Dauntless Comics

Regrouping

2010-03-04T13:18:00.000-08:00

Having made exactly zero progress on further illustrations to story no. 15, I ended up looking more closely at existing sketches, and have decided they are crap ('cept for the one of the Pillbox Tavern), crap I say!

So I'm turning to the next available blank page and starting over with better ideas.

(Above: incomplete pic of Deadbeat - not nearly degenerate and loathsome enough)

~d.d.

Sketches

2010-03-01T07:51:00.000-08:00

Should make some good progress during lunch today.

-d.d.

the slow progress

2010-02-25T13:00:00.000-08:00

illustrating story no. 15, 'Eastside Transversal,' continues at a totally slogging pace. But results, nonetheless...

The pillbox tavern!

A big barricade I keep running into is that I keep forgetting to pack some older character sketches/studies in my pack, and then when its lunch I open my current sketchbook and realize I forgot them. This issue features first-appearances by Sling and Creep, drawing of both feature bodies with no heads cause I can't remember obscure details of what they're supposed to look like.

I think the title of the 2nd part, story no. 16, is gonna be something-Thunderbolt-something.

Pencils down!

2010-02-12T13:10:00.000-08:00

The wordcrafting for SHARED HOUSING stories 15 and 16 is complete! Well, 16 still needs a few closing sentences, but that's easy work at this point.

Here's the opening paragraph for No. 15, Eastside Transversal:

With a combination of relief and dread, Sling greets the familiar noises of further customers opening the heavy steel-plated front door of the Pillbox Tavern. Sling nods at the guys from the house called High Style, all squinty as they adjust to the dim lighting. The 'Box is entirely lit by neon beer signs, a regular light bulb nowhere to be seen. The squints give way to movements floaty and lazy, the first steps of a well-practiced and beloved dance.

And here's the opener from No. 16 (yet untitled):

In every corner, every pothole, every nook, every gutter, every storm drain of the streets of the Packing District, bits and pieces and scraps of paper and cardboard were accumulated like the unmelted remnants of a snow storm after the thaw. And they breathed. Even with the weakest of breezes, they shuffled and somersaulted from one side of the street to the other, tried to levitate up the side of buildings on gusty thermals, or sprinted down the avenues and out into the surrounding districts and wards. A grumbling delivery truck left a good half dozen flurries in its wake. El Humidor cursed and picked paper flecks from his bloodstained pants.

I think I started writing this in August, and its the longest piece of fiction I've ever written. Personal and work life stuff just kept severely limiting my time so it took forever. By a complete stroke of luck, C.Collision's new story (no. 17), finished just two weeks earlier, fits perfectly as following these two stories. So I'm pretty excited to stop writing and start drawing - lots of drawing!

After all of that, maybe we'll try to get Book Two, compiling issues 7-12, together.

-d.d.

like a sloppy hook sliding into your tongue

2010-01-23T10:12:00.000-08:00

Tinzeroes is proceeding apace on his latest multi-part epic.

Volume 2 is breathing hard, rhythmically, and its chest is flushed. Pupils dilated. Heart beating ever faster.

My own works proceed, as we know, more in ~~sits and farts~~ fits and starts. However, to prove that I've been working, I present to you:

The First Line of the Next Collision-Penned Issue of

Super! Hero! Shared! Housing!

"Where once she seemed to waft, now only chunder hurtles." MudMan's illustrative hand dawdled like a butterfly, then plunged like a hawk, flinging beery droplets & foam across the living room.

Fuck. Yes.

like cramming it with walnuts

2009-10-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

"rags & bones" concludes what scholars will no doubt refer to as my "Rig trilogy". Still more agony rock and still more backstory character development detail funtimes. The fun part is that the task I set myself with this one was to write an issue basically in a sitting. I'd been stalled on an awful lot of other projects, so I just told myself to crank one out, using whatever I had.

