"Welcome to the Party, Pal!"

Summer!! Finally!! Happiest part of the year for me...and that's even WITHOUT a trip to San Diego. Loving the weather, loving being able to write out on the patio at 3am without a chill, love it all.

Not too much different in my life. Still making decisions, still trying to write, still waiting on some things to come together. Saw Star Trek a couple of times, of course. I got to get me some more summer movies in, though. Ones on my list keep slipping by. Of course, there's usually a reason. Again, if it does lousy on the Tomatometer...I'm not bothering to spend what little cash I got on it. Got to be worth my time.

Oh, and I'm having an amazing time reading Star Wars novels, of all things. Man, who ever knew what a great writer Aaron Allston was?! I'm really happy for him. I'm on book 8 of a 9-book series, trying to catch up to Adam (who's reading them as well). Love how MAJOR stuff is happening! Just like my blog on the subject said, I consider THIS to be the "real" Star Wars. It's Star Wars that's grown up along with me. I'm quite pleased. I want to get this series done because a new one (also involving Allston) has already started. I have the first book, and the second is coming out at the end of this month. I'd like to be caught up for a change to avoid some really infuriating spoilers like I've had with this current series I'm on.

And, of course, I'm doing my best to keep up with Martin on our "Summer of Whedon" Buffy and Angel marathoning. Having a fantastic time reliving all this stuff (and getting to get Martin's impressions on it all as a first-time viewer). I so always wanted to run a Buffverse game. Would have been cool.

Enough me-ness! Onto Champs-ness!

This Time Around

Got an all-new story for you in the Forte 2000 Adventures area this time. That’s the good news. The bad is that it’s not the Seahawk story. Awwwww…

I know, I know. Here’s the thing. I’ve been really trying to work on other writing stuff, and have been having some success, and that means I’ve had to force myself to put the “fun” writing (‘Times stuff) off. My little heart adventure that kept me from regular writing for a good three weeks didn’t help either. Soon I found myself in the middle of May, thinking I’d never have time to finish the Seahawk story, as there’s some extra research and such involved in that. But I also didn’t want to not have a submission together. So while I was thinking about this, an idea came to me for a quicker, easier, shorter Forte story that I was sure I could get done in time. I decided to play it safe and go with this one instead of getting into Seahawk Number Zero and running out of time before it was done.

Yes, this is me. So you can imagine what happened to the “shorter” part. However, the “quicker” and “easier” parts did apply, strangely.

Wait...hold that thought. I also added, after the fact, a new addition to the Forte.com page, in the Chat Room there. It's a chat between a couple of Forte members on a cold, late January night in 2003. It takes place about six months before the story I'm about to talk about does, and about two months after the "Anubis" story ends. Thought I'd mention that first because this chat log takes place before the other story, and you might want to read it first. Or not. It works either way. Anyway, back to the main story...

The idea for the story “Thursday” came from me realizing that I really missed my old friends – that being the Forte 2000 characters. I’ve been on the Seahawk stuff for a while, which has been great, but I started thinking how long it had been since I looked in on the whole gang. I wanted to see what they were up to, hear their voices again, catch up on old times. So I decided I’d look in on each of them, and chose to do this with a tale that took place on a single evening – a Thursday evening, to be exact. And when I talk about “quicker” and “easier”, that means that from the minute I sat down and started this thing, it just flooooowed. There were no annoying blocks or hitches. It was a pleasure to write, start to finish, and during the process I realized I’d missed these folks more than I’d known, and felt like I’d come home again after a very long journey abroad. It was really nice.

