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CBR Review: Secret Avengers #16

September 1, 2011 in art, artists, CBR, comic reviews, comics, marvel comics, writing | 3 comments

“In my perfect world, all superhero comics are like “Secret Avengers” #16. Well, they don’t all have to have time travel, these specific Avengers or many other things this issue includes, but they should all use this book as a blueprint for smart, funny, well-constructed, beautiful, modern and fun comics.

Warren Ellis and Jamie McKelvie take over “Secret Avengers” with issue #16 for a standalone story and in a single stroke make it a book to be absolutely reckoned with. In this issue, a handful of Avengers are investigating a secret city built more than a mile under Cincinnati and the results are action-packed, hilarious, creative and smart. Too smart for me, in fact, but that’s usually the case with anything relating to time travel, so I won’t hold it against Ellis, or this book…”

Read the rest of my CBR Review of Secret Avengers #16 here. 

As always likes and retweets are much appreciated, and you can read all of my CBR Reviews thus far here.

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Guest Starring on Thought Balloons

August 28, 2011 in comics, writers, writing | Permalink

Fellow CBR Reviewer Ryan K. Lindsay runs this really great comics writing site called Thought Balloons with a handful of other gents.  Thought Balloons is a great writing experiment in which the contributing writers alternate weeks choosing a character and each prepares a one page script for that character and posts it.  The scripts posted can be an excerpt of a larger script, a standalone page, just about anything, so long as they are only one page.  It’s a great way to get feedback (writing in a vaccuum is one of the biggest challenges for any writer) and also to help keep the ideas freely flowing, which is key and very hard to maintain as a writer, especially as you try to break into the business.

This week Ryan asked me if I’d like to join them as a guest writer.  I of course jumped at the chance and on his suggestion gave Ryan a handful of characters I’d be especially pumped to write for.  Of those characters, Ryan picked Kate Kane/Batwoman, and today is Batwoman’s introduction on Thought Balloons and the debut of my page.

And because it’s always fun to show some Kate Kane art, here’s a Batwoman variant cover that I love from Amy Reeder.  A cover that apparently WILL NOT be hitting shelves anytime soon (it seems DC has cut back on variants and as such this cover won’t be used…such a shame).

via Robot 6

 

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Shiny New Projects!

August 11, 2011 in announcements, art, books, comics, The Girl Who Would Be King, the jilted league, writing | 1 comment

So now that I’ve finally gotten The Girl Who Would Be King back out to my agent and have settled in for the inevitable “long wait” that is a natural but sometimes frustrating part of the process, I can finally get back to work on NEW work…which is always really fun.

This is my favorite part of the process, when everything is shiny and new.  I suspect that’s true for most creators – whether building houses, or writing novels.

On deck right now are two YA novels I’m very excited about. They’re both very different and I’m having trouble deciding which one to push forward…but that my friends, is a great problem to have.

Anyway, I just wanted to let all of you know that one of the projects I’m deciding between is this one, which some of you so kindly offered encouraging feedback on a few months ago.  I did in fact decide to push forward with it as a novel, and thus, below, meet Tessa and ‘The Black Dove’ (that’s the name of her axe).

Tessa and "The Black Dove"

The other YA novel it’s up against has been in my head for more than 12 years, though it originally was going to be a comic book in my mind, it has since turned into a great concept for a novel series.  I love the characters and the concept, but I confess that the world building (which is major) frightens me a bit.  Still, here’s a peek at an old sketch of the main character Berkeley:

Berkeley 'Berks' Grey

Also in the pipeline, though always more complicated since I’m not enough of an artist (these days especially) to draw my own comics, is a comics mini-series/OGN I’m prepping to pitch.  And here’s an old sketch of that character.  Her name is Emma Elliot and she doesn’t have a badass weapon, but she DOES have a very disturbing magic box. Which is…not a euphemism.  Oh god…stop thinking bad things!  You’re all bad and you need a time out.  Go to your corners!

You're going to have to trust me that there's a very good reason that Emma is in her bra...I promise you it all comes around!

Clearly my poor ladies of The Jilted League are getting jilted yet again.  Val has been right about me all along, I’m a jerk. 

But still…EXCITING SHINY NEW PROJECTS!!!!  WHEE!!!!

