#it’s not a very well paced comic because yeah I have the energy to publish it but not enough energy to draw a lot of panels and pace it all

[mellowwillowy]

Don't we all love eldritch horror now?

I present to you my current impulsive fixation, a webtoon series that is loosely accurate to the Lovecraftian’s OG lores, Love Crafts Horror !

For the price of subscribing to it, yall get to see this stupid sunshine call center and messenger for free every now and then~

And y'all know what's fun too? There are (so far) 7 handsome horrors in total~! Yes, now they are all your harem members if you wish for them to be too.

And yeah, it's not Lovecraftian if there ain't any Gore and shiiii (This story is not suitable for all audiences, categorized for young adults)

So what are we waiting for? Hit the— (insert shameless advertisement template)

[prof-peach]

if fans wanted to include peach in stuff they write, would that be okay? and how would they write peach's personality? aside from "FIGHT ME" anyway, i think that much is a given lol. i only really write the anime characters 'cause that's what i know, but it sounds like it'd be kinda fun to try making a version of ash that fits into this blog's universe! nerf'd Obviously, but i think she'd probably appreciate how hands-on he gets when training his pokemon!

Ok, I get a lot of these messages, and I often hear folks wanting to throw peach into their stories and comics and writings, and I will always simply ask that if it’s published online publicly, to be linked to it so I can snoop and enjoy the content too. If someone asks about her in your work, let them know about the blog I guess? But literally I love that people take this stuff, these characters and stories, and make new stuff with it. No ones making money off my work here? So where’s the issue? Go for it buddy, knock yourself out, I’m all for it.

For you, and all the others out there who want to add peach, and other characters to your world building, I will give you a detailed rundown of the main lot, and how they behave, what they do, how they function. You can use that, use bits, or use none of it, I do not mind at all. If you’re creating something, you’re in control, not me.

So, peach doesn’t actually fight people as much as you’d think. She’s very aware most cannot and do not want to do that, and so she likes to keep to herself with regards to that aspect of her life, she doesn’t ask to spar with people, or even bring it up at all, but people ask her all the time, even if they clearly would lose or become hurt should she miscalculate during the fight. She looks at people like they usually create problems, and often has a somewhat reserved nature to other humans. You have to work quite hard to get anything more than formalities out of her. She will dead-pan handle people with blunt and very to-the-point statements, aid whenever possible, but very quickly get back to handling the Pokemon she so carefully tends. Her focus is clear, she’s all about hard work, her very small select family, and the Pokemon.

Her brutal, loud and brash personality only comes out with friends, family, difficult humans, OR any Pokemon. She will joke and laugh and play with Pokemon, but clam up around humans, maintaining tight body language and generally will be a little cold by regular standards. She does however have some weaknesses in this emotionless shield she puts up. When peach was young she was always angry, which swung so fast to sadness, back and forth. Her teenage years it just got worse and worse, it was crippling at points. She is to this day, full of fire and rage, even sadness, but now she has learnt to control it, to use it. When she sees that in others, it’s familiar, and she is pushed to drop the front, and be very real with the person. Underdogs I suppose, people who get bad reps, but deserve the same as everyone else. She can’t ignore it.

Once you start to pry open her personality, you’ll find she’s a lot more laid back and fun than originally appeared, you just have to work hard to find that side of her. She will meme reference, can’t dance to save her life, loves her coffee, and can be caught in quiet contemplation while gardening. This hobby is her calmest, and often is why she can stay so level headed when her quiet rage boils up again. Without time outside she will become grouchy, a little snippy, and lethargic. Will not go in the ocean for any reason other than life or death, is fine with ponds and rivers, or water at wading height. Likes the rain.

With regards to her training others, they usually have to tolerate her somewhat strict nature. She is a little....unforgiving, holds a grudge if you make a lot of mistakes, and has no tolerance for ignorance in the age of information that we all live in. In previous posts I’ve mentioned she’s only recently selected two students, after many years of testing kids who want to learn from her. Hundred tried out, only two have ever been approved. How she teaches is very fast paced, be prepared to get some scrapes and bruises, she will test your physical and emotional tolerances with intense tasks, carefully watching students like a hawk. Bad posture in your stance? She’ll be the first to tell you to sort it out. Not hearing your Pokemon partner? Right, now you spend the day without using words trying to communicate, let’s see how you like not being listened to.

This is a woman who has spent her life saying very little, and watching everything, she watches Pokemon and can see an issue from a mile off, and in battles, her observations are why she can react fast, and chose effective strategy to avoid damage and achieve results. Don’t let her body fool you, her strongest asset is analysing, watching, planning. Those skills have over the years transferred to people too. As a student, mistakes don’t go unnoticed with this professor.

Her methods are harsh but fair, and should you prove yourself, she will protect you with her life.

Because of her disinterest in kids and lots of noise, she does pass the training of students on to the other staff members whenever possible. Grey takes on the lions share of battle lessons, he is far calmer, more open and friendly, with patience for people, and an empathy that peach sometimes struggles to have. When you go through a lot of harsh training, and difficult events, it’s hard to change how you feel or think, with peach, well, she’s been through it. Most do not come out the other end in one piece, but she did, and it made her strong. You may think I mean strong like buff and big, and yeah sure she is, but I mean it mentally more than anything. Peach will not quit. She has learnt to destroy the boundaries that stop people getting hurt, gone is the fear that freezes you in your tracks, that feeling that you’ll pass out if you go one more step. She’s learnt to ignore it.

