Angel in My Failed Premise

There was this song I always heard as a kid, Angel In My Pocket by One To One, that eventually inspired me to attempt to make a comic based on what I thought of the song. I was twelve; it crashed.

I'm almost reconsidering it, albeit completely pulling apart my original ideas. When I was fourteen, I thought it could become some sort of magical girl story, especially since One To One's music is so Eighties that it delights me, and Eighties miscellania and retro anime go hand in hand in my mind. So, I can only see a surreal oneshot in my mind, but nothing else yet from this point.

An interesting note...there were two versions of Angel in My Pocket, either the version where the angel is a girl (which I always heard) or where the angel is a boy. I find certain parts of the male version jarring (especially "I wanna keep him 'til the end of time", which sound better as "her"), but I adore the video's art and costume design.

Cinderelliot Now Available

I'm rather overjoyed by this release. The cover's coloured part is actually glossy! The only possible problem is the fact that I used the wrong file for the cover, as I had an identical one without "First Anniversary Edition" on it, but I don't mind as much anymore. I mean, it is the first anniversary, even if it's a little late. If a second print is needed, they won't have the anniversary mention on the cover.

There are five copies on the shelves at 8th Street Books and Comics at the moment, and I'll be visiting people whom expressed interest in the comic tomorrow, as well as sending a copy to Green Candy Press. Anyone outside Saskatchewan interested can email me (see my Blogspot profile) and ask to order.

Sexy Site Update

The official Cinderelliot website has been remodelled in anticipation of the new release. I've currently got the site address on the back of each book and the site linked to from the Black Jack doujinshi anthology, so I'm happy the most of the HTML work is over. All that's left is nine pages about the gobs of other comics I'm working on, but all but one of those can wait. I am in love with the character page.

I'm also going through the list of episodes I had planned for The 27 Ghosts of Endo...some of them are surprisingly dark, especially "Missile Boy" and the one with the vengeful monkey ghost. It's all how the episodes are presented that decides the mood, but some of them are more suited for a later TV slot, and I don't blame Nelvana at all for turning it down.

The printed version is coming by the end of the month.

I retract my earlier statements

I've got a job now. And a reprint of Cinderelliot is quickly approaching. Right now I'm in the process of fixing the entire comic...adding pages, replacing pages, replacing text in certain bubbles, and redoing the ending. The cover I had planned for it says "First Anniversary Edition", but it's now a over month after the anniversary, and the way this is going, I'd might as well call it a Director's Cut.

So, yes. The Director's Cut is well on its way, and will have five extra pages and a wider distribution. I'm considering adding a bonus comic too, but I can't think of anything I want to write about (all the things I was going to put in it have already been cleared up through the new material). I try asking people what they'd like in a bonus story, but I get multiple variations on "Fairy Godfather gets laid". (Plus: in the new cut, he's not sex-crazed at all. He's in fact ten times more likeable, only looking for career success and affection.) I'm considering pitching it to a Canadian publisher, but the only one who would take it prints mostly books about romance, gay and S&M guides and marijuana. Well, if they accepted "Doll City"...

Gigan-X...three more characters are nearly stable, these being Michelle Rossi-Menard, Adam Graye, and Benjamin Ross, the French female pilot, the American pilot and the gay British pilot respectively. There's a fourth guy in development, Famiel Doba, the Chilean pilot. I almost considered making Major Kagiyama the main character, but since he's totally Ichirou Mizuki, I figured Aniki would find the series one day and be all " 一体何をやってるの？"

So, anyway, Cinderelliot is returning, better than ever. Gigan-X is biking around in circles. Hyperspace Bunny is in its prime and needs love. And stop asking me to make the Fairy Godfather get some ass, please, because it's hurtful at this point.

Updates and Gigan-X

Wow, it's been just over four months since the last time I posted here. Not much happened this summer - I was expecting to get a job to pay for a professionally-printed omnibus of Cinderelliot, but of course that never happened. And my opinion of Cinderelliot right now is tanking, so to spend $50+ on reprints would be horrifying. Maybe when I have more money, it'll happen...but for now, I'm considering just dumping the entire thing for free on Smackjeeves. When I think back on the comic, all I think of is what it could have been if the Fairy Godfather wasn't so offensive. The way I portrayed him still haunts me to this day.

Hyperspace Bunny is approaching its sixth chapter, and Quinn is in Season Two. The 27 Ghosts of Endo got rejected by Nelvana earlier this year for being too dark, but I want to start on a comic version of the first episode. There's something I've had in planning for months now, and it's about giant robots in 2084...

