So What Do You Do For an Encore?

You start the next one.

Well, not really "start" so much as do the cover. This lets me advertise it in the back of #5, and I have to have it done soon anyway, as it'll be time to send it into Diamond for the solicitation.

The story for #6 actually came as I was starting to work on #5. And it's an ending I've been planning since about the time I started the book entirely. Hopefully, I'll be able to execute is as well as I hope. As for what the book is about, here's the solicitation copy from the back of the as-yet-to-be-published #5...

Amazonia's latest book reveals her past with Mark, and Abby gets to sell it in her store. Plus, an ending that will change everything!

'Fess up, you really want to read it now, don't you?

To warn you, too, the plan is to take a break, go on hiatus as the kids say (if the kids live in Hollywood) after issue six. I've done six solid issues in a year and a half, and while it's been fun, I'm starting to char from the burnout. My tentative plan is to re-emerge with issue seven for Free Comic Book Day, but we'll see how that goes. Why, there's a whole San Diego Comic-Con to deal with before then, and, as always, that could change everything.

Doneish!

The big hurdle has been, well, hurdled.

I finished page 24 of Love and Capes, so the brunt of the book is done. I still need to write my author's page, and maybe do the cover of #6 so I can toss that in the back of the issue. But with this finish, hopefully my brain will be a little clearer now.

And I still have a week to get it to the printer, too!

She Makes That Outfit Work

One page until the big finale. Heck, I'm so jazzed about being this close that I almost want to stay up and finish it. Of course, I'm typing this at 1:00am with a rerun of Star Trek: The Next Generation ("Hide and Q" if you're interested, which is also one of the first scripts I ever bought and read.) on in the background. So perhaps I'll take a break, something some people refer to as "sleep", and then start renewed in the morning.

You may notice that Abby is wearing the same outfit as Paris Hilton wore upon her release from jail yesterday. Hey, I thought it was a cute outfit, so I gave it to Abby. By the time it sees print, no one will notice the connection.

Okay, it's bedtime for Thomzo now. See you tomorrow with page 24!

So Close I Can Almost Smell It

I don't know that the finish of a book has a smell, but if it did, that scent would be wafting through the studio today. Page 22 is done! There are only eleven panels left to draw, color and script now.

Mark's trying to make Abby feel better, and offers up a trip to San Francisco. I have on many occasions mentioned by chocolate "habit", although some would say "problem." And one of my favorite chocolate dens is Ghirardelli's, based in that city. I've been to any number of their soda fountain/ice creameries, including Las Vegas, Chicago, Orlando and San Diego, but there's none quite like the SF one. It's kind of got the feeling of the Soup Nazi's joint from Seinfeld, except slightly more charming.

I think I'll have another page done tonight, and then page 24 the night after. Then the book can go on proof to the Secret Society of Super Reviewers while I try to do the cover for #6, so that I can run an ad for it in the back of the issue.

Blackjack time

Almost done now. Three pages left, and I think I can do a page a day from here on in.

In this page, Abby's bad day continues and she calls Mark for a little support. This page also features a reappearance by my friend, fellow Councilman, and mailman, Robin, playing the part of, well, the mailman.

I designed a new "set piece" for the book with this page. Set pieces are complicated, layered backgrounds capable of easy changes that I know are going to be used frequently. I have ones designed for Mark and Abby's apartments, for the bookstore and a few other places. This set piece, seen here, is the L-Train station, or whatever they call it in Deco City. I've made no secret that I've templated Deco City on Chicago, so it's no surprise that they have a monorail/elevated train. Actually, the monorail can be seen in the very first issue, but I've never had a chance to show it since.

So, this set piece is designed so I can move the train along the track, change the color of the buildings and the sky and everything else. It'll work out well, but it also delayed me much more than I would have thought. Once again, this was another post-midnight page.

I love the book, I really do. But it'll be nice when it's done.

Best Laid Plans

Here's another rarity. Two panels from page twenty.

