CREATOR COMMENTS
| Kevin
Paul Shaw Broden Writer/Illustrator/Creator of Flying Glory |
Shannon
Muir Writer/Lyricist/Creator of THE HOUNDS OF GLORY |
| September 22nd, 2007 Page 2 of Issue #9 "In the Key of Me" is now up, maybe even an hour before the date we promised. (I hope) I also want to let you know that the color version of the cover to Issue #9 is also up. You can take a look at it by clicking here:  Best, Kevin September 17th, 2007 Well, later then we would have liked but the page is now up. I hope to have the color version of the cover up this week as well. So please sit back and enjoy "In the Key of Me!" Kevin September 7th, 2007 Hi all. I've been back from my vacation for just over a week, and it's taken longer then I would have liked to get back into my normal way of things. Then I get thrown some extra work that had to get done under a tight deadline. So I greatly apologize that the new story isn't going up like we promised this weekend. You'll definately see something next week. Thanks, Kevin August 6th, 2007 Hi All. About ready to head out for our family summer vacation. Though we have already let you know that Issue 9 "In the Key of Me" will begin in the first week of September, I didn't want to leave with out providing some new art for your enjoyment. Above is an black and white inked version of the cover of Issue 9 as a preview of the story to come. When completed this cover art will be a fully painted art. To give you a glimpse of the color, I give you this to enjoy:  In the meantime the Current Page button is still active for you to read all of issue 8. Or click on the Adventures button to read issue of the stories so far. Thank you for enjoying our stories, and feel free to join our Mailing List and let us know what you think. Have a great summer. Kevin July 21, 2007 Wow! I think I worked harder and faster on this issue then any of the others. And the surprising thing is that some of this is the best art I've done. (Not all of it I understand.) Now as we've made clear I'm going to be taking a break. Afterwards I'll be jumping back into doing more art as we are already working on scripts three issues ahead. So I know this is going to be fun. If anyone wants to let us know how we're doing, please join the mailing list, even if it's just long enough to send us a note. I am sorry we've been ignoring our main e-mail address because we get over several hundred SPAM each day. If you've written us in the past, we apologize for not responding. Someday we'd like to figure out how to get a blog set up here. But not yet. Time to go take a rest. Best, Kevin July 3rd, 2007 This story is quickly approaching its end, and I have learned a lot in the process. Here's wishing you a happy Independence Day for tomorrow, no matter where you live. Best, Kevin June 24th, 2007 Wow! Three pages up with in a week's period. Can never promise that will happen again, but I'm really enjoy these pages so the go smoother and faster then some in the past. Best, Kevin June 16th, 2007 Hey, it's the 16th on the 16th. I haven't been able to keep up with my two pages a week, but at least I haven't missed a week so far in this issue. Enjoy. Kevin May 3rd, 2007 Half a day late, it could be worse. April 28th, 2007 Another week with two pages has gone by another started with this page. Can't promise it'll happen everytime, but am pleased when it does. April 11th, 2007 Hey, a second page in the week. I promised and here it is. April 7th, 2007 Wow, the Third page of our Eighth issue. I am amazed that we've come this far. I also want to let you know that Page Four will go up on Wednesday, April 11th. Can't promise to have two pages each week, but I am going to try very hard to make it happen. If anyone has attempted to write an e-mail to us, I apologize for not getting it. Our mailbox is so swamped with SPAM that it became pointless trying to look for something. Until we come up with a new way of communicating with you feel free to join our Yahoo Group and Mailing list. Click on the Mailing List Button below to join. Kevin March 5th, 2006 ALL DRESSED UP. Been a couple of months since I last wrote, and as we approach the end of the seven issue of Flying Glory and the Hounds of Glory (wow, can you believe we've been doing it so long?) As we begin our next story, I intend to update the Gallery section of this site. Much of what's there comes from early development of the characters before the comic actually began. Since then my art style has improved greatly, though I know I have a lot to keep working, but I'm at a point where I'm happy with nearly every page that goes up. As you'll see in the page above, our young heroine is wearing a dress for the first time. Fashion plays a very important roll in our next issue. So as a treat I am providing a preview of the updated gallery. Here is a fully painted version of Flying Glory in her dress. Enjoy, Kevin  January 3rd, 2006 HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE We've taken a couple of weeks off for the holidays, and I wont be avalable to upload a new page this coming weekend so I was able to finish page 14 and get it up today. Hope you enjoy it. Next week I plan to have page 15 and two color pages from issue 4 up. Best, Kevin December 9th, 2006 With Christmas celebrations starting to happen more frequently, I may not be here tomorrow, so have uploaded the the page as well as a colored version of page 8 of issue 4 tonight. Best, Kevin December 5, 2006 Apologies to all, for some reason the front page didn't load properly on Sunday, so we are fixing it here. Along with Thanksgiving, I also had Jury duty for three weeks, so I'm a bit thrown off. One of the things that I want to make certain you all knew was that I added a new color page to to the Issue 4 directory, page 8. Thansk for understanding. Best, Kevin November 19, 2006 Well, I was able to get this page up on time. To let you know, I will continue to be on a jury for the next two weeks. With taking this next week off for Thanksgiving, the next page should go up on time. November 14, 2006 Apologies for getting this page up a couple of days late. I'm in the middle of Jury duty so my schedule has been thrown off. Hopefully by this time next week I will have the next page up. Then we will be taking Thanksgiving week off, and should be back on