Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards

I went down to the Durham Public Library and perused the fiction section for graphic novels. Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards is one of the many GNs that jumped out me. By writer Jim Ottavani with art by Big Time Attic (Zander Cannon, Kevin Cannon, and Shad Petosky) and a cover by Mark (Xenozoic Tales) Schultz, the full title is Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards: A Tale of Edward Drinker Cope, Othniel Charles Marsh, and the Gilded Age of Paleontology.

The story is a highly fascinating account of the rivalry between Cope and Marsh in the early period of paleontology as they jockey for digs, naming rights, and notoriety. As with all GT-Lab books, this story is enhanced history with the facts embellished by Ottavani to move along the plot. However, when you have Cope and Marsh alongside cowboys and the famous PT Barnum, there isn't much embellishing that needs to be done as they plant fossils, usurps digs and otherwise snipe at each other to establish early dominance causing one to burn through and inheritance and the other to die with only his body to donate to science. The reader is left to speculate to what good they might have been able to accomplish if either could set aside ego and grievances to work together.

The art by Big Time Attic is dominated by Zander Cannon so it's the style that we've become familiar with in his other projects. This time it is embellished by being printed entirely in sepia tones with a single half tone shade and is filled with rather colorful historic characters. What stands out most to me is the hand lettering which is finely showcased when PT Barnum shows up in the beginning and the end. PT Barnum's speech is embellished with flourishes of the lettering that you would find on carnival posters.

From beginning to end, this is a fine and entertaining comic book look at 2 fascinating character from a bygone era and comes highly recommended.

Every month, I go through Diamond's Previews to figure out what I want. From now until, I will blog about what I see that catches my attention. Keep in mind that most of my comic buying consist of #1s, collected editions (hardcovers or TPBs), or OGN (original graphic novels). I buy #1s to see if it's something that I will get later in a collected edition

This is the Rest of Previews (not Dark Horse, DC, Image, Marvel) Edition.

page 186: Echo #18 (Abstract)
Terry Moore won me over with Strangers in Paradise and he kept the ball rolling with his Marvel books and now with Echo.

page 188: The Black Coat: Or Give Me Death... #3 (Ape)
Writer Ben Lichus is a local, so my local comic book store carries Black Coat. Even if they didn't support it and even if Ben wasn't local, I'd be interested in this Revolutionary War "super" hero tale.

page 202: Fearless Dawn #1 (Asylum)
Fearless Dawn is one of the many features from the Bomb mini series (and now TPB). I've been following Steve Mannion's career for years and still anxiously await everything that he does.

page 228: The Incredibles: City of Incredibles TP (Boom!)
I hate ... hate ... HATE the Boom! collections. They are too small to be regular size, but not small enough to be digest. However, I love the Incredibles and my kids do as well.

page 229: The Mupper Show: The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson TP (Boom!)
see the previous comment.

page 241: Buck Rogers #6 (Dynamite)
Dynamite won me over with the #0 issue of this series. I anxiously await the collected edition.

page 246: The Talisman: The Road of Trials #1 (Del Rey)
The Talisman is one of my favorite King books. I'll be checking out this first issue to see if this series will be worth getting in collected format later.

page 255: Bloodrayne: Revenge of the Butcheress (Digital Webbing)
I buy all Digital Webbing books and you should too as some of the best new talent in the industry comes from Digital Webbing.

page 271: Grimjack: The Manx Cat #4
I already own the ComicMix version of this series, but I'll buy it again when IDW collects it so that it matches my other Grimjack trades. I love Tim Truman and I love his work with Ostrander on Grimjack. That's all it takes for me. I think the greatest strength of Grimjack is that Cynosure can be used to tell a story in any genre.

That's it for me and Previews this month. Catch me next month.

