Journals6
Newest
Hello, welcome to February! This is it, the month the comic launches. In two days time in fact, you will see an all new brand spanking new page up! Awesome. It has been too long. Thereafter you should see a new page every week. I'm looking forward to taking Adam in some new directions. Building some storylines up, adding new characters, sub plots. It's gonna be fun. Working in full colour has also been a challenge for me. It's been great to experiment and try and learn that. You'll get to see soon enough on how the first page turned out.
Being Summer, I have been hitting our local Ice Cream parlour with the intensity of a thousand burning suns then amplified through a gigantic magnifying glass and focused on a population of ants. There have been some excellent hot days, which just demand a nice cookies and cream in a cone. Well a couple of days ago I was down there again. The problem as always is too much choice. There are a dozen flavours of Ice Cream. 2 choices of cones, or you can have sundaes. Maybe if you are just after a drink, you can get either a milkshake or a thick-shake. Pretty much like Captain Planet - the POWER is yours.
I decide to be adventurous on this fine summer's day. I see a gentleman opting in for the chocolate dip option at the cost of an extra 60 cents. Immensely impressed with the addition of the hardened chocolate on top of the already lavish ice cream cone, I decide this is a move I have to follow. The flavour - Caramel Fudge. The chocolate dip would it accompany it perfectly, I say to myself.
4 minutes later I'm outside the store deciding on which angle to attack this mammoth ice cream. Even at the one scoop option, I have a generous serving. Unfortunately my man Admiral Akbar wasn't around as the Chocolate dip was a TRAP.
I realised this after my first bite. The hardened shell of chocolate gave me the appearance all would be okay. However, under that shell the ice cream was already melting. Once I bit in, it was like a dam had burst. Ice cream started flowing freely down my hand. The shell had to be eating quickly for damage control. Too little too late, the avalanche of ice cream was already in full force.
Next time, don't get carried away, just go for the plain ice cream.
Thanks for reading
Marc - actionmanadam.com
Being Summer, I have been hitting our local Ice Cream parlour with the intensity of a thousand burning suns then amplified through a gigantic magnifying glass and focused on a population of ants. There have been some excellent hot days, which just demand a nice cookies and cream in a cone. Well a couple of days ago I was down there again. The problem as always is too much choice. There are a dozen flavours of Ice Cream. 2 choices of cones, or you can have sundaes. Maybe if you are just after a drink, you can get either a milkshake or a thick-shake. Pretty much like Captain Planet - the POWER is yours.
I decide to be adventurous on this fine summer's day. I see a gentleman opting in for the chocolate dip option at the cost of an extra 60 cents. Immensely impressed with the addition of the hardened chocolate on top of the already lavish ice cream cone, I decide this is a move I have to follow. The flavour - Caramel Fudge. The chocolate dip would it accompany it perfectly, I say to myself.
4 minutes later I'm outside the store deciding on which angle to attack this mammoth ice cream. Even at the one scoop option, I have a generous serving. Unfortunately my man Admiral Akbar wasn't around as the Chocolate dip was a TRAP.
I realised this after my first bite. The hardened shell of chocolate gave me the appearance all would be okay. However, under that shell the ice cream was already melting. Once I bit in, it was like a dam had burst. Ice cream started flowing freely down my hand. The shell had to be eating quickly for damage control. Too little too late, the avalanche of ice cream was already in full force.
Next time, don't get carried away, just go for the plain ice cream.
Thanks for reading
Marc - actionmanadam.com
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As it is summer time in this part of the world, I'm taking this opportunity to reflect on the simple things that make this season great. Ice-creams, cold beers, BBQ's – what's not to like? Picture this. The best example of the summer season is liberating yourself from everything and getting in your car for a drive. Do it first thing in the morning. The promise of the hot day is still ahead of you, but it's warm without yet being uncomfortable. You can turn up the car stereo to some loud rap music, reminiscent of the opening scene of Office Space with the character Michael Bolton singing along to Scarface's "No Tears".
