Comics and Short Rib Burrito

A few weeks back Rose and I decided that we were in need of a road trip.  Some sort of adventure to a place we had never been before.  As part of my comic book publishing project I compiled a list of all the comic book stores that are anywhere close to driving distance from us.  We decided to consult the list had found a few stores we had never been to were down in Delaware about an hour away from where we were going to grab coffee.

The first store we visited was fine, nothing bad, but nothing special.  It carried all the mainstream titles and a decent number of trades and toys.  I’d give it a B and it’s not really worth singling out here.  If that was the only place we had gone, the trip would have been a bit of a letdown, luckily we continue on.

The next store we visited was The Comic Book Shop in Wilmington.  This store was anything but average.  In fact it was everything I want in a store.  As soon as we entered we were greeted by the co-owner Sarah.  She gave us a little tour of this rather big shop.  She told us about the various reading groups and recommendation racks they had.  They also had a side room full of discount books and toys.  One thing I loved was on the new book wall they had little signs under any of the new titles that came out that week saying things like "if you like Doctor Who, you might want to give this a try."  It was such a welcoming experience.  I definitely want to do something with them once my book comes out.

After we had perused the store for a bit and picked up a couple of trades Rose and I started thinking about dinner, but we had no idea where to go for food.  Once more Sarah and the Comic Book Shop delivered someone first rate customer service.  She gave us a ton of menus to the place around the store that she liked.  It was awesome.  We end up picking El Diablo.

El Diablo continued our streak of awesome places.  It’s basically a Chipotle with a higher class of food and a 50's rockabilly decor.  I ordered a short ribs with brown rice and per the guy behind the counters recommendation, goat cheese burrito on whole wheat.  It was fantastic.  In fact it was so good that I tried my hand at making something similar at home.  I would have used a Dutch oven, but I don't have one.  I'm going to give you the recipe to make it in my kitchen.

Old Man Mitchell's Short Rib Burrito


Note: I don't like beans, I just don't.  If you like beans or anything else feel free to add it when you try this at home.  Let me know in the comments what you found worked and didn't work.

What you will need:

• A cast iron skillet
• A couple of pots with lids
• 1 pound of short ribs
• A hand full of baby carrots
• Tarragon
• Salt
• Pepper
• (I always want to list Spinderla after salt and pepper)
• 14oz can Beef stock or broth
• Olive Oil
• 1 cup of jasmine rice
• Whole Wheat tortillas
• Honey goat cheese from Wegmans
• A griddle or pan

The step:

1. Season you Short Ribs on all side with salt and pepper
2. Get your well seasoned cast iron skillet nice and hot over a high heat
3. Sear each side of the short ribs for a couple of minuets
4. Pour in the beef stock/broth and bring to a boil
5. Pour half a cup of olive oil into a pot
6. Pour the Beef stock/broth and short ribs into the pot
7. Bring to a simmer and add in carrots and tarragon
8. Cover and cook this way for 2 hours or so
9. Every half hour turn the short ribs
10. Time it out so that your rice will finish about the same time as your short ribs
11. When the ribs come out shred them with a fork or knife

Constructing a Burrito:

1. Place the tortillas on a plate
2. Add a bit of rice in the center third of the tortillas
3. Add a layer of Short Rib and then a layer of cheese
4. Fold the tortillas in half
5. Draw the top of the tortillas and contents towards yourself so it now the top just covers the contents
6. Fold in the side
7. Roll it over once
8. Place the side with the folds on a griddle at medium heat for a little bit to toast the burrito

And there you have it.  Toasty, tasty goodness.

One other bit of news, I have been posting a color redux version of Dangers of the Road over at Tal-Nor.com.  Please check it out and let me know what you think.  It my first go at digital coloring.

Until Next time, keep making things!


T.

Thoughts on Pitching a Comic Book

I recently worked with someone who is going to pitch a book to Image comics.  Looking over their work and the pitch requirement has gotten me thinking, what makes a good pitch?  How would I pitch if I was going to? I'll be honest with my current project The Chronicles of the Tal Nor, the thought of pitching it never really crossed my mind.  The plan was always that I wanted to be a comic, so I would just make it myself.  That being said looking at the road not taken was a fun exercise.

