zoecarnate

So the other night I had a dream that there was a new commodity on the market called Intelligent Paper, an invention that did for books what Director’s Cut DVDs do for film. It was for all intents and purposes regular paper, except when you tapped a sentence–any sentence–twice with your finger, all kinds of little multicolored errata would pop up, like those old VH1 Pop-Up Videos, or the Comments feature in Microsoft Word. What would these “extras” say? Definitions of words, author’s commentary, you name it.

Upon waking, I was at first stunned at what a revolutionary invention Intelligent Paper would be. But then I realized that the new crop of electronic paper eBooks, and indeed the Web page probably trump Intelligent Paper in terms of functionality–it’s as fruitless as a visionary dream of 8 Tracks 2.0

In my dream I was passing a newsstand at an airport, and there were several paperbacks and comic books, available in two editions–regular, and Intelligent Paper! Was that a nerdy dream or what?

After running my APB for some comic artists for my upcoming publishing project, my buddy Andrew Tatum alerted me that Greg Boyd was working on his own graphic novel project–a cosmological tour-de-force that’s technically fumetti. Behold–The Cosmic Dance!

Now Boyd’s theology and political outlook are uber-controversial among many. I, personally, love one of his areas of emphasis and have serious questions about the other (and I’m not tellin’ which is which, so there!) But anyone working on such an innovative project deserves major kudos and attention from this comics afficiando.

We can look for The Cosmic Dance this summer. Greg, let me know if you need a publisher!

Update: This Artist has now been found. Thank you for your interest!

…or it could be one, I suppose, really diverse artist. I’ll probably need a letterer too. Here’s what’s for: A book I’m wrapping up, a Christian spirituality book, a kind’ve memoir-ish title with some far-out ideas. I’ve decided that I want three comic-book interludes, in three distinct styles. They’d be 4-6 pages each in length. I’m not rolling in dough or anything but I’m willing to pay (flat fee) a competitive rate. We can negotiate whether you’d keep the originals; I’d probably want to hold onto at least a page of each, with “first buyers’ rights” on the rest.

Okay, here are the three styles I’m looking for:

Style One: An indie comix Daniel Clowes style.

Or Evan Dorkin:

Or maybe even Paul Pope:

…anyone who can carry and make interesting ordinary conversation with splashes of magic realism, in black & white.

Style Two: Manga!

I want to do something fun and flashy for this one interlude. You don’t have to be Tintin Pantoja…

…and it won’t be as in-your-face as this:

…Jesus will be making an appearance.

Style Three: Chick Tract!

This one could be the most fun, a satire/tribute to the most incendiary “Christian” comics of all time. I’ll be summing up the message of my book in a kind’ve self-deprecating, ironic way vis-a-vis the Chick style.

So there you have it: Three styles, short stories, we’d write ‘em “Marvel style.” If you’re interested drop me an email at zoecarnate [ampersand] gmail [dot] com and we’ll talk details–you show me your portfolio, I’ll show you my manuscript, and we’ll see if we’re a good fit for each other. Feel free to post this link around the web and help drum up interest. I’m looking to commission this work around December. It’s gonna be an awesome book.

(Note: I didn’t mean for this to be a re-publish; its just as well, though, as I’m narrowing my search. New content coming soon!)

CLASSIFIED AD TIME, friends. I am looking for three comic book artists…or it could be one, I suppose, a really diverse artist. I’ll probably need a letterer too. Here’s what’s for: A book I’m wrapping up, a Christian spirituality book, a kind’ve memoir-ish title with some far-out ideas. I’ve decided that I want three comic-book interludes, in three distinct styles. They’d be 4-6 pages each in length. I’m not rolling in dough or anything but I’m willing to pay (flat fee) a competitive rate. (We can negotiate whether you’d keep the originals; I’d probably want to hold onto at least a page of each, with “first buyers’ rights” on the rest.)

Okay, here are the three styles I’m looking for:

Style One: An indie comix Daniel Clowes style.

Or Evan Dorkin:

Or maybe even Paul Pope:

…anyone who can draw interesting ordinary conversation with splashes of magic realism, in black & white.

Style Two: Manga!

I want to do something fun and flashy for this one interlude. You don’t have to be Tintin Pantoja…

…and while it won’t be as in-your-face as this:

…Jesus will be making an appearance.

Style Three: Chick Tract!

This one could be the most fun, a satire/tribute to the most incendiary “Christian” comics of all time. I’ll be summing up the message of my book in a kind’ve self-deprecating, ironic way vis-a-vis the Chick style.

So there you have it: Three styles, short stories, we’d write ‘em “Marvel style.” If you’re interested drop me an email at zoecarnate [ampersand] gmail [dot] com and we’ll talk details–you show me your portfolio, I’ll show you my manuscript, and we’ll see if we’re a good fit for each other. Feel free to post this link around the web and help drum up interest. I’m looking to commission this work around December. It’s gonna be an awesome book.

Time to stop being a spectator and start being a contributor! Webcomics! Strongbad shows us how!
HT: Aaron Albert

This is my first post…really. And it’s been six years in the making. I’ve wanted to blog, regularly and properly, since I first discovered the “weblog format” in 2001. Andrew Jones quite nearly set me up with a blogspot blog when we were hanging out in England together the summer of 2003. But I resisted his good-natured prodding, even though I read hundreds of blogs and thought of my days in terms of blog-sized chunks at least since then.

Continue reading ‘Blogging At Last’