Family Talk, Cloud Town Tuesday
This video was brought to you by the free Comic Newsletter at https://danielmccloskey.com/ And by my wonderful Patreon supporters who have early access to all my videos and comics! https://www.patreon.com/freemoney Special thanks to my sister, Zoe McCloskey (see some of her amazing art at http://www.zoemccloskey.net/ ) and dad, Kevin McCloskey! ( Watch a video about his most recent book HERE https://youtu.be/VcglyVrUJrU?si=aypKxUJPyHZMwbZV ) Follow him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/kevinmcwho/ Follow me https://www.instagram.com/beancandan/ Early access to videos and more at patreon.com/freemoney There are spoilers so read ahead at your local library or favorite comic book retailer. Signed copies are available at my website and the following stores. If your comic book retailer would like to be added to this list, have them contact me via email and I'll send some signed bookplates their way. https://danielmccloskey.com/shop/cloudtown-dmn9a Signed copies are available at: USA: CA--Mission: Comics and Art, Comix Experience, Silver Sprocket, Cape & Cowl, Sour Cherry Comics, Escapist Comics, Knowhere Games & Comics, The Comic Bug, Current Comics, Hicklebees GA-- Read It Again Bookstore MI--Vault of Midnight NC--Ssalefish, The Country Bookshop NY-- Books of Wonder, Gutter Pop Comics, Anyone Comics, Desert Island Comics, Everyone Comics IL-- Quimby's OR--Cosmic Monkey Comics PA-- The Copacetic Comics Company, Phantom of the Attic, FireFly Bookstore, Main Point Books TX-- Space Cadets Collection Collection VA-- Velocity Comics WA-- The Comics Place, Destiny City Comics Not on this list and want to be? message me: https://danielmccloskey.com/press Praise for Cloud Town: "Weirdly and unexpectedly wonderful." Kirkus Reviews "A rollicking giant monster adventure will be a hit with fans of Hannah Templer's Cosmoknights and Tillie Walden's On a Sunbeam." School Library Journal "Meet Daniel McCloskey - a bold, new cartooning voice! Cloud Town is a beast! It's original. It's different. It's full of energy and life! Kaiju, skateboarding, manga, YA, so many ideas, and great cartooning! This is a special graphic novel. It feels like the future." Jim Rugg- The PLAIN Janes, Street Angel, Hulk Grand Design, Cartoonist Kayfabe channel "You're going to want to hold on tight for a wild ride from beginning to end! A thrilling adventure defined by Pen's strength and Olive's bravery." Eric Colossal- Rutabaga the Adventure Chef Psst, do you want a secret free prequel to Cloud Town? Here's the URL... https://danielmccloskey.com/ytsecret #vanlife #kidlitart #pitchingcomics #comix
Rough Transcript:CLOUD TOWN: FRIENDS IN STORMY WEATHER
Stripped to the studs.
Once upon a time there was an chunk of land jutting from a rip in the fabric of the universe, called Floating Island. It was home to giant monsters called Hurricanes, giant cyborgs called Storm Catchers, and normal teenagers like Niomi who was getting mercilessly bullied. This only seemed natural to Niomi since she had been the biggest bully in her class before the new kid, Olive, who piloted one of the two giant Storm Catchers, nearly killed her and completely embarrassed her in front of the entire school.
After that, everyone Niomi had hurt, along with anyone that saw her weakness as an opportunity, took every opportunity to hurt her and her feel small. Everyone except Pen.
Pen and Olive were friends that moved to Naomi’s school after their old school, Cloud Town High, was smashed by giant monster. But Pen saved Niomi’s life when Olive tried to end it. Which made no sense to Niomi.
All that is to say, Niomi was in a pretty bad situation. She tried to blend in and inoffensive, which only seemed to increase the amount of bullying she received. She tried to act like her old dangerous self but that backfired.
