DIRECT MARKET #1. This is the original script, just revisioned with the new Design. I think it looks and feels a lot more professional. Don't worry, as I move forward with it, I'll be adding more art and not just doing the same panels over and over again...but as a start with Photoshop, it's a good idea to get enough of them under the belt this way and then go from there. It cuts production time down, and as JK told me...it allows me to continue with the strong point of my work, the writing. but the art is all 100% Rob Potchak. Hope you enjoy it. 

So, I redid my comic strip #2, and this is how it looks now. Thanks to JK Radtke for taking th etime to help me with Photoshop to be able to make the word balloons as well as get everything started. I hope you enjoy this one, as this is probably A LOT closer to the look of the strip when I finish it. 

elisalandis.com

Well,

The time is almost upon us. It's kind of exciting. The reason I say is almost, is because I was snooping around over at Keenspot.com (home to Chris Crosby's superosity.com and Owen Gieni's sorethumbsonline.com) and pulled up elisalandis.com. Currently, the site just goes to a copy of SORE THUMBS, but hopefully, by next week or so, we'll be seeing Elisalandis.com up and running.

Not a moment too soon, either, because with Heroes Con this weekend, I think I'm going to do up cheap business cards to hand out at the show.

Gotta run, I'm at work today...lata!

Update of Sorts.

So let me start by saying the ECW PPV F'n rocked. I loved it, it was great and it was almost surreal how it went over.

On the comic front, I know the elisalandis.com site hasn't launched, and I'm still waiting to see how that goes over. In the meantime, I've completed four strips for DIRECT MARKET, already and will continue to write and draw them. I think its coming along well, and due to my speed with drawing them, I could probably get a good amount of time into it, and a good amount of the strips done before it launches. I personally am thinking to try to get at least thirty strips done before even attempting to launch it, because that would be most fair and keep me ahead. It's hard to transition from the type of writing I'm used to, into this, but I'm still attempting to do so.

The difficulty comes in trying to deliver a standard amount of panels, while still trying to give a punchline, something I am definitely not used to. Of course, with a comic book, you are trying to give a payoff every 22 pages, not every four panels. So you've got to dumb it down while you smarten it up, and then shrink it to an eighth of what you really want. Uggh. It's cool though, because the payoff when you actually get that one strip to just come off right, you feel vindicated.

I'll be tackling more of the script of THIEF in the next week or so. Eric has already told me that if I thought #0 was good that #1 is going to blow me away. I can't wait.

I'm going to upload some art from #0 soon, too.

I did a digital inking over the original DIRECT MARKET STRIP #1, so hopefully it can be seen and read a little better. If and when I feel comfortable doing digital lettering, I'll probably start doing that as well, but for now, you'll have to like this. I think it looks great. 

This is a drawing that I did exactly one year and one day ago, which also happened to be the day I asked Christy to marry me. As the wedding draws ever closer (Sept. 10) we realize there is still so much to do for it, but that hasn't stopped me from trying my hardest to continue writing, drawing and doing whatever I can. The funny thing about this drawing is my favorite part of it is the hand holding the webbing. I actually feel I captured the wrist and everything else in it correctly, something I struggle with to this day. 

This right here is the 13th page of LANDIS #0, one of my favorite pages from the illustration side, as Owen TOTALLY went out of his way creating this masterpiece. Not only that, but also, Studio Makma, based in France, did a terriffic job bringing it to full color. 

ECW One Night Stand

So tonight, for one night only (so far at least), Vince McMahon goes against what he normally does, and puts on a Pay Per View of epic proportions, when ECW returns for an Extreme reunion.

I for one am psyched. Having been able to witness an ECW show in 1998 in Wildwood NJ, this is going to be great. It's at Hammerstein's Ballroom in NY, and if done correctly will bring back that nostalgia feel that is missing from Today's wrestling.

Already announced is Tommy Dreamer and the Sandman vs. the Dudley Boys, which promises a lot of run ins. The return of Mikey Whipwreck and more. Rey Mysterio vs. Psicosis and Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero. Wow. How about Chris Jericho vs. Lance Storm and a 7 minute viewpoint from Rob Van Dam.

Not for the weak at heart, but still ought to be one great night.

So this is the first strip I did of my new Comic Store based Comic. If anyone else wants to draw it, let me know, hehe. I like it and it has a fun feel and appeal to it if you ask me. And yes, the TITLE of it is DIRECT MARKET. 

This is Steven. He's modeled after me, if I'd allow myself to grow hair, hehe. He's the guy who owns the comic store, and is content with everything going on in his life. As long as the store turns a profit, he knows he can keep doing what he loves to do and no one can tell him otherwise. 

