Not Much to Say, But I'll Say it Anyway.

So, I guess I agreed to post in this once in a while, offer up rebuttals to the heinous lies that Luke posts or commentary on what's going on in the Bountyverse or whatever.

We just posted a new page today - page 23 if you are reading this in the future.

And I have nothing interesting to say about it.

The closest I have is this:

When Luke writes Glorious Bounty, he presents me with the script (full, complete issues - none of this "winging it" crap) and they are closer to a film script. By this I mean the script only contains minor stage directions (the stuff that's important) and it isn't divided into panels or pages. The scripts are packed with face-paced, funny dialogue.

Then I thumbnail out the whole book, and I slow the whole damn thing down. I take what Luke likely imagines will be a one panel monologue and stretch it over most of a page.

Like that.

And poor Luke has to wait twice as long for me to finish a chapter as it should take. But then, what it does do is make the comic feel like an animated movie - I get to draw the character going through their poses, play with more expressions - basically give them more life without having to go through the tedium of animation.

And then, when I sit down to draw the pages, I kick myself because I've planned out a lot more work (and a lot more panels in each location - and therefore a lot more drawing the same damn thing) that I need to do. (I cannot wait for the next page where the guys get in out of the snow! SPOILERS!)

Oh, I love to draw - I especially love to make a comic - but it's also a lot of work, and I am impatient. And lazier than you would suspect.

Anyway, I tell you all of this because the only thing I have to say about this week's new page is that it is a very, very rare example of me adding a panel that I hadn't planned in the thumbnails:

That is how roughly I thumbnail! And, as you can see, panel five got broken into two panels on the finished page because I wanted to draw both of Deevis' expressions.

Deevis has the most fun face to draw of the gang.

And that is the closest to an interesting thing to say as I can get for this page of Glorious Bounty.

At least this should get Luke to revoke my posting rights.

A Good Start.

One of the most difficult things about embarking on a new project is finding a start. If you're at that point where you want to officially share it with the public then chances are that you already have a billion eclectic ideas circling through your head. How do you even begin to convey that to a largely faceless audience who can't possibly know what you're thinking, or possibly care?

This issue became particularly pertinent to me when writing the first issue of Edward J. Grug and my webcomic series Glorious Bounty (Book One: The Sexy Virus). Because you start reading it and it looks like a dumb action comic. There's a shooting, and an explosion, and silly posing - and it's not drawn in a gritty badass way either - it's cartoony, and colourful, and the guy's outfit is pretty goofy and retro. So it's easy to go, "Ohhh... it's some dumb guys doing a weird sci-fi wannabe action thing... that's not for me." And stop reading. It frightens me to think how many times that might have already happened.

But Glorious Bounty is not an action comic. Not really. If you are stout of heart and do manage to keep on reading you will quickly discover that the action in the beginning is being made fun of. In fact this series focuses around four bounty hunters who are very light on action, direction, or smarts. The real focus is on the characters and the personal interactions between them. They often hate each other, they're driven by selfishness and greed, but they still choose to be around each other. They're a team. Right? And hopefully they are having some unusual and entertaining adventures.

But you can't just dive into the great stuff. You have to set it all up first. Understand the characters. Establish the premise. And once people know and care you can really have fun. Once you've found your start.

So now I have the task of kicking off this blog...

We made a very conscious decision early on that the main comics site at www.gloriousbounty.com would remain very pure and stark. No crazy graphics, no clutter, just black and white and the comic pages themselves. But that doesn't leave us any place to talk about what we're doing (and why we're even doing it), or show you any of the images or discussions, or processes that are going on behind the scenes. Or what we have planned for the future, or some of the other Bounty related items that we might soon have up our sleeves.

So the solution is this blog. A place where either Grug or myself, or both at the same time, can just jump on here and comment on rant on any aspect of Glorious Bounty at all. And you, lucky reader, can respond in kind by commenting/asking questions/criticising/complaining/breaking our hearts with your depressing and inevitable silence. The curtain has been pulled back. Now it is a dialogue between you, and me, and even that Grug guy.

Is that a good start? Does that all make sense?

Right now we're nearly half-way through Book Two: The Sticky Goat Affair and I've created the same idiotic problem... it opens with an action scene! Except this one is considerably longer. Now after a lot of set up we're finally getting to the exciting point where it is all paying off. Will I have learned my lesson by Book Three? Time will tell, but the odds are against us.

So welcome to the Glorious Bounty blog! I'm Luke - I write and colour it - and over there reading this for the first time and probably wincing is Grug who interprets it, reworks it, and lovingly draws it.

Hope you enjoy it.