Popularity Papers, zombie-comedies in India, and advice on writing solo

Here's page 52 of Tomb of the Undead, which you can read here, from the scene Trapped in an airplane. I hope you like it. I've really enjoyed designing 'flash back' scenes in ancient Bethany so far. There are definitely some more old scenes like this to come that tell more of the mythology of Lazarus, so I hope you're interested in seeing more of that soon.


These pages are a real departure from many of the things I've ever drawn before, clothing design and fashions have never really been where I spend my time doodling (I usually focus on dinosaurs, given the choice). But researching this stuff has been interesting, and executing it in a believable way has been challenging. I hope you agree, it's been worthwhile and provides legitimacy to the narrative of Lazarus.

Graphic novel news
I've got another update on the 'Popularity Pages' comic from Amy Ignatow, which is getting a lot of good press. I like the simple style, it really emphasizes how childish the concept of popularity can be, especially when you're young, when popularity means so much.

I've got a great post on how to write a graphic novel, too, which stresses again that a writer should team up with an artist, as graphic novels are very work-heavy when combined under one roof. Good thinkg I enjoy it so much right now.

And I've got a third update on a neat zombie-comedy/ graphic novel scheduled to be written, set in India, which is cool, too. Read all about it.


Corner: 'Popularity' sequel: Amy Ignatow's inner 5th-graders romp on
By Karen Macpherson
ScrippsNews.com

When author/artist Amy Ignatow's book agent rejected her proposal for an adult graphic novel, he also had a word of advice.

"He told me, 'I don't want to offend you, but I think your work is very childlike,' and he suggested that I write for kids," Ignatow said in a recent talk with members of the Children's Book Guild of Washington, D.C. "The moment he said that, I thought, 'Yes! That's what comes naturally to me.' "

So Ignatow created "The Popularity Papers" (Amulet/Abrams, $15.95, ages 8-12), which was published last spring. Subtitled "Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt & Julie Graham-Chang," the book is presented as a colorfully illustrated, hand-lettered journal kept by the two fifth-graders as they try to figure out how to become popular.

Funny and realistic, this first volume of "The Popularity Papers" has become a smash hit with girl readers, and garnered rave reviews in School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly and The New York Times. Now, Ignatow has just published a sequel, "The Popularity Papers: The Long-Distance Dispatch Between Lydia Goldblatt & Julie Graham-Chang (Amulet/Abrams, $15.95, ages 8-12), in which the friends must cope with a six-month separation when Lydia's family moves to London.

Click to read more.

The Saturday Interview - Serious about comedy
Mini Anthikad-Chhibber
The Hindu

Author Samit Basu talks about his latest release, a zom com, his long-term plans and more

When “The Simoqin Prophesies” came out in 2004, we caught our collective breaths at the sheer inventiveness of the narrative that bounded unbridled through Greek myth, literary allusions and zany situational humour with joyful abandon. The 23-year-old writer, Samit Basu, was hailed as India's first fantasy writer. With “The Manticore's Secret” (2005) and “The Unwaba Revelations” (2007), The Gameworld trilogy was complete. After a break, Samit was back last year with “Terror on the Titanic,” a wild ride through alternate history followed by “Turbulence,” a superhero novel set in millennial India. Samit talks about “Turbulence”, his fascination for monsters, and long-term plans that which include making a movie and writing a zombie comedy.

Why a zom com?

Why not? India is the perfect place for a zombie story. There are so many people!

Will this be a novel?

I have been planning it as a graphic novel. In fact, this is the only deadline I have missed. The artistes kept disappearing. The earlier story I was working on was this conspiracy theory involving Alexander the Great, greedy corporate houses and hidden monsters outside Kolkata. Unlike a novel, which is completely in my hands, a graphic novel is a collaborative effort. And, working on film even more so, as you finish your part of the work, but have no idea whatsoever when it is going to come out. But, am planning to do more work on film.

Click to read more.

How to write a graphic novel by Dylan Loh
by Tony
GraphicNovelNews.com

There are really many factors to consider when writing a comic strip or a graphic novel. You have to decide on your writing style,drawing style,publishing woes,distribution etc…
It is never an easy ride.

Writing
The best way in this case is to find a partner and pool your talents together. Creating a graphic novel is rarely a one man show. Most importantly, as a WRITER, you must start honing your writing skills and let people critique your work. The more criticisms the better! Look for criticisms and embrace them for they will always spur you on and help you your skills. Do remember that you cannot please everyone.

