'Little Miss Martyr' (A Work in Progress)

mike · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 62 Location: winchester,Ca.

Also , a perfect plan for our lives means that God has a specific purpose for us to fullfill. We may never know all of His intricate weavings and ends to them but we need be willing to obey. Sometimes being good stewards with the talents He has given us is all we need to do. I feel you are doing just that with your writing.

Every good thing is a gift ( inspiration ) from God.

I hope that helps with your confusion and anxiety.

If you need to bounce off more ideas then I'm here for you.
I need to flex my editorial muscles anyways for future purposes. LOL

Gerry Lee · Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 129

Dear Mike,

I have a real case of writer's block right now, may I babble to clear my mind?

The second half of the artwork for "The New Sons of Thunder" has not arrived via snail mail, it's been over 2 weeks and I'm worried.

I have not gotten any snail mail replying to my last letter to Larry Blake in the same amount of time.

Four people have replied to my 'Little Miss Martyr' version 2 so far. JCServant, Robert Flores, Larry Blake, and yourself. Interestingly enough, 2 of you thought it was passable, and two of you thought it needs work:)

Though I am very uncomfortable talking to people live on the phone, I screwed my courage up and tried calling Larry. The first time I found out he'd given me an incorrect area code. The second it was busy. The third time someone answered but couldn't hear me. I gave up, I'll admit.

There were a few other minor things that went wrong, that I blew totally out of proportion. The truth is, if I can get photocopies of the completed book into CCAS Board's hands for review for their May meeting, if I can get the files to Joey Endres by early June, I should be able to get the copies to the CCAS by San Diego Con. But I really despaired today, and just about gave up. Well, tomorrow is another day, but I don't know whether to feel hopeful or afraid of that, ha ha:)

On the plus side,

Jaems-kun sent me a great inside cover illustration of the characters to use for the book.

Eric Jansen sent a wonderful article that just needs to be formatted to fit the two comic pages it's intended for, presenting the Gospel wonderfully and giving an invitation to accept the Lord Jesus:)

Robert Flores sent me a wonderful inside back cover full page ad for joining the CCAS, it looks great!

So, I'm really being immature acting like -everything- is going wrong. It is a big deal that half the book art hasn't arrived, but it's too early to go to pieces, even though I did already.

Well, I'll stop bitching now, sorry about that.

I have these two new, actually old, ideas for a couple of comics.

One is 'Christian Canines'. Remember the gentile woman came to Jesus asking Him to heal her possessed daughter, and the Lord said 'It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs.' And the woman rose to the Lord's challenge and said 'Yes Lord, but even the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the children's table'.

The year is 1980, in the distant future. Mankind has suppressed and forgotten Christianity. Scientists notice a swarm of shooting stars approaching the earth and fear the worst.

A mad scientist launches an MFTL (Much faster than light) colony rocket into space. Aboard are enough astronauts to colonize whatever planet they find, and their pets. As they launch, they collide with an incoming spaceship and their drives malfunction, sending them back to the beginning of the universe.

The spaceship lands, and the canine humanoids(Vlawufs) disembark warning of the terrible semi-sentient asteroids known as the Orulb. The Orulb are actually meteoric ore containing a rare and miraculous substance called 'Psycho-flux'.

Here's a bit of techno-babble- The psycho-flux is the distilled and concentrated essence of a powerfully psychic race that populated a million worlds on the other end of the galaxy in an age long forgotten. For unknown reasons, they all died almost simultaneously, and their bodies, which by that time had become a spiritual/thought reactive vessel eventually congealed and concentrated into psycho-flux the miracle goop.

Something happened long ago, even the Vlawuf hardly remember it, but chunks of planet filled with the fossilized psychic essence suddenly erupted from the million dead worlds and began their journey towards earth.

The Vlawuf's fought them, but weren't strong enough. The last remnants of the survivors of the original colony ships fled, racing the asteroids to the home world, earth, to make one last stand.

Bearing an ancient robot, with psychoflux technology, the Valwufs choose a young earth earth boy to champion the humans.

