Hey, 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.

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.

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:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/53542

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Oh, and I guess I should change my banner back some time soon, hunh?

Later.

The Spectre

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.

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.

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 this close to posting the scripts online and calling it a day.

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.

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…

…you'll want to buy it. My Rom drawing auction 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 good cause. Come on. You know you want to pretend you want it.

Okay, that's all I've got. Hopefully, I'll have another new drawing soon.

Later.

Missing Richard Craig Lemons

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

He could get angry like anyone else. But I never once heard him raise his voice in anger. He didn't have to.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Good night, Richard. I'll miss you more than I can express.

Bill Mantlo

Yep. You've seen this drawing before. Bear with me.

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:

http://www.lifehealthpro.com/2011/11/07/tragic-tale

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.

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.

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?

Wish me luck and please keep Mike and Bill Mantlo in your thoughts over the holidays.

Astonishingly, I may actually have a new drawing to post soon. Later.

Happy 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.

Have a fun and safe Halloween, everyone!

Va Comicon Halloween Weekend

It's official. I'll be setting up for the Scholarship Fund at the VA COMICON 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!

Rod and Leanne Hannah of BlueMilkSpecial.com 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.

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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.

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 previous attempts I posted. I hope you like it.



That's all I've got. I hope to see y'all at the VA COMICON next weekend! Later.

Still Kickin'

Technically, I'm still on my break from the blog but I did want to post something to let anyone interested know that I'll be representing the Mike Wieringo Scholarship Fund in Greenville, NC this coming Saturday (October 8th) at the City Hotel and Bistro. 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.

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Later, and I hope to see at least some of you in Greenville Saturday.