Matt was engaged in a pitched battle with militant jaywalkers when my astral communication arrived. Nary a flinch did he exhibit – for such mastery has he of his kung fu – when the hedonistic scofflaws capitalized and gave Matt a flat tire, unshoeing him and infinitesimally altering his previously pristine balance.
Open retreat available to him, Matt knew the volcano demanded an infractionist sacrifice and stood his ground. A flurry of unreproducible kung fu motions and the jaywalkers were on their heels.
The deadly ram headbutt sent the first perpetrator to his desert. A fluid serpentine motion into his shirt pocket and an acrobatic flip and thrust, and the second jaywalker found Matt’s Pigma Micron had pierced his heart.
As the second villain’s limp form satiated the volcano, its god erupted gratitude to the kung fu master, spraying the smoke-shaped forms of the Shift House characters. In confluence with my second astral telegram, the silhouettes gelled into narrative form. Matt ran home, ate a kalua pig to renew himself, and then completed the fiction’s journey from electrical impulse to hard copy with his trusty pencil.
I had a calzone.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Creation Myth
Shift House is a comic book conceived by myself and Matt Mossman for the Small Press Idol contest held by Dimestore Productions. I write, Matt draws. The rules of the contest state that we cannot put up any material that has not already been posted on the contest website, so developments with regard to the project itself will appear here as they appear in the contest. I will, however, try to keep this page active in the meantime.
Here is how we came up with Shift House:
Matt says to me, “hey, John, do you want to enter Small Press Idol?” I says, “sure.” He says, “do you have anything you want to do?” I says, “I got a couple things we could do. Did you have anything in mind?” He says, “answer the question, fool!” and sends me an electrical shock through the phone.
After I woke up, I came up with the idea. See, there’s this kid who wears a red shirt all the time. And he’s an orphan. And . . . uh . . . he works as a news reporter. He says a magic word, and then he gets struck by lightning and turns into Fred MacMurray.
“Genius,” Matt yells when I tells him. “What’s the magic word?”
I couldn’t come up with nothing.
“Try again, fool,” Matt says.
Sos I go to the butcher to see the Director’s Cut of Avatar, but the AC’s busted and all the blue ink’s running, and I can’t make heads or tails of what the heck’s going on. Sos I head outside, eating a raw kebab, when I see a giant, floating eyeball hovering over a soapbox and runnin’ at the mouth – except he ain’t got no mouth – about the Trilateral Commission and how they canceled Arrested Development and the original Star Trek series. It was just about then I passed out from the botulism.
While I was in the ICU, I sent the idea to Matt through the astral plane, a little at a time since the network kept crashing.
Matt drew up the character sketches while I was busy accepting the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Coma-inspired Composition.
Anyways . . .
I am a native New Yorker, a stickball addict, and I fear no robots.
Matt lives on the Ring of Fire. He is a professional kung fu master who teaches dogs to read in his spare time.
Note: This information is tentative, pending fact checking. I may be drunk.
Here is how we came up with Shift House:
Matt says to me, “hey, John, do you want to enter Small Press Idol?” I says, “sure.” He says, “do you have anything you want to do?” I says, “I got a couple things we could do. Did you have anything in mind?” He says, “answer the question, fool!” and sends me an electrical shock through the phone.
After I woke up, I came up with the idea. See, there’s this kid who wears a red shirt all the time. And he’s an orphan. And . . . uh . . . he works as a news reporter. He says a magic word, and then he gets struck by lightning and turns into Fred MacMurray.
“Genius,” Matt yells when I tells him. “What’s the magic word?”
I couldn’t come up with nothing.
“Try again, fool,” Matt says.
Sos I go to the butcher to see the Director’s Cut of Avatar, but the AC’s busted and all the blue ink’s running, and I can’t make heads or tails of what the heck’s going on. Sos I head outside, eating a raw kebab, when I see a giant, floating eyeball hovering over a soapbox and runnin’ at the mouth – except he ain’t got no mouth – about the Trilateral Commission and how they canceled Arrested Development and the original Star Trek series. It was just about then I passed out from the botulism.
While I was in the ICU, I sent the idea to Matt through the astral plane, a little at a time since the network kept crashing.
Matt drew up the character sketches while I was busy accepting the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Coma-inspired Composition.
Anyways . . .
I am a native New Yorker, a stickball addict, and I fear no robots.
Matt lives on the Ring of Fire. He is a professional kung fu master who teaches dogs to read in his spare time.
Note: This information is tentative, pending fact checking. I may be drunk.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Where to start?
How about a cover?:
How about a plot?:
Theta Kappa Theta brothers Friar and Stevo have devised the ultimate practical joke: with the simple purchase of the new Shiftberry 2600 Dimensional Bridge, the multicultural (as in multidimensional) fraternity brothers will visit our Earth, where neither extraterrestrial nor interdimensional non-human sentient has ever been encountered. Acting as shills, the human Friar and Stevo travel with several of their non-human brothers to our dimension where they plan to fake everything from an alien invasion to demonic Armageddon.
Having grown up in a world in which interdimensional travel has been a fact of life for the past fifty years, the college students unfortunately have no understanding of the reaction they would run into with such a prank, and a global panic sets in.
But calling off the prank is not an option. The Shiftberry has been damaged, and the group has discovered that their over reliance on modern technology has left them ill-equipped to contend with a world as relatively primitive as ours. So the boys must find sympathetic native denizens to help steal the necessary materials from defense contractor Leviathan Technologies while evading capture by the government, as well as legions of overzealous private citizens. A motley assemblage assists the brothers in their quest, including a progressive pastor, an earth science graduate student, a computer tech, and a marketing executive looking to expand his customer base.
