scale

okay...



i saw this calvin and hobbes sunday strip the other day and it reminded me of a conversation i had with mike years ago...

he told me, "no giants."

while still in the development stages of tellos, we were talking about the characters that would be part of our little band of resistance/renegades against the dread malesur. we were really having fun, him telling me the types of people and animals he wanted to draw and me fitting them with personalities and tying them together either in the tale or with backstory. the sky was the limit and no idea was shot down.

until...

mike pointed out something i already knew at the time and i'm sure many of you recognize this as well; having giants and ogres and pixies and gnomes all in the same shot creates crazy scale problems. if you're close on the giant, how ya gonna see the dwarf? focusing on one will always lose the other. this was also one of the reasons that mike wasn't too thrilled about having one of my favorite marvel characters, dragon man, show up during our run of sensational spider-man...

so we stayed away from the giants.

until mike thought that the djinn/genie needed to be huge.
and then started having a lot of fun with dani the faerie.
and then, a few months later, did an amazing job in the flashback issue of sensational where a young peter parker and his uncle ben go fishing and run into just about every giant-sized marvel monster stan and jack ever came up with! he said it was a fun challenge...!



(and he eventually did draw dragon man for a page or two in the later-scrapped thing/she-hulk story i wrote called "the long night". and loved it!)



i say all this because it reminds me how very, very lucky i am to have craig--as friend and artist! i'm killing him this week with a couple of grand pages, vast sweeping panels featuring lots of characters and lots of (necessary) detail with a lot going on. just when he needs it least.
craig is a real artist. solid. he never complains, never asks for a re-write, never quibbles or cheats. he gives it all his all.
man, i'm very lucky.
(don't tell him though--don't want him getting a big head...)
thanks.



and here's another calvin and hobbes that reminds me of all the games my brother and i made up as kids--and how sometimes life is just like that.



see ya friday!
smell ya later!
todd

lexie's merrow!

okay...

hope everyone had a very happy easter!

so--inspired a little bit by our pal, mike estelle's merrow sketch and craig's cover to PERHAPANAUTS #3, renee's daughter, lexie, sent this awesome entry into the perhapanauts drawing jam. (unable to get it to post over on the message boards, i thought it would look nice right here on the blog until i can figure out how to post it with the rest...) (as i did with my own feeble entries which can see seen down at the bottom...)
nice job, lexie! thanks so much for taking the time to draw the merrow!



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

and here are the
answers to the

"five for friday"

1. what academy award winning actor was originally chosen to play mike brady on the brady bunch?

gene hackman

2. what academy award winning actor was the original choice to play hannibal lector in the silence of the lambs?

gene hackman

3. what academy award winning actor currently provides the voice-over for lowe's home centers?

gene hackman

4. what academy award winning actor was dustin hoffman's roommate for several years while studying acting in nyc?

gene hackman

5. name the following dr. seuss books

a. a persistent salesman tries to persuade a resistant gentleman to eat a colorful breakfast

green eggs and ham

b. a boy considers a huge parade in his tiny town

and to think that i saw it on mulberry street

c. an enormous elephant finds himself playing mother to a very special package

horton hatches the egg

d. a boy removes his hat for the passing king...only to find an inexhaustible number of chapeaus underneath

the 500 hats of bartholomew cubbins

e. a boy ponders what he could catch if his little fishing hole were secretly connected to the ocean.

mcelligot's pool

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



here's a little doodle i did of big and choopie, and a sketch of the aswang since nobody did her yet...!

that's all for now!
smell ya later!
todd

hoppy easter!

a call to y'all...!

okay...

as i mentioned yesterday, with things really gearing up with the perhapanauts and a summer full of convention schedules and outside projects ahead, i'm looking to hedge my bets a little in regards to this blog.
it's been very important to me to make sure that i get a new post up here on the blog every monday, wednesday, and friday, and i've done a pretty good job of it for the past year or so. our little group here--our community, family, of "perhapa-pals", has come to mean a lot to me. it thrills me that you stop by here to read this on a regular basis and it means even more when you take the time to comment and join in and be a part of the gang! when a little dialogue or even a group discussion appears in the comments section--that's just too cool...!

so, what to do with so much suddenly on my plate and less time to blog...? well, with a wonderfully witty and creative family like this, the answer is obvious...

special guest blogs!!

we've had them here before--my good pal, scott weinstein, has graciously covered for me from time to time (with some well-researched and beautifully written posts that put me to shame, i might add...). both alison and brian have written their own perhapanauts stories/comics that have been featured here on the blog. and many of you have shared accounts of your own strange and unexplained experiences...

so i'm putting the call out to anyone and everyone within the sound of my voice! what do you think? got a subject you'd like to cover? a story you'd like to tell? a discussion you'd like to get started?

send 'em in! let me know! you too could be a guest blogger here on the world-famous perhapa-blog!

my only request is that we keep them to our usual topics; the paranormal, the unexplained, the just plain weird. comics, movies, tv, books! anything and everything having to do with pop-culture! got a funny or scary story you'd like to tell? a news report that you think the group would find fascinating? wanna try your hand at creating your own "five for friday"? try it! i guarantee you'll have fun!
also, and most importantly, you'll be helping me out, giving me a bit of a break while we work to get the perhapanauts together each month...

if you're interested,please let me know!
you can 'e' me at

todd@perhapanauts.com

thanks!

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

so, here's something that freaked me out...

bizarre deaths always freak me out. i don't know why they should freak me out any more than a "regular" death...i mean, when it's your time, it's your time, right?. not to be too morbid or anything (and maybe i've already crossed that line...), but the subject of dying thoughts has always fascinated me. in a "natural" death, the process can be slow and the person have time to ease into that final sleep or, depending on what you believe, into the next, new experience. i guess we all kinda hope for that.
with a sudden death or accidental death, a person isn't afforded that opportunity. we have no time to get used to the idea (and, yes, many paranormal investigators believe that ghosts are, in most cases, the spirits of people who don't yet know that they're dead)
but a bizarre death...
when a person is killed in such a strange, freak accident...
late last night, while checking my e-mails, i checked out yahoo's most e-mailed pictures, always an interesting place for photos. the first seven were of this--an eagle ray--a larger member of the ray family--that had flipped itself up into a boat and stab a woman with it's barb, killing her.

my condolences to the family, of course. how very sad. this is truly a tragedy.
but a bizarre tragedy.

i mean, really, what do you think? did that just happen? did i just get stabbed by a manta ray? did that thing just sail out of the water and kill me?

until steve irwin's very similar death, i didn't even know this was possible...





