no fear of the Dark

Good guys are boring, villains aren't. That is why horror will always prevail. In real life we all want to meet nice people, people we can trust.

Safe.

Those are the ones we marry and hope to get as co-workers.

But still both sexes go for the bad boys or girls. To feel unsafe, alive, for a dare.

Horror comics don't lie to you the are about baser instincts and about truth veiled in social interaction and small talk. It has no reason for political correctness or respecting you, your friends or your enemies.

Death is unavoidable, pain is part of life and bad things happen.

But why would someone want to read about these things even more? If you ask that seriously, go somewhere else to grow up as a human.

Those of us enamored by horror know the allure. We are not adrenaline junkies as such but we like our fear.

We have understood that we are not the top of the foodchain nor pinnacle of creation. The world is not fair or safe. And it never, ever, will be. Horror tells us that but it shows both sides of the coin.
There is quote I vaguely remember saying how Stephen King "tells about most awful world where bad things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people"

And horror comics have one advantage: there is absolutely NO limit how over the top you can take it.
Want to blow up australia? sure. Have a team of flying were-hogs hunt your sadistic vampirekilling necromancer assassin? there you go. Zombie apocalypses of biblical proportions? Why thank you, dont mind if I do.

Yes, as a most writer I get the "easy" chores, that is thinking up twisted things as much as I can and hope that the artist is up for the challenge.
After all it is his/her talents that significantly make or break the entire thing.
I am a guy who follows the writers but even the best of them would be in trouble if their visions were finalized by autistic chimpanzees.

If someone would ask what current horror comics one should read I would tell them(heck, usually I just rant before they have time to run away) these:



















































The Walking Dead -by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard
The Crossed - by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows
Locke & Key - Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez
Hellboy- by Mike Mignola et al
B.P.R.D - by Mike Mignola and Guy Davis
Hack/slash- by Tim Seeley et al

is that all? No.

There is loads of vibrant hungry beasts out there, from the great The Living Corpse to Jesus hates Zombies.

there are dark overlords after your hearts and minds and just you wait :I am applying to their ranks.

So, within few weeks on here I plan to have zombies, vampires, supernatural assassins, demons, slashers and other fun.
Pack your bags as I plan to go to war on the balkans, hunt for artefacts and lost places on europe and tear up american soil.

Some drawn by yours truly, hopefully most by people who actually know what they do.
And if any of you are fluent in drawing buxom final girls but is stuck on a storyline...in your service.

real art

Ok, this isn't comicbook but let's keep it real.
The movies really, truly need to be more like this:



now THAT is something to expect.

I like stories with meat on their bones, Planet Terror was a true grindhouse-movie, where as Deathproof was boring pile of dung.

Movies and comics have a lot in common. They can tell any kind of stories, but I like stories in vein of the above trailer.
Or like Alice said "the world needs Guts"

like an iron fist cast in spandex

Told you I would go to superhero territory next.

I have written few different books about them, mainly contributing to a somewhat pre-existing small press comic "universe" by scripting and creating new characters. But as I have done my own hardboiled detectives I have written stories of my own in this genre too.

While everyday adventurers, be it common people on vacation, spies, mercenaries or reporters, have tremendous appeal there are things superheroes can do that "average" people can't. Their continuity can stand better effects of say...dimensional and temporal travel, alien invasions, zombie curses, getting cloned and of course death in superhero comics happens more often than changing their trademark uniforms....

Today at work we had to re-new some roofing and found some, literally, bloody drugsyringes with my collague and while this didn't make us too happy it made me think once more the metalworking superhero I have in development mentioned earlier in here.

A welder fighting the Robot mafia, but why is there a robot mafia?

oh yes there is advantage of having pictures like this:

sure that works and stuff like robocop is brilliant but really? the motivation for robot mafia?

There has to be some logical one and today's workday brought it: drugs. People want to screw their heads up so they don't have to think about how and what they actually are so there is always been a supply for that.

The robots sell drugs for humans so they can upgrade themselves and have proper maintenance and spares.

so mashing up cyborgs, crime and commentary on both our technological fears and putting in some serious butt-kicking.
Not a bad deal.

