24-Hour Comic Book Day

In about fifteen hours I'll be at the Great Lakes Mall in Mentor, Ohio doing the 24-Hour Comic Book Day event. Before the crazy starts, I thought I'd remind you of how to follow me that day.

I'll be on the Twitter, hopefully at least once an hour. Follow me at @loveandcapes.

The Love and Capes Facebook page will mirroring the Twitter updates, too.

And, I'll be streaming my desktop with occasional commentary on Ustream.

And, feel free to message me on Twitter, too. I'm going to use the audience for naming characters and light plot points. I'll open some of those things up on Twitter, too.

24-Hour Comic Day Preparations

So, I've mentioned 24-Hour Comic Day. I've been making some preparations.

First, the fine folks at Wacom have lent me a Cintiq for the event. It arrived a little early so I can mess around with it beforehand. Drawing on it is different, to be sure, but it's also awesome. I don't know if I could get used to drawing completely digital, but it's worth pursuing. You've got to keep trying and growing as an artist.

I did a couple of rough images on the tablet. Basically, I'm drawing a light blue pencil underdrawing and quickly moving to inks. I've decided to do the book in a two-tone format, heavily inspired by Darwyn Cooke's The Hunter. (By "inspired" you can say "out and out theft". But, if you're going to steal, steal from the best.) The two color style allows a nice, quick way to establish planes in the drawing. I think it'll look slick.

So, the samples I did are also in two color. I worked the ink layer, added colors and then went in and cleaned up. I think it worked fairly well.

Then I did a sample page. I haven't thought too much about the plot of whatever book I do, but I figure it'll be a relationship story. That's my wheelhouse, and it's best if I do a book that is simpler in scope than, say, complicated 3-point perspective cities and space warships. Not thinking of a story is like not thinking of pink elephants, so I can't say story beats aren't coming to me. We'll see if I actually use them.

I also figured it's okay to do as much prep work as possible. I'm testing the Cintiq and process, so I've designed a template page as well. It's the same as using pre-ruled paper.

So, I gave myself a one-hour time limit and tried to knock out a page. I came in at 45 minutes from start to finish, so that's not bad. It's also a simple page, and I'm sure I'll have some tough ones as I go, too. I even lettered it and then tweaked the original and reimported it. It's good to see the flexibility I'll have.

Click on anything to see it larger. I'm pretty happy with this first run. We'll see how Saturday goes.

Two Down, Three to Go

I'm done with Love and Capes: Ever After #2. This is the fifteenth issue of Love and Capes, and will be coming out from IDW sometime next year. I've still got three issues left to go, but things are coming along well.

And since I'm done, you know what that means. It's time for…

Obviously, I can't show you much from the issue. Especially since Something Major happens in this issue. But I can let you know that some of it takes place here:

This one was a rocky process. Taking three weeks off for Comic-Con and related traveling did whack me about a bit. The story didn't go as smoothly as I would have hoped, and a household repair in my real life inspired a story beat that I think really pulled everything together. (And, as far as I'm concerned, makes my new water heater completely tax-deductible, right?)

New for this issue, though, I kept a diary of the process of making the book. It will show how long pages took me, what I thought when I was working on it, show some sketches and give you some behind the scenes information. Now that I'm with Graphic.ly, some of this may find its way on there, too.

That'll be coming out when the issue comes out, and will be a convention and web-only sale.

Now, I'll take a much deserved day or two off and then start the next one.

Thom Zahler Does 24-Hour Comic Day

So, a year ago, I had this idea.

I've wanted to particpate in 24-Hour Comic Day for a while. It's a day when cartoonists get together and try to put together their own 24 page comic in 24 hours. It's like an ironman competition.

I thought it'd be fun it it was open to the general public. I had an idea of doing it in a gallery, working on a Wacom Cintiq which would pipe what I was drawing onto a big screen TV so that everyone could see. People could come, see the process and watch me put together a comic.

It'd be kind of like when Harlan Ellison would set up in the window of a bookstore and write a short story. Except my story probably won't be quite as awesome.

So, this year, it's happening.

On October 2nd, I'll be at the Great Lakes Mall on a stage down by Macy's and my mall-sponsor Comics and Friends. Wacom is generously loaning a Cintiq to me (that they'll probably have to pry from my cold dead hands to get back). Mentor TV is providing the big screen. I'm going to start at Noon on Saturday, and draw all the way through Noon on Sunday. I'll also be Twittering, Facebooking and uStreaming throughout the whole process.

