I WATCH ANIME: cool anime stuffs!

I haven't watched anime in forever... half way through Gurren Lagann, from like a year or two ago... but haven't seen too much new stuff that's enticing. Here's some enticing anime and related stuffs though (pulled from the AICN anime column)!

Hey look it's Gurren Lagann... The Movie: The Lights in the Sky are Stars - Second compilation



Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (Gainax) - This looks like an insane mash-up of Genndy Tartakovsky, Junko Mizuno, and Jhonen Vasquez!!!



RoboGeisha - Finally gets a domestic release on Blu/DVD in November



Lion Force Voltron USB flash drive anyone?

ARTWORK: Ambush Ladybug commission

I recently had the good fortune to pass the 100,000 view mark on my DeviantArt gallery page, and as is customary, I shared the love by offering a free commission to the lucky (unlucky?!?) person that captured the 100K screen (or closest to it).

The person who captured it (and on the money) requested artwork by me of the DC Comics character, Ambush Bug, a cult favorite who launched a tongue-in-cheek mini series in the early/mid 80's (with a few follow ups over the years)...
However, they also requested that I draw the character as a girl (but otherwise unchanged). So, I thought it'd be fun to do a new female version of the first book's cover, and here you go...

Machete fan art finished

Here's the finished Machete fan art!

Machete fan art

Here's a MACHETE fan art I'm working on... of Michelle Rodriguez's character, She!



More to come!

Recent sketch cards

Having finished prepping Zombie Tramp for publication, it's back to the drawing board, and the various spinning plates that had all but fallen and broken...

These cards were some quick ones donated to the March of Dimes charity auctions Steve Frank (of 5finity) is hosting on eBay starting this Saturday!


And these were a couple of commissioned artist exclusive blanks from the recent Pulp Girls card set of mine (via 5finity)


And here's a couple more...


I still have Pulp Girls AE blanks available, please email me for info!

Meanwhile at the Movies... Machete Kills!

So yeah, went to see Machete Friday afternoon at the new Living Room Theater downtown (Portland)... which is part of a new chain I guess (though it looks like there's just one in Portland and one in Florida) - cool smaller theater with six screens that show mostly indie movies, and the theaters have big recliner seats and food/drink service, with swanky style food, and alcohol, for the price of regular theater concessions... which seemed the perfect way to view Machete, with cerveza in hand!


So the movie?
Well, anyone who was a fan of RR and QT's Grindhouse were a shoe-in to rush to Machete, with it's fake trailer being one of the highlights of that glorious cinematic effort. And not just because the idea of Danny Trejo as a Mexi-CAN out to settle a score via no-holds-barred violence is a slam dunk, but also, to see just how Rodriguez builds a movie around something originally crafted as a two minute highlight reel, with awesome cast (plus mondo additions) in tow.


And well, if nothing else, the frenetic opening prologue scene to the film, is a glorious note perfect accomplishment. From there though, things quickly settle into a much more measured and expansive direction. Therefore, the opening is a bit of a tease, giving us the visceral pace that never let up in Planet Terror, along with the faux grindhouse projection, only to diminish that flavor, once the opening title hits. Leaving us with a more pure representation of the genre, and not the everything all at once thrill ride send-up we perhaps expected. All the gore-tastic fight sequences are there, all the cool characters, the bug nuts casting, the raunchy flourishes, the demented cool of unhinged storytelling where nothing is sacred or out of bounds (shooting pregnant women, swinging from intestines, nailing Cheech Marin to a cross)... it's just not strung together faster than you can comprehend here... it's unspooled instead of unleashed.


So, in terms of comparing Machete to it’s Grindhouse/Planet Terror roots, they are quite different, and Machete does not live up to that standard. All that being said, it does come quite close. Mostly where it falters, besides the pacing issues the film has outside the fast start, and a rather furious finish, is it starts to feel a bit too pastiche. As if Rodriguez and his co-writer cousin, are literally connecting the dots between the beats of the original trailer. And whereas in Planet Terror the expansive cast wove in and out of the story with ease, here it feels like there’s too much setup work into weaving each of the very many characters into Machete. It all feels a bit forced... but then Trejo gets cornered, shit blows up, bullets fly, and ass gets thoroughly, creatively kicked! So who fucking cares?!? That's all we really wanna see right? Because, the more I write this review, the more I realize how much I liked this fucking movie!


