Creator Owned Day

It's Creator Owned Day today, which means comic creators such as myself are talking up their books. I'm currently lettering a creator-owned book called Bedlam (which you should be buying!) but I don't own it... But I do own Archie Snow.

Archie, for those of you who remember, appeared in nearly thirty issues of Proof back in the late 2000's. In 2009, I was contacted to produce a mythology-based story for an anthology that never quite took flight. I released the story (relettered with a fancy cover) as a digital download at the Montreal Comic Con last year. But for those of you who missed it...

Here it is. Happy Creator Owned Day!

Archie Snow: Milarepa

Here's the cover: it was drawn by me and inked by the great Riley Rossmo. It appears for the first time ever. I hope you enjoy it, I hope you dig the story, and I hope you go out and buy some fine creator-owned books (like Bedlam) from your local merchants.

John Wayne for my dad

Yesterday was my father's birthday. I drew him a pretty decent John Wayne ten years ago so I thought I might update his Wayne collection for him. I get my love of both James Bond and Westerns from my dad; although his favorite cowboy is John Wayne and mine is Clint Eastwood.

Here's a good 'dad' story. One morning, Dad was all dressed up in his long leather duster and his favorite Stetson as he was going to take his horse Babe out for a ride. My brother, sister and I had walked out to the end of the driveway (a few hundred metres) to meet the schoolbus. The bus arrived just as we heard my mother yell to my sister, "You forgot your lunch!" There was no time to go back for it, so we decided we had to go. When we got on the bus, everyone was looking very intently out the window in the direction of our house: my father, in full regalia, was riding Babe full-tilt down the driveway with my sister's lunch in his free hand. He rode up to the side of the bus, handed my sister the brown paper bag, and said, "Here you are, little lady."

I love you, dad. If I'm a good father at all, it's all because of you.

Popsicle Pirate

Sometime last year, my wife bought a little wooden pirate's face from Omer de Serres (the Quebec art supply store). The moment I laid eyes on his boring little face, I knew I'd have to take a whack at it.

So, he's done! I had my acrylic paint and hot glue out last weekend for another job. I thought he came out rather well, so here's the scoop: his face is my gift to you. Just print him off and slap him on your own face and you're a popsicle pirate too!

"What pirates? Nobody here but us Girl Guides!"

Bilbo Baggins, Esquire

Drawing some Hobbit sketches before I see the movie and its design sense creeps into my imagining of them. I have very fond memories of Mr. Best reading The Hobbit to us in grade four: I wish I could find the drawing I did of Smaug back then! I just re-read the book the other night; I can't wait to read it to my daughter when she's a little bit older.

I drew Mr. Baggins in my sketchbook last night while watching a bad movie. One of my top five literary heroes. I love that little guy.

Montreal Mini Comic Con

  Memo Man! His weapon is Post-It notes.

 Azazel gets good news

Zombie caricature (this dude was totally into it) 

The Red Hood 

Rebel Blood-style zombie moose

The Montreal Mini Comic Con was yesterday! The show went very well; it was the best mini-con I've had in a few years. Thanks very much to everyone who came to my table. I sold out of most of my books and did a bunch of sketches (many for new fans, which is great). Met Marvel artist Nick Bradshaw, who was very cool. We had a nice chat about N.C. Wyeth, and Wolverine.


Now comes the big push before Christmas; finishing up freelance design and illustration work, clearing my commission list (thanks again, everyone!), and finishing up letters for the next issues of Bedlam, Dia de Los Muertos and a new unannounced book.

It's been a hard year, but it's been a very good one. I am very grateful for my fans, my students, my friends, and my family; I really couldn't do any of it without you.

Mom

It was my mom's birthday this week, so I drew her up a little inkwash drawing to put in her card. I coloured it this morning, and here it is. I love you, Mom!

Breakfast on the Death Star

Recently, my good buddy Josh Stafford contacted me about donating some artwork. The excellent Mayfair Theatre in scenic Ottawa, Ontario, is running an IndieGoGo fundraiser to pay for a new digital projector. Since the Mayfair needs the projector to continue running, and since I want the Mayfair to continue to run, I said 'yes'.

"Breakfast on the Death Star" will be available to bid on at the silent auction being held December 1st and 2nd at the Mayfair Theatre in Ottawa. It is acrylic, 11"x14". If you are unable to attend, I highly suggest adding a few dollars to the Mayfair's IndieGoGo campaign.

Mayfair force be with you!

