In Which Abby Uses a Laptop

When I'm working on a page or a comic, I sometimes I get a little bored. I love what I do, but there's a bit of monotony, and sometimes my mind wanders. When it does, I wind up throwing in jokes or references to things that I think are cool. It's why Abby reads books by Nick Castle and why Charlotte drinks out of a MacBreakWeekly mug.

This is panel seven from page eighteen. When I drew it, I knew I need to put something on Abby's screen. I chose The Celestial Waste of Bandwidth, written by Andy Ihnatko. Andy's a tech writer, Mac pundit, andcomics fan. I met him once in Boston at a Wizard (or whatever they're calling it these days) show. Oddly, for reading many of his columns, I didn't realize it was him until after he left, leaving only a silver booklet behind.

Seriously, he did. It was all about the Mac.

Andy's got some great ideas about the Mac tablet. One of his best is the idea that Apple's pretty good at doing That Thing That You Didn't Expect But Now Makes Perfect Sense. This happened when Apple decided to make a phone. "Why's an Apple phone going to be so special?" everyone asked. Then they revealed it and everyone copied it.

Go check him out here.

If you want to know what I would like to see in an Apple Tablet, I'll tell you. I don't for a minute think it'll happen, but I can wish. What I want is a slick, light Wacom Cintiq. Something that could be touch sensitive or use a stylus. Maybe when the stylus is activated the touch sensititivty goes away to account for my hand resting on the screen. I desperately want a Cintiq, but I'm not sold on spending as much as I would on a new laptop for something that has to tether to my computer. I want something lighter and frothier. Heck, Apple's a green company, they could use this to eliminate paper and pads. Just print out the pages I want.

I would also like a rocket and a pony.

Is This Really a Big Deal?

I read a lot of commentary about "writing for trade" and "every issue is someone's first" and those battling ideas.

The former refers to the idea that since these six issues or whatever are going to be eventually collected for trade, do you have to worry that The Seige of the Blackest Crisis #3 is someone's first issue? Chances are, they've probably read the first two parts.

The latter is an idea that started when comics weren't collected and were monthly books of indeterminate story length, if any length at all. There were even stories that didn't have a clear start or stop, but just kept on going like a soap opera. And a lot of times there was a flashback panel or two that recounted the character's origin.

Me? I think we all should be able to get along.

Love and Capes is a quarterly comic. That can make getting a narative flow going pretty rough. It's part of why the stories tend to be done-in-one stories. But I did do one hugely continued story, and more than a few others that hung off a plot point introduced previously. On top of that, I do issues of the book as part of Free Comic Book Day, and that means that there's a huge chance that it really is someone's first exposure to the story.

So the first thing I did was I added a recap page. This introduced the main characters and told you what happened last issue. There are lots of ways to handle these, but the upside is that they can be removed for collecting in a trade. Especially if you're doing a complicated plot-heavy story, I think these are a great idea.

But, even with that, a lot of people skip over it, or don't read it all the way. And you don't want to have people referring back to the recap page constantly while they're reading.

Which brings me to Love and Capes #13. It's the FCBD issue, and the issue immediately following the marriage of the two characters. You can read the first five pages along with my interview at Robot 6. Just read the first couple if you haven't already. I can wait.

Back? Cool. Now here are links to page 1 and page 2 with notes. I didn't stop the plot for exposition, or force anything in to the story, but they're crafted so that in those first two pages, you find out the following:

1. The characters' names. Why? Because people use names in coversation..
2. They quickly reference that they're on their honeymoon, and not just on vacation. And we know they're married, not just dating.
3. Mark brings up Abby's bookstore and her sister. Charlotte's not named yet, but we can do that whenever we meet her. For now, we know Abby's job and that she has a sister. We don't know she's got a brother and two parents who are still alive, but that's okay. They're not going to appear in this issue. So my new reader doesn't need to know they exist yet.
4. Mark uses his powers in front of Abby. First, this shows that Mark's the hero, just in case they didn't get that from the cover. We know he's invulnerable and can fly, and probably move at super-speed given how far away the sun is. Now, I have the advantage of using a Superman archetype, so I don't have to catalog all his powers. But I've shown the powers that will reference most of the jokes that will follow.
   This also shows that Abby knows Mark's secret, and I think that's hugely important. That's a plot point that's different from the genetic memory of Superman that exists. Yeah, Lois knows Clark's secret now, but ask the guy on the street and they'll remember all those put-one-over-on-Lois stories. So I've covered that.

