Catching Up With The HOF
Here's what we've been up to, for those of you who are keeping score:

The script for Beasts of Burden #4 has been up-ended a bit and will be patched up and polished off sometime this week I hope, maybe this weekend. It's almost there, I just got mad at it and it also took a hit when I got the flu last week. Jill Thompson has begun painting #3, I have to beat her to #4 or I'll be a laughingstock. Again. Heading into the home stretch on this, I guess. Weird. 

Sarah and I turned in our pass on a season three Yo Gabba Gabba! script last week, which we are co-writing with series co-creator Christian Jacobs. It looks like it's pretty solid, it'll likely need some cuts, but so far so good. We wrote a bunch of songs, which is always a weird task. We're going to have to join ASCAP once our season two episodes run. If they ever run, it seems like it's been forever since we finished those up. Anyway, as I type, Sarah is working on another script for YGG season three, an episode which, I believe, we are writing ourselves.

I'm working on a small illustration for the Fundalini section of Mad #501. Baseball theme. I also have a pitch bouncing around there in editorial for an article. The initial concept was revamped, I may still have a shot at something. No time to work on it at the moment, so, who knows.

My last few gag panels for Nick Magazine will apparently be running in the coming rundown to oblivion. Poor Nick magazine. A shame.

Wrote a one-page strip for Stephen DeStefano to draw for a very cool DC project. Unfortunately, it's a file story, so, it will likely not see the light of day, at least not in the intended format. Still, nothing gets wasted these days, it seems, if it gets drawn, they eventually print it, lips, tails, snouts, and all. Cool character, great artist, supposedly decent script, I hope folks get to see it someday.

My script for next year's Simpsons Treehouse of Terror special is awaiting revision notes from  Bongo. Once those are in I can start drawing the 15-pager. I'll also be lettering it, and Sarah will be doing the colors. 

Actually, I probably won't start on the Simpsons art until I write a one-shot secret comic, which I hope to get done sometime in July. I will not be drawing this, but the person who will be drawing it draws better than me, and folks like him quite a bit, so, there's that.

I don't know if the new version of I Love You, Beth Cooper has come out yet or not. The one I drew 16 pages of comics for. The one that ties in to the movie coming out next month. A movie I have no intention of seeing since I made the mistake of seeing the trailer. Yeesh.

We'll be setting up at the Baltimore Con in October, bunking somewhere near the Dark Horse booth, or so we've been told. We figured it would be a good idea to do a larger  this fall to promote Beasts of Burden, the first issue of which will be out in mid-September. I was invited to do Baltimore when it started up, and we haven't been able to try the show because of our schedule. Anyway, this year we're giving it a whirl. We know a bunch of folks who are attending, looks like fun.

Speaking of Beasts, from what I understand, the next Diamond Previews catalog ships next week. Beasts of Burden will be featured on the back cover of the catalog, featuring the cover of issue #1 as painted by Jill Thompson, and a little blurb by one Mike Mignola. I would have pretty much bet the farm (if I had one) that you'd never see a project I was involved with get the cover slot of the Previews, so, this is a kick. Now some retailers will have to work even harder to be able to say they've never heard of the book. They'll figure out a way, I'm sure.

Anyway, Beasts gets solicited next week. I'm sort of a nervous wreck, isn't that pathetic? I want the book to perform well. It's a good book, Jill's doing amazing work, and it's getting a push. DHC is paying us to do this project, it has to do well enough for us to be able to continue working on it, something I really want to do. I love working with these characters and want to see this series through to the end. I am not someone who has enjoyed much support in the Direct Market for my genre stuff. So, we'll see what happens. Fingers crossed.

I think that's everything at the moment.

Latersville.