Previews Blogging: September Edition (Dark Horse, DC, Image)

Every month, I go through Diamond's Previews to figure out what I want. From now until, I will blog about what I see that catches my attention. Keep in mind that most of my comic buying consist of #1s, collected editions (hardcovers or TPBs), or OGN (original graphic novels). I buy #1s to see if it's something that I will get later in a collected edition

This is the Dark Horse, DC and Image Edition.

DARK HORSE
page 26: Age of Reptiles : The Journey #1 (of 4)
If you are a dinosaur fan, then this comic is a must. Delgado draws dinosaurs like few others. There are 2 other Age of Reptiles collections and I recommend them highly. My only regrets are that 1) they are hard to find and 2) they are not available in hardcover. I would love to see this series collected with the other 2 series into one large hardcover colelction.


page 28: Conan the Cimmerian #16
New Conan. Tim Truman. Nuff said. I'm getting it... in hardcover format.

page 29: The Barry Windsor-Smith Conan Archives Vol 1
I'm a huge Conan mark. You can convince me with very little effort to buy anything Conan and this is no different. This BWS Conan is the format it deserves.

page 37: Hellboy : The Wild Hunt #8 (of 8)
I read all Hellboy series and some of the ancillary series. However, it will be a long time before I get to this series as I'm reading Hellboy in the new hardcover editions. That's fine with me as they are well worth the wait.


DC COMICS
page 72: Batman and Robin #6
Frank Quitely and Morrison sold me on this series, so I'm along for the ride when the entire run is collected.

page 73: Detective Comics #859
Williams has created and absolutely amazing look for Kate Kane, Batwoman and having read the first issue of this new run on Detective, I'm happily waiting for the collected edition.

page 89: Warlord #8
I'm a sucker for sword and sorcery, so I anxiously await the collected edition for this new Warlord series. Add artist Chad Hardin into the mix with writing and art by Mike Grell and this is definitely on my buy list.

page 108: World of Warcraft #25
The Simonsons working together on a sword and sorcery fantasy book. Sign me up.

Page 121: Unwritten #7
Anxiously waiting for the first TPB. I was sold after the first issue.


IMAGE
page 136-141: Image United #1 (of 6)
Anyone who was a fan of early Image is on board for this series. Now, I'm not a fan of all of early Image. I'm not a fan of crossovers, but I'm vaguely interested in this series.

page 151: Chew Vol 1: Taster's Choice TP
Absolutely can not wait to read this. How can you not love a detective that solves crime by eating parts of the victim. It's sick and twisted and so full of potential. Would prefer a hardcover, but will take what I can get.

page 154: The Walking Dead Book 4 HC
I sat down and rewad books 1 and 2 in a book store. I'm very interested in re-reading those as well as 3 and 4, so it's time to start my Walking Dead collection. If you like zombies and aren't reading this, then you should be. This is one of the best titles that Image produces (alongside Invincible).

page 156: Bomb Queen VI #3 (of 4)
Bomb Queen is a guilty pleasure that just doesn't take itself too seriously. In the wrong hands, this book could be very bad, but Jimmie Robinson walks the fine line between farce and self-parody.

page 158: Elephantmen #23
Elephantmen is the best pure sci-fi comics on the shelf. It's beautifully produced with high production and design values. The hardcovers some of the best looking on the shelves.

page 160: Invincible #68
I collect this only in hardcover format, but Invincible is one of the best and most pure fun superhero concepts being published.

page 162: The Mice Templar : Destiny
I'm a sucker even for sword and sorcery featuring mice as the lead characters.

page 163: Savage Dragon #154
This is one of very few comic book that I continue to collect in single format. Savage Dragon is pure fun and it's always great to see Larsen do his thing. After 150+ issues, I still can not predict where Larsen is headed, but I thoroughly enjoy the ride.

page 165: Underground #3 (of 5)
Jeff Parker is an great storyteller when writing and drawing (see his self-published Interman). He's been doing a lot more writing lately (see Agents of Atlas from Marvel) and it's been all very enjoyable. Steve Lieber is one of my favorite artists.

