SprouseNet

2011-12-13T16:43:00.003-05:00

Legion of Super-Heroes #7 Cover

Above is the finished color art for Legion of Super-Heroes #7, available March 21 of next year. Inks by Karl Story, colors by Guy Major. My pencil art can be seen below.

--C

2011-11-15T17:56:00.002-05:00

Legion of Super-Heroes Work

A rumor started a day or so ago that myself and Karl Story would be taking over the interior artwork for DC Comics' Legion of Super-Heroes, but it's just a rumor based on an incorrect reading of solicitation info (at least that's my best guess). Karl and I are the regular cover artists on the book (except for issue #5, where Walter Simonson does everything) and nothing more. I love working on the Legion books and all the characters and it would certainly be nice to do some actual Legion stories again some day, but that day is not today. Sorry if the rumors confused anyone! Anyone interested in seeing me do Legion of super-Heroes work can look above and below to see the pencil artwork for two upcoming Legion-related projects. Above is my cover art for Legion of Super-Heroes #6 (due out February 15, 2012) and below are the pencils for a cover for the Star Trek/Legion crossover book IDW is publishing. You can see the finished color art for the Legion #6 cover HERE, by the way.

--C

2011-10-29T16:42:00.003-04:00

New Artwork Added to Art Sales Site

I just loaded many, many new pages over at the art sales site, Sprousenet Art Emporium. One of the highlights is the unused pencil version of the cover for first issue of the upcoming series Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril.
--C

2011-09-10T11:27:00.020-04:00

The 2011 Birmingham Comic Con

Peter Hogan alerted me to the fact that someone has posted some video footage of the 2011 Birmingham Comic Con on YouTube (see above), so this seemed like a good reason/time to finally get around to posting about our UK trip. I really enjoyed the little film because I never saw anything of the convention other than a row of people in front of my table and-very briefly- the panel room. Now I feel like I have a sense of what the show was like for everyone else!

Now for the trip recap:
Things got off to a shaky start when the hurricane hitting the east coast of the U.S. caused massive delays. All of our flights were either delayed or cancelled and we ended up spending about sixteen hours sitting in two different airports over two days before we finally left the ground on Friday evening. I was supposed to attend a signing session for VIP ticket holders on Friday night in Birmingham, but we were somewhere over Northeastern Canada or the Atlantic Ocean while that was happening. My apologies to anyone who was hoping for a signature or sketch that night. We finally arrived in Birmingham at 7AM on Saturday morning, almost two full days after leaving our house.

The Birmingham Comic Con began at 9AM, so we rushed to the hotel and I went straight to the convention, where I met lots of really nice fans, signed comics, and sketched until nearly 7PM, when I had just about lost my ability to focus my eyes on whatever I was drawing--I was that tired. I'll offer my apologies again, this time to anyone who had a less than satisfying or enjoyable conversation with me or received a shoddy sketch--I was so tired I literally couldn't see straight by the time I left the show floor! You can see me ramble on and lose my train of thought at the Tom Strong panel when you watch the video above...I still had a really good time, even if I was dead on my feet. James Hodgkins, the person responsible for bringing me to the show, was wonderful as was the convention staff--thank you all! But the highlight of the convention for me was finally meeting Peter Hogan, writer of the two latest Tom Strong series and some of my favorite issues of the original series. Peter was a joy to spend time with and I'm glad we finally were able to talk in person. The post-show dinner was also a blast! Xan and I ate Italian food at a sort of enclosed shopping/living area called The Mailbox with Peter, James, Dave Gibbons and his wife Helen, and Dougie Braithwaite and his wife Sue. We talked about everything from metaphysics (well, Peter and Dave did the talking there) to the Norman Conquest, with the Watchmen movie and old Gerry Anderson TV shows somewhere in between the two. The next day, Xan and I stayed on in Birmingham, walking and shopping at record stores and a comic shop which was actually in the same building as the hotel. We had a nice little meal of UK comfort food (pie and mashed potatoes) at a sidewalk cafe and just generally relaxed after the whirlwind of the previous three days.

Myself and Peter Hogan at the Birmingham Comic Con (top); dinner at Zizi'z (bottom)

Xan and I in a Birmingham park (left); inside "The Mailbox" (right)

Monday, we were up and on the train for London, where we spent the remainder of our trip. I had never traveled on a train in the UK or Europe and I didn't know what to expect, but I loved it! We passed through lots of picturesque little villages and some beautiful English countryside. We also passed by the site of the Reading Festival and stopped and picked up hundreds of concertgoers on their way home after spending three days in mud and altered states of consciousness, so that was interesting...

View from the train (top); dismantling the Reading Festival (bottom)

In London, we set up camp in a really cool hotel near Paddington Station, the Hotel Indigo...

Paddington Station (top); the Hotel Indigo (bottom)

From there, we took the tube and walked all over the city for the next five days or so. We tried to see some new sights and hit some areas we didn't visit last time, such as Trafalgar Square and Portobello Road, but we did repeat some of our favorite things from our 2006 trip, such as shopping at the Tintin Store and some of the same record stores. We also walked through Westminster to the Thames again, but we chose a different side of the river to walk along this time. Xan was even able to find some rare non-U.S. Pez dispensers along the way.

Trafalgar Square (left); overlooking the Thames just outside Parliament (right)

George Orwell's home (left); Portobello Road (right)

Rough Trade Records off Portobello (left); Savile Row and the Royal Academy (right)

The Baker Street tube station (left); 221b Baker Street (right)

On Thursday, we met Peter Hogan again for lunch before our scheduled signing at the Forbidden Planet store on Shaftesbury Avenue, and after lunch Xan explored all the funky stores in the area while Peter and I did a brief interview at a coffee shop. Then it was on to Forbidden Planet for a couple of hours where we signed and met more wonderful people (both staff and fans) followed by a great Indian dinner with Peter.

The pile of books waiting for us at Forbidden Planet (top); Peter and I signing (bottom)

On Friday, our last day in the UK, we hit a few more record stores (Sister Ray and Reckless)and a large and frankly nerve-wracking toy store before ending the day and the trip with a visit to the Doctor Who Experience. This consisted of a sort of live audience participation "adventure" wherein we were able to step through the doors of and "pilot" Doctor Who's Tardis (that's his time machine, for those who've never seen the show), interact with some Daleks and other scary villains series before finally being let out into a massive exhibit of sets, costumes and props used on the BBC TV series. This ended up being one of the most enjoyable things we did on our trip--definitely a great way to end our stay.

Outside the Doctor Who Experience (left); a Tardis prop from the 1980's (right)

A 1980's Tardis control room set--still "functioning" (top); K-9 (bottom)

Various Sonic Screwdriver props from throughout the years

Panoramic shot of the David Tennant era Tardis set

Davros and several Daleks on display

The enormous Face of Bo prop(top); the smiling face of Xan and the creepy face of a Matt Smith wax replica on either side of me (bottom)

Now it's back to work and our everyday lives. Hopefully another five or six years won't pass before I'm able to take a vacation again...

--C

2011-08-30T07:56:00.002-04:00

SALE ON ORIGINAL ART!
After nearly pulling my arm out of its socket and having my original art case break under its own weight this week, I've decided I'd better thin the herd (so to speak) a little bit! So, I've lowered my original art prices drastically in order to unload as much art as I can. Everything is $40 until I decide otherwise, and anything already priced at $40 will now be $20. If you've ever wanted some of my artwork, now is the time to pick out some pages for yourself at my art sales site, the Sprousenet Art Emporium.
--C

2011-08-24T17:50:00.005-04:00

Old Stuff

We're preparing to leave for England right now--I'll try to post some photos from the trip while we're there. In the meantime, I thought I'd post a link for anyone who ever wanted to see one of Alan Moore's scripts. A friend from Italy who goes by the name Smoky Man has a website devoted to Alan's work. Today Smoky Man posted a piece on Judgment Day, a crossover mini-series Alan wrote for Rob Liefield's universe of comics. My first work with Alan writing was a few pages I drew for one of the Judgment Day issues. I also drew a little six-page comic called the Judgment Day Sourcebook which was a freebie bundled in with an issue of Wizard magazine in the mid-1990's. I provided scans of Alan's Judgment Day script pages to Smoky Man, who also owns the entire set of layouts for the Sourcebook, and he has all of these things up at Alan Moore World for everyone to see. Enjoy!

--C

Note: for everyone asking about the possibility of me doing sketches at the Forbidden Planet London signing on Sept. 1, all I can say right now is that I won't be able to do anything in advance, but if we end up staying longer than an hour at Forbidden Planet (or if no one shows up and we're left sitting around with nothing to do), I'll see what I can do. It's up to the store and how quickly they want to move us along, really.

2011-08-12T14:45:00.002-04:00

Legion of Super-Heroes #3

My pencil art for the cover of Legion of Super-Heroes #3 can be seen above, while the inked and colored version can be viewed by clicking HERE. This comic is out in November.

--C

2011-07-15T00:10:00.002-04:00

Legion of Super-Heroes

Blogging from scenic Lock Haven, PA tonight...

DC Comics just officially announced it, so now I guess it's okay for me to post it: I'm now the regular cover artist for the new Legion of Super-Heroes comic beginning with issue #2, out October 19. Above is the cover for #2 in pencil form. Click HERE to see the finished color version. Inks by Karl Story and colors by Guy Major, the guys who made my work look a gajillion times better on Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1. This is my first legion-related work since the mid 1990's!

--C

2011-06-16T13:05:00.002-04:00

Forbidden Planet London Signing

I'll be going to England for the Birmingham Comicon in August, but once the show's over, Xan and I are going down to London to play around. While there, I'll be doing a signing with Peter Hogan at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR, on Thursday, September 1 from 6PM to 7PM. Click HERE to go to the Forbidden Planet site for more info or just to do some shopping! I should mention that if you're hoping to get a sketch from me, you'll have a much better chance at the Birmingham Comicon--the single hour provided for the Forbidden Planet signing means I will almost certainly not have time to draw anything there.

--C

2011-06-15T12:30:00.002-04:00

Peter Hogan Interview
Last time I mentioned that I'd post when writer Peter Hogan's Amazon.com interview went up.
Well, click HERE to go to Amazon's blog Omnivoracious to read Peter's interview promoting the Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom collection--which is in stores and on sale at Amazon.com right now!
--C

2011-06-08T13:20:00.003-04:00

New Interview at Amazon.com

Last week I did an interview for Alex Carr at Amazon.com's blog Omnivoracious in order to promote the Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom trade paperback collection. The interview has just been posted--click HERE to go directly to it. Peter Hogan was also interviewed, and I'll post a link to that as soon as it's up. While I'm at it, HERE's a link to Alex's take on the original Tom Strong series.

--C

2011-06-06T11:57:00.004-04:00

Even More New Art For Sale!

I just listed lots and lots of new Tom Strong original pages for sale over on my art sales site, SprouseNet Art Emporium. There are even pages from the upcoming Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril #1 (plus an unused finished pencil page from #2). The prices are listed at the top of the site, and if you scroll down you can see clickable/enlargeable images of every page up for sale.

--C

2011-05-20T14:43:00.005-04:00

New Art For Sale!

I just posted lots of new pieces over on the art sales site, Sprousenet art Emporium, including many Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne pages I haven't listed before as well as some other goodies. Check it out!

--C

2011-05-10T13:37:00.002-04:00

Birmingham Comicon

I'll be attending my first convention in the UK later this year. I've been invited to be a guest at the Birmingham Comicon in Birmingham, England, and I can't wait! I'll be meeting writer Peter Hogan for the first time at the show, after having worked together off and on over the last decade. The week after the convention, Peter and I will be doing a store signing in London--more on that later. Here's another image I borrowed from the Birmingham Comicon site:

It kind of blows my mind sometimes when I think about the younger me as an aspiring cartoonist just hoping to draw anything at all for a living, and now there's my work sharing space with Dave Gibbons and Alan Davis. Weird...sometimes things happen in my job that almost make me forget the long hours, no job security and complete lack of health coverage, sick days and paid vacation time...

...almost...

--C

2011-05-10T11:03:00.013-04:00

Long Overdue Update

I haven't posted in a while, mostly because I've been so busy with work (I'm right in the middle of Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril, the follow up to Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom). I'm still swamped but I don't want this blog to get too stagnant, so here's a glorified photo essay covering what Xan and I have been up to over the last few months in addition to slaving over hot drawing boards/computers (as always, click on any photo for a closer look/larger image):

We've attended a few concerts in our free time, including Teenage Fanclu b and Yo La Tengo shows in Pittsburgh, British Sea Power in Cleveland, and the Posies right here in Columbus...

Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub (left); Yo La Tengo and their spinning wheel of songs (right)

The Posies offer an impromptu after-show song at the merch table (left); British Sea Power in Cleveland (right)

...and recently, Xan has been doing some fun and interesting shopping...

Xan reenacting a scene from either Hamlet or Indiana Hess and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Vodka (left); Xan's Record Store Day purchases(right) Guess which one she bought for me...

