Retrospective

Well, I promised a retrospective year in review, but, ironically, in retrospect I must recant that promise, at least in part. See, to review the year in whole would mean to once again rehash all the negative stuff as well as the positive stuff, and that's just not how I wish to end this year or start the next one. So I am simply going to list the positives instead and build upon those this coming year.

Near the beginning of this year I closed a chapter in my life and budding comics career that was due and opened another one. Though that chapter would be a short one, I was fortunate enough to meet friends I still converse with to this day, and I wouldn't trade either experience for anything. The change taught me a lot and it prepared me for the future, and it also revealed to me where my focus should be as far as comics are concerned.

I also was made Business Manager of Scryptic Studios, which has been quite an experience in and of itself. It's a great community and one I wish I had more time to devote to.

I landed my column at comicavalanche.com, and that has been a huge success and I have gotten a lot of feedback about it. I am thrilled and honored by the success of it and everyone who has supported it.

The biggest happening in comics for me was getting my gig with Platinum, which I take as a sign of great things to come. That's one thing I will definitely be building upon in '06.

There are several other high points in comic related stuff for me this year that I could take an hour or more to relate here, including a couple of projects that finally have legs. But I've commented on all of them in this very blog (which would be another plus for me as it opened many doors and friendships as well), so I don't feel the need to rehash.

In my personal life, I have gotten closer with my family, both immediate and extended, and both of those accomplishments were no small feats, believe you me. I also had to face some decisions and situations, and I truly believe that from them I have learned a great deal about myself, my convictions and many other things that will help me to become what I want to become from this point on in all facets of my life.

So, even though the negatives, which have been well documented, may have been in abundance, I've also had my fair share of positives to balance everything out. I had a wonderful Christmas despite so many things trying to ruin it. I am positive going into the new year, which is something I couldn't imagine being a few short months or even weeks ago. And while everything may not be worked out right now, I have high hopes for the coming year and beyond.

In closing, I'm looking forward to 2006 more than I ever thought I'd be. I turn 29 this coming year and that alone is a wake up call for me. I don't feel like 30 is old at all, but it is still somewhat of a milestone, or a marker at the least. And there are goals I had set for myself to accomplish by the age of 30. Some of them won't be possible, but others will, and I intend to get as close as possible to the ones that aren't possible. Every messageboard I have gone to people are asking what our New Years resolutions are. Mine are simple, and pretty much the same as every year. Improve on the things that need improving, get closer with friends and family, make steps towards my passions, whether that be in career or otherwise, get closer to God, and just try to better myself as much as I can. For me there are no better resolutions, and these aren't yearly, but daily. If there's one thing I could specify as a goal for this year it would be to find the youthful exhuberance, determination and passion that used to drive me in the face of adversity instead of being overcome with obstacles in my path. That would be my single resolution if I were to choose one.

With all that said, I wish you all a safe and happy new year, and as they say, may this one be better than the one before, and regardless of your religious preference, may God bless you all in the new year. Here's to good things to come! Happy New Year!

Holiday Cheer

I forgot to mention in my last post how I was able after all to spend Christmas with my family, and it couldn't have gone better. We didn't exchange gifts this year like we normally do by drawing names, but we had good food (Subway!) and sang songs and just enjoyed each others' company. So it was a great day for me.

We did get small gifts via the Dollar Game, which we have been doing for a couple of years now. It's really fun if you get into it and it takes the edge off not being able to get everyone gifts.

What you do is everyone buys one gift for one dollar. If your family has four people in it you bring four gifts, all for a dollar, no more. None of the gifts are addressed, but all are wrapped.

Then one person starts by grabbing a random gift out of a bag or whatever. They then open the gift.

The next person in line then has a choice to make. They can either draw a random gift from the bag or they can take the other person's gift. If they pick one from the bag they are stuck with it unless someone else wants it later.

This continues until everyone has a gift. The ideal person goes last so they could take a gift from anyone they choose.

When a person's gift is taken they have to wait until everyone has gone then they get the choice whether to take one from the bag or take someone elses.

One VERY important rule is you go into it knowing you may not get to keep your gift, so warn the kiddies.

The first year we did this was really great because everyone was taking everyone else's gifts. This year wasn't quite as fun because only a couple of people (out of 17) took someone else's

So there you have it, a new, fun, inexpensive game to play at the holidays. And you can actually get decent gifts for a dollar if you look hard enough. Someone this year got a laser pointer, and one year I got a Coca Cola bear (I LOVE coke memorobilia!).


