OPEN MOUTH
Man, nothing like a good Memorial Day Barbecue to set your diet back.
It's funny... I know i'm no house or anything, but it's not like I'm out there male modeling. I could stand to lose a few here, there and from behind the gazebo. But thing is... i dig eating. I dig drinking. I dig jogging, too, but not as much as eating and drinking. It's tough to pull the regimen after a day job and comics stint. You just wanna watch TV and so forth... but I dunno... maybe it's being around a bunch of women saying "he's hot, he's hot" about other guys as if you're not even there... maybe that gets you going "hey... am I not hot? are we not men?"
Irregardless, yetserday was a hoot and a pollute. Spent the day at a pal's mountain resort place.... hung around the pool, got some rays, played some hoops, fucked up my foot by playing said hoops in sandals, and then spent the rest of the day drinkin', grillin', drawin' and drinkin'. Did three great pen and ink sketches of the resort (wish I could figger out how to post things here) and then came home to watch some HBO and stuff. Tooled around some of today and then wrote 14 great pages of THE BIG KAHN, designed two quick signs for MoCCA and bought art supplies to start MUSE this week. Who the hell charges 20 bucks for a sketchbook I ask you? Heathens.
Getting ready to gear back to comics - less then a month from MoCCA and NINETY CANDLES is still at the printer - which is better than the nightmare I heard about HOUSE OF TWELVE....that ain't coming out at MoCCA as planned, but rather over the summer. Trying to hunker down with KAHN so I can finish this June and work my way back into DEAD RONIN and COFFIN starting after my July vacation (Fire Island again - yay!). Tomorrow night I finish the SPX story and ship it off and then begin MUSE, the new 72 page silent cartoon novella. I also have to get a new artist for the MORE FUND anthology story which is due July 1, but I'm moments away from that. So yay.
This Wednesday is the Jigsaw opening and I for one cannot wait. Bringing some minis for Ben Jones and hoping to chat about a possible new project with the Dame of the Night, Ms M. If that works out, Neil will be a happy man with a fun new story to tell. Hope to see you all there: www.jigsawnyc.com
Oh! Also, I just got my contributor copy of DRAWING THE LINE, an anthology to benefit cancer victims. I have a two page Western story in there and there are other stories from great folks like "Chesty" Chip Zdarsky, Dave Sim, Chester Brown, Moebius and others (can't remember right now. gah beer!) Check out http://members.rogers.com/fengsuli/comics/
Trying to decide which anthologies to look at after the SPX story goes out... I'm doing the MORE FUND one but am debating another TRUE PORN story for their second anthology (got a great little bed breakin' tale to tell) and I know MAULED 3 and HO12 4 might be off in the distance. Anyone else want me? AUTOBIOGRAPHIX? HELLBOY WEIRD TALES? ROSETTA? Reminds me... Damon Hurd and I were chatting about something... we'll have to see if that can find some light.
So I'm 29. I haven't changed much. I still like my beer cold, my burgers greasy and my rock and roll loud. I still dig pretty girls, comics and HBO. Get back to me in a year.
Jake is chugging along with BROWNSVILLE- I'm to be getting some art and the cover this week so I can put together the ashcan for MoCCA. I think I also might do Wizard World Chicago if I can swing the hotel (or someone wants to share...?) and I'm definitely in for Baltimore, especially with the MORE FUND book debuting then. Yo, Johnny Gallagher - I'll be around!
But first come see me at MoCCA. I'll be at the NBM table with BROWNSVILLE ashcans for a buck, minis for two, free stickers and newly minted copies of NINETY CANDLES at $5.95 a pop. Maybe I'll bring some original art and will be glad to show it tyou and chat about whatever I'm currently writing at the time.
Unless it's about puppy fights. That's strictly family.
OPEN MOUTH
Hey, it's my birthday weekend.
I'm gonna drink and read comics.
I bough the collected PEANUTS from Fantagraphics for myself today.
I also got some pizza and talked to my publisher about nailing down a contract for THE BIG KAHN.
Now I'm gonna go watch some DEADWOOD On Demand.
Simple Pleasures.
Email me or comment the happiness.
