tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37328084585318190522024-02-21T07:06:01.322-08:00AD NAUSEAMUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger306125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-79201593561261585862013-11-15T13:47:00.001-08:002013-11-15T13:47:53.581-08:00Red Vengeance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This one's for you, Warren.<br />
<br />
I had a ton of fun during this past Summer's convention cycle. We got to see old friends, make some new ones and raise a lot of money for the scholarship. (Thanks to the folks in Boston, Baltimore and Charlotte. You're the BEST!) In case you're still read this much-dormant blog and don't yet follow me on Twitter (@mattwieringo), we're (unofficially for now) up to $3,000 annually. That may not sound like much but during a 3-year school career, it adds up. And it will only grow.<br />
<br />
Anyway, one of the folks we caught up with was Chris Kemple. I had been promising him a pin-up of his awesome <a href="http://www.artistalleycomics.com/comics/titles/red-vengeance/13/" target="_blank">Red Vengeance</a> character for some time and just hadn't followed through. It wasn't from lack of interest. I love retro characters like The Spirit and Rocketeer and drawing Red Vengeance would really scratch that itch. I just didn't feel like I was up to the challenge. I started the thing about 20 times and was always disappointed with what I drew. I don't work well under pressure, even the self-inflicted variety.<br />
<br />
Then, one night, I was riding home from work after spending a little downtime admiring some Art Adams drawings online and I thought, "What would Art Adams do with this?" The answer was obvious. An ape in a tuxedo! Seemed perfect for the era in which Red Vengeance lives and, besides, sometimes you just gotta draw a gorilla in a monkey suit. I went home and had my underdrawing done that night. I thought it would be funny for my buddy and (briefly) Perhapanauts inker Christian Leaf if I threw in a metric ton of bricks and straight lines to ink as payback for what I put him through during our two-part 'Haps western. After spending six hours of three nights inking in those bricks, I feel your pain, buddy! Karma's a bitch. Forgive me?<br />
<br />
So, here it is. I hope you like it. I had a blast drawing it. Shipping it off to Chris next week.<br />
<br />
Later!<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-59239302539235953572013-06-23T18:44:00.000-07:002013-06-23T18:44:34.882-07:0050So, tomorrow would have been Mike's 50th birthday and I'm pretty sure he would have been losing his mind right about now. I can just hear him bitching.<br />
<br />
"I can't believe I'm fifty. I don't want to get old."<br />
<br />
My pat comment to ease his suffering would have been (as he always said to me), "Who does? But it sure beats the alternative."<br />
<br />
And it really does, doesn't it? <br />
<br />
Happy Birthday, you old geezer.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-11622569625601873922013-04-15T18:18:00.001-07:002013-04-15T18:30:59.965-07:00Not The Boston Post I Planned To Write<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnBHdqoWGSBqWUCokPfVhLRQ2EchaoLaXG0pw1vfwSFEaG21NV83XzHfkCvlsEomC-6QEOvpnfoYbandW8LLv3LAIR0jBUXhr6orJCpxtg8p1r-bIKPmAc4G42ezksa6C7w2bAOvU4sdc/s1600/death_lr.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnBHdqoWGSBqWUCokPfVhLRQ2EchaoLaXG0pw1vfwSFEaG21NV83XzHfkCvlsEomC-6QEOvpnfoYbandW8LLv3LAIR0jBUXhr6orJCpxtg8p1r-bIKPmAc4G42ezksa6C7w2bAOvU4sdc/s320/death_lr.jpg" /></a><br />
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It's been a loooong time between posts. I've been extremely busy at work and otherwise and any drawings I've done have either been for projects I can't discuss or just weren't worth posting. I've had a lot of drawing obligations that have waited while I put in some long hours at work (including my first-ever 100 hour week) and I felt that if people saw me posting blog sketches instead of the drawings I was supposed to be producing, I'd have some 'splainin' to do.<br />
<br />
That changed with the upcoming Boston Comicon. Suze and I are setting up at next weekend's convention (April 20th-21st if you're reading this some time down the road.) to raise money for the Mike Wieringo Scholarship Fund and so I figured it was time I stopped making excuses and drew the illustration I'd promised Bob Shaw at last year's show. I was excited because meeting my obligation would also give me a reason to post here again. Twitter has been a great place to get out random thoughts but it's not so great for posting artwork.<br />
<br />
Then today happened.<br />
<br />
The bombings at the Boston Marathon. I'll refrain from spewing vitriol at the monster(s) responsible because, like a lot of you, I imagine, I'm just too stunned and horrified to do anything but send good thoughts to our friends, brothers and sisters in Beantown.<br />
<br />
The subject of the drawing made me think twice about posting it. I've not read the SANDMAN books but it's my understanding that the character in my drawing (I had to look her up online to see what she looked like) is an actual physical personification of Death.
Given today's events, you can see why I thought posting this might be in poor taste. Please know it wasn't intentional and that Bob requested the drawing a year ago, the last time I saw him. I hope you like it. I do. And that's sort of new for me. I had a real blast drawing it.<br />
<br />
(An interesting aside. I had drawn a completely different first pass underdrawing for this piece at work and brought it home to trace up. Something came up and I set the drawing aside for a day or so. Then, one night, I came home from work to find that our scrappy little kitten Danger had, well...<i>eaten</i> it. Before he came to live with us, Danger was a street kitty and I guess he made himself a few paper nests. Turns out he did me a favor. I like this version much better and I even skipped the underdrawing and drew right on the board.)
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-48179132689091265242012-08-23T18:24:00.004-07:002012-08-23T18:26:04.877-07:00Baltimore Comic-con 2012Just posted <a href="http://www.ringoscholarship.com/">this</a> on the 'Ringo Scholarship site. There are a couple of special announcements so check it out. Can't wait to see all our friends and all of Mike's fans. See you in Baltimore!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-6192580266135749822012-08-12T08:06:00.001-07:002012-08-12T08:06:50.977-07:00Five YearsLast year on this date, I think I mentioned that I really didn't want to keep marking the occasion of Mike's passing here. But I've realized that to not make note of it would be wrong. Suzanne and I get a little morose this time of year and posting here helps me "get the poison out" a little. I'm going to mark the date a little differently this time.<br />
<br />
By now, everyone knows how much Mike loved animals, particularly cats. That wasn't exclusive to him. The Wieringos, at least our immediate family, are all cat lovers. So, I think it's appropriate that, this week, Suzanne and I adopted a sweet little kitty that Suzanne has named Danger. Danger has had the most rough beginning to his life that anyone could imagine.<br />
<br />
I'll start at the beginning.<br />
<br />
After Toonces died a year ago, Suze and I knew we would eventually get another cat. There could be no replacing him but Charlie had never spent much time alone. Mike worked at home and when we brought him in to live with us, he had Toonces to hang out with. So the last year has been a little lonely for him. Suze and I joked that we needed to get him a "snack", meaning a little kitten to play with. We kept putting it off because we didn't know how he would react to a new cat in the house and it was still too soon after Toonces. We weren't ready.<br />
<br />
Then the sister of one of my co-workers was coming back from a road trip and stopped at a diner in Charles City. She and her traveling companion noticed a cat in the parking lot, a cute little gray tabby, not much more than a kitten. Where his tail used to be was a raw, bloody stump. Something had torn his tail off. The people in the diner said the kitten had been hanging around the diner and they'd been feeding it. The two ladies left but couldn't get the kitten out of their heads. They realized they couldn't leave him there like that and went back and retrieved him.<br />
<br />
Back in Richmond, they took the cat to their vet and, after several visits, lots of antibiotics, and a surgery to amputate the rest of his tail, he seemed to be on the mend. He also had ear mites, worms and back pain. But he never lost his playful good cheer.<br />
<br />
My co-worker had heard me mention that we were thinking about getting a friend for Charlie and asked if we wanted to adopt the little guy. We went to meet him and Suze fell in love instantly. I wasn't so sure. He had so many health problems, I didn't know if we could give him the attention he needed with our work schedule. But my co-worker's sister said she'd keep him until his tail was healed up and he was so adorable. So we agreed to adopt him.<br />
<br />
Last week, we brought him home. We continued with his antibiotic regimen and kept him in a large cage in the basement, away from Charlie. He must have been lonely down there but would perk right up when we would go down to spend time with him. And he was a little chow hound. His butt wasn't pretty but seemed to be healing.<br />
<br />
Then, last Wednesday night, I came home late and Suze told me that Danger was acting like his wound was hurting him. I went down to look and he had blood running down his hind legs. I panicked and immediately ran him to the emergency vet in Carytown. They kept him for two days and nights and discovered that his infection had gotten much worse. He had an abscess near his tail. The doctor said it looked like whatever had taken his tail had bitten his hind quarters and that had started the infection. It was pretty bad.<br />
<br />
They cleaned up his abscess and hit him with some heavy antibiotics. They said we needed to keep a close eye on him because his skin was really thin at this point and may tear. When we came to pick him up, he looked so pitiful with his arm bandaged where the I.V. was and the little blue E cone he's had on since the first day we met him. We took him home.<br />
<br />
We cleared all the furniture out of one of our guest rooms and set up the cage in there where we would have quicker access to him and he'd have a nicer area to play in when we let him out for exercise. We started him on the antibiotics cycle we were given. It's pretty powerful and they warned us not to let it sit in his mouth or throat. Fortunately, the little guy eats like a garbage disposal and we just tuck the pill in his food and it's gone in seconds.<br />
<br />
Yesterday morning, I went in to check on him and it seemed like the skin on his entire right buttock had sloughed off. There was nothing but raw meat. Again, we bundled him up and ran him to the vet. The same doctor was there and her face fell when she saw him. Our hearts sank. She took him back and about fifteen minutes later came back to tell us that this was a good thing. Yes, he had an open wound but, with proper care, it should heal nicely.<br />
<br />
For the last 24 hours, he's been running around the guest room as if he was perfectly healthy. Suze and I are relieved beyond words. The emotional rollercoaster we've been on since bringing him home has left us drained. Little Danger still isn't in the clear but his outlook is much better than it was when my co-worker's sister found him in that parking lot. Suze and I have laughed and cried more in the last week than we have in some time. Charlie has parked himself outside the guest room and knows something is up. We're not going to introduce them until Danger is fully healed up and given a clean bill of health. We're crossing our fingers.<br />
<br />
What's all this got to do with Mike? A couple of things.<br />
<br />
This is the fifth anniversary of Mike's death and it's almost like the universe knew we needed something to take our minds off that fact and sent us little Danger. Danger's story is so similar to Charlie's and their personalities are so much alike. I know Mike would have instantly fallen in love with his new "nephew."<br />
<br />
Second, little Danger's veterinary care has been pretty expensive, I'm not gonna lie. Frankly, without the buffer of insurance, it's actually higher than my own recent medical bills. It's been worth every penny but, under normal circumstances, we'd be a little panicky about it. We are most definitely not rich. But Mike left behind some money. After Mike died, lots of well-meaning folks had suggestions for what we should do with it. Go on a trip. Buy a new car. We've done none of that. Each year, we've siphoned off what the law says we have to and donated that either to an animal shelter or to the scholarship fund. This year, it's going to Danger. We've adopted a "money is no object" attitude toward his care.<br />
<br />
He's an incredibly sweet, loving cat and he deserves every chance at life we can give him. It's what Mike would do. We know this because he did it himself. With Charlie. Now he's helping us do the same for Danger.<br />
