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Absolute Promethea Volume 2

…is out now. Here is the art to the slipcase, it’s a wrap-around for it.

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Absolute Promethea…

Volume 2 should be available for pre-order at finer shops everywhere. Below is the cover art for the book, the slipcase art will be shown at a later date. Art and color by me…

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Absolute Promethea Golden White…

This Wednesday, at finer comic shops and bookstores everywhere, will see the release (according to Wildstorm) of Absolute Promethea Volume 1. I received my copies Friday so it should be out this week as noted on the Wildstorm website. Unless of course the information on their site is wrong, which on occasion has been known to happen.

Seeing this book brings a lot of different feelings for me. It has been a full decade since this material was originally produced and strange seeing it again in a form that forces me to examine just how much I’ve grown as an artist. I can see so many things that I would do differently now, but that was then and this is now, criticism in hindsight. I have to keep telling myself that it has been ten years, so of course I’m going to take issue with some things, but it just doesn’t feel like it has been a decade. I think this is due to when working on the new slipcase art and wraparound cover for the book and the interior design pieces, it was like going into a timewarp, putting myself back to then. So seeing this new volume has a fresh relevance for me. It’s not that I’m trying to degrade my own work, or to say it wasn’t worthy, it’s just impossible for me to not look at it with my current level of knowledge and thought. Reflecting on the material in analytical ways. Even with this perspective in my mind, I recognize this material as the beginning of a coming of age for me, the beginning of finding my footing in the realms of art. I certainly had been doing professional work for awhile when Promethea first came along but I feel that certain things were set in motion, certain things were released in me that allowed me to try and reach for greater potentials. This new Absolute Edition is a landmark in time, a statement of beginning growth of the mind. It was very personal work for me and so I tend to look at it in intimately critical terms. But I love it in all it’s beauty and flaws.

I’d like to briefly talk about some new things done for this book. There is the new art done for the slipcase which is printed with gold ink on a mat white finish, the result looks nice and unique. The book itself has new art for the cover, a wraparound psychedelic image with intricate spot varnishing on a mat finish. There is no dust jacket with this edition. I decided that it just was too large in size to accommodate a jacket. I’ve got other Absolute editions that have dust jackets and I found it cumbersome, so I felt it best that we not bother and just place the art onto the hardcover itself, I really like the way this came out. There are new endpapers designs by me and new chapter head designs by me as well. These new chapter heads were fun and deceivingly simple. but as the chapters progress over the course of all three Absolute Volumes, these chapter head images slowly puzzle together the Qabbalistic Tree Of life, and also have other images that appear and disappear with each new chapter. the image above is the backdrop art for these chapter head designs. These were a lot of fun and a lot of work. And lastly, there is a very nice afterword by my friend and author Brad Meltzer, best known for his work at DC Comics and most notably for his recent best selling novel The Book Of Fate. You can find more about him at BradMeltzer.com

To those of you who have already read Promethea and plan on buying this new edition in order to experience it again in a new way, I thank you, I hope you will find enjoyment from it for many years to come. To those of you who may be picking this up for the first time, welcome and I hope it tickles your brain in ways you might not expect.

bad fuzzy photo…

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Absolute Promethea Vol. 1 bookcover…

Black and white pen and ink version…

This process version below has some minor digital tweaking and a couple color element. This is what colorist Jeromy Cox will be using for the final color version, which will be posted when I get it.

