Comic book writer Greg Pak will give out free copies of his “Vision Machine” graphic novel and speak at the “Open Wide: New Models for Public Media” panel at SXSW Interactive on March 12 at 12:30 pm.
For the full scoop, visit the official SXSW website.
Post a remix, get a free “Vision Machine” trade paperback!
Want a “Vision Machine” trade paperback but can’t make one of the public events where we’re giving them away?
We’ll send free “Vision Machine” trade paperbacks to the first 50 folks who post remixes of the comic or other work inspired by the story or characters!
The first free “Vision Machine” trade goes to Stephen Morrow, who just posted the amazing image of Jane that you see above.
So draw a “Vision Machine” related picture, write a story or poem, remix the actual book, or create any other derivative work inspired by the book or characters… then ping @gregpak on Twitter with the link.
“Vision Machine” is released under a Creative Commons license allowing noncommerical derivative work of this kind – for the full scoop, click here. Your remixes/derivative work should credit Pak Man Productions be released under the same Creative Commons license.
So have fun! We’re looking forward to seeing the links!
Please note: You must be 18 or older for us to send you the book.
“Robot Stories” premiered seven years ago today
By Greg Pak
Seven years ago today, my scrappy little independent sci fi feature film “Robot Stories” premiered at the Cinema Village in New York City.
Buy the DVD from Amazon.
Watch it on Netflix.
2011.02.16 – Greg Pak signs “Silver Surfer” and “Vision Machine” at JHU in NYU
Jim Hanley’s Universe will host comic book writer Greg Pak and artist CrissCross for a signing from 6 pm to 8 pm on Wednesday, February 16 at 4 West 33rd Street, New York, NY.
Pak’s latest book, “Silver Surfer” #1 will be on hand for purchase and to be signed. Pak will also be giving out FREE copies of his graphic novel “Vision Machine,” first come, first served.
Centaur-Me Portraits!
By Greg Pak
Rumor has it that I’m about to start writing an internet column entitled “Centaur Corner.” So this morning I issued a challenge on Twitter for folks do draw a better Centaur-Me than the image at the right. And man, oh, man, have folks risen to the challenge! Check out these amazing images and follow the artists on the Twitter!
(And if you want to play, post your image somewhere and ping me with the link on Twitter! I’ll update this page as more images come in.)
Jeans Jacket Centaur from the amazing Stephen Morrow. Follow Stephen on Twitter and visit his website.
Tighty-whities wearing Centaur from “Incredible Hercules” and “Savage She-Hulks” artist Ryan Stegman. Follow Ryan on Twitter and visit his website.
Alex Rodriguez vs Greg Pak in the Centaur Civil War from Caesar McMagic. Follow Caesar on Twitter.
Pak Man Productions Logo Wearing Centaur from the awesome Ben Holliday. Follow Ben on Twitter and visit his website.
Centaur-Me
By Greg Pak
Say, hypothetically, I were about to start writing an internet column entitled “Centaur Corner”… you think someone out there in Internetville could draw a better centaur-me than this?
If you’re up for the challenge, post your image somewhere and ping me on Twitter with the link.
YOU CAN DO IT!
“Mr. and Mrs. Hulk” superspy storyline coming to “Incredible Hulk” in April!
Marvel has released solicitation info about a wild new direction for the Green Goliath in “Incredible Hulk” #626 and #627, written by Greg Pak with pencils by Tom Grummet. Both books ship in April — ask your local retailer to pre-order your copies today!
Added bonus — Amadeus Cho co-stars!
Another added bonus — each book is just $2.99!
INCREDIBLE HULK #626 & #627
Written by GREG PAK
Pencils by TOM GRUMMETT
Cover by JOCK (#626) &DOUG BRAITHWAITE (#627)
Issue #627 Thor Goes Hollywood Variant by TBA
MR. & MRS. HULK, Part 1 & 2
See the Hulk as you’ve never seen him before: as an international super-spy! With Amadeus Cho as his guide, Hulk dons a tuxedo and enters into a world of espionage, only to find his opponent is…Red She-Hulk? And what happens when Betty finds a new man? Hint: it doesn’t really go over that well…especially when that man is one of the Hulk’s oldest foes!
32 PGS./Rated A …$2.99
2011.01.22 – Greg Pak and “Vision Machine” at the Slamdance Filmmaker Summit
If you’re going to be in Park City this weekend, please come to the “Vision Machine” panel on Saturday at the Slamdance Filmmaker Summit, pick up a free copy of the trade paperback, and hear Greg Pak and Orlando Bagwell discuss the project with New York Times film writer John Anderson.
Read on for more details from the official Slamdance press release:
Today, Tomorrow and the Next 50 Years
Saturday, January 22nd
Treasure Mountain Inn
Technicolor Gallery
Free with registration: http://x.co/Ljfr
Last year at the first Slamdance’s Filmmaker Summit – produced with the WorkBook Project, Open Video Alliance together with the support of the good folks at IndieFlix – we started a discus- sion that centered around how we, as a film community, could help support and encourage the release of independent film. Since then, Slamdance and its partners have made big strides in this endeavor, teaming up with independent curators and micro-cinemas to support and in some cases instigate distribution. These organizations have remained firmly committed to helping filmmakers survive economically, brokering partnerships with big distributors both in theatres and on alternate platforms such as video game consoles and online. But, the truth nonetheless remains: Most people in the independent film community are having a hard time just sustaining a living and livelihood, much less thriving.
