jeanklemwriter

[jeanklemwriter]

There's a movie from the 90s that's really popular; it's a roadtrip movie about a dad and his son. The dad is worried about his teenage son growing distant and plans a cross-country roadtrip, culminating on a campout on a fishing site that he had been on with his father years ago. He's extremely affectionate towards his son, but painfully unaware that his son is growing up and that that paradoxically means he needs his own space to grow into his own person. Meanwhile, the son is a little shit; he is deeply embarrassed by his father, and wants as little to do with him as possible. In fact, the movie starts with a (pretty terrifying) nightmare of the kid turning into his own dad. Far from a fishing trip, he wants to go to a concert so he can show off to a girl he likes. So he changes the trip route behind his father's back to avoid the kitschy tourist traps his father wants to visit. Along the way, the father and son realize that they *have* grown apart with each other, but they've also got plenty to love each other over; the father comes to respect his son's growth, and the son learns to not be a little shit to his adoring father.

Because anyone reading this that isn’t me is Like That, you know I’m talking about A Goofy Movie.

Let’s ignore for a minute that I hold stuff from Disney in contempt, because that’s neither here nor there--and besides, to this movie’s credit, the basic idea is solid. This is treated as an underloved classic by most people, and the plot alone is reason enough. Kids young enough to have seen A Goofy Movie when it was new have grown up enough to appreciate what it was like for their parents when their kids reached That Age. Also, Goofy is a Good Dad™. The worst thing about him is that he’s painfully unaware of Max’s hobbies, and that’s mostly because... well, it’s Goofy.

But that’s the point I wanna lead into; as good as the basic plot is, I, as the kids say, can’t take A Goofy Movie “seriously”--because this movie wants me to empathize towards Goofy.

Again, ignoring that Goofy is a Disney Character™, trying to tell a dramatic story about him is like trying to make a clowncar wreck serious. To me, it just feels cloying. You’re using a character whose entire shtick is “deeply unintelligent”. Any pathos attempted feels extremely unearned. It’s like making Grave of the Fireflies sexy.

But bear with me, because I’m not here to take a dump on people that like A Goofy Movie. A lot of the stuff I like is usually on the receiving end of this. Y’know, like Kamen Rider.

The first time I introduced a friend to Kamen Rider, it was with Kamen Rider OOO (read “ohs”). By coincidence, it was the only Rider of whom I could readily find footage on Youtube. And the person I showed it to couldn’t stand it. This was a person fairly used to the idea of tokusatsu; they’d grown up with Power Rangers after all. But OOO’s transformation and costume just ruined any kind of attempt at him “taking it seriously”.

Suspension of disbelief is one of those really hard things to pull off, and Japanese media in particular has a higher cliff to scale, I’ve noticed. It’s been pretty bewildering to me for a long time that Goofy is allowed a very personal story about paternal love but, y’know, people ugly-crying in One Piece is weird.

And like, I get it. Some stuff in Japanese pop culture can be weird. Like, take the Nopons for example.

Xenogears/Xenosaga/Xenoblade-creator Tetsuya Takahashi really likes making a) complicated stories about religion, politics, and personal morals and b) putting weird, tiny fluffballs with speech impediments into these stories as significant characters. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has the Nopon, a species of puffball-people who speak in broken English and have the general intelligence of toddlers. A current plot I’ve encountered in my playthrough of XC2 involves Tora, a Nopon who built his own Blade-companion (as opposed to summoning one from a Crystal, like other people). It turns out Tora’s Blade, Poppy, was based off of his grandfather’s (”Granpypon”) design. His father (”Daddypon”) and grandfather aren’t around to see Poppy activated, and we soon learn why: a masked Nopon and a troop of gunmen shot the Nopon scientists dead while they worked on Poppy’s prototype.

Silly? Oh yeah. The sight of a rotund, two-foot-high puffball in a lab coat and evil-looking mask holding a flintlock pistol is some goofy-ass anime bullshit. But can we really call it sillier than Goofy getting mad at Max after Max’s lie is revealed?

Stories hinge on us being able to suspend disbelief. And I’ve spent a long time why it is much of Western pop culture has a hard time suspending disbelief when it comes to Japanese media. I never struggled with that, and I’m not entirely sure it’s because I started watching anime at a young age. I met plenty of kids who had no patience for Digimon, after all.

