Leaving Los Angeles

Today I heard the results from the meeting I had on Tuesday, so I can now talk a little more about what happened and why I came out here. But, I hope you’ll understand that there are still more than a few things I have to keep close to the vest.
I was invited out here to pitch a project to a major studio. The pitch went very well, but nothing’s happening, at least not yet..It’s still out there and hopefully we’ll find a place and a way to do it.
Also, there were some other possiblities and potential offers made because of coming out here. One of the principals I was dealing with likes my work, and hopefully we can find some thing to work together on soon. If that happens, you’ll be seeing my name in some interesting places. And, according to people who’s opinions I trust and know more about these things than I do, there’s a lot about the chain of events that show promise.
So, while this was my first trip out to LA for such things, I’ve got a feeling it won’t be my last.

Well, Maybe Just One More

Quiet day today. I have one last Buzzboy page to post, though. I'd done this one earlier in the week and missed it when I was putting them up on the blog. It doesn't seem right not to post the full set, so here it is.

Lifter of Heavy Things

The phone still hasn't rung yet, but it's not the weekend, so that doesn't surprise me in the least.

Actually, that's not completely true. My phone has rung for business reasons, but not the ones I'd expected. That's yet another thing I can't talk about though… sorry. As soon as I can, I will.

I did some physical labor today, which was kind of fun. I moved a table for a friend, and it was good to get out and lift something more than pixels. And I got to have lunch with my friends Charlotte and Dwayne. It was a good conversation all around, and not only did I get to spend some quality, non-convention time with my friends, but I also left feeling retroactively better about my Tuesday meeting.

This evening, to get out of Eugene's house and hair (which, let me make clear has so not been a problem, I just wanted to make sure it stayed not a problem) I borrowed his car and went to Amoeba Music. Since I'd just been there a couple of weeks ago, I managed to keep well under my normal $100 hit.

In case you're wondering, I bought two Celtic Woman CDs, Chicago's first Greatest Hits, Roxette's first album, the Veronica Mars soundtrack, SheDaisy's Fortune Teller's Melody, Robert Downey Jr.'s The Futurist, Heuy Lewis and the News' Greatest Hits, Steve Winwood's Back in the High Life Again (yes, I'm buying my teen years back… thank God they didn't have that Tiffany album), and Angels and Airwave's We Don't Need to Whisper since my friend Sean recommended them on his blog.

I also managed to get a Slurpee. For some reason, the greater Cleveland area has run off all the 7-11's, so road trips like this are when I can get my sugary frozen concoction fix. Yay!

Now I'm winding down my day, watching the news. It rained a little bit today, and that seems to big Big Important News here. The Midwest is getting pounded by mammoth rainstorms, but it sprinkled in Burbank, and that gets the attention.

Oh, and I finished up my portion of Buzzboy. You'll see them littered in this post, too. Click and embiggen!

Killing Time

It's another day of the LA wait.

Waiting for a phone call or an e-mail is a funny thing. After long enough, you become superstitious. You start doing everything you remember doing that "caused" the phone to ring. For me, it was usually shaving. I start to shave and BAM… phone call. So, I've been doing all that stuff, and none of it has been working.

Supersititions like this are a funny thing. I don't mind them myself. I don't actually think taking a bath makes the phone ring (but maybe I'll try that later today) but doing so to try to make something happen at least makes me feel like I'm doing something. It's like watching sports. Sure, wearing my lucky jersey may not make the Indians win, but unless Eric Wedge needs my wicked 50MPH fastball, wearing that jersey is the only thing I can do to affect anything.

Actually, I have had a little bit of news today... more of progress I suppose than anything definite. Can't complain. And in the meantime, I've inked some more Buzzboy. So click and enjoy that!

Ever Forward

I'm still in LA on my super-secret business trip. Yesterday went well, and there may have been an extra sprinkle of goodness to come out of it, too. Time will tell, and right now I'm spending that time at my friend Eugene's house. (Eugene's a very talented animation writer. You've seen his work and loved it, I'm sure.) Eugene and his family have been gracious hosts, putting up with a midwestern interloper setting up shop in their home, eating their food, and sneaking on to their wireless network. I'm lingering around their lovely home while waiting to see if I need to have another meeting with an undisclosed company.

Lest I do nothing, though, which is certainly not this workaholic's way, I've managed to color a couple pages of Buzzboy. Working on a laptop instead of my double Cinema Displays takes a little getting used to, but it's nice to have something to do other than just waiting. The waiting, as Tom Petty once opined, is the hardest part.

So, presented for your visual edification are the two (techincally three since one page is a double-page spread) paes I colored today. Enjoy.

