Interesting Times
It’s been a while, and during that time, things have been…interesting.
I stepped down from writing Bolts & Nuts and The Proving Grounds, in order to concentrate more on some private matters. However, I’ve felt that I’ve had a lot of free time on my hands. And it feels…strange.
There’s a writing project that I’m digging back into. I don’t own the property, but I have a stake in it. It’s a decent idea, and I see how I would do things differently on it, but there it is. I want to have this one done soon. It’s been haunting me–and not in a good way.
I want you all to go to www.thelegendoflionman.com and give me your honest opinion of it. Don’t hold back. If you want to send it as an e-mail, stevedforbes@gmail.com is best.
Oh! Because I’m loving Google, I also have a Google phone number. You can give me a call at 520-344-4633. I’m thinking about adding a widget, too. This will be my business number, and I’ve also added it to the signature block of my e-mail. Just didn’t want to forget that.
Back to comics!
Thanksgiving Day was a REALLY good day! I got a call from Harry Markos of Markosia, and he told me that he wants Bullet Time to come under the Markosia banner. I thought that was GREAT! I just needed to find an artist with the same sense of style and storytelling as Dave, and who didn’t mind back-end pay. Tall order, let me tell you!
Well, I found such an artist. He had submitted to me a few months ago for Lionman, and while his art was damned good, it wasn’t what I was looking for when it came to that project. I did think, however, that he would be perfect for Bullet Time. I didn’t want to approach him, however, because I didn’t have anyplace to publish it at the time, and while self-publishing is great, it’s also damned expensive. Not something I can afford at the moment. (But I have plans!) I wrote him up an e-mail, sending him over to BT to look it over, and he said he was interested. I told him about the money situation, and he was onboard. So, Robert Keough is onboard as artist, and Jeff Coney stays as inker. I have Cary Kelley to help with a new logo since this is going to be in b/w, and I’ll be doing the letters. Yes, I’m keeping the team small. I’d do the logo myself if I was seriously getting into lettering, but I’m not. Only enough for me to do a decent job on my stuff, and that’s it.
So, yes, I got a publishing deal on Thanksgiving. Nice, right?
How long did it take me to find an artist? Five days, I think. Now, I’m just waiting on the contract to come in from Harry, so that they can be gone over, signed, and sent, with work to be started either at the end of the month or at the start of the year. It’s going to be good. Yep, I’ll be busy again with lettering, which is kinda fun. And looking at new art for your own stories is always fantastic. Good times ahead.
Lately, I’ve also been getting more inquiries about editing. They’re almost coming out of the woodwork. Oh, no, I’m not complaining at all. Paid work is always a good thing. Right now, I have two writers that I’m doing project management for, and the pages that are coming in for one of them are just truly phenomenal. A painted look that’s just outstanding. When I saw the artist apply (he had also applied for the other writer’s project), I knew he would be the one. And so far, he’s great! Character sketches come in, he’s doing five pages for submission, and the damned pages look GOOD. He’s also pretty good about taking direction. Really, I couldn’t ask for anything more. When this is over, I’d like to hire him for one of my own projects. One that I’ll be re-writing in the next few weeks.
The other writer? Well, the artist for that project had to be fired. He wasn’t getting the work done, and he wasn’t communicating. Right now, we’re seeing about trying someone else out. Waiting to get the test page back from him before moving forward.
I’ve also got another writer that I’m just doing scriptwork with. We just finished up a script, and he may be sending me more work before Christmas. One can always hope.
There are also two writers that just came to me, asking about my rates and such. They both hired me for scriptwork, and one hopes to start on it this week. It’s a shortish script, but I’m not complaining about it. The other one looks to start in the new year, which will definitely be helpful.
Yes, I’m still “working” on Lionman. My invoice for work done is getting pricey. If things happen the way I hope they do, though…it will all be worth it. And if it goes REALLY right, in two years time…yeah. I’ll be able to look back at all of this and say “I lived through that, and I’m never going back there again.”
As for my other projects, Group is still on something of a hiatus, I haven’t heard back from two other artists for two different projects they signed on for (and yes, I’ve been sending out the e-mails, but I’m not overly concerned with one of them–him I can replace without really losing money, but the other guy? I want that art!), and I’m looking to get more things in the pipeline.
The Markosia deal, once inked, will give me some leverage for other stories to get seen. I have one artist right now doing up some test pages for a project I’d like to send to them, that would work really well in b/w. This guy is a really good artist who applied for Bullet Time, but he had no sequentials to show. So, I sent him over an excerpt of a script and asked him to do up at least three consecutive pages (I sent over six). I want to make sure his storytelling is as sound as his form and figures. I asked for pencils at least, and if he wants to do the inks, to send over the pencils and the inks for me to see. That was a few days ago, and I’m not worried about it yet. The pages were nice storytelling pages, but not penultimate to the issue I wrote. And if he does them AND it gets picked up, then that’s just another feather in my cap and another project to get in the hopper.
And just this morning, I got another e-mail in my box from an artist, asking for a true critique of his abilities and if I like him, to hire him for a job. Uneven, but he’s got something going. I may have something for him, which would either go up on the site (replacing Bullet Time), or something to submit to Markosia. I’ll send him over some test pages and see what he does with it.
As for real life…I’m coming to the end of having weekends off. It was really nice! Sundays, all I’ve done is sit in front of the television and watch football. I go to bed relatively late Saturday night, wake up late on Sunday, get showered and dressed, and then sit in front of the television and yell at it for about 10 hours. I generally watch the Fox doubleheader, and then the late game on CBS or ABC, whichever channel that is. Then it’s generally off to bed with Lenora after that. But all that ends on Jan 3. My work schedule changes, so I’ll be working on weekends, and having Mon/Tue/Wed off. No playoffs, no Superbowl. I’ll be asleep or at work. Generally asleep.
Lenora’s work schedule has changed back to nights, which is also nice. We get to spend more time together, since I work nights as well. That’s always a good thing.
Today is my cousin David’s birthday! I’ll be calling him. His is damned close to mine, though. I’ll be 36 in just over a month. Oh, well. It’s a number. I may think more about it later.
That’s really about it for me. Go read Frankenstein. You’ll thank me later.
-Steven
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