What is it that makes us want to buy into a story? It can’t be characters alone, because frankly I’m not a tremendous fan of the Nopon in Xenoblade. And writing isn’t enough, else I wouldn’t care that Goofy’s emotional breakdown in his car after he sees Max changed the route on his map feels plain wrong because it’s Goofy. But I’m not sure this is entirely a voluntary thing, either; I don’t want to buy into a story about a rotund mammal investigating his father’s death, but the story has won me over by virtue of its sincerity. A Goofy Movie can’t quite do that with me, even though it’s no less sincere than Tora’s search for familial justice.

I definitely feel like people who watch anime or consume Japanese media in some capacity have an easier time buying into weirder concepts, partly because so much anime has bizarre concepts from the get-go. But having written stuff myself, it’s my belief that when an author writes something it’s because they meant something. There was something they wanted to say to the world. That their mouthpiece wound up being Goofy probably shouldn’t take away from that.

A Goofy Movie is still a good movie, even if I can’t take it seriously. I’m not sure how people buy into it so willingly, given what it is and what it does, but I guess that’s something to be admired on their end. I appreciate that of them. This all feeds into a weird thing about media, and it’s that at the end of the day a lot of what we consume has everything to do with whether or not it resonates with us. A lot of media discussion feels like a competition at times, but it’s ultimately important to remember that not everything is going to echo in someone’s heart the same way. We can’t really expect that of people or works, especially when so many different people make such different things.

So maybe the lesson here is, there’s more to something than “being able to take it seriously”. Maybe that phrase is one of those stopgap solutions people use to verbalize a much bigger feeling towards something that we otherwise can’t quite express--which, I think, is totally fair.

It’s okay if you can’t take Kamen Rider seriously. I have a hard time taking A Goofy Movie seriously.

[jeanklemwriter]

Comment on fanfics

A few days back on AO3 I found an unfinished, two chapter spideypool fanfic that was cute and had lots of potential and was also last updated two years ago. Two whole years! And it had only three comments, all of which on chapter one, none on chapter two. I enjoyed the fanfic, despite it being far, FAR from being finished and the chance of it ever updating again anytime soon was just about zero. So you know what I did?

I wrote a damn comment. On chapter two.

And I made sure that fucker was long and had a small theory of where I think the author would take the fanfic in the future. I let the person behind the fic know that I friggin LOVED the two chapters I got to read! That I would LOVE to see more! That I’d jump out of my skin in happiness and virtually hug them half to death if I saw that they updated it.

Let me remind you this fic wasn’t updated in two YEARS! I was the first to comment on it in a year. And the first to comment on chapter two! And you know what happened today?

I got a reply.

From the author of the fanfic. And the author said how I gave them life for a project they had loved (still did) and that they were now working on a third chapter. After two YEARS of not updating. Of not writing. And it makes me so friggin happy seeing what I did. What I caused.

With a single. Damn. Comment.

All that it took for me was to think a bit about what I wanted to tell the author and the comment it. All it took was one comment. And suddenly this person was inspired to continue a fanfic they had abandoned for TWO YEARS!!

I couldn’t be happier. I couldn’t be more proud.

Comment on people’s fanfics. No matter how few chapters there are. No matter how many years have passed since their last update. Comment. You like a fanfic? Comment on it. It’s that easy.

[jeanklemwriter]

Check out what a friend got me!

This cute little bugger is the Beastbox D1O. The gimmick is, it turns into a perfect little mecha cube and back into a robo-dinosaur!

(The name makes me think of Diego Brando’s dinosaur-themed Stand, 「ＳＣＡＲＹ ＭＯＮＳＴＥＲＳ」 )

It’s a cute little guy! Feels good in your hand, has all the poseability you’d need to make some good dinosaur poses. The T-Rex arms are way too small and fragile-feeling, though. The cube form feels weighty, but once you get D10 into Dinosaur-mode, it feels a little thin and hollow. For a toy that runs around $13 retail, you’d expect more heft and durability.

But hey, it’s adorable, and it’s a tiny friend you can take with you. And it comes in such cute designer colors!

[jeanklemwriter]

so if you have a webcomic and are looking to host it somewhere, maybe avoid tapastic

[jeanklemwriter]

I’m writing something quite personal, and... it hurts to write it.

