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Awhile ago, my friend Kyle Kondas and I met at Uptown Bar to discuss my work in comics. It's part of his SPIRITS video series (click here for more details).
There was a frame/rate issue. The audio is slightly off in a few areas, but all in all, a good interview. I talk a lot and drink my beer. UPDATE: The audio has been corrected!
The latest WE'VE NEVER MET is now available. Look for it on the last page of Quick, DFW's weekly entertainment newspaper. This one might be my favorite thus far. It establishes everything I want you to know about the story. It flows well, and I love the last panel. Chad's art is personable, expressive, incredible. No surprise there.
 click for larger version I don't say it nearly enough, but thank you to everyone at Quick. I greatly appreciate all the attention this comic project receives. You always put a nice image of Liz (our protagonist) in the table of contents -- and post little blurbs here and there to direct people to it. I'm proud to be a Quick contributor. Tonight, I'm working on the script through April 8th. These characters are coming into their own, and it's fun to spend time with them.
Kudos to Mark Walters. I stand up from my chair and begin the slow clap. Others join in. Mark, you brought in some great guests. This Dallas Comic Con might be the best one ever.
There's Tim Sale, Adam Hughes, Michael Golden, Mark Brooks, Todd Nauck, Terry Moore, Jim Mahfood, Mike Huddleston, Tom Feister, Matt Sturges, Renee Witterstaetter, Harold Ledoux, plus lots of local talent like James O'Barr, Brian Denham, Kerry Gamill, Josh Howard, Cal Slayton, Joe Eisma, and Brent Peeples.I'll be there, but I'm a regular. Beyond all the usual stuff, I will have copies of ONE NIGHT STAND for anyone who needs it. I'll have the KARMA INCORPORATED SCRIPT BOOK, which is only available at conventions. I'm handing out postcards to promote WE'VE NEVER MET and SOUVENIR OF DALLAS. I'm fairly sure that my artistic cohorts Paul Milligan and Brock Rizy will be seated on either side of me -- available for commissioned sketches. Chad Thomas said he'd visit on Saturday. Maybe we can convince him to sit for a while and do a sketch or two? Bring money. Meet a celebrity or two. Ask Cordelia to sign your Buffy Season 3 DVD. Get some sketches from Paul, Brock, and Chad. That's a good weekend.
Striving for originality (p. 23). Take a typical setting for a horror or fantasy novel and jot down ideas for atypical characters and situations that might take place in that typical setting.
Location: an old haunted house in the middle of nowhere Instead of young good-looking people as our protagonists, how about casting an elderly couple? Grandpa is feeble, which increases the potential conflicts. Plus, Grandpa must reconcile his stubborn religious beliefs with the supernatural once he encounters it. Maybe they retired to this old house as the culmination of a life-long dream? Ghosts and monsters of all kinds have been done. Animated puppets and toys have been done. Is there a monster that hasn't been explored? Internal and external. Shifting perspectives. It's all been done. This is tricky. I like the idea that there is no monster. The paranoia consumes the victims, but yes, I'm sure that's been done. If it gets too atypical, it would be absurd. Attack of the killer coffee beans? Attack of the killer air conditioning unit? Attack of the killing extremities? The character's ears detach from his head and attempt to kill him by jumping down the victim's throat. One of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen was David Lynch's ERASERHEAD. When absurdities are taken seriously and left unexplained, the audiences doesn't know what to do with that. An atypical situation might be to explore an idea besides claustrophobia. Many horror stories have the character's trapped within their setting. Even if they are abandoned at sea, they are still in a setting they can't escape. The SIXTH SENSE and EXORCIST were interesting variations, because no matter where they went, they couldn't escape the horror -- because it was within them. SIXTH SENSE offered a fascinating resolution. The boy learned to live with his situation. A house lends itself to a confinement story. What if the house followed the couple wherever they moved? They would move into a new house, and it would transform into their old house, but no one else in the town would ever notice. It's always been that way. Even if they moved into a condo or apartment, entire communities of people would just disappear -- replaced by the house?
April, darling, you may not want to read this blog post, especially the last two paragraphs.
