TrekMovie had some very nice things to say about my story in Star Trek: The Manga:
Wil Wheaton skipped the easy Wesley Crusher story (are there any other kind?) to pen a TOS tale for Tokyopop’s second Star Trek: The Manga collection that debuted last year, and it’s easily one of the best in the book. Drawn by E.J. Su, recently of IDW’s Transformers comics —official non-Trek plug accomplished!— Wheaton’s “Cura Te Ipsum” (Latin for “heal thyself”) tackles a Kirk vs.
the Prime Directive tale with surprising skill, and establishes his
cred as a comics creator well beyond his celebrated cult of geek.
Uhm. Wow. Thanks! I was scared to death the entire time I worked on it, but I had a lot of help from Andrew, and I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out, myself.
I was at Trekmovie yesterday, reading this great editorial by Andre Bormanis, and I would have missed the review if reader T hadn’t pointed it out to me. Thanks, T!
Speaking of the manga, I’m was lucky enough to work with E.J. Su again on the next one, and he sent in his pencils yesterday. I wish I could show just a little bit of them, because even though it’s only pencils, it’s absolutely magnificent. Once again, he took my descriptions and turned them into something cinematic, while capturing all the emotional weight of the story. Tokyopop plans to release this one, called "Aratanaru Michi He", in summer, so we can have it available during the big summer convention season. I didn’t think I could reveal any details about the story, but I see that my editor, Luis, told Trekmovie pretty much the same thing I’d say if I had permission:
The story, "Art of War" shows Kirk dealing with his hatred of Klingons,
but for the first time sympathizing too (foreshadowing the peace treaty
between the Federation and the Klingons).
Writing scenes between Kirk and a Klingon commander was as much of a thrill as it was a challenge. I knew that I was taking a huge risk with the story, and it was going to live or die based upon how these two guys interacted. I had this awesome and unexpected Writer moment while working on a scene between them, when I just got out of the way and let the characters talk to me. I know it sounds very "ooga booga" but I felt, for the first time in my life as a capital-W writer, like I was transcribing something real, rather than making something up. It was kind of a big deal for me.
This time around, we got 10 more pages to work with than volume two, so I was able to make the story richer than last time without sacrificing any action. In fact, I deliberately put more action into this story, so it would be more of a traditional manga than my last one. In fact, I told Luis, "I want to bring manga to Star Trek this time, since I brought Star Trek to manga last time."
Yeah, it doesn’t make much sense now, either, but it made sense in my head when I said it. Having drinks with your editor rules.
Kudos to you. Congrats on your comic success.
Wow. What a great editorial!
The article said: “Orion will also give us something the Space Shuttle lacked: the ability to send astronauts beyond Earth orbit. For the first time since the end of the Apollo program, the United States is poised to send astronauts back into deep space.”
My inner child geek, who still wants to be an astronaut like the Challenger crew, just went “OMG! Really?! Wheeeee!” even though deep space travel is still some time away and isn’t going to happen tomorrow. Very true and interesting editorial.
Hm… Kirk and Klingons are always an interesting pair. I’m looking forward to it! (Summer convention season? Does this mean you have a tour schedule? *wink*)
“I want to bring manga to Star Trek this time, since I brought Star Trek to manga last time.”
I actually totally get what you mean. Like, bringing more of the sensibilities of manga into a Star Trek story? (Okay, I can’t articulate it but in my head I know what I’m trying to say.)
Cheers!
Well… 10 more pages?
There ya go!
Don’t forget to sneak in lots of speed lines and sweat drops.
AngieK: I’d rather see more unmanned deep space exploration, and some more Earth science, but I loved the passion that Andre brought to the subject. I don’t understand why we’re not exploring the moon more than we are. I should ask Phil Plait; I bet he’d have a good answer.
Laughing Vulcan: Ha! I deliberately put
“speed lines” into one of my panel descriptions.
VERY Roughly translated: “Star Trek – Aratanaru Michi He”
means “Star Trek: New Course” (Or Direction)
Wesley Crusher… what ever happened to that guy? Wasn’t he killed in a tragic transporter malfunction? 😉
Wil I don’t understand why we’re not exploring the moon more than we are.
True. I’d rather that we finish working on our own planet and moon than jump into manned deep space exploration but it’s just the thought of it that makes me giggly and happy like a kid because it’s like the sci fi stories coming true. In reality I kind of assume that we need to explore earth and then our moon before doing manned deep space missions. It’s the spark of knowing that we *could* do it, though, that got me.
/cue “Space Oddity” David Bowie
As a writer, I usually tell other writers, “It’s a good day when you find yourself arguing with your characters. It’s a great day when you let them win.” If you create real characters, writing is a joy of finding out what happens. I just wish it wasn’t so hard to let them go and live on their own. I keep fearing they’ll have more interesting lives than I.
