{"id":117,"date":"2007-10-01T09:21:49","date_gmt":"2007-10-01T15:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/?p=117"},"modified":"2010-04-26T11:50:43","modified_gmt":"2010-04-26T17:50:43","slug":"getting-ready-to-move-dumping-old-skins-and-comics-july-6-2006","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/archives\/117","title":{"rendered":"109. GETTING READY TO MOVE, DUMPING OLD SKINS AND COMICS, July 6, 2006"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being finished with the Dr. DeBunko book, I was anxious to jump back into the Doris Danger sixteen books as well. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is the way I write Doris Danger stories. <\/span>I don\u2019t think about them, and I do other things. <\/span>I\u2019ll just be going through my day, driving somewhere, sitting at work, watching tv, reading a book, going for a walk, running errands, or whatever, and I\u2019ll get a weird idea in my head, that makes me laugh, or hopefully at least smile. <\/span>Then I jot that idea down on a scrap of paper, or in a notebook if I\u2019ve got one with me. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The other way I write Doris Danger stories, is I read any old Stan Lee-Jack Kirby comic, and I laugh at some of their plot-lines or artwork, and usually that inspires me with cornball ideas.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And last of all, if I read through any of my old Doris Danger stories, I leave so many holes and untapped, uncompleted ideas, that browsing through will remind me how many other things I can have happen, or expand upon.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But all these ideas, I just jot on pieces of paper. <\/span>So I\u2019ve got stacks of these unused ideas, just waiting to be thrown together. <\/span>Since all the Doris Danger stories are disjointed and usually pretty brief, I know that when it comes time, I\u2019ll lump a series of these completely unrelated ideas together, and that\u2019s all I do for my actual \u201cscripting.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I read through some old plots I\u2019d jotted down, and picked the one that made me laugh the hardest. <\/span>If I find something that really tickles me, I\u2019ll read it to Elizabeth, but she never thinks it\u2019s as funny as I find it. <\/span>I don\u2019t care. <\/span>I decided long ago to write to my audience, and pretty much as far as I can tell based on my sales numbers, my audience is just me. <\/span>So I\u2019ve got to please that audience.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

We\u2019re moving next week. We’re just in a two-bedroom apartment, and with a baby one the way, we’re just going to need more room. So I got this wild hair to go through my comics collection yet again, and see if there\u2019s anything I can\u2019t dump. <\/span>I tend to do this every few years, because the rooms get too full of comics. <\/span>My biggest, most embarrassing dump was when I first got married. <\/span>Twenty-two long boxes out the door.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The reason I say wild hair this time around is that I just started yanking all kinds of stuff out of my collection and putting it in the dump pile. <\/span>I\u2019m realizing, I\u2019ll never read any of this again. <\/span>And that has become my criteria. <\/span>Even if I enjoyed it the first time. <\/span>Even if I really liked the art. <\/span>If I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll read it, or even look at it again, dump it. <\/span>Dump it.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

If I wasn\u2019t sure, I would open it up and flip through and read it. <\/span>And what I found is that, even if I thought the art was really good, I often still didn\u2019t have any interest in keeping a lot of it. <\/span>I didn\u2019t really get rid of much older stuff. <\/span>It was a lot of newer books. <\/span>A lot of them were popular books too. <\/span>But I just am not interested any more.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I would read them, and the style of writing would get on my nerves. <\/span>Everything is so cute and clever and in-fashion. <\/span>It\u2019s about cell phones and reality tv and everything that\u2019s \u201cin\u201d right now, and it all felt like a big gimmick to be \u201cpopular\u201d and \u201ccool,\u201d and I realized, I don\u2019t want to be \u201cpopular\u201d and \u201ccool,\u201d I just want to tell the goddamn stories I want to tell. <\/span>And obviously this is a sign I\u2019m getting old, because I can\u2019t stand anything that\u2019s \u201ccool\u201d any more. <\/span>It\u2019s a bad sign.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It\u2019s like when you realize you don\u2019t know what movies are cool, or what music is cool anymore. <\/span>And you just start watching all the old movies, or listening to all the old music you liked when you were younger. <\/span>Bad sign. <\/span>Bad sign. <\/span>I\u2019m getting old.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And worse, all the artists seem so talented. <\/span>I can\u2019t draw like that. <\/span>It\u2019s humiliating. <\/span>They\u2019re so good. <\/span>Their line work is so amazing. <\/span>Right now, clean-lined photo-realism is in, and even if that\u2019s what I attempt, I just can\u2019t quite accomplish it.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I finally began admitting to myself this week, I don\u2019t really want to do superhero comics. <\/span><\/p>\n

