radiomaru.lj

Reminder: Cosmic Monkey, Portland, Thursday

Tue, 06 May 2008 22:33:07 GMT

We're heading to Portland tomorrow. Portlanders(?), don't forget to come to the Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O'Malley signing extravaganza!

Thursday, May 8th
6-8 PM
COSMIC MONKEY COMICS
5335 NE Sandy Blvd
Portland OR
www.cosmicmonkeycomics.com

The back show

Sun, 04 May 2008 20:45:50 GMT

Just a brief note to say that I'm back home. We're going out to Portland in a few days, though, and Seattle on Saturday. See you there?

Street Fighter Tribute - preorderable

Sun, 04 May 2008 16:58:48 GMT

StreetFighterTribute_cover
Originally uploaded by radiomaru

Udon has put together STREET FIGHTER TRIBUTE, a book of Street Fighter art by many top illustrators from around the world, and some bottom illustrators such as myself.

You can learn more and preorder the book here!

Pictured: the cover. (Not drawn by me.) I can't show you my drawing just yet, but I think it's pretty cute, and I will hopefully have official posters of it available at the San Diego Comicon.

EDIT: Oh hey, that page doesn't mention... this is a Special Edition of the book. A normal edition will be in stores in September for a normal price. (The special edition on the website and at conventions will be $80)

blogging day 3

Sat, 03 May 2008 06:49:14 GMT

CIMG3883
Originally uploaded by radiomaru

i am too tired to use the shift key for capitalization. also might skip some punctuation.

AM: slept in a little (up until almost 4 AM due to late-night Iron Man screening)

remembered about burgers - consulted Adam & Jared and decided to go to Apple Pan. bonus: it's right near the Hyatt.

Apple Pan hickory burger and fries for breakfast.

kept me full all day. no lie. 11 AM to 5 PM, i didn't even have a hunger pang. i usually need to have like 2 snacks in that period.

12-2 PM: went to Meltdown for comics. stuck in traffic for a while on the way. procured Dororo Vol 1, Ganges #2, and The Education of Hopey Glass

spotted a Dick Blick's (on Beverly) and stopped in for some art stuff. not a wide range of art supply shops in Asheville. got a new triangle, a circle template thingy, cute japanese watercolor sketchbook, some pens for Hope.

2-3:30 PM: secret

3:30-5 PM: mostly stuck in traffic. came back to room, checked email, no time to blog, ran back out, stuck in traffic...

5-7 PM: meeting at Universal (see pic). topic: secret. i think this was my first Meeting with a capital M. strangely, it involved eating cake, and was pretty laid back. I don't think it was a "typical" meeting.

8-11 PM: farewell dinner - I'm heading home first thing tomorrow, and the Big Talk folks are trickling back to London over the weekend. special guests: secret.

now: unable to support weight of giant head. flopping around like giant baby.

may blog a bit tomorrow on my layover if i see anything interesting.

photos here

Day 2: The Blog

Fri, 02 May 2008 03:24:29 GMT

CIMG3848
Originally uploaded by radiomaru

Today I sat in a conference room on the Universal lot for six hours.

Edgar took me through every page of all four Scott Pilgrims and asked me if every visual thing was a reference or homage, or if I made it up myself. Basically, I had some 'splainin' to do.

See, in the movie business, they have to get clearance rights for all these little teeny things that nobody's too worried about me doing in the comic books.

I guess there's a difference between a crappy black and white drawing of a brand name and a giant cinema-screen-sized moving photograph of a brand name.

Afterwards, I cured my ills by lolling around my hotel bed for a while, then going to the mall and buying some manga and quasi-healthy fast food.

The mall didn't have Tezuka's DORORO (vol 1 of which was just released). So sad. They did have copies of all four Scott Pilgrims, though, which was unusual.

I wish I had stopped by Meltdown on my way back from Universal. Maybe tomorrow.

If I can survive until midnight, I am going to see IRON MAN with some of the fellows. If I can survive to the end of IRON MAN, I will come back to my hotel room and sleep. Beautiful sleep.

CIMG3853

Thu, 01 May 2008 21:49:47 GMT

CIMG3853
Originally uploaded by radiomaru

now it is getting sad

Thu, 01 May 2008 08:20:28 GMT

I am still flickring my trip. I got flickr uploadr on this laptop, finally, so at least my captions and tags will start going through at the same time as my photos. I haven't fallen off the wagon yet, although my life has become busier and less interesting and I don't want to post anyone's photograph without their permission (or at all, really).

