Three Years - Influences - J.D. Coughlan

Panel 1: Establishing shot of an early 19th century London street. A row of terraced flats. It is rainy and gloomy.

CAPTION: The Strand, London

CAPTION: November 24th, 1823

BYRON: (from inside a flat) Mary! Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley!

Panel 2: Inside Mary Shelley's flat. It is meagre and rundown. Lord Byron (reference), looking flamboyantly Romantic, pushes open the door and regards the room with distaste. It is dark; the shutters closed on the windows.

BYRON: You cannot hide away forever, woman.

MARY (O.P.): But that is what they want...

BYRON: Who?

Panel 3: We now see Mary sitting at a desk, facing away from Byron/us. She holds up a newspaper, the British Critic, for Byron to see.

MARY: "If the authoress can forgive the gentleness of her sex, it is no reason why we should; and we shall therefore dismiss the novel without further comment."

BYRON (O.P.): Oh, Mary, pay no attention to--

MARY: Gentleness?

Panel 4: Close on Mary as she turns to Byron. She is furious. (Reference.)

MARY: They all loved my story when first it was released anonymously but now that I reveal my "gentleness" they recoil from it and from their previous statements!

Panel 5: Mary stands, she is restraining her anger, Byron is almost afraid of her.

MARY: I have been outcast my whole life for my beliefs about social equality because there are those who prefer to live above others! I have lived in squalor as a pauper with no home to call my own! I lost my mother as a child, and have known the deaths of three of my own children! And now... my beloved Percy too...

Panel 6: Close on Mary again. She is welling up.

MARY: Where is the gentleness in my life?

END OF PAGE

As an 18-year-old girl in 1816, Mary Shelley wrote the short story that would one day become Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus, one of the greatest works of fiction of all time. One hundred and eighty-eight years later, I read Frankenstein for the first time. It quickly became, and still is, one of my favourite stories ever. After reading a brief biography of Shelley that came with my copy of the book, I was inspired to unleash the ideas I had in my head and become a writer too. I figured, if she could produce an immortal classic with everything against her back then, what was my excuse?

Three Years - Questionnaire - J.D. Coughlan

Who is your favourite comic book character?

That would have to be Jonah Woodson Hex. That's why I made him my first ever Thought Balloons pick. It could be no one else. He is the most morally complex character I have experienced in any medium -- a true western anti-hero -- and if he does end up doing the right thing, he seems to hate himself moreso for it. He's also a surly cuss who hates people, so I can relate.

What is your favourite comic?

Presumably, this refers to a self-contained story and not an on-going series. And excludes the obvious choice of Watchmen. In that case, I'd say Marvels. Which is odd, since I'm mainly a DC guy. Many recommend Watchmen for first-time comics readers, and I'd say that they should read Marvels straight after. While the former breaks down superheroes, the latter builds them back up again and makes you realise why they are so inspirational.


Who is your favourite comics writer?

This is a tough one, but I'm gonna make the patriotic choice and go with a fellow Scot, Grant Morrison. His mad genius makes him the da Vinci or Mozart of comics. While many may be put off by the swirling maelstrom-like nature of his narratives, there is no denying that they always, brilliantly, have something solidly relatable at the centre.

Who has been the most fun to write so far?

Honestly, Deadpool. The only thing I know about the character is that he's supposed to be funny, and, according to those who know me, I'm supposed to be funny too. So I gave it my all and managed to crack myself up in the process.

Which character did you most dread having to write?

Usually, any of the ones I pick. Heh. Seriously though, I've always said that I'd never want to write the characters I love most, because I love them so much. My Batman script was perhaps most difficult for this reason; cramming everything I hold dear about that icon into just one page.

Which non-comics character would you most like to write?

The Doctor from Doctor Who. I love that show, and he's another iconic character to me. The show itself is an infinite playground of possibilities.

Which script do you think has been your best so far?

I don't know if it's my best, but I'm particularly fond of my Ozymandias script, simply because I included a few nods to the techniques used in Watchmen: symmetry, zoom-ins, broken glass symbolism, relevant voiceovers, quote in the title, etc.

Which script do you think has been the best on the site?

