The Game Is Afoot/Raising The Titanic
Or how to tease an upcoming book and how to dust off an idea
Hey everyone,
So I was initially going to just give a bit of a tease today for this summer/fall’s Kickstarter campaign (as Warnia is working diligently on coloring Jeremiah’s pages and Justin is lettering), but I also wanted to go into when it might be the right time to dust an idea off and take it from the shelf.
So, first off, without further ado! DRUMROLL PLEASE!!!!
The title logo for our Kickstarter! As designed by my Rook & Knight letterer Jerome Gagnon! It’s Sherlock Holmes versus the Phantom of the Opera as first previewed in this post! As for why it’s the Crimson Casebook? Well, that’s on a need to know basis at the moment. There will be more information of course later on in the next couple of months.
Raising The Titanic, Or When To Dust Off A Script
So, this Saturday, I will be attending the New York City Center Encores production of Titanic, which is a revival of a musical that premiered in 1997. Of course, it was kind of overshadowed by the 1997 Titanic movie. While both focus on the infamous disaster, the musical focuses on the actual historical people on board the ship.
Now, there’s a reason why I bring this up is because I’m fascinated by the behind the scenes drama behind the movie Titanic. But, it’s not the one by James Cameron.
Some set up is needed.
So it’s my senior year of college, and the History Channel still has actual history documentaries from time to time. I turn on the channel, I guess in between homework etc. And it’s a documentary about a Titanic film in 1941.
And you may be asking “Why have I never heard of this one?”
Well it’s because it was made by the Nazis, directly under Goebbels’ supervision, as a propaganda film.
But the actual film isn’t important here. The real drama was behind the scenes, and it ended in betrayal and murder.
Everything ripe for a movie unto itself.
Or a comic.
So this whole drama sticks with me, a Jewish guy whose relatives were butchered in the Holocaust, for years.
Last year, I finally thought I cracked how I wanted to portray the story as a miniseries or graphic novel. It would be a mixture of the true events and some fiction, but it would be a dramatic look at this fascinating bit of WW2 history.
I wrote the first issue’s script and I showed it to some friends and fellow creators. Most enjoyed it. However, some had some deep concerns, given who a lot of the characters are. And even though I’m a pretty dyed in the wool liberal Jew, they thought it could send a wrong message.
So, with reluctance, I put it on the shelf.
And then Encores announced Titanic. And I got tickets.
And I decided to show a couple others the script again. And they really liked it. So now I’m looking for a potential team to raise this boat out of the proverbial ocean.
Let’s just hope it’s not like Raise the Titanic.
So, what is the lesson here? Sometimes you might put something on the shelf for a bit because of naysayers or because you need to give it time to sit and think. But you shouldn’t keep it on the shelf forever (unless it’s utterly unsalvageable).
As for this story, I’ve already added it back into my working pile. So who knows, maybe you’ll see something about this project soon.
DK