Creating a Comic Book Page for
Number of the Beast - Part 3: Pencils

Pencil art for Number Of The Beast #1 pages 6 & 7; click on the image to see an
extra large version

Once the prep work is done(the thumbnails and layouts, covered in the last two posts), it's time for the fun stuff(at least for me), the pencil art, commonly called "the pencils" within the industry. All of the basic problems have been solved and all of the forms and guidelines are there in the finished layouts, and in this step I take that rough draft and turn it into (hopefully) clean rendering and good drawing.

I began the double-page spread above by taping two 11X17 pieces of company supplied Bristol Board paper together. Then I placed it directly on top of the layouts on the lightbox I have on my drafting table. This allowed me to "trace" over the layouts which were visible through the Bristol Board with the lightbox on. Below is a photo that shows what this looks like(although it's not the spread above, but a model sheet for the NOTB character Seafarer instead):

Looking through the pencils at the layout underneath on my lightbox

As you can see, the layout is clearly visible through the Bristol Board, but not terribly intrusive--I can see it just enough to use it as a guide(it's clearer in person than in this photo. but you get the idea). You can also see that in the Seafarer drawing I didn't strictly trace the layout--as I draw the finished pencils, I constantly change and tweak elements, adding final details shading and any lighting effects, sometimes changing entire figures and even entire panels. If you compare the spread at the top of this post with the layout version in the last post, you'll notice that the final panel with the flying saucers is completely different in the pencils.
Anyway, using the blue layouts as a guide, I rendered everything very tightly and as clearly as I could, finalizing all the elements in black lead. I used straight-edges for the buildings and ellipse templates for the saucers, but everything else was pretty much free-hand drawing. Not much else to describe process-wise, but I can say that this step was a pure joy to do--this two-page sequence turned out so much better than I had hoped. If I have the wall-space in a future studio, this one's going up in a big frame--that's how much I like it(and anyone who's ever heard me talk about my own work knows I don't say that very often)!

This is also the last step where I have any hands-on involvement. I box up my finished pencilled pages and FedEX them to Gaijin Studios in Atlanta , GA where inker Karl Story makes them look really good! I'll tell you as much as I can about that when I cover The Inks next time.

Tools/materials used in this step:
- 11"X17" 2-ply Bristol Board
- PaperMate PRO-Touch II mechanical pencil w/Pentel 0.5mm black lead
- PaperMate PRO-Touch II mechanical pencil w/Pentel 0.7mm H black lead

--C

NOTE: I forgot to mention all of the little "X"'s all over the pencil art above, and people outside of the business always ask about those. In order to save time and prevent carpal tunnel syndrome, most comic artists, myself included, label areas on the artwork that are supposed to be solid black with a little "X" or a bunch of "X"'s. I don't know how this practice started or who originated it, but it's pretty much standard. It also keeps the smudging and fingerprints to a minimum--if all the areas with "X"'s were filled in with black graphite, sheesh--smudge city by the time I'm done with it, let alone after an inker works on it! This will make more sense when you compare Karl's inked version of the spread(which I'll be posting next time) to the pencil version. One other note, I replaced the old smaller images of the layouts and pencils with extra-large versions today, so now you can see any details you may have missed in the initial jpegs.

Creating a Comic Book Page for
Number of the Beast - Part 2: Layouts

Layouts for Number of the Beast #1, pages 6 & 7; click on the image to see an
extra large version

Last time I described how I create a thumbnail sketch for a typical comic book page and how I arrived at the final design for what became pages 6 & 7 of Number of the Beast #1. This time I'll be concentrating on the next step, the layouts. The layouts are the most difficult and work-intensive part of the entire process, at least for me. The layouts are where I work out the anatomical structure of all of the figures and hash out all the backgrounds.

For these two pages, I began by roughing out Engine Joe in the large panel running across the top of the spread using a blue pencil. Then I drew a perspective grid for the background behind Joe, which--among other things--allowed me to accurately place everything else in the panel. For example, since Joe is about ten feet tall, maybe higher, I knew that any doors in the background would be shorter than his shoulders, and that if I drew a fireplug or something in the foreground it would only come up to a certain height somewhere around his shins or his knees. Once the perspective grid was down on paper, I tightened up Engine Joe's figure, getting all of the details in the correct places and the parts in the correct proportions. I usually bear down pretty hard when I draw, so the linework gets dark fairly quickly, and that makes it hard to see the lines I've put down in some places. Since there were still parts of Joe's figure that needed fussing over, I went in with black lead and did some more finalizing, which you can see most clearly on his right arm in the image above. Once Joe was in good shape, I moved on and used the same process on The Aeronaut, the flying hero above Engine Joe, and then on to the homeless man in the foreground. Next, I worked on the background buildings, but as usual, I left the backgrounds fairly loose since I've drawn hundreds of street scenes and was confident I could do most of the work in the next step(the finished pencils). If the script had called for a more complicated background, a recognizable building or something I've never drawn before, I would have been more precise here in the layouts. Once this large panel was done, I went through the entire process again for each of the remaining panels. As soon as I finished the layouts I knew this spread was going to work well. I couldn't wait to get to work on the finished pencils...which is part 3, and I'll cover that next time!

