldiers, and sets them on a path of destruction. Wonder Woman takes them on, and sends Trevor to attempt to get the help of the Amazons. We Get much Super human action as Wonder Woman Single handedly takes on an army. Using the lasso of truth to take the soldiers out of mind control, she gradually gets a fighting force of men and women. Meanwhile Trevor, arrives at Themescyra and compels the Amazons to join the battle. They are resistant to get into the affairs of man, but Hypollite cannot bear to see her daughter stand alone. Thus she calls upon the aid of Athena, who makes a portal to man's world  in which the Amazons can join the battle. Back in DC Diana and her reclaimed army have turned the tide, when Ares opens a portal in which supernatural reinforcements come. The tide is turning once again in Ares' favour when the portal from Themescyra opens, and an army of Amazons come forth. Diana takes command of the Amazons and the fighting is fierce, until the Amazon's and reclaimed forces prevail. Ares' begins to escape but Diana stops him and takes him on in single combat. Diana fights well and Ares is a felled. At this point Athena intercedes, proud of man, and Amazon rising up against Ares. She banishes Ares. The Amazons Return to Themescyra, leaving Diana as their ambassador. In the final scene. Diana meets Trevor and Candy outside of the UN socially, until a police chase happens by, provoking Wonder Woman into Action.

The end.

Now that wasn't necessarily great, and it has a few holes and lacks characterization. But I think you can see what I'm saying, if me, a low level indie comic creator can come up with this a good screenwriter should have no problem at all. 
* More of an outline but "mini Treatment" sounds cooler. 











Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Ray Bradbury RIP.

Author, Writer, and Futurist Ray Bradbury passed away last night (06/052012) aged 91. He was a giant in the realm of science fiction, and one of the last positive futurists. May he rest in peace and his works never die.

David

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

The Obligatory Post About Watchmen.

As everyone in the comics world knows.  DC will be launching it's controversial series' Before Watchmen, the prequels to the legendary award winning comics series (sorry hipsters Watchmen is not a graphic novel it is a twelve issue limited series. It is a closed story but there was no authorial intent to be a graphic novel) tomorrow. And there will be no review of it at all on this site because I do not plan to read it. I just don't care, I read Watchmen for the first time last year, don't know why, my dad got it back when it came out, but I digress, and I don't need any more Watchmen.

The comic is a great story about a group of aging superheroes in a world where being a costumed hero is illegal. One is killed and the story is about the unraveling of that mystery. But the story is only really the platform upon which the tale unfolds, the real meat of it is the reflections of the characters from when they where heroes. And on top of that it is a masterpiece of comics formalism, a tale meant to be a comic that only works as a comic (sorry Mr Snyder) but enough of that, there are many who've written about Watchmen that have said everything that I have to say, most likely better, so I'll let you seek them out.

Like any Great book, I was left fulfilled by my Watchmen experience. and so I'm not really interested, DC definitely has the rights (however dubious) to make this series, and they have some great artists and writers on it so it will be of the highest quality. But like I said I'm good on Watchmen.

But one reason that has nothing to do with my deciding to not read Before Watchmen is Alan Moore. Many Many and did I mention Many, comics fans are united in supposed solidarity (bet you half of em buy it) behind the wronged Alan Moore, who naturally is griping about this whole thing. His main complaint is that he's been cheated out of his intellectual property, his second is that it's creatively wrong, to use his characters for the new series'. Now his first point I have sympathies for, Moore's deal with DC basically (as I have heard it) was that if Watchmen ever went out of print, the rights to the series would go back to Moore and artist Dave Gibbons*. This I'm sure was done because DC didn't think that the series would end up being so huge as it was not DC's practice to give up copyrights to anyone. Needless to say it was a big hit and weather, by demand, or a serious dick move Watchmen has never left print. Now this is a fair point, Moore and Gibbons where promised certain concessions that many believe where never delivered, DC has made Many millions off of Watchmen, and they still would make many more even if Alan Moore and Gibbons where to own the rights. And I believe they ethically should have them. It's his Second argument that it is wrong to use his characters in any sequel material, that bugs me.

First, many don't know this, but there was always meant to be more Watchmen, it was even originally mean to be written by the original authors Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, but time, bad blood and the books renown have conspired to make more Watchmen impossible, until now. But the big sticking point to me is the way Moore tries to make an ethical debate out of other people using his characters when his entire career has been built upon the foundation of doing just that. Many of Moore's greatest works are post modern takes on classic literary characters, notably The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Lost Girls and oh Yes Watchmen. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, is about characters from many Victorian novels later on life becoming a super team. And Watchmen (it's most religious fans don't like it when we bring this up) started out as a big series involving the characters DC had just bought from Charlton comics. The story goes that when DC saw that Moore was "playing for keeps" with the characters, DC had him make them into thinly veiled Captain Ersatz'. But the final straw with Moore's complaints for me is the existence of the graphic novel lost Girls.  Lost Girls, is an erotic/pornographic, book that features Alice, Wendy and  Dorthy of Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Oz fame respectively. Now I've got no problem with erotica or porn not my taste but an author can do what he wants. My problem is I'm Pretty sure Carroll, Barrie and Baum would not be amused buy this. But Moore views it as perfectly fine because they're dead, and the characters are public domain. So turning memorable children's characters into porn is fine even though one could tell the original authors most likely would not care for it, is okay, but for the legal copyright holder  making series' based on Moore's work that will mostly likely be in keeping to the tone and character of the original is wrong? I'm sorry Alan Moore, looking at you're body of work, you don't get to have the high ground here.




