Red Ice
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Roland Allegro is the quintessential working-class Martian colonist--he digs, lifts, and hauls. What he really wants is to go back home to Earth, where his archeology degree is worth something, winters end, and everything is blue.
But when an excavation of the first Martian colony uncovers a deadly, three hundred year old conspiracy, his hope for escape finds new life.
With the help Terra, a nomadic member of the marginalized Dusters, Roland wants to blackmail the government with his new-found knowledge to get back to Earth. Terra, however, wants to use the information to help her caravan survive. Despite their conflicting goals, they try to work together the best they can while struggling to survive a full-bore alien invasion!
Face to face with sinister aliens, a rogue government, and an ally with conflicted loyalties, Roland must find a way to use his new knowledge to escape the red planet.
Martian history may be based on a lie, but no lie is worth dying for...
...though it may be worth enough to get him off the planet.
Today's the last day to vote for RED ICE. If I don't get to at least 5th place, I'll post politically incorrect, dirty limericks every day for the rest of the month on my blog: http://sobstories.blogspot.com/
Hey everyone! If you're on the fence, and haven't voted yet, or if second thoughts are bringing you back to re-read RED ICE...look at it this way: RED ICE goes live at Zuda, and NASA discovers ice on Mars weeks later. If we win, then imagine the thrill of fighting off an alien invasion!
You have made an accusation, but don't worry it's not serious.
I have made a serious accusation against DUAL, go to its comments and read it! It is important!
Greetings, my friend! I predict you will climb a position in the competition! The coldness of the story will be neutralized by the overall quality of the comic! I also see a so-so spaghetti alla puttanesca being consumed by one of the creators, who will pretend it is better than it actually is in order to impress a woman! Farewell!
Not bad...not great...too slow.
RED ICE is REAL!
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/080620-phoenix-ice.html
has the interesting feel i got from 'brave odysseus' but not the weird complications with point-of-view. i dunno, i just think it's tough-luck for Red Ice to have to be featured in a month against Cursed Planet. i also dig the old-school towards-the-back of the Sunday comics feel. i would read it when bored, but wouldn't necessarily anticipate it weekly...
You've definitely hooked me with this one.
Interested in some more behind the scenes info? I've posted the script for the first three pages of RED ICE over at http://seeingredice.blogspot.com/
Dear Zuda Competitors/Creators,
I recently started a Zuda fan blog, and I would love to interview all of this month’s creators. If you would be willing to answer 5-10 questions, to be posted on the Zudafan blog, please contact me at: zudafan@gmail.com . I’ll try not to repeat any of Rob Berry’s questions. :)
Feel free to check out the blog: zudafan.blogspot.com
Thanks!
Annibot, mpd57, bornieo, and trainedmonkey88: Thank you for the good words!
You've piqued my curiosity with the last panel, I wish you had more space to work with. I can see this going somewhere interesting, keep up the good work!
It's a good synopsis, though I don't think the eight screens really deliver on what it might all be about eventually. Starts too much like a graphic novel, and not enough like a webcomic, if that's a bad thing!
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Want to know more? Go to http://mpd57.blogspot.com and join up today!
Nice job - I like the Euro look too the strip. I think it's alot of re-treaded territory but I think it's well put together and would like to see where you folks go with it. Good luck!
My favorite this month. Like RiverHelix, it didn't quite hit me the first time I read it, but upon reading it through a second time (something I do with all of the entries) it clicked, and I really like the sophistication of the storytelling, and the subtlety of the dialogue. The ending could have had a bigger punch, yes, but it’s intriguing none-the-less. I really like the mystery you have set up here.
It took Horacio about two weeks to do the pencils for the first eight pages, but that was in an oversized format. Another week or so for inks. Andy colored it between other assignments, but given that I've seen him in unfettered action before, I'd be surprised if it took him more than a week in total. I lettered it, edited it, and cleaned up the files for production in about two hours, give or take.
Hey guys,
in keeping with Rob's questions to the creators, wondering how long it takes to complete a single page (from pencils to inks to color to letters)?