Tools/materials used in this step:
- 11"X17" copy/office paper
- PaperMate PRO-Touch II mechanical pencil w/Pentel 0.9mm blue lead
- Alvin Draftmatic mechanical pencil w/Pentel 0.9mm red lead
- PaperMate PRO-Touch II mechanical pencil w/Pentel 0.7mm H black lead

--C

Creating a Comic Book Page for
Number of the Beast - Part 1: Thumbnails
Actually the first part of creating a comic book page is the script, created by a writer in pretty much the same form as the script for a play or a movie. The script contains descriptions(sometimes brief, sometimes very detailed) of the characters, action and setting for every panel of every page of the story, along with the dialogue the characters will be speaking and any captions needed. In the case of Number of the Beast, the writer of the script is Scott Beatty. Unfortunately, I won't be showing any of Scott's actual script for the pages I'll be discussing on this blog because they give too much away about later plot developments we'd prefer to keep under wraps. What I'm going to begin with instead of the script are the thumbnail sketches. Thumbnails allow me to very quickly(by virtue of their size) work out the panel sizes, placement of figures and general flow of the story--and that's it. I don't worry about facial features, good perspective or precise rendering at this stage; that all starts in the next step, the layouts. In case anyone's wondering, they're called thumbnail sketches because they're traditionally drawn very small, about the size of a human thumbnail. The ones I do are in fact about the size of my entire hand--that's small enough for my purposes.

Below you'll find my initial thumbnail sketches for page 6 from Number of the Beast #1, the page where we finally get to really see our main characters for the first time. This page, as initially scripted by Scott, was supposed to be one large panel (this type of page is called a "splash page") showing four superheroes running down a city street at night. This page was also supposed to be the title page for the book, so it needed to have room not only for the drawings and dialogue balloons, but for titles and credits as well. The right part of the sketch below shows how the page was intended to look, with Engine Joe et al racing away from the reader deeper into the city-at-night setting. As soon as I drew it I knew it would never do--there was very little room for dialogue, titles, or credits, and it basically just lacked the dramatic "oomph" I felt the introduction of these larger-than-life characters called for. On the left side of the image below, you can see that I started playing around with showing the characters in profile, but this too left no room for any text and was still pretty dramatically boring.

Number of the Beast #1 page 6 thumbnail, take one
I took another try at the thumbnail, which you can see below, but this time I thought I could add some of that missing "oomph" by making page 6 part of a two-page spread with page 7. This attempt produced a slightly more dramatic page 6, and the sheer largeness of the two pages presented as one large image would add some impact, but it still wasn't quite working for me. I left it alone for a few hours and when I sat down to take another pass at the thumbnail, something clicked in my head and I saw the solution immediately. If you look closely at the top left of the image below(above the red writing), you'll see a thumbnail within a thumbnail, where I changed the entire layout of the two-page spread so that the top half would be a "widescreen" version of what was supposed to be page 6, with all of the little panels that were intended to make up page 7 spread from left to right on the bottom half of the spread. That was all I needed to go on to the next step, the above-mentioned "layouts," which is where the real drawing, as well as the hard work, begins...but that's going to have to wait until the next installment...


Number of the Beast #1, pages 6 & 7 thumbnails, take two(and take three at top left)

Tools/materials used in this step:
- 8.5"X11" copy/office paper
- PaperMate PRO-Touch II mechanical pencil w/Pentel 0.9mm blue lead
- Alvin Draftmatic mechanical pencil w/Pentel 0.9mm red lead

--C

NOTB Sketchbook Gallery 3
Next time I'll begin a step-by-step look at the creation of a page from Number of the Beast from thumbnail stage through to the finished lettered/colored product. For now, though, while I gather the materials for that post together and get more work done, here are two more NOTB character sketches...

--C

NOTB Sketch Gallery 2
Here are some more sketchbook pieces...