After three years, there's been far too many to read, let alone remember, but one from recent memory that stands out to me (and I still find myself thinking of it often) was Dan Hill's Krypto script. I picked Krypto that week, but, as I alluded to earlier, was not satisfied with my own script. Dan said everything I wanted to say about Krypto, but much, much better.

But they are, all my colleagues, magnificent in their own ways, and I look forward to contributing many more scripts alongside them until someone else realises their brilliance.

Three Years – Influences – Down The Rabbit Hole – Shaun Richens.

ONE PAGE – 6 PANELS.

1. Ext. My small country primary school on a hot summers day.

CAPTION ME: I could tell you so many stories of how my passion for writing was sparked.

CAPTION ME: But like all good tales it’s worth starting at the beginning.

2. Int. Classroom a substitute teacher, who looks a heck of a lot like Captain Haddock from Tintin stands before his class in front of the white board. He is broadly smiling and clearly so very happy to be teaching.

CAPTION ME: He told us a tale that ended…

TEACHER: … You stumble and fall down the hole in your back garden.

(Linked)

TEACHER: Now what happens next? I want you tell me.

CAPTION ME: Anything could happen next…

3. A young me walks down a dark tunnel.

CAPTION ME: I remember the thrill of my pen on paper. My words could make anything appear at the end of this tunnel.

4. A young me sits a top a dragon, a long cloak around my shoulders blowing in the wind a crown on my head, a wooden short sword in my hand.

CAPTION ME: I made a lot of things appear.

5. The large old hand of my substitute teacher holds a copy of the Hobbit and hands it to me.

CAPTION ME: My teacher read my story. He told me I’d like a book of his.

CAPTION ME: So he lent it to me.

6. Close up on a computer screen.

The screen reads: And here I am still falling down that hole.

Three Years – Questionnaire – Shaun Richens.

Who is your favourite comic book character?

Truth be told, I am more of a creator guy these days. I tend to follow them from book to book rather than reading a particular characters.

Although as a kid I loved Gambit in the X-Men animated series a ton!

What is your favourite comic?

Fell and The Umbrella Academy are the two series that instantly come to mind. They are the single issues I will pull out every few weeks and re read and just get pumped to make comics.

Who is your favourite comic writer?

Robert Kirkman, it’s as simply as that. If it wasn’t for Invincible and The Walking Dead starting at Image I wouldn’t have gotten back into comics and wouldn’t be writing them today.

Who has been the most fun to write so far?

Jonah Hex for me was a hoot to write. I’m a sucker for all those old western tropes and loved getting a chance to play with some of them.

Which character do you most dread having to write?

Honestly, any that I like to much. It’s the characters I know inside and out that always prove the hardest to work with I’ve found. When you know all of a characters stories, finding your own tale can be daunting.

Which non-comics character would you most like to write?

I’d personally love to write a Fast and The Furious comic. I have a strange love for the franchise and think the over the top action and crazy car plots could make for one hell of a comic series.

Also as a kid I was a huge fan of the 3 Ninjas series of films and my inner child would jump at the chance to write an old ages comic set in that universe.

Which script do you think has been your best so far?

Two scripts stand out in my mind, Rainbow Dash and Peanuts. They both came one after another and at the time seemed like subjects I thought so far from my wheel house that I could never come up with a story for them worth telling. Perhaps because of this, the fact I found my in, so to speak and managed to write something I could be proud of makes them stand out.

Which script do you think has been the best on the site?

I have pulled out the script that stands out for me as the best for all my fellow current tenured writers.

Ben’s  Starship Troopers still stands out as one of his best for me. Its tightly written and perfectly paced. It captures the source material just right as well.

Dan has written so many scripts that I wish I had written but I’ve picked the script that I never could have written, Dan’s Krypto script. Mr Hill came at the week from an angle I never would have and ended up with a truly powerful and emotional script, that even now, just rereading had me touched.

Grant wrote a clinic during the Planet of the Apes week. In one page he introduced us to, and fleshed out two strong and fully formed characters, whilst having them explore the themes at the very heart of the material, a wonderful piece of writing.

J.D used some elegant time changing and minimal, yet powerful captions to craft one hell of a page during our Alfred week. J.D really showed how much you could do from a craft point of view with a single page. It’s the kind of writing that I want to deconstruct so I could learn from it.

