Finished the fight

I would've posted this yesterday as it was Halo 3 Day, but I was so damn tired after a marathon session that I didn't have it in me to look at a screen anymore. Thankfully, Mafus had given me the hardcover edition of Darwyn Cooke's 'New Frontier,' which helped me unwind after sending the Covenant and Flood for a much needed dirt nap.

I took an hour nap before getting up at 11:30 to head over to Gamestop for the midnite release. I was dreading a long line, but it actually wasn't bad at all. Maybe fifty some people in front of me with another thirty to forty showing up behind. I had the game in hand by 12:11 and headed home directly. Popped that sucker in and didn't stop until around 11:30 for lunch and to chill with Angie and Lilah, who was home with pink eye. I took a 2.5 hour nap and stolled Lilah around before getting back into the thick of it again until the bitter end. Looking forward to going through the game again, but at my own pace and not rushing through to "finish the fight." So much more to find and explore. I did luck in to finding one of skulls, but there's still another eight to find.

After the disappointment of Halo 2's campaign I must say I'm much happier with the steps Bungie took to ensure Halo 3 would rectify that earlier heartbreak. Good solid fun. Challenging (to the point of frustration sometimes). Well worth ten hours of your life. Much like 'New Frontier.' May ooze about its glory later this week after I digest it.

Concussions and the such

This weekend was my friend Phil's bachelor party. Said party started at 1 o'clock with paintball out in Powhatan. I did reasonably well for not having played the sport in nigh on 14 years. I had three or four kills with three deaths and was even the last man standing in one match. Unfortunately I took a couple nasty shots as well. The first one was in the Adam's Apple in the second match, but the doozy came in the last match of the day. Someone broke cover on the opposing team and I was low on paintballs so I decided to charge. I think I got off four shots before I was pelted: two shots in the arm and one just above my mask that rocked me a little. Adrenaline must've kept me from realizing just how "little" it really hurt me. I went home and cleaned up before meeting the gang at Mexico for grub, beer and testosterone. I had two beers and big ol' plate of Mexicali goodness before bowing out and heading home—my head was killing me. I went pretty much directly to bed and slept all night. I woke up with a headache, feeling dull and lethargic. Bending over was painful as I found out playing with Lilah. I powered through most of the day before heading over to Patient First where they confirmed pretty much what my retired nurse Mom thought, I had a mild concussion. Yah!

Still feeling a little blah and dull today, but will perserve on since I'm taking tomorrow off to "finish the fight," as most of us gamers will be doing. Staring at the screen writing this is kinda killing my eyes though. May have to wear shades while I play, if it comes to that. Ugh.

Two years down

Today Angie and I celebrate our second anniversary. (Loves ya, honey.) Doesn't seem like it's been that long—the years have kinda flown by. (Lilah's helped with that I'm sure.) Today's also Mafus' 39th b-day. Stop on by his site and drop some burfday greetings on his old arse.

Here's three pages of the strip version of SANGUINE that I dug up. As with the rest of the SANGUINE stuff this was never finished, but that's okay 'cuz now I've got inking practice fodder.

Prologue Page 2 Inked

Nothing fancy. Just polished off the last two panels of it. Hopefully it's blatantly obvious which panels I did six years ago and which ones I finished tonight. It was actually kinda fun play with the wolf fur. I was sweating that as NOWERE is about werewolves and if drawing them was a bitch I'd drag my heels even more with it. Luckily, that isn't the case.

Sanguine: Prologue

Back on the Sanguine tip. I took the day off as I had spent my weekend helping Mafus with the grim task of carting stuff from his brother's house. (Visit his site for a complete account.) I was shifting some items around, making room for Mafus' old drawing table, which he graciously threw my way, and I happened upon these pages.

The idea was to tell the tale of the Croatoan Twins, who were characters in the greater story of Sanguine. Romulus and Remus were raised by a wolf and then later found by Lok, who trained them as assassins. Their schtick was that they ate their kills. Real deep, I know, but to my untrained mind back then it was creative gold. Fool's gold, maybe, but gold nonetheless. Thinking about inking these up and dropping some dialogue on them to get the dormant juices flowing.

I also found the strip version of this that I was going to submit for Dark Horse's Strip Search, but never finished as is my M.O. I'll post those in a day or two.