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Creator Owned Matters…

Creator owned works create art and meaning beyond just the pop… A reminder this exists… Volume 1…

“J.H. Williams III made his mark with Promethea, taking us into fictive universes that were more real than our own. In Echolands he builds on that and goes one step beyond: it’s every fictional world, each with its own artistic style, intersecting and exploding with JHW3 magic and crackle. I can’t wait to see where he and Haden Blackman are taking us — into a world in which anything can happen, and undoubtedly will.”
— Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, American Gods)

“Getting an eyeful is a massive understatement. I love looking at the drawings as they expand with more details emerging every time I look.”
— Debbie Harry (Blondie, Face It: A Memoir)

“Every once in a while a comic book comes along that is so complex and unique and expertly executed it pushes the medium forward in new directions and leads to invigorated interest in the medium of comics itself. ECHOLANDS is that comic.”
— Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Fire Power)

“The integration of image and story develops an archetypal language that’s here in these pages and in our subconscious simultaneously. The boundaries are pushed. I think I’ve seen some of these things in dreams.”
— Chris Stein (Blondie, Point Of View: Me, New York City, and the Punk Scene)

“Amazing. Amazing. An immersive, dizzying plunge through a world both fantastic and familiar, in a tour de force of no-brakes storytelling and visual wonder. ECHOLANDS is not to be missed.”
— Kurt Busiek (Astro City, Marvels)

“If there was not a single word on the pages, Echolands would be worth reading just to explore this lusciously detailed world of giants, vampires, wizards, armies, ghosts, pirates, robots, cowboys and other armies, all laid out in exquisite double page spreads by JH Williams that carry your eye from one end of the book to the other. But as a matter of fact, there are words, glorious words by JH and W Haden Blackman that tell the story of Hope and the “Red” power she cannot control; of the jewel she stole from the evil Demond; and her loyal partner in crime Cor.  Oh, and did I mention “Old Chicago”?  I am just two issues into this rollicking adventure filled with everything I have ever loved, I have a million questions, and I am hooked.”
— David Mandel, Executive Producer “Veep”

“Echolands is a dazzling, kinetic ride through an exquisitely realized fantasy world, bursting with graphic energy and excitement.”
— Dave Gibbons (Watchmen, Kingsman)

“Echolands’ fallen fantasy San Francisco is painted as a monstrous blend of magic and technology, and reads like a blockbuster car chase.”
— Kyle Shutt (The Sword)

“The storytelling prowess on every glorious horizontal spread is a sprawling display of J.H. Williams III’s visionary talent and endless creativity. Flanked by equally adept partners in Blackman, Stewart, and Klein, attaining artistic heights rarely realized in this medium. In short: WOW.”
— Chris Ryall, writer/editor (Syzygy Publishing)

“Echolands is utterly gorgeous and completely compelling. A fabulous cast of characters, and a story that hits the ground running. I’m hooked, and I can’t wait for the next issue.”
— Kat Howard (Books Of Magic, An Unkindness Of Magicians)

“ECHOLANDS by W. Haden Blackman and JH Williams III is a high-stakes action/adventure in surrealist locales thick with reverb. It’s bustling with wayward characters and stars a hooded protagonist full of moxie, mirth and red magic. The bonus back matter is both counterpoint and secret code to the main story. ECHOLANDS is clearly their magnum opus.”
— Shelly Bond, Editor of Bitter Root, The Sandman: Overture and OffRegister.press

“One of the most remarkable, innovative, and engrossing uses of the medium I’ve seen. From the rich cast, a story that hooks you from page one and drags you in, to the labyrinthine page layouts that turn your head inside out to read them. There are few comics that deliver a genuinely unique experience, but this one really does, feeling at times like a top down tabletop roleplaying game, and at others a trippy immersive VR story, but always with the bounce and ease of reading that you would expect from a great comic. The boundaries of a comic page are always waiting to be pushed, and Echolands does this masterfully, hinting at what might be possible, making us excited to turn the page.”
— Leah Moore (The Doors: Morrison Hotel, Conspiracy of Ravens, Ghost Stories of an Antiquary)

“A few pages into Echolands and you can tell, that this book is absolutely dripping with ideas, visual genius and the unfettered imagination of a brilliant creative team. Be prepared to lose yourself in these pages, in this story and with these characters. Echolands is your new favourite comic, trust me.”
— Ram V (These Savage Shores, Blue In Green, Swamp Thing)

