August 2007 Archives

Baby steps, you guys. Baby steps.

In between this week's pages of Templar, I've been playing a new game, Overlord. It's fun, because you play as the new Evil Overlord in town, and rebuild your predecessor's tower that was ransacked by heroes after his defeat. You also get to beat on hobbits and elves, raid and subjugate a village, kidnap servant girls for your tower, do a little interior decorating, and coordinate groups of impish minions, which is neat. I recently acquired a mistress, even, although I don't like her much. She's sorta bitchy. She snorts at me derisively. I can hear her doing it.

Why would she do that? That's not very smart. I'm huge. I've got an axe. My eyes are glowing. And I've killed so many of the village women that my jester's been calling me "Wenchbane."

But anyway.

My only real complaint is the rigidity of the plot. I mean, it's practically an undercover puzzle game, in a "Lemmings" sort of way: use the waterproof minions to get this, use the fire-starting minions to trigger that, etcetera. In a perfect world, I could just scourge the countryside in an open-ended free-for-all and knit together an empire, Civilization style. An evil one. Hell, in the perfect game, I wouldn't even be an Overlord, just a god.

I'm probably the only person on Earth convinced the Black & White series would have been ten times better without the plot and the Titans; They just got in the way of me flinging my screeching worshipers into the ocean like skipping stones. That's really all I need in a game. Absolute power and the freedom to be a force of unstoppable malevolence.

...

You guys have seen my Sims 2 comics, right?

Sleep well, precious angel.

I drew and colored this while (re)watching "Howl's Moving Castle." (You wanna see it? It's here.) I'd seen it subbed, but frankly, I had an easier time making sense of it dubbed. And Billy Crystal makes for a pretty good fire demon.

That swishing sound you hear is the anime diehards in the audience turning their collective backs on me.

In an attempt to redeem myself, I'll admit that this blog update was temporarily delayed by another anime, a series called "Galaxy Express 999," which you can find here. (Not to be confused with "Midnight on the Galactic Railroad," which is also animated, strange, incredible, and required viewing.) And Galaxy Express wins the Golden WHAT Award for the evening. no contest.

An old-school anime that debuted a couple of months before I was born, Galaxy Express is about a flying interplanetary railroad system, populated by mid-century-looking steam engines. (Yeah. I know. Just go with it.) It makes stopovers at all known planets in the galaxy, which means by definition that it is not an express train at all, but whatever.

The series opens with the story of a city where it's common for the wealthy to have cyborg bodies that allow them to live in perfect comfort for up to 2,000 years, but the poor are banished to dilapidated subterranean ghettos. These poor dream and speak of a possibly-real, faraway planet at the end if the Galaxy Express 999 line, where cyborg bodies are free to whoever wants one. Believers congregate in the city, and labor their comparatively brief lives away to earn the outrageous fee required for a ticket on the Galaxy Express.

Tetsuro is one such impoverished dreamer. On his way to the city, his mother is shot for sport by cyborgs on horseback, just because. Fortunately, he was being eavesdropped on by a mysterious, willowy blonde, who rescues him and hands over a free lifetime pass for the space-train. Just because. She demands to come with him, though... Just because. But first, they have to kill a bunch of cyborgs for trying to stuff and mount Tetsuro's mom.

Hoo boy.

This series is a bit elderly, and it shows in the character design, which precedes the stylistic homogenization of most mainstream anime, and the animation, which is pretty choppy by anyone's standards. Still worth a look, though. There are 19 episodes to get through, I've got it bookmarked. Gotta watch this streaming stuff fast, y'never know how long it's gonna be online.

And hey, before I letcha go: there was some confusion about a previous blog post i made about book shipping. NOT ALL THE BOOKS HAVE SHIPPED.

- If you made a $15.00, signature-only order before a week ago, and there was no problem with the order, you SHOULD have your book.

- If you made a $15.00, signature-only order before a week ago, and there was a problem with the order, I have emailed you. If you emailed me back, your book should go out this week.

- If you made a $25.00, sketch order, some of you may have your books by now, but most of you don't. I'm doing those now.

If you made a $50.00, commission order, You should NOT have your book. Those are all only sketches.

If you haven't received your book and should have, email me. I've had a few returned to me.

Seriously. Anglicized Hungarian/Austrian (just as likely to be bastardized into Fish or Bas), or straight-shot Belorussian. Some people have all the luck, huh?

