Scriptwriter
Okay, (I suppose) I’m excited about the upcoming third season of The Walking Dead when one of the publicity stills caught my eye:
Compare that to our introduction to her in the comic:
Am I being nitpicky in thinking, What’s with the Masai She-Warrior shit?
A flurry of Facebook comments from Stevo and Motorbike Steve about the return of The Walking Dead behooves me to confess that The Goddess and I started watching the second season a while back and got two eps -, no wait, three -, hang on.
… Whoa. Okay. Disappointment in the second season was so deep that it wasn’t even entered into my viewing diary.
I’m as shocked as you are, believe me.
But back to the story. We got however many eps into the season and She turned to me and said what I’d been thinking for all the eps subsequent to the season opener: This is boring. So we stopped.
But Season 3 beckons with the promise of Michonne and the penitentiary arc and… godsdammit, that arc was just mindblowingly awful (but in a good way) that I just have to relive it, and it’s been too, too long since we’ve had a bad-ass no-nonsense African American heroine like Strange Days‘ Mace.
Yeh okay, I’m in.
It’s Comic Book Month at the local library, which coincided with two recent blind purchases.
The latest Parker volume from Richard Stark and Darwyn Cooke. I think I bought the previous volume, The Outfit, sight unseen, too.
And the final chapter of Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill‘s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century.
– Oh, and whilst browsing at the local library, how could pass up a blurb like this: Six new stories of love, crime, alcohol, and severed heads. Yep, Jason is back with Athos in America.
If I’m not writing, I should be reading, right?
Comics
A nice mix of mainstream, European and indy this year.
Asterios Polyp – David Mazzuchelli
Britten & Brulightly – Hannah Berry
Chance in Hell – Gilbert Hernandez
Doing Time – Hanawa Kazuichi
Fun Home – Alison Bechdel
Hellcity: The Whole Damned Thing – Macon Blair and Joe Flood
The Lagoon – Lilli Carre
Maybe Later – Dupuy & Berberian
Powers: Z – Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming
Shaolin Burning – Ant Sang
The Third Musketeer – Jason
Walking Dead: No Way Out – Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard
Scripts
Hm. According to my reading diary, I read the average annual amount of these this year but very few have wowed me like I want to be wowed.
Billy Elliott – Lee Hall
The Good Wife: Pilot – Robert King and Michelle King
Lone Star – John Sayles
Manhunter – Michael Mann
The Straight Story – John Roach and Mary Sweeney
Maybe it’s just me.
Books
Some ah, research led me to more non-fiction reading that I would previously readily admit.
Armageddon – Max Hastings
Nemesis – Max Hastings
Striptease – Carl Hiaasen
True Grit – Charles Portis
I’m tempted to try the Demi Moore vehicle that started out once upon a time as a film adaptation of Striptease but… ‘m afraid I mayn’t survive it.
Opened a graphic novel recently and got this on the first page:
My name’s [JOHN SMITH]. I’m a man of few words. Have to be.
Used to make my trade as a [DEBT COLLECTOR], forcing [DEBTORS] to pay for their [LOANS]. I guess it was a good life.
[ABOUT] seven years ago that changed, when I [DROVE] into this [CITY].
They were looking for a [CREDIT CONTROLLER]. I was looking for a place to [CONSOLIDATE].
Don’t the last six sentences of 50+ words make a lie of the second sentence?
Puh.
(All the items in ‘[‘ and ‘]’ were initially for cheap laughs and some anonymity for the writer [and arse-covering on my part]. … No, ’tis neither funny nor anonymous.)
For me, making up stories is a little like building furniture, but with twelfth-century tools and only the vaguest idea what I’m trying to build. There’s a lot of grunting and banging, a lot of hammering on square pegs to get them to fit into round holes. It’s fun and I love it, but, usually, it’s a lot of hard work.
— from Mike Mignola‘s afterword to BPRD: The Black Flame.
Here’s a refreshingly down-to-earth description of ‘breaking the story’:
The location for a story is fine. Now all I want is some bad guys and a plot. Ah yes, a plot. Well, I’ve found that by reversing some simple element in the opening of an old story you can create something entirely diffeent in its development. For example, I must have written quite a few stories that open with Modesty saving somebody’s life, so why not reverse that? How about opening with somebody saving Modesty’s life?
So who is it going to be, man or girl? Could be both, I suppose. Young married couple perhaps. That feels all right up to a point, but how does Willie fit in? Ah yes, let’s give it another twist – the girl saves Willie’s life, risking her own. Make that highly visitual. She’s the action seeker of the couple. Husband’s a gentle giant type, very dim but lovable.
All I need now are the villains. They could be after something the couple have or know about. Like what? I’ve no idea, but I’ve got enough to start scripting, and all the rest will emerge as I go along and as the characters come to life. It always does.
— from Peter O’Donnell‘s intro to his Modesty Blaise: Yellowstone Booty reprint – a lovely title (and likely reason I picked it up from the local).
Dear Mr McCloud
I just finished reading your Zot – The Complete B&W Collection 1987-1991, and I wanted to say thank you.
Yes, I’ve read – why, I proudly own a copy of – your excellent Understanding Comics. And yes, I’m a proud product of the years I read and collected and treasured Moore, Gaiman and early Miller, while the last five years of Ellis, Vaughan, Bendis and Jason inspire me no end.
I thought your collection would be a “product of its time” but I couldn’t be more wrong. I completely fell into Zot and Jenny’s world for those 576 pages, and when I found myself back in the real world, I was humbled and invigorated. For me, Zot captured a youth that is long gone – but that it’s not something to yearn for, or to put behind, but to accept as part of my history, my life. My story.
Again, thank you for showing me what’s what.
Yours sincerely
d f mamea
Comics
A bit sad to see the end of Planetary and Ex Machina but The Walking Dead and Scalped carry the torch onward.
Books
I suspect Blood Meridian has ruined all other western fiction for me.
Scripts
I’m pretty sure Out of Sight and Three Kings are re-reads, but I just can’t remember for sure. And if they were, they were just as enjoyable this time ’round.
Theatre
I suspect I may be cheating here by having just one actual production – Belz’s Titanics – surrounded by three readings but… these were the ones I marked as having made an impact.
