Geek Confessional: My first “book” was a poorly drawn comic series

  1. Geek Confessional: I’ve got (a lot of) game
  2. Geek Confessional: I’ve written for Deep Space Nine, Lois & Clark, and The X-Files (sort of)
  3. Geek Confessional Update: I have the scripts!
  4. Geek Confessional: I once gave a wedding toast in Klingon
  5. Geek Confessional: The Hair
  6. Geek Confessional: I Have a Dream, Disney!
  7. Geek Confessional: I did the fanfic thing
  8. Geek Confessional: I’m a Gilmore Guy
  9. Geek Confessional: Fus Roh Uh-Oh
  10. Geek Confessional: I was brainwashed by Jar Jar Binks
  11. Geek Confessional: I’m a professional wrestling fan
  12. Geek Confessional: I wrote storylines for two wrestling companies (sort of)
  13. Geek Confessional: My First Screenplay
  14. Geek Confessional: My Second Screenplay
  15. Geek Confessional: My Third (and final) Screenplay
  16. Geek Confessional: I’m a Found Footage Junkie
  17. Geek Confessional: I’ve Never Played Dungeons and Dragons
  18. Geek Confessional: I didn’t read C.S. Lewis until I was an adult
  19. Geek Confessional: I’ve only been to one comic book convention
  20. Geek Confessional: I tried writing for dinner theatre
  21. Geek Confessional: My first “book” was a poorly drawn comic series
  22. Geek Confessional: My “second book” was a horrible YA adventure
  23. Geek Confessional: My High School Manuscripts
  24. Geek Confessional: My First Christian Fiction
  25. Geek Confessional: The Return of the Christian Fiction
  26. Geek Confessional: When Dreams Die Hard
  27. Geek Confessional: When the Time Comes to Stop
  28. Geek Confessional: When It All Goes Off the Rails
  29. Geek Confessional: A Super Conference
  30. Geek Confessional: When One Becomes “Three”
  31. Geek Confessional: Time to Get Numb Again
  32. Geek Confessional: An Honor to be Nominated
  33. Geek Confessional: The Ironic Origins of The Hive
  34. Geek Confessional: An Authorial Bucket List

You know, I’ve shared a lot about my writing career (such as it is) in the Confessional over the past few months. I’ve talked about my attempts at writing for TV, movies, and the stage. I’ve shared my awful Star Trek/Star Wars crossover fanfiction. But it occurs to me, I don’t think I’ve ever really talked about how I really got started as a writer. What got me started down this road?

The answer? Very poorly drawn comic books.

Back when I was a fifth grader in Mr. Pierce’s class at Valley View Elementary School, I got it in my head that I should start drawing comic books. I don’t know where that idea came from, exactly. I think it was partially because my parents had given a homemade pad of lined paper and, rather than use it to actually do schoolwork, I thought it was a better canvas to express my budding creativity. So, during a free period, I started drawing. And with that first book, I launched a series that I would work on for several years.

I called them my “OKAL books.”

They all starred the same stick-figure alien:

okal-man

This was OKAL Man (eventually just “Okal Man”) from the planet of OKAL (which, for some inexplicable reason, looked like an O and P jammed together). And boy, was this a crazy place! They ate paper money and used hamburgers as currency! Seriously!

This is as good as it gets for a fifth grader in the mid ’80s, apparently.

And Okal Man went on a number of wacky adventures. At first, he was some sort of cop, and he and his buddies (who were all indistinguishable from one another) would chase down a bad guy named One-Oh-Eyes (how I wish I were making this up) and his henchman:

one-oh-eyes

One-Oh-Eyes was always the frowning one.

Anyway, for the first series (because of course there would be more than one book!) was nothing but One-Oh-Eyes and his henchman breaking out of elaborate jail cells, robbing a bank, and then fleeing to OKAL’s sole moon, where Okal Man and his cohorts would chase him, only to fall into elaborate booby traps. Eventually, Okal Man convinced the henchman (who never got a name, I don’t think) to betray One-Oh-Eyes and become a good guy.