My mom and my aunt think of all kinds of neat little games like this on various holidays. Halloween 2004 my aunt thought of this game I can't remember all of, but it had something to do with a gift being wrapped like twenty times with a portion of a story written on each level of wrapping. I'll have to ask her about that.


This New Year's Eve we are all getting together at my cousins to play board games, a family tradition of ours. Some favorites are Scattergories, Guesstures, Hollywood Planet, Rook, Jenga and various other cool games. We always thought of bringing in the New Year surrounded by loved ones as a very symbolic thing. And our extended family is one of the closest ones I know of. There aren't many families out there that regularly see and spend time with aunts, uncles, nephews, neices and cousins, so I guess I'm lucky in that respect. The downside is everyone knowing your business, which has made me into some sort of private recluse the majority of the time. But even though we have our many differences we always are there for each other, and that's what matters most.


I promised you guys Christmas songs and I didn't deliver. But fear not! I have ONE for you today. I'm not crazy about the result as my voice for some reason lately is really raspy and just doesn't come off as polished as it used to be (maybe because it's been about 3 months since I sang in the choir!), but it's decent, and after re-recording it over a dozen times, I'm sick of singing the song. :) So here you go:

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Be kind with any comments! :( (J/K)


Looks like I'm not going to make the Dark Horse New Recruits program after all. One artist told me last week he couldn't make it, but would have them early in January. The other artist I haven't heard from, but I assume he got caught up in the holidays, which is totally cool. Like Cary said on his blog, it was a longshot anyway, and there are plenty of other avenues. So we'll just hit the virtual pavement and get the things in the mail to publishers. And now thanks to the artists' efforts I'll have more pages to show anyway, so that's a good thing.


I have tons of lettering to keep me busy this week as well as revisions and research on my Platinum project if I can tear myself away from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. What I want to know is how in the world you sneak stealthily across a wooden hanging bridge without engaging the enemy when they are constantly walking across the thing?! Not that it matters since I got tired of trying and just ran through them swinging (I didn't have a gun).


Sometime today or Friday my brother and I are going to watch Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which he got for Christmas. We didn't get to go see it in the theaters.

Yesterday I watched Four Brothers. It was actually a pretty good movie. I enjoy Mark Wahlberg as an actor, but I was pleasantly surprised how well Tyrese and Andre (from Outkast) did in it. I haven't liked Tyrese's acting in any of the three movies I've seen him in, and I had never seen Andre. So I'm glad they did well.

One of the previews on that DVD was for Hustle and Flow, which I now really want to see. I think Terrance Howard is a tremendous actor with a lot of range, and I look forward to seeing him portray the leading role.


I read X-Men Deadly Genesis 2 last night also, and I am so anxious to find out who the villain is. I have this X-Men 30 year anniversary special from Wizard from several years ago that I am tempted to dig out to try to figure it out. It's driving me crazy!

What gets me though is in the back of both issues one and two they had backup stories featuring new mutants (Petra in issue one, and Darwin in issue two) I had never heard of. I wouldn't have a problem with this under normal circumstances, but it bothers me that seeing as how House of M was Marvel's way of cleaning up and basically getting rid of the majority of mutants, why on earth are they now, only a month or two later, creating NEW ones??? It irks me they get rid of Iceman to give me Petra, a girl who can move rock, or Darwin, a guy whose body adapts to ANY trauma. Well, the Darwin character I can live with (though I hate the name because I don't believe in evolution of man), but Petra? She moves rock. Wow.


Anyway, all in all this has been a great close to an ok year. Look for my retrospect prior to New Years Eve. I'm not sure what I'm going to say, but hopefully it will be worthwhile. Until then...

B-Out

Christmas Miracles

Okay, so they aren't really your blown out miracles like the one I would really like (a healing), but even small miracles are miracles. So what am I talking about? Read on.

As you all know we are having some financial problems as of late. Well the miracle is that somehow we managed to have a decent Christmas, and possibly the best Christmas in many years because we all got almost everything we really wanted this year. It was awesome. I was not expecting what I got in the least.

First off I got a couple of movies I had been wanting, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Four Brothers. And they weren't cheap. Then I got Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, which was still pretty high, so I really wasn't expecting that. Then I got something I thought there was no way I would get.

