Disgraced

A SOLID 2-DIMENSIONAL IMAGE: a conversation with Miriam Gibson

2011-04-26T14:17:00.006-04:00

Miriam and I have been working together on Disgraced Comics’ THE ADVENTURES OF MAX QUARTERHORSE and I couldn’t have asked for a better fit at the image crank for a title so bizarre. During Miriam's tenure with MAX, she's gone from New York City to Halifax, Nova Scotia and more of her work can be seen as part of the illustrating collective, Tapir Tooth.

To celebrate the completion (!!!) of our first issue, Miriam and I sat down (in front of our computers ... that's how we roll) and had a little chat.

What follows is what we decided to chat about: The Incredible Hulk, pot-bellied pigs, ghosts and much more.

Robert: I grew up reading superheroes. That’s my comic pedigree. How about you? What stuff did you read early on...?

Miriam: To go way, way, way back I started with children's books and just kind of never quit. I love picture books, especially the sinister ones, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, any kind of ghost stories, illustrators like Maurice Sendak who are at the same time captivating and creepy

In middle school, I became aware of X-men and it was all over. And when Manga started becoming big in the states, I gobbled up that too.

R: Let’s say Marvel calls tomorrow and offers you an opportunity to draw The Hulk. What do you say? I'm sorry ... Disney calls about The Hulk now, right?

M: Of course, I'd say yes. But I would be immediately fired because it would just end up looking like my version of the Hulk, which I think would be amazing. I like a solid 2 dimensional image and I think Marvel expects a liberal effort on the artist's part to give the Hulk adequate detail. This rule has been broken though.

Oh, and I suppose he would have to have Mickey Ears now, too

R: I also think your version of the Hulk would be amazing. I'm trying to picture it. Help me...

M: Well, his head would be bigger, his body skinnier, and exude an air on nonchalance, and have a past even more tragic than the one he has now. Apparently, he would just be Max Quarterhorse. Also there would be ghosts.

R: Ghosts of anyone in particular?

M: Good question. All of the X-Men maybe? Or, maybe, ghosts of the Marvel imprints that never made it.

R: You talked about your "version of the Hulk." You have an obvious style to your drawing. How do you characterize it? If you had to, you know, pitch your aesthetic...

M: It's kind of a weird combination of manga, children's illustration, and a little Japanese line work. As far as "fine art" is concerned I am very much influenced by Japanese art, and its offspring, art Noveau. I'm a sucker for great linework and composition. I like to have a style that can be dark and brooding for adults, and at the same time can be suited to a younger audience.

I also love to spend embarrassing amounts of time on character design.

R: A lot of people have mentioned how well suited your style is to the Max Quarterhorse world. How much did you tailor what you do to fit the story you were given ... our conversations ... the preceding play ... and how much did we just get really lucky we ended up as collaborators on this?

M: Well, I don't usually go around with Noir aesthetic in mind. There was a lot to think about on that end as far as making the play into a comic. Trying to think of what you can do in the medium of comics that you can't do in a play. [In comics you can have] as many sets as you want! The back and forth as far as creating the characters was an interesting process. In a play you can only go so far with how a character looks and how they are received. In a comic there might be too many choices, you have to narrow the choice down to match the concept of what both the writer and the artist have in their heads. Luckily, you had a surreal Noir, and I love drawing crazy stuff.

R: Let's play a quick illustrator game.

M: Nothing’s quick in illustration.

R: I give you an animal and you tell me what occupation the anthropomorphized version of that animal would have.

M: Go for it

R: Pot-bellied pig

M: Shoe salesman, because he would forever having to be bending down to fit shoes on people and his rotund belly would make that difficult. Also, he has hooves, not feet.

R: Pigeon.

M: Construction worker. But only building giant statues, then resting on them.

R: Cockroach.

M: For some reason, I want to say priest? Not because I don’t like priests. Just the first thing that popped into my head. Also, he could do the cross thing with all his arms

R: A pot-bellied pig, a pigeon and a roach-priest try to save something from something else...

Ladies and gentlemen, our next series.

M: It needs ghosts.

R: I think that can be arranged. Are you reading anything good right now. Comic? Illustrated whatever? Anything we should be checking out, but probably aren’t?

M: There is a comic I'm looking forward to reading, Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire, About a weird boy with antlers who lives in the woods.

