Yeah, I'm alive...

Had to take some time off. Having trouble with my wrist, stressing out and going through some personal ups-n-downs so I figured I needed some time to just veg. Watched a lot of DVDs, slept in as much as I could. Didn't fix any of the problems but now I have the energy to get back in there and deal with them.

Just finished up a two page tryout for a lettering gig...hope I get it, it looks like a really cool book. Monday I'll be finishing up the last half of Drunken Money: Origin #1. As long as Rich doesn't mind, I'll post a few non-spoiler panels or something.

Just wanted to post SOMETHING to let everyone know I'm still kicking. Maybe soon, with a little luck (I'm about due), I'll have some good news on other fronts as well!


Two of my very favorite action flicks of all time!! (Got to see #2 for the first time during my "break".) Jason Statham rocks! He's the role model for Sgt McGregor in The Black Watch series I'm doing. Hell, I'd even LOVE to see him play Novak from Nothingface even though he looks totally different. The boy is just a badass, man!!

Nothingface rolls on...(and a ramble)...

Got some more pages for the next Nothingface arc. Here's page 1 of book 2 drawn by Dan Schmidt, written and lettered by myself, awaiting colors by Ray Dillon. (click to enlarge)

Book 1 is still being colored and lettered but I hope to be able to tell you when and where this series will be coming out within the next couple months. STAY TUNED!


Personal ramble: Is it just a guy thing to want to take care of things...try to fix problems? And then to get really frustrated when you're asked to leave it alone? Or worse still to know there's a problem and basically be shut out, not let in on what's wrong, and get really frustrated? Not so much that you're frustrated with the person, just the situation. Maybe there's nothing you can do but being a guy it's like you feel like you have to try. A man takes care of the people that matter to him, right?

I don't have a lot of really close friends, maybe it's partially because I'm a hermit sitting here trying to make comics...but it's also because I just don't think many people are worth my time. That sounds pretty crappy and egotistical, but that's just me. I don't connect with lots of people and I honestly have a hard time not thinking 60% of the people I meet are idiots. So, anyway, when one of the rare people I feel especially close to is obviously struggling...even to the point of basically SAYING "Yeah, something awful is going on...but I'm not going to talk to you about it"...it bloody well KILLS me to not know what's going down and not be able to try and offer a solution or even just offer words of comfort that mean anything.

And of course being a writer with a writer's imagination doesn't help matters. Little tidbits pop into your head...things that have been said recently, possibly odd little behaviors you've noticed in the past few weeks...then you toss those around with known facts and color it all with your own perceptions and look at it filtered through your own emotions and before long you're running 10 very possible scenarios that are most likely FAR worse than what's really happening.

AARRRGGGHH!!

Okay, just had to get that out of my system. Hope I didn't bore any of the three of you who actually come here away from ever coming back! ;)

This cover IS Wolverine

This cover struck me hard when I saw it....like the scene in the X2 movie when the soldiers attack the school and Wolverine is protecting the kids. He's this brutal, hardcore, never say die, tough as hell, mean sonunabitch...but at his core, when you strip away all the shades of gray, he is a PROTECTOR. He is simply good.

When well written and not just relied on for the badass gimmick, he's still one of the best characters in comics.

(click to enlarge, as always)
WOLVERINE #41
Written by STUART MOORE
Pencils & Cover by C. P. SMITH
“THE PACKAGE”
Special extra-sized issue! Deep in the heart of war-torn Africa, Logan must escape from an army of savage killers -- with a baby strapped to his chest! The infant daughter of an overthrown monarch is the only hope for a country’s future, and the conquering warlord is determined to see her dead. Can Wolverine get her to the border alive? Or will his greatest failure doom an entire nation? Written by guest-writer Stuart Moore (LEGION OF SUPERHEROES) with art by C.P. Smith.
48 PGS./Parental Advisory ...$3.99

Lost Squad #3 is wrapped up

The final changes were made and all the files have been uploaded...Lost Squad #3 (of 6) is ready for the printer! The image on th right (click for mo' bigger) is the cover to #3 by the books artist, Alan Robinson.


