Comics on the Horizon

By Randy Gentile

With two days off from my day job this week I spent day one working on character designs for another comic that's bouncing around in my head and the other visiting the DC Comics offices.

I'm been struggling with where to go next with LazyComix.com. NYComix is my bread and butter on the site but I find it very difficult working on only one comic all the time. I don't know if it's A.D.D. or a lack of confidence or what, but finding that other comic that compliments NYComix has eluded me for what seems like forever.

I've been working on the script for Brooklyn Lights, a boxing graphic novel for over 2 years now and just when I thought it was ready my editor (a.k.a. my wife) told me it wasn't there yet.

Not there yet.

Two years and countless rewrites and it's still not fit to print.

I reread it recently and she's right. It's not there.

I can't commit to a comic that will be upwards of 100 pages if it's not something I'm absolutely confident in. And while it hurts to have put so much time into something that is looking more and more like it'll never see print I have to be able to take a step back and realize that I've learned something from the experience. And who knows? Maybe I'll open it up on my laptop one day and start chipping away at it again.

So what's next? Well, more NYComix for sure. NYComix is a strip I firmly believe in and it's something I think readers will really enjoy. And while I have a significant amount of NYComix stories right now ready to be consumed for free on my site, my recent printing of the NYComix trade paperback has made me realize that the strip works better in print. New York City is gritty and real and holding a book in your hands while reading stories about living in this city just works better. A computer screen is shiny and bright and riding the D Train into Brooklyn at midnight is quite the opposite.

I've been reading more and more webcomics lately, mostly Scott Kurtz's wildly popular PVP. To say that's it's inspiring is an understatement. It's so rousing, in fact, that I went out and picked up How To Make Webcomics by Brad Guigar, Dave Kellett, Kris Straub and Scott Kurtz.

I scarfed down the book like rabid dog and it's got my mind working in oerdrive. I've been sketching and jotting down ideas like crazy and it has me wondering... How many stories and characters are jotted down in a notebook out there on the shelves of comic creators?

How many sketches of super-heros and super-villains are scratched into notepads? How far how some of these ideas gone? Will they see print or be forgotten?

This made me think back to the Robert Kirkman Manifesto a few weeks back. How many great stories are collecting dust while someone writes another Wolverine Mini-Series?

Who knows... But I like to think that if the story is meant to be, it'll be in reader's hands when the time is right.

So where will my latest burst of inspiration lead me? Who knows... but I'm riding the wave and coming off the letdown of realizing that Brooklyn Lights isn't ready for the bright lights, I couldn't be happier.

Where will it go? I dunno... but it's fun to ride it out and see where it takes me.

In other news my trip to the DC offices was a blast. I get all fanboy every time I visit. You know what the best part of visiting is? (Besides saying "Hi" to my lettering peeps?) Free comics!

I loaded up like a looter during a blackout.

Here's the rundown of the soon-to-be-read swag.

• Sentences: The Life of M.F. Grimm by Percy Carey and Ronald Wimberly.
  An autobio graphic novel from Vertigo telling the story of the writer's life in NYC and his rise, fall and rise again in the hip hop music industry. The art from Wimberly looks very solid and the book design, by whom I don't know, as I couldn't find any credits for it, is cleverly done to resemble a composition book that Carey might've used to jot down lyrics and/or the script for the GN you're holding in your hands.



• The Exterminators vol. 3: Lies of our Fathers by Simon Oliver, Tony Moore, Mike Hawthorne and John Lucas.
  I've heard nothing but great things about this series. If there are any readers of this book out there who think I should pick up Volume 1 before diving into Volume 3, let me know.



• 100 Bullets vol. 12: Dirty by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso.
  I've read 100 Bullets sporadically since the series kicked off a long time ago. The 6-Time Eisner winning series is winding down, as it will fittingly end with issue 100. I'm a huge fan of Risso's art and this is one of the first trades I'll be reading out of this batch.



• The All New Atom: Future/Past by Gail Simone and Mike Norton.
  Mike Norton is one of the nicest guy's you'll ever meet and he's a kick-ass artist to boot. It looks like a fun story, and, having never read anything by Gail Simone, I'm looking forward to it.



• Green Arrow: Road to Jericho by Judd Winick, Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens.
  I read Kevin Smith's "Quiver" a while back and loved it. I've dug Scott McDaniel's art since his Batman days so I'm eager to see Winick's take on the character.



• Justice by Jim Krueger, Alex Ross and Doug Braithwaite.
  I'm not a huge fan of Alex Ross. He's obviously insanely talented and he's changed comics in immeasurable ways, but I'm just not into photo reference art no matter how beautiful it is. Even in its lifelike photo realistic Alex Ross approach, it still seems stiff and lifeless at times. Nevertheless it seems like a fun story and I'm looking forward to it. Anything with the Justice League can't be that bad, right?



• Green Lantern: Revenge of the Green Lanterns by Geoff Johns, Carlos Pacheco, Ethan Van Sciver and Ivan Reis.
  Just flipping through this trade and it becomes immediately evident that we're dealing with some amazing art with this series. I love me some Green Lantern and I have a feeling this trade have me buying this book monthly.



• Number of the Beast by Scott Beatty and Chris Sprouse
  I have absolutely no idea what this series from WildStorm Comic is about but it came via a recommendation so I'm more than happy to give it a shot. The art by Sprouse looks great.



• Batman Black & White Vol. 2 by various writers and artists.
  So how did this one slip through the cracks? I haven't heard anything about this collected edition featuring a who's who of comic creators. Paul Dini, Alex Ross, Marie Severin, Chris Claremont, Steve Rude, Mark Buckingham, Tim Sale, Warren Ellis, Jim Lee, John Byrne, Paul Pope, Walt Simonson, John Buscema, Azzarelo and Risso, Howard Chaykin, Kyle Baker, Harlan Elison, Gene Ha, Gene Colan among others! Are you kidding me? What more can I say?

So that's my haul from my visit to the DC offices... lettering has its perks, man. I tell ya.

I'll be back next week with a review of one of these bad boys.

In the meantime, thanks for reading.

Font You!
Randy

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