"Homesick Swedish Maus" and the Last Days in American Crime

Here's the post for page 58, which was another scene in the airplane, which I was definitely getting tired of drawing. It's awkward having characters trapped in any location where they can't move around and things like that. With a limited range of motion, it feels like there are a limited amount of ways to draw them, which can be a bit suffocating.

Just a little escape was a cutesy title to lead from "trapped in an airplane" but I had no idea how much more meaning it was going to have on me while drawing the scene. I really felt like the characters needed to escape, too.

I was relieved for them to make it to the airport terminal, and it was almost as claustrophobic to have a large open space for the characters to be in as it was to be confined in the airplane. The customs agent is modelled after a buddy of mine, loosely. My guess is you'll never guess who it is - but he'd be somewhat honoured to know that he was my choice for a jolly Frenchman who believed more in the spirit of the law than the letter of the law.

Graphic novel news
In graphic novel news - I'm finding I' jealous all the time. There are so many really neat sounding graphic novels out there, and today I've got a sample of more of them. I WISH they were my idea, but at the same time, I'm glad these things are out there to read though - for sure.

F. Gary Gray to Direct 'The Last Days of American Crime' (Cannes)
Gregg Kilday
hollywoodreporter.com

Are you kidding me? This thing looks AWESOME! And it's going to become a movie with Sam Witherspoon, or whatever that guy from Avatar - Sam Worthington - that's the guy.

Cannes -- F. Gary Gray is now attached to direct The Last Days of American Crime, a heist movie in which Sam Worthington is set to star, for IM Global and Radical Pictures.

The project ... is based on the Radical graphic novel written by Rick Remender. Karl Gadejsak will write the screenplay set in a near-future where the government plans to implement a form of legal mind control, making it impossible for its citizens to commit unlawful acts. Worthington, the star of Avatar and Terminator 3: Salvation, will play a career criminal, who must put together the last heist in American history on the last night that crime is possible.

The actor’s Full Clip Productions label is also producing alongside Automatik Entertainment.

Gray most recently directed Law Abiding Citizen.

The project was announced Monday by IM Global founder and CEO Stuart Ford and Radical founders Barry Levine and Jesse Berger.

“This is such a powerful, iconic piece of material - we really believe this movie can bring something fresh to the noir universe and become an explosive action feature film. We're delighted to be working alongside the super talented Radical team, Gary and Sam,” Ford said.

“The Last Days of American Crime graphic novel is one of the most coveted titles in the Radical catalog and our most successful international seller,” Levine added.

Click to read more.

Representing History in Art Spiegelman's Maus II
By Derek D. Miller
studentpulse.com

Here's an incredibly powerful example of the places that graphic novels can go. And this scene in particular really shows how powerful the images can be even in a seemingly innocuous scene. This post really illustrates all of this.

Spiegelman's Maus II is a graphic novel and I believe Spiegelman chose this format because it is the only way to discuss the Holocaust while simultaneously conveying the impossibility of doing such a task. The Holocaust was such a horrific event that there is no way of truly representing it. Spiegelman realized that everything is a representation. He also realized that representing every aspect of the Holocaust was something that simply cannot be done. It is impossible to capture something free of representation. Spiegelman wanted to write a story about the Holocaust but he was very cautious in his construction. Maus: Volume II is constructed with precise self-awareness and self-devaluation to tell to a story about the Holocaust, while also writing a story about the impossibility of trying to capture this tragic event within the extremely limited parameters of representation.

Click to read more.

Nick Frost: Zombies, Cops, & Aliens, Oh My! PAUL & Beyond
Lucas Siegel,
Newsarama.com
On a much lighter note, but in the same vein as mice, is Nick Frost's graphic novel idea, barely mentioned, about a Homesick Swedish Mouse, which is the tentative title of his upcoming work.
Could be interesting.

Nrama: Would you like to write outside of film and TV?

Frost: Well I'm writing a graphic novel at the moment!

Nrama: What can you tell us about that, that's our bread and butter!

