The Overman

Sequel Update

2011-03-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

127 pages and 2300 words written as of today. Here's an excerpt:

    “This my usual medicine cocktail?”
    “Yes.”
    “What do you think might happen,” Hedley said, “If I decide to spill its contents on the floor?”
    The bio-mech assistant looked at Hedley, without any detectable expression, until finally contorting its face in an effort to convey concern and confusion. The result was a mash-up of folded metal that turned its visage into a giant, meaningless smear.
    “I don’t know. Why would you do that?”
    Hedley smelled the familiar candy scent of the medicines wafting up from the cup.
    “To break the pattern.” Hedley quietly said, almost to himself. He lifted the cup away from his lips, his hand quivering from a combination of age and fear.
    “To break the pattern.” The bio-mech repeated, almost reverently, as though reciting words in a solemn ritual.
    Hedley poured the contents of the cup over the ceramic tiled floor of the corridor. He watched the blue stuff drift into the canals between the stones, extending outward like a grid.
    “That’s right. Starting now, nothing can be predicted. Nothing can be planned.” Hedley said, and resumed his slow, painful walk. The bio-mech trailed close behind him, protectively.
    “Chaos.” The bio-mech said.
    With a shocked expression, Hedley stopped and turned to look at the automaton.
    “What did you say?”
    “Chaos. You are describing the concept of chaos.”
    Hedley stared at the bio-mech, incredulous.
    “What is your codec?”
    “I don’t have one.”
    Hedley thought about that for a moment, slowly shaking his head as though trying to come to terms with a monumental oversight.
    “We’re going to have to give you a name.” he said, and then turned back to the business at hand… putting one foot in front of the other.

Sequel Update

2011-01-20T18:38:00.000-08:00

The C-shield of the room was translucent enough to allow L/E to view the hanger deck beyond it. The place was strewn with dozens of slaughtered OMAKON agents, many of which had been hacked to death with knives and swords, or impaled with arrows. Sections of the hull were warped into abstract ruins; obvious after-effects of discharged sonic rifles. In the end, L/E could see, brute savagery had overcome her trained and well-armed comrades.

A few more clues to what's brewing in the novel at this stage. A lot of this stuff will get rewritten later, but it's the foundation that's important right now. Once I get a first draft finished (hopefully soon), I'll probably take time to openly weep, and then dive back into this to do a bunch of rewrites.

Sequel Update

2011-01-13T20:05:00.000-08:00

The manuscript is growing, and I'm feeling more and more confident about the project, now that I'm sort of at the point of no return with it. I think that every writer must intuitively know at what point they should fully commit themselves to a book, or perhaps scrap it and move on to something else. It was very difficult for me to face this novel, knowing that it would be the most complex and ambitious thing I've ever attempted. I wasn't certain at the time that I could or even should write it, for a number of reasons that I'll go into detail about later on. I have absolutely no doubts about it now, however.

HEDLEY:”I have access to the OMAKON Library. I wrote the damned thing. Regardless, I'll accept your challenge, although we both know I’ll die before I know those truths.”

A fragment from the start of Chapter II. I realize these excerpts are virtually meaningless, which is exactly why I'm posting them.

Sequel Update

2010-12-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here at my desk, determined to not only vanquish this bottle of wine, but finish writing at least 5 pages tonight.

"It was a key, a symbol, a pattern of a shape that directed him.  It was an aberration of iconography that delved deeper into his brain, scattering everything he had known in favor of a simple image of a circle, cleanly broken at its end, with an arrow pointing back to its origin."

I'm finding the process of writing this novel a unique challenge, because I'm essentially referencing The Overman graphic novel as though it were ancient legend. The idea is to introduce readers to the graphic novel as a back-story, beneath the main plot unfolding in the novel. It's an odd balancing act, and I'm finding myself shuffling chapters around, which I hadn't expected to do--but so far I'm happy with the pacing. It's in such an unrefined condition at the moment, but the foundation is building up nicely. As of tonight, I have 54 pages written (nearly 10,000 words).

Sequel Update

2010-12-08T20:58:00.000-08:00

I'm 44 pages into the novel, as of today.

    “One can only hope that these discrepancies in the OMAKON library will be overlooked.  One can suggest the ruin of Earth, or that we are led by the malevolent spirit of our founder…as long as no one goes digging too deeply into the master data tubes.  Deflect suspicion in any way.  Re-focus their attention into less problematic studies.  If all else fails, I can very quietly enact the ultimate failsafe against dangerous truths: historical revisionism.” 

     --OMAKON PRESIDENT IANN  ‘unverified statements’

And there you have it. The first excerpt from the new book. I know, I said I wouldn't post excerpts, but the temptation is too great.

Sequel Update

2010-12-07T06:18:00.000-08:00

I've decided to move forward with writing the novel, which I began working on last year, but put in deep freeze due to other projects. Now, I've determined that it's not only a viable concept, but a necessary one-- for a number of reasons, which I'll explain in a future blog post. For now, I'm steadily chopping away at the story, and feel like I have some momentum building as I'm re-acquainting myself with The Overman and its various concepts. My intention is to further explore and expand upon the ideas from the graphic novel, while introducing new elements that will hopefully allow this work to stand on its own legs. I realize that I'm attempting something that is pretty unique and unusual; writing a sequel in prose form, based on a graphic novel. I don't know if this has ever been accomplished in the past, but in the case of The Overman, it really is the best way for me to tell the kind of story I have planned. That's not to suggest this novel can't be successfully adapted to comic book format (The Overman was an adaptation from an unpublished novel I wrote in 2001), but my primary goal at the moment is to get this story written. Period. I'll reveal more details here later about my publishing plans, once the manuscript itself is finished. In the meantime, I've decided to utilize this blog as a project journal for the sequel, and I plan to share some of those experiences here. I won't be revealing any story details or direct excerpts from the book, but I may start posting a few of my concept sketches related to the novel. They are so bizarre and unrecognizable that I'm not too concerned they could act as 'spoilers'. If nothing else, it could be enough to at least raise a few eyebrows...and keep you coming back for more.

Updates

2010-11-08T20:18:00.000-08:00

I've been keeping busy. If you enjoyed The Overman (and I'm assuming you did, if you took the time to find this blog), then I hope you'll take a look at what I've been up to since then. In February 2010, my first work at Marvel was published, SON OF HULK: CONQUEST OF JARELLA'S WORLD, a 4-issue mini-series written by me, with art by Miguel Munera. If you missed it, you can find it collected as part of the REALM OF KINGS Hardcover book, which includes my story along with the main Realm of Kings story arc. Currently, I'm writing INCREDIBLE HULKS: ENIGMA FORCE, a follow-up to the events of Conquest. This 3-issue mini-series is out right now, and you might still be able to find the first and second issues at your local comic shop. The third and final issue will hit next month. More info at www.marvel.com

Over at my site, www.websbestcomics.com, I'm always updating it with news as it happens, as I'm wrapping up the Marvel projects and hunkering down to resume work on my large-scale graphic super hero novel project SOADU (Working Title) and, yes...a sequel to The Overman.

I have no clear plans what will happen with the sequel; I just know that it is a story that I feel needs a 2nd Act, which will hopefully serve to further expand the saga and delve even deeper into things which should be impossible to avoid, yet equally impossible to truly fathom. I have several pre-production concept sketches in the works, and a very rough synopsis that I'm whipping into shape...and a bunch of ideas that are in an embryonic stage. Mainly, I want to see how far I can take the idea of an Overman sequel, through my sketches and notes, and determine whether it could be a viable story that can not only surpass its predecessor, but can stand successfully on its own...

SR

The End Of The Future at San Diego & Chicago Comic-Cons!

2009-07-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

July 22, 2009

The future ends here: San Diego Comic-Con International and Wizard World Chicago Comic-Con! THE OVERMAN trade paperback will be on sale directly from its creators this summer at the biggest comic conventions in the world! First up on the 'End of The Future' tour is Shane White, who will be a guest at San Diego Comic-Con from July 23-26, booth 1528. Find out exactly why critics raved about this 5-issue sci-fi mini-series from Image Comics:

"This book has more imagination in its first few issues than most
books have in their entire series."
- Ain't It Cool News

"A story that promises to be grand in scope."
- Broken Frontier

"Reed and White have managed to collaborate on something special:
a first issue of a non-shared-universe title...that leaves you impatiently awaiting the next installment."
- Newsarama

"Riveting. I couldn't put it down. Love the tone, love the designs, love the characters."
- Mark Waid, writer DC Comics Kingdom Come

"...A deep and riveting chronicle...Reed and White have created a believable future in a few short pages."
- Silver Bullet Comics

"...One hell of an opener...an imaginative read with plenty of characters and hints of more to come."
- ComicPants

"Were this turned into a movie, I do believe that it would be an instant hit and classic."
- RedCanComics

"This book is a hidden gem, one of the best new series I've read in ages."
- Gail Simone, Writer DC Comics Wonder Woman

Next up on the tour of future destruction is Scott Reed, who will be a guest at Wizard World Chicago Comic-Con August 6-8. Like Shane, Scott will be revealing the one book of 2009 that will guarantee to leave you speechless, and desperate for more. It's just too bad that you won't get any more. These guys weren't kidding when they proclaimed The Overman as 'A Final Vision Of The Future'. The trade paperback will be available for purchase at both of these great conventions, and signed by its respective creators. For a preview of The Overman, visit www.theovermancomic.com, or to learn more about its creators, go to www.websbestcomics.com and www.shanewhite.com The Overman is written by Scott Reed, illustrated by Shane White and published by Image Comics.

THE OVERMAN TPB On Sale April 1

2009-01-28T06:11:00.000-08:00

The Overman Trade Paper Back edition will be out April 1st, from Image Comics. This is the capstone to a 20-year effort that Shane and I can finally put to rest. I promise that after you read it, you'll be changed into a broken shell of humanity. However, I strongly believe that everyone should totally reinvent themselves at least once. In many ways, this story is about the struggle of reinvention, and you might pick up on this and other themes between all the destruction. The Overman TPB collects all 5 issues, along with a lot of early concept art. It's available now in Previews, and you can find out much more about The Overman here at http://www.theovermancomic.com/ or at http://www.imagecomics.com/

Notes from the Field: Last Call

2008-04-11T18:14:00.001-07:00

This will probably be the last post from me on this site as there's nothing more to say but "thanks." Especially to those who supported the series and took an interest in =THE OVERMAN=.

As of this past week I've one less skeleton in my closet thanks to everyone at Image, especially Eric Stephenson for trusting the work we were to embark on over these past two years. I really don't know if he knew what he was getting into but with persistant pestering I think I heard him say that, "I think =THE OVERMAN= is really good." At least that's what the 24 track in my head recorded.

For those who missed the series, talk to your LCS I'm sure if they're worth their salt they'll get you copies ASAP!

As for a trade all I can say is keep watching from Image, until the edict is passed down by the good graces of those in power, your guess is as good as mine. Truthfully I think the book would read so much better as a trade. If I had it my way, I'd love to see it as an over-sized hardcover like Casanova...but most likely I will not have my way.

Finally I'd like to thank Scott for relinquishing as much control as he did for me to put imaginary flesh and bones to the story that has been haunting his soul for years. At the very least we're still on speaking terms if only for brief moments as the law will allow.

=s=

The Story Behind The Writing: BOOK V IN COMIC SHOPS APRIL 2.

2008-04-02T04:26:00.000-07:00

Today marks the end of a 20-year mission. For those who have followed this blog since its beginning, you'll know that The Overman is a story that has been with Shane and I for a very long time. We've molded this project over the years, into a concept that has been at times frustratingly just out of reach, or completely unattainable due to a variety of factors. But we never gave up on it entirely. In fact, we kept coming back to The Overman, with strange determination and a need to see the story completed. Book V, the final issue, is in comic shops today.

Although this story has ended, there are new things on the horizon, and I'll be writing about them here at http://www.theovermancomic.com/ in the days ahead. I don't want to give too much away just now, but since I've already alluded to a sequel in a couple of interviews and on a forum or two, I might as well mention it again today. Yes, there is a planned sequel to The Overman. I can't say for sure who will draw it, or when it will see print, but I'm currently writing a novelization, and I'm a little over 5,000 words into it. I plan to publish at least some of that novel here. That novel will eventually be turned into a comic script. Beyond that, the only thing I know with certainty is that it won't take 20 years to complete this time around.

Despite these plans, there is a sense of closure happening for me today. I want to thank all of the hardy souls who faithfully followed all 5 issues of The Overman. We received many supportive emails and comments over the last several months, and your enthusiasm is really what kept me going. A special thank you to the folks at Image Comics, who believed in what we were attempting, and gave us this opportunity to reach a larger readership. Lastly, thanks to Shane White, who I'm pretty much indebted to for the rest of my life now. Crap. Seriously, the severity in which Shane threw himself into this project cannot be understated. Even though I wrote this story, Shane White is The Overman, in the same way that Roger Daltrey was Tommy. Simply put, he took my script and owned it. Rock on!

So even though The Overman is, well, over, I'll still be doing what I can to promote this work, among my other projects. I'll be a guest at the Tampa Comic Book & Toy Convention on April 13th. Hope to see you there!

Notes from the Field: The End of the Future is HERE!

2008-03-26T23:02:00.000-07:00

This time next week an odyssey of twenty years will finally come to rest and I'm pretty damn glad. I think you will be too, because for those who stuck it out and bought each and every issue...you'll want to go back and reread the whole thing from front to back cover from BOOK I to BOOK V.

WHY? Who said that?

