BCM Blog

We get by with a little help from our friends...

As Obama attempts to discuss health care this past week,  and as the media decides to focus on other news instead,  I find it sadly ironic that yet another artist's plight for covering expensive medical costs has found it way to internet awareness.  

Joel Ostrander, well know author to comic books including Batman, Bishop, Blackhawk, Captain Atom, Catwoman, Deadshot, Doctor Who, Dynamo Joe, Elfquest, Eternal Warrior, Firestorm, GrimJack, Hawkman, Justice League, Heroes For Hire, The Kents, Legends, Magnus Robot Fighter, Martian Manhunter, Munden’s Bar, The Punisher, Quicksilver, Rai, Spectre, Starslayer, Star Wars, Suicide Squad, Warp, Wasteland, Wolverine, and X-Men suffers from Glaucoma.  Recent surgeries to help save his eyesight have exceeded the coverage allotted to him from his insurance company. 

The website comix4sight.com explains further:

John recently under went a surgical procedure called Glaucoma Filtration Surgery (trabeculectomy). The surgery is a treatment when medications cannot lower eye pressure enough. Excess interior fluid in the eye or pressure erodes the optic nerve – that's basically what glaucoma does. Over the past several decades, John had grown resistant or allergic to some of the meds he had been taking that have kept the pressure down. This site helps explain the procedure and this is a good general site about glaucoma itself.

As of now, the surgeries have been deemed a strong but tentative success for John. Unfortunately, like so many Americans, John’s rather expensive health insurance didn’t cover all the costs of saving his eyesight… not even near. The procedure was done in Boston and required two separate week-long trips to Boston, as well as repeated follow-up trips to track his progress and make adjustments.

John was aware that he could not afford the surgeries on his own; that’s when we, his friends and family in the comic book field, decided we had to do something to help. Too often in the comics world we find ourselves holding events after we’ve lost a creator who has given us so many years of joy. Now we have a chance to help one before its too late- after all it would be terribly hard for John to write dialog for pages he cannot see.

I know what you might be thinking.  It's just glaucoma, it's just his eyesight, this isn't life or death.  But as I sit here completely void of health insurance of  any kind and like so many Americans struggling to pay the bills through my art form, I can't help but consider how incredibly shit out of luck I would be if I developed a medical condition of any kind, and how incredibly grateful I would feel if those who listened to my music pitched in and donated anything to help out should a medical condition of this large a scope be in my (unlucky) cards. 

I think we can all agree America's health care system needs a major overhaul though we may disagree on how that should be done.  Few of us have the pocketbook to just hand out money to those in need and I dare say most of us have opinions on who is worthy of such donations.  I know I do.  I don't give money to those begging on the subway or on the corner of my block.  I don't sponsor a child in Africa and I have regrettably not participated in many friend's attempts to raise money for various cancer and related illnesses. I have no idea if I've ever actually read anything by John Ostrander, but as some who reads comic books in general, and as an artist struggling to make a living with my art, this cause struck me as one truly in need of my measly $5 .  I can't help everyone and I know you can't either.  I leave it up to you, without judgment, to decide if this is a cause worthy of your few dollars. 

Many thanks to Gail Simone whose repeated Tweets regarding this fundraiser convinced me to put this cause in my "worthy" pile.

Eurisko Interview

Argentina is on my short list of places to visit in the near future. 

But for the time being, I'll have to settle for having Argentinian friends.  I have never met Pablo Javier Frizan in person but we have enjoyed lively internet banter about our favorite geeky topic: comics.  Pablo runs several blogs, none of which I can read due to my shameful inability to understand the Spanish language. 

But Pablo promised me one post in English, and that is an interview with yours truly!  Pablo asks me questions about how comic books play a role in my compositions as well as philosophical discussion about whether or not superheroes really exist.

Check it out here.

Thanks, Pablo! ;)

Secret Six: Cheshire

Cheshire has always been one of my favorite villainesses. 

I loved her in the Birds of Prey Sensei and Student story-arc and I was very excited to see her as a member of the Secret Six in Villains United.  Definitely one of my favorites, she was pretty easy to conceive a leitmotif for. 

