Yesterday I pre-ordered the PLANET EARTH DVD set on Amazon.ca. Have you guys seen this show? It's so mind-blowing. It's this BBC nature series shot in a super-gorgeous arty way. It's playing on the CBC right now, and I guess on Discovery (in the USA) soon; it wrapped up on the BBC in late 2006. The DVD comes out April 24 and Hope and I can't wait to watch the whole thing in one go.
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While I was in the shower I was idly thinking about how comics are about the same age as like, rock n' roll, but there's probably 1 notable comics work for every thousand notable works of pop music in the past fifty years. There's a breadth issue. I was thinking about it because I was thinking about comics criticism and how underdeveloped it is, but I guess it's not really the critics' fault. There's just not much to work from. You can compare a new Graphic Novel to like a dozen previous works in your head, seven of which came out in the past five years, you know?
I'm sad about comics. Not really.
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So I was thinking I would ask: who is going to this North York Public Library thing next week? The me thing? If you're going, what would you like me to talk about or show you? Even if you're not going, what in general do you think a speaking engagement like this should involve? I'm a little bit unprepared and I'm not totally sure how to do a "comics reading", which I think people are expecting. But I'd like to try. So, suggestions plz.
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Comments
not so much agreed on the comics issue, though! i mean, spawn, youngblood, the new supergirl...so much to note.
I also loved I Heart Huckabees, but I find it's a really dividing film. Audra, for example, hated it utterly.
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I think comics are a lot harder to crank out than songs, or even albums. I guess because when they're as repetitive as popular music tropes are, it hurts the audience's enjoyment a lot more. Plus the comic book equivalent of just turning the mic on and seeing what happens probably takes like a week instead of ten minutes.
in my head, i dunno if there's a 'right way' to do a reading cos i always picture them being like storytime or whatever. it'd be neat if you had yourself and one or two other people 'acting out' the character voices and put pages on a projector or something. i think gavin mcinnes used a projector for shit when he was doing live readings of vice's 'do's and dont's'.
unless you're not wanting to go the live reading route in which case this comment is stupid.
I think it's getting better, though!
At my last reading, I actually read from a comic. I didn't show any art, I just read from my script for 12 REASONS. This may not be as easy for you, since you also draw I don't know how you script, but I took a chapter that was mainly powered by dialogue and edited down the panel descriptions to the necessary elements. It went pretty well.
Also, talking about how you got started and what happened along the way, the good and the bad. And people LOVE horror stories...if you've gotten any good hate-mail, or if there was some person who tried to talk you out of what you're doing, for some reason people just eat that stuff up.
It'll be fun!
They asked me to go to this too, by the way! I had to decline because I've got too much going on here, and I'm already going to be in TO twice this year.
I do work in an anime store now, so it's a bit easier to find indie comic nerds, but mostly they just want to talk about manga and video games.
p.s comics are wicked and are constantly getting better in the last twenty years you can see so much growth in dialouge. the diversity of art styles that are being more generally accepted by mainstream comics is also seeming to grow too.um... yeah, cant wait for the libary thing!
I would like to go to Japan to direct the live action film adaptation of Osama Tezuka's "Black Jack". I would like to employ the same x-ray/innerbody technique to show all the goofy medical gore stuff that was in the comics.
If you have to read a comic in front of a crowd, maybe use a slide projector?
Music has also always taken me quite a while also, though. I'm totally not a fast songwriter. Though, I guess taking month to finish a song is still a lot less work than a comic.
A slideshow-type thing would be excellent, now that it's been mentioned, but only if you have tonnes of free time kicking around to put that sort of thing together.
Personally I would enjoy a behind the scenes type thing... sortta like the annotated pilgrim posts you do...
Sitting alone at your desk at 3:00 AM putting the finishing touches on the inks for page 65 is about as far from the communal experience as you can get, so I don't know, that might have something to do with it. I kind of lost track of my idea here.
I took the wife to see you play with The Stolen Minks on Saturday, and we both enjoyed seeing your performance very much, although mostly all we could see was the bouncer's back and everybody who entered the bar talking to the door people. It was fun though. I wished the vocals had been a little louder, but that is the scourge of live music in general and (I find) Gus's Pub in particular. My wife spent most of the night desperately wanting to ask Hope what manga she was reading.
RE: "Comics Readings," I'd have to echo everyone who suggested talking about process. I know I personally love to hear about that kind of thing, especially stuff like inking and toning, but anything to do with "How I Make My Comic" is always fascinating. I could honestly just sit and listen to somebody talk about that kind of thing for hours.
..goodness I typed a lot just now.
http://www.pbs.org/manorhouse/
If I've read a comic once already, subsequent reads are faster. Music stays the same speed.
On the flip side of that, if a moment in a comic hits me real hard, I have a chance to stare at the image and really let it sink in. Guitar solos don't wait up.
Comics sit in a pile by my bed, and when there is a dull moment, suddenly I am reading a comic without even realizing I've started. I don't think I've ever unintentionally hit play in iTunes or on a CD player.
Also, a lot of rock sells itself based on its image. Comics almost never sell themselves based on sound.
These are just ideas, and I guess they only compare consumption, whereas you were talking more about production.
But I hope I've been remotely insightful.
As for what to talk about, I live on the wrong coast but I would want to hear: creative process stuff, all the secret ways in which SP is based on your life, embarrassing stories about Chris Butcher, and recommendations of things that influenced you and that your fans would probably enjoy (specifically in terms of comics, but other things like video games and movies and music too, I guess).
I'm coming on Tuesday with Kiza and Halliday! I think you could introduce yourself and include a little background, where the idea came from, etc. then introduce the main characters of Scott Pilgrim and go through the basic plot/situation. This will cover things for people who aren't totally familiar with the books. As for the "comic reading", I'd keep it short, maybe a couple selected scenes. Oh! You should include the Knives vs. Ramona battle in the Reference library for sure, heheh. The librarians will really dig that. XD Other than that, maybe go through your influences and references you've worked into the book. I don't know how long this thing is supposed to be, but you could also go through the process of creating comics from story/script/layout/roughs/inks/tone/etc.
PS. Visual aids = DEFINITE YES.