Please MIND Cow Boy and Bat Man

 Here's an update for page 78 - bringing back the villains from earlier (much earlier by now) in Part One. Max Von Sydow and Jason Miller from the Exorcist were my models for the Sadducees - though if you were to look at them, of course, you'd probably not "see it." Dustin isn't based on anyone in particular.

(You'd probably be surprised to see who the other characters are based off - ask away, I'll tell you).

The directors of the mysterious murderer chasing Evelyn, Casey and Howard is revealed to be Dustin Mugabe by his directors in Damnit Mugabe. Hope you like it!

See more by following the links:

• Fundraising Faux-Pas,
• King Street Capers
• General comics (updated May 5)
• Tomb of the Undead(updated Apr. 29), or the
• Mugabe comic strip (Pinocchio parody)

Graphic novel news
Described as "Deadwood for kids," Cow Boy is cute ... but read how this story has a hard look at the price people say for choosing to be moral, and melancholy. Also, read how Lost co-creator and showrunner Damon Lindelof found his way to being involved with Jeff Lemire and a new Batman digital novel. Lastly, read about the thick and intense data being crammed into each issue of MIND MGMT - so much the author says reading it all in one sitting "might be hazardous to your mental health."

'Cow Boy' By Nate Cosby And Chris Eliopoulos: More Than Cute [Review] 
Matt D. Wilson
Comics Alliance

Speaking with Chris Sims and me on the War Rocket Ajax podcast a few weeks ago, Cosby described Cow Boy as "Deadwood for kids." Thematically, that's a pretty good comparison. Both stories take a hard look at the price people pay for choosing to be moral, and have a pretty strong underlying sense of melancholy as a result.

Click to read more.

EXCLUSIVE: Damon Lindelof On His And Jeff Lemire's "Batman" Digital Comic 
Jeffrey Renaud
Comic Book Resources

What happened was that I basically became obsessed with Jeff [Lemire]. [Laughs] I read "Sweet Tooth" and was like, "Holy shit. Who is this guy?" I googled him and found out about "Essex County," so I ran out and grabbed the collected edition and read it cover to cover. Then I tweeted about him and about how awesome "Sweet Tooth" was. And then, he tweeted back at me, we exchanged email addresses and just started talking to each other.

Click to read more.

Matt Kindt Shares the Secrets of "3 Story" & "Mind MGMT" 
Shaun Manning
Comic Book Resources

The series ... deals with questions of how we perceive the world and how those perceptions are manipulated, and Kindt said this will play out through the series' episodic format.

"I think a lot of the inspiration for how I'm telling the story this time around came from the actual format that the story is in," Kindt said. "At this point it seems like there's no one making monthly comics anymore. The monthly comics come out but they're mostly written for trades. So I'm actually trying to make a 24-page comic that is a satisfying read all on its own. To me, that means making something that takes a while to get through. And something that will take multiple readings to get everything out of it.

[....] So the inside covers/back covers have super dense stories and there are back cover ads with secret messages and that actually work as a bigger puzzle (when you put the first six issues together). And I'm writing a MIND MGMT field guide that I'm threading into the borders of each page -- guide excerpts that give you insight into the MIND MGMT organization but also serve double duty by commenting on the actual page you're reading. I'm hoping it's dense. I did a similar thing with 'Super Spy.' I was writing that book as a weekly 8-page comic. Each week had to stand on its own. And then when I put it together in the eventual graphic novel it became this crazy dense puzzle-box of a book. 'Mind MGMT' is following a similar path, I think. I think it will be way healthier to read this book in monthly installments rather than waiting for the collection -- that might be hazardous to your mental health."

Click to read more.

Batman's Arkham Reborn

I have to admit that I don't read a lot of comics or graphic novels. I have always, always loved the way that they capture a new world and environment and go forward with it in pictures. The artwork has always been a joy to consume - but I never got into the habit of getting comics, or following along with the characters. And I almost feel like I've been left out seeing how many comics are turning into movies (esp. knowing that The Watchmen - a successful movie by my standards) was such a complete story in comic form before the film. I had no idea.

Anyhow David Hine has written a new chapter to the Batman series, focusing on the asylum of Gotham City.

In a recent interview with Comic Book Resources, David Hine said: “I have a natural affinity for crazy people. If you look at my work, particularly [my Image graphic novel] ‘Strange Embrace,’ you’ll see I’m more interested in twisted psychological thrillers than action stories. I’ve learned to write action scenes because that’s so much a part of the American mainstream comics scene, but those scenes are always less important than the psychological stuff. The trick is to externalize the psychosis so that you can make it work dramatically.”

If he was looking for psychosis, he came to the right place with Arkham Reborn.

The book picks up where Hine left off in his Battle For The Cowl: Arkham Asylum one-shot (collected in Batman: Battle For The Cowl Companion). The asylum has been rebuilt after it’s destruction at the hands of the mysterious new Black Mask. Under Dr. Jerimiah Arkham’s guidance, it now looks more like a temple of healing than a prison for the criminally insane. But Arkham’s honeymoon is short-lived, as strange things start happening to the inmates, pushing the doctor himself to the brink of sanity. The story then jumps forward to shortly after the events of Batman: Life After Death. Black Mask is now an inmate, and Jerimiah Arkham must ask himself if he’s the one truly running the asylum. Or for that matter, if he’s ever been the one.

The premise sounds like an exciting blend of a psychological thriller as well as a demented taste of action and insanity. Of course Hine needn't create his own characters or environment what with borrowing it all from DC comics and decades of commercial success in the franchise (Except Batman Forever).

Tomb of the Undead
I've been taking my edits and rewrites and reconfigurations and ideas and applying them to the existing script I drafted out last month. So far, I've managed to get through the first two acts and I'm quite happy with how it's going. I'm eager to get started on the artwork and production, so I don't know how much longer I'll take to carefully ensure that every little detail is exactly what it should be before I get to production.

Will you find plot holes and inconsistencies when you read it? ... my guess is that you will. I've never been to France, an airport in Pennsylvania, a curator's office, an archaeological dig, Cyprus or Greece, the Mediterranean Sea, in a plane crash, in a slaughterhouse or the European countryside, for example. So even my scenery will be a bit flawed, let alone ever held a position as an archaeologist, priest, rabbi, prophet or assassin. So this is definitely going to a genuine work of fiction, despite the historical research involved - I didn't conduct any interviews with professionals on my subject matter. If I were to move in a more professional direction with this - I'm sure that I would.

Anyhow - the script is around 31,000 words and 115 pages (1.5 spacing) right now - which is a large body of work. I'm excited to get more work done on it. It's really come together as a cohesive unit where the characters all have some input on the plot and development of protagonists, which are good signs that I've done lots of work on the script. I'm happy with it.

I hope everyone will enjoy as it move along.

Thanks.