Each of us has a destiny…

Well, after a frantic weekend of emails, scheduling, and sheer mayhem, we’ve landed on our final plan for our screenings at the Alamo this weekend. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting Episode Two, with live voices, music, and sound effects:

WHAT: The Intergalactic Nemesis, Live-Action Graphic Novel, Episode 2: Enter Stranger
WHEN: Feb. 12, 13, 14, opening for The Lightning Thief, 7 PM screenings ONLY
WHERE: The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, South Lamar
TICKETS: Purchase here for the 7 PM Lightning Thief screenings.

The past few days have been crazy-busy. The big thing is that we’re making a major announcement on Feb. 18 that will be a real game-changer for the project. Definitely keep your ears peeled for this one. Meantime, working out the details of our screening next weekend at the Alamo–episode two is either going to play as announced before the 7:40 PM screenings of Wolfman or the 7 PM screenings of The Lightning Thief. Check back here because my next posting should clarify things!

On a less chaotic side, Tim Doyle is hard at work on issue three of the series. You can check out those pages HERE.

Okay. I admit it. I’m having waaaay too much fun with this stuff. For those of you who are brand-new to The Intergalactic Nemesis, Mysterion is a world-famous mesmerist who travels the globe performing a renowned stage show. I’ve been thinking for a while about his backstory and have started posting a character blog for him. A page ripped from his journal serves as an “extra” in issue two of the comic-book series. So, how could it be possible that with all of this history there are no examples of a poster from one of his stage shows? Well, if you’ve been pondering that question for years as I have, you’ll be happy to know that gap has been filled. We’re going to do a limited five-color silkscreen print run of these babies in the next couple of weeks. But meanwhile, feast your eyes on this baby by Tim Doyle, artiste extraordinaire, ladies and gentlemen!

Yesterday was a complete whirlwind. We scheduled two more screenings at the Alamo, before the opening screenings of Alice in Wonderland March 5, 6, and 7 and Kick-Ass April 16, 17, and 18. We confirmed that the Live-Action Graphic Novel will play Comicpalooza in Houston the weekend of March 26. Moreover, we’re going to be holding some in-school assemblies and workshops with kids at a couple of Austin elementary schools in May (I’m particularly psyched about this).

Oh yeah, we have a special top-secret-for-now announcement we’re making on Feb. 18.

For more details on all Nemesis events, click HERE.

Tim Doyle strikes again. One change that’s going to happen between these pages and the final versions is that the lettering on the sign in the marketplace is going to be in Arabic. Right now it’s in Hebrew, which isn’t quite right either for the time period (1933) or the location (Tunis). That’s why we edit! You can see all the black-and-white pages as they get drawn HERE.

For me, this is really magic. Taking the words from a script, translating them into lines that make images, then seeing those images become windows into another world when color is added. Each person in the collaborative process brings his own sensibility to the project–without any one of them (story, line, color) the puzzle just doesn’t fit. I’m incredibly lucky to be working with such amazing collaborators as Tim Doyle and Lee Duhig. Here are a couple of pages to give a sense of what I’m talking about…

Okay, I admit it. I never read Treasure Island. It was a big book, a classic, written over 100 years ago, hence, probably boring. Boy, was I wrong. This book is GREAT. Ever wonder when the phrase “shiver me timbers” entered the common lexicon? Ever wonder where the image of a pirate with a parrot comes from? Ever wonder where “yo ho ho and a bottle of rum” comes from? Ever eat at Long John Silver’s? Well, you’re smart, you put two and two together already: it’s all from Treasure Island. You could never make this into a movie nowadays because it all became such popular imagery that now it’s cliche. But I read it this past weekend and simply couldn’t put it down. There’d be no Intergalactic Nemesis without this book because Treasure Island is like the granddaddy of pulp adventure stories. Go to the library, get a copy, and read it!.

And, of course, I can help but think of another island that’s deeply in need of treasure, so below is pasted from a message I got from Austin Film Society. Do your part!

Austin Ventures & Entrepreneurs Foundation Match Gifts for Haiti Relief

In light of the devastation in Haiti, Austin Ventures (“AV”) and the Entrepreneurs Foundation (“EF”), have launched the High-Tech HelpHaiti Fund. $600k has been raised from Austin high-tech leaders to match 1:1 donations. The match is open to everyone. Donors to the match include Philip & Donna Berber, Isabel & Dave Welland, The Meredith Family, The Garber Family, Silicon Labs, Inc., EF and friends, and AV.

Given the critical nature of this past weekend, we wired $250k on Friday, even before receiving the match donations. These monies were split evenly between Partners in Health (@PIH_org) and Concern Worldwide (@ConcernWorld). Both groups have long histories in Haiti and are making a difference on the ground today.

HelpHaiti – consider donating to Haiti relief services and having your contribution matched by Austin High-Tech leaders ($600k available), click HERE.

This is definitely one of the coolest parts of working on the book: seeing the black and white artwork come to life through color. Lee (our colorist) emailed me asking me what time of day this scene below takes place in. I told him that it should be bright, safe daylight at the top, but get ominous as the sun sets. I’m particularly in love with what Lee did with the full-bleed panels on these pages. Note the blank piece of paper shown on p. 16–when our letterer strikes, that will become a telegram.

You can check out all the color pages as they come in HERE.

Just in case you were wondering if we are really serious about completing a 7-book series by the end of the year, you can check out the thumbnails of all 22 pages of Issue Three: Into the Mouth of the Beast. I’m a total sucker for cool DVD extras, and that’s how I’m looking at these posts (and the posting of the b/w drawings and color pages without letters). A huge part of the fun for me doing this is being a part of the creative process. Here’s how it works:

I’ve broken down the stage play into seven sections. Then, section by section I adapt the stage version into the comic book issues, adding visually what’s in the past been described in dialogue, trimming the dialogue to its bare essence, and also finding new comic-book-appropriate ways of telling the story (for example, there are a lot more action scenes in the comic book, which in the radio drama would have sounded like pure cacaphony).

Then, Tim and I meet to talk through the entire script and he sketches out the thumbnails, making sure that what I wrote actually works on the illustrated page. Once I approve the thumbnails, Tim draws the book in a mix of blue pencil (which doesn’t show up on his scanner) and ink (which does). He scans the final pages into his computer to send to the colorist who picks it up from there. Once the book is colored, I go back through the dialogue and tweak and tease it to make it really tight with the visual storytelling. Then we send it to the letterer who adds that final, cool step.

Voila! A comic book!

Here are a couple of the thumbnails and you can check out the whole thing HERE.

The signing went great. David Wyatt took some photos, so as soon as I get them, I’ll post ‘em. But a ton of people came out–thanks, all of you! Got to see some old friends I haven’t seen in a looooonnng time and met a bunch of new friends, too. Fun!

Big-time thanks to Austin Books & Comics for hosting!