R: I was having a conversation the other day and decided that I really want to write a good superhero comic at some point. What is it for you? What type of thing do you aim for?

M: I always like reading about superheroes from the inside, of which Watchmen is a great example. We always know what they're thinking and how hey find fault with themselves. Though I do like to focus on one person, instead of an ensemble cast. I am also a fan of the regular/downtrodden Joe becoming a hero. I would also like to see a girl become a low-key superhero with amazing powers, etc, but keeping a low profile. Very cool costumes, for costumes sake, [but] also something a normal person would be comfortable wearing. And maybe an external superhero type identifier that must be hidden from the rest of the world … dark past, ghosts, etc.

You can see I've put a lot of thought into this … [I’ve been thinking about this] since I was 5.

Miriam Gibson’s work can be seen in THE ADVENTURES OF MAX QUARTERHORSE, written by Robert Attenweiler and released online by Disgraced Comics as well as at miriamgibson.com.

DisProdPod Episode #3

2010-10-31T16:42:00.002-04:00

Interested in more behind-the-scenes details about the making of Apt1B?
Interested in hearing me talk for five whole minutes about the wheres and whens and whys of how the most recent episode turned out how it did?
Interested in clocking how many times I can stretch an "uhhh" out for a full 17 seconds? (answer: 3)
Then the new episode of DisProdPod is for you. I'll be doing one of these for each of the new episodes of Apt1B and, basically, talking through the construction of each episode ... what we, the creators, were thinking.

Apt1B - Season 2 Trailer

2010-08-27T16:04:00.000-04:00

It begins....

DisProdPod Episode #2

2010-08-26T14:48:00.004-04:00

In the second installment of the Disgraced Productions Podcast (DisProdPod), I sit down with Apt1B director Dodd Loomis and hear his thoughts on horror movies and what it's like to go between working on a web series and working on a Broadway show.

Mo' Theater Reviews

2010-08-24T17:59:00.002-04:00

Wrapping up my FringeNYC commitment for nytheatre.com, are the reviews for 3boys and The Guardian's Project.

Overall, the Fringe went 2-2 on me this year which, for whatever rut one can certainly get in when thinking about the quality of the participants of summer theater festivals, is still batting .500. Not too shabby. Nice job, FringeNYC! Of course, if you get up to 3-4 next year, that .750 average is going to bring a whole mess of random drug testing on your ass. Theater PEDs are no laughing matter...

A couple of random talking points about summer theater festivals before I head back to working on web series for a touch:
1.) If you have the choice between making a show that is 40 minutes and a show that is 1 hour and 40 minutes ... um, do I really need to finish this sentence?
2.) When in doubt, why not get your characters more drunk. At least then they'll be saying stupid things and possibly coming to blows. That's a lot better than sitting around talking.
3.) I'd like to see a summer festival where all the plays are required to take place on some other planet in our solar system. I would, particularly, like to see what Mercury has to offer.

Anything else?

Theater Reviews

2010-08-17T16:04:00.002-04:00

Dusted off my reviewer's cap just in time for the New York International Fringe Festival.

First two are in:

Read my review of "Garage" by Dive Theatre here.

And "Protected" by Timothy Scott Harris here.

Two more to follow...

Drawing1

2010-07-30T16:00:00.004-04:00

Spent this week working on getting the next three issues of "The Adventures of Max Quarterhorse" going so, it should come as no surprise, I've got MQ on the mind.

Went full-noir for this. And half a bottle of ink later...

Disgraced Productions Podcast Episode #1

2010-07-08T09:54:00.010-04:00

Well, well, well ... Look who's got himself a podcast.

I thought, what better present for Dodd's birthday than the opportunity to interview ... well ... me!

Apologies in advance for some of the skipping. Still figuring out where the technology responds well to encouragement and where it responds to yelling. All in due time. Until then, I think our snappy repartee and insight into the human condition are more than worth it.

Enjoy...

I Break for Fellowships!

2010-07-07T17:07:00.000-04:00

Some very nice news recently...

I've been selected as a 2010 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Playwriting/Screenwriting.

(big intake of air... now) Woo hoo!

Thanks, obviously, to NYFA who is making it possible to actually think actively about what projects I'll be able to see off the ground this year - rather than think regressively (which, my spell check has just informed me, is not even a word ...) ... well, you get the idea.

