Advent Drops Out!

Well, I guess I got too excited about the trailer! Due to some personal reasons and some other stuff Ben decided to withdraw Advent from the Small Press Idol competition. The good news is he's got other stuff lined up as an artist, the bad news is obviously that Advent won't be in the competition any longer.

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Advent Trailer

I don't know how in the world I missed this, but if you click the title of this post you'll be taken to the trailer for Advent, one of the projects I'm lettering in the Small Press Idol contest. It's pretty cool!

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Figure It's Time...

...for another post! I don't really have any updates right now save what you can read over on the Wannabez Blog (see sidebar), but felt I should post anyway.

I had a scare with a lettering project the other day as it seems I lost the entire first two issues and logo, which I moved to disk to make room on the PC. I still haven't located it after frantically going through 40 cds looking for it. It's the ONLY project I've lettered that I'm missing, and I don't have a clue what happened to it. We're trying to see if the printer still has the pages, but in the meantime I had to recreate the logo from scratch. I think I got it pretty close, so we'll leave it at that.

I'm still catching up on some lettering while still waiting on more pages to come in. I've got several small things I have to complete this week or I'm going to fall even further behind. So if I disappear for a while you know where I'm at. Between lettering and work I pretty much have no life as it is. lol.

On an unrelated note, I bought a used copy of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 the other day because I haven't seen it yet. I loved the first one, though I didn't get to see it until it came out on DVD either. I figured with the third one coming out next week I should probably watch the second. And for the price I nabbed this at I couldn't pass it up even used. So I hope to get a chance to watch that this weekend. We'll see.

I can't remember if I mentioned it, but I did finally change my rates on my website. I was going to wait until I got some new samples up there, but for a few reasons I went ahead and posted them. Hopefully they don't scare anyone away!

I guess that's it, really. Nothing much new around here. I'll certainly let you know if anything does come up though. Thanks for reading!

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Mother's Day

This year I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to do anything for Mom. I got paid late and wasn't feeling well this weekend, but with some last minute planning my brother and I set something small, yet meaningful into motion.

My mother's favorite restaurant around here is a Mexican place called El Camino. Her favorite dish is the chicken fajitas. Long story short, I wanted it to be a surprise, and I had no way of getting there. So I enlisted my brother (who can get a ride just about anywhere) to devise a story about leaving something somewhere (he had spent the night with a friend the night before) and have to leave to get it. My mom didn't suspect a thing.

I had also previously rented a movie that I thought Mom would like, which she is now watching.

But before that, we snuck Zach back into the house, set up the food from El Camino at the table and had mom come downstairs, thus there was her Mother's Day surprise!

You have to understand, we're on a 'fixed' budget and eating out like that (it's about $10 a plate) just isn't feasible for us. She has talked about wanting it for a couple of months now and we just couldn't afford it. Today, though, I said skip it and doled out the cash. She's worth it and more, and I wish I could have done more.

But what matters is the three of us sat down together for a meal (which doesn't happen very often, maybe three times a year! We usually each eat in our own domains) and enjoyed my mom's favorite restaurant. Then she got to relax and watch a fun movie. So all in all, this was a pretty good day, and I'm glad we got to make her smile today.

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Wannabez Trailer!

Head over to the Wannabez Blog to check out a new flash trailer!

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Spider-Man 3

I FINALLY saw the movie today, and I really enjoyed myself. I'm not going to go into a full review for a couple of reasons. One, I'd really have to see it again to be able to really review it. Two, there were some immature young people talking and cutting jokes during all the sappy parts, so it was hard to grasp the emotional moments as much as I could have. So again, I'd have to see it again, which I'm sure at some point I will, several times! Then I'm a huge Spidey fan.

To hit the highlights though, I thought all the stuff between Peter and Harry was good interaction. I loved the visuals of Venom and Sandman. Gwen was cool and all, but I expected her to play a more prominent part. I was a bit disappointed by that.

I was also a little disappointed by the origins of Sandman and Venom, just not a whole lot of thought put in there. And Venom was shown way too little. He shouldn't have been in this film (and that pains me deeply to say as he's the one villain I most looked forward to seeing), but rather the seeds planted and he be the main villain in the fourth.

It just felt like they were throwing so much in there just to tie things up. And they spent far too much time on Spidey and MJ and not enough on developing the villains, which they did very well in the first two films. At nearly two and a half hours, though, I expected more care to be given to the villains and various other things.

Oh well, it was still a great movie, and seeing Venom onscreen was a fanboy's dream. I definitely want to see him come back should the fourth take off as Sony promises. Until then I'll be buying the DVD and sitting down to watch all three back to back one day. :)

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Catching Up!

Wow, I had no idea it had been over a week since I posted. Sheesh! As much as I try to keep up...

The deadline for round 2 of Small Press Idol has passed and all but 10 of those who advanced made it in. There's still about 6 days of voting left, so if you haven't please come vote for Wannabez (and Totem and Advent while you're there). :) If you have, thank you very much!

On the lettering side of things, I got a couple of Approbation projects done. Today I'm tackling the two pages of Epsilon Realm I have (thought I had more than that) and another Approbation story if I have time. One story, Construct, was canceled, so I won't be doing that one. And Red Shift I've got laid out (the first ten pages anyway, which is all that's done, pencils only so far). The FE Comics projects start in a day or two I'm told, and I've got another one coming in soon that I committed to many months ago. And I did finish Pozers, just waiting for notes on anything that needs changing/correcting before sending in the high res.

So that's where things are with all that. I may have left something out.

Back to Small Press Idol, I finally got 7 pages of the script for next round done! I'm hoping to finish it today, though Scott has already given me notes on the pages I've finished.

I also have a surprise for WBZ fans coming up hopefully tomorrow, and hopefully it'll help us gain a few more votes this round and next! I've got plans for a couple of other cool things to tie in with WBZ soon as well, so stay posted here and to the WBZ blog for more!

On reviews, I have a few things that were sent to me that I have yet to review, but am working my way there. Frankly I haven't had time to read everything yet. I have read the Archaia stuff and the mini comics that were sent, but I still have one or two others I haven't read yet. Soon, soon.

On SBC, we are working towards a newsletter and I'm trying to get some help with the myspace and comicspace pages so we can get regular weekly updates out there. Hopefully that'll all work out soon as we've got some cool stuff coming up.

And I think that's it for now...

OH! One more thing. I am FINALLY going to see Spider-Man 3 today in less than 8 hours!!! Can't wait!

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More Books I Lettered For Sale!

I just received an email stating that two more books I lettered some stories in (they're anthologies, but all by the same writer) are now available for purchase through Comixpress. You can find them by clicking the following links:

Marcus Midnight: Monster Hunter #1 (I also designed the logo on this one)

Sinister Company Presents: Tales from the Rabverse

The writer behind these books is Ryan Brandt, a good writer and decent guy all around. You can find out more about these titles at www.ronin-studios.com.

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Wannabez Round 2 is Up!

If you haven't read the WBZ blog, checked out my emails, bulletins or posts, then let me inform you that the WBZ round 2 thread is open for PUBLIC VOTE!

Just click the title of this post to get to the thread where you will post a YES to show your support for WBZ. It also contains our Round 2 materials in the first post.

If you're not registered you will have to do that (free of course).

We appreciate all your votes!!!

I am also lettering Advent and Totem, so while you're there check them out here and here and slap down your YES vote for them also!

Thanks!

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Lettering Updates

Since it's been a few days I figured I'd give an update on my status as of right now.

I finished up a short for Approbation a couple of days ago and look to finish the rest of those by the end of the weekend if all goes well.

I'll be finishing up The Mantis today, at least the lettering. The logo may be tomorrow.

I thankfully got an extension on Pozers until tomorrow, and I fully intend to meet that deadline as the writer has been more than patient with me.

Construct got put on hold as I'm waiting for the colors now.

Redshift for Rogue Wolf I'm looking to have done by Sunday.

I'm starting Epsilon Realm #2 next week.

Basically, I've got about 100+ pages if I counted undone, about 80 of which are priority. I look to have all of that completely caught up by the end of next week.

After that I just signed on to do three books for FE Comics starting the week after next with the first one, and I'll also have AOH #2 to do for Victor.

Lightning Squirrel #3 is a bit on hold, but the pages are still being penciled and inked anyway.

I may have a few other from a writer acquaintance as well, but I haven't heard back yet so I don't know for sure.

I'll also be contacting Arcana as soon as I can take on more.

On a related note, I will be raising my rates very soon for new collaborators. I'll most likely keep the same rates for those I've already agreed to work with unless I just can't do that anymore, at which time I'd speak with those creators on an individual basis.