According to Image's pitch Guidelines the pitch should contain the following things:

1. a cover letter
2. a one page synopsis of the overall story
3. a sample of at least 5 fully finished pages
4. a cover mock up

While the synopsis is important, that really just the idea of your story and not the story itself.  The sample is her is the key to getting your pitch picked up.  Think about it, a good story idea will make a terrible comic if not executed well.  The opposite is true too.  List your top 10 favorite stories, then boil them down to their base idea, I bet at least one or two of them is kind of terrible idea.  But when the right people came together they knock that idea out of the park and made a good story.  Synopsis just shows that you have a road map for the story.

The sample then needs to be an example of storytelling.  If you want Image or anyone else to pick a book up the sample should tell a complete story with a beginning, middle and end, or failing that it should at the very least be a complete scene.  It should work even if the person hasn't read any of the other materials one includes in a pitch.  It should tell the reader a little bit about the character and give them a sense of the world.  And it should show off that you know how to tell a story.

I know this is a really hard thing to do; it's much harder to write a short 4-8 page story and accomplish these things than it is to write a whole 24 page issue.  I have tried and failed at writing these types of short piece myself several times.  In fact I think that my newest piece "IHate When They Run" is the only time I've truly succeed in telling the kind of story I wanted to and accomplished everything I wanted.

A great example of what I'm talking about is the first scene in the movie Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier.  Here we have Cap, The Black Widow and some of the strike force guys in a Quinn Jet about to assault a boat.  As Cap is getting ready to jump out of the jet, Black Window is giving him dating advice and trying to set him up.  Right away we know what kind of relationship they have together and we know a ton about who Cap is as a person.  When asked why he doesn't ask this one girl out and if he is "too scared?", Cap responds with "no, too busy" and jumps out of the jet.  At this point a Strike team guy ask his boss if Cap was wearing a parachute and the boss responds with "no, no he wasn't"  in the exchange we are shown through character reaction that Cap is a total badass.  The action the follows in the next scene builds on this as does the eventual confrontation between Cap and Widow about their missions, which does even more to establish their characters.

Another reason to do a short self-contained story is that if Image passes (even with the best pitch this could happen, a ton of publishing house passed on Harry Potter) you will still have a comic you can self-publish and build on.  This is one of the greatest things about comics as a medium, to be a comic book creator all you have to do is create a comic.  For my very first comic (which I won't be showing anyone, ever again), I wrote a really rudimentary script for a 6 page story and went online to find an artist.  I put up an ad on Digital Webbing offering $20 a page.  I was amazing the number of emails I got from people wanting to make my comic.  I found some who art I like well enough and seemed nice from their email.  I told them to make each page 8 by 5.5, the size of a standard letter size piece of paper folded in half.  This was so that I could go down to Staples and have them just print out the pages on standard printer paper.  I spent a good week up in my room after work folding and stapling together the book.  From the moment the first two staples went into that first set of pages, I was a comic book creator.

We live in the most amazing of times, with the help of the internet, if there is a creative thing you want to do you can do it.  The only thing that stands between you and your creative goal is hard work and time.  You put in enough time and hard work and you can make almost anything.   Now, getting your creations out in the world and in to the hands of people, all the while making a living at creating things, well that I'm still working out.  If I find any answers, I'll let you know.

Till next time, keep making things and don't let anyone stop you.  Not even me.

T.

Helping out an old friend

My favorite comic book store, Uncanny! In the King of Prussa Mall, is in a spot of trouble.  There is a big sneaker store call Villa that wants the spot that the comic book store operates out of.  It looks like if the deal goes through Uncanny! will have to move to a yet to be determined location in the mall.  The part of this that stinks even more than being force to move is that the mall did this to them twice last year and they have finally gotten the newest location looking awesome.