Joe Straczynski is known to have copped to the realization that he still has all the characters of Babylon 5 stuck in his head and commenting on everything he does now. Gives you all the more incentive to write compelling and interesting characters, doesn’t it?
Christopher Schiller
Dunno how relevant this is, but when writing from Kirk’s perspective with forging this possible peace treaty/alliance with the Klingon’s, and your personal experience with Shatner, do you find it difficult to be sympathetic to Kirk at all?
Hijacking a Trek post with a Wars item.
http://eden.rutgers.edu/~avinator/starwars/
There are definitely some interesting artistic choices here…but cool nevertheless.
AngieK: Yeah, what you said. 🙂
Camias: Shatner != Kirk, and Kirk != Shatner, so Shatner’s personality and past interactions with me don’t mingle with Kirk when I’m writing him.
I suppose that if I was writing the show, and dealing with Shatner every day, that would be different. Because I’m writing a manga, and dealing with exclusively with characters instead of the actors who portray them, I can use the thousands of hours of Star Trek that I’ve watched over the years as a key to hearing Kirk (and all the other characters, for that matter) speak.
Thanks for the response. It was a thought that fleeted as I wondered if one associates a character’s image and name behind an actor, good or bad, would it corrupt or possibly engage a storyline more. Sorta like Pavlov’s dog effect. Here the name Kirk, and fits of saliva come from one’s mouth, even if you’re mature enough to separate that Kirk and Shitner are different ‘characters’.
I have just ordered your last manga and I can’t wait to read it. Your next story sounds great and I can’t wait to read it this summer. Then I will finally have the complete works of Wil. Are you going to be doing any east coast conventiohns? I can’t get to CA until next year (at least that’s the goal) and I’d like to opportunity to get my books signed.
~~TARA~~
Wil, so glad to hear that you have listened/read what someone important (reviewer) thinks of your writing. Yes, as a member of the Wheaton 300, I am always impressed at what you write. You just have a way of bring your essence into the writing. Even when you were sick, you took the time to blog a message just for us, that was truly You and your essence in written form, which somehow feels more than just written. There are many times when I feel that I can truly hear your voice saying the words rather than me just reading them. That may sound silly, but I consider it impressive writing. Wil, that was a compliment…so please accept it. You are a Writer (capital-W always). From my view point, you have given inspiration to many that there is always a potential in each of us, we just have to give it a try and keep trying regardless of what fear we may have. Please don’t ever stop your writing. I am anxious to read your story in Star Trek: The Manga. Perhaps someday you will write a story that includes Wesley Crusher? That would be so cool. I grew up with Science Fiction being a big part of what I would watch on tv, or what movie I wanted to see or even what book I would read. It is still a big part of being my favorite genre. This doesn’t mean that I won’t read a different genre but there will usually be SciFi woven into the story somehow.
You are an awesome writer, and I’m glad more and more people are learning what we’ve known for years.
I know you’re trying to distance yourself from always being thought of as Wesley, but I think it would be uber-cool to see you write a Wesley Crusher story. I don’t see it as the “easy” story route. In fact, I think it would be your biggest challenge to bring to the page what you’ve learned about Wesley since playing him. I think you could add a lot of complexity and depth to the character.
But all that aside, aren’t you supposed to be relaxing now?
Great news on the review, and next issue! I liked the first one!
I have read accounts of authors dropping the reins,
and just letting the characters lead.
One spoke of furiously typing to keep-up with the dialog
pouring out of their characters. This is a good thing!
They have come alive, and are writing the story for you!
It’s still from *your* head.
Heh. Imagining poor JMS with G’Kar and Londo ‘helping’ him
make a descision about mudane things.
I got a spam txt from a local bank today.
I called and they were frantically trying to track it down.
Many complaints, already.
Wil – this post makes more sense than you might imagine, particularly to folks trying to find and capture their own muse.
I’ve been inspired to blog / write far more than before thanks to reading blogs like yours, and I wanted to say “thank you”.
Awesome! I can’t wait for Star Trek vol 3 to come out! ^^ It makes me really excited to know that you wrote the story for it. That’s awesome!
I’m not as successful a writer as you, Wil, but a big fan, and a victim of Ooga Booga moments when writing. It’s a lot like that Daffy Duck cartoon where the pencil and eraser come in and try to recreate him, but he resists.
You think to yourself, Self, what is the matter with you? You’re having an argument with a Fictional Character you created. Meanwhile, the FC is standing there, arms akimbo, with that, “Well…?” expression. “Get on with it!”
Freaked me out the first time it happened, until I talked to other writers who told me it’s like the Holy Grail of character creation.
Or MPD.
I thought this might amuse you:
http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000769.php
A very cute William Fucking Shatner 🙂
Congratulations on getting another story out there.
What format do you use for manga? Screenplay? Comic book? More free form than either of those? Since the story is out there, maybe you could post a sample?
Keep up the cool work.