<br />
_______<br />
<br />
I would be remiss if I didn't end this with a reminder that there's still one day left to donate to the <a href="http://www.razoo.com/story/M-Day-Mark-Gruenwald-Mike-Wieringo-Memorial-8-12">M-Day benefit</a> for the Hero Initiative in honor of Mike and the great writer/editor Mark Gruenwald. If you can, please contribute.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-57822978365289955632012-07-13T18:36:00.000-07:002012-07-13T18:36:16.462-07:00M-Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Anyone who comes here with any frequency knows how I felt, and feel, about my brother Mike Wieringo. But I can't remember whether or not I've mentioned how much affection I have for the late Mark Gruenwald.<br />
<br />
Mr. Gruenwald was an editor and writer at Marvel Comics back when I was a little bitty fan avidly reading his CAPTAIN AMERICA, QUASAR and SQUADRON SUPREME books. He was one of my favorite writers and when I was old enough to start submitting plot samples to Marvel, he was the first editor I sent them to. Even for books he wasn't editing. I sent my writing samples to a lot of editors, in fact, and got a lot of form rejection letters. Mark Gruenwald was the only one to send me a personal reply. I almost jumped out of my skin. I didn't care that my plot was resoundingly rejected. Mark had taken the time to write a reply and compliment me on my grasp of the characters. Then he pointed out what I did wrong and I paid attention. He also suggested I stop sending editors (him specifically) submissions for books they didn't edit. That part I ignored. And you know what? He replied to the next one anyway. I still have those letters stored away somewhere and I treasure them. After I got enough rejections, I thought maybe writing comics wasn't for me and when summer was over, I went back to college and forgot about it.<br />
<br />
In 1996, I was very saddened to hear (and I believe it was Mike that told me) that Mark Gruenwald had passed away unexpectedly at the age of 44. On August 12th. We tend to lose a lot of really talented people at a young age but little did I realize how that age and date would come back to haunt me...and Mike. As you know, Mike also died on August 12th at the age of 44. Every year, especially this fifth anniversary of Mike's passing, I get a little uptight as August 12th approaches. I remember that date in vivid detail and it's not a time I like to think about. But now Marvel editor Tom Breevort and Jim McLauchlin of<a href="http://www.heroinitiative.org/"> The Hero Initiative</a> have done something to shed a little sunshine on August 12th.<br />
<br />
They've created something called <a href="http://www.razoo.com/story/M-Day-Mark-Gruenwald-Mike-Wieringo-Memorial-8-12">M-DAY</a>, a memorial to Mike and Mark as a way of raising money for The Hero Initiative. The goal is to raise $5,000 to go toward aiding comic industry professionals who are in need of a helping hand. As you probably know, most comic book pros are freelancers and a lot of them can't and couldn't afford health insurance and retirement plans. Especially the folks who are getting a little older that created a lot of the great characters and stories that you're seeing on the big screen these days but don't see any of the money being generated by the movies.<br />
<br />
I don't generally like to get into Mike's personal business but one of the things that tears me up about his death was the fact that, as a freelancer, he could not afford health insurance. When Mike went to the doctor, it cost him a lot. And so he only went when he felt it was serious enough to warrant it. I'm convinced that Mike would likely still be with us if he'd had health insurance.<br />
<br />
This is a great cause. They are there for the people who were there for me when I was younger, reading comics as an escape from being a poor, fat kid with glasses and braces. They created, and are creating, the worlds and characters that are making other people rich and some of them need a little help. I know times are rough and money is tight. But I'm hoping you can spare a little money for The Hero Initiative. If you can, please go to the link below and donate a little money, even if it's just a couple of bucks, and give me something to smile about when I think of August 12th.<br />
<br />
Thanks in advance.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.razoo.com/story/M-Day-Mark-Gruenwald-Mike-Wieringo-Memorial-8-12">M-DAY LINK</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-60062680441048030062012-07-07T12:57:00.000-07:002012-07-07T12:57:01.129-07:00RINGOSCHOLARSHIP.COMWoo-hoo! As promised, The Mike Wieringo Scholarship's website is now live. It's a humble affair but it will be where Suzanne and I go to post our updates regarding the fund. I tend to get a little personal here (surgery...yuck!) and this way, I can keep the fund posts strictly business. I'm so excited and, apparently, not as dumb as I look. I figured out the technical stuff all on my little lonesome.<br />
<br />
So go check out <a href="http://www.ringoscholarship.com/"><b>www.ringoscholarship.com</b></a> and let me know what you think. It's a little threadbare right now but I'll be updating soon.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-74464367827120330212012-07-06T14:41:00.001-07:002012-07-06T14:41:25.859-07:00Pluggin' AwayI forgot a few things when I posted my Heroes entry. Obviously, Heroes is usually crawling with people who are so talented that I almost die from envy but there were some special things that stood out this year. I'd like to share them with you.<br />
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First up is <a href="http://www.artistalleycomics.com/">ARTIST ALLEY COMICS</a>, the new digital initiative being undertaken by some talented folk who also happen to be some of my favorite people in the world. Craig Rousseau, Richard Case, Chris Kemple, Rich Woodall, Kelly Yates, Jason Copland, Michael May and Shawn McManus have gotten together and published some really neat books online in easy-to-download PDF format. And like most addictive substances, the first one's free! Go check it out. There is some really great stuff there.<br />
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Second is a book called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Once-Crowded-Sky-Novel/dp/1451652003">A ONCE CROWDED SKY</a> by our new friend Tom King. Tom stopped by the table and was nice enough to give us a signed copy of his book. Though there are a few pages of comic art along with spot illustrations by artist extraordinaire Tom (MYSTERIUS) Fowler, SKY is actually a novel. Suzanne and I have been fighting over who gets to read it first. She won but I did get to read a few pages and I have to say I can't wait to dig in. Tom's is a really interesting person in real life (just read his bio) and he's a pretty darned good writer. He told us the publisher was so impressed they greenlighted a sequel before the first one was even published. Order your copy today and get in on the ground floor of what promises to be an exciting series.<br />
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Finally, I finally got to actually hang out with Dean Trippe. Dean is one of the nicest guys I know and we usually only get to shake hands and talk across the table for a few minutes at each show. This year, Dean missed half the show because of car trouble (We had ours <i>after</i> the show when Suze ("The Wolf") kept us off the jersey wall when we had a blow out at 70 mph.) but made it in time to have dinner with us and the 'Haps crew on Saturday night. He swung by on Sunday and gave us a copy of his awesome classic Avengers art. I showed the piece to some of my coworkers the following week and they loved it as much as I did. Thanks Dean! I absolutely adore this. I would kill to read an Avengers book drawn by you with the characters in their classic outfits.<br />
<br />
As for me...I haven't been drawing much lately for reasons I've already blabbered on about, well, ad nauseam. And I've missed it. So, when two young men came up to me as we were setting up on Friday morning and asked if I would do some commissions to benefit the scholarship, I was not only extremely flattered, I was actually thrilled. If you follow me on Twitter, you've already seen these. If not...<br />
<br />
First up was an inked drawing of Spidey in his Iron Spider costume on a sketch cover. I struggled with this one, trying to get the pose right and finally gave up on having him clinging to a wall and just had fun with it. I was pretty nervous because those sketch covers mean you can't just ball it up and start over. And it didn't help that Craig kept leaning over with a twinkle in his eye and saying things like, "You really going to go with that pose?" and "Are you still not done with that?" But, all in all, I was pretty happy with it. (Although I apparently forgot what year it is. They say the mind is the first thing to go. Sadly,...it's the hair.)<br />
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The other piece was even more daunting. The request was for an 11x17 piece in full color of the entire Superman Family. I changed the layout from what was requested to seem less rigid. Sadly, I only finished the inks by the end of the show...<br />
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...and had to finish the coloring at home and mail the piece out. But the "client" received it and emailed me that he was happy with it. So, I'm all smiles.<br />
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It makes me really happy that at least a few people think my art is worth paying for and that I can actually do something creative that helps raise money for the scholarship. That's pretty gratifying.<br />
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Anyway, that's it. Have a great weekend and try to stay cool. Ugh.<br />
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Later.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-76289401113924277672012-07-05T08:56:00.000-07:002012-07-05T08:56:20.934-07:00After HeroesSuze and I had a great time at Heroes a couple weeks ago. I'd intended to do a huge write-up because so much fun had ensued. But, due to some health issues*, I've had to put it on hold and will keep it fairly brief now.<br />
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It was great seeing Todd, Sharon and Craig and finally meeting the talented Eric Henson (who came all the way from Germany where he's stationed and is now part of the 'Haps crew.) It was also a thrill to finally get to meet (and get books signed by) Walt Simonson and Mike Zeck, two artists whom I have admired for as long as I can remember.<br />
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But the best part of the show for Suze and me had to be getting to meet the previous and current recipients of the 'Ringo Scholarship, Nicky Soh and Eric Donovan. It may seem strange but Suze and I sort of look at the recipients as our kids in a way (which will tell you how old we feel) and we could not be more proud of these two young men. We found ourselves unexpectedly selecting a new recipient this year after Nicky was chosen last year, not because of anything negative but because Nicky is so darned awesome he ended up getting a full scholarship this year. Last month, out of an amazingly talented group of finalists, SCAD and our panel of judges chose Eric to receive it in the coming school year. Meeting these two guys was such a pleasure. They're both incredibly polite, down-to-earth and talented. And Suzanne just about melted when we found out Eric was getting married two weeks after the show. I guess that's already happened, so congratulations Eric! Thank you to Shelton Drum for once again having us at Heroes, to Trey Alexander for allowing us time before the art auction to introduce the recipients and to SCAD for sending them to the show. I like to think Mike would be really happy with all the "kids" who have received his scholarship so far. They've certainly made an impression on us.<br />
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During the show we became painfully aware of how little work I've done to promote the scholarship and produce any sort of materials for it. When we got back, I immediately started work on business cards, a brochure and a website. I'm hoping to have all these available before Baltimore in September. The website is almost ready. I just have a couple of technical things to deal with that are over my head. As soon as those are worked out, we should have an official website up and running. I also have an idea for something cool that would give us something to sell at shows that's Mike-related and would not get us into any sort of copyright problems with publishers. I'm excited about it but it could get expensive and will take some time. Wish me luck.<br />