--C

Apparently more people are reading this blog than I realized... ...including someone at DC Comics who has asked that I stop posting artwork from Number of the Beast until after it's been seen publicly elsewhere. So, to play it completely safe and until or unless I hear otherwise, when I post NOTB artwork I'll only be posting sketchbook material which will never be published in the series or anywhere else. I'm sure someone will let me know if this is a problem as well. For now, here are some of my earliest Number of the Beast sketches from last summer...I hope they'll make up for the missing three character designs which will probably turn up someday on Newsarama before finally being published as bonus material in the backs of the individual issues(that's the plan, anyway).


--C

Finally!

Double page spread from Number of the Beast #1, introducing the superhero characters
Engine Joe, The Aeronaut, The Thrush, and Falconette

As a few of you have already noticed, Wildstorm finally broke the news about the series I've been working on. Click HERE to see that story on Newsarama.com, which includes four fully finished color pages from the first issue of the Number of the Beast series. Starting later tonight(probably) I'll begin posting daily or semi-daily images, either pencilled pages or some of the 26 or so new character designs I've done so far. Right now, however, I need to get back to work--this book has to ship on time(we're on schedule and half-way through the series, so it's looking good...)!
--C

The Cat's Almost Out Of The Bag...

Newsarama.com has posted an interview with comic writers Christos Gage and Scott Beatty and way down at the bottom is the first mention of the new project I've been working on for the last several months--the first mention that reveals any details, anyway. More will be revealed soon, and I hope to start showing some art here on this blog any day now. Click HERE to read the interview.

This is obviously one of those posts that will be of no interest to non-comics fans, but at least there's a cute photo above of Jess-Belle and her new Christmas present that everyone can enjoy!

Hope everyone had a good holiday!
--C

Lazy Day

We haven't posted a picture of the little girl lately, so here's one now!
On a cold cloudy day like today it's hard to resist just curling up
with this little furball and napping the hours away.

I'm taking a day off from drawing today just to get a few non-work related things done for a change. I've been working so much lately that even Christmas shopping and the post office are going to feel like pleasant diversions!

Speaking of things that aren't work, my sister Megan and her son Aaron moved to Columbus this Fall, and we've been babysitting occasionally. We've had Aaron over for a few marathon video game sessions, and I took him to see Bee Movie a couple of weeks ago. Last night we went out for dinner to celebrate Megan's birthday.

Other than that, we've pretty much just been preparing for the holiday or battling Winter colds (as well as the winter cold).

My next post will probably be after Christmas, so Happy Holidays everyone!
--C

Mid-Ohio Con 2007

Xan's dad Paul meets former Lois Lane, Noel Neill,
on whom he had a childhood crush!

Xan searches through the back issue boxes out on the con floor

Both new and old friends showed up this year.
This is Justin...

,,,and this is Nebbie!

Xan gets a little signing and sketching in!

Chris: For me, the con itself was in most ways pretty typical of the shows I've done this year--lots of sketching, few breaks, and not being able to talk about my current project--which was frustrating(soon, though--I've just completed the first two covers, and solicitation is imminent). Two things were atypical in a very pleasant way about this year's Mid-Ohio con, though. First: the after show meet-ups and dinners. On Friday night we picked up our badges at the convention center and ended up having drinks later with Steve Rude, Renee Witterstaetter, Steve Lieber and Sara Ryan. Then after the convention on Saturday, we joined a group of comics pros for dinner at Buca Di Beppo in the Arena District, where we had lots of pasta and enjoyable conversation. Sunday night, Xan and I met Renee and Michael Golden for a huge meal in the hotel restaurant, where we talked for hours about everything from our childhoods to convention horror stories and basically just had a blast. On the way out of the hotel we ran into UK artist Barry Kitson, Steve Rude, Matt Haley, and comic fans John Higashi, Miki Annamanthadoo, and Chad Olsen, and we ended up spending another hour talking in the bar with them. Considering that Xan and I both work at home and are pretty much homebodies these days anyway, this was a major amount of socializing for one weekend! The other thing that made the show a big deal for me was that I came home with some original artwork by other artists for the first time in a while. John Higashi gave me some Kevin Nowlan sketches--thanks, John!-- and I was able to pick up the preliminary pencil artwork for one of the Ocean covers from Michael and Renee. A pretty good way to end the convention season, I must say!