Orphans Stories by Tim Cummings

July 20, 2011 in art, artists, books, writers, writing | Permalink

My good friend Tim Cummings has a book now available – Orphan Stories.

“Set in 1940s Florida, Middle America, Hollywood in the 70s, curious netherspheres between life and death, and deep inside the imaginations of characters whose greatest abundances are their emotions, the ten stories (and smattering of poems) in Cummings’s eclectic collection ‘Orphans’ evoke familiar and strange scenarios of love, loss, heartbreak, humor, spirituality, sexuality, and the quelling of violence. An unhappy housewife mired by the ravages of war fantasizes about killing her own daughter. An unlikely couple in the heart of Americana is brought together by strange sparks of magic trapped in a horoscopes column. The dark but achingly honest confessions of a Hollywood icon’s emotionally deranged son cause him to band together with like-minded misfits. A play about a sweet, sickly little boy illuminates a weird world of living, corporeal dolls that gently dance him to his imminent death. And there is more. In this refreshingly unpredictable assortment of short stories, poems, plays, and screenplays, a strong and imaginative new voice in American literature spins a majestic web of people, places, relationships, and situations.”

You can buy it in either print or digital editions, now.

If you like creative short fiction and want to support artists that are paving their own way, rather than wading through the (I can assure you exhausting) traditional publishing machine, I urge you to get your copy now.  Mine’s in the mail.  Congratulations Tim!  :)

Womanthology News!

July 19, 2011 in awesomeness, books, comics, idw, writing | 2 comments

So a few pieces of news relating to Womanthology (and yours truly).

First of all, Womanthology is at over $62,000, with 18+ days still to go.  If you haven’t donated yet, get on over there!

Secondly, I will have a four page story in volume one, with art by the absolutely sublimely talented Stephanie Hans, so if you weren’t already interested, aren’t you NOW?  :)

Lastly, I was interviewed, along with mastermind Renae De Liz and editor/artist Jessica Hickman for a Publishers Weekly article about Womanthology for an article that came out on Monday, so check that out too.

Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive through all of this, it’s pretty damn exciting.

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ARGH!

May 22, 2011 in writing | 8 comments

I have been nursing (and nurturing) a really great idea for a while now…an idea I’ve fallen head over goddamn heels in love with.

But it’s also an idea that nobody is going to let me do for quite some time…unless I do it as a novel (note to self: see if there’s a way to do this as a novel) and I’ve just realized that one of the base elements, a big part of the basic concept (which I have always slightly worried was a bit too close for MY comfort to Fables, is also being mined HERE (Grimm) and HERE (Once Upon A Time).

Bah!

Grimm actually looks good, probably because David Greenwalt – and other Buffy and Angel peeps are involved.  I think my idea is quite different than Grimm…but I think it’s also too “the same” for anyone to give it a go…certainly any time in the near future.  Once Upon A Time looks not so good (but only based on the two previews I saw) and seems very far away from my idea.  But even so it still treads in the familiar “fairy tales/fiction-y” ground that I think is going to be over-mined before I can get my idea out there.

SO…GODFUCKINGDAMNITTOTHAT.

I’m so sick of losing great ideas by being just two steps (or a billion) behind.

I was going to have a little mock funeral for my idea, so I could attempt to mourn it and move on…but now I think I’ll pillage it and see if I can turn it into a series of novels…

Funeral temporary postponed…until further notice…

In the meantime, here’s a sketch from my possibly dead, possibly resurrected idea! C’mon life, give a girl (me!) a series of awesome breaks…PLEASE.

Tessa Battle and her axe 'The Black Dove'

 

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I’m Going Through A “Thing”…

May 13, 2011 in art, writing | 5 comments

…as a writer and artist, and frankly as a person.  Not going to really delve into it, but I came across this great bit on twitter, which I will just say is some damn damn fine advice.  Advice I’m going to keep trying to remember. Every day. In fact, I’m thinking of having it tattooed on my arm.

The last two for me, are particularly relevant.  Oh, and number 4. I always forget number 4 (um, and 5 and 7).

Source

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Panel Of The Week – 4/13/11

April 15, 2011 in art, artists, marvel comics, writers, writing, x-men | 3 comments

Every once in a while I enjoy some funny bit of writing so much that writing wins out over art and takes panel of the week (or in this case, page of the week).  This is from Kieron Gillen’s Uncanny X-Men #535.  The art, which is lovely as always, but not some crazy mindblowing something (talking heads rarely are) is Terry and Rachel Dodson.