Publishing
Where do you submit your work after you have completed your grand masterpiece? My website has the resources that shows where exactly to go and what to do.
Here are some useful tips on publishing.

Click to read more.

Super Dinosaur moves down the Corridor to the Popularity Papers

Here's the next page for Tomb of the Undead. You can check the whole scene out at Trapped on an airplane.

This scene gets cool in a little bit, so check it out.

Graphic Novel news
'Super Dinosaur' ready for a dino-mite debut
By Brian Truitt
USA TODAY

Robert Kirkman likes to think that every kid is enamored with dinosaurs — even the overgrown kids that enjoy his more adult comic books.

"Big giant monsters that looked awesome that actually existed? How do you not love dinosaurs? If anyone out there doesn't like dinosaurs, I would like them to contact me and explain that," says the writer and creator of The Walking Dead.

Kirkman is teaming again with his partner from The Astounding Wolf-Man, artist Jason Howard, for Super Dinosaur, a new all-ages book debuting April 20 on Kirkman's Image Comics imprint, Skybound. The comic will be available in comic shops as well as digitally on the Image Comics app for iPad and iPhone.

In addition, the Super Dinosaur Origin Special debuts on Free Comic Book Day May 7 in comic book stores all across the USA. "That'll tell you exactly how he became a 9-foot-tall talking dinosaur that's as smart as a human and has giant mechanical arms he controls and uses to fight crime," Kirkman says.

Super Dinosaur has all the elements of a cartoon that kids over the years would rush home from school to witness: a relatable hero in boy genius Derek Dynamo; an awesome, well-weaponized character in Super Dinosaur himself; a nefarious baddie in Doctor Max Maximus; and panel-to-panel action.

Click to read more.

Corner: 'Popularity' sequel: Amy Ignatow's inner 5th-graders romp on
KAREN MACPHERSON
Scripps Howard News Service

When author/artist Amy Ignatow's book agent rejected her proposal for an adult graphic novel, he also had a word of advice.

"He told me, 'I don't want to offend you, but I think your work is very childlike,' and he suggested that I write for kids," Ignatow said in a recent talk with members of the Children's Book Guild of Washington, D.C. "The moment he said that, I thought, 'Yes! That's what comes naturally to me.' "

So Ignatow created "The Popularity Papers" (Amulet/Abrams, $15.95, ages 8-12), which was published last spring. Subtitled "Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt & Julie Graham-Chang," the book is presented as a colorfully illustrated, hand-lettered journal kept by the two fifth-graders as they try to figure out how to become popular.

Funny and realistic, this first volume of "The Popularity Papers" has become a smash hit with girl readers, and garnered rave reviews in School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly and The New York Times. Now, Ignatow has just published a sequel, "The Popularity Papers: The Long-Distance Dispatch Between Lydia Goldblatt & Julie Graham-Chang (Amulet/Abrams, $15.95, ages 8-12), in which the friends must cope with a six-month separation when Lydia's family moves to London.

Ignatow, 33, has been pleasantly stunned by her seemingly overnight success.

"I've been very lucky," Ignatow said. "I had a choice of publishers."

Born and raised in Huntington, Long Island, Ignatow has been drawing for as long as she can remember. She's also a lifelong record-keeper and journal-maker, something that helped her decide on the format for "The Popularity Papers."

Ignatow studied illustration at the Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, graduating in 2002. Over the years, she's been a teacher, farmer, florist, short-order vegan cook, a dancing chicken, a wedding singer and a ghostwriter for Internet personal ads.

But Ignatow also has kept drawing.

Some years ago, she created a web comic called "Ig City" and sent a link to an agent named Dan Lazar, who liked her art and writing. So Ignatow decided to try writing an autobiographical graphic novel for adults. It was at that point that Lazar turned down the adult graphic novel, but helped Ignatow ignite her career by aiming instead for a kid audience.

Interestingly, Ignatow's career arc has parallels to that of Jeff Kinney, who hit it big over the past few years with his hugely popular "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series. Like Ignatow, Kinney first targeted his work to an adult audience, but couldn't get published until he switched his focus to young readers.

Click to read more.

Graphic novelists shake up world of Indian comics
Atish Patel Reuters.com

NEW DELHI (Reuters Life!) - Characters from centuries-old myths and folktales have adorned the covers of children's comic books in India for decades, but a new wave of graphic novelists has emerged to shake up the art form.

