You know what I miss: The Seven Guys of Justice. You may not have heard of the book, it never won an Eisner (I don’t think it did) and I have no idea if it will ever come back. I just know it was this fun little book written by Brian Joines. In a lot of ways, it’s similar to Monkey in a Wagon Versus Lemur on a Big Wheel or The Tick in that the creators where having fun and just enjoying the process of making comics. I got to meet Brian a while back, shared a table with him at San Diego… and I have to say he was fun, just like his writing.

I bring this up because of two reasons. First is that there are so many talented people in comics that never get the recognition they deserve and second is there are some untalented hacks getting way more credit than they deserve. Now I’m not going to sit here and put down a list of who I’m talking about but rather the type of person I’m talking about. Now, before I go any further, you might be wondering what makes me think I’m even qualified to talk about this stuff, how can I critique anything outside of being a writer… well, since I have published books, inked pages, lettered pages, colored pages, thumb-nailed pages, done layouts for pages and even
drew a pin-up… I think I’m at least knowledgeable enough on the process of making comics (good and bad) to know of what I speak.

When I was publishing, the bottom line was simple: get the book finished. This gave me the mindset of making sure I could do just about any job needed so that I could assure things were done on time. Anything I could do myself meant I was in control of and that made life easier. At this point I feel I’m a competent colorist and letterer and have a half-dozen books out there with my work. When an inker flaked on me, I had spent enough time working with inkers to understand the process and do a passable job on a short story for an anthology. What I have learned since then is that competent and passable is not good enough. Any job you do in comics should be the job you love and should be your sole focus. I watched Joe Weems ink a Walter McDaniel cover once, it was awe inspiring to see Joe fly around the page with his brush and bring to life Walter’s art. If you think inking isn’t important, just ask Jim Lee why he always works with Scott Williams? I would like to see more permanent art teams because I think the longer an inker works with an artist, the better the product becomes. And I think anyone who takes up inking full-time should be held in just as high regards as the penciller they work over. Colorists fall in this same category as well, so many times a book can be improved or destroyed by colors but it’s not a glamour job.

Now the most underrated person on the creative team is the letterer. It blows my mind how many people who are self-publishing just slap the word balloons on the pages without a second thought. Do people not realize that when someone looks at a page, the balloons are part of the art? Not only do they have to be incorporated well into the page, but they should guide the reader’s eyes, leading them from panel to panel in a natural progression. The placement of a balloon could correct a poorly laid out page or destroy a masterpiece. As much as I know about lettering, the number one thing I know is I’m going to leave it to the professionals. Richard Starkings name shows up on a lot of comics a month and with damn good reason. Robin Spehar has made a good living putting down balloons and deserves every penny. There’s also a couple of up and coming guys whose names I’m sure you will be hearing more of: Jason Hanley and Ed Dukeshire. Both of these guys know the importance of what they do and have taken the time to learn their craft right.

You have to think of a creative team like the offense of a football team (since this is playoff time, we’ll go with this analogy). The writer is the Quarterback, calls the plays and puts things into motion. The penciller is the running back that can really control the game. The inker is the wide receiver and the colorist is the tight end, both can block on running plays and the QB sure needs someone out there to throw to. So what does that make letterers? Simple… field goal kickers. You really only notice them when they screw up but in the end, they usually have more points scored than anyone else on the team. I think Indianapolis fans can understand the point I’m making right now.

To go to the other half of my rant and follow the football analogy… there are far too many Michael Vicks and Peyton Mannings and not nearly enough Jake Delhommes in comics. I see Vick as an extremely overrated player. I see Manning as a good player who doesn’t perform when the pressure is on. I see Delhomme as a player that no one expects anything of, yet he does great work when the pressure is on and never wants the accolades. How does this translate into comics? Simple. The Vicks of comics are the independent guys who do these books that get critical acclaim yet it’s hard to find anyone who actually likes the books. It becomes vogue to say
Book X is awesome so everyone is saying it, yet sales of the book tells you that most of those people have never seen the book. It becomes a work of hype to the point where the writer starts getting work based on his press and not his ability. It seems in today’s market, you get points for your book not being about superheroes. You also get points for it being ‘gritty’ which most times means the art is rough and dark and you have a few curse words in it. And most books now are judge on their first issue, yet in this area of decompression most first issues tell us nothing. So how can the writer of a book that next to no one buys and the first issue tells you nothing suddenly become the new ‘it’ guy? Hype.

