The Downward Spiral of Kathleen Laugherty
WOW. What a BUSY BUSY week. Two highlights really for me. One, we might be getting a new house, well, new/old house, I think the thing was built, seriously in the 1800s, but was part of a museum and kept updated, so that’s cool. Here’s a photo. - We definitly could use MORE SPACE here on the homefront, but I’m not looking forward to a large mortgage payment or something, but at least I can rent the house out we own now. We’re VERY lucky to be so young and actually out and out OWN a house and land here, so I’m not complaining.
Second big highlight, I finished up the first draft of writing and rough page breakdowns on Hero By Night #3. Wow, I wish I could talk more about it, or show you the story RIGHT NOW, but it doesn’t work like that. 
- It was a HARD HARD week for me. I really put the hours in, at least two days I was up first thing, and working straight through, from 8am to like 1am the following day, only breaking for human necessities. At one point, I made myself kraft macaroni and pretended I was 19 again, and that was bachelor meal for the DAY. Heh.
I don’t want it to seem big headed or far fetched when I say the following, but I really think I’m creating something here that feels like a NEW super hero icon. For a new age. I mean, think of it… can you name a comic book icon created in the past 10, 20, 30 years???
I know there are plenty of people out there who think “GREAT, just what we need, another stinking super hero….”, and there are the opinions that super heroes seem to be the bane of sequential comic’s existence… Super Heroes have been done over and over, done to death, reborn, onslaughted, cloned, repeated, polybagged, chromium-holo-projected….. And in the 90s, we were flooded with them…. but can you remember any. I mean, REALLY remember them? Their stories. Where they came from and why?
Who needs another super hero??
I think we all do.
Especially the kids.
But who the crap am I to be saying I’m creating a NEW ICON. And what the heck does that mean? Honestly, I don’t know, I just draw the damn things. But I have to tell you, while I’m writing this, something else is happening. There are times, I’ll find myself STUCK, working the plot, making the stories work within 22 pages— “where to next???” “how am I going to fit all this in?”– and almost from out of nowhere, some new twist on the page, some amazing moment– A moment I don’t even remember THINKING– I sit back and tell myself…. WOW.
There’s an immediate feeling like I want to jump and read more…. but it doesn’t exist yet. I’ve yet to write it.
I can tell you this for sure. Something that I thought was GOOD…. I think has become GREAT. When I was done with issue two’s script and roughs, I thought.. WOW, that’s an amazing issue. How could I top it? And somehow, I think I did this week. Issue three… WOW. Just wow. It makes me want to just KEEP WRITING IT FOREVER. (oh man, I wish.)
So yeah… we have our Supermans, Spidermans, Xmen’ses, Captain Americas…. it’s all been done, who needs more? All the “ICON” slots have been filled, and or locked up and away? Move along, nothing to see here…. no more room.
Well, I don’t believe it. I feel like it’s time for some NEW ICONS in the genre. I can see it in the kids eyes. A spark… a spark I haven’t felt for a long, long time. When you see it, the spark, you want to reach out and pluck it from the innocent wonder, if only just for a moment. Remember what it felt like the first time you saw Superman fly? Did you believe???
Some big shoes to fill….tall orders. It won’t be easy, nobody said it would be. But it’s possible. ANYTHING is possible in the comics.
Recent Topics: dry hill, witchcraft, oak trees, witchboard, spirit board, ouijji board, spirit world, Kathleen Laugherty
October 6th, 2006 at 8:56 am
1st- I love this comic you’ve been doing online. All of it. From the early yirmumah to the current storyline. Although not a person associated with any art, I can only say if I like something, And I think this comic kicks ass.
2nd- Creating an ICON. That’s huge, man. I think the superhero industry needs a real shot in the arm, not just retelling old stories for modern times. Although interesting, not that fulfilling.
3rd- i can actually point at a few comics within the last decade that redefined superheroes and created some new ones to boot. remember Milestone Comics? Icon? Blood Syndicate? Static? Not that crap Static Shock on the WB, but the actual Static? Good stuff, but it sounds like your stuff is gonna pass it by.
