Overwhelming Friendship...Thank Yous all around.

Well, we're two weeks after the release of Issue #1 and the response has been overwhelming.

The box is almost empty.  You guys did that.

By my calculations we've sold somewhere close to 30 issues!  Thank you everyone for all your support.  It's kind of crazy.  This idea that started as a class assignment for Evan at the Kubert school has spun into 10 issues of a story we're now in the thick of.

Evan's got inks done for Issue #2's preview pages for the release party.  Speaking of, it's gonna be:

When: Saturday, March 30th, 8-11pm
Where: Project Gallery
            1553 N. Caheunga Blvd.
            Los Angeles, CA 90028

We're gonna have drinks there...I think?  I don't know.  The things I KNOW we'll have there are issues of #1, and preview inks for Issue #2 up for your viewing pleasure.  We'll be there after a day at WonderCon so good times and reverie for all!

So, what I wanna do is take the time to thank EVERYONE we know whose supported us in this endeavour.  Evan probably has some add-ons and I'll let him do that, but this is what I've got so far:

Our Families-  Donna, Pat, Ken, Sue, Yoly, Hugo, Grandma, Grandma, Grammy, Mimi, Megan, Pauli, Karla, Julia, Andy, Jack, Larry, Julie and every ounce of extended family whose cared for us, given us food, lent us a hand, or told us we weren't crazy.

Our Friends- Ben, Carolyn (Cara), Joey, Janelle, Louis, Luis, Matt (several, actually), Brett, Frank, Cynthia, Kelly, Kevin (Kian), Molly, James, Miles, Justin, Neil, Jon, Nicole, Andy, Chris, Scott, Geof, Jake, Rob, Casey, Kaleigh, Ryan, Diana, Dusty, Erica, LindsEy, Matt, Kyle, Noah, Melody, Zach, Simon, Julia, Joe, Manny, Wes, Sam, Aaron, Veronica, Tim, Ben, Liz, James, Craig, Jen, Matt, David, Lauren, Jeff, Zach, Whitney, Ward, Thomas, Tanya, Steve, Stefan, Stacey, Preston, Shanna, Gina, Megan, Darrell, Sarah, Ed(gar), Ryan, Nick, Mario, Kristiana, Michael, Kelly (again...several), Julie, LindsAy, Jason, Jeramey, Joe,  Kevin, Hector, Gayle, Billy, Chad, Chris, Chris...that's close...there will be more later.  Unsure.  If I missed you, consider yourself thanked.  I, We, Love you.

Now some personal thanks, things I gotta say to some people in particular:

To the graduating class of Aurora High School 2005- You have no idea how much you've helped me.  Thanks in advance, because by the end, you might hate me.

Mr. Norton- You are still one of the best teachers I've ever had.  I wish I had better ways to honor you than a comic book cameo, and you have students who have gone on to do WAYYYY better things...but you had a huge impact on me as a kid and this is all I got, so thanks for everything.

Neil Kendricks- You're the only writing teacher I've ever had that didn't massacre story for sake of format.  Thanks for letting me do whatever the hell it is I do, and telling me to keep going, because quite frankly, if I hadn't taken your screenwriting workshop class after failing to get into the film program my first try...I probably wouldn't be doing what I do now.  The world needs, no, REQUIRES more teachers like you, sir.

The Kubert School- I was never a student, but Evan was.  Thanks for requiring Evan to draw someone's else's script.  Probably the best idea I ever had.

Aurora High School (Aurora, OH)- Thanks for the geography of boredom!  It means I have to write better stories.  In truth, the experience I had my 8 years of living in Aurora, and my four years at AHS have pretty much shaped everything that "Youth" is about...save for superpowers.

Ryan Schumaker- I can't wait for everyone to realize you're Jim.  Thanks for helping us with this.

Louis Kastelic- You're not as tall or lurpy as ours...but the name is with you in mind.  I hope you like being in comic books.  You're a great guy.  Thanks for being that and I hope you like what happens in "Youth".

Guys and Girls who were dicks to me in high school and now are going to wind up in this comic book- God, I bet you wish you had been shitty to a physicist now, right?!  Kidding...water under the bridge.  Sorry for being a dick too!  It would be hilarious if I was vindictive like that.

Jeph Loeb- Thank god for you including that alternate scene.  I'd have been lost without it.