Xan: This year was quite a blast for me! Mainly, I loved being able to get to see so many people! During the convention I was able to walk around more than Chris did, so the first thing I did was head over to Tom Batiuk's table. When I was in the 8th grade my school put on a production of the musical Funky Winkerbean's Homecomeing and I still had my script, and the back cover has a space for cast autographs, which I never did. But it has Tom Batiuk's autograph now! I also got a Noel Neill autograph while I was at her table with my dad. Sadly I never made it over to Sarah Douglas' table, so I hope I get a chance to see her at another show.

I also spent a lot of time hanging with local pals Dave Aikins and Andy Bennett, but we mainly talked about Dave's new baby and Andy gave me the rundown of the new Aqua Teen Hunger Force video game so I know what to expect when I finally break down and get a Playstation. Tom Mandrake stopped by their table and I just listened while they all talked shop. They did some great sketches for me, and Andy sold me a piece of art he did a while ago that I have been wanting for a long time. I'll scan it and post it, it's wonderful. Tom Williams was there too, but I only got to see him on the last day, but he had some great prints and I had to get a print of Chukthula. I didn't get to see our friends Sara and Steve much more than drinks Friday, which was sad because they're great and I don't see them nearly enough. Steve had some fun Hollywood production stories about Whiteout coming next year. Hopefully, we'll have some Ocean stories soon!

Sadly, although my parents were able to come for a bit on Saturday and Daddy got to meet his lady Lois, they were only able to stay for about an hour because that was all the quarters they had to feed to the meter since the garage was full. But they got to see their son in law in action and get the con experience. It was a bit of sensory overload, but then it always is. Mama said "This is neat, but I have NO idea what I'm looking at!"

This year was also a very good shopping year for me! I got a very nice large edition of an issue of The House Of Mystery that Sergio Aragones signed for me (I loves me some Cain's Mail Room!) as well as some old Simpsons trade paperbacks for $5 each. Once again a convention has come and gone without me updating my Twilight Zone database, so in the interest of not buying any duplicate issues (again, I might add...) I didn't do any searches in the Gold Key boxes at the dealer tables. But I did find a guy who had a very nice selection of The Tick toys. I say "had" because I have them now! I got the Tick in his Dinosaur Neil t-shirt, Thrakazog, and The Human Bullet to name a few. It had been a long time since I had seen anyone with Tick toys, so I went a little nuts, but it was fun! Now all I need is a Chairface Chippendale and I should be good!

There was also a dealer at the end of the aisle Chris was in who had a lot of vintage books and board games, and while I was walking around with my friend Renee I noticed this dealer had some Edward Gorey stuff. I collect Gorey stuff, and this dealer had a copy of The Elephant House, the photo book of his home in Martha's Vineyard. This dealer also had a copy of the pop up book The Dwindling Party, which Chris was sweet enough to buy for me! Again, I should take some photos of that in its pop up splendor.

It was also a good year for seeing friends! Saturday I ran into my old Media Play pal Chris Veach, who is a HUGE Friday the 13th fan so he got some great photos of himself and Kane Hodder. I also saw my pal Nebbie Brown, another Media Play buddy, and he was able to grab some nice #1s for some very nice prices. The major pal suprise was the cameo appearance of one of my high school friends Mike Lehman and his wife, who now live in the D.C. area but did the con while visiting family for the holiday. He seemed as surprised to see me as I was to see him, as it had been about 9 years since we had seen each other! Even weirder was that my dad was with me when I ran into him, and my dad coached wrestling at my middle school so he knew Mike from that! I think we gave him quite the blast from the past! Jeff Carlisle didn't have a table this year, but dropped by and went to dinner Saturday and came by on Sunday as well, and showed me the new Dinotopia book which is AMAZING and I really should hit the bookstore today for that.

Sunday I also got to see my friends Molly Durst and Justin Wasson, which was fun since we've all become good pals from myspace, oddly enough. Molly actually is married to a man named Chris who I also know from high school, but weirdly enough, I met her through other people! Justin came up with his pals who we just called "The Mikes" from the Dayton area. It was fun to see them-Justin is in Dayton and Molly has an almost 5 year old, so I don't see them as often as I should.

Sunday night at the hotel for dinner and drinks was a great time. We got to talk for hours with friends Renee and Michael, and on our way out ran into everyone in the bar. Barry Kitson and I talked a long time about music (I would LOVE to spent some time with his record collection) and Steve Rude gave me some very kind and encouraging words. He seemed a little surprised that I can be so directionless, but then again, we'd only met once before :) It was also nice to meet Chad and Miki, since I never seem to be at the table when they're around.

So long story short, a fantastic time! The only regret I have is that I didn't take a photo of the dessert I got Sunday night at the Hyatt. It was called "Ice Cream Nachos" and was as amazing as it sounds.