Thanks for a great comic and a great read.
October 6th, 2006 at 9:09 am
Yeah JT… I totally remember Milestone. Those were great but nobody remembers them. I’m sort of judging a “new icon” status on some weird levels…. like these:
1. if I handed it to a kid, would they go WOW! ?
2. Does it stay in your memory. Can you remember the origin of this hero, what they stand for, what their whole DEAL is, and remember it easily. You can do all that with the current icons of the genre.
I think two ICONS who could live on into other ages right now are probably something like SAVAGE DRAGON and INVINCIBLE, both at Image comics, but you’d have to be reading those comics to know what they are…although, people who don’t read Savage Dragon, know of him, the fin— BUT they don’t know his whole deal.
What will it take to create a new icon that EVERYONE knows their deal again?
October 6th, 2006 at 10:47 am
I know you’re familiar with most classic comics, (probably more than I) but I have what I think is an interesting piece of advice.
The reason, I would assert, that we don’t have any new icons is two things. 1. Arrival of new mediums dilutes old ones (naturally) 2. Comic book artists have been repeating the style, that is, the surface, of what made old comics great, but not the substance.
You’ve probably heard this one before, but just hear me out.
To create a comic Icon, in my mind, you would have to do the following.
1. The character must have a ubiquitous backstory. Stories about the character that everyone can remember. This means A. People must be able to remember it (it must be kind of simple) B. It has to be believable in its own context (Even Superman was.) C. It must be unique. These backstory(ies) form what the character stands for and also help with 2…
2. The character must be someone we can identify with. Marvel’s obsession with flawed characters is a turnoff to me; You may disagree, but I’ve always felt they go out of their way to WRITE flaws into a character. People, rendered with a certain level of realism, with or without superpowers, will always have flaws. Even if all of us are flawed, few of us are raging alcoholics or parapeligics. We can identify with their struggles, but not, I think, with their persons. Lance Armstrong is a living example; someone who overcame cancer (something that is very common) to become one of the greatest cyclists in history.
To be more concise, the character must be like us. When I watched ‘The Last Samurai’ I could not identify with any of the American characters; they were all too cardboard (they were, in my view, poorly constructed, made-up characters.) The person who I identified with was the old Samurai Lord. Probably, it is because his character was based on a real person.
In this sense, the character ought to remind us, that despite the fact that he or she is super-powered, they are the same as us. This makes our minds open to the things we might be able to acheive. Granted, we don’t have the super-powers, but the superhero inspires us to be our best.
3. The character must grow along with us. A story that moves too fast will seem like a passing epic, and a story that is totally episodical will lose its appeal over time. Granted, the episodical one will be good to squeeze as much profit out of an idea (a good business proposition) and the epic story will be good to garner publicity and create recognizable characters, the comic Icon in my mind must be a balance between the two. Its epic enough to grab our attention, but episodical enough to pull us along. As the character grows, we get the feeling that we know the character (even though we’ve never met him!)
4. To be an icon, the character must, of course, enjoy a certain amount of success. This is somewhat tautological, but let me say, that no matter how much a character seems like it OUGHT to be an icon, if it is not successful in doing so, it was not.
5. That being said, the character needs to represent what is best about us as a people in some way. It needs to be specific enough to speak to individuals, but general enough to appeal to most of us. The first step to figuring this out is to turn off the TV…
(Though I imagine you have little time to watch anymore.) Our news nowadays does not represent what is best in our culture. On all sides there is becoming a nihilistic bent, whether it be by inflection or reaction (not trying to accuse all news sources of nihilism.) The hero cannot be nihilistic. It helps a lot if a characteristic of Christ (I’m not kidding here) is represented in the character. Superman is obvious. Batman represents, in my mind, the blood avenger. (God avenges all injustice.) Not all successful icons have this part, but it helps. There are a lot, and I mean, a LOT of characteristics to work with, so it shouldn’t be an issue if you decided to do that. What you’re doing, really, is (in a sense) riding off the success of Christianity; that is, the personal appeal of Jesus. Anyway, I’m sure you’ve had your fill of that, so I’ll go on.
