Comics reading update

Finally finished the entire run of Marvel's G.I. Joe comics. It's been interesting. Next I return to my reading of X-Man Havok's entire comics life, starting with the beginning of his leadership of X-Factor with issue #71 of their book. That was one of my favorite comics of the '90s, and I read that one and several others back then. I don't remember a lot. I'll only be reading the pages with Havok on them, so I might cruise through them. Once I get through the '90s I'll probably take another break and read some Tank Girl.

Song thoughts

New discoveries sure to have an influence on my near-future songs:

God's Revolver
Molly Gene One Whoaman Band

The plan hasn't changed a lot. Western acoustic math punk. Math rock meets desert rock meets cowpunk meets death country, all on acoustic guitar. Maybe I'll stomp on a tambourine. Lyrics will be poetic and western and religious, like Wovenhand. I might even get my friend Matt to play bass.

I wish I could say that daily practice is making me a good guitarist, but it's hard to tell sometimes. At least I'm maintaining my skill level. Guess that's how it is for a busy thirty-somethin' that didn't pick up a guitar until age thirty.

Thinkin' about takin' my guitar into Roops Brothers, the only open mic in walkin' distance, and when they ask for my name tell 'em somethin' stupid like Preacher Hank. My opening song will have to say somethin' about comin' from Oklahoma. Wish I had a cowboy hat and boots.

I've been focused on advancing my skills, but the plan for a while now has been to start writing and composing in July. So that's next week. I've been feelin' ready. Time to print some tab paper.

Even the Writer Doesn't Know, Pt. 2

From an interview with Larry Hama, on writing for the Wolverine series:

I just took it page-by-page and issue-by-issue. I never really planned out any arcs until later when all the X-writers had to coordinate on big through-stories. Even then, I had no idea how any given issue was going to end. I really don’t know any other way to write the stories. The editors let me get away with it back then because when I started out on the books nobody cared about them. Then, when they really got popular, it was too late to fire me.

Judging by its effectiveness, could this actually be a viable method of writing a story? I've decided to find out for myself. For the first time in my life, I can truly call myself a writer because I'm writing a paragraph every weekday from now until forever for a Web serial called Bold Traveler. 

If that sounds like a soap opera title, it's supposed to. I decided late last week to just go for it, inspired by Hama's style and multitude of characters in G.I. Joe. I'm also very inspired by the dramatic situations, dialogue, and host of characters in Mad Men and by dramatic newspaper comic strips (drama strips, really) like Mary Worth. I'm writing it piece-by-piece in bed at night, making it up as I go along, and publishing each micro-episode at noon, an appropriate time for a textual soap opera.

To make it as interesting for men as it hopefully will be for women, I've based the story on a travel magazine that specializes in adventure traveling and dangerous places around the world. There are so many possibilities here. And I've already created fourteen character profiles, with room for dozens more should the need arise someday.

Best of all, I have an instant audience on Facebook. The idea was to make the episodes short enough that readers could get through them as quickly as they can read a comic strip. I've published three episodes now, introducing four characters already, and though I've received no feedback, I can safely assume a few of my 426 Facebook friends have read at least one of them. And this is the kind of thing I can keep up whether I get any feedback or not.

And if I ever do have time to get back to work on my novel, it may happen someday. I still like the premise and the ideas and characters I've come up with so far.

Even the Writer Doesn't Know

Larry Hama, from the letters page of G.I. Joe #100...

"...I really have no idea how each story is going to resolve until I sit down to write it...The strongest characters seem to have a life of their own and usually surprise me. I was totally surprised when the Baroness shot Scarlett. It just seemed like something she would do in that state of mind in that time and place, after the fact...Whether she will survive or fully recover is a totally dependent factor beyond my control. If I could fully predict what the character was going to do, I wouldn't be surprised, and I like being surprised."

This sounds like such an interesting way to write. Most people on the internet who teach about writing say this is the wrong way to write. If the writer doesn't know what's going to happen, the story is going to fall apart. But maybe it's different for a serial, like a comic book, when no ending is in sight and you have all the time in the world to wrap up any loose ends, even after you've started new storylines. 

I think that's why I've returned to comics as an adult. There's no form of literature that can provide the kind of excitement you get with each new issue of a comic. And when even the writer doesn't know what the characters will do next, it's that much more exciting.

Bought a CD

First CD I've bought in years...it was the only way I could get these songs! That's how much I love this band.

My friend Matt's coming over tonight with his bass. He's been in bands, and he's a big Foo Fighters fan. So I learned a couple of tunes from their first album, the only one I tolerate very well. Hopefully we'll get creative and start thinking about some new songs.

Inspiring Performance

This is the kind of stuff I want to start composing soon. This would be awesome even without the drums. And I want to sing lyrics about Bible stuff along with it. I'll be working on guitar skills daily until July, and then I hope to write one song a month from July to December. Then I'll just start playing them all over the place.

Cheval de Frise - "Noblesse de l' échec" (Pt. 2) (live)

These guys are French. I want my songs to have a more western/Latin feel, like being lost in the Chihuahuan desert with only Jesus beside me.

Desert Math Rock

I keep going back-and-forth on whether to include fake drumming on future recordings. Right now I'm leaning away from it.

I Googled "desert math rock" and got nothing. I'm surprised. I think that's what I want to do now, but with acoustic guitar accompanied by electric licks and bass lines, which will be played on my guitar and tuned down an octave with software. Very much inspired by Last of the Juanitas but without drums, and with the acoustic up front. I'm kind of obsessed with that band now.

Live performances would be just me and my acoustic, but instead of the typical singer/songwriter, they're gonna hear something as close to post-hardcore math rock as you can get with just that instrument, full of time-signature changes and lots of stops and starts. And I think the lyrics will be obviously about God. That's easier to get away with in a secular setting when your music is crazy, and then I can play it for Christians, too. Delaware, OH, has never heard the kind of stuff I'm dreaming up. And neither have I.