Okay. So I went to Banana Republic tonight, and I bought a new navy blue pin-striped jacket and a button-up shirt. Even though I don't normally spend a lot of money on clothes, I will confess that I love wearing nice clothes. I fantasize about having that "look": nice suit and shirt, nice shoes, nice pants or jeans. I don't think too many people know this secret of mine. It's not like I visit the dry cleaners too often. I hardly ever iron my clothes, and I tend to wear the same five shirts and the same brown jacket over and over again. It's sad. However, deep down, I want to look good. April might have come to this conclusion, considering the frequency of my question: "How do I look?" I linger a little too long in magazines that feature a section on men's fashion. Also, it's a rare day that you will find me wearing a t-shirt with an ironic or witty statement. Please. The truth is out. Now, comes the real confession. I have figured out what I need in order to get published. I need a white suit. If I were to obtain one, my writing career would take off. Tom Wolfe. Ernest Hemingway. Mark Twain. Wes Anderson. John Lennon. They are one with the white suit. (A few articles on the mystique of the white suit: here and here) A white suit possesses magical creative properties. If any local Dallas designer would like to be the proud provider of my white suit, I would happily post a banner link on the right margin for a full year. I will be your white-suited spokesperson. I will take good care of my suit, and I will wear it to every convention, signing, and other social event. Oh yes, it's happening. Spread the word.
For my Creative Writing class, I picked up a copy of THE DAILY WRITER by Fred White. It's a collection of meditations and exercises to help establish a regular writing routine. I assign a page for each day in class. I thought it might be good for me to write along with my students. If nothing else, it gives me something else to post on my blog. I will try to keep these writings down to a brief 10 minutes. After all, this is a starter activity -- if I spend too long on it, that defeats the purpose of the activity. I tend to pause too much for rewriting and editing. If I'm so brave and willing to ignore the backspace key, you'll get a mostly stream of conscious response.
On Motivation (p. 22). Begin a journal entry with the words: "The real reason I want to be a writer is as follows..." The real reason I want to be a writer is as follows: I love stories. It's not that I especially love telling stories. Although, I do. It's the story itself. I love stories in all formats, media, and genre. I could bury myself in a movie, a television show, a comic book, a novel, an audiobook, an episode of This American Life, and I would be perfectly content. I think when you love stories, when you get as hungry as I do for them, you have to start creating your own. Originally, this contemplation of the "real reason" stressed me out. I couldn't objectively evaluate my motivation. What if it's just because I wanted to be good at something, anything, so I figured I would stubbornly push forward in this direction? Regardless of a lack of natural talent. What if it's merely the desire to call myself a "writer". Admittedly, this reason gave me pause. Sometimes, I hate telling people I'm a teacher. It's not that I hate teaching, but I hate the immediate reactions. You tell someone you're a teacher and they go into their theories on how to fix public education, or they offer sympathy for my career path. If you want to know my thoughts, I really don't think that public education is as bad as we think it is. It's better to tell people you're a writer, because they have no instant talking point. They probably don't believe you when you say you're a writer, but whatever. As I pondered this prompt, I wanted my reason to be something noble: I have a passion for the written word or I want to transform society with my insights. Nah. I'm a big nerd for good stories. I obsess over them, and sometimes it's more permissible to obsess over something you're working on than an episode of The Office. (I mean, how many years have I been working on ASTRONAUT DAD?) There you go, first entry. More to follow. Maybe.
I just completed an order of 1,000 5x7 postcards through Overnightprints.com. We should have them in time for Dallas Comic Con.
I'll distribute the remaining cards to various DFW comic book stores and other strategic retail locations. The hope is to spread the word about our work in D Magazine and Quick.   Postcards designed by Paul Milligan. WE'VE NEVER MET art by Chad Thomas. SOUVENIR OF DALLAS art by Paul Milligan (again).
This week, I've been working on SOUVENIR OF DALLAS for D Magazine's March issue. It's covering affordable dining in Deep Ellum.
