And often really hard.

Hm… I hate to write sometimes. When I’m racking my brain to come up with a plot or just something interesting to say. Writing is all well and good, but you have to write something worth reading, right? But lots of people have different ideas as to what is worth reading. Heck, I don’t even know why I read what I read sometimes. I guess if it’s something that someone is willing to stare at until all the words run out, then it was worth writing, right?

Do I have something to say? Well, yeah… I mean, maybe not always some amazing truth or some passionate cause or occurrence that I feel really needs to be expressed, that might really resonate with a reader or whatever. But just thinking something is funny or wacky or might make someone laugh, maybe brighten their day — that is worth it, too, right?

Of course, after writing one has to get the story in front of the eyes that will be doing the reading. The internet, blogs like this one and whatnot, has made that much easier. Still not effortless, though. I used to think that being published in print was the end goal. If I write something that some company is willing to put on paper and bind together and make into a book — boom. Success! I’m done!

Not true. Sure, some writers reach a certain point when the publisher or an agency or magical fairies will take care of the getting the work out to the readers for them, but that’s rare. And even then, lots of authors blog and Tweet and set up interviews and appearances and tour on their own to let people know their work is out.

I guess it’s never as simple as just writing until I hit “the end” and then that’s it.

Honestly, this has become the hard part. How do I get the word out effectively without becoming a pest? And might all this time talking, blogging, Tweeting, Friendstering (I kid) about my writing be best spent actually writing new stories?

It’s all so confusing. Hm… and perhaps not worth writing about, really. Oops.

Writing… freaking writing. Crap. I just can’t help it.

I’d like to thank all the amazing contributors (on all 4 volumes) and the editorial and production team of the book past and present (Adam! Anthony! Thomas! Jeff! Steven! Tim! Dylan! Mark! Joe!) , as well as the swell folks at Image Comics. Wow. POPGUN 4 is DONE… DONE DONE DONE. 512 pages of awesome wrapped in a beautiful cover for only 30 bucks.

Almost 2000 pages of POPGUN since 2007. Whew!

Okay, time to party tonight… Hope you all enjoy the book!

– D.J.

Just a quick reminder that POPGUN 4 from the fine folks at Image Comics hits shelves this Wednesday! Please stop by your Local Comic Shop and pick up a copy…

Also, if you’re in NY, Hanley’s is having a signing on Wed. from 6 to 8.

And, if you’re in LA, Meltdown Comics is having a release party on Wed. from 7 to 10.

Aaaaand if you’re in Oklahoma City, New World comics is having a release party on Friday, Feb 26.

Such good times! We’re really proud if this big beast that is POPGUN 4. Can’t wait for it to be unleashed! Hope you all like it…

Your pal,
D.J.

Why am I trapped in my apartment? Well, I suppose I’m not technically. First there was the crazy LA rain that made me want to just stay in, and now that it’s sunny again, I’ve been feeling under the weather and figure I should take it easy and let my body heal via drinking beverages with vitamin C instead of alcohol, getting decent sleep, and just generally taking it easy. I predict by tomorrow I’ll be feeling back to normal… at least I hope so. Right now I’m so antsy and bored that it’s making my skin itch. Ack! Just… TRAPPED.

Like I said, I’ve managed to be somewhat productive. Edited a big chunk of this crazy Mark Smith and James Stokoe graphic novel called SULLIVAN’S SLUGGERS. Pages 35 to 71… it somehow took me almost half the day, and I still fear I missed a punctuation or spelling error somewhere. It’s coming along nicely, though. I also worked on getting the POPGUN 4 word out. That’s fun, though this whole “pimping” role doesn’t come naturally to me, but hopefully it’s working. And in the writing department, which is where I hope to end up on a more permanent basis, I had some good conversations with my frequent co-writer, Adam P. Knave, on a new project too early to name, for which he found a great artist (also too early to name). Good times! And I got some great feedback on the SOULLESS, MAN WITHOUT A SOUL pitch I’m working on with artist Anjin Anhut… gotta get my revision writing on for that one.

That’s some work, right? And it’s good to keep busy. And I know I need to get even busier. The one problem I have with this writing and editing work that I am doing is that it, as of yet, does not pay the bills. And after the rough economy resulting in day job work layoffs last year and an ill-advised decision to go into freelance post-production that has resulted in no jobs for the past, holy crap, five months, I really need regular paying work.

Ideally, this would come from the comic book work I’m doing. Maybe one day it will. Either way, I’ll keep writing comics (and short stories, essays, maybe I’ll finally get my novel on soon) as long as I can because I really love it and apparently need to do it to feel worth a damn for some reason. But, in that practical bitch called “reality,” I also have to start earning some cold, hard cash.