Robert Kirkman- Thanks for writing "Invincible" and making me not afraid to write extraordinary stories into ordinary life.  It's continually great, and I hope you don't mind us aspiring to be like you.

Batman- You aren't real.  But you're the reason Evan and I get along so well.

Griffey- Besides Evan, you are the only creative partnership I've trusted over the last year.  You're a great writer, an even better friend, and soon, you'll have to deal with the same rules I do!  We write movies together and that's something important in the coming months, years...you know.  Thanks for not being a jealous mormon wife with "Youth" and letting this "Big Love" continue.  "The Garden" is next...and it's going to be awesome fun.

Lastly, and more important than almost anyone above though (and yeah...this is gonna get pretty sappy, so...I don't care, live with it.)

My Wife/Best Friend/Girlfriend/Fellow Writer/Evan's Best Friend/Inspiration for most women I write, Andrea- NONE OF THIS would have happened if you hadn't had class that day and made me meet up with Ben and Evan even though I am fully terrified of strangers who know people I know, which is why I can confidently say that any success I have in my life is a direct result of knowing and being with you.  You're an amazing human being, and there's no one I trust, love or turn to more.  You're just a good person, and that is all I could ever ask of someone I'm spending the rest of my time with.  Thanks for letting me sulk, piss and moan, bitch about movies, bitch about writing, and be poor as hell.  It will all come back to you in the form of shoes (That's what you want, right?)  Truly blessed.  You introduced me to one of my best friends, and someone I'll work with forever.  Reading over this, it feels trite.  My words still fail me.



That's about all I've got.  I'm sure we've missed people...we'll get to you, trust me.  Thank yous are never complete.

Thank you for everything.  Keep buying Issue #1.  We've got a lot in store for you.

-alex.

In Which We Explore Unsettling Things...Like Writing.

(Before I launch in...Thank you EVERYONE who is buying Issue #1.  Means the world to us.  We love you.  Stay tuned.)

I suppose this is only unsettling if you're me.

So, I finished my first draft of Issue #3 last night.  Late into the night, I'm typing.  I keep telling myself, "cut yourself off", and then it's 12:45am, I have to be up in 4 hours, but I have a finished working draft.

My "process" is punishing myself into working, it seems.  But it got me thinking...what is my process?  What do I do to get pages out.

I do other writing too, besides comics.  I went to film school, so I write screenplays a lot, and I'm currently figuring out what my process is for writing a TV pilot, which in my opinion, is about as hard as writing comic books.  But I'm going to dive in a little today about what it takes for me to write an issue of "Youth".  First I'll talk about formatting a little, and then I'll get into content and my basic "process".

To begin with...Comics do NOT have an accepted format, like screenplays and TV does.  There's no set way to do it, you just...do it.  For instance, Alan Moore, the god among men in the comics world...

I have read the first 10 pages of Alan Moore's script for his Batman one-shot, "The Killing Joke".  Now, I say 10 pages because that's what the THIRTY-FIVE pages of script he wrote cover, comic book-wise.  It's insane.  Look for it sometime, because it's pretty incredible.  but when I started writing comics, I knew that wasn't going to be me.  I have the patience for description...but I'm not Alan Moore.

Teasing Issue #3.  My desktop is that Teddy Bear Meme.

The format I use (which is mine as far as I know) got it's basic idea from pages I saw in my trade of the legenedary Loeb/Sale Batman story, "The Long Halloween".  Loeb kindly placed some pages at the back, showing an alternate ending to the story.  I saw this, and assumed that was the accepted format.

I went to film school...we learn that it's either "you format or you die!!!!!!!!!"

So, imagine my happiness when I found out my way of writing comics was...perfect, in a sense.  It was joyous.  We were off.

Evan, of course, doesn't care, because he's drawing it.  But there's times when he asks me about panels, and the action I've described.  Here's the tricky part about comic writing...

...you gotta pick your spots.

You pick the wrong image, and it's gonna come off wrong.  You pick the wrong movement, and people are going to be lost.  Film School has been a great stomping grounds for this issue.  In my head, it plays like a cartoon.  So I know what images I need to tell the story.  but I'm not infallible, and Evan and I are close enough where he'll say, "yeah, that needs to change."

Describing panelling can be difficult.  It's a good exercise for anyone who is married to dialogue, like I am.  Because the visual component is the most important part of comics, picking that out and putting it into a panel is going to be the most important part of your job as a writer.  Same goes for other writing...problem is with comics, you get one shot.  It's one look, and there's ways to manipulate it, but I'm as clueless as anyone is on how that works.  That's for Evan to know, and luckily, he does.

