Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig
Does whatever a spider pig does
Can he swing from a web
No he can't he's a pig
LOOK OUTTTTTT!
He is a SPIDER PIG!!

I can't get that freakin' song out of my head.
Hilarious movie. But stay to the very end. When the movie ended I was the only one who stayed and saw all the little extras.

Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig...

Labels: Simpsons, Spider-Pig

It's over. Thank God. I got there at about noon on Wednesday and because I had an Exhibitor's badge I was able to get in and walk around while the con was being set up. It's a truly amazing thing to behold. There were zillions of boxes and trash everywhere. You couldn't walk without a fork lift about to crush you. Then about 5:00PM I started to talk to someone. An announcement said the doors were about to open - a half hour early - and I looked around to see that the con floor was clean, no boxes, fork lifts or anything other than people. It seemed to happen instantaneously. I have no idea how all those mountains trash vanished in less than five minutes, but they had.

The con itself will be reported elsewhere much better than I could as I spent most of my time either at signings or panels. But I had a great time, despite being overly tired. I generally had to get up for 8AM breakfasts and didn't get to sleep until 1 or 2 in the morning because of late night publisher parties, etc.

But the best for me was the very last thing on Sunday. I attended the first Annual SCRIBE panel and award ceremony. The Scribe awards are given out by The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers, and my novel, Superman Returns, was the very first winner in the Speculative Fiction category. Needless to say I was bowled over and completely surprised as I hadn't even thought about writing a thank you speech. But now I thank everyone involved and can't wait to get started on my new novel, SHADE.

Here's the list of winners:

Speculative Fiction
Best Novel Adapted
SUPERMAN RETURNS by Marv Wolfman

Best Novel Original
THIRTY DAYS OF NIGHT: RUMORS OF THE UNDEAD by Stephen Niles and Jeff Mariotte

General Fiction
Best Novel Adapted
SNAKES ON A PLANE by Christa Faust

Best Novel Original
LAS VEGAS: HIGH STAKES by Jeff Mariotte

Young Adult All Genres
Best Novel
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: PORTAL THROUGH TIME by Alice Henderson

GRANDMASTER: DONALD BAIN

But when I went to the TV Guide website I saw that the American Idol tour is being sponsored by Pop Tarts. Isn't that redundant?

Labels: American Idol, Pop Tarts

In the 60s- 70s the articles on comics all began: "Whap! Wham! Bam!" In the 80s and 90s all newspaper or magazine features began with: "Can you believe 10 cent comics are now worth a fortune!" These days they are starting with, "Comicon is no longer just a freak and geek fest." I can't tell you how many articles on Comicon I've read in the past few weeks that use the word geek in it to describe that Comicon is no longer just for geeks. And why isn't Com\icon just for freaks and geeks? Because, according to every one of the newspapers, and they all point it out in detail, Hollywood has moved in so now Comicon is about the media. And the media, as we know, is not about freaks and geeks. The media is about adults doing adult things in an adult way. Let us all be grateful for that.

Or maybe not.

First of all, everyone is a geek. About something. Comics. Sports. Movies. Coin collecting. Rare book buying. Science. Everything. Unless you are sitting in a corner drooling, there is something you are passionate about, and rarely are your passions about something serious, unless you can't stop talking only about politics. In which your passions are fruitless since political arguments make the typical, "Who's stronger, Superman or Thor?" discussions comic fans have look tame by comparison. I don't exactly remember the last time a die hard Marvel fan bombed a comic shop selling DC Comics. Wish it were the same when dealing with politics. Passions are about the things you love and can't stop doing. Doll collecting. Hummel collecting. Know anyone who collects snow globes? Millions of people are wildly passionate about them, but they're rarely called geeks. Doilies. Fabric. Baseball cards. Soda bottles. Cereal boxes. Glass. The list is endless.

Second, let's get the notion that Hollywood has taken Comicon away from the geeks and given it respectability. Here goes:

Titanic; Lord of the Rings, Return of the King; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest; Harry Potter and the Philosopher's (Sorcerer's) Stone; Pirate's of the Caribbean: At World's End; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; Star Wars Episode 1; Shrek 2; Jurassic Park; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; Spider-Man 3; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; Finding Nemo; Star Wars 3; Spider-Man; Independence Day; E.R. The Extra-Terrestrial; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; The Lion King; Spider-Man 2, Star Wars Episode 4; The Da Vinci Code; The Chronicles of Narnia; The Matrix Reloaded.

