December Falls

The Broken Hallelujah: Jason December Prose Short

One of the challenges in writing a supernatural character is keeping him or her human, despite all of their weird abilities, experiences, and circumstances. Things like that tend to make a virtue of hubris (for instance: don’t get me started that the only thing keeping Superman from becoming Kal-el, God-Emperor of Terra is his whitebread farm cracka upbringing). I introduced Lieging as a device of humility, as a touchstone to the world of baseline humanity, but it just isn’t enough.

Enter Grace.

She’s Jason December’s administrative assistant, and in the stories she’s shown up in so far (“Shriekonomics” and the script for “The Fall”), she’s just been a framing device. Jason walks in, banters with her, walks out, has his adventure, walks back in, and they banter, the end.

So I think, what if? He’s a good-looking guy, she’s a good-looking lady, LET’S SHIP ‘EM! I’d always seen Jason as a sort of American Doctor Who (yes, yes, I know it’s just “The Doctor”, calm down, BBC fans), and I thought Grace would make a good Companion.

Except it wouldn’t work out.

Jason December, remember, isn’t necessarily a nice guy. He deals with the filth of the multiverse, he’s arrogant, he’s complicated. Grace lives on a different economic plane than Jason does, and her only big concerns are that she’s currently single and is rooting for an underdog on “American Idol”.

So here, via Weaponizer, is a little Christmas story, twelve weeks too late. It isn’t a happy story, and it doesn’t have a happy ending. It’s called The Broken Hallelujah, it’s free to air, and I hope to God Leonard Cohen doesn’t sue me. Enjoy.

Back To Work

Neil and I hope everybody had a very nice holiday season!  We are back on track after various setbacks (mine involved a long Christmas lasagna coma and a new Kindle), and we’ve resumed programming on the blog–atomic batteries to power, turbines to full.

Just so you aren’t subjected to another “Excuse Post”, I have a video to show you. Sometimes, when I hear a song, a weird synthaesia happens, and story bits just kind of link together in the brain. Here’s one of them that inspired a lot of the mood of “The Fall”: “haZe” by Skinny Puppy. The video is after the jump (and forgive me if it’s janky; I’m on my work PC, and I cannot actually see the Youtubes from here.

Again: thank all you guys and gals for your patience. Neil and I truly believe in this project, and we think you’re really going to enjoy the strip once it goes live, but we’re not going to put it out there until it’s a comic WE want to read. Just sit tight, and we hope your patience will be rewarded.

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Sneaky Peaky: #1

Yes, beavering away despite the silent running. I’ve included a panel layout sketch from one of the early episodes to dangle in front of you as proof of activity! It’s as rough as hell but I’m mindful of not wanting to spoil your fun when reading our strip… so just a peck!

STAND BY FOR TRANSMISSION

I blame the holidays. It was Thanksgiving here in the States this past week–if you celebrate, I hope it went well. Unless you’re a turkey, in which case, I’m so sorry for your loss.

It’s us or them, really.

But yeah–just poking my head in to let everybody know that work is still plunging ahead on The Fall, and we’re going to be taking a Blizzard-esque stance: It’ll be ready when it’s ready.  Keep your eyes out for the signs!

Keep Your Ear To The Grindstone

I do apologize for the long radio silence, friends–I had a couple of days off from my job. I used this time to go to the North Carolina State Fair, where I viewed goats and blacksmiths, and I played video games*.

I did not write over my long weekend.

Or did I? Continue reading »

Iteration: The Story Must Be Served

 

 Version 3 of the script for “Jason December: The Fall” is now in effect. It’s said that writing is all about re-writing, and I consider this a good object lesson in that principle. The story will be the better for it, that I can promise.

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The Fall: Creature Concept Art (SPOILERS under cut)

They wait in the space between galaxies, and between dimensions. They have laid waste to countless worlds. It took this world’s primordial gods to drive them away when last they came. When last they came, they almost destroyed us.

And now, they are returning.

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That Ole Time Religion: Fantastika and Myth

I am a firm believer in the idea that Homo–maybe as far back as our Neandertal cousins–is a mythmaking animal. We participate in the mythic execise today as much as people did ten thousand years ago. The only difference is the method in which the myth is shared.

It’s no stretch to think that media in the Fantastika genre-family(a good catch-all term for the various branches of Fantasy, The Weird, Slipstream, et. al.) is today’s myth.

Let me back up for a minute, and discuss what myth means to me. Continue reading »

Feedback

I keep forgetting to mention this, and that’s my fault: we need your feedback! Let us know if you dig the blog, or if you have any questions or comments. Comments are turned off right now, because Neil is still in the back banging on shit with a wrench (I’d help, but I’m no good with computers. I’m just an unfrozen caveman; your technology frightens and confuses me), but please, feel free to email Neil at neil@decemberfalls.com, and myself atchris@decemberfalls.com, and let us know who you are, what you’re doing, and your reactions to this embryonic project of ours. I’ve also set up a Formspring account for the thing, so ask us anything. Make sure you specify if it’s a question for Neil or for me; I don’t know shit about making drawings.

Hopefully I’ll have an in-depth bloggenation posting later on today or tonight, so stay tuned.

Once again, thanks for visiting with us. The feedback we’ve gotten thus far is very encouraging.

A Method to the Madness: A look at Magick in the Decemberverse

“Every intentional act is a magickal act.” –Aleister Crowley

That’s the first “page” of “The Fall”, a quote by noted occultist, visionary, and occasional foodie, Aleister Crowley, which sets up the system of magick I’ve set up for the Practitioners. This is one of the things I’ve tried to focus on as something that has to make some sort of logical sense, and it’s kind of a linchpin to the whole thing.

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