I'm Number Two!

On the most recent Comic Book Pipeline Podcast, the Love and Capes collection is podcaster/reporter Augie de Bliek's number two comic book pick of the week, beat out only by Valiant's Archer and Armstrong.

You can listen to the podcast here. And I'm gunning for you, Archer and Armstrong!

It's a city of shadow, it's a city of crime

I found out earlier this week that reruns of the syndicated Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? are airing on the Game Show Network. Why is this important? Well, in April of 2003, I was on the show. It means that sometime, they'll be reairing my episode. I'm in reruns, baby!

Even though I was on the version with Meredith Viera, I think Regis Philbin was on my mind when I colored Mark's suit in page twenty. He's definitely wearing a Regis-inspired outfit. I haven't shown Mark working his civilian accounting job much in the run of the series (only twice, I think) so I wanted throw in a nod to the fact that Mark does work for a living. Plus, I'm experimenting with how grays print with a newly revised black-line printing technique. Anyway, I think it looks kind of cool.

Also on page twenty, Abby's new hire, Jason, shows up again. He's been dreadfully absent from the book since his introduction, and based on his first scene in this issue, I had to make sure he showed up to put a button on his mini-arc.

In Stores TODAY!

The Love and Capes collection arrives at comic book shops today! For realz, this time. I've seen the book, as being the author you do get a couple of advance copies, and it looks gorgeous. It's the perfect Thanksgiving present, since it's too good to just wait for Christmas!

If you get it, give me a shout and let me know if it looks as good as I think it does.

The stars are shining for you, and just like me I'm sure that they adore you

I just finished page nineteen, and I'm pretty happy with it. I broadened my toolbox of techniques and have done the first rainy day in Love and Capes. I worked out a technique, and I think it looks pretty good. This is my favorite panel of the page. It's a well-composed shop, the weather works well, the lightning looks great and creates some nice lighting effects, and I like dropping the sound effect into the background.

With five pages left, plus doing the cover of #10, the new ad page with new photos, and the new recap page, the book is speeding headlong to its conclusion. I think it'll come together pretty nicely.

From door to door and-a house to house

It's been a little rough getting back on the Love and Capes horse since my Dallas sojourn. Worse yet I had a little writer's block on the panel four joke. Still, I think I pulled through on it, and have done page eighteen. Six pages left!

In this one, I had to create a Hooters-type restaurant, which I did with a place called "Headlights." As you can probably guess, it was Quincy's choice of restaurant. The art on this scene really came together, and even better, I was able to repurpose the Mickey Dee's bar set from issue #5 so the page went faster than it could have.

Half Hour Wasted? I Think Not!

I did a few interviews at Wizard World Dallas, including this one for Half Hour Wasted episode #96. I appear near the end of the podcast, but the whole thing is worth your time. It's a live broadcast from various parts of Wizard World, and it does a pretty good job of capturing the flavor of the convention.

And when they mention that Cheetah Lady… sheesh. I saw her too and be glad that you didn't.

Remember When I Said…

Yeah, I thought the Love and Capes trade was coming out this week. Turns out it's coming out next week. But it will be out then for sure! It's in the "Comics Shipping the Week of November 19th" list from Diamond.

Gamers People Play

Look at who's the lead story on Busy Gamer today. That link is to their beta WordPress site. You can see their main site at www.busygamer.com.

Sure, Awards Look Nice on a Shelf

Yesterday, I attended the Apex Awards luncheon at Pine Ridge. The Awards are put on by the Lake Communicators, an organization I've been proud to be part of for over five years now. Every year, they recognize the best advertising and communication work in Ohio.

I won two awards yesterday, the Silver and the Gold in the Illustration category. I won the Silver for the CleveLand ilustration I did for Scene Magazine and I won the Gold for the Grand Theft Auto Tremont cover, which I also did for Scene (and I'm told resulted in their best circulation numbers ever). It's always great to do good work, and it's fantastic to be recognized for it.

I also met Brad Colbow, talented designer and illustrator. What was odd about our meeting is that we both follow each other on Twitter, and that's how we knew each other. I know Twitter is part of online social networking, it was just cool to see it transferred to in-person social networking.

In Stores NOW!

The long-awaited (at least by me) Love and Capes: Do You Want To Know a Secret collection is in comic book shops today! You can get it at your local comic shop, or at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Khepri.com. All good places to get what, I hope, is a good book.

I have to say, it looks great. There were a couple of issues of the book that didn't quite match the coolness what I saw on my monitor. With this trade, that's all been fixed. The black lines are crisp, and the colors capture the subtlety that I intended. Really, it's just a joy to see.

On top of that, there's an introduction by Mark Waid, six pages of behind-the-scenes stuff, and a reprint of the "how a page is made" feature. Along with the required biography, all of it adds up to make a pretty great package. Perfect as a present. Now if only there were some big gift-giving holiday coming up next month...