Cueball Productions

Father's Day

2011-06-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

It is the easiest thing to get gushy on a day like Father's Day.

It is a sentimental holiday sort of conned out of the same cloth that made Mother's Day (invented to sell cards). We take this day to honor our fathers, what they did for us, and celebrate them a little.

And then afterwards, kid gloves come off.

Two things about day.

1. I'm not prone to sentimentality. Due to my familial structure, it was wiped right out of me. Between my parents divorce and the hopscotch nature of my siblings and step-siblings, I have felt at times raised by myself (and the wolves in the neighborhood). I have distinct memories of my dad eschewing playing ball with me for a tennis match before the divorce and that choice being made many times afterward. My father has never really been a father figure to me. He's been a gene donor who I've inherited many a mannerism. That's about it. We get along fine now, but I understand the dynamic and don't ask for more than it's willing to provide.

I've seen this play out in considerable ways with my son Max, who is now 7. I don't get his hopes up about anything his grandfather is going to do; it can't be counted on. The number of times I've had hopes and dreams dashed is what has led me to this kind of guarded mentality. I just make sure that Max doesn't get told anything that his grandfather doesn't actually do. The hurt that builds up is too much for me to watch happen. So I make sure the events he's going to make it to, he's going to make it to; otherwise, I don't tell Max.

That being said (wow, who needs some more therapy?), today was a really good day. My father drove up from Eugene and he, my father-in-law, my uncle, Max, and I all golfed a round of nine today. I have some deep-seeded resentment toward my dad that I haven't expressed fully nor really dealt with myself, but it was a good day today. Max had fun and enjoyed his grandfathers. I had a good time.

Sometimes, I can let go and just enjoy the day as it was with my dad. I enjoy my father, I just have to remember he's not the parent he feels guilty about not being all of those years inbetween now and then.

2. My wife is awesome. We've been together 14 years now and married nine. While we went golfing, she put together this spread that was crazy good. Five-layer salad. Grilled chicken and steak. Chips and dip. All while taking care of our five-month-old daughter Rowan.

She gets me. When I pulled out my action figures of Marvel figures for Max to play with, she doesn't blink an eye. When I pulled out the Green Lantern t-shirt she got me for Father's Day, I knew she got me.

She understands that I love comic books and always will. She knows what I like and how to show that on the special days. She has supported me through graduate school for teaching this past year and been right there even though she's been pregnant the entire time (or recovering after Rowan came).

She has my back and I love her in all the ways that count.

Cathy Clark Thomas is awesome and everyone should know that.

Again, not sentimental. I will still play Max on Madden and taunt him after I win.

But he'll know I have his back when it counts.

The next phase

2011-06-16T22:04:00.000-07:00

For one year, I have been immersed in the toughest thing I've ever done.

I entered into the Masters of Teaching program at the College of Education at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon.

The first two weeks I wrote more than I ever did during K-12. At least it felt like that. The effort needed certainly was right up there. After that trial by fire, the pace was set and the tone in place. After that, I knew what was expected and had to steel myself for what was to be a bumpy ride, to say the least.

In addition, a week before class started, my wife let me know she was pregnant, about six weeks along. For those of you without the brain for it, my new son or daughter would come into this world right about the time I would start a new semester and my first nine-week placement in a school.

Yeah, because I didn't have enough to worry about. The odds were not in my favor.

The one thing that Han Solo and I have in common is that we never like to know the odds. Like everyone else, if we knew how hard it would, we wouldn't start. So into the fire I leapt.

The summer and the fall were as hard as I thought they'd be. Lots of planning, lots of writing, lots of my brain hurting from a lot of thinking. Add to that the crankiness of a wife getting bigger by the day (with a growing baby) and a 6-year-old starting first grade. When I wasn't sleeping, I was writing or reading. And when not doing any one of those three, I would take time to say hi and goodbye to my wife and kid.

Oh, and eat.

And the other thing.

Add to this, we needed to make room for the little being. By November, we knew it was a "she" and she needed a room of her own. So one more thing to do. Carve out a space in the garage and make a new office. And give the office to the baby. So add, construction and remodeling of two rooms to my schedule.

If I would have had hair, it would have been gone by that time.

I ended up (with the gracious help of my father-in-law) finishing the last week of December. And then her doctors told us our baby girl was to come induced about two weeks early, so around Jan. 6. Classes would start the next week and then placements the first week of February.

Doesn't sound bad, right?

Let me fill you in on something. Sleep deprivation does things to you that you can't possibly imagine, even when you've only gotten a couple hours of sleep. You can't think straight. The easiest way to see this is to tyr and write a couple of paragraphs of coherent prose. Easy, right?

Um, no...

We had the baby on Thursday, Jan. 6. The fallacy about hospitals when it comes to birth is that you get rest. No. If the nurses don't wake you up during the night (and they do), then the visitors who have nothing but good wishes keep you up. One night, I woke up with Cathy standing above me, crying, having some real freaking out going on. Everything was hitting her at once and I had to console her, thought all I wanted to do was go back to sleep.

So we exited by Saturday just to catch up on sleep.

And then I went to class on Monday. And I was a zombie. I tried to keep up, but I was really struggling to stay awake and pay attention.

I stayed more than a few times after class just to write. One time it took me 2 hours to write 4 paragraphs. I was a mess. Luckily, I had some great classmates who had my back. They kept me in it during out group project.

I finally came out of my period sometime about March. My middle school mentor was gracious and helpful. It did help that she had a child and knew some of what I was going through. But my anxiety was not eased any. I felt pulled in so many directions. New baby. Placement. Wife. Kid. Students. But I was made of sturdier stock. And so was my support network. I just had to trust in them.

And myself.

As I came out of it, I felt the teaching getting better. My mind was coming back. Writing became easier. Life got a little easier.

My observations from my supervisor went well. My perceptions of inadequacy were unfounded and more anxiety & paranoia than reality. The kids were getting what they needed from me. They were getting excited about Greek Mythology and Ancient Greek culture.

But fun time was about to be over.

In April, I had two things looming over me. One was my second placement, which I had not fully prepared for, taking time to recuperate from January, prepare for classes, and getting some sleep. I was going to be winging it a little bit.

Also, April had been a fertile month the last three times my wife had gotten pregnant. So I had to keep away from her (not hard considering the workload). The last thing we needed was less sleep.

The next placement was a bugaboo. To Kill a Mockingbird: awesome. Reading it almost entirely out loud in class: not so much.

First thing, my work sample for this unit became useless. It was all predicated on outside reading, so inside class could be cool, creative things. I was going to be in Hell.

But I persevered and worked to make the most of it. When I taught, I taught with everything I had to muster. I worked with what I had.

I learned more about classroom management and how to get the kids on my side. First, don't insult them every five minutes. It makes them mean. But not too nice. They'll run over you.

I got to the end of the process and here I am typing at 11 a.m. waiting for my 5-month-old daughter to wake up. I just an email that my final work sample is accepted. I have my master's. My teaching license in forthcoming.

I've applied for ten teaching positions in the area, hoping for the best.

I also realize that I feel adrift a little bit. I had classes or a school to go to. Right now, I'm Mr. Mom. And I understand how Michael Keaton lost his mind in that film.

It makes me want to feed the baby chili.

I think I'm grieving a little for the routine I had set up for myself. I also have to make connections again to people. I have to be social again. I can't say, "Oh no, I have class."

The prospect of being the primary parent this summer is scarier is the scarcity of a teaching job. I will scar them for life quite possibly.

But like I did last year, this is my new project. Get a job and take care of my kids.

I am looking forward to it, but I'm a little scared. I just don't want to have a beer in my hand, baby bjorn on the chest, and Max trailing after me saying, "Daddy, don't go outside, you don't any pants on."

Here's to one phase done, the next started, and to the future not written.

Wish me luck.

LiveStrong Challenge in Seattle - 5k

2009-06-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

The LiveStrong Challenge in Seattle was yesterday in Seattle.

Cathy's best friend, Beth Peterman, has brain cancer and she wanted to honor her by having us participate in the event.

As part of the Team Bear -- put together by Beth's amazing husband Kevin Knox -- we raised almost $20,000 in donations to the Lance Armstrong Foundtion for cancer research and awareness.

I had the easy part (see video embedded). Kevin and his sister Erika did the 100-mile bike race.

More photos here.

It's humbling to think what a group can do in the service of a greater good.

And I haven't stopped to think about how many people I know with/fighting/in remission from cancer until now.

Sobering weekend to say the least.

Make a Donation

2009-06-17T05:57:00.000-07:00

I don't make pleas for donations.

I hate the imposition and preying upon people's sympathies.

But that changes when you know someone with cancer. It evaporates rather quickly.

Which is why I'm making this one.

My friend Beth Peterman has cancer. She's fighting it. Her and her husband Kevin Knox has asked us to raise donations for cancer research through the Lance Armstrong Foundation. I'm running the 5K this weekend in Seattle and I'm asking anyone reading this to donate HERE .

Thank you in advance.

this is softball......

2009-05-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

...this is me on softball.

8 games in 20 hours.

Sunburned, a little drunk, and punchy.

