Dennis Hopeless

Not dead

2009-06-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

So, um... I've been away.

I took a vacation and cleared my head for a bit but I'm back writing and will have new stuff up soon.

Sorry for the long delay.

Questions and Answers

2009-04-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

So...

Mike has started drawing some The Answer pages. He's a busy man and it could still be a while before we get these out but I'm in love with what he's doing and wanted to share it.

PUH-LOW!

I still can't believe I'm working with this guy. He's a bad mofo with a pencil.

Bearing Fruit

2009-04-06T08:37:00.000-07:00

I've started getting art in on a project I wrote well over a year ago. It took a while to get this one running but I'm really liking what the artist is rocking out.

Awesomely enough, after waiting so long to get it going, we may have found a publisher based on the first 4 completed pages. In my experience, pitching is never this easy. I guess sometimes patience is rewarded.

Anyway, it's a guns and ghosts action book called Safe House. The artist is Aaron Gillespie, the protagonist is (believe it or not) a DUDE and I'll be posting more as it develops.

Take a look:

Planet Hopeless

2009-03-23T11:20:00.000-07:00

I will be a guest at the Planet Comicon in Overland Park this weekend ao anyone in the KC Metro area should stop by and say hi.

None of my new projects are out yet but Kevin and I will be selling GearHead trades, Zombies with Guns t-shirts, prints and the like. We should have sample pages from Cupid and various other sneek peaks as well.

For a list of all the guests go to:

PLANET COMICON WEBSITE

Finally

2009-03-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

So, I finished scripting the final chapter of Cupid yesterday. I'm sure there will be some rewriting to do but for now I get to smile in relief and put the last 2 years worth of work to bed for a while. Great feeling.

More later...

L'il Debbull

2009-03-08T17:38:00.000-07:00

I love the movie 'Nothing But Trouble.'

Kyle Strahm apparently owns the DVD (something I would have guessed impossible.) After a brief google image search, I just learned that someone out there owns something even more inexplicably rad. Nothing tops this:

Some People Say the Nicest Things

2009-03-08T17:15:00.000-07:00

It has been a while, I know. Gotta do better.

Sorry.

I just got back from a weekend in Joplin. Kevin, Kyle Strahm and I drove down to attend a comic convention put on by our good friends The Hurley Bros. We had a great time, ate too much, drank too much, slept in Jeremy Haun's attic and laughed more than I can accurately describe.

One of the other gentlemen sleeping in Jeremy's attic was a gentleman named Scott. Scott and his friend got very little sleep because of us. Scott should hate us and everything we do. I would be surprised to read in Scott's blog about how juvenile and disrespectful the three of us were. If you'd made me guess, I would have said Scott threw away the copy of GearHead we gave him.

I would have been wrong.

Ran across this blog in my weekly vanity googling:

ComicDorksCast Blog

So, in recap: Thanks to the Hurleys for a great con. Thanks to the Hauns for their hospitality. And a special thanks to Scott for his kind words and forgiving nature.

More blogs to come. Art too.

Shake your Meat

2009-01-23T09:53:00.000-08:00

Chris just put up the final full color page for the MeatShakes pitch. This one takes place in full daylight and might be my favorite of the bunch:

I've been super busy of late and need to post an update. That will happen soonish. Promise.

Cranking it up

2009-01-23T07:42:00.000-08:00

I recorded an episode of the Crankcast yesterday with Crank and Mike. Had a good time and talked a bunch of nonsense.

HAVE A LISTEN

Meatshakes gets COLOR

2009-01-13T08:16:00.000-08:00

Chris is closing in on finishing the Meatshakes pitch pages. I've been getting color pages back and they RULE. As much as I dread putting together ANY pitch, I'm excited to get this one out. It's so weird and I love it.

Check it:

Fuck Santa

2009-01-02T11:19:00.000-08:00

The holidays are finally over. Thank fuck.

Every year this productivity vacuum swoops in and sucks away the entire month of December. It leaves me bloated, behind and irritable.

All of those things happened again this year but Jessie and I managed to cap things off with a really fun night in Vegas. I hate gambling so we spent our time wandering the strip and watched a pretty awesome Sequins and Feathers Showgirls show at Bally's. I'm not sure if boobs, sequins and feathers completely make up for a month of slothful boredom, but it made for a great night.

Anyhoo...

Back home now and writing The Answer in earnest. This book has a MUCH different tempo from anything I've ever done. So far I'm digging the shift.

