Mad Cap Maxie

Presenting, for just the second time anywhere, "Mad Cap Maxie," by Michael C Lorah and Patrick Brosseau.

(And Shotgun readers, even if you hate my script, give some love for the awesomeness of Mr. Pat Brosseau's artwork and lettering. You can see more of Pat's short comics and illustrations at his art blog: http://oddsnsods.tumblr.com/)

Untitled Family Drama by Michael C. Lorah

Good day, Shotgun readers, I’ve returned to share more work-in-progress. Let me know what you think.

Untitled family drama

By Michael C Lorah

Chapter One

The Thresher’s season might as well be over, Roy Templeton thought. Mid-June, the long baseball summer just barely underway, and the team had sunk like an anchor to the rocky bottom of the Florida State League. Little Leaguers played with more poise; the Thresher kids threw the ball around wildly, hurled bats and water coolers at the slightest suggestion of a controversial call, and self-promoted at any opportunity. No matter how creative Roy’s public relations campaigns, getting fans into the ballpark to watch such immature gamesmanship proved impossible. Roy was under considerable pressure to improve attendance, but he didn’t have anything in his bag of tricks to overcome a simply terrible product. The blistering heat of Florida’s early summer certainly wasn’t making his job any easier either.

It was too damn hot for baseball anyway. Who wanted to sit under the cancerous sun, breathing scorched, humid air? He hadn’t walked down to the field, the open, sun-baked, heat-shimmering field, for three weeks now – never left his temperature-controlled office unless he was meeting in somebody else’s temperature-controlled office or stepping out for dinner at a too-air-conditioned local eatery. He could see the sunlight lancing down into the Earth, burning away any comfort, eating up the life of Floridians everywhere.

            Roy looked forward to getting away for two weeks, even if he had to take his laptop and work cell. All the summer’s giveaways and major promotions were already scheduled, so it was only the follow-through that required his attention. Getting fourteen days off early in the baseball season, even at the minor league A-ball level, required calling in a lot of favors. Roy’s boss Paul Simonson called him into the office three different times to ask why he couldn’t have vacationed during the offseason. Of course, the year’s promotions needed to be arranged prior to the season starting. The kids being in school added another wrinkle. Roy wasn’t sure those unavoidable factors registered entirely in Paul’s mind, which had sincere difficulty working outside his own box of strategies. But he’d gotten his vacation approved, and it was time to enjoy it.

An Untitled Fantasy Story by Michael C. Lorah

Hello, Shotgun readers; Michael Lorah here. I’d like to share with you the first chapter of an in-progress fantasy story I’ve been working on. I hope you enjoy it.

An untitled fantasy story

by Michael C Lorah

Once upon a time…

Chapter One

The Par-Tay

…there was a young man named Jerrod. Tall and lean, with a narrow face, a full head of dark hair and shimmering evergreen eyes, Jerrod lived quietly in city once named Plohton in a kingdom formerly called Valencia. His skill with a sword ranked second to none of his neighbors, though his foster parents – Knorr and Lyrra – ensured that his physical prowess never surpassed his compassion for finding a fair and equitable solution to any problem.

            Plohton lay on a long, sweeping grass-laden plain, sitting high on a slope above the Ploh River. Decades ago, when Valencia prospered, Plohton was regarded as one of the world’s busiest and most important port cities. Many years ago, during the golden rule of King Humorff, food was plentiful, trade profitable, and enemies dared not move against the mighty Valencian army. All this, once, many years ago. Now, finding food may prove a fatal proposition, trade became a foreign language, and enemies … enemies still stayed their distance. Perhaps, fickle and vengeful, they enjoyed seeing the once-great kingdom bowed low. More likely, they feared Kaarg and dared not intrude into his territory.

            Every spring, heavy rains pushed the Ploh River beyond its banks, and the waters spilled onto the plains, replenishing the farmlands surrounding Plohton with rich soil from the riverbed. The neighboring kingdom to the south, Juntiper, claimed land surrounding the river, and the conflict between the two nations extended back generations. It was, however, not the most telling or personal conflict that had arisen between the two nations. That particular story is best left for a later page in this drama.

The Digital Comics Essay by Michael C. Lorah

Michael C. Lorah happened along in 2004, joining the Best Shots team early in its existence after I saw the incredible sharp and frequently witty observations he made about comics on the Newsarama message boards.  Michael's worked at DC Comics and these days works in the business world.  But he's still cool.  Aside from that, Michael's a whale of a writer, and you'll be seeing several things from him this week.  Here is an essay Michael dropped on the subject of Digital Comics . . .

The Digital Comics Essay

Dear Makers of Digital Comics, I have a few things I’d like to briefly (I know you’re busy) discuss with you.

Firstly, I don’t entirely trust you. I promise it’s not personal; I’d like to trust you, but when I hand you my hard-earned money, I’d prefer to own the file I’m buying from you. If you go belly-up tomorrow, I’d like to still have the stories that I’ve paid for. Personally, I promise to not do any pirating with those files, and I’m sorry that I can’t speak for anybody else on that particular matter.

But on to my main points. I can divide the rest of my thoughts into three easy categories.

1.       Omnibuses

Some of us aren’t big fans of the twenty-page-installments plan to reading. While I’ve no objection to the serial format, it’s not for me and, in twenty years of anecdotal experience at lending comics to people, it doesn’t seem very popular with potential comics readers.

For print collections, considerations including weight, binding, cost and shipping place certain limits on the dimensions of trade paperbacks. Yes, in digital files weight can be a factor, but not an insurmountable one. Print collections and digital collections don’t need to exist in a 1:1 ratio. Two or three five- or six-issue print volumes can easily fit into a single digital compilation.

Readers want a meaty reading experience. Give it to us. Make no mistake that there is a reason I’ve purchased the Planetary Omnibus or Scud, the Disposable Assassin: The Whole Schebang digitally. They’re offering what I want – hundreds upon hundreds of pages.

Manga publishers, you’re already giving us 200 pages, but you can go farther in digital. A seven-volume print series could be a one volume digital series. Marvel, how about Amazing Spider-Man by Lee and Ditko, all of it. DC, Swamp Thing by Moore, all of it. IDW, those Transformers and GI Joe Classics lines would look good in just a few digital sets. Hey, Fantagraphics, all those Complete Crumb books you have – how about just one Complete Crumb!

And will somebody put out a complete Maze Agency digital collection? Thanks.