Where's the Call Box?

Here's the first page since my writer's block, which is probably more accurately described as "writer's drought."

I almost cut this scene out completely, but realized it served a function so it put back in. I wanted to show Amazonia actually doing the signing, and that merged well with my idea to have Amazonia try to win Charlotte over. Or maybe she's just being nice. You can never tell with Zoe.

I also felt inspired to put another TV show duo in the background. Often I need to have a character or two in the background, just to fill. Rather than design a completely new character, I'll base them on someone I know, or someone on TV. It keeps me from defaulting to a generic character who looks like the same generic character that appeared somewhere else. It's a shorthand, but it's also kind of fun.

So, for some reason, Martha Jones and the Doctor, from Doctor Who have crosssed the pond, and the space-time continuum, to get their book signed by Amazonia. Or maybe there's some other reason they're in Deco City. You never know with those two.

Almost Halfway There

I'm one page away from reaching the magical Halfway Point in Love and Capes #6.

We're out of flashback and Amazonia is teleporting into the bookstore. The Liberty League has teleporters, but for a bunch of reasons I made them point-to-point teleporters. So, there's a portable teleporter pad in the back room, which Abby is at the controls of. If you look at LNC #4, you'll notice that when Mark teleports into Box Canyon, he arrives on the same portable pad.

I also had to redesign the back room of the bookstore. It's been seen before, but usually it's just a wall. I wanted to make it a little more storage/break room like, so I tweaked the design. At various points, you'll be able to see a ladder, some boxes, and even a time clock, although I'm pretty sure that came with the building. I don't think Abby or Charlotte use it. There's even an overhead storage area, too, in case I need it down the road.

And don't forget, you can order Love and Capes #6 in this month's Previews catalog. Order code SEP073844.

So You May Have Noticed

While I was trying to upgrade the blog today, so that I'd be able to put some nifty widgets on here, maybe pimp my Amazon available stuff (like Star Trek: Sky's the Limit) and in upgrading, managed to crash the blog hard. It's a big issue, first of all because of the amount of work that the blog represents, but also because, through RSS feeds, I manage pages on the Thomz.com site and the LoveandCapes.com site.

It took a bit of time, a bit of research, and a little help to get it back up. When I did, I had that computer-stare-buzz in my head. The one where you swear you were thinking so hard that all the blood hasd rushed to your head, and when you're done, you just don't want to tackle any other huge projects. So, I decided to work on something I wanted to work on to get me over that hump. And, fortunately, Love and Capes #6 page 10 was already inked.

The page isn't the funniest in the book, but it's one of the most important. It shows that Crusader and Amazonia had chemistry. That they were a good couple, at least for a while. And, since these eight panels involve stopping an alien invasion and watching a volcano, they serve to highlight the things Abby can't be for Mark. That should cause some conflict over the next fourteen pages.

99 Word Balloons

It's another fascinating moment of superheroes having wine, featuring the best dialogue I've ever written.

The nights working on Love and Capes are getting longer. I was up until 2:00am working on the art for the page, and then scripted and lettered it this morning. It's a good sign that it's the late nights are getting more frequent, too. It means I'm in the zone, and ready to churn out and finish the book.

Here, Amazonia and the Crusader go to Las Vegas for their first date. Why Vegas? Because they needed some privacy, and like they say, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. It's the kind of place with private dining rooms available to superstars, and Amazonia's definitely that.

I had to design Vegas-style buildings for the window. Two of them are new artwork. The other is the Eiffel Tower, which I drew for the splash page at the end of #3. It was nice to be able to reuse that and get that extra Vegasiness without having to spend them time to draw the Tower again.

See? Pretty sneaky, sis!

Boldly Arriving

Behold! Look what arrived in ye olde mail today. It's an advance copy of The Sky's the Limit, the Star Trek: the Next Generation collection that includes a story by me and Bob Ingersoll. (That's the book, that's my Captain Kirk action figure, and that's my big ol'hand.) It's right there, starting on page 321. The book comes out next month, you can preorder it from Amazon here, and…

…well, it's just cool.

Gay Cowboys Eating Pudding

Look! Superheroes having tea! Why isn't this book getting more recognition? I should have an Eisner, a Harvey, and a Grammy because of this brilliance.

