The action satire written by me and beautifully illustrated and colored by Pablo Verdugo and Jose Expósito, respectively, with lettering by Justin Birch, and edited by Chris Sanchez, is on sale now, with number 1 of the 5-issue series at your local comic shop.
What critics are saying:
“Hollywood
Trash does a phenomenal job in weaving stories within a story.”
“The
artwork by artist Pablo Verdugo and colorist Jose Exposito for Hollywood Trash
is exceptional.”
“Writer Stephen
Sonneveld incorporates everything one would expect from a Hollywood
blockbuster.”
“The reader is
transported into an epic movie plotline.”
“It is enjoyable for
[anyone]!”
Rebecca
Benson
PASTRAMI
NATION
“It’s a fun book!“
Lost'n Comics Podcast
Don’t worry, Readers - November’s issue 2 will be just as insane:
Hulk Hogan was the reason I started watching wrestling. Bret Hart was the reason I stayed.
With
Hulkamania, I was caught up in the wonderful spectacle of professional
wrestling, but through Bret, I grew to appreciate the craft.
That’s the thing about spectacle, it’s not an art form, it’s a marketing tool to bring eyes to the true content.(1)
Make
no mistake, Hulk Hogan is a great artist, and it is silly to argue
otherwise. He understood his craft and excelled at it, eclipsing even
Gorgeous George as the industry’s touchstone. He’s Elvis.
The
difference between the two champions is that if Hulk is Elvis, Bret is
Beethoven. Both are timeless, but one represents an era, a style, while
the other will always be contemporary.
An
example of this is WrestleMania 10. My favorite match was the first on
the card, a twenty-minute nail-biter between Bret and his younger
brother, Owen Hart. Hall of fame broadcaster Jim Ross said the encounter
“stole the show.” (2)
On
that same card, I also greatly enjoyed the ladder match between Shawn
Michaels and Razor Ramon. Though I remembered the encounter fondly, I
tried rewatching it in later years, and didn’t feel it held up.
Subsequent ladder matches had diluted it. The torch of spectacle had
been passed.
Bret
versus Owen, however, would not be out of place on a “Raw” from 1996,
this Friday’s “Smackdown,” or WrestleMania 50. Hall of fame commentator
Gordon Solie famously dubbed wrestling “the human chess game,” and Bret
versus Owen exemplified that maxim with counter after counter, providing
visceral thrills, but also the mental engagement of guessing
what-are-they-going-to-do-next.
The
two would follow that classic with a steel cage match at SummerSlam
1994. In his 2005 WWE Home Video DVD, Bret expressed how he and Owen
approached the confrontation with a desire to offer the fans something
more than just a gore fest, which is what they felt cage matches had
devolved into.(3)
Two
years prior to that DVD, WWE Home Video published “Bloodbath:
Wrestling’s Most Incredible Steel Cage Matches.” Bret and Owen’s Summer
Slam match was included, and stands apart in the best way.
For
me, up until that SummerSlam, the gold standards of steel cage matches
were Bob Backlund versus Pat Patterson (September 24, 1979), and Magnum
T.A. versus Tully Blanchard (Starrcade 1985).
Consider
how all of these upper echelon performers uniquely employed the cage as
prop: for Backlund and Patterson, the top of the cage was the third act
“set piece” - the place of their epic, final show down; for Magnum and
Tully, the cage was both weapon and trap in their brutal “I Quit” story
of revenge.
For
Bret and Owen, the cage was the obstacle, the thing to break out from
in a thrilling contest that saw the brothers racing and lunging and
climbing to stop the other’s escape. It was also the manner by which
evil Owen, who had insisted on the stipulation, was poetically defeated,
his leg ensnared in the big, blue bars.
Hits
The
absolute best match I’ve ever seen is Bret versus “Mr. Perfect” Curt
Hennig. Do I mean their encounter at SummerSlam 1991 or King of the Ring
1993? Either. Pick one, they’re that good.
It
took a lot of brush strokes to get to those masterpieces, as Bret
recounted in his 2013 WWE Home Video release.(4) Apparently, Randy
Savage was as thrilled as any fan to finally see his fellow
second-generation colleagues lock up… only to express bitter
disappointment when the pair bombed at a house show. Hart and Hennig had
something to prove.
By
the time they got to SummerSlam, Hart and Hennig’s match had the fans
at MSG, as well as the commentary team of Roddy Piper, Bobby Heenan and
Gorilla Monsoon, breathless with excitement. The announcers were so
enthralled, they nearly broke kayfabe. Heel Heenan intoned it was one of
the greatest matches he’d seen. Midway through, Monsoon proudly
proclaimed, “What a match up! What a tribute to the athletes of the
World Wrestling Federation to have two guys of this caliber, doing what
they’re doing, here in Madison Square Garden.”(5)
The
bar was set high, but the duo surpassed all expectation with their King
of the Ring encounter. That time, Randy Savage was on commentary, and
was so caught up in the action, he was compelled to race into the ring
and raise Bret’s hand once the bell sounded. He finally saw the match he
had hoped to see.
That
King of the Ring performance by Bret is probably my favorite night of
wrestling. When discussing the matches for the 2005 WWE Home Video
interview, Bret remarked that he had three opponents that night (Razor
Ramon, Hennig and Bam Bam Bigelow), and gave the fans three unique
matches.
Like
all performers, Bret has his move set.(6) What makes Hart a master of
his craft is that he never allowed “his spots” to dictate a match.
By
contrast, consider the late-career matches of Ric Flair (a crowd
pleasing “greatest hits” showcase of turnbuckle flip, faceplant and
figure-four), or no-sell lucha libre spot fests: spectacle at the
expense of storytelling.
The
furious brilliance of any Bret Hart and Steve Austin encounter has a
different psychology, rhythm and physicality than a Bret match against
an agile big man, such as Bam Bam, a high-flier like the 1-2-3 Kid, a
strong man like Dino Bravo, or a brawler like Roddy Piper.
This
may seem obvious, that different body types, that wrestlers at
different stages in their careers, might produce different matches. But
some wrestlers are too selfish to make that happen.
