Long John

The Week – 01 November 2019

Nov01

by DBethel on 1 November 2019

WATCHING:

Letterkenny – a quirky Canadian sitcom

As of this writing, I’m completely convinced that Letterkenny is the greatest television show ever made. Based on a short YouTube series called “Letterkenny Problems”, the transition from short to series is remarkable.

The original YouTube short of “Letterkenny Problems.” Warnings for harsh (but surprisingly benign) language.

The premise of the original shorts had rural midwestern Ontarians talking directly to the camera relaying gossip from the fictional 5,000 population town of Letterkenny. It’s deadpan, rapid-fire delivery presents an interesting dichotomy with the hick chic aesthetic of the actors and of the stories they told.

A lot of that DNA survives into the show, but it’s flawlessly expanded the cast and made these people into rounded characters whose stories I have grown to care about dearly while retaining the very off-kilter, quirky, and politely profane (honestly) tone of the original shorts.

The best way to describe why it’s hitting me so hard is that there is an innocent earnestness to the writing and––most importantly––even though it can be crass or even gross at times, it’s never cynical nor mean-spirited. Perhaps that’s its Canadian origin coming through, but the politeness of interactions between friends and enemies on the show comes across as nigh-ritualistic in its formalities that are repeated––often many times per episode––word-for-word.

Letterkenny is hitting a side of my humor that really brightens my day even when I’m only thinking about it while at work. It’s definitely not for everybody, but it’s doing so many things I hadn’t seen before––all while still being tightly written and well-acted––that, to me, it’s feels revolutionary. It’s the only show I’ve wanted to binge in years, which is dangerous because even though there are seven seasons, they’re comprised only of between six to seven half-hour episodes each, and this is something I truly want to savor (and then watch all over again).

LISTENING:

Heaven’s Vault – the official video game soundtrack by Laurence Chapman

In order to grade papers, I have to get into a very strange mindset. In a sense, I have to put the world on pause, but in my head it’s not like pausing digital media where everything stops in a perfect, frozen moment. Instead it’s more of like pausing a well-worn VHS tape––the image bouncing and distorted with perhaps some feedback noise coming through the speakers, straining against the brake pushing against it.

To get through it, I work in a very myopic headspace. I have my desk organized in a very specific way. I have my computer angled in a specific way. My desk lamp needs to be at a certain angle. Most importantly, I need music. For each bout of grading I go through, I tend to find the one album that I can listen to on repeat, but it really acts as melodic white noise. When I think of specific classes or semesters, I often can recall specifics when I think of the grading music I was using at the time.

Most always it’s instrumental and orchestral––a lot of soundtracks like God of War, Logan, Wonder Woman, Dark Phoenix, Stranger Things, The Last of Us––but some anomalies get through, such as the electronic-based score of the first Deadpool movie and the most recent Tori Amos album, the ethereal Native Invader.

And so, for this cycle, the soundtrack of my professional purgatory seems to be the outstanding score by Laurence Chapman to the independent video game, Heaven’s Vault.

I found it not by playing the game (which I ashamedly still have not done) but through an interview with Chapman on a podcast I adore called Level with Emily Reese, a show about video game music where Reese interviews and has conversations with the games’ composers. It gets technical and into music theory and I love it.

While I’m a little worried about playing the game after listening to the soundtrack so much––a problem that had a strange effect when I finally played God of War––the game itself seems promising and unique that I’m quite excited to see how this music aids the narrative of a game all about finding and interacting with language.

CHAPTER 4 UPDATE:

“Dead Words” Announcement

In case you missed it, the title (“Dead Words”) and cover (click on the above link) for Chapter 4 were revealed last week. The response has been all positive and I can’t wait to get the book to you––in print and online––as soon as possible.

The book is completely lettered now and I’m almost done putting down the flat colors on it. Flatting is a maddeningly boring process where the base colors are laid on the page so that shading and highlights can be done on top of it. It’s ultimately helpful because it separates elements in the panels––characters from backgrounds, and the like––so that the rendering (shadows, highlights) will go really quickly since I’m not starting from scratch when I move from panel to panel, page to page.

But working on the book is temporarily on hold until I get through this batch of grading, which may be another week or so. But overall, I’m happy with the progress and where it’s at. But I certainly can’t wait to get back to it.

I’ve hinted at more exciting announcements for this book, but those are not quite ready, but should be soon. So stay tuned!

Oh…okay, here’s a look at a finished panel from the beginning of Chapter 4.

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Chapter 4 Cover & Title Revealed!

Oct25

by DBethel on 25 October 2019

With chapter 4 now in the back end of production––meaning that all the writing and drawing is done and now it’s just a matter of coloring and lettering––I can feel comfortable doing the first major reveal for this next book: the cover and the title, of which I combined together above.

The Cover

The only difference between this and what will be the actual cover is that the title––”Dead Words”––won’t be on there (although, now that I see it, it looks pretty good).

This does feel like a bit of a cheat as the image for the cover itself was used as a Sketch Friday, but it worked so well, I couldn’t help but use it.

But it isn’t laziness that drew me back to it, for it wasn’t a random sketch at all. I knew the tone and scenes Chapter 4 would have and that it would contain some of the darkest and bleakest points of the character so far. With Chapter 3 done in 2018, I wanted to do some drawings to help find that tone, especially with the added coat Long John wears in the chapter (spoiler alert, I guess).

This idea was the first sketch I did––and was my first drawing of 2019––and I liked it so much I made it into a full drawing, scanned it, and colored it. I liked it so much I even made the passing comment about its future use in that January post:

“The result, actually…could likely become the cover for Chapter 4, so don’t be surprised if you see this image again down the road.”

