Canister X – A.P. Fuchs: Zombie, Paranormal Romance and Superhero Novelist, Blogger, Artist, Publisher

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It’s World War II and the US Army needs to up its game in its war against the villainous Nazis under the command of Adolf Hitler.

Enter Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a little guy from Brooklyn with all sorts of health problems, but who has possibly the strongest sense of morals and courage than any man on the front line. Unfortunately, due to his fragility, Steve is not allowed to join the American army despite multiple tries. A scientist experimenting in a super soldier serum for the US army notices this and offers him a chance to take part in a dangerous procedure that, if it goes well, will grant Steve superhuman-like abilities and enable him to be an ultimate man, athlete and warrior. Steve accepts and transforms into the world’s first super soldier: Captain America.

Meanwhile, the first test subject of the serum, Johann Schmidt–aka the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving)–has come into possession of the Tesseract cube, a powerful energy source rumored to be from Asgard. His plan? Nothing less than overthrowing Hitler himself and taking over the world.

If only we had a super soldier to stop him. Wait . . . we do.

His name is Captain America.

Like all good fanboys, I saw this movie in the theatre. Having grown up on the cheesy Captain America movies starring Reb Brown and, later, the 1990 version with Matt Salinger, a part of me, I admit, was waiting for a repeat of the 1990 film (in the general sense). I was more interested in how Captain America: The First Avenger would tie into the then upcoming Avengers and this movie didn’t disappoint.

The introduction of the Tesseract–which would be key in Avengers–was real smart on the filmmakers’ part because not only did it point to the forthcoming ensemble film, but also gave a quick link to the Thor movie as well.
Watching Chris Evans as Steve Rogers was fantastic. He really suits the role and played it perfectly. I wasn’t sure how the once Human Torch–all witty and sarcastic–would fare as the famous super soldier, and I’m glad Chris Evans proved he can play a kind of Superman-like character as well. Seeing him play both the small, frail Steve Rogers (facially, anyway, as someone else’s body was used), to playing the suped-up Steve made the film truly a story about how our greatest power lies within as opposed to externally.
Likewise, Hugo Weaving as Red Skull did a great job, especially since playing villains is no strange task to Weaving (Agent Smith, anyone?). Even with the German haircut he looked different never mind later when his red skull visage was revealed.
The story was simple and, like the first Spider-Man movie, I left the theatre underwhelmed. After seeing it a second time, I saw it for what it was and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the end battle was anti-climatic. It didn’t need to be an all-out brawl between Cap and Red Skull, but it felt brief considering these two are the heads and tails of the same coin. Some sort of super soldier/titan clash would have punched up the ending. Speaking of which, the ending of this movie has one of the best last lines to a flick ever. It was the kind of line I try to end my own novels on, one that finishes the tale but also has a punch to it.
As far as superhero stories go, the World War II setting gave the genre a breath of fresh air movie-wise as, thus, far, pretty much every super flick to come out recently is all set in the modern day. Alternate times and/or worlds with a superhero figure are few and far between. The Spirit is the only one that comes to mind in this regard.
After this movie and Avengers, I’m excited to see Captain America: Winter Soldier, which is presently set for 2014.

June 4, 2006

Dear Dave:

This is the second time I’ve apologized to you for my tardy reply. I got your letter beginning of April but with tax season demands, looming deadlines and my recent business trip to Florida (of which I just returned from), I wasn’t able to write to you. Have you been to Florida? Aside from the business aspect of my trip, I was also there for pleasure. The major highlight was Universal Studios, namely Islands of Adventure featuring a plethora of Marvel characters and, best of all, an incredible (or should I say amazing) Spider-man ride. You might enjoy something like that if you haven’t done so already.

So, on to our discussion.

