Saturday, November 1, 2014

Comic Series Planning - Part 3: Developing Theme, and some concept art

My current series of articles on this blog chronicles my efforts to come up with a story idea that I can develop into a digital comic-book series. The series will use DAZ Studio renders for artwork, which means I will need to buy resources from DAZ or build them myself in Hexagon or Blender before I can produce the panels of artwork.

But before doing any of that, I need to develop the theme and story of my comic. And that is what I have been working on for the last couple of months -- I've sunk many an evening and weekend into it, in fact. 

Friday, October 3, 2014

Comic Series Planning - Part 2: Choosing a lettering typeface

In this second part of my series on producing my own digital comic-book using computer graphics resources, I will be focusing on something most readers probably don't think much about consciously -- the lettering typeface.

Traditionally, of course, comic-books are hand-lettered.  And using my comic-production software, Manga Studio 5 EX, I could, in theory, with a digital pen and digital tablet, hand-letter my comics. But, in the first place, that's just far too laborious, and in the second place, I'm a lousy letterer these days. (I was pretty good in my day, having taken drafting in high school, but by using computers so much and hand-writing so little over the years, my writing has become appallingly sloppy.)  So actual hand-lettering is a non-starter.

Of course, Manga Studio comes with the ability to type words into each panel using the keyboard, which technically obviates the need for any sort of hand-lettering and also allows one to use any typeface one wants -- from Georgia to Trebuchet to Courier.  However, because comics have always been hand-lettered, using a mechanical typeface that resembles something from a typewriter or a printing press dramatically changes the look and feel of the word balloons, and, in my view, diminishes the overall result.  In short, comic-books should at least look hand-lettered, even if they are typeset on a computer these days.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Comic Series Planning - Part 1: Concept Art

As the handful of people following this blog know, I have been fairly quiet of late.  Other than mentioning a few Supergirl fanfic comics I've made, and making a couple of posts about how "busy" I've been, I haven't been updating this blog very much.  I discussed a few of the reasons why that's so about a week ago, but now I'm going to reveal a little bit of what's kept me so busy all this time. It's not that I didn't have any spare time... it's that I was working on something I wasn't ready to make public yet.  And I'm still not ready to make much of it public, but I thought I'd post a small glimpse.

First a little bit of history.  I've always loved to write, and particularly to do creative writing of fiction -- usually either fantasy or science fiction. I've also loved comic-books for many years, and when I was a kid, I wanted to write my own comic-book. The problem, of course, is that I can't draw worth a darn.  Oh sure, I tried as a kid, and for a 10 or 11 year old, my drawings weren't so bad.  But when it comes to the human form, I'm terrible at it.  And so, although I always wanted to write my own stories in comic-book form, I never could.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Supergirl: Last Daughter of Krypton #3

Today I release the 3rd issue of my fan comic series, Supergirl: Last Daughter of Krypton.  This issue is the third and final part of the 3-part story arc "The Supergirl from Krypton" and is called "Trouble at the old mill."

Following the events of issue 2, Linda Danvers and her father, officer Fred Danvers, investigate a series of young-adult disappearances and livestock killings in the Smallville area.  As Supergirl, Linda patrols the area, eventually discovering the abandoned old sawmill where the crazed Dr. Pendergast is conducting his evil experiments.  She learns the truth about why he is creating these superhuman creatures, and has to figure out a way to stop him without hurting anyone.

This 28-page digital comic is fully rendered using DAZ Studio Pro posing software, including hundreds of dollars of premium, high-quality art content.  Because this project is a hobby done for personal enjoyment, I do not make the comics generally available, but anyone who would like to read them should contact me and we can work something out.

The entire story arc has also been collected into a single, 87-page "digital trade paperback" with a new back cover and all the content contained in the three-issue arc.

Friday, September 19, 2014

Back from the great beyond...

Greetings, readers.

It's been a while, and first, I want to apologize for not having made any posts in 2 months. I have been extremely busy with a variety of things and have not been able to keep up my regular posting here. I'm going to briefly explain why.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Supergirl: Last Daughter of Krypton #2

Today I release the 2nd issue of my fan-fiction comic series, Supergirl: Last Daughter of Krypton.  This issue is part 2 of "The Supergirl from Krypton" and is called "Evidence of Things Not Seen."

