Chris Arrant, of CBR’s Robot 6, spotlights my Timely sketchbook, which features pals of mine and their takes on Marvel’s crazy Golden Age characters:
http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/09/themed-sketchbooks-b-clay-moores-timely-sketchbook/
September 14, 2010
Our Fighting Forces Preview
September 13, 2010
Don’t Miss Podcast: Our Fighting Forces #1
Chris Neseman and iFanboy’s Don’t Miss Podcast was nice enough to select OUR FIGHTING FORCES #1 as their “don’t miss” book of the week, and Chris and I chatted (warning: it was before noon on Sunday) about it here:
http://www.ifanboy.com/podcasts/audio/DON_T_MISS__Our_Fighting_Forces__1_with_B__Clay_Moore
The book is out Wendesday. Snag a copy! Chad Hardin did great work on it, and I think you’ll find it fun. I did.
September 8, 2010
(Diana Prince) Wonder Woman #203
I just finished reading DC’s collected DIANA PRINCE WONDER WOMAN (VOLUME 4), which concludes the early 70s saga of Wonder Woman as a depowered “mod” gal who eschewed her costume for white slacks and shirts (generally). By the time of these stories, Mike Sekowsky (who had initiated the run) was long gone, and the scripting was handled by Denny O’Neil and sci-fi writer Samuel R. Delany. The art was handled by Dick Giordano and Don Heck.
The O’Neil issues are standard early 70s silliness, highlighted by a Catwoman appearance (in her short-lived blue and red outfit), and dragged down by a lamebrained romantic subplot with roguish wisecracking private dick Jonny Double (who just vanishes in Delaney’s second issue). The first Delaney issue rather bizarrely introduces barbarians Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (I couldn’t explain the plot to you if we had an entire weekend to do it), but the second issue (a SPECIAL! Women’s Lib Issue!) is kind of interesting.
The second Delany issue (sequenced in this trade paperback after a typically strange Bob Haney/Jim Aparo issue of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD) is WONDER WOMAN #203, which, by coincidence, was the very first Wonder Woman comic I ever read when I was a kid. I think it must have come into my possession via a stack of old comics my dad brought home from work one day (a gift from a co-worker whose kids had long since outgrown comics). Anyway, I’d seen Wonder Woman in the Justice League, and on the Super Friends, so I knew what she looked like, and this chick in white wasn’t exactly her, so it always fascinated me. I’m sure I read the issue (I read every comic book I could get my hands on as a kid, no matter the content), but rereading it all these years later, not much of it was familiar.
I find it interesting because it’s clear that Delaney was attempting (presumably with editorial support) to push the book in a new direction. The story concerns Diana Prince being hired by a sinister department store to model their “women’s lib” clothes. She only realizes that she’s being used by male chauvinist pigs running the store when the local women’s lib organization hands her proof of their intentions, and also proof that the store is paying their female employees less than minimum wage (for some reason they have no male employees). Although, really, she probably should have known the department store (Grandee’s) was up to no good when the guy who showed up to offer her the job was the same guy who had harassed her on the street the night before because she blew off his sexist catcalls (before she kicked his ass with the help of a saucy blonde companion). The plot is a little complex and convoluted, but the story introduces some cast members who were clearly intended to stick around for a while, including a female black belt karate instructor and a female dog trainer with a handful of dobermans at her disposal. And Diana’s blind “Oriential” teacher, I-Ching, was still around, as he had been for the entire DPWW run.
The issue ends when a bunch of angry women barge into a Liberation meeting, angry that Diana and her bra-burning pals have put so many women out of work by shutting down the piggish department store. In the last panel, Diana looks at the reader and exclaims, “What do you say to them now? And will we have time? They look like they mean business!” Under her face is a caption that reads, “What will Diana do now?”
I have to say, as ham-fisted as much of the commentary was, the general thrust of the issue is unusual enough to make me curious exactly what Diana would do next. Dick Giordano always drew great women, and the mind conjures all kinds of crazy scenarios for Diana and her new pals to stumble into. Hot-blooded libbers with rabid dogs and karate at their disposal?