Those are the top 25 grossing movies of all time, in order. Only #1, Titanic, and possibly, arguably, #23, The Da Vinci Code, is not a fantasy/SF/comic/cartoon. Of the next 25 top grossing movies, only #27 (Forrest Gump but that is sort of a fantasy), #34 (Passion of the Christ) and #48 (Meet The Fockers) are non fantasy genre. So, out of the top 50 movies, only 4 or 5 non "geek" type movies are listed. 4 or 5 out of 50.

Before you think I'm attacking Hollywood, please know I'm not. In every case where I've met the people behind these movies, the writers and directors and sometimes even the actors although strangely less so, they are almost all comic fans. They grew up reading comics as I did, and sometimes they grew up reading my comics, which almost always is weird to hear, and they want to do the kinds of movies they love. It isn't the problem of the billions - and yes, I do mean billions - of people across the globe who want to see this kind of film; there are others, too. They flock to the super-heroic action movies.

No. It's the reporters who use the word geek derisively, who somehow and for some reason are still pushing the idea that comic readers are conceptually a little bit off and that Hollywood is taking advantage of us by spending a hundred fifty million dollars to make a movie we'd like. No. The world likes them. The world likes fantasy and heroic adventure and cartoons and when our kind of movie represents 45 of the top 50 movies, we are part of the mainstream and not the fringe as they always want to portray us.

I think this all says more about us being on the cutting edge than us being something derisive. Hollywood hasn't saved us, point of fact, the stuff we do and love and in some cases, create, has saved Hollywood.

Labels: comics, Freaks, geeks, San Diego Comicon

If you're coming to Comicon International you'll be able to find me at the following panels:

SATURDAY

The Black Panel: 10:30-11:30 Rm 5 A & B. Yes, I find this a weird name, but it's a panel put on by BET TV.
Writing Workshop: 30 C, D & E. If you're interested in learning the trade secrets of writing, don't come to this as there are no secrets. Just lots of hard, hard work. But if you're not afraid of that, c'mon by.

SUNDAY
Shade: 11:00 - 12:00. Shade's the popular cell-phone game and I'm writing the novelization. Attending are all the creators of Shade making their first major convention appearance anywhere. Learn game secrets and more. This is a must see panel for the millions of Shade fans everywhere. And if you've not played the game, come by and see what you've been missing.

SCRIBE awards and panel: 2:00 - 3:00. Interested in media tie-in novelizations? This is where to come. Some of the very top names in the business will be here. After the first Annual industry award's ceremony (my Superman novelization is up for an award so come see me give a fake smile when someone else wins) stay for the panel featuring some of the top writers in the business.

Besides the panels, I'll also be doing signings throughout the con. Please come by and once again let me know that you read this site.

Noel and I just got back from Barnes & Noble where we waited in line for the final Harry Potter book. I had picked up the wrist band earlier and we met at about 11:50. A scant half hour later we had it. Noel is already immersed in reading. What will bookstores do now?

Labels: Harry Potter

Just watched the final episode of Traveler, the ABC series. It's been a decent summer diversion, well done, no major faults although maybe no major reasons to continue watching it if it were on regularly. But that's the problem. The show was canceled, I think, before its 4th episode aired. I'm tired of watching new shows have a continuing premise only to see it be canceled, leaving us hanging. This concept started way back in the 1967, I think, with another summer show, this one called Coronet Blue, where the show was cancelled at the end of the summer and we never learned what the code words meant, who the character was or what was going on. Info has popped up recently on the net revealing that, but at the time we were left without anything. They did end The Fugitive, of course, and that show is considered a classic. Until Lost, the concept of continuing shows pretty much vanished. But since Lost there's been a dozen shows, at least, that gear us up to watch, only to face premature cancellation. Why should we watch any of your shows, networks, if you won't meet us half way and give us some sort of ending?

I think it's time we the American people (and anyone else out there reading this) stood up to the networks and say we won't watch your continued story shows unless you prove to us you are committed to them or at least to us. Before you green light a continued series give us a promise that if you do decide to cancel it, you will still end the series. It can be a one hour show or a two hour summer movie, but you will give us something so the viewers who invested our time with a network show gets to see where the creators were intending it to go. It's not hard to do a wrap up show, but if you don't, I think you'll discover more and more people reluctant to commit to yet another continued concept fearing it will end, too, before the secrets are revealed.

Anyone want to start a petition?

Labels: Continued TV shows

I'll be heading down to San Diego on Wednesday for Comicon International. I have a number of panels and I'll post them here over the weekend. If you're coming to the con, be sure to look me up. I won't have a permanent base so you won't find me sitting behind a table all day, but you will be able to find me.

As for other news, some of what's circulating is true, some is false, but I will be writing a brand new title later this year. I also have more comics work next year than I've had in ages including several graphic novels. Wish I could say more but I can't at this moment.