The benefit of us co-creating "Youth" is while it's my job to write the scripts and move us through that way, Evan and I worked on the story first.  We took a cue from TV shows we love, and we have a 12-page PDF file that we call the "Bible" for series 1.  It maps out everything that needs to happen in each issue, and how the events unfold.  There's things we already need to change, but that's essentially the idea of writing a bible for the series...we can change it and not look sight of anything in the larger scope because it's all right there.

And each issue is challenging in it's own way.  Issue #3 for instance, the timelines and story events for these characters happen simultaneously, so I had to, at least this first draft around, figure out how I wanted to do that.  I'm the first person to admit I have a lot of weakness as an overall storyteller, but one of my main issues is muddying timelines with too much focus on a single character.  It's a habit I have because sometimes I fall in love with one story as opposed to the others, and "Youth" is no different.  But it's all about the give and go.  I'm learning, and I hope you guys will forgive when you think it's an issue, and love us when it's not.

So my process for actually sitting and writing varies for each thing I do.  I write with a partner a lot for screenplays, and that involves a lot of pots, yes POTS, of coffee and scribbling in my notebook.  It's good to learn to work with others because when you get the chance to work with yourself, you savour it a little more.

Evan and I's sock choices.  It's telling.

For "Youth", Evan is usually working on the art on his own, and I write alone.

It's hard for me to sit down and write.  I'm the kind of person that isn't distracted, just annoyed with my ideas.  I have a fairly bad habit of "logic"-ing my way out of stories I want to tell, and that presents a problem of thinking anything I write is total garbage.  For the record...I don't.  I think I'm a competent writer, with a lot to learn.

The takeaway is the thing that sets me up as a writer in the first place:  Courage.  I have the courage to sit there and write something that not everyone is going to like, including me.  And I'm nobody, by the way.  I'm not published outside of "Youth", I've never sold a screenplay, so my words here are with a whole salt lick.  But it's my opinion that 90% of anything worth writing is having the courage to write it, and that's usually how I approach "Youth".  Evan knows what kind of a writer I am.  If I can entertain him, give him something fun to draw, then that's my goal first and foremost.  He'll tell me if it sucks.

All that being said, it helps to have a series bible to look to and say, "Oh YEAH!  That was a moment I really liked that we came up with."

What I usually do is sit at my computer, and look at the final draft document for a little while.  I type "Youth", the issue number, and then think of a title.

Listen to it again when Issue #3 comes out.

Now, this is something important...I do NOT listen to music when I work.  It distracts me (probably left over feelings from being in a band in high school) and always impedes or muddies what I'm writing.  What I do, is find a song that sets the mood for what I want to start with.

For Issue #3, for instance, I listened to Brand New's first record, "Your Favorite Weapon", which sets me up in a pretty good, "high school" head space.  I hone in on one track ("Logan to Government Center" here) and then I turn it all the way down and put it on repeat...

...and then I start writing.




It's a fairly simple process.  I've written scripts in a week before, which is probably my record.

Editing is a different thing for me.  Some people just want to get a draft done, however shitty it may be.  I usually edit as I go, so by the end I have a workable draft to send to Evan for notes.  After that, I take it back, and REALLY polish what I've got, fix a few things here or there.  This is where I pay a lot of attention to the dialogue I'm writing, because the words are so precious in the bubble.  Thank God for twitter.  It's taught me to choose my words carefully to get my point across.

So it's polished.  That is the draft I send to Evan and that's what I title an "Illustrator's Draft."  That's essentially how I do it.

Everyone is different.  Some are better, some are worse.  It doesn't matter, as long as you finish.  Finishing is the other 10% of writing for me.  Courage and Finishing.  Just get it done.  You did it.  It's yours.

That's about as much as I need to say on the subject.

WonderCon approaches.  We'll be there all days.  We're having a release party, thrown by my wife and all the details are here:

http://www.facebook.com/events/277566369043274/

We'll have Issue #1 there for sale and a 3-page preview of Issue #2 to take a look at.

Finally, follow me on twitter @alexdandino.

See you around, friends.  Thanks for your support.

-alex.

The Wait is Over...Now what?