You smile smugly at the people on a bus doing their daily commute. Sure, they have the upper hand in winter, when the rain contributes to bad traffic and their only concern is the Susan Boyle song playing on their iPod. For now though, enjoy your moment. Crank up that Public Enemy, and just enjoy the drive. It's summer after all.
Also: Dont forget the webcomic is dropping February2!
This public service announcement was brought to you by the letters G, J and the number 6.
Thanks for reading
Marc
You smile smugly at the people on a bus doing their daily commute. Sure, they have the upper hand in winter, when the rain contributes to bad traffic and their only concern is the Susan Boyle song playing on their iPod. For now though, enjoy your moment. Crank up that Public Enemy, and just enjoy the drive. It's summer after all.
Also: Dont forget the webcomic is dropping February2!
This public service announcement was brought to you by the letters G, J and the number 6.
Thanks for reading
Marc
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Hello again,
Checking in, as I have not done so in a while. I hope wherever you are reading this, you are well and 2010 has been treating you well so far. I finally decided on a release date for the webcomic. You will see the first page go up February 2 (if you are in Europe of the States) and Midnight February 3 if you are in New Zealand like myself. I was trying to think of when a good launch date would be. I knew I wanted it two or three weeks out from now, but wasn't too sure when to lock it down. My birthday is actually February 3, so i decided, that I would launch the comic on that date (in my time zone) and if I am still doing this a year from now, then the comic and myself can share birthdays and it will be easy to remember that anniversary! Not too much longer and page one will be up! I'm in the midst of getting ahead, and keeping my momentum going on it. I'm enjoying the work. The digital thing has been an interesting switch to make, but overall I think the fact that I am spitting out the artwork faster is a big positive.
It has already been an interesting year for myself. I wont comment on that further until I know more information, but I might update about it soon. Mostly I am just being kept busy with summer. It seems to be the social time of the year for sure! I've been catching up with friends all over the place. Which is great. It's always fun to just hang out with people and talk crap you know?
Saw a cool movie, "The Cove" on the weekend. It was really eye opening. Kind of insane. I wont say anything else other than, you should all check it out. It's a fascinating and at the same time terrifying watch. It will make you think less about your own worries and concerns that is for sure. The world is ma=uch larger than you or I my friend. Ha ha!
I've been trying to catch up on my comic reading as well. I finally got the latest volume of "The Walking Dead" from Image Comics. That series is killer, if you'll excuse the pun. It reads like a horror/zombie movie should. It has great characterisation, and spares no one. Absolutely brutal, but very well written. If you like comics, put this on your list, you wont be disappointed. If you are curious and want to check it out, maybe hit up your local library and see if they can hold a copy of the trade paperback for you.
Above: The cover for the Walking Dead #50 by Charlie Adlard
Thanks for reading
Marc - actionmanadam.com
Checking in, as I have not done so in a while. I hope wherever you are reading this, you are well and 2010 has been treating you well so far. I finally decided on a release date for the webcomic. You will see the first page go up February 2 (if you are in Europe of the States) and Midnight February 3 if you are in New Zealand like myself. I was trying to think of when a good launch date would be. I knew I wanted it two or three weeks out from now, but wasn't too sure when to lock it down. My birthday is actually February 3, so i decided, that I would launch the comic on that date (in my time zone) and if I am still doing this a year from now, then the comic and myself can share birthdays and it will be easy to remember that anniversary! Not too much longer and page one will be up! I'm in the midst of getting ahead, and keeping my momentum going on it. I'm enjoying the work. The digital thing has been an interesting switch to make, but overall I think the fact that I am spitting out the artwork faster is a big positive.
It has already been an interesting year for myself. I wont comment on that further until I know more information, but I might update about it soon. Mostly I am just being kept busy with summer. It seems to be the social time of the year for sure! I've been catching up with friends all over the place. Which is great. It's always fun to just hang out with people and talk crap you know?