Whether the opponent was Hakushi or Diesel, the common denominator was that Bret cared enough about the psychology, rhythm and physicality to make
those matches different, to look at match ups from the audience’s
perspective and weigh which actions would be believable.(7) Bret had
respect for himself, his opponent, and the audience. He made his
adversaries shine, and made sure crowds got their money’s worth.
Heart
At
WrestleMania 30, Daniel Bryan defied all the odds against the kayfabe
and actual WWE powers that be, to win the championship in the main
event. Tellingly, seated at ringside were three of WWE’s greatest
champions, Bob Backlund, Bret Hart, and Bruno Sammartino.(10)
It
was the company acknowledging that Bryan embodied what those men
exemplified – storytellers whose medium was the wrestling match, who are
champions inside and, more importantly, outside the ring.
While
I believe Bret truly is the finest performer to ever lace up a pair of
boots, I admire who he is outside of the Hitman character all the more.
It’s that combination, in my opinion, that makes Bret Hart “the best
there ever will be.”
The
entertainment industry, as a whole, is cutthroat. Contracts don’t get
honored, creators get screwed. The subset of wrestling is every bit as
ruthless on the individual and company levels. Bret has felt the ire of
both.(11)
And
yet, in a “me first” industry where seemingly everyone tries to protect
their spot, Bret has consistently shared the spotlight. In interviews,
Bret always credited Konnan as the wrestler who showed him how to
perform the “scorpion death lock,” the submission hold Hart would adopt
as his finisher, the “sharpshooter,” which is what the move remains
known as today.
In
his acclaimed autobiography, Bret credits the Canadian wrestler who
invented the ladder match, and details where he first saw the ending
sequence he knew he wanted to save for a special match – and later used in his loss to Davey Boy Smith at SummerSlam 1992.
Bret
Hart survived cancer, strokes and the wrestling industry. He earned his
fame and his fans by never having to tear anyone else down. When
talking about the proudest accomplishment of his career, Bret never
mentions the acclaim or the money, or even his legendary matches.
The thing he’s most proud of? Never injuring an opponent.
You see? The best.
About the Author
Stephen
Sonneveld is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in
Bleacher Report, MAD and ProWrestling Illustrated. Stephen currently
writes and performs audio dramas for the Chicago-based radio program
“The Don’t Call Me Sweetheart! Show,” while his 5-issue comic series
“Hollywood Trash” debuts in October from Mad Cave Studios.
Footnotes
(1) As Andre Roussimoff learned in his career, spectators will pay to see a giant once, but audiences will pay to see what they’re emotionally invested in again and again.
Even
the ancient Romans realized audiences quickly get bored with spectacle,
and they had to dangerously raise the stakes to keep crowds interested –
not unlike wrestling promotions in the 90’s into the millennium,
forgoing story and instead escalating unprotected chair shots, gore, and
garbage matches. It was only when John Cena’s era-defining popularity
brought children back to wrestling viewership that WWE withdraw from the
blood and guts content.
(2) “Dark Side of the Ring,” broadcast May 19, 2020.
(3) “Bret Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be,” November 15, 2005.
(4) “Bret Hart: The Dungeon Collection,” March 5, 2013.
(5)
Wrestler, promoter and commentator Gorilla Monsoon always held a
special affinity for Hart, obvious to this viewer. Even when Bret was a
tag-team heel with the Hart Foundation, baby face announcer Monsoon
delighted in coining the phrase, “the excellence of execution,” about
Bret’s abilities.
The
genuine affection and admiration Monsoon held for Bret was evident in
an exclusive WWE Home Video interview, in a segment which also featured
the untelevised match of Bret winning his first WWE Heavyweight title
from Ric Flair. Monsoon was a one-time owner of WWF with Vince McMahon,
Sr., and one got the sense Monsoon was proud Hart was the industry’s new
standard.
(6)
Wrestlers have their move sets, notably their finishers to pop the
crowd. Comedians and TV characters have catch phrases. This is a Western
entertainment tradition going as far back as commedia dell’arte, where
performers such as the legendary Scaramouche had a lazzi (usually a physical trick, sometimes a turn of phrase) that audiences, like now, anticipated and cheered for.
(7) A
gimmick WWE was never going to elevate, like Skinner (Steve Keirn),
looks like a championship contender against Bret. Even with top shelf
talent: I don’t think it’s unfair to say that it was Roddy Piper’s
incredible persona made him a household name, not his wrestling. And
yet, against Bret at WrestleMania 8, they told a memorable story through
the wrestling match; the best of the card, the best of Piper’s career.
(8) “Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows,” 1998.
(9) “Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling,” October 16, 2007.
(10)
The late Bruno Sammartino went from being WWE’s longest-reigning
champion to the company’s most vocal critic, disgusted at the
then-rampant steroid use, and the poor state of wrestlers’ health.
Nearly thirty years had passed before Sammartino accepted an invention
to personally review the WWE’s wellness program in 2013. Satisfied it protected the talent, he allowed himself to appear at WWE events again.
WWE’s
second longest-reigning champion, 70-year-old Bob Backlund continues as
a goodwill ambassador for WWE, devoting his time to speaking
engagements and charity work, such as developing exercise programs for war veterans.
His wife Corrine was a physical education teacher, and being a positive
role model (especially for children) through sports has always been at
the core of Backlund’s giving back. Other wrestlers may have preached
clean living, but Backlund embodied it, breaking records to this day.
(11)
At the infamous 1997 Survivor Series, a paranoid Vince McMahon refused
to honor the contract he signed with Hart, where Bret, like Hogan before
him, had creative control over his character. McMahon then refused to
honor the verbal contract made that day, agreeing to the match ending.
Leading up to this, Hart had repeatedly expressed his desire to stay at
his “home,” WWE (which had purchased Stampede Wrestling from Bret’s
father Stu in 1984), but McMahon was the one who told Hart to sign with
the competition!
After
the match - which, again speaking to Hart’s professionalism, was better
than it had any right to be, under the circumstances - Bret confronted
McMahon behind closed doors and gave him a black eye.
