The Fix #5 Storytime

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Support the motherfucking release!

Classic Fred...

Based Spencer and Lieber

I love this book

Thanks OP.

Here's something I commissioned from Lieber in return.

>best comic on the market

Not even close. Not even Image's best.

Well, shit

>Looking at porn while talking to a person in a public area
Who the fuck would be that retarded?

One time I caught a guy jerking off to hentai on a computer in a library.

...

My fucking sides

It's bizarre and awesome to see an ad for a webcomic's print edition like this.

>that last panel

Fucking Josh, man.

...

Bump

How can it be the best comic on the market when it's not The Flinstones?

It's a close second though.

>this cover

nice

Did not see that coming.

whoops. i thought this would be about how HRC had the primary rigged against sanders. silly me

>yet another character giving a rant about millennials in a Spencer book
Not even surprised.

>Here's something I commissioned from Lieber in return.
We know, you post it in every thread.
Fucking symbiote fags

OK, this guy is great.

>Donovan outta fucking nowhere!
Favorite Image book right here.

BRAVO
R
A
V
O

I never got to go mini-golfing with my dog before she died. This isn't what I wanted from this book.

I do like the book's twists.

If Roy and Boomerang met, who would successfully fuck who over? Seriously though, a Fix/Superior Foes MAX one shot or mini would be amazing

Read bump

>Ryan Murphy-gets-an-Emmy bad
It's funny because Ryan Murphy is a hack!

Great as ever.

No Lieber this thread?

Looks comfy

Wonderful faces

Nice

No time this time. Maybe if the thread is still around tonight!

Bump for this

Fucking Donovan.

Hey Steve, if you're willing to answer questions, what game did you look at for the screenshot in ?

Who the fuck are you?

He's the writer for this book, Mike Mignola.

Love you steve, glad you come to Cred Forums

Alright, can we get dl links to the rest of the issues?

Aw shit! I love his work on Akira!

Bump.

Don't remember the name of the game, but I searched for it by looking for an open source fps, and grabbed the first screenshot I could find of stuff getting blown up.

This was me, btw. Forgot to enter my trip.

This cover's got the best reaction of any I've drawn since the one where the Sinister Six cosplayed as other villains. The concept just came from me fumbling for an idea: "Okay what do I want to say about these guys? They're a couple of fucking hotdogs. Oh wait…"

Autumnlands artist Benjamin Dewey posed for both Roy and Mac. Color artist Ryan Hill did a great job on it. I think he took three passes on the chilli they're lying in, trying to get it exactly right.

>b-but all those Autumnlands delays

Letterer/designer Nic Shaw made the choice to put Dead Elana on the indicia page opposite her memorial photo. Great call, taking an area that's usually just decorative at best and using it for storytelling.

Yeah the coloring is real good. I do like the increased attention being drawn to colorists lately.

It's always weird drawing a picture of a photograph in a comic. It can mess with the level of abstraction you're deploying. Depending on how much rendering and lighting you put in to make a photo look like a photo, the thing that's supposed to be 2-dimensional can wind up looking "realer" than the rest of the comic.

I'm super-lucky to be working with Ryan. He's a terrific all-around artist, so he knows how to use light on form, and he's great about controlling focus. Even in busy, cluttered panels, the choices he makes guarantee that the reader's eye is gonna go exactly where
It needs to know.

I was just saying to someone at a con last weekend- I usually don't like double page spreads. I was resistant when Nick asked for one in the 1st issue- Donovan's bath salt rampage- but I could see how the sequence worked better as a spread of a big unified clusterfuck than it would have as two separate pages. Same for issue 2's Los Angeles bro montage. Now those 2 page spreads have become part of the voice of the book, and I look forward to them every issue.

Had a blast with the body language in this sequence. And I was really happy in panel 4 when I noticed that Roy was pointing at his own severed head.

