Sunday August 12th 2007, 8:09 pm
Only a few things to comment on. Not much else going on other than trying to get work done.
BATBRAINS…
Well my first issue of my Batman arc with Grant Morrison arrived this week. It came out pretty well but I think the following issues will be better. Dave Stewart did a bang up job with the color and it worked really well with all of the wash tones I did. The response has been mostly positive. I’m going to miss working on Batman but I’m getting ready to prep for my next gig, which is ‘bat’ related and I will be on this one for awhile. I’m currently on the tail end of the last issue of this club of heroes arc. This stuff has been more time consuming than I anticipated but the results are nice.
MIDNIGHT CROSSING…
The ninth issue came out recently, wrapping up the four part ‘map of midnight’ arc. I’m about to start the covers for issues 14 and 15. I’m having a really good time working on these. It gives me a different creative outlet from the DCU stuff. Also if you haven’t read this series yet pick up the first trade, which is out now. It’s titled ‘cut here’.
FOR THE LOVE OF JOHN…
We’ve been watching JOHN FROM CINCINNATI every week and we can’t wait to see what happens tonight for the final episode of the season. This show has been brilliant since day one. Thought provoking and challenging, its pure genius. If you’re not already watching then you better get to it and catch up on it’s existential bliss.
A BLUE TIME TO BE HAD…
I’ve just finished reading BLUESMAN by Rob Vollmar and Pablo G. Callejo. What a great little thriller set in the deep south during a very depressive time. The characters are engaging and the fully rendered black and white artwork is just amazing with it’s authentic detail and mood. I see a little bit of Crumb in the art. The story itself obviously wants to convey a fondness for the blues without it being directly about that. It’s a good character piece with a real sense of drama mixed with crime fiction. You really feel like this story is about real people going through a very tough time and all the faces look like they’ve really lived a rough life, loaded with personality. go pick it up.
MUSIC THIS WEEK…(listened to and recommended for your health)
siouxsie and the banshees –remasters
HIM—uneasy listening vol. 1 and 2
the good the bad and the queen
isobel campbell & mark lanegan–ballad of the broken seas
M83—dead cities, red seas, & lost ghosts
roxy music— siren remastered
skinny puppy— mythmaker
solace— balance
the mission— keep it in the family e.p.
lordi— the arockalypse
dengue fever— escape from dragon house
air— pocket symphony
blonde redhead— 23
whale— we care and pay for me
the dears— gang of losers
willie nelson— songbird
be your own pet
the 69 eyes— angels
the horrors
VENUS DOOM IS COMING!!!!!!!!
Saturday August 04th 2007, 7:59 pm
As everyone can see my blogs went to shit just before i had to leave for con. Blame it on cheap equipment and no backups. Hopefully no events like this again. We are trying to see if anyone subscribed to the blog in order to get them archived. From now I am no longer writing these on the program used for posting so that way I have a backup here at home.
Now that I’m somewhat recovered from con-monster 2007, and diligently trying to get back into the swing of things, I recently found out that DC is planning biweekly shipping on my Batman issues this month. So both 667 and 668 will ship this month and I’m sort of irked about it because I’m not done with 669 yet so now that one may be late. Not happy about that. Apparently a previous issue was late and they are trying to make up time at my expense. Yayy me. So be warned. We will do our best to not be late with 669. Also I came to find out that DC decided NOT to announce my new project during the convention and didn’t warn me of this. So I’m feeling sort of like a dork telling everyone that the announcement was coming. I even went as far as telling people at the con what exactly the project is going to be when asked what I’ve got coming up. Really bad communication from the powers that be. However, an official announcement should arise someday. Those loving bastards.
On to fun con stuff…
The NAKED FAT RAVE booth was even more successful this year and shaping up to be even bigger next year for the 5th year anniversary. After 2 days I was finally able to talk to the artist most influentially responsible for me wanting to be a comicbook artist and he was in our booth this year. I was acting like a 12 year old knowing he was right there, sitting only 10 feet away, not knowing what to say to him. This person is Michael Golden. If you don’t know who he is I can’t help you. It turns out that he is quite a nice guy (you never know what to expect when meeting your idols). It was a thrill of a lifetime for me to meet him and tell him how much of inspiration his work has been to me all of my life. His work is brilliant beyond words. My wife Wendy even bought me an original Fantastic Four art cover from him and surprised me in a very devious Wendy-like way (our friends know what that means). Very overwhelming. She is the best!
We got to see Grant for a bit as well and managed to loosely talk about the creator owned project we are planning for down the road. Its gonna be a killer.
My spotlight panel went off beautifully. So I must thank Laurenn McCubbin, Grant Morrison, Scott Johnson, and all of those who showed up for it, for making me feel all warm and fuzzy. You guys are awesome. And thanks to John Fannucchi for helping choose images for the slide show. All of the interview stuff went smoothly even though I was nervous as sin. I”m not very comfortable speaking publicly and the seats were pretty full. Maybe 250 to 300 attendees? One thing thats a bit disappointing is that I haven’t found much coverage of the panel on the web. Which is strange because I saw people filming and stuff. I wanted to see that film. I’ve only come across one small article.
I’ve been invited to join Bruce Timm in a project which will showcase many amazing talents and I’m honored to be asked to be a part of it. Now I have to think of something really cool for it.
Spoke to the late Seth Fisher’s mother for a time as well, as she brought over a cover piece that Seth had done for the Batman: Snow story that we worked on together before he passed away tragically. It was very emotional for us and we were honored that she remembered how much we wanted something of his work from that project to remember him by. Our love continually goes out to Seth’s family and friends. We miss him dearly.
I was approached by someone from Sam Raimi’s production company in regards to them wanting access to Desolation Jones. Apparently they’ve been trying to see about getting the film rights from Warner Brothers and that WB is holding onto the material without actually moving forward on the subject. This is the first I’ve heard of this and don’t know if Mister Ellis was already aware of the volley ball with the property so I sent this person to talk with Ellis since he was at the show.
I got to see a copy of the new 24/7 book due out now. This includes a second story by our esteemed webmaster Frank Beaton who was also involved in the first volume. It looks to be even better than the first and thats saying a lot.
Lots of positive feedback from certain key individuals in regards to a personal project that I’ve been developing for awhile. So that just may be able to get off the ground and get published somehow by someone someday.
The show was an insane mad house overall. Something like 175,000 people came through those doors. We stayed up to the wee hours of the morning on too many nights, hence still in recovery mode. So much happened that I’m having trouble remembering everything to post here.
Anyway… back to work for me.