The return
-
I started this blog as an unofficial vehicle for interesting statistical
information. When I retired, I let it lie fallow. I'm going to post here
period...
Gender Wage Gap By State - Census Bureau
-
If you need a reason to start a business, the gender wage gap may be a
factor. The Census has created a new visualization of the disparity between
male ...
It takes a lot of practice
-
A friend asked: “If you had the chance to ask three different people
(living or dead, famous or not) ONE question… who and what would you ask?”
The one req...
Faded road markings cause concern
-
Q: Can someone at New York state tell me why the DOT doesn’t use a better
reflective paint when the lines are painted? It appears the paint used has
no ref...
Goodbye but NOT farewell
-
Using the words which Roger used in his intro for the last post of round
20--- Z
*With joy, we'll dream away each sorrow, With love we'll live for each...
Alan Moore's Twilight Proposal
-
Introduction by Alan David Doane:
Honestly I didn't intend the irony, but this week's FMF, looking at Alan
Moore's never-published Twilight proposal, also ...
Empowered Minds: Celebrating Women in Research
-
SUNY Researchers Making an Impact Here at SUNY, we have no shortage of
women who have made a mark on our world. Throughout Women’s History Month,
we’ve had...
The Best Films of 2023
-
Martin Scorsese, left, Lily Gladstone, and Robert DeNiro all received Oscar
nods for *Killers of the Flower Moon*. Some say Leo DiCaprio, right, was
snubbe...
Getting Ready To Die
-
Getting Ready To DieNo, as far as I know, it’s not imminent, but you never
know. An awful lot of people are checking out in the seventh decade that I
just ...
Petitioning season cut short
-
Political "petitioning season" for U.S. Congress, NYS Assembly, NYS Senate,
and a host of other positions, was cut short. Like all the other things
that...
Eagle Scout Project
-
Rutherford neighbor Krish Soni is getting started on his Eagle Scout
project on Saturday, October 26. He will be labeling storm drains in the
neighborhood ...
We’re Off On An Adventure!
-
Just now, Marge and I are doing a bit of adventuring. The next adventure
will include a whole new online reality and presence for me and my work…
See you i...
It Changes
-
Living with Lupus and Fibro and Asthma is often not so much 'one day at a
time.' It is much more like one fifteen minute segment of time - at at time.
This...
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye…
-
Well, kids, this is it. I’m leaving first thing tomorrow morning. My visits
home will be few and far between, and when they happen, they’ll be
exclusive...
Spring is here?
-
As far as the pro peloton goes, it’s on! I watched the Tour of Flanders
today, and it was one of the best races I’ve ever seen. “Looking back, you
get a b...
Modern Types-Ronald Searle,Geoffrey Gorer
-
With the recent attention given to Ronald Searle's 90th birthday and new
interview,I decided to look at one of his books.
The book is titled Modern Ty...
AmeriNZ Podcast episode 413 is now available
-
AmeriNZ Podcast episode 413, “Eighteenth season”, is finally *available
from the podcast website*. There, you can listen, download or subscribe to
the po...
AmeriNZ 413 – Eighteenth season
-
This episode has been so very long delayed! I was busy with a lot of little
things, and I still am, so this episode isn’t edited. I start with what I
did r...
Bedfordshire, the hay, and the sack
-
Inspired by Anatoly Liberman's *Take My Word for It: A Dictionary of
English Idioms* (which I've reviewed for the *International Journal of
Lexicography*...
March Photo Challenge: Eleven
-
Welp, I missed last month’s photo challenge due to our winter vacation from
February 22-March 2, and came down with the flu in record time on March
3rd, wh...
1, 2, 3, 4: You Can Count On It
-
Up the stairs, count the steps1, 2, 3, 41, 2, 3, 41, 2, 3…Crap, it didn’t
come out even, it’s eleven But 1-2-3-4-1/ 2 /3-4-1-2-3 will have to do; the
middl...
Here we are at 21.
-
Happy 21st birthday, Johnny Bacardi Show!
Probably won't begin writing here again anytime soon, but hey, if you like
my stuff I have a Substack now and...
Check me out!
-
Over the years I have collected a range of recipes to help me lose weight.
I attend Slimming World and achieved my target weight in November 2022.
Read...
This is The End (a follow-up)
-
I wrote yesterday about my possibly retiring this space in favor of
migrating all of my blogging to ForgottenStars.net, because of Reasons. I
am now pul...
