OPEN MOUTH
There's a great review of THE LAST STARFIGHTER, THE MUSICAL up by Jason Scott.
I may actually have to see this.
OPEN MOUTH
I've been thinking alot about my brother lately.
For those who don't know, my brother has certain developmental disabilities that make his life quite unique. I'm not going to go into detail here, but suffice to say being in his situation can sometimes be frustrating, demanding and troublesome - and above that, let's not forget he has to also deal with all of that within the framework of an orthodox jewish lifestyle.
Some days I walk around and realize that all the shit going on my life is so petty compared to what he goes through on a daily basis. I'm sure he wishes he could have my problems rather than deal with the obstacles life and G-d have thrown him.
Why am I bringing this up all of sudden, bombarding you with this personal jazz as you sip cognac on your futon in your mu mu?
Last week I was approached by a niche (read: Judaic) book publisher to write and draw an original graphic novel geared towards the Jewish book market as well as the larger comic book/graphic novel industry. It's a new publishing house, and from what I can see they're poised to do great things ...and they want me to be a part of it. What I've been asked to do is create a cartoon memoir of types about my relationship with my brother within the framework of the community we live in. It'd be my PERSEPOLIS, my MAUS. Something that would live beyond the both of us.
Now, here's the thing. I can do it. I know I can. The money is good and the opportunity is fantastic... but the trick is, well... I'd have to lay bare a lot of personal jazz, and while I've never shied away from an autobio story...well, let's just say that there are a lot of things I see and realize about my brother's life that he may not. I don't want him to be reading the story of his life thinking "wait... i didn't know that about myself" and then get depressed - he has enough shit going on.
I've spoken with my parents about it. I have to talk to him before the project (tentatively titled MIGDAL DAVID) moves along. Of course, this means that I will NOT be drawing AFTERLIFE, the second Rant Comics graphic novel until I'm finished as previously announced.
Apart from that, it was quite the weekend. This was our last hurrah with our roomate Sam (whose wedding is tomorrow night) so we went all out, roasting him and telling some great stories. Here's one: Last winter my roomates and I had a dinner party for about 20 people. We cleaned the shit out of the place and Sam arranged his room with scented candles and a nice, new bedspread. As my other roomate and I set the table, Sam went off to synagogue to meet this girl he was trying to get with. He left, saying things like "check out the shag pad!" and "if the room's rocking, dont bother knocking." The minute he left I turned to my other roomate and said "what can we do to screw this up?" We ended up placing seventy five GI JOE Action figures all around his room in weird sexual positions. There was a Baroness gangbang, a little K-9 action and a bit of dont ask, dont tell between Roadblock and Leatherneck. Sam brought the girl back as the guests started arriving and he whisked her off to his room ....three seconds went by and a shrill "what the hell?" split the air.
Which, of course, brought everyone else running into the room. Good times.
Sam and I went to see TEAM AMERICA on Saturday night and it's my new favorite movie that I saw with Sam on Saturday night. America. Fuck, yeah.
Work-wise, I'm thirty pages shy of the WFH graphic novel for Preiss/Penguin and I should finish it by Sunday. I'm starting to collect my thoughts for the aforementioned MIGDAL DAVID as well as the third issue of WALLY MEIERS with Tom Beland. I sent a score of queries out last week but I think that until BROWNSVILLE hits the shelves, most publishers don't want to lok at me. Gallaher, Rolston and I are getting our ongoing series project in shape right now, but that might take us a while to get it out in front of folks...so I think I'm going to take advantage of the time to work on MIGDAL DAVID and try to finish COFFIN, my prose novel about 14 people trapped in a PATH train after a post-9/11 terrorist attack.
Pop them Nyquils, folks. It's cold/flu season out there and we ain't got a St. Bernard.
OPEN MOUTH
Walking around New York today is like being at a funeral - it's like the entire City's favorite uncle's died. Stayed up to watch the last game between the Yankees and Red Sox with a bunch of pals and laughed as my roomate's resolve that the Yanks were gonna come back slowly dissolved into hysterical shouting. Add to the fact that the restaraunt we ordered food from fucked up his order and charged another 40 dollars on his credit card and you've got one VERY hacked off Son of Babe.
