Wednesday, October 26, 2011

BACK IN THE CYBER-SADDLE

October has been a traveling month—ten days for a business trip to Los Angeles followed by a college-hunting journey with my wife and daughter—leaving very little time to nurse Creation Point along.  But I’m back in the cyber-saddle and should be up and blogging soon.  For now, though, I just want to say a quick hello and mention a few odds and ends that I hope you’ll find interesting.

First up:  a gentle suggestion to amble over to your local comic book shop today, pick up a copy of the just-released Spider-Man #19 and read a ten pager I wrote that teams Spidey and the Silver Surfer in a fun, all-ages adventure.  You can also hop over to Comic Book Resources where Sean T. Collins (who wrote the other story in the issue) and I have a lengthy and, I think, interesting talk about what it’s like writing the adventures of Peter Parker and Company.

Speaking of CBR, Brian Cronin, Lord and Master of the blog Comic Book Legends Revealed, is doing a Halloween-month survey of “the scariest comic books of all time.”  I was surprised to find a story of mine—a short and, I believed, utterly forgettable piece from very early in my career—called “Mikey’s Friend” included in the list.  I was even more surprised when I discovered that playwright, screenwriter and comic book scribe Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa read “Mikey’s Friend” when he was a kid and that, for him, it was anything but forgettable; in fact it gave the poor guy nightmares off-and-on for twenty years!  Just goes to show you that the writer is often the last one to gauge the impact of his work.

I don't know what impact this will have on tender young psyches, but this Friday night at 7:30 (6:30 Central) my Ben-10 episode, "Ultimate Sacrifice," will be airing on Cartoon Network.  I worked on this story with the enormously-talented, and profoundly-missed, Dwayne McDuffie—who did such a spectacular job producing the show—so I'm both excited and saddened by the opportunity to see how the episode took shape under Dwayne's care.

Finally, a reminder that my weekend writing workshop, Imagination 101, is coming up soon and there’s still room in the class if you’d like to register.  (Zap an email to imaginationworkshops@gmail.com for more info.)  We’ll be exploring the World of Story from both the practical and metaphysical perspectives.  It’s going to be a fun, intimate three days of education and creative play.  Come join us if you can.

That’s it for now.  I’ll be back, in a week or so, with some thoughts about the value of simple human kindness in the writing life.

12 comments:

  1. That all sounds good, JM. I'm sure the Ben-10 episode will great. Dwayne sure was a real talent. My fingers (toes and eyes) are crossed for you re. Imagination 101. I know it's gonna be a big success! Nothing but the best, my friend!

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  2. Thanks for the good wishes, A. Jaye! And, yes, Dwayne was an extremely smart, creative and talented guy. His presence is very much missed.

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  3. I made a special trip to HASTINGS on my lunch break...and they hadn't stocked the Marvel Adventures line yet! AAAAARGH! They're in the back of the store in the kid's section. The mainstream stuff was out, but I didn't have time to ask if they had received their copies yet. So I left with two books when I came to buy three. :(

    Frustrating!

    --David

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  4. And you left, David? You didn't sit there, arms and legs crossed, holding your breath until they put SPIDER-MAN #19 on the shelves? What kind of DeMatteis fan are you?! :)

    Seriously, though, I do hope you get a chance to read the story -- and I hope you enjoy it. In many ways, it has more in common with my animated work than my comics work, which, in this case, isn't a bad thing.

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  5. I'm the BEST kind of fan--the one who gets back to his work on time so he can afford more of yours! :)

    I enjoy your animated work immensely, so sounds good to me. It's a long day at work today, and I was really looking forward to reading it at lunch. Oh, well.

    BTW, I watched CAPTAIN AMERICA for the second time last night, and I might have to say it's a tie between that and FIRST CLASS for best Marvel film. Man, those movies just keep getting better and better! Have you watched any of the Agent Coulson shorts? Good stuff.

    --David

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  6. Funny, David: we started watching CAP again last night, too. (It was a school night so we didn't get to finish.) So far I'm enjoying it just as much as I did in the theater.

    Haven't seen the Agent Coulson shorts. Are they on YouTube?

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  7. Yeah, I liked it even better the second time around. You're a better parent than me--we all stayed up late to watch it.

    I don't know if the Agent Coulson shorts are on youtube, but they are on the Special Features of the THOR and CAPTAIN AMERICA Blu-Rays.

    The THOR one is called "The Consultant" and the CAP one is "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer."

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  8. We didn't rent the Blu-Ray, David, so I'll poke around YouTube and see if they're out there.

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  9. And I think that tomorrow, Friday, the Thundercats series comes back with another one of your episodes!

    http://www.tvguide.com/News/ThunderCats-Robear-Berbils-Exclusive-1038984.aspx

    All at the same time! Intense week of news! :D

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  10. Thanks for the link, Jorge! Based on the description, this isn't my episode; mine is probably next week, a follow-up to this week's introduction of the Berbils.

    I'm working on another ThunderCats as we speak, an interesting exploration of the Slithe character.

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  11. Oh! I really wanted to see your episode!

    Well...
    Two episodes of the Berbils are good news too.
    ^_^

    Since the new series began I see Slithe as a mix between Colonel Saito in The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore in Apocalypse Now.

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  12. He's an interesting character and I think (hope!) that the episode I'm working on now will make him even more interesting.

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