She only became a bully in the first place to avoid being hurt and now she found herself battered and bruised and alone. She wanted run away from the pain. But there’s no place to run on the island except into the Rip, from which no human has ever retuned.
She’s stopped in her tracks by something terrible. Olive in the cab of Storm Catcher Gi-2 (the one Olive pilots) with Pen riding shotgun. They’re looking for a relatively small monster that scurried over the wall and was hiding somewhere in the tick gloopy material that bellows from the Rip at night that everyone calls Cloud.
Olive does not treat Niomi well. She apologized for almost killing her that time, but believes she’s the one keeping Niomi from continuing her reign of terror. After all Olive believes that a bully is a bully even if they don’t have the ability to enact their torment at the time, and therefore feels completely justified in giving her former tormenter a scare or two. That’s exactly what she’s doing when the creature they’ve been searching for appears bites her storm catcher right in the face, which is bad news because it’s letting the Cloud into the Storm Catcher.
The Storm Catchers are not super-fancy high-tech mechs like you may have seen in other Fighting Mech series. They’re just clones of monsters from beyond the rip modified for human pilots. And like many of the creatures from beyond the rip, contact to Cloud allows them to regenerate. Which is why the cab of the storm Catcher is filling with brains and Pen and Olive scramble for the jump cables and emergency exit. There’s a countdown. The two girls repel to the ground. And just as the Storm Catcher gains enough where-with-all to turn and focus it’s newly grown eyes toward girls who had occupied it’s scull moments before, the countdown ends and its head explodes into flame.
Niomi sees Pen carrying Olive away from the flaming wreckage. It occurs to her that Pen had always been Olive’s shield and that’s exactly what Niomi needed now.
Just as Niomi starts to move toward the girls the monster that bit the storm catcher, seems to comically swallow Niomi whole.
Pen looks around as if she just heard something. Where did Niomi and that Creature go?
The creature spits Niomi out near a construction. There is a chasm in the ground that has yet to be completely repaired. The creature jumps into the chasm. Niomi is confused and slimy from monster spit. She roller skates away toward home.
At Olive’s dormitory Pen and Olive lay down to sleep, and Olive has a sudden vision of memory from the Storm Catcher’s point of view, which she keeps to herself.
At lunch the next day Niomi goes to sit with Pen, and Pen lets her. When kids throw things at Niomi, Pen catches the stuff and glares at the kids, and like magic the kids stop.
For the rest of the story leading too the climax Niomi will get closer and closer to Pen as she basically follows her to stay within her circle of protection. This impulse is reinforced by the fact that anytime Niomi is alone either kids show up to bully her, or that weird creature shows up and brings her to that chasm again! Besides being with Pis is actually really nice. Niomi sees a different, more generous way to live with less fear. Pen, skater girl that she is, even tries to teach Niomi to drop in a halfpipe by repeating the world of her mysterious old crush, “Don’t worry about getting hurt… because you will.”
Meanwhile Olive is getting more and more alarmed as she sees visions and hears voices. The only person she would feel safe talking to about this is Pen, but it’s become impossible to get Pen alone. Niomi is even following Pen around at work. This frustrates Olive and she starts to bicker with Pen and treat Niomi worse and worse. This comes to a head when Pen accidentally double books hang out times with Niomi and Olive, and not wanting to get yelled at by Olive, lies about what she’s doing. And of course gets caught.
Olive is heartbroken, and furious. Not only did her one real friend from Cloud Town High, lie to her, but she went of with the one person she knew had hurt Olive more than anyone else. Pen tries to follow her but Olive never wants to see her again. This could almost be good news for Niomi but she see’s that Pen is devastated. She tries to comfort her, but Pen snaps. Niomi didn’t realize that when Pen and Olive’s old school was destroyed class was is session. Not all of the students survived, and those that did were randomly assigned new schools. Pen cannot emotionally handle losing another friend, the way she seems to be loosing Olive, and the reason she’s been letting Niomi follow her everyone is that she noticed Naomi’s backpack when she was heading toward the Rip and guessed what Niomi had been planning to do. It’s the same reason she saved her life before, not for Niomi, and not even for Olive who needed to be stopped, but for herself. Pen cannot stand the idea of another kid diving in Cloud Town, like her friend did. The one that taught her to drop into a halfpipe.