Add diabetes and a gout sufferer to that and I think 2nd place sounds pretty fucking nice.

YEE-HA!!

Smitty, Pirate Eye!

2009-04-10T07:54:00.000-07:00

I'm part of a team competing to win a comic book competition and here is the trailer I made in order to support our efforts.

Enjoy!

Pirate Eye Trailer from michael thomas on Vimeo.

Commander X press release!!

2008-12-17T06:46:00.000-08:00

I'm famous!!!

Not really. But it's just really nice to get mentioned in a press release isn't just a credit for lettering.

Dig it, yo!

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Nemo-Publishing-931042.html

Commander X trailer

2008-12-16T08:56:00.000-08:00

So, I contributed to a project for Commander X created by Jay Piscopo.

I wrote a short prose story that part of the release of action figures based on his character.

Jay was a teriffic editor during the process and I'm happy to show you the trailer for the release in general.

How fun is that!

writing pulp

2008-12-10T07:34:00.000-08:00

When I worked at Dark Horse, I was privy to creative processes of a couple of different creators there.

One in particular intrigued me because of the two parts that seem part of the same process but are far different than you'd think.

The creator wrote and drew his own material. His style is such that it's deceptively simple. He uses a lot of black and I thought, "Why does he bother with inking all that black when he could fill it in using something like Photoshop? Wouldn't that speed up the process?"

Some people, of course, do not like to give in to technology and when I asked the editor who worked with him, I was told that it wasn't the art that took so long, it was the story.

To which I replied, "Really?"

It seemed like it was a lot of silent panels, punctuated by sound effects and screams.

It took much later when I was attempting to write my own scripts and put together my own projects that I understood what he was talking about.

The process of writing is easy in the sense that it's a lot like putting one foot in front of the other.

Noun verb adverb, maybe adjective with a dangling participle.

But you know, I didn't start really writing until I had the idea percolating in my head and let it fully form.

So stuff that I have to do on the fly becomes a lot harder. Continuity starts to fall apart a little bit in. And you start to rethink every five seconds, "Hey, maybe I should start the story in the past or the present or the future?"

The process becomes of test of how zen one can be. Can you let go of your ego in order to let go and let God, thereby letting the words come out without worry of the quality of what you're writing, but that you're writing? Vanity plays into it much more than you'd think. We are all affected by perception of others; we write for other's consumption.

This brings me to the six drafts of Commander X I wrote for my new friend in the other Portland on the East Coast.

I wrote five drafts of what was supposed to be a short story written in the 50s pulp style.

The first one was a dissection of decompressed crazy. I was writing a crime novel with mystical elements.

The second one was a stripped down process that was a product of the 50s viewed through modern sensibilities. And still too long.

The third and fourth were flailing.

And then I realized that I was over thinking it. My editor -- and the creator who hired me -- gave me a great insight and took a lot of patience in guiding my muse. And I read some Doc Savage. Which means it was descriptive but simple. No post-modern angst. The hero does and the story moves him along.

Five drafts. But I learned something on every one. And saw what I could use for other stories.

So the lesson here is to let go of the fear and just write. Waiting for the perfect story to coalesce means waiting forever in some cases.

And I've waited long enough.

Some love on the Cleaners

2008-11-17T07:19:00.000-08:00

So, I got the G4 email for updates and low and behold there's a review of The Cleaners, from Dark Horse Comics, which I lettered.

And it showed one of the display pages that I put together with the help of the editor Shawna Gore.

It's about 4:18 in.

I'm just so happy to see something I did on TV or the Web or something like it.

Enjoy!

Nova Newcomer

2008-09-23T07:15:00.000-07:00

I've come to crossroads on a pitch project that I've been shepherding.

I'm pitching Nova Newcomer in the next 6 months to several different companies.

After that point, if I don't have any offers to make it happen, I'm going to self-publish it, either single-issue or graphic novel or both.

There's no point in letting this languish and I would only kick myself later if I didn't.

Wish me luck.

fishin'

2008-09-23T06:50:00.000-07:00

I don't fish. The last time I had a rod and reel in my hand was 10 years old.

I was brought to a lake against my wishes with my stepdad. I fished, but pretty much all I did was read my Monster Manual.

But this last week, I took five days and went to a lake with the express purpose of fishing.

And it was brilliant.

The art of fishing is subtle and sublime. There is a zen quality to it that's unseen to most. It's about being in the moment, patience, and really shoots to the heart of what's wrong with society today.

We rented a boat for four hours each day. Our haul was two legal fish... total. And long stretches of seeming monotony were punctuated with moments of excitement when the rod would bob and dip.

But the thing that you get to do is to slow down and think and ponder. No wonder this becomes such a mecca for people. One of the few things that forces you to slow down and do things at a much slower pace than anything else you do; speed in fishing is to lose what you're after.

It was a nice respite from the deadline crazy that I came back to.

In contrast, an editor from Dark Horse had emailed me while I was gone, hoping for a last moment lettering job.

So, without a step lost, I busted it out and uploaded the files.

But I've taken to heart the lessons learned and will take moments every day to consciously slow down and stop moving.

It's the only way to keep up with today's fast-paced world.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars -- a late review and postmortem

2008-09-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

I ran through a couple of openings for this review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and nothing was really shining through because there were so many ways to go with this.

I'll give you of the beginnings I had:

"I've never been raped in a prison yard, but watching..."

"The Clone Wars is to movies and animation what Jim Jones was to Kool-Aid..."

"In every relationship, there's a time to break-up. Sometimes it's when they leave the toilet seat up. Sometimes it's when they leave a dead rabbit on your doorstep. And sometimes it's when what they bring to it doesn't work anymore. I'd like to break up before George Lucas comes to my place of work -- just to talk, mind you -- then he pulls a gun and we both up dead and on the 6 o'clock news. All because I didn't like his latest Star Wars movie."

So many more ways to go with this.

I hate the following simplification of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but I feel like I have to get this out. Here goes:

It sucked.

Understand, I've been watching movies with a critical eye for over 25 years. I can reel off all sorts of film theory and technical bullshit to you all day long. But this movie leaves me no choice. It was bad.

The last two days before I wrote this, I was puking up my guts into a metal bowl. Weak and dehydrated, I couldn't move hardly. And when I did, everything ached and hurt.

And that doesn't describe how bad this movie was.

The plot for what it's worth: In-between Episodes II and III, Jabba the Hutt's son is kidnapped by the Confederates to force a wedge between the Hutt clan and the Republic. The Republic sends Anakin Skywalker and his new padawan to stage a rescue.

Let's hit the major problems of this film: animation, plot, dialogue.

ANIMATION and PLOT

Lucas made this big splash since Episode I to say that he had made CGI part of the films in every scene. I understand the technical achievement that was made, but I always felt that Lucas was sacrificing story and significance of storytelling in lieu of technical prowess. How many gimmicks used in films have been used to prop up horrible little movies? So I thought, "Hey! Here Lucas has to use CGI exclusively! Mabye that means the story will be awesome! No more melding! The story can come through!"

Um, the answer to all of that is "no."

And in that, we get to another question that has always bothered me: What if Lucas let go a little and let other people write the new screenplays, like he did with Empire and Return? You can see the difference when Lucas let a great writer like Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill & Wyatt Earp) take a pass at his characters. Great results! Han and Leia's interaction wouldn't have been the same. And he was smart enough to hand off Indiana Jones to smart writers (Kasdan -- Raiders; Jeffrey Boam [Lost; Brisco County, Jr.][ -- Last Crusade; David Koepp (Spider-Man, Mission Impossible] -- Crystal Skull). I'll except the Temple of Doom because they wrote Howard the Duck; eeeek!

No luck here, though. What we got here was a story that's too complicated and steep in SW mythology to be engaging for a kid and a too stiff, boring, and dumb for an adult. But looking at who Lucas hired shows us what he's really looking for. He didn't want a smart movie. He wanted something he could use as a jumping off point for an animated series on TV. In addition to being hired for the regular series based off of this movie (surprise, surprise!), all three of the writers are animation/kids' shows veterans. It's what they do. But it wasn't enough.

My easiest litmus test is through my 4 year-old. He watches a film/show 200 times easy. If I can watch it that many times and still love it, it's good. Pixar films hold up every time. Shrek and the sequels hold up. Disney, not so much. Plot holes, horrible dialogue. No double enjoyment for kids and adults. I put Clone Wars in this category.

And speaking of the animation. These guys were supposed to be making a great stride in CGI, but all I see here is a clunky cheap animation no better than a kids program on cable... Oops! I guess that's what this is! Say no more.

DIALOGUE

Again with the writing. Let's say you have a horrible little plot, but you can sometimes have great dialogue within a horrible little film. The interactions of people can change the mood.

Nope.

Just more clunky interactions that feel like they were lifted from a fifteen-year-old who is mad at his mom. Really sad.

***********

So really, I thinkwhat this has to say is that there isn't anything left to say in the Star Wars universe.

Like when Jordan came back for a second go-round, I think Lucas should leave well enough alone, collect the royalty checks from video games and LEGO merchandising (which are getting better), and create the next "thing."