“Echolands is WONDERFUL, with amazing layouts and beautiful drawing and design. It’s right up there with the best of Belgian/French graphic novels (the highest compliment I can give, I think they have always had the best art). Really incredible work!”
— Colleen Doran (A Distant Soil, Sandman, and Snow, Glass, Apples)

“With complete admiration for J.H. Williams’ amazing prior work, let me say that there is nothing as wonderfully, surreally perfect as Echolands. It is the ideal combination of unbridled imagination with the sublime artistry of a master of comic book narrative storytelling. And it’s pure fun from beginning to end.”
— James Robinson (Starman, Scarlet Witch, JSA: The Golden Age)

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Things Part Two: Echolands

Echolands! In the past this has been referred to as Secret Project Number 1. There isn’t much to report just yet, other than it actually exists. I’ll be teasing out images from this for the next while. This is going to come out from Image Comics. No release date has been selected yet, because this is a very large project and we want to make sure we have loads of it done before even thinking about soliciting the book for ordering. At least 5 issues done and absolutely ready for print first.

Below is the limited print that was given away at last week’s Image Expo in Portland…

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Art Rant About A Misguided Marvel

I read some controversial stuff from the Marvel EIC today about artists not moving the needle on comics.

I don’t think that is true whatsoever, my own being an artist bias aside, quite often artists are mentioned when I pop into the local shop, when discussing whatever some readers are into.

And in all realistic contemplation, you just can’t have good comics without good artists AND good writers. Psychologically, stories in comics are hugely impacted by what the visuals are doing. Even if the reader isn’t quite aware of it, the art more often than not will affect how they feel about the quality of the story. This is where the art gets a bum rap sometimes.

Example: Grant Morrison credited to a story sells comics, but he absolutely cannot do most of he what puts into a story without what the artist brings to the table. This is true of any comics writer. But if it all turns out good, most readers will say “wow, what a great Grant Morrison story that was. Oh, and the art was nice too.” But the thing is, that very same comics story wouldn’t exist or function without whatever the artist did to bring it to life. And depending on what that artist did it psychologically and sometimes subliminally changed the way a reader views that story. So it matters what artist draws that story, there is no changing that.

Another Example: If you have a really good comics story but mediocre art, the story will feel like it lacked something, it will suffer. If you have a mediocre story but really well done art, that story will seem elevated. But when you get good stuff from both creative aspects, you end up with comics magic.

So when hearing things about writers are the ones who “move the needle”, not artists, it becomes an unfair deception and assumption. Because comics writers would not have the same body of work without the cumulative efforts of the artists they work with, and vice versa.

And honestly, when stacking multiple artists on a single story by any writer, you actually do the writer a huge disservice. Because the result will impact just how a reader views that story. It’s impossible not to. The writer’s work will suffer. The only time where this works effectively is when a story is designed to uphold various artistic viewpoints.

This is partly why I tackle so many stories using different multiple styles throughout, varying things from sequence to sequence or from character to character. Because I’m after fucking with that subliminal psychological reader affect. Looking for ways to push on it. But always done so with designing and manipulating that same psychological effect in mind. This can be highly effective, because of understanding just how much the art affects the story’s power and meaning. But when you see comics treated with switching artists so randomly without thought, or careful attention to the story, or to the writer, it all becomes chopped up, as if produced by a haphazard machine. It loses its heart.

Comics are a tandem effort by many creators. And what each of them bring significantly alters and affects the outcome of any project. This psychological effect just doesn’t happen from the writing and the art, it also comes from lettering, and the coloring as well. All of it MATTERS. All of it makes or breaks a story.

So yeah, the Marvel EIC is wrong about this. It might be a little bit difficult to see the deeper reasons it’s wrong because everything in comics is so reliant on the various moving parts all linking up in the right ways.

Rant Over!

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Image Tuesday!