I have sometimes pondered is it because we are basicly just animals the reason behind why we are so afraid of technology. Because we are too lazy to find out why something ticks and therefore it's magic to us.
Or is it mere biology: we cant understand or control speeds over our running speed yet we do our damnest to train ourselves over that and emulate circumstances through repetion daily: in cars, planes, buses, trains. Yet we know, deep down, that we fool ourselves.

But robots, our mechanical slaves, are scary.
Men out of metal, coldly logical and having capabilities far superior than ours.
And visually they are rewarding.

the other factor contributing to robot mafia is documentaries about gangs, I watched recently one about Dead Man Incorporated and as the Ross Kemp one is beginning soon will have more material to work with.
After all, robots are a minority.
I use plenty of cut and paste real-wolrd stuff to create my scripts. You can not make all that crap up that reality spews out in regular basis.

now I need to figure out if my hero is a lone dog or a part of a team.

Ah, worldbuilding. So much fun.

Actually writing these ramblings down has helped with planning out stories somewhat.
soon I will dive in to one of life essentials in this blog.
What exactly?

let these gents tell it to you


oh yes.

Grabbing your attention

Now at this point most of you wont even notice this text anymore, but hey! This works better than the hypnotic gestures of Mandrake the Magician.


And this is one of most important tricks of the trade. Get the attention and keep it. If you have anything you want to say make sure they listen in the first place.

Or in this case :read.


Ok, so most dont read now what I am writing at all, but are mesmerized nevertheless.
This proves a general rule in life: if it is stupid and it works, it's not stupid.

So that it's clear:My ambition is to be a hack.

No, not Cassie Hack from Hack/Slash (Now there is one good comicbook everyone should read, I am more like shorter version of Vlad. Hurr.), but hack in the way of pulp writers.

There are people who have noble artistic visions and they want tell moving autobiographical stories.
I am not one of them.

If I want tell something it's in the subtext and not by forcefeeding.


more like... well, have you ever heard of the spanish flu?
It was pandemic of epic proportions that begun in march 1918 and continued till june 1920.
It killed from 50 to 100 million people. and back then population was mere 1,6 billion so it had a global impact.

Yes, nearly hundred years ago.

so what about ancient history, who cares?

Exactly.

Avian and swine flu were just scares bit like that mad cow's disease stuff.....

Damn.

You guys aren't still reading this because you are going back to top of the post.

I am telling you important piece of...wait.

See, I got your attention, again. The flu is sort of relevant once more and because I used cleavage twice well, heck: he's going to do it again! Maybe even bare breasts then?

Now you have to read what I got to say if I put in another pic of a female mammaries to either for your viewing pleasure or so you can revel in rightous fury over my clear and misogynic objectification of women.

either way: I win.

And you will listen when I bablle about importance of inoculation, medical advancement or how huge plague-proportioned crisis will bring the best and worst of people out then. But mainly you will read out of curiosity.

I have now made my point. You can tell anything if you can reach your audience. How you do it really doesn't matter much.

A small step back. In previous blog "Lessons in bad-assery" I outlined some thoughts of hardnosed detective story with occult undertones and after recently speaking with artist I am now quite pumped over it.

More on that later on. And those few who remember King Kong vs Bin Ladenstein that comic needs to be done, if any artists feel the need please contact me.

but so while waiting those updates next time I will talk more about superheroics of the welding and other kinds.

And those twisted ones of you expecting more tits move along or I will sic Supergirl to kick your ass!

The way of the underdog

Let's face it: most of us aren't winners.


Yes, there are those who were born into beauty, money and fame, loved and adored by everyone and their goddamned kittens.



And naturally favored by Lady luck, that aloof skank.



And thank god that they are few.



Because interesting they are not in the least.




The number of times we've had when life throws us a curveball at the moment it seems that finally after all the struggling it gets easier something rears it's ugly head and makes a perfect mess out of your plans.



Too often.



we recognize this and relate to it. We know that it's far more likely that life hands you lemons (usually past their sell-by date) instead of Dom Perignom circa 1886.





And that is why we like underdogs.


We want to see Rocky Balboa reach his goal through the hardships or see Randy "the Ram" Robinson to fix his life in the Wrestler.


As long as the story is generally about someone who has the odds against them you have the audiences sympathy on their side.


Or then you show them the fall from grace.



Where do I think this has anything to do with comics? Character dynamics and storylines.