Anyway, today I hung out with almost exclusively English people, which made L.A. feel different and new.

Q: Is it weird to have English people making your movie?
A: Kinda!
Q: Are the English people doing a lot of work sort of on your behalf?
A: Yes!

TOMORROW...
Edgar Wright II: The Wrightening

So full, so sleepy

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 05:56:56 GMT

Heads up: I am in LA this week (suddenly) and, for posterity, am attempting to photoblog the trip. I have the laptop and the cable and the flickr account, but I forgot my camera charger, so we'll see how long it holds out. And we'll see how long my attention span holds out. And we'll see if I get too busy and forget to take pictures.

Note: i will not be taking pictures or blogging whilst asleep

Ramona, Ramona

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:54:57 GMT

ramona, ramona
Originally uploaded by radiomaru

Here is a dumb drawing I just did in about 2 seconds.

IMPORTANT NEWS: I just finalized a new Scott Pilgrim t-shirt design. Expect its debut at Emerald City Comicon (and maybe our Portland signing next week). If it turns out nice, we will continue to print them all summer for the conventions, and Oni will presumably sell them online.

You won't care about this post

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:00:39 GMT

Kupek is my band, or my musical alias, or whatever. A whole bunch of Kupek songs have been available on my website for the past year or so, but I just formally added a Creative Commons license to that page. Mostly because I realized I could. Also, I made zips of the albums, so you can download all the songs at once instead of having to click on one, then click on the next one, etc, etc. It's very convenient.

I've been occasionally working on a new Kupek album. It's been "almost finished" for months now. I have one more song to do, and some little things, and maybe I will get some people to sing some parts, and I need to get John to do me some cover art, and then I'll hopefully put the damn thing online. My target date for this has been May, and it's still possible that I'll make it.

SIGNING: Cosmic Monkey, Portland, Oregon

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:21:01 GMT

Cosmic Monkey Signing - Flyer
Originally uploaded by radiomaru

Hope and I are signing in Portland, just before the Emerald City Con in Seattle. Tell your thousands of Portland friends! Click on the flyer to see a larger edition!

COSMIC MONKEY COMICS
5335 NE Sandy Blvd
Portland OR
www.cosmicmonkeycomics.com
Thursday, May 8th
6-8 PM

This weekend, we would have been at the Calgary Expo, but due to my immigration woes, we're doing Portland & Seattle instead. I hope everyone had a good time in Calgary, and we'll see you there next year!

Last Night

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:21:25 GMT

I ate an OSTRICH BURGER for dinner. Seriously. With caramelized onions and feta cheese, on a ciabatta bun. I forgot to take a picture (sorry).

We saw Tim & Eric Awesome Tour. It was very entertaining. It's one thing for them to dress up in skintight outfits and act like asses on youtube or whatever, and it's quite another thing to see them do it in front of 300 people! The venue made it a bit hard to see (really low stage + tall people in front), but it was good overall.

Oddly enough, we observed that it was the same types of people at Tim & Eric as we would ordinarily see at an indie comics-type show, like MoCCA or this weekend's Stumptown (note: we won't be there). Hip nerds and nerdy hipsters. Someone even recognized me and said something about Scott Pilgrim, or else I was hallucinating.

Edgar is in Toronto right now. If you see him, say hello. Maintain a respectful distance. Holster all firearms. What is he doing there? I have no idea! I can't be there because I'm immigrating and if I leave the U.S. right now they'd never let me back in.

I also bought a bicycle last night. It was only 300 bucks, and it's the nicest bike I've ever owned. (Actually, that's not strictly true... I had this awesome neon-orange mountain bike in high school. I think my brother took it out and got it stolen while I was in California in 2001. It was the purple replacement bike my parents picked up that was the only crappy bike I've ever owned, I guess.) I am looking forward to riding it everywhere!

Uh uh uh huh

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:43:31 GMT

unused sp4-03
Originally uploaded by radiomaru

I was looking at the upcoming movie release schedule and it's kind of terrifying. There is something I want to see coming out almost every week from now until the end of August.

Hope Larson (a lovely cartoonist who has graciously married me) has a new book coming out in June. It's called Chiggers. It's about Kids At Summer Camp, Girls Specifically. You can read an advance review (if you're so inclined) here, courtesy Johanna Draper Carlson. It's such a great book and you will buy it and enjoy it! Fun for all ages! (Preorder it on Amazon!)

