Writing is Hard: Character Actors

John Rozum has a cool post on "casting" his characters in his head before he writes them. Referring specifically to Adam and Julia Kadmon from Midnight, Mass. he talks about how imagining a specific actor in the role can not only help communicate ideas to comic book artists, but can also help solidify the character in your head as you're writing:

When I got to thinking about Midnight, Mass. again shortly before it finally became a reality I had an epiphany of Julia being Famke Janssen which really brought together all of the loose threads and ideas I had for the series and definitely cemented the character of Julia for me.

I've done this a couple of times and it was very helpful. I need to do it more.

Comics News: Grizzly Shark, Dino Boy, Mystery Society, and More

Sea Bear & Grizzly Shark



Sometimes, an idea comes along that's so obvious that you don't know why no one's thought of it before. Other times, you know exactly why no one has. Sea Bear & Grizzly Shark: They Got Mixed Up falls into the latter category, but that doesn't make it any less awesome. [Robot 6]

The Return of Reptil



I've been generally uninterested in the announcements about the new Avengers team members, much less all the various spin-offs like Avengers Academy. Most of the Academy members are new characters or people I've never heard of, but I was delighted to see this promo piece featuring Reptil (the boy with dinosaur powers). I was hoping Marvel would find a place for him.

Nick Mulder and Nora Scully, Firefly comics, and Pedal-Copters after the break.

And Now the News: I refuse to be beaten by a villain named after a pastry (or, the 2000th post)

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the 2000th time I've updated this blog. I wouldn't know how to celebrate that if I wanted to, but I figured it needed at least acknowledging.

Hunter's Fortune preview



CBR's got a preview of Boom!'s treasure-hunter comic Hunter's Fortune. There's not much action in the preview, but Caleb Monroe writes some nice dialogue and the art's really sweet. I was hoping this would be good and sure enough, it looks like it will be.

Kerry Callen's Tigra



I've said before that Kerry Callen ought to be writing a Tigra comic. Now he's given us a taste of what that might be like. (Maybe not an accurate taste - he wrote it as a She-Hulk parody for Marvel's humor comic What the--? - but a fun taste nevertheless.)

Midnight, Mass: The TV Series



I think I've also mentioned before that John Rozum is like the king of supernatural adventure comics, right? Part of my evidence for that being his couple of excellent, though poorly-treated-by-Vertigo Midnight, Mass mini-series. So, can you imagine how excited I am about the announcement of a Midnight, Mass TV show? I don't think you can. I'm still trying to get my head around the concept of that much giddiness myself.

Everything you need to know about Love and Rockets



The Hernandez Bros.' Love and Rockets is one of those series that everyone says is a fantastic Must Read, but that I've never figured out how to get into. For years, the un-numbered, collected volumes prevented me from knowing where to begin.

No excuses anymore. Chris Mautner has started a new Robot 6 column called Comics College that's intended to "(examine) the body of work of a particular cartoonist or cartoonists of note in the hopes of giving newcomers and the generally uninitiated an entry point." As Chris continues, "There are a number of notable creators who have had lengthy careers in comics and figuring out where to start when reading their ouevre can be tricky." That's so true, and what's especially cool is that he started with the series that's been most tricky for me personally. And I didn't even have to ask.

Thanks, Chris! I can't wait for future installments.