February 1, 2005
What's in a Name?

   I've had this weird thought nagging me for weeks. It's...well, bear with me....

   I almost wish I didn't have to call my weekly commentary a 'blog', as it's not a TRUE blog in the standard use of the word. That is, providing the recent phenomenon that is the blogosphere, still in it's infancy, can be said to already have established standards.

   Sometimes, my 'blog' offers lessons learned in the comics industry, sometimes a silly story. Sometimes I get on my preachy-preachy high horse! Sometimes I'm quite the sentimental softie. Some people's blogs are more like diaries that make Harvey Pekar's daily life appear riveting by contrast ("A trip to the dry cleaners went surprisingly smooth"). A lot of blogs are also repositories for political agendas. My blog is none of those things, but 'blog' seems to be a universally-accepted term, and lacking a possibly more accurate term, blog it is! Besides, "weekly commentary" sounds like a TV newscaster's minute of editorial comment with proper disclaimer at the bottom of the screen.

   I just picked up the latest Fortune magazine, which cover featured '10 Tech Trends to Watch in 2005', #1 being "Why you can't ignore Bloggers". It's a great article talking about (standard) bloggers' ripple effects on industry and politics. Although I didn't get any personal benefit from this info, as I'd hoped, the article was a great quickie education about the burgeoning blogosphere. I do what I do here in the microcosm of the comics world, which is it's own pocket economy, and I accept it's limitations. No matter what I do in life, this will always be my little sandbox holding fast to it's initial mission statement: Let's talk comics.

   The reason I bring this up is, one of the announcements I teased with last week is that I've been returning to the commercial art field.

   Although still a freelancer, I've accepted some 'outside' work from a video game company. An art director contacted me through this site via Google. Much as I love my precious comic books, I've been eager to dip my toe back into the commercial art world, because you can't keep all your eggs in one basket. Longtime X-Men inker Tim Townsend recently announced his departure from comics for greener pastures and I can't blame him. Tim's been a well-regarded, well-known inker, so you know he wasn't forced out of the business. He chose to leave, although he said he'd still be inking the occasional comic when time allows.

   Before I entered this business, I always wondered what happened to some creators in comics who'd disappear. Back then, I had a small-minded worldview that comics were the pinnacle of success, just because that was the yardstick I applied to success. I'd always assumed the vanished creators failed and went back to their old high-school minimum wage jobs. Only later, would I hear stories of creative burnout and how artists and writers took better opportunities in other creative fields. Comic books are a LOT of work for modest pay. Sure, there's some unexpected money that comes from royalties, but nothing remotely like the boom years of the late '80's/early 90's. When I broke in the summer of '94, I steadfastly believed that the salad days would return. And I'd be there, ready to capitalize on it! I'm still waiting.

   Whoops, I fell into my preachy-preachy mode!

   However, just like Tim Townsend, I'm drawing my six-guns and sayin' to the comics industry: "Not so fast, buster! I'm not through with you yet!"

   The second announcement I'm now able to share with you is that I'm inking a short story for Joe Pruett's eagerly-anticipated revival of the anthology, Negative Burn. The previous NB series was published by Caliber and lasted a good 50 issues. Next week, Image is publishing a trade paperback reprinting the Best of Negative Burn (1993-1998) chock-full of contributions by top talent. Name talent.

   This time around, Joe's taking the publishing reins and is recruiting some other big names (well, I managed to sneak in when no one was looking). Check out www.desperadopublishing.com to see what I mean.

   Speaking of names, time for some major-league name-dropping (one of the hidden benefits of working in the comics world): The story I'll be given the inking honors on will be pencilled by the man who killed Superman, Dan Jurgens! Dan's been known more for writing in recent years, but can never stay away from the drawing board for long, luckily for us fans. Dan wrote Thor for 79 issues, the last five pencilled and inked by Scot Eaton & myself, respectively. Since then, I've periodically politely pestered Dan for an opportunity to ink his pencils.

   Now that time has come, via Dan's buddy and my former Sojourn co-conspirator, Ron Marz! Ron's writing this yarn, Dan's flexing his pencilling chops and I'll put on my best inker game face to keep up my end of the bargain. It'll be published in glorious black & white, which, rather than presenting an obstacle, will offer me a chance to approach the inks more ambitiously. I've had some great inks marred by poor printing of color (too dark/oversaturation).

   Also, I'm working on a miniseries written and inked by me, and art by someone new to comics pencilling: Craig Andrews. More on that announcement...later!
 
To be continued...
 
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