Regarding objective standards for continuity in any given manuscript, there has to be some measure of which to adhere to. What I mean is basic commonsense “rules” that apply to any story. I may have mentioned it before as an example, maybe not, but one would be your main character’s hair color should remain the same throughout the entire book unless you specifically state he/she took the time to dye their hair. Or, you can’t have one guy start off as African American (Canadian?) and then turn Caucasian halfway through. Or if you make it clear Character Joe needs to get to Hotel A to solve his crime but then have him go to 7-11 to solve it there without mentioning why 7-11 was a suitable substitute or ever mentioning Hotel A again, it’ll cause a problem. That’s the continuity stuff I was referring to. Just basic things.

On the abortion issue, in short, whatever the jurisdictional rules are regarding having an abortion, they would need to apply to all jurisdictions in the province otherwise it would open doors to the gray issues again, which could lead us right back to where we started from. Your rules in Kitchener-Centre are the most rigid I’ve heard of, and of which I side with. (Though on a personal note I’m against abortion regardless of the circumstance leading up to it; after all, adoption once the baby is born is a possibility.) To be frank, I don’t know if we’ll be able to continue this “debate” based on that because killing is killing no matter which way you slice it. I don’t think I’m trying to reclaim the moral high ground (I freely admit I’m far from perfect) in comparing abortion to murder or drawing lines between the two. It’s more just me calling a spade a spade. Whether it’s abortion or the intentional pulling of a trigger, the result is the same: loss of life. One has taken the initiative to deny a human being their existence whether just a baby or a full grown person. Who are we to decide who lives and who dies? Who or what gives us that power? My original intent in writing you was not to get into any heated debate (I don’t think we’re at that point at present) but if this abortion discussion will take us down that road, then I politely withdraw from it and we can move on to something else. So that said, in summary, yeah, the jurisdictional approach would be best provided all jurisdictions are on the same page. I like the idea that if you had sex, had an unwanted pregnancy, now it’s your problem not society’s. That I agree with because, to me, it seems far too many folks (at least here in Winnipeg) dump their issues on “society” versus taking responsibility for them themselves. And that’s one of the things it really comes down to in the end when it comes to this thing called life: taking responsibility for one’s actions. Too many people are passing the buck and pointing fingers instead of raising their hand and saying, “Yup, that was me and here’s what I’m going to do to fix it.”

The idea for the Cerebus e-volumes was just that–an idea.

Opening the book of another discussion, I know the story of how Cerebus came to be so I won’t ask you to repeat it. However, I was wondering what prompted you to self-publish it instead of trying to sell a publishing firm on the idea? I always enjoy hearing the motives behind a self-publisher’s ventures. For myself, it was the age-old thing of being unable to sell my first manuscript, which led to my originally being duped by a vanity press. But after that, I took control, started the company and went from there. Since then I’ve found the experience rewarding despite some of the more trying days. The knowledge and experience gained is something you can’t buy nor learn from reading a how-to book on the subject.

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my letters. It’s always good to find a reply from you waiting in my mailbox.

I wish you all the best, Dave. I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Here you go. Four minutes from The Amazing Spider-Man due out in theatres July 3.

Got to say, this looks . . . AMAZING. (No pun. Well, maybe a little one.) Just hope it’s not some angst-filled flick geared for teens. Also hope, as the trailer implies, it isn’t about Peter’s destiny having been determined by his father back when he was a kid. Hope it’s just a red herring to throw off fanboys like me.

This looks really good, especially now that we get a good look at the Lizard.

I admit, from a writer’s standpoint, the plot as revealed in the trailer looks cliche–the whole “you were designed for this and your parents are part of a secret conspiracy of man/creature experiments” thing–but in terms of the Spider-Man character, even Peter Parker, it looks really good.

And it has Martin Sheen! Come on! See it just for that if you’re not into Spidey.

Without further ado, I presented you–well, not me but Columbia Pictures–the new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man.

Okay, to be honest, I wasn’t big on the idea of a new Spider-Man origin flick so soon after Sam Raimi’s trilogy, but, man, I’m also not opposed to being proven wrong either. Wow.