Bret
expressed regret about his actions… not that he knocked McMahon out,
but that he did so in front of McMahon’s son Shane, feeling no son
should see their old man laid out like that. Honestly, though: would
capricious Vince McMahon have ever respected Hart again, if Bret hadn’t
clocked him?
This past February, I partook in the Project Art Cred challenge to produce a comic page. The script was by Tom Taylor, satirizing the Australian government’s priorities during the 2020 fires.
Below is my approach toward the character design and script interpretation, as well as some final thoughts.
CHARACTER DESIGN
The script called for a “classic hero – or a pisstake of one”
with an “S Q” visible in the design. My gut reaction was to challenge myself,
and go in a different direction from the Superman template.
The first time I put pen to paper, I knew the “S Q” would be
in the mask. It was dynamic, and it was different.
But a Golden Age, Batman-cut mask was presenting problems
for the sleek design I wanted to create. The face seemed busy, while color
choices and symmetry schemes were lacking excitement. But once I drew the mask
covering the mouth, the idea of a classic Silver Age hero began taking shape.
The character’s story started to develop at this point, as
well. Like Spider-Man and others, Status Quo would be a “hard luck hero.” The
mask design already tells us he lost an eye, presumably “saving the day” at some
point, yet here he is, still fighting.
Concurrently, I decided Status Quo’s flying abilities were
not inborn. He would balance on two half-orbs, which combine with the top of
the boots to evoke the golden scales of justice. He is Status Quo, after all, and is always trying to find that
balance.
When the orbs balance, it will look elegant, perhaps even
like a judge from on high. But this
is satire.
Jack Kirby’s Mister Miracle made use of flying discs. It
works for the concept of a hero for two reasons: First, Kirby understood form.
Even in flight, Mister Miracle looked stable, in control. But also, the flying
devices were discs – flat, even surfaces; in other words, a safe footing, even
in mid-air.
As detailed in a previous editorial, Steve Ditko’s villain Jack O’Lantern flies on a circular platform that has a rocket thruster in the bottom center. There’s nothing stable about
such a device, which is what makes the design great for a villain, because the
character is in a constant state of physical agitation.
For Status Quo, the half-ball is the bottom of the flying
device. Even if he landed, he would
be imbalanced – let alone trying to negotiate equilibrium while flying through
the air. It works for a “hard luck hero” whose powers are sometimes a curse, and who can never quite make everything right. It also applies for this satire of classic
hero expectations.
Building on that theme, and to add visual interest, I
forwent obvious symmetry and off-set the scarf portion of the cowl. I
“restored” symmetry to the torso by adding a strap on the opposite side – an
imperfect balance.
This was a character I was excited to draw, and it achieved
the litheness I intended. Now I had to make sure my color choices didn’t screw
it up.
I recalled Steve Ditko’s instances of monochromatic
costumes, where the reader could still discern the lines for the gloves, trunks
and boots. For Status Quo, black was the sleekest color choice, as the black
sheen and matte gray of the costume would pop better against the fire, the
warmth of his skin tones, and the golden scales.
Black-clad heroes have been in pop culture since at least
Zorro’s first appearance in 1919, throughout 1950’s TV westerns, blasting into
comics’ Bronze Age a la the Punisher,
and with wrestling’s anti-heroes of the 1990’s. Despite this ubiquitousness, black-cladding
still gives the air of outlaw, and, perhaps, outcast. Seemed apropos for the
character story in my mind, as well the project.
INTERPRETING THE
SCRIPT
The purpose of Project Art Cred is to demonstrate how
different artists (illustrators, colorists, letterers) can affect the same
story. The fun, of course, is in seeing the results! It’s also a unique
teaching tool that Project Art Cred’s Stephen Bryne could develop into a
curriculum, or a book.
Tom Taylor’s script called for five panels. I ended up with
eight.
Yes, I’m bad at math. I also took the challenge of “interpreting”
the script to heart. What can I, as a collaborator, bring to the work that reinforces the themes and adds to the story?
Outside of Project Art Cred, you’d have these discussions
and suggestions via email, but for the purposes of this project, I just went
ahead with it. Apologies, Tom.
Upon first glance, I wanted the reader to recognize the
layout not as a comic book page, but as a one-page story that would give them
the title, a journey and the end. Before I even addressed the content, I knew
the page would have a title and credits banner. “We’ll all be damned” seemed an appropriate pun for the times.
The script, in sum, concerns a hero saving someone from
Australian wildfires. Upon delivery to the Prime Minister, it is revealed that
the hero was saving coal, not a life. He and the Prime Minister are
self-satisfied with this, as their country burns.
In panels 1-3, Taylor had Status Quo addressing the parcel
as a person, “It’s okay. I’ve got you. I won’t let you go. You’re safe.”
This misdirection sets up the swerve that the parcel is not
a person, but coal. My interpretation of this gag was to visualize it, showing the bundle as
a small body. The dialogue was adjusted to underscore urgency in the escape. A
close up panel was added for the same.
For panel 2, Taylor wrote, “Our focus is on a
koala or similarly cute and desperate Australian animal sitting in a burning
tree.” Assuming koalas would be the popular choice (nearly all the finished
pieces had them), I researched for something different, choosing the tabby
tree kangaroo. She is straining to eat the foliage, unaware her joey is
deceased
like Marat.
Panel 4 does not specify a location for where SQ is meeting
the PM. I was one of a handful of Project Art Cred colleagues who placed the
scene on a golf course – as good a straw poll as any indicating the public’s
opinion of world leaders!
While politicians have brought us into these dire
environmental times, and been lax to do anything to stave off mass human
extinction, they are only part of the problem. Upping the political satire, I
added a character to represent the military industrial complex (the United
States’ is among our planet’s worst polluters), and a greaseball to represent
big business, which crucially links the other two.
The face of the Prime Minister was based on Australia’s then-current
PM, Scott Morrison, while everything else was based on the equally useless US
president, Donald Trump. Trump, famous for gold toilets, is beyond satire (a
White House tradition). Nevertheless, the PM here is depicted carrying a solid
gold golf club.
