Still Going...

 It's been a while since I've updated this old blog and considering I haven't written anything since New Year's Eve, I think I was past due.

The End of the Year (Didn't I Do This Last Year?)

So, here we are, end of the year once again.

This has been a very interesting year; very different but not too much.

Let's go over some highlights (and/or lowlights) of this year.

The Journey

 While the 11th of November of obviously an important day of it year, it also holds another special significance to me.

Two years ago today I woke up feeling slightly invigorated; the day before as I was heading into downtown Calgary, I got an eagerly anticipated phone call.
The job interview I went in for a week previously had been successful and I had the job.

How the Sausage is Made

 It's been almost a year since Marcelo, Carl and I released "The Partner", a fan-comic based off of Batman: The Animated Series. Marcelo and I had done one five months previous as a small tribute to the late Kevin Conroy, but this was the first time we were telling a real story.

For me, the big thrill of this cover was our names at the top

Movie Review: Star Wars

 Last month a good friend picked me up from work with the idea that we'd have a quick bite to eat at a buffet and then catch a movie.

He knew of a theatre in Canyon Meadows that had cheap ticket prices and was even showing classic movies. You can imagine the gasp I made when I saw they were going to be showing Star Wars from 1977.

"Marlon, please," I begged. "We have to see it!"

"But...haven't you seen it before?" Marlon asked me.

"Yes!" I told him. "Many times. I could probably recite the whole movie."

"So...why do you want to see-?"

"Because you haven't seen it," I explained. "And...if you're going to watch Star Wars for the first time, you have to see it on the big screen."

Of "Star Trek", Risks & Rewrites

 Star Trek.

OK, chances are you're sighing and thinking, "This topic again?"
Well, yes, but I want you to hear me out and see where I'm going.

Back in 2020 I was talking about the film franchise with my Tante Kim and explaining that the problem with the current crop of films from JJ Abrams was that unlike the first six Star Trek films, with the exception of the 2009 film, none of them really take any risks, especially Star Trek Into Darkness.

Behind the Scenes

It almost sounds a bit strange for me to actually say it out loud but for the past year, I've been making comics.
Certainly not on a professional level but at the same time, I take it seriously and get a lot of joy out of finishing a script.
Recently I've found that as I get close to the end of a story, my writing becomes a lot more intense; it's almost like the final 100 meters of a marathon.

Ch-Ch-Changes

I've been pretty quiet since I published my last webcomic (The Partner). Right now I'm in a spot where...I honestly never saw myself being.

I'm putting a lot of effort into writing more stories and comics (Right now Marcelo & Carl are working on our latest webcomic which will be coming out in late December) and for any future webcomics, I don't want to have all my stories in Gotham City. I do have another script I gave Marcelo earlier this year and I have another one that I finished just last week.

A few weeks prior to that, I finished what's my biggest comic script to date. And the exciting thing is, it's all original characters. No Batman, Robin, or any characters that you've seen before. It helps that it's based off a true story from my own life experience. To change things up...I'm actually thinking of self-publishing this one; making physical copies that one day I could sell at a show.

Am I happy with my warehouse job? No. In fact I'd go so far to say that it's right now the least favorite thing in my life right now. And maybe I'm being unfair to it by saying that but it's my opinion.
I want to stay there at least a year. And with my one year anniversary coming up in late November...

Don't worry, I'm not quitting yet. I'd want to have something to go to before I jump ship, however it'll probably happen next year. Besides, it looks more impressive on my resume if I say I started in 2022 and left in 2024 compared to leaving in 2023. A future employer will look and say, "Ah so you did two years at ________?"

Oh and to really shake things up, for the past few months I've been seeing someone. Yeah, believe it or not I found someone who can willingly stand my company over extended periods of time. 

I joke, but it's really nice to have someone who gives me self-confidence, self belief and encourages me in my writing. Honestly, since we've started dating I've felt more alive in my writing, more excited about it. More importantly, I've felt happier.

And apparently I look happier as well. I'm not too certain about that but then again I'm not exactly looking at my face that often. But even I think I must be happier if I'm writing love poetry (No, you may not read it).

So not the biggest update I could make at the moment but if right now the worst thing in my life is that I hate my job...things must be looking up.

Schweitzer-Man Meets Susan Eisenberg

Calgary Expo.

Those are two words that mean a lot to me. I buy my tickets almost six months prior to the start of the show; in fact, back in November, shortly after getting a call-back from a job interview, the first thing I did was buy my tickets for the 2023 show.

With each passing week I'd check to see if there were any changes or announcements about guest announcements, more eager about Comic Creators than anything else. 

Project Manager or Enfant Terrible?

January was a huge month for me, writing wise. 

I realized a lifelong dream and teamed up with a great to release our fan-comic/tribute to Kevin Conroy (A Big Fan). I also got to work on writing three other scripts for fan-comics that I'm hoping to get published this year. In fact, I know at least one of them will because right now, Marcelo is hard at work completing the artwork on our next story which is titled...well, I'll leave that part out for now.

A Big Fan

 

A Little Prediction

 I loved That '70s Show's early seasons but it seemed to jump the shark after Eric & Donna broke up.
This week we've got That '90s Show premiering on Netflix. I'll check it out but before I do, I'm gonna make a small prediction about it.

