Doors and Windows

Well, I finally heard back from that potential employer I've been hinting at for a while now. They are putting the new proposal I mentioned on hold right now. Apparently, con season is slamming them, understandably, and they are restructuring a bit. So they'll contact me who knows when about the new job, but I gathered it wouldn't be anytime soon.

The company is Tales of Wonder, and they are an online graphic novel and statue retailer. They're one of Marvel's top 10 online sellers, and they offered me a pretty good starting salary with some perks to be their marketing and con guy. There were some issues with the con stuff, an aspect I wasn't particularly crazy about, but more than willing to do, but they decided ultimately that I was a better fit for another position they had in mind.

Unfortunately, I have no idea when I'll actually hear about that new position, and thus I have to move on for now. I will certainly entertain it when it does come across my virtual desk, but for now I have to entertain and seek out other offers and opportunities.

Lately I have been picking up some small freelance writing gigs though. Mostly SEO keyword articles and blog posts and the like. I'm decent at it, and it's fun, and the pay's a nice side income. So that's working well so far.

I also did sell all those comics I listed over a couple of posts recently. Every last one of them and a few more are gone, gone, gone, in the mail today. So that was a welcome surprise!

Wizard World Chicago is looking better as a possibility. There are still just a couple of things I need to work out before I can commit to it, but I'm hoping I'll be able to make a decision by early next week if things pan out. I'd love to go as I know (in the online sense) a LOT of people who will be there, and it will be really cool to meet them all.

I had to go to the dentist twice this week due to some complications, but it's all good now. On a bad note, though, it did set me behind schedule on some things, so tonight and tomorrow, and throughout the weekend is going to be pret-ty busy indeed.

Incredible Hulk comes out tomorrow! TOMORROW! Yeah, I know, the first one was a borefest, but what I hear from people who saw an advanced screening is that this one is SO much better. And Tony Stark from Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) makes an appearance, and it's rumored that Captain America does as well. We saw Cap's shield in Iron Man, so it'll be fun to see where the pop in the Cap appearance. And if I can make it to the theater in any way this weekend I am definitely going to go see this. Have my soda and junior mints waiting for me, usher!

B-Out

Today in the Life Of...

My cable was cut off early today thanks to some lack of communication and stuff. We obviously got it back on, or I wouldn't be typing this right now. But it put me behind in contacting everyone today, though I still managed to get some correspondence out.

Michael Kasinger, one of the artists I was going to work with for the CBC had to drop out due to his workload. But that's cool because the story I came up with for him is a really good one, I think, and without that push I might have never come up with it.

I haven't heard back from Jason Moser yet, so at this late stage (with just over a week to go) I doubt that one will happen either.

On the other hand, the one Scott and I are working on may just happen. And even if it doesn't we are still going to work on it as I mentioned before I believe.

Still waiting to hear about that potential job. I thought for certain I would have heard something by now, but nada. I've got a couple of other leads, so I hope they hurry up before I take something else!

One venture I was very excited about is now not going to happen. My partner had some doubts due to recent events, and her points were valid. I'm saddened by it, honestly, but I understand and all is good. It just wasn't meant to happen I suppose.

I finished up a small writing gig today and got another one, slightly larger, so that was cool.

I was adding up numbers for Wizard World Chicago, and it's going to take some doing for me to be able to make it this year. I have two options, one going for the whole four days, and one going just on the weekend. The latter is the cheaper of the two options, but it's a bit more of a hassle with all the logistics. So we'll just have to see how things go. I might not be able to do either.

I found - or rather they found me - a local music group that sounds pretty cool. It's hip-hop/r&b, but it's two white boys from Kentucky! Needless to say, I was surprised how good they sounded. I'll get a link and give them their own post here soon.

I reconnected with a friend last night via telephone and chatted for about 30 minutes, which was cool. We used to hang out all the time, but haven't for three or four years now.

The past two or three days I've not felt well, and I've just been sluggish and not very motivated. I've pushed through it and made quite the progress on things by and large, but I just haven't felt myself. I don't know what it is. Well, the not feeling good I know what it is, but not the other. I'm just frustrated with a lot of things this week, and the unknown in a lot of areas is probably the biggest culprit. So all of that has just got me out of sorts I guess. I'll bounce back, though. I always do, glory be to God.

And I suppose that's it. It's almost 2am, I'm tired but not sleepy, and though I have a ton to do, I'm bored and restless out of my mind! lol. So I think I'll try to lay down and watch a bit of TV and try to doze off if I can. More soon.

B-Out

Whoas and Woes

Well, I went to the dentist yesterday, and good news is they can help me. Bad news is it's going to cost me $1410 over four months just for some temp work, meaning I have to have 25% down this week ($352.50), which I don't have!

