The Azure Arachnid on Amazon

by D. on 7 September, 2017 at 03:14

Took a break from working to suffer a vertigo attack.  Unable to sit upright, I decided it was my duty to lie back and binge-watch The Tick (on Amazon Prime). I don’t recommend doing this in particular – vertigo is especially unpleasant.

The new live action version of The Tick is good, but different from what most fans are accustomed. It is edgier, darker, and (in this way) more like the original comic than either of the previous TV shows. Unlike the comic (except for three stories in the anthology “Heroes of The City”), the series is largely shown through the lens of Arthur (Griffin Newman). Instead of being a guy who takes a leap of courage into the enviable world of superheroes, this version of Arthur is knocked on the head and dragged kicking and screaming by the big blue balled up fists of destiny’s agent The Tick.

Honestly, Peter Serafinowicz (The Tick) would not have been on my list for the role. He is a good comedic talent, but the grandiose, ridiculous, and completely serious personality of The Tick is a hard mix. That said, he does a good job and grows on the viewer as the series progresses. The costume is a bit more armor-looking than fans will think it should be – more apparently a suit than the guy. But, this is a version of The Tick that can punch a guy who uses knives to stab The Terror’s henchmen.

Let that sink in for a moment.

The Tick punches a guy through a wall. That hasn’t happened since the comic. Punching was forbidden in the animated series, and the Patrick Warburton version was trying too hard to be Seinfeld for Superheroes. Though he does say of Overkill (Scott Speiser), “[his] methods are a little bit murderey.”

Every new (TV) incarnation of The Tick brings with it a new set of supporting characters. It has to do with intellectual property ownership. In addition to Overkill and his – er, roommate? – Dangerboat (Alan Tudyk), Amazon’s supporting characters are excellent. Jackie Earle Haley, who I adore as Rorschach, continues to impress as The Terror. He is aided by good writing like, “You were evil incarnate! Act like it!” Like Captain Liberty, Yara Martinez’s character “Ms. Lint” picks at conventional thinking of female stereotypes in superhero fiction. Not totally, because she is missing an eye, so of course she’s a villain.

I liked what I’ve seen so far. Though an abstract analogy and not a simile, about episode 4 or 5 I noted that it’s like “Gotham for Adam West’s Batman.”

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FPS – Working from 5 to 9

by D. on 25 August, 2017 at 03:43

When I’ve discussed the prospect of Flying Pirate Ships! in the past, I’ve always thought it would take 5 Graphic Novels to tell the tale of Nathaniel Corbett and his crew of privateers. There’s a few characters besides Nate and his nemesis, plus a whole world to explore, so I figured, “eh, maybe 7 Books.”

Spoiler alert.

(Not really)

“FPS!” is set on a foreign planet in the romanticized past – space travel in the Victorian era. So it shouldn’t come as a shock to learn that the story must end before reaching modern times. Every character would be dead of old age before 1980 (pirates just don’t live to be 120).

But, for me it is unusual to have such an ending planned from the start.

To be sure I hit the points and set up the ending appropriately, I needed to plot out the entire series in advance. I sat down for about a week’s worth of evenings and early mornings and planned out how the tale would flow over the volumes it required.

I needed an introduction to cover the departure from real Earth history. I figured a page would do it. Trying to get a few hooks in, that story took on a life of its own and became an entire alternate history book. The first line of the first summary:

In the confederate south, John Rebb discovers a repellent rock and launches an expedition to Minerva.

That one sentence describes 32 pages of story. Or, I could probably do it in one really tight panel – but that feels like compressing the story.

I blew through a fifth book’s worth of story hardly slowing down, and realized I was only about half way through the tale. I hit the end of book 7 and  needed a whole book for the ending.  I had written the words “volume break could happen here” in the middle of book three.

And, just like that, Flying Pirate Ships! is a nine volume series.

I could probably add another two books – but that feels like padding.

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FPS – Soundtrack

by D. on 23 August, 2017 at 12:00

One of the first things I do when I start writing is put some inspirational music on loop.

This music isn’t always in a style you would associate with the subject matter. I wrote The Incubus Gambit largely to the soundtrack from the video game series “Halo.” I didn’t play much Halo, but I like the music, and it helped summon a picture of the bucolic naturalist colony “Tarnkappe”.

My taste in music ranges from whatever strikes me at the moment to whatever strokes me at the moment with a side of “They Might be Giants.” (No, seriously. Not just Istanbul, but Mammal and The Statue Got Me High.) I have play lists the include Tchaikovsky, Eminem, Mila Jovovich, The Beatles, Dropkick Murphys, Indigo Girls, Jonathon Coulton, Linkin Park, Imagine Dragons, and Meghan Trainor… I’d go on but I have a 500 word limit on these kinds of things.

