mimick

So, tomorrow is thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I am so glad I got Batman: The Cult before it went out of print. It's perhaps one of the best Batman stories printed. It's up there with Year One, DKR, Death In the Family, Batman: Venom, Batman: Shaman, and Batman: Knightfall.

Now, if I can just gather the cash to get Batman: Knightfall, Tales Of the Demon, Hush (both volumes), Dark Knight Strikes Again, Robin: A Hero Reborn, Batman: Contagion, and Nightwing: Year One plus all of the Dixon Nightwing trades. I'll have a nice collection of Batman work.

Nightwing #33

Iron Man #3 (in progress)

1.Are you a “pantser” or a “plotter?”

I'm a pantser, I usually have a loose outline of everything I'm going to do from the first issue to the end of the arc. But, it's always subject to change as I develop the issues.


2.Detailed character sketches or “their character will be revealed to me as I write?"

I never do detailed character sketches. I always have an idea of their character before I put anything down, and then when I begin writing I know if my idea works, or not.

3.Do you know your characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts before you start writing or is that something else you discover only after you start writing?

I discover it as I write.

4. Books on plotting – useful or harmful?

I wouldn't say they are harmful, as they give you an idea on the basics of others methods. But, nothing beats learning your own methods.

5. Are you a procrastinator or does the itch to write keep at you until you sit down and work?

Pretty much the latter, but I've learned to curb the notion so that I can stew on ideas so that I can develop them better.

6. Do you write in short bursts of creative energy, or can you sit down and write for hours at a time?

Hours at a time. Since losing fifty pounds – I can produce a lot of comic script in a short time.

7. Are you a morning or afternoon writer?

Morning is when I'm at my best. I tend to fudge up when I'm worn out later on.

8. Do you write with music/the noise of children/in a cafe or other public setting, or do you need complete silence to concentrate?

It varies. Sometimes complete silence helps the best.

9. Computer or longhand? (Or typewriter?)

Computer.

10. Do you know the ending before you type Chapter One?

No, I always work out the ending as I write towards it.

11. Does what’s selling in the market influence how and what you write?

Not really, I just write to my tastes.

12. Editing – love it or hate it?

I tend to be a perfectionist, so I do a lot of editing when I write. Then I do a once over when I'm finished. It's why I never can complete a novel.

13. Why do you want to write?

For me, it's always been more than a hobby. It's something that I'm good at. Something that I've got talent in – that I think I can make a living at. Not only that, but I've been a life long fan of the characters and the creators. I want to add to the rich tapestry just as my idols have.

14. Do you want to publish your work? Why?

Yes I do, because it will be the next step in the career I want for myself as a comic writer.

15. Do like to write alone or do you like to work with others?

I've done and can do both. But, the latter can be a pain at times. I don't have too many problems with artists – it's mostly other writers that I sometimes get grief from.

I have to wait until 2012 for Star Trek 2. Shit, Chris Pine and the others did such a great job. I almost wish the next movie was coming out next year, but ah well. At least the next feature will be real cool.

-Mick

Everything written by Kurt Vonnegut, Chuck Palahniuk, etc. Pure unadultrated shit writers.

Give teens reading material that breathes, and that's fun instead of books that are stiffer than corpse.

-Mick

Aside from my honed ability to write, I'd love to have the ability to draw like contemporary John Byrne and Frank Miller.

Finished Captain America #6

Well, I've done three pages of script for my re-write.

Working on Captain America #6

Everytime I go to CBR, I always hear very off-color vulgarity by the gay posters. And I admit we straight people are just as guilty of it as well. But, here's the thing - I believe that on a message board where kids might be checking out the latest news on comics, and I'm sure kids do.

That we shouldn't post explicit sex jokes like this:

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=294368

The comment:

"Hopefully not any time soon. I'm not anywhere near tired of hearing people quickly correcting themselves after saying "I love Dick!" when asked what they think of that current bat-titles."

It's the same for Bendis' Jinxworld forums and all other forums that may be suited for all-ages. We got to keep an eye on our behavior around kids. As they might not know what we are talking about and might repeat the jokes in school.

-Mick

The Writer's Corner: Knights Of Graymalkin #2 Review

http://www.marvellab.com/fanfic/kog/kog02.htm

By Mitch Crane

There's no doubt Mitch Crane is a good story teller. He knows how to set up his stories, and milk the drama out of the situations he puts his characters through. However, his biggest problem I've noticed is that he rushes through the middle of his issues to the end, and typos become more frequent.

How can I tell this?

When this issue first started there was not a typo in sight until it got later in the issue. Than they began to show up in greater and greater frequency. This happened when I read the first issue of Quasar, and when I caught a glimpse of his first issue of Starjammers. If Mitch would slow down, and not rush to the end on his works – he wouldn't trip up so much.

Think of your stories as a journey, or a song that is building in tempo. You have to build to that intensity – that climax. Not rush it.

Aside from that, KOG is a really good fantasy-style series, and worth reading. If Mitch would take his time, I'm sure his stories would benefit a lot from it. He's already shown he's got the goods. He just needs to take his time putting out the quality that we know he's capable of.

