Ask Me Anything #38

As always, the first Monday of the month means it's time for "Ask Me Anything."

You can ask me any questions you'd like, whether it's about my work, opinions, influences, favorites, least favorites, or anything else you think I might have an answer for. Questions can be posted in the comments section below, and I'll either answer them there, or in a separate post sometime later in the month.

Please take the time to view the previous questions so that we don't wind up with a lot of repetition. I've been asked a lot of good, thought provoking questions in the past as well as some really banal ones, all of which I tried to answer. You can see the previous questions by visiting Ask Me Anything  #1, #2 ,  #3, #4, #5, #6 , #7 , #8, #9,  #10,  #11,  #12 , #13, #14,  #15 , #16, #17 , #18 , #19,  #20,  #21, #22,  #23, #24, #25, #26, #27, #28, #29, #30, #31, #32, #33, #34, #35, #36, and #37.  Answers not found following the questions can be found in the archives section for each associated month under Ask Me Anything.

Now ask away. 

Adventure Time Art Is Now Up

The Gallery 1988 website now has all of the artwork from the current Adventure Time show up to look at and purchase. I have a number of pieces available in the show. You can take a look here.  

The Ice King

Here's the main piece I did for the Adventure Time show (scroll down to previous post) at Gallery 1988 which opens this Thursday. This is 3-D cut paper with plastic accents. I have other pieces in the show which can be viewed at Gallery 1988 (West) once the show opens, or on their website this weekend.

Coming to Gallery 1988

I'm pleased to announce my participation in two shows opening at Gallery 1988 in April.

"Adventure Time" opens this Thursday, April 3, 2014 at Gallery 1988 (West). In order to attend the opening you must RSVP the Gallery. Information on how to RSVP and a small preview can be found here.  I'll be previewing one of my pieces tomorrow. 

"The Subtle Art of Pop-Culture" is Gallery 1988s 10th Anniversary show, which I believe also requires an RSVP in order to attend the opening which is at Gallery 1988 (West) on Friday, April 11, 2014. I'll preview my piece closer to that date. You can see a list of all the amazing artists in the image above.

In April

Next month at Gallery 1988

Ask Me Anything #37

As always, the first Monday of the month means it's time for "Ask Me Anything."

You can ask me any questions you'd like, whether it's about my work, opinions, influences, favorites, least favorites, or anything else you think I might have an answer for. Questions can be posted in the comments section below, and I'll either answer them there, or in a separate post sometime later in the month.

Please take the time to view the previous questions so that we don't wind up with a lot of repetition. I've been asked a lot of good, thought provoking questions in the past as well as some really banal ones, all of which I tried to answer. You can see the previous questions by visiting Ask Me Anything  #1, #2 ,  #3, #4, #5, #6 , #7 , #8, #9,  #10,  #11,  #12 , #13, #14,  #15 , #16, #17 , #18 , #19,  #20,  #21, #22,  #23, #24, #25, #26, #27, #28, #29, #30, #31, #32, #33, #34, #35, and #36.  Answers not found following the questions can be found in the archives section for each associated month under Ask Me Anything.

Now ask away. 

Reading and Writing Comics

Joe also wanted to know:

Do you think that getting into comics has enhanced your like for them or pushed you away from them? I know this may seem like a weird question but for example, i am a massive video game player, and i was recently talking to my friend (who back in the day also played ALOT of video games). He decided to become a video game designer. Through him learning how to make them and what not, he said he cant play games, it bothers him and it has become something he doesnt like.

I think simply being a storyteller has spoiled fiction for me in some ways, no matter the medium. Unless I really suppress the writer within me, it's generally not hard for me to figure out exactly how a novel will end within reading the first couple of chapters, or a movie from watching the opening ten minutes. With absolute accuracy, I was able to predict the whole mystery of the astronaut and Amy Pond's baby an entire season before that resolution was revealed on Doctor Who. This isn't bragging, in fact I wish it weren't the case, but because I know what happens behind the curtain when writing a story, figuring out what's going to happen in other people's stories isn't hard. Unfortunately, it makes it difficult to enjoy even the best fictional entertainment to its fullest. I try to suppress this ability as much as possible, but it's always there.

This is why I mostly read non-fiction. 

As far as my enjoyment of comics goes, if the work is good, and interesting, I can still enjoy it. I particularly get excited when I see someone really embracing the strengths of the medium, and creators who experiment with what comics can do. I like to come across interesting storytelling techniques as well as ones that don't work, because they both shed light on ways that the medium can be used to present a story.