For my new comic strip, this here is Mitch. You'll have to forgive the quick sketches, but I think to be able to make this as good as possible, I'll probably have to do it in an art style like this. Mitch is a comic reader with friends on "both sides" of the spectrum. He's got friends in the community of readers and outside. He's a tweener. Hehe. He likes his logo shirts and he's doing what he can to get dates and move up out of just the comic book store. 

June 10th update

Figured I'd run some stuff down pretty quick.

LANDIS

To my knowledge, LANDIS v.1 will begin online on Monday...take that as tentative, it can easily be shifted, but hopefully it will have started by the time Heroes Con (in Charlotte, 24th-26th) comes around. I'll try to keep the LANDIS material flowing, and even put up some stuff here that will probably make the overall book when that's finally got a date for arrival.

ONLINE COMIC STRIP

Well, I've been sworn to secrecy on the one project that Crosby had me looking into, but I've come up with one that as far as I can tell, with my rejuvenated interest in drawing recently, I may actually try to write and draw a strip, and hopefully get picked up by Keenspot, as I like the sound of their work for hire agreements, and as long as I hold the rights to the project, I'd be more than happy to take it there.

The project has a name, which I will not put here for right now, but it bases three longtime friends two of whom work at a comic store and discuss the industry, day to day life and promotes fun in not only the workplace. So it should be fun.

I'll be back later, maybe even today, to show some sketches of the characters.

A quick head and neck sketch I did on a piece of credit card tape at work. Figured I'd let everyone see what a four minute hold time does to me at my job. This one is Cipher again, although I don't like his hair in this one. 

Monday June 6th

Today was a thirteen hour day at "the day job," but it felt like an eternity. This merger and acquisition stuff sucks ass. It's too time consuming and there's too much bs floating around.

I figured because I don't get on here nearly as much as I do when I'm in a good mood, I'll give an update on the stuff that's going on.

LANDIS:

The release date seems to have been pushed back, which is fine, since I haven't heard what type of involvement they want from me on this. I want it to be the best it can, and though I'm still a little unsure about how it will be perceived by online comic strip readers, I still think it will do well enough to where it finally comes out in the format that I was and still am expecting, print.

THIEF:

You've seen at least one of the swipe pieces I've drawn, and I sent it to Eric to hear what he thought of it, but I liked it and felt it really blasted out into the eye of the public. I'll probably really tear into the script for #3 this week if I find a hole in my schedule large enough to jump in.

UNTITLED STUFF:

Crosby asked me recently to submit a proposal for an established online comic strip that would be work for hire. He never gave me any other info on it, but said that it was a good gig, so I told him to give me what he had on it, and I'll send in a submission if I feel like its something I can get behind.

CONVENTION SEASON:

It's that time of year again. The great thing about it this year is that I'll probably go to Charlotte for one day for Heroes Con, and miss the others, but at least I'll have some material out there that I can give everyone the website. Two years ago, I gave a lot of pros my comic LANDIS, so hopefully I can see what's up with everyone and how things are running. I'd love to buy some original art this year, but only if it's available at a reasonable price.

Speaking of art...BROKENFRONTIER.COM has an auction with the benefits going to Unicef, with some really great pieces. Check it out.

Rob

Typical

Heh...It's funny, I give mass updates all at once, and then I'm gone for a week or two. I have to apologize for that...I'd forget my own head if it wasn't attached at this point. Going through mass trauma at the day job. Hopefully it will get better, but the 48 hours I stay away from the store during the week just isn't enough.

As we move closer to June 6th, I'm expecting us to start LANDIS #0 being offered from Keenspot, where I'll have to get my free access set back up to the premium site, since it boots me off everytime, now.

Similar to SORETHUMBSONLINE.com, I want to include a blog in the site (haven't talked to Crosby about who is doing the design or whatnot for it,) but we're talking a launch in 8 days from what he originally said, and well, I'm plum out of info to give. If we put a blog atmosphere on it, I'm not sure if I'll integrate this blog into it, or if I'll continue to run it seperately, but I'm leaning to the latter.

The reason this blog was set up was so I could discuss things I like and do, much like my new projects and all. The blog there would discuss "Director's Commentary" of certain scenes and such as well as update the readers from both my side and Owen Gieni's side, like upcoming projects and whatnot, but in a lot quicker way.

I'll probably be doing another "Swipe" cover for an idea for THIEF, so it'll be interesting which one I decide on. I'll take suggestions, too...if anyone has a cool former famous cover they want me to try.

Infinity - After McFarlane - This piece is what I have intended for the character when it comes to doing the covers for THIEF. Though I haven't sent this art to Eric yet, It is one of the most recognized Spiderman images of all time, from both Amazing #300, and #301, both issues involving Venom. The eye catching aspect of doing this homage covers is with a book called THIEF, I think its cool to swipe the cover art. 

