Black Snow Comics

Black Snow: Two Drink Minimum page 38

I think this page contains my new favorite scene transition, beating out my previous example from Black Snow issue 4.

I was really excited to do this page ever since I laid it out (about a month ago).  We are switching to a very different scene here, and I think this will be the moment where the story shifts into a whole new gear.  A new level of intensity that I don’t think we’ve ever seen, even in the highly dramatic and violent Black Snow issue 5.

So we go from the bright , sanitary office setting to the grimy alleys and over passes of Detroit.  We’ve never done much to really show the streets of Detroit, and I was always disappointed in that.  I felt we had not really fully captured the spirit of what we were trying to accomplish.  Of course these were more feelings than actual coherent thoughts.

But as soon as Alex and I worked on this scene I knew that we were finally going to be presenting Black Snow in the way that I had really envisioned it all along.  It”s not that I don’t like the bar  or apartment conversation scenes, it’s more that we needed some scenes like this to balance them out.

Barfing in the alley, the deep shadows, walking in these dangerous decaying areas, movement for the characters – I love it!  You’ll notice that I’ve changed my drawing style pretty significantly here to use much heavier “inking” in a way that I haven’t attempted since Black Snow issue 5.  But I think I’ve already outdone myself on this page.  This is what I wanted that issue to look like.

And I’m having a ton of fun doing it.  You may notice that I’m looser in my line work, not so formal or rigid as I feel I can sometimes be.  I think working on Detroit Mock City helped me try new things and experiment with ideas I normally wouldn’t have.

Another source of inspiration is all the Batman I’ve been reading lately (in addition to all the black shadows I regularly get in my Mignola comic).  The Dark Night Returns, Year One, Hush, The Long Halloween; I read them all on my new Kindle Fire.  I also saw the Year One dvd, which was pretty cool.  The Long Halloween, while being the least polished looking of the 4, had the unique noir look that was in the vein of what I’ve always wanted to do with Black Snow.

So look for things to pick up quickly and get more intense.

I might also add that Alex and I recently had a pretty amazing writing meeting which contained a real moment of clarity, and now I think we both have a good idea of how long the story will be and exactly what will happen.  It’s not exactly what we thought when we started out on TDM; it’s much better.

So get excited, I am!

Black Snow: Two Drink Minimum page 37

This was another page that came out pretty quickly, and I’m really pleased with the results.  I like the Kurt, Marie and Donald dynamic.  Alex thinks that it is hilarious, especially when Kurt and Marie were being playful.  I guess it is pretty funny in its own subtle, odd way.

I like it because there are a lot of emotions at play and they keep shifting throughout the scene keeping the characters, and maybe the reader, slightly off balance.

This page has a little more to it than the majority of our standing around talking pages with Donald’s recollection, outburst, and storming off.  I’m pleased with the way that solid black background came out in the middle right panel with Donald freaking out.  I think it makes him pop out a bit and emphasizes how angry he is.

Of course the panel that should be drawing your eyes and attention is the one on the middle left, Donald bleeding on the ground and the shadows fighting around him.  It was not written into the script, just something I thought of to freshen things up visually and keep building up the mystique of The Lone Wolf.  We’ve had a lot of people talking about him already, saying both good and bad things, so obviously at some point he is going to have a major presence, in one way or another.  And in this shadow you get your first clue as to what he’ll be like.  Hint: Pretty different from I’m Famous!

Deciding to show what Donald was talking about instead of just showing him talking about it (as it was written) is the type of fun freedom that Alex gives me when we work together.  A lot of times I’ll help him start a scene and then he’ll take off with it and write the rest mostly (or completely) on his own.  This was basically one of those scenes.  I think you can kind of tell which ones I worked on with him all the way through and which ones he cranked out on his own after inspiration hit.  He’s got his own unique style.

The nice thing (for me) is that he typically writes about 85% pure dialogue, with only a few key actions and character reactions being explicitly written.  So it allows me to interpret things however I see fit.  Like this scene, where I cut up some character dialogue to emphasize certain parts of what they were saying.  Donald’s last line on the last page was written as part of his lines at the top of this page, but I thought they worked better broken up.  That’s a pretty common thing I’ll do.

