Finally, Tracey. Sort of.

Early Tracey from Strugglers

When I first moved from my obsession/homage hero series Arche-Lady, I took a stab at slice-of-life--very loosely inspired by some reality. I wrote, drew, and made copies of Strugglers and Cavalcade of Boys as one-shots (I think they were both ~ 64 pages?) to sell at conventions. It became clear pretty quickly that Strugglers needed a bit more work, while Cavalcade was snapped up with a demand for "more."

 

From there, Cavalcade morphed into a series, and much later, I completed and published Strugglers as the OGN you can buy today. In Strugglers, three recent college graduates, Tighe, Midge, and Tracy, grapple with finding their respective paths. My original intention was to follow it with spin-off stories featuring each of the three roommates in their own graphic novels.

 

If you take the Cavalcade one-shot, plus issue zero, plus the flashback sequence of issue six, you pretty much have Tighe's OGN, though it was never packaged that way. Together, it forms a post-Strugglers look as the character comes into his own personhood, into his late 20s.

 

In fits and starts I wrote and drew Midge's solo story in Baby Makes Three. Here, Midge is in her mid-30s having a baby with her husband, as they try to balance adult responsibility and life's passions. This project took so much longer than I hoped... but finally up on ComiXology as an OGN for you!

Tracey's Love is the Reason cameo

 

At the conclusion of Strugglers, Tracey wins a song contest, which kicks off her career as a singer/songwriter. That kind of made her a natural to work into other works in cameos. She appears briefly in Love is the Reason and Baby Makes Three. And there's a name drop in "Things Don't Always Suck."

In the back of my head, I knew what Tracey's story was going to be, but it was pushed back--I wasn't ready to write about her, or write the story I knew I'd write.

 

Until now!

 

As Tighe aged up with me when I wrote Cavalcade, and Midge aged up with me when I wrote Baby, Tracey too ages up with me now as I write Tracey in the 16th Minute as my grad school thesis project.

 

I'm advised not to talk about my project too much, so I'll avoid particulars for now! But I'm happy to tell you about the format: to start, I am writing the story as a screenplay for my thesis project. Why screenplay? Have I raised my sights to film? No. But I do have some solid reasons for this decision:

 

1. Knowing of my comics career, my professors thought I'd lean into it for my thesis project and write and draw an OGN as my thesis project. Indeed, that was my intention when I first applied. I like to defy expectations, sometime.
2. Perhaps most importantly, writing comics, I write to my strengths and weaknesses as an artist. So, my art would be guiding me... and I wanted to break free from that, and truly focus on writing the story.
3. My thesis advisor has lots of Hollywood screenplays to his credit (I mean, actually turned into movies) and writing this under his tutelage won't hurt!

4. 

   Tracey's Baby Makes Three appearance.
   

   Dartmouth catalogues thesis projects in their library. So I'll be on record with a screenplay having gone through an academic review. This will formally speak to my ability to write for the screen. Many years ago, when Cavalcade was under consideration to become a TV show, I wasn't considered at all for writing duties, without any screenwriting to my credit. Not that Tracey will ever get filmed, but it's something.
5. I can always re-write the story as an OGN and draw it. And, in some format, fulfill my original idea of the quartet of short graphic novels.

That's not much of a preview... but all you're getting for now. I've just finished my first draft, and it'll take a few more before I'm ready to talk details.

Someday, maybe you can download it via Dartmouth. Or you might read it as OGN. 

Let's see how it plays out!

Abandoned Cavalcade

 

When I was floundering a bit creatively, I wrote and thumbnailed--nearly page for page in a sketchbook--a Cavalcade OGN. When it came time to draw it, I thought it made better art-as-therapy than it did an OGN.

A few years later, I revisited a few members of the cast in a convention mini comic "Quickies." And, finally, there's this attempt to carry on the Cavalcade.

I'm not much for P'town, but after a fairly fun day trip on a dreary, rainy day that contradicted my prior experiences, I thought of this story, following a few of the past cast members and a few new ones as they approach life at 50.  Each time I've written about them, they age a bit more, and I thought it could be a fun story. But, alas, I changed my mind. All you get is a few sketches for an idea never really fleshed out.