Once again, I begin to question my Fine Arts degree from a rural Ohio college – or at least how I’ve used this degree (which is, not at all). A friend of mine double-majored in Chemistry and Biology. He’s now a scientist! He makes good money and wears a lab coat to work! If, even with this poofy Fine Arts degree I earned, I still need a day job and will just write on the side, well… maybe I should’ve gotten a more practical degree. I mean, I could write on the side while making a living as a lab coat-wearing scientist! Why didn’t 18-year-old me think of that, because, honestly, never have I gotten a job as a result of my degree… Of course, I no longer paint, act, and have forgotten most of the art history I learned. Hm. I had fun in college and met lots of cool people and learned a lot, but the main point is to help one get a career going… but writing isn’t like most careers, is it? I don’t know. I’m babbling and still feeling antsy despite trying to distract myself with the writing of this blog.

Okay, now my shut in mind is just wandering, and I’m babbling. Maybe I should wear a lab coat when I write. That way I’d at least feel important, you know? Kinda like a… WORD SCIENTIST! Yes!

your hairy lip aids you in the kicking

of ass.

-

Whatever your reason for growing your ‘stache,

it works for you.

I say this true blue.

-

Show off your ‘stache,

and cut a ‘stache hole in  your mask…

In fear your enemies will bask.

-

Show off that sweet hairy lip…

Oh! And when you kick,

remember to pivot with your hip.

-

Look, put that razor down.

Without that godgiven ‘stache,

you look like an child clown.

-

Ninja, sweet mustchioed ninja,

you beautiful bastard,

don’t ever give up the dream.

-

Shaving your lip,

won’t make your enemies scream

… in terror.

When I was younger it was different. I remember in junior high school, maybe seventh grade, we had creative writing assignments. The teacher, Mrs. Smith (who always had a large cup of soda on her desk… how I wanted some of that soda… I often imagined it was Mountain Dew), gave us a minimum word count for each story. I don’t remember what that word count was, but I always went over it. I asked if it was okay to do this, which seemed to surprise the teacher – and my fellow students. They had no idea why I wanted to write more than necessary. I wasn’t sure either. Then I thought about it and came to a conclusion…

Writing is loads of fun.

And it continued to be for such a long time. I started writing epic adventure stories loosely based upon me and my best friends Nate, Tadd, and Patrick (who also doubles as my brother)… well, based upon us if we were somehow vaguely descended from Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, and, strangely, Inspector Clouseau (which I misspelled “Clueso” – an accident at first, but then I decided to keep it that way because it was all “Clue? So?” … so clever).

The stories were not really inspired by the Sherlock Holmes adventures. I read Author Conan Doyle’s stories, and I had a ridiculous love for the movie Young Sherlock Holmes (still do, kinda), but the stories I wrote were really just putting me and my friends (or absurdly exaggerated versions of us) in crazy adventures that barely qualified as mysteries. Lots of non sequitors, silly action, and goofy dialog – mostly done to make us all laugh.

Handwritten stories in spiral bound notebooks was my technique. Sometimes the length of a story (or “book,” as I called them) was dependent on the notebook, actually – a sign of quality?

I’d wake up before school to write (or draw), and then write when I got home. So, while it seems difficult nowadays, it must not have always felt that way. I mean, even right now, I’m thinking, “I promised around 600 words every Monday, and I do not want to let down my reader!” I’ve gone from a footloose kid who just had to write, filling notebooks with silly adventures, to this crotchety old cuss who has trouble blogging.

This might not be the best subject for a blog, actually, but… well, it might be interesting to read about a writer who has trouble writing. I don’t know. Is it?

My hope is that by writing these blogs, I’ll get the writing muscles stronger again, and that’ll help me get some of my enthusiasm for the writing. And with that, hopefully I’ll start doing it more consistently and more… better…er… more betterer.

It just takes more discipline, I suppose. Back when I was writing stories with pencil, getting that magical graphite all over my left hand as a sign of having written, I had far less distractions. I mean, typing on the computer as I’m doing now, I have the internets right at my finger tips! How many times have I checked my email then drifted off to other sites before remembering that I’m writing this very blog? I’m not sure of the answer, but it’s definitely happened more times than it should. (Appropriate number of times for this to occur: zero.) It’s just so easy to do. I’m fighting the urge to check my Twitter page now. (I hope you’re not fighting similar urges for your own Twitter or Facebook or whatever else the kids are using to crap out often inappropriately personal info to a worldwide audience while reading this, dear reader, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you were.)

This is just another writerly discipline issue, though. So! I must write more and stay focused on my writing while writing!