That's it for me and Dark Horse, DC, and Image Previews this month. Catch me on Tuesday with my picks form the rest of Previews.

Previews Blogging: September Edition (Marvel)

Every month, I go through Diamond's Previews to figure out what I want. From now until, I will blog about what I see that catches my attention. Keep in mind that most of my comic buying consist of #1s, collected editions (hardcovers or TPBs), or OGN (original graphic novels). I buy #1s to see if it's something that I will get later in a collected edition

This is the Marvel Edition.

page 5: Captain Reborn #5 (of 5)
Brubaker's run on Cap is on of the very few books that I continued to get in singles. I've switched to the collected editions shortly before issue 600, so I'm patiently waiting to read Reborn after I re-read the entire Brubaker Cap series.

page 8: The Stand: Soul Survivor #2 (of 5)
The Stand is on of my all time favorite Stephen King books. I've already read the first series (in collected form), I'm waiting to read the second series (in collected form), so I'll patiently wait to read this version (in collected form).

page 9: The Marvelous Land of Oz #1 (of 8)
Just finished reading the Wonderful Wizard of Oz hardcover and I anxiously await the hardcover version of this. I'm skipping the first issue as I know that I will be buying this in hardcover format.

page 14: SOLEIL
Sky Doll: Doll's Factory #1 (of 2)
Kookaburra K #1 (of 3)
I love Marvel's Soleil imprint. I read the first Sky Doll series so I don't need anything other than that to sell me on the next series. Kookaburra is Humerto Ramos. Give me Ramos on anything that's not a superhero title and I'm likely to buy it.

page 15: Ultimate Comics Avengers #4
Read the first issue. Loved it. Waiting for the collected edition.

page 17: Ultimate Comics Spider-Man#4
Read the first issue. Loved it. Waiting for the collected edition. Ultimate Spider-Man has been my lone Spider-Man purchase for years and even with this reboot is remains my lone Spider-Man purchase.

page 18: Amazing Spider-Man #611
Remember what I just said. This issue changes that. Deadpool written by Joe Casey in a Spider-Man book drawn by Eric Canete! If this was Spidey all the time, I'd read Amazing more often.

page 31: Fantastic Four #573
I love the concept of the FF, however, I haven't followed the FF since Ringo and Waid. I try a new issue with every new creative team and I've very much looking forward to Hickman's FF. If Alan Davis was the interior artist, I've be sold.

page 34: Incredible Hulk #604 Son of Hulk #17

Skaar and Sakar are the stars of these titles. How can you go wrong with Hulk as Conan the Barbarian?

page 59: Astonishing X-Men #32
The only X-Men title that I follow. I like to think of this as the modern X-Men without all the crossovers.

page 77: Incognito
I enjoy Brubaker and Phillips as a team. Put them on any thing and I'm there.
page 78: Powers #1
I'm starting over with Powers. I haven't followed it since it left Image. If it's as good as I remember, then I will start new when this collection is published.

page 79: Powers Encylcopedia Vol 1
I'm a sucker for this type of stuff and since I'm a lapsed Powers reader it makes since for me to read this.


and now we enter the bread and butter of my Marvel purchases ... the collected editions!
page 88: The Stand : American Nightmares
I simply can't wait to read more of the Stand in comic format. There is no doubt that this will be on my reading list as soon as it arrives.

page 95: Runaways : Homeschooling Premeire HC
I've been sold on the Runaways since I read the very first volume a few months ago. I'm still catching up, but by November I should be ready to read this next volume in the saga.

page 96: Avengers: The Korvac Saga Premeire HC
I've always been a huge Avengers fan and the Korvac Saga is a classic Avengers tale that I've glad to see collected.

That's it for me and Marvel Previews this month. Catch me on Friday with my Dark Horse, DC, and Image picks.

Fantastic Four #306 Commission

FF #306 is the first comic I ever purchased. I've looked for the cover or even an interior page of the original art for years. Thus far, I've only found one page and it is owned by someone on the same quest as I am.