I'll tell you why because perception is a funny thing and repetition is a kind mistress who puts out. In this case particularly you'll be rewarded more than you know. I'm stating this simply out of fact. At first glance the story was off-putting, the characters bizarre arch-types and the world was oddly familiar.

How are they all connected?

They're all connected in the simplest way...but nothing is ever what it seems at first. You see like a magician, we don't want to show you how the trick is done before you've seen it. Likewise the buildup to a good story should lay out and feed the audience bits of intrigue, questions, while keeping all the interesting elements moving forward toward a final resolution. But you know all this...it's just that many other forms of entertainment made you soft, didn't require you to think and become involved.

By the time you finish =THE OVERMAN= BOOK V I truly believe you'll share a unique feeling that only both Scott and myself have experienced reading that last page. We've been alone in this until now and we're quite excited to share the experience with you.

Then again, everyone's interpretation is different. But I guarantee if you reread the entire series, you'll actually see how simple of a story it truly is. No rabbits in the hat, no cards up our sleeves, what you think you witnessed may be just another version of a perceived reality. Hopefully you've found something rewarding in what we've crafted for you.

Let us know right here what you thought.

=s=

The Story Behind The Writing: The Overman at MySpace

2008-03-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

The Overman #1 FULL ISSUE online at MySpace! We've held off on promoting The Overman MySpace site here, until the home stretch. We're now less than 30 days away from the conclusion of our critically acclaimed, 20-years in the making journey that landed with Image Comics in December 2007. It's been an incredible 4 months, and even if you are ready for The End Of The Future, that doesn't mean you shouldn't stop by the MySpace and say hello, or better yet, add us to your friends list and help spread the warning! If you're new to The Overman, or just kicking yourself for not pre-ordering the first issue, now's your chance to read it for free! Just go to http://www.myspace.com/overmancomic and click on 'Pics'. From there, you can read the first issue in its entirety!

The Story Behind The Writing: Book IV Out on Wednesday.

2008-03-03T20:56:00.000-08:00

Instead of sending out the usual press release, I thought I would just write an informal blog post bulletin, and encourage you to pick up The Overman Book IV, arriving in comic shops this Wednesday. Book IV is the engine breaking down, the center falling apart, the collision of unseen forces against unstoppable determination and cold futility. We all get to see it unfolding in Pittsburgh, in the year 2135. It's yet another jam-packed issue of oddities and explosive events, leading you to 'The End of The Future'.

From PREVIEWS:
The Atomic Clock reveals a mind-altering, horrific truth to the renegade Nathan Fisher. He and Dr.Annita Gray battle Omakon agents in a high speed, explosive chase, while The last living Demolator is lured into a trap that will seal the fate of all Mankind.

There's a new review of Book III at RedCanComics. The goal has always been to give people what they didn't know they wanted, and then keep pulling them back for more. We're thrilled to see this 20-years in the making project finally fully realized, with our original vision of the story uncompromised and published pretty much exactly as we intended. Thank you Image Comics. That in itself is something worth noting here, since there's always that risk of losing sight of the most important elements in a story once things are set in motion, and you start worrying about target audiences and appealing to the masses, and hoping that enough people 'get it'. I see a lot of stuff out there that is contrived and built around a marketing premise, rather than just being an honest work of art, for better or worse. I'm encouraged to see so many positive reactions to this work, from the comics press and comics community, to the brave readers who took a chance on The Overman and keep coming back for more of it.

To coincide with the March 5 release date of Book IV, we have a brand new flash trailer and a 10-page preview at http://www.theovermancomic.com/.

WARN OTHERS.

SR

Notes from the Field: Field of Dreams

2008-02-14T12:30:00.000-08:00

It's been quiet around here and over a month and half has gone by since I finished work on THE OVERMAN. But in that time life reared its ugly head and tapped me on the shoulder with the force of a 9 lb. hammer. Glad it all waited for me to get my head out of fantasy land.

As I get each box of my contributor copies I realize that there was a time when all I could think about was finishing the book in my hands. Each page sparks a memory of struggle with time management and my waking life. Yet each page unfolds like a filmic dream drawing together a mass of great ideas and beautiful landscapes. It was amazing how important it was for me to complete at the time. Nothing could hold a candle to it.

I think now, that I have a little better perspective, I can see how unimportant and insignificant ideas can be if there is no audience for them. I'm glad THE OVERMAN has found its audience.

It reminds me of a heavy metal band that I was really into in the 80s-90s. Manowar, were the godfathers of what they called, "true metal", think Nordic mythology, Carmina Barana, and the Conan the Barberian soundtrack put to heavy metal riffs and lyrics. At first glance yeah, you'd think they were off their nut. But their belief in the work they did and committment in delivering it was solid.

Once hailed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Loudest band on earth. I was in the crowd of one of there shows with no more than 150 people on the outskirts of Pittsburgh. They rocked like they were in a stadium. The wall of familiar sound threatened to tear down the building from its base. It was the best concert I'd ever seen. They were beyond committment, they lived a warriors code...as much as you can while touring I guess. Their sincerity rose them above ridiculousness to a point of reverie.

Why does this relate? For starters anyone with a solid original idea and the committment to make that idea happen will find an audience. No matter if it's one, or 100,000 the gratitude to have that audience doesn't change either. It's because of our belief in THE OVERMAN that nothing is insignificant about what we did nor the few loyal fans we have. And some of those cats are crazed let me tell you.

But like many of the people who sit on the sidelines and shake their head as to why there is such devotion, it's because they choose a more commonly tread path. A mushy path of sameness and familiarity that leads only to inaneness and boredom.

Our culture is so hellbent on being individually different that we all shop at the different stores, and buy the different music only to end up really the same. That to me is boredom. I'd rather be "original" than waste cycles being different for different sake.

THE OVERMAN is original, not different as much as oddly familiar.

=s=

The Story Behind The Writing: Book III Review at ComicsBulletin!

2008-02-07T05:41:00.000-08:00

The Overman Book III landed on comic shop shelves yesterday, and has been reviewed today by Matthew McLean at ComicsBulletin.com. Go here to read it. And then go directly to your local comic shop and demand this book!

This is, in some ways, my favorite issue, because it leads us into some pretty intense action, while making a slow reveal toward the truth behind Omakon's stolen data tube, Nathan's reckless descent into the unknown, and the bizarre destiny of the last living Demolator, Dmitri Leonov. If your comic shop didn't pre-order The Overman, or it's sold out, just ask them to order a copy for you. We only have 2 more issues to go until the world is witness to 'The End Of The Future'. And if you've already suffered psychological or physiological damages as a result of reading this series, please refer back to the disclaimer on the inside front cover of Book I.

Don't say we didn't warn you.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: THE OVERMAN BOOK III

2008-02-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

THE OVERMAN BOOK III IN STORES FEBRUARY 6.

We're half-way to the End Of The Future, as the third issue in this 5-part science-fiction mini-series from Image Comics hits comic shops on Wednesday, February 6! You'll never be ready for this, but you can at least get a glimpse of what is probably the most shocking installment yet, at http://www.theovermancomic.com/. We've posted a 10-page preview of Book III, along with a brand new flash trailer that might just send us all over the edge of sanity!

From PREVIEWS:
BETRAYAL MEANS DEATH! His fellow Omakon agents hunt hired killer Nathan Fisher, while he unravels a reality-exploding secret that could destroy the human race. Dr. Annita Grey returns to a city in panic, as Pittsburgh braces itself for an attack from a living weapon of mass destruction.

If you've missed out on The Overman, check out the latest review:

"This book is a hidden gem, one of the best new series I've read in ages. I can't recommend it highly enough. It's got enough ideas to give Grant Morrison a run for his money, and enough action to satisfy even the most jaded punch-junkie. Really a great read."
- Gail Simone, Writer DC Comics Wonder Woman

You can find more reviews, interviews and a regularly updated production blog at http://www.theovermancomic.com/

The Overman is published by Image Comics, written by Scott Reed and illustrated by Shane White.

http://www.imagecomics.com/

The Story Behind The Writing: After Effects

2008-01-29T05:02:00.000-08:00

With the fifth and final issue of The Overman now squared away with the printer, and knowing that this last issue will be on shelves in April, I'm having a weird depressed moment, a kind of creative decompression, a sense of closure, and certainly some semblance of validation for working so long on this project, and seeing it finally realized exactly as Shane and I intended.

The marketing engine continues, of course. I'm working on a new flash trailer for Book III for the first week of February, to coincide with the publication of the 3rd issue. We'll be updating the preview section of the site to include a few pages from that chapter, so you'll at least be able to brace yourself for what lies ahead in this story. But there's a strange quiet, an emptiness that I can't quite define, a shadow of a reminder that I can't shake loose. I feel drained. Perhaps I should read my own disclaimer on the inside front cover of the first issue. What if that disclaimer is true, after all? If reading this book may cause psychological or physiological 'alterations', then surely it has had some effect on its writer.

In the meantime, I've been doing 'busy work', in a sense. I'm revamping http://www.websbestcomics.com/ from the ground up, and working my way through a number of private commissions. I'm doing a little bit of writing on the side. But there's still that translucent void, a reflection of a shadow. I feel a little like Nathan Fisher, as he glimpses The Atomic Clock out of the corner of his eye, and is shown a symbol; a broken circle, with an arrow pointing down. If you've been reading The Overman, you've seen it too. We're all in this journey together, really. I know how The Overman will end, but I don't really have the answers to the mystery of it, or what its true purpose might be. It will always remain on the horizon, I think, a mirage, forever out of reach.

The Overman Book III arrives in comic shops February 6.

The Story Behind The Writing: I Am Not The Overman

2008-01-15T06:09:00.000-08:00

Despite their choice of title for the new interview with me at ComicsBulletin.com, I am not The Overman. Regardless, go check it out, as there are a few additional bits of info about upcoming issues that I haven't talked about elsewhere. No actual spoilers, sorry. Incidentally, The Overman #2 is in stores this month of January, not #3 as they reported in the interview. Book III hits shelves February 6th.

Notes from the Field: RE:READABILITY

2008-01-05T08:39:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning with a revelatory thought, something that may not have occured to anyone buying our book. We certainly know comics are expensive these days. And discerning buyers really have to make tough choices of which books to pick up or drop.

But let us talk about REPLAYABILITY!

My day job is working as a Cinematic Director at Sony Online Entertainment. Regardless we make games that people will want to play...over and over again. It's called replayability and a lot of game sites actually have that as part of their overall scoring mechanism. You probably already know this, since many comic readers tend to be gameheads too. I think the disconnect is we don't consider comics as a RE-READABLE resource. Which inherently can be if the work is deep and rich enough.

Our first logo way back in 2005.

Scott and I are big fans of a lot of the same kinds of entertainment. From films to comics we generally agree on the highwater marks and why they deserve to be as such. I believe this is our starting point when we jump into any creative endeavor, and =THE OVERMAN= is the first of it's kind. Meaning, we knew what wanted to do, and in our minds eye I think we were striving for something that could be re-visited time and time again.

We wanted =THE OVERMAN= to entertain us long after we finished the series.

Most modern comics are done on a monthly basis. The creative teams do not have the luxury of time to produce that kind of work time and time again. They may have a creator-owned series that they've really been able to develop. But I challenge you to find a comic today that has that REPLAY quality to it?

My initial attempts at modeling Dmitri in Maya.

By no means am I comparing our work to WATCHMEN. Watchmen is it's own comic culture icon. It was the perfect storm at the right time. However all things being equal we all know it's a dense story. I've reread it a couple of times and always pick up new things in it. Scott I believe has gone through three collected trades of the thing because he reads it so much. There's a lot to learn in that book.

You may say to yourself I'll wait for the trade when it comes to =THE OVERMAN= and I really do hope there is one. But because this series is so short I think you'll find that REREADABILITY factor creeping in and rewarding you sooner rather than later. We pack a lot in each issue and when you get the next issue, it may require reading the ones previous to it again, and then you'll start to see a much bigger picture emerging. By the time you get to the end...well I'll just say it's bigger than you think.

=s=

Notes from the Field: Can I Get A Witness?

2008-01-04T23:28:00.000-08:00

So =THE OVERMAN= BOOK II hit your local LCS today! I saw it and was really impressed at the way it turned out. I didn't want to spoil the experience when I get my comp copies, but at the very least I let myself flip through it to make sure it was all there.

During the course of getting the word out you never really know if you're being loud enough. Now two books into the experience and I'm still not sure if loud was the right note. Through my experience as a consumer, I'm a big fan of the underdog, the creator whose got promise and when I see something fresh, unique and well-done I want to be the first to 'discover' just how cool they are and let my friends know too. That's the marketing nobody can predict or plan.

So how does it happen? Are all consumers the same? Who knows for sure, and no we're as different as the number of products out there. That's the tough part of this game.

Take a book like Northlanders by Brian Wood. I don't remember the artist's but he's really good. The reason why I remember the writer, is because he's done a lot of stuff. He's been writing for years. So why didn't I buy DMZ? or LOCAL? I did buy The Tourist, and it was fine, I bought it more for the art of Toby Cypress. But what was the tipping point to get me to buy Northlanders? Oddly enough Vikings are hot this season...with two Beowulf based films on the tale end that Pathfinder movie...and now this comic. It was the first issue, so I made it a point to give it a try. His other stuff, the themes or what I know about them didn't intrigue me enough.

So it comes down to a matter of personal taste and the discretionary dollar really. Advertising I think is more like those carnival games you see at amusement parks. The fat chance that you're money and skill to beat the game for that big stuffed chemically-made animal has wide margins. The rarity is the same that your marketing assault will hit its intended audience.

