Purveyor of sheer awesomeness.
Joshua Hale Fialkov is the Harvey, Eisner, and Emmy Award nominated writer of graphic novels, animation, video games, film, and television, including:
THE LIFE AFTER, THE BUNKER, PUNKS, ELK'S RUN, TUMOR, ECHOES, KING, PACIFIC RIM, THE ULTIMATES, I, VAMPIRE, and JEFF STEINBERG CHAMPION OF EARTH. He's also written television including MAX’s YOUNG JUSTICE, NBC's CHICAGO MED and NETFLIX’s AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER.
Going Away Present
Originally uploaded by Joshua Hale Fialkov.
This is my little suprise for Dina. It's a "Countdown to My Return" type thing, with a different romantic quote on each page. And a fresh (although slowly dying) Rose.
Damn, I'm romantic.
So, I'm finally taking a vacation. Sort of. My folks are moving from Pittsburgh, PA to Des Moines, IA, and I'm heading out to help them pack. While there, it looks like I'm getting to do two comic related adventures.
1) SPX - Bethesda, MD. We were planning on just having J-Rod cover the show on his own, but, it looks like I might actually make it now. Fun will be had by all!
2) Phantom of the Attic - Pittsburgh, PA. I'm in the process of figuring out a time for a couple hours of 'meet and greet' at the store I shopped at as a child. The sheer surrealness of it all is an adventure on it's own.
So, if you're in Pittsburgh, keep watching here, and I'll update whatever other 'events' I can score while there.
So, aside from that, see y'all in ten days.
* That's by far the goofiest picture of Pittsburgh I've ever seen. I mean, c'mon, a fuckin' rainbow over the baseball stadium. So fucking stupid.
CATCHING UP ON "ELK'S RUN" WITH JOSHUA FIALKOVby Jonah Weiland, Executive ProducerThe journey Joshua Hale Fialkov has taken in creating and self-publishing the title "Elk's Run" has been an interesting one. It's not been an easy journey, as anyone who's ever self-published a comic book could tell you. Despite high praise from those inside the industry like writer Brian Bendis as well as receiving an "A" in an "Entertainment Weekly" review, "Elk's Run" had a hard time finding an audience in an industry dominated by DC & Marvel special events. Fialkov persevered, though, and ultimately there's good news for "Elk's Run" readers as it's been picked up by Speakeasy Comics, which should provide the book better support and a higher profile. CBR News sat down with Fialkov to reintroduce readers to the book, to find out what the future has in store for "Elk's Run," and to learn a little about another project he's working on, Boom! Studios' "Fused Tales."
is about three pages from completion of the first draft. It's scary writing it because it literally is the 'point of no returns' story wise. Seven and Eight are both the third act, and loaded up with action, so this really is my final chance to get to do 90% character/10% action. It's a strange issue. There's even a wet dream in it.
Although, I have a feeling J-Rod's gonna make me cut it.
The Light
Originally uploaded by Joshua Hale Fialkov.
Dina Laughing
Originally uploaded by Joshua Hale Fialkov.
So, today, while doing a late night transcribing project, I got to listen to a bunch of people talk about a ballot initiative that Schwarzenegger was trying to get on the books. It’s interesting for a couple of reasons. First of all, the people who were talking were ‘regular joes’ in the affected unions, who had been picked to speak. There were three different sets on the tapes, the first who were clearly prepped with what to say, another who was knowledgable and obviously knew what he was talking about, and another group who were just plain outraged.
What stuck out the most was the first group. The interviewer kept trying to get them to explain WHY they felt that the measure was a bad thing, and they kept repeating, almost to the point of sounding like zombies, the same talking point over and over again. They sincerely seemed to not know what else to say. “It would be bad for us,” was about the most they could get out.
So, here I sit, an obnoxiously vocal liberal who, admittedly knows nothing about this ballot measure (California politics frighten me, considering who we elected to Governor), but, you listen to the knowledgable guy, and fuck yeah, this is something I’d get behind. Then you listen to the outraged guys and I’m more energized. If these regular joes are so upset it’s got to be something big! Then you get to the zombies. And you realize that all the rest were more or less spouting the same bullshit, they were just better improvisers.
Listen, I know that our governor is a sock puppet for the President and his administration, and I'm usually predisposed to trust a union over a government (although, I've seen some crappy behavior from unions in my day, too...). But, hearing essentially them drone the equivalent of the South Park "They took our jooooobs," makes me question the reliability of the information.
Sorry. 6 hours of listening to a shitty cassette tape of people repeat themselves has driven me at least slightly mad.
