Evan Dorkin

Something I'm Working On

Fri, 25 May 2012 22:25:44 GMT

Milk and Cheese: Dairy Products Gone Out of Print!

Thu, 24 May 2012 18:14:54 GMT

Hey, folks, just wanted to let you know that if anyone out there was thinking about picking up a copy of the Milk and Cheese: Dairy Products Gone Bad collection, now might be the time to jump on it. At least if you want it soon, or care about first printings, because as of now the hardcover is unavailable through Diamond and is technically out of print.

There are obviously still copies sitting on comic shop shelves and the book is listed as being in stock at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Dark Horse sells the book digitally, for those folks who like magical ghost books, it's also available on the Nook (which I wasn't aware of until now). But they're gone as far as Direct Market re-orders go and Dark Horse is also out of stock. I know this because we picked up the remaining stock to bring to Heroes Con.

We'll have news on a reprint as soon as there's news on a reprint. My thanks to those out there who picked up the collection, we really appreciate the support.

The Return of the Living Eltingville Club in Dark Horse Presents #12

Wed, 23 May 2012 01:43:24 GMT

Dark Horse Presents #12 ships tomorrow (actually, I guess it already shipped, Diamond ships them thar funnybooks to retailers on Tuesdays now, don't they?). The House of Fun ends a three-issue run with a new Milk and Cheese one-pager and the return of The Eltingville Club in a 7-page story taking place at zombie crawl. I think this is the first Eltingville Club story in...gah...ten years. And the first extended story in color. Alert the neighbors!

There haven't been any preview pages of the DHP #12 H.O.F. material up on CBR or anywhere, I'm thinking it's most likely due to the foul language employed by the boys, so I thought I'd share the title page with folks, which is peachy-clean for everyone to enjoy. Unless some someone doesn't enjoy cartoon people in corpse paint lurching around with pig's intestines glued to their t-shirt.

DHP #12 will also feature the return of old-school indy comics icons Mr. X (by Dean Motter) and Nexus (Mike Baron and Steve Rude), along with more episodes of Finder (Carla Speed McNeil), The Black Beetle (Francesco Francavilla), Criminal Macabre (Steve Niles and Chris Mitten), The Creep (John Arcudi and Jonathon Case) as well as the debut of a new Aliens arc (with art by Sam Kieth (!)) and other stuff you might enjoy.

Here's a link to that CBR preview mentioned before.

If you're thinking of picking up DHP just for my stuff I appreciate it, but if you're cash-strapped please keep in mind there will eventually be a H.O.F. one-shot with the DHP material in it (similar to the upcoming Beasts of Burden one-shot). That being said, this looks like a really fun issue. 80 pages, color, no ads, $8 - a buck for every 10 pages of material, less than what folks ask for with a 20-page $4 comic.

End of spiel.

New spiel! We have some art up on eBay starting today, including two sketch cards (Milk and Cheese and the recently posted Abomination), a Mad illustration, two Nickelodeon Magazine gag panels, a piece from the second Dork collection, a T.A.N.C. piece from the first Hectic Planet collection and 24 pages of thumbnail layouts for The Thing mini-series I wrote (and did a lot of thumbnails for), Night Falls on Yancy Street. Also, we're offering up the last of the Murder Family Zippo lighter prototypes we had on hand.

Guess that's it. As always, thanks for your time and attention. I hope folks who check out the Eltingville story enjoy it. I think it's got some funny stuff in it and I actually had a lot of fun drawing it, despite deadline anxiety and not having time to actually script it. I haven't worked off notes and thumbnails in a looong time, improvising on the page and rewriting as the art progressed. That's how I used to work. Hopefully it worked.

Speaking of work, I gotta get back to work. Drawing some of my characters tonight for a cover. So far, so good.

Latersville, kids.