Anyway, it's over, thank god. Maybe I can get my TV back now. Although to be honest, now I'm actually interested in watching the Series...
Y'know what was great? I watched the tape of the Jon Stewart CROSSFIRE appearance yesterday and boy howdy, does he kick some commie ass. Notable excerpts include (and I did a bit of cut/paste):
STEWART: You know, it's interesting to hear you talk about my responsibility....I didn't realize that -- and maybe this explains quite a bit ... is that the news organizations look to Comedy Central for their cues on integrity.
and then:
STEWART: It's not honest. What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery. And I will tell you why I know it.
CARLSON: You had John Kerry on your show and you sniff his throne and you're accusing us of partisan hackery?
STEWART: Absolutely.
CARLSON: You've got to be kidding me. He comes on and you...
STEWART: You're on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls.
and still:
STEWART: You know, the interesting thing I have is, you have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.
CARLSON: You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think.
STEWART: You need to go to one.
And then they go to commercial...and Carlson thinks that when he comes back that he can move into light, happy waters. But of course, Stewart's not having any of that because he is ON MESSAGE:
CARLSON: Welcome back to CROSSFIRE. We're talking to Jon Stewart, who was just lecturing us on our moral inferiority. Jon, you're bumming us out. Tell us, what do you think about the Bill O'Reilly vibrator story?
STEWART: I'm sorry. I don't.
CARLSON: Oh, OK.
STEWART: What do you think?...Where's your moral outrage on this?
CARLSON: I don't have any.
STEWART: I know.
Begala, to his credit, I think realizes that Stewart isn't playing funny boy here and wants to have a serious political debate:
BEGALA: No, I did -- I went to do the Larry King show. They actually believe what they're saying. They want to persuade you. That's what they're trying to do by spinning. But I don't doubt for a minute these people who work for President Bush, who I disagree with on everything, they believe that stuff, Jon. This is not a lie or a deception at all. They believe in him, just like I believe in my guy.
STEWART: I think they believe President Bush would do a better job. And I believe the Kerry guys believe President Kerry would do a better job. But what I believe is, they're not making honest arguments. So what they're doing is, in their mind, the ends justify the means.
This, by the way, can easily be translated into a debate on religion, but that's a post for another day.
Good stuff there. Go read.
Work-wise, the WFH book is nearing completion - another 5 days work, I think. Along with that, Gallaher and I have hooked up with a great Eisner-winning artist on our ongoing series project and I am DYING to see pages already. Dying, I tells you. There's a pretty good chance this one will get picked up simply based on the art. Finally, as I mentioned before, I've been contacted by a niche book publisher to produce a 128 page graphic novel "memoir" style book in the vein of PERSEPOLIS and MAUS... I won't go into detail yet about the subject matter, as it's pretty personal stuff... but the deal is good - better than my NBM deal, actually. The only difference is that I'll be drawing it too... so that means AFTERLIFE is going to be pushed off while I draw the book, tentatively titled MIGDAL DAVID (DAVID'S TOWER).
Finally, as I have a wedding coming up next week I'm sort of dreading going to, check out what this smart dude is doing with invitations to a wedding he doesn't want to go to.
OPEN MOUTH
"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."
Been a circular week of social gunslinging - started with a date and ended with a date, and in between was a book release party and a bachelor party. This week I have two more parties and an interview taping at Jigsaw, so let me ask you brothers and sisters...
...when the shit am i going to have time to work?
Time is getting tight - I have less than two weeks to finish the first draft of the WFH graphic novel. I hit the halfway mark yesterday and today I take it into the second... but I was just contacted to write what could be the most personal graphic novel I'll ever write... and I might have to sacrifice some time to do character sketches. This, if all works out re:money, time and distro, will be my PERSEPOLIS. My . My EPILEPTIC.
But I gotta be reeeal careful.
More on that later.
