Hi all! Some of you may have noticed that things seem to be slowing down here at BSP. Divis Morte has been updating rather infrequently and not much is coming up in our news section. So what's the deal?

          Let's start with Divis Morte. As you may or may not know, the only money I make off of Divis Morte comes from advertisements and merch sales. Unfortunately I'm not making nearly as much money as I'm putting in to the comic. Basically, I just can't afford to keep doing the comic right now. Divis Morte has been a labor of Love since the beginning, and I do plan to come back to it. The struggle over the world of Alltrose is going to have to wait until my financial situation is a bit better though. I hope everyone who has been reading will be patient enough to wait it out. I really appreciate everyone's support.

          That being said, I haven't taken a complete hiatus from comics. I'm currently working on several exciting projects that I'd like to give a little preview of here.

          First up is a one shot horror comic called The Wrong House . This is a book I did with an artist named Kay. Basically it's a slasher flick on paper, that follows a group of kids as they are being hunted down by a maniac in the woods. There's a bit more to the plot, but I don't want to give any of the good stuff away. I grew up on comics and horror movies, so this was a cool chance to combine those things.
          Another great thing about this project is that I got to work with Mariano Laclaustra (from Kincaid) again, as he painted a gorgeous cover for this project.
          Isakai publishing has agreed to publish this project, but we are still working out the contract. I'll keep the site updated with any new info on this front.


          Mastema is another project that I'm working on for another publisher. In this case Arcana studios. This is a property that Alex Chong and I created, somewhat based on a character from a D&D game I ran years ago.
          Alex is one of the most talented artists I have ever had the pleasure to work with and when Arcana gave us the chance to work on a full length graphic novel together I was absolutely ecstatic. Unfortunately, due to Alex very hectic schedule, The Mastema OGN won't be done for a few years. When it arrives though, watch out world!


          Another project, that I've been involved in the production of for a few years now is a four issue mini-series from QEW publishing called Diabolicus . Diabolicus is a steampunk/fantasy story of political and esoteric intrigue. The story is the brainchild of QEW owner, Quenton Shaw. I was hired by Shaw to turn his vision into a full fledged comic script. After tweaking a few things I was able to produce four 24 page scripts that I think is some of my best work to date.
Now that all the art is just about finished, Quenton Shaw has asked me to return to work on Diabolicus and take care of the lettering. Returning to this project after not having touched hit for nearly a year has been a fun opportunity. Lettering it, I get to finally see the finished art and take the story in with a fresh perspective.
If all things go as planned, Diabolicus #1 should be going to print within a few months. I couldn't be more excited!
          In addition, Shaw has asked me to script another one of his stories once Diabolicus is done. This next QEW production that I'll be involved with is a western called Blackstone. That's about all I can say about it right now, but it's shaping up to be another incredibly fun project.

          As for productions from Broken Soul Press, I'm working on putting together a new horror comic along the lines of Curtis Lawson's Grindhouse. I'm not sure how often it will be published or anything, but I'm hoping for twice a year to start.

          Unfortunately I got very little feedback from the Grindhouse webcomic which leads me to believe that the page a week update is just a bad format for short works of horror. I plan on revamping the Grindhouse with a new format shortly, that I hope will work better and increase readership.

         Lastly, I've been working as lead editor for a great webcomic called Awesome Storm Justice 41 . ASJ41 is simply one of the most entertaining comics on the web and I'm psyched to be involved with it, even in an administrative capacity,


          So now you can see that I haven't just been sitting on my ass. I hope that some of you will forgive me for the hiatus of Divis Morte and join me in these new projects for now. Thanks for reading!

         Hi all! Some of you may have noticed that things seem to be slowing down here at BSP. Divis Morte has been updating rather infrequently and not much is coming up in our news section. So what's the deal?

          Let's start with Divis Morte. As you may or may not know, the only money I make off of Divis Morte comes from advertisements and merch sales. Unfortunately I'm not making nearly as much money as I'm putting in to the comic. Basically, I just can't afford to keep doing the comic right now. Divis Morte has been a labor of Love since the beginning, and I do plan to come back to it. The struggle over the world of Alltrose is going to have to wait until my financial situation is a bit better though. I hope everyone who has been reading will be patient enough to wait it out. I really appreciate everyone's support.

          That being said, I haven't taken a complete hiatus from comics. I'm currently working on several exciting projects that I'd like to give a little preview of here.

          First up is a one shot horror comic called The Wrong House . This is a book I did with an artist named Kay. Basically it's a slasher flick on paper, that follows a group of kids as they are being hunted down by a maniac in the woods. There's a bit more to the plot, but I don't want to give any of the good stuff away. I grew up on comics and horror movies, so this was a cool chance to combine those things.
          Another great thing about this project is that I got to work with Mariano Laclaustra (from Kincaid) again, as he painted a gorgeous cover for this project.
          Isakai publishing has agreed to publish this project, but we are still working out the contract. I'll keep the site updated with any new info on this front.


          Mastema is another project that I'm working on for another publisher. In this case Arcana studios. This is a property that Alex Chong and I created, somewhat based on a character from a D&D game I ran years ago.
          Alex is one of the most talented artists I have ever had the pleasure to work with and when Arcana gave us the chance to work on a full length graphic novel together I was absolutely ecstatic. Unfortunately, due to Alex very hectic schedule, The Mastema OGN won't be done for a few years. When it arrives though, watch out world!


          Another project, that I've been involved in the production of for a few years now is a four issue mini-series from QEW publishing called Diabolicus . Diabolicus is a steampunk/fantasy story of political and esoteric intrigue. The story is the brainchild of QEW owner, Quenton Shaw. I was hired by Shaw to turn his vision into a full fledged comic script. After tweaking a few things I was able to produce four 24 page scripts that I think is some of my best work to date.
Now that all the art is just about finished, Quenton Shaw has asked me to return to work on Diabolicus and take care of the lettering. Returning to this project after not having touched hit for nearly a year has been a fun opportunity. Lettering it, I get to finally see the finished art and take the story in with a fresh perspective.
If all things go as planned, Diabolicus #1 should be going to print within a few months. I couldn't be more excited!
          In addition, Shaw has asked me to script another one of his stories once Diabolicus is done. This next QEW production that I'll be involved with is a western called Blackstone. That's about all I can say about it right now, but it's shaping up to be another incredibly fun project.

          As for productions from Broken Soul Press, I'm working on putting together a new horror comic along the lines of Curtis Lawson's Grindhouse. I'm not sure how often it will be published or anything, but I'm hoping for twice a year to start.

          Unfortunately I got very little feedback from the Grindhouse webcomic which leads me to believe that the page a week update is just a bad format for short works of horror. I plan on revamping the Grindhouse with a new format shortly, that I hope will work better and increase readership.

         Lastly, I've been working as lead editor for a great webcomic called Awesome Storm Justice 41 . ASJ41 is simply one of the most entertaining comics on the web and I'm psyched to be involved with it, even in an administrative capacity,


          So now you can see that I haven't just been sitting on my ass. I hope that some of you will forgive me for the hiatus of Divis Morte and join me in these new projects for now. Thanks for reading!

