Flashpoint DC comics gives me cause over pants.

Miniskirts and bikinis are no longer part of superhero attire in DC comics.

Finally.

I had a reader once confuse my bewilderment at someone in swimwear and stiletto heels fighting crime with an attack at women's sexuality.

To set the record straight I don't care what you wear, but don't call me an idiot by trying to convince me that anyone can perform any of these martial arts techniques dressed like 1990's Black Canary without slicing themselves in half.

That said, my inner pre-adolescent will miss Power Girl's costume.


Care to guess why?


-Mind the gap.

Bet you didn't see this coming.

Ho-kay, so it seems that DC Comics is tired of playing second fiddle to Marvel, and opted to wrest the number one spot from them with a one-two marketing that involves renumbering their entire catalog back to #1 and changing everyone's costumes. Again. Because this time it'll work. There is little chatter of improving the content of the stories, making the characters richer and deeper, making the peril ring true, or just more stories that really resonate with the reader.



I'm so excited that I am practically bursting at the seams.

Just a lot of talk of #1's and new costumes; it's 1995 all over again, thank you Mr. Lee.

That was sarcasm.

See you this summer. Oh, yeah, you'll see me at the comic shop every Wednesday, but I'll be the guy getting the newest release from Avatar Press or Dynamite.



Click here for the whole story from the horse's mouth.



-Mind the gap

Kickin some Shell!!

So apparently, IDW is relaunching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and if these images mean anything, they are going back to their roots.


My girlfriend has a thing for Donatello. Me? Pff. We all know who is the baddest, raddest Turtle.



Shell yeah.


Hitting stands in August FULL COLOR. I can't wait! For good measure, check out Fight the Foot, a test trailer by Richard Krause


-Mind the gap.

Ooh, a shameless plug!

My girlfriend, for the longest time, reeled in horror if anyone called her a geek, even while she was in the middle of doing geeky shit. Then she started playing Magic: The Gathering. Then there was the video games, oh, and comics.

Lord, does she love comics.

I feel bad, because it's my fault. She was such a cute little undercover geek (that watches the IT Crowd... and gets the jokes), and now she lets her freak flag fly.

Just recently, she has crossed over into the realm of the... wait for it... hollllld...
uber-geeky. She writes a geeky blog about geeky shit. I know that I'm biased, but she's funny as hell, and has a really fresh insight.

I find it refreshing to see what someone who is relatively new to sci-fi and fantasy and manga and comics and such has to say about them from not being immersed in them their whole lives. Check it out.

That, and she makes a mean snickerdoodle.


-Mind the gap.

Get some!

Free comics!

I love Free Comic Book Day. It's like Christmas. It's like the 'come to Jesus'. If you haven't been making the effort to grab the latest titles, then you get the perfect opportunity.

I am getting caught up on The Boys with the 'Highland Laddie' arc, and my girlfriend got some Sin City and I am showing her the best Iron Man arc on Netflix streaming; 'Extremis'. Of course, a Warren Ellis joint. If you haven't read it or seen it, Extremis is one of my favorite stories in any comic, and I found it to be really inspiring and fun.

Okay, I'm not going to keep you any longer, because you gotta go get your damned comics.

-Mind the gap, bitches.

Your parents are deaaaaaaad!!!

I love The Gutters.
It can be a little on the obscure at times, but other times, it's right on the money.

This is more than likely how it happened.

-Mind the gap, kids

Comics is too Damn High

With the downswing of the economy and the increase in prices everywhere, it's still hurting whenever I get my weekly comic pull.

Now, I'm currently dating a geeky chick who is into sci-fi, MMA and comics; also known as the Holy effin Grail. Imagine my glee. Just think about how awesome it is to note my girlfriend's pensive look, ask her what she's thinking about and her answer being 'Iron Man'.

Imagine. The. Glee.

A couple of weeks ago, she brought something up that I hadn't truly considered- 'why are comics so expensive?'

Now, I complain about comic prices frequently- we are in a recessed economy, and they haven't decreased. Also, they are CHOKED with ads, and tend to be short a few pages, and when DC comics decided to 'Draw the Line at 2.99', all they did was remove two pages and replace them with ads.

Which is good for whom, precisely?