2014 in Review

As I mentioned mid-year, I was definitely way too ambitious with my 2014 comics goals. But, I made some good headway, and balanced out comics with some other crafty-creative work.

Let's see how my goals stated a year back played out:

Secret Shorties

Revealed as Saved By The Bell for Lionforge Comics, I pencilled and inked the even-numbered issues of volume one, with Chynna Clugston on the odd-numbered issues. We each completed 4 issues and the volume drew to a close. GOAL COMPLETE

Baby OGN

I actually questioned whether or not it should be a goal. But Greg re-read the first six chapters and thought it still cute and relevant, and that I should finish it. But, no progress. GOAL INCOMPLETE

Arche-Lady compilation

I put some time in on this mammoth project in January and October. PROGRESS

Cavalcade mini

I edited the 7 scripted pages and drew them in November. Colored the cover and did the page layout in December. This is my first complete project using KaBlam (which I am doing so to take advantage of the low print runs). I ran a test copy and it turned out just fine, so I ordered a batch for Angouleme. GOAL COMPLETE

New York Comic Con

I applied and was rejected. But, the side goals (new cards and a new booth banner) were useful for Boston Comic Con. GOAL COMPLETE

Angouleme Festival

I signed up, have my airfare, train tickets, and accommodations. I leave in 20 days. Yay! I missed the last few years, so I am excited to return to the show and see some euro-friends. Let's see...I missed 2012 because Aggie wasn't so well, 2013 due to my day job, and 2014 because my mom had just been diagnosed with Lymphoma and we didn't know where that was headed. Anyway, GOAL COMPLETE

You've read my entries detailing January through May. Let me skim over the rest of the year a bit:

It seems like I did something in June, but for the life of me, I can't remember. It was probably furniture related.

In July, I drew Saved By The Bell #8. I'll post an annotation soon.

In August, I was really stressed out at my day job, but managed to refinish a McCobb Planner Group end table. 

I don't recall much of September, except I was really busy with my day job and trips to NH. I also made time to relax a little.

I made progress on the endless Arche-Lady project in October. 

In November, I drew and put together Quickies, a new 8 page Cavalcade mini, which I'll sell at cons on 2015. It recounts a half dozen relationships, and the characters' reaction to their termination: ambivalence, regret, joy, sorrow, anger, confusion. You see the cover to the mini here in this post.

In December decided to pull together a few bits of Arche-Lady stuff for a convention mini. I made a cover, and sent that off to KaBlam. I also drew a new 3 page Bonnie N. Collide story, which, paired with the 3 stories I wrote and drew in 2010, make a nice 16 page mini comic. I loved revisiting Monica Gallagher's characters. I'd always thought I'd write and draw at least 2 more stories in 2011, but other stuff kept getting in the way. This short story was a nice way to say hello and good-bye to Bonnie. Monica might use the pages as another guest run on her web comic, but otherwise, you can buy my Bonnie mini at a convention in 2015.

Farewell, 2014. I'll post my 2015 goals in a shortly.

CAVALCADE OF BOYS: OUT OF PRINT

 What an adventure for me! After the Cavalcade one-shot was so well rec'd at my early comic book convention appearances, I threw myself into the series, completing issues 2-9 (plus the prequel issue ½). I thought that was the end, but I was beckoned back into the guys' world when Bay Windows asked me to continue as a weekly half-page series, which ultimately became Love is the Reason; that and Trust/Truth were published as stand-alone graphic novels using the Cavalcade cast. From the first outline of the one-shot to the publication of Trust/Truth, the venture spanned a decade!

Sales of the original issues were encouraging, so I compiled them into a 3-trade paperback series. When V1 ran dry within a year, I reprinted into a jumbo complete book. When those sold out, I took the remaining V2 and V3 (as I'd underestimated how many solo V1s I would sell) and tri-packed it with a special run of V1 to keep it all in print a bit longer. My last copies just sold, and I don't have any immediate plans to reprint. 

But here's some fun vintage art related to the series!