Saw a cool movie, "The Cove" on the weekend. It was really eye opening. Kind of insane. I wont say anything else other than, you should all check it out. It's a fascinating and at the same time terrifying watch. It will make you think less about your own worries and concerns that is for sure. The world is ma=uch larger than you or I my friend. Ha ha!
I've been trying to catch up on my comic reading as well. I finally got the latest volume of "The Walking Dead" from Image Comics. That series is killer, if you'll excuse the pun. It reads like a horror/zombie movie should. It has great characterisation, and spares no one. Absolutely brutal, but very well written. If you like comics, put this on your list, you wont be disappointed. If you are curious and want to check it out, maybe hit up your local library and see if they can hold a copy of the trade paperback for you.
Above: The cover for the Walking Dead #50 by Charlie Adlard
Thanks for reading
Marc - actionmanadam.com
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New Years part 2 - past
6 min read
Cast your mind back 10 years.
Where were you in the dawn of this millennium? Such a big deal was made of the year 2000 coming to pass. Like we were all expecting the world's problems would go away because we reached this milestone. We kept hearing about how this was a once in a lifetime event. This is all true I guess, considering humans are lucky to live 100 years! Unless you're chanting words like "there can be only one" - then chances are you might have been one of the lucky people amongst the other 6 billion to see the millennium pass. There was a lot being made about the Y2K bug and New Zealand being the first timezone in the world to go down in flames because of it. There were even civil defense warnings on television, saying we should be "prepared for an emergency" with spare batteries, water and tinned food etc.
All that said though. Everything turned out pretty damn good really. For one, being the new millennium, cities around the world threw their budgets out the window to put on lavish displays, shows and performances to entertain the people ready to ring it in. I was 18 years old, and the drinking law had just been dropped to 18 from 21 just a month prior. My education had just finished up for the year and I was free from all study. It was like the stars aligned for me, and I was going to make the most of it with a genuine party effort. Not sure why, but the memories from that night still make me laugh. There was something intangible in the air. I was new to the city of Christchurch (1 year in) and was enjoying it. I had made some new friends that year, and we formed our own little group for the evening along with a couple of my other friends from years gone by.
The night ended up being quite an epic one. Christchurch came alive. It's a flat city, and very pedestrian friendly, so people were in the central city in full force. We are very fortunate that the New Years period down here is over summer. I can't imagine what it would be like celebrating in the cold. A lot of occurrences went down to remember the night by. Including convincing my friends that it was a good idea to catch a cab to New Brighton. One of Christchurch's beaches. The idea was to fully experience the New Year / Millennium we would see the sunrise. We make our way out there by cab, but the wait was quite a while. Half of the crew was asleep by the time the cab arrived. After the trek out there, we notice that basically everyone from the central city has ditched the partying there, and continued onto the beach. EVERYONE had the exact same idea. Of course they did. It was like something from the opening scene of Baywatch. Hundreds if not thousands of people on a strip of beach, where you can hardly see the actual sand due to the abundance of human beings. I think there was an hour to go before the sunset was due to come up, so we found a spot to settle into for the wait. I don't know about my friends, as my memory is a little hazy, but I fell asleep. Around this time the weather turned from an OK morning to slightly rainy. Once I awoke I noticed it had gone from pitch black darkness to slightly grey. The weather was so bad that everyone missed the sunrise as it was too gloomy.
Add insult into injury? Sure. This was compounded by the fact that so many people needed to catch a cab back to their home that there were none whatsoever free for the journey back into the city. There were a lot of taxis in the area. None were available. After a very long walk, possibly an hour to an hour and a half later, in the direction of the city centre we stopped at a bus stop and noticed that the timetable was due to start in 15 or so minutes. We waited for the bus from that point. It arrived, packed completely to the brim. We barely fit in. For a couple of bucks I found space in a baggage part of the bus to sit in for the ride back. It was such an insane ending to a massive night/day. We were all tired and completely pissed off at each other by the end of it. Though now that its all done and passed, I'd say it was probably one of the highlights of my life.
