So this weekend was the first of Drive In season down here in Indiana. Crysta and I went out to MELS at the Starlite Drive In down in Mechanicsburg, IN on Saturday night to enjoy a double feature.
MELS is sadly still running non-digital gear, so their film pickings are quite slim this season. They're trying to get the money together to go digital, but I think they've only raised a quarter of the amount. Honestly, I like the place - so I always donate a bit, but it's far from my favorite drive in to go to. Still, I hope they are able to upgrade, because they're still nice people.
This upcoming weekend is the opening for my favorite drive in, The Lake Shore Drive-In up in Monticello (Crysta and I live about equidistant between Lake Shore and MELS). Lake Shore went digital years ago, so there's no real worry about them going anywhere. Lake Shore, as a facility, is just nicer in general.
It also looks like Lake Shore put up a new screen since last season, so I'm excited about that. If I was going to recommend someone try a single drive in, it would be this one.
There's just something fun about Drive In theaters though, sitting outside on a summer night watching a movie. You can't replicate that any other way.
And I'm glad there are a few still out there.
- Traegorn
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 So last July I wrote a blog entry in this space about a particular figure in the Midwest convention scene. I won't say who in this post because it's pretty easy to figure out and I don't feel like influencing Google any more than I have to at the moment.
This post is one of those "never goes away" posts, where someone new discovers it every once in a while. These last few days it's gotten a three digit boost in Facebook likes for pete's sake. I get contacted about it relatively frequently as well.
I get emails about how brave I am. I get emails about how awful I am. I get told that I'm going too far, and I get told that I'm not going far enough.
I get told that I'm part of an orchestrated smear campaign trying to destroy someone... and maybe conquer southern Minnesota? Maybe? Some of this stuff doesn't make sense to me.
I'm really careful when I write things about people. I never put anything on the record that I can't prove, but that doesn't mean that I don't believe some of the stories I couldn't back up with evidence. I consider myself a good judge of character, and I know who I can trust or who I can't trust.
 But when I write things I feel an obligation to only cover what I think can be verified. Which is why when some bozo calls me "ill informed" it bothers me -- accusing me of not having done my research is about the most offensive thing you can say to me.
And I'm not kidding that there are people who say I'm part of some weird conspiracy out to get this dude. For the record, I wrote something because I think he's a terrible human being. No one asked me to write anything, and while I've been contacted by people who don't like him since writing my original article (as mentioned above), I'm not coordinating with any of these people or taking any action.
We might make fun of him sometimes in private, but we make fun of Michael Bay in private too -- it doesn't mean we're out to get him.
Frankly, I wrote a couple blog posts, and that's it. It's like the least amount of action I could take and still live in good conscience knowing this person is out there in our community.
Get over it.
- Traegorn
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So I discovered a feature in iOS7 that I had never noticed before on my iPhone. Apparently it learns from your behaviors and makes recommendations in your "today" section about it. Like, if you travel the same route every morning, it adds a time estimate for that trip based on your current location.
You can turn this feature off fairly easily, but the only reason I bring it up is that Sunday (when I went to check the temperature) I found my iPhone telling me exactly how long it would take to get to IHOP.
...because my iPhone knew it was Sunday, and it knew that at around that time I would want pancakes.
Which my wife and I did. So we got pancakes.
It was a bit eerie not knowing my phone did this though, and it made me laugh. I'll probably leave the feature on, but wow was I not expecting that.
- Traegorn
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So I used to be really into April Fools Day. I mean, like seriously into it. I've done real world pranks, dumb internet pranks, and lots of other stuff.
But the internet's embrace of April Fools has started to get a bit tiresome. You see, the nice thing about April Fools jokes is that they usually stop happening when April Fools Day is over. This isn't so for most April Fools jokes on the Internet. Most go up in the form of news posts and blog entries.
News posts and blog entries that stick around forever.
And not everyone checks the tiny date stamp on an article when they read it - if they did, I wouldn't see legitimate (but old) stories pop up as new in my social networks all the time (I'm looking at you Captain Worf). So the many pranks that sound just real enough get recycled as real news stories by people who merely made the mistake of trusting a news source.
So here's my proposal: On April 1st, make your jokes. But on April 2nd, either take them down or clearly mark the article as a joke in giant, bold type at the top. Don't assume anyone will click a link to reveal an April Fools message. They won't. Nor will they check the date when they run across your post on May 23rd.
Be obvious.
Because, y'know, I end up feeling bad when I have to explain to my friends that Netflix isn't really making more Firefly...