I know I didn't properly mention a few of the projects, but for any creators I'm working with on lettering rest assured that I have planned everything I've got right now in the time line mentioned above.

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My Cousin's House

You know what they say about raining and pouring? Well, if you all remember my post about my cousin getting stabbed a while back, things just got a bit worse for him. His entire house burned to the ground consuming everything he owned. He has four kids and a grandkid and all of their belongings are completely gone. The only thing left standing was the door. No one knows how the fire got started, but a neighbor saw a red car driving away sometime during the day. It's under investigation.

If you are the praying type please pray for my cousin and his family.

Thank you.

Myth Conceptions

The newest one is up, this time talking about Lettering. Hope you like it.

As always, click the post title.

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More Published Lettering!

Hey all,

Not too long ago I found out that a story I lettered called Teddy and the Yeti was going to be included in Josh Howard's Sasquatch GN from Viper Comics. Well, there's a PDF preview of the book online now! The story I lettered isn't in the preview, but my ugly mug is plastered on page 98 of the 106 page preview! If you want to see the preview click the title of this post.

I'm not sure exactly when the book comes out, but I do know it's already printed, so it won't be long. You can read more about it at this blog: http://www.thisisnotahoax.com/

And you can order it from SBC! We have it listed as coming out next week, though some think it might be this week. Go here to pre-order it!

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Keeping Up...

I read a friend's blog the other day about not realizing how long goes between posts when you're busy and it made me feel bad. Here I claim I update this daily (then semi-daily) and then I go for days, almost a week between posts anymore. I get the emails from my sitemeter indicating that views have drastically dropped and it makes me feel even worse. Not because I care about view counts, but because it means people are losing interest or I'm just not providing content to read.

That said, I'm going to try to do better. It's hard when you get so busy and when you get downtime the last place you want to be is the place you work, which for me is the computer. But I started this blog to connect with people, to share things - such as my projects, my thoughts, etc. - and to give updates on my work. Lately all of those have been few and far between. And I know all of you out there understand, and I appreciate that, but I still want to try to post more. So here I am.


Another friend mentioned to me recently how surprised he was at how open I am in this blog, and it's funny because in person I'm not that open. I'm a pretty guarded person actually. I'm not shy and I love meeting new people and talking and hanging out as much of the next guy. But I'm also a loner of sorts, as contradictory as that may sound. I'll put it like this. When I go home or somewhere alone that's exactly what I want to be, alone. I stay up late at night because of the solitude.

I also don't let a lot of people in. I've been hurt by a lot of people in my life that were supposedly close to me, and I guess it built up a wall. I'm not too trusting and it takes a lot to earn my trust. And except for those I'm close to I really don't talk about myself a whole lot when you meet me. If someone asks a question I'm honest because that's all I know how to be. If it's something personal I'll try to tactfully avoid the question. But I'm still a fun-loving, easy to get along with type of guy. It's just hard to get inside and become one of my very, very few close friends. It takes a long time to build that kind of relationship with me.

Which is why it's weird to hear that I'm so open. I'll be the first to admit, though, that in the written word I'm far more verbose than in the spoken word. I'm also a lot more articulate when I write. When I talk I'm just myself, and I don't use a lot of big words as it's usually off-putting to most. Maybe it's because I'm a writer, I don't know.

In any case, I guess this blog allows me an outlet that I don't really have elsewhere. I don't really have a lot of close friends that I can talk to, and you can only talk to your parents about so much. My brother's half my age, so he doesn't get where I'm at understandably. So this is my outlet, my venting if you will. On top of that it gives people a rare opportunity to get to know me better than they would if they met me in person first.

And that's the beauty of the internet. I've developed bonds with guys in different states or continents without ever meeting them in person. I feel open enough with some of them to talk about things I don't post here or talk to most people about. Without the internet these kinds of connections wouldn't be possible, so I guess technology is good for something. I never have had a lot in common with people around me and have never felt like I fit in. Now that I'm older I view that as a good thing in a way, but when I was young it was hard. But thanks to this blog and forums and so forth I can converse with tons of people who share the same interests as me and it's quite a refreshing experience, let me tell ya.

So I'm glad I started this blog a year and a half a go or so.


I have to give a quick shout out to Matt Yocum who gave me some props on his blog. I was supposed to do some lettering for him, but scheduling and computer problems prohibited it. Luckily he got someone else who did a great job. So go check out Devolution, which is a cool story too, and Matt's Devolution column!


Elsewhere in the wide world of comics, I've posted a piece on Marvel's The Initiative at SBC, which lists all the related titles in the story line that have been revealed so far through July. I'm sure there will be more to add after Marvel's solicitations go online Tuesday.

We've also gotten a whole bunch of new writers for the site who have been turning in a lot of reviews thankfully. So come check those out. We've got some great writers on board.


As for my work, I did wrap all the finishing touches on Nocturnal Essence #1 thankfully, and began working on some other stuff for someone else, though I've neglected to update the writer, so hopefully he'll read this.


Small Press Idol round 2 is underway and Scott is nearing completion on our materials for the round. He showed me I think three of our five characters inked the other day, so hopefully this week he'll get a chance to color those bad boys. I did a second draft of the bios, but we're still kicking them back and forth.


I have sadly not done any other writing in a long time. It sucks because I'm so busy I don't have time to do the one thing I want to excel at more than the other aspects of comics. But hey, ya gotta pay the bills, right?


Ending on a personal note, man I had a restful weekend for a change... sort of. Friday I wasn't feeling well (my stomach, again) and took some medication, which typically knocks me out for a couple of hours. Well, I guess being ill mixed with the medication and my near state of exhaustion just kind of teamed up on me because I wound up sleeping for over 12 hours straight! And then I was still tired, but I forced myself to stay awake and work some. Then I crashed for another 8 Saturday! Today I also slept in late and then kind of chilled and watched TV for several hours, something I rarely do. Usually I'll tape most of my stuff and watch it in spurts. But hey, it was a nice change of pace. I may not have gotten out of the house, but at least it gave me some time away from the computer, which was very welcome, and I love the computer. I'm just in front of it way too much.

I guess that's about it. It's after 5am now and I've got a busy day ahead of me, so I'm gonna chill for a bit before tackling it.

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New Reviews!

Here's a whole slew of reviews I've done recently:

Civil War: The Confession

Civil War: The Initiative

Dynamo 5 #1

Family Bones #5

Gamekeeper #1

Mouse Guard #6

Noble Causes #27-28

Thunderbolts #112

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April Snow?

Just thought I'd share that I just looked outside and, yes, it's snowing! in April.

It's been getting colder the last few days since the storm, but I hadn't heard the forecast and wasn't really expecting snow. No wonder it's so cold in here!

Guess it's a good day to be indoors working...

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Myth Conceptions

The latest is up. Ironically with my column a day late I talk about delays.

Also, my column has moved to bi-weekly for the time being so I'm not consistently late anymore. At least let's hope I'm not!

Click the title to read the column.

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Power Outage & More Worms!

Man, we just seem to be plagued with some bad weather. We had a really vicious storm here that knocked all the power out in my neighborhood for about 6 hours or so tonight. I thought there was going to be a tornado. The thunder was rumbling and vinyl siding was flying off of houses.

On top of that, I guess to escape the rain we had a ton of night crawlers getting through the back door. Somehow they were getting underneath the seal and through the plate glass. Man, I've gotta look up what either deters or kills the things!

I shouldn't complain too much though with tsunamis occurring elsewhere, but it was quite an aggravation and a bit of a scare. I was here alone with no car and no phone in pitch black and I couldn't find a match or lighter for candles to save my life. Luckily I finally found a flashlight, but it was not fun.

But things seem to be working properly right now, and as far as I know it wasn't too serious. So that's a good thing.

Anyway, that's what happened to me tonight in case anyone tried to reach me.

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You Will Be Missed

Sis. Jessie, an elderly member of my church of 20 years passed away yesterday afternoon from strokes and heart attacks. She had been sick for a long while. I just found out about it this morning, I didn't even know she was in the hospital.

Ironically, my Papaw is currently at the same hospital suffering from similar problems, so it's a wonder we didn't run into someone we knew.

She was a very special lady. She would pray all the time for the church and for everyone in it. She was as kind as can be, never had a cross word to say. She was one of the truly genuine people in this world. Unfortunately I haven't seen her in quite some time, and now I'll never get a chance to. I will miss her a great deal, as will anyone and everyone who knew her. She was very special, and I know God will keep her.

God Bless you, Sister Jessie.

