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04/30/04
'Nuff said.
I was going to post today and apologize for how pissy I was in Wednesday's Journal entry. Then, I got this short, to-the-point e-mail from a mister Jack Betz:
Update every Friday my ass!
Really makes me want to keep doing these strips, you know?
Chris
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04/28/04
Update on updates.
The big problem with a Journal like this is that I really only feel compelled to write in it when I have bad news or have to vent. That, obviously, makes the tone of the entire exercise far too negative. At best, it makes me sound like a manic depressive, at worst, a whiny asshole.
Ces't la vie. So I'm an asshole. I can live with that.
I've gotten a couple of indignant e-mails from FEMME NOIR readers who were apparently terribly disappointed that there was no strip last Friday, and wanted me to know, in no uncertain terms, that if I missed anymore updates, I would lose their readership. Yes, I know it sucks when I don't or can't update the comics. It pisses me off too. But then, you only have to read them. I have to write and letter them and arrange for them to be drawn and colored. Joe Staton has to find the time in his busy schedule to draw them, and Brandon Carr has to make time to color them. And you know what? Sometimes other things take priority. We all have other commitments family, jobs... we try to plan around these things, but real life is full of surprises some quite unpleasant. And I don't want to sound too much like an asshole, but I feel compelled to remind you that none of us make any money offf of these strips. Nor do we charge anyone to read them. This site is free and neither of the other sites that run FEMME NOIR Movie Poop Shoot and Thrilling Detective pay to feature the strips on their webspace.
All I'm saying here is that we do our best on this strip and nobody's forcing you to read it. If the occassional interruptions in the schedule are too much to bear, then don't. I appreciate that you dig what we're doing here, but, hey, I wouldn't want to be responsible for ruining your Friday.
I'm working hard to make this hiatus as brief as possible. With luck, we'll be back on track in a few weeks.
Or maybe we won't.
But that's what I'm shooting for.
Chris
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04/17/04
A Full Plate of Pulp.
If you've been reading these Journal entries, you know that recent events have me struggling with my schedule, but I wanted to share with you some of the projects I'm working on. Some are more tentative than others, some I still can't go into too much detail about, and some of them I've mentioned a few times before, but here's what's on my plate at the moment:
The GRAVEDIGGER one-shot, reprinting the online strip I did with Rick Burchett. I'm currently re-lettering and making some minor script changes for the B&W print version, which should be in stores before the end of the year, with a new cover by Rick and a few bonus pin-ups by pals like Fred Harper and Dario Carrasco, among others. This will be published by Rorschach Entertainment.
I also have a commitment to do a new online GRAVEDIGGER comic this year venue to be announced soon. Australian artist Gary Chaloner (of Will Eisner's John Law) is scheduled to draw it.
A four-issue FEMME NOIR miniseries, "The Dark City Diaries," drawn by Joe Staton and inked (hopefully) by Horacio Ottolini. Contracts are being negotiated now. With luck, it'll be out early next year.
A private eye graphic novel, drawn by Rick Burchett and featuring a classic pulp magazine detective. I'll be starting work on this in the next month or so. It's planned to come out through Moonstone Books sometime in 2005.
The continuing online adventures of FEMME NOIR with Joe Staton first the continuation and conclusion of "Chambers of Horror," and then, hopefully, the murder mystery I'm tentatively calling, "Gambling on Death." I also have a FEMME NOIR script, "Beast of the City," in the hands of another artist, that I hope will premiere on the site later this year. I don't want to announce his name yet, in case things fall through, but he's an established pro with a long list of comics and animation credits.
I'm renovating my ATOMIC PULP website into my personal "home page" your one-stop online spot for all things Christopher Mills (as if you need it). It will incorporate my graphic design portfolio, some examples of my fiction, and a complete checklist of my comic book work (what there is of it) as well as previews of new projects (like those listed above). I'll also soon be launching the dedicated GRAVEDIGGER website.
And, finally, I hope to continue to add content to and improve the SUPERNATURAL CRIME site which is all most of you really care about.
So, as you can see, falling behind schedule for me is like toppling a row of dominoes...
Finally, I'm thinking about reviving the Forum. Anyone interested? Drop me a line.
Chris
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04/08/04
News from the Front.
At the moment, I'm still employed. I'm getting my car window replaced Saturday, with luck. New FEMME NOIR and BROTHER GRIM strips are up.
Just to let you know, I'm a bit behind on my work... there may be (although we'll do our best to avoid it) a slight hiccup in the FEMME NOIR story sometime in the next few weeks. A lot depends on how things go this week for both me and Joe. Keep your fingers crossed.
There's a place holder up over at the GRAVEDIGGER site. Look for the full-blown launch in a few weeks.
As I mentioned below, I saw Hellboy last Friday. I thought it was great one of the top three comics-to-film adaptations, right up there with The Rocketeer and The Crow both based on indie comics, and both, in their own ways, improving ever-so-slightly on the source material. Hellboy does the same, adding some welcome depth to its inferno-born protagonist. Add in some rockin' action, a marvelous score, the perfect lead actor, and visuals right out of Lovecraft by way of Mignola, and you're talkin' about a fun ride at the flicks.
Recommended.
Chris
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04/03/04
True Crime.
Here's the deal. I'm a guy who likes to read and write crime fiction. I like stories about those tough guys who live outside the law and those tough guys who bring them down. I've cavalierly written numerous tales about hardboiled criminal types and the crimes they commit (like GRAVEDIGGER, to name but one). And today comes the ironic EC twist I've been robbed.
No joke.
Nope. Today the Moll and I made our weekly trip to the dog park so that our beloved canine companion, China, could have her regular Saturday romp. Upon our return to the parking lot, we discovered that my car had been broken into, window smashed... and my wife's purse (which she'd stashed in the trunk out of sight we thought) was stolen.
Credit cards. ID. Keys. Address book. Personal Photos. And about seven bucks cash.
Shit.
It took forever for the cops to arrive, and because we don't have a cell phone (hard to believe, I know) we had to wait for them and then wait for them to finish their "investigation" before we could rush home and start calling banks and insurance companies.
Calls the Moll is making as I type.
It looks like they used one of our credit cards already, but the financial damge is minimal, thank God. We'll have to get all new accounts (which means taking time off from work), get new locks on the apartment (ditto), I'll have to go get my window replaced (ditto again), and my wife has to go through all the hassles associated with having her identification stolen...
It's a pretty crappy capper to a pretty crappy couple of weeks.
I'm pissed.Yeah, sure, we shouldn't have left the purse in the car, even in the trunk. But it's a nice park in a nice, upscale city, and the parking lot is awfully busy...who would have thunk? I mean, really.
Anyway.
Saw the Hellboy movie last night. Didn't suck. So the weekend wasn't a total wash.
Chris
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04/02/04
Master of my domain(s).
You were warned.
ATOMIC PULP is now closed for renovations. When it re-opens, it will be your one-stop stop for all things Crimeboss. Comics, fiction, design... all the products of my warped, arrested adolescent mind... scary, isn't it?
The online GRAVEDIGGER comic has been taken off-line. If you wanted to read it and hadn't gotten to it yet, you'll have to wait for the print version, which, hopefully, will be out this Fall. Of course, you'll have to pay for that one.
What can I say? You snooze, you lose!
Chris
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