Superman #44 Giveaway Winners!

Congratulations to Dan of Pasadena, CA; Lucia of San Jose, CA; and Timothy of Murfreesboro, TN! They each won a signed copy of Superman #44!

Periodically, I run giveaways for the folks on my mailing list.  Interested in the next one?  Sign up for my mailing list below.  I’ll even give you a free digital comic!

Sakura Pen Set Giveaway Winners!

About a month ago, I spoke at the San Jose Public Library’s Graphic Novel Contest awards ceremony.  Sakura was a sponsor and one of their representatives was there.  We got to talking, I told him about my mailing list giveaways, and he graciously offered to donate three pen sets for my September giveaway.

Sakura pens are the industry standard.  I use them on my own comics, and pretty much every cartoonist I know uses them.  A great product.

Congratulations to Jamie of Freehold, NJ; Robyn of San Jose, CA; and Tammy of Galt, CA for winning my September giveaway!  Each of them will receive a pen set from Sakura!

Periodically, I run giveaways for the folks on my mailing list.  Interested in the next one?  Sign up for my mailing list below.  I’ll even give you a free digital comic!

JUNE GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

Congratulations to Leila of Washington, Dawn of Wisconsin, and Elizabeth of Alberta for winning my June giveaway!  Each of them will receive a signed copy of all three of my Free Comic Book Day 2015 books: Dark Horse’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, DC Comics’ Divergence, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund book.

Periodically, I run giveaways for the folks on my mailing list.  Interested in the next one?  Sign up for my mailing list below.  I’ll even give you a free digital comic!

The Art of Superman

Superman #41, my debut issue, comes out Wednesday, June 24!

I’m only handling the script. This art team they’ve got me working with? Dude.

Let me show you our process.  It’ll give me an excuse to tell you about the artist behind each phase.

 

1. SCRIPT. This is me. For my first script, I followed the Dark Horse Script Format Guideline, a habit I developed writing Avatar: The Last Airbender comics for the last few years. The formats of my Superman scripts have been evolving ever since.

 

2. PENCILS. These are done by the legendary John Romita Jr. He doesn’t like it when I use the word “legendary,” but that’s what you get for producing consistently amazing work for over two decades.

John spent most of his career at Marvel. You know that Daredevil show on Netflix everyone’s freaking out over (including me)? Chunks of it are lifted straight out of Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, a classic miniseries by John and writer Frank Miller.  That awesome black costume he wears for most of Season 1?  That’s John.

When I was a college kid, my favorite of John’s works was a graphic novella called Hearts of Darkness, starring the most nineties superteam ever assembled: Ghost Rider, Wolverine, and the Punisher.

 

3. INKS. We’ve got Klaus Janson on inks. Klaus is most well-known as a co-conspirator on Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, the Frank Miller graphic novel that changed the face of superhero comics forever.  But Klaus has done many, many comics besides that. Klaus’s stuff is just a joy to look at: clean and strong and true.

He does a lot of inking — A LOT — but he’s also handled pencils and inks. He and John have worked together for a while now. Hearts of Darkness, that nineties fever dream I mentioned earlier, was his.

 

4. COLORS. Dean White is doing the colors. I first encountered Dean’s work in Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s Kick Ass, a graphic novel my prudish self found uncomfortable and compelling all at once. Appropriate, too, because Dean kicks ass. He truly does. He can wring things out of color — emotion, action, danger — that you didn’t know were there.

Let me tell you, I am astounded by the finished product. I’m proud of my story, don’t get me wrong, but THAT ART! You need to get Superman #41 just to see three masters of comics do their thing.  Your jaw will drop, guaranteed.

Superman #41, available at comics shops everywhere on  Wednesday, June 24, 2015!

The Man of Tomorrow

There’s a reason why folks call Superman the Man of Tomorrow.

When he was created in the late 1930′s, he really did embody that era’s ideas about the future. Back then, progress was seen in largely physical terms: our technology would make us stronger, faster, more invulnerable. And that’s what Superman was: the world’s strongest, fastest, most invulnerable person.

But in the decades since, our imagined future has changed. Nowadays, when we think of tomorrow’s technology, we don’t necessary think about physical power — we think about information. We think about knowledge. Our dreams of the future are as much about bits as they are about atoms. Maybe more.

