Those of you who read this blog (commenters and lurkers alike) know that I’m busy looking for an artist or more realistically artists (as in a penciller, an inker, a colourist and a letterer) for my comic WIP. One of the first and largest venues I’m exploring is deviantArt.
The other day I came across this particular work, namely the back cover of Chris Irving’s The Blue Beetle Companion (2007). It’s sweet since it shows Dan Garret, Ted Kord, and Jamie Reyes in one image. Is it my imagination or is it only Green Lantern and Flash books that get to feature this kind of intergenerational or multi-incarnation images?
Another interesting thing I discovered in the comments section to this artwork is that DC did indeed create a scarab-esque Blue Beetle character called...well...Scarab. He’s the Blue Beetle of Earth-27 and he’s a mass of scarabs that takes on the shape of a man. I came up with a similar yet slightly more heroic and less monstrous version (called Blue Scarab) in my Why I should’ve written Ted Kord: Rebirth post.
On the same thread, I found the account of http://gl-of-cybertron.deviantart.com/ who, as the name suggests, has created images of autobots as Green Lanterns. There’s even a Sinestro Corps bot, if I’m not mistaken. As mentioned previously, I have a sort of ‘like-hate’ relationship with the Transformers franchise that can be summarised in timeline form as followed: Various lukewarm (often reboot-centric) animation series; One watchable CGI series called Transformers: Beast Wars, One fantastic CGI series called Transformers: Beast Machines; the first Transformers live action movie scoring an unspectacular yet passable 6 out of 10; a second Transformer live action movie called Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen that was 2 out of 10 awful. So, I liked this idea more from a ‘yeah, I bet the guardians of the universe would’ve given one of these giant robots a ring if they’d encountered them. Hey, if they can make a planet a GL...Also, I’ve always said that Hasbro (the toy company that owns the Transformers property) wishes that Kyle Rayner worked for them (judging from the wicked cool ring constructs that only Kyle can whip up and the freelance concept art he has done in his ‘normal’ life as a graphic designer/illustrator).
Some deviantArt news related to my comic WIP:
I’ve discovered a possible artist for my comic WIP. Well, at least someone who can make the short-list for the job, that is. I have to scout other venues on the Interwebs such as Digital Webbing, Penciljack, Concept Art DOT org, Getafreelancer, and Comics-hookups.
Hint to DeviantArt administrators: DA users should really be able to have sub-categories under “comic artist” category (e.g. anime, fantasy, cartoon, science fiction, and superheroes). It would also help if there was some demarcation between published comic pros (who I assume are way out of my price range) and up-and-comers as well as between pin-up artists and artists who can also do comic page panel-art. That would make my search much easier.
I’ve also discovered that a user on deviantArt has created a fanfic character with the same name as an organisation in my WIP. It’s a coincidence, but still it’s a little jarring. Perhaps, both of us are auditory namers (a term I just made up (but could already exist in science), meaning people who choose names for creations / children / places / days / whatever based on how it sounds to them).
Some non-deviantArt news related to my comic WIP:
I’ve discovered that DC has an obscure villain with nearly identical powers* to a hero I’ve created for my WIP. This is also the one character that I haven’t decided on a look for yet. So, I’ll do a Google and Google Image search for their character to make sure we don’t come up with identical looks.
* Note: I say nearly identical, because both my hero and their villain have two powers that should IMHO give rise to a third power that my creation possesses, but theirs doesn’t.
My writing for my WIP has ground to a halt for various reasons, including some festive season distractions, reworking the story length, editing and rewriting the pages already written, and most of all writing a Superhero team short story that was inspired by a current non-superhero horror anthology submission guidelines as well as a long expired set of non-superhero fantasy antho submission guidelines. I chose the short story format, because it’s much quicker for me to write and that’s the best thing to do when a story idea is dominating your thinking ahead of more important writing ‘assignments.’
Some non-deviantArt, non-comic-WIP news:
If you haven’t yet done so, go see Avatar. It’s one of the best Science Fiction movies I’ve seen (this year and possibly ever) and scores and 9 out of 10 on my opinion-meter. It blends Science Fiction with Fantasy in such a perfect mixture that the movie studio should be banned from making a sequel or a remake in 30 years time. I’ve always been more of fan of Science Fiction than of Fantasy, but have always had to admit that Fantasy’s world-building is often more instantly immersive and that is exactly what Avatar is. The 2 hours and change fly by (pun intended) and I was left marvelling at James Cameron’s ability to tell a science fiction on two levels. On a deeper level, you can appreciate the obvious themes in all their relevance (without being hit over the head with it ala District 9). On another level, Avatar has drama, characterization, awe-inspiring scenery, and lots of jaw-dropping fantasy and Science Fiction-style action. It also reminded me of the risks of what social science calls ‘participant observer’ research, media calls ‘embedded journalism’, and elements of what law enforcement calls ‘undercover assignments’...Mister Cameron*, take a bow. Also, Sam Worthington (Terminator: Salvation) and Zoe Saldana (Star Trek) are starting to reach my This-sci-fi-movie-can’t-be-bad-if-this-actor-is-in-it list. Miss Saldana said something very cute in an interview when asked whether she had preference for Science Fiction roles, where she answered, “Jane Austin is good, but Jane Austen in space would be great...”
* Note: James Cameron has a great talent for science fiction as director or creator-director (The first two Terminator movies, Aliens, Dark Angel) and I wish that he pursued projects in that genre exclusively. Unlike a lot of filmmakers, Cameron never includes 15-minute-long superfluous scenes where the audience is left thinking: That was 15 minutes of my life I’ll never get back...Way to break the momentum and tension...What the fudge was that about?
That’s all I have for you all. If I don’t post here anytime soon, happy holidays!
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"I’ve also discovered that a user on deviantArt has created a fanfic character with the same name as an organisation in my WIP. It’s a coincidence, but still it’s a little jarring."
ReplyDeleteThat stinks. :( It bugs me when people come up with the same ideas as I do. I hope that doesn't set you back too far.
"Miss Saldana said something very cute in an interview when asked whether she had preference for Science Fiction roles, where she answered, “Jane Austen is good, but Jane Austen in space would be great...”
HA! Jane Austen in space is the only way I could take Jane Austen. Or maybe even with zombies. Anytime someone I know gets going about how much they love Jane Austen novels I want to smack them, becuase no one today realizes that they are satires, and she was poking fun at how idiotically her characters acted toward each other and they were never meant to be taken at face value. This, coupled with the fact that I read comics and Issac Asimov novels instead of going to the mall every Saturday, is why I am not a Real Girl.
The fanfic name isn't as a big of a problem as it appears. For one, it's fanfic and the similarity between the concept ends there, because the idea is extremely different. Secondly, my name could be a lot cooler if I combined it with a name (I've used before, notably in the short story mentioned in this post).
ReplyDeleteYou're a REAL GIRL????? You're not a bald guy pretending (very convincingly) to be a girl???? I get the same thing when I'd rather spend an hour in front of my laptop typing something instead of doing something else.
You're a REAL GIRL????? You're not a bald guy pretending (very convincingly) to be a girl????
ReplyDeleteDarn. You got me. *puts hands up in surrender*
Though, in one of my philosophy classes in college, I acutally won a Turing Test by fooling the class into thinking I was the guy. The actual guy lost. Muahaha.