eric henson--a burst of energy when we needed it most!

okay...

MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS, PERHAPA-GANG and HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!
the holidays had me jumping this year...

as i promised--TWO WEEKS AGO--i want to take a moment to shine our perhapanauts spotlight on yet another talented artist who has lent us so much of his time and talent and has continued to astound craig and i at every turn, not only with his fantastic artwork, but with his incredible work ethic and productivity.
"blame it on the air force.", eric might tell you, as he is a staff sergeant in the very same and credits his military conditioning with how he's able to fit so many projects into so little time.
as well as staff sergeant, eric is also a married man with two small children, a very active member in his church, and--oh, yeah--an up and coming artist currently cranking out pages for our little book at a pretty impressive rate!

i had first seen eric's stuff with the two page 'the-haps-battle-a-future-techno-cyber-frankenstien' sampler that eric had been including in his portfolio and that someone--i think craig--forwarded to me a year or so ago. i loved it and emailed eric to tell him so and the next thing we knew, we were working on a back-up story together.

as you all know, eric's first haps work appears in issue 2 of the still on sale Danger Down Under! no.2, with the peruvian-set back-up story, Molly's Mission. originally intended to be an 8-page, done-in-one story, eric began producing pages so fast that i could hardly keep up with him. i was high on the process of creating and knew that i had to keep this powerhouse going. the one parter quickly turned into a two parter and there was just no stopping this guy...!

here are a couple of the penciled pages from Molly's Mission part one and a small taste of what's in store in the pages of part two~!

obviously, with this kind of output and enthusiasm, craig and i immediately chained eric to his drawing board and have kept him working non-stop. we feed him now and then. he's okay.

to tell of what more we have in store for eric would be tipping our hand too much. suffice it to say that you'll be seeing a lot more of eric henson in the pages of the perhapanauts. and in his own creator-owned series, Eden, out sometime next year! (i've already seen a buncha pages from that and, let me assure you, you're gonna be blown away!!)

so thanks, eric, for being such big part of the perhapanauts team. now get back to work.

happy new year, everybody!

smell ya later!

 todd

the hidden talents of matt wieringo~

okay...

gahh!

so, originally, i had this all planned out and was pretty sure i'd have the time to release these posts accordingly. as the issues of Perhapanauts:Danger Down Under! rolled off the presses and into your stores, I was going to simultaneously thank each of the various friends/artists whom had been featured in the issue both here and on our perhapanauts facebook page...
but, circumstances being what they are--and the holidays being what they are--things got ahead of me and so i am trying, now, to play a little bit of catch-up.

my previous post, of course, was all about the covers and how much we love joe staton and how how much wonderful awesomeness he's brought to comics over the years and how he's been bringing cool back to the Dick Tracy comic strip and how you really should be subscribing to it via GoComics.com to have it sent to your email box each day...FOR FREE!! (you'll be glad you did!)

now...about the insides of issue 2...

you all know matt. he's my brother, been part of the perhapanauts family from waaaaaaay back, did a fantastic back cover pin-up for us on our very first issue at Image. matt is a very humble guy and it took LOTS of arm-twissting by me, craig, and matt's best friend and partner in too many crimes to mention, christian d. leaf, to get him to stop fighting us and get working on a Haps story for us.

he got right on it and pretty soon was turning in pages that were just blowing us away!

the fact that the tale was a western featuring choopie and karl--and so, by association, a comedy, made it that much more fun! matt nailed the humor on every level, bumped up the comedic implications and pay-off throughout and made the story even more fun for ME! and that's saying something!

here's a peek at one of the pages from part two of "choopie and karl in the wild wild west!" appearing in next month's Perhapanauts:Danger Down Under! no.3...

...and another look at the amazing back cover matt did--

more on the versatile mr. leaf in a future post...

be here monday for more on the speedy-fast eric henson~!

have a great weekend!
i'll be crazy-christmas shopping!
hope yours hasn't snuck up on you, too!
get in the spirit!
smell ya later!
 todd

oh!--and don't forget--The PERHAPANAUTS: TREASURE OBSCURA trade is in stores NOW!
a great book to lean on when you're writing out those holiday cards --- and an even better christmas gift for that special someone~!