With this in mind, this year’s Filmmaker Summit will take a long hard look at the realities behind the buzzwords, as well as focusing on an examination of the future of storytelling. Crowdsourc- ing, transmedia, branded content, social media… What do these things really mean for the inde- pendent filmmaker? Do we just need to learn how to better use our new internet-era tools? Can they help us create a realistic model for a self-sustaining independent community? Or are we lost in buzz?
Slamdance, the Ford Foundation, IndieFlix and Banyan Branch are teaming up to present a day of real conversation with innovative leaders, discussing the current state of our community, next steps and how each and every independent filmmaker can take better control of their creative destiny.
1:30 to 3 > Banyan Branch & IndieFlix present the panel:
Plz Retweet: How Social Media Is Changing The Way We Make And Market Movies.
Panelists Include: Scilla Andreen (IndieFlix), Tiffany Shlain (Dir. Connected, Yelp), Brian Newman (subgenre media), Jenny Samppala (Banyan Branch), John Anderson (journalist), Lance Weiler (Pandemic 1.0)
3 to 4:30 > The Ford Foundation presents a discussion moderated by journalist John Anderson with Orlando Bagwell of the Ford Foundation and comic book scribe and filmmaker Greg Pak, whose Vision Machine graphic novel imagines the social, political, and technological changes that will transform media creation and distribution over the next fifty years.
Copies of the Vision Machine trade paperback will be given to attendees. Vision Machine can also be downloaded for free at http://visionmachine.net.
4:30 to 7 > Join us for the Ford Foundation Happy Hour reception, where our summit partners will be having one-on-one discussions with filmmakers over sponsored drinks courtesy of Dos Equis and ONE BAR.
“The Game” – a short story by Greg Pak, age 13
By Greg Pak
I decided I was going to be a writer at the age of nine. So throughout grade school, middle school, high school and college, I wrote constantly — first with $1.49 Shaeffer fountain pens on three hole paper in blue denim binders, later on my mom’s massive Selectric typewriter and on the Mac Plus with the awesome 50mb Total Peripherals external hard drive that I lugged back and forth from college.
While poking through boxes in storage over the last few months, I found a number of files and notebooks containing hundreds of pages of these old stories. And, unsurprisingly, most of them are kind of fun but pretty horrible. But here and there something… almost… good glimmered through. Eventually, I’m hoping to release a ebook anthology of the best of these stories with commentary as a window into one writer’s beginnings.
But in the meantime, just for kicks, here’s the best short story I wrote during my thirteenth year on the planet, when Ray Bradbury was my literary hero, people still called Asian people “Orientals,” and Defender Stargate was the most awesome video game anyone had ever seen.
Enjoy!
By Greg Pak
05.16.1982
“Hey, Jackie!”
A small skeletal boy ran from a large cardboard box to the tall girl.
“Jackie!” he shouted. “Are we gonna play the game today? We gonna play the game?”
“Maybe,” said the tall girl curtly.
The boy silenced and fell into step behind her. They walked on through the charred field, passing the scraggly trees and piles of broken down automobiles and derelict washing machines.
“Well, I sure hope we do,” said the small boy, kicking the cracked ground. “There ain’t nothing else to do around here. Nothin’.”
“Shut up,” said the girl.
The boy did.
Soon they reached a red car. It was only a little rusted, and its shiny paint glinted in the burning sun. It was much better off than the others around it and stood alone, like a regal king surrounded by peasants.
“David!” cried the girl. “We’re going to play the game!”
A short, fat boy threw open the car door and puffed to the side to stand at attention. A long, muscular leg passed from the blackness, fluidly followed by the rest of the boy. The brown feet lifted dust from the ground as the tall black boy shaded his face with a hand, squinting.
“Good,” he said.
ComicsAlliance behind-the-scenes interview with writer Greg Pak about “Vision Machine”
By Greg Pak
I had a total blast doing this “Vision Machine” behind-the-scenes interview with Chris Sims for ComicsAlliance.com. Check out my true confessions about learning how to talk to colorists, adding an extra page to introduce characters better, and how we almost populated Texas with space aliens — all with exclusive work-in-progress art.
An excerpt:
CA: You also said there were some last-minute changes to the opening sequence.
GP: If you compare the original art for the opening sequence to the opening sequence in the finished comic, you can see we added a page and tweaked the art here and there to introduce our characters better.
CA: It looks like you wanted to spend a little more time with Liz Evers.
GP: Yes, and to get a better introduction of our trio of film grad heroes. RB did glorious work throughout. But as we were nearing completion of issue #1, I realized that my script had crammed things just a bit too tight in the opening pages.
In one of her books, Maxine Hong Kingston talks about the idea that if you stare at anyone’s face in closeup long enough on the silver screen, you’ll eventually fall in love. I think the principle can apply to comics as well. Giving the readers a moment to really absorb a character is pretty key. Particularly when you’ve got three talky, wisecracking characters as your leads. I realized after reading and re-reading the intro that I never gave readers the chance to gaze into our character’s faces and kind of get to know them. We were just off to the races with hijinks and jokes, mostly in medium shot.
Again, all my fault. The original script just didn’t give enough room. So I made the big crazy decision to add a page and have RB redraw some panels.
Click here to read the whole thing.
And download the entire “Vision Machine” graphic novel for FREE from www.visionmachine.net!