Perhapablog

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

thor, metamorpho, and cap'n craig...

okay...

as we continue to mourn the loss of our book, the marvel super hero squad!, artist leonel castellani and i trade notes and emails with one another, keeping each other abreast of what we're up to and what we're working on. leo has been handling the art chores on disney's rescue rangers for boom! studios and has also been tapped to handle the covers on some of their other duck-themed disney titles! nice work if you can get it, but he misses the squaddies...we both do.
having a few days of downtime, however, leo was inspired by his love for thor--and the upcoming movie--to draw and paint this powerful portrait of the norse god of thunder!
and then share it with me.
and i, with you.



awesome, right...?


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and, also in the 'awesome art' department, i had this crazy thing happen...
so a couple of weeks ago, as i posted here on the blog, i did a store signing at my own local comic book shop (well...local is a relative term. but it's where i get my comics every couple a' weeks...) along with the rest of our regular lunch crowd--sinnott's seven--(although there are about 12 of us actually)! the gang consists of terry austin, dan green, fred hembeck, ron marz, joe sinnott, mark sinnott, walter and louise simonson, joe staton, matthew dow smith, jim starlin, and (the one person that i rarely get to chat with...) the incomparable ramona fradon!
for those of you new to this crazy comic book world, ramona is legendary for her work on titles like aquaman, metamorpho, superfriends and--my personal favorite--plastic man!
i finally got a chance to speak with ramona for a little bit at the store last week, and pick up one of the sketches that she did for the signing.
and then promptly brought it home and lost it...!
i had been so excited to share it, post it on the blog that following monday and then something came up and i needed to post something else and...put it down somewhere, couldn't find it. i turned the place upside-down looking for it, didn't, and just accepted that it would turn up at some point. (this is the mantra of the owner of every messy, cluttered office, studio, or opium den, "it'll turn up somewhere...")
it did. it all came back to me when i opened the scanner to scan a bob montana image from an old archie comic and there was my ramona metamorpho. (i had placed it on the scanner to scan, the phone rang, it was nick cardy, and when the conversation was over several hours later--that's how nick and me roll--i'd totally forgotten about it.)
so here it is. sorry for the long story.
beautiful, innit?





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and, as we have both been going through withdrawals while craig and his family are down at megacon and disneyworld, rich sent this over to me the other night to cheer me up!
it did.




have a great wednesday!
smell ya later!
todd

Monday, March 28, 2011

as promised...

okay...

about a month or so ago, i was contacted by dublin evans, creative director at MotionWorks Entertainment, and asked if i would be interested in creating a new--and hopefully, popular--new property for them that they would be able to debut their all-new, too-cool, cutting edge, ground-breaking, this is what motion comics SHOULD be, line of motion comics. in that most of the motion comics i'd seen in the past had been kinda...well, boring--clunky, choppy movement, random shifting backgrounds/midgrounds/foregrounds, movement just for the sake of movement-- i said, show me what ya got.
he did...and i was in.

i suggested a steampunk story that i'd had been toying with for the past year or so and dublin and his business partner, alexis, loved the idea, feeling that dc and marvel had pretty much cornered the market on superheroes, and eager to see something different. they promised that they would find for me a top name, an artist's artist who would be able to make this very new and very different art form POP!...my jaw hit the ground when they told me that they were bringing the legendary and oh-so talented bret blevins onboard.

the tale--the first, we hope, of many--is called KATIE GREAVEN and the ENGINE-MEN! it takes place in 1887 and follows the teenaged katie as she is first introduced to her father's secret cache of sensational and frightening inventions and then puts them to use in an adventure that will change her life--and history--forever! KATIE GREAVEN and the ENGINE-MEN will be out this summer and you can be sure that you'll hear all about it here!!



and so, as if that weren't cool enough, as dublin and alexis and i were talking and putting this project together, they told me how much they liked both TELLOS and The PERHAPANAUTS, the books that made them consider me in the first place, and that it was too bad that we couldn't do motion comics versions of those worlds as well. i asked why we couldn't. they asked if i owned them (well, i CO-own them...) and after a rather quick conversation with matt and craig, i managed to somehow triple my work all in one phone call! that's right, also to debut later this year, i will be doing both a TELLOS and a PERHAPANAUTS motion comic with MotionWorks Entertainment!! Exact dates on their releases will be forthcoming, but we're pretty sure that the Perhapanauts one will be a Halloween treat...Craig will be handling the art chores on that one, while the artist for the Tellos story has yet to be decided.

so there's your announcement. i hope you like it.


you can see more about MotionWorks--and read a short interview with me-- here

http://www.motionworkscomics.com/


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in keeping with my plan to re-visit some cool perhapa-pin-ups that we haven't seen in a while, here is the way-cool cover that ryan lord sent us a year or so back...



awesome job, ryan--and what a great atmosphere...!

