Now Available: Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit Vol. 6

The latest book from AIM Comics, "The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit" Vol. 6, is now available via the usual suspects.  Head over to AIM Comics to get the skinny.

Also...just look at that cover, will you?  Ian kicked ass on that one, and it was a delight to color.  Some jobs are just too much fun.

Now Available: The Journals of Simon Pariah #2

Reposeted from the AIM Comics blog, because I can...

"The Journals of Simon Pariah" #2 is available today in print from Amazon and in digital form from DriveThru Comics!
This issue is set in Scotland in the early 17th Century, as Simon has an encounter with ancient forces in the person of a strange red-haired woman and the powers at her command.  Simon Pariah must stand in the teeth of the wind and face "The Hounds of the Forest"!

This story is one of the original stories run at the old Comic Genesis website, wrapped in a redrawn cover and slightly edited for this version, along with a bibliography (!) and several pages of sketches and notes from the development of the story.  
 It was partly inspired by the film "Braveheart" and the legend of William Wallace, and partly from a dream told to me by a friend of mine, who did double duty as the inspiration for the female lead in the story.
It's weird, it's fantastic and it's Simon Pariah all the way!  Check it out today!

 

Lessons Learned in Self-Promotion: Manage Your Expectations and Know Your Audience

Reporting live from the convention floor!

This past Saturday, I attended the second annual East Coast Comic Expo in Moncton, NB.  This ought to be a post telling all about what a wonderful time I had there.  It ought to be, but it isn't. 

Now let me say right off that none of what follows is the event's fault.  In fact, I would say that as far as comic conventions go, this one appears to have been very well handled.  It was well organized, and all the necessary information was communicated clearly and in a timely fashion.  Costs were minimal, and we were given plenty of space in a clean, well-maintaned facility.  Attendance numbers appear to have been around what was promised, and there was an excellent variety of work on display, with representation from artists both known and unknown.  People seemed to generally be having a good time, and that's kind of the point of the thing.

However, my own experience was different, and I think I have only myself to blame. 

I put a lot of work into prepping for this show.  A LOT of work.  I had a selection of prints, both large and small, available for sale at the table.  I had a special sketch cover edition book printed just for this event.  I also had two sets of limited edition prints that were "semi-originals", meaning that I'd printed just the color layer of each one and inked each print individually, making each copy a unique work of art.  Like I said, a lot of work.  Perhaps too much.
Having put in that much work, it raised my expectations somewhat.  I had actually expected to make some money from this event.  I know that for someone like me, the main purpose of an event like this should be self-promotion, taking the opportunity to meet potential fans and introduce them to my work.  And that's how it's been for me at past events. 
This time, though, I figured that I had enough work of sufficient quality that there was no way it would not sell, and I would be guaranteed to walk away from the day in the black.
That's not quite how it worked.  Granted, a lot of people came by the table, looked over the artwork and had some very nice things to say about it.  A few people even bought things, making sure that I wasn't going to go home empty-handed.  By and large, however, there was more looking than buying.
I still don't think quality was the issue.  I am convinced that the work was and is good, and I'm sure it will do well in the right context, if I can find it.  If I was a more bitter man than I am, I might even say that it was the crowd's fault, for not recognizing the quality of work I put in front of them.  I don't think that's the case either.

I think my problems were two-fold.  First, I set my expectations too high.  At any other event, I might have been happy to take away as much money as I did, given the number of connections I made throughout the day.  I would (and should!) have weighed the value of the day in the great conversations I had with other artists and fans.  By seeing the attendees as customers, it changed my approach to the whole event, and set me up for disappointment, thereby removing some of the pleasure I should have taken in the day.
Second, I don't think the work I had available was right for this crowd.  The prints I had available were more illustrative than comic based, with a definite tendency towards Lovecraftian and pulp fiction inspired content.  The fans in attendance were more interested in superhero and branded content such as  Doctor Who, Pokemon and the like.  In short, my work just didn't fit. I failed to accurately gauge the interests of the crowd I would be approaching and as a result, the work just didn't take off like I'd hoped.

