I was asked to draw the cover art for an upcoming ska comp featuring cover versions of songs by the band Bim Skala Bim. If all goes well Sarah will be doing the colors. According to Dan Vitale, Bim's lead singer, it's been 21 years since we did any art for one of their projects.
This will probably be our last hurrah for this kind of thing so even though my schedule (and my drawing hand) is a mess I agreed to do it.
It's going slow, like everything these days. I'm resti...
2023-03-30 23:49:41 +0000 UTC
View Post
When the worm-things hatch.
2023-03-23 23:09:53 +0000 UTC
View Post
Two days after posting about the mostly-reprint MAD #30, today the mail brought contributor copies of something called MAD Treasure Trove Of Trash vol. 5 (2023 Barnes & Noble Edition). Which is all-reprint. And reprints much of the material from the also newly-released MAD #30. Which is why we were sent comps.
A lot of the things I wrote about MAD #30 can be said about this publication, regarding the dated quality of the material. A lot of it passes okay because it's less targ...
2023-03-23 22:57:38 +0000 UTC
View Post
This list does not include any MAD book collections because they're in another category on my bibliography. And I forgot about them and am too lazy to go do it now. They're reprints except for the Dave berg book, which they had a few folks draw new versions of old comics Berg did.
I'll be posting all the lists eventually and then probably making a PDF of it which I'll upload for those that really like lists. Someday. Soon. Later. I still have to make good on reviews, videos...
2023-03-23 00:21:24 +0000 UTC
View Post
About two weeks ago I was surprised to receive an unexpected, anonymous-looking package, which at first I thought might be from the vestiges of Bongo Comics. That's because a staffer from Bongo reached out to former contributors some months ago with the promise of a holiday gift being sent out, and while I was hoping it was the Treehouse of Horror Omnibus that came out last year (and which has our work in it), I wouldn't have been shocked to see it was some random magazine or greeting card or...
2023-03-22 05:39:22 +0000 UTC
View Post
I have to call a credit card company next week. Kill me now!
2023-03-18 11:03:02 +0000 UTC
View Post
"The shit half of Harvey Dent" is, to me, perfect Staten Island trash geek-a-nerd speak. If I do say so myself.
2023-03-12 08:36:31 +0000 UTC
View Post
Maybe it means no harm.
2023-03-09 08:54:18 +0000 UTC
View Post
If a man screams in another reality, and there's no one there to hear it...
2023-03-09 01:20:36 +0000 UTC
View Post
Use where applicable, obviously.
But honestly, too often it feels like there's a generic fallback position so many comics make in regards to setting and atmosphere, which has nothing to do with budget or logistics, as it does with film or radio drama. You don't need a rain machine, a fog machine, you don't need fake snow, you don't need to wait until the clouds are just right or fix it in post. We just assume "night" and "day" are generic background descriptions. Paying attention ...
2023-03-08 02:12:15 +0000 UTC
View Post
I liked the word balloon version, but the sticker dimensions were getting thrown off, and the vintage radio microphone threw off the balance of the design for me. I wanted to keep a radio item in the design and went with the vintage radio. I liked the boombox but it was iffy to stand the fox on it. I had a batch of other sketches but they frustrated me and the studio was getting messy so i tore them up and chucked 'em into File 13 last week.
You can see DJ Fox's WFMU show archives/playl...
2023-03-07 07:09:18 +0000 UTC
View Post

Nice handwriting, kid!
I only ended up getting three of the four issues from my subscription, because one issue never arrived in the mail. It may have been because my family moved. I think I missed the Howard the Duck issue --? I remember The Vision and Daredevil covers clearly. And the Kirby issue. But my memory can't always be trusted (few memories can be) because looking at ...
2023-03-06 00:12:24 +0000 UTC
View Post
From my first year as a full-time comic book professional/freelancer.
1991 was a good year for me in many ways. Anything seemed possible. Oh, well!
2023-03-04 03:16:13 +0000 UTC
View Post
Raw inks for a planned DJ premium for the upcoming WFMU fundraising marathon. Due to an unfortunate circumstance (that didn't involve the art end of things) the premium will have to be banked for (hopefully) next year's marathon. DJ Fox is going to use the image for her WFMU home page and stuff in the meantime (her show is Blah Blah Woof Woof, Wed "overnight" airing from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m.). If things work out next year this will be fourth drawing for a WFMU marathon premium. I wish I could do ...
2023-03-01 11:44:30 +0000 UTC
View Post
In alphabetical order, including unproduced scripts and series bibles. Should be complete as far as the main points go. It would be nice to be able to add something to it someday but I'm not holding my breath. We stumbled into most of this work through comics and never actually threw ourselves into the industry, never got an agent or did the rounds. In hindsight, maybe I should have gone for it. But agents want you to work on anything so they can also make money, and we basically liked workin...
2023-02-28 22:57:33 +0000 UTC
View Post
The last signed/sketched Blackwood Library Edition orders are all packed up to go out this coming week, save for one overseas shipment (I've contacted that customer about the status of their order). I'll be e-mailing customers when their books hit the post office (with USPS tracking numbers).
Thanks again for the orders.
I will be offering more signed/sketched books for sale (initially to backers at the $5 and $10 level) sometime in the near future. I have the last thr...
2023-02-26 08:09:20 +0000 UTC
View Post
Back in the day, Sarah was planning an Action Girl Queen-Sized Special, which would have been a co-ed giant-sized one-shot, kind of like an old mainstream Annual.
It looked like it was definitely going to happen, even though it was always something that was on the back burner. We already had some contributors lined up and I was going to do a One Punch Goldberg story set in the Kid Blastoff universe. If I remember correctly David Mazzucchelli was going to let Sarah reprint one of h...
2023-02-26 02:45:20 +0000 UTC
View Post
Ask and I shall cut and paste. Here's a list of my album/CD/DVD artwork. Okay, one person asked, but it's an easy ask.
Some of the early color artwork is buried in the past as they were colored like animation cels. I had no head for production or anything like bluelines or full process original color art. I did some color work this way for Deadline and Hectic Planet, and later on Sarah colored comic and CD covers and the Milk & Cheese trading card set this way. The biggest pro...
2023-02-23 07:16:59 +0000 UTC
View Post
Process sketch for something I'm drawing for something.
I went through a lot of revisions and ideas for the overall design. Finally hit on something I liked a few days ago, got the go ahead, finished the pencils and started the inks. Unfortunately, something happened (or didn't happen), so it's getting banked, hopefully it will get used later. I'm going to finish it asap. I'd like to show the completed pencil job because I think it came out well, but I'm not sure if I can or not. It's a...
2023-02-23 03:27:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
While cleaning up the office last weekend I found the EC Library volume that I got signed by Al Feldstein.


