Newsworthy

James Sime has returned to his column, The Comic Pimp, at CBR for several weeks to discuss the next level of comic retailing. You can read the first installment by clicking the post title.

If you're not familiar with who James Sime is, he is the owner of the Isotope Lounge in San Francisco, CA, an innovative comic shop that takes, in his words, a "gonzo" approach to comic retailing (how could I not love it!). The Isotope's website lists all the crazy things they do from live events to DVD screenings, etc. It's over the top and highly successful. Check it out: www.isotopecomics.com

I tried to email Mr. Sime to get him to check out Chuck Kennedy's Retail Therapy column and give some feedback, but the email bounced unfortunately. I for one would love to hear his thoughts on Chuck's great ideas.

Another column of particular interest was this week's One Fan's Opinion by Erik Larsen, also at CBR. This week he talked about how to break in...sort of.

Now usually I like Erik's column, unlike some people I know. Usually he has interesting, insightful and fun stuff to talk about. A few weeks ago he wrote one about breaking in as well, but it wasn't received too well. I understand where he was going with the tone he used, but some just thought it was condescending crap.

This week's column, in my opinion is just that; condescending crap! First of all, he hasn't really told anyone reading this column anything they didn't already know. The whole column was basically "if you want to write or draw comics, just do it". Well duh! Then he proceeds to tell us if we can write but can't draw try it anyway because someone will read it, even if it's just family. But whatever you do don't send your crap to him because he doesn't want to read it!

Now as the publisher of one of the top four or five comic companies, Image Comics, that prides itself on creator owned projects and the best deal for them in the business, this statement utterly baffles me.

But to play devil's advocate for a second, I realize that Image and every other comic company receives tons of submissions all the time, and 90% of them are total crap. I get that. But when he says, and I quote (expletives paraphrased):

"You can do it.

If you want to make it in the funnybook field you should do it.

And when you're all done...think about me.

But do me a favor, okay? Don't send it to me. Lord knows I don't want to look at your wretched sh--."

That doesn't say to me that if it's crap or really amateur don't send it. It says to me I don't want to see your work unless your freakin' Warren Ellis or Jim Lee!

So what does that say about Image? Obviously they DO publish stuff by unknowns, but maybe they're gravitating away from this. Recently they have published books by Warren Ellis, Thomas Jane & Steve Niles, Jay Faerber, Todd Nauck and others. Sure, for every one of these there are two or three from lesser knowns, so I'll give them that.

It's just this statement hit me the wrong way. I'm willing to consider he didn't mean it as it was said as Larsen has always come off cold and arrogant in anything he's written. Still, I think he would be better served to read through his columns before posting them and actually think about what he's saying.

I'll put it like this. If I were in a position where I could influence tons of aspiring comic creators I would do everything I could to help them better themselves and produce top notch stuff, whether that be advice in a column or some other form of hands on help. I would not speak down to them and crush their hopes in a single blow. That's what I feel this column will do to those not strong enough to look past it. Fortunately I'm not one of those people!

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Time Flies!

Wow, I hadn't even realized I hadn't posted here since Monday! I'll try not to let that happen again!

So this week has been somewhat productive. First off, we've done a lot of work on Kansas Hit, Cary Kelley's entry into the SPA Idol contest on which I am the letterer. Going into the second round, which requires 5 full character pinups and bios and a rough logo, I think we'll have quite an edge. We will have 5 fully finished pinups laid out with some backgrounds and lettering that all put together just rocks! We also already have a fully finished logo instead of a rough, so we are just moving along at break-neck speed and I'm lovin' it. It's great to be a part of this team with my own project being sacked so early. But more on that in a sec.

Back to Idol, I have agreed to letter another entry, Warbreed, at the request of the artist, Ben Jones, and the approval of Idol captain, Ian.

Ben is an artist over at Midnight Studio Comics (MSC) where I am writing a couple of stories. And Cary and I go back a ways. So it's cool to work on two projects with two stable mates of sorts.

About my eliminated entry, Aroquin, The Protector, Bryan Heyboer (the artist) and I have been talking and he is psyched to stay with the project! So we're developing it as a four issue mini-series and going the regular submission route to the varies publishers. I have a really good feeling about this project, and I will keep you all apprised of its progress right here!

I have been sporadically lettering Jason Berek-Lewis' short story, Tiki's Phayrie for Ronin Studios the past couple of days, which has gotten him kind of worried. lol. My philosophy is you can procrastinate to a certain extent as long as you get the work done and on time. :)

Seriously though, I had some other stuff I had to get to first, but I have been working on his story today and it's coming along nicely. With any luck I should be able to send him the fully lettered pages by tomorrow at the latest depending on what else comes up.

I'm also designing the logo for the story, which is a little more challenging trying to get the feel of the story. It's a fantasy story with a whimsical, fun element to it, so the logo has to be fantasy based, but light and fun as well. We'll see what comes of that. ;)

I'm also working on several other logos for several other people, and I have some more lettering backed up from Approbation Comics and more on the way soon. Whew.

