Who's Who In The CBU Update 2008
Who are... Park and Barb?
Barbara Lien-Cooper writes the comic GUN STREET GIRL at Panel 2 Panel, was an original founder of Sequential Tart, is the managing editrix of the 2004 Eisner award-winning print magazine COMIC BOOK ARTIST, and was named by Mark Millar (The Authority, Ultimates, Wanted) as one of the three most promising new talents in the next wave of comics writing.
Park Cooper started writing about comics at the now-defunct DC FANZINE website.
What's New? with Park and Barb (installment 3)
When you write a column and you're also a comic book writer, you have a bit of a professional dilemma on your hands. Do you spend every week writing about your trials and triumphs or do you pretend that you're still just doing a column promoting other people's works? We have decided to play it down the middle and do both. Because, truth be known, we're having some good luck lately with our work. We have a lot to be thankful for.
Not that it all just drops in your lap. It takes a lot of hard work.
For instance, we just completed the text for a stand-alone mature title graphic novel, tentatively called A Measure of Darkness, for an independent comic book company. Our artist for Gun Street Girl, Ryan Howe, is going to be illustrating it. We can't really tell you any more of the details until Ryan does the preview pages and the company starts making the book a reality. But, since the publishers are friends of friends of ours, all indications are good. We can't really say much about the subject matter, except to say that it's a subject that's been done a lot lately, but the work has that former-DC-Mature/Vertigo Gaiman/Milligan/Moore tone that turns even the familiar on its head.
Not that we can just rest on our laurels, mind you. We also have to write the last two issues of a three issue mini-series for Grafika Press called Plastic. Frankly, we're not sure if it's going to be three flimsies or a stand alone graphic novel. It was going to be a stand-alone, one-issue series when we got the idea how to expand the whole thing. Plastic is pretty freaking bizarre, sort of on this Grant Morrison meets Jamie Delano axis. The trick is going to be making issues two and three come back to reality after the strange places issue one takes us.
Next, we just finished writing the rough draft of issue four (of five) of Half Dead for Speakeasy Comics. We got a bit stuck in the middle because when we saw the incredible art that Jimmy Bott has done for the series so far, we decided that issues four and five just had to be written differently to play up his strengths for doing action sequences. So, we're focusing a lot on action and interesting, strange, bizarre images for our artist to do. I'm not usually a comic book art junkie, but you know, there's something intoxicating in seeing your work drawn. Just as soon as we get closer to publication date, we'll be regaling your eyes with some wonderful preview pages. We're so lucky. Jimmy gets job offers every week or so (and deservedly so), but he's held off on them because he believes in Half Dead so much. His dedication to the work has been inspiring. We just know that he'll be one of the movers and shakers in comics in a few years.
Speaking of up and coming, the guy who did the front cover to Half Dead issue 1, Ted Wing, is now the new artist on Shadowhawk. It's a pretty primo gig. We're glad, as Ted is a very talented artist. The only downside of his getting this incredible opportunity is that we were in the process of having him do some submission pages for a mini-series called The Body Electric. Since Ted's co-creator on the mini-series, it's not like we can just go get another artist or whatever---and we wouldn't want to. But, assuming people like Shadowhawk, it might mean more likelihood of a publisher for Body Electric down the line. We really need to talk to Ted again and see how all of it stands. In the meantime, watch for Shadowhawk and buy it if you get the notion to.
To find out more, try this link:
www.newsarama.com/interviews/2005/teamshadowhawk/TeamShadowhawk.htm
But, if you're interested in what my writing style is like (and Park's, as he helped here and there), check out Gun Street Girl at
http://www.panel2panel.com and http://www.panel2panel.com/gsg-archives.html
Panel2Panel is a free site that we share with Amber "Glych" Greenlee. She's a comic book creator who is, from all indications, going to write and draw a mini-series for Narwain Publishing. Way to go, Amber!
We decided to go with a free site because subscription sites seem to limit audience interest in web comics. We wanted to have anyone who wants to read our work get a chance to. Gun Street Girl has gotten a lot of publicity, great reviews, and We're incredibly fond of GSG's artist Ryan Howe's art style, which has been compared to that of Frank Quitely and Steve Dillon. To us, Ryan's the perfect artist for the series because he doesn't idealize the characters. Sure, We could have gotten some Top Cow or Danger Girl type babe artist for the series. And Ryan, if he had wanted to, could have easily done that because he's so talented. But, We just wanted an action-adventure series where people looked like people for once, instead of cookie cutter comic book characters.
Actually, we're very lucky to have Jimmy Bott and Ryan Howe working for us on various projects because they are both incredibly talented in their own ways---and they're been loyal and supportive beyond measure. We really can't say enough nice things about my artists.
Right now, Gun Street Girl is (if Fed Ex delivered it to the right address) in the hands of the Xeric Grant people. Wish us luck on that.
And please, wish us good luck concerning a proposal we have in to Tokyopop. As you know, we've become manga freaks. Now, our love for traditional comics has not lessened that much. But, the hook of any comic, to us, concerns stories and characters. And we like the stories and characters in manga comics. Plus, we like how Tokyopop is such an equal opportunity employer.
But, back to Half Dead for a second. It's always a challenge to know when to promote your work. If you do it too early, then everyone gets bored with it before they even see a first issue. But if you leave it too late, no one knows the work is out there. Again, we've been very lucky because no less of a chain than Forbidden Planet has been very receptive in helping us promote the comic. Austin Books has also offered to help with a signing! That'll be a first for us. It's something we've always wanted to do.
It's hard not getting excited about doing something for Speakeasy Comics. So far, they've been incredibly good to us. We mean, with other companies, we've waited months to hear back. With Speakeasy, we got accepted in two weeks.
Just a plug for a friend department: Our friends at Athena Voltaire just got into Speakeasy, too. We're proud of Steve Bryant and company, obviously. We it gets time for Athena Voltaire to come out in print, we'll have an interview with Steve. In the meantime, we think the comic is still at graphicsmash.com
Beyond that, we are scheduled to do two Poe adaptations for a British publisher doing a Poe anthology with some incredible British creators. While not a total certainty because it's a new publisher and a new project, it's pretty definite. Funny story department: We wanted to do Pit and the Pendulum and had this great update for it (as all the tales are updates), so we wrote the editor about it. He said something like, "Yeah, it's great, but that's the pitch Jamie Delano already pitched to us awhile back." PFFFFFT! If this works out, we may be the same anthology as Jamie Delano, one of our all-time favorite writers! We're to be doing The Oblong Box and The Premature Burial for the anthology. We're psyched. To be allowed to do something with Poe's stories is just astounding to us.
Finally, we're probably going to be doing a four-part all-ages superhero comic with Ronin Studios called Experience Preferred. So far, they've been just so kind to us. They're a small studio, but they really believe in their work. You've probably heard of them from their press releases and through all the cons they've attended. The only problem is finding an artist. It's asking a lot for an artist to just work for getting something into print. Honestly, I don't know if there's anything else in it for anyone except really getting the work out there.
But, we're happy about it because we've had this mini-series around for awhile. In fact, we have a lot of work on the computer. Oh, not because we're lazy, mind you. It's been because we've been industrious. It's just that this is the first year that publishers have really given us a chance to show our work to the public. For a creator, being able to show your work to audiences is probably the most gratifying thing of all.