PC & Printer Woes

Man, just when I think things are going good. Ugh.

It's not really that bad, at least not compared to prior issues.

Recently I had to download and install Windows Service Pack 1 & 2 (against my better judgment because they had caused problems in the past) in order to get a trial version of a program my brother needed for school to work. The download ended up eating up 5GB of my hard drive prompting me to move stuff to discs and delete stuff just to have space on the hard drive (I'll be glad when I can afford a new one!).

Well, it turns out that he can't use this version of the program because it's not compatible with the older version the school has. Sigh.

So anyway, I had to reboot today and when I did everything stopped working. After messing with it for a minute I finally got everything to come up, but I'm very tempted to uninstall that service pack bundle.

On top of that yesterday and today my internet connection has kept going out. I have no clue why as my modem shows everything working properly. So it's been a battle staying online.

And to cap things off, I had to go out and blow $60 on ink cartridges today because I needed them for a project and my brother needed them for homework. Well, the black one doesn't work! ARGH. I have to go out tomorrow and see if they will exchange it. If they don't then I'm out $30. That's what I get for buying the Office Depot brand instead of the Epson brand I guess.

So that's been my day today basically. I've been unable to get very much done today or last night at all sadly, but I'm here now, or I should say for now with the internet doing whatever it's doing.

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Raining and Pouring

It's storming pretty bad here right now, fork lightning, scary house-shaking thunder and torrents of rain. The lights have already flickered, so if I go MIA today at all you know why. Just a heads up for all you out there.

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Mid-Week Medley

Sorry for the lack of updates, busy, busy as usual.

I'm wrapping up the lettering on Nocturnal Essence #1, though I still have a few tweaks to do.

I'm also finishing Pozers #2 tomorrow (with any luck). Then I'll have The Mantis and the Advent logo to work on before diving into bigger projects.

I am going to try my best to finish a first draft of the WBZ #0 script and new character bios by Friday or Saturday if all goes well.

SBC Reel was missed Monday, but will be back today (Wednesday technically) super-sized and with my review of the Battlestar Galactica season 3 finale!

Speaking of SBC, things are still going good over there. I'm still enjoying it and getting to talk to a lot of creators through it. Look for some great features upcoming including interviews with a Disney legend, Larry Hama, Jeph Loeb and more!

My cousin, Jay finally joined the MySpace craze and has a page up. He's listed as one of my friends, so you can find his profile there. Though it may be hard to spot him. We don't exactly look that much alike. :)

Got some books from Virgin Comics today to review. One of them is next week's Gamekeeper by Guy Ritchie, so I'm looking forward to checking that one out.

On TV, Prison Break is ending for the season next week, which just reminds me all my shows will be ending soon. BSG, now Prison Break, soon Lost and so forth. But at least Heroes is coming back in a couple of weeks!

I haven't read The Hobbit for several days now due to time. When I do have free time I'm usually not reading right now because a big part of my job requires reading, so sometimes I need a break!

As far as Small Press Idol goes, well the site is down pending money being raised to switch to a new server, so everything is stalled. Sigh. Looking at the bright side, it gives us all a little more time to prepare for round 2!

Speaking of which, finally saw some new stuff from Scott and let me tell ya it's looking good!

I guess that's about it. Everything else is pretty average around here.

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Myth Conceptions

The latest is up! It's not what I promised last week, but I think you'll get a kick out of it anyway.

Click the title as always.

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Segue

Scott D. M. Simmons, artist of WBZ, gave me a birthday present, and what a present it was. He found an image of one of my characters from my first and beloved superhero team and drew up a sketch of her for me! You can see his artistry below. Segue of the Night Riders!

Thanks, Scott!

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Myth Conceptions

The new one's up! This week Scott D. M. Simmons, artist of Wannabez, joins me to talk about art from concept to print. Click the post title to read the column.

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20s No More

Well, it's official. This is the day. I am no longer in my 20s, having crossed the threshold into a new stage. For today I am 30.

Though there is some debate over which day it is, the 20th or the 21st (I've heard both), I'm considering today also the first day of Spring. I am told the year I was born the 21st was the first day of Spring, and it's a story I'm sticking to. How awesome of an idea is it to be born on the first day of Spring, when new life is thought to begin? It symbolizes a fresh start and a new beginning, a new chapter in life. So what could be more fitting than that, I say.

Purely coincidentally this day, and technically this post marks my 500th post on this blog! It wasn't planned or premeditated, it just sort of happened that way. No big announcements to share per se, but isn't being my 30th birthday and the first day of Spring enough cause for celebration? I say it is.

And yes, you read that right. I said celebration. Not necessarily for turning 30, but for it marking a new era and fresh start, and beginning the rest of my life, as of course every day should and does whether we want it to or not.

Contrary to what you may have derived from previous posts, turning 30 never bothered me. It's a number, and it means one more year older. That doesn't bother me. My whole ordeal was being where I'm at by this age, not being this age. There are goals I have not yet met that I certainly thought would have been met by now. And there are things I was hoping would have changed for me by now, but haven't.

But this is not a day to think on those things. Those details are concerned with the past and what could have been, whereas today is a day of looking forward and opening oneself to the possibilities of what lies ahead. So it is with that that I embark on a new journey to discover not what could be, but what can be, at least for the day putting aside concerns over what lies in the path blocking those things, but concentrating on those things themselves. Those goals, dreams and aspirations that lie just over the horizon, just beyond the obstacles, just a few steps away, however large those steps may be.

This is a day of rejoicing for the good and positive things that have come to pass in my life thus far. For the people who truly stood by me, for the accomplishments I did achieve, for the steps that were taken, and for the love I have received.

Fifteen years ago, half my life ago, my brother was born. He has been the greatest thing to ever happen to me in my natural life thus far. I helped raise him and we formed such a bond between us that I had never experienced with another human being. Now he is in those teenage years, soon to be 15 and is into his own things and somewhat distant like all teenagers can be. But that bond still holds strong, and he is still the best thing to happen to me yet aside from God being in my life of course.

At 16 I had my first girlfriend, first serious relationship and first kiss (I was a late bloomer in the looks department - kind of awkward before then). It was an experience I will forever cherish regardless of how it all turned out.

I also had my first job at that age at Chuck E. Cheese's. Yes, I even donned the suit and danced a jig once or twice.

And I graduated high school this year as well. Long story, and I did end up having to go back for three months the following year to make up some tests.

At 18 I got my license (long story), which opened up an entirely new world to me. I could now take myself wherever I wanted to go. And I mostly went alone as everyone was too scared to ride with me!

18 is also when I accepted the call to preach, a call that has been sidetracked a few times over the years, but one that has not been forgotten by any stretch of the imagination.

On my 21st birthday there was a church outing - a get together at a gym where there was food, basketball, skating and other fun stuff. I didn't go instead opting to sleep in. It was my day after all, and the church I had been at since I was 8 had only remembered one of my birthdays up to that point, that being my 16th. So I decided I wouldn't be missed and would have more fun being by myself. Turns out I was missed as my pastor's daughter, a girl I had previously been crazy about for a number of years, but hadn't for a couple went all out. She made me a cake and dressed up in one of her best outfits at the time and made a big deal out of it. I hear she was pretty ticked I didn't show up, but she never let me know it. I still grin about that when I think about it. :)

One week later I started college (struggled for several years figuring out what I was going to do). I should have went to a more specialized college, maybe art or maybe a college that offered degrees in English or graphic design, but I went to a business-centric school where I studied Computer Science and ultimately Business Administration. I hated both and still do to this day, but it was not a waste. While I didn't go hog wild and party I did meet a few very special friends in those days. I've lost touch with them now, but they were great friends at the time and I couldn't have made it through without them.

At age 24 I got my first real job making more money an hour than I had ever made, and that's stayed pretty consistent since only with a couple of deviations. I absolutely hated the job with a passion, but I met some of the best friends of my life there. Again, I've fallen out of touch with them for a number of reasons, but they are the ones I miss the most. They showed me the kind of friendship I had shown others but had never really received myself. They were very special to me.

It was also this year that I went to Florida looking at apartments heavily considering moving there, both for work and because there were opportunities there, creative opportunities, that I wanted to explore. Ultimately reasons kept me where I'm at, but that was the funnest year of my life.

I also dated a girl this year that started off as a hangout buddy, and while we parted ways she was the best girl I have had the pleasure to have a relationship with to date. She was one of the kindest and sweetest persons I've ever met, and she thought the world of me. Sadly we were at different places and it didn't work out, but I'll always cherish the time we spent together.