But I gotta.

[jeanklemwriter]

Need a fanfic? I got your back!

I’ve decided to open up some slots for writing commissions. If you guys want a fanfic for a certain fandom, hit me up in a PM and I’ll write one for you! My rates are $10/1000 words!

If you can’t afford anything, please signal boost--it helps loads!

[jeanklemwriter]

It’s the thing I worked on! Go give it a look, everyone really gave this their all.

This is NSFW so kids really need to stay away from this

Get your copy of the “LET DVA FUCK” zine!

Featuring multiple D.Va ships and D.Va having some solo fun time, the “LET DVA FUCK” zine features 2 writers and 14 artists. It’s a digital zine, with a “pay what you want” price. Open to anyone 18 and up, this zine is our contribution to D.Va from Overwatch! 

GET IT HERE:  https://dreamcreek.itch.io/let-dva-fuck-zine

—–

Writers: Bunnymint  |  Vent

Artists: Ch4tte  |  Fernybee  |  GloomyMonday  |  Jordan  |  Kass  |  LMC  |  Lu  | Peppetoni   |  Pix  |  Prince Lowell  |  Shiki  |  Tabitha  |  Tsyn  |  Whytan  

—–

[jeanklemwriter]

Careful, no kids allowed on this one!

I recently took part in a D.va-themed Overwatch zine–my first ever! My story isn’t too shabby, if I say so myself, but the other artists really knocked it outta the park!

The idea was to make sex-positive work where D.va, an Asian woman, could be in total control of her sexual experience. I like to think we succeeded!

It’s PWYW, so I hope you’ll enjoy it! And don’t forget to follow the other artists involved!

[jeanklemwriter]

Careful, no kids allowed on this one!

I recently took part in a D.va-themed Overwatch zine–my first ever! My story isn’t too shabby, if I say so myself, but the other artists really knocked it outta the park!

The idea was to make sex-positive work where D.va, an Asian woman, could be in total control of her sexual experience. I like to think we succeeded!

It’s PWYW, so I hope you’ll enjoy it! And don’t forget to follow the other artists involved!

[jeanklemwriter]

Careful, no kids allowed on this one!

I recently took part in a D.va-themed Overwatch zine–my first ever! My story isn’t too shabby, if I say so myself, but the other artists really knocked it outta the park!

The idea was to make sex-positive work where D.va, an Asian woman, could be in total control of her sexual experience. I like to think we succeeded!

It’s PWYW, so I hope you’ll enjoy it! And don’t forget to follow the other artists involved!

[jeanklemwriter]

I wrote a thing about fandom.

“Why are fans so crazy?”

This being the era of fandom and unbridled communication, a lot of toxic aspects of fandom have come to light. This has led to many asking, “Why are fans so crazy?”

Trust me: fans of [x] are not crazy, they’re just the side-effect of fandom’s “rules”.

Fandom is not a new thing, let’s get that out of the way. Grassroots support for works has existed since people have been able to support works in media. Fandom demand got Arthur Conan Doyle to bring back Sherlock Holmes. Fandom push tried (and failed) to get Louisa May Alcott to write a certain relationship into a sequel to Little Women (which should be a lesson to shippers, but I digress). Fandom pre-dates the Internet, having been supported by independent zines, letters, and stowaways in convention halls.

What fandom is, is performative.

Fandom comes with their own argots; they are memetic in the traditional sense of the word. You wanna make a Star Trek fan sad, you remind them “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”. Someone who grew up with Animaniacs knows what’s going on when you say, “Good-night, everybody!” If you hit a Gundam fan, they’ll invariably remark that not even their own father hit them.

Fandom comes with a number of rituals. See: the Vulcan salute, the JoJo poses, Gundam fans saluting Zeon, The Blob fans running out of the Colonial Theater, eating a bologna sandwich during the dinner scene in Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Fandom adopts clothing; Digimon fans all respect goggles, Naruto fans all had some version of the headbands, Juggalos do the facepaint.

These aspects aren’t required, but they’re expected. It’s just plain weird if a Harry Potter fan doesn’t bring up a Crumple-Horned Snorkack or if a Dragon Ball fan doesn’t suddenly shout that [they] CAN SEE THE FUTUUUURE~. Half of fandom interaction is what is expected to happen. Half of the dialogue is what you’re supposed to say.