        Well, Issue #1 is out.  It's available.  It's in the known universe.  The alternate universe versions of us are already more accomplished, so I don't know or worry about them and their lives in Manhatan (Fringe reference...you're cool if you get it...it's a club.  Don't worry about it.)

          There's always a lot of hoop-la about getting something started, and Evan and I feel INCREDIBLY lucky that we were able to produce the first issue.  There's 50 copies in the world of Youth #1 right now.  That is a weird thought.  We've put something out there, from our collective conscience, to be judged by you, the audience.  It's a strange thought, to have produced something for the world at large.

My usual emotional state when I see
something I've written.

          Creating a story seems like such a selfish act for so long.  We've been in the "Youth"-iverse for so long now that we can't really tell if it's good anymore.  I have no frame of reference.  Evan texted me the other day with, "Dude...I just sat down and read Youth #1 again, like really read it...it's a good comic, man."  This is a week after printing, about a month after finishing final touches on lettering and inks.  It takes us that long to gain any kind of perspective.

           Evan's better at it than me.  I rarely can look at things once I'm done with them.  From a writing standpoint, I am never happy with what I've produced, and rarely do I look back on something and consider it the best representation of me as a writer.  I nitpick myself worse than anyone, but that's not to say I need constant assurance what I do is "good".  I know I'm a good writer...somewhere in my brain there is a neuron that fires ever so quietly that surfaces and tells me so.  Regardless, it's nice to know the other half of this creation thinks what we're doing is good.  I do too...it's just hard for me to put it in perspective.

Her name is...?
(c) Evan Peter 2013

         But hey....Issue #1 is out there in the ether.  Ready to be read.  Ready to be consumed.  Ready for anything...and Issue #2 is going right now.  Evan is putting sketching the pages, prepping them for inks.  And I'm writing Issue #3, which as I've said in my last blog, is by far my favorite issue for you guys yet.  I'm so excited about showing you guys this universe.  Oh, speaking of...you guys want an Issue #2 tease?  Real quick?  It's cool...I know you want to...on your right, friends!

You haven't met her yet...but you will.  And she's gonna be real important.








So, I'm gonna finish up by plugging my twitter feed (@alexdandino) and a couple comics you guys NEED to check out by indie peoples like Evan and Me:

(c) Joe Bowen

Model Student (http://www.modelstudentcomic.com/).  Model Student is a comic you NEED to be reading by our friends Jake Bell & Joe Bowen.  It's brilliantly plotted and they JUST started printing too.  I'm not gonna give anythign away, you just gotta check it out.  They have a web comic they've been doing but support them too and buy issue #1 at their website.  It's good stuff!

(c) Gavin Smith 2013

Human City (http://gavinpatricksmith.blogspot.com/) is a new book by our friends Gavin Smith and Orion Zangara.   Here's the basic idea:

"In a world that's been overrun by mutants, the last remaining super-hero must get a baby who may be mankind's last hope for survival across the country!"

Come on...I mean, how awesome does that sound?  It's great art, great writing...everything you need.  The link provided has the issue up for sale through PayPal too.  Go get it!
















Manny Hernandez (Not a comic book, but overall...)

(c) Manny Hernandez 2013

Manny is our dear friend from the way back.  He lettered the first 5 pages of Youth #1 and he's just insanely talented.  This is one of his projects he's working on and

PRINTING!! and...

My Friends-

We've sent it off to the printers.  Yes, "Youth" Issue #1 is off to the printers and will be back just in time for Evan and I to storm WonderCon 2013 in Anaheim!  

NYE 2012...We had just started rewriting the series.

Important info for the Con (March 29th-31st):

-We'll be there all three days (Fri-Sun)

-Our letterer, Manny Hernandez, will be there on Sunday with his own table, so go hang out with him and say hi because he's a sweetheart with a hand of gold. Find his stuff at: http://mannyhernan.blogspot.com/

-Evan and I will be all over twitter and facebook so we'll keep everyone (who cares) informed of our whereabouts throughout the day. (I'm @alexdandino).

-We will have copies of Issue #1 with us for sale for $5.

-We will thank you and hug you free of charge, obviously.

That is all the basic info for us at the Con.  We'll obviously be roaming around checking stuff out and admiring everyone's work as well as watching for what I hear is some insane cosplay.  Can't get enough of that.  It's like real life action figures.