On my list as I always do I put a LOT of things because I like to get surprised. If I only put a few then I know what I'm getting and I don't like that. So at the bottom of my list I put some comics I wanted. I knew there was no way I would get these because the shop closed before everyone got off work. What I didn't know, however, was that my Mother got off work 5 hours early! So I racked in Infinite Crisis 1-3, X-Men: Deadly Genesis 1-2 and the latest issue of Wizard Magazine with a sweet Jessica Alba cover! So I am thrilled.

I also got one of the newest Dragonlance novels, Amber and Ashes, which I really wanted.

But the last gift was the one that floored me. It was this huge box that served as the bottom of a wrapped box snowman that was as tall as me. The head was an empty box with a note in it, the middle was a 5 disc cd changer for my brother, and then the bottom was this huge box. Turns out it was a 27" TV for me!!!

Now you have to understand first off that I have never had any TV bigger than a 19" in my life. So a 27" is a big upgrade for me! Secondly, you have to know that my TV died about 5 months ago, and for 6 months before that it was so dark you could hardly see anything. So I had gotten in a habit of taping everything and watching it days later on my brother's TV, which is annoying at times. Not to mention I couldn't play any games at all because my brother, who never had his own TV or his own room until this past year, is always using it. So it was a great gift.

I don't know how in the world we had enough money for all that, because two weeks ago...heck a week ago we were flat broke with no food in the house. Somehow it stretched.


The second miracle is that somehow a couple of people all of a sudden got in tune with my thoughts I had not shared with anyone and said personal things to me that meant a lot and that I desperately needed to hear. It was wild because there's no possible way they could have known to say those specific things.


So all in all God has richly blessed me this year beyond my comprehension, and I have hope restored. May He bless all of you as much or more this season and into the New Year!

B-Out

Catwomen

My latest drawing done for a draw off on the DW forums. I intend to "attempt" to ink this later on or at least add more detail.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

For those of you who didn't get the email for whatever reason, this is a card I sent out to all my supporters, friends and colleagues in the comics world. I thank you all and wish you a very happy holiday season! God Bless!

1 Wallpaper to Christmas

Here it is, the final wallpaper. Actually two versions of the final wallpaper, but the first one is the one I used. I liked the ornaments. :)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. Thank you all so much for reading and posting here.

2 Wallpapers to Christmas

From my favorite movie, "It's a Wonderful Life"



And here's a runner up for the spot:

Chipmunks

While you guys are waiting to hear some real singing from me I thought it would be fun to do some chipmunk stuff in honor of my boys, Alvin, Simon and Theodore. Their Christmas special was always one of my favorites.

These songs are really me singing, but with the speed increased to give the chipmunk illusion. I hope these bring a smile to your faces this Holiday Season!

The Christmas Song
Jingle Bells
White Christmas
Silver Bells
Away in a Manger
Let it Snow
Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Holiday Images

I just thought I'd post some cute holiday images I found during my search for wallpapers. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

3 Wallpapers to Christmas

I'm putting this one up a little early and will probably put the next up a little early too so I can put the final up before Christmas Day so you all can see it as I doubt you'll be checking my blog on Christmas. So here's a classic Christmas movie wallpaper:

Blessings and Curses

Blessing

So I go to the mail the other day and lo and behold, a check! It's not a huge check, but it's more than I had, and given my current situation it helped a lot!

What happened was my uncle decided to pay me a couple hundred for his website I designed. At the time I made it I didn't really care about getting anything for it. He was family and I was building my portfolio. No biggy. But in light of the current financial mishaps I was hoping for something like this.

Now my uncle is hurting a little in his own right, but he wouldn't admit it. Unfortunately for him my family are a bunch of blabber mouths, so everybody knows everything about everyone. My uncle has always had a lot of side cash coming in. In addition to working a steady job for over 20 years he would buy and sell cars, buy and rent property, and anything else he could do to get more money in. He wanted to give his immediate family what he never had growing up.

A couple of years ago, fed up with continually getting screwed at the job he had given a big chunk of his life to, and had made quite a name for himself at, he quit to start his own business. It was risky, but he had the clout to do it and the start up capital. Fast forward a year and he buys a gas station because it was supposedly a good deal. His business was going slow, so he figured this would bring in extra cash.

Presently he owns five houses, including his own, two of which he rents (one to us), and one he is getting ready to sell. He also owns the gas station and his business, both of which are doing poorly right now. It's a tough time for him and the fact that he blessed me with this means a lot. I tried not to accept it, but he wouldn't hear of it. So God bless you, Bill.

