Zeros 2 Heroes - The People's Publisher

So after some time, I've managed to get through a good portion of the comics. Not all, mind you, I have to be honest, but most. And I have to say that, at this point, the comic that is clearly [in my mind] the best of the bunch is Knightcap: November's Song [and not ONLY because it's set near Toronto].

From front to back, top to bottom, Steven may be [again, in my opinion] the best writer we have on here, at least as far as these examples show. The dialogue is brisk, character-specific, realistic and natural-sounding, and, above all, actually funny. It was, quite simply, a joy to read. And the art! The art is beautiful. It's stylized, which may or may not be your cup of tea, but I can not see anyone not liking THIS style. It works so well in the context of this story, and, honestly, it just looks like a real, proper comic.

Now, don't get me wrong, it's not 100% perfect. There are a few times, 4 or 5 maybe, where some of the "monologue" captions could be snipped out. Some of them are redundant, and don't serve the overall flow. They reiterate where the joke would better sit on its own, without Eric's off-the-cuff retort. But like I said, these are scant, and with some slight judicious trimming this comic could be almost perfect.

But still, as is, it's a great read. It is a crime that this book has as few fans as it has right now. Read it. Love it!!

Well done! I just love both the main characters here. Good dialog, funny situations, this thing hits on all cylinders.

Wow, what a crazy week, huh?

I?d call it a roller coaster, but I suspect now that roller coasters will seem pretty tame compared to the experience of the past few days. November?s Song was going up and down so much, I thought I was going to be seasick. I don?t know how closely the rest of you were following the CCCN charts, but I was checking the page on as close to an hourly basis as I could manage over the weekend?and on the last day alone, the #1 slot must have changed hands about five times.

Five times. Seriously. I think I?ve gained back all the weight I lost the week I was sick, and then some, just from stress-eating.

Y?know what, though? Totally worth it.

Ladies and gentlemen, from the bottom of my heart?from the soles of my feet?thank you for seeing the potential in November?s Song. Especially to folks like VWG, MrIrony Tenzil Kem and mariathedreamer, who went out of their way to talk it up and generally remind people it was there when I wasn?t around to do so myself. Also, to the panel of The Gutter?Lord Maim, Fetternity, Crackwalker, Domestibot, and special guests Yen and Yog-Sothoth?whose spot-on criticism of the pitch really helped me to tighten it up just when it needed it most. And of course, to everyone who voted for and commented on the pitch, provided much-needed words of encouragement, and generally held my hand as I endured the ups and downs of the white water rapids of the CCN chart.

Most of all, though, I?d like to thank the community at large for making this a fun, instructive, and comfortable place to be?and perhaps most importantly, the kind of place where it?s safe to take risks. I?m constantly amazed at how supportive, friendly and helpful the members of Z2H are towards people they?re in direct competition with. It?s a rare thing to see, especially on the interwebs, and everyone here should be proud of themselves for it.

Thanks again, all. Muchly. I'll see you in the funny pages! 

I haven't seen it reflected in the 'This Just In' section of the front page yet, but I updated November's Song tonight with a couple (rather inaccurately named) FAQ's. Both address some nagging issues brought up by the panel in last week's episode of The Gutter ...namely, what happened to Eric's parents, and what the deal is with the original Knightcap's involvement in a rather infamous event of WWII.

Originally, I'd intended to work these into the character profiles for Knightcap and Golden Age Knightcap respectively, but especially in the latter case, the explanations that resulted grew to warrant their own entries. Ideally, I would have called them 'Character Commentaries', but the character limit in the 'title' field forced me to abbreviate them to 'FAQs'... despite being questions that have really only been asked once.

Anyway, please check them out and lend me your feedback....especially the answer to the WWII question in particular, which I hope lends Eric and his grandfather some dramatic weight--something I know some of you have felt they've been lacking thus far. Let me know if I got it right!

(OK, so it's not my pithiest blog title ever...but given that my brain is currently melting and leaking out my ears, it's the best I could do.) 

I've spent the day revising and updating the script pages for November's Song , incorporating many of the suggestions made by our illustrious panel on the last episode of The Gutter, including adding a few new pages that hopefully end the first issue on a more compelling note.

Overall, I think it's stronger for the changes. I lost the Herschel introduction--boo-urns!--but gained a cameo for True North, who I'd initially fretted about not fitting into the first issue. And the extra space that changing the ending afforded me also let me lay out both the apartment and rooftop scenes a little better, and let them breathe--in going back over it, I could see those pages would have been far too cramped the way they were.

I still need to comb through the rest of the pitch and make some alterations here and there...but later, when my brain isn't quite so melty. 