So how does Superman, a character whose “tomorrow-ness” dates back to the 1930′s, deal with the “tomorrow-ness” of today?

That’s a major thread in “Before Truth,” the first Superman story arc I’m doing with the inimitable John Romita Jr. The Man of Tomorrow goes up against an enemy who wields information like a weapon, who’s as comfortable in bits as he is in atoms.

Superman’s secret identity has always been a cornerstone of who he is. But the very notion of a hidden second life represents information that’s been contained, that’s under control. In the era of Edward Snowden and Wikileaks and doxxing, is a secret identity even viable any more?

And more importantly, will Superman’s most timeless character traits — his selflessness, his grit, his compassion for the underdog — survive such a drastic change to his status quo?

For a superhero geek like me, writing the world’s first superhero has been the thrill of a lifetime. Being part of a team that includes John and inker Klaus Janson and colorist Dean White is icing on the cake. If you had told fourteen-year-old me that this project would be in my tomorrow, I’m pretty sure I would’ve leaped a tall building in a single bound.

It all goes down in Superman #41, available Wednesday June 24, 2015!

Hope you’ll join us!  And if you want to know what life is like for Superman after “Before Truth,” check out Action Comics #41, Batman/Superman #21, and Superman/Wonder Woman #18!

S.T.E.M. Comics

Folks are sometimes surprised when I tell them that I’m both a cartoonist and a high school computer science teacher, and I think it’s because our society puts up a wall between activities it deems “left brain” and those it deems “right brain.” Math and science inhabit one world, art and story (and comics) another.

But this division is artificial. Take a look at Leonardo Da Vinci, M.C. Escher, Scott McCloud. We have an entire genre — Science Fiction — that blends science with story.

For me, making comics and computer coding are intimately linked. Both disciplines require you to break large ideas into small, discrete pieces. You have to take relatively simple elements and arrange them in a way that achieves complex results. And in both, the possibilities are infinite.

These days, there’s a lot of talk about S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). Teachers and parents worry that American students are falling behind in these areas. I haven’t looked at the data myself, so I’m not entirely sure that’s true.

But if it is, let me tell you: Comics can help.

Here’s a list of great S.T.E.M. comics, broken up by topic:

SCIENCE

Primates
by Jim Ottaviani and Maris Wicks
Ever wonder why Jane Goodall is such a big deal? Read this book. It’s highly accessible and Maris Wicks’ illustrations are just beautiful. Also, if you’re looking for a big list of science comics, just Google Jim Ottaviani. That’s his thing. And honestly, he’s really good at his thing.

Clan Apis
by Jay Hosler
Jay is both a Biology Professor at Juniata College and an incredibly talented cartoonist. Clan Apis follows the adventures of a bee named Nyuki. Readers will be completely charmed by Nyuki while learning about her life cycle and natural environment.

TECHNOLOGY

Super Scratch Programming Adventure
by Mitch Resnick and the Lead Project
Mitch Resnick is a Computer Science professor at MIT. This book isn’t just a graphic novel, it’s also an instruction manual on Scratch, a beginner’s programming language. Lots of fun projects here, plus a cute cartoon cat!

Secret Coders
by Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes
(I’m about to self-promote. Consider yourself warned.) Cartoonist Mike Holmes and I are doing a middle grade graphic novel series all about the magic of coding. Here’s how we’re pitching it: Secret Coders is kind of like Harry Potter. A bunch of tweens find a secret school. However, instead of teaching magic, the secret school teaches coding. We’re hoping that as our protagonists become coders, our readers will too. First volume will be available September 2015!

ENGINEERING

Howtoons
by Saul Griffith and Nick Dragotta
Wanna be impressed? Go read Saul Griffith’s Wikipedia page. The dude is seriously smart. Illustrator Nick Dragotta isn’t to shabby, either. He’s probably best known for his work on East of West with Jonathan Hickman. Their book Howtoons is probably my 11-year-old’s current favorite book. This book will teach you how to build marshmallow guns, plastic finger extensions, and toy submarines out of common household items. Become a mini-MacGyver.

Lego Instructions
This isn’t a book, so don’t go looking for it at your local bookstore. Instead, find a Lego set and take a look at the instructions. Juxtaposed images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information. That’s right! Lego’s one of the world’s most prolific publishers of comics, and it probably doesn’t even know it.