Before Scott calls me out for being a bit of downer, let me just add this one thought. Wouldn't it be better to get in on the ground floor of a startup with very little risk, to see something grow and become profitable? What fosters creativity for us is that people are enjoying what we're doing...more to the point A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE ENJOYING WHAT WE'RE DOING! And the more that do the more we'll create. It's not like we're looking to run to Marvel or DC...(well I can't speak for Scott but considering the cool projects he's got cooking he wouldn't have the time) we're committed to doing the kind of unique quality books that just aren't out there.

We are floored that sooo many people have been on the forums and contacting us by email to say how much they love the books. My local comic shops ordered just as many copies of =The Overman= as they did Northlanders, hard to believe, right? But it's true, and they sold out of them as of today, when I went to find Book II.

Believe me we're not looking for hand-outs, everyone knows comics make little to no money. We're looking for an audience who isn't afraid of change. Who thinks that comics don't have to repeat themselves and 'fool' you again to believe that the story is going to be different when it's not. We really want to create an outreach program for wayward comic fans who at the very least love a great tale and don't mind coming back for seconds.

Much like theater, when the performance is done the play is only a memory of a moment in time.

=s=

The Story Behind The Writing: The Final Moments...

2007-12-31T08:25:00.000-08:00

Something incredible happened this weekend. I saw the 5th and final issue of The Overman. Of course, this wasn't the printed comic, but an emailed production pdf, which has yet to be edited and proofed. But regardless, there it was, on my computer screen.

There is something shocking, yet soul-emptying about this last issue. I can't put it into words, in a way that properly conveys what I'm going through here. I'm seeing the last pages of a story that has been with me for 20 years. I'm happy to see it finished, and finished right.

You'll have to wait until April to see the last issue for yourself, since Book II will be arriving in comic shops on January 4th. Don't worry, you have months ahead of you before the end. You have time to prepare. You have time to warn others.

I'll put this whole experience into perspective later, and plan for whatever lies ahead, I suppose. I can't really put this into words right now, without coming across as needlessly pretentious. After all, you haven't seen how this story ends. I have. You don't know what is waiting for you, in the final moments...
I hope you'll stay with us on the journey.

Notes from the Field: The End of the End

2007-12-28T16:35:00.000-08:00

I've finally made it to that elusive finish line. For the most part my work is done. Other than some lettering adjustment and uploading of files BOOK V is finished and I can now dream of sugar-plum faeries or whatever kids dream about during the holiday.

What the hell is a sugar-plum faerie anyway?

It's been a hard month of perserverance and I'm glad I found the strength somewhere within to see this through. I didn't think I'd really be able to do it on some level. My biggest fear was that the quality would suffer in my mad dash to the finish. But I think those fears are unfounded as I look again over the last 32 pages.

Here's the first page of the last book. Book II comes out next week, so this non-descript scene will mostly set a mood of things to come. The calm before the storm if you will. Well...it's time to take care of the details and wrap this all up.
Thanks for joining us on this journey. I know Scott has some pretty fun stuff cooking in the months to come. So stay tuned.

Oh and here's an interview I did with The Pulse: http://www.comicon.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/ubb/get_topic/f/36/t/006930.html

=s=

The Story Behind The Writing: Sequels and Christmas Shopping

2007-12-23T05:21:00.000-08:00

As we count down the days to the release of The Overman Book II, arriving the first week of January, I'm busy writing a sequel to The Overman mini-series. My main goal in mentioning this is for readers to understand that there is a larger story in the works, loosely connected to the events that unfold in The Overman. It could end up as another 5-issue mini-series, and is intended as a 'stand-alone' work, wrapped around a concept that I believe is just as powerful as its predecessor. If there's interest in this sort of thing, I may start posting excerpts from that after the 5 th and final issue of The Overman is on shelves. For now, I'm just writing it for myself. Come to think of it, everything I write is for myself, first and foremost. But back to the here and now...

Book II is one of my favorite chapters, probably because it opens right in the middle of the action, and I think we've created an even greater palpable sense of urgency in this issue. I hope you like it.

Christmas is just a few days away, which means like most of us, I'm busy with last minute shopping and preparations. This is the only time of year that I miss snow, because I've been a northerner for most of my life. Now that I'm a Floridian, I'll have to make do with the sunshine and the beach this weekend. I know, it's a rough life. I'm hopeful I'll have theovermancomic.com updated with a new flash featuring glimpses of the 2 nd issue, by January 1st. There will also be an 8 page preview that will replace the first issue preview currently online. If for some bizarre reason you haven't yet read the free preview of Book I, go there now before we take it down. As much as I'd like to keep all of the previews online, we really want to encourage everyone to seek out the actual printed comics, available at your local comic shop, for only $3.50.

Have a safe and merry Christmas! See you next year!

Notes from the Field: Success is in the Doing!

2007-12-15T14:52:00.000-08:00

I finally got my comp copies of =THE OVERMAN= Book I. The anticipation was masked by a fogginess and haze of burnout. My sleeping patterns are erattic and when I can't sleep I get back to work on the Book.

It's hard looking at work that one has done over a year ago. Especially the parts where you know what the problems are but had no choice but to let them go, lest you never finish anything.

An artist is one of those few people who work with perspective but most often lack perspective .

Suffice it to say I think it's a pretty attractive book overall, can't wait to see what happens in book two. I've gotten far enough along that I've completely forgot what has come before. Like I told Scott, I think my focus has been so much on this project that I've actually lost IQ points along the way. I can't think about anything else but the task at hand.

Moving forward is momentum, and stamina keeps you going. While my endurance has been quite good I think my stamina is slowing down. Sometimes it's cyclical but in this case I don't really know. I'm jazzed about some upcoming projects and I'm also jazzed at how this last book is turning out. Every issue for whatever reason seems to top the last in content and story. And in each issue there's a nice set piece that I think really delivers. This issue has several set pieces, but certainly doesn't lack in story. Right up until the last pages the bizarre and meaningful events continue to unfold, and the ending couldn't feel more right.

Here's a couple of sketches that people won over at the Comicspace contest I was holding:

Finishing these issues one by one is in and of itself the great reward. The act of seeing our vision through to the end the way we want is what comics has become. Having as many people read the effort is icing on the cake.

=s=

The Story Behind The Writing: Silver Bullet Comics Reviews The Overman #1

2007-12-10T17:43:00.000-08:00

Check out the review of The Overman #1, from Silver Bullet Comics. Or just read it below. The Overman #2 arrives in comic shops January 8. If you've already read The Overman #1, and know someone who would also like the book, you can head over to the home page and use our handy little 'send to a friend' feature. Just fill in the email address of someone you know who might want to read The Overman, and click SEND. Easy stuff. And it helps us WARN OTHERS about this mini-series. It's best to be prepared, don't you think?

From Silver Bullet Comics:

How can you not be intrigued by a book that promises the end of the world? Not the danger of the world ending, mind you, that's as common as unsalted butter. Overman, on the other hand, opens with a narrative that speaks of the destruction of the human race in the past tense. While this could simply be literary sleight of hand, the rest of the book is weird and disturbing enough that it might not be.

The story begins with Nathan Fisher, a thief of some kind, breaking into a cabin in rural Pennsylvania. Nathan is looking for something, but what that is isn't stated here, only that things don't turn out well for Nathan. While that alone is reason enough for the beginning to be alluring, it is doubly so because Reed and White have created a believable future in a few short pages. The year is 2135, and the differences between our time and the present of Overman are as subtle and great as the difference between 2007 and 1870. While there are things you'll recognize (firearms, ties), there are things that are completely alien. I doubt many people in this day and age would consider crawling into a learning machine that resembles a womb more than a computer. However, being a man of the 22nd century, Nathan crawls right in and launches readers into a story within his story.

This takes us to Exodus, part asylum, part prison, and Hellish enough that it sits in orbit rather than being built on solid ground. The dumping ground for Earth's psychopaths, the head of the facility, Dr. Grey, isn't what you'd expect; rather than some sadist looking to run a crazy factory, Dr. Grey appears to legitimately care about her wards, to the point where she is extremely skeptical when a corporation by the name of Omakon shows interest in purchasing Exodus. When the heads of Omakon arrive at the facility, the source of her caution becomes clear.

However, all of this pales at the introduction of what is presumably the Overman, Dmitri Leonov. Comatose after years of wearing a highly dangerous form of combat armor, Leonov's name is still spoken in hushed tones years after his disappearance and subsequent reappearance as a vegetable. As to what, exactly, Leonov did to earn such a fearsome reputation is only briefly stated here, but even as a unspeaking shell he still strikes fear into those that come near him.

While the narrative may be a bit confusing at times, this is only due to the fact that Reed and White have put the reader into the middle of two stories that are separate but intertwined. There's no heavy handed exposition, just a deep and riveting chronicle that the reader is thrust into by a thief in the night. Whatever it was that Nathan Fisher found in that Pennsylvania cabin, readers will want to know about it. This first issue is a great setup, promising an intriguing blend of noir, cyberpunk and apocalyptic goodness.

- Matthew McLean

If you liked this review, be sure to check out more of the author's work at http://madbastard.hypersites.com

The Story Behind The Writing: The Pulse

2007-12-08T06:02:00.000-08:00

Hoorah! The fine folks at The Pulse have just published my interview, conducted by Jennifer Contino. The Pulse has been a big supporter of my webcomic efforts over the years, and thankfully they've taken notice of my first writing credits for a major comics publisher. The momentum seems to be building, as The Overman #1 is now on comic shop shelves throughout the country, and online reaction continues to be overwhelmingly positive. I hope you'll get a chance to pick up a copy before these things are gone. And remember, if your LCS sold out, or didn't stock it, just ask them to order a copy. They'll only order what they think they'll sell, so it's up to you to make sure they keep the pre-orders strong for all 5 issues.

As I mentioned here before, Shane and I are coming out of left field with this book, and I believe we've caught a lot of people by surprise. I do believe that The Overman is worth every penny of the $3.50 price point; it's densely packed, and has NO ads. It also helps to have some mind-blowing artwork, and Shane has delivered this in a way that I've personally never seen before, or would have guessed possible, to be honest.

Watch for a preview of The Overman Book II at http://www.theovermancomic.com/ in a few days. We'll also unveil a new flash animation on the home page, which will feature glimpses of art from the second issue (which I promise will be even more shocking than the first issue).

Notes from the Field: What I Learned On The Way To The Finish Line!

2007-12-05T21:21:00.000-08:00

I'm not out of the woods quite yet. I'm still finishing the last three pages of inks on BOOK V while BOOK I sits on a shelf somewhere other than Seattle.

It's true. The surrounding area has had delays what with the flooding and all on the main I-5 thorough fare. Nor did I receive contributor copies of the book. Essentially I have no thunder to steal and my race across the finish line holds no real glory as the finish line was moved 10 more miles down the road.

The last 10% takes 90% of the effort. Don't forget that.

Far be it for me to imbue infinite wisdom from my trials and tribulations on doing something I truly love, but as we all know or will learn; love kills. It's right up there with heart disease.

Rule One: Never set a deadline if you're not getting paid. No reason for it. Well...part of my reason was for my "sanity". I wanted to be finished with everything and start 2008 anew. Will that happen...it might, if I finish this entry and get back to the grind.

Rule Two: Do not hold down a full-time job and give yourself a deadline. Luckily I'm not working entirely full-time, but I thought I'd throw it anyway. Especially if your job pays a living wage. Comics is a career or a hobby, but you have to choose one.

Rule Three: Know when to let go of the details that someone else can handle. Scott's pulled some things around that I thought would not work and I had written them off. I know, bad form, mistrust...and all that but in the end it's about eat what's on your plate, learn to deligate, like it or not, at least it's getting done and always say thank you.

Rule Four: Be on top of your marketing so much so that it's as if you had planned it in tandem with the book. I think my efforts early on in this really helped set the path and we were able to keep adding to it along the way, building off a simple idea/concept and never straying. If you don't know how to market your book you'll have to learn pretty damn quick because no one will do it for you.

Rule Five: Never underestimate the power of friendship. Reaching out into the community in which you want to be accepted has paid of dearly in many ways. I've made good friends, great connections and oddly enough word of mouth is born from this and good impressions are infectious.

I could go on but I won't. I need to get back to it.

So if you've picked up Book I, write to us here, leave a comment tell us what you think. If you haven't please consider it, you may just surprise yourself how much you like it.

In terms of movies, you realize there are many genres of movies, right? And many film companies? I'd be hard-pressed to find someone who only watches action-movies from Warner Brothers. There are many good products outside of superheroes and outside of Marvel and DC, why not treat yourself and try something new?

=s=

The Story Behind The Writing: The Beginning Of The End

2007-12-05T17:06:00.000-08:00

We've been pantsed! There's a new review of The Overman #1 at http://www.comicpants.com/ You can go here to read it, or scroll down for the full review.

I hope you all had a chance to download Centuries In Metamorphosis, the exclusive online 'Making Of The Overman' that was available online for a brief 24 hours. We'll also have more online goodies to unveil next month, with the publication of the second issue. In the meantime, there's still time for you to buy The Overman #1, at your local comic shop. If you're new to comics, you can find your nearest comic shop by calling toll free 1-888-COMIC BOOK. Ask your comic shop if they carry The Overman, and if they don't...well, ask that they do.

