First Mention of Love and Capes #10 in the Wild

JK Parkin over at Robot 6 gave some online love to the Free Comic Book Day issue of Love and Capes.

Thom Zahler sent me an advanced copy of Love and Capes #10…Page eight is hilarious, and pages 22 and 23 kind of choked me up. You’ll be able to get this for free on May 2, so definitely check it out.

Read the full article here. Heck, if you haven't bookmarked Robot 6 in your RSS-o-tron, you're missing out on comics reviewing the way Shakespeare intended it.

Also in the same article was this from Tim O'Shea:

I am jealous that you got a sneak peak of Love and Capes #10. Zahler deserves all the praise he gets for his work and much more.

I'm sorry, Tim! I thought you were on my mailing list.

While that mistake is being in the process of being rectified, if there's anyone else out there in the comics reviewing world, be sure to send me your information and I'll make sure to add you to my reviewers list. Just e-mail tz (swirly at sign) thomz.com.

Page Ten

There's other stuff I should have been working on other than page ten, which you'll probably notice is done by the panel I'm posting. Sometimes time management is a tricky beast. I'm at a break point in the Love and Capes #11 story here. I know what happens next, but I don't have the exact how yet. So, I decided to pound out this last page that I had figured out.

Then, I can work on some other projects while the page 11 percolates in the back of my mind. I won't have to fight against my urge to do more Love and Capes and will be more productive on the other project.

And that's the way my mind works.

Wolverine Wants You to Get Love and Capes (I think)

In front of this trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Hugh Jackman does an ad of sorts for Free Comic Book Day. He can't come out and say it, of course, since he's got to publicly support the whole Marvel/Wolverine franchise, but you can see in his eyes that he wants you to get the FCBD issue of Love and Capes. He's almost pleading, really. It's kind of sad. Dude, you're Wolverine.

Seriously, though, it's great that he did this. More promotion of FCBD is always a good thing.

See Exotic Places

When I work on Love and Capes, I do it in what I call "animated" style. I design a background/set and then lay the characters on top of it. Coming in the next issue, we go to Amazonia's home dimension. So I had to design an exterior.

Amazonia is obviously based on Wonder Woman, but I didn't want to borrow too much from her. So, instead of making it a Paradise Island kind of place, I went with making it a little more Flash Gordon-y, circa the "I know it's not good but I still dig it" 1980's extravaganza. I wanted a bright, technicolor landscape that Amazonia would look natural in. The film was famous for some skimpy costumes, so it makes sense that Zoe came from a place like that.

Click to embiggen, as usual.

And, Lo, There Shall Come a Ninth Page

Here's an oddity. I usually have the jokes written when I start drawing. Here, I didn't. The panel eight beat was essentially "Abby accepts the situation. And make it funny." What had to happen was dictated by plot. I just had to bring a smile, which isn't always easy.

So I did what I usually do in these situations, I talked it out. I played both characters and it just kind of happened. On top of that, I kept cutting words until just minimum was there, which made the last beat funnier.

Of course, you'll have to wait until July to see if I'm right.

State of the Tart

One of the fine ladies at Sequential Tart sat me down for an interview about Love and Capes, just in time for Free Comic Book Day. Check it out here.

Easter Eight!

Happy Easter everyone!

I've been oddly productive this Triduum weekend. I got a bonus page of Love and Capes done today. I started it yesterday, having some extra time since I didn't go out until the Easter Vigil Mass, and managed to hammer this page together before then. It's doubly remarkable since it features a new set, the Flapjack Flophouse. I designed more of the place than appears in these scenes, too. There's a table and booth set up for both straight on shots and angle shots. Most of the angle elements weren't necessary for this page, but maybe they will in the future.

This is also one of my favorite pages so far, and for an odd reason. You can't tell from the snippet I'm showing, but this whole page isn't superhero related. Oh, there are some plot points mentioned, but with a quick edit, this could be a scene about any two people having a discussion in a Waffle House, er, Flapjack Flophouse.

When I first started Love and Capes, I wanted to make sure that the characters could be funny without the superhero trappings. Sure, the hero stuff would be the major source of funny, but for a situation comedy, the characters had to be in and of themselves funny. Issue #2 was the first issue that had a scene without a superhero-heavy joke. Now, I've lost track of the number of times that these scenes have happened, but I'm always glad when they do.

I Believe the French Call It...

So what's Amazonia offering that Mark needs to check with Abby? You'll have to read the book to find out.

I was stuck on how to handle page eight, but I think I've broken that, too. This book seems to be coming a little faster than I would have thought, which is great because I just signed a contract to do some children's book illustrations that will take up a bunch of time. Can't complain, of course, but things are looking kind of tight, and could always get tighter.

Hmmm, perhaps I've said too much.

Page Six

It's a little early in the run to be blocking out dialogue, but I'm doing it now. There's a plot twist early in the book, and I want to keep it secret. So, we have faded lettering here.

And, with this page, I am one-quarter of the way done with #11. It's fun to watch that number count down (or up, I suppose) and see completion come so fast. Of course, #12 will be extra sized, so things will go slower the next time.

I like the coloring and staging in this sequence. It's fun doing the night scenes in Chronopolis, and the cathedral may be the most visually interesting set I have there. And I like the body language, Darkblade working his iPhone while holding a cup of coffee. Apparently, a futuristic iPhone that allows you to swipe while wearing gloves. Or maybe Darkblade has special electrostatic gloves. You never know with him.

Nothing to See Here

I'm suffering from some writer's block on the new Love and Capes. I hate when this happens. I know what has to happen, I just need to make it happen, and preferably make it happen funny-style. Especially when this kind of block happens early in the process, I just feel like I'm burning days I'll miss when deadline crunch time happens.

Until then, and so I don't go too long without posting, here's a panel from a comic strip I've done for a client. They're presenting it next week, so I'm not revealing the name or what it's for. But I wanted to share some artwork, just to show I'm still alive and drawing.

And playing World of Goo. I got that with the MacHeist bundle, and man, it's addictive.