MATH

Meanwhile
by Jason Shiga
Jason Shiga is a math genius. If a comic book and a maze were to have a baby, the baby would look like Meanwhile. This is a choose-your-own adventure graphic novel with 3856 story possibilities! Only one happy(ish) ending, though. Along the way, the reader learns all about statistics and probability.

Fleep
by Jason Shiga
Jimmy gets stuck in a phone booth buried beneath several tons of concrete! Armed with nothing but his wits and a knack for math, he must find a way out! This is arguably the best phone booth story ever told, way better than that Colin Farrell movie, but it’s definitely for older kids.

Congratulations to November’s Email List Giveaway Winners!

I had a couple extra copies of this year’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Free Comic Book Day comic, so I ran a giveaway for folks on my email list!

Congratulations to Alex K. of San Diego, CA and Mari Ann G. of El Paso, TX!

I’m planning to do giveaways about once a month.  I have some original art to give away for December.  If you’re interested in entering, sign up for my email list below!

Not only will it give you the opportunity to win giveaways, but you’ll also get updates on my books, events, and other projects.  You’ll also get a free digital comic about how I got my start in comics!

 

Raina Telgemeier and Wonder Woman

A few weeks ago, my oldest daughter (a second grader) bought Raina Telgemeier’s Sisters from her school’s book fair. She instantly became a Raina devotee. I’d already read Smile with her, but something about Sisters flipped a switch – maybe because my daughter has to deal with sibling drama of her own at home.

Raina’s a friend of mine. I knew from Facebook that she was doing a signing near us, so I told my daughter we’d go see her. On the morning of the signing, my daughter woke up chanting Raina’s name.

The signing was freaking amazing. I’ve never been to a comics signing like it, not even with the Image Comics founders when they were at the height of their fame in the 90’s. Raina did a joint event with the inimitable Kazu Kibuishi, and the entire store was packed with parents and kids holding stacks of Smile and Drama and Sisters and Amulet.

The crowd was so big that the store had to give out little tickets to tell you what signing group you were in. Group #1 got to see Raina and Kazu first, then Group #2, and so on. We were Group #7. Twenty minutes in, I said to my daughter, “I know Raina and her husband Dave. We see each other at least a couple times a year at different book events. We can get her to sign it later, at Comic-Con or something.”

My daughter looked me straight in the eye and pointed to her ragged copy of Sisters. “Daddy, we came to get this book signed.”

So we waited over an hour, almost two. Raina and Kazu were (of course) lovely, and my daughter went home with a signed book and a happy heart.

And that’s why articles like the one Janelle Asselin wrote for Comics Alliance don’t particularly worry me:

comicsalliance.com/sidekicked-how-superhero-publishers-are-failing-kids/

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great article and I totally agree with her. But even if superhero publishers are failing kids, comics as a medium is not. Kids are reading lots and lots and lots of comics these days. They’re just not reading the same kinds of comics that their nerd parents did. Raina’s books, Kazu’s books, Jeff Smith’s Bone, Jason Shiga’s Meanwhile, the Ninjago graphic novels, Paul Pope’s Battling Boy, the Holm siblings’ BabyMouse, Ben Hatke’s Zita the Spacegirl – they’ve all made appearances on the New York Times Bestsellers List. Try finding a copy of any one of those at your local library. Mostly likely you can’t because it’s checked out. If you do, it will look like it’s been through a washing machine because so many kids have read it.

My daughter’s been a Wonder Woman devotee for much longer than she’s been a Raina Telgemeier devotee. She’s loved Wonder Woman for years, since before she could properly pronounce “Wonder Woman.” My daughter watches the Wonder Woman-centric episodes of the Justice League cartoon over and over. She dressed up as Wonder Woman for Halloween last year. She built a little Wonder Woman figure out of a paper cup and googly eyes.

I have to tell you – as Asselin details in her article – it is hard to find age-appropriate Wonder Woman comics for a second grader. There’s the Justice League Adventures series from a few years back, and those reprints of the Super Friends comic from the late 70’s and early 80’s. There are also books that are “comics-ish”: Ralph Cosentino’s gorgeous picture book and the Capstone early readers.  But that’s about it. Not a lot, and most of it is old, made before my daughter was born.

There’s nothing for the future, no Wonder Woman kids’ comic for my daughter to look forward to. But that’s fine, because I know for a fact that Raina’s working on her next book.