My first step in brainstorming a character's leitmotif, or theme, is to make a list of adjectives describing that character.  Usually this starts off pretty generic ("evil" or "beautiful" ) but I try to dig deeper by imagining what this character cries about when under the influence and not garnered by inhibition.  I then make a play-list of songs that express a similar aesthetic to what  I am aiming to express with the arrangement and orchestration of the leitmotif.  Instrumentation usually comes easily as most character traits can be stereotyped by instruments.

In Cheshire's case, a few adjectives I used include: seductive, disloyal, manipulative, self-serving, burned, approval-seeking, lonely, martial-arts-bad-ass (2nd only to Lady Shiva as far as villainesses go). 

So far I've only really come across 3 songs that have the aesthetic I'm going for and really just one: Billy Strayhorn's "Chelsea Bridge."  I've also listened to Charles Mingus's "Celia" as played by the Mingus Big Band as well as Fiona Apple's "Not About Love."  Any suggestions of similar songs- something almost tragic, or wailing/screaming, slow & seductive- are greatly welcomed.

The decision to use to the alto sax was not a hard one.  Mainly because I hear Johnny Hodges playing his long, drawn-out scoops as an equivalent to the sex appeal I believe Cheshire uses to manipulate.  Plus to me, alto sax is a feminine, yet strong , bad-ass instrument (as opposed to the feminine, more delicate flute or masculine tenor sax). 

Here is the leitmotif I came up with, with accompaniment, kept simple, played by the midi piano:

  Very short and to the point, but in need of some expansion.  In my original orchestration, I included an 8 bar B section with open trumpet solo.  The idea, I think, was to reference Deadshot's pursuance of Cheshire (in Villains United), but now that I think about it, did Deadshot pursue her? Didn't Cheshire and Catman hook up and Deadshot go after Scandal? I must admit, I don't remember and really need to pick up the trade as my original issues are buried deep on my comics shelf.  Regardless, the trumpet solo did not work. 

What I strive for in this rewrite, is not so much a redo of Cheshire's theme, but to take out the trumpet solo and expand upon her theme within the brass. I'm also adding a french horn into the mix as I'm trying to make that part of my standard instrumentation.  I don't want this song to go too long; none of these vignettes should longer than 3-4 minutes.  Again, just glimpses into their lives a la Lorne. 

Here's the original recording:

Dustin Cicero (alto sax) nails what I'm going for, but as you can hear, the trumpet solo is lacking and the overall length is too long as the song drags.  I need to expand the melody and trim the solo.  I'm definitely going to add more backgrounds behind the solo. Perhaps I should go into double time? Suggestions welcomed!

Basically (as I alluded to before) what I see when I hear this in my head is this:  Cheshire standing on Lorne's stage, dressed to the nines, hair falling across her eye, bolting out a slow, heartbreaking song with a deep voice a la Fiona Apple, with perhaps Johnny Hodges standing to her side, filling in her silences with slow, scoopy screams, the smoky room unable to turn their eyes away, Cheshire completely aware of this, ready to manipulate anyone she thinks can be advantageous to her.  Very 1930's, very film noir.

To achieve this I need what, dear reader? Please give me your perspective of Cheshire.  Let me know what songs you associate with her, and what you would expect to feel if you were Lorne and could read her as she sung in your karaoke bar.  I'll take your suggestions and in a month or so, have a reading of the revised music and will report back with recordings and maybe a little video. 

Thank you, in advance, for being a part of this creative process!

So a priest, a rabbi, and the Secret Six walk into a bar...

Actually, forget the priest and the rabbi, and lets make that a karaoke bar.

Lorne's karaoke bar, "Caritas" to be exact, and you the listener have Lorne's incredible ability to read the aura, feelings, emotions, past and future of anyone who braves the mic. 

After a few courage-inducing rounds, each member of the Secret Six take their turn singing their favorite 80's power ballad.   With each musical performance, you the listener feel something new for each villain, an ounce of compassion perhaps, an intellectual respect or perhaps a deeper, more profound fear. 

This, I recently realized, is how I am approaching my Secret Six (formerly called Villain's United) rewrite. 