This is the reason why Batman is far more interesting than Superman.


Sure both are orphans, but one is omnipotent golden boy and loved by all while the other is grim being of the dark, feared and hated by most (himself included) despite his financial wealth.



The golden rule writers have is Kill Your Darlings.


But that is just oversimplification. You have to be willing to put them thru hell, make them suffer and take them to breaking point and sometimes beyond it.


not because there is only misery and pain in the world, no.



To enhance the reward be it health, happiness, love,family, you name it.


To affirm that there is a difference between knowing price of something and knowing the
WORTH of something.



In case any of you has heard of this little known fantasy book and movies called Lord of the rings there is one real person in them all: Boromir.






He boasts, he is arrogant, obnoxious even, but always believable. And he does mistakes. But he does his damnest to redeem himself. Even when you know already the outcome and understand its inevitability you still rooot for him.

And Rocky.

And Randy The Ram.

C'mon we all know there is something wrong in those people who think Road runner is more sympathetic than Wile E Coyote.

For comics you need underdogs. I happen to live in a country where selfbetrayal is the norm and if depression and low self-esteem arent your thing the majority thinks you are doing it wrong.

Having the been dealt the worse hand does not equal quitting or giving in.


that has little or nothing to do with being the underdog.


Because even as there is no reason to feel belittled creating comics. You want to be an arthouse wanker? go toss paint on a wall and use endless jargon terms to try make seem as a statement to "diffuse sociopolitical crisis in our deconstructive post-postmodern society facing multiculturality and gender issues"
Right-o...


But if you want to do your damnest to create tales of awe and wonder, the epic adventures and small truths and do it in comicbook form...

Then it's time to grit your teeth:

there is very little sex appeal in it and groupies are few and far between and it's hard work if you want to do it right instead of just something.
hard and mostly lonely work


but it doesn't matter as you can relate to Don Quijote and his man-at-arms Sancho Pancha. It's a constant uphill battle against windmills.


And Underdogs never, ever, give in.

Lessons in Bad-Assery

The above picture by Fred Bastide suits to the t what I am looking after.

Yes, I am working on one editing a Scifi comic anthology and writing few superhero comicbooks of not my origianl creation. And the King Kong vs Bin Laden. And a few others.

But my wrenched interest in Mythos revealed to us by H.P.Lovecraft still lurks in my arteries, corrupting my heart with it's venomous siren song.

And not just that either. The picture holds raw unabided redneck power in itself.

You see sometime ago I got in a deep conversation about comics and creating them. This happened as my calf was getting tattoo of picture of Hulk and Daredevil by David Finch.

In my life not that uncommon.

Anyways, the discussion went to conclusion that both dig hardboiled fiction, comics, great art and apocalyptic themes. And when it comes to apocalypse there isn't much better source of impending doom than the Old Ones.

You see Cthulhu mythos is fertile ground for any tale, from cosmic to personal, and while it (for very, very reasonably) has been used mainly in horror, there have been adaptations to other genres of storytelling.

But in the original stories of H.P.Lovecraft there was something else. As scary and disturbing as ancient gods beyond good and evil who do not care one bit.

No matter whether in Arkham city or seaport village of Innsmouth there was hints of decadence, a downseeped wrongness.

Lovecraft has been often accused of being racist, but majority of backwatery folks in his tales are wrong because of inbredness and madness almost unheard in comics.

If you disregard Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon.

Many consider it to be just a vulgar piece set only to reach and break new taboos in OTTness in comics. That's their belief and opinion and they are entitled to it.

It's a free world. Everyone has right to be wrong if they really want to, why should I stop them?

In Preacher Jesse Custer's family and most of Salvation and of course the holy bloodline are stircrazy in same vein as the great book and excellent film adaptation, the Delivarence.

As I write these very words it's nighttime and I am deep in similar ground.

As a kid I saw the next door neighbour of our cottage. Some six months after his failed suicide attempt. Done with shotgun in mouth.

There are far too many pieces of sibling "love" products that have successive birthdefects from inbreeding.

Well, that and moonshine.

And there were relatives chained up in attics and every now and then they escaped and were hunted down and shackled back away from public view.

So Innsmouth sounded very likely to me and Preacher might have as well been a documentary.

but that is only one part of the equation.

the other is tough guy action/crime story.