Sure some of the stunt casting isn’t maximized, and could be dialed up a bit more (Deniro plays it pretty cartoonish... so push him to go more that direction - Seagal is bloated, we know this, have fun with it!), but Jeff Fahey still rocks hard, and Danny Trejo assaults goons with a weed whacker (and hedge shears, and while eating a breakfast burrito)!!!
And sure the ending kind of fizzles and doesn’t surpass the start, but there’s a Gatling gun on a Harley, Michelle Rodriguez in a matching leather bikini and eye patch, and Steven Seagal committing seppuku…
So ya know, you can only put so much syrup on your flapjacks, but I like A LOT on mine... so I would've liked more than a few seconds of Trejo mowing down border vigilantes with a Gatling... I wish "She" didn't wait til the last scene to show up... I want more Lindsay Lohan in a nuns habit licking a revolver!!!!
Is that so wrong?!?
Machete’s not perfect, it’s not even that close, but it is a damn good bad-ass piece of cinema, with plenty of blade to spare! And had we not already had Planet Terror, or had the climax been as sublime as the opening, I'd probably appreciate the film as a whole, a whole lot more.
It definitely goes on my short list of favorites though, but you know, I like my shit big, loud, and crazy... so let's get a reshoot for the climax here (or edit down about 20 minutes), and set this one off right! :D

RECOMMENDED
I can't wait for MACHETE KILLS, and MACHETE KILLS AGAIN (or maybe SHE KILLS??), but come on RR?!? You know you should have given us a damn preview for the sequel!!!! Sacrilege!!!

Cool videos

Some amazing recent music videos...

MIA - Born Free
Ginger's beware...


LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls
Insanity on film...


How To Destroy Angels - The Space in Between
Otherwise known as Mr and Mrs Trent Reznor...


I also recently discovered/explored some of the expanded music video channels on our cable... I was pleased to realize that MTVU is a fairly decent facsimile of the early days of the network (IE mostly cool tunes with hardly any commercials).

So while these videos aren't as cool to watch, here's some of my fave new sounds...

Dominique Young Unique - Show My Ass
Stoopid beats, and fresh rhymes...


The London Souls - The Sound
More then a little Kravitz, and more than a little heavy groove...


...then there's Die Antwoord, a category all to themselves...

Die Antwoord - I'm A Ninja
It's like if the Morlocks formed a b-boy crew...

PULP GIRLS sketch cards

A couple notes for those still looking to get some of the super sweet Pulp Girls sketch cards (from the recent 5finity Jam series)...

1) I have exactly 10 unopened packs left, and have posted them on eBay HERE



2)And while I didn't get any return "artist exclusive" cards on the set, as all 50 cards I did went into the 600 pack circulation, I do have a limited number of blank AE cards available. You can get custom cards with any Pulp Girl character from me for either $20ea for full color bust, or $25ea for full color 2/3rd body shot (or a bit more for more involved cards).
Just email me - jasinmartin@hotmail.com



(Or, if you're looking to score cards from some of the dozens of other cool artists on the set, hop over to the DeviantArt Pulp Girls page and you can link to their respective pages)

Full info on the sketch cards and the hub for Pulp Girls goodness is of course available at PulpGirls.com!

Publising a new book, Zombie Tramp!

I'm happy to report that Super Real Graphics will be offering a brand new volume from the Super Real Graphics Presents series of original graphic novels this October, with my buddy Dan Mendoza's Zombie Tramp!

The book will be offered to comic book shops by Diamond Comic Distributors via their August Previews catalog, and is listed in the comics and graphic novels section on page 314 (just look for our half page zombie ad next to Mark Millar's CLiNT magazine!).

The book contains the entire 3 issue series that we've sold to much success at conventions over the last year. There's also a really cool newly painted cover by Lee Moyer (of IDW's Starstruck - whom I met at the Things From Another World FCBD event earlier this year).

