Big, dumb, fight comics

Cleaning out old files and such today, I ran across an email I wrote to Melissa nearly three years ago. Dave Land, my editor at Dark Horse, had just asked me to work up Gear School as a story pitch and I was casting around for a way to tell the story. The pertinent (non-mushy) part of the email follows:

So over yesterday and today I read this collection called Global Frequency written by Warren Ellis (probably my favorite guy writing comics today). GF is very often a big, dumb, fight comic, which is the same way I've described Gear School to you -- the stories [in GF] are also, more often than not, a Race Against Time. Very simple, self-contained things that always resolve and center around the action and not around the characters. So, why is it I found myself nearly crying on the street today as I finished up the last issue?

Ellis is using the framework in a really interesting way. The structure of each issue is a given: "There is an immediate, time-specific threat that must be eliminated." And on that he can hang whatever other elements he wants. And he wants to hang a lot of other elements. He's coming from a pure pulp angle, too. The story is the king, characters function to serve the story, but the glimpses we get of those characters are always interesting and intense and, like today, poignant.

I'm bring this all up because I'm thinking of the structure of Gear School. Yes, I want to make it fun and big and I want giant robots smashing each other to bits, but I also want someone out there to get a catch in their throats while reading it. I want there to be something just beneath the surface that resonates with the kids who will (hopefully) be reading it.

I still think everything I wrote about Global Frequency and Warren Ellis is true. What I'm not so sure about is how well I hit the target with Gear School.

It all falls into place....

The folks at Darkhorse.com (mostly Mike Denning and Matt Parkinson, I believe) have been very good to Gear School. There's the Gear School blog, of course, but there's also a many-page preview of the volume, ten desktop images that are very swanky, and now some electronic jig-saw puzzles! These little numbers are pretty cool and helped me while away a good fifteen-or-so minutes at work the other day.

All in an effort to promote my wee book.

Thanks, DH.com folks!

Go Team 100 Girls!

Two bits of good news, vis, 100 Girls in the last couple of days. Yesterday I received the proof of the cover design from Simon and Schuster. It looks beautiful. Whoever designed it did a terrific job. I'm not throwing up a scan of it because I'm not sure if that's allowed, but as soon as I have the go-ahead, I'll make it available for all to behold.

Second: At the end of last year's Comic Con in San Diego, Todd and I decided we'd like to get a table at this year's show. This involved me filling out an application, standing in line for several hours, and handing over a deposit check. After all of that, I was told that it would most likely by April before we heard if we got a table. This is apparently not true. Today I got an email saying that we'd been confirmed for a table in the Small Press Pavilion. Super!

Prior to this, I had been assuming that we wouldn't get a table and so I haven't been planning for the show (which, at six months away, now feels like it's rushing at us). Now that it's a reality, I am totally flipping out trying to figure out what to take with me and what preparations I need to make. I've already made hotel reservations, but Melissa and I need to decide soon if she's going, too -- which would mean that the Sprout would come along and that we'd drive -- or if I'll go by myself -- which means I'll fly.

Gah! I have too much to do. What am I doing spending time on this blog?!

"Self-involved" doesn't quite capture it all

I assume that the Internets are full of amateur etymologists.

I need a word that means "The act of an author compulsively checking the sales rankings of his works on Amazon.com."

Don't let me down my cyber brethren!

And just so you know, Star Wars is doing pretty well, Gear School not so much.

Your new favorite band

I ran across this time-waster meme at my buddy Greg's blog. Credit where it's due: he found it on Sara Ryan's blog. Anyway, here's my effort:



I picture Silver (EP) as an emo band, but still, you know, peppy.

Here's how to generate your own:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

The Thermals

I mentioned before on this blog, and not too long ago, about how my paying attention to music is only a recent phenomenon. Prior to this, I just listened to whatever was on the radio and bought a lot of albums based on what got played there. Now I almost never listen to music on the radio, I get all my recommendations for new music from friends, and am much happier about what I listen to. I never just discover music.

Case in point: A few years ago, my friend Lani gave me an excellent CD anthology, House Full of Friends from Magic Marker records. All of the bands on the collection played house shows at the home of the Magic Marker Records' founders in Portland, Oregon. And if you wonder about the state of indie music in Portland, you could do worse than to give the set a listen. Ever since Lani gave me the disks, it's been a source of Good Things to Listen to; I discovered Eux Autres, The Shins, and Mates of State there.

And now The Thermals. A three-piece post-pop-punk band from Portland made up of singer/songwriter/guitarist Hutch Harris, bassist Kathy Foster and drummer Lorin Coleman, The Thermals are currently the only band to which I'm listening (their site also has several videos which I watch fairly compulsively). It's everything I feel Pop Music should be: stripped down, catchy, and angry. Angry in the way that only rock and roll can be. The band describes the sound of their first album, 2003's More Parts Per Million as "no-fi." That's pretty accurate and in no way should you be turned off by the label. Each successive record, 2004's Fuckin A and 2006's The Body, the Blood, the Machine, has been more and more polished. But they're still a long way from the over-produced and lifeless recordings that garner radio play.

It makes me sad to know that The Thermals were active in Portland for at least a year before I left town and I never got to hear them. I'm making up for lost time now, I suppose.

Ravenclawz 4evah!

This lived on my myspace profile for a while and now I want it to go away. I am geeky enough, however, that I want to keep a semi-permanent record of it. Thus its inclusion here.


Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

Don't judge me.