THE AWESOMENOMICON

Also here's a quick doddle of Nightcrawler

2012-01-27T17:15:00.001-08:00

That's right, doddle. Meant to type "doodle", messed up, decided not to sweat the details and just let if fly, man. Kind of like this doodle. I mean doddle.

The Weekly Hotness: 1-27-12

2012-01-27T14:28:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot of talk lately on the "future of comics" – It's a subject I've been giving a lot of thought, both as a fan trying to support the industry and as a creator trying to find some kind of foothold within it. Price, piracy, the direct market, etc... There's a lot of contention right now as to what's hurting comics, and what needs to be done to get past it.

But one thing I think we can all agree on is that one of the best things you can do to support comics, besides buying them, is to talk about them. So, I'm going to start talking about them. Now, let me be clear: these aren't going to be reviews. I'm all for serious comics criticism (provided someone else is doing it), but with The Weekly Hotness all I really want to do is quickly shout out whatever books are currently rocking my world. That means only comics that I like. Most of them will be creator-owned/independent publishers (Batman's awesome, but does he really need me street teaming for him?), and I'll try my best to keep up to speed though there will be weeks where I fall behind because I haven't had a chance to read anything yet.

Oh, and, spoiler-free of course.

Let's do a quick test run...

The Bulletproof Coffin: Disinterred #1 (of 6)
Story By: David Hine
Art By: Shaky Kane

I keep accidentally reading that cover as "The Bullet Proof Coffin: Disinterested", which is ironic because it was the probably one of the most fascinating comics I read all month. It starts as a gruesome murder mystery and degenerates from there into a bizarre and darkly comedic superhero origin story that will leave you creeped out well after you've put it down. Each page is an explosion of capes, cops and commies; Meanwhile there's this slow, unsettling undercurrent provided by a narrator who may in fact be completely off his rocker. The result is a wonderful mix of face melting action and slow building tension. Kane's artwork is beautiful in its retro awkwardness, and it meshes so well with Hine's kooky storytelling that I often forget they aren't the same person.

BOOM! Done. You're welcome, comics industry!

P.S. What'd you read this week?

HAPPY BLUE YEAR!

2012-01-13T15:36:00.000-08:00

2012! We made it! Happy New Year! Woo, glory!

Let's kick things off (2 weeks late) with some good news... I got a piece coming up in MAD Magazine #514 that was recently teased on MAD: The Idiotical (that's the MAD Magazine Official Blog for those that don't know), entitled "Gifts Received by Jay-Z and Beyonce's New Baby" – Should be out in February and it's gonna be a heater!

Here's my tease of their tease, go check it out!

THE BEST MY FAVORITE COMICS OF 2011

2011-12-31T10:34:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again! I'm going to keep this quick because I'm short on time and, let's be real here, nobody asked me.

So here they are, the comics that rocked me in 2011. Some of them, anyway. Let me know what I missed because there's a lot I haven't gotten around to yet, and I'm always looking for recommendations!

FAVORITE GRAPHIC NOVEL

Without a doubt, this honor goes to INFINITE KUNG-FU. Insanely beautiful brushwork, the craziest fight scenes I think I've ever seen in any medium, and an epic, timeless tale (with the occasional funky anachronism) that takes you on a real hero's journey. I'd never heard of Kagan McLeod before this, and here he went and made one of my Top 10 graphic novels of all time. ALL TIME!

HONORABLE MENTIONS

HABIBI, like Infinite Kung Fu, is a beautiful, sprawling epic that plays things fast and loose with its time setting. Only with sexual abuse and islamic mysticism instead of punching and kicking. It's also a heartbreaking love story that wrecked me in a way only Thompson can. Again, I can't emphasize enough how gorgeous the artwork is. You've really got to see it to believe it.

I worship Mike Huddlestn's art, and Robert Venditti has an amazing knack for crafting comics that feel like smart Hollywood thrillers. THE HOMELAND DIRECTIVE is a paranoid roller coaster ride from start to finish.

FAVORITE MINI-SERIES

CRIMINAL: THE LAST OF THE INNOCENT
I think it was always implied that the Archie characters would one day grow up to be vile, miserable adulterers and crooks, but it's still cool to see a comic book that really explores the idea. Brubaker and Phillips stay killing it with their Criminal series, and this might be the best chapter yet. I honestly HATED the main character and it's rare for me to have that sort of reaction to a book. Powerful stuff.

FAVORITE SPIDER-MAN

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN relaunched this year with a couple of unexpected twists. First of which, he's black now. You may have read something about it in the news. But on top of that he's reaaaally young. But you know what's awesome about a 13 year old getting super-powers? EVERYTHING. The artwork is crisp and beautiful, and the writing oozes with tweeny charm.

FAVORITE COVERS

BLUE ESTATE is one of the best looking books on the shelves in general, but it's the covers that originally caught my eye. The design sense is like nothing else out there right now, harkening back to the old pulps while still looking completely modern. Even cooler is how they switch it up month after month while still maintaining a consistent look. Only showing one cover like I have here doesn't really do it justice, but looking at this you get the basic idea.

FAVORITE ARTIST

This is always a hard category for me (so why am I even putting myself through this?), but I want to shout out MIKE HUDDLESTON one more time for the beast that he is. This cover doesn't do his work in BUTCHER BAKER justice. And showing you a couple of interior pages from the book wouldn't either, because he's constantly switching things up with styles and colors. My god, the colors. The dude is unreal.

FAVORITE WRITER

I think literally half the comics I read on a monthly basis are written by SCOTT SNYDER. The guy is currently writing Batman, Swamp Thing, American Vampire and Severed, and I've yet to come across a wack issue in the whole bunch.

FAVORITE SUPERHERO COMIC SERIES

It's been a rough, um, decade for DAREDEVIL with story arc after story arc continually dragging him through the wringer. Even as a fan of those stories, over time it got to be a little much. A guy can't have his entire life destroyed every single week. And yet, if you swing too far in the opposite direction, you run the risk of turning Daredevil into a cut-rate Spider-Man. Mark Waid, aided by some of the bests artists in the game, has come along with a perfect balance that ramps up the fun factor while staying true to character. This comic is pure joy. In red tights.

FAVORITE COMIC SERIES, PERIOD

I'm not anything close to being a horror fan, so looking at that cover you can perhaps understand my reluctance to jump on the LOCKE & KEY bandwagon despite the rave reviews. I should know by now not to write off complete genres. And besides, this one's more "horror fantasy" than anything. And man oh man, is it GOOD. I picked up the first issue out of mild curiosity and before I knew it had inhaled the first 6-issue chapter, and was itching for more. My life basically went on hold until I could get all caught up. It's one of those. You've been warned.

FAVORITE CURVEBALL(S)

I shouldn't like UNCANNY X-FORCE. It's dark, it's violent, the characters are all miserable, and there's an X in the title. I swore those things off years ago. And yet, here I am, 3 trades deep into this series and chomping at the bit for more. It's everything I thought I didn't want in a comic book done so incredibly well that I don't even know who I am anymore.

I never had anything against Wonder Woman, but I've always felt that she was all icon and no character, defined more by her star spangled bloomers than her values or personality traits. That was all just conjecture of course, seeing as how I'd never really read her book before. But when DC re-launched WONDER WOMAN this year with the creative team of Cliff Chiang and Brian Azzarello, I decided to take a chance. And it's turned out to be one of the best surprises – and best comics – of 2011.

FAVORITE CREATOR OWNED COMIC

This all-ages book about a bear riding, monster fighting cowboy hits all the right notes for me. It's funny, it's adventurous, and above all, sincere. You'd be hard pressed to find a more fun comic than REED GUNTHER.

FAVORITE ANTHOLOGY

I am forever a sucker of the old "let's get a bunch of indie comics artists and have them do mainstream superheroes" gimmick. Even moreso when those superheroes are Marvel superheroes. It just feels so right to me. Maybe because a lot of these characters were designed by the likes of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, who had fairly idiosyncratic styles in their own rights. Anyway, I dug the first volume of Strange Tales although it was hit and miss (such tends to be the nature of anthologies), but with this follow-up I found something to love in every single story.

Christmas Mixtape From Hell pt.5

2011-12-24T12:50:00.000-08:00

Well, I totally planned this wrong and so now here I find myself on Christmas Eve with only 4 tracks compiled for my Christmas Mix. I'm sorry. You deserved better. Or worse, depending on how you look at it.

Luckily the big homie Heino came through in the clutch (like he always does) with this half hour (!!!) Christmas special. Bitteschön!

And to all, a good night!

Christmas Mixtape From Hell pt.4

2011-12-22T22:33:00.001-08:00

Someday in the near future, when all Christmas cards are actually lightweight flatscreens capable of playing video... This will be mine.

Until that day comes, I'm just going to have to suck it up and mail this out on a bunch of iPads. Postage is gonna suuuuuuck!

Christmas Mixtape From Hell pt.3

2011-12-22T22:22:00.001-08:00

...

Words fail me.

Christmas Mixtape From Hell pt.2

2011-12-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

Look, there's nothing wrong with a man being attracted to Santa Claus. It's 2011, I can dig it. And furthermore, who doesn't love a little holiday gender-flipping? Have they done a version of "Baby It's Cold Outside" where the date rapist is played by a woman? Someone should get on that.

All that being said, there's something a little "off" about Michael Bublé's "Santa Baby" cover. If anybody can drain the sex out of a song, it's Bublé (though I'd still pay good money to hear him do a full album of R Kelly covers, tentatively titled in my head '12 Blé') and he makes a good effort here, but the original context of the song is just so danged horny that it's impossible for "Santa Buddy" to not inherit a vaguely suggestive tone. Which I wouldn't give a second thought had it been intentional.

I get what the song was going for, but the end result here is the musical equivalent of Don Draper having one too many at the office Christmas party and accidentally coming on to Santa Claus, made doubly awkward by the fact that it's actually Mr. Cooper wearing a costume. Which, for me, is what makes the song great. That's just good Christmas fun right there.

