Sean Gibson's Blog - Posts Tagged "new-projects"
The Tail of Sir Hole: The Origin of Cheesecalibur
As rabid readers of The Camelot Shadow: A Novel (thanks to all 8 of you) have begun to clamor for more, I wanted to introduce a project that I hope to provide more details on in the coming months. Before I do that, however, I think it’s necessary to provide a little background/origin story (it’s not quite Batman Begins, but that’s only because it’s like 1,082 times better—not to mention far darker, as will soon become apparent).
Waaaayyy back when I was in second grade (long before my nose was the impressively prodigious specimen that it is today), I was a very big fan of, amongst other things, King Arthur stories (thanks to Gwen Gross’s Knights of the Round Table) and cartoons (from the slapstick of Looney Tunes to the mythology of Gummi Bears to the action and occasionally serialized adventures of G.I. Joe). Against that backdrop, we were asked to write and illustrate books (perhaps, given our tender ages, that should be “write and illustrate� “books�) as part of a young author’s competition. Combining two of my great loves at the time (I didn’t find a way to work in Ghostbusters, dinosaurs, or Kraft macaroni and cheese, sadly), I created Cheesecalibur, a spin on Arthurian lore featuring heroic mice, led by the noble King Cheese, and nefarious cats, led by the devious King Cat.
I could tell you about how amazingly great it was…or I can just show you. Let’s do that.
Clearly, neither penmanship nor spelling were strong suits of mine back then. I’ve rectified the latter, but the former remains a problem.
And before we go any further, I should note that my imagination was a wee bit stronger than my drawing skills at that stage of life (and they haven’t gotten any better).
Well then. It would appear that a keen
understanding of anatomy was also not a strong suit either. Turns out 8-year-old-me was kind of a moron (see, for example, the redundancy in naming two characters “Cheese”—though this is by no means my most egregious naming faux pas, as you’ll soon see).
A couple of highlights to point out on page 1: all of the mice have their initials on their chests (because why wouldn’t a knight want monogrammed armor?), and in case we weren’t sure that the mice were on the side of truth and justice, the very helpful flag in the background tells us they are “good.�
This is a pretty smiley bunch of evildoers (seeing as how the flag in the background here tells us the cats are “bad�). Please note that while I was something of an idiot as an 8-year-old, “Sir Clean Out the Refrigerator� is a pretty superb name. Good job, me.
Whoa boy. Apparently, Gumby is playing the role of King Cat in this production of Cheesecalibur. I think his arm is at least 1.5 times longer than his body. (Camelot Shadow fans will appreciate King Cheese’s belt.)
Those are some talented little mouse knights. Also, keep an eye on Sir Clean Out the Refrigerator—that guy’s going to steal the show.
I have absolutely no idea what Sir Clean Out the Refrigerator is doing to King Cheese (maybe he’s Febreezing him?). Please note, however, that the cats were smart enough to put King Cheese’s and Sir Tail’s weapons sufficiently far enough from their cage that they won’t be able to reach them with their T-Rex-style arms.
Okay, here’s where we need to remember that I was 8 years old. Let’s walk through 8-year-old-me’s thought process on this page. “Hmmm…we need a great hero to rescue King Cheese and Sir Tail. And he needs to make a dramatic entrance. Gosh, I’ve used up all of the good mouse names I can think of…maybe I should name this one after a specific type of cheese. What’s a funny cheese? Ooh, Swiss cheese! It has all of those silly holes! That’s perfect! I’ll name him…SIR HOLE!� (Why not Sir Swiss, you ask? As noted previously, I was not an intelligent child.)
As for why he appears in a blinding flash of light and why Sir Tail appears to have intimate knowledge of Hole before he appears…well, I’ll leave that up to you, dear reader, to decide.
Apparently, the cats are about as smart as 8-year-old Sean.
What action! What drama! What a set-up for�
Funniest thing I’ll ever write. I hit my comedic peak at age 8. It’s been downhill ever since.
That King Cheese drawing is pretty good, if I do say so myself (and I do)—what a heroic and noble leader! That said…what the $%@# is going on with Sir Hole’s arms?! It’s like a mouse and a gerbil procreated.
Dialogue that was cut from this scene:
Sir Tail: �$%@# this artist--how the bloody $%@# am I supposed to reach my drink with these stumps?!�
King Cheese: “I can’t believe that jackanapes put my drink in the middle of a table that’s 10 times bigger than my arms. Why the $%@# am I so smiley?!�
Sir Hole: *Slurp* "My head is very tiny.�
WAY TO SPOIL THE SEQUEL, DOUCHE BAG!
