Well, today's my last day in Canada for the next couple of months. I'll have an internet connection where I'll be, so I'm not worried about losing touch with the community or not being able to take part in all the incredibly exciting things that are happening right now!

I promise to take a lot of pictures!

Well, the time is (almost) now.

Off to Toronto by train. Going to Fan Expo, brb.
Back on the 26th with so much on my plate, it's a good time to be on vacation!! :D

In other news, I know why Z2H won't be in Toronto. Poor guys. And the silly thing is, I envy them. The excitement of the release, I mean, of course.

*stretches*
Man it's way too early for a train ride. Oh well.

I'll be sure to drop the Z2H community in any conversation I have over there!

Cheers all,


- Christian

P.S.: I'll see if I can't get some swag for ALL of you :p

Well, my desktop is completely dead, and my laptop is about to die. This means no more taking it with me out of the house. Which means, I'm not going to be on here much. I won't be disappearing completely, however. My time spent on this site will be used to work closely (or as close as possible) with the two groups that are actually lively that I'm a part of: Invasion of the Zeds (Where scripts get reviewed) and Unofficial ThunkUp! 3 (Where new scripts are made).

If for some reason you don't know about either of those groups, check them out. Good things are happening.

Wow, not really sure what just happened, but Myron (Rubente) and I moved to Edmonton with our two month (errr what the hell, almost two and a half month) old baby Mal. He has a short film gig (nonfiction) out here and then a related residency in Banff, so we're going to be nomadic for a bit.

I'm working on an application to BioWare and we're trying to figure out where we'd live if we end up settling down here. If anyone has any suggestions, fire away. I'm so lost in a city you clearly need to drive in.

Fala's pages are all done and ready for colour, and The West Was Lost is up to page 15. Hurrah! It's all coming along beautifully and I can't wait to show it off.

Myron and I tried to stalk Andrew today, but no such luck. Apparently he's only at Happy Harbor (Canada's best comic book shop!) on Thursdays. I saw lots of stuff I wanted to buy but probably shouldn't. Gloomy bear!!!!!

Back to Craigslist,
- Beth

Found this post on Digg the other day and thought the members of Zeros 2 Heroes would benefit from it more than the average Digger.

Check out Geek Dad's Top 10 Web Comics You Shouldn't Share With Your Kids!

It's a good read and pretty informative if you've never heard of any of these titles.

Later

Lotus

(Continued from Scene One)

PAGE EIGHT: (Four Panels 1-2-1)
Panel 8.1: Wide Panel: BLAKE is locking up his apartment door while talking on the cell phone cradled on his shoulder. He is wearing his new leather jacket over a dark blue shirt, looking irritated by the call.

BLAKE: Nikki's blowing it out of proportion, Jeff. I was just in the right place at the right time.

JEFF: Shit, I remember reading about it weeks ago! When she told me you were the guy who saved her, I thought she was yanking my chain.

Panel 8.2: BLAKE presses a scarred elevator call button which lights up with a down arrow

BLAKE: What did she say exactly?

JEFF: Just like the papers said. The guy was robbing the place, got other ideas, then you busted in and saved her life.

Panel 8.3: BLAKE in a poorly lit green paneled elevator, grime and filth unnoticed around him as the doors close.

JEFF: You know the guy was supposedly a serial rapist?

BLAKE: No shit?

JEFF: Seriously. They say he might be connected to a dozen other rape and murder cases.

Panel 8.4: Wide panel. BLAKE in the elevator. The combination of fluorescent lights and green panels lend BLAKE a sickly cast.

JEFF: This could be your big break, buddy. You know what the papers will pay for the story. I mean, first the fire and now this? What are the odds?

BLAKE (muttering): ...better than you might think.

JEFF: You play this right, and you won't have to worry about the rent on that apartment of yours for a long time.

BLAKE: Not going to happen, Jeff.


