Do you have an idea for your eComic?

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Jan 23, 2010 in eComic Lesson, WANTED HERO | 0 comments

This may sound like a simple matter, but trust me when I say it deserves a measure of time for your consideration.

Do you have an idea for your eComic?

Sure, Brit-Boy is a Superhero from the UK, who has the phenomenal power of mind-over-cheese. He can also flip nunchakus of Leafield at deadly speeds, and slide under doors by transforming into liquid Lincolnshire Poacher…but will that be enough?

‘Enough?’ you ask, flinging your body over your sketches of Cheese-boy, like a protective parent.

What I mean is: ‘Will your storyline hold the interest of your readers?’

Yes Melanie, this even applies to your project, because anyone who draws a cartoon to entertain or convey an idea needs to consider what needs to be conveyed. From a simple one frame comic to a full blown comic book, will it be of interest to your readers. Now that you’ve decided to plug into the electronic center of the Universe (the web), what is it about your story that will set it apart? What have you created which will grab a readers attention…and KEEP it?

This is not a subject to take lightly. This question can actually help make or break your success. Simply being able to draw dynamic heroes, who can shatter meteors in a single blow, will only get you so far. Ok, you can also draw the bodacious babes wearing liquid clothes, but that won’t solve your problem, either.

Wendell soon learns no everyone is interested in "peaceful" negotiations.

In WANTED:HERO, many of the characters were developed over a period of nine years, some even longer. Now, you certainly don’t need that much time…but how well do you know your characters? How detailed is their background? Could you do genealogy on the people in your story? Yes, your Hero can rip apart the world with his bare hands…but what would he say in a normal conversation? Or, how would he react when he finds out his widowed mother, now has cancer and can’t taker care of herself??

In your case Melanie, what is the story about? Do you want people to laugh, cry, or send the author hate mail? Is there a main character that can be used as the center of attention with supporting characters as the ‘landscape’?

That might sound silly to you—but knowing the past of your characters, help you shape a believable future.

Another point to consider–is creating a storyline people can relate to.

Wendell P. Dipmier, the lead character in WANTED:HERO is just an average kid, fresh out of high school, who finds himself mistaken as the last in a royal line of heroes. Many readers write to me and tell me they actually relate to the simple guy who used to live with his mom and was a complete outcast of ‘normal’ social structures (read Wendell’s journal to get an insight into the character). The guy who had an opinion, but was never in a set of circumstances which allowed him to share those views. The guy who loves the band Keane…just like millions of other youth in the US and UK. They watch Wendell’s development through each issue (or reading his personal blog) and see how becoming a ‘hero’ may actually be possible for people like us, after all.

…and yet, all I was doing was telling the tale of my buddy, Wendell.

Asking this question may be a simple matter….but it’s an essential one.

Do you have an idea for your eComic?

What is an eComic?

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Jan 22, 2010 in eComic Lesson, WANTED HERO | 0 comments

Cover #8 of Wanted Hero eComic.

“eComic” stands for ‘electronic comic’ (or comic book), and usually refers to the internet. However, eComics can be placed into two general categories, even though technology and innovation continue to progress:

The first is a purely electronic experience, which means the comic is viewed and enjoyed exclusively on the computer screen. Most are made to fit the parameters of the screen itself (the various resolutions) and are viewed page by page. Depending upon the company and comic, ‘creative’ navigation features are included—one of the most complicated (and fun) is used by Marvel—which lets you read not only page by page, but by each single frame.

This class of eComic can be viewed online, some may be downloaded from online…and a few are even available on disc or DVD, which you can purchase. Regardless, this class of eComic is based upon “on screen viewing”.

The second category of eComics combines both worlds of the growing comic field: digital AND print, of which WANTED:HERO is an example.

The latest title logo used by Wanted Hero.

WANTED:HERO is a traditional comic book in every sense of the word…written, drawn by hand with pencil/pen and ink, and then it was simply scanned into a computer, formatted for print, and then a copy was placed online for purchase. What made WANTED:HERO unique, is that the reader could purchase the eComic, download it immediately to their computer and then print out a high quality copy to hold, sit back, read and share with others.

Can WANTED:HERO be viewed on your computer? Sure. In fact, there were also live ‘links’ in issues, which allowed the reader further opportunities to expand on the storyline experience, by visiting sites connected to the storyline (sites which unfortunately no longer exist—which is a risk you run when working with others). Because the printing cost is non-existent (being electronic), WANTED:HERO was able to keep the price of each individual comic to .99 cents or less—even AFTER PayPal took a major chunk! The price eventually settled at $.97 an issue, and with Paypal’s cut, the house got $.63 each, the whole process once uploaded became automated.

What set WANTED:HERO apart from other eComics in the same category at the time? Once a comic was purchased, there was no limit to the copies which could be made and the publisher actually encouraged the readers to share copies with others! In fact, i even told people to steal them from me!! As long as you did not change the content in any way, or attempt to sell the eComic, your copy could be freely shared with others.