And then collapse. Yeah, I see that happening for sure.

Here's the full press release:

LOVE AND CAPES ARTIST TO CREATE A COMIC IN 24 HOURS

Thom Zahler, Comics and Friends and Great Lakes Mall Participate in
“24 Hour Comics Day”

On Saturday October 2, Love and Capes creator Thom Zahler will be at Great Lakes Mall, in Mentor, Ohio, creating a 24-page comic book in 24 hours. As part of the national “24 Hour Comics Day", Zahler will be set up on a stage for all to see, working publicly throughout the day and into the next.

Wacom is providing Zahler with a Cintiq tablet which will be hooked up to a big screen television so that everyone can see what he’s working on.

“I think this is going to be a lot of fun,” says Zahler. “At least right now. By hour eighteen I’ll probably be cursing my own name. But I’m glad to let people get a close-up look at the creative process.”

In addition to watching Thom ply his craft, attendees will be able to create their own comic strip (no drawing ability necessary). Thom will also incorporate the audience into his comic creation, in the form of characters as well as other story ideas and details. Prizes will be given away throughout the day, courtesy of Comics & Friends, a comic book shop located in the Great Lakes Mall. Prizes will include comics-related merchandise: movies, video games, action figures and more.

Kick-off is at noon on Saturday, October 2nd. The public will be able to attend during mall hours until 9:00pm on Saturday and then beginning at 11:00am on Sunday. Zahler will also Twitter throughout the day (and night) and post live videos on his site.

About Great Lakes Mall
Great Lakes Mall is located at 7850 Mentor Avenue in Mentor, Ohio and is managed by Simon Property Group, Inc., headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Great Lakes Mall is anchored by Macy*s, JC Penney, Sears as well as two large Dillard’s department stores. Great Lakes Mall also features over 150 specialty stores including Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Charlotte Russe, The Disney Store, Hollister Co., Talbot's, Ticknors, Victoria’s Secret, Yankee Candle and numerous eateries like Fuji Japan Steakhouse, Max & Erma’s and The Olive Garden. For more information, please contact Great Lakes Mall at (440) 255-6900 or visit www.ShopGreatLakesMall.com .

About Simon Property Group
Simon Property Group, Inc. is an S&P 500 company and the largest real estate company in the U.S. The Company currently owns or has an interest in 373 retail real estate properties comprising 256 million square feet of gross leasable area in North America, Europe and Asia. Simon Property Group is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and employs more than 5,000 people worldwide. The Company's common stock is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol SPG. For further information, visit the Simon Property Group website at www.simon.com.

About Thom Zahler
Thom Zahler is a comic book writer and artist, and creator of the Harvey Award nominated superhero romantic comedy comic Love and Capes. Zahler has also done cartooning and illustration for the Cleveland Indians “Slider” comic strip, the Lake County Captains, Prilosec, and recently illustrated a series of children’s books for Roarke Publishing. Further information about the artist can be found at www.thomz.com , and Love and Capes at www.loveandcapes.com

Cincinnati: The one with the comics and the beer

I was at the inaugural Cincinnati Comic Expo this past weekend. You're never sure what to expect from a first year show, but this one exceeded my expectations. Big kudos to Andrew and Matt for putting on such a great show!

And, as usual, I've returned to Art Studio Zee with a ton of stuff to do and a well-scrambled brain, so I'm going to do this stream-of-consiousness factoid style, with some commissions I did scattered about. The full-color Superman piece was for the auction, and bought by a former classmate of mine at Kubert.

You know how to click and embiggen, right?

The best part of the show is the new people I get to meet. I've known Lora and Mike Innes for a couple of years now, but we were stationed next to each other and got to have some long-form conversations and even brunch. That was all kids of awesome. I met legends Murphy and Helen Anderson, Russ Heath and Al and Roz Bellman. That was a treat. Mark Waid is right, too, Murphy Anderson has the best voice in comics, a honey-dipped baritone. And, you know, killer drawing chops and a fantastic ink line. I also got to meet SteveScott, a crazily-talented artist whom I've been sadly unaware of up to this point. We had some great discussions way too late into the night at the hotel bar. I also got to meet Michael and David Uslan. Great people and David is spearheading Graphic.ly where Love and Capesand The Dreamerwill be showing up really soon. Maybe even some other stuff, but I can't talk about that now.