So, Screaming Guy's got a name. And a few issues, from the sound of things. Stay tuned.

I did most of this page while watching episodes of "Tribe," a BBC2 series featuring a self-described "explorer and expedition leader" living amongst remote and traditional indigenous tribes for a month at a time and trying to fit in and survive as they do, to the best of his abilities. You can watch online; I found links to the eps here. My favorites so far have been the Suri (Horn of Africa: Lip plates, stick-fighting, cow-blood-drinking) and the Kombai (New Guinea: Penis gourds, war canoes, ritual cannibalism of enemies to this very fucking day).

What's nice about Tribe is the lengths it goes to to humanize the people being filmed. There's no cool, National Geographic-style detachment, which is something I think we've all just come to expect in documentary anthropological cinematography. I never realized how much depth translated chatter and jokes could add to a show about alien cultures; individual, candid comments from the locals are translated just as often as probing interviews are conducted, which blesses the families being filmed with tons of personality you might otherwise miss. (Apparently, being a huge ham is an inborn trait, whether or not you've ever seen a camera before.) and unusually, the cultural exchanges often go both ways; One of my favorite scenes thus far was a Kombai, after feeding the host palm grubs and sago starch, being totally and visibly grossed out by raisins. It's nice to know we can all find one another equally disgusting.

So anyway, yeah. Give it a look. I really dig it.

Back to work...

Ben's not too good at keeping his composure. Not when he's scared, not when he's impressed... not ever. Being too green'll do that to ya.

In other news, I have a new convention to add to the roster. And while I shelled out for a piece of a table with friends and intend on trying to sell, this one is sort of scary.

One, it's inaugural. First one of these ever, so God only knows how much might go wrong. Still, the same guys organizing this do New York Comic Con, so they can't exactly be clueless.

Two, it's in New York. $$$. I'm just hoping I don't take a bath, at this point. The hotel alone means we're not comfortable running this with any less than four to a room.

And third? Anime festival. Anime. I don't know what the hell you'd call my style, but it ain't that. I mention again that my anime-con-attending fellow comic types assure me that I'll do fine at manga/anime shows, but having seen more than one fan-kiddie snarl "This isn't manga! It's KOREAN!!" before slamming a trade back on an exhibitor's shelf, I have my doubts.

I have a few cons coming up in the fall that should be easy earners, and it would be great if Diamond would come through on a distribution deal. I just hope I don't lose every dime I make in New York.

You know what you need to do?

You need to get a nice Russet potato, and stab it all over with a fork so it's full of holes. Then, you need to coat it in a thin layer of olive oil, and sprinkle on some kosher salt.

While that's baking at 350 degrees for about an hour (or until squeezable), sitting directly on the rack, you need to get a peeled, sliced-up banana and a heaping handful of blueberries out of the freezer... you do keep a few smoothie-friendly fruits in the freezer, don't you?... and toss 'em in the blender with a cup of water, and liquefy that until it's drinkable and a radioactive shade of purple-blue. Then, when the potato's done, you need to slice it open lengthwise, mash up the insides, sprinkle on some more kosher salt and paprika and onion powder and black pepper, and top it off with a few spoonfuls of plain yogurt.

Mix it up, so the yogurt gets all liquid-y.

And then, you need to EAT. Oh, yeah.

....

Anyway, this is that update I've been promising you guys. The long one.

Last weekend was Wizard World Chicago, which was the best con I've ever had a table at, hands down. I had a lot of visitors, I sold a lot of books, and most strangely of all, I got a lot of work done. I'm not really a con report sort of person, because I'm skeptical as to how interesting those things are to people who never went. But I'll post a few links to some people I met, caught up with, and so forth.

Becca, for example, sat to my right, and spent the con drawing commissions! (I got a chance to be helpful when someone commissioned a portrait of their Draenei from World of Warcraft, but provided a black-and-white printout for Becca to work from; she didn't know Draenei were blue.) Sarah and Corrine sat to my left; I already mentioned them, right?

I was also kept company by Peter G., a game programmer who commissioned a portrait of the heroine of Diner Dash. Very unusual subject matter, but it actually came out really nice.

SEND ME A SCAN, PETE!