Their quest for ultra-Indian superheroes has created new crossover comics aimed at both children and adults, while others have boldly gone further, tackling issues such as suicide and homosexuality -- taboo topics in much of India.

"We are the new recorders of history. That's how I consider myself," said Sarnath Banerjee, whose graphic novel "Corridor" is set in New Delhi and delves into politics and sex.

"I write, I see through my own eyes and I put it out."

Generations of young Indians have grown up with the Amar Chitra Katha series based on Hindu epics and mythology, and it remains one of India's best-selling comic books series.

But the success of Banerjee and others, such as the pioneering 1994 black-and-white "River of Stories" by Orijit Sen that dealt with the social and environmental impact of a controversial dam, are prompting changes even among such traditional comic publishers.

Some are also looking to create brand new superheroes that are quintessentially Indian to see off competition from the likes of Spiderman and Batman, who have gained popularity with the onslaught of American cartoons and movies on Indian TV.

Indian superheroes are not the "cape-flying, spandex-wearing guy who is flying about, but a guy who is practical, who has an Indian outfit, who can connect to an Indian," said Karan Vir Arora, editor-in-chief of Vimanika Comics, a Mumbai start-up.

Vimanika Comics aims to bridge the gap between historical narratives and graphic novels, giving mythological characters a 21st century facelift.

The company's "The Sixth" series shows Karna, a warrior from the ancient Indian epic "Mahabharata," in a modern light. The series starts as a high-flying businessman, suffering from recurrent nightmares, discovers he is the reincarnation of Karna.

Another such publisher is Campfire, based in New Delhi, with "Ravana: Roar of the Demon King," a graphic novel of a story retold over centuries in India but this time seen through the eyes of its primary antagonist -- the demon king Ravana.

"We're trying to mix it. People have always related to these characters," Arora said.

"The characters are being shown in a very contemporary fashion, a stylish fashion."

The new blends sit well with both children and adults alike, meaning higher sales. Demand for "Ravana" is also high, illustrator Sachin Nagar says, although it has yet to be released. The company declined to provide pre-sale data.

Click to read more.

Powers Supergroup on tv, Tits & clits in the news and Batman funding a graphic novel

Page 50 of Tomb of the Undead is available. The first page of the new scene called Trapped on an airplane, which you can read here.


I was really starting to get the hang of the inside of this airplane, and the light source. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I may have mentioned this before, and you can't really tell in these scenes, but I've got a few Easter eggs kicking around in the other seats on the plane. You definitely can't see them in this scene, but follow the link and see what you find!

For the record, you won't find the Easter eggs in this scene, I must admit.

We took a flight to Mexico for my dad's birthday and I made a point to pay special attention to airports and airplanes, things like that, knowing full well that I was going to be working on these scenes.

Graphic novel news

Michael Zulli Will Even Draw Batman To Fund New Graphic Novel, The Fracture Of The Universal Boy
bleedingcool.com
Rich Johnston

This is a Michael Zulli portrait of Batman.

I love Michael Zulli’s work. From Puma Blues to Sandman to that little Sweeney Todd prelude to a comic that never was. You’d have thought publishers would be falling over themselves to support his latest work. And his new work has been solicited and promised before. But it looks like it has hit a speed bump or two.

But instead he’s turned to Kickstarter.

The Fracture Of The Universal Boy is an original 200 page graphic novel by the man. And it is complete. All it needs is to be published. And Zulli is raising money for a print run.

As always there are various levels of donation and $45 gets you a signed copy of the graphic novel, a Fracture print and your name in the book. Penny for penny, that is fantastic value, which is why I’m just about to donate myself.

And for $2500, as he states, “To get this published, I’ll even draw Batman!”

Click to read more.

Joyce Farmer on Tits & Clits, Special Exit, and How to Write a Graphic Novel
Phoenix New Times
Claire Lawton

Joyce Farmer's more than happy to dish on what she used to create her graphic novel, Special Exits, she even pull out her bright blue mechanical pencil without an eraser and a worn and tattered grip.

The California-based artist and writer's known for her openness both in person and through her projects; she co-created Tits & Clits, an underground comic series to counter sexism in 1975, and just released Special Exits, a graphic novel about aging.

Farmer's also an old friend of New Times' art critic Kathleen Vanesian. The two discuss each others' influences (including each other) and the changing world of graphics in Special Entrances, which you can read in full here.