regular schedule after that. Enjoy. Kevin September 10, 2006 The final page of "Off-Key Duet" is up and I have to say that I am very happy with how the entire issue turned out. Not only, as Shannon points out, that this is a very important and serious story to tell, but also as an artist I have seen a great improvement in my art to match the story. My art style has so vastly shifted from page to page in the past, that I am very pleased with the consistency of this issue. It is also intersting to note that as I drew that "ordinary creep" Swordes, each image of him gives me the CREEPS. With each drawing of him, every image became more and more 'evil'. It wasn't an intentional thought, but as the story grew and we knew more about him, the worse he became and I drew him based on how I felt about him. The guy was a smug, full of himself idiot at the beginning, and by the end became an out and out devil. I am looking forward to beginning to draw the first page of "Dance with the Diva". I've got a whole lot of character designs worked up for it, so hope you like it. As a teaser we have posted the cover art for "Dance with the Diva". Check it out under "The Adventures" button. See you next week. Kevin July 16, 2006 Shannon pretty much said all that needed to be said about content. See you in a couple of weeks. June 20, 2006 I am sitting here thinking and contimplating deeply on two things: #1 Where should I take Shannon to dinner to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her move down to Los Angeles. She's a very brave women to stick it out. So I want to make tonight special. #2 Wow, this is also the 5th annivesary since we first began posting pages of FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY. I'll let Shannon tell you more about that. Which leaves me to tell you about the art work. Comic book art work has always been a part of my life, from a kid who drew copies of the Flash and Superman and others, and even drew Captain Combo a character who I tried to include parts of every single DC super hero in his design. Came off really dumb, but I was a kid. I grew up and and took classes in art and even majored in it with a focus in "Narrative Illustration" which my professor and I came up with when no one else was willing to work with me in comic art. Eventually, however, I discovered that even though I continued to love drawing, it was never going to be the professional standards I needed. And I was really too shy to approach professionals at cons to show them my art. And when I did submit samples to the companies, I was rejected. What I did discover out of all that is that what I was doing was telling stories, and so have focused more writing and have become a script writer. I did not give up on artwork, still meeting regularly with an art group once a month or more, but 90% of my art work is done here in FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY. When I first came up with Flying Glory I simply had a concept and couple of drawings of what she looked liked. Then I had a story, and Shannon ran with it to become so much more. So for nearly once a week for the last year I have posted a page of art for you to enjoy. I look back to those first pages and sudder at how bad I think they art. Poor Debra has changed drastically in many directions as I studied different artists. Only in the last year has she started to look right and has remained consistant to my eye. For some reason I have never been able to draw John properly, and there's no explaining that, (though I have to admit I'm fairly happy with a pencil of him I just finished for next week.) Someday, maybe I'll get to see my art work published. We have a lot planned for Flying Glory and her band, and I look forward to seeing how my art continues to change and improve. Thank you for sticking with us for the last few years and for the years to come. Best, Kevin May 30, 2006 Along with the Creator Comments Shannon mentions to the Right, we are also updating the Gallery section. I intend on including a lot of new art work that I've been working on, but for now here's a look at several of the Covers we've used in the past. Click on the Gallery button to see these images of past glory. Best, Kevin April 12, 2006 Major apologies this week have to go out to everyone and Shan. I was working very hard to get ahead of myself in the artwork, and then let it slip this week and so am a few days late with the latest page. Now I discover there some major problems with links on earlier pages. So I am hoping it is all correct now. I do hope to get up to speed once more with the next few pages. Thank you all for understanding. Sorry, Shan. Kevin March 21, 2006 Well, this issue started off late. I got hit by a cold late last week and it had me zonked all weekend. After all the altering of art styles in Issue 5, I'm looking forward to getting back to my own and I truly believe that you'll see an improvement in my work through this issue. As you will see in Shannon's Comment's to the right ---> you'll know how important this story is to her, and I hope to be able to produce art work that can reflect that. Thank you all for reading. Best, Kevin March 12th, 2006 I’ll never be a Manga-Ka
What you have just read is the final page of “Universal Language” the fifth and latest issue of Flying Glory and the Hounds of Glory. The entire issue was an experiment for me as an artist. I grew up on western comics, mostly super hero stories from DC Comics, and as I grew as a comic artist I admired several artists to learn from: Jerry Ordway, George Perez, and John Byrne, to name the top three. These artists were doing exactly what I wanted to do, draw super heroes in great stories and in small. They drew them the way I wanted. Byrne for his action, Perez for his detail, and Ordway for what I saw as “realism” in his character’s faces. There would, of course, be others for different reasons, like Adam Hughes, Terry Moore, and Alex Ross. But there was a part of me that had a fascination with Japanese work as well, first in Anime: from Speed Racer and Battle of the Planets as a kid, and Robotech while in High School. I would later discover Manga, but it took me a while to grab hold of it and find its own intrinsic values. But they were all adding to the artist of my subconscious mind as much