This is where the trouble starts.

At some point, the performativeness of fandom starts getting conflated with the need to be performative, to show off that you really are a fan of the thing. This is the problem: at this point, the thing in question doesn’t matter anymore. The expected result is.

There’s also a good deal here that needs to be spoken of concerning how matters pertaining to diversity and representation are much wider-spread but many people on the Internet lack the all-too-important finesse that should come with it: the understanding that social justice isn’t a binary moral dichotomy but a complicated issue with various layers. The end result is the line of thought “I like [x], hence [x] must be good and pure and Good™. It must be Diverse™. We need to hold the creators to this higher standard so that the work stays good and pure and Good)™.”

This is where a lot of the toxicity in fandom comes into play. The need to demonstrate your fandom combined with overly-simplified views on ow diversity is meant to work combine into a volatile mix.

You don’t have to be a an to do this kind of thing. All it takes is a degree of simply not knowing better–although, let’s be fair: if you’re reading this, this is your wake-up call. Not cool, dude.

How can we solve this?

Don’t allow fellow fans to do this stuff. Toxic behavior is toxic behavior–don’t tolerate it, period. Don’t worry about being a narc: better the temporary awkwardness of having to remove someone toxic than dealing with their constant toxicity.

Make sure to have wake-up calls. Look, fandom is easy to jump into head-first, but remember to come up for air. You’re still a person, outside of liking x-thing, and the people who make x-thing are still people outside of their job. If your fandom is your main component in life… fix that. If someone inn your circle is taking their fandom too seriously… don’t let them.

Communicate!!! And I mean really talk. No memes, no call-backs, have one-on-ones with each other. We have the tools, God knows. Never underestimate the ability of just hashing things out with people.

Remember that none of this is meant to shame fans. People all have something they’re that dedicated to. But we need to remember that fandom has its limits, especially today where fandoms are purposefully cultivated as a marketing tool by companies, unlike the old days where fandoms grew organically. Have fun, but don’t ose your good judgement, okay?

[jeanklemwriter]

Written in the Bones. New comic, written by Christopher M. Jones & illustrated by Carey Pietsch.

I’m hoping to have printed copies of this at MOCCA, ABPCC, and TCAF this spring, and SPX in the fall! More info to come.

[jeanklemwriter]

Good on Sesame Street for showing children another kind of person that might live in their neighborhood. This really makes me happy.

Julia from the new Sesame Street video!

Julia, diagnosed with Autism helps young children (and adults) understand Autism better and teaches that those who are diagnosed with Autism are no different to any other person! 

Here’s a pic i drew of her stimming! I love her!

[jeanklemwriter]

The Needs of Gods and Folk

Cover by @yuricanes. This story is available free in its entirety here, but you can pick up the Amazon version, y’know, where you’d expect.

Tired of being a laughingstock among her godly kin, the Noble Vel Vala draws a humble glassblower into a rigged contest of skill. With the meek Rega as her target, the contest is all but a formality; she’ll be back home by mid-afternoon, with a boatload of new followers to boot!

Keep reading

[jeanklemwriter]

Time to Make the Comics, Part 16: Don’t Pitch. Make.

This post’s creation was fueled by coffee donations from Super Duper Generous Peeps (Like yourself! Potentially!) through ko-fi.com/roselyon! Thanks, cool, cool people!!!

Good evening. I’m Johnathon O. Rose-Lyon. You of course know me from my work on such literary classics as “Cosmic-Fantasy Comic Pitch That Was Shot Down Because It Doesn’t Mesh Well With Our Third-Quarter Line-Up”, and “Sci-Fi Comic Pitch That Didn’t Get A Greenlight Because We Did That Other Sci-Fi Comic Three Years Ago”, and the beloved “Murder Mystery Comic That We Actually Dug A Lot But You Don’t Have Enough Twitter Followers, Sooooooo”. 

Wait, huh, wha? You haven’t read… like, any of those massive-critical-and-financial-and-cultural-I-am-assuming successes?! And only literally five people on the face of the literal planet have? Even though I’ve dumped also-very-literal months of hard work into them? And my whole life and all of my intellectual pursuits up to this point are doomed to become the historical equivalent of an Audible monthly subscription gifted unto post-hearing-loss Ludwig van Beethoven, you say??