112 pages
Full (4) color
9x6 perfectbound
$11.99
DIAMOND ORDER CODE: AUG10 1130
ISBN-978-0-9802498-3-5

Dan's a big grindhouse/horror/zombie fan, and ZT is his comic inspired by that lethal combo...
Like all his stuff it's gory and/or dangerous, yet sexy and/or cute -- with zombie action, zombie outfits, zombie convicts, voodoo queens, and LAPD lowlifes!



Orderyourcopynowplease!

SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON 2010

For the longest time it looked like my streak of exhibiting at Comic-Con, since 2003, would come to an end this year... however, after pestering the exhibits folks with the show for months, they finally caved and got me a spot off the waiting list. So, I'm excited to say I'll be back in the small press area this year, in space L7, and on the ground floor of the massive event, offering my comic wares to the 125,000 attendees.

Again, like last year, I'll have my friend, collaborator, and now official SRG creator, Dan Mendoza, sitting in with me, along with our wives (we ponied up and paid the new premium fees for extra badges). Dan and I will be promoting the publishing of his subversively fun zombie comic, Zombie Tramp, under the Super Real Graphics and the Super Real Graphics Presents original graphic novel line, via Diamond and comic book retailers this October. We've been selling Zombie Tramp comics for the last year to much success, so we're making the efforts there more official.. more details on that to come!

I'm taking advantage of the massive SDCC spotlight to also launch my long anticipated digital comics publishing effort, Super Real Digital, which will bring the entire SRG catalog to availability online, eventually in all popular formats, in addition to many new incredible works joining the line... more to come on that very soon!

With another big focus of the show being on the long teased comic book project follow up to Super Real, Pulp Girls (Pulp Girls of course being my collection of concepts inspired by subversive genre and pulp heroes, all with a female centric twist).

While the Pulp Girls project is is still in pre-production, I can't help but share some of the exciting work that's being created. So I created two special limited edition 16 page comics just for the show, featuring two different Pulp Girls concepts; Swiss Army Woman, and Vampblade!

These new books will be limited to only 100 copies each and sell for $5. Both contain one full story:

Swiss Army Woman

By myself and new artist to the project Chris Mullins (SKAD student), along with a never before published Swiss Army Woman sketchbook section!







Vampblade

By myself and Justin Wayne (Nosferatu OGN Viper Comics), with the first full Vampblade story and several pages from the next part, all showcasing Justin's amazing inked and toned linework (and only offered in this version)!





If you can't make it to the show, I have both books available, until the show opens, in the Pulp Girls store.


I'll also have the last of the 2009 Pulp Girls books, my 2009 sketchbook, as well as my new 2010 sketchbook (available now for $10 with US/domestic shipping included, PayPal or email jasinmartin@hotmail.com), fan art, sketches, sketch cards, the Super Real Graphic novels (with limited sketch plates), SR Distro books, and peeks at upcoming efforts!

I can't wait to see all the fans and familiar faces that the show brings, and get to meet friends and collaborators in person for the first time, and make new ones. SDCC is always my favorite event of the year, bar none!

Hope to see you at the show!

Stay tuned for more updates!

Jason

PULP GIRLS sketch cards out now!

From PulpGirls.com:


The Pulp Girls sketch card set (one half of the 5finity Jam series, also featuring Jim Mahfood's mix tape) was released this week, but pre sold out completely by 5finity.

We did have a limited amount of "packs" available for pre sale here, and now only have 18 of those remaining up for grabs, which will be placed on eBay shortly (or email jason@superrealgraphics).

Here's a look at the final packaging artwork - some of our titular girls in action - created by myself and Ralph Neise:



Obviously an homage to Herb Trimpe's classic GI Joe issue number 1 cover art, for the original Marvel Comics series (a personal favorite book)!