Anyway, I hope to see everyone in San Diego. If you do come by, please let me know if you read this site. It's always great to meet you in person. And if you don't read this site







The Sopranos ending

Labels: San Diego Comicon

Noel and I love to take off for small adventures. Yesterday we cruised up the 101 to Santa Barbara, one of the prettiest cities anywhere. Being just off the ocean, the weather was perfect, a good 20 or so degrees less than broiling LA. The sky was perfectly clear and the city itself, as always, is immaculately clean. It nearly glows. Every Sundays there's a regular art walk filled with painters, photographers and craftspeople and we spent about an hour or so checking out the booths and stalls, making our way up the pier, and then finally heading for lunch. Alone that would have been a perfect day.

But the real reason we went to Santa Barbara was something Noel found. Segways of Santa Barbara offers, well, Segway tours of the city. I had always wanted to try out a Segway, and this sounded like an incredible way of doing it. For those who don't know, Segways are, well, like thought controlled scooters, only they're not scooters. I'm not exactly sure what it is. You stand on it. It won't tip over. They can cruise up to 12 miles an hour and take you on trips, I'm told, for up to 6 hours or 24 miles without needing a recharge. When you get on it you have no idea why it moves forward or backward or sideways, but it does, without effort. It's like impossible, only it isn't because we rode on it.

The tour begins with a short training exercise. We were worried because we saw some other folk, peeking into the store, trying out the Segways. They were a little wobbly, and since I have zero balance I assumed I'd really have trouble. But once I got on it every fear vanished. It's hard to explain if you've never tried it before, but the thing is pretty intuitive. If you think about leaning forward, the Segway moves forward. If you pull yourself (not the Segway) back, it slows to a stop. Pull yourself back more and it goes in reverse. If you want to go right or left, and you turn a bit and pull the handlebars that way, the Segway automatically turns. It's almost responding to thoughts being translated into unconscious movement. Within minutes you master the Segway and are off cruising the streets. Since I never fell off it, I have no idea if that's even possible, but the Segway comes with five gyroscopes as well as two balance thingies, and it pretty much stays upright no matter what you do. Take a speed bump, ride on grass, move along dirt, etc. and there doesn't seem to be any problem.

Noel and I have been to Santa Barbara many times; it's less than 90 minutes from where we live, but the 3+ hour tour took us places we never knew existed and certainly informed us of the city's history in a way we never knew before. I believe many different cities have Segway stores that offer tours, If you live in or are close to one it's worth the time and expense to try something very different and fun. Because you're on the street and not in a car, you actually see the city, but because you're also not walking, you don't get tired as you travel mile after mile.

There is a comic book connection with Segways. Dean Kamen, the Segway creator, is the son of famed EC comics artist Jack Kamen who helped his son with some visual design work. The Segway is an incredible tool and a brilliant invention. As I say, it's hard to explain until you try it out, but it really is cool and fun.

Labels: Santa Barbara, Segway

Although I shouldn't be surprised because there are pictures of Elle Dee on this website, but when I went to Google Images and typed in her full name, Elle Dee Deux, pictures of her came up. What's bizarrely disconcerting is my dog is a Google reference. Something is very wrong with that.

For those who don't know, Elle Dee Deux, or LD2 (best known as LD) stands for Little Dog 2, (our second little Keeshond) as in "I'll get you my pretty and your Little Dog, Too."

Labels: Elle Dee Deux

21 or so years ago I got a call asking me to come down to the office. The office was Sunbow and it was situated in Westwood, here in currently overly sunny LA. I had been writing G.I. Joe for awhile and was a story editor on the original Transformers series. Fact is, I was the last story editor still working as the others had gone off on vacation and I was working on editing the final scripts for I believe the 3rd season. I was working with a number of already established animation writers, Paul Dini, Gerry Conway, Steve Mitchell and others, but hadn't actually written a Transformers script myself yet. That's what the call was about.

I drove down to Westwood, a scant 15 minutes away. With today's impossible traffic add half an hour. The Sunbow offices were small but lovely and on the second floor of a small office building. I said hello to those still working and was told that as the last story editor still working I had to write an emergency two-part Transformers story. But not any Transformers story. You see, the Transformers movie had come out a little while before and in it they had killed Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots. The reason he was killed was that they were ending that particular toy line and introducing new Autobots. Back in 1986 nobody had any idea how big a fan following the cartoon show had and as far as the toy company was concerned, it was merely a case of a new line superseding an old line.

Until the hate mail came flooding in.

