Planet Comicon

Hey folks, if you're in the Kansas City area this weekend be sure to stop by the Planet Comicon. You can check out this link to see the awesome guest list or hear more about it on the Comic Geek Speak podcast.

KC is a great city and I'm looking forward to heading out there again, chatting with comic fans and catching up with some of my "con friends". This looks to be a really good time, so come on by and get some autographs, sketches, comics and have some nerdy conversation:)

IRON MAN

Yeah, I waaay behind on comic book news but this is just AWESOME!! I wish ol' Shell Head could look like this throughout the whole movie.

I know, I know..."MORE Batman?!"

I just couldn't help myself, I've been re-reading a bunch of old Batman and the Outsiders (or as the cool kids call it, "BATO") lately and wanted to take a stab at a Jim Aparo/Alan Davis-ish version of Batman.

When I was younger I used to wish that Bats would wear the black and grey outfit more often (You know, the one without the gold oval bat-symbol seen in Legends of the Dark Knight) and nowadays that's the costume he wears in every title. What's sad is that now that he's in his Legends getup all the time I kind of miss the old blue one. Man, I am such a nerd.

Oh, and if you can't get enough Batman check out the Batcave Companion. I'm so excited about this book, you don't even know! And it's from TwoMorrows so you know with their track record it couldn't possibly disappoint.

Marv & the Martian

Can you tell I've had Justice League Unlimited playing in the background while I've been working lately? The design of the Martian Manhunter in that show is great. A bit simplified from how he appears in the comics but I guess I just like J'onn without ears:) Oh, and Marv from Sin City, 'cause ya know I like drawin' ugly mugs every once in a while.

Below is the uncut page of doodles that've been posted this week. Just for the heck of it.

Furry, Rocky, and Broody

After using REAL brushes all day I decided to break out the brush pens...and a fine tip marker for the hair and outlines on Logan. Just trying to break up the day is all.

And the Thing looks funny in a tux:)

the FLY!

Did anyone else pick up the DC/Impact line back in the '90s? If you don't know, Impact consisted of a bunch of reimagined Archie Comics superheroes like the Shield, the Web, the Jaguar,the Black Hood,the Comet, and (as seen above)the Fly. I loved these so much back in the day that I tracked down a bunch of the old school versions, the Archie Adventure Series from the '80s, and even the Red Circle versions.

It's a real shame that these series didn't run longer than they did because they are probably some of the most fun comics produced since the '60s.

The Fly was probably my favorite of the bunch though. Strazewski and Parobeck were such a great team, easily on par with the likes of Waid/Wieringo and (yeah I'll say it!) Lee/Kirby.

Watch this!!

I caught a few minutes of this on PBS last night and just had to share it. It's from the series America at a Crossroads. The clip is from Colby Buzzell's story, Men in Black from Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience

Kind of has an Alex Maleev meets Chris Mitten feel. I'm not sure how to get the video to play here, so just check out the link below!

http://www.pbs.org/weta/crossroads/incl/vidpop_ophome_1.html

More art soon...

...in the meantime these made me smile. Just announced from DC Direct.

MORE faces

Here are a few more ink doodles from the other night. I really get a kick out of just rolling the brush around on a sheet of paper and seeing what happens. It's a fun change of pace after a long day at the board to just be loose and play around with shapes and textures.

Oh, and Metamorpho and Hellboy fell out as well:)

Queen & Country Operation: Red Panda?!!

I sent this file labelled "Q&C Red Panda-color cover" to the folks at Oni Press in hopes that it'd bring a smile to somebody's face. Just a dumb gag but I kind of liked how it turned out, so now you have to see it too. More Q&C soon, folks...

Bizarro Am Happy

Just another winding-down-after a-long-day doodle. Straight to ink so if it looks lop sided that's why, but with Bizarro it seems oddly appropriate.

Nightwing

Here's a glimpse into my process for those who like that sort of thing.

5 minutes in: Finished really rough pencils. Thought it was cool enough to go ahead and ink.

10 minutes in: Finished all the outlines and little details with a marker. Absolutely hated it and nearly threw it out since it looked really bland and kind of like a coloring book.

15 minutes in: Decided to add a little more black... and dragged my hand through the wet ink>:(

16 minutes in: Started adding MORE black.

35 minutes in: Ended up looking better than it started. That's really all I can hope for.

And after I let the last of the ink dry (so as not to smear again) I touched up a couple of spots...and we're done! Clocking in at maybe 40 minutes, I think. The next one'll be a lot quicker but I just couldn't NOT draw all of Nightwing's costume. For my money his is one of the best costumes to come out of the '80s.

Ink Totem Pole

Here are a few ink sketches from last night, done on a sheet of typing paper. Nothing spectacular but it's just been so long since I've inked anything I'm trying to relearn all my old tricks.

Oh, and while you're checking out blogs, be sure to swing by my wife Laura's just updated blog Lunchnotes. For the uninitiated, I draw a note and pack it in her lunch before she heads off to work each day and she occasionally posts the ones that aren't too stupid or in-jokey.