LANDIS v.1 Update

Well, this morning, much to my surprise, I received an email from Chris Crosby on the status of Landis volume 1. Though some of the news was upsetting, a lot of it was good, as in, the book will finally see light of day...only at first, online, and then in a director's cut of the story in print form (meaning with commentary, extra pages of art, maybe even a whole new story, and test art). All in all, I take this very well, and hopefully without him getting TOO mad, here is some of what Chris Crosby had to say.

"Rob:

With regards to the LANDIS book, the release date is (surprise, surprise) up in the air because of a couple annoyingly minor issues, but I can tell you that we do still plan to publish it, and it'll be exactly how you'd like it to be. Whatever extras you want to add is A-OK, you and Owen can go nuts. We're also open to publishing it in the standard comic TPB format (full size) instead of "manga-sized." We should probably wait until we have a definite final cover before submitting it to the online sales sites.

On the LANDIS webcomic (which we believe will be key to the book's success), I've probably done this before (*sigh*), but I believe I CAN now give you a definite launch date: Monday, June 6th. We'll start it off on a Mon-Wed-Fri schedule, which means the #0 issue will run from June 6 to July 20, followed by #1 and #2 and etc. You'll get an appearance in the Keenspot Newsbox on launch date and it'll hopefully get exposed to even more people than the FCBD issue did. (SORE THUMBS had over 23,000 unique visitors on our first day, mostly from the Newsbox appearance, and has since had over 30,000 unique visitors in one day.) We'd like to use the domain name "elisalandis.com" for it. Sound OK?"

See, now all BAD news. Hopefully we can move forward with the launch date of June 6th, and actually get this bad boy off the ground...or bad girl? Good girl? ehh, forget it. Stay tuned, I'll keep you all updated.

The final one for right now, This is Raccoon Man, '05! I really liked this piece, as I showed it to Christy and she thought it was really cool of me to find drawings from 1993 and re-draw them in my art style of today. Max Houston, seen here in full raccoon transformation, was a Private Investigator that I believe was bitten by a genetically enhanced raccoon who he originally thought had rabies. Turned out, in much the werewolf fashion, it made him into a monster of mammilian proportions, hehe. I really liked this piece, since it was an inspiration to draw the other characters...and I have a few more coming soon, I'm sure. 

Good ol' Raccoon Man. This is such a classic character, you may see him show up in one of the books I'm working on, but not in this form. Created by Anthony Seymour when we were in highschool, I always enjoyed having him show up in my book. He was our Wolverine character as much as Ardy was our Spider-man. He showed up everywhere, and you can tell why, hehe. 

My favorite of my re-drawings...I gave Cipher a nice haircut, but kept him without a face, and think I did alright with the shadowy features. This character was always fun to write, but I always found him really difficult to draw. I'd say my art has taken a nice turn for the better in making it look a little more like a person. 

This is Cipher. He was originally called, "THE BLANK" because no one was supposed to know who was under the mask, and I'm not sure we ever revealed it. You can see some 6th grade Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld in there, but that's only because I couldn't draw AT ALL.... 

Now a more streamlined version, and definitely hipper =). Now you can actually see a brain in his helmet, but since that had been done many times before, I only made it a very SMALL portion of the safety helmet. I also gave him more of a round face, with big ears, because someone with the name Brain Bender could NEVER be a popular guy with the ladies. I thought about keeping him bald, but drew some sideburns in there for a little more effect anyway. 

So I decided after going to MikeWieringo.com and Mike's blog, that I would grab some of my old art, and then post reenvisioned versions of the characters from the old Illusion Comics days, and more specifically, CITY OF ILLUSION, my first published comic, back in 1993 from Fifth Panel Comics. This drawing is of the vile Brain Bender, and WOW... look at that head. I've never been good at drawing bodies, but back then, I even had problems with faces and heads, hehe... 

quick update...

Well,

Besides my dog eating my Wacom mouse...a mouse used to digitally color and ink comic pages, as well as for other artistic purposes...I really haven't had much time to complete anything.

Anyone who knows me knows that my time is used wisely in most cases, but I lose steam and have to take time away from everything if I'm stressed by anything, and right now, this means my current employment. Though I'm truly not looking for another job or anything, and am in the process of interviewing for a managerial position with Suncom, I almost wonder if its worth all the time and effort. I almost wish I had a way to go back to school full time and still pay all my bills. IF anyone knows a way to make this work, please, I'm all ears.