Now, the Manning type: these are the writers who start off doing smaller books, fringe stuff or independent work that no one expects much of and are genuinely surprised by the work. They build their name on a loyal fan base and a couple of strong works and that launch them into the big time where they fall flat on their face. They can’t write the big book. They do great with a third-tier cast off but when given an icon to play with, they either try and take it the same direction they were with the third-tier guy or they go so far out of character for the icon that you question if they had ever read anything about the character. They are the type to put up great numbers on small books but can’t sustain the book ones.

Now, the Delhomme type is simple. He’s the guy that you can hand any book to and he’ll put out good work. He’s never going to get they hype machine behind him and he’s never going to be mobbed at a convention, but he’s going to consistently put out good stories. A writer needs to be a storyteller that combines characters with situations, not someone trying to get an agenda across or see how much he can shock you. A roll out, 40-yard TD pass into double coverage looks pretty on the game film, but eight hands offs for 5 yard average runs gets the same job done and eats up more clock so your opponent doesn’t get his offense back on the field.

Okay… I’ve taken the football analogy too far; but my point is a fairly simple one. Don’t buy into the hype and remember it takes more than one person to make a comic.

Random thoughts

I’ve decided my life is too hectic, so I sat down and decided I needed to focus things, have less projects open at the same time and use the next quarter of year to streamline what I’m doing. This is also when I realized I’m talking like Donald Trump and wondered how I would look with a comb-over. The quarterly plan has begun.

Another thing I’ve done is located a park near the office I’m working at. I’ve got about three more months on this contract and I figure I need to get more exercise so on my lunch I go over to the park. The problem is the park is right next to an elementary school and I find myself thinking if I look like a guy who is there to get in shape or if I look like a child molester… what a sad world we live in not only do parents have to watch their kids but the adults around too.

I love the quotes coming out of the football playoffs. Tiki Barber said "We were out-coached" after getting shut out by the Panthers; this lead to a meeting with the head coach the next day. Peyton Manning said "there were some protection issues" which means he blames his offensive line for the Steelers being in his face constantly. I noticed how no one is making the comparison between the Bears defense today and the 85 Bears anymore… funny how giving up 29 points at home will change people’s minds. The refs came out and admit that the Steelers interception that got reversed shouldn’t have been… that’s nice; what about the dozen other calls that got screwed up? But my favorite quote of all came from John Fox, the head coach of the Panthers when asked if he was surprised what Steve Smith could do as a receiver since he was only 5’9", Fox response: "No. It’s not how big the wand is; its how much magic is inside, and he’s got a lot of magic." Isn’t that the type of thing guys with little dicks say? Is Fox comparing his pro-bowl receiver to a small penis?

Another football note that made me feel very old. The New York Jets are about to hire Eric Mangini to be their head coach; but they haven’t announced it yet. Perhaps they are waiting till Thursday which is his birthday. He will turn the ripe old age of 35. I don’t mind being older than most of the players now… I’m accepting being older than some of the retiring players… but to be older than the head coach; that’s just wrong. And just think of this… if Vinny Testaverde comes back for one more season, he would be eight years older than his coach. Vinny graduated high-school when Eric was in the fifth grade.

I thought of an analogy I really like last night having to do with trying to be a professional writer. And it popped into my head because of an Eddie Izzard joke about the British space program. Writing is a lot like trying to reach the moon with a ladder: your goal is always right there, just out of reach but you continue to believe you just need a bit more ladder to get there.

And my moment of irony.... two articles on CNN.com today about safety issues at NASA right before 30 Days of Night: Dead Space comes out... cool timing.

Enough already!

I'm a fan of Craig Ferguson's show. One of the nice things about DirecTV is I have the east coast feed on the major networks, so I get to watch Craig at 9:30 each night. Well, it seems that someone out there has decided to shoot their wad and promote the hell out of Broke Back Mountain. Now, I don't have a problem with the content of the movie... I did an entire comic book about a guy coming out to his best friend... so you want to go see a movie about two cowboys in love, have a blast. I probably won't see it just because I've cut the number of movies I see in the theater down drastically... hell, I still want to go see Narnia and I'm skipping King Kong till DVD... so a quiet cowboy movie just doesn't make my list.