Finally, I resolved just to recreate the cover.

I contacted Drew Moss to work on this commission. I wanted him to give me his interpretation of the cover. The idea is to do a complete recreation of the cover with Drew doing pencils, Stacie Ponder on inks, and me doing lettering and colors.



Here you see Drew layouts for the cover. He's changed all the poses to make them more close-up and more dramatic. I'm really digging Diablo's pose.

However, there are some minor changes that were made in the pencils.


Before we get to the pencils let's take a look at the head shots for the corner box. Drew pencilled the heads for the corner box on a separate sheet of paper. These are actually quite small (The Thing's head is about 1 in x 1 in).

I will be digitally inking these. Drew's knowledge of the FF shows here with Reed smoking a pipe. No Marvel character smokes at all any more, but Reed did at one point.



Here are the finished pencils by Drew. The only real change is Sue engulfed in flames replaces the golden transmuted Crystal.

I'm not sure why the original cover used Crystal rather than Sue. In the story, Crystal is taken out first (after signaling for the FF) and first battle although 1 panel longer than Sue's is less visual.

Far be it from me to question the great Buscema, but for this recreation, we went for the classic four members of the FF.

Now that I've scanned all the images, I can get to work on laying out the cover and mailing Stacie the pencils to ink.


Stay tuned for more at a later date.

Comic Lettering: How To and How Not To!

Comic book lettering is the art of putting those neat little words that you read into the neat little balloons so that you can read them. It's mostly design and like all design sometimes it's done well and A LOT of the the time it's done poorly. Good lettering should be seen, but not noticed. If something about the lettering or balloons is pulling you away from the story, then the letterer has failed to do his job correctly.

Almost all lettering done today in comics is done digitally using computer fonts. There are 2 major places dedicated to producing high quality comic book related fonts. These 2 places are Comicraft founded by Richard Starkings and Blambot founded by Nate Piekos. Both places provide high quality fonts as well as articles about lettering. Those articles can be augmented by the lettering videos available at NinjaLettering.com. If you still find yourself with questions, then head over to the lettering forum at Digital Webbing. Some of the top letterers working in the current industry can be found at Digital Webbing including (but not limited to) Nate Piekos, Clem Robins, Tom Orzechowski.

Now while we can not all be professional letterers, we can all be better than sub standard letterers. Those you SHOULD NOT listen to are those that offer tutorials for lettering using anything other the Illustrator. While you can use other tools, they are undersuited for the job at hand. If you MUST use those tools, then you should do so mimicking the Illustrator method as much as possible.

If you don't think lettering is that important, then contact me and I'll get my youngest to letter for you. Otherwise, learn to letter well (I did) or hire a letterer (I'm generally available).

PVP Awesomology: Truth in Advertising

Scott Kurtz (of PVP fame) posted the following in his blog :

Image wanted to me to let you know that you’re time to nab a signed and numbered edition is running out. We are only printing 300 of our signed and numbered edition. These come with a full color tip-in sheet signed and numbered by ME. We’ve already sold through half of those editions and that’s not including our offline orders. Both editions are being sold at a reduced price online. These will cost more if you wait for them to hit stores or pick one up at a local retailer or book shop, so act now while you can.

The bold area immediately caught my attention and I immediately went to check out the great pricing. Kurtz is offering the $99.99 AWESOMOLOGY for $85. That's a 15% discount. Of course, there is still shipping which turns out to be $10 to me via the cheapest method. So the $99.99 book would cost me a grand total of $95.00. My saving $5 (5%).

Most comic books shops offer some sort of discount. Even a 5% discount is the same as buying it direct from Scott AND it has the added benefit of supporting a local business.

So much for truth in advertising. If you're a student in Durham, stop by any of the Ultimate Comics stores and you receive an automatic 10% discount. Become a subscriber and you can get a 10-25% discount (based on sales).