In addition to some other freelance work, I'm plotting WE'VE NEVER MET through the month of April. Here's a sneak peek at what's coming, without spoiling too much. January 14th: Disaster Picnic 2010. Already scripted and illustrated, this one will come out on Thursday. We're introducing another major character, Patricia. January 28th: Already scripted, this one flashes back to what else happened at Lee Harvey's on New Year's Eve. Keith and Patricia are involved. February 11th: We return to Disaster Picnic 2010. In honor of Valentine's Day, Patricia and Liz talk about relationship problems. Actually, Patricia does most of the talking. February 25th: SXSW, part 1. The band loads up and prepares to make the trip down to Austin for SXSW. March 11th: SXSW, part 2. The band in Austin. March 25th: SXSW, part 3. The band in Austin. April 8th: SXSW, part 4. The band returns from SXSW, and they're happy to be back.
This traditional "year in review" posted a little later than usual. We returned from vacation on January 2nd, and came home to a broken router. Two trips to two different AT&T stores, a call to tech support, a missed security question ("Who is my favorite singer?"), and a $100 router later, now I'm back online. April is sick. Unfortunately, that's her holiday tradition. And Kennedy is still on California time. She's wide awake, while I'm trying to convince her that she's tired. It's a lost cause.
This year has been good. April and I have been together for over two years. It's hard to believe it's been so long. That's pretty serious, right? I think so. More adventures to follow. Kennedy is five years old now. She's in public school, which has been great -- and no longer paying for the Montessori Academy is kinda like giving myself a raise. However, most importantly, she's learning a lot and enjoys school. Score one for America's education system. Cynics need not comment. One of last year's resolutions was to pay off my debts, and I'm happy to report I'm almost there. I only have one bill left, not including mortgage. I should have everything settled come this May. Then I can have... something called a... savings? I believe this is what adults do with their money. Then the money makes more money, all by itself. My biggest frustration of last year was not getting any new graphic novels on the shelf, but hopefully 2010 will be more generous. I'll just keep writing and pushing forward. Anything else to report? April says I make my posts too long, so I'll stop now and get to the part you've probably skipped to anyways: the lists. Previously: 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 Memorable events for 2009: * G1 Google phone * Kennedy's 5th birthday party * Roadtrip along Pacific Coast Highway to Big Sur and Carmel * 4th of July Fireworks at Laguna Beach * Getting Berkeley (dog #2) * Kennedy's first day of Kindergarten * Officiating Chris and Sasha's wedding * Debut of "We've Never Met" Favorite comic books I read in 2009: * Monster * Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka * Asterios Polyp * Stitches * Three Shadows * You Have Killed Me * Parker: The Hunter Favorite TV Shows I watched in 2009: * Lost * How I Met Your Mother * Dollhouse * 30 Rock * Carnivale * Venture Brothers Favorite movies I watched in 2009: * (500) Days of Summer * Away We Go * Synecdoche, New York * Pirate Radio * An Education * The Brothers Bloom * Inglourious Basterds Favorite food for 2009: * Barra Kebab Masala from Tandoor Favorite music I listened to in 2009: * A Camp, Colonia * Old Canes, Early Morning Hymns * Ramona Falls, Intuit * Robert Gomez, Pine Sticks and Phosphorus * A.A. Bondy, American Hearts
First, thank you to everyone at Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles for hosting us. There was some confusion at first, because our contact person was out all week with H1N1. So, I showed up with a box of comics (early as always) and they didn't know they were having a signing -- but it didn't phase them at all. "Cool. Let's set you up over here." Introductions were made, and we were good to go. Plus, with California locals Christopher Higginson, Cat Staggs, and Sina Grace, we were able to bring a lot of people to Golden Apple. The people at that comic book store were all very nice. It was good to hang out with Christopher, Cat, and Sina -- and thank you Christian Beranek and Christina Weir for stopping by and supporting us.
A picture of us at the signing (click here) A nice review of ONE NIGHT STAND (click here) My interview with CBR about ONE NIGHT STAND (click here) The latest WE'VE NEVER MET is now available, featuring the new logo by Jenni Leder. Look for Quick in racks around town. (click here) This week's Quick also features some love for the web series The Variants.
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