And Alex doesn’t mind when I do that kind of thing or come up with ideas like that middle panel.  In fact, usually he really likes it.  I think he gets a lot of enjoyment in seeing how I’ll go about tackling what he writes.

A last thing about that panel.  I really like how the lighter lines and monotones instantly take you away from the current present and let you know you’re looking at something completely different, in this case a memory.  I also think it’s pretty slick how it makes the dark blood and shadows jump out at you.

Pretty simple stuff really, but fun and exciting for me, and hopefully you.

This is a follow up to my last post, where I talked about our Deconstructing Comics review.

Well, I was polite and thanked them for their review after I listened to it (via email), and I’ve had almost a week to think about it.  Not that I’ve dwelled on it, it was just in the back of my mind.

But after giving it that time I’ve come to the realization, the reviewers at Deconstructing Comics are idiots.

That’s the real problem.  Listen to the podcast again, and I think you’ll find that they are just two stupid guys who don’t really know anything.  In part of the podcast they said you have to treat you’re readers like they are stupid, and that’s because that is they read.  Stupidly.

Now I didn’t research them or look at anything but this one review, but I think that’s fair when they reviewed us by only looking at a few early pages of each comic. 

Let’s look at why they are stupid, and thus much of their criticism is invalid.

First I’m Famous!  They had a hard time understanding the set up.  It’s a crazy superhero who wants to be a celebrity and is offered a movie deal.  Is that difficult to understand?  No.  And you don’t need to read Black Snow to get that.  It is set up on the first page.  They were confused when the settings changed or time passed and thought we should label that.  How do they feel when they read a comic like Far Side where the characters are always different (species even) and in different places.  Did Calvin and Hobbes have to start a strip by saying “Back at school the next day.”  No, because it is totally unnecessary, and quite frankly an asinine notion.

They didn’t like that the Lone Wolf sometimes laughed at his own jokes because they weren’t funny.  The fact that he thinks his antics are hilarious when they are stupid IS the joke.  They also said they often didn’t understand what the joke was supposed to be.  Well, I can understand why.  Stupid people need obvious punchlines shoved in their faces and can’t comprehend subtle or unusual humor.  Based on what I’ve seen, most people laugh hard when they read the comic, and have no trouble seeing why it is funny.

One of them didn’t understand if Daniel’s drinking was supposed to be funny.  Boy, these guys sure didn’t understand a lot.  Of course drinking is a major running joke in our comics.  Drinking has a long history of being used for jokes, and is its own sub-genre of humor.  Sorry if your abusive alcoholic upbringing jaded you to such humor, but the rest of the world thinks it’s funny.

They chose to single out this page and the close up of the Lone Wolf’s feet as an example of the problems with the comic and it’s layout/style.

I'm Famous! 14

They thought a floor needed to be explicitly drawn and that there was some time disconnected between the two panels.  What the hell would someone think he was standing on, if not a floor?  Did it really need a couple floorboard lines?  Why?  They also claimed it was hard to figure out that the feet were joined to the above panel (which they are touching), and that they were tapping at the same time the above panel with the Lone Wolf looking impatient was taking place?  They didn’t understand that the feet got their own panel because I wanted to highlight the action?

I’ve never met anyone who has read the comic and had any of these same confusions or concerns.  I guess I haven’t met anyone this picky or stupid.

Now let’s talk Black Snow: Two Drink Minimum.  They took major exception to the pacing of the first scene.  It is 7 pages long plus a splash page.  Keep in mind they didn’t know the total length of the completed graphic novel or anything about the overall story when they said this.  Is 8 pages out of say 100 so insane for an opening scene that introduces the reader to the characters and world, and sets up the entire story/series?  I don’t think so.

They didn’t think there was reason for the scene to be that long because they said not enough happened.  That’s because they were too dumb to pay attention to the nuance in character development and exposition of pertinent information.  Let’s look at what you could pick up from the scene.