MK showed a skill during the Top Cow Talent Hunt Week that I am still very jealous of. The dude can write one hell of an action scene. He creates drama and movement in each panel that makes the combat and action feel fast and brutal in a way I can still only dream of achieving.

Looking back at Niel’s work I thought I’d found my pick for him a dozen times, the guys written so many wildly different and brilliant pages. But then I hit this script with a beat boxing rap battlin’ Etrigan and it couldn’t not be my pick. I remember reading this for the first time and with each new panel loving it more and more. That’s good comics!

Ray’s ongoing tale of redemption hit a crazy new high with his Electro page. This tale of one man trying to become more than he was for his family, set to the back drop of some of the craziest characters in the Marvel universe truly makes for a sage that is as big and bold as any of the great comic book adventures.

Year Three: Influences - George Lucas – MK Stangeland Jr.

(5 Panels)

Panel 1: The setting should be analogous to a booming old wild west style town. The location is near the front of the town, where a sign hangs that reads “LucasFilm”. GEORGE LUCAS is sitting on top of a tauntuan, wearing a wild west-style business suit. A wagon pulled by two other tauntauns is nearby, which has a couple of STORMTROOPERS sitting at the reigns.

Standing around GEORGE LUCAS are a handful of characters from his movies as well as a handful of unaffiliated fans.

CAPTION: With the town no longer in his hands, the man who had founded it prepared to leave and head on out into the sunset.

Panel 2: Exterior view of a building that looks kind of like a saloon. Sounds and sights suggesting a celebration going on inside surround it. A sign over the building’s door reads “FAN HEADQUARTERS”

CAPTION: Some took the news as reason to celebrate.

Panel 3: ‘Twin Panel’, showing two things happening at once.

One part of it shows a crew of MICKEY MOUSE robots/droids/clones (workers) assembling a train station, complete with a set of signs that have names of other DISNEY properties on them, such as DISNEY HEADQUARTERS, MARVEL, and PIXAR (as examples).

The other half shows a crew of other MICKEY MOUSE workers demolishing a building with a sign that reads LUCASARTS.

CAPTION: Even as the new owners began to put their own imprint on the town.

Panel 4: GEORGE LUCAS looks at those who have gathered around him as he prepares to move out.

CAPTION (1): As he prepared to leave, those who still believed in the town’s founder asked why he had chosen to leave, and how he could trust what he had built and maintained on his own for so long to a new entity and an unknown future.

CAPTION (2): In response, he said that he believed it was finally time for him to move on to a new adventure. And that while he was no longer in command, there was still hope that the new leaders would be willing to call on his knowledge if it was ever needed.

Panel 5: GEORGE LUCAS and the wagon ride off into the sunset, leaving the town and the crowd behind.

CAPTION (1): As he finally left them behind, if there was one thing they could all agree on, it was this:

CAPTION (2): That in whatever calls he may have made while he was in charge, however questionable they may have been, from the time he built the town until the time he sold it, there was one theme they all had in common…

CAPTION (3): …That they were all done on his own terms.

(END PAGE)

Getting to Know MK Stangeland Jr. (MK II)

(If you'd like to see the original Questionaire I did back near when I first became a full member, you can find it over this way.)

Who are some of your other favorite comic book characters?

As my ‘Why?’ post for him should have made clear, I’m probably a bit of a Dr. Dinosaur fanboy. I even said as much at the time. And it still stands. Nothing against Atomic Robo, but I find his prehistoric nemesis to be a far more entertaining character in and of himself. In an alternate universe where it’s Dr. Dinosaur who’s the main character of his own comic where his plans of mad science are regularly stopped by a rotating cast of heroes (Robo among them), that’s probably my favorite comic book.

I also feel compelled to mention Stephanie Brown – AKA Spoiler, AKA Robin, AKA Batgirl. Maybe I’m just caught up on the Steph bandwagon since I wasn’t even aware of the character for most of her history, but what I read of the character in Bryan Q. Miller’s Batgirl series quickly made me a big fan of her and her undying, perky upbeat optimism.

Other characters I have a particular fondness for include Taskmaster, Beta Ray Bill, Komodo, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Who is your favorite comic artist?