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

and here are the
answers to your
"five for friday!"
i love it when one artist sings about another artist in their songs.
here are a couple of questions along those lines...


1. in the song sweet home alabama, what singer/songwriter does lynard skynard call out about talkin' trash about the south?

neil young (in southern man)

2. who was singing on the radio in bruce sprinsteen's thunder road?

roy orbison (singin' for the lonely...)

3. in the song true by spandau ballet, who were they listening to "all night long"...?

listenin' to marvin all night long...marvin gaye

4. along with the beatles and the stones, mott the hoople sang about what 60s/70s glam band in all the young dudes?

t-rex

5. in eddie money's take me home tonight, he sings "just like ronnie says..." ("sang") who's ronnie?

ronnie spector (of the ronettes--"be my baby")


have a great week--and a great monday!
smell ya later~!
todd

Friday, March 25, 2011

i got nothin'...

okay...

i apologize for not having had anything to post on wednesday; a combination of having a ton of work before me and not really anything to say. i thought about writing about the tv and movies i've been watching lately, but that seemed like it would just be a list and who really cares what i like anyway...? (although i saw and loved the adjustment bureau, rented jack-ass 3D [wish i had seen it in 3D], and, if you get a chance, hunt down the new BBC series, sherlock, that craig lent me on dvd and was just brilliant!!...)

i was gonna write up a little something about how hollywood should stop whining about low theater attendance and realize that the real reason that people aren't going to the movies is that other people are there. talking, testing, yelling at the screen. shut up. but i try not to post anything too negative here on the blog.

then i was thinking that i really oughta let you all know what i'm doing, what i'm/we're working on just in case you haven't listened to our pal, russ burlingame's podcast yet...but it turns out that that's gonna be the post for monday when i find out what i can and can't actually talk about...(i think i can talk about it all...tune in monday...)

so with nothing more than that, all i really have is this, a joke tyler told me the other day...



two drums and a cymbal fall off a cliff.

ba. dum. chh.


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

while rifling through the perhapanauts files for some reference the other day, i happened upon a folder called "perhapa-pin-ups" which features a lot of wonderful artwork by various artists from right here in our perhapa-family! most of them have only ever been posted once and i thought it would be fun to re-visit some of these awesome pieces!

here's one of my favorites from our pal gino patti!



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

and here are the
"five for friday!"
i love it when one artist sings about another artist in their songs.
here are a couple of questions along those lines...


1. in the song sweet home alabama, what singer/songwriter does lynard skynard call out about talkin' trash about the south?

2. who was singing on the radio in bruce sprinsteen's thunder road?

3. in the song true by spandau ballet, who were they listening to "all night long"...?

4. along with the beatles and the stones, mott the hoople sang about what 60s/70s glam band in all the young dudes?

5. in eddie money's take me home tonight, he sings "just like ronnie says..." ("sang") who's ronnie?


have a great weekend!
smell ya later~!
todd

Monday, March 21, 2011

funny monday...

okay...

so, the photos i posted last week of our recent trip to the emerald city comicon, gave rich (woodall) plenty of material to have some photoshop fun~! here is "our trip to seattle, featuring our pal, kelly yates!








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it always amazes me that frank miller cites this sunday calvin and hobbes as his inspiration for his art style on sin city...

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

and here are the
answers to your
"five for friday!"


1. beef-a-roni

2. roy hobbs

3. if totie fields married truman capote, she'd be totie capote.