This means she’s a little forgetful at how it is to be normal, to be vulnerable and soft and squishy like students so usually are.

She has her issues, but for the most part, visitors get a laugh, a smile, a calm assertive confidence, and facts. She will indulge those who have genuine interest, or show a connection with nature, an understanding of the balance that needs to be struck for everyone to live well together.

Despite her many flaws, she’s fiercely protective, and will go above and beyond to defend the island, it’s staff, the Pokemon and the visitors. Injustice is her biggest gripe, along with littering, and she doesn’t stand by quietly if something happens that seems unfair.

You will not see her without Valka, her vulpix, close by. That Pokemon doesn’t like to be touched by strangers, at all, and will run the second someone comes at her with that intent. Peach will scold you for pushing yourself onto her, should you persistently try to get close to pet Val. They are in sync, if peach is sad, Val is sad, if Val is stressed, peach is stressed, and so on. They are inherently connected, it’s just been that long, the psychic bridge between them has been built, and reinforced over the years.

The only other Pokemon who follows her so endlessly is Booker, a teddiursa who’s pretty rough looking. He quietly trots behind, grouchy and stoic, they fight closely together a lot. He lost his mom a long time ago to poachers, and peach took him in, and changed her whole life for him. Not many people know, but Booker was the reason she left the rangers, changed career, and got so strong. Will tolerate people petting him but isn’t keen at all, grumbles a lot and tries to move away.

You may also need to know about the others, for the sake of writing, she here a few more bits that may be important to you, or others wanting to do this.

Grey is very tall, very burly, composed, tells bad dad jokes, is a bit of a goof if allowed to be. If he sees a pun, he’ll say it. Can’t help himself. Very nice guy to work with, good at keeping people calm and grounded. Pokemon are drawn to him like a moth to a flame, he gives off warm energy, and has inhuman amounts of patience. If you wrong his family however, he will snap back.

He grew up in the city, loves to swim and hike and cycle, can snowboard, is really sporty. A total brain box with held items, and boosting stats. He will explore many paths, to make sure visitors and students get the information they need, in a way that can be remembered and retained for later. Is a huge guy, but will get on the floor to play with a tiny Pokemon. Treats big “meaner” looking species like babies, very good with all pokemon.

His free time is spent either tinkering, swimming, or trimming his bonsai trees. This guy stares at screens a lot, so appreciates time away from them. Peach built him his own little greenhouse for his trees and tools, which he keeps clean and loves dearly.

His methods as a teacher are built around fun and games, he makes hard work easier to do by distracting trainers from the difficult bits, and focusing in on something more interesting or compelling.

His most commonly seen Pokemon would be a houndoom, Saxon, old battle veteran, retired now to herding and being a good boy. Very gentle, loves a pet.

Pari, now a fully fledged nurse, often oversees the labs front desk and pokecentre features, such as healing pokemon, and informing trainers who come to visit. Her skills with eggs and hatchlings is high, she’s great with younger Pokemon, and hands out good advice to trainers a lot. She’s not a fighter, never was, but can find any file, any study, any book, and any refrence you may need. A true bookworm, loves her romance novels, chat shows and upbeat celebrity gossip mags. Will cry at a lot of stuff, be it sad or happy.

She’s got a seriously upbeat personality, but if caught off guard or shocked, she gets a little flustered. Too much chaos will overwhelm her, but usually she’s on top of things. The years spent on the island have made her better at maintaining composure in emergencies. With lots of siblings, she’s very competent with others, and has a good ability to disarm cagey people with her jolly nature. Because of this, she can sometimes gain information from trainers that some of the more harsh professors may not have access to. Charming is a word for it.

Her partners are an eevee, and a happiny. They are quite sweet and well adjusted, the eevee gets a bit bouncy if you get it too excited.

[hagarenmovie]

[Translation] Special Interview with Hiromu Arakawa

Source: http://natalie.mu/comic/pp/hagarenmovie02

“Fullmetal Alchemist” [Hagane no Renkinjusushi, or “Hagane”] is premiering on December 1st.  So, whose heart was beating faster than anyone else and called the movie “a celebration”? It was Hiromu Arakawa, the creator of the manga.  Previously, “Fullmetal Alchemist” had been adapted into other media formats such as anime and games, and to Arakawa, who seemed to be enjoying the “celebration” more than others, said “I can see a new [incarnation] of the work again!” As part of Comic Natalie’s special celebration with the release of [“Fullmetal Alchemist”], we interviewed this Arakawa. In addition to getting the scoop on the highlights of the movie, [she also had] a message for the passionate fans of the original work.

Yamada-san did a really good job bringing the comical action scenes from the manga to life

── Could you tell us your frank impression of the time when you know about the decision to adapt [your work] into live action? At the end of volume 15 of "Fullmetal Alchemist" released in 2006, there was a panel where everyone was speculating "What if [FMA] is made into a live action adaptation?"

When I heard about the live action adaptation, the first voice I made was “Hoo!” (laughs). When we were drawing the panel, I remember everyone was [just] noisily blurting out [whatever came to mind].  Although it had already been made into anime, games, etc, when I heard that it will be adapted to yet another medium, as the creator, I felt a wave of excitement that “I can see something new again!” I was looking forward to the completion of the film.

[T/N: I was hoping she would talk about the fantasy casting of Ed, but yeah, based on the published date, she / staff were thinking about a different Yamada.]

──The protagonist, Ed, is played by Ryosuke Yamada, a member of Hey! Say! JUMP.

