My friend, and purveyor of at least 22% of the awesomeness on the internet, Mark Evanier, has a video on his blog about today, which is International Talk Like William Shatner Day. The day is being proposed by Maurice LaMarche, who's an absurdly talented voice over actor. You'd know him from Pinky and the Brain, or just about every impression on The Critic.
Check the link out here. Today is also the birthday of Mr. William Shatner, who all kidding aside, I think is just wonderful. The guy is 78 today, and I think he looks great. His Kirk is legendary, and his Denny Crane was just as fantastic. He's got a tremendous ability to try new things and look like he's having fun. You may not like his interview show (I haven't caught it), or his Has Been CD (which I think is just brilliant), but you've got to admire his willingness to, well, explore strange new worlds.
So, back in December of 2003, SciFi Channel started their new Battlestar Galactica series.
I watched that miniseries more out of my love for science fiction than anything else.I had a fondness for the original Galactica, mostly stemming from reading the Glen A. Larsen novels more than the actual show. But I wasn't looking that forward to a reboot. Starbuck a girl? Really? Bryan Singer, who at that point hadn't done Superman Returns was supposedly going to work on it, and that sounded interesting. But then he left and we got Ron Moore, whose work I loved loved loved on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. But still, Galactica? Seriously?
But, like I said, I like science fiction. And I was rooting for the show a little bit, because of my love/hate relationship with Sci-Fi Channel. These were the people who cancelled Farscape, which is still one of my favorite shows of all time. And they cancelled it after announcing a two-year commitment. The famous quote that went around was that they wanted "less spaceship shows". (And then they cancelled The Invisible Man, which was a non-spaceship show.) Well, BSG was a spaceship show, and I wanted to see it succeed, if just to mess with them.
The first miniseries was, well, okay. It didn't sing to me. I left it on tape for a while before I actually watched it, I was so not into it. I had a lot going on, and trying out the new miniseries wasn't just on the top of my list. And when I did see it, it suffered from that NBC Universal miniseries glacial pacing. I knew I'd watch it if it became a series, but I knew I wouldn't love it. The miniseries just wasn't that special.
Except…
There were two moments in that pilot that still stick in my mind. When I saw them, they kept me going. They were the little hints that this new Battlestar Galactica wasn't just going to be any show. I didn't know if they'd be able to capitalize on it, but there were these glimmers that jumped out.
First, in the first few minutes, the Cylon we'd come to know as Six was sauntering down the Caprica street. She came up to a baby in a stroller who was crying. She was fascinated. In retrospect, it doesn't just sell the alien qualities of the cover, but it's the first hint of their obsession with procreation. And Six looks at the baby, who's unattended at this point, and reaches out. We don't see it, but we know she's touching it, almost exploring it. And then she snaps its neck.
You could tell she didn't mean to. She was just examining it, and didn't realize its fragility. But still, she killed the baby and then went on her way.
I'm a writer, and I appreciate craft. You want to interest an audience in those first few minutes. Maybe get them on your side. And you know how not to do that? Infanticide. A character we're supposed to be interested in enough to follow just committed one of the most horrible acts one can think of in the first ten minutes. That was brave storytelling.
Second, there's a scene where some old Vipers are doing a flyby over Galactica. It's an airborne military parade. During it, they play the Colonial Anthem, and it's the old Battlestar Galactica theme song.
I've always loved that score. But on top of that, it spoke to the Galactica purists. It was a quick and maybe too subtle way of saying: "Yeah, Starbuck's a girl and so's Boomer, and Tigh is now a drunken Irishman. We changed a bunch of stuff. But we did it for a reason. We know the old show, and we kinda liked it too. Just give me a little trust."
And I did.
So I checked out the later premiere and I don't know what they did, but it rocked. Seriously, it was just two of the most intense hours of TV I'd seen. I was in love with the show. Over the seasons, it's only gotten better. A couple years ago, I made the joke "If they announced they were going to find Earth and do the last season as their remake of Galactica 1980 I wouldn't gripe. I'd just watch it." Except it wasn't a joke. I've just come to trust this writing team so much.
They've rarely missed a step, and sometimes when they have, it was just me being impatient. Yeah, I would have liked the reveal about the Chief's kid earlier, since I wondered why everyone thought Hera was so special and not his kid. They got to that. They've shocked me, surprised me, made me laugh and even made me cry.
Seriously. I don't care how you feel about the New Caprica arc, but watch Adama jump the Galactica into the atmosphere of New Caprica, falling like a rock and covered in flames, and I dare you not to get a damp eye. And then when the Pegasus appears in one of the most beautifully staged special effects shots I've ever seen, you'll lose it again. And while all the actors on BSG have been amazing, special props to Edward James Olmos for selling that "we're all going to die" moment.
Tonight's the last episode of the series. I'll be watching it with some friends. Conventional wisdom says that there's no way it won't disappoint. Expectations are too high, and the movie you see is never as good as the movie in your mind.
Maybe. But if anyone's going to pull it off, it's going to be these guys.
One of the books that helped me become a small publisher myself was a book I stumbled upon at a San Diego Comic-Con years ago. It was Astounding Space Thrills. It was a cool little black and white book with an awesome cover and an infectious sense of fun. I mean, Little Green Men who are photosynthetic? Brilliant! It also had one of the coolest designs for a t-shirt, and one that I would have bought even if I hadn't liked the book (and was the inspiration for the marketing plan behind the Raider t-shirts).
