Original Art Sundays No. 375: Surrealist Cowgirls Sheet Music Cover!

As my first Kickstarter continues (ten days left!), I'm working on new classes and plotting on the *BIG* graphic memoir, while I expand writing on a rekindled older project.

One of the items in the Surrealist Cowgirls book is sheet music for a ditty I composed as their theme.

Here's the B & W version of the sheet music cover.

I will add color to this and use it as the back cover for the book.

Lots of stuff here I like. Of course, my beloved Cowgirls. Maggie in a skirt, which we've never seen before. Homage to the vintage sheet music covers I adore so. I had some fun rendering the envirnonment, which I think is successful. The balloon sailing across the moon is a small homage to a neglected film, OZ the Great and Powerful, evoking my passion for all things Oz.

No need for an equipment list on this one. It's pretty much the same as last week's.

I plan to get the coloring done mid-week and will post it then. Expect something completely new in the next Original Art Sundays!

Kickstarter Follow-up 2: Surrealist Cowgirls, Kevyn Lenagh cover colored!

 HI all!

Took a couple minutes to add color to the alternative cover for my current Kickstarter.

I might play with the text a bit more. I like the Western feel of it, but I'm not sure it reads.  But overall, I'm very happy with this. I've had few other artists draw my beloved Cowgirls, and Kevyn's work charms me! Also, this is the first time I've colored Domino Chance!

Kickstarter follow-up: Kevyn Lenagh Cover!

 Quick follow up to yesterday's post.

The campaign started slow, but is picking up steam. One of the rewards is an alternative cover by Kevyn Lenagh. I just got the art a couple days ago and did some quick typography. 

The astute viewer will note the presence of Kevyn's iconic character Domino Chance!

It's in black and white right now, but I'm adding color. But hey, I really like the B & W!

Announcement: Kickstarter Make 100 Project

 HI all,

Just a quick announcement. My first Kickstarter, Make 100: Surrealist Cowgirls 80 Page Giant is live through the end of January.

Loyal readers are already familiar with the Cowgirls and know how much fun I have with them! I hope you take a look at the campaign and spread the word!

Original Art Sundays (Tuesday) No. 238: Sharp Invitations: Curt, p. 2

Taking this week off work to complete more of the graphic memoir and prepare for the upcoming MCAD faculty art show. Gotta love Paid Time Off- what a concept!
In light of that, I finally scanned the most recent page, which has been done for a while now. This page was included in (very) rough version in the printing of the first draft in May.

I'm pretty happy with this. Since the first page of this story is a pencil page, I let that serve as the template for the whole story.
The scan came out very well. As I've discussed in the past, the issue with scanning pencils is getting decent dark areas without picking up unwelcome artifacts. If you push your black point too far, the scanner does indeed darken the pencils, but it also picks up every invisible smudge on the page!
Lettering in Photoshop, using Comic craft's Clean Cut Kid, my favorite typeface for comic book body copy. Still using their Zap word balloons too. The shapes are a bit limited, but sufficient for my immediate purposes. If necessary, I'll do some digging and find a greater variety. I can always hand-render too. While this is working reasonably well, I take the comments of my friend Kim Matthews very seriously, and she contends that tightly rendered type is out of place on my looser art. However, since this is a more finished version of the page, I think it serves well, or at least better.
This part of the story is emotionally challenging, in some ways more than the rest. When I screwed up something in my life before I came out, I could always rationalize that it was because I wasn't being my "authentic self", whatever that is. But after coming out, you don't have that excuse, or at least you think you're not supposed to. But as will be discussed later in the book, there's more than one step, however big that step may be, in becoming authentic.
Just for comparison, here's the original rough for this page.

Layout was loosened up a bit, and the addition of the ticket booth gives the page a bit more depth. I think the kiss works in both, but the final version is much clearer. It also shows that despite people somehow seeing him as physically small, Curt was just over 6' tall and had decent musculature!
In preparation for the show, I'm adding a few (ideally all the rest, but that may be overly ambitious within the time frame) chapters to the book. Those will probably be in fairly rough form, akin to what is presented here screen right. I've been thinking about publishers, but it's premature to talk about that in depth.
My reading has turned back to queer comics. I just got my Kickstarter of the Alphabet anthology from Prism, and am enjoying it a great deal. Such works inspire me to be a larger part of that world again. I've felt damned by faint praise from the queer comics community, whatever that is, and would like to be a more accepted part of it. I hope this work serves that end, as well as the larger end of getting the story out there.
Next: more Sharp Invitations, sooner than later.

