Artwork: New 52 Supergirl sketch

Here's a recent sketch (pencil, ink, and marker on 8.5x11" acid free paper) of the New 52 version of Supergirl (loving the new reboots of Supergirl and Wonder Woman btw)...

Which is available on eBay now!

I hope to do more sketches and sketch covers (like this recent Wolverine and the X-Men number 1, I sold on eBay, pictured below) to put up on eBay this winter!

Portland Comic Book Show

My local con, the PORTLAND COMIC BOOK SHOW is tomorrow (Sunday), so just a quick note that if you're from the area too, you can catch me at the show (table 149).

I'll have my new NIGHT OF THE 80'S UNDEAD books, as well as much much more, and will be doing sketches!

New Facebook fan page and store

I recently created a new store with all my comics, sketchbooks, and items in it, including fan art prints (which until now I've never offered online) and more! You can check that out by clicking below here:



You can also get 20% off right now if you visit my new Facebook fan page and "like" that!

I plan to add more material moving forward, including more prints, and t-shirts.
Right now there aren't any t-shirts in there, but don't forget you can pick up some of my designs from my Redbubble store:

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

ARTWORK: Dr Mrs The Monarch

Here's a fan art I did recently, colored up by Steven Mack, of THE VENTURE BROS. Dr Mrs the Monarch.

Tales from Netfilix

It's time once again to catch up on all the cool and genre DVD's that pass through my Netflix account...
Take note, there are always some gems that most folks haven't heard of or seen.


Let's see what we had over the last few months...

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)

Meanwhile at the movies... Thing vs Thing!

Waited in line last night for a preview screening of the new THE THING prequel/reboot, so here's a quick review...

ARTWORK: Painkiller Jane sketch cards

Had a busy summer, but I'll be getting back on track online soon...

Here are the rare cards I did for the recent 5finity sketch card set of Painkiller Jane.

I never read the comics, as I always thought the character looked silly (to be nice), but it did become a short lived Sci-Fi TV show...

The cards are based on the comics, and the character was fun to draw!

I have a few artist exclusive cards for this available, email me if you're interested.

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!

Comic-Con '11

Well, since it's been wrapped for a week, it must be past time to post anything I plan to share about the world's craziest comic show!

It was a great year for SRG, with Zombie Tramp continuing it's strong performance at shows. And then also with our many debuts and previews for upcoming works (see the previous post about the show, and stay tuned for more to come with more details on the various projects!)!!!

Cowboys and Aliens just root...

but don’t toot.

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!

ARTWORK: Galaxgals Eradication sketch card sample

Been pretty quiet online lately... had issues with my PC and it was down for a couple weeks (my new 1 terabyte external drive seems to be the culprit... grrr). Busy ramping up for San Diego con in just over a week, but thought I'd share a preview from the just released 5finity sketch card series GALAXGALS ERADICTION...

TALES FROM NETFLIX:

It's once again been many moons since I've spoken about the myriad movies I and the wife view at home... I like to highlight the genre stuff that others may miss, and call it TALES FROM NETFLIX.

So, here's a big ol rundown of the last few months...

BRONZED BEAUTIES DOUBLE FEATURE: Marvelous Ladies 2

The Bronze Age, comics forgotten era.
In the 1970's comic companies pushed their content in new and wildly different directions inspired by the anything goes social attitudes of the times, while also balancing new fan fostered talent at the helms of post Comics Code adherent, kid friendly books.
While not much born of the era had lasting impressions, there's a cool factor to the books that's singular in style, and inescapable if one looks just a bit closer...
That's where I come in, with Bronzed Beauties, my weekly look at some of the books from the era, that feature more were-men, cyborgs, man-things, barbarians, sorceresses, dinosaurs, monsters, and damsels in distress than any other time, all in striking and vibrant (or should I say faded) four color ink!

This is the second part of a special double-feature this week, chronicling not one but two Bronzed Beauties, and this week we get a bit more literal, featuring the mighty Marvel debuts of two female heroes... The Spider-Woman and The Savage She-Hulk!

Next up we have...

TODAY'S BOOK: The Savage She-Hulk
ISSUE NUMBER: 1
COVER PRICE AND YEAR: 40 cents - February 1980
PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

COVER (HOW COOL AND/OR CRAZY IS IT):
Like Spider-Woman, another purely classic superhero offering, showcasing the characters transformation from mild mannered young lady, to massive savage green goliath! It's illustrated by John Buscema, and though pretty simplistic, is very affective in showcasing the all-new, all-female Hulk!! Buscema also gets points for making the character sexy and lady like, and not too she-male looking, as other artists can tend to do.... yet not pushing those elements too far either, a nice balance.