The Abomination

Sun, 20 May 2012 22:47:46 GMT

Here's an old Marvel Comics villain I have fond feelings for even though I've barely read any comics featuring the character or know much about him. Despite his looks, he wasn't designed by Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko, which would have been my first (and second) guess. Actually, The Abomination is a Silver Age bruiser first drawn by Gil Kane, a guy who could do most anything well and wasn't a bad designer by any means but isn't someone I think of as a chunky-clunky monster artist (although he was always good with snakes and serpents when he tackled the sword and sorcery/Barsoom/space adventure crap). I know Kane shares co-creator status on oddball C-Listers like Morbius, The Living Vampire (kinda surprised that weirdo hasn't had a major resurrection/movie deal/TV pilot on the name alone. Or has he? I honestly am not Mr. On-Top-Of-That-Stuff.), but besides a lot of Green Lantern stuff, I can't rack up too many trivia points for knowing his Marvel design work. Six-Armed Spider-Man? I guess that counts, if he did it. Whatever. I have a feeling I confuse a few 70's Romita designs with Kane designs. And vicey-versey.

Anyway, the Abomination, co-created by Stan "I Could Have Been Wealthy" Lee, was a Hulk villain, as I'm sure you kids know. Another Gamma-Gamma-Hey! goofball, green-skinned and rippling with the muscles. He was a slob named Emil Blonsky, I believe (I checked Wikipedia to doublecheck the Lee-Kane connection, but not the guy's traveling papers. If I'm wrong, deduct ten geek points from my score and e-mail Mark Waid to let him know I suck at comic books), and I think he was a Commie Spy, and then he got real gamma-gone and started fighting people for the next thirty years or however the hell long it's been.

Basically, the appeal of this guy was that he was a monster, strong enough to give the Hulk problems, and he had funny bumps and ridges on his head and those nutty ears. It's really not much of a design, it got refined, for good or bad, over the years (more bumps and ridges, I think he changed underpants a few times, green, blue, back to green, back to blue, darker blue, off-register blue...), but man, I dug those flappy ears of his. I used to constantly draw those ears on characters when I was a kid, I must have been obsessed with those ears the way I was obsessed with Sal Buscema mouths and Don Martin noses (some childhood, huh?). I'm sure I still toss those Abomination ears on background monsters without knowing it, maybe even on background people, milkmen, cabaret dancers, proofreaders. Those ears! (Also -- he's called THE ABOMINATION. No effing-around there, I mean, that's a villain name for you, huh? I bet DC wouldn't have called anybody The Abomination back then. No, sir, not the house of The Penguin and The Cheetah and Talk-Down-To-Children Man.)

I actually know the character best from appearances in the 70's Hulk comics, I'm betting Sal Buscema drew those comics (those screaming mouths! My unhappy childhood!), but the version of the character that stayed with me was actually from the covers. I don't know who drew them (I could look it up, I know, but I'm a very complex person with a liquid intellect that requires constant challenges in order to function), I do remember one had The Hulk and The Abomination doing something monster-related atop a rollercoaster. This was back when showing and using specific locations mattered a lot more in superhero comic books, although amusement parks usually didn't factor into things all that often (which is a bit of a shame, really). The plot of this two-part storyline involved the Abomination pretending to be The Hulk's friend or something fascinating like that, a very special ABC Afternoon Special kind of sad thing with pathos and shit, as well as extreme violence and monsters and rushed inking. And maybe a Marvel Value Stamp (oy, don't get me started). Don't know what happened past the rollercoaster. Maybe The Abomination took the Hulk to the amusement park and the relationship unraveled naturally or there was some gamma-infused funnel cake to blame or the Leader or Crackajack Jackson ruined things, I just know deep in my heart's mind they threw down, beat up, and moved on. I'm sure I can go buy this in a $100 hardcover or look it up online but, y'know. I'm complex and shit.

So, the Abomination. A favorite of my childhood, pretty much unearned, a character with presence and a bit of a push but with no real personality or excitement. A character I liked looking at, although seeing the Kane version while referencing the sketch card didn't knock me out at all. Just a bunch of lumps and bumps, not a very cohesive design, a bit like Ditko tracing Kirby on a weak lightbox with only moments to spare, gone over by Kane with a felt-tip while he was talking on the phone and eyeing some art sitting on a pile in the back of the mailroom ("My boy..."). I know from Previews and the statue shelf at my local shop that in recent years the Abomination's been souped up, enlarged and bad-assified to the Marvel Max and I'm sure used to great bloody effect. I understand the intent and all, but the results just look like Killer Croc's streroidal cousin, nothing really reads from the character other than size and badly-organized muscles and veins and teeth and the fact a lot of folks are still influenced by 90's Image books. He's edgier, obviously, and the kids dig him, or at least someone does, because, according to the All-Seeing Myopic Eye of Wikipedia: "In 2009, the Abomination was ranked as IGN's 54th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time".