Didn’t Yamada-san appear in “Grasshopper” (the movie was released in 2015)? So when Director Sori (Fumihiko) told me, "I want to cast Yamada-kun as Ed", my first thought was, "Oh, that killer!" (laughs).

── (Laughs) Yamada-san was playing the role of a knife wielding killer in "Grasshopper."

I thought Yamada-san's movements in that movie were amazing. At his opening scene he was getting rid of a gang of thugs, the way he killed them was like a dance. Since [watching that movie], I absolutely think that he will be great with action scenes. The director also mentioned that, and actually, when I saw the [finished “Fullmetal Alchemist” movie], Yamada-san was even able to perform the action scenes in a comical way like they were in the manga. Ed in the manga rarely runs in a cool way (laughs). Yamada-san even conveyed that [detailed] movement strongly.

See the scene from Grasshopper here:

── Certainly, in the [early] scene where Ed was running, I thought "Oh, that's how Ed runs!” Yamada-san himself seemed to be committed to [this style of] running; he said he was influenced by the manga.

There was a hasty desperation in the running, and he did it in a comical way just like the manga. Ed’s comical but great physicality was on full display in the opening action scene, and I thought, "He is as good as I expected, this guy!"

The “Leaving the job to the Specialists” Stance

── By the way, like Yamada-san, Tsubasa Honda-san who plays Winry and Hongo Kanata-san who plays Envy are also long-time fans of "Fullmetal Alchemist”.

Looks like it. That said, I feel bad that they might feel bound by the image from reading the manga.  Because I don’t not mind having them perform with their own interpretation [of their respective characters].

── Didn’t Arakawa-san give any orders to the cast or the director?

I checked the script that was submitted, but basically, I left [the making of the film] to the director. It's just not how I do things, I think believe in “leaving the job to the specialists”. So I simply think, "I'm looking forward to the finished work."  That was the case with the anime as well, but I feel that I should “apologize for being an author who does not work" (laughs).

── So it is best to leave the animation to the anime producers and the filming to live action producers.

Yes. I think that there is no need [for them] to worry about the original work separately.  So I said, "please do whatever you want.” I am the type that do not care about how the character looks visually as long as the [essence of the] character is expressed, so when I first saw Winry, who is originally blonde, I asked myself, "does Winry have to be blonde?"  Actually, when Winry’s blonde hair became brunette, it matched the background colour in the train scene, it looked like it fit right in!  If a character stands up [to the original] in a live action adaptation, I think that it is perfectly fine even if there are changes from the original.  That's why Tucker-san (played by Yo Oizumi) who has a lot of hair also exists (laughs).  

── Ahaha (laughs).

I am interested in Oizumi-san because he is also from Hokkaido.  He is the star of Hokkaido (laughs).  In the movie, there were a lot of Tucker, when I saw it, I thought “Ooh, you have come out here.” It was also a highlight.

── How about the other cast?

I was shaken by Colonel Mustang’s (played by Dean Fujioka) coolness.  Hughes-san (played by Ryuta Sato) was still Hughes (laughs).  For Ed and Winry, it seemed that Yamada-san and Honda-san were already on good terms, so it was very good that they were able to make use of this delicious feeling. And as expected, the Homunculus group was amazing ....

── The degree of realization of the Homunculus group of Lust, Envy, and Gluttony was especially high.  When the visuals were revealed at the fan event, a loud cheer erupted from the crowd.

I never thought Matsuyuki (Yasuko)-san would accept [the offer] to play the role (of Lust) (laughs). Uchiyama (Shinji)-san conveyed the bad feelings of Gluttony, right? Hongo (Kanata)-san’s Envy also felt very cocky.  Jun Kunimura-san who played Marcoh did not appear a lot, but he attracted me with his subtle eye acting, which I thought was truly amazing. There were many cast members who usually played as a leading role portrays great supporting roles in this movie, it was truly a magnificent cast.

I purely thought “I want to see it”

── Although you said you basically left the live action adaptation to the director, how did the “Fullmetal Alchemist” that was shot from Director Sori’s point-of-view look through Arakawa-san’s eyes?

Even though I am familiar with the original work, [familiar] scenes were combined with original material for the movie, which gave me a sense of excitement like “what will happen next?”  The main story-line was the same as the manga, and the curve-balls they threw [at us within the movie] were interesting. Even though I know the [story] developments, I held my breath in spite of myself when there was a good scene coming up.

── The use of CG for the alchemy scenes was also impressive.

When the movie was in the planning stages, Director Sori said in his meeting with Square Enix, "I could not have done it with the CG technology years ago, but now I can make "Fullmetal Alchemist".  Please let me do it."  Upon hearing that, I purely thought, "Oh, I'd like to see it."

I am talking about how the presentation of manga will be fused with reality.  Even when I look at "Ping Pong" [T/N: a 2002 film directed by Sori], I thought Director Sori was able to effectively use the CG to bring the manga to life, so I was looking forward to seeing [what he did] with "Hagane".

── In this movie, Al was entirely made with CG. In the scene where Ed and Al were fighting, I heard that Yamada-san, who played Ed, had to shoot the [fight] scene hitting at nothing [in real life].

Yes, yes. They made the scene by adding Alphonse’s CG to Yamada-san's acting. When I watched the movie, it seemed like Al was really there and was the one who was beaten.  At that time, I kept thinking with my head down about how much time and effort was spent to make this scene. I was surprised at the pace at which Japanese CG is evolving.

