Your Mouth to God's Ear... or Quesada and DiDio.
Another Love and Capes #10 review has turned up on the interwebs. Check it, including my favorite part (emphasis mine):
I stumbled upon Thom Zahler’s Love and Capes…I had assumed this was another small press title, which would be a few pages of cheesy, over exaggerated black and white art, which little plot, nonsensical dialogue, and characters with nothing to love about them. I was wrong an all accounts. …I think that Thom Zahler’s wit would be extremely refreshing on a mainstream title like the Flash or perhaps he could even add a touch of merriment to Marvel’s mighty mutants again.
There's more at the link. And Jessica, you are a woman of sublime insight. Would you mind calling DC and Marvel for me?
Zuda Zuda Zuda
I've been working with Bill Williams of Lone Star Press for years now. So, one day, he comes to me and says "You want to pitch something for Zudacomics?"
For those of you not in the know, Zudacomics is DC Comics' online webstrip portal. They run a competition, kind of like American Idol without the cloying backstories and makeovers. Every month, it's a new competition. And this month, Bill and I are competing.
So, click to read The Urban Adventures of Melvin Blank. Bill wrote it, and I drew it. Here's the official description:
Melvin Blank has the mind of a child and the strength of a brute. After the passing of his parents, he lives in his Mother’s house in the heart of a big decaying city. He works as a dishwasher at a nearby greasy spoon and he has his urban adventures as he travels to and from work. Melvin thinks its hilarious that the mass transit system he rides, the City Area Rapid Transit System, is called "the CART", but he doesn't understand why a nearby diner is called "Joe Mama's". In a world of grays, Melvin sees things in black and white. Good and bad. Day and night. Cereal and pizza.
Melvin is pretty sure that the house down the street is haunted, but don't worry, he plans to do something about it. He is in love with a beautiful co-worker who has an abusive boyfriend, for now. He is selling items from his parent’s estate to pay for an elaborate headstone for the pair. At home, he has an angry cat named SOCKS and he never, ever misses SPACE PATROL RANGER. Melvin is absolutely sure that he is living the American Dream and he wants to share it with the rest of the people in his neighborhood whether they like it or not.
The first story is a complete eight screen story. It has a beginning, middle, and an end. Melvin is like that, he likes things simple.
We've created the strip. That was the easy part. Now we have to rock the vote. Well, you have to rock the vote. You can only vote once per person, so despite having a long line of dead Irish relatives, I've used up my one. It's your turn. Vote for us! We promise a webstrip in every pot! Two webstrips in every garage.
But please, check it out and vote!
Love and Capes #11 in Previews! For Reals!
Love and Capes #11 is in the new Previews catalog. Order code JUN091021. Just one issue left before the big wedding issue. It is both spotlighted and Certified Cool. So, clearly, you need to get it.
Sixteen
This is one of those Pages That Will Not Die. 
I started it sometime on Saturday, and had just the coloring/scripting to do on Sunday. Normally, I can get that done on a Sunday morning as I watch the news shows. This one took all day. And worse yet, I found myself with two great bits for panel two. One of them is funny and family friendly, the other one is funny and family safe.
I posted that strip and the variants up on Twitter. See, it's why you should be following me there.
I've now got two-thirds of the book done now. Almost there.
Cover Recreation
Because of my process in working on Love and Capes, I don't actually have original artwork. But I have started taking commissions for artwork recreations. Recently, I was contacted about recreating the cover for the forthcoming issue #11. Here it is, along with the Figment statue in my office (courtesy of ace voice-over guy, fine promoter, and good friend Roger Price). The finished piece is 11x17 on bristol board.
These are a lot of fun to do, so if anyone else is interested, please let me know.
This also seems like a great time to tell you that Love and Capes #11 will be in the June Previews Catalog, for reals this time, order code JUN091021.
Pop Candy Validation!
Whitney Matheson said some awfully nice things about Love and Capes over on her USA Today blog. Check it out here.
The FCBD Love Continues
Karaoke Fanboy at A Comic a Day has reviewed the FCBD issue of Love and Capes…
Love and Capes caters to both the diehard superhero fan and the woman in his life looking for a way into that rather exclusive world -- and most importantly, it's entertaining.…I feel Zahler's strength is in his storytelling and dialogue, his illustrations are equally capable. Betraying shades of Bill Finger and Bruce Timm, his art is cartoony without being cartoonish, since so much of the story concentrates on legitimate adult concerns.