So I think the takeaway from this event is, be prepared to play to your crowd, but don't expect too much from them.  Concentrate more on building relationships, and less on making the sale.  Engage, and after engaging, adapt according to what you've learned.  Most importantly, relax, have fun and enjoy the day.

All that being said, there were some definite highlights to the day.  I met a promising young artist whose webcomics work I will be looking forward to.  I got a chance to speak with Kate Leth, whose work I have found inspirational lately.  I got the chance to catch up with Sandy Carruthers, currently doing work on a Charlton revival.  And for the first time, I got to share a table with one of my kids, who was also presenting work in the form of postcards, buttons and custom Gallifreyan (it's a Doctor Who thing) sketch cards, and who seems to have gotten a very positive response.

So, there was a lot of good to the day, and thanks to the ECCE organizers for putting off such a good event.  If I decide to do another one of these, I think I will put in less work...but come better prepared.

Apes and Dinos by Nick Bradshaw

At Hal-Con 2011 in November, I had the good fortune to meet Marvel artist Nick Bradshaw, and more importantly to grab a copy of a limited edition print he was selling with some incredible art featuring a giant ape and a couple of hungry dinos.  Apes and dinos?  What's not to like?
Of course, one of the reasons I had to get my hot little hands on this piece was so I could have the fun of adding color to the piece.  Nick's art is heavily detailed, so it took quite a bit of what I laughingly call my spare time to do this, but I think the end result was definitely worth it.  I've shared the piece over on Nick's Facebook wall, and thought it would be fun to post it here as well.  This is a pretty big piece, so be sure to click through to see it in all it's glory.  And be sure to check out Nick's work over at Facebook, or at Marvel Comics.  As always, comments and criticisms are welcome.

I should add, for the sake of keeping myself honest, that the original art is copyright Nick Bradshaw, and this color job was not commissioned by nor is it endorsed by him.  It was done just for fun, and is being reposted here for the same reason.

Stormchasers 2 on DriveThru Comics

I'd wondered if this was ever going to make it online, and I guess it did so while I wasn't looking.  For those interested in seeing some of my older color work, Stormchasers #2 from Unstoppable Comics is online at DriveThruComics.com.  All of the pages in the preview (except the ad, natch!) were colored by me.  I seem to recall I did a few more pages for the book as well, but cannot remember exactly how many. 
It's some indy Stormwatch/Authority-esque thing, and worth at least a glance.  Check it out here.

Out of the Shadows...

Here's another drawing to accompany a set of books that will be going up on Ebay this evening.  I've never really been a fan of Valentino's "Shadowhawk"; the art didn't work for me, and I find the costume design impractical and difficult to draw, especially the helmet.  Still, I like the way this one turned out.

On the Auction Block...

Holy mackerel, I'm selling my comics!
I'm a comic junkie.  Have been for as long as I can remember.  There's no cure for it; the only hope is to control the disease.
I have thousands of the things; so many that they're threatening to overflow my studio space.  So, I've decided to sell most of them, if I can.  Like so many hopefuls before me, I've headed off to Ebay to see if I can generate some interest in my collection.
Click here to see all the auctions I currently have up.
I'm doing it a bit differently, though.  Seems like it would probably take forever to sell the collection one book at a time.  So, I'm selling in sets.  Each set includes not only a good selection of comics from a particular series or publisher, but also other related items from my collection.  I've got Previews catalogs going back over 15 years, promotional material from many publishers, related magazines like Comics Journal and Comics Scene, and much more, and all of this will be added to the sets of books as I find things that relate to the comics.
Here's the kicker:  also included in each set will be a piece of original art done on a comic book backing board, featuring a character related to the books I'm auctioning.  This is an opportunity to not only grab some good comics, but also to own a cool piece of original art featuring your favorite characters.  (It's also a good opportunity for me to practice my quick sketching skills and play around with other people's characters.)
Sold so far is a set including the first 25 issues of Spawn, two Spawn miniseries and the issue of Wizard in which Spawn first appeared.  I've got other sets up right now, and will be adding more as I put them together and finish the drawing.
Once again, go here to take a look at what's on auction.