A bare and honest truth… music rips me apart.

There’s no telling what might happen when I put on a song. I can’t listen to U2’s Beautiful Day without being transported back to Autumn of 2001 and all the anger I had at the world. Justin Timberlake’s Can’t Stop the Feeling makes me happier than Peter Griffin covering Pharrell. I sob to Malukah’s haunting voice, but I can’t stop listening to her. The theme from Guild Wars (a game I’ve never even loaded) puts me in a desperate place trying to survive long enough to see the dawn, pushing forward with nothing but faith that the ground will meet my feet, or blasting away at endless throngs of Orky battlemeks until another chapter of Legiones Astartes can arrive – yeah more than one story has this kind of scene (and not necessarily these examples because my 40k army is Orks).

Inspirational music is not something I can look for. I have to find it in the place it brings me to.

As the logo implies, this rambling thought is about Flying Pirate Ships! So here’s an early share about this series: I can’t not think of the pirate ship Britannia when I hear the Silverbird themes in Two Steps from Hell’s album “Battlecry.”

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Podcast appearance

by D. on 3 July, 2017 at 14:37

Last Sunday, I was interviewed for the Four Guys and a Comic Book Podcast. They edited it, reducing my natural stammer and overall making me sound like I knew what I was talking about. Obviously I’m promoting my segment, but if you are a fan of comics, these guys really do a good podcast. (I really have been listening to it for a few months now.)

Naturally I wanted to stay on topic about the Bright Future novels and short stories, but they got me talking about the business of writing and upcoming projects–not that it’s difficult to do.

There is one edit that seems to have dropped the words “and I have another project.” Whether that was unintelligible or my mic dropped it, the edit makes it sound like I’m still talking about Flying Pirate Ships! instead of the thing I’m tentatively calling “The Dragon.” Yes, in addition to last week’s new Lisa strip, we are working on new comic titles. Don’t get super excited; they might be a way’s off, yet, but they will happen.

It’s About Time (Wonder Woman)

by D. on 3 June, 2017 at 00:46

While this was screened for select audiences two days ago, we didn’t get an invite, so this counts as an opening day review for Wonder Woman.

See it in the theatre, but don’t worry about rushing out this weekend if you are having non-elective surgery. By all accounts, Wonder Woman will be showing for a while.

With strength rivaling a kyptonian, investigative powers of Batman (the world’s greatest detective), and legitimate magic items, Wonder Woman is probably the second most powerful underrated character in the DC Universe (the Flash is first). She has obvious appeal across several demographics and epitomizes the inclusiveness of “geek culture.” Despite this, Warner Brothers has seemed reluctant to give her the same chance as Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Flash, the Gotham City Police Department, 7 supporting characters, Suicide Squad, and Supergirl. Except for a cameo in Cash Cow Boys Fighting, Wonder Woman hasn’t made a live action appearance since 1979. As I have a Wonder Woman maquette in my office, I was concerned for the treatment that Diana would receive in this movie.

I would love to say DC completely redeemed their previous position on female characters. They made a damn good try. Overall the film was good, with decently and realistically motivated characters, but questionable cinematography.

Gal Gadot does an excellent job portraying the rebellious Amazonian princess, the fish out of water baffled by “outsider” society, and the ass-kicking demigod fighting her greatest foe. As her foil, Chris Pine’s talent for portraying egocentricity was well used to comedic effect.

The story hit the appropriate notes of transition, but was dinged by a concession to the Hollywood standard for female characters, and it was completely unnecessary. At the climax of the film, Diana is only empowered to defeat Ares after she has a flashback and realizes that the man she’s know for a week said, “I love you.” Because you know the woman who can lift a 38 ton tank can only have drawn her strength from a man. There was a deeper meaning. She was choosing to save the war-engulfed outside world because it could also produce love, but that moment diminished her.

Cinematography was in line with Executive Producer Zack Snyder’s way of doing things: sweep the camera across the action to show movement, rather than on the action to show what’s happening; switch to slow motion for several beautiful stills, then drop the camera down the stairs to make sure no one sees the hit.

Going in, I did not know that Wonder Woman directed by Patty Jenkins. First female directed film with a budget over $100 million.  Cool, I hope the movie is as successful as it warrants so we can have more of that equality. But please, get out from an executive producer who thinks a hamster ball is an appropriate camera mount. Shaky isn’t exciting, it’s just shaky. The costume department did great work, we should get to see more than her shin guards when she’s throwing a punch.

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