Of course, we've done a few comic conventions on weekends as well. We hit Mid-Ohio Con late last year as usual (it's our local big convention), then made another jaunt to Toronto for the Toronto Fan Expo's Fan Appreciation Event (a smaller free convention) with our customary stop to play around in Niagara Falls. This time we explored some of the Canadian side's goofier/tackier offferings which included quite a few fiberglass monsters and animals and more wax museums than one town should have. Finally, last weekend was Free Comic Book Day, a nationwide event designed to promote comics shops and the comics industry in general. Packrat Comics in Hilliard, Ohio invited me to set up at their own little mini-con they put on to celebrate the day, so Xan and I spent the day talking with comics fans and giving away lots of extra copies of my own books which have been piling up since I started working in comics back in the early '90's.

Me and Barry Kitson at Mid-Ohio Con

A Pterodactyl (top) and the weather turns ominous at Niagara Falls

Free Comic Book Day at Packrat Comics in Hilliard, OH

--C

Note: I've used a few photos taken by people other than Xan or myself in this post, so if the original photographers object and want me to remove their images, please let me know and I will happily comply.

2011-03-01T14:06:00.003-05:00

New Artwork for Sale!

A heads up: I just posted a couple of items from Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril over on my art sales blog. The first is a fully finished pencil version of a page from the first issue of the upcoming series which I rejected and re-drew for the final comic. The second is an inked model sheet/design piece for a (sort of) new character who first appears in issue #2.

--C

2011-02-09T16:11:00.005-05:00

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne Hardcover

The Deluxe Collection of the Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne mini-series hits the stands today. As I've mentioned in other posts, the slightly over-seized hardcover collects the entire series written by Grant Morrison and drawn by myself and several other fine comic artists and features all six variant covers as well as a sketchbook section. Recently, the official DC Comics blog, The Source, asked me to write a brief piece about what it was like working on the project. Click HERE to read it. Above is a piece of mine that made it into the sketchbook selection (a self-rejected first take of Bruce Wayne's return to striking fear into the hearts of the cowardly and superstitious) and below is a piece I submitted for inclusion that didn't make the final cut (my layouts for the double-page spread of caveman Vandal Savage's camp).

--C

2011-01-24T16:27:00.005-05:00

Tom Strong News and Other Updates

Newsarama.com posted an interview with me last week that centers on the future of Tom Strong (click HERE to read it), and I thought I should clarify some of the things said and update anyone interested on how things have shaped up since I spoke to Vaneta Rogers. The interview was conducted last Fall, immediately after the announcement that Wildstorm was folding. No one, including me, knew what was happening with any of the Wildstorm books then being published or scheduled for later release. If I seem a little unsure about things in the interview, it's because I was! But that was months ago! I am now happy to reassure any Tom Strong fans reading this that DC will indeed be publishing Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril later this year. I'm still working on the series, so I don't have any specific release dates yet.

In other comic book website news, two series I worked on made Comic Book Resources' "Top 100 Comics of 2010" list. Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom came in at #90 (thanks to both reader Johnny Sarcastic and Tom Strong's own Peter Hogan for alerting me to this) and Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne was included with "The Batman Comics of Grant Morrison" as the #2 pick. My 2004 series with Warren Ellis, Ocean, was highlighted in CBR's "A Year of Cool Comics" list. Writer Brian Cronin creates a nice little teaser for the series using pages from the comic--if you haven't read Ocean yet, give the teaser a look and see if it catches your interest. A few other projects of mine also made the same list, including the Ambush Bug Nothing Special from 1992, Starman #14, and Global Frequency #8.

I received my complimentary copies of the Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne Deluxe Collection last week, so I thought I should mention that that book is out soon--February 2nd, to be precise. It's a very nice collection and features a sketchbook section in the back (including some layouts by writer Grant Morrison) as well as all the variant covers.

That's all for now...

--C

2011-01-19T14:13:00.003-05:00

Digital Comics

A few comics I've drawn have recently been released digitally (officially). They're readable on iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touch models if you have the DC Comics app (available from the iTunes App Store). The following titles are available, each priced at $1.99:

- Ex Machina Special #1, 2
- Justice League of America Vol. 3 #3
- Starman Vol. 2 #14, 24
-Tom Strong #1, 2

If you'd rather read these comics on a larger screen--good news: comics you buy on your portable devices are available to view on your computer when you're on the Comixology site! Click HERE to learn more.

--C

2010-12-13T20:05:00.003-05:00

Even More New Artwork Up For Sale,
Including Early Tom Strong and Legion Pieces!

While organizing some boxes in my basement this weekend, I uncovered a huge amount of old layouts, sketches and prelims. I found several sets of layouts for entire Tom Strong issues dating as far back as issue #3. I also found a few pieces I didn't even know still existed, including the prelim for the cover of Tom Strong #1 and my first Legion of Super-Heroes cover. Some of these layouts are slightly damaged, but most are in excellent shape. I've posted everything on my art sales blog and it's all priced and accompanied by images. Click HERE if you're interested!

--C

2010-11-09T16:43:00.003-05:00

New Artwork For Sale

Lots of new art is now up on my original art sales site, SprouseNet Art Emporium, including pages from Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne and Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #2 plus a couple of covers. Check it out!

--C

2010-11-01T15:19:00.004-04:00

Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #6 Preview

The sixth and final issue of Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom is hitting the shelves at your local comic book store this Wednesday, but you can get a sneak preview of the cover and the first five pages (lettered and in color) by clicking HERE. Right click on that link and you can save the preview to your desktop as a PDF file.

I'm already hard at work on the next Tom Strong series, Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril, and I'll post release dates and other details (including artwork, of course) at a later date right here on this blog.

In other news, I'll be a guest again for about the nineteenth time at the Mid-Ohio Con here in Columbus, Ohio this upcoming weekend (Nov. 6-7). I think I have a booth again this year, but I won't know until the day of the show. Wherever I end up, I'll be signing books and sketching and (hopefully) selling original artwork. Come out to the show and say "Hi!" If you need more reasons to come to the convention, check out the guest list HERE. I'm looking forward to seeing a bunch of people I haven't seen in a while including Adam Hughes and my Modern Masters interviewer Todd Dezago. Should be fun!

Pencil art for the next page after the final preview page

--C

2010-10-21T17:11:00.008-04:00

Tom Strong in a Music Video
(don't blink or you'll miss it)!

Indie or Alternative or whatever rock band (and former Ohioans) The National just released a music video for their song "Terrible Love" which was filmed on the band's current tour. Xan and I saw them play here in Columbus a couple of months ago, so I watched the video hoping to spot some live footage filmed at that show. About 50 seconds in, there's a scene with one of the band members hanging out in a comic shop. I will now shamefacedly admit (again) that anytime I see some piece of film or video of a comic shop I try to spot one of my own books on the racks (I posted about this a while back when Xan spotted a copy of a Tom Strong trade paperback on Big Bang Theory--click HERE for that). I can't be the only comics guy who does that...but if I am, then you are welcome to call me pathetic...Anyway, I spotted a copy of the After Watchmen...What's Next? version of Tom Strong #1 over on the left side of the frame. I've posted the video above and some screencaps below along with the comic's cover. Enjoy!

--C

2010-10-18T17:42:00.002-04:00

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Cover

Pictured above is the finished color cover for T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #3, on sale 01/12 /11. I had high hopes for this cover when I started it, but it doesn't look like the image I had in my head. Inks and colors are nice, though! Oh, well...next time...

--C

2010-10-07T15:10:00.006-04:00

YouTube Review/Overview of Tom Strong
Just saw the following today:

A nice fan review/overview of the series, especially if you've never read the original comics. It's heavy on images from the first four issues and includes a lot of artwork by Arthur Adams from his short story in Tom Strong #4. The reviewer is incorrect about one thing, though: while we had several stand alone one issue stories over the course of the series, there were many multiple-issue story arcs, including issues #2-7 right at the start. Hopefully that won't be too off-putting for new readers.

Did I just review a review? Oh, well...

--C

2010-10-05T13:01:00.002-04:00

Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #5 Preview

The official Wildstorm page has posted a color preview of the cover and first five pages from Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #5. Click HERE to open the preview as a PDF file in your browser, or right click to save the PDF file to your desktop. This issue is out in comic shops everywhere tomorrow!

--C

2010-09-20T17:04:00.005-04:00

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne Deluxe Hardcover Collection

DC Comics officially solicited the Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne Deluxe Hardcover Edition today. This slightly over-sized book will collect all six issues of the mini-series and will include previously unseen sketches and design artwork. I sent the editors a bunch of prelims and preparatory drawings and I'm curious to see what they picked. This collection goes on sale Feb. 2, 2011. I've posted the cover image above.

In other news, Wildstorm released a color image of my 3rd cover for the End of Nations video game tie-in series and you can see that below. That particular book goes on sale December 29.

--C

2010-09-15T10:53:00.003-04:00

Peter Hogan Interview
Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #5 will be published in a few weeks, but in the meantime, here are a few items of interest to Tom Strong fans:

First, click HERE to read a great interview with Robots of Doom writer Peter Hogan. Peter's entire career is covered, including his time in publishing, music journalism and comics. It's a fun and informative read and was full of surprises for me (such as Peter's association with various people and bands I've followed for years).

Second, see below for a sneak preview of some art from Robots of Doom #5. This is the big battle issue, with Tom Strong, Dr. Permafrost and the lava people (the Salamanders) vs. the maniacal Albrecht and his army of Dero robots. Lots of cool imagery in this one, beginning with the splash page below, reproduced from the pencil art.

...and third, since I announced it to a crowd at the Toronto Fan Expo in a panel overseen by DC Comics honcho Dan Didio (urged to do so by Dan, actually), I suppose it's okay for me to reveal here that Peter and I have begun work on a new Tom Strong mini-series entitled Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril. Since we're just starting, I have no info yet on when it will be released.

--C

2010-09-02T02:04:00.003-04:00

Return of Bruce Wayne #1 3rd Printing Cover

Above is the cover of the third printing of Batman: the Return of Bruce Wayne #1, out now at your local comics retailer! Also out today: Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #4 and The Authority #26, which features a cover I drew earlier this year.

--C

2010-09-01T14:58:00.003-04:00

Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #4 Color Preview

Page 1 of Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom

The official Wildstorm blog posted a preview of issue #4 of Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom today, so if you can't make it to your local comic shop right away, click HERE to get a glimpse of the latest chapter of our six part story.

Pencil art for the page shown above

--C

2010-08-31T22:46:00.012-04:00

Toronto Fan Expo 2010

Xan and I spent this past weekend at the Toronto Fan Expo, a convention catering to aficionados of science fiction, horror movies, anime and comics. Thanks to some severely unpleasant traffic, we ended up arriving late on Friday, but I was still in time to be on the DC Nation Panel with DC Comics honcho Dan Didio and artists Jeff Lemire, Ethan Van Sciver, Francis Manapul and writer Brian Azarello. After that, I was off to Artists' Alley to sign and sketch for the unfailingly nice and friendly Canadian fans. Saturday started off well, with me arriving early and producing some sketches I was actually pleased with for a change. Xan walked the con floor, visiting the Tron booth which featured huge displays of Tron props, toys and various merchandise. She also caught the Tron Legacy panel with Bruce Boxleitner and managed to see a few of the many other celebrity guests--a large and surprising selection which included David Cronenberg, Ernest Borgnine, Lance Henriksen, William Shatner, Stan Lee and many more. As the day wore on and the crowd grew and the temperature inside rose, I signed at the DC Comics booth and sketched for hours, finally leaving the building just in time to join Xan and the DC staffers and freelancers for good food and great conversation at a local Italian restaurant. Thanks go to Dan, Fletcher, Matt and Vince (who I've known ever since I got into this biz) for showing us a fine time! Sunday, the con floor seemed just as crowded and I worked just as hard as I had the previous day. Xan shopped the dealers' room and kept me company for a while before leaving to visit friends Sara and Henning and their kids that night.

The very large Tron display

Lance Henriksen (left) and Ernest Borgnine (right)

The view from my table in Artists' Alley: Jill Thompson--still managing to sketch
while plagued by a Brain Slug Xan bought her, and Tim Bradstreet

Monday morning we headed South towards the States again, stopping and spending the rest of the day exploring and enjoying both the Canadian and U.S. sides of Niagara Falls before driving back home that night. I'd like to say "thanks!" to all of the fans who stopped by during the con, to the DC guys who treated us very well, and to Tiz and the rest of the con staff for inviting us and taking care of us!

Niagara Falls, as seen from Canada

Xan flagrantly disobeys the rules...as usual...

Double rainbows with the Rainbow Bridge in the far background

Xan has some good cheesy fun

Looking for Lois Lane on the U.S. side of the Falls

--C

2010-08-21T03:35:00.003-04:00

Checklist Page Now Up!
I just added another site to the SprouseNet family of blogs: The Chris Sprouse Checklist.This site began as a post on this very blog several months ago, but I decided it would be easier to keep the whole mess updated if it was a separate entity. The new site consists of an alphabetically arranged list of all my published comic work as well as a list that's chronologically arranged. There's also a section for upcoming work complete with on-sale dates. Check it out HERE (or click on the link in the "Links" section)! In case this all seems like the narcissism-flavored icing on a self-involvement cake, well, I'm the kind of person who makes lists of everything and an obsessive collector to boot, so I already had the source material on my computer and thought it might be useful to someone out there. Plus, I figured that anyone reading these words has some interest in my work or is related to Xan or myself. If you aren't interested in Xan or me or my work, then why are you reading this?! Life is short--go away and read about something or someone you do like!

