Lucky Thirteen

Page thirteen is done! I can't show too much of it, as there are a couple of fun reveals in the joke panels, including one that allowed me that allowed me to draw a sixties-Kirby-style monster. He'll be called the Kirbivore in later pages.

Once again, we get to see that Mark has an iPhone, too. One of these days, I'll have to start charging for this product placement.

Hopefully, I'll have room to explain that Mark's parents are very concerned with the appearance of normality, and as such don't let Mark fly them to visit him in Deco City. Wouldn't want people to think that the Crusader makes his parents fly coach because he's lazy or anything.

Colorin' Books

I'm not just cranking out Love and Capes here at the Thom Zahler Art and Coffee Emporium. I just finished a caricature for the Chalmers-Tinlin Team of real estate agents located around Akron, Ohio. I've done a bunch of work for Phil Chalmers, from cartooning to logo design to t-shirts, both for his real estate and speaking work. He's great to work with, and I'm proud of the work we've done over the last few years.

This is a caricature of the entire team for a coloring book. A black and white version of the art will appear as a coloring page in said coloring book.

See Them In Glorious 2-D!

I finally got the product photography for the Love and Capes t-shirts. They, and the models, look trés cool! You can click on the thumbnails and see them larger, too.

Like 'em? Be sure to order them before the end of June when orders close.

Halfway Home, Baby!

The pages are finally starting to come a little faster. I wasn't sure I was going to make the halfway mark before the end of the month, but here it is, the last day of May, and here's page twelve, too.

This page requires a little bit of explanation. For the last year or so, I've been driving to the West Side of Cleveland on the first Wednesday of the Month to play Pub Quiz with a bunch of friends. The quiz I played was a ten round, intensive trivia competition, including a picture round and a video round. Our team, the brilliantly named Team Eleven, was the scourge of the pub we played at. I may have participated in fifteen quizzes over the last year and a half, and I think Team Eleven only lost three times.

The host, MikeD, did a great job running the show. He even helped me change my flat tire in the middle of a spring snowstorm. He left with my wheel lock, but that's another story. After that, though, I wanted to do something to show my appreciation. So I thought about putting him in Love and Capes.

I came up with the idea that Darkblade, in his secret identity, would attend such trivia contests to try to hone his skills. After all, if you fight villains like The Quizzler who leave clever clues for you to figure out, it's probably good to keep sharp on these things. Later in the strip, there's even a reference to Charles Goren, best known to me as being part of my last question when I was on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Last month was the last pub quiz. Brendan O'Neill's, our host restaurant, lost its lease and has closed. I know MikeD is on the search for a new location, and I hope he finds one. When he does, you should make sure to come on by and play the Quiz. Team Eleven would love to take your money, too.

Worse Than Ants

And here's the second and last part of what I've been calling "The Picnic Imperative." Of course, it's nowhere near as important as that, although a lot of stuff does seem to be happening around noon.

Keeping my "one panel, no joke" posting rule, I can't show you the first four panels, which I think have some pretty good comic timing in them. Trust me, though, they're comedy gold.

I also managed to finish this page long before 2:00am, and I always consider that a win.

Snow Day

Remember when Marvel did their Casket of Ancient Blizzards storyline? Oh, that was when people knew how to make crossovers. Someone in Thor, I think, opened up this magical casket and for the next month it snowed in the Marvel Universe. No massive crossovers, no special issues, just some snow in everyone's comics. These days, thanks to marketing and deconstructed storytelling, that story would be a four-month event. Yeah, things were better in my day, young fella, now get off my lawn.

Sorry, I'm a little punchy after staying up until 2:00am to finish page ten. Fortunately, I had NBC.com and the last four episodes of The Black Donnellys to keep me company as I worked.

Anyway, in this page Mark and Abby go on a picnic. Or try to.

Get Me To the Church On Time

We're getting closer and closer to the halfway mark on Love and Capes. It's taking longer than I thought, but I did just finish page nine. It's another Darkblade and Crusader hanging out in the city page, which has become a staple in the series. I wanted to do something a little different, though, so I designed a new building for this sequence, this time a cathedral, so that there was a different look to it.

Batman always looks cool walkiing around on the top of a church, so I thought I could pull it off with Darkblade.

I've tried to create a catalog of background elements so that I can keep the pace and style of the book. In that catalog is a file of buildings that I cut, paste, and mess around with so that I can create the cityscapes in the series. And I try to add a building or two to the library every issue, so that things don't get stale.

This particular page felt like one of those pages that I'd never finish, but I'm fairly happy with how it came out.

Pirate Law

Okay, would someone please explain this to me:

I just got back from seeing Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End… and liked it a lot. The first still is the best, but the third is close behind, and is, in fact, so good and pays off threads from the previous film that I now like the second movie better than I did a few hours ago.

But that's not my question, as you may have noticed from the obvious lack of a question mark in the preceeding paragraph. What I want to know is Why did almost everybody at the 8:00pm premiere leave during the credits?

You can be forgiven for not staying through the credits in the first film. You didn't know there'd be something after. But, when the second one came out, you probably saw the first film on TV or DVD or someething and knew there was a bit after the credits. So by the third film, you sure as shootin' better have figured out there's an ending coda.

Still, nearly everyone left.

Any other showing, I'd be far more forgiving. But, if you made time in your schedule to wait in line, and in many cases dress up in pirate gear (not my case, though, let's be clear) to go see the very first showing, you're probably a fan of the movies. And if you're a fan, how do you not know there's something coming at the end?

So, if you walked out, let me tell you what you missed: A scene so poignant and earth-shattering that my life and my soul are forever changed. A scene so brilliant and so well executed that even if you do eventually see that scene on DVD, or if someone tells you about it, you will still never know the pure bliss that came with seeing that scene, right there in that moment.

Or, it was just a really nice scene and I'm lying to you. Pirates do that.

Avast Me Hearties!

Tomorrow night is the premiere of Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End. Some friends of mine and I are going. We were planning on the midnight show, but then they announced the eight and, hey, we're not stupid.
The occasion of the third film isn't just an excuse to run a picture of the smokin' hot Keira Knightley though. I wanted to point out the unique ad campaign they're using to sell the previews: See it before the secrets get out.
Now, that's part of why I like to see things opening week. That and being with a crowd that really wants to see the film, and not just "something, and Shrek the Third was sold out." But it's the first time I've seen an early premiere sold this way, and I think it's clever, and really shows an understanding of the audience.
As for what the secrets are, I dunno. I've stayed off the parts of the interweb that might spoil anything. My prediction, though, is that Captain Jack, as captain of a vessel, will perform Will and Elizabeth's wedding ceremony.
In other news, I have the Love and Capes shirts prototypes. And they look shweeeeet.

And Now, Something For the Ladies

I just finished page eight, which means I'm one-third through the fifth issue. Yay, me!

Here we get to see Mark get up in the morning.

Obviously much of this is based on me, from the physique to the layout of the bathroom. The major difference is that my pajama bottoms of choice feature The Nightmare Before Christmas.

And don't worry, the scene gets much more interesting than just seeing Mark brush his teeth, as much as I might think that would be riveting drama.

This page came out pretty well, and I'm especially happy since I pencilled and inked it after a full day of outlet shopping in Pennsylvania. (Hey, I needed new Nikes and replacement for my old coffee maker.) A lot of times, that much driving and walking will make me want to collapse on the couch and watch 24 rather than block out and draw a page.