The contact info for the big store that is bullying my favorite comic shop is:

Villa
1926 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: 215-279-5688
Email: villa@ruvilla.com

Not taking this laying down and armed with the aforementioned information I sent out the following email.


Dear Villia Management:

I'm writing you today because I heard some distressing news.  It's my understanding that you are thinking of opening a store in the King of Prussia Mall in the location currently occupied by Uncanny.  I urge you to choose a different location in the King of Prussa mall.  Over the last year Uncanny (formally called Comics and More) has had to move twice and as you can imagine this has put a real strain on them as it would any business.  I know it put a major strain on their employees as I was there to help them move, because Uncanny is more than just a store for me.

I have been a dedicated customer of the store for nearly 30 years.  I even worked there for a few years while I was finishing up college and looking for a job in my field.  I have seen every location they have ever had and this current location is by far the best.  They have just finished setting up the back room for gaming and events.  It looks fantastic.  They have incredible art on the walls and front window.  It is clear to see how much time and effort that the employees and customer volunteers have put into the store.  As the operators of a store you know how rare it is to have employees and a customer base that cares that much about a store.

That's because Uncanny is more than a store and employees; it's a place for old friends to meet and new friendships to be formed.  Every Wednesday I come in to pick up my comic books.  Not only do they have the books that I have asked for, but they will set aside things that they know I would be interested in.  It is rare in this day and age to find such customer service.  As much as I love the people that worked there when I was an employee back in the early 2000's this current group are some of the best people I have seen running a comic shop.

I have become a comic book professional in no small part to due to the influence this store has had on my life.  It the first place to ever carry any of my works and it the first place I look to when I want to premier any of my new titles.

This store is also responsible for me meeting one of my best friends in the world.  Over a decade ago I was finishing up one of my last shifts at the comic shop when a young lady came in asking for a comic book recommendation.  Over her next two visits we had such a good time talking we decide to meet up for coffee after I was no longer working at the shop.  From that meeting we formed a lasting friendship that included me being a bridesman in her wedding.  I still see her nearly every week.

This is the kind of place that you could put in jeopardy if decided to have the King of Prussia Mall management make them move once more.  I ask you again to investigate and choose a different location in the mall.  While I have never shopped in your store before, if you choose to pursue Uncanny's current location I assure you I never will and will be vocal about my reasons.  However, if you choose a different location in one of the largest malls in the world, I will most assuredly come and check your store out.  I cannot promise to buy anything, but there is a good chance that I will. As you can imagine from this letter I tend to be a vocal supporter of the places I like.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

Regards,

T. Perran Mitchell
Creator of The Chronicles of the Tal Nor


If you want to help kindly write, call or email them, just like I did.

Until next time, keep fighting the good fight and keep making things.

T.

From Idea to Script, The T. Perran Mitchell Way

Bit of house keeping, if you haven’t seen it yet my comic book project, The Chronicles of the Tal Nor has a new website, www.Tal-Nor.com.  If you get a chance please check it out.  Now strap in, this is a long one.

Over the last several months I've been getting more and more involved with comic book creator groups on Facebook.  They're basically a bunch of people all who want to make comics and want to support other people that make comics.  It's one of the places you go if you're looking for a Letterer or have a process questions.  Speaking of looking for a Letterer, if you're in the market for a Letterer, I currently have room in my schedule for a couple of projects.  My rate is $10 a page and I've very flexible.  Basically I'll keep working on it until you're happy with what's on the page.  You can find my lettering portfolio HERE.

Okay enough shameless plugging, back to the topic at hand.  One question I've seen come up over and over again is how to start out writing a comic book script.  What are the actual mechanics that go into taking an idea and writing it into a script?  The truth is, there is no one way of doing this, because there is no one way a comic book script looks.  They can range from a simple plot paragraph, a bulled list written on the back of an envelope or a 280 page epic description of every last detail, emotion and panel layout with diagrams.  Every writer does it a little bit different and many write differently for different projects.