And speaking of Approbation, my first published lettering should be out soon in issue #4 of Approbation's Vampires Unlimited!

But speaking of Ronin Studios, my own short story for the same fantasy anthology as Jason's is coming along quite nicely. It's actually co-created by myself and TG Sangalang, the artist. I received the colored pages yesterday and they look awesome! I can't wait to transfer the letters over to them and see the whole package! A sample of the colors that I may have shown here before is below.


Over at the Creatorfuze forums a few of us each decided to enter this contest for writing a fantasy novel. The deadline is this Fall sometime, so we set our own deadlines for a premise and everything and decided to share them amongst ourselves. Well, the deadline we originally set for our premises to be done was extended a month, with the new deadline being tomorrow. So far only one of us has finished our premise (and it ain't me!)!

I had started the groundwork for a fantasy novel a couple of years ago while reading the Dragonlance, War of Souls trilogy, but had packed the typed info away somewhere. I figured when we decided to do this contest that I would just use that since I had already started. Well, I just found the stuff last night! But I had a lot more mapped out than I remembered, and with just a few minor tweaks I'm really liking where I was heading with this (which I had totally forgotten). So I'm feeling good about this. I will still be late with our self-imposed deadline, but not too late. Heck, I may actually finally write a novel!

And the sad thing is if you think all this sounds like a lot, you should see the complete list!

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Myth Conceptions

The latest is up! Click the post title to read it. This week I talk about the infamous antagonist!

Please show your support on the SBC forums!

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Indy-Pendant #40

The new column's up. Click the post title to read it. This week I covered Archaic #2 from Fenickx Productions, LLC, and Connect #1 from Narwain. Hope you enjoy!

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Paula Peril

It's not often I will take this space to talk negatively of an indy book. In fact, I think it only happened once with Warren Ellis' Fell. But this particular title just bothered me.

It's not that the book is terrible, and it's not even about the problems I'm about to explain. It's the fact that it could have been so much better than it is that really bothers me. It has mad potential, but it fell into some traps and pitfalls that are all too common.

Paula Peril is a book from Atlantis Studios, and is about a young reporter looking for a big story and finding all kinds of trouble instead.

Now first off with that description is already a played out theme that has no business being used again, but for one reason, if this is intended to be an homage type comic, which I think it is. But for goodness sakes, her photographer's name is Jimmy!

At any rate, the thing that appealed to me was the beautiful art and the potential story. Paula herself is a somewhat interesting character by description:

"Long pampered by wealthy parents, Paula surprised her privileged childhood friends by leaving the Ivy League and studying Journalism at state college. Graduating with honors, Paula took her dream job as an investigative reporter at the Daily Gazette, a newspaper financed by her father’s fortune. Her knack for solving mysteries and uncovering sinister plots has built her reputation as a no-nonsense journalist, but her success often makes her the target of underworld characters and jealous rivals who would like nothing better than to see her suffer in one of their numerous and perilous traps!"

And the cover art by Franchesco is, as usual, stunning. The interior art, while only in black and white, is also done very well.

Now obviously the writer is either a fan of old school comics or intended this to be an homage type comic. It features new adventures every issue in the style of the classics, and that's cool.

The problem I have with it is instead of using the best of that classic style of writing this book uses the worst, most antiquated and lamest parts of that style.

It's not even about the senseless, useless (and misused) captions and thought balloons this book brandishes, or about the overstating the obvious and over exaggerated character behaviors, though all of that is very annoying as well.

But it's the boring, unoriginal stories we've read a million times over the years with no new voice or spin to make them exciting or entertaining. It's like dozens of writers back in the day that tried to capitalize on the magic that those classic well known creators made famous. It just doesn't work. Even as an homage this falls very short.

Then there's referring to the villain of the story as a Chinaman! I understand keeping in reference with the time period, but as far as I could tell this took place in modern times. There's no need to delve back into comments like that, which now we are aware that they are in fact racist comments.

Maybe I'm the only one bothered by stuff like that, but this whole book gave me a creepy feeling like it was written by some old white guy set in his ways with blinders on shielding him from the changes in the world.

It really aggrivates me because, even as an homage, this has the potential to be a great book, But it's crippled by the narrow view of its creators and publisher.

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Not Much to Say

It's been a relatively slow week for me. I finished 8 pages of lettering, made progress on about 5 logos, and got eliminated from a contest! Aside from that not much else.

Speaking of the contest, since my entry was eliminated a lot of the forum members have been very supportive stating their surprise that it didn't go further. That really helped to soften the blow for me, so thank you to all who liked the concept and art on behalf of myself and Bryan Heyboer, the artist.

This weekend I'm finishing up a couple of logos (the Aroquin is now on the bottom of the list naturally), writing a couple of 3 pagers for possible inclusion in a Twisted Gate anthology, writing my columns of course, and probably catching up on some other writing as well.

I also have 3 pages of lettering coming in sometime this weekend that have to be done by the 30th, so it looks to be a busy few days ahead.

And that's all that's really going on at the moment. I just wanted to touch base with my faithful readers and give you some kind of update.