Pirate-style wanted poster

My excellent nephew Dane turned five years old this past week. I wanted to do something nice for him, but nothing cool immediately jumped to mind. I'd done the map of Blackbeard for him previously, so I thought I'd stick with the piratical theme and struck upon the notion of doing a wanted poster for him.

The idea came to me as I was watching Aardman's excellent The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists for the umpteenth time with my mother. Wanted posters are a big part of the plot (with the Pirate Captain's wanted poster starting out at a pathetic 12 doubloons and increasing exponentially as the movie goes on), so I started with the original design of the Pirate Captain's wanted poster and made it unique to Dane.

I took a piece of heavy 11x17 Bristol board and soaked it in tea (decaf, the wretched stuff). After it dried, I went over it with dirty ink for the greyscale stuff and thick black ink (using a brush) for the important stuff. I was pretty happy with it, it's a neat-looking piece with a good sense of scale. I had planned on folding it up but I was so happy with it that I made a cardboard carrying case for it, as my mother was taking on a plane with her.

My sister-in-law sent a charming little video of Dane opening up his gift (which included a DVD of The Pirates! and a skull-topped pencil) and it made my day. Thanks to director Peter Lord and writer Gideon Defoe for making a great movie that continues to inspire me, and thanks to pirates (who know why they're the best).

Montreal Comic Con roundup

Another Montreal Comic Con has come and gone. The show has ballooned from less than a thousand people only a couple of years ago to something like 20,000 people. That's great for the city and the show itself, but I definitely felt the growing pains this year. Sales were lower than last year, which were lower than the year before that. I think the show is entering that comfortable sweet spot for bigger guests, but it's becoming less profitable for fellows like myself.

Here's a sample of the sketches that kept me busy all weekend. Thanks to everyone that came out to see me and pick up some comics, pages, and sketches from me.

 Spoiler Robin

 

Spider-Man

 

Solid Snake 

 

The Spectre

  

Batman Beyond 

 

Shepard (from Mass Effect) Gangnam Style

The Spectre

Ariel (from Green Wake)

Speaking of Green Wake... Kurtis Wiebe won the Shuster Award for Best Writer on Saturday night! Since Kurtis couldn't be at the show, I accepted on his behalf. Very proud of him and very proud of the book.

Other highlights of the show included the three panels I did on Saturday; my own panel on Making Comics (the class I teach at Syn Studio), the Elephantmen panel with my excellent friend Richard Starkings, and the Ben Templesmith panel. Ben is a tremendously clever and fun guy, I had a great time chatting with him all weekend. I also had the great pleasure of meeting the tremendously talented Mark Chiarello and seeing the unlettered, uncoloured pages from Hellboy in Hell #1 (thanks to Christine and Mike Mignola for such an honor). I spent a bit of time with Darwyn Cooke and he told me some good news about upcoming Parker projects. Very exciting.

Back to business! Bedlam #1 is on its way and I'm supplying the letters for it. It's some of Riley's best work yet and I can't wait until its unleashed on the world.

Montreal Comic Con & Comics Alliance

First up, a big 'thank you' to Lauren Davis at Comics Alliance: she wrote a very complimentary article about my work on September 1st. The article can be read here. I am flattered and amazed that one of my favorite sites about comics took the time to talk about what I do. Thanks again, Comics Alliance!

I am a guest of the Montreal Comic Con again this year. This has been my go-to show for the last four years; Montreal is my home now and it's been amazing to see the show go from a couple thousand people at most to the media event it has become.

If you are interested in tracking me down at the show, here's how to find me:

I will be at table 1710, next to the intimidating Mark Chiarello. I will also be at two panels: I am running one myself called Making Comics (Saturday, 11 AM) which will be about making your own minicomics, and I will be moderating the Elephantmen panel with the marvelous Richard Starkings at 4 PM on Saturday. Don't miss 'em, there are a lot of surprises in store.

I will be selling minicomics, comics, trade paperbacks, and doing sketches in varying sizes. I will also have a unique item this year: if you purchase something from me, you will get a card with a website and a password on it. This combination will allow you to download and unlock a pdf with a brand-new 8-page Archie Snow story! I completed the story a while ago for an ill-fated anthology, and it has sat on the shelf for long enough. I am doing a Montreal Comic Con exclusive cover for the PDF: this will not be made available again after the show and I am limiting the cards to only two hundred and fifty.

Here is a sneak peak of the exclusive cover:

Come early, I will not be reserving these. When they are gone, they are gone.

Hope to see you at the show!