No clunky exposition. No flashbacks. But if you haven't read an issue of Love and Capes before, you're probably caught up enough to keep on reading.

Crafting a story that does this isn't effortless. But I think it's worth the effort to make sure your book can be read by a new reader without turning off an old one.

A Little Something For the Ladies

At least it's not as bad as Wonder Woman's new Star Sapphire look.

Now on to page eighteen. Seven pages left until #13 is wrapped!

My Cup Overlows With Awesomeness

Guess who's got two thumbs and is the Invincible Super-Blog's Pick of the week?

Half credit if you said "Bob Kelso".

Page Sixteen

I saw Avatar. In IMAX 3-D, in fact. Visually, it's stunning. What I love about James Cameron's work is how he makes technology part of the process, rather than stopping it. I know the whole film is an effects shot, but they never have that "Wow, look at me, I'm a cool effects shot" feel. It feels organic.

The script, however, is a little less spectacular. In fact, it's average, which is a little disappointing. In Titanic I thought he managed to tell a standard love story in such a way to make it feel epic. In Avatar, he tells a standard "invading European" story and make it feel, well, very standard. Nothing was really a surprise in it.

Ultimately, it's kind of like someone saying "I'm going to sing you Happy Birthday" and then they go ahead and sing one of the best versions you've ever heard. Nothing's a surprise, but you can certainly appreciate it.

Cameron also brings in the term Unobtainium, which is just a little too on the nose for me. I've heard that the term can refer to the ever-moving "last" element of the Periodic Table, and if that's what he had in mind, he should have sacrificed reality for verisimilitude and come up with something else.

Still, I can't resist poking fun at it. In Love and Capes #13, in fact this very page, we'll find out that one of the characters has something made out of Unobtanium. I was going to call it Infinitium, and still could go back to it. I just needed a replacement for Adamantium, which now that Marvel's lawyers are Disney's lawyers, I won't be doing at all. I like the shirt that's on my back just fine.

Page Fifteen

I love a lot of the shows on USA Network: Burn Notice, Psych, White Collar, Law and Order: Criminal Intent(although I really miss Alicia Witt). And I understand financial realities but man alive do they do a lot of product placements. Burn Notice is the big winner, managing to work in an OnStar ad that was so slick I almost didn't notice it. Other shows have fared a little worse.

Of course, I've got some glass walls here myself. I did a product placement in Love and Capes. And, I'd do it again, if anyone's got some money they want to toss my way. I'm not proud. I just try to keep it subtle.

Free Comic Book Day 2010 Advertising Opportunities

Love and Capes #13 will be part of the Free Comic Book Day festivities on May 1st, 2010. As in past years, the book will have space for advertising. Wanna be part of it?

All ads are full color, full bleed with a trim size of 6 5/8" x 10 13/16". And ad design services are provided at no cost if you need them.

Download a PDF price sheet here.

BACK COVER	$1000
INTERIOR BACK COVER	$850

Space reservation due by February 5, 2010.
Deadline for ad art is February 12, 2010.

Ads are accepted in PDF, EPS, TIF, JPG or PSD format. 300dpi minimum. Make checks payable to Thom Zahler Art Studios or Maerkle Press. PayPal accepted at tz@thomz.com.

