catcherinthetower

Catcher in the Rye vs The Tower of Brahma

Musclecar Mechs

If you can drive a car, you can pilot this mechanized armor. Hot rod red with flame finish just for fun. A billionaire wanted a transformer robot suit, so naturally a league was formed.

Ferrari - foreign, poor class rose himself up w/skills
Corvette - slick, but cheesy, smarmy with cash
Mustang - heroic, noble, world's fair
Cadillac - old school, badass, dirty fighter
Charger - evil sonovabitch, out to win, take you out
Indy Car - jet engine ninja
Nascar - corporate sellout, gloryhound

Hummer security guards.

Fighting game meets racing game meets anime.
Speed Racer Evangelion.

***

Page 1
Panel 1
A race track, from the ground, the lane stripes extend far off to the horizon. The sun shines high in the sky, grey cement walls line each side like a half pipe. There's scorch marks and scraped sections on both sides. In the distance is a dust cloud.

N: The pavement is the enemy.

Panel 2
Side shot of the front of three different cars all racing ahead, each one just behind the next. A Ferrari, Corvette, and a classic Mustang (red, yellow, green). The engines scream inside the hoods, we see just a snippet of the quarterpanel and hood with just a glimpse in each car. (Whenever possible keep the red, yellow, green dynamic running left to right. The Ferrari should be just seen always speeding ahead, just a glimpse of the back end of it in the panels where we're looking back, or just a red blur off on the horizon when shot from behind.)

N: The engine, our power.

Panel 3
A shot from behind the cars, they smash into each other, debris falling back towards us. Brake lights flicker, tires slide across the track, burning rubber blasts of speed.

N: The chassis, our armor.

Panel 4
Side shot of the driver of the Mustang, helmet and jumpsuit just showing, the inside of the car looking more high tech than usual. Through his windshield we see the driver of the Corvette laughing wildly, the Ferarri driver focused ahead.

N: Your peers are just Combatants.

Panel 5
Small panel, the Mustang 'Frankenstein' driver's fist wrapped around what looks like a gear shifter, he's pulling it back.

Mustang Frankenstein Driver: Looks like it's time to cheat.

N: Racing is racing.

Page 2
Panel 1-3
Small sections of the Mustang begin to shift and move, opening and revealing robotic parts underneath as it "transforms". Small panels.

N: Bored billionaires funnel their fortunes into new amusements.

Panel 4
Close up of the Corvette's rearview mirror. We see the 'YellowJacket' Corvette driver's frantic eyes as he glances back at the Green Monster that's leaping at him. To the right of his eyes we see the Mustang transforming into a Mech behind him, its giant robot feet pounding the pavement as it leaps towards the Corvette. 

YellowJacket Corvette Driver: God Damn Green Piece of...

Panel 5
Giant shot of the Mustang 'Frankenstein' in humanoid Mech form as it lands atop the Corvette. We can just see the Corvette driver as he pulls back his own shifter as the front of his car begins to change.

N: They mix and match sports, creating new entertainment for the masses.

Page 3

Panel 1

The 'YellowJacket' Corvette has transformed and is diving forward shaking Mustang 'Frankenstein' free from hanging from its back as it slips free. (I'm thinking each mech can have it's own unique look and design, complete with weapons and style. Mustang I'm thinking will be blocky and like old school Transformer figures, and Corvette will be more the new school, complete with stinger weapon, more sleek and nimble.)

N: New drivers are needed as racing evolves, as new racecars are built.

Panel 2
From the side and behind we see Mustang chasing after Corvette who's racing ahead in robot leaps and bounds. A small compartment is opening in Mustang's "thigh", revealing something we can maybe just make out as a laser pistol. Mustang's hand is at his side like a gunfighter.

N: It starts with a military industrial prototype...

Panel 3
Mustang whips out a laser pistol that looks like an oversized revolver and begins firing at us. Maybe darting to the side, half jumping sideways and shooting.

