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scans_dailyHi. My name is A.L. Baroza and I've been a silent follower of Scans_Daily since the old LiveJournal days. I've enjoyed the conversations, the controversies, and the crack that has come out of this place for years now, and I've decided to finally take the plunge and become a member.
I've been working on a webcomic for about a year and a half now called Rose Madder. I like to describe it as my long-form deconstructionist romance comic.
In 2004 I made an entry for Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga Vol. 3 called "Ozymandias", my deconstructionist Ancient Egypt-reincarnation teen romance story. Rose Madder the webcomic is a spinoff of that story, written for a slightly older audience, and drawn in my own style instead of manga-style. Basically, it's a coming-of-age story, about a young college-age woman named Rose--smart, probably too opinionated for her own good, maybe a little too selfish and aloof and snarky but ultimately well-meaning and loyal to her friends--who is trying to define herself and to make her way in the world. And who just might be the reincarnation of an Egyptian pharaoh.
Or she just might be slowly going crazy and hallucinating strange visions.
It's a series that's more slice-of-life than fantastic; in other words, it's completely uncommercial by mainstream standards! That's why I'm posting here, to hopefully reach Scans_Daily readers who might like a break from all the capes and want to try a (hopefully) well-written and drawn relationship drama--that admittedly has my own brand of off-kilter humor in it. Which is just my way of saying that it won't just be all angst.
I'm writing this as a long-form graphic novel, broken up into smaller self-contained chapters. Right now I am in the middle of Chapter 3, serializing a page a week (updated Mondays), so there's a long way to go--I expect this project to last a couple more years given my current pace--readers who are in it for the long haul will be the best rewarded for it, although as I've mentioned, I'm writing each chapter to be a self-contained mini-story that also advances the larger one. Still, it is written as one story that will ultimately last a few years, and I feel I have to have that disclaimer for those who might be interested in checking it out. I do have a day job, and unfortunately, that keeps me from doing more than just a page a week.
Still, I hope that if you find these sample pages interesting you'll come and check out what I have up so far, and hopefully stick around. I need the readers!
ps. I hope to also contribute and comment more to Scans_Daily, as time permits.
I've been working on a webcomic for about a year and a half now called Rose Madder. I like to describe it as my long-form deconstructionist romance comic.
In 2004 I made an entry for Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga Vol. 3 called "Ozymandias", my deconstructionist Ancient Egypt-reincarnation teen romance story. Rose Madder the webcomic is a spinoff of that story, written for a slightly older audience, and drawn in my own style instead of manga-style. Basically, it's a coming-of-age story, about a young college-age woman named Rose--smart, probably too opinionated for her own good, maybe a little too selfish and aloof and snarky but ultimately well-meaning and loyal to her friends--who is trying to define herself and to make her way in the world. And who just might be the reincarnation of an Egyptian pharaoh.
Or she just might be slowly going crazy and hallucinating strange visions.
It's a series that's more slice-of-life than fantastic; in other words, it's completely uncommercial by mainstream standards! That's why I'm posting here, to hopefully reach Scans_Daily readers who might like a break from all the capes and want to try a (hopefully) well-written and drawn relationship drama--that admittedly has my own brand of off-kilter humor in it. Which is just my way of saying that it won't just be all angst.
I'm writing this as a long-form graphic novel, broken up into smaller self-contained chapters. Right now I am in the middle of Chapter 3, serializing a page a week (updated Mondays), so there's a long way to go--I expect this project to last a couple more years given my current pace--readers who are in it for the long haul will be the best rewarded for it, although as I've mentioned, I'm writing each chapter to be a self-contained mini-story that also advances the larger one. Still, it is written as one story that will ultimately last a few years, and I feel I have to have that disclaimer for those who might be interested in checking it out. I do have a day job, and unfortunately, that keeps me from doing more than just a page a week.
Still, I hope that if you find these sample pages interesting you'll come and check out what I have up so far, and hopefully stick around. I need the readers!
ps. I hope to also contribute and comment more to Scans_Daily, as time permits.
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Date: 2011-08-15 06:14 am (UTC)But seriously, I like the style you've got, and the humor definitely registers with me (why IS everyone royalty in their past lives? Has no one seen Defending Your Life?).
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Date: 2011-08-15 06:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-15 07:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-15 08:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-15 10:01 am (UTC)Tsk. Even reincarnation can be bought, it seems.
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Date: 2011-08-15 11:02 am (UTC)They're just focusing on the one.
Also maybe souls mix and match with time. So, like, a thousand different people have one small part from Queen whoever, as part of a whole soul slurry.
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Date: 2011-08-15 02:49 pm (UTC)Bleh, I must say that I agree with Great Houdini about this particular profession.
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Date: 2011-08-15 08:33 am (UTC)Not quite sure if I like any of the characters, yet.
Aaron "The Mad Whitaker" Bourque; when did "slice-of-life" turn into "jerk protagonist(s)"? Not your comic specifically, just a sort of general trend I've noticed.
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Date: 2011-08-15 05:19 pm (UTC)I want to address the "jerk protagonist" thing a little. I can't speak to what other artists are doing, or whatever the trend is, but the subject is important to me. I do believe that the likeability of your characters is kind of essential--really, I do. And I do take it into consideration as I write--the last thing I want to write about is a bunch of wiseass hipsters. But I grew up with oldschool Marvel Comics, and so my DNA is probably predisposed to like stories with flawed protagonists, redeemable villains, rebellious antiheroes, and tenacious losers. And so those types of characters will inevitably appear in anything I write.
One of the things I hope I got from Stan and Jack and guys like Steve Gerber was a basic humanism underlying whatever characters and conflicts they came up with; it's the same thing that buoys up the manga I like as well; a respect for the humanity of your characters. It's what I'm shooting for, at least.
I've made a creative decision to roll out my main characters gradually, and I hope they will increase in depth and complexity as I go along. That's the plan, at least, and I know it's not immediately obvious given the format. And I totally get it if what I end up with isn't for everybody. I hope you stick with it, but I completely understand if it's not to your taste, ultimately.
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Date: 2011-08-15 05:50 pm (UTC)That's fine, great even. But it's like you said, about likeability. The audience has to have at least a little emotional investment in the characters, or they won't stick around. And I wasn't even talking about your comic, just I had been given about 6 or 8 or something recommendations of "slice-of-life" comics lately, and dropped all of them much quicker than I usually do because the characters were jerks.
Your people don't seem like jerks (not as bad, anyway, everyone has their moments of jerkitude). So I'll stick around.
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Date: 2011-08-16 03:54 pm (UTC)I'd love to pick your brains about these 6 to 8 "slice of life" comics you're referring to. I assume they're webcomics? Now I'd want to check them out to see what this trend is like. I wouldn't want to put you on the spot to criticize other people's works in a public forum, but you could e-mail me at rosemadderwebcomic@gmail.com with a list of these other works if you're inclined to.
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Date: 2011-08-16 05:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-15 11:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-15 01:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-15 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-15 01:43 pm (UTC)This looks pretty cool. Will bookmark for reading.