torquemada wound

Optimum Wound Godfather Jay Thibault Speaks Up

posted on June 24th, 2009 in interviews

Jason, you founded OptimumWound. Why? Were you a comics enthusiast for long before Optimum? Was the label an active attempt on your part to fill certain voids, or at least initially, was it about getting your work out there?

I was in love with comics when I was growing up. Whether it was borrowing every Tintin and Asterix album from the library or becoming obsessed at an early age with Batman and Green Lantern, I was always into them. Then it was Claremont’s X-Men and Wolverine alongside Miller’s Daredevil and Ronin.
I then took an extended hiatus from comics just as they were starting to get good. Missed out on Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, Elektra Assassin, and Love and Rockets the first time around. I had discovered girls, guitars, punk, metal and booze. Comics took a backseat for the next 5 or 6 years.
Fast forward to the early nineties. Image was blowing up, Simon Bisley was drawing on a regular basis and the Second Wave of British writers were taking over comics. I bought up the first two years of Image’s output, caught up on Todd MacFarlane, hunted down Jim Lee comics.
Everything seemed possible back then. The seven millionaires at Image were each creating their own universes, individual issues of the Alex Maleev-illustrated Crow miniseries moved 90,000 units (in black and white) and Preacher regularly advertised in Fangoria. That era was a genre lover’s dream come true. You could walk into the comic shop and walk out with copies of Eight Ball, Black Hole, Verotik, From Hell, Transmetropolitan and Preacher all in the same week. I’m truly grateful for the current ascendancy of the graphic novel but I do miss the variety one used to get with a 20-dollar bill.
During all of this I was drawing my ass off. Aping Jim Lee, Frank Miller, Jae Lee or anything that was dark and stylish that week. This went on for years. Then I started drawing comic layouts. Taught myself how to letter by hand. Even though Comicraft was well established by this point I didn’t own a computer. I tried out every pen nib, ink brand and paper type that I could get my hands on.
By the late nineties I fell into black and white photography, discovered the realists and photo-realists and a decade-long love affair began. John Van Fleet and Tim Bradstreet became big inspirations. And they were both very generous explaining techniques to me by email. I wanted to attempt my own realistic crime comics. I tried to take the look of cheap hyper-contrasted 16mm film and see if it would work in comic book form. Tim is a genius with lighting and sculpting mood out of shadows. I took a different approach by aiming for a run-and-gun approach that John Cassavetes, Soderbergh (Traffic & The Limey) and cinematographer Matty Libatique employ in film. Slice of life brutal realism filmed in hand-held.
That was a long roundabout way of saying that yes, Optimum Wound is an outlet for our dark nihilistic comix and fiction. And yes I see it filling a void that’s existed in comics for the past 10 years. When I was extremely active on MySpace back in 2005 & 2006 a lot of people told me that they stopped reading comics after Preacher ended and The Crow disappeared. I was heavily into the crime fiction of David Peace, James Ellroy and Andrew Vachss and wondered if comics could be written as hard. I was also being exposed to a lot of Japanese Yakuza films at festivals when I lived in Montreal. These brutal stylish genre films were opening my eyes to new possibilities.
Optimum Wound was originally envisioned as a boutique publishing company to house all of these ideas. I honestly couldn’t see another publisher where this would fit. Maybe in the 1990’s but not now. So I started building my own.

How did you and partner in crime Richard Serrao meet up?

I used to live in Montreal, Quebec back in the 1990?s. The owner of a comic shop that we both frequented knew that we HAD to meet each other based on our buying habits and the conversations that we each had with him. We finally met in said shop.
We became fast friends after that, swapping movies, books and comics. I ended up as the best man at his wedding. When I moved to Vancouver, BC in 2001 I remained in constant contact with him.
We share a lot of the same tastes in reading and film so there?s no one else I could imagine starting a publishing company with. Rich is a human archive of genre comics and movies. His own comics are a distillation of all the crazy shit that he?s seen and read.

Was Battles Without Living Witnesses your first real comics work? Where did that come from, exactly?

Yes,
Battles Without Living Witnesses was my first work. It went through 3 scripts and 2 art overhauls. I have 8 art boards here in the studio drawn in a different style and hand-lettered. It was more “gangsta” in one version. I’ve wrestled with it for years and almost walked away from it. At one point in 2007 I was working on another crime comic Jimmy Whatshisfuck with local Vancouver writer, Sean Fidler. That NEEDS to get finished one day.
When I originally envisioned Battles it was going to be a lot more frenetic. It was going to resemble a late 1990’s Takashi Miike film such as DOA or City of Lost Souls. But as time went on and the crime influence seeped in, it became more serious in tone. I was watching Corbucci’s spaghetti westerns and a lot of Yakuza and Samurai films at the beginning of the decade. I wanted to create a comic that would become a filter of all of my newest pop culture obsessions. Just as it was getting fired up again in 2007 I foolhardedly decided to become a publisher. My creative output went completely into the shitter.
Learning how to publish books was fun and educational but it was painful not writing or drawing anymore. This summer I’ve cut back on the dayjob hours in order to make Optimum Wound a full-fledged operation. I’m also planning on relaunching Battles as a webcomic on its own website in a slightly different and easier to navigate online platform. I’m pretty stoked about the rest of 2009.
The comic will still be experimental in tone, maybe even crazier, but it won’t lose its focus on violence, retribution and mayhem.

As you have been moving more behind the scenes, as editor and publisher, who has influenced you as a businessman?
I mean, you are an active blogger and keep a sizable but intricate online presence, and still found the means to knock some sense into Diamond insofar as their finally releasing your upcoming anthology. Did you resort to gunplay on that one?

I guess I’ve always been influenced by outside thinkers and iconoclasts. In the comic industry I have mad respect for Avatar Press’ William Christensen and everything that he’s accomplished over the past decade. He’s grown a small type-cast publishing entity into an indy powerhouse.
There’s definitely not enough dangerous thinking in the comic biz anymore. Margins are too tight so nobody wants to take chances. I look more to smaller book publishers for inspiration. The good people that run Soft Skull Press and Akashic Books are huge inspirations. These guys publish wild fringe titles, break in African writers and stick up their middle finger to the status quo.
Dave Eggers and company at McSweeney’s Quarterly always have my attention. I might not always love what they publish but I love how they do it. Different formats, low print runs and high quality. They’ve done it their way.
I often look to small record labels for a boost. Ian MacKaye and crew have kept Dischord going for a quarter century. And Jacob Bannon, singer of Converge, runs my absolute favorite label Deathwish Inc. He designs most of the packaging and merch and has kept a tight reign on quality control. I’d love for Optimum Wound to be the publishing equivalent of Deathwish.
As for publishing Optimum Wound Volume One, Diamond has been extremely patient with us. They waited a year for me to deliver them a second book after hitting roadblocks in 2008. We’ll be publishing at a more frequent rate from September onwards. I honestly have no horror stories to report with distribution. Our brand manager was a huge cheerleader for Danijel Zezelj’s Rex and wanted more. His suggestions have been helpful. Our second book really wasn’t ready for prime time last fall so I pulled the solicitation before Previews came out. It was a long painful process beating the new material into shape but our new book will be what I originally envisioned back in 2005. We’re all better for it.

I think OpWound is the Henry Rollins of comics. People will hear the name and think of angry punks, but there is really a quality level of intelligence at play.
And what about music? Rollins’ ego aside, what is the required background score, for when you are etching pages to what the fans should be playing while reading? I recall Darren Aronofsky saying somewhere that he would cut scenes with the beat and flow of hip hop in mind, and you can see it- especially in his montage sequences. Is music a trigger effect in what you do creatively?

Thanks sir, I hold Hank in high regard.
Yes, music is always running in the background. I don’t use specific music for specific moods though. As a page may take 10 hours to finish I’ll need to run the gamut of mellow to intense tracks to work my way through a piece. It’s more about getting into the flow. So not necessarily a trigger effect but certainly mandatory as a calming effect.
I listen to a lot of fast and slow tunes. For slow it could be dub or ambient. I try to avoid most triphop and keep to dark and dirty dub tracks. I might go through a drone phase once in a while and put on Oren Ambarchi or SunnO))). Neurosis is always a recurring favorite. Until the girlfriend gets pissed off. We both like playing jazz in the studio. I can groove to Miles Davis, John Zorn and all of the usual suspects in between that broad spectrum.
For fast music I like really fast. Nasum, Pig Destroyer, Napalm Death, Gadget, Agoraphobic Nosebleed. All of the top tier grind acts. I play a lot of hardcore music while drawing as well. Sick Of It All, Minor Threat, Hope Conspiracy, Modern Life Is War, Converge and the like.
Although I listen to some offbeat music while creating the stories I think just your standard angry punk or gritty hip-hop would compliment the reading experience of our comics. Throw on some Dalek, Wu Tang, Ice-T, Refused or American Nightmare and you’re cooking with gas.

Optimum Wound Volume 1 is in the next Previews, right? And you and Serrao have already launched into some contests to put cool original art and prints in the hands of fans. Any parting shots before you get back to writing about people blowing shite up?

Yes the July issue of Previews should have our first collection- Optimum Wound Volume One, listed in the independents section. It’s going to be a tense white-knuckled month drumming up orders for this sucka. It hits stores in early September.
Despite the fact that it’s probably the most INSANE time to launch a new publication from a new company (in black and white no less) I’m pretty excited about the future. I have no idea where the comic industry is headed. I don’t know if comic stores will even be carrying that many indie publications within a couple of years. It’s starting to feel that there’s going to be a lot of direct selling and pimping on Amazon soon. We’ve certainly been working on an e-store initiative and soon some more digital options.
As soon as Apple releases an iReader (and you know they have to be working on one) that features a trillion colors and a high-res image, print will be in even more trouble. I predict a lot more limited edition books in runs of a thousand being released in the future for those that really want them.
Yes, we’ll be giving away free stuff for the rest of the year in the form of contests out at our site. The next three Fridays will have cool original art up for grabs. Then there’ll be the inevitable book and t-shirt giveaways. People love free shit.