I guess I actually DID have a lot more to add...



Here I am at my very own booth! No more Artists Alley this year!
(this photo and the one above of Xan shopping were taken by Vaneta Rogers)

This is Michael Golden's preliminary pencil art for the cover of Ocean #4
--C

Digital Sketching
Believe it or not, the two drawings below were not accomplished with pencil or pen on paper. Instead, they were done on a convertible tablet PC, something I treated myself to after all the conventions this summer and fall. I wanted a new laptop, and after stumbling on a review of a tablet PC while doing research, I was hooked. Further tablet PC-specific research and some testimonials from other commercial artists sealed the deal. For those readers unfamiliar with tablet PC's, they work essentially the same as those things the UPS guy carries that you sign on with the little stylus, or the electronic pads you sign on when using a credit card at a store these days. Basically you draw directly on the screen of the tablet with a digital pen/stylus as if you were drawing on a pad of paper with a pencil or pen.

I've had my Toshiba for a month or two now, and I've had very little time to do any extracurricular drawing, but I've practiced a bit using a program called Alias Sketchbook Pro. I'm frankly amazed at how the various digital drawing tools recreate actual real-world pencil/pen/brush/marker lines and strokes. Any drawing I do in Sketchbook Pro can then be opened in Photoshop and manipulated/augmented, and vice versa. Before any art collectors reading this start worrying, I should mention that my digital drawing will never replace pencil and paper for me--at most I'll probably end up doing thumbnails on my tablet as well as some coloring and all my Photoshop work(I use Photoshop frequently these days to create lettering, to distort drawings for certain effects, and to re-size or re-compose panels that aren't working). Any other drawing I do on the thing will be just for fun.

Above is a test of the brush tool, simulating inking over a scan of my Modern Masters
cover(you can work in layers in Sketchbook Pro). It turned out okay for a first attempt,
but Karl Story definitely has nothing to worry about!


Here's one of my first tests using the pencil tool. Pretty loose. Actually, the marker and
brush tools feel more natural to me on the tablet PC, so I'll probably end up using
those more in the future.


Here's my Toshiba as a standard laptop.
What makes it a "convertible tablet PC" is the
ability to swivel the screen around
180 degrees...


...then when closed, "Voila!" it's a tablet!

--C

New Art!

I still can't write about the main project I'm drawing, but I finally have had a enough spare moments after working on that secret stuff to finish something I CAN show. Several months ago, comics writer Todd Dezago called and told me he'd like to interview me for a Modern Masters book. For those who aren't familiar with Modern Masters, it's a series of lavishly illustrated books covering the work of various artists in the comic book industry. Each volume contains interviews and loads of rare and previously unseen artwork. Many of my faves (Garcia-Lopez, Kevin Nowlan, Bruce Timm) and a few of my idols(Michael Golden, Walter Simonson) have been covered, so I'll be in good company. I'll state for the record right now that I don't consider myself modern nor a master of anything, but if they want to do a book on me, and all I have to do is answer questions and open up the Plankton Studios art vaults to the editors, then what the heck...Honestly, I have so much unpublished artwork laying around that I'd toyed with the idea of publishing a book myself for sale at conventions...Now someone else can do it for me! That's how I'm looking at the Modern Masters book--primarily as a way to get a bunch of rare art out there, with a little bit of "how-to" behind the scenes stuff thrown in with all the "greatest hits" kind of material the book will surely showcase.

Anyway, above is the cover I've come up with for my volume of Modern Masters, whatever volume that may be--it's still a long way off. The piece features the characters I've worked on that I'm most associated with, including Tom Strong, Supreme, the Legion of Superheroes and Midnighter. Enjoy!

--C

P.S. the Mid-Ohio Con is right around the corner! Yikes! Come out and see us (if you can--it is Thanksgiving weekend after all). Click HERE for more info.