The image accompanying this post is a "deleted scene" from Volume 4. I'm sure I've mentioned this, but I rewrote (and re-thumbnailed and partially redrew) the opening beach scene like a dozen times. This version was going to be a dance number, but it ended up being a little too... uh, stupid.

Hey

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:57:16 GMT

scottttt
Originally uploaded by radiomaru

Was anyone at the New York Comic Con? Apparently Oni printed up a real Scott Pilgrim poster (this one), and I would like to see photographic evidence.

(The picture accompanying this post has nothing to do with anything - I just found it on my hard drive and threw it online. It's from last year.)

In a few weeks we're going to Portland! Then Seattle! We have a signing in Portland, May 8th - details soon.

Currently spinning:
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: DIG LAZARUS DIG!!!
M.I.A. - KALA

Edit: Here's a photo of the poster! Thanks, Jeff.

EDIT TO ADD: You can procure the poster at any of a number of comic conventions over the next few months. Think of them as "convention exclusive". Sorry to everyone who can't make it to a convention or signing, but low-profit plus high-headache means internet shipping is unlikely.

Movie reviews

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:06:05 GMT

Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Saw it opening night with a fairly stupid audience (sample talkback, after a tender, heart-felt outpour of emotion from Sarah Marshall: "What a bitch!"). For me, this was the most successful of the Apatow-brand comedies thus far. Lots of laughs, lots of heart, and everyone felt like a Real Person. Jason Segel is a great writer. I hope this makes him a big movie star, and that he gets to keep doing what he wants, like the Muppets or whatever. I liked that it felt more structured than the Apatow-helmed stuff, and it edged out Superbad by a long shot (which I felt spent too much time dickin' around with the cops and minor characters, not focusing on the main duo). Plus, the girl from That 70s Show has really come into her own. Man, her eyes are soooo big.

Cloverfield: I watched this on my computer. I thought it was great, and I don't understand why people got so ticked-off by it. Yeah, it was short, but it did everything it promised to do, in a really visceral way. The characters were not vapid and one-dimensional (sorry, everyone). They were believable as people in a believably unbelievable situation. Parts of it really moved me, and I was 100% along for the ride. (Note to complainers: don't take this as an invitation to pontificate on why you hated this movie, because I don't actually care)

A charmed life

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:33:29 GMT

Can some kind wikipedian upload a less-unflattering picture of me to my stupid wikipedia page? My mom would be ever so grateful.

I probably shouldn't tell you this, but yesterday I finished another draft of the Scott Pilgrim Volume 5 script. For the first time, it feels right, so soon I will try and turn it into comics as fast as I possibly can. Meanwhile, con season is about to begin, among other things. Anyway, my goal is to have the book out for the December Holiday Season. Wish me luck!!

Here are some sketchbook scans to keep you entertained.

EDIT: Oh, by the way, someone from the UK is filling my earlier request, but thank you for all the offers. I got way more than I expected. If I ever need anything else from the UK, I will take some of you up on those offers.

That loveable scamp, me

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:47:20 GMT

business cards
Originally uploaded by radiomaru

REQUEST: I have a burning need. I am looking for someone in the UK with a credit card who is willing to order something for me with their credit card, receive a package, and forward it on to me in the USA - in exchange for artwork, goods, service, or, you know, cash. Please e-mail me. Radiomaru, of the gmail radiomarus.

The illustration right there: a business card design that I was toying with last fall. I'm still not sure whether or not I need to print up a bunch of these. I guess I might as well have them. They might be good for placating people who are like "do you have a business card", right?

Fan-made hilarious television commercial

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:59:49 GMT

If you can't see the video, click: Read Scott Pilgrim from Miles Reaves on Vimeo.

A poll on a Wednesday

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:35:54 GMT

This one is ridiculous, but please, answer with all the honesty in your heart.

View Poll: Completely subjective Scott Pilgrim poll

A poll on a Monday

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:41:39 GMT

The following is a brief survey for Livejournal users.

View Poll: #1167161

The Goings-On

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:45:02 GMT

Awards season: I've been nominated for a National Cartoonist Society "Reuben" Award, in the Comic Books category, for Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together. This is astonishing. Recent winners in this category: JEFF SMITH, DON PERLIN, ALEX ROSS, CHRIS WARE, DAN DeCARLO, FRANK CHO, STAN SAKAI, TERRY MOORE, DARWYN COOKE, PAUL CHADWICK. This is big, scary stuff. Will Eisner won, like, eight of these things.