The piece I’ve selected this week was something I never thought I’d ever do: Star Wars! A few years ago I was contacted by the Lucas people saying that they were going to produce an Art Of Star Wars Comics art-book, and they were interested in me contributing something for it. I was quick to point out that I’ve ever been involved in doing Star Wars comics except for 3 covers I had done for a mini a long time ago. I wasn’t known as a Star Wars artist. In reply, that didn’t matter, that they were selecting from a small group of people to commission new pieces. I asked if I could create my own character, something new, since it was going to be a new piece. Yes! I wanted to do that because I had an idea for a piece that was to feel like a snippet of a Star Wars story we hadn’t seen. And I also wanted it to be be a very subtle homage to Jack Kirby giant monsters. But instead of it being a creature, it’s a giant war machine that looks like a creature, piloted by empire troopers. The idea was that it was facing off, like a western showdown, with one lone jedi on some alien desert world. The jedi being the lone hero in the face an evil invading force. I also wanted this to not feel like my typical work in terms of techniques. I wanted it to feel like something closer to classic fantasy illustration. The result is a wide fold out image of sequential art, not a splash poster type of thing. I used the width of it to loosely convey in design for the middle tier of panels the vague shape of a lightsaber, as the actual lightsaber in the story flickers to life. The entire image was rendered in black and white greytones, ink, and ink wash, then scanned into photoshop and digitally painted it. Normally for something I paint I do that work physically on the board. But with this I wanted to make absolute certain I had completely control over the clarity of the colors, so I went with digital paint. This also was helpful in keeping the design work very clean. The odd thing was that the hardest part of the entire image was getting the lightsaber and laser fire to look correct, graphically solid but still feel like energy bolts and blade, to feel like Star Wars. It was surprisingly difficult to get that effect cleanly. Looking back on it, I wish I had the lightsaber flickering to life in those middle panels with the blade running completely off on the right side of the page, literally coming out of the images entirely. Ultimately though, I think the sequence is relatively successful in capturing the feel of Star Wars, slightly filtered through my own sensibilities.

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BLONDIE!

For those who don’t know yet, but I’ve talked about this before, I’m doing artwork for the upcoming Blondie album release Ghosts Of Download (Wendy and I were stoked to have helped with a name for the upcoming album, just absolutely thrilling). Working with them has been a tremendous experience for me, and real personal dream come true moment. Which I’m excited about beyond any mortal words. And just this week, the first teaser single of the new songs by them was released to be heard. It’s called A Rose By Any Name. I’ve done artwork for this as well. Below are the front and back design images for it. I hope you enjoy them. We’re trying to bring something different. This is only a taste of the new music by Blondie. And only taste of the visuals being created by me for this release.

The new music is fun, dance and electro oriented, and I love that it sounds a bit unexpected compared to the previous couple releases. But that is what I’ve always loved the most about Blondie, is that they never do the expected. That they keep themselves creatively open to whatever musical inspirations strike them, regardless of popular trends. That plays a big part in what makes them one of the greatest bands in the world.

(One of the fun aspects of lettering for the band name on this art, is that it reminds me of play buttons on a stereo or something)

Blondie Site
Blondie Facebook

Front cover to the single

Back cover to the single

Possible CD Label

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Vertigo Bleed (Comics Need Karen Berger)

Well, now the news has broke about legendary Karen Berger leaving DC and Vertigo. Karen has been absolutely inspirational for a very long time with DC, bringing to all of us some of the finest comics ever to come out of that company, and helping to spearhead an industry changing defying imprint with Vertigo. Comics have always been diverse but Karen really helped in that definition during a time when pretty much the dominant genre involved spandex, much like the trend is now. But Vertigo became the industry leader in presenting comics for people who wanted more than shiny costumes with superpowers. Karen’s efforts became a beacon for creators to look toward a different comics future landscape, paving a way for acceptance of new bolder ideas.