Now, the thing that's bugging me is that suddenly this movie is getting the same kind of push as Titanic... and that was annoying as hell. No one is going to get me to go see a movie by telling me the movie is great and that its a performance for the ages... at least no TV commercial will do that. So seeing the movie clip three to four times a night has now gotten me to hate this movie... just like I hate Titanic and I've never seen either of them.

When are people going to learn that shoving something in people's faces is not the way to market a product. I've seen the movie De-Lovely with Kevin Kline, I thought it was terrific, Kline was brilliant and the music was amazing. The fact there was homosexual context did not factor into my decision to watch the movie nor did it affect my enjoyment of the movie. The other night I watched Kinsey with Liam Neeson, another good movie, strong performances and also homosexual context that did not affect my decision to watch nor my enjoyment of the movie.

So, my point is, all I know about Broke Back Mountain is that it's a cowboy movie, it's got Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal and there is homosexual context... oh, and the line, "I wish I knew how to quit you." But what is going on in the movie? What are they doing? Why do we care what they do? They're marketing this thing like the movie Wild Things, which was basically "Denis Richards and Neve Campbell in a lesbian scene!" This is not brilliant marketing either.

So to the studios who's putting a fortune out to promote the movie... how about taking a minute and telling me what the plot is instead of just how other people think its good... actually, lets send that message out to all studios about all movies.

So tonight is a mass of mixed emotions… how’s that for alliteration? This is what’s going on: The Carolina Panthers ‘bitch slapped’ the favored New York Giants 23-0 today; this is good. They go on to play the Chicago Bears next week in Chicago where the Bears beat the Panthers earlier this year in a very ugly game; this is bad. I got all the lettered pages for I AM SPARTACUS uploaded to the publisher today; this is good. I now have to try and find someone to write the short forward and I have no idea who to ask; this is bad. I have fifteen artists signed up for my new super secret project; this is good. I still need five more artists; this is bad. Tuesday my air hockey table gets delivered; this is good. Some assembly required; this is bad. 30 Days of Night: Dead Space comes out this month; this is good. I have to go to work tomorrow; this is ALWAYS bad.

I’ve been feeling very creative of late, which is a huge improvement over November and December where I felt totally stymied. I’m also itching to get my camera out. I’ve been talking to this great model named Natali Demore who has access to a location I can rent and that has been my stumbling block since I moved. No place to shoot and the studio I would rent closed so the could move but haven’t re-opened and it’s been six-months. So the idea of getting back to work on my next photo book is very exciting.

That’s going to be the update for today; hopefully I’ll get to do another before a week passes. So my fingers are crossed for the Panthers going to Chicago… I’m really pulling for a Carolina/Denver Super Bowl. My brother is a huge Broncos fan and I can’t wait until one of the announcers uses the “Two Jakes” line. But that’s a long way off; one win at a time baby.

A new year begins. It always amazes me the twinge of hope that comes with the beginning of a new year. Like a cleansing rain, we leave out failures and frailties of the past behind and step forward into a new dawn. Come on people, changing the calendar is no different than our watch hitting midnight. We’re still the same people we we’re moments before, so why does changing the last digit of the year make a difference? Changing jobs, moving to a new city, a new relationship… those are places you can get a fresh start, not after watching the ball drop, gulping champagne and kissing whoever is standing next to you.

But I’m not setting out for this to be negative. I’m actually hoping that this new year thing works… I could use a slight change of direction.

Hope is funny. We can get through a lot of crap if we have a shred of hope to cling to. The hope doesn’t even have to be real or plausible, just possible. I’m working a job I absolutely hate… but I cling to the fact that I have a new book coming out this month, a new project to work on and my Panthers made the playoffs. None of these things are going to get me out of the job any sooner… well, if the new book gets me more work it might, but I’m pretty much stuck in this contract until March and maybe longer if I don’t line stuff up.

I’ve become fascinated with the old Pulp book covers. I loved the format and style they were able to produce with only a handful of elements. Sex, betrayal, danger, intrigue… all that on a paperback cover. I’m contemplating doing a series of photos based on the old pulp novel covers. I’ll have to experiment some, decide the best approach to both the format and the function. I’ve done a few photos that have had that pulp quality… I will have to dig them out and experiment to see if I can get that feel I want on the final product. Then start setting up some shoots. Don’t know if this idea is big enough to be a new book or if this will just be a fun side project.

No resolutions for me this year. Either I will make changes in my life or I won’t… the calendar won’t dictate it. But I do hope that all of you have that strand of hope to cling to and that any bad times ahead are brief.