My heart goes out to any creators passionately working on webcomics or their own projects. Keep fighting the good fight. If anyone ever needs advice they can hit me up at our site or on Twitter. It is called “social media” after all and my door is always open. And Richard it’s always fun talking with you. You often make Twitter a fun and intense place. Thanks for initiating this interview.

Running The Gamut With Americans UK

Americans UK #2

posted on June 23rd, 2009 in reviews

Americans UK #2
Written by Jef UK
Illustrated by Paul Ciaravino, ZEES & Anthony Fleecs
Production by Jeff Powell & Darin Murano
Lettering by Ben!
Self-published
Reviewed by Richard Caldwell

With this issue, Jef UK, the frontman for the hard living (and real life) band Americans UK has turned the black and white comic into an anthology. God save us all.

The Man From The Future, the continuing story from the previous iss, shows us at long last who it was that killed fully half of Americans UK. The fiendish bastard. And with a new threat unveiled, the saga will carry on.
Ciaravino ups the art ante quite a bit with this installment, coming off as though he read some comics by Frank Quitely.
I, Apeman is a visual representation of the band’s song of the same name. A testament to the lengths of trouble that the predominance of testosterone always tends to get our species into. ZEES needs to be drawing for MAD magazine. I mean that in a good way.
The Better Head is a text story, with the frontispiece featuring personality-filled work by the ever industrious Tony Fleecs. The story of a head in a jar and how the flying hell it got there, this is simply one of the greatest revenge fantasies I have read in a long time. For a rock singer dude, Jef really knows how to twist a word.

So ultimately, this is all just insane fun. Size up their myspace page to hear the songs that inspired the craziness. Score a FREE downloadable copy of this here comic book through their website, or via the hardworking kids at the very fine LiterateMachine.

Was It Death, Cold As Steel?

Death, Cold As Steel

posted on June 23rd, 2009 in reviews

Death, Cold As Steel
Written by Bram Meehan
Illustrated by Jamie Chase
Lettering & designs by Monica Meehan
Published by Panel Press
Reviewed by Richard Caldwell

Death, Cold As Steel is the account of the first few weeks for Aubrey Norris with the clandestine government organization known as the Special Qualities Research Lab.
Forming in the later years of WWII, SQRL has placed itself at the forefront of all things paranormal, with a staff of the sharpest scientific minds in the country. Among many other projects, SQRL is creating a team of technologically (and quite possibly mystically) enhanced heroes to serve as living weapons for a new age. In this world, dark and scary things are not confined to the shadows, and the race for global supremacy requires for many strange experimentations and even stranger personalities dealt with.
Someone has murdered America’s strongest meta-human, leaving the giant corpse of the indestructible Steel Soldier lying in an alley. Now Norris must find the hard answers to the mystery, on a case that will put him at odds with the FBI, as well as the rest of SQRL.
Meehan has crafted a chapter in the early days from the Special Qualities Research Lab’s casefiles that offers here a new, pulp-enthused take on a golden dawn of super heroes. In a plot full of backalley beatdowns and car chases, Norris is a tired vet sharp enough to know how to fight in the dark. A hero who can take a punch.
Chase’s greyscaled artwork is something to be praised. The people look as how real people are supposed to look, and in a 1940’s era abundant with manly fedoras and classy dames.
Though I think he perfected his own style with the follow up The Darkness From Warsaw, he is easily a natural storyteller.
Death, Cold As Steel is a solid, solid read.
I am honestly excited by the books coming from Panel Press, and if you like well-written, well-packaged materials without the mindless flash, then you should dig it too.

http://www.panelpress.com/

My Conspiracy Theory

I love trying to follow the global political spectrum. I believe the ebb and flow can be as predictable as popular culture, because essentially they are the same. In this age of technological exuberance, information seemingly unfolds within the blink of an eye. Trends are born and die every second of every minute of every hour. However, in cases of global politics and in popular culture, unseen hands are ever employed. Decisions are made behind closed doors that set everything in motion. Fads are decided upon and given to the masses as sustenance. Because our masters know what's best.
Regarding the recent and current fun over in Iran, I am calling bullshit.
We have been involved there for decades, notably the neverending Iran Contra drama in the 1980's and on to Clinton's initiating mass bombing (beginning on the very same day of the Columbine shootings- a curious day in the world history of violence, to be sure) and up to the past few years of Neocon insistence at chasing nuclear windmills thereabouts with increased military expenditures. Even less than a year ago Right-wingers were innuendoing as loudly as possible that we should deal with this growing threat of Iran, to the point of it being a key issue in the last presidential election. But over what exactly, a perceived nuclear threat that Nato and United Nations surveyors have failed repeatedly to fully verify? Our national worries that Iran would not be able to control its own potential for violence as well as we do ours?
Suddenly, Iran is all over the news, via the words of sympathetic reporters trying to define the falsities of stolen elections in terms American viewers can relate to.
Arguably, the Western media first began to acknowledge the social unrest via social networking sites like twitter and facebook. Word spread like wildfires days before any major news affiliate would publicly address the issue. And now even President Obama is at last beginning to voice his disapproval at the goings on. Beating protesters ain't kosher anywhere, twouldst seem.
Notice though how the White House stayed silent until Republican voices began to speak out first, specifically questioning this administration's lackadaisically timid recognition of the troubles. Why the apparent concerned 180 from the Conservatives?
And more importantly, why has the political drama of Iran NOW touched the hearts of American protesters everywhere? Why such efforts, when there are worse tragedies going on daily elsewhere in the world? Where the hell was America's direly urgent concerns over the countless deaths in Darfur- the finest of examples?
Because unlike the true modern holocausts that deserve the attentions of the media and the compelled imaginations of its viewers, strings were not being pulled. And by this, I mean your fucking puppet strings.
Here is what I see going on.
Just as with the mass insanity that led us to Iraq following 9/11, Iran has ALWAYS been the next spot on our agenda. That much has been redundantly obvious for years now. Whoever controls our military industrial complex (and Republicans nor Democrats either one could carry full blame) is progressing their aims like clockwork, and the bleeding hearts of America are falling in line, playing their parts like every other time. They came closest to fertilization during the previous administration of course, but were simply overextended by said activities in Iraq. So, slight alteration. We are given a new presidential face, with the bulk of the population feeling appeased by comparison to the otherwise monstrous acts of the far Right-wing Republicans of the past decade.
I think the social media news breaks were plants. The booming stories were planted in the intrawebz to create a faceless source of information for all to hear of how hard the sky is falling. After enough days the trend caught fire, if for no other reason than statistic-wise- Bubba and Crystal-lynne in bible belt America and their contradictory NRA/Pro-Life mentalities, while already eager and willing to support militant action against everyone who did not grow up on hot dogs, are currently the minority while simultaneously being less likely to spend much time on stated intrawebz. Statistic-wise. So, the opposing side had to be won over. The otherwise well-read opposing side that does frequent the intrawebz moreso than their Republican counterparts.
I do not mean to downplay the unjust violence going on in Iran RIGHT NOW, but there are numerous evils abound globally, with far far more deathly dire consequences already rendered. Why to care about yet another crude dictator, when there are easily dozens upon dozens of the same cut? So, sob stories were played up, written like an explicitly catered morsel of underdog angst to capture the hearts and minds of Liberals everywhere. The motors get fired up with righteous indignation, word spreads faster than thumbnails go green, and the national media broadcasters have no choice to give airtime to this new unfolding Middle Eastern pathos. The Republican voicemen opportunists twist their own agendas in the public light, compelling the president to begin taking a serious examination of possible roads that will now just have to be tread.
And, like as was always the plan, our military industrial complex masters (and likely of sordidly assorted corporate-sponsorships) are polishing their guns for the next chapter of their bloody and mysterious libretto.

And everyone has fallen for the plan, hook line and sinker.

the Lottery Party XXIII

the Lottery Party: Burning Bridges For Sale

posted on June 17th, 2009 in columns

The year just keeps getting better and better.
Diamond’s ongoing trainwreck, at first laying down impossibly new laws for the industry to adhere to followed by a change of headquarters resulting in numerous incidences of mistaken, late and even lost orders, is still a corporate-level mess unraveling. Though at last loosening its deathgrip to allow a few more indies to sneak through the machineworks (likely from a couple of months of downward spiraling sales across the comic book landscape), rumors now abound of Steve Geppi taking some very real financial blows. Might this be an opening shot in the months to come for others, most notably the new Enemi/Haven tagteam, to actually challenge the evil empire’s monopoly for a seat at the big boy’s table?
We need the variety, we need alternatives. If Diamond’s situation continues to worsen and should they even tank outright, where the flaming heck will that leave everyone who is so dependent on their services?
And the price gouging continues from the big two. Despite countless public claims (read: lies) to the contrary, it is real and it will continue. All of this is confounded by what I see as an abuse of the media. DC has found a home to voice Dan Didio’s piece via the folks at Newsarama, while Marvel has apparently gone to bed kinky style with ComicBookResources. Barely six weeks after discontinuing his Cup ‘o Joe column for myspace comics (citing that his “schedule is just in…sane with work” and would not be able to do a column any longer), Joe Quesada exploded last week all over CBR, so now we have the Executive Editor and Editor in Chief of the two largest publishers now openly courting the two largest comic news websites. Am I jealous? Actually, for my part, in all of my online scribery the past few years I have never reviewed a book from either Marvel or DC. I recognize there are hundreds of sources for that already so I prefer to give the space to the underdogs. However, we at ComicNews.Info do not impose those kinds of rules upon our contributors, so all in all our objectives can remain more open-minded than merely playing Uncle Tom to the powers that be. We play ball with any publisher willing for a game. But if the big two publishers wish to play favorites while throwing the bones to the dogs, sobeit. Just imagine though, what if Microsoft only allowed coverage via the New York Times? What if Disney only gave the meat of its news stories to the Wall Street Journal? Do you see where I’m going? Monopolizing a distributor is proving lethal to the industry as a whole, monopolizing the media outlets is the same degree of inbreeding. And in the case of the recent Captain America 600 blunder, in which the marketing had everyone geared for a bombshell only to be left with the usual disappointing wave of hot air, what was honestly won by this in the end? Aside from the dozens upon dozens of blogs around the nets describing the frustration and diminishing faith in the persons in charge at Marvel Entertainment, I see this as the corporate boys trying to push a used before plot point on a readership that it has apparently deemed as being too dimwitted to pick up on their own. Why not just drop the epic story naturally and let the media attention grow after the fact- wouldn’t that ultimately serve the speculator’s interests all the more anyhow?
Both companies seem to be in a bizarre contest to out-embarrass themselves. DC’s Trinity series, despite the technical prowess of its creators, proved to be a fifty-two part abominable failure. And more recently seen with the transition from Battle for the Cowl to the Batman rebirthing is the increasingly common idiocy of releasing in-continuity books out of order, annoying many a fan. With Marvel only waiting two years to bring back Steve Rogers from the grave, bets are already being placed to see how long it takes to again be reading the adventures of Bruce Wayne. You have to stop and wonder sometimes how many of the current stable of editors even care about what they do for a living anymore.

