Writers Old Fashioned » Craft

NPR’s Snap Judgment Features Stephenny Godfrey & STORM

STORM — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 22:08:08 +0000

Last WonderCon, NPR Producer Stephanie Foo had one question on her mind: What was the first superhero that you created? She asked this question to many comic book artists and Stephenny Godfrey and I were included in her project (I found it rather serendipitous that she wanted to know about the heroes I created as a kid as I am drawing them now as an adult for my self-published memoir fantasy comic Princess Witch Boy). A week later, Stephanie wrote us, asking for images from our childhood to be used in a slideshow to compliment the interviews!

I found Stephanie’s project to be quite extraordinary and I was excited that the pop culture zeitgeist of comics had reached National Public Radio in such a way as to warrant its own segment, but I had no idea about the level of comic brilliance in which Stephenny and I would be included! I have been a fan of David Mack ever since my first issue of Kabuki and the art of Paul Maybury is super inspirational (I’ve even blogged about him)! I adore Miriam Libicki and have much love for my fellow compatriot in Writers Old Fashioned Stephenny Godfrey! In fact, all of the creators involved are amazing and everyone shares some great stories! Listen to the interviews and watch the artist slideshow which compares the artists’ childhood drawings with their adult work. Episode 107 of Snap Judgment has more stories tied to the theme of Superheroes: Origin Stories.

Check out my blog for images of my childhood drawings paired with their modern counterparts.

SF Weekly Loves STORM.

Greg — Wed, 19 May 2010 21:14:58 +0000

SF Weekly honors STORM with not only a Best of 2010 Award,

but his very own category!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you San Francisco’s

Best X-Men Tarot Card Reader!

We’ve always known that STORM was in a category of his own creation, and it seems like The City is starting to take note, too.

Head over to STORM’s blog for info on how you can have a tarot reading unlike any others.

Why Comics? DB Edition.

david — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:39:01 +0000

your humble hosts, david b and danger bob.

You want to know why comics? Danger Bob, tell ‘em “why comics.”
Simply put I would not be alive if it weren’t for comics. Important fact one; I am not a junkie. If comics weren’t there my addictive personality would have found something else to kill time with, probably something illegal and/ or opiate based. While just as addictive as heroine comics is a much better alternative. No nervous jitters, no living on the street, no worrying about the fuzz, and no cutting myself to get the cockroaches out from under my skin.

Important fact two: I’ve never killed a man. Without comics I surely would be on death row right now with a laundry list of victims. My weekly medicine of funny books stops the voices in my head. Instead of envisioning what I’d do to that ass hole that just cut me off without using a turn signal, I go home and read about characters in tight clothing kicking the shit out of each other, and blowing stuff up.

David B?
Why comics?

Why not, man? I read comics as a kid, quit them as a teen, and came back to them as an adult. I keep finding something new to get into, something new to love, something to be angry at, and something to pass the time with.

Comics are Frank Miller, Jim Lee, Darwyn Cooke, Frank Quitely, and Chris Bachalo. They’re Grant Morrison, Brian Azzarello, David Lapham, Peter Milligan, and Joe Kelly. They’re New X-Men, New Frontier, 100 Bullets, Stray Bullets, and Daredevil. Comics are the stacks of stapled minis on my bookshelves, tattered used paperbacks, and deluxe Absolute hardcovers editions. They’re the books about depressed kids being extra depressed and navel-gazing, superheroes punching complicated problems into oblivion, artsy books being incomprehensible, and all of it being awesome. Comics are arguing about dumb things, talking about art, and most of all, being able to be a grown-up and still read books with pictures.

Basically, the answer to “Why comics?” is that I don’t have any other choice. I don’t understand how people can get ashamed of these things. Comics are wonderful.

That’s why comics.

Why Comics?

Emily — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:21:03 +0000

We’re Writers Old Fashioned, a group of Bay Area comic book creators bound together by our collective four color dreams. We’re polling our resources (us) to answer the age old question: Why comics?