Sharon Moody's Comic Book Still Life Paintings

2011-12-20T12:24:00.000-08:00

These may have made the rounds already, but if you haven't seen these already go check them out. Kind of mesmerizing.

Christmas Mixtape From Hell pt.1

2011-12-19T09:56:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again, when your iTunes library runneth over with seasonal classics from Nat King Cole, Burl Ives, and Run DMC. For a few weeks out of the year, these songs have provided the soundtrack to your life, in many cases since childhood. Then they are never listened to again until 6 months later when "O Tannenbaum" awkwardly appears in your house party playlist by accident, prompting you to purge your entire hard drive of any mentions of Christmas, only to repeat the process all over again a few months later.

And those are the good ones.

Every year tons of bad, mediocre or just plain forgettable Christmas songs are pumped out into the atmosphere, as ephemeral as a mayfly reading People Magazine's Kardashian Wedding Special Edition. I'm not here to talk about those, either.

The Christmas Mixtape from Hell is all about finding those diamonds in the rough. These are the Christmas songs that deserved more attention, but for one reason or another were told there was "no room at the inn," and by "inn" I mean "our hearts." Ultimately, this is a tale of redemption.

So let's get this party started right with an uptempo ditty by none other than The Biebs himself. It's "The Little Drummer Boy" like you've never heard it before! Instead of recalling the story of a poor boy summoned to play his drum for a newborn Baby Jesus, this version is about a teenage billionaire who crashes the nativity to terrorize Baby Jesus with his gangster ass rap skills (possibly challenging Him to a battle?)... and he brings along Busta Rhymes, who if nothing else should go down in history as the first rapper to rhyme "Twitter Followers" with "Happy Hanukkah". Enjoy!

Sneak Peek

2011-12-17T14:42:00.000-08:00

The new MAD will be in stores next week, and might even have a half pager by yours truly in the Strip Club section. (But you didn't hear it from me!)

Robot Party... from the future

2011-12-15T14:46:00.001-08:00

GREETINGS HU-MANS! Do you like robots? And t-shirts? And robots on t-shirts? Then head on over to TeeBlitz where all week long they're selling a limited edition t-shirt I designed! There's also a nice little interview right there on the homepage. Check it out!

CA$H MONEY FUNNIES

2011-12-12T10:17:00.000-08:00

One more for the road...

The Superhero Remix, Remixed

2011-12-09T23:49:00.000-08:00

Remember that Superhero Remix Flickr Set I started a while back that mashed-up comic book characters with classic hip hop album covers? Well, now I'm flipping it on you. Didn't see that coming, eh? That's why it's called flipping it on you.

Announcing Da Art of Storytellin', a new batch of illustrations in which I'll be taking classic hip hop songs and re-imagining them as old school comic covers. There's only 3 pieces up so far, but expect more to come (slowly) as there's a wealth of great story raps for me to draw from.

Regulators... mount up.

Overachievers Club on Threadless

2011-12-07T22:02:00.001-08:00

Hey gang. I've been trying my hand at shirt design lately, and thought I might experiment a little with the Threadless site with one of my ideas. The way it works is, users submit designs, then other users vote on those designs, and then the designs with the highest score get the chance to become actual shirts, maybe. If you dig what you see up above, why not hop on over to Threadless and put 5 on it? Voting in no way commits you to buy (but c'mon you'd look so hot in this), and while a high score doesn't necessarily guarantee a design's shirt-ification, a low score certainly doesn't help. So, your assistance is greatly appreciated in this matter.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE! And THANKS!

LBCC Wrap-Up (A Better One)

2011-12-03T22:44:00.001-08:00

Hey! Remember that Long Beach Comic Con wrap-up I posted a few weeks ago? Yeah, the half-assed one I banged out so I could get it posted before flying off to Louisiana for a month. That's the one.

Well, go read Michael Dooley's wrap-up,Tales from the other Comic Con instead. I'm almost certain he didn't write it while packing, and he has an amazing knack for finding the coolest stuff on even the most cluttered of convention floors. And I'm not just saying that because he mentioned me!

LBCC Wrap-Up

2011-11-08T19:18:00.000-08:00

Before the fog of Long Beach Comic Con dissipates from my mind completely, allow me to share a few thoughts on the experience. This was, as I've mentioned before, my first time ever attending a convention as an exhibitor, and I probably couldn't have picked a better show to finally break myself in. Decent size, lots of cool people in attendance, and last but not least: close to my house. When you don't know what the hell you're doing, I find that adding long-distance travel to the mix only complicates things.

Plus, where else but in Southern California are you gonna spot this dude?

For something I'd never done before, the whole thing felt weirdly comfortable. And I credit a lot of that to the show. LBCC has a really cool, laid back atmosphere. You had a lot of the good qualities of the larger shows (mostly in terms of the talent roaming the floor) but without the drawbacks (feeling like you're trapped in a giant pinball machine). I watched Darwyn Cooke do a sketch with virtually no line. Josh Fialkov and Mark Waid taught me stuff about word balloons. Dan "Smif" Smith drew me this awesome Red Atom sketch card.

I'm not sure any of that stuff would have had time to happen had I been tabling at a larger show. Or a smaller one.

Also this convention had a wrestling ring in it.

Now, the sounds of body slams echoing throughout the venue did get a little tiresome around hour 5, but god bless stuff like that for even existing, you know? Look, I don't begrudge San Diego Comic Con for going "Hollywood", but this show brought me back to the hotel banquet hall conventions my Dad would take me to back in the late 80's early 90's. That element of mystery and danger that at any moment, you could walk into the wrong room and be knee-deep in some seriously weird shit. I'm sure there's plenty of weird shit at San Diego if you're looking for it, but at shows like this the weird shit comes and finds you. And I kind of love it.

There were lots of cool costumes and stuff too, as you might expect from a show that takes place on Halloween weekend.

(It took me a minute to realize there wasn't a guy in the Iron Man armor made out of tabs from discarded soda cans)

Anyway, not to make too big a deal out of all that, because the emphasis of the show really seemed to be on comics and creators. At least from what I could tell from my little slice of Artist's Alley. Which stayed fairly busy for most of the convention, I'm happy to say! I sold some books, met some cool people, and learned how to do it all even better next time.

Looking forward to it.

Lane Changin’. Chain Swangin’. World Savin’.

2011-11-08T15:34:00.000-08:00

Welp, cat's out the bag. My new webcomic,F.E.R.R.A.R.I. Boyz has officially got the internet going nuts. If you like action, absurdity and southern hip hop, then this is the webcomic you didn't realize you've been waiting for.

Updates every Tuesday, I think!

Long Beach Bound!

2011-10-28T15:07:00.000-07:00

LONG BEACH COMIC CON!

OCTOBER 29TH AND 30TH AT THE LONG BEACH CONVENTION CENTER!!

ARTIST ALLEY TABLE #1703A!

IS WHERE I WILL BE!!

WHY CAN'T I STOP YELLING?!

Rainy Day Doodles

2011-10-25T12:55:00.001-07:00

Just futzing around with my Sharpies today, let's see what comes of it...

Not a good look

2011-10-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

Not crazy about how this one turned out but I guess that's why they're called "tests" - and besides, even a great sketch of this character is going to have its... issues.

I think Martian Manhunter gets overlooked in a lot of superhero costume discussion because there's not really enough there to constitute a "costume". I've had nightmares about showing up at my old high school wearing more than this guy. And before you accuse me of being culturally insensitive to Martians, let me just remind you that this guy can read minds. So it's not that he doesn't know.

It's that he doesn't care.

Gotta respect that on some level.

Under the Trenchcoat: In Defense of Gambit

2011-10-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

Aaaaaaand we're back. I changed his arm up to give the composition more of an "X" shape (and to violate the whole "Let's not try so hard" ethos of these sketches), but otherwise I'm happy to say I resisted the urge to put a lot of time into this one. In a lot of ways this is a better drawing than what I would have come up with had I devoted hours to getting his trenchcoat just right. Oh, the trenchcoat.

Now here's the thing about Gambit. I think these days he gets a bad rap because people lump him in with a lot of 90s trends that haven't exactly aged well. Not to say that morally ambiguous anti-heroes didn't exist before that time, but let me put it this way: If Wolverine was yogurt, then Gambit was GoGurt™. Same basic formula, but now with new and improved "extreme" packaging. In Gambit's case, the packaging was made up of garish colors that clashed not only with one another, but common decency itself... Not to mention some wicked, functionality-defying headgear, dirty trenchcoat and a perennial 5 o'clock shadow. Suddenly everything else looked lame and obsolete... Like yogurt that still required a spoon.

But tastes change, and what seemed cool and flashy a few years ago now looked ridiculous, over-designed and outdated. Gambit was (and continues to be) a casualty of the 90's backlash, but I don't think that's fair. What made those characters lame wasn't their outfits, it was their crumby attitudes. All the scowling, brooding, crying, etc. But Remy LeBeau was always smiling. And why wouldn't he be? Gambit's cool, debonair, mysterious and highly skilled with a bo staff. If you get my meaning, chere.

Also he can make things explode just by touching them. I probably should have led with that. Would have saved me a lot of typing.

But the coolest thing about Gambit is that he makes being Gambit look like fun. And that, my friends, is called swag.

Gambit-in-Progress

2011-10-21T21:49:00.001-07:00

Ugly Superhero Costume Week continues... man does it ever. However I started this one kind of late and would like to go to sleep now. When I return, we'll see this baby in color and I'll explain why Gambit is, in fact, awesome.

Countdown to LBCC

2011-10-20T22:13:00.000-07:00

Getting pretty excited for the Long Beach Comic Con next weekend. And today that energy manifested itself into this drawing of Long Beach rap crew 213, which didn't make a whole lot of impact as a group but would provide us with such hip hop luminaries as Snoop Dogg, Warren G and Nate Dogg (RIP). Between these guys and Sublime, Long Beach really helped define an era for me musically, and there's an excitement I carry with me about the city to this day. Even though I tend to only go there to visit the aquarium.