I understand that waiting for the trade hurts the comic industry, but there aren't many options when the stories suck and the issue prices are in the stratosphere. Remember back when I brought up why I hated event comics? It kills the reader’s ability to casually appreciate their favorite stories. It also shows a flippant disregard for our pocketbooks and a terrible conundrum: The bigger publishers have such a huge market presence that they can afford to write sub-standard stories and charge whatever they please, but the smaller independent publishers can’t afford to charge less and stay in business. It sucks to wait for the trade, but when you have several stories that you love, you have to make a choice.

I propose a new political party! One that directly deals with the rising and exorbitant prices of our dear comic books. I propose the creation of the Comics is Too Damn High Party!

 

-Mind the gap, bitches.

Check back here for more rambles about the comics that you love oh so much.
And follow me on Twitter to get more frequent updates on comic news and my upcoming title Catch or Kill.

This week in FreakAngels.

Carolyn asks a really good question. http://www.freakangels.com/?p=654


This is ending soon, but you can catch up here:


Mind the gap, bitches.

"People from the future have told me that I am a dickhead twice today..."

If you are caught up.

if you gotta read it from the beginning.

Dwayne McDuffie leaves me a present. R.I.P.

For those unfamiliar, the late Dwayne McDuffie was a comic writer and producer, and one of the brightest stars in the industry. My first exposure to his work was with the Milestone comics, which were multicultural stories. I love them. They had minority-led stories, but without bashing me over the head with the extremely obvious nature of their race. I loved Black Panther, I loved Luke Cage, but too often, in the clumsy hands of a culturally clueless writer, the easy-going Power Man would come off as a ham fisted brute or thug, and the regal T'Challa would be either pompous, aloof, or both. Or worse.

McDuffie didn't stop there, nor did he fall into the rut of creating 'black comics', which I believe would have been career suicide. He moved up in the ranks, and became a top-shelf writer and really showed not only his skill for handling multi-ethnic stories, but for writing clean, intelligent, gripping stories.

He will be missed, and I am pretty much done with DC with his passing.

Mind the gap, kids.

Writer's block

Namaste, bitches!!

I was going to post about not being able to write, but I've been writing for days. A few of my fellow writer/artists have been noting their respective writer's/artist's blocks, which I immediately chided them for, stating that it doesn't exist.

A few years ago, I just started my novel Shades of Jack, and also attempting to write my first comic book script for a now-dead angel story that I have since shot to bits and torn to pieces. I complained about suffering from the aforementioned block, and he replied that it's bullshit and doesn't exist. Writer's block is a temporary lack of creativity, motivation, or inspiration.

So I decided that to prevent me ever experiencing the soul-wrenching pain that accompanies the inability to create, I read more, watched less television for entertainment and more documentaries, and I analyze everything. I pull stories apart viciously like a bear during spawning season, bashing and ripping salmon against rocks so I can feast on their livers and hearts.

Once in a while, I find a musical act that can also help grease the wheels. I listen to music when I write, but normally, it's Soma.fm for their DroneZone or Suburbs of Goa channels. The problems are that I can't listen to them in the car or when I go on my inspiration walks, but they are only good for white noise when I am already writing.

When I write myself into a corner, or just feel like leaving my quill in ink, I listen to the Earthly Frames. One man band, and the kind of haunting tracks that almost make me feel as if he can see into my mind when I sleep. When I first got my hands on it, I would only listen to the album when I needed to, like a secret weapon. I started listening in August, and I can still put in Volume 1 and after the second or third track, my hands are pounding the keyboard, channeling Jerusalem and de Sade. Link at the jump

http://earthlyframes.tumblr.com/

-Mind the Gap

Can't brain, I have the dumb.

I just finished my first script for Catch or Kill, and it feels good. I expected more fanfare, maybe a fatted calf or two, but you know? It's just good to know that I am as good as I had hoped.

One down, hundreds to go, eh?

Coincidentally, the four hours of writing leave me without words for the moment, so I am going to watch Spartacus: Gods of the Arena and eat something before I waste away.

-Mind the gap.

Trade-off

What I should be doing is writing. What I am doing is reading.

I know, I know- it's fundamental, I'm the first to say it. The problem is that I am reading Walter Mosely's Futureland, re-reading Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan , and like an idiot, I decided that today would be a good time to open Gibson's Neuromancer.