Our fifth anniversary was a week ago today!
--C

Baltimore

The Gaijin Studios(and friends)Booth with Cully Hamner, Brian Stelfreeze, Me and Karl Story

September 8 & 9 we attended the Baltimore Comic-Con for the first time. We flew in the day before the convention and had a fine fun day filled with sight-seeing, record-shopping(of course) and crab cakes(crab mac & cheese for Xan). I've lived in Ohio for so long now that I forgot exactly how disgusting the humidity is in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area, but overall we had a good time. Saturday I set up at the convention, sharing some space with the guys from Gaijin Studios. It was great seeing Brian and Cully, and getting to hang out with Karl Story again after 3+ years of just email and phone calls was a high point of the weekend. During the show I did my usual signing and sketching, plus I was fortunate enough to talk to lots of cool people like fan and and nice guy Mike Fogg, who took the photo above of the Gaijin booth (Mike, if you don't want me using the picture, let me know and I'll take it down--it's just better than most of the shots I took at the show), as well as other comics pros like Jose Villarubia and a few others who stopped by to say "Hi." The show was incredibly crowded and I was constantly busy, pretty much stuck at my table from beginning to end. Xan, on the other hand, was able to make the rounds, shopping and talking and getting new sketches in her sketchbook, including a wonderful Owly as Tom Strong drawing from Andy Runton. If you haven't seen Andy's Owly books from Top Shelf Comics, you're really missing out! After the show, we had dinner at a local off-the-beaten-path crab restaurant with Karl and several other comics pros and friends before attending the tribute to the late Mike Wieringo (a fellow comic artist and friend who passed away recently) organized by Cully Hamner and writer Mark Waid at a nearby bar.

Sunday was a day full of surprises, with friends I hadn't seen in ages dropping in, like Kip Talbot, the only other guy I knew in college who read comics. Walter Simonson also came by on Sunday, which was a big deal for me, as he's one of my idols and influences. We chatted about the Spirit story we did earlier in the year and marveled at Karl's inking as we looked at the original art from that story. The biggest surprise, though, was a visit from my parents, who had never been to a convention or seen me at work (and, as I overheard my Mom telling someone, they hadn't seen me in glasses before either). It looked like Mom and Dad had a good time--they shopped, talked to other artists and writers, saw lots of stormtroopers. My dad even collected autographs in his con program book. Xan kept them company and even took them to lunch when they weren't watching me draw. When the show ended, we said our goodbye's and my parents were kind enough to drive us to the airport where we had dinner together before heading back to Columbus.

Next convention: Mid-Ohio Con on Thanksgiving weekend.
--C

On our Friday sight-seeing trip around Baltimore, we saw this building,
where the late great TV series Homicide was filmed


Friend of Gaijin Chris Donio and the Saturday night crab carnage


Walter Simonson stops by


Xan's wonderful Owly drawing from Andy Runton


Xan and Mom & Dad with Franchesco!

Comics Update

This is my final Midnighter cover. As a matter of fact it's my final work on the Midnighter series. I decided to quit the book for various reasons a month or two ago, even though I've been considering it for far longer. I briefly considered doing work for Marvel, but Wildstorm offered me a project I just couldn't turn down. The good news is that we've begun the new project almost a year in advance of it's first issue shipping date--this thing WILL be on time! It's also just an amazingly fun book to draw, and the scripts are fantastic--very exciting! The bad news is that I have been asked not to talk about the specifics or show anyone any artwork until the project is announced in November or December. So, it'll look like I've dropped off the face of the Earth for a while, as far as my presence on the racks at comic shops goes. I'll be working away feverishly on this new thing, though, and I'm looking forward to finally showing off some of the new art I've been producing!

In other news, an actual big-time Hollywood studio has "set up" Ocean--not 100% clear on what that means, but basically it appears this studio has actually committed to making the movie with the Hollywood Gang production company(the guys who purchased the rights to Ocean). I'll give more details when the paperwork is signed and I actually know something concrete. And for those of you expecting me to pick up the dinner check at the next convention or give out really nice sportscars for Christmas presents, I should mention that absolutely no money has changed hands yet. I'm still just a starving artist.

Finally, if you're in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area next weekend(September 7-8), come see us at the Baltimore Comic-Con. Here's a link so you can get directions and a little more info on the convention. This will be the last con I attend for a while (Mid-Ohio Con in November is the real last one I'll do this year). Like I said above, I can't show anything from the new project, but I'll have lots of other artwork for sale and display, and--as always--will be happy to talk comics, movies & music or just shoot the breeze with folks I haven't seen in long time.
--C

Once More to Toronto!
So this week found us again in Toronto for the Fan Expo Canada. We drove this time, and while my ears were happy to be spared the loud whirring of a prop plane, I am not exactly happy with the decisions made by the United States State Department on whom to hire to police the border! Going into Canada was great, but coming home was a total pain. Nothing major, just the guy was a total ass. Usually when you fly back into the country, the customs agents are nice and say things like "Welcome home!" This guy said things like "The more you keep from me, the more I search you!" What we kept from him was the contents of a bag of trash, by the way, which had slid under the seat and we had forgotten about it. And if he wanted to search my suitcase for the Robocop trading cards I purchased, he is more than welcome!


