Pending...

Well, the Zeroes 2 Heroes contest winner will be announced Friday, and I'm pretty sure it's not me. Why? Cary Kelley, who also entered, got emailed yesterday informing him he made the short list, which is basically the semi-finalists. I did not get such an email. So chances are it ain't me. Sigh.

Best of luck to Cary, though.

Tomorrow is my brother's doctor's appointment to see how he's healing up. I'll post the results here. I'm sure it will be good news as Zach has pretty much gotten back to normal. He's got more attitude though, which concerns us, but it's probably because of the extra precautions we've been taking with him. He feels smothered a bit.

Caught the debut of Celebrity Duets last night. Chris Jericho, a wrestler, completely bombed, but Alfons Riebero (Carlton from Fresh Prince) and some guy from Queer Eye, and Lucy Lawless (Xena) really surprised me. They did an excellent job. It'll be interesting to see if this show picks up enough viewers to keep it on the air. Recently The One, an American Idol like competition, only all the contestants played instruments and lived in a music school, only lasted two episodes before getting cancelled. Me thinks AI has the market cornered.

Prison Break has opened to an incredible season so far. SPOILERS

Veronica got killed in the first episode shockingly. I don't think anyone expected that to happen. It'll be interesting to see what happens when all the escapees head to Utah to get the money one of them left before he went into prison. And with the inclusion of this new detective that's almost as smart as Michael it'll be interesting to see how they evade him.

END SPOILERS

I sent an idea to an artist this morning. I'm awaiting his feedback to see if we can work something out.

I'm looking all over the place for unlettered pages and scripts for Marvel, DC, Image, etc. titles so I can letter them and submit them. So if anyone has any on hand or has links, please email me.

I started writing my next Myth Conceptions column today, but stopped because I lacked reference. I posted on one messageboard looking for some, but have yet to get any feedback. What I need are examples of copycats of various popular characters. These can include homage, maybe parody, innovative new takes, or rip-offs. For instance, Authority and Watchmen are innovative takes on the JLA. Invincible is a unique take on Superman. Supreme some think was a Superman rip-off. Stuff like that.

Aside from all that good stuff, I'm just waiting for that big break somewhere, some way, somehow...

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Review Mania

I had a whole slew of reviews posted today at SBC, some good, some not so good. You can find them along with all others I've done in the sidebar, but for brevity's and simplicity's sake, here they are:

American Way #7
Hard Boiled Comics #1-2
Man-Bat #5
Teen Titans Go! #34
Trials of Shazam #1
Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #2

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Review Mania

I had a whole slew of reviews posted today at SBC, some good, some not so good. You can find them along with all others I've done in the sidebar, but for brevity's and simplicity's sake, here they are:

American Way #7
Hard Boiled Comics #1-2
Man-Bat #5
Teen Titans Go! #34
Trials of Shazam #1
Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #2

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JLA #1 Review

I've done a slew of reviews that will go up over the next couple of days, and the first among them is the new Justice League of America #1.

I was not thrilled with issue #0. In fact I hated it and thought it was a waste of time and money. It made me fear that the series would be just as dismal. I was wrong. I loved the first issue, and in the review I tell you why.

Click the post title to read it, or find it in the sidebar.

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Komic Sutra

While at Broken Frontier today to check out my buddy Jason's latest The Story Factory column I caught a glimpse of the topic of another column there, Komic Sutra. The title, How NOT to Get Into Comics, was enticing enough to take a peek.

In the column, JP Dorigo, the writer, lists his examples of what is sure to keep you from succeeding in your dreams to be a comic creator. He takes a stab at some things others have pulled in a completely ironic way that is just so true it's hilarious.

Go check it out by clicking the post title. And while you're over there check out The Story Factory. :)

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Myth Conceptions

The latest column is up!

This week is a short one. I talk about spoofs.

Click the post title to check it out.

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Indy-Pendant #62

New column's up!

This week it's Koni Waves from Arcana.

Click the post title to read the column.

Enjoy!

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Warbreed Withdraws

I don't think it's been officially announced, but Warbreed has also pulled out of the Small Press Idol competition. Evidently the creator/writer/penciler, Ben Jones, and the inker, Carmen Imperato are going through some personal situations and don't have the energy, time or heart to finish it right now.

I completely understand that part of it, and I sincerely wish them well and hope their situations improve. It still sucks because both Kansas Hit and Warbreed had strong chances of winning in my opinion, so it's a little disheartening after going all this way that both were forced to withdraw due to circumstances. Completely understandable, but still sad.

Even sadder is that Ben doesn't think he'll be doing Warbreed at all for a while, and we've had a lot of outside interest in publishing that aside from Dimestore. I know of at least two small publishers who wanted to take it on.