And we got to go to a fancy party that allowed bb and I to get gussied up, treat the open bar like it was a bag of Lays potato chips (no one can eat just ... again, you get the idea) and flash gang signs at fellow ... er, fellows.

The party also allowed me to wrest my gaze away from my navel for a couple of minutes to hear from NYSCA, the New York State Council on the Arts, the organization that makes all kinds of art, artists and art experiences possible ... and that is also facing a 40% cut in funding proposed by Governor Patterson.

It's important to know when things like this come up to threaten the livelihood of the arts in NEW YORK CITY of all places. I mean, this is where we go to have a viable shot at a career in the arts because ... well, nowhere else supports them (correction: nowhere else in the U.S. *cough* *cough* Caring about the arts is not something we have historically done very well). And it's not like a career in the arts is even all that viable HERE?

Which is all to say that this cut, if approved, would majorly suck in ways ranging from practical (seriously) to ideological. And the internet is here to help us be heard. Always wanted to be an arts Advocate, but haven't really wanted to ... um ... advocate? Click here and find some easy ways to help.

But, in all, I reiterate my "Woo hoo!" And "Bring it on, Albany!" (but, no, seriously, Albany ... don't bring it on...) ...

...

Every Picture Tells a Story, Don't It? (Part 1)

2010-01-15T14:10:00.000-05:00

If you've seen Disgraced TV's web series, Apt1B, you know we like questions...

Is Becky imagining that strange man watching her?

Does Ray really black out for days at a time? What's with all those pills he's taking?

Oh, and a new one I just heard: What's a nice girl like Becky doing sharing an apartment with a guy like Ray? (No offense, Ray.)

I'm not going to take away the fun and answer those right now. What I will do, though, is answer another question I've been getting quite a bit: How did you come up with this?

In the fall of 2008, some of my actors and I were talking about the advantages of doing a film/video project and, frankly, it scared the hell out of me. I was used to taking the slap of what I saw as the relatively modest cost of producing independent theater in New York. If I was spending X to put a play up, I reasoned a shoot would be even more expensive and even more problematic. There were locations to figure out ... and a crew of people whose jobs I wasn't familiar with ... and there was equipment ... and there was a list of things that kept going and going.

But in the late-spring of 2009 I decided to, at least, begin to develop the project. I wanted to figure out how to do something that I could actually make work. I started with the location: I'd develop a story that could be shot all in one place ... one place I knew I'd have access to whenever I needed it ... how about my apartment? Perfect! (yes, Becky, I know "less than perfect" ... I hope I put it back together okay)

My solution to never having my characters leave the apartment was to make the apartment an instrumental part of the story. The apartment is a character too.

I thought about the NYC apartments that had been displayed on television before, like on Friends where part of the joke is that these people's apartments don't exist for young, partially-employed 20-somethings in this city. I wanted to use the tightness, the lack of space you have to share with your roommate(s), the claustrophobia that makes us live a large chunk of our lives here in restaurants, coffee shops and bars, and make a show where the walls might literally close in on our characters at any moment.

Check back soon for Part 2 of this post. In the meantime, check out Apt1B at www.disgracedtv.com (for faster computers) or www.vimeo.com/disgracedtv (for easier downloads).

But If You Try Sometimes... You Find... You Get What You Need.

2010-01-14T21:25:00.000-05:00

Making Apt1B was a monster exercise in necessity. We were, it turns out, being ambitious shooting nearly 40 pages of script in 60 hours over 6 days - not unheard of, but, when you do that, you have a clear view of the back of the 8 ball when you start.

Below, I've included a section of the actual shooting script for the sequence just after Becky realizes she's locked in her room. We opted for changing the point-of-view suggested by the script in order to streamline the story/the shooting - but the p.o.v. also changes how we experience this sequence in an interesting way. It's worth a look, if you're interested in what the script-to-screen trip can look like.

Give it a read. Then go back and watch Episode 1 at disgracdtv.com or vimeo.com/disgracedtv again to see what we did with it.

INT. BECKY'S BEDROOM - DAY

BECKY'S EYES scan the room for something that might help.

She grabs her CELL PHONE off the bed side table. But its plug lies next to it unconnected and the phone’s battery is dead. She bangs the phone’s BLANK SCREEN against the side of her hand. Nothing.

