700 pages of bad sidekicks on Planet 999

Strippin' again!

A little radio, some more Lost Season 2, and I've got a couple different projects to work on, especially a "secret" one that I'm not really revealing any details on, but should be pretty awesome when it's ready. I'm still writing it - and then the artwork might take a little while, but this one I'm looking for a quick single publication. I'm really excited for it!

Here's Page 67 of "What happened in there?" and I'm introducing a quick setup for the "where there's smoke there's fire" lesson that's going to play a bit of a role later on in this act. Sometimes I fear the pages get posted so far apart (it just takes a long time to find the time to get down to publishing pages) that remembering the finer details in the story and script are lost by the time they're useful again - which is why I encourage re-reads!

Dr. Howard Bolam finally catches up with Ian Escutcheon, but their meeting is cut short by an devastating interruption in Why, what happened in there?

See more by following the links:

• Fundraising Faux-Pas,
  
• King Street Capers
• General comics
• Tomb of the Undead (updated Dec. 21), or the
• Mugabe comic strip (Pinocchio parody)

Graphic novel news
Got a few fresh links about writing good sidekicks, OR avoiding writing a lousy Robin character. There's also a neat photoblog to check out that's more of an interesting concept than a graphic novel, but .. it appeared in my google results so now it's in the blog. Also read an interview with someone who wrote a almost 700-page graphic novel. Check it out!

How to Write a Good Sidekick
B. McKenzie
superheronation.com

A bad sidekick aggravates readers and weakens the story. Over the past 20 years, the two-live action Batman movies with Robin have averaged 29% on Rotten Tomatoes. The four without Robin have averaged 82%. Here are some tips that will help you write a sidekick that will excite readers rather than make them want to stick their brains in a blender.

Click to read more.


Presidential Landing on Planet 999 (The Graphic Novel that you write)
unknown author
beckermanphoto.com

This is just a photo blog of New York City, which is cool, and the idea that it's something of "graphic novel" created by the many, sometimes-anonymous contributors makes it all the more interesting. The extraterrestrial motif is fun, too.

Click to read more.

Former Milwaukeean pens graphic novel masterpiece
Molly Snyder
onmilwaukee.com

Graphic novelist Craig Thompson

OMC: "Habibi" is almost 700 pages long. Did you set out to write a graphic novel this lengthy or did it just naturally evolve into such a long novel?

CT: I started out with modest goals and expectations. I thought it would be between 200 and 300 pages, but then it spiraled out of control. But this is a necessary matter of working. If you knew how much work something was going to be from the beginning, you'd never get started. Simple goals got me going, and then letting it spiral was part of the pleasure.

One of the drawbacks of the comics medium is that it's too abbreviated.

Click to read more.

Serial killer's debut in Korea published posthumously

Strippin' again!

Tonight, more Lost season 2, 'cause the Leafs aren't losing hockey games on the radio right now. For the record, I thought this scene was pretty sweet.

Dr. Howard Bolam finally catches up with Ian Escutcheon, but their meeting is cut short by an devastating interruption in Why, what happened in there?

See more by following the links:

• Fundraising Faux-Pas,(updated Dec. 20)
  
• King Street Capers
• General comics
• Tomb of the Undead, or the
• Mugabe comic strip (Pinocchio parody)

Graphic novel news
Read about a French novelist's debut in S. Korea, how a serial killer beat a Nobel laureate and posthumous publications.

French novelist’s science graphic novel to debut in S.Korea
Lim Jong-uhp
The Hankyoreh

French novelist Bernard Werber is publishing a book this summer tentatively titled “Bernard Werber’s Science Graphic Novel.” Consisting of 21 volumes in all, this series is debuting not in Werber’s home country of France, but in South Korea. The project was first proposed to him by Open Books, the publisher of the series. Werber added some scientific knowledge and imagination on top of the outline for his previous novel “Butterfly,” while Korean artists provided the illustrations.

Click to read more.

Serial killer novel wins Independent foreign fiction prize
Alison Flood
guardian.co.uk

Peruvian novelist Santiago Roncagliolo, who cites Alan Moore's graphic novel From Hell as a major influence, has beaten Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk to win the Independent foreign fiction prize for his novel Red April.

Click to read more.

New graphic novel by the late Harvey Pekar features a chapter about Cleveland Heights resident Steve Presser
Lindsay Betz,
Sun News Sun Press

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS -- Steve Presser is honored and humbled.

“Huntington, West Virginia ‘On the Fly,’” the first graphic novel by Harvey Pekar to be published since his death last year, features a chapter on Presser and his attempt to open a diner in Cleveland Heights.

Click to read more.

Strippin'

Leafs game on the radio and a few sketches to wrap up - should be a good night!

Here's a page from a few nights ago that didn't get published till this morning:

It's received some good reviews - so that's nice.


See more by following the links:

• Fundraising Faux-Pas,
  
• King Street Capers
  
• Tomb of the Undead, or the
• Mugabe comic strip (Pinocchio parody)
• General comics
  

Strippin'

Good time today - wrapped up Lost season 1, watched the bonus features on the bonus dvd, and there's even some hockey on this afternoon - so a good showing all around.