Riveting stuff, I know.

After that initial run, I decided to branch out. I introduced a new group of characters, namely myself and my cousins from my mom’s side of the family. Okal Man was my best friend. We eventually all became superheroes who also had giant robots at their disposal for their battles.

Basically, this book series was an exercise in creative plagiarism. For example, Okal Man once found an ancient castle and magical sword, which he could use to transform himself into a robotic superhero named “R-Man.” This was all very reminiscent of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, which was one of my favorite shows at the time. Those giant robots I mentioned earlier? Yeah, they were a direct rip-off of Voltron (as a matter of fact, at one point, my fictional doppelganger says to Okal Man, “We should make giant robots like Voltron.”)

So for several years, I would produce more of these books. I would show them only to my cousin David, and then place them in a boot box that I stored under my bed. I had every intention of publishing these things someday.

Well, years went on. I moved on to college, then the Seminary, and I had thought that the OKAL books disappeared. At least, I couldn’t remember ever seeing them during the different moves. But then, earlier this year, my family moved to the Kansas City area and, while we were unpacking, I came across an all-too-familiar boot box:

img_0606

Complete with label, even

I could hardly believe it. I seriously thought that these had disappeared off the face of the earth. But no, there they were. Every one of them:

img_0607

Issue 1: The Robber Even then, I had trouble coming up with good titles

Now normally, when I spend some time in the Confessional, I’ll share the stories or whatever with you. Well, you can forget it. These are staying in the box. The only people who have seen them are my family (and my older son thought that they were hilarious because of how bad the art is). But never fear, I did take a few choice photos. I’m willing to share those:

Yes, my superhero character was a spider-centaur. And yes, I was so insecure in my artistic abilities that I labeled who each character was.

Yes, my superhero character was a spider-centaur. And yes, I was so insecure in my artistic abilities that I labeled who each character was.

Yes, this is one of my Voltron knock-off teams taking on a "One-Oh-Fryer." I'm so ashamed right now.

Yes, this is one of my Voltron knock-off teams taking on a “One-Oh-Frier.” I’m so ashamed right now.

Remember that plagiarism I mentioned? Apparently that didn't include having stuff make sense. I have no idea what "Spirle" means.

Remember that plagiarism I mentioned? Apparently that didn’t include having stuff make sense. I have no idea what “Spirle” means.

And here's the series that ended it all. I spent half a dozen books killing all of my characters, only to magically bring them back to life through the power of love. Or something like that.

And here’s the series that ended it all. I spent half a dozen books killing all of my characters, only to magically bring them back to life through the power of love. Or something like that.

So there we have it. These were my first baby steps in telling stories. Thankfully, I eventually realized that I had no artistic ability (still don’t, as a matter of fact) and that maybe, if I really wanted to be an author, I should try my hand at writing a novel.

Turns out, I wasn’t much better at writing prose than I was at drawing comics. But I’ll have to save that for the next time I’m in the Confessional.

[bctt tweet=”Author @JohnWOtte opens up his old boot box to show off his horrible homemade comic books.” username=””]

2 Comments:

  1. LOVE the images!!! I’ve got my first ever story, written when I was about six years old, titled Pinky the Pink Elephant.

  2. LOLOL!! That is SO 80’s/90’s and I LOVE IT! I can’t complain at all since I took Basic Programming in High School and created a story about a group of special operatives that I named CODE FORCE and did files with character stats and a program that had flashing lights graphics and “Alert Intruder” audio if the right password wasn’t inputted. Think of the story set-up for characters like D&D but military-oriented like The A-Team with a touch of Charlie’s Angels with guys and gals. THOSE were the days! ^_______^ Thanks for sharing your 5th grade art creations that show writers are born with many different aspects to their main passion to tell a story. LUV YA BUNCHES IN JESUS WITH HUGS & PRAYERS! Tonja Condray Klein – TCK at http://www.eirinth.com

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