Furthermore, all Image collections end up on Amazon. Amazon will most likely give you at least a 10% discount AND free shipping. The Awesomology is very similar to the DC Absolutes (in pricing and size). Amazon offers those at 35%+ discounts AND FREE SHIPPING.

Overstock.com has it for $61.90 with a best online price match guarantee. If you find it anywhere cheaper before you buy it, they will match the price. If you find it cheaper after you buy, they will give you $500 is in store credit.

Tales of Wonder has it for $69.99

As a comic book creator, I think you should support creators directly as much as possible. However as a creator, I'm not going to say something is such a great deal when in fact it's not. Come on, Scott, you can do better.

RIP

My aunt, May, died today from Cancer.
She once took the time to teach a 6 year-old how to thread a needle and sew a button. He can sew to this day thanks to his aunt and misses her deeply.

Italian Chicken and Noodles

Tonight, dinner is an oldie but goodie, Italian Chicken and Noodles. There's nothing really difficult about the meal as it's fried chicken smothered in a tomato based pasta sauce and served with egg noodles.

Basically, you fry up some chicken and heat your favorite pasta sauce. As each piece of chicken is cooked drain it and them place it into the sauce. After all the chicken is completed and submerged in the sauce, let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove all the chicken and prepare your egg noodles. Mix the remaining sauce into your egg noodles and you're done. Top with Parmesan cheese as desired and enjoy.

My father prepared this meal at least once or twice a month and it always was accompanied with a story about his Italian grandfather (via marriage not blood). The sauce was always homemade built up from tomato paste,but alas the sauce recipe was lost to me when my father died (although perhaps my grandmother knows it).

Tonight for Sunday dinner is Italian Chicken and Noodles, garlic bread, corn on the cob and a garden salad.

Illustration Friday: Vacant

Beside my grandmother's house for years stood a vacant house. It was unloved and uncared for . Over the years, it slowly just rotted and decayed. It was slept away in a flood and now a trailer sits where this house once stood.

Apple Marinated Pork Shoulder

Most of the posts in this blog revolve around my art, but more and more of my projects are stuff that I can't share, so rather than leave the blog idle, I'm going to start posting about the other aspects of my life.

As most know, I'm a father of 3 and we'd taken in my nephew (Eli) so now, I'm essentially the father of 4. Every night we sit down to the dining room table to have dinner. Those dinners are mostly prepared by Deanne. However, on the weekends, I get a chance to flex my culinary muscles. I'll attempt to post my weekly experimentation here. For me cooking is not an exact science, so the recipes you find under the Dinner Recipes label will not have exact measurements. So with that in mind, feel free to take my recipes and expand them as you wish, however please share any changes you make along with the results.

Without further ado, I bring you....

Apple Marinated Pork Shoulder

2.5 lbs Boston Pork should sliced 1/4" thick
1 medium sized apple (I used Golden Delicious)
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup BBQ sauce (I used Kraft Honey)
3 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
garlic powder
onion powder
celery seed
Italian seasonings


Slice the apple into 1/4" pieces.
Place the apple and all other ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Coat the pork with all the mixture and set in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (mine sets for 5 hours).

Heat a pan under medium heat.
Add the pork to the pan and cook until done (about 5 minutes on both sides).

And that's it.
We're having this for dinner tonight along with a small salad (lettuce, cucumber,onion, boiled egg), corn, broccoli and cauliflower*.

* We're attempting to introduce new veggies into the kids diets, so every week we pick a new veggie for the kids to try. The last veggie was Brussel sprouts (UGH!) and they went over very well when I blended intto mush and added them to the sauce for Shepherd's Pie. This week it's cauliflower.

More Work in Progress: Warmageddon Tarot the Devil

I left left you with this image...


The next step I drop more shadows into the dragon and place the female into the shadows with the dragon.


Next, I finish off the dragon.
I dropped the BG color to make the wing transparency easier to see.
The shadow on the female have been lighten a little.

That's all for now!
Next is KRI'LANG THE EXECUTIONER!

