G.I. Joe as fictional history

Haven't posted here in a while! Just wanted to get some thoughts down on a potential project.

Since the Marvel version of G.I. Joe was based loosely on the U.S. Army's Delta Force back in 1982, I had the idea to write some fictional history stories using G.I. Joe characters in actual Delta Force missions. In this universe, Cobra doesn't exist. The Joes' missions will be the same as they were in real life, but consolidated into about one decade so characters in the first mission can still be around for the last one. And just as Marvel/Hasbro did, I can start with the original thirteen Joes in the first mission and introduce new Joes with each mission. Each mission can be like a "season."

So would this be a comic, a series of short stories, or a series of novels? I don't know. Any of those could be amazing.

Although I'd love to use the actual Joe character names, I would probably need to change them for copyright reasons unless I can get away with calling it fanfic. I don't know if I would have a goal for this other than the enjoyment of doing it.

I might also change the names of the actual countries Delta Force operated in to the fake country names Marvel used, or something similar for copyright reasons. That just sounds fun.

And what about characters who joined G.I. Joe from military branches other than the Army? Would I make them all Army or find a way to introduce them from other branches like Marvel did? Not sure. I lean toward introducing the other branches. I wouldn't need to worry about that until the second mission anyway, when Gung Ho and Torpedo join up from the Marines and Navy.

The first order of business is to learn the history of Delta Force's many missions. I plan to get a couple of books on their first mission in 1980 soon. It happened to be a hostage rescue, much like G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero issue #1 in 1982!

New classical music idea

I got a big idea yesterday for a new musical work. A minimal contemporary classical work, possibly without any percussion, using only my voice, acoustic and electric guitar, organ, and piano. It would also be inspired by Scott Walker's later albums such as Tilt. I would use my trained classical voice rather than my pop/rock voice.

I'm inspired musically by this idea, but I'm not inspired lyrically. I have no theme I want to sing about. This has been a problem for years. I'm interested in taking someone else's poetry and using that as a lyrical basis. I might come up with the lyrics myself. I really want to sing, but lyrics are important for that.

Looking ahead

I hadn't told many people that I was in a metal band this year. I wanted to wait until it seemed like more of a sure thing. We finally named ourselves and were about to perform a few songs at an event...when I suddenly parted ways with them last weekend.

That left me eager to start performing again. That was one of two bands I've been working with, so I do have more opportunities. But I'm also thinking about writing and recording some new songs on my own, inspired by classic metal.

Before I get to that, I definitely want to finish the novel I started last year. I plan to start working on my second draft in the next week or so.

I also have thoughts about writing a novel aimed at teenagers, since my twins will be teens soon.

Plenty of fun work ahead!

The elusive type of story I always look for

Usually when I look for something to entertain me, I have a set of criteria I use in my search, no matter the medium. It comes from my days as a youth inspired by G.I. Joe. I'm usually looking for something with military action that has a cohesive team, so the typical war movie often doesn't quite get there for me. And it should not include superpowers, magic, or aliens. Those are my criteria. Seems like it should be simple, but it's really not at all. It's hard to find anything in any medium that fits my simple criteria, especially outside of film. So please don't think I'm boring by always looking for the same kind of thing. Because it's surprisingly hard to find, which makes the search fun.

My favorites that meet this description so far, in each category of entertainment, are as follows:

Novel: One Rough Man, by Brad Taylor

When I found this 2011 novel a few years ago, I knew I'd finally found the series I'd been looking for. So far, I've only read the first two books and a related short story. I got distracted by other things. But I definitely plan to go back. One Rough Man was the first of the series (kind of ironic that my favorite team book has that title), and it introduced a small team that works in secret for the U.S. government, conducting black ops and keeping us safe. A major difference from G.I. Joe is that the Joes were usually fighting domestic terrorism, whereas the Task Force in Taylor's books (such a boring name for an exciting team) does their job in other countries. The second book was good, too, but I was already starting to see a formula, and that's how most series novelists tend to go, sadly.

Runner-up (outside Taylor's series): Combat Ops, by David Michaels

Side note: I'm finally writing my first novel. I'm nearly 100 pages into my first draft. My novel will be closer to G.I. Joe than any novel I've read, apart from the one book from the G.I. Joe "Find Your Fate" series I had as a kid, obviously.

