Paul Newman

One of my all-time favorites. Can't think of many guys of his era who made so many great movies in so many different flavors. Paul Newman was always the guy I wanted to be, you know?

Pure class, too.

September 23, 2007

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of my mother's passing.

We miss you, Mom.

Dick 7

Jason Armstrong just turned in the cover for PREVIEWS:

Hawaiian Dick and the Future

So, HAWAIIAN DICK #5 is all finished up and should be in shops within a few weeks. HAWAIIAN DICK #6, which features art by guest artist Jason Armstrong, should follow in a fairly timely fashion.

We have yet to solicit HAWAIIAN DICK #7, but Jason is also working on that one, which features the death of a cast member (oooh!), and the aftermath.

Beyond that...I'm up in the air. I wonder how people would respond to a HAWAIIAN DICK graphic novel in leiu of more single issues. Or HAWAIIAN DICK digital shorts, which would then be collected into a fourth trade...

The complete JACKIE KARMA (so far)

With '76 #5 delayed a bit, I thought I'd share a link to all of JACKIE KARMA up to now. By myself and Ed Tadem:

http://jackiekarma.blogspot.com/2008/05/complete-jackie-so-far.html

Farewell to the (other) Moores

It's Tony and Kara's last full day in Kansas City before they head out to the wilds of Kentuckiana.

We'll all miss them both.

Script to Page

Here's a page of script from the upcoming (as in very soon) HAWAIIAN DICK #5. Script by me:

PAGE ONE

Panel 1. The Thinker stands on a street corner, looking at his watch. Evening.

THINKER: It doesn’t take much dealing with the native populace to rob this place of its charm—


Panel 2. Waves at a taxi.

THINKER: TAXI! Stop!


Panel 3. Gets in, door open, complaining.

THINKER: Good Lord. How long does a man have to stand on a corner waiting for one of these ghastly contrivances to appear—I need to be in front of the Blue Aloha in five minutes.


Panel 4. Looking sideways out the window, a look of mild surprise on his face.

THINKER: I have a meeting of importance, so despite my secure knowledge that speed is hardly of the essence in this—eh?


Panel 5. The Thinker is angry now, looking over his shoulder.

THINKER: Damn it, driver. The Blue Aloha is in the complete OPPOSITE direction. Do I have to—


Panel 6. Without turning around, the cabbie is holding up a gun so that the Thinker can see it.

CABBIE: You just have to shut up, Mr. Antonio. Shut up and enjoy the ride.

And here's the finished page, art by Scott Chantler with Steven Griffin coloring (click for a bigger view):

Bleed redux

Speaking of "Bleed," here it is being used to close an episode of Third Watch, assuming you've never heard it before:

"Drowning"

In case anyone's curious about "Drowning in the Mainstream Flow," here's its origin. Make of it what you will:

Bleed by the Negro Problem

I don't bleed you
I just need to see you
I would love to turn your vice
and make a silly error twice

She isn't dreamy
she just needs to see me
drowning in the mainstream flow
and frowning where ever I go

So come down little one
leave your place in the sun
So come down little one
leave your place in the sun

I come in bleeding
stumbling round and needing
I love to burn your trash
and make a picture with the ash

I come in storming
before your cloud starts forming
I would love to cut your hair
and leave an empty promise there

So come down little one
leave your place in the sun
So come down little one
leave your place in the sun

Start your engine
but don't forget to mention
to your friend that I need work
don't reminded her I'm a jerk

Enter clowning
and join me while I'm downing
drink tickets and poison herbs
courtesy of the suburbs

So come down little one
leave your place in the sun
come down little one
leave your place in the sun
come down little one
leave your place in the sun
come down little one
leave your place in the sun
come down little one
leave your place in the sun

INKY COLOR POW!

Stephen Molnar:

Van Morrison

Kind of in that mood.

The Kiddie Corral

Here's a great idea. From Bill Bryson's highly entertaining THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE THUNDERBOLT KID (a memoir of his growing up in fifties Des Moines):

Dahl's, our neighborhood supermarket, had a feature of inspired brilliance
called the Kiddie Corral. This was a snug enclusore, built in the style of a
cowboy corral and filled with comic books, where moms could park their kids
while they shopped .... it was filled with comic books. To enter the Kiddie
Corral you climbed onto the top rail and dove in, then swam to the center. You
didn't care how long your mom took shopping beause you had an inifinite supply
of comics to occupy you.