Work in Progress: Warmageddon Tarot the Devil

I was lucky enough to get the ever talented Drew Moss to contribute to the Warmageddon Tarot set. Drew is an artist that has grown leaps and bounds over the years and I'm very happy to work with him on anything.

The commissioned piece is the Devil card. This called for a devil, a throne, a nude male and a a nude female. Since this image was to be available to the general public, Drew was instructed to the cover up the nude figures. Instead of a throne, we place our devil (Kri'lang the Executioner) on a dragon. The Image below is what Drew turned in, penciled traditionally with digital inks. The original pencil art will be on sale at some point at BullCityComics.com.

I will be coloring this and hopefully it will be completed in time to be available for the Baltimore Comicon. As I color this, I will upload it in steps. Below is the first stage. This is basically all the flats with the rock platform rendered.


Stage 2 include the 2 human figures rendered.


With Stage 3, I'm playing around with the colors, trying to find the right color for the dragon and the background. I'm not totally committed to this color scheme, but it will do for now. The mouth and head of the dragon have been fully rendered.


This all for now, check back with me. The next updates will focus solely on one image.

Coming Full Circle

Very few know my origins as a small press comic book creator, so I'm going to share where I began now because as of last week, I've come full circle.

Back in 2003, Dan Berger (now managing editor at Mirage Studios home of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) was publishing his Gutwallow comic via Digital Webbing. He had just finished a 3 issues mini series and was collecting it into a TPB and needed a colorist for the cover (that's not the final colored image to the right). Publisher, Ed Dukeshire, posted the cover in the Digital Webbing forums with an open call for colorist to color it. Being a Gutwallow fan since Dan's earliest efforts with the character, I decided to dust off my copy of Photoshop and give it a try. This was my first effort ever to color anything using the computer (no that's not my effort to the right either). I didn't win the contest, but I believe I was in the TOP 3. The winner did a much better job than I. However, within a mnth or so, I was contacted by Ed to lay down some grey tones on an upcoming issue of Digital Webbing Presents and have continued to receive regular work inking, coloring and adding gray tones since.

Last year, Dan Berger contacted me to grayscales for a TMNT story over Andie Tong's art. This year at Heroes Con, Dan mentioned that Gutwallow was returning in an issue of Tales of the TMNT. (Okay Dan told Deanne that Gutwallow was returning because Deanne is Gutwallow's #1 fan. She has a Gutwallow tattoo design by Dan on her left shoulder blade.) Dan contacted me again last week and asked me to do the grey tones for the Gutwallow appearance in Tales of TMNT #51. I signed the contract and received the first 10 pages of the story today.

Upon receiving the pages, the very first thing I did was single out the panel with the largest image of Gutwallow to experiment with how I wanted him to appear. The result is below.


And with that my minor comic book career has come full circle.

Illustration Friday: Sour

I'm going to try to get back into doing these Illustration Friday topics. No promises as I've got a move coming up in the next 2 weeks. But here's my illustration for SOUR.

A Plethora of Projects

I've been silent for quite a while. My silence, however, is never a sign of me not having anything to do. In most cases it's a sign of me having lots to do. Here's a run down of the projects that I've been working on over the last couple months.

Warmageddon Volume 1 : Foundations
http://www.bullcitycomics.com/prodView.asp?idproduct=93

Foundations is a 128 paged collection of the 11 Warmageddon stories that form the cornerstone of the land of Warmageddon. This project came about from a conversation with my buddy, Mike Imboden. He wanted a TPB collecting the Warmageddon stories that he had written. As a surprise to him, I put this collection together with 10 of the 11 stories written by Mike. The cover was drawn by Jake Bilbao, inked by James Taylor, and colored by myself. From start to finished this collection was produced in little over 2 weeks time and was ready for purchase at HeroesCon.



I purchased the original inks of the cover and gave them as a gift to Mike. The cover features all the main characters from the stories featured in the volume with a special edition in the buttom left corner. Prints of this cover will be available soon at BullCityComics.com and any convention where we are set up.