She KNEELS DOWN in front of the door and peers at the unmoving latch.

CONT.

She runs her fingers over THE HINGES.

CONT.

She tries to DIG HER FINGERS around the pin in the hinge to pull it out.

CONT.

She BLOWS into the space between the handle and the wall like you’d clean off a CD.

CONT.

She TUGS at the door, one leg up on the wall for extra oomph.

CONT.

She sweeps off all the books of a BOOKSHELF hanging over the foot of the bed.

CONT.

She uses the HARDCOVER of one of the books to try to PRY THE PIN out of the hinge.

LATER

BECKY sits with her back against the door. She WIPES TEARS out of her eyes with the back of her hand.

Her eyes settle on her ALARM CLOCK. It’s not on. She remembers the man from what she is still hoping is last night’s dream.

It sinks in. Her EYES WIDEN.

She looks up and sees that the overhead LIGHT IS OFF.

She looks; the LIGHT SWITCH IS STILL ON.

She gets up and FLIPS IT ON AND OFF. Nothing.

All right. Probably just a power failure. Not some creepy dream guy.

But…

She creases her forehead, eyes moving around the room looking for something…

Something…

And finding nothing, her eyes stop moving.

The room really seems to be CLOSING IN ON HER. She has to get out.

BECKY looks at THE WINDOW.

Whole Lotta Me

2010-01-06T14:52:00.000-05:00

Last week, I got the opportunity to sit down with nytheatre.com's Martin Denton and talk a little 2009. Specifically, we talked about my writing and producing projects as I took a year's divergence from theater: Disgraced TV (and our new web series, Apt1B) and Disgraced Comics.

Martin was good enough not to take my shift in media personally and much of our discussion has to do about how similar the experience of producing independent theater in New York City is to doing online comics and an independently produced web series.

I go on at length - but I'm insightful, entertaining and (lest I forget) breathtakingly humble. So, settle down and listen to Nytheatrecast's first podcast of 2010...

I Can Slam Like LeBron

2009-12-03T17:16:00.000-05:00

Okay ... This is a little bit off the beaten path, but I thought it was fun.

bb got a commercial audition that turned out to be for a promo spot for the National Basketball Association's All-Star Weekend.

The commercial was going to feature people of all ages and ethnicities doing slam poetry about the contestants in the Slam Dunk competition. There was a slam about Nate Robinson. A slam about Dwight Howard. So on and so forth...

We thought it would be fun for her to come in and bust out an original slam (something, it turned out, that the predominantly pro slammer casting call was probably more than prepared to do as well). But, you know, show off her knowledge of the game and whatnot.

Well, show off my knowledge of the game, at least...

But, as a Cleveland Cavaliers fan, what am I supposed to do: write about Larry Nance? No, no, no...

There's a lot of hand-wringing around this time every year as the NBA - sometimes specific players - try to get LeBron James to compete in the Slam Dunk competition. And he hasn't yet. The idea is: if he wins, it's what everyone expected. If he loses, then it's a huge shame. Plus, he's said he hasn't wanted to risk getting hurt and on and on...

So, without further ado ... my little ode ... apologies to slam poets everywhere:

Oh, yes, yes, yes
I've seen you, Mr. MVP
Ever since Akron St. Vincent St. Mary
And I've seen you flash those thrills
Like diamonds from your treasure chest of skills
I've seen the chase-down blocks
The 25-straight that rocked
Auburn Hills, Michigan
The playoff stuff on Garnett, that cock
And the game winners with no time left on the clock
You're swilling the wine out of Jordan's holy grail-
Know there's no "I" in "team"
And no "me" in "fail"
I'm wit you - witnessing a player who can do anything.
And I've seen you do everything, right?
Well... not ... everything ... hell
It's 2010 now (does that year ring a bell?)
All-Star Weekend's coming up and I'm sure you'll be there
Don't listen to all those sayer saying "nay," that you're scared
We don't want just the same ol' names in repetition
Come on, LeBron, join up for the Slam Dunk competition!

Thanks, and good night...

Get your QUARTERHORSE on!!!