It's one gangster ass aquarium though.

I'm considering polishing this one up a bit and having prints available for the con, as a tribute to both 213 and the 213. What do you think?

Heroes For Hire

2011-10-18T16:22:00.000-07:00

Evidently it's "Underrated Superhero Costumes Week" at The Awesomenomicon! Here are a couple more speed tests I cranked out between things today. Luke Cage and Iron Fist... bronze age pimpin' at its finest.

Daredevil Speed Test

2011-10-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture I drew of Daredevil this afternoon. I've been trying to develop a different style (what else is new) that's funky, fast and versatile while not being terrible. It's not there yet, but you know. It's a process.

And this used to be an art blog if I recall?

P.S. Daredevil's original costume is criminally underrated.

Gearing Up

2011-10-12T11:46:00.000-07:00

It's still a few weeks away, but I thought I might not procrastinate for once and get my stuff together for the Long Beach Comic Con on October 29th and 30th at the Long Beach Convention Center. I even ordered one of those snazzy retractable vertical banners to display at my table... because yes, I'm finally getting a table at a comic convention! Figured it was time to take the plunge.

I'll be at table 1703A in Artist Alley, come by and say "Whuddup!"

In other news...

2011-09-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention it before, and it's been on the newsstands for a minute now, but I have a half page comic in the latest MAD Magazine! It's about hipsters. Go get it!

In other other news, I'm going to be an uncle! Again! This time, it's my little sister who's having a baby, which is crazy because I still remember riding home from the hospital with her as a newborn like it was last week. In honor of Adelaide Cecilia's arrival, I worked up this illustration which now proudly hangs upon her nursery wall. I based it on my sister's brilliant suggestion of "Badass Judo Princess." I'm sure she'll be just that.

Comic-Con Wrap Up

2011-09-27T16:09:00.001-07:00

Wow, has it really been an entire month since San Diego Comic Con?

What's that? TWO MONTHS?!?!?

Well that's just embarrassing. For the millions of you who rely on me for up to the minute comic industry news: I... I understand if you want to start seeing other comic blogs. I apologize.

As for the rest of you, I'll try to piece together as much as I can recall from my own personal experience of Comic Con this year. Flashing back to Comic Con 2010 for a moment, I wasn't sure that I'd even be attending this time around. At the time I had no booth, no book, and no prospects, really. Tales to Suffice continued to be this thing I did for my own amusement after the series was cancelled, and I hadn't yet discovered the magic of Kickstarter that would soon make the Giant-Sized collection a reality. So, you know, I wasn't really in the mood to be around a bunch of people making comics. If that makes me sound like a hater, well... it's because I was hatin'.

But a lot can happen in a year. I guess I got my swagger back, not to mention a big fat book to show around along with a few very cool publishing credits. Still no booth, and not exactly setting the comic book world on fire, but I had progress damn it! So with renewed vigor I took to Comic Con's website to renew my professional registration status, figuring that if I was serious about being a "comics professional", I really had no excuse not to attend the enormous gathering of comics professionals happening 2 hours away. Besides having a baby to take care of, but thankfully my wife is one of those amazing supportive types willing to fly solo while I took pictures of myself with Lego Batman. And hey is that the Delorian from Back to the F--

No! No, Kenny! You must stay focused. You're here on business. A weird thing, attending Comic Con on business. Something akin to visiting the circus to drop off a resume, I imagine. No panels and photo ops for me, this year I was here strictly to network. (By which I mean I was cosplaying as Howard Beale.)

So, for the first time in my four years of semi-attendance (I've never actually done the full 5 day "weekend"), I signed up for every portfolio review I could. I had business cards printed up, which I do every year not because my contact info changes, but because the graphic I chose to represent myself now embarrasses me like a junior high yearbook photo. I collected my finest work samples, assembled them into a presentation and prepared to face the music. The sweet, sweet music of "You're Hired"

Only it didn't quite play out that way. As it turns out, the portfolio review works on kind of a lottery system. Regardless of whether you show up 4 hours before the review (me), or 15 minutes before the review (girl in Sailor Moon costume), all the names are tossed into a little baggie and drawn raffle style, meaning some people will get a review (girl in Sailor Moon costume) while others (me) might not wind up on the list at all. This more or less happened to me every single time. Pretty disheartening way to spend a day - BUT! Well there's not really a but. I met some cool people while waiting (shout out to Sinclair) and made the most of every opportunity I could politely bumrush my way into, however a formal portfolio review never actually happened. Oh well.

The next couple of days I put my focus back on the con floor, which is both the best place to network (everybody's there) and the worst place to network (OH MY GOD EVERYBODY'S THERE). I met a ton of cool people, tossed around Giant-Sized Tales to Suffice like the world's heaviest and most expensive business card, and got lots of helpful and encouraging feedback. The craziest part was running into people who were already familiar with my work! This happened no less than 1 time and no more than 5 times, but I won't be so gauche as to quote an actual figure.

I did attend one panel, for MAD Magazine, and it was incredibly cool to hear vets and relative newcomers talk about their experiences working for and in some cases growing up with MAD. It was very inspiring, and also very uncomfortable, because I showed up late and couldn't find a chair.

Driving home on Sunday, I was on a comic book high. That urge to create - hell, maybe even succeed was back in full force... which has contributed somewhat to my dwindling post count. As of this writing I am working on a half dozen things which may or may not see the light of day, but I'm doing what I love and looking forward to Comic Con 2012.

Oh! And I came back with a few books. Whaaaaat? They're for research you guys!

Hey

2011-09-10T22:49:00.001-07:00

'Sup?

HEY YOU

2011-07-14T14:24:00.001-07:00

Still don't have your copy of Giant-Sized Tales to Suffice? What are you waiting for, some awesome discount or something? An autographed copy? A free postcard print? HOW ABOUT ALL OF THE ABOVE?

Well guess what, Discount Comic Book Service is giving you just that this month, so if you're a subscriber*, check for Product Code JUL119001 and drop that sucker in your cart why don'tcha. Every copy comes with a free signature, sketch, Friends of Finkleman Lifetime Membership Card and Postcard Print. And did I mention it's CRAZY CHEAP?

*And if you're not a subscriber, why not check them out anyway? As a customer myself, I can vouch for them as a great way to keep up with all your monthly titles and trades without having to break the bank... or leave the house.

Never Forget

2011-07-11T00:50:00.000-07:00

Being that today is 7-11, I thought it only right to pay tribute to #711, perhaps the greatest masked vigilante nobody's ever heard of. It was barely over a year ago that I discovered him when working on that Police Comics piece I did for the Covered Blog on which he makes a small cameo. Now, the Golden Age is full of ridiculous characters and crime fighting also-rans, most of which I've never felt the least bit compelled to learn more about. But there was something about 711 that begged the question... What's up with that dude?

What's up, indeed. 711's Wikipedia page isn't exactly brimming with information, but the stuff that's there is solid gold. His origin story - and let me be careful not to get too hyperbolic here - is the greatest thing ever created by humans. The Wikipedia page doesn't do it justice. Hell, the english language doesn't do it justice.

So I knew paying tribute to George Brenner's greatest creation (sorry, "Bozo the Iron Man" fans) was going to be something of a fool's errand, but I couldn't help myself. So here, kicking off what I'm optimistically heralding as "The First Annual 7-11 Day," is a comic I drew chronicling the amazing origin of #711. Enjoy.

Skate Boarding

2011-07-06T15:49:00.000-07:00

I've always been pretty fascinated with storyboarding, probably going back to when I first learned about them on a tour of the Walt Disney Animation Studio in Orlando back when they were gearing up for a little flick called The Lion King. They basically looked like comics to me, and that's how I've thought of them ever since... Until a few months ago, when I got the opportunity to draw one for myself.

The project was an internet commercial spot for Casio G-Shock watches that Motion Family was putting together, set to star skateboarding superstar Stevie Williams. I gotta admit, my primary touchstones for skate culture are probably Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Gleaming the Cube, so I had to look up who Stevie Williams was on Wikipedia. Okay, so I also had to look up "skateboarding" on Wikipedia, just to make sure I actually knew what it was. The learning didn't stop there though.

The biggest surprise to me, was how different comics and storyboards really are. I guess it all comes down to time. With comics, you're more or less free to lay out your panels however you want in order to tell your story. I'll refrain from getting too Understanding Comics here, but let's just say there are all kinds of things you can do with panels size, page layout etc. to control the direction and speed at which the readers' eye moves. You also get to use the gutters in all sorts of cool ways - the span of time that passes between panels could range from seconds to centuries. There's really nothing I can point to in any other medium in comparison. It's a comics thing.

Whereas with storyboarding, you're working in a more standardized format. Your panel sizes are all uniform, and each one seems to represent a consistent unit of measurement (I could be wrong on this. I mean, I've only done one). Since the "story" here is going to be translated into a medium that moves at so many frames-per-second regardless of what the audience's eyes are doing, you don't have that freedom to play around with time as you would if you were creating a straight up comic. Which on some level I kind of expected, but it was jarring to me how fundamental a difference it turned out to be.

That said, having a few comics under my belt was immensely helpful when it came to composing panels, setting up camera angles, and just telling a story with pictures in general. And even if it wasn't technically comics I was making, it was still a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll get the chance to do more of these soon.

The storyboard:

And the finished product:

Stevie Williams - G-SHOCK 2011 from Motion Family on Vimeo.

Look out honey, 'cause I'm using technology

2011-06-28T17:46:00.000-07:00

THE GOOD NEWS: I, having looked both ways and determined it was finally safe to do so, am boldly crossing over into the 21st century with my first ever smart phone!

THE BAD NEWS: I can no longer make comics like this one:

Bittersweet.

Let me tell you bout these...