Look for this at WonderCon!
(c) Evan Peter 2013

For those of you guys we need to mail to, our printers do online ordering...but we're not quite sure how it works yet.  So, hold tight, and we'll let you know soon how to purchase through them so you can get a copy in your hands.

Now, we've got the first issue on it's way and you're saying, "That took a long time guys...but it's great.  Worth the wait..." (Right?)..."Where's Issue #2 at?"

I turned in my final draft for Issue #2 a week ago, and Evan is already in the midst of drawing.  Hopefully we can get this issue out to you guy's quickly so you won't have much lag time between issues.  It's a fun issue, and gives you guys a little more insight into our world...and I love these first two issues, I do...

But Issue #3...it was the one we least mapped out and I realize now the reason for that was because it's SOOO much better than what we originally came up with.  I'm probably excited about it because we're working on it now and I have all these ideas, but...I think Issue #3 will be the punch you guys are looking for after 1 and 2.

To put it in context...Evan and I found that working on the overall story together and the arcs for the 1st series helped us determine visuals a lot easier and the big twists and turns we needed.  So we'd sit in a room, eat shitty food (Except that time Evan's mom made ribs...just awesome), and hammer out plot details and toss lines out here and there.  It was good because it allowed us to explore the avenues we could go, and then hone in on the main story thread.  It was great.

For absolutely no apparent reason, despite every issue having copious notes and inserts and whatnot...Issue #3 was relatively barren.  We just had "Homecoming".  Literally, the word "homecoming" written under the heading.

Now this seems like a long explanation for this, but I write better when I have a title in mind.  It helps me put a theme to stuff, and also influences the music I listen to when I write.  So, I took a cue from my favorite canadian teen melodrama, "Degrassi: The Next Generation" (Sorry, OG Degrassi), which is why Issue #1 is called, "Derivative Opener" which is a song by one of my favorite bands in high school, Fairweather(@fairweatherDC).  It was an opening track title I liked, lyrically it hit me, and I thought, "well, this is a nice little joke that works for me."  It informs the whole series, much like a 1st track informs the rest of a record.  Issue #2 is titled, "Everything in it's Right Place", which if you've been living under a rock, is by Radiohead.  The title, for me, says a lot about the issue and again, the lyrics made sense for what I was writing, which from my perspective is about settling into this new and uncomfortable concept of the unknowable (My take.)

Issue #3 wasn't going to be called "Homecoming" or "Teenage Dream" because 1) I wouldn't be able to look at myself or the issue without laughing and 2) That's not what the third issue (at this point) is about.  I'll explain more after Issue #2 is out, but #3 is currently titled, "Logan to Government Center", which is a song by Brand New.  The title has less to do with the overall theme of the issue...the lyrics, however, are very different and actually have a great deal to do with the issue.  It'll all become clearer...I promise.  but I mean, I gotta tease you guys a little bit, right?

Excited to see and hear what you guys think.  if you have questions/comments/wanna say hi...what have you, you can now e-mail us at youthcomicbook@gmail.com.

We'll see you all soon!

-Alex (& Evan)

Letter of Intent.

Finalizing pages.  Finishing inks.  Lettering.  Getting the format right.  Living our lives at other jobs.

It's been a busy few months for us over here in the "Youth" camp.

For one, because our lives for some reason decided to be incessantly busy, we'll be pushing Issue #1's release back a few weeks.  We're gonna have it ready for you in the middle of the July.  It's a matter of time...we're doing this all on our own, while maintaining our other jobs and we're willing to admit...sometimes life just gets in the way.  But get excited....it's gonna be cool.

Don't know if you guys saw this but our good friend Iyane Kane did an awesome render of Jim on his own and it's just too cool not to repost so here it is...

(c) 2012 Iyane Kane

You gotta love talented friends, man.  Too cool.  If you dig this, you'll be totally into Iyane's other stuff, which is jaw-droppingly cool.  Check him out at  http://iyanekane.com/ .

Evan is close to finishing with inks, and we're right on track for our new deadline.  We're also starting to put together a kickstarter page to raise some funds for the book.  Printing ain't cheap, and we gotta buy in bulk for the issues, so keep your eyes peeled for the kickstarter coming up soon.  We'll have lots of cool prizes and such for you, as it goes with most kickstarters, so that'll be up soon.

Now, as it's gone with most of these posts, I wanna hone in on a central thesis rather than just hype the book, because really the point of a blog is to tell you guys what's going on and give you some perspective of where we're coming from as creators of this series.  So, I wanna take some time to discuss the intent of the series.  The "message", if you will...