In later installments the asteroids begin to strike the earth. It is noticed by scientists that they are veering towards the earth, and that they do remarkably little damage to the planet. Excavation teams are sent out, but what they find is frightening beyond measure.

The spiritual/thought reactive material was brought to the earth from the furthest regions of space to be vessels for fallen angels to possess. To give demons physical forms to ravage and destroy and conquer the earth.

Soon the post-Christian world falls to worshiping and serving these terrible new masters of the earth, but one young man rallies the people of earth.

Now, the Vlawufs teach that the spiritual realm has it's own kind of ecology, which are governed by the laws of emo-harmonics. As long as people draw their energy from the Master, they flourish, and prosper, and the universe is stable and at peace. But rebellion against the Master leads to a spiritual pollution that becomes self perpetuating and contagious.

What's the point of the story? I'm not sure. Can funny animal dog characters say things about Christianity that readers might follow and think about at their leisure? Things that human characters might bring too much baggage to the table with them to say? I'm very intrigued by the idea, but maybe it's just me.

Anyway, the boy is Idol Battler Eli. In his shining cybersheath, the psycho-flux is shaped by the prayers and faith of those who follow the Master, who is the Most Holy God. The Vlawufs are angels, you see. When the colony ship arrived at the beginning of the universe(almost 10,000 years ago I think, not sure), Satanic forces noticed them and tried to corrupt them. The angels inhabited the dogs on the ship. To possess humans would violate human free will, but like Balaam's donkey, in this time of need, animals would suffice. Kind of an angelic counter part to the demon legion taking over a herd of swine. In ensuing generations, the canines became the humanoid Vlawufs.

There I go on another tangent, ha ha:) The Idol Battler Machine is engraved with the verses of Ephesians that describes the armor of the believers. As Eli goes from city to city, country to country, battling the incarnated principalities and powers, the number of believers grow, and the Idol Battler takes on cool forms and new powers yet to be thought up.

In the end, the earth is devastated through the rebellion of men, that throw the emo-harmonics off so badly that the planet becomes a living hell. The Idol Battler is destroyed, but in the end Eli and the neo-Christians realize the Idol Battler was really a symbol, a foreshadowing of what was to come, a new level of spiritual maturity. With this realization, the Vlawufs throw off their physical forms and join ranks with the angelic hosts to drive the demons back into the pit for another age. They are led to battle by the believers, who are clad in true spiritual armor, and the world is saved for you and for me!

Maybe the series could begin with "What follows is a tale of science fantasy. Like all stories, there is a bit of truth to it, but it is a glorified fairy tale. Except for God and His truths, which are eternal, perfect, and realer than you and me..."

What do you think? Every issue could have 2 pages of interesting articles about God, creation, Christianity, angels and demons. And of course little writer's tidbits about the story.

Gerry Lee · Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 129

Oh, my other idea was kind of a spoof on anime themes.

Magical girls: The young man looked out his window and sighed. All his classmates had magical girlfriends! Jimmy was dating a very well constructed robot. Tommy was dating an elf princess. Charlie was dating a mermaid. So the young man prayed, and prayed hard for a magical girlfriend. Be careful what you wish for! The next day seven sisters moved into his parents house. The young man had one week to choose one for a bride(gag: The seven girls are named after the seven churches in Revelation, and their personalities match the descriptions. You can say a lot with that I think) Incidentally, the 'magical' girlfriends that his friends have are revealed to be terribly defective...

One thing I've always wanted to do was a Sailor Moon spoof, but each of the Spirit Scouts is named after an attribute of love. I laugh to myself when I think of Galatians 5:22 as teenaged costumed super heroines.
Spirit Purity, Spirit Love, Spirit Longsuffering, ha ha ha ha!

Villain: Curses! You've come to destroy me with your super powers and fashionable accessories?!

Spirit Scouts: We're the Spirit Scouts! And we're here to...
Spirit Scouts: LOVE YOU INTO THE KINGDOM!!!