I'll probably get a little time this weekend to be able to write more of either Atomic Teen or of THIEF...I think I'm hitting that spot in writing one story where you need to take a break from it, but keep creative. I think I may enlist my buddy, Derek Hutchens to take a look at some of the scripts, plot out some stuff and see what he can come up with while staying true to the image of the characters.

If I were to do this, I'd probably do it with AT, because I think THIEF is a property I would like to just keep my name on as the writer behind it, but AT could probably use his experiences as another former highschooler that lived an a-typical life.

Who knows...he may even relate more to the characters than I do =).

Anyway, I just figured I hadn't been on in a while and didn't want anyone feeling left out.

Lata

Verizon and update.

Anyone out there know who Alias Entertainment is? Mike S Miller created a company with a pretty good initial sales idea...75 cent first issues on series. Card stock covers, full color interiors...these are quality books. Because of this, I think I'm going to submit both THIEF and ATOMIC TEEN to them and see if the feelers are looking to grab hold of anything. I think they will on BOTH projects.

On a different front, I have this thing called a job interview tomorrow. It is with another little wireless provider called Verizon. I think they are one of the smallest players in the g....er...largest players in the game, and no, believe it or not, I did not use my connections to a manager or a friend of a friend's sister to get this interview (amazingly enough, they finally friggin called me!). It's for a sales position, and I told them I'd be interested in full-time, since I don't think I can survive on a part-timer's salary, unless I got another part time job, which is always possible.

I told a co-worker of mine to send me their resume, and I'll make sure that I take it with me to give them, as well, if they are still looking for qualified candidates.

Hopefully if it works out (and I should get offered something), they'll be understanding of the two weeks I need off (family trip and honeymoon), and I'll begin making some serious money...well, decent money.

Anyways, just figured I'd give a heads up, since I've been kinda sporadic, again.

Quick Update

Well,

After winning two poker tournaments this week, I feel its time to go pro...nah, just kidding, the the thrill of winning is nice.

Actually, on the comic front, Eric and I had a little chat this past week and the first issue of THIEF is fully penciled and it looks like I'm going to try sending it to some smaller publishers and hell, maybe even Image and Dark Horse, because I'm getting psyched up about the idea.

I truly believe, as I always have, that the idea is bigger than one person, one writer, and one initial concept. I just need someone higher up in one of the big companies to take notice, because this story is THAT good.

Eric will be sending me some of the pages to play with and I'm going to be sending all the penciled pages to the publishers with the concept.

Other than that, Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there.

Rob

This is a little Sample cover I did for THIEF #0. Obviously, I'm going to try to give full color covers, but I've been playing with MS Publisher, so hopefully they'll look great when we get them all squared away. 

Update on THIEF

Well,

Eric tried to get in touch with me about two days ago, and well, I wasn't able to get back in touch with him. Instead of complaining and not being able to get anything done because of that, I went ahead and finished and edited the script for THIEF #2. That now puts me three full 16 page scripts into it, and I think I may want to do a backup story to totally give people what they are looking for the most, good stories and bang for the buck.

As Countdown to Infinite Crisis proved, a good story at a reasonable price will sell. Its just, in this industry, without advertisers, an 80 pg comic for $1 is darned near impossible without taking a HUGE loss. As much as I want to give everyone what they want, I do on some occassions have to look at a bottom line perspective.

I'll also be doing some sketches of the other characters from THIEF, like the other super humans that show up in issues #2 and #3, as soon as I get the drawing bug to work on them.

Writing has been slow, mostly because of all the crap at the day job, but I am looking to start remedying that.

Work Related BS

So, today, at Suncom's morning meeting, we heard the latest company cost cutting measure...and its a doozy. Starting June 1st, our compensation is being cut in terms of our commission.

So what that means is that I'll still be doing the same, IF NOT MORE, work, and making LESSSSSSSS money...does the company realize that they will not be able to keep the best people is suddenly we are making $1000 less PER MONTH?!

Just when things were finally starting to look up a bit, they throw this bullshit at us, and why? So Wallstreet thinks we are making more money. But look at this from the sales associates side...

Currently, I sell between 50-70 new lines per month. Currently, the 70 range makes me about $2000 in commission. The new compensation plan has shown that 62 sales should average $818...a difference of 1100! Wow...to the company...

New Job to any of the employees. That's what we're all thinking, and its not going to get better. My current boss, Mike, has been promoted and there's no new boss in site for the foreseeable future...no one to bitch at, and no one to complain to. What this means, is even if he voices our opinions, we're not going to be heard.

Commission packages are set up by people that haven't sold in years, and would NEVER take my job over theirs, EVER again.

As hard as we're working and to pull this kinda crap is just ridiculous...and Suncom? Where's the TRUTH in that?

THE SHIELD

There are three shows I watch religiously, now, every week. They are 24, Scrubs and THE SHIELD.