Farmer will present her novel and discuss "anything and everything" at 7 p.m. tonight at Changing Hands in Tempe. The event is co-sponsored by ASU Art Museum and local artist Jon Haddock will be leading a Q&A with the author. For more event info, see the Changing Hands website.

Click to read more.

FX Picks Up Comic-Based 'Powers' To Pilot
NELLIE ANDREEVA
Deadline.com

After lengthy development, FX has handed a pilot order to Powers, a drama based on the graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming. The project, written by Charles H. Eglee and to be directed by Michael Dinner, is a police procedural set in a world where superpowers are relatively common and centers on two detectives, Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim, in a Homicide department that deals with cases involving "powers" (people with superpowers). Powers, from Sony Pictures TV and FX Prods., is slated to begin casting immediately for a spring shoot.

Dinner, who is under an overall deal at Sony, has been the driving force between the project. Eglee came on board to write a new script late last year, after a stint as an executive producer on a very successful cable series adaptation of another graphic novel, AMC's The Walking Dead. (Journeyman creator Kevin Falls was previously tapped to write the script.) In another Walking Dead connection, the company behind the AMC hit, Circle of Confusion, is attached to executive produce Powers alongside Dinner and Eglee.

Click to read more.

Working for Clues, and writing a grpahic novel

Here's a heads up for Page 49, whcih was done ages ago, but not posted until very recently. I'm not sure what takes me so long to get to these.

In any case, I had a lot of fun with these pages. You can read the whole scene at this link.

The exacerbated detective was a lot of fun, for some reason. Not sure what else to say about it. He's loosely based on Jim Lang formerly of Sports Net, and now of the morning show with Brady and Lang on the Fan 590.

Graphic novel news
Drew's Clues
Danica Davidson
Graphic Novel Reporter

Nancy Drew has been given a graphic novel makeover, thanks to the husband-and-wife writing team of Stefan Petrucha and Sarah Kinney and artist Sho Murase. GraphicNovelReporter talked to all three to see how Nancy Drew has been brought to new life in comic form.

How did you reinvent Nancy Drew for a comic?
Stefan Petrucha: We didn’t, exactly. The original girl-power figure, Nancy’s been around since 1930, created by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which did various serial novels. At some point the rights were sold to Simon & Schuster, who publish new books to this day. The original series had something like 175 volumes.

Stefan and Sarah, how long have you been writing comics together?

SP: Way back around 1993 I started writing for Egmont Publishing, in Denmark, doing stories for Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Co. Sarah started working for them about a year later, and in time we just naturally started working on each other’s scripts.

How did you get started in the comics industry?
SP: I grew up reading comics—it’s how I learned to read. Jim, our editor, was a childhood friend. He eventually went to work for Marvel. I did my first script for them, an awful Spider-Man story, and broke into the independents a few years later with some original series, like Squalor, Meta-4 and Lance Barnes: Post Nuke Dick. As mentioned above, Sarah originally got involved with Egmont through me.

Click to read more.

Excerpt from my first Graphic Novel script :
ItsAGiant

Hey guys and gals.

So I'm giving writing my own graphic novel a go. I've written game scripts and short movie scripts before, but Graphic Novels is new territory for me.

Anyways, I'll post a little bit of the introduction here and see what you all think.

Also, collaborators are absolutely welcome just PM me.

PAGE 1
PANELS
1. HALF PAGE PANEL. FLAYE SITS ALONE, HUNCHED OVER BENEATH THE SHADOW OF THE CURVED MONOLITHIC SPEAKING STONE. BRIGHT BLUE RUNES BLAZING FROM IT’S SURFACE. BLOOD POOLS AROUND HIM, A COMING FROM A WOUND IN HIS STOMACH. HIS HANDS HANG LOOSELY AT HIS SIDE AND HIS HAIR KEEPS HIS FACE IN SHADOWS.

Flaye [INNER MONOLOGUE]
Ain’t this some shit?

2. FLAYE REACHES OUT A HAND TO TOUCH THE CURVE OF THE STONE ABOVE HIS HEAD LEAVING A VIVID RED HAND PRINT THAT DRIPS BLOOD BACK DOWN ON HIM

Flaye
Here are my words, regard them well. I speak them with my last breaths so that my voice will live on. Here on the salt plains of what had once been California do I finally give up my soul to the Demon's who have been hunting me two hundred years.