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

some really great perhapanauts pictures are still being posted over on the perhapanauts forums!! click the forum link above and check them out in the thread entitled "how about a drawing jam?"
here are a couple more...

don kelly

scott weinstein

matt wieringo

alison martin

mike estelle

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

before you go and have a great weekend,
thinking about what cool guest blog you're gonna do,
here are your

"five for friday"

1. what academy award winning actor was originally chosen to play mike brady on the brady bunch?

2. what academy award winning actor was the original choice to play hannibal lector in the silence of the lambs?

3. what academy award winning actor currently provides the voice-over for lowe's home centers?

4. what academy award winning actor was dustin hoffman's roommate for several years while studying acting in nyc?

5. name the following dr. seuss books

a. a persistent salesman tries to persuade a resistant gentleman to eat a colorful breakfast

b. a boy considers a huge parade in his tiny town

c. an enormous elephant finds himself playing mother to a very special package

d. a boy removes his hat for the passing king...only to find an inexhaustible number of chapeaus underneath

e. a boy ponders what he could catch if his little fishing hole were secretly connected to the ocean.

that's it!
have a great weekend!
todd

busy as anything--the best of the blog!

okay...

i--and when i say "i", i mean "we"--are currently working like crazy on issue 2 of the all-new, all-different PERHAPANAUTS. it's lookin' good, it's lookin' fun, it's got some surprises...!
so busy, in fact, that i totally missed posting a new blog entry yesterday. first time in a long time (i'm happy to say...) but still, i missed it. i was beating myself up about it last night when it was suggested to me to try a couple of things to buy myself a little time here. (we're already doing this with the comic, lining up some incredibly talented artist friends for some sweet, sweet back-ups...! can't wait for you to see 'em!)
one idea was to run a few of my favorite entries from years past as "best of the blog" posts.
great idea. and because i was discussing my own paranormal experiences with PROOF writer/creator, alex grecian, i thought i'd post the one below from january 2006.
hope you dig it.

wednesday, january 11, 2006
crypto-revelations: part I--what i saw...

okay, here's what happened to me...

in the winter of 94/95 i was cast in a play at marist college. (a really great play called "noises off" and probably the finest production i've ever had the pleasure to be involved in.) at the time i was living alone way out in the country with my then 2 dogs and 1 rabbit and driving my jeep the thirty miles (each way) back and forth. the play is a really funny farce and required a LOT of physical comedy as well as a lot of rehearsal time to work out the very intricate staging/blocking so we would rehearse some nights 'til 1 or 2 in the morning. no problem for them, they lived on campus. i'm telling you all this 'cause i think it's important to know my frame of mind and that i was particularly tired when all this happened.

so anyway, it's about 12:45 this one night. it's february but it's warm, what they call a 'strawberry spring', a kinda winter version of 'indian summer' with an early, false thaw and some really nice weather for about a week. i'm heading home on the pretty much deserted roads and i can remember that the moon was full, making the surrounding woods and farms fairly visible beyond my headlights. and i'm tired. at one point on rt. 9G in the town of east park, the town police have made a small building on a curve their new headquarters and park their cop cars out front at night, a trend that makes many nighttime travellers slow down thinking that the cars are manned and ready to catch them speeding. by that time i was used to it, but because i was so tired that night, it caught me by surprise and i slowed way down, mostly 'cause i was loggy.

so coming around this slight curve, i was going slow enough to notice some movement in the muddy field off to my left, a long stretch of ruts and puddles usually put up in corn and/or pumpkins. way off in the north-west corner of the field i saw what looked to me like the canvas tarp off of someone's woodpile rise up off the ground and levitate some 15 feet in the air. not really such an unusual sight; the wind catching hold of someone's not-too-well-tied-down firewood cover and playing the devil with it across an empty field.

except there was no wind.

and it wasn't a tarp.

i stopped the jeep. right there in the middle of the road. i hadn't been going that fast anyway, what with the driverless cop cars slowing me down. what this thing looked like to me as it continued to float a little higher in the air and then float toward me was still a large brownish gray canvas sheet, about 7 feet across the front and about 12 feet long. it looked thicker in the middle, down the length of it and, still keeping the idea that it was a wind-blown tarp, it looked to have a few feet of rope trailing behind it like a...tail.
and it undulated as it glided, it's sides continuously rippling, rising and falling, fluttering in the same way that a manta does as it skates across the ocean floor. it slid gracefully beneath some suspended phone/power lines, between the bare trees at the edge of the field, and then it was above me as i twisted my neck and craned my head to watch it pass some six or seven feet above my own canvas topped jeep. i was in awe. no fear, no creepy feeling. just awe.
i watched it pass behind me and then into another group of trees and then it was gone. i sat there for a few seconds and then continued on home, knowing that i hadn't been dreaming, but...man, that was weird.

the next day, of course, i described the whole thing to my friends and castmates, all of us getting excited and creeped out about what bizarre stuff there is out there. i did a slew of internet searches to see if anyone had seen or heard of anything like what i had seen, but google hadn't been invented yet and my keywords brought up zero results.

so that was it. that's what i saw. i had no name for it or anything, just the story and the feeling that i'd seen something 'not from here'. as far as i knew i was the only one who had ever seen it...

...until a few years later...

if you dug that and want more, check out parts 2 and 3 in the archive section to your right.
just scroll down to january 2006.
see ya tomorrow with an all new post and your "five for friday".
smell ya later!
todd

flying saucers when i was a kid...

okay...

this would be an awesome house to live in!