4. barnacles

5.
a. a race car
b. a top hat
c. a wheelbarrow
d. a shoe
e. a dog (the monopoly terrier)

that's all for today!
happy monday!
smell ya later!
todd

Friday, March 18, 2011

FCCR no.5~! and a mish-mash of other things...

okay...

busy, busy week here at casa de hapanauts and it looks like that's the way it's gonna stay for the next couple of weeks.
which is good. busy is good. means things are getting done.
but it caused me to miss posting a post on wednesday and means that today might seem a little short too.
but good things are happening and i'll be able to tell you all about 'em over the next few weeks. BIG things.

one good big thing that i can tell you about is that the latest issue of my favorite all-ages comics review magazine is out and it looks like this...!





ellie and lily egleton have done it again with issue 5 of their quickly growing FIRST CLASS COMIC REVIEW, featuring an awesome cover by our pal, colleen coover!!
as you can see on the cover, there are articles on classic romance comics, interviews with colleen and sean mckeever, news on colleen's batman project and much more!
you can pick up a copy of FCCR no.5 on amazon or order from their website at www.firstclasscomicreview.moonfruit.com !

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

in other cool news, as of this past monday--march 14, 2011--our pal, joe staton (green lantern, e-man, and a ka-billion other things...) began doing the art chores on the daily DICK TRACY strip along with writer, mike curtis!! if you don't get the papers or your paper doesn't carry it, head on over to www.gocomics.com and check it out! and have it delivered to your email box every day!!
it's only been four days and it's already fantastic!

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and in the i can't wait for you to see this department...

perhapanauts pages by craig!
perhapanauts pages by rich (woodall)!
perhapanauts pages by eric henson!
perhapanauts pages by matt and christian!
perhapanauts pages by lauren monardo!

not to mention pages coming in for scott weinstein's upcoming "tales from the perhaps" webcomic by
rich, leanne hannah, jason copland, kelly yates, and craig!
things are startin' to happen!

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

check out the perhapanauts store where we now have the perhapa-hats available as well as the perhapanauts one-shot print from the emerald city comicon! as well as the tiki print redux that craig was so eager to redo! both prints are gorgeous and would be a fine addition to any classy den or study wall!



that;s it for me!
i gotta get to work!
have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

Monday, March 14, 2011

craig's sketches at the con~!

okay...

here are some more pics from our wonderful weekend in seattle!

craig did a bunch of awesome sketches at the show and i am always a fanboy over his shoulder!
forgive my shoddy camera work--even with a flash, i just couldn't seem to get out from under my own shadow!



the classic team-up of...joker and...power girl...?



a neat nightcrawler



a super-cute black cat with some awesome gray-tones!



batgirl



this stunning wonder woman!




and here are a couple random shots that i didn't get to post last week...



craig looking up from some important business during one of our two breakfasts at the "sweet waffle cafe". or...is that what is was called, craig?




a picture craig took of the space needle from a few blocks away...




...and i took a picture of craig taking a picture of the space needle from a few blocks away...






me and the cully.

that's it for today~!
smell ya later!
todd

Thursday, March 10, 2011

super signing at OCTOBER COUNTRY COMICS this weekend in New Paltz!!! See the Spectacular GUEST LIST~!!

EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA!

Super Signing at The OCTOBER COUNTRY COMICS in New Paltz, NY, this weekend~!
Great Comics! Great Bargains! Great Artists all Around!

Here's the Amazing List~!

TERRY AUSTIN: artist/inker: Sonic, X Factor Forever, X Men Forever, Green Lantern, X Men

TODD DEZAGO: writer: Perhapanauts, Tellos, Super Hero Squad, Sensational Spider-man

RAMONA FRADON: artist: Metamorpho, Aquaman, Brenda Starr, Brave & Bold

DAN GREEN:artisit/inker: Darth Vader and the Lost Command, Fables, X Men

FRED HEMBECK:writer/artist: Destroys the Marvel Universe, No Prize Book

RON MARZ:writer: Witchblade, Artifacts, Magdalena, Green Lantern, Silver Surfer

LOUISE SIMONSON:writer: Chaos War-Dead X Men, X Factor Forever, X Factor, Power Pack, Superman- Man of Steel

WALT SIMONSON:writer/artist: Thor, Manhunter, X Factor, Alien, Orion

JOE SINNOTT:artist/inker: Fantastic Four, Capt. America, Thor, Syndicated Spider-man strip

MATTHEW DOW SMITH:artist: Dr Who, Witchblade, Supernatural:Origins

JIM STARLIN:writer/artist: Breed, Kid Kosmos, Capt.Marvel, Rann-Thanagar:Holy War

JOE STATON:artist/inker: Green Lantern, Scooby Doo, Archie, Dick Tracy


How could you NOT come~?!?!