Every once in a while I like to use this soapbox of mine to help pimp the work of others. Today I'd like to take the opportunity to direct you, oh faithful readers, to the work of one J.C. Hutchins.

        Recently comic artist Stephen Holcomb II (Divis Morte) was kind enough to answer a few questions for me to post here. Enjoy.
CL:
Could you tell everyone a bit about how you got into comics and what projects you've worked on?

SH:
When I was in the ninth grade a friend of mine gave me 3 comics. I've been hooked ever since

CL:
What made you want to draw comics in the first place?

SH:
As a kid I always enjoyed drawing. When I discovered comics I just knew that's what I wanted to do when I grew up.

CL:
Can you tell us about your best experience in the comic world, thus far?

SH:
Meeting the creators and fans at comic cons.

CL:
Who are some of your biggest artistic influences?

SH:
Jim Lee, John Byrne, Marc Silvestri, Dale Keown, David Finch, just to name a few.

CL:
For our artistic readers out there, would you mind telling us a bit about the materials you use?

SH:
2mm lead holder with HB lead, Kneaded eraser, Bristol board, for inking hunts mapping point 102 sometimes a 107, good old trusty brush, and India ink.

CL:
What other artistic endeavors are you involved in outside of comics?

SH:
I will occasionally do a painting or even a mural if I have the time.

CL:
In Divis Morte you draw a lot of alien landscapes, alien creatures and fantastic technology. Where do you draw influence for your designs?

SH:
About 80 -90% of what I draw comes straight out of my head. When doing backgrounds for Divis Morte I usually try to think of early earth. (Egypt, Greece, Etc.)

CL:
Do you have any tips about visual storytelling that you'd like to share?

SH:
Read "Will Eisner's COMICS AND SEQUENTIAL ART" and draw from life.

CL:
How about any advice for comic writers? Things they should or shouldn't do to make an artist's job easier?

SH:
Be as descriptive as possible. Its much easier to imagine the scene.

CL:
What is your favorite part of the comic creation process?

SH:
Seeing the completed page either in print or online.

CL:
Do you do any comic writing yourself, or do you plan on sticking to pencils and inks?

SH:
No plans for writing at this time. Maybe in the future.

CL:
If you could work on any property what would you want to draw?

SH:
X-men, Wolverine, Spider-man or Batman.

CL:
How about a dream collaboration? Who would you want to work with?

SH:
I would love to see what a good inker would do with my pencils, such as Danny Miki, Scott Williams, Tim Townsend, or Batt.

CL:
Anything else you'd like to say in closing?

SH:
A big thanks to everyone who has checked out Divis Morte!

        I decided a while back that while this is my site, I should give a bit more attention to the various artists whom I work with that make Broken Soul Press possible. You may recall a few weeks back when Jim Vargas was kind enough to give us a coloring tutorial.         This week I'm happy to bring you guys and dolls and interview with the very talented Antonio Rodrigues. Mr. Rodrigues is one of the most professional comic artists I have ever worked with. You can check out some of Antonio's work in our new webcomic, Curtis Lawson's Grindhouse. CL:
Why don’t you tell us a little about your background first? Where are you from, where’d you go to school, all that fun stuff?

AR:
I was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1969 and I was brought to the U.S. in 1980 by my mother in order for me to develop my artistic skills and have a better chance of success here. I attended the High School of Art & Design in New York, but I was mostly self taught, using great advice from various comic book pros.

CL:
How did you get into drawing comics? What attracted you to the medium?

AR:
While in Europe as a child, I read all the popular graphic novels there (Spirou, Asterix, Tintin,Lucky Luke,etc;) Then I was introduced to American comics and I was blown away by the dynamic style of the art.

CL:
I know that you love to draw horror comics. What about that genre draws you in?

AR:
I love the challenge to achieve the sense of suspense, pacing, and shock in a comic page that we have all seen or read in the most popular Horror novels or movies. Plus all the blood and gore, of course! (laughter)

CL:
Who are some of your big influences?

AR:
Mainly artists who made an impact on me and influenced my developing art style when I arrived in the U.S. in the early 80's- John Byrne, Frank Miller, George Perez, Brian Bolland, among others.

CL:
What would your dream comic book gig be?

AR:
I would love to one day tackle any X-Men or Batman book.

CL:
How do you feel about webcomics becoming a larger and more viable part of the industry?

AR:
As PC and Internet technologies improve and expand, web comics have the potential to reach a much larger audience then the regular newstand or comic shop books. Plus, it would save a lot of trees! (laughter)

CL:
What do you feel is the most important skill for a comic artist to have?

AR:
Definitely storytelling ability. You have got to make things clear to the reader! Establish who and where the character is, what he/she is doing, what time of the day it is, the weather...

CL:
You have a great sense of action in your work. What’s the secret to making dynamic action sequences and avoiding stiffness in the characters?

AR:
It's all about keeping the reader riveted to the page! Changing the "camera" angles. Use a close-up in one panel, panoramic view in the next panel. Birds eye view, worm's eye view, etc;.

CL:
What art materials do you like to use when creating a comic page?

AR:
For pencils, I like to use a #2 HB pencil to layout the page on a 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of printing paper. Then I switch to 11x17 Bristol paper, do full pencils and ink the work using anything from Sable brushes to Faber-Castell Pitt artist pens, depending on what the situation calls for.

CL:
Are you involved in any non-comic artistic endeavors?

AR:
Between projects I like to paint portraits and landscapes using oils or acrylics. Eventually I plan to incorporate painting into my comic work.

CL:
What can we expect to see down the road for you, Antonio?

AR:
I plan to push myself further into the comics industry, trying to establish good relationships with the various editors and publishers.

CL:
Any closing words for our fans?

AR:
Thanks for checking out Curtis Lawson's Grindhouse !! There are great and exciting new projects coming your way from Broken Soul Press!