Starring Michael Chiklis, I can actually say that this is one of those shows that I have watched since its very inception. Chiklis, who plays Vic Mackey, a guy that doesn't always play by the rules, but you can't help but root for him anyway.

The show is in its 4th season, and although it doesn't feel like its crossing any lines this season (The first season had nudity, the third season had a male on male rape and a serial rapist that went after the elderly), it still hits the wall at full speed. Glenn Close joined the cast, and at this rate, you get the feeling she'll still be back after this entry into the hell known as LA.

Anthony Anderson has also joined the cast this season, and if you think he tends to be a great comedic actor, he totally sheds that to be a totally radical drug dealer who doesn't look like he'd laugh at anything.

Cast, Crew and balls to the wall action...man, I'm gonna miss this one when its gone...but hell, at least I'll have NIP/TUCK and RESCUE ME to take its place again...and thank goodness, since I don't know what I'd do without my fix of FX.

Time to Chime in.

Helllllo.

Figured I'd update you folks on what's been going on. This past weekend I spent two days at the Cherokee Casino in NC, and well...lost my shirt, and two of my fiances. Just kidding, and I actually had a lot of fun, but now have to tightwad my money until this weekend when I get a commission check (which will go towards paying mortgage, 2 credit cards and ...dum...dum...duhhh....honeymoon). It should be enough to where I can at least put some of it towards all of it.

When I returned from my trip, I hopped online to see that Eric had gone and sent me another 4 pages from THIEF #0, and let me say, I can't wait to get my hands on these and have some fun. The other great thing to all this is I found my lightbox, so I may ink these with a different feel on a different paper...maybe adding a European or Japanese feel to it much like my last piece of art I put up here.

Ooh, I can't wait til he sends me some pages...I'm itching for them, now.

Other than that, I'm stoked that I now have three nights of TV watching...Sunday for Family Guy (I've already seen the season premiere and it's freakin sweet, to steal a quote), Monday for RAW and 24 (5 episodes to go, something big next week, followed by 4 more rip-roaring eps) and THE SHIELD on Tuesday which means I will once again get NOTHING done on writing, because NOW that show is finally kicked back into high gear and it only runs on 93 octane.

I'll check in later with more.

This is a drawing I did of myself and my fiance, Christy last night as an attempt to draw things a little differently. It definitely has a european or even japanese influence, and now that I am seeing it here, on the screen, I am starting to see the flaws, much like one can with any art after its taken time to settle in. I figured the way I added a little of a "Frank Miller" element to it by implying positive and negative space in parts was just to add a little more fun. Maybe you guys will see more stuff like this when I ink the pages from THIEF.  

Rob Nikolakakis and more

Ever heard of CafeDNA? Ever heard the name Nikolakakis? No? Check out Sniper and Rook #6, I'll try to get you folks a link for it. (Or go to his website, robniko.com) The funny thing about "the other Rob" (he probably calls me that, too, since we both have weird and unusual last names)is that both of us have a lot of common industry friends, and have actually technically worked on the same book together at one point. When Rob was picked to be the artist for EboniX-Files, and I personally wrote EboniX-MEN, Chris Crosby and his cohorts decided we'd run them as a flipbook instead of a single issue, which I thought was a good idea, because why would you put out two parodies that could steal sales from one another, instead of putting them together and possibly getting more people to pick it up. Crosby wrote the EboniX-Files side and Tony Furtado drew my story, which I still feel was a fun book and very oriented to those of us that actually like the convoluted history of the mutants.

Anyway, I was talking with Rob for the first time in many many moons, and he showed me his latest comic, although he said he's in the dvd menu making business, as well now. Hopefully both realms work out for him, and I told him any project he tries to develop if he needs an ear, or help, I'd be more than willing to help him out, and I sent him the script and discussed THIEF with him.

IT is really a good feeling when an artist in the same field tells you that you've come up with a story that is "so good, it could write itself." It makes you feel like you can seriously do some good in an industry that only about 3% of the people that ever enter get notoriety for. And I totally appreciate the compliment he gave me there. Hopefully he'll feel the script justifies the premise, since I worked hard on it, but still have some doubts, even though Eric has reassured me its some of my best work.

Going back to Rob, his art is heavily influenced by Travis Charest, and it is VERY easy to see that fact. Again, another interesting note is that Charest is probably my favorite artist, although very rarely is he able to get the work done because of the amount of time it takes him to complete a page...because typically he pencils, inks and colors his own work, and he has his own MSN group which I urge ALL to check out.

Til next time!

Jars of Pots?!?