I find the timing of her departure from DC to be sadly ironic, in that next year when Karen says her final goodbyes to the company it will also be the 25 year anniversary of Sandman, one the titles that sort of started the whole thing (to which there is a brand new Sandman project on the way for this anniversary that I’m to start illustrating very soon). Sandman issue 1 was published in October of 1988 but dated January 1989, which helped lead to the formation of Vertigo under Karen’s direction, next year will bring the 20th anniversary of the legendary imprint. Having known Karen for many years and doing a few things for vertigo here or there, I had long been looking forward to working with her at a much closer level on this new Sandman project. So while excited over Sandman, its become bittersweet as her involvement will be going away. I’m a bit uncomfortable over it, actually. But it is what it is. I know I will not help but think of her that first day I put pen to paper, on that very first page Karen will be there in spirit.

I was also seriously disappointed when I’d heard about the demise of Vertigo’s Hellblazer recently announced, in favor of transitioning the lead character into the DCU entirely, not an idea I’m overly fond of. As a longtime reader of Hellblazer it was disheartening. I felt as if Vertigo was beginning to slowly be sucked dry, it’s life’s blood drained away. And with the departure of Karen Berger I have to admit that I’m feeling even more disheartened. And speaking as bit of a fan here, not an industry professional, I’m feeling torn between a struggle of anger about some things and rather optimistic for what the future may hold for Karen, and in turn for us as readers. As a creative editor Karen has something to say, always has, and I’m certain her voice will rise up out of the din and resonate with something new. And when that voice does sound, in whatever form that may take, I know I’m there to listen.

Comics needs Karen Berger!

I should add: Vertigo should be a legacy and continue, showing that Karen’s contributions remain valued.

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Store Signing Event…

Below is the store’s text press release and links…

J.H. Williams III “Batwoman Vol. 1: Hydrology” Signing at Red Sky Comics

Come celebrate the release of “Batwoman Vol. 1: Hydrology” with award winning local author and artist, J.H. Williams III (Chase, Promethea, Desolation Jones, Detective Comics). Williams will be available for signing, previewing material, and selling original artwork from 3 pm. till 6 pm, with a Q&A session before.

In addition we are raffling off over 20 great JHW3 items, including a complete set of all three volumes of “Absolute Promethea,” over a dozen variant covers, and an original hand drawn Batwoman sketch by J. H. Williams III himself! Raffle tickets are available in-store only from Red Sky Comics starting on Monday June 4th till 5 pm on June 16th. Tickets are $5 each, 3 for $10, or 7 for $20 with a free set of four Detective Comics Batwoman prints (while supplies last)! Most importantly half of all the proceeds go to the Hero Initiative(http://www.heroinitiative.org/). (see the Facebook event page for further details)

Attendees showing up in full costume will receive a free raffle ticket!

Have a question for JHW3? Submit via Twitter with #askjhw3 or message Red Sky Comics on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/redskycomics)

Also to celebrate we are having a sale on all J.H. Williams III titles: Hardcover copies of “Batwoman Vol. 1: Hydrology” on sale for $19.99. This deluxe volume includes Batwoman issues #0-#5 and chimes in at a 160 beautifully illustrated and written pages.
20% off all J.H. Williams III trade paperbacks.
Finally III for $10; your choice three J.H. Williams III comics for $10.

The store will be open from noon till 6 pm that day, so come in early and get your copies of J.H. Williams III works. Williams will be signing from 3 pm till 6 pm; with the raffle drawing happening immediately afterwards.

Red Sky Comics
617 W. Main Street
Merced, CA 95340

See the event page for full details: Facebook
Red Sky Comics Facebook page: Facebook again
Video Clip

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Music

I’ve been a bit neglectful on mentioning music that has been running in the house lately. As always, an eclectic mix new and old stuff. So here is a list…

