Night of the 80's Undead - collected

My current comic series, Night of the 80's Undead, will see it's third and final issue ship in the next couple weeks, but you can also now pre-order the book collection.

The tradepaperback, collecting all 3 issues of the 1980's coke zombie horror comedy action extravaganza, will hit stores in January. So, here's all the info on that!

80's Undead issue 2 - preview art

Here's that recent panel I shared in form from my upcoming comic, Night of the 80's Undead, now all finished by series artist Bill McKay.

He's killing it folks!!!

80's Undead issue 2 - preview art

Okay kids, I've been neglecting my social responsibilities and not sharing enough here and there, so hows about I start sharing some in process art from my upcoming comic, Night of the 80's Undead? Sound good?

 Last year I was sharing production art from issue 1, but we're finally back underway with issue 2, so time to share more!!

 On this book I'm doing everything but the all important drawing part, so the arts are by my friend and pencil maestro deluxe Bill McKay.

 Here's the latest rough for a new page and panel he's working on... as you can see, it's chock full of 80's coke zombies, just like the book ;)

FAN ART: The Walking Dead

After the popularity of my last cast fan art (Game of Thrones) I knew right away the show I'd like to do next, THE WALKING DEAD.

It's so much fun after watching a show you really like, to visualize the cast as you'd draw them, how they'd pose and look, and to put that together. Sure is a lot of work too, but at least there's a few less characters here then on Game of Thrones! ;)

So here are the characters I settled on, based around the first two seasons of the show...

Sophia, Carol, Daryl, Andrea, Shane, Rick, Lori, Carl, T-Dog, Glenn, and Dale

Sure (SPOILER ALERT!) some of them are dead by the end of those seasons, and there are a few newer ones I could have added, but they're the core group as I see it, through that period.

And as much as I like the show, I do have my qualms with it (mainly the wardrobe - generic 80's come K-Mart by way of the prairie, complete with logo-less sportswear... I'm looking at you Glenn!), but so far season 3 is off to an amazing start!

So, hopefully I'll return after this season with a new cast fan art.

JMart on the web: 

New tees on Redbubble!

Added a couple new t-shirt designs to my Redbubble account, "Zom" Selleck / NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD...


and now you too can get your very own JMart tee!!!!


Go on, show your brand loyalty with a bastardized logo, or your support for the comic, the 80’s, zombies, cokeheads, or 80’s celebrities (or zombie cokehead 80’s celebrities)!!!

Night of the 80's Undead limited edition first issue round two

I'll be exhibiting at STUMPTOWN COMICS FEST next weekend, 4/28-4/29, as it's a local show to me (at the Oregon convention center in Portland), and since I sold out of the first limited edition run I did of my upcoming new book, NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD, I've created a new limited edition run.

The new run is limited to only 25 copies, and still features the pencil artwork by artist Bill McKay, and 3 different covers to choose from (with a different logo and trade dress from the first version). A regular cover for $4 (limited to 15 copies), a limited artwork only cover for $10 (limiited to just 5 copies), and a blank sketch cover for hand sketching for $15 (limited to only 5 copies). All books will be hand numbered.

If you can't make it to the show, I'm offering them now in an online presale. (Obviously if a bunch sell online, I'll have to increase the print run, but I doubt that will happen)

Pick them up in the SRG store HERE
Or in my JMart store HERE

Otherwise watch for more info on the con, and the book's official full neon color shop release!

NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD: Cover time 3 - limited edition #1 pre-order info!!

Just like the book - my brand new zombie comic, NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD - this blog update showing the creation of the cover art for the first issue, is told in 3 parts... so today, we get a look at the final installment, the finished art!

Take a peek below to see the cover from initial sketch, to finished pencil line art.

But now, here are the pencils by artist Bill McKay, all colored up by yours truly.

