Plot, Script, Comic: Megaton Man #11 Complete!

Maybe the earliest surviving example of my evolving working method is the plot and partial script of Megaton Man #11 (published as The Return of Megaton Man #1 in July 1988 only after a needlessly bruising exchange with my publisher), dating from January 1987 (thirty years ago).

In the first ten issues of the series, I worked more or less in a "Marvel method," based on the way it was imagined Stan Lee worked with his artists: developing a loose plot, then breakdowns of pencils, then final script.

Back and front covers to Return of Megaton Man #1 (Kitchen Sink Press, July 1988)

After my own fashion, and after experimenting wildly with Border Worlds (which seemed to veer wildly between writing the script first one issue then working out the visuals first the next), I settled on a plot-script routine that was still very much homemade and ad hoc.

As noted on the typescript, the plot envisioned a single 64-page issue. This material was subsequently expanded into three 24-page issues, which I envisioned as Megaton Man #11, #12, and #13.

Between the plotting stage and the scripting stage, I seem to have either created thumbnail sketches of the page layouts, or actually sketched out the panels roughly (called "breakdowns") on the pages of Bristol board themselves. This seems likely because the typewritten script features only dialogue, with no scene summaries or descriptions (or even directions such as "close-up," "long shot," etc.).

 

 

At this point (page 14), the script ends. The remainder may be lost, or I may have never typed one. It is entirely possible that I may have just written the dialogue directly on the art boards. By the end of the issue, I may have felt "warmed up" enough to wing it. Or not!

One hand-written fragment of script remains, the big entrance of Yarn Man and Kozmik Kat, who arrive in Ann Arbor as a curtain-closer for the issue. It was written on plain bond (typewriting paper), like the rest of the plot and script, but appears to have been hand-trimmed with scissors.

No other script fragment remains. (Note: the white-on-black Spirit T-shirt design on the inside back cover was suggested by me. It was from a Spirit page reproduced in Jim Steranko's History of Comics, Volume II.)

What is evident about these materials is that they clearly demonstrate that I took the time away from Megaton Man to totally rethink the strip, in the hopes of putting any ongoing narrative on a more sound footing. The emphasis on character over action (or slapstick humor), and on a rational basis for the unfolding events, speaks for itself. This makes the publisher's characterization of my hiatus from the strip as a betrayal that deserved punishment, instead of a necessary creative recharge, all the more sad and demoralizing.

The Return of Megaton Man mini-series ran three issues. In the following installment, Megaton Man Meets the Uncategorizable X+Thems #1, I seem to have used a completely different method, breaking down the story in half-size thumbnail sketches I enlarged on a photocopier, light-tabled (traced) onto Bristol board, lettered, and inked. I will scan those soon and post here!

Thank you for enjoying the Megaton Man blog!

Read also: "Whatever Happened to Megaton Man #11?"

_____

An all-new YA prose novel - new chapter every week: The Ms. Megaton Man Maxi-Series!

 

Megaton Meltdown: Meet Simon Phloog!

Here is the first colored page-and-a-half of the opening introduction to the graphic novel currently in progress, Megaton Man: Return to Megatropolis. The 160-page all-new adventure is composed of five 32-page issues forming a single, post-9/11 storyline created in 2002, 2005, and 2014-2016 (okay, the creator took a decade off to go back to college!). This new material will transplant the extended Megaton Man family firmly back in New York (or Megatropolis), where the Megaton Man Narrative will have manifold possibilities for future development! Simon Phloog, heir to both the Megaton and Meltdown nuclear family trees, will emerge as a major character (Megaton Meltdown?) in this and subsequent graphic novels. See previous posts on this blog and on Ms. Megaton Man's blog for more preview art, and stay tuned for forthcoming publication details!

Simon flashes back to Megaton Man #1-4 (Kitchen Sink Press, 1984-1985).

The framed photo shows Simon from Return of Megaton Man #3 (1987); Clarissa gains her powers in Megaton Man vs. The Uncategorizable X+Thems #1 and her costume in Yarn Man #1 (1989).

Flashbacks from The Megaton Man Weekly Serial and Bizarre Heroes (1990s).

The Last Shall Be First: Graphic Novel #1 Pencils Completed!

I've wrapped up principal penciling (is that like principal photography?!) on Megaton Man: Return to Megatropolis, a 160-page story created in five "issues" (I still think in terms of 32-page issues, although any publishing plans for MM: TRM would be for a single volume book). I finished issue #5 a few days ago, and created a new 2-page introduction for the beginning of the story. Below are the pencils.

The flashback here depicts events in Megaton Man #1-5 (Kitchen Sink Press, 1984-1985) and one-shots from the late 1980s including Megaton Man Meets the Uncategorizable X+Thems #1 and Yarn Man #1 (1989).

The framed picture of Simon flying refers to The Return of Megaton Man #3 (September 1988), the issue in which he was born. The flashback in the central panel depicts events from Yarn Man #1 (October 1989). See more on Clarissa James and the origin and evolution of Ms. Megaton Man here!

More on the Phantom Jungle Girl!

For more on how these pencil roughs fit into my current cartooning work flow, check out this post on my inking method!

This framing sequence is intended to negotiate between the Megaton Man Weekly Serial storyline (which I created online eons ago, some which was serialized in early issues of Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon), and the opening scenes of the graphic novel (issues #1-2 were posted previously as Atomic Aftermath), which wrap up a few lingering sub-plots.

