Always a Bride’s Maid, Never A Bride…

Some of you may have already heard. Some of you may have been waiting to hear it here first. Unfortunately, all I can say is that it is true. I was not chosen to be Barack Obama’s running mate. I know. I’m disappointed too.
It’s shaping up to be a pretty rough year. First, I go undrafted by the New York Giants… again. Apparently a six-minute forty-yard dash is not considered an NFL level of skill. It’s all political anyway… And now, Obama is not picking me to be the vice president. Maybe my plan to put the unemployed to work building houses for the homeless was too radical. Maybe it is the fact that I have a face for radio. Maybe it is the fact that I scream obscenities at anyone who disagrees with me. I suppose there is still a chance that the McCain camp might call but I’m not going to hold my breath.
No chance at a vice presidential bid. No chance of playing for the Giants this year. I guess I’ll resort to not voting and playing fantasy football with my guys from work. Hey, I got LaDanian Tomlinson in the draft. He’s a point machine. Maybe the Southside Shockers can go deep into the playoffs this year. Yeah, that’s the logo for my helmet. And I’m in pretty good company because other team names include The Rusty Trombones, The Ball Bags, and the Pink Pounders just to name a few.
Hey, in all my ramblings on this blog, I never claimed to be mature…

Genetic Dispositions, Parents, & The Choices We Make…

So, as many Americans, I have been pretty hooked into the Olympics. This is our first time to watch the competitions with our DVR and it tremendously improves the experience. And in the Beijing Olympics, there is no bigger name right now than Michael Phelps. Eight gold medals? That guy is an animal – and probably part dolphin if I had to choose a specific animal.
I was watching an interview with Phelps, his mother, and Bob Costas this morning. He spoke about his mother’s dedication to hard work and their family. He spoke openly about how he followed in the footsteps of his mother and followed her example.
I have always been interested in motivations of people. As a writer, you have to be. I am always curious as to why people do what they do. If you can understand the motivations of people, you can understand why they do what they do. You can understand them. You can relate to them and if you want to make a believable character, you have to make your characters relatable.
Obviously, the deviant problems seem to surface because they seem to be the most interesting. Why are some people alcoholics, sexaholics, chocoholics, or physical abusers, mental abusers, drug abusers, or – worst of all – serial killers? And why do some people follow the path of their parents and others break the cycle?
For instance, my mother was a lifelong smoker. And to this day, I cannot stand cigarettes. I have never smoked anything and I have zero desire to. In one of my comic book assignment, I fought to make the main character a non-smoker because I hate cigarettes so much. (My idea was rejected but I fought a good fight.) Given that my mom was a smoker, wouldn’t I be more inclined to be a smoker? Yet, I broke the cycle. My mom and dad were/are big drinkers. But I don’t drink. I’m not morally opposed to it or anything but my body just can’t take it anymore. But with parents as drinkers, shouldn’t I be more inclined to drink?
My mom and dad built two different homes together. You want to break a family apart and turn everyone against each other? Build a house together. I have told Amy that if we ever build a home, it will be a turnkey home. I won’t so much as pick up a hammer. Again, I broke the cycle. Maybe it is because all of these things are negative. Hmmm.
And yet, when I made the decision to change my career back in 2001 to become a full time father, I thought about having my mom at home when I would come home from school. There was something very comforting about having my mom waiting for me when I got off the bus. And while it was a hit for us financially for me to do so, I wanted one of us (Amy or I) home when the kids got there.
My dad was incredibly dedicated and a hard worker when it came to his job. And clearly, judging my work ethic during high school versus most high school kids these days, Dad’s dedication clearly rubbed off on me.
When you first become a parent, it is the scariest thing in the world. There is no training manual. No guidebook. You never know how what you are doing as a parent will affect your children down the road. All you can do is hope for the best.
But when I look around at my life, I see myself pursuing a dream with my writing and sacrificing to work at a job to pay the bills that is just not what I am supposed to be doing. Will my kids look back as see my example and chase their own dreams? Will it make them better people down the road? One can only hope…

"I’m Gonna Kill One of Them Doggone Kids…"