I've got six more pages ready to finish - the next scene is a long one. Here's a sample of the next page to "Lazarus is Poisoned."


See more by following the links:

• Fundraising Faux-Pas,
  
• King Street Capers
  
• Tomb of the Undead, or the
• Mugabe comic strip (Pinocchio parody)
• General comics
  

Strippin'

I am strippin' a.k.a. working on comic strips. As usual I've got an old Lost DVD in the player, I'm at my desk in the basement, and I'm sketching away.



You can expect to see this image some time in the future. In any case, I've scanned two more comics for tomorrow and next week, and have a great Christmas idea, too.

See more by following the links:

• Fundraising Faux-Pas,
  
• King Street Capers
  
• Tomb of the Undead, or the
• Mugabe comic strip (Pinocchio parody)

A full moon tonight, too - ... should be fun!

This evenings' results ...

Supernatural cops, Castle and applying Marshall McLuhan

This was an important part of the story I was eager to get to - it finally introduces a dangerous force that will be the source of conflict for the story. In a better story this might come up sooner than later - but I hope there were enough dramatic characters, like Starkwood and Bolam, to keep things interesting.

Speaking of Bolam, it was nice to finally get him back in the story - it'd been too long since we've seen him.


In any case, here we've got growing tension between Miller and Bolam finally having a confrontation, and a mysterious shooter raising the stakes. Check out more at Stretch My Legs. I hope you like it.

Graphic Novel News
Persepolis and it's political motives, which John Pavlus says is a graphic application of Canadian Marshall McLuhan, ABC's detective show Castle is set to get its own graphic novel, which should be interesting, and speaking of detective novels, read about Awakenings, a supernatural detective story set in a futuristic New York City.

A Graphic Novel Unlocks How The Media Manipulates Facts [Video]
John Pavlus
www.FastCodeSign.com

We tend to talk about "the media" as a monolithic force of nature, like mountains or the wind -- but it's a fallible human endeavor, constantly mutating in unpredictable ways. That's the guiding principle of NPR's On the Media, and also the premise of a new book by that show's host, Brooke Gladstone, called "The Influencing Machine." But this is not your father's media manifesto: Gladstone conceived it from the start as a comic book, and she's a character in it herself. To pull it off, she teamed up with illustrator Josh Neufeld, whose own highly acclaimed comics similarly blur the distinction between art and journalism. The result is part Persepolis, part Marshall McLuhan, and totally engaging.

Click to read more.

Marvel Comics To Publish ‘Castle’ Graphic Novel
Henchman21
www.GeeksofDoom

Marvel made a big announcement on Monday that they will be releasing a graphic novel based on the popular ABC detective show Castle. Titled Castle: Richard Castle’s Deadly Storm, the 112-page hardcover will feature a story written by Brian Michael Bendis (Powers, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man) and Kelly Sue DeConnick (Osborn), and will feature art by Lan Medina (Fables) with a cover by Carlos Pagulayan (Hulk).

Click to read more.

Robot 6 Q&A | Eric Hobbs on Awakenings
Brigid Alverson
www.Robot6.com

Writer Eric Hobbs made his bones last year with The Broadcast, a graphic novel about neighbors gripped by the panic caused by Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast. This week sees the release of a new graphic novel, Awakenings, penciled by Gabe Pena. Awakenings is a supernatural cop story set in a future version of New York City and featuring a cop who is accused of murdering his own son. Hobbs self-published Awakenings as a black-and-white comic before it was picked up by Arcana, so I asked him to tell me a bit about his experience with self-publishing and the evolution of the story.

Click to read more.

Reconstructing the Napoleonic wars with dragons

Having interesting backgrounds can be a challenge, but again, using GoogleMaps I was able to find some legitimate stuff to put in the background that's inspired by realistic streets of Marseilles, which is pretty neat. See what I mean on Page 64.

While the characters are physically getting from one location to the next, I tried to put in some character development - if you ever read the Dan Brown novels that were so famous for all those years, he did an excellent job of balancing exposition, escape and mystery - unfortunately, it became a predictable pattern.

In any case - I'm in no way comparable to Dan Brown, nor his work, but he was definitely an inspiration for how this story was put together - read more at Stretch My Legs!

Graphic Novel News
Disney's new Amulet, America's hunt for Osama Bin Laden is capture in the graphic novel Code Word: Geronimo, and read who Stephen King and Peter Jackson are heaping praise on for their reconstrution of the Napoleonic wars with dragons!