This 'flying saucer' house, pictured on the side of Signal Mountain in Chattanooga, Tenn., Tuesday, March 11, 2008, will go up for auction on Saturday. The buyer needs a fascination for outer space, tolerance for gawkers and at least $100,000. Built by the late Curtis W. King in 1970, the circular house has multiple levels, three bedrooms, two bathrooms and an entrance staircase that lowers and retracts with the push of a button. (AP/Photo Mark Gilliland)

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

a couple of years ago, mike and i challenged each other to get on myspace, i can't really tell you why at the moment, but we did it and then watched as a stream of people we didn't know sent us messages asking to be our "friends." not because they knew us from comics or anything, that's just how it works.
we each posted pictures from tellos on our main page, thinking that that would be cool and hopefully get people interested in buying the (then) upcoming hardcover. then mike posted some silly sketch he did, and i posted a photo of my dog, jake. he posted a beautiful sketch he had done and i posted one of craig's perhapanauts covers.
then mike blew the doors off of this fun little game by posting a series of photos of himself as a kid growing up that he had found one weekend while visiting at his folks house.
i don't care who you are, old pictures of your best friend are hilarious.
so after this sweet run of his school pictures and prom pictures and the obligatory graduation shot, he begged me to post some of mine! fair's fair. only i didn't have a good scanner. that's not quite right, i didn't have a scanner at all.
i got myself one, however, this year for christmas and then stupidly told some people that i would finally get few of these (incriminating) pictures scanned and up on my myspace page.
they have been relentless in reminding me.

so here's the first. me at five.

i imagine it explains a lot...



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

speaking of myspace, though, i HAVE made lots of on-line friends over there and have been fortunate enough to connect with some really interesting comic book people!
one of those is wiffleball tony, formerly spacedog2k5, who was kind enough to send us a link to his cool blog and review of the still-knockin'-'em-dead-in-peoria PERHAPANAUTS ANNUAL! head on over and take a look!

http://dogbizkit.blogspot.com/

thanks, tony! we appreciate the kind words and the glowing recommendation!

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

oh, yeah...
and here are the answers to the

"five for friday"



1. what was the name of his aboriginal companion in daniel defoe's robinson crusoe?

friday

2. what william golding novel served as a study of human civilization and featured a group of boys on an island with a conch shell?
(extra bonus question: what did the shell symbolize?)
(nah--i'm just messin' with ya...)

lord of the flies

3. what was the name of the volleyball in the tom hanks film, castaway?

wilson

4. what is hurly's real name on lost?

hugo reyes

5. name the seven stranded castaways here on gilligan's isle.
oh, and their real names...

a. giligan (bob denver)

b. skipper (alan hale jr.)

c. thurston howell III (jim backus)

d. lovey howell (natalie schafer)

e. ginger grant (tina louise)

f. professor roy hinkley (russell johnson)

g. mary anne summers (dawn wells)

extra credit if you knew
these full names

gilligan--william "willie" gilligan
skipper--jonas grumby

gotta go!
smell ya later!
todd


bahh!!!
i can't believe i totally forgot st.patrick's day!
and i'm not irish at all...!
(but i like the green beer...! )
here's how christian reminded me over on the perhapanauts forum!



thanks, christian!
awesome choopie!
you're the best!
happy st.patrick's day everyone!
todd

gnome in argentina

okay...

our good pal, mike estelle, sent this over to me this morning, saying that he found it both funny and creepy. me too, mike, though a bit more creepy and a bit less funny. just looking at the photo gave me the willies!
(of course, i could take the same picture by stealing mrs. kinnard's garden gnome from next door and getting it a little drunk. or me. or both.)
here ya go...

Argentinian "gnome" scaring the bejezus out of kids
POSTED BY MARK FRAUENFELDER, MARCH 13, 2008 9:57 AM | PERMALINK
A gnome is walking the streets of Salta, Argentina at night, and he scaring the town's children.



A town in South America is living in fear after several sightings of a "creepy gnome" that locals claim stalks the streets at night. The midget -- which wears a pointy hat and has a distinctive sideways walk -- was caught on video last week by a terrified group of youngsters. ... "One of my friends was so scared after seeing that thing that we had to take him to the hospital."

cool.

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

we announced it over here, and i was gonna post all of the entries on the blog but there are just too many of them, and so may i direct you to hit the "forum" link up above and wander over to the perhapanauts message boards where you will find the topic "how about a drawing jam?" posted by the talented mr. don kelly. click on that link and you'll find yourself surrounded by all kindsa perhapanaut-goodness--some really great pictures and sketches and...when's the deadline again? i'd better get moving on my own (crappy) picture...
just come by to look, or grab a pencil and join in! we'd love to see what you want to do!
okay, well, here's one...!
(mostly 'cause blogger's not letting me upload any more...)
rich woodall

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

the first issue was finally put to bed, late last night/early this morning and will be in stores on april 16th as promised (barring, of course, any unforeseen, unavoidable circumstances...) craig and rico did an incredible job on it and we're hopin' you dig it the most!

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

and here, 'cause you asked
so nicely, are your

"five on friday"
deserted island edition

1. what was the name of his aboriginal companion in daniel defoe's robinson crusoe?

2. what william golding novel served as a study of human civilization and featured a group of boys on an island with a conch shell?
(extra bonus question: what did the shell symbolize?)
(nah--i'm just messin' with ya...)

3. what was the name of the volleyball in the tom hanks film, castaway?

4. what is hurly's real name on lost?

5. name the seven stranded castaways here on gilligan's isle.
oh, and their real names...

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

f.

g.

how's that?
have a kickin' weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

something like this...

okay...

running around again today--so much to do.
have plenty of things that i COULD write about, but thought that, since this blog hasn't been too spooky lately, i'd "borrow" another cool story from paranormal@about.com your true tales
sleepy and trying to work last night, i tripped over to paranormal@about and read over a couple of the entries and this one woke me up good! maybe it's 'cause i was tired and maybe it was because something very similar happened to me and a friend about 15 years ago--a very, very long back road that seemed to go on much longer than it should have--COULD HAVE!!--and such an odd and eerie feeling while driving over it. sections that seemed to change season as we drove through. and places where we definitely felt watched...


here's the story.
enjoy!