Pen says she wants Niomi to leave her alone from now on, but she’s not allowed to die either. Nobody is allowed to die.
Without Niomi the kids start bullying again, and the creature comes back.
She goes down into the chasm, and finds a path that we recognize from some of Olive’s visions. Niomi gets to the bottom she finds some odd containment units, and a morose Olive Levett. He wants it… What is it.
I don’t know. But it’s
Dr Whit also shows up. Minnow
It’s talking to you? I was the pilot for this fellow.
He said all the right things. I tried to free him.
They said I was mad to think he wouldn’t kill everyone on the island.
Even just leaving, what would that do? Would the floating island float without him.
How can you believe something like that. After everything we did to them. After I took over I took over I made clones of them.
You mean your aunt.
Yes of Course.
. She decided to Raised them without ever letting their frontal cortex grow, except for in rare moments such as the one you experienced. I—she thought it might be more humane, so to speak.
YOu are Shirly and so is shi-2 Shirly 2..
Shi 2 explodes alarms go off…. Sounds like we are needed.
CLOUD TOWN: FRIENDS IN STORMY WEATHER BREIF
Starting to flesh it out.
(Can we do a parallel once upon a time with Olive? Maybe also Pen?
Me a bully? Who has literally been controlling my every move? Storm catcher philosophy everyone dominates when they can. Or storm catcher philosophy sweet, but people don’t trust it. Olive falling in love with storm catcher?)
Once upon a time there was an chunk of land jutting from a rip in the fabric of the universe, called Floating Island. It was home to giant monsters called Hurricanes, giant cyborgs called Storm Catchers, and normal teenagers like Niomi who was getting mercilessly bullied. This only seemed natural to Niomi since she had been the biggest bully in her class before the new kid, Olive, who piloted one of the two giant Storm Catchers, nearly killed her and completely embarrassed her in front of the entire school.
After that, everyone Niomi had hurt, along with anyone that saw her weakness as an opportunity, took every opportunity to hurt her and her feel small. Everyone except Pen.
Pen and Olive were friends that moved to Naomi’s school after their old school, Cloud Town High, was smashed by giant monster. But Pen saved Niomi’s life when Olive tried to end it. Which made no sense to Niomi.
All that is to say, Niomi was in a pretty bad situation. She tried to blend in and inoffensive, which only seemed to increase the amount of bullying she received. She tried to act like her old dangerous self but that backfired.
She only became a bully in the first place to avoid being hurt and now she found herself battered and bruised and alone. She wanted run away from the pain. But there’s no place to run on the island except into the Rip, from which no human has ever retuned.
Still Niomi packed a bag with hiking boots, a blanket, and everything someone who has never camped might thing a girl would need to survive in another dimension, and roller skated toward one of the maintenance ladders on the massive wall built to slow the monsters that come from the Rip. But before she got to the ladder (intro sheep) she runs into that glimmer of hope again. (Break conopy when olive is messing with niomi? As brains start to form Olive is seeing things?) (Pen notice backpack) Pen had always seemed to be Olive’s strength before Olive had her own personal giant to ride around in. What if Niomi stole that strength for herself?
Lucky for Niomi Pen can’t help but extend a hand to those in need, (Lunch niomi asks to sit with pen. kids throw stuff at niomi pen catches it) and Naomi’s acting a lot more like Olive used to, and visa vers. so she takes Niomi to the skate park. And teaches her a lesson she learned from her biggest crush, the guy who taught her how to drop into a half-pipe. “Don’t worry about getting hurt… because you will.” Niomi does not find this bit of wisdom to be very… wise. In fact she hast to hold back her ridicule because she’s a little jealous of this guy. Who is he? Nobody Niomi knows.