In the meantime, I'm getting back into WALLY MEIERS and I think, in honor of NaNoWriMO, I might retackle COFFIN. Jake and I got corrections on BROWNSVILLE yesterday, and I'm getting set to put the cover design together.
Oh, and I owe someone an email about a possible collaboration. You know who you are.
So Saturday night I went to Red Rock West for my roomate's bachelor party... and it was like walking into the gates of Sodom, Sodom and Gommorah, Attorneys at Law. Half dressed bartenders pouring alkeehol down the throats of men, women and men who could be women. Barmaids breathing fire down the center of the bar... and apparently, eighty thousand bachelorette parties dancing on the bartop. Also, people think I am some guy named Todd from Long Island. Neil, the next time six attractive women ask you if you're Todd from Long Island, you say "yes."
A good, long night of debauchery was had by all.
And now - back to th' workin' week!
I got some reading done this weekend. I'm busy, so here's my rapid fire reviews:
IN THE SHADOW OF NO TOWERS by art spiegelman: Big, powerful, neurotic and unique. Nice use of nostalgic cartooning.
PERSEPOLIS 2 by Marjane Satarapi: It's good, but no PERSEPOLIS 1. It was almost like PERSEPOLIS: THE COLLEGE YEARS.
EVERYMAN: BE THE PEOPLE by the Brothers Goldman and Joe Bucco: Politicall charged and stuff. My brother would love this. My roomate would hate this.
THE DARK TOWER by Stephen King: The last of the DARK TOWER series.
My thoughts?
"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."
OPEN MOUTH
SO, i get an email from a radio producer for the BBC who saw some of my press and interviews and noted I was a Jewish creator... he then email me to ask me an all important question:
"Is Superman Jewish?"
MY response was "Well, he's a neurotic with god-like abilities who hides behind big glasses and tailored suits, all because of his mom. Of course he's Jewish."
So this guy is coming to town... and wants to interview me. It's mostly going to be about being Jewish and working in comics.... and about Superman being Jewish and what I would do with him (presumably as a Jewish creator) if I were given the chance to work on his comic.
I wonder what would have happened if I had written a comic called SWASTIKA JONES, FASCIST P.I.
OPEN MOUTH
So, I happened to be in Hanley's yesterday and noticed the latest issue of TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD by Tom Beland was out and stuck it in my buy pile between a BONE graphic novel and the latest FABLES. Bought, it put it in my bag and forgot it was there as I went off about the business of my night.
This morning, on my commute to work, I remembered it was in my bag and decided to read it - as TRUE STORY has always been one of my favorite books to put me in a good, light hearted mood - something I desperately needed before starting my work day.
But, of course, Tom decided to play with my mind. This was no light hearted read.
As I sat reading his emotional struggle to leave Napa, and the goodbyes he had to say to his family... as I got to those last pages, watching him and his sister try not to cry at the bus stop...only to individually break down when they finally were apart... I flashed back to March, 1999.
I was about 23, I think, and was packing my '96 Cavalier up to drive from Detroit to my new home in New York. I had lived away from home before - for high school, a year overseas before college - but there was always that sense of having my "home base" in Detroit, you know? I always knew that eventually I'd be home with my parents and siblings. But this... for the first time I was LEAVING. My home base would be in New York now - and I'd only see my family maybe 3 or 4 times a year.
I had already said my goodbyes to my Dad and siblings, and was trying to fit the final boxes in the car... and my Mom came out to talk to me. I could see her tearing up as she stood there, arms folded, making light little jokes. I kept smiling as I locked the trunk and I saw her hesitate for a second. She looked down, fighting tears and said "I never thought this would be necessary, you leaving home. But it's something you have to do." I really had nothing to say - I had said it all before. I joked around some more, telling her I'd be home again before she knew it - and NYC was only an hour plane ride from Detroit, anyway! We hugged.... I got in the car.... and I drove down I-75 towards Ohio and beyond.