Here's just a sample of the type of drawing I'll be including with the comic sets; this one is currently up for bids with the first few issued of Youngblood.

By the way...my collection is fairly extensive and eclectic, and goes back over 30 years in spots.  If there's something, a particular issue or run of issues, you've been looking for, feel free to email me (the address is to the left) and see if I have it.  If we can strike a deal, I'll give you the option of requesting a custom piece of art to go with your order.

Edit: Conclusion:  Selling comics on Ebay is more trouble than it's worth.  I managed to move a few, but had to relist each set a couple times, and barely got what I would consider a fair price.  I don't have the kind of time and energy it takes to attempt to move a collection this large in such a piecemeal fashion.  Fuhgeddaboutit.

Blast from the Past...

My good friend and sometime collaborator Ian McDonald is running a series of his old drawings over at Bruno the Bandit this week, and it's kind of inspired me to look back into my own archives once again and pull out a few pieces that I've never really shared.
One of my favorite older pieces is this portrait of my character DeathMask (previously seen here).  This is one of my graphic novel projects that's still in limbo, mainly because it got roundly rejected by the publishers to whom it was sent, and that really put me off my feed on  this one.  Still, I think the idea behind it is solid and might just have to blow the dust off it one of these days.  Meantime, there's images like this one to remind me of what it could have been.  By the way, this was colored the old fashioned way, using watercolors, back before I got into digital coloring.

Stalking Whitechapel

I've been having loads of fun over at Warren Ellis's Whitechapel forums these past few weeks, what with the weekly Remake/Remodel of golden age characters going on. Here's a few samples of what I've been up to (all descriptions come from Jess Nevins by way of Whitechapel):

Ivan Brodsky was created by “Victor Rousseau,” the pseudonym of Victor Rousseau Emmanuel (Jim Anthony, Clifford, Ronald Gowan, Professor MacBeard, Dr. Martinus, Pennell, Shawm, Thorne), and appeared in eleven stories in Weird Tales in 1926 and 1927, beginning with “The Case of the Jailer’s Daughter” (Weird Tales, Sept. 1926).

Ivan Brodsky is a Big-Headed Dwarf Genius Occult Detective.

Ivan Brodsky, the “Surgeon of Souls,” works as a “professor of nervous diseases” at a London hospital. He is a “dark, sinewy, undersized man, with a great head absurdly disproportionate to his body, and flashing eyes that seemed to pierce through you and read your thoughts.” He is “a cross between two races whose blend of shrewdness and mysticism was probably accountable for the production of so remarkable a personality as his own.” He is unassuming and doesn’t socialize, but is “all-dominating” in his hospital, where he performs experiments for treating “obscure brain lesions.” He is an expert hypnotist who receives cases from around the country. His particular cases involve psychic matters of reincarnation and possession, and he believes in an “oversoul” to which individual souls return, so that the execution of a brutal murderer will “be the release of just so much additional force of evil” to the oversoul.


Moris Klaw was created by Sax Rohmer (better known as the creator of Fu Manchu) and appeared in a series of stories in 1915 in the All-Story Cavalier Weekly and which were later collected in The Dream Detective (1920). Klaw is something of an occult detective, ala Dr. Silence and Carnacki, but most of his cases dealt more in psychic than in overtly magical phenomena. Klaw is a tall man, stooped and gaunt with age, usually wearing threadbare clothing and looking unkempt. He lives in a poor part of London, not far from Wapping Old Stairs, in a "decayed curio shop" of most unpleasant seeming. It is also inhabited by a parrot, which shrieks "Moris Klaw, Moris Klaw, the Devil's come for you" when someone enters the store. Klaw is an antiquarian, full of oddball information, but his true advantage, and the thing that is of most use to the police (who are welcoming of his help), is his clairvoyance, which is heightened when he sleeps. It is not uncommon for Klaw to sleep at a crime scene. When asleep, he is more receptive to psychic impressions; when he sleeps, Klaw takes in all sorts of information, and uses it to explain things to both the other characters and the readers. Klaw is full of self-regard, and his speech of is full of self-satisfaction and affectations.