In this way I salvaged what once was supposed to be a mammoth, Tinzeroes-esque multi-part epic. Originally entitled SUPER! HERO! SHARED! HOUSING! versus THE BUILDING THAT ATE MY BRAIN, there was going to be an awful lot about a barfly chick getting a job that systematically and thoroughly removed from her every thing that made her her. Eventually there would be a quest, involving all the mens invading a Siege Perilous and all that, more questing, more hijinx.

Turns out shit like that is hard to write, however, so I gave up and just went with what I had; a little bit of Moorcock homage + a subtle, nuanced approach to jobs and co-workers (=they sucksucksuck). Yup; jobs be something you need to be rescued from, and isn't it grand that there are Powerful Forces working in our favor?

Yes. It is grand.

(Oh yeah, the guy leaping feet-first from the stage onto somebody's face? I saw the bass player for the Jesus Lizard do that to a dude in Denver in like 96 or so. Fucking brutal.)

in which Collision apologizes shamefacedly to Matt Fraction

2009-10-23T17:19:00.000-07:00

The last issue contained a joke that was a straight-up rip from Matt Fraction's Mantooth. I've rewritten the offending section and will be forwarding it to Tinzeroes so that I can sleep at night.

I had stolen the joke as a placeholder, and left it in b/c it made me laugh. Shit, why wouldn't it make me laugh? It's a good joke. That's why I stole it.

I feel like dogshit. Don't steal jokes, kids.

like a goddamned rat

2009-10-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

Follow me, fuckers!

http://twitter.com/cfCollision

like a wounded osprey

2009-10-17T16:47:00.000-07:00

One amusing thing about 13, "with heights and malt liquor" (comes great propensity to get fucked up, presumably), is that in some ways it's the most autobiographical piece about me that Dauntless has yet hosted, despite being written by, uh, not me.

In the summer of 2002, I'd just been released from college. I sat on the couch, lay on the couch, really, for a couple weeks, depressed and lumpish in a bathrobe. Eventually, I applied for a job at my neighborhood bar, basically as a joke, just to get in the habit of applying for jobby jobs.

They hired me.

It was then that I began to explore the intriguing world of making around 100 wing-wangs a day and paying back somewhere in the neighborhood of sixty thousand dollars worth of student loans. Cost-cutting was obviously a necessity. Eventually, I bought a GameCube and a hockey game, and stopped leaving the house to do anything but work.

Sometime around then, the Plaid between my house and the bar (a six-block span) introduced a new "it's a buck!" special: 22 ounce bottles of Steel Reserve. I immediately moved my diet to Steel Reserve, Totino's "party" pizzas and "flamin' hot" Cheetos.

I lasted about a month, I think.

The thing that was amazing was that I'd never really feel drunk, particularly. I'd be there, on the floor, marching Carolina to another stirring victory (riding hard the incredible speed and skill of Sir Sami Kapanen, my then-favorite Finn), feeling just fine. Then it would come time to void my bladder; I'd pause the game and start to go upstairs. Frequently I'd fall down somewhere in this process; my first clue that I was drunk.

Thus, the signal feature of malt liquor: it brings out things you might not have known were there.

The process.

2009-09-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

My current writing process usually involves some very skimpy premise ("the housemates decide to throw a party"), followed by pulling a starting point out of thin air ("after an all-night drinking session a few housemates watch the sun com up") and then basically pushing the housemates in that general direction. The rest happens quite organically over the course of a few days. Occasionally I refer to autobiographical, semi-autobiographical, anecdotal, or fictional ideas jotted down in a handy notebook. This is where a lot of the little side conversations tend to come from.

Once the story's done I try to pick good little parts to draw accompanying illustrations for. For the first ten issues the rule of thumb was a cover and a mere four illustrations per story. This was an arbitrary rule from the heady early days when I was writing a mere 900 words and calling it good. As the word count's grown so has the number of drawings.

