Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope you're where you want to be, with who you want to be with, and are having a great day.

As is tradition here at the Thom Zahler weblog, we show this year's Christmas Card art. Also, in case any of you are wondeing, this was put into production long before December 14th.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

(And obey all your local traffic laws.)

See you in the New Year!

Moon Knight Commission

Here's another commission off the list. This one is one of the Kickstarter rewards I owed a backer. He picked Moon Knight, which was an interesting choice. I like it when people pick a more obscure character because there's so much new to play with. As always, click to embiggen!

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.

Stilettos and Scoundrels

Recently, 801red brought me in to do some illustrations for one of their clients, the mystery author Laina Turner. This is the first in a series of pieces which will create a consistent look for the series.

For you art techies, this illustration, and the ones that will follow, were drawn on my Cintiq in Illustrator. It's the first major drawing thing that I've worked directly digital on. It's nice not to have to draw, scan, convert, and tweak, and instead work directly in the program that the final product will be in. Far cleaner, simpler, and faster.

Visit Laina Turner's website here.

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.

My First Step into a Much Larger World

Here's some news I've been keeping under my hat for a while: I'm going to be one of the artists participating in the new Star Wars: Galactic Files card set from Topps. I've contributed 100 or so cards with characters from all six movies. I did hold back and not do a chunk of Holiday Special cards, as much as I wanted to draw that Bea Arthur card. A tiny selection of the cards I did are below. The cards are due out sometime this fall. As soon as they're announced, I'll let you know.

Also, I'll be wandering around Star Wars Celebration later this month, though not set up this year. Next time, who knows?

#sdcc Sunday Love and Capes Deal Please RT

This year I've decided to do special deal coupons for Comic-Con International. Each of these coupons is good for one day only. To use the coupon, either print out the attached PDF, or download it to your phone and bring it to my booth.

Today's deal is $5 off a three-pack of Love and Capes trades. Normally, buying three trades is $60, but with this coupon you can save $5. This is the first time I've ever discounted the trades, and is only good while supplies last.

Remember, we're at Booth 2000!

DOWNLOAD THIS COUPON

Comic-Con, San Diego, and ME!

Hey, Comic-Con in San Diego is next Wednesday! And I'll be there at my usual haunt, Booth 2000 in the Independent Press Pavillion. I'll be set up alongside Ben Thompson of the awesomely-awesome Badass book series (which has even featured a piece or two by me). Together we're the LOVE and HATE tattooed on the knuckles of the hand of the convention. Or something like that.

I'm not doing any panels this year as far as I know, so if you want to hear me blather about Love and Capes, you'll have to come see me. You'll have to come down here, Khan!

Sorry, I thought I was William Shatner for a minute. That happens sometimes.

In addition to talking and chatting and posing for pictures, here's some stuff worth stopping by for:

Thursday, from about 9:30am-12:00pm the lovely and talented Amy Ratcliffe will be cosplaying as a female Crusader. This was inspired by a cover for Love and Capes: What To Expect #5… oh, wait, you haven't seen that yet, have you?

I'll be signing at the IDW booth, Thursday from 3:00pm-4:00pm.

I will have all-new copies of all three Love and Capes collections, including the so-hard-to-find third trade. There are some fixes that have been made in these new printings, including fixing the two pages that were flopped out of order in the second one.

I will also have the first new issue of Love and Capes: What to Expect in glorious con-exclusive form! This cover features Mark and Abby figuring out baby names. You'll notice Abby's notepad has a blank area where I can write your name (or other name of choice) onto the cover. Since I drew it and lettered it, Abby and I do have the same handwriting.

And, thanks to Geekdom War over at booth B-04, I will have some brand-new Love and Capes t-shirts, including this Chibi style shirt that I'm thrilled to see actually produced! Be sure to stop by their booth and see their selection of Love and Capes and other shirts.

I'll be debuting my Rhinos Bowling art book that was started by Kickstarter. If you're already a backer and are attending already, contact me and I'll have it at the booth ready for you. It's available in softcover ($25) and hardcover ($50) and in limited numbers here at the show.

I'll also have some of of my San Diego Con Prints, showing Crusader and Darkblade enjoying some fine ribs at the Kansas City Barbecue.

As usual, I'll also be taking commissions, and feel free to e-mail me and be sure to get on the list! I'll be selling a lot of the pre-drawn con pieces that have been on my site this last month or two, too. And I'll be signing and posing for pictures and all that fun stuff as well.

Comic-Con is a huge show and a massive part of my career. I've often described it as not so much a sprint as a Battaan Death March. And while there's a lot of hurdles to the show, travel and shipping and printing and setup and forms and taxes and booth space, here's the thing: If the worst part of my professional year is the part where I have to spend a week in San Diego and talk and promote the work I'm proudest of and the thing I know without a doubt that I was put on this Earth to do, it's not so bad.

I mean, some people have to wear ties to work.