The working title is Virtual Fighter Gigan-X, about three young men in their early twenties who pilot twenty-foot-tall defence robots (i.e. Patlabor or Votoms), their squadron led by the enigmatic Major Shigeru Kagiyama. Kagiyama is the only character who I've completely finalized, and I need to be honest that he is directly based on Ichirou Mizuki, also known as the Tom Jones of Japan who's sung over 1,200 anime theme songs. This all smashed together into what potentially could be my most badass character.

The things keeping Gigan-X grounded are my current inability to design mecha, and my inclanation to add a female pilot in somewhere. The mecha pictured was supposed to be piloted by the American Adam Graye, so I gave it a red-white-and-blue colour scheme, but now it looks like a baboon-flavoured Kamen Rider. And on the female characters - I keep falling prey to the slimy giant-robot-anime stereotypes for females. My past attempts include a hybrid of Asuka Langely and Lynn Minmei, whom dies in the third-to-last episode.

So, I like 10% of Gigan-X so far, and I don't know how long it'll be before it gets off the ground. I'd might as well just put Kagiyama as a guest character in Hyperspace Bunny.

Bulletins

Attention everyone, I would like to mention a few things.

1. A professionally-printed omnibus edition of Cinderelliot will be coming out by July, but I need to raise money for printing costs and get an estimate of how many people would actually buy it. The book would include a new cover, an extra page in the second half, and a bonus two-page comic at the end.

2. I will be at the Saskatoon Anime Blitz this Sunday the 16th, dressed as Lisa Hayes/Misa Hayase from Robotech: The Macross Saga. This is what I will look like, except I won't be a toy. Anyone interested in talking to me about Cinderelliot or anything else is welcome to approach me during the convention's free times.

3. Endo Hiramatsu will cameo in Hyperspace Bunny #4. Also on the way is a comic version of the pilot episode of The 27 Ghosts of Endo.

Hyperspace Bunny Now Online

The first story - fourteen pages with colour cover - has been put online. The second story is ten pages, and will be on the way as soon as I finish its cover.

http://hyperspace.smackjeeves.com

After school, there'll be a finished character page, and I'll check to make sure that non-members can comment.

Bunny; Paperback Cinderelliot

First off, this June, I want to release a "First Anniversary" republishing of Cinderelliot, this time in paperback graphic novel form. At the moment I'd place the books - which would have both issues and a three page bonus comic - in the $5 or $6 price range, but I'd have to see how much each book would cost from Mr. Print. I'm really excited for this; this new format would make online selling easier, and maybe I could get attention from a Canadian publisher!

At the same time, I'm torn between releasing Hyperspace Bunny in print or online. At the moment, the first story rests at ten pages completed, and I can see maybe another five in the story. I'm planning to put the first two stories in one issue. After school, I'm going to pick up some small canvases and paint a picture of Bunny for the cover, in case the cover image I have right now doesn't turn out well.

My first series was about fairies and the mob. Now my next one is about aliens, robots and mad scientists...

The Periwinkle Assault

In serious news, Imagi Studios has momentarily collapsed, and the Gatchaman movie is now in limbo. The Tetsujin 28 movie is estimated to never, ever come to light, which I find extremely disappointing. Everybody buy an Astro Boy DVD, or Imagi will die. Really.

In happier news, here's the protagonist cast of a thirty-two year old book, and evidence of the first time I've ever drawn a shirtless man...


This is based on a book series by Charles Dennis, which was supposed to span four books but ended halfway. I discovered the second book, The Periwinkle Assault, by accident at the school library in 9th grade. It was enlightening enough for me to get the first book. The only objections to content in either book were how Corporal Ahmed was portrayed with the dreadful "dumb brother" archetype, a few gross jokes, and a masturbation contest. Really.

And I haven't finished Hyperspace Bunny

Because I haven't posted this to enough of my sites and blogs, here it is. My manga review got put in the Reader's Choice segment of Right Turn Only, on Anime News Network. This is part of an endeavor to pique America's interest in KCR, with maybe a stateside publishing. I really hope this goes somewhere.

Also, here's something from the Endo production...

In big news, I'm finishing a pitch for The 27 Ghosts of Endo and will be sending it to Cartoon Netowrk or Teletoon after the final exams. The sypnosis, taken directly from the pitch Powerpoint...

"A young man is hit by a truck, but miraculously recovers hours later. He is informed that spirits had helped save him, and he must pay back Death by exorcising 27 ghosts, one for each hour he was in a coma. With his companions, he begins to visit different places around the world to try and find ghosts."

I have been informed that this seems to be like Dororo, but honestly, I didn't think of that series when creating Endo. In fact, the whole idea for a ghost series came from a dream, which I made into an episode. Let's see how this pitch goes!

(Also, I'm starting a series of stopmotion films about a girl who pilots a robot. I want a Juku Couture doll, since it has excellent posability, but they're not available in Canada. And who knew it would be impossible to find a jointed Ken doll with curly hair?)