(Scraping out brains olive being bratty, annoyed that pen is spending time with Niomi, really annoyed pen mentions that they’re alike in any way)
(That night olive has another odd dream.. hearing voices?)
Niomi starts tagging along with Pen everywhere. She sits with her at lunch, they talk about the pig people at work which caused pen to become a vegetarian and Niomi makes pen snort peas through her nose, walks with her after school, and follows her around at work. She likes spending time with Pen, she feels safe.
The baby cyborgs that Pen is in charge of are cute and 8-foot-tall. And as an added bonus that this all seems to be making Olive furious. Olive has been trying to get Pen alone to talk to her about something, but Pen’s never alone anymore. Olive tries to pin her down for a talk on one of her rare days off, but it’s the day she already promised to go shopping with Naomi. Olive calls it out, “do you have plans with her?” “No” pen lies defensively “Family dinner, it’s required.” Besides Olive has been acting weird and mean lately.
Olive tries spending time with minnow, and asking him a few questions but he just freaks her out more. You see she’s been seeing things, and hearing things, from the mind of the Storm Catcher.
Out shopping Niomi picks up a teddy bear on a skateboard. “Would your skater-boy like this?” Pen scowls, “That’s stupid.” Niomi laughs and moves on. But Pen gives the teddybear a second look and looks at the price.
Olive goes to Pens house but the family is not having dinner. She asks Pen’s sister where she went. By the time she gets to the shopping district she’s already furious. But when she sees Niomi and Pen laughing together trying on different clothes. How could Pen do that, and lie about it to her. With Niomi, the monster who had done terrible things to her. Olive screams “YOU’RE NOT MY FRIEND!” Pen chases after her in desperation. Olive hops on the back of a bus. “I never want to talk to you again.”
On the walk back to Pen’s house Niomi carries most of the bags and the silence is thick.”That hurt,” says Pen. Niomi shrugs, and starts to quote Pen back to her, “Don’t worry about getting hurt…” before she can finish Pen glares at her and stops her in her tracks. Pen sighs. They’re almost in front of Pen’s old school. Niomi knew Pen and Olive transferred to her school because their old one was smashed by one of the giant monsters by the rip, but she hadn’t realized class had been in session. Flowers, candles, and pictures still littler the sidewalk in front of the destroyed school building.
Niomi sees a picture with Pen in it full of skater kids. There’s another full of nerds with Olive off the the right. Pen doesn’t look at Niomi she pulls out the teddybear on the skateboard. “When Olive and I started going to your school, we were kind of friends of convenience, but a lot happened since then.” Pen is crying hard. Naomi’s never seen her like this before, she’s at a loss.
Pen continues forcefully, “I won’t loose another friend.”
“I’ll go,” says Niomi. “I’ll talk to olive.”
Pen laughs viciously. “You’re literally the worst person on hearth for that job. All you know how to do piss people off and shop.”
Niomi is surprised and not surprised at the same time. “You saved me for you. You didn’t want to get hurt. You didn’t want to see another kid die in Cloud Town.”
Pen doesn’t look up. “When you were roller skating toward the belt, you had camping bag. Where were you going?”
Niomi’s eyes are wet now. “I wanted to run away.” She almost wipers it.
“You know people can’t go through the rip, right? That they turn into goo?”
Silence. Then, “That’s why you’ve been spending so much time with me?”
“You don’t get to die. Don’t act all offended. I know you’re just using me to keep other kids from doing to you what you did to them. And I don’t even care. You’re right people don’t get what they deserve. People get what they get but nobody else gets to die okay? You’ve done enough damage, already.” And Pen sounds almost menacing now. “And you’ve got to live with it.”
Silece.
“I’d like to be left alone for a little.”
Niomi gets sheepish. “You asked me why I saved a jerk like you. Count those flowers,” she says pointing to them. “That’s the exact number of kid that are allowed to die in Cloud Town on my watch.” Pen starts crying
Niomi goes to talk to olive trigger the thing somehow?