Thank goodness we have folks with the spare time, grit and determination to help us out with those burning questions, I salute you, IGN, you whose initials must stand for something ridiculously brash and edgy and pathetic.

So says the guy drawing ol' #54 and writing paragraphs about his friggin' ears.

Odds and Ends for May 16th

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:17:02 GMT

The "Cartoonist Goes to Hell" comic I did for Dork #8 is available for a limited time as a t-shirt from Comic Strip Tees.

Here's a short interview with me about Dark Horse Presents, Beasts of Burden and the House of Fun material at ComicBook.Com.

Speaking of Dark Horse Presents, issue #12 ships on May 23rd, with a 1-page Milk and Cheese strip and a seven-page Eltingville Club full-color zombie crawl story. You can see a CBR preview of the issue here, but my stuff's not there. NSFW reasons, I think. A little too much cursity-curse-curse action. F-Bombs, S-Missiles, that sorta thing. But, hey,the return of Mister X, the return of Nexus, and the return of The Eltingville Club, as well as Finder and a lot of other stuff. Go look, why don't you?

And, speaking of Beasts of Burden, Jill Thompson and I apparently won an award in Norway for the translated version of the series being that's being serialized over there (under the title "Dog Guards").

All for now.

Yeah

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:08:25 GMT

We had a great time at the Asbury Park con. Sold a bunch of books, got rid of the last of our Milk and Cheese mugs, drew for kids, drew in people's books, all while they played old punk rock and new wave at Asbury Lanes. Would definitely go again.

Thanks to the folks who stopped by the table and kept me busy the entire day, thanks to the folks who picked up something, special thanks to Chris for the Mr. Blue statue.

Also thanks to Cliff Galbraith for the invite, and dinner afterward. Nice seeing him again, meeting his wife, talking comics, Jack Kirby, etc. Nice to see Jamal Igle, always great seeing Stephanie Buscema and Rob Harrigan. Emily chose to hang out with them all day and ignore her poor old dad. Sob. Anyway, nice time, easy drive, good business, good people. Good time.

Emily came down with a cold/fever afterward, unfortunately.

Then I got it. Getting a lot of reading done (Twin Spica vol 2-4, Saturn Apartments vol 4, some Spider pulp nonsense, the Roger Langridge collection from Boom, etc) and playing some video games on the couch with Em. She kicks my ass at Godzilla: Unleashed. We don't fight one another, we just destroy cities. Our monsters are friends.

Finished up a 3-page Mad illustration job last week, in case anyone's wondering what we've been up to recently. Starting a cover when I'm back up and running, and getting back to a script. And some other stuff. Hectic month.

Over and out.

Asbury Park Comic Con This May 12th

Tue, 08 May 2012 02:31:49 GMT

This Saturday Sarah and I will be appearing at the first-ever Asbury Park Comic Con in Asbury Park, NJ.

The show will be at Asbury Lanes, a place, like Asbury Park itself, I've heard a lot about but have never been to. Asbury Lanes is a bowling alley that has been turned into a rock club and bar (although apparently some bowling still goes on there). Which of course sounds about a hundred times better than most places I've gone to to hawk comic books.

Other guests at the show include Michael Kupperman, Jamal Igle, Stephanie Buscema and Danny Hellman.

We'll be signing and I'll probably be sketching, although most likely I'll be doing quick freebies and not commissions. We'll have copies of the Milk and Cheese book, the Beasts of Burden collection (not too many, though), a batch of Dark Horse Presents issues (I'll probably sell them at less than cover), copies of The Goon #35, The Guild one-shot we did the cover for, a few copies of the Hellboy/Beasts crossover signed by Jill Thompson and I and some other odds and ends. Probably some copies of Action Girl. I assume I'll have some art for sale. We're also thinking of bringing some old merch we've dug up depending on how much time we have to pack stuff up (crazy-serious deadline this week), might bring a few sets of Milk and Cheese beer mugs. Might not. Glass, and all. Maybe the bartender would fill 'em with beer if you buy them. I dunno. Probably not.

Anyway, sounds like a fun comic book thing. If it stinks you can get stinking drunk and give up on comics forever, which sounds like a decent idea sometimes, doesn't it?