If there’s one artist that makes me particularly happy to see comic art from, it’s actually two – the Japanese duo most frequently known as Gurihiru. Their art might not be as realistic or complex as other artists, but what it most definitely can be described as is something that I think is an essential quality for comics that far too many seem to forget about these days – fun.

In what is no doubt not a coincidence, whenever I see their name attached to a project, I generally feel safe in assuming that whatever the book is I can expect to enjoy myself reading it, and I’d feel little concern about having to defend or wave of concerns of questionable elements while handing it to a new, potential comic reader and telling them “this is why I love comics.”

Since your last questionnaire, who has been the most fun to write & which of the scripts you’ve written is your favorite?

How can I possibly pick? There have been so many fun characters to write and so many scripts that I love – Peanuts, Dr. Dinosaur, Deadpool, and more.

But if I were to pick one that stands out, I’d choose the unlikely pairing of heroic man and villainous ape known as Baker & Grodd. They’re a duo that I first put together during Animal Man week, then unexpectedly made a return for Planet of the Apes, and in both instances proved to not only be a fun pairing, but very well received by the readers as well.

Odds are that they’ll make a return sooner or later. Potentially when you least expect it.

At the very least we’ve still got a Gorilla Grodd week that’s yet to be utilized, and it would darn near criminal not to put these two back together when that time comes around…

Which non-comics character would you most like to write? 

This could probably vary from week to week based on my mood (last time I named the Animaniacs and Freakazoid!), but these days I think I’m currently feeling partial to Nintendo’s Mario or Samus Aran. The real Samus Aran, mind you, not the imitation wannabe from Other M.

Not that I’m expecting to ever get the opportunity, Nintendo being who they are, but I think it would be especially fun to try the challenge of writing an all-ages style Mario comic that maintained his trait of hardly ever saying anything the audience can actually understand.

Which character, if any, do you most wish you could re-write your script for?

If I make it easier by counting only the scripts written since officially becoming part of Thought Balloons!, I’d love to take a re-do on my “What If…?” script. While I love to be able to write my scripts as thought they were part of a larger story that could theoretically be taken out of or put into a full 20/22/whatever page comic, I think that this opportunity was one instance where trying to write that way backfired on me.

It’s particularly disappointing on a personal level for two major reasons – one, because it was during a week that I myself choose; two, because it was based on a continuation of both one of my favorite one-shot comics and actual “What if…?” issues, the Newer Fantastic Four. So aside from it being a sub-par script, it also feels like a bigger let down because of what it came from.

Which script(s) have been your favorite on the site?

Aside from the scripts I pointed out since the last questionnaire I wrote from this site, the new additions I’d add to my favorites written on this site include:

* J.D. Coughlan’s “Pugilarchy” from Wrestlemania, due to a small part of me wishing it was a more accurate representation of real politics than it is;

* Shaun Richen’s “Contacts” from Peanuts, due to how much it read like a genuine Peanuts script;

* Ben Rosenthal and Rol Hirst’s script from the Christmas 2011 North Pole Week “Luke Cage’s Sweet Christmas” (Part I & Part II), a two-part script written in the vein of Twas the Night Before Christmas which provided me a second prompt for the week when I felt compelled to write a Part 3 conclusion;

…and…

* Matt Duarte’s “Elseworlds” from the special DCnU Pitch week, because I’m jealous for not having thought of it myself.

Any lessons you’ve learned while writing at Thought Balloons?

One thing I’ve learned is that giving feedback and criticism is sometimes harder than you might think. Especially if you’re trying to give meaningful feedback.

It’s one thing to read a script and just say “Nice job”. Most the scripts that show up on this site are decent at the very least, and a majority of those are even better. Saying nothing more than “Nice job” is something that can just as easily be accomplished with the use of the stars. But to actually think of something meaningful to say that’s not being pulled out of nowhere, that takes more effort.

It’s especially true when – as seems to be the case for a lot of scripts I read – what I’m aiming for in my scripts and the style/tone I write with is different from what other people are aiming for. And you can give absolutely the nicest piece of feedback/criticism in the world, but if it completely divorced from what the author has tried to write, it isn’t worth the words it’s made up of. It’s one thing to point out where someone can make an improvement, it’s another to suggest they go a direction with their writing that doesn’t suit them.