Short of Han's children directing the next chapter (which actually has been mined adequately), I don't think my interest in Star Wars movies or serials is there anymore, especially if Clone Wars is any indication.

just testing the embed

2008-08-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

the transformers movie in solidarity

2008-07-28T06:54:00.000-07:00

Finally, someone who agrees with me.

All i need to say.

being clear (not in the scientologist way)

2008-06-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

For a while now, I've been in therapy.

It's not really a shocking statement, especially if you've known me for any length of time. I really should have had an account started by my parentss the minute they got divorced. It would have covered the cost of all this just on the interest alone.

But here's the nugget I'm going to lay on you: be clear about your agenda, your motives, and in your communication to others.

Sounds like common sense bullshit from Tony Robbins, Deepak Chopra, or the Secret, doesn't it? I mean, there is a reason that I'm starting my own cult based on these philosophies. But I digress...

The most maddening thing about this concept is the others that are not in the mindspace.

They are still mired in some sort of passive agressive, high school mentality with secret agendas and bad intentions for Carrie at the prom.

So, I'm done with that kind of thing. I have no time for it.

That's all. Go about your lives.

why we make comics

2008-06-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

When I was 10, I read my first comic book. It was X-Men #123, the first full appearance of Arcade and Murderworld. It lit up my world in a way that I can't possibly explain. Chris Claremont writing, John Byrne and Terry Austin drawing. Orzechowski lettering.

Just beautiful.

And really that was the beginning of what would become a life-long obsession with comic books.

Fan. Collector. Letterer. Journalist. Writer. Pre-Press. Designer.

All of my skills have really been honed and made to service a world of comics it seems.

I have 28 years of experience in reading comics. I have over 20 in graphic design, layout, writing, and editing. I have almost a decade worth of experience in professional lettering and pre-press for comics.

I have never questioned the drive to make comics. It always seemed invevitable. When I couldn't draw, I lettered and then got the confidence to start writing. I have several projects in the hopper, waiting to be finished by a gracious artist, then to pitching to the companies.

So, if someone asks my opinions or wants help, I'm usually too busy.

But, I found one guy who had put up an ad on Digital Webbing for a team of people to put together a book. I put in to see what's what, I found a script and a story that was scattershot and fractured at best. He asked if I would help him form it up.

Which I did. I took my red pen out and marked up stuff, dropping notes from strict proofing (typos and grammar) to story (plot, dialogue, characters) to formatting (script format, standard script shorthand, etc.).

I felt like I did a good job of trying to wrangle him so that his next version would be better. Tighter, more concise.

Then I got the rewrite. None of what I had asked him to do was there. And in fact, it was a different script altogether. Different scenes, different characters.

The reason one does a rewrite is to tighten up what you have. You need to compare what you did with what you have. So he avoided the whole discussion by starting a new story, loosely based on the general story. So I went through the whole thing AGAIN, making almost exactly the same notes.

I thought that I was fair again and wanted to see what he was going to do.

And he did it again. Loosely based on general story, he wrote a third script. And I wrote the exact same notes. This time, a little angrier. And sending him a marked up script with a letter of explanation.

And I received this response back:

Just writing to give you an update on what I am working on currently I have had a slight writers block and though I am recovering slowly I still have a pain in the butt block. Though I plan to fix certain areas in what I am writing I am handling the criticism too the best of my ability. As I have said before I am in no way going to be the next Chris Claremont, Larry Hama or other famous writer and I want you all to know that I plan to overcome the criticism and continue to work my to be a writer of comic books. In the following areas people have said I need improvements in certain areas and I wanted you all to know I am doing what I can. Many of you will be reviewing my stories because i hope to enter the market area but I would like all of you to read my stories with an open mind. Many times in history people criticized DaVinci, Michelangelo, Stephen King or some other noteworthy individual. In which case those individuals overcame the continued audacity to do their artwork or literary work. It calls the same with me and several of you will review the stories as critics and throw the script away because it is not worth their time. For me that upsets me and I do understand the the critics in your review but you also have to remember that I am still a beginner and I have never took a course in writing scripts. Much of my writing is that of being a sense of therapy in overcoming everyday problems and I use it as a means of escape. I spend my hours at a time researching ideas to make the story what it is and even though it sounds lame the research I have read assist me in what my ideas are about.

I write this letter in response to your future criticism and have you keep an open mind rather than a closed one. Closed minds tend to make things actually worse and it takes the fun out of writing & reading a story.

So, apparently, I critiqued a future DaVinci. I layed out a response that basically said, either you want to be a comic writer or you want to write fanfic.

But it made me wonder why I do it? Is it the money? Is it the credit? Sure, but ultimately it's wanting to make good comics. And good comics are not made with excuses; they're made with hard work and a honing of your craft over the years.

Otherwise, you're just doodling something in your mom's basement waiting to show your friends how cool your Wolverine pinup is.

And I can't abide that.

Come to play or don't come at all.

The miracle of collaboration

2008-06-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

About three months ago, I made a leap that I've been loathe to make.

I asked an editor at a comic book company that I know more personally than professionally about writing for him.

I have many inhibitions and certain ethical codes that keep me from taking full and horrible advantage of the people that I know in the business. I don't say this as name dropper Betty Crocker kind of thing, but that I know them because I'm discreet and don't do that sort of thing. I try to build relationships and work it slowly.

So, just asking was like taking a razorblade bath. But I did it and coming out on the other side was interesting. His response to me was very curious, but hopeful.

He told me to produce an issue of what I wanted to sell to him. Fuck the 5 pages with a synopsis.

An issue.

His off-hand comment was that the internet should make it easy to find people to do that. You've read Digital Webbing and other collab forums, right?

Keeping someone going for five pages (pencil, ink, color and letter). If you're lucky, someone doubles on those, but the fact that comics get made is a small miracle.

This is not to denigrate anyone I've worked with. Most have been really good. But I'm not really counting the false starts or half-baked sketches or promises that get laid at my doorstep.

When I finally get a full issue of something done, I'll be amazed and will celebrating by publishing the whole thing myself.

Wish me luck.

The Olympians

2008-06-18T07:01:00.000-07:00

Back in January, I got a used mac book and started writing prolifically. For about two months, I poured myself into putting down ideas and scripts. I was intent on quantity, waiting for the editing process to get quality.

One of the scripts I punched out was the first issue of a series I wanted to get going called the Olympians. Scientist father with scores of illegitimate children is kidnapped and the wife gathers those children together to find him.

I put out a call to artists for this and other stories. I either got a bunch who couldn't even get a concept drawing for the characters.

I've had bites on it, but no one has done what Brad Ashworth has done.

From the concept roughs to the finished page I just got back, well... wow.

In the space of a couple of days, he's given me more than I could hope for with other artists.

He's doing three pages to show me what he 's got and what he can contribute.

Color me impressed.

Here's hoping he can bring this to a whole issue and we can get this sucker published.

Wish me luck.

crazy neighbors

2008-06-11T06:59:00.000-07:00

I have always had a slight fear of the crazy neighbor.

It's got a couple of parts to it.

One is my history of avoiding confrontation at practically all costs. I remember having neighbors that partied downstairs all night and would only go down at the point that it went into the early a.m. Otherwise, I let it go.

The other is that I'm quite afraid of crazy. I don't mean the "you so crazy" people who are daring or drunk or funny, but the homeless guy on the commuter train who asks you if you like pussy and then whups upside the head when you're not looking.

So, having a crazy neighbor who's having a personal crisis that played through her delinquent children and the neglect of her rented home and yard is just he type of thing that hits both of these chinks in my personal armor.

The last two weeks my wife and I have been on an improvement bent for our yard. We're opening the above ground pool (which involves some infrastructure cleaning and imporvements) and getting a new hot tub (donated and needed a bigger concrete slab). We also got a new outdoor dining table (with a pool comes family and friends and barbecues).

So while we were doing that, we mowed and weeded and was in our backyard a lot the last two weekends.

This last weekend, I'm outside rebuilding a solar panel, got my iPod on, so I can't hear anything. My wife comes over and taps me on the shoulder. I turn it off and ask her what's up.

"Do you hear that?" she says.

I strain to hear. Some sort of barely audible plea for... help, I think. But it's really hard to make out and it's coming from our neighbors to the north. I'm loathe to go over there.

Now, before you plaster me as insensitive and cold, a little background.

I have a few relatives that fall into the category of "black hole" people. First, they seem overly friendly and start telling you all sorts of details about their life (mostly the sob story parts). And just like in National Lampoon's Vacation, suddenly, they're hitting you up for money or a job or to stay in your home or borrow tools or lawnmowers or whatever they can get their hands on.

And until you cut them off totally, it never stops. Their sole purpose in life appears to be to suck all the marrow from your life, but not really add to theirs. Just sustain them long enough to find new victims.

I got this vibe immediately upon talking to the mom. First she told me about Jesus and how lucky they were and how we seemed so nice and she would babysit for Maximus (then about 2) and how their previous rental burned down. Yeah, too much information and a possible hazard to life and property. Red flags immediately, but I tampered them down to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe this was one case of hard luck.

Two weeks later, I find out the daughter who's 17 is knocked up and due in August. Awesome.