Coming on the heels of issue 1, in which Kara revealed her presence to the world, we discover that Fred and Edna Danvers, Kara's adoptive parents, have learned the truth about her hero identity -- and they aren't happy. They feel they have been manipulated by Kara and the Kents, and Kara and Superman must find a way to defuse the situation.

Meanwhile, in an abandoned old lumber mill, a strange, mad-seeming scientist continues his plot to transform unsuspecting teenagers into monstrous creatures.  Can Supergirl and her police-officer foster father put aside their differences long enough to figure out what is going on in Smallville? And what will happen when Supergirl comes face-to-face with the strange creature known only as "Subject One?"

This 28-page digital comic is fully rendered using DAZ Studio Pro posing software, including hundreds of dollars of premium, high-quality art content.  Because this project is a hobby done for personal enjoyment, I do not make the comics generally available, but anyone who would like to read them should contact me and we can work something out.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Review: Rom #10

"Warrior over Washington." Rom flies through the skies of Clairton, W.V., looking for his friends, Steve Jackson and Brandy Clark.  He finds them in jail, where they have been locked up over the death of police officer Artie Packer. Rom bursts into jail, analyzes the police, sees they are human, and takes Steve and Brandy away. Leaving Brandy in Steve's care, Rom heads to Washington, D.C. to find Project Safeguard and his neutralizer. He is detected on radar, and attacked by military jets. He defeats the jets, but when he lands to check out the wreckage, a Dire Wraith ship appears and captures him.  Meanwhile, back in Clairton, Steve Jackson leaves Brandy to visit the jail, where he turns out to be a wraith, and the real one is still in prison.


Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Review: Rom #9

"The Stalker in the Night." Rom is trapped deep underground, having fallen there last issue.  What he does not know is that he is in the lair of Serpentyne, the last surviving member of a lizard race.  Rom's circuitry continues to rebel from the touch of the Deathwing last issue, but slowly he recovers, and he summons forth his Energy Analyzer. He follows a trail of energy, and behind him comes Serpentyne, wishing to fight.  Eventually, Serpentyne catches up, and tells the story of his race, and their destruction at the hands of the wraiths. He is the only survivor. Vengeance must be his. So he attacks Rom, seeking to stop him from being the one to take out the wraiths. Rom and Serpentyne battle, and Serpentyne breaks off a stalagmite, seeking to run Rom through with it, but he trips, and the point breaks off and skewers him instead.  His madness passed, Serpentyne apologizes, and then dies. Rom heads off to continue looking for his Neutralizer.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Supergirl: Last Daughter of Krypton #1

A few times earlier this year, I mentioned a project I was working on. Today, I've finally completed the first part of it -- a full-length fan comic-book about Supergirl. This is the first issue in an ongoing series I call Supergirl: Last Daughter of Krypton.  The series begins with a 3-part story arc called "The Supergirl from Krypton," and issue 1 takes place on Kara Zor-El's 16th birthday.  The issue, "Sweet Sixteen," follows Kara during the day as she prepares to announce her presence to the world alongside her cousin, Superman.  In this issue, Kara takes up the mantle of "Supergirl," and begins her journey as the world's most powerful female superhero.

Supergirl: Last Daughter of Krypton #1 is produced with rendered artwork from programs such as DAZ Studio Pro, Blender, and Bryce.  The artwork is laid out on the comic page using Manga Studio 5 EX, and then exported to image files in ComicRack format.  For more details, see the Fan Comic section of this blog.

Well... now you know why I've been so quiet on this blog, other than writing Rom reviews. The bulk of my time and creative energy have been directed into this new project.  And it's not over by a long shot. Issue 1 is done, but I have already completed the script, layouts, and lettering for issue 2 ("Evidence of Things Not Seen"), and am 2 pages or so into shooting the artwork.