We'll be there from 1 to 4...will YOU?!



October Country Comics
246 main st # 5
new paltz ny 12561
845-255-1115

see ya there!
todd

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

superheroes at the emerqld city comicon~!

okay...

part 2 of our seattle/emerald city comicon coverage;

here, for your enjoyment, just some of the crazy and creative costumes from the show...



a truly impressive nightcrawler (i wish i'd've gotten a better picture--this was a nice make-up!)



there were several supergirls at the show, but this is the only one i got a picture of...



hit girl!!



i had a great chat with this stunning wonder woman...and i think we might have even made a new perhapa-fan along the way!



poison ivy and batgirl!



there were plenty of cats in the building; this alluring black cat...



and a sizzling catwoman...!



this great, very inspired, mother/son team of calvin and hobbes...



...and little brother, batman, who had a cool retractable cape that popped out when triggered!! it was truly awesome!!



a trio of x-men; rogue, wolverine, and mystique!



a very cute poison ivy!



the sensational scarlet spider!



gotta run~!
smell ya later~!
todd

Monday, March 07, 2011

perhapa-hat gallery continued...and some stuff from seattle

okay...

so here, finally, are our two wayward members of our perhapa-hat artists gallery, christian and uriel--christian's came in late 'cause after i asked him to send one he and i got talking and he forgot about it, and uriel's 'cause sometimes the mail just takes two months. thank, you guys. for the photos and the awesome classic comics covers!


christian in his secret sanctum



uriel via his studio webcam


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craig and i had a fantastic trip to seattle and this time i remembered to take copious pictures, many of which i will proceed to bore you with throughout the rest of the week...!
today's focus is just is thew 'getting there' stuff and the 'doing things' stuff and not so much about the show and the people there. this is the kinda 'behind the scenes' part of our trip and we had a blast...



on the lightrail--the shuttle taking us from the airport into seattle



in front of the statue of seattle--the native american chief that the city is named for











my dear friend, joanne, met us in town for lunch and showed us around the public market--she knew all the cool places, like...



craig and i standing before the "wall of gum"



that's right...a "wall of gum". little known tourist attraction. glad that it was winter.







got to hang out with jason copland. dinner and drinks on friday night...



...lots of drinks...



sunday morning, our ritual "brotherhood of mike breakfast"--me, karl (kesel), craig and cully (hamner)
"the restrooms" is the name of our new band.


craig and cully.


more on wednesday~!
smell ya later~!
todd

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Happy Birthday, Scott Weinstein~! and the perhapa-hat gallery~!

okay...

an early morning doctor's appointment threw me off my schedule yesterday and so it wasn't until about 10 last night that i realized i hadn't posted a note on the blog proclaiming yesterday as our own scott weinstein's birthday!! happy (day-late) birthday, scott and apologies for being off my game! everyone be sure to throw a big HB scott's way! he is 46 years old.
(sorry, dude...)

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so as i rush around and pack my clothes and ALL of the perhapa-shwag we're bringing to seattle, finish the plot for the still-secret project that i'm currently working on, clean out the wood stove and bring in firewood so sharon will be set for the long weekend, i once again extend the invitation to everyone in the (gorgeous) pacific northwest to come to seattle this weekend and hang out with us at the emerald city comicon! it's certain to be big fun and craig and i really hope to see you there~!

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

as promised several weeks ago, i did my best to round up some photos of our perhapanauts classic comic cover challenge artists sporting their awesome new perhapa-hats!
our only no-shows are uriel duran who is in mexico and says their post office is still inspecting the package (?) (sent more than a month ago--but uriel says that this is common. we'll get a picture when it finally arrives. sorry uriel!)
and christian who apparently hasn't figured out how to push the button and then race around to the front of the camera to get the picture taken. keep tryin', c-man! you'll get it!



warren newsom



rich woodall



tom stevens



jason copland



thanks, again, to everyone who participated in the challenge!
and for sending in the pictures!
and for wearing our goofy hats!




craig in the white



johnny rousseau sporting the awesome perhapanauts winter wool!

perhapa-hats will be available on the perhapanauts website, in our perhapa-store, later this month!

that's it then~!
i gotta go pack!
maybe craig and i will figure out how to post a picture or two
from his fancy-pants iphone on friday, but til then...
see ya in seattle!
and smell ya later~!
todd