And hell, it's got the tagline "Stan Lee proudly presents" on it!!!

BRONZED BEAUTIES DOUBLE FEATURE: Marvelous Ladies 1

The Bronze Age, comics forgotten era.
In the 1970's comic companies pushed their content in new and wildly different directions inspired by the anything goes social attitudes of the times, while also balancing new fan fostered talent at the helms of post Comics Code adherent, kid friendly books.
While not much born of the era had lasting impressions, there's a cool factor to the books that's singular in style, and inescapable if one looks just a bit closer...
That's where I come in, with Bronzed Beauties, my weekly look at some of the books from the era, that feature more were-men, cyborgs, man-things, barbarians, sorceresses, dinosaurs, monsters, and damsels in distress than any other time, all in striking and vibrant (or should I say faded) four color ink!

This is the first part of a special double-feature this week, chronicling not one but two Bronzed Beauties, and this week we get a bit more literal, featuring the mighty Marvel debuts of two female heroes... The Spider-Woman and The Savage She-Hulk!

First up we have...

TODAY'S BOOK: The Spider-Woman
ISSUE NUMBER: 1
COVER PRICE AND YEAR: 35 cents - April 1978
PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

COVER (HOW COOL AND/OR CRAZY IS IT):
Nothing crazy here, classic hero stuff, very much in the vein of Spidey... probably because it's illustrated by none other than John Romita, who, along with Steve Ditko, are the artists most associated with Marvel's wallcrawler! Is is a very strong work of cover art though, perfectly capturing the character in an iconic and illustrative way, with striking desigin elements spotlighting the titular hero in action against men with guns all aimed squarely at her, amidst the center of a spotlight...

MEANWHILE AT THE MOVIES... When JJ met Steven

Got to see another movie preview screening this week (gosh I'm lucky), this time it was the much hyped top secret JJ Abrams project (is there any other kind?), SUPER 8, which comes out Friday.

MEANWHILE AT THE MOVIES... more like 2nd class.

Saw X-Men: First Class today... here's a review.

So, after first hearing about this reboot origin story to the X-Men film franchise, and learning of the characters (and cast) in place, I had mixed feelings. But, in the buildup to it's release, I'd begun to get genuinely enthused about the movie. The early 60's era setting look and vibe was really appealing, and the mish-mash character line-up of mutants, not adhering to really any kind of X-Men continuity (I'm a huge long time X-fan), and the use of truly lower tier characters (and even some that were either made up, or just so obscure I have no idea) looked to work in the samples and snipets I'd seen. Then as release came even closer, a strong positive buzz began to build. Having seen the film, I'm very much back in the mixed feelings category.

BRONZED BEAUTIES 3: Astonishing Tales 28 featuring DEATHLOK the Demolisher!

The Bronze Age, comics forgotten era.
In the 1970's comic companies pushed their content in new and wildly different directions inspired by the anything goes social attitudes of the times, while also balancing new fan fostered talent at the helms of post Comics Code adherent, kid friendly books.
While not much born of the era had lasting impressions, there's a cool factor to the books that's singular in style, and inescapable if one looks just a bit closer...
That's where I come in, with Bronzed Beauties, my weekly look at some of the books from the era, that feature more were-men, cyborgs, man-things, barbarians, sorceresses, dinosaurs, monsters, and damsels in distress than any other time, all in striking and vibrant (or should I say faded) four color ink!

THIS WEEK'S BOOK: Astonishing Tales featuring Deathlok the Demolisher!
ISSUE NUMBER: 28
COVER PRICE AND YEAR: 25cents - February 1975
PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

COVER (HOW COOL AND/OR CRAZY IS IT): It's pretty cool. While it's not as gonzo as most of the era, it's got a cyborg facing off with post apocalyptic evil-doers on a tank! Plus 3 word balloons!!!

ARTWORK: Hangover fan art

So after seeing The Hangover II I got this idea for a fan art...

I call it the 3 Man Rebel Pack (as you can see), and it seemed to make a cool tee as well... so you can get that at my Redbubble page

Just a Hangover Star Wars mash-up with the 3 man wolf pack as their Star Wars counterparts!

BRONZED BEAUTIES 2: Skull the Slayer 3

The Bronze Age, comics forgotten era.
In the 1970's comic companies pushed their content in new and wildly different directions inspired by the anything goes social attitudes of the times, while also balancing new fan fostered talent at the helms of post Comics Code adherent, kid friendly books.
While not much born of the era had lasting impressions, there's a cool factor to the books that's singular in style, and inescapable if one looks just a bit closer...
That's where I come in, with Bronzed Beauties, my weekly look at some of the books from the era, that feature more were-men, cyborgs, man-things, barbarians, sorceresses, dinosaurs, monsters, and damsels in distress than any other time, all in striking and vibrant (or should I say faded) four color ink!

