Gagtown

Until their untimely demise a couple summers ago, I used to occasionally do gag cartoons for Nickelodeon Magazine. It was a fun gig; I miss it.

Hockey Sketches

Up In a Tree

A couple recent Virginia Living pieces today...the first accompanied the story of Lorraine French Brown, who in 1935 climbed and perched for days in a stately maple tree, to prevent it's being cut down to widen the streets of the town if Woodstock, VA (her efforts paid off; a judge soon issued an injunction to save the tree).

The other tells the story of the aptly-named Assateague Island on the eastern coast of Virginia. Thanks to an article in Playboy Magazine, nudists once flocked to this area in droves...that is, until 1985, when a bunch of Baptist prigs in the nearby town of Chincoteague led a successful effort to ban public nudity and impose a $1000 fine and a year in the slammer for offenders. That's progress for ya.

Sketch Cards

I got some free little sketch cards at Heroes Con this year, and doodled up a few of 'em just to do a little inking warmup a few weeks back. Added a little color with some Copic markers I bought on a lark awhile ago. They're fun to work with; I'm anxious to mess with 'em a little more!

Hello Kitty Craft

My cover for the band Kitty Craft's record "Hello Kitty Craft". Space girls and giant robots...what's not to love?

New Comics Day - Project: Telstar

Another comic from the vaults today...my story from the long out-of-print Project: Telstar from AdHouse Books, an astounding anthology if ever there was one. The theme was space and robots, and the talent sandwiched between those two gorgeous Dave Cooper covers (remember when he did comics? Yeah, me too. *sigh*) was truly a thing to behold.

My strip was actually a collaboration with a few of my pals, with as many of us contributing as there were pages in the story. It was written by Bill Burg and Galen Showman, I handled the art, and Eric Gordon helped out with the color. 

Looking back, I'm still pretty happy with how it looks, a little looser and less labored than the rest of the comics I was doing at the time, mid-2003 or so. Not to say there aren't some cringeworthy moments...especially Allison's face at the bottom of page 3. UGH! 

This was the first of three books I'd work on at AdHouse (followed by the CHEESE! sketchbook with Jay Geldhof and the superhero-centric sequel to Telstar, Project: Superior), all of which completely sold out! I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'...

Threshold

More wedding stuff today, this one some art that I created for a wedding invitation.

Before You Know It

The Small Press Expo, better known as SPX, is a scant six weeks away...Yikes! It'll be here before I know it. I have a little project in the works that I hope to complete before then...a mini-comic called Diamonds are a Girl's Worst Enemy, featuring the same characters that appeared in That's Just Super, which came out in 2005. There's words this time, and a little bigger format, probably 5.5 square or so, so it's been a little more work than I intended (as is usually the case). I'm gonna have to hustle, but I think I can do it!

Also, my pal J. Chris Campbell (with whom I'll be splitting a booth at SPX) and I have decided to try and post every day for the month of August in preparation for the show. Nothing like making more work for yourself! Today, it's a quick, pencilled panel from the new book. Enjoy!

Planet of Wine

Dollar Dance

For a recent article on provincial wedding customs in C-Ville Weekly, I chose to illustrate an odd little practice from my home state of Ohio...The Dollar Dance, where attendees at the reception pay a dollar each to dance with the bride for a couple minutes, with the collection ostensibly to be spent on the honeymoon.

Any of you out there familiar with this one...or have any of your own to share?

Dejah Thoris Prints

Even though I missed San-Diego Con this year, I did decide to produce a new exclusive print, of the boobalicious Dejah Thoris illustration I posted last month. It measures 8 x 11 inches, is signed and numbered as a limited edition of 20, and is available at my Etsy shop as we speak. If I have any left over, they'll be for sale at SPX and Crafty Bastards in September...but I'm not making any promises!

And Mark...#1 is already on it's way to ya!

White-Out!

Now these Jets...I've always been a fan. Would love to see 'em back in Winnipeg!

Duke Devils

J-E-T-S Jets, Jets, Jets!

Not a big fan of the team...I still haven't forgiven them for Neil O'Donnell (though it was hilarious how that turned out) and their fans are always by far the most obnoxious at the NFL Draft...but I'm really happy with how this drawing turned out, and you can't take anything away from future Hall-of-Famer Curtis Martin, whose jersey she's sporting!

Harvey Pekar 1939-2010

Late in 1994, I read in the Kent Stater that they wanted to start running a daily comic strip, and were looking for submissions from cartoonists. I worked up the example shown above, fully intending it as my own take on (or rip-off of) Harvey Pekar's American Splendor comics. The strip ended up running for an entire semester, and the experience of creating four strips every week under tight deadlines was more valuable to me as a cartoonist and illustrator than four years of college. And in a way, I owe it all to Harvey.

Rest in Peace, old fella.

Boo-Lesque

This illo represents a reunion of sorts, accompanying Dan Savage's Stranger piece about the varying quality of the plethora of burlesque performances out there today. 

Purpura

Lightning Crashes

Happy Fourth of July!

Laurel Kent

More Legion! This one's kind of an oddball...Laurel Kent was a descendant of Clark Kent, and wore (near as I could tell) nothing but a poncho with the Superman emblem on it as a student at the Legion Academy. A few years later, the powers-that-be at DC needed a Legion character to tie in to their awful Millenium crossover event, and it was revealed that Laurel Kent had been a killer Manhunter robot in disguise all along! She blew herself up or something stupid, never to be heard from again.

Whatever.