2020 Wrap-Up Rambling (Patreon)

Well, that was a year.

Two projects fell into our laps in 2020 that helped make it a not-terrible year work-wise.

In 2019 Kurt Busiek brought us onto his Marvels: Snapshots project, with Sarah and I writing a one-shot Human Torch story. Benjamin Dewey was the artist, so we had the Beasts of Burden team, although we weren't able to fit Nate Piekos in as letterer because of deadline issues. Kurt basically plotted all the Snapshots and let the writers work out how to structure and work out everything, do the “heavy lifting” as he put it. Our story involved Johnny's High School reunion, his ex-girlfriend Dorrie, and his relationship with his old home town. I was happy to have a guidng hand on the story, we knew the basic bullet points and got to make the journey as much fun and as interesting as possible. It was a fun gig but as always with projects like this that have a lot of  history or contunuity involved (the Peanuts/Cthulhu Mythos mash-up. The Attack on Titan gag strips, World's Funnest), I over-researched like crazy. Read through all the Torch stories from Strange Tales (most of which are pretty awful, unfortunately), the relevant Fantastic Four material, the relevant Spider-Man material, the original Marvels series and several related stories that were done more recently. I was looking to identify as many of the old villains, side characters and members of Johnny's social circle as possible. Turns out, they're mostly anonymous or barely sketched out.

I always thought there was a bit more depth to Johnny's High School stories, but they're very early marvel, creaky as heck with little solid connecting tissue and a real throwaway feel. Kirby leaves as penciler pretty quickly, and the roster of villains is a who's who of punchline bad guys. This became a running bit in our script, dealing with the early marvel likes of Paste Pot Pete, The Painter of Perils (he paints perils), The Terrible Trio (aptly named), The Acrobat (…), The Wizard (okay, he ends up becoming pretty solid villain material, dragging Paste Pot along with him), The Eel (he's slippery!), Plant Man (I have a soft spot for this jerk who I liked a lot reading Marvel in the 70's, especially when Steve Gerber used him in The Defenders), The Asbestos Man (!), and a few other dinks who decided a small town in Long Island was the best place to kick off a crime career. there's a lot of guest stars to prop up the fairly dull feature. They chuck the rest of the Fantastic Four in there a few times, he argues with his sister, Sue, and the Thing shows up a lot so they can fight and save one another and then fight some more. Also the inevitable Spider-Man fight/team-up, the sort of inevitable Iceman (Marvel's third semi-immature teen superhero), The Sub-Mariner (fires water, already done several times iin the 1940's when Marvel was Timely) and Captain America. Except it isn't Captain America, at that time Cap was still in a block of ice. How weird. Wonder if they were testing fan response to a comeback. It feels like bringing Cap back would have been a natural thing to do early on. Strange that it was teased, instead, and it took a little while to complete the resurrection of Timely's top three heroes. But I digress like an idiot.

So, yeah, the Marvels gig was a really nice surprise, and it was really nice of Kurt to hire Sarah and I, because I'm not someone on marvel's radar and haven't been in some time (I admit I don't reach out to them, because I'm not really interested in dealing with that stuff even if I was able to. The continuity, crossover and editorial pressures at the the supercompanies don't appeal to me, I just want to write a story and be left alone as much as possible). Going by past history, it's possible I'll do a small job for Marvel in 2030 or so.

The other suprise project was Daniel Chabon e-mailing me out of the blue to see if I wanted to write a Bill and Ted comic to tie in to the third movie. I still had my pitch for the BOOM series that I ended up not writing (the page rate was ridiculous, $40 a page or something like that – less than I got for writing the series in 1991!). I ended up meeting with Ed Solomon, the co-creator/writer of the films, and he explained why he didn't want to go with my pitch (it was based on the Marvel continuity, and they wanted it to be in the movie's continuity). Ed was super cool to deal with and talk to, I was nervous dealing with the creator of the property but he was friendly and open. He'd never read the Marvel comics because he didn't want to ever be influenced by them, but he told me Alex Winter vouched for me, whichw as very nice to hear. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I went to NYU at the same time as Alex Winter, and we were in one screenwriting class before, but we never interacted. I held a door for him once. And I ended up writing and drawing him (well, a version of him) in two series. Weird.

Anyway, after I met with Ed (pre-pandemic, I miss those days), I was sent the script for the third movie and I did a new pitch that took place a few years after Bogus Journey and set up elements from Face the Music. I ended up using a small part of the Marvel-based plot, in order to deal with the Good Robots and the Stations (who don't appear in the third movie). My plot was accepted by licensing and Ed was cool with it. Ed remained available for questions while I was scripting and also remained supportive of the project. Sarah and I were set to do the main covers, so I would get to draw the characters a few times (and draw the “real” Grim Reaper design, which was weird at first and then I got used to it). Daniel got Roger Langridge on board as artist, Roger was approved by the licensing people, and we had the team. I've been an admirer and fan of Roger's work since he put out Art D'ecco back in the day. Working on Bill and Ted, and working with Roger, was a bright spot in a dark year. I enjoyed the experience so much that I'm sorry we aren't able to do more issues. I would have loved to do something involving mostly Billie, Thea and Death.