How so? Well, it introduced me to to new things that would help change my direction while in the city. One was the Dux de Lux. I can't believe it took me a year before I found the place, but it is now THE only place I go drinking in Christchurch. If you want to drink fine brews (it is its own micro brewery - as well as serving the traditional beverages), eat good seafood or vegetarian food, and just have a great time. This is the place in Christchurch you need to visit. Plus they'll cover your sports if your into it, and bands play there too. Win!
The other introduction was Adam. Who was the replacement at a local Subway store for another Canadian dude that I knew working there. I had met Adam a couple of times before, but he was scheduled to work the busy shift that new years night. We went in early to say hi to the guys working that shift that evening. Adam mentioned he was due to get two hours off and would be hitting the Dux de Lux later on as his flatmates worked there. It was close to where one of my friends apartment was. We invited Adam back there first, and then all hung out at the Dux afterwards. Had it not been for the timing of that moment, I'm not sure there would have been the opportunity to hang with Adam, and I would not be making this comic as it is right now. I'm very thankful for all of it.
It's hard to imagine that was ten years ago. Scarily enough, months after that night, I still had people hitting me up on the street who had remember a conversation I had with them on the night. It was just one of those nights I guess. Heh.
Above is one of the panels from one of my new comics. You will get to see the page soon hopefully.
Thanks for reading
Marc!
Where were you in the dawn of this millennium? Such a big deal was made of the year 2000 coming to pass. Like we were all expecting the world's problems would go away because we reached this milestone. We kept hearing about how this was a once in a lifetime event. This is all true I guess, considering humans are lucky to live 100 years! Unless you're chanting words like "there can be only one" - then chances are you might have been one of the lucky people amongst the other 6 billion to see the millennium pass. There was a lot being made about the Y2K bug and New Zealand being the first timezone in the world to go down in flames because of it. There were even civil defense warnings on television, saying we should be "prepared for an emergency" with spare batteries, water and tinned food etc.
All that said though. Everything turned out pretty damn good really. For one, being the new millennium, cities around the world threw their budgets out the window to put on lavish displays, shows and performances to entertain the people ready to ring it in. I was 18 years old, and the drinking law had just been dropped to 18 from 21 just a month prior. My education had just finished up for the year and I was free from all study. It was like the stars aligned for me, and I was going to make the most of it with a genuine party effort. Not sure why, but the memories from that night still make me laugh. There was something intangible in the air. I was new to the city of Christchurch (1 year in) and was enjoying it. I had made some new friends that year, and we formed our own little group for the evening along with a couple of my other friends from years gone by.
The night ended up being quite an epic one. Christchurch came alive. It's a flat city, and very pedestrian friendly, so people were in the central city in full force. We are very fortunate that the New Years period down here is over summer. I can't imagine what it would be like celebrating in the cold. A lot of occurrences went down to remember the night by. Including convincing my friends that it was a good idea to catch a cab to New Brighton. One of Christchurch's beaches. The idea was to fully experience the New Year / Millennium we would see the sunrise. We make our way out there by cab, but the wait was quite a while. Half of the crew was asleep by the time the cab arrived. After the trek out there, we notice that basically everyone from the central city has ditched the partying there, and continued onto the beach. EVERYONE had the exact same idea. Of course they did. It was like something from the opening scene of Baywatch. Hundreds if not thousands of people on a strip of beach, where you can hardly see the actual sand due to the abundance of human beings. I think there was an hour to go before the sunset was due to come up, so we found a spot to settle into for the wait. I don't know about my friends, as my memory is a little hazy, but I fell asleep. Around this time the weather turned from an OK morning to slightly rainy. Once I awoke I noticed it had gone from pitch black darkness to slightly grey. The weather was so bad that everyone missed the sunrise as it was too gloomy.