Ever heard of the band, JARS OF CLAY? They are a Christian Rock Band, and tonight, they showed up on my turf...what did I do? I made them believe the devil was real by doing incantations in Karaoke and such...and...oh wait...Actually, I told them I really appreciated them coming to the bar and singing...the only thing I didn't like was that when they went to sing, I had to follow them directly, meaning its like an amateur comedian going up after Robin Williams closes a show...I did a pretty good rendition of WHEREVER YOU WILL GO by THE CALLING after they sang, "Don't let the sun go down on me..." which me and three other guys were yelling, "Don't let YOUR SON go down on me..." just to add humor to it...

All in all, it was a truly fun and lifting experience, and one that I am more than appreciative that I get to share here, with you.

UFC, wrestling, comics, and more.

Time continues to be passing real fast, so updating the blog seems to be something that is not happening as often as it used to...I'll try to be on a little more frequently.

Anywho, next week, I think I'm going to the Cherokee reservation casino for some much needed R&R and drinking and money losing. It's not even gambling if you aren't going to win, right?

Heh, so I watched the ULTIMATE FIGHTER FINALS and it was really good. The fights, the insight, all of it was good...except Ken Shamrock getting cut in the eye and then looking really bad. Tonight's PPV promises to be a good striking and grappling
experience with Liddell vs. Coutoure...the two best in the sport.

Well, in wrestling, HHH hurt himself, and now may have to take it easy as he passed out back stage and was in noticable pain...too bad...especially with Hogan coming back...again...(boo) At least this means that Batista may get the push he deserves as the champ. On the other show...they are boring me...hopefully they have that draft and really show it all up...that'd be great.

This week I picked up a couple good comics, but nothing really shocked me or made me want to jump at the next issue...maybe next week.

THIEF Update

I was talking with Eric the other night, after an absence from even emailing, and it seems that he's almost completely done penciling the #0 issue. This is great news, because he said he's already done all the breakdowns for the 1st issue of the series, as well.

From there, he's going to send me either the original pencils or photocopies of the pages so that I may start inking them. Either way, I'll probably make copies of all the pages so they can get scanned as both pencils, and then after the inks are done, so you get before and after pages, and finally get some good art on here =).

I'll probably start seeing the pages within the next two weeks, or so, and then with that added energy, I'll probably be able to get my butt back in the sling to write the next two issues =).

Just figured I'd give you guys a quick update. I am about 3 pages from completion on the #2 script and after that, I'll head fast into #3. The trick is to give everybody a good story in 16 pages while still giving them a reason to want the next issue. Fun stuff.

PSP...I got me one

Well,

As Christy, my loving, yet not always understanding, fiance said, I always need to upgrade and get better stuff...so today I did.

I traded in my GBA SP, and about 7 games for $100 and after paying the mortgage, used what I had left over from her to purchase myself a Sony PSP, the new handheld game system.

I have to tell you, the only thing I'd change is its size, and due to the screen on it, you really can;t...but it's beautiful. I bought the Spider-man 2 movie GAME to go with the free copy of the movie that comes with it. The game is stunning with its cartoon screens, looking MUCH better than what was originally seen in the PS2 version.

anyways, you may not see me on here too much for the next couple days, even with me being off from work, I need to discover how to rip movie files for a memory card for it, and then see how big the files are so I can see how much I need to spend on a memory card...since the gaming feature is nice, but that's what I REALLY want it for.

Later all!

Update of sorts.

Hey all.

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up. I've written more pages to THIEF #2, and I gotta say I like where its going. Hopefully everyone that picks it up will enjoy it as well. I'll probably be developing all the company pages for the interior cover and such soon with MS Publisher. It's extremely easy to use if anyone is looking for a way to develop pages that can be imported into Photoshop and then made into high res PDFs.

Recently I've had a hard time getting onto the blog, not just because I've been real busy, but also because I've had hard time accessing it, so I'm back for now.

This week, Blue Beetle dies in COUNTDOWN TO INFINITE CRISIS from DC Comics. It's only $1, so I urge all to try to grab a copy...80 pgs, $1...Jim Lee and Alex Ross cover...YOWSA!

On top of all that, I've applied for a new position at work, and even more, I'm having a Wrestlemania party at my house on Sunday...Ought to be fun.

I'm out for now...I'll try to post a picture later.

Sin City

So April 1st is almost upon us and I know where I'll be...at the local premiere of SIN CITY, the movie co-directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller. As an avid fan of Miller's past works, and a big fan of the graphic novels in question, this looks to be possibly the best adaptation of a comic book to a movie...possibly ever.

That's saying a lot, expecially because in recent years there have been a lot of good ones, including Spider-man 1&2, X-Men 1&2, and still my personal favorite, the Crow.