--C

2010-08-16T22:01:00.003-04:00

New Tom Strong Cover!

Above is the cover for Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #6, the final issue of the mini-series. The color art premiered today as part of DC Comics' November solicitations, so I'm sharing it here!
--C

2010-07-26T17:20:00.002-04:00

Tom Strong Reviews
The official Wildstorm blog posted a nice little piece on Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom today featuring excerpts from and links to a bunch of online reviews. Click HERE to read the post. I also realized I never posted the color cover for Robots of Doom #4, so look below for that. Issue #3 will be out next week!

--C

2010-07-20T02:27:00.003-04:00

New Covers

Above and below are two of my covers previewed today by DC Comics/Wildstorm. The first (above) is for Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #5 and the second (below) is from the upcoming video game tie-in comic End of Nations #1. Both books will ship in October.

--C

2010-07-12T15:02:00.003-04:00

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1
Second Printing

Above is a scan of the cover of the second printing edition of Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1. I have no idea what color scheme will be used for the third printing cover.

--C

2010-07-01T18:41:00.003-04:00

Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #2 Preview

The official Wildstorm blog posted a preview of the second issue of Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom today. Click HERE to get a look at the finished colored & lettered art for the cover and six interior pages. You can also right click HERE to download a PDF file of the preview (or just left click to view it in your browser). I posted the pencil art for my favorite page from this sequence below. The issue is out at your local comic shop next week--I can't wait!

--C

2010-06-30T02:58:00.002-04:00

Time Masters: Vanishing Point Cover

Starting next month DC Comics is publishing a series called Time Masters: Vanishing Point, a spin-off/tie-in to Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne. I drew a variant cover for the first issue of Time Masters immediately after finishing my Bruce Wayne issue, and today the official DC blog previewed the finished color art. You can see the piece above or click HERE to go to the post at the DC blog. I think the colors are by Dave McCaig (who colored our Bruce Wayne cover)--at least that's who inker Karl Story and I begged editor Mike Carlin to get for the job...Anyway, I think the big central figure on the cover resembles my take on Bruce Wayne's face a bit too much, but I was very happy to get to finally draw the real Batman again! Also, I believe this piece marks the first time I've drawn Green Lantern (the classic Hal Jordan version) for publication.

--C

2010-06-23T16:41:00.003-04:00

Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom Interview

Above: Pencil art from Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #2

While waiting for issue #2 of Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom to ship, writer Peter Hogan and I have done another online interview promoting the series. Click HERE to read the interview at Crave Online.

Meanwhile, the DC Comics Bat-Office has informed Grant, Karl and I that Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 has not only sold through it's initial print run, but the second printing is now sold out as well! A 3rd printing is in the works...

--C

2010-06-10T20:07:00.003-04:00

Bruce Wayne Knocks 'em Out

Bruce Wayne triumphant in the pencil art for a page
from Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1

Exciting news today: not only did Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 sell out fairly quickly in May, it was the top-selling DC comic book that month and the third top-selling comic from any publisher! It's been very strange and fascinating to be involved in all of this...a new experience to be sure!

--C

2010-06-10T13:51:00.003-04:00

Happy Birthday, Mike!
Today is my brother Mike's birthday, so in his "honor" I'll continue my tradition of posting goofy childhood photos on my family members' birthdays:

Above: Mike and I doing...God only knows what...sometime in the 70's,
when everyone looked ridiculous
--C

2010-06-10T13:33:00.004-04:00

Toronto Panel Audio Posted

While attending the Toronto Fan Appreciation Event as a guest this past weekend, I did a panel discussion/lecture kind of thing called "From Panel to Page." I discussed my working methods and creative thought process, prompted by a great moderator and his slide show of several prelims and layouts. While you can't see the slide show, you can listen to an audio recording of the "lecture" posted at Bleedingcool.com. Click HERE and scroll down towards the bottom of the page.

--C

2010-06-10T12:24:00.005-04:00

Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #1 Reviews and More...

Above: My favorite panel from Robots of Doom #1, made better than I could
have hoped by Karl Story's fantastic inking

Had a good day signing and hanging out at The Laughing Ogre on High Street in Columbus, OH yesterday. The book looks great and I had fun talking all day to customers, the shop staff, fans and comics writer Sean McKeever who was also in attendance, signing his new Marvel comic, Young Allies #1. I forgot to take any photos, however...Oh, well...thanks to everyone who came out and picked up a copy of Robots of Doom #1! My final Human Target short story (in Human Target #5) also came out yesterday, and customers bought out the last few issues of Return of Bruce Wayne #1 the Ogre had in stock--all in all, a good day!

Here are some links to a few reviews of Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #1:

Crave Online Review
Newsarama.com Review
IGN Review

In other news, the official Wildstorm blog posted the finished color version of my double WildC.A.T.S./Authority cover this morning and announced which issues the covers would be gracing(WildC.A.T.S. #27 and The Authority #26 , both on sale Sept. 2010). Click HERE (or just look below) to see the piece.
--C

2010-06-09T02:23:00.006-04:00

New Art Added to the Art Sales Site
Just added a bunch of new pages and covers to my original art sales site, the SprouseNet Art Emporium, including the pieces you see above and below, plus a small number of Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne pages (more to come later) and art from Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom. Click HERE if you're interested!
--C

2010-06-08T14:32:00.004-04:00

Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #1: Out Tomorrow(I hope)!
Let's try this again: the first issue of Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom is supposed to FINALLY hit comic store shelves tomorrow. I'll be signing at The Laughing Ogre in Columbus, Ohio (for real this time!) to celebrate the return of Tom and family to comics. Click HERE for details on the signing. Stop by if you're in the area!

Click HERE for a short interview with Robots of Doom writer Peter Hogan and myself on Brokenfrontier.com.

Speaking of signings and such, Xan and I just returned from the Toronto Fan Expo's Fan Appreciation Event, where we had a pretty good time! I sketched non-stop and signed a gajillion more Return of Bruce Wayne comics, while Xan visited friend Sara on Saturday then did all the fun con stuff I wish I could have done on Sunday. We took a different route home this time and were able to see Niagara Falls for the first time. We'll probably be going back to Toronto in August for the big con they'll be throwing, and we've already decided we may go stay in Niagara for a day before the show starts.

--C

Using my "'splainin' hands" at my panel
at the Toronto Fan Appreciation Event

Xan at Niagara Falls

2010-05-30T02:50:00.002-04:00

Oops!
This is embarrassing...apparently Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #1 is not shipping this week after all. I'm not sure why--this book has been finished for literally one year at this point. I am seriously bummed. We did this series so far in advance so that no issues would ship late, and the first issue is shipping late anyway.

My signing at the Laughing Ogre in Columbus, OH scheduled for whatever day new comics are coming out is therefore postponed until I have a new book to sign. I'll post here when I know both when the book will finally be in your local comic shop and when I'll be signing it here in Columbus.

Please disregard everything in the previous post except for the stuff about Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne # 1 selling out. Hey, at least something went right this week...

--C

2010-05-27T13:09:00.008-04:00

Update: Less Than One Week to Go Until Robots of Doom!

Just a little something I put together w/images from all six issues of the mini-series...

This has been a crazy and busy month, and June looks to be more of the same, so I thought I'd quickly post an update while I can! As the title of this thread says, less than a week to go until Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom hits stores...

I'll be at the Laughing Ogre comic shop in Columbus, OH on June 2nd or 3rd (depending on which day new comics hit) signing the book when it comes out, from 11AM-1:30 or 2:00PM, then back for more around 4PM until whenever. I'll bring some sketchbooks and some free giveaways and photocopies of the rest of the series to show.

Then, that very weekend (June 5-6), Xan and I will be heading up to Canada for the Toronto Comicon Fan Appreciation Event.

In November, I'll be back at Mid-Ohio Co n here in Columbus, for at least my sixteenth or seventeenth appearance (I've lost count).

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 news: my editors on this bat-book have informed me that this comic has completely sold out (you can still find some copies at stores, but the distributor is all out) in the two weeks since its publication and is going back to press for a second printing! Also, DC just announced action figures based on the various versions of Batman from the series--see below for a photo of Caveman Batman (based on Andy Kubert's original character design, not my interpretation of his design...oh, well...).

As for upcoming work, my final Human Target short story in Human Target #5 will be on sale June 9th, and those WildC.A.T.S. and Authority covers are coming soon (I hope), as is the third Tom Strong deluxe collection. I'll post on-sale dates when I have them.

--C

2010-05-17T18:32:00.005-04:00

Podcasts & Other Interviews!

While signing a couple of hundred copies of Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 at Challengers Comics in Chicago last week, I was interviewed three times! Two were audio interviews for podcasts and one was for Comicbookresources.com. I'll provide links below, updating them as they're posted--only two are up so far. You can right click and save the podcasts to your computer as mp3 files you can transfer to your mp3 player, or click normally to have the podcasts play in your internet browser.

The Legion of Substitute Podcasters (Hear me being edgy and nervous at the beginning of the signing, talking to Matt Kramer about the Legion of Super-Heroes and my time on Legionnaires!)

Comicbookresources.com (Kiel Phegley interviews me early on in the day about my previous and current Bat-work. Be warned: I commit egregious crimes against grammar and the English language in general, due mainly to my anxiety about the impending signing and over-caffeination! Not for English teachers or the faint of heart!)

The Word Balloon Podcast

--C

2010-05-17T17:07:00.019-04:00

Recent Road Trip Photo Gallery
Planet Comicon - Kansas City, KS

Xan meets Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's

Jane Wiedlin's panel, with Tone Rodriguez,
Bill Morrison and Tony Fleecs--they're
promoting Lady Robotika, a new comic about
a character based on Jane herself

Steve Scott, Renee Witterstaetter, Michael
Golden and Joe Jusko in Artists Alley

Jeff Moy!

Phil Noto!

Patricia and Herb Trimpe!

Jai Nitz stops by my table

Xan is VERY happy with her newest sketch,
courtesy of Michael Golden! Much thanks to
Renee for helping us with this and for taking
he photo.

Xan and Renee at the post-show dinner
(another photo courtesy of Renee)

Joe Jusko and Don Rosa at Sunday's
post-show meatfest--er, dinner!

Free Comic Book Day at Packrat Comics - Hilliard, OH

Lots more kids in attendance than I've seen
before...Hope for the future of comics!

Xan's old friend Nebbie behind the counter

Our new friend Matt hangs out with Xan
in the artists alley room, probably talking about
Batman villains...

Matt gets a sketch of a Tom Strong villain from me

Return of Bruce Wayne Signing at Challengers Comics - Chicago, IL

The impressive Challengers Comics storefront,
decorated for the day--a big surprise for me!

Sketching and signing, as usual...
Thank goodness the book shipped on time!

Xan and I after the signing. I'm ready to crash
hard at this point!

--C

2010-05-14T14:21:00.004-04:00

More Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom Press: An Interview with Writer Peter Hogan
Comicbookresources.com has posted an interview with Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom writer Peter Hogan! Click HERE to read it, and see below for some more preview pencil art...

Also: Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 has a Robots of Doom preview in the back featuring the cover and the preview pages I linked to earlier this month. Kind of cool and surprising to find the preview there when I finally saw the Batman comic a couple of days ago!

--C

2010-05-12T01:08:00.005-04:00

Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #3 Cover Art

The official Wildstorm blog has posted the cover for Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom in color, so I'm posting it here! You can scroll down for a look at the pencil art. Issue #1 will hit stores June 2nd.

As noted on this blog many times recently, Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 is out this week. I'm in Chicago right now for a signing tomorrow at Challengers Comics. I've been assured by my editor on the book that the comic is in fact arriving on time...I sure hope so--it'll be pretty embarrassing if I'm sitting there with nothing to sign!

--C

2010-05-06T14:37:00.006-04:00

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 and Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #1 Previews Up

Both DC Comics.com and Newsarama.com have posted previews of the lettered and colored first four pages of Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 (plus all the variant covers with logos). Click HERE for the DC preview (higher-res images) or HERE to see it at Newsarama (launch the image viewer when you get there). This is the first time I've seen it all together myself--the color art composited with the lettering--and it has me even more excited for next Wednesday when everyone gets to see the finished book!

Also--forgot to mention yesterday that there's a small Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #1 preview downloadable PDF file over at the official Wildstorm site. Click HERE for that (you can right-click on the word HERE and save the file to your desktop if you want or just click normally to view it on your computer).

--C

Update: Other websites are posting the preview, such as Comicbookresources.com. Even Wired.com is getting in on the act! This could get interesting...