Feldstein's EC bio ran in The Haunt of Fear #12, I tried to get folks to sign the bio pages if and when it was possible.
2023-02-18 02:40:42 +0000 UTC
View Post
Sarah and I met Gene Colan at a New York Comic Con, I can't remember which one, I can't remember what year. he and his wife, Adrienne were very nice to talk to and generous with their time. Sarah had the beginnings of a sore throat and they gave her a cough drop. We bought a page of art (from Marvel Super-Heroes #15, FYI, a generic title if there ever was one) featuring Medusa for Sarah, Mr. Colan signed it to her, and handed us his business card. The Medusa page was only $100, which seemed l...
2023-02-16 02:05:59 +0000 UTC
View Post
Join Paul Yellovich and myself for some jibber-jabbering LIVE on YouTube this Thursday February 16th at 8.15pm EST.
https://www.youtube.com/live/n9MzawiXgp8?feature=share
I think we're mostly going to discuss horror movies we've seen recently, the usual deal. Please feel free to chime in with questions or comments.
I'll probably wonder aloud about Larry Cohen's God Told Me ...
2023-02-16 00:44:18 +0000 UTC
View Post
Don't remember where or when this card was handed to me, 90's convention, I'm sure (most likely SDCC). Like so many nifty-sounding comic industry get-together projects, it didn't go anywhere. We couldn't get a bunch of Kirby-inspired drawings published (character rights issues? organizers too busy with deadlines? logistical nightmare? lost interest?) and people wonder why we've never have had a union. They couldn't keep the WAP! newsletter going (owing folks like me a refund). Oh, well. It's ...
2023-02-15 01:51:33 +0000 UTC
View Post
Finding some odds and ends while cleaning up the studio, including an old notebook with some very random notes about comic books and stuff. I used to make a lot of lists like these because there's some bad patches of meat in my skull that make me do pointless things. The only thing that probably stops me from doing this more often nowadays is that I have fewer opinions (I have no idea what's going on in comics anymore) and I try not to write anything that isn't absolutely necessary because of...
2023-02-11 23:38:36 +0000 UTC
View Post
Thanks to everyone who responded to the recent sale of signed/sketched copies of the Blackwood Library Edition (offered to backers at the two top tiers).
All the books have been sketched in (see above for examples) and I'm signing them as I am able to pack them up for shipping (and finishing up the personal "thank you" notes.
Two copies went out last week, four more are packed up, and I'm getting shipping materials together for the last six. I will be doing a mail run ...
2023-02-11 04:01:07 +0000 UTC
View Post
I'm cleaning up the studio (not because I want to or am procrastinating, but because it's gotten to "that point") and came across my file booklet where I keep old business cards.
I always forget what I have in there. There's a lot of folks I met once, or worked with for a time on something or other (a lot of Cartoon Network cards), and some cartoonists and writers I met.
Unfortunately, some of them are no longer with us, like Mr. Sheldon Moldoff, who has been discussed...
2023-02-10 01:34:48 +0000 UTC
View Post
I've been on another deep Weird Fiction kick lately, picking up and tearing through Weird Tales collections, rivals of Weird Tales collections, Victorian ghost story anthologies and the like. Which is why you're getting a background and process post on Calla Cthulhu today, out of the blue.


promoti...
2023-02-09 00:21:28 +0000 UTC
View Post
So, here's some things I've never shared before.
I like to joke that I knew Frank Cho back when he was still a human being. Anyone who follows the comics world more closely than is necessary will probably have an inkling of what I'm talking about.
Sarah and I -- along with David Mazzucchelli -- all met Frank at the second SPX in Bethesda, Maryland. I think this was back in 1995. We had set up at the first SPX, which had just enough exhibitors to fill up two booths at t...
2023-01-29 23:40:34 +0000 UTC
View Post
A while back I posted my black and white photocopies of this old comic dating back to 1991. A Patreon backer very kindly provided me with files of the story as it originally appeared in color, for which I'm grateful. I meant to post these earlier but apparently misplaced them in my documents. I stumbled upon them today while, uh, stumbling around in my documents. I already have forgotten how I came upon them in this particular folder.
I tried to find the message that include...
2023-01-23 02:37:31 +0000 UTC
View Post
A 9"x12" color M&C pinup is up on eBay, the last one I'll be putting up (I expect) for a little while. You can see the auction listing at: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255938330383
I've got the remaining commissions, two pages of comics, a fundraiser merch design, an album illustration and the Beasts of Burden script to wrangle in the coming weeks, so this will help with operating cash, along with the Instagra...
2023-01-21 01:59:43 +0000 UTC
View Post