I got my preview copies of Love and Capes #11, and they look good. They're probably the best FCBD issue I've done yet. Now, I hope the story holds up. I think it's great, but out of all the issues I've done, this is the one I'm a little skittish about.
The books are pictured here with the Winged Wonder, Hawkman, in honor of Kyle Baker's new Wednesday Comics Hawkman strip. The newspaper style Wednesday Comics is a great idea, and it's got stupid good creators on it. Way to think outside the box, DC!
It's been almost a commission a day since I announced the St. Patrick's Day special. One of the more fun ones I got was this one asking for Zatanna and Wonder Pig from the great Justice League Unlimited episode This Little Piggy. It was a lot of fun.
I brightened up Zatanna's costume a little bit, so it was different than the last Zee I drew. And I added a tiara to Wonder Pig, which she didn't have in the actual episode, but I thought it looked funnier.
I'm a huge fan of MacBreakWeekly. (Hey, there's a new episode recording tomorrow. Yay!) It's not just a good show for those of us Of The Mac, but it's also a good show because it's a good show with great commentators.
I've done little things before about them, too. Mark wears a TWiT sweatshirt in Love and Capes #2, and Charlotte drinks out of a MacBreakWeekly coffee mug in issue #4. I've even included Andy Ihnatko as a background character in the just-posted page one of the new issue. But I think I've hit a new level here.
Scott Bourne, photography and backup guy, has been raving about the Drobo. I think he's right to. As a backup nut myself, since my Big Crash of 2006, I really need to get one sometime this year since they make backing up so easy. Because of that, my brain just clicked a certain way and I started imagining a comic strip with Scott and his Drobo. I went ahead and did a couple of strips to get them out of my head and sent them to Scott, who liked them muchly. He's even called me out on Twitter for it, which I appreciate.
So, especially if you're a MBW fan, here's a sample strip, with links to the other two I did.
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.
I just sent out the solicitation for Love and Capes #11. Here's the official description:
Abby and Amazonia... FRIENDS?! It’s the most shocking issue of Love and Capes ever. What could cause these two women to suddenly become BFFs? Plus, Abby’s Quest for her Dress continues, and their parents finally meet! Don’t miss the last issue before the big wedding in LNC#12!
Shag over at the oh-so-fun Firestorm blog had me do a commission of Firestorm's sometimes lady love, Firehawk. This was a blast to do, being a Firestorm fan myself. Have I mentioned that before? I'm sure I have once or twice.
If you'd like to see the piece, click here or on the image to be taken to the Firestorm blog to see the image and a lot of kind words.
And as a reminder, I've got sixteen spaces left for the next edition of Powerful Women. I'd like to have it done for Charlotte, so start sending in your orders for who I should draw next.
I am a unabashed James Taylor fan. I just love the guy's music. His voice has gotten better over the years, and he gives a fantastic concert. I saw him for the first time at the Paramount Theatre in New York City in 1991 and he blew my doors off. I was a fan before, but after that, I don't miss a concert if I can help it.
Today's the man's birthday. So Happy Birthday, James!
If you're interested in trying out any of his music, I've got a couple of suggestions. I'm not normally a fan of live albums, but his two-disc James Taylor Live is just amazing. He reinterpreted a lot of his songs, and in a lot of ways are now my vision of the definitive versions of his songs. And New Moon Shine is probably my favorite single album of his.
I'm also using this to try out some linking tools to Amazon. So you should see links to those albums below. They're also available on iTunes, but in the interest of full disclosure, I get a little bit of a kickback if you buy from Amazon. And every little bit helps.
While I was sitting at my table at MegaCon, I did a couple of warm-up/sample commissions. At the very least, these help me fill out the next edition of Powerful Women, which I hope will be out for my trip to Heroes Con.
I haven't done a proper Wonder Woman image in any of the books. There's one with her and Wonder Girl, and another with her and Power Girl, but I wanted one that was her by herself. This is still a little different, compositionally, than most of my other pieces, but I think it works well.
I got my preview copies of Love and Capes #11, and they look good. They're probably the best FCBD issue I've done yet. Now, I hope the story holds up. I think it's great, but out of all the issues I've done, this is the one I'm a little skittish about.