I added panel 5 to draw out the dramatic reveal, as well as
to add the “You can breathe easy”
line, a jab at this triad who doesn’t care if earth has air to breathe.
Taylor’s description of his penultimate panel was that the “Superhero
solemnly holds out a lump of coal to the Prime Minister.” I opted to build on
the notion that the coal was wrapped in a fabric. Furthering the satire, I decided part
of the big reveal would be the fabric was an Australian flag; everything good and vibrant sullied to carry and protect a filthy fossil fuel… then
discarded once the product has been delivered.
The flag, the tree kangaroo and the use of the term “Prime
Minister” collectively negated the need for Taylor’s written panel one caption that said
“Australia,” as readers would infer as much.
Taylor’s script called for the Prime Minister to say, “Your
country is grateful,” in the panel 5 reveal, followed by the hero flying away
triumphantly in panel 6, bellowing his own name, “Status Quo!”
I added a panel to show
the status quo: the big business greaseball, seeing the coal is safe, begins
trading stocks; the useless PM continues with his golf game; their
co-conspirator in the military turns his back on the fallen flag to thank the
agent that saved the revenue stream; in the far distance from this bubble of
privilege, life-killing fires rage on.
Early thumbnails had me toying with the idea of Status Quo
delivering the coal in the vessel of a skull – which the PM would then use to
hold his golf tee. However, something like that would be better suited for a
one-panel political cartoon; a striking image, but inelegant satire.
Instead, I closed with the military official giving his
sacred salute to the agent that protected the revenue, while a little blue ball
atop a pile of coal is about to get thwacked with a golden club. Behind them, a
hellscape.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Project Art Cred was a great challenge to be part of, and to
share, discuss and enjoy comics with our peers.
While I illustrate, I’ve only ever drawn my own
work out of necessity. There’s plenty of it.
I’m a writer by trade, though, and what gets me most excited
about experiments like this is the opportunity to create backstories, designs
that inform characterization, layouts, and future stories.
I would love to see the non-satirical, “hard luck hero”
version of Status Quo go forward – with a proper artist, of course.
The design is too good to one-off, and I think audiences
would be intrigued by and welcoming to an Australian super; someone to spirit
us away from the familiar American metropolises, grand though they may be.
I’ve started jotting down some character and story ideas,
fully aware that character will need an Aussie writer (or editor, at the very
least), to read as authentic.
A cover mock up submission for ComicScene Magazine’s Art Challenge, celebrating the 70th anniversaries of Eagle and Frank Hampson’s character Dan Dare. Completed March 2020, ink with Photoshop colors.
The brief was:
Today we launch the new ComicScene Art Challenge for both professional and amateur comic artists. To celebrate 70 years of Eagle and Dan Dare we are asking you to design an Eagle relaunch cover for 2020.
It’s up to you if you utilise Eagle
and Dan Dare from the 50’s, the 2000AD Years, the 80’s or subsequent
versions of the iconic character. Alternatively you may wish to give
the comic and character a complete 21st Century overhaul!
The Story Process
My idea was to honor this beloved character by adding to his legend, rather than rebooting it. Who is Dan Dare now?
I aged him, reasoning that at that stage in his life, he was probably desk-bound, but still yearned to explore the stars. He still had something to contribute.
This fellow also exemplified military and imperial values – what a weight that must be in the good times, let alone when the realities of empire are revealed.
Dare had probably seen his fair share of fresh face recruits tell him what an inspiration he was, the reason they signed up for service! How many of those fresh face recruits made it home? How many survived, only to be pawns and partners to the powers that be, committing evil in the name of commerce/colonization? Perhaps his objections to these crimes is why he was desk-bound.
This Dan Dare was feeling like maybe it had all been for naught.
At least he had his children.
He named the twins Pea and Dig, after long-gone friends. Their mother was a Crypt, that alluring, peaceful civilization. Dan loved her, but could not save her, when his empire was carving up the cosmos, deciding which races were worthy of homelands.
Pea would’ve been first in her military academy class, if not for her attitude. It’s not easy being Dan Dare’s kid; so much to live up to. She over-achieved, and, somewhere along the way, realized the game was rigged. Then her inner punk came out, rebelling against the things that kept people down, whatever it meant for her reputation.
But she was always a scrapper, having to defend poor Dig. At least Pea looked mostly human. Dig’s blue skin was a target for the kids, and adults, in the star colony. It was never in his nature to be outgoing, but no one there made it worth his while. He retreated into his little workshop, mastering the technology astrocivilians depend on.
Pea is skeptical, never cynical. Dig is optimistic, never naive. Dan is disillusioned, his thirst for adventure never quenched.
I imagined that at some point, Pea, perhaps protecting or taking the fall for an accident or security breach Dig caused, ran afoul of the military, and pressure was put on Dan to turn his kids in.
He’s insulted to think that after all these years, they don’t know Dan Dare.
That’s my vision for the updated Dan Dare: this proud symbol of the military – on the run from it, in defiance of it. He and his kids, both of whom are yearning to break free from a cruel and unjust society’s yoke, go saving the universe while an empire hunts them down.
The Design
Like Bill Everett’s Sub-Mariner, the features of Frank Hampson’s Dan Dare are brilliantly simple, yet make the character instantly recognizable.
In Dare’s case, I chose those electric eyebrows to be the unifying theme among all three characters, distinguishing them as family. The twins also have matching freckles, appropriate to their individual color schemes.
There’s a charm to Dan’s classic space suit. From an artistic point of view, what can you add to it that wouldn’t be superfluous? It felt true to the character, and also to the character as I was imagining him – gone are the military togs, in favor of the suit that represents exploration.
Pea wears the military garb ironically now. It’s also a visual history of her character arc, tearing away at the old symbols. Her bruised and bandaged hand, her smirk, cues us to a playful, roguish nature (as well as a nod to her “punk” attitude).
In doing my research, I was very intrigued by the elegant design of the Crypt aliens. The intricate nature of the suit, and the striking color palette stood out. That they were a peaceful race made them all the more appealing, and informed the story process in my mind.