Here also is the final artist list:

Ben Glendenning
Boo
Bryan Turner
Charles Holbert
Chris Mullins
Christian Sanhueza
Dan Mendoza
Daniel Logan
David Dwonch
David Harrigan
Dennis Budd
Deruykc Vincent
Edward Pun
Emily Martin
Frank Rapoza
Frankie B Washington
Greorge Webber
Grant Gould
Jason Martin
Javier Hernandez
Jeremy Treece
Jerry Carr
Jerry Gaylord
John Williams
Jose Jaro
Josh Howard
Justin Ridge
Justin Wayne
Lance Sawyer
Nicole Goff
Otis Frampton
Pennie Gaylord
Pete McDonough
Randy Kintz
Rashad Doucet
Remy Mokhtar
Ross Burt
Yassir Rasan

It was a lot of fun setting up this set with 5finity, and there were some truly amazing artists involved, and cards created.

You can view card samples in the Pulp Girls DeviantArt.com gallery HERE

A huge thanks to all the artists who worked on the set!

More Pulp Girls news to come very shortly!

Jason

ARTWORK: The Pro return cards

So here's my two "artist exclusive" return cards for THE PRO 5finity sketch card set...

It's a two card set forming one image, featuring The Pro with super powered doogooders, The League of Honor (from The Pro comic book by Ennis, Conner, and Palmiotti)!

Cards are currently up for grabs on eBay...
er, never mind, they sold :)

ARTWORK: The Pro sketch cards

I believe the set released from 5finity this week, but I did some cards for THE PRO, based on the Garth Ennis Amanda Conner superpowerd prostitute comic book...

They were fun!
Here's my bow-legged, suit-stained preview card
I'll have two return/artist exclusive cards available shortly... email if you're interested.

Mutant Girl Squad vs Norwegian Ninjas!

From the latest TWITCH rundown on AICN

Each month Twitch.com gives a rundown of not-to-be-missed upcoming international genre movies that are hard to come by in the states...

This installment was very well stocked (so be sure and check the full listing), here are some of the more amazing looking films:

Mutant Girl Squad - from the directors of Tokyo Gore Police, Machine Girl, and Versus!
Splatter:

Mainstream:


And another Japanese must see is ALIEN VS NINJA (or AVN)...
which is just what it sounds like!


LA PANTERA NEGRA (The Black Panther) - No, it's not another Marvel comic book movie, but a Mexican noir featuring cryogenically frozen mariachi, cat suited femes, and the occasionaly UFO...


Next up is an amazing global anime we caught a glimpse of last time, REDLINE... here's another glimpse...


Now how bout a NORWEGIAN NINJA chaser?

PULP GIRLS sketch card pre sales

Okay folks, with the release of the 5FINITY JAM sketch card series (featuring my PULP GIRLS concept) just over a month away, we are now able to start taking pre orders for the card packs!

The way it works with 5finity, is that a card pack is equal to one original artist sketch card randomly inserted, from the artist list working on the set, per "pack". The packs themselves retail for $24.95 msrp (again with each pack being a single sketch card), and I have a limited amount to offer from the already limited set run of 600, at the special price of $20 each.

Packs also include the following extras (for the 5finity Jam 1200 card series, of which Pulp Girls is one half):

75 rare artist sketch cards (1:16 packs)
75 hot packs with 2-3 sketch cards (1:16 packs)
20 prismatic holofoil sketch cards (1:60 packs)
20 commission request redemption cards (1:60 packs)
4 ruby embedded sketch cards (1:300 packs)

Plus unannounced inserts and surprises!

Odds of receiving a special pack are approximately 1 in 6!!

The release date for the card set is 7/15

PayPal $20 for each pack to my PayPal id: jasinmartin@hotmail.com
Plus shipping - either $3 for single packs, or $5.50 for 2 or more packs.

Packs will ship upon release in mid July.

Here's the artist lineup for Pulp Girls (subject to change):

Aluisio Cervelle Santos
Ben Glendenning
Boo
Bryan Turner
Charles Holbert
Chris Mullins
Christian Sanhueza
Dan Mendoza
Daniel Campos
Daniel Logan
David Dwonch
David Harrigan
Dennis Budd
Deruykc Vincent
Edward Pun
Emily Martin
Frank Rapoza
Frankie B Washington
Greorge Webber
Grant Gould
Jason Martin
Javier Hernandez
Jeremy Treece
Jerry Carr
Jerry Gaylord
John Williams
Jose Jaro
Josh Howard
Justin Ridge
Justin Wayne
Lance Sawyer
Nicole Goff
Otis Frampton
Pennie Gaylord
Pete McDonough
Ralp Niese
Randy Kintz
Rashad Doucet
Remy Mokhtar
Ross Burt
Yassir Rasan

There is some AMAZING talent here, and many many many new artists doing their first ever sketch cards, along with some big name sketch card artists doing their first work for 5finity! It's very exciting.