Just a note about the timeline here. The period of time I wanted to focus on was an area I’d already dipped into – the months after the end of the (yet to be completed as fiction) Anubis storyline, which was a major milestone in the lives of the new Forte team. I know how that story ends (even if you don’t…yet…), and I know the aftermath that comes with it and the story arcs to follow it. I thought this story would be a good opportunity to look in on that time and see how everyone was recovering and dealing with the fallout in their lives. Now this doesn’t take place RIGHT after Anubis – there have been a few tales in the time between – including the whole space adventure in the Realm (the game I ran for Aaron, Adam, Jim and Randy), the “Stakeout” quickie I wrote that showed the whole eight-member team together, in fiction, for the first time (before that, in the published work that’s appeared, Seahawk had been off in Boston and hadn’t even met a couple of the new members yet that joined in his absence), and the “Hotline” stories exploring Dyna Girl’s friendship with Matt, the guy who stumbled onto the Forte base phone number. But none of these really touched on Anubis stuff. Or the aftermath and some of the emotional affects on the team members. Well… a little bit. In the “Stakeout” story, I did drop in a couple of elements, but I was sneaky about it. It was too limited of story – focused on the radio conversation between them as they waited for some villains to show up – to go into much more.

So this is my state-of-the-Forte story, circa summer of 2003. It’s a good-sized tale, but still is broken down into several parts, so feel free to read it piece by piece if you prefer (it's kinda like six different short stories in one). It’s got a few teases about the Anubis thing, but nothing too clear (as I don’t want to spoil the eventual end of that epic, but the good news is, by the time I finish it, you won’t remember any of this tale anyway!), and also teases some upcoming character stuff, and is sort of a nice re-introduction to all the heroes, as they’ve been away from you for quite a while. As always with these Forte tales, since they tend to jump around in time, I suggest looking at the Forte 2000 Adventures page or the Forte Chronology to get a picture of where they fit in with the other stories. I do hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you, and don’t worry – the Seahawk finale will be coming soon. At least you’ll get a good amount of Seahawk stuff in this one to tide you over. Tide. Get it?

And holy wowza, there’s actually some new art in the gallery? Why? Funny story…

I’m on the Brian Michael Bendis message board a lot. There are a number of pros and semi-pros there. One of the semis (not as well known) is a guy named Tony Fleecs, probably best known recently for a crime comic his did called “Tell Them Johnny Wadd is Here”. He didn’t even draw this one, even though he’s an artist – he just wrote it. Anyway, Tony ended up low on cash and on work, so he got this wacky idea, and posted a proposal on the board and on his blog. He called it his $3 Art Sale. Yes, for three yankee dollars (and the price of one stamp), Tony would do a 3x5 sketch of any character you wanted – from comics, TV, movies, books, anything. I think I was the first one to see his post, and my first thought was that he was nuts charging that little for his work. But also being poor and no dummy, I jumped in it, figuring I could afford four of those easily enough, and it’s been a while since I’ve been able to get any!

So what I got was the original Forte 2000 characters – Seahawk, Max, Tinker and Rainier. Check those out! They’re awesome! Tony has a very fun, cartoony style, and look what you get for your three bucks! Pencil, ink, and some color! Wow! Right after I put my first order into him, everyone else on the board started FLOODING the guy, some buying 10 at a time. But Tony didn’t gripe – he kept taking those orders and cranking them out. He’d put in photos of his art table, covered with dozens of partially finished sketches. And most of it was awesome! Realizing I’d probably never see the likes of a sale like this again, I went ahead and ordered the other four F2K characters. A few days after that, I checked back, sure he must have closed off the sale by then. But no…still going. So again, I figured I’d better take advantage, and I ordered six more (various Forte world characters and a couple of ConTinuum). The day after that, Tony updated his blog – not closing down the sale, but just advising that due to the overwhelming volume (this sale had now become his full-time job), he was having to raise the price to $6.00 each (plus a stamp). Awwww. Come on, how could anyone afford THAT (sarcasm, sarcasm)? But I was done, happy to have gotten all mine at $3.00. Well, when I say got…I may not get the final ten for a while, considering his backlog, but I’m totally fine with that.