-Mick

Morgan's comments are in bold.



How long have you been writing fan-fiction?

I wrote my very first prose fan fiction story nearly three years ago, but due to a combination of upheavals in my life, and self-disgust when it came to my writing, I didn't write anything at all for a couple years. It's only been in the last six months that I've had the peace of mind and confidence to begin to write fan-fiction on a regular basis, and try to really improve myself as a writer.

What titles do you currently write?

At the Marvel Lab I co-write Avengers with Mick Edwards, co-write 70's Black Widow with Scott Casper, and write Journey Into Mystery all by myself.

What are some of your writing influences?

I have to say my biggest influences right now are my fellow writers at the Lab. I look at what they're doing and see what I can pick up from them. Like how does Mick write dialogue, or how does Scott write a big fight scene. In his Great Lakes Avengers series, Ryan often switches around his writing style, and I tend to mimic his experimentation.

What is a typical day for Morgan Abbot?

Usually a boring one; I get up, I go to school, and three days a week I work at a grocery store. I wouldn't say my social life is non-existent, but it could be better.

Do you have any hobbies?

I used to have a ton, but aside from fan-fiction I don't have time to do much else at the moment. When I have more spare time again I'd like to get back into theater, and also take up martial arts.

What are some of your goals here in the community?

I'm producing, or helping to produce three ongoing fanfic titles. That's about all I can manage to produce, so my goal would be to produce higher quality work. I'd like to become a writer that people want to read rather than just for the sake of courtesy.

Will readers see you writing at other sites, perhaps?

Sure! There are a quite a few truly great fanfic sites that I'd be proud to write for, if they would have me. Right now though I'm pretty comfortable at the Marvel Lab, where I enjoy a lot of creative freedom and opportunities. But I imagine I might want to see if I can hack it somewhere else, especially if I was dying to write a title that I couldn't at the Lab, for whatever reason.

Do you feel anxious to take on the Avengers after your co-writer leaves, or are you feeling trepidatious due to taking it on solo?

Taking on Avengers by myself will be a huge challenge, one that I both look forward to and dread at the same time. In the beginning I might put one of my other titles on hiatus so I can concentrate more on Avengers. But if my co-writer decided he wanted to stay onboard to issue #25, it would be a big relief to me, as I enjoy our collaboratorship, and the ease of it.


Do you have any thoughts you'd like to share with the readers?

Well, keeping to the subject of fan-fiction, I'd just like to invite readers out there to come and check out the titles at the Marvel Lab, as we have some really great ones that are guaranteed to entertain you. Brent Lambert's Thunderbolts is a personal favorite of mine, along with Scott Casper's Inhumans and Mitch Crane's Starjammers. Chris Oliva writes an awesome Patsy Walker in his Hellcat series. I already mentioned Ryan Schmidt's GLA series, but his brother Kevin is I think a criminally underrated fanfic writer who is not getting anywhere close to the attention he deserves. I'm a big fan of Kevin's New Mutants, and he writes an interesting original character called Stockpile that should appeal to a lot of readers too. There is also an Iron Man series that just debuted that is written by my Avengers co-writer, Mick Edwards. I've already read the first two issues, and I highly recommend that you all check it out! I think it's sure to please everyone!

Thank you for your time, Morgan. :)

You're welcome! I look forward to reading more of your interviews!

http://ma.bhyphen.com/uncannyxmen04.html

Written By Tony Thornley

Chris Clarem-- I mean Tony Thornley does it again. He writes another dramatically effective issue that brings back the Russian loverboy Piotr Rasputin. All the while he slowly peels back the layers of the new Weapon-X. Many mysteries lay hidden as to why Cassandra Nova is controlling Weapon-X and what exactly she wants. In this issue – it's eluded she has something to do with Piotr's reappearance in his native Russia. But, the hows and whys are left to be addressed possibly at another time.

As usual Tony's dialogue carries him through the issue with focus on realistic, natural sounding dialogue. He does at times have Cassandra Nova sounding older than I imagine her in my mind. I don't know if that is the sort of imagery he is going for, or not.

But, aside from that his technical skill is very sound with no errors that I saw. He continues to prove why he is one of the top five writers in the community.

If I have any quibbles – it would be Domino's characterization and placement on Weapon-X. I don't get it. She's Cable's main squeeze and never struck me as a bad guy. It's just like how at M2K they had Banshee as a bad guy, and at Altered Visions they had Bishop as this total rat bastard. I do hope there is more going on than what meets the eye.

-Mick

http://www.marvellab.com/fanfic/ironman/ironman01.htm

Let me know what you guys think :)

I would have lost weight a lot sooner. :)

Writer's Corner Reviews: JLA #52: 'Blackest Night: Part 3 - A Darker Shade of Black' by Mark Anderson & Curt Fernlund

http://www.carnaj.com/JLU2001/jla/JLA52.html


It's been a long wait to see JLU's flagship rise again – as many know Dino left due to fan-fic politics, and left his BLACKEST NIGHT arc unfinished. With the revival of Parallax and so many questions left unanswered as to what would happen with the plot threads he left – I myself thought the book would sit until some one could figure out what to do with it.

