Chippin' away...

Chippin' away at this mound of work that's managed to pile up due to illness, distraction and everything inconveniently coming in at the same time. (I swear, there is almost no point in the concept of a schedule in comics production)

Pistolfist #2 is done and off for proofing.

New project....

A new writing project just starting to get off the ground for me. Not much I want to let out at this point as far as concept story, etc apart from saying it is sci-fi adventure. The images here (click to enlarge as always) are by Hannu Lipponen, the artist with whom I'm developing the book.

On the left is our lead, an adventurer rogue who travels the spaceways with his crew....which consists of his four wives.

Below on the left are the designs for some primative jungle dwelling aliens that are part fo the opening scene.

Below on the right is an artifact our boy is after.

Lost Squad movie!

Big congrats to my pal Chris Kirby on the movie deal for LOST SQUAD! It was just announced today. The book is great and I've had a blast lettering it, issue #6 is due out soon but if you can't find the back-issues
(assuming you weren't smart enough to be buying it all along) there is a trade paperback collection coming soon. Go bug your comic shop to mnake sure they order you one.


More on LOST SQUAD here.

TV (A looong post about nothin')

PRISON BREAK is back on!!! New season has started!! Now no one tell me anything about the first episode cuz I had to record it instead of watch! :( This was one of the best shows on tv last year and I hope this season lives up to that. If you haven't seen season 1, go buy the DVD or rent it or buy it or something. It's good! (At right: Michael Scofield, played by Wentworth Miller, displays the tattoos that guides his attempt to break himself and his brother out of the joint. Hidden in the imagery are words and diagrams that form his plan.)


A few months back when we were finally able to switch over to cable internet (it only recenty became available in my neighborhood) it included an overall upgrade to our tv cable as well. Package deal, pay less get more. So, part of that was a bunch of new channels...including BBC America. YES! Some great shows on that channel; cool British comedies, a cool new supernatural show called HEX (which I recently learned was canceled so we only get one more set of episodes here in the states before it gone).... Anyway..... New show LIFE ON MARS...rocks. It only started a month ago or so, the ads looked interesting but there are already too many tv shows I try to keep track of so I had been avoiding it for fear of getting sucked in. Then it happened, in a moment of weakness I stopped on the show while channel surfing and after about 5 minutes I went searching through the listings to find when the repeats would be on. This weekend they had a mini marathon showing all the eps up to date. I stayed up late Saturday watching it and it's now up there with Prison Break. Battlestar Galactica, Deadwood and others as shows I won't miss if I can help it. Show description:

Sam Tyler, a cool, sharp young detective, is working hard to keep the streets of 21st century Manchester safe from crime. But his world is turned upside down when the hunt for a serial killer becomes a personal vendetta after Maya, his girlfriend and colleague, goes missing. Desperately afraid she has been kidnapped by the killer, he sets out to find her, only to become involved in a near-fatal car accident. When he wakes, he finds himself in a different era - 1973. Is this reality, madness or a dream?

Sam struggles to understand what is happening to him. Disoriented and traumatized, 21st century Sam is completely bewildered by his new environment. As all attempts to return to his own time fail, Sam falls back on what he knows best - his job. Each episode features a different case, some of the toughest Sam has ever tried to solve - partly because of what seems like archaic police procedure. This is a world without cell phones, where cops rely on paperwork and memory instead of computers, there's no DNA profiling and what forensics do exist take two weeks to process.

Furthermore, his 1973 colleagues are insensitive, unreconstructed cops who regularly intimidate witnesses and are happy to nail suspects irrespective of whether they have evidence. Sam's new boss is hard-nosed Gene Hunt, the antithesis of everything Sam believes in. He gets results by trusting his gut instinct and, all too often, sheer brute force. Most of his team have similar attitudes towards their work including detective Ray Carling who is suspicious of Sam and his 'new-fangled' ideas. At least detective Chris Skelton, despite being clueless, is more affable and keen to learn.