2011-06-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

Friends/Heroes/Employers Motion Family done did it again! This new Big K.R.I.T. video came out so good, it actually makes me miss mosquitos. Time to plan a trip back home to the dirty dirty. Hide your sweet tea!

Wednesday 6/08 Signing @ THE COMIC BUG

2011-06-07T22:10:00.000-07:00

ATTENTION RESIDENTS OF MANHATTAN BEACH AND ALL SURROUNDING AREAS!

It's going down at THE COMIC BUG, this Wednesday (6/08/11) from 6-9 PM!!

I'll be shaking hands, kissing babies, and signing copies of GIANT-SIZED TALES TO SUFFICE for anybody who wants 'em. So come on down and please spread the word!

TALES TO SUFFICE MEDIA BLITZ

2011-05-12T11:46:00.000-07:00

Everything's coming up Finkleman!

Check out parts 1 and 2 of my recent interview with the fine people at Weekly Comic Book Review, and when you're done with that check out my other interview over at Ten2One. Also fine people!

Baby, I Got Your Moonstones

2011-05-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

Superhero Remix has been updated. BOW!

Giant-Sized Tales to Suffice on Weekly Comic Book Review

2011-04-25T21:32:00.000-07:00

The first official review for Giant-Sized Tales to Suffice is in, courtesy of the good folks at Weekly Comic Book Review, and it's a good one! Do check it out, won't you?

Raggedy Atoms

2011-04-22T01:41:00.000-07:00

Throwbacky Thursday: Return of the Mack

2011-04-21T01:28:00.000-07:00

"Return of the Mack" dropped sometime around my junior year of high school and I hated it. Hated hated hated it. And yet, anytime it comes on the radio today (and it happens more often than you'd expect), I have to listen. I even kind of enjoy it. Not in that it sounds good, per se. But it feels good. Did I even like high school that much? Can't remember. Nostalgia is a funny thing.

So for today's Throwbacky Thursday I thought I'd mix it up a bit. Here's a new and improved, slowed down and swagged out take on the track courtesy of Zo! and Phonte (aka Tigallo The Tay God). It's legitimately good and Tay's ad libs are hilarious.

Pump up the world, y'all.

Hourman

2011-04-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

This is Hourman. He takes a special "vitamin"called Miraclo that grants him superpowers. But only for an hour at a time. Hence, Hourman.

You'd think he'd want to downplay that whole time limit thing by not working it directly into his name, but there you go.

NEW COMIC: The Freak-Out Zone

2011-04-18T04:02:00.000-07:00

Great news, gang! After much consternation, I finally remembered my password* and uploaded a new comic to Tales to Suffice dot com! This one here is a "web exclusive", or to put it in layman's terms, "not good enough to put in the book" - ENJOY!

* It was "password"

I've gone MAD

2011-04-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

What has one and a half thumbs and a comic in the newest issue of MAD MAGAZINE? (Woodshop accident, don't ask)

THIS GUY!

Friends - this is a pretty huge deal for me, one I will speak on more in depth once I clear a few things off my plate (I mean that literally, these hot wings are far too delicious to just set aside)... but for now I just wanted to get the word out that I have a half page comic in MAD #509, in stores soon!

ANT-MAN

2011-04-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

Throwbacky Thursday: The Longest Time

2011-03-31T04:56:00.000-07:00

Full Disclosure: As with all Throwbacky Thursday entries, I actually do like this song. Even though as a rule I generally dislike Billy Joel songs, and this is perhaps the Billy Joeliest of them all. But when this joint comes on... well I don't exactly roll the windows down or anything, but I don't change the station either. I throw myself upon the mercy of the court.

Now then. I wasn't really aware this song even had a video until my sister alerted me to it a few months ago, and I won't get into how many times I've watched it since then as it's none of your business. Let's just say I've watched it "enough." The story, for lack of a better term, opens with Billy Joel sulking in a gym after his 25th high school reunion. Probably because of the bizarre graying going on in his hair. Speaking of bizarre and gray, enter Johnny the Janitor who passive aggressively suggests to Joel that he'd like to lock up and go home, presumably to a family who loves him and misses him very much. So what if the gym is still filthy? What, just because a guy is bad at janitoring he doesn't deserve to spend time with his family? What is this, Mussolini's Italy?

Joel, who can't take a hint, continues to sulk and whistle, which not a lot of people can do simultaneously. Then, as if suddenly remembering this is a music video, he breaks out into song. He tosses his cigarette on the floor (Nice. Johnny's gonna LOVE that) and joins his old high school buddies, who have now also been infected by whatever alien virus it is that makes your hair turn gray in weird splotches, for which the only known cure is Doo-Wop.

Billy and his friends (Lenny, Squiggy, Dopey and the less successful brothers of Phil Collins and Joe Piscopo) get about 8 seconds into their performance when they run out of choreography, as if they never expected the video to get this far. So they fall back on their old standby, trashing the place. Johnny is catching no breaks tonight my friends.

What happens next will forever remain shrouded in mystery. At first, I thought it was a flashback - but look closer! If it were a true flashback, then why do Billy and his friends somehow look older than before? I'm thinking what actually is happening here is that Billy Joel's gang has Quantum Leaped into the bodies of Sha Na Na, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that their next leap will be the leap home… True, the video doesn't do a great job of clearly communicating this idea, but to be fair - it's a terrible video.

Things almost get interesting when it looks like 80's Billy Joel (Who looks 50) and 50's Billy Joel (Who looks 53) are about to fight, but then don't. After that there's a lot of creepy leering and hey look, even Johnny the Janitor is getting in on the action. He seems to really be enjoying himself too. Maybe even too much.

And that's basically it. Joel emerges from the bathroom feeling 30 years younger, which as I type that makes me call into question what this song is really about. Hmm, maybe I don't like this song after all. Maybe... I love it.

Giant-Sized Tales to Suffice: Now in Stock!

2011-03-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

SEE! FEEL! SMELL! The comic book that Los Angeles area retailers unanimously agree is "A good print job!"

That's right, in addition to being sold online, Giant-Sized Tales to Suffice is hitting the comic shop circuit! And being that it's new comic day (Also known as "Wednesday" to normal people), I thought I'd shout out a few spots just in case you or someone you know will be in the area. Tell 'em Finkleman sent ya!

HOUSE OF SECRETS in Burbank!

MELTDOWN in Hollywood!

GOLDEN APPLE COMICS also in Hollywood!

ATOMIC BOOKS in Baltimore!

A huge thanks to the above retailers for supporting lil' ol' indie guys like me. Hopefully this will be the first of many updates like this, as I add more shops to the list!

M(ART)CH MADNESS: T.I.E.G.

2011-03-29T04:25:00.000-07:00

All right, now that that's out of my system, back to the personalized comic book covers.

Some backers were pretty reticent in talking about themselves, so it became kind of a process to figure out enough information with which to create their covers. Tieg, on the other hand, gave me enough information to complete a 6 issue mini-series. And it was all so funny and off the wall that I was tempted to! Once I regained my senses, I realized that one static image wasn't going to cut it. So I broke his cover up into something of a story unto itself, which you'd occasionally see on older comic books and not so much nowadays. It was a fun challenge working all his notes in and I was happy with the result.

Dreamin'

2011-03-28T00:15:00.000-07:00

You know how sometimes a song will come to you at exactly the right moment in your life? For me, this song is that and then some. In addition to being a big K.R.I.T. fan (and really connecting with this track on a personal level), I was fortunate enough to team up with Motion Family to help with writing the treatment for the video.

I'd call this one a dream job, except A) I'm above such puns* and B) Even in my dreams I never thought I'd be working with such a cool, talented crew making rap videos among other things.

Anyway - it's a great song and K.R.I.T.'s new mixtape drops today. Get on that!

*No I'm not

M(ART)CH MADNESS: Weird Wrestling Tales

2011-03-25T04:20:00.000-07:00

Doing my little Kickstarter surveys, I felt like I really got to know some of my backers. And on top of being funny, creative people (with impeccable taste in graphic fiction might I add), it was clear that for many of them, generosity wasn't just a thing they occasionally did online when they could get comics out of it.

This particular backer had a lot of admirable qualities, none of which made it onto his personalized comic book cover. Sorry - you tell me Star Wars, bulldogs, and pro wrestling, and that's what I'm going to latch onto.

The Triumphant Return of Throwbacky Thursdays: Humpin' Around

2011-03-24T01:18:00.000-07:00

For me, R&B/soul music is probably the most sincere genre in all of pop music. When Curtis Mayfield sang 'You Must Believe Me', you believed him. When R Kelly sang ' I Believe I Can Fly', you believed him, too. Not that he could fly, but you believed that he believed he could. And that's what makes 'Humpin' Around' so fascinating to me. Because Bobby Brown is so clearly lying.

The song is basically about a guy trying to assure his woman that he's being faithful. Well, not exactly. What it's really about is a guy trying to tell his woman to get off his back about his unfaithfulness. And even though the lyrics maintain that "Ain't nobody humpin' around", the video paints a very different picture. Specifically, a picture of Bobby Brown dancing around in a mesh shirt humping everything. Women, yes. But it doesn't stop there (and how I wish it did). Throughout the course of this video Bobby Brown humps a rainstorm, a traffic cone, a stairwell, even the air itself. Meanwhile his poor neglected girlfriend is stuck at home, sleuthin' around the apartment trying to gather evidence of his shenanigans. Unfortunately, Bobby's phone is password protected (HUMPIN. The password is HUMPIN.) So when he finally comes dragging in at 5 in the morning, she has no choice but to believe him when he tells her he was just hanging out under the freeway all night with his homies. In a mesh shirt.

Ladies, let me let you in on a little man secret. If he wears a mesh shirt, it's a fairly good indication that he's humpin' around. But it's an even better indication that he's WEARING A MESH SHIRT. If that wasn't a dealbreaker, I'm betting you'd be willing to let a little infidelity slide as well. Also: when trying to break into his iPhone, e-mail, Facebook, etc., and you're prompted to give a password? Go ahead and give HUMPIN a shot. If it works, that alone should be enough to confirm your suspicions.