* Now Moore was no rookie at the time he wrote Watchmen working most if not all his career with publisher owned material. I have a hard time believing that Moore actually trusted DC comics to give the rights to Watchmen to him ever! Screwing the talent has and will always be company policy at the big two.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Are You Reading Rachel Rising?

If not you should be.
Rachel Rising is the new series by indie comic artist Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise, Echo) it is a story of a woman named Rachel who wakes up one day in her own grave, what follows is her attempt to figure out what's going on, we then find out that her home town has many chilling secrets. I would love to tell more, but to discuss the plot at all is too inviting to spoilers. But lets just say this horror comic "has it" Horror comics have long been problematic because in a comic, as opposed to a film you only have one sense to work with, and as opposed to  a novel you don't have the luxury of Drawn out prose. Moore uses this limitation as the books strength, using mood and atmosphere as his agents of fright. murky shadows and deep texture, give the work an eerie moon lit feel, even in the daytime scenes. And a story about death and what may come after makes for a great read. It is the only comic that I have to get every month. The cartooning in Rachel Rising is everything that we've come to expect from Moore well drawn women, great expressiveness, and a stunning attention to detail. But I find that his work has been evolving in a much more fluid way, the expressiveness of line and texture being a bit of a departure from his style of the past. It's a bit looser and freer allowing the image to be read  quite well, in other words Terry Moore makes it look easy. It amazes me Rachel Rising makes Strangers in Paradise and Echo seem like "warm up" and I found both of those series' remarkable. So do yourself a favour and check out  Rachel Rising.

Image copyright 2011-12 Terry Moore

Friday, May 25, 2012

My First Interview

While at Free Comic Book day I was interviewed by Daniel from Random Dreamer Studios about The Super Cliche Hero Chick.And here it is

David

Thursday, May 17, 2012

The Belated Yet Somehow Inevitable Post About the Avengers Movie


I don’t think I have to tell you that the Avengers movie is a huge hit, statistically there is no one in the western world who hasn’t seen this Joss Whedon film.  And like many I loved it. The movie worked, and I’m amazed. If you would have told me five years ago that the crazy plan at the end of Iron Man would not only happen but become the second biggest superhero movie of all time (soon to be the biggest I’m predicting) I would have laughed. This movie should have been impossible. To make a sequel to five separate films that share a world and continuity, that’s big. As in possibly game changing big.
Since I’m two weeks to late on this (if your reading in Europe a Month.) I won’t review the film many have done so and done so better than I could. But I will say Hulk stole the show, and Marc Ruffalo, should play Banner forever. Scarlet Johansson in 3D, I’ll just let that explain itself.  And the end credit sting, damn! So what I’m gonna do instead is give you my humble opinion of what would be best for making sure the inevitable Avengers 2 is as good as the first.

  1.  Keep the slow burn. Disney I know Avengers is printing money for you right now but don’t , please don’t, rush the sequel. A big part of why this movie is so successful right now is that we as fans have been anticipating it since Nick Fury showed up at the end of Iron Man five years ago. And every movie that led to the Avengers built on that excitement until it was released this May. The same should be done for the second. If an Avengers 2 gets released without a full four movie cycle like the first it will not be as big of a hit. 
  2.  Keep Joss Whedon happy. I had my doubts about Joss Whedon as the director, but he was defiantly up to the task. Keep him. Do anything it takes, agree to his new show on ABC, let him make more Dr Horrible, build a Serenity ride at Disneyland. Just make sure he doesn’t bail.  
  3.    Don’t change the team.  Seriously, this group of superheroes works, they compliment each other well , and all have something to do in the scheme of things. Now the urge to get more of the characters from the comic in there is strong but it should be resisted. Adding more characters can severely gum up the works for an already complex movie. Same goes for the actors, try to keep as many of them as possible and don’t change the Hulk again, Ruffalo was amazing.  I seriously want to see a Tony Stark Bruce Banner buddy film. 
  4.  Make a bigger better story. Let’s not mince words here the weakest part of the Avengers was the plot. It was literally stop Loki and seal the hole in the sky.  Luckily the movie was made by a guy like Joss Whedon, so the interactions between the characters was the real point and main event. But a sequel, it has to be bigger and the plot has to be a functioning part of it. But if you saw the reveal in the credits, you know this won’t likely be an issue. 
  5. And seriously stop killing beloved characters Joss. There are other ways to move a storyline this is seriously becoming a crutch almost as bad as M. Night Shayamalan’s twist endings. My brother, cousin, and I were even making bets on who he’d kill. I don’t mind death in my movies and stories, but I like it to be something other than a plot contrivance. But more on that when I make my “Troubles I have with Joss Whedon” post.  
So there you go the things that I feel need to happen to make avengers 2 as good as this one. I loved Avengers,  and I’m looking forward to the next few years of Marvel Movies.