I've been trying like crazy to find some freelance work to raise the cash to no avail so far. I just used a few of my last dollars to put up some ads through Project Wonderful in hopes they'd bring me some work, so we'll see how that goes.

So needless to say, I'm currently for hire for lettering, pre-press, banners (no Flash), logos, or even writing or editing services if anyone's interested!

Contact me at gonzogoose@brantfowler.com or brant@brantfowler.com for rates and all that good stuff.

Here are the ads I put out in case anyone comes across them so you'll know who they're from, like you couldn't tell. :)


It's cold here today! Yesterday it was a little nippy, about 60 degrees or so, and the wind was really high, but today I woke up freezing! We had to turn the heat on to get the chill out. That's the crazy thing about Kentucky weather. It can be 75 one day and 40 the next all year round. No consistency, no dependability, just a mess.

Because of the cold, a bit of my congestion came back overnight. I'm still up and at 'em and able to work and all that, I'm just congested and still occasionally coughing is all.


Not much else to talk about really. I've only been up for about an hour, so I'm still half asleep. Maybe I'll check back in later, maybe not.

B-Out

Quickie

It's the weekend, so I thought I'd post a quick little ditty here.

Comic Book Resources (CBR - www.comicbookresources.com) relaunched their site earlier this week with a brand new design, and I have to say it looks pretty spiffy. Good luck getting it to load, though, I've tried since yesterday morning with little success. Supposedly they're on a new server that's making things run smoother... or was making things run smoother...

Comic Related (www.comicrelated.com) has become one of my daily visits as it's just a cool site that is updated every day of the year. For the month of march they had 1.2 million hits, so they are growing steadily and have great content and a thriving forum community.

Battlestar Galactica returned for it's final season last night picking things up right where last season left off. It was a solid and entertaining episode in my opinion. Things seem to really be coming to a head on all fronts, so I'm excited to see where this season goes.

I'm still enjoying the book I'm reading, The Servants of Twilight, by Dean Koontz. I'm 53 chapters in and things are still keeping my interest.

Iron Man is less than a month away!

On the lettering front, everything's going smoothly, progressing nicely. I'm available for jobs if anyone's hiring!

I wish I could figure out how some of my contemporaries are making money online through blogs or whatever, but I just haven't been too successful myself. Some of the methods I have employed have not yet been that fruitful. I'm going to keep trying though...

Nothing on TV tonight, whatever will I do? What's that you say, get a life? What's that? :)

Health wise I'm doing ok. Had a semi-rough day yesterday, and allergies hit me this week, but nothing major and no attacks. I'm still watching what I eat, though I have gotten a bit braver in small increments, testing stuff. I've discovered a few things I can't do (like peas), and I'm still largely staying away from pop and most sweets and snack foods like chips. Gall stones bite!

My picks for American Idol right now are the two Davids (Archuletta and Cook), Carly Smithson, Brooke White and Michael Johns for the top 5. Beyond that it'll be tough.

Digital Webbing's talent search feature took a hit this week as scammers have made a residence there, forcing Ed Dukeshire to reevaluate the system. For now, all talent search links go straight to the Help Wanted forum. It's a shame a couple of idiots have to ruin a great feature for everyone.

And I guess that's about it for now. I hope you all have a wonderful, fun-filled, and/or relaxing weekend!

B-Out

Fun Day, Monday

Ok, so when is Monday ever fun, right? I'm trying to psyche myself into believing it is, though, so I'll run with it.

The weekend was enjoyable, though I do sincerely regret eating pizza leftovers Saturday. Once in a blue moon it's ok. Two days in a row, not so much. So I won't be trying that again anytime soon.

Thanks to everyone who's been visiting this blog this week. My numbers went up about 40% this week, so I appreciate all of you out there.

This weekend I put to bed the full issues of Mayden #1 and Twilight #1 lettering-wise. Actually, there are two more pages of Mayden, but I'm waiting on script revisions for those.

I've got a decent plate of stuff for this week, but with room to add more if anyone out there is looking to hire a letterer, editor or writer. :)

I'm starting a new script this week as well tentatively called Dowry: The Beginning. It's a horror story and I'll be working with Ellium artist Jason Moser on it. So I'm excited about that one. More details on it in the weeks to come. This is actually the first time I've ever even put it out there to my recollection. So you're hearing it here first.

I'm also doing a bit of PR work for Digital Webbing this week, and some stuff for Haven Distributors, along with some lettering, editing and logo work of course.

I also snagged an occasional typing gig for some extra income, but nothing on the plate as far as that goes presently.

I'm still waiting to hear back from a few people about potential jobs. And I've got some lettering work in the pipeline in the coming months.

Now for some sad news. Wannabez no longer has a publisher, at least for the moment. Unfortunately, we had to part ways with Nifty Comics, our now former publisher. I won't go into the details, but I will say that Mat Nastos was very kind in our parting and offered any help we may need down the road.