At 26 I "preached" a benediction for a graduation service. Two of my Sunday School students were graduating high school, one who I'd known since she was a year old. It was a very moving moment for me to be able to deliver this. I choked a little, but all in all it went pretty well.

At 27 or 28 I did a video in one of those booths to a soundtrack at Kings Island (an amusement park in Ohio) and it was played for everyone there to see. I got some amazing feedback from it and even dropped the jaws of some family members. I had only previously sang in church, and mostly not alone. So they hadn't really heard me sing before that point. It's a moment in my life I'll never forget.

Nothing really significant or memorable has happened past that point that I immediately recall, though I'm sure there's at least one or two things I'm forgetting. But there were good times then as well.

Today is a new day to explore new things, to move on and move up and stop looking back. Those mentioned are the kinds of moments I wish to remember on days like this, and the countless little moments that happened in between.

So again I say, this is a day of celebration. To celebrate life, to celebrate opportunity, to celebrate change, hope, love, passion, dreams, desire, faith and so much more. For those reasons I rejoice in this day that the Lord hath made. I embrace the newness of life and a fresh beginning. I accept the challenge to go above and beyond, and to cling to the same hope that has brought me this far.

Today is my birthday.

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Last Day

Well, here it is, the very last day of my twenties. I can't believe it still. Tomorrow I cross over into a whole new era in my life. Not much to say about it and I don't feel up to waxing philosophical this morning. I don't really feel anything at the moment.

I'm not going to talk about it anymore, at least until tomorrow. :) It just is what it is, for better or for worse, or for the same as it was it is, I don't know. lol. All I know is that while I'll feel no different physically or even mentally, psychologically it registers with me that there is a significant change, and I'll leave it at that.

So, I wish I could say I was going out with a bang, but truth be told I'm just chillin' at the house, working, lettering, watching TV (American Idol, woo!) and just the same ol'. Tomorrow will most likely be the same. And I'm fine with that for now. It's no big deal and I don't really want it to be a big deal. :)

And with that I leave you all until tomorrow when I have to start putting a 3 in front of my age instead of the 2 I have become accustomed to over the last ten years.

So long, twenties, we had good times and bad times, we made friends and lost friends, we took opportunities and missed opportunities, we won some and lost some. And such is life.

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Quick Update

Sorry for the lack of updates the past few days, been busy. Yesterday I finished up a preview issue of 3rd System (lettering), which is one I completely forgot about. That one's now just pending any possible corrections needed and applying the letters to the final colors when they're done.

Later tonight I'll be continuing lettering Pozers #2. Right now I'm prepping DC solicitations for www.silverbulletcomics.com tomorrow as well as several other solicitations I've yet to post. These are pretty time-consuming to format and every one that comes in is different. Even though they are the biggest, the Marvel and DC ones are actually the easiest to format, but still take a while (especially since I have to convert all the images to RGB for web). The indies usually send high res images and very strangely formatted text, so those take a while to get just right.

Tomorrow I start on Nocturnal Essence #1 (lettering). And sometime this week it'll be AOH #2 and 6 pages and a logo for The Mantis. That's as far ahead as I'm looking at the moment so as not to overwhelm myself.

Tomorrow I have the usual postings on the site as well as any news that trickles in from WWLA (we didn't have anyone there doing coverage sadly) and then I have to help my cousin with a Civics project tomorrow afternoon. So it'll be a busy, busy day tomorrow.

I've yet to write that WBZ #0 script, and I HAVE to make some time to do that in the next couple of days. Round 1 is coming to a close in the contest and we need to get that script ironed out for round 3. I'm told our round 2 stuff is coming along, but Scott hasn't had a chance to show me anything yet.

And that's about it I guess. I'm still reading The Hobbit, about 125 pages in or so and still enjoying it.

Anyway, back to it...

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Wannabez Interview!

Click the title post to read our first interview! And be sure to keep checking the WBZ blog (linked in the sidebar) for periodical updates!

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One Week Away

It's exactly one week until my 30th birthday, and depending on who you ask until the first day of Spring (some say it's the 20th, some say it's the 21st, who knows for sure?).

Contrary to popular belief, I'm not really down about turning 30 as far as the age is concerned. Yes, it saddens me a little to be leaving my 20s behind, mainly because I didn't really take the opportunity to really live during them and be nearly as reckless as I should have been. Not in the terms of partying and that sort, but more on the level of traveling and pursuing interests that I wanted to pursue.

That said, I realize I'm still young and still have my life ahead of me, and that it's never too late to do a lot of the things I want to do. If anything, turning 30 has woken up something in me that says "it's now or never". So hopefully this entire experience will turn out to be a positive one in the respect that I do actually get out there and live.

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I believe in the significance of numbers mainly because Biblically God used numbers a lot. The chief ones He used were 3, 5, 7, 10 and 12. Seven has always been my favorite number for some odd reason, and not for the Biblical aspects of it. Maybe it's because of my birth year. Regardless, I just think it's kind of cool that I was born in '77, and my birthday, 3-21 is a multiple of 7, and here it is seven days before my birthday. Coincidence? Most likely, but it's still cool. ")

It's 5:37am as I type this, and for some reason I can't sleep. I dozed off for about two hours around 1:15, but I just can't get back to sleep. I am so tempted to take some nyquil or something just to sleep, but I've never been one to use many medications unless absolutely necessary. So here I am typing a more or less meaningless post just to pass the time and hopefully make myself tired. It's not working, just so you know.

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You know what bugs me about the promos to the movie Number 23? In them there's a line about 666 being the number of the devil. Evidently the screenwriters didn't read their Bibles properly, because 666 is not the number of the devil. It is the number of the Beast, yes, but it is also referred to in Revelations as the number of man.

I'm not going to get into all that here and now, it just bugs me whenever I hear that. Yes, it's still a significant number referring to unsavory events, but it's a number that is far closer to home than people realize. It's not a voodoo number, or some magical number endowed with evil powers. It represents something that will be clear enough soon enough.

End rant.

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What good are these labels for in this new blogger? Do they just link to all posts I've made that contain those particular labels, or do they link to various blogs that contain those labels? If it's the former then it's useless as far as I'm concerned. The latter could be useful. And even though I'm not sure still I play along adding labels away. Why do we do the things we do?

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I'm getting bored with this and don't really have anything else to talk about. I wish I had some updates for you all, but I got nada. So I guess I'll bring this post to a close and maybe try to get a few hours of sleep before getting back up and hitting it all over again. Doubt I'll get a wink.

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Myth Conceptions

This week I had the pleasure to speak with some of the team behind new Shadowline (Image) series After the Cape!

I've known Howard for a while, and I couldn't be happier for him. And Jim Valentino and Kris Simon are so pleasant to speak with, let me tell ya. It was a great interview if I do say so myself, and I do! ")

Check it out by clicking the title link of course.


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New Reviews

Here are two new reviews by yours truly:

Purity #2

Civil War #7

Speaking of reviews, when I finish it I'll be reviewing The Hobbit. I know the story well and I've read the old graphic novel, but I am just now getting around to reading the actual book. I'm about four chapters in, and so far so good! Tolkien definitely has a voice all his own, and I enjoy it immensely.

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Catwoman

While lettering last night I got to finally watch Catwoman. With all the bad things I heard about the movie I wasn't about to pay to see it at the theatres or by rental, so I'm glad I saw it on cable. It came on AMC (American Movie Classics) of all channels, which was just bizarre. Maybe because it had Halle Berry in it? I don't know.

Anyway, I have to say it wasn't nearly as bad as everyone claimed it to be. It wasn't particularly good either, but it certainly was better than say, oh, Spawn or even the last Batman movie before Batman Begins. That's not really saying much I realize, but it wasn't really that bad. It definitely felt more like a made for TV film rather than a big screen production though. The visual effects reminded me a lot of such TV shows as Mutant X and Night Man and so forth, though a little more advanced. And the fight scenes and cat movements were really good to be honest. Berry really studied Capoeira and really knew how to move.

I will say that for the first time I saw in this film why everyone's so down on her acting. I didn't think she was that bad as Storm in the X-Men films, and I like her acting in general. But man, there were some scenes in this film that were just awful! Especially the scenes where the cat in her speaks out of turn then she jumps back to being Patience. It was just awkward b-acting at its worst!

The plot wasn't all that bad, though I half expected Sharon Stone to turn into Clayface as the similarities of the storyline were present, at least from the Batman Animated Series version.

All in all I'd probably give it a C to C+. I've seen much better, but I've seen much worse. I still think the costume was ridiculous, and the close-ups of the cats in the death scene was just corny, but it wasn't that bad of a film. I still wouldn't pay for it though.