- Traegorn
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I don't do a lot of fan art, but after reading today's issue of Gail Simone's The Movement (#11) I had a weird desire to draw Burden, one of the comic's cast members.
Issue number 11 is the second to last in the comic's run (the series will end with issue 12), and it makes me kind of sad. The Movement has been a rather unique comic, and is solely responsible for my getting back into superhero comics at all. I'd kind of given up ten years ago, after having read the same story again and again. I know there was good stuff out there even then, but it was such a pain to try and find it... I kind of gave up.
That and I outgrew Wolverine and his ilk.
What I love about The Movement is that it takes the overdone trope of a morally gray world and puts a feeling of hope into it. Yes, Coral City is cesspool of corruption, but the heroes themselves still have hope. Vengeance Moth doesn't stare into the blackness forlornly saying "I am the night!"
She offers you a fruit snack.
Even the character with the darkest countenance, Burden, starts issue #11 mostly feeling guilty because he's happy. To contrast, Batman never feels guilty for being happy, mostly because Batman is never happy.
Which is why seeing this book go away makes me sad. Of course, the very reasons I love it so much are what makes it different from the vast majority of comics... and those differences are why it hasn't sold as well.
Which is really too bad.
- Traegorn
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So as some of you may know I spent yesterday at The INDYpendent Show in Indianapolis to promote UnCONventional and The Chronicles of Crosarth. Sadly I started off that day exceptionally exhausted, as I only got a few hours sleep the night before. But my own ongoing desire to fall asleep aside, it was a pretty awesome little show.
I got to talk to several other local creators for one, which I never get to do. I wish I'd gotten to spend more time doing that, but I honestly was dead tired.
This show is very different than most cons I do, because the focus was to give attendees opportunities to talk to creators. So while the number of people who came was limited, I ended up having some great conversations at my table about story planning and digital publishing.
And I more than made my table back, so that's always nice.
This is definitely a show I'd recommend to anyone interested in making comics, and if they do it again I'll definitely return. I'll just hopefully get some sleep beforehand next time.
- Traegorn
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So this Sunday I will be at the INDYpendent Self-Publisher Show in Indianapolis. As I mentioned last time I talked about this, the INDYpendent Show isn't your typical con - it's focused on a theme. This installment is the "comic book edition", which is focused on independent comics. There will be a ton of other artists and creators there, so if you're in the area, you should come down.
Because it's going to be a ton of fun.
It's being held at the Radisson located at 2500 S Highschool Rd and the hours are 10:00AM-5:30PM. Admission is only $3 (or $1 for students), so at the very least you can't beat the price.
This will be the first con where I'll have copies of UnCONventional Chapter Four for sale as well -- so if that's not incentive to be there...
...well, then you don't want the book. No big deal.
Finally - just a reminder that I've started a Patreon Campaign to help support my making webcomics. Even if you can just spare $1 a month (that's only $12 a year), I'd appreciate it.
Because, y'know, awesomeness and stuff.
- Traegorn
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So on Monday I posted the newest revisions I've made to my "Legend of the Gauntlet" comic idea. I included a basic breakdown of the premise, and lamented that I didn't have time to actually work on it (due to my working on two other comics currently).
But I've been kicking this thing around for a while, and while the 2002 and 2011 revisions have appeared on this blog, I figured I'd share some of the inbetween materials that bridge that gap.
To start with, let's remind you what the 2002 artwork that started me off looked like:
This looks terrible.
You'll notice some significant differences between this design and what I posted Monday -- most notably how her mask goes higher than the goggles (which kind of doesn't make sense), and that she is only wearing one gauntlet instead of two. There are other differences as well, like how her sidearm's holster is completely different, and the design of the gauntlet itself is totally different.
I think I had every intention of following this up, but my life was complicated back in 2002. Lots of ideas got left by the wayside back then.
That, of course, didn't stop me from working on the concept from time to time. Digging through my old sketch books, I found the following - which I think date back to 2003:
In these versions, the mask was still a bit ridiculous, but I added a trenchcoat to mimic the movement of a cape. I added boots, and kept messing with the design of the (still single) gauntlet. I think I hadn't decided on the nature of the gauntlet yet -- beyond it being "alien" and providing a protective force field. Apparently it was going to have some sort of blade? I don't remember exactly what I was intending.
I apparently decided to not give her a torso in that sketch as well... which is a tad bit awkward.