Frost: Well it's not what you'd expect. It's provisionally titled "Homesick Swedish Mice." My wife is Swedish, she's not a mouse, so I had this idea about a group of Mice who become marooned in London. Grandfather Mouse passes away and his final words to his son are "Take me home." So then it becomes about a group of mice trying to get from London to Sweden in a toy boat. So yeah, doing that at the moment, as well.

Also, I've written a film about a wrestler, so I'm hoping to shoot that later this year or early next!

Click to read more.

Mighty Maus, Kids in the Hall and planning panels

I'm a bit of a kook for for posting the link to page 55 before page 54 ... but that doesn't mean I won't post a link up.

You can find the page I don't trust those lazy bastards, which you can find here. Some more dialogue here with Dr. Darrell Starkwood, which I had a great time writing. It's always fun. Last November I was writing some more story on the character and had a great time developing his backstory and motivations.

Anyhow - he may seem like whatever to you, but I really like him. I wonder if how I see the characters is the same way others see the characters Or, put differently, I wonder if I'm portraying them the way effectively to illustrate to others what the different characters are like effectively. I guess that would have to mean one day sitting down with a reader and comparing notes, eh?

Graphic novel news

First off is a great link talking about how to plan panels, and provides some great examples! Second is a neat segment from an interview with one of the Kids from the Hall, Scott Thompson. He is one of the Kids in the Hall that I haven't met, but would like to one day. Being able to check Dave Folley off the list is a huge milestone, though! Lastly is a fascinating snippit from an anti-Nazi exhibit of graphic novels. Check 'em all out!

How to Plan the Panels for Your Graphic Novel
IdiotsGuides.com

One of the most important aspects of writing a graphic novel is planning out your panels—it’s the storyboard of your work. Unless you’re writing Marvel style, you’ll need to break the contents of each page into panels. A panel is a tricky thing, full of possibilities and limitations. In this guide, we’ll show you how to plan your novel for the best pacing and storytelling.

Click here to read more.

Q&A: Comedian Scott Thompson
The National Post
Stephen Baldwin

Q Your upcoming graphic novel was initially a screenplay, what happened?

A Well it’s a comedy-fantasy-epic with a lot of kinky sex, and that’s just not something people make, unless you’re a superstar, and I’m not. I had to think about another way to get it out. The story has a 28-foot woman and telepathic mammoths that fly, and people have sex with everyone, and there’s gay sex, straight sex, S&M, sex with centaurs, I mean it’s all over the map. Well, I know, you heard sex with centaurs and lost your focus. … I began reading more graphic novels around the time that I realized that this screenplay wouldn’t materialize, and I realized that it was perfect for this project.

Click here to read more.

Jewish graphic novel exhibit open in Schaffer Library
Union College.edu

"Of Maus and Men(sch)," an exhibit created by students in English professor Judith Lewin’s Freshman Year Preceptorial, "Jewish + Graphic + Novel," is open in the Periodicals Reading Room at Schaffer Library.

It runs through April 15.

The course, held winter term, focused on reading graphic novels written by Jews on Jewish subjects, learning critical analysis and learning to write college-level essays. "We investigated the creation of the graphic novel genre, its terminology and visual and textual logic, and why and how it became associated with Jews and Jewish issues," said Lewin.

"Maus" refers to "Maus: A Survivor’s Tale," by Art Spiegelman, a biography in graphic narrative form of the author's father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Holocaust survivor. The only comic book ever to have won a Pulitzer Prize, the work depicts Jews as mice and Germans as cats.

Click here to read more.

ABCs, Xerxes, and a concenctration-camp survivor in graphic novels

Second page in the scene "My name is scam," which seamlessly segues into the next scene. When I was drafting the first act of the story, following closely to Syd Field's suggestions. I worked on sticking to 14 scenes in the first and third acts, while the second act is about 28 scenes - BUT of course, there are a few instances where plot points were a little too close together and wound up in the same scene, which isn't terrible, it makes things a little tighter.

It might lead to a little extra dialogue in some scenes, and it might mean that a new scene isn't clearly a new scene, but the plot point is still there illustrating conflict and exposing character.