But, then I was told upon requesting a character down the road – a character named Prometheus III; Chad Brown, or whatever his name was. That Mark and Curt were tackling the JLA together, and doing a swan song.

And quite the swan song – as they continue the story threads of the Dark Genesis and Earth 2 event. Zard has corrupted the CSA's Earth Two and turned the White Martians trapped there into magically mesmerized duplicates of the JLA. They roam the Earth 2 battling the Secret Society of Super-Villans all to Zard's amusement.

By far worse tragedies; however, are going in the background – for in the ether between Earth 2 and Earth 1, the Spectre maintains a bridge between the worlds, and acts as the only thing preventing all universes from collapsing.

That is until Krona revives the Parallax and sics him on the Spectre, which thereby begins the proverbial doomsday of the multi-verse.

So many plot threads are addressed, and like two concert pianists, Mark and Curt have the whole story hitting all the right beats from heaven's limbo with Superman, Zauriel and Martian Manhunter to Earth 2 and the hijinks going on there to the battle between Parallax and the Spectre. All of it focused and tight.

They even have time to elaborate on mythology of who Mister Miracle and Manitou Raven were in another life time.

All in all this issue shows a climb in quality for the series, and maintains the JLA's status as the flagship of our site.

If I had any quibbles – it would be the missing Leaguers Arsenal and Big Barda. What happened to them? They seemed to have gotten lost in the shuffle.

-Mick

Well, a few moments ago I got on the scale - and I clocked in at 361. So, in the past three to five months, I've lost 39 pounds. Which means I'm on target for my weight loss goal. If I can continue my hardwork - by this time next year, I'll be down to 275. :)

-Mick

A review for a review

Writer's Corner: Titans #14: 'Rebirth: Part 2 - There's No Place Like Home' by Scott Redmond

http://www.carnaj.com/JLU2001/titans/TT14.html

Scott Redmond is a rising star in the HEROES community – his immaculate prose, and crisp characterization has turned the Titans series on its head by taking it back to the Wolfman/Perez era goodness.

Already in the second issue the team is assembled with some of my favorite Titans such as Donna Troy, Cyborg, Starfire, Argent, and my least favorites such as Tempest, Herald, Bumblebee, and Zatara. These assembled will brave Trigon's dimension and save Raven from her father.

Showing off his skills at characterization, Scott already shows how annoying and whiny Zatara is – I'm already voting for him to die a swift death. He's grating on my nerves. Starfire; however, seems to have the least characterization. As I have spoken with others – many seem stumped on what to do with her. She's either played as Miss sexual tension, or another flying brick to pad a team roster, or both.

I'd like to see Scott put some more meat on Starfire's character bones than Miss Sexual Tension, or whining about her people and civic duties as princess.

I didn't see any spelling mistakes, typos, or grammar mistakes – and the last scene was a great cliff hanger. I think if you're not reading Titans now. Then you are doing yourself a disservice.

Click the link above, and give it a try.

-Mick

The Writer's Corner: The Thing #3 Review

http://marvel.omegacen.com/thing3.html

By Curt Fernlund


There isn't anyone stupid enough to tell Curt Fernlund that he doesn't know what he is doing, and the reason is because he knows exactly what he is doing. Whether it be the broad based team dynamics of Avengers and JLA, or the mundane, gritty noir of Black Canary, Dark Genesis Batman, and the like. Curt approaches them like a maestro with the idea of reaching farther than anyone else in the community dares in terms of epic.

When he wrote the Fantastic Four – he took the beloved blue eyed Thing on a roller coaster that turned old Benjy's life upside down. Now, our beloved idol o' millions is trying to stop doomsday from happening, and only he knows the score. With his rag-tag band, they have so far stolen the Devil Slayer's cloak, wiped Ben, and his team's identities from the world wide database, and stolen an artifact from Doctor Strange.

What this all leads to – only Curt knows, and he's not telling a soul. The way Benjy's portrayed reminds me of the early Stan and Jack portrayal when he was a sour and temperamental behemoth, and not the loveable lump of orange brick we know now. But, underneath that sour attitude, the Ben we know seems to still be there, and yet he seems jaded by what he's been through.

Curt brings to life a lot of plot points such as Ben's manipulations at the hands of the Frightful Four, the Controller, and the Puppet Master – his murder of Maximus the Mad, and how he's struggling with the weakening ability to change back forth from his monster form to his human form.

The vivid descriptions of New York paints it as the Rotten Apple you'd hear about on the news, or see in movies. Rotten to the core, and hampered by over immigration, and homeless.

While the action is hot and heavy, itdoesn't interrupt the flow of the story. In the end, Curt leaves us with a cliffhanger that could shake the whole status quo of the series, but I'd rather not spoil it.

Reading the story closely, I couldn't see a misaligned comma, or period, nor any spelling errors. Though, I am not a grammar nazi. I was more interested in the story than a dissertation.

-Mick