The other day I decided to widen my distribution on Sean Simmans’s and my 40-page comic book, Axiom-man: Of Magic and Men. I did the story. He did the art. Think Superman and Spider-Man meet Jigsaw from the Saw movies and that’s what it’s about. (But too be clear, my character, Magic Man, was around before the Saw films.) Now the comic is up at Amazon to make it easier for people to add to their collections.

Here’s the official synopsis:

For a time, people went missing, without a sign or trace as to their whereabouts. Then, for a time, they resurfaced, mutilated and broken, some with bizarre attachments surgically grafted onto their severed limbs. One name has surfaced as to the architect of these twisted acts of violence: the Magic Man. Axiom-man takes it upon himself to bring the Magic Man to justice, and uses the only bait he has to draw out this deadly maniac: himself. Welcome to the underground. 40 B&W pages.

Easy links to pick up the comic are:

Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Amazon.co.uk
Barnes and Noble
Other On-line Retailers

Hope you snag a copy. Thanks.

Copyright 2010-2011 by A.P. Fuchs. All rights reserved.
45: Old School Comics

Immediately I swung around, lashing my fist out and connecting square with the creature’s jaw. It was a bonehead move. Had I been off by even a couple millimeters, I could have easily snagged my knuckles on its teeth and probably would have gotten infected. The zombie shuffled back a step, paused, then stumbled towards me again, arms out.
My heart pounded—but not from fear. Only anger. These guys had caused so many problems and had hurt me personally with making Selena one of their own. Worse, making many Selenas one of their own.
The sound of shoes scraping against the sidewalk behind me forced me to reconsider decking the zombie in front of me. It was run or be killed. So I ran. I dodged around the nearest two undead, their hands raising into the air a second too late to grab onto me. Another I shoved to the side as I bolted down the sidewalk, hoping Jay was somewhere nearby.
Don’t go too far, I thought. We need to stay in the area. For now, anyway.
I scanned the undead that were a block or block and a half away. None of them looked like my sweetheart.
A figure ran out from between a couple of fallen sky signs just ahead. A pack of zombies lumbered after him.
Jay.
“Hey!” I shouted, waving my arms and hoping he’d heard me. It didn’t seem he did because he kept running and disappeared between a pair of apartment buildings across the street, the zombies still keeping after him.
But someone heard me. The undead in my nearest vicinity immediately set their rotten gaze in my direction and started towards me.
“Oh man . . .” I breathed, glanced back over my shoulder, and tried to come up with a plan. It seems there was only one in this undead world: run.
I took off further down the street, but a pack of zombies up and to my right saw me and joined their brethren in their mission to take me down.
A blur of color materialized on my left as I ran past an outlet store, then quickly disappeared. I halted my run, turned, and headed back. It was a comics shop, the kind that still sold old paper copies of comic books that nowadays most people read on their eReaders and telecom units. Maybe they had a back room I could hide out in. Maybe even a room with a lock on the door. Its large front window had been smashed during the riots when the zombie plague first hit. I stepped over the frame, my shoes crunching against the broken glass on the floor. Comics and old school graphic novels littered the floor like a squirrel’s nest, panels of Axiom-man, Superman, Captain America and others catching my eye as I stepped quickly through the shop and to the rear of the store. This was a place I had meant to go into back before all this chaos started. Interesting I was here now, looking to save my life amongst images of heroes that did it all the time.
A dented and overturned moneycomp lay on the counter to my left. Whoever smashed it up must have thought that because this place dealt in vintage comics, it must have dealt in vintage cash, too. Idiots. Paper money and coins were phased out completely a good ten years ago if not longer.
Behind me, undead feet shuffled through the scraps of comics on the floor. A loud thunk made me look over my shoulder only to see one of the zombies—a much-decayed one—had tripped over the window frame and landed on its face.
I was already at the back of the tiny shop, with nothing near me to use against them. Just a bunch of very old collectibles, some hanging on the wall behind me, others on the floor at my feet. Most of them were action figures. One was a Spider-Man webshooter for kids. There was a Superman costume, a plastic lightsaber, and a cap gun. I thought maybe I could get away with using the lightsaber, but its plastic handle was already cracked, presumably from whoever had been in here before me. There wasn’t a back room.
Adrenaline quickly kicked in and I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it out this time.
The zombies drew closer.
My foot stepped on something soft at first, but it gave way and my heel landed on something hard. I kicked at it through the scraps of comic pages covering it.
It was a sword. A fake one, but one that would still be dangerous regardless. Kind of. It was still in its black cardboard package, a red logo with what looked like a wild cat roaring, followed by silver letters reading: THUNDERCATS. Never heard of them.
I quickly bent down, picked up the sword and ripped it from its package. Crap. It was plastic, its gleaming silver paint job having fooled me. But the plastic felt hard, solid.
Realizing how stupid this was, a brief note of hope still sounded in my heart. I lifted the blade and wound it back like a baseball bat.
The first zombie moved in.
I took a swing.
< Last Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter >

Massive Kindle sale: AXIOM-MAN Superhero Novels on Sale for Just .99 Cents Each!

From Axiom-man Central:

For a very short time I’m offering my superhero novel series, The Axiom-man Saga, for just .99 cents a book for the Kindle. That’s a crazy discount, but I really want to spread the word about the character so I figure offering it cheap is the best way to do that.

Master link to The Axiom-man Saga on Kindle: http://amzn.to/gJd47V

Here’s a list of what’s available is (again, for just .99 cents, listed in reading order). I’ve also put an abridged synopsis beneath each title. Just click on the thumbnail to download your copy.

Axiom-man:

One night Gabriel Garrison was visited by a nameless messenger who bestowed upon him great power, a power intended for good. Once discovering what this power was and what it enabled him to do, Gabriel became Axiom-man, a symbol of hope in a city that had none.

First Night Out:

The messenger has fled, leaving Gabriel alone with mysterious abilities he knows little about. As he embarks on the path of discovery, Gabriel must try to understand why he was chosen to receive the most powerful of all gifts and, with the help from no other, come to a decision as to what to do with them. Even if it takes the death of an innocent to convince him.

Doorway of Darkness:

Gabriel Garrison’s secret identity has been compromised and the timing cannot have been worse. Redsaw has become more powerful than when Axiom-man last fought him, and he has determined to attain unstoppable power through the only means he knows how: murder. Chaos ensues and Axiom-man must find the means to stop Redsaw before the whole world is swallowed in a web of death.

Black Water (short story):

Bodies litter the sand of a friendly beach. Axiom-man flies down to Florida to investigate only to discover this isn’t your average series of murders. Something else caused the deaths of these innocent people, and something else has caused them to rise. Something unnatural, perhaps even supernatural. Something . . . from beneath the ocean’s black water.

Of Magic and Men (comic book):

For a time, people were going missing, without a sign or trace as to their whereabouts. Then, for a time, they resurfaced, mutilated and broken, some with bizarre attachments surgically grafted onto their severed limbs. One name has surfaced as to the architect of these twisted acts of violence: the Magic Man. Axiom-man takes it upon himself to bring the Magic Man to justice, and uses the only bait he has to draw out this deadly maniac: himself. Welcome to the underground.

The Dead Land:

A young boy goes missing. No clues. Nothing except the remnants of a black cloud, like the one coughed up from inside the Doorway of Darkness. A black cloud that takes Axiom-man to a world not his own. A dead world, where a gray and brown sky shrouds an entire city in a miasma of decay. The streets are empty. The young boy is nowhere to be found. Those he does find…are dead. And walking.

A full synopsis of each story is at the links above.

What’s also cool is you don’t need a Kindle Reader to read these books! Amazon has a free Kindle app available for a ton of devices, everything from your PC to your Blackberry to your iPad and more! Here’s the link to whatever you need: http://amzn.to/hJG7t1

Again, the .99 cent deal is only going to be on for a short time so please jump on this as soon as possible. I’ve been known to change prices within days of announcing a sale.