Klaw is helped by three other characters. Searles, the narrator… Detective-Inspector Grimsby of New Scotland Yard works as Klaw’s contact with the police. And Isis, Klaw’s daughter, lithe, dark, and mysterious, aids him; she is the one with access to Klaw’s notebooks, and her French accent and smoking of cigarettes indicates what other aid she might be able to give in the service of Klaw.


The Bat was created by Eden Phillpots, under his pseudonym of "Harrington Next," and appeared in Number 87 (1922). The Bat is Paul Strossmeyer, a Yugoslav trade representative who grows concerned with the short-sightedness of various world politicians, especially with regards to the discovery and application of atomic energy. So Strossmeyer begins a series of terrorist acts, from the disintegration of the Albert Memorial to the destruction of various Christian Science churches to the assassination of several politicians, from Britain, Japan, America, and Russia. In each case the assassination was done by a needle-thin puncture near the heart and the transmutation of various elements of the body. Also in each case, a mysterious figure was seen near the crime; this figure, the Bat, is larger than a man, has glowing eyes, and leaves behind a foul stench.

Strossmeyer is the Bat, who worked with radioactivity for decades and discovered Element 87, which allows for the easy splitting of the atom and the production of enormous amounts of energy. Strossmeyer used Element 87 to power his flying suit, his weapons, and his bat-shaped aircraft, which can fly through the upper atmosphere at 100,000 miles an hour.

It all ends badly for Strossmeyer, of course, who destroys his fortress and then heads off into space to kill himself.
I'll probably be doing one of these each week until Warren gets tired of hosting the darned thing, and I'll post the occasional collection of the best here. Now I'm off to work on that Captain Justice vs. Irma Vep remake....

Who'll Be Watching the Watchmen?

Like most sentient beings on this side of the world, I'm looking forward to seeing "The Watchmen" this weekend. This is sort of a holy grail of comic book movies, so regardless of Alan Moore's opinion of adapting his works, there's no way I can miss this.
In preparation for seeing the movie, I'm rereading the graphic novel (and if you haven't done so, you absolutely owe it to yourself to do so as well, even if you're not a comic book geek like me).
Being a little older than the typical comic geek (somewhere more than a decade and less than an epoch), I remember reading the adventures of the original Charlton heroes on which the Watchmen were based. The Peacemaker, Thunderbolt, Blue Beetle, The Question (not so much Phantom Lady; she didn't get much play at Charlton), and their missing contemporaries Dr. Graves and E-Man, were part of my earliest comic reading experience.
So when I read Watchmen, I can't help but wonder how different the book might have been had it been done using those Charlton heroes as Alan Moore originally intended. That, of course, leads me to ponder an alternate reality in which it is those characters, instead of their revamped versions, that made it to the big screen.
So here is the result of several wasted lunch hours pondering the question, "What if the Charlton heroes were used in the movie version of the Watchmen?"


I recommend clicking to get the full view on this one, BTW.

Local Hero

Here's a piece I did a few years ago as an entry for an SPX collection. For reasons unknown, but probably having something to do with image quality, it didn't make it in. Nevertheless, it's a piece I enjoyed working on, not least of all because it pays tribute to the owner of the best comic shop I have ever set foot in, Strange Adventures. I've frequented the place for about ten years now, and it remains one of the coolest, most interesting shops I've ever seen.
The pages from the story, "Local Hero" are below, but if you'd prefer, I've also created a .cbz file for reading with CDisplay or your favorite comic reader. Get it here. Enjoy.

The "Johnny Saturn Pinup Gallery" is now available for sale through creator Scott Story's site.  There's some nice art in here, including a previously blogged page of my own.  I really like that Bruce Timm-style cover.  While you're there, check out some of the other books available at his store; there's some good work there.  Scott also runs Johnny Saturn as a webcomic on the main site, so there's a good read.  I'll predict that fans of books like Astro City, The Boys and The Authority will like this strip.