Curse

My 13 year old brother has sort of a Christmas party tonight. Basically he's going to spend the night with some friends. Problem is he has no way to get there and it's like 3 miles away. He rode his bike over there the other day, but got a ride home and left the bike. Our car is broke down (could either be the battery, the starter or both, but we don't have the cash to fix it until after Christmas). He had it out with his Grandmother last night, who accused his friends of being drug dealers, which is so totally not the case. We've met the kids and they are good kids. So because he got mad at her for that she got offended and refused to take him anywhere for who knows how long. She holds grudges like that and is totally judgemental.

So my brother asks our aunt. She says she's going to Lexington (20 minutes away) two hours before he has to leave and won't be coming back until four hours after he's supposed to be there. He tells her that's fine, he guesses he'll have to walk. She simply says, "Well, dress warm".


Blessing

A girl by the name of Emily over on the Dabel Brothers forums hired me to design a logo for her, which was very cool given the fact she's a little strapped for cash. I told her I didn't want much for it, and she was totally cool about it. I've gone through a couple of revisions, and we're getting closer to the end product.


Curse

Problem is even if I finish it today I wouldn't get the cash before Christmas since I don't have the ability to get money over the net at present. So I may not even charge her. Sigh.


Blessing

Finally heard back about some lettering jobs I was waiting on, all backend pay as far as I know unfortunately. But they build my resume, and some of them I know for fact will be published, so that's a major plus.


Curse

Unfortunately, three different ones came in at the same time, so I now have nearly thirty pages sitting in front of me needing to be lettered ASAP! Not to mention the two projects of my own I will have to letter before years end, giving me another 15 pages to complete!


Blessing

My artists on Wanabez and Eliminator, Scott D. M. Simmons and Jon Davis respectively, are awesome. Not just because of their work, but because they are both working hard on the two projects and racing against time to get done to meet the Dark Horse New Recruits deadline.

Jon emailed me today basically apologizing to me. To me! I should be apologizing to him. I threw the DH thing on him at the last minute, sent him two more pages of script to convert to art, and he is apologizing to me! Jon has worked hard on this project in the midst of moving and some personal problems, and he deserves a lot of credit. I'm just glad I found him and I hope he has a wonderful holiday.

Scott has also gone above and beyond. He's the one that tipped me off about the DH thing, and he totally started cranking out pages. The thing is Scott has been struggling to, having to work part time jobs just to stay afloat, and dealing with his own problems. I also wish him a very happy holiday.


Curse

This isn't a big one really, but we may not get the projects done in time. It's a bummer, but I'm totally cool with it. Family time is much more important at this time of year especially. If nothing else we can submit like crazy in the new year.


Blessing

I got a lot of feedback from artists on the Digital Webbing boards about some questions I had about artists' rates and what not for future reference. I still think most artists ask way too much, and think for some reason they deserve to be given gifts to rival those reserved for world leaders and movie stars, but I digress. The feedback they gave was worthwhile and it gave me a good barometer to know what I'm up against when the time comes. Did I say how much I appreciated Jon and Scott?!


Curse

The bad thing is these artists tend to derail threads and go into rants, which effectively get my threads closed through no fault of my own. It's ridiculous the level of animosity and immaturity these people resort to just to make a point. And most of the time their points are juvenile and imbecilic anyway.Sigh.


Blessing

I've gotten to spend some time with my brother this week, which is something we haven't gotten to do in a long time. We used to be inseparable, but now that he's a teenager he usually has other things he'd rather do. We had a breakthrough after an argument, and it really helped us understand where each other are at.


Curse

My brother is the only one I've spent time with in a while. I've had some health problems that have kept me tied up and what few friends I have left near me are usually otherwise engaged. My lot in life seems to have been to lose more friends to betrayal, backstabbing and neglect than anyone on the face of the planet. lol. Seriously, the people I have called "best friend" have all turned their backs on me, and mostly through no fault of my own. I say that knowing that there will be doubters. But the truth is I am a great friend. Not to brag, but I'm one of those lay down your life kind of guys, seriously. I've had so many problems with people leaving me, starting with my Dad, that I have serious trust issues. When I find someone I feel I can trust to a degree and can confide in and know they'll be there for me it's a big thing. They then get my complete friendship. I've always been a good listener, even to people I'm not particularly close to. And people have always been drawn to me to cry on my shoulder or run things by me, get my advice, etc. I go out of my way for my friends though, and I put others above myself at every turn, no matter how unrealistic that may sound. I have offered to give my car to my friends before. I have gone hungry for them and for my family. Heck, I'm still a couple of thousand dollars in debt because of helping family that just left me high and dry afterwards.

