I mentioned on Twitter that I did a Raven commission. My customer wanted the Teen Titans Go animated cartoon version. It’s for his daughter. It was a lot of fun to play around in that style, and nice to do something cool for his daughter, too. I threw in an extra version of the digital print that says "DAUGHTER’s ROOM!"

Well, it doesn’t say "daughter" but his daughter’s name, but you get the idea.

Here’s page three, in which I make the second of my airlline jokes. I’m relatively confident, unfortunately, that things like the one-bag rule will still be in effect when this sees print. Man, do I hate that rule. Doing conventions, I generally bring a suitcase of clothes and a suitcase of books. I’ll have to figure something else out this year.

Enough of that, though. Here’s some funny stuff: You can see part of the Deco City Airport through the windows in the corridor here. The basic layout of the airport is based on the Fisher-Price Airport I had when I was a kid. There’s a center round cylinder, and the gates spread out from there. No helicopter pad, though.

Three down, twenty-one to go.

..since Free Comic Book Day. I mentioned that Love and Capes #7 got a ton of good reviews. I’m posting links and excerpts of them here, along with links to their websites, presented in no particular order. Really, I’m amazed and heartened by all this online acclaim. Stuff like this makes it easier to begin the long process of doing the next book.

"If your friendly neighborhood comics shop limits you to just but one free comic on Free Comic Book Day, that free comic should be my pal Thom Zahler’s Love and Capes #7 [Maerkle Press]. This issue of "the heroically super situation comedy" marks a major development in the lives of book-store owner Abby and her boyfriend Mark, who is also the Crusader, the most powerful super-hero on the planet. In 24 filled pages, we get holiday fun with the families, heartwarming moments, incredible gifts, dialogue so clever that I literally laughed out loud on at least three occasions while reading the issue, some of the most likeable characters in comics, and some of the most inviting art as well. Issue after issue, this is one of the best comics published today."

Tony Isabella, Tony’s Tips

"Love and Capes #7 • A neat little romantic comedy in superhero drag: The Crusader wants to find exactly the right moment to propose to his girlfriend, but family issues, holidays and occasional spates of crime fighting are getting in the way. It’s an airy, self-contained coda to the recent miniseries, and artist Thomas F. Zahler makes visual ideas from contemporary animation work on the page. A-"

Douglas Wolk, Salon.com

"…there’s one I really like, Love and Capes, which is a sort of romantic comedy superhero sitcom about a superhero and his normal girlfriend. The cartoon style is similar to newspaper cartoons, and it’s sweet and funny."

Shanna’s Adventures in Publishing (and life)

"I found this an amusing comic, which makes creative use of its pastiches of Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne (here an African-American billionaire who in his heroic alter-ego is the best friend of the Superman-type hero), Ma and Pa Kent, etc."

Anthony’s Annotations

"… an extremely important issue of the series, in which The Crusdader struggles with proposing to his girlfriend Abby. It is a pretty touching issue, and extremely well done. Clearly it is a critical moment in the overall series, so much of one that I am honestly surprised they are giving it away for free. High marks all around - this one was definitely good enough to pay for." (Four and a half smacks)

Comixtreme.com

"Maerkle Press is publishing a neat little romance book called "Love and Capes," which is essentially a light-hearted romance between a Superman-pastiche named Crusader and a bookstore proprietor named Abigail. It sounds cheesy and passe, I know, but I read the free issue and I’ve got to say, it warmed the cockles of my heart. "

Stock Monkey

"Love and Capes issues always make me go “eeeeeee” with happiness after reading them. They’re terrific with their blend of romance, superheroes, and comedy."

Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading

"Thomas Zahler bills his series as "The Heroically Super Situation Comedy" and indeed, the focus of this book is more on gentle, tongue-in-cheek parody and screwball comedy than the never-ending battle of the costumed set…Zahler injects a defining sense of humanity to his characters that helps them rise above the too-obvious parallels. Mark and Abby come across as a realistic and likeable couple (one member of whom just happens to be able to fly and crush coal into diamond). Abby’s sister Charlotte provides humorous outsider commentary on the superhero world while struggling with real world issues of her own. The shadowy Darkblade is a more down-to-earth and supportive best friend than Bruce Wayne’s alter ego ever was. This earnest approach combined with Zahler’s humorous dialogue and appealing cartoonist style makes Love and Capes an engaging read."

Eric Lindberg, Broken Frontier

"Think to yourself: What would Superman be like if it were a romantic sitcom à la Mad About You or Friends? Well Love and Capes is the answer with an often hilarious look at a superhero trying to please his bookstore owning girlfriend while saving the world and ducking his ex, an Amazonian princess. Sound familiar? Honestly, this has some sharp writing and really great, light-hearted art work."

Adam A. Donaldson, Lucid Forge

"As I understand it, one of the missions of Free Comic Book Day is to introduce people to comics they haven’t tried previously in the hopes of convincing them to purchase said comics in the future. Mission accomplished, Free Comic Book Day…Just about each page is a romantic-comedy beat with its own punch line, moving the story forward but standing on its own. (It’s kind of like For Better or Worse without the icky gender and relationship dynamics.) The characters are sturdy and likeable enough to keep the rhythms from becoming repetitive…It’s a charming, easygoing book about sympathetic people in weird circumstances. It uses those circumstances for comedy and contrast, but it doesn’t let them overwhelm the core charms of the story."