I still read comics pretty regularly, but most of what I read is collected archive material, and collected series by people whose work I really enjoy. The bulk of it is material that is outside the type of stories I write myself. Because I don't have a comic book store nearby, I really only read comics in book form, which is how I prefer it anyway, because then I can read an entire story at once, and not lose track of the nuances as I would by reading it in serial form. My working in comics does not take away any enjoyment I get from reading them. Like any other medium, I enjoy a good, well told story, and don't have any interest in material that I don't find satisfying. There are some comic books I just have no interest in in the same way I wouldn't watch a movie starring Adam Sandler, or read a novel by Danielle Steel.

Superhero Movies

Joe asked:

1. If you were to make a movie on a superhero, how would you go about it? Do you feel you should 100% go by the comic or put your own little spin on things as long as it doesnt mess with the original story too much. I ask because for fun (and possibly out of boredom) I thought about making a script for a Static film and wasnt sure if i wanted to go the comic route, the cartoon route, or a mix of the too.



I think the biggest thing to keep in mind before starting to adapt a superhero comic, or any other property for that matter, is that the bulk of the movie viewing audience who will come to see this movie has not read the comic books it's based on. You need to take what's in the comics and distill that into something you can use that will present to this audience everything it needs to know in order to enjoy the movie, and not clutter it up with excess material that will only serve to confuse and possibly alienate them.

Since the comics themselves are no longer necessarily true to the source material, with the various reboots, writer and artist interpretations, multiverse personifications and so on, you need to decide what is to the core of the character you are writing, and how that will translate to a solid, entertaining story for the screen.

The Adam West Batman was just as true to the source material as was the Michael Keaton Batman or the Christian Bale Batman. The first just applied a camp comedy sensibility to it, the second a gothic operatic twist and the third a more real world application. Sadly, while it may have been the most artistically satisfying of the three, the recent trilogy which presented Batman as a more realistic character, made it the least able to play in a shared universe with other DC characters. This Batman didn't face any super powered villains, or fantastic weapons. Superman could not exist in this Batman's world, nor Green Lantern, Flash, or the others. By trying to make those other characters bend to fit in this Batman's world is not being true to those characters or their own micro worlds within the DC Universe. A Justice League set in this Batman's world does not lend itself to credibility, but a Justice League incorporating the previous incarnations of Batman would work just fine as there was enough of a fantasy element to make it credible.

Green Lantern, which I have not seen, by trying to incorporate the expanded Green Lantern mythology, rather than focus on one hero, was probably great for the fans of all of the Green Lantern comic book titles, but overwhelming for the moviegoer unfamiliar with the character.

Spider-Man, in the Sam Raimi movies strayed from some of the source material; organic webs, a superhero character who in the comics has probably been most successful at hiding his secret identity, removing his mask constantly, but was still, at heart very true to what Spider-Man was all about, as was the more recent incarnation, which made Peter Parker less dorky, but kept his webs artificial.

The Hellboy movies were very true to the spirit of the comic book series, but were increasingly incompatible with the work that Mike Mignola, the character's creator, was doing in the comic book series. While Guillermo del Toro took great liberties with the Hellboy movies, he still honored the source material.

I think it really is about deciding what it is at the core of the character that you want to translate to the screen and picking a story, and a villain, who will support that. Cosmetic changes can't and shouldn't affect that, whether it's straying from traditional costume designs, or changing a character's race, or gender. To be honest, this is exactly how I go about writing superhero comics, too.

Japanese Superheroes

Lostphrack asked me: You've occasionally used Japanese yokai in your works, and you've talked a little about your fondness for Godzilla in the past as well. 

I was wondering if you had any interest in Japanese superhero franchises like Ultraman or Kamen Rider?

I've never seen Kamen Rider, but based on some of the vinyl toys I've seen that were made in the likenesses of the characters from this show, I'd really like to. I've watched some others, including a few incarnations of Ultraman, Kikaida, Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot, Iron King, Red Baron, Gatchaman, Mirror Man, and Space Giants, are all series I've seen. I've also seen sporadic episodes of others, and would like to see more. There's a crazy inventiveness that's unique to Japan that I love about these programs, but I find they are best enjoyed in small doses, as the plots themselves tend to be repetitively formulaic, which can make them tiresome if you watch more than a couple at a time. 

