05.20.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:42 pm by rhys
Fact of the matter is it’s looking more like mid-June. I know, I know. Trust me, it drives me crazier than it does you (if you even really care at all). By then we should not only have all of the Solicitations sent, but the first “e-book” on the site for you to preview. Why should you believe me this time? Because forces far greater than mine are now at play. I’m really starting to wonder if any forces of mine were ever at play in any of this. Let me come up with a pseudo-analogy if I can:
You could spend twenty years of your life designing an amazing new form of yacht. You may have a revolutionary keel shape. Your rudder hardware may be the most incredibly designed in an era. Your rigging may be a wonder to all who understand sailing and awe inspiring to those who don’t. Now, suppose you have finished this amazing craft and you move it from your private workshop. You’ve placed this fantastic synthesis of man-made craft and natural phenomenon in the water. Please, I don’t want tons of mail from meteorologists for this next part, but suppose you have absolutely no wind; none at all for months. You’ve even gone so far as living in your craft so you don’t miss your chance. Nothing.
Is your ship a failure? It’s just sitting there. For all the astounding innovations you’ve compiled, the boat doesn’t move. As a side note, if it is a failure, is it your failure, or is it a matter of falling prey to the whims of fate that have left you stranded due to some freak of nature?
I’m sitting in the boat, ready to sail the seas of self-published comics, and there’s no damn wind! I’ve already changed the color of the cabin walls three times, but until the winds of fate start to blow, I won’t know if this works or not.
See how it can drive you nuts?
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05.11.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:26 pm by rhys
Before you write off this entire blog because you have no interest in hockey, read the last three paragraphs and you’ll get the gist of what I’m saying.
Let me start by saying I’m an avid Edmonton Oilers fan. I have been since the days of Gretzky, Messier, and Coffey all on the same team.
Let’s next state that I have nothing against the Detroit Red Wings (unlike a few other teams I will refrain from mentioning. I have two complaints about the Red Wings that have nothing to do with the team itself. My issues are related, so maybe I only have one.
Most of the people around here who know nothing at all about hockey are Red Wings fans. It’s the only team they know. They can’t name any of the players. They don’t know what makes a good team. They couldn’t tell you the difference between an icing call or an offsides call. They just know the Red Wings are close to us (Detroit) and they are yearly a good team.
My other problem lies in the fact that the media LOVES them. The Red Wings are to hockey what the Yankees are to baseball or the Lakers are to Basketball. If you want to have a hockey jersey, get a Red Wings XL.
I wish I had the stats in front of me. OLN (the network that carries hockey for the National Hockey League) had Red Wings games on every other week. They’re the big draw team. Do you know how many Oilers games we carried by OLN during the course of the regular season? None. Not only are the Oilers a small market, they’re Canadian. Who in their right mind in the lower 48 would want to watch them?
Me.
Yeah, I could get Center Ice and watch every Oilers game all season long, but really, who has that kind of money? Not me. I don’t need to see every game, but once in a while it would be nice to see the team I love play a game.
Now, you may wonder what prompted this blog. If you aren’t a big hockey fan you probably didn’t know that the top seeded team in the NHL this past season was the Red Wings. You probably also don’t know that the 8th (and last) seeded team for the championships this year was the Edmonton Oilers. The first round of the playoffs came up and it was the top seed versus the last (or 8th) seeded team. You guessed it. The Oilers played the Red Wings in the first round of the playoffs. Guess what happened. The Oilers won the series four games to two (in a best of seven series). They aren’t presently doing that well in the second round (they’ve lost the first two games), but beating the Red Wings makes the season for me.
Why?
Because it’s the little guys (and their fans) who always get screwed. OLN didn’t carry a single Oilers game all year, but the team was good enough to scrap their way into the playoffs and beat the team with the best record in the entire NHL. I absolutely love it when someone the establishment has written off as insignificant suddenly becomes a major player they didn’t expect, much less want. I was in heaven in 1997 when the Cleveland Indians (my baseball team of choice) made it to the World Series against the Florida Marlins. It would have been better if they had won, but I could just imagine the distress it put on the MLB brass to have two team that no one cared about play for all the marbles. What people have to realize in sports (as well as other avenues, like comic books) is that the little guy has just as legitimate a chance to win it all as the big guys do. And their fans have just as legitimate a claim to be given access to their work as the next guy.
Yeah, I hope the Oilers win it all, being an Oilers fan, but the underdog rooting part of me would be just as happy to see the Stanley Cup series be between the Oilers and the Sabres.
Man, wouldn’t the top brass of the NHL have a stroke…
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05.02.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:48 pm by rhys
He’s kind of like James Joyce’s “stream of consciousness” personified.
Well, so far we have gotten the commenting up and available on the blogs, and we are probably about half way through the first online prologue for issue #1. Keep checking. I’m thinking it will be here in about a month or so. We have 5/6 of our solicitation packets done, so distributors will be hearing from us in a month, or less. And Justin brought up the topic of “Zoned,” a second title that’s in the works here.
“Zoned” will be a twelve issue series (is that a mini or a maxi?), with stories and art provided by me. I’d like to give you a release date, but let’s be honest here. I can’t even give you a release date for the book that is done, much less the one that is far from it. Issue 1 of “Zoned” is complete. Issues 1-6 are scripted already and the plots for issues 7-12 are down, but the art is only done for issue 1 and the start of issue 2. What can I say? I’m a busy guy and I work slowly.
What’s it about? Well, without giving too much away, it’s a cross between Danté’s Inferno and the movie “Seven.” I really would like to go into much more detail, but I keep telling myself that I want it to all be a surprise. When I get some more art for issue 2 done and in the computer, I’ll post up a page or two as a preview on the site.
I’m headed to Columbus this weekend, but when I get back you can expect a blog on the all important topic of hockey. That’s right! The NHL!!
I’m betting when Justin sees it (or even when he sees this little teaser here) he’ll have a thing or two to send floating down that stream of his blogs…
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