More information on the show can be found here.

Perhaps we will see some you there.

Beasts of Burden: Neighborhood Watch

Fri, 04 May 2012 18:06:09 GMT

Dark Horse is going to collect the the Beasts of Burden stories that ran in Dark Horse Presents in a one-shot comic coming out this August. Beasts of Burden: Neighborhood Watch will contain three 8-page comics, "Food Run", "Story Time" and "The View From the Hill".

Here's the new cover by co-creator Jill Thompson, which I think looks terrific:

The Geeks of Doom site has a write-up on the one-shot here.

Hopefully we'll have some news about some new stories before too long. I'd love to get to the second book collection as soon as possible. In the meantime, if you haven't read these stories yet, here's another chance to catch up.

Free Comic Book Day at Comic Book Jones

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:12:36 GMT

This Saturday, May 5th is Free Comic Book Day, for which many comic shops will be holding tie-in events including creator appearances and sales.

I'll be signing and sketching at Comic Book Jones in Staten Island, NY, along with other folks. I should be showing up around noon or so and I'll be there for at least four or five hours (I almost always end up staying longer than I expect). I'll be signing copies of Oni's Yo Gabba Gabba (free) FCBD comic, which is (free) supposed to have a Super Martian Robot Girl comic Sarah and I did (taken from the Oni YGG! anthology that came out last year). For anyone looking to spend a few bucks, there's the Milk and Cheese book, Beasts of Burden, the recent Dark Horse Presents issues I've contributed to, and probably some other stuff I've worked on that I'd be happy to sign and doodle in. Or on.

You can find a store participating in Free Comic Book Day here.

You can see all the comics that are available here (not all FCBD comics will be available at all stores, obviously).

You can find out about creator signings scheduled for the day here.

Have a fun FCBD, and I hope to see some of you down at Comic Book Jones this Saturday. It's a kid-friendly store, they're good folks, and they give a lot of books away at these events. Should be fun.

Milk & Cheese: City Shakers Colorized

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 22:03:13 GMT

Milk & Cheese: City Shakers

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 20:11:11 GMT

11" by 17" private commission, pen and ink, brush marker, rapidograph, caffeine. Soon to be colored.

Comic Strip Tees Website

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:36:38 GMT

A new site launched today called Comic Strip Tees -- as you might have guessed, they sell comics-oriented t-shirts.

They'll be offering t-shirt designs by various cartoonists, some of the designs are new, some will be based on existing material. The site also has comics and will have interviews and other business. The first designs are up and are by Roger Langridge, Mike Allred and Simon Fraser. Designs apparently will go out of print after a short time and will be replaced by others, new comics will continue to be posted every day (good luck with that, whew).

They'll be offering a t-shirt based on the "Cartoonist Goes to Hell" strip I did for the back page of Dork #8. I'll let folks know when the shirt's available and when/if we do any other designs.

Bill and Ted and Milk and Cheese Now in Color

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 21:03:24 GMT

Bill and Ted and Milk and Cheese

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 00:25:35 GMT

Private commission, 11" by 17", pen and ink, copic brush pen, rapidograph. To be colored asap. Oy.

Dark Horse Presents #11: House of Fun out today

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:24:42 GMT

Dark Horse Presents #11 is out today, with comics by Steve Niles, Carla Speed McNeil, Francesco Francavilla, John Arcudi and other creators.

Our House of Fun segment for this issue consists of 6 pages of Fun Strips and two single-page Milk and Cheese comics. Returning features from ye olden days in the Fun section are Myron the Living Voodoo Doll (only one, and purely out of nostalgia, I admit), The Man Upstairs, The Shitty Witch and the Crappy Cat and the Broken Robot (seen previously here on the LJ). Plus you get stupid jokes about Dr. Who, Batman, Ultraman, dying kids, bad parents, undersexed sex workers, comic book fans and crap like that. My "earlier, funnier" type stuff. Couldn't get Phil the Disco Skinhead in the mix, I think his day is done. Which is perhaps a good thing.

Here's the DHP info from the DHC website. Buy a copy today, or read my stuff in the store and see if you like it. Just remember, comics shops ain't libraries, kids (insert joke here).

Next up: Dark Horse Presents #12, with a one-page Milk and Cheese comic and a seven-page Eltingville zombie crawl. You've been warned.