 
PAGE NINE: (Three Panels 2-1)
Panel 9.1: BLAKE is walking down the short stairway from the elevator to the foyer, passing inset steel mailboxes for the block on his left.

JEFF: Come on! You sell that story and not only would you be rich, but you'd be famous too!

Panel 9.2: BLAKE steps off his stoop onto the sidewalk, the reinforced door closing behind him. He is still talking on his cell, oblivious of his surroundings. It is night, BLAKE's multiple shadows indistinct among the hazy glow of the street lamps.

JEFF: Think of it, your face on TV, everyone knows your name, to say nothing of how it will play with the ladies--

BLAKE: Jeff, I said forget it.

Panel 9.3: Two-thirds page: Zoom out on panel 9.1. BLAKE has turned right to go down the sidewalk. In the left foreground a dark shape stands leaning against a wall in the alley across the street from BLAKE. The man has one hand over the other to shelter his lit lighter from the wind, his head has turned to watch BLAKE's passing, the unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth neglected. Several spent butts litter the area around his feet.

BLAKE: I don't need that kind of attention.


 
PAGE TEN: (Three Panels 1-1-1)
Panel 10.1: Wide Panel. Looking down on BLAKE at an angle as he walks away from his apartment door towards the panel, while in the left background behind him, the figure has emerged from the alley and is crossing the street towards BLAKE. He wears a hoodie under a jacket and ratty looking jeans.

JEFF: Well you sure got Nikki's attention, anyway. Last time I was there, she was asking about you.

BLAKE: I still can't believe that she went back to work so soon.

JEFF: She couldn't afford not to. You think a comics store cashier gets benefits?

BLAKE: Still...

Panel 10.2: Wide Panel. BLAKE walks into background down the left side of the street. A second punk has appeared in an alley that BLAKE has just passed, walking with the first punk about ten yards back from BLAKE. A third figure has appeared on the right of panel, moving across the street in silhouette, much closer to the foreground.

JEFF: All I know is that I've been trying to get a date with her for months and now when I go in all she talks about is you.

JEFF: You are so in.

Panel 10.3: Wide Panel facing the corner of a building. On the right, BLAKE turns and begins to descend into a subway station. On the left, the three figures are visible on the sidewalk coming towards him.

BLAKE: We met at her attempted rape. It's not what you'd call the ideal icebreaker.

JEFF: You can't tell me that you didn't think about it.

BLAKE: You can be a real fucking pig sometimes, you know?


 
PAGE ELEVEN: (One panel)
Panel 11.1: Looking up at BLAKE while he descends the subway steps. At the top of the page, the three punks stand in a semi circle at the top of the stairs above his head.

JEFF: Why? For noticing that she's incredibly hot and has an amazing ass?

BLAKE: Don't forget horribly traumatized by what just happened to her!

JEFF: Almost happened, thanks to you. You're her knight in shining armor, boyo! Even you couldn't fuck this up.

BLAKE: I'm not having this conversation.


 
PAGE TWELVE: (Five Panels 2-1-2)
Panel 12.1: Head and shoulders shot of BLAKE travelling down a white tiled tunnel, with movie posters and ads inset into the walls. The view is angled to show the three punks over his shoulder as they follow him.

JEFF: Whatever. She wanted me to tell you to stop by the store sometime so she can thank you. You could at least do that.

BLAKE: Yeah, I guess.

Panel 12.2: BLAKE at the bottom of a second set of black stairs, emerging onto the platform. To the left of the stairwell, a thug leans against the wall looking towards the viewer as if hearing BLAKE's conversation.

JEFF: Which reminds me, I also have a message from Lee for you.

BLAKE: Christ, what now?

Panel 12.3: Wide panel. BLAKE moves to the edge of the platform and peers down the tunnel to see if he can spot the train. The punk leaning on the stairs has moved further down the platform from BLAKE, about ten yards away from him. In the foreground, another punk with a fauxhawk is visible with his back to a pillar, head turned to listen for the noise of BLAKE's conversation.