-gabe
Hey RiverHelix--Thanks for taking the time with Red Ice. I appreciate your comments. To answer your question Page 1, panel 3 is the moon exploding.
The cliffhanger thing really only works on an already established story & characters. I could care less what he finds. Sorry!
Lots of text in this comic-- which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I could care less if a comic has as much text as Hannibal Goes to Rome (a fav) or hardly any like Mime (another fav). I'm all about whether the story is tight. But here you also have so many different kinds of communications going on as well-- internal monologue that turns out to be an electronic message, General Hand yelling at his hand-held, the chit-chat between Roland and his buddy via radio and face to face and let's not forget the loud speaker PA announcement throughout the complex . On my first read I was a little tired and just wasn't feeling it too much-- but I didn't hate it either. The last page did nothing to really grab me to make me want to reread all that dialogue. Now that I have read it carefully with a fresh mind, all the different talk/verbiage/communications/dialogues started to click and I enjoyed the story much better because it really sets up the atmosphere, setting, protagonist's emotional forces and the story's mysteries very well. I still would have like to have seen a little harder punch on the last page but the ending was still suspenseful. But one thing: please explain to me what's happening on page 1, panel 3? Every time I look at it, it seems like that space station is blowing up rather than the spacecraft taking off in a spit of rocket fire. G'job & G'Luck Brother.
RKB: as for what Dusters are...Dusters are ostracized colonists--criminals, political threats, etc.--who have cobbled together a self-sufficient caravan designed to survive the harsh Martian landscape outside of the colonies.
As for what they do: barely survive.
With any luck, and a few more votes, you'll meet them soon!
"without out" damn computer:(
Without out giving too much away, could you fill us in more on the dusters, and what they do????
the story struck me as sci-fi/noir to be honest, and that's a good thing!!!
When I wrote script, plausibility was very important to me creatively. The emotional arc for Roland is about finding a way to live somewhere that he’s miserable with as much dignity and happiness as he can. Anyone who’s ever moved somewhere that sucks (for work, school, etc.) can relate to it. I took the hard sci-fi approach because some of the more fantastic elements of science fiction would undercut the point I was trying to make with Roland’s character. As the author, if people can teleport or fly in ships with FTL drives, then Roland’s dilemma has no credibility.
As much as I love a good space opera, or even science fantasy like STAR WARS, I wanted RED ICE to be as realistic as possible. It takes time and resources to travel between planets and stars. It’s not something to be taken lightly, and keeping the technology as “real” as possible helps to communicate that.
I wanted the science fiction experience in the story to be a couple dozen logical steps ahead of what we experience today, yet just fantastic enough to escape into.
I’m glad that you pointed out the American flag on his suit. In a bit of back story that didn’t make it into the script, after the failed colony at the dig, Mars colonization was opened to the private market. Once successful colonies were put in place, the US government nationalized them and took control.
One of the things that I'm curious about with this comic is your choice of genre. Hard sci-fi, which this seems most akin to, is a really difficult thing to pull off in a medium like comics. As an art form comics works off of the notion that each world represented in the form has it's own internal logic. We don't care if caveman live alongside dinosaurs in a comic like ALLEY OOP, but if someone drives by in an automobile, then the whole concept breaks down.
Hard sci-fi works of the writer's plausible extrapolations of the world we all know. It's a very rich method and genre for story-telling, but really hard to relate in a medium like comics where "the world we all know" isn't all that relevant.
I was really curious then about the choice of setting this comic on Mars as opposed to some other fantastical planet and on the main character, Roland, having what appears to be an American flag patch on his environmental suit (page 7). If this was some other planet besides Mars and the characters were humans from some other planet besides Earth all of the dramatic elements would, I believe, be the same without readers having to deal with the issue of plausibility. 300 years in the future of a first failed Mars colony puts it about 400 years in advance of Earth's current plausible technology and development, so an American flag patch seems a relevant choice.
But I love hard sci-fi and think this is a really daring way to go in comics. So;
6) Scott, can you talk a bit about your decision to go with this approach?
-Rob
Thanks for all the comments, guys! I love getting the feedback.