Your True Tales
March 2008 - Page 6

Mysterious Looped Road
by DirtRoadEnthusiast

In high school (I graduated in 2002), my best friend and I enjoyed driving around the country roads of Missouri at night, exploring the veritable wilderness and always trying to find roads we'd never been down before. The seasoned Missouri traveler will know that there are several species of gravel road. There is the road, the drive, the lane, and the loop, and the designation isn't cosmetic. For instance, a loop is a gravel road that connects to another road on both ends, as in a loop. A drive is like a very long dead end street, etc.

One night, my friend I were driving down a dirt road that teed off with another, and there across the road was the biggest tree I have personally ever seen in Missouri. We turned left and after a while came to a paved road, and turned right. We didn't put much stock in paved roads, and the next gravel road we came to, we turned down, which was on right, or back the way we'd come basically. After a while, we saw the big tree again and the road that teed with the one we were on and realized that we were on a loop. So we ended up back on the paved road again, and in some frustration, decided to turn around and go back to the road that teed with the loop, because back that way we'd seen some other gravel roads we might explore.

Only we never found the road, or the tree, but instead ended up back on the other end of the loop. By this time we were going batty, turned around once again, and viola! there was the tree and the road. Bemused, we returned to this loop in the daytime, and discovered that if you went down it one way, you could fine the tree and the road, but not if you went down it the other way. We even took other friends there from time to time to show off our latest discovery. No one could ever figure it out.

This was the same road that my friend and I got out of the car one night and snuck down into a little creek bottom. There were these little green lights everywhere. We were terrified until we managed to catch one and found that it was some kind of little beetle with lights along its sides that lived in the water. It looked like a miniature trilobite. We took one home in a film canister, but never managed to identify it with any book or website.

so, got a story of your own...?
share.

and if you have some time, stop over at paranormal@about.com and check out the other your true tales submissions for this month.
some of them are reeeeeeeallly creepy...!

smell ya later!
todd

perhapa-plans

okay...

as i mentioned last week, craig and i are all about giving you, our faithful perhapa-fans, not only your money's worth in each and every issue of the all-new PERHAPANAUTS, but MORE than...!

we are painfully aware that the cover price of comics is going up all across the industry.
we are also well aware that that fact might cause some people to have to choose between some of their very favorite comics due to budgeting and such. we know because we buy comics too! we long for the days when comics were less than a dollar--heck, even a dollar would be wonderful news right now. but with the cost of everything going up--especially gas--it affects everything!

so we're doing what we can to pack every issue of the PERHAPANAUTS with as much 'nauty goodness as possible! we've been hitting up friends in and out of the business for pin-ups, lined up some STELLAR talent for our back-up stories (i'm bustin' to tell ya, but craig says i hafta wait...@#%$!) and, as you've already seen with the stunning art adams cover to issue #1, some incredible guest covers!

things are happening here at BEDLAM central, and i think you're gonna dig what we've been digging up!

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

things were flying so fast when we were trying to decide on a cover for the annual--craig, and our pal, dana moreshead, and i were throwin' all kindsa idea back and forth (well, mostly them...). but i thought it would be cool to show you one of craig's earlier takes on the cover so you could see how things evolve and take shape with something like this...
enjoy!



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

and here are the answers to your

"five for friday"

1. what spider-man villain originally appeared as indy's guide in the classic opening to raiders of the lost ark?

alfred molina (doctor octopus)

2. who was the only actor to appear in both the film and television versions of mash?

gary burghoff--radar o'reilly

of note: gary's left hand was noticeably smaller than his right, and the actor would often be seen carrying a clipboard or something so as not to attract attention to it.

3. what david bowie song is quoted at the beginning of the breakfast club?

changes
"and these children that you spit on as they
try to change their world
are immune to your consultations
they quite aware what they're going through"

4. h2o is water? what is h2o2?

hydrogen peroxide

5. who played the devil in each of the following films?

a. witches of eastwick

jack nicholson

b. legend

tim curry

c. angelheart

robert deniro

d. needful things

max von sydow

e. the devil's advocate

al pacino

have a great day!
smell ya wednesday!
todd

ladies and gentlemen--rico renzi!!

okay...

well, as craig posted below, the full color art adams cover for perhapanauts #1 is proudly on "first look" display over at newsarama! you can check it out for yourself by going to

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=149218

a lot of people "oooh'd" and "aaaah'd" over the cover, and rightly so--art really outdid himself with this and i am still mesmerized by it whenever it look at it--but let's talk about rico.

rico is an amazing colorist and a very talented artist as well. we all saw the incredible detail that art put into that cover and i'm sure that, in preparing to lay down the hues, it was a little bit daunting.

over the years that we've worked together, i have been stunned again and again by rico's eye, by his color choices, and his ability to make things pop or blend things in. he and craig actually pulled off something that i didn't think was possiblein comics back in perhapanauts (first blood) #4 and then again in second chances #1 when he made the aswang's eyes actually glow and made a character truly disappear into the shadows...
i've said for years that craig is one of the most underrated artists in comics. certainly rico, too, is one of the most underrated colorists in the business and, while colorists are often overlooked in the grand scheme of things--his name was even excluded from our solicit copy--i just wanted everyone to take a look at what he does for us in each and every issue and give him the credit--and props--he properly deserves!
fantastic job, rico!
thanks for all you do!
this book would not be the same without you!

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

so craig teased you with the cover to perhapanauts #3, so i guess i'd better put it up...
(i was gonna save it for monday, but...)

the solicit reads like this

The PERHAPANAUTS #3
Todd Dezago-–Story
Craig Rousseau--Pencils,
Inks, and Cover
Rico Renzi--Colors

32 Pages
FC
June 4
$3.50

"Big Secrets"
Triangle--Part 3
It is the veritable Calm before the Storm
as secrets continue to be revealed about
ALL of your favorite BEDLAM Agents!
Big and The Merrow travel to the UK to get
some answers as Choopie tries to cope with
the unseen responsibilities of being a King!
Also, The Mothmen tip to what went on back
in the Bermuda Triangle--and they are NOT pleased...!


the cover looks like



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

and here are your

"five for friday"

1. what spider-man villain originally appeared as indy's guide in the classic opening to raiders of the lost ark?