I hope you enjoy The Axiom-man Saga. It’s the most favorite thing I do and it’s my hope my love for superheroes really shines through its pages.

Recommended for fans of Spider-Man, Superman and Batman.

Here’s the master link to the entire saga once again: http://amzn.to/gJd47V

Thanks again.

Canister X Newsletter Vol. 1 No. 6

September 2010

This month has been absolutely insane in terms of workload, which is why this edition of the newsletter is coming to you on the last possible day.

Aside from being busy personally with weddings, birthday parties, family stuff and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (yeah, yeah, I know), professionally I’ve been working like a madman to get Possession of the Dead done on time so I can launch it at Central Canada Comic Con at the end of October.

So many days were spent logging in 4,000 words or more into the book, never mind rewrites, edits, formatting, and all the rest. As of this writing, I still have to piece together the cover, wait for my wife to finish reading it as first reader, and get the sucker off to press.

This is whirlwind publishing at its finest. However, despite the late nights, stressful days and all-round craziness, I’ve learned to really push myself creatively on a daily basis and have discovered what I’m capable of in terms of work production. This knowledge has now opened up doors for me, these newly-learned skills now something I can take forward into future projects.

I hope you celebrate this crazy workload with me next month when Possession of the Dead is released by buying either a paperback or eBook edition of the book. Thanks in advance.

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This month also brought around a foreign rights interest in Coscom Entertainment’s titles. Nothing is in stone yet so I can’t say who or what. I’ve been down this road before so I know not to go cracking open the champagne until ink is on the page. Just a heads up, however.

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As mentioned above, I spent a lot of time playing Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, the newest Spider-Man game out there. (I play on a PS3.)

I usually play a game on easy mode first, just so I can get deep into it, explore and learn more about it without constantly getting stuck, so finishing Spider-Man only took a few days. However, there are additional challenges per level you need to do aside from just beating the bad guy, and every time you beat a challenge, you get points (spider essence) plus you unlock new combat moves, and character features like health and costumes. There are 180 challenges in total and I’m sitting at 173 completed (I think). You’re able to go back and replay levels to complete them. When I hit 180, then I’m going to do the game again in normal mode, which in turn unlocks behind-the-scenes stuff like wallpaper art. The hard mode unlocks other things as well.

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If you’ve been watching my Twitter feed, you’ll know I heard from Hughes Capital Entertainment in LA just the other day. I’m waiting to connect with them either by phone or email to see what’s going on. Let’s hope the news is good.

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It’s a new season of Smallville, the final one, and the premiere was on the 24th. The premiere had us off to a promising start, planting seeds for future episodes, and a few twist moments. I’m particularly interested in when Clark becomes Superman, especially now that we’ve seen the suit, and also when he gets his glasses because right now, the whole secret identity thing doesn’t make sense as, because he’s working at the Daily Planet, people there know what he looks like without his glasses.

I’m sure this season’s story arc involving Darkseid will play into–maybe–some kind of time alteration or memory wipe or whatnot.

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The Canister X comic book project is still a go. I’m still at 11 pages because all of September was spent writing. There’s still a chance the first issue will be out by the end of October. We’ll see, but, yes, the comic is coming and once one issue is out, then more will follow and in a timely manner.

Speaking of art, I uploaded some of my old artwork to DeviantArt as a kind of showcase. It’s a work-in-progress in that more will be added as time goes on, especially once the Canister X comic is out. In the meantime, you can check it out here.

Lastly, in regards to comics, my wife, Roxanne, finished her comic book and is now in the inking stage. We’ll be releasing it at the comic con at the end of October. The book is called Fuzz Society and has a fan group on Facebook here. Please join and show her support. I read the comic and it’s really good and I’m not just saying that because I’m her husband. It’s coming out through Coscom Entertainment and I wouldn’t publish it unless it was publish-worthy. Really excited and happy for her.

Thanks again for tuning in. See you in October.

Best,

A.P. Fuchs
Winnipeg, MB
September 30, 2010

One week to go.