Ignoring the problems will not make them go away. Everybody is feeling the economic sting of the times, so spend your money wisely and make a statement. If you enable business practices as brutally unaesthetic as theirs you have no right to complain about the increasing cover prices of the books we all love. And love is what it boils down to, don’t get me wrong. When arts and entertainment, as copacetic and so vital as they are for modern survival, are forced into taking a backseat to the suit and tied moneymen of greed-worshipping corporate America and their backstabbing closed door dealings, passion is hindered. We suffer, as fans of these institutions, we suffer and as long as our wallets endorse such questionable ethics the state of the comic book industry will continue its drunken stumble through Hypertime and on into the Negative Zone.
Please please please prove me wrong, you wench of a goddess Reason.

by Richard Caldwell, Managing Homemade Penny Rolls
messages on how I shall never be allowed to work anywhere in mainstream comix here: richardcaldwell@comicnews.info

Motion Comix of the Gods

Motion Comix of the Gods: Part the Fourth

posted on June 15th, 2009 in interviews

In this four part series, Richard Caldwell risks life and limb to unveil a behind the scenes look into the actual making of a motion comic. Cardboard Gods, a troika of creative Brits, stands as stoic vanguard for this relatively new presentation of sequential art. From start to finish, Phil Stark, Ben Sheppard and Mat Startup guide us through their trials, tribulations and bar tabs conquered so that they can share their industrious vision of commoners going all superhero. While the big boys are now throwing their hats into the ring hoping to make a buck, Cardboard Gods comes from the savage heart.

This is how it’s done…

[warning: explicit language]

Part The Fourth: FX Witchery

Now let’s go technical. What is the setup, the gear and programs at your disposal?

Mat- Well, we shoot on a Canon piece of crap family photo style camera with the occasional scene shot on some shit hot Nikon thing I borrow from work. As you can tell I don’t know much about cameras so onto the editing.
I work on an Intel iMac and yes, I am one of those fanatical Mac users who thinks anyone who owns a PC is a mentalist. I’ve got a ludicrous number of programs for audio/visual manipulation and 3D creation at my disposal but I rarely use more than a few. The pics are cutout and comicized in Photoshop (it’s all I’ll even need for 2D work), then shipped over to Motion 3 for animating. I make each shot as an independent movie then assemble them into a sequence to add the transitions, sound FX and music.

Was their a bit of trial and error in finding the right software, or did the gags and album covers and whatnot provide enough training ground?

Mat- I definitely learned the basics from goofing around in my downtime at work but this was taking it up a notch. I’ve been using Photoshop for years so I had a lot of methods for “unrealing” a photo, but it took awhile to figure out the right combination of layers and filters to get the final look. As for the 3D side of it, when we started I’d had Motion for about 3 months so I was getting well to grips with it. The rest I just teach myself as I go along, which is why it takes such a fucking long time!

What is a rough run down of the procedures- is it cropping/re-sizing/colour separations city? Has there ever been much cause for re-shoots?

Mat- We have the character shots (mostly taken in Benny’s kitchen) and the background plates, and each is treated differently. Characters are cut out and filtered in a very dull series of “duplicate layer, set blend mode, add filter etc”. Their size is what it is at this point, resizing for scale and depth are done in Motion. We don’t have to re-shoot much, well not now- a year ago it was a different story, but we learn from our idiotic mistakes, don’t we? Most photo problems can be fudged anyhow.

And what of the typographical work? There are a few sites that offer a wealth of free fonts and the like, so what words are Gods-worthy?

Mat- Masked Marvel is by far the best comic book font I can find for basic speech and thoughts. Badaboom is great for emphasized speech like shouting “Being a cunt?!”. But the tricky one was REDMAN’s voice. For him I found Gypsy Voice, creepy and distorted but still readable.

Tell us about the audio, is there any previous background in digital audio editing? Do you mould scenes around the sounds, or versa vice?

Mat- Well I work primarily in video, the only real audio work being cutting things to music or some voiceover work, so I’ve had to learn a lot about sound FX. Because there’s no audible dialogue the background music and sound effects are paramount. Camera moves need a sound, frame transitions need a sound, a punch, a cigarette lighter, blood, they all need sounds and without them a shot lacks atmosphere.
As for the music, like I said earlier each shot is independent so it’s not until a bunch of shots are put together that I can cut them to the beat. For some scenes I may already have a piece of music in mind and for others I’ll spend days trawling through stock cd’s for the perfect theme.

As the visuals seem to be primarily etched out by Startup and his fleet of drunken winged simians, do you remaining members of the troika weigh in much over the actual editing process?

Ben- Yes.
To expand- it’s just very much a group effort from top to bottom. Startup obviously knows his onions on a grand scale so the technical approach concerning the setup and basic look, flow and cutting from one thing to another is always pretty perfect straight away. Stark and I pipe up with more specific notes and directions as they present themselves.
For example, and speaking personally, when I write I always see things in my head very clearly right from the get go, and if I feel the interpretation in the edit is off the mark, or could be tweaked, we’ll discuss it.
Otherwise Stark and I can lend a fresh perspective- tiny little things, but which make the difference in the long run- a slower fade up here, an earlier sound cue there, all that massively boring stuff that’s the most important thing in the world at the time, but which you never ever think of again once it’s sorted. As it should be.

And lastly, when DO you know the work is really finished? Is everything thoroughly mapped out from the get-go, or is it more like traditional painting- you just go at her til she feels right?

Mat- I work very much one shot at a time and almost always chronologically. I’ll have ideas for shots a little in advance like “Hey if I pull the camera out like that I can zoom straight out through my own head”, and wacky thinks like putting some random snuff porn clip into each background tv screen. But yeah, I just hack away at each shot til I think it works then put a whole bunch of shots together and realize that the camera is moving too fast on one shot ot I’ve spelled “origins” with only one “I” or some such shit. Once I think I’m done I do a screening of a finished scene with the guys. Any issues found then can usually be fixed in their presence and that scene is in the can (or desktop folder, to be exact).

So there you have it, patient readers, Cardboard Gods ripping back the curtains to share with you the tricks of their trade (or the trade of their tricks?). They are among the first to fully push the definitions of motion comics back into the realm of reinterpretation, and mark my words, the best is yet to come. These are new talents, exciting new creative minds for the comic book medium of the next generation of tech, and they are hep enough to only be in it for the kicks.
And what’s more, Mat Startup, Ben Sheppard and Phil Stark have chosen to hit us with an exclusive video that will debut right here and now! Take it like a shot of whiskey and grin a bit knowing the next issue of Cardboard Gods is only right around the corner.

why I do not write tv

"In the beginning, there was BBQ..."
(or, "Lo there shalt cometh...CHUPRACABRA!!")

p1: In the kitchen at the rear of a shotgun house, seated at the table is Dirk (as portrayed by Bob Saget), masturbating profusely to a pile of polaroids spread out on the kitchen table.
Dirk- "Yea, bitch...Candy Crotch whore...fill that right nostril up with my sour cream..."

Suddenly, the back door slams shut. Dirk jumps and half turns, shocked and awed, jeans down to his knees, to see the notorious serial killing cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer (as portrayed by Dirk Shearer) standing in his kitchen space.
Dirk- "HOLY SHIT you're the notorious serial killing cannibal Jeffery Dahmer!" As he proceeds to beat Jeffrey with his roll of paper towels.
Jeffrey- (on his knees in agony, arms up defending himself) "Hey you dyke, I'm not here to kill you!" (in emo voice) "Leave Jeffy-boi ALONE!"
Pausing in his paper towel onslaught, Dirk asks- "Then why would the notorious serial killing cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer be standing in my shotgun kitchen?"
Rising to his feet, Jeffrey pulls out a flyer and says- "I'm here about the room."

p2: Dirk says to himself- "A notorious serial killing cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer for a roomie..." And asks Jeffrey- "Hey, you're not a Libertarian, are you?"
Jeffrey answers- "Oh heavens no, what do you think I am, an animal?!?"
Dirk holds out his hand- "Then welcome to my crib. Everything split 50/50, except my beer."
Jeffrey says excitedly- "OH joy! Just one thing, could you help me dispose of a body? I killed Rob Liefeld on the drive here. He is so CUTE!"
Dirk thinks aloud- "Well, I do need the rent money..." And responds- "No problemo, dude. Let's take him to the garage." And then finally pulls his pants back up, before leading the new roommate back out the door.