Film: The Expendables 2

When The Expendables came out, I was in heaven. I love stories about mercenaries, and this had a whole team of them. It was brutal and interesting and fun. And I loved the second one even more. The opening scene was everything I'd ever wanted to see in a movie. The third film was a bit disappointing, but I'd definitely watch a fourth one if it came along.

Runner-up (outside The Expendables): The Marksman (more like G.I. Joe from the comics than the live-action G.I. Joe movies were)

[EDIT: How could I forget the Chinese film Operation Red Sea? It's one of my favorite movies! Ranks right up there with The Expendables 2.]

Live-action television: Soldier of Fortune, Inc.

I'll admit I haven't seen this show since the nineties, so it might not hold up well. But I've had trouble finding a TV show that meets my criteria. Granted, I've never watched SEAL Team, which certainly might do it for me. I just don't give much time to TV shows because they're so time-consuming. Anyway, the premise of Soldier of Fortune, Inc. is more interesting to me than a SEAL team show anyway. And I was crazy about this show when it came out. Again, I love mercs. And it had a very Joe quality to it.

Runner-up: Last Resort

Animation: G.I. Joe: Resolute

I only watched this once, but it was pretty great and hit all my buttons as a G.I. Joe animated movie made for adults. It's so much better than the live-action movies, and unlike those films, it stays true to the Joe lore.

Runner-up: G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

American comics: G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Marvel Comics)

We're getting into Captain Obvious territory now, but I didn't read these until my mid-thirties. They were everything I'd hoped they'd be and more. It started with a small elite team and grew from there. I read every issue of Larry Hama's run from the early '80s to the mid-'90s. I adored it, even when it got a little silly.

Runner-up: Team 7 (Image Comics)

Manga: Black Lagoon

I adored this series, too. I read it up to the latest book a couple of years ago, and I don't know how much more was published after that. This is a gritty series about a small team working with risky clients in a dangerous part of the world. They're kind of a cross between mercs and pirates. And they ride around in an old military boat, which I love. The dialogue gets pretty deep. There's an anime series based on the manga, but I haven't watched it.

I just this week found out about a manga series I'd somehow missed called Jormungand. It seems to have a similar premise as Black Lagoon. I plan to read it this spring. It also has an anime.

Runner-up: Marginal Operation

Which of these have you read or seen? What are your thoughts? Do you know of other good ones that would meet my criteria?

Creative envy

Blogging? Who does that anymore?

I was inspired by a YouTube video that nailed the '90s nostalgia of chat rooms and blogs, the days when we were more carefree about what we shared with each other and had an easier time connecting with people. So I thought I'd write something in this blog that's been neglected for seven years. Using a tiny keyboard on my tiny phone screen, because firing up my laptop would feel too much like going back to work. Not a pleasant thought.

Today I'm in Atlanta, at a friend's house, waiting for my family to awaken as I often do. They're all night owls. I enjoy my quiet mornings, though. I like the author John le Carre as much as I did seven years ago. I'm currently reading The Mission Song.

Since this was intended to be my creative blog, I suppose I'll lament again about the things I might do if only my career didn't keep me so busy. Whenever I get inspired to write, my inner voice reminds me that I'll never finish anything because I'll only get interrupted by a ton of work and then lose the inspiration. As you can tell, I'm feeling very down on my job, and have for two years, since I switched employers and ended up with a far heavier workload. It's very depressing for me.

So I try to live vicariously through creators I enjoy, with the tiny bit of time I can carve out for them. I enjoy novels, comics, YouTube, and podcasts on the regular. Creators who have the time I won't have until far in the future, to hone their skills and create things I wish I could emulate.

Alright, back to my book. Enjoy your day.

Remote song collab idea

Wonder what would happen if I found a decent drummer anywhere in the world with the ability to make a decent recording and asked him to make some recordings of himself playing what could be a full song in any genre. He'd send me his drumming as an MP3, and then I'd make up the rest. Would doubtless be totally different than what he was thinking. But in the end, we might have a quality recording, and neither of us had to leave home or even talk to each other much. My kind of project.

I know how to find good drummers right here in the area (bandmix.com), not that that would even be necessary, but I guess if we wanted to do an open-mic, that could be cool.

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.

More Thoughts On My Future Songs

Thinking about a softer theme once I finally get back to writing lyrics. Instead of arguing with Darbyites, maybe I'll just write songs about the introduction of the kingdom in the first century, with a focus on the destruction of Jerusalem. Dark, dark days leading to a glorious future that has yet to be fully realized. The hope of resurrection. The kind of stuff only a postmillennialist would write songs about.

