Archive for March, 2007
Jesse Hamm is a golden god. With a great piece on scripting for artists. Some of the scenarios are eerie. Things that would drive me up a wall in a script. A suggestion that was brought up when writing is to thumbnail out a script before hitting the keys. Great suggestion, as it helps with pacing a story. And can avoid some akward results. Funny samples abound in the piece of scripts gone wrong. The big part is lobbying a level of trust with the artist on visual cues. Or in one script I had where the writer gave one too many possibilities in the panel. I like to avoid situations where I get paranoid about stepping on the writer’s ego by doing something different. Because if I did stick to the script the page wouldn’t flow at all.
Granted not every script is perfect. I’ve been lucky that every writer I’ve worked with has been open to suggestions or allow me to run with it. I thank every writer that’s put up with my shenanigans so far. Hope this helps some struggling scripters.
I wanted to share this little personal story because it simply warms my heart. It’s about an 8 year old girl and a comic book series called Bone.
When Wendy and I first started dating, Hanna was 4 and, to my surprise, a big fan of Batman. This was due to the fact that a boy at her preschool that she had a crush on (and I mean that in the most innocent way possible, as only a 4 year old could) was huge into Batman. Of course, the presence of the exceptionally well done Batman and Justice League animated series (and their related licensed toys, clothes, lunch boxes, Happy Meal toys, etc.) meant there was an endless stream of comic book superhero merchandise to feed her interests.
As the years went by, her interest in these characters faded a bit, but never disappeared. Cartoons such as Teen Titans and even Danny Phantom still occupied a big part of her imagination.
And then she learned to read.
I’d pick her up kid friendly comics here and there, and she’d read them with great interest. Oddly enough, one of her favorites was Sean McKeever’s Spider-man Loves Mary Jane series, which is aimed more towards tween and teens. But even with this series, she never asked for the latest issue, or got all excited when talking about it.
And then I gave her the first volume of the Scholastic color reprints of Bone.
I think the book sat around for a while before she started reading it. But once she did, there was no stopping her. She’d beg Wendy to let her stay up late just so she could finish a chapter. When she finished book 1, half an hour past her bedtime, she was disappointed when she was told no, she couldn’t stay up any later to start book 2. “But mom, the way first book ended it’s, like, a mystery and I need to know what happens next!” She reads it on the school bus, at latchkey, and before going to bed. And she gets excited when she discusses the book with me. She’ll tell me what’s happened with the bone cousins, she’ll ask if I remember the first time the dragon appeared, and she’ll want to know what’s going to happen with the rat creatures’ evil plan.
That is the power of a good book. The fact that it’s a comic book, an independently created and published one, created by a guy right here in Columbus, makes it that much cooler to me. I can’t wait to get her the remaining volumes, talk about the characters and events, and see that look of excitement and curiosity on her face.
A related story: at her birthday party this year, I let her friends pick out a free comic from a pile of kid friendly ones. One of the girls picked up the black & white first issue of Bone. Her dad has since told me that she’s read the comic so many times that the cover is falling off and the staples are loose. He asked me where he could find the other issues, and I told him all about the collected editions, both the original black and white ones, and the new Scholastic color editions. Available not only at your friendly neighborhood comic book store, but at “legitimate” outlets like Barned & Noble and Amazon. Here’s to more and more kids discovering the joy of comics.
It’s not comix-related, but everybody should see this clip of Bjork beating up a TV reporter.
Newsweek does an occasional feature called “A Life in Books” where an author or celebrity discusses his/hers “Five Most Important Books” and “An Important Book that you admit you haven’t read.” Not always insightful, but sometimes there is something that catches me off guard.
A few weeks ago I pointed out to Matt that the Librarian of Congress had a similar favorite as him. This week, Walter Mosley, author of a number of mysteries including Devil in a Blue Dress, as well as some thrillers and sci-fi, puts The Fantastic Four, Issues 1-100 among his favs saying “Jack Kirby’s work with Stan Lee creates an image of my childhood which carried me into fiction.”
I wouldn’t have guessed based on the books that I read of his that FF was an influence, although I haven’t read his sci-fi book.
Anyone else want to post a five important books and another you admit you haven’t read. I’m going to take a shot at it and post next week.
In honor of March Madness, here’s a little something different for you guys. An ad for Spalding basketballs. Probably an easy one…
(click image to use the reboundize)
(previous weeks: 9/12/2005, 9/19/2005, 9/26/2005, 10/3/2005, 10/10/2005, 10/17/2005, 10/24/2005, 10/31/2005, 11/1/2005, 11/2/2005, 11/3/2005, 11/4/2005, 11/5/2005, 11/6/2005, 11/7/2005, 11/14/2005, 11/21/2005, 11/28/2005, 12/5/2005, 12/12/2005, 12/19/2005, 12/26/2005, 1/2/2006, 1/9/2006, 1/16/2006, 1/23/2006, 1/30/2006, 2/06/2006, 2/13/2006, 2/20/2006, 2/27/2006, 3/6/2006, 3/13/2006, 3/20/2006, 3/27/2006, 4/3/2006, 4/4/2006, 4/5/2006, 4/6/2006, 4/7/2006, 4/8/2006, 4/9/2006, 4/10/2006, 4/17/2006, 4/23/2006, 5/1/2006, 5/8/2006, 5/15/2006, 5/22/2006, 5/29/2006, 6/5/2006, 6/12/2006, 6/19/2006, 6/26/2006, 7/3/2006, 7/10/2006, 7/17/2006, 7/24/2006, 7/31/2006, 8/7/2006, 8/13/2006, 8/21/2006, 8/28/2006, 9/4/2006, 9/11/2006, 9/18/2006, 9/25/2006, 10/2/2006, 10/9/2006, 10/16/2006, 10/23/2006, 10/30/2006, 11/6/2006, 11/13/2006, 11/20/2006, 11/27/2006, 12/4/2006, 12/11/2006, 12/18/2006, 12/25/2006, 1/1/2007, 1/8/2007, 1/15/2007, 1/22/2007, 1/29/2007, 2/5/2007, 2/12/2007, 2/19/2007, 2/26/2007, 3/5/2007, 3/12/2007, 3/19/2007)
Apparently today is “ask the Ferret for help day”…
PANELista Tony Going writes:
“Hey, folks. I was just interviewed on TV talking about a minor chemical spill in our parking lot. Was anyone injured? Did we evacuate school? Is my hair ridiculous on camera? You’ll have to tune in between 5-6:30 p.m. to find out. All three networks were there.Please – please – please — somebody TiVo it!”
