what eric thinks about late at night with no caffeine in him.
When I was younger, about 13 or so... I used to fancy the idea that I could write and draw comic books. My cousin and my sister both entertained this thought as well. We worked together on a few ideas. Between the diseased brains of myself and my cousin primarily (i think my sister was doing it because i was... though it's tough to say) we came up with a big hunk of ideas.
Eventually we would develop into a superhero-type genre, remniscent of most of the absolute shit that came out of early WildStorm books. Like Team 7. I blame it on the fact that we were teenaged boys for that.
But what we based it on was something else entirely. Sort of an Inverted X-Files, really. The minds and souls of a small group of scientists who were uncovering the truth behind an alien crash-landing circa 1955 (the date chosen because it was the year we went Back to the Future from, haha), and later went on to be the puppetmasters of the entire united states of america. Complete with secretly controlling groups of super humans... and well, from there it devolved.
We plotted out more than 10 years worth of books and a HELLUVA lot of titles. Some of it really good, for being written by 13-15 year olds... some of it was plainly shit. I still have all of it hidden on a CD. I drew, finished and lettered the first issue when I was 19-20.
Why am I bringing this up? And no, I won't scan and post the comic here....
Plainly because there's something about it I miss. What I miss is cooperation. Nothing ever compared to the thrill it gave me when my cousin and I were up at three am and had made a breakthrough in an idea that revolutionized entire stories. It invigorated us to tell the tale for years to come.
Now, though, I know more creators than ever in my life... and when even hinted at most times, the idea of co-creation of something makes them recoil. Maybe it's the legal issues. Maybe it's past experiences gone bad.
But it kind of bothers me. Hell, it doesn't help my self-confidence either. Am I not good enough to work with? I'd like to believe that's not the case.. Maybe I come off as hard to work with. Hell, I probably am. I write from my gut. I follow my instincts visually too. I move it where it takes me. I don't know how well I'd respond to someone questioning my ideas in that kind of environment.
But I miss being able to pool ideas with someone. Someone whose equally confident in their ability to make art as I am. The way you can find that flow and just run with it.
I imagine it's a lot like making music.
Scratch that, I know it is.
PS: Piss horse doesn't really count. unless jeff and i ever sit down and write a script.
Eventually we would develop into a superhero-type genre, remniscent of most of the absolute shit that came out of early WildStorm books. Like Team 7. I blame it on the fact that we were teenaged boys for that.
But what we based it on was something else entirely. Sort of an Inverted X-Files, really. The minds and souls of a small group of scientists who were uncovering the truth behind an alien crash-landing circa 1955 (the date chosen because it was the year we went Back to the Future from, haha), and later went on to be the puppetmasters of the entire united states of america. Complete with secretly controlling groups of super humans... and well, from there it devolved.
We plotted out more than 10 years worth of books and a HELLUVA lot of titles. Some of it really good, for being written by 13-15 year olds... some of it was plainly shit. I still have all of it hidden on a CD. I drew, finished and lettered the first issue when I was 19-20.
Why am I bringing this up? And no, I won't scan and post the comic here....
Plainly because there's something about it I miss. What I miss is cooperation. Nothing ever compared to the thrill it gave me when my cousin and I were up at three am and had made a breakthrough in an idea that revolutionized entire stories. It invigorated us to tell the tale for years to come.
Now, though, I know more creators than ever in my life... and when even hinted at most times, the idea of co-creation of something makes them recoil. Maybe it's the legal issues. Maybe it's past experiences gone bad.
But it kind of bothers me. Hell, it doesn't help my self-confidence either. Am I not good enough to work with? I'd like to believe that's not the case.. Maybe I come off as hard to work with. Hell, I probably am. I write from my gut. I follow my instincts visually too. I move it where it takes me. I don't know how well I'd respond to someone questioning my ideas in that kind of environment.
But I miss being able to pool ideas with someone. Someone whose equally confident in their ability to make art as I am. The way you can find that flow and just run with it.
I imagine it's a lot like making music.
Scratch that, I know it is.
PS: Piss horse doesn't really count. unless jeff and i ever sit down and write a script.