No new art to speak of (Patric turned some in but I can't exactly preview EVERY page) so I'll leave you with the aforementioned Showgirls:

Too Short

2008-12-19T12:23:00.000-08:00

I've been working on a few 8-10 page short story plots for artist friends of mine. They're taking part in a really cool anthology project (of sorts) and asked me to write their contributions. All three are Horror/SciFi/T&A concepts so I'm having a blast figuring them out.

Anyway, working on these got me thinking that I've never really done comic shorts. Most writers cut their teeth doing anthology work but I somehow skipped that step.

Apart from a few massive one-page failures for the local paper, I haven't written short stories since creative writing class in college. Weird.

It will be interesting adjusting my style to fit the needs of a short. Here's hoping I'm up to the challenge cuz the 3 guys I'm working with deserve some rad shit.

I won't say yet who I'm working with or where exactly they'll end up. Nothing is approved and the whole thing might fall through tomorrow. But I will show you some teaser ART courtesy of one of my collaborators:

Reverse Engineering

2008-12-03T09:20:00.000-08:00

Just finished up the 5th and penultimate chapter of Cupid. I love these characters and can jump back into writing them fairly easily but this chapter had new complications.

Here's the rub, I've completely reworked my writing process since the last time I worked on the book. (For HOW and WHY I changed it, see 90% of my previous blogs.) Long story short, my pacing is different, my structure is different and I do a lot more pre-scripting work.

My new method has really helped my storytelling and increased my productivity, but I didn't want a 5th chapter that looked and felt different from the previous 4. Cupid is a character-driven monster and it was plotted to allow the characters as much talking room as possible. I don't want to sacrifice that.

So, I had to figure out a way to go back to my old seat-of-the-pants plotting style without forgetting what I've learned about tightening my storytelling.

Far as I can tell, it worked. The chapter reads like the rest of the book and I managed to hit all my plot points without going over on page count (chapter 4 ended up being 30 some pages.)

More importantly, only one chapter to go and this bloated beast is DONE.

Off-Topic art break. Patric is KILLING Storm Damage. He gets better with every page:

I want my GEARHEAD

2008-11-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

A but more GearHead movie love on MTV's Splash Page.

Several things need to happen for the movie to get made but, I have to admit, this has been a fun week.

Thanks to everyone for the kind words and congratulations.

Gearhead Movie News

2008-11-18T22:13:00.000-08:00

From Variety.com

Hurd to produce 'Gearhead' film
Valhalla obtains film rights to novel
By DAVE MCNARY

Gale Anne Hurd's Valhalla Motion Pictures has gotten into gear for "Gearhead," buying the film rights to the graphic novel.

Hurd will produce "Gearhead," which was created by Dennis Hopeless and Kevin Mellon and published as a four-issue series by Arcana Comics.

Story revolves around a young woman who leaves the drag strip to team up with a group of rebels to fight the corrupt superheroes who govern the U.S.

Hurd and Valhalla most recently produced "The Incredible Hulk" for Marvel and the upcoming "Punisher: War Zone," due to be released Dec. 5.

Arcana Comics has published more than 150 original comicbooks and graphic novels as a division of Arcana, owned by CEO Sean O'Reilly. Titles include "The Clockwork Girl" and "Kade"; company also develops existing brands for Disney, Sony, Capcom and HBO.

------------------------

To answer your question, Yes. It does feel good to be famous.

Meat Shakes

2008-11-08T18:17:00.000-08:00

Chris just sent over the first set of Meat Shakes pencils.

I'm in love.

Check it:

And, yes, the whole thing is that weird.

Voter Remorse

2008-11-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

Got up early and voted today. It's something I oddly enjoy doing. Here's the problem, when you vote before noon you have WAY too many hours to wait for the results. I swear I've been at work for 36 hours now.

This day is so fucking long.

On a brighter note, check out the custom legomanish figure GearHead publisher Sean Oreilly had commissioned:

Simple but rad. Just like the "real" Shelby.

Halloween Scene

2008-11-02T17:28:00.000-08:00

My FAVORITE holiday has come and gone. I Popeyed it up, made a Spinach pimp cup and drank myself stupid.

Already excited for NEXT Halloween.

Top Secret No More

2008-10-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

I had this whole plan to talk about my TOP SECRET project for months and then unveil who I'm working with and the name of the book once we actually got it done.

My esteemed collaborator spoiled EVERYTHING.

CRANKCAST 159

There it is. I'm working with "DC Exclusive Artist" Mike Norton on a project called The Answer. Top Secret be damned.