As I drove into Ohio, I started thinking about my mom... standing back there on the driveway as I pulled away. And then I started realizing that at THAT moment, in the car on the long highway... I had no home. I had a past home and a future home - but at that moment, I had nothing. And I would never have my home base in Detroit again. The place where I learned to ride a bike and drive a car. The 7-11 where I pinched Tigers holgram caps and baseball cards with pals. Dick O' Dow's , the pub where my friends and I spent Saturday nights watching arm wrestling and drinking Bad Frog beer. The park where my brother and I had GI Joe wars. All of it. Everything. The next time I would be back was as a visitor.
And I lost it.
I pulled into a rest area off the highway and called home. I was literally an hour away from Detroit when I called my mom on the phone, weeping like a child. It was too hard. I couldn't do it.
My mom calmed me down and reminded me why i needed to go on. She told me home base would ALWAYS be in Detroit... and that I should never think otherwise. We cried, we talked there amid the Starbucks and trucking CDs and it made my leaving easier... that call helped me say goodbye.
Reading that final page, watching Tom pull away on the bus in the rain, took me back to 1999 and that rest area phone call. My eyes started to mist up on the E train and I closed the book in a hurry, placing it carefully in my backpack. The folks to the left and right of me stared quizzically as I fought not to lose it on my morning commute, remembering what it was like to say goodbye, knowing that while I was traveling from home to work, I was longing for the home I left back on the driveway in '99, my mom waving goodbye from the top of the driveway.
Thank you, Tom. Thank you for making me appreciate my home.
OPEN MOUTH
Just checked this out, thanks to Dean and I'm laughing with glee.
Stuart Immonen's 50 Reasons To Stop Sketching At Conventions
It's funny because it's true.
OPEN MOUTH
So the Holidays are over, clearing the way for a full creative schedule. Taking this week to tie up some personal odds and ends I haven't been able to get to due to 3-4 day stretches of synagogue, traveling and more synagogue and then it's back in the saddle again.
Designated yesterday as catch-up-the-deadline day, sitting for 5-6 hours in my room working on the work for hire OGN for Preiss/ibooks, as well as a sample for a second OGN under a different banner in that house. It's fun, quick work but when you get down to it it's adaptation - and it'd be nice if they took a look at some of my creator owned as well.
Also finally finished the first draft of THE BIG KAHN. Set it over to folks who are reading/editing/advising and I should tackle the rewrite shortly. Chantler is trying to figure out what the deal is with his schedule, but it's movin' and shakin'.
Tonight it's 10 pages of WFH #1, 5 pages of WFH #2 and 5-7 pages of the project Gallaher and I are working on.
Wednesday night I'll be at Jigsaw for the Goldman Bros/EVERYMAN release party, so come on down and hoist with me.
Sometimes I wish I had something interesting to post in this journal.
Maybe I'll start posting some scripts/writing or something.
I don't even want to link all this stuff today. Maybe I'm just feelin' lazy.
OPEN MOUTH
Been a rough few days - not only have I had to read how much this year's SPX, which I missed, kicked ass sales-wise and fun-wise... but I keep getting IMs and emails from pals to tell me about their new book deals and projects. Not that I'm jealous or anything, but I wish they'd all die in a pit of syphilitic razor blades.
But at least I'm working. Got my contract and deadline for the work for hire project I'm busting through - my editor asked me on Monday to get him 20 pages by tomorrow... and as the second days of Sukkot starts tonight, I had to finish the 20 pages by last night! Got 'em done, as I'm a super trooper, and they're bundled off in a fancy lil' email.
I don't know that I can reveal all about the project just yet, but I can say that the imprint/line it's for was just announced here.
So I got that goin' for me. Which is nice.
Apart from that, work progresses apace. Shipping out the NINETY CANDLES reorder/STAR boxes on Monday morning. Spending the weekend writing short scenarios for the ongoing Dave Gallaher and I are co-writing/pitching along with the final ten pages of THE BIG KAHN. Had a minor breakthrough on that last night, as I was stuck on a scene/conversation that didn't flow...but all is well now. Waiting to hear from Chantler when he's going to fit it in his schedule while workin' on NORTHWEST PASSAGE (which looks hot!), but I imagine we'll shoot for a late '05/early '06 release if NBM is game with that. Same goes for the next book Jake and I are gonna do, AMERICAN CAESAR.