Danger Down Under! no.2~!

okay...

wow. with everything going on around here--getting issue 3 tightened up and off to the printer, lettering issue 4, scripting issue 5--december 5th--that's TOMORROW!!!--crept right up on me!

so let me take this moment to let you know 

that the PERHAPANAUTS: DANGER DOWN UNDER! no.2 will be hitting your favorite comic shop tomorrow like a bolt outta the blue! you won't wanna miss the awesome aussie action--especially if you read issue no.1!!

as usual, this issue sports two fantastic covers! main cover (cover A) by our own craig rousseau! and our fantastic variant cover (cover B) by our pal, comics legend, JOE STATON!

to list ALL of joe's credits would be impossible--he's worked for all the various comics companies and drawn all the great characters, that we would be here all day! i will say that joe is responsible for some phenomenal work on the Hulk, Metal Men, Green Lantern Corps, Justice Society, Doom Patrol, Scooby-Doo, and Powergirl! joe co-created the Huntress and the Omega Men, as well as his own character, E-Man, with Nicola Cuti! joe is currently making Dick Tracy cool again on the daily syndicated Dick Tracy strip. 

thanks, joe--for the great cover and the great memories!

go get your Perhapanauts:Danger Down Under! no.2 tomorrow!

you won't wanna miss it!

smell ya later!

todd

a master at work...

okay...

so, after years of waiting for my pal, walter simonson's dc contract to expire so that he'd be free to do some independent work, that time has come and, honestly, craig and i are giddy with anticipation!

walter has been kind enough to agree to do the variant cover for our big, thrilling, amazing, climax in issue 5 of Danger Down Under! if you're a fan of walter's and a member of the Walt Simonson Appreciation Society over on Facebook, you know that walter is generous enough to post his progress on various projects he's working on.

here's what he's done so far~!

you can watch the evolution of this awesome cover yourself over at;
http://www.facebook.com/groups/waltsimonsonappreciationsociety/10151297666964793/?notif_t=group_activity

have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
 todd

the solicits

okay...

as we anxiously await the arrival of issue 2 of the all-new DANGER DOWN UNDER miniseries--just about a week away, folks!--craig and i are working hard to make sure production on the following issues continues apace. with various friends and artists and artist-friends pitching in to work on inks and colors and such, we have a lot of irons in the fire. that superstorm sandy actually affected our production has only made things crazier...

but we're on it!

and based on the reviews and emails we've been getting, this storyline is already proving to be a favorite; who knew that so many people would embrace two new characters--toshi nagano and emo woody franson--so quickly!?! thank you for your kind support.

for those of you who don't buy previews or check it out online, i thought i'd run the solicits that we've posted for the upcoming issues. i used to try to have fun with these back when craig and i were still doing the haps through dark horse, but then dark horse said that the retailers don't appreciate anything fun--just tell them what the story's about. 

i miss the fun...

that's it for today~!
see ya back here friday for some cool news!
smell ya later!
 todd

Treasure Obscura~!

okay...

if you're our friend on Facebook--and who isn't...?--then you may have already seen this awesome piece of Perhapanauts goodness; the cover to our new trade, TREASURE OBSCURA, out in just a few short weeks!

now, i have to admit that i'm biased right up front--i've loved craig's artwork for the moment i first saw in on impulse and said, "wow! who is this guy!?"granted, they were asking him to "follow" humberto and maintain some of his stylistic choices (as humberto had been asked to follow some of mike's...), but i could see so much in his clear and clean lines and his smooth, smooth storytelling. craig is always looking and growing and taking chances with his art, trying things out. otherwise all of your characters will start to look the same, wear the same expressions, strike the same poses and before you know it, you're stagnant. the good artists allow their art to grow and embrace that rather than shy away from it. craig is one of those...

so, as far as covers go, he and i will bat around some ideas, sometimes he'll just say, "i've got it." and he does. he'll play around with it and noodle things here and there. some come out strong, some not as much, but i love them all...

then there are the ones that have power. i guess i should re-phrase that and say, there are some that have POWER! ya can't always plan them, you can't always see them in the early stages. suddenly...they're just AWESOME! to me, this is one of those. craig's design and execution of this idea (all his) is dead on! and then when our colorist Mike Thomas got a hold of it--WOW!  i LOVE this piece! can't get enough of it. want it as a poster. have it as my desktop. (it's a very cool image to have looking 'down' at you from your computer screen--you should try it out...