I never really realized it before. <\/span>I always assumed I\u2019d wind up there eventually, and it\u2019s just what I\u2019d do. <\/span>But now I\u2019m resigned. <\/span>It\u2019s not what I do. <\/span>I don\u2019t have any desire to do it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a big step for me. <\/span>Because of course, superhero books are pretty much the only place people can make a paycheck in the industry. <\/span>The page rates are simply better, and the work is steadier. <\/span>Most successful people in the industry, even if they begin with indie books, wind up on superhero titles.<\/p>\n

And I assumed this would happen to me. <\/span>I assumed the big companies would eventually see my work and say, this guy is the guy for us. <\/span>He should work for us. <\/span>But here we are, two years into my publishing career, and no one is asking yet.<\/p>\n

And meanwhile, I\u2019m reading a couple superhero books here and there, and thinking, sure I liked this stuff when I was in sixth grade. <\/span>I found it really intellectual and realistic, but honestly, I\u2019ve gotten older now. <\/span>I still appreciate it. <\/span>I still have those emotional and psychological bonds to it. <\/span>But I\u2019m just not such interested in it anymore. <\/span>It isn\u2019t a reality that \u201cworks\u201d for me. <\/span>I\u2019ve been writing about mad scientists and private detectives. <\/span>Or if I write about fantastic giant monsters, I\u2019m parodying it. <\/span>I have trouble imagining I could take a superhero format seriously if I were doing it. <\/span>And besides, I\u2019m enjoying what I\u2019m doing, NOT doing superheroes.<\/p>\n

So all that forced me to realize, I don\u2019t really want to do superheroes.<\/p>\n

So on the one hand I feel really alienated, and like, I can\u2019t fit in and I don\u2019t want to. <\/span>I don\u2019t belong in this medium. <\/span>But on the other hand, I realize, I have a day job, and I can afford to just do whatever project I feel like, on my own terms. <\/span>I don\u2019t really want to get work-for-hire and weird random projects. <\/span>I don\u2019t want to fill in for other artists and get put on who-knows-what books. <\/span>I just want to do the stories I want to do, and I\u2019m doing that. <\/span>I\u2019m choosing my stories, and making up my own characters. <\/span>I can continue to put out regular comics, or I could make more mini-comics, or start doing web comics, and try to not lose a thousand bucks every issue I put out. <\/span>Even if financially my career continues to lose me money every time I release something, I can afford to do that. <\/span>I can afford to do what I want creatively. <\/span>So, really, I\u2019m very lucky. <\/span>I\u2019m living the American dream. <\/span>I have no creative limits or overseers to keep me tied back. <\/span>What am I complaining about?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Being finished with the Dr. DeBunko book, I was anxious to jump back into the Doris Danger sixteen books as well. This is the way I write Doris Danger stories. I don\u2019t think about them, and I do other things. I\u2019ll just be going through my day, driving somewhere, sitting at work, watching tv, reading […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diary-of-a-struggling-comics-artist"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"woocommerce_thumbnail":false,"woocommerce_single":false,"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"cwisnia","author_link":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/archives\/author\/cwisnia"},"uagb_comment_info":388,"uagb_excerpt":"Being finished with the Dr. DeBunko book, I was anxious to jump back into the Doris Danger sixteen books as well. This is the way I write Doris Danger stories. I don\u2019t think about them, and I do other things. I\u2019ll just be going through my day, driving somewhere, sitting at work, watching tv, reading…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}