Rob Edwards to Pen AMULET for Warner Bros. and ANIMATED AMERICAN for Disney
Dave Trumbore
Collider.com

Perhaps best known for his work on Disney’s recent animated flick, The Princess and the Frog, Rob Edwards has been slated to write two new films for Warner Bros. and Disney respectively. In Warner Bros.’ Amulet, based on the graphic novel series by Kazu Kibuishi, two teenaged siblings find that they are the last surviving guardians who must learn the secrets of a powerful amulet to save a magical realm. In Disney’s Animated American, a live-action/animation hybrid, a flesh-and-blood family raises an animated baby until he turns 18 and sets off to find his real family. Robert Zemeckis is set to produce Animated American alongside Bob Cooper and Dan Fogelman. Neither film has a start date as of yet.

Click to read more.

San Diego-Based IDW Publishing Releases Book on SEAL Team Six Raid
Kristina Houck
ComicBookResources.com

As the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks draw near, readers can gain a better understanding of the hunt for Osama bin Laden with the newly released graphic novel Code Word: Geronimo.

Written by retired Marine Capt. Dale Dye and his wife, Julia Dye, the San Diego-based IDW Publishing book chronicles the actions taken by SEAL Team Six to prepare for and complete their mission.

Click to read more.

Naomi Novik: How to write a graphic novel!
Betsy Mitchell
Suvudu.com

Naomi Novik is best known for her delightfully gripping Temeraire series, which reimagines the Napoleonic Wars with dragons serving as the air forces. British Aerial Corps captains and their dragons form a tight bond, and dragons are bred to perform various specialized tasks: reconnaissance, high-altitude bombing, firestarting, etc. Stephen King called the first novel, His Majesty’s Dragon, “Terrifically entertaining,” and Peter Jackson has bought the film rights to the series. If you haven’t read His Majesty’s Dragon, you can read the first chapter here.

Click to read more.

Super Dinosaur's Barber Spaceape

I was having fun using GooleMaps to doodle the French landscapes - granted only the sights that are roadside. I was pleased with how the car pictures came out - drawing vehicles has never been a strong point of mine.

I'm a little embarrassed that I'm so far behind in these updates on the blog - I mean this page was published back in June, 2011 - almost a half year ago. No matter - check out the link while you've got the chance, there's lots to check out there - read more at Stretch My Legs!

Graphic Novel News
In the graphic novel news, find out what link Garfield has to Bonnie Barber, the source of inspiration of Super Dinosaur #1 and read how hipper people than I are using graphic novels to put pictures to their music.


Bonnie Barber
GraphicNovelReporter.com

This summer, on July 14, the public library in Carrollton, Texas, will host an innovative 39 Clues-themed tween event. They’ll also incorporate the audience’s love for graphic novels and manga into the daylong event, which is being coordinated by youth services librarian Bonnie Barber. We talked to Bonnie about her love of comics. (For more information on the upcoming event, check the library’s website here.)

Click to read more.

Super Dinosaur #1
Doug Zawisza ComicBookResources.com

Robert Kirkman, the creator (or co-creator) of “The Walking Dead,” “Invincible,” and “The Astounding Wolf-Man,” has added quite a few gems to the comic book landscape, and does so again this week with his artistic co-creator Jason Howard. The story of Super Dinosaur’s origin as a character isn’t covered in this largely expository issue, but according to Kirkman, the concept of Super Dinosaur came from the mind of his co-creator’s son.

Click to read more.

Kode9 & The Spaceape: Under the Black Sun
Bram E. Gieben
TheSkinny.com.uk

The videos from Memories were very impressive – who are you working with on the visual art and videos for Black Sun and why did you choose them?
Kode9: We developed a mini graphic novel with a friend of mine Raz Mesinai [also a musician under the name Badawi] which tells the back story of the album in picture form. And we worked with Manny Optigram of Citinite, who does most of the Hyperdub artwork, to do the cover.

Click to read more.

'Everlast'ing brothers, oringal launches and students

Here's page 61 of Tomb of the Undead - part of a pivotal moment in the escape from customs at the airport - I thought it was particularly useful to have Starkwood's character be a motivational factor that delayed the detective from contacting France to intercept our heroes.

In any case - they sneak through without any complications, even though they should have been taken into custody. No doubt, the story is better with our characters acting on their free will, rather than being in detention.

For the record - Detention is a bad word. Shouldn't someone in "detention" be in "retention," or "detainment?" Where does "Detention" even come from? Sounds stupid to me - but that's hardly relevant.


Graphic Novel News
Student designs, relaunching all DC's original books and 'Everlasting' brothers.

Students design comic books
Andrew Nelson
Nique.net

Springtime Atlanta is heyday for comics, with MomoCon just in March and Free Comic Book Day in May. At Tech, local artists and students met at the first Annual Atlanta Comics Symposium to host panels on comics from their nature and creation to the industry’s ambivalent future.

Click to read more.

DC Comics to relaunch line; Geoff Johns, Jim Lee to create Justice League
nerdblog
www.newsok.com

As USA Today and the DC Comics Source blog are reporting, the publisher is relaunching its entire line starting in August, with 52 No. 1 issues across the line.

This relaunch will start with a new “Justice League” No. 1 on Aug. 31, and all DC’s superhero titles will be offered digitally on the same day from there forward.

Click to read more.

