Last night I went to see Rancid at Boston’s House of Blues.
They were incredible. 20 years on, and whatever it was is still there.

Their music has been a huge inspiration for Rapid City from the very start and last night was like a kick-start. As they played, and I could hear the honest emotion connected to songs that I already know so well, new Rapid City ideas were just spinning out of control.

It is all too vague to pin down right now, but I can tell you that there are bad things ahead for Kinetic and Sidekick.

I also got a chance to meet bass player Matt Freeman. I tried to not act like a total fan-boy and gush all over him. I think I did ok. I told him briefly about Rapid City and how it was inspired by his work. I held back from telling him too many details, but assured him that he would be hearing about it again in the future.

I told him then, before the show, and I am saying it again, publicly, right here…
Thank you, Rancid, for all the inspiration.
-Josh

did you-tell him about the Maxwell Murder video?  please tell me you did.

-kav

Nah. I didn’t want to be an annoying wierdo. I just put the idea in his head so that he will know it the next time he sees it.
-Josh

you worry too much about what people might think of you.  If i sang that song i would be damn interested in a graphic depiction of it man.  You should put it on youtube titled Rancid Maxwell Murder-might get some attention and pre made buyers for the comics.  Any rancid fan would be a Rapid City fan.

-kav

Word will get to the band and the fans, but I don’t want to push it. It’ll happen. My main concern right at that moment was that I was just a bit tipsy and I wasn’t sure that I could control my enthusiasm. I didn’t want to overwhelm the man with my fan-boy blubbering.
But, as I said, the word will get out.

-Josh

Yeah if you were tipsy that was a smart move dude.

-kav

Because it can be hard to see the changes when you have to scroll between the images, I put together this video of Kav’s recent revisions based on my recent Open Studio comments.

-Josh

I never penciled 10 pages in two days before but i did today-plus 5 pages of revisions.

-kav

As I type this, i can see little notifications that Kav is deleting and replacing files in our Dropbox folder.
That is pretty exciting.
Kav, I will see what I can do about finding some photo reference for that AM/HG image. That will be a challenging one to do with action figures, though.
And speaking of which, here are somepics I took just a few minutes ago.

So, this is the general pose I was thinking of. Of course, the actual drawing might be a little more limber than our Hasbro friend here. This one gives you the general pose I am thinking of. It is light and graceful, but still has some weight to it. Picture him coming in for a landing on the edge of a medium-tall building surrounded by very-tall buildings. Not modern glass and steel… but lots of brick and sculpture type sky-scrapers.

And here’s one with some lighting thrown in. If you imaging that the roof on which he is landing has some roof lights, he could be landing right next to one of those. This can allow us lots of those shadows you love, but also keep the page lit up. Also, him looking away from the light (slightly) is a great way to hint at that struggle between hope and giving-up.
-Josh

Here are Rapid City pages 16 – 20
-Kav

Nice page. They look very natural and relaxed. In panel 2, though, Sidekick’s paunch looks a little odd.  He looks almost unhealthy. He should be thick, like a wrestler. Maybe think someone like Bam-Bam Bigelow http://www.wrestling18.com/wwe/bam-bam-bigelow-pictures/  You know what it is, in panel 2, his gut seems to continue getting bigger even below his belt-line. Usually, in the case of “a few extra pounds”, The belly recedes at the belt-line to accommodate the groin.

Also, his hair is missing in the last panel and shaded out in the first one. This should be an identifying characteristic for him, so include it as often as is reasonable. It wouldn’t hurt to make it a little bit longer either. And since we are talking about designing Sidekick, he should also be as lovable as possible. He is the warm heart of Rapid City. Everyone likes him because he genuinely cares about the people he meets… I mention this because the hatching, eye-shading, and short hair in panel 5 make him look (just slightly) like a homicidal clown with a hangover (just ever-so slightly)
-Josh

i remember you urged me to make sidekick look heavier so that’s why the paunch.  will fix hair and belly. thick, not saggy.  i get it. want me to remove homicidal clown eye shadow?

-kav

Really nice. I was thinking that this kind of shift is where we should use an establishing shot, but then I see that you have essentially worked that in at the bottom of the page. Not the traditional placement for one of those, but you very effectively set the scene. Nice.
-Josh

yes for pages  like this an establishing shot is critical-if one is not scripted I will fit one in.  PS its now nightime on these pages and will be in DB today.

-kav

I was afraid that panel 1 would be hard to draw, you pulled it off. Very nice. Panel 5 is just great. Kinetic looks like such a doofus back there. Very nice.  yeah he thought he was gonna be a big hero and he’s uneccessaary-this has happened to me.