Add insult into injury? Sure. This was compounded by the fact that so many people needed to catch a cab back to their home that there were none whatsoever free for the journey back into the city. There were a lot of taxis in the area. None were available. After a very long walk, possibly an hour to an hour and a half later, in the direction of the city centre we stopped at a bus stop and noticed that the timetable was due to start in 15 or so minutes. We waited for the bus from that point. It arrived, packed completely to the brim. We barely fit in. For a couple of bucks I found space in a baggage part of the bus to sit in for the ride back. It was such an insane ending to a massive night/day. We were all tired and completely pissed off at each other by the end of it. Though now that its all done and passed, I'd say it was probably one of the highlights of my life.
How so? Well, it introduced me to to new things that would help change my direction while in the city. One was the Dux de Lux. I can't believe it took me a year before I found the place, but it is now THE only place I go drinking in Christchurch. If you want to drink fine brews (it is its own micro brewery - as well as serving the traditional beverages), eat good seafood or vegetarian food, and just have a great time. This is the place in Christchurch you need to visit. Plus they'll cover your sports if your into it, and bands play there too. Win!
The other introduction was Adam. Who was the replacement at a local Subway store for another Canadian dude that I knew working there. I had met Adam a couple of times before, but he was scheduled to work the busy shift that new years night. We went in early to say hi to the guys working that shift that evening. Adam mentioned he was due to get two hours off and would be hitting the Dux de Lux later on as his flatmates worked there. It was close to where one of my friends apartment was. We invited Adam back there first, and then all hung out at the Dux afterwards. Had it not been for the timing of that moment, I'm not sure there would have been the opportunity to hang with Adam, and I would not be making this comic as it is right now. I'm very thankful for all of it.
It's hard to imagine that was ten years ago. Scarily enough, months after that night, I still had people hitting me up on the street who had remember a conversation I had with them on the night. It was just one of those nights I guess. Heh.
Above is one of the panels from one of my new comics. You will get to see the page soon hopefully.
Thanks for reading
Marc!
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New Years part 1 - present
4 min read
January 2nd already! Damn this year is going by quick!
Heh.
Hopefully if you are reading this, you survived your New Years celebrations and emerged into 2010 intact. New Years for me was quite chilled. It was nice, but also weird. Ended up heading out to Piha, a remote beach on Auckland's west coast. It is not far away from the city, but the journey out there is quite arduous. There is only one road in, over a range of hills, and the roading is narrow and windy the whole way. It takes a lot of concentration to navigate it. Knowing all this, I knew it would not be a messy night for me, as I would have to navigate back home safely in the dark a drive that I had just found difficult in the daylight. Once out there, we hung with some friends of ours who live out there. I'm quite jealous of that in some ways. It's a beautiful spot on this planet, and they were living out there. Able to take in the natural forrest or the beach any time of the day. The trade off of course is, they have to make that drive for any events in town. A small price to pay I guess.
After a decent catch up, and a couple of quiet beers we headed into the township to see what activity was happening there. We stopped in at a local watering hole grabbed ourselves a quick drink as the countdown began. It was quiet, there were people around, but a cold wind coming off the ocean wasn't making it a very welcome place to be outside. Eventually the clock counted over and we were all ushering in the new year with raised glasses. A siren starts whining over the small town, like an air raid siren. It's right on midnight. We just kind of shrug it off like, oh well, they're celebrating the arrival of New Years.
Our party decides that it might be a good idea to see what kind of activities might be waiting for us down at the beach, so a one minute car ride later we arrive on the beach front to see little activity. Not on the beach itself however. A few houses close by are in celebration mode, but there are mostly just drunken teenagers on the beach itself. The mood of the evening took a dramatic turn as we look to North Piha and see a gigantic forrest fire raging up the mountain range. It was like "Shit! Where the hell did that come from?". It was now extremely obvious to us why the siren was alarmed before. Being a small town though. The first response is really only one small fire truck, and the extra support would be a 40-50 minute drive away. With the coastal winds pushing the fire out in an ever expanding direction, it was certainly a buzz kill.