I wanted a character in Dig that was genuinely happy. How often do we see that, anymore, or get that Superman sense of hope? His posture indicates he is reserved, his smile that he is optimistic. Rather than wear the clothes of a colonizer, he remains true to his mother’s race – an unintentional symbol of his character arc, owning the identity others chided him for; initially, I liked the fact it looked like wires, and would evoke that he is the engineer, tech person, of their 3-person crew.
The “Eagle” title was an attempt to do something modern with the eagle icon, but still in the spirit of the classic font.
The link below is to an episode of THE FLASH I contributed to this year’s Warner Bros. Writers’ Workshop. It takes place in season 5, between episodes 18 and 19, right after Barry had discovered Nora’s secret and took her back to her era - without consulting his wife/Nora’s mother, Iris.
Some of my unique contributions to THE FLASH mythology included in this script are:
“Sound Shadows” of the Flash’s remnants moving at a slower pace than the portion of the remnant made of light
L'Araignée, a Belle Époque Moriarty for Sherloque Wells, and soon, Team Flash. The character is also referred to as “Docteur Lumière,” a nod to the DC Comics character Doctor Light, but is not derivative of him
Dr. Caitlin Snow quantifies residual dark matter into a DNA-type code to track the dark matter’s point of origin in the Multiverse
I didn’t begin 2016 intending to write this story.
Like so many families, my friends and loved ones have been rocked by this terrible disease throughout the decades, this year included.
However, this story was not meant to be a tribute to the past, but a rallying point for the now.
It seems every time I turn on the television, the radio, or scroll through the Internet, I am being bombarded about cancer. I am being advertised this disease in every media form.
I am constantly, repeatedly, with fear dressed as hope, being sold an industry of misery, and this disturbs me.
I am disturbed by the arrogant inevitability within these advertisements. “You WILL get this disease. And you will follow along with the program.”
We are to be content with the ubiquitousness of cancer and its many causes; this ancient menace that has been exacerbated by the environmental ruin wrought by the continued, sociopathic carelessness of big business, and a food supply replete with chemicals, toxins, antibiotics and hormones. The focus is rarely on finding a cure for those problems. As a matter of fact, millions of dollars are spent every year to convince us those aren’t problems, at all.
Earnest attempts at awareness, prevention and research have been overshadowed by, for lack of a better phrase, a “medical-industrial complex” that is more interested in selling magazines, corporate branding and exploiting the disease and it’s sufferers, than by helping to find “the cure” that will upend this entire cottage industry.
The lads at the comedy podcast OSW Review went on a tangent about a certain breast cancer organization, and I include that link below because it crystallizes the problem in priorities, and the lack of accountability, in this millennial trend of corporations either posing as charities, or setting up charities to be additional revenue streams.
Millions of dollars donated every year, and we have magnets, T-shirts, wristbands, and knickknacks to show for it.
It’s 2016. Forget the flying car. Where’s my cure?
***
The comic itself was written in May and June. By July it was penciled and inked, because even a crudely-drawn comic is more fun to read - and easier to follow - than a comic book manuscript. By August, things were being wrapped up in Photoshop.
A cloud of tragedy, loss and anxiety has hung over our fragile nations in 2016, and, as humankind does, I looked for comfort in our myths, visiting my old pal Superman through DVD and comic book adventures. Though you enjoy it, your writer’s mind begins to wander; how would you do it different, has this ever been done, etc.
One of the major conceits in the comic book universe is that a roster of super-geniuses can create anything in those mirror Earths. Yet, to my knowledge, no one ever created a cure for cancer.
I had no intention of writing a character I did not own the intellectual property to, but my building discontent at Cancer, Incorporated’s barrage needed a positive outlet, and coalesced with these ideas about Siegel and Shuster’s brilliant creation.
As George Lucas disarmingly found out, there comes a time when the art no longer belongs to the artist, but the people. Not in any legal sense, of course, but an emotional ownership takes place once the art becomes part of our inner lives.
A song, a book, a character, whatever old friend it may be, we can sit at the campfire and tell stories about them, because we know and love them so well.
So, Damn it, I thought, our greatest hero was going to get to the bottom of this. If nothing else, there now exists a full-page close-up of Superman looking at us and demanding, “Cure. Cancer.” Maybe other artists will draw the same, of Superman or the legends that inspire their imaginations, or of the loved ones that inspire their lives.
Shaken out of our frozen, fearful complacency and empowered by our heroes, we must change this world.
***
SUPERMAN VERSUS CANCER by Stephen Sonneveld 68-page comic, black and white, ink on paper with Photoshop finishes, 2016 Free-to-read PDF available NOW at:
I enjoyed “Shazam!” this weekend. Like all the DC movies, I thought it was perfectly cast. Mark Strong is always great, Zachary Levi embraced the role, and Grace Fulton, Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans all won me over.
In June, 2001, I wrote a “Shazam!” screenplay on spec (you can read the PDF here) and sent it off to producers to drum up writing gigs. I included a VHS (!) “sizzle reel” that had a teaser trailer. The camera panned down, focusing close on each letter in SHAZAM, in tandem with the voice over, “The wisdom of Solomon,” etc. Lightning, the tag line, and my contact info. I remember we made the letters out of Play-Doh, then let it dry and crack. In post, we adjusted the color so it looked like the letters were carved into stone. I received some good feedback, and it got my name out there.
New Line would secure the rights to the property not long after. That was a big deal at the time, especially among funny book fans wondering about DC Comic’s cinematic future. DC was owned by Warner Bros, but an independent studio won the movie rights to one of their biggest stars. No one could have predicted that years later, WB would absorb that studio.
In this script:
We start in ancient Egypt, where Shazam has to defeat his champion cum tyrant, Teth Adam. I opted for “Teth,” because even in 2001, I did not care for the racial connotation between “black” equating “evil.”
Fast forward to modern Egypt. Sivana’s greed for this ancient power (no one else believes it really exists) causes the death of Billy and Mary’s archaeologist parents.