Villain Nooo!!! I hate when you do that! Look what you did you stupid girls! My heart of stone is melting....melting!!!

Ha ha, okay, maybe it's not such a good idea...well, it's late and it's been a long day, lol:)

Talk with you soon,
Gerry

mike · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 62 Location: winchester,Ca.

Well those are some entertianing ideas. I actually like both ideas. The concepts are original and cool. But may need more refining.
Christian Cannines- On a fan of the title since the story eventually becomes about Eli and the armour. I'm thinking this story is like - Megaman meets the Thundercats ( only dogs, and who says it only has to be dogs? ) meets Disney Star wars. LOL I'd love to see some designs.
The concept is there and you may be able to pull it off with some more refining.

The Magical Girlfriend ideas sound Hilarious. But why only a week to decide? I'd make it indefinate to explore more of this zany world you've created. And all the funny possiblities. This concept sounds like Oh my Goddess meets Ranma 1/2 meets Sailor moon. The only thing that would concern me would be trying to pull this off WITHOUT the sexual inuendo. All 3 of the manga titles I mentioned, I'm sure have been made into porn doushinji becuase of the loose interpretations they can have. You'll want to be sure that your version is not confused with or can be interpreted in a way that glorifies that.

mike · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 62 Location: winchester,Ca.

Idol Batler Eli sounds like a cool title.
I would start the story off with a -

"in the Galaxy far far away, before time began ...( or something like that )

-then go on to describe the Orlurbs and how they rebelled againt God ( the maker)
and they were wiped out. But since they're souls were eternal BUT NOT made in the
image of God, they became the psychoflux substance. Forever to wonder the universe.

Flash forward to the present, The meteors are heading towards earth. The astronuats
with their cannines are dispathed. Collide and are bounced through time and space.
Only to return immedietlly as the Vwlaurfs.Immedietly as if no time had passed but
in reality the astronuats and the cannines timeline had beed 10,000 years.

The angel/dogs somehow find or meet Eli.

A quik flashback to get Eli and Audience
up to speed of where they came from ( along with what happened to the astronuats?
and why they are in cannine form - the angels not the astronuats LOL ).

Eli is chosen to bear the armour and fight the demons incarnates. Maybe along the
way others can be chosen to bear the armour as well. Gather up a whole team. That
would be a possibility cuz the story would be hard for one Main character to carry.

But I guess with the angeldogs by Eli's side that makes the team right there too.

So yes there are some good possibilties here. Just a little more refining.

Another thing to consider- even tho this IS FICTION-God is bound by his truth.
You MAY want to make sure that the apocoliptic events that take place, do NOT
contradict or replace the endtimes of the BiBLe. Something to consider.

Gerry Lee · Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 129

I wasted the weekend feeling overwhelmed by all the projects I want to do. So I have to establish a routine. Everyday I will try to do 1 scribble page for 'Little Miss Martyr', and some 'Idol Battler Eli' material later in the evening. I have not forgotten you Mike, I am just having to learn to discipline myself so I actually get things done, lol:)

God bless you,
Gerry

mike · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 62 Location: winchester,Ca.

I'm loving these pages! Awesome job all around. I do miss the line " so what kind of lost soul are you...Thief, murderer, harlot?", tho.

"Actually, I'm catholic. " LOL

Also in the last 2 panels on that first page, I think the humor is a little lost. It looks as if the Princess is trying to hand Ms Martyr, the cross. An extra line saying something like " evil begone! " or " Stay back ! " or something like that would make the next panel's punchline hit home more. Very Happy

I love this script! It's soooo hilarious!

Gerry Lee · Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 129

Hi Mike! Thanks for your enthusiastic support and great critique of these pages:) You're right, the horror Princess Princess feels needs to be played up a little more, especially the last panel on that page was too static and should have had Princess' expression in it. I like your idea for her saying something...hmm..."Get thee behind me Satan?", lol!

Yes, the original dialog "So what kind of lost soul are you...?' set up the 'I'm a Catholic' line a bit better. I'm going to write your comments onto the printed copy I'm going to send Larry soon.

