Posts Tagged ‘Avengers’
5 items.
Do you guys remember that comic I owed you last week, but that totally didn’t happen? Well, here it is.
I don’t have a very good excuse for you. I think this is the second time since I announced the comic was ending in January that I’ve missed a week – which is especially stupid when you consider that I only have 10 more weeks to wrap this up.
But, as I did previously, I made up for the missing comic with a few weeks of double comics. I think the same will have to be true here. 10 comics won’t be enough to get me where I want to go before the end of the strip.
I suppose a little planning could have prevented that. But, truthfully, I kind of wanted to run over a little bit. I wanted an excuse to make more comics.
I still plan on ending on August 6. What I’m saying is that you’ll probably get more than 10 comics between now and then.
As you might remember, two weeks ago I went to the Minneapolis SpringCon which was – ostensibly – the last convention appearance I plan on making.
It was a really good show. I managed to turn a profit, which is not always easy for me at a mid-sized show. So I close out my convention career with two in the win column – C2E2 and SpringCon.
Probably the best part of going to SpringCon for me was getting a chance to see my good friends Zach Miller, Mitch Clem and Gordon McAlpin.
I can’t remember the last time I saw Mitch. It’s probably been at least 4 or 5 years. Maybe the same amount of time for Zach. But as we got to hang around each other for a little bit, we immediately feel into a groove, laughing and having a blast. I got a chance to hang out with them, Gordon and his lovely girlfriend Karyn on Saturday night and it was wonderful.
I’m usually not very good about taking pictures while I’m away at shows. I take more pictures of things than I do of people. I don’t know if you’re like me, but I get really self-conscious taking pictures of others. Like I’m spying on them, or something, and I don’t want them to know about it. I really hate asking others to take pictures of me with someone else. The pictures rarely turn out the way I want them to anyway.
That said, thank Steve Jobs for the reversible camera on the iPhone. It gave me the ability to take this picture – and the more I think about it, the more it’s probably one of my favorites from my “career” in webcomics.
When push comes to shove, these are some of the best friends I’ve been fortunate enough to make in webcomics. I would have never met them without Theater Hopper. It’s hard for me to look at a photo like that and not get a little melancholy.
I’m certain that I’ll keep in touch with all of them. Just because I’m ending the comic doesn’t mean the friendships have to end. But going to SpringCon a couple of weeks ago and understanding what that means for me personally kind of compartmentalizes the relationships a little bit. I’m leaving a part of myself behind – and that’s always kind of sad.
At any rate, that kind of brings us all up to speed. If you could help share this week’s comic to let your friends know that we’ve updated, I’d appreciate it.
Cami and I are having a huge garage on Thursday (which is also part of the reason this comic has been so late – we’ve been busy preparing.) So I don’t know if I’ll be able to get to another comic this week. But with any luck, I’ll be able to knock out a few more in the coming weeks. Be on the lookout for those.
Thanks for your patience! We’re entering the home stretch!
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You know, it’s funny. When I announced that I was ending Theater Hopper back in January (which feels like a lifetime ago), one of the things I highlighted was how I was finding it difficult to advance my art forward in a way that was not so time-consuming.
Well, I would say this final arc is certainly pushing my art forward, but it is no less time-consuming.
Things were so much easier when all I had to do was come up with a joke and draw a couple of characters facing each other to deliver it. Toss in the occasional visual gag to break things up a little bit and we had a formula for success!
With this last arc, I’m drawing fire, splatter, characters in different costumes – COMPLICATED costumes – and drawing 2 to 4 additional panels per comic. It’s madness!
Maybe there’s some truth about art and suffering. I’m punishing myself a little bit for ending the comic. Or maybe I just want to try to end things as best I can?
Either way, I appreciate everyone’s patience as we head into the last month. July’s pretty much it and then NO MORE THEATER HOPPER! Can you believe it? I can’t.
Actually, I’m not sure I can wrap this up in 4 or 5 more comics. I’d like to produce more, but the way I’m going, that doesn’t look feasible. Am I gonna have to break my August 6 deadline? I might…
I’m embarrassed that I might not hit deadline I set for myself almost 7 months ago. Maybe I should have planned better. But maybe I don’t want to say goodbye just yet, either?
Hell! It’s my comic! I’ll do what I want!
And I have! A theater engulfed in fire? Victor engulfed in rage? What does this mean for Tom, Cami and the rest! Stay tuned, true-believers! You’ll find out soon enough!
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Jul16
GUEST STRIP – NEIL BRYER
July 16th, 2012 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(3 votes, average: 8.67 out of 10)
Remember last week when I was all, “I’m gonna turn up the heat on producin’ these them thar comics and it’s gonna be awesome!”
Then remember when I didn’t do it?
Thank goodness for Neil Bryer’s excellent guest strip. I think he really hit it out of the park with this one. Not only did he throw in a great callback to the dream sequence punchlines I use from time to time, but he made it as sweet and heartfelt as all get out.