Unlike Mark Strong’s more physical role, Sivana was akin to his nebbish comic book counterpart; a mad genius who could even create a device to walk through walls. When he resurrects Adam, the ancient Egyptian confuses technology for Sivana’s wizardry, to which the good doctor plays along.
Adam is a more complex villain. He was chosen to be Shazam’s champion for a reason, after all. However, he has that Old Testament merciless that is in stark contrast to Captain Marvel’s altruism and compassion.
Billy and Mary are divided among relatives, and reuniting with her is a driving force for Billy. Never seen, I thought Mary Marvel was such a beloved character, it would have been wise to save her for the sequel, focusing this installment on Billy’s journey.
Uncle Dudley, and Nancy, the top reporter at WHIZ, and the woman young Billy crushes on, are also part of the story.
According to my notes at the time, I would have cast “Brendan Frasier, Liev Schreiber, Patrick Warburton” as Captain Marvel, and maybe Billy Crystal as Sivana. Dwayne Johnson was headlining Wrestlemanias at this point in time, not blockbuster films, so he was not even on the radar for Teth Adam (he’ll knock it out of the park) – although, it was his WWE foe, “The Big Show” Paul Wight, was who I had in mind to play Sivana’s comic henchman Ibaac.
I owe my love of the Big Red Cheese to Jerry Ordway’s superlative “The Power of Shazam!”
Captain Marvel was one of those characters I had been aware of, but Ordway’s work made me care about Fawcett City and her denizens. The story was a masterclass in pacing, and the coloring remains unlike any I’ve seen in a comic. It created a warmth between the reader and the book.
Years had passed between reading Ordway’s work and drafting my script, but I think it was his idea to have the parents die on a dig, and maybe even at the hands of Sivana. I hope he won’t mind me saying it sounds like one of his ideas! That is to say, better than one I could come up with for Cap.
If you enjoyed the film, and are looking for some comic book adventures to delve into, I can’t recommend “The Power of Shazam!” enough. There was an initial hardcover, followed by the ongoing series.
My script also plumbed ideas from the Golden Age (Sivana walking through walls). Once you read those stories, you see why the character has endured. How wonderful to have a genius villain – whose nemesis is a kid he can never get the better of. And Mister Mind? Sublime.
1948 - HATRED (RACISM) Offended that President Harry S. Truman signed a bill desegregating the armed forces, and that the Democratic Party included a civil rights measure in it’s platform, the “Dixiecrat” contingent led by Strom Thurmond left the convention, and the party, en masse, briefly forming their own “States’ Rights” party before finally defecting to the GOP, where segregation and other anti-civil rights measures remained key points for years to come.
1959 - BULLYING, FEAR MONGERING, HATRED (HOMOPHOBIA) Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy, assisted by Robert F. Kennedy, and consul Roy Cohn, launched a congressional investigation to rout out Communist spies (or homosexuals within the government who could be easily blackmailed by foreign agents), and instead became an obsessive witch hunt that ruined innocent lives, and destroyed many careers - including McCarthy’s.
1960’s - 1970’s - HATRED (RACISM), FEAR MONGERING As overt racism fell out of political fashion, coded language such as “states’ rights” became part of the “Southern Strategy” to divide the populace and stoke racial fears in the pursuit of votes. White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman said that then-presidential candidate Richard Nixon “emphasized that you have to face the fact that the whole problem is really the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognized this while not appearing to.” https://books.google.com/books?id=lolpAgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA50&dq=%22southern%20strategy%22%20Corey%20Robin&pg=PA50#v=onepage&q&f=false
1972 - CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS Not content with being ahead in the polls, incumbent Nixon sought to swing the presidential election squarely in his favor by having his cronies break into the Democratic national headquarters at the Watergate Hotel. This covert Special Investigations Unit, informally called the “Plumbers” because their duty was to stop leaks to the press, also illegally broke into a psychiatrist’s office to find dirt on a patient who was a political enemy.
1980 - HATRED (RACISM) On stage at the Neshoba, Mississippi, County Fair: Sitting in a rocking chair, with his wife Nancy on his lap, GOP presidential candidate Ronald Reagan laughed, after having delivered a speech using the racist code “states’ rights” in the same town where three Civil Rights workers were brutally lynched years before. Reagan’s campaign(s) would employ “Southern Strategy” coded language such as “states’ rights,” and “welfare queens” driving their Cadillacs. He would also attack Affirmative Action and social programs that were perceived as having mostly African-American recipients. In a 1981 interview, Republican strategist Lee Atwater stated, “You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger” — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.” https://books.google.com/books?id=GNr40qOoXOoC&pg=PA7#v=onepage&q&f=false
1980’s - HATRED (HOMOPHOBIA) Rather than acknowledge AIDS (first identified in 1981) as a public health crisis that needed to be addressed and responsibly treated and contained, the Reagan Administration let the disease spread, as it’s primary victims were homosexuals. According to SFGate, a division of the San Francisco Chronicle, “A significant source of Reagan’s support came from the newly identified religious right and the Moral Majority, a political-action group founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell. AIDS became the tool, and gay men the target, for the politics of fear, hate and discrimination. Falwell said “AIDS is the wrath of God upon homosexuals.” Reagan’s communications director Pat Buchanan argued that AIDS is “nature’s revenge on gay men.”” Not only did Reagan forbid his surgeon general Dr. C. Everett Koop from publicly speaking about AIDS for a time, but, as SFGate reported, Koop “was cut out of all AIDS discussions for the first five years of the Reagan administration. The reason, [Koop] explained, was “because transmission of AIDS was understood to be primarily in the homosexual population and in those who abused intravenous drugs.” The president’s advisers, Koop said, “took the stand, ‘They are only getting what they justly deserve.’ “” Reagan’s bitter silence and inaction helped propagate one of civilization’s greatest pandemics. http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Reagan-s-AIDS-Legacy-Silence-equals-death-2751030.php
1988 - HATRED (RACISM), FEAR MONGERING George H. W. Bush’s Democratic opponent for president, Michael Dukakis, was governor of Mass. at the time African-American prisoner Willie Horton was released on weekend furlough and proceeded to commit rape and attempted murder. The Bush campaign produced two attack ads, one directly, which featured a “revolving door” of prisoners (calculated so only the African-American prisoner makes eye contact with the camera), and one indirectly, so the campaign had deniability. That one featured the criminal’s mugshot for the majority of the ad. As the Baltimore Sun reported, Bush campaign manager Lee Atwater said, “By the time we’re finished, they’re going to wonder whether Willie Horton is Dukakis’ running mate.” That same article includes Bush’s media consultant, Roger Ailes, saying, “The only question is whether we depict Willie Horton with a knife in his hand or without it.” http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1990-11-11/features/1990315149_1_willie-horton-fournier-michael-dukakis
1990’s - BULLYING, FEAR MONGERING, HATRED Throughout the 80’s and into the 90’s, the Moral Majority and other “conservative Christian” PACS and lobbying groups had firmly established themselves into the GOP firmament, and Republican policy began appealing to that voting block, pushing coded phrases like “traditional values” to once again divide the populace, this time in so-called “culture wars” attacking issues such as women’s reproductive rights and LGBT civil rights.