For further details, see the Fan Comic section.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Review: Rom 8

"Deathwing." Steve and Brandy mourn the loss of their friend, a police officer named Artie, as Rom looks on.  Steve rages against Rom, blaming him and once again entertaining doubts about the Wraiths, but Rom tells the story of another world destroyed by the Wraiths, and warns that this could be Earth's fate. Then with his Analyzer, Rom determines Artie is alive, so he departs, and Brandy and Steve let in the rest of her lab, so that Artie can be taken care of.  Rom uses his Analyzer to track Wraiths, and finds them pretending to have a funeral for one of their own.  In the mean time, a mysterious reptilian creature seems to be hunting the other Wraiths in Clairton.  Rom arrives at the grave yard and attacks the Wraiths. Their leader summons a Deathwing, but the creature is hard to control, and ends up turning on him and killing him. Rom's arm is touched by the creature, and he loses control of it, falling into the grave, and then down into a deeper pit.  The monster hunting Wraiths appears, and is revealed to be Serpentyne.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Review: Rom 7

"As I lay dying." Steve Jackson hides out in his damaged filling station, trying desperately to repair the still form of Rom.  His friend, police officer Artie Parker, arrives, demanding to know what is going on, and Steve tells Artie about the Dire Wraiths.  The body of a dead Hellhound convinces Artie that something is up, and he agrees to help Steve get Rom to Brandy Clark's lab.  While they are out trying to save Rom, Wraiths and Hellhounds break into the filling station and steal Rom's neutralizer, which is still surrounded by a force field. And far away at Project Safeguard, the wraith leader summons the Thornoids to finish Rom off. At Brandy's lab, Rom's friends, and Artie, try to resuscitate him, but before they can finish their work, the thornoids, which are sentient plant creatures, attack. Artie tries to protect Brandy and Steve and is killed by the thornoids.  But now Rom is conscious again, and he attacks the thornoids, defending Steve and Brandy.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Review: Rom 6

"Dog Day Afternoon." Steve Jackson and Brandy Clark take Rom to Steve's filling station, where they hide him inside.  Rom absorbs some energy from an electrical outlet and then goes into "sleep" mode, while Steve takes Brandy to work.  Meanwhile, the Dire Wraiths blame Agent Kraller for the failure of the Archie Stryker/Firefall plot from issues 3-4, and punish him by having a Deathwing kill him.  Back near Clairton, W.V., two Hellhounds telepathically track Rom from the destroyed house (issue 5) to the filling station, and they attack him.  There is a great battle, in which the hounds trap Rom's neutralizer in a force field. Steve comes back to see the battle unfolding, and uses gasoline and a lighter to burn one of the hounds. Rom deals with the other one, but his armor is over-charged by an electric wire, and he collapses.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Review: Rom #5

"A house is not a home."  Rom hides in the woods with Brandy and Steve as the police, unknowingly accompanied by incognito Dire Wraiths, search for him.  Eventually, the Wraiths bring out Hellhounds, which are telepathic trackers, and Rom is forced to flee. After dodging Wraith disruptor rays, Rom gets his human charges to safety in an abandoned house.  However, the house turns out to be a creature that once fought Dr. Strange, and it tries to capture Rom and the humans.  Rom uses his neutralizer to send the House back to Limbo, thereby protecting Brandy and Steve.




Thursday, March 27, 2014

Review: Rom #4

"The Fire, the friend, and the foe." Rom battles Archie Stryker, the two-bit criminal who has been tricked by the Dire Wraiths into being grafted to the armor of the dead Spaceknight, Firefall.  Stryker wields the Living Flame of Galador, while Rom wields a neutralizer.  Throughout the battle, Stryker tries to kill Rom, whereas Rom is attempting to avoid doing the same, since he knows Stryker is misguided. As they battle in the sky over West Virginia, on the highway below, Brandy Clark is being abducted by Dire Wraiths, and Steve Jackson is pursuing them. Brandy and Steve manage to force the car being driven by the Wraiths to crash, which kills the Wraiths, and enables them to stumble free.  Meanwhile, Rom manages to subdue Archie Stryker, and convince him that the Wraiths didn't just put a suit of armor on him -- they bonded Stryker to it forever. It can never be removed!

