News/Updates/Teases

Been a while.  I’ve been looking to, well, fix the place up a bit here.  So, it’s not as though I haven’t been thinking about site-related things.  Two things I hope to change around here in the weeks ahead: the overall look of the site - while it’s nice and sleek, it hasn’t altered since the original launch - and the way the comics display on mobile devices. Both of these are WIP.  Now, on to business….

APE - the Alternative Press Expo - is this weekend in San Francisco.  I’ll be pushing the Worlds Apart deluxe edition from Table 343.  Jeremy Saliba will be there as well, selling his own prints and sketchbook - and encouraging me along in my daytime drinking.  Yes, APE has a BAR.  For those who want it, here’s a treasure map that points directly to our Den of Creativity:

ape

Beyond this weekend, there are a few projects in the works - as there always are.  And - again, as usual - I can only say so much at this junction.

There’s this screenplay of mine that will keep me up exceptionally late tonight as I polish it to a fine luster for a production company that’s requested a read.

There’s also an ambitious, on-going comic class that Jeremy and I are looking to launch in the spring.  More on that as the bureaucratic process moves forward.  Suffice to say that - if it gets approved by the Powers That Be - there’s nothing else out there quite like it - both in terms of concept and execution.

Then, there’s the long-gestating Untitled Space Opera comic….  Expect to see this in one form or another in early 2012.

And, White Tower…?  Some time in ‘12.  Ideally.  There’s actually a page for it over at Committed Comics.  So, it’s r-e-a-l.

Last but not least, with Wondercon 2012 now relegated to Anaheim, I’m not sure where I’ll make another con appearance before San Diego.  Might bite the bullet and head to SoCal anyway.  Might try Emerald City.  Perhaps somewhere else.  Too soon to tell.  Will update again when I’m a bit more certain.

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A Nicer World

With San Diego Comic Con just around the corner, it seems the ideal time to offer these in a somewhat improved presentation.  Have at thee!

The Final Voyage of Sinbad (art: Jeremy Saliba, cover: Jason Newhouse)

Scavengers (art and cover: Jeremy Saliba)

Godsoldier (art and cover: Tareq Mirza)

The Love Song of Sunboy & Moongirl (art and cover: Joshua Johnson)

CVA (art and cover: Julian Meyer)

1885 (art: Mark Simmons)

Friends of a Friend (art: Mark Simmons)

Heart of Stone (art: Scotland Barnes)

Parting Shot

I’m leaving these shores for a bit, but figured I’d leave something in my wake. Below you’ll find each and every comic from Worlds Apart - free to view and have your way with. Click on the cover and experience the associated tale. And don’t look down upon those last three, the ones without supporting covers. Click on their titles and experience additional coolness.

Sinbad

Scavengers

Basic RGB

Basic RGB

CVA_Cover1

1885

Heart of Stone

Friends of a Friend




Aftermaths

A couple endings over the past few days.  The final class of my writing course was last night. I wrapped it up by hosting a post mortem, allowing the students to share what they liked, didn’t like, or would recommend for future incarnations of the class.  The serious responses earned bits of chocolate.  Chocolate is a fine motivator.  Mixed feelings on the end of the semester.  By and large, they were a good group, and I’ll genuinely miss some of them.  However, I’m glad to have a break for the next few months.

Prior to this, my weekend with the boys was quite the success, filled with games, alcohol, a bit of snow, and plenty of trash talk.  We’re already planning next year’s jaunt - always the sign of a successful gathering.

Bits & Pieces

Much ado.

No writing for me this weekend.  Am traveling to a mystical land to share a ginormous cabin with eight of my closest friends.  There will be games, fine food, and gallons of liquor.  Add to that a hot tub, sauna, and breathtaking views.  This is what we writers refer to as “research”.

Almost finished with the still untitled Sci-Fi comic script.  Jeremy and I had lunch yesterday and talked up our overall game plan for the summer.  If all goes well, we’ll be showing some pages of this project to folks at or around Comic Con.  Maybe it’ll have a damn name by then.  Maybe.