2. who was the only actor to appear in both the film and television versions of mash?

3. what david bowie song is quoted at the beginning of the breakfast club?

4. h2o is water? what is h2o2?

5. who played the devil in each of the following films?

a. witches of eastwick
b. legend
c. angelheart
d. needful things
e. the devil's advocate

have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

art adams and rico goodness...!

figured i'd post a quick link to the super sweet COLOR art for art adams' perhapanauts #1 cover over at newsarama.

todd'll be back as usual tomorrow.. .who knows, he might even post the cover to issue 3...

-c (decided to change my original title of the post from "rico and art adams, sittin' in a tree...")

more art!

okay...

well, i need to be quick today.

as we put the finishing touches on issue 1 of the all-new, all-different (i'm still reading my uncanny x-men omnibus) PERHAPANAUTS, we find that there WILL be more art in many ways!

first off, art adams has okayed us showing y'all his sweet sketch/designs that he did in preparation for his stunning cover! i always find it both fascinating and amazing to get a chance to see the thought process and the creativity and the magic that goes on in sketches and such. these look cool.

also, since we have so many extra pages that we're allowed to fill--and craig and i really wanna make sure you get your money's worth ut of every issue of the perhapanauts--we'll be featuring some sweet perhapanauts pin-ups and back-up stories in every issue featuring some of our very talented friends from in and out of comics! our first issue boasts a fun two pager by our pal, dave tata, called "choopie goes to church." don't miss it!

we've got lots of bonus stories and features planned for this book and i promise you won't be disappointed!

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

our call for artists has already gotten some people revved up over on the perhapanauts forum; some of us are setting a deadline for ourselves (no pressure!) to keep ourselves honest and on schedule. feel free to stop on over and add your name to the growing list! it's fun!

our first piece sent in, our own rene carrol 'e'd me her "choopie doodle"



great job, rene! thanks so much for the great sketch--and for breaking the ice! now EVERYBODY can start sending their pics in...!

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

in the comments to the last post, alison asked who had drawn the pieces i posted. my apologies for not including those names. i'd intended to--the blog just got away from me.
they are

mark zanini--arisa, mg, big, and the dover demon in the study
don kelly--big and the serpent
philippe scherding--choopie/nosferatu

and here's another cool pic i found that our boy, brian mulcahy had done by scott wegener (currently having a blast on "atomic robot"!) to illustrate brian's 'haps story, "down in the dumps".


give ya some ideas? know what you're going to draw?
we can't wait to see it!

that's it for me!
smell ya later!
todd

we're looking for a few good artists...!

okay...

we're looking for a few good artists...!

one of the main things craig and i had asked kieran to do when he redesigned the website was to give us a bigger, more inviting place where we could share artwork or photos or any kind of images featuring the perhapanauts! i've said it time and time again, but craig and i LOVE to see other people's renditions of our "kids"--and we have seen some really wonderful, and really...let's call them creative versions of the team!

AND WE WANT YOURS!



we've received a buncha wonderful letters and e-mails from a buncha up and coming artists like alex brown and over on the perhapanauts forum (simply click "forum" at the top of this page), our pal, don kelly, has thrown out the challenge for a perhapanauts art jam! well, done, man!



so let's make it OFFICIAL!
we're calling out for any and all of you talented and creative people to show us your best! get out your pencils, your markers, your crayons, your paints...! how about clay or sculpy or whatever you wanna use to make some kind of perhapanaut-y sculpture thing! you name it! let your imaginations run wild!

don't draw? how about a short story or script? perhapa-fan emeritus's (emerituses? emeriti...?) bryan mulcahy and alison martin have each posted their own perhapanauts stories here! we'll be creating an all-new fan-fic section for those as well!

this isn't a contest! there are no prizes! craig and i don't feel that any artwork should ever be judged or compared to another.
your are all artists and we enjoy and appreciate everything you do and put into it.

so get out there and get going!

our e-mails are always up there in the "contact us" section above, but here they are again anyway...

craig@perhapanauts.com

todd@perhapanauts.com

send in your scans and your photos and we'll get them up there!
have fun--and thanks!


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

if i posted this before, i'm sorry.
i looked to see if i had, but couldn't find it.
i thought it was pretty funny.


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

and here are the
answers to your

"five for friday"

1. what popular mystery writer, who just published her 20th novel, titles her books alphabetically?

sue grafton

2. what comic book featured a dog and a rabbit who were private detectives and who occasionally forgot which was which?

sam and max

3. what is the term used for the act of turning a liquid into a gas?

evaporation

4. h2o is water. what is h3o better known as?

hydronium

5. who was lancelot link?

secret chimp--a 1970's saturday morning get smart/james bond satire acted out by monkeys

special knock-yourself-out bonus

~ name any seven popular and/or recurring characters from any of saturday night live's 32 seasons.

a. i'm sure that
b. you all did
c. a good job
d. with this.
e. i'm not going
f. to list them
g. all...

hope ya dug 'em!
smell ya later!
todd

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

snow can be fun, romantic, beautiful, amazing...

but i'm sick of it.

lancelot links--

okay...

we'll call this, "the day of many links...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

for those of you who've been reading the blog for some time now--well, first off, thank you.

second off, you know that, over the years, i have developed a pretty cool friendship with comics legend, nick cardy! nick has put up with my phone calls for years and we always enjoy our conversations (though lately i think he prefers talking to sharon...a sweet, sweet charmer, that nick...but i'm watchin' you, cardy!)
he's become my pal, my mentor, and my unofficial extra dad, and i love 'im!

and that's saying nothing of his wonderful artwork!

but this does.
though nick already has several books out showcasing his incredible talent and body of work--check out "the art of nick cardy" by john coates and "nick cardy: comic strips" by sean menard--he's putting together yet another one featuring many of his movie poster paintings and illustrations, as well as some of his gorgeous--and mostly unseen--oil, watercolor, and acrylic work! i'd go into it, but you can read a really great interview about it over on comic book resources!
take a look!

