Love and Capes is "Must See TV"

The comics site Comic Related has a review of Love and Capes up on their site, by reviewer Chuck Moore. It's another good one. I'm starting to believe that this series really is as good as I think. Here's a sample.

I found Zahler's series instantly comfortable, funny and refreshing. It was heartwarming and cute and had a lot of qualities I honestly enjoyed. From the retro look of the character to the care put into weaving the comic references to the situational comedy, this book is well worth checking out. It's humor is adult and all ages at the same time and well done start to finish. The title bills itself as :A Heroically Super Situation Comedy" and were it a televised situation comedy, I would classify it as must see tv.

Your mouth to God's ear, Chuck.

Read the full review here.

Bumped

Well, I was supposed to be a guest on the Bob Frantz show, and was even there in the studio, but there was breaking news with the Bobby Cutts verdict coming down. So I got bumped. We're going to try to reschedule and see if I can get on later.

On the Radio Right Now (I Hope)

Barring any Breaking News or a traffic tie-up, I should be on the WTAM-1100 right about now. (Posted through the miracle of time-delayed blog posts.)

Faster Than an Auto Loan

I did some animation for Brown and Miller advertising recently. I had to animate a superhero named "Captain Credit" for their client Spitzer Auto. You can download the spot here, as a Windows Media file. I did just the main figure animation, the rest was done in post. It turned out pretty well. The spot is running in the Pittsburgh area, so if you live in the area, you might see it.

Pre-Free Comic Book Day Press

JK Parkin over at Newsarama has some nice things to say about the upcoming Free Comic Book Day issue of Love and Capes:

Like last year, Love and Capes creator Thom Zahler offers issue #7 of his fun sitcom-ish superhero title for free. Although there’s some continuity between issues, each one is pretty self-contained and could be easily picked up to get a glimpse of what the title offers. Good stuff.

Click here to read the whole article.

Gang of Six

I've been messing around with a couple of side projects lately. One of the things I'm thinking about required six iconic images from Love and Capes. So, I drew six black and white illos of the main characters: Mark, Abby, Charlotte, Amazonia and Darkblade, and needing a sixth, I added the Arachnerd. Click on any of the previews below to see them embiggened.

I also drew these on bristol board, as opposed to layout paper, which is how I do most of my work these days. So maybe down the road I'll offer these for sale if there's any interest. I might color them and post them here, too. I'll let you know.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thom on TAM, WTAM that is...

I'll be a guest on the Bob Frantz show on WTAM-1100 here in Cleveland on Friday, February 15. I'll be on in the 11:00am hour as part of the Stump the Panel feature. I was a guest on this panel back on Free Comic Book Day as of last year. The reason is a Bob Frantz-related announcement that I don't want to spoil here, but tune in and see what it is. You can listen on the web if you're out of the Cleveland area.

Ow, My Drawing Hand!

I solicited a six-pack of Love and Capes through Diamond a month ago. To sweeten the purchase, the pack not only included the six issues, but an original sketch as well. I expected to move a handful of six-packs, and generate some revenue out of existing stock. Then I got the orders: about 130, not counting reorders.

That's a lot of sketches.

So I've spent the last few days drawing. Thanks to the people at Jones Printing, I got some custom made LNC sketch cards, They're a little larger than the normal sketch card, more like 4x6 or so. I did a ton of sketches of the Crusader, Abby, Charlotte, Darkblade and Amazonia. I also did more than a few of the Arachnerd and Doc Karma, who for some reason was my favorite character to do. There's something about the good Doctor that's fun to draw.

There are two characters that I only did one of: Major Might and Windstar. So, if you get either of those, you got the rare ones.

Then I spent the last two nights sorting and packaging six packs and getting them ready to ship today. And watching Torchwood. Bob lent me the DVD set, and man I dig that show. I may switch cable systems just to get BBC America so I can catch the second season.

Anyway, everything's all bundled up and will be off to UPS later today.

Not Romney nor McCain nor Hilary nor Obama...

A couple years ago I was in San Diego in search of a place to set up. Matt Haley sneaked me into the Studio Scarab area, where I had a great time hanging out with the gang. Among the gang were Gabe and Chachi Hernandez. They never miss an opportunity to make a Charles Goran joke, referencing my time on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Despite their relentless tormenting, I want to mention their new project, Joe Comics, which is up at DC's Zudacomics. It's a good book, the second best superhero comedy I can think of offhand. (The first? Well, I think you know it.) You can vote for them like I did, and the winner gets a year contract with DC to continue the comic. So, c'mon, let's get these guys sold into indentured servitude.

Maybe the Special "Mighty" Version?

Now, not only am I done with the meat of Love and Capes #7, but I can reveal the alternate cover. I was thinking of drawing a completely new cover, but I found myself realy liking the joke that I did for the FCBD cover. Last year, I did a "Secret Identity" version where Mark was out of costume. It worked well, and also had the advantage of letting me do less work. I was stumped as to what to do. Everything I was coming up revealed to much of the ending until I lay down for my nap... er, mid-afternoon artistic sabbatical, and it hit me.

So, the Free Comic Book Day version will have Steel Worker on the cover. But the alternate cover will have Major Might, who admittedly doesn't appear in the book. I recolored parts of it and took out the FCBD store stamp area. I think it works pretty nicely.