"For a few dollars more."

I'm feeling much better today than I did last weekend. Thankfully, the cold decided to punch me in the stomach one good time before it decided to back off, and for that I am grateful. :)

There's been a lot happening with people all over, both in our little community and to friends who are a bit farther away. Most of the time when I read about troubles people have I'm torn between the desire to let people know I'm there for them and just hanging back to let friends who are more adequately equipped to offer assistance step in more tangible ways. With most folks, there's almost nothing I can do but offer consolation and a word of reassurance or two. If I had a phone I could offer a distant shoulder to lean on, at least, but alas! I probably won't be able to shop around for another week or so yet.

This week I've had to make a few decisions about things, and poor old indecisive me is being waffly about them, as usual. :) There's a lot that goes into it, probably because I'm thinking too much about it, but ah well. This is more a talking it through kind of thing, ordering all of the pieces inside my head so that I can state things that have been nothing more than vagueness.

My first 'problem' is with Boomer Express. Tyrnn and I both want the comic to be good, so there's no argument there. What we're having trouble with is what exactly constitutes a 'good' comic. I have my influences, Tyrnn has his, and they don't match really.

Much of my writing for the comic has been edited quite a bit, so that a lot of specifics that I've written into the dialogue or visual panels aren't there. I've tried to be laid-back about it, but I realize that it's actually impossible. When you spend time writing something, putting the work into making sure that the feel of something is right, it's very hard to swallow someone tinkering with that. This, for some reason, took me a while to accept as a natural response. I certainly don't think that I'm above editing by any stretch; but the feeling I'm going after is being subverted, and that's what's rankling me so much.

My influences in comic writing so far have leaned more towards dialogue-heavy, character-driven strips; Christopher Baldwin's Bruno is the perfect example of this. I also highly regard Vince Suzukawa's The Class Menagerie for what I consider an excellent blend of great dialogue with an imaginative artistic vision. The layout of some of his comics just blow you away. :)

Of course, my favorite writer in the field of comics is Grant Morisson ("New X-Men," "JLA"). His work on the X-Men is nothing short of spectacular; it has all the right elements of pacing, style, character development, wit, humor, gravity. This guy is the total fucking package. Yes, I get more excited about him than Gaiman, which is a cardinal sin to some people, but....wow. This guy can *spin* a story.

In a lot of ways, I've been trying to skew Boomer Express more in that direction. I want to give the characters a very distinctive voice, I want to give the pacing a jolt so that the story doesn't feel like it's just plodding along, I want to change the style of writing so that it snaps more, so that the little word bubbles above folks' heads are concise but crisp, and carry so much weight behind just a few words. To me, Boomer Express is an action-story first, humorous second; I'm of the opinion that humor works so much better if it's used sparingly.

Tyrnn has a different opinion of what he wants the comic to be. I think he's aiming for a more anime-ish flavor, where the characters face very high-level difficulties but crack wise about it the entire time. I'm thinking he'd like to have Boomer Express be something along the lines of "Trigun," or "Inuyasha," or even "Teen Titans." This definitely has the potential to be good, but it's just not the kind of material I write.

So, when I turn in scripts to him, they're one way, and when I see them on the website they're something else entirely. The sequence of events is still intact (mostly), but the spirit isn't there. Personally, I don't think the amalgamation quite works; Tyrnn is a very capable writer whether he thinks so or not, and the comic can actually be really good if we don't butt heads.

Long story short, I'm not sure what to do. Tyrnn wants to keep me on as writer, but if my vision for the strip is going to be dismissed than what purpose do I serve? I feel like a round peg in a square hole; yes, I fill it OK, but there are obvious gaps that need to be filled.

I don't know if I can be a square peg, is what it comes down to. For Boomer Express to exist in the incarnation that Tyrnn desires, someone like Brahma would be a much more natural fit. If he weren't writing every third comic on the Web right now, I'd seriously suggest that he and Tyrnn collaborate. ;)

For now, I'm going to put a lot less effort into putting my spin on the comic, and my scripts will most likely be 'this is what should happen in this strip' guidelines instead of hard and fast. If I think of a good joke that can be fitted into a particular strip somehow, I'll offer it, but beyond that it's up to Tyrnn to fill in the blanks.

Disclaimer: I'm not upset with Tyrnn about this all in any way. Artistic differences happen. He's still one of my best buds on this crazy on-line thing, and will remain so, so hyah. :)

In other news, my experiences with comic collaboration have been rocky at best, in general.

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Strange currency

So, upon reflection about the Boomer Express situation, I feel a lot better about it. There's a lot of other things I feel better about as a result, but spazzing about that'll have to wait. Not much sleep last night, so I'm going to make it up to my tired, aching body with a long episode of Family Guy and sweet, sweet sleep.

More later.