M(ART)CH MADNESS: When Breakfast Attacks

2011-03-23T04:13:00.000-07:00

What can I say? Kickstarter backers for Giant- Sized Tales to Suffice are funny, creative people. What, are you surprised by this?!

Anyway - the names have been obscured (and the likenesses poorly drawn) to protect the innocent, but over the next few days I'll be sharing some more of the 'Time Travelling Gorilla' rewards, which included a personalized comic book cover. I conducted a quick survey, sometimes followed up by a short online interview with backers, to determine what their comic cover would be about. This backer had a surprisingly fully formed idea right from the jump, and it saddens me that I can't take more credit for the concept. He wanted to be eating breakfast, unaware that breakfast was also eating him. (He really likes breakfast.)

On a side note, I need to find more excuses to draw giant strips of bacon. Too much fun.

M(ART)CH MADNESS: Roofus, etc.

2011-03-22T02:18:00.000-07:00

Not that any of the personalized Kickstarter covers were easy, but the ones that were for people I actually know in real life were especially tough. But at least my friend Brad (whom you may also know as the guy who breathes life into my Cool Beans strips with his incredible color work) gave me plenty of material to work with. I've known him (and his comic strip, Roofus) for several years now. That's the thing about Brad - if you know him, then you know his work. When we met, I was much less open about my passion, toiling away on top secret art projects and comic strips that I wasn't comfortable with showing even my closest friends. To be fair, they kind of stunk (my comics, not my friends). But still! By example, Brad showed me how ridiculous I was being, and I think it really helped me grow as an artist. I'm not sure if I did his characters justice in these pieces, but for what it's worth, they came from a gratefulness that runs well beyond this Kickstarter project.

Brad's been cartooning basically since birth, and you should read the fruits of his labors over at his webcomic Roofus, as well as his art blog.

M(ART)CH MADNESS: Da Walnuts (who?)

2011-03-21T02:57:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite memories from gradeschool was the way my friends and I would collaborate on comics. One of us would draw a page (completely unscripted, in ballpoint pen, usually on notebook paper), and when the teacher wasn't looking he'd hand it off to the next guy, and then he'd draw what he thought should happen next, and so on, until we'd completed an entire "issue". Then I'd print up a few copies on my dad's Xerox machine, staple them together, and we'd try to sell them to our classmates for 50¢ a pop. Between the ages of 9-12 or so, we had quite a run there. Each comic more ridiculous than the last... and "Da Walnuts" was easily the most ridiculous of them all by far.

You had Snot (who could shoot projectile mucus from his nostrils), Slobba (Full name 'Slobba Dobba Doo', who had similar powers to Snot's, but with saliva), Dusty (he was really dirty and smelly), Rusty (basically an Abe Simpson rip off), The Turkish Avenger (I don't remember what his deal was), and their diminutive handler whose name escapes me at the moment. Yep, we were pretty much comedy geniuses. Da Walnuts were an elite black ops task force hired by the government to go on missions too dangerous or sensitive for the conventional channels. I'm not sure why the government thought that was a good idea, because Da Walnuts would invariably botch every mission they ever took on - which is to say both of them. Walnuts ceased production mid-way through the second issue, which to this day is the average lifespan for most of my projects.

I'm sure that in real time, Da Walnuts only lasted for a couple weeks before we abandoned it for some other endeavor, but it continued to live on in my heart. So when childhood friend and Walnuts co-creator Jerry backed me on Kickstarter and requested a brand new Walnuts cover, I was all too happy to oblige. Thank you Jerry for the support, and a cool trip down memory lane.

M(ART)CH MADNESS: Blake Griffin

2011-03-18T02:47:00.000-07:00

Here's another Kickstarter request that surprised me: NBA superstar Blake Griffin. You know what else surprised me? That I know who NBA superstar Blake Griffin is. It's not that I dislike professional basketball, it's just that the last time I followed it with any regularity, Space Jam was still in theaters. But by lucky coincidence, I'd actually attended a Clippers game just a few months before getting this commission, so I'd seen Griffin in action. And let me just say, goddamn. There's a fine line between dunking on a guy and just straight up stripping him of his manhood - and Blake Griffin takes that line, smacks you across the face with it, and sends you running home to your mommy. So, instead of attempting to draw Griffin's likeness (which isn't really my forte anyway), I tried to instead draw his energy. While perhaps also subconsciously paying homage to Space Jam.

M(ART)CH MADNESS: Beetle, Death Adder & Blue Streak

2011-03-17T02:50:00.000-07:00

If you actually know who these guys are, then congratulations, you're a better comic nerd than I.

M(ART)CH MADNESS: The Amazing Photoslug

2011-03-16T01:23:00.000-07:00

So far this month I've only been posting character commissions from the Kickstarter campaign, but there was also a whole other backer level with a reward all its own: The personalized comic book cover. The idea was that I'd conduct a quick online interview to get to know a little bit about you, and that information along with a photo reference and any additional instructions you may have had all got mashed together into a cover illustration for a comic book starring yourself. My friend and occasional collaborator Diwang never answered his survey though, so this is what he and his lovely wife got instead. Sorry, guys.

P.S. D doesn't actually dress like a slug, but his photography and video work is nothing short of amazing. Check it out.

M(ART)CH MADNESS: Jack Kirby

2011-03-15T01:13:00.000-07:00

The king stay the king.

M(ART)CH MADNESS: Velma

2011-03-14T01:08:00.000-07:00

I was mostly expecting superhero requests, but a few of my backers surprised me. This commission for Velma of Scooby Doo fame was a lot of fun to draw and I in no way developed feelings for her during the making of this piece. Wait what?

M(ART)CH MADNESS: Aquaman

2011-03-11T01:06:00.000-08:00

You might think that by the year 2011, we'd be over making fun of Aquaman. Well, you'd be wrong.

And now a very quick, yet surprisingly in-depth, analysis of 50 Cent's new movie trailer

2011-03-10T15:04:00.000-08:00

Like every other carbon-based lifeform on planet Earth, I've been chomping at the bit for a glimpse of "Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson in the most critically acclaimed role of his career", and this trailer doesn't disappoint. In fact, the Oscar trophy for Best Actor might want to start losing weight now to prepare for its greatest role, sitting on Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson's mantle.

Now, I will warn you that there's a lot to process in this trailer. So to help lighten your cognitive load, I've prepared a list of time-stamped footnotes to guide you on your journey. You're welcome, internet.

THE AWESOMENOMICON'S SECOND-BY-SECOND GUIDE
TO THE THINGS FALL APART TRAILER

:02 - Wow. Great acoustics in that stadium. Sounds like there are actually people there.

:04 - *Whistle Blow* 5 yard penalty for inexplicably diving head first into a Gatorade cooler!

:10 - See that enormous "L" on Mario Van Peebles' hat? It's a metaphor.

:15 - "Every sportscaster in this country is going to be showing highlights of this game" Like when the guy tackled the Gatorade cooler? Better hope it's a slow news day, coach.

:16 - Is he about to propose?

:18a - Oh God. The hair. I can't. I just can't.

:18b - Seriously. This fool looks like the Michael Jackson scarecrow from The Wiz.

:18c - Sorry, still stuck on that wig. Should be interesting to see if Nicolas Cage can top that.

:20 - Wait a minute. IS CURTIS "FIFTY CENT" JACKSON SUPPOSED TO BE PLAYING A HIGH SCHOOLER?

:34 - "I'm just a little dehydrated" Try taking that fur coat off your head

:37 - Don't laugh, those braids are heavy as shit

:42 - Dad: "Right, thanks Doc. Spinal fluid, chest cavity, got it. BUT CAN HE STILL PLAY?"

:47 - Mom: "Before you think we're horrible parents for asking that (I had him when I was 3), keep in mind it's… THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS."

:51 - And starring Ray Liotta as Dr. Awkward Pause

:52 - The good news is, your cancer is treatable. The bad news is, you also have Benjamin Button disease.

:54 - Might I suggest getting a second opinion from a "doctor" whose "office" isn't a room at the La Quinta Inn?

1:00 - So the plan here is everyone be cool and pretend he didn't just lose 50 lbs (75 if you include his hair) without explanation. Got it.

1:01 - Then again, nobody noticed he was a 35 year old playing high school football, so that will probably work.

1:10 - Sorry, I was checking my e-mail. Why is everybody being so mean to 50?

1:12 - Seriously guy?

1:15 - Seriously coach?

1:18 - SERIOUSLY MOM?!

1:20 - We're not even 2 minutes in, and 50 has already passed out twice. If we extrapolate this trend, we can project that 50 loses consciousness no less than 40 times throughout the course of his film. And so will I.

1:22 - "HE'S PASSING OUT!" Sure, that's a thing you could yell in that situation... I guess?

1:23 - BOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOINNNNNNNNNG

1:34 - What's that Dr Liota? There's always WHAT? SOAP? I CAN'T… WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE TURN DOWN THAT GODDAMN NELLY SONG?

1:41 - … Shit. Line?

1:49 - "Curtis 50 Cent Jackson in the most critically acclaimed role of his career" - Real words actually spoken in that order

2:07 - Is it really that hard to convincingly fake catching a football?

2:16 - Yes they did.

M(ART)CH MADNESS: Robot Jug Band

2011-03-10T01:01:00.000-08:00

The request for this one was mercifully simple: draw a robot. But knowing this particular backer to be a fan of R. Crumb* and old-timey music, I found a way to complicate it for myself. Behold, the Robot Jug Band.

* Which is a ridiculously difficult style to homage. Does it look Crumby or does it just look crumby? You be the judge.

