Planet Comics #4 on Kickstarter - and the San Diego Comic-Con!

 

Hello once again, internet. I'm here to tell you that the campaign for Planet Comics #4 is currently up and running on Kickstarter! Let's take a look at what this new issue has for us all.

There are two covers! Jake Smith drew the main cover.

And Mark Welser drew the Kickstarter exclusive cover. What is going on here? Is this a reference to a deep-cut Weird Al song? Who can say?

My four-part Bulwark story comes to an end! Co-creator Andrea Schivaone provides the lovely art for this one!

Jennie Wood and Erin Dodge have a new, eight-page story titled "Nightmare Girl" in this issue! I'm really looking forward to this one.

Duane Redhead and I have finished the second of a two-part Teddy and the Yeti story! What fate awaits our protagonists?

Diana Krueger pens a new essay on Golden Age comic creator Jackie Ormes!

Plus there are more stories from Jeff McComsey, Benito Cereno, Jorge Correa, Jr., Guillaume Deloizon and more! There are lots of rewards and add-ons for this issue. I hope you'll check it out! The campaign runs until the middle of August.

The 2023 San Diego Comic-Con starts tomorrow! I haven't packed yet! But I will be there! I'm sharing some space at booth 2200 with Ian Nichols and others. I'll have Planet Comics, The Illustrated Al, mini comics, pins and more! If you come and visit, I'll give you a trading card! I hope to see you there!

Planet Comics #3 now on Kickstarter!

 

Is it that time again? It is! It's once again time for a new issue of Planet Comics, your favorite oversized sci-fi anthology pulp comic tribute of the 21st century! It is all of those things.

The campaign for Planet Comics #3 is now live on Kickstarter, and I hope that you'll check it out if you haven't yet. There's a little over a week left in the campaign, and the book has reached its initial goal. Let's take a look at some of the art and stories that will be included in this new issue!

This issue starts off with a main cover by Nickolej Villiger! Nickolej is such a great talent and I'm sure you'll be seeing more of his work in the near future!

The Kickstarter-exclusive cover for this issue is by Hilary Barta, who has drawn so many weird and funny comics over the past few decades. I love his work on Radioactive Man from Bongo Comics!

The Bulwark is back with another new chapter int his issue. Andrea Schiavone once again provides the art. He brings so much to this story and the book! I'm lucky to have him drawing the lead story.

Jeff McComsey's "The Old Man and the Sea of Love" returns again as our other continuing story. More tales of big adventure on the high sea await!

There are a few new stories in this third issue, as well. The first has a weird western flavor provided by Joey Esposito and MoraMike. This story is called "Nixon: Small World."

I'm really excited about this short story from Grace Gilbert and Guillaume Deloizon, "Julián in Space." Grace is a former student in one of my comic book classes and she's a really great storyteller! Guillaume's art is so unique, especially in a book like this, and I think it adds such an interesting flair to the publication.

And get ready for this...Duane Redhead and I are creating a new Teddy and the Yeti story for this issue! This will be the first new T&Y story since 2014. I'm so excited to bring these characters back for the first time in a while.

I'm also printing a blank sketch cover edition for the first time in the series. My pal Ian Nichols is offering up his services to draw sketches on these covers as one of the limited rewards! So you can get some bona fide original art with this campaign. I'm really looking forward to seeing some of these covers with pencils and ink on 'em.

This issue will probably end up being a few pages longer than the previous one, which will mean that issue #3 will be the biggest one yet. I'm grateful for the support this book has gathered in the past and I hope for at least a few more issues to come. Please spread the word that Planet Comics #3 is now live! Pledge if you can! Write me weird comments below this post!

Planet Comics #2 is now on Kickstarter!

 

Last year, the first issue of Planet Comics met its goal on Kickstarter, and last month, I was able to print the issue and start sending it out. Here it is! It exists!

I've decided to press my luck and make a second issue, and now the campaign for this book is on Kickstarter! This one runs until the last week of March. Let's take a look at what we'll find for the second issue of the new Planet Comics!