http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/?column=28





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

what's that you say...? you're still all jazzed up over the PERHAPANAUTS ANNUAL and are dying to read another review of the book?! that you wish you could read a well-written and carefully thought out treatise on the wonders of all things perhapanautical? that you're bored at work and wish there were something exciting to read on the internets?
look no further.
check out c harris lynn's take on the bookover on his awesome blog, "the rundown"!

http://manodogs.blogspot.com/2008/02/perhapanauts-annual-1-review.html

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

for those of you ready to sharpen your wits on the "five for friday", take a moment and boil your brain with this little quiz that alison hooked me up with the other day. i'm sure those of you in the advertising industry will be able to get them all right...heh, heh...you guys'll let me know how you do, right?

go on. go check it out. i'll wait.

http://www.cramersweeney.com/smartmarketing.html

back?
fun, right?
(i missed two.)

and if that wasn't fun enough...
here are your

"five for friday"

1. what popular mystery writer, who just published her 20th novel, titles her books alphabetically?

2. what comic book featured a dog and a rabbit who were private detectives and who occasionally forgot which was which?

3. what is the term used for the act of turning a liquid into a gas?

4. h2o is water. what is h3o better known as?

5. who was lancelot link?

special knock-yourself-out bonus

~ name any seven popular and/or recurring characters from any of saturday night live's 32 seasons.

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.



have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

secret secrets

okay...

shay, jake, and i had an awesome--though woefully short--visit at the rousseaus this weekend. got to play with the kids and have our own belated christmas and experience the wonderful world through the questions and commentary of a three year old!
"jake is very smart."
"yes, he is."
"i think he could turn a light off and on."
"i bet he could."
"if he had a ladder."

and a comment so zen, so very very true, that i think big could very well use it in an upcoming issue--"today is today."

got to hang with craig a bit and watch the cover to perhapanauts 3 come alive under his gifted inks--as well as a couple of pages--and we discussed long into the night how to get more retailers to take a chance on our little book (something i'll discuss at greater length in the very near future...) sharon and i just don't know how he and trish do it. we only spent a few hours with the kids and were just exhausted. and then craig went to work after they were in bed!?! i was bushed!!

had a great time though.

but then we had to shoot right back home, making us all kinda sad and wishing that we lived closer.
or had a teleporter.
or a sweet pneumatic tube set-up between here and there just like they have in BEDLAM.

thanks for the great time, brother!
sharon and i still don't know how you do it...

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

it's been a few weeks now that the new site has been up and i ask you...have you looked around?

i mean, really?

i mean, i am STILL just amazed and hypnotized by all the wonderful things that kieran did with this place! the layout and design are just so pretty. and sure, there are many of the same old places; galleries and the store and the blog and whatnot, dressed up a lot nicer, a lot cleaner...

but have you REALLY looked around?

have you found any of...the secrets?

if so, no one's said anything about it.

and i guess that's all I'M gonna say...

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

we still have plenty of big things happenin' here at haps central and more cool things to announce over the next couple of weeks! we're just firming them up and making sure that we don't have TOO many cool things happening all at once. y'know...?

and because i always like to include a (wacky, crazy) picture or two, here are three that alison sent me a while back that i thought looked both creative and delicious...





and here's a picture of a balloon that looks like the vader.



s'all for now!
smell ya later!
todd

comic commentary--spider-man family # 7!!

okay...

so i'm actually writing this on saturday as i will be leaving bright and early tomorrow morning--sunday morning--yesterday--for craig's house. after months of trying to get out there, sharon and i (and most likely, the jake) will be driving out for a couple of days to finally have christmas with the rousseaus! so, though i will be posting this remotely from his house on monday--today--i won't actually be back home 'til tuesday which was one of my favorite bands back in the 80s.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

in the meantime, whether you read it or not, go to augie de blieck's cool new commentary/interview column over at comic book resources and check out the nonsense that mark waid, karl kesel, nate cosby, and i threw out there over the fun of putting together the crazy "looter's quest" story in the most recent spider-man family! just like the story, it's a nutty, kooky romp of a round table and just might give you some insight into how insane comic book people can really be...

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=13091



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

on the topic of appreciation, craig and i were just overwhelmed by the wonderful things that everyone said here and on the perhapanauts forum about the annual. thanks to everyone who left comments and messages and e-mails--it really means a lot to hear what you think--good or bad.

and while we don't wish to single anyone out in particular...well, we do.
i got this really wonderful letter from our pal, christian, and it summed up so much of what i've been feeling about craig's beautiful artwork and his ability to really make the characters "act" that i begged him to let me post it here.
he said, "aw, shucks...but okay"...


Todd-

Just wanted to drop some well deserved kudos on you and Craig for your
Annual. First off, the art was top notch. Craig’s love of the
character shines through as he’s adding more and more to them from the
previous series. Their evolution imparts more “them” for lack of a
better word. Giving Arisa and the gang more life, if you will. And the Devil
really came off as The Devil. It was also nice to see Hammerskold’s
team in action, too. I’m sure Craig’s been chomping at the bit to
throw them in aside from backgrounds. The old timey/flashback scenes
with the Jersey Devil popped off the page to me. Probably some of my
favorite work in the Annual. A tip of the hat to Craig.

The story was excellent. No other word for it. Mainly because of its
coming full circle with the pregnant women and their abusive husbands.
Love stories like that. The character growth is another great plus. That
little snippet of intelligence and razor sharp snoot from Choopie adds
more mystery to his character. Then you’ve got his rather rude remark
to Molly, which I’m sure didn’t help her deal with being dead.
Poor Molls. The BEDLAM work force all talking about MG and his remark
about being in “hiding.” And finally the relationship revealed. BUM BUM
BAHM! No Mulder/Scully waiting for the kiss here.

Like I said before it was nice to have the two teams mingled. (Is there
a chance of breaking them up into two comics once Perhapamania takes
over the world? Kinda of an X-Men and X-Factor thing.) Merrow is a very
interesting character, probably because we don’t know that much about
her at this point. Anyway I’m rambling. (That and I’ve got to get
back to work.) Great action, great dialogue and great art (Rico, too!)
pretty much sums up my feelings. Looking forward to seeing how the
series continues. Cheers!

