So...I've been magnum opusing. That's a phrase I just made up. You're welcome. Anyway, I have been drawing... a lot. The kind of drawing where I'm doing layouts and then completing whole pages only to hate them and start over. It's a good feeling. Like excercise without the sweat.
Those of you who are creative types know that a long day of doing what you do can be just as exhausting. I'm no Dali, but I love to create, and am getting better at what I do. I wish at 36 I could say I'm "there" but I'm not. Too much of my life spent worrying about other shit and not spending quality time with my own imagination.
What I was wanting to get to in this blog, in particular, was where this all leads.
Allow me to elaborate. With a timeline...of sorts.
1989...Jim Sprandel creates Super Geek. Based on his love of super heroes and the work of Marc Hansen. Hence why SG's "city" is named Hansenville. SG is basically used as a time killer in study hall and boring classes. Later, he will become the face of many school newspaper covers and lunch menus.
1993...Jim graduates Tri-Point High School...not much is done for well...a few years. I was constantly drawing, that never stopped. But it was more about sketchbooks and doodles. I was too caught up in my dead end social and love lives to really spend time with it. So...it suffered. For almost a decade. Almost.
1995..ish...On a blind date with my brother, I go to an outdoor radio fest to see HUM. My brother Tony has not shut up about the band. The date goes HORRIBLE...but I hear "Why I Like The Robins" by Hum for the first time. It LITERALLY changes my life. People say that a lot. But in this case...it's truth. I set mesmerized throught the set. This is around the time the band's album "You'd Prefer An Astronaut" is released.
1997...By this time, I've seen the band more times then I can recall. It was numerous. They are playing newer songs that would make it onto "Downward is Heavenward" their "final" album.
This album just adds to the pile. The songs spark whole stories in my head. I'll explain later...
2000...Hum "officially" disbands.
2002...Having no job, I start my first ACTUAL Super Geek comic. Due to expaning roster of characters...and some other stuff...it is retitled "G." Really original huh? Any who...the book is finished. It's available in a newer, remastered version, on my facebook page.
2003...I take it to San Diego Comicon for a few days. Get some good feedback, meet some animation people...and then...NOTHING. I get a rejection letter...and go back to the same sketchbook doodle bullshit I had been doing before. Smart move.
2011...I start looking at the 2002 book and realize the coloring job and writing were weak sauce, go back, start loving the whole process all over. Decide it's time to start the second issue. 8 years later. In the meantime...Hum has done a few reunion shows here and there...the latest being a week or so ago.
Today...well, I'm about 6 pages in and just eating it up. I'm sure my wife isn't really loving being ignored for hours at a time...but it's for a good cause.
See, somewhere...Hum got their chocolate in my peanut butter. I started building this whole Super Geek epic around their songs and albums. It's all in my head. It's starting to come out. The issue I am working on now leads directly to that. I couldn't just jump in without some lead in...so that's what I'm doing now.
It'll take months. Maybe years to do what I want to do with it. But in the end...it's going to be nothing but a love letter. To comics...to music...to the people in my life. Something I can leave behind. Even if it's just for Haley to show her kids years from now.
I'm listening to Hum now. "Firehead" to be exact...and all I can see is images in my head. A story waiting to be told. My story. I have no choice but to tell it.