OPEN MOUTH
Here we go, folks. Tomorrow is the first day of my last year of my twenties.
Years ago I made two decisions: That I would be published and married by Thirty. Well, by the time I reach that deadline I wilol have been published. I'll have two complete books, a mini series in the works, three books in production and half a dozen anthology stories out there. I'll also, hopefully finish my novel.
I suppose I should start on the second decision.
It's funny, people have been recently telling me that the reason I'm not dating or married is that certain girls have been "googling" my name before agreeing to date me. That is, if I get set up on a blind date ..or even if I meet someone and she's interested... they go online to find out a bit about me and sometimes discover that during some comics-related interview I've said something's that ...aren't quite me.
Now, I'm a guy. I like to talk dirty sometimes, I like to trash talk. It doesn't mean that I'm a degenerate. I'm actually a pretty shy, quiet guy at first in mixed company... but unless you meet me, you don't realize that sometimes it's just a ... well, it's a sort of bravado.
But then, I suppose I'd have issues dating someone that closeminded to begin with.
Anyway. Moving on.
I hate my birthday. I always say that... it never lives up to its expectations... but this year..i dunno. The future (work and comics, anyway) is pretty bright.... I'm having a big ol' party Saturday night with lots of friends and drinks (420 Lounge, Amsterdam and 80th, 10 pm - drop by and say hey) and I'm generally content. Maybe I'm just nervous about being on the precipice. Maybe that's why I'm having such issues with my writing this week. I'm in what I call a writing slump, but who knows...?
I'm working on the second issue of THE BIG KAHN and am stuck. I just approved the final print of NINETY CANDLES, so that's rolling. I need to finish the second issue of WALLY MEIERS and get back to DEAD RONIN and COFFIN. I'm trying to get more mainstream work, if any... but.... right now...
I'm just nervous.
And tired.
And sort of anxious.
INSERT FOOT
A man walking along a California beach was deep in prayer. Suddenly the sky clouded above his head and, in a booming voice, the Lord said, "Because you have TRIED to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish."
The man said, "Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can drive over anytime I want."
The Lord said, "Your request is very materialistic. Think of the enormous challenges for that kind of undertaking. The supports required to reach the bottom of the Pacific! The concrete and steel it would take! It will nearly exhaust several natural resources. I can do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of something that would honor and glorify me."
The man thought about it for a long time. Finally he said, "Lord, I wish that I could understand my wife. I want to know how she feels inside, what she's thinking when she gives me the silent treatment, why she cries, what she means when she says 'nothing's wrong,' and how I can make a woman truly happy."
The Lord replied, "You want two lanes or four on that bridge?"
OPEN MOUTH
Comics Writers Don’t Just Write Comics
Comics Prose Line-up Announced
About Comics has just released the full line-up of stories for their Comic Prose anthology of prose short stories by comics writers. Until now, the only list that had been available was the one used in the book’s original solicitation.
The stories, a mix of new material and reprints, include:
· Kurt Busiek, “A Personal Touch”: A single man responds to an irresistible personal ad, and gets more than he bargained for, from the writer of Astro City, JLA/Avengers, and Conan.
· Max Allan Collins, “Laura”: This short mystery tale features the comic book detective Ms. Tree. This work brought Collins a nomination for the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award.
· Paul Dini: “It’s a Bird, it’s a Plane, it’s Feldman”: The writer of wacky comics like Harley & Ivy and contemplations of the superhero like Superman: Peace On Earth combines the two to bring us Feldman, the one friend a hero really needs.
· Mike Baron, “Ring of Fire”: from the writer behind Nexus and The Badger comes an explosive tale of the dangerous side of rock and roll.
· Dennis O’Neil, “Report on a Broken Bridge”: This tale about the investigation into a rich man’s suicide first appeared in 1971 while O’Neil was turning out his classic run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow, and reflects both his writing strength and his societal concerns.
· Steve Englehart, “How Coyote Dissed the Sky”: Englehart’s comic book character Coyote, star of the fondly-remembered Epic Comics series,
returns in this never-before-seen prose story.
