COMMENTS:

One more page in this first issue. Next Wednesday, Issue 2 will begin!

It's been an interesting week for me, regarding Ace of Diamonds. I got some really encouraging feedback (some from friends, some from people I don't know) and some really discouraging feedback (some from people I don't know at all and some from people I kinda know, online, sorta by reputation). I expected some people to just not like what I'm doing, but I was slightly taken aback by the intensity of the negative responses.

Of course, this feedback has caused me to think about why I'm doing this. And the main reason is, frankly, to sharpen my skills as a writer. The constraints I put on myself in this project make things difficult, and that's on purpose. Already it has paid off, as I had to rewrite a script for an artist on my newest project (this artist, coincidentally, is the artist of a western comic . . . but our project together is about ancient Israel). The rewrite made me go in and really dissect things. And as I've said in some of my blog postings on my Myth-Understanding blog (in the section called The Way of the Writer), you have to use your muscles or you'll lose them!

Now, of course, as soon as I post this for public consumption, it becomes something beyond just a personal experiment. Like ANYONE who publishes ANYTHING, I do so in the hopes that some people will read it and enjoy it. People who put up their writings or art online and say they don't care what people think are lying: if they didn't care what people thought, they wouldn't put it in a place where people can see it! They may not be bothered by reactions, but reactions are why they put it in a public forum: whether they seek positive or negative reactions, they are seeking a reaction. Most people are seeking for positive reactions, whether to make people happy or interested in thinking about something, or to get their ego stroked. Some people are seeking negative reactions, in that they really want to make people upset. I'm no different. I started this as a webcomic because I hoped that maybe some people would enjoy seeing what I'm doing. And some people really have. Mission accomplished!

Other people haven't. I hesitate to use exact words, because the person who sent me one reaction didn't send it to me to share with the world and we've talked since then and I can actually understand his problem with what I'm doing. I don't agree with his opinion, but it's his opinion and opinions, unlike facts, aren't right or wrong . . . they just are. But he had a problem with me using someone else's artwork, even though it was in the public domain, for something it was never intended to be used for. And that's a fact: I am using Black Diamond Western's artwork for something that never intended it to be used for. However, here's where we differ: I believe that's the exact reason that we have the public domain.

The public domain exists so that we can take works of art, statements from the past, and use them to create new works of art, statements from the present. Now, I do not believe that copyright law is bad. That protects recent works and allows artists to benefit from their creations. But, let's be honest, part of my career is built on the public domain! The public domain allowed me to take cultural touchstones and reference them directly, making my own artistic statement about them.

This is another reason why I'm doing what I'm doing. By using an obscure, public domain comic book that represented pulp comic fiction in all its glory, and rewriting it into a story that, honestly, represents my conception of modern "pulp" fiction storytelling, I'm making an artistic statement.

And while I didn't expect it, I welcome the dialogue it has created. Because, at the end of the day, isn't that what art is really all about? Dialogue, first and foremost between the artist and the viewer with the art itself as the conduit; between different viewers; and, sometimes, between the artist and viewer as they actuall communicate about the art.

Regardless, gentle readers, I'm in this for the long haul! I have the issues I will be using to present Ace's origin, and the issue that will be his last adventure! Unlike network television, I will not leave you hanging with no answers by canceling this puppy mid-season! I welcome your comments (if you use the comments below, though, please don't be obscene -- I would delete that because as much as it could add to the conversation, it would take more away).

~ Ben

COMMENTS:

I've seen gunfighters so good they shoot guns out of people's hands.

I've seen gunfighters do fast they shoot before the other guy even draws . . . even when it's the other guy who calls the draw.

But I've never seen a gunfighters so good and fast that he's able to both outdraw his opponent AND win the gunfight by shooting the HAMMERS OFF THE OTHER GUY'S GUNS!!!

That's pretty impressive. That's what I love about old Westerns. Yes, the gunfights may not be realistic. But when they do that unrealistic gunfight, it's all about control. They have the power to put a bullet in the other guy's heart. Or even the other guy's eye! But instead, they restrain themselves. They only do what's necessary.

Unfortunately, it also creates a situation where your protagonist is unstoppable and there's no tension when he goes into a fight.

Just a couple more pages in this first issue!

~ Ben

COMMENTS:

Wow. So my quest for Western Webcomics, while not quite finished, is turning up very few results!

Here's what I have thus far:

PURE: A sci-fi/western/fantasy type of story. The creator said it was inspired by "missing Bravestar" (a sci-fi western Saturday morning cartoon from the '80's). It's fun, though. And part of an interesting trend.

HIGH MOON: A horror/western, High Moon has all the trappings of a good Western: hero with a mysterious past, gunfights, bounty hunting, awesome scenery. Add werewolves into the mix, and you've got an interesting read. (This falls into my "I-had-a-similar-idea-but-they-did-it-first-and-did-it-better-than-I-could" category; a category that is, sadly, quite large.)

Another webcomic -- a sci-fi/western mashup -- I found accidentally, through an ad on a completely unrelated webcomic site . . . and didn't bookmark it and can't find it now! But it was pretty good!