Nothing to post about of any significance in my regular life. Well, I am designing a website for my cousin's band, so I'll keep you apprised of that.

And I'm thinking up some things to add to my website when it goes live (if that ever happens at the rate I'm going). But no news along the lines of events in work or home to speak of. I have no life. lol.

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Aroquin Eliminated

Well, it's all said and done. Within hours of entrance the first two votes are No, and Aroquin is done. The third judge voted yes, but it did no good.

I could say a lot of things about the judge's choices, comments and taste, but I'm not going to as it's not worth my time. There are a few really good entries and a lot of terrible ones that made it through. I hope the forum voters choose better than the judges did.

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Aroquin - The Entry

The entry has been posted and the page is up. Click the post title to see what Aroquin, The Protector is all about!


Man, the votes have already started, and the first vote was a "NO"! I couldn't believe it! I mean I don't think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, and I'm ready for critiques, but considering the stuff they've passed through I never dreamed the first vote would be a no!

I just hope the other two judges give it more of a chance!

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Aroquin

As promised, here is a preliminary sketch of a couple of characters from Aroquin by Bryan Heyboer. Enjoy!

Oh Happy Day!

Today is my birthday! Yep, I'm 29. One more year and I am no longer in my twenties. :( But alas, I still have one year to live it up!

Thanks to all who have extended birthday wishes, I had a great one. The only presents I got were pizza and a handful of comics (Infinite Crisis 4-5, and a few other DC and Marvel books), but they were worth it. They tried to find the first season of Lost for me, but everyone was either sold out or only had widescreen. I'd prefer full screen, and for $50 they thought they'd wait too!

So all in all it was a decent birthday. It's funny, I haven't been to my regular shop except once since I moved to a new city 30 minutes away, but they still remembered me when Mom mentioned my name to them. In a year and a half they still had my file and had only put everything back on the shelf two days prior! That's a loyal shop!

It's funny, I used to work at Charter Ridge and they remember me coming in and telling them stories. lol. I was legally not able to say much, so I only alluded to things, but they got the picture.

It's just good to know they weren't upset about holding my books for so long and really remembered me, which is cool.


Speaking of comics, I sent off my entry to the SPA Idol contest officially today. I'll post here once they put a link up.

I mentioned last post that I goofed. What had happened was I thought this post was going to be my 150th post, but it was last post. Oh well.

There was also some other news I was hoping I could share, but it hasn't happened yet, so I'll hold off on that for now.

I was going to have my second official podcast with music and everything, but time got in the way.

I was also going to talk about a lot more, but again, time and company prevailed.

Later tonight I'll put up an early sketch of the character from my entry. Right now company just left, American Idol is about to come on, and the fan on my computer (which I just somewhat cleaned out) is making racket, so it's time for standby!

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Myth Conceptions

The new column is up. Click the post title to read it. This week I talk about the throw away characters. Next week we start on the antagonist!

I have already written next weeks and sent it in. I've got to talk to some people for the week after, then it'll be sent in ahead of time as well, and I couldn't be more pleased with myself.


In other news, I got the cover rough for my SPA Idol entry today and it rocks! You'll just have to wait until it's posted on their forums to see it though. Hopefully it'll warrant a pass to the second round!

Tomorrow's a big day in more ways than one. You'll have to check out my next post tomorrow for the reasons why.

We've already started getting entries for part of the Snowman contest at www.comicavalanche.com. A couple of the names so far are pretty cool.

It seems like I'm forgetting something, but a new episode of Prison Break is about to air (finally!), so I can't miss that! If I remember I'll add it to my big post tomorrow.

Edit (Dang, I messed up. Oh well, I'll explain tomorrow.)

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Indy-Pendant #39

The new column is up, so go show your love on the forums there, by email, here, or anywhere else you see me!

Click the post title to be taken to the column.

(To note, I can't access the CA forums, but we'd still appreciate the traffic there.)

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Mid-Weekend Musings

Mom's in good spirits today thankfully. Yesterday she was trying to be, but was crying inside. Today she was really positive and went discount shopping with her sisters!

I just finished writing tomorrow's Indy-Pendant column and turned it in. I'll be reviewing three titles, Mouse Guard #1, A Bag of Anteaters, and Planetary Brigade #1. So check it out when it goes up!

Tonight is the return of WWE's Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC at 8-10pm Eastern. The main event pits the participants of Raw's Wrestlemania main event, WWE Champ John Cena and Triple H, versus the participants of Smackdown's Wrestlemania main event, World Champ Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, and Randy Orton.

Another cool match on the card is Shawn Michaels vs. Shane McMahon in a street fight. I remember the street fight between Shane and Kurt Angle a few years back in which both men got legitimately injured. It was one of the best matches I have ever seen, and that says a lot for Shane O Mac, who isn't a regular wrestler.

One time Shane jumped off the thirty foot Titan Tron onto the Big Show. The guy's insane!

