The Week – 02 February 2018

Feb02
by on 2 February 2018

Production on “Making Smoke” charges to a close, allowing for little time for other pursuits, but what other pursuits that are pursued are chronicled here as the first month of 2018 came to a close.

WATCHING

Source: Netflix

  • Godless by Scott Frank via Netflix

Westerns occupy an interesting space in popular culture right now. When viewed from one angle, it is an all-but-dead genre that people quickly dismiss or yawn at. From another angle, it is a genre met with intense scrutiny because it desperately needs rejuvenation and, seemingly, every new entry needs to do something different, unique, and contextually progressive for the sake of survival. Godless arrived with the latter expectation as many early reviews and coverage talked about its more feminist approach with regards to its focus on the town of La Belle––a town populated completely by women after all the men were lost in a mining accident. Piqued by this, and because I’m interested in westerns that do different things or, at the very least, ones that have unique premises, I dove into Godless with curiosity.

Created, written, and directed by Scott Frank––a screenwriter familiar to most people for having written scripts for popular movies such as Get Shorty, Out of Sight, and more grounded superhero fare like The Wolverine and Logan––Godless comes across as a passion project with few restrictions placed upon the creator who came to the project with a lot of clout. It is a multi-faceted story, to say the least, with a lot of quite interesting threads and characters peppered throughout, not the least of which being the previously mentioned town of La Belle. And, I will admit, it’s in La Belle where the show is most interesting because––message and whatnot aside––it is here where the story is most unique and where the writer-side of Scott Frank really shines. We get nuanced characters that we don’t really see in a western reacting to a setting and time frame that we’ve seen so many other types of characters react to. However, instead of focusing on the town, the town is a mere part of the story––almost a side story––along with much more traditional––and personally rather boring––storylines. In fact, it seems like the show wants to play it safe and couches the new and interesting stuff behind a cartoonish bad guy (played by great actor but horribly miscast Jeff Daniels) and a by-the-numbers anti-hero hero (played by somebody) that it nearly buries what could make this show a true classic to stand among the rest, along with entries like High Noon, True Grit, The Searchers, and Unforgiven. As with any genre, it’s the attempts at breaking molds that make the genre rise to the top of public attention, and Godless has a lot going in that arena; it just feels like it didn’t trust its own possibility to the point of overcorrecting and becoming simply another western in the process.

Despite that, it’s overall a very well-made show, but there is a pervasive ache as it seems to know how good it could have been in the face of how good it already is.

LONG JOHN UPDATE

As mentioned at the top, the drawing of the book is nearly done (as of this writing, only two pages are left to draw). This week, I hit an art snag. It wasn’t a snag snag like I had with the two-page spread. It was a case of having inked a page and, only then, accepting that one of the panels was not a good drawing. While I’ll talk more about that at a later date, it brings to mind a situation where I had actually avoided such a problem earlier in the chapter, when I couldn’t really figure out how to approach a panel. I’ve learned that when that happens, my first instinct is to lean into clarity and forsake all else. However, before I started inking, I couldn’t accept the bare-bones approach I had laid out. It was the start to an important scene and it needed to be more than clear. It needed to be dramatic as well.

A trick I have slowly learned over the course of this chapter can be summarized in an axiom: “When in doubt, add depth.” I’m not the most daring nor creative artist out there. I tend to over simplify and focus on character rather than the scene as a whole. Part of the reason this chapter has taken so long is that I’ve tried to retrain my sensibilities; to step back and say, “What can I do to make this look better?” Often, I found that if I added in background or, more often, foreground, the entire scene explodes into life. So, when “Making Smoke” arrives, keep an eye out for that lean into depth that I so desperately struggled to incorporate, against all of my innate and hackneyed tendencies.

Until next week, that was The Week.

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The Week

Jan26
by on 26 January 2018

This week school was back in session and an artistic dry spell came to a close. Here are the things that have grabbed my attention this week.

LISTENING

Source: compiled elements from Marvel and Comicsverse

One thing that I hope has become clear on this site and at the site for my podcast, A Podcast [ , ] For All Intents and Purposes, is that I think way too hard about things like comic books, video games, and other things. However, what I hope is also clear is that this line of critical thought comes from my academic background––it’s how I was taught and, more importantly, how I learned to think about texts be they two hundred year old poems or the latest episode of Doctor Who. The last thing that I hope is clear, with those two other points in mind, is that even though I think too hard about this stuff and try to extract deeper meaning from it, I also don’t put things like comics and video games on a pedestal. In the end, I realize they are pop culture artifacts and, as such, are meant to be disposable and, superficially at least, entertainment. That’s why I don’t really care about the same things that a lot of nerdy brethren care about, such as continuity (with comics) and cutting-edge technological achievements (as with video games). I find a lot of that to be more about posturing and gate-keeping than actually having discussions about these things. However, that does not exclude the possibility of these works from saying more than their intent. Indeed, we’ve seen creators put more intent into their works and many of those have risen above the rest.