I've been focusing on Cheshire and found myself explaining her leitmotiv as a smoky bar, Cheshire on a small stage wearing a sexy, black (or green) dress, singing seductively into the mic a la Jessica Rabbit.  I realized I was picturing Lorne's bar "Caritas" (I've been watching a lot of Angel recently!) and then it hit home what exactly I was trying to do with this suite.  I want the listener, upon hearing the BCJO play one of these vignettes, to have a new understanding of the character in the same way Lorne can "read" a person who sings. 

A lofty, albeit geeky goal and completely abstract way to go about composition.  But it excites me and I appreciate any inspiration I can find towards the masochistic task of composing. 

So tell me, fellow geek, what qualities or insights should be musically expressed? And more importantly, what power-ballad would each Secret Six villain sing at Lorne's karaoke bar?

Let's start with Cheshire...

Identity Crisis

These past 6 months I've had a bit of an Identity Crisis. 

Not a Brad Meltzer kind of crisis, thank goodness, but more of a I-don't-know-what-kind-of-composer-I-am crisis.  Not really a crisis at all, more just a lack of clarity in direction.  I started working on new tunes inspired by my trip to Australia last August and found I couldn't seem to write anything except that exact same thing over and over.  I felt, and still feel to some degree, torn between the classic styling of big band and the more modern, less swingy writing.  An identity crisis of sorts ensued and while I don't feel like expanding upon this just yet, I will say this: in an attempt to rediscover the passion and motivation I had for composing, I am going back to where it all began. 

(Sorta.) 

I am going back to Identity Crisis, to Ted Kord, to Infinite Crisis, and most specifically, Villains United.  That is to say, I'm going back to comic books and my love of composing programmatic music. 

It all started for me with Ted Kord... Completely overwhelmed by the master's program at the Manhattan School of Music (I never tire of telling this story!) , I found relief, and subsequently inspiration in Countdown to Infinite Crisis and the many mini-series that followed.   Till this day, the tunes inspired by B-listers (or maybe even C-listers?) Ted Kord, Donna Troy, and Sasha Bordeaux remain my favorites in the BCJO book.

I was also struck by the IC side story, Villains United.  I really had little interest in this storyline until a friend talked me into reading it, thinking I'd be interested in it because a woman wrote it.  I knew nothing of Gail Simone at the time but have since come to consider her an inspiration of the highest order.  Not only did I love VU (and found myself slightly embarrassed to be so attracted to Catman!), I became a Birds of Prey fanatic and a life long Gail Simone fan-girl. 

In 2006, as part of my senior recital at MSM, I attempted to write a suite around Villains United.  I basically composed musical character sketches for each member of the Secret Six.  While I had a lot of fun conceiving sounds and motifs for each character, I was never completely happy with the end result.  In fact, I have only kept four of the original seven movements in the BCJO book.  I've always intended to return to this suite and rewrite it.  Now, I think, is the time.

I have grand plans for this rewrite.  Not only do I hope to do the original characters justice, I plan to update the suite with the newest members of the Secret Six in Gail Simone's current run.  And this time, I do not want to do it alone.  I want YOUR help!  

The idea is this:  As I go about rewriting each character, I want feedback from you.  What words would you use to describe each villain? If you had to chose a song to represent each character, what would it be? And most importantly, as I post clips and readings of the work in progress, I want to know if you agree with my point of view.  Jazzers out there, I invite your feedback too, especially in the old school/new school arenas of big band writing.  I tend to write too diatonic; interference is welcomed. 

The new work will be (re)premiered in September, at the BCJO's next gig at the Brooklyn Lyceum.  Hopefully with the help of fan-boys and girls & jazzers everywhere, the Secret Six will not be misrepresented! 

Road Crew Rocks!

(click picture to enlarge it so you can actually read it-
for some reason I couldn't get blogger to make it bigger)

Don't you love it when worlds collide creating perfect harmony?! Ok, maybe I'm little jacked on coffee this morning but really, this web comic is awesome!

Based in Ireland, Tommie Kelly posts a new comic every day chronicling the adventures and mishaps of a rock band from the perspective of a sound guy. A veteran sound guy himself, Kelly's experiences ring true in the comic and any one else who has ever been in a band can appreciate his humor.

Explore his website, roadcrewcomic.com and catch up on the back issues. Also check out this interview here or follow him on Twitter at @RoadCrew.

