TWO FISTED HOMEOPAPE May/03 - It has been seven [7] days without an unforced error.
Strongly considered puttinga typo into that email title...
♫ I applied for a rescue dog,
But if I get you dog,
You're rescuing me ♫
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2021 -- beyond.
Hitting end points.
A really busy and productive week can see you move the ball a few inches up the field, and sometimes you might get a first down. I didn’t score this week, so I won’t push the metaphor that far, but I also didn’t have any unforced errors. I just saw the short term grind pay a few successes, and I’m gonna celebrate the Dickens out of them.
First up, I finished the first draft of SHE Vol. 2 - it’s come in at 66 pages and I’m pretty happy with this draft as the framework and foundation. There are some great moments, some great lines, and I’ve already emailed myself notes on how to level it up into the next draft. For now, I’ll step away for a week or so and let it percolate, and then hopefully have time to dive into it for a great second draft run before the end of the month.
I find first drafts are maybe 50% just me writing scenes out from the plot/plan and realising they don’t work, or how they need to change. I wish I could catch that stuff in my head, but it only works on paper [the laptop screen].
It was also interesting to note that initially I was setting myself a goal of 2 pages a night, and sometimes hitting 3, or maybe 4 if I got fresh, but at the end I was clipping through it at 5, 6, and even 8 pages in a night. It was really flowing, which felt good.
Around that script fury, I also watched EVERFROST #1 tick over to be ready to print. Bloody exciting times, to be honest. THat nervous energy I feel around launching a new comic, so a new world and character and everything. We still have one more week before any preorders absolutely close, so I’ll hit it hard this week.
I then also set wheels into motion to get #2 finished. The first step was to do a lettering pass on the script before sending it to the letterer. I spent two mornings going over the coloured pages, and the script, and ensuring they work best in harmony. I also tried to take on some feedback and make sure some of the stuff was clear for the audience, without needing a character to start saying things explicitly and out loud.
I’m really hyped for #2 because I think I’ve got this script singing, Sami and Lauren are a great pairing for the eyes, and I know Jim’s gonna letter it really well.
While doing this, I ended up doing a pass on the script for #3, and this is one I’m also really proud of. This lead me to also read the script for #4, just to ensure the threads through #2-3 paid off in the end, and I’m glad to say it all wraps up very nicely, so reading all of that was a good use of my time.
With some scripts to bed, I’m going to bring BLACK BEACON onto one of the front burners and really push it ahead. I need to push it for launch, and get the final scripts sorted/edited/again, and get hyped for the release in HEAVY METAL #306 in just 2 weeks. It’s really cool to have something in this magazine!
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Opportunity knocks [me right tf over].
Alongside all of this, I also got an email that was very out of the blue for a very cool opportunity I did not think would be coming my way at all any time soon. It was the sort of thing that kept me thinking long and hard on it for most of the week, so I’ll see what information comes to light over the coming week and what it might all mean.
Vague as hell, I know, but it’s certainly big enough to hint at it on the landscape and unpack it all later.
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New story, that twilight time.
I’ve got a new story cooking. It’s come up out of the west like a fiend, stalking my brain on legs of lightning. This is the one I sat at my con table and noodled over for a weekend. The story has continued to grow and evolve since then, nagging at most of my idle thoughts.
The other night I was reading to my kid, I’m reading THE MAGIC MISFITS 2 by Neil Patrick Harris [it’s okay, definitely readable, and the kid certainly loves it] and then a snippet of an idea shard came into my head. I instantly knew it could expand into some other cool stuff, so I told myself to go jot it down before I went to hang with the wife.
But I didn’t jot it down, like the dunce I am.
And yet, the following morning, while reading the latest Phillips/Brubaker hardcover, the idea came back to me. This rarely happens, once my brain lets go of something, that butterfly is off into the wind to never be seen again. But the idea returned, and this time I jotted it down, and it really gives me a solid character flaw to build with, and I can already see one absolutely amazing scene for it, and I’ve pencilled out two more, before and after, and stuff like this means the story is cooking along really well.
I’m hoping to get time this month to really massage it and then work out where to pitch it. I’m definitely thinking this could be my next piece, that’s for sure.
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For real, have you spoken to your comic shop about preorders yet?
Just don’t want you to miss out.
Okay, I’ll be honest, I just want to sell more comics, and have the publishers think I’m a good bet so they’ll greenlight more comics from me.
But I also don’t want you to miss out. If you’re here, then you’d be the perfect reader for my comics, the stories and the newsletter all come out of the same brain.
Here’s the rundown, because the list is bigger now:
May 12 - HEAVY METAL #306 - sees the start of BLACK BEACON with me and Sebastian Piriz
June 02 - EVERFROST #1 lands - this miniseries starts here from me and Sami Kivela
June - HEAVY METAL #307 - the second chapter of BLACK BEACON lands in this issue, I assume, at this date
July 14 - EVERFROST #2 lands
July [insert number here] - BLACK BEACON starts to get a solo single issue release here, so if you missed the magazine, you can get our first chapter, with some back matter, right here
This is plenty to preorder, and it’s all goodness, I promise. Here are the covers to make you excited. I’m really pumped for these two stories coming to life in 2021.
If you can, just tell your comic shop you want all 4 issues of EVERFROST pulled for you, that’ll take you June through September and the whole story!
This is the issue we launch in - wild times, I won’t lie. And you can also preorder this first chapter as a single issue with this cover:
And let’s not forget - I wrote an article about reading CLAUS & SIMON, a Spanish comic, which I can’t really read, but being locked out of a comic about two escape artists felt completely on brand. The article appears in the second issue of CREEPER magazine, and you can get a PDF for $5 or secure your copy of the paper magazine here!
