Rapid City is a comic about music.

It’s about super heroes, and werewolves, and robots and stuff, but it is really about music.

What I am saying about super powers in the comic, I am really saying about music. Music gave me a way to think about super powers, and super powers gave me a way to write about music.

One of my biggest inspirations has been the band Rancid. Their music has inspired me, and their progression and development as a band has helped me to plot out the arcs of the major characters in Rapid City.

This comic is really important to me, and this band is really important to the comic book.

So, when I saw that they were booked to play two nights in Boston, I got a ticket and headed down there.

Before the show I saw guitarist and singer Lars Fredrickson outside. I spoke to him briefly and gave him a copy of our teaser comic. He seemed to like it.

The show that night was amazing.

Wednesday, I bought my weekly comic books and headed back down to the show venue. I was hanging around reading my comics when I noticed a small commotion among the other…ummm…among the other stalkers.

Frontman Tim Armstrong was talking to the fans. Cool! I tried to play it cool. I tried to not be a grinning fan boy. But this was the guy who wrote my favorite songs.

I played it as cool as I could.

I showed him the comic and told him about it as best as I could mutter through. He seemed impressed and asked me about it. And I told him more.

Then he asked “You hooked up for tonight?”

He was asking if I had tickets for that night’s show. I didn’t. And I played it cool.

“Not yet.”

And then he turns to the woman who has been filming him and says “Put him on the list.”

Yeah, that was cool.

The show was great. I spent the train ride home scribbling notes in my Rapid City notebook.

What will come of it? Who cares? I just think it’s neat that they were flattered by the comic they inspired me to write.

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As I have been telling anyone who will listen, the story in Rapid City is based on the years I spent in and out of the music scene in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Kalamazoo is a really great town, exactly half-way between Detroit and Chicago. It seems to have a very special allure for those who have spent time there. If you pay close attention to Rapid City, you will see my own theory as to just what that allure is.

Bryan  Charles, one of my K-town homies and a brillinat writer, just published his first novel. It is called “Grab Onto Me Tightly As If I Knew The Way“, and it is just fantastic.  Go read a review for the details, or just trust me that it is incredible.

There are several Kalamazoos. Readers of super-hero comic books should be familiar with this kind of thing.

There is the real one. The one that is actually on the ground in Michigan. Then there is the romanicized, slightly fictional, one that exists in memory. Then there is the one that Bryan has written about, where the street names of the streets and the places are the same, and the people and events are just one or two details removed from the actual.

Then, a few steps down the ladder, is Rapid City. My very fictional version of Kalamazoo.

It is really cool for me to see the differences and similarities all of these versions.

And this is the part that I thought was really cool. One of the big revealing moments in his book is a confrontation with a certain character at a rock club in downtown Kalamazoo. The big climax of issue one of Rapid City is based on a confrontation that I had in a rock club in downtown Kalamazoo. It’s the same club. And, I suspect, that antagonists in each version are based on the same person.

Wierd how things work.

And, congratulations Bryan

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For a look at what is infuencing our creative processes, here’s a look at some of the TV, movies, games, and music we are enjoying.

Don’t tell Josh, but I snuck out of the studio tonight with my girlfriend Mandy. I broke free of the “shackles” of my drawing table and went to a concert. We saw “Minus The Bear” play at the “Blind Pig” in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Wow, what a great show. “Minus The Bear” along with “Chin Up, Chin Up” and “Russian Circles” had great performances. Mandy and I caught the tail end of “Russian Circles” set, and from what I heard it was pretty good. I had not heard of “Chin Up, Chin Up” before tonight and I must say they played a great set and they now have a new fan. “Minus the Bear” wow, I hope to see them play live again soon, because they just blew me away. Incredible band with a lot of energy. A real treat to hear live. Go check them out.

Also I promise to have some good stuff for everyone to look at tomorrow (today?). Plan to add a new feature to the blog called “Sketch Pad”, where you can see some of our “raw” work. A new eNewsletter should be going out in the next day or so too, with an exclusive sneak peak for those that have signed up. So keep your eyes pealed for some exciting stuff.

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So today I recieved an early present in the mailbox. Just got the new “Passover” album from The Black Angels in the mail. Man does is it rock! I highly recommend it. I have their earlier released EP too, and let me say those 4 incredible tracks blew me away. Was well worth the money spent. These guys are incredible and I couldn’t wait for this CD to be released (April 11th).

A huge thanks to the guys and gals at Light in the Attic Records for a much anticipated surprise.

This one is going into heavy rotation here in the studio.

(Check out The Black Angels.)

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Brilliant. Just freakin’ brilliant is Michael Chiklis (Detective Vic Mackey ) and Forest Whitaker (IAD Lt. Jon Kavanaugh) in the fifth season of The Shield. Another one of the best shows on TV. Rent it, borrow it, buy it, just start watching it already.

Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. Back to the drawing board now, I swear…

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Battlestar Galactica. If you are not watching it, you are missing out one of the best shows on TV. It is simply a brilliantly written show. It has despair, it has hope and best of all it has freakin’ Cylons. I really think it happens to be one of the best science fiction drama shows ever. If sci-fi is not your “thing”, don’t let that deter you from checking it out. There is more to it than spaceships and cyborgs. There is the story about humanity and learning from it’s wrong doings and trying to survive. And with only a little more than 14,500 humans left, they better start learning fast.

This show is at the top of my TV viewing list along with; The Shield, 24 and Lost.

So it is time to start filling those Netflix queues up or getting out the credit card and picking up the mini-series that kicked this great show off and/or the first season on DVD. The first part of season two is also out on DVD, if you want to get all the way caught up.

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