Category Archives: My Life
My Next Comic Book Project is Cover Bard
Great news, everybody! At long last I am finally working on a new comic book writing project! All my life I’ve wanted to be a professional fiction writer, but I’ve never really done it all that much. I’ve got this blog, and my first comic book project, Gamer Girl & Vixen, is still in production. But finally, at long last, I’ve started up a whole new, solo project!
Introducing Cover Bard, my new fantasy comic book series!
For the past year, I’ve been taking a comics writing class from Scott Snyder, the guy behind New 52 Batman and a ton of other great comic books and stories. The class has really taught me a lot and helped me to focus on my storytelling. I highly recommend the class on Substack. It’s about to start its second year, still going strong.
That class has finally pushed me to write again. I’ve always had a ton of ideas, but there’s just be some mental block that stopped me from buckling down and just writing. I just wouldn’t get out of my own way. But the time is now, and the story is Cover Bard!
This is going to be a fantasy comic about that very idea, of a creator unable to get out of their own way. Cover Bard will star Langley Stoll, a rather unimpressive young man who’s always dreamed of being a famous bard. But instead of writing and performing his own music, he spends all his time doing cover songs of the far more famous and popular bard, Phoenix Fire.
This isn’t a comic about the greatest bard in the world. This is just a tribute.
Langley — stage name “Phoenix Lyre” — meets up with the elf rogue, Kenzie Fleet, and the gnoll fighter, Bartlesby of the Sharptooth Cackle, to go on an adventure to the upcoming Phoenix Fire concert in the big city. Langley is convinced that if gets a chance to play his tribute songs for his musical idol, then Phoenix Fire will take him along on tour and he’ll finally be famous. Little does he know, Kenzie, the rogue, is playing him for a sucker. She plans to use Langley as both a Trojan Horse and a fall guy in her scheme to rob Phoenix Fire blind. She just has to get Langley to the big concert in one piece.
And that is the basic story, set up in the first issue…which is written, but is far from done. I plan to use this upcoming month to hire an artist and get to work making a new comic! I’m planning for 5 to 6 total issues, with some Kickstarters along the way to help fund it. So expect to see more about Cover Bard on this blog in the future.
I’m finally making my own comics again and I couldn’t be more excited!
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I Custom-Ordered Myself as a LEGO
LEGO is trying out a new thing called the Minifigure Factory, where you can custom-design and buy your own LEGO mini-figures. It’s only in the Beta right now, and I don’t think it’s open to everybody. I got an invite in a recent LEGO newsletter and for sure I was going to try it out! They only had some limited design options, but I managed to make a pretty good version of myself.
They got the design of the shirts I wear, including a little graphic to add a pocket, pen and ink splotch. They got the beard and glasses. They don’t let you pick the color or design of the arms, which is a shame. But perhaps things will get better when it opens for real. For now, I’ve got a LEGO me, and he’s pretty neat. Is adorning my office desk for the time being, because if I take him home, I’m probably gonna dress him up like a Ghostbuster or put him in a mech or something.
At the very least, I definitely recommend LEGO’s Minifigure Factory for a good time.
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6 Things in Movies and TV That Don’t Bug Me
Watch out, people, I have opinions on the internet. It would just be safer if you backed the heck up and didn’t come near me as I express these opinions in this carefully cultivated listicle on my personal corner of the information superhighway. Chief among those opinions is that I really, really enjoyed the first episode of the new She-Hulk: Attorney at Law show on Disney+.
The internet’s response to the She-Hulk show is what has prompted this list, though not every entry is going to relate back to the new MCU comedy. I’ve just seen too many complaints — as well as too many clapbacks against those complaints — and I’ve decided to express my frustrations through blogging. I have scoured my own headspace and found a bunch of things in movies and TV that seem to really rile people up, but which have zero effect on me.
Join me after the jump as I whine and whinge about dumb things other people complain about on the internet.
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My 6 Favorite Things of 2021
It’s that time of year again. The end of it. And at the end of the year, everybody on the internet gets together and shares their Best Of lists for the previous year, this one being 2021. I’m no different. I’ve got favorites to talk about and share, and I’m happy to share them with you fine readers. Perhaps you’ll even agree with some of my choices!
As always, I don’t really listen to new music or read books, so I don’t have choices for those. That makes getting to six categories rather difficult, but I find ways to manage. Then we can dive into the really fun stuff! My favorite movie of the year? My favorite TV show? I was surprised by this one. How about video games? Or especially comics? There was a lot of great stuff to enjoy this year. I don’t claim to experience everything. I missed a ton of those really niche, arthouse movies. And I didn’t even up playing too many new video games. But I had a really good year, I think. And I’m looking forward to what this fancy new year has to offer.
Join me after the jump for my favorite bits and pieces of 2021. And feel free to share your own favorites below in the comments!
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6 Random Action Figures I Had as a Kid
Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we? I don’t remember what inspired this list, but I think it’ll be a little fun. At least for me. Depends on how interesting you find random childhood trivia about the guy who writes this blog. I was thinking about toys for some reason and came up with a list idea of random action figures I had from my childhood!
I grew up in the 1980s, so I had a ton of traditional action figures from the likes of the Ninja Turtles, Real Ghostbusters and G.I. Joe. They were the big ones for me. I had exactly one Transformer — Inferno the fire truck — and a ton of superheroes. I even had a phase of loving American Gladiator toys! Sprinkled among these average toys were some true gems. Some really random and obscure action figures that somehow found their way into my childhood and now my adult memory bank.
Join me after the jump for a trip down memory lane to some really neat action figures that have just stuck in my head all these decades later! And feel free to share some of your own in the comments.
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Henchman-4-Hire 