Then the two rat dogs they had kept coming at me barking and digging through my fence into my yard. Yappy dogs are fine, but once they start coming after me and my son, then I start throwing stones and kicking them. I've noticed that I haven't seen them in about a year.

And six months into moving in, I find out the son was in a gang and shipped off to some sort of boot camp for troubled youth. Having a brother who went to drug rehab three times and a boys correctional institute before he was 18, I know the story on this one.

And the other daughter who was 15 or so at the time seemed to be more than a little mouthy (arguing with mom in the street) and more than a little promiscuous (boys exchanged like undies and a lot of late night dropoffs).

And the mom... Well, besides the crazy eyes, she's an alcoholic, unemployed and likes to display her personal problems with her family out in the street (yelling at an ex-husband who comes around every now and again, yelling at her kids to come back and take care of the baby).

This doesn't count the numerous vehicles that show up in the driveway on a daily basis. The late night parties by the children. The early Sunday morning playing of loud music by the children. The number of lollygaggers outside their house. The broken gate secured by a chain.

And then the random loaves of bread that showed up on our doorstep. In one case moldy bread. And the other neighbors got them as well. DIdn't ask, didn't want to invite a discussion.

And the refrigerator that was out on the sidewalk with rotting food out in front of it.

And let's talk about the yard. Jungle with junk is how to describe the back yard. The grass right now as of this writing is leg tall on me, so about 2 1/2 feet tall. And there's junk (furniture, play equipment, dead bodies) all over it. We don't maintain it perfectly, but every week during the spring and summer, we're on it. I hate the feeling of letting it get away. I know honestly belive that the way you maintain your yard is the way you live your life.

And theirs is crazy.

So when I hear the faint sound of someone saying "Neighbor Cathy" from the next yard, my first instinct is to pretend I heard nothing. You get mixed up in it, who knows what you're in for. And I had shit to get done. Pissed, scared all mixed together.

But Cathy works her magic and convinces me to go over while she stands about 50 feet away from the front door. Max was asleep, so she had an excuse; I did not.

I knock on the door and yell, "Hello?" through the window.

I hear someone and the mom comes to the door. She messed up. First, she's done that thing with her eyebrows where she has something that looks like a surgical scar without drawing them in. Then close up, she has messed up teeth and I think a few missing. She's stumblebum drunk, nearly falling down even when she's braced herself against the door jam.

And she has a wet spot around her thighs or crotch, which means she pissed herself.

"I fell down and couldn't get up..." falls down right there "...but I'm OK now." RUNRUNRUN!

She then launches into a litany about her ex-hubbie marrying some "white rich bitch" like Murder She Wrote (I didn't get it either); her daughter was there, but didn't help her; she's having knee surgery and could we look in on her (she got money for it); she can't work because she threw out her arm beating her children; the baby fell and had to go in an ambulance to the hospital (apparently this happens to babies all the time).

Those were the highlights, along with the hugs every five seconds. I finally told her to go sleep it off. Figured we had done what we should do. The rest is up to her.

Back to the house and safety.

Until we heard her playing with the little boy in the backyard. LITTLE BOY? I don't remember that one. But there it was. Crazy alcoholic taking care of the illegitimate almost-tw0-year-old. Where was that daughter? Apparently nowhere to be found.

I had to go back. I have a four-year-old and this kind of thing becomes a child welfare thing. No longer funny at all. So one more time, I went over and saw the boy this time. Cute little man. Has no idea who he's related to and what kind of crazy he's in for.

So I left, with a plastic plant she gave me. Crazy and drunk give away things like this.

Then the big discussion happened. Do we call someone? Police? Child Welfare? The rental agency?

We called her mom who's a big mucky muck with the a big national church, who told us to have the cops do a welfare check on the boy. And we could do that the next day on the non-emergency line.

So we hunkered down for the night and avoided going outside for fear of another run-in.

The next day when we got home, we found a police officer's business card on our door.

Our neighbor across the street, Lupe (whom we love dearly), came and filled us in on the rest of it.

She's at home on disability and saw the cop cruise by. The cop saw the fridge with the rotting food and stopped. At that point, the mouthy daughter was home. When the cop starting telling her about violations for having the fridge (and the mattresses at the time) out on the street, the daughter started getting verbally abusive, not quite realizing the position she and her family were in. So the cop tallied up the fines for which you can be charged for having garbage on a public sidewalk. I guess she shut up real quick.

And the next day, the fridge went somewhere.

But the crazy neighbors are still there.

And I'm making another phone call to the Hillsboro Police Department this week. Just to be sure maybe the crazies move away.

You Look Nice Today & San Diego, among other things

2008-06-02T11:19:00.001-07:00

YOU LOOK NICE TODAY

I have a co-worker who is listens to a podcast called MacBreak Weekly. He got me into it. I work on a Mac at home and enjoy the geeky banter that happens on the show. The host, Leo Leporte, has a voice like butter, but not annoyingly so. One of his contributors to this show is a gentlemen named Merlin Mann. He and two friends host a little podcast called You Look Nice Today. Which my co-worked got me into listening. It is the funniest fucking thing I've heard in a long time. The only way to describe it is to remember what you and your friends in high school used to talk about, but widen it out into an adult life. For me it's like talking with Jeff Pearson or Tristan Seitz with a beer in my hand and a keg fire in the background.

Find it, live it, love it.

SAN DIEGO HERE I COME

If Mecca will not come to Michael, well... For my birthday, the wife and the mother in law came up with a plane ticket and a promise to spot the rest for a trip to San Diego. So I'm there for three days.

Some nice mix of business and pleasure. To hustle, to pitch, and get a bite on a project. Pick up some lettering work or make some more contacts and put a face to the name. Also geek out a little and see who I can see.

I'm a little nervous, but I always get that way right before stuff like this.

My wife is the best.

PROJECTS AND STUFF

Have about four or five projects running and am excited to see stuff break.

One is a project with Neil Druckmann, a writer from Naughty Dog, publisher of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, the Jak & Daxter series, and Crash Bandicoot. So far, cool to work with and I always knew there was a comic book crossover with video games.

Another one is with a gentleman named Joey Andrade on a book called The Descendants. I was referred to Joey from my good friend Chris Tongue, who works at Dark Horse Entertainment, the same who is bringing Hellboy II to screens this summer. Joey's been great to work for and I'm working to make sure he looks good.

The Cleaners is getting ready for publication by Dark Horse Comics and I'm getting the first issue lettered. It's written by Joshua Hale Fialkov of Elk's Run fame.

I just cleared a pitch for a book called The Black Tower. It's written by Kellie Compeau and Jeff Mariotte, drawn by Donald Jackson and lettered by me. Pitch is going out. We'll see.

ERRATA AND ADDENDA

I had this rather strange interaction with a guy who advertised on the Digital Webbing forums. He was one of these guys who THE idea that was going to make him. His style was verbose and blustery and full of this strange, subtle bullying about how you'd be lucky to work with him and this idea.

The audition page he sent me was easy and I busted it out within a day. He wanted to hire me, but his idea of what I was supposed to do was something like be a graphic designer (logos for t-shirts and convention materials), a letterer, an editor (making up for his lack of editing for grammar and typos), and a writer (writing in sound effects that in the script said things like "screaming sounds" and "slashing sounds").

Oh, and of course, none of this was upfront pay, it was going to be back-end royalties.

So very politely, I told him what I would and would not NOT be doing if I signed on. I talked myself out of a "job," but I think it was the better decision I've made in a while.

Here's what I want you to take away from this. Back-end royalty deals (unless it's with Marvel or DC) mean that you're working for free.

I'll say this again: back-end royalty deals mean you're working for FREE.

In 1989, when Batman came out, Jack Nicholson made a gazillion dollars off the movie. Most will say he got points. But he got points off the gross, not the profit. Because you can always show that a movie lost money if you want in order to screw those depending on profit royalties.

Signing on to a project as a back-end royalty deal (which means profit after expenses) means you're trusting the accounting of people you don't know and will probably be real upfront about (or particularly good with) accounting how the profits of a book are doled out. Anything can be counted as an expense (printing costs, hiring other talent, etc.) and unless you're related or friends, I can't imagine them being transparent about those costs.

So, if you're not sure, ask questions. The most sure way to see who's going to be someone you want to work with is going to answer those questions clearly and concisely. If they avoid the concrete questions of numbers, bail out.

Unless you're OK working for free.

Good luck, y'all.

Softball in Portland's Twilight

2008-04-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

I'm not old-old, but I closer to 40 than 30 at this point.

You're seeing the road map, right? "Now, that I'm 40, I've taken a look at my life and..." No, I don't have that confessional yet.

I won't talk about Kristi, smelling of patchouli and Coors Light, who I felt up one high school summer night and then didn't call the next day.

I won't talk about my divorce and how I should have done something different. Because frankly, it worked out for the better. If left intact, I had the possibility of naming dogs Nipples and Cuddles. Or whatever she named her dogs... that I found on the internet... while Googling her name... anyway...

Mostly, I'm just talking about the physical toll taken upon my body at this point.