The other series I worked on in 2020 was the second arc of Blackwood with Veronica and Andy Fish, which I thought came together really nicely. It was exciting to be able to continue a fairly new series and flesh out the characters and situation more, and set up new material. Unfortunately, after the pandemic shut down the comics industries, Blackwood's schedule – like most books last year – was screwed up pretty badly. I think two issues came out before everything froze up, then a third dropped, and the collection came out almost simultaneously with the fourth issue. Sales were definitely affected, and were pretty dismal. I have no idea what the status of the series is now, or how the industry is looking at the pandemic and the performance of their projects and what it all means for future scheduling and planning.

Beasts of Burden: Occupied Territory was supposed to come out in 2020, but was pushed to 202. As unhappy as I was to have another gap in the Beasts production schedule, it's probably for the best. Sales are a mess for a lot of more marginal series, and unfortunately, Beasts of Burden's sales have tumbled a bit from the first volume. The long gap between collections really took the wind out of our sales, it's honestly been kind of depressing to see happen. I think Occupied Terriroty is going to be really good, Ben Dewey's art on is is speactacular, and I think Sarah and I wrote a really entertaining story. It takes place directly after the events of Wise Dogs and Eldritch Men, then goes into an extended flashback detailing an adventure Emrys the Wise Dog took part in in post-war occupied Japan. There's mysterious deaths on an army base, a creepy curse, some nasty little monsters, some new characters, some traveling, some gross stuff, a number of yokai and lots of other stuff. I'm really happy with it and I hope readers enjoy it.

As far as new print projects for 2021 goes...well, hey, I got nothin'. I'm hnaging back a little while to see how things shake out in the direct market before I make any commitments. Blackwood is up in the air, at least that's what it seems like. As for Beasts of Burden, I'd pitched a set of four one-shots to make up a fifth collection, with each concentrating on a different set of characters. Due to schedulung it looked like we'd be using a different artist on each story, and I was looking into who I wanted to approach. The series was approved before the pandemic, after Covid hit it was put on hold. It's been revived but because of the weak nature of the direct market and other reasons, I'm not jumping back in just yet.

As I've mentioned before, I'm not concentrating on direct market work going into 2021. Not sure how that will go, how long that will last – around this time last year I thought 2020 would be a disaster work-wise but it worked out pretty okay overall. But right now I'm working on commissions, selling drawings and original art, and when time allows culling collectibles we no longer want that are taking up space in the house.

For good or for bad, between these efforts and this patreon (and the recently launched teepublic site where we've started selling shirts and merchandise – which has been happy bonkers for us so far, whatever happy bonkers means exactly  – well, I'll tell ya what it means, it means really good.) I'm actually kinda making better and more consistant money than I did sweating over scripts and pages. I am slow in crafting stories and drawing comics and page rates for someone of my status have been stuck in the 90's (or being lowered, holy give me a break, I realize there's been a pandemic, but no thank you). It's hard to justify making comics that aren't making much money and almost no royalties when you can make more money and have more fun draing pictures for people. I don't have any variant covers scheduled, so, right now, for the first time in who knows how many years, I've got no direct market/print work on the board at all. I'm sure that will change at some point, but right now, I'm working comics-adjacent.

That doesn't mean I'm “out of comics”, no, no, no. Hardly. I'm just taking a breather from the grind to see what happens and how things shake out. I'm writing some comics for an online project and it looks like that may continue for a while. There's a chance of another digital comics kind of thing that might come together. I've got new comic pages and the horror story experiment for the Patreon. And although I probably won't have any new published comics out this year (beside the Beasts series, which we wrote before 2020), there are a batch of collections and reprints scheduled for 2021. The Marvels: Snapshots harcover, the Bill and Ted Are Doomed trade, a DC trade that includes our Supergirl Adventures stories, marvel is putting out a Predator Omnibus that will include both series I worked on (and probbaly not pay any of the original DHC creators royalties). And the new Beasts of Burden series will be collected later in the year. I think there's another book out there but I can't recall what it is.

As I've also mentioned before, I don't know how sustainable it is for me to continue on this track, but I'm going to walk it as long as possible. I'm actually enjoying it, by and large. So, yeah, taking a break from “comics” to make money.

One thing that has turned into a real pleasure and a bit of a treasure has been the index card drawing sales I've been doing. I really enjoy making those drawings and the response has been a knock out. The whole side business happened by accident after someone asked to buy a drawing I posted to Instagram, and so on and so on. It's been a source of income and a real booster to my ego, I must say. The support people have shown me in 2020, on various levels for lack of a better way of putting it, has really helped me get through a lot of rough seas. I appreciate it so much.