What I mean by this, is to figure out who we really are (Americans) as a people, and write to that soul. There is a book called ‘The Seed of Albion’ which explains the cultural roots of the USA which stem from England. A fascinating article to read about part of this is here…
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/845102/posts
Sorry if that one has a very raw presentation… There was another one I had that had better formatting.
If you want to look for more about the four elements of American culture, look for Jacksonians/Jacksonianism, Hamiltonians/Hamiltonianism, Jeffersonians/Jeffersonianism. Wilsonians/Wilsonianism. I would say that the strains of these subcultures are the main wavelength on which all American culture flows. Appeal to these ideas, and you are appealing to what lies below the surface of ALL Americans. (And perhaps, more than just Americans…)
Again, though we certainly would disagree on politics, I am a great fan of your work, DJ.
If there is someone who could create a cultural icon, it would be you, DJ. Keep it up!
October 6th, 2006 at 11:16 am
DJ, you continue to inspire.
There’s nothing better than being a six or seven year old kid and opening up that first comic book to see Superman soar into the heavens. What kids (and I think everyone else, for that matter) need is hope and the comic ICONS always were able to inspire that sense of hope that things can and will be better.
I can’t wait to see Hero By Night get published and I can’t wait to see it take its place among the halls of heroes past!
October 6th, 2006 at 11:43 am
I know I’m going lowbrow here for a mo’ but I couldn’t get over part of your post DJ….
You said: Xmen’ses
All I can think of is all of them on their periods. Thank you for the unintentional laugh.
As for everything else…Dig the house, looks awesome. And keep up your excitement for the HBN project. Sometimes what makes something suceed is the fact the creator is so into his/her own work. They believe in it, they’re excited by it, it makes them feel good everyday to be working on it.
That means something.
October 6th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
Thanks people– and RiverCocytus, thanks much for that.
I could literally sit around all day and philosophizinizzle on this subject.
It really is true about tapping into something that people can believe inside.
I know with “Hero by Night”, I think there are two themes weaving in and out– one is METAL, which I won’t go into because it’s too complicated unless you’re in my head right now, and the other one…. CHOICES. I think everyone can relate to the choices we’ve made, we look back and say “Man, if only I had…” or we make split second irrational ones— or sometimes the choices we make our very hard in the present, but looking back we’re glad we made them.
And also… DESTINY. FATE. FORTUNE? I think just about everyone in the back of their heads, whether they believe in a higher power or not, have moments in their life that make them take notice, as if to tell them something was MEANT TO BE.
Those are powerful moments I think people can relate to.
I notice this… I’m pretty shy publically with strangers about what I do. And when they find out or hear COMIC BOOKS, I know they think, ZAP! BIP! BAM BOOM! in their heads. I just kinda be quiet…. but I’ve gotten this a LOT since all the local media attention… someone will ask me, “What’s your story about?” — and I’m reluctant to get into it, but I usually try to keep it as simple as possible:
“Well, there’s a young guy who hasn’t really figured out what to do with his life, and he ends up discovering the secret lair of a golden age super hero who had vanished in the 50s, along with the hero’s power ring, and now the kid has to decide whether he should sell this stuff, or become a super hero.”
And unlike other story ideas I’ve told people, in each case, their jaws drop open and they say something like “Wow.” or “I’ve got chills”
and that made me embarrassed at first. But i heard it again and again, the same stuff. And now that Im writing it… it’s me sitting back and going.. WHOA.
Most of all… it’s FUN.
October 6th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
Hey, beautiful looking house, cannot wait to see it!!!!!! I know, soon…. I am with everyone else here, cannot wait to see HBN. ( See even Mom- in- law has no idea about anything.) Keep up all the good work DJ, someday I might need a room in this house, Just Kidding?????????????????