and here's an ad featuring it on the back of this month's SUPER DINOSAUR! we're pretty sure that our designer at Image, Monica Garcia put this together and we love it! thanks, monica!

and, just another reminder, lauren monad gramprey and i will be at COMIC BOOK JONES  in staten island tomorrow, signin' comic books and eatin' burgers. if you're in the neighborhood, we'd love to see ya! stop by and say hi!

have a great weekend!

smell ya later!

 todd

comic book jones~!

okay...

so, craig and i--along with sharon, trish, johnny and cat--had a FANTASTIC time in portland this past weekend at the Coast City Comic Con! got to hang a bit with that brian mulcahy--star of stage screen and pages 12-14 of the sensational new Perhapanauts:Danger Down Under! no.1--as well as our pals rich and alex woodall! 

got to meet a lot of really nice people--a whole mess of very talented art students!!--and, hopefully, a few new perhapanauts fans.

thanks to jarrett and everyone who made the show a lot of fun! we had a great time!

now...about this coming saturday...

...the poster really says it all...

i'll be joining the lovely and talented LAUREN MONARDO GRAMPREY this saturday at COMIC BOOK JONES in Staten Island NY! as the sign says, lauren is the incredibly talented artist behind HAM and EGGS, Jesus hates Zombies, and the ridiculously riotous "Goodbye, Larry", the second feature in  our all-new Perhapanauts: Danger Down Under! no.1. we'll be signing...well, pretty much anything you put in front of us, but mostly that...

the fun starts at noon and if you're anywhere in that area, well...we'd love to see ya!

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

on a totally 'nother note...

we are still taking orders for the exclusive JERSEY DEVIL/SUPERSTORM SANDY RED CROSS Relief T-Shirt, created by craig and worn by YOU!

all proceeds go to the Red Cross to help them out in this time of need.

okay, i'm out.
smell ya later~!
todd

And now for something important...Hurricane Sandy/Red Cross Relief~!

okay...

so in the midst of all the hubbub surrounding the debut of our latest series, craig 'e'd me and said that he'd like to do something to help out with getting relief to the victims of hurricane sandy. one of our good friends, mike estelle, was evacuated from his home on the jersey shore only to come back to find much of it underwater, his floors destroyed and all manner of collateral damage.
craig jumped into action and, in honor of new jersey, though many other areas were devastated as well, he created this exclusive JERSEY DEVIL/SUPERSTORM SANDY T-Shirt!
all the details are below, but most important is that ALL PROCEEDS will be donated to the American Red Cross and their efforts to help those affected by this storm.

 the ordering info is simple;

using Paypal, post  your $20 to us at our account      paypal@perhapanauts.com

or send a check made out to;

Todd Dezago

and send it to

The Perhapanauts
52 Calendar House Rd
Elizaville NY 12523

if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at

todd@perhapanauts.com

thanks for helping!
smell ya later!
 todd

Today's the Day!!

okay...

well, today's the day, perhapa-gang!

PERHAPANAUTS: DANGER DOWN UNDER! no.1 will be arriving at your local comic shop later today and you don't wanna miss what everybody's gonna be talking about tomorrow!!

well...other than the election...

and that nor'easter that s'posed to hit the northeast sometime today...

and maybe if everyone's not still talking about justin timberlake and jessica biel. god--get over it! they didn't even care enough about you to get married in your country!

anyway, it's finally here and, as you know, i've been busting at the seams waiting for you to see the awesome goodness of it! i mean, yeah, the writing is great, that's a given.

but the artwork in this issue is just awesome! craig has always brought his 'A' game to the perhapanauts, but in the two years since we last published any new work, his 'A' game has gotten sweeter and sweeter!

and the COLORS!!!

i'm not gonna mince words--MIKE THOMAS is MAGIC!!

as you also know, this series has been a looooong time coming and craig had drawn these pages a while back. but when mike turned them in , all colored up and pretty--i was absolutely speechless! i was amazed at what he had done! it was glorious! i think i even got a little man-crush on him...

