What the Heck is a Doosix Machine?

With the giant anvil of work that's been whacking me around, Love and Capes #11 has been getting pushed around a bit. Hopefully, now that page 18 is done, the remaining six will just zip out of my brush.

This page is one of those "do your work right and everything will work out fine later" pages. This page, and the next couple following, are set in the ambrosia cellar (think wine cellar with, you know, ambrosia) of the Castle Leandia. So I had to design a room that looked like a wine cellar without really stopping to point out that's what it was, and still have that Flash Gordon future feel that everything else in Amazonia's world has.

But, since I did my work and created a workable wine cellar "set" with the next couple of pages in mind, I should be able to reuse without too much of an effort. Stuff like that is how I manage to churn these books out, I guess.

I Got to Zoom Baby, So Give Me Room Baby

Yeah, I've been away for a bit. Work got the better of me. A week of sixteen hour days later, though, I think I'm back on my game.

The big thing that kept me away was finishing up a children's book assignment for a place called Rourke Publishing. I was contracted to do to books in an occupational series, one about being a NASCAR Crew Chief, and one about being an Animal Trainer. The work was pretty intensive, with me doing pencils, inks and colors. I had to dust off my Raider style, a slightly more traditional comic book style, for the series.

I think the books came out well, and I'll let you know when they go on sale. The people at Rourke were great to work with and I hope to do more with them soon.

And hey, now I'm officially a children's book illustrator. I have to say, that's pretty cool.

(Oh, and click on any image to embiggen it.)

Party Down

Another page down, this one involving a party scene in Amazonia's home dimension of Leandia. It's been a lot of fun designing the background characters. I'm essentially dressing them as extras from the 1980s magnum opus Flash Gordon with Sam Jones and Max Von Sydow. I'm also trying to use slightly different hair and eye colors for them to show their otherworldliness. Zoe's actually got dark blue hair and exotic teal eyes, so I'm caryying it through with all the "extras".

Only seven pages left. Things will slow down a bit, as I'm still flush (and by "flush" I mean "whacked") with work right now. Still, another week or two and I should have it wrapped up.

Someone Likes Melvin

I've mentioned that Bill Williams and I are competing in this month's Zudacomics competition. I'm probably going to mention that a lot more over the next month, so apologies in advance.

Lefty Films have already reviewed this month's competitors. Who got the highest grade? Well, modesty prevents me from saying, but not reprinting the review.

The Urban Adventures of Melvin Blank by Bill Williams and Thom Zahler
Unique. Intriguing. Fascinating. The cliche of a man in a boys body and mind is nothing new, but the concept is executed brilliantly here. You don't SEE Melvin until the comic is almost done, and when you do - you fully understand in one panel who he is. Before his reveal, he is shrouded in shadow and there seems to be nothing special about his language or manners. But then everything changes in one frightening heartbeat. It feels like the teaser for an X-Files episode. This thing could go anywhere. The cartoony artwork only helps with the set-up, and the unsettling afterglow. The creators honestly know their sh*t.

GRADE: A+

Be sure to check out the whole review here!

Zuda Zuda Zuda

I've been working with Bill Williams of Lone Star Press for years now. So, one day, he comes to me and says "You want to pitch something for Zudacomics?"

For those of you not in the know, Zudacomics is DC Comics' online webstrip portal. They run a competition, kind of like American Idol without the cloying backstories and makeovers. Every month, it's a new competition. And this month, Bill and I are competing.

So, click to read The Urban Adventures of Melvin Blank. Bill wrote it, and I drew it. Here's the official description:

Melvin Blank has the mind of a child and the strength of a brute. After the passing of his parents, he lives in his Mother’s house in the heart of a big decaying city. He works as a dishwasher at a nearby greasy spoon and he has his urban adventures as he travels to and from work. Melvin thinks its hilarious that the mass transit system he rides, the City Area Rapid Transit System, is called "the CART", but he doesn't understand why a nearby diner is called "Joe Mama's". In a world of grays, Melvin sees things in black and white. Good and bad. Day and night. Cereal and pizza.
Melvin is pretty sure that the house down the street is haunted, but don't worry, he plans to do something about it. He is in love with a beautiful co-worker who has an abusive boyfriend, for now. He is selling items from his parent’s estate to pay for an elaborate headstone for the pair. At home, he has an angry cat named SOCKS and he never, ever misses SPACE PATROL RANGER. Melvin is absolutely sure that he is living the American Dream and he wants to share it with the rest of the people in his neighborhood whether they like it or not.
The first story is a complete eight screen story. It has a beginning, middle, and an end. Melvin is like that, he likes things simple.

We've created the strip. That was the easy part. Now we have to rock the vote. Well, you have to rock the vote. You can only vote once per person, so despite having a long line of dead Irish relatives, I've used up my one. It's your turn. Vote for us! We promise a webstrip in every pot! Two webstrips in every garage.

But please, check it out and vote!

Sixteen

This is one of those Pages That Will Not Die. I started it sometime on Saturday, and had just the coloring/scripting to do on Sunday. Normally, I can get that done on a Sunday morning as I watch the news shows. This one took all day. And worse yet, I found myself with two great bits for panel two. One of them is funny and family friendly, the other one is funny and family safe.

I posted that strip and the variants up on Twitter. See, it's why you should be following me there.

I've now got two-thirds of the book done now. Almost there.

Pulse Pounding Love and Capes Action!

Another day, another page. And a page with a shout-out to both Mental Floss and Mid-Ohio-Con.

This is actually a silent panel in the story, so there was no copy to remove. I really dig these quiet moments in the book when I can work them in. And I think there's some really nice body language happening in there, too.

I'm finally on the back nine of pages. I'd like to knock another page out today, but that won't happen, largely due to my lack of knowing exactly what happens. Plus, I've got other clienty work that must be done.

I'm Not Above a Little Product Placement If I Like the Product

This was a hard page to break. I actually did two versions of the script and sent it to a friend before committing to the final version. It was one of those great communication moments where I wrote and said "Here's what I was thinking, but none of it's very good" and my friend said "Just put these words from A and these words from B together and you're there."

And wow, was he right. Of course, you'll have to wait until July to find out. Sorry about that.

As far as the Starbucks reference, yeah, it's product placement of a sort, but I do drink the stuff myself. Regularly. Almost obsessively. And, I love the idea that they've even made it into another dimension.

And they didn't pay for it. But if they want to send me some gift cards, I wouldn't say no.

Cover Recreation

Because of my process in working on Love and Capes, I don't actually have original artwork. But I have started taking commissions for artwork recreations. Recently, I was contacted about recreating the cover for the forthcoming issue #11. Here it is, along with the Figment statue in my office (courtesy of ace voice-over guy, fine promoter, and good friend Roger Price). The finished piece is 11x17 on bristol board.

These are a lot of fun to do, so if anyone else is interested, please let me know.

This also seems like a great time to tell you that Love and Capes #11 will be in the June Previews Catalog, for reals this time, order code JUN091021.

All You Need is Ted

I did a commission of the Blue Beetle (the real one) for my friend Nick in Texas. He's got the original, but there's no reason you can't share in the eye candy, digital style. I borrowed heavily from the excellent Brave and the Bold cartoon style, as excellently voiced by Wil Wheaton.