p3: Hours later. Dirk and Jeffrey are finishing up in the mess of a small garage, both wearing elbow length leather gloves and bloodied aprons. There is blood everywhere, and the workbench is piled high with assorted saws and bags of chuck. There is a knock on the side door, as the landlady Mrs. Rumsfeld (portrayed by Bea Arthur) walks right on in.
Mrs. Rumsfeld screams- "What is up with all of this racket on a Saturday morning?!? My Rotary Club is about to meet, and we just canNOT have any of this!"
Says Dirk- "Sorry Mrs. Rumsfeld, I was helping my new roommate- notorious serial killing cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer, out with a...uhm...project."
Mrs. Rumsfeld- "And what's with all of this meat? Are you having a barbeque?"
Dirk says- "A barbeque...right..."
And Mrs. Rumsfeld again- "What a great idea! I'll bring over the Rotary Club circle as soon as the meeting is over."
"But hold on a second..." looking ghostly pale at Jeffrey, "Weren't you beaten to death in prison a few years ago?"
Jeffrey- "Um, no, that was the OTHER notorious serial killing cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer. Common mistake, happens all the time."
Dirk asks- "Aren't you gonna ask why there's a pterodactyl in the corner, too?"
The pterodactyl stooped on a chair in the corner screeches.
Mrs. Rumsfeld- "Oh you boys today and your silly toys, I swear..." and turns to walk out the door.
Dirk and Jeffrey look at each other, letting out a mutual sigh of relief.
The pterodactyl screeches.

p4: One hour later, the BQ is in full effect in the backyard, with Jeffrey on the grill and Dirk playing host. Mrs. Rumsfeld and her Rotary Club ladies are everywhere, a sea of blue-haired old women. The pterodactyl is doing a table dance, refusing to put down the bong. In walks Death (portrayed by Gary Coleman).
Says Death to Dirk- "I have come for the soul of Rob Liefeld."
Dirk- "Who's that? Ain't no Rob Liefeld here, nosiree bob. Howz about a nice cheeseburger?"
Death, looking suddenly awkward, says- "Well, I do like a good cheeseburger..." and takes a plate.

Over walks the lovable but wacky neighbor, Rev. Iscariot (portrayed by Richard Caldwell), with his arm around a chupracabra. "Thanks for not lettin' me say grace earlier, Dirk. While you and all of your guests are waiting for the ETERNAL FLAMES of ETERNAL DAMNATION, I'd like to introduce you to my new gal, Mavis."
Dirk shakes her hand, saying- "Wow a real life chupracabra. What's it like to date a chupracabra, Rev.?"
Rev. Iscariot smirks- "She sucks alot more than just goats..."

p5: Jeffrey calls out to Dirk- "Hey guy, isn't that the girl from those pictures in your kitchen, coming over?"
Dirk, looking across the yard, sees his ex-girlfriend, Candy Crotch (portrayed by Madeline Zima) walking up, halfway making out with a Jersey Devil.
Looking around nervously, Dirk grabs Mavis the chupracabra close and shoves his tongue down her throat, for a passionate and sloppy smooch, just as Candy and her boytoy approach.
Candy- "Hey loser, who's the twat?
Dirk, lying- "This is my NEW girlfriend, Mavis the chupracabra."
Rev. is steaming mad in the backgound.
Candy- "Don't chupracabras eat goats? That's disgusting!"
Dirk- "And sometimes dead Rob Liefelds..."
Candy, eyes going wide- "WHAT?!?"
Dirk- "Nevermind, so who is the big demon-looking guy with his hands down your blouse?"
Candy- "Oh him? This is my new man, Jersey Devil. He drives a hummer."
Jeffrey says aloud- "GOD she really IS a bitch!"
The Rev. explodes- "Taking the good lord's name in vain, now you've gone too far!" Jumping inbetween Mavis and Dirk, the Rev. slaps Dirk across the face with his bible, knocking him down. Yells Rev. Iscariot- "You think you can steal my girl, my Mavis, you sinnin' HEATHEN?!?"
The pterodactyl drunkenly screeches from across the way.

p6: Jeffrey comes running up, saying- "Nobody bitchbibleslaps my roommate!" And shoves a metal spatula into the back of the Rev.'s skull. The Rev. falls dead accordingly.
Death comes up, asking- "That burger was great! Are there any more?
Says Dirk, standing back up and looking slyly to Jeffrey- "We'll have some more meat in a little while..."

FIN.

Ghouls Gone Wild

Ghouls Gone Wild for Koni Waves!

posted on June 12th, 2009 in reviews

Koni Waves: Ghouls Gone Wild
Written by Mark Poulton
Illustrated by Stephen Sistilli, Dexter Weeks & Mike Capprotti
Published by Arcana
Reviewed by Richard Caldwell

In this trade collection of the second Koni Waves mini-series, we are given more of the continuing saga of Hawaii’s skimpiest private eye, Koni and company. Constantly plagued with supernatural cases, she and her friends always come out on top, even while the villainous prince Hopohopo is ever lurking in the background. Contrary to all of the obvious expectations…I like it.
Poulton shows us a character who (perhaps unintentionally) betrays the general stereotype of the tough femme fatale heroine, as Koni is actually more of the other stereotype, of the “happy-drunk-partygirl-bitch” mindset. The kind of clubgirl every man wants to lay, but in daylight would really have nothing at all interesting to say; Koni is an ex-stripper who spends half of the story plastered drunk. She is not a very likable or respectable person. In fact, in real life her sort would be the first to fall victim to the magical evils that Koni the character somehow always survives. Yet she is still somehow tough, in her own slutty way.
In three otherwise stand alone tales, Koni is first assisted by guest starring rockband ADEMA in clashing with the nightmarish Nightmarchers, then tracks down the Succubus responsible for abusing athletic hormones, and finally must face down the savage culprit behind a growing bodycount on the island. The Hopohopo subplot throughout ties it all together while building up for the next chapter in Koni’s tale.
I really like the art here, handled mostly by Sistilli. A bit like the work of the very crisp and sharp Pat Olliffe, with a heavy heavy heavy dose of Modesty Blaise in spirit, the pages are well-thought out and exhibit a wonderful narrative flow. The monsters never look like cartoons, and the overall atmosphere never goes the way of Scooby Dooby Do. God I love substance over form. Thank you, Sistelli and crew, for boldly remembering that storytelling can be as structurally graceful as it is necessary in this medium. For that I will mostly overlook the handful of lettering flaws.
Though the scary factor of Koni Waves: Ghouls Gone Wild is minimum, the exploration of islander mythology is somewhat grounded enough in and inspired by actual lore so as to make for a nice little read. Even nicer if it were a monthly ongoing. I’d buy it. And even if the sorcerous undead and unnatural threats aplenty seen here in these pages are not the sort to keep you up at night, the plenitude of bikini shots probably will.
Ahem.

Dave Simons

Renowned and Respected Artist Dave Simons Passes Away

posted on June 12th, 2009 in news

Following an especially rough battle with cancer, Dave Simons left this world on the morning of Tuesday, June 9th, 2009. He was 54.
Best known for his years of dutiful inking work for Marvel in the 80’s and 90’s on such titles as Howard the Duck, Tomb of Dracula, Ghost Rider, and the assorted Conan titles, Dave was an accomplished commercial artist and animator as well. In later years he worked on such television shows as Captain Planet, Exo-Squad and Courage the Cowardly Dog.
A true New Yorker with a large, large number of friends and fans, the industry is all the poorer without his kind influence and pedigree.

scratch

Trying to scribe out a funny test script for an artist pal of mine.

The sort of thing that would get me excommunicated and/or expatriated.


Unfortunately, I am the type right now who would think a sitcom about a serial killer could damn well be laugh out loud funny. Has a pterodactyl too.

Weird Menace!

Digging Mort Todd's Weird Menace!

posted on June 10th, 2009 in reviews

Mort Todd’s Weird Menace! #1
Created, written & packaged by Mort Todd
Illustrated by Mort Todd with Gray Morrow, Cliff Mott and John Severin
Published by Comicfix
Reviewed by Richard Caldwell

Weird Menace is an over-sized collection of short stories that appeared previously in a range of different publications past, the majority being super-duper rare. And let me just tell you upfront that this is is a blast of a comic.
At one time the youngest editor in the history of the humor rag Cracked magazine, Mort Todd has a very distinct and quirky style of humor, well exhibited here in union with his obvious love for the scary EC horror comics of yesteryear.
Ten stories total are gathered in this volume, tackling such off the wall premises as vengeful elves, knife-happy grannies, and even sexy vampires from outer space.Yes, this tome contains drug references, impossibly large boobies, brutal murders, cannibalism, demonic pacts, implied rape scenes and O Henry-type endings, and believe it or not there are portions of this book that are still laugh out loud funny. Not for the dim-witted or the easily offended, the stories in Weird Menace! proudly strut their collective personality like a punk rocker dude in a Catholic girl’s school.
While the bulk of the art is handled by the multi-talented Todd, there are pleasantly enough many styles here implored. The shaded grace of Morrow’s tale and the darkly detailed renderings of Severin’s tale are both absolute eye candy, and longtime Todd collaborator Cliff Mott’s contribution kinda made me want to break out my own pencils.
Imaginative, ghoulish humor like this is a bucket of fun. And to add a personal perspective to the compendium, scattered throughout is an autobiographical text spotlighting highs (and some lows) of the imaginative career in progress of this truly unique creator. Mort Todd is an avid lover of comic books, rock music, movies and scary stuffs, but above all else he is a true fanboy of the many wonderful genres that give spice to these painfully zombie-deprived days of our lives. If Ed Wood, Basil Wolverton, and Rob Zombie were somehow on a cross country roadtrip together, Mort Todd would be the lucky bastard of a hitchhiker they’d WANT to pick up. Pick up a copy of Weird Menace! #1 and see for yourself why.

http://www.comicfix.com/
http://www.gosadistik.com/
www.myspace.com/morttodd

urinal of a work

Magic Eight Ball is toilet paper!

posted on June 10th, 2009 in reviews

The Magic Eight Ball #1
Written by John Parker
Illustrated by Michael Harris
Published by Post Mortem Comics Studios
Reviewed by Richard Caldwell