The only person in this alien world who reaches out to Sam is a young police officer, Annie Cartwright, an educated and open-minded woman who helps Sam in his quest to find the truth about his new circumstances, as well as battling to lock up the criminals of 1970s Manchester.

In the first episode, it becomes clear to Sam that the killer who is holding Maya in 2006 started his killing spree here and now in the early '70s. Could catching the perpetrator be Sam's key to returning to the future?

One last quick note about tv stuff before I get back to work. Not that anyone who's watching it needs to be reminded, but DEADWOOD kicks all kinds of ass! Last night was the last episode before the season finale and hot damn is there a storm brewin'!! The only thing I don't like about this show is the harsh language...and I mean HARSH. Now, I'm no wilting flower and my own mouth could be washed out with soap on a daily basis... BUT these monkey-farmers drop F-Bombs and worse in damn near every line. As well written as the show's dialogue is, with it flowery text and brutal delivery, sometimes the insertions of foul language is distraction in it's seeming giddy desire to shock and awe. Granted I have no idea how much swearing they did in the 1870's, it may well be accurate but it's no less distracting from time to time. In the end the main reason I wish the speechifying of these phenomenal characters by these wonderful actors were a bit less salty is that there are many people I know would love this show who I won't recommend it because I know the verbal violence would turn their hair white. I want to share this show with everyone I know but I can't. But, hey, if that doesn't offend you...WATCH THIS SHOW. It's one of those that I always wish was two hours long and makes me wish I worked in an office so I could join in on the Deadwood watercooler talk.

Wow...three weeks!

Three weeks with no posts. That's terrible. How will I ever get any traffic if I don't keep people updated on my thrilling adventures in frustration, tedium and borderline depression (otherwise known as working as a letterer of comics while trying to break out as a writer of comics)?? Basically between being sick and busy with outside concerns I'm further and further behind. Hope to have that semi-in-hand before the weekend is up.

Had a birthday last week, little family get together last Saturday. It was fun. Good food...lemon cake with lemon frosting as requested for desert. Haven't had that since I was a kid! :D The family chipped in and got me a few things...including A WIRELESS MIGHTY MOUSE! Since switching to Mac I've had to deal with a one-button mouse. There are some multi-button mouses....mice?...out there for Macs but I didn't like the look of them. Most of them weren't bluetooth for one thing and I'd have to have one of those radio reciever things sticking out the back of my machine and I only have som many USB ports, ya know. I was getting close to caving in and getting one when I get an email from Apple telling me the Mighty Mouse, their multi-button scroll ball mouse, is FINALLY available in wireless!! Knowing there was almost no time before my birthday I skipped the usual hint dropping and handed a computer printout to my sister...."That's what I really want for my birthday." And YAY, I got it!

Really quite a nice change. Some people have told me they have problems with their regualr Mighty Mouse. Glitchy performance, constantly needing to get it replaced, etc. But so far all is well with my wireless version.

Okay, I gotta go get caught up. Pierce #2 for Imperium is calling my name. As is Pistolfist #2 for Alias...and I heard a rumor that I'll be getting pages for Lost Squad #6 this weekend too!

Keeping busy and feeling like CRAP

Just taking a few minutes to post some stuff. A couple quick ads I whipped for the next issue of Digital Webbing Presents. Hmmmm....maybe not so much "ads" as I give no links or have anything immediately ready to sell with these ads. They're more of a "get people wondering" kinda thing. Plus spending a couple bucks on ads is a couple bucks that doesn't have to come out of Ed's pocket to put out the book....every little bit counts and all that.

Been a little under the weather, running errands and going to doctor visits and a bunch of other junk I'd rather NOT be doing and it's put me behind schedule. I think this is the first time since I started lettering for other people that I'VE been the one behind schedule!

(I know, JD, I haven't forgotten. I'm trying, really.)

On that note, I believe I'll bugger off and try to get some work done...if my head will stop pounding and my stomach stop doing flip-flops....before people start calling for me head on a plate.

Later.

(I sure hope people are able to find me after I had to change the URL of the blog!)