So when it comes to friends I really feel cursed. The only thing I could possibly be accused of is smothering to a degree, but not overbearingly. It is hard to get to know me as I am very guarded, but once they do I'm not at their house every night, or calling them all the time. I may try to interact with them once or twice a week, if that. And it's always something they enjoy doing. But for some reason after a while they just lose my number, stop taking my calls, disappear off the face of the planet, talk about me behind my back, give me dirty looks and ignore me for no apparent reason. I am dead serious, you can ask a couple of people close to me and they will vouch for this. It's really uncanny. You know, except for three occasions I can think of my friends have never gotten me one gift for any holiday, some of them in 20 years! Nor have they even acknowledged said holidays or birthdays. Heck, my whole church has only remembered my birthday three times in 20 years, and we're a very small church. But every year I go to their houses and buy them gifts and bake them cakes or cookies, not to get anything in return, but just because I love them. It just hurts is all, and this time of year just compounds that hurt a little more.


Blessing

...But I saved money on my car insurance with that lizard dude...wait, no they are actually higher than my current insurance...I guess it's a blessing I found that out then.

Seriously, I want to end this on a good note. Not trying to be negative here today, just spouting off on some feelings. There's actually a lot more to be said in the last curse that goes a lot deeper, but I figure I'll save that for future novels and movies and make a killer through royalties, then at least I'll be able to pay off debts, hire more artists, and get things together so when I do meet some genuine people, and hopefully a genuine wife to be, I'll be able to do for them and myself so we can all be happy together.

Money's not everything, but it sure does help! But for me the most important thing is the relationships we have. Mine are lacking at the moment, but I know I'm a decent guy, and someday somebody's gonna realize that. Until then I still have my brother, and I still have my internet pals that I can at least talk to about common interests. And I have so much to look forward to in life if things can just get straightened out.

I have a lot of goals set for myself, and part of my negativity in recent months is because I am fastly approaching a marker I had set for myself several years ago and I am nowhere near where I wanted to be. Not to mention all the problems I've faced and all the relationship (friendships) failures. So all that and some things I began to question and see in a different light had all added together and crashed down on me at once. It was more than I could handle, and I reacted by lashing out and being negative, which, if you know me at all, is not even in my character. But fortunately, the worst part of all that is over, things are beginning to straighten out, I am once again encouraged in my goals and dreams and am seeing different ways of achieving them, and my faith, to a point, has been restored.

There are still some things I have issues with, but I know they will work out. So before I get too cheesy and any more sentimental, let me close by saying that though this has been a rough year for me, it has brought me to a better place in the long run. I haven't quite reached that place yet, but I'm getting there, and I am convinced that soon I will be able to put this year behind me and move on to bigger and better things.

Man, so now what am I going to talk about in my retrospect next week? I'm sure I'll think of something. ;)

4 Wallpapers to Christmas

This one deserves an honorable mention for all its He-Man goodness, but it just wasn't good enough to make it to my desktop:

5 Wallpapers to Christmas

This is a Black Cat piece I manipulated by an artist at Deviant Art by the name of diablo2003.

6 Wallpapers to Christmas

This was created from a piece Andie Tong posted up on Digital Webbing. Andie is an artist for Marvel UK, and a darn good one at that. Check out his work at www.deemonproductions.com!

Lettering in Song and Freedom

I was telling a few friends over at the Creatorfuze forums that I hope to record some acapella Christmas songs by yours truly and post them here for all of you to enjoy. It's just something I feel like doing, and I hope it brings a little more Holiday spirit to everyone. So look for those to pop up throughout the week.

I just received 10 or so pages to letter, so it looks like I'm going to be busy tonight and tomorrow. I also have some revisions to do on a logo. So that's all good news for me and I'm excited about it.

I made up this Christmas card for a loved one last night. It's not great, but it's decent enough:

I think I've managed to miss most of the Christmas programming in recent days due to falling asleep or forgetting about them. I hope to at least catch a couple of good ones on this week.