It’s all a tad regrettable, since the amount of feedback I give on other people’s scripts these days (or lack thereof) makes me feel like I’m slacking in my involvement in the site a lot of the time.

What do you think has been your biggest improvement while writing at Thought Balloons?

While I think everything has improved at least a little, I think the part that’s gotten the biggest improvement has been the pitch and submission process. I’d already had experience writing scripts - comic and otherwise – prior to learning about Thought Balloons!, even having developed my own scripting style, trying to sell people on what I’d written was a skill I was effectively clueless on.

Since then, I’ve managed to see some great examples, get some great feedback from other Thought Ballooners, and all in all I think I’m leaps and bounds above where I used to be in this area. While I’m certain my pitch skills could still use some improvement, at least I’m not nearly as clueless about it as I used to be. 

Three Years - Questionnaire -Dan Hill

Who is your favourite comic book character?

Depending on my mood-- Spider-Man or Superman.

Spidey is the great Everyman of comics. Superman is the idealised version of who we should be.

What is your favourite comic?

Ever? Batman: Year One. More so than the usual contenders of DKR and Watchmen.  You could even take away the costumes here and it's still a tale of two guys trying to make a difference in an indifferent city.

Right now though, it's Fury MAX. Ennis' exploration of post World War 2 foreign policy using Marvel's oldest soldier as a conduit is flat out amazing comics. I am a HUGE fan of his Punisher MAX comics, but this is even better. Believe.

Who is your favourite comic writer?

Garth Ennis and BKV. Ennis writes comics I want to read, about subjects I'm fascinated about.

BKV just...where do I even start. He imbues each and every one of his comics with so much character and personality. And he makes it look all so effortless.

Who has been the most fun to write so far?

Strangely enough, Ghost Rider. Okay, it was my own version of that character, but I loved writing a page featuring a rider dying and trying to get as far away as possible to do so.

Which character do you most dread having to write?

Sounds like a cop out, but none. I mean, I survived the horror of Pokemon. I try and approach each week with a script that could only be written for that character. Some weeks I succeed, others I don't. The challenge of that is half the fun.

Which non-comics character would you most like to write?

Indiana Jones. Mad Max. James Bond.

Which script do you think has been your best so far?

My Krypto one. I never got to write Superman. This was the next best thing. I think I managed to pull off showing everything I love about that character and his mythos.

Which script do you think has been the best on the site?

Cap's last line from Ryan's script always stuck with me. A sign of good dialogue.

But I also have to mention Grant's script for Enemy Ace. I'm a sucker for war stories and this one grew on me long after I'd left my initial comment.

Three Years- Influences -Dan Hill

PAGE ONE

1.1

We OPEN on a young BOY aged about four or five. He’s wearing t-shirt and shorts and is sat cross legged on a carpeted living room floor.

He stares up in wonder as an elderly man dressed in slacks and a woollen jumper, sits in the armchair before him, gesticulating wildly.

CAPTION Life is but a fleeting moment, so the saying goes...

1.2

CUT TO: the same boy, his back to us. He’s sat cross legged, a few metres away from a boxy looking TV that sits in the corner of a different living room.

KING KONG is playing on the TV, the light from the screen almost enveloping the boy.

CAPTION We’re born, we grow, we learn.

1.3

CUT TO: a shot looking down at the boy slightly as he stands before a line of shelves in a newsagent. He clutches a copy of Marvel Tales #182 and waves it towards CAMERA/an off panel parent. He’s smiling from ear to ear.

CAPTION We accumulate.

1.4

CUT TO: the same boy, older now, a man in his early 20’s. He’s sat cross legged on the grass in a park, summer happening behind him.

A girl, a few years younger, sits opposite him, a picnic between them. A copy of Identity Crisis #1 sits in the man’s lap.

CAPTION Some things change.

1.5

CUT TO: the man, who should probably know better, sitting cross legged with his back to us. He’s in front of a modern flat screen TV that’s sitting on a media unit that’s all metal and glass.

On the TV screen a man in a suit runs across a beach, the detritus of a plane crash spread around him.

CAPTION Some things don’t.

1.6

CUT TO: the man, standing near a desk with a PC on it in a tiny, cramped bedroom. He’s turned towards us, reading from a batch of printed pages.