Illustrator was acting up again today because I had used up most of my memory again and had to go on a deleting spree. I have way too many pictures and art files! I haven't tried to bring it back up yet, so I hope it's working now. I have 4 or 5 logos and 8 pages of lettering I need to complete.

The SPA Idol contest is heating up more everyday. Yesterday four more stories were added to the contention. They haven't been passed to the second round yet, but only one entry has not made it to round 2 thus far. My entry isn't even in yet and I'm already worried. But I think I have a good shot.

I finally got a good night's sleep last night. With my sleep being thrown off from the recent toothache I had not been getting more than 3-4 consecutive hours a night. Yesterday I got up at 1am and circumstances and company forced me to stay awake until 10:30 pm, at which time I passed out. I woke up at 6:45 this morning, so I am finally well rested!

I just hope I'm not foolish and stay up later than I should tonight messing the whole thing up again...

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Hard to Handle

I've mentioned here and elsewhere about my Mom's injury and trying to deal with Workman's Comp and everything. Well we got some bad news today that added to it exponentially.

My Mom hasn't been feeling right for weeks. Her injury is in her leg (she has one in her shoulder as well, but the one she got on the job was in her leg), but she has been having severe pain in other areas for weeks and none of the doctors could figure out what was wrong.

The other day she had her second MRI and today she got the results. They found a mass on her uterus. They don't think it's malignant, but there's a possibility she might have to have a hysterectomy.

We're trying to stay positive, but on top of everything else we've been dealing with this was far from welcome news.

Christmas of 2004 we had a really bad scare with Mom. All of a sudden without warning she couldn't breath and felt like she was dying. Our family kind of blew it off like it was nothing, but my brother and I were there. It was very scary.

We also have a history of cancer in our family. The year before last my Mom's sister died of cancer, and the year after my brother was born Mom's mother died of cancer. Her father battled nine kinds of cancer for a few years and had a couple of strokes and still isn't doing great. So suffice it to say this find today has her pretty shook up.

I would appreciate any prayers or kind thoughts you have to give immensely. This day has been a little hard to handle.

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There Goes the Neighborhood

Have you ever had those times when you're talking to someone and you just want to say, "Shut-Up, you're an ignorant idiot!", but you can't, and even if you did it wouldn't do any good? Sure, it would relieve a moment of built-up frustration, but then the retaliation would just bring more of the same.

I've encountered this quite a lot in person and on the internet. But lately it seems to be happening a lot on the internet. I just want to scream at these bigoted idiots who think they know everything about everything and are so close-minded about any other point of view.

But it's pointless. They don't get it, they won't get it, and nothing I can say or do via the internet is going to impact them one way or another. It's just how it is.

I just wonder how for the life of me some of these people function in their everyday lives and in society? Of course 90% of the bold, opinionated people on messageboards are nowhere near as mouthy, if at all in 'real life'. It just sucks that good conversations have to be ruined by these baffoons.

Man, I think I'm I've been around a couple of the Creatorfuze guys too much recently as I'm starting to react like them! lol. I should just take the cue from Jason and only involve myself in conversations that are free from the garbage, or at least ignore the garbage spewers...but I can't. If I have something to say I'll say it, and if someone says something just wrong, or false, or out of line, or ignorant, and I'm in the mood, I have to say something back.

At any rate, it's all for naught because in general people on messageboards are looking to be changed in any way, even in a point of view or opinion. They are just looking for things to mouth about and feel like a big person about, I guess because they don't in their everyday life, I don't know. So who am I to stand in the way of that? If they want to look like idiots, then by golly I'll provide the dunce cap and they can have at it.

Man, I think I've been reading Cary's blog too much. This is sounding more and more like one of his posts!

LOL. The funny thing is I'm not in a bad mood about it, I'm feeling light hearted and crazy good today. It's odd, I know, especially for me these days, but that's how it is. Writing this out here free of the mods closing threads or the managers showing me the door is always nice though. :)


Any of you watch The Shop on MTV? It's a barbershop owned by a record producer (Cory Rooney) in the middle of Queens and rappers come in and out of there. The topics sometimes are vulgar and the language is always R rated, but if you can get past that it's hilarious at times. I watched a rerun today where a guy came in looking for a job and the whole shop was just dissin' him left and right. Turns out the guy could cut with the best of them, but the manager didn't think he was good and didn't hire him. After he left everybody was like why didn't you hire him? The manager said because the guy was better than him (the manager) and he'd take all his customers away! Laughter then ensued.

There goes the neighborhood!

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Myth Conceptions

The new column finally went up after some lost mail. This week Jay Faerber stops by to comment on Love Interests!

Click the post title to read the column, and show your love on the SBC forums. Thanks!

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The Roost

Yeah, so geese probably don't have a roost, but I'm a GONZOgoose, so I'm KA-RAZY, man! :)

I missed yesterday, so I wanted to post something for today before it passed by also.

I just got my highest score in Burger Time ever of 119,450! If only I had been on an arcade board where they post the highest scores I would be remembered. Alas, you only have my word to go on now. Sigh.