So far, what seems to elicit the most comments about November's Song and Secret Society of Second Stringers, both here on the site and from friends and family I've discussed the pitches with, is the large amount of Canadian content I've included in both. My best friend and defacto editor actually winced when I told him I was setting November's Song in Toronto.

"I think you'd be better off setting it in a fictional city like Metropolis or Astro City," he said.

"Nah," I shook my head. "One of the things I always dug about Marvel Comics is that they were set in the 'real world', y'know?"

"Well, set it in New York, then."

"What? Why? I've been to New York exactly once, but I've lived in Toronto my whole life. Write what you know, right? Besides, practically the entire Marvel line takes place in New York. It's been done." 

"Yeah," he agreed, "but I really think you're hurting your chances if you set it in Toronto."

"But it's a Canadian contest," I explained. "The bulk of the community is, I assume, Canadian. You're telling me a good tights-and-capes story can't be told north of Buffalo?"

"Dude, even Canadians don't want to read good stories set in Canada. New York works as a setting because it's famous, it's glamorous, it's got panache. Toronto, not so much."

"Tell me that if there weren't really superheroes in the world--in Canada--that Toronto wouldn't become the hub of superhero activity in the country."

"Probably," he admitted. "But I think most of them would move to New York."

It's a criticism I've heard echoed over and over again--that I'm hamstringing my potential for success (both in the contest, and in any marketing opportunities beyond that it might bring) by setting my pitches in the city, and country, in which I live. Even those who initially seem thrilled by my doing it invariably--and almost embarrassedly-- seem to say something along the lines of "That's great...but maybe you should think about changing that."

Why is that?

It just strikes me as odd, because the other idiosyncratic elements of both pitches--November's Song is a superhero romantic dramedy, SSoSS a superhero coming-of-age road trip--actually appear to have been what people enjoy most about them.  But for some reason, adding "and it's set in Canada" is a bridge too far for most people...for most Canadians, even! Even, apparently, the die-hard patriotic ones! It's a bit perplexing.

So I throw the question before the group: what gives? Is there too much of a disconnect between the subject matter and the setting? Have we just been conditioned by decades of U.S.-centric media? Have years of low-production-value Canadian programming led us to doubt our ability to produce anything of quality that isn't Anne of Green Gables, Red Green, or Hockey Night In Canada?

Most importantly, do you think I'm hamstringing myself by setting my pitches in Canada? Have you made a similar decision in crafting your own pitches? If you were me, would you make the switch to a fictional and/or American setting?

Seriously folks...please, fire away. I'm very interested to see the responses here.

So at some point early last week, in the comments section of my pitch November's Song, I promised that there would be sample pages forthcoming later in the week, work permitting.

They've been forthcoming for about a week now. Andwhile work has indeed gotten in the way, it's far from my only problem. My biggest obstacle is that one of my characters is stubbornly refusing to stick to the plot.

The plan was to open the show with a minor set-piece action sequence--Knightcap's botched attempt to foil the armed robbery of a gas station convenience store, which results in an explosion that Fugue sees as she flies over. Highlighting just how powerful Fugue is--and just how relatively clumsy and inexperienced Knightcap is by comparison--Fugue was to swoop down, effortlessly mop up the bad guys he's been having so much trouble with, and then put out the fire and restore the gas station to normal, all without breaking a sweat.

I thought it was a decent opening. Hits the ground running, gets the adernaline going straight off, reveals a little about our leads, lets them meet cute...and scene. Simple, right?

Only, not so much: when I got to writing Fugue's grand entrance, my quirky postmodern hippie of a female lead decided that actually fighting the bad guys was all wrong. Nonono...she had to talk to them...really get inside their heads (and their hearts), and try to steer them onto a better path than the one they were on. And damned if they didn't actually stop trying to kill her and actually listened.

Which makes sense from a character standpoint...this is what Fugue is all about, after all...but holy crap, does the momentum hit the wall when she does it.

What's followed since has been kind of an internal squabble between me, the director, and Fugue the actress, as I shoot and reshoot that scene in my head over and over again as I struggle with those two pages. I write it all action-y, and Fugue pouts, acting stiff and making all the dialogue I put in her mouth sound stiff and unnatural. If I try it her way, she comes alive...but the rest of the scene dies a slow death around her. I've tried to punch it up, go for the counterpoint...have gas tanks exploding around them as she calmly delves into his psyche...but it's still a whole page of them talking about their feelings, only five pages into the book.

Arrgh, y'know?

In a way it's kind of cool--as a character, Fugue and her singular outlook on life are supposed to be infuriating to normal people, so if she's infuriating me with it, I must be on the right track.

But it's making her one hell of a difficult actress to work with, I'll tell you that.