I just love Dr. Nemesis* and his bitchy little better than everyone else attitude…which must just be a thing I like, because it’s one of the reasons I enjoy Emma Frost so much as well.   In fact, it might just be the writer in me knowing how deliciously fun those characters are to write.  Suffice to say that when Dr. Nemesis and Emma trade witty bitchy barbs I am in HEAVEN.  Anyway, Gillen nails it here, as Dr. Nemesis talks to Magneto in a way almost nobody talks to Magneto.  I love when comics are fun.  LOOOOVE IT.

Bonus points for use of “Nazis”, “Science sticks”, “Foolish Space Tin”, and referring to Cyclops as “The one-eyed visir” all in one awesome page.  HI-LARIOUS.

click to enbiggen!

PS – Ross, this is Dr. Nemesis!  😉

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NaNoWriMo: DAY THIRTY

December 1, 2010 in NaNoWriMo, writing | 7 comments

Final NaNo word count:  21,372 words / 71 pages

So…really…a total failure when you consider 50K as the goal…which it was.  But in order to make myself feel better – in addition to admitting that doing NaNo helped me figure out much of my character and world building work for Pariahs and that I wrote more novel-related words this month than I have in the last six combined – I also did a lot of other cool stuff this month…let’s review!

I wrote this monster of an article for my She Has No Head! 1 year anniversary.  I also wrote four other articles – on the DV8 Mini-Series, Batwoman #0, Sarah Glidden’s How To Understand Israel In 60 Days Or Less, and a 10 Great Women of The Walking Dead...but that 20 Favorite Fictional Comics Females was definitely the big one.

I wrote a review of The Walking Dead’s premiere episode for The Best Show’s You’re Not Watching.

And in addition to doing some nice fun weekly podcasting with Nick and Ross (and Justique!) over at AudioShocker, I went insane and decided to start my own podcast 3 Chicks Review Comics (more work than anyone will admit to you – don’t let them fool you!) with fellow comics lovers and lady bloggers Sue from DC Women Kicking Ass and Maddy from When Fangirls Attack.

Of course there was also the regular blogging here on 1979, which included Cover Solicits In Three Sentences Or Less, Panel of the Week, Cover of The Week, and a slew of other topics that either interested or enraged me.

I also got Ladies Comics Project, Phase II kicked into gear.  We’ve jumped from 19 ladies participating in Phase I, to a pretty huge 30+ for Phase II…this will mean more work for me (yay?) but also hopefully an even better project!  You can look for those columns showing up in February of 2011 on my She Has No Head! column on Comics Should Be Good…but in the meantime, read Ladies Comics Project Phase I, Part One, here!

So, yeah, all that plus working full time and trying to have a life (I totally failed at the latter this month)…makes me feel pretty damn good about that 21k.  So thanks for indulging me.  I plan to keep pushing on Pariahs, and will update as I can on progress.  Ideally I’d like to have a working first draft by January 1st.  Maybe by writing it here I can help motivate myself to commit to that.  Regardless, thanks for reading everyone and for all the great support.  Also…if you’re not following me on twitter yet…what’s up with that?!  Do it!  :)

NaNoWriMo: DAY TWENTY-SEVEN

November 27, 2010 in NaNoWriMo, writing | 4 comments

15, 060 words / 48 pages

Woo.  Still way behind with only three days to go, but it’s hard to feel bad.  I like what I’ve got, and I’ve written more this month than I have in an age, and this experiment has pushed me so hard to solve problems with the plot and world building.  Had I not done this I suspect I wouldn’t have worked on this book at all…instead I have a nice chunk (and hopefully maybe 10 to 15k more to come) and a lot of the world building and characters and plotting ironed out – which in pseudo science-fiction/post apocalyptic books like mine – is a lot of the battle.  So though I’m disappointed there’s not more by now, it’s still a hell of a start to the new novel…I think depending on where I end up I’ll try to keep this same attitude and finish a draft by January 1st, even though December is going to be part hell and part heaven from a busy/commitments standpoint.  We’ll see.  I’ll keep updating, at least through November 30th.  Tomorrow at least should be one more good day of words…maybe I can get to 25K.

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