Hiromu Arakawa looking back at the manga “Fullmetal Alchemist”

── Even though it has been 7 years after the completion of "Fullmetal Alchemist", it is still beloved by fans all over the world, and there were great reactions when the live action adaptation was announced. What was the reason that drew Arakawa-sensei to draw "Hagane" in the first place?

I enjoyed sketching on my bed, floor, or wherever, so in the beginning, I thought it would be fun to put my work into manga-form. From there, [I did] research on various things like "alchemy" and "philosopher’s stone”. Although there are occult elements, I am someone who has always grown up with “moo” beside me (laughs). As I was looking into this further, I thought "alchemy is interesting", so I added these elements into the story. After that, I felt that the elements related to life such as homonculus cannot be overlooked, so I should include them as well.  I was inundated with thoughts about life, so the philosophical question, “what does it mean to be living?”, became the central pillar that filled the pages of the story.

── I think the heavy human drama is the charm of "Fullmetal Alchemist".

"Hagane" was quite hard[core] from the opening scene.  One person had parts of his body taken from him, and another had his whole body taken. I had to enter the story from this deeply emotional place.  As it was a departure from my favourite type of [positive energy filled] shonen manga, I continued drawing with the intention to not make it dull for the readers.  I added comical elements, or tried to put in scenes to give readers a break [from the tension].  Since I drew [the manga] with this balance in mind, the end result had that sort of [frenetic] energy.

── Within the serious developments [of the story], comical elements were inserted to lighten the heavy narrative; it is one of the reasons why “Fullmetal Alchemist” is loved by so many people. Previously, in a magazine interview that was published immediately after completion, someone asked you, "What does Arakawa-san think is the greatest appeal of the work?", and Arakawa-san answered, “I do not quite understand.” 

Ahaha (laughs).

── Since seven years have passed, and having viewed the work [again] through a different medium like a live action movie, I think you would be able to view parts of it more objectively, so I ask again, why you do you think people love “Fullmetal Alchemist”?

Where to begin… Whether it is an anime, a game, or this movie, the story is filled with “brotherly love” and “brotherly bond”, so objectively speaking, I think that is it.

── Even for Arakawa-san, was there any part that you really cherish and felt really important to draw?

It was the sins and burdens that the brothers were carrying after committing the forbidden act of human transmutation. Since there were two people who had this awareness, I felt that it was important that they took care of each other.  As for me, Ed was Ed and Al was Al, and since I wanted each of them to be his own person, I drew Alphones as Alphonse, not the brothers of the Fullmetal Alchemist. Even in the manga, the brothers had been separated and faced different battles, like the scene where Alphonse said “I have to do it” and advanced steadily.  You also see Ed worrying a bit about his younger brother, so I really cherished the parts where Ed and Al respected each other.

Thank you for making this a celebration!

── The moviegoers will get a souvenir of a "Special edition comics" that includes new episodes specifically drawn for this film.

It was about seven years since I last drew the manga! In the beginning, I was worried [with things like] “can I still draw it”, “the pictures, did it change [from before]?” (laughs).  The feelings for the characters came back quickly, so I was OK, and [the thoughts] got changed into pictures one after another.  In between, I also drew a little bit for the “Fullmetal Alchemist Exhibition” and I was relieved because [my drawing style] had not changed so much (laughs).

── In addition to the movie this year, there is also the "Fullmetal Alchemist Exhibition", since you have to draw the new episodes, your encounter with the work has increased again.  Compared to the serialization, has there been changes in how you approach the work?

At the time of serialization, I had to have an awareness of the various [responsible] parties, but now, there was an air of excitement surrounding me, so I felt like I was riding the wave and my concern for the various parties was unexpectedly low.  I saw it as, "It’s a celebration!  Wohoo!" (laughs).  "Thank you for making it a celebration! Let’s get excited together!"

── It seems that Arakawa-san yourself is enjoying this the most (laughs). After all, "Fullmetal Alchemist" is a very popular work, so I think a lot of people felt a bit uneasy when it comes to live action.

When I read hear that a manga I am reading is getting the live action treatment, I am the type who thinks "you can see a new ●●!". Even though if I saw differences from the manga, I don’t think about things like, "Eh, that is not the image [of ●●]", [rather,] I enjoyed the differences, like ��oh, they did it this way!” I feel that it is fun to think about “How do they convey the intention of the creator in this scene?”

── I see. You are coming from the point of view of the creator a little bit here.

I maybe looking at this from the point of view from a creator. When [the film] contained elements different from the original, I felt that there is a spirit of trying something new.  An adaptation is a new challenge in the first place, so I felt that it is a kind of frontier spirit. "Hagane" had already been the animation and games treatment, in addition to the live action adaptation, will [it be adapted to yet another medium]? However, with each adaptation, I think I will look forward to it (laughs). But then, everyone had their own image of Ed and Al firmly planted in their heads, so [I understand why] people felt uneasy.

──I think that Arakawa-san’s Ed and Al have been around forever.

That means that everyone has been reading it.  Thankfully.  Manga is manga, anime is anime, so as long as [the story] is firmly in your mind, it will not be destroyed [by another work], so I think that it would be fun [when you watch the film] by not taking it so seriously, like, "Oh? A new challenger is coming?"

── In that sense, Arakawa-san is having fun at this "Celebration!", and that it is good to go with the feeling of “Let’s all go celebrate together!”