The script to The Black Watch #2 is almost done. I hope to have some art and info on this project to post soon...as well as more from the two Nothingface arcs in progress. Here on the left is a piece of Black Watch promo art by Mathias Lorenz....

REX STEELE: NAZI SMASHER

So, Ed has been promoting Digital Webbing Presents #29 as featuring this Academy Award winning character, Rex Steele. I kept meaning to Google the name and check it out but never did. Then the other day Ed talked about it on his blog and provided a link. Rex Steele is a comic that was made into a short animated film that just happens to kick butt. Through the link I got some info and thought it looked cool so I ordered the DVD...what the heck, help out the up-n-comers, right? It was great! Shorter than I thought, even for a "short film", but still impressive. I would really like to see what the RS creators and the filmaker could do with a REAL budget.

Anyway, check out DWP #29 for a color Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher story and then, after that whets your appetite go to the Monkeysuit Press site and get info on the Graphic Novel and the animated short. I'll definitiely be getting DWP #29 (I ALWAYS buy DWP) and I have the DVD (15 bucks may seem a little steep for a 10 minute cartoon, but with the behind the scenes features and stuff I feel I got my money's worth) and as soon as I have the extra dough I want to get the GN.

(screen caps from the DVD below)




I have nothing to do with Rex Steele or this particular issue of DWP, I just think this is a cool character. CHECK IT OUT! PLUS this issue of DWP has a Fist of Justice story and the return of Klik-Boom: Exterminators by my buddy Ron Phillips.

I'm gonna be famous...in a...sorta...local way....

Yesterday and today I was interviewed for a feature a local writer is doing on the graphic novels and comics and such. It was pretty fun. Talking to someone who's actually interested in what you're working on is sometimes an unusual thing for us comic folks. :D When it's printed I'll be sure to scan it and post it.

Got the WONDERFALLS complete series DVD set for Christmas from my brother. I watched the show when Fox originally aired it...they only aired 4 episodes but I was totally in love with it and then some moron decided to pull the plug. How do they expect shows to find an audience if they don't leave them on more than a few weeks!?!? RRRRRRRR!! Anyway, I watched all 13 epsiodes and although it ends at a satisfactory place it ticks me off all over again that they canceled it. It's funny and weird and even touching. Basically, Jaye, this borderline anti-social "Generation Y" chick starts hearing inanimate objects talk to her. Always something with an animal face, toys, mascots on signs, cartoon characters on t-shirts, etc. They badger her into begrudgingly doing things, constantly repeating their vague instructions... "Bring her back"... "Girl needs a boy"... "Let him go"... and her actions always create problems for her and ultimately wind up helping someone else. Sometimes it's several someones because you never know quite who or how many "Hers" there are in "Bring her back." Jaye is bitter and jaded and yet somehow completely likable. And the funny moments and touching life-fixing carry an ongoing and thankfully NOT nausiating love story and even a bit of drama as Jaye and those around her begin to question her sanity.

Basically it was damned good show that never got a shot. Buy it, rent it...check it out.

And, of course, it doesn't hurt anything that I find Jaye (Caroline Dhavernas) completely adorable! ;)

Two posts in one day!

I was just reading No Quarter, the blog of artist Jason Copland, and saw his wife Jackie's list of her favorite graphic novel reads for the past year. Click that link to see where my Nothingface GN lands on that list. I'm in some gooood company! :D

Don't miss the Monkey madness in the post below....

Monkey Bizness

Just posting a few panels from the latest lettering gig...don't want to give anything away (and I didn't ask Rich if it was okay to post stuff yet) so I better not go overboard! This is from Furious Fist of the Drunken Monkey:Origin of the Species by Rich Stahnke...a new mini series set to debut this summer from Silent Devil. Usually you would label it as a "mature readers" book...but the way Rich puts it is much more accurate: "For Immature Adults". :D





This series is a lot of fun to work on AND to read. It's heavy on spoof elements that any comic book geek will recognize, but it doesn't rely solely on the spoofage. Wait until you see thebad guy from the opening scene of this issue! Rich pokes a bit of fun at the characters of one of comics' most notorious creators (who actually saw the character at a con and thought it was hilarious).