1995 - CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS, BULLYING Rather than concede to any of Democratic President Bill Clinton’s budget objectives, such as maintaining, not raising, Medicare rates, the majority Republican congress, led by House Speaker Newt Gingrich, dug in their heels and forced a government shutdown. This intransigent and “party above all else” attitude would define the GOP for years.
1996 - BULLYING, FEAR MONGERING Promising to be “fair and balanced,” the FOX cable news network would prove to be anything but when News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch asked Roger Ailes, who had also been media consultant to Nixon, Regan and New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, to found the station. Fueled by anti-Clinton rhetoric from the get-go, the station not only pushed the conservative agenda from the start, presenting it as unbiased, but pundits and show hosts who acted smug, belittling and bullying - once the stuff of parody - would soon become the cable news, and GOP, norm.
2000 - CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS Further proving it’s “fair and balanced” slogan was a joke, for it’s election night coverage, FOX hired media consultant John Ellis to help analyze the results. Ellis was also cousin to George W. Bush, the GOP presidential nominee, and brother Jeb Bush, governor of the hotly contested Florida, and had been in telephone contact with both throughout the day. Ellis was the one who made the decision to call Florida, and the election, for Bush. FOX would retract it hours later, but the damage had been done.
2000 - 2008 - CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS after CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS after CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS… The worst: The George W. Bush administration started a war under false pretenses, and sent American soldiers to die in it. They still are. The Republican-led congress let him get away with murder.
2009 - BULLYING Republican Senator Joe Wilson yelled, “You lie,” during President Obama’s address to Congress. Wilson claimed it was spontaneous and later apologized, but it is just one example of the lack of decorum toward the office of the president, and the lack of courtesy to whichever Democrat holds it, that the GOP has been stoking for years. During John McCain’s 2008 concession speech, his mention of Obama’s name was greeted with jeers as though the crowd were at a professional wrestling match. By the 2016 election, rallies for Republican frontrunner Donald Trump would go beyond jeering, and include fist-fighting, arrests, ejections, and hate symbol brandishing.
2013 - BULLYING, CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS Not wanting to fund Obama’s Affordable Care Act, a cabal of Republican congresspeople including Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, opted to shut down the government, just as their colleagues had done to the same disastrous effect in 1995; another moment crystalizing the GOP’s disrespect for government offices, and their intransigence as a party.
The Republicans have bred discontent, division and disrespect among themselves and their constituents for DECADES, and the Donald Trump nomination is the culmination of all that stubborn hatred coming home to roost. This is the party you have made. This is what you’ve always been about.
If you or someone you know has been the victim of abuse, you are not alone and there is help.One resource to reach out to is the
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, at http://www.missingkids.com/home or by calling 1-800-THE-LOST.
A barbarian woman leads a revolution against a patriarchal
society in this parable about the poisonous effects of misogyny that became a
real-world call to action (Comic book, 50 pages, 15 chapters using a 9-panel grid, 2015)
Told using a consecutive 9-panel grid, each short chapter
focuses on an emotional beat as our beleaguered Inspector determines if the
multiple Michelin starred chef René Rue has committed murder (Comic book, 16 pages, 2015)
A school assignment that became a comic book about a Vietnam
vet struggling to get on with his life and make peace with the past. (Comic
book, using photographs from “The Wall,” 1992)
Marketplace comics and children’s books (links will be to ebook
versions)
Greye of Scotland Yard
Engage in the final five cases of Sherlock-level detective
GREYE as he reaches his wit’s end in a London teeming with geopolitical war
games, human trafficking, senseless violence and the greed of the 1%. Alongside
his colorful colleagues, and with MI5 always at his heels, the beleaguered DCI
also confronts a would-be Moriarty, and learns the hard way about the
importance of art and journalistic integrity. Award-winning creator Stephen
Sonneveld delivers in GREYE OF SCOTLAND YARD storytelling mystery, humor and
art unlike anything else. (Comic strip, 151 pages, 2014)
Bleeding
Cool said the year-long serial comic strip Greye
of Scotland Yard “plays out like five episodes of a really good British
police drama, Luther especially comes to mind,” and that the “tremendously
fulfilling read” is on par with the James Bond and Modesty Blaise
properties.
The Slings & Arrows Graphics Novel Guide stated, “Stephen Sonneveld’s Greye of Scotland Yard
is visually surreal, yet features solid procedural crime investigation
plots,” that some of the character designs “are phenomenal,” and that
overall, “Greye of Scotland Yard is well written, an unsentimentally impressive first outing…”
Selections from the work were featured in Middle Gray Arts Magazine, which
later interviewed Stephen for their website.
Only in this Amazon Exclusive Edition: Four full-color
illustrations and two bonus short stories!
