Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Gah! Money!


I can be a little rough on Todd McFarlane. He has a lot of money, he doesn't really do comics anymore, and his writing is a mess.

That said, he knows business.

Take a listen.

It's a half hour Fanboy Radio interview of him going off on commercial art, and it's great. I'm still not buying Spawn products, but I can see why some people would.

Fanboy Radio. The interviews are terrific, but sometimes the gushing praise coming out of Scott Heinz every second gives me severe behind-the-left-eyeball headaches. "Everything you've ever done is divinity! I wrap myself in your comics every night and chant your name! Your comics could end the conflict in the Middle East!"

You're not going to get any hard questions or straight answers out of Fanboy Radio, but every once in a while you'll hear some talented guys get up on their soapbox.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

"It's a strange world... Let's keep it that way."


Currently rereading Planetary. It's hard to shake the feeling that Warren Ellis suffered a six-month pop-culture-overload-induced epileptic seizure and wrote the whole thing in a week-long meth-fueled diapered binge. It's terrific.

It's easy to miss a lot on the first time through, but not in the "LOST"-ish "Oh, I didn't see that symbol tattooed on his inner thigh" or "Oh, I should have examined that panel upside-down and through red filter lens" way that is so popular these days. I'm finding out I missed quite a lot.

It is just, like Watchmen was, a big complicated jigsaw puzzle. However, unlike Watchmen, some of the puzzle pieces don't fit. Some are the wrong size. A lot are from a different puzzle entirely, and are discarded. Not everything is wrapped in a neat package by series end, and it's okay. Some of those discarded pieces make up the most heart-wrenching stories in the tale. They're casualties.

Oh, and the puzzle is completed at the end of the run, something that certain television shows (and certain comic books) will never claim to offer.

You really need to read this, not only if you love superhero comics, but especially if you hate superhero comics.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Don't Worry About It, You'll Be Fine...


Yeah, I'm not big on pulsing headaches. I haven't started a weekly podcast singing their praises. Not a fan. For some reason, though, pulsing headaches have been a big part of my life this weekend.

Maybe it's all that exercise I've been doing for the last few of months. We can fix that.

Wife-Lady has informed me that in the Heroes/24 throwdown going down tonight, Heroes is going to be the winner in our home. I'm surprised. I'm not big on pulsing headaches, but I am big on nuclear explosions and fallout (the fictional kind, not the real kind).

Aaaand I'm blogging about television again. Seriously, what's my problem?

Comic-wise, I'm reading tons of writer interviews in this and this, which have been very exciting reads (non-affiliate links). It's very motivational. I've got my nine issue series laid out.

The only time I've submitted a script sample was to Dark Horse comics back in 1996 or so. I was probably 19. It was an awful script, and they told me to keep trying. I think I knew it would be rejected even before I submitted it. I knew zero about comics. I did a very mature, responsible thing and gave up immediately. I also stopped buying comics for about eight years.

I have no idea why I started buying comics again, nor do I have any idea why I started writing again.

I still know very little, particularly about writing them. I have no plans to make writing comics my occupation, but I do enjoy doing it. I'm a part-timer. I'm lazy. I procrastinate. My current goal is a page a day. That should mean roughly a comic a month. I second-guess every word I write.

I think I'm more Harvey Pekar than Peter David.

According to Peter, he bangs out a comic script in about six hours.

And that's why I hate people like Peter David.

The first step is recognizing you have a problem.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Gaming quote of the day:

From my daughter:

"I love it when Daddy kills the robots."

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Wormsign.

News: None, really. Everybody's getting sick.

The oranges in California are all dying.

I suspect this man to be the cause:

What else? Last night, I just read a Todd McFarlane interview that was about the most inspiring, motivating piece of work I've ever read, for all the wrong reasons: "I just make up pages, and shuffle them around until I think it looks okay. I don't know anything about writing!" Astounding.

Watched Soylent Green (obviously) and Dune last week.

Soylent Green was awful, but only half as awful as The Omega Man was. The only redeeming quality of the film was the clear evidence that Charleton Heston is one heck of an actor. Even when the material is dross, he dominates every second of every scene. He could have pulled off the Ten Commandments even if he had been wearing a clown suit.

As for Dune, it still holds up very well. I don't know precisely why it got the abuse it did at its release. The acting held up. The special effects were serviceable. The story was challenging and a little swiss-cheesed from the novel, but it was still followable. Paul's the good guy, the Harkonnens are the bad guys, Paul's a freaking arch-diety. Very simple. And the production design was excellent.

Finally: the quantity of quotable lines approaches infinity, or maybe, eight.

"My name is a killing word."

"What's in the box?" "Pain."

"They tried and failed?" "They tried and died."

"The Sleeper has Awakened!"

"Fear is the Mindkiller. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration."

"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion."

"The spice must flow."

and...

"I WILL KILL YOU!"

(See also: Milking Cats.)

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Foods that Conner Enjoys:

Cheerios
Cheese
Toast
Baby Snacky Things
Pears
Applesauce
Peaches
Soylent Green


Friday, January 12, 2007

Dump.

Why is it that all my good ideas come to me in the shower, where I don't have anything to write on? I'm working my way back into to making writing a regular habit. Convention season is coming up, and I at least want to walk in knowing I have something in my holster, even if it's a Derringer.

Here, I'm getting all the music videos that are trapped in my head dumped out.

I inflict, I don't share.



Behave - Charlotte Hatherley. I'm not a girl-rock person, but Charlotte Hatherley is just too darn catchy. Macross Saga/Wing Commander visuals. And creepy drunken naughtiness.



Hell Yes - Beck. Beck is Beck, and I've been grinding through his stuff again over the last six months. Dancing robots.



Here It Goes Again - OK Go. Not new, but still fun. I know zero about Ok Go. Honestly, this is only included because Kate can't get enough of this video. Which means multiple, multiple viewings.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Interweb 2.9!

Despite how stupid the entire Web 2.0 movement sounds, periodically they kick out a real gem.

For example:
-Youtube works.
-GEverything works great.
-Del.icio.us is freaking heavensent manna, stuffed with Starburst and Werthers like a celestial piƱata.
-Digg is... a prime example of the idiocy of mob rule, but it works.

I started using Netvibes a week or two ago. It mostly works. Some bugs in the RSS feed updates, a little chunky when running on a slower computer, but it's mighty handy for compiling all my feeds/blogs/mail into a single customized page. It's almost there. I will keep using it.

Try it, tell me I'm dumb for liking it.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Superdeedooper Heroes!

Since I haven't blogged in forever, I'm castigating myself with forced television blogging. Like a weathered scourge. Spare the fortieth lash.

I'm pretty big on escapism in its various forms. Any time I hear of a new fanboy movement, however, I cringe and try to hold the material in question at arms length.

Which is why I've avoided NBC's Heroes like the plague, until now.

Flashback, Saturday morning. I was bored. I was supposed to be writing or cleaning. Or rebuilding my PC. Or any number of more important things.

But instead, I wound up heading over to NBC's website and checking out the show. They put all of the episodes from the first season online. So I watched the first one.

And then I watched the rest of them.

It was a television binge I hadn't experienced as badly since I got hooked on 24.

It's not Shakespeare. Lots of people get superpowers and are very confused. But it is engaging and original. It's hard to pull out new surprises when you're feeding a horde of comic book fans that have been "shooting up" the superhero drug for a lifetime.

I liked it. And I like Jeph Loeb.

This from a guy who's gone through superhero rehab.

If you've got a Saturday when you should be doing other things, check it out.

It could definitely be a lot worse.


Friday, January 05, 2007

Ah, memories.

Remember when I used to blog?

I do.