Robin Banks: Sexual Healing

Okay, so I decided one thing, for sure. Robin Banks is a woman. When I wrote that passage, I defaulted automatically to a male protagonist—read into that what you will. I'm a dude, I tend to write what I know. Except when I don't: The lead characters of both The Highwaymen and Genius are both women. (Whether they're fully realized women is for the reader to gauge—but we tried.)

But I think it's interesting to have someone "trapped by their name" into a line of work that traditionally falls to the opposite sex. Not that women can't be bank robbers....

More later.

Trying Something New: Robin Banks

I'd been thinking a while about what to do with this blog, since simply having a forum for reprinting press clippings surrounding whatever comic I've got on shelves tends to get boring. (I'm sure there are more than a few of you who'd agree with that statement.) And while I do occasionally have big thoughts on topics of merit—like the "Why Didn't Highwaymen Sell" discussion we had a few months back—I'm not in the business of being a media critic. Not here, anyway.

So I've decided to use this, for the time being, as a workblog. I've got an idea for a new comic book—and no more than the idea. And I'm gonna work on it in public, in plain view, so y'all can see what goes into the process. My process, anyway. We'll take it from idea, to proposal, to script, to publisher, to release...or as far as it gets.

(Oh, and lest you think me an idiot, if you check down at the bottom of the sidebar, you'll see the Creative Commons widget down there. This mutha's mine, unless and until I say it ain't.)

Now, on to the idea. Or, rather, the barest hint of an idea. What you're about to read popped into my head as you see it back around when Adam and I were toying with renaming The Highwaymen's Monroe and McQueen. So, this is where we start:

“They say that a person is trapped by their name. That what a man or a woman is called has a quantifiable impact on the future he can make for himself. And I buy that. Like, I honestly don’t believe we’re ever gonna have a president named Tim. Just isn’t gonna happen. And if your name is Crystal, I think you’ll find the rungs on the ladder to corporate success are made of hollow plexiglass and filled with swimming goldfish. Your name is your destiny. My father loved adventure books. Loved. Wouldn’t put ‘em down. That’s why my mother eventually left him. Didn’t deter old man Banks, though. Just kept on reading. Anyway, he named me after his favorite. Robinson. But I’ve always gone by Robin. Robin Banks. Guess what I do for a living?”

Using my powers for 'Good'

There's an interview with me up on ForcesofGood.com. Disregard that silly picture.

Casting About for a M.A.N.

Let's pretend, shall we, that we were making a movie out of Monster Attack Network, our book about a Pacific island that's lousy with giant monsters and the organization that keeps the populace safe and rebuilds after those giant monsters flatten everything. (What, you haven't read it yet? There's a link just to your right: click and buy. We'll wait.)

So, who do we cast? Because that's all part of the pitch: building an image in the pitchee's head of the movie it would be. We've got three main leads, and a villain. Our hero, Nate Klinger, is a four-square tough guy with a sly sense of humor. If this was 20 years ago, you'd want Harrison Ford. Thirty years: Burt Reynolds, or maybe Clint Eastwood. Sadly, we pretty much don't build actors like that any more. But I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that, strangely, we'll find the guy we want overseas. Ewan McGregor could pull it off, but he can read a little slight. Russell Crowe's a hair too old, but could work. Hugh Jackman might fit right in. But the dude I really like? Kevin McKidd, late of Journeyman and Rome. A real solid dude, with on-screen heft, who's face looks like its been hit once or twice. Salt of the Earth.

Now, for our female lead, the sultry, mysterious Lana Barnes. The temptation is to go straight to Rosario Dawson. As the saying goes, I wouldn't kick her out of the movie for eating crackers—and she'd be totally fine—but I like Moon Bloodgood for this one. Exotic without looking weird. Drop-dead gorgeous. And she'll be coming off the new Terminator flick, so maybe she'll have some heat.


Nate Klinger's second-in-command at the ol' Monster Attack Network is Zeke Holder. Big, black, and dapper. (And gay, but not that you'd know it.) Again, there's a knee-jerk desire to see Michael Clarke Duncan here, and he'd be fine. But I'm gonna throw out two more: Common, the rapper who was in Smokin' Aces, shows up in Wanted (I think), and also signed on for the new Terminator movie.


And, go with me on this one, Michael Jordan. When we were explaining how Zeke should come across to Nima Sorat, our artist, we told him to imagine a basketball player in one of those flashy post-game suits. Big, and muscular, but not hulking. Smooth. And Jordan always had charisma coming out of his gilded arse. It'd be surprising, and I think people still have a lot of love for him.


Finally, the villain. We described him as Malcolm McDowell-meets-Donald Trump. But I don't know if that guy really exists. Thinking about it now, it'd be a hoot to get someone like Tom Selleck. Especially after seeing Ted Danson as a baddie on Damages; maybe there's something to taking old friendly TV faces and subverting that perceptional-baggage for evil.