Simon Still Kicking!

Just a reminder for anyone who's interested that my old webcomic, "The Journals of Simon Pariah" is still up over at Comic Genesis. I would have thought that they'd have taken this down by now, considering that it's been a couple of years since I've updated, but I just checked, and it's still there. In addition to 8 original Simon Pariah online comics, there's also a bunch of other things I've written and drawn. Some of it is rough stuff, but it's amusing to browse around the site for a bit.

Sketchy Characters

When I was still actively updating my webomic, "The Journals of Simon Pariah", I was toying with the idea of doing a sister site called "Doodulz", just because I have folders full of odd little sketches and character drawings that I really can't use anywhere else, but I can't bring myself to throw away. That idea didn't really fly, but it seems that this sketchblog is just as good a place to show off these little oddities.
Starting off, we have a trio of comic book characters that have interested me at one point or another.
First up is Morpheus himself, aka Sandman. This is an easy character to draw, what with chalk white skin, messy hair and a voluminous robe. Like a dream, the character gets amorphous, which conceptual drawings like this one.


Next is that ol' webslinger, Spider-Man. This is one character I can honestly say I hate drawing. I've always suspected that the reason the black costume was developed was because whoever drew the character at the time got sick and tired of trying to figure out all those weblines. Nevertheless, I wanted to play with a Frank Miller-esque effect on the bricks behind him, and so came this....

Finally for now, one of my old favorites, Lobo. I love Giffen's work on this character; it's always cathartic and fun to read, especially when Bisley is on his game, as he was in the original miniseries. I recall one rather Douglas Adams-esque line from that series that states the Czarnian meaning for "Lobo" is "one who devours your entrails and thoroughly enjoys it." Here, the Main Man seems intent on living up to his name...
I've got a lot more of this sort of this...some of it very rough, some of it very weird. I'll be sharing it all, for better or for worse, over the next few weeks.

Happens to the Best of Us

Found via Metafilter, via Mark Evanier, the news that Steve Gerber has died.
Who now, you may ask?
Only the creator of Howard the Duck, that's who. The foremost writer of Man-Thing. The creator of Sludge (for Malibu Comics). A 40+ year veteran of the medium, working, according to his blog, up to almost the last minute, on Doctor Fate.
Gerber had a spotty history in my mind. He was never a "first-rater" outside of Howard the Duck, not because he wasn't talented, but because he never seemed to receive the respect he deserved in the places where it mattered. Proof positive is the movie version of "Howard the Duck" and the legal battles surrounding ownership of the character. Still, I think he is one of those people who will be remembered as a sincere creator and inspiration in the field. Mark Evanier's keeping Gerber's blog alive for now, so it's a good time to reminisce about some of your favorite comics, and see what he was up to recently.
Goodbye Steve. Thanks for the duck.

Return of the Zinja!