N: Giant battlesuits that can be disguised as vehicles, complete with weapons...

Panel 4
Side close up of Corvette as pieces are blasted off. The driver looks pissed, he raises up his stinger weapon. Ferrari zooms off to left of the panel.

N: And suddenly every rich car enthusiast wants one.

Page 4

Panel 1
Corvette dives forward and turns midair firing yellow energy blasts from his stinger as he spins. 

N: Naturally every billionaire wants his own specially designed.

Panel 2
Mustang runs up the side of the wall, pistol slipping back into his thigh compartment, all the way up to the very top lip of the curved track, as the blasts miss him.

N: So what's the next step for these pampered philanthropists?

Panel 3

Shot from the pavement upwards, Corvette continues to fire, slo-mo spinning through the air, as Mustang leaps from the top, arms out in the air, diving recklessly down towards the track. 

N: Why, make 'em fight of course.

Panel 4

Mustang drops the elbow into Corvette, who smashes against the ground, smashing his robot form to bits in a race car wreck. We can see the driver bracing as the car crumbles around him.

N: Now I'm not much of a driver, but fighting...

Panel 5
Mustang lands and is racing away from us after Ferrari, leaving the Corvette driver encased in a ball of twisted metal.

N: I know a thing or two about that.

Page 5
Panel 1
The Mustang is running after the Ferrari who is still in car form shooting ahead. Mustang is running in the inside of the track, with Corvette just a yellow ball in the distance, and the Ferrari up close in the foreground. 

N: But brawling ain't gonna help me win this thing.

Panel 2
Mustang mech form leaps into the air and begins to transform, split screen this so he's a bit further back as he leaps towards us.

N: After all...

Panel 3
The lower half of the panel shows the car closer to us, now just about fully transformed back to car mode as it hits the pavement.

N: In the end, it's still a race.

Panel 4
Full on shot of the Mustang driver behind the wheel. This is his defining shot. He is dedicated and driven.

N: It's about how you drive.

Panel 5
Shot of the rearview side mirror of the Ferrari, Mustang is in the background speeding towards him.

N: It's a contest of skill between two persons.

Page 6
Panel 1
Ferrari's side hatch opens and spiked balls eject out, trickling behind.

N: 'Course the extras help liven things up.

Panel 2
Mustang fishtail slides into the curve, letting the spiked balls slip underneath between his wheels.

N: Then you gotta be ballsy enough to do the unexpected.

Panel 3
Some bounce high enough to smash into the side of Mustang's door and window. The driver looks angry as the glass splinters before him.

N: One wrong move and you're dead in an instant.

Panel 4
The car, side shot, slides back into position, scarring the tarmack, as he elbows the busted glass out of his drivers side window.

N: That's why I approach every race the same way.

Panel 5
The wind is whipping past the Mustang driver. He grips the wheel like a madman.

N: If you can't outrace 'em...

Page 7
Panel 1
Back shot of the Ferrari as ten compartments open spilling out oil, shooting lasers, mini-missiles, giant buzzsaw, etc.

N: And you're outclassed.

Panel 2
The Mustang angled aerial view as he speeds in a downward plunge towards the flames, lasers, missiles, etc. They've already started tearing into the hood.

N: Well, then you gotta get creative.

Panel 3
Mustang slams into the back of Ferrari, impaling his engine into his, twisting the metal into each other. The flames, oil, lasers, etc. All splash outward in a chaotic mess.

N: And remember, the whole damn car is a weapon.

Panel 4
Mustang slams back the shifter as parts begin to transform. Some of the front parts strain to comply but it's just a mass of twisted metal, all precision blown to hell.

N: There's one thing a crowd wants more than a winner...

Panel 5
Ferrari looks worried and hits his transforming switch as parts begin to transform.

N: One thing it hungers for beyond the passing of a finish line...