250 pounds of pudding lovin' takes a while to get up to speed. Simply physics will tell us about the amount of energy that needs to be expended in order to accelerate up to speed in order to outrun a rocket from a semi-pro, baseball pantsed, rocket of an arm from third base. It doesn't stop easy, just from momentum alone. So, like running downhill, it almost more energy and exertion to stop than it does to get going.

When I started playing softball in 2000, it was one of the most liberating experiences in my life. I had a shed off the traumatizing year of 3rd grade little league, in which I struck out 99.99% of the time and spent much of the time either warming the bench or watching grass grow in right field.

I found that, given the speed of the pitches and some better equipment (a good job will afford you these things), I was able to actually play at some level of adequacy.

Three things cemented this feeling.

1. Catching that first fly even after being stuck in right field. I found so many switch witches that loved the right field line, that I was getting action to keep me from counting the number of grass blades on the ground.
2. Hitting the ball in the sweet spot for the first time and getting a nice shot in the gap. Nothing like knowing that you can do this.
3. Covering home and making the play that saves a score from being made and knocking someone over in the process. While many would attest to my non-violent nature, I can't help but thrill from the visceral feeling of knocking someone over. Even better, I was the immovable object at home plate. He really just bounced off of me.

So the thrill is being dulled by my ability to not get fat and feel sore and winded after just walking up to bat.

Two weeks ago, I went to a three-game tournament after... oh... seven months of inactivity. Yeah, the day after was a recuperating phase for which I had not anticipated. It was felt on part with the time I did the involuntary splits on roller skates and broke my man hymen.

But with another practice game under my belt last Friday and some more running this week, maybe it'll be mitigated.

I just can't shake the notion that my physical prowess has peaked and really it's not a matter of how good I can be, but how much damage can I control for my old age.

Good times....

Portland's 2008 Shamrock Run

2008-04-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

I ran the 5k of Portland's 2008 Shamrock Run.

All 3 photos are here.

You can almost look at the moment at which I had renal failure.

Why do they photograph at the end when you're just about to have a metabolic meltdown?

Although, I must admit if they had photographed me at the beginning, they would have caught me dropping my iPod and having to doubleback and scoop it up in the midst of pack of crazy runners. No injuries, but embarrassing. More than the photos...

You'll notice my dedication in wearing (under the bib), the Goon t-shirt. Although, it is obscured.

Next year, the comic book hook will be more visible.

The Raimians are done ...

2008-04-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

...well, ten pages at least!

But David Faught has been slaving over this stuff for a bit, through crises too many to mention. Now I'm ready to pitch it.

Wish me luck and enjoy these couple of pages.

The lettered ones are here.

PROJECTS ARE A'ROLLING!

2008-03-13T07:29:00.000-07:00

I got an old laptop in January (a used MacBook) with the intention that I would just start writing everyday (or as close as possible).

And it's started to pay off.

I don't write whole scripts in a day or anything, but it's made me more discipllined in approaching writing and has opened me up creatively so that I can just put it down; the edits will come later. I've written only about the equivalent of four issues worth, but it's made me realize all the things that got in the way before.

Here's a couple of nice tips for writing and they're really simple.

Write on a simple program with no formatting capabilities (or at least ones you don't touch). The problem I had before was that I would take hours formatting (font, color, size, tabs, margins, etc.) without having written page 1. All of it was a distraction.
Don't censor and don't edit on the way down to the page. We are our own worst enemy when it comes to writing. If you just let it come out, you'll be surprised how it will start to flow. Besides, the next drafts are where you edit it.

That's all I got on that. I'm not an expert, but my journalism background in writing and editing has helped in this regard.

But those things have sprung dividends.

I wrote the script for a plot I've had perculating for years and have 10 pages from the penciller. I have an inker that will take care of half of it and maybe another inker who might take the last five. A colorist is on it.

Another one I'm working with the artist on the plot and we're hashing out the first issue before he starts drawing. That has been like four or five drafts, but this whole process has taught me to let go of things and know that there's nothing broken in the writing that I can't fix and rewrite.

The third is in the art stage and the artist is knocking it out of the park.

And just an old laptop with a basic writing program was all it took for me to get started.

When I get a paid writing gig, maybe I'll upgrade.

Karma

2008-02-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

Some concept art from Dan Chon.

We're writing out the plot together. I'm working out a working script right now. He's drawing. I'm lettering.

We're figuring it out as we go.

Enjoy.

Process Geek

2008-02-11T06:50:00.001-08:00

I love process. I am a process geek. So imagine being able to see it.

The making of page 2 of Dead President.

I love Scott Ewen. In a viking sort of way.

Dead President (jello biafra excepted)

2008-02-02T05:05:00.000-08:00

Got a new project I'm working on and have a couple of images from them.

I only have a title at this time: Dead President. More as more art comes in.

The artist is a VERY talented individual named Scott Ewen. Some beautiful mix of Los Bros. Hernandez and David Lapham. I'm honored he's taken this on. More as it comes in.

Spy Story gets a new image

2008-02-02T04:43:00.000-08:00

I love getting new images.

Every time that I'm able to get an artist to start on a project, I'm nervous.

Let me explain. My brother is a guitarist. He's pretty good, mostly self-taught starting with a $15 Les Paul knock-off from an Alaskan pawn shop. He would talk about how hard it was to get four, let alone five, artists together in order to jam. That doesn't include getting them together to play a gig, make a song... You know the story.

So every time I've worked just to get an artist to make a story that I've written, it's always a crap shoot. Pencillers/artists are the hardest to pin down. The linchpin in the process, but wow are they hard to get the product out of. My time at Dark Horse only solidified that impression.

So I found an amazingly talented South American artist named Rodolfo Maximiliano Buscaglia. It's only a sketch, but I get a good feeling about him. His enthusiasm via email has been encouraging to say the least.

This is the first sketch of Nova Newcomer as drawn by Rodolfo. Hope you enjoy it like I did. The first of many to come.

The Etiquette of Posting

2007-11-09T09:42:00.000-08:00

Life got busy this summer and blogging has really been at the low end of the priorities.

It's been probably since July or so since I put something here.

I return not to put "new" material up, but rather to comment on comments.

Recently, however, I found several commentators who wanted to share their displeasure at my review of the Transformers movie. I got these reminder emails about comments made on my blog.

So when I looked at them, I was more than a little disappointed.

Alright, to be honest, the first one was evenhanded and actually was a discussion, or at least was attempting it.

Here's a spot of it:

If they went into depth on everything it would have been a giant transformers cartoon episode which people like but doesnt appeal to nearly as many people as this movie does. You need to look into whats really going on and not slam the movie because you didn't feel it was up to snuff. The movie was in my opinion put together remarkably well in terms of trying to keep to the cartoon. They managed to make it work given not how the cartoons were completely but if they did that the movie would have appealed to about 1/3 the crowd that it is presently appealing to now.

This was the best of the bunch. The next one got right to it:

are you retarded?

The bulk of it was working to try and convince me that I had got it wrong with a mishmash of facts that weren't in the movie (which is what I was actually reviewing) and things had to be taken from the other media, rather than the source I was reviewing.

With a whirling dervish of inappropriate cursing, misspelling and general grammatical devastation, she (I'm assuming Kathleen M. is a woman/girl/pre-teen harpy) ended the post without really addressing any of what I was trying to point out.

Here are my two favorites:

Jazz is small so he's a Pontiac Solstis. Iron hide is a GMC truck, Optimus Prim is huge so hes a cemi... Megatron don't give a shit about humans so he doesn't even change- they got rid of him turning into starscream's gun cause thats alot of metal to shrink and it didn't make sense....

and...

PS- Hell yah Optimus killed a decepticon. What do you want him to let them destroy humanity? YAH YAY HUMANS ARE DYING FROM ALIEN ROBOTS!!

I'm a little disturbed that she doesn't quite get that this is a movie, as the further it goes on, that line between reality and fantasy is blurring for her. Needless to say, it's hard to take criticism from this kind of writing.

But my favorite was the worst and the best of the lot.

Your a complete idiot. Transformers is actually a good movie faggot.

Loving you, too. Can't figure out if it's the misspelling of "you're" or how to figure out what a "good movie faggot" is. I mean if he was calling me a faggot, wouldn't he have wrote, "good movie, faggot." And if he was calling me a faggot, he should know that 1985 and Kentucky called and they want him back. Oh, and really brave writing that one anonymously.

So, to recap, loving blogging. Ignoring the posters.

Good day.

Editor's note: For all of the samples of others' postings, I left in misspellings and grammatical errors as they were posted. You can't make up material this good.

ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

2007-08-03T08:46:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Cleveland and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I have mixed views about the place.

From a fanboy perspective, this is Mecca. Jann Wenner, editor/founder of Rolling Stone magazine; and Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records; among others, contributed to building this monument to the birth of rock 'n' roll.

From a realist perspective, the capitalistic intent of the place (merchandise, not covering the more seedy sides of the music industry, etc.) makes me feel more than a little uncomfortable. In order for it to survive, it has to make enough to cover its costs... and then some. Which means selling stuff. Which means finding sponsors. Which means not making waves. Which is not what rock 'n' roll is about.