The girl from panel 1.4 sits on the corner of the bed, staring up at the man with a smile on her face.

CAPTION Life is but a fleeting moment, so don’t waste a second on something that doesn’t make you smile.

Three Years - Influence - Grant McLaughlin

Trying something a little different here.  Hopefully it reads with at least some clarity.  Captions contain narration, but word balloons feature pictures, implying what the character is talking about.  For pretty much every instance, it's the same picture of a cartoonish book - it's the shape of the word balloon that illustrates character emotion and tone.  In some instances I'll describe what that might look like; in others I'll leave that to your imagination.

Panel layout isn't of the utmost importance.  Panels 2 and 3 are two triangles that make up a complete rectangle, with the caption listed in panel 2 applying to both.  Also, give sufficient space to the final moments in panels 6 and 7.

PANEL 1
A young Grant walks with a friend on his first day of high school.  Grant looks unhappy (maybe even slightly angry).  Grant's word balloon's lines are dark and jagged, to emphasize his dread.  The school is in the background as they head towards it.

(1) CAPTION (GRANT): Going into high school, I thought that English was the absolute worst, most boring subject.

(2) GRANT: [picture of a book]

(3) CAPTION (GRANT): I hated that it was mandatory.

PANEL 2
Grant sits at home, reading a book with a big smile on his face.

(4) CAPTION (GRANT): Because while I'd always liked to read, I'd never actually enjoyed an English class.

PANEL 3
Grant sits in class, bored to tears.  Mrs. Palis, an elderly teacher, stands at the front of the class, lecturing.  Her word balloon is icy to illustrate her cold disinterest in the topic.

(5) MRS. PALIS: [picture of a book]

PANEL 4
A different class, the following year.  Mr. Hodgson stands at the front of the class, talking to his students (you can tell it's him because his name is written on the board). He is happy and excited.  His students sit politely, while Grant perks up, as if realizing something for the first time.

(6) CAPTION (GRANT): But all that changed with Grade 10 English.

(7) MR. HODGSON: [picture of a book]!

PANEL 5
Like in panel 1, Grant walks to school with the same friend.  However, this time Grant is happy and excited.  His friend listens on with interest.

(8) CAPTION (GRANT): Mr. Hodgson's enthusiasm was infectious.

(9) GRANT: [picture of a book]!

PANEL 6
Like in panel 4, Grant sits in class.  Mr. Hodgson is once again at the front, lecturing.  While it is now a different topic, he is as happy and excited as ever.  Grant is also happy and excited, but he looks like he's having yet another epiphany.

(10) CAPTION (GRANT): So much so that come Grade 12, by my own choosing, I took three different English classes.

(11) MR. HODGSON: [picture of a pencil]

PANEL 7
Insert panel towards the right side of panel 6.  Close up of Grant's mouth as he speaks quietly.  His word balloon is small, as is the image within it, to emphasize the low volume of his words.

(12) GRANT: [picture of a pencil]...

(13) CAPTION (GRANT): ...including Writer's Craft.

Three Years - Questionnaire - Grant McLaughlin

Because I love hearing myself talk (reading myself type?) I'll cover all the same questions Ben hit on the weekend, but I'll throw in a few of the old ones again for my own edification.

Who are some of your other favorite comic book characters?

I still (and will always) hold a special place in my heart for Atomic Robo, but I must confess to having fallen
in love with Kate Kane and Maggie Sawyer. These two characters share one of the best relationships in comics. Everything between them, whether good or bad or happy or sad, just feels so true to life. I don't know that I could ever get enough of them.

Beyond that, I must confess to having developed a much greater interest in creators over specific characters these past few years. I'll read certain writers and artists regardless of what they're working on, and if they leave a title, I'll more often than not leave with them.

Who is your favorite comic artist? (alternately, "Which comic artist would you love to work with?")

Oh, man. Like Ben, I'd say there are far too many to go through an exhaustive list. Instead, I'll name but two. Michael Walsh and Ibrahim Moustafa. These guys are both crazy talented and crazy nice, and I'm always excited to see their latest work.

Which character, if any, do you most wish you could re-write your script for?