            The first time any of my comic work was accepted by another publisher was with a short, horror piece I did with Antonio Rodrigues called The Vampire Murders. I had recently gotten a lot of rejection letters for both prose and comic work and this acceptance of The Vampire Murders was extremely revitalizing.
            Shortly after that a story of mine called The Essex (with Mr. Christopher Taylor on art duty) was picked up by Mysterious Visions: After Hours. Once again I was very stoked. I didn't even mind the fact that I was working for free (not even comp copies). My excitement started to fade as I saw how little that particular issue sold. This led to my thoughts of how many quality pieces of comic art get lost in the proverbial 50 cent bin. I hate the idea of comic books as disposable art, so the thought of one of my own stories lost in an obscure anthology, never to be seen again bothered me immensely. Despite my misgivings, I figured I was at least adding to my body of published work
            More months passed and then years without The Vampire Murders seeing the light of day from the publisher who accepted it. This situation was worse than the last. At least with The Essex a few people had seen it. This story however was sitting in unpublished limbo and it drove me mad. I was in love with both the story and Antonio's artwork. I couldn't allow this comic to go unseen because of a third party's failure to come through with their end of a bargain.
            While I pondered the problem of The Vampire Murders I was also looking for a home for other short works of mine. I was being a bit more picky now, weary of anthologies with little to no sales as well as publishers who promised a lot and delivered nothing. Instead of getting myself into another bad situation I decided to sit on these works until the time was right. So these short comics sat hidden away on my computer, waiting to see the light of day.
            Upon launching my first webcomic, Divis Morte, I was shocked at the number of hits and positive attention it was receiving. Divis Morte garnered more attention in one month than the rest of my published work combined over the course of years. This made me truly realize the power of webcomics. Finally I had my answer for all those comics sitting in Limbo! Although I had a fair body of material already sitting on hand, if I was going to do an ongoing webcomic with these short gritty comic stories I would have to find some artists who could crank them out, like those old Grindhouse films...
            Thus Curtis Lawson's Grindhouse was born! Now let's just hope you guys like it.
Curtis Lawson's Grindhouse goes live this friday!

I figure that with all the ranting I do about writing comics on here that it was high time I gave some a few minutes on this soap box to the artists. Mr. Jim Vargas has put together the little presentation below to show interested parties just what goes into coloring a page of Divis Morte.

          My father, Gary Michael Lawson, died this morning. He was a flawed man, as we all are, but he was also the most brilliant person I've ever known. By trade he was military man, first as a gunners mate in the U.S. Navy and later as a civilian naval engineer working for the department of defense.
          Gary Lawson's love for the ocean did not stop with his work. He was a surfer, snorkeler and scuba diver. One of my deepest regrets in life is never getting the chance to surf with him ( I didn't start surfing until I was in my 20's and my dad lived in Ohio by this time).
          Aside from his professional career in engineering he was an extremely well read man who studied the sciences on his own, for no other reason than enjoyment. As a child my father taught me about physics, electronics and chemistry long before school ever touched upon these things. My appreciation and deep interest in science is directly tied to my father's influence upon me.
          As far as an influence over my own career, it was my father who took me to a comic shop for the first time. When I was a kid he would take me to every convention near us. While all I wanted was to look for Spidey comics featuring Carnage, it was my dad who insisted we go through the artist alleys and look at what the indie folks were doing. He helped my little kid self realize that there was a human face to comics and more than just marvel out there.
          I also have to credit my father, at least partially, with my love for life. The man was a true adventurer. In his career he had been stationed in California, Hawaii, Guam and all around the world. He took full advantage of each opportunity. He explored the wilderness, swam the depths, befriended exotic strangers and drank in all that life had to offer.
         I wish I had surfed with him. I wish my own son had gotten the chance to meet his grandfather. I wish that he had not died so young. I can take solace, however, in the fact that he lived a rich life and experienced more than most people ever will.
Rest In Peace, old man. I love you.

      This week I'd like to talk a little about some of the big influences on my writing. I'm not talking necessarily about the stuff that I most enjoy, but the work that I feel has shaped the style and substance of my own work. I’ll be breaking my influences down into different categories: comics, film, writers, and miscellaneous. I don’t know what any one will really get out of this, but it’s a fun exercise for myself and maybe it’ll entertain some of you. So let’s get started

Comics-

The Maxx –
      Take a dash of superhero, a pinch of horror, two cups of new age sketchiness and mix it in a pot of boiling Jungian psychology. This is the recipe that made The Maxx one of the coolest comics of all time. The blur between empirical and psychic reality not only keeps the reader interested but makes him think. In addition to a top notch story that winds you through a psychological labyrinth, The Maxx boasts an incredible cast of characters and the gorgeous artwork of Mr. Sam Kieth.
Caution: The Maxx is not for lazy readers.

Watchmen -
      I know it’s a bit cliché, but there’s a reason Watchmen is the most celebrated comic of all time. Alan Moore’s masterpiece is the Citizen Kane of comics. I doubt that there is a single successful comic book writer who hasn’t dissected every page of this book over and over.
      Let’s forget about its revolutionary take on the superhero idea. The most impressive thing about Watchmen is the craftsmanship of the story. This comic is THE most impressively put together piece of sequential art to date. The pacing, the epic nature of the story and the techniques used to tell it all combine to form a perfect comic book experience.
      If nothing else Watchmen is always there to humble me when I start thinking too highly of my own work.

Hellstorm: Prince of Lies –
      The 90’s Hellstorm series was the first non-superhero comic I ever picked up, and it made a profound impact on me in my youth. Being a D&D playing metalhead, the parchment-like cover and the pentagram adorned protagonist instantly drew me in. X-force #1 may have cemented my love affair with comics, but it was Hellstorm: Prince of Lies which first made me consider writing comics.
      Though the series still held on to some cape and tight clichés in its early issues, Hellstorm quickly came into its own. The stories were dark and thought provoking, while beautiful bleed pages and intriguing art invoked a perfect atmosphere. Hellstorm took a good hard look at morality in an almost Nietzschean manner and questioned spiritual dogma at every turn, even casting the idea of the Judeo-Christian heaven in a negative light. This smart manner of storytelling coupled with downright disturbing scenes of horror (like a Satanist who wears the organs of occultists as a suit of magical armour), makes Hellstorm: Prince of Lies stand out as not only one of my favorite comics of all time, but as a model of what I think a comic should be.

Writers:

Friedrich Nietzsche –
      Upon reading Beyond Good and Evil for the first time I felt for the first time in my life that there was a person on the same wavelength as myself. Nietzsche took all of the cynicism, frustration and disgust that I felt in my heart and turned it into something truly beautiful in his works. He is remembered as “the great pessimist”. In truth, Nietzsche’s ideas of self overcoming, will to power and worship of life and light may have been too optimistic. The cults of weakness and decay are still prevalent while the idolization of strength and ascension are seen as strange at best and even fascist by many.
      Nietzsche’s words have fused themselves into my very soul and they often shape the meaning behind my stories if not the craft of them. More than just my writing, but my very path in life has been influenced more than I can express by this amazing thinker.

Brian Bendis-
      I know that it’s very trendy to be into Bendis, but there’s a reason for that. The man is a brilliant comic writer. In my opinion Bendis’ true gift is for dialogue. This is where his influence in my writing can be seen fairly easily. I’m not saying that my dialogue is at a Bendis level, but he’s the reason that my characters talk too much. I’ve studied Bendis’ panel work and how letterers fit all his dialogue into a page and I have shamelessly mimicked this approach.

Film-

Slasher Flicks-
      Horror is a fairly difficult genre to pull off effectively in comics. Despite the massive amount of horror comics on the market, most of them fail to pull off anything close to terrifying. We lack many of the tools that can easily add a horrific element. We have no sound effects or creepy music. We can’t startle the reader with sudden movement. We can’t even artfully leave out the most horrifying elements to further accentuate the feeling of dread (something Lovecraft had mastered). For this reason slasher flicks are important points of study for any one who wants to do horror in this medium.
      Blood and guts murder movies have mastered the aesthetics of ghastliness. It is this aesthetic that is completely essential for a horror comic to be sincerely scary. Comics are a very visual medium, so horror comics have to be visually terrifying. When writing horror comics I tend to look at the type of scenes that work well visually in horror movies and try and set the artist up with opportunities to draw such scenes.

