The Itty-Bitty Print Run

If anyone is curious how many of these are out there that number is 250. Greg came up with the idea to do them numbered since our print run was small and sold me on it right away. What you're looking at here is the back cover of the final issue of the print run. You'll notice it's numbered 251/250--this is because the proof (with my brilliant typo) got the numero uno. So that's what we've got. Back cover here is penciled by Jonathan A. Rector of Toronto, Canada, inked and colored by Greg Harms. Mail orders are all put together and I've now got about forty or so copies left, but like I said there are some with Gibson Quarter and Greg, and I've got some set aside for Amazing Arizona. If you'd like a copy and you don't live near these guys and you're not going to be at the con, well...Paypal is at the right. And for those of you that already have one in the mail, please let me know what you think after you have a chance to read the book. If you have any ideas for me, send those my way as well. I am definitely not above stealing ideas. Kind of what writers do. Goodnight.

UNDERTOW AT LAST!

One day short of a month, and one revision later, my first ever self-published comic UNDERTOW #1 and I have been united at last! It appears there was a collaborated effort between the shipping guy and the USPS to utterly destroy half of the print run, but the day would be mine in the end--not a single book was damaged thank the gods! I realize I'm over two weeks behind, so many apologies to those who have purchased the book in advance. Those orders went out today via priority mail and I will do my damnedest to hit my release date for #2 (um...not sure what that date is yet).


For those of you who have considered buying the book, you've probably noticed that it's for sale here on my website. I'm signing all copies going out unless you request otherwise. If anyone would like to buy a copy of the book made out to anyone in particular please let me know I'd be happy to do it. Some of the copies that went out today were made out to those who ordered or their kids/family--thank you all so much for buying the book I'm feeling the love. It's been the best Christmas gift ever to have your support out there.


The illustrators in the book have a ton of fans and friends out there as well. I've put a fair amount of copies in the capable hands of Ghost Hill Greg Harms, and there will soon be some with Gibson Quarter also. If you're in the vicinity of these gents, for sure hit them up. UNDERTOW #1 will also be on sale at the Amazing Arizona Comic Convention in Mesa, Arizona on January 8th and 9th. If you're in the area come check me out--I'll be there with Greg Harms, Roman Morales III and friends it is going to be a great time and there's sure to be more cool stuff than you can look at in a weekend.

And one last picture just to show everybody the big smile on my face...it's hard to beat whiskey and my Spider-Man tee shirt, but throw in comic books and consider it done. Thank you all again and hello to the new people checking out my blog. Feel free to drop me an email any time or check me out on Facebook to let me know a few things about yourselves. Thanks for reading.

The OG Revealed

To commemorate the FTP sendoff of UNDERTOW #1 to the printer (www.comicbookprinting.com) I've decided to post the 4th and final story from the issue--"The Organ-Grinder." These pages were redone recently by Gibson Quarter, and I ended up doing a rewrite of the story to keep up with the new work. The eight-page Organ-Grinder story will be followed up with a 2nd episode (running thirteen pages) in UNDERTOW #2 this spring. Enjoy.

Thanks to the Fans and Friends

Just about to wrap up my trip to the Wizard World Comic Con in Austin, Texas and wanted to say thank you to everyone who came by to see Greg Harms and myself and bought the UNDERTOW PREVIEW, or visited the website. We were hosted by McLain McGuire and the Capstone Comics Publishing group in Austin and you will never in your life meet a more talented and fun group of people so thank you to all of them as well. Can't remember the last time I had so much fun.

Here are a few pictures taken by members of the Capstone group. I'll put up more when I make it back to Washington. Also, a message out to Rita and Brian Moore--I love you guys you made Greg and I feel right at home. Can't wait to see you again. Thanks for the memories, folks.

Greg and Tommy Phillips working away, selling and scribbling. Two great guys, of course. Keep and eye out for CAPE TOWN, Tommy's upcoming book from CCP.

It's me! I was seated next to Greg so I've got a bunch of his beautiful prints along with some issues of Pinpoint from Big Dog Ink that he did some inking in.

And a huge highlight of the con for me--meeting Joe-Freaking-Madureira! This guy was on the Uncanny X-Men back when I was in college and has been a huge influence on comic illustration ever since. Guy is maybe forty years old now--just a kid back when he came on the scene. Very cool guy. I had the chance to talk with him for a minute and he signed some of the UNDERTOW PREVIEWS for Greg, GQ, and myself. It was worth the hour and a half wait. Ouch.

BOO-YUH!