Over at the Creatorfuze forums we've been discussing our favorite Christmas shows and movies. My favorite movie of all time is It's a Wonderful Life, but as far as Christmas movies go I also enjoy The Santa Clause movies, A Christmas Carol (Cary and I agree that the remake with Patrick Stewart is the best of the remakes), Family Man, Elf, and yeah, I even liked that Ben Affleck/Christina Applegate Christmas movie a while back, Surviving Christmas.

There are also several specials I enjoy, from the Charlie Brown Christmas to all the music specials that tend to come on. It's just a wonderful time of year with a lot of good, heartfelt programming on. It's the one time of year when it's okay to be sappy and corny and just enjoy the good stuff.

Finally got a committed colorist for DLS: White, so it looks like early 2006 I'll have another submission ready. We also settled on a new logo for MSC, and Paul DeBerry and I (mainly him) are working together to really redefine the MSC website and give it an MSC feel.


Tonight is the special tribute to our troops episode of WWE Raw that they do every year. The wrestlers go over there to entertain and lift up spirits in this time of year when it's very hard for our troops to be away from their families. God Bless our troops, you are all in my prayers!

President Bush spoke earlier today about a number of topics, but one thing kept getting emphasized. One, he wanted the American people to understand that the reasons details of certain monitoring strategies aren't divulged to the American people is because that knowledge then falls into the wrong hands. He used the example of a leak prior to 9-11 informing us that Osama Bin Laden was using a certain type of phone to contact his people within the states. As a result of that he changed his strategy. Therefore it's vitally important for some things not to be known at this time.

I thought our president showed great resolve and complete candor in today's speech. After the speech part, and as he was answering questions you could feel his passion for the decisions and points he was making. It's sad that the media and certain members of Senate keep twisting what he says into something else.

I have a great deal of respect and admiration for our President, however unpopular that makes me in the creative industry. I fully support the decisions he's made, and I feel today he addressed those and gave plausible reasons why he made the decisions he made.


Anyway, that's all I have right now. I'm off to eat a little supper, watch some wrestling, then get my butt to lettering and logo designing. I bid you all good night. :)

7 Wallpapers to Christmas

Indy-Pendant Closes 2005

Today the last edition of my column in the year 2005 goes live. I could have had one on or around Christmas Day, but I decided to give myself and everyone else a break. I may have one on New Years, or I may wait another week. It Depends on how I feel. Regardless, today's edition will be the last one of this year.

In this week's column I covered several titles in a quick hit sort of fashion. I also do something I rarely get the chance to do within the column, and that's highlight my friends' work. I wanted to end the year with a bang, so I started with a bunch of thank you's and shout outs, then I highlighted several individuals and several studios, books and creators.

I know there will be some of you I missed, and I'm sorry for that. Some of you I didn't mention by name, but I mentioned what you did for me and how thankful I was. All in all I think it turned out pretty good.

I honestly had no clue what I was going to do in this week's column. I didn't plan it out, and to be completely candid, I forgot about it until 8 pm last night. So as I started to write the intro it dawned on me that this would be the last column of the year. What resulted beyond that thought was a very spontaneous and heart-filled column that just poured out. So know and understand, while I didn't get really mushy, everything I said in that column came straight from the heart.

I intend to take a page from Cary's playbook and write a year's end retrospective within this blog before New Years. I just haven't had the time, peace or energy to do so just yet. It will more than likely be long knowing how long-winded I can be when I write. But it will be filled with a lot of emotion, honesty and reflection. I hope you enjoy it when I get around to it.

I don't know how many of you that read my column pay attention to the Points of Interest box at the top left, but this week I extended it beyond the typical ten links to include several columns, sites and blogs of my friends and people I hope to gain attention for, as such is the purpose of my column in the first place. Heck, it's the purpose of the Comic Avalanche.

In case you are not aware, Comic Avalanche does not and will not ever charge for ad space on the site. We house ads, logos, links, etc. for many indy creators and sites because the entire purpose of the site is to put more attention and publicity on those creators and their works. We do it for the love of comics and the love of the indy creators that will be tomorrow's pros.

So thank you for enjoying the site, and thank you for reading my column. If I have inspired you to even try one of these titles, and I know I have, then I have done what I set out to do.

In closing, I hope you all get something out of today's column. I tried my best to address each and every one of you in some way throughout the piece. If you think I missed you read it again and again, and I'm sure you will find some way that I reffered to all of you who have supported me. From the bottom of my heart I sincerely thank you. God Bless.

