Hey, guys, it's Scott. It is Tuesday, April 4th, and forgive the sort of hungover, worn-out sound of my voice. It's been a long three days, but a great three days. I'm just tired, I'm not hungover, I swear. Also forgive the sound, I accidentally left my phone in Chicago at this convention, or in the car on the way to the plane, and didn't realize it until I stepped out of the car and was listening to music and then suddenly it died in my AirPods and then it was too late and I couldn't get it back by the time I had to go through the gate, so I'm using my 11 year old Emmett’s phone to do this. He’s angrily waiting for me to hand it back to him because he's on spring break right here. So a bit of a mess.
But it was a fantastic time in Chicago. It was honestly one of the best convention experiences I've had in awhile. It was so packed, first of all, which was a shock. But the energy there was off the charts. I didn't expect it to be just so so full. But I think it's sold out both days. I'm not sure, I mean, I can't imagine many more people in there. But I've done a lot of spotlight panels over the years and things like that, where it's just me speaking, and I've never had to like turn people away before because it was full, or not that I remember. So that's no testament to like me being any better than I've ever been or whatever, it's just great to see a con so full of fans in general.
Everybody had a line. It was really nice to look down on the row of friends and creators like Kyle Higgins and Sean Murphy and Charles Soule and Alex Paknadel and just down the road. And Tony obviously was with me all weekend, which was great. But just to see everybody have a line, it was just healthy and fun and there was some awesome cosplay, which I’ll have Ty post here, and people who were just joyous and excited to be back there.
There was a DJ, but I wish more people danced. I will say that Jedis are the only ones that get up there and dance a lot of the time with their lightsabers. So we have to get up there and all other neighborhoods of geekdom need to challenge them, whether you're a DnD player, whether you're anime or comics or whatever, we need to find our groove and get up there and dance alongside the Jedi and Sith.
But it was great, I really got a chance to catch up with friends. I mean, again, the priorities of the convention for me and for most pros, honestly, are like, there's the work aspect, obviously, where you're signing and you're hoping to bring something home to your family. But it's also about connecting with fans and getting a chance above all to say thank you to you guys for supporting us and giving us this incredible job.
And this con was just off the charts in terms of people coming up and saying personal things, a shout out to both Carson and Sarah (you know who you are) for your stories, and just coming up and telling you that your work meant something to them. And sometimes people will say, “well, I'm sure you hear this…” That does not get old to hear that your work affected somebody in some way. So thank you to everybody that came this weekend and said those things and filled those lines. I mean, it was just an incredible experience.
But I also got to catch up with friends, which is really nice. I caught up with Sean Murphy, who I hadn't seen in a long time. I heard all about his amazing Zorro project, which is going to be incredible.
I caught up with Tony Daniel, who's just become one of my best friends, and it was a ton of fun to talk to and plan with and hear about projects he's scheming on and tell him about my projects. Charles Soule, we planned the next two arcs of Undiscovered Country and we went out to dinner, we got away from the con.
You know, it's funny, we used to be at the con bar and there used to be this whole Bar Con culture and that stuff to varying degrees. But these days, I don't know if it's just that we're older, I don't know if there's less of a presence in comics at these conventions, like it used to be they'd send a lot of editors and now they don't have a lot of editors. And on top of that, they don't really go to the cons as much, like DC/Marvel, they don't really have as big a presence as they used to. But it's mostly just fans there. And we don't want to impose and it's an odd situation, so we avoid that altogether and just kind of go out to dinner and explore Chicago. We've been doing a bunch of cons lately and it’s just kind of getting away. That's been great. So it was just nice to see so many fans there. But we kind of did our own thing and got to see a little bit of the city and go to some good restaurants based on Tony's amazing wife's recommendation, and it was a blast. I can't say enough good things about it. I'm really excited except that I lost my phone on the way back, and here we are.
A tiny bit of housekeeping, I should have said first, but again I'm functioning on half my brain cells—Barnstormers: A Ballad of Love and Murder. The final issue is out today. Really, really proud of this book. I can't thank Tula Lotay enough for being an amazing partner on this whole thing.
It's a historical fiction, it's about class, it's about this moment reflected in that moment, it's about desperation and hope and all these things that were encapsulated for me in that era of barnstorming—of taking a war machine plane and turning it into this crazy daredevil thing you did for yourself, and when two people trust each other enough to get out on the wings of a plane up there there's a special kind of bravery there on all kinds of levels. So anyway, I'm really, really proud of it. I hope you guys enjoy it.
And we have Nocterra #13 coming out next week.
I really hope you'll check that out. Again, this arc is off the chain, I can't say enough fun things about it, we have a bunch of crazy shit happening in there.
And then other than that, like, housekeeping aside, we're in the writers room. So the writers room started yesterday. I can't wrap my head around, and I'm so excited. I tweeted out a couple of names you might want to follow, incredible writers from all different walks of the creative landscape. We have a playwright, we have someone who's made her own film and is an expert writer, but also has worked in animation and production, we have someone who's worked on incredible dramas like Better Call Saul, we have someone that's also worked in some of the best horror on television like The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass. So it's just amazing. And the producer, Kevin Kolde, who has been with us from the start and has done some of the best animation on television for the last like two decades. So I'm just so excited about it.