The Black Keys – El Camino
Puny Human – Revenge Is Easy
Orange Goblin – Coup De Grace
Orange Goblin – Frequencies From Planet Ten
Radiohead – Amnesiac (expanded edition)
Jesus And Mary chain – Psychocandy (expanded and remastered)
Jesus And Mary Chain – Darklands (expanded and remastered)
Jesus And Mary Chain – Automatic (expanded and remastered)
Jesus and Mary Chain – Honey’s Dead (expanded and remastered)
Jesus And Mary Chain – Stoned And Dethroned (expanded and remastered)
Debbie Harry – Koo Koo (new remastered version)
Mumford And Sons – Sigh No More (limited 3 disc version)
The Smiths – Remastered Box Set (of all their albums)
Adele – 19
Adele – 21
The Cars – Move Like This
Rush – Permanent Waves (Remastered)
Rush – Roll The Bones
Killing Joke – Absolute Dissent
Tricky – Knowle West Boy
Ramones – Subterranean Jungle (expanded and remastered)
Ramones – Too Tough To Die (expanded and remastered)
Simple Minds – New Gold Dream
Simple Minds – Empires And Dance
Simple Minds – Real To Real Cacophony
Simple Minds – Sparkle In The rain
David J – Not Long For This World
Pink Floyd – The Final Cut
Soft Cell – Non Stop Erotic Cabaret
Prince – Around The World In A Day
Iron Maiden – The Final Frontier
Steppenwolf – For Ladies Only
Blondie – Atomic (single)
Stephen Colbert with The Black Belles – Charlene II I’m Over You (single)
Neal Heft – Batman

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And let us not forget…

The final volume of Absolute Promethea (vol. 3) will also be out this week. This Absolute project turned into a three year publishing plan, and I think plenty of Promethea fans will be happy with this final edition. We tried our best to get everything Promethea into these 3 Absolute editions. And for volume 3 we’ve got some cool extras and features, such as the Little Margie stories by Eric Shanower (whose written the introduction this time as well), other Promethea appearances from other America’s Best Comics titles, some art galleries (some of it production materials), an article written by me on some of the process images displayed. And finally, the infamous issue 32 poster version, done as a double sided folded insert that can be removed at your discretion, reproduced at much larger size than the previous trade editions. And in benefit of including the poster, we’ve reprinted the article on the process of creating it written by Todd Klein. Below is the gold color slipcase art for this edition…

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Trashed

The relatively new track American Trash from InnerPartySystem off their latest EP Never Be Content is absolutely stunning. Seek, find, listen and absorb.

The video is pretty damn cool as well.

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And A Happy New Year To Everyone!

From me to all of you, wishing you a better 2011 than 2010.

Below are the Slipcase and Cover images to Absolute Promethea Volume 3. I hope you enjoy them. These were done close to a year ago and I’ve had to hold onto them for this long before revealing. But now that the final volume is available for pre-order at finer shops and book outlets everywhere, I figured it’s time to show them. The cover image was way too complicated to break down into steps for this one. The next post will feature some of that sort of thing for the Batman Incorporated covers I’ve been doing (issue 5 being my last). And then onto the new Batwoman covers. I had been meaning to post images sooner for the new projects but energy around the holidays tends to go in other directions.

Absolute Promethea Volume 3 Slipcase…

Absolute Promethea Volume 3 Cover…

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Ta Da Da…

Here is the color version of the Absolute Promethea Volume One book cover, with spectacular rendering efforts by the impeccable Jeromy Cox and my minor design color contributions. It was very strange and interesting for both of us to sort of go through a bit of timewarp to make this feel right for this part of the series. Afterall, we are talking about material that is almost 10 years old. It was a challenge for us to keep things looking right for that time but still have this freshness to it, to fit in to the here and now while also fitting into the past. Time is relative. It felt very surreal but the result looks just about right…click away.

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it’s official

As some of you may have seen elsewhere, Promethea is receiving the Absolute treatment beginning later this year. However, the image that is being used for solicitation is completely wrong and is an old piece. So here is the real Absolute Promethea Volume 1 slipcase cover, color version and black and white version. The color on the final printed version will be gold embossed ink. I will have the book cover itself to show you relatively soon.

