Comics Creators on Live Journal

Fourth Panel Estate #3: Secretly a National Park

2008-07-18T16:10:14Z

Written By: Will Davies

I can’t normally talk about parallel universes without having to tap my own bile. It’s been something of an inflammatory subject, ever since those bastards from Parallel Earth Nine-and-a-Bit came over and started hiding all my small change. Fortunately the alternate reality presented in “Templar, Arizona” neither wreaks havoc on my oesophagus or penny jar as it is not wholly obsessed with the idea. The execution is somewhat more subtle than goatee’s and swastikas with the creator, Spike Trotman, focussing in on the titular town and all the colourful new cultures that exist within.

For the full article please click the link below:
http://news.septagonstudios.com/?p=230

The Septagon Briefing #2: Conventions

2008-07-15T18:36:23Z

Written By: Dr. Preston Park Cooper

You want to make comics. Let’s say you’re a writer, which is what I know the best, being in that position myself. (What’s below will often work pretty well whomever and whatever you are, though.)

You want companies to pay attention to you, so you can get work published.

Here’s one way that many companies suggest doing this: come and meet them at conventions.

For the full article please click on the link below:
http://news.septagonstudios.com/?p=228

Bad Hair Day

2008-07-15T16:18:02Z

Hello all. This is my first post here and I thought i would start by posting a short comic I drew recently.

comic_creators @ 2008-07-15T11:18:00

2008-07-15T09:45:21Z

I`d like to show something I`ve done long time ago, a comission...No, rather a contest :) I didn`t win, but it was a lot of fun anyway :D
The text was given, I just did the drawing ^_^
The rest is in the gallery :)

Shocking Developments For Super Sam

2008-07-13T16:13:40Z

A page of my ongoing webcomic, Super Sam and John of the Night. The Sam and John comic strip started out as a series of one page gag strips, but as I've developed the concept, it probably was inevitable that I would start exploring darker themes, as this is both very much in my nature.

All previous episodes can be seen here. forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/?cat=21

comic_creators @ 2008-07-11T17:59:00

2008-07-11T14:00:06Z

Fourth Panel Estate #2: Caught by the Fuzzy

2008-07-10T19:21:09Z

Written By: Will Davies

It’s true what they say about critics. Even the bits about Dagon and the hibiscus plant. We’re all horribly bitter people who failed to succeed in their chosen field and have to resort to shouting at people from the side lines. Fortunately there’s nothing better than failure to prepare you for industry journalism because all that experience that you garner not making films, or writing books or whatever at least qualifies you to waffle incessantly about the work of your would be peers. But no matter how professional you try to be, no matter how high your brow, the bitterness always seeps through one way or the other. It finally got to me this week and as a result I find myself in a very awkward position, because this week’s comic is without fault.

For the Full article please click on the link below:
http://news.septagonstudios.com/?p=223

Dark Id - Cogito Ergo Non Sum

2008-07-10T10:36:57Z

Yo there fellows. :) As I'm generally not into creating web comics, I rarely post here, but occassionally I make something short enough to actually put it online, so here goes.
There's a point, only don't expect to be laughing. ;)

7 Questions With: Ben Templesmith

2008-07-08T19:40:55Z

Interviewed By: NickD

Artist and Writer Ben Templesmith of the new comic book from IDW Welcome to Hoxford, stops by the Septagon News Blog to talk about his upcoming comic book. Fans of Wormwood and Singularity Seven should be prepared for another ride of fantastic art and great storytelling. And yea…there will be blood.

For the full interview please click the link below:
http://news.septagonstudios.com/?p=221

Concepción Webcomic 29/36

2008-07-08T06:55:37Z

This is the FREE webcomic version of my 12 page comic CONCEPCIÓN.
Only 7 episodes left. This will be the last episode X-Posted to Livejournal communities.
Click Here to view Set
Click Here to subscribe to Feed

Flashback recap and update for July 07, 2008

2008-07-07T22:27:22Z

Flashback beats Wizard.

Cory Brown and I got up to Rosemont, Illinois in rapid time despite all the construction on the Illinois toll road. The Crowne Plaza O'Hare hotel (where Flashback was held) allowed us to park there all day since we were checking in later that afternoon. The set-up for Flashback began at 11:30am Friday, but I can set up in a half hour (and Cory merely unzips his portfolio and he's good to go). Cory and I then went across the street to see what Wizard World was throwing down at the convention center. I was pleased to see a lot of fans lined up down River Road to get into the place. I hadn't seen that in years. We got in at 10:00am and agreed to meet back at some big inflatable thing (which was promoting Futurama) at 2:00pm.

