Grind On Con ON

This weekend I'll be attending the annual Baltimore Comicon and be set up in booth right next to my buddy Bret Blevins who missed last year due to his broken collar bone. I love the BCC as its just the right size and full of comic books fans who are the real fans, the readers, though you still have plenty of Cosplay and a few Celebrities. I look forward a a few days away from the board at home to sit at another board in the con drawing away, doing sketches. I also enjoy seeing a few fellow pros as I exit my art cave for a brief stint in the sun.

The current story line of the Judge has been a bit hit-literally. Seems the fans have really gotten into the whole "Death of Sophie" story line that came out of the plot I pitched to the previous writer,Woody Wilson. The story has taken a turn of the dramatic in the last week with what might be a fatal car crash for Sophie and the band. I just turned in my 9-19 week and the story continues to turn in what I hope is an unexpected and entertaining direction for the readers. Some long answered questions about the characters and locations will be revealed. So far feeling are mixed, some want Sophie DEAD, or paralyzed, some have written to say please let her live. Some say some pretty disgusting things too. However I agree with Hitchcock-

"Always make the audience suffer as much as possible."

I think he also said he thought realism was boring. Some readers really go through hoops trying to figure out things, which of course are wrong--but that means they are interested--and that's what its all about.

 

When Francesco took over I wrote out an A-Z outline that laid out the past nearly 7 years of plots and sub-plots Wilson weaved on the strip. This way Ces would have an idea of where things are, are not and could be. It was sort of shocked myself at all of the things that had happened--or not. One of the things I really wanted to return to is the change of seasons in the strip, holidays, etc. Otherwise things just go on in a very weird "other world" where time does not ever really pass. This current story line with the factory and Rocky and Godiva will wrap I think by November and then we can reset for the future, maybe with the regular cast of characters, or maybe not, some things for sure will never be the same.Then Ces and I can start our run fresh from the previous story lines.

Here is the final inked strip--sans word balloons of course.

There is also an adjustment on my working with Ces' rhythm and flow as a writer and I know its hard trying to come in and tie up all the straggling plot lines. About you can see my rough layout for the coming Sunday and it was really packed too tight with copy so I sent my rough to Ces and he rewrote it to knock down the amount of copy. The Sunday strip is also very restrictive as far as format with the top two tiers fixed, only the bottom do I have freedom of panel size. I still had to drop the type a font size to make it all fit and not seem cramped.

Here is a whole week of the Phantom which was just run, sans balloons so you can see the art. I loved doing this week as I got to do some action. This story line has been great for e a honestly a break from the Judge as its adventure and I can stretch my legs. It is a lot of research on China and Tibet, old military uniforms, monks, Tibetan people, animals, temples, etc. Fantasy has to work by being based on enough reality so you can stretch it. I think some fans can be too literal minded and then anything like the Phantom falls apart right away. You want to suspend your beliefs without suspending all logic, but also you don't want to look behind the curtain.

In other news I will be a guest of honor at the Artisacon next month in New Jersey. Its a weekend show in Burlington Lyceum where many to pros and local artists like myself will conduct demos, do portfolios reviews and more. A great opportunity for those looking to get one-on-one tips from industry pros like myself. I'll have more of an update soon about my appearance.