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* "Health issues." That sounded ominous didn't it? Sorry about that. The surgery I described a couple posts back has resulted in some complications. The dissolving stitches came loose after the Dermabond came off and the larger of the incisions has reopened. Rather than perform more surgery, the doctor has decided to confine me to the house and have nurses stop by every day for wound care. It's a nasty business and I won't go into it. But the process is pretty painful and I'm pretty miserable not being able to leave the house or have any sort of activity. I'm turning into a slug and that's not good. Anyway, I'm looking forward to having this over and done with, though it sounds like it could be weeks. Crossing my fingers.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-23107350205604104172012-06-20T19:54:00.000-07:002012-06-20T19:54:16.798-07:0049<br />
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Since we'll be in Charlotte on the 24th, I thought I should go ahead and post this while I have the chance. This Sunday would have been Mike's 49th birthday. I know Mike would have been freaking out because next year would have been the dreaded five-oh. But you remember the old joke about getting old, right? It beats the alternative.</div>
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Usually on this day, I tell a funny story about Mike rather than bring everybody down. But this year I got nuthin'. It's been a rough half-year or so since we lost Suzanne's dad and it's really made me miss Mike even more. I tell people that we "miss Mike more and more every day" and it's become an automatic response that sounds like it. It seems trite. But, good god, it's the truth. There are days that I need to speak to him so much that it hurts.</div>
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Mike was my cheerleader. On days when I was feeling frustrated or worthless or felt like a failure, he would always point out the good things and remind me of my successes and what a great wife I have in Suze. Whenever I started going on and on about my "crappy job" he would set me straight, reminding me that I have a steady paycheck, health insurance and a 401K, all things he went without. No matter how lousy I was feeling, Mike would always manage to call at just the right time and by the time we were finished talking, I felt like a million bucks.</div>
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I used to love getting calls from Mike. Busy as he was, he would always find a reason to call me up and see how things were going. I would be downstairs in the den and hear the phone ring. Suze would pick it up and within seconds I'd know it was Mike on the other end because she'd start giggling and laughing and by the time she brought the phone down to me, her face would be almost purple. He had making my wife laugh down to an art form.</div>
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Our phone conversations weren't always about cheering me up. We talked about everything. Football, politics, comics, TV shows, movies, novels, family gossip, my job, his job. Same as everybody else. But Mike and I had more interests in common than I will ever have with anyone else as long as I live. That's why I feel a little twinge every time I see a movie like THE AVENGERS or read a new Stephen King novel or some new bit of technology comes out like the iPad. As much as I enjoy all these things, and I do, there's always that nagging voice in my head saying, "Mike never got to see this." I keep hoping it will stop because eventually, we're all gonna go and unless it's because of an asteroid smacking into the planet, there will be things that come along after we're gone that we all would have like to have seen. But I can't help it. I remember Mike's astonished reaction to SUPERMAN RETURNS and wonder what his face would have looked like after IRON MAN and all the subsequent films.</div>
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Obviously, Thanksgivings just aren't the same. My mother has eye doctor appointments frequently and that brings my parents to Richmond. I get to see them, while not as often as I'd like, pretty darned often considering how far apart we live. But I only got to see Mike in person two or three times a year. One of them was Thanksgiving. Now that he's gone, Thanksgiving has lost a lot of that excitement that it held for me. The anticipation of getting to hang out with Mike for three or four days without interruption was sublime. I really miss that.</div>
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It's no secret that I was taken with the fact that Mike had become a successful comic book artist. It was like my big brother grew up to be Elvis. Getting those emails from him containing pencil scans from whatever book he was working on made my week. He'd always admonish me to not share them with anyone and then two minutes later I'd get another email saying I could show Christian if I wanted to as if a lightbulb had gone off over his head. The biggest "secrets" he ever shared with me were (1) the time he told me about turning down a Harry Potter comic that he'd done some concept sketches for and (2) when he turned down the latest Nova series and sent me the outline for Marvel's plans for the character. Both those revelations broke my heart and I tried over and over to get him to reconsider but he'd made up his mind on both. Now, five years later, I'm finally breaking his confidence and telling the secrets. Sometimes, I'd turn the tables and send him some artwork I'd done for some advertising client. A photo comp I was particularly proud of. Or some storyboard drawings. Always with the admonition "Don't share!" and then I'd laugh. Because nobody would care. Except Mike. He was always overflowing with praise. I imagined him printing them out and putting them on the refrigerator door.</div>
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He was so cool about his career too. While I was jumping out of my skin about it, he would just shrug. We'd talk about some of the egos that some of the bigger names would get (Which is true in any industry. I'm not throwing stones. Advertising, anyone?) and he would shake his head and say, "I draw comic books for a living. Who could get an ego about that?" He would introduce me to people I idolized like Alex Ross or Nick Cardy like he was inviting me to meet his mailman. He was friendly with some of the biggest names in the industry but, to him, it was no different than me hanging out with the guy that sits three desks down from me at the agency. </div>
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Don't get me wrong. He was just as impressed with the talent these folks have as I was. I remember how giddy he was when he showed me a page of artwork he got from Mike Mignola. He'd introduced himself as a fan and Mignola had not only known who he was but told him he was a fan of Mike's himself. He asked if they could trade pages. Mike was beside himself. It was the same with guys like George Perez, Stuart Immonen, Walt Simonson. He was in awe of them. But the fact that he knew them and could hang out with them without feeling like a shmuck...Enh. In Mike's view, we're all just people. </div>
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Well, look at this. This is probably the most rambling thing I've ever posted. Sorry about that. I guess what all this boils down to is that I miss my brother. Still. As much as I enjoy going to all these conventions and meeting Mike's fans and hearing stories about how much they love his artwork and wish they could have met him. As much as I enjoy hanging out with Mike's friends in the industry who have been so gracious to to us and the scholarship. And as much as I love the new family I have in Todd and Craig and the Brotherhood of Mike...I'd give it all up in a second to go back to being the guy who had to wait in line to get a hug from his brother. To have Mike sitting there at that table greeting his fans (and his fans really are the best) with a smile and a sketch. To have Mike going on and on about how cute Charlie was being that day. To have Mike being the guy that could reduce my wife to a giggling, crying puddle in seconds.</div>
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Happy Birthday, Mike. You deserved to be 49. And much more beyond that. And we really do miss you more and more each day.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-29266218468299684322012-06-19T17:42:00.002-07:002012-06-19T20:33:56.143-07:00Back Again. (Back...get it?)It's been a crazy couple of months. I won't go in to the usual boring work stuff but…dayum. I think you know what I mean. Suffice it to say that the two days I took off from work to have surgery last week were the <i>high</i> point of my month.
Surgery, you ask? Nothing serious. I've just had a few holes sliced in me over the last couple of weeks. The first was just to have a mole on my chest checked out. Suze had been worrying about it for years and when my doctor looked at it during a routine check-up, he said I should have it biopsied. So I did, not realizing that meant they were going to cut out a nickle-sized chunk of Mafus flesh. That turned out okay (I think there are no finer words in the English language than "your test results came back negative.") and it's almost all healed up.
But the kicker was the whole point for the check-up in the first place, which was having a couple of cysts on my back looked at. I tend to get them a lot (starting in college) and every few years, when I've got 2 or 3 saved up, I arrange to have them removed all at once. I know a guy who has cysts that float around under the skin
and when he gets a collection, they cut a hole and push them all out through it like a Pez dispenser. That ain't the kind I got. Mine are big, insidious suckers about the size of a fat quarter that latch onto the meat and they have to knock me out and dig them out before they turn into something worse. Usually, they leave a slight dent in the flesh with a scar about an inch or so long. <i>But there's this one…</i>
The very first one I got was over my left shoulder blade and this is the fourth time I've tried to have it dealt with. This time, I guess the surgeon took it personal and went at it like it had insulted his mother. He cut a six-inches or so long incision into my back, across the middle and yanked out scar tissue like he was pulling up wire grass. I had no indication this was going to be the case and if I had, I never would have done it when I did because next weekend is…
HEROES CON!
Yep. Day after tomorrow, we're heading down to Charlotte to attend the 30th Anniversary of the Heroes Convention with tracer extraordinaire, Christian Leaf in tow. I'll be doing it with stitches in my back so, if you see me and you're happy about that fact, please don't clap me on the back. My Percocet supply is dwindling and I might holler.
Hopefully, we'll be representing the Mike Wieringo Scholarship Fund again. I say "hopefully" because, though I spoke with Shelton a few months back at the VA COMICON to confirm our appearance, I haven't spoken to him since and I don't see us listed on the website. That doesn't mean anything though, because that's been the case before. But I try not to ever take anything for granted. If we do get to set up, I'm going to assume we'll be next to the Perhapanauts folk in Artists Alley around table 401 or so. So look for us there if you're interested. If we're not there, it probably means I'll be enjoying my first convention in 5 years as a spectator. Not a tragedy, obviously, but it would not be so good for the scholarship. But like I said, Shelton's never let us down before so...
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Believe it or not, between the time I started this post and my typing this part, I've broken a tooth. Gotta squeeze in a dental visit between now and Thursday. Somehow. Jeez. And I thought getting a haircut was going to be problematic.
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For those of you who are curious, I've written 75 page of the HMDH novel (about 16,000 words). That may sound like a lot but I started this thing a couple months ago and I'm only to the part where the first issue of the comic version ended. That sucks. Stephen King says a writer (in his estimation) should put out 10 pages of fresh copy daily. So I'm a few hundred pages behind. To his mind, I should have my first draft done some time next month. Ain't happening. But I'm plugging along.
Of course, I experience doubts on a daily basis. That was driving me crazy until I read a great quote somewhere. I've forgotten who said it. It was on a writing site online. The quote read, "Allow yourself to write a horrible first draft." So that's what I'm doing. I was handicapping myself by "crafting" every single line. And it was killing my momentum. So I'll craft later. And write now.
It's still fun. I'm having to give personalities and backstories to characters who were just passing through in the comic scripts. I can't rely on visuals to get across something that needs to be written out, hopefully with some finesse. But, fortunately, it turns out that's the best part. I'm still having a blast with it. I just hope that doesn't diminish as my job becomes more and more demanding every day.
Someday that will reach critical mass and my head will explode. Until then, I'll just keep struggling to eek out a half-page to a page a day until this thing is done.