God bless you:)
Gerry

mike · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 62 Location: winchester,Ca.

Mr. Larry gets to draw this? I'm sooo jealous! LOL Oh well, Can't wait to see his more of his stuff! Very Happy

Gerry Lee · Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 129

Dear Mike,
Thank you for your kind words:) Larry was really enthusiastic about doing this story. He asked me if I could do my rough scribble storyboards a little more streamlined so that he could have page space to go for broke with his artistic interpretation of the story. It's so gratifying to have an artist that enthusiastic about the story that he wants to pour his talent and feelings into it.

Larry also wants to redesign Virginia Pernoud, and has been doing research on her inspirational source, Joan of Arc. Of course I said 'Go for it!', because I know he'll do a great job, and the more of Larry Blake in the story, the better it will be. I did kind of want her to look like Miyazaki's 'Nausicaa', but I wasn't able to pull it off myself, so a new look will be cool too:)

Speaking of which, if 'Idol Battler Eli' works out, how would you like the story written for you? Text form, script form, or scribble story boards? Of course you can change anything at any point in the story:) Your encouragement and excitement about this project is really wonderful, and totally inspiring! It's no lie, your posts everyday make me look forward to writing.

Well, I'd better start writing:) Talk with you tomorrow,
God bless you,
Gerry

P.S. In the end I decided to go with a graphic novel format for the next 'The New Sons of Thunder' book that will have 'Little Miss Martyr' and 'Crucible of the Crusades' in it. Ha ha, I'm so stingy with my script I'm adding pages for Larry instead of trimming my dialog to make room:) But seriously, we're hoping to get a 100+ pager out next year with all the stories in it. Though, it might be a really tiny print run, ha ha:)

Gerry Lee · Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 129

Gerry Lee · Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 129

Gerry Lee · Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 129

mike · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 62 Location: winchester,Ca.

Wow. these are all drawn so good! Most impressed. You comics are always so fun to look at and read. It got a little preachy there on a couple of pages, but Yokos remarks help to break up the heaviness. Very well done.
I would like to see a clarification about the cummunion elements NOT having to be served by an ordained priest tho. It's just one of those things that I think catholics got mixed up about. It should be more of the heart of the person partaking. Other than that I think the script is very good.

I am really impressed about the artwork and how you fit 5 characters in one panel after another and still made each panel dynamic and different. It's not an easy task but you did it very well. I esspecially like the " days go by" pages. And having Yoko sing " tho I don't know why" was a hilarious touch! I laughed out loud when I saw that! lol Very Happy

Gerry Lee · Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 129

Dear Mike, thank you so much for taking the time to look at my scribble storyboards:) It really means a lot to get your reaction as an artist, storyteller, and Christian brother.

You're right I think, the 'Lazarus and the rich man' scene kind of turned into a sermonette, and it's kind of 'heavy' for the tone of 'The New Sons of Thunder'. I'll have to be careful of that in the future, I do want to preach the Gospel through comic books, but intended with 'The New Sons of Thunder' to primarily entertain. I figured if I could entertain the reader with a silly story, they would stick around to read an 'invitation to accept Jesus Christ' article in the same book. But 'Miss Martyr' is turning into a weird hybrid of comic and article...

I can't wait to see how Larry Blake interprets these scenes:) Oh, I got to see your page 14 of Jesse's Story, it turned out very well! It looks very natural, I wouldn't have guessed from the artwork that you had some rough moments drawing it. I love your use of screentones too. I bought an Antarctic Press screen tone library but haven't tried it yet. My lines are too scraggly to match with screen tones I think. By the way, did you design the minister in the story? He's got a really great look.

I am very glad you are enjoying 'Little Miss Martyr', and treasure your comments. I will definitely pass them on to Larry when I snail mail the pages to him.

By the way Mike, you probably answered this somewhere, but what dimensions do you work with for your pages? What art tools do you use? Do you use your computer a lot for any of the steps?

God bless you Mike!
Gerry