I was very saddened to learn of the passing of Bernie Mac this past weekend. I was really first introduced to Bernie through his television show, The Bernie Mac Show, that ran from 2001 to 2006. The show revolved around Bernie (playing himself) who is forced to raise his two nieces and nephew because of his sister’s substance abuse problem. In the show, Bernie served as the father figure and the “stay at home” dad. This was happening during the time that I had just switched my career and was taking care of my kids full-time. Because of that, his humor and the stories always hit home.
God bless syndication and my DVR. The show runs here on UPN at midnight so I record it and watch it at my leisure. Alex even has taken a liking to the show and we watch it together. Sometimes I think he laughs even harder than I do.
Of course, Bernie was great in his roles in the Ocean’s 11 franchise. He was certainly one of the funniest comedians I ever saw. I was saddened when Fox canceled his show but this kind of loss is really heart breaking.
He was only 50 years old and that is way too early to go.
You can read a great article on Bernie by clicking here.

The Bernie Mac Show was unique because Bernie would always break the “fourth barrier” and talk to his audience. He would always speak to “America” which was very cool.
Below are a few of the better quotes from his show:

Bernie Mac: I'm gonna kill one of them kids. [repeated line]

Bernie Mac: Oh, Lord! [repeated line]

Bernie Mac: Those are nice… real nice. [repeated line]

Wanda: Until you treat those kids like they're wanted, below this line [draws line on her waist] off limits.
Bernie Mac: But that's Bernie Mac's Puffs! Takin' away below the belt. Now THAT'S below the belt. It's extortion, I tell you, and I'm not having it. You can't blackmail this black male. Bernie Mac strong.

Bernie Mac: Jordan's gonna have a case of "assus beatus redus". That's Latin for I'm gonna beat his ass until it glows.

Bernie Mac: I would like to give these kids a good home. In fact, there's one a few miles away from here...

Bernie Mac [talking to girls at a slumber party]: She turned on the lights, and there... Hanging on the door was a bloody hook... From the last person who touched Bernie Mac's stereo without his permission. [Laughs. Nobody else does] But seriously, if y'all get hungry, go to a restaurant.

Bernie Mac: [to dog] Shut up before I drop yo ass off at Koreatown. Now hold on, America, don't start writing no letters. I'm just kidding. But am I lying?

Bernie Mac: Do not touch my TV, my DVD, my stereo, my dual-deck VCR. Do not touch my old school, my new school, my slow jams, my party jams, my happy rap, and you better not touch... [voice breaks] my James Brown.

Bernie, often closed his shows by talking to the camera, saying “Cut the camera off.” It was a shame that Fox did cut the camera off and now it is tragic that the camera has closed on Bernie’s life.
As Don Cheadle, said about his Ocean's co-star: "This is a very sad day for many of us who knew and loved Bernie. He brought so much joy to so many. He will be missed, but heaven just got funnier."

The Passing of a Legend

I often frequent an Internet website called The Comic Art Community where you can find all sorts of great artwork. I was there to look for images of the Invisible Woman to use as reference guides for a character going invisible in one of my scripts. And I saw an image that floored me. It was the image you see on the right.
I immediately went into a state of shock and started doing frantic Internet searches. Unfortunately, it was true. Comic book artist Michael Turner had passed away.
As I alluded to in a previous blog entry, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And Mike Turner’s art was a beauty for me to behold. I was a huge fan of his and was lucky enough to meet him at a comic book convention a few years ago. He did a sketch for me and autographed several of my Witchblade and Ballistic issues. A giant Sara Pezzini poster hangs in my comic book room and more Turner artwork adorned my bedroom for a time.
I was lucky enough to attend his drawing class at Defcon. I had already attended classes held by artist Marat Mychaels and Dan Fraga. I was surprised to turn around during the session and see Dan Fraga sitting behind me. Professionals wanted in on Turner’s secrets. He was just such a tremendous talent. Those autographed copies of mine aren’t in the best shape because I poured over them time and again to study and try to learn (i.e. copy) his drawing techniques. His artwork adorned my computer screen as much as Jim Lee. I will sorely miss his incredible artwork and from what other comic professional have said, he was a really nice guy too.
Unfortunately, I was a bit out of the loop. He passed away on June 27 after a long and heroic struggle with bone cancer. He was only 37 years old. His artwork will long outlive him and his legend will continue to grow. Of that I am sure.
Part of me considered selling my sketch of Ian Nottingham on eBay for about 1.25 milliseconds but that piece is just way too cool and too close to me. You can click on the following gallery to see a small sample of his tremendous artwork.