Precocious Curmudgeon

Page two is done, and it’s my first TSA based joke. Having flown to Texas and back recently, these airportisms are pretty fresh. I have to say, though, I’ve never had any problems with TSA. Sure, the water thing’s a hassle and all, but they’ve always been friendly and professional. To me at least, I know your mileage may vary.

Incidentally, this joke was one of the two spurred by my brainstorming session with Mr. Jesse Jackson, and broke the mental logjam that kept me from starting back up. Well, now it’s started up, so blame him.

I’ve mentioned before the Candlelighters Auction organized by Thomas of Say It Backwards. I’ve got a Supergirl piece up there, and there are still a couple of days left to bid on it. I’m even throwing in some cool Love and Capes swag as well. There are a lot of other auction items over there, too. It’s great art for a great cause

While I was sitting at CAPE, I did a warm-up drawing of Poison Ivy to help drum up some commission work. Poison Ivy might be the most frequently requested commission I do. She’s tremendously popular, both with men and women.

I did a fairly simple pose on this one, but I colored her much more cooly than I did my first one (which has since sold). It wasn’t until I started coloring it that I realized I basically drew Charlotte from Love and Capes. That’s okay. If Charlotte dressed up for Halloween, I bet she’s pick Poison Ivy.

…and I pronounce Free Comic Book Day a success.

See what I did there? You were thinking it was some political thing, and I turned it to.. oh, well. You get it.

Reviews are good, exposure was good, and I had a great time. Aside from the Captains’ game getting rained out and pushing their FCBD giveaway to the next day, as well as my traditional FCBD driving ticket (I so did not see that red light), everything went well. The first Saturday in May is becoming one of the highlights of my year. Now, let’s answer some questions. Well, one, at least. From Craig Reade over at Comixtreme.com:

"Clearly it [Love and Capes #7] is a critical moment in the overall series, so much of one that I am honestly surprised they are giving it away for free."

Okay, that’s not a question, per se, but it begs a question or two: Why a full issue when so many people do samplers or reprints? And why this issue, so important to the story?

The answer? Two things that don’t often go together. Money and integrity.

Being a small publisher, I have to pay to print every book I do, including the Free Comic Book Day version. Now, if I do it right and sell enough copies (since comic shops do pay for them at a greatly reduced cost… read Vaneta Rogers fantastic article about it here) and sell enough ads, I can break even or so. But there are never any guarantees.

So I figure, I only get so many swings. Might as well make all of them count. If I’m going to take the financial risk of doing a book, I might as well do a full book.

As far as why this story, that one’s easier: Because the story’s the story. This is the story that followed the one I just told back in November. I’m not going to change the story just because it’s Free Comic Book Day. Yeah, the release of Spider-Man 3 and the tie-in helped inspire issue #4, but that was being set up back in issue #2 as well. Issue #7 was always the pro… you know, I’m not going to spoil it, but if you’ve read it, you know what it is… so it didn’t change. And deep down, I really want you to read the story. If that means giving away a sixth of it, I’m okay with that.

Besides, I think FCBD should be about full issues. If you want to get people hooked, you might as well show them exactly what they’ll be getting. And to me, that’s 22-24 pages of new entertainment.

Issue #7 will be released with an alternate cover available for order in Previews right now. When I’m printing an issue, it doesn’t take much to do a new cover as long as the insides remain the same. John Gallagher was the one who pointed that out to me, for which I’ll always be thankful. I think it’s better for your readership to give away something for free and then offer it for purchase to those who missed it rather than the reverse, where I give away something that I charged them for last month.

I’m back on the horse that is Love and Capes.

Fair warning, though, I’m trying to get 90 days ahead on the book, so you’ll see stuff now, but it won’t come out until October. Sorry for the extended delay, but I really did need the break. Trust me on that.

As usual, I’ll post a panel, or in this case, part of a panel since it’s a full-page splash every time I get one done. And you can follow me on Twitter, too. If you’d been on and watching today, your hometown could have appeared on the departure board in the Deco City Airport.

Writer’s block is over. Time to get back to work.

Oh, and last time I posted panels with movie quotes. This time, I’ll be doing song lyrics. I just get bored typing “Page Six” and so on, so it’s something to keep me interested. Hope you are, too.

In an effort to be pro-active, edgy, web 2.0 and hep, I’ve gotten myself on Twitter. My screenname is loveandcapes.

I’ll be Twittering my creative process, such as it is, on Love and Capes #8. I’ll be starting the first page this afternoon. I meant to start this morning, but setting up Twitter took some time. But, if you notice, there’s a cool purple box in the sidebar on my blog page, you’ll notice the updates. Soon I’ll add it to my Love and Capes website, too.

So, if you have a Twitter account, please add me to your peoples-you-follow thingee.

Reviews are starting to come in over the transom. I’ll post them where and when I can, and try to make a master list in a week or so. The book is getting good reviews nearly everywhere, which means more than I can say. I think issue #7 is a good issue, but it’s one of those ones where I felt tone-deaf. Sometimes that happens to me as a writer where I can’t tell if I’m doing good or bad. So I barrel on, trusting my instincts, and hoping that things come together. It seems like they have, and I’m thrilled about that.

I’ll also address some questions and theories about FCBD. For example, in the review from Craig Reade from Comixtreme.com, he mentions that he’s surprised that I had such a pivotal part of the Love and Capes storyline as a giveaway issue. There are reasons for that, but I’m still fairly fried from a fantastic and packed weekend, so I’ll wait until I’m a little more coherent.