a christmas treat: jim starlin and terry austin!

okay...

so my hope today was to have a few childhood christmas or hannukah pictures from all of you in our little perhapa-family and share some memories--but the only people who have sent in any photos so far are just alison, brian, and...me.
so i'll give it another couple of days and make a second plea--anybody got a great picture of themselves crying on santas lap? or still half-asleep and in their jammies on christmas morning? or enjoying a cool prresent out in the snow? send 'em in! come on--you know you want to...!

which leaves me a bit high and dry this morning--but wait...

i DID say the other day that we were gonna try to give you some cool perhapanauts news and treats this holiday season, didn't i...? well, some of that news could be that craig and i are already well into the next series and we've got some great friends/artists also working very hard on some back-up stories for the run so that every issue is jam-packed with perhapanaut-y goodness! matt wieringo, christian leaf, lauren monardo, matthew dow smith, are all hard at work and turning in some simply gorgeous pages! (thanks, guys! i can't wait to be able to show everyone else the wonderful work you're all doing...!)

i hate it when people name-drop--and yet i also know that i must sound like i'm doing it from time to time. i know! truth is, i am a comic book fan first and someone who actually gets to work in that field second. so when, in the course of my career, or at a show or convention, i get to meet a favorite artist or writer, i will very easily--and certainly very embarrassingly--slip into fanboy mode without ever looking back! i've made a total ass of myself in front of some of my absolute favorites--but i'm getting better. that i am friends now with some of them and get to hang out with them and exchange christmas cards is cool. and, in moments of clarity and retrospect, incredibly surreal.

i play volleyball with jim starlin every week. we've known each other for about 15 years and i consider him a friend. we exchange comic books and he's even been kind enough to put me in the loop of people that get a preview of his work as he goes along. i am thrilled to be there!
i try not to ask friends to do any artwork for us if we don't have any money. and we NEVER have any money. so when jim told me he'd be happy to do a perhapanauts cover for us if i could get terry (austin--also a good friend) to ink it, i almost fell over. feeling close enough to terry that i felt i could speak for him at that moment, i said he'd do it. (and he did too, later on...) and that was it.
well, not all of it.
jim said, "so what should it be? where will they be? what will they be doing?"
i said, "well, they're going to be down under--in australia."
he said, "got it." and was gone.
the few days later he sent me this...











terry took it and did this...







and then jim took it back and put some color to it and there's your flip cover for perhapanauts no.7--out sometime next spring...!


how's that for a holiday treat?

gotta go!
'tis the season!
smell ya later!
todd