So, instead of giving you the super-delicious, oh-so juicy articles and comics that I have been promising, I'm thigh-deep in reading three of the best pieces of sci-fi... period. It could be worse. At least I'm not blowing you off for the demon seed of Stephanie Meyer's(lack of) imagination.

If I catch a lull, or finish early, I promise to spend all of my time giving you that thing you like so much.

And you know you do.

-Mind the gap

My Heroes

Yes, heroes. Not the television debacle, but more on that lately. I would rather discuss my heroes. The men and women who influenced me and inspired me with their words and art to create worlds of my own for another generation of readers to play in. So without any further ado...

I'll start with artists. They are the first thing that you notice, and many times, leave the most lasting impression.

Alex Ross. These days, if you can catch one of his covers, you're not doing too poorly, but not too long ago, you could see entire books chock full of his gorgeously painted, realistically human art. It's well known that he uses human models, but... goddamn. Kingdom Come was one of the most important books that DC put out in twenty years. Everything he makes looks like it's about to jump off the page, and part of the tragedy is that it never will.

...or will it?

Darick Robertson is probably best known for his work on Transmetropolitan and the current Dynamite series The Boys, and in both cases, he brought his impressive style which added a sense of expressive realism to fantastic stories, making them all the more enjoyable and accessible. His facial expressions are so dead on, I would say that they rival the nuance of one Kevin Maguire's JLI art.

In the 1990's, everyone was cross-hatching for shading and depth, and though it may have seemed edgy, I have to give up serious props to John Cassaday and Frank Quitely for not being afraid to make superheroes ugly, dirty, or unshaven. I noticed after starting Cassaday's art all the way through the "Gifted" run on Astonishing X-Men, that I was irreparably spoiled. I needed everyone to look as if they belong on the page with actual physics.

I'm still spoiled.

Though I am not a huge fan of mainstream comics, how could I say no to Simone Bianchi's luscious, sumptuous, dare I say sexy, art? His pencils are so gorgeous, I can't help but re, and re-read every issue of his run with Warren Ellis on Astonishing X-Men. His interpretation of Storm made me feel like I was going through puberty all over again, and his Wolverine made me think that there still might be some milage yet left in the overexposed character.

Enough of the mad scribblers, the writers are the ones that really get me going.

Having Grant Morrison do a guest spot on your book is like inviting a prison inmate to take your wife out for dinner. They'll like it better his way, and you won't recognize anything ever again. No matter how much they tell you that they love you. Don't believe me? Read everything before and after New X-Men

Gail Simone has never put her pen to something that I didn't love wholeheartedly. She always offers a fresh eye to characters, and remains one of the few reasons that I would ever read a DC book. No one writes strong women like her. No one.

Have you seen Garth Ennis' Punisher? He's mean, gritty, and kills everything with a vengeful machine's precision. He's perfect. He does exactly as he promises; he punishes. Just like Preacher, just like the Boys, brutal, efficient, gory glory, and a steal at twice the cover price. Garth is exactly what mainstream comics needs: a dark look inward, a middle finger outstretched and metered restraint. You can tell that he pulls his punches, even when Frank Castle shoots, eviscerates and impales (that was just one guy) without a care in the world. Oh, and he offered the first real glimpse into the mind of someone who kills to make himself feel something.

Joss Whedon. Goddamn. If he never makes another show for Fox, I'll be forever impressed, but his work on Astonishing X-Men was one of the best and most defining runs on any X-book that I have ever had the pleasure and honor to read. Every page was a shocker, and every line was a zing of epic and superhuman proportions.

Saving the best for last-

Warren Ellis. I would turn this man's cerebral spinal fluid into taffy and munch for years. He is in all of my top ten lists, even top 10 porn stars. Seriously. I cannot think of anyone with a more thorough grasp of science and counter culture in comics. I can't think of anyone that forces me to at least open Wikipedia whenever I read their comics. He is the quintessential writer, in my opinion, and I study at the feet of the master. I mean, have you read Transmetropolitan? He managed to make journalists sexy without them having to wear blue pajamas. Even when it's obvious that he's practically phoning it in (RED, Mek), he positively crushes everything else in the mainstream. His first novel, Crooked Little Vein was such a trippy, creepy cross-country jaunt that I bought six more copies and gave them all to my friends in the hope to spread his particular strain of insanity.

