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Long John

Losing Every Thing Changes Everything

Interview with The State Hornet

May20
by DBethel on 20 May 2022
Man, I am bad at getting pictures taken.
Photo by Jack Freeman

With the news about Long John‘s development as an animated series at FX dropping last month, I since have had the pleasure of being interviewed by the State Hornet, the student-run newspaper at Sac State, the university where I teach.

Being interviewed in a journalistic context like this is a fascinating process. Most of my interviews are captured conversations, reproduced in full in the form of podcasts or YouTube interviews. Interviews for newspapers or published pieces are unique because they’re a distillation rather than a reproduction of the long conversation you had with a reporter. It’s interesting to see what pieces they grab onto and run with, taking information that came from a back-and-forth question-and-answer session and crafting a narrative from it.

This is a fun piece overall, though it was weird to talk about the comic while on campus, having just come from teaching a class, as well. I do my best to keep my comics world separate from my teaching world––other than mentioning at the beginning of the semester that I make comics, I don’t bring that into the classroom at all. I think it’s because––and I don’t mean to sound pretentious––my comics are an expression of me and my thoughts while the time I spend on campus is completely about my students and what they think and feel. It’s not my job to get in the way of that. It’s like trying to talk about your favorite heavy metal band with your grandmother––two worlds you are a part of and love, but never should they meet (at least, not in my head).

I hope you enjoy the article and expect another Chapter 5 update soon (as soon as I finish grading, that is).

1 Comment

Chapter 5 Cover & Title REVEAL

May13
by DBethel on 13 May 2022

With that, we are one step closer to the release of Chapter 5 with the reveal of the upcoming book’s cover and the name for the chapter: Parting Gift.

In the video, I explain a bit about the creation process for the cover, but I don’t really talk about how the title came to be (click here if you’re wondering what news I alluded to). With the obvious caveat that some explanation would result in spoilers for the chapter, how the title was created is actually how a lot of the specific scenes and progression of the chapter came to me as well: hiking.

My wife is an avid hiker and, by proxy over the twenty-one years we’ve been together, I’ve become one as well. One of the things I love about the activity is that it gives you time alone in your head without much distraction. Physically, the only thing you need to do is make sure you’re continuing to move forward, but once you’ve rested into a suitable rhythm, you can just use the rest of the time to think. For the longest time, my wife thought I was upset because I was so quiet, but in truth I was actually just working.

Full stories don’t pop into mind during this exercise––the work is a bit too strenuous for that (for me, at least)––but I often start with a scene in mind. Perhaps it was a scene I had been stuck on or, perhaps, it’s a scene that wasn’t really fleshed out. With the repetitive crunching of dirt underfoot and the hum of my steady breathing keeping out the noise, I whittle away at the details in small strokes until, after awhile, the scene is crystalline.

At that point, I usually have to stop and take notes in my phone.

Such was the case with the title of this new chapter––”Parting Gift.” I had worked out a pivotal [REDACTED] scene and the nature of it called the phrase to mind. When I started again on the trail, the phrase hovered in my view and I actually saw that it really worked as a catch-all idea––earnestly in some cases, ironically in others––for the entire chapter.

But I balked after awhile––it didn’t seem cool enough and it seemed awkward. It didn’t feel like a “light bulb” moment the way “Dead Words” was when it naturally emerged while scripting the second Dogtown scene for Chapter 4. So, I pushed against it for a long time before just accepting it and now, seeing it written out and on the cover for Chapter 5, I love it.

The finished cover for Long John, Volume 5, “Parting Gift.” Click for larger version.

 Comment 

Chapter 5 Cover & Title Reveal: Friday, 5/13

May11
by DBethel on 11 May 2022

This Friday comes a quick but important update for Chapter 5––the reveal of the cover and the title of the chapter!

Updates have been sparse and I’m sure it seems like progress has been slow. However, progress has been steady and true even if it hasn’t gone as quickly as anyone wanted it to go. I have made a short video that explains where we’re at with Chapter 5 and, at the end, reveals the cover and title for all to see. The video will premiere at 10am PST on YouTube and will, of course, be posted here and on the official Long John Facebook page.

See you on Friday!

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