Black Snow Comics

Since we have relaunched and this will never make it into any of the graphic novels I’d like to point something out from the original comic books before it is lost to time. Something I’ve hinted at, but never revealed (except to a lucky classroom at UC Berkeley who got to hear me lecture about the relationship between comics and films). Something literally no one seemed to pick up on, despite a clue later in the issue. First watch this clip from Fargo courtesy of YouTube (sorry about the sound quality).

Now look at these pages from Issue 3 of Black Snow.

Black Snow Issue 3 page 8

Black Snow Issue 3 page 9

Black Snow Issue 3 page 10

Black Snow Issue 3 page 11

There you have it. It’s my favorite scene from Fargo. I thought it would be really funny/interesting/I don’t know what to make our car salesman villain play out my favorite car sale scene. I got Alex to eventually agree, and he literally just wrote “that Fargo scene” in the script.

I downloaded the screenplay (which you may notice has one obvious difference) and used that as my dialogue, toning down the cursing, adding a Detroit reference, changing some small talk and making William H. Macy’s lines have a Kannibal Karl voice. I still think it’s ridiculously funny on it’s own, but knowing all that adds another level.

Then I sat down with my borrowed (from Alex, for several years) dvd of Fargo and still framed what I wanted each panel to be and drew it. Look at how closely that scene matches. It was lovingly crafted.

I’ve done a lot of things like this on a smaller scale, taking other comics, movies, pictures, things from my life, etc and worked them in or paid tribute to them in ways. This was the most overt, and seemed to go over everyone’s head. Maybe Fargo isn’t as well known as I thought, or people don’t remember that scene? Well, they do enough to put it on YouTube and I even saw another video where people just tried to reenact it, so it must be somewhat known. Maybe not so much back then?

I don’t know. But I wanted to share it with ya’ll and let you in on it. Now you can go look for the lesser homages to things yourselves.

Black Snow: Two Drink Minimum page 15

Here it is, page 15! More barroom talking, as promised. I played around with this layout a bit and toyed with exactly how much dialogue and panels I wanted to include. I really liked this idea of the left side being all group shots and interactions, while the right side is focused solely on close ups of Black Snow and his evolving moods. Lots more exposition here as we plant more seeds about the Lone Wolf and Van Buren. We never got to see these story-lines fulfilled in the original comic books, but they will be a bit more developed in TDM, and even more-so in the sequel (see if you can guess the planned name).

Black Snow just strikes me as so dumb here, and I was confused why he wouldn’t jump at the chance to go after someone he hates. Originally this part was a bit longer, and I really didn’t like it at all. Alex and I cut it down a little, and it has grown on me a bit. Though it still does bother me, just not nearly as much. Alex offered up his reasoning and seeing it drawn out makes it more palpable. What can you expect next? More barroom chatter!

Yesterday Rawr also finished page 3 of I’m Famous in Japan, and you can see he blogged about it below. I really like the way it turned out, and I’m really looking forward to seeing more. Rawr is really good at keeping his characters consistent, framing a shot, and setting a pace. All areas I think I could improve on. Alex’s writing style sometimes makes it difficult for me to pace things the way I’d like, as I’m often cramming a lot onto a page. Though sometimes I think I do an admirable job and am also improving on my framing of panels. I’ve made an effort to improve the consistency of my characters since that terrible pocast review ripped me some months back.

Anyway, great job Rawr. Very excited to watch it progress.

In other “news” I’ve spent some time really building up the Facebook page adding some cool new features, updating old ones, being more active and growing our fans. Take some time to check it out.

Similarly, I making an effort to become more active on Twitter again. So you can follow me and interact with me on there if you like.

Lastly, I’d like to announce that Black Snow Comics will be appearing at the Alternative Press Expo again this year. Sign up for the event on Facebook to see all the latest news about our involvment at APE.

That's how I usually leave airline bathrooms...

Hello all, it’s Rawr here again.

We’re now into Page 3 of ‘I’m Famous in Japan’ and the full manga-style pages of the story. This page introduced a few challenges which I had to get over. The script originally called for an interaction between Rosenstein and Daniel in the final panels, but with all of the above included there wasn’t enough room to play with. So the script’s Page 3, now becomes Page 3 and 4, with the remaining script appearing in Page 4.

The second challenge was Nicole. I dunno, I just feel that her manga form isn’t manga enough to justify her shock in the bathroom. Then again I could just be thinking that, since all the women I draw are in manga form. Fitting her into the bathroom was a little tricky too. I couldn’t remember the details of an airline bathroom, only remembering that they tend to be very claustrophobic (they’re tiny as hell!) so I started Googling for pictures of a 747′s bathroom. Only to find out…that it’s too damned small to get a good photo of it! What photos exist are of the mirror or of the door, which aren’t much use for the angle I had in mind. So, in the end, I decided to make it up. That’s why I threw in that handrail, I wanted to have Nicole grip onto something while she ‘recoiled in horror’.

One day I might remember to note the details of an airliner bathroom, and on that day I won’t bother updating this page, because I know you really don’t care about that!

Finally we get Wolf Pack and Rufus’ reactions to their manga forms. I kind of like how this turned out. Especially Rufus, since with him I had just planed to make him look pissed off at this. Instead he also seems more exasperated by his planet-sized afro…this was accidental, and I loved that he turned out that way.

Anyways, onwards to Page 4 and final scene on board this plane. Following that, we hit Japan itself!

