Moby

Apr 232019
 

It’s not really a code, or a secret, it’s just an enigma, wrapped in the average persons lack of expertise…or something.

I did a short for Yeet not long ago, lettered and sent it out, then came some colors. And then came the request to format it for the Alterna Publishing thingy.

It’s not all bad, I am learning some bits and figuring other bits out. For example, I am learning why so many of my fellow indie creators who said they were jumping at the chance to use the program offered by Alterna to print on newsprint for low, low prices gave up after being daunted by the required specs.

Still, I have made a good faith effort, and should know very soon that I have failed and still have much to learn. So far I have figured out on my own that one workaround I imagined will not work, specifically moving just the type from a flattened tiff (or tif, png, etc) file to another layer will not work. If you have only a flattened file, I now suspect very much that you would have to either re-letter the book, making sure to keep the lettering ‘active’ and in their several layers or risk printing the rasterized letter layer. Apparently that would be bad and make for ‘muddy’ letters…perhaps.

If you are intimately familiar with the required specs and find this frustration of a fly-by-night indie comics post-processing nightmare funny, please know I forgive you. It’s just on this side it’s a bit more like a tragedy.

Apr 132019
 

I have not posted anything to this blog in a long time. It is not like I am not busy having fun with things that this blog is supposedly about (movies, games, comics, etc.), I just have not been writing about it a lot, and mostly over at the media site (www.mobysmedia.com) when I do.

So I am thinking I might post messages like this at both sites for a while…I have thought of merging the two sites but I am not really in the mood to do all that…work.

So the news is that I suck at Kickstarter. I think it has changed a bit as far as comic book funding goes, but in any case I don’t see any of my books getting the funding they would need to do proper sequels and such. So, I am going to make improper sequels and stuff.

First off, I have an artist or two who like working and would like tme to keep them busy, and they are not of the artists mafia type who feel they are entitled to $200/page and so forth. I am also looking to keep costs down on the coloring of pages by using flats and greyscale for most book from now on. So far the next two ShadoWorld books will be of this nature, and probably the third if it gets completed.

So far there has been an issue with ShadoWorlds #3. I don’t really want to get into it.

Page from Dr. Fizz Issue #2

The good news is that my super friend and artist knows a guy who knows a guy who wants to do Dr. Fizz. So far so good, and I am thinking we might actually get issues 2 AND 3 made. Woohoo.

I have a good outline for the two issues, a solid-ish character arc making the ‘origin’ of Dr. Fizz a three issue affair and not just one issue. That said, issue one can and does stand on it’s own just fine.

Now, if only I could Kickstart it, or put it on sale…

Aug 212018
 

It’s the big day, our first Kickstarter! Kinda a weird feeling, knowing what you don’t know. Will it fund? Will people like it? Aw heck, who knows? In any case it’s great to have finally gotten to this point in the whole process.

Click here to go to the

Kickstarter!

It all started in December of 2016 when I hired Rob Stanley to write and Rick Alves to draw ‘Dr. Fizz’. That book was a crash course in making an independent comic book. We had a couple of speed bumps, including a work stoppage due to my being laid off from work for two months. The time off at home was fun though.

Still, we worked hard and eventually finished ‘Dr, Fizz’. And around that time, Rei and Steve were finishing up pages for this book, Sissonne.

Both books take place in ‘Grand City’, a place that had so much crime that the mayor got a law passed to basically legalize vigilantes. Or, as we call them, superheroes. Some are indeed super, other not so much. Fizz and Sissonne are sort of in the middle type of heroes. They won’t be saving the world anytime soon, but Grand City is safer for them. This city needs them, and more like them.

Jun 072018
 

Not sure what was going on but the media site was sort of down. The individual pages looked OK, but the main page was returning some fatal error. Luckily, deactivating some plugins and reactivating them did the trick, and it’s working now, but still. I don’t like seeing my site down. 

Seems like I keep saying I need to blog more, but I suppose I am just too busy. Or I’m just telling myself that because of another cause I don’t want to think too much about. But since I an here, here it is: Facebook sucks. 

I know, what does that have to do with my blog. Well, I just don’t post almost anything to Facebook anymore, unless it is about my comic books or something cute or funny. I keep starting to write something, then just delete it because A) All I get in my feed anymore is diatribe, mob building who-dunnits and posts telling me how to think and reminding me that things are different now and commonly held opinions from a few years ago now make you an asshole and die! die! die! Or, B. But mostly it’s A. So, I have decided to just stop posting about pretty much anything, and I guess it has bled over to here. 

I usually avoid politics on this blog, so it’s not that, it’s just the idea that no one cares what I happen to think of the latest Marvel movie, right? So, maybe I need to reexamine why I post at all, what I might use or need the site for. Or maybe I just need a beer. Meh. Oh, did I mention I fixed the site?

May 252018
 

I want to give a shout out to a Kickstarter running right now that some of my readers might be able to use, a comic book writing tool called Superscript.

While there are many programs out there to specifically draft screenplays, there has not been a successful comic book writing program to date that I am aware of. There was one back in ’13 on Kickstarter, but it failed to deliver.

Here is the blurb and bits:

If you haven’t heard of it yet, Superscript is the software that comic book writers have been waiting for, which …

• automatically formats your script as you type
• automatically numbers page and panel headings
• tallies up dialog words per bubble, panel and page
• checks your spelling and autocompletes your custom fictional words and character names
• lets you embed images and comments
• exports to a variety of file formats
• allows you to choose between several popular script formatting conventions when exporting
• works on Windows and macOS

I’ve been using the program o my sequel to Bluebird, something I’m calling ‘The Roots of Glasir’, and so far I’m digging the program a lot. The shortcuts really are handy, and the output being in the correct format helps so, so much. About the only thing wrong so far are my typos. And Plot holes, lots of plot holes.

Normally, I’m not a fan of paying for ‘subscription’ software, but the lifetime license is not a bad deal at all, and on the plus side you can try the pre-release version today, for free (7 Day Trial).

I’m recommending it, and am a backer as well. Give it a look, let me know what you think.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jpsilva/superscript#

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