[nimpnawakproduction]

Mafia/baker au: Origins story part 1

Heya AA fandom! You thought you seen the last of me? Surprise 8D !!! Here’s the next part of the AU. I don’t have the energy or the time to draw the entire story so it will be in a fic form from now on. Thanks to @punxbarton for the beta-reading ;D

Note: You need to have read the first comics to understand what is going on. Here’s the link: OwO

The day he buried his father was a sunny day. In all of the movies or the books he had read, funerals happened with a storm raging outside, with big and heavy drops of rain falling from the sky. Everything was grey and sad, family and friends gathered together under black umbrellas. But on that day, the weather was wonderful. Miles didn’t know what to make of it. Everything seemed rather dull lately. As for the crowd around the coffin, he didn’t know a third of them. People from the police department, fellow attorneys and strangers sorry for his loss that he couldn’t even remember meeting ever before. At least, Lieutenant Badd had come. He hadn't stayed long because of a big case coming up, but had brought the biggest bouquet of flowers Miles had ever seen. Uncle Ray had put it at the feet of the tombstone. The roses were especially pretty. His father would have loved them. Miles was lost in the contemplation of one of them when a thought occurred to him.

“Uncle Ray, can I take one of them?”

Lost in thought by his side, his godfather started a little at the sudden question. He was doing a lot of that lately, looking surprised nearly every time Miles said a word. To be fair, he barely spoke most days. So he humoured him.

“Yes. Yes, of course. Go ahead.”

Miles picked up one of the roses. A white one. It didn’t have a lot of petals, not quite fully bloomed yet, but he liked the shape of it. Then he began to stride away, flower in hand.

“Where are you going?” Ray asked, a worried expression on his face.

“Not far. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Not waiting for an answer, he continued his pace along one of the paths crossing the cemetery. After some time, he finally found what he was looking for. The tombstone of Lucy Wolff was shiny and immaculate, just like his father’s. The flowers at its feet still looked fresh. She had certainly been buried a few days prior, or maybe even just hours ago. With great care, he put the rose down among the others. Lieutenant Badd had refused to give him more than her name, but she looked very young on the photo published in the newspaper. At least no more than 30. Maybe she was still a student, just passing by this small street on her way to school. Wrong place at the wrong time, as Lieutenant Badd had said. He sat down on the ground, hugging his legs in front of him, his eyes fixed on the golden letters engraved on the tombstone.

Thank you, Miss Wolff. Thank you for saving my life, he said in his head, hoping she could hear him from wherever she was now.

I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry.

He held an imaginary conversation with her for a long time. He felt a little better, after. His task accomplished, he stood up and began to go back when he heard his father's name in a conversation held by two men standing a few meters away, their backs to him.

“What a shame really. A good man like him,” one of them said.

“Well, that's what you get when you dig a little too far,” said the other. He sounded like the older of the two.

Intrigued, Miles hid behind a mausoleum near him. The men walked on, oblivious of the presence of the boy.

“You think that he… discovered something, Sir?”

“That's one way to put it.”

He sounded pensive for a moment. Then the older man said: “That idiot. As if a single man could make a difference.”

The men walked away afterwards, heading in the direction of his father’s grave, not saying anything more. Miles didn’t move for a couple of minutes, processing what he had just heard. They knew something. Those men knew what had really happened. And one of them sounded almost…glad. Still thinking about it, he went back to Uncle Ray. Those men were talking with him. Noticing his presence, his godfather greeted him: “Oh Miles, I was wondering where you were.” He then turned to the men besides him. “This is Inspector Shady and Mr Damon Gant, the Chief of Police. They were kind enough to want to come and greet you, Miles.”

The older man crouched in front of him so they would be at eye-level and held out his hand. He was wearing a black costume with a red tie. His hairstyle was… interesting, in place of a better word. Glasses with pink lenses perched on his nose, while a severe expression stood on his face. After a slight hesitation, Miles took the offered hand.

“Hello boy. Your father was a remarkable man. My deep and sincere condolences.”

Instead of thanking him, Miles simply nodded his head in acknowledgement. The man continued: “What happened was a true tragedy, but if it can help you feel better, hold on to the thought that the culprit is now behind bars and will never harm anybody again.”

Then the man smiled. It was a crooked grimace. Miles didn't need anything more to confirm his suspicions. He stared at the man, storing his face in his memory, and calmly declared: “Yes… Thanks to you and all of the police task force. I hope you will always be as efficient so something like this never happens again.”

He didn’t know what face he had made but the man in front of him looked uncomfortable, his smile dropping a little. But it quickly came back on full force and the man shook his hand vigorously before giving him a hard slap on the shoulder.

“Exactly, my boy!” he said with a booming voice. “This is what we all need: optimism! I promise all of this to you, little man!”

He then stood up. After giving farewell to both him and his godfather, the two men walked away. When they were at a reasonable distance, Inspector Shady turned to his colleague. “Something the matter, Sir?”

Damon Gant suppressed a shiver and said: “This child's eyes… I had the feeling for a second that he would have killed me on the spot if he could have.”

Later that day, on the way back home, Miles felt better. After days of agony, a new-found serenity was coming into his heart. He was no longer lost in the dark, looking aimlessly for answers. He finally had a lead: the first face and name on what was going to become a very long list.

Tyrell Badd was a busy man. Years could pass without him noticing, his schedule always hectic and filled with more and more cases with each passing day. He had even become inspector, which added one more layer of responsibilities on top of all the others. But today, he took the time to take his car and pay a visit to two of his old friends. Stopping at a traffic light, he took his eyes off the road to look at the box sitting on the passenger’s seat. The big “DL-6” filling one side of the box was bringing back a lot of painful memories. With a long sigh, he focused one more time on the road. He couldn’t let the precinct simply call Ray, after so much time, and ask him to come and fetch this. No, it was definitely something that you had to deliver in person.