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Review: Rom #3

"Firefall." A team of law-enforcement officials shows Archie Stryker a video of Rom's rampages on earth.  Angry at the deaths of what he thinks are humans, Stryker agrees to work with the officials to take the fight to Rom, not knowing that they are all Dire Wraiths in disguise. Meanwhile, Rom detects major Wraith activity and goes to confront it. As Brandy Clark comes home to find more police in her apartment and is taken away by them, and as Stryker undergoes physical training, Rom attacks an underground Wraith stronghold.  She banishes most of the Wraiths to limbo, only to be attacked by a new weapon -- Archie Stryker, now grafted into the armor of the former Spaceknight Karas, aka. Firefall.


Wednesday, March 19, 2014

New Comic-Book Night - 3/19/14

Finally, despite continuing wintry weather, I have managed to make a second trip in a row to the comic-book shop, actually on new comic-book night.  Instead of being a regular thing this has started to become an exception, owing almost entirely to week after week of icy weather and hazardous travel conditions.  It's been since early January that I have been able to make regular trips.

But, the weather was unremarkable today, and so I was able to make it.  I picked up four brand-new comics and a back-issue.  The new comics are Supergirl 29; Thor, God of Thunder 20; Lazarus 7; and Ghosted 8. The back-issue is the 1990s Power of Shazam 18.  This series is one that I have mostly complete, but I have a few gaps.  Out of the forty-seven issues, seven (after getting 18) remain.  My goal is, over the next couple of months, to slowly fill out the collection until I have every issue.  Then, next year, after I finish my regular reviews of Rom: Spaceknight, I will swap over to doing 47 weekly reviews of Power of Shazam.



Below, I will briefly review each issue.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Review: Rom #2

"Second Coming." Rom smashes into the vault area of Laserium Corporation, chasing a Dire Wraith. The Wraith is in the custody of the Stryker gang, led by Archie Stryker, and they're at the Laserium to steal from the vaults.  Rom ignores the humans and dispatches the Wraith to limbo, but Stryker only sees a human being turned to ash. When the police arrive and capture him, he tells the chief of police, who is also secretly a Wraith, that he will do anything to stop Rom. Next, Rom returns to the home of Brandy Clark to seek out her council.  Brandy's boyfriend Steve Jackson sees this and calls the police, thinking Brandy is in danger.  The Wraith-chief comes along and has the police employ "top secret" (actually Wraith-made) weapons. Rom defeats the police, and his analyzer shows that the chief is a Wraith, so he sends him to limbo.  Again to everyone else, it looks like Rom has killed someone. Rom then departs, not wishing to cause Brandy any further trouble.  Meanwhile, Stryker vows to get even with the Spaceknight.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Review: Rom #1

"Arrival!"  A comet crashes to earth, and out of it emerges Rom, greatest of the Spaceknights. A car approaches, and the shocked driver, Brandy Clark, loses control.  Rom saves her from going over a cliff. Then he summons his energy analyzer and scans her, after which he flies off. In the nearby town of Clariton, Rom scans the residents with his analyzer, and then summons his neutralizer and turns two of them to ash. As people flee in fear, Rom notices Brandy again, and this time he flies off with her. Using his translator, he tells his origin story: his people were at war with the Dire Wraiths, and he and others volunteered to give up half their humanity to become cyborgs.  The Spaceknights won a victory, but the shape-shifting wraiths fled to various worlds. Rom has come to earth to hunt them down.  Brandy isn't sure she believes him, but then the national guard shows up, and attacks.  Rom battles them. Among them are several wraiths, who try to kill him and capture Brandy, but Rom uses his neutralizer to send them to Limbo.  Then he flies off, leaving Brandy to wonder what is really going on.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

