Unlike the world of Sheer-Zan: One, I did not live in a world of fear for secret police. I mean, I could imagine the paranoia from life in Georgia, but it seems like something I would not get right. See, the thing that makes it work is that the protagonist, from the first, is aware she is in over her head, just beginning to learn anything at all about her enemy---and her self, it seems. But up to this point, she is very accomplished. It is the nature of the challenge ahead that her every weakness will come exposed. Like Batman, she can do anything if she has time to prepare. But she is not like any Batman at all, save maybe for the one who nearly bungled to his doom in the early parts of Miller/ Mazzuchelli's Batman: Year One. The years have allowed me distance, but there are scenes so talked about in comic book circles that recollections have come anyway. Still, I won't re-read those, don't have them on hand, and further, wish to learn nothing more from them, but rath...

four people discuss local problems. With the late hour, they worry for a young one of their own. This one is worried about both local criminals and, we find, the police. We get her understanding of what has happened to her uncle she loves, who has turned up missing. From the first four people, we discern that the uncle has been taken by the police, in plain clothes. We discover she's being watched. We get a glimpse into the mindset of the rather crude muggers and the sort of boundaries they appreciate, mostly the worship of force, and to some degree, subterfuge. After a mystery encounter reduces the number of muggers, the rest then meet with the local gendarmes. These police shake the muggers down for what they have, then take up the trail of the young woman... ...whose pathway is aided by an all-too-human guardian angel. An accident befalls said guardian, who recovers, but is now behind the chase. I do have an ending in mind. I am going to save this last point for you in the...

Copyright 2009 Integr8d Soul Producitons. I'm looking at my first designs for Sheer-Zan. The method of her intervention, and fighting tactics, is based on the system of resistance of choice in the Shogun Japan of the 15th century. Humble farmers and peasants who could not afford to own weapons nor pay the extensive taxes of the ruling class design had to make a choice, and they had to think. Hoes, brooms, needles, things never made with weapons in mind, and the body, were the only means of protection. Without expensive metal for weaponry, they resorted to improvised weaponry and physical resistance that played upon situations in which they found themselves bullied. I guess anyone who's ever fantasized about fighting back for themselves had to either accept what they did not yet know about overcoming a larger opponent, or come to terms with their own commitment not to commit violence. The last choice is to fight back. The impossible becomes possible, when reduced to the pr...

I drew upon memories of the American Revolution for my template in creating these new characters. Apparently, I should go back to the revolutionary fervor of Iran, 2009, to grasp the modern-to-the-minute aspects of such movements. Perhaps I am looking for that revolution in the revolutions of others. Perhaps I too feel the need for everyone to be free, but wonder deeply what the mouthing of such slogans means, and what individual thoughts and practical solutions would go into greater freedom. It seems certain that the elimination of apathy, the bond of involvement, is the only way a people might restore their minds with intellect. I mean, people have to educate themselves or they must follow something or someone blindly. The moral fiber of individuals, the principles, are a necessary part, too, in decision making. So I believe, over time, Sheer-Zan stories will be populated by dozens of different people, with hundreds of background players yet to inform that world. What I want t...

In trying to write Sheer-Zan: One, a story of a mysterious vigilante in a setting inspired by the Arab Spring, I had a strong idea of how my character fits into the plot. While I had some vague imagination for the troubles of the world of her story, I realized the only realistic way to write about events is to refer to existing accounts and picture things from there, as new situations borrowing from my sources. Characters began to emerge as I read about the situation: the older family man asked repeatedly to join in the uprising to come as an officer, to provide much-needed command control, the young woman...something to do with food; it seems as though she is sneaking food to people who are in trouble, possibly taking it from some forbidden source, perhaps even someone who's voluntarily donating food...I needed my soldiers to have different reasons for being part of the pro-government effort, so there should be several points of view, whether I zoom in and develop them each in...

Listen, I may well find myself sneaking in more enthusiastic blogs about Steve Gerber's work. here, however, I believe my sheer zeal for writing has encountered a saturation point, leading me to create a beautiful new artifice that I sincerely hope will bring peace and light and fun into the lives of people still many generations to come. here's where we turn from the Gerber discussion in the past to the writing discussion that's been here all along. There's no better place to change direction than with the very best similarity. I will describe for you the Red Guardian and her introduction in Defenders #35. Then, I will begin talking to you about this idea, Sheer-Zan. ( This turns out to be one of seven pieces found in posts ahead .) To compare Sheer-Zan: One, written over the rest of this month, with Batman: Year One is to strike a very true chord. The years since I last read that story reverberated with me on the days I watched students risking their lives in T...