Archive for June, 2009

Friday, June 12th, 2009

melvin_postcard

Hello there, interweb readers and Lone Star Press fans. There is a new competition up at ZUDA and I have a strip running. Its called The Urban Adventures of Melvin Blank and it is a collaboration between myself and Thom Zahler. Among other things, Thom does the LOVE and CAPES comic and does some of the work on the SIDECHICKS webcomic.

Getting the whole strip down the road and on the ZUDA page has been pretty fun. I wrote it as a complete 4 page story and Thom did everything else. The inspiration was a little bit of HERBIE and a little bit of LENNY from OF MICE AND MEN. Here is the long version of the pitch–

“Melvin Blank has the mind of a child and the strength of a brute. After the passing of his parents, he lives in his Mother’s house in the heart of a big decaying city. He works as a dishwasher at a nearby greasy spoon and he has his urban adventures as he travels to and from work. Melvin thinks its hilarious that the mass transit system he rides, the City Area Rapid Transit System, is called “the CART”, but he doesn’t understand why a nearby diner is called “Joe Mama’s”. In a world of grays, Melvin sees things in black and white. Good and bad. Day and night. Cereal and pizza.

Melvin is pretty sure that the house down the street is haunted, but don’t worry, he plans to do something about it. He is in love with a beautiful co-worker who has an abusive boyfriend, for now. He is selling items from his parent’s estate to pay for an elaborate headstone for the pair. At home, he has an angry cat named SOCKS and he never, ever misses SPACE PATROL RANGER. Melvin is absolutely sure that he is living the American Dream and he wants to share it with the rest of the people in his neighborhood whether they like it or not.

The first story is a complete eight screen story. It has a beginning, middle, and an end. Melvin is like that, he likes things simple.

Melvin Blank features a script by Bill Williams (SideChicks) and art & colors by Thom Zahler (Love & Capes).”

I would appreciate it if you would go to the ZUDA page and view and vote. Call us your favorite!

Thom and I were interviewed here– http://ncane.com/hvs2

Info on LnC– http://www.loveandcapes.com/

Here’s MELVIN. Go VOTE!– http://www.zudacomics.com/node/1220

Thanks for reading.

Bill Williams

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Lankhmar Book One: Swords And Deviltry- Over

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

fritz-lieber

I came to the sword and sorcery fiction of Fritz Lieber relatively late in the game. Last year I enjoyed reading the Chaykin/ Mignola comic adaptation of the material and decided to go back to the source books. In this important work, I can see the roots of entire schools of fantasy literature. But since I just read the comics, the stories have no sense of immediacy. It is like I just read the cliff notes, so the entire experience leaves me with a bit of disquiet in the back of my mind. If stories about monstrous sorcerers, thieves guilds and doomed princesses are your cup of tea, do yourself a favor and read the books first. Not knowing the ending is better.

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The Last Detective: Complete Collection- Way Over

Monday, June 8th, 2009

last-detective

Peter Davison plays Detective Constable Dangerous Davies with wit and charm as the rest of the world dumps on him in this excellent series. He is a dogged everyman who runs down every lead and checks every fact until an answer appears to him. The tone is light-hearted without making fun of anyone and serious without dragging. The seventeen mysteries on the discs unspool at a reasonable rate and the crimes ring with authenticity. The sidekick Mod is played by Sean Hughes and the estranged wife is played by Emma Amos.

The term ‘Last Detective’ comes from a little speech given to Davies by his boss who tells him that when an interesting case crosses his desk, that Davies swill be the last detective who comes to mind. It is excellent counter-programming to the brilliant detectives and the hard as nails investigators that fill the mystery genre.

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FLASH: Rebirth #1- Under

Monday, June 8th, 2009

250px-flash_rebirth_variant

Something about this comic left me cold and it was the feeling that I had seen it all before. The writer’s playbook is pretty well known and the checklist is here so take note. Graphic murder- check. Tragedy added to non-tragic character- check. Mancrush on Hal Jordan- check. Will probably read better in trade- check.

The art was a bit static in places, but effective overall.

I had passed on this comic the first time around. But temptation raised its head when I got a free copy. That free comic seems to have vaildated my initial misgivings about playing with this particular character.

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