The Peace Bridge, which is everything BUT peaceful for those of us afraid of bridges!

So State Department aside, the drive was nice. It only takes about 7.5 hours, which is nice to know because our friends Sara and Henning live in Markham, a Toronto suburb which is super cute! It is actually a better drive than the 9 hours it took to visit them near Raleigh-Durham! The convention started at 4 on Friday, so we drove up Thursday and spent the night with them. Sara made us a delicious ratatouille and cous cous, which after 7 hours of Gardettos and gas station hot dogs was the warmest welcome ever! We spent the evening talking, playing with the kids Gavin and Vala, and Chris made sure their dog Bonnie got some attention. Chris and I slept until 10 the next morning, and that afternoon he drove to the city (which he said took about 2 hours due to the traffic!) to be at the convention, while I stayed in Markham. Sara took me to the mall to find Pez, but I had all the dispensers the mall sweetie shop had in stock. Instead, Sara and I stocked up on various British and nostalgic candies. I sometimes think that as children, Sara and I were instrumental in keeping Ferrera Pan in business. Yum, LemonHeads...

I also dragged her to the mall's HMV, which we were both glad about due to their 1/2 half off sale which was a sale on some decent stuff. In a truly Toronto-centric experience, I was able to stock up on some Rush albums that I was missing, including Grace Under Pressure, which Sparky has convinced me to give a second chance.

Saturday, Sara drove me (the baby was again with us) downtown to meet up with Chris at the convention. Toronto has this privately owned highway, the 407 ETR, which stands for Express Toll Road. It is expensive, but because of that, it is empty. Each entrance and exit has cameras that take photos of your plates, and based on where you got on and off, you are sent a bill for your total toll. Chris and I took it while we were in a rental car I am not sure how our bill will arrive, but we probably owe about $36. Being a privately owned highway sucks a lot for commuters, but honestly, is a genius business move. Collecting tolls on a temptingly empty highway? Sounds like sweet sweet easy money to me. The owners also do a nice job of maintaining it as well, and due to it being empty, I could see myself budgeting for trips on the 407 were I a resident of the Toronto area!


Me hanging with Vala...


...and Chris hanging with Bonnie!

We were here last in April, and it was a small, comics-only event that only took up one conference room. But this August show is pretty much the complete opposite. Super crowded in a huge and echo-y convention hall with lots of other geek genres represented. Where the April convention was basically all comics, this August event is comics, horror, sci fi, anime, gaming both video and rpg.


The scene from above the convention hall.

Sadly, the list of media guests had dwindled by convention time. I was very excited to bring my 6th grade crush full circle by getting a Sean Astin autograph, but sadly, he had to cancel. But, still on the list were Adrienne Barbeau, David Prowse, George Romero and…wait for it…Malcolm McDowell. I spent a lot of time in line for them, but I was able to get autographs from all of them. Dario Argento and Charisma Carpenter were also signing, but were understandably swamped. I decided I would rather see the rest of the convention than stand in line for half the day.

Adrienne Barbeau was very sweet and talkative, and was not at all sore when I asked her about her thoughts on cartoon characters wanting to put their brains in an Adrienne Barbeaubot. She laughed and said she had never seen Sealab 2021, but lots of fans have been mentioning it to her.

Also a good sport on the subject of parodies was George Romero. He told me he was impressed with my buddy Kevin’s student film Night of the Living Bread and referred to it as “a hoot”. He sends regards to Columbus and the Drexel Theatres and the minions of the marathons.

David Prowse, while older and using a cane, is still quite the physical specimen. He is tall and still broad shouldered, yet fortunately, not as imposing as Peter Mayhew. He signed my Clockwork Orange program I got from Mama, and he talked about the movie and quoted with me. I think yelling out “TRY THE WINE!” with David Prowse has to be in my list of top 10 convention moments.

And, I am happy to say, the signature of Malcolm McDowell also graces the cover of Mama’s program. He was quite personable and enjoyed talking to the fans, although I had no idea what to say to him as he is a presence that renders you speechless. And giddy. And nervous. I was able to get a photo with him, and he put his arm around me and called me “Darling”. Yet another on the list of top 10 convention moments. Maybe even top 5. Maybe even above my Bill Mumy hug. I’ll have to think about this…


George Romero from afar...


Malcom McDowell, who put his arm around my and called me "Darling".