There is not a single redeeming quality to this book. I will not even pretend to be nice on this one. How DARE you charge people money for this, Post Mortem.
The byline speaks of a scary story where three teenage boys play a game of chance with some creature. To begin with, there are only two boys in the story, with no reference whatsoever to a third. The entire plot is this: in 19 pages, two boys are playing with a foot tall set of triplet E.T. bastardizations in need of a nailclipper, and their magic eight ball. One boy is argumentative about playing, is chomped up and his heart is ripped from his body. The second boy, fearfully continues to play with the alien/demon brothers. That’s it. 19 pages.
This apparently was one of those genius small press editors who saw no need in hiring an actual letterer, as that is not a real craft, right? I can count on ONE HAND the number of panels that did not contain some mistake or other. I have a nine-year old goddaughter who can spell better than this. I suggest the writer and editor take the big leap and get their GEDs.
The art tries for a moody, overly shadowed scenario, but at best vaguely reminds the reader of that time when Scott McDaniel was under the delusion he was Frank Miller. Excessive use of dramatic POVs does not make a story more dramatic, it detracts from storytelling. Not that there is any story here to be told.
I suspect this comic was created by anti-comic book enthusiasts as a means of further casting the medium in poor public view. For godsakes, learn at the very least the basics of the trade before you embarrass yourselves like this.
The only good thing was an ad in the back, featuring a gorgeous cover by Louisville artist Nathan Thomas Milliner, for an upcoming release concerning America’s current overseas war efforts. Why he would soil himself with this lot can only be a statement on the economic crisis. Maybe there are no day jobs for any of this creative team to return to.
The Magic Eight Ball totally ruined my day.

Traditional toilet paper may be less expensive, but far less satisfying.

Ugh.

The Darkness From Warsaw

The Darkness From Warsaw is GROOVY!

posted on June 9th, 2009 in reviews

The Darkness From Warsaw OGN
written by Bram Meehan
illustrated by Jamie Chase
letters & designs by Monica Meehan
published by Panel Press
reviewed by Richard Caldwell

The cool pulp mystery presented within The Darkness From Warsaw is an absolute breath of fresh air! This is an outstanding work of ingenuity, class and vision. I wholly mean that.
A second adventure from the creative team responsible for Death, Cold As Steel, the story opens with a visit from a Federal Agent to the aged Estelle White-Norris, a retired agent herself of the same Special Qualities Research Laboratory. As her own tale unfolds, we are taken back to the post WWII era, when the S.Q.R.L. was in full swing investigating and researching assorted strangeness from around the world. Imagine a more realistic and mature X-files/B.P.R.D. and you’re halfway there. Estelle’s old friend and co-worker Wilson Petrie was increasingly being haunted by nightmares, blackouts and missing time. The past was calling to him, and simply put- he is scared. To find resolution, they must travel behind enemy lines, to the history-laden Warsaw.
Meehan is well versed in the lore of both history and mythology, that much is gloriously evident, as we are shown a world where sorcerers secretly consult with the Federal Government and where the paranormal runs rampant in the lives of all those able to survive the blood of their own technological abominations.
The art from Chase is grayscale realism, washing the delicate linework of his figures into a place of immediate nostalgia. Really beautiful, graceful stuff. And all his settings look better than period photography, like themselves ghostly images of cobblestone alleyways and eerie laboratories and the like of half-remembered old films from times past. This Europe is hauntingly noir, a visual poem, full of voice all the same. While the scenes are presented in a smoky black and white, the influences, subject matter, and moods are as wide-ranging as a fleet of brave soldiers kinetically dodging for cover amidst a Cthonic hellstorm of Nazi bombast.
The Darkness From Warsaw is very much an adult story, with that certain manner of harrowing implications that only decades-old secrets tend to drown in. This work is smart, it is horrific, it is stylish, and it is one of a kind. If Polanski’s The Ninth Gate had involved a bit of Reed Richards meta-science, some Nazi ugliness and a wistful Vera Lynn soundtrack, it would still not be as smooth a package as this.
LOUD applause from this reviewer to the entire creative force behind The Darkness From Warsaw. My highest possible endorsement.
Find your own soon to be well-read copy at the Panel Press homepage, or through those digital shopkeepers at LiterateMachine.

http://www.panelpress.com/

Fever

Post Mortem's Fever #1

posted on June 9th, 2009 in reviews

Fever #1
written by John Parker
illustrated by Justin Braden
published by Post Mortem Comics Studios
reviewed by Richard Caldwell

This debut issue of Fever, the first of ten chapters, is something different. A horror tale, to be certain, involving the haunting of a young and lonely boy named Tommy.
The story opens with Tommy, his mother and bratty preteen sister visiting a gravesite. Though not mentioned in the text exactly why, it could be presumed to be the father’s. While there, Tommy has the kind of sad realization most children eventually face. Later, as the weeks go by, his troubles continue to grow, with some ghostly thing moving closer and closer into his small world.
Although I love small press, and anything that flows against the status quo, I need to be mean here.
The story, while well contrived and possibly even something for all ages, runs a bit on the slow side. More troubling, is the embarrassing lettering flaws on almost every single page of the book. From misspellings and missing words and incomplete sentences to grammar and punctuation errors galore, this book really should have been passed by some manner of editor prior to publication. And schizophrenic font sizes from one page to the next screams of inconsistency. I would not be so blunt if the many mistakes were not so blasted distracting.
(But if you can get past all of that- you saint of a reader you- there really is something special here.)
The art meanwhile, is very attractive, very illustrative in approach. With a possible suggestion of British sensibility in composition and expressions that call to mind the great Rick Geary, Braden draws a stark world, full of starved characters. The family looks born for the part of the grim things to come. Though the panels could have used a bit more in the way of flourishes, he is clearly trying to do his own thing in terms of draughtsmanship. His design for the feathered thing at the end deserves to be in a film.
Despite my easy critique of the wording ailments aplenty in this book, I would still recommend the work. Although I imagine the full ten chapters could well be effectively compressed into half as many issues, all in all this is actually an easy on the eyes piece of black and white horror fiction.
Some gnawing aspect of the overall loneliness that is swallowing Tommy is painfully intriguing. Ghosts, I feel, are only a portion of where this may be headed. Follow along and see for yourself.

The issues can be found via the nicely constructed Post Mortem website, or through those cool kids at LiterateMachine.

Americans UK!

a look at Americans UK!

posted on June 8th, 2009 in reviews

Americans UK # 1
written & illustrated by Jef UK & Paul Ciaravino
production by Jeff Powell & Darin Murano
self-published
reviewed by Richard Caldwell

Americans UK is a black and white indie comic featuring (and produced by) the actual Brooklyn-based rock band, Americans UK.
In this premiere chapter, writer Jef UK- the band’s frontman- takes us through the night following a gig, which of course involves booze, girls, and the murder of the band themselves. Waking later amidst the carnage of their blue collar punk HQ apartment, Jef meets a robot from the future with a familiar face, and learns of the horrible fate that waits for humanity, and the role he and his now dead bandmates play.
Then New York’s finest kick in the door.

The art is clean and simple, nothing earth-shattering, but very competent. The nods to Booster Gold and HG Wells later on show off some obligatory geeky roots, which is fun.
Now, mixing the Americans UK’s sound and personality of a zombie-friendly barband with promises of time travel, robots, and more booze should make for a fun ride. Things will likely get broken, but that’s what rock and roll is all about. Generally.
Americans UK is indeed self-published, but you can score a copy of the digital comic online through the good people at LiterateMachine. And check out the myspace for some unbelievably catchy/killer songs. Really sets the mood. Argh.

http://www.jefwrites.com/
http://www.literatemachine.com/
www.myspace.com/amukamuk

Sandy Plunkett

I just exchanged some pleasant emails with the great Sandy Plunkett.

Sandy was/is an artistic hero of mine, though his work never exploded with limelight. He began work in comic books while still in high school, but still earned the right degrees later on. A very skilled craftsman, He wrote, drew, inked, even lettered and colored some of the prettiest pages ever, over the 70's, 80's and 90's. He remains high on my list of all time best cover designers. So the contact was a kick in the pants, for me.

a taste of things to come.

Lydia

Lydia

[Music by Harold Arlen. Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg]








La-la-la...la-la-la.

Lydia, oh Lydia, say, have you met Lydia?
Lydia The Tattooed Lady.
She has eyes that men adore so,
and a torso even more so.
Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclopedia.
Lydia The Queen of Tattoo.
On her back is The Battle of Waterloo.
Beside it, The Wreck of the Hesperus too.
And proudly above waves the red, white, and blue.
You can learn a lot from Lydia!

La-la-la...la-la-la.
La-la-la...la-la-la.

When her robe is unfurled she will show you the world,
if you step up and tell her where.
For a dime you can see Kankakee or Paree,
or Washington crossing The Delaware.

La-la-la...la-la-la.
La-la-la...la-la-la.

Oh Lydia, oh Lydia, say, have you met Lydia?
Lydia The Tattooed Lady.
When her muscles start relaxin',
up the hill comes Andrew Jackson.
... that encyclopedia.
Lydia The Queen of Tattoo.
For two bits she will do a mazurka in jazz,
with a view of Niagara that nobody has.
And on a clear day you can see Alcatraz.
You can learn a lot from Lydia!

La-la-la...la-la-la.
La-la-la...la-la-la.

Come along and see Buffalo Bill with his lasso.
Just a little classic by Mendel Picasso.
Here is Captain Spaulding exploring the Amazon.
Here's Godiva, but with her pajamas on.

La-la-la...la-la-la.
La-la-la...la-la-la.

Oh Lydia, oh Lydia, say, have you met Lydia?
Lydia The Queen of them all.
She once swept an Admiral clear off his feet.
The ships on her hips made his heart skip a beat.
And now the old boy's in command of the fleet,
for he went and married Lydia!

I said Lydia...
He said Lydia...
I said Lydia...
He said Lydia...

O!

Imaginarium

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Terry Gilliam does not know how to make a bad movie.