2009-09-27T17:27:00.000-04:00

Yes, indeed.
You know when you come home late at night and you see someone rustling around in your garbage ... he's got Tom Waits slurry gait ... but he looks like he's wearing Dick Tracy's trench coat and hat ... and that's definitely a gun he's carrying in his flask pocket and a flask he's carrying in his gun pocket ... and he's yelling something about being on a case ... and HE WON'T STAY OUT OF YOUR GARBAGE!?
You know when that happens...?
Well, comic book detective starved reader, starve no more.
That man in your garbage was probably Max Quarterhorse.
To catch up on what Max is up to in between his late-night investigations into your banana peels and used coffee filter, come on over to Disgraced Comics and read the first five pages of our first online comic book, THE ADVENTURES OF MAX QUARTERHORSE.

A Nice Mention...

2009-09-27T17:09:00.000-04:00

We got a mention this week in the Plays and Playwrights blog from NYTE Small Press.

NYTE is the New York Theatre Experience, which is the umbrella under which we find such great entities as nytheatre.com and NYTE Small Press, among others.

Nytheatre.com has long been unmatched in their commitment to covering and reviewing independent theater in NYC. I also review for them on occasion.

NYTE Small Press happens to publish a little book called Plays and Playwrights, an anthology of emerging writers on the NYC independent scene. I have the honor (along with my play ...and we all wore leather pants) of being included in Plays and Playwrights 2008.
You can buy your 17 copies here.

This is why we can't have nice things...

2009-09-22T19:11:00.000-04:00

It seemed to make so much sense at the time...
I'd write a web series that could be shot entirely in Becky and my apartment. We wouldn't have to worry about pesky things like securing locations and ... um ... leaving home.
It seemed to make so much sense. And then shooting began. And then we rented a fog machine.

It's disturbing how quickly "my stuff" becomes "the set" and you will nail any one thing to anything else, if it will get the shot. Just get the shot!

That's disturbing, but not so much as the fog machine we rented. A real classic, there was a vessel for liquid on each side of the device. One side read, "Use only fog juice here: NO INSECTICIDE." Reassuring. You can see the picture for what the other side read.

So, we had six days of shooting where between every take Hement or Dodd would yell "Smoke it up!" and we'd fill whatever room we were in fog. Then we'd all sit there breathing in the hot vaporized version of whatever fog juice really is (mineral water based, my initial checks conclude ... and dry cleaning will get it out should it splatter all over something you don't want splattered with fog juice - but it does leave a film that will make your tile floors extremely slippery). It doesn't smell like smoke, but it smells like ... something. Strangely, the fog smelled a little like anywhere between 5-8 people in a room where we couldn't have the windows open, all the doors had to be shut and I'm stuck holding a microphone over my head much longer than I'm used to holding things over my head.

We'd breath all that in as we waited for the fog to settle a bit. Then we'd try to get the shot.

In the meantime...

2009-09-16T17:08:00.000-04:00

Dodd and I were pretty much pits deep in filming this past week so, while he's promised to swing by DISGRACED to talk about our web series, I'm letting him not have to look at me for a couple of days.

So, in the meantime, I wanted to toss this out: I've been working on a few redesigns for the Disgraced Productions website and I was really excited to be able to get some new original artwork for the main page.

Check it out.

This is called Disgraced by Scott Henkle, an artist whose work I really admire. I was lucky enough to get Scott to agree to do with a section of one of my plays (in this case ... and we all wore leather pants) what he normally does blending his own writing with drawn images.

For us, Scott made a very cool mixture of images from different Disgraced Productions shows, like Sam Shepard's Cowboy Mouth and my Butterfield Tones and ... and we all wore leather pants. I think it's damn wild...

Check out more of Scott's work at www.scotthenkle.com.

Like a Twister I was born ... to write a blog?

2009-09-02T14:53:00.000-04:00

And I made up my mind/
I ain't wasting no more time/
'Cause here I go again.../

Welcome to DISGRACED, the blog of Disgraced Productions and Robert Attenweiler. At DP, we've spent the better part of this year developing projects that live in media besides theater. Our future plans still largely involve theater ... but I thought it would be a worthy venture to throw my stuff at a couple of different walls and see if it sticks.

So, in the next few weeks, you'll be hearing all about DISGRACED COMICS release of its first title, THE ADVENTURES OF MAX QUATERHORSE and DISGRACED TV's release of its original web series, APT1B. And I'll be using the DISGRACED blog to round out that content with opinions, interviews, insights and, sometimes, just words, words, words...

Thanks for checking out DISGRACED.