Invisible Kid

In the movie “Fight Club,” they play out the concept of service workers flexing their muscle against the white collar establishment. “We serve your food, we park your cars…” or so goes a line from the film. We all hear about millionaires screwing the little guy; just checkout the news. But if you look at it, cleaning people, valets, waitresses, nannies, etc. can be rather sinister. They bring us food and drink, they roam our house and work spaces, they get inside our cars, spend time alone with your children. These are people who dwell in our personal lives even for a brief moment. So the idea of one of these people using their access for ill is quite frightening. After all, one of the classic rackets of the mob was to cancel trash collection. We might not think about it, but try not getting your trash collected for a week, and you’ll start seeing the problem very quickly. Plus, there are no easy answers to it, are you going to load you car with load after load of trash and drive to a landfill? I think you get the picture.

As a society we have been taught, almost by osmosis, to look down on these types of jobs. Yet, it only takes one viewing of TV shows like “The Worst Jobs in History,” or “Dirty Jobs,” to gain a very different perspective. That’s why I wanted to make Sam a janitor. It plays not only to our socio-economic idiosyncrasies, but because it shows the potential to do evil from an unassuming position. I’ll see you in the page.

Oddman Out

Loser

The purpose of panel 6 on page 65 was to lead the reader to an anticlimax, and page 66 just drives the disappointment home. This is what is called “the reveal” in film, and it means the moment when you unveil a main character. So all these pages, all this build up takes us to this very “huh?” moment in the story. No handsome Goth guy, no suave Eastern European, or brilliant psychopath; just an everyday bloke that you wouldn’t give a second glance.

One of the elements I like about gothic literature is that the antagonist is a tragic figure. Something happens to these characters and the dark inner-most nature of humanity comes out… or is it just humanity’s nature? Anyway, this whole sequence is sad, but it informs the reader about the psychic vampire, and what his life is about, or at least part of the time. Alas, I don’t want to give away too much, so I’ll keep talking about Sam in future blogs. I’ll see you in the page.

Oddman Out

These are the Thoughts

Well, what do you know? Page 65 did actually arrive. Looking at it, I can’t help but draw a comparison between panel 1 and Tim Bradstreet’s “Punisher” covers. Also, panel 5 reminds me of the “Obey” logo. I guess I’m in good company. These got me thinking about James “Jim” Steranko, who I believe is the father of Digital Artist.

Back in the 60’s when everybody was doing classic comic book renderings; Steranko was sort of the rock star of the medium. He introduced surrealism, opt art, pop art, and graphic design elements into his run on “Nick Fury, Agent of Shield.” Needless to say, his art was unique and groundbreaking. This Comic Book Hall of Famer had a background in advertising, where he worked as an artist before breaking into comic books in 1965. Jim brought advertising design techniques to sequential art quite successfully. Having myself a graphic design background, I can’t help but drawing a comparison with Jim Steranko. I too apply techniques learned in graphic design, art, and CGI into my work.

I enjoyed playing with the red hue, and the graininess of this scene. Using the grains as a representation of rain being reflected form the outside, really gave this whole sequence a very gritty, creepy feeling. In my never ending exploration of the world of lettering, I shifted the font on Sam’s speech to build the crescendo until the very anticlimactic last panel. Man, I really enjoy working on this thing. Let’s see if Chronos is kind to me and I can keep delivering even on an irregular basis. I’ll see you in the page.

Oddman Out

Red Rain

No, I can’t believe it either, but finally I got enough time in my hands to do another page. It feels like ages since I posted the last one. The thought has crossed my mind to halt the project until next year when I’m less pressed for time; but when I see people still checking the site everyday waiting for the next page, I feel very compelled to oblige. So thank you for your patience, and your loyalty to the story.

I always imagined this page done in contrast; something ala Sin City. However, it had to fit the overall look of the book, so something that initially seemed quite simple to create ended up being shaped by a lot of experimenting. The vast space, long shadows, and silhouettes are a throwback to the beginning of the story; reclaiming some of its gothic roots. That’s why the last panel on page 63 has McConnor casting some heavy shadows as a symbolic link. I also wanted the scene to be mundane, but the atmosphere had to be creepy. The conversation is rather trivial, but the use of red, which seems like some hellish fire, makes it look threatening and out of place.

I truly hope the wait was worthwhile. With some luck, I’ll have page 65 done by next Wednesday. All I can do now is to keep trying to squeeze some time to keep the pages coming. Once again, thank you for your patience and interest. I’ll see you in the page.

Oddman Out