The first funny thing we saw was the Iron Shiek nodding off at his table. I considered waking him up, but figured he'd probably punch me in the face if I did. The Marvel and Dark Horse booths weren't much to speak of this year. Avatar had a bigger presence than Marvel thanks to them bringing Warren Ellis in for the show. We were surprised to see Max Brooks there selling and signing copies of The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. He was also giving away free preview comics of "recorded zombie attacks." I met him later and got the survival guide from him. He was the first to comment on my "Masters of Horror" shirt, which features Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Vincent Price. I invited him across the street, where I figured he'd go bonkers for the Night of the Living Dead reunion. I never saw him at Flashback the whole weekend.

I looked for Mick Foley, hoping to get his signature on my copy of his first book, but he was nowhere to be seen. I dropped off four copies of Rocket Girl #2 to the CGC so they could be graded and slabbed. They told me to come back on Sunday. It was a bit pricey, but at least I didn't have to pay shipping.

Back in artists' alley, I saw Steve Piscione of Kaosfield Studios. He told me of his printing issues with Ka-Blam Printing and also said a sequel to Bullet (an anthology for which I wrote a short story) is in the works. I also saw G.W. Fisher, Casey and Kelly Heying, Al Schell, Philo, Terry Huddleston, Uko Smith, Mike Indovina, and Tim Vigil back in the alley. I sat at Tim's table for a while and chatted with him. It was good to catch up with him, and we came up with a goofy idea for a Tim Vigil comic that I need to write.

I handed out some copies of the reprinted Big Breasted Vampire Death and also picked up my copies of Scared Ya! I was sad to learn that one caption on one page is a bit cut off along the top, due mainly to my inexperience at resizing pages. You can still read it, however. I gave J.C. Filer his copies to sell at the show and he gave me the first of 50 copies of a new indie book of his - Rustbots Don't Go to Heaven.

I saw Crazy Ed at the show and he cut me a fantastic deal on a bunch of Silver and Bronze Age books, including the first appearance of the Abomination (with art by the great Gil Kane). I also saw Bob and Mike from Monsters Among Us.com. I met these guys at last year's Mid-Ohio-Con and bought the entire run of Hammer Studios' Hall of Horror monster magazine. I'm a freak for anything involving classic Hammer Studios films and Mike and Bob gave me a great deal on the entire series, but they were short issue 28. I asked if they had it, and they said they did. They searched their long boxes only to come up empty, so my quest for the elusive issue 28 continued. I told them about Flashback and they said they planned to check it out.

We headed across the street and were set up in no time. I was happy to see a big crowd waiting to get into the show. I sold a few books and got to meet George Romero for a second time. I finally got a photo with him, and he signed my copy of Dawn of the Dead. I gave him some Pickle Press books, but he wasn't sure if they'd get mailed to him. I told him I'd take the chance. I also met Judith O'Dea, the lead actress from Night of the Living Dead. She loved my "Masters of Horror" shirt so much she took a photo of me in it. I later gave her some Pickle Press books and she was stunned that I would do so. I also got to meet Don Coscarelli, director of Phantasm and Bubba Ho-tep. He signed my copy of Bubba Ho-tep and we talked comics for a bit. He too was thankful for a batch of Pickle Press books.

Much to my surprise, Mike and Bob showed up after Wizard had wrapped up for the day and they had the elusive issue 28 of Hall of Horror with them. It had been found in another box. It was a real treat and very cool of them to bring it over to me.

The Friday night showing of Night of the Living Dead quickly sold out, but Cory and I were too concerned with food to care. We walked down to Giordano's that night and slept like rocks later that evening.

Saturday was bonkers. We saw plenty of people from Wizard at the show. I sold a good amount of books and Cory sold some of his great prints. His painting of Captain Spaulding from House of 1000 Corpses drew a lot of attention to the table. Cory and I worked the table in shifts so we could meet Elvira. She still looks great. I gave her some Pickle Press books, and she was grateful for them. We talked indie publishing for a bit and she bemoaned the collapse of Claypool Comics, who published her last batch of Elvira comic books. I also got to meet Chicago monster movie host Svengoolie. He was also thankful for a batch of comics. I got a signed shirt from him and thanked him for all the fun and inspiration.