If I had my druthers, I'd have done this in painted style, similar to the Rambo: First Blood poster it's styled after, but alas I don't have the tools or practice at that, so I opted for a bit of a mixed approach. Generally I work in a cell shaded style, to varying degrees, and I incorporated that approach (hard shading against flat color) here initially on the main character, but then mixed in some airbrushing and other stylistic touches for affect. I also used some washes of color, another animation style approach, to give the whole thing varying degrees of unified color or tone (in this case red, to play off the background and ominous horror vibe). The background zombies were done more in painterly style, to an extent though, and then there's lots of computerized gradients etc at work also.

The colors here are at contrast to the approach I'm taking on the interiors, which is basically a modified grayscale with graphic accent colors of a limited 80's inspired palette. And while I also wanted to convey the horror aspect of the book, I kept things fairly bright and utilized those 80's colors throughout on the cover, to communicate that theme as well.

This was allot of fun, but also A LOT of work. Images like this, with multiple characters, and full backgrounds, when not done in a uniform color, are very time consuming. And then also, I generally spend much more time on covers, all around, then just about anything else.

Now, here we have a look at the final art, with the cover graphics added in.

Again, this is the final cover for the first issue, but also, it's being used for a modified version to sell at shows starting next week (while production on the first issue is finalized), a "pencil edition", that includes the entire first issue, but without any colors or inks to modify the artist's original pencil line art (so, it does have full, not finalized, lettering - and will read the same as the final version). I still hope to create some more hand crafted logos for the book, so the title graphics and similarly themed additional graphics may change completely for the official book.

 As far as this limited edition pencil version, you can pick it up as I said, starting next week at Wondercon Anaheim, where I'll be exhibiting in artist alley as usual. And then at subsequent shows, starting with Emerald City Comicon in Seattle at the end of the month. The book will be limited though, so once we have the print run set (at this point roughly 50 copies - so very limited), each will be hand numbered. Additionally, we'll be offering some further limited variations of the pencil edition, with both a pencil art cover variant, and a blank con sketch cover variant (each of which will be about 20% of the overall run - so even more scarcely limited). We may do another run of this addition, if we sell through copies before we have a final version of the book, but if we do, they will vary in some way, with an entirely new hand numbered run. So, this "pencil edition" will be truly unique and limited.

If you can't make it to the shows, we are now offering pre-orders for the book, in all 3 versions, so get your PayPal ready and pick your poison. Pre-sales will be closed next Friday, with the overall print number locked in. At that point, we will offer the book again online after Wondercon, if any copies remain.

PRE-ORDER HERE

For general information on the book itself, it's black and white since it includes only the pencil art, and is 24 interior pages, with 22 of those being the first issue story. Written and lettered by me, with art and cover by Bill McKay.

So, grab a copy and check out the Regan era madness inside... or hold out a bit longer for the standard full color version...

Please stay tuned for more info on the book, and the official release coming soon!

NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD: Cover time 2!

Monday I posted the first stage in the creation of cover art (see previous post) for my new book (with artist Bill McKay), NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD... and then yesterday I got busy and didn't update with the next stage, so here I am today to rectify that. You've got to see where we went from the rough pencils right??

So here you have it, the next step in the creation, Bill's full pencils for the cover!

In talking with him about the idea (a Rambo/First Blood poster homage), I brainstormed on how the background could use the original elements to translate to something related to our book and specifically, would include zombies (without just adding lame grabbing hands and arms in the foreground)... and then I thought that swapping out the fir trees in the original, for a lineup or horde of zombies behind our protaganist could work well. Then Bill went one better and shot me the rough which included our ground zero Hollywood mansion (and landscaping) between the zombies and the billowing smoke. Nice call Bill!

So there you have it, our would be hero, Sarah, in her tattered 80's style (geometric neon jewelry and accessories, Swatch watch, black leggings, etc), toting the massive M-60 heavy machine gun, with 80's styled coke zombies thirsting for more precious blow all around her.