Another aspect which made WANTED:HERO fun and unique was it’s involvement of real-life people in the storyline. People of deep and noble character, which brought aspects of the story to life, as well as making further research a joy to do. The ‘Universe’ of the storyline ended up expanding into other aspects of life and to other sites not normally associated with comics, giving the backgrounds real ‘flair’.

Site Crash!

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Jan 22, 2010 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

I will get to complaints....never.

This site crashed today, and wouldn’t you know it….I have not done a backup in a while…thus I lost all the pictures and all the plug ins. So if the site looks odd for a few days, I apologize about that.

Working as fast as I can.

ALSO: I will be working on the new Backyard Harvest Project site for the next few days as well, so the posts might be sparse.

You Can Thank Melanie Langford.

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Jan 21, 2010 in eComic Lesson | 2 comments

Before I get back to the Rights of a Child and the serious matters of life, I have a personal need to discuss some lighter issues. Turn my brain to some fun with smiles and laughter to let off my bow string. I’ll throw in the serious crumb…but for the next little while, I’d like to turn to the youth.

Some of you know I write books, have been a cartoonist for 25+ years and still work on the Wanted Hero story. There’s some interesting and fun background stories, such as earning the money to start the company by a single pull of a slot-machine in Nevada and having such a clear vision of aspects of the story that people who entered the room with me writing actually heard the characters talking (hmmm, not sure I want to get into that one).  The focus was always kids. Make them laugh, show them hope, tell them the truth and most of all, entertain them. That included teaching them how to make their own dreams of creation come true.

Writersoup's Lafe Langford

I had a very delightful talk with a lovely young lady, a daughter of a friend of mine: Lafe Langford. He lives in Mexico and is an extremely talented writer (I recommend you stop by and check out his blog, especially “The Abyss”). His daughter, Melanie is an artist.

Oh, she says it’s just a hobby, but she’s got talent. That’s right Melanie, cats out of the bag.  Self taught. Does it for fun. IMO, the best motivations out there. Melanie is one of my favorite types of people: she asked for pointers. (goody-goody I get to help somebody!!)

Well back in the day, WantedHero.com had a message board with 29,000+ registered users and over 12,000 of those kids got lessons from me each week on “eComics”. It got hacked by the evil pornosquad (may you all burn in the hottest hell), so I deleted 2 years of work and progression rather than letting kids see that crap (I didn’t know how to fix it–and I was the only techy).

I would like to post some lessons I shared back then (dug them up for Melanie) and give them to anyone interested, updated with new insights and comments. If you have something to say, please leave a comment for all to learn from and I will respond promptly during the week.

So, you can all thank Melanie Langford for the following posts…

Grateful for another day.

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Jan 20, 2010 in Jaime Journal | 1 comment

Don't give up...no matter what.

When my mother died in 2004 I simply gave up in many aspects of my life. Not on Kathi or the children, but for some reason I didn’t care about myself anymore. Now, I understand how this is detrimental to Kathi and the kids, because I’m a husband and father. Yet something in me ‘broke’ and I don’t know how to fix it.

At the end of 2006 I had a minor stroke and have had intense chest problems ever since, with increasing shocks of overwhelming stabs into the left side of my skull. Enough to knock me over and shut down my left eye for a few minutes.

Last night I woke up and after a while, started to cry.

Mortality set in with a fierceness I’ve never experienced before. Kathi lay next to me silent as can be as tears ran down my face, thinking of my children, of all my mistakes and wrong choices in life. The things you wish you never had to experience, or worse…the things you wish to God Almighty you could take them back and save a broken heart…or twelve. The only thing I have done of any worth is marry Kathi and have those incredible children. The rest I seem to screw up no matter what I do. That’s what it feels like, anyway.

I woke feeling very humbled this morning.

All I can do is start from where I am, right here, right now.

I know that’s all anyone can do, but it just feels so…not enough.

Here’s to walking the path of another day and hoping you end up in the right pace at its end.

Ok, I’m done being a big baby…

Parenting: The catch 22

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Jan 19, 2010 in Family, Fatherhood, Parenting, Some People's Children! | 0 comments

It was a long but good weekend, starting off with Cesilea’s 18^th birthday, charged with loud and excited youth in celebration of another semi-adult joining their tribe.

Saturday and Sunday brought some challenges in reminders of how our parenting style and system has changed over the years. It came up while observing Jami Taylor and Ethany coming out of their room several times in the late evening (when they’re supposed to be a asleep), to tattle on siblings when it was completely unnecessary.

Parents have a difficult job, just from the duty of providing and caring for the physical needs of a child. With each new life comes an unlimited string of variables no one can predict, from personality traits to when the dog might be shaved bald and painted an off pink. Now compound that stress level by having the responsibility of providing their emotional, mental and spiritual needs as well. This is no easy task.