But once you watch a decent documentary that they offer there or see the exhibits, you can ease up and get into it. Enjoy the pictures.

A reason to go on...

2007-07-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

So, like anyone that works in comic books, you get to the point sometimes when it just seems so futile and you ask yourself, "Why do I do this?"

It's not right now, but I've had those times when I want to self-destruct and just stop the world from turning. Just stop lettering, stop doing all of it I'm sick of dealing with deadlines and trying to get ahead in an industry that doesn't reward anything but what's been done a million times over. Or maybe I'm ranting now.

Anyway, I got an email this last week from a client of mine and this is what he said:

"Well, I like to give credit where credit is due -- and honestly whenever I start thinking how to cut corners in comic production, I realize that even though someone may be able to letter -- you really make it sing! That page is a good example of it -- but I appreciate all the craftsmanship you bring to the entire book."

And this is the page in question:

So, when I just wanted to share that for the moment, I am not bitter and caustic. I feel lucky to be paid to do what I love.

For the moment that is...

RATATOUILLE & TRANSFORMERS

2007-07-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

I went to two movies this past weekend.

With my wife, my son and three of my nephews/nieces, we saw Ratatouille.

With my 10 and 11-year old nephew and niece (respectively), I watched Transformers.

One was a revelation, one was so offensive on so many levels that it's not to write this without delving into a treausure trove of expletives to accurately describe my feelings of it.

The first: Ratatouille.

Pixar continues to amaze and astound how far ahead they are of every studio when it comes to story. This includes live-action or animation. It really should be no surprise that Brad Bird (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant) is at the helm writing and directing (sharing credits for story with two other gentlemen).

A rat named Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) wants to become a cook, but everyone (from rat to human) tells him it's not to be. He finds a willing partner in a human who can't cook Linguini (voiced by Lou Romano). The rat finds a way to direct Linguini to make his wish to become a cook come true. And the movie's excellent story moves on from there.

It really hits all the marks when it comes to good moviemaking. No scene wasted. No dialogue forced or shoehorned in so that the marketing can make the catchphrase of the year.

The moves along with an organic pace and -- while I won't spoil the ending -- it ends in a way that doesn't feel saccarine or cliche.

Very satisfying.

And now, the bad news. Transformers is horrible.

The basics. Two warring factions of a robot race (the Autobots and the Deceptacons) make Earth its battlefield, while searching for an item that will tip the balance in their eons-long war with one another.

In the middle of it are several humans (Josh Duhamel and Shia Lebouf) who help the Autobots in their mission to find the item before the Deceptacons.

Not too far from the cartoon and it doesn't sound too bad, huh? Well, ladies and gentlemen, meet Michael Bay (Bad Boys, Pearl Harbor).

What he's done here is taken a somewhat decent concept and made it pretty much the most expensive and vapid piece of physically beautiful moviemaking you might see ever, ever, fucking ever.

See, the swearing begins.

First, there's really no story or character development here. The item they're looking for crash landed a while ago, but no time line was established. How long ago? And then how long after did the rest of them come along? And if before the establishment of the technology they turn into now, why are they in their current forms? Why can they only turn into certain cars or vehicles?

I remember some of these things being worked out in the cartoons and subsequent sequels and comics. But not in the movie?

It just leaves you feeling more than a little empty. Because they keep stressing how important all of this is. That they're there to protect all humanity. The fate of the universe rests on their mission.

And then a dog pees on a robot. And the robot threatens to toast it in a second.

And then a robot pees gasoline on a human.

And there are the "comedy" moments in which robots try to hide in plain sight. Slapstick with CGI.

Who is this movie for? The 8 year-olds who are buying the toys? The 13 year-olds who want to blow shit up? The adults who remember the cartoons and the toys and want to see the updated version with some semblance of plot?

It can't figure it out. Within minutes of the excrement humor, the "good" Autobot leader Optimus Prime decapitates and guts a Deceptacon. Wow...

And there were kids cheering this.

So, no, I didn't like it. Partly because of the inconsistent marketing, partly because of the inconsistent mood of the film, but mostly because it was a bad movie made to look really pretty.

Think tit job on white trash and you have it.

So, to recap. Ratatouille, good. Transformers, bad.

I'm out.

things... slow... down...

2007-07-02T11:50:00.001-07:00

I looked at the last time I posted and it's been a while.

But things slowed to crawl all of a sudden.

My artists all got busy with paid work or just fell off the face of the earth.

And I got busy, too. So really I'm not casting blame, just reporting.

So, here's what cookin'.

Since the last time I blogged, I got picked up for lettering by 12 Gauge Comics for two books they're doing with a possible third.

The first is Sidekick. Think if Superman had a normal human as a sidekick... who got the crapped kicked out of him all the time. Written by Paul Jenkins and drawn by Chris Moreno. It's quite entertaining. Finished the first issue. Waiting for second stuff. Samples as soon as I get permission.

The next is a book called DUST. I saw something filter through the halls of Dark Horse Comics when I was there, but it never got off the planning stages, for whatever reasons. Just finished the crazy first issue. Think Red Star with Gorillas. Waiting for second issue art/script and permission to post samples.

The third is an installment of The Ride, this time written and drawn by Tomm Coker. Great pages so far. Waiting for more pages from the artist, but it should be fun. Tomm wanted something specific for the lettering and I went just left of that... and nailed it for him. We'll see how the rest goes, but again waiting for permission and more art.

More as I get them.

And that's about it, for the three of you reading.

Loving you long time.

Have a happy fourth!

mdt

SOME PROPOSAL LOVE

2007-03-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

Scott Simmons, who is helping me with a proposal, has been quoted in an article that used some of the art we're putting together.

Here's the link!

More art for The Merc

2007-03-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

More art from the ravishing pencil of JD Krause for the project titled The Merc.
The monster, a.k.a. The White Whale.

And Lyla Ishmael, psychic and adventurer.

Just amazing.

The Oscar Reclamation Society begins!

2007-03-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

Scott Simmons is gracing me with sketches from my story about reclaiming disgraced Oscar winners.

Man, when it rains, it pours!

The Raimians take shape - SHIVA!

2007-03-12T10:02:00.000-07:00

David Faught is a monster and he's working through these character sketches like a speed demon.

What you see here is Shiva, destroyer of worlds. Or men's hearts.

We'll see when it actually gets written and drawn.

Enjoy!

The WAR WOLF strikes!

2007-03-09T07:07:00.000-08:00

Another project... sheesh!

Dustin Evans, an artist whom I've hired over at ComicSpace.com, has graced with the image you see here.

I just wanted some character sketches. Quickies. He does this.

Overachiever. What happens when he takes his time and we get doing sequentials?

Loving it...

New project: The Raimians

2007-03-07T08:26:00.000-08:00

Another project in the beginning stages...

Another sci-fi project, this time inspired by filmmaker Sam Raimi.

This is the first sketch of one of the characters, "Cowboy."

David Faught, whom I met on ComicSpace.com, is doing the pencils and helping flesh out the characters before we delve into sequentials.

So far, so good!

Embarking upon the high seas...

2007-03-06T12:57:00.000-08:00

...of Space!!

I know it's the beginning, but I've struck up a friendship and collaboration with JD Krause, whom I met on ComicSpace.com. The images you're viewing are from sketches for a project I'm pitching.

The high concept is Moby Dick in Space. This is my Ahab.

Just bitchin'! I'm lucky to have found this gentlemen and look forward to the rest of it.

Good times!!

BABEL: art for art's sake

2007-02-20T10:23:00.000-08:00

One of the tenets of writing and storytelling I've learned along the way runs smack into a line that Steve Martin uses on his friend suite mate John Candy in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. It's the Dell Griffith principle in my mind.

Here it is: your story should have a point. It shouldn't ramble on and on nonsensically without the framework of some kind of story.
That's really is the way I feel about Babel. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu directed and co-wrote the movie. There's really not an excuse for something like this. No one to blame for it, especially because of his insistence that he makes the movies he wants to make.

And what he made doesn't really go anywhere. It just sits there, making you squirm, but ultimately, not giving you anything back.

The story follows three interconnected stories (tenuously at best for one of them) and what happens to the people involved.

Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are on a tour of Morocco when their bus is shot at and Blanchett is clinging to life in a small Moroccan village.

Adriana Barraza is a Mexican nanny taking care of Brad Pitt's kids in Los Angeles. When she has her son's wedding in Mexico, she is forced to take her kids with her. And the fun ensues!

And in Tokyo, Rinko Kikuchi is a Japanese deaf high schooler who's dealing with her own sexuality and the limiting social effects of her deafness. She's at odds with her father and the suicide of her mother the year previous. I won't ruin the tenuous connection that this story has with the others.

Here's the problem I have with all of this. There's no payoff, either as a story or in caring about what happens to these people. The story that comes closest is the Mexican nanny, mostly because of the peril that her and the children are put in a little further along.

Iñárritu's previous work 21 Grams worked in some of the same methods that he employs here. Switching time and perspective between interconnected characters. But that story had characters with strong connections to one another. And ultimately, you felt strong about all of them. And their fates at least felt like a story was being told.

