TWO FISTED HOMEOPAPE Mar/29 - Those Good Hard Web Boots!
Ubiquitous EVERFROST plug in 3...2...1...
♫ I applied for a rescue dog,
But if I get you dog,
You're rescuing me ♫
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2021 -- beyond.
All that other writing.
Yep, another week where my words are coming out and spilling into all these other places.
I will say, I did manage to write 7 script pages this past week, so that’s 1 page a day, but mostly my brain has been elsewhere.
I’ve written a tonne of launch material for Everfrost, and there’s a bunch more to go. I’ve started to reassess my press/review email list, and have found that a whole mess of review sites went under during Covid, so that made me a little sad to see.
It is hard work, but I should also say it’s nice to see so many people out and about supporting us with this comic. My messages and inbox have shown me support and kindness from all around the globe. People stepping up to preorder, people telling their mates, and one person dropping me a line to let me know that they haven’t preordered through a comic shop in over a decade [they’re all Kickstarter and Amazon for their comic needs] but they really dug the premise here and wanted to support me so they dropped a line to their Californian local and set up a new standing order. What an absolute legend!
So far, I’m feeling good that we’re going to launch strong. People have a few weeks to get their preorder in, so I’m going to continue to hit the trail and make it interesting and hopefully win over a few more hearts and minds.
Beyond that, I took a night to play D&D with my mates, and I taught this Saturday, and made pizzas for two families that night, and then absolutely nothing on Sunday because nobody wanted to lift a muscle all day. Okay, I lie, I balanced sleeping in until 7:25am and then not really leaving the bed until nearly 9am because I was chilling with the kids telling stories, and then playing board games and watching a movie, and eating so much peanut butter on toast, with doing some press work for the comic, and chopping down a tree with an axe.
But the entire day felt lazy, and my whole being needed it.
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Have you preordered EVERFROST from your LCS yet?
Of course I need to spruik the comic a little in here. We have about 3 more weeks to hit the preorder trail, hard, so I’ll keep doing what I can.
I’ve written a cool post on my site about Van Louise, our leading character, and I hope it makes you even more excited. I know I cannot wait for this comic to drop.
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Your best work.
Read John Lees gushing about JAWS over in his newsletter and it gave me the usual thought when I think about that movie.
Spielberg maybe never made a better flick than his third movie.
He’s made plenty of other bangers, he’s come pretty close a few times, but JAWS remains such a perfect piece of celluloid. I wonder what he thinks about that? I wonder if he ever thinks he needs to top it, or if he thinks he has already? I wonder if he cares? Imagine making JAWS, and then getting to make other flicks for the next 50 years, but spending that time also knowing you made JAWS!
This then made me think about Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. They created the comic SLEEPER nearly 20 years ago, and it might be my favourite of their collaborations, but I don’t think they’ve spent their time chasing that high. I can think of a handful of titles where they’ve met or probably even eclipsed that book, and that’s pretty awesome.
Of the top of my head: the CRIMINAL arcs The Last of the Innocent and Bad Night did it. KILL OR BE KILLED did, and I think RECKLESS comes very damn close.
Brubaker/Phillips seemingly continue to level up, and they’re at the top of the comic making game, so that’s pretty cool. Maybe some people just keep getting better.
It makes me think of plenty of creative people, and of course all roads lead to Rome [which is where I think about myself]. Have I done that pinnacle work yet, will I ever, or am I overthinking it?
I think the answer is pretty obvious.
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ASD&D.
A pretty great session with my adult crew. The DM is riding this story that’s a mystery and I’m completely caught up in the swirl of the tension and it’s brilliant.
I also managed to finish my time that night while wild shaped as a giant spider to use my web to make some sweet armoured boots, a la how Spidey did it in WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #100 - a true classic! Just glad I rolled crazy high to get these sweet sweet boots.
The school club was this afternoon and my group were so awesome. They’re in their second year of D&D at school, so I’ve gotten to see them grow, and they had an afternoon of teamwork and role play, instead of just trying to fight, and I dug the hell out of that. We had rolls for break dancing, and rodeo riding, and spider handling, and then a team up to tackle a problem for an NPC.
One of the girls wants to become a Drider - this spider-centaur type deal - and I’ve set it up in story that this temple she’s stumbled across should be able to help her. As she chats with the one priestess in there, explaining her desire to change into this monstrosity, she really just sank into the role of engaging and explaining herself and it was very very cool.
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PERHAPS YOU'D CARE TO SAMPLE
WE ARE SCARLET TWILIGHT #1 on Kickstarter - this just looks damn cool. The art is a serious draw, but the concept is old school pulp superhero, and I’m definitely here for that.
Matt Fraction on the Comic Book Work Shop podcast - this is vry very much worth a listen.
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GRIST FOR THE MILL
THE LAST CHANCE HOTEL - just finished reading this YA murder mystery with my kid after months of bedtimes, and it’s pretty fun stuff. We had a blast reading it.
STUMPTOWN - the tv show based on the comic from Rucka/Southworth/Greenwood is finally available down here on Disney+, and I’m 3 eps in and really enjoying the characters. It very much keeps that Rockford Files vibe in it, and I am 100% down for that. It’s A+ P.I. entertainment.
Be one of the good guys, because there's way too many of the bad.
POST CREDITS SEQUENCE
I’ve enjoyed playing around with Cappuccino - the app where you join groups, people record short 3 minute or under audio clips, and you listen to it all the next morning at 8am in a kind of low-fi jazz podcast.
The people who have joined up, and reached out, have warmed my heart with their positivity. This will be the last time for a few weeks that I push it here, but I think it’s a platform with space for growth, and I’m excited to see what we can put together here.
I’ve been posting short updates and writing thoughts to the TWO FISTED HOMEOPAPE group where a small group of A+ people have been listening, so if you want to join [I don’t post something every single day, so you get a reprieve, I promise] do the following:
Head to cappuccino.fm - or download the app
Click to join a group and enter code: 286172
The code expires in about a day, or so, I’ve been told. So get in now, while it’s fresh in your mind. Hopefully it’s good fun for ya.