I'll be doing 50 cards for the set myself.

For those who aren't familiar, sketch cards are 2.5 by 3.5 inch trading cards with handmade original artwork, that are completely unique, one of a kind, and highly collectible. An affordable way to collect original artwork, from a wide variety of artists, from a variety of backgrounds (comics, animation, video games, freelance, etc).

I couldn't be more proud of the sketch card set that we've put together with 5finity for Pulp Girls!

Stay tuned, soon I'll be able to show off the amazing packaging artwork we've got planned, as well as share more glimpses at the cards and the set!

Thanks,
Jason

PayPal purchase links:

5finity Pulp Girls sketch card pre sale single pack

SOLD OUT

5finity Pulp Girls sketch card pre sale multi pack

SOLD OUT

R.I.P. MAN

Re-bitty-bitty-spect!

PHOENIX COMICON this weekend!

I'll be at the Phoenix Comicon this Memorial Day weekend, Friday, May 28 - Sunday, May 30, and it will be my first time at the show (I've heard good things). I'll be in artist alley at table T79 with my good buddy Javier Hernandez.

I'll also be debuting my new 2010 sketchbooks at the show, and this year's theme is ladies only ...



The new books are 32 pages of line art, and sketches from the past year... all featuring the genre ladies we know and love (no dudes allowed), in stunning black and white!?!

The books are limited to 100 copies, come with a head sketch, and are $10 each plus shipping ($3 1st class, or $5 priority for US, and $6 for air or $14 for priority international) PayPal id - jasinmartin@hotmail.com... just email me with any questions (I'll set them up in my store after the show)!

I'll also have the Super Real GN's, the almost sold out Pulp Girls con books, SR Distro books (Zombie Tramp, Betsy Mae Bite, Boo sketchbooks, and Wulf & Batsy!), prints (including my new Lost fan art), sketch cards, art, and more!

ARTWORK: P'ups sketch cards

The latest sketch card set I worked on released this week, 5finity's P'UPS: Pin-ups & Puppies (featuring Dean Yeagle's Mandy and Skoots). Just like the title says, the cards were each to feature a girl and a puppie from a list of different breeds, so each artist only got to do one of each breed (for as many cards as they signed up for, from a list of 50 breeds).

I have four "artist exclusive" return cards to offer from this set, here's a look at them:





That's a German Shepherd, Shih Tzu, Chihuahua (of course), and Mandy and Skoots!

Cards are listed on eBay!

ARTWORK: Lost commission

The penultimate episode of Lost is tonight... and this week I'm working on finishing a huge lost commission, just in time for the big finale!

It's a group shot of the main cast, and I've been tackling the cast members individually (to put together in one large shot). Here are the first few, all the main heavy hitters...









Can't wait to see how the show wraps, regardless of HOW it wraps... I know last week's Jacob/MIB origin ep had many haters, but I'll roll with whatever they give us, I have every confidence in the producers.

MOVIES: Machete Grindhouse trailer is real!!!

Rodriguez presents; Trejo, Cheech, Fahey, DeNiro, Alba, Rodriguez, Lohan, Johnson, Segal... Machete.

It's real, and it's coming this September!!!!
Hells yeah!

Here's the Arizona special trailer courtesy of AICN

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SUPER REAL NOTES: Graphic Novel recommended by ComicsBulletin

The Super Real graphic novel was just reviewed by another comics site, this time ComicsBulletin.com

And it's another rave review:

"Super Real seems to be breaking at the seams with the excitement that Martin puts into his work. There's a ridiculous amount of personality in every line of his manga-influenced artwork and in the way he presents his characters and stories.

This was a really wonderfully fun comic with nice art and a very shocking ending. I really enjoyed it."

