December 19th, 2006
Some Eggnog for your Blog?

   Well, I hope your Holiday season has found you well. Or at least finds you finished with your shopping (I know I have-the internet does indeed rule!). We just got back from an early visit to my folks in Pittsburgh and thankfully, there was no harsh weather or delays for our flight. In fact it was downright balmy without a snowflake in sight. This 'Indian Summer' is not too unusual. I remember many a snowless Christmas eve. But watch out for January and February-it can be very brutal.

   Heck, I even remember the one year I was on the high school track team (where I held a perfect record the entire season-by never winning a single event!) when we had a flash blizzard in May! It was afterschool practice...The sun was shining as we shuffled down the bleachers to the track circling the football field. As we were doing our warmup stretches, the sky went gray with cloud cover. As we began a one-mile run, fat wads of snow began racing down, almost as fast as raindrops! A beautiful sight, if a tad disconcerting so late in the year! Before we knew it, snow was piling on the ground and the tops of our heads! Halfway through the run, the flurry kicked into high gear and it was difficult to see beyond ten feet! A couple runners took the turns hard, spinning out on the slickened gravel. It was like an episode of Speed Racer where Speed would watch helplessly as other cars would crash and burn on a treacherous off-road race. To the coach's credit, he told us to continue (because, of course, in Track & Field you must always prepare by checking road conditions from the AM radio station snow reports-huh?). That year was the end of my glorious sports career, which only included a couple years playing "B" Baseball on a team that my dad's candy store sponsored when I was ten years old. I was a crappy fielder, but always good for a base hit.

   So, anyway...(I need to copywrite that as my catchphrase, as it's my favorite transitional term)..

   I really would like to see the tv show "Heroes". From what I understand, it's great, particularly for a superhero geekboy like myself.

   But I won't.

   Not for a while, anyway...

   No, I'm not waiting for the inevitable DVD (although that is a wondrous viewing option these days)...

   You breathlessly ask your monitor: "But, why, Drew?..."

   Well...

   Because I've been doing a lot of writing these days. Comic book writing. Nothing's sold as of yet, but I've been persuing this creative avenue more aggressively in the past month or so due to encouragement from fellow freelancers and one sympathetic editor(!) This doesn't mean it's a done deal, but when all the stars seem to be aligning the right way, it's best to capitalize on the moment, even if that moment is actually several weeks during the Holiday hustle n' bustle.

   Now, if I start watching "Heroes", I'm seriously afraid that I'll be overly influenced by it, and I don't want to have the show's style override my own burgeoning style. Some professional comic writers can compartmentalize, watch TV and movies and keep their own writing identity, while some outright steal bits they saw on tv the night before (which is why so many street-level superhero comics read like an episode of CSI: Topeka these days). I won't name names, but you can come up with your own summations.

   So, like Karl Kesel, Bob Layton, Keith Champagne, Mark Farmer, Tom Simmons and others I've regretably forgotten to mention, I plan to make the move from 'merely' inking to writing as well continuing to ink. Not much will have changed, but now I fill my time between gigs more productively. I like doing my blog, but, as you no doubt noticed, I've cut back on blogging so I can devote time to more erudite writings, like having one costumed steroid case bash the stuffing out of another!

   There can be several days in a row when I wait for pages, so instead of crazily hustling for some last-minute ink job 'scraps' where I'd ink a few pages on a late book, (and risk burnout) I've been devoting this free time to writing. 52 is almost completed, production-wise, as Pat Olliffe and I begin work on week 45, so I don't know what the future brings when the year-long mini is over. That brings me to my early Christmas present: A regular inking gig on a monthly series, my first since Cap and Thor! Tragically, I can't divulge what the series is, but I'll tell you all about it when the time is right! The news should be out before the next Megacon this February.

   Some days I think I'm confident in my writing abilities, some days, I fear falling on my face. Much like when I struggled to become an inker. It's starting over with a new dicipline. Wish me luck (unless you're competition, then screw you!-tee hee).

   A couple of tidbits I must get to before I forget:

   Item: Oft-underrated powerhouse penciller Paul Pellitier (Exiles, Negation) is going to be doing a six-issue arc on the Fantastic Four, which, IMHO, is long overdue! Along with new writer Dwayne McDuffie, who proved he 'gets' the FF in last year's FF Special one-shot (recently reprinted in the trade paperback "The Life Fantastic", along with the 40th Wedding Anniversary Special which a certain inking blogger participated in)! I think it'll be the best since Waid, Wieringo & Kesel!

   Item: Inker-wannabe-writer turns penciller in the upcoming Ferro City Vol. 1 trade paperback by Image! See http://www.amazon.com/Ferro-City-1-Jason-Armstrong/dp/158240738X/sr=8  Jason Armstrong graciously offered me a chance to strut my stuff on a pinup included with extra story pages that didn't make it in the original mini! All in glorious black & white and halftones! Neat stuff!

   Item: I've now joined the 'MySpace Movement'! Come visit me at http://www.comicspace.com/drewgeraci/

   Th-th-that's all this year, folks! I'll see you in '07! Thanks for all the nice comments and support for me and my various projects! Have a happy and healthy New Year!
 
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