Amazing to think that it was last December that Leo and I put together the Mirabilis trailer, armed only with a bunch of stills and a great score by the multitalented Frazer Payne. I’d been steeling myself for a day or two swearing at Flash, so it was a happy discovery that we could do the whole thing in Windows Movie Maker in an afternoon and then go down the pub.
The pub in question was the Globe in Appley where we spent a very enjoyable evening with Fred Hasson of Red Bedlam and his family. Beer was had, and good pies, and Fred and his brother Leary, once stalwarts of ‘70s prog rock with their band Marsupilami, joined in a few songs with the Globe’s proprietor, affable Angelino LeBurn Maddox.
I mention all this only to show that it seems like it happened just a couple of days ago. The year has gone bounding by like an eager St Bernard on its way to a cable car disaster. Okay, we’ve done about 150 pages of Mirabilis since then, but it doesn’t seem enough – especially not while the work remains squirreled away like those National Gallery paintings they shoved in a Welsh cave during the war.
Leo and Nikos have been working flat out all year. Leo is drawing, drawing every minute the day gives him, and Nikos colors Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon along with a whole lot of other work. Compared to those guys, I feel like such a slacker. Only about half my energy this year has gone into writing Mirabilis. That’s the enjoyable half. The rest was frittered away trying to get projects like the iPhone version under way.
My resolutions for 2010 are therefore: to spend at least 90% of my efforts on the actual creative work, to make sure that I retain control of everything I create, and to achieve more.
Huh, did I just tell myself, “Must try harder”? My primary school teacher would surely approve!
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150 pages of Mirabilis in a year does for me merit a year of wonders tag.
ReplyDeleteIn comparison, I've managed 24 Cloud 109 pages since April.
So it's obvious that my New Year's resolution is going to revisit the oft inscribed mantra on my school report card, "Must Try Harder".
Congratulations to all of you guys for such an epic production - can't wait to see it in print which at the rate that time whizzes by will probably be on the cusp of Christmas 2010 in a couple or so months time.
Thanks, Peter. Of course, you've been doing plenty of other work besides Cloud 109 while I do feel that I've allowed myself to waste too much time on non-creative work this year.
ReplyDeleteThat's no reflection on Leo and Nikos, though. They have been working really hard, and 150 pages of Mirabilis (which is equivalent, because of our larger page size, to around 200 pages of a regular comic book) is a bloody fine body of work.
It's looking more like Christmas 2011 for Mirabilis in print, I'm afraid. But by that time I hope we'll have got Sweet finished and out (probably around 120 pages for that) though our comic work together is slowing up from now on as Leo will, like you, be working on proper paid work at the same time.