2010-05-06T01:08:00.006-04:00

Weird (but Fun!) Night Out
I've been pretty much posting only work-related stuff for a while now, so to prove that I do occasionally get out of the house for fun, here are some photos from the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Live show Xan and I attended tonight:

Show creator and voice actor
Dave Willis with a puppet of the
character Carl from Aqua Teen
Hunger Force

Dana Snyder and Dave Willis
with Master Shake and Meatwad

Dana Snyder also voices the character
Granny on the Squidbillies series,
and he pulled me out of the audience
to read from Granny's recipe book while
Granny...well...the less said about what
she did to/with my shoulder the better...

Xan poses with Dave and Dana
after the show

--C

2010-05-03T18:43:00.005-04:00

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne Interview

Newsarama.com just put up an interview I did with writer Vaneta Rogers about the upcoming (May 12!) Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1. Click HERE to read it.

I spent all day Saturday signing/sketching at local comic shop Packrat Comics for Free Comic Book Day. The day was a huge success for the shop and gave me a chance to see a bunch of friends and chat with fans. I brought along a color print-out of the entire Bruce Wayne issue to show off, and it seemed to get a pretty good response, so I'm hopeful it'll do well when it's released next week.

--C

2010-04-29T02:35:00.003-04:00

Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom Preview

Hey! While doing some late night internet browsing before turning in tonight, I found that Austin over at the official Wildstorm blog has posted a bunch of pages from the upcoming Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #1--in color! Apparently there's also a preview in the comic Garrison #1 which came out today but I haven't seen that yet. You'd think someone would let me know, but I'm just happy this stuff is finally being seen! Click HERE to see the preview and check out a bonus preview page below. Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #1 will hit the stands June 2.
--C

2010-04-15T12:11:00.006-04:00

Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #2 Cover Art

The cover for Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #2 was revealed today on the official Wildstorm blog. The fully colored version is above, while my pencil art can be seen below. It's nice to finally be getting some of this stuff out there! Meanwhile, the official DC Comics blog let the cat out of the bag on another job of mine: I'll be doing a variant cover for the first issue of Time Masters: Vanishing Point, a mini-series out in July that ties in to Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne.

In stores this week: issue #3 of the Human Target comic (featuring a five page short story I drew) and the second volume of the Tom Strong deluxe collection.

I also wanted to let people know about a few store appearances and conventions I'll be doing in the near future:
- May 1 - I'll be signing at Packrat Comics in Hilliard, Ohio for Free Comic Book Day, from 10AM onwards. I'm looking forward to meeting Nicholas Brendon (the actor who played Xander on Buffy), who'll also be there!
- May 12 - Challengers Comics in Chicago will be having me in for a signing on the day Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 is released, 5PM-8PM (but I'll probably be there earlier than that).
- June 2 - The Laughing Ogre comic shop in Columbus, OH will be hosting me for a signing of Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #1, out that very day.
- June 5-6 - Looks like I'll be returning to the Toronto Comicon Fan Appreciation Event (provided my new passport arrives in time!). I will try my best to have a new sketchbook out in time for some of these events, but my schedule is insanely tight right now, so we'll have to wait and see!

--C

2010-03-30T01:17:00.005-04:00

More Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne Art
Got home from the Planet Comicon in Kansas City (more on that subject coming soon) to find that both the official DC Comics blog and Newsarama.com have posted a little preview of Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne #1. Click HERE and HERE to see the two pages in high-rez (look at the gorgeous inks by Karl Story!!). Click HERE to see the art again, plus all of Andy Kubert's covers for the entire series. When you've tired of looking at artwork, maybe you can scroll down to the Newsarama comments section and get in on the heady debate over our depiction of giant prehistoric bats--apparently some people can accept time travel, immortality and invulnerable aliens from Krypton (subjects also depicted in our story) as plausible but giant prehistoric bats are just way over the top...You'll find many other thought-provoking reactions in the comments section as well, my favorites being "it looks retarded" and "Shirtless Batman. SOLD!"
--C

2010-03-22T12:10:00.002-04:00

Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne #1 Cover

Seems my work is all over the DC/Wildstorm blogs this morning...The variant cover for issue #1 of the Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne mini-series was posted HERE today and I've reposted it above. Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I don't like very much of my own work, but I really like this cover! It was inked by Karl Story and colored by the amazing Dave McCaig, whose colors I came to love on Next Wave by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen.

--C

2010-03-22T11:58:00.004-04:00

Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom Officially Announced/Scheduled At Last!

Woke up today to find this on the official Wildstorm blog:

http://wildstorm.blog.dccomics.com/2010/03/22/tom-strong-and-the-robots-of-doom-1-this-june/

Yay!

--C

2010-03-20T15:41:00.004-04:00

Another Peek at Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom

Editor Ben Abernathy tells me that the new Tom Strong mini-series, Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom is FINALLY going to be solicited for publication soon, with plans to have the first issue ship in either June or July. Hopefully you'll start seeing artwork and some serious promotion any day now. Until then, HERE'S a link to letterer Todd Klein's blog/website which features a panel (same as the one above, from page 2 of issue #2) and a few nice words about my and writer Peter Hogan's work on the book.

--C

2010-02-10T12:05:00.004-05:00

Human Target #1

The first issue of DC's new Human Target comic goes on sale today. This issue contains a five page short story by Peter Johnson (one of the producers of the TV series), myself and Karl Story. You can check out the story in its entirety (plus the cover and an introduction page by the book's regular creative team) on the DC Comics website. Don't let the free virtual pages keep you from buying the comic, though...

Also, don't write nasty sarcastic comments on message boards about Chance's scar being on the wrong side in my story...I'm well aware that I screwed up...!

--C

Update:
Well, the stuff I wrote about Chance's scar being on the wrong side in my Human Target story probably makes no sense to anyone who's seen the printed comic. Apparently someone caught my goof and flip-flopped the offending panels. It looks a little weird in the final product, and they didn't fix the panel with the knife on the third page, but it's better than leaving it as it was. Above is the messed-up panel from the final page and below is the bottom part of the other page as I originally drew it, goofs and all!

2010-02-01T15:38:00.008-05:00

Checklist
At some point very soon I hope to be able to start previewing material from Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1, including my own cover (the Andy Kubert cover being shown all over the web is actually a variant cover), which is among my favorite of my own recent pieces. In the meantime, here's something I stumbled across while cleaning some files and folders off of my computer this weekend: a checklist of my published work. I originally assembled this checklist at the request of Todd Dezago and Eric Nolen-Weathington for the Modern Masters book, but it was never actually published in the book (it may not ever have been intended for publication, but may have been meant only for use as reference for the interview and artwork selection). I should mention here that I was reluctant to include a couple of the items on the list because I just absolutely cannot stand to look at them and cringe at the thought of other people knowing about them, but I included everything because I know what it's like to be a collector and a completist! I've also updated it to include the work published since the list was originally compiled a year ago. Hope this is of interest to somebody out there!
--C

- ABC A – Z #1
- ABC Promo Trading Cards – Tom Strong & Pneuman card, given away at conventions

- The ABC Sketchbook

- Action Comics #872 - cover
- Ahab action figure packaging – headshot on back is from character figure design
- Alan Moore’s Awesome Universe Handbook #1 – unpublished Supreme cover used as pinup

- The Amazing Spider-Man - Greatest Villains 1995 Calendar – 1 pinup

- Amazon #5 – cover
- Ambush Bug Nothing Special #1
- America’s Best Comics 64 Page Giant #1 – reprints Wizard ABC Preview comic

- The Art of Star Wars Galaxy Volume Two – features pencil art for Star Wars Galaxy 2 card

- Authority #11 - 4 page Deathblow backup story
- Batman #443 – toy car insert
- Batman Annual #14
- Battlezones: Dream Team 2 #1 – pinup
- Bizarre Heroes #12 – con sketch reproduced inside
- Blue Beetle Companion – con sketch reproduced inside
- Chris Sprouse 2009 Sketchbook
- Comic Book Artist #25 – features several pieces of previously unpublished art plus interview
- DC Cosmic Teams Trading Cards – 10 Legionnaires cards
- Doom 2099 #37 – cover
- Ex Machina Special #1 – 2
- Femforce Pinup Portfolio #5 – pinup

- Gen13 Yearbook 1997 – pinup

- Ghost Rider 2099 – cover
- Global Frequency #8
- Grendel Black White & Red #4 – 8 pages
- Hammerlocke #1 - 9
- Hammerlocke ad in Sept. 1992 DC Comics
- Heroes Convention program book – 1992 (cover), 1997 - 1999 (pinups)

- Human Target #1- 5 page backup story

- Image Comics Annual Information Catalog 1994 – Wildstar pinup
- Judgment Day Omega #2 – 4 pages
- Judgment Day Sourcebook #1
- Justice League America #53 – 58 – covers
- Justice League America Annual #5
- Justice League Europe #13
- Justice League of America #3 – Superman variant cover
- Justice League Quarterly #1
- Justice League Quarterly Ad in Sept. 1990 DC Comics
- Kimota! The Miracleman Companion – con sketch reproduced inside
- Lady Supreme #2 – back cover and New Men preview
- Legends of the Dark Knight #27

- The Legion Companion – con sketches and previously unpublished art reproduced inside

- Legion of Super-Heroes #8, 33, 41,100 (pinup)
- Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #6 – pinup
- Legion of Super-Heroes Secret Files #2 – cover
- Legionaires #1 - 6, 8 – 12, 67 – 72 (covers), 75 - 76 (covers)
- Little White Mouse Series 3 #1 – back cover
- Lobo’s Greatest Hits trade paperback – 3 pages
- Malibu/Marvel Dream Team #1 – pinup

- The Many Worlds of Tesla Strong #1

- Mara Paper Doll Full Color All Star Benefit Book – pinup
- Midnighter #1 - 3, 4 (cover), 5, 6 - 9 (covers), 10, 11 – 15 (covers)
- Modern Masters vol. 21
- Nabisco Super Snack Tins – art for 4 tins and lids
- Negative Burn #23 – Cover
- New Men #21 - 23
- New Men ad in Aug. 1996 Maximum Press comics
- Ninjak #19 – 21 (covers)
- Number of the Beast #1 - 8
- Ocean #1 – 6
- Ocean trade paperback collection (1st edition) – features previously unpublished model sheets and promo art
- Ocean trade paperback collection (2nd edition) – features previously unpublished model sheets, sketches, layouts and promo art, some different from 1st edition)
- Prophet Trading Cards – 1 card
- Punisher Summer Special #2 – back cover
- Robin II #2 – cover
- Safety Belt Man #1 – Cover
- Savage Dragon #44 – pinup
- Savage Dragon Trading Cards – 1 card
- Scarlet Crush #1 – cover
- Secret Origins #42
- Sludge #4
- Spawn Trading Cards (Widevision) – 2 Cards
- Spectrum #9 – cover, interview and several previously unpublished pieces of art
- Spider-Man 2099 #39 – cover
- Spider-Man Classics #12, 13, 15 (covers)
- Spider-Man Hot Shots – licensing art reproduced as pinup
- Star Wars 30th Anniversary Collection #8 hardcover – written introduction
- Star Wars Galaxy 2 Trading card #265
- Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind’s Eye #1 - 4
- Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind’s Eye trade paperback – features new sketchbook section
- Starman #14, 24
- Supergirl #36 - cover
- Superman #39 – toy car insert
- Superman #683 - cover
- Superman Plus #1 – cover
- Supreme #12 (pinup), 50, 52a - 52b (covers), 53 - 56
- Supreme The Return #1
- Titan Special #1
- Tom Strong #1 – 19, 20 – 22 (covers), 23, 24, 25 – 30 (covers), 33 – 34 (covers), 35, 36
- Tom Strong Deluxe Collection Volume 1 - features new cover, gallery section
- Tom Strong Hardcover Collection volumes 1 – 6 – front and back covers plus model sheets and previously unpublished art
- Tom Strong Softcover Collection volumes 1 – 6 – same as above but with new front covers
- Tom Strong action figure set
- Tom Strong postcard – given away at 1998 conventions
- Transmetropolitan – Filth of the City – pinup

- The Ultimate Marvel Super Hero Toy Collector’s Guide – Ahab action figure designs reproduced

- Ultraverse Origins #1
- Uncanny X-Men #304
- War of the Gods #1 – 4 – pinups
- Who’s Who in the DC Universe (Looseleaf) #1, 4, 6, 11 – 13, 16, ’93 Update
- WildC.A.T.S. #11 - 4 page Deathblow backup story
- WildC.A.T.S. Adventures Sourcebook #1 – pinup
- WildC.A.T.S. Aliens #1
- WildC.A.T.S. Trading Cards (standard size) – 2 cards
- WildC.A.T.S. Trading Cards (Widevision) – 2 cards
- Wildstar The Ashcan – pinup
- Wildstar Trading Cards – 9
- Wildstar Vol. 2 #2 (pinup), 3 (trading cards used as back cover)
- Wildstorm Summer Special – pinup
- Wildstorm Ultimate Sports #1 – pinup
- Will Eisner’s The Spirit #7 – 8 pages
- Wizard #81 (Supreme pinup), 84 (Tom Strong character design reprinted), 91 (America’s Best Comics Preview comic)
- Worldstorm #1 – pinup
- X-Men 2099 #28 – cover
- X-Men vs. Dracula #1 – cover
- Xstacy the First Look Edition – pinup
- Youngblood Battlezone #2 – pinup
- Youngblood Strikefile #6, 7 (pinup)
- Youngblood Super Special #1
- Youngblood Trading Cards – 12 cards, 1 sticker
- Youngblood vol.2 #1 – variant cover

Upcoming work:

- Human Target #3 - 5 page backup story (on sale April 14)

- Tom Strong Deluxe Collection Volume 2 - featuring new cover and gallery section (on sale April 14)

- Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 (on sale May 12)

- Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #1-6 (on sale Spring/Summer 2010)

2010-01-18T12:39:00.003-05:00

Mid-Ohio Con Charity Auction
My post on last year's Mid-Ohio Con featured some photos of me drawing on stage(click HERE or scroll down a few posts to see the photos). Well, the Tom and Tesla Strong piece I drew that day is being auctioned off right now on ebay. The auction is raising money for the Hero Initiative, a nonprofit organization that creates a financial safety net for comic creators who need emergency medical aid, financial support for the essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. I lifted this description of the Hero Initiative from the official Mid-Ohio Con blog, which has more info on the auction and how you can take part, as well as a slide show of images of all of the artwork and other items being auctioned. Check it out!