As I say nobody had any idea there was this HUGE following for the characters. Nothing like it had every happened before. So the fans took the death of the Autobot leader not as a toy replacement, but the death of a treasured friend. I have to say none of us working on the series had any idea, either. We loved working on the show, but it was about toys and though we worked hard to make the characters special, we didn't know how well we succeeded.

At any rate, the purpose of the call was that they needed a two-part Return of Optimus Prime script written -- yesterday! It had to go into production immediately. Also, since they wanted the fans to know that all the Transformers were still around so that nobody would think any of them had died, I had to shoe-horn in every Transformer that ever existed as well as the next year's toy line. I believe, with the multi-changers that meant there were close to 300 shape changing robots, most of which I didn't know, and I had to do a story that made sense using them all, and the two parts had to be done in less than two weeks. Back then we had two weeks to write a 54-page script of one episode, not for the plot, outline and script for two different shows. Somehow, working with a good friend and co-writer I got the script in, collapsed, and within a few weeks was onto Jem and other cartoons, as well as my comics, and I completely put Transformers behind me.

That is until I worked on an episode of Beast Wars, the Transformers follow-up show, and then much later beat out a number of writers to create the story and bible for Beast Machines where I brought the Transformers back to Cybertron, created some new Transformers, and wrote a number of the shows.

I mention all this to help explain why, about six months ago, I wound up on the Sector 7 set of the current Transformers movie. It was an incredible set with secondary rooms leading naturally out of it, a giant cube in the middle of it, a giant Optimus head sitting in the back lot, giant other robot parts scattered here and there, and people scurrying about everywhere. I spent about an hour there, marveling that the stuff I used to write about that was meant for animation was actually being done live action. Back in 1985-1986, whodathunk it? Really.

I was astonished by the Transformers film. They actually made it work. No, I couldn't follow all of it, but then I never could keep all those robots clear in my head. When I wrote it I used the series bible and its visualizations to help me remember who was who, but when I watch it my eyes are simply not fast enough to catch everything moving and to sort them out. Still, this was the Transformers I wrote. The robots looked incredible. But what really got to me was that the film was filled with humor. I honestly didn't expect that. It was funny where it was meant to be funny, and it had heart when it was supposed to have heart. I can't remember another Michael Bay film I could say that about. The action was unbelievable, and though I could not follow it all - slow eyes, remember - it was exactly the same as the Transformers animated 1986 movie which I saw again a few weeks ago at a special screening in LA. Obviously, the robots were done CGI, but they are wonderfully done and the CGI - live action integration was perfect.

The story itself is pretty simple, Autobots fight Decopticons and we're in the middle as they struggle to find the All-Spark, but the actors gave the cartoons character and emotion and miraculously, as I say, humor. Is it a great film? Nah. But if you like Transformers unless you're the nit-picky kind, I have to say you'll enjoy it.

Labels: Transformers

I regularly receive emails asking the following questions:

1: Will you read my spec script and tell me if it's good, bad, whatever, and how to improve it?
2: How can I become a comic book writer?
3: I have a great idea for a Nightwing/Titans/Etc. story and here it is...
4: Will you read my comic?
5: Tell me all your secrets.

There are lots more questions, but in one form another they can be summed up by the above. The answers I'll give below are not nice. They will be tough to hear, but I'm actually saying what most professionals won't admit to out of politeness. I have nothing against anyone who wants to be a professional, and I really do wish you all well, but I only have limited time and if I respond to an email request it is usually with a already written answer that I cut and paste into the reply. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is. But to all who want to try, good luck. It isn't easy, but if you make it writing comics is incredible fun. So here are the answers:

1: No. I do not read spec scripts. First, I don't have the time. I barely have the time to write what I'm supposed to let alone read and review the hundreds of requests I get. Second, I and most others don't read this kind of material because we don't want to accidentally forget we read a script five years later and use that story idea. If we come up with the same concept, we want that to be on our own, not because we read it in a sample script. So the answer is and always will be no. I'm sorry, but I simply can't do it. Please don't ask.

2: I have no idea. How I broke into comics nearly 40 years ago isn't the way people do it today. My only suggestion, team up with an artist and do a self-published comic. If it's good the pros will possibly notice it. But no matter, editors will more likely read a printed comic than a spec script. Also, if you do write spec scripts you're essentially asking an editor to fire the writer he has on it in order to hire you, even for one month. They won't do that. So do your own work on your own characters and just keep writing until you're good enough to be hired.

3: I am not interested in reading your ideas. See #1 above.

4: Probably not. I usually don't have the time to read the books I want to read. Sometimes at a con I'll take a printed comic and if I can I'll read it in the hotel room or on the plane home, but I almost never get a chance to read comics sent to me. Also, I won't have the time to respond, so if you do give me one and if I take it, don't expect a letter back. I'm sorry, but that's the truth. I may on rare occasions when I find something great send an email, but don't count on it.