We lucked out and found a couple of colorists for Wanabez! Yep, I said a couple! Two guys did sample pages, and their colors were so similiar to each other and to Scott's cover colors that we brought them both on!

Even though Scott has a couple more weeks off to work on other projects things are rolling now. Up to this point we've only had one page colored, and there were changes needed in it. Now we are on track. So I'm once again excited!

Speaking of projects moving along, I got some sketches and cover layouts the other day on my SPA Idol entry, Aroquin. We're getting close to having the actual rough cover to officially enter the contest with and I couldn't be more excited. The competition is starting to heat up with the addition of several more entries and a couple that look pretty good.

In other project news, lettering work has been coming in like a monster lately, and that's a good thing! I'm also working on a few logos. Things are up and poppin' as they say. ;)

Due to my very severe toothache this past week and sleeping only when I could get it settled down my sleep schedule is completely trashed. I go to bed or fall asleep at a different time every day, so it's no telling when I'm up or awake. For instance, the past couple of days I've fallen asleep between 5-7pm and waken up between 11pm-1am. It's crazy. And that's why I'm now up at 4:41am!

Ugh! I have one of those mugs that has the water inside it so you can freeze it and it keeps the contents cold. Well this one is broken because it was accidentally sent through a dishwasher cycle, so all the water is at the bottom of it now. I poured tea in it and it started making noises. I figured it was just the ice settling until I took a drink. I don't know how, but somehow I think the liquid seeped into the tea! Either that or my taste buds are really messed up right now, which actually is possible because I burnt my tongue earlier. Who knows?

Again because of my toothache I didn't feel like shaving all last week pretty much. So I looked like a mountain man. I just shaved or rather trimmed a bit ago. I now have that rugged look going that the good doctor on Lost sports. lol.

My column, Myth Conceptions, did not go up today for the second Monday in a row. This concerns me. Last week it got misplaced. This week I don't have a clue. I hope it goes up tomorrow. Jay Faerber stopped by to share some thoughts!

Pretty soon I'll be bringing some topics to your attention here and hopefully they'll get more of a reaction than usual. Heck, I may take a page out of Jason's book and start a dedicated blog to them. We'll just have to see.

I threw a tape in for wrestling last night when I started getting sleepy, so I haven't watched it yet. I hope it was more entertaining than last Friday night! That was beyond boring.

Speaking of wrestling, this Saturday night on NBC Saturday Night's Main Event returns after a 14 year ( I think) absence! And in a primetime slot! Hopefully it won't be boring either!

Brrrr. It's going to be in the 40's today here. Spring is 6 days out and it's going to be in the 40's! I hate Kentucky...

Tonight the top twelve take the stage on American Idol. I'll be tuned in rooting for a few favorites. Good competition this year. There may even be one or two that could equal Kelly Clarkson, or at least come closer than anyone has yet. After, what, 4 years she was in the number one spot on TRL today. First time I've watched that show in forever. But what other American Idol winner can say that? Sure, Bo and Carrie are doing really well right now, but they jwere just on AI last year. Where are Fantasia, Reuben and Clay?

My cousin graduated college last year and began teaching professionally. She hated it. The grade she was given she didn't like, and she hated the school. She's had a really hard time with it all year. She got pink slipped for next year (anyone in teaching knows what that entails as it's not your typical "fired" pink slip) so she has no job yet. She is considering quitting teaching for good. That's really sad to hear as hard as she worked to teach. But I kind of know how she feels. When I got out of college and got into the field I supposedly studied for I absolutely hated it and still do. I should have listened to my gut and sought out an art school or graphic design school, but there were other factors involved that prohibited that. Ah well, live and learn.

I do hope she gives it another try though because she seemed passionate about it. Me, I just tried to find something interesting because all I ever really wanted to do was write, draw, sing, act, and all that creative stuff. But I always liked computers, so I thought I'd give it a shot. PC support was not for me. And neither is business in the settings I've been involved in. I'm too creative and opinionated for the politics and protocols of the business world. lol.

And so I'm here struggling to make it. And where was I going with that? I have no clue. Oh well, another day, another obstacle, another mad leap to conquer it, and another day of messed up Gonzo logic!

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Indy-Pendant Email Change

I have just increased my indy-pendant@adelphia.net email account from 1200kb to 25000kb, but I'm afraid it still won't be large enough. So I set it up to forward everything to submittogonzo@yahoo.com for the time being. I am probably gradually closing out the indy-pendant account and using that one until I get a gmail for it.

Tomorrow's column is a doozy. A LOT of stuff covered. Check it out!

www.comicavalanche.com/columns/indypendant.htm

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Retail Therapy Banner Update

Here is the final version of the banner from the previous post and a smaller version that will actually go on the column (the columnist isn't a Packers fan and didn't like the colors. He's a Bears fan, hence the final version, which I actually like a bit better as well.) ;)

(Click to Enlarge)

Retail Therapy

The problems with comic shops have been discussed by many a consumer in hopes that someday something will change and these retailers will get a clue how to run a welcoming comic shop. I have my share of bad comic shop experiences as I'm sure all of you do as well. There are a few decent ones, but overall I think we can all agree there are many things that could be so much better.