I did find a couple more, but after looking at them I really just decided that they weren't really the kind of thing I wanted to promote. One contained graphic this, another contained graphic that, and another just didn't appeal to me at all.

But here's the one constant: no Western themed webcomic has been JUST a Western! Sci-fi Western, yes. Horror Western, yes. But Western Western? No. I find this curious. It also makes me want to try to develop a Western series that's just a good Western series. Even Ace of Diamonds isn't JUST a Western . . . it's a gimmick wrapped in Western wear! Although, the gimmick itself forces it to be a Western Western.

Meanwhile . . . I received my first ever fan art for Ace of Diamonds! It was drawn by Jamie Cosley of Crashland Studio. Here it is:



Just thought I'd share the awesomeness. :)

~ Ben

COMMENTS:

Watching and listening to some old Westerns recently has caused me to decide I really need to use the word "die" and variations thereof more. There's ALWAYS some sort of dialogue like this:

"You gonna draw fast?"
"Yeah, and you're gonna die fast."

Or

"You'll be sorry!"
"And you'll be dead!"

It's part of what makes Westerns great!

~ Ben

COMMENTS:

This is the end of the dream. With the next page, we enter into "real time" again.

There are more dreams to come, though!

On Monday, my schedule and my local comic creator group's schedule finally got into sync again, so I was able to work on Ace of Diamonds there, which meant I had two or three hours of concentrated Ace time along with some pretty serious geek time, talking pretty seriously about important things like Fringe, comic conventions, and awful movies.

~ Ben

COMMENTS:

I love how Nick Pharaoh pulls the classic "ran out of ammo, so must throw the gun" move.

Reminds me of someone (can't remember who) who once said that he never understood why criminals, after unloading their guns at Superman and having the BULLETS bounce off him, would throw their gun at him, like it's going to actually do better. Then again, he continued, he also never understood why Superman, after having the bullets bounce off him, would duck when they threw their guns! Sorry, that has nothing to do with Westerns. Just where my train of thought went.

There's now two bonus stories on the site, gentle reader.

Wednesday, I posted a link to the 24-Hour Comic I did a few years ago, called The Ballad of the Freak. Many of the pages have commentary about my experience writing and drawing the story.

Today, I'm proud to show you a story that, if I tried to do anything with it now, would be called a rip off of Zuda's High Moon webcomic. I assure you, it does pre-date High Moon, although High Moon's prominence has caused me to hold off doing anything else with the concept.

It's called Gideon's Army. It's an old story, and if I had it to do over again I'd do a LOT of things differently, but I have a special place for it in my heart.

~ Ben

I'm really having a hard time "holdin' my horses", gentle reader. I really want to post the next few pages. The last page of the dream surprised me.

Meanwhile, if you notice I've added a section over to the right labeled "Extras". These extras are going to be some other Western comics I've written. The first one is called "The Ballad of the Freak", a 24-Hour Comic I wrote and drew a few years ago. It's what I call a "Jimmy Stewart Western" (as opposed to a "John Wayne Western" or a "Clint Eastwood Western"). It's a project I am very proud of, and one of the few stories I've written that I enjoy going back to over and over again. Like many writers, when I end a story it can be hard to want to go back and read it (unless I have to, for continuity purposes). This 24-Hour Comic is not like that. I still enjoy going back and reading it. I think part of it comes from the enjoyment of reliving the project process.

~ Ben

I'm noticing a distinct lack of Western webcomics out there.

Obviously, the big one out there is High Moon, a werewolf western, on Zuda.com. To be honest, I haven't been reading it. I'm a bit jealous that they got out there first. My own supernatural western comic, Gideon's Army, was going to use classic western titles with "horror" twists as chapter titles. The one story I DID complete was called "The Quick and the Undead" which I've since found out is ALSO not completely original. Ah well.

If anyone does know of any Western webcomics, let me know. I'd like to link to them.

~ Ben

Sorry I missed a week. Between three days visiting my family and two days where I was alone with two of my daughters (the youngest two) and a major project deadline looming overhead (which I made, barely -- you can get details here if you like), Ace of Diamonds kind of took a backseat last week. That's the bad news.

The good news is that even though it didn't get uploaded, pages still got finished! The whole dream sequence is done, so I've actually got a backlog of material. I wasn't sure if it'd be best to actually post pages for the days I missed, or if I should just resume posting today like nothing happened. In the end, I decided to just resume today and go from there.

Anyway, the dream turned out differently than I expected. It ended up being a lot less esoteric than I had planned. It fits much neater into things that I thought it would. This project is sort of happening in a free form fashion. I've looked ahead at the comic story I'm using, but I do four pages at a time. So you'll notice a guy calling Nick Pharaoh "boss" in the beginning of the dream sequence . . . but that guy is actually Brody, head of Brody's gang, and Brody's the boss! (At least, in my version of the story.) I'm justifying it because that panel is a representation of the rest of the dream. But in truth, I did that page as part of a one chunk of pages and when I decided to make Brody head of the gang on the page where he appeared, it was a separate chunk of pages!

Anyway, I'm happy with how the dream turned out. Although, Ace's dream hat is a jerk. I'm not sure if there's a way I can bring HIM back.

But the big question we're wrestling with is this: is the dream real?