as the western artists, I just didn’t know it. When I first conceived of FLYING GLORY, and Shannon helped add the HOUNDS OF GLORY, a whole world was born in my mind. None of which was intended to be a copy of the multiverse of the great comic companies. It’s world history is based off of key points in the past of comic publishing such as the year of the first super hero, the decline of the golden age and rise of the silver, and so forth. It is also influenced by other pop culture events from the growth of different type of movies and TV shows. Not the actual shows, but the threads that ran through different periods, the doctor shows, the western shows. You get the idea. I also grabbed hold of the my love for Japanese Anime, I knew that in that world a visitor to Japan would be just as likely to see a giant robot or sailor suited young heroine, as they would a masked man in tights here in America. This isn’t anything like world Fred Gallagher is creating in Megatokyo. Instead, I’m thinking in a “realistic history,” even if it isn’t real. In the FG universe Japan isn’t allowed to have an active military so instead sought other ways to defend itself. Especially if some giant monster woke up in Tokyo harbor (g). With that world established, I soon began to imagine a story where the two cultures would cross, and so PRETTY SUPER SOLDIER IDORU came to America to visit her cousins the Tsushihashis. In certain aspects she is very similar to our own heroine FLYING GLORY, and in others quite different. So I came up with the idea of showing these differences through the art style on the page. With Flying Glory and her friends drawn in my own “western” style, while Aiko, Idoru and her enemy Fumeiyo I have attempted to draw in a manga style. With poor Nate caught between the two worlds. If I have succeed or failed, I will leave for you to decide. As I said, it was an experiment that I had to do, perhaps to expunge that subconscious desire to draw Manga.  I now can lay it behind me. But you can know this; even though I won't be drawing this way again, this story still has a major influence on the lives of our characters. As Idoru and her friends fly back to Japan, and though they may never appear here again, we know what lies ahead for them, as we do for Flying Glory and the Hounds of Glory. Best, Kevin A number of our creator comments over the years were lost, but journey with us now as we salvage the first ten sets of creator comments ever made for FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY... BLAST FROM THE PAST... January 2002... As Shannon says over there at the right, we had intended to have comments, rants, or other thoughts on a regular basis. Unfortunately that doesn't always work out, and it makes me break promises.Coming out of the holiday weeks I had hoped to get myself ahead, maybe by a couple of pages. I did begin to design some pages for the next story line, but still ended up with this week's page just under the deadline. I've also looked at our gallery and it really needs work. Most of the artwork in there was from so early in the planning stages of FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY it is now out of date and to my own eyes my art work has improved. I also realized that I never included a full shot of Debra as Flying Glory. So I drew this drawing here for you. Check back over the next week and I hope to have it in full color. Some day I will put up my rant on super hero costumes. It's been in my head for a long time, just have to get it out on paper. Best,
Been looking at the web statitics page for FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY and have been plesently surprised by the gradual growth of readership. One of the biggest problems we've had is trying to figure out the best ways to get ourselves notices. This is actually a problem I have had for sometime now long before we put the site up. Searching for work in animation has not been the easiest thing, because like the rest of Hollywood it's a who you know. But even when you do know people it doesn't guarantee work, especialy right now when studios are laying people off the hundreds and thousands. This is frustrating but it make me want to quit. Knowing that one of these days all this work will pay off. Maybe one day Shannon and I will be able to turn FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY into an animated television series, but for now we appreciate the support you have all been giving us. We would like to hear your thoughts and opinions and to know you're really out there. Next week I promise to have a better rant for you. Best, BLAST FROM THE PAST... 2001... There is no excuse. No excuse at all... except for pure laziness.I know I am not a super artist, but I'd like to think that my art work is good enough to portray the story we are telling. Plus each week I think I am improving just a little bit and it shows. Years ago, my one real credited work in comic books was when I did some background illustrations for the first issue of SUPREME (plus an issue of BATMAN SHADOW OF THE BAT but that one never saw the light of day), using photographic references I drew out pictures of Washington DC as the hero fought in the skies far above. So I do know what I'm doing when it comes to background. But for my own work I tend to leave most backgrounds out, I guess I'm not wanting to spend the time when I could be perfecting the figures in the foreground. (This Perfection is an ever present torment to me, causing me more problems then good.) Then when it comes to a panel where its absolutely necessary to show a background, I should not be hasty with the work.. Such as an Establishing Shot to let the audience - reader know where the story is taking us next. Well, I blew it on Page 11, where I introduced and established the location of John's Garage studio. This is a very important location and will be used a lot in the future. But I rushed through it and didn't even take the time to clean up the line art. Shannon even did
the color of the panel,
(she's really starting to enjoy coloring), but made little comment on
the
quality of the art. So after it went up, and I did other art work... plus discovering the marvelous art of Merekat (http://www.merekatcreations.com/), I realized that I needed to go back and change the image.