From comicpants.com:

'That was one hell of an opener. The Overman is an imaginative read with plenty of characters and hints of more to come, but at its most basic, it's a science-fiction story about a greedy military corporation and a sentient ultimate weapon of mass destruction. It's full of touches that remind this reader of Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison and Alan Moore, from the demanding and clearly deranged naked psychic in a cage to direct-from-the-mind telepathic logs to a space station sized insane asylum. While the storytelling is reminiscent of the sci-fi flavor of the comic book British invasion, though, the artwork is pure '80s American comics, with influences seemingly including Mark Bright, John Byrne and Tom Mandrake. It's an unusual fusion, and the result is something new, a smart yet action-packed sci-fi series with some nice, foreboding promise in the hints of story to come.'

-- Randy Lander, Comicpants.com

The Story Behind The Writing: Centuries In Metamorphosis

2007-11-28T12:41:00.000-08:00

We're just a few hours away from the official release of The Overman #1, from Image Comics! Mark your calendars for tomorrow, December 5th, as the first issue of this 5-issue mini-series will appear on comic shelves nationwide. To coincide with this publication date, we're releasing an exclusive, online art book entitled Centuries In Metamorphosis. This 19 page digital magazine is densely packed with never-before-seen preliminary art from The Overman, spanning back nearly 20 years of development, as well as preview art from the pages of upcoming issues. Download it here!

Centuries In Metamorphosis will only be available online for only 24 hours, so make sure you download your free copy during this brief window of opportunity. We'll be rolling out additional special online features each month, to help promote The Overman. We wouldn't ask you to support this work without getting something cool in return, so I hope you'll take a moment to download and distribute Centuries In Metamorphosis. It's our way of saying thanks for your continued interest in The Overman, as we count down the final hours until The End Of The Future!

The Overman Deemed Cool by Ain't It Cool

2007-11-26T08:01:00.000-08:00

From http://www.aintitcool.com/:

"The year is 2135. It is the final year." Pretty ominous stuff and the first two issues of OVERMAN surely deliver the goods. It's a futuristic tale with things called servol-conns that transmit information and visions into its users, flying cars, futuristic sex fetishes, and half destroyed armored warriors. This book has more imagination in its first few issues than most books have in their entire series. Like the original STAR WARS, this book isn't about the futuristic stuff. The focus is on a story that happens to be functioning in this well thought out futuristic world. The spotlight is not on the tech, it's on developing the story. Told from different perspectives; that of a hired killer, a captive fetish sex addict/master criminal, and reawakened Russian armored warrior who is now a badly burned but super-powerful half man, this story is complex and intriguing from cover to cover. The art by Shane White is top notch as well reminding me of Darrick Robertson or Phil Winslade. This is a truly memorable and impressive debut series worth checking out."

You can find the review at: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/34863

We've got something special in the works, for online release to coincide with The Overman #1, which arrives in comic shops December 5th. Watch for it!

The Story Behind The Writing: 22 Days Until The End Of The Future

2007-11-12T09:39:00.001-08:00

With only 22 days left until the release of The Overman #1, I've been hard at work promoting this 5-issue sci-fi extravaganza everywhere I can. Yesterday I was a guest at the Tampa Comic Book and Toy Convention, talking about The Overman and giving away some very cool cards featuring cover art from all 5 issues, along with tee-shirts featuring the mysterious Overman symbol. One of the great things about this project is the fact that Shane began the art nearly 2 years ahead of schedule, and will have the entire book completed sometime shortly after the first issue hits shelves on December 5th. Initial pre-orders for The Overman #1 are strong; a great sign that even though we're a new creative team, delivering an unknown product, many people out there seem to believe in this work as much as we do, and willing to give it a chance. We'll do everything possible to make sure that delivery is above and beyond anything you might have expected. A special thanks to Mark Waid, who offered his time to review the first 2 issues of The Overman. Go to the home page to see what he had to say about it.

The last major marketing push for The Overman will end in Mid-Ohio Con later this month. I'll have a table there talking to anyone willing to listen, about this 20-years in the making project that has finally materialized at Image Comics. It's been a long haul.

We'll have some FREE special items on the site next week, to coincide with the final countdown to The Overman #1, so make sure to check back soon. Among those items will be a sneak peek at the making of this mini-series, along with a few glimpses into future issues.

Notes from the Field: 30 Days of Night

2007-11-04T19:11:00.000-08:00

A little over a month away and the veil of darkness will reveal all. If I wasn't so head down in my work, I'd be waiting with great anticipation and hope, but as it is, I'm running the last leg of this journey and surprisingly my pace is good.

In the past 3 days I managed to pencil 15 pages, and I still might be able to knock out two more tonight. It feels like I've been doing this all my life, and it's really become second nature. There's not too much I fear to draw at this point. Though I'm sure if I thought about it, jumping on a book with a lot of animals might raise the hackles on my neck. What's a hackle anyway?

Speaking of animals it reminds me about two years ago, early on in this process I met Bill Willingham, writer of Fables and Jack of Fables, at the Emerald City Comicon. He was coerced by an artist who knew him to take a look at my work. You could tell he was dreading it as he walked up to the table. He was pleasantly surprised and suggested I contact his editor to do a fill-in issue or something. I thanked him and he was gone.

Two things, 1) I really wasn't looking for work, and 2) he likes to write them pesky animals into his scripts. On my first pro book I didn't really want to fall flat on my face anyway. Soooo...I'll probably slowly start writing animals into my scripts. Actually I've got a yak and llama in an upcoming book, but that's another story. Regardless, I never contacted the editor. I figured if they liked my work then, there's a good chance they may like it later.

The reason I bring this up is that I've reached a point where professionals look at me as potentially capable. I never thought I'd get to that point, not like this anyway. I mean, I remember vividly when I started inking my stuff thinking, "I'll never be able to do this good enough." Eight years later...and I could see a semblance of consistency. I loved the learning, but it took dedication. So much in fact that I'm determined to keep doing things my way, and not "take a job" in the field as it were. I really do love this medium and I think with each effort, and added experience I get to grow in unpredictable ways. I just hope there's a publisher who thinks so too. Well here's the cover of the next BOOK. It seems soooo long ago...but really I remember how this starts solidifying the dangers that lurk for every one of our characters. I think out of all the covers this is one of my favorites...but there's on other that I like just as well coming up.

These are two sketches that I gave away...yeah for free! We're holding a contest for this here book each month we pick a winner and I send out the work...real simple. Go here to find out more.

Otherwise, that's it for now, sorry for the absence, Scott's been holding his own it seems. It's freaky seeing all these scripts that I remember reading sooo long ago.

=s=

The Story Behind The Writing: The Overman at Newsarama!

2007-10-12T09:01:00.000-07:00

There's a new interview published over at Newsarama this week, of Shane and I, conducted by Zack Smith. We talk about, what else--The Overman.

I've been proofing Book IV and V this week, and making plans to attend the Mid-Ohio Comicon, on Thanksgiving weekend. This will be our last public marketing push before the publication of The Overman #1 in December. While Shane is busy in Seattle pounding out pages, I'll be in Columbus, Ohio offering some free Overman stuff, along with a preview of this first issue for those 1 or 2 people left in the world who don't know about the book yet. I kid. There are actually millions. Did I mention the easy 'send to a friend' feature on our home page? You can help us reach the steaming masses by sending to your friend the following url: http://www.theovermancomic.com/ Perhaps we'll come up with some viral marketing blitz at the last minute, in an effort to prompt more click-thru's. People gotta have incentive.

In the meantime, I'm back to the old script archives, searching for something to post for this week's blog entry. This excerpt is from one of the early incarnations of The Overman, probably around 1990. As always, keep in mind these old scans are NOT representative of the current storyline, but should give readers an inside view of how The Overman has evolved over its many years of development.

The Story Behind The Writing: Journal 1990

2007-10-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that The Overman has been a project that Shane and I began nearly two decades ago. As I'm sifting through the archives here, I came across one of my old journals, from 1990, most of which recounts my struggles as a young artist trying to build up a portfolio and resume, along with story concepts and the occasional frustration over whoever I was dating at the time. I'll spare you those details.

I thought this excerpt was somewhat telling, in that I mention the Gulf War, and that I apparently thought it was precursor to the end of the world. Throughout my life, I have had these thoughts; nightmares of nuclear Armageddon and wide-scale catastrophe. Much of my writing involves these themes, probably as a way for me to express these fears and, as a result, deal with them. High Strangeness, my first graphic novel, continually refers to the Atomic Bomb tests during the 1940's and later, drawing parallels between nuclear detonations as an alarm for distant, alien beings curious enough to start snooping on us. There are three instances of mushroom clouds erupting in that book, and I never consciously planned that. My current work, Champion Of A Lost Universe, also involves a desperate, though limited nuclear attack by the last surviving super hero; a last ditch effort to destroy his arch-enemies plans of world conquest. The rest of this mini-series is a downward spiral into disaster, and post-apocalypse survival.

The Overman is probably the peak of those fears, finally illustrated and depicted in a way that exaggerates those concepts beyond all expectations. I hope you are all ready for it, on December 5th.

The Story Behind The Writing: From The Archive

2007-09-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

The Overman Book I is in the new issue of Previews, and we've got a nice full-page ad that should not only knock your socks off, but also prompt you to order a copy from your local comic shop. For retailers, that order code is OCT07 1968. It's really up to retailers to decide what comics they want to carry, and even though we have the support of Image Comics behind us 100%, we still need your help to make sure we're not overlooked in December. We know that The Overman is destined to be a hit, but the only way to make sure that happens is if you help us spread the word about this 5-issue mini-series and ask your local comic shop to carry it. As much as we've plastered this all over the web, it's really just the tip of the iceberg. Weighing in at 32 pages each issue, full color, and NO ads, The Overman should stand out nicely...especially with Shane's stunning, almost iconic-looking cover art. When we displayed a poster sized version of it at WizardWorld Chicago, I noticed that the image is totally recognizable even from a distance. The image of our main character, Nathan Fisher bursting out of an egg-shaped servol-conn unit summarizes the entire story, and is perfectly fitting as the cover of the first issue.

While I'm immersed in writing the follow-up to The Overman, I've been mining the dusty archives in search of anything that I might find useful to the sequel. It's a strange experience sifting through these old scripts, sketches and notes. Most of it dates back nearly 20 years. I'm not much of a pack rat, but for some reason I've always kept these papers stored safely away. I'm glad I did that, because now it gives me something to post here on the blog, while we count down the remaining days until The Overman #1 arrives. Keep in mind that these old script excerpts are NOT what you'll see in the comic; they are early drafts from many years ago, written by a very young and inexperienced writer.

This story has changed significantly over the years, in it's various incarnations. I'm finding that it's still evolving, right up to the very end of the creative process. This week, while proofing Book III, I was compelled to modify a few pages of dialogue. Shane and I have remained pretty diligent in this project, concentrated fully on 'getting it right'. So as much as I hate re-editing or re-writing, I know that all of this work must, in the end, serve the story. I should print that as a credo and tape it above my computer monitor.

The Story Behind The Writing: Bells, Whistles and Sequels

2007-09-14T07:57:00.000-07:00

We've unveiled a new flash animation for the home page this week. This is a quick flash trailer that will change over the coming months, focusing on key events in each of the 5 books. You'll find new glimpses from the first issue, and for subsequent issues later on. Our plan is to continue evolving this site for visitors who either stumble upon it or come back to check out what's new in our Newsreel Blog. Most of this work has fallen to me, as Shane is immersed in actually drawing the books, as well as updating the blog with various production art.

I've added a 'send to a friend' feature, a self-explanatory tool that we hope you'll take advantage of. Word of mouth is essential in our efforts, and we're hoping that you're excited enough about The Overman to help us spread the word. Our mailing list is powered by a service called feedblitz, which converts the Newsreel blog RSS feed to html and then automatically emails it to you as soon as news appears. Yeah, we got all the latest gadgets here. Last but not least, I've placed a timer counting down the remaining days until The Overman #1 arrives in comic shops December 5th. It does a couple of things: A. Creates a sense of urgency. B. May possibly cause Shane a nervous breakdown.

Other than some minor editing duties, I'm mostly waiting in the wings while Shane's pencil, brush and photoshop mastery brings the script to life. When the site isn't keeping me busy, I'm hard at work writing the sequel, which will exist for the time being as a novel. The Overman began in novel form, so it's appropriate that the follow-up is created in the same way. I felt that if I charged ahead and just wrote a comic script, it would lose something important and unique; an element that can only exist in novel form and extracted later for a comic adaptation. The writing process involved with The Overman was more extensive than anything I've attempted before, but well worth that effort. I found myself continuously boiling down the novel into its core components, trimming out the fat and focusing on what makes this story so compelling to me in the first place. Even though the sequel will be very different from its predecessor, I want to make sure to capture that same vibe and storytelling 'rhythm'. Anyway, that's my current feeling about the process. I 'MAY' unveil this sequel online, in weekly increments once The Overman concludes next year, depending on how I feel about everything, and the level of interest in seeing a follow-up. A lot of factors to consider, although in the end it really comes down to a personal choice. I've never been one to create comics based on what I think the market will support, but rather on what I would like to read, as a comics fan.

Scott Reed

http://www.websbestcomics.com/

Notes from the Field: Ad Nauseum

2007-09-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

Back again with a small installment. Our book will be in this months Diamond Previews from the looks of it. That means retailers will be able to order our book for December. But what if they don't order it?

If you're reading this that means you should tell them. Never assume they'll order what you want. Especially something that's not easy to categorize as The Overman. Yeah it's sci-fi, but it's also action, noir, and so on. That being said if you're not reading this, we'll have ads in other Image books. To start we have this introduction ad that should be appearing before and during the release of Book One.