Page 8
Panel 1
Mustang, half transformed leaps into the air, the Ferrari stuck on it's front half of the robot body, the Ferrari is mid transform, it's upper half just defined.

Panel 2
Mustang slams Ferrari's top half into the track, obliterating his body.

Panel 3
Mustang rips out it's "arms" top half, tearing free the engine from Ferrari.

Panel 4
Mustang hops over the wreckage of Ferrari, the engine flying forward before him.

Panel 5
Pull back and there's thousands crowded around the edge of the track as Mustang kicks Ferrari's engine into the air towards us.

N: It's all about putting on a damn good show.

karate mural

karate mural

My comics

My Comic Book Boxes

Warren Ellis Must Die! a Write Club Manifesto.

I'm openly mocking Bendis on Twitter, correcting his spelling mistakes, sarcastically snipping at his grammar. Our inside man is working his way next to Ed Brubaker. Grant Morrison in our sniper rifle scopes, with the Maniacal Alan Moore running the whole puppet show.

The companies skim a little off the top so they can line their pockets post printing costs. The magic warps our minds and we learn things about the future, mankind, and ourselves. An energy blast to the frontal lobe, triggering mass hallucination that prepares the masses for Reality: the Sequel. ®

Our heroes must be stopped. The generation stems the tide of renegade imagination, as a wave of new blood washes up upon the shores of the collective unconcious. We are changing things by changing ourselves. Some are half-aware, some know what's what, then there's us.

Write Club! is for those of you who see beyond what is right here, what's been done. We're aiming to show what is left to be discovered. The imagination, the storytelling, the new way of life, Twenty First Century Humanity reconnecting with Primal Artistry. Write Club! will unite artists with writers with painters with journalists with sculptors with actors with filmmakers, with you.

Participate, congregate, commisserate.

Best of all, let's Propagate. Here's to creating!

Come join us.

K

Mobile Comics

As a freelance writer looking to break into comics, I've been trying to think about where I can possibly push my ideas in order to gain publishing experience, and so seeing as Marvel and DC Comics seem a bit daunting, I've started looking at independent publishers. Not a lot of work around there unless it's selling to the same crowd looking for similar material. So where can a budding comics creator make their mark in this tough market?

Cell phones. Or rather the iPhone (or something compatible like my own G1).

So I began to research these "mobile comics". First up, GoComics. Some of your mainstream comic strips including Doonesbury, Garfield, Calvin & Hobbes, as well as editorial cartoons by the likes of Ted Rall. It comes up on the browser of my G1 and isn't too rough of a download time. It formats okay but I need to turn the alignment sideways in order to see it in detail. There's a link to send comics to your phone but it doesn't seem to work.

Looks like they have manga, IDW Publishing, Devil's Due, Jeff Smith's Bone, PvP, Too Much Coffee Man, Virgin Comics, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (as a comic strip?!). I can't seem to click on the links on my laptop or my G1. Hurm. Here's a video showing how uClick (their comics viewer for iPhone & iPod touch), which looks really clean and functional.

So I pull up m.gocomics.com on my G1 and it gives me a list of links for comics. I click IDW, get a list of titles, pick Clive Barker's Thief of Always, get a summary, a link to creators, and a link to issues. Finally I see the comic, which looks pretty low res, and the navigation is previous and next links. Not really too slick looking and there's an ad for PapaJohns.com up top. Hurm. Yeah seems all their comics look that way, on my G1 at least.

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=130802

Next up is the very odd Comicz.com which has some low budget site and a super weird comic strip called Quadroids. Weird.

Moving on is a site for Mobile Comics Creators which looks like it could be a decent hub for mobile comics news but not a ton of updates over the last few months. Could be better as a forum, which means you do have to sign up for it. Looks like you have to be approved for membership. Damn elitists.

Here's a site with Marvel comics with interactive sound, if you live in Sweden, Denmark, or somewhere else far, far away from America. Sigh. Always with the awesome in Europe. Here's some more info on the deal which could represent the future of mobile comics as a more interactive experience.

