Speculative Friction:
a blog of comics and literary criticism written by Bill Baker

2-22-06


"on the road again"

So, as I write this, I'm in New Jersey, sitting in the family room of my friend and Blood in the Gutters' webmaster Paul Michael Kane's home. Heather, Paul's wonderful wife is watching their daughter, Peyton play with just about anything she can get her mighty little hands upon. Their fine old dog, Cherokee, is lying at my feet, sleeping. And if this all sounds just a bit too homey or Norman Rockewellish, well, just bear in mind that Cherokee has taken to following me about the house in my wanderings; the Kanes think it's just him being cute and adopting me as his own, but we all know better, don't we?

He's just doing his job, making sure this stranger doesn't steal the family silver. And that I don't pee in his favorite spots in the year. At least, that's what I figure.

And if you've begun wondering where's the comics talk, well, it's going to be a little short this week. Spent a good part of it travelling, and not much reading and thinking about comics...or having any real time to apply myself to creating anything of real depth. So, today's going to be about peeking behind the scenes of "a minor incident of no real import", the short tale I wrote for the forthcoming The Wicked West 2 trade collection.

As with most comics of any length, the starting point is the script. While there's no "right" way to format something like this, I tend to prefer working in what's generally called the "full script" approach. What that means, as you'll shortly discover, is that the scripter will supply the artist with just about every piece of information they'll need to create a page of comics art--from the number of panels and their configurations, to the point of view used in each panel and the attitude, expressions and utterances of every character depicted. I tend to write this way so that the artist can know as exactly as possible what I'm thinking of/seeing in my mind, with an eye to improving or refining what I'm trying to do visually, and always with the understanding that they should adapt or even completely alter these "instructions" as necessary in order to make it work and do it their way. Comic books are, like theatre and music and most of the arts, essentially a collaboration not just between author and audience, but also of artist and writer and colorist and letterer and editor. As such, I understand that I'd be a fool to disregard or even prohibit their insights and contributions.

Regardless, copied below you'll find the first page of my script for the "a minor incident of no real import" short. I offer it for your enjoyment, and to help illuminate the creative and production mechanics of making comics, if only in a small way. I also offer my rough layouts of that page in the same spirit...and knowning full well that I can't draw a stick figure to save my life. So go ahead and laugh, please, at my fumbling illustrations. Lord know, I do. Constantly and loudly.


"a minor incident of no real import"
a tale of The Wicked West written by Bill Baker and illustrated by The Fraim Brothers

Page One

Five panels total. A "wide screen" panel at the top, with the remaining space divided into four panels of equal size, stacked two on two.


Panel One

This is a page wide, maybe quarter page high panel with an elevated establishing shot of a flat expanse of prairie as the sun sets on the distant horizon. Visible but not prominently featured in the middle ground, about the only real tree dimly illuminated by a small fire. A figure's stretched out full on the ground near the fire, and a horse grazes nearby, basking in the sun's dying rays.

Important art note: Please always keep horse "in the sun" or westward of Cotton. You'll find out why...but it is kinda important, ok?

Imprinted in blazing letters upon the clouds themselves we see:

TITLE LETTERING: "a minor incident of no real import"


Panel Two

Same idea, except we've zoomed into a medium distance shot and lost some elevation. The sunset's filling the panel, turning the prone figure and horse into burnished silhouettes set against a green and golden field. It's mighty peaceful and purty.

However, since we might be able to start making out some telling details on the figures, it's important to make sure from the start that Cotton's got a half empty whiskey bottle in one hand, and his holstered pistols on hips; he's passed out drunk, poor tortured soul he is.


Panel Three

Move in and down until the viewpoint's just a few feet off the ground and Cotton's prone figure, bottle in hand, is a shadowy profile in the middle distance. He snores away while his horse happily stands in the sun in the background, sniffing the wind, living large.


Panel Four

Tight shot of Cotton face/chest, showing he's out of it. Horse grazes sleepily in the still setting sun in the background. Damn, it's nice, it's it?