I know on the surface this seems crazy, why isn't there a standard? Why is it so different? The answer lies in the audience of the script and the process of making comics.  The comic book scripts intended audience is only two or three people.  It's the Artist doing the illustration, the Editor(sometimes) and the Letterer(sometimes).  After the art is finished the dialog almost always need a slight rewrite, it's just the nature of the beast.  So time, in the case of Stan Lee's work at marvel, the dialog isn't even written until after the art is done.  In cases like that a second document is created for the Letterer to use to place the dialog into the art.  That one of the nice things about lettering your own writing, you get one last rewrite.

Because the script is primarily between the artist and the writer, it only needs to work for those two people.  As they work more and more together they can even develop a bit of a short hand for different types of views and actions.  This is why writing a script without knowing the artist is one of the more difficult things in comics.  You need to be able to write it so that any artist will be able to follow along without too much trouble.

At the end of the day the script is just the starting point.  This the frame work of a conversion the artist, writer and editor will have about what the book will look like and how it will read.  Just today I received an email from my editor asking if we could change something about a characters outfit.  She listed out the reasons why she wanted to make the change.  I thought it was great and actually worked much better than what I had written.  Now when you read the book later this year, you won't know what I had originally and I will look smarter than I actually am.

Since every script is different I can't tell you the right or wrong way to write a comic book.  What I can do is show you how I write a comics book.  I'm going to take you step by step of how I go from having basically nothing to a script that I can hand off to an artist.  If you see something you think will work for you try it out.  If you see something that doesn't make sense, ask me about it.  I love taking about process and how stories work.  For this I'll be using "I Hate When They Run" a five page comic I wrote introducing the character of the Rytier Kat Zang.  It might be helpful to read the story first then continue.  Don't worry it's only five pages and you can find it HERE for free.

THE BIG IDEA

When starting out I just brainstorm what I want to write about.  I try to come up with either an idea I want to explore to a situation I think would be interesting.  Then I pick the characters that will be in the story.  Sometimes I'll start with the characters first, but either way the next thing I do is flesh out the characters.  I use a character work sheet to describe any new characters that will be in this story.  Existing character will most likely have some form of the worksheet already done for them.  You can download a blank character work sheet HERE.  This document is a handy reference for both me, the artist and the editor.  It contains all sort of physical, historical and psychological details about the character.

Once all the characters are fleshed out I'll start thinking about why I want to tell this story.  What am I hope to accomplish, what are some of the key points I want to get across to the reader.  Basically, what's this story about, which is different than what happens.   These serve as goals and something to keep in the back of my head.  Sometimes I hit the mark, sometime I miss it and the story turns out to be about something else once I'm done writing it.  For "I Hate When They Run" I decide I wanted to create a confident introvert who loves books and uses a bow and arrow.  I wanted the story to show her personality.  I also wanted the story to convey some of what a Rytier in the Tal Nor does.

THE BIG PLOT POINTS

Now that I know what sort of story I'm writing and who will be in it, I can get work on what is going to happen in the story.  I start this process with a blank piece of scrap paper.  I make a bullet point list of the things that will happen.  When plotting "I Hate When They Run" I made the following list of bullet points

• Reading a book
• Wanted criminal comes in
• Kat confronts him
• He runs
• She chase him
• Shoots him off his horse
• Takes him to the wronged parties
• Deals out justice
• Goes back to her book.

With this list, I'll, and I know this sounds a little silly, but I'll shut my eyes and try to see the story in my head.  Sometimes it will come as little bits of movies, but more often than not I'll actually sort see the page is my head.  This is where I decided the title and that I need to start off with the chase.  Once I had that I'd back fill the beginning via flashback.  I'll then put down a much more details plot.  It's a list of nearly every action that will happen in the story.

I take that list and I make little slashes between the bullet point to represent page brakes.  Sometime I'll move things around a little to make sure that my pacing is sound and that things are falling on the correct page turn.  It helps to make the last few panels on the odd number pages a little bit of a cliffhanger, so the reader will want to immediately look at the even page when turning to the next set of pages.  It helps keep them for accidentally reading ahead.