So that's about it for now. I have a ton of stuff to do to get ready for the convention. And I have to figure out how to eat dinner without breaking the rest of this tooth off. And I need to write a special post that I need to put up before we leave for Charlotte. You'll see why soon. So adios. Hope to see you in Charlotte!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-24271610666735659232012-04-15T18:07:00.003-07:002012-04-15T19:53:37.671-07:00300 Posts<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhViAOcu57GDD5jPhC7zusfycxgQEat5CC6vhlgNzVk6jSAhAFgGgKdcKFa7P3YIFiM_LAyj8AV2qgZN6FbUXj7qCU_JQ5M59Dox-_VNX3M91uqhMNc4e5zpX3tokp9yN9yKB5rmAbk3AQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-04-15+at+9.07.14+PM.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhViAOcu57GDD5jPhC7zusfycxgQEat5CC6vhlgNzVk6jSAhAFgGgKdcKFa7P3YIFiM_LAyj8AV2qgZN6FbUXj7qCU_JQ5M59Dox-_VNX3M91uqhMNc4e5zpX3tokp9yN9yKB5rmAbk3AQ/s400/Screen+shot+2012-04-15+at+9.07.14+PM.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731799261915095682" /></a><br />I've been posting so infrequently, I've almost forgotten how to use this thing. This is my 300th post on the blog and it's appropriate because I've got a lot to cover.<br /><br />First, I want to announce that I'll be setting up at the Boston Comic Con next weekend. We usually only do Heroes and Baltimore and some local cons but things came together so well I couldn't resist. I've never been to the Boston con and have only driven by the city itself on my way somewhere else so this is very exciting. The organizers of the Con contacted me through Craig Rousseau and said they wanted to have an auction that will benefit, at least in part, the Scholarship. They also offered to donate table space to us so how could I say no? This will be the first time I've flown to a convention for the scholarship fund and it kind of stung a little (remember, I pay all overhead out of my own pocket) but it's being offset because I won't have to pay for a hotel room thanks to Craig who's letting me stay with him and his family in their house. Todd and Sharon are coming down too so we're going to have a blast. My only regret is Suze won't be coming because she's got some family stuff to take care of. Anyway, if you're in the area, please come by to see us. We'll have limited inventory because of the whole flying thing but I'm bringing all the best stuff!<br /><br />I want to thank the organizers of the VA Comic Con also. We set up there a couple of weeks ago and they have been so gracious to us every time we do. They give us a great spot by the entrance and we always have fun. So, thanks guys! And I'll see you next show.<br /><br />******<br /><br />The divider is because the rest of this is personal stuff about me so if you're here for the Scholarship stuff...all done.<br /><br />Suze and I went to the SXSW Film/Interactive/Music conference last month and I think I had one of the best times of my life. Going to Austin, TX has always been on my Bucket List, ever since I first discovered Ain't It Cool News and they started posting about this magical place called The Alamo Drafthouse. I won't go into nauseating detail because I'm tired (long weekend) but I will say I had some of the best BBQ I've ever had and went to one of the most amazing comic shops I've ever been to. I love my local comic shop and it suits my needs to a "T". Not to mention it's run by some of my best friends. But...damn. Austin Comics was a curve buster. I don't think many cities would support such a place. Because of limited luggage space, I could only buy a few books but I could have easily dropped $1,000 in that place without scratching the surface. They have EVERYTHING. I also went to an amazing bookstore called Book People and a fantastic used music/movie store called Waterloo. We were fortunate to be hanging out with a coworker (Suze was on the company dime while I had to pay my own way...sigh.) who was very familiar with the area and the conference and so he played guide. We saw a lot of great movies and if you've followed my Twitter account, you'll know we saw CABIN IN THE WOODS, THE RAID: REDEMPTION and IRON SKY before their wide release. Along with seeing the people behind the movies. Like live DVD special features. The highlights of the trip had to be the 90-minute panel discussion with Joss Whedon, going to Mondo (where I bought a STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN screen printed poster) and meeting Harry Knowles. Honorable Mention goes to literally running into actor/director Matthew Lillard in the convention center. (His film FAT KID RULES THE WORLD was wonderful, winning an award at the conference.) Austin is a great town and I can't wait to go back.<br /><br />I mentioned a while back that I was dealing with a sick relative. That relative is an aunt on my father's side. I was her closest relative geographically so Suze and I were checking on her one or two times a week. She has Alzheimer's and it was a while before our family realized it. We're not close so we didn't stay in touch much but once we realized the situation, Suze and I decided to make sure she was okay, stopping by often and bringing her food and toiletries. Her disease was very advanced and it was often frustrating, scary and just plain tragic. (Alzheimer's just basically steals who you are.) Getting help for an Alzheimer's patient is very difficult and my father was working as hard and fast as he could from where he was to make it happen. Thanks to his efforts, she's in good hands now and though things will never be "good" for her again, at least we don't have to worry about her wandering off. <br /><br />The last thing I want to post about is THE HAND ME DOWN HORROR. As I've mentioned, my workload has been pretty crazy lately at my job and the scholarship seems to be taking more of my free time than I expected. Plus, the SXSW trip didn't help any. (And, yes, I'll cop to watching a little too much TV at night when I eat dinner.) So I've only been able to get, at most, one evening a week to draw uninterrupted. For me, drawing is not something I can't just turn on. I have to really psyche myself up for it. In the last 4 or 5 months, I'd only managed to draw 5 or 6 pages of layouts and the last page I worked on was a huge disappointment. With my erratic schedule, the artwork was inconsistent and although the characters were really coming to life for me, it just wasn't living up to my expectations. And I started to get frustrated. I love this story and I want to get it out there. And if I try to draw this thing, it never will. That was a hard realization to come to but it finally sunk in. So I took a look at the alternatives. As I saw it, there were three. <br /><br />1) Hire someone else to draw it. There were two reasons why I couldn't see doing that. One, I'm a control freak and nobody would be able to draw this the way I want it drawn and two, I just can't afford to hire anyone to do anything. <br /><br />2) Convert it into a screenplay. Ugh. I don't quite understand the format, don't want to buy Final Draft and, again, likely nobody would ever see it. <br /><br />And then there's 3) Convert it into a novel. This last one appealed to me for two reasons. <br /><br />First, Both Todd Dezago and Rod Hannah have read the finished comic book scripts. Todd told me from the beginning, when I sent him my basic idea, he thought I should write it as a novel instead of a comic script. (I told him I didn't like my own prose enough for that and that was only half-true. Mostly, I had conceived it as a comic and was being stubborn.) Rod told me he liked the story but felt like there could be more. Like there were scenes that needed adding. It needed to be longer. I agreed because I felt the same way all along. <br /><br />When I wrote the comic book scripts, the story almost got away from me. There was so much...stuff I needed to go into. One character in particular shows up and does the "monologuing" thing (think INCREDIBLES) and I wished I'd had space to be a little more artful about it. Plus, there were character relationships I wanted to develop that I just didn't have time for. The book went from the original 4 issues to 6 issues and then finally 8. I could have done 12. I'd ended up cutting out a lot of stuff I wanted to do just because I couldn't draw it all. I also had to worry about how to end each page with a mini-cliffhanger, each issue with a major one and keeping dialogue to a minimum and panel count per page down. With those last two, I failed miserably. The thing that bugged me most was that I love these characters and really wanted to explore what made them tic. And that wasn't happening.<br /><br />The second reason the novel idea appeals to me is that the year before Mike died, we'd talked about doing something like that together. He'd read my less than charitable review of a book I'd read and emailed me that if I felt that strongly about it, I should try to write a better book than the one I'd read. He knew I could do it. And he wanted to work on it with me. He'd read everything I'd ever written (poor guy) including all the short stories I wrote a young punk. But I gave him all sorts of reasons it wouldn't work out and now I wish I'd just shut the f*** up and done it. I would, in fact, give anything to be able to do that now.<br /><br />So...I'm writing a novel. <br /><br />I know I sound like a magpie, every shiny new thing and all. But I think this is for the best and I'm only doing it after a LOT OF THOUGHT. I'm about 30 pages into it (6,500 words) and I'm having the time of my life. It's certainly not going to be the great American novel but I'm happy with what I've written so far and I think it's better than several published novels I've read in my life. Best of all, I have a passion for it that I didn't have when I faced the drawing board. I think I've been trying to force myself into a roll I'm not built for. Writing is just as hard as drawing; don't let anyone tell you different. But I think I'm a better writer than I am an illustrator and I look forward to writing this book in a way that I never looked forward to drawing it. These characters are really coming to life for me now, especially since I'm not constrained by the limitations (and I mean that in a positive way) of comic structure. Writing comics is hard. It's harder than writing any other storytelling medium. There are so many things you have to keep in mind while you're doing it that screenwriters and novelists don't have to worry about. (TV writers maybe have an inkling but...still harder.) Doing this has freed me up to think about character and theme and story without worrying about all that. I have such respect for guys like Todd and Mark Waid all the others who manage to work within the framework of comic book story structure and turn out brilliant work. It's not that I don't want to do that some day. But this story really needs a different format. <br /><br />I'm really cutting loose now. Every night, I can't wait to hit the word processor. No psyching up required. I'm in heaven. I'm going to write this thing and then submit it to every publisher I can think of and if they won't publish it, I'll do it myself, either through print on demand or digital download. <br /><br />I feel a little guilty because I promised a comic book. But not too guilty. Because giving up the idea of drawing this thing has taken such a load off my mind. And being able to really explore this world I've created has given me a new excitement. It's hard to express. So I hope you'll forgive me. <br /><br />And wish me luck.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-47612766034799386142012-02-14T21:12:00.000-08:002012-02-14T21:18:41.706-08:00Hey, look who posted!No sooner did I vow to post more than I discovered Twitter (You can see my Twitter feed over there on the right.) and became a Tweet-a-holic. With Twitter, any thought that pops into your head can be put out there for public ridicule and it's sort of usurped this blog as my pressure valve. There are a couple of things I wanted to post about that the character-limit on Twitter won't accommodate, however, so here I am.