B-Out

8 Wallpapers to Christmas

It's Sunday, so I figured I'd go all cutsie. Lol

9 Wallpapers to Christmas

Totally Random

It's 5:45 a.m. and I am totally bored. I'm exhausted having had very little sleep, I have a ton to do, though I'm not getting paid for any of it, and I have no idea why I'm posting at all. lol. Seriously, I've been wanting to make a meaningful post for two days now but I haven't had anything meaningful to say. Sad, I know.

So anyway, I thought I'd take advantage of the popular word this year, and make this "random"!


WWE

First off, for you wrestling fans out there, I watched the latest episode of Byte This on wwe.com and Tazz and Michael Cole were hosting. Turns out the regular host, Todd Grisham, was MIA and they couldn't get anyone else to do the show. So 20 minutes late they finally find Cole and Tazz and throw them on the show. It is THE MOST HILARIOUS THING I HAVE SEEN IN A LONG TIME. The two of them pretty much shoot on everything from the announcers on Raw, to management, to Vince McMahon's hair, to the stale revolving storylines in WWE. It's ridiculous and totally, well, random. You have Tazz throwing his mic away, Cole hanging up on people, both of them just tripping out. It's really fun to watch if you can. I think it would even be funny for non-wrestling fans. It was that good in my humble opinion.


IMAGE

Recently the Image boards have been policing any topics that discuss books outside of Image within the Image Central forum unless it's Image creators discussing thier books at other places. It's understandable to a point that they want the topics to focus on Image. It's a little sad, though, that they don't have a designated area on the forums where people can post thier artwork or story ideas for discussion anymore. But ya learn to live with it.


TV

Watched the hour long episode of Joey last night and it was one of the funniest episodes I've seen. I personally think the show is hilarious, and I hate to see it cancelled. Problem is it's up against The O.C. and Smallville, which is not a great slot to be in. But last night Joey and Zach thought they had gotten married in Tijuana. It was hilarious because at first you thought Michael and a girl who spoke no English got married, then it turns out the other way.

But that was only part of the fun. There were plenty more antics, like Howard, who idolizes and pretty much stalks Joey, finding out about the marriage then proclaiming he would be gay too! Later on he tells Joey he went to one of those bars and just couldn't do it. Joey tells him he was never gay, and Howard says, "I wish I knew that 6 hours ago". You'd have to see it in context. It was really funny.


Smallville, of course, was a rerun, which gave me the opportunity to watch Joey, which I usually miss. So for this once I'm kind of glad.


Does anyone watch Reunion? I think the idea for this show was pure genius, but I hear it's gonna be cancelled also. For those unitiated, one of 6 high school friends is murdered 20 years later, and to solve the murder mystery a detective digs into the 6 friends' past, covering one year each week, working up to present day. It jumps back and forth, but the main content hits highlights in the crew's past. It's an intricately woven plot with bunches of twists here and there. Each week you think you know who killed the friend, but then something in the past is revealed to remove suspicion, or to add suspicion to another person. It's a really great show, but it's heavy on drama, which is cool with me, but may not appeal to everyone. But the concept is pure genius. Wish I'd thought of it!


CHRISTMAS "TIME"

I can't believe it's almost Christmas. I've lived in this house for over a year now and it seems like I just moved in weeks ago. It's a crazy feeling the way time goes by so much faster the older you get. I used to think it was because the older you get usually the busier you get, so that would be a reason time would seem to fly. But seeing as how for the better part of the year, sadly, I wasn't all that busy I don't think that's it. Maybe it's stress related or something, I don't know. Maybe I'll never know.


COMICS

I wish I had more comic book stuff to talk about, but nothing really comes to mind. I've read very few books the past couple of weeks, and not too much is happening with my projects. I do have two artists scrambling to get art ready in time to enter the Dark Horse New Recruits program, so that's cool. And if that doesn't go through I'll have submissions ready for other publishers, so things are looking up in that respect.

I am finishing up a lettering assignment today, a 5 page submission for someone, then I have a writing gig coming up soon. Sadly none of these are paying, but it's work in comics, so I'm cool with it.

I also have a logo to design for small pay, which I'm very grateful for. It's for a cool little one-person operation making lego accessories, like helmets and stuff, and they look pretty good. I'll get a link up here soon.

I'm thinking about selling some of my comics, if I figure I have any anyone would want to buy. I unfortunately don't get into the high collector's stuff, never have. And I only have one book signed and none graded. But maybe I'll have some back issues people would want, I don't know. I'm also considering using a print on demand to make some t-shirts and stuff. I have some neat little phrases and stuff. And I may even put some art on there if I can find anything of mine I do good enough. We'll see.