Twitter Contest Recap

Just to recap, I ran a Twitter contest for the last couple of days. In Love and Capes #12, there's a scene where Abby kisses Mark. When I wrote it, I could hear the soundtrack in my head So I asked people to guess which song that was. That's wildly random, so I gave out a hint a day.

I only got two hints in. The first was that it was a song from 2007. The second was that I referenced another song by this band in my other romantic comedy. That was Long Distance, which referenced Hanging by a Momentby Lifehouse.

I figured that second hint would only work for people who had read that unproduced sitcom script, and I figured there couldn't be that many. Only people who'd followed a bunch of my work would even have a clue that I'd done that project, yet it was all Mizelle needed to figure out that the song was First Time, also by Lifehouse.

I'll use music, frequently, to try to get the right mood for a piece. Here, though, everything just came together.

In #12 (and spoiler warning if you haven't read further) Abby thinks Mark is going to go away forever, and runs up to him in a dramatic moment and delivers, as Some Kind of Wonderfulonce put it, "the kiss that kills." It was a huge moment in the story, and I really needed to nail it. I was worried from all sorts of angles. Drawing two people kissing is always rough, because of how the faces interlock, and trying to make sure both faces can be seen well enough. Plus, it was a big moment and needed to have that feel.

I drew it and thought I did okay. When I colored it and dropped in the background, though, that's when it happened. I could hear First Time and could almost imagine one of those spinning shots as the camera circled around the two lovers. And the lyrics of the song could easily be applied to Abby, with her being scared for Mark and it's definitely a first kiss that isn't a first kiss.

Read the book, you'll get it.

All that was missing was the rain. That probably woud have been too much. Plus it's a hassle to draw.

The contest was fun, though. I'm going to have to do more of them. So keep following me on Twitter for more.

Love and Capes #12/Twitter contest

In my Robot 6 interview, I mentioned that I was considering doing a Twitter contest. I've decided to do it, and here it is:

1. Read Love and Capes #12. Page 26, panel 1 is a big half-page splash. When I drew it, in my head I heard a song. First person to Twitter me with the song name and artist gets their pick of anything from the Love and Capes store.

2. I'll post one hint a day, every day. And I'll add the hints here after they appear on Twitter, so bookmark this page if you need to. This is the permalink.

Hint #1: The song was released in 2007.

Clue #2: I've referenced this band in the other romantic comedy I wrote. A ittle something for longtime fans.

AND WE HAVE A WINNER! @mizzelle on Twitter correctly guessed "First Time" by Lifehouse. Specifically, here's the part that got stuck in my head from when Abby runs to catch Mark to the kiss itself:

Looking at you,holding my breath,
For once in my life, I'm scared to death,
I'm taking a chance,letting you inside.

Feeling alive all over again,
As deep as the sky, under my skin
Like being in love, she says
For the first time

Flying Robots and Flying Cars

Happy New Year, everyone!

To celebrate, I'm showing off this panel of page 14 of Love and Capes. That means that I have ony ten more pages to do to finish the FCBD issue. And I betcha I can get them done this month. After that, I'll only have 120 to go.

Wait. What? I probably shouldn't have typed that.

Hopefully, I'll get the initiative to do a real New Year's post, full of recaps and brave statements about blowing the doors off this New Year. I know that calendars are just arbitrary numbers created by man, and today's really no different than yesterday. But still, the number thing gives you something to hang intentions on, and whatever construct helps, right? Of course, I'm not going to start any resolutions until tomorrow. New Year's Day is too much a holiday.

Okay, enough rambling. Let me leave you with this: There's a hashtag meme going around Twitter about "Where were you ten years ago?" Me, I was doing a caricature gig at a New Year's Party for pretty nice bank and then getting ready to go back to work at the ad agency. It'd be a little less than two years before I quit working for The Man and went off on my own, starting Raider. And after that, everything hit high warp and I haven't looked back.

Also, ten years ago there was this commercial, that I think is just as relevant today as then. Minus the silly stuff about Microsoft, of course.

Where ARE my flying cars?