From Script to Art: Gil Thorp
Preorder my TMNT comic! Preview the next episode of the Latinx Press Podcast!
Before we get started, preorder Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate #1 at your local comic shops like Golden Apple Comics or my official Latinx Press online store! The release date is August 16th! I wrote the script, Pablo Verdugo drew it, Gigi Dutreix colored the dang thing, and Shawn Lee made it sing with their lettering skills.
I have officially written one year’s worth of Gil Thorp comic strips.
This journey was beautifully satisfying and the most challenging at the same time.
Gil Thorp at the end of the day is a job. But it affords me some of the most flexibility and room to grow as a storyteller. While it’s an honor to continue the strip on its 65th anniversary and the creator’s centennial, the goal is to take this character and series places it hasn’t. Thankfully, I have had experience in doing that (see above).
I have a script due every Monday until I retire or I’m horrifically canceled. This weekly deadline was a chore at first, but I have come to embrace it. It’s like going to the gym except it’s more like mental gymnastics. You have three panels to tell a whole story and you have to do it six days a week. The trick is how do we make one day feel complete while giving the reader just enough for them to want to come back tomorrow?
In my humble opinion, our most well-executed story thread was the mass shooter drill back on October 24th, 2022. One of the advantages I have is where this is getting published: newspapers. Sadly, there’s a chance that there was a mass shooting in a school or public space on that day. You can’t shy away from the good and bad in the newspaper. But the funnies is normally the escape from all that. Gil Thorp takes place in a school in America. This week-long storyline is the definitive moment that I want to separate my Gil Thorp from the others by addressing the number one leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States: gun violence.
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