As much as Evan and I love superheroes, books about them, movies about them, what have you..."Youth" is NOT about that.  When we started this...some 3 1/2 odd years ago...our original intention was to give Evan a story he could draw for a class.  So I wrote him a six-pager...and then wrote a full issue of what would be the first incarnation of "Youth", which for the record...totally sucked.  The original idea was so convoluted, complicated, and unpleasant sounding (especially when I pitched it to Evan), I almost gave up entirely.  I had already brought in too many characters, origins were so messy, etc.  It was aggravating to try and write something and not get excited about it, especially this new style I was learning.  I loved it, but I also said to myself, "I love comics, I love writing...but maybe I'm not this kind of a writer."

So we sat on the idea for about a year, and then one day, I started thumbing through the original inks, the original concept for the series.  I looked at the first issue I wrote...and pitched it.  I mean, I deleted everything, save for the opening scene (the teaser).  I stripped away everything, and brought it back to a simple story, because as a writer I had realized I lost the one thing I should have over a universe I was creating the first go-around at this: Control.  I finished, looked at it, then told Evan I had rewrote the first issue of "The Middle" (original title, terrible)...and it totally works...and "now it's called, 'Youth'."

Evan and I decided very quickly we were going to do this on our own.  We weren't going to wait around for someone to discover it, mostly because that's stupid.  We'd put the issues out ourselves, just to say we were doing it, so if and when someone came along looking to buy the property, we'd have a HUGE card on our table, being that it was creator-owned property, and that we were self-sufficient, putting it out on our own.

Historically, my collaborations have gone pretty horribly.  Fighting, Annoyance, Rewrites (I can't tell you how often I've gotten a re-write back and not found a lick of me on the page)...it's never been good.  And then Evan and I starting discussing the story.  Where were we going to take it?  What kind of stories interested us?  That was obvious, but what kind of story would we keep coming back to as co-creators?  The proverbial "well"...was it going to be that thing we latched onto and have a marathon writing session?

Yes.

We came to the realization quickly that our intent wasn't to give an origin story about superheroes.  It was about people like us...it was going to be about the daily lives of people who are going through the ringer that is High School...and we'd throw some superpowers in there for some fun.  The whole time working up the 'Bible' for the series (which is what you do for TV series so every writer know hows things should go.  here, it worked as our road map for figuring out what was going to happen through the first volume), we realized the mundane details were so much more promising and entertaining story-wise than some huge over-arching concept about these kids being aliens or mutants or orphan billionaires (not that that isn't compelling stuff when in the right context).  We realized that what you go through in high school is just as fascinating and compelling as stopping an alien invasion or taking down an ancient clan of owl worshippers (enjoy that one).

I've never been a "big picture" writer.  I love small stories about people.  Fractious moments in time...those are the movies (Indies, I guess, in a word) that get me going and those are the kind of moments I write about.  My notebooks are filled with anecdotes about nothings that mean everything.  The scripts I've written, the shorts I've made...they're all about these precious moments we find in our lives.  It dawned on me that the voice I had for this book had to be my own, and  I realized I could write the way I always did, even if it was in comic book form, and Evan was totally on board with that.

In summation...we aren't re-inventing the wheel...just using a different one, and we hope you dig it.

-alex.

Issue #1 Teaser

Hey Guys-

Right to business...Here it is...As promised...The 6-page teaser for Issue #1 of 'Youth.', coming June 2012...Read, comment, let us know what you think...Thanks for all your support and thanks for reading!

(c) Evan Peter 2012

(c) Evan Peter 2012

(c) Evan Peter 2012

(c) Evan Peter 2012

(c) Evan Peter 2012

(c) Evan Peter 2012

Who is Jim?

(c) 2012 Evan Peter

So, right there for you...this is Jim.  He's one of our chief protagonists and probably one of the most mellow super powered characters ever committed to page.  Yes, I'm just staking that claim.  Reason being is that that's the theme for this blog:  I've spent a lot of time telling you guys what Evan and I are doing to make this comic as real as it can be, and very little time telling you the who's and what's of the comic itself.  I figured I'd leave that to the issues themselves, but it doesn't hurt to give you guys a little character history, especially if it'll make you want Issue #1 even more!  Let me tell you guys about Jim...

