Notorious Crackpot

So I guess I should do what other people are doing and post information about where you can find Eric and myself during the week long madness that is San Diego ComicCon. We will be doing a daily signing session at the SLG booth. That's the awesome booth right next to the DC Comics booth. Hard to miss. Thursday 1:00-2:30 Friday 11:30 - 1:00 Saturday 5:00-7:00 Sunday 11:00-12:30 Additionally, Eric and I will be participating in two panels: Friday: 4:30-5:30 - Spotlight on Landry Walker and Eric Jones — The creative team behind SLG Publishing's Little Gloomy series and the recent Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade for DC Comics discuss all of their work, past and present, including the upcoming run on Batman: The Brave and the Bold series. Landry Walker and Eric Jones discuss the pitfalls of working on all-ages books as well as developing their own properties for animation. Room 3 Sunday: 1:30-2:30 Comics and Graphic Novels for All Ages- It’s true! Ther...

In stores now! "Collecting all six issues of the six issue series TRON, based on the classic movie and hit video game! Inspired by TRON, Disney's groundbreaking science-fiction motion picture classic, TRON: The Ghost in the Machine takes place in present day, over two decades after the events of the film. Jet Bradley, son of the original TRON programmer Alan Bradley, has recently escaped the computer world. But his experiences within cyberspace have left him emotionally scarred — vivid nightmares plague him, and he's become paranoid and unstable. He shuns technology wherever possible, leaving him effectively crippled in the modern world. And now something within the computer world wants him back!"

So... let me frame things a bit. Eric and I had been working on comics for over 15 years. Many of those years were spent working on Disney Adventures. Once Little Gloomy and Kid Gravity had been picked up by the magazine, we had quit our day jobs and dedicated all our energy to comics creation. Then, at the end of 2007, Disney Adventures folded. We were still very busy working with 1492 Pictures on Little Gloomy for the small screen, and there was some comfort in knowing that this work would keep us afloat... for a little bit. Flash forward to February of 2008. WonderCon. We have no jobs. No money and no immediate prospects. So we turn to long time aquaitence Bob Shreck. It really was a whim. We had nothing prepared and though we had known Bob for many years, asking for work from someone I think of as a friend is not a thing I like to do. It feels... I dunno. Not something I like. But we asked. Because we were desperate. So he recommended the Johnny DC line. There was (at the time) a b...

I said I would be posting the last installment of this blog series tomorrow. This is true. But that doesn't mean I can't post something today as well. So here I am. Posting. First up we have some more Supergirl. Yup. That sure is Supergirl. Note: These images have been slapped together kinda randomly. All of the above were drawn before the series began, with the exception of the bit with Comet the Super Horse. I think that one was drawn last fall, well after production on the series was under way. Now, one thing that's been all over the internet lately is the issue of Supergirl's shorts. Not my Supergirl, mind you. No... I'm talking about the mainstream DC comics Supergirl currently crafted by comics creators Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle. That Supergirl, long considered overly sexy, has recently taken to wearing bike shorts under her skirt. We first saw this with the work of Renato Guede. And more recently with the work of Jamal Igle . Of course, our Supergirl wea...

San Diego Comic Con is almost upon us. Subsequently, Eric has illustrated two limited edition prints. These were meticulously colored at the last minute by long time collaborator Rikki Simons. These will be signed and numbered and about 11 x 17. We'll mostly be camped out at the SLG booth, which is right next to the DC booth. I know that many people who read this blog will not be able to attend the convention, unfortunately we really, really cannot distribute these outside of a very limited number (for promotional purposes) during the show. For those here for a specific purpose: The last entry of the Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures art blog will be posted on Friday.

What did Eric and I work on before Supergirl, you didn't ask. Oh... lats of stuff. One of which was the creator owned "Kid Gravity" that ran in the pages of Disney Adventures for several years. This is just one page, and it's from many years ago. Don't judge us to harshly. Anyway, during the time we were working for Disney Adventures, Eric and I would frequently attend conventions. The most common pahrase we heard was: "You guys kinda dropped off the map". Yeah. That's what we did. Disney Adventures had distribution numbers of over a million, with a projected readership figure per issue that topped 5 million. You could buy it at the check out stand of almost every grocery store. And not just in the US. It was available in multiple countries, translated into multiple languages. I think that's about as "on the face of the Earth" as you can manage. We worked for a magazine that outsold just about every comic every month combined. Kids thou...