Need to get some sleep. If thread's still around tomorrow, will continue.
As always, picking the book up in hard copy is hugely appreciated. If you have a local shop, get it there! If not (and you're in the USA,) I have copies in my etsy shop:
etsy.com/listing/461422052/the-fix-tpb-volume-1

I'd give it to Fred.

I picked this up today. One of the few pulls left on my list.

Always a joy seeing you around Steve.
What do you think about Sara Ryan's Wonder Woman "mansplaining" issue?

He's not going to answer that in a way you'd like.

Yeah looking at his twitter posts you can easily tell that much. And that maybe people should just use twitter professionally.

This is great.

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I get why you're asking, but seriously: Is there really a need for one more discussion thread online where people on different sides of a political divide can snark at each other? I'd like to think that an occasional Chtistmas Day armistice is more interesting than another day of shelling in the trenches.

Haha, thanks man. Always appreciate you coming by. Getting the first trade for my birthday.

awwww shit yes, it comes with a Pretzels doodle? buying now

Steve, do you and Nick plan on doing multiple arcs or just one big story for The Fix? Also thanks for stopping by.

There'll be arcs, but it'll ultimately add up to one big twisty story.

Yep. Here's one I drew at Rose City Comic Con last week.

Fairnuff. It wasn't meant to spark any flamewars, I was genuinely curious. I admit it was a loaded question. It was just interesting for me since you seem to be the very opposite.

All good. Thanks!

Onward! I'm pretty sure that Roy actually would walk around a crime scene looking at porn, but only if it was, like, really good.

Panel 4: I left a lot of room to imply that whatever Roy is telling her, it's definitely a long, long story. Same reason for the shift to negative silhouette- something about using one with a static panel implies a longer time-lapse. Not sure if that's a universal perception, but it's how I see it.

In North by Northwest, Hitchcock did a similar thing. Cary Grant has to tell someone everything that's happened to him. Hitchcock walks them towards a airlane witha loud motor so you can't hear the conversation, then walks them back a few seconds later as they finish, concealing the fact that there's no way Grant could've told the guy everything in those few seconds of screentime.

It's always fun coming up with new ways to reinforce that Roy does not give a shit what the the higher-ups at his job think. Compare it to his body language when kissing up to the Mayor, or the perpetual hostage-situation Donovan puts him in.

Was struggling with the pose for panel two. My studiomate Erika Moen came up with what you see here. She's an absolute master of cartoon acting, both subtle and broad, and I've learned a lot about getting more expression into my figures from her.

Panel 3. Roy's wrist on Cheryl's arm may be the single worst tangency of my career.

>the single worst tangency of my career
If you don't know what a tangency is, go read this, by Chris Schweitzer. It's particularly useful if you're an aspiring artist:
curiousoldlibrary.blogspot.com/2011/10/schweizer-guide-to-spotting-tangents.html

>
Panel one: lot of pop culture and junk food shout-outs in this panel. Not sure who told me to go with Garage Pizza in Silver Lake, but it seemed like a good call.

Panel 4 is either an example of a MASSIVE perspective cheat, or those two guys in the foreground are standing in a ditch. Hitchcock again, paraphrasing: "You have to allow for a certain amount of unreality outside the frame to get everything where you need it in the shot."

Panel 5. Just drew this from memory. I haven't played D&D in 30 years, but as far as I know, this is still how a game looks. Only things I updated were the beverages.

I'd really like to see someone bring back that soft coloring that I'd see in a lot of early '90s Marvel and DC stuff. Kevin Tinsley's colors on Web of Spider-Man and the like from that era are always something I've liked a lot.

What about the panel sizes and placement? Why did you give more emphasis to "Cut the shit Roy"?
Why halve it? Why in this regulated format?

What about character placement in this page? Roy is constantly infront of his boss.
I see no wrong with the wrist.

Panel 3 seems very lazy here, though. It seems like something from that meme.
>pic related

Oh and thanks I love these explanations, this is great!

Yep, that's basically what DnD looks like when I play every week though I only play 2nd edition

Only problem are the jackasses leaving their dice in the middle of the table.

Great questions!
>Why did you give more emphasis to "Cut the shit Roy"?