New Comic-Book Night -- and some future plans

Once again it has been 2 weeks since I was able to get to the comic-book shop. This time, for once, weather was not a factor. Instead, I had an appointment last Wednesday, and I just couldn't get out there until so close to the next NCN, that there was no point to going. Thus, I delayed until today.  This gave me a decent haul -- four comics, all independent titles.  While there, I also discussed some other independent recommendations with the shop owner, and I am probably going to pick up some of the trades by the Luna brothers, since I have been so liking their work. But first I have the "Confession" trade to finish for Astro City, and a Birds of Prey volume by Gail Simone, so it'll probably be a few weeks before I dig into anything else.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

New Comic-book Night - 2/19/13

It's been a couple of weeks since New Comic-book Night for me -- mostly because of the weather.  Once again it decided to snow last Wednesday, and this time a veritable blizzard visited my area.  Since comic-books are definitely not worth getting into an accident over, I waited until this week to pick up my haul. And since it had been a couple of weeks, plus many of my pull list titles come out during weeks 2-3 of the month, quite a haul it was indeed.


Among the list are two of the last three New 52 titles I still collect, and the only two I get in print form: Supergirl 28 and Batgirl 28 (the third, Wonder Woman, I get digitally, and I'm a couple of months behind on that).  Also in the mix was Thor, God of Thunder 19, my only Marvel comic.  Rounding out the list of seven were four titles from the smaller "independent" companies -- two regulars on my pull list from Image (Ghosted 7 and Alex + Ada 4), and one regular (Red Sonja 7) and one one-shot (Red Sonja Berserker) from Dynamite.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

New Comic-Book Night 2/5 - a little late

Unlike last week, during which we had a snow storm, this week I was able to get to the comic-book shop on New Comic-book Night (Wednesday). I picked up both this week's and last week's comics as a result.  This two-week sampling included three items from the pull list - Lazarus 6; Suicide Risk 10; and  Thor, God of Thunder 18.  I also violated my rule against picking up titles only for the crossover, and purchased Green Lantern/Red Landerns 28, a "flip book" issue (two stories printed upside-down from each other in two halves of the book) that represents part one of the new Supergirl story arc "Red Daughter."  I'll explain why I violated my anti-crossover rule in my brief summary below.

Because I usually reject crossovers, the comic-shop owner noticed GL/RL 28 in my purchase stack and expressed surprise.  As we discussed it, he said something quite interesting and undeniably true of Supergirl -- that he can't even express to people who she really is or what her comic is all about. "Peter David's earth-born angel stuff was easier to explain than who this character is," he stated.  And I could not disagree.  Kara Zor-El has been such a mess since the H'el on Earth arc (and really, since long before that -- basically since issue 8), that the character has come to seem directionless and, frankly, pointless.  Frankly, if it weren't Supergirl, I'd have dropped her book a long time ago.  The only good arc in the entire thing so far was the first arc.  After that, it went completely off the rails.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Replacing items on the pull list

For anyone who has been following my blog, you may have noticed some changes to the pull list.  Many of the titles that were listed on my list half a year ago, are now gone from it, and new titles have been added.  The general pattern has been for me to drop a DC title and pick up a non-DC title by an independent company.  I'm going to summarize the last year in comic-book collecting and pull list modification below.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Happy New Year... and it's been a while

First, I'd like to wish anyone reading my blog a Happy and Healthy New Year.  I can't believe it's 2014 already.  I'd have wished folks one earlier, but I was out of town over the holidays.

Second, I'd like to explain why there have been so few entries on my blog the last couple of months.  There are actually several reasons for this. The first and foremost was work -- I made my last post right before Thanksgiving, and of course went away for the holiday, and then when I got back, I became absolutely deluged.  I teach college, so some of this was the inevitable end-of-term business (writing exams, grading exams, doing up final grades), which was predictable.  But on top of this, we had an unusually frequent pattern of meetings for any time of year, but especially for the finals period (most semesters, meetings are suspended when finals roll around because no one has time for them).  And then there was a panel I volunteered to be on, which saw me reading 30 10-page (or more) proposals in a week, and writing page-long reviews of each one.  All of this adds up to the fact that I was swamped, and doing a lot of work at the computer otherwise, so the last thing I wanted to do of an evening (or a weekend) was sit down at the computer for more hours and do more writing.