Jeremy and I also discussed Doomsday Riders, our occult western, which has been seemingly on the sidelines, but in actuality is still out to a few publishers.  Jeremy plans to finish up the artwork by the end of summer, by which time we’ll either have locked it in with a publisher, or release it online to the world.  Quite possibly for free, but don’t quote me on that.

My Voyage to Europa is looming large.  I depart on the 4th of June for three weeks of gallivanting.  While I’m still looking for affordable lodgings in Paris, I’m renting a room on the Thames for my time in the UK and couchsurfing with friends while in Istanbul.  As I’ve said before, I’m looking to keep this jaunt fast and loose.  That said, I’m likely to party at a British farmhouse, make a pilgrimage to a tidal island, and see Alan Moore speak.  Again, research.

Shock & Pity

From comic writer Jason Aaron’s column at CBR: “Another way to keep from getting too full of yourself as a comic book writer: talk to people at parties and tell them what you do. Just regular people off the street who don’t know anything about comics. Tell them you write comic books for a living and watch the look in their eyes. There’s shock and perhaps a bit of pity there. They usually figure this is something I should be ashamed of, not willingly disclosing.

“That should help keep your little ego in check. “

Friend and illustrator Jeremy Saliba’s profile is poised to be heightened in the months ahead.  The other day, Bleeding Cool shared part of an internal memo from Barnes & Noble, stating their intent to greatly increase the number of comics in their stores.  In addition to Marvel and DC titles, “series like the popular Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris will come straight to your store.”  Jeremy’s covers for The Wheel of Time series are beauties to behold.

wot5wot6wot14wot4

Surfacing

Wow.  If I keep posting with this kind of regularity, this site might actually start to resemble something.  Not a blog, surely.  Mayhaps just a loon’s ramblings.  Time will tell.

For the record, it’s been quite a day, albeit with too few writerly exploits.  Booked my three week sojourn to Europe.  There goes much of my June.  No real concrete destinations - well, one or two, but we’ll talk of those another time.  I look forward to strolling about, getting in a bit of trouble, sampling the local food and drink, and cornering myself in various pubs and cafes for some very fine writing time.  There’s a writerly exploit.

Tonight has been sacrificed to grading homework from my Writing for Comics course at AAU.  Will totally retool the syllabus for the fall so that I’m not getting chunks of four pages each week from (ostensibly) each student.  Think I’d rather have them turn in a complete rough draft at midterm, have myself suffer through all of that for a weekend, and finally compel them to submit a final draft - they already do this - at the semester’s end.  Trying to spread it out over the course of the second half of the semester breaks my spirit to say the least.  Not that they stink.  Well, okay, some do.  But, some are great.  Frankly, I just can’t afford the number of productivity hours lost every week.  Better to kill an entire weekend hacking and slashing eighteen raw documents.

I now go forth to plan a bit for tomorrow’s caffeine-fueled workings on the next comic project.  See you when I see you.

That’s a Big Fish

wa_d_cover1

This is the cover for the recently produced Deluxe Edition of Worlds Apart.  I think we have all of five copies remaining, after the Wonderconners nearly cleaned us out.  Gorgeous image courtesy of Jeremy Saliba.

Post-Wondercon Post

Wondercon was a rather surprising success.  Worlds Apart received a warm welcome, with many new readers picking up the issue from last year and a slew of folks lapping up the new “deluxe edition” - of which we nearly sold out.  Bully.  Otherwise, many hands were shook, business cards exchanged, whispers uttered in darkened corners.  It was tremendous fun and I’m damn glad it’s over.  I’ll be a free-roaming spirit at Comic Con in July, and again behind a table - with artists Jeremy Saliba and Tareq Mirza - at APE in October.  There will be plenty of comics writing and development along the way.

Here is an only semi-embarrassing photo of me, courtesy of one Daniel Cooney:

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