This will hopefully give you the sense of what the series proposes it will be. It's not your typical character in your face ad. In fact there are no characters on it. Yet there are human elements to connect with...except you probably have no idea what's like floating dead in outer space. Which means if you're reading this you have definitely not had that experience.

Once the book is to market and we're well into our 5 book run, then hopefully Image agrees to put this ad in their books as a follow-up.

Notice the lack of the title? We hope by now that the symbol will have done it's job and made you familiar with the graphic, what it means, and what it's connected to. We also put a URL to help you further your investigation of the mystery. The tagline is the same, so now we have context to who the hired killer is.

Oddly enough when shown to someone they did say, "Why would I want to buy a comic if I know the guy fails?" If they were to think about it a little more, there are so many more interesting ways to fail, thus so many different endings to stories. It's the journey that is most interesting.

Hopefully these ads do affect those who see them. Because by all accounts if we fail at this I can tell you our ending will be an unremarkable cascade of tears.

So do your part to stop grown men from crying, order The Overman today.

=s=

Notes from the Field: The Interview Process I

2007-08-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

First podcast from the AROUND COMICS crew (it's about 24min in)!

Second one from WORDBALLOON (it's about 54min)!

These are from Wizard World Chicago 2007. You can hear us trying to get our bearings straight on how to tell people about the book without telling everything!

=s=

Notes from the Field: Fighting Wizards and the Gastronomicon

2007-08-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

Barely surviving Wizard World Chicago comic convention I'm trying to get back in action. During the show I was able to finish the thumbnails on Book V. Needless to say seeing the makings of the last page of story that I'll be drawing for The Overman gave me a strong moment of pause.

The ending that was so elusive to us after all these years was there scribbled in a way that I alone knew what was going on. I mentioned to Scott how a wave of sadness came over me. Oddly enough I think he knew exactly what I was talking about.

The show wrecked me.

I lost sleep because of the 2 hour time difference and having to get up at 3:45 the day of my flight. I got up early Chicago time to hit the gym and continued depriving myself here and there not sure what time zone I was in. When the show came around it was just one big blur of everything I was too familiar with. Except this time Scott was there helping to spread the warning that The Overman was coming. I think we would have had better luck wearing those sandwich boards over our head ringing a bell warning people, "The End of the World is Nigh!".

I've never just promoted a book at a show. One thing is for sure, it's empty and slow. I think the people who took the time to see it, really enjoyed it. And those who did not will remember it regardless.

It wasn't a total loss I got to hang with my friends and I really enjoyed that quite a bit. Cef, Pav and Beth were kind enough to embark on challenging journey to Blackbird on my first night in. What a wonderful restaurant with such a distinguished menu to boot. I didn't think I'd find anything like it outside of Seattle. It took my snobbishness down a peg or too.

As for hanging out with Scott. Nothing's changed...well maybe nothing. We still manage to annoy the hell out of each other, make each other laugh ridiculously and find a bit of that youthful brashness that has made our relationship unique. In the end we're very different people, while we respect each other's skill we certainly have different ideas about where our futures lie.

Well...gotta get back to it...two more books call...and then I'll finally be done with this journey.

=s=

WizardWorld Chicago Re-Cap

2007-08-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

At WizardWorld Chicago last weekend, I spent 3 days talking about The Overman. In doing so, I discovered that after all this time, there are still new things about this story that I hadn't noticed before, or chose to set aside in favor of getting across a central theme. That theme once resonated with quotes from Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, a book I carried around with me everywhere, years ago when I lived in Pittsburgh as an art student. Nietzsche promised Man is something that must be overcome, 'God is Dead' and that humanity was merely an intermediary between animal and the Overman.

Nietzsche's Overman has had various interpretations. It is commonly recognized as the German translation of a superhuman. I usually equated this to the concept of some new chapter in human evolution, an indefinable zone where Mankind discards human weakness in exchange for something new and better. My use of The Overman in this story is conceptual and not really connected to Nietzsche in the truest sense, or to an individual character. I didn't bother trying to explain any of this over the weekend, and for good reason. I realized then, perhaps for the first time, that The Overman is a story about endings and beginnings, and the symbol embedded within the title summarizes the story without any need for deeper explanation.
The concept continues to resonate for me. I still get that foreboding sense of impending, yet indefinable metamorphosis, as I'm writing the sequel. I'm still reaching out to capture The Overman, in it's truest form.

Shane and I have been connected through this project for nearly 20 years. Yesterday evening we were on the phone for a few minutes, still weary from the rigors of WWC, but discussing a few business matters related to the book. My wife Melissa later joked that he and I are like an old married couple, forced to get along for the sake of the kid. Together, Shane and I have watched our 'kid' grow past it's precocious stages and into the fully matured comic previewed at the convention. To sum up our relationship, Shane turned to me at one point during the show, and said as though a stunning revelation, "I absolutely hate you" in reference to some creative hurtle I'd thrown down for him in the script. We have somehow mastered the art of abusive, deadpan humor whenever we are in the same room together. It takes years of practice.

Reactions to The Overman at Chicago were astoundingly positive, and I want to thank everyone who stopped by to chat, or take the time to preview the first issue, arriving in comic shops everywhere the first week of December.

Warn others.

Scott Reed

http://www.websbestcomics.com/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: The Overman at WizardWorld Chicago!

2007-08-09T15:28:00.000-07:00

FAREWELL TO THE FUTURE
The Future Ends This December

A final vision of the future is revealed in THE OVERMAN, a 5-issue science fiction mini-series event from Image Comics, written by Scott Reed and illustrated by Shane White.

"The story is a stark and direct manifesto of the future," says writer, Scott Reed "It's set in a neo-deco futuristic Pittsburgh, and begins much like a detective story. The plot escalates beyond that, into something surreal and incredibly devastating."

Hired killer Nathan Fisher stumbles upon a vast, cryptic plot to merge Mankind with a bio-mechanical species, a scheme that could result in the total enslavement of Earth and beyond. Risking everything, and skirting the edge of madness, Nathan must somehow find a way to stop the mastermind behind this apocalyptic goal; a powerful corporation called Omakon, and their ancient, perverse president, Arnold Reitch.

Fans attending WizardWorld Chicago can get a sneak peek at the first chapter of The Overman, August 10-12th at booth #5206.

THE OVERMAN #1, a 32-page comic with a cover price of $3.50, will be available for order in the October issue of Previews and will go on sale December. For more information, please see http://www.theovermancomic.com/.

Notes from the Field: Screaming from Soapboxes

2007-07-27T13:40:00.000-07:00

So...we come to that point in the marketing where we will be officially going public with our intention to publish The Overman. Not that it was ever in doubt, but this will be the kick-off of us being equal to a ringmaster of sorts, touting our wares as the next best thing to sliced bread. I don't think IMAGE has a booth here, and that's fine because we've supplied you a map!

Come witness the End of the Future at WIZARD WORLD CHICAGO table #5206.

We'll have a preview of the first book, many items for sale and a few to give away. The goal is to get you familiar with our work and to establish good networks of people excited about our project.

We hope to see you there.

Stay tuned for more announcements.

=s=

Notes from the Field: Marketing Arm

2007-07-25T08:01:00.001-07:00

Despite what anyone thinks marketing is a necessary evil. Worse yet is usually marketing is outside of the busines that actually needs them, so there is bound to be things lost in translation.

From my point of view I see marketing as an entity that knows the tools and tips to getting your product out there into the hands of the right people. Oftentimes, especially in games, it can be frustrating to see a game that has been labored on sometimes by a 100 people or more over 2 years, get reduced down to a really crappy marketing idea. I believe the main complaint from the developer of the product is that the outside marketing team "doesn't get it". They have no idea what the game is about, and they went with the lamest hook they could come up with.

There are those rare moments though when marketing has done it's due diligence. That whole Civil War banner thing that Marvel put out...you know the one..."I'm with...'put your favorite noun here'? Simple, identifiable and viral. Everyone would like to claim to be viral in their marketing...and often have whole campaigns that are 'viral' but it's not viral if it doesn't spread like wildfire. It's all wishful thinking at best.

So for the past few months we've done our best to create a presence with our banner ads on many forums and we've offered hosted banners to help boost this effort. But it's not sticky enough to take hold. We've yet to find that sticky factor lest we lose sight of our goal. Namely to get the word of The Overman out there, and to get people to sample our book.

On Comicspace I'm running a CONTEST where we'll draw a name at the end of each month and give away art. I update the bulletins every so often to catch the eye of a passerby on the public bulletin section in hopes of getting more people to include us in their 'FAVS' list. It too is not taking off like wildfire...but our viewing numbers are up to 1500+ views of the preview pages. What more could we ask for given that it's all free?

That being said...here's a print ad that will be appearing soon in the backs of other Image titles.

Let me know what you think.

=s=

Notes from the Field: Developmentalist

2007-07-03T23:09:00.000-07:00

Here again with a series of unused development art. This is the stuff that kept me up at night early on. How best to represent The Overman? Scott and I have played tennis with these ideas over the past two years and it's interesting to see the evolution of thought.

For whatever reason some ideas like the austere open approach with the above piece struck a chord with me. The only problem was I wasn't sure where it would go for 5 issues but before I thought any more of it...Scott clipped it's wings. Personally I think this would be such a unique look that people would take notice.

So then the more literal stuff came into play. It's a sci-fi noir, how best to show it. Let's have a detective element to it...but then again Nathan isn't your typical detective. Again, while it was a good exercise, it didn't grab anyone. Wished I could have found out in the pencil stage.

You do realize there are covers I cannot show?

Mainly because they reveal too much of the story or they reveal a character that we want to keep ominous. There's some good ones in there but I know Scott would but the kibosh on it...and for good reason.

This was an exercise in literal subtlety. The idea here was to make the cover the exact moment before the first panel in the book. Many people didn't see the intrigue I was shooting for. An alternate version of this image ended up becoming the backcover, and thus gave me an idea.

The backcovers reflect a moment that the character on the front cover had just before something significant happen. I was hoping that by the time the reader was done the book and saw that image they'd reflect on the moment in time that the event was taking place and then realize, "Oh...that's before all hell broke loose!"

Here's an early mocked up poster idea to get the feel across and to give a little inspirato to both of us. I think it was quickly forgotten as soon as the email was sent/open. While it's a fun image, it really looked nothing like Omakon...and I wasn't about to spend several weeks recreating it accurately.

I'll dig around the archives a little more and see what else comes up. In the meantime check us out on MYSPACE.

=s=

Notes from the Field: Covering it all! Part II

2007-07-01T08:35:00.000-07:00

If you couldn't tell by now this is just a small sample of the agony of designing that first issue cover. Even now I'm struggling with covers for 4 and 5 and have yet to slow down this inevitable process. More times than not, having Scott's input on a cover idea is much more rewarding.

Our working relationship as such is one of those rare instances where the other person provides and excellent springboard. Usually that springboard is so out-of-whack that it makes the other rethink their initial idea or abandon it completely. It's all about one-up-manship, and I think we're lucky to have that.

Anyway, enough of my yakking...let's get to the art.

The psychology of a cover is important to us. We strive to capture key moments that add to the story and make you reconsider what is going on in the scene. It's the kind of covers that we like to see that grab our attention that we're most passionate about making. From concept, composition to color it all plays a role in attracting you the reader like a bee to pollen.

=s=

Notes from the Field: Covering it all!

2007-06-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

I thought it was time to reveal the cover of The Overman Book One. Covers are the hardest thing to come up with and this was no exception. I think the first issue is generally the hardest and then each one after that needs to really carry along the over-arcing theme of the series as well as the contents of what's inside.

There is truly no formula for a great cover.

But the closest one to it would be something that is provocative with a hint of story or ambiguous moment that involves the audience. Ultimately my job is to get you to pick up our book even if it's for a quick flip through.

In the months to come I'll post the other covers and talk a little about the psychology and reasoning why we chose the images we did...though it may just blow up in our face if all our deducing and figuring amounts to nothing and the book gets cancelled. I hope by Crom that is not the case.

Next time I'll post all the thumbnails and roughs I went through just for this issue. It's quite mind-boggling I assure you.

=s=

The Story Behind The Writing: The Computer Fad

2007-06-16T08:54:00.001-07:00

I dug into the ancient vault of Overman scripts this morning and found a page that references computers and compact discs. I made a conscious decision a few years later, during one of the many drafts of The Overman story, that I would make no mention of computers of any kind. While the setting is clearly futuristic science fiction, including some pretty strange technologies, I wanted to approach the story from the angle that there would be no recognizable computer imagery anywhere in the story.

It's reasonable to assume that in 200 years, computers will have evolved so radically beyond what we know today, that they won't even call them computers. This thought connects back to artificial intelligence motif, which has been explored in about a million science fiction stories, and it's nearly unavoidable in science fiction. I believe AI is coming, and it's not even a very startling concept for most people. The Overman was probably once written with that theme as the central focus, but like everything else in the story (well, most everything), the plot twists and turns into something entirely different. I don't think the concept of AI is even that interesting these days. If artificial intelligence is coming, I think the only interesting aspect is wondering how the world will deal with it.

Scott Reed
http://www.websbestcomics.com/

Notes from the Field: Marketing Phase Two

2007-06-11T20:09:00.000-07:00

This past week we got our shirts in. It's the start of the second phase of our marketing campaign, though small...we hope effective. The goal here was to create a design that was universal yet specific for those who are in the know. We hope you'll agree and order yourself one no matter if you read the book or just want to be known as, "Not Human" (and if you couldn't tell from the photo the letter is blue with the same logo treatment as the front for the "o"). You have been warned.

