Distinguished Competition

I've been inking a TON of pages the last couple of weeks -- breaking any kind of record I ever had before by inking 30 pages this week for a new book that will be out sometime in 2010. I can't announce the title or publisher or anything about it until they tell me I can. But it can't hurt to show one crazy page out of context for a story I'm not describing!

Also -- 3 Story: The Secret History of Giant Man is available now for pre-order HERE.

In addition to the full length graphic novel I'm doing two short stories that will appear in July and August on Dark Horse's myspace comics page. I've already written them both and inked the first one and started to paint it. Here are a few panels from the first story...this is what my original art looks like before I letter it and clean it up or add the background old-papery effects that I used on Super Spy and parts of 3 Story.

And finally...I did a short comic strip for a friend of mine that does a weekly strip called SubCulture. You can read my contribution here.

TCAF and Jeff Lemire

Just got back from TCAF (Toronto) on Tuesday and had a great time. Met a lot of people. Thanks to everyone that came up and talked to me at the show! Also a BIG thanks to my good friend Jeff Lemire and his wife for letting me stay at their house. I was up against some big deadlines on monday so Jeff and I hit the Beguiling to get some comics and then spent the rest of the day inking pages and filling in blacks. We also did a couple fun experiments -- with me penciling and him inking and me inking his pencils. The images here are my pencils with Jeff's inks. The color images are Jeff's inks and my watercolor. For more of our crazy comics jam definitely check out his blog HERE to see his pencils that I inked...always a fun experiment -- not quite him or me but a crazy mash-up of both of our styles.

TCAF and the Spirit

I'm really excited about going to Toronto this week -- my good buddy Jeff Lemire is going to be there and show me the sites and then I've heard nothing but great stuff about TCAF. If you're up that way, stop by the Top Shelf booth and say 'hey'!

Another busy couple of weeks but I've been throwing things in a folder to add to the ol' blog. I just finished all of the last of the production on 3 Story, finished the back cover art and all of that. Also finished the inks and tones on the first 15 pages of my new-new book that I still can't announce yet so that's been taking up most of my time.

Also -- did an illustration for a French magazine that is doing a tribute to Will Eisner's Spirit (the picture above). First time I've drawn the Spirit -- and still feel like I haven't drawn him. Oh well -- it was fun drawing P'Gell anyway! Oh yeah -- see if you can spot the hidden 'Spirit' in the drawing...

Emerald City Wrap-Up

I had a lot of fun in Emerald City -- toured the Dark Horse offices and Oni Press and talked to a lot of people. Also sang 'Goldfinger' at the Dark Horse party. I was also interviewd by iFanboy at the con which you can watch here.

I also did several commissions at the con -- one was for a boy and a red umbrella, a Batman, and a Punisher...

3 Story is done and I'm already two new books -- one is the 'to-be-announced' project I'm waiting for permission to announce and the other is for The Tooth -- a book that I'm working on with my buddy Cullen Bunn which is starting out as an on-line comic in July and will be collected early next year. I'll post some art next time...

3D Postcards in Seattle

I finished a set of 5 postcards that I'm taking to Seattle to help promote my new '3 Story' book. I know it's early -- the book doesn't come out until September but I wanted to have something new for the show. Thanks to my dad for helping me convert these images into glorious 3D. If you have the red-blue standard 3D glasses they'll work on screen.

I'll be in Seattle -- Emerald City Con!

I'm going to be at the Emerald City Con in Seattle this weekend -- April 4 and 5. For more info about the convention go here! I'm trying as hard as I can to finish a 32 page giant-man mini-comic for Seattle as well as new sets of 3D Giant Man cards -- but we'll see. It's going to be a hectic week.

Also if you haven't picked up this month's Comic Foundry magazine -- you should! It's the last issue but also has a 3 page feature on 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man with new art, etc.

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".