But what are you gonna do, right? Family, personal life, and life in general has to come first, and Lord knows I've got my own stuff going on as well. So all I can do is hope somewhere down the line Warbreed resurfaces and I get to be a part of it.

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Gonzoblog

To blog or not to blog, that is the question. But I'll get to that in a moment. First I'd like to address the post before last a bit.

I was in an understandably foul mood when we got the news. And while my disposition isn't incredibly better today (for various reasons, not just that) a scripture Ray Hickson posted in the comment section and the scripture-a-day I get in my email encouraged me a bit. I'm still concerned, but I'm trying not to worry and just leave it in God's hands. Doing my part of course, but allowing Him to do the part I can't. So with that said, thanks for the thoughts and prayers, guys, I'm trying to stay in good spirits through it.

Now, back on topic. When my bandwidth got eaten up a few months ago I started a temporary blog (click the post title) to take this one's place. It served its purpose for a few days, but since it's just been sitting there. For a while I updated it with the same links I update this one with, but I finally just stopped.

So, my question is now that I have a website with a pretty useless home page, and I still have this blog, what in the world do I do with that one? Should I use it to showcase or talk about something specific, or should I just do away with it all together?

I had originally thought of using it for my eventual webstrip, Gonzogoose, but that is kind of on the backburner, and I may just do a separate site for that, I don't know.

So consider this the official 'send me your ideas' post asking for suggestions on what to use it for, if anything at all.

While I'm at it, any suggestions for the home page of my site short of making this blog the homepage?

Thanks!

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He-Man vs Lizard Man

Below is an updated version of the piece I did for the first round of the DW draw off. It's still not great, but it's a lot better than the piece I had to enter due to time.

As for my status in the contest, I got 8 votes (thank you, whoever you all are) and pretty much stopped there. Even in a multiple vote poll I'm getting killed. Everyone else has close to 30 or more, which means I'll be eliminated as only 5 of the 6 will advance.

I will get put into the losers bracket since it's double elimination, but then I'll have to climb my way back up. Voting is still open through Sunday I think. :) Click. Post. Title.

Here's the original:

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Bad to Worse

Well, I said earlier I was having a bad day, but nothing really bad, outside the norm that is, was happening. Unfortunately that changed drastically.

First, we had some car problems and ended up having to shell out cash on that. Not so bad, right? But considering the news we just got this afternoon it makes any expenditure seem very bad.

I can't talk about the details because nobody's supposed to really know, but there's a strong possibility that we'll lose the house we're renting. This would mean we'd have no immediate place to go. Needless to say it has instantly become a very stressful time. We don't have the money to put a down payment on another house, and apartments here are very small and too expensive. We got a great break on the house, which we're not likely to get anywhere else.

So this day officially sucks now. Just keep us in your thoughts and prayers once more. Something's gotta give soon, right? I mean when negative stuff keeps happening the good has to be around the corner. At least that's what I'm holding onto. What else am I going to do, right?

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Ah--Sigh

I'm not having a good day. Not really a bad day, and nothing bad has happened really. Just not having a good one. Thought I'd share, misery and company and all that.

That is all.

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Mark Millar

I got a chance to listen to Mark Millar on Fanboy Radio yesterday, and man was that a great interview. He is an incredibly fun and funny guy, and he had me in stitches. He has that kind of matter of fact humor about him.

I had never heard him speak before, so it was kind of wild to hear him just being himself. It was pretty cool. You hear all these stories in interviews and such about Mark being crazy and all this stuff, and I can see that because he's just out there!

But he's much more than that. The answers he gave to callers and such were incredibly well thought out and even philosophical. And even through his thick accent he's a very well spoken guy and he was just blowing my mind with all his deep ideas. Yes, they're comic books he's writing, but the way he detailed everything made them feel like more, and that's part of what I love about comics.

I admittedly haven't read a lot of Millar's work. Probably the only things I have read are Civil War and his Wanted series that I'm aware of. I may have read one other thing of his at Marvel, but I'm not sure. But everything I've read from him so far has been, in my opinion, edgy, controversial, introspective, thought provoking, entertaining, fun, and quite enjoyable. Sure, there were a couple of flubs here or there, but overall my impression of Civil War is a very positive one. I finally read the Illuminati, and I don't think or feel like I was robbed in Civil War #1 at all.

Wanted was a little racy and vulgar for me, but it was still very well written, very well plotted, and a very unique take on an idea that I thought was pretty innovative.

That podcast won me over if I had any doubts to begin with. If you get a chance you should listen to it (click the post title!). The man's crazy, but in a good way. :)

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Are You a Digital Inker?

If so, I know someone who's looking for you!

Victor Poon is looking for a digital inker for a project called Academy of Heroes. I have lettered a couple of projects for Victor (The Pozers, Bureau 13) and the art and writing on both were top notch.