A Dumb God
-
People who believe in God but don’t believe that creation is teleologically
imbued essentially believe in a dumb God, likely a God who merely exists to
ser...
18 and life, you got it
-
It's the 18th of April, and that means it's the anniversary of Mia's
accident - 18 (!!!!) years ago today, we were in the crash that damaged her
brain ir...
Sunday Round-up
-
Wash your mouth out
In these ultra-hygienic days, Russian artist Yulia Popova has come into her
own by making models of foodstuffs out of soap. What makes y...
I believe ..Religion
-
Written by the Rev.Jeannette van der Veen-Bosgra
I believe in a world where all people can live in happiness,
and that I too have a duty to create such a wo...
Tough Day
-
A few weeks ago, I turned 38, and I am still under the scrutiny of
strangers in public. One would think that once you're out of grade school,
middle school...
Change
-
Group Reading “The only thing we have in this world that is utterly and
intrinsically ours is our integrity.” ~ Mira Grant One- to find the
universal eleme...
Retro Y'all!
-
Still jumping. In place, mostly. Someone should do one of these rap battle
style brags about being a junker. Seriously. Big sale at the Peddlers Mall
today.
X is for XMAS
-
*MERRY CHRISTMAS (XMAS) EVERYONE!*
I thought I'd put a link to the top 100 Xmas songs for 2017 so you could
click on it and play anything your heart d...
The Myth Memers
-
One of those little questionnaires just to dip a toe back into blogging.
Took this from Chris Hull's Facebook.
1. Do you make your bed? No.
2. The first c...
Now available in paperback!
-
*Sharp: A Memoir*. William Morrow & Co, 2012. Print.
We lost 4 members of the Guilford High School Class of 84: David Ciardello,
Richard Eaton, Ronnie Burn...
No parallel
-
Get a good look at these: Whence they came: After seeing that incredible
glow-in-the-dark Zac Posen dress that Claire Danes wore at the 2016 Met
Gala, Lori...
ABC Wednesday: The Importance of Being Bored
-
When I was growing up, you being bored was your problem that you were
responsible to rectify. As children we learned never to be bored- or at
least not t...
Monday PSA: The Pioneer of the Pole
-
Click on the image for the full ad As promised, the second of two
Antarctica themed PSAs. Today: “Pioneer of the Pole.” Just like last week,
this is from D...
Final Act
-
Dear Followers of Berowne's "Savage Reflections." I'm very sorry to have to
inform you that my father, John Savage, passed away on December 26, just a
week...
Friday Post - Your services are no longer needed
-
Heads will roll
While the good news fairies of Wall Street would have you believe that
everything is just hunky dory the truth is it's not. In order to m...
Age is a State of Mind, Somewhere Near Nebraska
-
What a year it has been! After surviving the odometer rolling over to 40, I
had a year of sabbatical. That gave me plenty of time to think about my mid-lif...
The End of a Long Day
-
You know those days where all you really want to do is change into your
pajamas and curl up on the couch while you decide which comfort food would
mak...
#Freaking Out -AND!
-
Calmly completely freaking out about my move. AND! I quit smoking. I feel
this qualifies me to have an opinion on how to do it.
So I am calmly completel...
Gaze Upon My Works and Snicker, Part 53.
-
[image: DP700-F365028]
Another quickie sketch at work, because I wanted to draw Pandora A in a
white fuzzy hat (no, I don't know the name for them) and a b...
Superheroes I Love #10: Deathlok
-
Every red-blooded boy loves cyborgs. Half-man, half-robot, what’s not to
love? The Marvel Comics character Deathlok is a bit on the obscure side,
but debut...
The Party Animal
-
“My mother hired this critter to liven up my birthday party. 1986, Ribeirão
Preto, Brazil.” (submitted by IG @glaumir_muraca)
The post The Party Animal ...
Episode 326: The WGA Strike
-
One by one, Ken goes over the many issues the WGA is fighting for and why
they’re important. He also gives an overview of the situation and how it
might...
The dopamine jail of joke Twitter
-
I’m home from vacation and the Planet Funny promotional engine is slowing
down. (There’s still one last signing at Powell’s City of Books in two
short week...
Rex Smith: Free speech, pulpit speech and tax laws
-
Each school day when I was a little boy began with the Pledge of
Allegiance, followed by all the students bowing their heads to recite the
Lord’s Prayer. T...
Mixed Results for The Rules
-
Well that was an “interesting” Emmy Awards. There were enough surprises to
make the alteration of the voting rules to a single round plurality rather
than ...