Several rows over were BMAN and Alisa, selling prints and copies of BMAN's graphic novel Soul Chaser Betty (Which you can read for free over on WCN. Updates every weekday. Hint hint.) Directly behind me (or was I behind her?) was Ashley Woods, who handed me an extremely slick copy of her first comic in exchange for one of mine, and had her mom with her for go-fer duties and table babysitting. That is just... crazy supportive.

Lynn Lau came by, bought a book, and turned me on to Hugo & Bana, her comic on WCN. (Which is only the merest fraction of her repertoire, by the way.) And a lot of other people visited besides, saying they knew about my comic already and just wanted a book, which gave me big ol' butterflies. Thanks, everyone.

In non-con news, unless there was weirdness associated with the order, ALL of the original (and new!) $15.00 Templar orders are out the door, and the commission orders start heading out next week.I'd like to get all of the orders done by the time the second chapter and intermission wind up, so I can do a fresh pre-order with some amount of decency. Thanks for your patience, guys.

I wouldn't exactly call him "complex," But he's probably less simple than y'might think. Not secretly intelligent at all, mind you. Just not simple.

I'll make a nice, big post on Saturday, promise. But now, My dog is kind of giving me these big "Why did you let them cut off my testicles this morning?" eyes, and he needs cuddling. Cuddling and another dose of bitter apple spray on the stitches.

Gasp! They all already KNOW each other!

I'm obviously this close to having Ben tear out of his apartment one morning, clenching a piece of toast between his teeth and screaming about being late for school.

Shriek.

Anyway, excuse any hiccups in the blog and on the ironcircus.com domain and general, for the next few days. Some code-related nonsense is transpiring behind-the-scenes, along with a little surface work. Be patient with me.

My goal this weekend is to answer my email, mail out all my remaining non-commission Templar orders, plug a few dudes that need plugging, and babble aimlessly about Wizard World Chicago. Remind me if I forget!

I'm willing to bet you already suspect.

Busy busy busy! More comics Wednesday.

Never have a stroke in front of Scip. He'll dither nervously for half an hour while you die on the floor in front of him.

Most of this page was inked at my table at Wizard World Chicago ( number 3808 B in Artist's Alley, drop on by!), and I'm pleased to report that, as of 2:00 PM Friday afternoon, the table is paid for. This con business? Officially and fiscally worth my time. Preview Night was desperately slow, but things improved a lot when they began letting people other than exhibitors in. Guess I should have figured that out for myself. Duh.

I'm sitting next to Short Pants Press' Sarah, who was kind enough to mention me on Chicagoist during a recent interview. Maybe y'saw her on CNN. too? She's hot shit, I will have you know, especially since she's responsible for the Ignatz-nominated Ouija Interviews, which I can personally recommend as freaking awesome.

Anyway, more con tomorrow, and hopefully fresh vote sketches, too. No time today, I'm afraid.

And he's not the last, either. Awful, isn't it?

Okay, not much to say again this update, since I have to get ready to take off this afternoon and set up my booth at Wizard World Chicago. According to a list I was sent last week, my (half) table in Artist's Alley is 3808 B.

There will be people I know at the con, but this'll be the first one where I'm not flanked by at least one or two friends; My usual con partners opted for an anime con being held the same weekend this year instead. So, I expect to be quietly lonely and terrified for the majority of the show. Please come see me, okay? I'm easy to find. I'm small and brown and I have a big banner and I'll probably be drawing some commissions.

This update's votes sketches are also nothing to get excited about. So stop it. Right now.

Sort of. New page, and new vote sketches.

The vote sketches are part of what utterly consumed me last week, some Comic Con fallout for a proposal.

Some of you, especially if you know what a "Girlamatic" is, might get a little excited. Don't get excited. Nothing's happening yet. If something happens, you'll know. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just dig on the sketches. You're not missing anything.

Gotta go!

If by "good ol' days," we're talking about back when I updated a lot less frequently.

New page. And, unfortunately, one of two updates this week instead of three. If things go as planned, another page should be ready sometime on Thursday.

Why? Well, for starters, I have another con weekend after next that needs preparing for, Wizard World Chicago. Stuff needs doin'. Also, Comic Con needs some big-time following-up. Emails, sketches and links to send out, that sort of thing. This was sort of a business trip for me, despite the fact that I didn't have a table and was giving books away instead of selling 'em. If anything comes of the trip, you guys'll be the first to know, but typically, this stuff doesn't tend to move very fast. I'll keep you posted.