Another photo of me working on the charity piece, thanks to Ed Boren

--C

2009-12-09T14:24:00.002-05:00

Wow! This morning DC Comics announced the project I'm working on at this very moment, the first issue of a Batman mini-series called The Return of Bruce Wayne. Click HERE to read an interview with the project's writer, Grant Morrison at USA Today's website. When I have some art I can share I'll post it here. I'll probably be doing a Newsarama.com interview soon and I'll post a link when it's up.
--C

2009-11-26T13:57:00.005-05:00

Thanksgiving Weekend 2009
We're having another relaxing Thanksgiving this year, compared to most I've had since moving to Ohio. Up until a few years ago, Mid-Ohio Con was always held on Thanksgiving weekend and I had to scramble to get work done before the show, while Xan had to face the retail nightmare of Black Friday. Now we can take it slow like normal human beings and find time to do things like blog and eat and sleep...

Anyway, it was recently announced that I'm working on some short stories for the new DC/Wildstorm comic mini-series The Human Target, so I suppose it's now okay to talk about that and share some artwork. The series is based on the upcoming Fox TV series of the same name, which is in fact based on an old DC comic(!). It's an action/adventure show with a pretty decent cast and crew, many from past movies and TV series I've enjoyed, so I'm looking forward to it. HERE's a link to some preview videos for the series. The stories I'm working on are written by Peter Johnson, an executive producer on the TV show, and they're really quite good, full of all kinds of Steranko-inspired or Eisner-esque action sequences. I'm enjoying myself, but they're challenging scripts! As a side note, I've posted the model sheet I did for the main character on the art sales site, so you can have a peek at it. I should mention before anyone starts criticizing my likeness of the actor that on many licensed projects, comic artists are often told to not get too close yet retain the basic look of the actor--I'm sure it's some legal thing--and this was one of those projects.

Have a good holiday!

Above: a panel from my second Human Target short story

--C

2009-10-29T15:12:00.007-04:00

New Projects

While finishing up Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom, I've done a few small jobs here and there. Below is the pencil art for the second Tom Strong Deluxe Edition (which collects Tom Strong issues 13-24 and features some bonus material), scheduled to ship in April of next year. Above is the pencil art for a couple of covers for the Wildstorm books WildC.A.T.S. and The Authority which form one single large image when placed side by side. I have no details yet on which issues will feature these covers or when they'll hit the stands. I've posted the preliminary layout art for these covers on the art sales blog as well.
--C

2009-10-21T08:44:00.005-04:00

Mid-Ohio Con 2009
This year's Mid-Ohio Con has come and gone, and now--weeks later--I'm finally getting around to doing a write-up on the show. Punctual as ever, that's me! For the second year in a row, I started off the charity on-stage drawing sessions, first thing on Saturday morning. Then it was back to my booth for all-day sketching and signing. I saw lots of familiar faces and several new ones, but the day was incredibly busy and passed by very quickly! As usual, the fans at the show were universally nice and friendly, one of the reasons I've always enjoyed this con! Xan showed up after work and got to socialize and do a little shopping before we headed out to dinner with friends at Dirty Frank's, a funky little restaurant in downtown Columbus specializing in really tasty hot dogs. Sunday saw me doing time all day at the booth again, busy enough that I never got to take a spin around the dealer's room--rats! Xan threw in the towel around 3PM, finally giving in to her nasty cold. I ended up going to dinner at nearby microbrewery Barley's with Renee Witterstaetter, Michael Golden, Steve Scott, and Joe Jusko. I stayed out too late, but I always love hanging out with Michael and Renee, and I haven't seen Steve Scott in a dozen years, plus I'd never met Joe, so the night was interesting and lots of fun! Lots of tech talk, good food, good stories and general geeking out was had by all. I have no other convention appearances lined up for the foreseeable future, which is good, as I have lots of work to do this winter (finishing up the last issue of Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom and starting a couple of other neat projects), but I'm sure I'll be back at Mid-Ohio Con next year and probably one or two other shows as well. In other news, the art sales blog is now finally up to date--I'm all out of Tom Strong pages after many years of carrying around that one last straggler from issue #35, and the unfinished pencil pages and prelims are almost all sold out. That's okay--I'm making new ones every day! I'll post new art for sale occasionally for the rest of the year, but I expect a huge amount of new stuff to be up early next year after Karl and I divide up the Robots of Doom pages. I still haven't offered up any pages from my Spirit story or the Deathblow job from last year, but those should be up for sale at the same time as the new Tom Strong pages. This week, I've added the cover sketch for the second Tom Strong Deluxe Collection and the 2009 sketchbook as well--check 'em out! --C

Finishing up the on-stage charity drawing on Saturday morning (photos by Ed Boren)

The Robot Monster gets in some pre-Holiday shopping on Sunday afternoon

2009-10-08T21:22:00.003-04:00

The Sick of Moltar

Hey everyone! I have bronchitis! Truthfully, I was kind of excited to be diagnosed with bronchitis, because that meant I didn't have H1N1. I'm on a regimen of huge doses of antibiotics and have the Chris Rock universal cure, Robitussin with codeine, so I'm going to go back to sleep in a minute since the fever I have is keeping me from being clever enough to write more than this paragraph. Chris is feeling pretty nasty too, but he's as of yet undiagnosed. He seems to have a nasty cold, no chest stuff like me. Aside from the fun we had at Mid Ohio Con (my friend Steve Swanson let me read the Muppet News with him on his super cool podcast, the Muppet Cast! More info here or you can download the podcast on iTunes), I doubt we'll have much to talk about until Christmas thanks to this dumb illness. We even postponed celebrating our wedding anniversary, which was October 2nd. 7 years! I'd be excited if I could just stop coughing!

2009-09-27T18:27:00.008-04:00

Mid-Ohio Con

It's time for Mid-Ohio Con again! I'll be a guest at Ohio's biggest and longest-running (29 years!) comic convention this upcoming weekend. The con is at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in downtown Columbus on October 3rd and 4th. Click HERE for more info. I'll be there all day both days, signing comic books, drawing sketches and selling original artwork. This year I'll also have one of those little sketchbook thingies full of character designs, layouts and previously unpublished pencil and ink drawings from throughout my career (below is the sketchbook's cover, the original unpublished/unaltered version of my Modern Masters cover art). Come by and say "hi!" and browse and shop. There are plenty of really good guests this year, everyone from comics legend Dick Ayers to guys whose work I grew up reading like Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Bernie Wrightson, and Mike Grell . Michael Golden, P. Craig Russell, Ron Frenz and Barry Kitson will also be there, along with local creators Sean McKeever, Darryl Banks, Dave Aikins and Andy Bennett. Throw in a few Hollywood genre actors from Star Wars and Heroes and it sounds like a good time! See you there!

Update:
The 2009 Sketchbooks are now up for sale on the art sales blog!

--C

2009-09-25T14:25:00.005-04:00

First New Tom Strong Page Hits the Web

The above image, a pencilled page from Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #2, mysteriously appeared without any accompanying text today on the official Wildstorm blog, The Bleed. This is the first art most people have seen from the series other than the cover art for issue #1 which has been published in the Tom Strong Deluxe Collection Vol. 1 and the After Watchmen What's Next? version of Tom Strong #1. Looks like the promotion for the series is starting at long last...

--C

2009-09-19T14:06:00.006-04:00

Goofy Stuff
When we watch a TV show or movie with a scene that takes place in a comic book store, Xan and I will usually scour the background of the scene for comics I've drawn. It feels a bit narcissistic, I'll admit, but I'm pretty certain I'm not the only comic book artist who does this...Anyway, many years ago, I spotted an issue of Legionnaires on a coffee table in an episode of Roseanne, and that was pretty much it for a while. Then last month, Xan and I spotted the cover of my Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye adaptation in the comic shop in the film Fanboys. See for yourself--it's the second comic down on the far left of the screencap below:

Today, while watching the second season of Big Bang Theory on DVD, Xan picked out the second Tom Strong paperback collection on a shelf in one scene. It's just to the left and behind Raj's head in the following screencap:

Again, a little self-centered, but it always provides a cheap little thrill. Plus, for all I know, this may be the only time anything of mine ever ends up on the big or small screen!

One final note for this post: I just updated my art blog, SprouseNet Art Emporium, so that it's current as far as what's still available after the Aviles festival. I lowered some prices on some pages and provided an art sales-only email address for easier purchasing as well--buyers won't have to bother with MySpace anymore. I'll also be bringing all of the art pictured to Mid-Ohio Con in a few weeks, so you can check out the artwork in person there.

--C

2009-09-15T16:25:00.036-04:00

XIV JORNADAS de COMIC VILLA de AVILÉS

As I posted last time, I was invited to appear at a Spanish convention last week. Xan and I packed up and caught a plane to Madrid, then (eventually) on to Aviles, a city near the northern coast of Spain. The convention, which was actually a government-sponsored festival celebrating comics from all over the world, was unlike anything I'd ever experienced! We had so much fun! We met so many wonderful people--fans, festival staffers, other comics pros and even the mayor(!), and had so many excellent meals full of fantastic food and great conversation.

The town of Aviles itself was beautiful and very welcoming. We stayed in the old town center, full of ancient medieval buildings and loads of shops, cafes and restaurants. Our days began with a huge lunch at one of several local restaurants, followed by several hours of outdoor sketching and conversation at a cafe just off the town square(luckily the weather was amazing nearly every single day). Every day, one of the attending professionals had his or her own press conference and a presentation in the town's cultural center. At 10PM every night, we'd usually adjourn to the hotel lobby for a little more sketching and talking until the staff took us out for dinner--more food, lots of socializing, and often still more sketching. If we had any energy remaining after dinner, nights usually ended up with most or all of us hanging out in a makeshift bar in the festival's dealer tent, still drawing and talking. Even with all of the around-the-clock sketching, I still wasn't able to get to every fan who wanted a drawing. I hated disappointing any of the fans because they were all so warm and polite and very patient. I definitely intend to return to Aviles, so maybe I'll do better next time. I am happy to report that Tom Strong sells pretty well in Spain and seems to have a decent following.The series has been collected in hardcover albums much like the European comics albums I grew up reading, with paper and printing superior to that of the U.S. collections. I couldn't resist buying them all, along with a Spanish Ocean trade paperback. Anyway, on our final full day in Spain, the festival organizers treated us to a field trip to the nearby seaside city of Gijon, one of the most beautiful places either Xan or myself have visited, with fantastic architecture and breathtaking ocean vistas.

We'd like to send out a big "thank you!" to Jorge, German, Angel, Hugo and Roberto for inviting us, taking care of us and showing us such an amazing time!

Clockwise:

- the unusual architecture of the Madrid airport, where we spent an unexpected and unpleasant three hours

- the streets of Aviles

- I haven't been to a convention in over a decade where I didn't see someone dressed up like a stormtrooper, and this festival kept that tradition going!

Top to bottom:

- outdoor sketching at the cafe

- the dealer tent just outside the Aviles Cultural Center

- Spanish fans enjoying their comics outdoors

Clockwise:

- the town hall at night

- poster for the festival in the town square

- a local church we saw during one of our nighttime walks around the city

Clockwise:

- talking with my hands too much during my presentation in the Cultural Center

- signing and sketching

- Spanish Tom Strong albums

Clockwise:

- Meeting with the mayor of Aviles

- a local news photographer has me pose on the mayor's balcony

- the festival was city-wide--here a young girl looks at comic pages exhibited in the local shopping mall...when we saw these pages up close, we realized the poor girl had probably been scarred for life...

Xan & I spent a lot of time walking around the city taking photos of unusual storefronts and signage. Here are some of my favorites, clockwise:

- This store's name translates as "The King of Ham..."

- ...and here's "The Royal House of Ham

- This restaurant sign seems to suggest that the Octopus you can order from the menu will pour it's own drawn butter, or perhaps that the bartender has tentacles...