Today I'm digging deep into my filing cabinet to bring you some of the oldest artwork of mine that I still own, and one of my first true comic book attempts.
Back sometime in the 1980's, when I was still in high school and living in a small fishing community on the arse end of nowhere, two of the things that kept me within some reasonable bound of sanity were books and comics. I was literally addicted to both, consuming them as fast as I could get my hands on them.
For a brief while at age 15, I studied kung fu with a local instructor, and developed as well a strong fascination with all aspects of martial arts, including Eastern philosophies. For a time, my reading was dedicated to this kind of subject matter, and I discovered many good books and ideas as a result.
One of the books that stood out at the time was "Shike" by Robert Shea (perhaps better known as the co-author of the Illuminatus series with Robert Anton Wilson). In two hefty volumes, this was the story of the "Zinja", a group of Japanese warriors somewhere between ninja and Shaolin monks, and of the Mongol boy Jebu who was raised among them.
Shike stood out for me not only because it played into my fascination for martial arts, but also because it contained elements of high fantasy that engaged my imagination, and more importantly, it was a very well written story. In the years since I left that small community, I have acquired and disposed of thousands of books. Outliving all of them, my first paperbacks of "Shike" still sit amongst the 100 or so books that are displayed on my shelves right now. It's been a while since I read them, but I know that if I were to sit down with them again, I'd find them just as engaging and enjoyable.
At one point just before I left high school, I attempted a comics adaptation of "Shike", partly for the exercise of it, and partly because I considered that if I did a good job, maybe I could use it as a portfolio for approaching the big publishers. For reasons that will shortly become evident, my attempt languished in a drawer for the past 20 years.
However, yesterday, "Shike" was brought to mind once again, thanks to that repository of wonderful things, BoingBoing. In one post yesterday, it was announced that Michael Shea, the son of late author Robert Shea (who died of colon cancer in March, 1994), has made "Shike" available to the internet under a Creative Commons licence. This means it's now free to read, copy and distribute. Michael Shea is doing this in hopes of reviving awareness of his father's work, and his generosity is your gain. If you would like to read "Shike" for yourself...and I heartily recommend that you do...the full text can be found at bobshea.net (direct link to the text here). If you do enjoy it, and I think many people will, do yourself a favor and go find some of Robert Shea's other work. I have to be honest and say that I have not read any of his other novels yet, but I will definitely make a point of doing so soon.
Upon learning of this, I emailed Mike and asked if he would have any objection to my posting some of the pages from my early attempt at adapting this story to comics. He happily agreed, and you'll see the result here.
I'll warn you...these pages are very rough. They're the very definition of "warts and all". They're pencil only, as I didn't have access to proper inks at the time, and done on bond paper...which makes it a miracle that they survived at all. What's more, they're not terribly original. Much of the artwork was shamelessly lifted line for line from issues of "Masters of Kung Fu" and "Savage Sword of Conan". So if you think you recognize something by Paul Gulacy, Mike Zeck or Gary Kwapisz, it' because you do.
What it does have going for it is that it is sincere. It was a labor of love at the time to put this together, and I think for all its flaws, it's a pretty good adaptation (if you don't count the lettering...I still can't do hand lettering to save my life). Also, it taught me a lot about the process of putting together a comic book, lessons that are invaluable even now.
Every now and then I think that I'd like to take another crack at this, but so far time has not allowed. Maybe one of these days, I'll get around to it. In the meantime, here's a blast from the past for your amusement. What you have here is the first 1 1/2 chapters of the novel, up to what I thought made a logical breakpoint. For some reason, for chapter two of the comic, I made a jump to chapter 18 of the story. Those pages are not here, but if you would like to see them, I am including a link to a cbz file containing all 16 pages I've drawn. This is perfect for reading in cdisplay or your favorite comic book reader, of you can unzip it and view the images individually.
Enjoy!

Memories of Fleetcon

In 2004, I attended a local science fiction/fantasy/comic book convention called Fleetcon. I've done a couple of these and always had a fun time doing sketches for convention goers and generally showing off about art and comics in general. Unfortunately, when I gave up doing Simon Pariah on a regular basis, I also gave up attending Fleetcon, and I don't think these conventions are still held. Every now and the, I miss it. Like this afternoon, when I thought about the piece I did for auction at the 2004 convention. The original was bought by the owner of Strange Adventures comic shop in Halifax, and my scan of the piece has been missing until now. I had run the drawing on my webcomic site for a short time, but took it down shortly afterwards, and couldn't find my saved file. Now, thanks to the power of the Internet Archive, I've recovered the drawing to share with readers.
This was a large piece, 20" x 30" on illustration board. The characters depicted are heroes of the DC Universe past and present, some of whom have not really been seen in stories in the past 50 years. If you think you've got what it takes, try to name them all...I guarantee you'll miss at least one.

Image is Everything!

Back in the early days of Image Comics, some of the creators ran "fan art" pages in the back of their books. Readers were encouraged to send in their renditions of characters, with the best ones being picked to be printed. As this was in the prehistoric times before email was common, this naturally had to be done via snail mail. Being an ardent buyer of Image at the time, I produced a couple of drawings, but by the time they got where they were going, the books had stopped running those features. Nevertheless, I think the drawings were pretty good, and still hold up now. Here, then, is my take on a couple of favorite Image characters.