After a short trip to the edges of the city, he pulled his car to the side of the road and made his way to the door of a small two-floor house, box secured under his arm. The microscopic garden in the front was getting wilder and wilder each time he was passing by, overrun by weeds. It seemed that Miles didn’t have the same love for gardening as his father. He climbed the few steps leading to the front door and knocked. A moment later, Ray was at the door. It was always astounding to see what a few years could do to a face. He had lost the little softness you could typically find on the face of a teenager, his eyes a lot sharper and his jaws more defined. He even had the beginning of a goatee growing on his chin.

Seeing who was at his door, Ray greeted him with a small smile “Oh, hello inspector. What gives us the pleasure?”

“Hello Ray. I came to bring you this.”

He took the box into his hands and held it out to Ray, who took it with a pained expression.

“Are those..?” the younger man asked.

“Gregory’s things yes. The ones he had back there.”

Ray clenched his hands tighter around the box, bringing it closer to his chest. He looked furious. “And the police finally gave it back.” he spat out. “After 5 fucking years.”

A heavy silence settled between them, the two of them staring at the box for several moments. Ray closed his eyes and sighted, his shoulders dropping a little. Anger gave way to sadness, and a moment after, he just looked resigned. He took a step to the side, asking with a motion of his head if Badd wanted to come inside.

“Want to have a coffee?”

“Nah, I’d better be going,” said the inspector. “Say hi to Miles for me. Take care, Ray.”

“Yeah. You too.”

After a two fingers salute, Badd jumped over the few steps of the stairs and went back to his car. Ray looked at him ease back into the traffic before closing the door. A few seconds later, Miles made his appearance at the top of the stairs. Ray made a quick note in a corner of his mind to go shopping and get the teenager new clothes. He was having a bad case of growth spurt lately, leaving him with pants and sweaters way too short for him.

“Who was that?” the young man asked.

“Inspector Badd. He came with this.”

Miles looked at the box for a few seconds before recognition flashed in his eyes. He furrowed his brows, sadness obvious in his voice.

“Is this..?”

“Yeah.”

A long silence filled the room. As much as he was relieved to finally have Gregory’s things back, Ray was terribly afraid of Miles’ reaction. After years of failed psychological therapies, the boy was finally coming out of his shell a little, starting to look happier and more lively. If digging through this box meant digging out enough bad memories to erase all of the progress they had made, Ray was almost ready to throw it in the nearest bin and put it on fire. “Do you want to look through this alone? Or…” he tentatively offered.

The boy jumped a little, lost in his thoughts. “No…. No. Let’s look at it together.”

He walked down the stairs, took the box out of Ray’s hands with absolute reverence and made his way into the living room. They sat at the table. There was a moment where Miles looked lost in contemplation of the container. (Ray suspected he was gathering his courage.) Then he opened the lid. They were greeted by Gregory’s signature hat. Miles took it, brushing his finger along the rim. He sighed, and put it aside. Then came his clothes, insignificant things he had had in his pocket at the time, and his coat. Shaking any dust that could have gathered out of the clothes, Miles said with a bitter smile: “At least they had the decency to clean them before giving them back.”

Ray had to think for a second before understanding what Miles was talking about: of course, the clothes should have been covered in blood back then. He shuddered and put his attention on the rest of the things lying on the table. They got at the bottom of the box, the only thing left was a book. Miles picker it up, intrigued, and looked at the title. “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. One of the most popular Sherlock Holmes’ stories.

“This book” Miles said, surprised as a wave of nostalgia hit him. “I completely forgot about it… I never had the chance to know the end…”

After a moment lost in his memories, Miles put the book on his lap, along with his father’s coat. Ray was holding the hat, feeling nostalgic as well. Miles always loved that hat. When he was little, he was always saying that once he’d become an attorney, Gregory would have to lend him the hat, claiming that you couldn’t be a good attorney without it. Ray was a hat lover himself, never leaving the house without one on his head. But he had never had a hat of this quality. It was probably handmade. He lightly brushed against the rim with his thumb before holding it out to Miles. The teenager took it and, after a moment of consideration, gave it back to him. Ray looked perplexed as the young man started in a gentle voice: “Uncle Ray, I’m sure my father would have been very happy if you kept it. He knew that you love hats, I remember he was planning to buy you one back then.”

Choking on emotions, Ray had to hold back tears. He held the hat close to his heart and only managed a soft “thank you”.

Some time later, back in his room, Miles hung the coat in his wardrobe and sat back at his writing desk. He had been writing a paper for his history class, before going downstairs when he had heard the knock on the door earlier. He looked at the book in his hands. Sherlock Holmes… An idealistic detective who always managed to solve the mystery in the end, no matter how indecipherable the enigma first appeared. He looked at the cover for long minutes before throwing the book in the trash can under his desk. 

[aion-rsa]

INTERVIEW: Remender Talks New Studio, Comic Work Update

Rick Remender is passionate about creator-owned comics. That passion has translated into a number of critically acclaimed titles, and given him the freedom to tell a variety of stories. Remender’s current creator-owned output published by Image Comics includes science fiction tales like “Black Science” with artist Matteo Scalera and “Low” with artist Greg Tocchini; the coming of age, crime thriller “Deadly Class, where he collaborates with artist Wes Craig; and the recently launched fantasy series “Seven to Eternity,” which features art by Jerome Opeña.