So, is that a cast you'd pay to see...as they run from massive beasties? I would.

Okay, But These Gloves Really Chafe...

Eisner Voting...Catch it!

I just voted for this year's Eisner Awards. Online. That's right: We're in the future, baby!

And, because this is just how I roll, when it came to vote for Best Limited Series...I rocked a Write-In for The Highwaymen. If you're a professional, and you love me (or would like to be) you'll do the same.

A vote for The Highwaymen is a vote for America!

They Were THIS Close to True Awesomeness...

How much cooler would this cover have been if they had just transposed two little words?

Geek is the path to glory.

Where I've Been...

Well, you know, a certain videogame came out earlier in the week. So I've been a little busy. So I leave you with this, a look at the kinder, gentler GTA IV.



Be back soon with some new hotness, I swear. Cause we gots shit to do, yo.

Me and Xena: A Love Story

Perhaps love is the wrong word.

I moderated the Battlestar Galactica panel at the New York Comic Con over the weekend. Before me and the cast members I was "grilling"—Tigh (Michael Hogan), Anders (Michael Trucco), and Tory (Rekha Sharma)—went on stage, they asked me if I was nervous. I told them that whatever happened, it couldn't be as uncomfortable as the last time I did this, at the 2007 San Diego Comic Con. And I told them the story I'm about to tell you:

I get into the green room (really, just an inconspicuous, cordoned-off meeting room in the convention center) about 30 minutes before the "Women of Battlestar Galactica" panel was set to start, to meet the cast and to go over the protocol of the panel: how it was supposed to flow, etc. Meeting everyone was perfectly shiny; they were all, to a person, quite nice...and I've already made my feelings for Mary McDonnell known. I sat down to go over my questions one last time (and try not to vomit on anyone), and one of the Sci Fi Channel publicists comes over and says, "Okay, our big surprise for this panel is that we're going to bring out Lucy Lawless—who's returning to the show as D'Anna—mid-way through. How do you think we should do that?"

So I said, "Why don't I ask Tricia Helfer, 'What was it like to share Baltar with another woman?' And then the Other Woman would walk out..."

"Perfect," replies the publicist, and she bounded away to deal with something else, leaving me to stew in my thoughts and try not to look at the crazy-bare-backed dress that Katee Sackhoff was wearing. And continue not vomiting on anyone.

Showtime rolls around, and we all start walking to the San Diego Convention Center's second-biggest ballroom, which holds something like 6,000 people. We're in a loading hallway, all of us like NASA astronauts heading to the Apollo capsule. (Or Spinal Tap.) Just as we get backstage, the publicist runs through the order of the panel one last time: "First, you head out. Intro the clip, then intro the panel. Couple of questions, then 'What was it like to share Baltar with another man,' Lucy comes out, more questions, toss to the crowd for fan questions, wrap it up, drink heavily."

Of course, I corrected her: "What was it like to share him with another woman." "Yeah...duh," she said.

What do you think I said, in front of the 6,000 people sitting in the crowd (and the other 300-400 standing in the aisles)?

So, Tricia, what was it like to share Baltar with another man?

Out comes Lucy, who hugs everyone else on the panel, turns to me, and flips me the middle finger. And I just took it, because there's no coming back from that. You just gotta swallow the faux pas, take your shot to the nuts like a man, and keep on moving. Which I did.

But you never forget your first time...being flipped off by a warrior princess in front of the entire geek nation. (The fact that it lives forever in online-video infamy is just icing on the cake.)

The Big Wazowski

Two years old, I know, but it still made me laugh...

Me and the New York Comic Con

Yes, I will be there, once again. Soundly smarting from The Highwaymen not getting an Eisner nomination for Best Geezer Oriented Series. (I kid.)

So, if'n you're really dead-set on tracking me down, here are a few places I'm guaranteed to be:

SATURDAY, 4/19 12:00-1:00pm: Battlestar Galactica panel. Hall 1D
I'm moderating, so I'll be the substantially less-beautiful person sitting with Grace Park and Tahmoh Penikett.

3:00-4:00pm: TopCow panel. Room 1E15.
Where I'm assuming I'll be talking a little about our Pilot Season 2008 book, Genius. And mercilessly ribbing Rob Levin. And basking in the light of Joshua Hale Fialkov, The People's Choice.

6:00-7:00pm: Signing at DC Comics booth.
Or, how I learned to stop worrying and love the fact that no one will ask me to sign a book that no one actually bought. (Again, I kid.) But I do a mean stick figure sketch.

Friday will be spent hustling my ass on "the track" and Sunday I'm doing a quick roundelay on the floor with my son. Who I may or may not be willing to trade for an ongoing series.

The Right Way to Do Drunk

I really, really miss Insomniac with Dave Attell. If you don't remember, it was the Comedy Central show in which comedian-drunk Dave Attell would drink his way through a different town each week. Drunks are funny enough, but funny drunks are like ambrosia spiked with awesome.