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T-Minus 10

And counting. Only ten days until I leave my precious twenties behind forever. Ah, the memories.

Just thought I'd share.

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Reviews - The Summons, The Departed

My brother and I finally finished The Departed last night, and let me tell you that was a great movie. What made it great, though, was the ending.

I'll be honest with you, the movie itself was going a little slow for me. The story itself had the potential to be just like every other undercover cop story out there. With the wrong director or slight alterations in the script it could have even been on par with Lucky Number Slevin, which would not have been good. But the way it played out made it all worthwhile, and the acting was top notch. Filled with an all star cast (DiCaprio, Damon, Nicholson, Sheen, Wahlberg, Baldwin) and some intense and emotional drama, the movie, for me, lived up to the hype. It was gritty, the direction was excellent, the plot gave us several shockers and the ending was just classic.

Here's the spoilers...


Everybody dies! Well, everybody except Baldwin and Wahlberg, who both had relatively small roles in the film compared to the other big players. It's not often in a film that both lead actors bite the big one, but that's exactly what happened here. And if it hadn't happened that way it would have made it into just another movie. That ending, in my opinion, landed it the Oscars it received. Great storytelling.


Now onto the book I've been reading, The Summons by John Grisham. While I was into it towards the middle, overall it was not his greatest work by far. As I mentioned before, I have not read his other books, but I have seen several (Rainmaker, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Pelican Brief, The Firm, Runaway Jury) of the film adaptations. If the books of A Time to Kill and Rainmaker are better than their film versions, which is usually the case, then The Summons far pales in comparison, but it was still enjoyable... until the end.

The story, in short, is about a Law Professor, Ray Atlee, who finds his father, a well-respected Mississippi judge, but a poor father, dead in his home. Shortly after Ray finds $3 million stashed behind the sofa, and thus the real story begins. Someone else knows about the money, and the ensuing journey sees Ray scramble to protect his life and the money while trying to solve the mystery of who's after him and where the money came from, and in the meantime lying to everyone close to him.

As I said, the middle of the story, which made up the bulk of it was interesting. There were people following Ray leaving cryptic clues for him no matter where he went. He drove and flew through and to several states, and they were always there, watching him. Meanwhile he was dealing with his father's estate, a drug addict brother and a number of other problems besides the money issue.

The ending is what made this book drop in quality. First, though, being a smart man as Atlee is, there are some things he should have figured out or thought of, like checking to see how these people knew where he was at all times. You'd think he'd check to see if his car was being tracked. Then he just becomes a total wuss at the end of the book and runs for his life, landing himself in jail for speeding and carrying a weapon.

Without giving anything away, in the last few chapters of the book it became painfully obvious who was behind it all and how it had all played out. Early on I had a hint of this as well, and was thoroughly disappointed that the plot was that thin.

Overall, it was a decent read, but the ending ruined it for me. Oh well.

And that's it for the reviews today.

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Lettering Update

I finished up Lightning Squirrel #2 yesterday, I just have to make some minor adjustments to the cover and then send the high res files off.

I'm actually starting on Pozers #2 today instead of AOH #2, which isn't quite ready yet.

I'm also finishing up those two small logos today.

So to make a few minor adjustments to the last post, next up will be Kord & Harley #2 (Epsilon Realm #2 I haven't received yet) then I'm guessing AOH #2. I may jump around between the two actually, depending on how it works out.

After that the list is pretty much the same as last post, plus one small gig I might have left out called The Mantis.

More soon...

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Back in Business!

The computer is finally back in working order!

To be perfectly honest it's been up for two weeks as of 6pm today. There are several reasons I haven't notified everyone yet. First, I was playing catch-up like crazy to get to a place where I could handle everyone contacting me all at once, though I still haven't caught up as much as I would have liked. Second, I've had a touch of the flu since this past weekend, and it's gotten worse today, but I'm still here. And thirdly, I have just been so busy I haven't had time to email everyone or post here. With the computer fixed my workload increased, so that's that. There were other reasons also, but I won't go into them.

In the wide world of lettering...

Today I will be finishing up Lightning Squirrel #2, then starting on AOH #2, and doing a couple of small logos.

Tomorrow and Saturday I will be finishing AOH #2.

Sunday I'll be starting on and probably finishing a short with logo.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll have the following on my plate:

Epsilon Realm #2
Pozers #2
Kord & Harley #2
Advent logo
Scott's Web Comic
A few Approbation shorts
MSC logos

And I think that's everything currently on my plate. If I've left anything out EMAIL ME!

It sounds like a lot, I know, but a few of those I am really into a groove on and can finish them rather fast.

As for beyond all this, I know I have three projects to letter in the Small Press Idol contest, but that won't come for a while. I'll be doing some lettering on the character designs in about three weeks, but that's not too intrusive.

As soon as I feel I'm caught up to a point I can take on more I will be contacting people who have previously contacted me and go from there.

Aside from writing I am obviously doing a lot of work for SBC right now, and soon I'll be doing a lot of work for MSC (more details on that soon). Then of course there's writing. I still have to write up my script for Small Press Idol, do my weekly column, I have at least two interviews lined up, a few reviews I have to do this week, a couple of scripts I really need to buckle down on, and so forth.

It really does sound like a lot, huh? I'll manage, always do. And I'll do my best to keep you all updated better now that the PC is back up and I'm able to concentrate on it more. Thanks!

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Myth Conceptions

The latest is up, though it's not at all what I intended for this week. I'm not sure what it is exactly. I was REALLY late with it, so I just started writing. So what came of it, you be the judge!

Click the title link to read.

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And the Hits Keep Comin'

Forgive me for getting personal again, but I have to talk about some stuff.

I'm telling you, I think our family is cursed! Okay, so over the weekend two really terrible things happened. First, the milder of the two, my Papaw fell at the rehabilitation center and they didn't even notify any of the family that it happened. So my aunts have been dealing with that drama.

Second, my 18 year old cousin was playing a gig at a local club I think Friday night. His mother and her husband, and his brother and his girlfriend were there. Well, his brother, my cousin Chris (33 I think) went outside to get the car and got mugged and stabbed! He had just gotten paid too, so the mugger took all the money they had.

Chris has been through several ordeals this past year, most of which I won't go into. He has a condition where he passes out and it really caused some trouble last year. The man is raising three or four kids (I've lost track) and works really hard. This was just one more thing to pile up on him.

We didn't find out about all this until yesterday. None of the family bothered to let us know anything for some reason. So it's just been a real mess.

I've had a touch of the flu the past couple of days (yep, sick again), but aside from one incident it hasn't bedridden me yet. I had laid down for an afternoon nap the other day around 2:30pm and ended up sleeping 9 straight hours! I hardly ever am able to sleep for more than 3-4 hours straight, so that really took me by surprise. I'm still pretty fatigued, but I'm pushing on anyway.

On a lighter note, I got to see The Departed finally last night. My brother and I almost finished it, but got too tired, so we'll finish it today or tomorrow. I'll hold off any comments until then.

Back in the wide world of comics, it's been busy, busy, busy. In my job I worked at least 20 hours over the weekend, but we got some pretty cool video interviews posted on the site out of it.

Small Press Idol is still slow going right now. Only a couple of new entries have come in the past two weeks, and even though a few more are promised to trinkle in it looks like Round 1 is winding down. We still have nearly three weeks before Round 2 begins though. Ugh.

Man I'm glad I posted this entry because it reminded me of something I have to do. I completely forgot about my column this week! And it's due tonight! Sheesh. I am so behind on things. But never fear, I have a feeling this week is the week I'll get all caught up... hopefully!

I read Civil War #6-7 a few days ago. I'm going to review #7 for the site, so I'll hold off on that for now. Suffice it to say that I'm somewhat pleased and somewhat disappointed.

I'm also still reading The Summons by John Grisham, though I'm finally nearing the end. I've been reading that book really slow and very little at a time, mostly due to lack of time. I have to say it's not one of his best stories, but I'm still mildly enjoying it. I'm really curious how things will play out. Maybe I'll give it a full review here when I'm done.

Well, back to work I go, I go.

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Myth Conceptions

This week in Myth Conceptions in honor of Black History Month I sat down with some professional and independent creators to discuss the history of black comic characters. Among them were:

Kevin Grevioux (New Warriors, Underworld)
Mike Sales (Type Illy Press)
Andrew West (Midnight Studio Comics)
Adrian Wilkins (Metro, Supreme Knight Studios)

PLUS: Kevin Grevioux gives an exclusive, never-before-seen preview of Vindicators #1 and a ton of character sketches from his Darkstorm Studios.

Click the title link to read the column!

