What If? Glow #5
A look at some of the discarded drafts for Glow.
Ahoy Mythopoeians!
Spring is here, and with the sunshine the possibility of regrowth, renewal, and new beginnings. Aside from the allergies, this is definitely a time of the year I look forward to most. I love the mix of clouds and sunshine, bright colors, and of course, the advent of convention season. This afternoon, I plan on attending Wonder Con for the first time since the pandemic, hoping to connect with old friends and new. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s up in the comic world. Of course, I’m also gearing up to launch Glow #7 on Kickstarter. Some really exciting news on that front:
Original Glow artist Dia Ja is Returning to Do a Variant for us!
Longtime fans will know that Dia is the first ever artist we brought on for Glow, responsible for the major look and feel of the comic. These days, she’s busy as a full-time background artist for Marvel’s X-Men ‘97, but we were (I think) her first professional gig! She’s a dear friend and someone we owe so much to, so naturally we’re incredibly excited to have her returning to the project. As for the cover itself, here are a couple of the references I sent her…
I’m so stoked to see what she comes up with! I love working with Dia, and in many ways, she represents the heart and soul of what Glow is. In the future, I’m hoping to commission more works from her and other Glow original artist Anny Maulina - not just variant covers (though those are awesome), but new concepts (characters, setting, and beasts) that I think will bring a lot of wonder back into the world of Glow. Now, just to let her cook!
Glow #9 - First Draft Complete!
This morning I also completed the first draft of Glow #9! I’m really happy with how it turned out - I know there’s still a lot of major revisions that need to happen in the coming months, but if you’ll recall, this has been the focus of my creative work since the beginning of the year, building in that new routine writing one hour in the mornings, etc.
The major breakthrough came when I realized that the point of view we need to follow most of all is that of Myra the Witch. When I started drafting back in January, I had thought to focus the story mostly on the Stone Bros and Kelbourne. While those two are still in the issue, I begin the issue with a major flashback exploring Myra’s past as a resident of Aldai, the Last Tower. In doing so, hopefully many of the pressing mysteries of the world will be unraveled, paying off some of the allure of Glow’s world. It’s a long time coming and I can’t wait for you to experience it.
What If: Glow #5
To wrap up today’s post, I thought it would be neat to explore some of the roads not taken in the story of Glow. For this one, we travel all the way back to Issue #5, after the Fall of Shoddai.
The first book of Glow (#1-4) played out pretty close to what we had planned, minus one major change - in the original draft, Caszy, Koken, and Anders were the only ones to escape Shoddai.
Following that, we had planned for the gang to steal a trio of Tanvirs from Old Man Sketelberg, a farmer on the outskirts of Shoddai. The tone was goofy, there was a lot brevity, and eventually Koken helps fix the old man’s rifle in exchange for Tanvirs.
When we finally got to issue five, it became obvious that wasn’t going to work. There was too much emotional heft in the Fall of Shoddai, and besides, the amount of survivors of Shoddai we now had - an entire caravan! - meant Caszy, Koken, and Anders wouldn’t be alone to start off the issue alone, and of course that had to be reconciled…
Just goes to show how one (small?) change can affect the fate of the entire story. So much of narrative is about getting characters from one place to another and justifying it both logically and emotionally. One change in who the characters are with can have profound affects which then take a lot of effort as a writer to untangle…
Ultimately though, I think we’re better for it. Sure, it may have led to years of writer’s block, but that’s behind us now, and we have a much more realistic state of where are characters are in terms of motivation as a result.
Alright, thanks for reading today everybody. Feels good to consistently put on the writer’s hat once again. Have a wonderful weekend and happy spring!
Ray