I have replaced the original Page 11 of the story so that this better shot appears in it, but out of honesty have supplied the two versions of the image here. I still have a lot to do to improve my drawings, but for this one I think I did a pretty good job in fixing it up quickly. It's the same house just a different angle, drawn with better perspective. Oh and Shannon insisted that I keep the same color scheme she came up with for it. So I did, just added shadows and highlights. I think it works. What do you think? Best - Kevin BLAST FROM THE PAST... 2001... When I began working on FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY as a web comic, I was certain I could handle two pages a week. Heck, I even laid out the first 28 pages in a rough format before committing to putting the first one up. But it has become harder then I expected. I have a lot of family responsibility that takes a lot of time away from working on this project. I also discovered that I have spending so much time on this that other projects have falling to the back burner and not getting completed. Worse yet, I have been rushing myself through these page and so they haven't been as good as they could have been. Hopefully, dropping to once a week will allow me to give proper attention to all that need it. Thank you for your support and sticking with us. Best - Kevin BLAST FROM THE PAST... 2001... Shannon may not be worried about her work getting in the way of getting Flying Glory up, but for me as the artist it's not so easy. I'm in the midst of looking for a job, while at the same time trying to get other writing and drawing done at the same time. I'm really upset that I've missed another deadline with page ten. I have all the pages of "Opening Act" sketched out, but I have to add detail to them and then ink and color them and get them up here. So I must apologize for missing today's deadline. I've had personal things to attend to as well. Best - Kevin BLAST FROM THE PAST... September 2001... Want to apologize for getting Page 5 of "Opening Act" up one day late. Do to the Labor Day holiday and family events around it, it couldn't be helped. I'm hoping to have a long Creator's Comment up next time. Maybe call it a Rant like others do. But for now, enjoy Shan's thoughts. Best - Kevin BLAST FROM THE PAST... August 2001... With the third page of "Opening Act" up I'm beginning to appreciate the work that we are doing on FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY. It's a lot of hard work, and I'm cutting it close to each deadline. Hopfully it will get better as we get further along. Don't have a lot to say at this point, but I think Shan's is important enough. Best - Kevin BLAST FROM THE PAST... August 2001... Well, the first page (actually now the first two pages) of "Opening Act", is up. It's been a lot of work, but as I view them on the web, I am really pleased with how they are coming about. As each page goes up, I think you will witness a growth and evolution in my art style. Hopefully it will be for the better. If you don't like it, please give it some time as I improve, but I am willing to listen to any comments you might have. Best - Kevin BLAST FROM THE PAST... July 2001... Hi all Glory Fans, things have been going a lot slower then I would have originally thought. I'm working very hard to get all the pages done of the first sequence of the story at least sketch out before we start posting any, so as Shan says below we should have it up by the end of August 2001. In the meantime I've been keeping myself busy with several things. Trying to find a job while doing more research for an animated project I have written for. Will let you know more about it when it becomes official. As for now, please be pacient, we'll have you flying high in the red white and blue in no time Best - Kevin BLAST FROM THE PAST... June 2001... Greetings friends, I thank you for taking the time to look at and read the pictures and words Shannon and I have worked so hard to produce and finally put up here on the web. Flying Glory has ment a lot to me for many years, for out of the dozens of characters I created in a super hero world it was the first to feel alive and real. I am hoping that Flying Glory will be both a super hero comic and much much more, in the end I'd like to see it somewhere between KURT BUSIEK'S ASTRO CITY and Terry Moore's STRANGERS IN PARADISE. I have fought very hard to see something of my creative work produced and published, and now it happens. Maybe one day you'll see a Flying Glory animated series, or feature film, but for now it all begins here. In the future I will be using this space to let you in on the plans for Flying Glory, as well as anything else that comes to mind. We hope to have the site updated on a regular basis. I look forward to being able to tell these stories to you and look forward to your feedback. |
August 6, 2007 We look forward to rejoining you in September for Issue 9. In the meantime, since you now have a little extra time to read since you're not reading us (kidding), you can check out my new book GARDNER'S GUIDE TO WRITING AND PRODUCING ANIMATION, available online and in bookstores now. An added plus - all interior art was done by Kevin! See how he handles non-Flying Glory characters and concepts while learning more about how animation goes from script to screen. See you in September, Shan July 21, 2007 Well... we did it. With this week we bring you the conclusion of Issue 8, "Secret Summer Serenade," as Kevin is poised to be out of town for all of August. As I hope was made clear in this issue, everything we do all ties back together for greater stories and character development. It was amazing after several years to go back and revisit Lucy's friend Ynez Reyes from Issue 3 (how many years ago now did we do that issue?) and have her play a pivotal role in this one. And then, in turn, this plot which grew out of backstory only hinted at in Issue 3 before now runs in parallel to Debra's experiences from Issue 6 forward which still will have ramifications for a long time to come. That's why we hope you'll rejoin the story with us on September 9th as we launch Issue 9, "In the Key of Me". Unlucky television reporter Amanda Devoe seems to have things finally turning in her favor - a last minute on air vacancy combined with the entertainment reporter being away on assignment gives her the chance to interview Flying Glory and the Hounds of Glory in the studio and give her the break she's wanted. But will it all go off without a hitch? Issue 9 launching 9/9... easy to remember! Until then, all my best, Shan July 3, 2007 Well, here we are, into the home stretch! Kevin's doing a marvelous job of getting this story wrapped in the next couple weeks as originally promised, and doing his best work to date to boot! Hope those of you in the United States enjoy your Independence Day holiday, and that those of you in Canada had a good one! Best, Shan May 28, 2007 Sorry I've been quiet recently. Between a new job and taking a Memorial Day visit out to my family, it's been really really busy. Hope you have been enjoying the story so far! We'll do our best to finish it by August before Kevin leaves on his trip, or get close enough so that he has the pages drawn and I'll