That diverse body of work has also drawn the attention of Hollywood and other companies looking to produce adaptations and licensed merchandise based on his work. So in order to build his brand and help fans and other interested parties find the work he and his collaborators do, Remender recently launched Giant Generator (Giantgenerator.com), a new studio which will serve as an umbrella for all the creator-owned books he and his co-creators produce, as well as the films, television shows and merchandise associated with them.

We spoke with Remender about the origins of Giant Generator, how it will operate, and his vision for the studio. The discussion also included updates on the status and storylines of all his creator owned books as well the development of the television adaptation of “Deadly Class,” which Remender has been working on with the Russo Brothers and Sony.

CBR: Rick, what exactly is Giant Generator? What inspired you to form it, and why do it now?

Rick Remender: Well, I have four different projects that are being adapted and developed as TV shows, and then another that we are working on a film pitch for and, on and on, as more of this kept happening it occurred to me that I needed an umbrella and company name. Someone jokingly referred to the projects as parts of the “Remenderverse.” I chuckled — and then realized I had to get a company name to make sure that didn’t stick. [Laughs]

EXCLUSIVE: Art from “Low” #17

That was really the inspiration for it; just recognizing that I’m in a position where we’re starting to make toys and sculptures, a whole line of comics, maybe movies, and TV shows. It was time for a name for the old production house.

Is Giant Generator comparable to what Robert Kirkman has with Skybound?

Yes, except while we have an exclusive arrangement with Image, and I see no sign of that changing, I am not an Image partner, and Robert is. Sky bound is a little different in that it’s a lot like Top Cow. It’s an official part of Image, whereas Giant Generator is just my home studio and will serve as an umbrella for all my jive and collaborations.

As business builds, and these creator-owned books become more and more viable for film, television, video games, and other media, more money goes on the table, which makes the business practice more difficult. In the past twenty years of working on creator-owned books, I’ve always shared ownership 50-50 with the artists. In the course of doing that as long as I’ve done it, I’ve had a couple situations where it really bit me in the ass, and I considered that it would just be easier for me to hold the copyright to myself and I’d make all the business decisions.

I see plenty of sensible reasons to do that, but ultimately one of the things I wanted to do with this company was to say, “No, with the energy, effort, and love that’s put into these things, we should co-own the properties. If that means the artist wants to do something with low scruples or doesn’t have great business sense, [Laughs] so be it.”

Giant Generator is a business model where I co-own all of the properties with the artists. Usually it’s 50-50, but in some cases it’s split up a little more than that with the colorists and other team members. The artists are part of all the business decisions too, which means for those who want it the Image accounting statements get sent to both them and me, and they are involved in everything, from beginning to end.

Some other studios occasionally feature books where the main creator develops an idea and then passes it off to other creators to run with it. Is that something you see yourself doing at some point with Giant Generator?

EXCLUSIVE: Art from “Seven to Eternity” #5

I was considering that at one point for “Tokyo Ghost.” I had an art team and another writer lined up to take my outline and do the next 10 issues of the book. One factor is navigating the money of it all, but ultimately, what Sean Murphy and I created with “Tokyo Ghost” was a real labor of love. It was something we spent 2-3 years creating and was fairly personal, so it was hard to hand it off even if it might have been better with the new team. We had some very talented people lined up to take it over. Maybe that will change.

It didn’t feel natural to me to hand off my story in that kind of way. I’m not a publishing house at Image in the way Kirkman is with Skybound. I’m not going to be publishing other people’s books. This studio is my books and people that I’m working with. I don’t see myself doing that anytime soon, although I have come pretty close to it. It could just be that I’m a control freak and I can’t hand one of my things to somebody else. [Laughs]

Let’s talk about the books that fall under the Giant Generator umbrella. March’s “Black Science” #29 brings the current arc to a close, and then it looks like the series comes back after only a two-month gap.

Yeah, we had a little slowdown because Matteo injured his arm significantly. He’s gone through an operation and had some ligaments replaced, so he’s back up and running. Not at full speed, but he is sort of an inhuman monster of perfect and fast pages even when he’s injured. At this point, he’s done half of issue #29. #30 wraps the sixth volume.

Speaking to your question about the other books is the way Grant and the cast in “Black Science” can meet the cast of the other books. This is something I’ve got worked into the next arc and am pretty excited about. A way for me to get Led and Debbie form “Tokyo Ghost” or Bethany Black from “Strange Girl” out of retirement for a bit.

We recently slowed things down and dealt with character development, they are now in pretty terrible situations, which I like. Starting around issue #29 though I put my foot back on the gas and the next 12 issues will very much resemble the first six issues in that it’s a huge outline condensed, boiled down, and crammed into a smaller space. It’s going to be very fast and full of action. So for these last 12 issues I wanted to try and reduce the gap between the shipping of arcs. We’re going to do what we can and hopefully ship them all in a bit over a year. That’s our goal, anyway.

March’s “Deadly Class” #27 comes in the fallout of one of the series biggest reveals: Marcus and Maria are still alive. How did it feel to finally reveal those characters’ fates?

EXCLUSIVE: Cover art for “Deadly Class” #28

It felt good. It was a hard decision, though. I had two outlines written, and I had gone back and forth repeatedly on which way to go. Maria was going to come back in either one. Then in one outline I kept Marcus dead and the other one I brought him back. In order to make the decision, I literally had to write both outlines and see what each of them did. [Laughs]

Once I had done that, I negotiated it with Wes and I negotiated with our editor, Sebastian Girner. I also spent a lot of time talking with my screen writing partner on the “Deadly Class” TV show, Miles Feldsott. Miles was very passionate about the return of Marcus. His passion, and the other debates, convinced me to go the road where Marcus comes back, and I think we made the right decision.

