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Just got back from a
combo Thanksgiving/Christmas get-together with the in-laws. Karen wasn't
able to get the Friday after Thanksgiving off from work, so we decided
it wasn't worth slogging through the busiest travel weekend of the year
when the trip is eight hours on a good day. By comparison, the traffic
was smooth this past weekend...
I've got the best in-laws anyone could ask for. They
tolerate my weird idiosyncrasies (especially considering I'm a Damn Yankee-I'm
an odd duck up as it is up north!) and make me feel like family. My folks
get along great with them as well, so that's half the battle in most relationships
resolved right there.
Now to business: Next week, I'll get to the new Pencil-to-ink
Study with the faux Tales to Astonish #79 cover as initially promised
this week on the home page.
Currently, I have my latest commission piece exclusively
posted at Chuck Dixon's website, www.dixonverse.net
(as the message board states, "Now with 10% more Gail Simone!").
It's a beautiful drawing by Jose' Luis Garcia Lopez, one of the comic
industry's greatest, yet least celebrated artists. Over the past few decades,
he's been DC's counterpart to Marvel's John Romita Sr., doing countless
promotional pieces, setting high industry standards in art. I've just
learned from Gail Simone via Chuck's message board that she's writing
a story arc for JLA: Classified with Garcia-Lopez and Klaus Janson doing
art chores! Exciting stuff, that!
BTW: The reason the piece is at Dixonverse? It features
Batman and Robin battling Dixon's contribution to the Dark Knight's Rogue's
gallery: Bane! As payback, I asked him to write a four-issue miniseries
for me-the next day he called, saying: "I hope you don't mind, but
I finished issue seven, and I've mapped out the remainder of the second
year's storyline!"
Just kidding about the miniseries... But I fooled ya
for a second, didn't I? Chuck who loves writing so much, he writes scripts
that don't even have schedules or publishers. He just plants his seeds
and sees where they sprout. He doesn't believe in writer's block, by the
way.
I've gotten inker's block on occasion, depending on
who I'm inking. I have two Adam Hughes pieces, one of Wonder Woman and
one of Poison Ivy. I've ever-so cautiously picked at the Wonder Woman
drawing-a few brush strokes here...stop...ink something else...two days
later, a few more brush strokes, stand back, check if it looks decent
so far...repeat...
I'm almost done with both, but it was some hill to climb.
Part of me knows that there's a legion of Adam fans out there waiting
to love or condemn my inks, because Adam either inks himself, or is inked
by Karl Story or Mark Farmer, and those guys are the tough competition.
It's coming along pretty well, thanks for asking!
For anyone who's a regular reader of this blog (or happen
upon this by cosmic accident), I'm asking you to please contribute some
questions for me to answer, and with your permission, I'd like to post
them in future blogs. I'll keep you anonymous if you wish, and if you
get stopped by my spamblocker, don't worry, I'll find you (there's also
a notification request at the bottom of the spamblocker).
I don't mind amusing myself with my own ramblings (I've
been doing it all my life), but I'd like to get a little input, so I'm
not bottling my thoughts in a vacuum. I don't have a message board because,
frankly, I can get caught up in the heat of the moment and say terribly
stupid things. Also, I think I'd run out of stuff to say in two weeks.
I'm more of a lurker. Another thing, I've seen some creators with message
boards that have so little traffic, you'd swear you'll hear crickets chirping.
More embarrassment I don't need!
Random stuff: A brief sampling of the CD's holding a
permanent residence in my 100-disc CD player:
The Church: Starfish
George Harrison: All Things Must Pass
The Very Best of Talk Talk
The Hives: Veni Vidi Vicious
Beck: Midnight Vultures
Donovan: Troubadour 1964-1976
Talking Heads: Fear of Music
I'm outta here...
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