Mom Has Stacked Dinner Party Roster
-
GOLDEN, CO—Their eyes widening in amazement as the 43-year-old rattled off
the names of heavy hitter after heavy hitter, impressed members of the
Dreesh...
Week 17 NFL Picks
-
Last week’s 10 wins leaves me with 153 wins. Weak season. Sorry. Week 17
picks NFL Picks Away Home Chicago Detroit NY Jets Buffalo Tampa Bay Atlanta
Caroli...
Coverville Countdown 2012: Nominations Begin NOW!
-
It’s that time of year again! Time for you to nominate and vote for your
favorite covers, and for me to spend the last few shows of the year to line
them...
Obama’s speech coverage on NPR
-
What were the people at NPR thinking? The coverage of President Obama’s
speech on National Public Radio on Wednesday was just awful. I’ve never
minded anal...
2PP132 – 16 May 2020
-
This episode was delayed, yet again, because Arthur didn’t have enough
time. Anyway, here we are—were? Today’s chat was about the changes to New
Zealand’s ...
My New Venture: Top Flight Family
-
You may have noticed that you haven’t heard much from me lately. That’s
because I’ve been quietly working on new passion of mine, a digital media
startup o...
First blog post
-
This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it,
or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you
started t...
10.29.15 GOOGLE UBER ALLES
-
This article originally appeared in the 10.29.15 issue of Metroland.
You may have heard that the New York federal appeals court granted Google a
big win ...
This Is Not A Joke
-
A new ball game - with tasers. Hat-tip : The Volokh Conspiracy According to
The Daily Caller, Eric Prum, one of the founders of Ultimate Tak Ball,
said, “I...
This page rank checking tool is powered by Page Rank Checker service
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
SOLD OUT, Part 4 by John Hebert
Mr. Hebert continues his reminisces about a comic book I had something to do with because on this topic, his memopry's WAY better than mine.
Now, it was time to put my money where my mouth had been all those years. I had to actually sit down and produce a comic book- doing the pencils and inks all myself and I'd gotten my then-art student/girlfriend to agree to letter the project. This was the point where a lot of the poseurs and wannabes are separated from the real pros. It's one thing to draw lots of pretty pictures of Batman, Wolverine and Phoenix standing around and looking dramatic with no real backgrounds, but when you've got to TELL THE STORY WITH PICTURES, make it interesting and authentic and throw in some kind of "cinematic magic" to boot, that's where it's all at. I've seen so many kids and even adults who are SO sure that they're the next big thing in comic art crumble and drift away sheepishly once they actually get a real script in hand and they see that copying a Jim Lee or McFarlane splash page has virtually nothing to do with actual sequential art that I can see them coming from a mile away now.
This, however, was my turn to shine or fail and skulk off to a lumberyard or some worse fate and I was determined to not allow that to happen. I gave my all on that book, staying up sometimes more than 24 hours straight, drawing, redrawing, hitting the library (pre-Internet) for reference, trying to stay "current" with the look and storytelling of the piece, sometimes second and even third-guessing myself into a near nervous breakdown of worry (which, admittedly, I came to do again and again even once I'd "made it in the big leagues" a few years later) and doing my best to not only impress Tom and Roger, but to try and out-mainstream the mainstream comics that "my book" would share rack space with. I'd pencil a page or 2, then pop into the store to show Tom and Raj what I'd done, then head back to the proverbial and literal drawing board sometimes high as a kite and sometimes near-suicidal as I had to pencil, repencil and even cut and paste up some pages combining 2 or 3 pages into one . This was occasionally very frustrating, but now, in retrospect, I realize that ALMOST every change was for the better and that this was the first real editorial input I'd ever had outside of school work and the volunteer work I'd done on theatrical projects and etc.
There were a few times when I practically begged Tom to let me ink a few pages, to not only get ahead, but to break up the monotony of the thing, but he insisted that, except for the cover and ONE page that would be sent around to the Comics Journal and such for promotional purposes that the entire book had to be pencilled and lettered before we'd all sit down, go over it, making sure evry panel of every page was complete, cohesive and coherent before I'd be allowed to commit the project to ink.