3. FLAYE IS WRACKED BY A COUGHING FIT, BLOOD DRIBBLING DOWN THE CORNER OF HIS MOUTH.

FLAYE
HACK! COUGH!

PAGE 2
PANELS

1. FLAYE LOOKS OUT OVER THE PLANE, THE VIEW OF THE READER WOULD SEE HIM PROFILED, IN THE SHADOWS. THE POOL OF BLOOD IS NOW TRAILING TOWARDS THE VIEW LIKE A SMALL RIVER CUTTING THE SAND.

FLAYE
Two hundred years..

2. CLOSE UP OF THE PROFILED VIEW OF FLAYES FACE, THE TRAIL OF BLOOD NOW DRIPPING FREELY OFF HIS CHIN. VIVID RED OVER THE SHADOWED VISAGE OF HIS FACE.

FLAYE
Huh, seems like forever dun it? You probably don't even remember how it began. In fact, this world is probably familiar to you, you're used to it. [HEH] That's an amusing thought, but let me tell you about how it started.

3. VIEW OF NATIVE AMERICAN WOMAN DASHING DESPERATELY THROUGH THE WATER A LEERING GROUP OF DESPERADO'S CHASING HER.

[CENTER]FLAYE [TRANSITION TEXT BOX]
I was 'Witch Born', I'll get to what I mean by that in just a moment. As far as my father is concerned, he was a no good outlaw who raped my mother after catching her off guard while she fetched some water. Actually, she was taken by a gang of no good outlaws so any of those mutts could be my pa.

FLAYE
An I'm sure their all dead now.

DESPERADO'S
WHOOP! Get at her boys!

4. VIEW-POINT IS LOOKING UP AT A PROUD GROUP OF SIOUX WARRIORS STANDING BEFORE A PILE OF CORPSES. THE LEAD MOST HOLDING THE BLOODY SCALP OF ONE OF THE DESPERADO'S IN HIS HANDS, THE FACE OF ONE OF THE OUTLAWS IS FOREFRONT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PILE, HIS FACE A HORRIBLE TWISTED VISAGE OF TERROR AND PAIN EYES WIDE AND BLANK.

FLAYE [TRANSITION TEXT BOX]
An I'm sure their all dead now.

Click to read more.

Studs Terkel’s Working
by J.D. Roth

A couple of weeks ago, I shared an instructional video from 1948 called You and Your Work. This film painted an ideal (and idealized) view of the workplace and the worker’s role in it. But we all know work isn’t really like that, right? Yes it’s important to work hard, and yes it’s important to maintain a positive attitude, but jobs and careers are complicated. They make up a huge part of our lives, yet most of are ambivalent about the work we do.

Studs Terkel’s Working
Two years ago, I read and reviewed Studs Terkel’s Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, which featured excerpts from over 100 interviews the author conducted with those who lived through the 1930s. Terkel spoke with all sorts of people: old and young, rich and poor, famous and not-so-famous, liberal and conservative. These folks paint a picture of that era in their own words. Hard Times was fascinating.

Well, Terkel published a whole series of these oral histories, including a book called Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do. It’s sort of like a grown-up version of Richard Scarry’s What Do People Do All Day?, one of my favorite books from childhood. In Working (published in 1974), Terkel collects stories from average joes and janes about what they do at their jobs, how they like it, and what they want to do in the future. For two years, I’ve been meaning to read this book, but I’ve never made time for it — until now.

Working by Studs Terkel, graphic adaptation directed by Harvey PekarAt the end of January, I stumbled upon a graphic-novel adaptation of Working put together by Harvey Pekar, who was best known as the writer of the autobiographical American Splendor comics (and movie, a movie I love). Working with a variety of illustrators, Pekar (and a handful of collaborators) adapted Terkel’s Working into graphic novel form. It’s awesome.

I truly believe, in the words of Brenda Ueland, that everyone is talented, original, and has something important to say. To me, it’s the personal histories that make up History (by which I mean the grand tapestry of world events). Without your story — and mine — the larger story doesn’t exist. The mass movements of kingdoms and cultures are built on the backs of you and me.

No wonder, then, that I love Studs Terkel’s work. Though he has an obvious progressive (or liberal) bias, so what? He gives everyone an equal say. In Hard Times, he gave voice to the residents of Depression-era shantowns and the stockbrokers who thought the whole thing was exaggerated. In Working, he does the same.

Click to read more.