Write write write write write
I'm getting a serious writing jones, and there are not enough hours in the day. I wish I could pop over here and post 1000+ word screeds. I wish I had reviewed more than one CD for Playback all year. I wish every one of the comic ideas bouncing around in my head could come pouring out.
I'm excited about comics now. VERY excited. The other day, while cleaning out my desk, I stumbled across the first REAL comic story I ever wrote. I was about 20. I don't even remember writing it at ALL. I had stumbled across the art pages for it a few times before, four pages of some dude wandering around a forest that this 15-year-old kid from the comic shop had penciled that I was going to ink, did so half-assed, and then shoved in a drawer and forgot. I had forgotten what they were for. I was ready to throw their half-finished carcasses away.
Then I found the script. It was one page, both sides, hand-written. Not a single word on it rung a bell. I had no idea what I found until I read a line about a guy pushing a branch out of his way. That was one of the panels from those art boards, wasn't it? It was!
And there it was, full of cheesy, Frank Miller-esque, faux-gritty dialogue. But it's ME, dammit...it's the transition from the stuff I can dismiss as childish, kids-being-kids stuff and the guy I am now. I wanted to finish it then and there, to ink it and letter it amateurish dialogue and all and get it out there.
It made me more eager than ever to get enough stuff out there to publish a collection of short stories. It's kind of sad that 6 years into my comics "career," I only have about 50 pages worth of material. But I'm plotting and scheming. Short stories about guys: one learning how to respect women through a trip to the script club, another who see visions to ignore the girl who got away, a third who tortures himself with a night out with a woman he can never have. A tale of hyperviolence that blends Fist of the North Star with Escape From New York. Plans for the next Ink & Drink anthologies -- fantasy, war, romance. It's sad that my most realistic plan has this collection coming out in fall of 2013, but having a plan beats having nothing. And, of course, I've still got the tale of a guy and a bunch of weird notes that's been percolating for 7 years and is now 36 pages of script and 15 pages of art closer to existing than it's ever been.
If only there were more hours in the day.
I'm excited about comics now. VERY excited. The other day, while cleaning out my desk, I stumbled across the first REAL comic story I ever wrote. I was about 20. I don't even remember writing it at ALL. I had stumbled across the art pages for it a few times before, four pages of some dude wandering around a forest that this 15-year-old kid from the comic shop had penciled that I was going to ink, did so half-assed, and then shoved in a drawer and forgot. I had forgotten what they were for. I was ready to throw their half-finished carcasses away.
Then I found the script. It was one page, both sides, hand-written. Not a single word on it rung a bell. I had no idea what I found until I read a line about a guy pushing a branch out of his way. That was one of the panels from those art boards, wasn't it? It was!
And there it was, full of cheesy, Frank Miller-esque, faux-gritty dialogue. But it's ME, dammit...it's the transition from the stuff I can dismiss as childish, kids-being-kids stuff and the guy I am now. I wanted to finish it then and there, to ink it and letter it amateurish dialogue and all and get it out there.
It made me more eager than ever to get enough stuff out there to publish a collection of short stories. It's kind of sad that 6 years into my comics "career," I only have about 50 pages worth of material. But I'm plotting and scheming. Short stories about guys: one learning how to respect women through a trip to the script club, another who see visions to ignore the girl who got away, a third who tortures himself with a night out with a woman he can never have. A tale of hyperviolence that blends Fist of the North Star with Escape From New York. Plans for the next Ink & Drink anthologies -- fantasy, war, romance. It's sad that my most realistic plan has this collection coming out in fall of 2013, but having a plan beats having nothing. And, of course, I've still got the tale of a guy and a bunch of weird notes that's been percolating for 7 years and is now 36 pages of script and 15 pages of art closer to existing than it's ever been.
If only there were more hours in the day.