Making Comics (Scott McCloud)

I finally(!) got around to reading 'Making Comics' by Scott McCloud, one of three books of his that really examine comics as a storytelling style. I love books like this - ones that are less 'how to' and more of an examination of the art itself - what makes comics unique? How can we get the most out of the medium? What are the avenues of new ideas we can walk down as we explore the format?

Something every good article on recording music tells you is 'if you want to make great records, you need to listen to (and then compare your audio to those) great records'.  Strive for perfection of the art, and even if you get 'only close' you've probably made something pretty cool.  So is the same with comics - you want to study the best to influence what your original thoughts, put lots of work into it and see what happens. This book encourages that sort of thinking.

Each of these books that make me want to try new things as I forge ahead with the Kodoja story... which is the point of the whole thing right? It's all part of making your own story as 'your own' as it can be. The book seems intended more for the 'Writer + Artist' person who makes comics, but even being 'just a writer' (I have a hard time succesfully executing a stick figure) it's awesome. Having a thorough vocabulary in terms of how we process things as a reader can only help me as a writer.

The book takes the general tone of 'I can't say how you should tell your story, but here are a bunch of ideas that might inspire you as you walk your path', which is very zen. The examples are great - they show a technique and then really break it down and talk about it. You don't just see the difference between, say a borderless low-perspective panel and an eye-level perspective panel with a border, you talk about every difference and how it makes you feel as a reader.

The first thought when I read a book like this was 'well hold on, I write a Giant Monster Comic. I'm not playing with format like Acme Novelty Library and I'm sure as sh*t not writing The Sandman here, so what does it matter?' And anyone else who reads it might think the same thing - oh I just write a superhero comic / zombie comic / etc. But in a way, that makes a book like this more essential - the more well-defined the genre is that you're a part of, the more beneficial it is to understand different paths to new angles at that genre. As the book points out, Jack Kirby did a lot of things that refreshed a 20-year old superhero genre (at the time) and broke new ground with waves and waves of ideas on visual storytelling.  The superhero genre was quite mature at the time, yet new ideas propelled new directions.

Or, take the NBA Slam Dunk Contest - it spent most of the 90s in a stagnant place where a lot of the criticism centered around 'all of the dunks being done' or there being 'nothing new'... until Vince Carter showed up in 2000, shook the whole contest up with an array of never-seen-before dunks and set it on a course of continued innovation tat hasn't stopped yet (with some aids like automobiles, glow-in-the-dark basketballs and teddy bears hanging from the rim, admittedly). Only a few of us will ever create something so revolutionary it turns the storytelling world in a new direction, but the point is to experiment and continue to work new angles - you never know what's going to work until every angle gets explored.

One other nugget is in the picture above - I've long been a proponent of this concept but this is a great way to put it. Just because you've decided to sell out, that doesn't mean anyone's going to buy! Stay true to you and create what you want to create.

The Art of Balance

If you're reading this then you probably know I write a kaiju story in comic form called Kodoja.

But no story out there is just one type of story, you know? More so, what makes everyone's story unique are the little things that make that story *yours*. Individual stories within the same franchise have individual flavors because of the storytellers: Godzilla (the original) is entirely different than Godzilla vs Hedorah to fans of the genre.

To that extent, every story you tell is more than a story: it's a balancing act of all the individual stories you're weaving into the whole.

Kodoja is of course mainly a Giant Monster story, but for me it's a balancing act: there's a political element, a character interaction element and a Lovecraftian element (I say this to anyone who will listen at conventions - it's not all the way there yet, but it'll reveal itself a bit more as we go along). Maybe this isn't the case for other people, but for me it can be a struggle to get the balance and the calibration of the parts right. I might write for a little bit and really get into the Lovecraft angle and before you know it I've written a mini-Lovecraft story.  Which is super-cool (tentacles and sh*t!), except this is a story that's centered around giant monsters! The goal is to keep the Giant Monster as the main driver of the story and if I veer off too much in one direction I may change the flavor of the story entirely.