Chad Michael Murray updates us on his graphic novel, ‘Everlast’
otownrog
orlandosentinel.com

Chad Michael Murray’s been in town this month, filming “Renee,” the new drama about Rene Yohe. He plays Jamie Tworkowski, founder of “To Write Love on Her Arms,” and “I picked up some of his mannerisms, but I didn’t want to imitate him, any more than Kat (Dennings) is doing the ‘real’ Renee,” Murray (left, with the real Jamie) says.

Click to read more.

Hush, Hush - Serenity (vol. 3) for a Heachache

Some exposition of the mythology of this story begins with our protagonists searching out their contact in Marseilles - and this story gets them away from the airport, into France, and closer to the answers they're searching for.

I hope you enjoy this - I was never much of an artist when it comes to vehicles - so I was relatively pleased to see some of these cars turning out relatively well. I hope you enjoy it!



Read more at Stretch My Legs. I hope you like it.

Graphic Novel News

'Hush, Hush' Author Becca Fitzpatrick (And Fans) Help Shape Graphic Novel
Sabrina Rojas Weiss in Page Turners

Are fans of traditional YA novels eager to pick up graphic novel versions of their favorite books? Judging by the feedback "Hush, Hush" author Becca Fitzpatrick gets on her blog every time she posts a sketch from Sea Lion Books' upcoming adaptation of her fallen angel stories, due out in October, that's a resounding "yes."

Click to read more.

Graphic Novel Review: Serenity Volume 3: The Shepherd's Tale by Joss Whedon and Zack Whedon
Eilonvi, BLOGCRITICS.ORG
seattlepi.com

I just loved how the life-story of Shepherd Book was structured - starting from the moment of his death (on planet Haven, as we well know from the movie 'Serenity') and going backwards to the unknown parts of his life. All the defining moments of Book's life are presented as a chain of events that we uncover from end to origin, as each short chapter delves deeper into his past.

Click to read more.

Joy and Athena Give The Gods A "Headache"
Josie Campbell,
comicbookresources.com

Last year, brand new comic book company Kickstart Comics, founded by film producer Jason Netter, promised to change the face of comic sales and distribution by rolling out original graphic novels in both comic stores and Walmarts across the country. This month sees the release of their latest original comics property, "Headache," written by "Pushing Daisies" and "Burn Notice" scribe Lisa Joy with art by Jim Fern, Vertigo artist for "Crossing Midnight" and "Fables."

Click to read more.

Homeless in San Fransisco, Mr. Wonderful and the Uncanny X-Force

On page 60 I remember the new challenge - after having the characters trapped in an airplane for a few pages, they were suddenly in a crowded airport ... which wasn't any easier to conceive or draw. Check it out at "Just a Little Escape"

Graphic Novel News
Check out some graphic novel news - first, a graphic novel that's inspired by local homeless, which leads to "Transient Man," learn more about the introverted world of graphic novelist Danny Clowes and meet the Uncanny X-Force!

Homeless in San Fransisco, Mr. Wonderful and the Uncanny X-Force


Artist's graphic novel inspired by homeless people in San Francisco
Alexis Terrazas
SFExaminer.com

Justin Kaufman, art director of Massive Black, recently completed his graphic novel “Transient Man,” which is based on The City’s homeless. For more information, visit www.transientman.com or www.massiveblack.com.

What inspired you to write “Transient Man”? I’ve lived in The City for like 15 years, in and around the downtown area for most of that. And you know, you see these homeless people sometimes talking to themselves. I work in the GFX industry and I got obsessed with this idea. I talked about it to a few of my co-workers and it kind of spawned into [this]. I hope that it will encourage people to look at homeless people in a positive light.

Click to read more.

Graphic Novelist Daniel Clowes on What Makes ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Wonderful
Dennis Nishi
Speakeasy (blog)

If you’ve read the graphic novels of Dan Clowes, you already know the artist. The characters from such work as “Ghost World” and “Art School Confidential,” which have both been turned into movies, are reflections of the 50-year-old and his close circle of introverted but creative friends. He describes them all, and himself, as having a seething anger that surfaces during some social situations but who are very likable once you get them to relax.

His latest graphic novel is entitled “Mr. Wonderful” and it follows a middle-aged divorced man named Marshall that has been set up on a blind date. Of course, the evening spins off into some unexpected directions. “Mr. Wonderful” was originally commissioned as a serialized 20-episode comic strip for the New York Times Magazine back in 2008. The story has since been expanded and turned into a hardcover book that was released earlier this month by Pantheon Press. Speakeasy spoke with Clowes at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

Click to read more.

Wednesday Comics Review: Uncanny X-Force 8 And Super Dinosaur 1
Rich Johnston
BleedingCool.com

For weeks I’ve watched Aaron and Mike going on and on and on and on and on about the new Uncanny X-Force series from Marvel by Rick Remender and Billy Tan. I picked up an early issue and, aside from a gorgeous scene with Deadpool and a still-framed assailant, wasn’t overly impressed. But it’s time to go back.

