November 2, 2006
Yesterday I received my new issue of Time magazine and the new sold-out (review copy) editions of The Lone Ranger graphic novel. When I came home and threw them on the dining room table, an odd serendipity occurred:



The reworking of the Lone Ranger story in a graphic novel format has caught us all by surprise. I heard they were doing it and expected the usual, but if the sales can be believed (each of the first two issues has sold out at a 250,000 clip each), we certainly have renewed interest in an old genre. The art is very good. In the second edition, Tonto leans over the badly wounded Ranger, John Reid, and says one word, "How." Then when you turn the page he adds, "How are you alive-" Very clever. Of course the guns, the hats and the wardrobes are straight out of Clip Art City, but it's very stylish and hip, something our genre needs. We are going to do a story on this new phenom, and if you want to check them out they are at:

www.dynamiteentertainment.com

Meanwhile, I don't have much room to criticize (although it never stops me), as I'm struggling with a nighttime Wild Bill scene, of the shooting of Phil Coe outside the Alamo Saloon in Abilene, Kansas. Decent effects of the gunsmoke and the main characters but I've got to get a crowd of 50 cow-boys gathered around and hopefully give it a murky, shadowy, kerosene lamp effect. Not sure it's going to work, but I'll post the progress (or anti-progress) as I go. Here's how it looks this morning:



My son Thomas, called me from Philadelphia to tell me of a new group called Beatallica. They cover Beatle songs in the style of Metallica. Sounds quite zany. The name alone made me laugh.

One of my radio friends, Nicole Cox, has landed a gig on Sirius Radio with Fred Imus. They're doing "Fred's Trailer Park Bash" which runs on the Outlaw Country channel, Saturday and Sunday (Channel 63). Check it out at:

sirius.com/outlawcountry

Trying to finish 15 new scripts for the new batch of True West Moments we are going to be taping next week at Old Tucson. Worked until about eight last night. Slow going. Jeff Hildebrandt is helping me edit them down to size.

The Top Secret Project
Today I'm finishing the last page of scene roughs. There are 27 scenes in our story and I've been doing a scene a day, six sketches per scene. Tough work but it must be done. I am quite inspired by the Lone Ranger graphic novel and feel it opens some doors for us. We'll see. More scenes from that effort next week.

"There is a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue."
—Edmund Burke