Glen Johnson Interview

This is an interview I did all the way back in 2014. I was writing for a boxing website and desperate to get any sort of material, I would ask any professional boxer who followed me on Twitter if they would be open to an interview.

So imagine my shock and disbelief when I got the opportunity to one day make a phone call to Florida and chat with none other than the former Light-Heavyweight Champion and Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year for 2004, Glen "The Road Warrior" Johnson. 

The "Frasier" Reboot/Relaunch/Revival/Resurgence/Regurgitation/Resurrection/Revamp/Return

I'm gonna let you in on little secret that I feel has been out there for quite a while and some of you probably had assumptions about, if you were paying attention. Now I'm sure there might be some of you who are a bit shocked by this but I'm doing this because times have changed and what might have been a bit taboo when I was a teenager, has become a lot more socially acceptable now.
If this concerns you, I just ask that you understand and try to see past the label but...here we go.

Movie Review: Batman & Bill (2017)

 

Life is unfair and a lot of times, not everyone gets the credit or recognition they deserve. Ask anyone at a comic convention the question, "Who created Spider-Man" most people are going to give the name "Stan Lee" as the only answer. If you prompted them to name anyone else, chances are they would draw a blank, unaware of this brilliant artist named Steve Ditko.

Bill Finger was in his own way very similar to Ditko; there aren't many photographs of him, few interviews and chances are most people are unaware that Bill Finger is co-creator of one of the most iconic heroes in all of fiction: Batman

Animation Observation: Batman: The Animated Series-On Leather Wings

    In September of 1992, I was preparing to enter the first grade. That June I had turned six years old and the one thing I probably asked my parents for the most was their permission to go see one of the biggest movies of the year: Batman Returns. 

    I was pretty Batman crazy as a kid. The first Halloween I can remember, I went as Batman. For my fifth birthday I got two Batman videos on tape (One being the 1989 film and the other being the 1966 movie starring Adam West and Burt Ward) and some Batman toys. However even though I had gotten colouring books, action figures and story books based on the movie I wanted to see, my parents were steadfast in their denial. What made it worse was that at the time, all over my bedroom I had newspaper clippings about the movie all over my room despite the fact I didn't know how to read them.

    But...there was hope. On the local FOX station, their weekday afternoon line-up showed commercials for a new animated series starring none other than Batman. I knew that while my parents wouldn't let me see Keaton, Pffeifer and DeVito, there was no way that they would deny me the chance to see the greatest hero of all time on TV. NO WAY!!!

    Around Labour Day we were visiting my Tante Kim in Toronto. We were watching TV in her apartment when my dad announced that it was time to go. All of a sudden, a cartoon I hadn't seen before had started it's opening theme.

I knew what I was watching and suddenly realized that I could not miss out on this opportunity.
"We have to stay!" I insisted to my folks. 

Looking at the adorable six year old in front of them, they both shrugged and relented.
"But only for a half-hour," my father told me. "Is this a half-hour?"
"Yeah, yeah!" I said, even though I had no idea how to tell time. 

The episode we watched was On Leather Wings.

Character Damage Control: Commander Chakotay

 Oh, Star Trek: Voyager, like my parents' attitude in regards to myself, I do love you for what you are, but I also know you were capable of so much more.

You know my story, I'm a huge fan of the TNG Trek era (That's pretty much from 1987 to 2005) but Voyager was special because it was the first one I was going to properly watch from the beginning. And I was hyped from first episode to the last. But in the more than 20 years since the final episode aired, me and a friend have always thought of ways that we would improve things.

So I'm back again, this time to maybe build on a character who had a lot of potential but sadly they never reached their full potential with and that would the show's First Officer, Commander Chakotay, played by Robert Beltran.

That touch of gray in his hair will be gone by the end of season 3...

Me and Tom Grummett

Around a year ago, it really felt like the world was slowly-but surely-getting back to normal. People were allowed to eat out at restaurants, go to the movies, visit bars, breweries, attend concerts and even...comic book conventions.

Despite the show normally being held in April, in September of last year, the Calgary Expo returned in a slightly limited capacity. But I have to honest...I really enjoyed it. It felt a lot more organized and I thought it was great having all of the convention in one building instead of having vendors in the BMO Center and all the comic pros and Artists Alley (Along with other, smaller, vendors) in the Big Four Building.

Plus, I got a lot of cool things, a whole bunch of comics autographed, I picked up some art from new artists...and I also got COVID.

The Comics Conundrum: Batman Adventures #18

 As I mentioned last time, an early issue of the series Robin was one of the first comics I ever bought with my own money. But along with that issue there was another comic I bought that day as well.
My family was on a little road trip to visit my Tante who lived in Toronto and on the way to her apartment, I remember we stopped at a Coles book store and there was a rack full of comic books. Naturally I picked up Robin but I also picked up a comic I hadn't seen before. It turns out that the hit show Batman: The Animated Series had it's own tie-in comic and I had found it's latest issue and decided to buy it.

The Batman Adventures...sans Batman

The Comics Conundrum: Robin #156

I can remember moving to the city of Waterloo in 2007 and discovering a comic store within blocks of where I lived. In that first visit (The first of many during the summer months I lived there), I remember passing a rack of DC comics back issues and I saw a title that I had been familiar with in the past but hadn’t read for a long time: Robin.