:double drool:
Title Page illustration by the illustrious(literally) Scott A. Keating.
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:drool:
Page from Mineshaft II from Western Tales of Terror #5 in Previews Now!
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i got hit by a car today.
a car pulled into an intersection as i was crosssing and didn't stopbefore the white line, so it like tapped me and i jumped out of the way, and my foot hit a pot hole and i tumbled. skinned the fuck out of my knee and landed hard on my wrist. someone like helped me across the street, and the car drove off before i get his license.
it's a good thing i don't have health insurance.
New First Impressions
Up at www.brokenfrontier.com.
I’ve spent the past three months living as a professional writer. No day job to suck up my time, no pointless tasks to sidetrack me. And yet, here I am, just as exhausted, clocking just as many hours and running from place to place trying to keep up. Making comics is a business, no matter what my annual salary might tell you. It’s constantly trying to juggle the creative juices with the business necessities that keep you going. Having a great support staff (which thank god, I do) helps, but, at the end of the day, I’m still the one making the decisions and juggling the bulk of the work.
Newsarama on WToT
http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=912823
Western Tales of Terror #1-3 From: Hoarse and Buggy Productions Visit: www.westerntalesofterror.com Writers and Artists: Various Review by Troy BrownfieldI�ve previously mentioned that I enjoy a good anthology title, and this is a good anthology title. Blending classic Western tropes with horror twists, these issues deliver short effective bursts of story. High profile creators like Steve Niles, Phil Hester and Ryan Ottley rub shoulders with journeymen and rookies for an average of six tales an issue.
While some fans might find the overall premise confining, the actual styles and approaches for the stories are quite broad. There�s a lot of variety in the art, and the writing tones shift from dour to humorous in the space of a few pages. As a reviewer who sees a lot of similar material, it�s gratifying to see a group of talented creators try something that�s very different.
Hoarse and Buggy seem to be one of those little companies on the verge. They also produce the excellent Elk�s Run, and they�ve grabbed notice from Entertainment Weekly and Variety. Even with a small base, they prove the adage that quality gets noticed.
"Proving the adage that quality gets noticed." sounds like it should be our tagline, doesn't it?
Josh Saw High Tension
What a fucking shame. The first twenty minutes are terrible, but it really picks up and turns into a great 70's style exploitation horror movie. And then, it hits the ending. It makes no sense, isn't explained, and is literally so bad it ruins the movie.
Wow. Recommended if for the sole reason of learning how NOT to write an ending.
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Creative Roll
I've gotten more done in the past two or three days then I have in about 6 months. I've just been plowing through scripts and getting things set up. It's a helluva good feeling.
Plus, I've been rewatching The Shield on DVD, and it rocks my goddamn world.
This week, I'm the Vic Mackey of Comic Book Writing.
Newsarama On Elk’s Run
Elk�s Run #1 and #2 From: Horse and Buggy Productions (www.horseandbuggy.com) Writer: Joshua Hale Fialkov Art: Noel Tuazon Colors: Scott A. Keating Review by Troy BrownfieldOne would think that for a book to get ink in Entertainment Weekly, it would either have to be very high profile or extremely well-done. Elk�s Run falls into the latter category, a work of narrative nerve and mounting paranoia that enthralls as it mystifies. The first two issues provide excellent set-up and characterization, basically daring the reader to come back for the next twist.
Our first two issues here employ two separate narrative voices, one a young man, and the other his veteran father. They live in Elk�s Run, a West Virginia community that has severed ties with the outside world. One gets a sense of possible reasons for this self-imposed exile, but the whole story unfolds on its own terms at a mannered, yet terrifically readable, pace.
Tuazon�s art is both spare and expressive; he allows shadows to do their own suggestions, but he also has a solid command of faces. I�m reminded a bit of some classic E.C. work, where something vaguely sinister is always lurking at the outer edge of the visible panel. Keating�s coloring is excellent as well, adding to the mood with subtly chosen shades.
Like The Surrogates, this is a book that you want to recommend without explaining too much. I have a feeling that this series will inspire Lost-like discussions of the whys and hows of motivations and plots. That�s a good thing. Even better than a comic that�s a great read is a comic that inspires you to have real conversations about its intent
Grillin’
Google’s Quote of the Day
A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices. - Edward R. Murrow
The Genuine Article
This week's BF column went up, here's the first paragraph, and then click the link for the rest.
This past week, I had one of the most surprising things in my short career happen. I woke up to a stack of e-mails NOT advertising “Viagara.” Well, those were there as well, but, in addition to those was a about twenty or thirty “Congratulations!” e-mails. I’m usually pretty up on why people are congratulating me, but this time I was baffled. It turned out Elk’s Run was in last week’s Entertainment Weekly, and we got an “A.”
My Buddies At Meltdown Comics…
Meltdown are quite possibly the country's top-sellers of my books, they go through a ginormous stack of 'em every month, I can barely keep up with their reorders. They've been very good to H&B, and now, they want to be really good to you. Check em out.
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If you want to see two of the coolest cats in comics going crazy (damn I'm an alliterating fool) check 'em out tomorrow night. Free Beer, too, I hear. Go to www.meltcomics.com for more info.
Weekly Fortune Cookie
Homicide: Life on the Street Season 1&2
While doing research for the new book, someone recommended I go back and spend some time with Homicide. I've seen episodes here and there, but never really got into it (it was on during my 'no interest in TV' phase.) Anyways, I gotta say, this is far and away the best cop show I've ever seen. It's 10x the show that NYPD Blue could ever hope to be, and it even manages to edge out The Shield and Hill Street Blues, which are each the best of their era. The show manages to be both irreverant and poignant, the acting is stellar, and the structure is just... breath taking. The best of it all tho, is the "Three Men and Adena." It's the climax of one of the main throughlines of the first season, and it comes down to two detectives who hate each other having one last chance to break the man responsible for the major murder they're following. It's a full hour of nothing but interogation and it's positively mesmerizing. It's the perfect example of how doing things by the book and formulaic might be safe, but it's not art. This is a work of art.
If you're a fan of Bendis' Powers or Brubaker and Rucka's Gotham Central, you owe it to yourself to check these DVD's out.
Elk’s Run in Entertainment Weekly!
Click Here For Full SizeRITUAL HOMICIDE– Teaser
Click here for Full SizeSorry for the no post
I blew out my shoulder last week, and typing is a huge pain in the ass, so I have to limit it to deadline oriented work only. It's almost all healed up, so, y'know, back and regular soon.