Just so we're clear THIS IS NOT UNDERTOW #1. Although Greg Harms and I have been busting ass (mostly Greg) to finish the edits so that this issue would be available for Wizard World Austin (November 12-14) we realized we were running into some lag time with getting the issue back from the printer so we decided to stop briefly and get some things squared away for this con. Our friend Gibson Quarter threw in his two cents (Canadian) as he usually does and said I needed to do some type of advertising for the book and suggested an ashcan (small comic book) among other things. I liked the idea, and then took it way too far as I often do with things--luckily Greg was with me--we did some edits over a few days, I headed to a local printer here in Bellingham, WA (Copy Source), and just over 24 hours later get a call back that the books are done.



So what we've got here is the UNDERTOW Austin Comic Con Preview, which I affectionately refer to as the Ashcan (and some posters at the bottom left corner). The Ashcan is sixteen pages long, contains the first half from each of the four stories featured in UNDERTOW #1, along with some of the concept art from Greg and Roman Morales III. There are 250 copies of this edition, and that's all there will ever be. I've added a Paypal link for anyone that might be interested in purchasing one of these in the next week or so, but after that there are no guarantees--the rest of these books are going to Texas. So if you're interested please buy one, or buy one along with an advance purchase of UNDERTOW #1 and save some money on the shipping ($4 for the first book, $1 for each additional). I hope you like what you're seeing so far. Wish Greg and I luck in Austin if nothing else we are going to have a good time.

THE LAST BOAT HAS SAILED!

My season here in AK has wrapped up and I'm shortly heading out to God-knows-where. Figured I was long overdue on an update here, especially after all the beautiful work that's been coming my way, most of it thanks to Greg Harms and his valiant work on UNDERTOW #1 (available December 1). Greg has been doing the graphic design for the cover of the book in its entirety, along with the color work and inking. One of the most talented people I know, and an amazingly hard worker as well. Here's what he's been up to.

This is a preliminary design for the new 7th Wave logo inspired by Roman Morales III and an illustration he did for the inside cover of the book (shown below).


Here are Greg's inks over Roman's pencil work. These two guys make up THIRD EMPIRE STUDIOS and the quality of their work shows how much time they've spent working together. Glad to have them lending me a hand. This page will actually contain the table of contents and creator info for the book as well as the copyright notice. Damn shame to cover up any of this work, but there will be more to come from them in the near future.


No blog post would be complete without an illustration from Jonathan A. Rector. Here's the pencil drawing for what will be the back cover of the book after Greg inks, colors it, and does some graphic design at the top and bottom of the page. It's to promote THE FORGETTING in UNDERTOW #2. Can't wait.


And here's the next step in the process. Inks by Greg Harms. Looking great, thanks guys.

Call 661-400-9724 and Set Up an Appointment

Got some good help last week from a great guy I haven't had the chance to meet yet. His name is Roman Morales III and he's the founder of Third Empire Studios. Roman resides in Los Angeles and is a tattoo artist as well as an excellent penciler. Also a marine and police officer for over 15 years. How cool is that? Even better, one of his pieces will be appearing in UNDERTOW #1. Greg Harms is doing the lion's share of the work putting this cover together, and seeing as Greg is the other half of Third Empire Studios, Roman was willing to jump in and put together a collage of characters from the book. I had the idea of putting the characters against Greg's original 7th Wave logo and it worked out better than I'd imagined. I LOVE TEAMWORK! Thank you to you both. Roman's original pencils are below, along with some other stuff I've pulled from his portfolios. Make sure to check out the links these guys do beautiful work. Oh, yeah, and call Roman to set up an appointment for a tattoo.

SHAZAM!

That was the word that came to mind when I saw the finished colors for the cover of UNDERTOW #1 done by Ghost Hill Greg Harms. Coincidentally, the color scheme for the cover is the same as the costume of the DC Comics hero by the same name. Think I'll just leave that one there, not sure where I was going with it...

I'm pleased with the finished product needless to say, both Greg and Gibson Quarter did their best work on this one and we should be seeing the title and new 7th Wave Comics logo on here some time next week. Progress for the inside of the cover continues as well, I'll show you some of what's going on there tomorrow. Have a good night, folks, and remember--UNDERTOW #1 will be available here December 1, 2010, and if things keep going as well as they are now I'll even have copies available at the Wizardworld Austin Comic Convention in mid-November which I'll be attending with Greg Harms. Check out some of his prints at the link above there's some great stuff on there.