Wonder Woman may not be there for my daughter, but Raina Telgemeier certainly will.

Luke and Me Episode 3

My friend and brother-in-law Luke is making his first comic! He asked me to help him along the process, and we’ve decided to post our interactions here.

In case you missed it, here are the previous posts in this series:

Luke and Me Episode 1

Luke and Me Episode 2

Luke recently sent me the plot summary of his first four chapters.  He built it using the Post-It method I described in episode one.  Here’s what he came up with, followed by my notes:

***

CREONTE OUTLINE
by Luke Chaya

First Draft

Chapter 1

Set in alternate universe of humans/humanoid/monsters

A city at the base of a mountain, not particularly modern but overtly crowded with housing apartments atop each other like building blocks. While overlooking a great expanse leading to the ocean, there remains many a dark alley and hidden spaces amidst the city. From one of these dark corners our character is moaning in pain but from what it is not clear. As the eyes adjust to the darkened room, we come to realize our character is in a small back room of a popular ‘opium’ den.

A young lady comes in to tend to our character from time to time but activity outside the room continues to grow as there is screaming and shouting coming from the streets. The city is being set afire by an army. The young lady is unable to lift our character to safety and he is unable to even pick himself up. It is here we see a large bandage covering his forehead and other areas of his body, injuries sustained from an attack.

The flames have now reached the small room and the young lady is unable to stay without injury as embers begin to singe her clothes. She reluctantly leaves, tears down her face, to safety. The entire city is aflame with many citizens trapped inside and all who’ve survived without homes. 

Chapter 2

The arm remains at the base of the city, overlooking what’s left of the city. Panning over the faces of the soldiers we see not all are human but a mix of humanoids and monsters. Two sentinels return from the interior of the city to the army’s leader. Heads bowed down, both sentinels shake their head negatively but as to what we’re not clear of yet. The army’s leader then turns away and the soldiers follow.

Returning to the small room, we see mostly burnt and collapsed beams but a small sign that our character has survived the fire without harm. The young lady now has returned but with an elder gentleman with blackened hands and cloaked face. Together they pull the young man from the rubble, still unable to stand but alive, taking him away from the city.  

The young man’s previous injuries are being tended to and the bandage covering his forehead is taken off to be cleaned, revealing a large scar at the center of his brow. The elder is surprised by this and places his hand over it. His blackened hands begin to change in hue as patterns emerge from the dark and change shape, receding to expose a pattern of an eye in the palm of the elder’s hand. The elder then pulls back the cloak to reveal his face, a third eye in same space where the young man’s scar exists. 

Chapter 3

A ship in open sea.

The army’s leader meditating in his private room, awakens with the realization the young man is still alive . Soldiers are instructing to return to the burnt city to finish the job.

The young man begins to regain consciousness but only to the intense pain as the opium is no longer in his system. His memory fragmented we see just little glimpses of what lead to his attack and injury. The pain so immense from the injuries and withdrawal the young man is unable to speak. The young lady reaches for the drug/pipe to aid his pain but the elder gently motions for her to let him be. They both quietly sit there as the young man writhes in agony.

We see many days pass from the vantage point of outside this modest wooden home along the walls of a secluded valley. The only activity is daily chores handled by the young lady and elder.

The young man is now able to stand on his own, ventures out from the home for the first time to see daylight. That evening there is a modest dinner with the three eating in silence.

At night, the elder sits outside the house as the youths are asleep inside. The soldiers from the ship have tracked the young man to this house and confront the elder. The elder stands, not allowing the soldiers to enter and search the house. A fight ensues with the elder’s third eye now open and the color from his blackened hands now covering his entire being. The young man and lady exit the house to see the elder has killed the three soldiers but not before seeing his altered state. We see the elder shift back to this normal self but the third eye remains. The young man collapses in shock.

Chapter 4

Inside the house we see a series of esoteric tools and talismans. The elder is now seen huddled over a black-stone pouring water, making ink. The elder is shirtless, and we can see far more markings than previously seen, moving and changing shape atop his skin. Once finished, the elder then turns around, picking up one of the tools and begins tattooing the young man’s chest. (the style in tattooing I’m referencing here is traditional Japanse, tebori). Close up of the young man’s face, we see resolution and calm.

