Not All Comics Have Superheroes...

Woo! Sorry about no update yesterday. I was, as they say, "teh sleeps." Ok, they don't say that, but if they did, it would mean I was tired. And I was.
Firstly, I had stayed up until two the night before reading "Maus" by Art Spiegelman. It's a comic that I've been meaning to read for years now, but I've just never really taken that extra little bit of time and effort and done it. Well, thankfully, Naomi Riemer has a copy conveniently in her room!
It really is excellent. Spiegelman's art seems simple on the surface, but this simplicity is a deliberate choice that stands in contrast to the serious subject matter discussed in the book. Not only that, but he has an excellent sense of framing and paneling, which subtly affect and inform our reading of the work.
The story is basically just his father's experience of living in Poland as a Jew during the Holocaust. Yet there are a few choices that add so much to the story. First, Spiegelman includes snippets of his conversations with his father, both about the war, and they're current life. It provides a rich context for the story, and anchors it in life. It isn't an abstraction, but a horrific event that has deeply affected the lives of many, and as we see, continues to affect them. Also, as you can see, the characters are drawn mostly human, but their heads are from animals. For example, the Jews are mice, the Polish are pigs, and the Germans are, you guessed it, cats. I can't quite put my finger on why I think this was such an interesting choice, but I find it very effective. The story is told about people, so it isn't about a cat holocaust on mice, it's about the Nazi's and jews and real history. But this single artistic choice somehow draws you deeper into the events. This artistic decision could quite easily be viewed as making light of the events, but it doesn't. I still have book two to finish, but it has been an excellent read so far.
Well, work was busy yesterday. Which is good. I like being busy. Basically I did what I've done before, but twice as much of it. So, lots of shipping, lots of scanning, lots of proofing, lots of getting covers approved. Lots of getting covers approved. You have to get at least 6 different signatures on those puppies: Editor, Proof-reading, Sales, etc. It involves running around a lot, but it's ok. That's what I really like about my job, is that I always have something to do. There are interns that work in the editor's offices. They mostly just sit there waiting for the editors to tell them to do something. Not as fun in my opinion, but they get to know the editors, so there are trade offs. This is definitely a business where it pays to know people, so that really is a great opportunity for them.
I had to proof one of the "Essential" books yesterday. If you don't know, the essentials are collections of much older Marvel comics that are printed in black & white. This makes them super cheap, so if you want to catch up on, say, the last thirty years of the Fantastic Four, it doesn't cost you a bajillion space-bucks. However, that meant that I had TONS of pages to proof. Luckily, because those issues are so old, if the printer has gotten the page off, it will be instantly recognizable. This is because the pages are "flat". In other words, the text is on the same level as the pictures in the file, so you can't skew one without the other. It took a long time, and I was basically just flipping pages the whole time. But hey, live and learn. I know a lot more about publishing now than I ever thought I would. Hurray for experience!

...and the speed of Mercury!

So titled because I want to get this done quickly. In that line of thinking, I apologize for spelling and/or grammatical errors that have already begun to crop up in my work. If you notice any, please leave a comment, and I will be happy to correct it.
I didn't have work today, but I thought I should expound upon my day on Tuesday. I realized I didn't say much about it, and it merited some words, be they sparse or not. It was a busy day, mainly because there was a glut of interns on 'Intern Row'. Basically there weren't enough computers, and there's only one scanner, so I had to wait around some points, but that's not too big a deal.
I had a lot of mailing to do, but we finally had addresses, so that wasn't too big a deal. A lot of boxes had been sent out piecemeal because we didn't know where to send them, so we finally got a lot more of them out. Eric, another one of the interns, and an all around nice guy, helped me mail some stuff out. He's working for some of the editors, Tom Brevoort, etc. Awesome! Hopefully if I intern there again I can see more of what that's all about.
I was able to do more proofing today. There are two times they have me do proofs. Can you guess when they are? You're right! Before they send it to the printer, and after. That way, they have two chances to catch mistakes before they start shipping them out. I feel like I can talk about what I'm proofing, since they've already published these comics, and the release dates for these collections have been out for months. Actually, I won't tell you what the first one is, since I can't find it on CBR. The second was the initial proof of the first four issues of "The Dead of the Night" featuring Man-Thing, Marvel's Swamp Thing. It was the first MAX series I've read, which basically means blood and boobs. Always a good combo. But it was fun. There are these interludes at the beginning and the end with this guy called Digger, which are very reminiscent of Crypt Keeper stuff. Interesting.
I also got to do more scanning. This was more color reference type stuff than what I was doing before. No breakdowns or things like that. And, interestingly, some were from sources other the comics. The Trades department is also responsible for doing the Handbooks you occasionally see released by marvel, and I'm sure that one way the get the myriad pictures they need is from sources like these.
That was most of my day though. Also running stuff around to get signed off on and proofread, which is always fun. You get to meet the editors and other people around the office, which is definitely a perk. Hurray for proximity!
In conclusion, American Splendor is a wonderful movie about Harvey Pekar. He writes a comic book about himself called, you guessed it, American Splendor. Definitely worth seeing. It's just an interesting and compelling story, that loops in and out of itself in clever and well done ways.
Also, a few links of interest. There are a number of my friends who are also blogging, so check them out on the side of my page here. Also, if you want to see my old Livejournal, here's the link:
http://kryptonitekid.livejournal.com I haven't changed much.