I've updated my production blog at
http://seeingredice.blogspot.com/
with a bit about how to adapt the comics page to the landscape format for Zuda. Go check it out, and take a gander at some of Horacio's orignal pencil work for the project.
First of all, there were an awful lot of panels of buildings talking. We get it, they're on Mars. Second, what was all that stuff at the beginning? It didn't have anything to do with the excavation guys, so...
All in all, merely mediocre.
First of all, there were an awful lot of panels of buildings talking. We get it, they're on Mars. Second, what was all that stuff at the beginning? It didn't have anything to do with the excavation guys, so...
All in all, merely mediocre.
I like it, but when it doubt pay it off. Maybe the dusters/terra could have showed up here in the 8 screens???
Interesting take, RKB. I guess there can be a case of too little being too much. Hmm.
David Gallaher hit me up to letter HIGH MOON at San Diego last year. I was hesitant at first because of my worklaod, but I've known David a long time, so I figured, what the hell. A few months later, I whipped out the first eight pages, and poof! We won. I have no idea how much of a reach Zuda has, but all my professioanl acquaintances are at minimum aware of it. I'd love to see how long Zuda can keep the momentum up, and how it integrates into their long term online and print publishing plans.
Okay. Last of the general copy/paste questions and then we'll do some that are specific to each of this month's comics.
5) Where did you first hear about Zuda and it's competition? Through comic fans, other industry professionals, ads or news features? On-line, word-of-mouth or in print? Exactly how do you think the news about the Zuda comp is traveling these days to readers and future contributors?
-Rob
Thanks for your comments, RKB. The format is growing on me. I like this feedback. It's good stuff to remember as I do more projects like this.
P.S.: I probably would have LOVED IT!!! as a euro sized graphic novel, go Humanoids!!!
Can there be too much of a mystery in a mystery???? My way of saying I would have liked a a little more payoff in these 8 screens, or maybe more plot points/ other characters in the story introduced. You ended on a great line classic cliff hanger/ very good synopsis too, but i felt like not enough happened in the 8 screens. You did give us some of the Mars back story (good job on that), the whole digging up the truth reminds me of those history channel shows where they investigate old battle fields to sort out fact from fiction, so I liked that part of the story, it made it easier for me to follow along, it just read lite to me. Let a few more cats out of the bad for starters, I think a better place to end would be screen you see his reaction to whatever is behind the door, or maybe just show us something behind the door but leave it vague so the readers vote for you to find out for sure what it is.
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I have a long standing dislike of text boxes that pretend to be thought balloons. I would have liked it better if the lead just talked to himself or something, i know not everyone (anyone?) shares my aversion, so it's just nit-pick of mine.
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The art is great very old school looking really fits the story. reminds me of EC's old sci-fi pulpy horror stories. The truth is this is more of a hard boiled story (or has the makings of one), than some of the other pulp adventure style comics this month. it's not that I disliked your writing, it's just I didn't get as much as I would have liked out of the 8 screens.
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I will re-read it a few more times and be back again with more comments, probably I could end up voting for you stories do tend to grow on me and I try to give everyone a chance.
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The colors are not the best looking to me this month, but they do fit the story very well, great grasp on doing a color job that fits the story well. The font/letters are top-notch.
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Reading a comic on Zuda about Mars, i expect the martians to show up by screen 8 in a major way, it's kind of like a gun on the mantel in act 1 of a play sort of deal.
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This has been a little more rambling on my part than what I would have liked (-and when was the last time someone who commented owned up to that???), but like I said I'll be back.
3/5 stars but that could go up, depending on my feelings after a few more reads.
Actually, I have eight comic-sized pages tucked away. I originally wrote it, and Horacio drew it, to be a Euro-sized OGN. I edited down those pages into some more palatable for Zuda. Didn't take much. In the end, we only gave up about 9 panels of story, give or take a few inches on the opening splash. The only challenge was to make sure it looked good in the landscape format, and that the story beats were hitting in the condensed form.
I'm going to go into more detail this weekend about that process over at my Red Ice blog at http://seeingredice.blogspot.com
I'm a huge Alex raymond fan of course, but the idea of a BUCKAROO BANZAI prequel is really intriguing. can I write the ad copy;
"No matter where he went, there he was."