Tomorrow, I'll post my colors for the art! (and details about our limited "pencil edition" of the first issue!!)

NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD: Cover time!

Did you know of my many comic book projects in development, I've been working on a new limited series to graphic novel format concept called NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD? My little story about how at the climax of the cold war, in the mid 1980's, Russia devised a last ditch subversive effort to strike at our capitalist way of life by contaminating the supply of high end Colombian cocaine with a deadly zombie-like virus?? And the story is centered around a group of young teens at a big Hollywood party that happens to be ground zero?!? If you've been following this blog, or any of my other activities, or seen me at shows over the last year, I'm sure you do do do, you da da da, as I've been teasing looks at the production since last year's San Diego Comic-Con (where we had a five page preview/teaser as part of a special flip book - pictured on the side here).

Then last October we had a special full preview of the first issue at ZomBcon (naturally), showcasing the first 14 pages of the book, along with a section showing my scripts and the artists thumbnails for the final 7 pages (along with some other extras). Which we still have a few copies remaining of the limited pressing.

If all of this is news to you, I suggest you click the first link above, or the Night of the 80's Undead tag below to catch up on everything I've posted, but aside from the concept I've outlined here, the other key component to the project is the artist I've teamed up with to bring it to life, Bill McKay. I'm not drawing this book myself, but I have found someone very talented, and well suited to the story to help me with the art chores on the book. And I think you'll agree, he's doing a (to keep things appropriately 80's here) like totally radical job man!!!!

On that note, with con season fast approaching, I wanted to do something special to continue to promote the book, so I'm just finishing the setup of a new limited edition version of the first issue, a special "pencil edition" of the first full book. As I said, Not80'sU is to be a story told in 3 parts, or a limited series if you will, in standard comic book form, and while that first issue is complete on Bill's part, there remains a bit more that I need to do with the coloring and lettering (as I'm managing every other aspect of the book but the pencils), and more again before we'll be ready to officially start releasing it (in this day and age, I'm not sure whether the 3 issues will be offered for full distribution, or just sold on a more direct basis, with full release of the collected book, I'm leaning towards full distribution for both though, we'll see). Which all leads me back to our special pencil edition that's being created to offer at shows, starting next week with Wondercon Anaheim.

The pencil edition, unlike the previous previews, is actually the first full/complete first issue of the book, with the only difference being in comparison to the finished version, is that it is 100% comprised of the amazing original pencil art created by Bill! Since I'm doing colors straight from his pencils, as I often like to skip inks, because I much prefer pencil art, but also because Bill just really does nice detailed pencils (and when you see the book, I think you'll agree).

So, with the show right around the corner, I thought I should drop by here and start showing off some of the book, starting with... the cover!

Over the next couple days, I'll be posting each step in the process of the cover creation, kicking off today, with Bill's roughs from my idea for a new cover (we'd previously toyed with a couple images I'd created focusing on more thematic elements of the concept, the two covers at the start of the post). This new idea, as you can see above, is more story centric, depicting our main character, Sarah, in a detailed action pose. If it looks a bit familiar, it should, as it's an homage to the original Rambo poster (it also somewhat resembles another 80's classic, the image of Ripley from the movie Aliens, bonus!)!

So there you have it, a kick ass girl, 80's style, coke zombies, carnage, and a giant M-60 machine gun. Just a taste of what lurks beneath the cover, all in one 80's action send up! ...well, at least that's what you'll see once we get further along in the cover process...

Tune in tomorrow for a look at Bill's finished pencils for the cover!

And stay tuned for details on the book, and how you can pick it up!!

More and more

So yeah, last week I posted about the upcoming Fanboys VS Zombies comic, and how that was fairly close to a concept I'd been developing myself, and I lamented about missing out to other ideas beating mine to the punch. Since then the marketing of said zombie con concept has gone on, with double page ads in their books, and a full page ad in Previews... sigh. I just noticed something I hadn't before on their cover, that covers another story element of mine... double sigh.