Well Chuck Kennedy also agrees. For several weeks now, Chuck has been sharing his views on the topic in a column titled Retail Therapy at TheComicsReview.com. Chuck has researched the topic and has a lot of great ideas that would go a long way in helping retailers make their shops more consumer friendly if heeded and implemented.

When Chuck landed the column he asked if we knew anyone who could make a banner. I volunteered to letter it (or he may have asked me, I don't recall which) and had a friend I was going to get to illustrate an idea I had for it.

Unfortunately the artist got super busy, and I kind of got the urge to take a crack at it myself. So I did! Chuck hasn't seen this yet, so I'm not sure if he'll like it. I know there are some problems, mainly with perspective, that I can see very clearly. I also know it's rather large for a banner. It didn't start off that way, but once I realized the way I had it made the character on the right look like a giant I had to move things around in photoshop.

Anyway, I'm not looking for people to be amazed by this by any means. I just wanted to have fun with it and give it a whimsical feel. What I am proud of, though, is how the technique I used turned out.

I started with a pencil drawing of the two characters and the counter only. Then I scanned them in, moved them around a bit, enlarged and printed them off. I then inked the piece, and repeated the previous step.

I then colored the piece by hand with water color pencils. Then I scanned it back in and overlayed all the colors with the base color of each area set to varying transparency levels.

I then added some manipulated photos (nothing copywritten that I'm aware of) including four "covers" of my upcoming projects on the back wall. I set a transparent light blue over the counter and added a plastic wrap filter to make it look like glass, textured the wall and then saved.

I then went into Illustrator and added the lettering, and voila!

If you comment be gentle. It's far from perfect, full of flaws, but all in all I think it's decent and was a ton of fun:


Click the title of this post to read Chuck's column where (hopefully) this banner will soon be placed.

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DreamStorm

Jimmy Reyes, who has worked as an inker on such titles as Ghostbusters, has started a new company called DreamStorm Entertainment. The following is an excerpt from their press release, which will be up on www.comicavalanche.com and I'm sure several other sites this week.

"Comic books. They’re not just for kids anymore. These monthly serial addictions have been ruled by the costumed superhero for decades by such publishing giants like Marvel and DC Comics, but with a growing audience obtained from a recent slew of film adaptations, a new question is asked: What if the regular guy with a badge and a gun took over for awhile?

That's the idea DreamStorm Entertainment plans to explore. With today's comfortable exchange of ideas between film, television, and comic books, it's only natural that DreamStorm's titles bring in that silver screen taste."

One of Dreamstorm's first titles, an action/horror book called Veil of Night (Cover image to your left), was just picked up by Arcana. Check out their site by clicking the title of this post.

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Myth Conceptions

The new column went up today after a slight mishap, but it was no big deal. Click the title to be taken to the column!

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Big Bunch 'O Nothing With A Little Something

It's been a couple of days since my last post. Not much has happened to post about really. Right now I am nursing a really bad toothache. For the moment it has eased and I wanted to take the opportunity to post something.

The Small Press Idol contest seems to be heating up finally. Several teams have announced their forthcoming entry into the contest, so it should be a fun competition to watch and be a part of. Vote for Aroquin, The Protector and The Kansas Hit!!! :)

Ronin Studios is working on a new design for their website and I volunteered to make the new forum buttons when the guy doing it had some things come up. I finished them in two days and am pretty pleased with them. When the new design goes up I'll post here so you can check out my handiwork.

Scott Simmons, the artist on my title, Wanabez, asked a couple of colorist friends if they would be interested in coloring WBZ. One of them has already shown us a panel and it matches the cover colors seamlessly, so I'm excited about that.

I landed another couple of lettering gigs. One could possibly lead to me being published at Dark Horse, and the other at DB Pro. Both are just possibilities, but solid possibilities. I'll keep you posted here.

Thanks to Jason's recommendation I checked out a column written by J. Michael Straczinsky over at Newsarama about aspiring writers. He gave great advice that was encouraging to me. While I'm not a fan of all of JMS' works, I am a huge fan of Supreme Power and I have read his book on scriptwriting (movie and tv) from cover to cover at least twice. The man had quite a journey to where he is and is successful enough for me to take the advice of!

I caught up on some issues of Noble Causes the past couple of days. Man, I'm so behind in my reading. I really enjoy this series though and will probably pick up the trades someday as I am missing a few issues here and there. I just really like the way the stories are constructed with the superhero soap opera feel. It's different than a lot of superhero comics because of that particular element.

I have been doing some light drawing as well. Man, I wish I was so much better. I really wish I hadn't given it up for five years because a lot of the patience I had for it just isn't there. I think it has something to do with my environment though, which is not set up with any particular place to draw and I constantly have interruptions or distractions. I think if I had a room with windows, a decent art table and a stereo with some alone time I would be able to get into it more. One day...