The main catch 22 of the parenting equation, however, is the job itself.

You see, while you have your offspring under a microscope, they have one firmly fixed on you as well.

Babies are MEANT to be cute, so you totally forget what they'll be like once they're teenagers...

As young children grow into teenagers and momentarily become retarded by the ‘I know more than you could possibly understand’ gene, they fail to realize that we as parents are plagued by a no win situation. We are trying to teach and guide while trying to learn and grow ourselves. This also means we, as the parents make mistakes and errors in our judgment as we try to perfect our job.

Heaven forbid! Mistakes you say? Aye, mistakes.

Yet children, whether it be from a genetic predisposition or simple youth prejudice, rarely give us the benefit of the doubt (or leeway) they openly and boldly demand (or hope) we give them. We have the double burden of trying to teach our kids while being examples worthy of emulation, while they scrape our tired, spent bodies across their unyielding microscope looking for flaws.

When my oldest children approached me not long ago and asked why I didn’t treat them the same way I do their little siblings, all I could do was shrug my shoulders and give them hugs.

“I didn’t know how to do that when you were little. I’m sorry.”

It’s actually a profound revelation for teenagers if you can sit them down to have arational talk on this subject, but for those who simply have a house full of hormone dominant teenagers who can only see their one point of view, take heart. You’re far from alone.

It happens to every single parent on planet Earth.

Welcome to the club.

Your mother, my beloved.

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Jan 18, 2010 in Family, Fatherhood, Jaime Journal, Parenting, Personal, Wives | 6 comments

Dear Children,

I’m a strict parent. I know it’s not a secret and that will not change. Each family member has duties, responsibilities and rules to follow so we can achieve and maintain our happy little home. Doesn’t always work, I know, but you have all seen that it works far more than not. Your mother and I love each other and we love all of you dearly. We base our decisions upon principle, not the popular whims of your friends or their own families, which at times has caused friction between us. The rest of the chaos in our home is based on selfishness. Feelings so important to us that we simply will not listen to another point of view or humble ourselves to be instructed by those with more wisdom and experience.

I’ve tried to show you that most of the worlds problems are from nothing more than a root in selfishness. Think about that one for a spell and see where you come up. Blame world hunger, war, the bad politicians we have in every facet of this government on whatever else you like, but 9 out of 10 times it’s gonna be complete horse crap.

It all eventually comes down to selfishness.

In this family, there is a patriarchal order. You don’t have to agree with that, doesn’t matter in the least because this family is not a democracy. You may elect to establish one in your own family someday, but in this family, everyone has a place and a measure of respect, simply because of who you are. I don’t yell at you or spank you or even ground you. I talk with you and strive to work out the problems between us. I love you. You’re part of our family unit and that means something, from birth to death. It means something to me, your father.

However, in this family you must realize mom is the Queen.

I love each of you children with all my heart. I would die for you and take life for you, but someday each and every one of you are going to leave this home and start families or lives of your own. What will remain is your mother and I. She doesn’t know this, but one of the things I felt when we met so long ago, was an excitement about growing old together. To care for her, protect her and cherish her forever.

I loved her first. I loved her the most. I will love her last.

You don’t understand this yet, but the love I have for your mother cannot be defined. Not without making it sound less than what it truly is. Words truly cannot describe the experiences of growing old together and building dreams together, sharing the pain and suffering, the stress and grief along with untold joy. You must experience it for yourself.

Just know this: I choose her.

If you act in such a way as to divide this house and make me choose, you will lose every time. I am on the side of correct principle. Your mother also lives by principle and is why she holds the respect of so many, including myself. You fight her because of your selfishness, wanting to have your choices supported, regardless of who they may hurt. I caution you not to alienate your greatest defender…because she has kept your butts away from many a swatting over the years.

She is the mercy in our home. I am not. Keep that in mind.

Know that when you step outside the bounds of your place and bring disrespect upon this family and most particularly upon your own mother, you chose to go where I cannot follow. At that point, she no longer stands as your mother. She then becomes my wife and I will defend and protect her from you.

As your father I have many expectations, hopes, desires and requests. However, I have one absolute demand:

Respect and honor your mother. She is Queen of my heart, my home and my family. She is my life, my love and my beloved. God help any person who wounds her heart and gets within my reach.

She brought you into this life, bearing you in pain and anguish. Has raised you in love, caring for you, cooking for you, cleaning your clothes and educating you. She deals with your tantrums, your misconceptions, open rebellions and unrighteous accusations. Yet she bears with you in patience, in love and cares for you regardless, unwilling to leave you to your own design. All these things she does to help you develop and have a good life. Above all, she is your advocate with me, when many times you act in such a way I felt it would be wise to simply make another.

You are free to feel as you wish towards me, but I’m here as your father first, then your friend, not the reverse. I now draw the line at your feet and plead with you not to cross it.

Please, respect and love your mother.

This is non negotiable.

Love,

Your Father.