Later this year, his newest work will be released, the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. The film stars Christopher Plummer as an immortal circus ringleader who, through a pact with the devil (played by the one and only Tom Waits), takes persons through a magical mirror in exploration of their own imaginations, their psyches. However, the devil has at last come to collect on his end of the bargain.

Gilliam, who began by Flying around himself with Monty Python's Circus, has accomplished an impressive list of films over the years. Dreamlike to the point of iconic, his work can be a bit hard to nail down under any specific genre, and unfortunately box office sales do not themselves always mirror the achievements of his vision. Personally, a listing of his movies is virtually synonymous with a listing of my favorites, from Time Bandits, Brazil, and the Fisher King, on to Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas and the under the radar Tideland.

Often plagued by production woes, the stories behind his films can at times be as interesting as the films themselves.
In the case of the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, star Heath Ledger passed on to the otherside prior to the completion of his performance. The role was then reworked to allow actors Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law all to perform additional variants of the character. Reportedly, Depp, Farrell, and Law each donated the entirety of their earnings from the film to Ledger's young daughter as a trust fund.

Tentatively slated for an early Fall release, the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus will likely prove as breathlessly intriguing as any other movie with Gilliam's name in the credits.

I cannot wait.

time machine

These 5 articles were what existed of my Time Machine review series, originally posted on a site I am no longer affiliated with.

Time Machine I

Deathmate
co-published by Image/Valiant
reviewed by Richard Caldwell

In 1993, two of the five most successful publishers of the day, Image Comics and Voyager Communications, launched what was to have been one of the largest crossovers in comic book history- Deathmate.
Structured as a six-part series of inter-related books, and preceded by three additional issues of shorter preview comics, the Deathmate series warranted some notoriety, though not for the storyline itself. The massive hype leading up to the event series flustered out as the Image issues were released excessively late, causing many perspective readers to lose interest altogether. This in spite of the superstar status of many of the creators involved in the project. I could even argue that this specific comic gave birth to the shallow publishing glut that dominated the industry for the remainder of the decade, but that is neither here nor there. Instead, I will give a brief synopsis of each issue bearing the Deathmate logo, followed by an overall perspective of the work itself.

The tale of Deathmate involved one of Valiant's more iconic characters- Solar, encountering the Image character- Void, and leading to a dalliance which, stemming from the powers of said characters, led to the two universes merging forcefully into one.

Deathmate Preview: Green- A brief introductory piece which casually and expertly disallows Valiant's entire previous epic, Unity.

Deathmate Preview: Orange- The one book I am missing, though I doubt I am missing much therein. This issue came bound inside copies of the Previews catalogue. Though information is hard to unearth, I believe that this was the same comic as either Green or Pink, albeit with a different cover.

Deathmate Preview: Pink- A prelude for a later thread in the books- a setup for the meeting of two of the more popular characters.

Deathmate Prologue- The origins of the predicament are laid out, with allusions towards things to come. The first chapter, featuring art by Barry Windsor-Smith and Jim Lee, is very beautifully drawn.

Deathmate Yellow- Released by Valiant, four distinct chapters each revealing a glimpse of different corners of the newly combined universe. Along with Blue, it is the strongest single issue, in terms of both consistency and continuity.

Deathmate Red- Released by Image's Extreme Studios, this is a sloppy mess, exhibiting the same basic plot outline as seemingly every book from Extreme at the time. This offers a full-length story where Valiant characters barely rate a cameo. Everyone involved with this should be ashamed.

Deathmate Blue- Released by Valiant, four distinct chapters each revealing a glimpse of different corners of the newly combined universe. Along with Yellow, it is the strongest single issue, in terms of both consistency and continuity.

Deathmate Black- Released by Image's Homage Studios, this is noteworthy for presenting the first appearance of members of Gen13, albeit altered reality incarnations. Like its Extreme counterpart, the art is a "jam" effort, where characters tend to look different from one page to the next. Form over substance, completely.

Deathmate Epilogue- The grace-saving finale, incorporating the heavy hitters from all parties concerned. The graphic innovations of Marc Silvestri and then freelance ringer Joe Quesada really shine. The perspective universes are restored to what was, as memories fade. The End.


As a whole, the series is alright insofar as "universe stretching the sky is falling" kind of stories go. The given at the time was that Valiant had some of the tightest writing in comics, while Image by far had the most dynamic line-artistry. In Deathmate, however, the Image contributions are almost like a painful distraction from the meat of the story. This should have been so much more than the end result, and it serves as fine testimony of how dramatic an effect egos can have over the creative processes.
I was ultimately disappointed when I first read the work, and fifteen years later, I still want my money back.

Time Machine II

The Horrible Truth About Comics
written & illustrated by James Kochalka
published by Alternative Comics
reviewed by Richard Caldwell

This black and white one-shot, cover dated January '99, is a calm and dreamy attempt at defining the drive that compels comic creators to do whatever it is they do.
The lead character- Kochalka's trademark alter-ego Magic Boy, is experiencing a restless night wherein he obsesses over his own sequential compulsions, to the chagrin of his ladyfriend. While much of Kochalka's other work presents itself as innocently optimistic enough so as to warrant rampant tooth decay, this particular story highlights his skill in breaking things down to blessed semantics. In this case, just how the desires that many people feel for creative expressions, namely art itself as a singular ideal, is as core to the human condition as survival, or even love.
Very obviously influenced by Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics", this book is almost a much simplified version of that work, or perhaps intended as a manner of re-clarified afterthought. Normally, I can give or take most homages, but considering the subject matter in question- even the sophomoric philosophy of Kochalka has its place.
A strong point in his favour is in the line of thought that art is not unto itself a means of communication, rather, it is a way of understanding communication.
The artwork for the comic remains very brushy, and clearly inspired by early Matt Groening. The overall effect has an easy and uncomplicated flow so as to appeal all the more to a broader range of age in readership.
The interior covers are packed with single-paneled illos from a number of fantastic indie artists, such as Ivan Brunetti, Ariel Schrag, Jeff Smith, and Jen Sorensen.
If anything, this work is a brevity of a love letter to the very medium of comic books. If you should happen to stumble upon it in a bargain bin somewhere or other, please make the purchase; and feel free to pick up on the impulses that will follow- of the need to try your own comic strip. The more the merrier indeed.

Time Machine III

Harlequin Valentine
written by Neil Gaiman
painted by John Bolton
published by Dark Horse Comics, Inc.
reviewed by Richard Caldwell

This graphic novella, which began as a short story from Gaiman, is his wonderfully inventive ode to the English Harlequinade, which came from the French Vaudeville and on centuries back to its spawning grounds within the Italian Commedia dell'arte. The Harlequinade, essentially, is romantic comedy wherein the characters remain set and the same while the roles played change hands from one Pantomime performance to the next.
In Harlequin Valentine, we see the immortal and fittingly Buster Keaton-esque Harlequin, longingly lustful for the attentions of his Missy, his Columbine. So lost in feeling that he literally gives his heart to her by way of pinning it outside her apartment door. The natural and whimsical interactions among the characters works as a kind of poetry in the sense of human observation. And like a true Harlequinade- by the end of the tale all roles have thusly changed. Just as with in all true relationships, the natural progressions lead to common ends always- everything changes, while everything stays the same. Comedy in the greatest sense appeals to a sympathy of sadness by comparison, and this book provides masterful representation of nothing less.
Bolton's art is absolutely stunning here. He dances photographic realism into a world all his own, replete with slightly otherworldly nuances which only give the reader a higher understanding of the inner personae for all characters suggested by the prose. This is a fine artist in form, but his storytelling is what gives other graphic artists inferiority complexes galore. Beautiful, dynamic, and wholeheartedly insightful.
I know that Neil Gaiman may have finally outgrown his britches enough so that it is currently status quo cool to demean his work. I will not do that however, at least not with regards to this, as Harlequin Valentine is easily the sort of work that can attract and romance even those persons still completely ignorant of the world of comics. It is that good.
Do not dare make the mistake of callously judging this as a "girly" book, or a theatrical soap opera of emotion; this, like other works by either Gaiman and/or Bolton, is a tale full of sound and fury and told by madmen, signifying nothing (only to those unfortunates who happened to have garnered failing grades from any collegiate-level philosophy programme). The actual collaboration of this story led to Gaiman's first solo film project: a documentary on the absurdist life of Bolton himself. The characters of Harlequin Valentine, much like their writer/artist team themselves, are fully-formed and iconic, like ancient mythology filtered through medieval Renaissance artworks.
Well, the creators may be all too human at times, but the characters inhabiting the world of the Harlequin can at least attract anyone with heart.

Time Machine IV

Metaphysique 1 & 2
written & illustrated by Norm Breyfogle
published by Eclipse Comics
reviewed by Richard Caldwell

This mini-series, released in 1992, is a collection of diverse stories and illustrations from Breyfogle's earlier artistic exercises outside of the industry. Vividly self-aware and intuitive, the materials stand as testament to the explorations and questions of a seeker of truth.

"Between the subtle incorporality of spirit and the dull obstinacy of matter lies a realm through which a narrow and rocky path of actuality winds ever upward, strewn with the remains of those who over-identified with one or the other principle. Only those faithful and hardy enough to accept the basic conflict which animates them continue the climb; only those who recognize that conflict as an illusion grow stronger with the climb; and only those who know that illusion as their greatest joy climb fastest. I am one of these hybrids of spirit and matter.
My name is Metaphysique. I am a storyteller..."

...the opening lines from the "host", a cape-wearing Aristotelian by way of Zen Buddhism sculpture of a character.

Part Aesop, part underground comix, part Heavy Metal magazine and part EC comics- the subject matters dance from science fiction to horror to sociological/political metaphor to outright and beautiful transcendental fancy. This is clearly the work of an intelligent author experimenting with both philosophical definition and creative voice.
Painted covers with black and white interiors, a broad display of style and technique allow for the varied breadth of narratives. From flying clowns to government conspiracy to spiritual journeys, the imagination and depth of Metaphysique has proven to me personally as a source for inspiration on a number of occasions. As schizophrenic as poetry and as wanderlusting as a young artist, this comic is representative of the personal dialogue that is just never seen in mainstream publications of the mad, mad medium of comic books.
Eventually leading to a later and more clarified series briefly flown under the short-lived Malibu Comics imprint Bravura some years later, this two-part comic receives wholehearted endorsement from this particularly immodest reviewer.
Quest for it, read it, treasure it. Just like life.