Ostensibly, this is a black ops group, but it’s more about pawns that have lost their king. They act independently, with great ferocity, but in the end are being placed in a position where they can do their thing. Expect these pawns get back on the board after they’ve been sacrficed and start moving each other around the place. Which makes for a very interesting game of chess, even as it’s embedded in Claremontian X-Men with the return of Shadow King, astral battles, possession, the price one must pay to win, the demons unleashed in the process and all that jazz, given a very pleasant painted execution of Billy Tan’s art.

Click to read more.

back in the saddle

I was on a great pace, and things were rockin' but I hit a major slump in production at Tomb of the Undead.

But I'm back at it, after like three weeks - not having the time to work on it made me feel really frustrated, so I'm glad to be back at it.

The hiatus seems to have coincided with me finishing rewatching Lost all over again on DVD. So, let's get back in the swing of things and start it all over again.

On to the pilot ... and back to updating with some regularity, if I have anything to say about it.

Hero physicists, Kite Runners and Untrue Tales of The Exorcist

Here's Page 59 of Tomb of the Undead - which was a lot of fun to draw, especially considering, as I mentioned before, I kind of got to give tribute to a buddy of mine. Again, the customs agent doesn't really resemble my buddy, but it is in honour of him.

It was tricky figuring out how to get this back-and-forth to not fill up too many pages - here's an example of a scene that ran a bit too long. It took a long time to cover everything that had to happen, and it's not good if these scenes go on for too long.

I think readers get impatient only if scenes take six pages to get through, but it takes you six weeks to publish them. Nobody likes that.


In any case, enjoy Page 59 of Just a Little Escape.

Graphic Novel News
In the links below, there are a bunch of neat posts about some new graphic novels coming up soon. The Untrue Tales of the Exorcist looks pretty f-ing awesome!

Check 'em out!

Richard Feynman, the late physicist, is hero of new graphic novel
Monica Hesse
WashingtonPost.com

It is a sad fact — an endlessly rehashed symbol of just what is wrong with America — that we make heroes of athletes but not mathletes, that we write comic books about men with capes but not real men with calculators, and that “Dancing With the Stars” has never tapped Andre Geim or Konstantin Novoselov, who — oh, admit it, you had to Google them — were last year’s winners of the Nobel Prize in physics.

Let us now commence an ode to a dead scientist.

There is a new graphic novel called “Feynman.” The hero is a particle physicist. Not, mind you, just any particle physicist. The people’s particle physicist. The cute one. Richard P. Feynman, “The Great Explainer,” 1965 Nobel Prize winner, player of bongos, seducer of women, launcher of thousands of dreamy-eyed physics majors. Even for those who hav­en’t taken a science class since 11th grade, referencing Richard Feynman (1918-1988) is a somewhat fashionable pursuit — the quirk, the flair, the devil-may-care. As much as representing science for scientists, his attitude seemed to represent science for the scient-ish — kookiness that was first brought to the mainstream in his autobiography, “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman.”

Click to read more.

GeekDad Interview: Khaled Hosseini, Author of The Kite Runner
Tony Sims
Wired.com

2003 best-seller The Kite Runner reveals the beauty and agony of a tormented nation as it tells the story of an improbable friendship between two boys from opposite ends of society, and of the troubled but enduring relationship between a father and a son. The Kite Runner begins in Kabul in the 1970s, shortly after the overthrow of the last Afghan king. Set on a broad canvas encompassing the communist coup d’état, the Soviet invasion, the rise of the Afghan freedom fighters or mujahideen, and the early days of the Taliban, Hosseini’s tale also portrays the Afghan community of exiles in America with unparalleled insight and deft wit. The Kite Runner graphic novel is a beautiful new rendering of Khaled Hosseini’s beloved story.

I recently caught up with the author, Khaled Hosseini, for a brief interview:

Click to read more.

Jay Baruchel To Adapt Image’s Random Acts Of Violence And Tell Untrue Tales Of The Exorcist
Rich Johnston
BleedingCool.com

The basis for William Peter Blatty’s book The Exorcist, and subsequently William Friedkin’s film, were said to be events that took place in Mount Rainier in Maryland during the late 1940s. Investigative journalist Mark Opasnick wasn’t sure all of the claims added up, however, so he set about sifting fact from fiction. This resulted in The Real Story Behind The Exorcist, a non-fiction book that dispelled a lot of the myths.

Click to read more.

So close!!!!

I'm so close to being at an incredible milestone for the project.

The Tentpole or mid-point of Act II, that marks the centre of the story, is within eyesight. I'm drafting up the final pages to mark the half-way point in the story. I don't think it's going to get done before Oct 1, but I still made almost an entire half the story in a year, which is pretty cool.

I'm just excited - here's a cool post about it.

While I'm not quite at the anniversary of the day I began posting artwork to Tomb of the Undead, I'm very close, and I'm 78 pages in, within only 52 weeks. That's pretty impressive, in my books.