Clockwise:

- a lunch of tapas and cider

- fellow comics pros Rodney Ramos and Renee Witterstaetter

- carved and painted seal in a park at the Cultural Center

Top to bottom:

- one of the many fine restaurants we enjoyed

- here are some of the festival organizers at dinner, including the wonderful German and Jorge

- and speaking of wonderful, here's Fables artist Mark Buckingham with the sketch he did for Xan

Top to bottom:

- fans and pros head to a local bar/disco in the wee hours of the morning

- comics letterer extraordinaire Ken Lopez and me

- Christine and Jim Cheung; Jim was one of the hardest working pros at the con, often sketching at dinner and long into the night

Comic pro guests, top to bottom:

- Mark Buckingham and Lady Buckhingham, the delightful Irma

- Doug Braithwaite and wife Sue

- Gary Erskine and his partner Mhairi with Hello Kitty and Rodney Ramos in the background

More pros, top to bottom:

- Fiona Stephenson and Dean Ormston

- Herb Trimpe and wife Patricia

- Scott Hampton and wife Letitia with Patricia Trimpe

Gijon, top to bottom:

- the harbor

- the lovely Xan overlooking the sea with German and Mhairi in the background

- German, Irma and other guests reach the top of the cliffs overlooking the sea at Gijon

More Gijon, top to bottom:

- local open air market

- just one of the examples of amazing architecture from this city

- a view of Gijon from the beach

--C

2009-09-06T03:42:00.002-04:00

We're off to Spain!

Xan and I are packed and ready to go to Aviles in northern Spain today. I'm a guest at the convention you see advertised in the poster above, and I've heard nothing but good things about the con and the city, so I'm looking forward to it. Click HERE to go to the convention's website. I'll try to post some photos while we're there, provided our hotel has a good internet connection.

--C

2009-08-20T21:03:00.004-04:00

More Art Added

I just received my share of the Andy Smith-inked pages from Number Of The Beast and I've added them to the art sales site, SprouseNet Art Emporium. The panel above is from page 18 of issue #6, which is one of the new additions.

My copies of the first Tom Strong Deluxe Collection were delivered yesterday--astonishingly early, as that book won't be in stores for another month. It's a nice-looking collection with previously unpublished extra material in the back, including my oldest surviving sketches of Tom, Tesla and Pneuman. It's very cool to have such a large chunk of the series (a full 1/3, the first twelve issues) in one book. Look for it in your local comic or book store starting Sept. 16. As a bonus, there's a tiny little preview of art from Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom in the back of the book...

Speaking of September, we finally received our tickets and itinerary for our trip to Aviles, Spain. We'll be there for a comics festival from Sept. 6-14. Come out and say "Hola!" if you're in the North of Spain that week!

Cover art for Tom Strong Deluxe Collection Vol.1

--C

2009-08-05T15:19:00.003-04:00

Update - Art and More

I just added four new pieces of art to the SprouseNet Art Emporium site: the Tom Strong prelim you see above, a Midnighter prelim, and two pencil pages I abandoned/rejected from Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom. I know--I still haven't shown any art from the series, but these rejects provide a glimpse of what's to come.

In other news, I had a good birthday at the end of last month. I had a fun night of pizza and trivia games with Xan's family--Xan's mom has a birthday the day before mine, so it was a double celebration. On Thursday, Xan showered me with excellent gifts: season 4.5 of Battlestar Galactica on DVD, a brand new BSG "making-of" book, a rare Jason Falkner CD, and a great new art/messenger bag that I hope to be using for years! The bag has a compartment large enough for comic art pages, a padded laptop section, and about a million little pockets and holders for pens, pencils and other art supplies--I love it! The two of us then hit the road for a day full of geek-centric shopping, a long-standing birthday tradition for us. We started off by hitting a few local antique/vintage collectible malls. After the last post Xan wrote, it's probably pretty obvious what she was hoping to find! I enjoy browsing through these kinds of places because I often find cool unexpected treasures, from old toys and other collectibles to antique art supplies. Mostly, it's just good nostalgic fun--antique stores are in the Sprouse blood--my Dad's family has owned and run an vintage furniture and collectible store for close to forty years--and the look and smell of such places sends me right back to summer vacations in Charlottesville. Anyway, Xan ended up coming away with a great bracelet form a vintage jewelry dealer and I kept the Battlestar Galactica theme of this birthday going when I found an old lighter just like the one used by Edward James Olmos in that series. One of my few remaining hobbies is collecting sci-fi movie and TV props, so the lighter was a really nice discovery! Next, we hit some used music and movie stores for some more rummaging, then it was on to a dinner of enchiladas and tacos at a local Mexican restaurant. I hate being (ugh!) middle-aged, but birthdays like this one help soften the blow!

--C

2009-08-02T01:00:00.008-04:00

Pezamania 2009

For various reasons, in all my years of collecting Pez (this is Xan writing this first person blog. Hiya.), I've never been able to make it to the Pezamania convention. Since Pezamania is in Independence, Ohio (aka 15 minutes south of downtown Cleveland), getting to one of these conventions doesn't seem like much of a feat, but something always happened to prevent my going. I started collecting around the same time I started college, so the traditional collegiate poverty prevented my going back in the mid 1990s. Yet after this passed, the Pez fates never seemed to be on my side. Wether it was not being able to get the time off of work, other events the same weekend, or the basement flooding, something always got in the way.

I was determined to break this cycle this year. As soon as my office opened up the system to time off requests, I requested the weekend, and once I found I'd been approved started saving money. Nothing says buzz kill like being able to go to a Pez convention, but having it just be window shopping because you didn't financially prepare. Chris reserved the hotel in February, and I registered both of us the same night so we could be registered guests and be part of the festivities. Nothing except possibly another monsoon in the basement was going to prevent this trip. Thankfully, the basement stayed dry and this year for Pezamania 19, I was finally able to attend.

I wasn't sure what to expect from a Pez convention. Would it be full of dealers selling only very rare and expensive dispensers, or people with just the most recent stuff? I was quite pleased to find that Pezamania is both, and everything in between. From the guy with the $.50 recent dispensers to author and well known collector David Welch's ultra rare pieces (he had a Sparefroh with a coin, which in Pez language means $$$$$), this show ran the gamut. I was able to find vintage Pez, find pieces I was missing from newer series, and several foreign series. Not to mention all of the non dispenser Pez related stuff such as the 12" plush and the 12" coin banks. Oh, and handmade crafts from Pez fabric, like a very warm and cozy polar fleece Pez blanket and a handmade Pez tote.

I went Pez insane. And I loved it.

Going to this convention was as fun as my first Motor City Comic Con, which was my first comic convention. It was so much fun to be completely immersed in my hobby, and around people who understand this sickness that is obsessive Pez collecting. So often when I tell people I collect Pez, I get reactions like "They still make Pez?" Chris has gotten similar comments when he tells people he draws comic books, so he knows how much this feels like no one is interested in what I'm interested. I met so many very nice people, including Shawn Peterson and David Welch, who literally wrote the books on Pez collecting. My copy of Shawn Peterson's book is all marked up and dog-eared from constant use and reference. Some of the dealers I met were so much fun, and so were the guests.

The convention was quite different than other toy shows or comic conventions. According to the itinerary provided online by the convention organizers (who were fantastic people and very sweet), Wednesday began registration which continued until Friday, and Thursday and Friday included "Room Hopping". At first I thought this meant that the convention wasn't able to procure a large ballroom, but instead was able to get a few conference rooms. This was not the case. Room Hopping was literally, hopping from hotel room to hotel room. The dealers set up their Pez wares on the beds, desks, and windowsills of their hotel rooms, made signs for their doors which they propped open, and registered guests just hopped from room to room buying stuff. This was quite fun, and gave me a chance to meet and talk to a lot of neat people. While it was a bit cramped in the rooms, Pez isn't very large so even a single room could fit a lot of Pez to browse. And with rooms spread over 2 floors with a room or 2 peppered in on the 3rd and 4th floors, there was plenty to look at. By the end of room hopping on Thursday I was able to purchase exactly what I'd specifically wanted to get at this show and then some.

Thursday began with Chris and I sleeping in (the most lovely and decadent way to start a vacation) and taking our time on the drive up to Cleveland. The show was at a Holiday Inn, so we checked in (if you can swing being in the same hotel as a convention, I highly recommend it), registered, and just went right up to our room to dump the luggage and check out the registration packets. Every convention has a convention exclusive Pez, pins and t-shirts, so I was anxious to check those out. This show even provided tote bags with registration, and this was incredibly handy. As soon as we were settled and the luggage was dropped off, I was ready to race down to the rooms for hopping. My first course of action was to find Red Conroy to whom I owed money from my last toy show Pez spree. I met Red at one of the Dayton Ohio toy shows held at Hara Arena, where he allowed me to owe him for some dispensers. Since I never write checks anymore I kept forgetting to send him the money I owed him, so I shamefully owed him longer than was polite. I knew he would be at this show, so this was the first thing I did. He was so sweet about it and hadn't seemed to sweat it, so I gave him the money I owed, then gave him more money for some new stuff. He and I talked about the next Hara show, and I'm sure I'll buy lots from him again.

After Red's room, I found myself in David Welch's room since I could tell from the hallway that what he had on display was amazing. From him I was finally able to get the Little Orphan Annie dispenser I've been wanting for quite some time, as well as an as close to pristine as possible soft head Wonder Woman. I was determined to find Annie, so it was great to find it so early. I kept hopping and hopping until my satchel was full of Pez and Chris had no more room in his backpack, at which time we went back to the room so I could grab my suitcase of duplicates to take to the swap party.

I made some nice trades and was able to empty the suitcase a bit, which was great. Especially since I traded for some Giant Pez, and those are so expensive that I'm not always jumping to buy them new. After swapping was "Pezamania Wars", which was a ballroom filled with people playing the card game War, and winner playing winner until last man standing. Chris and I split up and played other people so we'd have a better chance at winning something, but we were both eliminated the same round, which was the round BEFORE participant prizes were given. Of course. But we met nice people and had fun, so while prizes are always nice, not winning didn't ruin the evening or anything.

Now by this point Thursday, I had been so Pez crazed that I'd completely neglected to consider things like dinner and once I noticed this realized that I was starving. Chris was too, poor guy. He's so sweet to just let me go nuts and starve him! Not much was around that was still open besides a Denny's, but we were all about the Denny's by this point. It was open and right across the street from the hotel, which meant it was perfect.

Friday saw us once again sleeping in (the hotel room was so dark it was easy to stay in bed) and room hopping. Again, I was able to find a lot of stuff and meet fun people, and going back to the room to drop off stuff. There was another game event that night called "Diceamania", but the previous night Chris and I met a very nice couple who told us that there was now a second Big Fun vintage toy store location in Lakewood, so we decided to check that out instead. Dicemania might have been something cool since the prizes were great, but I wasn't feeling lucky, so we spent Friday night browsing Big Fun, then eating at IHOP.

Saturday morning was the official show date, and all of the dealers had moved from their rooms to the ballroom, and the show opened to the public with just a door admission, no registration required. Now to see a hotel ballroom convention type setting with nothing but Pez (and the occasionally Klix for some ungodly reason) was like my Woodstock. Seriously, this was so cool. Chris was tired and had a migraine, so I went down without him intending to meet up with him later. But honestly, thanks to the room hopping, I'd seen most of the dealers so after one or two laps around the ballroom, I was done! This was the day I bought the fabric crafty stuff like my new Pez tote bag and Pez blanket which I love! It is so cozy! The show opened at 9:30 so since I had been up late the night before, once I was done browsing the ballroom at around 11, I was ready for a nap! I went back to the room where Chris was still sleeping and napped until it was time to go meet his family.

Chris' grandmother, uncle and aunt were passing through Ohio the same weekend as the Pez convention, so Saturday we drove back down to Mansfield to hang out with them for a bit and have dinner. Had we not had the hotel room until Sunday we would have just gone back home after visiting, but we went back to the Holiday Inn. This was nice as this meant we could spend some time in Cleveland on Sunday as well before seeing family again.

Now, a little side note on this Holiday Inn. It was a nice hotel, but it had a cocktail lounge that was classic. Thursday night it featured a Chicago cover band (!), Friday was what seemed like business people cutting loose and being inappropriately flirty, and Saturday was a class reunion, complete with alumni wearing leather pants and shiny shirts and dancing to 50 Cent's "In Da Club". Chris was pretty appalled that I knew the lyrics to that one.

Okay, back to Sunday. Chris and I go to Cleveland a lot, but often it is for concerts and due to time constraints, we go for the show and nothing else. We also visit my family, so until this trip Chris had seen Highland Heights, Coventry Road, The House of Blues and the Beachland Ballroom. This trip we were able to do a lot of driving (Lakewood is west side, our hotel was east side, so we drove through the city and along the lake to get to Lakewood) and Chris was able to see more of the city. Of course, we still wanted to check out the Coventry Big Fun, since Chris wanted to check out their G.I. Joe section.