Bruce Lee Flicks -
      The cinematography of action in Bruce Lee flicks has had a big impact in how I “direct” comics. When you watch a Bruce Lee movie you can’t help thinking “Damn, this is what a fight should look like”. Though the plots were fairly weak in most of Bruce’s movies, they were visually breathtaking. Any artist or writer who deals with visual combat scenes can benefit greatly from studying Mr. Lee’s films.

The Twilight Zone -
      As a writer who isn’t quite established yet, I find myself writing a fair amount of short fiction aimed at anthologies. The Twilight Zone is short sci-fi/horror 101. So many sci-fi and horror clichés were once brilliant and original ideas presented on this program. While a lot of short comics (10 pages or under) simply mimic the Twilight Zone formula, I try to draw from the true tradition of this wonderful show by keeping my stories fresh, relevant and thought provoking.

Miscellaneous -

Gwar-
      Gwar, for those of you who aren’t familiar with them, are a theatrical heavy metal band made up of space mutant mercernaries. It sounds silly and it’s supposed to. Gwar is over brimming with low brow, yet extremely smart humor. As a grotesque mirror image of the human condition, Gwar pokes fun at everything we, as a society, find sacred and holy.       With a handful of over the top films under their belt, Gwar has always hit my funny bone dead on. These self proclaimed scum dogs of the universe are one of the biggest influences on my writing for The Insufferable Suffolk Gang.

Final Fantasy-
      Few things get me feeling as nostalgic as the opening theme to Final Fantasy does. The aesthetics, characterization and story telling techniques from these games are ingrained deep within my being.
      You can see a strong Final Fantasy influence in The Sleeping King, a comic I did with Michael Odom for the 2008 CBC. A lot my upcoming work, including a project I’m doing for QEW publishing, draws heavily from the sword, guns and magic atmosphere that the folks over at Square soft perfected.

The History Channel –
      The most interesting stuff you will ever hear about isn’t in a work of fiction. It’s stuff that happened in the real world. From ancient Egypt to World War II, the most dramatic stories, interesting characters and inspirational epics have been dramas that unfolded on the world stage.
      Every time I turn on the History channel I get an idea for a comic. I’m not exaggerating here. I mean EVERY time. For me there is no greater inspiration than human history.

As I've stated before, I'm a bit of an old fashioned comic fan. I like longboxes and the smell of newsprint (yes, when I was a kid comics were still printed on newsprint). I like the way a complete series of trades looks on my bookshelf. I like being able to simply flip through my copy of "From Hell" and let the memories of why I love the book so much sweep over as each page turns.

So why did I choose to do my latest comic endeavor as a webcomic instead of print?

1) The economy sucks right now and I don't want to invest money into printed comics that I might not sell.

2) Once again, the economy sucks and I think most comic fans are having to thin out their pullboxes a bit. Luckily there are lots of very cool free comics on the web to help fill that entertainment void. I figured I should do my part and offer readers something free.

3) Updating a comic once a week is much easier for me as a publisher, as well as for the artists involved, to deliver than putting out a printed comic every month or even bi monthly.

4) Working in the small press biz for a few years now, I realize that while a lot of people may have heard of my work, very few have read it. By putting Divis Morte out online for free I can reach a much larger audience. 5) In the past I've done very little with this website of mine, so I figured I should take advantage of it as something other than a very expensive email address.

Divis Morte finally went live yesterday! I'm all ready getting a lot of positive response to the project and I'd like to thank everybody that's taken an interest in it. Our hits for the website yesterday were almost 5 times what we average daily. I started the script for this story two years and several artists ago. I'm glad I was patient and found the right creative team, because Stephen and Jim have done an incredible job turning my scribbles into a solid webcomic. As for the whole webcomic thing, its been something I've kind of been shy about getting into. For a few years now I've had friends bugging me to do something online, but I'm kind of old fashioned and like to hold comics in my hand. I like to look through my longboxes on rainy days and look at the bindings of the trades that line my bookshelves. The 21st century seems to have caught me in its grasp however. Anyway, I hope that everyone enjoys our story. Remember, its always free and we update every tuesday.

Hi Gang. here's a script I wrote for fun and practice. Let's hope the nice folks at Marvel don't take exception to me using their characters.

Marvel team up: Deadpool and Howard the Duck

PAGE ONE (Splash Page)

Panel 1. Deadpool is holding a pair of sais and standing back to back with Howard the duck. Howard is in a defensive stance, but still managing to keep his cigar in his mouth. Surrounding the two is a sea of Arabic warriors bearing scimitars.

CAP:
Now.

DEADPOOL:
Any brilliant ideas, Daffy? Preferably ones that don’t involve cross dressing like your wascally wabbit pal.

HOWARD:
I hate you, Wade.

DEADPOOL:
I get that a lot.

PAGE TWO (Five Panels)

Panel 1. Howard the duck is driving along in his cab. He looks grumpy and is flicking though the radio stations.

CAP:
Four hours earlier

HOWARD:
Lousy skrulls crippled the economy. How’s a duck supposed to make ends meet if no one’s tipping?

Panel 2. Howard stops flicking through the stations and is stretching out his arms a little bit.

HOWARD:
Well at least the day’s almost over.

RADIO (ELEC):
…is bananas, b-a-n- a- - -

Panel 3. This panel is shot from outside the cab. Though the cab is in the panel, the camera is angled up slightly so that we can see Deadpool falling through the air, as if thrown off a building. He’s on a collision course for Howard’s cab.

CAP (HOWARD):
Not like much more can go wrong.

Panel 4. Deadpool crashes down through the windshield of Howard’s cab. Howard flinches and screams.

SFX:
Crash!

HOWARD (burst):
Quack!

DEADPOOL:
Ouch.

Panel 5. Deadpool, lying on the hood of the cab, looks up at Howard.

DEADPOOL:
Oooh! Gwen Stefani!

RADIO:
This s*%# is bananas - -

PAGE THREE (Five Panels)

Panel 1. Howard is using his quack-fu style to battle a four armed warrior bearing a scimitar in each hand.

CAP:
Now

HOWARD:
This isn’t fair! This guy has four arms! Who the hell has four arms?!

Panel 2. Deadpool is fighting three of the warriors and looking over his shoulder at Howard.

DEADPOOL:
So says the talking, kung-fu duck cab driver.

Panel 3. Howard strikes his adversary in the groin with a vicious upward blow.

HOWARD:
It’s called quack fu, you Young Blood reject!

Panel 4. Deadpool is dispatching two more warriors. There aren’t any enemies left standing in the background.