Sanguine's end

Here's the last four pages of my old tale. It's by nowhere near the end of the actual story, which I wrote as a screenplay for the first Project Greenlight. Maybe one day I'll actually go back and finish the whole thing, but at the rate I've been going with my latest tale—don't hold your breath.

My 'rents arrive in town this evening, so things will be quiet here for a couple days. Especially since I'm out of old art. I could scan in the pages from the three anthologies two friends and I did in college. Maybe even hunt down my old strips from the college paper. I'll see what I can find and get back to you. Snoogans.

Never would have guess this...

Which Heroes character are you? Your Result: Hiro Nakamura   You are Hiro Nakamura. You can bend space and time with your mind. You always try to do what is right and you are very innocent. Maybe too innocent. You took a trip to the future and saw NYC blow up. Now you are focused on saving the world. You also love sci-fi.
Claire Bennet
Peter Petrelli
Issac Mendez
Matt Parkman
Nathan Petrelli
Niki Sanders
Sylar
Which Heroes character are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Penultimate Sanguine posting

That's right, true believers. Only one more batch of Sanguine pages are heading your way. I personally think Page 9 represents me at my artistic peak. So dark. So powerful. So one sentence. Ah well, it's not as if Frank Miller never did it.

Hopefully everyone had a safe and happy Labor Day weekend. We thought about hitting the beach, but decided our sanity was worth more. Too many idiots flock to the coast on these long weekends that it's painful. Their brains go on vacation more than anything else. But enough social commentary. The 'rent arrive tomorrow to spend some time with their granddaughter and give us a bit of a respite. That's all I gots right now. Until next time.

Your second infusion

Nothing new to report. Here's the next five pages of Sanguine.

A look at yesteryear: Sanguine

Following in Mafus' footsteps of posting older work, kinda getting in touch with your roots, I've decided to post pages from the last comic I did many moons ago: SANGUINE. Your basic group of vampires taking over an assassins guild story. Had all these grand plans for the tale, but never went any further with it. Kinda lost my taste for it. Too many vampire tales out at the time and Anne Rice kinda killed the true vampire mythos. Oh well. Take a peep and I'll post the entire story.

The art isn't the greatest. Kinda embarassing, but everyone started somewhere, right? Plus, this gets me out of drawing something new since I've lost a little bit of the old mojo as of late. Been down since Mike passed. So enjoy some old school flavor while I await the return of creativity.

The service

Just got back from the Mike's service. It was filled with good friends, beautiful words and love for a man who touched so many without even realizing it. The world is poorer without out him, but at the same time so blessed to have had him. I'll speak a little more on it later, but I'm worn out and in desperate need of sleep after the festivities afterwards. As his father promised, it was a celebration of his life and I'm thankful they invited me.

Update: Actually I don't think I'm going to elaborate on the service any more. I couldn't do the eulogies and memories justice, so why ruin a good thing, right?

Update II: Todd Dezago over at Perhapablog has posted Mafus' moving eulogy for all those interested. Make sure you've got a box of Kleenex nearby.

Mike memories

Mafus asked friends/fans/anyone who had a special or favorite memory of Mike to write it down and post it. Here's mine:

The first time I ever met Mike he had this great 'Preacher' sketch waiting for me. He knew I was a geek and Mafus told him who my favorite character was and that was all it took, ladies and gentlemen. It's been hanging on the wall ever since in our bedroom and will continue to do so no matter where our travels lead us.

My almost-favorite Mike story...It was the day after Thanksgiving last year. Mafus had graciously invited me over again, as he had the year before, to hang out and talk geek with him and his big brother. I had to bring my copy of Halo 2 over since Mike had brought the case, but left the game at his house. It was just the three of us as their Dad was getting his car inspected and Squeeze and their Mom were out shopping. We sat down to a couple games of Halo where Mike and I hunted Mafus down like a dog. After Mafus got discouraged enough to call it quits we threw in a Hammer flick, 'Plague of Zombies,' I believe. About half an hour into the movie Mafus fell asleep as he'd gotten up butt arse early to hit Best Buy or Circuit City for cheap DVDs. Mike and I just sat and bullshitted like a couple of old drinking buddies, even though we weren't drinking, while Mafus snored away. We brought up the idea of drawing on him, but decided against it since he looked so cute sawing those slumber logs. Instead, we basically MST3K'd the flick until Mafus woke up and Mike and I continued to rip on it despite Mafus' protests. Their Dad showed up shortly thereafter and spoke of his inspection woes in his usual humorous way and I vamoosed half an hour later as Angie was very, very pregnant at the time.