This is just from page one: Black Snow lives in Detroit, only graduated from high school (so he’s not very educated), is in his thirties, is an alcoholic, charges people for helping them, has not achieved much notoriety or success (based on his crappy office and the headlines of the newspaper clippings), he smokes a lot, doesn’t take car of himself, and the Lone Wolf is a famous superhero with an energy drink endorsement deal.

Page 2 is also paced slowly, on purpose for dramatic effect, and focuses on the dark dirty world which Black Snow has built for himself.  We also meet a meet a major character and possible love interest.  Also, we see Black Snow is not very alert but is quite petty.  Odd qualities for a superhero.

Page 3 reinforces the fact that Black Snow is not well known or witty (though he has false bravado and confidence), is in terrible shape, and that Marie has good reason to question whether it is wise to come to him for help.

Page 4 tells us that Black Snow has had dealings with the Lone Wolf and Lightning Man, is very hung over, and Marie is a TV reporter coming to him for information about the Lone Wolf based on positive things Lightning Man said.

Page 5 shows us that Marie takes her work seriously and thinks a lot of herself, Black Snow does not take her seriously, gives us some background info about Detroit and the stories Marie has covered, she is pursuing a story no one else takes seriously, and she suspects the Lone Wolf (who we already established as a popular hero) is actually involved in bad things.

Page 6 shows us that Black Snow doesn’t believe the Lone Wolf is involved in anything bad, that he doesn’t like the Lone Wolf, he may have been a sidekick to the Lone Wolf in the past, this woman’s name is Marie Summerhall, and Black Snow is dismissive and patronizing.

Page 7 shows us that Black Snow is misogynistic, slimy (though he thinks he’s charming), and he weasels a date out of Marie that will progress the plot.

Page 8 is a splash page that lets us see Black Snow in more detail and gives us the comic’s credits.

What did the reviewers get from these pages?  They said Black Snow was a jerk, it focused on vomiting and being angry, Marie contradicts herself by saying she is a reporter then corrects herself and says she is  a journalist (not a contradiction, btw, just showing how she thinks of herself versus the way others think of her), they think she would have left the office in real life (though it is explained that Black Snow is her last resort), and that was it.  See what I mean?  Not very observant or analytical.

Also, they went on at some length, laughing immaturely about the fact that they think Black Snow’s finger looks like a dick in the 3rd panel down on the left of this page:

Black Snow: Two Drink Minimum page 6

Perhaps these two don’t have penises (or are too fat to see them), because I don’t anything resembling one on this page.  The fact that they think like that and focus so much on it should tells us all we need to know about them.

They also took exception to my occasional integration of photos in my drawings.  Who cares that these idiots don’t like it?  I’ve received nothing but compliments on it and how original it is from everyone else, especially other artists.  And I like the way it looks.

So while I wish no ill will towards Deconstructing Comics (they seem like really nice guys based on my limited email interaction), I must declare them idiots and disregard many of their criticisms.

Happy Martin Luther King Day to one and all!  Hopefully it got you out of work.

We’ve got a new review of I’m Famous!, Black Snow and I’m Famous in Japan! in the popular podcast format, from good folks at Deconstructing Comics.

So I’ve just listened to it for the first time  (it was nice of them to email me and let me know it was up, and actually do the review after saying they would, unlike several other people), and I know it can be a bad idea to write something based on your knee-jerk reaction, but I will anyway.

Regular readers will know I’m prone to getting really angry and venting it in rants, then getting depressed.  But I’ll be perfectly honest with you, I’m not really angry or depressed this time.  I expect reviews to be harsh at this point.  I just kind of laugh and take it with a grain of salt.

I look for valid points and see how I can improve.  And this review had some.  At least they read more than those cretins at Digital Strips, and put more of an effort into giving an accurate review.

First and foremost, it is clear they do not share our unique brand of humor.  They didn’t really seem to like (or understand) the content, which is more a matter of personal taste than anything else.  So if they didn’t like that, they probably weren’t going to enjoy the comics.