Best Comics of 2015, Nos. 15 - 11

Time has not been my friend this holiday season! So rather than do my usual one book a day post,, I'm posting the 2015 Best Comics in three batches. Here's the first batch.
15. The Undertaking of Lily Chen

This was quite a surprise, so much so that I'm re-reading it half a year after the initial reading. Danica Novgorodoff's tale of a morbid, romantic quest delights and enthralls on so many levels. Here's a quote from the Amazon blurb on this one: "In The Undertaking of Lily Chen, Deshi, a hapless young man living in northern China, is suddenly expelled from ordinary life when his brother dies in an accident. Holding Deshi responsible for his brother's death, his parents send him on a mission to acquire a corpse bride to accompany his brother into the afterlife, in accordance with an ancient Chinese tradition that has many modern adherents. Eligible dead girls are in short supply, however. When Deshi falls into company with a young--and single--woman named Lily, he sees a solution to his problems. The only hitch is that willful, tart-tongued Lily is still very much alive. As Deshi and Lily adventure through a breathtaking mountain landscape, meeting a host of eccentric characters and dangerous adversaries along the way, Deshi just can't decide whether to kiss the girl or to kill her."

I haven't read  Novgorodoff's other graphic work yet, but Refresh, Refresh sounds promising. Her art is simple bordering on crude in spots, but incorporates watercolor and drybrush and evokes sumi-e in spots.  Her photography and other illustration, which can be seen at her web site, reveal a great combination of control and passion. Her teaching and freelance career are clearly keeping her quite busy, but not so busy that there isn't another book on the horizon, I hope!


14. Lackadaisy Cats

A recent Lackadaisy strip!

 Really, this one falls more into the Shameful Omission category than it does into New Work. Tracy Butler has been plugging along at Lackadaisy Cats (sometimes just called Lackadaisy), an online strip about cats during Prohibition in St. Louis, MO, since 2008. She does 2 strips a month on average, and recently took the plunge to go full time on the strip, leaving her gig with a gaming company behind for the caprices of the free market and Patreon funding.
The characters have a perfect verbal and visual economy. They never feel the need to make long-winded speeches! No illustrated radio here, these characters know who they are, and even when they're idling around, the strip is driven by movement rather than text.
And the art just shines. A lovely controlled palette,  innovative yet perfectly legible layouts and strategically paced text, all of which move the stories along nicely.
And damn, it's pretty.
A tightly controlled palette, used very effectively, is a visual hallmark of the strip. Although it's not complex, I find myself looking at her art and thinking, "how does she DO that?"
There's been one collection so far, out in hardcover and TPB.  The fans of this wonderful strip have been much too quiet about it. How about it, folks? Let's sing the praises of this one!

13. Marvel Star Wars titles

Look who's hanging out at the comic store...

Again, this one is a bit of a no-brainer. While I had some reservations about Marvel taking over the Star Wars franchise from Dark Horse, it was inevitable due to Disney now owning both Marvel and Lucasfilm. And I'm tickeld to say it's worked out well! Dark Horse has done some interesting work with Star Wars over the years, notably the Dark Empire trilogy, but there's been so much of it that it's been rather hit-and-miss. Marvel wisely chose to delve into a very specific time frame for its books, right after Episode IV, dealing with Vader's awakening to Luke's true identity.

Marvel has been glutting the market with titles, including miniseries of Lando and Princess Leia, a current Chewbacca title, the Star Wars book, a Darth Vader book, the Shattered Empire miniseries, Kanan, the Last Padawan (a very strong book not in current comics continuity), Obi-Wan and Anakin (obviously outside the current continuity), and the Vader Down one-shot. Ordinarily I'd balk at this many titles. But between my admiration for Star Wars and the consistently high quality of this work, I've been lapping these up like a sponge cake by a saucer of brandy. Jason Aaron's writing is spot on, no mean feat for storylines and characters that have been lovingly dissected for decades. John Cassady's art continues the precision and passion he bought to Planetary and Astonishing X-Men. Obviously, there are other creative teams involved in this spate of books, but this is the team responsible for the initial launch, and it remains the strongest in my view.