And as soon as I can, I'll let you know why I'm out here. Promise.

Youthful Indiscretions

Way back in my youth, I wrote comic book letter columns, and the one I frequented most was Nuclear Reactions, the lettercol for The Fury of Firestorm the Nuclear Man. Writing letters to editors was a great thing back, and sadly, something that's faded because of space issues and the interweb. Back then, it was the only way to interact with the editor. It also was a way to find other like fans, as they'd print your address. I met a number of cool people that way.

Anyway, back in the eighties, Firestorm moved to Pittsburgh and the book changed. Different artists, the stories weren't as sharp… I just didn't like the book as much. But Firestorm was still my favorite character, so I kept reading and writing. My comments had both positive and negatives, and one of my frequent negatives was about the coloring.

At the time, a lady named Nansi Hoolihan was coloring FOF. She had a tendency to color the Pittsburgh skies red, even after the Crisis on Infinite Earths and its red skies of death. I remember taking her to task a few times for it, and I swear that there was an entire issue of Firestorm that featured blue skies because of my constant whining.

So, flash forward to now and Love and Capes. And here I am coloring the skies red. Over the last couple of years, I've been schooled in color theory pretty intensely. I'm not saying that I understand it completely, but better than I did back at the Kubert School, and definitely better than when I was in high school. I don't know if I just wasn't getting it, or if it was that I was used to the brightly colored Firestorm stories and the color pallette shifted intentionally when he moved to Steelers City, but I think I was unfair with her. So, if you happen upon this blog, Nansi, please forgive the ramblings of a sixteen year old Firestorm fan.

Now to the page itself: Page three is a Crusader/Darkblade scene. Love and Capes was designed as a sitcom, and the superhero chat scenes are designed to take place on a rooftop in Chronopolis. But, since I'm doing a comic book, two characters talking on a rooftop can be less interesting than two actors moving and talking. So I've tried to find "business" for Mark and Paul to be doing as spout reams of my dialogue.

This one is one I've had in mind for a while. They're leaping rooftops. It probably wouldn't work in live action, but in a comic I think it turned out pretty well. So well that I'm posting two panels, so you can see how they move. And make up for reading three paragraphs about my letter writing days.

I Could Tell You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

I still can't tell you what this Raider "wallpaper" is for, but I can still share it with you. The client wanted to have that old school newspaper feel to the comic, so I used a Photoshop effect to get the color separation dot pattern. I'm very happy with how it turned out.

As usual, click and see the entire wallpaper in its bigitude.

Wow, secret meetings, secret projects... I'm turning into an international man of mystery. But, I promise, as soon as I can say something, I will.

The Swing of Things

Yup, we're getting back to regular Love and Capes posts. Here's a panel from page two, where Abby and Charlotte are discussing Amazonia's book.

This page was kind of rough to write, as I had to toss in a bunch of exposition about Abby and Zoe's relationship, the book signing, and other things, but still cloak it as natural dialogue. I've promised myself I'll never write "as you know" and I'm proud that I managed to avoid it again.

Hey, only 22 pages left to go.

R.I.P. Mike Wieringo

I don't usually do the death notice thing, but for Ringo, I'll make an exception.

Mike Wieringo passed away yesterday from a heart attack. He was 44. For those of you who don't know, he was the talented artist on such books as Flash, Fantastic Four and Tellos. And he wasn't just a great artist, he was a great guy.

I knew him through a professional group I'm a part of, and I'm glad I got the chance to get friendly with him. When I first started working on Love and Capes, he took the time to comment on nearly every page. That's a great thing to do for anyone, made doubly because I was (and will always be) a fan of his work.

Newsarama has better and more full coverage up at their site. I just wanted to post my own remeberance, offer my condolences to his family, and add my voice to the chorus of people saying that he will be missed.

Once Again on the Merry-go-round

I'm back on the horse, metaphorically speaking.

I started Love and Capes #6 last night, and finished the first page early this afternoon. It's a splash page of Abby holding Amazonia's new book. Since I generally don't publish complete pages, I won't show you the whole image, but I can show the cover for Zoe's book. I had to design it as a separate image since it'll be appearing constantly throughout the issue.

In the Love and Capes world, Amazonia is kind of like Oprah if she looked like Heidi Klum and fought crime. She's not just a superhero, but a cultural icon and author. The main thrust of issue six will be Amazonia's book signing tour coming through Abby's store. It'll also be the impetus for some flashbacks to the Crusader and Amazonia''s past relationship. I think it's going to be the toughest issue to write so far, but I think it's going to have the best payoff, too.