The Birth of a Legend has been Birthed!

My friend, kind-lender-of-his-guest-room, and all-around badass Ben Thompson has a new book out today! It's Badass: Birth of a Legend, taking the same mix of historical fact and irreverent comedy that he applied to the historical figures to characters of legend.

"But, Thom", you say, "while that certainly is cool, I need some sort of added coolness to push me over the edge to order it. Perhaps if you did an illustration in it…?"

Your prayers are answered, Convenient Straw Man! I do indeed have an illustration in said book. It's of Medea, and on page 204 (I have an advance copy I can refer to because, you know, I'm all awesome like that). And if you think that's cool, there are even more illustrations by even more artists, a staggering number who are even better than me!

Anyway, check it out. I loved the first one and can't wait to dive into the second one.

Just Sharing

I just finished page nineteen, which introduces Darkblade's parents. I don't have a lot to say about it, especially since you won't be reading it for another few months. I just like the colors on this panels, especially the clouds. So I just thought I'd share.

Nebraska Art in Color

I did some commissions at Ground Zero in Omaha, and one of them was this Gwen Stacy piece. The purchaser had me take it home so that I could color it, since I color exclusively digitally. You want to see it in color? Well, then, click and embiggen!

In Which I Place Products

I've heard Apple doesn't pay for product placements. I can believe it. They're stuff is so cool looking I can see why set decorators use them all over the place. They're fun to draw, too. Plus, I'm an unabashed Apple fan.

I don't have an iPad, though. At least not yet. I'm waiting to see what version two looks like.

With this page, I'm down to single digits for this issue, too. Woo-hoo!

In Which Abby Wears Sexy Sleepwear

This issue takes place in March/April. What else would she be wearing?

Also, hey, bunnies! Bunnies, it must be bunnies!

The Best Tea-Drinking Comic Out There

Progress continues on the penultimate issue of the new Love and Capes: Ever After miniseries. I'm a third of the way finished with it, and hopefully I'll be hitting a nice little stride soon and going even faster.

As you might be able to tell by the image, Abby and Zoe's relationship has changed a little bit, especially since the first issues. I'm proud of the arc of Amazonia's story, and think it's one of the best, and frequently overlooked, aspects of the book. They're less oil-and-water than they used to be, but they still don't completely get along either. And it's always fun to write.

Eighteen to Go!

I'm still not over Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Or Profit, for that matter.

Also, I'm now one-quarter of the way through this issue!

Every Time You Call My Name, I Heat Up Like a Burning Flame

I know you haven't even seen the first issue yet, but I'm well into the fourth issue of my five-issue IDW Love and Capes series. I thought I'd share the cover for #4.

The covers are often the hardest part. I treat them like one-panel gags that don't need to have anything to do with the story inside. Sometimes they do, of course, but I don't feel bound by that. They're kind of like Betty and Veronica covers that way.

Complicating things is that IDW and I are doing variant covers for each issue. My friend Chris Bailey, animation director of Hop, Alvin and the Chipmunks and way more than you can imagine is doing the alternate cover for this one. He'd asked for a layout, kind of an idea starter, and we were working on one that was okay, but didn't quite sing.

Then, I had an idea for my cover. As I started to lay it out, I realized that it would be a good Thom Zahler cover, but it'd be an amazing Chris Bailey cover. So I contacted Chris and said "Hey, if you're not too far, would this be a better cover." He said yes, and I have since seen that cover. It's achingly beautiful, and I'll be sharing that soon. But not right now.

Unfortunately, that left me without a cover. One of the ways I figure out the cover image is figure out what I haven't done. That's how Darkblade appeared on the cover of #8. I realized one of my favorite characters, Doctor Karma, hasn't appeared on a cover, so I thought about him.

I had this idea for Karma to be at a talent show, sawing Mark in half with Abby as his assistant. Too complicated, though. It didn't work… and then I thought: What about Abby as the magician?

So, what I wound up creating was this cover where Abby's using Mark's powers to fake a trick. I was a little worried about it, as for the cover to be funny, you have to know that Mark is the Crusader. There's no visual cue. Yeah, this is the 17th issue of Love and Capes, but every issue is someone's first. After showing it around to my Secret Society of Super-Reviewers and on the Love and Capes Facebook page, I was encouraged to go ahead with the secret identity cover.

This is the cover I came up with. I think it's pretty funny, maybe one of the best covers in this run.

Issue five, though, is no problem. I've known that cover since I started this series. It's gonna be a stunner.

Merry Christmas to All!

Merry Christmas, everyone. If you didn't get one of my cards this year, here it is for you this Christmas morning.

Variants on a Theme

The first DW-published issue of Love and Capes is in the Previews catalog now. Have I mentioned that yet? And that it's order code DEC10 0406? Hmm, I should make a note of that.

Editor Chris Ryall suggested that we do some variant covers for the issues. The first issue, coming out in time for Valentine's Day, has a retro Valentine cover that I designed. Chris and I were so in sync on this one that we independently suggested doing a Valentine cover as well as both referencing the I Choo-Choo-Choose You card from The Simpsons.

Mira:

Issue two will sport an awesome cover from Tom Beland, the guy who does the romantic comic that I aspire to. Of course, his is autobiographical, so maybe I can give myself a pass having not met his lovely wife. His cover is based on something that happens in the issue, so you'll have to check it out.

Pencils and inks by Mr. Beland, and colors by me!

And, as Chris posted on his blog and later picked up by Robot6, I was lucky enough to get Darwyn Cooke to do a cover for issue #3. Darwyn's New Frontierwas a huge influence on me and Love and Capes. I kept the absolute edition next to my drawing table as I worked, so this is a huge treat.

There will be another variant for issue #4, drawn by my friend and phenomenal talent Chris Bailey. Chris was nominated for an Oscar for his Mickey Mouse cartoon Runaway Brain. He's worked on Disney films, and did the animation direction for the Garfield films, the Alvin and the Chipmunks films, and the forthcoming Hop. He also mixes a mean mai-tai.

We're still working on that one, so I can't show it yet.

Issue #5 will have a variant by me again. Yeah, less impressive, I know, but this is going to be one of those "special" issues and I didn't want to hand that one off to anyone else. Wouldn't have been fair.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I actually draw some pages of the next issue. Yikes, that's coming up fast!