But if I change the words to my most recent song, I think I need to keep the line "They'll go after anyone / but the one who holds the lamp to light the way." I like that one.

Also thinking about open-mic nights. There's one within walking distance on Thursdays. I can play my one and only mathy composition pretty well on acoustic guitar, and it has an awesome math country/cowpunk vibe that I've never heard anywhere, especially when I sing along. Singing and playing that song at the same time is going to take a lot of practice. But if I could come up with two more songs like it that I could play live as a set and do it well, it would be pretty awesome.

Then I'd have to decide how to record it...do I go with layered, distorted electric guitars, bass, and sampled drums, or do I strip it all down and just play it on my acoustic? Maybe I'd try both, shop it around and find out which sounds better and has more impact. I think either way would be a good expression of myself and my art. I could always have an electric version and an acoustic version of an album--now that would be sort of unique!

Be a sampler

Decision time for percussion: Be more than a beats programmer; be a sampler. I haven't seen anyone combining sampled, sped-up beats with mathcore. Might as well be a Jesus freak that does it first.

Beats Or No Beats?

I wrote some lyrics for this new song and recorded them last week. They need work, but it's nice to finally have something.

Now that I've been living with this piece of music for a couple of months, I'm seriously considering removing the electronic percussion altogether. Tara said it sounds like really cool video-game music, but then I found out she thinks most punk/metal sounds like video-game music if you take out the vocals. And she's kind of right. But it got me thinking, would my music sound more genuine without the electronic thumps and cymbals?

I could add some tambourine, played with a drumstick, but I tried that last week. It was really hard to keep up with my very technical composition and its constantly changing time signatures. I could keep trying, though. Or I could just do without percussion, since only the programmed kind is in my wheelhouse. I could also add some cool reverb and other effects to my guitar and vocals, just for fun.

Something to dwell on. I'd welcome any feedback. I know it would help a lot to actually get to hear the music, but I'm not ready to share it with the world yet. I'll make it available privately to anyone who asks. The style is fast math/noise rock with a western vibe.

Broken Promises

I was close to becoming a country-music listener anyway, but Miss Lana Rebel and the Broken Promises have brought me over the edge. This stuff is amazing. Miss Lana was a co-founder of Last of the Juanitas, so it was only a matter of time before I finally gave them a chance. I'm hearing their album Mistakes We Can Live With on MOG.

Cool Toddler Rock-'n'-Roll

I had a pretty good idea yesterday in the shower, for a psychobilly album for toddlers, or "cool toddler rock-'n'-roll." I even got two song ideas in that same shower: "Graham Cracker Daddy" and "Last Train to Napville." Google didn't turn up anyone else with this idea, and I think it's a lucrative one. Unfortunately I'm not willing to put in the work or salesmanship it would take to make it lucrative, and I don't believe in copyright, so I doubt anyone would want to go into business with me.

But if I ever get the urge to work on these songs, maybe they'll get produced someday. I thought I might start today, but I heard enough Chariot and XBXRX in the car last night, going to and from Chipotle, that by the time I got to the basement this morning I just wanted to work more on my current noisecore project. I'm through working on projects I'm not continuously excited about.

The music for my first song is just about done, and I even wrote some lyrics this morning. I went with the idea in my last post, so it's basically my 19th-century Christian talking with an American Darbyite (or maybe Darby himself, since his ideas didn't spread to America until the 20th century) in the wilderness about how he sees the scriptures and the world around him. It's a start. I still don't have a title for this song despite having worked on it for two months already, but lyrics will help with that.

Lyrical Inspiration

Artistic inspiration for album lyrics: Wovenhand. The themes will be as in my earlier post, but they'll be wrapped in imagery of the Old West and "old time religion," ironic since the theme is against the new theology of the 1800s. As though the main character is a wanderer in the Old West who knows these new ideas (which are today's old ideas) aren't right. Alternative country lyrics put to an electromath noisecore sound. If possible.

A Cowboy Feel

This morning I added brand new lead guitar and bass parts to my evolving track. I came up with them as I went. I like them; I think they give the track a whole different personality, and of course the bass gives it more depth. I used slides and bends to give the track a cowboy feel, so probably no one will mistake this music for metal. It's definitely borne of the noise-rock genre. I still need a bass part for the middle and final sections, so that's tomorrow.