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Myth Conceptions

The latest column is up! This week I give the complete history on how Wannabez came to be and all it's been through over the past four years. Check it out by clicking the title link.

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A Little This, A Little That

A couple of quick updates/notes.

First, Amour #1 got another positive review. For those not in the know, this is a book from Approbation Comics that I lettered, which I mentioned a few posts back. You can read the new review by clicking the title link.

In other news, I've been having some problems with my domain emails. For some reason they had disappeared from my webmail and I wasn't getting all of my emails through them. Well, it turns out that my hosting provider went and got a new website and changed their name, and in the process changed some things on the server, which kind of hung up my email. I thankfully got some great tech support and got that taken care of. So I should be getting all my email through those just fine now.

Another bonus on that situation is that I discovered they had upgraded the bandwidth and disk space for all the plans 2 months ago, so I got a free upgrade today. And that couldn't have been more timely as I was nearly out of disk space. So it all worked out just fine.

On the computer situation, still no word from the computer guy. I've been emailing him, but I think I'm going to have to dig out his number and give him a call. I've got a TON of lettering this has put me behind on, and more is coming in fast. I've got to get this taken care of. Not to mention how much this temporary computer impedes my work flow for my job.

Several of the SBC crew is heading to NYCC this weekend and should come out with some great coverage and interviews for the site. I wish I could be there, but it's a no go. We even have one staffer flying in from Israel. He's coming for the fun of it, but he may do some press while he's there as well.

We are trying to line up some exciting interviews for the site as well, so keep checking in.

Small Press Idol is still slow going right now with entries continuing to trickle in. So far (last count) 16 projects have made it to round 2. There's still a month or so left to enter, so I'm sure we'll see a huge influx at some point. It's very exciting this year because there's a lot of people entered or entering soon that I've come in contact with over the years. It'll be a lot of fun competing against so many friends and acquaintances.

I guess that's about it for now. I need to get back to work and make some bill money!

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All Things Become New

Well, I made the switch. Not by choice, mind you, but because I was forced to.

What am I talking about? I'm on the new blogger now. When I tried to log in this morning to make a post it wouldn't let me until I upgraded to the new version. I tried everything to avoid it after hearing a horror story or two, but it ended up being a quick and painless event. No problems so far. I haven't really looked into the new features yet, and I don't really like signing in with an email address instead of a username, but I'll get used to it.

I'm actually glad it happened because I knew eventually I'd have to switch. And I was having problems posting comments on upgraded blogs. So it all worked out fine I guess.

I'm actually glad for this little bit of excitement because I feel as though my blog is becoming terribly boring. I'm still torn on whether or not to have two blogs, but in the meantime I'm just going to have to use this one for both. Eventually the home page of my website will become my update blog centered around my work. This one will then be my regular blog for random posting because that's how I like it.

So that's what's up with me right now. More later.

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Sunday Blues

There's snow on the ground and it's cold. I didn't sleep well either. But I don't really have anything to be blue about (aside from stuff I won't mention), I just couldn't think of another title. Not feeling too witty today. :)

I just discovered that someone nominated me for the Eagle Awards for favorite letterer! That was pretty cool. The Eagle Awards are based in the UK and have been around slightly longer than I've been alive. They present the awards annually, this year it's in May. So while it's just a nomination it's still pretty cool that someone liked my lettering enough to nominate me! If you feel so inclined, you can vote until Feb. 28th. ;) I don't have the url handy, but a simple search should bring it up.

I'm hoping that this week will finally be the week the computer problems are fixed. I haven't heard from the computer guy since Tuesday, though, so I don't know. Cross your fingers.

Scott and I have really been talking about round 2 of the Idol contest. Things are coming together quite nicely. We also now have a WBZ page on the Dimestore site, I'm just not sure what the url for it is. It's a new feature and a little confusing. But in the meantime you can check out our Idol page (click the title).

And just as a side note, Bryan Sandala, SBC's Features Editor, has been at MegaCon all weekend and secured some sweet podcast interviews. I've only had a chance to listen to two, JG Jones and Margot Kidder, and let me tell you they are pretty awesome. The Margot Kidder one was excellent! You'll find them on the site in the Features bar (left side) about the fourth story down. And right above that is a running blog Bryan has been doing from the show, so check that out as well!

And that's it for now. More soon!

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Good Review of a Book I Lettered

I just came across a review on Newsarama of a book I lettered for Approbation Comics. The lettering's not mentioned of course, but they show sample pages and I thought it was cool. So I'm sharing. :) Click the title post.

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Made It to Round 2!

If you've been following the Small Press Idol (or the WBZ blog) then you now know that mine and Scott's entry, Wannabez, has made it into Round 2! We got a clean sweep - 3 YES votes to send us forward!

I'm very excited, can you tell? :)

Keep watching the WBZ blog for full updates!

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Myth Conceptions

The latest edition of Myth Conceptions is now up! It's my one year anniversary, meaning this is the second column I've lasted at least a year on, and I've only written two. So that's pretty cool!

Check it out at the title link.

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More Updates

Well, I did get my computer looked at today, and as we feared it's the motherboard. To fix it's going to cost me $250. Or the guy has some systems for sale that are around the same specs as mine for about $160. The problem is I just paid bills and don't have that kind of cash right now. And to my knowledge he'll be out of the office for the rest of the week, so it looks like it'll be at least another week before I can do anything lettering wise providing my paychecks arrive and I'm able to take care of it then. Sigh.

On another note, our Small Press Idol entry's cover is done, but my premise still needs a bit of tweaking. I'm hoping to take care of that fast and get everything submitted tonight. We shall see.

And that's all from the crazy town of the Gonzogoose for now.

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Computer Update

If all goes according to plan, I'll be having the computer looked at on Tuesday. Depending on how expensive it is to fix I may fix it, or the guy has some systems for sale. Either way I'll update here as soon as I know anything else.

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Archaia Reviews

I have two new reviews up, both of books from Archaia Studio Press, the publishers of the critically acclaimed Mouse Guard.

Okko, The Cycle of Water #1 (of 4)

Robotika HardCover

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Small Press Idol Update

Well, both of the projects I'm lettering for other teams, Totem (by the Kansas Hit team) and Advent (by the Warbreed team) have made it into the second round. So yay teams! Scott and I haven't sent in our Round 1 contribution yet, so I'll keep you posted on how that one goes as well both here (in brief) and on the WBZ blog.

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Myth Conceptions

It was a little over a day late, and it wasn't the topic I intended, but it's up regardless. Click the title to read this week's column on Writer's Block.

Next week is my 52nd Myth Conceptions column marking a full year's worth. Please come check that one out as well.

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Computer Update

I haven't been able to get my computer checked out yet due to some bills that hit. So I have to wait until my next paycheck. So for now I'm still unable to letter. Hopefully I'll have a more concrete timeline by Monday of when I'll be able to get back at it. Since some of you have asked I figured I'd give a public update here. Thanks.

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WaNNaBeZ

I've updated the WBZ blog (click the post title) with some previously released pages. These aren't the pages that will be used in Small Press Idol, but they will be used in the eventual mini-series. These pages have been shown online before, so they don't violate any rules of the competition.

I'll be updating the WBZ blog periodically as we (hopefully!) advance through the competition, so please bookmark that blog!

Scott's working on cover ideas this weekend last I heard, but we're in no big rush. We have until March 25th to enter our Round 1 materials, and I need to revise my premise a little anyway.

That's all for now, but please stay tuned, we'll eventually need your votes!

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Myth Conceptions

New column is up! This week I run down a comical list of 50 reasons why I love comics. Some truth, some sarcasm, all fun. Check it out by clicking the post title!

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Small Press Idol

Well, Scott and I have officially decided to submit WaNNaBeZ into the Small Press Idol contest. Check out the project's blog by clicking the title of this post. There's not much there right now, but we'll obviously be adding to it from here on out. You can also see the cover of issue one and a sample page on my website. Those won't be used in the contest, but they still represent the project.

Bookmark the WBZ blog to keep updated on the project. And I'll keep you updated here on the other entries I'm lettering.

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Making the Band 4... Again

Never satisfied (and rightfully so after watching the first video back a few times) I entered another video. Hopefully it's a bit better. Click the title link. :)

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Making the Band 4

Well, another season of Making the Band is coming up, this time with all guys. Since you all know I love to sing I figured why not try out and see what happens? Regardless of whether I would have gone through with it or not, I always regretted never trying out for American Idol or anything. So since this one didn't put a cap on the age limit I thought I'd give it a shot.