It was also nice to see the reaction people had when the book came out. I think it came out at a time when there wasn’t a whole lot of good news, and “Deadly Class” in particular is not the most cheery book. Our loyal readers, who have been passionate about the series, stuck with us, and turned our book into such a hit, needed some good news, especially since we had taken things down into the depths of darkness. Getting that burst of good news seemed to make people pretty happy.

“Low” also returns in March with issue #16, which is the start of a new arc. What do you want people to know about this new story and the book’s return?

We’re at a point in the story where things seemed rather hopeless. Now is the fun of getting to see if there’s a way through to the light, and to find out what it is that they’re exactly contending with since we saw some terrifying new villain types show up in issue #15.

As we were moving into this, Greg Tocchini had an idea that I really fell in love with. He pitched an idea for issue #16 based on some of the things that we have coming up. We developed it together, he broke the outline with Seb, and then he went off and did it. So issue #16 is pure collaboration. It’s a jump into the past where we get to meet some new characters. We’ll also seem some familiar faces, and something that will play a big role moving forward in where were going with the story.

A lot of Greg’s pages are almost fully ink wash painted with Dave McCaig coming in and doing his magic thing. It’s one of the most beautiful issues we’ve had to date. We spend this whole arc in the City of Salus before we return to the surface and see what happens to Stel.

In April, “Seven to Eternity” returns for its second arc with issue #5. I thought the first arc moved at a highly satisfying and brisk pace. What can you tell us about this new arc?

EXCLUSIVE: Art from “Deadly Class” #27

I allowed myself to keep the pace of the first arc slower and grounded in character. Ultimately, I wanted to tell a story that didn’t rocket past everything. It’s been a joy to write this way.

The thing about working with somebody as brilliant as Jerome is that every page he draws takes him three days. That can be somewhat daunting in that you want to make sure that every single page is worth his time in visuals and action. I really had to pull myself away and ignore the fact that Jerome was going to take 10 months to draw these issues. The way I did that was, I wrote it all at once. I started writing “Seven to Eternity” a ways back, and I wrote all of the first 16 issues in one big go, and now the mighty Opena is slowly producing it. We are also bringing in some very talented friends to do origin stories and side adventures to round out the world. News on that soon.

What we see when we come back in issue #5 is the Mosak and Adam Osidis are on the road trying to take the Mud King to the wizard Torga so she can disconnect him from all of the people he has insinuated himself into. The fun of it is, issue #5 in particular is just part of the journey, but the journey allows me to go hog wild crazy in fantasy town. I get to make up new villains, new cities, and just see Jerome cut loose. [Laughs] Jerome and I like to do cinematic, fluid, widescreen action sequences, and I think that “Seven to Eternity” #5 has the best one we’ve ever done as our characters meet a new villain, another child of the Mud King.

What really surprised me about that first arc is, we meet the series’ big, seemingly all-powerful villain — and then he’s suddenly in the custody of your heroes, and the book becomes a prisoner transport story.

I’m glad that turn surprised you and hopefully hooked you. That was the turn I was going to open on, but ultimately I decided we needed to spend a couple of issues with the characters and the backstory. Then it would be surprising when that happened as opposed to just opening up with that. I struggled with where to open the book, but hearing what you just said and talking to some other people at the signing I did last week tells me it was a satisfying and unexpected turn that sets up a new situation.

You’ll be announcing a new book at Emerald City Comic Con that we’ll talk more in depth about in another piece, but any interest in revisiting the worlds of some of your older books to tell new stories?

We still talk about more “Tokyo Ghost.” Like I said, I have the next story outlined, and I know what it is. Sean is super busy over in Batman town. So I need to find someone who can follow Sean. I had someone lined up, but it’s going to be a style shift no matter which way we go. I would still like to get to that and I know the story would be pretty satisfying.

Finally, what can you tell us about the progress of your books that are being adapted for film and television?

EXCLUSIVE: Cover art for “Low” #19

“The Last Days of American Crime” adaptation got pretty far. We had F. Gary Gray directing and Sam Worthington starring in it at one point. So I almost got to see that made before it all crumbled in front of me. [Laughs] I’m told that iteration is dead, but they are working on some new angles for the project.

“Deadly Class” is a little further than that in terms of the pieces that are in place. We recently turned in a new draft to the Russo Brothers. We’ve been wrenching on it with them our incredible show runner Adam Targum for a bit now and they’re notes are crazy, insightful. I’ve been working on this pilot with Miles for quite some time so it’s very easy to become snow blind where you’ve rewritten outlines and scenes so many times that you might not be aware of where they’re working and where they’re not working. The team we have producing are ensuring what we do it working, and I genuinely think that it is. The screenplay is many magnitudes better because of their contributions. We’re one to two drafts away from taking the screenplay to the network. We haven’t announced the network yet where it landed. Then we find out if they’re going to pull the trigger on it.

It’s exciting, but it’s also terrifying, because I’ve dumped so much of my time and love into it that if they’re like, “No thanks” I’m going to want to run off to the woods and hide in a cave for three years. [Laughs] Here’s to hoping. I’d have to eventually come back from my cave and get back to work as we have some incredibly exciting stuff happening with “Low,” “Fear Agent” and “Black Science” as well. Fingers crossed.

The post INTERVIEW: Remender Talks New Studio, Comic Work Update appeared first on CBR.com.

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