DEADPOOL:
Watch it, General Gao’s. That’s my fourth wall and no one but me breaks it.

Panel 5. Deadpool is facing Howard while wiping off his sais. Howard is pointing past Deadpool and shaking a little. He is completely unaware that behind him is a seven foot tall Djiin with flaming eyes.

DEADPOOL:
Should be smooth sailing from here on in.

HOWARD:


PAGE FOUR (Five Panels)

Panel 1. Howard and Deadpool are sitting on the hood of his cab in an empty parking lot. The two are discussing the events that led to their meeting.

CAP:
Two and a half hours earlier.

HOWARD:
So you’re telling me that you were thrown off a building by an assassin working for a middle eastern demon cult?

DEADPOOL:
Correctamondo.

Panel 2. This shot is a close up of Howard with a speculative look on his face.

HOWARD:
And that this demon cult uses the restaurant, Baghdad Palace, as a front for its occult conspiracies?

DEADPOOL (OP):
Uh huh

Panel 3. Howard is now pacing in front of Deadpool.

HOWARD:
And you say that if I help you steal some ancient scroll from these guys that it’ll make us rich.

Panel 4. Deadpool puts his arm on Howard’s shoulder and looks up into the sky.

DEADPOOL:
You’ll be richer than your uncle Scrooge.

Panel 5. Howard starts getting back into his cab and gesturing Deadpool to join him.

HOWARD:
All right. I’ll drive.

PAGE FIVE (Five Panels)

Panel 1. Deadpool and Howard stand over the body of a dead Djiin. There is an array of Deadpool’s weapons stuck in the corpse. Both Howard and Deadpool look to be in rough shape. Their clothes are scorched and torn and they are both catching their breath.

CAP:
Now

DEADPOOL:
All right! Let’s go get rich.

HOWARD:
This scroll better be everything you say it is, Wade.

Panel 2. Deadpool is leading the way into another room. He’s looking back toward Howard as he walks.

DEADPOOL:
Oh, it’s everything it’s quacked up to be.

HOWARD:
Please stop talking.

Panel 3. The two companions have entered a sacred chamber. In the center of the room an ancient scroll sits on a pedestal.

DEADPOOL:
Payday!

Panel 4. Deadpool carefully unrolls the scroll and looks at it in wide eyed awe. Howard is trying to look up at it and see what the big deal is.

HOWARD:
So what’s so special about this scroll anyway? Does it hold some ancient mystical secret?

DEADPOOL:
Oh does it ever!

Panel 5. Deadpool throws his head back and outstretches his arms in a gesture of super villainous victory. Howard’s head is pointed down and he’s palming his face. He’s filled with disgust and frustration.

DEADPOOL:
It’s ours now! The ultimate falafel recipe! We’ll be rich, chicken-man! Rich I say!

HOWARD:
I hate you, Wade.

CAP:
The End

          Last week I wrote a bit about scripting for comic books. This week I'd like to take a one page scene and explore various ways to go about directing it. I say directing because in a sense that is one of the jobs that a comic writer must take on. Like a film director it is your job not only to tell the story, but to determine how the story is told (unless you do things the old Kirby/Lee way). Although you may be just a writer, you must take into account that comics are visual medium and to effectively write for them you must think visually. In most cases it's the writer that determines how a scene is broken down, panel by panel. In some cases the writer may even need to dictate the angle from which our imaginary camera catches the action of the panel. Surely writers will find that individual artists need more or less direction, much like film directors learn the needs and limits of their actors.
          Now lets take a look at a possible one page comic scene. Our scenario is this: A middle aged man, dressed in a wetsuit, is standing on a beach holding a surf board. He's a police officer and has been dealing with a particularly brutal murder investigation. As an attempt to alleviate his work related stress, the man heads into the surf to catch a few waves and momentarily forget the world.
          This is a fairly simple scenario, so let's start by scripting it in a very elementary way. What we are going to do here is simply follow the protagonist through a series of shots. The dialogue is all done through caption boxes expressing our characters introspection.

Panel 1. A middle aged man stands on rocky beach. He's lean and seems to be in excellent shape for his age. He's dressed in a wetsuit, carrying a shortboard. The man stares out into the ocean, which is fairly calm with the exception of large, barrel shaped waves breaking far off the beach.

CAP(MAN):
No matter how bad the world behind me gets, no matter how much my job soils my soul, I always feel purified when my feet touch this beach.

Panel 2. The surfer is in the shallow water, jumping on his board and beginning to paddle out.

CAP(MAN):
I took an oath, an oath to serve and protect. Sometimes it's too much though. The decadence, the depravity.

Panel 3. Our protagonist paddles up a steep wave, barely making it over before it crests.

CAP(MAN)
Some philosopher once said that when you stare too long into the abyss it begins to stare back at you.

Panel 4. The surfer is lying on his board and paddling for a wave that's coming his way.

CAP(MAN):
That's why I come out here. I become one with this abyss - -
Panel 5. This is a close up shot of our man riding down the face of the wave. He has a look of calm on his face.

CAP(MAN):
- - so I don't become one with that abyss.


          So that was a fairly easy and simple way to write and direct that scene. Once again, we simply followed the protagonist. Since the angles of the shots were not particularly important for storytelling or symbolic purposes we largely left such decisions to the artist.
          Let's try and script that page again, now using some more interesting story telling techniques. This time we are going to think more visually. So we are comparing apples to apples we'll use the same dialogue in the same panels, but we'll tackle the problem more like a director and less like someone who writes comics because prose takes too long.
          Instead of simply following our character around from various angles as he sets out to surf, we will try to insert some symbolism into the visuals. Instead of simply juxtaposing thought over action we will tie the two together. Let's give it a shot!

Panel 1. This scene takes place on a rocky beach. The ocean is fairly calm with the exception of large, barrel shaped waves breaking far off the beach.
In the foreground of the panel we have a close up focused on a man's hands securing the leash of a surfboard to his wetsuit covered ankle.

CAP(MAN):
No matter how bad the world behind me gets, no matter how much my job soils my soul, I always feel purified when my feet touch this beach.

Panel 2. The surfer is in the shallow water, jumping on his board and beginning to paddle out. On the shore behind him we see a stone wall spray painted with a pot leaf and various graffiti. Teenagers are sitting on the wall drinking 40s.

CAP(MAN):
I took an oath, an oath to serve and protect. Sometimes it's too much though. The decadence, the depravity.

Panel 3. This panel has the camera looking up through the water at our man. He's paddling hard to climb the face of a steep wave before it breaks.

CAP(MAN)
Some philosopher once said that when you stare too long into the abyss it begins to stare back at you.

Panel 4. This is a wide shot, meant to show the enormity of the ocean. Our character is paddling hard into an oncoming wave.

CAP(MAN):
That's why I come out here. I become one with this abyss - -
Panel 5. The camera is looking towards the shore from behind the breaking wave that our character is riding. Off in the distance we see the concrete gray and rusty polluted sky of a decaying metropolis.

CAP(MAN):
- - so I don't become one with that abyss.


