 |
|
 |
 |
At a certain point, I realized I was sitting on the couch, drinking a beer and watching Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus. Thankfully, the fourth season of LOST starts tomorrow.
I went to the DMV today to take care of an expired car registration. I was hoping I could go a full year without getting pulled over, but Pantego's law enforcement is vigilante about this stuff. Yeah, I was too lazy to take care of it online, back in November. I'm pathetic. For whatever reason, it was also time for new license plates. The lady behind the glass looked at my new license plate number, and put it back: "You don't want this one." She reached for new plates. I was curious. What is it?
Sweet. The mark of the beast. I'll take it. She smiled suspiciously, "Really?" I figure, why not? It'll be a conversation piece for my car. Then I went home and put them on. I stepped back, and realized I just put 666 on my Volkswagen Jetta. Accidental personalized plates. Somewhere there's a Satanist named Casey who is pissed.
I've been on a huge Shakespeare kick lately. Last year, I made a New Year's resolution to read all his plays. That fell through. So, I'm renewing my resolution. However, I've limited it to these ten as a starting point -- Othello, Julius Caesar, The Tempest, Hamlet, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I figure by 2009 I can add some more titles. It's also easier to find film versions of these ten. So that when I finish reading the script, I can then watch it. The whole idea is to come to a greater appreciation of good storytelling. Hopefully, it'll serve to inspire me in my own writing. What better writer than Shakespeare?
In the car, I was listening to This American Life on my glorious iPod. The episode Act V: Jack Hitt followed a group of inmates at a high-security prison as they rehearsed and staged a production of the last act -- Act V -- of Hamlet. Shakespeare may seem like an odd match for a group of hardened criminals, but Jack found that they understand the Bard on a level that most of us might not. It's a play about murder and its consequences, performed by murderers, living out the consequences.
It looks like you can read my entire essay "A History of Violence" on Google Book Search. The essay was originally published in The Man From Krypton: A Closer Look At Superman as part of BenBella Books' Smart Pop Series. (click here)
I also wrote an essay for the Spider-Man Smart Pop Book.
D Magazine posted my review of Great Wolf Lodge on their FrontBurner blog (click here). Paul Milligan, my daughter Kennedy and I went to the resort this past weekend to do some research for an upcoming "Souvenir of Dallas" comic.
Also, I've joined the community blog for STAPLE! I haven't written anything, but soon I will. If you're curious, other blogs I visit daily: The Beat | Stereogum | Pop Candy | Unfair Park | FrontBurner
Having been to almost every Dallas Comic Con for the past five years, and being a guest at many of them, this event has a sentimental effect on me. My friend Wim and I attended Dallas Comic Con as our first convention after a ten year hiatus; I remember meeting Cal Slayton, Scott Kurtz, and Nick Derington at the Dallas Comic Con. My own aspirations to create comics was inspired/encouraged in part by them. I wanted to be where they were. I remember purchasing my first booth, with several copies of my own mini-comic displayed. I think I sold maybe five copies, if that. I remember my first invitation to be a guest -- getting excited to see my name in the program, and how cool it was to spend the day hanging out with Cal.
After awhile, the guests, the attendees, and the exhibitors become familiar. There are people I only see at these events, and it's cool to get updates on how everyone's doing. Sometimes my books sell like crazy, and sometimes they don't, but it's always about having a chance to meet somebody new and geek out about comics. This past weekend was probably my favorite, even though I wasn't able to stay the entire time. My booth had a few more books on it than when I first started. The comics panel was fun. Overall, I was just kicking back and enjoying myself. Not to mention, it was nifty to see Missi Pyle, who I will always remember from Josie and the Pusscats (a most underrated movie). Terry Moore's report | Randy Andrews' report My interview for the Half Hour Wasted podcast (listen here)
A review from the Comic Book Gazette (click here to read)
Astronaut Dad is on sale -- $4.99 at Silent Devil's website for a limited time. (click here) The Dallas Comic Con is this weekend. I will be participating in a panel with Terry Moore, Scott Kurtz, and Kris Straub at 2 PM. If you're able to attend, I hope to see you there. Make sure to pre-order the next issue of Comic Foundry. It's a great magazine. Well worth your time and money. I took a typing test on this website -- 68 words per minute with no errors. Feel free to post your scores here.
Fanboy Radio, episode #444: The January Indie Show is now available for download. (click here to listen)
Scott Hinze and I talk with Ed Piskor, Daniel Warner, and Paul Maybury about indie style.
A good review from Pop Syndicate's Ken Lowery (click here):
It’s a truism that you can never truly understand your parents until you’ve been where they are, and by then it’s often too late. That Astronaut Dad walks the line of intersection between these two perspectives so flawlessly is a minor miracle, and shows a dimension to Hopkins’ writing that hasn’t previously manifested.You need to read the whole article. More than just throwing his opinion around, Ken gives great analysis of everything he reviews. For instance, check out his new film review website.
As posted in The Oklahoman newspaper, Matt Price lists his top 10 graphic novels for 2007. Astronaut Dad is #9. (click here)
If you haven't purchased a copy yet, you can now order it through Silent Devil's website. (click here) So far, we've received incredible reviews for Astronaut Dad. And here I thought no one would dig on a family drama. Also, next weekend, I'll be a guest at the Dallas Comic Con. There's going to be some great guests -- including my indie hero Terry Moore, and my favorite artists Nick Derington, Kristian Donaldson, Brian Denham, Cat Staggs, and Cal Slayton.
My books were published in this order: Emily Edison, Antigone, Karma Incorporated, and Astronaut Dad. However, they were written in reverse order. How does that happen? Astronaut Dad was the second comic book I ever wrote, even before the mini-comic I self published. I didn't think I could find a publisher for Astronaut Dad, so I tucked it away. Karma Incorporated was published as a three issue series, but the trade paperback didn't come out until a few months ago. We wanted to get the second series approved before we released the first, and that took some time. I wrote Antigone next, but wasn't too happy with the first version of the script. While Tom and I waited to get approval on the second Karma Incorporated book, we decided to finish Antigone. Then I wrote Emily Edison with Brock.
Thus to suggest that my work gets "better and better" would actually depress me. It takes so long to get a comic book on the shelf; I'm amused when they come out in this order. To continue this tradition, the first chapter of the new Karma Incorporated was written a few years ago, and it'll be ready sometime this year. Likewise, there's tons of stuff I've written in the past two years that hasn't been published. One would think I'd try to write something, get it published, and then write something else. Instead, I tend to write lots of stuff at once, all in various stages of completion. Bolivar should be next. But since it looks to be my longest project yet, who knows?
From last night's mustache party at the Semrad's house, me and John Gonzales.
 (photo by Andrea Roberts)
|
|||||