How could I forget!

http://www.drhorrible.com/

It's coming, and it will be amazing.

The Addresses That Never Were! A Mystery in Three Parts

Alright, so there actually is no mystery, but there is an explanation. When I was mailing out books today at work, I made a list of addresses we didn't have, and titled it as you see above. I thought that a particular famous cover from 'Journey into Mystery' would be appropriate as well.
Well, first things first. The season finale of Doctor Who was awesome. Nothing I like better than team-ups and overcomplicated plots involving throw away lines scattered throughout the last few seasons. Brilliant!
Now, on to animation! Batman: Gotham Knight came today, but I was lucky enough to see it last Friday. A friend of mine managed to obtain, how can I say, an "advanced screening copy" of the film, and we watched it on his computer. I really, really liked it. DC hasn't missed a note yet with their animated releases. If you don't know, B:GK is similar to the Animatrix. It's made up of 6 short stories, each written by American authors, and directed by different Japanese anime directors. What was really pleasing to know, was that they interlock with each other, so you get a whole storyline that develops throughout all 6. That makes it much more engaging than the Animatrix still collection. And the animation is very good. I give it a 5 out of 6, because the first one is drawn really strangely. Actually, the story in the first one is kind of weird too. So, once you get past that one, things get a lot better. My favorite piece was called "Field Test", though "Deadshot" was excellent as well.
The next DC animated movie is going to be Wonder Woman. Keri Russell will be playing the amazing Amazon, and Nathan Fillion of Firefly fame will be playing a large role as well. Not to mention Alfred Molina as Ares. Oh british accents, you are so evil! I have no doubt that it will at least be good, if not great.
On the Marvel side, their movies don't seem to be getting much better. Their next release looks like poop. Instead of making a good animated Avengers movie, which has failed twice, we'll make one with their children. That's what everyone wants to see. Made up superheroes that are also kids. Boo. I just saw a trailer today for their following release, "Hulk vs. Wolverine". It'd better be an hour and a half of smashing and slashing, or I will be displease. That title does not scream deep plot line to me.
I just finished the Planet Hulk and World War Hulk trades that I picked up a little while ago. They were cool, which is a shame, because it makes the current Hulk storyline even worse. Smashing is important, but hey, so is character development!
I've been trying to figure out how I want to develop my ideas into a script, and I've seen some interesting things. One was a journal that Ed Brubaker is selling. It contains his notes for his Captain America stories. This seems right up my ally. This is a preliminary step, where he simply would list out a basic series of events for each issue. Real simple. I then like the idea of just trying to script some of it from there. Once I have a basic progression, then I can begin to think "Ok, so this event happens now? How do I see it unfolding? Would a spread over 2 pages be too much? I think that we would see them opening the door in the first panel, and then in the second panel, etc. etc." It seems that the more you can break it down the easier it is to build up into a finished script. This is why the art side has "breakdowns". You have to see how all the little elements can fit together to find the big picture. So if you have the big picture, you have to break it down. Neato. Even little things like that that I pick up from work are really helpful. Proofing books really helps me to see when people use certain types of panels, like borderless or spreads.
Eric Handler came up to the big city on Monday and we walked around and ate pastry for most of the afternoon at fancy bakeries! Mmm...pain aux chocolat is so awesome. Also, if he ever asks if you want to play Early American Chrononauts, it's not as intimidating as Fluxx, and lots of fun.
Anyway, if you read all this, you're awesome. Here's a prize!

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