You heard the man, Columbus residents. Someone tape or DVR the local news so Tony can check out his mad oratory skillz.
Friend of the ferret Chad Lambert writes:
“The Dayton Daily News does this caption contest with Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mike Peters. They supply art with a blank balloon and wannabe writers submit their best stuff.Long story short–I’m one of five finalists! The winner, chosen via online voting, gets published AND gets the original art of the winning cartoon!
The link to the finalists is here:
Mine is choice #3: “No, trans fats haven’t been banned in Ohio yet. Why do you ask?”
So if you’re so inclined, drop on by the website and vote for Chad’s entry. I can honestly say that I like his entry the best out of the five, especially out of the two atrocious puns.
Ok, it’s a really tough one again this week. I’m digging way back into my back issue bins. Good luck!
(click image to use the jazzercize)
(previous weeks: 9/12/2005, 9/19/2005, 9/26/2005, 10/3/2005, 10/10/2005, 10/17/2005, 10/24/2005, 10/31/2005, 11/1/2005, 11/2/2005, 11/3/2005, 11/4/2005, 11/5/2005, 11/6/2005, 11/7/2005, 11/14/2005, 11/21/2005, 11/28/2005, 12/5/2005, 12/12/2005, 12/19/2005, 12/26/2005, 1/2/2006, 1/9/2006, 1/16/2006, 1/23/2006, 1/30/2006, 2/06/2006, 2/13/2006, 2/20/2006, 2/27/2006, 3/6/2006, 3/13/2006, 3/20/2006, 3/27/2006, 4/3/2006, 4/4/2006, 4/5/2006, 4/6/2006, 4/7/2006, 4/8/2006, 4/9/2006, 4/10/2006, 4/17/2006, 4/23/2006, 5/1/2006, 5/8/2006, 5/15/2006, 5/22/2006, 5/29/2006, 6/5/2006, 6/12/2006, 6/19/2006, 6/26/2006, 7/3/2006, 7/10/2006, 7/17/2006, 7/24/2006, 7/31/2006, 8/7/2006, 8/13/2006, 8/21/2006, 8/28/2006, 9/4/2006, 9/11/2006, 9/18/2006, 9/25/2006, 10/2/2006, 10/9/2006, 10/16/2006, 10/23/2006, 10/30/2006, 11/6/2006, 11/13/2006, 11/20/2006, 11/27/2006, 12/4/2006, 12/11/2006, 12/18/2006, 12/25/2006, 1/1/2007, 1/8/2007, 1/15/2007, 1/22/2007, 1/29/2007, 2/5/2007, 2/12/2007, 2/19/2007, 2/26/2007, 3/5/2007, 3/12/2007)
I haven’t laughed this hard for a while. From “The Personal Journal of Zan, the Male Half of the Wonder Twins.” by Sean Hewlett published on McSweeney’s today:
January 27
Pulled off greatest prank ever today. At the mayor’s ceremony
awarding the Super Friends the key to the city, took the form of a big fucking
wet spot on the crotch of the Flash’s tights as he addressed the crowd. Guess he
found out there are more embarrassing things than getting made fun of for
wearing purple tights in front of a bunch of grade-school kids, huh?
There are plenty more good ones. Check it out.
Here’s something that shouldn’t bother me, but still kind of does: Non-comics bloggers talking about comics.
Case in point: Pajiba.com’s Seth Freilich usually writes about television, but this week he decided to devote 9,000 words to his favorite comics. I’m sorry, but it’s exactly the list you’d pull off the top of your head.
Watchmen, Invisibles, Y: The Last Man, Bone, Fables, Understanding Comics, Sandman and Maus. The only one I’m not familiar with is Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children.
I can’t quite tell you why this irritates me. I feel like, if you step into my ghetto, you ought to be able to recite more than the greatest hits.
I need to get over this. In the comments, several people mention a lot of other books. A few people pledge to pick up some really good stuff. I guess I should be happy at any opportunity to bring in new readers to our little ghetto.
Court TV has a show about married couples who kill each other, with John Waters playing the part of a Crypt-Keeper-like narrator called the Groom Reaper. It’s called, naturally, “‘Til Death Do Us Part.”
That would be interesting enough, but then they go and promote it with a webcomic.
Can anyone identify the artist?