I love comics.
Surprised? Ha! You shouldn’t be!
My collection contains both print and digital. I like digital comics, because they allow me to own comics that would be wayyyy out of my price range, like Batman # 1. I like print comics, too, because I like being able to hold a copy in my hands.
If you’ve read any of the Justice Security
stories, there’s a taste of “comic book” in them. Some of my short stories that
lean toward the unusual also have that same "comic book" taste. The Tales Of Sardis County series also has a strong “comic book” feel
to them.
Why is this?
Simple. I love comics. Ever since my first Yogi Bear or Casper The Friendly Ghost comics when I was a wee toddler to the
current stories of Batman, The Walking
Dead, Afterlife With Archie, and X-Men, I've read and collected comics.
Honestly, in the Justice Security books,
everything that has that “comic book” taste to it is based in the possibility
that it could happen. The event may
not be likely, but it’s possible. I have two strong examples of
that. Let me explain:
In the short story Saturday In The Park, Joey, Louie, Dexter, and Megan are pinned
down in the city’s park by ambushers. They have no idea who the ambusher might
be, but they know that one is in a tree several yards away. When the shooting
started, everyone else in the park seeks cover, leaving everything behind
them…including a man that was selling balloons. A shot from the sniper in the
tree…well, here’s the passage:
“Louie could see the man with the rifle,
however. The man kept looking through
his scope, trying to get a clear shot at Joey.
Finally, just as Dexter and Megan reached cover with Joey, the rifleman
could stand it no longer. He squeezed
off a shot toward Joey. The shot hit the
nozzle and control valve on top of the helium tank and loosened them. The force of the shot also pushed the helium
tank just enough so that it began to fall from the hill it was placed on. The top of the tank fell toward Joey, and the
nozzle and valve hit a rock on the ground as it fell, breaking them off. The helium tank had just been filled, and the
pressurized gas released at just the right speed to propel the tank up the
small hill. At the top of the hill, the
tank became airborne, and the tank’s angle and trajectory carried it directly
to the man in the tree. It hit him
solidly, and knocked him out of the tree.
He fell the twenty feet to the ground, and didn’t move.”
I laughed
to myself as I wrote that sequence. Even Louie laughs and is incredulous that
the tank hit the sniper, and says that it was like a cartoon!
Likely?
Nope. Possible? Yep. It could happen
exactly that way, and that’s what makes it fun!
The second
sequence that comes to mind as an example is in the upcoming release of Jim Dandy – A Justice Security Novel.
While the paperback is already available through Amazon and other retail
outlets, the eBook won’t come out until May 1st. When you read it,
watch for a sequence with Joey, Misty, Jim Dandy, and Marcus Moore in an
airplane…and that’s all I got to say ‘bout that. I don’t want to say too much
about it because it’s the climax of the book. As a matter of fact, I have two
aerial sequences in that particular novel, and both are hair-raising! Check it
out! If print isn’t your thing, pre-order your eBook copy now at most major eBook
retailers.
Comic books…and
comic strips…have always been a major
portion of my reading, and have influenced my writing to some degree. The
Sardis County books have magic and demons and mystical mayhem, occurring in a
place populated by people that aren’t surprised by odd events. Think Creepy…Eerie…or Tales Of The Unexpected. Everything that happens is driven by the
Sardis Family magic, and more magic is coming…and it isn’t limited to witches!
The third one will be out this year, titled I’m
Your Boogie Man – A Tale Of Sardis County. It will delve deeper into the
questions raised in Don’t Come Around
Here No More and Junior’s Farm…and
will hint at what’s to come in later novels. If you haven’t started this
series, please do!
Most of
all, I invite you to…
Keep reading!
T. M. Bilderback (But you can call me Michael)
Check me out on
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TMBilderback