Speaking of, I’ve always known our stuff was fairly niche, and probably not going to please a mainstream audience.  And I’m fine with that.  Alex doesn’t write in a mainstream style and I certainly don’t draw it.  I’d rather be original anyway.  And hopefully one day just be appreciated for that.

So these reviewers are not fans, and I keep that in mind as I listen.  It can be just as important to hear why someone isn’t a fan as why someone is.

Mostly they don’t seem to like the writing.  Poor Alex.  In both Famouses they take offense at the lack of obvious punchlines, something I’ve written about in the past.  Alex has never been a comic strip guy, so setting up traditional punchlines has never been his forte.  I think he’s got his own comedic sensibilities that aren’t so straight forward and obvious, which these reviewers didn’t seem to see.

They also seemed to take offense at the way Famous hovers between a gag strip and a story.  I always thought we walked that line pretty well.  But they seemed to think the story was too slow moving (or non-existent), and the jokes weren’t funny (or non-existent).  The way I’ve always looked at it is the story is just the backdrop for the jokes, and you make each “scene” as long as it needs to be to tell the jokes.

My favorite comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes, had loose storylines that sometimes led to a series of jokes on a single subject, that seemed to last whatever length they needed to be, then it would just return to random subjects that fit the general theme of the comic.  And I’d say they were pretty successful!

I’m surprised they would call for captions to explain switches in scenes like some traditional old school comic book.  I don’t get that at all.  I think it goes back to their confusion if this is a story or a gag strip.  It also goes against what I’ve read about doing scene transitions in modern day comics.

Is it bad to be so different, or are we just doing a bad job of it?  I don’t know.  I do know I just said I was fine with never being mainstream, but it’s not like that was our intent when we started.  We just made what we thought was funny.  I was concerned that our stuff might be to weird to appeal to people, and over times it’s been proven to at least be somewhat true.  Though Famous has always been the one with wider appeal than Black Snow (everyone I’ve seen read it or even just explained the premise to has thought it was hilarious) so it is a bit disheartening to hear just how off putting the comic was for these two.

I mean if you don’t think Daniel’s drinking is funny, or are going to get hung up on the Anti-Nazi, then there’s not much we can really do for you.

If you want to see our attempt at a mainstream, straight forward gag strip look no further than the debut of Detroit Mock City next month.

They did talk about something I was always a bit worried about when we started the comic; would people get Famous if they never read Black Snow?  From what I’ve seen of readers checking it out in person it wasn’t an issue, but the feeling that they were missing something clearly caused some discomfort for these reviewers.  I’d like to think anyone could pick it up and enjoy it, though they’d get a bit more out of it if they had read Black Snow.  That always seemed to be true, but not according to this review.

As far as the critique of my drawing on Famous, I find that easier to stomach.  That’s something easy to work on, and I think it has been improved greatly since the strip started.  I’ll never know why reviewers don’t take a look at the most current work, as I’d be more interested to hear what they think of that.  I think I’ve addressed some of the problems they had with setting and formatting, though I must say I never gave too much thought to the amount of space between panels equating to time passed.

It is fairly random how I choose to layout my panels in that regard, so I guess that’s something I could try to work on.

At least they liked my coloring!  Who doesn’t like bright cheery colors?

Funny that they really seemed to like I’m Famous in Japan! more.  I always wondered if some people would.  Rawr is a good artist with a knack for joke delivery and pacing.  I’ve always pointed out that he is able to make our stuff seem more straight forward than I think it is written, and the reviewers seemed to pick up on that as well.  I’m glad to hear him get (mostly) praise here.  Though it does tug a bit at my competitive nature to here him basically declared a better artist.  Some more fuel to help me up my game.

They seemed to think Famous in Japan! had the most appeal, and that is definitely something we could examine and learn from.