As an aside, I will still be editing Nifty Comics books as far as I'm aware. I have edited a few issues of Cadre already and will be editing a Cadre/Dyna Girl crossover this week.

Back to Wannabez, we are actively looking for a publisher again, so ANYONE out there who is interested in the property, please don't hesitate to contact me. My contact info can be found via the "contact" link in the header of this blog.

Over the next couple of days I'll be re-lettering Wannabez #1 as I'm not happy with the lettering as is seeing that I lettered it so long ago and can painfully see the flaws in it. I might also be doing some on the fly revisions of the script while I'm at it. But we'll have a full package to look at of at least 5-10 pages of issue 1 sometime this week. We have a few publishers we haven't tried yet, and one or two we may try again, but we are open to any and all interest at this point.

If you're not familiar with the project, be sure to hit the Wannabez Blog or MySpace page for details!

I still have a couple of things in the works as well. One of which is going smoothly and progressing quite nicely if I do say so myself. I am very excited about the venture and see mad potential in it. I still can't talk about it yet, but keep watching!

And while I'm here, I'd like to give a shout out to a few people who have been really supportive over the past several weeks just because. In random order:

Cary Kelley - Bro, thanks for your support and friendship.
Jason Berek-Lewis - My brother from another mother, I appreciate you, mate.
Chuck Kennedy - Dude, you rock! Thanks for being there, man.
Ray Hickson - Thanks for the emails and constant encouragement, bro.
Jenny Goguen - Your support, help and friendship are greatly appreciated. Words aren't enough.
Chuck Moore - Your site rocks, and so do you, man. Thanks for being supportive of me, indy comics, and much more.
Scott D.M. Simmons - You're my boy, Scott, and I appreciate everything you've contributed both creatively and personally over the past couple of years.
Lance Stahlberg - Though our relationship is just business, you have been understanding and supportive more than most employers would ever be. I appreciate that, man.

I'm sure I left a few out, and I apologize. These are just the people off the top of my head that I have been in the most contact with over the past couple of weeks.

Now, with all that mushy stuff out of the way, there's not much else to say right now except for you to try and go enjoy your Monday!

B-Out

Progress in Lettering and Logos

Since this whole drama was realized about the gallstones my attempts at keeping to the schedule, as reported previously, kind of went out the window. However, since I've been back from the hospital and getting somewhat back to normal I have put a huge dent in that list. So here's what I've gotten done so far:

LETTERING

Ellium #1 - Complete
Genotype Prime pages 1-3 - Complete
Karma Game #1 Corrections - Waiting for feedback from publisher
Mayden #1 - Half Complete - have had to ask for text reduction in some pages, so it's taking longer
Night of Ninjas Corrections - Complete
Rabverse and Marcus Midnight PDFs - Complete - this included lettering a 6 pager, then resizing, reordering and compiling multiple PDFs and updating credits pages

Still to do:

Alien Passage - 8 pages - Waiting on pages
AOH #3 Pages 8-22
Applicants #2
Merc 43 - Sort of on hold waiting for text revisions
Shelter - 5 pages a week
Twilight #1 - Waiting on script

LOGOS

Got Dealz - Complete
Haven Thumbnail Corrections - Complete
Journeymen - Complete
Night of Ninjas Redesign - Complete
Urban Twist - Complete
Wolalina - Complete

Still to do:

Alien Passage
Golden - in progress

EDITING

Nocturnal Essence #2 Compilation - Complete

Still to do:

Cadre/Dynagirl Crossover
Nocturnal Essence #6 - second wave
The Veil #2

So I've covered quite a bit of ground all things considered, and will continue to beat it down this week.

I'm also possibly designing a website if terms can be agreed upon, and I've got some writing to do as well.

I've also had a couple more reviews posted over at www.comicrelated.com, which I'll post about later sometime.

I'm also now the PR guy for www.digitalwebbing.com, so look for press releases on their upcoming releases soon.

And I'll have a big hand in the newsletters for Rogue Wolf Entertainment and Haven Distributors in the near future.

So busy as usual, but still loving it all.

B-Out

Tentative Schedule for 3/3-3/9

Another week, another schedule. Some carry overs, some new ones, but still most are self-imposed deadlines. This is just to show you guys what I'm working on in general throughout the week. I'm also working on other stuff, such as Wannabez and other stuff I still can't talk about. So the schedule is a little misleading in that respect.

Regardless, posting the schedule here for the world to see is helping me stay on task and follow through better, which was my motivation for posting it in the first place.

Without further ado...