<br /><br />First, I'm still drawing, despite not posting anything. I've been working on layouts for the first "issue" of HAND ME DOWN HORROR. My workload at my job has doubled lately and I haven't had much spare time. I'm loathe to complain about it because the increase in workload comes from some creative opportunities that I'm pretty happy about. But the loss of free time has been stressful. Still, Christian's insane work ethic has shamed me into putting more time into it. There's not much I can show yet, I'm afraid. I can say I've reached the part of the story where my lead character is introduced and it was at that point that the character design just "clicked" into place. I just threw my hands up and started drawing him onto the page and there he was. Exactly like I'd seen him in my head but was unable to translate before that moment. The sensation was THRILLING. The villain has been nailed down for a long time so I'm not worried about that. He shows up soon enough. And my female lead doesn't appear until the "second issue", though I've got her design pretty much in hand as well. I'm very excited to be working on it.<br /><br />Second, I thought I'd chime in on the whole Gary Friedrich thing. If you've been living under a rock, you haven't heard that Gary Friedrich, the co-creator of Marvel's motorcycle-riding demon character Ghost Rider, lost his lawsuit against Marvel for the rights to the character. There's a nice summation of the story here:<br /><br />http://www.aintitcool.com/node/53542<br /><br />Nobody (and I mean nobody) cares what I think about this. But this is my blog and I feel strongly about it so here goes. As John Gallagher has said here (http://jbgall.livejournal.com/7951.html) I hate bullies. Always have. I grew up with them and sometimes I had the guts to stand up to them. Sometimes I didn't. When I did, I got the strength to do so in part by leaning on the example set by my heroes: the characters in Marvel's comicbooks. How sad it is to now see the company I loved as a child failing to live up to the principles of justice and fair play espoused in their own products. This isn't the first time we've seen this sort of thing. Jack Kirby was famously mistreated by Marvel and we've all heard of what happened to Steve Gerber. You can debate the legalities of who created what and who owns what forever and never get to a satisfying conclusion. But this should be about what's right, not what's legal. It was one thing when Marvel won the lawsuit filed by Mr. Friedrich for ownership of the character. It was another thing altogether when they went after him for money he's earned at conventions trading on what little fame being the creator of a third-tier character afforded him. They're kicking the guy when he's down and that's just wrong. <br /><br />I can't express my disappointment. The few folks at Marvel I've ever dealt with after Mike's death have been nothing but wonderful, accommodating people. They've returned artwork whenever it turned up (at their own expense) and have had nothing but nice things to say about Mike. I guess now that Marvel is owned by Disney, a soulless, famously litigious corporation, things have changed. After years of trading on the names of creators and using the popularity of various artists and writers to attract readers, the new suits have decided that they would have you believe these characters all materialized out of thin air. Which is bullshit.<br /><br />Whether you believe these creators (like Mr. Friedrich) went in with their eyes open or not isn't the point. These people were hired for peanuts to create ideas for comicbooks. Payment was then withheld for work already produced until they signed away their rights to those ideas. Then those ideas were turned into multi-billion dollar properties for corporations. It's not out of the realm of reason to expect there be some additional compensation as a "thank you." I'm outraged that they've gone completely in the other direction. It's cruel.<br /><br />I don't believe in screaming "boycott!" whenever some company does something I don't agree with. And I certainly wouldn't do that here. Boycotting Marvel Comics would only hurt other creators whose work I admire who are just trying to make a living working with characters they love. But I do believe in voting with my wallet. In a case of strange timing, there's a new Ghost Rider movie coming out this week. I was going to go see it. But not now. Instead, I figured out how much money Suze and I would have spent on movie tickets and then on buying the DVD when it came out and sent it instead to Steve Niles' benefit fund. (You can find the link at the Ain't It Cool News story linked above.) Marvel, of course, will be getting the money either way. But this way I'm helping Mr. Friedrich and at least getting a symbolic dig in at the suits at the same time. It looks like some online auctions by artists Neal Adams, Mike Mignola and Eric Powell are doing really well. If Mr. Niles' fundraising goes as well, maybe Mr. Friedrich will be able to meet his legal "obligation" to Nu-Marvel for their blood money. But they've also taken away his ability to earn whatever living he was scraping together before all this. <br /><br />One last note. If you think this won't have a chilling effect on the convention circuit, I worry you're wrong. Things may appear to stay the same. It would be difficult and expensive for Marvel to go after every artist selling sketches of their characters or writers selling copies of their scripts. But should those creators piss them off as Mr. Friedrich did, there would be no way to stop Marvel from inflicting crushing legal debt on them as punishment. Marvel now has a nuclear option whenever a creator steps out of line. Personally, this scares me because I was hoping to put together a book of Mike's blog sketches as a way of raising money for the scholarship fund. Now that idea terrifies me because Nu-Marvel would probably come down on me like a dropped piano. And I can't afford that.<br /><br />Anyway, enough of that. I'll try to scrounge up something else to post soon. I'm working on a drawing for a co-worker. It's a bit of a departure for me and I'm not sure if I like it. But the co-worker wants me to finish it so I hope to have that done soon.<br /><br />Oh, and I guess I should change my banner back some time soon, hunh?<br /><br />Later.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-60586440215716600072011-12-13T12:27:00.000-08:002011-12-13T15:25:52.666-08:00The Spectre<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv0FhH1R10yhns_5f0AcRNotknI69mwfizmTX2RP-2XXEsyWnzSeIOJDgecM7bq4FmV1yFloXOXoWA847zC2pa6TcB7KX5Gd1OCaZ_SYmPtGJ9xcfV78KXD4AvaYmtfAPsE6fwtImL598/s1600/spectre_lr.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 309px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv0FhH1R10yhns_5f0AcRNotknI69mwfizmTX2RP-2XXEsyWnzSeIOJDgecM7bq4FmV1yFloXOXoWA847zC2pa6TcB7KX5Gd1OCaZ_SYmPtGJ9xcfV78KXD4AvaYmtfAPsE6fwtImL598/s400/spectre_lr.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685716863628029234" /></a><br /><br />Suze and I are back in Richmond and back at work though Suze is working from home with a horrible cold she picked up in North Carolina. Poor girl can't catch a break. I haven't caught it yet but I feel a watery, itchy tickling in my sinuses that can only mean one thing. I guess it will be a while before we'll feel like things are getting back to normal. As her Dad used to say, we've robbed this train before. But every case of grieving is different. And none of them are any damned fun. Our last day in North Carolina was pretty horrible for reasons I won't go into. Suffice it to say a wretched two weeks ended on a really sour note.<br /><br />Suze has lost her Christmas spirit this year and that makes me sad because she's always been such a Christmas person. She absolutely adores it. And since I'm the Scrooge, I rely on her to keep me upbeat during this time of year. So I'm taking it as a challenge. I vow to get her in Christmas mode by the 25th, even if it kills me. And she just might.<br /><br />I haven't had time to work much on drawing HMDH lately, obviously. With Christmas upon us, that may have to sit a while longer. Ugh. I'm <span style="font-style:italic;">this</span> close to posting the scripts online and calling it a day.<br /><br />I've decided to start sketching again. I stopped because work was getting so crazy I wanted to simplify my life and eliminate any stress that I could. But I've realized I've been eliminating all the things that make me feel like I'm more than just someone's employee and that's no way to live. So I'm going to draw when I can and not put any pressure on myself. I need some cheering up myself and this is the way to do it.<br /><br />That said, I'm posting a drawing of the Spectre I did before Thanksgiving with the intention of posting it over vacation. I drew it, scanned it and saved it. And forgot to send it home. Then, before I got back to work, we got the news about Suze's Dad. I'd almost forgotten I drew it. I like it, especially considering it had been weeks since I'd drawn anything before that. I hope you like it too. In fact, I hope you like it so much that…<br /><br />…you'll want to buy it. My <a href="http://mafus.blogspot.com/2011/11/bill-mantlo.html">Rom drawing auction</a> hasn't caused much of a stir so I'm going to throw this drawing in as a bonus to whomever makes me the best offer on the Rom drawing. I'm still leaving the minimum at $50 because it's for a <a href="http://www.lifehealthpro.com/2011/11/07/tragic-tale">good cause</a>. Come on. You know you want to pretend you want it.<br /><br />Okay, that's all I've got. Hopefully, I'll have another new drawing soon.<br /><br />Later.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-7844016933697424722011-11-30T20:06:00.001-08:002011-11-30T21:42:59.576-08:00Missing Richard Craig Lemons<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtxQrFnfXZWc3uE2u-qZBn790gkvkDqCbGBdnvwwWOKh5xtNjDfK5-MTRyvOfJQiqq5oj8K3upTL4XAAYa-RtN1lL_yVsDzp0pJs_POpaM_2e-RTm-E7wD_ONwukoY7OjvlRz4ZDJsYL0/s1600/IMG_0900.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtxQrFnfXZWc3uE2u-qZBn790gkvkDqCbGBdnvwwWOKh5xtNjDfK5-MTRyvOfJQiqq5oj8K3upTL4XAAYa-RtN1lL_yVsDzp0pJs_POpaM_2e-RTm-E7wD_ONwukoY7OjvlRz4ZDJsYL0/s400/IMG_0900.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681029362568954226" /></a><br />Suzanne has said that we are now officially retiring from Sunday nights. This past Sunday, we lost her father Richard, quite possibly the greatest man I've ever met. He'd been ill for a while but this was still completely sudden and unexpected and we're all still in shock. <br /><br />Mr. Lemons was always the coolest guy in the room, no matter what room he was in. Part Ernest Hemingway, part Santa Clause and part Ben Kenobi. When you say someone is "a good man", you're talking about him. He was the kind of guy you aspire to be but you never can because you just aren't cool enough. He was a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne, for Pete's sake! What hope do the rest of us have?<br /><br />My mother-in-law likes to tell me I passed the "Richard Test" but that's news to me because I never realized I was being tested. That's because that's the kind of man Mr. Lemons was. I'd been "taken home" to meet my share of parents before I met Suze and in every case I could tell the fathers were wondering who this shabby-looking art student was and that they were just biding their time, hoping their daughters would lose interest. But with Mr. Lemons, it was different. He treated me with respect and kindness from the minute I met him, even though I had a lousy job and no real prospects. His respect was mine to lose. I never had to prove anything to him. His daughter liked me and that was good enough for him.<br /><br />Not that I didn't try constantly to impress him. I was incredibly intimidated by him the first time we met. Suze drove me down to Williamsburg, where her parents were living at the time. They were Carolina folk and were not happy to be living in Virginia but had been transferred here when BASF bought the company they both worked for. We pulled up to a gate to the neighborhood with a guard house and Suzanne had the guard call up and announce us. I looked at her slack-jawed. "You've got to be kidding!" I was already nervous. But, by the time we pulled into the drive of their beautiful two-story brick house with the manicured lawn, I was practically a puddle in the seat. <br /><br />But the Lemonses, particularly Richard, were nothing but welcoming to me. No appraising stares. No trick questions. No backhanded compliments. They sat me down, handed me a beer and made me feel at home. And Mr. Lemons spent the next 20 years making me feel that way. Never once in the entire time I knew him did he ever make me feel like I wasn't good enough for his daughter. Turns out the gated community wasn't something they'd wanted to be a part of but a lot of the transferred employees were living there. The whole gate thing wasn't their style at all. Mr. Lemons was a farm boy that had worked his way up in life through hard work and scrappiness. He didn't put on airs and didn't care for people who did. <br /><br />Over the years, intimidation gave way to respect and admiration, then affection and finally love. I've had a lot of heroes in my life and I decided long ago that your heroes always let you down. But Mr. Lemons never did. He was a wonderful man that had so many great qualities. And he was true to the end.