This post is strange for me to write. It’s about the comic I’m writing a script for, which I’ve talked about here before, even recently, but what’s scary about this for me is that I’m going to have to let my ignorance and inexperience show in a very obvious way. So here goes. I don’t know who is reading this blog these days, if anyone, but I’d very much appreciate any advice offered.

I’m writing the script for a comic, as I’ve said. An OEL manga, really, but that’s not the important bit right now. What’s important is that I need to find an artist who is the right fit for the comic and for me, which I’m pretty terrified about, much of that terror being related to fear of presenting myself as an idiot. A few important facts:

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This is a continuation of the Fullmetal Alchemist re-read I started last weekend. It’s been such a pleasure so far to re-read this series. Hiromu Arakawa’s storytelling, rich characterization, and humor make for an incredibly compelling reading experience. I have said before that if I could ever create something that made another reader feel the way I do when I’m reading Fullmetal Alchemist, I would consider that the greatest accomplishment of my life. That statement holds up on the second read.

Discussion of Volumes 1 & 2 here. Now on to volumes 3 & 4!

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September’s issue of Shonen Jump arrived in my mailbox today, nicely timed, as it contains “Chapter 0″ of Stan Lee and Hiroyuki Takei’s Ultimo, which I’d just been reading about in yesterday’s comic-con reports. Sadly, my reaction to it has been distressing.

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I’ve been thinking a lot about what draws me to manga over western comics, partly because I’ve started reading Captain America, which I’m enjoying, but wow it is hard for me to get used to reading comics in color. I feel like I should like it *more*, but I mostly find it overwhelming (which is, I think, the main reason I haven’t made it through all of Sandman, despite my deep love for Neil Gaiman). For some reason it is a lot easier for me to follow comics that are in black and white, and there’s no getting around it. I’m also really accustomed to the number of panels found on a page of manga, rather than on a page of a western comic book, and I find manga easier to look at because of that as well. What I’m really getting around to here, though, is why I tend to consider my graphic novel in-progress to be an OEL manga rather than an American comic book, and these things (as well as others) influence that. In the next couple of months I’m going to be searching for an artist to collaborate with me on the project, and I think I need to be clear with myself about what I’m looking for, before I get all tangled up in that.

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I’ve started re-reading Fullmetal Alchemist from the beginning, mainly to pass the time until the next volume is released by Viz, and I’ve been posting my thoughts about it as kind of a read-a-long with others in a non-public place. I thought I’d try adding these posts here as well, to be publicly accessible. If anyone else wants to join me in re-reading, that’s great, or if you might start the series for the first time and read along, I’d be completely thrilled!

And so, on to discussion of Fullmetal Alchemist, Volumes 1 & 2!

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