Snikt!

I've safely made it to Austin and engaged in some pre-Free Comic Book Day frolicking. Randy Lander picked me up at the airport and then we met Bill Williams for a great lunch at Chuy's and some great conversation. Bill and I spent the afternoon jabbering about comics.

Then we met up at the Alamo Drafthouse to see Wolverine.

First, a word about the Drafthouse. It is awesome to the awesomest power. A place where you can sit in great comfort, get a beer, food, whatever, and watch a movie.

And it's just cool.

Instead of showing The Twenty, the show some odd YouTube clips and TV show snippets and stuff like that. Seeing Bill Bixby turn into the Incredible Hulk and beat up a gorilla… well, guy in a gorilla suit… well, that's just great.

They also run a lot of fun specials. While I was there, I saw promotions for special screenings of Airplane (with subtitles for the best lines), Caddyshack, and a Pirate special on a lake where you had to dress as a pirate to get in. Man, I wish there was a place like this in Ohio. I think I'd live there.

Then we saw X-Men Origins Wolverine.

I have to say, I had pretty low expectations for the film. After X3: X-Men United the X-franchise was kind of tainted. So, while my bar may have been low, I have to say, I thought it was solid.

Wolverine's comic book origin is only surpassed in complexity by the U.S. tax code, and been patched together by as many people with as many ideas. The movie does a good job of sorting things out, streamlining it. And it's remarkably faithful to the X-films.

For instance, you know how you see Cyclops in the trailers and wonder "Why didn't Scott recognize Wolverine in the first film?" Covered.

The bad? The last twenty minutes. There's a fair amount of silly to it. Just scenes that could have stood a rewrite or two. What happens is fine, it's just how it happens.

So, here's my one spoiler warning. It'll make sense when you see it. Magic memory erasing adamantium bullets? Especially when you've got a character with hypnotic powers who's caused Wolverine nothing but pain and could, as she's dying, tell him to forget and bring you to his messed up self at the start of the first film, and a lot cleaner than the MMEABs.

There's a few other things, too. Honestly, they're minor. Things could have been refined. But I have to say, it was way more entertaining than I thought. And, as Bill said afterwards, Hugh Jackman is just so committed to the role. He's so good at it. I hope it does well enough that they try again. And since Jackman is now a producer (and such a darn cool guy) maybe it will.

Okay, tomorrow, as I'm sure I mentioned, is Free Comic Book Day. I needs me some sleep so I can go sketch and be Castle-esquely charming for a day. Later.

Con/Appearance Schedule 2009

With the big FCBD coming up, I thought I'd finally post my 2009 con/appearance schedule. Hopefully some other signings and such will be added as I go.

Free Comic Book Day • May 2
I'll be at Rogues Gallery Comics and Games in Austin, Texas.

Heroes Con • June 19-21
Charlotte, North Carolina. My first time at this show!

Comic-Con International • July 22-25
It's the biggest show of the year, and I'll be at booth #2000.

Mid-Ohio-Con • October 3-4
It's my home show, and I'll be there again!

Baltimore Comicon • October 10-11
What? The weekend after? Am I crazy. Wait, don't answer.

And Now We're Walking Out of the Forest

You know, for a book that I announced I was taking an "operational pause" on to work on a couple other projects, I seem to be doing a fair amount of pages. Really, I just needed a week off and then poof there were two more pages.

Today's comes from page twelve, a scene in Leandia with Mark and Abby, Amazonia, one of Amazonia's sisters, Oriana, and the Queen Leandia. I figured that the dimension, the city and the ruler's name are all interchangable. Hey, it's my world, I get to build it the way I want.

I had to design another set piece for this one, the royal chambers in the castle. It's open enough that I can reuse it a few times over this issue. And I think the giant Kirby Krackle energy pillars are kind of cool.

And, to show you how much I love this book, and the craziness it brings, here's what happened. Yesterday, I had a busy day, but I managed to pencil page twelve. Then, after fulfilling my duties as a Timberlake Councilman at one of our longer Council meetings, I inked it. After that, I colored and "built" the royal chambers set. By the time it was all done, it was 1:00 am.

My alarm went of at 6:00, as it often does. I'm a freelancer, and my morning workout class doesn't start until 9:00. I could have gon back to sleep, as I've done so many other times. But I couldn't. I had to get up and start working on the page, managing to color and almost finish lettering the page before I left to go Kick the Boxes.

There are other times and other projects that Ive had to get up early for. It's never pleasant, and I don't always roll a save against sleep. But for LNC, it's actually kind of easy.

Twelve pages down. Twelve to go. Do the math.

Ooops, I Did Page Eleven

Really, I meant to take a mini-break with page ten. I mentioned on Twitter that I had an epiphany about how the end of this issue will work, and I was glad about that. But I didn't really expect to do another page over the weekend.

Then, of course, the page just bubbled in my head until I went ahead and did it yesterday. I finished coloring and lettering it yesterday.

It's more adventures in Leandia, as Amazonia, Abby and Mark are heading to the Queen's castle.

And here's something I can't figure out how to mention: the big flying disc. I think it's a cool way for them to get around but it looks kind of unsafe, right? Well, borrowing off an idea I think I may have read in an old V novel, the discs have artificial gravity which help "lock" you in place. So, the disc could turn sideways or upside down, and you'd still be drawn to the disc as if you were right side up.

Okay, I thought it was cool.

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.

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.

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.

Play Ball!

Today's Opening Day of baseball season, so no gloomy face here. Well, maybe just a little. The Cleveland Indians are playing the Texas Rangers in Texas today. As regular blog readers now, I've got a good friend down there, and I've gone down there to do some work for his company and managed to schedule it around Rangers Opening Day. I've actually been to more Rangers Opening Days than Indians. (Well, I haven't been to any Indians ones.) Jesse and I always joked about "what if the Rangers opened against the Indians?" Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, we couldn't make it happen this year.

This year, too, it's supposed to snow here in Cleveland. And, as much fun as Rangers baseball is, it's even more fun to call up my friends in Ohio when I'm sitting in shorts and a t-shirt in the Arlington son and ask "Hey, how's the weather?" It's only going to be 58 degrees in Arlington today, but that's still much warmer than here.

Oh, well, there's always next year. Besides, as an Indians fan, I'm used to having to say that anyway. Now, if we could just get Major League Baseball to re-balance the schedule so that we played Texas and other warm weather teams more…

And hey! I drew page five of Love and Capes #11. The Quest for the Dress continues. I wasn't thrilled with the jokes in this sequence, although I think they work okay. This is one of those plot-heavy pages where the jokes come second. Interestingly, the joke in page four was originally supposed to be delivered by Abby, but I realized it was funnier if Charlotte said it.

I swear, Charlotte's becoming funnier. Paris has been good for her.

I Love the Smell of Praise in the Morning

I love firing up my Apple Mail program and finding a Google Alert telling me about a nice Love and Capes review. Well, the Google Alert doesn't just search for good reviews, but the precis version in the e-mail usually gives a little hint. This one was titled Love and Capes Rocks the House.

Here's a peek at the review.

This is neither “Chick-Lit” superheroics, or a watered-down superhero comic that is spiced up with romance for the gals. this is an honest-to-goodness adult comic written for adults who have grown past the need for busty babes in spandex and over-testosteroned guys in spandex that solve things by hitting them.

Whoa, heady stuff. You can read the full review here.

New Review for You, Crew!

Johanna Draper Carlson at Comics Worth Reading gave Love and Capes #9 another great review. Here's a smackerel of her review.

I am running out of ways to say how much I enjoy reading this superhero sitcom.

You can read the full review here.