I don't remember much about what Mike and I talked about because it wasn't important, world-breaking conversation. There wasn't any weight or gravity to our words. We were a couple guys yakking, laughing and having a good time. Any outsider couldn't have been able to tell who was the fanboy and who was the pro. He was the down-to-Earth professional who treated everyone like a friend. You'd feel comfortable with him whether you met him two minutes ago or ten years. A great guy. I'm glad I went to Heroes Con this year to talk to and see him. I'm just so damn sorry it was the last time.

My favorite memory of Mike, and this may not even make sense, is that he'll always be my friend Mafus' brother. I was kinda Mike's friend by default as I hold Mafus to be one of my best friends, though he may not realize it. Mike was the bonus for having such a kindred spirit as his brother for a buddy. Mafus, who's probably hurting more than anyone else out there because he didn't only lose his best friend, he lost his brother. Mafus, who always had that tinge of pride in his voice (and in his brother) when he shared an insider tidbit that Mike had told him with me. "Keep it under your hat," he'd always say and that confidence was never betrayed. Mafus, who's just as genuine, funny and talented as his brother — cut from the same cloth, if you will. Ma and Pa 'Ringo raised 'em both right. I'm the better for knowing them both and counting them among my dear friends. Mafus, who's not alone. There's a bottle of Bushmills waiting for when you get back, my friend. We've got art to do and toasts to raise in Mike's memory.

The comic world has lost one of its greats...

Mafus called me this morning to let me know that his brother Mike passed yesterday from a heart attack. Needless to say I was/still am stunned. My mind raced with thoughts like, "This can't be true? Mike's only 44. We just saw him at Heroes and he looked great." But all I could manage was, "WHAT?!" I still don't want to believe it. If only denial would make something not be true. Mike was a class act, a genuinely nice guy and one hell of an artist. He always treated me as a friend no matter how long it had been since I'd last seen him. My thoughts are with Mafus and the rest of the 'Ringo family. He will be missed and remembered. Pour some ink on the curb for our friend.

Karl Kesel, Mike's longtime inker, had this to say and since it brought tears to my eyes I thought I'd share it:

"Mike's art was about hope, not hopelessness. He drew heroes, not martyrs. And if that was wrong, thank you Mike for never being right."

Still kickin'

Sorry for the lack of posts. It's bloody August 9th and this is the first post of the month. What a crock, eh? Haven't drawn much of anything aside for thumbnails for a freelance poster project. I have written a new short story though. It had built up over the course of a couple days and Angie was gracious enough to let me go to a bar to put the tale down on paper.

Three Guinness later and the tale was fleshed out and told. Still plenty of refinement before it's totally complete, but I'm happy with the way it turned out, which wasn't how I expected it to. Always nice when your characters surprise you. Once it's complete I'll ship it around and see if there are any bites. It's been awhile since I've gotten a rejection letter and I need to add to my stack.

3rd Beach weekend come and gone

While I didn't get any drawing done (I've been in a bit of a creative slump) I did read Doug TenNapel's latest offering, BLACK CHERRY. I picked up his IRON WEST on a whim many moons ago and got hooked on his quirky style. It was later on I found out that he was the creator of EARTHWORM JIM for all you Sega Saturn (I believe) owners out there. Anyway, back to BLACK CHERRY: great art, great story (though most of his stuff seems rather religion-oriented), and great fun (I had a bit of a laughing fit from one particular sequence). Found it to be wholly inspiring stylistically as I tend to get rather anal about the crispness of lines, which usually leads to loss of energy in the drawing. Doug's quick, kinetic brush work was an epiphany and I hope to translate some of this inspiration into NOWERE this week. Been sitting idle for too long. That whole fear of failing keeping me from starting, which is bullshit on my part, so it's time for a change. If you've got eighteen extra bucks in your pocket I highly recommend BLACK CHERRY.