Christian

P.S. Angie hasn’t had a chance to read the book yet, but once she
does I’ll try to glean some comments from her, too.


thanks, christian!
my sentiments exactly.

see y'all on wednesday!
smell ya later!
todd

"random calvin and hobbes of the week"

does this happen to you?
my brain is always trying to kill me!

ART ADAMS--Exclusive Cover to PERHAPANAUTS #1!!

okay...

art adams--
i've loved art's work since the longshot series when he drew one of the coolest looking new characters to come outta marvel in a long time, the wildest aliens, and a she-hulk that was sexier than she had ever been before!
then he was doing the x-men, the x-babies, and mojo! his "creature from the black lagoon" book from dark horse and godzilla! then monkeyman and o'brien! gumby and jonni future and all those awesome jlApes covers for dc!
(just to name a few...)
i have several of his sketchbooks--they are treasures!

when mike and i were dreaming of who we would love to have draw our tellos characters for a special cover, art's name was at the top of the list! and he did it! and it was...gorgeous.

ten years later, as craig and i dreamed of who we'd love to have draw our perhapanauts, art's name was still at the top of the list.
and he did it.

man, did he do it!


just as with the tellos cover, this is so much more than craig and i could have ever dreamed of!
thanks, art! SO much!
for the stunning cover, for sharing your incredible talent, for being such a nice guy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
johanna draper carlson has this great website called "COMICS WORTH READING", and if you don't already frequent it, you should. i met johanna years ago, when i was just coming in to comics and she was reporting and cavorting at conventions, establishing a relationship with the industry and beginning her career as a comics reviewer and consumer advocate in a business that desperately needed both. she is fair and honest in her reviews and recommendations and always displays the sort of journalistic integrity that is oftimes lacking in the comics community.

johanna is also friend, a person i really enjoy speaking with at conventions and also happens to be married to my pal, kc carlson. but don't let that make you think that that sways her one bit in our favor. though a fan of the 'haps, one of the things i like most about johanna is how direct she will be with me if something falls flat or doesn't work for her. i trust her and consider her comments whenever she and i talk. she's great!

that said, please enjoy her glowing review of the PERHAPANAUTS ANNUAL #1! it's got a minor spoiler or two, so if you haven't read the book yet...WHAT THE HELL...?!

http://comicsworthreading.com/2008/02/05/perhapanauts-annual/

and while you're over there, check out johanna's other reviews and commentary on the site!
you should be checking it everyday!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and here is your
ALL PERHAPANAUTS EDITION of

"five for friday"

1. according to legend, what was the name of the woman who originally summoned the Jersey Devil?

2. how many werewolves in the Art Adams cover to PERHAPANAUTS #1? (don't look, chump!)

3. big has a scar on his left forearm. how'd he get it?

4. what is the name of the nexus of all time and reality that karl took blue team into in PERHAPANAUTS: Second Chances #4?

5. name the 4 BEDLAM operatives on red team.
a.
b.
c.
d.

have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

BIG Day!

okay...

well, today's the day.

go get it.

the all-new PERHAPANAUTS ANNUAL #1 is NOW ON SALE!

and we're officially at IMAGE!--and all is right with the world...


having written it--and especially, having LIVED with it these past few months, putting it together and whatnot--i don't think i have the same anticipation as some of you have. at least, from what you've told me.
i'm very eager to have it out there, to see if it was thrilling. or funny. or scary. or slightly entertaining in any way.

i can't wait to give it to my dad.

and i can't wait to hear what my friends think.
(and, y'know--you are my friends.)

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

i guess that craig and i HAVE had a similar version of that kind of eager anticipation over the past few weeks though, as we've been waiting patiently for our pal and legend, ART ADAMS, to get a chance to finish his cover for perhapanauts #1! if you pay any attention to comics, you'll know that art is a very, very busy artist, as you can see by the number of covers he's been working on lately for marvel! (here's a gorgeous one that matt sent me the other day, just as an example...)

thanks, matt!

and while it's a true thrill for craig and i to see our "kids" drawn by so many talented artists--if you haven't already, check out the galleries to see what i talkin' about--to be able to see big and choopie, mg, arisa, and molly beautifully rendered by art...well, that's what dreams are made of.

so the other night, WE were on the edge of OUR seats when art's cover arrived and...

i'm still quite speechless.

it's...

it's...

> sigh <

stop back here--and/or over at craig's blog-- http://www.craigrousseau.com/blog/index.html --on friday and see the...premiere?...debut...?...unveiling...? of the art adams perhapanauts cover!
also, on friday, johanna draper carlson's review of the annual!
and, hopefully, YOUR review as well!
(leave your comments here or over on the IMAGE boards Perhapanauts Forum...)

and, yes, the return of your "five for friday"...

that's gonna be quite a friday!
smell ya later!
todd


oh, ps: i toldja that craig and i have been doing a LOT of interviews and promotion for the new book and here is yet another interview by calvin mofield over at comic geek news! (that is, if you're not completely sick of me by now...) i really had fun this one--calvin didn't ask me a lot of the same old, same old...

http://www.comicgeeknews.com/

WEDNESDAY'S the day!!

okay...

so, in our trying to get everything done on time and create a schedule for the NOW MONTHLY perhapanauts and make sure that guest cover artists knew when we needed their covers in and make sure that we leave rico enough time to work his magic and get pin-ups and back-up stories running for future issues all running simultaneously...

somewhere the release date of PERHAPANAUTS ANNUAL got shifted and craig and i could never figure out exactly how. or why.

there was some confusion up at quebecor (the canadian printing company that prints just about every comic book you read) when they had both a perhapanauts annual #1 and a perhapanauts #1 (that would be the monthly) on their schedule. (the monthly doesn't begin until april.) and there was also a decision somewhere that having the annual come out more toward the end of february would make the wait for the new regular series in april that much shorter.

we don't know.

all we know is--IT'S OUT THIS WEEK, BABY!

if you haven't had it burned into you retinas enough by now, this is what you're looking for:



or, like this...



