This pleasant surprise just dropped in my lap. The lovely folks over at Geeks of Doom saw fit to review us — and they liked the comic!
(click the image to read the review on GeeksofDoom.com)
Thanks so much, you guys!
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I just wanted to share a bit of inspiration from legendary comics writer and editor, Denny O’Neill, excerpted from The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics (which I have somehow managed to get this far in life without reading — shameful).
The image itself comes via Barry Hutchison’s School of Writing website, and I can’t thank him enough for calling attention to it.
…I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s just something in my eye.
No, YOU’RE tearing up!!!
“Reading the first few issues of Bizarre New World made me feel like a boy again, reading my favorite comics and thinking, ‘so this is what it’s like to really fly!’ A fun comic with a fascinating story, I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
-Terry Moore, creator of
Strangers in Paradise, Echo, and Rachel Rising
I mentioned the Bizarre New World Kickstarter campaign in a blog post earlier this month, and since then, it has gained 106 pledges and almost a third of its intended goal… but with only 10 days left to make up the last 2/3rds, it’s looking a little grim. In light of this, I wanted to take the time to really TELL you about this project and why it deserves your attention.
Bizarre New World is a story that explores what would happen if everyone in the world suddenly learned how to fly. It’s not superhero fiction or hard sci-fi or fantasy or any of the usual action-based genres we usually see in comics… but it’s also not your typical slice-of-life tale. The most accurate way I can describe it is “imaginative fiction.” It asks the question “What if…?” and then spends 278 pages answering that question. And THEN it opens itself up to the visions of 50 other creators and lets them spend another 225 pages riffing on those ideas.
The original Bizarre New World mini-series and OGN sequel were some of my absolute favorite comics that I read back in 2008. That appreciation led to me becoming friends with the creator, Skipper Martin, and that led to me becoming one of those 50 creators to contribute to the BNW anthology.
So, yes, I am a contributor to this project — but I started out as a fan. And I’ve continued to be a fan as Skipper let me read each subsequent script as he finished writing them and sent me previews of the art pages. I watched the core BNW story morph and expand and divide into multiple story arcs with unanticipated twists, while still keeping that core devotion to the “What if?”
This is such a special project, you guys. It’s such a joy for someone, like myself, who spent years of his life just imagining a world like this one, to see Skipper bring that world to life and open it wide for us. He answers the “What if?” while still allowing for that sense of wonder, of the unknown, to remain intact.
It’s true that a failed first attempt on Kickstarter doesn’t necessarily mean The End for a worthy project. Many have gone on to have successful second campaigns, or found success via other avenues (publishers reading this post — TAKE NOTE!).
But the fact is, Skipper has invested nine years of his life and thousands — literally THOUSANDS — he paid EVERY artist — of his own dollars into creating something wonderful. He deserves a win here. If you can look at everything this book has to offer and still not find something in it that speaks to you, then, no harm, no foul. You can’t please everyone.
But it would be a crime for this book to go unfunded based on a lack of visibility.
So, please, even if it’s not your cuppa tea, help make it visible to people who might like a sip.
Bizarre New World
Graphic Novel & Anthology Kickstarter
Just a few of the non-webcomic-related things we’ve been working on in the last month or so:
Joey is reviewing Marvel’s Daredevil for TVEquals.com!
Every episode gets the same sort of in-depth analysis you’ve seen in the Guardians of the Galaxy and Interstellar reviews on this blog. Swing by and give ‘em a read!
Michelle has revamped MichelleNguyenArt.com!
Michelle is available for freelance, doing portraits, logo design, commercial art, and awesome pictures of all the dogs. Go check out the awesomeness at MichelleNguyenArt.com. What are doing still reading? GO!
The Bizarre New World Kickstarter campaign is live!
Skipper Martin’s grand, slice-of-fantastical-life epic has been nine years in the making, and now it’s ready to be printed. With 200+ pages to the main story, and an additional 300+ page short story anthology, there is TONS of amazing material here, comprising one of the best comic book stories of the last decade. Should not be missed.
PLUS, Joey wrote one of the short stories, with art by Mado Peña and letters by Ed Brisson!
You can read an exclusive preview of that story over at Geeks of Doom.
If any of this seems familiar, it may be because it’s expanded from a reply I wrote in the comments section of an io9 article about Interstellar. The original article is HERE — my comment is… buried somewhere underneath.
As a heads up, this post deals in minor spoilers for Watchmen and MAJOR spoilers for Interstellar. I basically give the whole plot and ending away, though not the minutiae of it. So…
BIG FAT SPOILER ALERT!
You’ve been warned.
Ever since Interstellar debuted, it’s had its share of critics, most of whom took issue with the movie’s ending and the perceived plot holes, paradoxes, and “schmaltzy bullshit” contained therein.
This article addresses one oft-repeated criticism which takes aim at the movie’s “time travel” elements and the supposed paradox created by the ending.
My goal is to explain, in the clearest way possible, why there is no paradox — and, in fact, no time travel — in Interstellar.
My teaching aid: none other than The Most Celebrated Graphic Novel of All Time™
Watchmen
In order to really grasp what’s happening in Interstellar, you need some small, basic understanding of what “dimensions” are. I’m going to try to explain this, as I understand it, in the most simplistic way possible — sciencey people, feel free to correct and/or deride me.
Dimensions are spacial and temporal measurements that allow us to perceive our universe.
1 Dimension is a straight line. Only its length is measurable.
2 Dimensions is a square. It has both length and width.
3 Dimensions is a cube. It has height, width, AND depth. 3D makes the world (and Avatar) pop out at us.
4 Dimensions is time. Height, width, and depth in a constant state of change.
As 4-dimensional beings, we perceive 3D objects moving and changing through space (here to there) and time (now to then).
It is theorized that beings of higher dimensions are able to perceive all new values of measurement; specifically that time, to them, may be a construct they can perceive objectively from the outside, rather than subjectively, from within.
(I told you this would be simplistic.)
Now, how does this all relate to Watchmen?
This guy:
(After the cut, we get Manhattany…)
