Still persuing my comic book writing aspirations, but it's been a time-consuming process. I'm very self-conscious about doing a good story right out of the box. There's a flood of new comics by small-press and the big boys available now, so standing out enough to separate a reader from their hard-earned money is a daunting proposition. At least all the variety available now confirms the undiminished hope creative people have. Succeed or fail, creative people of all stripes have the need to give voice.

   I have twenty-some years of notes on situations, gags, and fully-written scenes. I think the trick is not to be in love with everything you've ever written. Some of my earlier writings are embarassing to myself, so the thought of showing them to others is out of the question. One of my less-embarrassing excursions into literary lore was an entire treatment for a Hotwyre minseries, most of which will now serve as an unpublished bible for the character. A lot of ideas I had back then have since shown up elsewhere (not through thievery, it's just that there's so many coincidences in the superhero genre). Some of these similar concepts have been done well and some not so well. My bad for not getting Hotwyre out there sooner. But the bare bones of story is still very strong, IMHO.

   Breaking in cold as a writer, with NO previous freelance credentials, is even tougher, because it's hard to get stuff read in manuscript form. As I've mentioned before, I made a concerted effort to break in as a writer for Marvel and DC, which was an absurdly-high goal for me. I should've concentrated on small press to work out my writing chops. Once source of frustration for breaking into the big two was the ever-changing continuity of their respective universes, plus the fact they they generally planning 3-6 months ahead of what's on the stands, so you had no idea what the character's current writers or editors had in store for your beloved character. No sooner would I write a Wonder Man story, then something drastic would change in his life, like, say, dying again (in the crappy-by-any-standard Force Works #1). I had finished a complete Wonder Man story that takes place during his acting days, but who'd be interested in publishing it, let alone reading it now? The editors have their pet projects, but one must accept the fact that you can't gamble too much on an relatively-obscure character. The market has changed so much that there'd have to be a major push for Wonder Man by a name writer to draw attention to this admittedly B or C-list character. Wondy was dead for several years, returned via the Scarlet Witch (long story) and except for the Avengers Two miniseries with the Beast, has been relegated to 'background board meeting' status again, next to lame-o's like Sersi, Dr. Druid, Gilgamesh and Moondragon. Can we retcon those losers out of the Avengers' membership? Ugh!

   My inspirations are Bob Layton and Jimmy Palmiotti. Both started as inkers, then rose beyond their station. To be perfectly honest, inking doesn't require nearly as much mental shelf space as pencilling, so I imagine they, like I, come up with a lot of ideas as they ink. I'm not a self-loathing inker, nor am I putting down their accomplishments. Both of them have pencilled on occasion (Bob's most recent work is the Magnus Robot Fighter litho and Jimmy's penciled & inked a lot of trading cards and pin-ups). I thought out most of this blog as I inked earlier today, so I could maximize my time, rather than sit at a blank screen for hours.

   I have several sheets of doodles and notes taped to the right side of my drafting table, where I keep adding any new breakthroughs in my Hotwyre story problems. I'm aware that this is new territory for me, and that when my stories get published, there will be professional-grade scrutiny of my my work, as I'm already a working comics pro extending himself to another discipline. When I'm stuck in mid-story, I choose not to force a resolution. I let the situation lay for a few days and concentrate on another aspect of the story. Then sometimes it just comes to me. If I succeed as a writer, I'm clearly not read for a monthly series at this rate, unless I wrote a completed miniseries before the first issue came out!

   Recently, veteran writer Chuck Dixon and I grabbed some grub at a restaraurant, catching up on everyday crap. After all these years I've gotten to know him, I finally brought up something I'd been meaning to pick his brain about: The craft of comic book writing. I'd held off from this topic before, because I'm sensitive to the constant hounding writers must get by every wannabe (myself included) when they're cornered at a convention. I presented my Hotwyre story to him, speaking in fast-forward mode because I wanted to get it over with, so he wouldn't feel like he was at a business meeting. He was typically generous with his advice. My biggest hurdle was that my first issue is mapped out as a Vertigo-esque setup, the second issue, all superhero. He pointed out that it would turn off potential return readers because the different formats would present a sort of bait-and-switch. If reader A loved the mystery in the first issue, he/she would see the second issue as a degeneration into typical superheroics. If reader A hated the first issue: "Where's the action? He's a superhero, right?", then #2's too late to win him/her over.

   So currently, I'm trying to marry the two concepts. Have some head-bashing mixed with ongoing mystery. We'll see what happens. In the meantime...here's a little gem from...(ahem)...1993 (cough cough)...