Comics & Graphic Novels

“Shackles” – an anthology preview

The following is a rough layout for a story in my upcoming comic anthology. The story is called “Shackles” and it is set in London circa 1778. The art is incomplete, obviously, but gives you a sense for what we’re doing. Click here for a version large enough to read. We took an interesting approach on this one. I penned a conversation and provided the text to independent comic creator and musician Stanley Lieber, creator of Massive Fictions, among others. (Some of you might recall that I remixed some of his music.) No stage direction, no art direction, just some text based on a talk he and I had about the situation and themes we’d be dealing with. Stanley then took that conversation and gave…
Read more

Go see this guy’s art

In addition to being a zany, funny guy with a great sense of humor, Ian Sokoliwski is also a very good artist and colorist. Go see his blog. Dude has a great sense for the page. Having watched him draw for three years now, it’s amazing to see the great strides his artwork has taken. He gets better every day. Check ‘im out. While you’re at it, check out my interview with Ian. You’ll learn something about how comics are made, guaranteed.

Character sketches from upcoming comic anthology

Last time I showed you some pencils from a story slated for my upcoming comic anthology. This time, some character sketches. These are concept sketches for a story co-created with Robert Clayton Cooke called “The Slugs Are All Right”. It’s a story about … well, I think the sketches give you an idea of where we’re going with this: This one is sure to be good, bizarre fun. Plans are for the anthology — a dozen stories in all by a dozen different artists, all written by yours truly — to be available for purchase this summer.

I said work in progress …

In my last anthology post I mentioned that the art you were seeing is a work in progress. But hey, no need to take my word for it. Here’s what arrived in my inbox just 24 hours after posted those past sample pages: The grayscale looks great, doesn’t it? Brings a nice sense of depth to the page. This anthology, featuring 12 stories I’ve written by 12 different artists, will be available this summer.