Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Angel With a Bullet #1

Check RedStylo.com for all the latest (and much more frequently updated) news about comics by me.

The first story for my new mini anthology of comics Angel With a Bullet is out. The title story is inspired by the song "Romeo Is Bleeding" from music-master Tom Waits, and you can see the first four pages and download the comic in Red Stylo's online store.



http://redstylo.bigcartel.com/product/angel-with-a-bullet-1-of-4-digital
Available digitally and in print!
I loved the movie Romeo Is Bleeding before I ever knew anything about the inspiration for the title (hyoooge Gary Oldman fan, you see.) I have an old SCAD professor, Adam Davies, to thank for "introducing" me to Tom Waits. Davies used the Waits song as text to give a lesson on specificity and mood in writing, and I've loved the spoken word, cut-to-the-heart singsong of all Tom Waits' work ever since.

Gut-shot and betrayed, undercover narco Agent Angelo Carlos has one last chance to make his case.

No one who asks me about what this story means to me gets anything less than a verbal dissertation about crime, punishment, law-enforcement, betrayal, how every beat is symbolic, every character is both a persona and a concept, and precisely how I went about crafting all of it. And right about when their eyes start to glaze over, THEN they get a mind-numbing recitation of every movie, character, writer and novel I was thinking about in addition to Waits when I was plotting and scripting it. I love to pretend literary analysis of my work. Call me Tarantino.

I'll spare you all the pixels. The comic is a ten-page story about a man who would rather blow everything up than fail, brought to sad, beautiful life by two very talented artists, illustrated by Robert "Rahb Gee" Grove,  color by Sara King, to whom I am very grateful. Also a shout-out to my good friend and soul-twin, Erica Schultz, for lending her lettering talents in the 11th hour.

Read my story. Do it now.