Bumped

Well, I was supposed to be a guest on the Bob Frantz show, and was even there in the studio, but there was breaking news with the Bobby Cutts verdict coming down. So I got bumped. We're going to try to reschedule and see if I can get on later.

Faster Than an Auto Loan

I did some animation for Brown and Miller advertising recently. I had to animate a superhero named "Captain Credit" for their client Spitzer Auto. You can download the spot here, as a Windows Media file. I did just the main figure animation, the rest was done in post. It turned out pretty well. The spot is running in the Pittsburgh area, so if you live in the area, you might see it.

Pre-Free Comic Book Day Press

JK Parkin over at Newsarama has some nice things to say about the upcoming Free Comic Book Day issue of Love and Capes:

Like last year, Love and Capes creator Thom Zahler offers issue #7 of his fun sitcom-ish superhero title for free. Although there’s some continuity between issues, each one is pretty self-contained and could be easily picked up to get a glimpse of what the title offers. Good stuff.

Click here to read the whole article.

Gang of Six

I've been messing around with a couple of side projects lately. One of the things I'm thinking about required six iconic images from Love and Capes. So, I drew six black and white illos of the main characters: Mark, Abby, Charlotte, Amazonia and Darkblade, and needing a sixth, I added the Arachnerd. Click on any of the previews below to see them embiggened.

I also drew these on bristol board, as opposed to layout paper, which is how I do most of my work these days. So maybe down the road I'll offer these for sale if there's any interest. I might color them and post them here, too. I'll let you know.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thom on TAM, WTAM that is...

I'll be a guest on the Bob Frantz show on WTAM-1100 here in Cleveland on Friday, February 15. I'll be on in the 11:00am hour as part of the Stump the Panel feature. I was a guest on this panel back on Free Comic Book Day as of last year. The reason is a Bob Frantz-related announcement that I don't want to spoil here, but tune in and see what it is. You can listen on the web if you're out of the Cleveland area.

Ow, My Drawing Hand!

I solicited a six-pack of Love and Capes through Diamond a month ago. To sweeten the purchase, the pack not only included the six issues, but an original sketch as well. I expected to move a handful of six-packs, and generate some revenue out of existing stock. Then I got the orders: about 130, not counting reorders.

That's a lot of sketches.

So I've spent the last few days drawing. Thanks to the people at Jones Printing, I got some custom made LNC sketch cards, They're a little larger than the normal sketch card, more like 4x6 or so. I did a ton of sketches of the Crusader, Abby, Charlotte, Darkblade and Amazonia. I also did more than a few of the Arachnerd and Doc Karma, who for some reason was my favorite character to do. There's something about the good Doctor that's fun to draw.

There are two characters that I only did one of: Major Might and Windstar. So, if you get either of those, you got the rare ones.

Then I spent the last two nights sorting and packaging six packs and getting them ready to ship today. And watching Torchwood. Bob lent me the DVD set, and man I dig that show. I may switch cable systems just to get BBC America so I can catch the second season.

Anyway, everything's all bundled up and will be off to UPS later today.

Not Romney nor McCain nor Hilary nor Obama...

A couple years ago I was in San Diego in search of a place to set up. Matt Haley sneaked me into the Studio Scarab area, where I had a great time hanging out with the gang. Among the gang were Gabe and Chachi Hernandez. They never miss an opportunity to make a Charles Goran joke, referencing my time on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Despite their relentless tormenting, I want to mention their new project, Joe Comics, which is up at DC's Zudacomics. It's a good book, the second best superhero comedy I can think of offhand. (The first? Well, I think you know it.) You can vote for them like I did, and the winner gets a year contract with DC to continue the comic. So, c'mon, let's get these guys sold into indentured servitude.

Maybe the Special "Mighty" Version?

Now, not only am I done with the meat of Love and Capes #7, but I can reveal the alternate cover. I was thinking of drawing a completely new cover, but I found myself realy liking the joke that I did for the FCBD cover. Last year, I did a "Secret Identity" version where Mark was out of costume. It worked well, and also had the advantage of letting me do less work. I was stumped as to what to do. Everything I was coming up revealed to much of the ending until I lay down for my nap... er, mid-afternoon artistic sabbatical, and it hit me.