The Great Curve: Q&A with Joshua Hale Fialkov:
Throw a rock across the internet and you can't help but hit a great review of Elk's Run, the 'down home' militia/cult comic by Joshua Hale Fialkov, Noel Tuazon, and Scott A. Keating. Joshua answered a few questions for us about his comics career so far and Elk's Run, which recently moved to Speakeasy Comics.-- JK: Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you got into comics?Joshua: Well, I've been writing since I was a kid. I started out as a playwright, directing my own work from the time I was 16. I went to college for theater and film, and have a B.F.A. in Writing and Directing for the Stage and Screen. When I was graduating from school, a buddy and I wrote a pilot for a TV show and started shopping it around. To everybody's surprise, we found a producer and went into pre-production. After Sept. 11, 2001, our producer was personally devastated by tragedy -- he lost a lot of close friends, and narrowly escaped dying himself -- and the project fell apart. We'd already relocated out to L.A. and found ourselves struggling to find a way to get our creative voices heard. I wrote a few more specs, both for film and TV, and was getting painfully frustrated with writing to no actual end. My whole life I’d been a fan of comics, and suddenly, it just seemed like it was a medium I'd like to try my hand at.
I'll let you guys in on a secret. I fucking hate writing pitches. I tend to write things with serpentine plots and as much depth as possible. Taking hundee and fifty pages and compressing it down into two or thee pages of text, and effectively representing the tone and feel of that massive work is difficult for even the most seasoned guys I've met. For me... it's like punishment from God. I've been working on this particular pitch for literally months. Trying to perfect it, and get it just right... that balance between character, theme, and plot has continually eluded me. Well tonight, with the help of good buddy James Patrick, I think I've finally come damn close to getting it right. It's got that perfect balance of taut plotting, strong characterization, theme, and mood.
In other words, for the first time in my life, I'm actually proud of a pitch I wrote.
Now to see what everyone else says.
I'm really lucky to have some outstandingly talented friends. Three of them have gotten together and made a book. The first two, Todd Livingston and Bob Tinnell are the creators of The Black Forest and The Wicked West, the third is my biggest regret ever. Micah Farritor came over to the Hoarse and Buggy table at San Diego '04. I saw his stuff and my jaw dropped. His art is stylish, sophisticated, and just goddamn wonderful. I didn't have a project for him, and being Mr. Nice Guy, I introduced him to Bob and Todd. And every time I've e-mailed Micah for a project since, his fame and schedule haven't allowed us to work together. But someday, he will be mine. Oh yes. He will. I forgive Todd and Bob as they're two of my favorite people in the industry, and out of. So, The Living and The Dead solicited last month from Speakeasy Comics, and it's thus far, my favorite thing by these knuckle heads. It's never too late to pre-order, so, go here and check it out.
Newsarama has an interview with me conducted by the other Fused Tales contributor Chris Long. I make sexual innuendos, talk about which superhero I want to write, and allow my ego to be stroked. Fun for all!
The Second Commentary for Elk's Run is up for downloading. If you're subscrbied (using this .xml address) then it'll download automatically.
Description as follows:
This is a double length commentary on Elk's Run #2, featuring Joshua Hale Fialkov and Jason Rodriguez, plus a special conversation with Scott A. Keating about the issue's unique coloring technique.
I feel like a jerk that it took so long. It should be complete and uploaded by week's end.
"WASHINGTON - (KRT) - From failed Republican congressional candidate to ousted 'czar' of an Arabian horse association, there was little in Michael D. Brown's background to prepare him for the fury of Hurricane Katrina.But as the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Brown now faces furious criticism of the federal response to the disaster that wiped out New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast. He provoked some of it himself when he conceded that FEMA didn't know that thousands of refugees were trapped at New Orleans' convention center without food or water until officials heard it on the news."
Click the link for the rest.
The Hoarse and Buggy stuff just went up.
There's:Elk's Run Art Which is an original page of art from Elk's Run #1 (the car wreck 2 page splash)
and
Western Tales 1-5 Complete set of Western Tales of Terror 1-5 signed by damn near everyone in the book.
Check 'em out. All moneys go to the charities.
The Interdictor is a blog from some tech guys set up inside a building in downtown New Orleans. It's really interesting, and moderately scary. A friend and I were talking about the "Escape from NY" feel that all of these pictures and videos are showing. The devastation happened so easily... nature being what it is, and now the whole South East is left to try and struggle through it.
Keep on keeping on, guys.
The Bendis Board Charity Auction is a fundraiser for the Katrina victims, and H&B has donated some original Elk's Run art and a fully signed set of Western Tales of Terror #1-5. Keep an eye on it, and I'll post the links when our stuff goes up. There's already some really cool Phil Hester and Eric Powell art up, as well as some signed copies of various books. Alternately, give money to the Red Cross.
In this Reuters article there's a section on Bush's comments on Good Morning America. Goes like this:
Asked in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" if U.S. oil companies should forfeit profits during the crisis, Bush said instead American corporations should contribute cash to hurricane relief funds.
So, the companies who've posted record profits, and comparatively speaking are notoriously stingy with any sort of donations, should be allowed a free ride so that they might choose to help out.
End political rant.
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