just post them for you. We'll keep you posted closer to time. Best, Shan April 25, 2007 Here we go -- another two pages in a week! Hoping this can happen more often, at least for a while. We'd like to wrap this story up completely before the end of July and Comic-Con: International and San Diego, followed by Kevin's trip. We are also planning content I can post to offer you for the weeks in between... a month's a long time to wait. But they'll just be Extras type stuff and not crucial story, whether or not the main story is done. I know Kevin wants to be around to see that through firsthand. Join us for our next page this coming weekend! Thanks for continuing to read our adventures, Shannon April 7th, 2007 Hi everyone, Hope you're enjoying our start on Issue 8. Due to a variety of factors this year, we're going to try to go back to a twice a week schedule of Sundays and Wednesdays (Sundays always, Wednesdays as it works out) to try and complete Issue 8 before Kevin is scheduled to be out of town most of August. I plan to bring you some extras during that time, but exactly what is still to be determined. So thanks for readiing and I hope you continue to enjoy it! Shannon March 25, 2007 Welcome to yet another issue of FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY! We're pleased to be bringing you Issue #8, "Secret Summer Serenade," which will introduce you to some of Krystal's backstory before she became part of the band. Also, the last color pages for Issue #4, "Now Reappearing," are available. Now is your chance to enjoy this entire storyline in full colors by Kevin Paul Shaw Broden. And if you've read Issue #7, you also now understand the significance of the issue to the whole Flying Glory and the Hounds of Glory universe. Hope you enjoy our latest story and thanks for your continued support! Shannon March 18, 2007 We've now come to the end of Issue #7, "Dance with the Diva". As you can see, the stage is now set by establishing a long-term nemesis for Flying Glory, opening up some new questions about some of our regular characters, and introducing the mysterious Claudia King, Please continue with us as we take you next week into Issue 8, "Secret Summer Serenade," which promises to shed light on what exactly Krystal was up to the summer on Venice Beach before fate brought her together with the band in the fashion show in Issue #1. Thanks for supporting us these past five years and beyond! Shannon February 24, 2007 Greetings all! Hope your new year is off to a great start. I'm pleased to announce that the Flying Glory Store on Amazon is back! We were having trouble making the store compatible with our website, but now with Amazon's aStore feature we can be back in business. Please click the "Store" button to find out what products you can buy to help us pay the costs of hosting the space here. Thanks for your readership and support these past five years and I hope it continues beyond. Issue #8 is just a few short weeks away! Shannon January 21, 2007 Welcome to a new year and our resuming of the "Dance with the Diva" storyline. I hope it was worth the wait! While other stories with supervillains furthered our overall character arc, they all had some tie to the past (through Elsie or otherwise) with the exception of Idoru from Issue #5 who gave us a worldview on supervillany. With Diva you will see the first recurring direct nemesis against Debra and her friends, in an storyline we hope you won't want to miss issue after issue! There's lots more to come, and we hope you stick with us. Best, Shan October 29, 2006 OK, as promised... here's a "who's who" of the people in the panels. Panel 2 features a cameo by Harmon, whose father the Heavy hoped his son would follow in his footsteps (Issue 3). Now for panel 5 from left to right. First person: the girl who tried to get Deb's signature but landed Deb and Krystal in detention (Issue 2). Next two people to the right of this girl: originally the two guys sitting behind Cassie during Flying Glory and the Glory Hounds first concert (Issue 1). Who is Shroud talking to: Morgana, one of her friends who witnesses Lucy and Krystal take down robbers in the Jewelry District (Issue 3). Best, Shan October 22, 2006 Hope you're enjoying the "Dance With the Diva" arc so far! I'm looking forward to getting the Villains of Vengeance characters on board myself. Cyrus said way back in Issue 1 he was going to get around to hiring some. Things just hadn't calmed down for a while so that he could. For those of you wanting to keep track, only about three months of story time have gone by. The month of December transpires between Issues 3 and 4, and we do intend to tell you what happened in there! Also, for those of you who have been following since the beginning, look at page 6 of "Dance With the Diva," and you may recognize several faces in there. NONE of them were originally intended cameos, I love the way that just grows naturally out of the art. There are five, can you find them all? (I'll give the answers next time.) As always, thanks for reading! Best, Shan September 17, 2006 Welcome to a whole new issue of FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY! We've also got another little special as part of celebrating our fifth online anniversary. I really enjoy writing the words for what become our story lyrics for the Flying Glory and the Hounds of Glory adventures, so I decided to present those new words in a completely new way using Kevin's existing art with a little help from Photoshop. Check out our Extras section for "You Are My Hero" (it contains spoilers through Issue #6, for those not caught up yet). Enjoy! And thank you, as always, for coming along for the adventure! Best, Shan September 10, 2006 Here we come to the conclusion of "Off-Key Duet," an experience that has tested and stretched not only our characters but myself. A year ago, as much as this felt like the "right" story to do, I very much feared doing it. To tell a story on this subject matter, and visually to boot, fell far outside my comfort zone. In the end, that's what made me realize I had to do it. Partially for my own growth, but mainly because this is still an uncomfortable topic for many and people should not fear coming out and talking about it. If what I say or do with my words has even the remotest chance to affect one person's life for the better, it is worth doing and will always be worth doing. "Off-Key Duet" was difficult to do especially since you have a superhero style character being seduced by an otherwise ordinary creep. That was why we took great pains to emphasize and re-emphasize that Flying Glory drank at Swordes' invitation to set up that he had at least tried to drug her. We didn't want to hit readers over the head, but later wanted Swordes to brag where it came naturally just in case it wasn't clear. I hoped that this worked for many who saw the story all the way through to the end. The impact on Debra's life will not end here, nor on John's, Nate's, or Cassie's. Without spoiling, I will tell you this much... you've seen a tentpole event that will affect many many stories to come. We already know generally speaking how the story ends; our adventure is in getting you there alongside us. Please join us next week for our next