That being said, I also like to see other people have academic conversations about these things and the website Comicsverse has really rung my bell in that regard. It doesn’t hurt that the founder and CEO is a big X-Men fan and, therefore, a lot of the talk on the site (both in their written articles and podcasts) have focused on that franchise, of which I have not hidden my own appreciation.

With the next main X-Men movie being titled X-Men: Dark Phoenix, it references the most famous story of the franchise, now called “The Dark Phoenix Saga” which was a story written by Chris Claremont and co-plotted and penciled by John Byrne (with inks by Terry Austin) in The Uncanny X-Men. The story was told over nine months in 1980 between issues #129-138 that shows the rise and fall of one of the team’s founding members, Jean Grey. The plot takes an interesting arc as it follows Grey from being the weakest member of the team to being, unequivocally, the most powerful and having to deal with the consequences of that power. Despite using characters that wear tights and shoot lasers from their eyes and , it’s a subtle and patient story, one that rewards with re-readings.

The story is the favorite of Comicsverse as well, having originally devoted three episodes (over an hour long each) to covering it (and it’s followups in the comic’s continuity) and now hitting it again but with a specific lens over the course of two hours. It’s a panel-based format and I loved every second of it. The Comicsverse crew always provide thoughtful commentary and analysis and, even when I don’t agree with their take or points of view, I appreciate the work they put into these conversations to the point that I ashamedly try to chime in while walking the dog and listening.

WATCHING

source: Amazon

  • The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

In truth, my wife and I finished watching this Amazon show a few weeks ago and I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s a wonderful period piece that hilariously (and touchingly) deals with wonderful, pertinent themes such as rejection, creativity, and self-doubt, not to mention the autonomy of women in the 1950s. What’s also interesting about the show is how it brings in history to work with the themes (and plot). Part of the plot of the show is about a woman who decides, in the late 1950s, to become a stand-up comedian (or comedienne, I guess), and her style is much more personal and expressive than the mere one-liners and character work that were popular at the time, instead looking forward at what comedy would become. To that end, the real-life controversial comedian, Lenny Bruce, becomes an interesting character in the show, helping the eponymous Mrs. Maisel on her way without her even knowing it (at first).

Shows about performance tend to struggle under the weight of their promise. What I mean by that is that plenty of movies and tv shows are based around the idea of the protagonist being gifted at what they do, but when it comes time for the audience to actually see the performance, it’s underwhelming. Though it’s my own opinion––and a rather unqualified one at that––The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel actually holds up to its promise. While the comedy it presents in itself is not revolutionary, when considering it within the historical context of the narrative, it makes sense, especially if you have a working knowledge of stand-up history. Even with my tangential working knowledge of the development of stand-up comedy, the comedy of Mrs. Maisel worked very well, though it is but a small part of the overall story of the show, which is the actual draw.

For a show, the best I can say about The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is that it is wholly well-rounded. It delivers on a variety of fronts that always kept me guessing and wanting more and I’m excited it has a second season on the way.

LONG JOHN UPDATE

I mentioned last week how I was stuck on a two-page spread. It was a conundrum that, when presented with the final product, can be underwhelming. I run the risk of “spoiling” to much by sharing the page, so I’ll share a slightly abstracted version which I shared on my Instagram account. What help me up is that it is a scene that answers, in flashback, a lot of questions asked in volume 1 and 2 of Long John, and I wanted to make sure I chose the absolute right images to flash back to. I’m still not convinced I made all the right choices––I even for the first time––made some slight edits (not artistically, just structurally) in Photoshop to make it a more accurate read, but I think I got there.

More than anything, as the end of Chapter 3 approaches, I realize how much bringing this to a close can be messed up if treated with a cavalier attitude. As mentioned before, Chapter 3 brings the first “arc” of Long John to a close, so it needs to be not only satisfactory, but it needs to be satisfying as well. Though I agonize over dialogue––and will continue to do so––bringing the visuals of Chapter 3 to a satisfying conclusion has been agonizing, but one that is proving to be well worth it in the long run (as stated earlier, I tend to overthink this stuff, so gridlock should be expected). So, this week, I bring you––from slightly different angles––a “before” followed by an “after.”

Before.

After.

It looks like the content of this book will be about 35 pages, 36 if you count what I call the “white page” that ends every chapter––the singular image that kind of puts a bow on the story of the issue.

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The Week

Jan19
by on 19 January 2018

With this being the final week before school starts up again, my time has been divided between prepping for the coming classes and getting as much drawing done as possible to finish up Chapter 3. Because of that, I’ve remained pretty unplugged from the world around me.