And it's an amazing feeling, honestly. It's scary. It's really scary going into a room like that and then having something that you've been working on and care about so deeply being exposed and open to so many different voices. But what I'd say to you is like, if you're interested in comics in general, but also TV and film, that’s sort of the key. If you're reading novels, it's different. It's just you and you have an editor. But when you're doing TV, comics, any of it, it really is you and a team. It's you and other people, and you have to be able to give this thing that feels like a child to someone else to take care of and help raise. But to sit there yesterday and hear these incredible suggestions about how to make it scary, how to make Sailor’s are more emotional, new plot twists, all of it was just such a thrill. All my hopes were definitely met with it, and I can't wait to get in there today. We’re in there every day from like, 9am PST/12pm EST (where I live) to like, 2:30 PST/5-5:30 EST. So it is like a job like, five days a week. So it's a lot, but I'm really, really excited about it and I think we're going to make you something very special.
I'll do one question because I've taken up way too much time talking about everything. But the question I got was:
jeclark1126 asks, “what do you do to overcome writer’s block?”
You know, most of us in comics and stuff, I think they'll probably have the same answer for you, which is that writer's block, it is a thing. I get it too where I think how do I solve this thing? But it's different. If writer's block is your inability to kind of push through a knot in something that you're writing, a lot of the time the way around it is to call friends. I call friends to tell them ideas. I talked to James Tynion IV for years, like, almost every day when we were on Batman and all that stuff. I still talk to him all the time about story. And now I have Will Dennis, who edits all of our stuff. That's my methodology. I love talking things through. I talk to Tyler (thanks, Ty). That's the way I work through things. But above all, the thing to do is to put the pages down by the time your deadline hits.
So the bigger suggestion beyond if it works for you to go for a run and get some exercise, if it works for you to talk to somebody, if it works for you to see something or watch something or read something similar, whatever it is that’s gonna get your motor going, the thing is, you then have to set a deadline for yourself and say “I'm writing these pages by this time.” They might be horrible and suck, but I need it done. That's the way out of writer's block, honestly, because that's what happens in real life. So you have to train yourself to be able to be like, I know, I don't know the answer, but I'm gonna write through it anyway, I'm gonna try something and it might not work, but I'm gonna have it. Because again, to me ultimately, writer's block is sort of the fear of writing something shitty. And it can be really paralyzing. It's like when you don't know which is the right way to go, you're not sure how to approach it, and it absolutely can stop you in your tracks for a long time.
But the whole idea is, if you get used to saying “I'm writing through it anyway,” physically sitting there and writing, even when I know that something isn't going to be good( and often it isn't), sometimes you'll surprise yourself and write your favorite thing in those moments. You'll beat it because eventually what will happen is you'll get more and more used to sitting and writing when you don’t feel like it. And you'll learn your own tics, you'll learn your own ways through some of the creative clouds that you're in, you'll learn what sorts of ideas come up in those periods for you, what sort of ones elude you, you'll get better at the whole process. But the key is engaging, like engaging with writing by a deadline.
So if there's something you need to do to get inspiration, read something, exercise, talk to someone, whatever it is, great. But set a deadline for yourself, and by the time this time hits like, one day from now, two days from now, whatever it is, I will be through this scene or I will be through this number of pages, and just stick to it. And that's it, it really is. Like, most of us just joke like we can't have writer's block because we have deadlines, you just can't have it. And if you want to be a writer, it's the best way to train yourself. I told you, the best thing out of grad school for me, other than making friends that were writers and making some connections, I mean, really the biggest thing of all for me it was learning to write every day, learning to write under duress, learning to write you don't feel like it, basically learning to write for deadline. So that's it, just make a deadline and push it. I know it sucks, but it's just the truth.
Alright, guys, wish me luck in the writers room. I'm sorry we can't do the regularly scheduled one on ones for the next few weeks. The first week of the writers room is just pretty intense and I want to make sure I give it all my attention. And yeah, I'll be back on Friday, and Friday’s post will have a component that's free and have a component that's for paid subscribers. We saw a big uptick in paid subscribers the last couple of weeks, we really appreciate it. Again, please, if you get a chance, we're really proud of all the things that we're offering in that tier, like the class (which is completely archive, so you can watch or listen to all of them if you want all 16 or 17 at this point).
Also, a lot of people took advantage this weekend of getting to skip the massive lines at C2E2 by having a subscription. And also, you get to send in two books a year for me to sign for free (with just shipping for you), any books of your choice. So along with other things, those are some of the perks. I hope you'll sign up and thank you guys so much for everything. I'm really I owe all this to you. That’s the point of the con, I was sitting there just thinking to myself like, I can't believe you guys have stuck with me this long, but I promise my side of the bargain is to just try my best to put up the best stuff I always can, and I might fail, but it won't be for lack of trying. I promise. I feel like owe you everything, and I'll put everything I have into everything I do. Thank you!
S
P.S. Thanks to Brian K. Vaughan for giving the Comic Writing 102 class a shout-out on his own killer Substack, Exploding Giraffe, where he gives awesome insights on his own career, releases great original content, and has plenty of great giveaways. Throw a subscription their way if you haven’t already:
Newsletter #131: How Was Your C2E2 2023?