The Crooked Man
Genre:
Historical Period, Action/Adventure
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Early April, 1906 - San Francisco's residents have no idea that their world is about to be engulfed in chaos. Vice cop Piter Rassmussen has a comfortable home with a wife and daughter who love him. His beat is Chinatown, a place both uniquely American and very foreign. Amon Pen is a disfigured Veteran just returning from China. More than five years have elapsed since he fought there in the Boxer Rebellion. He and Rassmussen couldn't possibly live more different lives, but now Amon is hunting Piter throughout the young city. Loyalties will be tested and broken as secrets from the past are exposed to the harsh light of day in a city first shaken by the Great Quake, then stripped bare by conflagration. Even when society is reduced to its most basic components, the need for vengeance remains.
I really like your strip If you ever getting around to publishing a complete story as a graphic novel I would even be willing to #gasp# pay for a copy
Good luck
I'm surprised that you did't win. I love the comic and you have such great potential. It feels like the great adventure strips and not just your typical contemporary super-hero stuff.
I know that you have good things ahead.
sorry you didn't win here, but you know I'm looking forward to reading the crooked man somewhere, really a great comic Gabriel and Corinna.
Well folks, it was a pleasure being seen in the same competition as you. I look forward to reading the entire Crooked Man saga at some point. Best of luck to you both.
-gabe
Aberrant_Press: Thanks for the vote! In one form or another, CROOKED MAN will continue.
Gabriel Hardman
I've been torn all month as to who I would vote for. Both your strip and Sam's Untrue Tales had been favorites in previous months. But we're down to the final hours now, so using my patented and top secret last minute picking method, I decided to vote for you folks...
Looking forward to seeing the rest of this no matter where it may end up.
jeh: It was great to meet you too! Unless you follow up on your plan to destroy me! Then maybe it wasn't so good. ;)
-Gabriel Hardman
Gabriel, it was great meeting you in San Diego. Previously I was just impressed by your work. Discovering that you're also very down to earth, humble, and kind cemented one thing in my mind: Gabriel Hardman must be destroyed!! Bwah-ha-ha-ha! :)
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Seriously though, very cool to meet you, and best wishes on all of your future projects. I for one will be keeping an eye out for all of your upcoming work in comics.
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-Chachi
Thanks to everybody for the kind words!
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warren leonhardt:Thanks for asking about HEATHENTOWN. We have a publisher and hope to announce as soon as the details are worked out. We'll let you know!
Gabriel Hardman
really great work, as always you have my vote. Can we buy a copy of your effort Heathentown yet?
Wow. This is a really impressive, outstanding comic. Good luck!
I registered and voted for Crooked Man!!
Great comic! The art really enhances the story. Love it, especially the Sutro Baths scene. It's a place that I always wished still existed. Best of luck to you!
Wow. You totally have my vote. Wonderfully researched work! Gripping compositions from panel to panel.
Ummm... Yeah. This work is sick. Your pacing is excellent, the art is great and consistent. The second eight are as good as the first. Good job.
This is fantastic. You definitely have my vote. :)
I love this period and this setting. The art really makes it sing.
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 (if you haven’t already) .
Feel free to check out the blog: zudafan.blogspot.com
Thanks!
Deliciously old school, very well documented stuff, you got my vote!
Loved Crooked Man the first time around and love it now. Beautiful and well written. A real treat to see new screens.
This is a beautifully drawn series that very much deserves to win this competition. Excellent beyond competent artwork and a story that has direction and a rock solid premise. Very well done. I voted for you the first time around and I enthusiastically do so again without reservation. Good luck. I hope to see much more Crooked Man.
your welcome, and congrats on the climb KEEP GOING!!!!
Well said, Gabe.
-Rob
Once again I feel the need to catch, kill and rip open a comic featured here on Zuda and look through the bloody entrails to divine the future of the entire medium over at http://www.mpd57.blogspot.com and remember it's all done in the best possible taste! Yuk! Yuk!
Hey Rob! Marketing is very important. :)
Thanks for the support and votes RiverHelix, Gregg Delcurla, RKB, DShide, ikharion & passive!