Wednesday Motivators: Jill " Nerdy Bird " Pantozzi

Meet Jill. aka The Nerdy Bird. She runs a fantastic blog called Has Boobs Reads Comics that entertains us with bits on comics, movies, gaming and all things geek in addition to contributing to Comic Book Resources and the Girls Entertainment Network. She's also a advocate for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and is raising money for this month's MDA Stride & Ride. Check out her cause here then help her out with a donation here or here.

DT: How long have you been collecting?

About three years now. I've always been a superhero fan but didn't actually start reading comics until then.

DT: What do you collect currently?

Most of DC's titles actually, though I've had to cut back recently to save money. Fables, House of Mystery, Mouse Guard, Locke & Key, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doctor Who, Wormwood. There's more, they're just not coming to me at the moment.

DT: Personal fav?

That's a really tough question. I guess I'd have to say Fables or Buffy because they've both been consistently good since they began in my opinion. Though anything with Batman in it is a constant contender.

DT: Fav author? Artist?

Damn, another tough one! I really can't pick just one. Geoff Johns, Gail Simone and Warren Ellis for authors. Adam Hughes, David Petersen, James Jean, and Ivan Reis for artists.

DT: Do you shop at the same place every week?

I used to, until my last comic shop closed. I have since found another regular place.

DT: Why/Why not?

I think it's important to have loyalty to your local shop. Plus, it's nice to have the Wednesday routine you know? I've found a great store with wonderful owners and employees so why would I go anywhere else? The quickest way for a store to lose customers is to have an attitude. I'd rather go out of my way to a store with nice people in it than to one around the corner with jerks. If I'm on vacation or in another store for whatever reason I'll usually pick up a trade to, you know, "support the team."

DT: Do you prefer monthlies or trades?

Monthlies, hands down. Besides the fact that I write about comics and need to keep up to date with what's happening, I don't think I could stand NOT knowing what's going on from week to week. At least in my superhero comics. I like the whole package that comes with continuity stories. I guess you can compare it to television shows now. There's no way I'd be able to wait for the DVD of Lost Season 5 to see what happened with the Oceanic 6 just like I can't wait to see who's going to survive Blackest Night.

DT: Fav superhero movie?

I'm probably going to get a lot of flak for this one but, it's Supergirl. Yeah, 1984, Helen Slater, Peter O'Toole. I was two years old when it came out but it was the first superhero I was exposed to and it branded me for life. It was frightening for me as a child too. The invisible monster, the witch and the Phantom Zone! Holy crap, I was so scared of accidentally finding myself there! I don't know how old I was when I actually saw it but I dressed as her for Halloween in Kindergarten and haven't looked back since. It was so great to see Helen Slater cast on Smallville.

DT: Why do you read?

It's a form of entertainment like anything else. Sure, I've been a superhero kind of kid forever and will always be but it's exciting to sink your teeth into this whole other world and escape for fifteen minutes at a time. I love to read and while I could read books like Harry Potter etc. over and over again, it's also great to have something new waiting for me to explore every week. It's fantastic seeing what creators' varying imaginations come up with.

DT: Why should I (or anyone) start reading again?

It's a great time to be a geek! For better or for worse, comic book movies have made it cool to like them. I remember in high school I didn't share my likes with many people because I thought I'd get made fun of. Now, forget about it! Comic conventions are all the rage and celebrities are praised for their comic "cred."

Besides that, they're just so much fun! And there's really something out there for everyone. I know a lot of people are intimidated by superhero comics because there is so much history there but it's really not that difficult to jump right in. If you already have a fondness for a certain character, Wikipedia can be a great resource for catching up on their past in just a few minutes. Or find a mini-series or trade that's not in continuity to help you get your feet wet.

If you aren't into superheroes there is so much out there. There's books based on tv or movies, books for little kids to enjoy and creator owned stories about people with no powers at all that are just, if not more, entertaining than the traditional heroes.

DT: And finally, who would win? Batman vs. Wonder Woman? Wonder Woman vs. Superman? Superman vs. Batman?

