The Penguin

So I've been doing a lot of thinking in my little brain. Thinking about my noir/zombie/scifi story, that is. My problem is this: I'm bored with my main character. I simply don't find him compelling. So here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to make Hal Dunlin female. I don't know what the "Hal" is short for; frankly, I don't care that much. I just want a character that's interesting to me, and fun to draw. I'm going to make Hal short, and kind of punky - think "Hopey" from the Hernandez Bros. Love and Rockets.  For some reason I see her wearing a pinstripe suit. It just seemed cool and kind of badass. This, for me, sucks out some of the depressing grimness of the story, and makes it stylish, almost in a Sin City kind of way. I'm going to change the original female character, too; I feel like a louche millenial wouldn't play off the new Hal too well. Instead I imagined her polar opposite: big and athletic, kind of...

Okay, now we get to the actual fun stuff. For me, stories are a lot of work, but characters are really easy. Please note that this is not a "how-to" at all, I'm just explaining my own process and offering some insights as I go. When doing a comic for yourself, as a relatively experienced creator, you can skip a lot of little steps as needed - turnarounds, for example. If you're writing/designing for somebody else, especially another artist, character turnarounds are essential. So how do you begin designing a character? I usually have a character in mind before I start my story (i.e., the Hardboiled Detective Type), and sometimes I write a story to, in effect, "play" with my characters like action figures; but in this case the story came first, and it determines the characters to a large extent. Firstly you have the Noir tropes, which require characters that are sort of worn-out or beaten-down - even the beautiful dames have a little wear-and-tear. So let...

Yes, we all know Battlefield Earth:  a Fosbury Flop of a sci-fi movie made by devotees of a mad cult leader, featuring John Travolta in dreds and platform boots (and an uncomfortably large cod-piece...). You can glean the details of how this monstrosity was foisted on the public here and here ; in a nutshell, L. Ron Hubbard threw the book at Mr. Travolta and said, "Here...make a movie out of this." And lo, it was done. I have yet to see the movie, although I've seen clips online. It's lurking out there somewhere, waiting for me. In the meantime, I have come into possession of the original written version, and decided to take a stab at it. A little background before we get started. Battlefield Earth  was published in 1982; old Elron's Church of Scientology had been around for thirty years. The story itself is in no way a propaganda piece - LRH was apparently yearning for the good ole pulp days of the '40's, when he started writing - but bookstores were ...

Yo, peeps. What up. After a long time of not doing so, I'm putting up some recent artwork that isn't directly for comics and whatnot. I'm working with Brannon Wyndesor on art for an online RPG, Celtica Chronicles . It's going to be a sort of top-down adventure similar to the old Legend of Zelda games. I've gotten the thumbs-up  on one design so far: a water-horse type creature. Text Credit: Brannon Wyndesor I designed this one a while back, alongside something called a "Balor": Comes in new exciting flavors, like Razzleberry! And Doom. Unfortunately, it looks like our crab-buddy didn't make the cut...a couple of years after the first design. Huh. It looks like they want a more "Balrog"-type critter. Hopefully not too Balroggy - in that case they can trace a damn Balrog and put a big eyeball on it. Anyway, here's my concepts, Take 2: I'm not too picky about what paper I use. Maybe I'll clean th...

In this series, "Process", I'm going to attempt to convey how I personally go about the business of creating a comic book. This is mostly an exercise for myself, rather than for anyone else - there are many, many other How-To pieces that explain the mechanics of comic creation far better than I ever will. However, I think I may have a unique perspective on the whole creation process, and I'd like to share them. This first piece is about stories: how I come up with them, and how I build them. First of all, I am a compulsive storyteller; I draw on just about everything for inspiration, from movies to nonfiction books. Anything even vaguely exciting can spark the storytelling process. Thus I have a near-infinite well of storylines at my disposal. But what makes a good story? What makes a story I want to tell? For me, it's the uniqueness of perspective. All the major storylines have already been done; all the major plots, at least in general, have been explored...

I'm not sure how to label this post exactly; it's sort of a meditation on the act of creating or being a creator, whether of stories, art, characters, etc. I wish there was a better term for what I'm describing. I see myself as a "Creator" when I'm making comic books based in a certain "universe": I'm the artist, the character designer, the storyteller, the world builder, everything. This catchall state has its own unique rewards, but also its unique problems. This one, in particular, has to do with the boundaries of the universe I'm creating. I've come upon a phenomenon, when I'm drawing and creating in my head, I call the "Corralling Effect". No, it has nothing to do with collegiate group singing. Rather, it has to do with the fact that I'll draw a character/creature/setting, and instinctively try to put it into its own little world. I try to "corral" it. It may be that I've got a previously existing ...

Yes, Gentle Reader, THC #5 has arrived! The world can now exhale its collectively-held breath. Although not all at once, because that's apt to cause some kind of weather disturbance and a spike in CO2 levels. Seriously people, stop exhaling. Think of the polar bears. Anywho, it's currently available at Everybody Reads Bookstore in Lansing. After I get the next run printed, I'll be putting it in Hollow Mountain (East Lansing), Red Fox (Lansing West Side), and Vault of Midnight (Ann Arbor), along with gorgeous reprints of THC 1-4 from Greko Printing . Behold the Majesty; quail, fool mortals; prostrate thyselves, peons; etc, etc. I've also just printed Joe Haines' second installment in the Bone Boy series. Yes, you've probably seen this before; we here at Blind Alley Comics operate on the "Disney Home Video" principle - if something doesn't sell well the first time, just wait a year, then re-issue it like it's the first time anyone...