| | Ricardo German Torres doesn't have a web site for his artwork, so when he sent me an email saying he was interested in working on GC-7 I asked him to do a sketch of one of the characters. In his enthusiasm for the project, he actually drew up the entire second page. While I'm not sure it is the direction we'll go, I wanted to share it because…well, because it's pretty freakin' cool. | |
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| So we have another one for the Colorado Crazies file. This one is close to my home, in Golden, Colorado where a woman attempted to set fire to her house with her entire family inside. For good measure, she picked an evening when her daughter's boyfriend was staying the night. I don't know if she was thinking of this as some kind of bonus or what, but fortunately all of them woke up and escaped safely.
Maybe it's the high altitude of Colorado that pushes people over the edge. Maybe it is the fact that people here consume copious amounts of alcohol. Anyone who thinks that Colorado is the drunkest state, though, obviously hasn't been to Alaska.
Some new reviews in the reading section. Pretty slim month, but definitely a few things worth checking out. |
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| Gabriel Araya and I were working on The Reckoners together when we hit a bit of a snag. The first issue takes place in the town of Independence, Missouri. Despite the town's significance in settling the western territories, we were having a very difficult time locating any visual historical references. The best photograph I could locate was the following. Technically, it's actually an engraving and the earliest known image of Independence. | | We went back and forth for awhile about the look of the town. As anyone who has read the script can tell, I'm not terribly concerned about historical accuracy, so Gabriel and I were interested in working up a town that might prove more visually stimulating. Gabriel actually sat down and put together a model I thought I'd share with ya'll. | | Other than the penis shape that I think is supposed to be a lamppost, it looks pretty good. We'll also be incorporating the courthouse as it is one of the town's oldest landmarks. |
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| A day early, but happy Thanksgiving. While the original Thanksgiving may not have been the lovefest that they taught us about in elementary school, I think the spirit of the holiday is important. When the days get shorter and the nights get colder, it serves us well to gather with those we care about and ponder that for which we have to be grateful.
And eat. Gotta get that extra layer of fat on for those cold months ahead. We just had our first snow on the front range. | |
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| One reason I enjoy working in the comics medium is the collaborative nature of it. If you can't play well with others, or if you can't take in other peoples' vision, then you probably aren't going to have much fun. As an example here is the description for the character WOLF from the first script of Project Menagerie:
"He is a large man, with a hard, rough face, with hair that's been cut into a mohawk. His garment is black jump-suit that appears to be made from a high density polyethylene."
I intentionally left this vague in order to give the artist some room to let their imagination run around in. The first artist to work on the project, came up with this: | | Not bad, and pretty much taken straight from the text. Cristian Valdes read the same script and came up with this: | | Very different than I had imagined. We've lost the rather silly looking mohawk and his face is much harder, giving the impression of a older, seasoned veteran. Cristian is definitely putting his own mark on the project and, I think, it's for the better. |
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| The Denver Post is running a series of articles about the breakdown of the justice system on U.S. Indian reservations and the danger this has created for the people there. Throw in high levels of alcohol consumption and you've got a recipe for disaster. The irony being that most of these problems are caused by an 1885 law that put crimes on reservations under federal jurisdiction so that Indians would "be civilized a great deal sooner." Good intentions and all that.
I'm wondering if the journalist who pitched this idea to the Post editor has ever read Scalped. Scalped is a comic that creates a fascinating crime story on a Dakota reservation. In addition to just being a great story with full, interesting characters, it also throws a spotlight on many of the problems that reservations across the States wrestle with. I'm sure it's exaggerated for the sake of entertainment, but being an ignorant whitey, I have no idea to what extent.
I should point out that the author, Jason Aaron, is caucasian, but he's not ignorant. You can tell by the writing that he's done some exhaustive research. He's also offering a money back guarantee for anyone who buys the book and doesn't enjoy it. If you haven't picked up Scalped yet, I'd take him up on the challenge. I don't think you'll have to waste the money on postage sending the book back to him, because I'll bet you'll be keeping it. |
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| I had to put up the picture below just because it's so surreal. It took quite a bit of convincing before I believed that it was an actual photograph. Specifically, it is a photograph by Sebastiao Salgado of an Antarctic iceberg between the Paulet and the South Shetland Islands. | | GC-7 finally has an artist in the talented Ricardo German Ponce Torres. He's already done up a sketch of GC-7 itself which you can find over there. |
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| | | Unfortunately, J.C. Grande is no longer available to work on Project Menagerie. Which, essentially, means starting over from the very beginning. I have located a new artist by the name of Cristian Valdes. He's got a very different style, as you can tell from his sketch of Rhino, but I think it will suit the story well. |
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| Did you know that Colorado has approximately half the populace of New York City? Half. We've got half the people living in roughly 200 times the space. That's one of the things I love about living here – if you need to get some space, are in serious need of solitude, you can find it. While it may take some effort, you can get to places around here where there is absolutely no one for miles around.
And yet, stupid shit like this still happens. The police and the local media are focusing on the fact that shootings are a rare occurrence in Denver, which is true, but how empty and meaningless does your life have to be to kill someone because they have better bling than you do?
Page Four of The Reckoners is up. That story will be getting to its own brand of killing shortly. |
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| OK, this is just wrong. A few days ago General Petraeus states that Al-Qaede and Sunni insurgent groups have had all of their Baghdad strongholds destroyed. However, he notes that, "They remain very lethal, very dangerous, capable at any point in time, if you will, of coming back off the canvas and landing a big punch, and we have to be aware of that."
Smart thinking considering that a few days later, sheiks willing to work with the U.S. were kidnapped in broad daylight. What makes matters worse, is that they were kidnapped right after a meeting with the government on how they could possibly aid in the fight against Al-Qaede. Which means that they very likely have better intelligence than we do. Fortunately, all but one of the sheiks was rescued. That's what you call a fluid situation.
However, it says a great deal about AQ. I mean, how bad do these guys have to be that these sheiks would side with the us, a nation that invaded their country on what has come to be a baseless rational? Pretty freakin' bad.
Page Three of The Reckoners is up. I think Panel 2 is particularly well done as Gabriel captured the family resemblance in the McCulloughs. |
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