Suddenly thrust into an amplified experience in the harsh realities of life that lies beyond college, the brothers must rise to the task of full adulthood for the first time. Can they do it in time to make it home in one piece?
VOTE FOR SHIFT HOUSE HERE:
Shift House
NOTE: YOU CAN VOTE EVERYDAY AND WE NEED EVERY VOTE!!!
How about a plot?:
Theta Kappa Theta brothers Friar and Stevo have devised the ultimate practical joke: with the simple purchase of the new Shiftberry 2600 Dimensional Bridge, the multicultural (as in multidimensional) fraternity brothers will visit our Earth, where neither extraterrestrial nor interdimensional non-human sentient has ever been encountered. Acting as shills, the human Friar and Stevo travel with several of their non-human brothers to our dimension where they plan to fake everything from an alien invasion to demonic Armageddon.
Having grown up in a world in which interdimensional travel has been a fact of life for the past fifty years, the college students unfortunately have no understanding of the reaction they would run into with such a prank, and a global panic sets in.
But calling off the prank is not an option. The Shiftberry has been damaged, and the group has discovered that their over reliance on modern technology has left them ill-equipped to contend with a world as relatively primitive as ours. So the boys must find sympathetic native denizens to help steal the necessary materials from defense contractor Leviathan Technologies while evading capture by the government, as well as legions of overzealous private citizens. A motley assemblage assists the brothers in their quest, including a progressive pastor, an earth science graduate student, a computer tech, and a marketing executive looking to expand his customer base.
Suddenly thrust into an amplified experience in the harsh realities of life that lies beyond college, the brothers must rise to the task of full adulthood for the first time. Can they do it in time to make it home in one piece?
VOTE FOR SHIFT HOUSE HERE:
Shift House
NOTE: YOU CAN VOTE EVERYDAY AND WE NEED EVERY VOTE!!!
Who is Friar?
Friar's Q&A:
Three views of Friar:
Fellow Theta Kappa Thetan, Smiley on Friar:
Impending doom:
Chillin':
Tossin' some disc between classes:
VOTE FOR SHIFT HOUSE HERE:
Shift House
NOTE: YOU CAN VOTE EVERYDAY AND WE NEED EVERY VOTE!!!
Three views of Friar:
Fellow Theta Kappa Thetan, Smiley on Friar:
Impending doom:
Chillin':
Tossin' some disc between classes:
VOTE FOR SHIFT HOUSE HERE:
Shift House
NOTE: YOU CAN VOTE EVERYDAY AND WE NEED EVERY VOTE!!!
Who is Stevo?
In his own words:
An artist's rendition of Stevo:
Profile of Stevo by fraternity brother, Bryce:
Heading to class:
At a local pub:
Being "bad":
VOTE FOR SHIFT HOUSE HERE:
Shift House
NOTE: YOU CAN VOTE EVERYDAY AND WE NEED EVERY VOTE!!!
An artist's rendition of Stevo:
Profile of Stevo by fraternity brother, Bryce:
Heading to class:
At a local pub:
Being "bad":
VOTE FOR SHIFT HOUSE HERE:
Shift House
NOTE: YOU CAN VOTE EVERYDAY AND WE NEED EVERY VOTE!!!
Who is Smiley?
Smiley's self-analysis:
A look at Smiley (in and out of the "jar"):
Frat brother Roland's take on Smiley:
On time, as usual:
Relaxing with a little "jungle juice":
Some recreation time playing paintball:
VOTE FOR SHIFT HOUSE HERE:
Shift House
NOTE: YOU CAN VOTE EVERYDAY AND WE NEED EVERY VOTE!!!
A look at Smiley (in and out of the "jar"):
Frat brother Roland's take on Smiley:
On time, as usual:
Relaxing with a little "jungle juice":
Some recreation time playing paintball:
VOTE FOR SHIFT HOUSE HERE:
Shift House
NOTE: YOU CAN VOTE EVERYDAY AND WE NEED EVERY VOTE!!!
Who is Bryce?
Bryce's opinion of himself:
Bryce views:
Bryce via Friar:
Gig time:
Nitro for the engine:
Shredding:
VOTE FOR SHIFT HOUSE HERE:
Shift House
NOTE: YOU CAN VOTE EVERYDAY AND WE NEED EVERY VOTE!!!
Bryce views:
Bryce via Friar:
Gig time:
Nitro for the engine:
Shredding:
VOTE FOR SHIFT HOUSE HERE:
Shift House
NOTE: YOU CAN VOTE EVERYDAY AND WE NEED EVERY VOTE!!!
Who is Larry?
Larry's responses:
Larry's line-up:
Larry's bud Stevo on Larry:
Larry's trip to class this morning:
Larry's post-game celebration:
Larry's best "I wanna be like Mike" pose:
VOTE FOR SHIFT HOUSE HERE:
Shift House
NOTE: YOU CAN VOTE EVERYDAY AND WE NEED EVERY VOTE!!!
Larry's line-up:
Larry's bud Stevo on Larry:
Larry's trip to class this morning:
Larry's post-game celebration:
Larry's best "I wanna be like Mike" pose:
VOTE FOR SHIFT HOUSE HERE:
Shift House
NOTE: YOU CAN VOTE EVERYDAY AND WE NEED EVERY VOTE!!!
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