Page Sixteen
Back to scenes with Abby and her mysterious brunette friend. But, what I'm really showing off is the books in the background. They're usually books I'm reading or, more recently, jokes. This time, we've got a shout out to my friend Roger Price, another Richard Castle reference (and hey, it's back tonight!), a reference to Mr. Emmy Host and Dr. Horrible as well as Barney on the also-returning How I Met Your Mother (man, will my TiVo be working hard on Mondays) and one of my books
Sometimes working on these pages get a little tedious, so these are the things I do to keep myself awake.
Sweet Baby James
I am a unabashed James Taylor fan. I just love the guy's music. His voice has gotten better over the years, and he gives a fantastic concert. I saw him for the first time at the Paramount Theatre in New York City in 1991 and he blew my doors off. I was a fan before, but after that, I don't miss a concert if I can help it.
Today's the man's birthday. So Happy Birthday, James!
If you're interested in trying out any of his music, I've got a couple of suggestions. I'm not normally a fan of live albums, but his two-disc James Taylor Live is just amazing. He reinterpreted a lot of his songs, and in a lot of ways are now my vision of the definitive versions of his songs. And New Moon Shine is probably my favorite single album of his.
I'm also using this to try out some linking tools to Amazon. So you should see links to those albums below. They're also available on iTunes, but in the interest of full disclosure, I get a little bit of a kickback if you buy from Amazon. And every little bit helps.
Perhaps I'll Media-ate
This weekend, I'm going to be a guest on This Week in Media. I'll be talking about New York Comic-Con among other things, and I am so looking forward to this.
Show tapes on Sunday and the podcast appears soon thereafter. I'll let you know when.
Just sayin'...The Love and Capes Valentine's Day Giveaway!
Valentine's Day is coming up, and since I write comicdom's most romantic superhero book, I figure I ought to do something to celebrate. So I am. I'm doing a giveaway.
Love and Capes is the perfect Valentine's Day present for the comics fan, or someone you want to introduce to comics. No Valentine? Enter the contest and maybe Love and Capes will help you win over that special someone. Sign up using the form below.
- You and your valentine could win:
- All nine issues of Love and Capes, signed by the author
- Two matching Love and Capes t-shirts
- A set of Love and Capes pins
- A box of Ghirardelli chocolates. (No endorsement implied. They're my chocolate of choice, and I think you'll like them too.)
- Your name in the Free Comic Book Day 2009 issue of Love and Capes.
No purchase necessary. Winner will be chosen by random drawing on February 2nd, 2009. Winner will be notified and prizes will be sent immediately thereafter.
And, if you haven't already picked out a present for your special valentine, may I suggest the new Love and Capes TPB? It's available at better booksellers nationwide or you can pick up a copy here.
And, as an added bonus, download a printable Love and Capes Valentine to give to your sweetie here!
Page Six, and not the New York one.
Yesterday, I did my signing and then did the bulk of my remaining Christmas shopping, and then had dinner with some friends. By the time I got home, I was pretty beat. I was thinking about wrapping 
Christmas presents as I watched the obligatory Sunday night Cowboys game, or maybe just collapsing on the couch.
Instead, I found myself drawn into the studio to finish the sixth page of Love and Capes #10. The storyline's taking off (HAH-hah… oh, wait, that's only funny if you've actually read the whole page, which you haven't), and the jokes are coming easily. Things really seem to be clicking on all cylinders, which I always appreciate.
Obviously, Abby gets super powers in this issue, and this panel is one of my favorites. I always like a panel that has a joke in it and yet isn't the last panel in the sequence.
I know the next page pretty well, but I can't start it until I get some clienty work done. After that, though, who knows?
Page the Fourth
Another day, another page.
This page has an Abby/Charlotte phone scene. I tried to show Charlotte actually doing some homework here just to remind people she's in school.
I started thinking about the breakdown of this page compared to other issues. This is the latest that Mark or the Crusader has appeared, with him arriving in the last panel of page four. In previous issues, FCBD specifically, Crusader appeared on the first page of issue #7, and while Mark appeared on page one of issue #4 he didn't appear in costume until page four. I figure that was okay since the Arachnerd appeared on the first page.