if for nothing else, pick up this book for the artwork--craig and mike are incredible! (and i can tell you from my spot here behind the scenes, they just keep gettin' better and better...!)

you can bike on down to your local comic shop today or--and this is also something we are truly excited about--you can buy your Perhapanauts: Danger Down Under! no.1 digitally over at 

COMIXOLOGY!! that's right, gang--we're same day on sale! 

it's easy to find 'cause the fine folks at Image and Comixology made sure that we were right there in the front row when you click on over to 

www.comixology.com

go and see for yourself! it's cool!

and while you're clicking, check out our first review of the new series from kate kotler at bleeding cool news;

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/11/06/tuesday-review-–-perhapanautstrouble-down-under-1/

that's it for now, but i wanna leave you with my favorite words of the week from our pal, russ burlingame--

Heading to bed now, but I just want to say: I finally got a chance to read The Perhapanauts: Danger Down Under #1 today. Absolutely wonderful to have the 'Haps back and both Todd Dezago and Craig Rousseau are at the top of their games--which means about a mile over the top of most people's. If you love comics, if you love good storytelling, if you love humor...hell, if you love America, buy this comic.

thanks, russ.

thanks, everybody!

smell ya later!

todd

the countdown begins...!

okay...

over on the perhapanauts Facebook page--you do like us, don't you?--i've already started the countdown as we eagerly hurtle toward the debut of The PERHAPANAUTS: DANGER DOWN UNDER! this coming wednesday at all of your finer comic book shops! 4 days and counting, as of this writing, and i KNOW that you're gonna dig the book when it finally arrives!

here, again--i feel as if i've posted them a hundred times already--are the two cool covers you can choose from, the "don'tccha-wanna-know-who's-joining-the-team" teaser cover by craig...

or the super-sensational jim starling/terry austin cover featuring choopie and big down under, choopie a little more down under than we'd originally intended! 

that poor kangaroo...

(please note; this actual scene does not appear in this story)

(though the other one does...)

and, trying to be as respectful of those purists out there--of which, i am one--who would rather not see ANYTHING of the interior until they have it in their hot little hands, i would like to give you this   

 SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

below is our prologue, the first two pages of our newest comic, devoted to the concept of helping the Reader out and bringing them up to speed. if you'd rather not see it--click away now...
if you're eager to taste a small sample...enjoy!

tune in on monday for more premiere fun!
smell ya later!
 todd

lauren monardo gramprey's Famous Perhapanauts Mysteries~!

okay...

so, the perhapanauts: danger down under! no. 1 hits stands in a week, halloween is two days away, and sandy, the monster hurricane--or the frankenstorm, as i've heard it called--is bearing down upon us as i write. i am trying to get as much work done as i can (lettering the last pages of issue 3) before we, inevitably, lose power.

i've been trying hard to give you some cool glimpses of what you can expect to find in the new series, but i also like to leave some things as a surprise. i've already posted about the great, talented artists who have helped us out with the art on back-up stories and i will be going crazy in an upcoming post over the incredible colorists we have on the book who are bringing a vibrant new dimension of life to our fantastic tale!

one of the things i hadn't tipped about until now is the fact that every issue of danger down under will tout a gorgeous back cover featuring artwork by our helpful friends!

issue 1 includes a back-up story entitled goodbye, larry with artwork by the multi-talented lauren monardo gramprey! as you can guess, the story centers on the tragic events of perhapanauts: triangle no. 5 and finds choopie, big, molly, and merrow attending the somber funeral services of the poor, departed gremlin. it's a hoot.

when asked if she'd like to do a back/flip cover for issue 1, lauren thought long and hard, wanting to do something different than the usual same old, same old and was inspired while  investigating a book featuring the covers of the classic pulps.

when she sent this over, i almost fell off the chair; now THAT'S an homage!!

look for this stunning back cover next week on perhapanauts:danger down under! no.1

                                                                          

Thank you, Lauren--for ALL of your very hard--and WONDERFUL--work!

that's all for today!

stop by on halloween!

smell ya later!

 todd

something wicked...

okay...

while the premiere of the Perhapanauts: Danger Down Under! is a mere two weeks away, it's hard for me to get everyone all worked up about it with Halloween hovering ominously in the air! i'm finding myself getting more and more in the spooky spirit and thought that i'd go back and co-opt some scary images from perhaps-blogs past...

i put them in the order i thought they were the creepiest...