Speaking of Jake, he's rolling through BROWNSVILLE pages and should complete the book by year's end. That gives us enough time to color the cover, set the design up and get it off to the printer (I hope) in time for con season '05... and I think I'd like to hit San Diego this year!
Looking ahead at '05/'06, I should have my name on the following books (tentative to change with new offers/new projects):
- BROWNSVILLE (with Jake Allen for NBM), 2nd half '05
- 144 page Work for Hire OGN(with Alex Nino for Penguin/Puffin, Byron Priess), 1st half '05
- 4 page story in HERO HAPPY HOUR SUPER SPECIAL 2005 (with Neil Vokes, for Geekpunk) 1st half '05
- 4-5 page story for HOUSE OF TWELVE #4, 1st half '05
- BIT CITY (OGN for Variance Press), 2nd half '05
- THE BIG KAHN (with Scott Chantler for NBM), Late '05/Early '06
- AFTERLIFE (OGN, Rant Comics). Late '05/Early '06
- AMERICAN CAESAR (with Jake Allen, tentatively for NBM), Early 06
Hm. Not a bad year.
That, of course doesn't take into account the stuff I'm currently pitching, writing, planning and shaping.
Worlds, kids. We're building worlds here.
OPEN MOUTH
Taking a break from a major deadline (20 pages by THURSDAY?!) to post a few things.
First of all, NINETY CANDLES is still generating some great reviews - I got a really nice, complimentary email from Eric Reynolds at Fantagraphics in response to the copy I gave him at MoCCA! He gave me some good, solid criticsm, but for the most part seemed to dig the book!
As well, Erin and Kerry have put up a joint review of the book at The Comic Queen:
http://thecomicqueen.blogspot.com/2004/09/ninety-candles-joint-review.html
"KERRY: Like the art, the story is also very good. I know Erin will disagree with me here, but I found Kevin Hallís story to be a sad one. After I finished reading it, I told her that I thought the story was depressing, but the more I thought about it I decided it was pretty realistic. There are sad moments in life and sometimes it does get depressing. There are equally happy moments too and Hallís life has its fair share. He loves his son and grandson and time with them is a reward. He wins an Eisner for his work and has a mostly successful career. The ending of the book is just so bittersweet and there are so many sad moments that it actually got me down after my first read.
ERIN: I didnít think the story was depressing as much as it was poignant. To me there is a big difference between sad moments and a just plain depressing life. Kevinís life may not have been what he imagined it would, and many turns of events didnít go the way he would have liked, which did make him depressed at times. However, itís the things he most likely never thought to imagine that made him the most fulfilled Ė the bonds between himself and his son and grandson."
Kerry gave the book an 'A' and Erin gave it an 'A-'! Thanks, you two!
Aside from that, I recently wrote a guest column for my pals at Scryptic Studios which is essentially a How-To for applying for a Xeric Grant. Check out XERIC 101 over at:
http://www.scrypticstudios.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1082
"Welcome to Xeric 101. Hereís your first problem:
I + W=?
Thatís right. Math. Iím opening an article about making comic books and becoming a (somewhat) successful self-publisher with a math formula.
Most creative types loathe math, preferring to rely on the portions of their brain that know the number of soldiers at Utah Beach in 1944 or the exact shades of red, blue and yellow that comprise Supermanís cape to help them float through life. Figures? Numbers? Math? Get lost. Iím building worlds here.
But hereís the thing, folksÖ. And it hurts to say itÖ If youíre interested in self-publishing Ėhell, even if youíre simply a freelancer who wants to let the editor boys juggle the numbers Ė you gotta know that the medium of comic books is built on Math.
Period."
Head over and check it out.
Other than that, I'm drowning. Trying to get these 20 pages done post-haste while wrapping BIG KAHN and writing some short monster scripts for a new project. Also been trying to get the NINETY CANDLES re-order in the mail. I didn't go to SPX this weekend and I'm PISSED so no SPX talk, ok?
Is it 1:30 AM already?
Shit. I have to sleep.