Having my writing put into a magazine and formatted really nicely is a bit of a dream, tbh, so I’m stoked this is definitely happening now that funding has been successful.
So, right now, to recap!
That’s 3 single issues you can preorder, plus one magazine through your comic shop, and one through Kickstarter.
I’ve also got an interview coming up in another magazine, the next issues for both of these series, and beyond that is hopefully another graphic novel soon, another SHE volume eventually, and whatever comes next on my plate.
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EVERFROST #1 Script Annotations on Patreon.
For the month of June, to celebrate the release of EVERFROST #1, I’m going to release a page of script a day with annotations so you can see my thoughts behind writing this comic, and compare them to the pages as you read them, and that’ll give me a daily schedule for pretty much the whole month.
You can get in on this for just $1 for the whole month - sign up here and I’ll kick off June 01.
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ASD&D.
Had an open plan day so my kid asked if we could play D&D as it had been some time since we’d last adventured at home. He wanted to craft a new character, so did so quickly on DnDBeyond - an Aarakocra Paladin - and I threw him into a short one, aimed at a little fun, some interaction, and a fighting problem to solve.
It was nice to spend an hour and a half just bullshitting about a goblin army and an asshole halfling/kobold who owns a barbershop. All good fun.
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PERHAPS YOU'D CARE TO SAMPLE
An Ed Gein graphic novel on Kickstarter - and Eric Powell illustrates it. Looks great, and no doubt will be. Gorgeous looking HC of horror.
BORN AGAIN and YEAR ONE - an article about the tone of these two Mazzucchelli/Miller collaborations and how they got away with it in the mid-80s. Reading this is an exploration of the two comics, and any time I read about them is like time spent with old friends.
Ed Brubaker talking craft with Elsa Charretier - this half an hour chat is full of The Good Stuff for your writing brain!
Google Earth has time lapse videos of places - you can see urban sprawl and the environment destroyed in 38 second snippets :|
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GRIST FOR THE MILL
FRIEND OF THE DEVIL - the latest Reckless story in HC from Phillips/Brubaker and it’s a slide of stone cold crime mixed with damn fine comics pacing, and the result is a book i read in one sitting on a lazy Sunday morning while the kids watched cartoons.
I know I bang on about everything this creative pair does, but this book really does it all. The narration is well crafted, the pages flow like wine, and the wending/winding of the plot is well done.
THE MITCHELLS VS THE MACHINES - I’ve seen social media blowing up about this flick, and with good reason: it’s bloody brilliant. Heart warming and emotional about family, it’s also insanely hilarious like someone’s sketchbook doodles came to life around a really awesome script, this has a balance on everything and I think is a movie genuinely for All Ages. I’ll be glad to rewatch this again and again with the kids over the coming year whenever I need a good belly laugh.
Be one of the good guys, because there's way too many of the bad.
POST CREDITS SEQUENCE
HEADING INTO THE SECOND AND FINAL WEEK OF THIS DEAL!
Okay, I’ve got a deal for you - who wants a copy of one of my very first published pieces of writing, long out of print?
Long ago, in 2009, I wrote an essay about Aussie crime flicks and it appeared in the back of one of the all-time great comics of our time - CRIMINAL by Sean Phillips & Ed Brubaker
My essay was called AUSTRALIAN NOIR and featured two illustrations by Sean Phillips, both of which I own in my office:
I came across a copy of this issue just the other day and I thought someone might dig this deep cut into nascent RKL territory, so here’s the deal:
If you want this copy of CRIMINAL sent to you, there are 2 things you need to do to become that person:
Go buy a copy of SHE Vol. 1, which I just put up in my online store - GO NOW.
Then I’m going to select the person who spends the most money all up on ownaindi.com in the coming fortnight alongside their SHE order.
The site is a home for Aussie creators to sell their comics, so every purchase gives those creators a nice little windfall of cash. Buy a whole bunch of stuff, including SHE, and send me a pic of your order, and whoever ponies u the most in the coming fortnight, so by the 10th of May, gets a copy of CRIMINAL: THE SINNERS #2 added to their SHE order.
Some tips:
If you already have a copy of SHE, well, order one for a mate and stock it away for Xmas
Buy everything Tatiana Davidson has ever created - she’s the greatest name in horror comics you might not yet know
Buy THE SILENCE by Bruce Mutard - it’s bloody beautiful
Buy absolutely everything Louie Joyce ever put his work into - the guy is Australia’s finest working comic artist. I said it. Get his comics bundle on sight, and then get a sketch commission on the cheapy cheap.
Buy all of GREENER PASTURES because it’s genius and if you dig my work then this is a lock for you to enjoy - and then browse artist Tim McEwen’s stuff, he’s got some great prints and such in there!
You can even just get a taste of a bunch of different creators by signing up to the site’s newsletter and getting a free pdf sampler of loads of A+ stuff, and then just shop from there.
Or you can buy more RKL comics - I’ve got some cool stuff up there like THE JAM SESSIONS, where I chat pop culture with Dan Hill, or copies of ETERNAL or SKYSCRAPER or my all-ages stuff INK ISLAND & EIR
In summary - if you want my old Australian Noir essay, you have to purchase SHE and then be the one who spends the most at ownaindi.com on a bunch of other awesome indie comics.
Send me the pics of your orders once they are posted, the highest spending person gets a free copy of the comic when I send it out next week! Have fun!