THE FORGETTING Unfolds

Tell you what getting on this guy's work list is worth the wait. After much correspondence to hash out some details and the character designs, Jonathan A. Rector is making his way through the introduction of THE FORGETTING with grace, skill, and seeming ease. Tough part's coming up, though, JAR, so let's not get cocky. Here's what we've got for you in the meantime.

PAGE SIX


PAGE FIVE


PAGE FOUR


PAGE THREE

CONSTRUCT RAGES

I've been putting up a lot of story material for upcoming issues from UNDERTOW, and thought it would be a good time to share some work from another creative team. The story is CONSTRUCT vs. FATHER EARTH, featuring Construct--a robot whose psyche I won't begin to delve into. Construct is created by write (and artist) Mike White. Pages here are penciled by Grant Perkins, an artist (and writer). Take a look--I'm eager to see some more on these pages. Grant also has in own book on sale: Dwayne Hickenbottom and the War Boots of Doxsville, which runs a cool 155 pages. Yowzers. I'm gonna go see.

JAR Inside My Head

I'll have to go back and read through this script--my panel descriptions must be OUT OF SIGHT because Jonathan A. Rector is putting the lines on the page like we were Siamese twins sharing a head. Hard to explain how excited I am about a few things these days. Two great ongoing stories--THE FORGETTING (below), and THE ORGAN-GRINDER (from Gibson Quarter), not to mention in impending arrival of UNDERTOW #1. Available here December 1.

Here's page 2 from THE FORGETTING by JAR--kicking off in UNDERTOW #2 spring of 2011.

THE FORGETTING HAS ARRIVED

Don't have long this evening but this one NEEDED to be posted. Not too many guys put out pencils looking this fine. Page one of THE FORGETTING courtesy of Jonathan A. Rector. Thanks, JAR. This introduction to this story will be appearing in UNDERTOW #2, available Spring 2011.

RED SKY IN THE MORNING...

Big day today for UNDERTOW #1, my first self-published issue coming your way December 1st. The cover nears completion and I got my first glimpse of the colors for the front cover, courtesy of Ghost Hill Greg Harms. They are gonna be baaad.

Sorry there, GQ, but this is all of this one you're going to see until it is fini--title, logo, and all. Prepare thyself, this is quite the cover you started cooking up.

Roman Moralles III of Third Empire Studios is now on board, too, bringing along bring the firepower and visual BTU's to make this thing potentially explode in your hand. I cannot wait to see how this turns out. Don't know what else to say about it except I AM HAVING FUN.

And lastly, THE FORGETTING has begun. This story, penciled by JAR and inked by the versatile G.H. Greg will appear in UNDERTOW #2. This issue is already well under way, available late this spring and also featuring the saga of the ORGAN-GRINDER. Just to leave you with a taste of things to come here is another design by JAR from THE FORGETTING.

THE FORGETTING -- Character Designs

Here are three final (or more final, at least) designs of characters Sever, Luxa, and the Forgetter, who I described in an earlier post. They will be appearing in my story THE FORGETTING, beginning in UNDERTOW #2 (available Spring 2011).

It's been a productive couple of weeks away from my real job. The content for UNDERTOW #1 is complete with only some cover work left to be finished up. Printed copies of the issue will be available for purchase here online on December 1, 2010 for $4.00 each plus $4.00 shipping and handling ($1.00 shipping and handling each for additional copies).

Rough edits of three of the four stories have already been posted here on my blog, along with a few random pages of the fourth story, "The Organ-Grinder." Characters from this story are featured on the book's front cover (color cover), and have already been posted in one of the artists' online portfolios in black and white. You'll have to take a look around and see where it is if you're curious.

The issue contains four stories told in black and white, totaling 32 pages and featuring the artwork of Peter Honrade, Rick Hudson, Greg Harms, and Gibson Quarter. Take a look around, see what you think and maybe leave some feedback via comment or email, and hopefully I'll see you back in December to buy the book.

FACELESS -- Part 2

Here are pages 5 through 8 of the story "Faceless" illustrated by Peter Honrade. I've been working on these off and on the past few days with my primary goal being "don't screw up" rather than trying to be flashy and/or artistic. I think it turned out alright, though.

I'm headed upstairs to see if Tanner the chihuahua is still breathing or has possibly crapped on the floor after eating roughly 4 ounces of rat poison over the last two days. A strange diet, yes, I know, but on the upside it does turn his feces blue which also complements Heather's white shag carpet nicely, especially in that clear, early morning light...

For any of the multitude stopping at my site regularly who are interested in reading the first half of this story it was posted earlier on my blog. In May, possibly? Enjoy!