The ceremony is complete and the young man is meditating alone inside the house. We pan in to the see the details of the tattoo but what we notice is the pigment is now fading and is being absorbed by the body to where no mark can be seen.

The following morning the young man is given provisions and is sent off, leaving the young lady and elder.

***

Hey Luke!

Congratulations on starting your comic!  You should feel good about the time and effort you’ve put in so far.  Many, many people dream of making a comic book.  Few ever actually put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.

What you’ve sent me is essentially the first act of your story.  You introduce us to the world and the main characters.  Through the elder, you give a preview of what the future may hold for your protagonist.  You’ve also set up the central conflict between your protagonist and the army.

It’s very clear that you’re a visual person.  Even with these short paragraphs, I can clearly see how you want this story to look.  Not every story is meant to be a graphic novel, but yours certainly is.

You asked if you’re on the right track.  Overall, you are.  You might be giving a little too much detail for a plot summary, but that’s not one of the main issues I want you to focus on.

For your next revision, concentrate on these two things:

First, make your protagonist active. When I finished reading Chapter 1, I wasn’t sure if the young woman was supposed to be the main character or the injured young man.  Protagonists must be active.  Your protagonist is not.

For most of the piece, he’s injured and almost inanimate.  The young lady, the elder, and the antagonist are all much, much more active than the protagonist.  This can’t be.

By the end of the first act, we need a clear sense of the protagonist’s deepest desire.  We need to have seen a call to action, what folks refer to as a spark or an inciting incident.  This is an event that turns the protagonist’s world upside down.  This is Bruce Wayne’s parents getting killed, Peter Parker getting bitten by a radioactive spider, Buzz Lightyear landing on Andy’s bed.

We also need to see the protagonist’s response to that call to action.  That’s what sets the second act in motion.  All of this requires an active protagonist.

I’m not entirely sure what your call to action is.  It could be the fight that caused the protagonist’s injury, the one that happened before the story begins.  Or it could be the introduction of the elder.  If it’s the first, it needs to be included in the story.  If it’s the second, we need to see the protagonist’s response to the elder.  Almost always, the protagonist resists the call to action by ignoring it, or running away from it, or compromising with it.  That’s what we do in real life, right?  Nobody wants to leave their comfort zone.

Bruce Wayne compromises by trying to fight crime without dressing up like a bat.  Woody ignores by pretending everything’s going to stay the same after Buzz’s arrival.  Peter Parker runs away by becoming a performer who only cares about money, the exact opposite of a superhero.  You have to show us your protagonist’s struggle with his call to action.

Now, the protagonist’s activity doesn’t have to be entirely physical.  It can be in his thoughts, in his words, in small and subtle actions.  Other characters can be more physically active, but the greatest emotional movement must belong to the protagonist.  He must experience the strongest emotions throughout the first act.  That’s how we know he’s the protagonist.  That’s how we know where to put our hearts.

Second, give more information. When it comes to withholding information, you have to walk this fine line.  You must intrigue without confusing.

You want to raise questions in the minds of your readers because that’s what keeps us reading.  In Anne Ursu’s The Real Boy, a whole host of questions compels us to the last page.  Will Wolf get his comeuppance?  What’s wrong with the children of the Shining People?  What *really* happened to all the magic in the world?  And most importantly, will Oscar ever rise above other people’s low expectations of him?

You want to hide, but you don’t want to hide so much that your readers question what questions they’re supposed to ask.

I can tell you have good instincts in this department.  However, in the intrigue/confusion balance, you’re erring on the side of confusion.  Not by much, mind you, but we do need a little more.

Think hard about what more information you should reveal.  This may or may not help:  Think of your protagonist as a new friend.  What basic information would you need to feel attached to him, to feel like inviting him out for coffee to learn more?  Give that information in the first act, but nothing more.

That’s it.  Next time you send this along, please give me a revised first act and a first draft of the second act.  As always, let me know if you have any questions!

Gene

So This Crazy Thing Happened…

This past Tuesday, I got tweets and texts from folks saying that I was on Jeopardy.  Clearly they were mistaken– I am completely unqualified to be on Jeopardy unless they limited it to comics- and 80′s-cartoon-related categories.  (And even then, Jesse Hamm and Jerzy Drozd would wipe the floor with me.)

Then a friend sent me a screenshot:

That’s just NUTS.

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