Roy's not super; he's just a dick. Cheryl took him by surprise and genuinely spooked him, so I wanted to give that moment an extra beat.

>Why halve it? Why in this regulated format?

I try to stick to a regulated grid- most of my pages in The Fix are built on a 4 tier, 16 panel grid, combining panels as rhythm requires. I want my page layouts to be as pedestrian, as un-exciting- as possible. Ideally they sort of lull the reader so that what's happening in the panels can still take readers by surprise.

>What about character placement in this page? Roy is constantly in front of his boss.

Hadn't thought of it that way! I guess as the star of the show, my impulse is to let him upstage the other actors.

>I see no wrong with the wrist.
pic attached. His sleeve lines up exactly with hers, flattening things out instead of creating depth.

>Panel 3 seems very lazy here, though. It seems like something from that meme.

Heh. ALL my panels are lazy. Just that some are more successful than others.

Thanks for the great questions!

Lieberman - If we don't have a convenient assortment of studio-mates to pose for us, what do you recommend for drawing tricky human poses?

I COULD set up my tripod and put my camera on timer...

(Also, do you just sketch them from life and make them hold the pose for a while or do you just snap a pic?)

Camera with timer. This is how Alison Bechdel referenced every figure for every panel in her book Fun Home. One tip: unless you want exaggerated perspective, get as far from the camera as you possibly can to minimize lens distortion.

And I just snap a pic. Everyone here is on deadline. I want to minimize the time I'm pulling them away from their own work.

I hope you don't mind follow up questions.
How do you work together as a team? I mean, in general, in the comics industry? Writer, penciler and colorer? I hope I wrote down the respective titles correctly. Not a native speaker, much love from Serbia.
I've seen many comics where the facial expressions, movement of a character, and the tone of a scene just don't add up to a single sense or feeling. How do you guys do it so well in this comic? The writing is witty, fast and clever, the paneling as you mentioned earlier is simple and lulls the reader, and the colors seem dark and unforgiving. How the loving fuck do you guys communicate this into one piece of well-written, well-timed, and perfectly colored of work? It's truly great!

Please ignore horrible grammar, senpai.

Alo bre, uspio si odjebat Liebera.

Ajd cuti brate. Vrati ce.

How do you feel about people pirating your comics? I've gotten into several debates with my father about this. I'm trying to break into comics myself and I tell him that at least they're reading and if they intended to buy it they would, but he's still strongly against it.

I should add that I don't really consider it stealing since nothing is actually taken

There's an interesting comparison that is posted sometimes... something along the lines of

>Me pirating a comic and deleting it in 2016 is the equivalent of going to the comic store and reading cover-to-cover in the corner then putting it back and leaving the store in the 80s

>How do you work together as a team? I mean, in general, in the comics industry? Writer, penciler and colorer? I hope I wrote down the respective titles correctly. Not a native speaker, much love from Serbia.

First- your English is great! I can't even order at a restaurant in any language but my own, and you're asking smart questions about art and storytelling.

Nick and I have a weird collaboration style. Sometimes he writes a short summary of what happens in a scene. Other times he writes a few pages of dialog with little or no directions for what I should draw. After I draw the pages, Nick goes back and either adds the dialogue, or alters it, if he sees a new possibility in what I drew. I've can't imagine how we could make the comic without working this way. It requires a lot of trust- him trusting me, me trusting him. But after all those issues of Superior Foes, we both knew we could make it work again on The Fix

With Ryan Hill, the color artist we were very lucky. He lives in the same city as me, so I knew his work, and I knew how important good storytelling is to him. Sometimes he'll visit my studio and we can work in the same room, so I can offer a small suggestion, but most of the time he just does the work on his own. He's a solid, skilled professional and he knows a lot more about color than I do.

I don't love it, but I certainly get it. I was broke in high school and college, but I got into most of my favorite bands because someone made me a tape. Now that I'm an adult with an income, it's really important to me to support the people and associated businesses that are making the stuff I want to read.

