A Small Side Note...

The best metaphor for the comic book marketplace that I've read in a long time:

"I wonder how much would change if Diamond initiated a first-phase toward making its product returnable? A first step toward growing up and actually being a responsible, professional book distributor? It would take a lot of unnecessary risk off of comics retailers, and it would force Diamond to take ownership of its own place in the grand scheme of things. The current, dying system obviously allows Diamond to possess all the power and virtually none of the risk -- so much so that operating a comic book store with Diamond as your only source of product is clearly a sucker's game -- if not the ethical equivalent of being the black-eyed wife in an abusive marriage, shrieking at the cops "But I LOVE HIM!" as the cops haul him into the back of the squad car once again, certain he'll be back at home with all forgiven within 24 hours. Wednesday's always just around the corner, after all."

Many thanks to Mr. Alan David Doane for putting things so succinctly.

Damnation Crusade #6

My contibution to the issue was very small (a handful of panel revisions and a few fill-in pages), but my work is in there and the book should be in stores soon. I'll post when the issue is released, but in the meantime you can find more info here and here on the Boom! webpage. Also, a trade collection of the entire series is available for pre-order from Amazon.

Blood & Thunder Day 14

Or thereabouts. I'm not quite sure how accurate that count is at this point, but it's pretty close.

Layouts have officially been approved, and though I've got just a few character details to sort out, I'm free to move ahead into penciling. There's a small crunch as things are a few days behind schedule, but it should all be fine if I can get up to a good pace. The only delays have been due to the time it takes to get everything to all the right people so the material can be cleared to move ahead. Such is the nature of licensed properties. It means things are probably going to continue at a somewhat frantic pace for the entire project, but so be it. There's really no way around that. The gratifying part was that my layouts were approved without any real requests for changes. I've got a pretty clear vision of how I'm going to move ahead and I'm glad that powers that be trust me enough to let me do so.

OK, that's it for now. I'm going to rule out a few more panel borders and then I'm off to bed. More to come...

Blood & Thunder Day 9

The saga continues.

It's just about 8am and I can finally go to bed. Layouts are about three quarters of the way done, and should be finished by the end of the day barring any revision work. I'd like to spend some more time on character designs, but otherwise things should be moving to the pencil stage very soon. Everything I've done so far is very "hush hush" so I've unfortunately no art work to post at present.

Oh, and Workaholic got back to me with two more storyboard sequences. It's going to be a while before I can really relax or rest.

More to come...

A Small Reminder...

...in honor of our current regime of crooks and liars:

“When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

“Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.”

Try to have a happy 4th of July.

Thanks to G. Michael Dobbs for the the above quote.