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BLOGAFTERCONBLOG

SDCC MADNESS…

Although con has been over for almost 2 weeks now it certainly feels like I’m still in recovery mode. That show is always a tiring madhouse of a giant mess. But always a whirlwind blast of comics goodness. For those of you who came by my booth I hope you enjoyed the preview of what I’m currently working on but not really allowed to talk about, but no one said I couldn’t sneak peek the material 🙂

Got the chance to meet and hang with old friends, and new, to the wee hours of the morning every night.

Discovered that Antony Johnston is a Sisters Of Mercy fan like myself. We are getting few and far between these days.

Good friends got their project picked up by a major publisher. Woo Hoo For Them!!! I’ll talk more about that later when the time is right.

Had interesting discussions with Grant Morrison, Matt Fraction, Scott Dunbier, Jimmy Palmiotti, Dave Stewart. and Darwyn Cooke. Not all at the same time though.

THINGS I’VE DISCOVERED OR PURCHASED BECAUSE SDCC MADNESS…

Apocalipstix — published by Oni Press —
by friends Ray Fawkes and Cameron Stewart
What a completely rockin’ juggernaut end of the world thrill ride groove machine of a book. Absolutely fuckin’ loved this hilarious rock and roll apocalyptic road movie satire. Ray’s story is immediately engaging with characters that you quickly fall in love with. Cameron’s art is on fire here, using a more exaggerated style to a most appealing effect. And it’s got GIANT ANTS! What’s not to love about GIANT ANTS. I want more, please.

Mesmo Delivery — published by adhouse books–
by Rafael Grampa
Exquisitely written and drawn in a highly detailed unique style with a sophisticated but appropriately simplistic color approach. I loved this. Track it down. You won’t be disappointed.

Pixu 1 of 2 — independently published —
by Becky Cloonan, Fabio Moon, Gabriel Ba, Vasilis Lolos
I’ve been following these creator’s work for sometime now and just can’t enough. They are all brilliant and this cool little book justifies my opinion even more.
go to…here

Some Art Books — that you should find immediately —
Tim Sale Balck and White
Cameron StewArtwork
Michael Golden’s Heroes and Villains

The Owlship — movie prop —
From the Watchmen Movie, complete with blinking gadgets and video display monitors and welded metal and just plain cool

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BLOGBEFORECONBLOG

A FEW THINGS…

Just came back from Dark Knight. What an astonishingly fantastic film. The plot unfolds in a very operatic fashion with character plots weaving in and out of each other to form a mesmerizing whole. There are places where Ledger’s performance as the Joker are truly nightmarish without being grotesque and over exaggerated. No camera and editing tricks to convince you of his madness. All purely done with his performance and acute acting skills. People saying that he should get a posthumous award are absolutely fucking right! It’s a shame we will never get to see a reprisal role. I loved all of the little subplot material that they really didn’t need to do, but I’m glad they did it anyway. It just made for a more textural story. And Harvey Dent’s storyline develops in a very monstrous way that completely engrosses you to an emotional and overwhelming state that you’re left almost speechless at the physical and psychological horror of it. Just as compelling as the Joker portions of the story. It really seems like we got two films in one without the loss of cohesiveness. There are a few very minor dangling threads left unfinished. Either these will be explained with the inevitable deleted scenes or they thought it better to be answered in the 3rd installment. Go see it!

OFF TO CON…

We will be down in San Diego for the next week at the “Big Show”. I can be found lurking around the NAKED FAT RAVE booth with numerous other talented degenerates. Come by and say hello to help keep me from becoming too bored with all of the usual madness that is “Con”. I’ll be doing some sketching and have some original pages with me, along with stuff for my as yet to be announced project. Sales in the online store will be temporarily suspended until I return.

THE MAGIC OF COLOR…

Just saw the initial colors for my Jonah Hex and they are amazing. But what should I expect from my cohort in crime, the incomparable Dave Stewart.

AND NOW…

Here is some images i’ve done recently (click and enjoy)…

These are for 2 covers I’ve done for some Final Crisis Superman stuff. The first one went through 3 minor variations of color adjustments…







This next one is a commission piece that I had done…

Spidey…

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