The bulk of basic formatting for the Second Omnibus is done. It will compile Issues 6-12 (my "big party" storyline in 6-10 plus Collisions two excellent domestic dramas in 11-12). It’s a little early to say but the "bonus features" will probably be expanded profiles on the housemates, at least one bonus comic featuring Mudman and Humidor, and some sort of craft project requiring scissors.

With Heights and Malt Liquor

2009-08-25T21:28:00.000-07:00

It was not our plan to go on hiatus for most of the summer but that's the way it turned out, eh? Issue the thirteenth, With Heights and Malt Liquor has arrived.

This is the first story I've written since last winter when I finished Issue 10. You'll find it the longest single issue I've written to date, a trend I fear will continue, I'm sorry to say. But the derelict denizens of the High Style have a way of treading their own course.

Other than passing mentions and very short cutaways the housemates have never left the High Style before, and its proving a fun exercise to send them out the front door and down the street in this issue and the next one(s) I'm currently working on. As much as SHSH is a valentine to my/our shared housing experience its also about a metaphorical Portland, which I've tentatively taken to calling 'Sump City.' Exploring and discovering and fleshing out Sump City might become the closest thing SHSH has to a larger 'plot.'

Spent Hours

2009-06-05T14:05:00.000-07:00

Collision's Issue 12 is now web-available. Collision tells me:

This one really grew entirely out of an image that popped into my head one day, riding thru downtown Santa Destroy on my bike. The image was Rig broken on the couch, listening to a record and crying a little.

This image sat around for quite a while.

Eventually, it began to play nice with an idea I'd had where an issue would be sort of an anthology, four tiny stories about one day in the High Style. I didn't quite do this--rather, there's a main plot (Jerry crying), a sub-plot (Ak/Dk cleans his room) and my usual pedestrian linking technique (stolen from Slacker, probably) where a character leaves and the reader follows her perspective. Anyways, I still kinda want to get around to the anthology idea, truly do 24 consecutive hours from 4 separate perspectives, but some of these gags only work on different days. Akka can't possibly make coffee the same day he has his rock-ribbed waking up epiphany, and I had to have the coffee scene in there because right now, El Humidor cracking, not an egg, but a Cadbury egg, into his coffee percolator makes me really, really happy.

The rest of the main plot (er, "main" "plot" would probably be more accurate) is a nod to John Shirley. I made the nod explicit by mentioning "agony rock", a joke title he used a couple-three times. I kept meaning to rearead some of his stuff to try to pastiche the music descriptions a little more closely/accurately, but I had a good enough time writing what I did, including the ridiculous(ly) mysterioso lyrics, that I just shrugged, said "fuck it" and went to see was there anything left in the fridge.

Probably my favorite thing about this one, aside from the egg thing, is that DDT drew, unbidden, the central scene/image. Least favorite thing is that I think I butchered the death of Send More Cops. I wanted it to be slapstick, but I also wanted it to be actually funny, and I think I only got the first one there.

I did once see a seven-legged cow, though, at a freak show in western Kansas.

Out in the World...

2009-05-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

...huddled together for warmth, ripe for the picking...

Copies of Super-Hero Shared Housing Omnibus Volume 1 in Portland can be obtained at the noble Guapo Comics and the adorable Q is for Choir.

Omnibus Volume 1 available for sale online

2009-05-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

The Dauntless Comics store is now open! Time constraints have limited us to making it possible to buy only one copy at a time so if you need more you should contact us and we can work it out.

And, at the moment, there is only one item for sale: OMNIBUS VOLUME 1, which collects issues 1 through 6, and also includes short profiles of the housemates, a map of the High Style, and an roundtable discussion about the creation of Super-Hero Shared Housing (between myself and C.Collison).

Some things people who've read it have said about it (that I think are compliments):

"...perfect bedtime reading..."

"...nerd punk magical realism..."

"...totally insane or totally genius..."

citizens emerge

2009-05-05T12:11:00.000-07:00

Super-Hero Shared Housing's eleventh (!) installment is here.

Sayeth Collision...