Jim is a junior at Aurora High School.  He's in NHS, as well as being a National Merit Scholar.  Smart guy, AP classes, the works.  He's one of those people you know could get into an Ivy League, but won't.  Not for lack of trying, but just he's "not from the right place."  He is an only child.

Jim's family moved to Aurora about 6 month before he was born.  He has grown up with everyone he goes to school with, and has always just been, "that smart guy with the glasses."  Jim is quite private.  He is actually a fantastic athlete, and played basketball when he was younger in the Park league.  However, Jim's disinterest in try-outs and the basic tenets of Middle School in general led him to opt out of playing any school-sponsored sports.  He still plays recreationally, on occasion though. 

Jim refocused on academics as his way "out".  He figured good grades, and academic-oriented extracurriculars would help him get into a good college, and secure a job he actually liked...when he was ready to think about what he wanted to do with his life.  Jim joined Model UN, which he found highly entertaining, mostly because it got him out of school on an excused absence and allowed him to focus on personal tasks.  Jim once quipped to a fellow delegate, "It's like a second spring break."  Jim is well known in the Model UN crowd for consistently putting forth resolutions to absolve the UN.  In the six years Jim has been a part of Model UN, he has put this resolution in eight times as the delegate from Denmark (his personal favorite place to "be from"), successfully absolving the UN, earning him the respect and laughter of his constituents, but the ire of the teachers organizing the event. Jim's penchant for academic mischief comes from his pragmatic approach to anything he encounters in life:  If it's worth doing, it's probably worth doing with a sense of humor.

Jim's spirited attitude toward his academics confounds his teachers and fellow students often.  For instance, Jim has never read an assigned required reading book, save for "The Plague" by Albert Camus and "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (both were instances where he felt he just wanted to read those books).  If Jim does read anything, he reads the synopsis and the first few pages, a few from the middle, and the ending.  Jim attributes his success in English classes to this process, as when he knows very little about the book, his thesis arguments typically can be supported by outlandishly pulled inferences and metaphors.  Jim truly excels at Math though, where as a junior, he is already taking AP Calculus.  Jim enjoys Mathematics, he finds it easy, and also with AP Calculus, a way to avoid a class his senior year of high school.  Jim has only been accused of cheating once by Molly Spooler, a fellow National Merit Award finalist.  He did not cheat and was exonerated based on no evidence to substantiate the claim, but since then, his presence in the NHS particularly, has been minimal.  Jim's experiences with Molly turned him off from a lot of NHS activities, and so he now does the bare minimum required to be in the club.  Jim is also on the tech crew for the school drama department, ascending as far as being the lighting director once for his school's version of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat."  Around the time of his issues with Molly and NHS, Jim became closer friends with Stacy.

Although Stacy and Jim had been friends before, they became very close after Jim's issues with NHS.  Stacy, also in the club, thought it was odd that few rallied around Jim.  He and Stacy, from then on, were very close.  Many thought they had started a romantic relationship, but nothing could be further from the truth.  While they had tried sometime in their freshman year to be a couple, they found it odd, and quickly broke up after a month, leaving a gap in their friendship, which lasted until Jim's issues with NHS.  Jim and Stacy were very close, and after the incident that led to them discovering one another had powers, they became inseparable.

Jim's romantic life is far less documented than anything else.  He dated a popular girl, Julie, for quite some time, then broke up for unknown reasons.  Jim in general, doesn't date.  He likes girls, wants girls...but it's just sort of an afterthought at this moment in his life.

Although seeming on the straight and narrow, highly motivated and practical, Jim is still a free spirit in terms of how he lives his life.  His long term goals, past going to college, are not really known to anyone but him, and even he finds them murky.  Jim likes to live in the moment as much as he can, like any high schooler.  He's as basic as they come.  The smart kid...who can fly.

That's a basic idea of where Jim's coming from.  Should be even more fun to see how you guys react!  Stacy and Louis' character histories will follow shortly.  Evan is right now, as we speak, inking page 6 of issue #1.  We'll be keeping you guys in the loop as far as that goes, however...the teaser issue will be coming at the end of the month!  I'll post it here and on our Facebook for you guys so you can check it out and get excited for Issue #1 in June.  Hopefully the teaser will tide you guys over!  Thanks again for sticking with us.  As always, if you have questions, comments, etc...Just ask!  We're an ever-opening book over here.  Until next time, friends...

-alex.