Then I think that maybe I'm pushing myself too hard. I'm trying in earnest to get my writing out there all the while constantly working on improving my lettering to get that out there and pick up some paid work. Then there's the occasional light web design or creating graphics like the aforementioned forum buttons. And I have all these other aspirations I just haven't found the time to fit in yet. Maybe I'm pushing myself, but I'm loving it all, so I guess it's ok then.

A new epsiode of Joey comes on tonight, which is strange because I thought it was cancelled. It comes on opposite American Idol, so I'll be taping Joey. Of course I'll be taping AI too because I tape every episode. Yeah, I know how that makes me sound, but I love the show and love music, so I like to listen to the good ones over and over, and pick up tips from the judges' critiques and whatnot.

Tomorrow night is the debut of the show Black White where people trade races. Should be interesting.

Prison Break returns either next week or the week after. I love this show and am looking forward to its conclusion.

I haven't heard back on my latest revision of the overview for Lab Rats yet.

Heard from my editor and artist on Eliminator the past couple of days. Things are progressing slowly but surely.

Getting close to a logo for The Kansas Hit, but you'll just have to wait until that portion of the SPI contest to see it. Now I have to come up with one for Aroquin!

I watched 2 hours of 24 last night flipping back and forth with wrestling during the second hour. I really want to get all the seasons of this show. I love the concept and the show is just very well done. I wasn't a huge Kiefer fan before this. For me his father was always the more entertaining of the two. He's taken it up to a whole new level and I love it. Elisha Cuthbert doesn't hurt anything either.

And speaking of beautiful women, it's pretty common knowledge that I have a crush on Jessica Alba, but there's another actress/singer that I have a crush on too. This girl is just so sweet, poised and adorable, and smart, but for some reason it's more embarrasing for me than the Jessica Alba crush. Why I couldn't tell you. But here's a pic of the lovely lady:


And on that note I bid you farewell as my tooth is flaring up again.

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Small Press Idol

Well, it's official...sort of. I am entering the SPA's Small Press Idol Contest! I haven't actually sent in the submission yet, hence the "sort of" remark. But it's as good as submitted.

After several days of searching and hoping an excellent artist contacted me and liked one of my ideas, so there you go.

The title of the book, which is pretty much all I'm going to give you at this point, is tentatively called Aroquin, The Protector. I will also say that it's a mideival fantasy/sci-fi story with other elements added in as well.

The artist whose work wowed and humbled me was that of Bryan C. Heyboer, who has been mainly illustrating cards for video games such as Warlord, Seven Seas, Legend of the Five Rings and more. Here's a peak at some of his stuff:
http://bryancheyboer.tripod.com/

I was very fortunate in landing him at a backend deal. This has been a good week!

I am very excited about the contest. I am already lettering one entry, The Kansas Hit, as I mentioned previously. Because I am only lettering I was allowed to enter my own, but with the deadline being 3 weeks away I was a little worried. Thankfully Bryan saw my post on the Ronin Studios Help Wanted forum and contacted me and the rest, as they say, is history. Or in this case potentially history in the making!

So far there have only been a handful of entries, and two of them are really good or interesting. I'm hoping a lot more enter because the competition would be much better that way I think.

The prize is a 4 issue mini series published by Dimestore Productions, who have published issues of such titles like Digital Webbing Presents, Eclipse & Vega, Johnny Raygun, Kade and more. Well worth it to me!

You can check out more about the contest by clicking the title of this post.



Small Side Note. Yesterday an interview I did with Ben Lichius, Co-Creator/Co-Writer of The Black Coat: A Call to Arms went up at www.comicavalanche.com/interviews/benlichius.htm. The Black Coat was supposed to come out this week from Speakeasy, but we all know by now what happened there.

Tomorrow (March 5th) I also previewed/reviewed the first issue in my column, Indy-Pendant. Please check it out and show your love on the forums there. Thanks!

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Springing Ahead

I can't believe it's March already. 3 weeks until Spring and 3 weeks until I turn 29. What a month. But I love it!


I caught a glimpse of a documentary on IFC last night following a kid who moved to New York to go to film school. She made a statement that stood out to me. She said that when she arrived there, walking down the street, for the first time in a long time she felt at home.

The reason this stood out to me is because I have never really felt at home in Kentucky. For the first five years of my life I lived in places like Arizona, Georgia and South Carolina. There was always sunshine and nice weather, and I was always in the pool or the ocean. Every day. I was so tan people actually mistook me for another nationality and looked at my parents funny (it was the late 70's and it was the south!).

I have always thought I would end up in a place like Florida or California. When I visited Florida looking for an apartment back in 2000 when I had a possible job I was going to take there it felt almost right. I loved everything about it. The palm trees, the weather...everything. But for several reasons it wasn't the right place or the right time.

But that statment that the film student made is what I know in my heart of hearts it's going to feel like for me when I finally move. And I know home is where the heart is. So maybe my heart's not here. I just feel like for me this place has a glass ceiling. I have never really fit in with people I know. I'm liked well enough, but there's just no connection for me here. There are no jobs I like here, no hang outs, no fun, no nothing. My family is great and all, but you have to understand that a lot of my family live here and I've been around them constantly for 24 years! That's more than enough in one shot. lol.