I may be the only person in the US who has not yet seen Episode VII, but as a veteran of the series from the initial launch of Episode IV on, it's definitely on my radar for this weekend. In the interim, I'll be putting my issues of these titles in different order and reading them again. And again. Here's a suggested reading order from a friend at the Comic Book Binding boards.
Star Wars 1-3
Darth Vader 1
SW 4
DV 2-4
SW 5-6
 DV 5-6
SW 7
DV 7
SW 8
DV 8


12. Brok Windsor

one of the original comics covers

the artist/writer working on a different strip

Quality reprints of classic comics, both standards and lost gems, routinely make my "best of" lists. 2015 was my year to go nuts on Kickstarter, backing 31 projects! The first project I backed was one of the best, spotlighting a lost Canadian comic hero, Brok Windsor. This work by Jon Staples is so many things- frontier adventure, fantasy, SF with a tinge of giant creature horror, and a delight to discover! This 1940s gem was rediscovered by Hope Nicholson, who gave us the wonderful Nelvana of the Northern Lights anthology a couple years ago. Though painstakingly restored, the detailed notes and background don't prevent enjoyment of this work. I was particularly impressed with Staples' fluid page layouts, as seen here.

I love seeing curvilinear panels, alternating high shots with close-ups followed by long shots, and switching from an aerial to a lateral perspective on the bottom tier! Many pages in this collection show this level of design innovation, but none sacrifice clean storytelling to the layouts.
The collection includes a newly drawn story from a recently discovered script, which will be very useful next time I teach Comic Book Writing.
I opted for the slipcased edition of this. See shots below.

11. Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel
Again, these books began before 2015. But while they've always been strong, they both hit their stride this year. Ms. Marvel is a wonderful vehicle for empathy for Muslims from us ignorant non-Muslims, as well a being a slice of teen life that does NOT wallow in the usual cliches. Captain Marvel is about a woman coming into her own, finding her place in the scope of the Uinverse and embracing her power. Oh, and flying. Captain Marvel is all about flying.

 Ms. Marvel has another thing going for it. The book has that populist sensibility I love so. Whether our heroine is discussing the challenges of love with her hot dog vendor or working with her classmates (and with the help of Loki!) to keep them safe during an apocalyptic event, the book has the Capra/everyman quality I admire in Eisner's Spirit, 'mazing man, and Fraction's Hawkeye.

 The rooftop encounter between Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel is perfect. The Captain reinforces what it means to be a hero, and that even heroes don't get to abandon their fears. They just can't let them stop them.
I'm uncertain about the future of these titles, given that Marvel is planning yet another cataclysmic universe shaping event. Enough already. Just tell us good stories and stop getting in your own way.
Then again, I've been saying that for decades, and they just keep going.
Ah well. The books are still there for me, company politics aside.
Next: Best of 2015, numbers 10 - 6.

Best Comics of 2011: no. 13: The Lions of Valletta

It's risky to criticize the work of friends. Years ago, Katherine Collins reviewed my first comic. While she praised the writing, she called the art "alarmingly bad." After losing my ego, I took her criticisms to heart and improved my art.
Luckily, I have no such criticism for the thoughtful, playful, strong yet sensitive work of Ursula Murray Husted.
I've been following her work for several years, and had the pleasure of working with her for a couple summer sessions. Even if I'd never made her acquaintance, the joy and bravery in her work would shine through.
Making its debut at MIX 2011, The Lions of Valletta is a preview edition of Part I of Ursula's longer work, the adventures of a Maltese cat (that is, a cat whose home is on Malta).

As with Sailor Twain, the simple line is based in confidence and the  art is in service to the story.
The dialogue of the cats rings true and dominates. For the last 40 pages of the book, all the dialogue is between cats.
As it should be. We love cats.
Without spoilers, the plot concerns a young cat who is determined to find the Good Lady, the human with whom life will be full of food, comfort and love. As the cat's acquaintance notes, aren't we all?
Ursula uses the simple story as a framework to explore visual devices including pages based on tapestries and paintings, to wind through the streets. There's a sense of the real to this that shines.

This work is smart, involving and succeeds in being optimistic without being cloying. Ursula is toying with the idea of doing the work in color. While I like her bright yet controlled palette, I think the B & W is quite effective in this work. Here's an example from this volume, recently colored, from Ursula's blog.

Whatever her decision, I'm sure it will be the correct one. This is the fourth book I've read of Ursula's (fifth if you count her Kickstarter project, well worth checking out as well), and her work has yet to disappoint in any respect.
If you do follow up and pick up The Lions of Valletta,  do yourself a favor and read the smart, witty Notes section in the last four pages of the book. They include such gems as "the academic in me wants to write a bit about cats and nihilism here, but what's the use?"

What is this Kickstarter monster and will it ravage the village?

According to this article, the newest publisher of independent comics is everybody, through a central clearing house for funding.