October 6th, 2006 at 3:24 pm
DJ: sounds like it will be good. Will it be available for purchase online, or only through some other medium? (I live in MD, so it might be a bit far away.)
Anyway, I agree. Take for instance, Harry Potter. He’s a flawed person in many ways, but he works through his flaws (imperfectly, but, eh.) and grows slowly but steadily. He has a recognizable and unique backstory that makes sense in the context of the ‘Harry Potter and the…’ world, there is a heavy mixture between episodical action (schoolyears) with plot advancement (coming of the Lord of Darkness) that mixes the ordinary (eating, sleeping, peer pressure, school, bullies, love) with the extraordinary (political movements, coups, magical occurances, time-travel, death, powerful forces, and ancient evil.) Harry Potter is relatable.. everyone who isn’t a callous narcissist relates to the skinny, bespectacled young guy who is bungling his way through life. Harry’s courage and talentedness represent what good there is in all of us. And, of course, the final piece, Harry Potter has been and continues to be a resounding success. (Good Marketing goes a long way.)
Apologies for the long posting. The house is very nice, and represents (to me) clearly the mating between plainness and homeyness
I think the style is probably late-1800’s, and is the style mimicked in the classic Sears’ Roebuck catalogue kit houses called ‘Four-Squares’.
If you get the time, do read the article I linked to. It makes sense of a lot of things that don’t make sense about Americans. (Even to Americans!) Haha, good times.
Peace, bro.
October 7th, 2006 at 2:40 am
Gee willickers , D.j. . Paying for a new house shouldn’t be a problem - you’re saving a fortune right now by not needing to buy toilet paper what with all these fans kissing yo’ ass ! Ah ha ! ha ! ha! Oh yeah , I said it !
October 7th, 2006 at 2:41 pm
Ohh, another “Death sighting” in the first panel!
October 8th, 2006 at 1:45 am
Wow, Tripsy, I’m so glad you’re proud of your lame ass self.
It’s pathetic when these trolls come around making weak statements about “ass kicking” when discussing what’s going on with DJ and the comic. What the hell are you doing with your sorry life, Tripsy?
DJ, I think what you’re doing is great. And no, this is not ass kissing. I just call things like I see ‘em.
October 8th, 2006 at 11:07 am
To create an ICON like the ones of old.. is a serious undertaking. Part of the problem is that the world is smaller now, and making something that is known worldwide is simply easier than ever before.
The fact that the silver age Heroes are known throught generations and cultures not only speaks their importance, but their rarities. How many people know the deal of the origional Daredevil? The 30’s one? No-one but history buffs.
EVERYONE knows Batman. Superman. Spiderman. Wonder Woman. There have been times that the makers radically changed the characters just to keep the audience interested. 50’s Batman anyone? The differance between a character and an ICON? Undefinable. But recognizable. Truely unique characters are not the only element. With Independant comic makers, and now webcomics, new and interesting works are made every day. There simply has to be something that draws a person back to the character, that lets them identify with it.
With Superman it’s “I want to be”, with Batman it’s “I could be” or a hundred differant variations. But they touch something in people when they see the character. Have you made something like that?
I really hope so.
Good luck.
October 9th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
Hey, I’ve been a big fan of your comic for a long time, although I haven’t really commented to say how great I think Yirmumah is. And stay pumped up about HBN. As for making a character into an icon, it takes something special in the character. Something that people can connect with. The character has to be human and have emotion, while still being something that readers can strive towards. When I opened my first comic as a kid and saw Spider-Man swinging over the streets of New York there was just something about it that made me go “Wow!”. It takes a realistic portrayal of how the world might really react to a super-hero, where even though Peter tries to do the right thing, the public and authorities view him with suspicion, his life of dual-identities placing stress on him and making his life hard. It lets you connect with the character, while still allowing for you to look up to the character as truly something amazing. I think you can do this, and I wish you the best of luck with Hero by Night.