It is at this point I actually start scripting.  My scripts use the following format:

PAGE NUMBER (number of panels)

PANEL 1

Description of the panel and the character states of mind.

Nation Box

Text

Character dialog

Text

Then I put a page brake in to the script.  This way each page of the comic always begins on a new page in the script.  I find that make it much easy to read a visualizes.  In the description I will not only place what the character is doing, but why they are doing it and what there state of mind is, what they are feeling.  I try to rarely tell the artist what the expression on the character face is, but trust them to know what someone looks like when they are sad but trying not to let anyone know and falling just short of that goal.  The artist is the expert at what people look like and how an image should be composed.  It's best to get out of the way and let them do their job.

The rough draft of the script will than sit for a few days.  I like to say that its marinating.  During this time I'll do my best not to think about the comic and work on something else or nothing at all.  I'll read more and play more video games.  What I'm trying to do is to a degree forget what I wrote.  I want to be able to come to the script with as fresh eyes as I can.

Now that my mind is a little clearer and eyes are a little fresher, I reread the script.  I like to print it out and take a red pen to it.  Once I have mark the heck out of the script I'll make those change.  I make two or three passes like this polishing up the action, language and grammar the best I can.  After these changes are made I give it to my Editor

EDITORS, THE UNSUNG HEROES OF COMICS.

The truth of the matter is that if it wasn't for my editor, this comic would not have been made.  And If I did manage to get it made, it wouldn't be half as good.  Rose takes me script and reads it over a few time, than we sit down together and she rips it to pieces.  Anywhere there is inconsistencies, errors or awkward phrasing she find and lets me know.  She is very nice about, but doesn't pull any punches.  If there is anywhere that she has a questions about, I do a rewrite to try to make it clearer.  Only after the editor says its done, do we have a finished script.

And that my very patience reader is how I write a comic book script.  Thank you for sticking with me through this long post.  This is just one way of writing a script, but I hope you found it enlighten and useful.  Please let me know your process, while this works for me now, I'm always looking for ways to improve.

Until next time, keep making things.

T.

ADD = 11 today.

Wanted to write more today, but someone turned my ADD to 11.  Trying very hard to get to my goal of 250 words per day or 30 minutes editing (30 min = 250 word on the word count sheet.)

I made a goal for 2015 to try to write at least 250 words each and every day.  I also had a sub out for days when I need to edit.  I also have a bunch of other things but like I said total ADD fail for today.  I was able to write a little bio for applying for a Con.  Hey just hit 250 for the day.  Now do I post this? If you are reading this people of the future you know the answer.

I Hate When They Run Part 5: The Conclusion

The day has finally arrived!  Today you will see the exciting conclusion to I Hate When They Run.  But wait you say, you’ve skipped the texted and scroll down to just read the comic; only to find no comic.  What kind of jerk move are you pulling here T.  Well angry Jim Gaffagain style internal reader's voice.  Not only will today mark the conclusion of our current story, but the premier of the Tal Nor website, www.Tal-Nor.com! Now, please make sure that you use the dash in the website name and a don’t put it in a one word.  That will take you to a site full of NSFW content.  I'm going to look into buying the url from them, but in the meantime, unless you want to "chat" with topless lady, use that dash.  Hey where you going, there still more blog.

I'm super excited for Tal-Nor.com and the future of the comic.  Kelsea our amazing artist has been working her finger to the bone designing awesome costumes and terrifying creatures.  I'm really excited to see what she will come up with next.  I have to say again how lucky we are to have found someone so talented who is also an amazing collaborator.  She definitely makes my stuff better.

Speaking of making my stuff better, our fabulous editor Rose has been hitting out of the park.  Over the weekend we sat down and she ripped all of the fat and errors off of the script.  The story and the script are so much stronger and clearer now thanks to her.  Editors are really the unsung heroes of the comic world, but you ask any writer and they will sign the praise of their editor all day and night.