And in response to the overall story, and new final act:

"I kind of dropped the book, shocked, when finishing it. I love the feeling that you never quite know what will happen, and Martin definitely delivers that."

Check out the full review HERE
and get all the info you need on the book at it's site

ARTWORK: sketch cards on eBay

I put a small batch of sketch cards on eBay last week, the first of which go off tomorrow night (Wednesday)... in 24 hours!

First up we have my second and final "artist exclusive" card from the Dead@17 5finity sketch card set, currently up for grabs...

HERE

Then we have two custom Venture Bros cards...

HERE


HERE

Plus there are three custom cards of Marvel Women up for grabs!
Spider-Woman
Ms Marvel
Storm
Get those bids in!

Spring con wrap up!

Just finished 3 cons in about 5 weeks!

First up was Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, which was another banner show, with the con improving yet again, at about 15k attendance, and my sales from 2 days being a near best ever. I keep telling everyone I know, again and again... do this con! Don't travel to Charlotte, or Chicago, or anywhere else, if you don't have this show on your list already, go there... it's that good.
Great show, great (spending) crowd, great location. 'Nuff said!

One of the best things about this show, was I got to meet an artist friend from DeviantArt, that I've been working on a little top secret something with... Yassir Rasan (aka seeso2d).
Yassir's an amazing artist, and as it turns out, very very nice guy. He's only been in the US and Seattle for just under a year (he's from Iraq), and this was his first ever comic convention (I think he was overwhelmed, naturally)!


Next up was Wondercon in San Francisco. I really like this show, and it's growing, and great, but, it's run by Comic-con International, just like San Diego, and that means big crowds for sure, but tons of mainstream attendees, not necessarily buying comics etc... but damn sure looking at big booths and panels.
It's a great location and a good show though, and I have many friends at it, plus the amazing Isotope comic lounge is nearby and hosts great con parties, and this year was no different. I just wish the sales were a bit better here, especially for as large as the show is (I think they do like 25 to 30k).



I had a great time with my friend Jack Stepp (creator of the self pubbed comic, The Elysian) who I'd met at local shows and known for years, and his neighbor, Jeff (the living embodiment of "the Dude") Prechtel (historical\fine artist), who I met en route to the show, road tripping from Portland and Eugene down 1-5 south...
We even stumbled into an epic roadside diner on the way home, north of Sacramento, Bill and Cathy's diner... like a time capsule from the early 70's, massive, and serving high quality breakfast (I recommend the chicken fried steak... it's fresh made)!


Then we get to Wizard Anaheim... the brand new show in the LA area from Wizard, part of their new pop culture con relaunch...
sigh.

I knew it was going to most likely be a scary proposition (the Wizard LA con was a downward spiral, and Reed's (promoters of the fabo NYCC) C2E2 was the same weekend), but being that C2E2 was sold out, and I had friends around LA (that I could crash and hang with), I went ahead and tried my luck.


As with most shows, the Friday and Sunday were down attendance wise, but Saturday was pretty busy. That said, sales were terrible, and the "crowds" that were there, were most likely there for the new freak show aspect of Wizard.
Now sure, they promote it as a big pop culture event, like a travelling Comic Con San Diego, accept, you know, without the ability to put on a similar type show. Instead you're left with literally half the floor of the con as an autograph area with such celebs as Kato Kalin, Peter Brady, and various wrestlers. Then the remainder of the floor is vendors that range from hooka pipes, to custom leather jackets, with some petrified bats here, and a smattering of comics there. No, really.
Oh, and of course, the large stage for hoochie mamas dressed in Star Wars/geek gear, performing routines live, for good wholesome family entertainment!

I'd guess the attendance to be around 7 to 10k (I'm sure, like always, Wizard will inflate the number with multi day sales and such to make it look much better, it's not), and the crowd, like with San Diego and Wondercon SF, mostly mainstream folks not buying comic stuff, but checking out the whole comic con thing, and even more so in this case.

My friends and I took to calling the new Wizard shows a traveling train wreck, or cluster f*#k across America.
So, if they're close to your town or region, consider them, but whatever you do, don't go out of your way to plan to attend or exhibit one!
Your mileage may vary of course, but I suspect not much.