Time Machine V

Harijan 1-3
written & illustrated by Nicholas P. Myers
published by Floating Island Studios
reviewed by Richard Caldwell

The issues reviewed for this irregularly published comic were released primarily in late '07, and I gather (and hope!) there are more to follow. Harijan is pure science fiction, and tells the story of a group of misfits banded together in the nether regions of the city-state Oasis.

Keeping the cast small and iconic, Myers has a strong storytelling style here, presenting a splinter view of a world full of duality. Oasis itself is a prized, NYC at its most Metropolis-inspired of a setting; concealing a downtown underbelly of a ghetto, full of violence and secrets and genetic monstrosities.
Behind the scenes strings are orchestrated by an ominous company of the level of power only politics and blood can buy. Using the underground as its own private dumping grounds for experimentations and the mistakes that stem thereof, victims be damned unless they learn to fight for a life worth living at all. Much is merely implied in the narrative itself, and the set-up is much more than enough for a wide ranging continuation of epics.
The protagonists of the story, taking a strong and welcome cue from the Doom Patrol's ultimate mentality, are gathered more for the sake of a kindred friendship than anything so base as survival, although of course in a lethal environment as this, all parties are possessing of talents. And again, secrets.
Storywise, the plot moves slowly enough, attempting a John Woo-like approach at plotlines unfolding through seemingly nonstop action. Once the exposition is established, it is apparent the sky is the limit. Personal kudos to Myers for avoiding anything remotely resembling the "leading man" archetype in his very creative character designs.
While the art may seem a bit brushy with the faces and in some places needful of background detail, the landscapes and camera angles are very refreshing and generous. His strength is more in things abnormal and inhuman, and the more tight-knit of the linework is by far also the more eye-catching.
What attracts me the most to this comic are the underlying themes. Yes, much of life is unwanted, and violent. Roles can be thrust upon us, robbing us of the lives we see and dream in our mind's eye. And no matter how close we feel to the heavens above, history itself never quite seems to be ready to take its leave, stage left. In this story of strange misfits- in spite of societal rejections- trying their damnedest to do what is always morally right, Myers has captured something that until recently seemed to be missing from much heroic fiction of the past twenty long years or so.
The apex of living for the animal kingdom is survival. Humans not only deserve better, but have the wit and imagination to make it happen. Some fight the good fight because they have the soul of a poet, compelling them onwards and upwards. This is not smiling in the face of adversity, this is survival with the promise of a spiritual growth.

Lincoln Hates Werewolves!

Jesus Hates Zombies featuring Lincoln Hates Werewolves!

posted on June 6th, 2009 in reviews

Jesus Hates Zombies featuring Lincoln Hates Werewolves Vol. 1 & 2
created, written & lettered by Stephen Lindsay
illustrated by Steve Cobb, Daniel Thollin, John Ruiz & Preston Asevedo
published by Alterna Comics
reviewed by Richard Caldwell

I thought Bubba Ho-tep was a really fun movie, but it honestly needed a script doctor, primarily to speed things up. It somehow lacked more of the “cowboy gothic” vibe from Lansdale’s original story. Even though the director was the visionary who brought us Phantasm, perhaps his duties should have been limited to some variety of producer. Still, a kickass genre flick, even if it was missing something, however undefinable.
Why would I bring up Bubba Ho-tep for this comic review, which concerns a book that has nothing to do with it? Because, Jesus Hates Zombies featuring Lincoln Hates Werewolves is very much from the same family creatively, the same frame of mind. I will even say that this very concept of taking familiar characters such as these and placing them in stories involving completely off the wall scenarios should be the introductory course for any class on metafiction. While the names and faces are common, they have been instilled with a modern personality and vigor, full of catchy quips and “can do” attitudes. Here heroes are given new, totally different reasons to be viewed as heroes.
Of course, my definition over complicates the story at hand.
So Jesus has come back, and as stated in the first iss, not to save our souls but to save our asses. He is joined in this battle by the undead simpleton Laz, the imposing (and male stripper) King, and now Abe Lincoln, who I hear hates werewolves. Really, the Honest Abe bit is fantastic, the idea that history somehow forgot that his main pursuit in life had always been the slaying of the man-wolves.
The overall story flirts with the cartoonish, even with the lurking threat of a zombified angel. I wonder how much more interesting this premise would be if handled in a more serious tone. This would be a mother of a horror tale, even Vertigo-esque. But I digress. This is indeed just fun, especially when you see what kind of car Jesus drives.
Cobb handles the art for number one, with Thollin tackling number two; the transition not too ranging in a somewhat house style for the series. While I enjoyed many of Cobb’s POV shots, I think Thollin has more of the right story-telling sense for this kinda bru ha ha. Something that bugged me were a number of lettering flaws, a few misspellings but generally confusing balloon pointers and placement. I have too many pro-letterer friends so this sorta thing increasingly irks me. A small qualm, to be sure. Standout of the scenes was the “maturnity ward” full of babies packing mouthfulls of hungry teeth, and the guilty blast of destruction that commences. Gorey action for pages that define this book in all its insane glory. A-freaking-men.
Each issue has its back-up tale expanding on this world of zombies hated by Jesus, from providing additional background information to setting up potential new characters to join in the skull-smashing party. Also included are a generous series of diverse pin-ups, with personal favorites being drawn by Michael Bracco, Stephanie O’Donnell, Jeff McComsey, and Dan Schaeffer. Actually, I wouldn’t mind any of those artists taking on a future back-up.
All in all, if you like anything rightly described as “cult hit” then this is your angel of a tale. If you loved Bubba Ho-tep as much I do, read this comic and catch that same groovy spirit. If you hate zombies, if you hate werewolves, then enjoy the fact that you now apparently have that much more in common with icons like Jesus H Christ and Abraham Lincoln.
I understand that Lindsay is being pulled into other creative endeavors, which is a shame, because this is the kind of original comic book saga I would love to read more of.
Issue number two (of four) is out now, and you can find number three this coming November.
Absolutely worth the money.

Optimum Wound...

...is my kind of bourbon!

Torquemada retro-fitted

Peter Palmiotti goes Retro!

posted on June 4th, 2009 in columns

One of those rare talents who can ink over anybody, Peter Palmiotti is also one of the nicest guys in the business, hands down. Well-respected in most circles for his years of polished work, Peter is finally branching out to explore other ways of sharing his art, most notably his own upcoming creation Retro. Very modest and humble about his craft, interviewing him was a total gas for our own Richard Caldwell.

Peter, share with the readers a bit of your background- was art something you were always drawn to?

Growing up in Brooklyn, New York in a big Italian family (I was the youngest of four boys, closest to my brother Jimmy in age, yes that Jimmy Palmiotti!) comics and art was something that was always part of the picture.
My earliest influences were almost anything that I could find in newspapers. My father would bring home the Daily News or the New York Post or both almost everyday after work so it was easy pickings. The comic strips where great, there were many- anything from Peanuts to Dick Tracey, Doonesbury, Family Circus, Gasoline Alley, I would follow all of them. But I also got into the political cartoons (only for the art mind you) and even the fashion ads. There was one fashion artist at the time who was doing a bunch of ads, these incredible hand drawn pencil drawings that both Jimmy and I drooled over, very realistic, stylized yet simple. Amazing work.
I loved animation as well. We had the usual Saturday morning cartoons though it wasn’t the endless choices that kids have available to them today. Looney Toons and those early Fleischer Superman, there was Gigantor and Jetsons…later I loved G-Force/ Battle of the Planets, my first taste of what I thought of as really good anime, just to name a few. I was a kid and I wasn‘t that picky. Movies were big as well, Disney was dominant of course, but anything animated as well as live action, it was all powerful stuff for a kid with an overactive imagination and a love of art and visuals.
And comics! My father got us into it from as far back as I can remember, he’d bring home some books that he‘d say some guy left in one of his work trucks (I think he made that story up! Ha!), I was hooked. He also took Jimmy and me to some of our first comic cons, one was some small rinky-dink scary hotel nearby that had a bunch of retailers mostly but in the middle of this big room and all by himself was George Perez, just sitting there sketching away. I watched him…heck, I was just happy to just be there. But Jimmy went up and talked to him, asking him questions and such. That’s his gift of gab. They would later go on to work together! But comics were awesome, at some point at home I had this big counter I was able to use in our basement, on it I would lay out all the comics I was currently reading so that I could see all the covers and just gaze at them, neat little stacks, on the left is the to be read piles, on the right are the ones I read. Obsessive compulsive neat freak, me? Heck yeah!

And how did you land the first comic book gig?

My first job was a co-inking gig with my brother, something he needed a hand with, pretty easy gig. But the reason I started doing comics at all was because my brother asked if I wanted to make some extra cash filling in some blacks for him (at that point he had just started inking for Marvel and DC). I might have ended up getting back into comics on my own eventually. For a long while after school I wound up just getting a 9-5 day job and losing touch with comics. And somehow, I forget exactly but I got my first solo inking job with a publisher called Personality Comics. Their books were all about the real lives of actors and singers, as I can remember. Mine was about the doctor from Star Trek which was a real kick, Ol’ Bones McCoy himself! It turned out O.K., but I was new and even though I drew nearly all my life up to that point I never really took it seriously, it being a whole new ballgame to work as a professional.

Many artists dream of those jobs with the built in name recognition, while others prefer to stick with small press. You really have been fortunate in seeing both sides of the fence, over the years. What was the first project that really pulled you in? Was it Children of the Night, or maybe the more noticeable run on Aquaman?

