Hello again, readers. I wanted to take this time to let you know what was up with our site, and more specifically, what's the hold up with the status of the Spiritman comic for those of you who may be wondering when we're going to get something up there beyond page 9.
I'm Scott and I write the comic. I've written the story for the first issue and I've nearly completed the second. Actually, I have completed the story, but I need to do some final tweaking and formatting and such. There's a process that needs to take place so Paul, the illustrator, knows what to draw and not just what's being said.
Which leads us to what's behind the slow down: The illustrations. It's all that lazy artist's fault. Not mine.
No. I'm just kidding. (About the "lazy" part. The "not my fault" part I guard jealously. Heh, heh.) For those of you who have been checking up on our site from time to time in the last few weeks, you've noticed some changes to the site that, as biased as I am, have made the site a thousand percent better. It's not just cleaner and better looking, but more substance has been added to the sister site, Gorillahead. The illustrator, Paul, has been behind all of that. If you get a chance, go ahead and shoot him an e-mail of appreciation for his efforts. This is truly a labor of love and he's done a great job so far. So, in reality, I'm just the lazy writer. He's the penciler/editor/inker/colorer/web designer/Grand Poobah/naptime officiator/monkey wrencher/toilet paper supplier/Psych watcher/daddy to two girls/action-figure player (they're not dolls)/karate wannabe. And sometimes all at the same time. He da man.
But I wanted to let you know that this is why the Spiritman comic was temporarily put on hold. Now that he feels the site is fully functioning the way he likes, he's once again drawing Spiritman. The last thing he told me was that he's made thumbnail sketches of the rest of the comic in order to make sure the flow is what he wants, and he's working on the next page. I wish I could give you a definite time line for each page to be on the site, and I know he wishes that too. If either of us is ever able to give you that information, we surely will do so. For right now, we've got to tell you that new pages will be added asap.
And for those of you who are new to this site, you may be wondering what's up with Gorillahead anyway? Spiritman is our ministry. It's what we feel God has led us to do at this point. Gorillahead is Paul's original site. He's been drawing, working online, going to comic cons, and the like for over ten years now and Gorillahead is a collection of assorted things that he's worked on in the past. So over at Gorillahead, you can view Paul's earlier work.
At the moment, we're considering the two separate but related entities. Spiritman is for one purpose and Gorillahead currently is more of a potpourri of anything that falls into the category "other." Maybe you'll see just a one-sheet poster over there with a single day's inspiration that Paul felt he wanted to draw. Maybe a short, silly story of some kind will show up one day. We're all inspired to do many things that don't necessarily have a nice, neat place to put them. Gorillahead is currently where you'll find stuff like that. That might change someday, but that's what it is now. My personal favorite of what's over there now is a comic called Lordamus written by a Chester Johnson whom I've never had the chance to meet. It's a good story and I suggest you check it out if you've got the opportunity.
Anyway, that's about it. I just wanted to let you know that the site's been updated, we're working on Spiritman (and by "we" I mean "Paul"), and Gorillahead has more than just Spiritman in it for those who would like to check out the fun extras. Unfortunately, I can only tell you the purpose of the Gorillahead site. I can't tell you why Paul came up with that name. Well, I could, but then I'd have to kill you. But feel free to ask Paul about it. He's under no such constraints. :)
Have fun
Scott A Snyder
Thoughts from Scott A. Snyder and Everett Paul Burris, the creators of Spiritman Comics. Read our comic book at www.spiritmancomics.com.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Not THAT Scott Snyder. Starting up for the first time again
Hi there. I'm a writer and so I tend to be a bit wordy. As this is my introductory blog, this will be a little longer than most I'll add from now on. Sorry about that. I'll generally try to keep these short after this one.
My name is Scott Snyder, but if you're familiar with comic books already, you need to know that I'm not THAT Scott Snyder. I haven't written for Batman, or anything else for that matter. I'm new to the comic book world. Maybe I'll change my name to a pseudonym, or maybe I'll just start using my middle initial or something. But for now, just know that the Spiritman writer and the Batman writer are two different people.
Spiritman, I guess you could say, is my creation. But I don't really see it that way. When I was a teen, I loved superheroes. (I still do. Spidey's my main guy.) But I also knew that even though they had special abilities, they were still just fallible, messed up, imperfect people who needed God as much as the rest of us. What if there was a superhero that honored God in all that he did? This, combined with the armor of God in Ephesians, was the seed that began Spiritman. When I was fifteen, he was more of a guy in tights who fought wild super-villainish type of characters. He was a "SHAZAM-ish" type of character in that he was a young boy who became this spiritual warrior when needed.
I met Mr. Everett Paul Burris in Junior High. He liked my idea for Spiritman and had a few ideas of his own for different characters and separate stories. I was a writer, he was an artist, it made for a beautiful comic book match. We and some friends started to work on this comic and other comics back then but could never get anything off the ground.
Then we went our separate ways after high school, keeping in touch here and there. I forgot about Spiritman. Or rather, I set the character aside as a high school dream that didn't happen and most likely now wouldn't. And then, lo and behold, Paul (I've always called him by his middle name) calls me up out of the blue and says that he's been inspired to begin Spiritman again. He asked me if I'd write the stories. I jumped at the chance, so here I am.