Batman for the first, but that would be a close one and I really wanted to say Wonder Woman. Have we ever actually seen a Batman vs. Wonder Woman fight? Batman is prepared for anything though so I'm sure he'd have shackles from Mount Olympus tucked away in his utility belt. For the record, I'm still waiting to see them get together. Second, definitely Wonder Woman. The third, Batman, no contest.

Jill as supergirl and a little older with Dan Didio.

Tiny Titans: Wonder Woman

by Joe Green

Via Amazon Princess.

Women, Refrigerators, and the Secret Six

Women are out of the refrigerator and joining them are every other gender-bending, cross-dressing, multi-colored, multi-oriented, so called "minority" of the comic book industry. At least as far as the newly ongoing Secret Six title by Gail Simone is concerned.

I definitely recognize that women have as of the last 10 years been one by one freed of their time sliced, diced, and stuffed in the refrigerator. I think the recent slew of strong, female characters in today's media is evidence of that. But it is also worth noting that following close on the coat tails of women's liberalization is that of the LGBT community. And this is in a large part thanks to writers such as Gail Simone who admit to not so much having a "gay rights" or "feminist" agenda in mind, but just writing what is true to each character without focusing on how the character is perceived.

Sigrid of FantasticFangirls.org expounds upon this in her recent essay "How to Kill a Refrigerator."

Secret Six has it all, then. Equal objectification of men and women. Violence, death, and maiming in equal measure. Gorgeous female antagonists, like Cheshire, and hideous ones such as Junior. Scheming male antagonists like Lex Luthor and weak, mad ones like the Hatter. When I, in 1993, envisioned feminist portrayals of women in popular culture, I must admit . . . this is just about what I had in mind. Variety. Good and bad, strong and weak, gorgeous and hideous, all in equal measure. Women as protagonists of their own stories in balance with supporting roles in the stories of others.

This is activism. Whether Ms. Simone wrote this in a deliberate attempt to foster gender equality or not — and, listening to interviews with her it’s not clear to me what her intentions were (other than to get Nicola Scott to draw a naked Catman) — really doesn’t matter. Activism, changing the world is not always done through manifestos and declamation. One can raise a question, one can take a stand, but once people agree that change is needed — well, people need to then make the change. Secret Six is, for my money, one of the best examples of a feminist vision of equality in mainstream superhero comics today. Script by script, panel by panel, Gail Simone is ending the dominant, hegemonic position of the Women in Refrigerators trope. This, this is how you kill a refrigerator.

Read the entire essay for detailed references, then read the comments where Gail herself posts a reply:

To me the answer to a lot of these questions is not so much promoting a feminist agenda, a gay agenda, or a ‘minority’ agenda…it is the promotion of a value neutral agenda, that where characters are given weight according to their story value, rather than perceived and tiresome axioms about ‘what the audience wants,’ due to decades-old assumptions.

If I write a character, I want it to be a character first, then the flavors second. I spend no time worrying about how a character might be perceived in regards to its gender, color and orientation, and that is intensely liberating. It’s why the current villain can be a cross-dressing female omnivorous sexual predator.

I think striving for equality in stories is a bit of a dead end. What works better for me is to not judge one character against another, and giving the characters the full potential they deserve (or lack thereof when they don’t). As a female myself, I don’t want women to all be super-capable and perfect, any more than most male readers want that of their own heroes. Even those who grouse and complain get bored pretty quickly when their heroes aren’t really challenged and tormented.

There's been a lot of talk about the importance of art especially in regards to funding, and lack thereof thanks to the current ecomomic crisis (and yes, I place the comic book industry into the arts column). There's been just as much talk about the rights of the LGBT community- the opposition to Prop 8, for one. This is when people need to recognize the importance of the arts! Art imitates life which imitates art. If we can't yet find a way to make a change in life, let's make it in art and wait for the inevitable life imitation. The more something becomes common, the less people are afraid of it, and the more likely a change can happen. Examples of the "minority" sect shown in an equal, or to use Simone's term, nuetral light within the arts can only encourage equality and neutralization in life. Even Sean Penn's Oscar can be considered in some small way a victory for the LGBT community in light of the role he played to earn the Oscar. And approaches to fiction such as Simone's are also a victory, and have not gone unnoticed.

Happy Valentine ' s Day

Valentines Day by ~legiostudio on deviantART

Happy St. Valentine's Day