Hello, hello, hello!  Jim Higgins here from Meltdown University.  At the risk of sounding like hype, the new Meltdown U class is really rockin’ and cool like Fonzie.  We’ve got twelve students who are all very interested and are a pretty gung ho group!  There’s a great range of comics interests in the group, from superhero books, to Ex-Machina and Y: The Last Man devotees, to Lynda Barry fans, as well as some people who grew up devouring Archie comics (I have to admit to being a latecomer to Y: The Last Man but I am enjoying it immensely.  It’s a great serial story that keeps you in suspense by taking it’s time to unfold parts of the overall plot.  It works very well when read in the trade book format.  It might have felt slow as a monthly but the books give you just enough to sail through and then start twitching until you get the next volume). 

The group handled the first class assignment like real champs.  I give them a half hour to finish writing and drawing a one-page story.  And that includes the ones who came in just as writers!  The point is to get past the perfectionist urges we all have in varying degrees and to get the satisfaction of finishing something.  I stress that hard — it’s about finishing, not making it brilliant. And as often happens, most of the stories were really good and some were excellent!  The exercise often generates funny and absurd stories because of it’s improvisational nature and there were some very inspired ones this time around.  The writers did a surprisingly good job with their visual storytelling, even when the art was just stick figures.  It bodes well for them as comic scripters, that they’re coming in with such a good sense of how to tell a story with pictures.

The present class is filled and closed.  The next group of classes starts on Monday, May 11 at 7pm.  If you’re interested in signing up for the class you can fill out the online form on the site by clicking on the Meltdown University link here:  http://www.meltcomics.com/mlt_u_contact_us.htm  

I also want to give a belated thanks to writer Adam Beechen for coming in and talking to the Monday class about comics writing and getting into the business.  Adam was the story editor on Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi for Cartoon Network, has written Justice League Unlimited, and Countdown to Adventure for DC Comics, and the original graphic novel Hench, published by AiT/Planet Lar.  Adam gave an interesting, funny, and realistic look at what a comic book writer does and how he moved into getting that kind of work. Thanks Adam! And thanks to Alan Natale for hooking us up with Adam.

BTW – a boon for the students is the new art supply ministore in the back of Meltdown on Sunset, which is stocked with items taylored for the comic book artist.  I think it was a great idea that the Meltdown Masters decided to bring in such an important and relevant new sideline into the store. Check it out if you need ink dip pens, brushes, India ink, bristol board pads, pre-ruled, standard comic book art pages to draw on, or anything you else to do your own comic art.  As someone who’s still relatively new to Meltdown, I’m always impressed with what a variety of things the store carries.

Ok!  My comics recommendation this time around is Pluto, the amazing new manga comic by Naoki Urasawa, who did the incredibly popular and acclaimed series Monster.  It’s the story of a “Europol” detective who is investigating the destruction/murder of famous robot champions around the world. We discover early on that the dour investigator, who looks completely human, is himself a robot.  And that one of the next targets may be a certain famous boy robot from Japan named Atom (or as we know him, Astro Boy).  Don’t let the fact that Astro Boy appears make you think this is a kid’s comic. The story is sophisticated, gripping, and emotional.  The second volume just came out and the first one should be in stock (or will be coming in soon if it’s not — the book keeps selling out). See what you think.

Take care,

Jim Higgins

Meltdown University BMOC