Author photo. See? I told you the schnoz was not yet prodigious. Also, I’d like to note that, amongst the interests listed in my bio for this book, it says “Sean collects spores, molds, and fungus.� Yup—even then, I was quoting Egon Spengler.
In what can only be an indictment of the quality of the public school system in Southwest Michigan, I was actually awarded a trip to a young author’s conference on the strength of this “book.� All of the people responsible for that decision are no longer gainfully employed.
The, ah, unique art notwithstanding, this story stuck with me, and from time to time I would think to myself, “Self, you should revisit Cheesecalibur at some point.� I’ve thought about various ways to tell the tale of these brave mice over the years and come to two conclusions: 1) I want to expand on this idea and tell an epic, fast-paced, serialized story with these characters that’s full of action, adventure, and humor, and 2) someone else REALLY needs to draw this.
And that, my friends, brings us to some news about upcoming projects: I’ve teamed up with my long-time hetero life mate Bret Bowman (who, not coincidentally, I met in second grade), whose artistic skills are approximately 8,345,012 times better than my own, to put the wheels in motion on a Cheesecalibur comic book. We’re still in the conceptual stage from an art standpoint, but the script for the first issue is in the can, and I hope that we’ll be able to share some of Bret’s character designs here on ŷ within the next month or so, as well as providing some more information about the characters and story (and while I know this will disappoint some people, the erstwhile Sir Hole has since been rechristened Sir Swiss). So, keep your eyes peeled (metaphorically speaking, because I think it would really hurt if you actually peeled them, not to mention kept them that way).
In the meantime, Bret and I would love to hear from you—is this something you’d be into? If so, let us know here, or drop me a line at [email protected] � we’d love to find a group of interested readers to share updates with as we work on producing the first issue.
Excelsior!
Waaaayyy back when I was in second grade (long before my nose was the impressively prodigious specimen that it is today), I was a very big fan of, amongst other things, King Arthur stories (thanks to Gwen Gross’s Knights of the Round Table) and cartoons (from the slapstick of Looney Tunes to the mythology of Gummi Bears to the action and occasionally serialized adventures of G.I. Joe). Against that backdrop, we were asked to write and illustrate books (perhaps, given our tender ages, that should be “write and illustrate� “books�) as part of a young author’s competition. Combining two of my great loves at the time (I didn’t find a way to work in Ghostbusters, dinosaurs, or Kraft macaroni and cheese, sadly), I created Cheesecalibur, a spin on Arthurian lore featuring heroic mice, led by the noble King Cheese, and nefarious cats, led by the devious King Cat.
I could tell you about how amazingly great it was…or I can just show you. Let’s do that.
Clearly, neither penmanship nor spelling were strong suits of mine back then. I’ve rectified the latter, but the former remains a problem.
And before we go any further, I should note that my imagination was a wee bit stronger than my drawing skills at that stage of life (and they haven’t gotten any better).
Well then. It would appear that a keen
understanding of anatomy was also not a strong suit either. Turns out 8-year-old-me was kind of a moron (see, for example, the redundancy in naming two characters “Cheese”—though this is by no means my most egregious naming faux pas, as you’ll soon see).
A couple of highlights to point out on page 1: all of the mice have their initials on their chests (because why wouldn’t a knight want monogrammed armor?), and in case we weren’t sure that the mice were on the side of truth and justice, the very helpful flag in the background tells us they are “good.�
This is a pretty smiley bunch of evildoers (seeing as how the flag in the background here tells us the cats are “bad�). Please note that while I was something of an idiot as an 8-year-old, “Sir Clean Out the Refrigerator� is a pretty superb name. Good job, me.
Whoa boy. Apparently, Gumby is playing the role of King Cat in this production of Cheesecalibur. I think his arm is at least 1.5 times longer than his body. (Camelot Shadow fans will appreciate King Cheese’s belt.)
Those are some talented little mouse knights. Also, keep an eye on Sir Clean Out the Refrigerator—that guy’s going to steal the show.
I have absolutely no idea what Sir Clean Out the Refrigerator is doing to King Cheese (maybe he’s Febreezing him?). Please note, however, that the cats were smart enough to put King Cheese’s and Sir Tail’s weapons sufficiently far enough from their cage that they won’t be able to reach them with their T-Rex-style arms.