Kid Lightspeed and ... #1: Pi is Squared
written by Aaron Thomas Nelson
illustrated by Michael Nigro

I'm not sure of the exact name of this title, but I have lettered the first 8 pages of the first issue and expect to receive the remaining pages. This is a fun tongue-in-cheek story set in space.
Noble

This is gray scale project of just 10 pages. Page 6-10 have been completed and I'm awaiting pages 1-5 (they are being inked at this moment, I believe).

Mr Phelps Space Detective #1
written by Shawn Granger
illustrated by Jason May

This is another letter job for a space adventure. I have 3 issues of Mr Phelps to letter and spo far I have completed the first issue. I plan to start the second issue this week.


Ultimate Avenger
story by Jeff McClelland
pencils by Travis Sengaus

This was a 3-paged digital inking job which turned out quite well. I've been a fan of Sengaus's pencils since I saw them on a Klik-Boom story in Digital Webbing Presents. By biggest complaint about his work is usually the chaos as he usually uses very organic panel borders and often breaks through the boards with art (in all direction). This was a more restrained Sengaus and was a pleasure to ink. I think this would look amazing with some simple bold coloring.


Gene Gardens #2
I lettered #1 so I returned to letter #2. It's a pleasure to work on Shawn Granger projects (even if he does change the scripts after the first round of lettering).


Eirian and Orumil: Season 3
I was lucky enough to snag by buddy, Grant Perkins (of Doxxville fame) to complete the pencils for Season 3 of the Eirian and Orumil strip. I digitally inked the 33 strips and have lettered 13 of the 33. Season 3 finishes the story line from Season 1 and 2.

After I complete lettering Season 3, all 3 season will be collected into a single collection (Eirian and Orumil: Televised) and will be launch the brand new Eirian and Orumil strip with pencils by Tyler Richlen and inks by me. The new E and O series will be updated once a week and we will have 3 months worth of strips in the can before launching.

Pin-up form Dreamweaver Press
I was contacted by JD of Dreamweaver Press before Pittsburgh Comicon and he asked me about inking this pin-up. We talked about it at Pittsburgh a bit and when I got home after that weekend, it was waiting for me in my email. I just put the finishing touches on it this weekend and it's done and delivered.

I planned to use this pin-up to do a tutorial on my digital inking method, but just couldn't find the time. So all you get is the finished work.

Awakenings
Last but not least, there is the Awakenings GN. This is 180-200 pages and so far I've completed 12 of the first 20 pages. I'll be working more on this project this week. When I do greys, I usually only get the art, so I don't know exactly what's going on via the script. I do know that there are guns, goons. swords and decapitations, so it's all good.


That's about all that's on my plate for now.

On Warmageddon
Mike Imboden and I have a few future Warmageddon story ideas to work out. I've seen more layouts for the next Warmageddon Tiegre story (and they are NICE). There are lots of other Warmageddon stories being written, drawn, inked or lettered and I'm working on a new Warmageddon web site.

Mother

My maternal grandmother, Clara Lee Koonce Farrow, passed away today. She was 82 years old and was always affectionately known as Mother. Mother had 9 children (7 boys and 2 girls). Her oldest and youngest sons preceded her in death. She was the matriarch of the family and lived to see 4 generations of her descendants.

For me, my grandmother was a teacher and storyteller. She was never without a story to tell you or a lesson to teach you. She lives on today via the 4 generations of lives she created. We are her legacy and through us she gains immortality.

Mother, you earned your rest. Know that you are missed and loved.

Clara Lee Koonce Farrow
"Mother"
March 20, 1926 - June 20, 2008

Zombie Con 2008 Report

Wow! It's a bit dusty in here as it's been a while since I've posted. Hopefully, this is a start of more regular updates.