LISTENING:

Source: Anti- Records

  • Case/Lang/Veirs by Case/Lang/Veirs(Neko Case, k.d. lang, and Laura Veirs)

As you will soon be able to tell, my musical tastes swing wildly and often between the intense and the bucolic. The type of music I listen to often depends on what I’m doing while listening. This ends up being more nuanced than merely stating activities like “walking the dog” or “drawing” or “hanging out.” Since I’ve been stalled on a page, the intense, loud music of heavy metal or rock actually comes off as grating, raising my stress more than calming it. Last week, I wrote about one balm, the music of Pallbearer (and bands like them). While still, technically, heavy metal, its slower, droning, and distorted guitars were offset by the melodic vocals and generally open air sound, which really speaks to a peacefulness rather than rage as is commonly associated with the genre. However, as I waded deeper into the weeds of artistic stagnation, the dire tone of bands like Pallbearer or Dawnbringer (my personal favorite) tended to add weight to the travel instead of taking it off.

Neko Case is one of my wife’s favorite musicians. Period. Case is an alt-country badass with the same no-care attitude as someone like Dee Snider of Twisted Sister. She does what she wants in the way she wants to do it and, quite often, the result is a pleasant listen. In 2016, Case teamed up with two fellow musicians, k.d. lang and Laura Veirs, and made an album so sublime that the first song, “Atomic Number,” actually took my breath away the first time I heard it. It hit me in the pit of my stomach, churning within me a feeling that couldn’t be placed. Did I want to be sad? Happy? Happy-sad? Joyous? All of these things, kind of. It was, plainly, just hitting the spot. Even on repeat listens for over a year, the song is at a particular frequency that lines up with the one in my head, creating a sense of existential chill, but almost on a spiritual level. There are a few songs like that which I’ve collected over the years, ones that strike a chord in me (pardon the pun) which really evens me out for the few minutes while they play, leaving me with a sort of existential hum in my head that puts a spring in my step and a twinkle in my eye.

The benefit of Case/lang/Veirs is that there are a few songs on the album that do that to me, but that first song is the rare exception that rings my core all the way through its play time. It was a much needed bandage, even if I still struggled with the page in front of me. I don’t expect this song or album to have the same effect on anyone reading this, but I’m sure you have your songs that do that for you, the one’s that just make you feel; this is one of those for me and I was glad I had it.

SOCIALIZING

It was the rare occasion that I went out this week, meeting up with my former comic collaborator, Eben Burgoon, at New Helvetia Brewing Co. to see what its weekly get-together, “Comic Books and Craft Brews” (aka CB^2), was all about. Organized by Eben, he had large-scale print outs of pages from the comic he is currently writing, B-Squad, in black and white and brought markers to allow attendees to color them. Not really knowing what to expect, I took a sketchbook and a pencil down there, but soon after arriving just used the paper on the table to let the mind wander while talking to Eben and meeting some new people.

Eben and I stopped making our comic, Eben07, back in 2013, but I’ve been drawing those characters ever since I was about 15 or 16, so they’re easy to summon when the need arises. Since the comic was a humor-action comic, they usually come out when I am drawing around a joke; such was the case at this week’s gathering:

Eben07 & Ninja Dan––secret agent janitors who also appear whenever toilet humor is present.

Abel, the ostensible antagonist of the comic and immortal curmudgeon.

It was also fun just to just work with graphite. When comicking, I stick to the waxy struggle of blue lead and don’t really work with traditional lead very often anymore (due to its ease of smearing), but it’s fun to see what I can do, especially with these old characters filtered through whatever lens that is my current style. It was fun, but I’m more eager to get back to Long John.

LONG JOHN UPDATE

The two-page spread stall-out really knocked me down, and even though I’m not quite standing again yet, I am definitely in the process of standing up. I go into the new semester with a few pages left to draw of “Making Smoke,” and I’m confident I’ll be able to get them––and the book––done.

Sneak peek of a panel from Chapter 3, “Making Smoke.” Pencils: D. Bethel, Inks: Josh Tobey.

As I said in the Chapter 3 cover reveal video, “Making Smoke” has been a wild time in terms of creativity. The highlight, undoubtedly, was when Josh Tobey was down visiting from Oregon this summer and I was complaining about some pages I had to ink that were basically landscapes. I was scared to draw them mostly because I knew it would be a situation of them looking better in my head than they would on the page. I could draw landscapes fine, but rendering them convincingly––and, more importantly, interestingly––in ink was way out of my comfort zone.

To these complaints, Josh replied, “Man, that’s the fun stuff. I hate drawing and inking people doing things.”

“Really?” I asked, completely shocked at his distaste for my favorite things to draw and ink. Laughing at the seeming synergy of our artistic tastes, I threw out, as a joke, “Well, I should just have you ink these landscape panels and we’d both be happy.”

“Are they drawn?”

“What? Yeah. I mean, they’re loose, but they’re on the page,” I said.

Josh put his thumb to his chin, which he often does when seriously pondering. “I’ll do it.”

I laughed. He didn’t.

“Are you serious?” I asked.

“Hell, yes. Put pages in front of me and I’ll ink them,” he said.

I’ve been doing this long enough to never let an opportunity go stale, so I ran upstairs and got the pages and, because of that, I have two pages of Chapter 3 inked by Josh Tobey and they’re gorgeous. There are even a few panels where we are both inking. It was a liberating and energizing experience and I could even see a project where we do that on every page in the future could be a serious possibility.

Until next week, that was The Week.

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