And more importantly: Why the hell do we MAKE comics? First up, Jason and Emily…

The place stunk of bloody meat and kicked up sawdust and I couldn’t be happier. The longer the butcher took to take my pop’s order, the longer I could spin the lopsided, creaky comic rack. Bat-Man, Spider-Man and The Hulk were familiar friends I had seen on TV. Riding home on my father’s shoulders, I held tight to Pork Chops and a handful of 35 cent adventures to be read to me. And then suddenly without warning…

“Jason” my father warned me “Don’t turn around. Two-Face is behind us.”

Oh Shit, Two-Face was the worst of the bunch that chased us home. I held on tight to his sweatshirt as my father broke into a run. Soon I’d be filled with meat, four color funnies and, if I was lucky, a baby can of Budweiser to calm my 5 year old nerves.

Why do I make comics? Because I want every kid in America to think Two-Face is going to chop him or her into little pieces.

-Jason McNamara

Here’s how my mini-drama-comic-love-affair goes, in three parts.

Part One- Girl meets comics. I was naive and unsuspecting, the perfect age for a comic book to be thrust upon. The first time I held one of those colorful little books, I knew I would do whatever it took to stay close to them. I had to draw for them, write for them, anything!

Part Two- Girl leaves comics. Along with the my little ponies and legos of my youth, the rolled up comic book in my back jean pocket was doing nothing for my social life. I was too cool for comic books, if such a thing ever existed.

Part Three- Girl comes crawling back to comics. I was wrong and I wasn’t fooling anybody. The doodles of Rogue on the corners of my school papers were a dead giveaway. I was the one who was “uncool”. Comic books are the coolest and they aren’t even smug about it. I jumped back in, head first. I even starting making them myself, an offering to the comic gods. Repentance.

So, here I am, back in the warm embrace of comics. Back where I belong.

-Emily Stackhouse

Holiday Meeting; Old Fashioned Style

Emily — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:32:38 +0000

Tired of the same old holiday work party? The same stuffy office surrounded by the same morons you work with day in and day out? Well, what’s better then a karaoke machine AND a wine cooler? I’ll tell ya what… a Holiday Party with the one and only Writers Old Fashioned. That’s right, Writers Old Fashioned took it to the streets (the North Beach streets that is) in true Old Fashioned style at the Condor. Well, that was very um, er, educational. Some of us even brought our notebooks, research, you know. But seriously, nothing says holiday cheer better than a death drop down a 30 foot pole. After that it was off to the Beauty Bar for some serious foot loose action. Whatever needs to be done in the name of writing comics, I always say. And don’t feel bad, I’m sure your office holiday party was pretty fun too…

Here’s to the Holidays!

I ♥ Comics

Matt — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:00:02 +0000

Blog@Newsarama has asked a couple of us over here at Writers Old Fashioned to pitch in some guest columns for their summer “I ♥ Comics” series. First up, I tell the world why I ♥ the New Golden Age.

No related posts.

Pop Culture Martians

Jason — Mon, 26 May 2008 23:10:28 +0000

Fellow Writer Old Fashioned David Brothers interviews me for the awesome Pop Culture Shock site. We debut the new Martian Confederacy cover, discuss the role of social commentary in comics, and how reading the new Spider-Man books is like having break up sex. Check it out!

io9 Invades McNamara’s Mind

Matt — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:49:57 +0000

Fellow Writers Old Fashioned member and blogger extraordinaire, Graeme McMillan, sits down with Jason McNamara to talk about The Martian Confederacy!

Click on the logo to check it out!

Using Mass Effect as a motivational tool?

