Joe Sinnott is Yetitastic

Here's a preview of some new cover artwork I just received in the mail from none other than the illustrious Joe Sinnott, longtime inker of the Fantastic Four and all around great guy.  I met Joe at this year's Pittsburgh Comicon and I've gotta say - what a thrill it was to meet such an industry legend.  As you can tell, Joe's still a top-notch artist.

If I had to guess, I'd say that Joe used Phil Hester's cover to the first issue of Teddy and the Yeti as inspiration for this piece - he even drew in the faux ears that you can see on that cover if you look hard enough.  It'd be enough just to have this artwork done and in my possession, but I can't pass up the chance to use it in the book in some capacity as well.  The plan is to print it right away - I think I'll use this as a special "sketch" cover to issue #4 (in addition to Pat Olliffe's regular cover), due out whenever it feels like going to the printer.

Of course, that means that I might just have to get a sketch of Ted to use as a special cover to issue #5.  Oh, the life of a comic book publisher.  Such decadence.

Coolsville

My good friend Mario Wytch just sent me a link to his all-new webcomic, Coolsville.  Coolsville is about a world where being a superhero is a 9-5 job, complete with all of the office drama contained therein.  Coolsville is also about a world where dogs can talk, apparently, as you can read in the above installment just released today!

The site updates twice a week, so I look forward to reading about the adventures of Devon Cole (didn't he play for the Pirates back in the day and also wear goggles?  Oh wait, a quick trip to MLB.com reveals that that was Alex Cole, member of the 1992 NL East champions who then got taken by the Colorado Rockies in the expansion draft, if memory serves) and I hope you check it out, too.  Heck, I may try and convince Mario to let me write a few strips every now and then.

Check out the series synopsis here, and read the comics here!  And be sure to check out the fan page on Facebook, too.

Cover Cameo

Hack/Slash: My First Maniac (I almost typed "My Pet Monster"), the first issue published under the Image Comics banner, comes out in stores today.  This issue features three covers: two standard editions and one exclusive edition from New Dimension Comics.  As I've mentioned before, the exclusive includes tiny pictures of Teddy and the Yeti scattered about (look closely, they're there).  And really, isn't that enough reason to run (RUN!) out to your local New Dimension Comics and buy a copy today?  If not, oh, look!  You can buy it online here!

It's like having my characters appear in an Image book without having to do ANY of the work to get my ideas approved by Image.  Because...that's what happened, I guess.  Hooray!

Yalta revealed!

I wrote a few vague posts recently regarding the short story "Yalta!" that I put together with super artist Leonardo Pietro.  I didn't want to give too much away because I wasn't sure if the book I was submitting it to would accept it or not, but I recently got word from none other than Jeff McComsey (of American Terror fame) that this story (with the alternate title "F. D. Arrrgh") will indeed appear in the anthology FUBAR, set to be released this fall.

Jeff posted the page on the book's blog, so I feel comfortable loading it here, as well.  Check it out and let me know what you think - and when the book does come out, pick up a copy or two.  I mean, it's one thing to read the story on a computer screen, and it's another to actually hold the book in your hands, turn the pages and read it, right?  Of course it is.

FUBAR is a collection of stories with the cohesive themes of the Second World War and zombies, and I'm pretty sure that most will not be comedic in nature.  Humor just seems to work well in small doses, at least for me, and there's not much I could do to make this story shorter than one page.

Jeff announced this page's inclusion on his blog, where he also wrote a quick blurb about the story.  Check it out here, and keep an eye out for the book in just a few short months!  I'll be sure to announce a date when I hear one.  I'm psyched to have this story published among those of the other talented contributors that are working on this book...it should be lots of fun.

At the fair.

It's not that knock offs of any sort are anything unusual or unheard of; when you're trying to make a quick buck, it's easier to just repurpose someone else's idea than to come up with one of your own.  Because of this, I wasn't all that surprised to see what looked like an overgrown jungle gym at the local fair this past weekend covered with images of super heroes.  What surprised me, though, was the selection.  Let's take a look, shall we?

First off, we have an oddly-colored Spider-Man, and if that one guy would move, a claw-wielding Wolverine, who apparently has busted through a brick wall.  Those are your standard heroes for montages such as these; Spider-Man and Wolverine are on all kinds of rip off stuff.  Spawn, though, is an odd choice, one that leads me to believe that this wall was painted around 1995, back when Spawn was AWESOME! and the Pirates were just a few years away from their three NL East division titles in a row.