Graphic novel news

Frank Miller talks Extensively About 300 Follow-Up XERXES
Adam Chitwood
Collider.com

Ever since Zack Snyder’s 300 hit theaters three years ago, fans have been chomping at the bit for a sequel/follow-up. Snyder always said that it depended on whether comic book artist/writer Frank Miller wanted to write another graphic novel. Well, it appears that Miller has a good chunk of Xerxes written and drawn, and he recently spoke extensively about the project. Regarding the story, Miller had this to say:

The time frame begins 10 years before ’300′ and the story starts with the Battle of Marathon, which was killer to draw, by the way, even if it was a lot of work. The lead character is Themistocles, who became warlord of Greece and built their navy. The story is very different than ’300′ in that it involves Xerxes’ search for godhood. The existence of gods are presupposed in this story and the idea is that he [is] well on his way to godhood by the end of the story.

For much, much more from Miller regarding Xerxes, hit the jump.

If you know anything about the Battle of Marathon, then you’re aware that cinematically this would be one of the most epic battles ever put to film. The inclusion of Themistocles as the main character is very exciting as well, as he’s generally considered one of the greatest leaders in history (though the end of his life was marred a bit by scandal). Regarding Themistocles, Miller said:

With Themistocles I have a character who is almost the dead opposite of Leonidas in that Themistocles was a lying, conniving, brilliant, heroic figure. He was nicknamed ‘The Subtle Serpent’ and he always manages to do the exact right things that will result in him benefiting greatly.

Expanding on the plot of the book a bit, Miller talked to Hero Complex about how the story of Xerxes is much more complex than 300:

The story will be the same heft as ’300′ but it covers a much, much greater span of time — it’s 10 years, not three days. This is a more complex story. The story is so much larger. The Spartans in ’300′ were being enclosed by the page as the world got smaller. This story has truly vast subjects. The Athenian naval fleet, for instance, is a massive artistic undertaking and it dwarfed by the Persian fleet, which is also shown in this story. The story has elements of espionage, too, and it’s a sweeping tale with gods and warriors.

Click to read more.

Weill's 'Lost' is Found
WILL FRIEDWALD
Wall Street Journal.com

In one particularly chilling scene in Art Spiegelman's graphic novel "Maus," a concentration-camp survivor talks about how, 50 years after the Holocaust, humanity seems to be bent on making the same mistakes all over again; maybe, he muses, it will take another, bigger tragedy to make us learn our lesson. In 1949, decades before "Maus" was published, Kurt Weill, a German Jewish composer who had managed to escape from Hitler, collaborated with playwight Maxwell Anderson to write "Lost in the Stars," which used the vehicle of musical theater to alert the world of the possibility of a potential new holocaust—officially known as Apartheid—that was taking root in South Africa.

"Lost in the Stars" is being produced at City Center Encores! this weekend—one of three current large-scale presentations of Weill's works in the city where he lived during the second half of his career. On Feb. 25, the Harlem Opera Theater will present a sort of encore to Encores! with an hour of highlights from "Lost in the Stars" on the same bill as George Gershwin's one-act opera "Blue Monday." Then, from March 3-5, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will offer a series of jazz treatments of Weill songs starring the celebrated Weill interpreter Ute Lemper.

The first of the Weill events this season was a concert production, last week, of the first musical by Weill and Anderson, 1938's "Knickerbocker Holiday," presented by the Collegiate Chorale. Because it's about Peter Stuyvesant and the original settlers of what later became New York, and because its two most famous numbers are "September Song" and "It Never Was You," it seemed that the show itself would be sentimental and patriotic. Quite the contrary: "Knickerbocker" is a raucous politcal cartoon, with the Dutch colonists depicted as wise-cracking Katzenjammer kids in what is essentially an extended vaudeville sketch. Leads Victor Garber and Kelli O'Hara were excellent, but it's hard to imagine "Knickerbocker" ever being revived in a traditional sense.

Not so for "Lost in the Stars." "I hope our production shows that this work is a viable vehicle," said Rob Berman, Encores! musical director.