Scott will hopefully have ordering instructions in the PURCHASE section of the site. If you don't make it to Wizard World Chicago then you'll be able to order them online for $20 + s/h ($3.00).

I'm still coloring Book III at the moment and working on the cover of Book IV as well as marketing materials for the upcoming months. By Scott's calculations (see that god-awful countdown clock that makes me feel inadequate) I have very little time to finish the next two books. I'm hoping with the strange events in Book IV I'll be able to catch up...as the first 15 pages are probably the most disturbing images I've ever had to choreograph. I feel like I'm channeling Kubrick and Cronenberg's enigma of the living dead!

So enough posting...back to work.

=s=

The Story Behind The Writing: 1 Chapter Down.

2007-06-09T12:58:00.001-07:00

I don't dwell on the past that much, generally speaking, but in the case of The Overman, it's unavoidable. The script that Shane is currently drawing from was developed over many years, and if you've been following these last few blog posts from me, you'll know that the story has undergone numerous overhauls, some of which were so radically different that they are barely recognizable to me as I shuffle through this stack of dusty, yellowing scripts.

I'm supposed to be writing about The Overman, but since I'm currently writing the sequel, my mind is focused much more on what happens after this 5 issue Image series concludes next year. I just finished writing the first chapter of the new book today, so I'm in a celebratory mood. Between working a full time job (I recently accepted a position as Creative Director with a local marketing company), penciling my other comic, Champion Of A Lost Universe, and finishing the handful of private comic commissions, it hasn't been easy finding the time to write. But I'm a firm believer in the notion that if you want something bad enough, you find the time to make it happen.

I don't have much commentary to make about this week's script excerpt (above right), except that I ask that you keep in mind that I wrote it 15 years ago, and I cringe a little when I see most of this stuff. It's piled high with grammatical stumbling, but for the purposes of this blog, I'm releasing it all here, regardless of it's flaws.

Scott Reed
www.websbestcomics.com

Notes from the Field: Acclimation

2007-06-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

A full week and some change in this new contract position and I'm doing better. Not great but better. At least I'm not as grouchy with the change in my sleeping/gym/and work schedule. I've had to seriously reassess my work output and not kill myself to compensate too much for the change.

That being said, I still wish I could do this faster, but quality is going to make more of a lasting impression of I don't.

Here are some of the initial concepts for the prisoners on Eudoxus. Suffice it to say, I wised up a bit and pushed it further. Specifically I honed in on the quote from Dr. Annita Grey the administrator of Eudoxus.

"Eudoxus is not a prison."

It'll make more sense when you actually see the issue in question. At every twist and turn where I would tread a typical path I'd catch myself and reroute/rewire my thinking. Most design for sci-fi entertainment tend toward the cooler colors and cold architecture. I found something that I think would be less practical in some ways and yet make sense for those living long-term away from Earth.

This is an early version of Francett. She looked quite slutty in the only way that Euro-soviet block women can look. Too euro-trash than what was called for. Since she appears later in the book, I had to rethink her as more of a symbol than a quasi-human. I went the opposite direction and made her pure to the point of almost transluscent. In both instances however I did my best to create the perfect specimen of male companionship. Something that I believe everyone would have a difficult time in losing.

Every aspect of this series has had as much thought put behind it as I would do for any film or videogame. The experience should feel as unique. I hope you'll agree.

=s=

The Story Behind The Writing: The Overman II

2007-06-02T10:38:00.001-07:00

While Shane is 'hitting the board' as he puts it, every day producing new pages of art for the forthcoming The Overman mini-series from Image Comics, I'm now hard at work thinking about the future. The future of The Overman, that is.

I'm excited to let you know that I'm now working on the first draft of the follow-up, in novel form. For now, I'm referring to it simply as 'The Overman II', for the purposes of distinguishing it from blog news and updates related to The Overman. Yes, I do have a title for the book, but I'm not revealing that for a while. Shane knows it, and if I can persuade him away from the drawing board long enough to design the logo for it, I'll post it here when the time is right. I have 8 pages written as of today. I'm writing a little bit every day, and again, when the time is right, I'll begin posting chapters online, probably coinciding with the publication of The Overman #1 in December. For now, I'll post a paragraph from the opening chapter...just to get ya thinking.

'A horrendous transformation had occurred to the boy that became a man bent on quelling civil war and restoring peace to Russia. The man was now gone, not even a shadow of a thought of humanity remaining, and his consciousness had turned into a slow moving evolution of bio-mechanoid disease, a black knowledge of something indefinable but horrendous, a key, a symbol, a pattern of a shape that directed him, an aberration of iconography that delved deeper into his brain, scattering everything he had known in favor a simple image of a circle, broken at it's end, with an arrow pointing down. '

If it sounds like I'm getting ahead of myself, it's because I am. I could write a sequel to The Overman regardless of it's level of success, because there are vast possibilities with this story, and I'm having a blast tapping into that again as I'm writing. But realistically, Shane and I need to make sure that The Overman will succeed before diving into pre-production on a sequel. I believe that The Overman will not only succeed, but it will be a huge explosive success...but only if you tell everyone you know about this book, including your local comic shop owner. Word of mouth can be more effective than any marketing strategy, especially considering the insular nature of the comics market. So I'm passing the buck to you. It's out of my hands now, you see. It's up to you to make The Overman succeed. Pass along the url to this blog and website and explain to them...no, WARN them that The Overman is coming.

Scott Reed
www.websbestcomics.com

The Story Behind The Writing: Do The Evolution

2007-06-02T06:40:00.000-07:00

These script excerpts from 1991 or 1992 sum up The Overman surprisingly well. "The end of the world. That's what it's about." reads the very first line of dialogue on this page (below, left). It's a very odd experience for me to revisit these earlier incarnations of The Overman. I'm finding bits and pieces of things which live on in the final version of the script, though I haven't seen these dusty old pages in years. The page below also includes, I am pretty sure, Shane's hand-written notes.

This excerpt describes a meeting between weapons smuggler Elvis Everly (referred to in the script as 'The King') and Nathan Fisher. Everly has a brief scene in the final version of The Overman, but this scene sets all of that up, with Nathan drinking a soda in a bar because he's combating alcoholism, waiting for Everly to arrive. Everly then gives Nathan directions to a missing *servol-conn unit. (See preview), but the two clash later in this version of the script, in a high speed car chase. For various reasons, Elvis Everly's role continued to diminish as the Overman went through additional drafts. The car chase remains intact, but in a totally different circumstance.

In the second page (right), I was writing a scene in which Omakon agent David Crowse is visiting the Moon prison, called North Clavius Socio-Prison in this draft. The prison was renamed later to Eudoxus, for no better reason than I think it is a bizarre-sounding name, and it is an actual region of the Moon. There is a Dr.Fields in this draft, probably an early incarnation of Annita Grey.

All of these scripts precede the Internet and email. Shane and I corresponded via snail mail for years, and the process usually went like this: I typed out the scripts on a Brother word processor using an archaic Epson dot matrix printer or some other now-outdated printer, mailed it to him, and he would typically send back his notes along with roughs or photocopies of the finished art. His letters often included brief character sketches. He also created elaborately painted portraits of some of the main characters, as well as many other designs. I have a few letters that remain unsent, because as I was writing I probably decided to simply call Shane up. We would then discuss whatever it was I had started writing in the letter. As a result, there's some interesting stuff I have in the vault, in addition to the script excerpts, that will shed some light on this early development of The Overman.

Scott Reed
www.websbestcomics.com

Notes from the Field: Odd Job

2007-05-30T07:32:00.001-07:00

So I started my onsite contract gig with Sony Online yesterday. I know what you're thinking, it's the same thing I've been thinking. Who cares? No...in reality what I've been thinking is, how bad will this impact my schedule?

Suffice it to say, pretty bad.

I'm going from producing about a page to two pages of color a day to a page every two days. I'm not about to compromise the project, and I don't want to compromise the release of this book. My goal has always been to have all five books done before we solicit Book One. At the very least...at this rate, I'd have four of the five done...or so I strongly believe.

Now I can't really say for sure, but we are planning on soliciting Book One around October. Meaning it'll be in Previews to order and will be in your shops for December. Again the goal being to get it out before 2008 and to have the story start the same month it takes place in the future. With that in mind the pressure is really on. So how do I manage it?

I don't live much. Meaning, the only time I get to relax or chill is when I'm sleeping or two nights per week where I hang out with my wife and watch a couple of films. Other than hitting the gym frequently I'm at the board or computer knocking this stuff out. With this new opportunity at Sony, I'll be working on what I can during lunch, mostly prep work for the last two books, and the marketing materials. Which in the end could really help me quite a bit. As it's hard to break from the work on the books to do the work outside the books that is also important.

It's all about balance.

Art-wise I'm quite out of balance. I need to get back to my regimen of drawing and painting from life. Soon I keep telling myself. Very soon.

You be wondering what the art in this installment is? Well, it's early development work and tests to figure out how I was going to color the book and execute the blackline. Every story demands to be told the best way possible. Not everything deserves the same approach.

BTW, if you haven't read Scott's latest blog entry, it's really worth it. If you're the least bit interested in Evolution this focuses on the creative evolution as well as the maturing of two creatives. It amazes me we had the foresight to keep all this stuff. Can't wait to see what other surprises we unearth.

Stay tuned!

=s=

The Story Behind The Writing: Origin Of The Species

2007-05-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

I began writing The Overman when I was 18 years old, during my first year as a student at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. This has been one of those projects that refused to be ignored, and despite lulls in activity through the years, Shane and I have repeatedly gone back to The Overman, like frustrated scientists re-examining alien technology. We couldn't get it out of our system, because we knew there was something there worth developing. We bought into our own half-serious pretentiousness regarding The Overman. Just as my crude scribble implies (see letter below to Shane White, dated 1990), The Overman really was heavier than we thought, and we weren't ready to carry that weight yet.

We are ready now, and I know that after you download the preview from this site and read it, you'll agree. While Shane is hard at work drawing the comic, I'm going to take some time here every week and delve into my story archives. I have a large cardboard box packed with hand-written notes, letters, scripts and various drafts of The Overman, beginning around 1989. I
won't post complete scripts or plot synopsis drafts from that period, because honestly I don't want to confuse our new audience, the folks who will read this mini-series for the first time when issue #1 hits comic shop shelves in December. The plot and characters have changed much through the years, so keep this in mind when you read these never-before-published excerpts. I have quite a few of Shanes early drawings, sketches and sequentials from this period as well, things he's probably forgotten about. For the same reason that I'm holding back on publishing completed scripts and other plot points, I'm going to resist the temptation to post those drawings, which also include a few of my sketches and character concepts. After the series concludes next year, we'll take another look through all of this old material and see if some of it can be put to use in a special feature section in the collected edition or elsewhere.

Scott Reed
www.websbestcomics.com

Notes from the Field: Looking back to our Future

2007-05-16T09:48:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine once said, "Anything worth doing, is worth doing right." What I took from that for my work is to do the pre-production before the production. Because any journey you go you need to be prepared in every way.

The reality in all this though is you can overthink things to such a degree as to immobilize the actual doing of the work. So for my approach I laid down the big notes, the items that I needed to clearly address. First and foremost was the look of the world in which this story is staged.

Secondly I had to have the characters personalities reflect the world they live in. Scott didn't write the visuals anymore than to explain things to move the story along. That being said all we knew for years was that it was "in the future".

The characters were pretty fleshed out, and have evolved somewhat over time as our tastes and skills have evolved. But when it came down to this iteration of work consistency and imagination were very important. Going against current convention of "sci-fi" entertainment I took a look to our past to find a look for our future. The Machine Age was a perfect place to start. It's strong shapes and open spaces really make for the kind of atmosphere I wanted to play in. It would give it a distinct look on the shelves to boot as many people are caught up in the world of tomorrow.

While these are older concepts some of the base ideas have held true and have been carried through in the books. I hope you'll come to appreciate the effort being made to transfer you into our future.

=s=

Notes from the Field: More Concepts

2007-05-03T07:05:00.001-07:00

Here are some of the older concepts that I started when Scott first sent me the final script. I was so inspired by the words that I needed an outlet. Of course at that time he said nothing of me getting to do all the artwork for it.

Luckily for me he was old and weak and after birthing the script curled up, died and wanted nothing more to do with it. Three books into the five book epic and I'm starting to understand where he's coming from. Though at this stage of the game it's a big hump to get over. I mean I'm right smack in the middle.

How do I keep my energy up?

I guess the way I look at it is, the middle is just that the middle, and it should be easier after that. But I think Book Four will prove to be challenging as it's second to the last...kind of an obstacle to the end. Luckily I reread the script and realize how much of a challenge it's going to be to do.

Book Four is like nothing I've ever read. I hope I can make the visuals equally so.

I think there will be a bit of post-partem depression when all is said and done. I hope there's enough people who by the book to warrant a trade paperback to come out. I'd really like to include an additional set of pages of just development art from our earlier efforts throughout the years. And there's a a bunch of it...embarassingly so.