Can we have Niomi try to do something good that will trigger the final climax?
She deserves better than this… epic fall this is going to hurt. Pen and a few other people grab a tarp and spread it out. They land in a tree hit all the branches and land in a bush near by.
There’s a hurricane coming. (Shi-2 had exploded before)
There’s a lot of hurricanes coming. Shi-1 and Gi-1
They ride the sheep. Even though they’re not sure wha't happening.
Calls family. Get to a bunker. NOT A THE BASEMENT A REAL BUNKER! No time to explain. Alert level indigo.
What are we doing. They are cans. This ones empty and the door’s open. The other one gets kicked makes the hinges glint under the rust and paint. Crape off the paint, the scrappers have tools and stuff. We just blew the brains out of their coppers this guy
They’re going to kill everyone. What other option is there? Throw it into the ocean. Minnow says that wouldn’t be very nice.
Monsters are assembling all around them… the baby storm gathers are free and get up to the front. Give pen a can opener.
She opens the can alll the cloud streams toward it. The island begins to shake. Begins to fall a giant man with a beard and hair convincing his body inhales all the monsters and turns in furry toward pen and her friends who stare back in awe. The baby storm catchers crowd him and his ankles. He shrinks down to see them. They take him by the hand. Parts of the island start falling away. They take him to Gi-2 and Shi-2 their faces grown back as young but large and the hug the father carrying them back through the rip. They all feel like they’re falling. They are falling. The island is falling. People scramble find and dust off life jackets and rafts. Gi 1 hands the children to a woman standing at the rip. She is as big as mountain and has eyes like Pen’s
The island hits the water and stabilizes on the top of the land that once stood below it. The nation that was bombed so long ago. The look the giants give is sad and angry and dissaproving and when the walk away the Rip closes behind them.
Niomi and pen are skating a halfpipe by the beach. Minnow is is playing in the water with olive and tiff, sad. I wish I could understand dolphin. Cheer is freaking out about a wasp kill it kill it.
Niomi carefully picks it up. Cheer looks amazed she blows it away. I’m going to get a snow cone. You coming? Walks over with her. You got stung stung huh? Yeah could you check if the stingers in there? That’s bees, you’re alright. I know. Gets snowcone.
END
Brain room is now just a bunch of empty jars. In another room… Terry wakes up in a younger body… blurry eyes.. sorry it took so long, I hope you slept well. Dr white?
Dr white is slumped over looks uncontious. Dr white. I was making myself a new body when you got hurt, bad timing. You can call me Shirley, officially my own niece.
Current or near current opening to brought up slips on pee rescued by pen has conversation in action about Niomi tells pen she’s an idiot that doesn’t make sense. What everyone picking you is the pinnacle of reason is it? Olive’s a genius because she keeps almost killing you? At least they make sense.
Olive scops the two and puts her hand out so they can get off onto the platform with the middle schoolers.. Pen drops niomi down. I get how I might seem pretty stupid….
To a coward.
Pen turns and yells at Olive, Let me in! Don’t you need some janitorial services?
Buss girl rubbernecking YESSS! SHE PEED HER PANTS SHE PEED HER PANTS!
Chapter:
Pen and niomi getting ready to fight the hurricane. Don’t bullies know they’re bullies. While being over the top hurting the hurricane.
Niomi on bus with pee pants sitting next to tiff and cheer. Do yo think I’m a coward.
Been acting like it lately. Letting people walk all over you. I don’t like to see it. And it makes our lives harder. Hey tiff make sure you get picture of the wet spot for the school news feed. Tiff takes a picture of Naomi’s crotch. Niomi glares. Grabs the phone and throws it out the window. That a girl! Says cheer.. Tiff is miffed. “I just got that.”
Niomi suits up new Bully crusher dress new hair.
Goes bad…
Even niomi laughs when she sees the bedraggled post beat up