EDITING & DESIGN JOBS FOR MARCH 3-MARCH 9
Project Title	Project Deadline
Lettering
AOH #3	March 8, 2008
Applicants #2	March 6, 2008
Ellium #1 (Second Batch)	March 4, 2008
Karma Game #1 Corrections/Finals	March 5, 2008
Mayden #1 (Last Batch)	March 5, 2008
Merc43 #1	March 9, 2008
Night of Ninjas Corrections	COMPLETE
Rabverse & Marcus Midnight PDFs	March 7, 2008
Shelter (Third Batch)	March 8, 2008
Twilight	March 5, 2008
Logos
Praire Fire	March 5, 2008
Haven Corrections and Thumbs	COMPLETE
Journeymen	March 9, 2008
Night of Ninjas Rework	COMPLETE
Banners
Edison Rework	ABORTED
Editing
Nocturnal Essence #6	March 6, 2008
The Veil #2	March 6, 2008

B-Out

Wannabez #0 Now on Pre-Sale!!!

That's right! Our #0 issue in Mysterious Visions #5 as the cover and lead story (along with Yokai and To Catch a Human) is now up for pre-sale through Dimestore Productions!

Click the title of this post to order your copies now, and click here to read more about it (and see the cover!) on the Wannabez blog!

This is my first writing published, and the first Wannabez story to make it out there, so I do hope you will check it out!

B-Out

Stories Brewing

I finally came up with the start of a concept for that Shadowline contest I mentioned a couple of posts back. Mind you, I haven't spent a great deal of time on thinking of ideas, but one kind of came to me yesterday, so I may run with it and submit it. What's the worst that could happen? I could get rejected again? Big whoop. Happens to everyone. Regardless, I guess I should at least try for the chance to be published by an imprint of one of the top four publishers. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. Deadline is Thursday.

Not much else going on right now. I'm lettering today and that's about it. I did get to watch the Royal Rumble last night, so if you want to know what I thought, head over to my other blog, Kayfabe.

And that's a wrap for now. More when I have more to talk about.

B-Out

Quirky

I'm in a rather odd mood today. I can't explain it really, just odd. I'm sleepy, but I can't sleep. Hungry, but I can't eat. Kind of whimsical, yet kind of bored. It's an odd mixed bag of emotions that leaves me making funny faces at the computer as I type this for no apparent reasons. It's as if I'm trying to find the emotion by contorting my face in bizarre ways.

Anyway... I got really busy yesterday, so I'm sorry I didn't give an update.

First 6 pages of SWP (Superworld Presents, a hilarious and fun comic to read and work on) have been sent off, the next 7 are about halfway done.

I had to request some clarification on some pages of Merc43, so I'm waiting on those. In the meantime, I've finished some random pages of it. Still shooting for the weekend for completion, but it may be a day or two later than that.

Sent off the first five pages of Shelter #1 early this morning.

I also applied for a BUNCH of freelance gigs ranging from copywriting to testing to logo and banner design. Haven't gotten any responses yet sadly.

The bills are pouring in as fast as what little money I have is funneling out, so if you've got some work for hire stuff sitting around, I'm available!

I did get a very interesting email about a potential job yesterday, but I can't share that yet. I'll give more details on that as I can. If it works out it will be pretty awesome for me.

My brother's killing me this year. With funds low (the full-time job just isn't cutting it these days - long story), my brother, who's 15, would have to pick this year to want only expensive stuff. His wishlist this year includes:

Alienware gaming laptop
XBox 360 Elite
Guitar Hero III
Dean Razorback Guitar
Dog
Emerica Nomad Jacket
Money for Clothes
Money for CDs

And that's just the main things. Not one thing under $100 there.

My mother's not much better as she wants a laptop as well, and a GPS device for the car, and she kind of wants the dog too (they both want a miniature Schnauzer). I do have her a bunch of small things I've accumulated over the past several months, and my brother bought her something yesterday. So she's covered sans a big gift, but I don't know what I'll do about my brother. I just can't swing all that, nor can my mother. But we'll work it out, we always do and manage to have a decent Christmas.

Not that it's about the gifts, I'm just the kind of person that LOVES giving gifts, especially after building up how much I can't get them, then if things work out seeing the looks on their faces when they get it anyway. Doesn't happen often, but it's a nice thought. I just love seeing them happy.

So let's see. Nothing special going on, haven't been watching much TV or movies lately, and my life is pretty much boring. Just work, work, work.

I know I saw a couple of news stories I wanted to talk about, but they've completely slipped my mind now.

I will say that I have become increasingly annoyed at the misuse of the apostrophe lately. Maybe it's the editor in me, but for a while now it crops up everywhere, and it's starting to drive me crazy! If you're talking about a decade, the there is NO APOSTROPHE. It's not 80's, unless you're following that with something the 1980s own. And if you leave of the "19" then it's '80s. And when you're talking plurals, it's "CDs", not "CD's". And these are common mistakes that are being made by professional writers all over the place. I don't mean to harp, it's just become a pet peeve of mine of late.