A demonic force of nature terrorizes the untamed land, and only the barbarian
Rohet is brave enough to challenge it. Yet, instead of vanquishing the spirit,
their destines become forever entwined, sparking an adventure that races across
a thousand battle-years as Rohet cuts a swath through his enemies while
searching for the love he lost and the home he’ll never find. (Novella with
select illustrations, 101 pages, 2014)
ROODY POO: The Most Electrifying Reindeer in Santa’s Stable:
A WWE Christmastime Satire
When Christmas is threatened by an evil sorcerer and a mad
titan, only Santa’s finest warrior reindeer can save it - Roody Poo! The
Internet short story sensation that delighted wrestling fans and introduced all
audiences to an audacious new chapter into the Santa legend is now presented in
this Amazon Exclusive Edition, with never-before-seen bonus features only
available here:
-Five full-color illustrations
-A guide to the wrestling and pop culture references, with author commentary
-Sketch book selections detailing the idea process
-The award-winning author’s never-before published thesis “Olympia
Dell'Arte: The Art of Sport,” an unprecedented analysis defining
professional wrestling as one of the unique American art forms! (Novella with footnotes
and essay, 90 pages, 2014)
Ola, friend! Thanks for stopping by! Bickering cousins Benny
and Juanita agree tamales are the perfect Christmas treat… but that’s about all
they agree on. Can Mama and her tamales help them discover the spirit of the
season? Brimming with bold colors and playful words, CHRISTMAS TAMALES is a
holiday classic from the award-winning creator of Pandora’s Lunchbox and
Pumpkin Dreams. (Children’s book, 24 pages, 2012)
PUGLISH finds the O.M.G. in W.M.D.! From the award-winning
author of PANDORA’S LUNCHBOX and GOLEMITE comes a high-octane action story
about a Marine trying to save her fellow Jarheads from being sacrificed to a
classified government experiment – that is, if she doesn’t perish at the hands
of a ruthless mercenary or a dino-sized abomination first! (Comic book, 111
pages, 2010)
An American Fable: In this crackling biography, celebrated
historian Stephen Sonneveld not only unflinchingly captures one of our greatest
presidents, but also the strange, sad times in which he rose. Entered into the
presidential race as a PR stunt, Nugget would restore hope and leadership to a
country in desperate need of it. Lesser known is the struggle the scenes of a
good boy caving in to the political machine, and nearly losing all hope
himself. This is a story of redemption… for a pug, and for a people. (Novella,
61 pages, 2010)
Jack-O’-Lanterns alight to life in the nights preceding All
Hallows Eve! Will these souls born of flame be warmed by love and friendship or
consumed by revenge and rage? With art and prose from the award-winning author
of PANDORA’S LUNCHBOX, get ready for a new myth of Halloween lore so intense
only the BIBLE could provide the dialogue! (Children’s horror book, 64 pages,
2010)
From the award-winning writer of PANDORA’S LUNCHBOX and
PRESIDENT PUG comes an adventure featuring evocative drawings and full of
action, humor and heart! All Leonardo wants is peace and quiet to work on his
inventions, but free-spirited Josephine keeps poaching fish from his pond!
Leonardo returns Josephine to the wild thinking his problems will go away -
instead, they multiply! As Josephine faces dangers racing home, Leonardo learns
what their home has been missing. (Children’s book, 55 pages, 2010)
From the award-winning author of Pandoras Lunchbook and
Leonardo’s Courtyard comes the gothic graphic novel GOLEMITE! Presented only
using the universal language of pictures, GASP as Ben brings to life a golem to
take his place at school! LAUGH as Golemite becomes a better Ben than the real
boy! THRILL as the two beings battle for their single soul! Expect all of this
pulse pounding excitement and more, delivered with the patented Puglish punch!
(Comic book, 114 pages, 2010)
“Unlike other books on the same subject, Sonneveld and Krzak
open us up to the harsh reality of bullying.”
- Blogcritics Magazine
By Stephen Sonneveld and Andrew Gregory Krzak. Pandora
discovers her lunchbox can summon mythical creatures, so she unleashes them on
the school bullies as revenge for their torments! Unfortunately, the beasts
decide to rule the world, and Pandora must come to terms with her conscience
and her courage if she is to stop them. (Children’s book, 169 pages, 2007)
Fictional U.K. rock band poster for background in the upcoming comic “Ain’t No Princess” that will debut on this Tumblr.
The image is an homage to David Lloyd’s famous V For Vendetta cover, as well as to the song Alan Moore wrote for the best comic ever made.
“Gunpowder” is in reference to the foiled Gunpowder Plot of Guy Fawkes and company, who attempted to blow up the English Parliament. Fawkes’ execution became an annual celebration, with people donning masks of his image, and Fawkes eventually morphed into a folk hero.
Lloyd and Moore appropriated the mask for their revolutionary protagonist. The 2006 film adaptation of the book inspired activists to adopt V’s mask as a symbol of their revolutionary spirit.
Certain nations now ban the mask, or its import, meaning that 400 years since he was drawn and quartered, Fawkes is still being branded a terrorist.
Although, if institutions would act with integrity, that would solve their activist problem.
The Sonneveld Library is open with free-to-read comics and stories available for PDF download.
Today’s selection: “Gal Fawkes: We Are Monsters,” our hacker hero is introduced in this vicious satire on today’s monsters and the media’s culpability in making them. (2016, Comic book, ink on paper with Photoshop finishes)
An ominous medium shot of the Tattered Man, the American carpetbagger who becomes a scion of industry within Caesar Würm’s government. His corporate empire brought about not only the ruin of the old world empire, but destroyed the Black Forest - and with it, all the world’s magic - as well.
This, and more art to come, will be shown on youtube, as visuals to accompany the Über-Mach radio show, which was serialized on “The Don’t Call Me Sweetheart! Show” from 2015 to 2018.
Ink and Photoshop drawing (2018, with a background from Disney Animators’ 1937 film “Snow White”) of Bjerg Hulder, the troll who offers to help an old pilgrim find her religion’s sacred landmark… for a price, of course.
This piece, and more, will be shown on youtube, as visuals to accompany the audio from “The Don’t Call Me Sweetheart! Show,” radio’s greatest program ™.
The above art accompanies the scene “Wind Hill,” from the pilot episode, originally broadcast April 23, 2015.