So... Here we are again. As promised, here is the start of the Supergirl artwork. It has been a crazy week. I've been working on multiple projects at once. that's unusual for me. Subsequently I'm very tired. But that's not what you want to hear, is it? No... You just want to know about Supergirl. One thing Eric and I knew as soon as we got the job was that Supergirl had to be played large, emotionally speaking. Her excitement and her stress, all had to be bigger than life. That way, when we would bring her emotions down to a quieter level, it would have more impact. More gravity. It also goes along way to showing her age. I've heard it said that realistic teenagers are portrayed as sullen and surly. I don't think that's realistic at all. Can teenagers be surly and sullen? Sure. But not all the time and not all of them. And most importantly, it's not how teenagers see themselves. That's a pitfall as an adult writer. When you start thinking that how yo...

Would you believe it if I said the bit of writing seen below was from a perfectly innocent all-ages comic? "He’s been banished back to the world of sexy dreams!" No... I guess I wouldn't believe it either.

The link below leads to a wonderful Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures fan written story I recently came across. The most striking part for me was how clear the voice of Belinda Zee came through, despite me not having anything to do with this. There's a bit of ego tied in with these characters... they exist in my head. That's where they were born and that is where they will always live. But that's ego. The truth is that a talented writer can take the characters and bring them to life. As exhibited below: mithen.livejournal.com The scene that plays out, and some of the perspectives held by the characters does not necessarily match how I would portray things. Nor should it. This is a well executed extrapolation from the mind of another writer. I think she does a very good job and I hope she chooses to write more in the future.

Yeah, I know that behind the scenes of Supergirl would be posted next. But my plan was always to make that post on Monday. Today is Saturday. So think of this as a bonus, not a detour. So this is what a full page of pencils from Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures looks like. This is page 21 from issue 5, to be precise. Here's a look at the same page, completed and printed: Eric draws each panel on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. I take that stack of paper and scan it, Eric then assembles the page on Photoshop. I print it out at about 9 x 15 and he lightboxes the inks onto a piece of bristol board. Don't ask me why it's done this way. I have no idea. Then end result is stacks and stacks and stacks of paper. And since Eric has never sold any original art, and also not boxed it up and taken it out of my house, I get to live with it. All of it. Too much of it, really. The upside is I have full access to it and get these opportunities to share. So... Monday. Supergirl. The start of it a...

I promised Supergirl next. And that's what you're going to get. Kind of. Supergirl isn't just Supergirl, of course. Unlike Superman she didn't arrive to Earth as a baby. Unlike Superman her Kryptonian name isn't simply a part of his heritage he discovered late in life. Supergirl's name is Kara Zor-El. But when she first arrived in her rocket back in the 50's, Superman tells her she needs an Earth name. Of course, I know a few Kara's. But I suppose times have changed just a bit. So Linda Lee was born. That's Linda Lee on the left.  I think we debated between a ponytail and the final hair design. The images on the right were a bit of an experiment. How to properly portray Kara Zor-El in her native Kryptonian guise. Anyway, I felt I needed a bit more of a rationale for her not using Kara as her name while on Earth. So when she crashes in the middle of Metropolis, she's swarmed by reporters. Why wouldn't she be? And they want to know who she is, ...

I feel like posting something non-Supergirl related. I mean, there will be more Supergirl stuff. Probably tomorrow. But for now... Little Gloomy . This story is one of my favorites in regards to this era of my writing. I know it's one of my favorites because it's the only one I looked at and could bear the thought of posting. This was originally featured in Disney Adventures Magazine back in... what? 2005? 2006? Probably 2006. It was part of the Super Scary Monster Show trade paperback in 2007, published by SLG. But due to financial considerations, the collected volume does not include the color. The coloring on this peice was executed by long time collaborator Rikki Simons . The book is available here .

Today I will post images of Belinda Zee. See. Told you. Belinda is notable as she is really the only original character we introduced to the Supergirl mythos. Admittedly, our version of Lena Thorul seems to have very little in common with the original version. But still... Obviously, Belinda Zee's name is also a take off of Supergirl's secret identity, Linda Lee. Not quite as obvious is the fact that her name was also inspired by my fiance's name: Belinda Lee. I've also seen it mentioned that she seems to have some common elements to Grant Morrison's Zibarro. What with the non-Bizarro like speech patterns and the color scheme and the prominent "Z" in the name... Coinicedence. I won't lie. I think All-Star Superman is one of the best books out there. But I didn't read it until a few months ago. In fact, I rarely read comics anymore. That's changing a bit... out of necessity more than anything else. The design of Belinda was partially inspired b...