Six Degrees of Slick Rick (or: Why I Love the Internet)

2011-03-09T03:33:00.000-08:00

Longtime Awesomenomicon readers might remember Throwbacky Thursdays, a feature that ran here all of one week. The first (and only) entry was a re-appreciation of Slick Rick's "Behind Bars" video, which was so cool and well animated I just knew there had to be an interesting story behind it. Unfortunately, even after Googling for 10 consecutive minutes (which is like a day and a half in internet time) I was unable to turn up any info whatsoever. I was crushed.

...But then!

The other night I get a Facebook message from none other than Blacks in Animation & Visual FX's Krystal Cooper with the low down:

"Behind Bars was produced by Mark Zander Productions in 1994. The shop is now called Zander Productions. Mark Zander is the son of Jack Zander, original animator of Tom & Jerry. Jack passed away in 2007 but the company still produces animation."

How about that? I would have been happy with just having a name, but to uncover a thread connecting Slick Rick to... Tom & Jerry? It's almost too cool to handle. So thanks again, Krystal, for that very awesome info!

M(ART)CH MADNESS: Scott & Jean

2011-03-08T03:28:00.000-08:00

Was there ever a cuter comic book couple than Scott Summers and Jean Grey? They're high school sweethearts, dress in matching outfits, and even have a bunch of super powered alternate dimension future babies together.

I've been getting kind of line crazy lately, so it was cool to get back to doing the "minimal" thing again with this one.

M(ART)CH MADNESS: Marshal Law

2011-03-07T01:11:00.000-08:00

Let's get it started, let's get it started in here.

This was my first time ever drawing Marshal Law, and it was probably one of the more difficult and frustrating commissions of the entire campaign. I mean really, what's with all the zippers. But, I powered through it and wound up with one of my favorite pieces of the entire bunch. Looking forward to doing more work in this style.

M(ART)CH MADNESS BEGINS

2011-03-05T12:42:00.001-08:00

Hey, remember that Kickstarter campaign I was doing for Giant-Sized Tales to Suffice? I think I mentioned it to you a few (thousand) times. Well, those reward packages are making their way out into the world now and along with them are various level of rewards depending on peoples' pledge levels. Pretty much everybody got the Finkleman Fun Pack™ (pictured below), which consisted of a Cool Beans mini-comic, an "I'm with Finkleman!" button, a postcard print and a lifetime membership into the Friends of Finkleman Foundation, aka F OFF.

There were also a couple of backer levels that came with custom art rewards. One was a commissioned print of a character of your choice, and the other was a personalized comic cover starring... well, you. Each and every one of them (and there were a lot, thankfully) were ridiculously fun to draw. Not only that, I think several of them rank among the best illustrations that I've done so far! Meanwhile I have this "art blog" that I never post any art on because I'm too busy making art. Doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, does it? So over the next few weeks I'll be sharing some choice cuts with you all. Prepare yourselves for... M(ART)CH MADNESS!

RIP Dwayne McDuffie

2011-02-25T09:05:00.000-08:00

Years before it would ever occur to me to check the writing credits on a comic book, I was a fan of Dwayne McDuffie's work. Acts of Vengeance, probably my favorite "crossover event" of all time, and one he had a hand in, is what really ushered me into the world of Marvel Zombie-dom. Damage Control was especially revelatory to me, as it was possibly the first time I'd seen a humor comic book (there wasn't a whole lot of diversity in the titles my local Brookshire's was carrying at the time), let alone one that existed within a mainstream superhero universe. I still distinctly remember when the Milestone titles were debuting, because I was on a class field trip that stopped to eat at a mall that had a comic shop in it. I spent the entire hour-long ride home (yes, the nearest mall and comic shop were an hour away) geeking out over Hardware and Static. I still didn't know who Dwayne McDuffie was, but that didn't stop me from recognizing his innovation. It would still be a few years before I noticed his name in the writing credits - it finally jumped out at me because my high school cross country coach had the exact same name. Strange but true!

Fast forward a little over a decade, and Dwayne McDuffie is still making comics, among other things. And I've been trying my hand at it as well. So one day I'm wandering around the LA convention center for Wizard World LA, and I bump into Keith Knight, who I always enjoy talking to at conventions when he's not surrounded by hordes of adoring fans. And at the moment he isn't, because this particular Wizard World LA looked like something out of The Omega Man. He is with somebody though - Dwayne McDuffie. Keith introduces us, and asks if I have any Tales to Suffice on me. Which I of course did. Back then I slept with no less than 5 copies. So, there I am, handing my comic to Dwayne McDuffie. The amazing part? He actually takes it. Awesome. Also, terrifying. We go our separate ways, and a few days later I write Mr. McDuffie a thank-you email just to follow up, and say a few nice things about his work that I was too tongue tied and improperly caffeinated to say in person. I didn't really expect a response, but I figured a follow-up email couldn't hurt. Lo and behold, a response. Lo-er and behold-er, he read the comic. And he liked it! But that's not the point. This is a busy man who clearly has bigger and better things to do than read my comic and exchange emails with a guy like me, but here he is in my inbox offering words of encouragement. Which I think is more of a testament to the kind of man he was than anything to do with my work. It was a brief exchange, but man did it mean a lot to me. And it still does.

So thank you, Dwayne McDuffie, for the great comics and encouraging words. They will no doubt live on and continue to inspire.

Whole Lotta Sketchin' Goin' On

2011-02-09T15:11:00.001-08:00

Just a few books left to sign and devalue with sketches, and then these Kickstarter rewards will be on their way. Begin camping out by your mailbox... NOW!

Doctor vs Doctor

2011-02-03T23:13:00.000-08:00

Oh hey you, there's a new comic up at Tales to Suffice! If you've followed this blog long enough, most of the stuff that's already posted there probably looked a little familiar to you. So, just for the three of you, I made a brand new, never-before-seen comic. More to come, y'all.

Heavy Lifting

2011-02-02T16:45:00.000-08:00

They're Heeeeeeeeere

2011-02-02T08:52:00.000-08:00

In about 2 hours, Ro and I are renting a U-Haul and heading out to pick up 1,000 copies of Giant-Sized Tales to Suffice. That's 28 cartons, .88 cubic meters, 1,091 pounds of Giant-Sized Tales to Suffice.

Whoa.

Cool Beans, Man! Episode 8: Meat

2011-01-25T14:22:00.000-08:00

Tales to Suffice Dot Com: All Systems Are Go(ish)

2011-01-20T15:15:00.001-08:00

Hide ya kids, hide ya wife! There is real, actual content up now on TALESTOSUFFICE.COM!!! WHY AM I SCREAMING?!

...Okay how about now?

2011-01-18T13:42:00.000-08:00

Making some adjustments to the blog this week... pardon our progress!

Unstable Molecules

2011-01-17T14:48:00.001-08:00

Want to see something cool? Then you need to check out what 4CP is doing right now.

"The images in the 4CP gallery attempt to isolate and exploit the unpredictable energies of the four-color process. We seek frames within frames, where a balance can be struck between motion and stillness, uncontrolled radiation and a compositional containment field. Cut free from context and the intrusion of elbows and speech balloons, the comic book subconscious becomes the speaking subject."

First read their mission statement, and then feast your eyes on the gallery.

And now for something completely different...

2011-01-14T09:08:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned this one yet? I'm currently working on a story with Nashvillian scribe James Peach for an anthology he's writing called Nashphalt. It's a comics-as-documentary type of project about his home town, which I think is pretty cool. The story I'm working on follows a Saturday morning spent with an outreach ministry of sorts. I know what you're thinking - and no, there are in fact no robots in the story. Sometime's a guy's just gotta break out of his comfort zone, you know?

Here are pages 6 and 7, sans dialogue. You can learn more about the project (and see more artwork) at Nashphalt's Facebook page.

Throwbacky Thursdays: Slick Rick - Behind Bars

2011-01-13T07:05:00.000-08:00

I always dug this video back in the day, and recently went looking for it on Youtube to see if it still held up. If anything, it got better.

You never really saw a whole lot of animation in rap videos, probably for perfectly logical reasons, and when you did it was never this well executed. I'm looking at you, K-Solo's 'Letterman'. Of course, the downside to this video is the fact that Rick actually was behind bars at the time (probably the inspiration for going the cartoon route in the first place), but I guess that just goes to show how limitations can make for great art. Necessity, as they say, is a mother.

I wish I could find more information on who made this thing, but so far I'm coming up with nada. C'mon internet, help me out here.

And ANOTHER Superhero Remix Update!

2011-01-12T06:58:00.000-08:00

Uatu embraces his Ambitionz Az a Watcha.

Superhero Remix Update!

2011-01-11T06:15:00.000-08:00

This one might be a little on the obscure side, but the next one won't be. That's right baby... there's still a little bit of life in this horse, so I'm gonna keep on beating it!

As always, you can see the whole project here.

Two Worlds, Collided

2011-01-09T22:10:00.001-08:00

I'm not the only geek in my house, you know. Sure, I'm the only person here who can recite the Green Lantern oath from memory, but still. As cool as she plays it, my wife can be kind of a nerd sometimes. Especially when it comes to Hello Kitty. Sadly, there's never been much overlap between our respective passions. UNTIL NOW.

Behold the magnificent mash-ups of Joseph Senior, which take various pop-culture nerdthings and mixes them with Hello Kitty. Yes, you've seen that kind of thing before. But it never looked this good.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Tons more can be found at Senior's Flickr Page. Last night my better half and I went through every single one of them, resulting in the geekiest hour we've shared since Battlestar Galactica's series finale. It was a beautiful thing.

Take us outta here, Record Club!

The Best My Favorite Comics of 2010: Part 2

2011-01-09T13:39:00.000-08:00

So now that we got the graphic novels out of the way, let's get to all the other stuff I was reading in 2010. There are plenty of ways to be a comic fan, but for me personally, my approach is two-fold. On one hand, I enjoy graphic novels, collections, etc. In other words, books with spines that wind up on the bookshelf. These tend to be perennials that I re-visit from time to time, or just like to have on hand so I can loan them out to others. And in some cases, I just enjoy hoarding them.

