Monday, September 29, 2008

Misting/Comic Book

Ugh. It's misting outside. Misting in great, billowy clouds. I hate that. If it's going to rain, I would rather it just rain and be done with it. Instead, I'm trying to walk home while the heavens spray me like one would spray a cat one is trying to train not to get up on the table. Perhaps the weather gods are trying to train me not to do something, but for the life of me I can't think what it is.

And before you accuse me of being unprepared (something a New Yorker never is) I did bring my umbrella. That's the trouble with misting, however. You feel like an idiot opening your umbrella for such small insignificant droplets, but after a few minutes, you find yourself sort of damp all over, which makes opening your umbrella still more pointless, so you just get more and more damp, and...well, you get the picture.

OK, I wrote that on Saturday night, after walking home from work. I figured I would finish it later and post it, but, as you can see, it is now Monday morning.

Silly me.

I got DISTRACTED! That's the trouble with trying to write at home. There are so many other things to do. Like read. Or watch something. Or clean my room. This last may seem like a good, productive thing to do, which is why it is one of the more cunning procrastination techniques I employ. Don't be fooled.

I got a little stuck. In fact, really stuck. I was going along working on this comic book idea, and I finished plotting out the first issue (some of it is written, some is still just in note form) and now I have no idea where to go from here. I know where I want to end up, but getting there will take some crafty storytelling, and I'm not sure I'm up to the challenge.

There are just so many possibilities! Which is good, in a way, but also bad. I don't want to write myself into a corner, so I have to be careful. Also, there are a few characters I don't quite have a handle on yet. Sophie, for example. She's Greek, can create illusions using light refraction (and will one day learn how to make hard-light constructs) and comes from a big family. That's all I know so far, and that's really not much. Certainly not enough to make a well-rounded character.

Anzu, on the other hand, I know a lot about. She's a ten-year old Japanese girl, and the most powerful one of the bunch. She is the first to suggest they pick superhero names for themselves, and declares that hers will be "Princess Rose". She is in touch with all of nature, so she can help things grow, talk to animals, and control the weather. Fortunately, she has a very sweet disposition, and doesn't abuse her powers. The only thing that makes her mad is when people mess with her friends (animals). Like Rabbit, one of the lab bunnies she meets early on. I have a story in mind where Rabbit dies as the result of an experiment, and Anzu must go through the stages of grief for her friend.

I also have a detective story with very old school Dick Tracy sort of language, where Anzu helps a boy find his lost dog.

My name is Anzu, and before today, I was a pretty happy girl. Then he walked into my life.

He was handsome. But, then, they always are, aren’t they…

It seemed clear he was searching for something, or someone. In a moment, it would become even clearer.

BOY: Have you seen my dog?

Men. Always losing things. Lucky for him, I was good at finding them. Especially when they had four legs and could bark.

In this adventure, Anzu talks with some street pigeons, interrogates Sam Samuels: Pet Store Owner, and ends up punching the boy when he calls her weird. "He'll come around." She thinks as she walks away into the sunset. "They always do."

Perhaps I should mention that I'm writing a superhero comic. Well, of course. I mean, what else could I write? This is what I know, and they always say you should write what you know.

The basic idea is this: what if all your best friends were superheroes, while you remained completely normal? Such is the story of Alex, a woman as normal as can be, who happened to get mixed up in a tragic "accident". It's not really an accident, but we don't know that yet.

1000 were chosen... 8 survived.

The 8 were then put in quarantine for a number of years (I haven't decided on the exact number yet) and 7 of them began displaying incredible powers. Like Rylan, who can read the threads of Fate. And Lukas, who can travel the river Styx, though he cannot touch the far shore (if he did he would, you know, die), and bring others with him. I'm thinking of calling him The Ferryman. And Kat with her invisible shields which form an impenetrable barrier around her whole body whether she wants one there or not. (Things are tough for her for a while, until she gets a handle on controlling her powers.)

That's not all of them, but you get the picture. They don't have secret identities, because the media has documented their every move since the accident, though once they start saving the world, people tend to come up with hero code-names for them (if they haven't already done so for themselves, like Anzu.).

So there it is, in the most general terms. It's the sort of comic book I would like to read, which I think should be the first requirement for any creative venture. If you don't like what you're creating, how can you expect anyone else to like it? And hey, maybe no one will ever like this comic book except me, but that's OK too.

There, a nice long entry to make up for all the slack.

Oh shoot! I wanted to talk about my Justice League video! Mom mentioned that it's not on youtube, and I wanted to explain why that is. Oh well. Next time.

Later,
Jules

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent post until the last paragraph. ;o)

F. Radcliffe said...

I really dig the invisible shields chick. It's not a self-portrait by any chance, is it?

Anonymous said...

f.radcliffe could be on to something since there is not ONE word of Steve..... ;)
Anony1

Jenna said...

ha- i love it! Life got busy and you posted twice, now I gotta catch up!