Yes, My Son Has Years of This to Look Forward To

Give a geek a broadband connection, rudimentary PhotoShop skills, and an excuse, and this is what he'll do for a four-year-old's birthday party:

Sexy or sad?

As much as I like pictures of scantily clad knockouts, there's something kind of depressing about photos like this. I know that sex sells, but do you really have to go this far to sell a show as good as Battlestar Galactica?

Robin Banks: No Time Like the Past

I remember first watching the not-as-good-as-the-first-but-way-better-than-the-second Ocean's Thirteen, and there was a scene early on when Brad Pitt's Rusty is on a safe-cracking job, and he uses this crazy x-ray plastic-computer sheet to see through the safe door to the lock mechanism inside...and while it was cool, it wasn't Cool, if you get my drift. Sure, the tech was neat, but you're losing something from the Heist Formula if all the skill inherent in being an expert thief can be obtained if you've got the right phone numbers and account balance.

So I decided to set Robin Banks in the mid-1960s. Not only do you get the kind of retro-Bondian tech and people who crack safes using stethoscopes and touch, but you get the terrific mod/deco look.

Did I mention that this would be set in Los Angeles? Because if ever there was a city that thought it was set in the future, it's LA.

Plus, in the '60s, you get the backdrop of the Women's Liberation movement. And given that the heroine is a, you know, heroine, that's really intriguing.

Up next: Robin's posse got velocity.

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.