Alas, it was not to be. The next issue (written by Robert Kanigher) completely ignores the question, and opens with a sniper randomly taking out innocent civilians, including, on page four, Diana’s mentor, I-Ching. Diana sheds a tear, hugs the “father she never had,” and never mentions him again. What follows is a ridiculos amnesia plot that sees her stealing a fighter jet and ending up back on Paradise Island. By the end of the issue, the hip, modern Diana Prince has been dispossessed in favor of the familiar golden lasso wrangler, complete with tiara and star spangled hot pants. It’s one of the more abrupt dismissals of a concept I’ve seen, but I’m sure it was driven by sales, and as commendable as the effort might have been, it was no doubt doomed to fail from the word go.
An issue later WW was featured on the cover with her legs wrapped around a chubby phallic bomb, and it was business as usual once again. But I do wonder what Delany had in mind before he was kicked to the curb. And I give him a lot of credit for trying to address some of the issues concerning the women’s lib movement, even if the plot reduced every man in the story to a standard chauvinist.
August 31, 2010
November from Image: Hack/Slash Trailers
In an effort to help my pal Tim Seeley keep HACK/SLASH up and running in gruesome style, I wrote something for the second TRAILERS volume, solicited for November.
I’ve seen a few of the stories in this book, and I think you’ll love it, even if you’ve never read HACK/SLASH before:
HACK/SLASH: TRAILERS PART 2
64 PAGES / FC, $6.99
An all-star cast of comic creators donate ALL-NEW short tales of comicdom’s favorite slasher killers, and all of the proceeds go toward paying off previously stiffed artists! SCOTT ALLIE, J. TORRES, B. CLAY MOORE, GAIL SIMONE, TIM SEELEY and many others unite to tell HACK/SLASH stories—THEIR WAY—in a stand-alone volume that will never be collected in trade!
http://www.imagecomics.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=12868
August 23, 2010
The Influence Map
Shane White put out a challenge to create one of these bastards, so I did. There are several key influences I realize that I missed (Mad Magazine! The Chronicles of Narnia! Lloyd Alexander!), but it works (click for a large look):
August 16, 2010
A Twitter conversation on script formats and numbered dialogue
Since a bunch of people jumped in, I thought I’d transcribe this late night round table discussion for writers, artists, and those who are curious about such things:
JoshFialkov Got sent a bunch of comic scripts by an editor, and none of them are in the screenplay format I’ve used for years. Am I doing it wrong?
bclaymoore @JoshFialkov I don’t think there is a right or wrong, but a screenplay format has always struck me as unnecessarily complicated.
JoshFialkov @bclaymoore really? With either FInal Draft or Scrivener, it does all the formatting for you. Vs. Doing your own tabs, etc.
JoshFialkov And for those curious, I use a slight variation of the amazing (and free) template made by @antonyjohnston (whom you should follow.)
bclaymoore @JoshFialkov I’ve written screenplays in Final Draft, but what I use for comics just seems to read more easily, to my eyes. Very basic stuff
nickspencer @bclaymoore yeah, I’ll never understand this. I keep my format as simple as I can possibly get away with.
bclaymoore @JoshFialkov I also don’t number dialogue (does anyone now?) and I don’t type dialogue in ALL CAPS.
ChrisSamnee @bclaymoore @JoshFialkov Format doesn’t make much difference to me on the art end but scripts with un-numbered dialog are a pain in my ass.
ChrisSamnee @bclaymoore @JoshFialkov Numbered dialogue is a quick and easy shorthand for your artist to refer to when thumbnailing and pencilling…
ChrisSamnee @bclaymoore @JoshFialkov And it’s also a big help to your editor who, more than likely, is handling the balloon placement.
ivanbrandon @ChrisSamnee i’ve never numbered my dialogue. like 2 years into working at DC i found out they do it on their end.
ivanbrandon @ChrisSamnee i have no idea how to do it. you’d think someone would say something.
andeparks That stupid @jasonaaron told me to number my dialogue once. I did so, and @brubaker wept and told me I was fired. Traumatic.
ChrisSamnee @ivanbrandon Not before it’s sent to the artist… First thing I do when I get a new script is go in and number all the balloons.
JoshFialkov @bclaymoore all of these have numbered dialogue. Letterers out there, does it actually help at all?
JoshFialkov @ivanbrandon @ChrisSamnee I was assuming they’d fill me in when I hit ten years in the industry.
ivanbrandon @ChrisSamnee yeah, dunno, i saw someone doing it. she said: do you number your dialogue? i said: i don’t even think i know what that means.
jerwa @ChrisSamnee @ivanbrandon The guy sitting right here who has always numbered his dialogue suddenly feels overworked. 