Gabriel Hardman
Okay, now that we're past the first ranking, it's time for the next question.
3) Marketing;
There seems to be a general agreement here at Zuda of the importance of outside marketing to boost a comic's ranking. I've also spoken with a number of creators who, for different and equally valid reasons, don't really feel that's something they want to do themselves. I realize that successful marketing can be an edge in the competition and as such some creators don't want to say too much about they're own methods while the contest is running, but could you discuss your own approach to outside marketing? How much time have you devoted to it in this first week of the contest? Has your approach to it changed since your first time in a competition here at Zuda? Are you marketing the comic more, less or differently than you did the first time around?
-Rob
You got my vote and a favorite.
Come on people, vote! This one belongs to the top.
This is now my vote. Every one else?
5th, ah hell....
Wow! Another great update. I'd really love to see this as an ongoing series. Excellent work all around...
The style of the artwork (which is great) really synced well with the story. But there are two things that I love about this piece. The panel layout and dialogue text made it so easy to read through without resizing the image, which allowed me to really sink my teeth into the story. Which moves me to the second reason why I really liked this piece-- the story. It was very deep, layered, intriging and gripping but the cool thing about it is how you delivered it. It feels like you didn't rush it not one bit and you took your time in developing it without trying to close it out in some big bang ending or cliffhanger. Much re'speck!
G'Job and G'Luck my Brother!
5th?! Up is down! Black is white! Cats and dogs, living together!
I need a drink and it's only nine in the morning on this side of the world...
Thanks grifter78! The Sutro Baths were a real period San Francisco location with indoor heated pools and open to the public. It was located near cliff house which was built by Adolph Sutro.
Gabriel Hardman
Your art is phenomenal! As far as style, only Brave Ulysses is comparable to it but yours just takes it to the next level. It is definitely old school but your attention to detail is uncanny. It especially came out in the scene where the father and daughter were in the swimming…I don’t even know what to call it….house? Because it certainly wasn’t a normal swimming pool. I never thought of what it would look like in 1906. You sure did your research. The overall feel is cinematic like a period movie. Anyway. I don’t know why you aren’t placed higher. I’ve still got two more comics to read but yours will be hard to beat at this point. Excellent work!
2) Format:
I think I prefer 4x3 to the standard vertical comic book page. I have never felt entirely comfortable composing a frame that is taller than it is wide. It might be better still if the Zuda format was 16x9 but on the other hand 4x3 is basically the aspect ratio of Citizen Kane, The Seventh Seal, Shadow of a Doubt, Double Indemnity, The Lady Eve, Stagecoah, I Walked With a Zombie, The Third Man, In a Lonely Place - some of the greatest movies ever made. How can you go wrong with that?
That said, my biggest challenge with the format is a self imposed one. I obviously put very strict limitations on the panel layout. The format is also modular. I can rearrange the panels into a traditional comic book shaped page. Something that may come in handy down the line.
The idea for what became CROOKED MAN has been knocking around for a while but we never pursued writing it as a spec screenplay because it would be insanely expensive to produce as a film. Comics is really the best medium for this story.
Gabriel Hardman
Tyler_James:Thanks for noticing the research! These pages take me longer to draw than anything else I've drawn. That's including THE BLACK COAT one-shot I drew for Ben Lichius and Ape Entertainment which is set in the eighteenth century. BTW that issue should be out now. You can see preview pages here: http://the-black-coat.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=61
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Crawdad Jones: Thanks for the kind words. I agree about the picture on the competition page. I never liked it. But to be fair, Zuda gave us the chance to change it and we didn't for audience identification reasons. I retrospect that was probably a mistake. Glad you took a look and liked the strip, though!
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passive:Give em hell for us too, while gently urging them to vote for CROOKED MAN :)
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Gabriel Hardman
Good, no great stuff here. I am reading all of it for the first time. You get the reader's attention immediately, your art is good, your characters are interesting, you have plenty of suspense, the pacing is good, and you left a lot of questions unanswered. This really is a tight piece of work. I am surprised my friends who have been with Zuda longer than me have not mentioned it...I'm going to give them hell.