These are the qualifications the potential applicant must have:

-The inker will have to have DSL/Cable.
-The inker will have to do an inking test.
-A dedicated inker that can meet deadlines.
-but most importantly, an inker that can take constructive criticism and be able to work within a team dynamic.

Project info:
-Pay is slated on a backend percentage
-Distributiuon will be via my publisher in part with Diamond

The inker is needed by August 31st, so start submitting.

What you should submit:

1) no more than 3 jpgs of your best work
2) links to your work

Send them to:
inks@dreamonwords.com

So if you ink digitally this is a great opportunity to work with some great creators.

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Zeroes 2 Heroes

Man, I've been in a writing frenzy!

Well, I either submitted two or three separate entries into the Zeroes 2 Heroes contest before deadline. I say two or three because I'm not sure if the third one made it in on time. I know two of them did though.

The two I know for fact I got in on time are Eliminator and Wannabez, the projects shown on my website. The third I'm not sure about is a project called Snow, which is a story I really love, and probably the best written of the three. So I'm hoping it made it.

I wanted to get Night Riders done too, but I just didn't have enough time. Oh well. The great thing about this contest is it forced me to finish up a few things and got me off my slump. So I win either way.

Man prior to tonight Snow was a vague idea and seven pages of script that I loved, but had no idea where it was going. It sat that way for two years. But tonight I finished the first script, came up with the rest of the story, and added all this cinematic stuff to it. I love this story. It took me in places I wasn't expecting. And I discovered that it works best as an ongoing I think, which is cool because just about everything I write is designed for minis or small arcs, and this is much bigger than that. It's a challenge and it's expanding my comfort zone, which is always a good thing.

So I guess come September 1st we'll find out who the winner is. Man, that's going to be a brutal 11 days!

Well, just got the word all three made it in, so all is good!

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Myth Conceptions

The new column is up!

This week I talk about some of my own projects. And yes, there are pictures!

Check it out by clicking the post title.

Thanks!

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Why Do I?

Why do I do the things I do? Why do I get involved and invested to a point where I'm passionate with everything I commit to? I guess that's a good thing mostly, but sometimes you can become so invested in something that you take things personal. It's hard to turn it off, then you realize you've worded things wrong or reacted instead of acted.

One such situation came up recently and it all blew up with people getting offended and it caused a split. I don't feel I said anything offensive, and it wasn't just me but a WHOLE bunch of people involved all talking highly emotional and all taking things to heart. It just wasn't a good time for certain conversations to take place and things got heated.

My part was actually very small, but nonetheless I wish I hadn't even been involved because of the end result. Retrospect I guess. I hope things can be salvaged because I do feel certain people acted impulsively.

So why do I get so passionate? I guess that's just who I am and I won't apologize for that, or for wanting to improve things. I'm not a fan of stagnation, and if something can be better it should strive to be better. But not everyone thinks that way, and when you're in a group you need to realize that and understand that you can't change the way people are. That can be a tough pill to swallow sometimes, but it's a pill that must go down.

Anyway, I hope this isn't the end and that things can go back to normal. I doubt they will, but it really was an unnecessary ending to a volatile situation that was taken way out of context. But what's done is done, and that's that. Oh well, live and learn.

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Indy-Pendant #61

The new column is up. This week is a short one. I review 48 #1 from Paper Dragonz.

Check it out by clicking the post title.

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DW Tournament Round 1

The first round of the tournament is underway. There are 10 groups (or brackets) in the contest. I'm in group 4. My group's task was to draw He-Man vs. a Lizard character. I didn't get to finish mine as much as I would have liked because of getting sick mainly. But I made it in nonetheless.

If you like it vote for it. This is a multiple choice vote, and 5 of the 6 in my group will advance to the next round. The voting thread can be found by clicking the post title.

Here is my entry. I plan to finish it when I have time.



Sorry about the thumbnail, but it's a little large for the width of the blog.

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Down, But Not Out

Whew, this has been a long week and a long day. I've got so much to do, but I am so sick. I did manage to write both columns and get them out of the way today. So they'll both go up Sunday and Monday respectively.

I have until midnight to finish my He-Man drawing for the first round of the DW tournament. I think (hope) I'll make it in time.

I've got another script to look over for Cary that I have yet to crack open. Hope he doesn't kill me.

I've got to type up my feedback to Doug on something.

I've still got to finish scripts for the Zeroes 2 Heroes contest deadline Monday.

And finally, I've got to finish some lettering for Approbation soon.

And that's just the creative work. I'm working on some stuff for SBC that's whipping my sick butt. And not to mention regular life drama.

But these are all good problems to have. It may be a bit stressful and may seem like a lot of work, but I am having a lot of fun with it all.

Right now I'm going back to bed/drawing board so I can relax and draw. Then I'm crashing!

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