The Journey of 192 Panels Begins with One Page

I figure at eight panels over twenty-four pages, that's 192 panels. Well, 184 now. Page one of Love and Capes #11 is done. Twenty three pages to go.

The first couple of pages are always the hardest. It's a rough horse to get back on, committing to do another book. Technically, I committed when I sent the information to Diamond to appear in the May Previews, but you know what I mean.

This should be a fun issue, and a heck of a lot lighter than the last issue. Oh, wait, you haven't read that one yet. Well, trust me. This one should be pretty funny, as we follow Abby's Quest for the Dress. Like "The Quest for Peace", except intentionally funny and with better special effects. And much less crapulence.

Oh, and is my tradition, since it's page one, you can actually click and embiggen it.

The Rockewho?

Yup, it's another commission from my current sale. This time I was asked to do a duo, Bettie and the Rocketeer, from the late, great Dave Stevens book. Of course, I'm nowhere near the artist Dave was, but I think there are hints of his work in this. I know he was on my mind.

The movie is worth checking out too. It didn't seem to catch on the way it should have. Among other things, it has one of the best and most perfect casts of all time, with Billy Campell as the Rocketeer, Alan Arkin as Pevey (who gets the best line when Cliff tags him for not having a date since 1932, and he responds "Flora Maxwell. There wasn't any point datin' nobody after her"), Jennifer Connelly as Jenny, a pre-Lost Terry O'Quinn as Howard Hughes, and Timothy Dalton and Paul Sorvino to boot.

And Id be remiss if I didn't mention that the publisher of my Love and Capes: Do You Want to Know a Secret trade, IDW, is going to be releasing a collection of his Rocketeer work. I've already bought it, I just don't know it yet.

She Can Do Magic

While I was drawing some commissions, I went ahead and did this Zatanna image, which will also serve as the cover image for Powerful Women #3. There are only a few spots left, and I'd really like to get this filled up so that I can have it done for Heroes Con in Charlotte. So, if you have some requests, get them in soon.

And hey, the sale is still going on.

We're So Glad You're On Our Side

As part of my Saint Patrick's Day Sale (still going on), I received a request to do a Wonder Woman commission. I thought back on a couple of the other times I've drawn Diana, and decided that I really wanted to do something with her lasso. I'd used the bracelets as a design element a couple of times, but didn't really work with the golden lariat at all.

I decided to use it as a light source, and set about a design that showcased that. I like her tough expression here, and I haven't done a lot of back views of these characters, and thought it could really work. It's a little thing, but I really like the rendering on the lasso, with the little chain links visible. And then I Photoshopped the dickens out of it to get all the lighting in the foreground and the background.

The guy who ordered it was pleased as well. So keep those commissions coming. I think I might do a Zatanna next.

Well, Her Cape is Green

I had a little time to play around today, and I've wanted to mess with this Catwoman drawing for a while. It's based on a tracing paper rough from Baltimore Comicon 2008, I think. The last two Catwoman images I did were done in Illustrator, and I wanted to try something completely different. Textures are handled by some new brushes I downloaded for Photoshop, and they worked really well.

One of these days I will do a picture of Selina in her current tight catsuit number. I just dig drawing and coloring this purple and green one too much, I guess.

Ah, the Crisis. Good Times, Good Times.

Shag over at the oh-so-fun Firestorm blog had me do a commission of Firestorm's sometimes lady love, Firehawk. This was a blast to do, being a Firestorm fan myself. Have I mentioned that before? I'm sure I have once or twice.

If you'd like to see the piece, click here or on the image to be taken to the Firestorm blog to see the image and a lot of kind words.

And as a reminder, I've got sixteen spaces left for the next edition of Powerful Women. I'd like to have it done for Charlotte, so start sending in your orders for who I should draw next.

Stop a Bullet Cold, Fight a War With Love

While I was sitting at my table at MegaCon, I did a couple of warm-up/sample commissions. At the very least, these help me fill out the next edition of Powerful Women, which I hope will be out for my trip to Heroes Con.

I haven't done a proper Wonder Woman image in any of the books. There's one with her and Wonder Girl, and another with her and Power Girl, but I wanted one that was her by herself. This is still a little different, compositionally, than most of my other pieces, but I think it works well.

Because If You're Gonna Build a Robot, It Might as Well Look Good, Right?

I got a commission request to draw Cameron from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which happens to be one of my favorite TV shows. (Please don't cancel it, Fox. Please. Don't you have enough blood on your hands already, killer of Firefly, John Doe, Lone Gunmen and who can remember what else?) Anyway, I had to draw Summer Glau.

Summer's got a really exotic face. I drew her years ago for the program book for the first Flanvention. I was having a hard time with her likeness, and I got lucky in that she was a guest at that year's WizardWorld convention and I got to meet her and actually see her face in three dimensions. Still, it wasn't an easy likeness to achieve.

Here, I needed to mesh that caricature quality with the stylized cartooning that I use for my Powerful Women books. I think they blended together fairly well. As much as the face, I think I got the cold, intense stare as well as the pose.

Oddly, my favorite part is the rifle she's carrying. I did the reference on it, it's an LR-300, I think. It's getting those little details accurate that I dig. And it strikes the right chord between cartoony and realistic.

When the Free Comic Book Day Book is a Little Less Free

Taking a step back, here's the alternate cover for the retail version of Love and Capes #10. Because of the new Diamond minimums, these won't be available through the Previews catalog, but they will be available on the Love and Capes website the Monday after Free Comic Book Day. They will be available for direct order by comic shops, too. I'll post more information about it soon.

And More Love and Capes Valentiney Stuff

Did I mention it's Valentine's Day? Did you forget to get something for that special someone in your life? You know what he/she/it (we don't judge here) would love more than anything? To appear on the cover of Love and Capes!

I soft-announced it a couple of days ago, but here's the full release an information. If there are too many words, here's the short form: Send me some money and you'll be on the cover of the double-sized LNC#12, coming out in November/December, as part of the wedding congregation for Abby and Mark. Click here to sign up. The full release follows.

You are cordially invited…
to attend the wedding of Mark and Abby in Love and Capes #12.

You might not have been invited to Lois and Clark’s wedding. You probably couldn’t attend Peter and MJ’s wedding (and, if you did, you don’t remember it.). But you can be in attendance for the comic book wedding of the 21st century! The Crusader and Abby are getting married in Love and Capes #12, coming out in December 2009, and you could be there.

Tickets to this wedding are limited and seating is first come, first served. Cost is just $40 per couple or $25 per single. No "crashers" permitted. To be part of this special event, RSVP by sending a photo of yourself, along with your payment, and you will be drawn into the wedding scene cover of Love and Capes #12 and mentioned by name at the end of the book.

To commemorate this special event, and to show our appreciation for the fans of Love and Capes, artist Thom Zahler will be creating a special limited edition 11 x 17 print of the wedding cover. All "attendees" will be sent a signed and numbered print to commorate their attendance at this "super" celebration. Interested attendees can also look for Thom Zahler at MegaCon in Orlando, Florida on Feb. 27-Mar.1 or the Free Comic Book Day event May 2nd at Rogues Gallery Comics in Austin, Texas , where he’ll have his camera ready to snap your photo on site.

If response warrants, an alternate version of the cover illustration (featuring Mark in his tuxedo, rather than his Crusader uniform) will be created to handle the overflow crowd.

Please RSVP by May 25, 2009.