Best yet, the writer and artist of the book was a great guy. Steve Conley has gone on to become a friend of mine. He's so damnably likeable. This must be how people feel about me. Or so I'm told. Or maybe so I hope. Either way.
Now, IDW, publisher of a certain other collection of a small press book (you know which one I mean) has collected all of AST, it's miniseries and its online strip, into one convenient and great-looking trade. It's coolness collected between a cardstock cover, and I highly recommend that you pick it up.
Get it at Amazon here. And, use that link, and I even get a little bit of a kickback.
So you want to buy the Love and Capes: Do You Want to Know a Secret? collection. I can't blame you. I have them here, and they're just so pretty. IDW did a bang-up job with them.
I'm offering a premium edition here at the Love and Capes website. For $25.00, you can get the collected edition, including a special customized Love and Capes sketch bookplate. The bookplate will be autographed, include a sketch of one of the characters, and be personalized From the library of (your name).You can even request a specific Love and Capes character.
Now, I'm going to pull back the curtain on comics retailing here for a minute and answer an infrequently-asked question about such things. Is it better to order the book from you or my comic shop/Amazon/other bookatorium of your choice.
Some of you may have correctly guessed that I do make more money off of issues sold directly. And I know that there's a mindset of "let me give the money directly to the artist". I do the same thing. It's how I got my first two Gaelic Storm CDs, among many other things.
But, while the money's great, it doesn't translate into trackable sales. I can tell a comic shop, "I sell X number off of my website", but what's important to them is how many they sell at their store. They order from Diamond, and Diamond tracks the numbers. Diamond also requires a minimum number of sales to continue carrying the book. Similarly, bookstore and online bookstore sales are tracked, too. If Abby's Books and Coffee sells a lot of copies, she's going to order more of the next one, too. And having good sales figures allows me to keep publishing the book.
I also try not to compete directly with comic shops and stores. That's why the books on my site are generally a little more expensive, especially once shipping is included, here on the site and never go on sale early. Retailers are the front line of my sales, and I want them to have every advantage. Now, I want you to get the book, too. So if for some reason a shop can't reorder an issue, or if you live somewhere without a retailer or whatever, I want to make sure you have a channel to get it.
So, here's the upshot: order it wherever works best for you. If there's a good deal at Amazon, get it. Got a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble? Use it. Have a local retailer? Buy it from them. Want to buy it from me? You go right ahead. It's not about me, it's about you.
The Love and Capes collection arrives at comic book shops today! For realz, this time. I've seen the book, as being the author you do get a couple of advance copies, and it looks gorgeous. It's the perfect Thanksgiving present, since it's too good to just wait for Christmas!
If you get it, give me a shout and let me know if it looks as good as I think it does.
When I was at Mid-Ohio-Con this past year, I participated in a charity auction. Many of the guests got together and drew something to benefit Make-a-Wish and The Hero Initiative. Well, the auction is live now. And, if you feel a burning desire to buy some Thom Zahler artwork, you can go directly to the Amazonia sketch.
A month or two ago, I posted a link to the always-excellent Mental Floss magazine, which was having a Tuition Giveaway contest. I did this because it was a good cause, and the promise of a link back. Well, said link back has been posted, so I expect to be flooded with a bunch o' new readers. So welcome, fellow Mental Flossers. Sit down, stay a while, and be sure to check out the Love and Capes stuff.
Mid-Ohio-Con was a blur of goodness. Roger Price had one of those rare shows that, as a creator, was just so friendly. Big name to little name, you felt special and part of the Con Family. James Henry, new owner, has managed quite a feat in continuing that without missing a beat. If anything, that Con Love has just gotten better.
I did a couple panels, along with the Good Morning, Mid-Ohio-Con panel. I did a Breaking Into Comics panel with Marc Sumerak and the Joe Kubert School (of which I am a graduate). I realized how long I'd been in the industry when everyone was talking about how they started with web comics, and I said "When I graduated, there weren't any web comics."
Actually, this was my twentieth Mid-Ohio-Con. Of course, I started coming when I was in high school, but still, that's a long run. I only missed a couple when I was at art school.
But, back to this show. I've mentioned elsewhere that sales were great. The guests were great, friendly, and I got to spend some time with more than a few of them. Hopefully I'll post some pictures of that soon. And it was just too cool to see the Con Crew walking around in Amazonia t-shirts. I know some of that is because of my special reationship with the show, but still, it seems like Love and Capes is really gaining some traction.
I also did a webcomics panel with Wes Molebash, Chris Eliopolous, and a third creator whose name I can't find right now. That was a lot of fun. (And thank you Iron Fist for all your questions!)
I participated in the MOC Sketch Jam, where we did drawings on a stage that would be later auctioned for charity. I did an Amazonia sketch that came out pretty well, especially for a drawing done early in the morning and on an easel, to boot.
And my Captain Hammer shirt was quite the hit. In fact, I had people complaining that they had "Everyone's a Hero in Their Own Way" stuck in their head after seeing me. So I flexed the deltoids of compassion and sang a couple lines of "A Man's Gotta Do What a Man's Got to Do" to get a different song stuck in their head.
I live to serve.
There's still more to write, and I'll be parceling that out over the next couple of days. Hopefully a couple more sketch scans will come through, and I was interviewed on the Comics Related podcast. As soon as that goes live, I'll let you know.
