Book List: March 2014

4. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

Well, I'm almost done with this giant Mark Twain book--only one story left, and it's the shortest by about 50 pages. Connecticut Yankee, on the other hand, was the longest...but significantly more engaging than, say, the Prince and the Pauper.

I hadn't read it before, and enjoyed it quite a bit. I thought the way the Boss's adventures ended was a little weak, but the story had to be wrapped up somehow. Overall, well worth the read, both on its own merits and because it's Mark fucking Twain and I shouldn't have to justify it any farther, you heathens.

Let's Meet Critical Mass

Making a bit of progress this morning, as I've made it to the first appearance of one of Beacon City's other villains. I'm trying to tweak him a bit from most of his appearances, in an effort to explore one of the weird thoughts I've had about this project. Also to help differentiate him from another villain I'll be introducing later down the road.

They made their way through the crowd, with most people giving them as wide a berth as possible. But that's to be expected, since Isaac Rothschild was one of the city's most feared villains.

Also, he generated radiation. People usually don't like to be around someone who does that.

The nearby crowd was in no danger, of course. The radiation was gathered and stored by Isaac's metallic gloves, where it was converted into energy that could then be fired at convenient targets. These atomic blasts, paired with his unbridled scorn, had earned him the name “Critical Mass.”

Book List: February 2014

3. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

I last read this in...junior high, maybe? High school at the latest...but I was still kind of surprised at how little I remembered. I knew about Huck and Jim and the raft, and they spent some time on Jackson Island...and that was pretty much it. So it was almost like reading a new book.

Also, Tom Sawyer is a *dick.*

Time to stop being such a load, I guess.

Total word count: Somewhere around 2000 (officially 2017, but that includes some notes and things.)

I mostly got this bit written on Wednesday, with a few additions on Thursday. It's not great in written form, but should work well as a page in a comic book--lot of crowd shots as we spotlight some of the important figures in Beacon City. Some of these people will be important later.

Narration provided by Brenda and Pablo (they have last names, I assure you,) hosts of KBCN-TV's morning show and possibly also news anchors as well. They're very talented.

Oh hai

So, yeah. No progress made this weekend--busy with other writing things on Friday and Sunday; social engagements on Saturday. Monday was just...meh.

Perhaps today will be better. I've borrowed several jazz records; maybe those will help.

Punchline Q&A

While a lot of you are familiar with my lead character, many of you aren't. So I wrote some questions and then some answers about Punchline, to help you get familiar with him. These questions mostly have to do with his back story. Ideally, in a longer comic series, I would go back and write about some of these things in story form...but since the past isn't going to be the main focus of the story, I'm safe in throwing it all in here now.

If you've got questions about him (or anything else relating to the setting and/or history) ask away, and I shall answer as best I can. It'll be fun!

Day 9: No Clever Subtitle.

Managed some semi-outlining today, to hopefully make future work go easier. Unfortunately, it will still be work.

The plan for Act 2 is to set the stage for the modern story--showing off Beacon City and some of the major characters--while also showing how important the Cowboy was to the city. Act 3 will be "shit happens, someone's gotta deal with it, and who you gonna call?"

Yeah, I dropped a Ghostbusters 2 reference. You can't stop me.