Movie stuff: Michael Cera gushes a little here.

How I Met Michael Cera: Mr Edgar Wright, his brother Oscar, cowriter Michael Bacall and I met up in Toronto in June 2007. We were talking about the script, I was showing them the original locations, etcetera. We went to the CN Tower and then we met with Michael Cera. We ate sushi and saw Live Free Or Die Hard. (When you hang out with Edgar Wright, you will be watching movies.) I was passing around some pages from Vol 4 while we waited for the movie to come on. The Superbad trailer played, and people around us were like "oh my god it's that guy".

Anyway, that's all. Since then, I think he's been making movies like every single day. And the casting took a year to go from a gleam in Edgar's eye to an on-paper reality.

Also, all my pictures from that Toronto trip are like, neighbourhood cats and funny signs. I have not once in my life taken a picture of Edgar Wright or anyone else involved with the film, mostly due to oversight on my part.

Television rules the nation

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:35:35 GMT

Movie news: I guess Universal publicists put in an update at IMDB. Now it says the title is SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD, which I must tell you is the accurate current title of the film. It may change in the future, but I'm pretty sure every draft I've seen has had that title on it.

I think it's an appropriate title for a done-in-one version of the story, don't you?

Anime: I watched that first episode of Macross Frontier, which I guess debuted in December (the full series begins in Japan later this week). It was awesome. Really. I was impressed. It got me unexpectedly excited. I've always liked Macross/Robotech... stories about huge numbers of people drifting in space do something for me, I guess. (I got it here.)

Video games: I started playing Etrian Odyssey (for DS), which I had been hyped about back when it was announced, but then I forgot about it! Anyway, it's pretty cool so far, in a curiously Eye of the Beholder-kinda way, but with adorable character art.

Music: I am rediscovering Daft Punk's Human After All, which most of us dismissed back in '05. Somehow it has improved with age (and with the release of Alive 2007, not to mention the Justice album). Good inking music, maybe.

Books: We are listening to Into the Wild in audiobook format, speaking of inking music. I haven't seen the movie, although I agree that Emile Hirsch is handsome. The book is pretty good. Somehow we keep listening to books about Man's Folly.

Los Angeleees

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:40:28 GMT

the sand in Hope's shoe
Originally uploaded by radiomaru

We ended up having a good time (oops?).

Day 1: travel. When we got in (dinnertime), we found out that the casting of Michael Cera had been announced and people were abuzz. Pure coincidence. We had dinner with some of the boys from Oni, who were in town for other stuff, and also with some Hollywood Producer Guys and Mr Edgar Wright. It was loud, but fun, and the food and wine were excellent (Tasca, Eric Gitter's favourite place, I guess - he's our Oni Press Hollywood Producer Guy).

Day 2: we hung out with some friends (Nick and Emily, who are on livejournal but I don't know how to do the name-link thing), and ate at the 101 Coffee Shop. I had the thursday fried chicken special. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of all my food the entire trip. We also visited Michael Bacall (screenwriter to watch) at his awesome house.

Day 3: went to Little Tokyo, ate some cheap/good sushi at Zencu, browsed Kinokuniya and bought a couple things, picked up some Japanese snacks at the market (pancake cookies, green tea meltyblends, mochi, american coffee), shopped at American Apparel, took a meeting, and then went out to a dinner that I can't even begin to explain, so I won't.

Day 4: exhausted already! Went for a swim in the morning. Dropped my phone in the pool (it showed signs of life for a while, but I don't think it's going to make it). Went to Meltdown, made a huge stack of books to buy after the signing. Ate sandwiches at Abbot's Habit (down the street from the comic store and very good). Signed nonstop from roughly 1:30 to 3:30. Sold some art. Bought the pile of books. Went out to dinner with Bacall at a cheapy Mexican place that I won't mention because we got made fun of for going there for the rest of the weekend. Almost went to a movie, then didn't.

Day 5: Had breakfast (poolside! at the Standard!) with Adam and his wife. I dunno about the rest of you, but our experiences with Hollywood Producer Guys have been strangely awesome. All our producers are awesome Ivy League geniuses, not the caricatured dum-dums you might expect. We really like them and would hang out with them any time, even if they weren't Hollywood Producer Guys.