Although its inherent theme is certainly epic—an illustration of man's inhumanity to man—the show itself is actually surprisingly intimate. Based on Alan Paton's novel "Cry, The Beloved Country," the show depicts the journey of a preacher from a small village who travels to Johannesburg in search of his son, who has become ensnared in crime. "The story unfolds in a very straight line," Mr. Berman pointed out. "There's no subplot or secondary characters." He added that the orchestrations are comparably translucent. "Weill wrote for an orchestra of only 12 pieces, which was very small at the time. It's more like chamber music, and the musicians are very exposed."

Click to read more.

That Time Gene Yang Came To My Grad School And Blew Everyone's Mind
The Cool Kidz Table.blogspot.com

BUT, one crazy twist to my first residency at Hamline that made me feel right at home was that one of our required readings coming into the workshop week was Gene Yang's American Born Chinese. And – if you couldn't guess by the post title – Yang played guest lecturer to talk about the creation of the book and generally blow the minds of everyone in attendance.

Think of it this way: the crew that works for and attends my Masters program write kids books for a living (or are trying to). That includes classic picture books, chapter books, and novels that range from zany middle grade and tween tales on through some provocative and smart Young Adult stuff. But the majority of these people had ZERO experience with comics before reading Yang's book. So much so that "comics" didn't even break into the vocabulary for a lot of the folks. The writers at the school were introduced to our medium (if they'd been introduced to it at all) through the term and category of "graphic novel" which might not sound like too big a distinction but really stood out as the week went on.

I mean, there were a few comic woks that were familiar to members of the residency – all of them produced and promoted through the lens of the book industry. I heard more than a few people mention David Small's Stitches. Everyone was passingly familiar with what Bone is. Neil Gaiman is a rock star and a half in this world for reasons other than comics, but I think most people knows he wrote them before blowing up as a novelist. But most importantly like I said, anyone at least partially interested in kids book publishing these days understands that graphic novels have spent the past few years as the super hot category. They think of what we do as the "cool new thing" in general and want to know more about it even when they're a bit confused by it.

Being the resident "comics guy" in the group (a position I happily played up perhaps too much by weeks end), I fielded a lot of questions and comments through out the week because of that. Common things I heard:

"I was trying to read this, but some times I was confused on what I was supposed to be looking at. Am I following the pictures? Do I read the text first?"

"So the difference between a comic and a graphic novel, what is that? A comic is silly, but a graphic novel is like a real book, right?"

"I'm really interested in writing a graphic novel myself. How would I go about doing that?"

I don't mention these as a put down to any of the supremely intelligent and creative people who I learned a whole hell of a lot from about writing in those ten days. I just wanted to express how strange it was to be in a position where I'm talking about the thing I spend my entire working day talking about but where I can't assume any of the basic knowledge or terminology I rely on. So it was pretty tough at times for me to try and speak on comics without sounding super jargony or super nerdy or both.

Luckily, Gene Yang is the straight up Jedi Master of talking comics in front of book people. I can't imagine how many times he's had to talk about ABC in front of librarians or school groups or teachers or traditional YA writers, but his behind the scenes breakdown of what cultural and visual influences shaped the book was as engaging and accessible and well rehearsed as any talk on comics I've ever seen (and I've seen art spiegelman speak on comics like four times so I feel pretty confident saying that Yang was on his #%@&!ing GAME).

The real defining moment of the whole experience was Yang's breakdown of Cousin Chin-Kee, the highly over-the-top caricature of Chinese stereotypes who plays a central role in ABC's story. He took a lot of time to explain the cultural references that influenced Chin-Kee's creation from early racist political cartoons about Chinese immigrants and railroad workers to Long Duck Dong on through to the recent response to/debate over the sudden popularity of "American Idol" reject William Hung. Over the days following his speech, I heard several classmates confess that they'd initially been put off by American Born Chinese because they felt uncomfortable with Chin-Kee's role in the story until they heard Yang place the satirical elements of the caricature in context. The act of cartooning as satire and commentary rather than just being broad stereotyped comedy hadn't even occurred to them.

Click to read more.