There's no disguising the fact that I created issue #1 in 2002, #2 in 2005,  #3 is 2014, and #4 and #5 in 2015-2016. Still, my hope is that the narrative will hang together as a cohesive reading experience. In any case, without some kind of introduction, the early scenes (about ten pages) which deal with some dangling plot threads might come across as non-sequitur. I considered cutting these pages out altogether and beginning the story when the main action of the narrative begins (with Megaton Man and X-Ray Boy in high school), but  where to begin and how to introduce potentially new readers to the Megaton Man mythos still remains a problem.

I think including the early scenes with this intro as a framing device will at least demonstrates how convoluted and aimless Megaton Man's life in the Midwest had become before the jarring events of 9/11 call him and his extended family back to Megatropolis. (Besides, many of the characters in these early scenes who exeunt will either return later or show up again in the second graphic novel, which hopefully won't take as long to complete as this one!). Judge for yourself. Your feedback is welcome!

I'm on track to finally completing the graphic novel this Spring 2016! (For more on my thinking behind it, see here.)

Now, on to March Madness: inking "issues" #4 and #5, and coloring the whole 160 pages! Stay tuned for updates...

The Clarissa Project: The Secret Development of Ms. Megaton Man!

Starting out as Stella's Ann Arbor roommate sidekick in Megaton Man #4 (June 1985), Clarissa James has evolved into one of the most prominent characters in the Megaton Man narrative.
A sophomore infatuated with Yarn Man in Return of Megaton Man #1 (July 1988) and subsequently present at the birth of Megaton Man and Stella's son Simon in Return of Megaton Man #3 (September 1988), Clarissa realizes she has Megapowers and dons the primary-colored costume to become Ms. Megaton Man in Megaton Man Meets the Uncategorizable X+Thems #1 (April 1989). Initially attributed to a sexually-transmitted Megavirus, Clarissa learns that the true reason for her Megapowers derives from the fact that she is the "love-child" of Silver-Age Megaton Man Clyde Phloog and an African-American hippie mother in Bizarre Heroes #13 (September 1995), making her the second cousin once removed (or something) of Trent Phloog, the Baxter-Age Megaton Man. In the current work in progress (release date TBD), we will see Clarissa emerge as one of the most powerful Doom Defiers, the Megatropolis team that emerges after terrorist attacks deplete the city's Megahero population.

Clarissa James in her very first appearance, registering for her sophomore year in Ann Arbor with Stella Starlight (Megaton Man #2, Kitchen Sink Press, February 1985). Original coloring by Ray Fehrenbach.

Originally, Clarissa was just a sidekick whose sole purpose was to show former See-Thru Girl Stella the ropes on campus as she adjust to post-Megahero life (from MM #2; recolored in 2015).

Clarissa was also a highly studious student and something of a Megahero skeptic, or at least someone who thought of Megaheroics as a distant distraction. In any event, the notion of giving her Megapowers was the furthest thing from my mind, and in fact, she doesn't appear again in the first ten issues of Megaton Man. Nonetheless, the collegiate iconography of Ann Arbor already seems to subconsciously foreshadow her Megaheroic future (from MM #2).

Once Clarissa realizes who Stella is, she is somewhat starstruck by her celebrity status (from MM #2).

With Trent Phloog, as a de-Megapowered Megaton Man, Clarissa has joined the communal Ann Arbor household by the time of Return of Megaton Man #1 (Kitchen Sink Press, July 1988).

By this time, Clarissa has become the roommate of Megatropolis exiles Stella (now far along with her pregnancy) and Pamela Jointly, as Trent struggles with his returning Megapowers (from Return #1).

Infatuated with Yarn Man, Clarissa cannot restrain herself when Megaton Man's pal appears at the doorstep (Return #1).

Protecting civilian Trent from a toppling stack of firewood, Clarissa strikes a Jack Kirby "Big Barda" pose, and realizes that she now, somehow, possesses Megapowers. Subsequently, Stella sews her a primary-colored costume patterned after Megaton Man's.  From Megaton Man Meets the Uncategorizable X+Thems #1 (Kitchen Sink Press, April 1989), originally in black and white, colorized in 2015.

Clarissa assumed that her Megapowers were somehow sexually transmitted from Yarn Man, but learns from her African-America mom that she is in fact the "love child" of Clyde Phloog, the Silver Age Megaton Man. From Bizarre Heroes #13 (Fiasco Comics Inc., September 1995), originally black and white, colorized in 2015.

Clarissa in Megatropolis Central Park with Megaton Man, Rubber Brother, Phantom Jungle Girl, and Yarn Man, as a bronze monument of the allegorical figure Columbia, a pre-Liberty national symbol for America from the 19th century, comes to life. From "Megaton Man and the Liberty Alliance: Columbia Rising," in Liberty Annual 2010 (Comic Book Legal Defense Fund/Image Comics, October 2010). Coloring by Paul and Mary Fricke.

Clarissa gets tested by Preston Percy, Yarn Man, and Rex Rigid in the headquarters of the Megatropolis Quartet (unpublished).

What I like about drawing Clarissa is that she is a much more dramatic superhero character, and a nice foil to the irreducibly comedic Megaton Man! -- Don Simpson.


More about Clarissa James!

All coloring by Don Simpson except where noted.