2. Where did he come from?
โข A splendid young lady named Wendi fell in love with roguish young fellow
named Donald.
โข They were married, and a few years later the young woman found herself
eating for two.
โข Zachary Haldeman arrived between the hours of 8 and 9 on a beautiful
Saturday morning, April 27th, 1991.
3. Why should we care?
โข Because this baby was destined for greatness.
4. Bullshit
โข I shit you not! You see, this was no ordinary lad. Pulsing through his entire
body, deep within his bones, spread throughout his intestines, was... the
creative impulse!
5. What did he create?
โข Itโs not that simple. He wasnโt always the genius he is today. Like many
artists before him, he came from humble backgrounds, and his early works
were, to put it lightly, modest successes.
6. What did he start out
creating?
โข Well, like most kids his age, he had a fondness for those crazy critters
known to the world as Pokรฉmon. But unlike many of his peers, he was not
content to admire the creatures from afar. He went out of his way to create
his own Pokรฉmon! And they were magni๏ฌcent! Why, hereโs one now!
11. What came next?
โข Around third grade, Zach became infatuated with the Japanese action
cartoon called Dragon Ball Z.
โข This was key in his creative development because, unlike the standard
episodic cartoons heโd been brought up on, this one was comprised of
complex, extended arcs that lasted enormous chunks of episodes.
โข And so, the next thing Zach worked on was an epic, long comic completely
and poorly ripped off of Dragon Ball Z. In all seriousness though, it was
fucking awful.
12. What was it called?
โข It was called Dark Hero, and featured a protagonist, Morok, who looked very,
very similar to Goku, just with bleached blonde hair (and bizarre patches
that were dyed purple).
โข I repeat, nothing about it was good. Its pacing was horrible, the plotting was
inconsistent, and the exposition was delivered in clumsy, long speeches.
โข But it was integral to his development as a writer.
13. โข Dragon Ball Z launched him further into the world of Japanese comics, where
he quickly became a huge fan of the comics of Rumiko Takahashi.
โข Her best-known series stateside is Inu Yasha, but Zach was fondest of Maison
Ikkoku and Ranma 1/2.
14. What did Maison Ikkoku teach
him?
โข Everything.
โข It taught him a value in character that Dragon Ball Z lacked. The main
characters were not easily de๏ฌnable, and they felt like real people with real
๏ฌaws.
โข Most importantly, they evolved through time. It could be argued that from
the beginning of Dragon Ball when Goku was a child to 518 chapters later
when Dragon Ball Z ended, he didnโt mature at all. In Maison Ikkoku, not only
did the characters change dramatically, but it was impossible to pinpoint any
exact moment when they did change. In fact, the character development in
Maison Ikkoku may be unrivaled in any other ๏ฌction Iโve come across.
15. What did he get from
Ranma 1/2?
โข Ranma 1/2 was an absurd action-comedy series that lacked much of the
character development of Maison Ikkoku. But the one-note characters didnโt
detract at all, since they all hit pretty funny notes.
โข More importantly, its action was more creative than Dragon Ball Z, and it
often set out to just have a good old fun time.
16. Did Zach draw a comic
ripping off of Ranma 1/2?
โข You certainly know Zach!
โข But not exactly. He planned a comic ripping off of Ranma 1/2. He had a ton
of characters, a lot of ideas for funny stories, and a pretty good central
concept.
โข But...he failed to ever make it.
โข Whoops!
17. What was it called?
โข It was called 21B, and it would have been awesome.
โข It was about a beautiful girl whose family has a terrible curse. When each
girl born into it turns 21, they have to marry the ๏ฌrst man they lay eyes
upon within ๏ฌve years or they will die.
โข And she lays her eyes upon some lost traveler who sheโs never seen before.
Itโs not a bad place to start a romance, and the main couple would probably
be more fond of each other than the main couple in Ranma 1/2.
18. So from what Iโve gathered, Zach
Haldeman is a legendary comic writer!
โข Youโve gathered poorly!
โข Indeed, Zach found it increasingly dif๏ฌcult to ignore his limitations as an
artist and no longer draws comic books.
19. โข But what medium was he
to tell stories in?
โข Well, he liked the longer storytelling of comics, so movies are too short, but
heโs not good at writing novels.
20. Quite the dilemma. Where
will he tell his stories?
โข In the ๏ฌne medium of television!
21. That totally makes sense given the
parameters previously outlined!
โข Yes it does!
22. What popular TV show is
he responsible for creating?
โข None! Heโs only 18 years old and is still in college. And possibly none ever.
23. What are some TV show
ideas he has developed?
โข He had a few ๏ฌltering through his mind for a very long time, until one day he
thought of one that would change everything.
24. What was it called?
โข It went through many titles, but the only one he remembers is At a Distance.
And he doesnโt remember what that meant.
25. This is interesting! What
was it about?
โข It was about a group of coworkers at a small childrenโs books publishing
house. It involved a large group of characters, all involved in their own soapy
and self-destructive behavior, but not treated soapily at all.
โข It had some good ideas actually, and I was convinced it was great for a short
time.
โข I still kind of like a lot of the ideas, but overall it wouldnโt really have worked
for a series. Some of the themes I still think are worth exploring.
26. I donโt understand. How
did it change everything?
โข Because, unlike anything else he had done, it had some good ideas. And he
created a series of distinctive, sometimes genuinely interesting characters
and relationships. He even grew to love these characters. In fact, even
though heโs created better characters, a part of him may always love the
seriesโ protagonist Anna more than any other.
โข But most importantly, it paved the way for him to have more good ideas, and
was the ๏ฌrst time heโd really incorporated the lessons he took from Maison
Ikkoku and the others into something somewhat original.
27. But I want to know more than could
reasonably be contained in this
slideshow!
โข I know you do, and that saddens me. Zach went on to come up with other
ideas that were actually pretty good and he canโt tell you because then youโd
know too much!
28. I still donโt understand the
point of this slideshow!
โข The point of this slideshow? Pure self-indulgence?
30. Really????
โข No!
โข Throughout the slideshow, an effort was made to not only show Zachโs
evolution as an artist, but the in๏ฌuences on that evolution.
โข Early on, he had very few in๏ฌuences, and his works were pale imitations.
โข But the older he got, the more in๏ฌuences he had and the more mature and
fully-formed his work became. Itโs safe to say that in a few decades, his name
will ๏ฌt right up there with Homer, Shakespeare, Hemingway, and Whedon!
36. Did that have anything to do with the rest of the
slideshow, especially the theme about in๏ฌuences that
you were just talking about?!
โข No!
โข Itโs time to go!
37. Bye!
โข Goodbye, good friend! You are now far more knowledgeable about...