Issue 11, Citizens Emerge, is another of my poison-pen love letters to Heinlein. I literally grew up on RAH--my dad's favorite writer--which is probably why every couple paragraphs, I get the urge to drop everything and let my characters argue about politics.

The middle section is me homaging Rob't Parker, who I adore, by way of third-rate novelists like Michael Stackpole. That is to say, it's a wildly overwritten chunk of expository text, with lots of overblown pontificating about manhood and relationships between warriors, as in Stackpole, combined with manly men who cook, as in Spenser novels. The particular dish made by Akka/Dekka in this one is based on a closely-guarded Collision family recipe.

Oddly, the character that Akka's based on was, in real life, responsible for beginning the (ongoing) process of teaching me how to cook. Many years ago, he declared it "Pad Thai Night", and demanded some kitchen assistance. At one point, he turned around and demanded "God damnit, Collision, when are you going to learn how to cut an onion?" In a complete betrayal of my entire existence, I just said "How about right now?"

The tater tot dressing is a sauce of my own innovation, and it is outstanding.

The rest of the issue is my take on Tinzeroes-style autobio. Sitting around the living room, watching one dude clean a bike while another plays video games, talking shit about everything, a little bit of porn, tastefully presented... The sad thing is that not only have I done all this stuff, I have actually *gone to other people's houses* to do this stuff.

The title comes from one of my favorite songs, "ashes", by the Grabass Charlestons. The song is well worth quoting in its entirety, but the specific line is "drink until the sun comes up and citizens emerge", which is as good a description as any for this life.

In other news, Collision claims to have completely distributed his first print run of Super-Hero Shared Housing Omnibus Volume 1 (collecting the first six issues!) down in Oakland, whilst the few I have on hand languish on my desk (I'm waiting for a big truckload of 'em to get here) here in Portland.

All goes well they should appear in stores in the next week or two. Also, you should be able to order it here and get it sent to you in the mail pretty soon.

Harrowed and Arrowed

2009-04-21T22:31:00.000-07:00

Issue Six is up.

This issue is pretty dear to me. By curvy course of the creative process, Issue 6 ended up being the first issue to actually recieve illustrations in the form of "sample panels" (Issues 1 through 5 only had cover art). The art's a bit rougher, as a result, perhaps, and I was tempted to do new art of the 'mates as thier fantasy counterparts, which I might still do, who knows.

Omnibus Volume 1 is DONE. We're just waiting for it to come back from the printers.

Creet

2009-03-25T22:30:00.000-07:00

The gripping, late-night/early morning conclusion of the Big Party Saga, Issue 10 ("Creet") is up and bandwidthing. This one's dedicated to all the guys out there who've ever blown off thier own party to hang out with a girl they just met with whom they have no guarantee of physical intimacy.

We're pretty proud of the Big Party Saga. We weren't sure the housemates of The High Style could pull off an extended plot. It wasn't even planned as an extended storyline, as it was originally conceived of as a mere single episode. Then a two-parter. Then the housemates really started just writing thier own dialog. My personal faves are the two-keg scheme in Issue 8, the general atmosphere of the party in Issue 9, and all of Issue 10.

In other news, the raw content of OMNIBUS VOLUME 1, containing Issues 1-6 (Six to follow soon, promise) and some "bonus material" (namely, for now, a creator roundable discussion and some alternate versions of Collision's stories) is ready, as is its cover art. It should be "going to press," as it were, sometime in the next, oh, let's say 3-10 days. The cover price should be very affordable and if you should find one on a shelf somewhere you should buy it so you can bask in the warm collective idiocy of Aecca, Humidor, Mudman, and Rig in the privacy of your own home. For the love of god, though, don't take it out in public!

We don't take mail orders, yet, since we didn't have much to mail out. Readers should always feel free to drop us a note.

Potlatch

2009-02-27T21:49:00.000-08:00

The Big Party Saga rolls on! Issue N^o. 9 ("Potlatch") is now available.