We mostly took it easy the rest of the day - ended up going to the beach with Nick, toodling around the closed mall (easter sunday) and then we finally did go to a movie that night, Drillbit Taylor, which was awful (but we still love Owen Wilson).

Day 6: had lunch with Edgar (the Standard again, but inside this time), went to Universal (exciting! but didn't see any famous people), chatted about movie stuff. Jared (a Yale man, see?) took us around the studio on a golf cart. We got in trouble with security when we tried to drive by the Back to the Future clock tower. Then we dragged him out to dinner at Chosun Galbee, which I'd been waiting for all week, and we had a ridiculous quantity of bulgogi and stuff.

Then we came back!!! The trip back was horrible and Logan Int'l (Boston) is my new pick for "worst major airport ever".

I took down my last two posts - I don't want to sound like I'm being a negative creep about this movie thing. I get easily ticked-off by lazy, ill-informed Internet Opinions (tm), but I'll try to chill.

It's exciting, sometimes fun, generally weird, often confusing. We get to hang out with people like Edgar Wright, which is many a nerd's dream, I'm sure. And we got treated like Important People for a few days, about which I cannot complain.

Here's what happens

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:50:50 GMT

The Hollywood Reporter prints a story hastily sent in by someone's publicist. Nobody fact-checks anything. The rest of the internet / world hastily copies the facts in the article into their own hastily-published articles. It's amazing!

Anyway, I can "confirm" that Michael Cera is going to play Scott Pilgrim in this movie adaptation.

It is not called "Scott Pilgrim's Little Life", as the whole internet has been saying. Gee, I wonder why they took out "precious", the internet wonders? Maybe because some idiot made an error while filing the story? No, couldn't be. There must be some deeper meaning.

It isn't even called Precious Little Life, but I defer to the film's creators as to when and how they want to make their announcements.

Yes, there is a screenplay (sorry, imdb). I can tell you that I read the first draft in March 2006, and the second draft was submitted in October, just before the writer's strike. Michael Bacall and Edgar Wright co-wrote it. Edgar Wright is directing the film.

Any script reviews you've seen online were probably of the first (2006) draft.

Yes, the studio (Universal) is "eyeing a fall start".

Yes, it is based on the entire story arc, not just the first book, and yes we talked a lot about what should happen in the later parts of the story, but at the same time we have already diverged significantly. It is a complimentary story, not an exact copy.

Yes, Edgar Wright is a fine fellow who has included me since the very start (late '04 / early '05).

Blah, blah, blah.

I honestly had no idea this was going to be announced this week. I am in LA for no reason connected to this movie thing. We just came out here for fun!

As I am Unimportant, I seriously doubt many people care what I have to say on this subject, but there you have it. The truth as it stands, for my readers.

--

Reminder: I am signing at Meltdown tomorrow from 2-4 PM. Los Angeles.

Today is Tuesday, I've learned

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:03:24 GMT

I'll be away on vacation for some of this week and some of next week. If you search diligently for clues, you can probably figure out where! (Example: I have a signing at Meltdown on Saturday.)

I re-read all 21 volumes-so-far of GANTZ yesterday in scanlations. Brain: fried. (It's a story about kids who "die" but then are brought to a special room, given weapons, presented with "aliens" and left to their own devices. It has lots of gore, boobs, psychological trauma, and a massive body count of innocent bystanders. And it's all presented in a fairly realistic visual style. It's in what I call the Psychic War genre, with superhero overtones.)

I hope to god that someday people start writing about this series with an eye to subtext, etc, because all I see is kids talking about how awesome it is and speculating about what happens next. It is a deeply messed-up story, and to see the fans approaching it surface-only is troubling. For example: the "coolest" character in the second half of the story-to-date starts out by perpetrating a massacre of hundreds of innocent people in a crowded downtown area, after which... what? He fights "bad guys" after that, alongside our "heroes", but I'm not exactly rooting for him. This uneasy balance goes on for something like 9 volumes.

Dark Horse is supposed to start putting out translated volumes this summer, and best of luck to them.

Discussion questions:

1. Does GANTZ's author, Hiroyu Oka, know that he's putting in all this subtext? Or is he just a soulless, dispassionate sociopath like the majority of his characters?

2. What defines the Psychic War genre? (Some other examples: Bleach, X/1999, X-Men)