And with tough guy I mean real tough guys, Clint Eastwood or Chow Yun-Fat

I like the old school violence as action goes. And these actors I mentioned portray it. because they are actors. They have brains as well as brawn. They are heroes with tarnished reputation. Human-sized.

That is a hard act to follow or to do well, but if you don't set to do it well it's better not to do it at all. The mixture needs only frankness, willingness to tell things truthfully, without any sugarcoating.

I have thought of several Cthulhu-related stories, some scripts are under work and as such -off my hands. But here the thing is there is ample opportunity to engulf oneself into almost everything my dark heart craves for:

a detective story of hard knocks with faint air of apocalypse arising. The violently rough edges of noir passing ever so slightly into deep dark waters of occult paranoia. If I go and add a single femme fatale... well...I would read that.

I just hope the artist feels the same.

Gods wear lycra...occasionally

No, it's not next week, it's this week but I am bit like eldritch creatures of H.P.Lovecraft.

No, not unnameably horrific(usually) or driving people to madness(well.. ok, admitted) but to me time has no significance as such.
Yeah, it complicates life more often than not.

But during the boiling hot workday on friday I had revelation of sorts.
As the saying goes writers should write on what they do know.

I actually have already used this.
Working as a tinsmith and doing roofing I can say most acrobatics in Spiderman, daredevil et al are truly supernatural even with parkour.

But the idea I got came from work sweating in the sun under the arc welds searing heat.
There are almost no working class bluecollar superheroes.
Especially metalworkers.

Only one I know is "superhero" from Crazy 8, totally demented superhero-team of freaks in a supporting role in Garth Ennis's and John McCrea's groovy comicbook The Hitman.

The character?

Dogwelder.

Yes, he welds dogs into people.

Quite logical if you think about it.

But I was thinking something more ..realistic. Something with more gritty feel of a modern myth.
That is how I see most superheroes: epic mythical archetypes.
And I heard you in the backrow there! No, they aren't just silly guys wearing underwear on top of colorful fashionwear by Jean Paul Gautier.
And no, making construction worker into a street-level superhero isn't that far fetched.

After all they are the guys who have know-how of building stuff. Propably not a jetpack or a laserrifle but something practical. Something bit more crude then that, something that is designed to hurt and hurt plenty (most likely the operator too...).

Also they are used to physical work, have strenght and endurance and some of them (I have seen) are fairly acrobatic. Even up to afore mentioned parkour-style gymnastics.

so, that gives capabities up to a point, but what is their reason? Did their parents send them to earth with a rocket as their homeplanet Arcton was about to explode or did they witness their parents murdered in front of their very eyes but because that left the orphan dirt-poor he/she actually had to work hard for livelihood?

No, I mean besides working we talk during workdays through this I know that many of the bluecollar workers actually have wealth of knowledge and education. It's just that that kind of work is more of a real work: it has a reason, a meaning.

It gives a feeling that ones work does actually contribute something tangible. Real world solutions to real problems. And corruption and criminal elements are viewed with extreme hostility. The mindset of the Punisher is closer than that of Lee Falks Phantom's in our ranks.

Now as that is somewhat clear lets think powers or costume. After all welders do look like this:

Um.

Well, not quite like that.... Sometimes we work top off...no I mean..like this:

yeah, so we already have a costume.

And powers, well obviously welding and merging metals. This isn't Savage Dragon, one of finest comics(not just superherocomics, but comics, period) where there were supers applying to SOS the goverments superteam:

"So you are woodman, you can turn into wood and kick ass?"
"No, I can turn any kind of wood to any other kind of wood"
"Right....but you then are metalboy. You can turn into metal and kick ass right?"
"Yes I can turn to metal, but after that I can't move and people just hang clothes to me..."

I am not going on that road. Equipment and metalworking instead. Have to refine that a bit later on.

Now, one of main points in stories, the defining factor: the enemy.

These make or break the hero or as my beloved woman often has mentioned: Batman is boring but his villains and supporting cast are great. No, I don't agree with Batman being boring.

But what could be our welding hero's enemies?
Well, to me it's obvious:

The robot mafia.

Loads of mechanical monsters and digital criminal masterminds and one tough metalworking guy that stands in their way.