But I did get to see Lavar Burton in the bathroom (now added to my celeb con bathroom encounter list with Adam West) and sell a print to Julie Numar(Catwoman)'s driver!


Thankfully Dan Mendoza, friend, collaborator, and current Zombie Tramp creator, and my good friend Javier Hernandez (and respectively family's/s-o's) made it a welcome stay and treated me to many a local attraction (Chronic Tacos, Amazing Comics, Geeks Comics, etc), or entertainment (Faster Pussycat Kill Kill, bootleg tv series, imported Japanese art books, etc) otherwise this would have been one epic fail! It was fun hangin with cool comic friends for a few days.
But, there's always many other benefits of cons, and I've already got a few new contacts and such in play too.
I gave it a shot, so no surprise there... Wizard is Wizard.



So to summarize...
ECCC = awesome!
Wondercon = good
Wizard Anaheim = WTF?!?

The next con for me is Phoenix Comicon, on Memorial day weekend, which is a new con for me, but I've heard great things! So I've got a few weeks to recharge, get my 2010 sketchbook set, and a cool new Lost fan art ready, among other things... to start it all up again this summer!!

(To see pics of some more con sketches from the shows just click the con label below or check out my DeviantArt gallery)

Wizard Anaheim con this weekend!

I'm heading further south into Cali tomorrow, for another show (after just traveling to the bay area for Wondercon), all the way to So-Cal this time!! Yeah, sun, smog, and plastic surgery abounds!

It's time for the all new Wizard Anaheim con, Friday through Sunday... somewhere near the mouse house I presume.

I'll be hanging in artist alley (space 1019) all weekend with my man, and Zombie Tramp creator, Dan Mendoza!

We'll have the Super Real graphic novel (with limited edition sketch plates), the last of the Pulp Girls 09 con books, and much much more!

After the show, my electric jetpack won't be recharged til Monday night, so it's off for a day of LA hangin' with my bud The Jav-Man!

See ya there!

P'ups sketch cards

Just finished working on a new sketch card set for 5finity, P'ups (Pinups and Puppies with Mandy and Skoots)...

The set was a lot of fun and will be out 5/15!

Here's a preview of one of my cards (featuring Dean Yeagle's Mandy)

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: the comics equivalent to the jetpack is here

Hey kids, the future of comics is now.
Print is dead.
Resistance IS futile.
I'm not fucking around.

Not only is the iPad one giant step for the digital transition of print media (i.e. landing on the moon (which happened by the way), and making, I suppose, the Kindle, and iPhone, space chimps in this analogy), but I guess Marvel Comics are part of the launch...

The only thing keeping this from being the full on tipping point, in the immediate wholesale transition to digital, is the fact that the iPad is tied to Apple's proprietary distribution model (iBooks or whatever) and higher pricing than what's previously been established for digital downloads (see Marvel's unwieldy $1.99 price point on individual digital comics).

The bean counters will cry that 1.99 per single issue download (roughly 1/6th of a trade or graphic novel) is equivalent to a music single (roughly 1/12th of an album)... but the fact is, as on Apple's eBook pricing, it's roughly double where it should be, both in terms of cost margin, and market value.

Go ahead and tell me I'm wrong, but I'll just go ahead and sell my shit for .99 cents thanks.

To be clear, I'm not saying the iPad is the actual device that will be embraced moving forward (I'm not saying it isn't either), however, what is clear to me, is that it's the first such tablet that can adequately move things significantly forward, and combined with the major comics publishing giant's participation, and the onslaught of similar devices... this train's left the station.

So, while we may not have jetpacks, make no mistake, the digital revolution just got a big ol' "all systems go", and at least, in the early part of the 21st century, we'll have comic books back in front of billions of people, instead of thousands, as a form of cheap alternative entertainment...

So yes, fanboys, welcome to the future.
Long live the medium.

Now excuse me, I've got some work to do...

For more on the breakdown of the coming revolution, I've found ComicsBulletin has a nice digital comics column by Ryan McClellan.

And for a look at the iPad running comics in the hands of 21st century comics pioneer, Otis Frampton, have a look at his Ustream review...