On the other hand, there's the issues. Actual comic books. Those floppy, saddle stitched pamphlets that come out every week, which more often than not get read one time and then tossed in a box somewhere. That's in no way saying they're inferior to the graphic novels. Truth be told most of us wouldn't be comic fans if it weren't for these "floppies" - they play a huge role in the communal and ritualistic aspects of the addiction. I mean habit. I mean hobby! And while, yeah, this category is where some of the more disposable stuff comes into play, there's still plenty of great stories that I'm following in this format. And I follow them in issues because I simply cannot wait for the collections to come out. If Hal Jordan saves the universe, I want to know the week it happens, not six months later.

So here they are, in no particular order, (some of) the comic books of 2010 that rocked me.

BEST SINGLE ISSUE: Unknown Soldier #21 by Joshua Dysart (writer), Rick Veitch (art), Oscar Celestini (colors), and Clem Robins (letters). This whole series was pretty amazing, but years from now I think this is the issue I'll look back on and say "wow." For 22 pages or so, Dysart puts the main storyline on hold to instead tell the history of the AK-47. Not just all AK-47's, but a specific AK-47. As narrated by the AK-47. Now, in the wrong hands that idea would be little more than a clever gimmick, but for Dysart it's only the starting point. The gun is a machine, cold and objective for the most part, but it still manages to experience a bonafide character arc throughout the course of the story. Its original owner is a revolutionary, who believes in his weapon as a means of revolution. You almost get the sense that the gun takes a bit of pride in this. But by the end of the issue, it's a different story. The AK goes from soldier, to poacher, to farmer. Each relationship is different, but they all share the same end. He eventually winds up in the hands various of Ugandan children and has lost any semblance of "self" it ever had. How could it, given all the meaningless violence it has witnessed? Not exactly the feel good issue of the year, but an incredible read nonetheless. The titular character doesn't even show up until the last page or two which I think speaks to how thematically strong this title was. As much as I love the serialized 'to be continued' nature of comic book series, the greatest issues tend to have a sense of "completeness" to them as standalone issues. And this one was the whole package.

BEST NEW SERIES: I Zombie by by Chris Roberson (writer), Mike Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors), and Todd Klein (letters). On a lighter note, if you can consider the undead feasting on brains to survive "light", there was this. This book is creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky. But above all, it's fun. Now as I type this the series is only 9 issues in, so I don't want to get into what the story's "about" since all that is still developing. All you really need to know is that all those monsters you've read about and seen on TV are real, and they've got problems just like anybody else. Even if you think zombies are played out, this is worth your attention. It's funny, suspenseful, heartfelt, and occasionally even a bit philosophical. Plus Mike Allred's beautiful artwork harkens back to silver-age DC, so every page is like having your eyeballs massaged by a million tiny go-go dancing angels.

BEST LIMITED SERIES DaytripperBy: Fabio Moon & Gabriel Ba (creators), Dave Stewart (colors) & Sean Konot (letters). This 10 issue meditation on life, death, and everything that happens in between was really something special. Lots of comics are emo, but few are this emotionally resonant. And it looked absolutely amazing.

OTHER BEST LIMITED SERIES The Bulletproof Coffin By: David Hine (story/script), Shaky Kane (story/art), Richard Starkings & Jimmy Betancourt (letters) & JG Roshell (production). What a weird ass gem of a book. It starts out about a rather pathetic comic book collector with a terrible home life and a job cleaning out the houses of the recently deceased. Then one day he stumbles upon a comic that really shouldn't exist, and things take it to a whole new level of weirdness. I'm kind of a sucker for the story-within-a-story gimmick, but this book was a story within a story within a story (possibly within another story). Not only that, but it was chock full of homages to the comic books of yesteryear. Which I am also a sucker for. So this book definitely isn't for everybody, but it was right up my alley.

OTHER OTHER BEST LIMITED SERIES Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne By: Grant Morrison (writer), and a proverbial shit ton of collaborators including Chris Sprouse, Frazer Irving, Ryan Sook, Georges Jeanty, Yanick Paquette and Michel Lacombe on art duties. Here are the need-to-know's: A while back Batman seemingly sacrificed his life to stop an evil God from enslaving the entire universe. Instead of dying, he was actually sent on a crazy adventure through time. His mission: To find his way home. His problem: He's now a caveman and his memory is in fragments. Impossible? Perhaps for you or me. But what's impossible to us is for Batman only mildly irritating. Each issue takes place a new era with Bruce Wayne taking on a different identity: Caveman, Pilgrim, Pirate, Gunslinger, Detective and finally a Futuristic Bat God with a score to settle. This kind of story could only happen in comics, folks.

OTHER OTHER OTHER BEST LIMITED SERIES Strange Tales II by seemingly every notable creator in indie comics. Sometimes there's this perceived divide between "mainstream" and "indie" comics. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense for various reasons, but I digress. The genius thing about Strange Tales is that it merges the two worlds in a wonderful and often hilarious way: Take a notable indie creator and let them do a story about a popular (or not so popular) Marvel superhero. The truth is, most indie creators love, or at one time loved, mainstream superhero comics. Even if they later went on to make Xerox'd mini-comics about their ex-girlfriends, or sprawling graphic tomes about their ex-girlfriends, there's a good chance that superheroes provided their point of entry to the medium. So to see them return to that, with a style and perspective almost completely devoid of modern mainstream sensibilities, is a real treat. Being an anthology, the stories can be a little hit or miss, but there weren't any real clunkers as far as I was concerned. I hope Marvel decides to make more of these. It's a great way to see your favorite heroes in a whole new light, and you might even discover a new favorite artist or two!

BEST BOOK I SHOULD HAVE BEEN READING ALREADY Rasl by Jeff Smith. It's weird how sometimes you'll find a book at exactly the right time. Once I finally got around to reading Rasl, I was coming off a bit of a Netflix binge (we'd just gotten the streaming service for our Wii at the time) and for reasons unclear to me I was on a big art and science kick. A little F for Fake here, a little Cosmos there... So I was pleased and maybe even a bit freaked out when I found a comic that combined the two. What do The Philadelphia Experiment, Tesla, parallel dimensions and art theft all have in common? Well, you will just have to read the book! I discovered this one in collected form but felt weird about lumping it in with the graphic novels list, so here it is.

Jesus. How do people do these every year? I'm exhausted. Let's break here and meet back later for Part 3, which will (hopefully) conclude ~~THE BEST~~ MY FAVORITE COMICS OF 2010!!

Bunky

2011-01-06T11:04:00.000-08:00

Just a quick little detail from a Kickstarter reward cover I'm finishing up this morning. What's that monkey up to?

The Best My Favorite Comics of 2010: The Graphic Novels that Rocked Me

2011-01-05T09:25:00.000-08:00

I always feel left out whenever Top 10 list season rolls around. Not in the sense that I'm never on them, but in the sense that I never make them. And the reasons for that basically boil down to this: I'm not all that opinionated, I am all that forgetful, and finally, I have a baby. Babies don't leave you with a whole lot of free time for consuming media, let alone itemizing it. But I did manage to read some comics this year, and there were quite a few good ones. Even a couple of great ones. So humor me as I look back on the year that was, and muse over some of my personal favorites.

We'll kick things off with graphic novels, and then cover the rest of comicdom in Part 2. Let's go!

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
(Because that's really hard to do)

WILSON by Daniel Clowes
I was so excited about this one that I pre-ordered it so far in advance that by the time it arrived on my doorstep, I'd forgotten all about it. I read it that night and haven't forgotten about it since. This book just fires on all cylinders. Amazing art (each page rendered in a rotating variety of styles), a good story (each page functioning as a stand alone comic strip while adding to a larger, cohesive narrative), and possibly the most fascinating misanthrope Clowes has ever penned (think Larry David, only replace all the success with desperation). Possibly his funniest and best looking book yet. And that's saying something.

THE OUTFIT by Darwyn Cooke
Watching Darywn Cooke adapt Richard Starks' Parker novels goes beyond the realm of good comics. Cooke is a master and this feels like the story he was born to draw. And he's actually stripped his work of many of the qualities that made me fall in love with his stuff in the first place. Yet somehow, it's even better now. Spare, visceral, and just plain badass. Much like Parker himself. Not a line goes to waste and every element works in service to the story. Which, if I haven't already mentioned, is amazing. If you're looking for a good heist, then brace yourself because this one has like, five. At least.

AFRODISIAC by Brian Maruca & Jim Rugg
I'm not exactly an expert when it comes to Blaxpoloitation movies or Bronze Age comics, but I'm familiar enough with their respective aesthetics that I was able to get what Afrodisiac was all about. And even if I wasn't, I don't think I would have had any problem getting on board with this one. First of all, it's hilarious. Second of all, the art is mind blowing. Finally, the structure of the book is kind of amazing. Rather than one long story, the narrative is told through a scrapbook of sorts. Afrodisiac is treated as a character that's somehow existed for decades, and this book is a collection of the only remnants that are still around. Visually it works because Rugg has an immense visual vocabulary and the equally impressive skills to pull off a variety of homages. In terms of storytelling, I was impressed with how we got a slightly different Afrodisiac with every turn, yet the core of the character stayed intact. Sometimes the humor is silly, sometimes it's political, and most of the time it's just plain dirty. There's something about the ending that I really liked that I can't quite put my finger on, but it gave the book some added depth and cohesion for me.