Because of the loosely connected stories (and I use that term liberally), it feels like Iñárritu made three incomplete movies when he could have made one good movie from any one of these.
Instead, we get moody scenes of desperation that don't emotionally connect on any level and we end up feeling cheated, in both time and money spent.

And here's to me fuming when it comes up for an Oscar next week.

GHOST RIDER flames out

2007-02-19T08:07:00.000-08:00

I want to like movies based upon comic books.

Suport the medium. Show people that comic books have all the elements that other media have. But when you say that, one has to remember it has all of the downsides as well.

For every Sin City, there is a Catwoman. For every Batman Begins, there is a... Ghost Rider.

And it's not that there's not a great story hidden in there. It's just not a very well-done movie.

What it relies upon is the flash of flaming skull and the special effects to make it a good movie.

And it's not enough by far.

The story: Johnny Blaze (Nic Cage) makes a deal with the devil (Peter Fonda) to save his father's life from cancer. But he dies from a motorcycle crash anyway, leaving Johnny with the loss of his father and a deal with devil still in place. It upsets his plans to runaway with his one true love Roxanne Simpson (Eva Mendes).

Later on, after reuniting, the Devil sends Blaze (as the Ghost Rider) to destroy his son Blackheart (Wes Bentley) and his minions, all of whom are bent on amassing power to take over the earth and destroy the Devil.

The plot, not bad. The execution, not so good.

It feels like so many cooks that a good movie gets diluted by too many cutesy ideas being floated throughout.

What writer-director Mark Steven Johnson got right: The Ghost Rider. The look is great and when he's in the midst of action, you forget the corny dialogue and it all works. That's pretty much where it all ends.

After that, it's Nic Cage doing Con-Air all over again, but the dialogue isn't nearly as clever. It's choppy and schlocky. But not in that Buffy-Roger Corman sort of way. It's more like 10th graders making a movie. And instead of dousing their Honda 50 in gasoline and lighting it and its rider on fire, they got CGI effects.

The only person who can act in the film is Sam Elliott, who - much like Sean Connery - makes anything better he's in.

But pretty much the story is leaden, the acting horrible. I'm not sure I can even recommend it for DVD rental or Netflix queue.

Just lower your expectations, notice how pretty Eva Mendes and her boobs are, and you might be OK.

And here's to hoping that Johnson hasn't killed a Ghost Rider sequel like he did DD.

After the crash...

2007-02-13T10:12:00.000-08:00

So this is what I walked away from on Feb. 7, 2007.

I was involved in a crash. My 3-year-old son came out just fine. I had a slight concussion. The driver who hit me was fine.

The clock was ticking the minute I went back to work on Feb. 9. I usually get to work around 6 a.m., well before my wife and son awake.

A one-car family we cannot be.

So I had all these feverish plans to get a rental car in-between vehicles. We carved out this plan to spend Feb. 10 (a Saturday) to shop for a new vehicle (or slightly used). We figured it would be paniful and we would have to talk to a salesman. And if you've heard the Ron White bit, then you know what I was expecting (So, would you rather talk to a car salesman... OR trapped in a phone booth with an alligator... OR naked tied to the back of a Greyhound bus while driving over cactus and sucking on the tailpipe. ... What was the second one?)

We went in at 5 p.m. on Friday and drove off the lot @ 8 p.m. And it was one of the best experiences I've ever had buying a car.

Royal Moore in Hillsboro, Oregon, if you ever have the need and ask for Troy. He was great. His manager Bill was great.

I was impressed.

And here you see the fruits of that labor.

Cathy and I are planning to christen it in the back seat any day now.

Until the payment book comes in March, I will see this as a silver lining.

Whew! No rent-a-wreck...

CRASH!

2007-02-11T05:11:00.000-08:00

I don't know how many of you have been in a crash.

But it's hard to explain the unreality of it until you've actually been in one of significant impact.

On Feb. 7, I was hit by a van near my house in Hillsboro, Oregon. My fault, but the impact of everything is no less powerful.

My son was strapped into his car seat next to me.

I pulled out into the intersection turning left. I was taking Maximus to his daycare provider.

I believed that I had given enough time to make the gap I had noticed.

Obviously, I hadn't.

The next thing I remember was unstrapping myself out of the cab of the truck and checking on Max. Except for some big tears from when he first cried, he was fine. He wasn't even crying. I checked on the other driver. He was fine. And then came the blur of events.

Sirens, firemen, EMTs, and a lot of radiator fluid.

In the end, all I had was a bump on the head (where my head had broken the driver's side window) and some sadness at giving Max his first car accident.

Then the aftermath started. I lost two days of work. The insurance company was covering the other driver, but my coverage was leaving me to my own devices. And then just replaying the whole episode in my head night and day.

All I can say is that I've replaced the truck already. The money will work itself out. And no one was seriously injured. Could be a lot worse.

And I'm looking both ways and waiting. A long time before pulling out.

SMOKIN' ACES review (sort of)

2007-02-02T07:52:00.000-08:00

SMOKIN' ACES SMOKES

I love movies.

I have varying tastes depending on my mood and what's out there.
Sometimes I want Shakespeare and other times, I want Michael Bay.

Smokin' Aces is waaaaaaaaaay better than a Michael Bay film. There's a nice story going on here. But Shakespeare it isn't. It falls into smart and entertaining niche.

The basics: Buddy "Aces" Israel (Jeremy Piven) is a Las Vegas entertainer who has become buddy-buddy with the Mob. When that relationship turns sour, Buddy has decided to flip and turn evidence in return for witness protection. The Mob then puts out a bounty on his head and his heart for $1 million, all comers.

Then begins the gathering of killers and protectors.

The thing about gathering movies like this is that you have to be careful about who tells whose story. The best way to find about a character without having flashback upon flashback from the character itself is to have someone tell what someone else knows about them. Kind of like building a legend or a story about someone without knowing whether that story is the truth or just someone's fiction. Think Usual Suspects or Magnificent Seven as your prototypes.

Then the moment comes when all of the players start coming together and mixing it up. And it's actually done quite well.

Director/writer Joe Carnahan has concocted a beautiful little drama. The action is well done. The dialogue is pretty perfect and the light moments come at the right time.

The interaction of the killers killing killers killing FBI killing killers is beautiful.

This could go a really wrong way and become a mindless splatterfest, but it doesn't. There are a couple of times when it veers a little too far. But all in all, an entertaining movie and nice addition to the action genre.

Three gems: The Tremor Brothers. Every time they're on the screen, it's magic. Alicia Keys in a hootchie-mama outfit; very hot. And Alicia Keys partner firing some kind of M-80, high-caliber gun into the hotel; hell on earth with hot lead.

Go see it!

Pitches, Man! Pitches!

2007-01-23T08:36:00.000-08:00

I have talked about him before, but all of you should know the name Brian Joines.

He is an amazingly talented comic book writer who has been grasping at the brass ring for a while now. He's come close, but it just hasn't happened. He's almost there. He talks with a who's who of people (Geoff Johns, Jay Faerber) in the biz on a regular basis and he's got a great writing voice.

So, Brian and I have been friends and colleagues for going on nigh seven years. I've lettered some of his comics. He's been kind enough to write some material for me in exchange for said lettering. And we get together now and again to talk projects and life and stuff.

And yesterday, we were talking about a pitch I was making to Oni Press today (finally!). He gave me some great advice that I will share with you.

Basically, two things.

1. Know your material in case they ask you what it's about. A couple of sentences that sums it up to the general reader. The easier the better. As much as it pains me, if you're in a pinch, give a mashed-up description ("It's Pretty Woman meets The Professional"). If they're interested, you'll have all the time in the world to explain further. Also think of the themes that it's representing. Think of something in literature, like Shelley's Frankenstein. One theme of that story is what happens when science is not tempered with social responsibility (technology run amok).

2. Have more ideas ready to go. I've had to pitch to a few artists and I have a ready-made list of potential ideas in case this one doesn't go my way. It can be as extensive or short as you like. Just make sure it quick and to the point.

OK, class over. Go back to recess!

INFINITE CRISIS... not so good

2007-01-16T06:35:00.000-08:00

So, I received a Xmas gift that I already had in my collection of DVDs and wanted to get something new to view.

I had no receipt, so I went to Borders. Borders is one of those places that astounds me. Great selection most of the time when it comes to DVDs, but, man, they are really trying to screw people all the time, aren't they? Box set of TV and movie are one-and-a-half to two times what they are at say Target. So I gave up my dream of getting a DVD set in exchange and settled on a graphic novel or collected trade.

I've pretty much given up monthly titles for comics, settling for the trades. If I really want to read it, I'll wait for the collection. And I had heard so much about what happened in Infinite Crisis that I decided to slap my return down and pick it up.

I was excited. Although still too much of a Perez clone for my tastes, one cannot fault Phil Jimenez entirely. He still makes for some good art. And Geoff Johns. He saved JSA from wallowing in nostalgia and made them relevant again.

This was going to be good. Good writer, great art, Perez and Lee covers. How could this go wrong?

Many ways. The upshot: Infinite Crisis has infinite problems.

First, a history lesson.