                                                                                 

 

 

so how about you...?

in the halloween spirit?

got any chilling pictures that YOU'D like to share with us?

we'd LOVE to see them.

send any frightening or terrifying photos, jogs, whatever to;

todd@perhapanauts.com

and i'll get 'em up here!

have a spooky day~!

smell ya later!

todd

here we go...~!

okay...

craig and i had a great time in new york this past weekend, chatting people up about the upcoming Perhapanauts: Danger Down Under! miniseries, selling the ashcan previews and just getting a chance to hang with friends and fans! but i'm still exhausted from the con, so i'm just checking in til tomorrow when i'll have some more cool news and stuff to show you from the series...

in the meantime...i've been going through our vast perhapanauts library of pin-ups and sketches and cover contests recently and posting artwork that people have sent in over on our facebook page. one was a black and white image by an artist named mauricio zanini--mark if you'd like--and that got some nice response. so i contacted mark again after all these years and thanked him again for his piece.

well, this must've inspired him, because here again, i present for your enjoyment, a perhapanauts cover as imagined by mark zanini ~!

and here, because i, for one, always love to see the construction of any artwork, are the rough pencils...

thanks again, mauricio!
great job!

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

charles paul wilson is the stuff of legend~!

okay...

it is a proven fact that, as we grow older, time moves faster. i always thought it had something to do with school; when i was in school, time seemed to ooze by like molasses, time was slowed to a glacial trudge. this effect permeated everything and everything took forever...
lately, however there has been a quickening, and time flits by like an elusive butterfly. summer's that used to seem endless go by in a flash. days, weeks, months are here and gone before we know it. to some this might sound like a complaint.
it's not! i'm saying that i just can't wait until next month!
we are a few days less than a month away from the debut of The PERHAPANAUTS: DANGER DOWN UNDER! no.1!!! And I can't wait for you to see it!
I've been having some very heated email conversations with some very vocal Perhapa-Fans about posting some Preview Pages from the Ashcan; some people are very Spoiler Sensitive.
And I can respect that-I love surprises and I don't want anything or anyone tipping on something I'm looking forward to.
So if you are just DYING for a chance to see a few early pages from the new series, head on over to our "Tales from the Perhaps" section--see the link above?--and you can get an eyeful of what we're talking about. If not, hang in there, Perhapa-Pals--we're less than a month away!

what i CAN show you--'cause the solicit for issue 3 is just a few days away--is the awesome variant cover we have for that issue!
as you can tell, craig and i wanted very much for the new series to sport a wide variety of cool covers from some of our favorite artists in the industry. Issue one features a beautiful variant cover by Jim Starlin and Terry Austin, 2 bears a gorgeous Joe Staton piece...and we have a lot more where that came from...!
Danger Down Under! no. 3 proudly displays a variant from the incredibly talented CHARLES PAUL WILSON III, artist/designer of Th3rd World's awesome graphic, THE STUFF OF LEGEND!
if you're not yet reading this book, you are in for a treat! written by mike raicht and brian smith, TSOL is a rich and compelling fairytale chronicling the adventures of a group of toys out to rescue their kidnapped boy. charming, powerful, thrilling, you will not be disappointed by this book. order one for yourself and some extras as gifts; it's that good.

and, of course, it's gorgeously illustrated by charles, who's lush pencils sing in sepia and bring this very unique world to life. wonderful stuff and i couldn't wait to meet the guy.

                                                                  he looks like this.

a really nice guy, charles is also the kind of artist who just loves to draw, can't get enough, always playing and experimenting and, in doing so, has tapped into another, equally enchanting style, channeling original winnie-the-pooh artist e.h. shepard in a series of fun, comic-based pieces that have been circulating around the 'net for months!

so, of course, when i cornered charles to hopefully, possibly, if you have time, sir, could you, would you please draw us a cover...he smiled and said no problem, he'd love to. and he did.
i told him the story and a week or so later, he sent us this.
and craig and i danced.

some of these lower characters might not be familiar to you yet, but they will be...
thanks so much, charles!

that's it for now!
it's my birthday!
smell ya later!
 todd