Super Spy Revisited

Here are some character sketches for a new Super Spy project that I'm working on. I'm also starting pencils on a new book called "The Tooth" that I'm doing with Cullen Bunn and Shawn Lee. I'll be posting more on that as I go along. It is going to start as a free on-line comic.

I have about three more commissions to get done this week and then I'm also going to start on the Super Spy sequel "Super Natural". It's written, I just need to start penciling that as well. As I type this I realize it's sounding more like my to-do list. Well, I guess it is. More art and info next week!

GQ Super Spy

This is probably the only way I'll ever get into GQ Magazine -- but if you pick up this month's issue they have a list of the 20 Graphic Novels to read after Watchmen and they stuck Super Spy on the list. Here's a link to the article.

Also -- I've set my calendar with convention appearances and here is where I'll be:

Emerald City Con - March 3-5
FX Con (Florida) - April 17-19
TCAF (Toronto) - May 9-10
MoCCA (New York) - June 5-7
Heroes Con - June - 19-21
San Diego Comic Con - July 23-26
Wizard World Chicago - August 7-9
Windy City Comic Con (Chicago) - September 19
SPX - September 25-27 (3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man Debut)

For the FX show I did a piece that will appear on playing cards -- all for charity with an auction of the original art, etc. Here's what the art for my card looks like -- final size is super small -- 2.75" x 1.5".

Lost Dossiers

Well, I'm nearing completion on 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man -- and also 20 pages into pencils on another soon-to-be-announced book for a major publisher. I'm waiting on the official word to announce it though and I'm dying to! But until then -- it turns out as busy as I am on these books, the first book to arrive in 2009 will probably be Super Spy: The Lost Dossiers -- it's a few of the short stories that I didn't include in the Super Spy book for various reason -- mostly because they didn't fit the flow of the book and had characters that only appeared one time -- and Super Spy had enough characters floating around in it that I thought taking these out would tighten everything up.

Anyway, those stories are in here but then about 70% of the rest of the book is the Super Spy Treasure Box story -- which I sold as a box set at conventions last year. It took too much time to assemble those but now they're in a book -- for the reader to (hopefully) assemble.

Also there's the pop-gun with directions and a story include as well as a small section of my personal sketchbook that I kept while making Super Spy...and finally -- a section of page by page and panel by panel annotations for Super Spy. I've had this book done for a while but I nearly forgot about it and it had to wait its turn in Top Shelfs publishing queue.

Hopefully another big announcement soon and some art that I can post on what I'm working on now. In the meantime, here's the cover to The Lost Dossiers...

How to Make Comics Video

I did this video over a year ago as an aid in teaching a "how-to" class on making comics. I'd forgotten that I posted it so here's a link if you haven't seen it yet. The panel I was working on was panel 1 page 135 from Super Spy.

It starts out with rough thumbnails, then pencils, then tightening the pencils and then inking and finally the orange is a colored india ink that I used to add the tint to most of the pages in Super Spy. It was bright orange so I could easily select it and separate it in photoshop and change the color (to fit the location that the story took place).

Ghost Stories

Well, I'm officially blogging with my second entry of the month. I'm going to attempt to post at least once a week (on Mondays) starting this week. So, here's what I'm working on -- a historical ghost story set in the 1950s. My take on the "supernatural" will be a little different and there will definitely be more stress on the historical. That's it! I'm fleshing out the story and script this week and I'll post more when I've got it.
Here are a couple images of some of the characters -- there identities I'll leave to your imagination so as not to blow the story. What I will say though is that since ghosts don't technically age and it's set in the 50s, the characters can (and will be from many different time periods).

That's it! I'm fleshing out the story and script this week and I'll post more when I've got it.

First Super Spy Blog Entry

I'm setting up my new site with a new shop and all the Super Spy gadgets and hand-made items I've been selling at the cons all summer. I'll be posting sketchbook pages and photos as I go along. Here's a photo of some Super Spy Mint-Flavored Cyanide Capsules that I recently made for conventions.