Purveyor of sheer awesomeness.
Joshua Hale Fialkov is the Harvey, Eisner, and Emmy Award nominated writer of graphic novels, animation, video games, film, and television, including:
THE LIFE AFTER, THE BUNKER, PUNKS, ELK'S RUN, TUMOR, ECHOES, KING, PACIFIC RIM, THE ULTIMATES, I, VAMPIRE, and JEFF STEINBERG CHAMPION OF EARTH. He's also written television including MAX’s YOUNG JUSTICE, NBC's CHICAGO MED and NETFLIX’s AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER.
Hey gang,This week, the wife and I head to see my folks in lovely (and supposedly not underwater) Clive, Iowa. While there, I'll be joined by Iowan Superman Phil Hester for a signing at the Mayhem Comics in Des Moines.
The signing info is as follows:
Mayhem Comics Satuday June 21st 1 - 4pm 7500 University Ave. Des Moines, IA 50325 (515) 271-8104
See you there!
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So, ever since PoorlyDrawnAnimals.com went away, I get a steady stream of e-mails, in person complaints, and general nudging about it. While that chapter of my life is most definitely closed, I thought (spurred on by Diesel Sweeties releasing theirs) why not release the whole thing as an E-Book for your handy download.
So, click the image above to download PDA. For those who don't know, Poorly Drawn Animals was my very first comic. I did it as a three time a week webcomic, and it was selected by Yahoo as a Pick of the Week at one point, and was a recurring favorite over at b3ta.com. I went on to make mini-comics, t-shirts, buttons, and thongs bearing strips and the characters where in. Eventually, after around 180 of the strips, I felt like i was treading water, and just didn't have the time to devote properly to it. So, when you read this, I apologize for the last few strips which really aren't as good.
Anyways, this is under a so called Creative Commons license so, feel free to share, bit-torrent, print, fold, smack against a rock. Just please, send anybody back here and tell them to buy my books so I can make money.
Hope you enjoy it.
Making Movies by Sidney Lumet
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
One of my all time favorite 'theory' books, mostly because Lumet handles the content from a much more practical stand point then the usual writer. He manages to sum up not just the roles of the director and writer, but, everybody up and down the credit list, and to do it with practical examples, and to clearly define just what film is capable of, and why it so rarely achieves those goals.
I reread this book at least once a year, and every year find myself finding more and more applicable to my work and creative process.
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On Directing Film by David Mamet
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
While suffering a bit from his own inexperience, and his angry young man routine, young Mamet says much current Mamet would agree with. I think that a lot of the really intelligent thoughtful information gets clouded by the "The producers are brainless monkeys and deserve to die!" diatribes.
That being said, he manages to merge a lot of great stuff from a wealth of sources into one short, concise book with a clear line of insight into what directing a film is like. Certainly worth the read, although not necessarily the book's steep price.
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Naoki Urasawa's Monster, Vol. 1 by Naoki Urasawa
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
Urasawa's use of suspense is second to none. A complete and utter piece of genius, Monster gives proof not just to readers but to creators of manga and graphic novels that this medium is ready to be used and abused for much grander things than we've seen before.
A complete masterwork that'll leave you aching for Viz to finish releasing the series.
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Death Note, Volume 1 by Tsugumi Ohba
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
The best. The absolute, 100% beyond a shadow of a doubt best use of graphic storytelling in the past five years. Sophisticated storytelling, an amazingly compelling concept, and characters you hate, love, suspect, trust, believe in, and despise.
Be forewarned, after reading the first volume, you won't be able to stop.
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Death Note: Another Note by Ishin Nishio
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
If this were made in America, it would be terrible. A spinoff prose novel of the beloved manga Death Note. But, Japan just knows better. It's an amazingly executed novel that perfectly uses the literary medium, creating something so much more compelling than you'd ever imagine it to be.
Non-essential for enjoying Death Note, but, it really does add so much more to the experience.
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I've been voraciously devouring manga for the past few months, and I figure, I might as well let people know what I like and don't. So, I finally started using the Goodreads.com account, and started cross posting them. Disregard if you don't give a shit. Hooray!
Buddha Volume 1: Kapilavastu by Osamu Tezuka
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
It's eastern religion/history by way of Astro Boy. Tezuka tells an incredible tale in an even more incredible way. There's a reason Tezuka is considered one of the great masters of graphic storytelling. This is one of those reasons.
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The Drifting Classroom Vol. 1 by Kazuo Umezu
My review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
A simple concept, not quite executed to it's fullest. Unfortunately, the characters, motivations, and reactions are all just out of whack. Lots of 60's style EXCLAMATION! POINTS! AFTER! EVERY! SENTENCE! which is, I guess, sort of a nice retro thing, but, when you take these kids and throw them into such an out of this world situation, some slightly more grounded handling of the characters is in order to really keep you into the story.
Still debating on whether to continue or not, I'm probably willing to give it another volume or so, just to see where the story goes.
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Parasyte, Volume 1 by Hitoshi Iwaaki
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
A whole lot of fun to be had in Parasyte. Somewhere between a wacky sex comedy, action adventure, and sci-fi/horror, Parasyte is yet another wholly unique experience in manga form. While not particularly deep or thoughtful, the book manages to be the most fun I've had reading a manga in some time.
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Color of Rage by Kazuo Koike
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
As a big fan of Lone Wolf and Cub, when I read the back of this book, I knew I had to give it a try. Essentially, it's the Defiant Ones, set in feudal Japan. A somewhat graceful look at race, freedom, and morality, through the eyes of an African American man trapped in Japan.
I'm not sure if this is the sole volume, as it feels fairly open ended at the end. In any event, it's beautiful story telling and very compelling action from one of the fathers of manga. Highly recommended.
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It's been one of those 'spin around and see where you land' kind of weeks... hell, months. I had what can only be called a golden opportunity pop up the past few weeks that is going to massively alter my career path (at least for the time being.) I can't quite talk about it yet, but as soon as I can I will. So, I've been racing through as much of my already lined up work as possible trying to wrap it all up before starting on this new gig. It's been... harrowing, I suppose is the word. But, totally worth it. The thing about this job, and what I've come to realize about life/careers/writing in general, is that I got this job for because of more than just my writing. It was a confluence of events... I had my agent cheerleading for me, an amazing meeting with the folks from the company, and then... the suprising part. It turns out the years of non-writing that I did. Working in TV production, running Hoarse and Buggy, hell, even running the movie theater I ran in college... all these little things that at the time were just jobs added together become a "wealth of experience" that got me, what in many ways seems to be a dream job.
So, to all of you out there slaving through a day job and hating every minute of it, and wishing you were writing for a living, don't forget that whether you realize it or not, that job will come in handy one day. Whether it's the characters you meet (and then use in your work), the practical skills you pick up, or even just the discipline of doing the same thing every day.
If you work in the entertainment industry, the government let's you write off a LOT of stuff come tax time. Just be marking your occupation as Entertainment Industry, suddenly, you can write off DVD's, CD's, TV's, Computers, Software, Video Games, Comic books... I suspect most people are just happy to get the write off, but, the truth of it is the experience of reading, listening, watching, and experiencing art is what allows you to grow as a creator. I just think it's important to realize that it doesn't stop there.
Practically speaking, I'll still be working in comics, and I have a slew of books already lined up for the next year or two, and in fact, should have more books on the stands than I did this year. I'll probably be a little less on the blog and the twitter, and won't be attending as many conventions, but, that aside, it'll be business as usual.
So, folks, here's to the future.
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