Oh, and have you all heard of the mail delivery New York Pizza place? Check out www.IWantNYPizza.com. They literally mail you a New York style pizza. The pizza only costs $12.99 to $27.00, but the shipping? $65! Worth it? I don't know, I've never had New York pizza. But loving pizza as I do, if I had that kind of extra cash laying around I would probably try it once.

Another thing I was wondering about lately is why we care so much about the lives of celebrities. Sure, if you become an entertainer of some sort there is a perceived responsibility to the fans in regards of presenting yourself as a figure of respect. But let's be fair. They didn't ask to be role models, they're just doing what the love to do, or what makes the big bucks, however you want to look at it. Yet they are held with an immeasurable and unfair scrutiny more than even the President is under, and that's quite a bit! They don't really deserve it. Do I agree with the life choices of the latest starlet, pop singer or whoever? Not necessarily. Is it any of my business? Not really. So why do we care so much? Are we really that bored? Don't answer that.

If you're really that bored, or just want to see something cool, click the title to find some videos of Christmas lights synced to Christmas songs. I couldn't find the one I wanted to share, but some of those are pretty cool too.

Now I'm just looking into the ethers trying to pull things down to talk about, so I'll spare you of any further rambling.

B-Out

What the Wind Blew In

It's been a busy day. I kind of stayed away from the computer for the most part of the weekend, but today it's been work, lettering, editing, recipe finding, "window shopping" as it were, and other stuff. So it's been a pretty full day.

I finished up a small lettering job on time, so that worked out well. Though I've got two more I've got to finish corrections on before Thanksgiving, so it will be a full week.

I set up some pretty cool interviews for SBC in the coming weeks, so that should be a real treat.

Made some headway on some edits of a script today, more later tonight. Then I've got two more scripts to edit waiting in the wings, possibly three.

No more lettering bites so far. I had to actually turn down one because it just wasn't enough pay for the work involved unfortunately.

Still waiting to hear back from a few people, so we'll see how things go.

Not much TV watching this weekend surprisingly. I did catch The Honeymooners and The Cleaner (must've been Cedric, the Entertainer day), and both were mildly entertaining and humorous.

I played the first video game I've played in many months yesterday, Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain. I've had the game for a loooong time now, but many things have impeded my progress. First, I didn't have the proper controller for it (it required a specific kind), then months later I got that, then got stuck, and so forth and so on. But I finally made some headway last night and forgot how much fun it was to just get lost in games. So that was fun.

Physically, I am feeling much better as far as the infection goes. I barely even notice what's left of the pain. And even though I currently have a head cold and my throat hurts, for some reason through it I feel very relaxed. And oddly enough, I'm not feeling a lot of stress lately. Must be the holiday feeling in the air as I love this time of year.

Let's see, I'm making a pumpkin dip for Thanksgiving that has taco seasoning and peppers in it, and corn chips to dip in it. So that should be interesting. Never made it before, but I like trying new things.

And I will be moving things around as far as all the Amazon stuff sometime this week as I've gotten a lot of good feedback on it. Thanks, everyone!

Well, I guess that's about all that's going today, more later (including cafepress stores!).

B-Out

Of Poetry, Prose and Non-Fiction

So I had a phone conversation today that was pretty interesting. It was with a comic TPB packaging company. Basically they're a company that puts your team together, helps you guide the book to perfection, and then they find a publisher for you. This particular company has some pretty well known names involved, all of which I greatly respect.

The conversation was a good one. I got some insight into what exactly it is that they do, and I determined I'd like to pitch some stuff to them in the near future. And what's better is they want me to pitch stuff in the near future. So that lifted my spirits and really inspired some more confidence in both their company and in my own talents. Hopefully something fruitful will eventually come out of that for both of us.

Coming off of the conversation I started thinking about other stuff I want to write. See, that company is marketing towards more of a general audience as opposed to the direct market, so while I love comics it also got me to thinking about stuff I want to do outside of comics. I started thinking of the novels I've started and the screenplays I've started, and the poetry book I've been wanting to put together for some time. I just really enjoy writing and creating, and having other people enjoy my work.

For so long now writing has had to take a back-burner as other things paid the bills. But I really do want to be a writer primarily, and even though I've said it here before, I just really want to start focusing on that again. That's not to say I'm going to stop lettering, editing or drawing in the least. I just need to manage my time better is all, so I can get my writing back on track.

Speaking of writing, thanks to everyone for all the feedback on last week's Myth Conceptions column. I was hoping it would connect with people, and from the responses I got I'd say it was successful in that realm. This week's is nearly finished, even though it's already late. I'll post here when it goes up as usual.

On another note, stay tuned to this blog in the months to come because some things are in the works, or soon to be in the works that I'm getting excited about. It's time I take the bull by the horns on some things and stop waiting around for the right time or for confirmation. I just need to move, and thanks to some awesome support by a few people I think I am ready to do just that. So be watching.