I view stories as one of those carpenter levels you use for Home improvement tasks: you have to balance things on three different angles, and only when you do it are things on the level. There are times when I think that balancing act is harder than any amount of smarts or detail you can put in a story (similar to how I think it's harder to write a tight, incredible pop song than it is to endlessly noodle around on an instrument for 4 minutes). I don't want a political story, I don't want a Lovecraft story, and I don't want a character interaction story: I want a Kaiju story that incorporates those three elements equally. And I'll devote tons of energy (and rewrites) to get that balance right.

WonderCon 2013 and.... Crime Fiction?

Wondercon was this past weekend - at some point I considered having a table there for Kodoja, but settled on taking it in from the floor via one-day pass and being a fan. It was my first WonderCon (though I've been to SD Comic Con before and exhibited at APE San Francisco).  While it's only in its second year in Anaheim, I was impressed - it's smoothly run, really big (compared to every con that's not San Diego or New York) and chock full of vendors, panels and plenty of other good things.

While the stuff I expected to enjoy was great, it was the pleasant surprise of the day that reminded me why I love going to conventions. I reached my spending budget by 1:30 but wanted to stay around for some panels that started at 6:00, and after walking the floor for a bit I became eager to do something other than walk the floor.  The strategy became "find a panel that's at least moderately interesting, even if it's not something you would have earmarked a few hours ago", and before you knew it I was in attendance for a panel on crime fiction.  The goal was to detox from the craziness of the floor and rest my legs a bit, but it didn't take long before the panel was riveting.

It wasn't necessarily riveting because I love crime fiction, either - crime fiction isn't really 'my thing' though I have read some books I liked. It was riveting because one of my favorite things is listening to people talk about The Thing That They Are Passionate About.  Whether it's Godzilla, fly-fishing, car repair or identifying baseball talent it's always a treat to listen to someone who is an expert in something to talk about that thing.  It not only provided interesting insight into the creative process (which as a writer and musician I always enjoy learning from), I walked away with a few things to look for to read or check out - influences you might expect (but were new to me) like Weegee to Edgar Allan Poe, Isaac Asimov and and Robert Heinlein - not what I expected from a crime fiction panel.

It reminded me of my first exposure to excellence - a little pocket book by Jack Nicklaus where he talked about how he plays golf, strategy, mental approach, etc.  I played golf competitively as a junior, and reading this book the first time as an eleven-year-old was mind-blowing; Nicklaus was unlocking a new way for golf to be played, a next-level way.  When you're eleven it's some serious sh*t! While it influenced my golf game, more importantly it influenced learning - and ever since I always listen to experts regarding their subject of expertise. What started as a way to rest my legs and chill out from a busy convention day turned into an awesome experience and a great way to get exposure to new ideas. And oh yeah better believe I'll be checking out panels this way from now on!

Vinyl Inspiration and Record Shops

I do everything I can to make the creative workspace a dope, nurturing environment - it contributes to what (thankfully) has been a lack of writer's block for a really long time. The guitar, keyboard, drum machines (for the music stuff) to tap on if the "music idea" well dries up, kaiju figures to stomp around, movies, videos, posters... all kinds of good stuff.

But over the years, nothing has come through as much as records. I have my share of mp3s, some CDs too. But it's vinyl that drives the majority of inspiration.
- Sometimes the record, art and music all contribute to an idea.
- Sometimes just gazing at the album cover opens up the imagination and brings me back to a time before videos, when you'd put a record on the turntable and listen to both sides doing nothing other than staring at the art, lyrics and liner notes (and trying to figure out who the artist really was using those sparse clues).
- And of course there's the music, which in many cases exists only on wax.

With records being the inspiration, record stores (and swap meets) become portals in a way.  I hit record stores as much as possible (and do a podcast to this effect called Soul Traveling) and with all the record stores I've been to one thing holds true: you never know what you're going to get.