Panel three seems like it's making fun of Harry Potter fans. It's not, and I've detailed my own plans to make sure that I can get a copy of the book during Comic-Con. So I put it in the "Nobody can make fun of my brother but me" category.

Panel five is the Amazonia panel. According to my original plan, Amazonia wasn't going to be in issue five at all. But, much like what happened with her in issue two, she forced her way in. She's a strong-willed woman. What her appearance here does is set up the framework for the next issue."Amazonia comes to Abby's bookstore for a signing" was among my ideas for this current issue, and I liked it so much that I knew I'd need more room to do it justice.

I'm headed off for the Licensing Show tomorrow, so I'll get back to things when I return. I should be in good shape to finish things up on deadline.

They're a Leavin' On a Jet Plane

Last night I finished page nineteen, so I've got just five pages left. If I'm good, and manage to channel a little bit of the Speed Force, I might even be able to get page twenty done before I leave for New York City.

This page turned out pretty well. It's split between a Mark and Abby scene and a Crusader and Darkblade scene, and both are fairly funny. With this page, Jerry and Joanne Spencer leave the book, never to be seen again… for the rest of the issue. And one of the sub-jokes in the superhero part came about just because I needed them on ground level for the punchline. I wound up situating them on the docks outside of town, and that inspired me for the first joke. You'll have to trust me that it's funny, as it's not the scene that I posted.

As I wind down to the end of the series, I'm one page short of the 24 that I need. Usually at this point I have everything completely locked in. This time there's one scene that I need to extend. It'll work out fine, but it's different problem to have, going from too much story to not enough.

Color Your World

While I was working on page 17, I drew a panel that I thought "That's a decent image. Very iconic." I used the end of issue four as the design for the t-shirts and glasses, and this panel reminded me of that. So, I turned it into a desktop background, available for download.So, if you just need more of the Love and Capes on your computer, click and install one of these sparkly designs.
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Double Header

Tonight we've got a two-fer.

I'd put up a post about page 17, and then decided I didn't like it and took it down. It was a little too self-promotional for me. Since then, I've done page 18 as well.

In page seventeen, I "name check" Mark Verheiden. Name checking is when you drop the name of a friend in your story. I do it all the time. Sometimes it's subtle, sometimes it's blatant. Either way, it's fun, and a nice way to appreciate the people who are the wind beneath my wings, to steal a phrase from a Bette Midler song. That's something I never thought I'd do.

Mark Verheiden, of course, is the absurdly-talented writer and producer of such things as the good seasons of Smallville and the best frakkin' show on television, Battlestar Galactica. And, like everyone else on the planet, he's got a blog. Check it out, it's good stuff.

Then, I did page 18, which I considered the "easy page" of the book. It was actually one of the discarded endings to issue two, where Mark would fly Abby up to watch the fireworks on New Year's Eve. I liked the scene, but it didn't work for the story. Here, it worked nicely.

The fireworks ar all from photos, and there was no perspective to really worry about. I thought it'd be easy. The operative word being thought.

Turns out when you write seven panels of two characters flying, it starts to get boring visually. So I kept moving the characters around, and in to new and different, and much more challenging to draw, positions. I'm pretty happy with the end result, but it certainly wasn't the gimme that I thought it might be.

With this, I have six pages left to draw. Hopefully I can get at least one more drawn before I leave for the Licensing Show on Monday, which will put me in good shape to wrap things up by the end of the month. That's my plan at least.

Video Killed the Comic Book Star

I've mentioned before that I'm going to be doing the Licensing Show in New York. And hey, if you're going to be in the City So Nice They Named It Twice shoot me an e-mail and I can probably get you into the show sans admission costs.

Anyway, I've had to put together a video trailer of Love and Capes for the show that will be displayed at our booth. Just for fun, I've added a music track. If I were to ever broadcast this, I'd definitely get rights-clearances on the song. For now, it's a guide track.

Still, I think it came out okay. Hopefully, some people at the Licensing Show will think so, too.