Are they defending us from alien invaders?
Or are they Ninjutsu Darth Vaders?

I mean, what if they were up there,
In their astro-ninja-underwear,
Planning our downfall?
The global death of us all?

That’s probably the deal.
Ninjas freaking hate humanity.
At least that’s how I was raised to…
… raised… to… feel… ?

Holy shit.
Wait a minute.

Was I raised to hate ninjas?
To be a ninja hater?

No, I don’t blame Mom and Dad.
It’s society that’s bad.
The media, that’s who to blame…
… for my ninja-hating shame.

Just because they can kill me with a kick,
Doesn’t mean I have to be a dick.

Ninjas, on earth or in space,
are part of the human race.

So, I’m going to hug a ninja, and – ack!
I was just stabbed… with a ninja… sword…
… what a sneaky ninja attack.

Lesson learned?

Probably not.

Do you ever wish you were Paul Rudd? Because I do. Not all the time, but sometimes. Well, all the time, but I don’t THINK about it all the time. He’s just so damn funny — and also, by most standards, handsome. Funny AND handsome? What the hell? That’s absurd. So, I kind of want to BE him. But then I get lost watching him in movies and think… do I want to BE him? Or be WITH him? Am I in love with Paul Rudd? Suddenly my world is all topsy turvy. Dammit, Paul Rudd! Ya’ got me all confused!

Do you ever think you should know more about the real world? I wish that sometimes. I know about comics and movies and whatnot — even comics I haven’t read and movies I haven’t seen. But do I know about that healthcare bill stuff? No. And I should because I need some healthcare! And, what, is the environment still in trouble? Or are we not worrying about that anymore? What about cell phones? Do they cause brain tumors? I don’t know! I do know that Dick Grayson is now Batman in the comics. How does that help me?

Do you ever feel sorry for Brandon Routh? He’s the guy that played Superman in Superman Returns. Man, when word of that movie first came out, everyone was so excited. You know who was probably most excited? Brandon Routh. An unknown actor cast in a HUGE movie from a famous director — playing the greatest superhero — no! The greatest fictional character of all time. Stardom was just around the corner. Then the movie… didn’t tank or anything, but it didn’t do well enough. No one was fired up about it. Now many people downright hate it. And where is Brandon? He’s still acting, but he’s not a huge star. I just kind of feel sorry for him.

Do you ever wonder why the hell you feel sorry for Brandon Routh? I do! I mean, he’s doing fine. He’s handsome, married to a cute lady, acting steadily. I’m the asshole with no steady paycheck, typing silly blogs in bed at 1:07 PM on a Tuesday afternoon when I should be working on stuff that pays or something. Who am I to pity Brandon Routh? He doesn’t need my pity!

Do you ever wish you could travel through time and  set your younger self on a better track? You know I wish this, people. My answer has been “yes” to all of my questions (except for the CSI: Miami one). Man, I mean, I’m doing okay, but there are so many dumb choices I made that… if only a future version of me had told me to zig instead of zag a couple of times. I might be wearing a tie right now. Married? Maybe. I dunno. Rich? Possibly. And how selfish is that? All the things that could be done with time travel, and I’m just thinking of myself. Dammit, lack of time travel!

Do you ever think you could be a great dancer if you just relaxed? I totally could be, man. Not a bad dancer now, but… I could be so great. Graceful, even. If I could just relax.

Then, on Sunday, Mr. Templesmith posted a very cool blog showing his process in the creation of this gorgeous eye candy! It’s an interesting read filled with some great images showing the development of this image. Wonderful stuff.

And the POPGUN 4 site (courtesy of web guru Tim Daniels) is live! On it is a complete list of our wonderful contributors (including Jeffrey Brown, Jock, Erik Larsen, Thomas Scioli, and nearly 80 more talented folks) plus FIVE FULL COMICS FROM POPGUN 4 — FOR FREE!

POPGUN 4, a full color 512 page behemoth of a comic anthology, will hit shelves courtesy of Image Comics on 02/10/2010. Ask for it at your local comic shop or bookstore to order it! The Diamond order code will appear along with a snazzy solicit in the December issue of PREVIEWS!

I’ll be posting more on this as we get closer to the release date. All of  Team Popgun is very excited! If you’re a fan of previous volumes, this one is the biggest and best yet, so please help us spread the word!

Hooray for comics!

Ninjas don’t care about your dreams,
and they don’t live in your
spleens.

Ninjas are stronger than your soul,
and, like you, they eat cereal
and milk
out of a bowl.

Ninjas are in your heart,
which is more important than
any
other
part…

… of YOU!

Dude, a ninja could eat your HEART!