But Rodriguez did something different. He handed all the actors pages from the books and said, "This is your script." He also had a computer overlay that showed the actual panels from the comic and then the piece from the movie. NO ONE has ever gone to such great lengths as to attempt something like this, but then again, no comic has ever been 100% adaptable without a lot of special effects shots, lots of money, and direction.

Miller has directed films before, notably (or unnotably) Robocop 2 and 3, but both flopped as Universal destroyed his original vision and made the movies hokey, unlike Paul Verhoeven's original, which with points of gratuitous humor and horror, was one of the first movies like that to ever do well...

I look forward to the perfomances by Oscar nominated actors Del Toro and Clive Owen. This movie is shaking with its star power, and if it wasn't for the image being given a 100% testimonial, you better believe that only one or two of them MAY have said okay.

As a side note, I may start uploading some of the art I've been drawing recently, as I intend to actually do some Frank Miller inspired pieces, and have already begun. Probably on Easter, I'll put up a pic of Infinity as drawn in my awful attempt of Frank Miller-izing it...We'll see if I actually put it up here or not...since I haven't started drawing it, yet.

Enjoy your holiday if I'm not back before it!

Cheeburger!

If you guys haven't tried CHEEBURGER CHEEBURGER, you are missing out. Home of the 20 oz. precooked burger (1 lb of meat after cooking) of real angus beef....oh man, it has me saying CHEEBURGER all the time.

So last night I got pretty hammered and had a fight with my fiance, but not to worry, we worked it out as we sobered up and we're still gravy.

I'll be jumping back into the writing portion of the comics this week, because I want to stay fresh. I may jump back on Atomic Teen for a bit, just to allow myself a good way to stay ahead on both written projects, though if I hear more from Chris Crosby about the possibilities of a sequel to Landis, I may very well jump in Landis: Dark Age Today, basically, without giving away too much, this would be the sequel to v.1, and take place about 6 months after the story in v.1. That's about all I'd be able to say about it right now, and I have to admit, I don't think I'd really want to play with Landis again right now unless Owen Gieni wanted to return as the artist, as his style was perfect for what we tried to do with that book, and hopefully we can get it out when we need to this time, so that everyone can finally put their hands on a book of mine that we can all be proud of.

Anyway, that's about all for now. I should be able to update this a little more frequently, but some of my posts recently hadn't been posting, so we'll see how that goes.

I don't know if I ever posted this one or not. It's a drawing I did of my characters Ardy Vanstarr and Janus Tagger. I have to give every artist I've worked with a ton of props, as things like this I'm okay at drawing, but when it comes to backgrounds and action sequences, I have nothing. Hopefully this will get looked at Favorably. I did it a while back with the hopes of putting it in Landis v.1, and it may still show up there as character sketches. 

Saint Patty's day!

Everyone be safe tonight, drink lots of green drinks and enjoy all!

I'm gonna post some art!

Wrestlemania shape up and more...

Well, I hadn't been on in a couple days, so I figured I'd discuss a big wrestling show. In fact, the biggest wrestling show of the year, Wrestlemania. Let me start by saying this is the ONLY show that WWE seems to be prepping for pretty well. All the other shows seem rushed, not ready for primetime, and not even better than one of their weekly FREE TV shows. But with Wrestlemania being in April, and NO March PPV, that means extra buildup time, and my favorite part (when done right)...well written angles.

Let's look at the card.

SUMO MATCH
Akibono vs. Big Show

This will be on the card early, but I bet Vince is trying to ensure some overseas buys with this one. I see Big Show losing, since its not his match, and a hug after for the crowd to ooh and aahhh.

No TAG TITLE matches announced (for EITHER side)

Randy Orton vs. The Undertaker

The Legend versus the Legend Killer. Hmm...expect the Undertaker to get screwed out of a win here, or, maybe a humbling by Randy Orton that allows the UT to actually pull it off. I'd like the streak to stay intact, but let's be honest...not many older guys get pushed past teh younger and more popular talent...though if Orton got "traded" to Smackdown after, I could see him letting the Taker win, only to come over and get revenge in a full blown heel turn.

Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle

Wow. This is one of those matches that people really have been asking for, for a long long time. I think this match with be the second best on the entire card, and if the Money in the Bank ladder match is awful, then this WILL STEAL THE SHOW. I honestly don't mind WHO wins, either, but I'd again, like to see these guys traded to the other show, so that the feud can go past one match. Hopefully they get to work with each other some before the match to get afeel for each other.

MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH
Jericho v. Benoit v. Edge v. Christian v. Benjamin v. Kane

I want to see Christian win this, but honestly, expect Benoit to. He's been working with Batista for a while, but...oh wait, they are both faces...hm...give it to Jericho and have the mouth go crazy on Batista. It could be like when the UT first faced Shawn Michaels. That was such a great feud.