It's capitalism. Ultimately, we only get the culture that we're willing to pay for.

>pic attached.
Whoops. I didn't actually attach that pic. Here it is. You can see where I lined up his sleeve with hers, flattening it out.

Just two cents but, I'd have never picked up Superior Foes if I hadn't seen it story timed on Cred Forums

Now I own all the single issues and the trades, and bought the omnibus for a friend.

Very cool! Thanks!

Dear Steve,

If I order the Superior Foes omnibus from your shop, can I request a sketch or have you already done them?

>If I order the Superior Foes omnibus from your shop, can I request a sketch or have you already done them?

Thanks for asking! You can request which Foe you'd like.

I would like to ask a follow-up question, for the people from outside the US, like my fellow Serbanon () and neighbor () Ne bih nikad rekao da ovoliko nas prati ovaj naslov , but is there any chance of having one of your books signed, or getting a commission, via postal services in the foreseeable future? I know it's taunting as hell, but I still have to ask.

Hot Damn, I will! I mean, I was going to order it anyway.

Isn't 28 too old to be a millennial?

Only if you believe Cred Forums's meme definition of millennial.

>Isn't 28 too old to be a millennial?

I'm never sure about these things but I frequently see it defined as those born after 1980.

>is there any chance of having one of your books signed, or getting a commission, via postal services in the foreseeable future

I don't offer sales outside the US in my store this because shipping costs so much. The US Postal Service charges are crazy. I feel like a jerk asking people to pay double the cover price just to get my book. (Double isn't an exaggeration. I don't have the numbers for Bosnia, but it costs about US$60 to send a 1.3 kilogram package to the Czech Republic.)

I do send commissions internationally. They don't weigh as much as a book, so the shipping is more reasonable. Send me DM on twitter if you want to discuss that! @steve_lieber

Apologies- Serbia, not Bosnia!

The 'millennial' range is between born between '82 and '96 I believe

It's a very ugly word, speaking as a '92 millenial, because the general public conception is "grew up with an tablet in their hand, eyes glued to screens since childhood" which is honestly more accurately attributed to Gen Z (born 97-on)

I didn't even get my own laptop until like 2006 or so when I was nearly in highschool.

Ah well, you can't do much against ignorance can you?

82-2000

It's called "millennial" because it's the last generation of the second millennium. There can't be anyone born in the last decade of the second millennium who isn't a millennial otherwise the term becomes meaningless.

>implying the term isn't already meaningless

>>implying the term isn't already meaningless
Yeah I think the real definition is "anyone who enjoys life more than I do."

Mayor Kincaid! Campaign logo by our designer/letterer Nic J Shaw- now working under his studio name Ironbark. Great call on the typeface shift for the voice of the campaign ads. I also really like the way Ryan Hill uses bars of varied color to emphasize that these are TV screens.

In the next to last panel, I swiped from myself. That's the same backhoe Overdrive used to bury Shocker alive in Superior Foes. If you squint, you can still see him in the driver's seat.

>Posting great art is a bad thing now
????

Or just 'young people these days'

Oi Steve, get your arse to Australia so I can shout you a pint.

Yeah, 1980 through about 2000 or 9/11. Generations are basically a 20 year thing.

That's actually really good. Looks like a legit campaign logo.

Also I guess that counts as our Fix/Superior Foes crossover so I'm now taking it as canon that Fix is happening in the MU and after the break up of the gang, a down-on-his-luck Overdrive moved across country to try to join those "West Coast Avengers" he's heard about only to be stuck working shitty construction jobs.

I think the most fun I have on Cred Forums is when Lieber pops in and shoots the shit with everyone

this isn't stray bullets

>tfw you forgot to buy this issue when it came out, and didn't get the trade either

Here's hoping my LCS still has it!

Liebs, your spreads are excellent.
Foes is the reason I started buying comics.