          Surely you can see the difference between these two attempts to script the same scene. We have kept the dialogue the same and left it in the same panels. The actions of our character have not changed. The feel of the scene is drastically different though. This is what separates good comic scripting from great comic scripting. Now I'm not saying that this last example was great script work, but it is an example of turning a scene which is mundane and mediocre at best, into something far more interesting and meaningful.
          Let's try one more exercise in this exploration of comic directing. We will once again use the scenario of the jaded, surfing cop, but this time we will cut the dialogue completely from the scene. The challenge we are taking on here is to put together a scene of sequential art that captures the audience, with a complete lack of words. This can be a particularly difficult challenge for comics since we lack the ability to include any auditory elements. It can be done though, and to great effect. I remember one issue of G.I. Joe from when I was a kid that had Snake Eyes and Stormshadow fighting through an entire issue with out a single line of dialogue. It was brilliant. But before I digress further let's get to the exercise at hand.
Panel 1. A middle aged man sits in the driver seat of an old El Camino that is parked at the beach. The camera is oriented in such a way as to focus on the man looking down at a gruesome crime scene photo of a teenage girl who had been stabbed to death. He has a distant, sad look on his face.

Panel 2. The man is standing pulling a surfboard from the back of the El Camino. The car has police department bumper stickers. There are thuggish looking teenagers sitting on nearby parked cars. They all eye the man suspiciously.
In front of him is a rocky beach with beautiful barrel shaped waves breaking in the distance.

Panel 3.The surfer is paddling out to where the waves are. The camera is focused on his hands as they propel him through the water. This panel is symbolic of our character washing the filth of the outside world from his hands.

Panel 4.Here we have our character paddling hard for an oncoming wave. This panel should be a wide shot to show the enormity of the ocean.

Panel 5.The surfer drops into the wave as it tubes around him, almost as if the wave is cradling him. Our character has his head leaning back in a relaxed sort of zen manner. The camera angle is looking down the face of the wave, at the surfer and into the tube of wave.


          And voila! There is our attempt to direct the same scene, sans words, all the while conveying the same message and mood. I admit, this particular example is far from perfect, but it does its job. We have conveyed the man's connection to the ocean as well as his need to disconnect from his every day life. We were also able to incorporate some symbolism, which hopefully will not be lost on the reader.
          Although I like this past example less than our second version of the scene, I feel that it's vastly superior to the first take.
          I hope this has helped some of you and inspired you aspiring comic writers to put thought and care into direction and panel work. If any of you reading this have a way that you think this particular scene could have been more interestingly scripted I would love to see your versions. Drop me a line at curtis@brokensoulpress.com with your takes on scripting this scene in one page. If someone thoroughly impresses me I'll post their version of the scene up here on my blog.
          That's it for now, but I'll try to be back here next week for some other rant about the creation and art of comics.

     I often get questions from fans, wannabe writers and even other comic creators about script writing for sequential art. In light of these questions, I figured I’d take a little time to outline some of my basic methodologies, and the reasons behind these methods. I don’t expect that people will find any truly unique wisdom here, but perhaps you can walk away with a little something.

How do I become a writer?:
     I’ve heard many professional writers tackle this question and the answer is always the same. “WRITE!”
     The most common affliction that plagues wannabe writers is that they talk about writing and think about writing, but never seem to do any writing. The most popular excuses for lack of productivity used by this brand of “writer” is that they haven’t yet found their big idea, or they are “researching” their story, or that they are just too busy right now. I call bullshit on all those excuses!
     If you haven’t had some great, world shattering idea that will revolutionize the medium, who the hell cares? Write an 8 page story featuring your favorite super hero. Script a comic about your last break up. If you are doing some comprehensive research for one project take a break and try and do some writing exercises. A writing exercise can be something as simple as turning a skit from Robot Chicken into a comic script. What do you cut out? What do you keep? What happens in between the panels?
     The majority of your writing doesn’t have to be stuff you want to publish. Every sentence and paragraph you put to paper will increase your mastery over the craft, so just write! It’s like playing guitar, or playing a sport. Buckethead didn’t become a ridiculous guitar player by only playing in the studio and on stage. Bruce Lee didn’t become one of the greatest fighters to ever live by simply talking about fighting. Practice, practice, practice! As far as the “I’m too busy” excuse goes, well there are 24 hours in a day and 7 days a week. Start off with 1 hour a week if you are truly that busy. If you can’t set aside 1 out of the 168 hours in a week, than you obviously aren’t as serious as you think you are.

Ideas and the birth of a story:
     One of the most common questions that is presented to any writer, aspiring or established, is “where do your ideas come from?”
     Well there is that old cliché about dreams. Personally, my dreams rarely make a lick of sense, so that’s not a great source of inspiration on my writing.
     Ideas for stories, characters and settings can be birthed by countless things. Music, nature, art, science –all these things can put the seed of a great story in one’s mind. Most of my story ideas are the bastard children of my life experience (albeit exaggerated) and works of non-fiction. I tend to draw a lot from historical works and programs on the History and Discovery channels. My upcoming sci-fi webcomic, Divis Morte, draws heavily from reading I did about the Pharaoh Akhenaten. I find that by drawing inspiration from the real world that I can better produce original pieces of art. To use other works of fiction as your main muse can breed a redundancy that has become particularly prevalent in comics. That being said, other works of fiction can be a good source of inspiration if the writer is careful not to simply rip off the original material. Many a great story has been forged by taking a classic tale and putting a twist with contemporary relevance upon it.
     One of the big things that writers in the comic book business must contend with is that sometimes, especially as you get more successful, you may be telling fleshing out someone else’s idea and telling a story that isn’t your own. I myself am currently working on a piece for QEW publishing where I’ve been hired to take another person’s story, flesh it out and transform it into a comic book mini-series. One of my writing friends referred to this as a “paint by number” job, but it is a viable creative outlet, a fun project and an excellent chance to further hone my own script writing skills.

Form and function:
     The technical aspects of script writing for comics is far to deep for me to really get into in this particular entry. I will give a few personal rules I use when writing comic book scripts though.

     1) Remember that you are not writing the script for the reader. You are writing the script for the artist. For this reason it is incredibly important to be clear and concise when describing each panel. I like to try to tailor my scripts to the particular artist I’m working with. For this reason I think it’s helpful to have a good relationship with your artist and to keep the lines of communication open.
     When Mariano Laclaustra was drawing Kincaid I tended to keep my panel descriptions very clear, very specific and to keep my language from getting too flashy. The reason for this is because English is Mariano’s second language and there was always the chance that he could misunderstand a metaphor and draw it literally. When I work with a new artist I tend to be very specific as to camera angles and the panel work in general. If I’ve fostered a relationship with the artist, and I trust their storytelling abilities, I become a bit less controlling in my scripts and allow them to interpret things more freely.
     The one exception to this rule of writing for the artist, is when you are writing for the editor. In this case you have to realize that you are doing a job. Like any job your work will have to meet the bosses specifications and expectations. If you are writing an X-men story and the X-editor tells you that Iceman has to come out of the story because of something happening in a different book, than you just have to deal with it and re-write it. Remember, this is a business, not just an art form.