Emily — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:38:05 +0000

As some of you may know, either from previous posts or from knowing me personally, I have a little (when I say little I actually mean gigantic) problem with motivating myself to do what I should be doing. You may be familiar with the feeling yourselves. You know the one, that teeny-tiny voice in the back of your mind. The passive guy at the back of the room meekly clearing his throat, trying to get your attention. And whatever it may be you’re doing at the time, watching reruns of Friends, taking online quizzes, or in my case, playing the time-devouring video game, Mass Effect, that little guy in the back of the room, is still trying to get your attention. Maybe he even started waving his arms around a little. The truth of the matter is, that little passive guy is just not as exciting as tracking down Saren and the Geth . He’s also not very aggressive, whereas Urdnot Wrex will fight and shoot his way into your mind, forcing you with his stasis ability to make you play. The little guy standing in the back of your mind (writing, drawing, making art, being creative) is the thing you should be paying attention to.

So, here’s what you do next time you find yourself in this situation: Drop the controller, Turn off the t.v. Get up, off the couch. GO DO YOUR WORK! Give that little guy in the back a microphone for chrissake. He deserves it. No wonder you’ve been ignoring him; you can’t hear him back there.

I’ll tell you, more than anyone, that Mass Effect is a great, amazing, innovative game. And I love it, maybe a little too much, but that didn’t stop me from giving it up. That’s right, I stopped- cold turkey. Last time I played I heard a loud, booming voice. I couldn’t argue with that voice. And I knew what I had to do.

So, people, kick that habit, whatever it is, and devote that time to your art. I know, we all know this already, that’s why we feel that guilt when we’re wasting time. But I feel it my duty to remind you all: Your art is worth it.

Book Recommendation: Naomi Wolf’s “The Treehouse”

STORM — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 10:23:15 +0000

I just finished reading Naomi Wolf’s book, “The Treehouse: Eccentric Wisdom from My Father on How to Live, Love, and See.” I had never read anything by Wolf before, although I knew that she wrote the bestseller “The Beauty Myth” in 1991. Thanks to Kirsten Baldock for lending it to me. This book is part memoir and part how to guide. It’s for anyone trying to invoke change in their lives, but especially for writers.

In this book, Wolf recounts how her father, Leonard Wolf, was an inspiration for her. She gives the reader very personal glimpses into their relationship and family history. It’s a cozy book. You can almost feel the admiration that Wolf has for her father drip off the pages. For the first three chapters, I had a hard time with the narrative voice of the book. I didn’t yet feel connected to the sage-like figure that Wolf was building up her father to be. In chapter four, entitled “Speak in Your Own Voice,” I felt a narrative shift. All the cutesy descriptions of what Leonard wore and how Wolf’s children acted started to feel more grounded, more relevant. All the threads about Wolf’s childhood, her adult responsibilities and worries about her future started to weave together. By page 90, Wolf’s literary education really shines. Check out this passage:

“In Leonard’s youth, truth had not yet been deconstructed. Since the trend of poststructuralism entered the universities in the 1980s, young writers have been taught that it is naive and even politically suspect to believe in universal values or stories that can touch anyone’s heart; nothing, they are taught, is inherently true. Humanism has been demonized as “secular humanism” by the religious right–as if faith in art and people’s creative potential rules out faith in God–and it has been derided as passe and irrelevant by the Marxist and feminist academic left, who dismiss it as playing down difference of race, class, and gender in its commitment to a human point of view that can transcend all such divisions.”

Wow. As someone who really appreciates deconstruction and humanism, I found Wolf’s writing to be thought provoking. Can we find universal truth in literature? Is it enough to say, yes, truth is subjective, but some aspects of the human experience are universal? Can literature be “a bridge between human beings” or is it “a map of oppressive power relations” in today’s current academia? (91)

The chapter titles in “The Treehouse” come from the lessons that Wolf’s father taught in his classes (and are the lessons she asks him to teach her while working on her daughter’s treehouse). They are veritable gems of sagaciousness, simple and direct, but undeniably powerful nonetheless. Give “The Treehouse” a read and let me know what you think.

Also, while perusing the internet for Naomi Wolf, I found this interesting article entitled, “The Porn Myth.” Consider this quote, taken out of context from the two page article:

“For most of human history, erotic images have been reflections of, or celebrations of, or substitutes for, real naked women. For the first time in human history, the images’ power and allure have supplanted that of real naked women. Today, real naked women are just bad porn.”