Let's hope I can replicate this success in the next year. I hope readers have enjoyed the story, and if it was moving too slow, there's almost 80 pages now to read - which should give you plenty to catch up on.

Enjoy!

"Homesick Swedish Maus" and the Last Days in American Crime

Here's the post for page 58, which was another scene in the airplane, which I was definitely getting tired of drawing. It's awkward having characters trapped in any location where they can't move around and things like that. With a limited range of motion, it feels like there are a limited amount of ways to draw them, which can be a bit suffocating.

Just a little escape was a cutesy title to lead from "trapped in an airplane" but I had no idea how much more meaning it was going to have on me while drawing the scene. I really felt like the characters needed to escape, too.

I was relieved for them to make it to the airport terminal, and it was almost as claustrophobic to have a large open space for the characters to be in as it was to be confined in the airplane. The customs agent is modelled after a buddy of mine, loosely. My guess is you'll never guess who it is - but he'd be somewhat honoured to know that he was my choice for a jolly Frenchman who believed more in the spirit of the law than the letter of the law.

Graphic novel news
In graphic novel news - I'm finding I' jealous all the time. There are so many really neat sounding graphic novels out there, and today I've got a sample of more of them. I WISH they were my idea, but at the same time, I'm glad these things are out there to read though - for sure.

F. Gary Gray to Direct 'The Last Days of American Crime' (Cannes)
Gregg Kilday
hollywoodreporter.com

Are you kidding me? This thing looks AWESOME! And it's going to become a movie with Sam Witherspoon, or whatever that guy from Avatar - Sam Worthington - that's the guy.

Cannes -- F. Gary Gray is now attached to direct The Last Days of American Crime, a heist movie in which Sam Worthington is set to star, for IM Global and Radical Pictures.

The project ... is based on the Radical graphic novel written by Rick Remender. Karl Gadejsak will write the screenplay set in a near-future where the government plans to implement a form of legal mind control, making it impossible for its citizens to commit unlawful acts. Worthington, the star of Avatar and Terminator 3: Salvation, will play a career criminal, who must put together the last heist in American history on the last night that crime is possible.

The actor’s Full Clip Productions label is also producing alongside Automatik Entertainment.

Gray most recently directed Law Abiding Citizen.

The project was announced Monday by IM Global founder and CEO Stuart Ford and Radical founders Barry Levine and Jesse Berger.

“This is such a powerful, iconic piece of material - we really believe this movie can bring something fresh to the noir universe and become an explosive action feature film. We're delighted to be working alongside the super talented Radical team, Gary and Sam,” Ford said.

“The Last Days of American Crime graphic novel is one of the most coveted titles in the Radical catalog and our most successful international seller,” Levine added.

Click to read more.

Representing History in Art Spiegelman's Maus II
By Derek D. Miller
studentpulse.com

Here's an incredibly powerful example of the places that graphic novels can go. And this scene in particular really shows how powerful the images can be even in a seemingly innocuous scene. This post really illustrates all of this.

Spiegelman's Maus II is a graphic novel and I believe Spiegelman chose this format because it is the only way to discuss the Holocaust while simultaneously conveying the impossibility of doing such a task. The Holocaust was such a horrific event that there is no way of truly representing it. Spiegelman realized that everything is a representation. He also realized that representing every aspect of the Holocaust was something that simply cannot be done. It is impossible to capture something free of representation. Spiegelman wanted to write a story about the Holocaust but he was very cautious in his construction. Maus: Volume II is constructed with precise self-awareness and self-devaluation to tell to a story about the Holocaust, while also writing a story about the impossibility of trying to capture this tragic event within the extremely limited parameters of representation.

Click to read more.

Nick Frost: Zombies, Cops, & Aliens, Oh My! PAUL & Beyond
Lucas Siegel,
Newsarama.com
On a much lighter note, but in the same vein as mice, is Nick Frost's graphic novel idea, barely mentioned, about a Homesick Swedish Mouse, which is the tentative title of his upcoming work.
Could be interesting.

Nrama: Would you like to write outside of film and TV?

Frost: Well I'm writing a graphic novel at the moment!

Nrama: What can you tell us about that, that's our bread and butter!

Frost: Well it's not what you'd expect. It's provisionally titled "Homesick Swedish Mice." My wife is Swedish, she's not a mouse, so I had this idea about a group of Mice who become marooned in London. Grandfather Mouse passes away and his final words to his son are "Take me home." So then it becomes about a group of mice trying to get from London to Sweden in a toy boat. So yeah, doing that at the moment, as well.

Also, I've written a film about a wrestler, so I'm hoping to shoot that later this year or early next!

Click to read more.

Aspiring artists, drawing tips and colonial perspectives out of Africa

I remember thinking putting a funny joke int the script how everyone seems to immediately be on their cellphones before the plane has come to a full and complete stop.

I don't know if it translated as well as I hoped it would in the picture, but I sure tried. It was a long time drawing all those folks. Also, you might recognize some of the faces, of the passengers. If you don't, then I failed again. A clue would be Ajira flight 316. If that means nothing to you - you probably won't recognize them anyhow.