Of course I was most interested in hearing what they had to say about Two Drink Minimum, and it was a mixed bag.  They recognized my effort to improve the art and seemed to agree that I had done so significantly.  They did call me out one my use of photos, and say how lazy that is.  I don’t know if I agree, but I can see why they said it.  I do put a lot of effort to integrate my photos with the drawings, so they aren’t jarring and taking you out of the story.  I thought I was doing a pretty good job, but maybe not.  Most people seem to really dig it, and can’t always tell when I’ve used a photo.

I suppose I could tone it back a bit, but I really like the way they’ve been turning out.  You’ll see me use photos in a completely different way in Detroit Mock City, where they are basically reference material for the minimalistic art work.  And maybe that is a better way to do it.  I don’t know.  Like I said, I like the way they look in TDM.

They also said my perspective was pretty bad when I was drawing.  I don’t go all out and draw in proper perspective, I just sort of eyeball it, but I never thought I was terrible at it.  Maybe I am though.  It’s something I can try to work on.

The thing that is more concerning to me is that they seemed to think you had to read the original Black Snow comic books to get Two Drink Minimum.  That is the exact opposite of what I want to hear.  This is an attempt to start over, and basically erase those comics from the continuity.  I’m not really sure why they felt that way, as it didn’t seem to be explained in detail, but it’s not good.  I thought we were doing a pretty good job of introducing the characters and story to a new audience.

Equally concerning is their critique of the story’s pacing.  One of the main reasons for starting over (other than improving the art) was to improve the story.  I thought it was a really strong opening, and we did work to condense things a lot in later scenes.  I feel like the story is moving along at a good pace, and we’re taking the time to really get to know the characters so they mean something to you.

Like I’ve said before, Black Snow is character driven, not plot driven.  And maybe that’s not what they’re looking for in a comic. Especially if they think Tarantino had great conversations worthy of all that dialogue.

So what did I really get out of this whole review?  Basically we aren’t everyone’s cup of tea.  We’re never going to please everyone.  You shouldn’t be basing all your decisions on critiques, and I won’t, but I will try to take what positives I can from it to improve my work.

When it comes down to it I think you just have to make something you enjoy, and that’s what we’ve always done, and will continue to do.

Black Snow: Two Drink Minimum page 36

I’ll tell you off the bat, this was a pretty easy and quick page for me. When I initially laid out this scene I thought of going to back to 4 rows of panels for some of these pages, much like I did earlier in the bar scene, because it is a little long and a lot of talk. I decided against it because I was hoping I could make this on the surface seemingly mundane side character conversation interesting, even exciting.

Black Snow has always been an ensemble story and the “side” characters are fairly prominent, even in this more main character focused revamp. They aren’t just throwaway nobodies used for exposition or to create setting. They have value. And I’m trying to show that in this scene by giving them some real personality.

I spent some time going back and forth on the character designs of Kurt and Donald, and ended up with characters fairly different from what I first imagined. But I’m quite pleased with them both. In the past working on the comic book I’ll admit that I was sometimes bored drawing scenes like this, especially the middle of the scene, especially in the middle of the story. Anyone can make an exciting beginning and ending, but the stuff in between, now there’s the real challenge.

That really changed for me when I worked on Issue 6 (which focused on the cops, who usually caused my boredom) and started to really explore playing with the nuance of characters and building up depth. So I can happily tell you I am not bored doing these types of scenes anymore. They don’t feel like a chore, I have fun with them.

And that’s the real trick, to make it all fun. Storytelling isn’t always easy, and if you aren’t excited by your story how can you expect a reader to be? I’m very excited about every aspect of this story and look forward to sharing more of it with you.

Overall I think this is just a really solid page, aesthetically.  It’s nothing too flashy, but it was not meant to be.  I like every panel of it and the characters’ body language.  I like the close-up of Donald at the bottom, which reminds me of a celebrity (which I did not base him on), and I really like the top panel of Kurt looking off into his own mind.  That’s something we’ve done with characters many times, in different ways, usually for comedy, but I think this is the best time.  There’s just something in that old man’s eyes that I think really tells the story I was going for.