Tonight I was “Tweeterviewed” by Agent X, otherwise known as comic artist Scott Hampson. As the name would imply, a Tweeterview is an interview that occurs via Twitter, but is logged and published as a self-contained series of Tweets that read like a normal interview.
We talked a little bit about my background, a little about Moon Town, and a little bit about WishTales. The complete text is here.
The latest edition of the Steve Ogden Braincast is up online. In this episode, “Delaying Tactics”, I talk about my story process and why I believe too much preproduction is a delaying tactic that can prevent you from creating Your Thing. Music by Tim Larkin.
This is a fun little advert celebrating Cabury Dairy’s fairtrade certification in the UK and Ireland. Get that song stuck in your head… 
As you may know, I will be drawing the episode of Brock Heasley’s SuperFogeys Origins dealing with the origin of Thrice Evil. He’s posted the second sneak preview of my sketches for that project, which I will be working on as soon as Moon Town #1 is finished (just a couple of weeks now). HINT: scroll down below Marc Lapierre’s current excellent SFO strip… that’s where you’ll find the preview.
Justin Leach and his talented team of cohorts – Andrew Kilian on pencils and inks and Omi Remalante Jr. on colors – have released the first issue of Majestic XII. This tale chronicles the adventures of 12 superheroes whose origin echoes back in time to a specific, mysterious event we all know very well. (Aw, come on. I’m not telling you which one! You gotta read the thing for that…) The comic does a great job of interweaving the characters’ past alongside their future, reminding us of their deep histories. Putting it mildly, this superhero team has issues. But if an ensemble cast is a family (as it should be played) then a dysfunctional family is practically the law.
X-Men and Watchmen fans will find familiar territory here.
Leach’s team is young and without a tremendous amount of experience so far, and there is some evidence of that in this book as the guys warm to their Art. There is an Art to exaggerating anatomy while still maintaining believability. There is an art to allowing the color to accent the overall mood of a piece. And there is an art to juggling so many character plotlines – not to mention a detail-rich, sweeping mythology – without allowing the reader to be overwhelmed by it all.
Leach’s team has its hands full, no doubt. But they also demonstrate two things I value: potential and a do-it-yourself spirit. I applaud Leach’s gumption to get this book done and get it out there. It is much easier to sit on the sidelines than to get in the game, and he certainly gets points for jumping into the fray. And the book is ambitious. Drawing 12 superheroes would drive most artists nuts – I certainly wouldn’t want to do it – but these guys just got on with it. Well done.
I’ll be watching this team’s progress.
Majestic XII is available at IndyPlanet.
Two fun bits of science news… first, a great shot of the Earth from the point of view of the European Space Agency’s Rosetta comet hunting spaceship as it left orbit in pursuit of comets. See more at WIRED.
Second – the probe we smashed into the moon last month has yielded intersting data. We went there looking for water, and we found a bunch of it! “Significant amounts” is the term being used by scientists. More info at BBC News.
I know. You want your Moon Town. Thankfully you’re a patient bunch. But I wanted you to get a tiny glimpse into what is going on outside of Moon Town, so you’ll understand when I say it will be just a little bit longer.
As you know, I just finished up Payload. And you probably know we just launched our new publishing venture WishTales. You didn’t know that I have a little advertainment work to do, as well as a really nice set of animations to do for a piece of computer based training (see above). Right, two jobs in the same month after months of nothing. It never rains, but it pours.
OK, I agree with you. I have way too much going on right now. Way too much. But, come on – a robot cat, playing with an orange like a ball of yarn in the open cargo bay of a spaceship orbiting Mars… how do you say no to that? You don’t. You put your big boy pants on, you say “sleep ain’t the boss of me” and you go animate til yer eyes bleed.
And so I have, and so I shall continue til it’s done.
I can’t name these projects or show you any more about them than this, though I promise to share them with you when I’m allowed. But consider this: the one with the cat consists of 28 animations ranging from 15-60 seconds long. Yes, it keeps me from my precious Moon Town, but let’s just say it keeps me off the streets at night.
OK. Back to it.
After much secrecy and sneaking around, I’m excited today to announce Wishtales Publishing Studio! What is Wishtales you ask? This pretty well sums it up:
Once upon a time, the path for an aspiring artist/creator was clear: Get an agent. Get a publisher. Get that comic of yours syndicated. Go for the Big Time.
We are all awakening to a publishing reality that looks very different. That path may be changing. It may have completely gone away.
Agents are swamped with wannabes. Big publishers are too large and too conservative to take chances on anything. And syndicates make an increasingly small living by keeping the newspaper comics section exactly as it is today. Basically, the publishing structure exists to say “NO”.” NO” to new ideas. “NO” to new creatives. “NO” to anything that looks like a chance, anything that hasn’t been tried before, anything that isn’t a sequel or a sequel to a sequel to a spinoff.
In short, we didn’t want to start a publishing company; They made us do it. We’re putting our money where out mouths are. If no one wanted to take a chance on us, OK. We’ll do it. If no one wanted to let us choose non-standard formats for our books, OK. We’ll do it. We’re taking a chance on us, and if it works out, who knows? Maybe one day we’ll take a chance on you. Somebody has to do it.
- Tom Dell’Aringa and Steve Ogden
Yes, this is a joint venture between me and my good buddy Tom Dell’Aringa. We’re tired of trying to play corporate games and trying to fit into a mold that is constricting and limiting. We’re going to forge our own path. The first step along that path is Tom’s Marooned book, Out of Orbit, which will be a Wishtales imprint. We’re just getting started, but there’s some interested posts over there already. We’re looking forward to publishing a Moon Town book as well, and we’ve got lots more ideas cooking in the pot. So head over to Wishtales and take a look, and let us know what you think!
It’s been a long time coming, but my six-page story for Tom Dell’Aringa’s Marooned book is finally done and off tothe printers. Tom demonstrated patience beyond belief as I dragged this project out over the summer and into the fall while I took care of various other things that came up. But he had faith in me getting it done, and I’m sure he’s relieved now that he can stop holding his breath and get his book out the door! And just in time for Christmas pressies, eh? Perhaps someone you know would like a copy of this fine book? There’s a ton of extras…
See more about it HERE. And now I’m going to go celebrate. Cheers!
Oh, wait… there’s more. Rebecca Dart. Great stuff at her blog. I dig Drom the Squat. Not a straight line in sight.
It’s so great to see her personal work, but soul-destroying to know that during her workaday life, she works for a crappy animation mill. I don’t know if she gets frustrated with her day job, but it looks like she gets plenty of self-expression on her off hours. Great lines, great shapes, great design. Yowza.
