New Items in the Love and Capes store!

By popular request, I've added some items to the Love and Capes store:

1. First, if you've already ordered or bought a copy of Love and Capes: Do You Want to Know a Secret? and just need a self-adhesive individualized bookplate. In the "special instructions" part, put the Love and Capes character you'd like drawn, and to whom you'd like it personalized to. And, if you're going to be at any of my upcoming shows (Next two are the New York Comicon and MegaCon in Florida) let me know, and I'll bring it with me.
2. The nine-pack of all current issues is now available for purchase at a special price.
3. Likewise, the advertised 8-pack (if you've bought one issue and need the rest) is also up. Just let me know what eight issues you need.

Thanks for all your support. It helps keep the book going.

Knock Knock Knockin' on the End of the Issue

Oh, fine, have some dialogue again. It won't spoil anything.

Normally, I'd be done. Love and Capes stories run 24 pages. But I couldn't rush this part of the story, hence the extra two pages. This part is coming together nicely, I think. Charlotte actually makes an art history joke at one point, which I think is so delightfully character driven, given that she's studying art history in Paris right now. I like it when the characters step up and take the reins of the funny.

Two pages left. I have a feeling once I start page 25, I won't stop until page 26 is done. Sleep? What's that?

Quiet Time

No more dialogue from here on out. In fact, I'm not even showing the version with dialogue balloons. This panel, from page 23, is from the raw art files. I'm pretty proud of this sequence. Lots of good acting. Even without any dialogue, you can feel what might be going on here.

Three pages left, and the last one should be pretty easy. It's a larger panel page. There's a more than even chance that I can get the book done this week, depending on client work and Council duties and other wackiness that may ensue. Every day's an adventure.

I'm getting that "Is this any good?" feeling about this. That's pretty common, especially in the last couple of pages of a story. You always doubt yourself, at least a little. I'm now of the feeling that this issue will either be the greatest issue ever or a spectacular fireball. I've described Love and Capes as a sitcom, and using that analogy, this is like the episode of Family Ties where Alex's friend dies and he spends the show in a psychiatrist's office. (It's called My Name is Alex, by the way.)

I think Michael J. Fox won an Emmy for that one, too.

The Countdown Continues

With four pages left, we're now at the point where dialogue will start disappearing from my preview panels. I don't want to spoil the ending.

This sequence is interesting. It's probably the most extended serious sequence in the series. It's also led to some really interesting discussions with the Secret Society of Super Reviewers. Maybe I'll reveal some of those after the book comes out.

Honestly, I just want to lock myself in a room and pump out the remaining pages. Honestly, I'll probably be done by the end of the week. I won't be able to stop myself, and the last pages seem to go a little faster since most of the backgrounds are already designed.

Back to work!

Done with Twenty-One!

Things get a little more serious as we get to page 21. I think this one's got some drama to it, and I like the way this panel conveys the urgency and power of the scene.

I had a bit of artist's/writer's block on this one. My panel six was kind of weak and I didn't have a great half-page joke to it. I tried all my typical things, finally taking a drive and going to Starbucks to try to dislodge the brain block. It worked, too.

After this page, everything's pretty tightly written and thumbnailed (well, thumbnailed in my head and occasionally on my shower wall in bath crayon) so there shouldn't be any more pauses, at least for creativity's sake. And now, I'm just at the point where I want it done and out of my head. It's great to have that drive to finish, but it can also be a little irritating.

It's Raining Men

Okay, that title only makes sense to me. It'll make sense to all of you in May. Promise.

Page twenty! Things gets a little more interesting. Of course, I can't show you why.

The more I work on this story, the more I realize how atypical it is for Love and Capes. It's the Free Comic Book Day issue, so I figure I'm expected to take a couple more liberties. But this one has more super heroics, and probably more serious beats, than any other issue I've done.

Don't worry, there's still a lot of funny in it, too. Still, it's gonna be a way interesting issue. Can't wait for y'all to read it.

Love and Capes #9 In Stores Today

Just sayin'...

Plop Plop Fizz Fizz

Things are starting to speed up a little bit now. I mean, Abby's got a stomach ache when she shouldn't. (And no, she is not pregnant.) And that's the harbinger for the last act of this issue of Love and Capes.

There's a joke earlier in the book where Abby forgets to put on her mask. Oddly, on this page, I did the same thing. I drew it, the way I usually do, and scanned it into the computer so I could color it. Only then did I realize that I forgot to draw her mask on in the superhero scenes. Fortunately, I've gotten good enough with the Wacom tablet that I could draw the mask in without doing it by hand and rescanning it.

Whew! Dodged a bullet there.

With this, there are only seven pages left to draw, as well as figuring out the cover for issue #11 so I can run an ad for it somewhere in the FCBD issue. It's close enough to being done that I can almost taste it.

The Love and Capes Valentine's Day Giveaway!

Valentine's Day is coming up, and since I write comicdom's most romantic superhero book, I figure I ought to do something to celebrate. So I am. I'm doing a giveaway.

Love and Capes is the perfect Valentine's Day present for the comics fan, or someone you want to introduce to comics. No Valentine? Enter the contest and maybe Love and Capes will help you win over that special someone. Sign up using the form below.

• You and your valentine could win:
• All nine issues of Love and Capes, signed by the author
• Two matching Love and Capes t-shirts
• A set of Love and Capes pins
• A box of Ghirardelli chocolates. (No endorsement implied. They're my chocolate of choice, and I think you'll like them too.)
• Your name in the Free Comic Book Day 2009 issue of Love and Capes.

No purchase necessary. Winner will be chosen by random drawing on February 2nd, 2009. Winner will be notified and prizes will be sent immediately thereafter.

And, if you haven't already picked out a present for your special valentine, may I suggest the new Love and Capes TPB? It's available at better booksellers nationwide or you can pick up a copy here.

And, as an added bonus, download a printable Love and Capes Valentine to give to your sweetie here!

Burning Up the Book

Okay, now, I have eight pages to go. Here we have what is probably the most exciting panel of Love and Capes ever. I've had internal rules about LNC since I started, many of which I violated. I planned to only introduce one new hero per issue, which I smashed in #4, I planned on not doing continued stories, which I did in #8, and I said "no fights", which I broke in #9. Since this issue is Abby with powers, there's the most superhero stuff I've ever put in an issue of Love and Capes.

And, looking at the big breakdown of page Post-It notes sticking on the wall of my kitchen, there's a lot of serious to the end of the book. Maybe it's good that I added pages, so there was more funny before it became, well, less funny. I'm still barrelling forward, because I think the story's good, but I sometimes get a little nervous. Plus it's the Free Comic Book Day issue, which means my biggest audience of the year. Whew! It's a lot to have hanging out in your brainspace.

Enough of that introspection! Enjoy the panel, and being announced shortly (like later today)… the First Annual Love and Capes Valentine's Day Giveaway!