Okay, here’s where we need to remember that I was 8 years old. Let’s walk through 8-year-old-me’s thought process on this page. “Hmmm…we need a great hero to rescue King Cheese and Sir Tail. And he needs to make a dramatic entrance. Gosh, I’ve used up all of the good mouse names I can think of…maybe I should name this one after a specific type of cheese. What’s a funny cheese? Ooh, Swiss cheese! It has all of those silly holes! That’s perfect! I’ll name him…SIR HOLE!� (Why not Sir Swiss, you ask? As noted previously, I was not an intelligent child.)
As for why he appears in a blinding flash of light and why Sir Tail appears to have intimate knowledge of Hole before he appears…well, I’ll leave that up to you, dear reader, to decide.
Apparently, the cats are about as smart as 8-year-old Sean.
What action! What drama! What a set-up for�
Funniest thing I’ll ever write. I hit my comedic peak at age 8. It’s been downhill ever since.
That King Cheese drawing is pretty good, if I do say so myself (and I do)—what a heroic and noble leader! That said…what the $%@# is going on with Sir Hole’s arms?! It’s like a mouse and a gerbil procreated.
Dialogue that was cut from this scene:
Sir Tail: �$%@# this artist--how the bloody $%@# am I supposed to reach my drink with these stumps?!�
King Cheese: “I can’t believe that jackanapes put my drink in the middle of a table that’s 10 times bigger than my arms. Why the $%@# am I so smiley?!�
Sir Hole: *Slurp* "My head is very tiny.�
WAY TO SPOIL THE SEQUEL, DOUCHE BAG!
Author photo. See? I told you the schnoz was not yet prodigious. Also, I’d like to note that, amongst the interests listed in my bio for this book, it says “Sean collects spores, molds, and fungus.� Yup—even then, I was quoting Egon Spengler.
In what can only be an indictment of the quality of the public school system in Southwest Michigan, I was actually awarded a trip to a young author’s conference on the strength of this “book.� All of the people responsible for that decision are no longer gainfully employed.
The, ah, unique art notwithstanding, this story stuck with me, and from time to time I would think to myself, “Self, you should revisit Cheesecalibur at some point.� I’ve thought about various ways to tell the tale of these brave mice over the years and come to two conclusions: 1) I want to expand on this idea and tell an epic, fast-paced, serialized story with these characters that’s full of action, adventure, and humor, and 2) someone else REALLY needs to draw this.
And that, my friends, brings us to some news about upcoming projects: I’ve teamed up with my long-time hetero life mate Bret Bowman (who, not coincidentally, I met in second grade), whose artistic skills are approximately 8,345,012 times better than my own, to put the wheels in motion on a Cheesecalibur comic book. We’re still in the conceptual stage from an art standpoint, but the script for the first issue is in the can, and I hope that we’ll be able to share some of Bret’s character designs here on ŷ within the next month or so, as well as providing some more information about the characters and story (and while I know this will disappoint some people, the erstwhile Sir Hole has since been rechristened Sir Swiss). So, keep your eyes peeled (metaphorically speaking, because I think it would really hurt if you actually peeled them, not to mention kept them that way).
In the meantime, Bret and I would love to hear from you—is this something you’d be into? If so, let us know here, or drop me a line at [email protected] � we’d love to find a group of interested readers to share updates with as we work on producing the first issue.
Excelsior!
Cheesecalibur: Musing on Creative Derivation, and a Taste of Some Fantastic Art
Having conceived of Cheesecalibur at the tender age of 8 (for more on its epic origin story, click here), and now being the tough (because my meat is no longer tender) age of 36, some time has passed betwixt conception and what will hopefully soon be birth (that’s one heck of a gestation period…it’s weird when your baby pops out and can immediately rent a car). During that time, some very fine mice-as-knights comics have hit the shelves, including books like Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard, Vol. 1 and The Mice Templar, Vol. 1: The Prophecy.
Each time I stumbled across one of those titles, I’d silently curse, feeling as though their very presence on the racks at the comic store mocked my lack of productivity and stole the thunder from my own creation. I’ve come to realize, however, that while the former feeling was certainly valid, the latter was a needless concern.