issue, "Dance With the Diva," as Flying Glory meets her first long-term nemesis and changes are in store for Flying Glory and the Glory Hounds! All the best, Shan July 30, 2006 Hi all! We are back from Comic-Con and had a very busy time. To quote several of our friends, "the place was a zoo" and then some. But we did have a good time. We also worked out sketches of the above page and some of the following pages while we were there so it was time well spent. This week I am going to sing praises to Poser. As a non-artist, it is hard for me to illustrate to Kevin what I may be envisioning for a given panel. Kevin introduced me to Poser a few weeks back, which he has used at times to figure out staging for the comic (more this issue than any past one). There was one particular panel for this issue I wanted staged a certain way (panel 1 of page 18, in fact) and through Poser I was able to show Kevin what it was I wanted in more detail than just stick figures; I hope it worked out OK. Kevin designed the layout for the rest of the page himself. I hope you are finding value and merit to this story just beyond plain entertainment, though it can and should do that as well as the intent is not solely to preach. Talk to you later, and thanks for reading. Best, Shan July 16, 2006 Here we are, now to the point in the story I was admittedly the most nervous putting up on the Web. But we need to tell it tasteful yet straight. I have no regrets about doing this story, but still a lot of nervousness. It's also an awkward place to leave the story for a couple weeks, but since next weekend Kevin and I will be at Comic-Con we won't have a new page until about July 30th. In the meantime, I've decided to leave the readers with some credible resources to look into the issue of what is commonly known as date rape, but can also be termed as sexual assault. As I said when I started, I do not take what we are doing here lightly. I know there is a lot of stuff out there overemphasizing women's sexuality and making them sex objects at expense of story (versus sexuality and sexual themes growing naturally out of story), and I have a real issue with that. When all is said and done, I hope we can do something real and constructive with this story arc, not just furthering and deepeing our characters but maybe helping someone in the process. And please remember, even though we're writing about a woman because our lead is female, men can be affected by this too. Here's those resource links I promised. Information on Date Rape Drugs from the US Department of Health and Human Services Information on Date Rape from Medline Plus (run by the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health) Information on Date Rape from the YWCA USA Information on Date Rape from an Australian government website See you in a couple weeks. Best, Shan July 9, 2006 This summer is full of a lot of things for me. July also happens to be the month for my birthday... I turn, uh, should I say it? A year older than double-3. Not bad to make it this far. Now I wonder what my birthday might bring. Seems to me I've been a little spoiled this summer. Not that Kevin seems to mind spoiling me ;) And just a little reminder, Comic-Con International: San Diego is just around the corner (July 21-24th, 2006), so as we traditionally do, the comic will take that week off. Thanks for reading. Best, Shan July 1, 2006 As you can see, we're getting into the intense portion of the story. While we're going to do the art as tastefully as possible, I've also given Kevin instructions "not to flinch," if you will. It's a tough call to make when things are so easily accessible on the web and people can find a single page out of context. And yet, we can't censor too heavily or water down a story like this, or why tell it at all? I tend to put on certain kind of songs when reviewing his art to set a mood in my mind and see if the art captures that same essence. Here's a sample of my listening list: Debbie (Deborah) Gibson - "When I Say No" Deborah Gibson - "You Belong to Me" Hole - "Asking for It" Sarah McLachlan - "Possession" Stone Temple Pilots - a little song that goes by the initials "STT" Tami Show - "Did He Do It To You" Tanya Tucker - "No Man's Land" Toad the Wet Sprocket - "Hold Her Down" I actually found it interesting how related topics have been handled in popular music over the decades - note my list ranges from the 1970s through the 2000s, albeit small - and from the varied perspectives. Men and women, attacker and third party relating the events but rarely the vicitim. Stay with us, have faith in us, we hope to tell this story right and not to disappoint while furthering these characters for some time to come. That's one thing I will promise already, no clean wrap up at the end. Best, Shan June 20, 2006 In the next 48 hours of the date of this post, two major anniversaries take place for me. Tomorrow, (the 21st) is the official 5th anniversary date of Kevin and I bringing FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY online with a short piece called "Prelude to Glory" (available in the "Other Stories and Extras" portion of the site). FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY actually began life in 1997 when Kevin and I began collaborating on an eventually shelved feature film, but we realized after a couple years of working on it that the property itself needed to build and grow and that starting with a feature film proved too restrictive for this. So we set out researching other options, and it was just around that time that webcomics really started coming on the radar. Considering Kevin's art skills, we decided this and in the end decided this kind of creative collaboration to be a viable option. We would start telling the stories we felt compelled to tell, with Kevin drawing and both of us writing, and myself picking up the financial end such as paying for the URL and hosting (since this has always viewed as a long term business, it made sense to go all the way and purchase the domain and hosting from word one, despite the added cost of doing business). The characters totally grew on us heart and soul over the years, and it is difficult to imagine life without them. It is my -- and I think Kevin's -- wish that this same fire we feel for them would ignite someone else to help us take them to the next level, in whatever form that may present itself. However, it is important to note that there would be no FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY without the original Flying Glory herself from World War II. That is a creation of Kevin's directly, and bringing me on board in collaboration is what brought the story to relevance today. It also leads to the significance of the second anniversary I mentioned... ten years ago, on June 20, 1996, I arrived in Los Angeles with Kevin waiting for me at the airport. The two of us actually met through a now defunct bulletin board service called GEnie where some other writers I knew hung out, and among its offerings was a comic writers forum. At the time I knew next to nothing about writing comics, and went over there to learn more. In that forum, I would meet Kevin and be introduced to the Elsie incarnation of Flying Glory. Because of my interest and training in