It's just something I try to keep in mind for the FCBD issue, since I want this to serve as a vehicle for new readers. Despite Mark's delay in arriving in this new one, Doc Karma appears on page two, so there's a lot of superheroing that appears. I want people to know that it's not just a romantic comedy, that it's a superhero romantic comedy.
Urm, heroically super romantic comedy. Don't want to get sued, you know.
LA la la
I should have some stories by now, shouldn’t I? Oh, wait, I do.
I’m here in LA, doing the networking and meeting thing post-San Diego. I’ve got one meeting set up for the trip, and a bunch of lunches and dinners. I’m also going to participate in my first Drink and Draw tonight, so Woo and Hoo!
Obviously, the big story is that I went to Amoeba Records and stayed under my limit… oh, wait, no. There was an earthquake.
My first in LA. I’ve noticed two in my time in Ohio. Bob Ingersoll and I were in our car, driving to visit a friend at Warner Brothers and stopped at a stoplight when the car started to bounce, like someone was rocking the bumper. Once I determined it wasn’t Bob’s driving, I looked and saw the streetlights were bouncing too. “Hey, Bob,” I said, “I think it’s an earthquake.”
It was. And the last I heard, it was a 5.4 or something.
It wasn’t bad, and for my first one, I wasn’t scared. I was sorry that I broke my word to my Aunt Bunny who said “Don’t have any earthquakes” before I left. Though how I had one, I haven’t figured out yet. Once I harness that power, I’ll use it for good. Or evil. I have a PhD in Horrible, after all.
The big thing it did was mess up the phone lines. Oddly, I could call out to Ohio (which I did to let some people know I was okay) but I couldn’t call California. So I wasn’t able to make that WB meeting, since a phone call was involved there. We went to a mall and everyone seemed to be lacking cell service. We saw a couple TV reports about the quake, too.
All things being equal, I think I liked the Earthquake ride at Universal Studios better.
Bob and I saw The Dark Knight in Imax, which was quite the experience. A number of scenes were Imaxified, including just about all of the city establishing shots. Whoa, was that cool. The theatre has been sold out of the Imax DK shows by 3:00 or so every day. I love that this movie is getting that kind of traction.
It was a good theatre audience, too. No one with their bright LED phone displays Twittering away (no slight to the Twitter, which I do, but there’s a time and a place), very quiet and just a nice filmgoing bunch. And they clapped during the pencil and truck scenes, as well as at the end. That was just cool.
Oddly, after we left the theatre and were walking back to our car, we passed Tiny Lister, who played the convict in the movie. He was also the President in The Fifth Element. That was a little jarring, but cool nonetheless.
That’s been the big stuff so far. The Drink and Draw is tonight, and I’ll be seeing some friends and colleauges in the next couple of days. And then, back home. I love coming to visit, and I like the opportunities it opens, but I think I’m just about ready to be home, too.
In Stores This Week, Maybe Even Today
First Eight
Here are the answers to the first eight lyric headlines. I would have made an iMix, but half the songs aren't available on iTunes. And I would have done an Amazon MP3 list, but I couldn't get the widget-builder to work. And neither have the Beatles catalog online yet anyway. But who knows? Maybe Steve Jobs will announce the Yellow Submarine iPod (yes, I know it's a joke from the always funny Merlin Mann) with the new iPhone.
- I could hide out under there/I just made you say underwear
Pinch Me by the Barenaked Ladies. - Can you handle the curves, can you run all the lights?
Shut Up and Drive by Rihanna. - Still care about your hair and the car you drive
High School Never Ends by Bowling for Soup. - Thirty-two wants to do things to you that'll make you blush
Lucky 4 You (Tonight I'm Just Me) by SheDaisy - There's nothing to do that can't be done.
All You Need Is Love by the Beatles, and featured memorably in Love Actually. - Tell me what it's like to be the last one standing
Savin' Me by Nickleback. Used in the Battlestar Galactica season three promos, too. - Does she speak eloquently? And would she have your baby?
You Aughta Know by Alanis Morisette - There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist, there is a hunger in the center of the chest
Shed a Little Light by James Taylor.