Still here...

Just a brief post to keep things active. Got everything done for people before the big convention and then, even though I had a lot to do, by brain kind of shut down during the con. I was constantly wondering how things were going for my rep down there.

He made some good connections and got a lot more info on how the business of getting comics into other media works. Even managed to get my "stuff" into the hands of some people pretty high up the entertainment food chain. Thought that was pretty cool. Not counting any chickens any time soon, but I think we made a good start in that direction.

Another busy week ahead...lettering Pierce #2 and stories for the next Trailer Park book as they come in, 2 Digital Webbing Presents stories, and Pistolfist #2. I also have some writing to do...I need to get some pages cranked out so the artist on a new project has something to do and I need to touch up a couple other scripts.

NOTE: The picture above is one of the wild and wonderful people captured on film at San Diego Comic-Con. I had made a note of who took the picture (ie: who I stole it from) but I've lost the info!

SDCC looms ever closer!

Squeezing in one more thing before the big con later this week. Jason Copland talked me into lettering up some sample pages for a project co-created by him and Michael May. It looks like some serious fun.

The image here is just one panel of rough artwork. I lettered over the roughs to get a jump on things. At some point between now and Tuesday afternoon I'll get the inked pages and swap them out for the roughs and shoot final pages out for them to print up and take with them.

Busy, busy, busy

I'm not even GOING to Comicon Internation in San Diego and I'm rushing around to get ready for it! Different folks who want promos and previews to take with them, not to mention putting together promotional materials for my own projects...on top of a few of my regular books being scheduled for work at the same time. It's been a little nuts. But I think I'm in the home stretch, all convention specific stuff is done and the guys on my regular jobs have been understanding. Hopefully I'll be all caught up by Friday night so I can take the weekend off and then get a bunch of writing done next week.

I'm not going but a bunch of my friends and colleagues will be. If you're going check them out. (Click the logo for more info on the con)

• Kody Chamerlain will be there, balancing his time between BOOM! Studios booth, his own artist alley table and the Digital Webbing booth.
• The Silent Devil guys will be set up down there
• CG Kirby will be at the Digital Webbing booth and popping over to the Devil's Due booth a bit as well
• Imperium Comics will be there pushing Trailer Park of Terror and Pierce. Rumor has it there may be some eye candy on hand thanks to the guys developing the Trailer Park flick. ;)
• Jason Copland will be there wandering around.
• The previously mentioned Digital Webbing booth will have a lot of good guys at it. And some jerks. (Just kidding, guys!)
• Jerry Ma and his wild band of drunken cohorts will be boozing it up at the Epic Proportions booth

And I'm sure there are many I'm forgetting. Just devote some time and money to the little guys while you're at the con. Marvel, DC and the half naked models don't deserve ALL your money!

As you probably know if you're one of the 7 people who frequent my blog, I'm lettering EMPTY CHAMBER at Silent Devil. ADL just recently got a production blog rolling so folks can see where it's at and learn about the crew and the process and all that good stuff. If you're asking yourself "Who the hell is ADL?? And why is he just initials??" then click the logo over there and go check out the crew bios!

Most of you who are regulars are well informed comic geeks and know all about the wonderful world of PREORDERS! You have to tell your comic shop NOW about the books you want in September...especially if they are indy books (pretty much any book not published by Marvel or DC). Several books I work on as Letter-Monkey are in previews this month...

• Lost Squad TPB - Chris Kirby and Alan Robinson's tale of World War II weirdness is collected by Devil's Due.
• Empty Chamber #1 - Go click that logo up there, slick. Then preorder this bad boy! Published by Silent Devil.
• Furious Fist of the Drunken Monkey: Origin of the Species #2 - I still say that has to be some kind of record for title length. The saga of Chip the superpowered chimp and his talking toad sidekick Al continues. Secrets are revealed! A possible betrayal is hinted at! The plot thickens dammit! Another one comin' from Silent Devil.
• Trailer Park of Terror #6 - The terror train rolls on with another issue of tongue in cheek Twilight-Zoney goodness from Imperium Comics.
• Pierce #4 - The solicit for the issue is so good I'm just going to copy it: The action-filled mini-series reaches its conclusion as the man called Pierce comes face to face with his killer - and Angel`s life hangs in the balance. Choices are made, blood is shed, relationships are changed, and destinies are fulfilled as the man in the mirror`s inaugural adventure concludes. Another one from Imperium.
• Pistolfist: Revolutionary Warrior #1 - Revolutionary War steampunkish stuff from Alias.

I THINK that's all of them this month.

Why are letterers the bastard step-children of comics?

(Settle in, go visit the little blogger's room before you get started. I feel a rant coming on...)

Seriously, why is it so few people bother to hire GOOD letters? Some people claim they can't see the difference and that the only reason I see certain things is because I AM a letterer. But that's not true, poor lettering used to distract me before I ever learned how to do it. Funky balloon tails, poorly done sound effects, poor font choices, unbalanced blocks of text, haphazard balloon/box placement...all that stuff can take the slickest looking book and make it look like an amateur production.

Case in point...Virgin Comics #O. You know VIRGIN, as in Virgin Records, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Books, Virgin MEGAstores, etc. Uber rich guy Richard Branson's "stuff." So, tell me why you'd start a comic publisher with the highly recognizable VIRGIN logo on it and not put out the absolute BEST product?!?!

I picked up the #O issue at the shop last time I was in and just now sat down and read through it. Virgin Comics will have three branches...or "imprints"...the first two books will be out of the imprint based on Indian mythology. Brilliant tactic for a lot of reasons! First, it's a mythology that not as many Westerners are familiar with but as with most mythologies I assume it will feel familiar and new all at once, so a great hook and potential for stories. Second, I have to assume they are going to be targeting the Indian market. With the size of the population, if the books take off you're easily talking about creating a market much like Japan or Korea.

This preview book had preludes to two different titles, Devi and Ramayan Reborn. The artwork on both is fantastic, though story-wise Devi is more appealing to me. Sort of goddess as sci-fi superhero is the vibe I get from the nine pages here. The dialogue is fairly solid in both, if a bit too "comic booky" for my taste here and there. Overall I'd definitely encourage people to go find this Zero Issue and check it out...

...BUT...

...for me it's all knocked down about 25% because of the amateur lettering. I sincerely do not mean any disrespect to Ravikiran B. S. who letters both story installments in this preview book and who is guilty of just about everyone of the lettering "sins" listed in the first paragraph up above. Everyone has to start somewhere, but when you're not ready for the big game, someone should be telling you to get back on the bench. This is far from the worst lettering I've ever seen in a published book and I don't claim to be the ultimate expert...and God knows that I look back on some of my own lettering work and cringe. But my early stuff wasn't published by some huge corporation...the comic arm of the company may be new and unproven but the company overall is huge and successful, shouldn't "do it right" be part of the business plan? I also don't mean to single out the "new kid" I see the same thing on books here and there from just about every publisher lower on the foodchain than Marvel and DC (heck even the big two have a clunker lettering job now and then), it just seemed to me that someone in the position of having Virgin money behind them wouldn't cut corners on quality.

I'd love to get my hands on some unlettered Devi pages so I could reletter it my way and post a comparison. That way you could all tell me if I'm full of it or not. :D If anyone knows Richard Branson drop him a line for me. On second thought, maybe not. I don't need the folks at Virgin Comics mad at me...they might sic Devi on me. Then again, she's hot so it might be a good way to go.