Now I just need to get the rights to the Val Kilmer movie so I can continue talking about writing Top Secret.

THE ANSWER TEST ART:

Editing Bay 4

2008-10-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

I have a video production background.

This sounds fancy but what it means is that I went into college a wannabe filmmaker and came out a cameraman for local morning news. Bait and FUCKING switch.

That said, one of the things I miss about writing for video (and film) is the editing process. It's like getting a complete overhaul rewrite AFTER everyone else has done their job. It's such a great tool for improving the story and has the potential to turn mediocre into great.

In comics it doesn't work like that. I can edit my script and I can do dialogue tweeks while lettering but once the thing is drawn, a complete overhaul would be a huge pain in the ass.

Add the monthly format to the mix and it goes from pain in the ass to completely impossible. Creators can't very well go back and rework issue one to accomodate new ideas they had while lettering issue 4. It's already out. Too late for genius.

But then there's Cupid. I was reading a pdf of the first 2 chapters the other day and it struck me that some reorganization of the scenes and dialogue retooling would VASTLY improve the flow. If this thing were a movie I'd completely rework it in the editing room and come out with a much tighter read.

Bummer it's not a movie...

Or is it?

Cupid is a special beast. It's a passion project. We have a great publisher but no hard deadline. It's an OGN. Even though we're half way done, no one has read it yet. And most importantly, it's a dialogue driven book with long scenes that take place in relatively few settings. It basically IS a ink and paper movie.

Editing Bay here I come. Kevin too. We're gonna scissor this bitch into fresh-churned butter and blow some fucking minds. Prepare yourself.

ART BREAK WITH HOPELESS

While I'm testing the limits of vague hyperbole and mixing my metaphors, Kevin is still drawing the book. Have some drunk Ovid:

Been a Long Time Coming

2008-10-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

So, I'm teaching myself how to plot an ongoing series.

Top Secret is designed to be an ongoing. It has ongoing-sized ideas and will require several story arcs to fully unfold. That's one of the things I love about it. It's huge.

But...

I've never written an ongoing. I'm just now figuring out how to do something expansive without losing the reader along the way.

At the same time, the demands of the market require that potential ongoings structure themselves into series of mini-series. For me, this means a headache.

I have to take a crazy-elaborate behemoth of a concept and twist it into both a story-filled ongoing series AND a satisfying mini-series. The potential is huge but wrapping my mind around the whole thing is daunting.

I guess this is what learning feels like.

I promise I'll let you know how it works after I figure it all out.

Art:

Thanks to important and powerful but as yet unnamed movie people, I got a chance to revisit some of my future GearHead ideas the other day. It made me nostalgic for Shelby and her wrench.

Here she is:

Q&A #2

2008-10-06T08:18:00.000-07:00

Back at ya with more lazy Q&A blogging action.

LM: whats an average writing work week like for you?

I've recently come to the conclusion that this is as close as I'm ever going to come to being grown up. I have an amazing wife a regal beast, a full-time day job and a mortgage payment. Before any comics are written, I have to make sure all of these other parts of my life are taken care of. I don't get to skip work to write. I don't get to starve the dog to write. I don't get to hide out in my office on Sundays (the only day Jess and I both have off) writing when I should be hanging out with my family.

[I should mention here that Jessie is ridiculously supportive and makes my life easy by taking on WAY more than her share of our adult responsibilities. Without her I'd be half as productive and otherwise completely lost.]

What DO I give up in order to write comics? My free time, my personal time and most of my hobbies.

I don't watch football or hockey any more. I rarely go to the movies. I watch TV MAYBE a couple hours a week and only after I've gotten the day's writing done. And if you see me drinking more than one beer in a sitting, I'm probably either on vacation or at a con. I like beer and movies and sports. I do. But I like comics more and I like writing a lot more.

So, getting back to the actual question...

I write at least 2 hours every weekday between 6:00PM (when I get home) and 10:00PM (when Jess gets home). If possible I'll get another hour or so in after midnight while Jessie does her tattoo prep work.

I do a lot of my brainstorming and story breaking on Saturdays because I have the house to myself and a solid 8-10 hours of work time.

I always read a 22 page comic before working on a script because it reminds me how relatively short these things are and how quickly the reader moves from page to page.

I always take a 1-2 hour 'creative nap' before plotting or breaking an issue because it helps stir the ideas around in my head and makes thematic and character connections my conscious brain would stupidly miss.