Kickstarter is a great idea.
I've known a few people who have successfully run one- Greg Ruth, Ursula Murray Husted, Zak Sally, Neil Gaiman (a bit of a conceit on my part- we've met a half dozen times, had a few chats, so I can say I know Neil, but I'm skeptical he'd remember me).
I've been batting the idea around for a while now, trying to decide just what to fund. I think my best bet's a comic book, though there are other possibilities- an illustrated version of my screenplay? A series of handbound books? An "absolute edition" of my Mother's paintings, which I've been collecting in book form for the past 6 years?
Whatever my decision, it will be a response to the phenomenon of crowfunding, or funding by a crowd.
Other venues offer similar: IndieGoGo began as a way to fund music projects, but has branched into other enterprises, including comics. Their business model differs slightly from Kickstarter. They keep 4% (as opposed to KS's 5%), and allow the solicitor to offer premiums or tax writeoffs, which strikes me as a bit dicey.
Then there's Quirky, which is devoted to funding inventions.
The good: more projects are getting out there. You don't need an external publisher or startup funding to print a comic. This is a variation on Scott McCloud's idea of microfunding comics, put forth in his Reinventing Comics.
The downside of the good: we all need editors at times, especially when we're honing our craft AND when we've reached a pinnacle of success. As pointed out in a recent discussion with screenwriter Tom Pope, the risk at the high end is that you start to believe your own PR, and nobody wants to say no to you. So while the self-publishing model is tempting and useful, it should not be the only thing you have going.
More good: the funding is improving. About half a year ago, roughly 40% of Kickstarter projects were fully funded (it's all or nothing funding on these sites, remember). Today the figure is slightly over 50%.
The skeptical response to that good: more small projects are being funded, which means if you have a BIG IDEA, your odds are lower, unless you have a name attached. See the aforementioned Gaiman-related project, an animated feature based on one of his stories.
This begs a larger point. These sites are open to everyone. That's fine, but it chafes me a bit when established creators put their projects on them. Oh, they're entitled, and I know that recognition and some success does not give one carte blanche. But I'd like to see something devoted solely to up-and-coming creators. I don't know what criteria could be used for that, or how that would be vetted, but I could see some utility in having a work totally stand on its own merits. Hm- possibly a crowfunding site that gives funds to projects whose creators are not named?
On the other hand, if this option existed in the 1970s, perhaps Orson Welles would not have to shill in commercials to fund his films.





After all, Jess Franco is using crowfunding to finance his next film.
Another problem in relation to this funding is the mandate for offering premiums at different levels. That can cause as many problems as it solves if the premiums are not up to snuff. Also, the creator is responsible for the creation and strategies of ancillary promotions before the project even begins. 
I hope my skepticism on this process is unfounded. I'd like crowfunding to be a benefit to most. I don't think it's practical that it benefits all. Some projects need to go unfunded- this is also a form of editing, albeit a populist one.
But whatever my project turns out to be, you can bet that it's going to be great and deserving of funding!

Best comics of 2010: No. 11: Johnny Recon No. 2

Wot, a local book making the year's best?
Yes, when it's this much fun.
 Johnny Recon No. 2 appeared in July 2010.

Mitch Gerads' art is both graceful and choppy, alternately invoking Krigstein, Nino and Al Williamson. Scott Dillon's writing is deeply steeped in pulp/space opera traditions, dancing on the edge of being an old chestnut, but avoiding that through innovative plot elements and sheer energy.
I mean really. Vampire grasses. How much fun is that?

Gerads and Dillon's Popgun Pulp Comics puts out a very professional product (but guys, you really need to update your webpage!). They've been tight and professional, and quite aggressive, in their marketing. As they are locals, I've seen their solicitation postcards promising oodles of delicious goodies at comic stores in the Twin Cities metro.
But it wasn't until recently that I became aware of their successful use of Kickstarter.
I really like Kickstarter. It adheres to a core philosophy I've tried hard to embrace in the last couple years: abundance. If your work is good enough, the support for it is out there. If the work is lacking, make it better. Kickstarter is the ultimate put up or shut up model, and is successful more times than not. It's a fascinating hybrid of capitalism, socialism and craftsmanship.
Here's the Popgun Pulp video used in their successful Kickstarter funding for this issue.



With local marketing blitzes, successful Kickstarter funding,and POD through KABLAM, these guys are the epitome of the future of comics publishing.
It's about recognizing that no one approach will do the job any more. In order to achieve whatever measure of success remains possible in comics, one must employ multiple strategies.
Even then, it's a crapshoot.
Your odds are helped if you tell your story well.
Vampire grasses. Marshans. A heroine sidekick who kicks some serious alien bad guy butt.
Way to go, guys.

Tomorrow: more vampires, but not of the flora variety, as we enter the Top 10 of 2010!