I agonized over entering the video I did. The deadline is today and I didn't acquire a webcam until last night, so I was up against time. And I don't want to make excuses, but I am sick right now. So after staying up pretty much all night doing about 20 or more takes of the video my voice finally got shot enough I just said to heck with it and submitted the best of the ones I had. It's not the best representation of my ability, but hopefully my passion and a little bit of my talent came through.

This is the first year they are accepting video submissions. They're also doing live auditions, but there's no way I could make it to one. The way the video submissions work is YOU all vote by ranking the videos and leaving comments I guess, then 25 advance. Those 25 then have to submit dance videos. Now I can't dance worth a crap, so even if I do make it past this round I'll go bye bye there. But at least I entered so I'm fine with that. Only 3 make it past the dance round to audition live in front of P. Diddy.

So, my video is below (it takes a minute to show up), let me know what you think! And if you do like it (or it doesn't load!) be sure to click this post's title link and vote for me there!




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More Updates

Well, the computer is still an issue. The tower I'm having to use is an older model with a much smaller hard drive (for some reason it wouldn't boot up with my hd in primary, so I had to put it in secondary in hopes of accessing my files - unfortunately, the disk space and memory is so low on this tower that Illustrator won't run).

So, lettering, that was progressing nicely, came to a screeching halt. I am very frustrated with this and I hope to have the problem completely solved over the next couple of days. If the guy's available, I'm going to have someone do diagnostic testing on it today. We think it might be the motherboard. If so, I have some options, which I'll explore at that point. Man, this is a nightmare right now.

Also, Internet Explorer, which is not my choice browser, but it's the one I have to do my SBC work through, runs very, very slow. So posting has become a problem as well. For regular readers of my SBC Reel feature, I apologize for not getting that up yesterday. IE kept freezing on me sadly.

So, right now things are kind of rough and I may end up having to drop a couple of jobs just because I don't want to flake on the deadlines due to these issues. We'll see how today goes and go from there. More when I know it.

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Myth Conceptions

The new one's up! Last week I talked about my favorite comics of 2006. This week I talk about my least favorite. Check it out by clicking the title link!

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More Computer Problems

Well, my tower went down again yesterday. Luckily I had another tower on hand. After having some problems getting everything to work last night, this morning I was able to put my hard drive in it as a secondary drive and managed to get the internet working and am able to access my files.

This tower is much slower than mine because there are four users and a bunch of start up programs that make it go sluggish at first. But it seems to be functional now and should serve my purposes until I can get my tower looked at.

Needless to say, this slowed down progress on lettering significantly over the weekend. I'm hoping to get back at a steady pace though providing I can get my programs to work.

We had some ice form overnight, but nothing near what we've been through in the past. The roads are completely iced over, but we still have electricity and so forth.

Anyway, I'll keep everyone updated as I can.

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Minor Updates

Man, my posts seem to be gaining more and more distance between them. Sigh.

Anyway, I got quite a bit of lettering done this past week, but I still have tons to do. I did get Amalyn (Atomic Pop Art) done and am awaiting the word on any corrections needed. I also put to bed AOH #1, Lightning Squirrel #1 (Ronin/Rabid Frog) and Epsilon Realm #1 (Ronin), as well as a couple of small one or two page gigs. Whew.

On the docket for this weekend are the second half of Nocturnal Essence #3, a few pages of Devolution, and 11 pages of 3rd System.

Once those are out of the way, I have some more work for Approbation and Mortal World Entertainment, as well as Pozers #2 and it seems like I'm forgetting one.

Upcoming, I'll have more spot work for Arcana, Shelter and another project for Hard Way Studios, more Kansas Hit and other stuff for Cary I'm sure, and some other stuff that's slipping my mind.

Man, when I write it all down it sounds like a ton of work!

As for the new job, since I haven't officially said what it is yet, I have been named Executive Editor of www.silverbulletcomics.com! It's a full-time job, and so far I'm loving it. I'm still getting my feet wet, and a lot of things haven't been ironed out yet, but once things get going I think it's going to be very exciting.

With the job I had to become exclusive to the site as far as writing goes, so that's one reason Indy-Pendant had to cease at Comic Avalanche. It also means I can't write for any other comic-related website. It's a compromise I can live with, though, because I really do love that site. The people there are the best I've ever worked with honestly. The site itself is going through a redesign, but it'll be a while before it's ready.

On a totally unrelated note, Platinum Studios put out April solicitations, the first solicitations I recall ever seeing from the company. You can see them at SBC on the front page currently. Man, I've got to get my next draft of Lab Rats in to them!

As for writing, I still haven't gotten around to completing the Aroquin script, and I'm sure by now the artist has moved on. All the other artists on my other current projects are still mega busy, so I have no progress to report unfortunately.

Small Press Idol is upon us again, and I'm considering entering again, though I don't know if I'll have the time to devote to it, or if I'll be able to find an artist. I'll keep you all posted.

And that's what's up with me this fine weekend. Well, not really so fine as we might get an ice storm tomorrow (man, I hope not. The last two we had knocked people's electricity out for days, even weeks, including ours!). But that's what's going on creatively anyway. :)

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Lettering Updates

I got caught up on a lot of lettering over the weekend, thankfully.

For those still waiting, I am working diligently to get you your pages!

I am nearly done with Amalyn now, and those pages should be coming to you shortly.

Nocturnal Essence is next, and I look to be caught up by Wednesday if all goes well.

Kord & Harley and Approbation work is next up. I'll have an update on those soon.

Aside from those, I have several others in the wings amidst corrections and various other things. Whew I'm busy!

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Myth Conceptions

The latest edition of Myth Conceptions is now up! This week I talk about my favorite titles of 2006. Check it out by clicking the title.

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Myth Conceptions

It's finally up! After some complications with the file and everything, the latest Myth Conceptions column has made its way onto the site. Check it out by clicking the title of this post.

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The Ninth

I finally turned in this week's Myth Conceptions. I'm not sure when it will go up now as it's two days late, but I'll keep you posted.

This week I talk about the changes I'd like to make in my comic endeavors, and the changes I'd like to see publishers and creators make this year and beyond.

I just finished up lettering one issue, though there will be another pass on it for corrections and all that. I also made some minor corrections to another issue for someone else. I'm slowly but surely getting through the current load.

Next week is when it all changes time wise. That's when the new job starts. I'm working hard to prepare for it as I can.

Not much else to report right now.

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Column Updates

I just realized that I forgot to add the Noble Causes pages I lettered to my column yesterday, so they are up now. I apologize for forgetting them.

You can also now find them on the lettering page of this site.

If you've read the column you know now that I am exclusive to SBC and that Indy-Pendant will no longer be featured at Comic Avalanche. As far as I know, the archives will remain there though.

As for Myth Conceptions, I got so busy with lettering yesterday that I totally forgot to write it! I will send it in today and it should be up sometime this week. I'll keep you all posted here.

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Indy-Pendant #75

I'm back! At least for today anyway.

My 75th Indy-Pendant column is now posted. What a milestone that is. I would have loved to have reached 100 for this occasion, but this is just the way things worked out.

You'll have to read the column to find out why, but today's is my last IP column at Comic Avalanche. It's been a great ride sharing my thoughts with all of you, and it saddens me to see it come to such an abrupt (temporary) end, but this is the way things must be.

Don't worry though, IP will resurface at some point somewhere, and (hopefully) it will be better than ever.

Until then, you still have one more column to read, and you can check out the archives any time you like. So go do that now! ;)

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The Weekend Comes

As the first week of January comes to a close I am still reeling trying to catch up so that I can concentrate on my new position, which I'll have more news on shortly. Today will predominately be a lettering day, as will tomorrow most likely.

As I stated in a previous post, tomorrow is the return of Indy-Pendant, and it's an installment you don't want to miss.

Monday will be the return of Myth Conceptions as well, and you may not want to miss that one either. There may be an announcement there too, I haven't decided yet.

And that's all that's going on as far as professional matters.

With the new site design I will be having essentially two blogs, I've decided. The main page will serve as a blog to talk about all my professional/artistic endeavors and progress, meaning mainly my comic work. The other blog will be this one most likely, which will be personal. I don't know if it'll be directly linked or not at this point.

I don't know, I'm torn about the whole thing actually. Someone gave me some advice about not going into personal matters on a website I'm trying to get work at, and to a point I understand that. It makes sense as potential employers don't want to read about my personal life, or may be turned off by something. But then my website is supposed to be, first a foremost, a site for people to get to know me that just happens to showcase my artistic works.

What do you all think?

I guess that's it for now. I'll post here when the column goes up late tonight/early tomorrow.

