Comix

So. A few weeks ago I went to Comic Con in Denver, which was really geeky and totally fun. Before that, I saw the movie "Watchmen" and was really impressed, so I went and got the graphic novel, which was awesome. Having found myself in a writing job, I also find myself with little time or motivation to write for myself. As evidenced by serious slacking in the blog department.

My first idea was to write a story for a graphic novel and see if I could pitch it somewhere. But after writing to Dave Wolverton (aka David Farland who writes the "Daily Kick in the Pants" for writers, which is great), he said you have to be fairly well-established and then the artists will contact you. So I decided to come up with a graphic novel, or rather, a graphic flash fiction exercise and see if I could take it from concept to a final comic-book-looking type of product, doing all the steps (writing, pencilling, inking coloring) myself. Turns out I could! Not that it is the greatest story or art ever, but I am pleased that I was able to [here it is] translate an idea into an actual thing. With color. So, click on the images to see a larger version.

My Dad at 70

Many days since last post, attempting to rectify...

I was trying to find a poem for my Dad for his 70th birthday, and came across this one. The poet is supposedly Yue Fu (not sure of characters), but I've never heard of him. Not that that means anything. Still, it is a nice poem, called "After Rain" (雨後, yu3 hou4):

雨後树林润
松间月惊心
笑而思故园
异客在异乡

yu3 hou4 shu4 lin2 run4
song1 jian1 yue4 jing1 xin1
xiao4 er2 si1 gu4 yuan2
yi4 ke4 zai4 yi4 xiang1

After the rain, the forest is slick
Through the pines, the moon startles me.
I smile and think of home,
A stranger in a strange land.

RARE BLOG UPDATE!!
Siew Gin pointed out that the poem reminds her of another famous poem by Li3 Bai2 李白 (aka Li Po). This one is probably the most famous poem ever:

床前明月光，疑是地上霜。
举头望明月，低头思故乡。
chuang2 qian2 ming2 yue4 guang4, yi4 shi4 di4 shang4 shuang1.
ju3 tou2 wang1 ming2 yue4, di1 tou3 si1 gu4 xiang1.

Before my bed the moon is so bright, it seems as though there is frost on the ground.
I lift my head to gaze at the bright moon; lowering my head, I think of home.

Similar themes: The Moon. Thinking of home. Drunk old dudes writing poetry. Anyway, the line about thinking of home is very similar: 思故乡 vs. 思故园. Did these guys know each other? Since I can't find any info on Yue Fu it is hard to tell...