expatNERD

Category: Solicitations

  • 42 – Jump the Shark

    42 – Jump the Shark

    Welcome to the new Solicitations! This is a Wizard of Oz moment where we are going in full color and are changing it up.

    Please bear with us. The new format means we will need to rethink the website a bit especially on how to present these comics to you. You may or may not know but we have been publishing on Tapas and Webtoons quite a bit recently, and they use a nice stacked format to read through the various pages. Now that we are moving to this format I think that is probably the solution. But as always please stay tuned and expect a big overall to probably happen in the New Year.

    What can you expect in the meantime? Well, if we can do it then the Quiver storyline will be the season finale when we stop in December. Then we will head to Season 2 and it will be a traditional comic book format. Franka has an idea on how to do this and when she pitched it I thought it was brilliant and it could work. But the whole thing will hinge on whether or not we can keep the deadlines. That is going to be key.

    But back to the comic. As you can see it is a nice little ploy using the whole Jump the Shark gimmick to head to the new format and introduce Quiver as a frickin’ space pirate. Have we run out of ideas? I suppose the comics coming after will have to speak for themselves. But in case you did not know, jump the shark was indeed a real thing when Happy Days had Fonzie jumping a shark on water skis. And the phrase jump the shark entered the English colloquial and has been used ever since. Who says you cannot learn anything from comics?

    The excitement on the possibilities is overwhelming. I can barely hold back my glee and excitement as a type these words. There is a lot of work to do, especially for Franka because she is going to have to make more banners, headshots, and also introduce new characters. So in the words of so many comic book authors and publishers that have come before us…

    The best is yet to come!

    -Marv

  • 41 – Priceless

    41 – Priceless

    And we have come full circle. Finally. That was a bit tiring to be honest and I did not know what Curt’s game was. But I knew there was something.

    I am happy we got to the bottom of that.

    But I would do a disservice to Curt if I said I did not agree with him because I do. It is interesting in this day and age of social media and how we can determine the value of a thing or a piece of art. Is it by the number of likes, upvotes, hearts, or whatever the metric is? Or is simply the act of creation enough in itself to give something value? Why are we, as human beings, inspired to create? The act of creation is a tale as old as time and it might stand beside the act of survival. Do we need to create in order to survive? Do we have the urge and need to shout at the heavens in order to express ourselves or to be heard? Where are we?

    I assure you as I write this on a Sunday morning that I am not sipping a glass of red wine or something stronger. But this episode from Franka made me reflect and wonder. The business of comic books is art, commercial art if you will, but still art. And it is something that I and a lot of people love and will continue to love. I suppose I am thankful for that.

    Okay, now it is time for breakfast. Have a good week.

    -Marv