Thanks for inviting us.
Oh wait, you didn’t.
Still, it’s cool. I guess.
Enjoy being an old man. The rest of us are only getting younger.
Target: 1400 words
Written: 1457 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: The Never-Ending Present, Michael Barclay
Comics: Bloodstrike 29-30, Youngblood v5 73-74
Music: Wide Awake Bored, Treble ChargersUsually, we do this somewhere southern, but hey, Texas is fucking out.
Hopefully, the best birthday gift will come today, in Trump’s sudden downfall.
Target: 1400 words
Written: 1117 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: The Never-Ending Present, Michael Barclay
Comics: Bloodstrike 27-28, Youngblood v5 71-72
Music: With The Lights Out, NirvanaI mean, Jesus Christ, Rob. Reboot after retool after dramatic change, like you’re trying to stuff the entirety of fifty to seventy years of X-Men/Avengers tales into a 22 page comic. You can’t go three fucking issues without rebooting the fucking team. Your most interesting characters were killed off, or disappeared, or rendered useless. There are so many goddamn loose threads and things and people that show up like we’re supposed to know them and then just vanish.
Add to that the fact that nearly every character you created is a straight rip-off of a Marvel or DC character and well, fuck, man. No wonder people deride your work. MacFarlane and Jim Lee did better art; everyone does better writing. It’s pretty clear that your ego got in the way of your progression; sometimes, success too early kills the instinct for growth.
Evolution is better than talent; a work ethic and a willingness to adapt will always beat natural skill.
I mean, I don’t know Rob. He might be a perfectly nice guy, but goddamn. This universe is a mess, and Brigade and Bloodstrike aren’t any better.
Consistency. Uniquity. Time to learn who people are – these are the ties that bind, the things that draw us to characters, not cheap knockoffs, splashy art and disjointed storytelling that reads like me trying to write my first novel, discarding and changing, abandoning, getting sick of an idea that’s not working and starting over with the same idea, with a twist, but instead of letting it evolve into something consistent for the world to see when it’s ready, you just do it all over and over again. No wonder people can’t seem to stick, and so many of these series or story arcs get rebooted after one to two issues.
You need to go back to basics, ditch the knockoffs and focus on the things that actually worked (which wasn’t much). Of course, yet another reboot is an interest killer, so maybe not. Maybe just put this fucker to bed, and admit, after thirty-plus years?
This shit ain’t gonna work out.
Target: 1400 words
Written: 1413 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: The Never-Ending Present, Michael Barclay
Comics: Youngblood v4 8-9, Brigade v4 1, Bloodstrike 26
Music: With The Beatles, The BeatlesSeems to be a lot to think about this days.
Hopefully, that whole manifestation thing isn’t legit.
Target: 1400 words
Written: 764 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran
Comics: Youngblood v4 4-7
Music: Wish, The CureI’ll be honest. I grew up on tales of World War II. My grandfather was in the army, although he didn’t talk about it a ton.
He did tell me a story I turned into a book for a project in public school; years later, I’d find it and discover he’d related the Great Escape. He was proud of it though; I believe he was a medic. He still had his uniform folded and pressed in the attic, along with a number of commendations, letters from my grandmother and pictures of him in gear.
I should probably look into that.
Anyway, thanks, Grandad, for either punching Nazis or healing the ones that did, whichever it was.
I’m sorry we’ve let them come back into power. I am ashamed for us.
We will do better, I promise.
At least, I will.
Target: 1400 words
Written: 2203 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
Comics: Youngblood Imperial 1, Youngblood v4 1-3
Music: Winning Days, The VinesYou know, it’s really tough to write a scene-ending line about the possibility of a prostate massage.
Technically, an objection to it, a total horrifying of the moral senses.
(Except, you know, get your prostate checked. That shit’s important, fellas, both in a medical sense, and a what’s good for the goose sense.)
Polyps is no joke, kids.
Target: 1400 words
Written: 1483 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde (prostates, you say?)
Comics: Brigade v3 1, Youngblood Bloodsport 1, Youngblood Genesis 1-2
Music: Wind It Up (Rewound), The ProdigyYou think Donald sees that baby and thinks, man, I wish I could have that kid’s life.
Or do you think he’s just so worried about if Daddy loves him that he’s just jealous Satan actually thinks his son is cool?
Target: 1400 words
Written: 906 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
Comics: Youngblood v3 1-2, Youngblood GT Interactive Special 1, Awesome Adventures 1
Music: Will Of The People MuseYou know, I’ve never actually seen that.
Was the baby really the spawn of Satan?
And was its name Donald?
Target: 1400 words
Written: 440 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: Quiet: The Power Of Introverts, Susan Cain (well, that took way too long)
Comics: Judgment Day 3, Judgment Day: Aftermath 1, Youngblood Super Special 1, Awesome Holiday Special 1
Music: Western Stars, Bruce SpringsteenI don’t like guns. They’re everyone in movies, television and books, but they have never been a part of my life.
I’ve never fired one. Never even held one.
I haven’t been around one when it went off.
So, it’s hard for me to write about what the effects of such a thing are, how one reacts and all that, when one actually does. Unfortunately, it’s a crucial addition to this book. A late addition, but to really capture the zeitgeist of what it means to be a MAGA archetype, well, you need guns.
Second Amendment bollocks, really.
How fucking dumb are you people? You know if you get rid of the guns, then no one can get shot, right?
Of course, unless you’re an asshole who wants to shoot somebody, which I believe you all are, whether you admit it outwardly or not.
Fuckin’ stupid, man.
Target: 1400 words
Written: 2713 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: Quiet: The Power Of Introverts, Susan Cain
Comics: Spider-Man/Badrock 2, Chapel v3 1, Judgment Day: Alpha 1, Judgment Day: Omega 1
Music: Only The Strong Survive, Bruce SpringsteenAt least, that’s what this scene is screaming at me.
Why is everyone so calm, including the protagonist?
There are bad things happening, terrifying, awful, annoying, dangerous things.
You have my permission to freak out.
I am.
(Also, yay to Democrat gains in the elections; now, we pray there are enough of us to overcome the rigging, or that he doesn’t suspend elections altogether.)
Target: 1400 words
Written: 1340 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: Quiet: The Power Of Introverts, Susan Cain (it's me!)
Comics: Shattered Image 3-4, Youngblood v2 14, Spider-Man/Badrock 1
Music: The Wild, The Innocent, And The E Street Shuffle, Bruce Springsteen