Saturday night was a dinner held by the convention staff which was fun, but after falling due to sitting on a broken chair, my head was killing me so we didn't stay too long at dinner. We got to meet people and talk to friends which was nice, but I was a little spacey due to my head. Around the corner from the hotel was a little travel shop that sold Excedrin, so after taking some of that I was fine. Excedrin has enough caffeine to help a headache, but not enough to bother my heart, so I was fine about an hour after taking it. But, I was awake. So I went down to the lobby to mess around online. While reading The Onion, I was approached by a Toronto police officer. A little freaky, but he just wanted my opinion on Macs as he had been thinking of getting one! We talked Mac for a while, but he had to run, I mean run out of the hotel lobby. After some online time, I went back upstairs to go to bed, but decided to get something to drink first. Canada still has 5 Alive, which was in the vending machines. However, the machine on our floor was totally empty. Since I was still awake, I checked other floors. Turns out the 8th floor still had some stuff, but it was the 6th floor I checked! I wasn't going to let the hotel vending beat me.


Mac-wanting cop

Sunday, the show was just as crowded, which was surprising! Usually, on Sundays, cons are significantly more empty, but it seemed no different than a Saturday. But, just like a Sunday, the dealers were cutting prices so they wouldn't have to carry so much back with them! I had done most of my shopping the day before, but I did get some stuffed pillows in the shape of Super Mario stuff. One was a one up mushroom, the other is a "?" brick which I keep putting over my head and punching. I still don't have firepower yet.
--X

BRISBEELAND!!!

Okay, not really, but it was the Ohio State Fair. This year we went later in the day than we usually do, but even though the sun was going down it was still super mega hot. As much as we love fair food, we barely ate any because the heat was so bad that it made us a little nauseous. But Chris had a brat, and I had what was called a roast beef sundae, seen pictured below. It sounds gross, but it was really just a "tastie fake" as I once heard on The Simpsons. It is basically roast beef and mashed potatoes and gravy creatively arranged to look like a sundae and a cherry tomato on top to complete the illusion. It was a hell of a lot of food, and to be perfectly honest, it was damn good. It was kind of nice to have actual food at the fair. This was like a pot roast dinner in a bowl, and I would get it again.

I thought about getting a funnel cake or some mini donuts, but it was so hot the idea of sugar was too much, so the only sweet fair treat I had was the bag of cotton candy that I took home with me. One of the food vendors was advertising "Deep Fried Coca Cola" but the line was too long to just go up and ask, "What the hell?" It looked like it was a cake mix made with Coke, but I was not about to find out.

Even though the food was a bust, the fair shopping was fantastic this year. Once again I passed up one of those cat bags (seriously, you put your cat in a fabric bag with a headhole rather than a carrier) since I wasn't really sure how Jess-Belle would react to it. I finally bought some soup from that Darby Creek soup and dip maker, and I made the Country Potato tonight and it was really good. I of course went through the bulk candy mazes, since being non-chocolate, the old fashioned candies are pretty much all I can eat, and these candy mazes have tons of it. There was also a dealer of purses made from record covers, so I now have a Tom Jones Live In Las Vegas purse.

And this year was the year of Pez! It started with the bulk candy dealer who sells Giant Pez having a special edition pearlescent stemmed General Grieveous. Since the special edition Giant Pez have soundchips that spout dialogue, I had to get that. The dealer is bulkcandystore.com, and he always has great Pez. Then when we finally made our way to the collectibles pavillion at the 11th Ave. end of the fair, I noticed that Colleen's Collectibles had more Pez than usual. Turns out, they just bought a collection from someone a few weeks prior, so I got myself a bagfull of Pez, including The Smurfs. So I got tons of Pez I didn't have, and I didn't have to pay for shipping. But now, I need to photograph the collection again.

So another summer, another fair. I regret not getting a funnel cake now. I wonder if the ones IHOP makes are any good...
--X


Sundae dinner.


The rain didn't cool anything off, but the rainbow was beautiful.

Ocean Optioned
It looks like it's finally official--the screen rights to Ocean, the science fiction graphic novel by Warren Ellis and myself, have been optioned by the producers of the movie 300. This has been in the works for a little while now and I didn't want to say anything until it was a done deal. Click here to be taken to the announcement on Variety's website for more details. I'll definitely post updates as I learn more.

--C

New Midnighter Cover
Here's a peek at the pencil art for the cover of Midnighter #14.
Enjoy!

--C

Shameless Begging Update
Thanks to Malvin Velez, I now have a copy of the exclusive Michael Golden San Diego Comic-Con sketchbook(which is really more of a glossy portfolio, actually)!

Thanks, Malvin!
--C