TWO FISTED HOMEOPAPE November/29 - Dragging the rudder of my brain.
Also: will I make it to Sydney for Oz Comic Con this weekend?
♫ I applied for a rescue dog,
But if I get you dog,
You're rescuing me ♫
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2021 -- beyond.
Pitches.
Gotta put stuff out to get stuff back. Ugh.
All my new comics for next year - BLACK BEACON, SPEED REPUBLIC, [THE LADY KUNG FU PROJECT] - are all already written. I’ve even written a script for SHE Vol. 2, so now I’m stuck looking for the next thing to be greenlit. This means I’m in two different places right now:
1 - I’m creating new stories, new worlds, new characters, etc. It can be a fun place to be, though my brain feels rudderless in this time as I know there’s a chance I create a dozen of these and non go anywhere so it’s all gonna feel like empty space.
2 - I’m sending pitches out and waiting. It’s a slow process. The best thing to do is hit Send and then turn in another direction and let your focus go there. But my focus, right now, just goes back up to #1, and that’s fun but I’m looking for a more definitive distraction.
This is my usual loop between projects, and I’ve not really discovered a way to get better at it. Looking over the past year, I’ve managed to not have anything new greenlit. Everything for next year was already in place. I’ve put together 4 solid pitch proposals, and they’re all mostly in consideration somewhere. So, just waiting and waiting.
In the end, I’ve just gotta have faith something will land, as it has in the past, and take it from there. But having no firm deadlines for things can be difficult because it’s hard to push yourself across a line and finish something when there’s little *need* to do it.
Regardless, I’m finalising a pitch package this week for a story I’ve been percolating on for a long, long time and I just have to get up at 4am and get excited to make this one thread. If it gets picked up, or not, is the next step and I’ll just try to enjoy this step for now.
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Doing a Comic Con this week…?
I’m a guest at Oz Comic Con in Sydney this weekend. I’m all set to go and have a fantastic table to put together with all 4 issues of EVERFROST, and copies of SHE, SKYSCRAPER, and ETERNAL. It’s going to be an awesome show, and I’m excited to see some old friends also there to share the comics and stories they love.
Except.
Now I have 5 days to work out if I’m going to go due to Sydney just taking in two people with the new Omicron Variant from an overseas flight. As always, we have something nice and Covid finds a new way to screw with it.
If Omicron starts to spread in Sydney, I need to reevaluate my standing as someone who wants to go stand in a busy hall with loads of people and have them come interact with me at a table. I really want to go see my mates, sell some comics, have a fun weekend. I really do not want to put people around me at risk of me spreading this new strain further than it needs to go. I’m double-vaxxed, but kids around me aren’t, people live with some people who aren’t. These decisions are always beyond just you and your arms’ reach.
I’ve been all set for this show, things were looking good, and now it’s all a chance to up and disappear. It sucks, but I’d do it in a heartbeat if it looks unsafe.
If you don’t want to make the show, or you can’t due to distance, or I don’t make the show, or the show gets cancelled - basically, if we don’t get a chance to meet up, but there are still comics from me you’ll like to buy, then here’s a link:
YOU CAN BUY MY COMICS HERE ON OWNAINDI
I’ll sign them, package them up, and send them to your door with zero risk of Covid slipping through with them.
But, if the week seems good, you’ll be able to find me at Oz Comic Con in Sydney in the Comic Guest section:
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A Summer for Reading.
I need to make a list of things to read over summer for my teaching in 2022. It’ll be finalised in the next fortnight, but I want to start putting things aside, and so far the list includes:
‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta
Criminal: The Last of the Innocent by Sean Phillips & Ed Brubaker
Watchmen by Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore
And I’ll also put some movies into that list, the first being Born on the Fourth of July, which I’m excited to revisit.
It’s a fun time to be cooking up the things I need to soak my brain in and figure out fun ways to teach next year.
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PERHAPS YOU'D CARE TO SAMPLE
Comic Crusaders chat SPEED REPUBLIC - I was honoured to be invited onto the show, with my co-creator Emanuele Parascandolo, to chat about our new comic in 2022, SPEED REPUBLIC. It’s a fun chat, and we give you everything you need to want to go out and preorder this comic right now!
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GRIST FOR THE MILL
DOUBLE INDEMNITY - Finished reading this. It remained an absolute bullet until the very end. Really dug it in all its stripped back glory.
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED - this book of short stories by Tim O’Brien all about his experience in the Vietnam War are fascinating and wild. They’re written in a very conversational style, they flow and distract themselves, recursively making points, like someone at the bar telling you all about it. They’re also thoughtful not just about the stories, or what they mean, but also *how* we tell these stories. It’s really bloody good stuff, quick to read, every short has a line or a moment that kinda floors you in its simple eloquence.
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Be one of the good guys, because there's way too many of the bad.
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POST CREDITS SEQUENCE
I want to write more graphic novels.
Just sit down and will 60-80 page scripts into existence.
I feel this might be a 2022 goal. Maybe. If nothing else is picked up in the miniseries space, then some small OGNs are definitely on the cards for me.
Maybe even, and if I could pull this off it’ll be a victory: more Deer Editor.
Ah, the heart sings songs of hope eternally.