I'm generally pretty pleased with at least some part of every script I post here, but I will say that I wish I could go back and retool some of my pieces for the thought balloons Avengers-thon. I felt like I had a good idea there, but it kind of fell apart towards the end.

Oh, well. C'est la vie.

Any lessons you’ve learned while writing at Thought Balloons?

I don't want to parrot everything Ben said, but he's spot on with everything he listed. So instead of rehashing what's already been written, I'll focus on one other lesson that's been important to me.

Writing at thought balloons has reminded me that I what I really love are the small moments in people's lives. The quiet moments where little to nothing of importance is going on is what I love to write about and I don't think that will ever change. At the same time, writing here has helped me push myself to also write other types of scripts and emphasized the importance of changing things up.

What do you think has been your biggest improvement while writing at Thought Balloons?

As above, I think I've improved in every single way that you can during my time writing here. My scripts have come a long way, and I'm eager to keep getting better with each and every one.

Who has been the most fun to write so far (since the last time I did this questionnaire)?

Without question, I had the most fun with J.D.'s Amalgam Comics choice.  Coming up with all those ridiculous combinations of DC and Marvel's lamest villains was a blast and a half, and I'm still pretty proud of what I managed in the end.

Which script do you think has been your best so far?

While it's hard to narrow them all down to one (see how much I love tooting my own horn?), I remain quite proud of my Pokemon script.  Playing through that series on Gameboy (and with Pokemon cards) remain among some of my fondest memories, and I worked hard to find an appropriate topic to write on.  I was thrilled when I hit on a tangential look at the motivation behind the creation of the Pokeball.  I researched the hell out of Japanese funeral customs and traditions and I'm still happy with how it all turned out.

That being said, I still have warm feelings for my original Lois Lane script.

Which script do you think has been the best on the site?

Like last time, I'd like to look at my favourite scripts by each tenured writer.  I even looked through Ben and MK's stuff for my favourite script since the last time I wrote this up.  Like for myself, it's mighty hard to narrow down to only one script for each tenured - they all have so many good ones! - so I'll qualify this as my favourite scripts right now. (Please note: this was a super tough list to make.)

Ben - Starship Troopers - I was actually mighty tempted to pick Ben's Jimmy Olsen page, but it felt like shortchanging to pick the script he wrote the very week I last did this questionnaire (although the continuous reveals are mighty good).  So instead, I'll go with an excellent Starship Troopers script.  The sense of dread and terror that Ben builds is wicked, and it's all the more impressive to me because it's outside his norm.

Dan - Wonder Woman - Dan's ability to write amazing war stories blows me away every time, and while this one isn't as heavily-focused on war, it still qualifies.  I love the banter between Diana and Carter - it feels spot on.  But what really makes this script for me is the brilliant use of setting.  As always, some terrific research going into a quality comic page.

J.D. - Foggy Nelson - I still adore this script.  Over the top in all the best ways possible, your version of Foggy Nelson has everything I could possibly want and much, much more.  Plus: I don't know that I'll ever get tired of the sunglasses over sunglasses gag.  Too good.

MK - A technical cheat on my part, but I love MK's Buddy Baker and Gorilla Grodd team-up scripts (which can be found in his Animal Man and Planet of the Apes pages).  One of the best examples of how enjoyable the odd couple trope can be.  Buddy and Grodd have no real business appearing in a story as allies (of a sort), but MK crushed it both times.  Can't wait to see them again.

Niel - The Rarebit Fiend - A page that channeled the original incredibly well while still managing to feel fresh and new.  Love the conversation between the dreamer and the screen - a nice little potential commentary on the relationship between entertainers and their audience.  Either way, a mighty fun page.

Ray - Spider Jerusalem - Captured the character perfectly.  This page absolutely oozes vitriol and righteous anger.  Bonus points for how it also functions as a relevant criticism of today's problems.  Spider would be proud.

Ryan - Rainbow Dash - Admittedly Ryan went a little over the one page limit here, but it was still pretty good in spite of that.

Shaun - Spider Jerusalem - Spider really brought out some of our best.  The page tells a complete story while also sinking its claws deep into the reader. I still find myself wondering how this one ends...

As before, these are just some of my personal favourites.  There's plenty more greatness from each and every one of these talented writers to be found throughout thought balloons' archives, so feel free to explore!