In 1984, DC Comics undertook a massive overhaul of their entire universe in a maxi-series called Crisis on Infinite Earths (COIE). Their best writer, Marv Wolfman, and their best penciller, George Perez (with inkers Dick Giordano, Mike DeCarlo, and Jerry Ordway). From month to month, the plot undertaken by the Anti-Monitor to destroy the universe unfolded in myriad and unexpected ways. Perez showed from month to month why he was the best. Wolfman showed how to craft a universe-shaking story yet grounding it in human and relatable ways. The Flash's death and Supergirl's death, among others, had gravitas and meaning. And remember that this event took place monthly over the course of a year, with two double-sized issues and a 32-page first issue.

At the end of it, we had one universe, new regular characters from ALL the earths. It was a unified vision that allowed DC to get things straight and it worked. While you could read all the tie-ins, you didn't need to in order to understand what was going on. And while in the Teen Titans, the Monitor had made appearances (as well as Lyta), you didn't need to know this in order to understand what was happening. The series, in and of itself, made sense.

Infinite Crisis only works as part of a larger piece of comic book works. If you've read Identity Crisis, Countdown to Infinite Crisis, Villains United, Day of Vengeance and various other titles, then IC makes perfect sense.

But for something that is going to change it all and maybe this is a starting point for most people, you pretty much have to have read COIE, most of the pre-Crisis JLA/JSA crossovers, the first year of most of the DC post-Crisis titles and all of the minis running up to IC. While I feel like I have a Masters or PhD in comic book history, this is what is wrong with comic books today.

In order to bring readers in, stories should be relatively clear and accessible. While continuity geeks get most of the references, even I felt overwhelmed and undertold by the series. When Superboy died, I didn't get the willies all that much. It felt like an add-on.

And now that Superboy-Prime is still in continuity, the waters have been muddied even further. Is anyone up for a discussion of Cable's continuity again?

And aside from the story and the lack of poignant and believable characterization, the art issue is a whole other kettle of fish. I love Jerry Ordway, he helped Perez keep COIE on time and gave it a richness that I'd never seen in Perez's pencils.

But his art suddenly brought the book to a standstill when you've been looking at Jimenez's for a certain amount of time. If it had been a viewpoint to show Earth-2, but he shows up elsewhere. And while I don't mind Ivan Reis, he's definitely not Ordway or Jimenez. When I am taken out of the book, then the book stops working for me. I understand time constraints, but perhaps maybe Jimenez should have stopped Otherworld sooner in order to get this done. I feel cheated and a little angry.

I also feel a little sad for Johns. I loved certain parts of his work. His Green Lantern reboot actually was quite good. He's channeled the best of the Titans in Teen Titans. And again, his JSA was great.

But this was a bridge too far. He stretched it and it broke. I hope he gets back to form and they let someone who can handle the big stories write them from now on.

There's my two cents.

PSP is the DEVIL

2007-01-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

PSP and GTA:VCS

I don't know why my wife doesn't want to talk to me. I'm a personable guy. We're in love. We have a beautiful child together.

So why did she buy me a PSP? Was it to cut in on my PS2 time? Was it to make me NOT talk to her while she's watching Gilmore Girls on DVD?

I don't know. But it's crack. Even games I wouldn't normally play on the regular console, well, I want to play them on there. We have the ATV Offroad Fury 3 for the PS2. I despise it. And yet, on crack wanting to play it on the PSP.

And don't even get me started on Grand Theft Auto PSP games. Bought the Vice City Stories for it. CRACK!!! It was bad enough when it was on the console. Now I can take it with me and ignore people and life and stuff.

There is a silver lining. While waiting in the doctor's office (I was on time, THEY were running late), I can play my ultra violent game and not pretend I'm reading National Geographic from June 1978, when in fact I'm just looking at the pretty pictures.

So I guess my wife does love me. Even if she doesn't want me to talk to her.

ONI PRESS

2007-01-08T09:15:00.000-08:00

ONI PRESS

About a year and half ago, I put together a packet of lettering work up to date and sent it off to Oni Press, which has its offices in Portland, Oregon.

A gentlemen named Randy called me back and let me know gently that lettering services for Oni were few and far between; those that bring projects typically do their own and the ones that don't are taken care of by an in-house source. Every 3-4 months, I've gone and called to check up on it with basically the same result.

But the difference this last time was that Randy shops at a comic book shop -- Bridge City Comics -- owned by one of my friends and a Dark Horse alum, Michael Ring. Ring, who now works at OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), gave him some sort of glowing reference when my name came up. This is despite the year or so of me incessantly trying to educate him on obscure letterers (almost redundant) such as Gaspar Saladino, Ben Oda, and John Costanza. And, of course, inflicting upon one of the greatest letterers of all time: Tom Orzechowski.

Anyway, so I call up last Friday and Randy knows who I am by name because of Ring and gives me the same spiel, albeit very nicely. What I end up doing, however, is inviting myself into their offices this week in order to pitch my horror western book, Absolution, Kansas.

So, we'll see what this all yields. While hopeful, I'm going to keep my expectations realistic. And by that, I mean a three-series, 14-issue miniseries, which will buy me the three-picture development deal @ Paramount. I mean, I'm going to be humble...

Wish me luck.

KEVIN COLDEN: Absolution artist extraordinaire

2007-01-05T09:55:00.000-08:00

KEVIN COLDEN is AWESOME!!

The person who has been my hero is the gentlemen who agreed to draw 10 pages on spec of Absolution, Kansas from a partial script that I had developed while still working at Dark Horse. In the midst of moving to a new apartment with his girlfriend, he turned in art work that was amazing. I'm hoping to get picked up in order to see what more he can accomplish with my ramblings.

Here are some links to the crazy talented man who I hope to work with some more.

http://www.kevincolden.com

http://www.three21media.com/content/?page_id=125

http://www.sequart.com/columns/?col=16

http://www.kubertsworld.com/kubertschool/artwork/Shocase_html_pages/Kevin_Colden.htm

When Absolution, Kansas actually gets picked up, I hope Kevin's still on board. He's awesome!

OK, there's my gush!

Lettering and stuff

2007-01-04T11:29:00.000-08:00

Ladies and Gents, welcome to another really significant post from me.

Right...

COMIC BOOK RELATED WORK

We have projects in the offing.

First, still working on the pitch for Absolution, Kansas, a horror western in the best tradition of both genres. When the link really has something, I'll announce a little more.

In the meantime, still lettering. I'm working on books for Dark Horse Comics (Star Wars: Dark Times, Old Boy, The City of Others, Reiko the Zombie Shop).

I'm also still working on a book call Super Teen*Topia for Forcewerks Productions. It's in flux as to when it's coming out again, but Kirk Kushin and Mark Root have been spectacular to work with. Still working out the details as such, but I look forward to working with them.

Brian Joines is working on a couple of books that will be out within the next year. More samples when I get art to letter. Brian keeps promising a 7 Guys of Justice book soon, but he needs to get these other projects out of the way.

MOVIES

Over the holiday, finally got out to see The Departed. Brilliant. Scorcese strikes again. Only thing is not getting enough on a couple of characters. Mark Wahlberg, brilliant. DiCaprio, not nearly as annoying as I used to think.

The next DVD I'm looking forward to watching is Brick. Just wanting to soak it all in. I hope it's as good as I keep hearing.

TV on DVD

And now I've done it. Since buying my wife The Gilmore Girls, Season One DVD, she has balked on watching it. Had a slow day during the holidays and DVD watching while Max is with me has to be very selective. So in it went, wanting to get some use out of it. I was hooked. Cathy, having seen that I was watching it, wanted to get in on it. Now, we're through season one and looking for Season Two. Lauren Graham is hot and smart and sassy. And Sam Phillips is doing the music for the show. Isn't that enough?

Welcome to Cueball Productions!

2006-12-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

Dec. 16, 2006

Instead of trying to update HTML all the time, I'm doing updates here instead.

Sounds like more work, but really, it's easier.

Got more work from Dark Horse coming out. More Star Wars (Legacy and Dark Times), Old Boy Volumes, and Reiko the Zombie Shop.

But the thing I'm really knocked out by is City of Others. Written by Steve Niles and drawn by Bernie Wrightson. That's right! Bernie Wrightson. I'm freaking out. No matter how indirect, my name and Bernie's is going to be linked. I love it! It's looking great as well from the pencil versions that I've seen. Look for it on the schedule.

Otherwise, it's same as usual at the Thomas-Clark household. The boy, Maximus, is turning 3 in January and this Xmas he's very self-aware. I'm excited for him. It's going to be very fun and very festive. Can't wait.

A couple of stupid things that I wanted to get out there.

The last season (season 7) of the West Wing is out on DVD and the show made up for losing Aaron Sorkin in this last season. It's interesting and should be a must for school age children to learn how the political process works. It's great drama and, by God, you might actually learn something. I'm an addict.

And speaking of addictions, the wife has been ordering Nip/TIck on DVD through Netflix. And it's crack on disc. I'm hooked now.

That's all I got for now.

Happy non-denominational Holidays to all three of you reading!

And a Happy New Year if I don't see you before then!

mdt