So I know my destination, and I'm really longing to get there. I hope that day comes soon.

Anyway, just thought I'd share that.


Whew! I turned in another draft for Lab Rats today and I think I'm a lot closer this time. For the first time since signing on for the project I really started feeling the story and the characters. I hope Lee and crew agree!


I'm still looking for an artist for the SPA Idol contest. I put out ads on five different sites and have only gotten two submissions so far. It's only day one though, so hopefully they'll start coming through. The ones I got just aren't what I'm looking for sadly.

If you're a penciler/inker out there reading this I am willing to consider splitting rights, and if we don't win I'll still be submitting to other companies and such. So please contact me at submittogonzo@yahoo.com.


I am addicted to the classic arcade game, Burger Time, which is odd since I don't eat burgers. I rediscovered this game on the internet about a couple of years ago I guess, but every time I found a site that had it I would play for a while, break the current records, then all of a sudden the site would disappear. This happened at least three times! Some forums have it, but you usually have to pay for it.

Then about a week ago I finally found another site that had it. Yesterday I could no longer access the site! sigh. Luckily I found another site, which is linked above in Burger Time, and I play it whenever I get tired of doing whatever else I'm doing.

I don't know why this game is so addictive, and I honestly don't remember playing it all that much in the arcades back in the day, but it has become one of my all time favoite classic arcade games. I love it!


Jason Berek-Lewis wrote an excellent column today on independent comics. This is a must read, folks. Go check out Industrial Evolution.

Cary Kelley also has a great column up talking about photo reference and tracing. Go check out Merely This and Nothing More...


It's late, I have a lot to do, and I haven't watched tonight's episode of Lost yet (taped it to watch American Idol - I feel bad for the kid, but David's going home tomorrow), so...

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Working Again

For any of you potential employers out there worried about the last post, fear not. I got Illustrator working again, so I can letter once more!

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Looking for the Silver Lining!

I said I was going to cut the negative stuff, but man, today was hard to ignore it!

I'm not going to dwell on it, but I am going to make it be known. Today I had a couple of problems I won't go into, but there are two that I will.

First off, as you all know I've been lettering comics for several months now. I just got paid in advance for a few pages, and I got a couple of those pages today. Then it happened. For some unknown reason Illustrator just quit on me. I have uninstalled/reinstalled, downloaded updates, deleted stuff to free up memory, you name it. Still won't work. I'm waiting to hear back from tech support, so hopefully I'll get this resolved soon. It's just frustrating as all get out. Not to mention I'm up for about three other lettering jobs and if this doesn't get fixed promptly I'm going to have a bigger problem.

In addition to that I had some good news, then better news, then bad news all on the same subject.

I don't know if I mentioned it here yet, but I am lettering an entry in the Small Press Idol contest sponsored by the SPA and Dimestore Productions called The Kansas Hit, written by Cary Kelley and illustrated by Jerry Loomis. I found out recently, after days of suspense, that since I am only lettering this entry I am allowed to enter a project of my own! That's the good news.

The better news came when out of the blue an artist I've worked with on a couple of other things emails me and asks me if I want to enter the same contest with him! So I'm stoked thinking this is like fate or something, right? Wrong.

The bad news is after showing the artist three story ideas, two of which he liked, he informs me that a buddy that helps him print his comics asked him to enter with him, so I'm out. I'm not mad at the guy. I can even kind of understand. It's just frustrating and a bit of a let down.


Aside from all that drama, I am looking for the silver lining, and I'm finding it here and there. The aforementioned lettering gigs are part of the silver lining if I can fix the Illustrator problem. The fact I can enter the SPA contest and think I have some good concepts for it are part of the silver lining. And the fact that I recently got some beautiful colors back for my story in an upcoming fantasy anthology from Ronin Studios that I mentioned a few posts back is part of that silver lining.

So it's not that I'm being all negative, and it's not so much that these negatives I listed are outweighing the good (the unmentioned problems aside). It was just a frustrating day that has really ticked me off. Ah well. I'm sure I'll find a good artist to work on this with especially since I'm considering sharing the rights. I just hope the Illustrator problem gets fixed so I can continue lettering, which is something I really enjoy.

Some other stuff going on...

Speakeasy closed, and that's a sad thing. Not at all unexpected though. I didn't personally like their deal and thought, like most, that they were expanding way too fast. It's a shame everybody's books can't get published, but unless you're Image or Dark Horse you have to be really picky about what to spend the cash on until you're more established. I just hope the best books Speakeasy had find homes.

Speaking of which, this week a title that was supposed to come out from Speakeasy this month (March), The Black Coat, will be featured in my column Sunday and in an interview on the same site sometime this week. I have seen the art and I was blown away. It's really spectacular looking.

Just so I can tease you a bit, in a couple of weeks in my other column, Myth Conceptions, Jay Faerber gives a few comments on the subject at hand!

So yeah, there's silver lining here and there. ;)

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