the entertainment industry, it soon became clear I would need to move to Los Angeles and Kevin volunteered to be there for me as a friend -- and over the decade, that has become far, far more in several ways. So in a way, you can also credit Flying Glory for how we met. I hope, for both anniversaries, there are many more to come. We know this will be a tentpole year in terms of where we take the characters, starting with the current storyline. Please continue to enjoy the stories of Debra and her friends. Your support means a lot to us. All the best, Shannon May 30, 2006 As part of the anticipation of our 5th anniversary celebration, we've started the migration of our "Creator Comments" to a more formal archive. Just click on "Creators and Comments" and there you'll find a link to past comments! Remember, this plot is going to get into some serious subject matter over the remaining 14 pages. I hope you enjoy it, but also I don't want to take anyone by surprise. For more details on the plot (warning and spoilers) see the Creator Comments archive. Best, Shan April 28, 2006 Right now in addition to our weekly pages of our current compelling storyline, "Off-Key Duet," we're gearing up to celebrate FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY's fifth anniversary online by participating in Online Comics Day on May 5th, 2006! Visit us on that date and see what special treat we have to offer you, all in celebrating this wonderful storytelling medium! Best, Shan March 21, 2006 Welcome to a new issue of FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY. In an amazing bit of timing with our fifth anniversary of being on the web this summer, we are about to embark on our most serious issue to date. At the risk of ruining some of the story, but in fairness to our readers, I will warn you up front that the subject matter of this story is attempted date rape. If you do not feel you can handle this storyline, I recommend you not read the comic for the next 24 weeks (actually 25 as we know we have to take ComicCon week off, but other than that we plan to have one page a week to not interrupt this vital story), though be aware that the effects of it will continue for issues to come. This is also the primary reason we began posting the "age 16+" recommedation last year, because Kevin and I knew this story would be next in the pipeline and we did not want the fact we were willing to tackle more daring subject matter to be a total surprise. This storyline was not included in our initial long range forecast for the comic, but came to me while I was in Las Vegas in the summer of 2005 for a convention called The Gathering of the Gargoyles. It was my first trip to Las Vegas, and one night I traveled some of the Strip by myself. Fortunately, nothing happened to me personally. However, seeing all the dancers and showgirls and sale of sex as a spectacle made me think about how sex, power, and stardom can be intertwined. This comic also weighed heavy on my mind both because I would be appearing at a panel on webcomics during this convention, and also because Kevin and I seriously started discussing before I left the fact that while the events of Issue #3 started to make an impact in Debra's naive and dreaming-of-stardom world, we really needed to shake her to the core and have her lose a great deal of her idealized naivety in order to help her and the comic grow and expand. I came back from Las Vegas with a proposal for him that ultimately, after a little work and figuring out how it (and some other brainstorms from the trip that Kevin liked) would affect further planned continuity, became Issue #6, "Off-Key Duet". It is my personal hope that while moving our storyline forward, the issue is handled appropriately. I'm particularly sensitive to doing social issues, women's issues in particular, and have been for many years. If anything is not handled as well as it should be, I take full responsibility. Also, especially due to the fact his character is not super-villainous in nature, I wish to point out that the character of Swordes is completely fictional and any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental. And to anyone out there reading who has been a victim of date rape, or attempted date rape, my prayers are with you. Shannon A number of our creator comments over the years were lost, but journey with us now as we salvage the first ten sets of creator comments ever made for FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY... February 26, 2006 BLAST FROM THE PAST... January 2002... We originally intended to do this weekly, but now commentaries just seem to happen when we have time. Right now I'm happy we're consistently delivering a page a week, most of the time on Mondays as promised.I'm very busy on INVADER ZIM at the moment, but the episodes I'm working on you won't see my name in the credits for until later this year. I'll keep you informed. As I write this, there's only eight pages left in our first tale. And we do have a next issue script in the wings, never fear. There WILL be more adventures, stick with us. By the way, if you've read the PRELUDE TO GLORY story, you've probably noticed that the last page is a 'splash page' -- a clean copy of a poster that appears in the story line. We designed that in the hope people would save it and print it out as a mini-poster. So feel free to do so if you're fan enough. Hang it up somewhere, pass it around, spread the word. We're cool with it. All the best, As always, drop us a line at flying-glory@flying-glory.com to give your comments on anything... story, backgrounds, characters, you name it. We'd love to hear from you. BLAST FROM THE PAST... 2001... One of the things I'm still kind of green at is getting out amongst people and talking. For the past several years, I've either moderated or been on panels at San Diego Comic-Con (also this past summer at the Gathering of the Gargoyles con). I'm usually far more comfortable hiding behind my email and my words, carefully typed in the privacy of my own home. I'm grateful for all who have taken time to be on panels with me or even shared a little bit of their time at a cocktail reception or social gathering. I learn every time I speak with you. I know I have to break the boundaries of what is comfortable, especially for the things I believe in. I believe in inspiring people who aren't artists to realize that they can work in animation (and comics by extension). So I get up on those panels and struggle to network in social circles so I can try to make this happen, not just sit back and write my monthly column on the subject at Suite101.com. I also believe in being a writer and the value of what I help create, but the joy is increased far more by having others share in and enjoy that. There is a symbiotic energy between creator and writer, or creator and viewer, depending on the medium. One needs the other. We're two halves of a whole. Characters see seeds of life at my hands, but will not grow without a reader's nuture. Without readers/viewers, we as writers can write stuff just to please ourselves, but perhaps much inspiration will be lost to make the world better since readers/viewers would lose stimulation to be opened up to new ideas. At least that's the way I see it, right now. Thank you for taking the time to read what we have done, and I hope you stay with us for what we continue to do. All the best, As always, drop us a line at flying-glory@flying-glory.com to give your comments on anything... story, backgrounds, characters, you name it. We'd love to hear from you. BLAST FROM THE PAST... 2001... This time around I'm pretty well giving the floor to Kevin. As always, drop us a line at flying-glory@flying-glory.com to give your comments on anything... story, backgrounds, characters, you name it. We'd love to hear from you. All the best,