Panel Five

Same shot, except Cotton's been shocked wide awake by the incredibly loud *POP* behind him, as a opalescent and perfectly spherical Timeship materializes in the same place as his horse, blowing the poor animal to many tiny pieces which will continue to come down almost throughout the rest of this short tale.

SFX: SPLURKT!
[Sound of horse exploding as Timeship accidentally materializes inside of it]


And now that you've had your fill of my work, it surely means that it's time for another installment of...

What's Bill been reading this week?


Mark Schultz: Various Drawings Vol. 1
Mark Schultz and John Fleskes
John Fleskes has produced yet another straightforward yet simply stunning art book, this one featuring the unseen preliminary designs and rough layouts of Mark Schultz. If this artist's name seems familiar, that's because you've likely encountered his work at some point in the past, perhaps as a writer on DC Comics' Superman monthly or as the creator, illustrator and scripter of his own Xenozoic Tales [aka Cadillacs and Dinosaurs]. And even if you haven't seen this sublime artist's work before, it'd be a huge surprise if this slim but wonder-filled volume didn't contain some image, scene or other depiction that will haunt you for days--or perhaps for weeks or even months. Schultz's vision and execution are that powerful. This book has my highest recommendations, particularly for those interested in fine illustration and superb comic art.

The first of what will hopefully be an endless series featuring Mark Schultz's sketches and drawings
Flesk Publications
www.fleskpub.com


Everet Raymond Kinstler: The Artist's Journey Through Popular Culture 1942-1962
Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. and Everett Raymond Kinstler
This is a majestic book, overflowing with information about the artist's life and work, filled with images of rare skill and the highest quality. More telling still, it is equally revealing of Kinstler's inner life and his particular pursuit of his muse across genres and throughout the years. I began reading this volume almost completely ignornant--or at least largely unaware--of Kinstler's work and contributions to comic books and the fields popular and fine illustration. And while I am now far from an expert on Kinstler--much less even well-versed in the artist's milleu--after reading this fine book, I now have a real feel and appreciation for what this criminally neglected artist has accomplished over his lifetime of devotion to his art. It is doubly criminal that this book has been overlooked or even ignored since its publication last year. Do yourself a real favor and investigate both this book and its subject--I suspect that you'll be heartily pleased that you took the time to get to know both of these worthies. Once again, my highest recommendations.

Single hardcover volume surveying, in some detail, ER Kinstler's art and life
JVJ Publishing
http://www.bpib.com/imagesmagfolder/imagesmag/index.html


Dave Devries...The Monster Engine: An Experiment with Children's Art
Dave Devries, et al
One of the personal highlights of last year's Book Expo America conference in New York City for me was the chance to get to meet and get to know Dave Devries and his lovely wife, Michelle. We met by chance over a business dinner during which, as luck would have it, we ended up being seated next to each other. Serendipity rules, my friends! Dave was one of my favorite comic book artists "back in the day," and I'd often wondered what he'd moved on to when he ostensibly left the field. Well, the comic book community's loss is Kid's Lit's gain, as The Monster Engine proves with some real authority. In essence, what Dave does is work with kids on creating their own original monsters of various abilities, getting them to put their visions on paper before he then paints his own version of them. That's The Monster Engine in a nutshell, and the results are by turns surprising, funny and even terribly touching, but always interesting and outright fun. This brilliantly simple idea, in the hands of someone as gifted and skilled as Devries, gives wing [and tooth and claw, among other, more esoteric appendages] to both the children's and the reader's imagination. Even better, the book is designed to give every child who encounters it a means to access their own inner artist while it also provides parents, teachers and others a method to stimulate and promote any child's innate urge to create and communicate. Worth every penny, The Monster Engine is for anyone who has children, or wishes they could think like one again.

Hardcover book filled with Devries' painted versions of various kid's monstrous drawings
MH Press
http://www.themonsterengine.com/openingpage.html