Every story has to start somewhere…

Those of you who know me well enough know that I am one of the biggest comic book geeks out there. I’m proud of the (earned) title, uber-geek (thanks Serg!).

We all geek out on certain things.

Whereas the hommies Senbei and KCheddar (and my big bruddah for that matter), are a fountain of impressive (and in a practical sense), useless knowledge on various sports teams trivia/stats, I however have an equally impressive and useless amount of knowledge in the area of sequential art.

-Who was the starting wide receiver for the Raiders during 1988? Who has the greatest batting average in the history of baseball? What the hell is an Expo?

-I don’t know.

But if you were to ask me who was the first Green Lantern of Earth, I’d respond, “Corps or non-Corps affiliated?”

Don’t get me wrong. I like sports, I’m just not as dedicated as some of my compatriots. My first love has, and probably always will be comic books. Not just the superhero stuff, but stories of all genres (crime noir, love stories, horror, sci-fi), told through a combination printed words and graphic art.

From the age where I could pick up crayons and paper until I was about sixteen or so, I always thought I was going to be a successful comic book creator (puberty hit late for me… hahahahaha!) but I got discouraged because, as far as my artistic ability goes, well… I could use some classes, lets put it like that so as not to be negative. Needless to say, I’ve still enjoyed the craft but gave up any aspirations to be an illustrator a long time ago (I miss spending hours doodling tho…)

Well, at 28, the bug has hit me again. I want to create some comics. More specifically, I want to write them. Not for fame or fortune, but to challenge myself to continue telling stories through various mediums, and become a better writer as a result (there was a reason I started blogging again =D ).

Taking a page out of Robert Rodriguez’s, “Rebel without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player”, I’ll be using this blog periodically to chronicle my journey. I’m taking another page out of Dirk Manning’s book (or in this case, weblog) about creating comics, by focusing first on writing 8 page stories to hone the craft as well as for other reasons (detailed in his weekly blog located here).

Sorry if this post seems like I’m starving for attention btw, but I’m not just posting this for peer encouragement (which is nice). I want to publicly state my goals and so that there is a higher incentive for follow through on my part. Again, encouragement is nice though too

So here they are. My goals….

1. To have six 8 page stories written by the end of October, roughly 3 stories a month.

2. To thumbnail 3 of the storyboards myself by mid-November.

3. To actively make contacts illustrators, inkers, letterers, and colorist by December

4. To self-publish at least 2 of my stories through the web in 12 months time as a late birthday/early X-mas present to myself.

Lofty goals, yes. Possible? Most Definitely.

And in case you were wondering what kind of stories I was looking to tell, I’m thinking that I’ll be sticking to personal ones for the moment (i.e. Nothing involving spandex clad super-people), since some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten about writing has been, “write about what you know.”

Out of genuine curiosity and the hope that others will join me in attempting to do something they’ve always wanted to do,

“What have you always wanted to do in life?”

And now for some inspirational music videos…

Mr. Escobar

Mr. Mayfield (R.I.P.)

and Mr. T

“And… here… we… GO!”

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• not a mere device
• Ready to go?
• The Road to the Cross