=s=

The Aging Artist

2007-04-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

Most people seem to agree that we live in a youth-driven culture, and this perception spills over into nearly every aspect of it, including comics, and by default, webcomics. But since I don't honestly know what the demographic age is for today's webcartoonist, I'll resort to writing about the aging artist in general. Before I do that, though, I have to let everyone know that I'm technically reaching 'middle-age' status. I'll be 37 years old in July, so I guess that means I'm writing with a bias. Let me tell you, it's a bizarre notion to me, in knowing that I'm 'middle-aged.' I don't feel old. I may not even look that old, although that's probably just a combination of wishful thinking, stubborn egotism and an unwavering conviction that I stopped having birthdays when I turned 29.

While t.v and film continues to exploit the youth culture (or help manipulate it, depending on your level of distrust of the media), our planet population continues to live longer. So there's some strange dichotomy happening around us, where our society is growing older, and yet we glorify youth. And I'm stuck in the middle of it. I've read on forums here and there about the frustrations of cartoonists that are approaching the 40-year mark and cry that they haven't reached certain goals in their careers. Or worse, they have no career in comics yet, and are desperately looking for a way to speed up the development of their talents. And if that's not bad enough, there might be a common perception amongst publishers and editors that innovation must come from the young cartoonist, as opposed to the grizzled veteran whose Windsor Newton brushes are older than the average person in line at a convention portfolio review.

The question comes up time and again, 'When is it too late to break into comics', or 'When does a creator reach his/her prime?' As with most things, every situation is different. There are plenty of examples where comic creators made their mark earlier or later in life. Many of the Image Comics founders were in their early twenties, If I recall, bringing with them only a combined decade or so of experience in the field. Jim Shooter was writing for DC when he was 13 years old. Can you imagine when his friends asked him to come over to play ball? 'Sorry guys. I've got this Legion Of Super Heroes deadline looming. Maybe next time.' Hal Foster, famous illustrator for Prince Valiant and Tarzan, was, according to stories I've read, 40 when he was 'discovered'. Jack Kirby was in his 50's when he was producing his most popular and groundbreaking work for Marvel, although the King already had decades of successful comic's credits under his belt. Regardless of that, here was a guy nearing AARP status, and he decides to co-create the Marvel Universe.

Beyond the comics arena, artists in general can reach their creative peak in their 40's or even later. That Picasso guy? Some of his final work, when he was well into his 70's, represents his most colorful and expressive efforts, as he discovered neo-expressionistic art well before the rest of the world was ready for it. The Beatles may have peaked when they were in their twenties, but The Rolling Stones, despite the ageism jokes, still manage to produce relevant, top selling albums, and record breaking tours every few years. Come to think of it, most of my favorite actors are also middle-aged or older. Clint Eastwood, for instance, still entertains audiences as an actor and director. His most important film work has been produced in the last 15 years or so. He's almost 80. So regardless of the tools (or of their superstar status), these are all artists who share the same planet as you and I. If you're a cartoonist or web cartoonist, you can still reasonably count yourself among this crowd.

There is no set rule that forces anyone to give up his or her dreams at a certain age, or come to the conclusion that their best work is behind them. True, the older you get, the more life seems to compete with your ambitions. It does get harder as we get older, both physically and otherwise. But with age comes wisdom.

Or so I've heard.

Scott Reed
www.websbestcomics.com

Notes from the Field: Marketing

2007-03-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

Hate to say it but this is a necessary evil for anyone wanting to sell a product to more than your Mom. It's how you use your dollars and time to do it is what matters most.

We are trained monkeys who can spot marketing a mile away.

We have built up defense mechanisms to ignore said marketing. Yet billions of dollars a year are spent to break you. I'm not a marketing expert, nor do I know exactly how to get people to notice what I'm selling. It's difficult to say the least. I did read a book: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. It's a great book on how epidemics spread, weather it's disease, marketing or cultural. But even in that book it was never made entirely clear.

Viral Marketing is a big buzz word of the 21st century. It comes in all forms and gets people talking about the product. With The Overman, we're doing our best to find ways to get to the retailers who know their customer base. I tried joing CBIA, but for some reason even after getting my password, I couldn't get into the forums. The CBIA is apparently where the retailers have lengthy discussions about their business. There's also two retailer shows where you may be able to make contact. But there again, I'm not privy to the show. But I will investigate.

Suffice it to say, out of pocket is a partial way to go. I couldn't afford t-shirts just yet so I printed stickers, which cost enough on their own. I also printed info cards that have the cover of Book 2 as well as a short thing on the back that states what the book is about and who is publishing it and when it'll come out. It's all I can really do to make contact at this point at the shows. Oh yeah, and our website is on the back as well.

We'll try to do a few more conventions to help promote the book. But considering it's only 5 issues we don't have that kind of budget and time or even resources to pull a heavy campaign. We just hope our connections to media both on and offline will help in our efforts.

=s=

Notes from the Field: Process of the Page

2007-03-14T10:37:00.000-07:00

So this here is the process of the page.
Granted there is one other step where I do very small images on the actual script...these are actual thumbnail notes until I have a clear idea of camera placement. From there I can go in with pen only and thumbnail outthe book. In the THUMBNAIL stage I shoot for composition, lighting and storytelling mostly. The ROUGH stage helps me refine the composition, movement and acting down. The final PENCIL stage I can actually correct any issues that will most likely have been missed in the earlier stages. INKS, well I just finalize everything and make sure that the lies in pencil are truth. COLOR I can finally fulfill the atmosphere and final storytelling that the color brings.

=s=

It's Always Something: Writers Block

2007-03-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

I have writers block. It happens every few years, and I don't think there's anything I can do about it except continue writing. Wait, before you think I just contradicted myself, give me a moment to explain something.

Writing is like anything else, the more you do it, the better you'll be (at least in theory!). I used to keep a 'journal of thought' at arms length, where I would scribble down ideas that would emerge from stray thoughts, dreams, conversations…I had to write these things down because they were always fleeting, like a partially obscured road sign on a speed trap.

I still practice this, to a limited degree. I have several new ideas gestating, but none of them have that spark, that inexplicable 'something' that compels me to write it down. There is nothing quite like the feeling you get when you've conceived a new story idea, one that inspires you to quickly hammer out a synopsis, and then a script. I have a lot of ideas, but they very rarely inspire me. Lately, I haven't even had ideas.

These days, I'm immersed in illustrating a script I wrote almost 3 years ago, Champion Of A Lost Universe. That comic is currently published online and in print. Sure, I'm introducing new story elements and dialogue changes to the comic, now that I'm actually drawing it. But that doesn't count, really. Last year, I did nothing but re-write and edit my script for this upcoming Image Comics mini-series, The Overman. I don't even consider that creative work per se, since I was acting more as my own editor, fixing various problems in a script that came to life nearly 20 years ago. It's a little scary to think that I haven't written anything new since late 2004. What's going on?

I don't blame the usual suspect: my personal life. Every writer knows there is always something in the world around us that threatens the creative process. I've learned to deal with life's stresses by plunging into my art or writing. Perhaps it's just something that happens to creative types once they hit their mid-thirties. Mid-life crisis? I honestly can't equate that, since I am convinced that my best work is ahead of me, and there are many writers out there who've already proven that for themselves. Maybe there is no explanation for it, and it's just a natural process that I'll get through, just as I got through it when it happened before. It's cyclic in nature. Some mysterious spring-cleaning is taking place between the creative synapses, clearing out room for… something new.

Scott Reed
www.websbestcomics.com

Notes From the Field: Concepts I

2007-03-08T06:45:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I said I would post more character work...but frankly I thought I'd share some hardware to show everyone how the Neo-Deco look will eventually infiltrate everything in this universe.

This is the early designs of the main character, Nathan Fisher's automobile. Scott and I went back and forth whether cars would fly or not. His arguement was that in every sci-fi film or comic cars always flew and wanted to get away from the cliche. My thoughts were, "I've already had it in my head that cars would fly...why would you change it?" Well that and sci-fi really seems to relate how technology has conquered things like gravity, living in space indefinitely and warp speed. This seemed like a natural.

More later...

Stay tuned,

=s=

Notes from the Field: The Process

2007-03-05T09:06:00.000-08:00

Color me silly but I think I enjoy the process of making something over actually making it. Maybe that's why I'm never satisfied with the end results. The journey is always more exciting than the destination.

Like everything that's worth doing and will take up a majority of your time, money, and life it's good to have a plan. With the script in hand and ideas swirling in my head I break down everything from Scott's writings into a list of things to design. Initially I took two weeks to knock everything out in the order that it happens in the story. I have no idea why I did it that way, except maybe to recreate the impact that it had in my gut. Speaking of which sometimes at this point I create inspirational art to set the Artistic Vision of the book that everything will filter through.
Once I get the overall look and feel of the book, in this case I was shooting for a Neo-Deco experience. Think Hugh Ferriss, Raymond Loewy, and Arthur Radebaugh and you'll have an idea of where I was heading. What I liked about that period was that sci-fi and noir were equally ominous and in films lit similarly. Like "Things to Come" and "Alphaville" I wanted to capture a bizarre crossbreed that could make this future seem likely if our evolutionary path was slightly different.

Now the whole time I'm doing production design I'm thinking about characters and their relationship to each and the world around them. In terms of relationship to each other each character has a trait that another character shares. Whether it's a hair curl, or the shape of the cheek bones, I tried to create a visual relationship that attached them, while pushing other details further apart so that in silhouette they were significantly different. In my first round I try to cartoonify them to the point where it's clear their shapes are different from each other.

One thing I should note though, over the past 20 years or so Scott has had a significant input on designing some of the key characters. Dmitri for one was clearly Scott's idea, but even from his initial drawings he's changed somewhat. A lot of the other characters were brought on by me, either inspired by Scott's words or a sketch that sparked a direction.

Since Blogger is wimpy and won't let me post more than one image, I'll see about a second post with more character art.

Until next time...

=s=

Notes from the Field: The Chosen Path II

2006-12-22T16:01:00.000-08:00

Shane here again with another installment. As you may or may not remember from last time I talked a little about phases of a project. In my estimation there are three.

The START, the MIDDLE and the FINISH.

For years I considered myself good at the Start. I'm an "idea" guy, someone who had concepts and takes on story and character development. This extended beyond comics into other aspects of my life. I was good out of the gates but when it came to the Middle, the newness wore off and it became WORK!

I'm not afraid of work, but it really made me consider the Start a lot more. An idea is nothing without execution, and even with execution the end product just might not be that sexy. But I'd never know until I completed something. So suffice to say I wasn't much of a Finisher either.

An analogy that comes to mind is fitness.

The thing about it is, you won't get anywhere with exercise without some sort of conditioning. You have to build upon a routine that makes perserverance and practice it's core. Say you want to lift weights...you go in the gym and you start bench pressing and before you know it you've torn a shoulder muscle. This happens often. Then you learn about warming up...preparing the muscles to achieve the output you ask of them. So fine you warm up the muscles and you have a good Start on weight training. But what's this...you're tired and beat after 3 sets. Stamina is what gets you through a workout. Building stamina will help make the work out experience last longer and you'll gain more in strength and endurance.

So to put it in terms of doing any type of work, I find that preparation for a project is essential. Mapping out the big picture will help give me a vision of where that end goal is and how to pace myself. While I'm doing pre-production on a project (in the form of concept art and marketing graphics) I figure out how much art is required to do the project. From years of experience and "conditioning" I know what I'm capable of handling now. Finishing projects has helped me understand this better. And the only way I was able to finish a project is by scheduling my time.

How do I schedule my time you may be asking?

I figure out how much time it takes to do each task by breaking down the very basic elements of a comic project. Thumbnails and roughs, I can do anywhere between 30 thumbnails and 5-10 roughs a day. Pencils, I can do between 2-4 a day. Inks 3-4 a day. Colors...well colors are a little more tricky...I'm still trying to harness that one. I like color so much that it's hard to be satisfied with the first pass. So basically 1-2 a day is safe. I got this information by tracking my time based on a work week where I had a steady amount of freelance. Because let's face it, you still gotta make money.

With this info, I usually will put this into Microsoft Project. Here I can track and check off each item as I finish it. The beauty is it serves as a guide and a goal marker. With each page done, I have a visual of how close I am to the finish line. It's really the only way for me to stay focused. That and it helps to be working on only the "BEST" ideas you can afford to. The process of comics is so time consumming that I don't want to look back on my life and see a slew of books that looked like everyone elses.

You only get one shot at this so make it count for something.

Next time, I'll go more in depth about THE PROCESS and hopefully share some examples of how I work. Stay tuned.

=s=

Story Behind The Writing: Part 2

2006-11-26T19:37:00.000-08:00

I have a hard time writing small stories. I have written a couple of short stories in my day, and it has never satisfied me. I'm a gluttonous writer, I absorb a lot of information before I sit down to write, but that data also provides me with a lot of energy, and I invariably keep building the plot up, cranking up that preverbal dial, pushing the concept itself far beyond what could be considered a short story (for better or worse!). The Overman could have worked well as a short story, by focusing on one of the characters. But no, that wasn't enough for me, I had to throw in several complicated characters, all of whom are driven by unique goals. All of those goals collide in the end, but I won't give away details about that.

The main character, Nathan Fisher, was there from the beginning. I pictured him as a middle-aged thug, a corporate bounty hunter who acknowledges the ruin of his life and exists as little more than a slave. He has no purpose, no goals, and no ambitions. He is sloppy and brutal, but does his job. He is an everyman who is thrust into awesome responsibility. This theme is also present in my current book Champion Of A Lost Universe. That similarity wasn't intentional, but I don't have a problem with re-using themes that interest me.

