Memories of the Future

Wil Wheaton and I have a hate/hate relationship.

He and I have a lot in common. We’re about the same age. We both have brown hair and brown eyes. We’re both ruggedly handsome. And, in 1987, while Wil was the youngest member of the Starship Enterprise on Star Trek: The Next Generation, I was the youngest member of the Starship New Promise, a Star Trek fan club.

Oh, and we both seemed to wear a lot of sweaters.

So it’s no surprise that my friends in the Trek group teased me by calling me “Wesley” and I grew to really hate that character.

There’s a thing that happens with actors and their parts. You know the actor is only playing a character, but since that character is all you have to go on, you do blur the two of them. So, my disdain for Wesley was transferred to Wil.

Wil and I grew up. Wesley got a real promotion and eventually left the show. But I always associated some of that Wesley Ick with Wil.

Then, a few years back, I found Wil’s blog. It’s why I tell you about how I felt towards Wesley and the actor who played him. I had a fair amount of irrational predisposition to dislike the blog.

What I found there was an surprisingly honest accounting of being a creative person. He wrote about the difficulties of writing, what he had to do to bring a character to life. I’m stupid for behinds the scenes stuff, and he was delivering it gangbusters. It wasn’t long before, solely through the strength of his writing, that he won me over completely.

So now he’s written a book. Another book, as he’s written a few. This one is called Memories of the Future, and it’s his recapping of the first half of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Hmmm, more behind the scenes stuff. Wonder if Im going to like it.

He’s described his book as “looking through a yearbook and saying ‘Oh my God, can you believe we thought that was cool?’” That’s a pretty accurate description of the book’s vibe. It’s irreverent fun.

I’m a big Star Trek fan. There are parts of that show that have actually defined my life. I once turned down a big job by quoting Kirk in Generations when he told Picard to not do anything that got him out of That Chair. As such, I’m sensitive about people hacking on the franchise too much. (Except for Voyager and the first three seasons of Enterprise, but that’s another story.)

It’s very much “nobody picks on my brother but me.” Wil’s part of Trek, so he can deconstruct some of the early season missteps and do it without malice. The books a lot of fun, and I’m not sure anyone else could have written it.

Wil’s writing style is breezy in the best possible way. Each chapter is candy coated with humor over a solid center of content, and you wind up wolfing it down. Yeah, it’s literary Twix. And eI recommend it.

Here’s the thing that really impressed me, and why I’ve decided to devote a chunk of blog real estate to the former Sweatered One and his book. Wesley was pretty reviled, and Wil could have taken the tack of I read the lame lines I was given as best as I could, dudes, so deal, and he’d be more than justified in doing it. But he takes it a step further and shows, from a writerly point of view, why the character was so unsuccessful.

That shows a pretty impressive intellectual honesty.

The first volume takes covers Encounter at Farpoint to Datalore. He breaks down each episode with a funny recap, some insider’s memories, and a criticism of the episode itself. If you like Star Trek: The Next Generation or behind-the-scenes process stuff, I recommend it completely.

Like I said, I have a hate/hate relationship with Wil Wheaton. When I was younger, I hated the character he played and the teasing I got from it. Now, he’s been on Big Bang Theory, hangs with Felicia Day, and has a family that liberally quotes Monty Python.

So now I just hate him because I’m jealous.

The Sounds of Silence

In some of the things I've read about Hollywood (at least Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Wil Wheaton's awesome stories of being on The Next Generation, even though I can't find the actual story on his blog I want to link to) there seems to be a tradition of, when an actor shoots his last scene, an announcement is made. Something like "Ladies and gentlemen, that is good night and good-bye to Thom Zahler."

The reason I bring this up, and created that horrible run on sentence, is because Love and Capes #12 is wrapping up. And I don't have any official word on if I'll be part of the 2010 Free Comic Book Day from Diamond, though I am very hopeful. Those two things combined, I'm not sure when I'll start the third "season" of Love and Capes. So each character's exit will be the last time I write and draw them for a while.

I've drawn the final scenes of all the characters except Mark and Abby at this point. I actually busted out two pages today, which is insane in a way I can't accurately convey. Especially when you consider that I mowed the leaves and caught The Men Who Stare at Goats today. That's an amazing burst of productivity.

I fully expect to have the last two pages done tomorrow, too. I'm aided by a big ol' splash that will take up a chunk of the last page.

Oh, now I've gone and spoiled it.

Here, I'm posting two pages. The Darkblade/Paul panel is actually silent in the issue. The Mark and Abby panel does have dialogue, but I've been creative enough for one day, and I can't come up with any fake dialogue for it. So deal with the sounds of silence.

All You Need is Ted

I did a commission of the Blue Beetle (the real one) for my friend Nick in Texas. He's got the original, but there's no reason you can't share in the eye candy, digital style. I borrowed heavily from the excellent Brave and the Bold cartoon style, as excellently voiced by Wil Wheaton.