With rare exceptions—paradigm-shifting ideas that spring from the minds of truly unique and revolutionary disruptors—creativity is an iterative process, a millennium-spanning collaboration across time, space, and culture. Derivations on a similar core idea, parodic versions of previous works, homages, alternate takes on history—these are the ideas that drive so many of the stories we consume. Emma begets Clueless; Jane Eyre begets Wide Sargasso Sea; Hamlet begets…well, a million things, but let’s say The Story of Edgar Sawtelle for illustrative purposes. And speaking of that Shakespeare hack—he pilfered pretty much everything he ever wrote from his own literary predecessors.
‘Tis true that all of us engaged in creative endeavors stand on the shoulders of giants, but my hope is that Cheesecalibur does not tread on the toes of storytellers who have also been inspired by Arthurian lore and medieval history, but instead augments and complements their wonderful work.
Because, even though the mice-as-knights thing has been done, I think Cheesecalibur will find its own niche. The way the plot unfolds, the character-driven nature of the stories, the tone, the art…it’s a unique mix of those elements—even if those elements are derived from, or at least influenced by, other sources. Seeds of plot have been extracted (and sometimes twisted) from the pages of Le Morte d'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table and the work of Chrétien de Troyes; masterful lessons on building stories around characters have been gleaned from Bill Willingham’s Fables; tonal notes have been drawn from the brilliant creators at Pixar, who always strike the right balance between family-friendly slapstick and sly humor for an older audience—a feat, I might add, also accomplished by many Pixar predecessors, such as The Muppet Show and Animaniacs; and the art…well, I’ll let the art and the artist speak for themselves below (it’s going to be fantastic).
If you read my previous Cheesecalibur post, you know that I draw about as well as an elephant performs brain surgery (or as well as a monkey resists flinging its poo). So, I desperately needed an actual, you know, artist to bring the story to life. It just so happens that one of my best friends in the world—and someone I met, coincidentally, in the 2nd-grade class in which Cheesecalibur was originally conceived—happens to be one heck of a talented artist with a style that’s perfectly suited to this story.
And that man, my friends, is Mr. Bret J. Bowman. Bret is hard at work developing the look and feel of the Cheesecalibur characters and world, and he has graciously consented (read: been bludgeoned into submission by my repeated entreaties) to share some of the work in progress. I’ll note that these are not necessarily final character designs, but should give you a flavor of what to expect.
Bret will poo-poo the quality of these drawings (not unlike a monkey doing its own version of wall art), but I couldn’t be more psyched about his work—after years of picturing these characters in my head, it’s amazing to see them taking shape on the page (and with properly proportioned limbs, no less, a feat I was unable to manage in my original incarnation). And, with such stellar art, I can pretty much just mail it in as the writer, which is my primary goal in all endeavors.
Without further ado, then, here’s some shots of what’s to come, along with a little intro from Bret on how he’s going about bringing these characters to life (and perhaps a few additional comments by me, because, as you all know by now, words are my monkey poo, and I am incapable of not flinging them about with callous disregard for those around me).
A Note from Master Bret Bowman, Gentleman About Town:
That's right, Mr. Gibson; always leave 'em wanting more monkey poo. This is exactly why I hitched my cart to your horse.
(I've made a huge mistake.)
Esoteric Arrested Development jokes aside, Sean might occasionally turn a ridiculous [Note from Sean: Bret often confuses “ridiculous� with “awesome”…we’re working on it] phrase or two but I couldn't be more excited to be partnering with him to bring his charmingly comic fantasy-adventure to life. It's ridiculously amazing to me that he's kept the original 'Calibur in his back pocket for more than two freaking decades, but I think it helps illustrate just how incredibly passionate he is about this project and I just hope my work is up to the task. This has seriously been the most fun I've had doing, well, anything [Note from Sean: Bret doesn’t get out much] and I'm doing my damnedest to make sure at least some of that comes through on the page.
Included here a few scans of character designs that, though they are the product of numerous emails, texts and calls between Sean and myself that helped me hone in on the artistic style he was looking for, are what I can only describe as ROUGH. As in please-don't-judge-too-harshly-I'm-just-getting-started or I-told-Sean-it-was-too-early-to-show-work-but-he-kept-hounding-me rough. It can only get better and, who knows, I might actually throw in a background or two before I'm done. [Note from Sean: backgrounds are overrated]
(Some are pencils, some roughly inked-over pencils and some are the results of dabbling with Copic markers, so tones will vary greatly. Do not adjust your television sets.)