Again, hunger ruled the night so we didn't attend the screening of Phantasm. We met with Jason and Stacey Moser from Asylum Ink. Jason and Stacey are old indie comics pals I hadn't seen in two years. It was good to catch up with them at a small Italian restaurant. They told me Wizard Chicago is already moved back to August next year, which is very interesting to hear.

Sunday was slow, but I met some fun people including several yummy ladies from the Flaming Dames - a Chicago burlesque troupe who had performed at Flashback the previous night (www.myspace.com/flamingdames). Cory and I wrapped up Flashback and then went to Wizard for the last half hour. It was quiet there. I spoke with Mike Indovina and he told me he hadn't sold much all weekend. He wasn't in a great spot, but he said sales were bad even with that figured into the mix. Tim Vigil had done 2 or 3 commission sketches per day at the show, and he normally does at least eight per day. He told me he'd be lucky if he made back his table.

The problem with Wizard this year, and in recent years, has been their lackluster guest list and programming. There is nothing to shout about at Wizard any more. They have spread themselves too thin and are now suffering the consequences.

I made back my half of the table, so this makes three successful shows in a row. I hope GlamourCon (Aug. 23-24 - www.glamourcon.com) in Rosemont is just as good, if not better. If not, there will be plenty of eye candy to cheer me up.

In Pickle Press news, I'm working on a couple proposals for GlamourCon models and am almost done with the first part of The Last Stop Diner, which is about members of a chain gang and people at a late 1930's roadside diner trying to stop a Martian invasion. I'm figuring Paul Schultz will be drawing it, as he loves anything to do with Mars and would probably hit me in the face with a frying pan if I didn't let him draw it. I'm also submitting a couple short stories to a competition, so wish me luck.

More later.

Talking heads

2008-07-07T02:08:31Z

I saw a comic page that my friend did and I told him that he had too many talking heads going on. So I told him that I would post a page from Akira to show him how its done. Really reading Akira is like going to school. So I thought that the rest of you comic creators could benefit from this. I mean I've seen even awesome artists do these really boring talking head scenes. So here goes . Enjoy !

BTW sorry that I couldn't get the whole page : ( But I think you can see enough to get my point. Also another artist that is good at this is Frank Miller. I wish that I had my Daredevils here so that I could post some pages where he avoids talking heads.

SKREWD! Magazine.

2008-07-06T18:35:12Z

Hi! Looking to build some interest (and feedback) fro SKREWD! Magazine... Online adventure, humor in the vein of EC comics. Thanks for your time! -Team Skrewd
http://www.skrewdmagazine.com

Skrewd! Magazine

2008-07-06T05:56:50Z

Hi! Looking to build a little interest in the variety magazine SKREWD! Adventure and Humor in the vein of EC Comics. Have a look and let us know what you think, Thanks!

Hey artists, et al!

2008-07-05T23:04:07Z

I started a community for people who want to work along with the 15-week curriculum in Drawing Words & Writing Pictures, a how-to comics textbook recently published by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden for making comics, manga, or really any sequential art.

Anyone is invited to join... It's called nomads_ink - here's the Intro post. We'll be doing weekly homework assignments from the book starting next week, but it should be pretty fun. Please feel free to spread the word. No, I'm not affiliated with the publishers or authors. ;)

Fourth Panel Estate #1: The Future's Bright

2008-07-03T19:21:53Z

Written By: Will Davies

This is the Fourth Panel Estate, a column about web comics. Good web comics. Solely because I don’t have the vocal agility to rag on sub par junk. Also I lack a fetching hat and you can’t rag without the proper attire. I do however have galoshes which are the leg wear of choice for in depth review and bothering legitimate artists with inane and often pointless questions. I’ll be doing this weekly from now until one of two things happens. Either the column will bomb and Septagon will beat me up and leave me in a ditch or it’ll go really well, I’ll end up going too far and the secret web comic illuminati (read Dayfree Press) will come for me in the night with bolt cutters.

For the Full article please click on the link below:
http://news.septagonstudios.com/?p=217

For fans of Fathom

2008-07-01T21:29:32Z

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16988

An odd request

2008-07-01T19:01:06Z

This isn't the normal post to the comic_creators community, but this struck me as being one of the better places to inquire.

I'm a digital artist; all of my work is done via Photoshop and Painter. This means there aren't any originals. I've had a bad string of luck and the short version is that the hard drive that stores all of my art for the last seven years has been damaged. The drive itself is physically damaged and a good deal of my back-ups are gone.