I was sold once I made cash from inking, but Aquaman did it for me (still to this day it’s what people remember most of all my work). The story behind getting the assignment was this: I got a call one day from Jim Calafiore.
He asked if I wished to ink an issue of Aquaman with Green Lantern in it (it was issue 10 of Aquaman with Peter David writing). I couldn’t believe my ears! At this time I was mostly inking independents and had only inked a total of 4 pages for Marvel at this point, so doing a full issue for a major was incredible! He said I would have to do some sample inks over his pencils, a few panels if I was to get the green light. I talked to Jim quite a bit on the phone to get an exact example of what he was looking for as far as inking style, and I did the same with the editor Kevin Dooley, thanking him immensely for the opportunity as well. I received a few panels that Jim re-penciled from his own pencils only a day or so later. These samples I inked painstakingly overnight to be brought into DC Comics the next day (I believe that’s how it went). Kevin liked the work and said he would talk with Jim about it. So pretty much Jim called me with the news and pages arrived soon after! I would sweat over every single line of every page and cover of Aquaman I worked on, constantly talking with Kevin, Eddie Berganza (Assistant Editor at the time) and Jim making sure I was always on track!
So yeah, my time on Aquaman was very life changing. I left my day job, began working full time on my comic work again (I was full time during my time at Valiant as well, though that was structured like a 9 to 5 job) and was bringing home a good-sized paycheck. Most important to me was my vast improvement as an inker, I was just beginning to see slight changes in my inks on what I was working on just before, which was Razor over Rich Pollard’s pencils, but nothing like my jump once I started inking over Calafiore on a regular basis. I’m still amazed when I look an my work of that time, it’s very good.
When opportunity knocks you take it. I have been very lucky and fortunate in getting some nice work from independents and the majors. Early in my career I asked everyone if I could ink their book, now because of Aquaman and even some of my independent work a lot more people know me by name, but I still ask!
This is a slight tangent but I realize more than before that one makes one’s career path and only now I’m beginning to really become aware of how little I’ve worked on my own path, including my presentation. After 17-plus years in the business I’m just now getting around to creating a website for myself (with most of the real work done by my brother Tony- thanks Anthony!) For years I just said check out my Myspace, before that it was check out issues of this or that. Ugh, how to go about selling yourself, Pete! Boy oh boy…but that’s not good enough by any means.
I’m currently more directly involved in where I want to go creatively, the majority is independent work, but I am still open to any work really.

Aside from paying bills, what attracts you to an assignment?

Any project that gets me excited, and in that I am easy. I’m passionate about art, comics and all the different kinds of genres and subject matter within comics. Most of the books I have been drawn to are attached to people I know. As with Aquaman, I knew Jim Calafiore from Valiant; and with say, Ripperman, I had met Joe Martino at a bunch of comic cons in New York, where we hit it off. Simple really, we struck up a friendship then worked together. A lot of my current work is by people I’ve gotten to know through the internet. I see something I like, chat with you a bit, and after awhile I may ask if you want to work together, or I‘m asked. Scottie Watson, Daniel Crosier and David Faught are a few I’m working with that I met on the internet. The people within the comic industry are very much like an extended family, I get nothing but love from fellow creators. I look at it like this, if you’re a musician, you’re going to want to team with other musicians and just jam! Always a student, sometimes a teacher but always learning. I feel I learn more working on a diverse range of work. Sometimes it’s direct, mostly it’s by osmosis. I’m a absorption freak, I’m constantly examining different art in comics but also outside them. I look at movies, animation, real life, even video games- anything that will show me new ways to throw down lines. I work on different styles for the same reason because I like trying innovative yet subtle improvements for the overall composition. I always feel I could do things better.

With all of the side projects you have in the air, tell us about Retro, your creation. Where did the character come from?

I have a bunch of comics coming up that I inked, but this year I hope to really get myself into the game by releasing a few creations of my own, of which Retro will be the first out of the gate! Retro is basically a straight up superhero tale. The first issue opens up with him only one month into starting out his being New York City’s self proclaimed hero! My tag line is ‘A Hero for the People’ much like Daredevil was Hell’s Kitchen protector. Retro sees himself as New York’s. This is the first book I’ll be writing, not the first book I’ve ever written but the first one with an audience of more then myself! My goal for the book is to create a comic more like the ones I grew up on, like Daredevil or Captain America from the 70’s and 80’s where it’s just a fun read, less dark and gritty though there will be those moments. I’m thinking early DC/Marvel stories- trouble comes to town, hero fights villain, hero wins or at least lives to fight another day. Simple single issue stories with character-building threads as well as a supporting cast of characters you’ll love. At lest I hope you will. That said it will be a mature read because I want it to be a book I would read.
As to where Retro came from it’s a creation from my late teens that I came up with one day. I designed his look and name and thought he’d be a bit strong but didn’t have much more then that for him. What happened was that my father put this drawing I did of Retro into a frame and hung it up onto a bedroom wall. I was in heaven. It was an honor, my parents always supported my brothers and me in whatever we were into. So feeling a bit of pride I showed a good friend of mine the picture hanging up and he just ribbed me to no end. I said to myself that day that he would pay- one day Retro would come out and then I would be the one laughing. He would see, Oh Yeah!
It wasn’t until years later when I was inking Razor that Retro’s origin came to me. I wasn’t thinking of him and it came out of the blue, I knew I would get to it one day and I filed it away for future use. I didn’t think it would be this much later but that doesn’t bother me. I just want to create comics I want to read. If you’re any type of writer or artist you always think, looking at the books out there, that you could do as good a job yourself or even better!

Retro sounds like a bucket of fun. And you will be publishing that through Highburn, right?

It may be a little confusing but Highburn is the ‘studio’ and Midnight Horizon is the publisher, that’s how Michael Watkins and Kenny Keen have set things up, but yes I’ll be publishing Retro with them. I wanted a place to put my book through where I could have the most say about every inch of the comic. I’m eager to try my hand at designing the look of the packaging, something I’d done for a book years ago called Velvet, and had a blast. Jeff Powell (Atomic Robo) handled the computer work on that one based on my sketches and it was a blast. This time I’ll try to do everything myself. Another challenge regarding putting my own property out there is I get more involved in the marketing and PR side of it. I have always been an artist who was mostly behind the scenes now its time to take control and steer the boat for better or worse!

I happen to know you have been super busy inking a ton of different books recently. What else can fans look forward to from you? Are you happy with where the work is taking you?

I am very happy to finally be pushing myself creatively to where I wish to be, I know I’ll be much happier once I get the short list of these projects out there.
One of the books which started as a web comic originally is called Arena, now to be turned into a one shot with Pandemonium Comics. It’s a very Amazing Stories-style story with art that’s influenced by Kirby and early generation comics, as inked by me. I did slick it up a bit. It’s drawn wonderfully by Mike Hermione and written by his son Terry (Terry‘s first comic that he’s written and its a great job!) and colored by Jeff Balke (Jeff fleshes out Arena’s look and is also working on a lot of my soon to be released books!) The cover was penciled by the talented Daniel Crosier!
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my work with Daniel Crosier! I met Daniel Crosier and Wendy Manning on the internet some while back and both have further shaped my way of thinking when it comes to being creative. I first saw Dan’s art up on Mike Hermione’s website Positive Brand and was deeply impressed, Dan did a bunch of the web comic covers that Mike was producing and I knew I wanted to ink his work one day! Daniel and Wendy make a genuine power couple within the comic industry. Although still fresh to the comic scene, Dan’s talent far exceeds that of your typical newbie. Wendy is no slouch either, after helping bring Dan’s artwork and writing out to the masses for some time now she is venturing forth with her own PR and marketing company.
As for our work together, first up is a one issue story for Blue Water Production’s Vincent Price Presents series, it will be issue 11 due out in July! I spoke with Daniel about what my inking style approach should be for this book, which was very different than our cover for Arena, but still very detailed oriented. Once I grasped his mindset for it and laid down a page or two of inks, it was a breeze. I’m very happy with the results, I feel like I’m growing with each new artist I work on, and Daniel’s work is no exception. I am also trying to concentrate on my speed which in the past has cost me some great gigs, so speed is becoming a more important factor in my daily work but never at the cost of being a perfectionist!
Our next project together is a 3 book deal called Distortions Unlimited, this book is also with Blue Water and it’s a project of Dan’s creation. Distortions Unlimited is a website from the people who create ghastly creatures as props, and well Dan got it in his head to bring them to Blue Water, create a book based on some of their own creatures and write and pencil it himself… on planks of WOOD! It’s a bit crazy, and definitely challenging to ink on wood, a whole new set of rules go into effect but thank gods Daniel decided to par down his art work to a bare bones style ala John Paul Leon-ish. It makes inking on the wood easier, with each line I put down, it bleeds a bit thus adding to the overall beauty. The actual wood grain itself is also a part of the art in the end as well. I really look forward to this when it comes out, it should be nuts. A thanks goes out to Darren Davis, head of Blue Water, it’s great to get the chance to work with him on a few books.
Just a quick list are Talon, created and penciled by the uber talented Scottie Watson, written by comic pro Dan Ponossia (talented artist/inker and now writer!) and colored by Jeff Balke. Also with Scottie and Jeff is a book written and created by R.D. Hall (Wasteland/Heroes online comics) called Sepkulu Blues. Lastly i’ll mention Lyle Pollard’s Tribulations colored by Michael Watkins with Highburn. These last three will be household names before the end of the year!

Well I hope you remember to stop and catch your breath at some point.
Thank you very much for sharing with ComicNews.Info, Peter. You really are one cool sumbitch, as they say here in Kentucky.

Well, thanks for having me, Richard and ComicNews.Info peeps. I’m always, even now, still learning all facets of being an artist in the comic industry. Stretching beyond my comfort zone and expanding my skills are my focus right now. I try my best and will stumble my way along until I find my way.
I’m interested in how I’m doing and love to hear from fans and peeps alike. It’s easy to get a hold of me as well as message me, don’t be afraid to say hello, I never bite….only Retro does that- he’s very protective.