Women's Championship match

Gimme a break already.

World Heavyweight Title match
HHH vs. Batista

Hopefully they'll carry a good match with the up and comer DEFINITELY getting the win. Its like nothing can stop him...but I'm sure a sledgehammer and a face turn by the nature boy is coming...they're even hinting at it already. New Champ

WWE Title Match
JBL vs. Cena

Cena walks away with the title...but will he turn on the chain gang to get it? Maybe...remember when Steve Austin beat the Rock at WM(I think it was) 16...turned on the fans and started a two year heel run that was some of the funniest bits EVER.

try the pic again. 

Hey everyone. I just installed Microsoft Publisher 2003 to my computer, and wanted to show everyone kind of what I had in mind for the cover of THIEF #0. Of course, we'll play with the logo, and add a company logo (after Eric and I decide what we want to call it, hehe) but this again is the idea I had for the cover when Eric drew this piece...and now he's telling me he's got some other great ideas for covers, so we'll see how things turn out. We'll have to do some color work, but you get the idea. 

This was going to be the cover to issue #2, by series artist Owen Gieni. Hopefully, we'll do a cover gallery, because there were a ton of pieces that would have been wonderful that may not get seen otherwise. Also, colored by Studio Makma. 

This was the actual Production cover for LANDIS v.1, as we get closer to its release date (hopefully), I figured I'll start supplying the site with some of the art, so that everyone can see what to expect. Here, the art is by Ethan (GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH) Van Sciver, and colored by Studio Makma based out of France. All in all, this thing is great, I think. 

This was the Batista Drawing I did last night. It kind of sucks to know that I put some effort into this poster and the people RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME held up a stupid DAAAAVE single letter per sign thing. I mean, it sucked that they were so unoriginal and had to get that stupid crap in front of me. Anyway, I know I got this one up there a couple times. Tim, I really hope Matt enjoys it. 

After Raw

Well, I just got back from Monday Night Raw, and it was a blast as it tends to be. A Very good show, I thought. My signs showed up randomly throughout the night, and I'll be posting pictures here when I get them developed, but it was a great time. I enjoyed it emensely. If you watched it and saw a drawing of Batista in thick black marker, that was me.

After the event, I saw a buddy of mine, and though I thought about keeping the sign, I thought it'd be a great gift for his son, Matt, but hopefully I'll still have a photo of it to place on here.

Man I had fun, but I'm hoarse now.

Monday Night Raw

I'll be five rows up in the crowd, tonight, holding a sign that anyone SHOULD be able to see that simply says..."HHH FEARS DIVORCE" and of course in the heart of Horsemen country, "Flair FEARS Foley." Yeah, I know, not as original as a "F**K the FCC" sign, but I have to admit the first one tickles me. The second is just to see how many people I can piss off, since Ric Flair is a staple of NC, and I frankly don't care. He's done a lot for the business, especially since he'll put over a young up and comer if its best for the business (unlike his cohort).

As to update everyone on the state of THIEF, Eric is getting through pages 7 and 8 on the penciling side, and he's really been impressing me. There are some scenes that look like they may need a photoshop additive, but otherwise, he's really been pushing his artistic skills. That fight panel that I posted remains to be my favorite so far, as it is just that good.

More later.

This right here is THIEF #0's second half of page five in pencil. It is kind of a sequence of getting stuck somewhere you shouldn't be. as you can see, Derek doesn't know WHAT to do. Eric's cartoony style really seems to be coming around with enough detail in the right spots. I thought these two panels were good to show now, just to show the progress this project is making. 

Been a while

Hey folks, been a while since I updated this here site, so I figured I'd go ahead and give a little update.

I haven't really gotten to draw those cover concepts, I've recently discovered MVP Baseball 2005, and because of that, I haven't done much of anything since then. Well, besides that and work, there really hasn't been too much time.

I personally am taking a Mark Millar approach when it comes to writing THIEF, because I want Eric and myself to remain on the same plain, which we are right now. If we can keep hold of that, we've got a real special project working, so hopefully, we can finally make our mark in the industry we've both always tried to do such a thing in.

I'll probably get some time to do a couple sketches over the weekend, but with me going to see Monday Night Raw this coming week, I'm going to have to draw up some signs first, since I don't think they are going to let me in with a DRY ERASE BOARD, hehe...that'd be a first, though!

I'm thinking FLAIR FEARS FOLEY, and I STOLE GUERRERO'S MULLET, and CHEECH!!! for my signs, but I could always do the typical ones...FOLEY = RATINGS and SCORCHIN!

Heh...I love this time of year...the signs just come to mind.

I'm going to have a blast. Look for me there!