State of the Freeman Address

Namaste, bitches. This is the first State of the Freeman post; an overview of the past and the future.

What I am working on

Last year, I completed my first novel, Shades of Jack. This year, however, I have several projects that I intend to produce in the coming months. The first is a futuristic sci-fi comic called Catch or Kill, second, will be my first science fiction novel of a trilogy called Testament, and along the way, I will update my blog with my “B-sides”, or stories that I don't intend to use in any publication, but I still think are interesting enough to read.

In the next six months, I am hoping to have a completed, unedited manuscript for the first Testament novel, in the meantime, when the mega-talented Alfred Fox is done with my site redesign, I will have a brand new comic that I am developing with a true madman and all-around talented bastard, Jason Kimble, whom I am so excited to work with, I can't keep my hands off of my computer just so I can keep writing stuff for him to draw.

What my site is about

Originally, Jackfreelance.com was supposed to essentially be my online resume/portfolio. The biggest problem became immediately apparent when I wasn't making money. Not having written enough to garner sufficient traffic and interest on my own, and having finished my first novel, I decided to send my original concept of the ne’er-do-well, badass cowboy-with-a-pen persona out to pasture. My new direction is more viable, more honest to myself, and most of all, more economically viable.

Gone is the sixgun and spurs. 2011 is the year that Jack Freeman heralds the future. With the new web design, I will be able to update my readers with new information about emergent science, theoretical technology and bleeding edge transhumanist news. After working with Gabriel Walsh on The Earthly Frames, Volume 1, I discovered that I wrote science fiction better than anything else, and so a couple of months later, I began Testament, my newest and currently, favorite project.

I will also keep to a more constant update schedule, so mind the gap, the future's coming.

Flashback story- The Watchmen Are (is) Coming (2007)

I think that a great way to introduce you to the writer that I am is to also show you the writer that I was. Here is an older story that I wrote in anticipation of the Watchmen film.

So, Zack Snyder, the man that we have to thank for the latest Dawn of the Dead, and this spring's 300, has been given the comic movie director’s Holy Grail-The Watchmen. Arguably the best story to be put to pen and hewn from CMYK, this has the community in an uproar and the fallout could result in an absolute 360 for the DC Comics’/ Alan Moore relationship, for the better, no less; or it could be the final nail in the coffin for the total breakdown between the true fans of his work and the Warner Brothers/DC Comics corporate office.

Alan Moore. Chaos magician, vegetarian, anarchist and comic book legend, decided to never lend his name to movie adaptations of his work, assuming that it would leave the story’s integrity unsullied. After the back-to-back slaps in the face of From Hell and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the first of which missed the mark so much, co-creator Eddie Campbell went as far as to say “Anything that meant anything was ditched”. He never intended the silver screen for any of his work, and it showed. His deep, imaginative and extremely complex stories were way too heavy for a single, feature length motion picture. We the fans would have to live without seeing Tom Strong or Rorschach on the big screen, but that is simply the nature of things.

Unfortunately, DC doesn’t see things that way. From Hell was panned by critics and dissed by moviegoers and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was a shade of it’s true potential and instead of reaching the same potential as the source material, it instead ushered in the new era for the pattern of poorly executed movies made without the support or true blessing of the man holding the pen. Constantine was a chance to truly create a character-driven and engaging, unique story and show what Moore had in mind. Not only did they enrage fans, they didn’t even get the casting right. John Constantine was based off of the appearance and swagger of Sting. The singer, mind you, not the professional wrestler.

If you managed to catch last year’s V for Vendetta, you probably cheered along with me as a story from 1982 still rings loud and true for an entirely different audience. Though the drug use and themes stemming from Moore’s own anarchist views were omitted, there were enough parallels to today’s modern political landscape to leave one thinking. Much to my chagrin, after reading up on the original books, I found that the best parts were left out. The fight for freedom and the agony of responsibility were barely touched on and the best, wasted opportunity was taken down from it’s pedestal and turned into random spouts of semi-satirical, anti-something diatribe.

Now The Watchmen is slated for a possible 08 or 09 release and Alan Moore will have nothing to do with our Zach Snyder. I, for one, will be in line with my ticket grinning like an idiot; though inside I am hoping that four times would be the charm. Don’t take my word for it