Waiting for the Miracle

No page 81 last week due to the long weekend, but here it is nonetheless. The stage is set for the last tussle between Metasearch and the psychic vampire. I’m curious about the impressions of the coming last pages. As recurrent readers know by now, this graphic novel is all about experimentation and that includes the story itself. Whether it works or not remains to be seen. I’ll see you in the page.

Oddman Out

Dark Night

The final showdown between Metasearch and the psychic vampire is afoot. I had a cool time doing the artwork for this page dealing with all the gang together one more time. I’m going to miss them when this is over, but it’s about time to bring this story to a close and move on.

It’s going to be a while before I commit myself to another graphic novel. Time is always an issue, and I feel the need to let the things I’ve learned from this experience settle in my head. I would like to take my art to another level, and I have a few ideas I want to experiment with in the future. Hopefully they’ll work out.

Be on the look out for page 81 later this week. I’ll see you in the page.

Oddman Out.

Sympathy for the Devil

And so ends the great action scene. As for all gothic antagonists, we’re drawn to feel some pity for them. After all, these stories are about good-intentioned, flawed individuals, who made bad choices. Like all bullies, once their thin armor is compromised, you find out how really scared they are; the proverbial house of cards.

We’re nearing the end now, and I can’t help to look back and remember when I was struggling to make the first five pages. Why five? That’s usually the number of pages comic book studios want in order to see if an artist can deal with sequential storytelling. Now with every new page, we’re one step closer to the end of this journey. I hope you have enjoyed the ride so far. I’ll see you in the page.

Oddman Out

Hard on Me

For whatever reason, there’s always a page that is harder than the others. It might not look like it, but this one is a prime example. I like to joke about this being the story’s “action sequence.” As I’ve said before, Metasearch is character and story driven, so action is quite thin throughout the book.

Obvious in this page is my on-going exploration into the realm of lettering. By now, I feel more confident about it, but it’s still quite conservative as modern lettering goes. My main concern is to convey feelings more than just being creative.

So here’s page 78; I hope you enjoy it. There will be a page 79 at some point, but I have to leave town for a while, so whether or not I will be able to deliver it next week remains to be seen. I’ll see you in the page.

Oddman Out

Enter the Sandman

I can’t help but imagine hearing audience applause when Gabriel shows up on the last panel. To me, it seems so long since I see my guys I can’t help but be exited to work with them again. In a way, every member of the team has their little solo moment. Claire had her scene with Anya at the coffee shop; Acantha’s is soon to come; but now it’s Gabriel’s turn.

Art-wise, I’m happy to go back to the non-flashback sequences of the book, the “realistic” scenes. Not that it wasn’t fun doing the more surreal pages, but the challenge of keeping the frames interesting is something I missed. I hope you enjoy these much-delayed pages as much as I have making them. More to come. See you in the page.

Oddman Out.

Surprise, Surprise

Well, what do you know? Another page within days instead of months. As much as I enjoyed doing the flashback sequence, I’m happy to go back to the good old style of the book.

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the International Manga Museum in Kyoto. What really caught my attention was a temporary exhibit highlighting French comic books, or Bande Dessinée as they’re known in France. Belgium and France not only constitute one of the biggest comic book markets in the world, but they also have a different approach to publishing. In Japan, for example, manga are done cheaply and quickly usually by one or two creators in compilations. If the story generates any interest, then it gets its own book. In the U.S. serialized books are output monthly at a neck-breaking pace by a team of artists. In the Franco-Belgian market, books are published maybe once a year by a team of two artists (usually). Sure, they are longer than 22 pages, but it’s not so much a serialized market like in Japan or the U.S.

It was very interesting seeing the differences between the three biggest markets of comic books; how they develop independently from each other, and how sometimes they influence each other. I’ll see you in the page.

Oddman Out.