Most importantly, I write a little bit every day. If life gets in the way and my schedule gets blown (which happens with disturbing regularity), I deal with it and do what I can with the time I have. I'll work plot problems out in the dentist waiting room. I'll do an outline on the airplane. I'll go over bits of dialogue driving in rush hour or visualize action beats staring at the ceiling in a dark motel room. Writing is a lot more than just typing and you can do a lot of it almost anywhere.

Every day is the key. A little bit every day turns into a whole lot more than you'd think.

-------------------------------

Jesus, how long winded was that?!

Cool off with some more Top Secret test art:

My first ever Q&A blog. OMG!

2008-10-03T17:02:00.000-07:00

My friend Loren Meyer asked me a few process questions yesterday and since I tend toward laziness whenever possible, I'll spend the next few posts answering him and save myself coming up with blog content.

Here goes:

Loren: How the hell are you able to write so much stuff at the same time?

The short answer:

I write every day and do one thing at a time.

The other answer:

I'm relatively new to comics so I really can't afford to turn down work. When an artist I respect expresses interest in working with me, I pounce. At last count, I'm in some stage of active development on 10 different books. I did that to myself and I'm in the process of learning how manage it.

So far, the trick seems to be working in chunks. My life is easier if I keep my head in one world at a time. But with so many books, I can't take 6 months to write each series from start to finish. I have to break it up. I have to prioritize the work based on the needs of my collaborators and then work to logical stopping points.

This week I'm doing a plot outline for Top Secret. Last week I wrote the first chapter of Steakburg. The week before that I broke the scenes for Cupid chapter 5 and started a new pitch. Before that I revised the Murder City pitch. And so on.

It took a bit to streamline the best way to break things up, but this is my current process. Each number represents one uninterrupted chunk of writing. The chunks take anywhere from 1 to 4 work sessions (with the day job, I only get 2-3 hours a day to write) to complete.

1: Concept rough (what's it about?)

2: Plot Outline (what happens and how does it end?)

3: Pitch One-Sheet etc. (what does the publisher/editor need to see to want the book?)

4: Pitch Rework (if necessary) and Issue Breakdowns

5: Breaking an issue (what happens when, in what order and how many pages per scene?)

6: Writing an issue (THE FUN PART)

I stay on each project for however long it takes to finish a step then move to the next most-pressing thing.

There are, of course, times when this brilliant system of mine breaks down. Sometimes I have to take a day off in the middle of something to letter a book or do trade design or prepare for a con.

I also have Storm Damage which runs on Phil's schedule. Hester functions as both co-writer and story editor on the book. I send him drafts 2 scenes at a time and wait for his revisions to move on. Sometimes I go several weeks not touching it and then need to stop whatever else I might be doing to write the next 12 pages. It doesn't fit neatly into my system but it works well enough and it allows me to work with one of my heroes.

So, yeah... That's how I do it.

Speaking of Storm Damage...

NEW PATRIC ART:

Top Secret like Val Kilmer

2008-10-02T18:06:00.000-07:00

Spending the rest of this week and as much of the weekend as possible working on my Top Secret project.

My collaborator on this thing is pretty fucking awesome. He's WAY more comics famous than I am and out of his mind to be slumming it with the likes of me. It's a coup that the dude is letting me work on his concept and even radder that he's gonna draw the thing himself.

[Don't get me wrong. I'm awesome. Just undiscovered, diamond-in-the-rough awesome. All signs point to me knocking this shit out the park and shaming everyone Secret Collaborator has ever worked with. It's just cool is all.]

AHEM

So, more plotting this week. But this time, it's 'eyes only' HUSH HUSH plotting.

This thing, like so many others, won't be seeing print for a while. BUT, I do have some early test art.

Have some:

Scripted

2008-10-01T17:52:00.000-07:00

I finally finished scripting the first draft of the first chapter of Steakburg (any thoughts on a better title?).

It's SO MUCH FUN to write something this ridiculous. I feel like I'm making my very own Jim Henson puppet movie. No wonder I was so in love with Labyrinth and Never Ending Story as a kid. Silliness breeds amazing characters who breed more silliness.

From a practical writing standpoint, this is the first thing I've done in a while with dialogue-light action sequences and elaborate sight gags. Completely loving that too.

I'd like to say pages are coming soon, but I need to get a few other things done before I'll have time to polish the script and send it to Chris. No worries tho. I'll be posting character designs in the mean time and promise to get the pitch pages up as soon as they exist.

For now, have a rapidly-colored birthday Pickler: