| Before I start, I feel compelled to congratulate Team Tay Tay for winning the Super Bowl. It was a heck of a game and everyone got the memo that the 49ers are back and here to stay. They followed a rookie quarterback to within a minute of winning it all. Also, for those who celebrate, enjoy your Mardi Gras and may you have a peaceful Lenten Season. When I was a kid the Sunday funnies were the highlight of any week. Our house got the Daily News, Sun Times, and Tribune every Sunday. Sure, we’d check sports, an article or two but, mostly, we read the comics. My grandfather had immigrated from Ireland before reaching fourth grade and never had a formal education. However, he could read the comics, and did so with glee. As the years crept on my love of the art form grew. And, as I matured, so did comics. Adult themes were no longer relegated to the back of porn magazines or underground comics. Marvel and DC both touched on addiction, racism, class warfare and more. And, yes, some of the attempts were heavy handed and missed their marks by miles. Still, Pandora’s box had been opened and indie creators went where major companies feared to tread. Other changes came into play. Superheroes no longer needed to be tall, svelte, and sexy. They could be fat, short, need glasses, you name it. There is literally something for everyone out there now. That’s why, when I started writing Legends Parallel in 2016, I tended to be in my happy place. It didn’t matter that my personal life was a train wreck, I was writing comics. Oddly, a story for a different day, writing Legends Parallel allowed me to get my life in order. Brian “Bigger Lion” Daniel, owner of Hadithi Sambamba, tagged me to write other titles. And, much to my surprise, people seem to like them. When I began shopping The Brittle Riders to film companies I felt it would help to have some images of the characters to give potential producers and investors a better idea of what they were getting into. Our original thought was to hire models and dress them up. Long story short, it would have been cheaper to buy a car. So Brian, along with Tate Rogers, created some animated versions of the characters. We used them as the basis for our pitch deck. They accomplished their intended use and helped open several conversations. But one such conversation caught me completely by surprise. One of the companies that had turned us down reached out with an interesting proposal. One of their creative partners is an animation studio. A rather large one in fact. They wanted to know if we could send them some materials. That list ended up including the script, all three novels, Goptri of the Mists, parts one and two (part three is still being written), the pitch deck, and Freddy Noriega’s tone reel. Goptri of the Mists is the prequel/sequel to The Brittle Riders but we have never done any character renderings for that series. They tried to create some using AI. Let’s just say the results have been both astounding and useless. What will happen is anybody’s guess. But this has been one amazing journey. And that has to count for something. Until next week, stay safe and sane.   |
Bill McSciFi's Blog
Stuff and Nonsense
This is where I'll post updates so the nice folks who host my various author pages can be updated automatically.