BLAST FROM THE PAST... 2001... Things have been good at Nick so far with my work on INVADER ZIM. I know we've cut back sharing this storyline to just once a week, but we still want to bring you a quality story; with everything going on personally plus the upcoming holiday season, we decided once a week was best for all involved. We hope you continue to enjoy the story of "Opening Act" -- I know we definitely enjoy bringing it to you. Please drop us a line at flying-glory@flying-glory.com and let us know what you think. All the best,
BLAST FROM THE PAST... September 2001... Hi everyone, The events of September 11th rocked a blow to our country, the United States of America. But I believe we will, and already are, rising above it. We resumed our storytelling on September 20th, and I look forward to each new page. I've also just started a new job at Nickelodeon on the animated series INVADER ZIM, luckily we've got the next issue scripted already so I can rest assured my contributions to the stories and songs won't be affected by my work. I hope you enjoy Flying Glory as much as we do. Please drop us a line at flying-glory@flying-glory.com and let us know what you think. All the best,
BLAST FROM THE PAST... 2001... I really enjoy bringing these pages to you every week. And I've learned a lot along the way too, like how to digitally color panels. Since I'm far from a good artists, Kevin usually handles all things art. Anyway, Kevin let me have a lot of input in coloring the crowd scene on page 3 (released a week ago), and I'm pretty pleased with the results. Given some minor compatibility issues between his Mac and my PC (and the fact he has Adobe Photoshop and I have PaintShop Pro from JASC), I don't expect to be doing color regularly but when I have time to sit down at his house I hope to do more. The 'songs' are interesting and fun to do. I do hear the music in my head, and the vocals of how the band would sing it. Sadly, though, I don't write music so I must use poetic beats to create the illusion of song. Story dictates what 'songs' I write, so far it's not been the other way around. Then comes the challenge of figuring out what part of the song best illustrates what we want to accomplish in the story and then how to visually interpret it. I hope you continue to enjoy our story. Please drop us a line at flying-glory@flying-glory.com and let us know what you think. All the best,
BLAST FROM THE PAST... August 2001... This past weekend (August 25th), R&B singer Aaliyah died in a private plane crash from the Bahamas to South Florida. It saddens me so much to see life cut so short, and while I was not a huge fan of hers, I respected her work and did like her rendition of 'Journey to the Past' from the movie ANASTASIA very much. Here we are writing about singers who make their break right at adulthood, but Aaliyah was busting the charts younger than that. Her first CD came out right as I was getting out of college, and it was aptly titled AGE AIN'T NOTHING BUT A NUMBER. Everything she managed to do in her short life, from the albums to the films, she proved it. She wasn't too young to make her mark. But she died at only age 22. It's also sobering to realize that none of us know when or how our time will come. So we have to put the most into every day, be the best we can be, and continue to reach for all our dreams. Aaliyah, I salute you and my prayers to your family, friends, and fans. Rest in Peace. -- Shan BLAST FROM THE PAST... 2001... I'm so glad we've finally got the storyline up and running! I hope you enjoy it. Please email us at flying-glory@flying-glory.com with your feedback if you'd rather not be on the mailing list (link for that is on the front page). The mailing list is the best we can do in lieu of the traditional letters column, at least for now. These characters "grow" on me every day I'm writing their stories and songs and I hope they find a place in your heart too. Oh, and I finally just got caught up on STRANGERS IN PARADISE. Terry Moore rocks! See you around! -- Shan BLAST FROM THE PAST... 2001... Well, we're back
from doing the
Con circuit and had a blast! I spoke at both the Gathering of the
Gargoyles (June in Los Angeles) and two panels at Comic-Con
International.
I met a lot of wonderful people and reunited with many incredible
friends.
The Gathering was my first contact with the Gargoyles fandom
and enjoyed
meeting so many of them. I have a "diary" at
http://www.dm.net/~shan/g2001.htm
if you're interested. My favorite panels at San Diego included Terry Moore, creator
of STRANGERS
IN PARADISE. He's modest but strong behind his conviction.
I really admire him for that. That room was nearly standing room
only, I can see why. The game plan is for us to get the next storyline up and
running before
the end of August, 2001. Subscribe to our mailing list at
http://devoted.to/flyingglory
and we'll make sure you're kept up to date! See
you around!-- Shan BLAST FROM THE PAST... 2001... Welcome
to our incredible adventure!I'm
so excited to be bringing Deb, Elsie, and their friends and foes to the
public at last.I can tell you they
haven't strayed too far from our thoughts these past five years, but
with
the state of the comic industry as it is and not able yet to sell it to
television or film, we decided to walk the path of those brave souls
who
have built a following for their creations on the Internet. I
have Richard Marx's “Should've Known Better” on right now (yes, I have
a weakness for 80s music), and I sure hope that's NOT the refrain were
singing at the end of this venture.But
when you believe in something enough, sometimes you got to take those
risks.Fight
for what you believe in.Stand up
and be heard.Follow your dreams.All
of those, especially the last, are my personal mantras. We
do have the origin story already written and are in the midst of
drawing
it.Well be at a few cons this summer
? GATHERING OF THE GARGOYLES in late June and COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL
in
San Diego in July ? but only subtly pushing FLYING GLORY.But,
if you're there and see people with nametags like ours, come up, say hi
and ask if we’re the ones doing FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY.Then
tell us what you think.Hopefully
you like it, but even if not remember what I said above about speaking
out.We can’t make it better without
you. Subscribe
to the “site update” mailing list and get the latest scoop on the
progress
of our next rockin’ story.You can
also subscribe to the discussion list and start sharing (or politely
debating,
no flaming!) what you think right away. See you around!-- Shan |
Kevin Paul Shaw Broden and Shannon Muir.
All rights reserved.