Whenever I walk into a record store for the first time, I make a point to just walk around for a while.  I size up each of the sections - is there a large jazz section? Soul? Rock? Is there a large dollar bin? (If so I follow my "CTA Rule" = "dig through the dollar bin until you come across the Chicago Transit Authority LP", which is in every dollar bin. That's my cue to stop.) What type of stuff is in the soul section - do they specialize in 80s, 70s stuff, what? What is the owner playing on the store loudspeaker for everyone? I soak it in, get the vibe... and after that start digging.  If you're thorough enough and stay in the store long enough it speaks to you and reveals where its strength lies - plus it happens every time. You may walk out of the store with a stack of rock records, soul, death metal, who knows? But you'll figure out the store's true identity and get records in line with it.

Some of my favorite ideas started with music (before Kodoja was a comic it was an album the band did, with a sparse story attached) and those musical ideas trace back to the grooves of a record.

The Influence of the Subconscious

I am fascinated with the subconscious, especially its influence on the creative process and how it manifests in dreams.

At age 14, I read a bunch of 'dream interpretation' books (spoiler alert: don't waste your money) and in high school / college I did additional reading on them and became interested in what you could call the unlocking of the power of dreams and / or the subconscious.  One theory involving this 'unlocked power' is that your subconscious can answer larger-issue questions you might have.  Trying to figure out what to say to that special someone?  Think about it before you go to sleep and you may just dream of a solution. In a creative rut?  Think of some ideas that need a 'push' as you drift into slumber and your subconscious may give them the kick they need.  Neil Gaiman's The Sandman comic touches on this in one of the earlier issues when the Lord of Dreams is in a library.  What library? Why, the library of all the great books that were written in dreams but not in reality - millions of unwritten tomes left to the realm of the subconscious. This is the core premise of the movie Inception as well (and many others) - inspiration via a dream can change the direction of your life.

A little further along my reading I found a comic called 'Rare Bit Fiends'.  In the 21-issue run of the comic, artist Rick Veitch conducts a bit of a dream experiment - he's going to not only keep a dream journal (a consensus must to harness the power of your dreams), he's going to illustrate his dreams as much as he can once he wakes up.  The first few issues are sometimes funny, sometimes bizarre and always interesting (the way all of our dreams are, with the caveat that other people find *your* dreams about 20% as interesting as you do). After a while though, a few funky things happen: his dreams start to get longer and more epic and he retains a lot more of what he dreamt.  Which is pretty crazy right? It definitely adds some credence to training yourself how to dream (and also, I suppose reaping the benefits).

I've done this myself as well and tried some of these methods. A few years back I had what I thought could be a good hip-hop track that needed the right beat/drums to to really put it over the top. I dreamt. In the dream, I was approached by "myself", and "I" went over the my record collection, pulled out a specific record and said "Track 3, Side 2".  Bam, I wake up.  I run over to my record collection, pull the record out of the jacket, put it on the turntable and put the needle on Track 3, Side 2. And you know what?

The beat sucked.

Well, I shouldn't say sucked. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either.  For a while there I actually thought the beat would work - I mean it came to me in a dream!  But after about a week I realized it really wasn't a good beat idea at all - and the track sat (and still sits) unfinished. What's up with that subconscious?

It wasn't the last time something would come to me in a dream. I've had story ideas and music ideas come to me (there's even one in progress that seems like it could work).  Yet the totality of my creative 'output' from dreams has ranged from the unproductive to the flat-out bizarre. There are at essence two ways to perceive dream content: (1) they provide meaningful clues to a better existence (Inception et al), or (2) they're a brain dump where the subconscious gets rid of a lot of stuff that was kicking around and it doesn't have a use for.  I'm leaning more toward the second option at this point.

Luckily stuff that pops into your head (as a creative person) is much better when you're conscious.... right?

Why just recently a really catchy riff came to me that I liked a lot, to the point where I couldn't get it out of my head.  I hummed it over and over, ready for that moment when I could sit at the mixing board and record the riff for posterity (and build it into a song at a another time).