Oh jeez, where am I going to find the time to write this too?
Oh well, I just have to break the euclidian frame of time and space....again.
Darn.

research and dementation

Post three: this blog needs pics.
seriously.
I mean a comicthemed blog with no pictures?
Bad idea.



much better.
See what I did there? I continued the previous themes of monkey mayhem and made this seem more readable.
And without picture of a naked female, despite the fact that this is internet.

But lets continue the bad ideas.
Unlike in real life where there are bad ideas abundance( invading Russia in wintertime, teasing predatory animals, dating, marriage, picking a fight with motor cycle clubs etc) in comics there is no such thing as a bad idea.
there is only poor execution.
No, not the capital punishment kind, but as being boring.

It's the same as with books and movies: you can have all the elements necessary to craft a grabbing interest of a reader/watcher but every now and then no matter how promising the subject matter it just fails.

Consider Zombie strippers, a hilarious movie starring Jenna Jameson and Robert Englund. Cheesy horror movie that revels in gratituous self-irony.
and think that Zombies!Zombies!Zombies! a.k.a. Strippers VS Zombies has exactly the same premise but is one of most brainnumbingly stupid and vapid bad movies.
So bad it is stinking bad.

it is as always how much heart one is willing to put in the thing.
And I am growing to like the comic piece discussed previously.
I love monsters and I like action and mixing those with gallows humor is most definately my thing.

But..I also have rampant imagination and hunger for stories. Both are fact that every now and then make me think that I have un-diagnosed case of ADD.
As today I thought once more about Vampires.
Yeah.
Those over-used monsters that have suffered at hands of Anne Rice and Twilight most effectively de-fanging them.

I am a werewolf kinda guy.
They represent duality, savagery, grace, primal insticts and sexuality in ways I feel the vampire as a monster just cannot reach.
But there is allure in the figure of the vampire.
And while there are loads of vampire comics out there only few are readable: 30 days of night, Impaler, some of Buffyverse, Life sucks, Boy vampire and Bonelli's Dampyr and stories in Dylan Dog.

these are a minority on stuff trying to cash in on the popularity the vampire is now revelling in.
And they do the mistake of target marketing this for women/girls.
Making comics geared to women is a great thing.
Underestimating their intelligence and what they want to read is terrible.

The vampire is a romantic figure but not in cheesy way.
Romance in vampirism is so much more than Megan Ryan romcom with sunlight allergy and dental props.

I am developing something along lines of doomed love but also in separately the spiritual and sociological aspects of vampirism.
One thing was reading about Survivalist movement.
Yes, the apocalypse awaiting armed up to the teeth people. they werent such then and arent mainly so now either.
At first they dropped out of society, built their bunkers but get this: they built excess bunkers & survival huts.
Why?
So they dont have to fight anyone: if you want shelter, food so on instead of having take it by force you can get it free and be indebted to ones offering the chance.

Now take the concept and add vampirism.
Shake well and put it to bake.
I think it has not been handled that way. At least not enough.

Bad ideas #2:

Yeah, Zombies.
the pic was on comicforum I attend at alarming rate and I talked with guys that a)draw penciled version inspired by Left 4 dead b) inked said piece and c) colored it.
And they were interested doing a zombie comic too.
The penciler and I have something at work too, but it is a long and wholely different process.

Zombies are the new (and old) black. I sing the high praise of The Walking dead by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore/Charlie Adlard/Rathburn to anyone willing to listen.
But I dont want to copy that.

Zombies are great source of horror tales; sociological, personal, gory, subtle the list just goes on and on.
Now with Zombies there is a problem: too many ideas.

Survivor tale is given but I want to do one with real folklore too. And one with main character as zombie. And scientific one. And hard-boiled detective story set in zombie underworld.
And a lovestory. and another one where BOTH are zombies.


but for those I need artists.
Unfortunately I plan to later on show my own sketches here.
You will understand then.

next week we will take a tuor in the world of spandexclad heroes and villains. BWAHAHAHA! or to quote the two great minds of our time:
"What shall we do today brain?"
"the same we do every night, try to take over the world..."

Recipes for destruction- Pt 1: get a dead horse... and flogging it

Apparently my brain was not satified with the mess it made earlier.
Yes I am seriously contemplating writing epic comic...about giant prehistoric ape against undead terrorists backed with Nazis in oriental pajamas.