Anyhow - you can read the scene at Just a Little Escape.

Moving on ...

I've found a very neat post with some advice on how to approaching designing and drawing your panels in a graphic novel, followed by a post by Sarkus who's interested in pursuing their own graphic novel, but wants to bone up on their artwork, and a final post that links to some interesting comics news and analysis from Africa.

How to Illustrate a Graphic Novel
Sarah Snow
ehow.com

Graphic novels are a new literary form that are often confused with comic books. Although both mediums utilize comic illustrations and bubble dialogue, graphic novels tell a single story while comic books are serialized. Graphic novels, which often cover social and political narratives, benefit from visual storytelling and the use of symbols to convey powerful situations that are otherwise left to the imagination in a memoir or novel. Illustrations in a graphic novel range from simple line sketches to detailed and colorful artwork.

Snow goes on to elaborate on the finer details of:

• Sketch the elements of your graphic novel
• Draw thumbnails of each panel
• Illustrate each panel

Click to read more.

A diary for getting better (NSFW?)
Sarkus
penny-arcade.com

Sarkus is looking to pursue his own graphic novel, and is looking to bone-up on his artwork before moving forward, but I think some of his stuff is pretty awesome. If he's not ready to get started, then he'd be appalled with the artwork I'm publishing - granted nobody's paying me to do it. He obviously take it far more seriously than I am. In any case, check out some of the work he's putting up - and look at some of the awesome hand pictures. Seriously - hands are hard.

One story I want to pursue, however, I decided would best be suited as a graphic novel. Right now I don't have the talent to execute something like that to my satisfaction so before I begin that I need to improve my art.... I decided I finally needed to take this seriously, I'm starting this thread to measure my progress.

Click to read more.

Africa: Graphic Novel News Dump (2011)
bunmi
bombasticelement.org

Not sure what to say about this - the picture is pretty funny, though definitely out of date - interesting depiction of colonialism from the perspective of the colonists - not so flattering for the "colonized."

Click to read more.

Dennis O'Neil's tips, Human Erasers and Danny Husk

Here's a new page for Tomb of the Undead, No. 56. from the scene Just a little escape. Check it out!Evelyn and Dr. Miller disembark their flight to face whatever consequences Dr. Starkwood has put in place for them in Just a little escape. 

It's been difficult having characters confined in small spaces, going from offices to apartments to airplanes - they're limited, which makes things claustrophobic.I hope you can get the sense of tight spaces and confinement in these pages.

In graphic novel news, I've found some cool links with graphic novel writing advice, a neat graphic novel premise and a quick review of a new novel. So check it out.

How to write comics and graphic novels by Dennis O'Neil 

Bleedingcool.com

Dennis O'Neil

(Serial graphic novels) seem too encourage sloppy technique, characters and conflicts not established or reestablished and a slow plod toward a climax that may not be known to the writer when he begins the project. And, because of publishing realities, our scribe may not have the luxury of rewriting when he belatedly realizes that he has problems.

What's a fella to do?

...[S]tart with the story and then figure out how much space you?ll need to tell it. Some guesswork is implicit here, but let's not have the whole shebang guesswork.

There should be a major change, development or reverse in every installment. Don't just show us your characters unless we get to see them moving the plot along.

Have a destination in mind before you take the first step. I don't want to be overly doctrinaire about this. As your story progresses, you may have second/third/fourth thoughts about how it might best conclude, and you might be able to shape the narrative to accommodate the new brainstorm(s). But unless you have planned some destination, aren't you afraid you might flounder? I mean, Columbus never got to the Indies, but he wouldn't have gotten anywhere if he hadn't been looking for them.

Dennis O'Neil teaches a ten week course on Writing Comics And Graphic Novels at the New York University.

Click to read more.

I like this idea - I'm obviously not selling my script - and it's taken me ages to put it together, but having the script was way more important than just drawing cool pictures. I've done some comics back when I was a kid and I just filled 14-page little books with pictures and a loosely thrown together story that might or might not get anywhere before the end of the book.

Having a script ready to roll is way better - though I find pacing it out so it wraps up at the end of a page can be a bit of a challenge. I like to keep the scenes a bit shorter - too many pages and it takes too long to get a scene done and I lose interest in even making it, let alone someone else reading it ...

After some great writing tips - how about a great story idea?:

Human Eraser idea ...

Brett Davidson

Comicbookmovie.com

Do you wonder what happened to good comic book characters? I am trying to write some of my own comic/graphic novel, which are called The Human Eraser.

Prologue- Memories:
I sat in my bed as I thought about what just happened. Was it a dream, or was it real life? The days are beginning to mix together. On one day I'll have a target, the next I sit in the same cold, dark alley that I started this dirty job in.