Wow, Bruce Timm and Bill Finger. That's pretty impressive. Check out the full review here.
Capsule Reviews
It's been a week, so I thought I'll pull together some of the reviews of the Free Comic Book Day issue of Love and Capes. Please click on the review to read them in full.
Johanna at Comics Worth Reading…
Abby takes on Mark’s Crusader powers for a short time, just to better understand that part of his life. It’s very clever reasoning to set up a classic comic girlfriend plot, and as usual, Thom Zahler handles it with a great deal of humor, depth, and emotion.
And my favorite part…
If I could find people to make up a group with me, I’d love to go to a convention as Charlotte, Abby’s snarky sister.
Although this is just as sharp and funny as any issue of this remarkable series, there’s some true drama here that pulls you in and makes you feel for Abby in a way that’s somehow perfectly relatable, even for those of us who haven’t gotten around to being superheroes yet.
This is another one of those books that I utterly look forward to every Free Comic Book Day, as writer/artist Thom Zahler has an uncanny knack for coming up with stories that make you laugh and contain gallon upon gallon of heart…its the overall heartfelt message that he delivers and the way that he does it that makes Love and Capes such a riotous good time.
…plenty of relationship stuff and examination of the genre tropes (without trying to deconstruct those tropes or make them seem laughable)…Strongly recommended, even if you have to pay regular price for it.
It’s a well done, pleasant slice of life/superhero book…They used to make a lot more of these at the beginning of the decade, didn’t they? Nice to see someone still at it and making an organic story out of it instead of a thinly veiled attempt at appealing to the superhero and indie crowds.
Nicely stylized art and cute super-hero/relationship comedy. The actual story here is one we’ve seen numerous times in various super-hero melodramas, but Thomas Zahler gives it a unique spin this time around that’s appealing. Get it.
The Love and Capes book was pretty impressive. A great looking book from cover to cover.
I Love You, Why Don't You Love Me?
During my recent trip to New Orleans, I happened upon the Star Trek Slot Machine at the Harrah's casino. It was all kinds of cool, aside from the part where it took my money. If I was really channelling my inner Kirk, I could have found a way to talk it into paying out. "Fact… you are a machine… that's meant to pay out… yet you are not paying out. Why? You've failed your primary directive. You're also meant to entertain… but with no payout… I'm not entertained. Failure number two!"
A Smackeral of My Free Comic Book Day
Still on the road, so here's a quick smattering of my Free Comic Book Day experience...
The big one. Diamond glitched on us and didn’t run the planned solicitation for Love and Capes #11 in the May Previews catalog. Obviously, this is a huge deal, especially since I time the post-FCBD issue to time 
with Free Comic Book Day specifically so that people can read it and say “This is awesome. Can I have some more?”
I’ve talked with my rep and Diamond and, while they obviously can’t make it right, they are stepping up to the plate and making it less wrong. More on this as things shake out, but the important thing is that it will be in the August Previews Catalog.
Sell outs. I’ve received a few reports that Love and Capes was one of the first books gone, including my local comic shop running out just a couple of hours after store open. While I’m disappointed for those fans who wanted it, I’m happy to know it 
resonates so well. Of course, if the shops want to order a few more for next year, I won’t complain about that either.
Fan appreciation. Man, I love how people love the book. I’ve received more than a few e-mails and tweets, as well some great blog posts. I even got an e-mail from Israel, where Free Comic Book Day is on Friday and not Saturday because of the Sabbath. That was a treat and a half. And I’ve received some new RSVPs to the weddin
g cover, too.
Travel time. Randy Lander had a great event and treated all of us as well as can be. He said that he had his best Free Comic Book Day ever, so I can only imagine it was because he had Alan J. Porter and Paul Benjamin.
And speaking of which. It was great getting to hang with Alan and Paul and Paul Maybury. I talked some good shop, and left a little more inspired and a little wiser. Aw, who am I kidding? We just talked about Wolverine.
And a big "thank you" to Bill Williams, who not only was his normal personable self, but let me crash at the Billcave for the trip. Thanks, Bill!