My biggest issue is not to rip off King Kong too directly. There is nothing wrong in fan fiction, but it really isn't my cup of tea.
I am a Coffee man.

Unless one happens to be devoid of any selfcritism the biggest problem in creating comics is : but it has been done before, what new can I bring to equation?
True, majority of cop shows, horror stories, sitcom's and so on are based on tropes, familiar preset patterns that we are used to and that may even define genre of whatever you are creating.

We have created numerous variations on same theme or a story and there is loads of university papers written on subtext, language chosen, gender issues, social structures and so on.
And while they may have interesting points I am not too interested in them as such.

I want to read a good story, something I havent seen before or have seen but want to see done better.

By now some of you are saying: he's awfully full of himself, isn't he?
But of course.
That comes with the territory.

In comics industry there are auteurs who do everything themselves but more often the best result comes from having an artist and a writer.
(and inker and colorist and letterer and editors, pre-print technicians, but for sake of simplicity: artist, writer)

And they tend to have god complexes.
The artist drives to surpass their previous work, to attain perfection, to do best visual work that is suited for the comic.
To invoke emotions, breath life in lines and solids, to build a reality within reality.

A bit like benevenolent god.

The writer?
Think Sauron or any dark deity high on crystal meth.
They want to create and destroy and make imaginary people do their bidding.
See? even if they rebel against the writer in the story they are just jumping through their hoops.

Yes, My name is curtvile and I am a writer(mainly)

after seeing Talibannosaurus on a forum there was talk about hypothetical story ideas. "King Kong vs Bin Laden"

yes, it was someone else's idea. Was.
If they aren't doing it, too bad.
If you dont build a house but plan to so someday there is no way it can be burglarized now is there?
(making notes about story of stealing houses from the brains of architects...)
And even then it usually is not immaterial theft anyways.

I liked the premise as it got the figurative ball rolling. Why are they fighting? where? When? and who, if anyone, wins?

Here is what I have gathered so far:
the big ape's death was staged and had been held under some form of coercion/control.
A cryptozoological version of black ops for CIA.
Bin Laden is a stock bad guy, terrifying because he is a real-life zealot, but works even better as Frankenstein-type semi-undead overlord-wannabe.
Hence: Nazininjas. Nazis are epitome of evil and hey, Germany and Japan were in Axis-states in WW2.
No, I will not include to their list of abilities using Italian Icecreamcones as throwing weapons.
really.

But what is their motivation? I mean Bin Laden is given, nothing new under the sun there, but the great primate?
lapdog in leash of the militaryindustrial complex? Naturalized US patriot?

But then again going back to the source:
Fay Wray.
It was beauty that killed the beast.

yeah it was.
except she lived to ripe old age until a plane flattened the WTC tower she happened to be.

love. vengeance. it's personal now.

damn. It seems I am forced to write that story now.

Greetings ladies, gentlemen and other Monsters

Welcome Children of the night...what beautiful music you do make...
erm so this is my blog for comics, the ones I read, the ones I review and the ones I make.
My definately better half put up art blog of her own and not to be outdone I followed form and here it is.

While main point is comics, my first love, this will most likely touch other subjects too. Mainly in region of popular culture but occasionally dabbling in the realms of science(well, trying at least) and that most alluring form of fiction: History.

If you are interested in horror, adventure, science fiction, crime or superheroes then this might be for you.
Or not.

The latest idea I got was basicly King Kong versus TalibanStein(undead Frankenstein version of Osama Bin Laden after getting caught in the bomb blast in ToraBora range) and his Nazi Ninjas.

Oh yes that there is typical of my ideas.
Simple and politically correct.

Actually I was surprised to find out the public domain capabilities of King Kong, who in my story would be black ops agent for CIA.
Of course.

But not to step on anyones copyright toes it is better to rename the big ape.

Just so everyone gets correctly credited the idea sprung from this here post by Dan D Evans which got the ball rolling.
But then again...did you ever wonder the claimed panic caused by Orson Welles's War of worlds radiobroadcast?
You didn't? Well that's one thing.
But the original King Kong (1933) of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack came just couple of years after US Air force had a "sham war" in New York City July 1931
now that is just too fitting...

but that's it for now.