Susan Hillwig
Staff
I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested.
Posts: 1,612
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Post by Susan Hillwig on Sept 26, 2006 12:39:49 GMT -5
I like to call this "The Issue That Almost Wasn't". You would think that, with only one darn book to write (and quarterly at that), I'd be able to get it out on time and with relatively little hassle. Well, until this issue, I was doing just that, but so many things cropped up to delay WWQ#3 it that I was beginning to think there was a conspiracy going on (I also think I've been reading Charlie's THE QUESTION too much...and you should be too!).
The first obstacle was my own paranoia. Since this issue deals with the beginnings of the Civil War, and Hex was obviously fighting for the South, I knew I would have to write about slavery, and I got the idea in my head that you folks might take what I wrote the wrong way and think I was some racist jerk. So I froze up. It doesn't matter how much praise has been heaped upon this book already, I thought for sure that everybody would read this issue and hate me forever...you don't, do you? Lucky for me, I received numerous words of encouragement behind the scenes and reassurances that no such thing would happen (thanks, guys!), and I eventually felt okay enough to write the stuff.
And then the computer crashed. I was halfway through the issue when one day, the damn thing just wouldn't turn on, and every bit of story info I had was sealed inside that blasted machine's memory. Somehow, I managed not to have a seizure...though I came real friggin' close. For two weeks, we had techs pouring over the thing, pulling every bit of data we could out of it and trying to figure out what went wrong. Turned out that the motherboard fried out, but we salvaged most of the data (except e-mails -- Stan Timmons, if you're reading this, drop me a line!), got the monster up and running, and writing resumed. By now, I'm way behind schedule, and it's looking like I'm not going to make the mid-July posting date, so I bear down and write like Hell...then I remembered that I was supposed to do the cover as well. Crap! So I zip through that, send it to Roy for coloring (let's hear it for Roy! Yay!), and polish off the issue at the end of July, thinking, "Well, we can post in early August instead."
Then I get a note from David, asking if we can delay the posting of WWQ until September because of the whole CRISIS thing. "Sure, fine, you're the boss," I groan, my head resting on my desk. After all that, the book's still gonna be late. Crap crap crap! The upside is, CRISIS was great -- those guys delivered in a way I didn't think possible. So let's give a big hand for all of 'em! Now back off, skunks, it's my turn!
Kidding, I'm kidding. But I am glad we finally made it, and due to the delay, you folks will get what you've been asking for since day one: in a few weeks, WWQ#4 will post (and it's already written, I swear!) so we can pretend it's a monthly, if only for 2 issues. After that, it's back to the quarterly grind with #5 coming in January, and I intend to keep it that way, no more ridiculous delays.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go collapse in the corner until late October...
- Susan Hillwig
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Post by HoM on Sept 26, 2006 13:01:04 GMT -5
I love Weird Western Quarterly by Susan Hillwig!
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Post by HoM on Sept 27, 2006 9:22:09 GMT -5
Wow, an amazing, dramatic chapter of Jonah's history, and I can't wait for next month! Wait... Till I say I can't wait for next month for Weird Western Quarterly?
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Post by HoM on Sept 27, 2006 12:21:58 GMT -5
And I'm glad you didn't stick 100% with you-know=who. Because I think what happened was really... Bad enough, considering. Wonderful writing. Whassis? SCALPHUNTER!
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Susan Hillwig
Staff
I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested.
Posts: 1,612
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Post by Susan Hillwig on Sept 27, 2006 12:45:14 GMT -5
Yeah, I thought you'd like the Scalphunter bit, Charlie. The man's a long way from his Opal City days, ain't he?
As for not sticking 100% with canon, I try to keep it in the same ballpark, but some stuff just has to change for the sake of story. Again, the majority of Jonah's backstory was told over the course of 15 years, and out of order, so in most cases things don't connect right, or there's this absolute gulf of unknown in between parts (and in one case for this issue, the original scene was just too horrific for me to be comfortable repeating). There's two Hex-nuts that I've consulted behind-the-scenes about a few connections I've made, just to see if the patchwork I've come up with makes sense to them. They've been very helpful in some sticky situations!
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Post by starlord on Sept 27, 2006 21:53:13 GMT -5
It's been way to long since we've gotten to see Jonah, and it better not take that long for the next chapter! This was the best so far. Riviting is a word I don't use very often, but it fits here. I love your writing Susan, and really wish you would do more here. Awesome job!
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Post by markymark261 on Oct 9, 2006 13:13:59 GMT -5
Nice to see WWQ back. Ridiculously well-written, although I didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous installments. Not sure why. Maybe because, for me, it peaked too early with the tragedy at the start and from then on, while I found the rest of the tale interesting (and it's always nice to see Bat Lash), it never really grabbed me in the same way as the earlier part. Having said that, I realise it must be tough pacing a story with a pre-imposed chronology, and I'm really looking forward to next issue.
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Susan Hillwig
Staff
I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested.
Posts: 1,612
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Post by Susan Hillwig on Oct 12, 2006 21:37:09 GMT -5
Yes, pacing on this thing has been a bugger. When I first planned it, I thought it would only be 3 parts, but soon realized that there was no way I could pack it all in. And the decision to lead this issue with Cassie's death wasn't an easy one -- it does mess up the pacing a bit -- but otherwise, #2 would have been even longer to fit in those scenes that open #3. For the record, these issues usually clock in at about 20-25 pages before I convert it to MSWordPad, and that's hefty compared to most of the other DC2 books. Luckliy, David is very accomdating, and lets me get away with (figurative and literary) murder.
Bat Lash's appearance here is a story in itself. I love that guy -- he is the polar opposite of Jonah -- and, like Scalphunter, I wanted to include the first meeting of Lash and Hex in the man's origin tale. I originally planned for them to have a run-in while Hex was out looking for Cassie's killers, and would have been a nice, lighthearted moment in this otherwise downbeat story...but then JONAH HEX #3 came out last January, establishing that the two of them met sometime after the Civil War. The really sucky part was that it was a great issue, so it didn't feel right to ignore it just so I could do my gag (rule #1 of WWQ: don't bend continuity more than I have to). So I juggled things a bit, and saddled the gambler with Scalphunter (whom he really did partner with during the War!) making the meeting a near-miss. The upside was, it shortened the issue...and like I mentioned before, length is a problem 'round these here parts.
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