But seriously, here we go with another flashback panel. The Crusader has gone to visit Amazonia at her office tower, and then they have the aforementioned tea. This page was hard to break. I knew what ground I had to cover, but I couldn't figure out the jokes. I struggled with it for three days, and then...

Well, when I was a kid, I used to sit on my bed and toss a ball into the air, all the time thinking of stories and ideas. So much of Raider was originally written that way and a bunch of other things that haven't seen print. At least not yet.

So after three days of racking my brain, taking walks and long drives, I sat on my couch to watch some football. I grabbed a beach ball that I got as a promotion from some photo stock house, and tossed it in the air. Before it even came down, I had both jokes.

Sometimes the old ways are best, I guess.

Actually, I'm pretty happy with this sequence. The next page is pretty strong. And, since this is page eight, I am officially one-third of the way through issue six.

Flashback!

Here's my first new page since Baltimore, and it's also the first of many flashback pages.

There were a number of design challenges in this page. One was to come up with a way to visually show that it was a flashback. The faded edges do that okay. I also muted the colors of all the flashbacks just a little bit. So, for example, the red of Crusader's costume is just a little more washed-out in the flashbacks as opposed to the current stuff. Also, and you can't necessarily see it here, the Crusader has sideburns.

I was tempted to bring back the mulletted Crusader from the time travel scene in #5, but I thought that was too much. So the sideburns are a subtle reminder that we're in flashback.

Pictured here, Mark and Zoe's first kiss.

Trip Sixes

I'm just about to pick up stakes and head out to the Big Baltimore Comicon. Well, it's not actually called "the Big" but it is bigger than last year, so I guess it's accurate. I'll get to see some friends, have some food, drink some drink, and get some new Toon Tumblers. What a weekend.

Anyway, before Paul Storrie and I get in the Supercar-D for six hours of driving, chatting, podcasts and the Flash Gordon soundtrack, I finished up page six of Love and Capes. For those of you mathies in the audience, that means I'm 25% done. And, since it's book six and page size, I decided show off panel six. Yup, 666.

Make of that what you will.

Gentlemen (and Ladies), Start Your Order Books!

Hey, look what's in Previews this month on page 326, right below the also-excellent Pantheon collection! Why, it's Love and Capes #6.

Be sure to ask your local comic shop to order you a copy or six. Heck, tell them it's Previews Order Code SEP073844 just to make it easy on them.

Speaking of issue six, here's a panel from the fifth page of LNC. Here we see Abby getting interviewed by the local news, promoting Amazonia's book launch at her store. For this page (but not in this featured panel) I finally designed "the crowd." I've written a few scenes in past issues with lines of people. So I've finally designed a set of stock characters that can be used to form a line. At least fall and winter lines, since everyone's wearing a jacket. One of these day's I'll have to do a summer collection, too, I suppose.

It's also the first TV panel to appear in the series. It's not the only new panel type that will be appearing in this issue, either. I've had to design a flashback panel border that should be showing up on page seven.

Branching Out

As I write this, it's Saturday morning (but this won't appear until Sunday, lest I innundate you with posts), and while I've got stuff to work on, I don't have anything I want to work on. So I thought I'd try something.

I'm a big fan for Sean "Cheeks" Galloway's stuff. He's got such a fun, animated style. It reminds me a little bit of Claire Wendling, whose stuff I also love to pieces. So, I got inspired to try the style.

I didn't know what to draw first, but I had AMC's Mad Men on while I was mulling things over. As an aside, Mad Men is an interesting show, but it's also one of those shows that I can't figure out if I like. It's a fascinating time period, the New York advertising world in the 1960's. A time when they were advertising cigarettes and Nixon and everyone smoked. It's also got some bang-up actors, including Christina Hendricks and John Slattery. I first saw Christina Hendricks on Firefly and have had the pleasure to meet her in person a couple of times. I've never met John Slattery, but he did a great job on Ed taking a character that I shouldn't like and giving him depth, and then he did the same thing on Jack and Bobby. The show also features Vincent Kartheiser, who I think was much better than people give him credit for on Angel. The character was written whiny and mopey, but look how cool he was in the last couple of episodes.

Anyway, since I had Mad Men on, I decided to do a take on Christina and John's characters. I think the initial foray into this style worked well. I jumped out of my comfort zone and worked in one line weight, rather than the brushy style that I use on Love and Capes. I also played with proportions