JEFF: He's wondering why you've had so many doctors' appointments lately. Two this week alone.

BLAKE: I bring notes every time, it's not like I'm ditching.

JEFF: I know, he just wonders if there's something he should be aware of.

Panel 12.4: Front on BLAKE, a few of the punks who followed him taking up position in the background.

BLAKE: Fuck him, it's medical. He can't fire me for that.

JEFF: Cause he couldn't manufacture some other reason to, what with your perfect record.

BLAKE: ...

Panel 12.5: Side on BLAKE, showing that he is surrounded on the other side as well, and there is no sign of the train coming.

JEFF: Just a heads up, man. He's--

PUNK #2 (O.P.): HEY FUCKHEAD!


 
PAGE THIRTEEN: (Four Panels. 2-1*-1)
Panel 13.1: Inset of 13.3. BLAKE looks behind him, the cell phone being held up in mid air in his right hand, the conversation momentarily abandoned.

Panel 13.2: Inset of 13.3. Medium closeup of PUNK #2. He stands with guys on either side of him, brandishing an aluminum bat.

PUNK #2: Remember me?

Panel 13.3: Full page bleed. BLAKE stands in the center of a rough semi-circle of thugs, pinning him against the edge of the platform. Some are carrying knives, others bats, none are friendly.

Panel 13.4: Wide Panel. BLAKE turns back to the phone conversation, the semi-circle visible behind him.

BLAKE: Hey Jeff? Tell Lee that I'm probably going to be late.


(Continued in Scene Three - Coming August 27th, 2008)

Well I reposted a new "The Other Side" script.  Just didn't like the first one as much.  And now I'm not sure on this one.

Oh well I'll go over it again later, but anyways...

Ever notice when you watch a movie or just doing some work.  An idea for something pops up.

I was watching "The Eye" and after I left that movie the idea for "At Odds" came around.

As I'm working, an idea for a new script, or how to do this other script pops up.

Even as I was walking home from work, I was looking up in the sky and thought of how one of my superheros would be flying up there and meet up with a jet.  Then I thought that sounded to much like Iron Man.

But just seems I can look at something, and come up with some kind of idea for a script.  It's weird.

Lest you think the life of the comics editor is all wine and roses: I finished yesterday's workday at 12:49 AM the next morning, after a marathon realtime lettering session with letterer extraordinaire Ed Brisson* on - well, I'm not allowed to say, actually. But this was not a fun night, either for myself, or Mr. Brisson, who had an additional ten pages of lettering to do after he finished dealing with my nitpickery (12 rounds of revision over three pages wouldn't be so bad if it were spread out over a few days. A few hours? That's a heaping helping of kill me deadlinery). Even I wasn't finished, as it turned out. Thoroughly exhausted, I was nevertheless inspired to return to my Z2H bloggery. So here I am, my friends, taking you once more into the life of the Zeros 2 Heroes editor. Fools rushed in, and here I find myself...

But to the topic at hand...

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, or so Willliam Shakespeare's Juliet opined. But then, look what happened to her and tell me if you really think she's anything more than the Victorian England equivalent of a Girl Gone Wild. "Oooh, I'm going to slip out and do naughty things with that hot Montague guy. That'll show Daddy who's boss!"

So what's in a name, other than a potential lawsuit? Creator, new mother, and all around bon vivante Beth Dillon had to answer that question with her second CCN:APTN-winning project, NORTH WIND. Because, as it happens, Boom! Studios recently released a comic called NORTH WIND of their own.

Now, as I understand it, it's not actually possible to copyright a title (you can trademark them, though, and God help anyone who tries to get away with calling something Star Wars without the Almighty Lucas' approval.) However, when you've got a pre-existing comic of the same name, and it's already got a pretty strong web presence, and, you know, Hollywood entertainment lawyers behind it///well, if there's any other name that could possibly do the job, that's probably the name you want to go with, you know? And so, as artist supreme Frank Grau Jr. got to work on the pin-up for the now-untitled project, Beth hunkered down to try and come up with a new title.