Phew, "tough room", I thought, but not as tough as the times I'd have with the lettering. As I stated previously, my then-girlfriend had been recruited to letter the book. She'd never really even read comics and was struggling her way through art school, and, in the interest of complete honesty and disclosure, we did end up breaking up during the production of SOLD OUT!- once for a few days on the first issue and then permanently and badly a few pages into the second book. She was in over her head on the book, but in all fairness, she did give her all most of the time and she really had gotten involved to support me and in retrospect some 20 years later, that was a good and decent thing and I'll do my best to say as little as possible in regards to this subject from here on. I was constantly throwing her copies of Simonson's Thor which was lettered by John Workman- the only letterer whose work was not only competent, but practically jumped off of the page and actually added to the compositions and storytelling. I wanted "our" first project to be a winner and as strong as possible, but at times, I was too close to it and I didn't handle the pressures as well as I should have. I'd spend days banging out a page, then I'd drop it at her house for lettering-sometimes only a panel or two, then feeling it all slipping away when I'd come back a couple of days later and find out that nothing had been done. It was agonizing; I couldn't let this book fall apart, I had to get it done - the right way. It was my portal to the big leagues and out of Palookaville.
I got more and more stressed and was sleeping less and less, spending more and more of my awake time at the board after everybody at my house had gone to bed, and then crashing and sleeping the day away, only to begin again once the sun went down. I was a vampire without a cape and hokey accent, and I was hating it and loving it at the same time. As tough as doing a regular comic is, this was even tougher on some levels because it had to be FUNNY on top of all else and, as many have said before, "Comedy is tough". We had to load the book up with loads and loads of sight gags, yet not overdo it and burn the reader out, we sought some weird state of balance where we'd go deeper and deeper into the absurd and twisted, then veer back into straight narrative-it was great and a true challenge as I had no problem diving into the absurd, but I sometimes needed (and still need) guidance to find my way back. The sight gags and plays on words and titles that I crammed into oh so many panels were inspiring, when I'd get a small notebook page with "John-go nuts here" scrawled on it, I did, feeding off of the guffaws and giggles I'd get from Tom and Raj when I'd plop the corresponding pages down on the desk for their look-sees.
It nurtured my need for not only reassurance and acceptance that every creative person craves, but it sustained my constant need to entertain- a flaw I still carry with me which is why I still stock a book of office traps and pranks on my desk to this day and why my cohorts at the firehouse and I spent two years planting broken lawn implements in one particular guy's truck. It's a sickness like drugs, drinking or gambling (at least two of which I know a bit about), but for the most part a benign one- although the lawnmower guy would most likely dispute that.
There were times it seemed like I'd never finish the project, that it'd never be an actual, tangible book. I kept working and reworking, getting closer, yet further from completion. The comics business was actually writing the damned thing for us with its absurd bombardment of the market with more and more awful small press black and white comics, some so ludicrously titled that we couldn't even have come up with them. I sometimes think that it was a good thing that the book took us so long as we had had time to look at what was going on and say "Whoa, gotta put that in there!" The first pages completed- both in pencil and ink were actually the cover and the last page, when I got the go ahead to actually ink 'em, it felt like one big psychic enema, it was the break in the monotony that I needed - I could breathe again...for a few days, but thank God for those late night showings of HBO's comedy specials on more than one occasion, they kept me from running screaming off into whatever night I was in the midst of.
There were a couple of inspirational moments on the project as well. The first started out absolutely horribly. I'd had a "Big Brother" when I was a kid because I'd grown up without a Dad of my own and my "Big Brother" and his family and I were and still are, close. Jack had a son named Erin who'd had a lot of behavior problems for years and had just seemed to be getting a handle on them when he was murdered by his mother's boyfriend on July 8th, 1986. As a tribute to him, I put Erin in the book, arguing with a doppelganger of FantaCo's own longtime counterman Matt Mattick over a jacked up cover price and some 10 or 12 years later that very same panel was reprinted in a comics news magazine as accompaniment for a letter on speculation and distribution issues.It was self-serving, but I'd do it again in a minute. Bottom panel is John's tribute to Erin, on the left; I had no idea. A pretty good likeness of Matt on the right. - ROG
The second "uplift" if you will, came near the end of that summer when The Comics Buyer's Guide printed the cover of SOLD OUT! #1 in their coming attractions section. I'd picked up a copy while dropping pages off at the store and retreated with she-who-was-not-to-be-ignored to this great little dive of a mexican restaurant where she had lunch and I stared at the cover art on that cheap newsprint blankly. I'd arrived. It's funny, that Mexican place was still going strong until the owner died 4 or 5 years back. It's a coffee place now; my office is basically spitting distance from there, and every time I pass it, I can't help but think of that warmest of afternoons.
No comments:
Post a Comment