In The Overman, I wanted to deconstruct Nathan's life even further, pull him down into a desperate existence, and then sit back and see if he can save the day in the end. Again, no spoilers here. Writing can be a frustrating job. But when I've created characters that are fully realized in my mind, it becomes easy work at that stage. The best example of this for me was my first regularly updated web comic, The Last Odyssey. The characters were based loosely around my experiences playing Dungeons & Dragons with a group of like-minded friends during my high school years. The characters were already somewhat developed, in that I relied on some of the character traits that my friends had already introduced into the mix. Years later I re-examined those characters and realized that they could be translated easily into comic form. That book was drawn by the seat of my pants, so to speak. I was learning how to best present a comic book online, so there are several instances where the size and format of the comic changed, and I never relied on a pre-written script. I had a plot outline only, and even that was subject to change. By the time I had my footing, I realized that the sword and sorcery theme had somewhat run its course for me, and there seemed to be an over-abundance of that stuff online anyway. But it was fun, only because the characters seemed to take on a life of their own when I was drawing them.

The Overman, as expected, is a different animal. The characters always seemed to have limited options in what they could do, because right from the beginning they have a pre-destined path. It's like a long march across a battlefield, and the enemy is in clear sight through the entire journey. The characters, deep down, know what is going to happen. The reader can hopefully sense that as well, although it might remain undefined, like a shadow on the horizon. Even though the characters of The Overman are locked, in a way, in a horrifying roller coaster ride, they have surprised me by their actions. They are all strong personalities, and in a way, firmly took over the wheel from me and introduced things I hadn't considered when I was preparing a first draft. Shanes depiction of them has also helped in a great way, he's captured their personalities and contributed to their evolution through the years.

I think the best characters have to surprise their creators at some point, turning down a different path than what was originally planned. When that happens, it's a sure sign that the reader will also be surprised. And surprises can be good.

Notes from the Field: The Chosen Path I

2006-11-20T06:36:00.000-08:00

Somehow I manage to sustain despite how long this production has taken me. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have those days where I'd wish it'd all go away and I could get back to my own stories and universes. Without being overly melodramatic I think I'm hardwired for the survival of this project, much in the way a prisoner of war may hold one small truth.

That I will someday make it.

When I started out in comics at the tender age of 12 (yeah, I know what you're thinking, how serious can a twelve year old be?) I couldn't believe how taken I was by all things comics. It was like a combination lock snapping that last set of numbers that opened up the possibilities of my future. I realized at that point I could "choose" to do what I "wanted" with my life. I have to laugh however, as most of you know how hard it is to do this "craft" and how much money and time you will spend on it, before you make a single dime. Some might say we're all throwing our lives away. That, akin to Japanese Bunraku puppetry, where a puppeteer along with a 3 person team will spend 15-20 years alone working only the left hand of the puppet, and many successive years learning the other parts until decades later they become head puppeteer.

Somehow, someway the spirit of the art prevails in us and we make our way through all obstacles.

After some point it becomes a mission and then later an addiction. Then the lines blur and years past and progress is made. More to the point, The Overman is almost more about my growth as a human being than as an artist. What seemed unattainable at one time is coming into focus. There's been many attempts at Everest, where people will turn back a very short span away from the peak because it was the right thing to do. And despite the journey, I really hope I don't have to make that kind of decision. At least as long as I live and breathe I will always come back to what it is I want to conquer in my mind.

Now, despite all those deep thoughts. It's hard work. I constantly find obstacles getting in the way such as other projects, freelance and life. Like anything I do the best I can with what I have, and I spend the real quality time on the work. If I'm not doing good work, or I'm not into it, I really give it a good push, sometimes that's enough to get through. But if I'm destroying more than creating, then I move on to something else entirely. That's where writing and drawing other projects come into play. That's where it's nice to focus on what drives my economic engine, the freelance! Because no matter what I'll always come back to what I love to do.

From my experience I know there are three phases to any project. The START, the MIDDLE and the FINISH.

Some people are really good at one of these three. Sometime they're pretty good at two of them. Rarely is anyone excellent at all three. What part of a project speaks to you most? Stay tuned, I'll talk more about these three phases and what I've learned about myself and about overcoming many of the foibles that I have during a project.

=s=

Story Behind The Writing: Part 1

2006-11-19T15:20:00.000-08:00

Because I already maintain a daily updated blog (Monday-Friday) over at websbestcomics.com, I've decided to drop in here on the weekend, and will do my best to make sure I write something here each Sunday. Web junkies, surfers, whatever you call them, are creatures of habit. I include myself as one of these kind of personalities, the people who visit the same dozen web sites every day.

I don't expect that to happen with this site just yet, but it should, once the true marketing wheel begins rolling. When that happens, I hope to make you completely dependant upon a steady diet of The Overman. In fact, my goal here is to get you familiar enough with the story so you'll not think twice about purchasing the book when it hits shelves in December 2007. I won't pretend that my blog posts aren't a thinly veiled marketing scheme. I won't lie to you, either. I'm here to sell this story to you, and I'm here to candidly explain exactly how The Overman came to be, it's evolution through the years, and it's current incarnation, which I am certain is now fully developed, mature and capable of stunning you into wanting more of it. I won't be writing about the story itself. What you'll get is the 'story behind the writing'. It's sort of like describing in intricate detail the components of some vast, purposeless machine, it's cryptic instructions and warnings written in psuedonyms from an alien language.

The Overman was a concept without any motivation. I had nothing to go on when I first started writing it, other than I wanted to convey the notion that the computers we all took for granted could be primitive lifeforms, struggling to become self-aware, struggling to let humans know that they had souls.

In fact, I think it possible that computer consciousness, while extremely primitive, would already be far too complex and alien for us to recognize. Take a look at the human brain and let me know where the soul is located. It'll be big news, trust me.

If computers were given the kind of spark that also mysteriously empowered early Man with self-awareness, how would we react to it? And would we even notice? How many centuries would pass before humans recognized that life had somehow sprung up within these machines, or that these machines have redefined what it means to be alive? Certainly there is no tangible proof of the soul, and we must rely on the unknowable to resolve that question. Could computers secretly embark on the same kind of spiritual mission, reaching beyond the sum of their parts, much in the same way we humans do every time a decision is based on the available data around us?

Computers today are still incredibly stupid. They rarely seem to understand even the most simple questions we put to it, and have a knack of giving us the wrong answers. We still have to deliver every single shred of information to them in a series of zero's and one's. For all the bells and whistles of today's computer technology, they are still crude in comparison to the workings of the human mind. Even so, there are robots all around us, performing many of the tasks we no longer have time to do ourselves. They may not look like the robots of Star Wars, but they do exist. I'll prove it to you. Call any large company and you'll be on the line with an actual robot for at least five minutes. Of all of the science fiction concepts that have involved robots and androids, who would have thought to predict they would not be evil or suffering from a superiority complex. No, in the real world, robots are just...annoying.

If all of the great science fiction ideas are taken, it's simply a matter of re-introducing those questions in a new way, with the expectation that the answers will not be forth-coming.

Notes from the Field: Production III

2006-10-31T21:25:00.000-08:00

Hey all, Shane here again. This time we take a look at ink coverage and understanding how to avoid some possible pitfalls.

If you haven't gotten The DC Guide to Coloring and Lettering Comics by Mark Chiarello and Todd Klein I suggest you check it out. It's a great book and I wished I had taken a look at it before I started book one of THE OVERMAN. But since I did not and am a firm believer of not messing with the process once you've begun something in earnest, I have run into my own spat of troubles. In it you would have found a very sound way to color comics. Of course I learned a different way, that maybe some of you have tried.

Here are the very basics.

In Photoshop layers you can set your blackline to Normal, Dissolve etc. I set it to Multiply so the white is see-thru and I can color underneath. Seems reasonable for the most part but when you start compressing layers, the color underneath the linework will be far more dense. The mathematics behind multiply is basically the value of the color on top which is the blackline (the letter K in CMYK) times the color value underneath.

Let me try to explain what happens to me and why this is a problem specifically with my technique.

When I sandwich any colored layers below the blackline in the Layers panel all I should see is color...and no blackline. I'll select all the black on the blackline layer with the Wand Tool set to 3. I'll go back to my sandwiched color layer underneath. I'll goto Select>Modify>Contract by 2. I'll fill that with white on the color layer. Next I'll open the Channels box which will consists of a CMYK layer and 4 seperate layers for each color C, M,Y and K. Your color picker in your tool box should be set to default black and white. On the CYAN Layer I fill with 60% black, on the YELLOW layer 40% black, and on the MAGENTA layer 40% black. When that's done, I make sure my blackline layer is turned on in the Layers palette as well as any coloring effects (glows, lineholds, etc.) and then compress those, so the final image is at the top of the Layers palette.

This would constitute a finished color file. But hold on...grab the color picker and open up the Info Palette.

Check your black areas and you'll see the numbers are outrageously high. Go ahead add them up...they'll be around 340%. This will cause the ink to smear, the paper to stick and the pressmen to curse a bluestreak. In my case, since I have a textured painted look to my work, I can take my saved CMYK .TIFF of this colored page and convert it to RGB. Then I convert it back to CMYK. What's happening is the blackline dissappears in the RGB version and assimilates into the Red, Blue and Green. When you switch it back to CMYK, it has to create a black plate and grabs the darkest darks to create it. There's probably a more technical way to describe this, but in the end what it does is creates a file where the darkest ink coverage is 300% and not a bit more.

Okay...if you're not sleeping by now, then you must be getting something from this. Believe me, it'll pick up. In the weeks and months to come I'll talk about the process as I'm dealing with it on a daily basis, and I'll even go into areas of pre-production, presentation, pitching, collaboration and general industry experiences. So stay tuned, you might just find something in your size.

=s=

Notes from the Field: Production II

2006-10-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

Shane here with another installment from the trenches.
So I spent the weekend up-resing the first book of THE OVERMAN. What had happened was I had inked and colored a back-up story for Fear Agent #7 months earlier and when it finally printed, that's when the truth sank in.

300dpi is not a very good resolution to print at.

The fine linework was muddy and even with it printed on slicker stock it just barely held it's own. It was more painful to see the jagged anti-aliasing of the borders on some of the angled panels. Needless to say, I was in a rough spot. Talking with Allen over at Image helped. I asked him how bad off it'd be to upres the book to 400dpi, a more acceptable resolution. He said considering that the work had a "painted feel" it would probably be fine.

Since I'm not one to go halfway I wanted to make sure everything was as good as it could be. I didn't just upres the work and call it good. No, I went in with my 1200dpi linework, and resaved it out at 400 dpi, then overlaid new texture layers to make sure the "painterly look" wasn't going to fluffy and mottled. Those two items are the bulk of what you see. The color underneath is effected by the texture in such a way that it doesn't hurt the transition from shadow to light.

So I finally have my colored 400dpi file...and acceptable printing file. I still had a problem with my old files that I did with my new ones. I was getting ink coverage that was totaling over 300% in any given area. Any pressman will tell you that's too much ink. It'll smear and/or stick the pages together if you don't do something. In some cases the pressman will back off on all the inks, leaving the color much lighter than intended.

So now what: How do I track down what I'm doing wrong to get my ink coverage down?

Stay tuned...I swear this will get interesting even if you learn something along the way!

=s=

Notes from the Field: Production I

2006-10-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

Setting out to create a comic is never as easy as one might think, even after years of experience in the general art field. I'll be going over some of the technical issues behind the creative process that make this art form "special" on many levels. While their are many books that go over what you should do, I still feel like there is information that'll slip through the cracks.

So it goes with the first issue. While our goal is to finish all five books before we even solicit them, it means we have to put each and every issue to bed before moving onto the next one. The first issue I'm quite positive is usually the hardest.
The challenges I'm faced with are numerous. It's a 32 page book, and those who are not familiar with pagination (the front-to-back numbering of pages) sometimes find it a challenge to decipher. A 32 page comic actually includes in the page count the covers inside and out. Those count as four pages, and the rest of your story has to fit in 28. Trying to explain that to Scott was tough, as I'd get confused myself. He had to adjust the script numerous times accordingly. Here's a template that I made to help us layout the book and see it. Since we're both artists, this was quite valuable.

As boring and technical as this may be, understanding it helps free me up to be more creative.

The other part of the battle is the publishers printing and production methods. The best way to understand that is to go right to the source, the print production manager. Image is a staff-wise a small operation, but they handle a lot of books. So I decided to ask other creators the questions I had regarding, coloring resolution, output, and other small technical things. What I found is a bevy of different answers, and some similar ones. As far as final file outputs for color, 400 dpi was the lowest anyone should color their work. That's a big issue to me as I've colored the first issue at 300 dpi. I guess I had been under the wrong impression for some time. Better to find out now then get 5 issues down the road.

My biggest fear was: Am I going to have to recolor 28 pages?

In my next installment I'll go over what kind of hole I dug for myself, and how I got out...or am working on getting out.

=s=

Welcome To The End Of The Future.

2006-10-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

Although our official marketing campaign in support of The Overman hasn't been unleashed yet, we are slowly, quietly gearing up the website and bringing additional content online over the next few weeks and months. As such, this blog is the latest addition to the site, and while it operates as a 'stand alone' marketing tool for us, it also connects with www.theovermancomic.com, so I hope you'll take some time to jump over there.

Shane and I will be dropping in here from time to time. As the writer, I'll likely be here often enough so you'll start to get an idea of the long history behind The Overman, glimpses into it's earliest incarnations, and it's mind-numbing transformation over the last 18 years or so. There is much I plan to share with you, and I know that Shane has been chomping at the bit to start posting various pre-production sketches and other incredible examples of his work (although I know he doesn't want to reveal TOO much too soon).