Now onto some possibly bad news. We are late delivering Wannabez #0, and by the time the colors and letters are done the pages will be nearly two months late. Because of that we might not be able to get any copies for the Mid-Ohio Con that I was going to try to go to. It's just one of those things that happened. Life got in the way of things here, and so the book might be later than expected. Well, it was due out last month, so it's already late, but it may be a lot later because of the delay, we'll just have to see. I'll keep you updated on the Wannabez blog as news develops on that front.

And I guess that's it for now. I've got some lettering to do before calling it a day.

B-Out

This Weekend...

... is catch-up weekend! Somehow in the course of a busy week I've gotten behind again, and so I have to once again use the weekend to catch up.

I should have known with it being solicitations week (always a busy week for posting on SBC) I would have fallen a little behind. But man, I hadn't realized how far behind until I realized I hadn't yet completed things I tried to complete last weekend.

So, here's the list for things I'm going to try to accomplish this weekend in random order. Some of them I have to get done this weekend, others I may push a day or two.

Blood and Devotion logo revision (should have already done this)
Fracture lettering corrections
Aroquin script revisions/completion
Final Shadows lettering
Godsend lettering
Raven One-shot lettering
Review a script for a friend
Post and mail SBC Newsletter
Friday's SBC Reel (late obviously)
Review, sign and send a contract for some editing services
Redshift lettering (way behind on that one)

I think that's it, as if that all wasn't enough! Note that not all those lettering gigs are full issues. Most are only 5-10 pages or so. I just hope I can get it all done and soon! I need to catch up on the lower priority stuff at some point. I'll get a handle on all this eventually (eventually meaning as soon as I get caught up to where I can pace myself properly).

I almost hesitated posting this as I didn't want anyone to think bad of me for not being as on top of things as I would like. It's just been crazy, and as you all know, once you fall behind it's hard to get back on top of it. The problem comes when you start getting a bunch of stuff you committed to a while back all come in at once, which often happens to me. Then it becomes a bit overwhelming. But I'm planning on this being a successful weekend where I can post Monday or Tuesday that I got caught up and came up with a plan on how to manage all this (and time) a lot more efficiently!

We'll see...

B-Out

Less Than 30 Hours!

There are only about 36 and a half hours to VOTE FOR WANNABEZ in the Small Press Idol Contest. So what are you waiting for?

Check these out:

Page 5 Revised
Page 8 Revised
Page 10 Revised
Sample Grayscale Image from #1

Voting ends 11:59pm Est June 10th. PLEASE VOTE!

Now head to wannabez.brantfowler.com and post a YES!

And while you're there, VOTE FOR TOTEM TOO!

Thanks! :)

B-Out

Catching Up!

Wow, I had no idea it had been over a week since I posted. Sheesh! As much as I try to keep up...

The deadline for round 2 of Small Press Idol has passed and all but 10 of those who advanced made it in. There's still about 6 days of voting left, so if you haven't please come vote for Wannabez (and Totem and Advent while you're there). :) If you have, thank you very much!

On the lettering side of things, I got a couple of Approbation projects done. Today I'm tackling the two pages of Epsilon Realm I have (thought I had more than that) and another Approbation story if I have time. One story, Construct, was canceled, so I won't be doing that one. And Red Shift I've got laid out (the first ten pages anyway, which is all that's done, pencils only so far). The FE Comics projects start in a day or two I'm told, and I've got another one coming in soon that I committed to many months ago. And I did finish Pozers, just waiting for notes on anything that needs changing/correcting before sending in the high res.

So that's where things are with all that. I may have left something out.

Back to Small Press Idol, I finally got 7 pages of the script for next round done! I'm hoping to finish it today, though Scott has already given me notes on the pages I've finished.

I also have a surprise for WBZ fans coming up hopefully tomorrow, and hopefully it'll help us gain a few more votes this round and next! I've got plans for a couple of other cool things to tie in with WBZ soon as well, so stay posted here and to the WBZ blog for more!

On reviews, I have a few things that were sent to me that I have yet to review, but am working my way there. Frankly I haven't had time to read everything yet. I have read the Archaia stuff and the mini comics that were sent, but I still have one or two others I haven't read yet. Soon, soon.

On SBC, we are working towards a newsletter and I'm trying to get some help with the myspace and comicspace pages so we can get regular weekly updates out there. Hopefully that'll all work out soon as we've got some cool stuff coming up.

And I think that's it for now...

OH! One more thing. I am FINALLY going to see Spider-Man 3 today in less than 8 hours!!! Can't wait!

B-Out

Keeping Up...

I read a friend's blog the other day about not realizing how long goes between posts when you're busy and it made me feel bad. Here I claim I update this daily (then semi-daily) and then I go for days, almost a week between posts anymore. I get the emails from my sitemeter indicating that views have drastically dropped and it makes me feel even worse. Not because I care about view counts, but because it means people are losing interest or I'm just not providing content to read.