· Jeff Millar, “Toto, I Have a Feeling We’re Not in Kansas Anymore”: this energetic 1975 comedy about the Des Moines, Iowa being attacked by monsters is the only prose short story by the writer of the comic strip Tank McNamara.
· Nat Gertler, “Life in Fur”: a coming of age tale of a young werewolf, from the co-writer of the forthcoming Complete Idiot’s Guide To Creating A Graphic Novel.
· Marv Wolfman, “Celiphyss”: the creator of such popular characters as Blade, Bullseye, and most of TV’s Teen Titans spins a science-fiction action tale about a man’s desperate hunt for a curative plant.
· Neil Kleid, “Open Call”: a young superpower adventurer takes his shot at the big time in this humorous tale from Kleid, who was recently award
a Xeric Grant.
· Bill Mumy & Peter David, “The Black ‘59”: Mumy (co-creator of Trypto the Acid Dog) and Peter David (writer of, well, everything) team up for this chilling tale of a guitar that might be too good, or just the opposite.
The book, originally solicited for May, is now at the printer and should reach comic shops in early June. It’s a 176 page 5.5x7.75” trade paperback, priced at $9.95.
OPEN MOUTH
Behold - NINETY CANDLES has been accepted into Diamond PREVIEWS and will be distributed by such accordingly.
How's THAT for grammar?!
Woo. Big relief. Now I gotta work out shipping codes and stuff. Behold - the real work begins.
OPEN MOUTH
Stupid, stupid Neil. Pizza AND fries? Well, you're paying for it now, Fatty McFatball.
Slow, slow day around these parts. Spending my day digging through old work files and a VERY big chat log between wacky Paul Cote and myself for a few jokes. Said jokes will be going into five pages of comics I'm writing up for the next MORE FUND COMICS. The world will finally get to see the wackiness of BEAR SUITS, product of two deranged and overtired minds.
In the process of said creativity, Paul hipped me to my new favorite site. MAKE IT STOP. MAKE IT STOP. GOLDEN, DELICIOUS, TWINKIES...
Apart from that, folks, the apes are singing and the rhino shit's slinging. Finished up the AMERICAN CAESAR script and it's ready for Jake to tackle after BROWNSVILLE. Busting forward on the SPX pages and restarting THE BIG KAHN. Completed two little pitches for a pal.
Its a happy little world.
Still, feeling logy from the pizza.
Damn you, cheesey goodness!
OPEN MOUTH
Have a whole weekend to write about here, but for now I'm still shaking my head in sadness at the debacle that is WrightGate.
"On his Delphi forum, Micah Wright has posted a confession – he never was an Army Ranger, something he had claimed since shortly after his debut as a comics writer, as well as the author of remixed Propaganda, a book which lampooned World War II-era American propaganda posters. "
"Wright began his statement (which has since been edited) with a recap of what he used to tout as his credentials, and then added: “Except that I was never an Army Ranger. I never served a day in a Ranger Regiment. I never went to Ranger School. The closest I ever got was Army ROTC. "
Then it went on to get picked up by every comics site, blogger and the Washington Post.
Back in the fifties, a man named Charles Van Doren was implicated in the Quiz Show scandals; Van Doren had lied about what he knew and he lied about what he did not know - given the answers in advance to questions he was going to be asked on the show, Van Doren willingly took money he did not earn. America loved and trusted him and he let them all down.
I have never met Micah Wright. I don't know why he did what he did and I'm not the guy who can tell you why. What he did was wrong. He got caught and now he's going to have to pay the price whether it be with losing projects or lack of trust from publisher, collaborators and friends.
Was it a shitty thing to do to friends and those who backed him up? Absolutely.
Will he get past it? Eventually.
Does it make him a bad writer? If anything it makes him a good writer/purveyor of fiction. Do I wish him ill will? No. Do I wish he would stop talking about it and move ahead, working to regain everyone's trust. Sure.
We all make mistakes. Charles Van Doren made one. Micah Wright made a big one. Can we compare the two? No... Van Doren took money. Wright impersonated a member of the US Military. Two different crimes.
Van Doren paid his penalties. He got through it and lived his life.
So will Micah Wright.