My hands tremble each time I see my reflection in a puddle that lays next to me. After each mission, I find splatters of blood on my mask. I use to clean the blood off for a while, but then something in me snapped. The human juice became a trophy to me, almost like war paint. The memories began to stain my mind after the first few times. I don't even remember my mother anymore, not like I would want to though, yet I find that any memory is a good memory...That's all about to change.

CHAPTER 1- Blood never washes away:

....To be continued.

Pretty cool. I'm going to follow this site on Twitter: @ComicBook_Movie

And here's someone who's a famous
Thompson brings 'Kids in the Hall' straightman to comics

Shaun Manning

www.comicbookresources.com

With the soaring popularity in mustaches over the last few years, it was perhaps inevitable that Danny Husk should return. The straight-laced middle manager, played on "Kids in the Hall" by Scott Thompson, is set to make the jump to comics with IDW and Frozen Beach Studios publishing "Danny Husk: The Hollow Planet," an original graphic novel by Thompson, writer Stephan Nilson and newcomer artist Kyle Morton. A preview book was available at Comic-Con International in San Diego and the full graphic novel will see release in October.
Thompson, a founding member of the Kids in the Hall troupe, was best known on the television series for roles like Danny Husk, the flamboyant Buddy Cole and Queen Elizabeth II. He continues to tour with the group and appeared in the recent television miniseries "Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town" despite the fact that he was battling cancer throughout its production. Thompson has since reported a full recovery.

"Danny Husk: The Hollow Planet" looks to put the titular hero in new and dangerous circumstances, propelling him into a world where his ordinariness makes him anything but. CBR News caught up with Thompson for a few more details on the project.

Click to read more

For the record, I was going to link to a Toronto Star article about this - but they gushed entirely over seeing Scott Thompson, and said absolutely nothing about Danny Husk - therefore they got cut. The Star's loss is Comicbookresources' gain.

new pages

While I haven't written an official update page - you can always check The Tomb of the Undead's blog at any time to see the latest updates.

In any case, I wrapped up drafting a new scene and finished a new page on Sunday, and last night I drew and inked the next page. So updates are on their way.

Mighty Maus, Kids in the Hall and planning panels

I'm a bit of a kook for for posting the link to page 55 before page 54 ... but that doesn't mean I won't post a link up.

You can find the page I don't trust those lazy bastards, which you can find here. Some more dialogue here with Dr. Darrell Starkwood, which I had a great time writing. It's always fun. Last November I was writing some more story on the character and had a great time developing his backstory and motivations.

Anyhow - he may seem like whatever to you, but I really like him. I wonder if how I see the characters is the same way others see the characters Or, put differently, I wonder if I'm portraying them the way effectively to illustrate to others what the different characters are like effectively. I guess that would have to mean one day sitting down with a reader and comparing notes, eh?

Graphic novel news

First off is a great link talking about how to plan panels, and provides some great examples! Second is a neat segment from an interview with one of the Kids from the Hall, Scott Thompson. He is one of the Kids in the Hall that I haven't met, but would like to one day. Being able to check Dave Folley off the list is a huge milestone, though! Lastly is a fascinating snippit from an anti-Nazi exhibit of graphic novels. Check 'em all out!

How to Plan the Panels for Your Graphic Novel
IdiotsGuides.com

One of the most important aspects of writing a graphic novel is planning out your panels—it’s the storyboard of your work. Unless you’re writing Marvel style, you’ll need to break the contents of each page into panels. A panel is a tricky thing, full of possibilities and limitations. In this guide, we’ll show you how to plan your novel for the best pacing and storytelling.

Click here to read more.

Q&A: Comedian Scott Thompson
The National Post
Stephen Baldwin

Q Your upcoming graphic novel was initially a screenplay, what happened?

A Well it’s a comedy-fantasy-epic with a lot of kinky sex, and that’s just not something people make, unless you’re a superstar, and I’m not. I had to think about another way to get it out. The story has a 28-foot woman and telepathic mammoths that fly, and people have sex with everyone, and there’s gay sex, straight sex, S&M, sex with centaurs, I mean it’s all over the map. Well, I know, you heard sex with centaurs and lost your focus. … I began reading more graphic novels around the time that I realized that this screenplay wouldn’t materialize, and I realized that it was perfect for this project.

Click here to read more.

Jewish graphic novel exhibit open in Schaffer Library
Union College.edu

"Of Maus and Men(sch)," an exhibit created by students in English professor Judith Lewin’s Freshman Year Preceptorial, "Jewish + Graphic + Novel," is open in the Periodicals Reading Room at Schaffer Library.

It runs through April 15.

The course, held winter term, focused on reading graphic novels written by Jews on Jewish subjects, learning critical analysis and learning to write college-level essays. "We investigated the creation of the graphic novel genre, its terminology and visual and textual logic, and why and how it became associated with Jews and Jewish issues," said Lewin.

"Maus" refers to "Maus: A Survivor’s Tale," by Art Spiegelman, a biography in graphic narrative form of the author's father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Holocaust survivor. The only comic book ever to have won a Pulitzer Prize, the work depicts Jews as mice and Germans as cats.

Click here to read more.