THE BOOK: Skull the Slayer
ISSUE NUMBER: 3
COVER PRICE AND YEAR: 25 cents - January 1975
PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

COVER (HOW COOL AND/OR CRAZY IS IT): It's got everything we want right on the cover folks... colors and inks that pop (along with the logo and graphics), with two caption boxes... including, "MECHANICAL MURDER IN THE WORLD OF THE DINOSAURS!"...
Now I would've dropped a question mark or two after that, but the cover communicates the WTF factor well enough on it's own... with what appears to be our titular hero smashing a robo-saur while saving another friend and damsel in distress. Why are there dinosaurs and space age clothes?? Why is the dinosaur mechanical? Who is Skull the Slayer?!? I'm sold!

SPOKANE COMICON wrapup

The guest/creator room of the con.

This past weekend I journeyed about 6 hours East/Northeast of home for the 5th annual Spokane Comicon, in Spokane Washington. I'd heard about the show for a few years but hadn't traveled out until this year.

Since it was a bit of a trek, and worked best with at least one night at a hotel, I threw in with a couple friends and past convention travel buddies, Randy Kintz and Jack Stepp. Also, since I got a new phone recently, I tried to take more pictures to share online. I just put up my pics in a Facebook photo album, HERE, but I'm pretty terrible at remembering to use the camera, so I unfortunately didn't take any shots of the town itself, which was surprisingly large (second biggest in Washington) and also pretty cool.

The show itself was well run, and a solid low level show, having both a lot of varied dealers, and artist/guests, plus a fair amount of traffic. For NW natives, it was pretty much on par with the Portland Comic Book Show. I would've like to have sold more Zombie Tramp stuff, and books in general, but I sold quite a few prints and did pretty well.

Aside from the con, the show also hosted a Drink N Draw event the night before at Cyrus OLeary's, with the special guests of the show being Dave Johnson and Dan Panosian, who also happen to be originators of the popular Drink and Draw Social Club in LA. I hadn't truly gone to a Drink n Draw before, so it was fun to sit in on one of those, as I find the two activities compliment each other quite nicely ;)

My Tarman sketch from the event.

Hopefully the show continues to grow, because they put on a good event, and I'd like to return, it's just unfortunately a bit of a reach in these days of inflated gas prices, so the bigger it gets, the better.

HANGOVER 2 ...a quick (preview screening) review

Got to see a preview screening last night...

Now, I wasn't a big fan of the first, finding it to give away just about every shred of hilarity via the commercials, and then it seemed hyped up beyond anything resembling reality. So with that said, I was glad to get into a preview screening of the sequel, to try and avoid all the good bits via the new ads (which already were wayyyyy too spoiler heavy - message to studio marketing assholes, it's the biggest comedy ever, I don't think you need to give away anything in the ads for the sequel!!)...

I found the movie overall to be mildly entertaining, and sometimes humorous (unlike the lady next to me how must have climaxed a dozen or more times and couldn't stop gasping in laughter at every. little. thing. that. ever. happened), until close to the end, when things got pretty hilarious, and finished very strong.

This is however the exact same movie, redone in Bangkok. The formula works though, so I look forward to a third... I just don't know where they'll set it, having gone from Vegas to Thailand... I'm guessing the moon maybe (if only the ads for it didn't give away the alien sidekick, stolen Millennium Falcon replica the wolfpack pilots, and the Mike Tyson as leader of Mars cameo)???

RECOMMENDED

SPOKANE COMICON this Saturday!

Okay friends... if Spokane Washington is anywhere near to you, I'll be seeing you at the 5th annual SPOKANE COMICON Saturday 5/21.

Dave Johnson and Dan Panosian are guests, and are hosting a Drink n Draw Friday night... I've never done one of those (lord knows why, what with the drinking and the drawing, often together, that I'm known to do).

Hopefully I'll be seaworthy enough to make a go of it Saturday, it should be a good show ;)

I might have some new prints, I might not... we shall see :)

Where's Spokane again?!?

BRONZED BEAUTIES 1: The Human Fly 9

Yesterday I spoke about my newfound passion for "bronze age" comic books (roughly translated - comics from the 1970's), and today I offer my first review from that era, allowing you to come along with me as I discover more about these mysterious comic gems. So, please kick back and enjoy our first Bronzed Beauty...