On a lighter note...here's a pic of the lil' beach bunny. She got to dip her toes into the Atlantic for the first time as the water wasn't too arctic (75 degrees actually), but the waves were too pounding. Felt sorry for the beach. The wind was the major problem this time round. As you can kinda tell from the pic I had to jam the umbrella so it was touching the sand. We didn't even go to the beach Sunday due to it being even windier.

Beachbound with b-day hangover

As it's been a while since I last posted and still needed to come through on that promise of posting what I'd drawn at HeroesCon for the QuickDraw here's the thumbnail for the Spidey/Venom piece I drew on Saturday's contest. Nothing fancy. The final piece was a little tighter, but now lost to the rubbish pile as I forgot to pick it up afterwards. No big loss.

My 33rd birthday has come and gone. Still reeling from all the shots that I seemed to attract yesterday, but I'm not complaining. Cards, loot and a picture of the Birkenstocks Angie would've bought had she gone shopping for me were the score. We'll see how long it takes to actually acquire the sandals as the last time she promised me something it took the better part of a year for it to finally arrive (and as a gift for another holiday). But she's cute, so she gets away with it.

Expect beach pics and hopefully some 20 minute sketches come Sunday or Monday. Peace out.

Big Lazy

No, I'm not describing my drawing habits, but a damn fine band we saw Saturday night. I first saw Big Lazy seven years ago down at Poe's Pub and was hooked. Since then I've kept me ear and eyes out incase they ever came back or out with a new album. Of course, I moved out of the area for a three year span and probably missed them once or twice, but Angie alerted me to their being here and off we went. Of course, we had a little too much fun at the show (we could only stay for half of it due to babysitters) and paid for it the next day (too much good Legend beer), but that's why Sunday is the day of rest. I implore you to give Big Lazy a listen to (www.biglazymusic.com) or drop on in next time they're playing in your neck of the woods.

I started inking that Captain piece this morning and hopefully have it finished tonight or tomorrow. I gave up on the Kirby Thor page as the paper I printed it on bleeds like a mutha if I use a Crow Quill. Oh well.

The 4th (or 37th?)

Happy 4th of July everyone. (Also, happy 37th to me lovely wife, Angie.) In keeping with the spirit of the holiday here's the Cap that I drew for the Sunday QuickDraw at Heroes Con lo those many weeks past. I meant to post it sooner (as Denis requested over at Ad Nauseum), but life and everything else keeps getting in the way. Peace out.

In lieu of a baby picture...

Since I got the afternoon off due to slow bidness I took the opportunity to get a little inking done. While I'm no Joe Sinnott I'd like to think I'm a bit above Vince Colletta. (Well, maybe not yet, but soon.)

Anyway, that's all I got for now. My 'rents are probably in town by now out at the in-laws, both eagerly awaiting the arrival of their grandchild.

In lieu of art...

Since I've been slack the past couple of days here's a picture of the littlest tenor. Lilah's discovered what the camera is and now hams it up whenever given the opportunity. This one is from her first pool party over the McManusion. (Yes, I know it's spelled funny.)

I've started more of the Kirby pencils, but haven't had any mojo to finish them. Luckily, I'm outta work early today and hope to knock out a panel or two.

Some of my Heroes score

Following in Mafus' footsteps here's my trade/hardcover spread. I may have forgot one or two, but I'm pretty sure these represent all the reading material I brought back. Plus, if I add another it throws off the symmetry, so bucket. I'll try to get the artwork up soon, too.

Shaking off the abundant rust

A little later than I would've liked to have gotten around to this, but here's one of those Kirby panels I mentioned last week. Decided I needed to start getting the brush work back into gear instead of doing a Quickdraw tonight. Only took about 30 minutes, but felt longer. Nervous I guess. Hell, how could you not be when you're inking the Great One's work? Wanna try to get another couple done over the weekend if not the whole page. We'll see though. Weddings to attend and whatnot.

I tried my hand at lettering this panel as well, but it didn't turn out like I had hoped, so I deleted it. Don't think I'm quite ready for that leap yet. But that's what computers are for, right?

Day Three of the Quickdraw

As promised I did Spider-Man for this go 'round. Put him in his black suit as it's much easier to draw at this point. Hopefully in a couple weeks I'll be able to knock out the traditional red and blue get-up, but I think I'll need a quite a few more sketches to get my old chops back.