That said, I'm going to try to do better. It's hard when you get so busy and when you get downtime the last place you want to be is the place you work, which for me is the computer. But I started this blog to connect with people, to share things - such as my projects, my thoughts, etc. - and to give updates on my work. Lately all of those have been few and far between. And I know all of you out there understand, and I appreciate that, but I still want to try to post more. So here I am.


Another friend mentioned to me recently how surprised he was at how open I am in this blog, and it's funny because in person I'm not that open. I'm a pretty guarded person actually. I'm not shy and I love meeting new people and talking and hanging out as much of the next guy. But I'm also a loner of sorts, as contradictory as that may sound. I'll put it like this. When I go home or somewhere alone that's exactly what I want to be, alone. I stay up late at night because of the solitude.

I also don't let a lot of people in. I've been hurt by a lot of people in my life that were supposedly close to me, and I guess it built up a wall. I'm not too trusting and it takes a lot to earn my trust. And except for those I'm close to I really don't talk about myself a whole lot when you meet me. If someone asks a question I'm honest because that's all I know how to be. If it's something personal I'll try to tactfully avoid the question. But I'm still a fun-loving, easy to get along with type of guy. It's just hard to get inside and become one of my very, very few close friends. It takes a long time to build that kind of relationship with me.

Which is why it's weird to hear that I'm so open. I'll be the first to admit, though, that in the written word I'm far more verbose than in the spoken word. I'm also a lot more articulate when I write. When I talk I'm just myself, and I don't use a lot of big words as it's usually off-putting to most. Maybe it's because I'm a writer, I don't know.

In any case, I guess this blog allows me an outlet that I don't really have elsewhere. I don't really have a lot of close friends that I can talk to, and you can only talk to your parents about so much. My brother's half my age, so he doesn't get where I'm at understandably. So this is my outlet, my venting if you will. On top of that it gives people a rare opportunity to get to know me better than they would if they met me in person first.

And that's the beauty of the internet. I've developed bonds with guys in different states or continents without ever meeting them in person. I feel open enough with some of them to talk about things I don't post here or talk to most people about. Without the internet these kinds of connections wouldn't be possible, so I guess technology is good for something. I never have had a lot in common with people around me and have never felt like I fit in. Now that I'm older I view that as a good thing in a way, but when I was young it was hard. But thanks to this blog and forums and so forth I can converse with tons of people who share the same interests as me and it's quite a refreshing experience, let me tell ya.

So I'm glad I started this blog a year and a half a go or so.


I have to give a quick shout out to Matt Yocum who gave me some props on his blog. I was supposed to do some lettering for him, but scheduling and computer problems prohibited it. Luckily he got someone else who did a great job. So go check out Devolution, which is a cool story too, and Matt's Devolution column!


Elsewhere in the wide world of comics, I've posted a piece on Marvel's The Initiative at SBC, which lists all the related titles in the story line that have been revealed so far through July. I'm sure there will be more to add after Marvel's solicitations go online Tuesday.

We've also gotten a whole bunch of new writers for the site who have been turning in a lot of reviews thankfully. So come check those out. We've got some great writers on board.


As for my work, I did wrap all the finishing touches on Nocturnal Essence #1 thankfully, and began working on some other stuff for someone else, though I've neglected to update the writer, so hopefully he'll read this.


Small Press Idol round 2 is underway and Scott is nearing completion on our materials for the round. He showed me I think three of our five characters inked the other day, so hopefully this week he'll get a chance to color those bad boys. I did a second draft of the bios, but we're still kicking them back and forth.


I have sadly not done any other writing in a long time. It sucks because I'm so busy I don't have time to do the one thing I want to excel at more than the other aspects of comics. But hey, ya gotta pay the bills, right?


Ending on a personal note, man I had a restful weekend for a change... sort of. Friday I wasn't feeling well (my stomach, again) and took some medication, which typically knocks me out for a couple of hours. Well, I guess being ill mixed with the medication and my near state of exhaustion just kind of teamed up on me because I wound up sleeping for over 12 hours straight! And then I was still tired, but I forced myself to stay awake and work some. Then I crashed for another 8 Saturday! Today I also slept in late and then kind of chilled and watched TV for several hours, something I rarely do. Usually I'll tape most of my stuff and watch it in spurts. But hey, it was a nice change of pace. I may not have gotten out of the house, but at least it gave me some time away from the computer, which was very welcome, and I love the computer. I'm just in front of it way too much.

I guess that's about it. It's after 5am now and I've got a busy day ahead of me, so I'm gonna chill for a bit before tackling it.

B-Out

Reviews - The Summons, The Departed

My brother and I finally finished The Departed last night, and let me tell you that was a great movie. What made it great, though, was the ending.