The whole thing began when Kelly encouraged me to write and draw an OGN about our time in Saint Louis, while coincidentally Velour Matt was encouraging me to write an OGN about his life. Both factors pushed me to outline 3 64-page one-shot auto-bio comics...which, I suppose I thought I would compile into a single book. After I finished the drawing draft 1 of Strugglers (the first of the three stories), I jumped ahead to Cavalcade (the third of the three), as the gay content was fun to draw, and I wasn't happy with my outline of the middle story. Along the way, Strugglers was added to and edited from the 64 page version to the published 100 page OGN and Cavalcade ballooned out to the 550 page collection plus the two stand-alone OGNs.

But don't feel bad for the middle story! Both Strugglers and Cavalcade were pushed far, far beyond auto-bio...but I never found a way to do so with the middle story. And, as it was focused on my experience with a boss from Hell, it was all pretty negative. Sure, my general story telling vibe is "downer," but there's always rays of hope snuck in. I wasn't able to think of any to sneak in, so it was abandoned. EXCEPT!—a few key scenes and Stephanie Shane made it into Cavalcade as the basis for issue ½. 

So, enjoy the original character sketches from the middle story, the story that never was, the story that cannot be. And, resell your copies of Cavalcade on eBay.  

So, what's the future of Cavalcade? Not sure... I have drawn 2 one-pagers recently, which I had in mind to create as a free digital mini or convention mini. And, I suppose I could kickstarter to do a reprint of the jumbo. Or maybe kickstarter to hire a colorist to color the series and/or publish as a hardcover. My ambition will be directly linked to the reaction and response I get or don't get here! 

I have to admit, at this point, toiling to make a page of comic art is far less rewarding than it is to, say, toil to refinish a 24"x16"x18" 2-drawer McCobb cabinet. And, even when I do finish a shortie, the pre-press is laborious, then I'm in a jam with storage. But the refinished vintage maple furniture is a joy to look at and use. 

It does make me chuckle a bit...my loft allows me the space to have a drafting table after all these years, but since I got it, it's been nearly dormant. To the point that I'm thinking of selling it off so I can create a pleasant sitting area where it currently sits. 

Thoughts?

Quickies

In February, I banged out a one-page Cavalcade of Boys story, for Scarce Magazine's Free Comic Book Day comic. Basically, the only full page of comic book art I've drawn in 2012. The story encapsulated a short-term relationship succinctly and beautifully (I dare say) in a page.

Kick forward to summer, and e-publisher Northwest Press began digitizing my catalog and selling them as e-books via iTunes. The more books posted, the sales increased. Common lesson learned ages ago: if you give a little away for free, then you can sell a lot more. It's the drug dealer business model. So, NWP and I agreed to create some free offering. One will be an extended sampling of Something Fishy This Way Comes, another will be an 8-page mini (which I can give away at comic cons if I choose).

Late summer, I wrote out 7 other one-page ditties, and thumbnailed them out.Similar in style as the one I did for Scarce (telling a relationship in one page) but each represents common reactions/feelings to the failing of a relationship. 

The rough sketch here is the kick-off to a May-December romance, which will be page 7 in the mini, I think. I'll probably start drawing out the pages early in 2013...just late enough that I won't have it in time for Angoulême Festival...but, good news is stilll good news...Cavalcade mini on its way!

Truth and Trust

Happy Armistice Day! Perhaps the best yet, for me—I finished my latest book! "Love is the Reason" is a bit late but should be on shelves early January. Barely finished creating the PDFs for the printer, I couldn't resist starting some work on the next book. Fish-philes recognize the pair to left from "Love is the Reason" as James Michael Chase and Terry as the same guys in my unfinished 2003 OGN (published in part on the Web). I couldn't resist coloring the image, and will likely use as part of my next book, "Truth and Trust." The book will be a collection—first, I will finish the aforementioned full-color OGN as the focus. Next will be the 2009 B&W newspaper strips. Instead of doing a serialized OGN for the paper, I will focus on snipets that form a short story each quarter. This book will include fan favorite Warren in "In Boys We Trust" and the much anticipated "Truth About Gordon." I'm not completely insane—I will be taking some time to rest and think; I haven't worked at this super-aggressive pace as I have been the past 3 months since maybe 4 years ago. I'm tired! I will, however, need to start drawing for the paper again in December.