Anyways, BleedingCool.com mentioned the book again earlier this week, but this time they linked to my previous blog post. So at least that's out there.

Not to mention, right after that happened last week, this image started floating around...
"'Falcon Girl' (Tank Girl / Star Wars)" T-Shirts & Hoodies by James Hance | RedBubble:

A Princess Leia mash-up with Tank Girl (and a great design too btw)... rather similar to an idea I had a while back, based on the popularity of my Molotov Cocktease fan art. Like I had done with Cherry Darling, I started dreaming up my own idea based on the character, and came up with this mash-up, to make my own...

Well, now there are other Leia mash-ups. Swell.
Again, likely just a good idea.
But who knows, this guy could've seen mine and thought up his own. His prerogative. After all, that's all I'd done.
Whatever.

Here's a look at a near finished version of of the artwork.

I plan to do more with her, including a likely shirt design.

Con wars! (zombie comic style)

Since I have lots of ideas for comics, concepts, characters, and stories, many get through various stages of development, from ideas, to plots, to production art, and beyond. It's often the case, where some time will go by, and I'll eventually see those ideas show up in other places, be it TV, movies, or comics (and I'm sure it's not an occurrence exclusive to myself). It's always frustrating to see new fun ideas you came up with though, creative gold, being mined by someone else, but I've gotten pretty used to it.

Well, it's happened again, but this time it's especially stinging for a few reasons.

 A couple years ago I had an idea for a zombie story centered around San Diego Comic-Con, that I quickly dubbed CON of the DEAD. Plotting a graphic novel, scripting, and actively looking for an artist to partner with (as, at the time I was still finishing Super Real, and also developing Pulp Girls). For a time there were a couple different artists even potentially attached, and I even promoted the title with flyers at Comic-Con, created a page on the SRG site/blog, and again a bit later with a nice poster at the inaguaral ZomBcon (I even ran an ad for it in the SRG Presents: Wolves of Odin GN). So with the various promotional materials and efforts, the concept has been pretty public - an independent comic company hires a booth babe to portray their bad girl comic character, Vampblade, complete with twin 30" replica blades, at Comic-Con International, when a fanboy zombie outbreak occurs, and the model is forced to fight for survival alongside some other rather unique equipped con-goers.

 Now, it turns out, as reported by BleedingCool.com, Boom! has a comic book coming soon called Fanboys VS Zombies, with the concept being that a group of fanboys band together to fight off a zombie outbreak at Comic-Con International. I'm not frustrated that the concept is so similar, as much as I am that it will likely come out before mine. I don't really think the folks behind this idea stole mine or anything. I mean, it's entirely possible, I've had it out there for the taking, but it's just a cool idea, that I think it was just a matter of time before someone else came up with or executed it. It does make it extra rough to know it's set up as comic book though, and that the cover art is so similar to the poster we created for Con of the Dead...

Their cover art (by Humberto Ramos no less)

Our promo image

Our image, to be precise, is from October 2010, just over one year ago, and was posted to DeviantArt as well as my blog. Notice how both covers feature fanboys and zombies pictured outside the actual San Diego convention hall... Again, I don't really think this is swiped or taken from our work, it's a pretty easy image to create for such a concept, but it is at least annoying to see such similarities.

 However, to further make this a tough one to swallow, the artist that's attached to the project also happens to be a good friend of mine in the industry!

 Sheesh!
 Rub it in fellas!
 LOL

 So yeah, I know this is all on me for not getting my project out there sooner, but unfortunately, it never came together like I wanted (anyone who follows me, knows I've been talking about this for some time). All that said, I by no means am throwing in the towel here, or conceding to this other nefarious doppelganger!! Con of the Dead is, beyond it's fun concept, a cool story and cast of characters, that stands on it's own (and also sounds somewhat different from this new concept), and I look forward to competing in the market with it. (And it should be noted, I'm not exactly a stranger to rolling out a concept that has rival projects breaking similar new ground... Super Real wasn't the first or only mash-up of reality TV and comic book superheroes to hit the racks in the mid/early aughts when it finally saw full release.)