Before we hit Big Fun, I wanted to check out a place that had provided little candy goodie bags for registered Pezamania guests. The place is called B.A. Sweetie, and it is a candy warehouse. It is in Brooklyn which is near Parma, and I'm not often in that part of Cleveland, so I'd never heard of this place and was excited to check it out. This place is a candy heaven. Granted, I'm 33 and as such, candy isn't all I want to spend my money on anymore, but I have to admit, candy is still fun as hell. This place had all of my favorite Ferrera Pan candies as well as just about everything else sans chocolate that I love. They also sell Pez, and even though what they sell is the current series (I'm caught up on what's currently in production-as of the writing of this blog I am missing like 1 NASCAR helmet) I was still in awe of their wall of Pez. I think I'm going to make this place a stop on my tours of Cleveland when I go. Big Fun, IHOP, and now B.A. Sweetie.

So that was our Pez filled vacation. I had a fantastic time, and it was so great that Chris was able to come with me. He's not a Pez collector, but he found some stuff he thought was very cool, and even bought himself a flashlight in the shape of the psychedelic hand dispenser that he hooked to his backpack. I am going to try to make sure I can make it next year too. After my haul from this conve ntion, my collection total is now around 960, so I now can't wait to break 1000. If the new series coming out this year don't get me there, Pezamania 20 surely will!

If you're interested in more details regarding the basement flood, let me know. It was the 2nd basement flood Chris and I have dealt with since we've been married, and it was not the last.

The spoils of day one (top), day two (middle) and day three (bottom) of Pezamania
--X

2009-07-09T02:27:00.004-04:00

More Surprises Today!
I didn't get my complimentary copies of the "After Watchmen What's Next?" version of Tom Strong #1 today, so Xan and I ran out to the local comic shop (The Laughing Ogre) and grabbed a couple of copies. Buried in the middle of the reprint of the first issue of Tom Strong was the following advertisement(click on the image for a larger version of the picture, or better yet, go out and buy the AWWN? Tom Strong #1 to see the actual ad because my scan is kind of crappy):

This was almost as unexpected and exciting as the box of Modern Masters books from earlier today! Maybe news about the Ocean film is next...

I'm thinking my next blog will be about how impatient I am to find a million bucks in my mailbox...

--C

2009-07-08T14:25:00.003-04:00

I feel kind of stupid now--stupid but happy...After my post last night about how impatient I was for certain things (my Modern Masters book, for example) I woke up this morning to find a box full of Modern Masters Vol. 21 waiting for me on my doorstep, fresh from the printer! The book looks great and even managed to surprise me with a very nice and touching introduction written by Karl Story--thanks, Karl! I also want to thank Eric Nolen-Weathington for getting it all started and overseeing everything, and also for dealing with my control-freakish tendencies when it came to art selection. Todd Dezago also deserves massive thanks and appreciation for keeping me talking and bringing out some good stuff in the interviews we did. Thanks, guys!

Like I said in an earlier post, I feel neither modern nor like a master of anything, but this book turned out pretty spiffy! I'm guessing it'll be in stores next Wednesday.
--C

2009-07-07T21:45:00.004-04:00

Is No News Really Good News?
There are a few things going on in my career recently that I've been waiting for impatiently--at times, it seems like nothing's ever moving forward! The wait for Modern Masters Vol. 21, for instance, is driving me nuts! The book's publishing date keeps getting pushed back, as it did once again last week, this time to July 15. That's right around the corner, but we've been there before...

Another thing I've been anxious about is an upcoming trip to Spain for a convention appearance. I was invited last year and have been waiting for news ever since. Something positive to report on this front, though: today I noticed the convention's website has been updated and there's even a tentative GUEST LIST in place. Yay!

Then there's the Ocean movie adaptation--absolutely no movement there for...ever. Maybe this is typical with Hollywood, maybe not.

Finally, I've been waiting for some sort of nod from the powers-that-be so I can start promoting the upcoming Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom series I've been working on all year. I'd like to show off some art and start talking up the series instead of just teasing and dropping hints. I don't want to give away plot points or spoil the story for anyone, I just love this book want to share some of what I've been doing lately. I know I say this every time I post these days, but, I'll post some art from the series soon...

...for now, here's another weird little sketchbook piece:

--C

2009-07-04T01:49:00.004-04:00

I got the official invitation from the Mid-Ohio Con guys this week, so if you're in Columbus, OH over the weekend of October 3rd & 4th, come to the con and see us! Click HERE to get all the details straight from the source. I'm sure I'll blog more about the show as the date approaches.
--C

2009-06-14T21:16:00.006-04:00

Modern Masters Preview

My volume of Modern Masters is listed on the TwoMorrows Publishing site (Click HERE) as shipping on June 26. For those of you who want a preview, HERE's another link, this time to Todd Dezago's blog. Todd conducted the interview with me that makes up the text of the book, and he's reprinted an excerpt from that interview on his blog. Thanks, Todd! For those who don't know, Todd is the writer and co-creator of the wonderful Tellos and Perhapanauts comics, two series well worth checking out.

--C

Update:

It looks like the publication date for this book has been pushed back again--now the Two Morrows site is showing July 10 as the date Modern Masters vol. 21 will be in stock.

2009-06-10T10:14:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday, Mike!

Today is my brother Mike's birthday. To commemorate the day, here's another old photo of the two of us, this time taken at the Smithsonian's Star Trek exhibit in Wahington D.C. in the 90's...

--C

2009-06-06T00:46:00.005-04:00

A Quick Comics Update

Above: a Tom Strong drawing from my sketchbook

As of this week, there are currently three new books on the racks at your local comic book shop featuring my work: WildC.A.T.S. #11, Authority #11, and a new trade paperback edition of Ocean featuring a new sketchbook section and a few new character design sheets that didn't make the first edition.

I am currently still hard at work on Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom. I'm also spending some time tonight and this weekend compiling previously unpublished art for inclusion in the three forthcoming Tom Strong deluxe hardcover collections. That's right--good news for the SprouseNet readers wondering about the content and format of these slightly over-sized books: I can now tell everyone that Wildstorm is planning to collect the entire series in three volumes, with lots of extras and new cover art. I can't wait to see these things myself!

The PlanktonPod has a new playlist now. It's currently loaded with a Jason Falkner playlist. Falkner is a criminally underrated power pop artist whose work is maddeningly difficult to find in U.S. stores, but it's almost all available on iTunes or at Amazon.com--go check it out!

--C

2009-06-01T13:35:00.003-04:00

O Canada

As the April trip Chris and I took to Canada didn't end particularly well, I've been reluctant to blog about it as I've not wanted to remember how and why our vacation came to a screeching halt. But it's June now, and being lucky enough to be counted amongst the living, I think it's time I got back to my life and the normal things I do, like blogging. Chris posted the photos a few entries before this, so now I'm here to post the details.

So hey, we went to Canada in April! The Fan Expo April Fan Appreciation show happened to fall on my birthday this year, so we jumped at the invite our friend Tiziano extended to Chris to be a guest at the show. The Fan Expo shows in Toronto are always great shows, and you can find more information about the big one in August here. Chris and I figured since we usually take a road trip on birthdays, Toronto would be a great destination. We could do the show, see friends, and buy geeky stuff, a perfect birthday.

We went up early to see our friends Sara and Henning and their 2 kids, Gavin and Vala. We arrived Thursday night when the kids were being put to bed, so we came in quietly as not to cause excitement right before bedtime. Us grownups stayed up late chatting and snacking, and we managed to not wake the children. The next day was a lazy day for everyone except Gavin, who we heard tried to scale the preschool fence for some reason! When he came home, we packed up the kids and Sara took me and Chris to a diner called The Fickle Pickle. Very cool little place, and I recommend the reuben. Chris kept Vala's attention by drawing animals on her placemat, and she was pretty impressed.

After lunch the plan was a nap for Vala, and Sara would go into the city with Chris and I to hang out, since Chris has seen very little of Toronto. We usually go for the convention, and we never seem to build in enough time to do the show and see other parts of the city. When I was there by myself last year, Sara took me to Queen Street with all the fun shops so I figured this would be a good thing to show Chris, too. Well, Vala did not like this plan, at least the nap part of it, so Henning and the kids came with us. Rather than drag the kids into a boring old record shop, we decided to walk along the waterfront since none of us had spent much time there. It was very pretty, and Chris and I realized that on previous trips we'd been really close to the water and had no idea, thus proving how we don't get out enough while in Toronto. We stopped at a coffee shop for snacks and drinks, and I ordered a a raspberry lemonade smoothie that Gavin wanted to try. He liked it so much he held onto it as I tried to pull it back, and when I said "Gavin, this is MY drink" he responded with "But I just want to drink it." Oh, okay, if that's all you were going to do... kids! So then of course this meant I played a game of "MINE" with someone 30 years younger than me. I need to grow up. But at least I won that round. He's a hilarious child.

After the waterfront, Sara and Henning took the kids home and Chris and I checked into our hotel. Well not before we went to the drugstore on the corner for something to drink. I am a huge fan of Canadian snack foods and beverages, so I was happy to see that I could stock up on Red Tangerine Fanta, Fries'N Gravy Lays and Maynard's anything, really. Maynard's makes gummi candy that is amazing and north of the border only, so I spent most of my time on a major sugar high. We pretty much went right to bed after showers that night, since convention(kids+walking)=exhausted.

The convention itself was as always great fun. They kindly provided lunch so I was able to get my Pizza Pizza fix, and Chris had a line most of the time and that is always a mark of a good show. I finally got to meet the real live persona of Johnny Sarcastic, who is a great guy and has agreed to be my Canadian Pez hookup. He's already hooked me up with the Canadian/Euro versions of the Disney Fairies, and is currently keeping his eyes peeled for the plush whale I still need. He's a good egg, that Johnny!

I usually try to keep my spending to a minimum since I don't want to deal with customs, but I found a new obsession, KidRobot Simpsons toys. There is currently a series of 24, and I have 13 so far. They come in unmarked packaging, so you have no idea which character you are buying until you open it. And there is no cheating or peeking, since they all have the same UPC numbers, and they are sealed in foil bags inside the boxes. They are like trading cards, and it is so exciting to get one you don't have, and just as heartbreaking to get one that is a duplicate.

Saturday night, the convention organizers took us to dinner at this very cool restaurant called Richtree. It has the look of an open market, but they give you a card that gets swiped at every station you get food from, and this way you don't have to be carrying a tray and fumbling with money at the same time, you just cash out the card at the checkout. It was very cool, and the food, specifically the potato rosti, was amazing. The place has no plans for US expansion, so I recommend it if you are ever in the Toronto area. I liked it so much, I made Chris take me there for dinner again Sunday night for my birthday!

Sunday at the convention, Tiziano came up to me with a birthday cake! It was so sweet of him and it was very fun to have pretty much everyone know it was my birthday! This cake was a light sponge cake with raspberry and a cheesecake filling. I must ask the name of the bakery since I think I'll have my cake next year imported. Thanks again everyone from Fan Expo, this was a great time!

After the show, we drove around a bit looking for places we might want to go Monday after we checked out of the hotel and before we drove back. Johnny Sarcastic mentioned that Pez can often be found at the dollar stores, but the one we found had closed like 6 minutes before we got there, so we just went back to the hotel, packed and relaxed before our long drive the next day. Of course, then next day we wound up racing to Cleveland as fast as possible, but I'm glad we did. We got there in time for me to see my cousin before she succumbed to her injury from the day before (I'm trying not to focus on the fact that this happened on my birthday). Even though she was in a coma, I was glad I had one last chance to see her. Chris drove, thankfully, and he got me to Ohio quickly and legally, and I am forever grateful for that. I was in no condition to drive, that's for sure.

Next time we're in Toronto, I have to make sure to make time to get Chris to Queen Street. Hopefully we'll be back soon, since I'm almost out of my Maynard's stockpile.

2009-05-21T13:52:00.004-04:00

Click here for a link to an interview I did late last year for the Italian comics magazine Scuola Di Fumeto. Thanks to Smoky Man, who did the original interview and posted the English translation. Above are some images from the magazine, which is very nicely laid out and puts most U.S. magazines about comic books to shame! And for those waiting for me to post new Tom Strong art, below is a commissioned piece I've never shown before. I'll start previewing Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom here next month.

--C

2009-05-05T12:34:00.007-04:00

Comics Update
Again, hard not to feel like this all doesn't matter all that much, but I thought I'd update folks on what's going on with my comics work:

First, I'm happy to say that the Modern Masters book is finished. It only needs an introduction and final artwork approval and it's ready to go to press. I found it very strange talking about myself in such detail for so long, especially since I get very nervous when in the spotlight. I usually hate interviews (excruciating!), but Todd Dezago (friend and writer of Perhapanauts) made it a fairly relaxed and fun process. Editor Eric Nolen-Weathington chose plenty of great pieces to illustrate the book, with the majority of the artwork never before published. I'm pretty happy with it. Hopefully the book will be out in late May or early June. Stay tuned!