ChrisSamnee @jerwa If you were here right now I’d high-five you, Jerwa.
bclaymoore @JoshFialkov @ChrisSamnee I’ve had editors number the dialogue, but the only feedback I’ve ever gotten from artists was that it was useless
ChrisSamnee @bclaymoore I do balloon placement at the thumbnail stage. It really helps me sort out the composition/flow of a page. But that’s just me.
andeparks I didn’t number my dialogue in the Capote In Kansas script. As a result, @ChrisSamnee drew the whole thing totally gay.
bclaymoore @ChrisSamnee I wrote a script for you once and you never mentioned it. If you want numbers, ask for them, damn you!
ivanbrandon @ChrisSamnee not a thing writers would ever have occasion to know. i bet 75% of the writers reading have no idea what you’re talking about.
nickspencer @ivanbrandon seriously. how are none of us doing this right?!!
LauraSamnee Uh oh, someone got @ChrisSamnee started on numbering dialogue in scripts.
kmellon @Bclaymoore @chrissamnee @joshfialkov I have to number the balloons. Don’t know that I’d like it if the script came that way, though.
sterlinggates I’ve always numbered my dialogue. For the record. 
mattfraction hulk hogan is wearing dennis rodman’s wardrobe. and skin.
July 22, 2010
October solicitation tidbit
Just saw this interesting little item solicited from Top Cow for October:
TOP COW FIRST LOOK VOLUME 1 TRADE PAPERBACK
story CHRISTOS GAGE, MARC BERNARDIN, ADAM FREEMAN, JASON RUBIN, B. CLAY MOORE, JOSHUA HALE FIALKOV, JOHN MAHONEY & FILIP SABLIK
art JORGE LUCAS, AFUA RICHARDSON, TYLER KIRKHAM, NELSON BLAKE II & THOMAS NACHLIK
cover TOP COW’S FINEST
OCTOBER 6
160 PAGES / FC / TRADE PAPERBACK
$4.99
Six New #1 Issues for only Five Bucks!
In an unparalleled publishing initiative, Top Cow proudly presents a collection of six never-before-seen first issues of upcoming series bound in a single collection. Sunset by Christos Gage (Avengers Academy) and Jorge Lucas (The Darkness) tells the tale of an old Vegas enforcer on a quest for revenge in his twilight years. The Pilot Season 2008 winning team of Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman (The Authority) and Afua Richardson (Cyblade) returns with Genius—a story of a young African-American military genius taking over LA’s gangs. Jason Rubin (The Iron Saint) and Tyler Kirkham (Green Lantern Corps) unveil the supernatural murder-mystery Mysterious Ways. B. Clay Moore (Hawaiian Dick) and Nelson Blake II (Magdalena) take you deep into space horror with Black Vault. And reintroducing Top Cow’s Minotaur imprint come two dark series: Joshua Hale Fialkov & Rahsan Ekedal’s (The Cleaners) generational serial killer Echoes, and Last Mortal, a supernatural noir adventure from Filip Sablik, John Mahoney, and Thomas Nachlik.
July 21, 2010
BCM book sets for sale
UPDATE: Scroll to the bottom for info on trade paperbacks.
So I’ve been sitting on lots of individual back stock of my single issues for some time now. I tend to sell fewer and fewer singles when I attend cons (focusing on trades), so I thought I’d bundle them up in lots and offer them for sale at very reasonable prices. Too cheaply, probably, but I’d rather have people read the books than sit in my office for eternity.
Some of these sets are a limited, but I’ll take them down when I run out. If you see a set here, assume it’s still available. I’ll autograph each issue. Please let me know if you want the autograph to be written to you (or to anyone in particular). If you want a sketch by the writer, let me know. I’ll throw that in, too.
Here’s what I have:
BATTLE HYMN (2004-2005) (Image Comics) by B. Clay Moore & Jeremy Haun
Five issues. Jeremy and I are in the process of working up two sequels to BATTLE HYMN, which is one of my most asked about books. Golden Age madness.
