Creating Comics At Last

"It might not be the right time to start  an indiegogo" Apparently as the inexorable build up to Christmas begins people dont spend money this time of year for anything other than chrimbo and certainly not on comics. So when's the right time?  not until after January because that's the brokest month?? another slight delay ,not the end of the world  I've waited this long after all. Why so philosophical there? because for the first time  it feels inevitable. I will get the funding I will publish my book I will become a writer and I will do it all again after wards  because writing is in my blood. several years as a carer with zero time to myself and constant suicidal thoughts didn't stop me homeless shelters didn't stop me and neither will the birthday of an old dead fella merrry christmas mr jesus

I love the hell out of star wars rebels. A show that whilst usually for children actually feels like star wars unlike those new abominations. The characters have personalities ,believable interactions and not a Mary sue or a bland diversity character in sight . The battles were great ,entertaining and frequently surprising given how out gunned our heroes usually are . There was a clear sense of who the good guys and the forces of evil were a rare commodity in today's media. Modern cartoons have a tendencies to be bizarre ,off the wall oddness played for laughs, what happened to shows about good and evil? Has moral relativism really destroyed all hope of a show about light triumphing over dark? Every week I loved the adventures of the ghost Squadron and the efforts to free the citizens  of Lothal from the tyrannical rule of the galactic empire.  I watched them grow as a team, as a family and eventually join in the larger alliance of rebel groups. So why d...

A rough draft of my cover wings its way into my e mail account. My babies are drawn much better than I could have hoped for. The poses are altered ,made better. Details are added that make all the difference and I am yet again elated at the thought of my creations taking flight. Our anti heroic duo are caught in an explosion  being blasted by its force towards the readers . The explosion fills the background as our dirty duo are flung outward. There expressions are gritted teeth ,horror and being mildly pissed off. Being blown up ,after all,sucks the big one. The artist has added his own touches  the hat doesn't remain quite right on kree's head, kriss is in danger of tumbling end over end  as he lurches forward from the boom. again little details that make the characters more than ink on a page  and the overall image springs to life rather than remains on the flat paper . Yet again I'm over excited about squiggles on my screen, but i rather be too...

Unless you're one of those annoyingly talented writers artist I've heard legends about  most indie writing involves waiting . You've finished your story and passed it on to a super talented pencil jockey  and in a while all your hopes and dreams will be turned into beautiful pictures on a screen. Its the "while" I have a problem with. Time to think "did I do it right ?" "should I have taken yet another pass at it?" "will people like it?" "am I getting enough fibre in my diet?" " what's the meaning of life?" "if a tree falls in the woods... " Perhaps its not the waiting  maybe its that your part in the creation process is (somewhat) over. Your baby is in the hands of others. So you sit and think while other people take a crack at your story. There no way to tell how another mind will interpret your script . It get milled through there head  and all there life experiences up until that...

Safe and anonymous on the other end of my PC, I could quite easily call the whole thing of and no one would ever know. So of course I had to eliminate that comforting exit strategy. My siblings dont know I write at all,I've simply never discussed it with them. WE are very working class ,saying to them "I'm going to be a writer" is like saying "I intend to fly to uranus and set up a business making dreamcatchers "?? It simply doesn't happen in our world. People like us simply dont dare dream about stuff like that. Its never said out loud,but when every artist, comedian and creative type you ever see on television  is of a higher social class you get the message from birth straight into your subconscious  "dont even consider it an option". My work in productions companies as a young man reinforced this even more. My work colleagues were all paid I was not they all spoke like the queen I did not they all shared stories about growing...

Whilst spending 5 spare minute looking at my place holder indiegogo  I tried to look at it with fresh eyes. walking past the pc and glancing at it.(I know) i even ran upstairs to my attic lair and casually looked at the screen as i entered. The pictures ,while brilliant, were black and white.I couldn't afford colour. was this gonna work ? were people going to skip over my thumb nail image of exquisitely drawn but colourless alien ne'er do wells?  I needed a rethink ,one awesome colour image a splash page depicting everything i wanted the comic to be violence sci fi and comedy.(fun for all the family) a picture paints a thousand words,but only if its in glorious technicolour. the price wont be paid in money. Like most writers it would be paid in things I'd have to sacrifice . Food would be replaced with with cheap Scandinavian supermarket beans. Old steel toecap boots  that let in water are no longer in desperate need of replacement they are now reclassified...

Today in a struggle with my father the fingers on my left hand  are bruised and they hurt when I type. For several years I have been a carer. My fathers decades of alcoholism(and my mom's) finally caught up with him in his late 50s. Rather than take the direct approach and die of liver cirrhosis like mother he instead opted for the much more fun route of Korsakoff’s syndrome. He started going into his own world for hours at a time at family gatherings  even when his favourite subject ,politics, was brought up he would sit silent  . Once on a journey to a nearby opticians he confidently guided me around in circles for over an hour. I eventually exploded ,reminding him that he had just taken his  fourth 90 degree right turn in a row. Whilst I began loudly explaining that we were going back on ourselves again, I realized he didn't understand .He feigned understanding. Later he would feign recognition  of people, friends then eventually  fami...