DUNCAN THE WONDER DOG by Adam Hines
Stop me if you've heard this one before: What if animals could talk? Yeah, I thought I'd heard that one before, too. Then, on something of a hunch, I picked up Duncan the Wonder Dog. I didn't really know what to expect, but I sure as hell wasn't expecting this. Hines doesn't just give animals speech. He gives them hopes, fears, philosophies, and even their own terrorist organization. And that last one serves as sort of the driving force of the main storyline, I think... But then again maybe not. It's a difficult book to describe. One minute you're reading a perfectly straight forward police procedural, the next minute you're flashing over to a seemingly unrelated scene with two chimpanzees talking about the sun burning out someday, followed immediately by a mixed media assault on the senses that, besides being gorgeous, I couldn't really tell you what purpose it serves. The story isn't linear, I'll put it that way. It might not even be circular. It's probably some shape that humans can't even see. Perhaps I'll go ask a duck. Anyway - definitely the most ambitious and challenging graphic novel I read all year, and one I'd highly recommend to anyone curious to see what the medium can do when it really flexes its muscles.

REVOLVER by Matt Kindt
The premise feels like something you might encounter in the Twilight Zone. At night a run of the mill loser living a run of the mill existence goes to bed, and wakes up in an apocalyptic nightmare version of the world. Same place, same people, but completely different circumstances. Circumstances so profound in their fucked-upedness, that they serve as just the kick in the pants he needs to stop being such a schmuck. He becomes more courageous, decisive, and everything else he's not in the real world. And next thing you know, he starts to prefer the nightmare. Some fantastic artwork from Kindt as always, and some great ideas that perhaps would have benefited from a little fleshing out. I left wanting more, but sometimes that's a good thing.

And there you have it. My (Sort of) Top 5 Graphic Novels of 2010. And that's just the tip of the iceberg! Well, more like the top half of the iceberg, really. What I'm trying to say here is that there's more iceberg. Stay tuned for Part 2!

A Cool Beans Quickie: Episode 7.5 - Fresh Fade

2011-01-04T15:52:00.000-08:00

Happy new year everybody!

One.

2010-12-29T23:12:00.000-08:00

One year later, and we've all managed to survive each other. To call parenthood a 'wild ride' doesn't begin to cover it. Mr. Toad had a 'wild ride' and that thing only lasted 3 minutes. So there's really no comparison.

I will say that it's been a journey far too consuming and exhausting (but in the best possible way) for me to wax philosophic about it on a blog post at the moment, so I'll keep it simple: Happy Birthday, K4. I for one cannot think of a better way to wrap up 2010 than spending it with you.

Also, birthday pancakes.

START THE PRESSES!

2010-12-17T14:09:00.001-08:00

That's right, party people. The printed proof for Giant-Sized Tales to Suffice arrived this week, and man, does it look snazzy. And I don't use the term "snazzy" lightly! Or at all, really.

I thought I was excited before, but holding this sucker in my hands, reading through it cover to cover, holding it in my hands some more, caressing it, spooning, etc. has really taken things to a whole new level.

Can't wait for you guys to see it!

Feelin' Kinda Woozy

2010-11-28T23:50:00.000-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

2010-11-25T01:12:00.000-08:00

Hope you and yours have a safe and happy one!

(Unless you are a turkey, in which case, well... I'm sorry. Nothing personal.)

Keepin' it Gutter

2010-11-25T00:59:00.001-08:00

You guys reading Gutters? I wasn't aware of it until just recently... Then again I wasn't aware there was a new Harry Potter movie out until a few hours ago, so keep in mind I'm a little out of touch these days. Anyway, if you're an avid reader of mainstream superhero comics and comic-related news, and don't mind laughing at both from time to time, I recommend it. And hey, why not start with Issue #63, drawn by yours truly? This page was written by Ryan Sohmer and provided me with the opportunity to combine 2 of my favorite things: Green Lantern and poop jokes.

Here were my pencil roughs for the page:

And you can click here to see the finished product!

But you're saying I'll still have to carry around a giant beaker of gout juice

2010-11-17T19:53:00.001-08:00

Got it.

Musée Mécanique!

2010-11-16T22:55:00.000-08:00

So a couple weeks ago Ro and I were strolling through the Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco when we stumble upon what I thought was going to be just another run of the mill arcade. We almost walked right past it, but something told me to poke my head inside. Maybe it was the word "museum" or more likely the word "free."

It didn't take long to figure out we had found something special. As it turns out, this "arcade" is one of the world's largest (over 200) privately owned collection of coin-operated mechanical musical instruments and antique arcade machines in their original working condition. Yes, you can play them.

The Musée Mécanique isn't just a time capsule. It's more like a portal into another dimension. I knew right away that this place would defy description so I immediately started taking pictures like a lunatic. Those don't really do it justice either, but at least this way I was able to document the care and detail that has gone into not only creating these machines, but maintaining them as well. I mean, just look at this stuff.

Here's a detail shot of "Toothpick Fantasy" - a miniature theme park that some ambitious fellow from Hollywood made out of 150,000 toothpicks. This is what people did before Facebook.

"Buy Dan a Drink", which was followed up by the less popular "Buy Dan a New Liver"

I could have sworn there were more people here. Maybe they were... g-g-g-ghosts!

A detail from "Santa's Workshop". They say a lot of these machines were built by inmates in San Quentin. I believe them.

"Let's try!"
What this has to do with arm wrestling, I do not know.

Not to brag or anything...

Not sure what's going on here...

This was just amazing. Pop 2 quarters in and watch the whole carnival come to life. I'm telling you, $5 goes a long way at the Musee Mecanique.

Hey, Kids!

Hey Kids! Pt. II

This wizard's "fortunes" were more like stern talking-to's.

(I'm guessing this is just a slide show of her running errands fully clothed.)

This pinball machine was actually the first thing I saw when we walked in. Love these graphics.

New Interview Up @ Music Nerdery!

2010-11-15T21:43:00.000-08:00

One of the best feelings in the world as an artist is to have your work recognized. I probably don't say this enough, but I really feel blessed with the attention that my stuff has been getting recently. And I owe quite a bit of that to Ericka of the Music Nerdery blog. Not only was she the first person to ever link to my Superhero Remix Project, but now she's taken time out of her glamorous rockstar lifestyle/social media moguling to talk to me about, like, my art and stuff.

So please, if you only read one comic artist interview about hip hop, career shifts and what's wrong with Thor, make it this one. And when you're done with that, do yourself a favor and peruse the rest of the Music Nerdery archives. Their taste in comic artists might be questionable, but their musical track record? Impeccable.

New This Week from Finkleman Publications!

2010-11-12T00:11:00.001-08:00

Yakety Yak

2010-10-27T10:22:00.000-07:00

I just can't seem to shut up lately! I think it's been good for me. That "Panels" event from a couple weeks back marks the first time I've ever enjoyed public speaking. And by "enjoyed" I mean "didn't feel like throwing up" - So that's a win in my book. More on that later, if I ever manage to jot down my thoughts in a cohesive, non-rambling manner. Don't wait up.

Also, I did a quick interview thing with Deconstructing Comics where I talked a bit about Tales to Suffice and my Kickstarter experience. Successfully funding a project isn't as easy as one might think, and there are a few things every would-be Kickstarter should know before hitting that 'Launch Project' button. So go listen!

DayGlo Dopeness: Marvel Third Eye Posters

2010-10-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

So, the Panels panel went well. A nice crowd was in attendance, I was in the company of some amazing artists, and the Brazilian food truck was indeed Ta Bom. I'll get a "full report" together a bit later and post up my thoughts, but first, a bit of eye candy. Towards the end of the panel, Coop (I have now met someone with his own font) was showing off a few mind blowing Jack Kirby compositions, and as a brief aside mentioned that at one point Marvel was even making black light posters out of his artwork. I'm not sure what it says about me that from an evening where names like Da Vinci and Picasso were being dropped, the first thing I wanted to run home and Google were these Marvel Third Eye black light posters. But, I'm glad I did.

I mean, just look at these things.

Right?! And you can see more of them here!

Tonight, LA!

2010-10-15T07:40:00.001-07:00

Just a reminder that this is still going down. Tickets available here!

Andy Warhol, Comic Geek

2010-10-14T21:18:00.000-07:00

So, a cool thing happened at work today. Our network went down, which wasn't the cool part (it sucked, in fact), but it did allow me a few minutes of downtime to peruse the 1970 Rainer Crone Andy Warhol book that was sitting on my desk. It wasn't mine, and I only had it in my possession for a few minutes to use as a reference for a work project, but those few minutes were pretty enlightening.

First of all, let's hear it for that old book smell. Am I right?

Once I finished sniffing the book, I decided to open it. I flipped past the Marilyns, The Jackies, the Elvises... I'm by no means a well studied art historian, but c'mon, we all know this stuff. Then something stopped me in my tracks. Was that... Nancy?

And it was. Right along side Dick Tracy and Popeye. A few pages later, Batman and Superman. Now this was a side of Warhol I hadn't seen before. Or I had once, but forgot. Either one is plausible. The point is, these aren't a bad way to spend a few minutes on a Thursday morning, or whenever you might be reading this.

Success!

2010-10-10T21:18:00.000-07:00

Well folks... we did it. YOU did it. I still need a moment to properly gather my thoughts but I just couldn't wait to pass the good news along. Thanks to the amazing support of friends, family, strangers etc., Giant-Sized Tales to Suffice has been fully funded on Kickstarter and is actually going to happen. Not only did we meet the goal, we exceeded that sucker by over $1,000! I'm so stunned and overwhelmed with gratitude right now that I should probably just stop here before I begin rambling. But yo. I can't say it enough: THANK YOU.

The book's going to be great and I'm looking forward to drawing those Kickstarter rewards.

LET'S GO!

ONE MORE DAY!

2010-10-09T22:09:00.001-07:00

Hey gang! Just a friendly reminder that on midnight, October 10 (that's tomorrow night!), the Kickstarter Campaign for Giant-Sized Tales to Suffice will come to an end. I'm thrilled to say that the funding goal has been met thanks to the amazing support of friends, family, strangers etc. This book coming to fruition is the textbook definition of a dream come true.

But before I make my final thank you's and parting words of wisdom, I just wanted to remind anyone reading this that there's still some time left to make a pledge or spread the link around. Every little bit helps!

NEW from the Blippo Winter Catalogue

2010-10-08T16:26:00.000-07:00