Lightning Strikes!
Somewhere outside the realm of logic and linear time lies the Akashic Library, its phantasmal shelves stretching off endlessly into the distance. What forbidden esoterica shall we uncover there today? Read on . . .
So I've got this new comic out, called Lightning Man #2. I've got a few stacks of them sitting here at my house, and I'm happy to mail a copy off to anyone who sends me a few dollars. But why would you want to read it? What led to the creation of Lightning Man #2? I'm glad you asked!
THE SHOCKING TRUE STORY OF LIGHTNING MAN #2!
Nowadays most people experience super-hero stories as movies, but the super-hero genre was created and perfected in comic book series. A big-budget installment in a movie series will come out once every few years, maybe. A comic book, traditionally, will come out every month. This means the pacing is very different. In a super-hero movie you get an extremely compressed version of things, due to the logistical limitations. But in a comic book, ah yes, the story can really breathe. In the movie Spider-Man, you get Spider-Man's origin story, then the Green Goblin's origin story, then they fight, then their lives intersect, and then they have a showdown. The end, and Spider-Man will not have another meaningful adventure for a few years. In the comic book, Spider-Man had his origin, and then he fought the Chameleon, and the Vulture, and Electro, and the Enforcers, and Doctor Octopus, and eventually the Green Goblin. There was a thrilling new adventure every month!
I had this character Lightning Man that I wanted to do a comic book about, so I knew I needed to start with an origin story. The first issue of Lightning Man introduces our hero, shows how he gets his powers, hints at some mysterious background, introduces a major villain, introduces a supporting character, and lets Lightning Man fight some robots. All in just 30 pages! They're small pages, some with only 1-3 panels, but I was determined to fit a traditional comic book issue's worth of story in there.
In planning the first issue, I cut from Blake getting his powers to him showing up at Marisol's door to ask if she could make a costume for him. This seemed like the best choice in terms of pacing but in doing this I skipped over the moment that Blake actually decided to become a super-hero. Also, at the beginning of the issue, before he gets his powers, Blake is pretty upset about his life. That just sort of disappears as the story moves on, but why was he upset? Why does he want to be a super-hero? I felt like I should get deeper into Blake's mind and explore those questions.
So should the second issue mainly be a lot of talking? No, I didn't want that, because in retrospect, the fight scene in issue #1 was too short. The robots barely showed up before he beat them. If I was going to do a super-hero comic, I needed to do a longer action scene. This created a conflict--draw an action-heavy issue, or an introspection-heavy one?
I thought back to when I was in my 20s and I drew a comic book series called Esoterica. For that series, I thought about everything I liked to write about, and came up with a premise, and characters I could spend a lot of time with. I set it on a college campus, a place rich in story possibilities. And then I sat down to draw it, and it was a miserable experience. I had chosen things I was interested in writing about but which I hated drawing. A modern-day college campus? Dorms? Cafeterias? Rooms with lots of people sitting in lots of desks? Ugh, that's a nightmare!
For Lightning Man I knew I needed to find a balance between my writer self and my artist self. I found a solution while thinking about the work of a certain comic book writer. I guess I don't need to be coy, it's Jeph Loeb, a superstar writer who made a career out of working with some of the biggest artists in comics. Artists loved working with him--and he's still alive, I'm referring to him in the past tense because he hasn't written a lot of comics lately, I think he's mainly working movies and television--largely because he let them draw what they wanted to draw. Loeb's trick was to let the artists draw a big, fun action scene, and then add in "characterization" in the form of narrative captions that told what the characters were thinking while they were engaged in all this action. So the pictures show Captain America hang gliding into a castle, dodging bullets, and beating the hell out of Nazis, while the captions have Cap reflecting on the nature of the American Dream or something. I thought Loeb often used this trick in lazy ways, BUT it seemed like a good way to keep both my writer and artist selves happy.
I decided that issue #2 would simultaneously be an issue-long fight scene, AND an introspective character piece, with Lightning Man ruminating about his life while he fought a villain. I also had a list of things I needed to establish, like details about Blake's life, and his super-powers, and his relationship with the police . . . It's a super-hero comic book series, so the first issue is the origin story, and then, as I mentioned with Spider-Man above, the main character goes on to fight a variety of random villains as various plotlines advance. OF COURSE the second issue can't be about the major villain I introduced in the first issue! It's got to be some rando, as our hero establishes his reputation in the community. There are other questions to answer, too, like what superpowers does Lightning Man have? What's his relationship with the police? Why did he get upset in issue #1 when his teacher told him he had a lot of potential? Most importantly, why did he want to be a super-hero?
For the villain I didn't want a bank robber, because who cares if the bank gets robbed? They have insurance. Lightning Man's not a crimefighter per se, but somebody who fights to make the world a better place. So the villain is a white supremacist out to destroy the Freedom Museum, which is currently full of people. Lives are at stake! I designed a cyborg and named him Silverstryke; the name the character design are reminiscent of Image-style characters from the 80s, which is a fan element to throw in there, considering how much I'm drawing from the comics of the 40s and 60s.
Actually planning the issue was more challenging than expected, because I had to coordinate the two separate tracks, the words and the pictures. I started out typing it as a script, but realized I had to know what was going on in the pictures. Then I sat down to block out the action, but needed to know what the words were. Neither artist me nor writer me could have free reign without consulting the other, so we had to work together. I kept going back and forth and eventually got the hang of it, though some pages got reworked many, many times. In the end, we get to know Blake better, AND we get to see him engaged in grueling battle with Silverstryke.
I've already got a plan for issue #3. It's going to be something entirely different! But that's a topic for another day.
If you so desire, you can order a copy of Lightning Man #2 here!
THE LOBSTER-QUADRILLE
I continue to serialize my occult detective novel The Lobster-Quadrille through Kindle Vella. Chapter 20: A Sigil for Fire just came out today!
You can see all the episodes here.
MOVIES I'VE WATCHED SINCE LAST MONTH'S NEWSLETTER
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Star Trek: Generations
Star Trek: First Contact
Back to the Future
Star Trek: Insurrection
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Farha
Star Trek: Nemesis
As you can see, the kids and I watched the four Star Trek: The Next Generation movies, so we have now seen all 13 Star Trek movies. I'd never seen Nemesis before, we just watched it, and it's . . . not great.
My favorite part of Weird: The Al Yankovic story is the big Hollywood party, with tons of celebrities in attendance, hosted by Doctor Demento. Friend, I have partied with Dr. Demento, in real life. My friends and I hosted the party, we drank with Dr. Demento, and it feels kind of surreal looking back on it, particularly after watching this movie.
Life is pretty surreal, isn't it? I hope you have a happy holiday season, and I'll see you next year.
Your Pal,
Leighton
www.leightonconnor.com