Work continues on Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom. Still not sure if it's okay to share artwork yet...soon! For now, I'll just post some recent sketchbook pages. While doing the Modern Masters interview and attending the Toronto show I started to feel like a bit of a hypocrite as I advised aspiring artists to practice drawing and to keep sketchbooks--I've abandoned quite a few sketchbooks in recent years because I just don't feel like drawing anymore in my free time. Time to get back into it and draw for fun again! I bought a nice new sketchbook and decided to start it off right with a decent finished drawing. I picked a couple of Tom Strong characters so I could get over worrying about what to draw and just went to town with pencils and some India Ink markers. The other page featured below shows the latest in my ongoing series of attempts to get a handle on drawing Superman, plus some hand and face doodles. I've decided I'm going to keep practicing these little "differently-shaped" faces so I can break my bad habit of choosing the same basic ovoid head shape every time I design a new character.

Finally, for those who frequent comic shops, here's a little list of upcoming releases featuring my work:

-May 22- posted on-sale date for Modern Masters vol.21, although I will be very surprised if the book actually ships that soon

-May 27- WildC.A.T.S. #11 - contains Part 1 of a Deathblow story written by Cristos Gage

-June 3- the new Ocean trade paperback(with new bonus material), plus The Authority #12 with Part 2 of that Deathblow story

-July 8- Tom Strong #1 Special Edition (a reprint of Tom Strong #1 as part of the "After Watchmen" promotion

-Sept. 16- Tom Strong Deluxe Edition Book 1 (high-quality larger size collection of the first 12 issues of Tom Strong all under a brand new cover)

--C

2009-05-05T11:32:00.008-04:00

Photos
Nothing I can write won't sound stupid and trivial after recent events, so for now, I'll just post some recent photos (and one not-so-recent one)...

"Oh, how they danced..." (from our trip to Toronto)

Sara, Henning, Gavin, Vala and Xan in Toronto

The Belly-Girl and one of her birthday presents

This photo reminds me that I need to make more of an effort to keep in touch with my friends ... (from l-r: Gary, myself and Steve in Old Town Alexandria from the 1980's --thanks to Steve for digging this one up)

--C

2009-04-23T12:16:00.007-04:00

Ingrid taking a photo of her awesome self with her phone

Ingrid Marie Hess 1978-2009

Hi there, readers of the SprouseNet Blog. Xan here, really, really wishing she was just writing all about the Canada convention and her birthday that fell on the last day of it. I will eventually, but I feel a little callous talking about myself right now.

The photo of the very beautiful and glamorous woman on this blog is a photo my cousin Ingrid. She took it with her phone, and I loved it so I copied it from her Facebook page. And if anyone has been to my Facebook page lately and has read my cryptic comments about being sad, it's because my family lost Ingrid this past Tuesday the 21st.

Having no siblings, my cousins were as close as I ever got to knowing what it was like to grow up with other kids. Ingrid and her younger brother, Brian are my Uncle Al and Aunt Kathy's children, Uncle Al being my father's younger brother. When my Uncle Al married my Aunt Kathy, they moved into the family home that my grandfather built in the 1950s, and they lived there (and still do) with my Grandma Rita. Anyway, since they lived in the family home, I saw a lot of them growing up since this is where we stayed when we would come visit. My parents would be on the hide-a-bed downstairs, and I would sleep in Ingrid's room. We spend a lot of nights staying up late and playing when we were supposed to be in bed, and as we got older, just chatting.

Ingrid and I got closer when she moved back to Cleveland from Michigan where she went to school. I would see her when I would go to Cleveland for concerts, and thanks to Facebook and MySpace we were talking every week. I never realized it until recently, but I relied on her quite a bit to be my rock in our family. Since she was so close to everyone (figuratively and literally-Brian bought the house next door, and Ingrid bought the one next to Brian) I could always depend on her to make sure I knew what was going on, who was doing what, and that I got my ass in gear and sent Gram a card for her birthday. We had some heart to hearts about our lives recently, and we were just good friends who happened to love each other like family since we were.

I was in Toronto when my mom called me to tell me that she had some bad news, which was that Ingrid had had an accident on the 19th and was in the hospital, and things were not optimistic. We checked out of the hotel as fast as we could and raced to Ohio (thank you for ignoring us, state troopers of highway 90) to be with the family. I got to the hospital and there was Ingrid, Brian holding one hand and Aunt Kathy holding another. The room was dimly lit, and they had a stereo playing Brad Paisley, Ingrid's favorite musician. I kept wanting her to just wake up, and everything would be okay. She looked just like Ingrid, still beautiful, the same head of thick wavy black hair that I coveted my entire life, same sweet little hands, same soft skin. I held her hand and thought "Just wake up sweetie, and this will all be okay. If you would just wake up, we can go watch the Cavs and have a beer like we used to. If you could just wake up, we could have a Muppet Show marathon with Beata (her daughter). Please wake up, and we can have you back with us because we love you." False hope sucks worse than anything, because even though her body was alive, it was only thanks to medical technology. She never did wake up, and around 8:30 Tuesday morning the 21st, Uncle Al called my mom to say that Ingrid had let go of this mortal coil and was no longer with us. I felt numb and empty, and I still do.

The one thing that is keeping me going is that I know she knew I loved her very much. I had told her recently, and not being the most demonstrative family, it's not like we said it every day or anything. She knows how much I loved her, and still love her, and how much she meant to me. This terrible event is making me want to tell everyone that if you love someone, be sure they know.

If you are reading this blog and you know me, odds are I love you too, very much. I may be an agoraphobic flake, but I love you and just because I suck at planning visits and calling doesn't mean I don't think of you often. If you are ever sad or need me, I'm here.

I'll miss you, Ing.

2009-04-19T00:08:00.003-04:00

Happy Birthday, Xan!

Today is Xan's birthday! We're in Toronto right now, visiting friends and attending a comic convention and I am so exhausted I can barely type. I'll try to get her to write about the trip and I'll post some photos and artwork when we get home. Until then, wish Xan a happy birthday on her Facebook or MySpace page.
--C

2009-03-21T19:43:00.005-04:00

Interview with Ocean Screenwriter Ryan Condal

I've heard absolutely no news about the Ocean film adaptation lately, so I surfed around the internet a little this weekend and turned up an interview with the guy hired to turn our graphic novel into a screenplay, Ryan Condal. Click HERE to read the interview. Condal talks about Ocean about 2/3 of the way down.

Sounds interesting...phrases like "huge action movie" are used and the writer mentions turning to the Aliens and Terminator movies as well as The Abyss for inspiration...

As always, I'll post it here when I know more!

--C

2009-03-20T15:22:00.007-04:00

Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom

Finally! I can now talk about what I've been working on since finishing Number of the Beast and that still unpublished Deathblow story! DC/Wildstorm at long last announced that Peter Hogan and I are working on a new Tom Strong limited series, Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom. Click HERE to be taken to a little news story announcing the project. The plan is to do more of these mini-series if this first one is successful, so that Tom Strong can live on--Hellboy-style--as an ongoing series of self-contained mini-series. Robots of Doom is well underway (we're at the half-way point), and since the first issue won't be solicited until I'm 90% finished with the entire series(according to editor Ben Abernathy), every issue will ship on time.

I cannot adequately express how excited I am to be working on Tom Strong again! I'm loving it and I'm giving it my all. I'll start showing off some art from the series soon.

--C

2009-03-19T21:37:00.005-04:00

Happy Birthday, Jess-Belle!
The littlest member of our family turns three today. Here are a few photos to commemorate the day:

--C

2009-02-27T23:08:00.006-05:00

Books and Burns

A rare Xan appearance on the blog today. Every year I say I'm going to stop neglecting the blog, but I'm never as diligent as I plan to be when the new year comes around. I haven't even kept up my blog on MySpace, I've been using it mainly to keep track of my Pez collection total. Which, by the way, is up to 641, I think. I really need to do another physical count. I'm not going to do the count anytime soon however, because I have 2nd degree chemical burns on my legs.

Now that sounds a little melodramatic. I wasn't actually diagnosed with 2nd degree burns, I'm just assuming 2nd degree because my legs look similar to 2nd degree burn photos I've seen online. I've been playing "Wiki Doctor" and doing the ever so accurate self diagnosis from the internet. And, it's not as scary as it sounds, the chemical in question that burned me was Veet, a depilatory. Technically, that is a chemical, but it's nothing that would turn someone into the Joker or anything.

The funny thing is, I never used to shave or remove my leg hair in any way. When I was in high school, it was this alterna-girl unspoken rule that you weren't supposed to shave your legs. It was a small bit of leftist rebellion that required only laziness to achieve, so it was a popular trend. And while I proudly displayed my hairy legs during the summer, in the colder months, this created a problem for me. You see, this was the 1990s, and one of the alterna-girl fashion trends was to wear tights under cutoff jeans. I actually still dig this look, and I can't wait for it to come back. And after about 3 hours of being covered in tights, hairy legs start to itch like mad, so I had to break down sometimes and shave my legs, succumbing to the media's standard of beauty etc. etc.

This being driven to the point of madness by the itchiness of winter legs thing was my motivation to get rid of my leg hair 2 days ago. I don't like to use actual razors because I am convinced that there is no way that I can do it without injuring myself. I've been shaving since the 5th grade, and every damn time I find out the hard way (usually when putting on lotion, ouch!) that surprise, I've nicked myself again. I finally got sufficiently fed up with that, so I decided to go with depilatory. Depilatory has it's drawbacks-it can be expensive, and it will stink. No matter how much the manufacturer tries to provide a "Fresh scent", it still smells like a perm. It's also a chemical intended to basically, melt your hair away from your body from the follicle, so if you have skin that is the least bit sensitive, or you get it wet during the application process, it can burn you. And the burning sensation lasts for a few days. Aloe vera gel has been wonderful to me, but I'm still in a lot of pain. It's better now than when the photos are taken, but still, it hurts.

And since I haven't been able to go many places so far this year (the flu kept me in bed and this burn makes walking sound like torture) I've been trying to get some reading done. I have a stack of books I have been meaning to read that is about as tall as I am, and this doesn't even include the comics that have been stacking up for months now. So far in 2009 I've read 9 books, which doesn't seem like much to me considering a few of them were quite thin and fast reads, and others were the guiltiest of guilty pleasures of readers, tv show tie-ins. Specifically, the "Supernatural" tie-ins. I love that show, and the books aren't bad as a tide-me-over until the next episode. I've read the first 2 and the 3rd just arrived from amazon.com.

I also finally finished "The Book of Lost Things" by John Connolly. I purchased it in 2007 I think, started it, put it away, picked it up again, put it away, started other books, you know the score. I decided to get it finished once and for all so it wouldn't taunt me, and it was a fun read, but not my favorite book. It has a very "Labyrinth" feel to it, so it is fun, but a very "boy" story.

For Christmas I got one of Mary Woronov's novels, "Niagra" which I enjoyed very much, although the main character is about the saddest thing ever. I recommend her as a writer, and am anxiously awaiting the arrival of her novel "Snake" which should be arriving from a seller I found on the Amazon Marketplace any second now.

While I had the flu I had no energy or attention span, so I basically just stayed in bed and listened to DVD commentaries. Specifically, commentary from "The Simpsons" DVDs since I've seen the episodes so much, all I had to do was listen and I could pick where the episode was by the references made in the commentary. Sad, I know. Standard commentary cast of writers, directors, Matt Groening, and they all mentioned a Simpsons writer named John Swartzwelder as being a fantastic writer who never does commentaries. Matt Groening also mentioned he wrote novels. This sounded interesting to me, so I ordered the title with the earliest copyright date from amazon.com. It arrived, and these are no frills books. Paperbacks that look like they should say "Novel, net wt. 7oz" on the cover. The book I got was "The Time Machine Did It", which is a time traveling detective story. I loved it, and highly recommend his work.

Another writer I discovered from some form of gadget is Simon Rich. After downloading the Stanza application for my iPod Touch, I went searching for free e-books to download. The Stanza app turns your iPod into an e-reader, so I now have an iPod that is part Kindle. Not that I don't still want a Kindle. Anyway, on the list of free downloads from Random House, I found a book called "Free Range Chickens". It's not a novel, just vignettes of alternate points of view that are extremely funny. For example, one of them is a conversation between God and an angel during which God complains that Simon Rich is not attending Temple even though he swore he would after praying for God to make sure "Perfect Strangers" was not cancelled. Simon Rich is a writer for SNL, and I am convinced after reading this and his first book "Ant Farm" that if you see something funny on SNL and it's not Andy Samburg, it's Simon Rich.

Other than Mary Woronov, Carrie Fisher and Gene Wilder are two other movie stars with books I finished recently. While I couldn't get into Gene Wilder's novel "My French Whore", my favorite book I've read so far this year is Carrie Fisher's new memoir, "Wishful Drinking". She has led one hell of a life, and she is hilarious. The style of this book made me feel like I was listening to her tell me these stories, and I found myself devouring it completely in about 2 hours. I highly recommend this one.

Well, I think it's time for me to put on some more aloe vera because bending my knees is hurting again. Thanks for reading my half-assed book reviews and looking at my gross legs!