<br /><br />He was such a considerate and thoughtful person. Whenever we went down to visit, he would hand me the Sports Illustrated Magazine he'd invariably saved for me because it had a Packers article in it. He'd always make sure to have my brand of coffee or rum or beer or whatever he thought would make me happy. He would grill the most amazing steaks and chicken you've ever eaten and then tell everyone I did it because I came down and stood beside him while he cooked. He'd always make sure I got the biggest steak in the bunch too. <br /><br />He loved his NC State Wolfpack (his alma mater) and was delighted when he found out I "rooted" for them before I'd ever met Suzanne. (I liked that their colors were the same as my high school's.) We would have the best time watching the games with him and, if we weren't down there, he would call us to let us know the game was being televised.<br /><br />I've always hated martinis because...well, because they're terrible. But her father could make the most spectacular martinis. They were ungodly good. We always called him "Bartender Rick." I think he was proud of that.<br /><br />He had a catchphrase. Each night, when he got tired, he would stand up and say, "Well, you can stay up all night if you want to..." and then sing a rousing verse or two of "Goodnight, Irene." It made us laugh every time.<br /><br />He was such a patient man. When we got down to the house 3:00 Monday morning after we got the call, Suzanne's sister told us how her husband Scott had said that he felt like he learned something new from Richard every time he came down for a visit. And I had just been thinking that very thing on the drive down. Because Suzanne's dad knew so many neat things. And he never judged you for not knowing. He would show you how to tie a knot in a rope to keep the boat secured or just the right way to throw an anchor or how to steer the boat. And he would never get angry if it took you ten tries. Or if you forgot everything he showed you between visits. He'd just laugh and show you again.<br /><br />He could get angry like anyone else. But I never once heard him raise his voice in anger. He didn't have to. <br /><br />He had this one mannerism that I loved. If you asked him a question about something he felt strongly about he would pause and kind of half-shrug, half-tilt his head and cut a sideways glance away from you. Then explain it to you, trying to sound like he wasn't an expert but you knew damn well he was. I would sometimes ask him a question just to try and get him to do it.<br /><br />He never made me feel bad about myself for not liking to fish or hunt or for not knowing how to work on cars. One time, I went out on a fishing trip with Mr. Lemons and Suzanne's Uncle James. They both dressed in thermal underwear (It was December.) but, oh, I knew better. I just put on some jeans and a sweatshirt and jacket. And froze nearly to death. I had the gut shakes so bad, I thought I would die. It was ridiculously stupid of me. James has teased me mercilessly about it ever since. But Mr. Lemons never did. Not once.<br /><br />The thing I remember most about him was the way he moved. He had this calm deliberation about everything he did. At first I mistook it for just slowness. But over time, I realized that he didn't waste a single movement. Everything he did, every gesture and action, was thought out beforehand. It was almost a metaphor for the way he lived his life. Every decision was thought out in advance. I came to love that about him and would just watch him move and admire it. I wish I could do that. But I'm too impulsive.<br /><br />The only time I think I ever impressed him was our last visit in September. Mr. Lemons and I shared a love of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies. We were watching a John Wayne movie that I hadn't seen. A character actor came on-screen and Mr. Lemons said, "Who is that guy? He's in a lot of these movies." I said, "Ben Johnson" without missing a beat and he looked at me like he was seeing me differently. A kind of "You're okay, kid" look. I played it off because knowing an actor's name isn't really that big an accomplishment. But I cherish that look he gave me. <br /><br />I could go on and on but it's very late and I'm very sad and I just want to go to sleep and forget this week ever happened. If just for a while.<br /><br />It feels strange to have this much affection for the father of your wife. You're not supposed to like your in-laws, after all. But I really did love that man. But he was so cool that I could never bring myself to call him "Richard", to his face or otherwise. And I knew he didn't like me to call him Mr. Lemons either. So I would play this game where I would have to word my sentences with creative uses of pronouns to avoid either one. I don't know if he picked up on it or not but now I wish I'd just called him Richard. Even just once. But...you didn't call the Fonz "Arthur", did you?<br /><br />Good night, Richard. I'll miss you more than I can express.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-74039664705306213382011-11-16T08:32:00.001-08:002011-11-16T08:33:57.002-08:00Bill Mantlo<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT-k1VurX4moPYCW-JvRACUPjDNewZWto0A8Q6R2Bb00pgHnm_b7Q9Ptlgd0aC4nfz0Q3npRHcYH5XxGugHdIlkRLU9DYlnkV9EWhpor5cVUQ_7yPWTND-vAEypKWlWs8Qxj2OjTiGIUo/s1600/rom_benefit_LR.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 259px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT-k1VurX4moPYCW-JvRACUPjDNewZWto0A8Q6R2Bb00pgHnm_b7Q9Ptlgd0aC4nfz0Q3npRHcYH5XxGugHdIlkRLU9DYlnkV9EWhpor5cVUQ_7yPWTND-vAEypKWlWs8Qxj2OjTiGIUo/s400/rom_benefit_LR.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5675632612478316306" /></a><br />Yep. You've seen this drawing before. Bear with me.<br /><br />Thanks to some of Bill Mantlo's other fans at the John Byrne Forum, I was recently reminded of his plight and the struggles his brother Mike has endured in order to care for him. One of the members at the JBF posted this link:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.lifehealthpro.com/2011/11/07/tragic-tale">http://www.lifehealthpro.com/2011/11/07/tragic-tale</a><br /><br />It's an in-depth article about the Mantlos and the shortcomings of our healthcare system. It's a long, difficult, heartbreaking read but I highly recommend it. Another JBF-er did some research and came up with Mike Mantlo's contact info. I emailed him yesterday and he's an incredibly nice, positive guy. I'd really like to help him in whatever small way I can. Which brings me to the point of this post.<br /><br />A couple of years ago, Todd got me in touch with the nice folks at SpaceNite, the people that commission and auction off art featuring ROM, SPACEKNIGHT, (one of Mantlo's most popular projects for Marvel) for his benefit. Though I'm basically nobody, they were enthusiastic about me inserting myself into their project and I drew the above picture for them to auction off. It's pen and ink on 11x17 bristol. Through some snafu involving miscommunication, we never did close the deal and the art is still with me. As far as I know, there aren't anymore SpaceNites in the works and I'd hate for the drawing to go to waste. <br /><br />So in addition to what I'm going to send to Mr. Mantlo myself, I'm hoping someone will offer me something for this piece. Whatever I get will go directly to Mike Mantlo for the benefit of his brother. If anyone reading this is interested, please send an offer to me at DELETETHISmafus@comcast.netDELETETHIS and the art will go to the highest bidder. Though I don't expect the world to beat down my door, I did spend quite a bit of time on this so I'm going to start the bidding at $50. Since traffic's down the last couple of months since I took a break, I'm going to give it a while and close the bidding at noon on December 15th, 2011. If I haven't gotten any offers by then, I'll let you know and will then take whatever I can get. Deal?<br /><br />Wish me luck and please keep Mike and Bill Mantlo in your thoughts over the holidays. <br /><br />Astonishingly, I may actually have a new drawing to post soon. Later.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-33702066125144335582011-10-31T05:37:00.001-07:002011-10-31T05:42:00.604-07:00Happy Halloween!I had a great time with Rod and Leanne Hannah this past weekend. I was so happy they were able to come down for the Virginia Comicon. I also had fun hangin' with my friend Maddie McCants at the 'Ringo Scholarship table. We had a better-than-expected fundraising weekend so, combining that with what we brought in at the terrific Greenville show a few weeks ago, we'll be able to kick off the holidays with a sizable contribution to the scholarship fund. That thud you hear will be our contact at S.C.A.D. fainting. Thanks to everyone who donated and/or bought something.<br /><br />Have a fun and safe Halloween, everyone!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-82893933988725879732011-10-22T09:12:00.000-07:002011-10-22T14:01:26.797-07:00Va Comicon Halloween Weekend<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvf19jsV5L6awtPR3uvl1S-WIWHsiIzML1x3Q0zXzYtEHmQLf1Dd-HJxWky1T3dUYUW-3lQdiUz0LQuOwrqwe-D9feYhi29Rv4E4Zm8y2Mdj0DszEVAFcKYlEFJWK-gbT7i3jzqHz9bmw/s1600/comicon+banner.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 84px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvf19jsV5L6awtPR3uvl1S-WIWHsiIzML1x3Q0zXzYtEHmQLf1Dd-HJxWky1T3dUYUW-3lQdiUz0LQuOwrqwe-D9feYhi29Rv4E4Zm8y2Mdj0DszEVAFcKYlEFJWK-gbT7i3jzqHz9bmw/s400/comicon+banner.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666353024823971010" /></a><br />It's official. I'll be setting up for the Scholarship Fund at the <span style="font-weight:bold;"><a href="http://vacomicon.com/">VA COMICON</a></span> here in Richmond next weekend. That will be Halloween weekend, in case you missed the title of this post! I'm so excited. I'm looking forward to all the folks in great cosplay outfits that will likely be there. Brett's throwing a costume contest this year and the winner gets $500!<br /><br />Rod and Leanne Hannah of <a href="http://www.bluemilkspecial.com/">BlueMilkSpecial.com</a> will be there. In fact, they're staying over at the Ringo Ranch so it looks like there will be a Hammer Horror Film Festival going on. I can't wait.<br /><br />——————————<br /><br />Still inching along with the layouts for issue 1 of HAND ME DOWN HORROR. I've also been trying to loosen up with some character sketches but it's been tough. I really want to draw this thing myself but if I want it to be read before I die, I may have to hire someone to draw it for me. I'm hoping it won't come to that. I'm too much of a control freak. <br /><br />Here's a little teaser, though. I guess it's okay to post it, even though I'm light years away from being ready to publish. I think it's a much better representation of the tone of the book than the <a href="http://mafus.blogspot.com/2010/03/logos-and-stuff.html">previous attempts I posted</a>. I hope you like it.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiVJ_fFhREa8UhvSKubM3WBC49z9Dk6M5UYukLuWNK-TmmT_ftUVwDmCb-Rqcm1xVrfGMOOCpAO4lgsuM0NPt9JE5a1yaRQAAT6e8utNgHNJLOqGzDWe5cYZkENE4y2JZliVI4qZKyHiQ/s1600/HMDHLOGO.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 360px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiVJ_fFhREa8UhvSKubM3WBC49z9Dk6M5UYukLuWNK-TmmT_ftUVwDmCb-Rqcm1xVrfGMOOCpAO4lgsuM0NPt9JE5a1yaRQAAT6e8utNgHNJLOqGzDWe5cYZkENE4y2JZliVI4qZKyHiQ/s400/HMDHLOGO.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666356576585797074" /></a><br /><br />That's all I've got. I hope to see y'all at the VA COMICON next weekend! Later.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-81666224724266463612011-10-03T15:44:00.000-07:002011-10-03T15:47:48.773-07:00Still Kickin'Technically, I'm still on my break from the blog but I did want to post something to let anyone interested know that <span style="font-weight:bold;">I'll be representing the Mike Wieringo Scholarship Fund in Greenville, NC this coming Saturday (October 8th) at the City Hotel and Bistro</span>. Our friend David Tilley has kindly donated us space at his comic book show there this weekend. This is our first time setting up in Greenville so we're looking forward to meeting some new friends and hopefully seeing some old ones.