So what is going to happen to Old Man Mitchell's Kitchen?  Don't worry the kitchen isn't closing down.  I am however going to retool and focus it a little bit.  There will be less talk about the Tal Nor and more focus on making things.  I'm also going to give more a glimpse into my processes and any cool tricks I have found along the way.  Also in 2015 I want to get back into cooking more.  My hope is that those projects will turn out well and I'll have a ton to share with you.

I'll also still be discussing my struggle with Anxiety, Depression, Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder.  I know firsthand dealing with these sorts of things can be lonely and isolating.  It's in this isolation that these conditions draw their power.  It's my hope that by sharing what I'm going through I can help take a little wind out of the sails of the darker parts of your mind.  It won't make thing all better or even OK, but it might just take a little bit of the edge off and every little bit helps.

What has helped me a good bit take the edge off these feelings is going to the gym.  I have gone to my local Planet Fitness every single day since Dec 9th with the exception of Christmas day when they weren’t open and this past Saturday.  On Saturday I slept in a little bit and was dragging a bit.  I need to pick Rose up at 1pm and I realized that getting to and from the gym with Saturday traffic was going to eat up a half hour.  I also knew I still need to get in my workout.  My solution was to put an episode of Constantine (which got better as it went on, but still not the best show) and walk up and down the first few steps in my living room.  This is fine for the occasional Saturday because I just do cardio on Saturday.  I could not do this all the time because it just puts way too much stress on my knees.

A few years back my Doctor diagnoses me with join narrowing in both my knees.  I have found that the Recumbent Bike at the gym is the best cardio for me as it puts the lease stress on my knees.  My hope is between doing that and lifting some with my legs I can build up the muscles enough to help my joints feel better.

I'll be talking more about the gym in a future post, but I think I have rambled on enough for one post.  Go over to Tal-Nor.com and check out the book and more info about that project.

Till next time, keep making things

T.

I Hate When They Run page 4 and more

Here it is.  The penultimate page of I Hate When They Run.  I hope you have been enjoying it so far.  Next week not only will we be unavailing the final page, put we will be doing it on the Official Tal Nor website.  That's right www.Tal-Nor.com won't just forward to you to my blog but will go to a real live site.

Creating the website has been a challenge due to not only the fact the last time I created a website I used notepad and was about how I was excited to see Sheryl Crow on her 1999 tour (It was a hell of a show by the way).  It was also a challenge because I've been so busy with everything that goes on during the holiday and things really being really busy at my day.  I've been stealing a bit of time here and there to add a little content at a time.

Luckily Square Space, our web host is super easy to use and even if it doesn't look exactly how I imagined, it still looks great.  There are a few little tweaks that have to happen here and there but for the most part it ready to roll out.  To be honest, part of the reason I announced here is to make me publicly accountable for launching it in time next Wednesday.  Hopefully it will be enough to help me fight of the final anchor that has slowed this all down Depression.

I have written about it here before and it is a constant in my life.  The best analogy I can use is it's like a tide caused by thousands of unseen moon, giving it a maddening unpredictability.  Out of nowhere a wave of sadness will hit me and try to pull me down with its powerful undertow of feeling of inadequacy and anxiety.  Make no bones about it, what I'm attempting to do, become basically a publisher in a few short months is not easy and a hell of a lot of hard work.

Once more I'm lucky.  I have a bunch of supportive people around me.  I have job which will provide some of the funding (more on that in future posts *wink*, *wink*) and provide me with the health insurance so I can seek the help I need to battle these demons.  I have a few friends who don't have this luxury.

The thing that I found that has helped me deal with all of this is working out.  Since December 9^th I have go to the gym everyday it has been open.  This means the only day I missed was Christmas day.  I have been working out off and on, mostly off since I was in college.  I found that if I missed a day, it would spiral out of control and it would take me months to get back into the habit.  What I have come to realize is that if I can make an excuse not to go, I will.  Which is kind of odd because I do like going to the gym, I like working out. Recently I realized the only way to make it stick is to simply not except any excuse for not going.  The gym is open 24 hours a day.  I can find the time. And so far I have.

Now on to what you have all been waiting for, Page Four: (you can read from the beginning HERE)