Aqualad Exposed
It looks like a game of Spin the Bottle gone wrong. Oh, Aqualad…
Archive for February, 2008
Paradox
My God. I remembered something from my childhood today that may haunt me for the rest of my years.
I read the novelization of Return of the Jedi before seeing the movie.
Jesus Christ. It was the summer of 1983 and I was on a family trip to British Columbia. I guess I must have been given the novel to read by my dad, who was (and still is) in the habit of always reading the book before he sees the movie, even when that book is a shoddy novelization of the source material!
I remember sitting in the back seat of the car, an insatiable Star Wars fan, drinking in every sentence. And a few days later, I’m guessing in Victoria, we went to the theatre to see the film. Of course I loved it, but now I distinctly remember feeling slightly cheated because there was a scene missing from the movie in which Han Solo gives a drippy speech to the Ewoks about the importance of family or friendship or overthrowing evil empires. Or some such shit.
The point is, if you know me, I’m neurotic about watching things in order and avoiding spoilers, and this memory points out a fundamental difference between my current self and my younger self. I bet I wasn’t even all that bothered about sitting in the theatre and knowing how the story was going to end!
I don’t even know who I am anymore. I’m going to need some time with this.
Wonder Girl
The cover to Teen Titans Year One issue 5, colors by the late, great Stephane Peru.
I miss you, Steph.
NEW Abominable Charles Christopher
In this week’s installment of The Abominable Charles Christopher, we finally make it to the top of the mountain! What awaits our intrepid heroes there?!?
Hint: I had to research a brand new animal today and he’s ferocious.
Read on, if you dare…
karlkerschl.com
Time for a change.
The horhaus is no more. After a lot of soul-searching and deliberating, I came to the conclusion that the ‘virtual studio’ we were maintaining had become sort of irrelevant. Matt has his own online presence, Brenden is immersed in Ragni, and Kalman still has a gallery here, but for the most part I’m the only one who really calls this space home.
I have therefore rebranded to karlkerschl.com, a site I’ll continue to maintain as a personal blog and bulletin board where readers can keep abreast of my life activities and my various forms of self-expression.
Nothing has really changed. Everyone is still linked in the sidebar. There’s no need to panic.
I promise.
Have A Luke
In keeping with the Valentine’s Day tradition of giving custom cards to my girlfriend featuring whatever celebrity we happen to be watching a lot of, I give you…
Luke Perry!
O Abominável!
Someone in Brazil has taken it upon him(or her)self to translate my Abominable Charles Christopher strips into Portuguese!!
There are about a dozen strips so far, which is really cool. I kind of wondered as I was working on them how they might be translated - whether the sound effects would work, or whether the characters’ voices would come through. It seems like they do. I don’t read Portuguese, but the tone still seems to be intact.
Anyway, thanks for the effort! I hope Brazilian readers enjoy it.
Happy Valentine’s Day
These signs were plastered on every tree and telephone pole between our apartment and the metro.
Good luck, Martin. I hope you get her back.
On Reading Comics
It’s taken me a while to come to terms with this, but here it is:
I don’t really care about reading comics anymore.
I can’t remember the last time I bought a comic. That isn’t to say that I don’t love comics, because I do. And it doesn’t mean that I don’t think there are brilliant comics out there, because there are. It’s just that I’m not really interested in reading them right now. In the same vein, I’m also not interested in watching movies or reading fiction, and this disinterest has been growing slowly over the last couple of years.
At first I was worried and even depressed. I’ve spent so long absorbing stories and keeping abreast of media news that anything other than a burning passion for the stuff seemed to suggest that part of my soul was dying. So much of my personality was invested in my love for stories that to feel estranged from that love meant I no longer knew who I really was. Almost like there was no longer a reason to get up in the morning.
But it dawned on me a few days ago that while I no longer crave the consumption of actual story, I still absorb a great deal of content concerning the craft of storytelling. I love to read accounts of how different artists and writers approach their work, or see behind-the-scenes production art from movies and listen to lengthy audio commentaries from my favourite directors. None of that has changed. So perhaps my (pretty near constant) involvement in crafting stories has changed the way I choose to fill my time. Or my head.
The bottom line is I no longer feel guilty about it.
I’m excited about the work I’m doing. Maybe more excited than I’ve ever been. And I love seeing my friends’ comics come together, and when I come across a really good webcomic I linger on the details and appreciate the choices made from panel to panel; the nuances are so much more interesting to me than the narrative.
So I’m not worried anymore. In fact, I think this is a healthy step forward. It feels like less of a blind, flailing obsession and more like a series of carefully selected delicacies, if that makes any sense.
Teen Titans Year One #2
I arrived at the studio today to find a box of Teen Titans comics on my desk - my comps for issue two of the series. I’d forgotten that it shipped this week.
A quick scan of the usual message boards reveals NO negative comments about how goofy it is! This is surprising and comforting. Thanks to everyone who’s reading it. I love those characters and it’s weirdly therapeutic for me to depict all of these awkward adolescent moments.
Not that I was ever, um, awkward.
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