At least it's not as bad as Wonder Woman's new Star Sapphire look.
Now on to page eighteen. Seven pages left until #13 is wrapped!
Page Sixteen
I saw Avatar. In IMAX 3-D, in fact. Visually, it's stunning. What I love about James Cameron's work is how he makes technology part of the process, rather than stopping it. I know the whole film is an effects shot, but they never have that "Wow, look at me, I'm a cool effects shot" feel. It feels organic.
The script, however, is a little less spectacular. In fact, it's average, which is a little disappointing. In Titanic I thought he managed to tell a standard love story in such a way to make it feel epic. In Avatar, he tells a standard "invading European" story and make it feel, well, very standard. Nothing was really a surprise in it.
Ultimately, it's kind of like someone saying "I'm going to sing you Happy Birthday" and then they go ahead and sing one of the best versions you've ever heard. Nothing's a surprise, but you can certainly appreciate it.
Cameron also brings in the term Unobtainium, which is just a little too on the nose for me. I've heard that the term can refer to the ever-moving "last" element of the Periodic Table, and if that's what he had in mind, he should have sacrificed reality for verisimilitude and come up with something else.
Still, I can't resist poking fun at it. In Love and Capes #13, in fact this very page, we'll find out that one of the characters has something made out of Unobtanium. I was going to call it Infinitium, and still could go back to it. I just needed a replacement for Adamantium, which now that Marvel's lawyers are Disney's lawyers, I won't be doing at all. I like the shirt that's on my back just fine.
Page Fifteen
I love a lot of the shows on USA Network: Burn Notice, Psych, White Collar, Law and Order: Criminal Intent(although I really miss Alicia Witt). And I understand financial realities but man alive do they do a lot of product placements. Burn Notice is the big winner, managing to work in an OnStar ad that was so slick I almost didn't notice it. Other shows have fared a little worse.
Of course, I've got some glass walls here myself. I did a product placement in Love and Capes. And, I'd do it again, if anyone's got some money they want to toss my way. I'm not proud. I just try to keep it subtle.
Love and Capes #12/Twitter contest
In my Robot 6 interview, I mentioned that I was considering doing a Twitter contest. I've decided to do it, and here it is:
1. Read Love and Capes #12. Page 26, panel 1 is a big half-page splash. When I drew it, in my head I heard a song. First person to Twitter me with the song name and artist gets their pick of anything from the Love and Capes store.
2. I'll post one hint a day, every day. And I'll add the hints here after they appear on Twitter, so bookmark this page if you need to. This is the permalink.
Hint #1: The song was released in 2007.
Clue #2: I've referenced this band in the other romantic comedy I wrote. A ittle something for longtime fans.
AND WE HAVE A WINNER! @mizzelle on Twitter correctly guessed "First Time" by Lifehouse. Specifically, here's the part that got stuck in my head from when Abby runs to catch Mark to the kiss itself:
Looking at you,holding my breath, Feeling alive all over again,
For once in my life, I'm scared to death,
I'm taking a chance,letting you inside.
As deep as the sky, under my skin
Like being in love, she says
For the first time
Do You…?
I meant to post these in dribs and drabs, but I saw a couple during Monday Night Football yesterday and realized I hadn't posted any of the rest of them yet. So I figured, what the heck, post 'em all.
So, here are the other three spots of the Family Planning campaign.
Seven come Eleven
Page eleven took some doin'. I knew basically what characters I wanted to use and what I might say, but it took forever to break the page. I wound up cleaning for two days trying to break the writer's block to no avail. And then I became creatively dyslexic. 
Waiting in line at a Wendy's I figured it out and broke… page thirteen. And with Love and Capes I like to work in order, so.
Finally, it came to me in church what to do on this page. Some people would say it was me not paying attention to the homily, but I like to think of it as divine inspiration.
Still one more clunky page to do, but I've got a bit of a car ride ahead of me. Long car rides do help jar things loose.
In the Words of Han Solo, "It's Not My Fault"
I'm getting some reports that Love and Capes #12 hasn't shipped everywhere. I don't know why Diamond would list it in their new releases and then not deliver it until after the Holidays, but apparently that's what they're doing. Anyway, if you're one of the people affected, I wanted you to know that it wasn't something I did on my end.
Meanwhile, I managed to finish page ten of the next issue. I've hit the spike strips of writing and these pages are coming out a lot slower than I expected. Also, if you compare these posts against what actually prints, you'll notice that I'm going to rearrange pages in the print edition. I realized this Abby sequence needs to happen earlier in the book.
Do You Know It All?
I recently completed working on some Male Health commercials for Family Planning of Northeast Ohio. I did much of the writing on the spots, did the animation, and produced them. The expert voice-over is by the phenomenally talented Roger Price, and production work by Fraser Video.
There are four commercials in this series, two :30 spots and two :15 spots. I'll post one them every day or so from here on out.
The animation is simple, but effective. They work pretty well, and form a nice, unified message. The campaign is designed to work in a couple different formats, including giveaway coasters.
It was nice to work in video/television again. Maybe I'll make working in that arena one of my New Year's resolutions this coming year.
And There Shall Come… a Ninth!
I don't know why, but after a burst of incredible productivity, I hit page nine and everything just stopped. This page languished on my drawing board for a week before I finished it.
Sometimes pages are hurdles and sometimes they're sprints. Either way, you have to keep going.
Also notice that on the back wall are copies of Tony Isabella's 1000 Comics You Must Read. A book which, I have it on good authority, mentions a certain a certain book with the initials L and C.
"War of the Supermen"? What About "LOVE of the Supermen-types?"
All right, if DC can let their cat out of the bag, I figure it's okay to announce my cat, too. Love and Capes #13. Free Comic Book Day. Be there.
Oh, you want more? Well, it's no secret that Mark and Abby get married in issue twelve (or do they…?) and issue thirteen picks up where that one leaves off. I'm eight pages into working on the book so far, and I have to say, it includes one of the funniest pages I've ever done.
After that, we have much to discuss. Diamond minimums and new plans and things like that. But, let's just say that while issue thirteen isn't continued, it coulda been if that's the way we'd wanted it.
And, just to cap it off, here's a scene that may or may not appear in the new issue.