Like the first issue, issue #2 comes with two cover, a regular cover by Adrián "Bago" Gonzalez...

...and a Kickstarter exclusive by Andrés Muños Setz! This one is a companion piece to the exclusive first issue cover by Matthew Dow Smith.

The Bulwark returns for a second chapter as the lead story of this issue.

Andrea Schiavone once again provides the art for this story! I'm excited to have a story that continues from one issue to the next! Most of my stories have been single-issue tales so far, so it's nice to write one that stretches out over a few issues.

I'm really excited to have the opportunity to publish an original Grumble story from Rafer Roberts and Mike Norton. Grumble just ended its run with Eric Powell's Albatross Funny Books and to have it continue here is a big deal.

Jeff McComsey's "The Old Man and The Sea of Love" continues in this issue as well!

Another new feature in this issue is "Badges O'Keefe, Canine Time Thief" with Dani Grew and your friend (and mine) Larry Franks! I love working with Dani on pretty much anything (Larry is okay), so I'm really excited about this story. There's also a reward where you can have your dog drawn into the book!

See?!

There are a bunch of rewards this time around, from other comics to shirts and pins to social media profile art.

I launched the project two days ago, and we're currently a little over 50% toward the goal. This gives me hope! If we reach the goal, I'll have stretch goals that I'll announce soon, but will most importantly include more content for the book.

I hope you can check out, support and/or share this project and help me make another issue of Planet Comics! Here's the link! Look at it! LOOK AT IT!! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jeffmcclelland/planet-comics-issue-2?ref=creator_nav

"The Midnight Starr" comic for...The Midnight Star

Here's a new, strange comic strip that I recently put together with my friend and Bulwark co-creator Andrea Schiavone! Read it, look it over, and then wonder what in the world is happening in it! It's okay to be a little confused, because, honestly, that was part of my intent. Why? Well, I have a blog, and I guess I can use it to spend some time explaining. IT'S A BLOG, GUYS. That's what we do here.

A few months ago, I purchased some original art from the "Brenda Starr" comic strip, from all the way back in 1981! I can't say that I'm a big fan of Brenda Starr, but I am a big fan of artist Ramona Fradon, and this strip is from her long run on the syndicated series. I'm really excited to have some more original Fradon art, as she's nothing short of a legend.

Anyway, I like the strip and have been thinking about making one of my own as something of an homage to not just Fradon and Brenda Starr, but to newspaper comic strips in general. The opportunity presented itself just recently (and I, on this blog, will elaborate on that), so I contacted my friend Andrea and we put together the above.

I had a few goals that I wanted to accomplish. I wanted the strip to have a worn feel to it, as if it had just been found in a filing cabinet or something after decades in obscurity. I wanted it to be melodramatic, kind of like Brenda Starr. And I wanted it to be very weird. I think I accomplished all of those goals, but just to put it over the top, the first version I made was written in Italian:

Now, I do not know Italian, but Andrea not only does, but also IS Italian, so he was able to translate the text into what you see above. Andrea also added in the aging effects, which include yellowing, ink splotches, a coffee ring, and some creases along one corner. The original inks looked like this:

I added a Hawaiian pattern to the shirt in the first and third panels...so if you were asking yourself if that is supposed to be "Weird Al" Yankovic in the strip...well, to start, this must be the first time you've seen any of the work I do, because OF COURSE it's Weird Al, but further...yes, it's Al.

Giving this comic the title "Midnight Starr" served to pay homage to both Brenda Starr as well as Al, because "Midnight Star" is the title to one of Al's classic original songs from the album "In 3D". It ALSO serves as the name of the premier 1990s Weird Al fanzine, which, in a very roundabout way, brings us to this: for the past few months, I have been working on a one-issue revival of the fanzine, and I put together the Midnight Starr comic strip to include in the issue.

