It’s me again!
Nate here—once again arriving in your inbox to bring you tales from the Narrative Shack…
…Which includes an incredible surprise that I was just blown away by around an hour ago:
I am so excited that the launch of this anthology is on the horizon, but to see that the pre-launch image—the only real teaser of the contents of the issue thus far—is from a Nicolò Arcuti panel in our story!
This story is, by far, the most personal thing I’ve ever written—and something I couldn’t be more proud of. I am psyched to talk about it all more when the Kickstarter launches, and to be able to hold it in my hands—but to see an image from one of my stories with Scott Snyder’s name over it alone is surreal. In addition to being a modern comics legend and a longtime writing hero of mine, Scott is an incredible mentor who actually read at least two or three different versions of this story at various stages. His feedback, suggestions, and guidance helped better this story as I created what was then my first ever fully-developed comic work. This was also the first time any of my writing had been accepted for publication as well, having received the news that it would be included in The CloakRoom #4 last June, so in a myriad of ways this is something truly special.
More on this soon, but if you want to be notified upon launch, follow the Kickstarter campaign here.
All right, now that that’s out there:
What I’m Doing:
It has been an eventful week, to say the least. A lot of rushing to get work done, and a lot of fun things with people that I had to do the aforementioned work around. I went to a local minor league hockey game for the first time a few days ago, which was just chaos and volume the likes of which I couldn’t have imagined—plus a game that went to an 11-4 score, which I’d never even heard of happening in a hockey game (granted I know almost nothing about hockey—that’s the one they play on the roof in Clerks, right?).
I also spent a lot of time with members of my university’s Comic Book Club—welcoming new members and hanging out with old ones. It was a lot of fun, and both involved me getting rid of some old comics and giving them to people who otherwise wouldn't have read them. It is probably one of the most hectic, nonsensical groups of people I know—and I just love getting to be a part of it these past four years.
What I’m Writing:
Some really amazing updates, plus a new project to add:
Project Facade: This is the story being published in the upcoming fourth issue of The CloakRoom anthology. More info to come, including a title and some plot details.
Project Scarlet: Almost done finalizing the first chunk of the script, which I am working on in pieces for both the artist’s sake and because it involves a braided narrative. I wrote a scene today that made me start tearing up in the middle of the library, so hoping that means I’m on the right track.
Project Freefall: No real updates yet, but just wanted to share this closeup of part of an incredible panel by artist Diego Lima:
I love this story—my first superhero comic and I couldn’t be happier with it. Excited to see it come to life more—and for Diego to get started on Project Scarlet after this is completed.
Project Three: The other day I received all of the rough layouts and notes on the script from the artist, and am amazed by the level of effort and enthusiasm that is being put into it. I do, in fact, know that this story as of now is set to release on May 23rd, so I’m looking forward to seeing it all get developed more.
And, as for that new story in the works:
Project Plenty: A six-to-eight-page story that will be releasing sometime around the fall. I’m so enthusiastic about the artist, the people overseeing the project, and the other creators involved! I haven’t started the script yet, but I should be getting it finished sometime in the next few weeks. I write a lot of sadder stories—I actually realized that this might be the first comic I’ll have written so far without a character crying in some form or another—but this one is going to be a lot of fun, though rooted in some horror as per the anthology’s subject.
What I’m Reading:
For one of my classes, I recently started Pamela Douglas’ craft book Writing the TV Drama Series: How to Succeed as a Professional Writer in TV, and I just find it so insightful. The industry information is utterly fascinating, and the writing concepts it goes into are things that I definitely want to start utilizing immediately in my own work. Television is definitely the closest medium to comics from a writer’s standpoint—though arguably specifically animated television is as close as you can get—so I look forward to seeing what I learn and what I can take away from it going forward.
In terms of comics, I’ve recently read both Scott McCloud’s The Sculptor and Jeff Lemire’s The Underwater Welder—both of which I’d consider near-perfect stories of the comic book medium, expertly utilizing techniques only able to be done within comics. I couldn’t recommend both of these more, and can’t believe I hadn’t read them sooner. For my class on comics, I also reread the seminal classic The Dark Knight Returns. I remember being around eleven at summer camp—away from home and beyond homesick, begging my parents to come and pick me up. In addition to another book I asked for, which I believe was The Modern Con Man by Todd Robins (I still remember the note my dad sent with that one, not possibly knowing what it was for), he added to the package a copy of The Dark Knight Returns—which I just tore through. There’s no way, at that age, I understood the brilliant political commentary or appreciated Frank Miller’s masterful visuals and paneling, but I loved it. When rereading it for this class, I had on hand the exact trade my dad sent me—more beaten up than anything else on my shelf after a month of camp and a decade since. Just an incredible story made even better with age and understanding, and something that brought with it some equally incredible memories.
And, finally, I haven’t really had time for new releases this past week, but I did get a chance to read You Won’t Feel a Thing #1, written by Scott Snyder (the modern legend mentioned towards the top of the newsletter) with next-level art by Jock. It is a story unlike what this creative team has done before, but also filled with everything I loved from their past collaborations. As someone who adores a good emotionally-driven serial killer story, this is something astounding that takes on the often-written premise while at the same time blending other elements that elevate the story as a whole. Snyder writes books like this so well, such as last year’s Dark Spaces: Dungeon, and I just can’t wait for more of this story.
What I’m Watching:
For my screenwriting for television class, I watched the first episodes of both Shōgun and This is Us—both of which had some great writing and concepts. Shōgun especially I had been meaning to watch, so I for sure will keep going when I have the time. There is also this past week’s episode of Harley Quinn which was great as always.
I also was brought to the movies yesterday with friends and saw Sonic the Hedgehog 3. I had not seen the first or second film, but I went because they asked—and it, of course, wasn’t hard to understand what was going on at all. I’m a huge Jim Carrey fan—always have been—so seeing him is always fun, but besides that, the film wasn’t for me. I’m not the audience, though—I was never a video game person whatsoever, even when I was younger, so I wasn’t a Sonic fan like some people I know (including some of those I saw the movie with). But the experience of seeing it was fine—though I’m not going to watch one or two or see the fourth movie unless I’m brought along with friends or something like that again.
All right, that’s all for today! See you next week for more.
-NS
Congratulations on the pre- launch image for the anthology! That is so exciting!!