<br /><br />Coincidentally, my sister-in-law lives ten minutes away with her family so Suze will get some much-needed time with our niece and nephew and her sister Jennifer.<br /><br />—————————<br /><br />If anyone cares, pencil HAS been put to paper on THE HAND ME DOWN HORROR. While the going has been much slower than I'd hoped, I'm encouraged by the fact that I've begun and that I'm happy so far with what I've done. Hilariously, I've already deviated from the script as early as page one. Damn artists, always changing things. Mostly I'm just shifting angles and adding things to give background characters something to do. I'm trying something new (for me, anyway.) Instead of completely finishing a page before moving on to the next, I'm doing detailed half-size layouts for the complete first issue before I move on to lightboxing/penciling. Then, I'll pencil every page before inking and so on. Hopefully, this will keep me focused and moving and a faster pace.<br /><br />While I'm enjoying seeing how my story is going to turn out visually, I have to say I much prefer writing to drawing. After eight full scripts and a rewrite, I had much more confidence in my writing than I do in my drawing. I'm so tense and draw so infrequently that it's hard to build up any consistency of style or any real confidence. Not to mention how difficult it's been drawing with my face two inches from the paper. (Not a consideration when writing.) The good (no, GREAT) news is that after Charlie broke my glasses while we were on vacation, I broke down and got bi-focals (those Invisi-line thingies) and now I can see enough to draw without leaning right over my hand. It's a huge relief. Maybe I can start reading more now too. I can't express what a pain that's been and how liberating these new glasses are.<br /><br />Back to the book, I also have an official, finalized logo which is nowhere near what I posted before. It's much more playful and appropriate for the material. It's also something I think will stand out on the racks. Maybe if I'm feeling brave, I'll post it later.<br /><br />I'm busier than ever and every moment I have to draw is spent on HMDH so, sadly, no sketches to post but we knew that. Still, all work and no play and all that so, for fun, Suze and I have been watching TRUE BLOOD on DVD. A coworker has the first three seasons on disk and she was nice enough to loan them to me. I've been wanting to watch the show for a while but I didn't want to spend our NetFlix rentals on endless TV show disks. Now we can just zip on through and hopefully catch season 4 on OnDemand. I have to say I'm really enjoying the hell out of the show though I'm amazed at how outrageously naughty it started out. The guy playing Sookie's brother either loves his job…or hates it. Then, halfway through Season 1, it seemed like the writers got caught up in the story and forgot to be raunchy. I'm a horror junkie and I like nekkid wimmens so I know why I'm enjoying it. But I can't, for the life of me, figure out what the attraction is for women. I guess there's the romance angle with the dark, mysterious and handsome vampire but that is such a small part of what goes on. With all the graphic sex and gore, I figured women would run screaming. Shows what I know about women. I've had that damned theme song (BAD THINGS) stuck in my head all weekend. It's a great song, though, so that's okay.<br /><br />On regular TV, we've been enjoying the return of THE MENTALIST, FRINGE, FAMILY GUY and I'm looking forward to the new season of HOUSE. And, of course, there's football. My Pack is 4-0 and if they can stay healthy, they have a great shot at returning to the Superbowl this year. Suze and I are two-thirds of the way through THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy on audio book (we listen on the way to and from work) with a couple of books sent to us by Todd waiting in the wings.<br /><br />Okay, I've got to run home now and get some things ready for planting grass seed in the morning. Rather than kill myself on the entire lawn this year (with no result) I've picked a small area of the yard and am working the hell out of it. If this works, I'll do that every year until the entire lawn looks good. Though, the way I feel today after just working a 20-foot by 20-foot patch all day yesterday, I may not even survive that.<br /><br />Later, and I hope to see at least some of you in Greenville Saturday.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-83488176555263210362011-08-12T10:39:00.001-07:002011-08-12T10:39:18.589-07:00Four Years.I have mixed feelings about continuing to mark this day. While I still enjoy posting on Mike's birthday, this is a day I'd just as soon forget. But I realize there are a lot of folks out there thinking about Mike today and I wanted you to know I'm with you.
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<br />I've actually been thinking about Mike a lot lately. He's never far from my thoughts at any given moment but lately...I don't know. It seems like every movie I see or book I read reminds me of him in one way or another. Suze and I recently managed to squeeze in a viewing CAPTAIN AMERICA. I was so blown away with well-realized the Avengers universe is in this series of films and it popped into my head that Mike passed away before the first IRON MAN movie came out. He would have loved all of these movies (especially THOR, I believe) and would have gotten such a kick out of the fact that they were being done. I'm so sad he never got to see any of them.
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<br />Mike loved movies as much as I do. And lately, I've found myself, through no conscious effort, watching a lot of the stuff we grew up watching and enjoying together.
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<br />I checked out the miniseries SHOGUN on DVD from our local library a couple weeks ago. I wasn't even aware it had been released. But the minute I saw the box, memories of sitting in front of the TV every night for a week with Mike flooded into my head. This was back in 1980 so I was 12 and Mike was 17. As a teenager, Mike was fascinated with Japanese culture. This was probably because of Frank Miller's DAREDEVIL stories. It was perfect timing. We absolutely loved the miniseries, absorbing everything. We even started humming the theme song for weeks afterward and speaking the few words of Japanese we'd managed to learn. I devoured the set, watching it every free minute instead of doing a million other things I should have been doing. And I felt like Mike was watching it again with me. I had a smile on my face that whole week.
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<br />Mike was really into Karate and took lessons for a while. He and — because I emulated him in all things — I started watching every Chuck Norris movie that came out. They ranged from awful to watchable but Mike took me to every one. He even got to meet Norris once when he came to speak at Mike's Karate dojo. Feeling nostalgic, I recently picked up a bunch of Norris' DVDs on Amazon cheap and started watching them again. They're just as awful as ever but it was nice to relive those memories of going to see them with my big brother.
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<br />The last movie I ever saw with Mike was a showing of LAND OF THE DEAD in Charlotte during the Heroes Convention. Mike and I were both Romero fans from way back and we jumped at the chance to see the movie together. Unfortunately, there were some loud guys talking in the row behind us and while Mike just ignored them, I couldn't take it. I got up and moved down several rows and so we didn't really see the movie together. If I had known...
<br />
<br />Anyway. I miss Mikey more than ever. It doesn't sting quite as bad as it used to but as time goes by, I'm reminded of him more and more often. Everything I see, say or do seems to bring back memories. I guess that's a good thing. I just can't believe it's been four years since he left us. Suzanne and I were talking the other day and we agreed that it feel like he could just walk through the door this Thanksgiving and we almost wouldn't be surprised. It's like he's not really gone.
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<br />Certainly, I miss his work like any other fan. But I am especially missing just being able to pick up the phone and talk to him and seek his advice. He could make me laugh like nobody else could. And I loved how I would know that Mike was on the other end of the line when Suze picked up the phone because of how he would get her laughing until she "tee-heeed."
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<br />Worst of all, now that it's been four years, we've gotten to spend more time with Charlie than Mike did. That just seems wrong. As much as we love Charlie (and we love him dearly), he will always be Mike's "little buddy." Hell, Mike even drew him into the last work he completed. :)
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<br />So, thanks everybody for the kind thoughts today. I appreciate it more than you can know.
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-89849693494743935332011-07-20T15:29:00.001-07:002011-07-20T15:41:09.263-07:00Taking a BreakAs my work schedule has gotten worse and worse over the last few weeks and shows no sign of letting up, I've decided to take a break from the blog for a while. Not a permanent one but...for a while.<br /><br />I'm most of the way through my last page of the PERHAPANAUTS assignment and plan to start inching my way through the HAND ME DOWN HORROR as soon as possible. Between that, the scholarship and finding myself in need of a lot of training to stay relevant in my job, the added pressure of trying to post something of interest on a regular basis has stolen some of the fun out of it. Though I'm still a "compulsive doodler", it's been weeks since I've even been able to pick up a pencil at work. That's not likely to change, frustrating as it is. I'm going to devote what little energies I have left at the end of the day to getting my book drawn and doing some other things I've been putting off. <br /><br />Thanks for indulging me all this time. I'll certainly check in from time to time to announce when and where we'll be representing the scholarship fund and hopefully to share some HMDH artwork. But it will be on a much less regular basis. Hopefully, I'll see you around Todd and Craig's blogs.<br /><br />Sadly...later.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-73115874654482446882011-06-30T18:38:00.000-07:002011-06-30T18:50:52.538-07:00Batgirl<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6MYxH6AL0SPaCT6G7L1V4iY6-3BQE_puy4UPcUS47X_O8X36TCN-LpgYP2Rp3Tw_tTEyS1kobo1QKNNiqHRpblLRW70s5Vj-CiAJGBROTkTe_siUpQqJr9GKSqKRzrlomMf6bgniliJE/s1600/batgirl_lr.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 316px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6MYxH6AL0SPaCT6G7L1V4iY6-3BQE_puy4UPcUS47X_O8X36TCN-LpgYP2Rp3Tw_tTEyS1kobo1QKNNiqHRpblLRW70s5Vj-CiAJGBROTkTe_siUpQqJr9GKSqKRzrlomMf6bgniliJE/s400/batgirl_lr.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624194897830302882" /></a><br />I really don't feel like whining about how much I've been working. Though I could. <br /><br />Instead, I'll mention how I took great pains to clear this past weekend so I could work on my remaining PERHAPANAUTS pages and that worked out really well. One more page to go and that one looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. <br /><br />Just for shiggles, (that one's for you, Ricky) I did the math on how long it's taken me to do this assignment, per page and, if I applied that math to THE HAND ME DOWN HORROR, it would probably take me 132 years to draw that. I don't think that will actually be the case, though. I plan on doing much simpler drawings and not noodling the backgrounds so much. I guess that's because I'm going to be inking them instead of Christian. As I've sent each 'HAPS page to Christian, I've gotten a response from him in the vein of, "OH COME ON!!! SERIOUSLY?" Dude is going to be living with a ruler in his hand for a while.<br /><br />Speaking of HMDH, though I've not come anywhere close to meeting my schedule of starting the art on it this past January, I can say with some satisfaction that my rewrite has gone well and I'm pretty much done. Most of the dialogue got rewritten. The very first scene was re-conceived and some plot holes were fixed. Except for a few tweaks to some heavy-handed dialogue that I can do while lettering, I think I'm good to get started when I'm done with the 'HAPS. I'm much happier with it now. Still not completely satisfied but I feel like I've taken it up a notch above where it was.