I really admire the character design and concepts for the shows more than anything else, except for the monsters which are like nothing else. I do have a comic book project that I hope to do one day that's a love letter to these shows. 

The X-Files Classics - Volume 3

The X-Files Classics - volume 3 is now available at a comic book store near you. Published by IDW this hard cover collects a number of stories originally published by Topps in the late 1990s. The bulk of the stories in this volume were written by me with art by Charles Adlard, Gordon Purcell, and Josef Rubinstein. There's an additional story written by Kevin J. Anderson as well.

Long Live the King!

The folks at Benevolent Monster Productions who made the excellent documentary, Beast Wishes, about Bob and Kathy Burns, are raising funds to produce a new film, Long Live the King,  about the enduring legacy of King Kong. Among the many great incentives being offered for investors is my original cut paper collage portrait of King Kong (shown above). The piece is one of a kind and measures 8 1/2" x 11". Even if you are not interested in obtaining this piece you should still go check out the campaign, see what else is offered, and pitch in some money if you can. The campaign for Long Live the King can be found here.

Mad Scientist #28

Issue #28 of Martin Arlt's excellent magazine, Mad Scientist, is now available for pre-order. This issue contains one of my cut paper monster portraits. The full contents and ordering information (only $7.00 - shipping included!) can be found here.

1000 Monsters!

For the past few years I've been digging through my image files and posting pictures of monsters at the rate of one a day on my companion blog, The Grim Gallery. Today marks the 1000th post, meaning there are now 1000 monsters to look at over there and all for free! Visit the Grim Gallery and dig through the archives and see how many monsters you know.


Above image by Pete Von Sholly

Ask Me Anything #36

As always, the first Monday of the month means it's time for "Ask Me Anything."

You can ask me any questions you'd like, whether it's about my work, opinions, influences, favorites, least favorites, or anything else you think I might have an answer for. Questions can be posted in the comments section below, and I'll either answer them there, or in a separate post sometime later in the month.

Please take the time to view the previous questions so that we don't wind up with a lot of repetition. I've been asked a lot of good, thought provoking questions in the past as well as some really banal ones, all of which I tried to answer. You can see the previous questions by visiting Ask Me Anything  #1, #2 ,  #3, #4, #5, #6 , #7 , #8, #9,  #10,  #11,  #12 , #13, #14,  #15 , #16, #17 , #18 , #19,  #20,  #21, #22,  #23, #24, #25, #26, #27, #28, #29, #30, #31, #32, #33, #34, and #35.  Answers not found following the questions can be found in the archives section for each associated month under Ask Me Anything.

Now ask away. 

Villains of Gotham Now Available

All of the artwork, including the two pieces I made, are now available for viewing, and/or, purchase at One-Shot Gallery.

It's National Gorilla Suit Day

Today's National Gorilla Suit Day! Go put on your gorilla costume and set out in public to make the day more interesting for your neighbors, co-workers, and random fellow citizens and children.

Sale Ends Tomorrow

There's only one more day to take advantage of FREE SHIPPING on all orders of $50.00, or more, in my art store. There are lots of inexpensive pieces available, such as the one above. See the rest here.

The Penguin and Catwoman

The Penguin and Catwoman, the two cut paper collage pieces I made for the "Great Villains of Gotham" show at One-Shot Gallery located inside St. Mark's Comics at 11 St. Mark's Place, New York, NY 10003. The show opens on February 1st, 2014 and will run for the month of February.

Last Week for Free Shipping

If you are looking to pick up some of my cut paper collage work, now is the time. Not only is the work itself very affordable, but any orders of $50.00 and up will also receive free shipping. But this offer ends on January 31st.

Most likely I'll be closing the store here at that time and moving it to etsy at some point in the future.

You can see what's available by visiting my store here.

A Cowardly And Superstitious Lot

I have two pieces in this show which opens next weekend inside St. Mark's Comics in New York City. I'll preview them in a couple of days leaving you to speculate on which villains I rendered until then.

Alternate Midnight, Mass. Covers

Check out these cool alternate Midnight, Mass. covers by Jeremy Darby which he made for a class assignment, including one for a non-existent 3rd story arc.

The Powerpuff Girls Trade Paperback Collection

The Powerpuff Girls Classics - volume 2 is now available at a comic book store near you. This series of  trade paperbacks published by IDW collects The Powerpuff Girls comic book series that was published by DC Comics a few years back. I wrote a number of stories for this series. This book includes the very first of them.