-Rawr

Black Snow: Two Drink Minimum page 14

This page really brings me back in many ways. Black Snow started as an image of a bunch of superheroes sitting around a bar talking some ten years ago, and here we find ourselves again. Various versions of this scene have been drawn and redrawn by me so many times that it feels a bit like my comfort zone. This is basically my specialty at this point. So it felt good to get back to it.

And expect it to continue for a bit, as this scene ain’t over, and won’t be the only bar scene in the story. I can’t say why I originally fell in love with this ridiculous image, but it’s always stuck with me. My style may have improved and grown more complex, the character’s looks may have been updated, and the art may have gone digital but it feels familiar all the same. And I still love doing it.

As for the particulars of this page, I really like that stylized flat screen tv. A modern device given an old fashioned style. Eric and Elephant Boy are basically the same guys, as is Black Snow really, we’ve just gone out of our way to really show the reader what a prick he is. It was a bit more ambiguous in the comic books. There were a few ways to interpret some of these lines, but I wanted to make each one focus on Eric being a good hearted and sensitive dude, Elephant Boy an aloof oaf, and Black Snow a real jerk. He is a user in every sense of the word.

Speaking of, I often talk about the drinking but seldom reference the smoking. I wasn’t a drinker or a smoker when I first came up with the character, but I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’ve become a social drinker. I like to drink, and I like the drinking culture (well, certain aspects of it anyway). I can honestly say that I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life. I don’t just mean weed or something, I mean even the plain old nicarrette ones as well.

I find smoking disgusting. It stinks up everything and my delicate sense of smell doesn’t need it fouling up my space. So I’ve never had any interest in it. I never sat down and made any kind of vow to myself that I’d never smoke or do drugs, it’s just always been part of my nature. So why draw it so often? Because I’m not Black Snow. He is the kind of guy who would chain smoke. I’m not here to make role models for kids. I’m here to tell an adult story. Oh, and I think smoking looks cool.

Originally this scene opened with very different dialogue, but I recommended to Alex that we change things a bit to really show new readers who these characters are and to get some more exposition out of the way. I’m glad we changed it as I think this is a much stronger info and in a single page we’ve learned quite a bit about these main character’s relationships.

Look forward to more good bar times to come.

Black Snow: Two Drink Minimum page 13

O’Reiley’s makes its debut! I always loved the bar setting in the original comic books (and our whole alcohol theme), though when I first drew it I wasn’t even of drinking age and hadn’t truly been in a bar (aside from sports bars or restaurant-ish bars). Well, I’m a man grown now, and I’ve been to my fair share of watering holes (though not as many as Alex, that lush). So when I had the opportunity to redo O’Reily’s I really wanted to do it right.

Firstly, I wanted it to feel like a real bar. But beyond that I wanted it to feel like an extraordinary Irish pub. A place where the reader would want to go. Pubbed out to a level of almost mythic proportions. So I really to my time to create this setting, picking out exactly the style and elements I wanted, which was beautiful old school woodwork, stone floors and exterior, and antique stuff all over the place. At the same time I wanted it to be a little dark and dank, as all good bars are.

Why worry so much about this setting? Well, if you read the original comic books you’ll recall that the characters spent a lot of time at the bar. Don’t be surprised if that’s the case again. In fact the bar is more important this time around. Look at the title: Two Drink Minimum. It wasn’t chosen at random. Lets just say the bar is more of a story element this time around and I’ll let you learn why as the story continues.

Beyond that we’ve got the re-debut of several characters here. Firstly O’Reily himself, who has undergone some costume changes but is mostly the same character design. From behind loyal fans can probably pick out the Fisherman (Alex’s favorite character) and the great Native American hero Jon Killigbear. These two look about the same, from behind at least. Even more loyal fans will recognize the bartender as Black Power, from the comic strip of the same name. I didn’t change his design at all. It wasn’t that long ago I came up with it. Though it is absurd that he bartends in full costume! Oh, remember when I said one of our goals was more black characters this time? See, I wasn’t lying.

In fact lets jump ahead to Black Snow, Elephant Boy and Eric. That’s right, Eric and Elephant Boy have undergone some redesigns, and part of that was changing their ethnicities. Eric has been completely redone as a black man, so no more Nazi! Regardless of the ethnic change we planned on doing away with the Anti-Nazi this time around. It was something we grew to regret and question, and didn’t really seem to fit the character as time went on. In stead of simply making a darker version of the Eric character design I really wanted to come up with a new African American look that still fit his personality. I think I did, though he might be a little too cool looking, as I was going for well trimmed and slightly reserved. I dunno. I’m sure it will gel as we see more of him. BTW, just because he’s black don’t think we changed his personality. In fact Alex wrote much of this scene after he forgot we decided to make him black.

Elephant Boy always bothered me. He was just too goofy. I had to change something to alleviate that, even just a bit. I toyed with many ideas, then I decided his trunk really had to go. Oh, I also gave him more realistic elephant ears. I didn’t originally plan to change him from being white, it just sort came about while I was drawing. Is he Black, Mexican, or something else? I think he is of mixed race now. So more diversity!

Then there’s a bunch of other characters on the page. Are they anyone of consequence? You’ll have to wait and see!

So in closing, this was a hell of a page with a lot of re-imagining and setting things up for the future, but I expect the rest of the scene will flow well and come along rather quickly.