I'll be honest with you, the movie itself was going a little slow for me. The story itself had the potential to be just like every other undercover cop story out there. With the wrong director or slight alterations in the script it could have even been on par with Lucky Number Slevin, which would not have been good. But the way it played out made it all worthwhile, and the acting was top notch. Filled with an all star cast (DiCaprio, Damon, Nicholson, Sheen, Wahlberg, Baldwin) and some intense and emotional drama, the movie, for me, lived up to the hype. It was gritty, the direction was excellent, the plot gave us several shockers and the ending was just classic.

Here's the spoilers...


Everybody dies! Well, everybody except Baldwin and Wahlberg, who both had relatively small roles in the film compared to the other big players. It's not often in a film that both lead actors bite the big one, but that's exactly what happened here. And if it hadn't happened that way it would have made it into just another movie. That ending, in my opinion, landed it the Oscars it received. Great storytelling.


Now onto the book I've been reading, The Summons by John Grisham. While I was into it towards the middle, overall it was not his greatest work by far. As I mentioned before, I have not read his other books, but I have seen several (Rainmaker, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Pelican Brief, The Firm, Runaway Jury) of the film adaptations. If the books of A Time to Kill and Rainmaker are better than their film versions, which is usually the case, then The Summons far pales in comparison, but it was still enjoyable... until the end.

The story, in short, is about a Law Professor, Ray Atlee, who finds his father, a well-respected Mississippi judge, but a poor father, dead in his home. Shortly after Ray finds $3 million stashed behind the sofa, and thus the real story begins. Someone else knows about the money, and the ensuing journey sees Ray scramble to protect his life and the money while trying to solve the mystery of who's after him and where the money came from, and in the meantime lying to everyone close to him.

As I said, the middle of the story, which made up the bulk of it was interesting. There were people following Ray leaving cryptic clues for him no matter where he went. He drove and flew through and to several states, and they were always there, watching him. Meanwhile he was dealing with his father's estate, a drug addict brother and a number of other problems besides the money issue.

The ending is what made this book drop in quality. First, though, being a smart man as Atlee is, there are some things he should have figured out or thought of, like checking to see how these people knew where he was at all times. You'd think he'd check to see if his car was being tracked. Then he just becomes a total wuss at the end of the book and runs for his life, landing himself in jail for speeding and carrying a weapon.

Without giving anything away, in the last few chapters of the book it became painfully obvious who was behind it all and how it had all played out. Early on I had a hint of this as well, and was thoroughly disappointed that the plot was that thin.

Overall, it was a decent read, but the ending ruined it for me. Oh well.

And that's it for the reviews today.

B-Out

Back in Business!

The computer is finally back in working order!

To be perfectly honest it's been up for two weeks as of 6pm today. There are several reasons I haven't notified everyone yet. First, I was playing catch-up like crazy to get to a place where I could handle everyone contacting me all at once, though I still haven't caught up as much as I would have liked. Second, I've had a touch of the flu since this past weekend, and it's gotten worse today, but I'm still here. And thirdly, I have just been so busy I haven't had time to email everyone or post here. With the computer fixed my workload increased, so that's that. There were other reasons also, but I won't go into them.

In the wide world of lettering...

Today I will be finishing up Lightning Squirrel #2, then starting on AOH #2, and doing a couple of small logos.

Tomorrow and Saturday I will be finishing AOH #2.

Sunday I'll be starting on and probably finishing a short with logo.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll have the following on my plate:

Epsilon Realm #2
Pozers #2
Kord & Harley #2
Advent logo
Scott's Web Comic
A few Approbation shorts
MSC logos

And I think that's everything currently on my plate. If I've left anything out EMAIL ME!

It sounds like a lot, I know, but a few of those I am really into a groove on and can finish them rather fast.

As for beyond all this, I know I have three projects to letter in the Small Press Idol contest, but that won't come for a while. I'll be doing some lettering on the character designs in about three weeks, but that's not too intrusive.

As soon as I feel I'm caught up to a point I can take on more I will be contacting people who have previously contacted me and go from there.

Aside from writing I am obviously doing a lot of work for SBC right now, and soon I'll be doing a lot of work for MSC (more details on that soon). Then of course there's writing. I still have to write up my script for Small Press Idol, do my weekly column, I have at least two interviews lined up, a few reviews I have to do this week, a couple of scripts I really need to buckle down on, and so forth.

It really does sound like a lot, huh? I'll manage, always do. And I'll do my best to keep you all updated better now that the PC is back up and I'm able to concentrate on it more. Thanks!

B-Out

Myth Conceptions

The latest is up, though it's not at all what I intended for this week. I'm not sure what it is exactly. I was REALLY late with it, so I just started writing. So what came of it, you be the judge!

Click the title link to read.

B-Out