PRICE: $10
—–
HAWAIIAN DICK (Volume One) (2002-2003, Image Comics) by B. Clay Moore & Steven Griffin
The original HAWAIIAN DICK series. Three issues. Most of the copies I have of the first issue are clean, with smooth covers and all, but there may be a slight split at the spine, which is why these are priced so cheaply. I don’t see these a lot. The initial print run sold out quickly.
PRICE: $8
—–
HAWAIIAN DICK: THE LAST RESORT (2003-2005) (Image Comics) by B. Clay Moore, Steven Griffin and Nick Derington
Four issues. I have a few issues of number two that are also autographed by Nick Derington, which I’ll send to the first few people who order. Multiple Eisner nominations for Steven on this one.
PRICE: $10
—–
HAWAIIAN DICK: SCREAMING BLACK THUNDER (2007-2008) (Image Comics) by B. Clay Moore, Scott Chantler, Steven Griffin and Shawn Crystal.
Five issues. This one has yet to be collected into trade, so this is the only way to read it. The first issue had two covers. One by Steven Griffin and one by Jason Latour (who just wrapped up a killer Vertigo OGN and an amazing DAREDEVIL BLACK AND WHITE story). If you have a preference, let me know.
PRICE: $10
—–
THE EXPATRIATE (2005) (Image Comics) by B. Clay Moore and Jason Latour
Four issues. Latour and I would love to revisit this someday, but if you’re in the mood for a twisted piece of sixties spy-fi, this is your book. I just remembered that the first issue was previewed in THE WALKING DEAD. The first issue sold out in five hours, and we underprinted it. Not a lot of copies out there.
PRICE: $8
—–
’76 (2006-) (Image Comics) by B. Clay Moore and Ed Tadem, and Seth Peck and Tigh Walker
Five issues. And it looks as if the rest will be collected in a trade with these five instead of individually due to any number of messed up circumstances. This book has a really small but really devoted following, and I love it. Seventies street action. Two stories: Jackie Karma (by Ed and me) and Cool (by Seth and Tigh).
PRICE: $10
—–
VAMPI VICIOUS CIRCLE (2004) (Harris Publication) by B. Clay Moore, Dub and Gabriel Rearte
Three issues. The first work-for-hire I ever did. I recently reread this for the first time in years, and I have to say I really like the story. I rarely see this one at cons, although it sold pretty well when it was released.
PRICE: $8
—–
TRADE PAPERBACKS!
HAWAIIAN DICK VOLUME ONE TRADE PAPERBACK
HAWAIIAN DICK THE LAST RESORT TRADE PAPERBACK
BATTLE HYMN TRADE PAPERBACK
I don’t have a ton of trades on hand, but I’m willing to offer what I do have for those who would rather go that route. The HAWAIIAN DICK trades are absolutely loaded with extra features, mainly created by artist Steven Griffin, and the BATTLE HYMN trade contains background info and all five issues of the original series.
$10 EACH (plus $2 shipping per trade)
——————–
Drop me a line for Paypal info and to send me your shipping address (put BCM BOOKS in the subject line):
BClayMoore@gmail.com
Also let me know if you just need a single issue of something. I’ll ask you to include $2.00 per set for shipping, and I’ll bag ‘em and do my best to make sure they don’t get all bent out of shape during shipping.
July 20, 2010
Fuck you, Ben Stein
Ben Stein: “The people who have been laid off and cannot find work are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities.”
Jesus Christ. Seriously, Ben? Does anyone need more proof that some of these sons of bitches are so entrenched in their ivory towers that they have zero ability to connect with actual flesh and blood human beings? To bastards like Ben Stein the average person is an abstract concept. Real human existence is beyond their comprehension, and dismissing a massive chunk of the population with one casual swipe of an entitled hand is no more difficult than firing a pool cleaner.
I’m very close to abandoning all public discussion of politics, but this level of insensitivity was too much for me to ignore. Fuck, you, Ben Stein. All of your notoriety stems from your ability to channel a lack of personality in one fondly remembered slice of 80s nostalgia. Your background as an economist impresses no one, and when you’re sitting in the Screen Actors Retirement Village, the staff will only accommodate your desire for a second prune danish if you agree to cut through your dementia long enough to mutter “Bueller? Bueller?”
That’s your legacy. One line in one movie. And it’s afforded you enough attention to allow you to parade your ignorance and insensitivity in front of every bored American clicking through AOL’s “news” items on a humid Tuesday evening.
Fuck you.
