CHUK CHRONICLES #11
Interviews! Reviews! Previews! A new TV show! More store visits! A cancellation. And after all that... a race to the edge!
Perhaps you're a friend, a fan or even a foe. Wherever our paths have crossed, welcome to the Chuk Chronicles – my newsletter keeping the world-at-large up-to-speed with my comics, books, TV episodes and other writing. Much to share this time. Lots of coverage, as well as a tantalizing preview of my next project and a big announcement for the TV show I’ve been working on. Let’s get into it…
Since last time, Don Quixote's new, weird sojourn has gone far and wide, and I've been his herald, singing the señor's praises high and low. Which is to say I've done a bunch of fun interviews and we're getting some rapturous reviews. The comic’s still available over at Kypsel right this very moment, of course, but if you still need some persuading...
We also got a nice endorsement from the Guardians of the Galaxy’s co-creator…
“Clash of the Classics : Don Quixote Fights War of the Worlds… is awesome. The mash-up you never knew you needed!” — Andy Lanning
While the Classics press tour has sallied forth, the Remember Andy Xenon? sales tour has been soldiering on, too. With some careful planning (and some creative packing), I managed to bring a lot of copies with me on some recent trips and fit some more door-to-door store visits in. Proud to say that Andy's being carried in 15 more stores, now! (New ones in red)
This has continued to be one of the best experiences. I’ve explored the comic shop landscape more than I ever would’ve been able to before, and what I’ve seen has been so encouraging. Meeting everybody above and talking about Andy with them, face-to-face, feels like the real fulfillment to all those months, toiling away at home, striving to make a comic that might entertain some people.
I appreciate every retailer that’s tried Andy out, but what’s maybe been even cooler are the times when customers in these stores have perked their ears while I was still pitching the comic to the staff… and stepped in wanting to buy a signed copy, then and there. I’d say the book was flying off the shelves, but sometimes it didn’t even have a chance to get on the shelf first!
I’ve made new friends and fans, and collected lots of good “road stories,” and I think the tour has come to its thrilling conclusion. What’s next? A return to the start, of course...
As I alluded to in a previous newsletter, I was invited onto the Write Stuff (the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program podcast) to talk about Andy Xenon‘s creative process. And I mean the entire process. The episode is a solid hour, delving as deep into my mind as most psyches can handle. My thanks to the show’s producer for editing my stream of conscience answers into an intelligible NPR-style monologue.
It’s up on Spotify and Apple, and if my thoughts on comics craft sound sensible, you may be interested to know I’m scheduled to teach a four-day workshop on writing comics for Extension next February at UCLA’s Westwood campus.
Here’s something else I’ve hinted at in newsletters past and can now at last share…
Nine PBS just launched Drawn In, which I’m a staff writer on. Real excited to introduce these kids to the world. Lion Forge Animation has done such a nice job bringing them to life, as well as the worlds of the comics they’re reading. I’ve gone on about how magical comic shops have felt during my tour, and in this show, a comic shop really is an Imaginarium. Characters leap right out of the pages and panels, which tends to make some mayhem in the real world, so it’s up to this quartet above to corral them back.
Right now, there’s a pretty spiffy web presence for the show – one site full of fun stuff for kids and one that gets more into the technical/educational side for grown-ups.
I’ve done a lot of work for Lion Forge over the years, but this is the first project that’s hit the air, so it brings a few things full-circle for me. See, when I was a kid myself, scouring the dictionary, hunting for the meanings of strange, new words I'd just encountered in a comic was a frequent occurrence. Here, the fate of the world actually hangs on such searches, which fits perfectly to me. The season’s only just started, but episodes will keep streaming on the show’s site, so stay tuned.
I’ve lately been calling myself a “man of duality” in bios, which seems the best way to describe how I go from sunny family entertainment to macabre action-thrillers, like the following…
It’s a little early, but I couldn’t keep this to myself any longer. Here’s another project I’ve been teasing, and I hope my batting record today assures everybody that I’ll make good on properly unveiling it when the time comes.
So, as mentioned before, Nikos and I have a rather big and ambitious follow-up to Clash and Andy in the works. Scripts are all done, and I'm doing another pass on them, having collected feedback from a "secret council” of friends, while Nikos has been drawing sample pages.
Whether I’ve been selling Andy on the road or talking up Clash to interviewers, Nikos’ eye-popping art always makes a profound impression before I even need to say what the story’s about. As you can see above, he’s using an energetic new coloring style here with a lot of painterly texture and gestures. I’ve seen much more than this little peek, and I know he’s really going to bowl people over.
We’re finding a home for this currently, but you’ll learn what this big, scary sphinx’s deal is soon enough. I promise.
A Paused Project
Even a solid batting record still has some strikes. Unfortunately, another comics project I teased before has been indefinitely halted. I was paid for the writing I did, and was just settling into a good working rhythm with the staff, but the company needed to press the breaks to prioritize other projects. Alas.
I've seen "icebergs" referred to lately in internet parlance, and the analogy definitely fits my own CV. Every so often, when I back up my hard drive, I'll go through my folders and see all the writing I've done - TV bibles, treatments, teleplays, comics scripts – which was paid for but never produced. All of it still lying submerged under the surface. As mentioned, I’ve actually done a lot of work for Lion Forge that’s still in varying stages of development. That’s the nature of the business.
Would've been cool to see this particular series, through. I was especially curious to see how its integration with some new tech would play out. If it ever gets un-paused, I'll be eager to hop back in. But for now, I got to have some fun for a while, which is already a net positive, even if nobody gets to see it.
One last thing, now, covering a little of my life outside of writing…
Here’s me after the Super Spartan Race in Lestec. 25 obstacles over six miles in 43° winds - and dozens of grimaces like this to go around. I’m probably carrying about ten pounds of mud on me here, and am about ten seconds away from collapsing.
I say I’ve ruined a lot of hobbies by turning them into jobs, so obstacle races remain one of the few things I do solely for fun. I’ve run 20+ Spartans, from the 5k Sprint to the half-marathon Beast, and was about to run one in San Luis Obispo in March 2020 when it was cancelled, two days before lockdowns began. I actually ran this Super with a long-dormant credit from that, which made the experience more poignant.
Anyway, my times are always terrible. As I type this, my body’s spotted with a polka dot spread of bruises. So, why do I do these? I want to say it offers exercise goals to work toward beyond just “general fitness,” but I’ve yet to properly train for one. So, I guess I’ll attribute it to a childhood where watching American Gladiators, Gutz, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Funhouse and Double Dare irreparably conditioned me to obstacle courses. My other hobby lately has been escape rooms, so there’s a pattern for sure.
Whatever it is, I keep coming back. I even made Ben 10 go through a race like this. I’ve said one appeal is that these races are totally removed from my work, but then racers dressed in Spider-Man and Captain America-themed Under Armor pass by me and I realize there’s no escape. The whole enterprise is inspired by a Frank Miller comic, after all, so that was probably the case from the beginning.
I just signed up for the Sprint in Santa Clarita, so the madness continues.
The Chuk Chronicles will be back soon, and Tips & Tricks will return, too. If you have any writing questions, thoughts on my work, or bon mots, shoot me a message. You might get answered here. Next time, I’ll get into a really useful book about comics-making and share an unexpectedly formative moment for me as a writer in middle-school. Catch you then.