I'm also seeing news about Mobile comics in India, Taiwan, and Singapore on a basic google search. Probably a whole huge untapped market for good original stories out there in the world, where people might still appreciate words and pictures, even if it is on their high tech digital cell phone. Here's an article about Japan's Mobile Comics industry pulling in over $204 million US.

Also Paramount is going to produce mobile comics based on its movies. If there's a job that I should really have it's that. Movies AND comics?! By Odin's beard...Can't say I've heard of the movies but that's still pretty cool. And I think Joe Kelly, my good friend, is still working at Paramount.

If you have an iPod or iPhone RokComics seems like a cool thing to check out. There's an app for that.

Robot Comics has provided some interesting content for my G1, and now partnering with Alterna Comics, it looks like there might be even more good stuff on the way. Available through the Market on the G1, they have some good, quality comics that read really smoothly on the G1. As they add more content it seems the functionality tends to be lost a bit as I can seem to get their Jesus Hates Zombies books (which looks awesome) to fit correctly on my screen. They're also trying to put together a CBZ & CBR format comic reader out for the G1 but I have yet to successfully open a comic on it. But as they evolve I think this will be a major provider for quality mobile comics.

Well, that's enough for now. Can someone lend me their iPhone or iPod touch so I can test some more of these things out?

K

Book of 5 Chambers (edit)

Page 1
Panel 1
A smoking gun held firmly straight out to the side. It's a worn revolver but in great shape. We get a hint of the hand holding it, but the focus is the gun and the smoke.

N: The revolver discharges the metal leaving behind a lingering smoky trail.

Panel 2
The hand pops open the cylinder, there is one empty chamber.

N: All that is left behind is empty shells, spent and useless hunks of metal.

Panel 3
The hand turns the gun upside down and 5 empty casings fall out, tumbling through the air.

N: Disgarded without a thought.

Panel 4
Close up of the shells hitting the dirt stirring up a small dust cloud. They land next to a beaten and worn pair of cowboy boots.

N: They fall to the earth to be trampled upon.

Panel 5
Side shot, the hand holds the gun still propped open as the other free hand slides a bullet out of the belt.

N: You think of nothing as you reload.

Page 2
Panel 1
Close up of the cylinder as a bullet slips in.

Panel 2
From ground POV. A fresh grave, a mound of dirt with a rock on top. The backlit shadowy outline of our gunfighter stands tall above it. Vultures loom in barren trees in the background.

N: You may dig a grave if you can afford the time afterwards.

Panel 3
Long wide shot as the gunfighter walks off into the barren landscape. The skeletal remains of a horse in the foreground.

N: You save the prayer for your own soul as you hope that God hasn't abandoned you.

Panel 4
Half length, establishing shot of gunfighter. In a dusty brown samurai like robe with an overcoat, his. His gun just poking out, facing backwards so the handle pops out like a sword hilt might.

N: Having met no god, you rely on what your pa gave you.

Panel 5
Close up of his hand (not the hand as seen on page 1, older, more weathered and calloused) as it brushes past the grip of his pistol.

N: A steady hand and a gun.

Page 3
Panel 1
A second bullet drops into the second chamber. Same shot as Page 2/Panel 1. This center shot repeats at the top of every page. A short of clock running through the 5 rings.

Panel 2
He's wearing a soldier's uniform from the Civil War. A confederate uniform. Torn up and patched and bloodied. We can see him a bit clearer, more definition in the eyes. A look of determination. It's raining like sleet.

N: The one thing you gave yourself was a purpose.

Panel 3
A swarm, a tidal wave of Union soldiers rise up over the hill towards us. The Gunfighter stands with his back to us, letting the other soldiers all just surge forward to be killed in droves.

N: You were born for killing. So you needed a reason.

Panel 4
The Gunfighter draws his gun from his hip. He steps forward from the same side he draws from. The water floods and splashes around his knees.