April eBay Auctions Are Go

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:58:12 GMT

Hey, folks, once again, the House of Fun has put together another batch of auctions of art and stuff. The art this time around includes several sketch cards (Milk and Cheese, The Mole Man and Harmony from Hectic Planet), a one-page story from Pirate Corp$!/Hectic Planet #4, roughs/layouts for the Spy vs Spy Mad pin-up, a Mad illustration (and rough) of chocolate-based advertising characters, and a few re-listed items nobody bit at last time around.

The "stuff" includes a Milk and Cheese zippo, a Murder Family zippo (we're just about out of our extras as far as lighters go, I think we have one Murder Family prototype we're going to sell and the rest we want to/hope to keep), and a bevy of comics and cartoon 12" dolls, mostly DC stuff, as well as a Mattel Jessica Rabbit doll I bought Sarah many moons ago. From our Geek Bio-Dome to yours, perhaps.

Anyway, the auctions can be found here. As always with these things, thanks for looking, thanks for any bids you might toss our way. Always appreciated.

Inkstuds Interview

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:06:47 GMT

Robin McConnell interviewed me for the latest audio episode of Inkstuds, which you can listen to here.

I have to warn you, even if you happen to like listening to me for extended periods of time (bless you, and please, seek medical help now), this sucker clocks in at slightly over 2 hours. I thought Robin was going to edit the interview down, but apparently he put the whole fershlugginer blatherfest up for you to listen to while inking/losing your will to live.

Anyway, nobody's forcing you. If you do want to listen to it, I suggest you break it up into chunks to prevent damage to your nervous system/falling asleep at the drafting table.

Vaya con dios, amigos.

Batmilk and Cheesewing Commission Colored

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 19:36:49 GMT

I wouldn't want to have to explain this image to someone who doesn't know comics fairly well.

Failures in Freelancing: Dead Duck Story

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:44:23 GMT

A while back Sarah and I were approached to write a Donald Duck story for Boom!. The page rate wasn't anything to brag about, but we had room in the schedule, I like Donald Duck and working on different characters can be fun (I'd written The Goon and Hellboy at that point and was going for a comic book icon trifecta). Perhaps more importantly, my daughter Emily was a fan (her pull list at the comic shop consisted of exactly one book, Boom!'s Uncle Scrooge) so we figured we'd take a shot at it and see what happened.

At the time Emily was reading a Cryptozoology book for younger readers and we built a pitch up around a Bigfoot scenario for her. We sent the pitch in, which was given the okay. We were asked to write an outline for four ten-page installments, which we wrote and sent in. We were told the pitch had to be approved by someone at the Disney organization, which is usually par for the course on licensed stuff. Time passed, and we didn't hear from the editor. We assumed the delay was with the Disney desks and we'd get some sort of word eventually. In the meantime we had other things to work on. More time passed, and then Disney bought Marvel and Boom! lost the license to the ducks et al, and the project was dead. Which happens. We never heard from the editor, not even to offer up some version of, "Well, that wasn't expected, sorry about that, thanks, take care."

The editor's no longer at the company. Someone at Boom! eventually got in touch with me to discuss another licensed project and was very nice and offered us some free books as a token of apology about the duck situation. They never sent them, which was kind of hilarious. It happens, I'm certainly not Mr. Perfect (Curt Hennig, RIP). I try to follow up on stuff but am currently late on commissions, I haven't finished two drawings I promised people years ago and I owe someone a pitch (to be honest, I don't think they actually want it). Everyone drops the ball sometimes. And sometimes the ball gets dropped, booted away and lost. Wee-ha.

In the meantime, it does us no good sitting in our files, so here for your potential interest is the outline to our dead duck story:

DONALD DUCK: THE GREAT BIGFOOT HUNT

Plot outline for four 10-pg story chapters

Part 1

DONALD DUCK and his nephews, HUEY, DEWEY and LOUIE, are camping out in the woods in the town of Bigfoot Falls, where a fishing contest is taking place, first prize, $5,000. After a day of not catching anything, a frustrated Donald and the three Junior Woodchucks enter town to replace a fishing pole Donald broke in a fit. They are surprised to find the town in a tizzy, people rushing towards the town square. A local explains that a Bigfoot has been sighted in the woods, and the mayor was going to address the citizenry.

In the town square, THE MAYOR presents an EYEWITNESS who saw the creature, the first Bigfoot sighting in the area in decades (Donald is surprised to find out that Bigfoot Falls was named after the creature, he just assumed the people there had fat feet and were clumsy). The eyewitness tells the crowd that he saw footprints, found fur on twigs, and then heard a roar before briefly seeing a large, hairy creature. He presents evidence to the spellbound crowd, tufts of fur, pictures of the footprints, and a blurry picture of...something. The nephews think it's probably just a bear (according to the Junior Woodchuck Field Guide on wildlife spotting), but no one pays them any mind when the mayor offers a reward of ten million dollars for anyone who captures the beast, dead or alive.

Suddenly the crowd parts to reveal FRANK DUCK, big-game hunter and star of his own reality series, BRING 'EM BACK DEAD OR ALIVE!. He was in town to win the fishing contest for the tenth time, but now vows to catch the critter in the woods, dead or alive, and claim the reward. He and Donald have words, and each vows to be the winner as Bigfoot mania hits the town.

Donald maxes out his credit card outfitting his group, buying up expensive gadgets, tools and supplies at the local hardware/sporting goods store...which happens to be owned by the Mayor. The nephews urge caution, but Donald is betting a few thousand dollars against ten million and won't be dissuaded.

Back in his office, the mayor and the eyewitness share a laugh and a toast as they celebrate. By the mayor's desk are a pair of fake Bigfoot feet, bags of hair, and a furry suit. The Bigfoot hoax they've concocted will make them tons of dough and put Bigfoot Falls back on the map. They joke about raising the reward to a hundred million dollars, as there's no way they'll be paying anything out, “Because there ain't no such thing as a Bigfoot!”.

As they celebrate, Donald and the nephews trundle through the wilderness, overburdened with equipment and oblivious to the wild goose chase – part of a small army all caught up in the Great Bigfoot Hunt.

Part 2

Despite his nephews suggestions (taken from the Junior Woodchuck Guide), and the sarcastic advice from Frank Duck, Donald stubbornly tries to use the fancy and largely useless gadgets he bought, convinced that their price tags means they must be better than old campfire guff. But these attempts only lead to injury, frustration and broken gadgets, as well as the razzing of other hunters crisscrossing the woods.

We check in on the Mayor pushing the Bigfoot hoax on the assembled media, his crony selling Bigfoot merchandise to the crowds as he spreads his version of events.

Later that evening, the ducks set up their tent. Donald dreams of what he'll do with the ten million dollars. We see that the woods are filled with tents, everyone inside them dreaming of ten million dollars.

The next day, Donald tracks down what he thinks is a Bigfoot lair but it turns out to be a bear's cave. The angry bear chases the ducks, causing them to lose all of their expensive equipment. They escape the bear after falling into a stretch of mud and rolling down a hill through brambles and leaves. Covered in the leaves and dirt, they look like four brown, hairy heaps, and are mistaken for Bigfoot and “three Littlefoots” by overzealous hunters led by Frank Duck and his entourage. They chase the “Bigfoot” ducks, vowing to take them “Dead or Alive” for ten million bucks!

Part 3

Running from Frank Duck and the hunters, the ducks jump in a river to wash off the mud and prove they are not Bigfoot and three Littlefoots. Donald and Frank Duck trade insults until the nephews realize the river rapids are taking them towards Bigfoot Falls.

The ducks go over the falls – but instead of falling on rocks, they fall on something soft at the bottom – a real Bigfoot and his three sons bathing in the waterfall. The creatures are on a fishing vacation of their own, a regular family tradition going back generations (which explains the original Bigfoot sightings in the area over the years). They use a campsite in a cave hidden behind the waterfall, and are friendly towards Donald and the nephews.

Meanwhile, the Mayor and his partner are in the woods creating more false evidence to keep the Bigfoot hysteria going, stamping fake oversized footprints and tossing fake fur from a big sack onto bushes and low-slung tree limbs. They make some growling noises to rouse the tired hunters in the area – inadvertently sending them towards the real Bigfoot family and the ducks!

Part 4

The hunters and media folks are converging towards the area where the hidden cave is. Worried that Frank Duck might find them, the ducks have to help their new friends escape.

For a moment Donald contemplates calling to the hunters so he can show up Frank Duck and claim the millions. But the nephews – recognizing Donald's evil smile -- dissuade him, reminding him of how awful it felt to be chased by the hunters.

They leave the cave to try to evade the hunters and get the Bigfoot family to their vehicle. Moving through the woods, leading the way in case they're spotted, the ducks come upon the Mayor and his cohort. The nephews sneak around to see their Bigfoot hoaxing supplies, and the scam is revealed.

Before the villains can harm our heroes, Bigfoot emerges from the woods and shoves fish into their mouths before they can yell for help. Donald and the nephews come up with a plan to shake the hunters off the trail of Bigfoot and family – covering them with mud and the fake fur, then sending them running in a panic from Bigfoot's terrifying, tooth-revealing roar.

While the now-crazed hunters chase the Mayor and his helper, the real Bigfoot and company reach their vehicle – which turns out to be a small spaceship! The family is from another planet, where the fishing is lousy. As they say their goodbyes, Bigfoot gives Donald and the boys a huge fish as thanks for their help.

Later, back in town, there are two big media stories unfolding: Donald Duck has won the fishing contest with a monster-sized fish (and the prize money is just enough to cover all the equipment he bought). And Frank Duck has captured the two villains who masterminded the Great Bigfoot Hoax (although the Mayor and his pal now swear there was a Bigfoot in the woods for real). No one wants to hear talk of such nonsense, and when a local runs into town to tell everyone that he saw a spaceship flying over Bigfoot Falls, he's dumped into a fish barrel. Only Donald and the nephews know what really happened, and they're not talking.

THE END.

Batmilk and Cheesewing Commission

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:41:17 GMT

I'm finishing up a final group of commissions that I had hoped to get done last year, and this is is the first of that set, an 11" by 17" mash-up of Milk and Cheese and some of the DC Batman cast of characters. Holy moley, did this thing cramp my hand, mostly because of the logos and the broccoli "hair". That's what I get for tossing logos in. I initially wanted to design an Artichoke-styled Joker because it made for a much cleaner, er, joke ("The Artichoker") but it looked awful. So I went for the broccoli design and threw in some artichoke henchmen as an extra and added some other stuff and kind of overdid it. I tend to toss extra business into commissions, especially if they're late.

Anyway, I have to go color this fella (slowwwly) and then start a Bill and Ted and Milk and Cheese piece (which will have Death tossed in as a "mea culpa" for the lateness), a big M&C piece and two barter pieces I've owed folks for ages and feel terribly about. Hoping to catch-up by next week so I can get back to a script and a cover and maybe some new commissions in the near-future. Only no more big crazy ones for a while. Little ones. With no logos.

Harmony

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:58:53 GMT

Sketch card.

The Mole Man

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:37:03 GMT

Pity the poor Mole Man. This hapless little schmuck and perennial punching bag/punchline of the Marvel Universe holds a special place in comics history as the first villain the debuting Fantastic Four went up against. His origin, as best as I can remember it (half the fun of these posts is going off fan memory and possibly being completely wrong) was that he was a lonely, bitter outcast of society, abused, taunted and ignored by men and women because of his height (or lack thereof), big nose, horrible teeth, terrible hair, baggy clothes, ugly Marvel-era color scheme, etc. He also seemed really whiny and probably gave off serious loser-alert pheromones. Anyway, Mr. Schmuck Of The World ends up wandering underground somehow, I forget how, it doesn't matter. No, it doesn't. What matters is that he found himself the king of some Tales To Astonish/Journey Into Mystery-type giant subterranean monsters and a wielder of destructive power via advanced machinery. He also was decked out in the same shlubby clothes albeit with a newly-added funny cape and some badly-designed 3D glasses. I guess giant subterranean monsters aren't great clothes designers and valets. Moving along, the newly-christened Mole Man (nice self-loathing there, dude) has bad eyes from being blinded or being underground or something but he has heightened senses for no real reason I can see a slob like him developing other than being in a comic book. His big power is apparently that he can hit people with a stick really good because of his "mole"-like senses. Okay, whatever.

The F.F. encounters him after some monster sightings or something and then I think Susan Storm shrieks and then our heroes are captured and then the Mole Man bores them half-to-death telling them about his origin ("I fell down a hole") and his life problems ("I'm a loser") and looking like Henry Kissinger with badly-designed 3D glasses. The Mole Man hits them with a stick a bunch of times and gives them some trouble, I guess. Sticks hurt, sure. The heroes could throw rocks at him, I guess, from a bit of a distance, but they don't think of that because they're confused about how a putz falls down a hole and then trains as a martial arts monk with a stick. The whole thing ends with an explosion.

For the next five decades the same sort of thing keeps happening again and again with this guy. The Mole Man gets pissy about his shabby treatment at the hands of prettily-inked females and causes some shit and orders some monsters or funny little subterranean people he's enslaved into attacking superjocks like Thor and The Hulk who hand them their collective asses pretty easily. He never gets his shit together or even combs his hair or gets some work done on his teeth. I think he gets into fights with this alpha-male subterranean guy whose name I forget, another villain who does dumb crap below the streets of various Marvel cities. Tyrannus -- is that his name? He's like if Hercules was The Mole Man and is totally boring. He's not even good with a stick. I won't be drawing Tyrannus anytime soon.

Anyway, there you go. The Mole Man, created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee in Fantastic Four #1. The loser gone bad, the outcast who picks up a stick instead of an olive branch. With great power comes great self-pity and dickishness. If I had giant monsters as pals I'd maybe pep up a bit. Who knows.

What, Me Worry? - 60 Years of Mad at The Cartoon Art Museum

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:39:57 GMT

The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco will be presenting a retrospective of artwork from Mad's 60 years of existence, featuring original art from both the comic and magazine eras. The exhibit kicks off on April 21st and runs until September 16th. Cartoonists featured in the exhibit include Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Wally Wood, Don Martin, Jack Davis, Sergio Aragones, Mort Drucker, Al Jaffee, George Woodbridge, John Severin, Dave Berg, Antonio Prohias and Sam Viviano as well as illustrations and comics by more recent contributors like Peter Kuper and Keith Knight. They'll also have covers by Frank Freas and Norman Mingo. Holy crap.

This sounds like a terrific exhibit, I hope folks in the area will check it out. I'm supposed to have a piece in there (I sent it off yesterday) but in all honesty I'm happy the museum's in SF and I won't be able to see how my work appears next to the greats. I wish I had a comic page to send instead of an illustration but the only sequential work I ever did for them was drawn as separate panels and sections. I sent a two-page spread of a crowd in a McDonald's restaurant but I doubt it will read well on the wall. It's not keeping me up at night but it does make my stomach hurt. Anyway, if it gets in it'll be nice to be in the show and like I said, I don't have to see it. But I would like to see the rest of the work. Elder...Kurtzman...Wood...the Usual Gang of Idiots. Amazing.

More information can be found here.

Japanese Eltingville "Manga"

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:23:45 GMT

This little comic ran in the Japanese magazine Newtype in 2004. I assume it's about the Adult Swim Welcome to Eltingville pilot which I know aired in Japan. I can only hope it's a positive write-up.

I love this, by the way. Seeing your characters manga-fied in an actual Japanese publication is pretty geeky-keen.

Upcoming Appearances

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 23:44:57 GMT

Sarah and I will be appearing at the Asbury Park Comic Con, which will be held at the Asbury Lanes bowling alley/bar/concert venue in New Jersey on May 12th. Other creators who are scheduled to appear include Michael Kupperman, Jamal Igle and Danny Hellman. They have a very nice website, which you can check out here, for more information.

We will also be setting up once again at Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina, June 22-24. This year's guests include Jaime Hernandez, Sergio Aragones, Mike Mignola, Dave Cooper and my partner on Beasts of Burden, the great Jill Thompson. They have a huge guest list which will continue to grow from now until the day of the event. The House of Fun will be part of the Indie Island area, the hip, happy, happening place for well-regarded cartoonists who unfortunately don't sell too many books. Ha ha, I kid because it's really...kind of...true. Anyway, if you haven't been yet, you should try to make it to your first Heroes Con. Heroes is a great, well-run, friendly, comics-only show and we're really looking forward to it, honest and for true.

Other than (possibly) signing at the DHC booth at NYCC this is probably all of our convention appearances for the year. We've actually been invited to several other shows for the first time in ages, and while we appreciate being asked, our schedule and circumstances just wouldn't let us do much traveling this year. Maybe that will change in the near future.

In the meantime, hope to see some of you folks later this year.