I guess it should also be mentioned, that it certainly won't hurt to be clear up front that I've got a similar concept to this new one, should there be any eyebrows raised in a similar fashion on the other side of this zombie Comic-Con coin.

The lesson here is one I've known for far too long, get stuff out asap before someone else beats you to the punch! For once I just wish this didn't come true.

 More to come!

Not80sU UPDATE quatro

I bring more manic 80's zombie production art from my upcoming NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD comic...

Bill (the fabulous Mr McKay) gets just the right amount of motion and detail jumping off in this partial glimpse of a double page sprawling panel!

Can we outdo ourselves with preview cinco?!?! Stay tuned!!!

Not80sU UPDATE 3

Time for another weekly glimpse at production art from my upcoming NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD zombie comic...

Since we've been peeking at the zombie action lately, I thought I'd show a panel from some down time.

Calm before the storm!

Looks like quite the party! At least there's a fair amount of 80's action going on there...
It's actually a shot of our protagonist, Jen, having not quite a great time (looks like she'd rather be squaring off with hordes of coke-zombies!).

Artwork by Bill McKay.

Not80sU UPDATE 2

Thought I'd show another glimpse at production art for my upcoming NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD zombie comic...

Here's another panel from the first issue's 17th page, with more feral coke zombie action!

"Nose candy!!!!!!!!!"

Artwork by Bill McKay.

Not80sU UPDATE

Just got some new artwork for my in production new book, NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD, so thought I'd share a small peek...

Coke zombies going gonzo for that foo-foo dust!

Artwork on the book is by Bill McKay.

We're nearing completion of pencils for the first issue.

New comic available now!

My latest crazy comic creation, NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD (aka NIGHT OF THE COKEHEADS), is available now in a limited edition full first issue preview!!!

Can you say commie contaminated Colombian cocaine carnage?!?

Check it out now...
The book showcases full story pages, plus script to thumbnail, and character sketch sections (plus a zombie Selleck lookin cover by yours truly)!!

Pick it up HERE

ZOMBCON this weekend - and a new book!

Ahhh yes, it's that special time of year, fall is here and the undead are shambling their way to Seattle for the second annual zombiepalooza know as ZOMbCON!!!

I'll once again be exhibiting, and though it's tough to beat last year's guest list (Romero, Bruce Campbell, Max Brooks, Malcolm McDowell) this year's is pretty good:
Tam Savini
Bill Moseley
Sid Haig
True Blood people
Walking Dead people
tons of zombie movie people

So, if you're in Seattle or the NW, make your way to the killer festivities at the Sea-Tac Hilton this Friday-Sunday (I'll be at booth 101).

I'll have a special preview version of my brand new zombie comic - NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD!

Zombie P.I. cover (featuring my artwork)

NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD

Okay, so back at San Diego I had a bunch of new project announcements, both personal and on the publishing side, that I said I'd go into more detail about. So, since I just got done finalizing some script pages on one the projects, my NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD, I thought I'd go ahead and go into some details about that now...

As you might guess from the title, it's a zombie story. I love zombies, and survival horror, but with a never ending stream of zombie comics I'd resisted writing my own for quite a while. Until I came up with my CON OF THE DEAD graphic novel (which is still in limbo, in need of an artist) a couple years back. However, already having one zombie story in the works, I felt no need to muse on further zombie comic ideas, that is until last year's ZomBcon. Something about debuting (Dan's) Zombie Tramp, taking part in a first ever all zombie convention, and meeting George Romero got my zombie juices flowing. Aside from CotD, and Zombie Tramp, I really wanted to do more zombie comics. So after many months of not actively doing anything about it, inspiration struck again and I started thinking about new zombie concepts.