First up, Spawn himself. Arguably the most successful Image creation, and certainly Todd McFarlane's best work (while he was still doing it all himself). Spun off to a movie, cartoons and no end of merchandise, the character is proof of the potential that lies in comic books, if there's a good business mind behind the pencils.

Next, naturally, there's Spawn's nemesis, Violator, in Danny DeVito evil clown mode. This guy is just pure fun to draw, as he's somewhere between a leering gargoyle and a bigfoot cartoon. To this day, I have no idea why someone thought John Leguizamo was a good choice to play the character in the movie. Anyone care to enlighten me?



Finally, a couple of WildC.A.T.S. characters, Warblade and Voodoo. This is a series that has been brought to life by some of my favorite creators...creator Jim Lee, artist extraordinaire Travis Charest and so-brillint-I'm-conviced-his-head-is-full-of-stars writer Alan Moore. The 'Cats was the Image series I kept reading long after I had quit all the rest. While it has not reached the marketing potential of Spawn, it seems to have held to a more consistent vision, making it more of an artistic triumph...well, as artistic as you can get with a group of "underwear perverts", anyway.
Here, Warblade rebuts the possibility that his morphing metal claws bear any resemblance to a certain adamantium-laced X-Man:


Maybe one of these days, I'll be fortunate enough to have a book picked up by Image. It would be a fanboy's dream come true to be counted among such a talented group. Meantime, I'm content to mess around in their sandboxes when time allows.

Comic Book Follies

Update: Just for fun, I've published this book on Scribd. Now you can download the issue in pdf format from this page.

OK, to make up for my tardiness last week, I've got a full comic book for you this week.
Back in the mid-90's, I developed a character named DeathMask that I fully intended to turn into a limited series of comic books. At the time, in the wake of the launch of Image Comics, there was a glut of characters named "Death--" this and "Blood--" that, but this was meant to be a bit different from the rest. The catch to this character was that he wasn't a superhero, nor even an antihero, but a flat out serial killer who chose the concept of the superhero as a stage and rationale for his behaviour, sort of an ironic counterpoint to the trend that comics was taking at that time.
The concept was born in, of all places, an anthropology class at University. The course was on war, genocide and violent behaviour, and was taught by Elliot Leyton, who remains one of favorite teachers and authors. Dr. Leyton is a world-renowned criminal profiler who has had a huge influence on the way we perceive serial and mass murderers. As part of the course, he taught his book "Hunting Humans" and the excellent "Aesthetics of Murder" by Joel Black. Studying these texts got me to thinking about the possibility of a serial murderer who acted out his fantasies using comic books as his template, and DeathMask was the result.
Despite its apparently simple beginning, seen below, if developed the book would have gone on to explore Dr. Leyton's theories of the formation of the serial murderer's psychology, as well as the cultural impact of violent comics books and other media, and would have attempted to depict a realistic view of this deviant behavior as opposed to the glorified villains seen in films such as "Silence of the Lambs" and "Halloween" (fun they may be...accurate they are not).
I was pretty determined to make this book happen, and ended up submitting it to several publishers, all of whom rushed forward to roundly reject me. I think my biggest mistake was submitting it to Fantagraphics, thinking they might catch up on the literary aspect of it, only to have Gary Groth suggest to me that I might want to actually read a few of their books before submitting to them again. My greatest hope was for Caliber Press, but unfortunately, they folded up soon after I sent this.
Looking back at it now, I can see how amateurish the art was. I haven't exactly taken comics by storm since then, but I can see that I have learned a few things that I should have known before attempting a project of this scale. Even so, the story is still dear to me, and the book remains one of my favorite projects. In addition to this first issue, I've done two ashcan prequels, several pages of book two, and a ton of concept sketches. Maybe one day if I can ever drum up interest, I'll try tackling this again from a more mature point of view. Until then, here's the complete first issue for you to enjoy.