The Workshop
AIRPLANE MECHANICS!
Well, the first line of business is today’s launch of AIRPLANE MECHANICS! This project has been a ton of fun to put together with artist Jeff Manley. I first saw Jeff’s work on the Cartoonist Kayfabe Facebook page (quite the community over there which has netted me several friends and collaborators). I grew to love his daily strip RILEY, TEENAGE BIGFOOT. It had me laughing consistently, so naturally I knew this was someone who’s talent I wanted to pillage.
We first synced up with Jeff doing this pin-up and a Riley cartoon for A GAME OF DOUBLES:
After, I just sat quietly hoping for Jeff to tell me he had availability and interest in working on something.
AIRPLANE MECHANICS! Has been in my head for a good ten years. I grew up near an airfield and, like most of us, had a period of feeling lost. Jeff’s style matched perfect with the ideas in my head so I put together a little pitch for him. Thankfully, he was game. I went into my hole and scripted the 48 page OGN and came back up for air to send it to him. I didn’t get a thumbs up, or a let's do it, just some character designs…and they were spot on.
Now, a few months after starting we are on page 38 of 48. The book is nearly done and our campaign is live. We’ve set a modest goal to pay for Jeff’s work and the printing/shipping of the books. I’m excited. I hope you’re excited, too.
What are you waiting for? It’s time to get your copy!
AIRPLANE MECHANICS! on Kickstarter
NIGHT OF THE COMET/INTERNAL CHANGES
I’ve shipped the last of my copies of NIGHT OF THE COMET. I printed 60 of each cover and just eeked out a copy each for myself and Attila. What a whirlwind this book was for us. Putting the book together from the initial concept with Attila, to scripting, to seeing pages come in, and then to hold the final piece, boy, this might be my favorite book so far.
We are going to run a limited edition Kickstarter for two weeks in June for an oversized special edition hardcover leading into our wide release through Source Point Press in November.
What’s next for us? Well, we’re working on an alien abduction pitch called INTERNAL CHANGES where Attila will work on colored pencil to dramatize the story. I’m really excited for this one. It is the most human thing I’ve written and I hope the bigger publishers see the potential here.
Here are two tests that Attila put together as we develop the style and feel of the book:
RECKLESS
This past week saw the release of THE GHOST IN YOU: A RECKLESS book by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Jacob Phillips…boy another good one. I love everything that the team is doing here and envy that they are doing it. These OGN books are a perfect distillation of where I think the market should be going. Most comics are read as TPBs. That’s how I read WATCHMEN, DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, LONG HALLOWEEN. There is something fun about the monthly comic but as time has gone on I’ve become more exhausted by it. It’s hard to keep a story’s through line intact while reading a dozen other books every month.
The OGN is my ideal style of doing comics. We might try it after INTERNAL CHANGES with another project.
Oh, and THE GHOST IN YOU? It was great.
TOKYO VICE
Now, have you checked this one out?
It’s been 8 years (I believe) since Michael Mann directed anything and TOKYO VICE brings him storming back to making stories about men who are really good at their jobs.
The pilot was great. What I love about Mann is how his style has evolved and mutated throughout the years. He started as a very cold, stand offish, watch it all play out kind of director and I really dig those early films. Then he got more intense by using a longer lens and we slowly entered into the digital revolution with him. Mann always does what he wants, and we’re better for it. Look at MIAMI VICE, a complete mosaic haze that drops you in the shit and doesn’t take it’s boot off you.
TOKYO VICE has Mann pulled back like those early days, but vibing with the continued intensity of his 2000s films. I’m a little nervous with how HBO MAX is just dumping these episodes…I want this ride to last for awhile.
A Humble Salaryman
I’m exploring different kinds of comics and storytelling so naturally I have found myself owning MANGA once again. My collection is intense, two whole books, but I am enjoying taking them with me while I work. As I go from appointment to appointment I can read a chapter. I feel as if I am accomplishing a long sought dream of being a humble salaryman, reading manga, on his way to work.
What a time to be alive…
Remember AIRPLANE MECHANICS! is live now!
Two brothers, one shitty plane, no future.