5: Here is my standard reply. On this website there is a section called "What Th--?" In it you will find over 50 columns I wrote a few years back. Any column marked with a WR is about writing. Read them. Those are the secrets. Everything else is just working to get better.

And again, although I don't have the time to go over your stuff, I do wish you well. I love it when people come in with new thoughts and concepts that help enrich our medium. Good luck.

Labels: Writing stories

NIGHTWING #134 is due out today July 4th. But since most stores won't be open, it should actually come out tomorrow. So, whaadya think?

Labels: Nightwing

I've been at a lot of cons this past year and people often ask how a story is put together, so....

I started another Nightwing today, jotting down ideas for the story (expanded from my original notes which had been approved 4-6 months ago). The notes usually cover the basic plot, any big visual scene I'm thinking of, and then a section for the emotions of the characters; what each person in the story wants so I don't forget stories are about people with conflicting needs. I want to know what people are thinking at different parts of the story to see how they are changing over the course of the issue.

Once I'm done with that, I write numbers 1-22 on the left side of my computer screen (each number corresponds to a printed comics page) and quickly pace out the story in one or two sentence concepts which I play next to each number. Then I sit back and play with that until the pacing works out the way I want. I take out parts that don't make sense. I combine sections which can be so I'm not wasting space, and I make sure the story makes sense and the ideas flow correctly. Once I get something that I'm satisfied with, I start adding a bit more detail to each page; a bit more of what's happening and who does what to whom. I try not to put in too much because I know it all gets changed, often drastically, but I try to give myself a road map even if I eventually take different streets to get to my location.

With the very rough breakdowns done, I go back to page one and spend forever coming up with the dialog and captions for the page. I say it takes forever because the first page is the one that sets the emotional tone for the writing for the entire issue. Once that page works, I can quickly write dialog for the rest of the story. Often I will stop writing dialog and add another scene description in case I've changed something from the original description or need to further explain something or I came up with a really neat visual gimmick I don't want to forget.

I take a number of breaks during the day and when I get back to the computer I start re-reading everything I've done starting with page one. I want to maintain a flow and even a half hour away can break the feeling. So it's back to the start so I get into the feel of what I'm doing again.

After I've written the dialog many, many times I go back to page one and write complete scene descriptions that break down the story panel by panel. Occasionally I will rewrite dialog. Sometimes I'll take dialog and turn it into captions and write visuals that play against what's being said. But this is where I tell the story visually and if I find a story is dragging, I will go back and rewrite until the flow is right.

With everything done, assuming I have the time, I save and close down the document and go out, watch TV, play a video game, go for a walk, see a movie, or do anything that isn't writing, or failing that, doing anything that isn't writing the script I just finished. I try to clear my mind of that work and spend the next day doing something else before I come back and do another edit/pass on the script. Dialog that sounded fine a day or two before, given 24-48 hours, reads differently. Sometimes clunky. I'm no longer enamored with a specific line and I go into edit mode instead of writing mode. Here is where I rewrite dialog, cut unnecessary lines (something I never did years ago when there wasn't time), and try to tell the same story in a cleaner, more precise fashion.

I then print out the script, two pages to a single page of paper, and do a final proofreading. I find it hard, sometimes impossible, to do a perfect proofreading on the computer screen and I prefer printing out the script, sitting back in an easy chair with a pen, and edit away. I will often find mistakes I missed on the computer. I mark each change then return to the computer to correct them.

Eventually, I email it into the office and wait for notes from the editor. Editors are vital; they are disinterested parties who are not married to what you've done and can more clearly see where you've gone astray, fail to explain something because you know it but don't convey the knowledge, or simply say "DB" which stands for Do Better. A few days later, I will occasionally do more more read through and send in corrected dialog. At this stage I know the story is being drawn so I don't change panel descriptions (unless it's at the very end of the story) but I will change dialog. Hopefully it will be this final script that gets sent to the letterer and not the previous draft.

This sounds like a lot of work, and it probably is. When I was younger I didn't do the endless editing and rewriting. There simply wasn't time. And I of course thought my stuff was perfect as I wrote it. Of course, when I reread some of those books, even though many of the stories themselves stand the test of time, the actual writing doesn't. Most of that stuff is over written with dialog so purple you could cover Barney in it. Today's dialog tries to be more realistic and less melodramatic. That stuff was fun to write but hard to reread decades later.

Anyway, I hope this answers a question that I get asked many times at cons. When I can I'll put this on my Q&A page so it stays "in print."

Labels: Writing stories