I'm not an art person but this is pretty interesting. The kind of thing I feel like I tend to notice as "looking weird" but I never had a term to pair with it.

best boy alert

Is the trade out for this yet?

whelp. Shoulda just looked it up. It just came out. Might pick it up next time I visit the comic shop in town I used to have my Image pulls in. I've had to move and dropped all my pulls, but wanted to check this out.

I was so happy that after Superior Foes Nick and Steve continued to pump out something really terrific.

I bought Superior Foes as a whole, and have been buying every issue of the Fix. God damn I just want them to sell Fix posters online or something

Hey Steve, was this spread inspired by the Godzilla The Half-Century War title?

The Fix 005 (2016) (digital) (Minutemen-Faessla)
www85.zippyshare.com/v/nynUHPNl/file.html

~

The Fix 001 (2016) (digital) (Minutemen-Faessla)
www19.zippyshare.com/v/nwutgTsO/file.html

The Fix 002 (2016) (digital) (Minutemen-Faessla)
www35.zippyshare.com/v/Two6qEsT/file.html

The Fix 003 (2016) (digital) (Minutemen-Faessla)
www32.zippyshare.com/v/PXI7JS0Q/file.html

The Fix 004 (2016) (digital) (Minutemen-Faessla)
www100.zippyshare.com/v/I6GMGut9/file.html

a white guy?
running for mayor in Los Angeles?

Now I know this is fiction...

would context make me want to not stab myself in the eyes for having read this?

There are SO MANY THINGS WRONG WITH THIS

Why is he the lead detective on a homicide case where he is the PRIME SUSPECT?

Does he have an airtight alibi?

Why is the mayor of Los Angeles 28 YEARS OLD?!

Why is homicide detective INCESSANTLY CHEERFUL?

Read this the rest. Essentially, this happens in a universe where the police are completely corrupt and there's essentially no accountability. He's cheerful because he doesn't give a fuck.

Stop being a fag and read the book like you're supposed to

Thanks

Always hate millennials.
What happened to Gen Y? It was a perfectly good gen name.
Hell the gen after is still being called Gen Z

>That last panel
Anyone with that MS Paint magic willing to change Roy to user?

Between this and 4 kids walk into a bank
This is just the best right now

I'm actually going to complain that there's too much detail in that image such that it becomes a chore to try to separate everything and figure out what's going on.

Didn't realize the first trade was out either. I already have 1-4 but I figure I can spare $10 for it when I go to pick up #5 as well.

Dunno. That spread (my fave in the series!) was conceived and drawn by my studiomate Rich Ellis! Rich also drew the Beetle solo issue. Great cartoonist, and when we needed help on the series, he was the only guy I could imagine getting it right.

Seeing as that spread came out during the Robinson FF run kind of tarnishes it a bit, I heard that run was a real joykill.

That FF run was good. Lot better than Fraction and Hickman. Especially Jonathan "what homework" Hickman

That's a complaint I've seen some people give Stokoe's art before, but on the other hand, that's the exact reason why some people fucking love Stokoe's art.

It was better than Fraction's but it wasn't even near Hickman's.

>Hell the gen after is still being called Gen Z
Because they haven't come up with a good name for them yet. The weird thing is that Gen X never got its own name, but then I guess "Gen X" is a pretty good name by itself.

Gen Y just sounds like "the one that came after X but isn't Z. It's fucking lame, like an after-thought generation, which may be appropriate actually. Gen Z sounds like it's The Final Generation, which may be appropriate with how things are going these days.

Eh, I'm a continuity fag, Hickman's run gave me a headache with how inaccurate stuff was.

Being a continuityfag is pretty much the only thing Robinson has going for him these days. I liked Robinson's run and all, but Hickman's felt like a breath of fresh air while Robinson's felt like a final dieing gasp. You knew the end was around the corner, and it was a pretty boiler plate overarching story with a bunch of cameos from classic characters (but in a weirdly selective manor) accompanied by rehashes of past overdone F4 stories.

It felt like "yet another F4 comic" which was exactly what we needed at the time and won't fault it for that, but it just made the whole thing less interesting than Hickman's.