So, it was meant to be, and I hope you like it, especially in the context of the chapter when you read it.

The Title –– “Dead Words”

I can only say so much about the title––”Dead Words”––without spoiling things, but if you’ve seen how previous chapters were titled then you can make reasonable assumptions about this one. What I can say is that––unlike the previous chapters––this one took a long time to come up with. For all three chapters, they came to me pretty early in the chapters’ development. Chapter 2 had the biggest delay, going from “Upaways” to “Bird’s Eye”, but that was still really early on in the process. Both “Sunza” and “Making Smoke” had their titles from the start.

This title didn’t come to me until a few months ago, when I was going over the script for a scene and the phrase popped out from the page––initially meant as just a piece of dialogue (as they have all been so far). Up until that point, it was being created under the working title “Goodman” and I’m really glad that “Dead Words” fell out of my brain along the way as it fits the themes, plot, and character development much, much better.

The Release…?

My initial goal was to have this ready by next month’s Reno Pop Culture Convention, but life and work got in the way of that. However, it’ll be incredibly close to done by that point. So, though I’m not going to make any hard promises, I plan to have it ready for sale in December and updating it online in January once everybody is back from vacation and holiday.

While that may seem like a long way away, for me it seems frighteningly close and you can guarantee I’ll be working hard to get this book to you as soon as possible.

There are more announcements to come regarding this book that I’m quite excited to reveal. So, keep your eyes on the website, the Facebook page, my Twitter account, and my Instagram page to stay up to date with the remaining production of “Dead Words” and for the announcements that are soon to come.

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The Week – 18 October 2019

Oct18

by DBethel on 18 October 2019

WATCHING:

Joker, directed by Todd Phillips, starring Joaquin Phoenix.

Joker has gone through a series of news cycles unlike most movies, much less a movie using a comic book property. There was the initial reaction when the character’s makeup was revealed that followed the usual hyperbolic dividing line between those who loved it and those who hated it, and thus decided at that moment that the movie would be bad or good.

Then there was the festival circuit the movie went through. News of standing ovations and awards evened out a lot of fears that comic book apologists and the studio probably had.

Then, in the weeks leading up to release, as final trailers dropped, the narrative developed about the story in the film being a glorification of the views and behavior of the growing despondency of angry incel marginalized white boys. These are the people going online and threatening violence and rape against women who voice their love for comics and video games, the people who attempt to arrange boycotts of comic book movies with female lead characters, to even the kind of person who is so upset at not getting a date that he arms himself and goes on a stabbing and shooting rampage.

Detractors said that––without having seen the movie––the story of this type of person is not worth telling, that it has no value or place in the comic book movie discourse, especially if it ends up fueling the very people that have been harming the medium.

This discourse was not aided when the United States Army released a memo to its service members to be prepared for violence around the release of Joker.

Despite this breadth of attention, the movie opened to good numbers and seems to be on its way to profitable box office returns especially in the face of its incredibly small $55 million budget (even more impressive for being an R-rated movie).

I tend to prefer character over plot; hell, I advertise Long John as a character study rather than an epic western that a lot people expect or want. Joker is a breathtaking modern tragedy. I mean tragedy in the classical sense––a sad ending made inevitable by the context of the story and the flaws of the protagonist––and like many tragedies, it is as fascinating as it is uncomfortable to watch. And Joker is uncomfortable to watch.

Comic book movies are becoming a genre rather than just a subset of “films adapted from other media” and as that develops then the scope of movies that meet that classification needs to broaden, too. We got our bold first steps into the genre with X-Men and Spider-Man in the early aughts. We got the gritty realism of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy before we got the blockbuster popcorn breakouts with the Avengers‘ line of films from Marvel.

Fox then broadened the field with a risky R-rated comedy in Deadpool before going fierce and dark with Logan.

It only makes sense that something like Joker would come through. More importantly, it should come through. I kept all of the controversies in mind as I watched, and while any story can be misinterpreted and abused, I found the film itself to be sober, thoughtful, artful, and nuanced, all built around a gripping performance from Joaquin Phoenix.

If I were to alleviate anybody’s fears––be it cranky comic book fans who are mad that a filmmaker gave the nebulous Joker an origin story or those who fear it will give bad people further motive to be bad––my soundbite is this: Joker is not the origin story of Joker; if anything it’s a story of how someone can become the Joker, which I think is a noble service the movie provides as a true cautionary tale.

Be nice to people.

CHAPTER 4 UPDATE:

Chapter 4 is drawn

Thirty pages are drawn and inked and scanned. While that should feel like an accomplishment, I still have coloring and lettering ahead of me, which is often a tedious process. However, both are already in progress, so I’m not starting from the beginning once every page is scanned in. While I’m not placing any bets on it, I am hoping to have the book available by the end of the year.

With this book (and not counting the Hellrider Jackie short story), this means I’ve drawn 131 pages of Long John to this point, which actually makes me stop and reflect. Long periods of time stretch between each book, and we just passed the five year mark since the site went live. At times, it feels like I’ve done little in that scope of time, but when you consider the page count, it makes me step back and give a slight nod out of pride and accomplishment.

Over the next month or so, expect announcements about the chapter’s title, the cover reveal, and details about the book (there is some good stuff that is going to be in it!). Though there’s still a lot of work to do, I’m incredibly excited for the rest of the process.

D. Bethel Draws… Long John #15

If you want a sneak peek at a page near the end of the chapter, I made a new video inking a few panels. In the video I talk about bringing in aspects of animation to making comics, drawing eyes, and the inkers whose videos I watch on Instagram and YouTube.