Sales were pretty good at the show, too. Cincy seemed fairly starved for a good comic show, and now I think they have one. With a show with no track record, you're always worried about who, if anyone, will show up. Attendance was good, and people were buying. Maybe it's that without a second day of the show, everyone has a little more impetus to make decisions. Lora and my panel were really well attended, too.

Bonus fun came because the Cincinnati Oktoberfest was right outside the con hotel. This was great for all my cheesy macaroni and apple strudel needs (the beer lines were a little too long for me) and it was fun to have somewhere to go and wander after show hours. It made driving back to the hotel a little difficult from the closed roads, though. I was particularly disappointed that after going to morning Mass, God didn't see fit to part the orange barrels for me. Perhaps I should have prayed harder.

I even mananged to plot out the next page or two of Love and Capes and really lock things down for the end of the book. Now, all I have to do is actually draw the thing. Hey, that's what the night's for, right? Well, that and the How I Met Your Mother premiere.

And I'll definitely see you next year in Cincinnati!

Look, Up in the Sky!

Here's a Superman commission that I recently did for a fan. There's a lot I like about this. I've made no secret of the fact that the Crusader borrows liberally from the Superman well, so it's nice to find a different way to portray a similar character. I think this would be a great style to do a Superman all-ages kids book in.

In fact, in drawing it, a great idea struck me for how to handle such a book. Obviously, I can't reveal it here, especially since I might eventually need to recycle that idea somewhere else. But, hey, DC call me. We'll talk.

That's the One with the Bengals, Right?

Next Saturday, I'll be a guest at the inaugural Cincinnati Comic Expo in the Queen City. I'll be there with a number of people, including Murphy Anderson, Russ Heath, Michael Ulsan, Lora Innes and more! I'm very much looking forward to it. If you're in the area, come on out to the Cintas Center and check it out!

These Art the Voyages

Star Trek turns 44 years old today.

And it's still awesome.

Baltimore, Briefly

Baltimore's going well. Yesterday was pretty busy. Random highlights: 1. One of the commission requests I received was "Draw Charlotte in the superhero costume she'd wear for Halloween. After much thought, I drew her wearing one of those store-bought impractical but oh-so-cute Batgirl costumes. Then I had her in a sassy pose saying "Face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot… unless you're going to mention that Mary Jane said that and I'm dressed like a Batman character, in which case, move along."

2. Joe Murray at Captain Blue Hen Comics arranged a tour of the Geppi Museum, full of comic book goodness. It's the first time I was able to go there, since it's usually closed after the show. There was a lot of fun stuff there and a chunk of stuff I had or have. And some of the Toon Tumblers I designed were in there, too.

3. At the bar last night, a couple wedding parties came in. I accidentally walked into a photo of the bride's parents and apologized. The picture taker said (jokingly) "How could you do that? Wait, you're handsome! Get in the photos." So, there are a couple of photos they'll have of me in their group.

Also, the father of the bride was a dead ringer for the Dos Equis guy, you know, The Most Interesting Man in the World. When they send me the photos, I'll post them for you to see.

Speaking of which, for some reason, my iPhone can't upload photos to the Twitpic website. So I haven't been able to post images from the show. I can't tell why I'm not able to do it, whether it's a password issue or a connectivity issue or what. So, there are photos, but they may have to wait until I get back.

And finish that page of Love and Capes that's waiting for me, of course.

There's Something About a Bad Girl

One of the other things I like about doing commissions is the specificity and originality of the requesters. As an artist, the mission statement "Draw whatever you want" is always daunting. There's too much to choose from. Well, not too much, I can wrangle it down, but it takes effort.

I love when people come up with a sketchbook of all one character or theme. It gives me a starting point, and usually the other commissions in the book make me want to up my game to compete. The estimable Chris Sims had a Jimmy Olsen sketchbook, and I drew Jimmy as Flamebird from the Bottle City of Kandor… life size. Too up all of an inch on the page.

Here, my requester wanted Major Kira, from the excellent and dreadfully-underrated Star Trek: Deep Space Nine looking in the mirror and seeing her Mirror Universe equivalent, the Intendant. I had to research the characters, and get out my Deep Space Nine Companion, which ate up a ton of time because I can never just look at the pictures. I start reading, and then I want to start watching again. Such a good show, and one that really schools you as a writer.

But, I eventually broke away and finished this piece. I'm pleased with how Nana Visitor's likeness was captured, the expression on each face, and the body language of each character.