     2)Know your characters. You should know how each character talks, what their body language is like, the expressions they make, how they would react in any given situation. If you are aware of who each character really is your book will have much more organic feel.

     3) Outline first. If you make an outline of the events that need to take place in a given installment of your story, you can then break them down into scenes and figure out how many pages each scene will need. This practice helps me out immensely when it comes to pacing a story.

     4) Be aware of the limitations and advantages of the medium. You are writing a comic book, which is different than a movie or a prose novel. You can not have a character run after a sword, pick it up and cut an enemy’s head off in one panel. Think about how time goes by in each panel as well as in between each panel. Also, don’t try to cram to much onto one page. You have an artist and a letterer both trying to make this page look as good as possible. If you write 3 pages of comic into one page of script than it’s going to look like crap and the rest of the creative team will hate you.

     5) Unless you are going for some artistic transition, do not jump between scenes on the same page. There is nothing worse than reading a comic and three quarters of the way through the scene changes. Pace your panel work to take up full page increments, unless you have good reason not to.

     6) I recommend using the Darkhorse comics format. Most companies don’t care what format you use, but Darkhorse does. If you do it in this format than you can submit to Darkhorse and a lot of other companies. It’s also a very easy to read, and neat looking format. You can find that format here.

Well I guess that’s about it. I hope some of you have found this at least a little bit informative. Feel free to drop me a line with any comments or suggestions of things to talk about in weeks to come.

For more on comic creation, check out Tyler James’ blog. He has some interesting stuff to say about the craft of comics.

I just finished getting the files ready for the Wenham Museum comic. A couple artists didn't come through for me, so I had to do a rewrite of the script and modify some panels for reuse in other places, but I think it came out fairly good. The Wenham Museum's exhibit Colorful Characters: story telling through comics opens up on June 9th. if you will be in Ma. at all this summer you should definitely check it out.

I like Downey Jr. enough, but I'm somewhat skeptical of a Hollywood Holmes film. It seems like there are far too many explosions in the trailer.

Hi everyone! I've decided to share with all you BSP fans a few pages from my upcoming comic that I'm doing for the Wenham Museum's upcoming exhibit on comics.
As I stated in a previous entry, this has been one of the most challenging projects I've ever undertaken, both as a writer and an organizer. It's really great seeing it come to life. Enjoy!
Art by Michael Odom

Art by Antonio Rodrigues

Art by Christopher Taylor

I'm now on twitter mofos! Check it out for up to the minute reports on my oh so interesting life. http://twitter.com/c_lawson Also check out our myspace if you haven't at www.myspace.com/broken_soul_press

Here is some concept art for a comic I'm working on with the very talented Max Romaine. (He drew these)

Rejection letters regarding submissions are one of the major staples of the aspiring comic creator's intellectual diet. If one can't handle rejection than this is the wrong business to be in. I say this as someone who's been both the rejector and the reject. Rejection letters can give important insight into one's work and can also be used to both humble an over confident creator and to strengthen the resolve of a creator to better their craft and "make it".
The first comic book I ever put together was Kincaid #1 and upon looking at the finished pages I thought I was the shit! I thought that I was ready for the big time! Shortly after that I got a rejection letter from Image plainly stating that they didn't feel the book was strong enough to make it in the current market. At first I was crushed, but this rejection made me take a look at my own work with more lucid eyes and try to figure out where my craft could be strengthened. After taking a good look at Kincaid I saw that a lot of my skills needed to be honed before I was ready for the big leagues, but I also knew that I still believed in the project. For that reason I decided to start Broken Soul Press and publish it myself. This gave me a chance to work on my skills on own terms while working on a project that I felt passionate about.
I'm beginning to get off topic now though.
My point is, don't get discouraged by rejection letters. They are a part of your growth as an artist. Once in a while you may even get some kind words from an editor, or even more valuable, some solid advice on how to better your work. The first rejection letter I ever got was for a piece of prose work that I had submitted to the Barcelona review. The editor was incredibly cool in the fact that she told me not only what I was doing right, but exactly the areas I was weak in. by no means pester an editor for feedback, though. If they even get back to you with a form letter than they have been more than accommodating.
Anyway, that's my little rant for tonight.

Yesterday I attended the Boston Comic Con, which is the biggest con in my home town. Granted it's no NYCC or San Diego, but it's still a fairly big show with a lot of traffic. Whenever I set up at a show like this though, I'm always stymied by my lack of drawing skills.
At every con I'm appproached by a number of people who pick up one of my books and seem super interested in it until they find out that I'm "just the writer". As frustrating as this can be, I do understand that this is simply the nature of the industry. Huge name writers (Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Brian Bendis, etc...) are the singers that everyone pines over, big time artists are the hot guitar players, lesser known artists are like the rhythym guitarist or the cute drummer and then there's the lesser known writer (such as myself) who serves as the bass player that might get some action from the groupies that no one else wants...if they're drunk enough.
The other down side of being a writer at a con is that it's very hard to get feedback about your work from any of the heavy hitters. Mike Allred was in attendance yesterday and was extremely friendly, offfering critiques and advice to up and coming artists. As a writer though one can't go up to Brian K. Vaughn and be like "Hey, you mind taking the next 15 minutes to read my script and give me hints about crafting a story and creating believable characters?" For this very same reason it's difficult to shop around projects to publishers at a con. They can take one look at an art portfolio and know if the person is good or not. If a publisher agreed to look at writing samples at a con however they would be overwhelmed by the time it took to find the few pieces of gold amid the sea of shitty scripts they would find themselves drowning in.
That being said, i still do have a lot of fun at cons. Yesterday I ran into a few people who were familiar with my work and were looking forward to Kincaid #3. I also sold some comics to people who had never heard of me but really liked the idea of a dark & gritty sci-fi book from a local creator. On top of that I was able to network with some fellow creators, make some good contacts and meet some very cool people.
Creating comics can be a very solitary, lonely art form. For that reason alone it's nice to do shows. You get to meet other people who are going through similar experiences and you can talk about the intricacies of the artform without your girlfriend giving you a quizzical look.

As some of you may or may not know, I've been giving a little bit of help to the Wenham Museum on their upcoming comic exhibit entitled, Colorful Characters: storytelling through comics. One of the things I offered to do for the museum was to put together a short children's comic giving a brief look at the history of sequential art. Knowing that I only really had space to highlight some of the more modernly significant points I figured that this project would be pretty easy for me to bang out. Also, I have made a little bit of a name for myself as the "extreme" guy. I wanted to take this opportunity to show that I could write about more than super powered drug attics who curse too much. What I didn't count on was the fact that I have NEVER even tried to write for kids before. I'm amazed at how difficult it is for me to be clear and concise while limiting my vocabulary to what will be easy for a 3rd or 4th graders to read. I have to applaud anyone who writes material aimed at children. It's truly an art in and of itself to find a strong voice within such confines.

