My latest Hellboy story, THE JUDGMENT BELL, is out now (actually it came out last week for all you new-comics-day fanboys!).

Of the four Hellboy stories that I've done, I think this might be my favorite. It's certainly the most Pasconian, reveling in my idiosyncrasies the most. And yes, it has some strange overtones and ley-line-like connections to my noir story, "The Kidnapper Bell." Read both and be even more confused!

For some good ol' fashioned PR fueled insight, check out the interview I did with Wizard Magazine. Rereading it after the fact, I almost think I know what I'm talking about.

And if you still want more, there's a 6-page preview up at IGN. It appears to be the finished colored art ... without the dialog lettering. So you'll be even more confused. Yes, that's the way to do a preview -- you got to PAY to get the words.

Though more seriously, it's interesting to see how those pages read without any dialog. If I've done my job as a comics writer right, you should be able to follow the action, even without the words. It doesn't hurt to have the lovely storytelling strength of Rick Lacy to rock out the pacing.

Labels: Dark Horse, Hellboy Animated, wizard magazine

I know it's been all Los Angeles Noir around these parts recently ... it's hard for me to believe sometimes that I have three major projects coming out in 2007.

So jumping back to the Hellboy publicity tip for a moment: the fine folks at Fist Full of Comics & Games have taken the time to hook me up to their massive satellite receiver and beam me in for a good, ol' fashion podcast. It's long, so be sure to have a spreadsheet or something up while listening to it at work.

Mostly we talk about Hellboy and what it's like working on a big property with a studio and executive producer involved. We also get a little bit of time in (first advance hype?) for my final big bang of 07, UNDERTOWN.

You may be wowed by how the producer of this piece cut out all the dead space rambling and verbal stumbling between all my words so that my voice sounds like a skipping Kid 606 mp3 -- but don't be fooled. I actually talk that way. How many times do I have to tell you -- I'm a robot!

Labels: Dark Horse, Hellboy Animated, podcast

I'm working on a whole mess of new posts ... but I am totally buried under as usual. First up is the first round of reviews of my latest book, Hellboy Animated: The Black Wedding.

Super nice words from Randy Lander's Graphic Novel a Day:
Wow. I haven't watched the animated Hellboy stored on my Tivo yet, but I'm going to get to it soon, if the strength of this new digest from Dark Horse is an indication of what to expect ... The main feature, "Black Wedding," is a beautifully illustrated story that features all the BPRD and Hellboy and is clever, funny and true to the spirit of the BPRD/Hellboy series but with a style that marks it as different.

from popsyndicate:
Writer Jim Pascoe structures his story like a Mignola Hellboy story. With an intriguing plot, Pascoe builds it up...

from Fist Full of Comics and Games:
My 10-year godson eagerly tore through the book and wanted another after finishing it. As an adult reader, I can say I felt the same.

from Broken Frontier:
Writer Jim Pascoe slips easily into Mike Mignola's formula of mixing horror with humor.

Neil Gaiman may have once called me Phil, but really, can that compare to Rack Raids calling me Ted? (Seriously? Ted?):
Writers Ted Pascoe and Tad Stones ... keep the action brisk and the monsters coming.

and an interview with the amazing artist Rick Lacy:
"Jim's a character! He's great," Lacy stated. "I hadn't known Jim before the books so I didn't know what to expect, but I'm glad I know him now. He's very innovative and has a real love for the industry and crafting comics."

Thanks, Rick ... and thanks to everyone who bought a copy. If you haven't ... get out and grab one before it's too late!

Labels: Black Wedding, comics, Dark Horse, Hellboy Animated, reviews

When vandals come and strip the road to hell of all its good intentions and sell them at the Long Beach swap meet, what will be left behind is the dusty trail of writers who "love to write dialog" (meaning: love to toss same-same quips together in a sly string of characterless one-liners) but can't structure a story to save their souls.

Still, there's no doubting that writing snappy dialog is a lot of fun. Amidst this fun there exist two major challenges: consistency and differentiation.

Consistency means that a character should sound the same from one scene to the next. Differentiation means that every character should sound different from each other.

A have a lot of tricks that I use to achieve both consistency and differentiation. I happen to have a ton of experience working with licensed characters -- from Buffy to Kim Possible to Hellboy. I discovered something early on that has changed the way I think about, study, and write dialog.

Before jumping on a project with someone else's characters, I build a dialog study.

I take some of the source material (usually a bunch of scripts), pick a main character, and retype all of this character's dialog. No description, no context.

Most of the people I know -- and this includes most fictional characters -- have very limited vocabularies. Even skilled rhetoricians often use the same words and phrases over and over, sometimes for effect, sometimes unconsciously. Looking at a person/character's isolated dialog should bring to the surface all kinds of revealing ticks.

In addition to repeated key words (words like indeed, actually, I think, yeah, dude, etc.), you can find other things that might not be immediately apparent: Maybe one character doesn't speak in contractions. Maybe another starts speaking with contractions or other bridge words (and, but, so, well), while another never does this.

When I started working on the Hellboy Animated comics, one of the first things I did was take the two screenplays for the animated films and retype all the dialog. I was having a bit of a problem finding the character distinction between Kate and Liz. I understood (or thought I understood) the kind of women they were, but was having a hard time putting that into distinct words to come out of their mouths.

What I found was immediate obvious, though I hadn't seen in when reading the scripts: Liz almost never said more than two sentences at a time. Her dialog was largely very short reaction lines. While each time Kate spoke it was almost three lines of exposition. If all of the line I wrote for Kate were too brief, it simply wouldn't sound like her.

Let's say you are not working on a licensed project. It's a great idea to do this "study" on your own characters. Inconsistencies are much easier to find this way. You may even discover some of your hidden subconscious secrets.

Labels: Hellboy Animated, writers' tips

I kinda knew there would be talk at San Diego, but as it turns out, there was an official announcement. I've signed on to write four original comics stories based on the upcoming Hellboy Animated series.

Hellboy creator Mike Mignola has been a dream to work with -- there's a guy who understands comics. He's been very supportive of my stories ... and even my idiosyncrasies.

The executive producer of the animated movies -- Mr. Tad Stones -- has also been extremely cool. I'm always eager to get his feedback, because he may love and understand Hellboy better than anyone besides Mignola.

The art is by the fantastic Rick Lacy. Oh yeah.

I've been working furiously on these books (2 down, 2 to go). And I can't wait to get your feedback. That will have to wait until early 2007.

Labels: Dark Horse, Hellboy Animated