Issue 8

2009-02-09T21:59:00.000-08:00

Issue 8 ("Scheme") is now available. It is the second installment in our "Big Party" multi-issue storyline. C. Collision wrote some additional dialog for this issue to punch it up a bit.

And yeah, we need to get on with fixing the style sheet.

Sketchbook. Mailbag.

2009-02-06T20:28:00.000-08:00

The S!H!S!H! Sketchbook is now available, complete with lazy liner notes by D.D. Tinzeroes himself!

Our legions of devoted readers may also send us mail, if they are so inclined...

Big Party Saga

2009-02-01T19:28:00.000-08:00

Six is not forgotten, but forthcoming. In the meantime, we're going ahead and releasing S.H.S.H. Issue 7 ("Party") now.

"Party" is a story derived partially from some of the original brainstorming which created S.H.S.H., but is also a tale which I knew had to be told once the ball was actually out and rolling. Incredulously, originally, I thought its eventual epic nature could be contained in a single issue, which quickly turned out to be false (it will span 4 issues, all told). The production process was pretty grueling, because in order for the story to be truly completed, I had to first write ALL four of the issues in their totality before I could do anything fun, like do covers or panel art. But even then, doing the covers and panels for issues consecutively can be equally hectic and draining.

From an autobiographically standpoint, when I was first living in co-op housing, the first few parties we threw were, uh, sparsely attended, to say the least. And there is truly nothing sadder than waking up and finding (way) over half a keg sitting in your kitchen. Like the 'mates, we found a solution to our problem, and future parties were more suitably populated.

We've also updated the way a few things look here at the site, too. Yes, we know a few of the links on the top-menu bar don't work, and just cycle back to this page, but that won't last for long. The S.H.S.H. Main Index page has also been rearranged so the back-issues can be browsed a bit easier.

Based on a True Story

2009-01-10T12:27:00.000-08:00

There is a strong autobiographical element to S!H!S!H!. Smoking on porches, the clutter of empty beer cans, late night cable, the dialetics of comic books, RPGs, video games and rock and roll. However, this is moreso true of "Ogress," our newest issue, which is BASED ON A TRUE STORY.

As such, "Ogress" is truely divorced from from those old scripts when the series was originally conceived as a tee-vee series. The housemates, it turns out, are easy and fun to write for.

Issue 4

2008-12-21T22:26:00.000-08:00

Our fourth issue, "Dragon," is now available.

Credit where credit's due. The whole "Blue dragon/smooth jazz" thing came out of an mail w/ a co-worker about his D&D DMing experience. The "I like Blue Dragons as a DM" bit is a direct quote. "But i have a 17 Awareness!" and the thing about a player being reduced to tears are riffs on stuff he told me as well.

We've decided to drop the whole publishing-each-issue in ink-and-paper format, love it though we do. E-issues (with limited runs of paper copies, 'course!) here on out, with glorious omnibus readers at intervals. S!H!S!H! is best read several issues in a row at a time. As Collision put it once, its a "geisty" series. If this crappy weather keeps me housebound tomorrow maybe Issue 5 gets e-published sooner than you think...

Profiles

2008-12-13T21:10:00.000-08:00

A long overdue "Character Profiles" type thingy has been set up. A greatly expanded version of this is planned for the future.

Cold Beer War

2008-12-12T23:08:00.000-08:00

S!H!S!H! aka Super-Hero Shared Housing Issue Number Three, "Cold Beer War," is up.

A companion volume of sorts, to Issue No. 1, it begins at almost the exact moment the first issue ended (and thus did D.D.Tinzeroes and C.Collision agree to dash continuity in S!H!S!H! at the rocks beneath thier feet), and also is represents material Collision generated around the same time Tinzeroes drafted the "script" that resulted in Issue 1. The purist in us would probably say that 3 is the "true" issue 2. The harsh harbinger of necessity in us says the creation of new material takes precedent over continuity any day, every day.

Anywho, we hope that you enjoy Issue 3. We certainly do. Especially the dishwashing confrontation. And Mudman in formal wear.