I can’t get over what a smart move this ended up being for the guy. It wouldn’t have been for many other artists, who are slow and only like to draw certain things and don’t necessarily enjoy doing a lot of drawing. Tony clearly loves it, and really will draw anything – and takes pride in his work. So yes, the price was way too low for what the buyer gets. But if he’d put up an ad for $20.00 sketches – really, how many commissions would he have gotten? A handful, maybe. He created an “I can’t pass this up” situation. Better, he immediately started posting up people’s finished scans, and the more people saw them and loved them, they were even more compelled to get some. This is going to be a lot more money, in the end, because of the low price. But more than that, Tony, through this, has created lifelong fans. Everyone who got one of these is going to be buying any books Tony works on, as they now feel connected to him and think he’s a great guy. What a great business model. I know I’M a Tony Fleecs fan now, and I’m giddy to have his fun art all over the Forte 2000 gallery. So check it out, and if you click on his name there, it’ll take you to his blog so you can look at a whole bunch of the ones he did. Now THAT’s the kind of thinking that should happen in a poor economy! Bravo, Tony.

And as for not-so-smart artists?

Update on the Dennis Martin Willman front. Just for “fun”, I decided to check in. Again, I’m not the kind of guy who wants to become a screaming jerk, but I did want to get across to him that this is getting ridiculous. So I sent an email made up of one word: “Status?”

I got an email back that said the following:

“Thats not funny. I sent those out b4 I left to go on set. there was 3 emals, with 7 of the pics that were ready. Okay, let me see if I can get someone to go to my place and email them again. I'm on set right now with no access to my computer. hang tight. Brb”

Wait, what? “On set”? This sounded like another fanciful excuse of his in the making. I decided to jump over to his MySpace page. How about that? He actually is in the film business now – at least the cheesy, straight-to-video horror side of it. He’s not only the art director on several projects, but is producing a film. So at least I know he wasn’t trying to pull some scam thing on me. I even found him in the Internet Movie DataBase. Wow, how happy would I be if I was listed as a producer on “Killer Biker Chicks”? The answer, of course, is probably pretty happy. Also on his MySpace page is a gallery section, and there’s a “Forte 2000” page. I checked it, and it’s all the ones I already have up. One exception – on his main MySpace page, where he has some art samples up, there’s one listed as Forte – and it’s called “The Resurrection of Anubis”. This apparently another one that he did instead of the ones I actually ordered, which would be meant as a bonus for this taking so long, I guess. The file is too small for gallery use, unfortunately. And once again, this may be one he actually did for me – or it may be an existing work that he’s just telling me was made for me. If it’s a new one – how about just finishing the ones I actually ordered and wanted, man? Ugh.

Anyway, I at least feel better seeing that he actually is involved in several pre- and post-production films and a lot of freelance art work, so he’s not just sitting around and playing Xbox and just not wanting to do my art. At least I see he has other priorities going on – other paying work. Of course, mine, too, was paid work… I’ll check back with him again, but will not be holding any breath. But if his last email is true, there’s allegedly seven completed pieces waiting to get emailed to me. How much you want to bet none of them are my requested commissions and all of them may or may not be actual Forte work (as opposed to existing works Photoshopped up to look like Forte stuff?).

Oh, and finally...there's a little update to the Forte Prime site as well. Not much, but I've added original Forte updates 76 - 81 in the Forte Adventures section, an arc which takes you through the dramatic conclusion of the Millennium Conspiracy, a pivital Forte milestone. Nah, you don't have to comment on these if you don't wanna. Just letting you know they're up there as I SLOWLY keep getting these issues up. Seriously, these babies take a long time to get into proper file format. Aaron scanned EVERY Forte update (woo hoo!) which makes the job easier, but I'm currently in the era of Forte when K.C. was still using the dot matrix printer (I think that was about the only option for printers during that time) and was getting a great deal on cheap (light) copies, so the OCR scans are pretty iffy and need a lot of fixing. Sure beats re-typing them all, though! One of these days we'll have 'em all up...

Next Time...On "The 'F' Word"...

Where will the rest of the summer take me? We'll see, but hopefully to the end of Seahawk Number Zero. That, and we'll see what else. So hope everyone's summer starts of grand, and see you at the end of it!

Michael O’Connell
Is to Forte what the Iron Chef is to...uh...cheffing.