You can also pre-order volume 3, which will be available mid-March, and which contains another one of my stories.

Links for ordering either volume are provided below.

Free Shipping

Now through the end of January 2014 I'm offering FREE SHIPPING on any orders of $50.00 and up at my cut paper collage art store. There are plenty of inexpensive pieces available. Take a look here.

Reboot

Joe also asks:

Are there any heros that if possible you would change anything about them (backstory, powers, personality, morals, etc), if so who would you change, what would you change about them, and why?

I did do a bit of this with the Scarecrow in Detective Comics #835 and #836, but I have two characters definitely in mind. If I could, I would love to take on either Namor, the Sub-Mariner and/or Aquaman and rebuild them from the ground up.

Of the two, Aquaman could use the reboot the most. I like Namor as a character with his arrogance and hot temper. I also like some of his supporting cast and villains, what I don't like, and never had, is the whole underwater world of Atlantis and its environs. These same problems apply to Aquaman as well.

What do Atlanteans look so human? It's not really efficient for living underwater, or swimming around. Why do they wear clothes made of cloth? They'd be a hindrance. They also sleep on beds with sheets and pillows, sit at tables to eat food off of plates and drink wine out of cups which never seems to dilute into the surrounding sea water. They carry steel weapons in the highly corrosive salt water of the ocean. They have stairs for crying out loud. Why? This is stuff that bothered me even as a little kid. It should all be done away with. So should all of the hundreds of other humanoid races beneath the sea. It's like the Mos Eisley cantina down there. Why so many on one planet?

Aquaman has other reasons to be rebooted, he's been reduced to such a generic embarrassment that that's the angle that was specifically played against in the New 52 relaunch. His personality still seems generic to me. He also seems like he'd be the easier of the two to fix without mucking up established continuity.

I actually have a lot of ideas for what I'd do, but I'm not going to offer them up here for someone else to utilize.

I'd really love a shot at rebuilding either of these two characters and their environs from the ground up.

Versus

Joe asks:

1.) If you could write a story or see two heros have a comic series where they fight or team up who would they be and why. For example i would love to see a Batman/Green Arrow team up or VS they are similar and yet very different which makes me want to see it, billionaires with different attitudes that use gadgets. one very serious the other very comedic. seems like it would be interesting.


The idea of speculating on which of two superheroes would win in a fight has never appealed to me. The truth is that depending on the story's needs, any hero can be written to defeat any other. I've also been more partial to seeing someone defeat their enemy by being clever more so than beating each other with their fists. Again, this would all come done to the needs of a story, so I can't say that there are any two characters that I'd like to pit against each other in a fight scene. 

Again with team ups, what you're saying is the essence of what you want to do with one. If you are working with one character, such as Batman in your example and want to bring out certain aspects of his character in a story, playing him off of a character that shares some of his traits but contrasts wildly in other ways, such as Green Arrow, is a great way to go about that. For me this still comes down to the needs of a story, so it would all depend on my writing a specific character in order to determine who I would bring in to pair them up with. I don't have any particular characters in mind that I would love to put together as a duo.

I know my response is probably disappointing, but it's honest and comes from my own personal approach to comics. 

Ask Me Anything #35

It's a new year, and time for some new questions and new answers. As always, the first Monday of the month means it's time for "Ask Me Anything." 

You can ask me any questions you'd like, whether it's about my work, opinions, influences, favorites, least favorites, or anything else you think I might have an answer for. Questions can be posted in the comments section below, and I'll either answer them there, or in a separate post sometime later in the month.

Please take the time to view the previous questions so that we don't wind up with a lot of repetition. I've been asked a lot of good, thought provoking questions in the past as well as some really banal ones, all of which I tried to answer. You can see the previous questions by visiting Ask Me Anything  #1, #2 ,  #3, #4, #5, #6 , #7 , #8, #9,  #10,  #11,  #12 , #13, #14,  #15 , #16, #17 , #18 , #19,  #20,  #21, #22,  #23, #24, #25, #26, #27, #28, #29, #30, #31, #32, #33, and #34.  Answers not found following the questions can be found in the archives section for each associated month under Ask Me Anything.

Now ask away. 

Recondite Pictures Interview

Scott Amundson, writer of the ongoing Survivorman comic book series interviewed me for Recondite Pictures. I talk about various aspects of writing comic books. You can read the interview here.