Sketch for the Magic Bullet #4 page.
Mal Jones
Marc is in town this weekend to work on Randy Babylon.
My friend and colleague Rafer Roberts has a new collection of his book Plastic Farm available for pre-order.
Let me tell you that this book is weird. Very very weird. And really great. I know he just went through a massive re-lettering process for this edition and it’s got some great guest artists (Danielle Corsetto, Dennis Culver, Dave Morgan, Wendi Strang-Frost and Jake Warrenfeltz).
He’s sent me the info for it, so take it away Rafer!
PLASTIC FARM: SOWING SEEDS ON FERTILE SOIL in in the April Preivews and can be ordered using code: APR110754.
There is a downloadable order form here: http://plasticfarm.com/ssofs-order.pdf that folks can fill out and give to their local comics peddler. The book is also available for pre-order on Amazon: http://amzn.to/hT12R0.
Written and (mostly) drawn by Rafer Roberts, Plastic Farm follows the life of a man named Chester and his slow descent into complete insanity and chronicles how that madness reshapes the world around him. Chester has had a rough childhood, has a magic cowboy that rides a dinosaur living inside of his head, and is now, late in life, sitting in a nameless airport bar during a blizzard telling his life story to a group of people who really couldn’t care less.
Throw some money a local artist’s way and check out a book that has actually disgusted reviewers, but just makes me laugh. It’s just so freaking weird.
Disclaimer: I’ve known Rafer for years and have worked with him on a short that will show up this fall. But that’s all besides the point.
Here’s the Amazon link again: http://amzn.to/hT12R0.
On the Acela heading back to DC from Astoria. I’m thumbnailing a page as the woman across the aisle rocks a indivdual box of wine.
Well played ma’am, well played.
Being that I’m actively working to get back into regular comic work this year, I’m super pumped about this.
A couple of friends are writing stories in it. Here’s hoping I get paired up with them.
Thumbnails. Lots of thumbnails.
Head sketches for another character in the project Marc and I are cooking up. This is the BIG STAR!
I’ve recently discovered the power of using non-repo colors (red in this case) when sketching and laying out drawings. Holy Mary Mother of Art, why I haven’t I used them before?
Character sketch for a project Marc and I are working on. His name has already changed (we’re being really fluid with the process this time around after The Great Card Cheat ).
I didn’t get to hit up Aftertime Comics (my regular shop on King St.) but I did manage to get to Big Planet Comics in Georgetown before I met a friend for dinner.
I picked up a bunch of stuff I don’t get at my usual shop, so that I wouldn’t be double dipping or screwing Aftertime out of some cash.
The Haul
Batman Incorporated Issue 3
I get to the shop so sporadically that I hadn’t realized this was late, but whatever, it’s still Batman travelling the world setting up Batmen in other countries. The art’s strong and it’s good superheroics.
Plus I think Batman is awesome. I get Detective Comics too.
I actually have all the black, white, and green issues of this when AND the original hardback from when the book was at Image. It’s Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba’s Super Spy book that is just balls to the walls fun.
I picked up the color collection from Marvel because A) I wanted to see it in full color (it’s beautiful) and B) I want Marvel to recognize that this is the type of book that they can put out and it can stand up next to all the super hero books that flood the racks.
It’s so damn good.
Casanova: Gula issues 1 & 2
The second Casanova book features art by Gabriel Ba’s brother Fabio Moon. They’re trading off arcs it looks like. I never got any of these issues when they were over at Image, so it’s all new material.
Really weird this time (which says a lot when then first book had Casanova ripped from one dimension to another to take his own place), but still awesome. And lots of sex. Which is always nice.
Doctor 13: Architecture and Morality
Cliff Chang’s art is clean and something I’ve dug alot, but REALLY got keen on when I picked up Greendale a few months ago. The writer, Brian Azzarello, is better known in comics for his noir series (I guess noir is the right word?) 100 Bullets, and this is so far from that in all the right ways.
It’s about Doctor Thirteen, a professional skeptic/debunker, going on a quest across the DC Universe to save his daughter.
Nazi Vampire Talking Gorillas, old DC Comics characters pulled out of Limbo and used well… all kinds of bonkers stuff that you really only see in comics and it’s freaking hilarious. I think this was originally back ups or something, but the short chapters hold up really well in the collection.
It’s goofy and fun, but people outside of comics probably wouldn’t enjoy it nearly as much as someone that’s being reading them for a while… even I didn’t get all the in-jokes.
And now I apologize to Ed Brubaker
So I’ve worked on Ed’s site for years. Seriously. I think he was one of my first two freelance clients ever…. and I’ve never picked up his creator owned work (besides The Fall which he did ages ago). Sleeper doesn’t really count because it’s owned by DC/Wildstorm (and he did kill me with a heart attack AND a car accident in it).
SO I’m pretty much an asshole, but I am righting that wrong now…
I love crime stories. I love heist stories. I love Sean Phillips’ art. Coward is really, really good. I am a sucker for not getting it before. Sorry Ed.
Another Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips collaboration, this one Pulp/Superhero based. A villain is in Witness Protection and of course it doesn’t go well (does it ever really?).
I picked up issue three of the sequel (Incognito: Bad Influences) and got hooked pretty quickly, so I wanted to go back and get the trade of the first volume. It’s well worth it (and has a great article in the back by Jess Nevins).
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I’m planning on posting these little reports now and again. I don’t hit the shop every Wednesday, so it won’t be regular like clockwork, but I do want to talk about comics more on the blog. This is as good a start as any.
You won’t see a lot of negative notes on what I get though. I tend to pick only what I like or think I will like and I don’t want to get in to the reviewing game.
