jenvanmeter:HOPELESS SAVAGES: THOUGHTS & FAQSOME CUPCAKES TAKE LONGER TO BAKE THAN OTHERSI t
jenvanmeter:HOPELESS SAVAGES: THOUGHTS & FAQSOME CUPCAKES TAKE LONGER TO BAKE THAN OTHERSI think I started writing the script for Hopeless Savages: Break when my son was in the third grade. I remember working on it in a cafe one day and feeling so blue, as if the characters and I had grown apart. I was afraid I’d let them down somehow. Not long after that, I declared myself lost, and Oni Press editor James Lucas Jones sat at my dining table looking at my crazy scribblings and said, “It’s okay to let them grow up, you know. You have. They can’t be the same if you’re not.” And it was like he’d let the drain open on a bathtub full of woes. I got back to work.I was about seventy pages in on a new draft when James introduced me to Meredith McClaren’s work and asked if I thought she’d be a good fit. Her stuff was so lovely, so full of light and gesture, and I loved it, but I looked at the script I’d been writing and thought it seemed too heavy. Dark and cramped.When Meredith agreed to come aboard, I started rewriting from the beginning, consulting with her, scheming, getting to know Zero and her friends and family again through Meredith’s sly insights into them. It was slow going, but after all that time, and alongside everything else going on in our lives, it was going. And all along, the thing that kept me afloat when I was worried that I couldn’t find my way to the story I wanted it to be? People emailing or tweeting or coming up to me at shows to to tell me who their favorite characters were, or who they had shared it with, or to ask if there would be more. Seriously: I don’t think I could have finished writing this book if it weren’t for the people who took the time to let me know they wanted it.So thanks to every one of those dear folk, to fabulous Christine Norrie, who was there at the beginning and has kindly returned for the crucial flashbacks, to James and the rest of the Oni team, and to Meredith, we can finally say it’s ready. August 12. For real. I am crazy excited. I am awash with delight. I am all swoo and hilty.And my son is now a freshman in high school.FAQSome folks have written or tweeted some questions, so here are some answers:I have never even heard of this comic. What are the Hopeless Savages? In 2000, Oni Press, with editor Jamie S Rich, began publishing my stories about the Hopeless-Savage family; it’s an earnest, goofy family adventure comedy about Dirk Hopeless and Nikki Savage, two punk rockers who try to settle down to raise up their four kids. I’ve written all of it, and aunties Christine Norrie and Chynna Clugston Flores drew the first miniseries and came back for parts of later ones. Since then, several other terrific artists have helped me bring up this wacky family: Andi Watson, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Terry Dodson, Sophie Campbell, Mike Norton, Becky Cloonan, Vera Brosgol, Tim Fish, Catherine Norrie, every one a treasure. Is this a floppy series like the first three volumes or an OGN/Graphic Novel? It’s an OGN; that was by design from the start. How do I get a copy? As soon as it’s listed in the Diamond Catalog, your LCS should be able to preorder it for you. Around May, you should be able to preorder it from a regular bookstore as well. I’ll post codes here as soon as I have them, believe me!This is all new to me. Where can I read earlier Hopeless Savage books? Hopeless Savages: Greatest Hits collects everything that’s been done, 2000-2010; all the web stuff, all the shorts, everything. It is in print and available from book stores (ISBN 978-1-934964-48-4), comic stores (Diamond Code JUL101089), or Oni Press directly:So very proud and honored to have been brought on to this project, with these families. (Jen’s fictional wonders the Hopeless-Savages. Her very real family, each member of whom is so gracious, vibrant, and warm. And the team of Oni Press, who have been so endlessly kind to me.)Jen touched on my being asked to work on HOPELESS SAVAGES.Her wording makes it sound like I was sought out, courted, for the project. If this was so, none of it was necessary. My triumphant yell upon receiving the offer was loud enough to offend my dogs and neighbors. I nearly choked to death at the following dinner while relaying the news to my family. Neither is hyperbole.This was my first professional project. It was HOPELESS SAVAGES, a book with which I was already well acquainted and it’s characters well loved. And it’s author was the absolute sweetest.I could hardly believe my luck.I still can’t.It’s been such a privilege to contribute to HOPELESS SAVAGES and the community who love it so dearly.I can only hope I have done well by these families, who have accepted me so readily, and to whom I am indebted so very considerably. -- source link
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