I think what I love most about the comic is that Truman makes an appearance in the fourth panel. Good to know he’ll still be with us in the future…
I’ve had the good fortune to meet Neil a couple of times while attending conventions in Chicago. He’s always very cool and polite. We talk shop for a little while and then he always let’s me get back to selling. Never intrusive. Always plays it just right.
Neil has a comic of his own called Wombat Comic that I encourage all of you to check out. It’s obvious to me that Neil put a lot of thought into his guest strip and I think you guys should reward him for that with a few clicks, don’t you?
Need proof that Neil put a lot of thought into his comic, check out his commentary, which he included with the image file he sent to me!
I’ve known Tom and “Theater Hopper for a few years now. I was late to the show, sure, but I quickly became a fan and jumped on each new strip as they were posted. So when Tom announced a few months ago that he was ending the strip, it of course made me sad. I mean…it’s one less webcomic for me to compete with, so sure, I wasn’t too sad…but still. You know? Anyway, when Tom said he was accepting submissions for guest strips, I knew I had to jump on this. It took me a while to come up with a concept that fit both the current storyline and stayed true to the tone of the strip overall, but hopefully I’ve managed to do just that. So without further ado, I present “The Dream”.
Panel 1: Why does Jared have a beard?…and a wife?…AND KIDS? Oh, it must be some time in the future. That would also explain why Tom has a receding hair line, a bit of a gut, and looks just generally worn out. I imagine this is taking place about 10 years out from where we are right now.
Panel 2: Henry and Pearl are the names of Tom’s real life children. I figured since the characters in the strip are based on Tom and his wife, then his kids should also be based on reality. I asked Tom if it was cool to include their names and he said it was alright.
Panel 3: In 2016, right on the heels of the highly successful “Jones 5: The Adventures of Mutt”, Shia was tapped to play Atticus Finch in a remake of the classic film “To Kill a Mockingbird”. To the surprise of everyone, this instantly became Jared’s favorite movie. Also, in the future, movies are shown on little metal cubes (Actually, the cube is just the player. The files are stored on tiny crystals, but they’re so small that they often get lost when you try to transport them, so most people just bring the whole player along with them when they go anywhere).
Panel 4: Why the heck did I put so many characters in this story?! By the time I was done drawing in the kids, my hand was ready to fall off.
Panel 5: The reveal, it was all just a dream. I guess Tom is more ready to start a family than even he realized. And, of course, who hasn’t had the Scarlett Johansson “initiation” dream?
Panel 6: Cami has good reason for the look of concern on her face…I mean, better than the Scarlett Johansson dream? Her mind reels with the possibilities.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this flight of fancy of mine. It was fun to play in someone else’s sandbox for a bit, but I should get back to work on my own comic (http://www.wombatcomic.com (shameless self promotion)). Pleasant dreams!
-Neil Bryer
Thanks, Neil. I loved this comic!
Incidentally, I think I figured out a simple solution to the content problem I’ve been experiencing lately.
Certainly there’s a bit of foot-dragging going on at a subconscious level. I don’t want the comic to end! But, also, I’m making the production of the comic MUCH harder than I need to.
I have it in my head that if I’m going out, I want to go out with a bang. So I’m trying to make each comic as good as possible before I post it – and it’s causing delays.
Then I remember something one of my art teachers told me: “Stop fussing with it.” Sometimes, you just gotta let these things go, you know?
The thought occurred to me when I was putting together this week’s comic. In an effort to give you “more,” I was setting myself up for an 8 panel comic. Then I realized, “This could easily be split into two comics.” Problem solved! I work faster, suffer less burn out and you get two comics this week instead of one.
So that’s the goal. Be on the lookout for two comics this week starting tomorrow. Thanks again for your patience as I cross the finish line with the comic.
See you soon!
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Well, here it is. The comic I spent the better part of last week working on in fits and starts. DO YOU LOVE IT? IS IT EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED?
I fall into these unusual traps. Sometime I spend a lot of time working on a comic and while I’m in the middle of it think, “This is great! This is excellent!” I’m liking the poses, I’m liking the line work, I’m liking the shading and the coloring…
Then I lay down the dialogue, take a step back and think, “So that’s it, then? That’s all?”
Artists are their own worst critics, so I’m certain this is not a unique phenomenon. It just kind of sucks when you invest a large chunk of time into something, maintaining a certain level of excitement throughout the process and the minute you have a moment to step back from it, the end product isn’t exactly what you envisioned.
I don’t know. I think it’s still a great panel. But it just kind of sits there. Maybe I’m being too hard on myself.
At any rate, I’m very much looking forward not to include fire effects in these comics again anytime soon. And I have a joke in mind for next week’s comic – a nice visual gag. I’m confident it will work.
Thanks for being patient, guys. We’re zeroing in on the end now.
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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!
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