One day I'm walking around the living room and I blurt out the riff. My girlfriend's kids - totally in rhythm with my riff - finish it by singing lyrics to it!

Except the lyrics they sang weren't mine, or even original.  They were lyrics to a REALLY well-known pop song, and on top of it a pop song I didn't like.  See, without knowing it I took a hook from that song, changed a note or two, changed the timing of it and thought it was something original.  It wasn't.  My brain had succesfully executed a funky cover version of a pop song I don't like and passed it off as originality. Whoops!

Suffice to say, the next time I wake up from a seemingly inspiring idea from a dream I might just keep the pen and paper right where they're at and go right back to sleep.

Pacific Rim Trailer - if you don't know what 'Kaiju' means....

The first Pacific Rim trailers are up, and while this blog isn't meant to be a news site or anything you need to see it!



Something I really like as we move forward: in my travels talking about the comic book / soundtrack I'm a part of (Kodoja), a suprisingly large amount of people are unfamiliar with the word 'kaiju'.  I've been stopped frequently for people to ask what that means - and these are people that know their stuff! I didn't realize it but it's quite a niche word.

I think that's about to change - 'Pacific Rim' is going to great lengths to introduce this word to a much larger audience. My hunch is by the end of 2013 the word will be thrown around by all kinds of people, casual fans and diehards alike.

Er, unless this is real footage and the apocalypse is coming. And kaiju are the reason.

Godzilla vs Megalon: Megalon's got beats!

Decibel Magazine has a feature on their website called 'justify your sh*tty taste' where they get someone to write about a record they hold near and dear (but the public generally pans) - if it's any indication their first one ever was about the record 'St. Anger' by Metallica.

I don't think my taste sucks (um... right?), but f**k it, I'm about to justify the music from the movie Godzilla fans love to hate, Godzilla vs Megalon!  (To be honest I even kinda like the movie, but that's another story for another day.) What I hear most when people talk about the music in 'Megalon' is it's (1) a departure from the classically themed soundtracks, (2) it has the 'new' Godzilla theme that was short-lived in the 70s that's also heard in Godzilla vs Smog Monster / Hedorah.

I can see where people are coming from in terms of the 'new-sounding theme' there, but my defense of that is it was the early 70s - everyone was experimenting with funky/jazzy sounds. Plus, at the time the franchise was almost 20 years old and was in serious trouble of continuing due to the decline of the movie industry in Japan. They were trying something new! Which of course explains why it's a departure from the classically-themed soundtracks as well, but to me that departure is what gives it its staying power.

Now, full disclosure: if you're not aware of this I am in a funk band and know my way around hip-hop and the concept of diggin' for records, breaks and beats, so my angle at why I love this soundtrack is it's got beats! There are tracks you could legitimately sample, chop up and turn into bangin' hip-hop tracks like 'Kidnap 1', the intro to 'Underwater Kingdom', 'Crisis in the Container', and the ultra-rugged 'Defense Team Takes Action'.  I'm trying to say that Megalon has some samples for dat azz, basically.

Also worth mentioning is the delightfully cheesy, kinda funky, totally-ripping-off Ultraman jawn 'Jet Jaguar Punch-punch-punch', complete with male vocals prevalent in a  lot of the Tokusatu stuff of the era (Ultraman, Combattler, Inazuman).  Whatever, act like it's not stuck in your head after you listen to it!

There is a 16-volume series of great instrumentals called 'Dusty Fingers' that features a lot of funky, jazzy tracks you'd hear sampled in hip-hop (with a heavy leaning towards library records). Godzilla vs Megalon sounds like it easily could have contributed to a volume of Dusty Fingers, given the sparse, funky soundscapes that weave through the record. If I didn't tell you what this record was before playing it for you I think you'd totally dig it... it's just that it seems out of place to some since it's from a Godzilla film. Godzilla purists may not dig it, but damn. Ain't nothing wrong with Godzilla being into the funk.