It's been an odd new year already, but any year you enter still breathing is a good one! I'm one of those annoying scrooge-types who consider holidays an irritating interruption in work. That's the awkward curse of enjoying the job you've wanted since you were seven years old. When offices and services are delayed by the one-two punch of Christmas & New Year, I get antsy. I suppose if Karen and I had kids, it would be a much different story. I think it's because, despite the fact that I have many productive years ahead of me, I fear I may never accomplish half my goals in life. At the same time, I may not be 'in the moment' enjoying life as it happens as much as I should.

   My writing is going well and my inking skills are staying sharp, so I should be greatful for that. However, I'm finding that writing is such a different, arduous chore, a different mental muscle to develop and I hope I'm able to find my true voice in storytelling beyond the occasional blog. My original script for Hotwire #1 (the miniseries, not the online comic) has changed drastically, as Chuck Dixon, a professional comic writer of considerable merit, suggested I lose the superhero, noting that the "B" storyline was far more original and compelling. After a week or two of ruminating on that, I came around to agree with him. The good part is that I have two potential properties. The crummy part is it'll take twice as long to tell each particular stories. I'll keep you updated with this process.

   Recently, while reading Jack Kirby's Forth World Omnibus, I had an epiphany about Jack Kirby's 1970's quirky scripting and his fondness for quotation marks (") in the strangest places. I myself have been infected with the Kirby quotation mark madness in my emails lately. I suspect that when Kirby was cut loose from editorial directives on New Gods, Jimmy Olsen, et. al, at times he may have been lacking the exact terminology he was looking for in some panels, so he would pop in the quotation marks until a possible later date where he could fill the quotes with a more fitting line. But with all things Kirby at that time in his career, there was no looking back. So the habit of excessive quotation marks continued until it became a trademark of a Kirby Komic. If you see the pencil scans of his art at the time, you could see how he scripted right on the board and chugged along at 500 miles an hour, leaving some plots in his wake, such as the Infinity Man's disappearance. As a kid, Kirby's mindset was over my head and I disliked his oft-grim commentary of human nature, most vividly displayed in his 2001 comic. As an adult his work now rings true. I find I have the same late-awakening to other works of art, such as Neil Young's Harvest.

   This month, I've added an eleventh page to the commission section, my inks over such superstars such as Phil Noto, David Finch, Ron Wilson and others! See ya next month!