You will be missed, Michael Turner. You were an idol for me, a talent to aspire to. My heart goes out to your family. Rest in peace.

Yes, You CAN Go Home Again…

My very first comic book writing assignment was closing the book on MVCreations’ Masters of the Universe. At the time that I was hired to write the script, the entire creative team had no idea that it would be the final issue. And then things came to a dramatically screeching halt. It would have been different if the comic had been bad or the artwork sub-par but Masters was typically one of the first books I would read out of my weekly comic book bag. I was a fan long before I was an employee.
And then that magical day came and I was granted an opportunity. I’m not going to say that I hit the ball out of the park but I like to think that I certainly stepped up to the plate. I like to think that I did the team (and the fans) proud.
This working relationship would later go on to more assignments with MVCreations that were very fulfilling and challenging as a writer but they just were not the same. I was really licking my chops and hoping for an opportunity to dig deep and carve a niche in the He-Man mythology. I had a story for Two-Badd that would have knocked peoples socks off! But then it all disintegrated away.
Because of the frickin’ lawyers.
It was a hard hit to get back up from and, at the time, I didn’t know where my next assignment would come from. So there was a lot of regret revolving around Masters of the Universe. It seemed like I had missed an opportunity that I could have done so much more with. And those always tend to gnaw at you…
And then, back in April of 2008, everything changed.
Unfortunately, because of my Non-Disclosure Agreements, this is the first time I am able to talk openly about this. But now, the cat is out of the bag. So, here goes.
Because of a good working relationship with Val Staples and the gang over at MVC, I was approached to do a He-Man revival… kind of. When a television show is produced, writers have to work a serious amount of time ahead to keep schedule with animation and the actual production of the show. So the idea was to produce a comic book based on one of the un-produced cartoon scripts. And this would be packaged in with the DVD release of the third and final volume of the Masters of the Universe cartoon series.
This was a pretty big deal for me. I should have checked it earlier, as the DVD was officially released on August 5th. However, as of 8/9/08, this DVD ranked #489 in all DVD sales at Amazon.com. And Amazon sells thousands of DVDs. Thousands. I did a quick check and top sellers were pre-orders for things like Iron Man, Indiana Jones, and TV shows like Heroes and Prison Break.
So my job was to adapt the cartoon script into a comic book that would be penciled by Emiliano Santalucia. Now, let me just take a moment here. I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What is beautiful to some may just be mediocre to others but there is certain art that I really respond to. Jim Lee, Mike Turner, Art Adams, Al Rio, Ed Benes, J. Scott Campbell, and this is just naming a few.
But Emiliano’s artwork was just perfect for the He-Man series. The two were made for each other. A guest penciller named Fabio Laguna was brought in for my issue of Masters and we have worked together on multiple projects since. I am not knocking his artwork in any way but I really wanted to see what Emiliano would do with a Ryan Foley script. To me, it would be like writing Spider-Man for Todd McFarlane or JLA for Howard Porter. Certain projects are born for certain people. And I really regretted not being able to work with Emiliano. And then the cosmic tumblers all clicked into place.
So I just got my copy of the DVD from the video department at Reasor’s. The art on the comic is fantastic and I am really looking forward to going back and revisiting all the “Snake Men” episodes of the series.
Part of me is still hoping against hope that the comic could make some sort of triumphant return but I think that is my heart talking instead of my head. Still, it was so great to back into that world… if only for one last issue.
Plus, it is pretty darn cool that a comic of mine has reached such a wide audience. I don’t know what the sales counts are on the series but if they are in the Top 500 at Amazon, sales have to be pretty good. How weird will it be to be able to walk into my local Wal-Mart and say, “Hey, a comic I had a hand in is on that shelf”? I know it is just one little comic on a little DVD but the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Maybe I will get to do an autograph signing on an animated series for The Praetorian at some point down the line. You never know…