Scored some Jamal Igle 'Firestorm' today (a trade and a back issue). Had to get check some more of the man's art out after picking up that page. Too good not to. Have to hit a couple other comic shops to see what else I can dig up.

I've got a few more pics from Heroes to post. All the previous ones were taken by Mafus' delightful wife, Squeeze. I forgot to thank her and give her her props on 'em.

Two times twenty

I'd done a 20 Min. sketch yesterday, but didn't want to lump it in with the Heroes stuff I was blabbing about. Also took care of today's sketch while Lilah was copping some Z's as she's home sick (hence, my being home). Decided on the Red Skull for the first one as Dave Johnson had done a killer version for the program. Today got the Hulk as I purchased volumes 1 and 2 of the Hulk hardcovers. Spidey will probably be tomorrow as I'll be finishing my 'Best of Spiderman' vol. 3 tonight. Hopefully I can keep this up, but it may become a bi-daily post as not to takeover the internet. That's all I got expect for a baby on the mend. Peace out.

Heroes Weren't Hard To Find

Back from Charlotte and Heroes Con. I'd say it was a rousing success. While I did spend a lot of money I don't think I have any of the buyer's remorse that Mafus over at Ad Nauseum is feeling. (His stack of trades made mine look like a mole hill. The man is insatiable when it comes to half-price trades.) I did score some very nice art in addition to my other purchases. The crown jewel being the top featured piece by Craig Rousseau of Mary Marvel. I can't wait to get it framed and hung above Lilah's crib. I also procured two regular comic pages: a Firestorm page by Jamal Igle and a Thing/She-Hulk page by Bryan Hitch. Both stellar pages that will be lovely additions to the other geek wall hangings I've got going. (I may try to post them later, too.)

Mafus and I also tried our hands at the Quickdraw contest they hold daily. He's won it a couple times before and this time round was no different. He scored a win on Sunday and got a junk box from Blueline. As he said, "The paper and box were the only thing worthwhile about the prize. I wanted another shirt." I was just happy to finish a drawing in the allotted twenty minutes. Maybe next year as I hope to start to make this exercise a daily habit.


It was also nice to go to a con and actually know one of the big dogs. Not that it gave me any status or street cred, but when you can chit chat with a pro and not feel like a fanboy because you've played Halo 2 with him and watched old Hammer films it makes the con a little more enjoyable. Maybe it's just me.


One scoop I did glean from the trip was from talking to Jim Mahfood (40oz Comics in my links). Turns out Food One is doing the relaunch ad campaign from Colt 45. I damn near shit a brick (picture to the left proves that) when he told me that. Billboards and all other kinds of creative madness will soon be out there. There's already a full-page ad in Juxtapoz magazine that I've got to hunt down. Pick up his work if you don't already.


While it was fun to get out of town and mingle with my people it's nice to be home. I'll update this post a little later with some more pics from the con, though I didn't take that many. Just wanted to get some words out on the web. That and show off Mary Marvel. Thanks to the 'Ringos and Mr. Rousseau. For a more definitive rehash of the weekend visit Mafus over at Ad Nauseum. He's got the straight dope.

These pics have also helped me decide to lose some of the chub. Damn that's nasty.

Nothing special, but it's been awhile...

Here's a quick freelance piece I did for my old creative director/boss. She own Rex & Roxy's: Adventures in Puppy Playcare down in Hotlanta. I've been her brand boy since day one and it's always fun to work on an illustration for her. I don't have to conform to anatomy or even use decent perspective. Plus, getting away from a pseudo-realistic style to something more cartoony is helpful Keeps your line and your mind loose.

I hope to get another post up before Heroes Con. Maybe some Kirby pencils I've been itching to ink...

For what it's worth...

Here's the finished inks for the previous post. Nothing special. Tried some things that didn't really work and I had a heavy hand where I shouldn't've in some spots. Oh well. Still have to do the other three panels yet and I've been dragging my heels on some freelance I've got to get done as well. Now I'm off to the beach to rescue our daughter from her grandparents, who are spoiling her rotten. (And making us look bad in the process. Not really, but it sounded good, didn't it?) Until next time.