The issue itself has a lot of different things in it - articles, pictures, interviews (I got to interview Al for an "Ask Al" segment!), but as comics and artwork will always be special to me, let's look at a few more highlights in that category.

Here's a one-panel comic from fellow Al fan and Planet Comics contributor Kelly Phillips! Kelly went above and beyond with this comic, which features just a ton of inside references to the Midnight Star song! 

The back cover was meticulously drawn by my friend Ethan Harper. Ethan is a storyboard artist on a number of productions, and I met him earlier this year in Los Angeles for Al's New York Times Magazine photoshoot. Ethan drew a whopping 27 animated characters, each of which is voiced by Al himself.

Here's what the finished product looks like! This is kind of an "I guess you had to be there" thing, as the design is in line with what the magazine looked like during its run from 1993-98. If you'd like to read the thing, I've got a PDF that anyone can view for free, right here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8hfkj1r62xmsz3c/The%20Midnight%20Star%20-%20November%3ADecember%202020.pdf?dl=0

I've also got physical copies for sale in my Etsy shop! In 2020, this counts as a new publication for me.

Planet Comics - now on Kickstarter!

Hey everyone! I've been working on a project for quite a while, now, and it's finally made its way to Kickstarter: the first issue of Planet Comics is on the way!

As you might know, "Planet Comics" is the title of a pulp comic from the 1940s and '50s. It's known for a number of things, but I'm most familiar with it because of its amazing, mid-century-chic covers. Check out this one, for instance:

Heck! Look at that beauty!

Anyway, I've wanted to do something similar for quite a while, and wouldn't you know, the title just happens to be in the public domain. I guess that's what being out of print for 70 years gets you.

I want my version of Planet Comics to be more than just a tribute to the original, but something that follows a similar sci-fi anthology format. I'm hoping to eventually publish four issues of the title, each one in an oversized magazine format that hopefully gives it a grand, impressive feel.

Right now, I'm planning on publishing three stories in the first issue. Not all of them are mine (though I'm editing and lettering the whole book), but the first story is - and it's one that I want to serialize through all four issues. It's titled "The Bulwark", and it's about a space-age hero who is somehow partially responsible for Earth's demise - and our main character has to find out if it's true, and why.

Here's the first page:

It's got art by Andrea Schiavone. Andrea is an Italian artist who is doing some amazing work on the story. I've really lucked out in getting to know him over the past few months, because I think we work very well together (and he's a nice guy). Like I said, I want this to be the "main" story in each issue, something that brings everything together, if that makes sense.

The next story in the book is by my friend and frequent collaborator, Jeff McComsey. Here's a look at one of his pages:

This story is titled "The Old Man and The Agean Sea", and yes, it's a new take on the classic Hemingway story. The story will be in color in the book - it's still in its early stages. I'm excited to see where it goes and I think that Jeff is doing some really nice work here.

The next story is titled "The Night Tanya Tucker Uncancelled Earth":

This one is by two of my favorite people: Jennie Wood and Duane Redhead. Creatively, they have opposite approaches to their art (at least in my semi-informed opinion), but I think that their styles mesh together in a fun and interesting way. I know that I'm excited to work with both of them again.

The book will be printed with two covers. The main cover, by Pietro, is at the top of this post. The Kickstarter variant is below:

This one is by Matthew Dow Smith - I must have caught him on the right day, because I really lucked into this cover, which I can't get enough of.

There's other stuff in the book, too: an essay on Lily Renée, artist on the original Planet Comics series, by Diana Krueger, and additional, secret-for-now stuff! The book will run at over 40 pages when it's all said and done.

I launched the campaign on Monday, and it's about halfway to its goal, which I'm happy about. I think it'll make it! I hope it'll make it! Oh no - what if I just jinxed it?! I guess it's possible!

I hope that you'll check the project out while it's running. Here's the link!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jeffmcclelland/planet-comics

Tell your friends! PLEASE!

Now it's off to worry about this for the next four weeks. Hooray!