So, the Free Comic Book Day version will have Steel Worker on the cover. But the alternate cover will have Major Might, who admittedly doesn't appear in the book. I recolored parts of it and took out the FCBD store stamp area. I think it works pretty nicely.

Quote Answers

Since LNC#7 is now wrapped up, I can reveal the quote answers for the second half of the book.

13. Ah, but you have heard of me.
Pirates of the Carribbean. Captain Jack's brilliant response to a character telling him "You're the worst pirate I've ever heard of."

14. Who wants to go down the creepy tunnel inside the tomb first?
Riley Poole in the first National Treasure.

15. This is your last chance… free us or die.
Return of the Jedi, and one of my favorite movie scenes of all time. Luke and all of his friends are captured by Jabba the Hutt, Artoo is serving drinks, Threepio is translating, and Princess Leia is wearing a costume that will burn into the brains of males everywhere. As Luke is forced to walk the plank, he turns to Jabba and with the kind of ego only a Jedi has, offers him one last chance to free them or die.

16. If you don’t want to tell me exactly what you’re doing, when I’m asked, I don’t have to lie.
Lucius Fox from Batman Begins. A line I've had to quote to people for many reasons over the years.

17. She seems to have such nicely rounded diphthongs!
Here's an overlooked gem. Oscar, based on the play and starring Sylvester Stallone as a gangster trying to go straight. He hires Tim Curry's character to teach him how to speak properly. Marisa Tomei plays his daughter, and apparently doesn't have the same elocution issues, according to Tim Curry.

18. You are a barbarian!
The movie I like way more than I should: The Shadow. Lamont and Shiwan Khan have a conversation over bourbon and discuss world domination and ties.

19. They said Stage Two was going to be underground.
In honor of my friend Mike, who's building a house and they'd just poured the footers when I posted this. It comes from Kirk, discussing Project Genesis in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

20. Wherever we go, whatever we do, we’re gonna take this luggage with us!
Joe vs. the Volcano. I haven't seen it since I saw it back in art school during the weekly Friday afternoon keep-you-sane-at-Kubert movie trip that exposed me to such cinematic gold as Deceived, Sleepwalkers, Q&A, Funny About Love and Sibling Rivalry. It seems that 1989-1992 period (not counting summers) released a lot of bad movies and that I saw most of them.

21. Today we sail into history.
From one of the few good movies we saw during that Kubert time: The Hunt for Red October. Man, that movie still holds up today. It's just darn near perfect.

22. You are dealing with the oddity of time travel with the greatest of ease.
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Be excellent to each other... and party on, dudes!

23. Did you say you were a fast cook, that’s it?
My Cousin Vinnie, during Vinny's cross-examination of a grit-cooking witness.

24. I find myself showing off, which is the idiot’s version of being interesting.
I know I'm undercutting my 89-92 was a cinematic wasteland argument (minus the summers, really) but this was one of my favorite movies from that time period: L.A. Story. It's a layered quote pick. Love and Capes has sent me out to LA three times last year. Let's hope that after the Strike is settled that happens again.

I find myself showing off, which is the idiot's version of being interesting.

I'm enjoying a Mocha of Victory right now, as I've just finished page 24. I'd show it to you, but unfortunately my camera was lost in the Mid-Ohio-Con of Lost Lunchboxes. Trust me, it's here, and it's delicious.

So, here's the last redacted panel, showing Mark changing back to the Crusader. It also shows one of the cheats of the series. When I started out, I wanted to work in a new style, something very cartoony and graphic, like those E-insurance commercials. While I eventually settled on something a little more naturalistic, there are still holdovers from the grand experiment in the character designs. Case in point: The Crusader's costume. His cape has attaches at his chest emblem, but it does so in an impossible way. The cape has mass, let seems to fold under a logo with no mass.

If someone ever made a live action Love and Capes, the emblem would have to be raised from the uniform, a la the Superman Returns s-shield.

Okay, it's probably little to you, but it's always jumped out at me.

With this, the content of the book is pretty well done. I've got to design the biography and some of the extra back content. And I've got to do a the alternate LNC#7 retail cover. And there's one other thing but, much like the dialogue in this panel, I can't reveal that. Yet.