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Sketch Blog

Well, the deed is done. I have deleted the sketch blog. It was of no use as it's been quite a while since I've picked up a drawing pencil, and will probably be a while before I do again. It was a neat idea while it lasted though. Thanks to all those that checked it out.

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This Sunday...

...be sure to check out the next installment of Indy-Pendant! Yes, it's returning after a long hiatus over the holidays, and I've got an announcement you have to read if you are a reader of the column. It concerns the future of the column.

I had also hoped to have a big announcement about some published work, but things didn't pan out. I'll explain all that Sunday as well.

Myth Conceptions will also return on Monday, and soon I'll have an announcement about my involvement with SBC as a whole.

As for the website, I'll get around to it eventually. Right now I just don't have the time. I will be starting a new job over the next couple of weeks and am really trying to catch up on all the lettering I got behind on over the holidays.

That said, with this new job my time will become even more limited, so except the occasional small jobs I won't be taking on any more non-paying lettering gigs for a while. I know I've said that before, but I like helping people out. I just don't have the time to do that right now. 5 page submission packages, sure. And the occasional work for good friends or major publishers of course. But I just can't commit to any lengthy projects without pay at this time. My apologies.

That's all I have right now. More updates to come in the days and weeks beyond.

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Happy Belated New Year

Well, I wasn't able to give a year ender or any of that good stuff as I intended, so this will have to do.

For those of you wondering where I've been, I was once again plagued by major computer problems among other things this holiday season. It's been a very frustrating holiday, but the worst of it seems to be behind for now.

So here I am, back at it again, trying in earnest to catch up on all the stuff the roughly 10 days without a PC put me behind on. It's a long, uphill climb, but I'm hoping once I get into the flow of it things will fall into place.

If you've tried to contact me and I haven't gotten back to you yet, rest assured I am working on it. I haven't forgotten you and I will be in touch this week sometime.

Thanks for all your patience and support. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and wish everyone the best in this new year!

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Myth Conceptions

After a week's absence (my fault) I am back this week with a new column!

This week I take a brief look at black & white comics vs. color comics.

You know the drill: click the post title to read the column!

You'll notice that I no longer have the archives listed in full on the sidebar. Instead, I have a columns archive page linked that takes you to a page with all the specific links. In addition, I have a link to the archives on the SBC site, so either way you're sure to find them easier!

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Reviews

Here are some more reviews I've done recently over at SBC:

Agents of Atlas #5

Incredible Hulk #101

New Excalibur #14

Newuniversal #1

Uncanny X-Men #481

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Papaw

They determined my Papaw didn't have stomach cancer and he was supposed to go home yesterday. But the doctors had trouble waking him up, so they kept him another night to make sure he wasn't having seizures or mini strokes that we weren't aware of. We don't know at this point what's going to happen from here or when he's going to get to go home.

Thank you all for your continued support, thoughts and prayers, they are most appreciated.


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A Couple of Updates

I have joined Comic Space, the MySpace for comic creators. You can find the link in the sidebar or by clicking the title of this post.

My Papaw does NOT have stomach cancer, thank God, but he did have a peptic ulcer, which they treated. Nothing was broken either, he just has a massive bruise on his hip. He'll be going home tonight, but he can't be left alone at all pretty much for the rest of his life, so it's still going to cause a strain on my family. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

That's all for now.

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My Current Status

Many of you may realize that I have not been online much this week. I have had some situations occur that have required my attention. I apologize for my lack of response the past few days.

I missed my column this week due to a minor emergency and some work that needed catching up on. I will be back next week though with a new Myth Conceptions.

I have been working on my lettering up until Tuesday evening when my cable company started doing sporadic maintenance, which left me without internet access for several hours at a time.

Then I was infected with spyware, and while I think I got most of it, my computer is still lagging a bit, so I may not be completely out of the woods yet.

For those that follow the SBC Reel report I do on www.silverbulletcomics.com three times a week, I missed yesterday due to these computer issues. I doubt I'll be able to put one up today, but I will certainly make up for it on Friday.

This morning my Papaw was taken to the hospital for internal bleeding. He fell the other day and has been unable to walk on one leg since. EMTs that came to the house a few days ago stated as far as they could tell nothing was broken. But the past few days rotating family members have had to help him and last night it took a turn for the worse. He passed out in my cousin's arms, and this morning he was throwing up blood. Currently he is in intensive care awaiting a blood transfusion. They think he has an ulcer. Right now it's touch and go, so today my online presence will also be very sporadic.

Aside from all that, I am hoping to get back to lettering today, and plan on being caught up by Monday. I still have a few logos I have to finish after that, but once the current workload is done I won't be taking on anymore non-paying or deferred payment jobs until further notice. Definitely not until after the new year. Paying jobs I will still be open to.

If anything else comes up I will post here. I will also keep everyone updated about my status. Thank you.

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Site Update

I have updated the front page of my website. I got some good advice from someone recently about the content on my site and blog, and I plan to implement some of that when I redesign the site.

In the meantime, please understand that while this is a personal blog, and while the front page of my site currently says it's a personal site, it is for my professional work. I would hope that nothing I say here would affect anyone's decision on hiring me.

Thank you.

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MIA

Wow, nearly 5 days since a post! Man, time flies.

I've been trying my best to catch up on things to allow for new things I suppose. With the holidays now in full swing and all that last minute preparation going on (we don't even have a tree up yet!) it's just been crazy around here.

I've got five more items marked off my list of things to do, but I still have more to go. I'm getting there though.

Anyway, just wanted to drop in and post a quick little message to anyone out there who may read this.

But before I go, I did read something interesting today. A yahoo blogger made a post about how gift-giving ruins the spirit of Christmas. In a sense I could see where he was coming from, with meaningless gifts from mere acquaintances and distant relatives, and because of the whole commercialism of the holiday. But to me Christmas is a time of GIVING, and that's what I get out of it. When you're a kid you can't wait to wake up on Christmas morning and open presents. It's a magical day. But as you grow up where you really get the joy is from both spending time with loved ones and from seeing the joy on people's faces when they open a gift you put thought into.

So that was just a point I wanted to make. I love this time of year. I hate getting into the hustle and bustle of it, fighting the traffic and crowds and all that. And because of the demand for certain items attitudes surface, just like we saw over the Play Station 3 craze just a little bit ago. Man, I was looking around on eBay just to see what those were going for and came across one that was up to nearly $3,000.00! The Nintendo Wiis weren't much better, some going for around $800.00. It's total insanity!

But what I do enjoy is the warmth and love that surrounds the holiday. Maybe it's because I come from a very close family, or because it's just in me, I don't know. All I know is come late October I really start feeling it and never want it to end. This is my favorite time of the year, and it's a time that I can put aside all the problems for just a little bit and concentrate on the good things in my life. I'll mourn its passing like I do every year, and I'll miss it dearly. But that's the cycle of life. But while it's here I'm going to enjoy it!

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Myth Conceptions

The latest installment of my column is up for all to see.

This week I talk about what goes on behind the scenes in the development of a comic in my own special way.

Check it out by clicking the title link of course!

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Some Reviews

Yep, I'm at it again. Here are three more. I'll have two more probably tomorrow, which I'll just add to this post. Then I'll probably have some later in the week. It just worked out that way. I thought the last batch would be the last ones I'd do for a while, but ya know...

UPDATED

New Excalibur #13

Noble Causes #25

Pencilneck #1

Wolverine #48

X-Factor #13

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It's December!

And Christmas is just over three short weeks away. That said, as I posted on MySpace, I am taking small jobs for extra Christmas money right now. So if you have anything give me a shout!

It's almost as if the weather around here was waiting for it to be December. While it's not as bad here as in a lot of states, the temperature dropped a good 20 degrees and it got really windy. I'd say snow will be coming soon, but I still don't expect it to get too bad. Then again, I could be wrong.

My Mom's Workman's Comp case took a turn for the worse. She won't be receiving anymore checks, and she's been out of work for about three or four weeks with no pay! She's still employed, but because of her restrictions they are doing nothing for her. After getting the run around for a week or two they finally told her that they needed to start discussing a settlement, and Mom should tender her resignation to Galls. To me that sounds a bit fishy, but what do I know?

Anyway, she has a doctor's appointment on the 13th, then she has to meet with her attorney the same day I believe. Then they'll start talking settlement, but of course that doesn't help her any right now.

On a good note, her cold or flu, or whatever is finally starting to lift. It's not gone yet, but she's up and doing stuff, so that's a positive.

Not much else going on right now. Just still catching up on all my lettering and logo design. I made some headway yesterday and today, so it looks like I'm back on schedule.

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