While I wait for the data recovery service to attempt to salvage what data it can, I need a slightly more immediate solution to a pressing problem. Two of my lost pieces (ones whose back-ups are gone for good) are due to be in a gallery show. The only versions I have left of them are the web-sized ones I posted to my DeviantArt account.

Lately I've heard rumors of people who'd found their art stolen and being sold as prints, where the websized (72 DPI) versions had been upscaled via some program.

Does anyone here know if A) this program actually exists and B) whether the resulting quality is any good? Until I get a solid list of what's been recoverable from the service, this is the ONLY way I have of salvaging a great deal of my art.

Thanks for any help you might be able to offer.

Comic Auction

2008-07-01T16:05:24Z

Help support an artist and buy my beloved books I must part with.....

Scott Pilgrim volumes 1-3 Lost at Sea gn Oni Press

Shonen Weekly Jump Kadokawa Comics A japanese digests

Adrian Tomine scrapbook 1990-2004 optic nerve indy D&Q

Huge Paul Pope lot - PulpHope art book, thb, heavy liquid, 100% gn, one trick rip off

I'm going to art school and could use the money. Also these are a lot of great books I'm selling off!

need help looking

2008-07-01T02:34:22Z

Out of all the communities i'm subscribed to this one seems to be the most likely that could possibly help me out.
A magazine writer I know has an assignment to write about manga and/or anime and needs to find 1 or more people she can interview. The requirements being 1) has to be Japanese-American and 2) is doing something at least somewhat impressive (not just a fan who sketches pinups), like a somewhat popular self publisher of their own manga, a decent manga-styled freelance illustrator, or a professional mangaka living in America... or is somehow instrumental or important in the fandom. Bonus points for someone living in the SF/Bay area. If you can help me find someone like this, I would appreciate it. The writer isn't versed in the comics industry so she asked me to help find someone.

Promotionally Speaking #1: The Inauguration

2008-06-24T18:09:53Z

Written By: Susan Soares

Welcome to the inaugural edition of “Promotionally Speaking.” The journey we will embark upon in this monthly column is a familiar one for some, an unknown one for others and possibly a dreaded one for the rest. But it is an important journey nonetheless. This column is, and will continue to be, targeted toward those of you in the comic book industry.You may be an experienced creator who works for the “Big 3.” On the flipside, you may be a novice who has a story to tell and that’s all that matters.Each one of us has one thing in common – we want someone, anyone to read our stories, to admire our artwork.

For the Full Article please click the link below:
http://news.septagonstudios.com/?p=207

Come see me at Flashback Weekend June 27-29 in Rosemont, IL

2008-06-23T20:07:33Z

Yes, Wizard World Chicago is right across the street, but why attend that show and get pretty much what you paid for last year when you can attend Flashback Weekend instead?

www.flashbackweekend.com

Flashback Weekend is a great, fun horror movie / drive-in movie convention where I will have a table to promote Pickle Press and my various books. I'll be premiering two new books there - Scared Ya! and the reprint of Big Breasted Vampire Death. There's a Night of the Living Dead cast reunion and a Phantasm cast reunion, and they're showing both films on the big screen over the weekend. Let's see Wizard top that programming.

Sharing the table with me will be Cory Brown, artist extraordinaire, who is bringing some of his horror-themed work for sale (both prints and originals), and Bill "Inkslinger" Wilkison (and Scared Ya! co-creator and co-artist) will be there on Sunday.

Trust me, this is a fun show you don't want to miss. If you must attend Wizard Chicago, make the trip across the street at least once.

Contract on CSN

2008-06-20T22:24:49Z

Comic Shop News has Contract (the comic I wrote) on the front cover of the latest issue.

Joe-Bob says: check it out!

The Zombie Chronicles Mini Series - Part 3

2008-06-20T17:54:27Z

Part 3 of the Zombie Chronicles Mini Series is now up...Previous installments can be found in the Archives page.

Link

-B.Thal (Brett)

The Septagon Briefing #1 Professionalism

2008-06-19T18:20:19Z

Written By: Dr Preston Park Cooper

There’s something that’s important in the comics industry that, if you’re pretty new to it, you might think you would find everywhere: Professionalism. Unfortunately, it isn’t so.

I once made a proposal to a company which I shall not name. I told the story of what happened with this proposal to two different writer friends. Each of them had an identical initial reaction (and I didn’t tell them both at the same time, so one wasn’t just agreeing with the other):

For the Full Article please click the link below:
http://news.septagonstudios.com/?p=200