Archive for September, 2012
4 items.
Since the theater caught on fire, I knew at some point I had to draw Charlie back into the story. Since the end of ACT II where I kind of confirmed, “Yeah, they’re together” – I had to establish that there were some emotions at stake here.
Problem was, I couldn’t figure out a way to make it funny. I was staring at my paper most of Sunday night and couldn’t think of anything.
Then, late at night, I was flipping channels and came upon this scene from Talladgea Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby.
You’re welcome, everybody.
It’s actually kind of odd that Talladega Nights would inspire me in that way. Especially since we learned that Michael Clarke Duncan passed away the other day at the age of 54. I always liked Duncan and I thought he was particularly effective in Talladega Nights. Honestly, he was always best when he was playing against type. I wish he had the opportunity to play more comedic roles. He obviously had a great sense of humor about himself.
At any rate, that’s all I’ve got for now. I hope you enjoyed the comic and I’ll catch up with you guys soon!
[ 2 Comments ]
Better late than never, right? That should become Theater Hopper’s official motto at this point.
Last week I was out of town attending a conference in Portland. So first let me say this: Portlandia? I totally get it now.
More germaine to the conversation however, is that I’ve been trying to catch up with my life all off this week. My wife, the kids, work, social obligations, taped episodes of Big Brother – all of it. It’s been a very hectic week. Basically penciled one night, inked the next night, colored a third night and did shading and lettering last night. UGH. I suck.
I don’t have much to say about the comic other that it was important to establish what happened to Jimmy. Soon we’ll find out what happened to Victor. The chess pieces are being moved into place. Checkmate is inevitable. In less than a few comics, we’ll be dealing with the aftermath and that’ll be it it – all she wrote.
Help me out and share this comic with your friends. Y’know… on account of the lateness. If you could tell them “Hey, Theater Hopper’s ending soon. Better get in on the action before it’s took late!” that would be awesome.
Thanks again to everyone for their patience. These last few months have been a long, hard slog for me. I really don’t want to let go. It’s painful, but it has to be done.
[ 4 Comments ]
Sep24
GUEST STRIP – INDIGO
September 24th, 2012 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(1 votes, average: 10.00 out of 10)
I realize that I was MIA last week and I feel pretty lousy about it. In some ways, I feel like I’ve completely lost my momentum, which sucks, because I’m still excited about the story I have to tell!
It’s pretty much a problem with the process at this point. I knock out the pencils and inks no problem. But once I bring the comic into the computer for coloring, shading, background and lettering… everything s-l-o-w-s d-o-w-n.
Honestly, I’ve never been a fan of that part of the comic-making process. But lately, I’ve been fussing with it too much in an effort to make the last few comics good and I’m approaching burnout.
My mentality is that I don’t want the last 10 comics to look like crap. Makes sense, right? But since I don’t particularly enjoy the finishes, it’s become a convenient excuse to draw out the conclusion of the comic. It’s inefficient and a little selfish.
Although, honestly, things were much easier when it was just a couple of talking heads against a green background. These last few comics have been all fire, smoke, sparks, glowing lights, textures, different costumes, action, etc… a real challenge.
But enough about my whining. Let’s take a look at this fantastic guest strip from my good friend Indigo! Indigo’s imagining a time in the near future where Tom and Cami are pregnant (remember that was the genesis of this “good bye” arc back in January?)
Incidentally, she’s not too far off from how I reacted when Cami was first pregnant with Henry back in 2007. 2007, people! Can you believe it’s been almost 6 years?
Indigo is a classy lady, by the way. A great confidant and listener. We chat from time to time on teh Twitterz and she always knows what to say go get me into gear. Great resource for a reality check when I need one.
She produces her own comic as well. It’s called Orchid Coloured Glasses and you should check it out. She pulls no punches. It’s great stuff!
Looking forward, you’ll be pleased to know that I have the pencils, inks and color flats down for this week’s Theater Hopper. I hope to do the shading, background and lettering tonight.
Thanks again for everyone’s patience. I’m trying to avoid limping across the finish line, but the last few months have been hard. You guys are very awesome for putting up with it!
[ 3 Comments ]
You want to know how long I’ve been writing this storyline? It started before The Avengers was in theaters and continues now that The Avengers has come out on Blu-ray. That’s a long time!
I received my copy of The Avengers in the mail yesterday and I was pretty psyched about it. I haven’t watched it yet partially because I was still working on this comic. But also because Cami has been eager to rewatch it and this week has just been hell.
Do you ever have one of those weeks where your professional commitments keep you from seeing your spouse or loved ones? Yeah, that’s the kind of week we’re having. Cami had two events she had to go to on Monday and Tuesday night, I have an event I have to go to this evening. At this point, we’re tasking the kids with relaying messages to one another like carrier pigeons.
Looking over the 4-disc copy of The Avengers I got, I was pretty impressed with all of the extras. Not only do you get the Blu-ray, but you get the 3D Blu-ray, DVD and digital version. If you go online and register a code, you can also download the soundtrack for free, get a copy of a digital comic and send away for a free 18 x 24″ poster.
This is what the poster looks like, by the way:
And people are complaining about Marvel getting into bed with Disney??
At the time Amazon was offering preorders, they were charging $30 for the whole thing. But I found a coupon online that shaved $5 off the price. I thought I was pretty smart grabbing the whole thing for $25. I mean, that’s a lot of content!
Although yesterday evening I saw that Amazon was now selling the 4-disc set for $19.99 and that pissed me off a little bit. Heard from a reader, though, that Amazon was going to refund the difference under the lowest price preorder guarantee, or whatever.
Look, I’m just saying that for $20, you could do a hell of a lot worse. If you haven’t ordered your copy of The Avengers yet, use my link. I get a kickback. 😉
It took me way too long to produce this comic, I realize. I spoke about it on Monday when I published Indigo’s guest strip. Basically, the details I’m trying to force into this arc are killing me. I literally spent an hour last night trying to figure out what the wall Victor broke through was going to look like. I was getting so desperate, I was considering buying a stock photo. Finding reference shots for this kind of stuff is HARD.
In the end, I untangled the knot of Christmas tree lights in my head and produced a solution. Although, in hindsight, I don’t think all of that fussing necessarily produced the best result. But, hey! I’m trying, right?
So, is Victor alive? Is he dead? Did he use his last ounce of brute strength to break through a cinder block wall to escape the fire? Find out soon in the next exciting episode of… THEATER HOPPER!
[ 6 Comments ]