<br /><br />Also, I want to say that I've been getting quite a few emails and Facebook notifications from folks since Heroes and just have not had any time to respond to any of that so I apologize. I'll get to that as soon as possible. <br /><br />Lastly, the sketch above was done while I was waiting around the other night at work. Been pulling some all-nighters lately and that's got me back to sketching. I liked how this started out but by the end, I wasn't as happy with it as I'd hoped. Still figuring out how to draw women. And I was too damned tired to figure out the background.<br /><br />Okay, that's all I've got. I'm exhausted. Going to bed early. Later.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-28986978505974629722011-06-24T09:51:00.000-07:002011-06-24T09:52:28.505-07:0048One of the things people mention most when we talk about Mike is how much they miss his laugh. It was a good one. Hard to describe. He was very unselfconscious about it. If something struck him funny, he just cut loose. Sometimes, if he wasn't laughing uproariously, he would do this "ssss—sssss—sssss" thing that sounded like a snake with hiccups. The one that always got me, though, was when he'd laugh, seemingly forever, then repeat whatever it was that cracked him up in this high-pitched wheezy voice and then go off in gales of laughter again. For instance, if he was watching OFFICE SPACE:<br /><br />"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA…ha ha ha…ha.ssss—ssss—ssss—ssss…<br /><br />"Lumbergh f***ed her!"<br /><br />"AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA…."<br /><br />It was very endearing. Well…except this one time.<br /><br />I've mentioned the trip to Italy we took with our parents and Suzanne about 10 years ago. I hate to fly under the best of circumstances but the flight to Milan was almost unbearable. Suzanne, Mike and I were in the center section with me in the middle. Suze was sitting next to a guy who was sniffing and wheezing and grunting like he had the Black Plague. The screens for the in-flight movie were embedded in the backs of the chairs so if the guy sitting in front of you put his seat back, you were out of luck. This was the case with me. By twisting my head at an unnatural angle, I was able to catch an occasional glimpse of the movie but I couldn't sustain it. <br /><br />Mike was more fortunate. He was able to watch his movie just fine and that movie was GALAXY QUEST. "Oh, cool! I haven't seen this!" I told him he was in for a treat because it was hilarious. Apparently, Mike agreed.<br /><br />I had taken off my headphones because they were pointless without being able to see the movie. But Mike had his on. Remember that scene in JERRY MAGUIRE where Tom Cruise is singing along to a song we can't hear and screwing up the lyrics? He thinks he's doing a great job but, to us, he sounds terrible.<br /><br />For anyone not watching the movie, there was the not unpleasant hum and creak of a large aircraft cruising along broken by the occasional cough or whine of an unhappy child. Then it started.<br /><br />"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA…ha ha ha…ha.ssss—ssss—ssss—ssss…<br /><br />"Hell of a thing!"<br /><br />"AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA…."<br /><br />…..<br /><br />"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA…ha ha ha…ha.ssss—ssss—ssss—ssss…<br /><br />"That's not right!"<br /><br />"AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA…."<br /><br />…..<br /><br />"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA…ha ha ha…ha.ssss—ssss—ssss—ssss…<br /><br />"…By Grabthar's hammer!"<br /><br />"AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA…."<br /><br />Every head turned toward Mike. He had no idea how loud he was being and I don't think he would have cared if he did. He was having the time of his life. He watched the entire movie like that while I slumped down in my seat trying to be as small as possible. Once in a while, someone would catch my eye and I'd shrug and shake my head. "Never met this guy before…"<br /><br />Finally, mercifully, the movie stopped. Mike took off his headphones and said, "That was a great movie. I can't believe I've never seen it before." <br /><br />Things went back to normal. But it was a long flight. And, wouldn't you know it, there was time for another movie. There were actually "channels" on the screens so you could choose between three different movies. Mike put on his headphones and chose…GALAXY QUEST. I thought we'd be okay, though, because he'd just seen it. No way would he find it that funny when he already knew the jokes.<br /><br />Wrong. Apparently, it TWICE as funny.<br /><br />Want to try and guess what he watched on the flight back? I bet you'd be right.<br /><br />That was one of those excruciating experiences you think will never end. And then it does. And you laugh about it for the rest of your life. So, yeah. I miss Mike's laugh too. <br /><br />Especially that one.<br /><br />Happy Birthday, Mikey.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-38790007936250762642011-06-20T12:08:00.000-07:002011-06-20T12:15:01.472-07:00Wieringo Animal Shelter<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVawt4xgfFMdYdDj8uzgW1CgkdUZDfiWXNcNR9OYbV-xcEuZA1kzMrRx17ukWNgeca5uaWDGS4XHsGg6UUwML01EPgeMF83XeK0aJfgjSkBbLgCZ4c67Be1qLQUzQjA7BPxNnUnJgXW5g/s1600/fearitself_homefront.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 258px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVawt4xgfFMdYdDj8uzgW1CgkdUZDfiWXNcNR9OYbV-xcEuZA1kzMrRx17ukWNgeca5uaWDGS4XHsGg6UUwML01EPgeMF83XeK0aJfgjSkBbLgCZ4c67Be1qLQUzQjA7BPxNnUnJgXW5g/s400/fearitself_homefront.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620382008648547314" /></a><br />I've been much too busy lately between work, parental visits and achieving true manhood by switching out the alternator on our Suburban all by my lonesome to do any sketching but I did want to share something with you.<br /><br />A week or so ago, I had the pleasure of representing the Mike Wieringo Scholarship Fund at the quarterly Va Comicon here in Richmond. I love the Va Comicon because it's a fun little show and Brett treats us REALLY well and we don't have to travel. I get to sleep in my own bed at night and don't put a lot of miles on the cars. But the best part is getting to hang out with some familiar faces like Shelton (Heroes) Drum and Marc (Baltimore Comicon) Nathan without them being under the pressures that their respective conventions place on them. <br /><br />I was visiting Marc at his booth when one of his guys came over and shook my hand. He was a fan of Mike's and wanted to ask my opinion of the tribute to Mike that was in one of Marvel's recent comics. I told him I hadn't seen it. It was apparently in one of Marvel's current crossover tie-ins (FEAR ITSELF: HOMEFRONT #2) and, well, I don't read that sort of thing anymore. But the fellow (I'm sorry to say I've forgotten his name) was very excited about it and told me the exact issue to look for.<br /><br />I proceeded to check every dealer at the convention and, despite finding some other fun stuff for myself, I couldn't locate the book. So, immediately after the show closed, I drove over to Nostalgia Plus and told Marvin what I was looking for. He located it in 30 seconds and this is what we found inside:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfMhpuJlewnUMHVOVYFBer2GIMoMULUhhtfbKr8S-IJsLMvWI21TDWkgg81zAcSlziZrRnBmZAnA1jus_d8_keKwXRU1NgeSwtqT-ys2kdgCAAQBWYLjiLmlwMExaPmqI4bVuqSlneyWU/s1600/wieringo_animalshelter.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfMhpuJlewnUMHVOVYFBer2GIMoMULUhhtfbKr8S-IJsLMvWI21TDWkgg81zAcSlziZrRnBmZAnA1jus_d8_keKwXRU1NgeSwtqT-ys2kdgCAAQBWYLjiLmlwMExaPmqI4bVuqSlneyWU/s400/wieringo_animalshelter.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620381878060313922" /></a><br /><br />I'm not sure who to thank for that...the writer, the artist or even the letterer. But it's a wonderful tribute and one I think Mike would have just loved. So "Thanks!" to whoever was responsible.<br /><br />Pretty cool, right?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3732808458531819052.post-24542753612141410392011-06-06T16:31:00.000-07:002011-06-06T17:04:33.889-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiye2uPn2oteI_img7Q3pxQ1IoiCbAdbp-gPJabW4NzD0ZuueB26cTWuzzrNZ9OLOiRyTiJncL1Smn24GFEKSJ0snN16Hz9s_Zonf-FP1ukDOKxxcBBk03AyDInlqrINLKgSPQFSbHj4Qs/s1600/Heroes-Convention.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 164px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiye2uPn2oteI_img7Q3pxQ1IoiCbAdbp-gPJabW4NzD0ZuueB26cTWuzzrNZ9OLOiRyTiJncL1Smn24GFEKSJ0snN16Hz9s_Zonf-FP1ukDOKxxcBBk03AyDInlqrINLKgSPQFSbHj4Qs/s400/Heroes-Convention.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615253590629691090" /></a><br /><br />We're back from our trip to the 2011 Heroes Convention in Charlotte. Just walked in the door, in fact, and it's really great to see Charlie. He's so happy we're back. I'll probably post a more detailed summary later in the week but I have some email to catch up on, lots of unpacking and I really need to collapse for a while before work starts back up tomorrow.<br /><br />First, and most importantly, I'd like to officially congratulate Nicky Soh, our second recipient of the Mike Wieringo Scholarship Fund at S.C.A.D. He was one of three finalists given to us to submit to our panel of judges (thanks, folks!) and it was a very close vote. All the finalists should be very proud of their accomplishments. I wish we could give all three of them the scholarship. <br /><br />Nicky Soh is very deserving of this award. Unfortunately, with the convention moved up a few weeks this year, Nicky wasn't able to make it to the announcement Saturday night on such short notice. Hopefully, he can attend next year. Good luck, Nicky. You deserve it.<br /><br />As for our last (or, rather, first) recipient, Rae Rochelle, she has now graduated and I can't wait to see where she goes from here. I hope S.C.A.D. will keep us up on how she's doing. She was the speaker at the S.C.A.D. scholarship dinner (which we were sadly unable to attend) earlier this year and we received a copy of her speech from Karla Geibner, our contact in Savannah. It really choked us up. She's a great person and I'm so glad she was the first person to win the scholarship. I think Mike would be very proud.<br /><br />Before I sign off, I want to thank everyone who stopped by and donated money or items for sale to the fund or bought something from us. We got some incredibly generous donations from passers-by, friends and pros alike. I can't thank you all enough. Your continuing generosity keeps us going. I'd thank you all by name ( I remember each and every one of you.) but I don't want to embarrass anyone. Just please know how thankful we are.<br /><br />I also want to thank all the people who stopped by or emailed us or posted here and on Facebook with their condolences about Toonces. Everyone was very understanding and went out of their way to make sure I didn't feel like I was being perceived as the "crazy cat guy." We weren't sure we were ready for Heroes after we lost our little guy and especially were worried about leaving Charlie alone for 3 days but once we got to the show, everyone really cheered us up and we had a great time. It was fun seeing all our "regulars" and all of Mike's friends. ( I guess, after all this time, I really should start calling them "our" friends since they've embraced us.)<br /><br />Thanks also to our friends Don and Kelly McCants who kindly stopped by over the weekend and checked in on Charlie and hung out with him for THREE HOURS so he wouldn't feel so lonely.<br /><br />A huge thank you to Shelton Drum and his Heroes crew who hooked us up with a great spot next to our friends Todd, Craig and Nick, along with our new friends Gino and Scott. Also, he deserves a medal for putting up with my annoying emails and phone calls while he was swamped with convention business. Thank you, Shelton!<br /><br />Finally, thank you to Casey Jones who generously spent hours this weekend doing sketches for us to sell for the fund when he could have been making money for himself. He's such a great and talented guy. And he loved Mike. He's doing a great job keeping Mike's memory alive and telling great stories about Mike's professional days that even I didn't know. I'm so grateful for that. If you're interested, (and why wouldn't you be) click the Artamus blog link on the right. Thank you so much for everything, Casey.<br /><br />Okay, more later.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6