I've gotta tell you, it feels weird. Even though I'm technically the creator, it doesn't feel like my baby, and that's a good thing. It keeps me humble. I would never have done this if Paul hadn't called me up and asked me to be involved, so in my mind, Paul's the main force behind this particular effort and I'm tagging in whenever he needs me. But beyond that, I know that God's the source of all of it. I met a movie director a few years back who told me something that has stuck with me ever since. He said, "Never forget, you're only the pen. God is the hand at work. You're His instrument." And so I like this feeling that I'm not really the guy in charge, because in truth I'm not. My promise to you, the reader, is that I will do my best not to write, but rather to dictate what I feel He's laying on my heart. That's difficult to do and I know I won't always succeed, but I'll try.
And I think it's cool to see that the character of Spiritman has changed as I've changed. Life experiences, growth in wisdom and in biblical studies, all sorts of things have adjusted who I am, and thus who Spiritman will be on the page. He is now a spiritual being standing side-by-side with his physical counterpart rather than replacing him. Super-villains have been replaced by more realistic bad guys creating real-world problems. The kids and others in the story deal with their own fears and insecurities as much or more than any villainous threat. And in all of it, the spiritual realm takes center stage much more often than before. Spiritman is a wiser, more experienced character with less of a superhero's bravado and more of a soldier's serious demeanor. I believe this is a good thing, but I'll see like the rest of you how this character turns out.
It already amazes me how much God has worked in my life to get me here. For several years, I've been writing plays; not novels, not critical reviews, not biographies, but plays. For those of you who don't know, there is absolutely NO market for full length theatrical plays with a solidly Christian theme. The theatrical world doesn't want them, and churches only want 5-minute skits and kids stuff. So why did God lay it on my heart to write them? I believe in part it was because of what I'm doing now. A play, like a comic, for a writer, is dialogue intensive. Vivid description of the action is useless because it will be revealed to the viewer through something other than language. In a play, the set decorates and the actors perform. In a comic, the artist reveals. So, in some ways, I've been practicing to write this comic for a long time.
I'm waiting to see, just like the rest of you, what the artist who formed the universe is going to do through this. It's cool, isn't it?
Scott (Hope that wasn't too long.)
My name is Scott Snyder, but if you're familiar with comic books already, you need to know that I'm not THAT Scott Snyder. I haven't written for Batman, or anything else for that matter. I'm new to the comic book world. Maybe I'll change my name to a pseudonym, or maybe I'll just start using my middle initial or something. But for now, just know that the Spiritman writer and the Batman writer are two different people.
Spiritman, I guess you could say, is my creation. But I don't really see it that way. When I was a teen, I loved superheroes. (I still do. Spidey's my main guy.) But I also knew that even though they had special abilities, they were still just fallible, messed up, imperfect people who needed God as much as the rest of us. What if there was a superhero that honored God in all that he did? This, combined with the armor of God in Ephesians, was the seed that began Spiritman. When I was fifteen, he was more of a guy in tights who fought wild super-villainish type of characters. He was a "SHAZAM-ish" type of character in that he was a young boy who became this spiritual warrior when needed.
I met Mr. Everett Paul Burris in Junior High. He liked my idea for Spiritman and had a few ideas of his own for different characters and separate stories. I was a writer, he was an artist, it made for a beautiful comic book match. We and some friends started to work on this comic and other comics back then but could never get anything off the ground.
Then we went our separate ways after high school, keeping in touch here and there. I forgot about Spiritman. Or rather, I set the character aside as a high school dream that didn't happen and most likely now wouldn't. And then, lo and behold, Paul (I've always called him by his middle name) calls me up out of the blue and says that he's been inspired to begin Spiritman again. He asked me if I'd write the stories. I jumped at the chance, so here I am.
I've gotta tell you, it feels weird. Even though I'm technically the creator, it doesn't feel like my baby, and that's a good thing. It keeps me humble. I would never have done this if Paul hadn't called me up and asked me to be involved, so in my mind, Paul's the main force behind this particular effort and I'm tagging in whenever he needs me. But beyond that, I know that God's the source of all of it. I met a movie director a few years back who told me something that has stuck with me ever since. He said, "Never forget, you're only the pen. God is the hand at work. You're His instrument." And so I like this feeling that I'm not really the guy in charge, because in truth I'm not. My promise to you, the reader, is that I will do my best not to write, but rather to dictate what I feel He's laying on my heart. That's difficult to do and I know I won't always succeed, but I'll try.
And I think it's cool to see that the character of Spiritman has changed as I've changed. Life experiences, growth in wisdom and in biblical studies, all sorts of things have adjusted who I am, and thus who Spiritman will be on the page. He is now a spiritual being standing side-by-side with his physical counterpart rather than replacing him. Super-villains have been replaced by more realistic bad guys creating real-world problems. The kids and others in the story deal with their own fears and insecurities as much or more than any villainous threat. And in all of it, the spiritual realm takes center stage much more often than before. Spiritman is a wiser, more experienced character with less of a superhero's bravado and more of a soldier's serious demeanor. I believe this is a good thing, but I'll see like the rest of you how this character turns out.
It already amazes me how much God has worked in my life to get me here. For several years, I've been writing plays; not novels, not critical reviews, not biographies, but plays. For those of you who don't know, there is absolutely NO market for full length theatrical plays with a solidly Christian theme. The theatrical world doesn't want them, and churches only want 5-minute skits and kids stuff. So why did God lay it on my heart to write them? I believe in part it was because of what I'm doing now. A play, like a comic, for a writer, is dialogue intensive. Vivid description of the action is useless because it will be revealed to the viewer through something other than language. In a play, the set decorates and the actors perform. In a comic, the artist reveals. So, in some ways, I've been practicing to write this comic for a long time.
I'm waiting to see, just like the rest of you, what the artist who formed the universe is going to do through this. It's cool, isn't it?
Scott (Hope that wasn't too long.)
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