N: A war seemed like good enough of an excuse for years.

Panel 5
From below we see a close up of his hands covered in blood as he holds a woman's head in his grip. His hand is keeping her brains in as they seep out between his fingers. His eyes are wild with madness.

N: But there are no warriors in war. Just mad dog killers...

N: and victims.

Page 4
Panel 1
Bullet three slides in the chamber.

Panel 2
The Gunfighter is stripped down to his shirt, he's bleeding from three gunshots, one shoulder, one leg, and a gut shot. But his shooting arm is still strong. As he aims right at us.

N: You tell yourself that you'll kill these bastards...

Panel 3
Close up of a slick, smug face as he lights up a cigar with a match. His head is blown out the side of his head.

N: These sick evil lunatics.

Panel 4
From within the flames of a fireplace, a dead face, shot in the head, stares at us as it begins to burst into flames.

N: You were ridding the world of scum, purging mankind.

Panel 5
An old man stands in shadows as a bullet carves its way through the flame of a candle and blows a hole through his chest.

N: Doing god's work for him.

Page 5
Panel 1
Bullet four drops into the chamber.

Panel 2
The gunfighter is ducking behind a shot up cross with his gun raised. There are bullet holes all around him. He's looking upward. There are bullets firing towards us.

N: You start finding the competition.

Panel 3
The gunfighter is diving sideways and firing, bullets rip up the scene around him.

N: You gotta throw the dice.

Panel 4
Jumping through a stained glass window with Jesus on the Cross on it. Bullets punch through him and the window.

N: Have faith that what you're doing is righteous.

Panel 5
Close up as the gunfighter tries to hold onto his gun with a huge hole blown through his hand. His knuckles are scraped to the bone, shards of bone protruding from his hand, blood clotting after draining most of from his arm, streams dripping from his grip. The gun is slipping.

N: If your hand falters, then so be it. It is God's will.

Page 6
Panel 1
The fifth bullet drops into the chamber.

Panel 2
We pan back and see there is a smaller child's hand holding the gun that has been loaded over the last four pages. The last chamber is empty.

N: You find yourself at the end. You've run out of bullets.

Panel 3
The gun clacks closed as we see an altar boy in torn and bloodied robes crying and holding it close to his chest as if it were precious to him. A dead priest body is spread over the altar in the background. He looks scared.

N: Don't matter much. Everyone that needed killing is dead.

Panel 4
The gunfighter is shot up to hell, his hand is all but destroyed, bones protruding, but index finger holding strong. His trigger finger. He struggles to raise his arm up. He's leaning up.

N: 'Cept you of course. So you tell him how to load it. How to aim.

Panel 5
The gunfighter in silhouette pointing his finger and shattered hand at the altar boy like a gun, the altar boy points the gun down at the gunfighter, hammer dropping.

N: You teach him to shoot.

N: (In black in red letters) To Kill.

Page 7
Panel 1
It's a dime store novel book with a round illustration showing the Gunfighter in the outline of a revolver chamber. The title is: Five Bullets in the Chamber.

Panel 2
The altar boy a few years later. He's wearing glasses and riding on a train watching the green landscape rush past. He wears a nice suit and the more ruffian looking passenger is reading the book intently, eyes wide with a slight sinister smile. The altar boy glances over discreetly.

N: Your education pays off, the story sells books.

Panel 3
The altar boy in the city. He stands there looking innocent, watching as the other passenger walks off hurriedly, reaching into his coat, the novel jutting from his pocket.

N: The books sometimes inspire wicked men.

Panel 4
The Passenger is pulling out a gun from inside his jacket, the altar boy watches in the background down the alley.

N: They don't see the point, don't learn the lesson.

Panel 5
The altar boy whips out the gun pointing it at us from beneath his cape. He has the same look of a killer as the gunfighter.

N: So you teach them that the last chamber is always empty.