Beautiful stuff--I wish they'd picked a different picture for your panel on the competition page. I don't think it gives a good sense of how beautiful this work is. I almost didn't look at it. Anyway, it's a very well-paced story--just wish I could see more right away! But you have left me wanting more, so I guess that's a good thing! Great job!
Okay, next question;
2)Format
Zuda's "monitor-friendly" 4X3 format is something new to most of us since it premiered last year. It does create some unique differences in how the page is composed and i think artists and readers alike don't really fully appreciate that until they experiment with it a bit. Contestants this month have been working with that format for awhile longer and had some time to reconsider it since their first eight page submission. Can you talk about some of the challenges of the format? CROOKED MAN has the tightly woven, shot-specific sensibilities of screenplay. Did you discuss it or write in another form before bringing into this format?
-Rob
Another strong set of 8 pages. This story has me hooked. Love the research, love the setting, nice job once again.
Absolutely made sense, Gabe.
-Rob
Hey robberry237, The five questions sound like a good idea. I'll do my best to be thoughtful.
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I think three pages a week would be an ideal schedule for us. It may not be up the pace of a hard core newspaper cartoonist but we are producing the equivalent of a sunday strip every time. I agree that one page at a time would work best. It's very important to us that each page have a coherent arc to it. As I've said before, strip artists like Caniff and Sickles were a influence but I think the retro comparison can be overstated. Unlike newspaper strips we don't feel the need to include a huge amount of exposition. The older strips are always available. I feel like we are embracing the narrative density of older comics while expecting the reader to be engaged - as in "modern" comics storytelling.
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Hope that made sense. Look forward to more questions!
Gabriel Hardman
Quixote: Glad to hear we can count on your vote!
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aspiderfreak: Thanks for your vote!
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SamLittle: You do great work. We were happy to have your support in the past and it nice to be competing now. Good luck!
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Laemeur: We are very flattered! We would be honored to loose to Brave Ulysses!
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gph: Thank you so much. Good luck to you too!
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Dan Thompson: You're an awesome cartoonist. You obviously know your stuff. The new Reno pages are even stronger than the first eight. Good Luck!
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re-evolve: Thanks for the kind words. Good work. Good luck to you too!
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RKB: I can't tell you how gratifying it is to hear from somebody who gets the strip in exactly the way we intended it. Thank you!
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Danny Wetts: Thanks! I hope we can count on your vote.
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sobreiro: Thanks! Cursed Planet is awesome.
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czarlos: Great to hear from you again! Thanks as always for the support!
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frequentcontributor: If we didn't get some comments like this, we wouldn't be doing our job. Good to see that your caps key is working!
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BlueMaxx: Happy to remind you. Hope we get your vote!
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Annibot: Thanks! Hope we get your vote!
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Gabriel Hardman
Aww man, what a great hook! I like the gritty look of the pages, the story and characters have my attention. This may get my vote. Definitely a favorite.
Oh man! I forgot about this comic, and now it's back with even more (and even better) story. Great work on the new pages. Good Luck!
So last month's general Q&A seemed to work pretty well for opening a dialogue about each creator's plans for their comics and I thought I'd try it again this month. I'm going to try to ask five general questions for each competitor first and see where those answers take us.
1)Update and production schedule;
I think the broadsheet style of this comic is really important, guys, and it's kind of a lost art in terms of dramatic pacing to do single pages delivered regularly without a whole lot of exposition (MARY WORTH changed that approach, sadly). Personally, I'd love to see this comic update with old-school approach. Maybe four pages a week as HIGH MOON managed well, but with one page at a time. I wonder what that would do for building weekly hits during the slow time between comps and making readers look deeper into the page index. This is one of the few comics i can think of that could manage such a thing. If you do win a contract this time out, what kind of update schedule do you plan for CROOKED MAN? How many pages per month and at what intervals?
-Rob
The art on this strip is great; too bad the story is so BORING! The end had a little bit of bite, but too little too late...
The Crooked Man Returns! I'm so glad you guys are back to right a wrong and correct the grave injustice that was perpetrated during the first competition. I can't wait to read more...