THE BOOK: The Human Fly
ISSUE NUMBER: 9
COVER PRICE AND YEAR: 35cents - May 1978
PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

COVER (HOW COOL AND/OR CRAZY IS IT): It's cool, it's got the requisite color, the Human Fly in action, and 3 caption boxes. However, what's really cool is that it's a John Byrne cover, back before he was really big (but had already started on Uncanny X-Men). Conversely though, because of the Byrne art, while it's got cool elements like the Human Fly diving to save drowning children, and guest star The White Tiger fighting villain Copperhead in the background, it's pretty straightforward super hero stuff.

But yes, there are caption boxes aplenty... like "DOOMSDAY DAWNS AT NIGHT!"... a true hallmark of the era! :)

BRONZED BEAUTIES

As a child of the 70's and 80's, comic books were a huge part of my formative years, I was introduced to them with the late 70's Marvel Comics adaptation of Star Wars, and then became a junky, for various Marvel books and 80's indies (mostly), til I gave up the habbit in the mid 80's. I got back into comics in the mid 90's, but through it all, I was never too keen on the books from the era just before I started reading, books of the 70's, known as "the bronze age".

The bronze age is kind of a mostly forgotten era that saw the proliferation of horror and exploitation genre books, that saw limited staying power and few notable new properties... whereas the precursors to it, the golden and silver age, bore most every major popular character and property, and the modern era, of the 1980's and 90's that followed it, saw the indie revolution and many other movements still popular today. That, and the fact that the bronze era was filthy in kitschy, more or less simplistic, and often formulaic craft. They were simpler times, post creation of the comics code, but prior to the comic shop movement (and subsequent focus on more mature material), when by and large, comics were created for kids. However, it was an odd marriage in that the material of the age had a burgeoning matureness to it, both in the creators that had grown up with comics as fans first, and so brought new sensibilities and ideas to them, and again with the wild and crazy content that was rampant.

To an outsider coming in at the tail end of that, and following the birth of the indie and mature comics movement, it was easy to look at those books as sophomoric and pointless (not to mention I'm a big fan of art, and the 80's saw an explosion of new talent and more contemporary influences, like European and Japanese styles, along with animation... and 70's comics were sorely lacking in transcendent artists). So I never really gave them any attention. Now though, as I get older and gravitate towards things from my formative era, out of nostalgia and cool appeal, these books have become a treasure trove of undiscovered fun and charm, that modern books are hard pressed to compare to.

So, I've started to pick up stacks of these bruised and battered, torn and tattered, aged and decomposing pulp pamphlets. I'm in love.

They're colorful, full of over the top characters, with anything goes stories, and so much a part of the era... the clothes, the slang, the ideas.
Super-Villain Team-ups, kung-fu, barbarians, sci-fi, were-men, man-things, sorceresses, cyborgs, dinosaurs, and more monsters than you can shake a stick at!
They're just plain fun.

So, I thought it would be a perfect thing to blog and share, as I dig into some of these amazing books I've brought home, with this new feature, BRONZED BEAUTIES.

I'll set up some criteria that fit these books, and grade various ones on these different facets of what makes the bronze age stuff so damn cool!
(I just want to fill a room with them, soak in their essence, and then remix it for the 21st century... see Pulp Girls)

Tune in tomorrow for our first review... THE HUMAN FLY number 9 from May of 1978!!

Waaaughhh!!! Indeed...

The late great Steve Gerber created HOWARD THE DUCK, for Marvel. Marvel got sued by Disney for Howard looking too much like Donald, so they made mandated changes to his look, which were horrible, but it was mostly a moot point since Gerber had litigation of his own over the rights with Marvel and the character was in limbo for years to decades. However, Gerber returned to the character briefly some years before his passing, and Marvel have since used him sporadically. Fast forward a year or so and Marvel is owned by Disney, so why is Howard still looking so god awful?!?!

Marvel, if you're going to continue to use Steve's character, can't you at least restore him to how he should look? Is that too much to ask?!?
(And, NO, the movie design doesn't count!!!!)

The one true Howard

ARTWORK: Rubber fan art

I recently watched RUBBER, the horror-ish killer tire film, and immediately wanted to do this fan art/t-shirt design!

"No Reason" is a quote from the movie that also pretty sums it up!

I also set this up as a t-shirt via RedBubble.com...

click here

ARTWORK: Osama Bin Zombied

I couldn't resist drawing a zombie Bin Laden... or Zomladen as I call him!

I thought it'd make a snazzy t-shirt (available now!)
You can go to RedBubble.com and buy one if you like ;)

click here

Maybe I'll also make it into a collectors plate, to commemorate this occasion in a truly American way ;)