Love and Capes: What to Expect #6 in stores TODAY!

It's in stores today! The big finalé of Love and Capes: What to Expect, featuring a cover by me and the estimable Rich Faber.

And when you read it, you will have questions. Or at least you should. One in particular.

To try to preserve spoilers and such, I'm going to keep quiet about anything for now, but on Monday I'll put up a post that should address the most obvious questions.

I'm pretty pleased with how this wraps up. I can't deny that even I misted up a bit as I was writing the ending.

The Sky's the Limit

As part of my New Year's Resolution to blog more, here's a little more behind the scenes stuff on Love and Capes. I was working on the cover of the fourth collection and needed a sky. I'd thoughtabout sunset, but given the impending birth, I wanted something more of the sunrise variety. But how to capture it. I'd browsed through Google Image Search for some inspiration.

But one morning I got up early to go to Panera before starting to work and I saw this, which I captured with my iPhone's camera. Yeah, you might not think the sprawling vista of a strip mall is the most exciting thing, but that sky was exactly what I was looking for, and the inspiration for the sky on the cover.

By the way, if you haven't already ordered it from your local comic shop, the fourth trade is available from Amazon.

Love and Capes Volume 4!

I would be remiss in my self-promotional duties if I didn't let you all know that the fourth Love and Capes collection, What to Expect is in the January Diamond Previews catalog. It's Previews order code JAN130451 and collects the entire six-issue What to Expect miniseries. It also features an introduction by Greg "Young Justice" Weisman.

These Rhinos are Done Bowling

Here it is, the last of my Kickstarter rewards, this being a Stephanie Brown Batgirl piece. Stephanie Brown seems to have been terminated with prejudice from the DC Universe. I always thought she was kind of cool, and certainly an interesting character design. So here she is. As usual, click for biggimization!

Now, everyone reading this should have recieved their Kickstarter reward (with the exception of my Aunt, who told me I could deliver it personally the next time I see her). So, if I've missed you, let me know.

I loved my Kickstarter experience, not counting the hell that was dealing with Active Images media. More on that some other time. I've got a couple other ideas in my head for what to do next, so expect me to Kickstart something else soon.

Love and Capes Goes Hawaiian

Among other things I've been doing, I've been catching up on my commission list. This one was one of the rewards for my Rhinos Bowling Kickstarter project. (Which, by the way is finally in the United States, no thanks to my printer.)

The task on this one was to draw the ladies of Love and Capes in Hawai'i. I really like this one because of the characterization. Amazonia is looking for action, Abby is reading a book, and Charlotte is drinking. Each of them is summed up perfectly.

I've got a couple more I'll be showing soon, too.

Click and embiggen!

Also, not for nothin', but I am available for Free Comic Book Day, comic shops of Hawai'i.

Pre-Order My Little Pony

Attention people of the comic book world! The new Previews catalog is out, and my My Little Pony: Twilight Sparkle book is available for a'orderin' in it. Order code DEC120395. Come on, you know you want to see what I do in the Ponyverse.

That's a Wrap For This One

Love and Capes: What to Expect #6 is off to IDW. That's the last issue of this miniseries.

At this point, I've written, drawn, inked, lettered and colored 25 issues worth of superhero romantic comedy. I say "25 issues worth" because it's actually only been 24 issues (thirteen issues of the original series, five of Ever After, and six of What to Expect) but the wedding issue was double sized so I'm counting that as two.

However I do the math, that's a lot! I'm kind of proud of that.

I can't imagine that I'm done with Mark and Abby, but I know I'm taking a break from them for a little bit. I threatened to do that after the last issue of Ever After, but that didn't quite happen. I've got some other projects running, including the My Little Pony book and something else that you know the name but I can't talk about yet. I'll announce that as soon as I can.

That's Right… My Little Pony!

The news finally broke on Friday! Yes, I am writing and drawing the first issue of IDW’s new My Little Pony micro-series. My issue will feature Twilight Sparkle. I’m very much looking forward to it, and I’m particularly thrilled that I can finally tell you about it! I started working on this for a while now.

