My name is Ian McGarry and I am an aspiring comic book creator. Over the next couple of years, or however long it takes me, I will be chronicling my efforts to create and publish a graphic novel. I will also be reviewing newly released graphic novels over this period. In doing so I will draw inspiration and gather techniques I will potentially use or adapt for myself.

Follow up:

I have the backbones of my story, the principle characters, key scenes, motifs, themes and setting. None of these are set in stone and I am happy to let the story evolve organically. I have provisionally made the decision to produce the art work myself. This may change if at some point I can find an artist who shares my vision and is prepared to put the work in for no up front financial gain. The potential difficultness of this is why I have decided to go it alone. Also, I believe that in creating the artwork I will get to know the story and character on a more intimate level. I will let the story and artwork inspire and grow together.

I will be using Blender an open source 3d modelling program to create the locations and characters. After rendering each panel in 3d I will then apply filters and draw over the top of image to fill in the details and to create the illusion that it was all drawn by hand. The 3d renders will give me massive assistance in the composition, perspective and lighting of each panel.

At the moment I am getting to grips with Blender. I am hugely impressed with the features on offer and in many respects it surpasses the functionality of professional software like 3d Studio Max. Indeed, it has been used to create the special effects for a number of movies. Amongst other things it can render hair, clothing, fluids, smoke and fire effects. It is notoriously difficult to learn how to use but once the many hot keys, abbreviations and unique menu system have been learnt it is quick and intuitive to use.

The character I have been modelling to help me learn is a robotic monkey. He will be a key figure in the story so has to look good. Ideally he will look iconic. Now, you'd imagine that a robot would be easy to do. I have created a quick robot easily enough but it looks rather awkward and amateurish. I've used it to experiment with the filters to make it look like it was drawn and I can report a success there. I've also learnt a lot about the software. However, I need the robot to look fluid and graceful. A key element in this is making joints that allow the required freedom of movement whilst still looking good and physically feasible. This is proving more difficult than I imagined. I'm hoping to complete a posable model of the robot by the end of the month. I will post images on here for your critique.

Review: Madame Mirage - Top Cow Production Inc
Writer - Paul Dini
Art - Kenneth Rocafort
Letters - Troy Peteri
Edited - Rob Levin

I was drawn to this graphic novel by the artwork alone. A brief flick through the book reveals bold colours and imaginative panel structures. I knew nothing of the author Paul Dini who it turns out was the writer for the award winning Batman: The Animated Series and is also a member of the writing team for Lost. Whilst the writing is solid I found the plot a little derivative and lacking depth. It wears it's influences on it's sleeve - them being Kill Bill, Kevin Smith and the Watchmen. Unoriginal as the plot may be it thunders along at quite a pace and held my attention well enough for me to finish it in one sitting. The powers of the protagonist are original as far as I know and are used in clever and interesting ways. It has a pulpish film noir element and in many ways is an exercise in style over substance. There are a few neat twists, tricks and post modern winks that raise the story above mediocrity. The only narrative technique that I picked up from it is the way Dini makes the revealing of the back story exciting through making the main character's life dependent on the quick telling of the story.

One thing the narrative does provide in abundance is the opportunity for a plethora of striking images beautifully realised by Rocafort. The panels fall chaotically across the page as if a pack of cards had been dropped on it. This fits with the magic trick theme. For part of my story I want the panel structure to be chaotic and this book showed me the value of overlapping panels in order to show the reading order. I also liked the embellishment in the gutters that resonated with the smoke used by the main character. He also uses background smoke coming out of the character's heads to reveal emotion which I liked and will possibly use.

Personally, I prefer to have more depth than a kids cartoon in my media but if you fancy a well produced action story with some striking and stylish visuals then check it out. 4/5