Hi all! I have some new Suffolk Gang sketches rendered by the very talented Richard Rich. Check 'em out!

I just finished Scott Pilgrim Vol 5. I really wish I didn't I have to wait another frigging year for the end.

So as some of the more faithful BSP fans have noticed, this past year has been pretty slow over here. We've been wrought with missed deadlines, lost artwork, computer crashes and financial woes. I myself just had my first child (Tristan Ryan Lawson), only a few months ago and found myself having moved twice in less then a year's time. On top of that I was involved in the Platinum Studios' Comic Book Challenge (where my project placed fifth). All in all it's been hectic. Things are about to pick up again, however. Our Webmaster, Jim, and I are working on a revamp of the site that is going to bring far more digital content to you guys, absolutely free. I'd like to use this new format as an opportunity to pump out a lot more work that can reach a much wider audience. Once we finally get through the last few hurtles of Kincaid #3, I plan on launching an ongoing webcomic about Kincaid, Zakiel, A.R.T. and the rest. That will be updated once a week, though don't be surprised if we end up cycling through a few artists.

The fine folks over at www.projectfanboy.com have put up a BSP forum and news page. Definitely go check out their great site and say hello on the BSP forum!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will have two short stories appearing in two seperate horror anthologies. One is a publication from Black Chalice Studios called "From the Gallow to the Grave". This anthology will focus on Vampire themed stories. The story I contributed is called "The Vampire Murders" and will be pencilled by Antonio Rodrigues (one of my favorite artists to work with). "From the Gallow to the Grave" should be going to print in march.
The other anthology is called After Hours and is a general ongoing horror publication. My story, entitled "The Essex", follows two ghost hunters filming a television pilot at a haunted Hotel. The artwork is done by the talented Mr. Christopher Taylor. "The Essex" will appear in issue #4, scheduled for release in may.

Hey BSP fans, I hope you all had a great new years! As my post new years resolution I'm going to start using this blog more. Hopefully some of my insights might help others who are trying to struggle their way into the world of sequential art. First I would like to announce that one of my scripts has been chosen by Black Chalice to appear in their upcoming Vampire themed anthologies. I'm pretty excited about this, seeing as the script is based off a prose piece that I really liked, but ended up losing when my last computer crashed. I didn't have the heart to re write it in prose form, so I did a comic and it is great to see something happening with it. As for my other writing adventures, I have recently written a handful of comic shorts that I am either going to submit to various anthologies or put together with some other peoples stuff as a Broken Soul Presents annual kind of thing. I'm still trying to figure out which would be more profitable, seeing as we don't have diamond distro or huge print runs at BSP yet. My last big writing thing I have going on is a sci-fi graphic novel that I am working on with a very talented up and coming artist. I can't go into much detail here because it's kind of hush hush, but it's going to be the biggest story I have tried to tell as of yet. I'll keep everyone updated as more information on the project is set in stone.

Hey fanboys and girls. This has been a pretty active comic weekend for me. Saturday nigh I went to the Comicazi anniversary/Halloween party, which was a blast. Here's a picture of me with the #1 Kincaid fan, Mel Gavazzi
As for today, I had a table set up at the Boston Comic Con (www.bostoncomiccon.com), which is the by far best con in the area. I ended up talking with some people who had heard of our work all ready which was pretty cool, and also sold a good amount of books to people unfamiliar with Kincaid and Broken Soul Press. In addition to selling a fair amount of books I got to hang out with some very cool creators and spoke with some artists about potential collaboration in the future. All around is was a pretty great weekend.

Hey every body. I just posted some of my prose work on the link below. Check it out if you're interested.
CLICK HERE

What's up broken souls? It's been a very long and trying ordeal to bring you all issue 2 of kincaid but the time is almost upon us. The proof is in the mail from the printer. The priniting process is taking a bit longer than I expected because the book unfortunately got finished just in time for convention season. This of course means that our printer is up to their nose in work. Hopefully everyone will feel that the comic was worth the wait. Right now, as I type this, Jim is updating the site and we are going to do our best to get some more interesting content on here, including more webcomics and concept art. I just want take this chance to thank everyone that has decided to stick with us and follow the Kincaid story despite our terrible lateness. Speaking of late, I have to be up in 5 hours and my girl friend is probably mad that I'm not in bed yet, so I should go. -Curtis

I just did an interview with jazmaonline.com, an excellent website dealing with comics and movies. If you're interested in getting into my brain a little check it out. http://www.jazmaonline.com/interviews/interviews2007.asp?intID=495

Hey gang, I just thought I'd give y'all a little update on the state of things. I received the proof copy of Kincaid # 1 yesterday and everything should be a go for Kincaid to be coming out on schedule. It will be available for sale on comixpress.com very shortly and it will be in some stores around Boston on november 22nd. Today I've been working on scrpting for Kincaid #3 and going over some of the business ends of stuff so I don't look like a complete DIY hack once I'm billing stores for the comic. Meanwhile, in the far off land of Argentina, Mariano is working on the pencils for Kincaid #2. He's sent me a few pages and it blows away the great work he did on the first issue. I'm very excited to see the finished product on this one. Also thanks to everyone for your patience in waiting for Kincaid #1 It's almost here!

it's saturday night and I'm sitting at home, being sick and working on writing exercies. At least since being sick has forced me to stay home today I got some work done cleaning my office/bedroom. I've spent the majority of this week getting files ready for the initial run of Kincaid and talking to different Local stores about selling it. A good amount of stores in the Metro Boston area have agreed so we are pretty psyched. We'll have a complete list in the news section soon. Anyway, if you haven't yet checked out Scott McCloud's "Making Comics", then you should do so now. The book is excellent and has a ton of good exercise for anyone interested in creating sequential art. I'm a big fan of all three of Scott's books. I guess that's all I have to say for tonight. Peace out, girl scout.

After long while, a decent amount of money spent, and a lot of learning about the biz, Kincaid # 1 should be in select local stores by late november. I spent most of my day yesterday hiding in the office of one of my two day jobs, calling comic shops and asking them to sell our stuff. A few said they only work through diamond, but others were very receptive. There should be a couple stores around the northshore of Ma. carrying Kincaid #1 so keep your eyes peeled next month gang. Tommorow I'm taking the day off from my mon-fri day job to go get some comic stuff done. I have to meet up with a couple store owners, send files to the printer, get some legal stuff done and discuss a future release that a friend of mine proposed doing with us. Well that's about all I have time for this morning. I hope this was at least slightly interesting to read. I promise I'll get better at this blog thing. P.S. Does anyone want to give me a job at a comic shop? I dont want to do plumbing this winter!

OK, this isn't actually Curt's blog entry. This is James. I just wrote the blog code. I'm making sure it works. Don't worry, soon Curt will post REAL blogs on this page filled with Curt-like zen, insight and comedic happenings of his trials in publishing Kincaid. Stay tuned!