As you know, Shannon Muir and I are celebrating the tenth anniversary of our online comic book FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY.
The story involves a team of teenagers who have chosen to put on costumes and be super heroes to support their leader Debra Clay who discovered she has inherited super powers from her grandma who was the World War II heroine Flying Glory.
On top of that, the team is also a rock band, first starting out performing for their high school and in local concerts. Now they are FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY; and their heroic actions have brought more attention to the band and their music.
And their music is our music. Or rather, their lyrics are Shannon's lyrics.
One of the ways that we try to make our comic book unique from other super hero comics, or web comics, is that at least once per issue we include lyrics to a song that the band performs. All the songs that have appeared in the comic book over the last ten years have all been written Shannon Muir.
Music as part of an action adventure is how Shannon and I got to know one another.
When we were younger, and she lived thousands of miles away, we both enjoyed watching an animated television series called JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS.
Originally created to sell dolls, JEM was a well-crafted television series that had and still has an audience and fandom of boys and girls, men and women. Developed by writer Christy Marx the series dealt with a wide range of topics both fun and serious beyond the simple adventure.
As a young teen watching such a show, Shannon did something I never would have had the nerve to do. She wrote to the production company and was soon in contact with Christy Marx herself to learn about the show and writing for animation. Marx soon became Shannon's mentor and friend.
I would later meet Marx online, and then at a science fiction convention. Whatever I said must have impressed her enough because when Shannon was ready to move down here to Los Angeles she asked Christy about me. She must have said something nice, because we've been together for over fifteen years.
The reason I bring this up is that Shannon and I have not intended to make FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY a copy of JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS, it's quite different, but Marx's influence is there.
One such influence is the inclusion of a song per story. There were usually two songs, I believe, per episode of JEM.
In our current issue, as part of our 10th anniversary celebration, Shannon is including three songs as part of the story. The next song page will appear next week.
Shannon has now assembled all her songs written for FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY, as well as songs written for another series she developed called ENCHANTRESSHAWKE. Along with the lyrics to over fifty songs, she has also written an extensive history as to where each song came from.
Her songbook is entitled FLYING GLORY FLASHBACK: Celebrating 10Years Of The Lyrics, Words, and History Behind The Webcomic
It can be punched in both paperback book or as an ebook.
To all the fans of FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY as well as those who like music and to discover where lyrics come from, I encourage you to support Shannon and purchase her book.
Thank you all for putting up with this little promotion.
Best
Kevin Paul Shaw Broden
Four Names of Professional Creativity
