HE'S SO GOOD
A big ol' project update post wow. Also: KAPTARA!!!
Me when the weekend is here and my phone battery is at 2%
It’s San Diego Comic Con weekend and I’m not there! Fellow comical book artist Steve Lieber summed it up nicely:
I have many, many fond memories of SDCC. It’s a wild time and a real spectacle and I highly recommend you go at least once in your life. When I was a young nobody it was exciting and full of possibilities, and now, as a decrepit weak “somebody,” it’s an exhausting week full of trying to find quiet spots to catch up with other decrepit and weak comic creators. There’s still magic to be found, like being at the Eisners and losing Best Writer to Tom King, but all of it feels a million miles away now that I live in a forest where the trees stare at me all day going, “really? you fuckin’ chop us down to make comics that people don’t open so they can get a 9.8 CGC rating?”
One of my favourite SDCC memories was from 2003. Myself and Kagan were heading to the convention floor and found ourselves in a packed elevator with Joe Quesada. I had my portfolio on me, holding it tight to my chest in the cramped space. At the time, Joe was Editor-in-Chief of Marvel and everyone in the elevator was trying not to stare at him. He was an absolute comics celebrity. You couldn’t hear a pin drop until I said, in the faux weakest voice possible, “Um, Mr. Quesada, could you look at my portfolio please?” as I fumbled with my giant case. Everyone laughed, including Joe, and I rode that high for the rest of the weekend.
Anyway, to those who are there, have a good time and be sure to congratulate Tom King on all his Eisner wins!
HE’S SO GOOD
Shut up!!!!
You know what’s also good? NEWBURN VOLUME 1, which has its final orders due in from comic shops on Monday!! So go tell your local comics retailer that if they don’t order a hundred copies, well, you’re not responsible for what happens next (loss of potential sales of Newburn Volume 1). This collection has issues 1-8 of our main story and is a Nice Time™!
Also, Jacob is so damned good. He’s up for Best Coloring this weekend at the Eisner Awards, and the second he wins I’m 100% slapping an “EISNER-AWARD WINNING NEWBURN” sticker on this bad boy. If Tom King wins Best Coloring I’m going to be furious!!!
Also up for an award is Silver Coin for Best Anthology! I wrote the first issue, but this is artist and creator Michael Walsh’s baby. He’s put everything into this passion project and I hope he wins this because if he does then this is the last time I give him any credit as I go online and brag about “my” Eisner win!!!
Also, good luck to Tom King I guess
HE’S SO GOOD
Shut up!!!!!!!
You know what ELSE is so good? The podcast Comic Shenanigans, which is set to end soon with its 1000th episode! Adam is a great interviewer, so that’ll be an absolute shame when it goes. But there’s a great archive you can go through, including my first appearance on the show which he references in our new interview. It’s a GOOD TIME:
Okay, I’ve got time for one Q to A, and this one comes from Bojack Norseman and it’s—jesus christ—it’s a five part question wtf bojack
You wrote a post about comic book scripting (https://zdarsky.substack.com/p/comic-book-scripting), but seeing your script page for Batman 125 does have me wondering about your scripting. Namely, why are certain words capitalized in the panel descriptions?
Almost everything in my scripts is picked up from Matt Fraction and our time on Sex Criminals. I tend to capitalize words in panel descriptions when they’re nouns, or important, so they stand out to the artist. Sometimes artists read these scripts quickly (and begrudgingly!!), so I like to bold things almost as speed bumps to make sure they get noticed at a glance.
Any reason you choose not to number captions/balloons, or indicate number of panels at top of page?
I don’t think I saw a script that did those things until my fifth year of writing comics ha ha
If an artist/letterer/editor asked me to I’d do it, but I personally don’t like them in my scripts as a writer or an artist. Just a personal preference!
Also, are there any of your scripts available beyond the one in the director's cut of Daredevil? It would be super interesting to read what a script for Public Domain looks like (as it's for yourself) vs. something like Newburn or Afterlift.
I mean, Public Domain scripts are a nightmare and unfit for human eyes. I don’t really like putting my full scripts out there because they’re all still works-in-progress at that point. I re-write a lot just before the lettering stage and there are things in my scripts that are spoilers for future issues, or sometimes the whole series. So, here are just the first three pages of Newburn 1, if that’s of interest:
Finally, 10 months ago you had a post (https://zdarsky.substack.com/p/what-am-i-doing) detailing your current projects. I assume first Marvel redacted was Woman Without Fear, and DC redacted was Batman: The Knight. I take it Marvel Miniseries with Superstar Artist and the next Comixology project (with Jason Loo?) are still both unannounced?
Oh yeah! Let’s update that! You were right about Woman Without Fear and Batman: The Knight. And the Comixology project was Allnighter Volume 2. Here’s where my projects stand right now!
SUBSTACK/IMAGE
Kaptara! Two more scripts to go in our epic space adventure!
Public Domain! Currently colouring issue five! I’ll probably go past volume two if my body/mind can hold out.
Mystery Project 1: A very strange project with an issue one currently being drawn by an AMAZING artist that I’ve previously worked with before.
IMAGE
Mystery Project 2: A fun thing being done with a couple of pals! Very early stages right now though. Could implode once they realize how horrible I am to work with.
Newburn: Our big second arc underway!
COMIXOLOGY
Mystery Project 3: More fun with Comixology! Just signed the contract wooo
SKYBOUND
Stillwater: Last time I had this going to issue 20 on my chart and stated it’s NOT the final issue, and that’s still true! But is my final issue 18? 19? 21? 150? WHO’S TO SAY
MARVEL
Daredevil: Still truckin’ along! I don’t want to show how many issues I have left though SHHHH maybe it’s a million???
Mystery Project 4: This is still the same miniseries I’ve been working on for a while now with an amazing artist. It’s slow going, but I think our first issue is going to be solicited real soon!
DC
Batman: I kept this OFF of the last post because I was very paranoid about people figuring out I was the next writer! This graphic goes to 140 only because those are the issues I have “plot-locked” which means they “probably can’t fire me” until after that.
Batman Backups: I just like having this here to keep track of what I need to get done.
So yeah! That’s the update!
STILL TOO MUCH
I know I know. There’s nothing that I’m adding to this list until it’s down to just two projects though. The burnout is real, friend. Very real
Okay! Now for some sweet, sweet KAPTARA action!