My wife and I decide that the night is pretty much over from there and after a quick excursion back to our friends house we make our way back home sort of reflecting on the weird turn of events. The fire was reported in the news the next day. From where we were it looked like there was a lot that was burning up. It turns out that officially it was 8 hectares that went up in flames, and it took fire crews and two helicopters equipped with monsoon buckets to help get it under control and eventually taken care of. Sounds like it was some idiot with a flare gun that had started that mess. Fired it into the air, but then the embers started it all.
Like I said, it was a weird one. I'm going to follow this post up with another one soon about New Years ten years ago. Which was a night that was not only epic for myself and a small group of friends, but helped set me on this path for this comic series. It is a bit more up beat than this post. Ha ha!
Any New Years story you'd like to share with me? How were your celebrations?
Thanks for reading!
Marc - actionmanadam.com
Heh.
Hopefully if you are reading this, you survived your New Years celebrations and emerged into 2010 intact. New Years for me was quite chilled. It was nice, but also weird. Ended up heading out to Piha, a remote beach on Auckland's west coast. It is not far away from the city, but the journey out there is quite arduous. There is only one road in, over a range of hills, and the roading is narrow and windy the whole way. It takes a lot of concentration to navigate it. Knowing all this, I knew it would not be a messy night for me, as I would have to navigate back home safely in the dark a drive that I had just found difficult in the daylight. Once out there, we hung with some friends of ours who live out there. I'm quite jealous of that in some ways. It's a beautiful spot on this planet, and they were living out there. Able to take in the natural forrest or the beach any time of the day. The trade off of course is, they have to make that drive for any events in town. A small price to pay I guess.
After a decent catch up, and a couple of quiet beers we headed into the township to see what activity was happening there. We stopped in at a local watering hole grabbed ourselves a quick drink as the countdown began. It was quiet, there were people around, but a cold wind coming off the ocean wasn't making it a very welcome place to be outside. Eventually the clock counted over and we were all ushering in the new year with raised glasses. A siren starts whining over the small town, like an air raid siren. It's right on midnight. We just kind of shrug it off like, oh well, they're celebrating the arrival of New Years.
Our party decides that it might be a good idea to see what kind of activities might be waiting for us down at the beach, so a one minute car ride later we arrive on the beach front to see little activity. Not on the beach itself however. A few houses close by are in celebration mode, but there are mostly just drunken teenagers on the beach itself. The mood of the evening took a dramatic turn as we look to North Piha and see a gigantic forrest fire raging up the mountain range. It was like "Shit! Where the hell did that come from?". It was now extremely obvious to us why the siren was alarmed before. Being a small town though. The first response is really only one small fire truck, and the extra support would be a 40-50 minute drive away. With the coastal winds pushing the fire out in an ever expanding direction, it was certainly a buzz kill.
My wife and I decide that the night is pretty much over from there and after a quick excursion back to our friends house we make our way back home sort of reflecting on the weird turn of events. The fire was reported in the news the next day. From where we were it looked like there was a lot that was burning up. It turns out that officially it was 8 hectares that went up in flames, and it took fire crews and two helicopters equipped with monsoon buckets to help get it under control and eventually taken care of. Sounds like it was some idiot with a flare gun that had started that mess. Fired it into the air, but then the embers started it all.
Like I said, it was a weird one. I'm going to follow this post up with another one soon about New Years ten years ago. Which was a night that was not only epic for myself and a small group of friends, but helped set me on this path for this comic series. It is a bit more up beat than this post. Ha ha!
Any New Years story you'd like to share with me? How were your celebrations?
Thanks for reading!
Marc - actionmanadam.com
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