I'm having second thoughts about debuting Wanabez as a web comic. That's all I'll say about it because I haven't talked to the guys at the hosting site about it yet, but I'm just not sure at this point.


BLOGS

My boy Jason (Berek-Lewis - his link is to the right under blogs) scored an interview with Rob Liefeld in the near future. Major props to him.

Crazz (The Comic Book Observatory) is a new news writer for Scryptic Studios, so congrats Crazz, times 2 (inside reference there).

And Cary (In Other Words) is looking forward to the new year in his retrospective. He's also writing stories about himself dying underwater. Lol. Just kidding...sort of. :)


CLOSING

Not much else to say at this point. That's all the random craziness I can think of for now. Soon I'll post my thoughts on the different variations of each G.I. Joe action figure, the over opinonated forum posters, and hot models that lived in my state that are now famous, how I never met them, and how sad that makes me! :) Until then...

B-Out

10 Wallpapers to Christmas

Here's another fan-art Fem Four one:

11 Wallpapers to Christmas

What's Christmas without Tim Allen anymore?

Scryptic Studios Wants You!

Here's the copy I put together for our ad looking for new meat for the Scryptic Studio "Offices":



Scryptic Studios is once again on the lookout for a News Editor and News Writers to provide news content for www.scrypticstudios.com

All news content is writing related with the main focus predominately being comic writing news. This is a non-paying position, but all members of Scryptic Studios are respected parts of the team with a voice. And remember, several writers got their start in comics by writing comic news articles.

Duties for the News Editor and News Writers include, but are not limited to:

News Editor

*Make sure the news area stays full and active, and keep News Writers moving.

*Hire and, if need be, fire new writers.

*Provide news stories in cases the News Writers are unable to.

* Ensure that 3 to 4 news stories are posted each day (mon-fri) and we're
trying to move into ORIGINAL FEATURES ONLY.

* News is posted using HTML coding. You'll need to know at least basic
coding, which we can help you with, but the more you know the better
you'lldo. As long as you know the basics, you'll do fine and you can pick up
the rest as you go.

* As a senior member, you'll have a vote in all major decisions regarding
the site. Your opinion matters and we'll look to you to help us grow the brand.

News Writers

*Find and write news stories daily. Remember, we are trying to move to ORIGINAL FEATURES ONLY. Some leads may be provided.

*Post the news stories for approval using basic html coding (we can help you with that if needed).

*Be in constant contact with the news editor.


Scryptic Studios is also looking for a good, reliable Webmaster. There is no pay at this time, but the webmaster chosen will be in charge of helping implement new facets of the site that could open doors for future payment possibilities.

And finally, we are also looking for an Ad Manager. This person would be in charge of ad placements, sales, and possible creation throughout the site.


All inquiries should be sent to brant@scrypticstudios.com

For more information on what Scryptic Studios, the #1 comic writer's resource website is all about, check out the rest of the site here at www.scrypticstudios.com.

Good Luck,

Brant W. Fowler
Site Business Manager
Scryptic Studios

12 Wallpapers to Christmas

Here's another one for you, Cary (I have it without the hat too.):

And just for the heck of it, here are some non-Christmas Flash wallpapers I found over on the CBR forums. Somebody was making all kinds of cool DC wallpapers, and I just had to grab and nab. :)

13 Wallpapers to Christmas

You've been very naughty!

Rejection #...forget it, I lost count...

I just received an email from Erik Larsen himself rejecting Wanabez. He was very nice about it though. He just said it wasn't strong enough to make it in the market. Obviously he didn't have time to go into specific detail, but at least he didn't bag on it, which gives me hope that with work or the right publisher it could be strong enough. I don't know, but it's something.

It's still in the piles at Platinum and Alias, so who knows? But man, two rejections in three days less than two weeks before Christmas...

Okay, Big Guy Upstairs, what's up? :)

Here's a glimpse at the mock cover for Wanabez:

[EDIT] - Okay, so I'm a glutton for punishment, so I asked Erik if with work it had a shot, and he says if it were close he would have suggested tweaks, which he didn't. So Wanabez has no future at Image now or ever it would seem. Sigh. I hope somebody out there likes this story.

14 Wallpapers to Christmas

A Happy Holidays from the GLA: