Coming Soon!--Watch This Space!

okay...

we've got a lot of cool things going on these next few weeks as we (try to ) build excitement and anticipation for the loooooong-awaited (please tell me you're awaiting...?) fifth and final issue of PERHAPANAUTS: DANGER DOWN UNDER!
we'll be playing some trivia, giving away prizes...

...and showing you some glimpses of upcoming Perhapanauts Projects!

so keep checking back--we're sure you're gonna like what you see!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and speaking of liking what you see, might i direct your kind attention to the top of this very page where you will find the long lost "TALES" button--your doorway to our Tales from the Perhaps page, where we invite YOU to tell us YOUR wild and wooly Perhapanauts stories, stories that might transcend time and space, that hammer on the walls of reality, that bend our now quite familiar characters to the whims of your imaginations. These are our Perhapanauts What If? and Elseworld stories, placing our gang in new and unusual situations.


one of the talented artists/storytellers who took up our challenge is our pal, tattoo artist, STEVE GATROST. we've known steve from conventions for a few years now and were delighted when he sent us a beautiful pin-up of molly as way of introduction. (i am looking all over for the jpg of that pin-up and will be posting it later.)
the next comic show i saw steve at and got a chance to chat with him and get to know him, he showed me more of his stunning tattoo designs and told me of his desire to draw a perhapanauts story--he even had an idea for the story! i realized very quickly that he had the WHOLE story and then encouraged him to do it himself, that once it was done, we would be thrilled to debut it on the Tales page.
he got to work.

starting today, we will be posting two pages a day of steve's own 8 page story, "The Flower of Yugao"
steve did it all and it turned out beautifully.

i urge you right now to click the link above and check out steve's masterpiece!

go--you'll be glad you did!


smell ya later!
todd

More Perhapanauts...!

okay...

the other day we received a letter from a brand new perhapanauts fan (we like those...) telling us that, while she was thrilled to happen upon a copy of our Perhapanauts: Triangle trade on a recent excursion to her local comic book store, she was a bit confused by the numbering (and even moreso by my mentioning other nonexistent issues in the letters columns...). i take full responsibility and apologize for the mess, a result of our switching companies and format as the industry continues to morph around us.

so here, for the sake of clarity, i give you the (publishing) story so far...

(if ya wanna read them in order, that is...)

Perhapanauts: Dark Days (no.0) 

collects Perhapanauts: First Blood and Perhapanauts: Second Chances originally published by Dark Horse Comics

plus some extras

Perhapanauts: Triangle (no.1)

collects Perhapanauts Annual no.1 and issues 1-5 of Perhapanauts: Triangle now published by Image Comics

plus some extras

Perhapanauts: Treasure Obscura (no.2)

collects various Perhapanauts one-shots; Perhapanauts no.6, Perhapanauts Halloween Spooktacular no.1, Molly's Story no.1, and 

Saints and Sinners and We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program...from the webcomic series,  Tales from the Perhaps

And, currently, the five issue mini-series Perhapanauts: Danger Down Under! no.s 1-5, issue 5 on sale June 5th!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


now let's talk about me...

or rather, let's talk about what i'm reading...

or listening to.


so, i love to listen to books. i live in a fairly rural area and just running out to the store to pick up milk or bread or something takes a good 15-20 minutes each time (yes, i try to do my shopping all at once. i love listening to books, but i don't make extra trips for myself just so i can listen to more of a story. often.) i love to read as well but, in that i'm in the car so much, it's nice to make the most of that drive-time in an entertaining and inspirational way.

a year or so ago i raved about a book called ready player one by ernest cline. i still say that if you haven't read this gem your doing yourself a disservice. i read it first then listened to it a few months later. read by wil wheaton, it made it new and unique and i highly recommend it.

so, out to capture that same fun, fast-paced, sometimes humorous type of adventure, i let amazon suggest some similar titles and happened upon john scalzi's redshirts, also read by wil wheaton. again, lots of fun and whether you're a star trek fan or not, a solid story with lots of fun and lots of heart built right in. check it out.


which then led me to one of scalzi's other books (he is quite prolific) called fuzzy nation. having already read h. beam piper's fuzzy trilogy back in the early eighties (they were written in the early sixties), i was quite familiar with the concept of a race of cute, furry creatures discovered on a far-off planet that were fighting to be recognized as sentient. it had been some good, solid science fiction back then. i loved them. apparently, john loved these books too and went ahead and wrote a re-boot that i can't listen to fast enough! suspenseful and unpredictable, i'm all over this book! also, read by wil wheaton (and yes, maybe it's wil who makes these books come alive so well!) i say take any one of these great adventures as the soundtrack to your next great adventure, in the car, on the beach--fantastic summer reading...or listening!

what i'm actually reading...?

it's an eclectic bunch

double feature by owen king--haven't finished it yet, but really enjoying it. owen easily shucks the yoke of being steve's son and has a voice and a rhythm all his own. 

the hidden persuaders by vance packard--a book from 1957 written as a warning to the public regarding the use of psychology and manipulation into the world of advertising.

weird u.s. vol.2--the weird new jersey guys give us a second helping of strangeness across the lands. i love the weird books and saw this at b&n for $6 and couldn't resist.

mark (waid) and walter's (simonson's) hulk. along with mark's daredevil, the only comics i read these days...(mostly 'cause they stand alone and you don't hafta read five other comics to get the whole story...)

okay, that's it for me. whadda YOU reading?

we'll be ramping up for the arrival of PERHAPANAUTS: DANGER DOWN UNDER! no.5 over the next few weeks so don't miss out! there'll be trivia, prizes, and all kindsa fun! tell your friends!

smell ya later!
 todd

the state of the bedlam address

okay...

with twitter and facebook and whatever else is the social media du jour these days it has felt to me for quite a while now that blogs are deader than disco. never to pass this way again--so long blog, s'been good knowin' ya.
of course, i have stated many times that i believe in never say never; in my considerable years on this little blue ball i've seen stranger things and we all know that disco has made a very healthy comeback.

anyway...

i titled this little love letter the state of the bedlam address for a reason. mostly to bring you up to speed on the doings and goings on here at Perhapanauts Central.

we are now, finally, less than a month away from the long-awaited (hopefully not long-forgotten...) final issue of our australian adventure Perhapanauts: Danger Down Under! i have voiced my frustrations and disappointments at the circumstances that led to this delay before, so i won't bore you with any more of that. but know this--yeah, i'm disappointed by the delay...but overwhelmed at how truly AWESOME i feel this action-packed conclusion is!! the book looks damn good and i CAN'T WAIT for all of you to see it!
craig, eric henson, christian d. leaf, and mike thomas (in the role he was born to color!) did an INCREDIBLE job on making this issue sing and i can't thank each of them enough! wait'll ya see it--you'll know what i'm talkin' about...!

the book finally hits stand on june 5 featuring covers by craig, the incomparable Walter Simonson and the incontrovertible Michael Golden! and a stunning back cover by eric that you'll wanna blow up and hang on your walls!!  (wait'll ya see...   : )

other news on the perhapanauts front includes several Tales From The Perhaps stories in the works with artwork by the likes of Derrick Fish (check out his book, The Wellkeeper), Dave Tata, and Antonio Mastria all to be posted here and/or as extras in the Danger Down Under! trade, due this autumn!

the perhapanauts are going audio! craig and i have been talking with The Audio Comics Company about recording a Perhapanauts Radio Adventure! Audio Comics are some very (very!) talented people who have already produced some amazing audio programs--check out their Starstruck, Honey West, and Titanium Rain selections on iTunes or through Amazon! craig and i are a bit torn, not knowing if there'd be a market for audio 'haps, so if you think you'd be keen to hear the gang come to life, let us know...

of course, craig and i have lotsa other stuff in store--we're ALWAYS thinking of new perhapanauts stuff to waste our time on--and we'll keep ya up to the minute with it here.


so the state of the bedlam is...well enough. sorry for the hiatus between posts; just hadn't had very much to say.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and here with a video that induced a chill to run down my spine, rich woodall sent me this just a little while ago and i thought i'd share. though rich usually has his finger right on the pulse of all things weird, this video first made it's debut a couple of years back, but we didn't come across it 'til just now. either way, i dig it.
thanks, rich!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGABYPO1gTc&feature=share

and so that's it for now

take care!

smell ya later!

todd

AARRRGH~!

okay...

* sigh *

i have been so reluctant to post this post.

not for any reason except that i am just so frustrated.

sadly, due to circumstances WAAAAAAAY beyond our control, we learned last week that the final issue of our latest series, Danger Down Under! won't hit stands until...are you sitting down?...June 5th.

as much as we did early on to insure that this 5 issue series make all its deadlines and come out in monthly fashion, unfortunately, we are not always the masters of our fate. a slow-down along the production line due to power outages by superstorm sandy here on the east coast, made craig and i ask to bump our final issue from march to april just to make sure we wouldn't be late or rushing along any of the talented artists who were helping us tell our story. image agreed and issue 5 was taken off the march schedule.
unfortunately, getting it back on the schedule for april (...and, subsequently, may...) apparently wasn't that easy. we were finally able to get it in place for the june solicitations, so...here we are.

we hope that when it finally comes out you will have looked at the extra time as "suspense-building" and that you might consider it to be "long-awaited".

with stunning covers by WALTER SIMONSON, MICHAEL GOLDEN, and CRAIG ROUSSEAU--and gorgeous interior art by CRAIG and ERIC HENSON--i think that 5 is the best yet...



we think it's good. we hope you will too.


our apologies for any inconvenience or frustrations this delay might cause.
as they say, the best laid plans...

smell ya later~

todd

mondays

okay...

and here are the
answers to your
"Five for Friday!"

1. One of the snippets, spoken en Francais, translates, roughly, to "There's always money in the Banana Stand." This is a key phrase from which critically-acclaimed, Craig-adored, cancelled, then revived, then cancelled again, then revived again, Fox sitcom?

-- Arrested Development

2. "There are 178 parent languages on our planet with over 1000 dialects...It's amazing we communicate at all." is a line/lyric from what incredibly obscure MTV-era, 80s song by Ebn/Ozn?

-- AEIOUandsometimesY
(youtube it--it's...interesting...)

3. In one of Gef's comments, he is most definitely all wet. Which one?

-- "Polo!"  (Marco Polo is a game you play with your eyes closed in a pool)

4. Inside the book, Gef needs to be in possession of which character's Staff/Talisman to be able to control and amplify his bi-location abilities?

-- Cuttle, the Aboriginal Shaman who can communicate with the Earth--Mother Gaia--through the use of his Totem.

5. In one of these snippets, Gef reveals to us that he can appear in not only two places at the same time, and two times at the same time, but also has found himself enveloped in songs. What song would Gef be in if he were...

a. "...down at Dino's Bar and Grill, the drink will flow and blood will spill and if the Boys wanna fight, you'd better let 'em."?

-- "The Boys are Back in Town"--Thin Lizzy

b. ...watching Mary dance across the porch while Roy Orbison was singing on the radio...?

-- "Thunder Road"--Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

c.  "...Nibblin' on sponge cake, watchin' the sun bake all those tourists covered with oil"?

-- "Margaritaville"--Jimmy Buffett

d. ...working for a time at a five and dime, his Boss was Mr. McGee...?

-- "Raspberry Beret"--Prince  

e. ...lookin' back on when he was a little nappy-headed boy...?

-- "I Wish"--Stevie Wonder


more later this week...
smell ya later~!
todd

DDU! no.4 "Five for Friday!"

okay...

so, we got a lot of e-mails on this cover, but none that really addressed the things that gef was actually saying.
our "five for friday" takes a pass at the implications of many of those cryptic word balloons.

"Five for Friday!"

1. One of the snippets, spoken en Francais, translates, roughly, to "There's always money in the Banana Stand." This is a key phrase from which critically-acclaimed, Craig-adored, cancelled, then revived, then cancelled again, then revived again, Fox sitcom?

2. "There are 178 parent languages on our planet with over 1000 dialects...It's amazing we communicate at all." is a line/lyric from what incredibly obscure MTV-era, 80s song by Ebn/Ozn?

3. In one of Gef's comments, he is most definitely all wet. Which one?

4. Inside the book, Gef needs to be in possession of which character's Staff/Talisman to be able to control and amplify his bi-location abilities?

5. In one of these snippets, Gef reveals to us that he can appear in not only two places at the same time, and two times at the same time, but also has found himself enveloped in songs. What song would Gef be in if he were...

a. "...down at Dino's Bar and Grill, the drink will flow and blood will spill and if the Boys wanna fight, you'd better let 'em."?

b. ...watching Mary dance across the porch while Roy Orbison was singing on the radio...?

c.  "...Nibblin' on sponge cake, watchin' the sun bake all those tourists covered with oil"?

d. ...working for a time at a five and dime, his Boss was Mr. McGee...?

e. ...lookin' back on when he was a little nappy-headed boy...?


have a great weekend~!
smell ya later~!
todd

garth's shirts--ocelot T's~!

okay...

so, i'd like to take a minute out of our crazy perhapanauts: danger down under-mania hype and take things in a bit of a different direction this week...

way back when i was like 11 and 12, i had this best friend named garth.

we were for those few years, as best friends are, fairly inseparable. our moms were friends and spoke a lot about how similar we were; creative, artistic, musical--i've talked her before of garth's amazing talent as a classical guitarist--imaginative, and yeah, sensitive. we really clicked and would spend hours going on adventures, dreaming up stories, spying on people and narrowly avoiding all sorts of trouble. garth was also very generous with his comics and would lend me his justice leagues and brave and the bolds without stipulation, never realizing just how badly i was hooked.

life, as it will, took us in different directions, garth moved away when we were fourteen, i think. we only connected again about 5 years ago, and it was just like old times, remembering and reminiscing and reestablishing the old friendship, the unique bond.

always artistic, i've marveled at how garth has managed to keep that creative side busy, exercising his many talents, keeping them fresh. (sadly, i haven't drawn or painted in far too long and it's been years since i've picked up my guitar...)

so i wasn't surprised at all when garth told me, last fall, about his idea for ocelot t's.

hand-made, hand-printed (bock printed) t-shirts that he just does, all by himself, just to keep himself from getting bored. his beautiful designs just blew me away and i've already ordered a bunch for myself--and a few for family and friends. i love 'em and can't get enough of 'em!

sized for men and women, kids and toddlers, garth has made ocelot t's about as mix and match as you can get--you got a different combination of design and color? he'll custom that up for you too!

here are just a few of my favorites--you can see more at garth's website;

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ocelotprints

in my life, i've known lots of creative people, people with ideas and dreams of stuff they'd love to do if they had the time. i'm one of them. garth, however, is one of those guys who says, i'm gonna do this, and a month later, there you go. done.

i envy you that, buddy!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ocelotprints

be here friday for a long-awaited round of "five for friday" trivia!
have a great week!
smell ya later!
 todd