Well, fuck. Okay.

Anyway, I’m here today to talk to you about NEVER PITCHING ANYTHING EVER and I’m certainly not going to go back on that at all and mean it very literally. (I don’t.) (But it’s sorta true.) (Just keep reading, jeez.)

Here are some stats (that’s Comic Industry Lingo for “statistics” you’re welcome) for your consideration:

•Started this tumblr blog. Started talking ‘bout comic books and ‘bout making ‘em and junk. Got over 500 followers. Made some way-too-cool-for-me-tbh friends. Maybe helped some people out I don’t know.

•Made Neon Noir with Michael Kennedy. Like… we just made it. Put that shit up online for free, straight commie-style. Got another good 500 followers from it. Sold a good chunk of comics, somehow. Got a few publishers’ attention. Made more seriously-way-too-cool-what-the-actual-fuck friends.

•Made Super Human with Stephen Morrow and boy Roland. Again, no permission. No greenlight. Just made. Tossed them shits on the internets, free-o-charge. Got 1k followers jesus christ. Sold a couple hundred copies (even though that was non-profit because I’m a good person aka a little bit dumb). GOT ON FUCKING TELEVISION FROM IT. Received – and I’m ballparking this somewhat – eight billion emails and messages about what that comic meant to people that all made me cry and I am now a fine, dehydrated dust pile. And now I have so many friends that, if I want to make a new friend, I must pick one of my older friends and abandon them forever to make room because I have hit the Legal Friend Maximum that is just how many friends I have now ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

•Spent a total of 10 months(!) researching for and assembling 14 different pitches(!!) for 14 different projects(!!!). Some editors said they were cool or whatever. Maybe the next pitch will be the one. That’s it. The end. 

Now I’m no mathmagician, but…

Point is, it’s so, so easy to fall in a pitch hole. Especially if someone asks you to start pitching to them. Throwing two-page summary after two-page summary after 5 pages of lettered sample art after “It’s like Dragonball Z meets Star Trek!” at publishers. Your entire creative life submitting to that “submit” button. Screaming into the void and waiting for the void to be all, “Hey, I really pick up what you’re putting down, man, let’s make this thing.” And then the infinite void gives you a thumbs-up that’s literally beyond the quantum descriptive capacity of any mortal language.

K, so here’s where I totally go back on what I said before: I’m not saying to never pitch. I’m just saying Have something to show for it for the love of god. 

Those are ten months I’m not getting back. And weeks of hard-ass work my collaborators won’t get back, either. And all we have to show for it are half-stories and ending-less pages and sad-tears.

Heck, I’m pitching a project right now. That’s right, I’m a hypocritical, clickbait-y little shit, so what, fucking fight me. But the difference is I’m making a finished product. And if the infinite void doesn’t dig what we’re doing, then guess what? We now have a dope-ass comic to give to the masses directly. Whether it’s through kickstarter or self-publishing or, in classic commie-style fashion, just straight free-on-the-internet. The void’s loss is the universe’s gain.

So what I’m sayin’ is GO OUT THERE AND MAKE SOME COOL SHIT AND FINISH SAID COOL SHIT. JUST MAKE. And if no one wants to throw money at you for it (the odds of which are, I’m v. sorry to say, up there), hey look! Non-publisher human beings still dig what you’re doing with your life and it might even make their life better and it turns out that’s rewarding too even though you can’t pay the rent with it or eat it or whatever!

And then you just join a site where people straight-up give you money cuz they think you’re dope and what you do is dope. Pro strats. 

NOW GO ART ALREADY JEEZ.

[jeanklemwriter]

Signal boosting this work of ART

casual reminder that i wrote an 90-page novel when i was eight about a deranged pensioner who wants to take over the world and return everything to “The Good Old Days”, and which included such choice elements as

a really neurotic vegetarian vampire 

alice cooper, for no apparent reason

an evil supermodel called miranda goth 

three nine-year-olds climbing mount everest in diving helmets 

the entire population of scotland appearing out of literally nowhere to help defeat the antagonists 

“you can take our lives but you cannot take our trousers" 

[jeanklemwriter]

I love drawing cute scenes.