I'm trying to think of what else happened last year besides work, heartache and the horrors of this modern world. Hmmm.

My therapy has been going really well. Our car had another problem but it was minor. But now the seat belt apparently broke, so, who the hell knows. Me and cars is like Tom and Jerry, bad times but once ina  while we get along swimminglt. But, issues aside, having a car again has been a real help. We had a lot of trouble because of the old ar, and getting the replacement and dealing with the whole thing while the pandemic shut down or changed how everything was done.Hopefully this car will hold up, it's far from new but now that it's had some repairs and stuff, it seems to be okay. Except for the seat belt. Oy.

My friend Paul and I did a few get-togethers with folks over the internet to take place of our horror movie podcast. I watched a lot of bad horror movies, a few good ones, most of which I can't recall now. We did one in-person podcast during the social distancing era, socially distanced, of course, about the entire Friday the 13th franchise, which was a lot of fun, especially considering we're not fans of the movies, by and large. We were supposed to do a new podcast talking about the Phantasm franchise in December, but I got overwhelmed and depressed. Maybe because of  the idea of rewatching Phantasm 3-5. Eeyeww.

I tried to read but most of the time couldn't concentrate. Sarah got me a kindle to replace the one that broke, that's been a help. I have trouble holding books and turning the pages because of my hand and wrist pain. Also, the new one is backlit. I'm reading a big book of ghost stories edited by Otto Penzler. I think it's called The Big Book of Ghost Stories or something big and ghost story-like like that. And I'm starting Robert Bloch's mythos book, Strange Eons soon. $5 pick-up on e-bay!

I bought myself a few books and a few japanese monster toys last year. I tend to deny myself things and have been giving myself a little present every few weeks when possible. There's a difference between not having the money for a little something and beating yourself up about things by making yourself feel even worse. Does that make sense? All I'm saying is you can spend some money here and there to get something that makes you happy, something to enjoy that reminds me you enjoyment is still possible and desirable. Buy that book tomorrow you wanted today. Just don't buy five. Not all at once. Spread em' out. Or wait for a killer sale. Books..

God, I want more books. Almost as much as I want bookshelves. Oh, man, bookshelves, am I right? All I want is room for bookshelves, a good bed, the actual bookshelves I mentioned before, and time. And some other things, but I'm on a books kick right now. Things to get lost in for a while. That includes comics. And RPG rules books. And zines. 

Sarah bought a computer for me to replace my old and very creaky one. I just backed up my documents and am looking forward to changing over to a computer that is a lot more dependable. I'm going to have to learn a few things but I'm trying to get better with programs and whatever (mild) tech stuff I need to know to get things done. 

I'm trying to be on twitter less. I enjoy Instagram more and have had almost no unpleasant interactions there, plus, it's where I really tend to be able to push and sell stuff. I want to get more on top of the Patreon, as always, and do more actual comics and get things under control. I try. Appreciate you folks for sticking with me here for the past year and a few, as always. Means a lot. 

Let's see. In 2019 we didn't set up at any conventions and only attended NYCC. In 2020 I was actually invited to a couple of shows before the boom was lowered, Rose City and a show in D.C. Dark Horse even made a banner for Blackwood, which made me happy. Or it was a side panel for the booth. It doesn't matter, and it feels like it all happened eighteen years ago. So, other than doing a really fun block party outside my friend Robbie Busch's Headsound Records LP shop in Brooklyn (masked, naturally), I haven't tabled in ages and really miss it. I miss talking with cartoonists about cartooning. I'm not involved in any online forums or Zoom chats or anything like that, never have been, I feel awkward and don't even know people who do that. And I feel anxious unless I'm really close to the people involved. So, I'll be waiting a while for the inside baseball and industry talk.

I really feel like I have no idea what's happening in “comics” anymore. Even pre-Covid I felt like I was slipping away from the business. I interact with fewer publishers every year, fewer editors. No cons in two years, and I tend to keep to myself at them for the most part. Tom Spurgeon's passing left a hole in my connection to the comics world, as well as in my life. I miss him terribly, as I know many people do.

Well, now I'm veering into the unhappy stuff and I really wasn't meaning to do that, so I guess it's probably time to wrap this rambling wrap-up up.

I hope the holidays were kind to you, or at least not mean. Same for New Year's Eve, I slept through it, myself. I must have been more wiped out than I thought, I settled down to read and conked for ten hours! I'll take ten hours sleep almost any night.

And I  hope 2021 isn't horribly awfully evil for folks. Holy moley.

Talk soon. Take care, be well, go read some comics or listen to some music or something nice. Relax a little. I'm gonna eat something. Maybe a knish.