I suggested adding something to North Wind: North Wind's Vengeance; North Wind's Journey; North Wind's Pounding Sinus Headache. But this would not do.

For awhile, it seemed that nothing would do. As Beth put it, North Wind was THE title, and finding another was an unwanted and difficult task. Eventually, the title RETRIBUTION was settled upon. Not a bad title, by any means, but one I think has kind of a generic quality that could be applied to a lot of stories. "In a world gone mad, only one man can save us all from those who would do us harm. He's not interested in vengeance. He's not interested in justice. All he wants...is RETRIBUTION. Coming this fall from Thirtieth Century Groundhog Studios."

Apparently, Beth agreed with me, at least insofar as she kept searching for a new title. And eventually, she found one.

Coming this fall (and not from Thirtieth Century Groundhog): THE WEST WAS LOST.

Ever upward, heroes!

But only after I go to bed.

A

(*Speaking of Ed Brisson: Did you know that when Ed's not lettering pretty much every Zeros 2 Heroes comic in existence, to say nothing of the numerous other lettering projects he's got on the go, he also runs his own alternative comic publishing company, New Reliable Press. It's true! The third in his series of YOU AIN'T NO DANCER Anthologies will be coming out shortly - it was in Previews last month, I believe. Check it out, and if you like what you see, give a fellow Z2Her as well as the small press comic industry a hand and preorder a copy at your local comic shop today.)

As the topic asks, I'm curious: have you ever been able to write or draw anything that has actually affected you emotionally? I'm not talking about changing your life or your perspective or anything, but more like how when you see a sad movie, some scenes get you teary-eyed -- have you ever managed to do create one where you yourself end up teary-eyed?

Hey, it's me! In my pitch Johnny Isn't, I already have a top secret and fascinating backstory for the amnesiac protagonist. However, I'd like to hear what you think it is, or what you think it should be. I may take your brilliant idea to replace mine with nought a by-your-leave! Who cares!

So I come on and a lot of what I am reading is everyone talking about how busy they are at work, apologising for not having time to be here more, or just complaining that there isn't enough time or energy these days. Well to all of you I say, "I am right there with you all."
Started with a new company recently so there is some training. Job involves some driving, so to beat the traffic I get up around 4 in the AM and head out. One would think starting that early I would be done all the sooner, but most days I am not home until 4:30-5 in the PM. By the time I play with my kids, have supper, get the kids ready for(and into bed) it is pretty much my bed time. Even if I don't go to bed that instant I am so wasted mentally that I don't get a thing done. So I ask, "When is the next support meeting?"
Anyway, that is enough self pity for one night. As I settle into this job, I anticipate being able to return to a more regular presence again. Hope you all find the time as well.
See you on site.
Oh, one last. To the ccn winners, are any of you altering your winning pitch synopsis to remove any spoilers for the future now that you have a book(soon) or will you be leaving them as is?
Later
Greg-mekikas

Wow, what a great feeling.  I sat down tonight and finished the last couple of pages for Forgotten Hero and I added a story arc item to the World section.  Fett - I don't know how you do all you do... incredible man.

Forgotten Hero was always meant to be a mini-series (initially at least) so I thought by throwing in the Story Arc people can see where it was going to go and what was going to happen in the end.

Thank to all who have taken the time to read through it and comment on it - your feedback was invaluable.

And if you haven't read it... well.. what are you doing right now?  It's only one issue and you're just one person... soooooo... (see where I'm going with this?)

I'm going to be starting a new pitch soon while updating and polishing Broken Nexus (man I really want to change that name!) so look for it... but for the next couple of days, I'm just going to read.

My Z2H Superhawke pitch is finally complete! Hope you enjoy my submission and wish me luck on getting this title into a potentially exciting comic book.

SUPERHAWKE PITCH