('course someone probably already suggested that but, well, I couldn't resist.)
So on to the next question;
4)Zuda's eight page pitch and 4X3 format is relatively for putting work into the hands of editors, producers and readers. Was the comic you've submitted packaged into or first proposed in any earlier form (short story, graphic novel, animated short, etc...)? If so, what were some of the challenges of adapting it to this format?
-Rob
Man O' Jeez...worst time to cut out! Although a little vague (only eight pages allowed, I know), I was really into it and then the cliffhanger...argh! Nice, interesting setting and dialogue pulls you in. Good work.
There's sand in that panel?!
HEy Rob! To answer your thrid question: All three of us have a lot of work online. Horacio and I collaborated on DEATH VALLEY for Speakeay and THEY DO NOT DIE at Ambrosia, the latter is online at:
http://theydonotdie.ambrosiapublishing.com/2007/08/01/they-do-not-die-page-1/
And Andy Elder and I were two parts of the team on ATLANTIS RISING (I wrote, he colored, and Tim Irwin did the art):
http://www.drunkduck.com/Atlantis_Rising/
Andy's also colored a bunch of Transformers comics and he's working on the Buckaroo Banzai prequel for Moonstone. And Horacio has been drawing comics for 30 years and he's working on some HG Wells amd Lovecraft adaptations to name a few.
My biggest influence in this, and Horacio's, too, is Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon strips. I also owe some credit to Faulkner and Kurosawa for inspiring the original versions of the story that lead Red Ice to where it is now...and the last two would have to be Kim Stanley Robinson's RED MARS and John Varley's RED THUNDER/RED LIGHTNING books. They all made me want to play in the playground.
So, next question.
There are quite a few returning competitors in this month's contest, so I thought this might be appropriate for another general question;
3)What other professional work or experiences have any of you had that precedes this comic? Anything serialized? Any links readers might see your other work on? Basically, how many people are 'new-comers' in this month's contest?
-Rob
Just put RED ICE in my list of favorites.
Good luck, Scott.
Llarena
That seems like a good, solid pace for this kind of comic, Scott.
Pacing in webmedia is a big issue, of course, and the reader demand for regular updates often escapes the value of doing the kind of project-specific schedule you're talking about. To my mind, one of the better attributes of the Zuda contract is in noting the specific needs of a creator and their pace on projects, so it's only natural to think about how time one's updates to balance with that and the project they're presenting.
So next question.
There's a really good balance of single artists and creative teams in this month's contest, so this one's intended to give everyone on a team a chance to respond. The answers should be limited to five responses from each team member because, well, three too short and ten gets boring.
Contestant Number Seven;
2)Please list five influences, without any particular order, in comics (or whatever media) that you think best inform the things you wanted to see happen in this project. Where's this coming from for you?
-Rob
Hi Rob!
Since a version of the entire script is already written, it comes down to a day's work to make it web friendly, then the ball's in Horacio's and Andy's courts. I've worked with Horacio for about four years now, and he can turn around 8 "screens" of work in about two weeks (assuming 8 "screens" is 4 "pages"). Andy's pace varies, depending on how difficult my color notes are. I letter in my sleep.
I'd like to go on a scene-by-scene basis, 4-6 pages per scene. I'd love to get it paced out to end with a nice cliff-hanger with each update like this one.
So, as mentioned on the message boards, I'm going to ask some questions on talkback this month and see where it takes us. Some of them are general and the same from comic to comic, while later ones are project specific.
Kinda' like The Dating Game.
So, Contestant Number Seven;
1)What do you think the work out-put is of your creative team per month and how do you think your comic works in updates? Will you follow a "scene-based" update method like BAYOU, a "page-based" rhythm like HIGH MOON, or a twice-weekly system like NIGHT OWLS?
-Rob
good writing, i just think that you shoudn't put that cliffhanger on the 8th screen. ah, very great art style too.
This has my vote! Nice job, I like the art a lot. Damn it! where is page 9!?! I still want to see it if you don't win, but here is hoping you will. :) win!