The heroes on the right give the impression that the airbrush artist knows a little more about comics than the average person, or perhaps he/she turned on a cartoon marathon one day that included the Justice League show with the John Stewart version of Green Lantern.  The Human Torch completes the flying duo, and is another odd choice.  No Superman?  No Iron Man?  No Wonder Woman?  Any of those would seem to have a bigger recognition factor.  Heck, what about the Thing?  He's a much better choice if you're going to pick out a character from the Fantastic Four...though perhaps I'm biased.  And really...what kid out there doesn't love a hero who can set himself on fire?  That's not a terrifying thought or anything.

Lastly, we have...this guy.  Looks like a mix between Superman, Batman, the Flash, and...I don't know, Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe.  Seriously, who the heck is this guy, and why did the artist of this compilation decide to toss in an original character with so many other copyrighted ones?  Maybe the artist thought that he/she could create an iconic image on par with other Marvel and DC superheroes...or maybe this character does actually exist, and I've just never seen it before.  But probably not.

Weird stuff, the knock off circuit.

If that's movin' up then I'm...something something.

The past week of my life has been spent preparing to move from Wilmington, NC back to the Pittsburgh area for the summer.  Moving is a stressful event for anyone, but I find myself in a situation that makes it even more interesting: I really don't know where I'll be when the fall rolls around (hey, maybe I'll be dead or something), so I'm stuck in that place in-between moves.  Most of my ever-growing stuff is packed away (floor to ceiling) in storage for a few months, but I had to decide what I'd need to take with me and use for three months as I stay with family for that time.

I knew this was coming, so I planned ahead and brought stuff back home the last few times I visited; all of my Thing statues came with me on one trip (and almost all fell on my dog as I made a sharp turn), my Rusty painting came up on another, etc., but the final trip is always the most contentious - it's when decisions on what stays and what goes have to be made.  Needless to say, I've accumulated quite a stack of comics since arriving in Wilmington, and even though I was diligent in transporting them back home after I had read them, I still had a couple of tall stacks in my room when it came time for the final packing.

It was never a question of leaving my comics in storage; I have the unfounded image in my head of wild animals breaking the door to my storage locker down and tearing my comics to pieces and leaving the more mundane items - coats, furniture, flower pots - just as they found them.  But as I packed the car to make the 600-mile journey to Pennsylvania, I realized that there was no way I was going to fit in everything I had wanted to take.  I suppose it wouldn't have been 100 percent impossible, but I'd imagine the bottom of the car would have been shooting sparks and my reliable Toyota Camry would have averaged about six miles to the gallon along the away.  Oh, and I'd have had to steer from the roof.

As I made a mental inventory of all that was in the car and realized that some hard decisions had to be made, I realized that my boxes (and boxes...) of comics weren't as important as things like clothes.  Or my dog.  So I sucked it up, taped the boxes shut, and took them to the post office.

Media mail is a great thing - it allows you to mail things like books, DVDs and CDs for cheap; I ended up mailing three boxes, the heaviest of which was 27 pounds, and the cost for it came to about 13 bucks.  I am, however, terrified that they will get lost or shredded in some...I don't know, shredding machine or something.  Even though I could look at a picture of any comic ever and tell you if I own it, I have absolutely no idea what books were in the boxes I shipped.  So if one gets lost, I'm going to have a heck of a time replacing those books.

I bought insurance and tracking for each box, but I'm still fretting the disaster that will hopefully never come.  The boxes and their tracking information are each listed on the United States Postal Service's website, and you can follow along with me (hours of fun!) and see their progress by going here and entering in the following numbers:

0309 2880 0000 7564 5892
0309 2880 0000 7564 5915
0309 2880 0000 7564 5908

Fingers crossed.

More Yalta

The first sketches have arrived for the one-page extravaganza that is "Yalta", and boy!  Do they look great.  Artist Leonardo Pietro is putting in some fine work, I'm sure you'll agree.  More to come on this story in a bit - we'll see where it lands.  In the meantime, who doesn't like undead Lincoln?  Besides those he feeds on, of course.