Ok, here it is. The big moment. Panel 6. I love Kinetic’s reaction. The pic is sexy… but maybe TOO sexy. Not too sexy for our precious reader’s delicate eyes, I mean too carefully, professionally, sexy. It looks like it was posed by a photographer. (what lucky person IS holding that camera?) This picture is the result of Anne Marie trying to temp Kinetic back home to her. It should seem more playful.

webcam? ok i fix
-kav

The matching lingerie is strange and unlikely, and fishnets like that are Hourglass’s style but not Anne Marie’s.

my thinking here was AM wants to be like HG she borrowed a pair of her fishnets

-kav

As it is, this looks more like something that was found on the web rather than snapped in a moment of playful taunting.  This pic needs to show that it is clearly Anne Marie, that the person with her is clearly a superhero, and that they are being playfully sexual. So, this is how you achieve all of that in one image. Anne Marie, with her shirt off, is behind Hourglass who is fully clothed. This shows that there IS nudity going on without actually revealing anything. Anne Marie is reaching forward over Hourglass’s shoulder to snap the picture. She is raising an eyebrow at the camera like “How about it, sailor?”, while Hourglass is turning back toward her with amused surprise. They are probably both a little tipsy.
-Josh

-yeah i get it now- a closeup-this is one of those panels that stresses me out-i spent a lot of time looking for a pic-i know i’m not going to be able to find the scene you described so i will have to do something a bit different-mostly showing their heads

-kav

Kinetic’s reaction here is priceless. I love it. I also love that he can’t stop looking at the picture.

One other thing, I just re-read these script pages and I realize I left out a detail. It should be darkening as these scenes go on, turning night. I hope that this will not be TOO drastic a change for you to make. As it was my omission that caused it, I will be happy to pay you for it if it turns out to be a page-worth of work.

All in all, very nice work here.

-Josh

no josh its night slowly lightening. ps in that review http://www.spandexless.com/2012/05/the-grey-area-rapid-city-an-unclear-exercise/  he compared me to Mike Alred!  thats pretty awesome! dynamic is what i strive for.  PS stressing a bit-I am penciling 5 RC pages, 5 CM pages and doing revisions.  Gonna be busy today.

-kav

The script for the 32nd issue of my superhero villain comic book, Rapid City, has just been posted.

Panel 3 Icicle turning away, she looks disgusted and disappointed. Templar is still steady and serious.

ICICLE
You can’t say things like that. You don’t say “you can trust me”.

They’ll all know it’s a lie, because everything anyone says here is a lie.

ICICLE
Or worse, for you, they’ll think you’re telling the truth.

That’s a weakness to them, and all they know how to do is attack.

TEMPLAR
I’ve got no loyalty to Coil. That’s all I meant.

You can tell me about him and it’ll stay between you and me.

Panel 4 Wide panel with Templar at the left and Icicle at the right. This is a pause. She is sizing him up. Her balloon is at the far right.

ICICLE
You don’t need to do this. This isn’t who you are.

Panel 5 Templar looking grim and holding up his hand to showoff his magic ring.

TEMPLAR
I thought that, too. I thought that for years, and I was wrong.

Read it, and my previous scripts, here.

I am two (three depending on the time zone) days late, but I just finished the script for issue #32 of Rapid City.
I am quite proud of the brutal twist that this one took.
That is one of the great things about writing for villains, they’ve all got it coming.

Pages 14 and 15.
-Kav

Panels over panels, crazy angles, great page!

Now the panel angles settle down as the scene stabilizes. I really like the way that last panel is slightly off-set, it makes it appear to be its own thing. Nice.
-Josh

That off-set panel just came to me.  You definitely got me thinking outside the box again.  got me thinking-but i’m still tweaking things.  the next page is crazy.  PS when do we see the KINETIC video?  music? ‘make a circuit with me’ by the polecats.  Or the ENERGY song  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uLSFigtLKg

-kav

The Rapid City character called Maxwell Murder clearly takes his inspiration from the Rancid song of the same name. To give some props back to the source, I put together this video of Kav’s art over the original song.

You can also watch this video in MONOLITH TV.

In honor of Mother’s Day, a salute to Rapid City’s baddest mother, Maxwell Murder.

Happy Mother’s Day Everyone!

Hey, Kav. I have been super busy with school and my latest script (#32) and I haven’t had a chance to take any pictures. I believe that you are still busy with other projects so you aren’t specifically waiting on. Right?
I would hope that if you were waiting on me you would have gotten on me about this already.
I really will try to get to those photos tonight or tomorrow.
-Josh

yeah I’m good.  Just put p 13 in dropbox and am finishing pages 14-15
I want to finish rc 4 before i do crimson mask #3-thats the last issue.

-Kav

I like this page a lot. I really like how that shot of the Corner Bar is starting to become familiar. Panel 2, with the dudes getting some drinks is great. I love that this is not some mysterious villain bar, but just a regular place where folks get wing baskets. Nice. One day, you and Tony and I will get some burgers and fries at the real life Corner Bar in Kalamazoo.

I like all of the acting that is going on on here. It doesn’t look static or posed. It looks like people talking.

That is some VERY noir shading across Max’s face. Very nice. He is a very noir kind of guy.

I think that his neck tat should be bigger, though. Like, almost ear to ear. It is ok if it is only really readable when he raises his head and shows it off. Lots of tattoos are like that.

And speaking of which, I have a good friend who has done both comic book art and tattoo art. How would you feel about having him come in over your drawings of Max and fill in some tattoo flair?

Also, watch out that you don’t slip back into those 90 degree panel layouts.  This page looks just fine with them, but be aware.

I know these pages can get a little text heavy, so be sure to do your best to leave room for those word balloons.

-Josh

yes these pages were penciled before i started playing with the camera angles.  Feel free to have your friend up the ante on the tats.  I do like having b-ground people active-another thing i learned from Sean Phillips.  Glad ya like the shading-watch for more.  And us three chillin one day would be epic, dude.  weird if we saw a dude that looked like Max in there though.

-kav