anatomy of a comic book page

okay...

recently, several friends/acquaintances/exes/relatives/former gambling buddies/and the like have revealed to me that they actually read this blog.
this is both surprising and intimidating to me. for so long now i've been fairly convinced that it's just been me, brian, jason, kojee, and sometimes scott, and that was that. now suddenly i discover that there are those of you out there that read it but who then will never ever comment. or join in. or send me something to post!

hey, send me something to post!

since this is the perhapanauts blog, i do try to keep stories and such to the weird, the unexplained, and the just-plain-scary, but, hey! feel free--make your voice heard! start thinking about the scariest stories you ever heard and send 'em in--it would be great to have some fun/creepy horror stories to post around halloween time.

anyway, that said, i'd thought i'd start bringing things back around toward the perhapanauts again since the trade will be out in september and the new series, perhapanauts:second chances will be hitting the stands in november. (order yours today!)

















craig, rico, and i are hard at work on the second issue already and so i thought now might be a good time to give you a sneak peek at issue #1, as well as show you how we do it, break it down so's you can see the steps that go into it.

SPOILER ALERT!! i'm going to show you a page of plot from perhapanauts:second chances, as well as both the rough and finished art for the page, that, while fun, will not reveal any vital plot points of the story as a whole. if ya don't wanna see it and just wanna be surprised, good for you!, but get out now while you can...!

first, of course, we start with a story, and that's my job. i really like to work "marvel style', which means giving craig a plot detailing the story we're gonna tell and a panel-to-panel description of what I'M seeing in my head so that he can bring it to life, turning it into an actual story. i also give some indications of what the dialogue will be and usually the mood/attitude/emotions of the characterss so that he can put the proper expression on their faces, in their body language. (i do see a LOT in my head and i give big credit to craig for being able to sift out the important stuff from the extra stuff...!)
here's the plot for page 13...

PAGE THIRTEEN
Cut to; the CHIEF’S Office, where the CHIEF, JOANN, and DR. TRISH SHEEHAN are holed up along with our two new Drs, DR. BALDEV DAS (an older Indian man responsible for many of BEDLAMs bio-related breakthroughs) and DR. O’NEILL (BEDLAM’S medical doctor and CHOOPIE’S vet-- white hair--looks like a somewhat stocky version of John Mahoney/Frasier’s Dad). They are not scared, more slightly anxious--they’ve all been in situations such as this before. They are intently watching the monitors (where, as with BIG’S realization in the COMSEC office, nothing is happening) as DR. O’NEILL regards the door. The CHIEF is commenting that there seems to be no sign of them anywhere, they’ve disappeared, as O’NEILL points out that he can’t hear them outside the door anymore either.
On JOANN and maybe DAS behind her as she looks up, listening, her telepathy maybe kicking in, as she ominously whispers, “something’s coming…”
On the room, draped in shadows of course for TRISH and The CHIEF, as the 5 of them look around, now nervousness setting in. DAS: "Do you…do you hear that…?"
On O’NEILL as he looks up, listening, as he adds, : "Like something… screaming… " (we can hear a small sound effect of “aaaeeiiii”)
On TRISH, as she says, “No. It’s…singing.”
From over their heads as they look up toward the air vent which they now know is where the noise is coming from and now we can distinctly hear the “dum da dum da dum dum dum”
And, different angle as CHOOPIE kicks through the vent making his dramatic entrance, finishing up his song as he bursts through. The others don’t move, all having grown used to this kinda behavior from their combined years at BEDLAM.


cool, huh?

okay, here's craig's rough layouts/breakdowns for the page, setting both the pace and the mood with cinematic angles and shadows. because craig is going to be inking this himself, he does this in very broad strokes, going back to tighten things up when he inks. (were he doing this for someone else to ink, his pencils would be much tighter/clearer.)























and, as promised, here is the final inked page ready to go to rico to get some masterful colors applied.






















even though i'm involved in this process--bringing the characters to life from word to drawing--i still find it amazing each and every time! craig puts so much energy and drama into his every line--it's just great!

i'll post the colors when i got 'em so you can see what rico does with it.

that's it for now!

smell ya later!
todd