That's when this image hit me...

The simple stark silhouette of the iPod ads, converted to a zombie with a Walkman... a zombie story with an 80's theme. I didn't have a story, but damn if that image didn't work and perfectly capture and inform what could be a zombie story. One set in the 80's, like so many of the classic films (like one of my all time faves, Return of the Living Dead), but written with the fetishistic hindsight of 80's nostalgia and pop culture reverence that those films couldn't have. The story itself had to be quintessential 80's. And so that's when Night of the 80's Undead really took off.

What if it was a story about Regan era cold war, drugs, celebrities, and of course, zombies? Wouldn't that capture everything?

And what if aside from the 80's celebrities, the story touched on 80's youth, a la John Hughes?
Wouldn't that be even cooler?

So yeah. Walkmans, Swatch watches, coked-out zombies, mall-rats, and 80's icons, all mixing it up in a blast of VHS B-movie carnage. That's Night of the 80's Undead (aka Night of the Coke Heads)!!!

The plan is to include Not80'sU as part of a new zombie anthology, to start being released at this year's ZomBcon. But it may just be released all on it's own to start with, but definitely upon completion as it's own graphic novel. Production is already underway, with a teaser script (similar to a trailer) being completed in time for San Diego Comic-Con (with a limited amount of copies still available HERE), and the first full part already underway.

For this project I'm scripting, but working with another artist. Someone I'd considered for CotD, but knew instantly fit perfectly here... Bill McKay. Bill has been working quite a bit recently with 5finity on their Zombies VS Cheerleaders comics, and brings a great indie toonish horror vibe to his stuff, that's big on detail and great at illustrating offbeat zombies. With his attention to detail, and style to an extent, also great at conveying real world stories, like zombie comics, where things are all very rooted in reality. No, it's not photo-realistic by any stretch, it's very stylized, but still very much grounded in reality.

Take a look at some of his work, I'm lucky to have him!

And while Bill does great inks, at this point I'm leaning towards leaving the line work at his ultra-detailed pencil stage, and coloring straight from that. As, besides being a big time pencil honk (inks? bah!), I think the gritty linework serves the zombie story well...

I intend to color the artwork myself, and am considering a couple different options. Either using a limited neon color palette (in keeping with the 80's), or a subdued tonal wash style... We'll see!

Night of the 80's Undead will be a crazy fun time, and I can't wait to get you more of it as soon as possible!

Stay tuned for more coke-fueled, Aqua-Net soaked undead previews and info!

San Diego Comic-Con

I'll once again be exhibiting at San Diego Comic-Con International, setting up to exhibit Super Real Graphics, as well as my art, along with Zombie Tramp creator Dan Mendoza.

The show runs from Wednesday preview night, til Sunday, and you can find us in the small press area at L-02.

This will be the debut of the Zombie Tramp graphic novel in San Diego, so we'll have a brand new limited edition print for those who pick up the book.

Plus we'll be debuting a new zombie preview flip book, a limited edition run of 100 copies featuring preview pages from Zombie Tramp volume 2 (by Dan) on one side, and a preview of a new project of mine on the other, NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD.

Night of the 80's Undead is a new comic created and written by me, and featuring epic zombie artwork from Bill McKay (Zombies VS Cheerleaders). What's the book about? Grab a copy of the preview book to find out!
For those who can't make it to the show, you can pick up a copy from me directly via PayPal for $7 with shipping in the US:
12 pages
color and black and white
complete story intros from both books

SOLD OUT

Plus I may have another top secret preview for another project of mine...

However, on the art side, I'll have some new prints...

And a brand new 2011 JMart sketchbook:

28 full color pages
featuring fan art, t-shirt designs, and comic book pinups and commissions from the past year
hand made for $10 each
- or $12 online with domestic shipping:

SOLD OUT

Let the madness begin!