In 2006 I was working on the manual for my Action Movie based table top RPG Super Awesome Action Heroes. I had been contemplated doing a print version, so I threw together an image intended for the cover:
The costume remained similar to what I did before (and she has a torso again). Her boots from the previous version were switched to sneakers, the glove shorted, and the gauntlet itself was heavily revised.
And apparently it had a grappling hook in it now? Yeah. That didn't stay.
Anyhow, I put the character back on a shelf. Heck, for the most part, I stopped drawing altogether for a while. There was a pretty big gap in there where I just put my pencils and pens away and didn't draw a damn thing. Even after I started my webcomic UnCONventional in December of 2009 I was still largely just drawing stick figures.
 So in 2011, getting artistically antsy, I started doodling again. The Legend of the Gauntlet was as good a subject as any to practice with, so I trucked her out and did a massive revamp. First off, I fixed the mask so it made sense (coming up just over the nose now), changed the holster on her hip a bit and gave her a backpack. I also gave the character two gauntlets instead of just the one, as I think this is when I came up with the gravity superpowers. I ditched the trenchcoat... mostly because who wears trenchcoats like that any more? The chevron on her chest got lengthened up to her shoulders, and I switched her into (now more realistic) heavy boots.
I went for a cartoony look, but also did a slightly more realistic drawing a few days later.
I chose not to pursue an ongoing series, as I decided to launch my other comic at about the same time -- The Chronicles of Crosarth. I had two competing ideas in my brain, and only the time to do one of them.
So there it sat on a shelf until I brushed it off again this weekend. The only major changes between the 2014 design and the 2011 design is the chevron going back to it's original size on the sweatshirt, as well as my giving the character a shorter, more muscular build.
And maybe one day she'll finally get her story.
- Traegorn
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Every few years I like to revisit the ideas I don't have time to work on. I end up with quite a few, since I only have so much time on my plate between working on UnCONventional and The Chronicles of Crosarth. One of those ideas (which I've been kicking around for the last twelve years actually) is a superhero project called "Legend of the Gauntlet." The last time I worked on it was 2011 ( and you can see the redesign I did of the lead character here), so I figured I'd sat on it long enough... again.
So this weekend I came up with a bunch of new artwork for it, and I thought I'd share the concept with you all.
The concept of the comic is pretty simple - Miranda Slater is the fifth in a line of superheroes who have protected a fictional city under the guise of "The Guardian" (a superhero name which is intentionally as generic as possible). It is a mantle that had been passed down from father to son...
...but the fourth Guardian only had a daughter.
 The origin of the character is a bit of a mashup of The Phantom, Batman -- with a little bit of the Green Lantern thrown in. The source of the Guardian's superpowers are a pair of alien gauntlets which allow the wearer to manipulate gravitational forces (as well as generate a protective forcefield).
Miranda's predecessors all wore the same set complicated armor (partially to obscure the source of their power), but as she's only 5'2", it doesn't exactly fit her. Her costume is instead designed to be as practical as possible while still evoking the "classic" image.
You know, it's "classic" because I just made it up.
The concept is pretty straight forward - Legend of the Gauntlet would both be a deconstruction of how women superheroes are dealt with in comics, while still providing a story whose protagonist is forced to deal with issues including the death of her father and the pressures of living up to your parents' expectations.
Batman was a billionaire with a batcave, The Guardian works part time at a coffee shop and still lives with her mom.
 Of course any good superhero needs a super villain to fight, which is where "Gravity" comes in. Gravity, of course, is a working name -- while I created her with that name a good decade ago, Marvel comics has sadly created a character with similar powers with the same name in the meantime... so I need to come up with something else.
For now "Gravity" will do though.
Gravity is an assassin whose powers, you guessed it, involve manipulating gravitational forces. While the Guardian relies on technology to do something similar, Gravity's powers are innate.
...and she's much better at using them.
So everything The Guardian can do, Gravity can do better. Which, of course, makes the dynamic interesting.
So yeah - those are the basics behind "Legend of the Gauntlet." It's a project I probably won't have time to work on until I finish The Chronicles of Crosarth (as it does have an intended ending... eventually), but I thought I'd share anyway.
Later this week I'll dig out some old concept art for the project I've done over the last decade but never shared too. That should be fun.
- Traegorn
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So last July I wrote a blog entry in this space about a particular figure in the Midwest convention scene. I won't say who in this post because it's pretty easy to figure out and I don't feel like influencing Google any more than I have to at the moment.
But when I write things I feel an obligation to only cover what I think can be verified. Which is why when some bozo calls me "ill informed" it bothers me -- accusing me of not having done my research is about the most offensive thing you can say to me.