This past weekend, I was invited by Mark Bowers to attend the inaugural (one day) Zombie Con at the Clarion Hotel in Greensboro, NC. This con was the first convention of the season for me and was a particularly odd fit because I don't do a zombie comic or even a horror comic. Warmageddon is pretty much strictly a sword and sorcery (without the sorcery)/ fantasy comic. What about Zombie City? Well yes, there is a Zombie City in Warmageddon, but to date we haven't really explored it much. In preparation for Zombie Con, I pulled out a zombie print that I colored a while back that was drawn by Josh Ross and I had a new display banner made (see left). With that and my usual cache of comics and merchandise, I was ready to go.

Greensboro is only about an hour away from my palatial estate in Durham and the con began at 9:30, so I was up and on the road by 7:30 am. I hit the local Wally World for some con snacks and drinks (I never ever ever eat the overly expensive con food). After the stop at Wally World, I hit the road. I was in Greensboro and all set up by 9:30.

After meeting Mark Bowers, the first person to my table was Mark Carter. Mark is a surrealist fantasy painter who is seeing increasingly more interest in his work in the world of tattoo art. We had a nice discussion about art, commerce, and finding your niche for about an hour between his table and mine. It's always good to make new connections in and about the world of comics and fantasy art.

Speaking of making connections, shortly after finishing up my discussion with Mark, I headed back to my table. At my table I ran into Brett of Brett's Comic Pile. Brett is one of the co-owner's of the Virginia Comicon in Richmond, VA. He's been nice enough to invite me up twice which is always nice. If you are in the area, then check out the Virginia Comicon.

Business at these small one day cons isn't huge, but I received a consistent flow of traffic and sold a decent amount of comics and prints. Actually, I sold a lot more comics than I expected. As a result of this con, I'm going to have to need to do a short second printings on all Warmageddon Quarterly issues*.

The family (with our new addition,Eli**) showed up around 12:30. They stayed until near 3:00. This was just enough time for all the kids (and Deanne [my SO]) to wipe out all profit made and for the littlest one (Nesta) to attempt to get himself lost.

I made my rounds of the convention after the first dealer began tearing down his set-up (around 3:30) and spent some more of my profits on the Young Avengers hardcovers (I'm a sucker for hardcovers). By 4:15, I was back at the table and began to call it a day. I was packed up and out the door by 4:30 and home no later than 5:45.

All in all, it was a good time. Where else do you get to see people pay to beat a zombie, girls from a burlesque show, buy stuff for the entire family, and walk away for $7.00 more than you started with? I have very low expectations for local hotel conventions, so being able to walk away with a profit (of any type) is a boon. These cons (for me) are more about building my brand and local goodwill. Despite, not having much zombie material, I'm very happy with Zombie Con 2008 and hope it returns next year.

* My plan is to launch the new Warmageddon title (WARMAGEDDON) to replace Warmageddon Quarterly, but as of this con, I don't have enough stock left to get me from point A to point B, so I will be working on a short run of each issue in order to last through this convention season.

** Eli is my 12-year old nephew. He spent his Spring Break with us and will be returning to live with us permanently this summer. We have to increase the size of our palatial estate before Eli can join us.

Riddle Page 1 Final Inks

My goal for the new year is not only to post more, but to get more personal comic book work done. Every day, I devote about 90 minutes to one of a personal comic project. Today, I spent a little bit more (about 3 hours) to finish up this page.

This is page 1 of a Warmageddon story called Riddle. It's pencilled by Dario Carrasco and everything else is on me (writing, inks, lettering, grays, publishing). Dario received the script for this story about a year ago and so far has delivered 2 pages. I'm still patiently waiting for more pages and can't wait to jump into inking the next page (page 2).

While you're her at my blog, take some time to visit, read and hopefully vote for Thomas: Agent of Chaos over at Zuda Comics.

Harley Quinn in 90 minutes

I hope to get more coloring and inking practice in the new year, so I will be posting regular exercises where I spend no more than 90minutes on an image. This is the first one.

Harley Quinn
Pencils by Tom Hodges
Inks and colors by me