Pimping Pals

It's no secret that I think Jason Aaron is one of the brightest voices at Marvel. He's doing fun stuff with GHOST RIDER, a book that's honestly never really been *good* in any incarnation, but features a fun character that people love.

Jason just previewed some pages from GR #26 on his message board. I thought I'd swipe one of 'em and share it:

He's taking all the loose flotsam and jetsam (no matter how lame) associated with previous takes and tying them into the new version. I'm sure it'll annoy some longtime fans, but it's a lot of fun to watch...

INKY POW!

POW!

(in progress) KA-BAM!

Robert Kirkman with a call to arms

I've copied Robert's plan here, but please head to the CBR link for his video editorial:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17705

Roberts writes:

I came back from San Diego supercharged with excitement for comics and so I made this video. It's a little ramble filled in places and I want to thank the fine folks at CBR for cleaning it up as much as they did. Just for clarity's sake I'd like to simplify things a little.

I think there's a way to fix comics and make everyone happy doing it. I don't claim to be right, but I think there could be something to this.

Step One:

Top creators who want to do creator-owned work band together and give it a shot. I'd certainly love for that to be at Image, but whatever, wherever -- if you want to do it, step up and do it. The more people who do it, the easier it'll be to do. Creators are very important to the current fan base, if it's done right you could bring a large portion of your audience with you provided you take the plunge and only do creator-owned work. If you give people the option of Spider-Man or your creator-owned book... they'll choose Spider-Man, that's something time-tested versus something new. New has to be the only option.

Step Two:

If that results in a mass exodus of creators leaving Marvel and DC, don't panic guys, I love their books as much as everyone else -- nobody wants to hurt them in the process. Look at it like an opportunity, that's the time for Marvel and DC to step up the plate and make their comics viable for a whole new generation. Less continuity, more accessible stories -- not made for kids, but appropriate for kids. Books that would appeal to everyone still reading comics, but would also appeal to the average 13 year old too. There are a wealth of talented creators who haven't yet reached a level where they can sell books on their own -- they can do awesome work for the companies and be happy doing it.

What that could lead to:

A comic industry where there are more original comics, so there's more new ideas, more creator-owned books by totally awesome guys that are selling a ton of books. Those books are mature and complex and appeal to our aging audience that I count myself among who are keeping this business alive. And we also have a revitalized Marvel and DC who are selling comics to a much wider audience than ever before. And that audience, as they age, may get turned on to some awesome creator-owned work eventually. So everyone is happy.

I'm not saying it would be as simple as all that, I'm just saying this "could" work and that there are enough smart people working in comics today that it could probably happen. The problem as I see it, is that Marvel and DC are currently very successful with the audience they have now, "us" and we're all happy with the comics they're producing... because they're all mostly awesome. But as we age, we die, so we're not going to be around forever and so if comics continue to age with us, they will die along with us and that's not something I think any of us want.

So, there, I hope that makes my message clear. So, uhh, fire away, I'm all ears.

-- Robert Kirkman

Fairport Convention on late summer days...

Not much makes me nostalgic for college, but Irish and English folk music sometimes makes me long for lazy days alone in my student apartment, windows open, breezes drifting in. Classes over or, more likely, skipped for the day. The far off sound of students coming and going, traffic out on the highway beyond the trees outside the window. Suspended between fake resonsibility and the slowly encroaching realities of Real Life...

Anyway, that was where I first really dug into artists like Nick Drake, Steeleye Span, Tommy Makem, Planxty, and, of course, Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, and the amazing Fairport Convention.

These two Youtube clips take me right back:





"Who Knows Where the Time Goes" never fails to move me...

Hawaiian Dick #5 is almost here

Steven should be putting the finishing touches on the files now. Ironically, #6 has been done for months.

Here's Steven's latest revision of the cover for HAWAIIAN DICK #5:

Me and My Monkey

From the FX Show in Orlando early this year. I participated in a monkey painting auction thingie.

My Hawaiian Chimp:

If you bought him, let me know!

Let's make our own rules...

Hollywood and Comics...Newsarama did a two-part feature, but the points I really wanted to make are in part two:

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080807-hollywood-comics-2.html


Also. MTV is now paying attention:

http://splashpage.mtv.com/2008/08/07/warner-bros-matthew-fox-link-up-with-billy-smoke/