I can’t say too much about the story right now, and I won’t be able to show any art until the book is ready to go, but I’ll share some still with you after it comes out in February.

February? Yikes! I better get back to work. After I finish up the last issue of Love and Capes: What to Expect, of course.

My First Step Into a Much Larger World

This past weekend I took my first step into a much larger world. I went to Star Wars Celebration VI. I went at the urging of the awesome Amy Ratcliffe, Star Wars fan of the highest order. Plus, since I’ll be a Star Wars sketch card artist as of the release of September’s Galactic Files card set, I wanted to do some recon for possibly setting up at the next one.

(Well, the next domestic one. The next Celebration will be in Germany. The week after Comic-Con. That might be pushing it, even for me. And I drove from Orlando to Atlanta to follow up Celebration with Dragon*Con.)

  I have to say, it was pretty awesome. The people are great, and some of the costumes were just out-and-out amazing. There was a great feeling to the whole event. And it’s amazing how Star Wars has continued to find fans through the years. Kids who couldn’t have been old enough to see Phantom Menace in the theatre still get hooked into the way first-time fan who lived through the craziness of premieres and toy lines did.

It’s also cool to see what a unified show can do. The three main stages each had their own specific host. The large theatre had a DJ and warm up act keeping people energized. You can’t really do that at Comic-Con with their universal table and chairs setup.

I was really impressed by the displays that the fans set up. I got to be in a Bacta tank, run from Roxy the Rancor, get rousted by Stormtroopers. stop a trash masher, and even sit in a snowspeeder… my favorite Star Wars vehicle.

There were more than a few things to buy, too. I kept myself from buying the Cup O’Jawa coffee mug and the Mos Eisley Spaceport glass, but, um, I did get them on t-shirts. There was an incredible amount of art at the show, too. Lucas really created a visually enticing world. There’s always something interesting there that’s begging to be drawn.

I got to see some pretty incredible stuff, too. There was the premiere of the new season of Clone Wars (the second premiere of the show that I’ve seen). I saw the 3-D trailer for Attack of the Clones and even a minute of Revenge of the Sith, which really does look great in that format. I got to see Carrie Fisher on stage talk about… okay, well, it’s probably best not to dwell on one that too much. Still cool.

And for one brief moment, I got to be in the same room with George Lucas. Okay, it was an auditorium, but it was still something I never really thought would happen when I first watched Star Wars those many years ago. That was kind of awesome.     If I had to pick a highlight, though, it would be James Arnold Taylor’s one man show.

His show’s about an hour long, and he does over two hundred voices for the first fifty-eight minutes or so. It’s interesting and funny and amazing. He dissects the process of doing impressions person by person along with a video presentation and it’s just amazing.

But the last two minutes are the thunderclap. That’s when he tells you about being exposed to toxic mold at the apex of his career and how it killed his voice, and how it took two years to make a comeback that no one thought he could. It’s one of the best “follow your dreams” moments since Kermit the Frog sang Rainbow Connection. 

I’m a sucker for passion. It’s what fuels me and gets me out of bed in the morning. Well, that and coffee, but mostly passion. And I love being among passionate people. Celebration was definitey the place for that. Amazingly crafted costumes, detailed reproductions of sets and ships, dioramas and Legos like you wouldn’t believe, it was all on display.

So, next time they throw one of these Celebrations in America again, or even Canada, I bet you’ll find me there.

Get the LNC San Diego Exclusive EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT AT THE CON!

I've gotten a number of people asking me if there's a way to get a copy of the San Diego Comic-Con exclusive variant of the first issue of Love and Capes: What to Expect #1. Well, yes, there is.

It's Sunday, and I know I've got extra stock on my con variant, so I can offer it for sale today. I'm relatively sure I won't blast through the remainder of my copies today. So, you can buy them from the below link for $5.00.

Here's the thing: This offer is only available until 12:01am Tuesday, July 17th.After that, the variants will go up to $10.00.

Either way, be sure to let me know what name you want to add to Abby's pad on the cover!

Name to add to Abby's pad