IMAGE has blown out all the stops to promote our little book and get it out there and you can see it advertised all over the place! (i'll try to post a list of sites where you can catch sight of the 'haps on wednesday...)
we've already been reviewed by several on-line sites; i posted roger ash's westfield review the other day and will have johanna draper carlson's from comics worth reading on friday. (there was a spoiler or two and i know how you guys love to be surprised...)

if you're in the mood for an interview, you can find another one with me over at comicmonsters.com

http://www.comicmonsters.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=878

and poke around a little bit when you're over there--they've got a lotta creepy things hidden away here and there...

also, this week--as scott so generously posted over on the perhapanauts forum, the latest issue of SPIDER-MAN FAMILY, that's #7 from marvel comics, features a crazy romp of a spidey/fantastic four/looter story that KARL KESEL, MARK WAID, and i did as a fun tribute to mike. it was a story that mike and i had dreamed of doing as a four-issue miniseries a few years ago and when the opportunity came up, i shot it past mark and karl and we laughed and laughed and compressed it into a wild 30-page adventure! get it! you'll like it! it looks like this (sorta...)!



and so, did anybody go and play samorost like i toldja to?
or were you so mad at me for not having a "five for friday" that you didn't go and have some fun out of spite?
if ya went, lemme know whatcha thought.
(and if not, you really should go and give it a look...)


anyway, i gotta get back to it...
have a great presidents day!
smell ya later!
todd

... we interrupt this blog for an important announcement...

hey, folks!

craig here, hijacking todd's blog for a quick bit of news... looks like, according to a few sources, that TODD AND CRAIG'S PERHAPANAUTS ANNUAL 2008 is actually scheduled to ship NEXT WEEK on feb 20th...


we now return you to todd's blog, already in progress...

samorost

okay...

i am not technologically inclined.
it took me YEARS to finally get a computer and even then it was at the constant urging of my spider-man compatriots, howard mackie and tom defalco, who then assigned larry hama to be my computer guru. (larry, of course, a comics legend, writer of g.i. joe, bucky o'hare, and all of the very best issues of wolverine! i haven't seen or talked to larry in years--such is the way things go in this business--but one thing i always loved about larry was his laugh; big and loud. and he is the only person i've ever met who, if he happens to be standing up when he laughs, will actually slap his upper thighs! also, he appeared on two different episodes of mash as a lousy north korean!)



so anyway, larry helped me get this great computer back about ten years ago and i've been hobbling along ever since. i've learned to navigate the internet without too much problem--finally got high-speed connection last summer!--and craig has taught me many of the things i've had to learn for work; graphics and lettering and such.

now that i do have the high-speed--and the commercial is right! how did i ever live without it?--i've been researching all sortsa reports on the paranormal and the unexplained, as well as finding all kindsa treasures among the websites and blogs.

anyway, to make a long story even longer, one of my favorite discoveries back when i first got all hooked up to the internet, was a myst-like game that my friend mike west sent to me; a weird, meditative, transendental, om-inducing flash-animation called samorost.
only i didn't know that at the time.

mike just sent me a link and being a novice on the computer (read; simple-minded) i just clicked it and was happily transported away to the peaceful tranquility of samorost, with it's driftwood-laced, roger dean-inspired landscapes and a hookah-smoking dude on a ski-lift.
i say tranquility but that's not really true.

like myst, it's a game of deduction and processes, of induction and cause and effect, and i'm not gonna deny that i got hung up on one or two of the "you-can't-do-this-until-you-do-this-and-this-and-this"s. but it was a lot of fun and, like trivia, a challenge to both your memory and your wits.

a short game really, samorost consisted of six separate screens. i finished four of them before i had to go and re-join life once again. when i finally got a chance to return, the link no longer worked. i asked my friend, mike, and he told me that the site that hosted the game was no longer valid. (this meant pretty much zero to me. i just knew that the game was gone.)



i searched for it for years, off and on, hoping that one day, someone would have hooked it up again.

and the other day i found it!
and what's more, learned all about who created it--aminita design, an independent game development studio in eastern europe! PLUS, there's a sequel!!

okay, so maybe this won't be everybody's bag, but i really dig it and i urge you to go and check it out!

http://amanita-design.net/samorost-1/

you can play samorost 1 for absolutely free, as well as a selection from samorost 2! i loved it so much that i went and ordered the complete samorost 2 (via paypal!) and can't wait to sit down and figure the whole thing out!



that's your challenge for the weekend--in lieu of trivia questions, i give you samorost. see if you can navigate your way 'round this trippy world.

and we can talk about it on monday!

have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

roger's review

okay...

so, here we are.
as we sit here, all of us, waiting anxiously, patiently for the annual to drop--i know that I can't wait--we have teased you and taunted you with the cover, of course, and a few preview pages and talk of some of the really exciting things we have planned for the 'haps in the very near future, i don't know whether this is good promotion or just more torment, but i should let you know that there are people out there--individuals quietly walking among us--who have actually READ the annual already!!

due entirely to the courageous actions of IMAGE Comics' own, joe keatinge, many retailers and comics-related news sources were treated to early preview copies of the book for the sole purpose of getting them onboard for the wave of perhapamania that is about to sweep the nation~!

the reviews have been very, VERY good.

of course, some of those people were our friends. and one of those friends in particular, our good pal, ROGER ASH, over at Westfield Comics, dropped us a letter that made c and i feel so good that we just had to share it with all of you.

NOTE: while there are no spoilers in roger's letter, he does make reference to the scene that i posted here just the other day, and even if you didn't read it, saving it for later, the letter still doesn't spill any beans. enjoy!



Hi Todd & Craig,

I just read the preview of the Perhapanauts Annual that Image sent. Holy crap! I feel exhausted, but in a good way. Very exciting, very scary, and very funny all in – what – 28 pages? The art was lovely, as always, (well, except for the gory bits, but they weren’t meant to be), and the Jersey Devil was really pretty frightening. But even with all the exciting stuff going on, my favorite scene was the one in Big’s room with Big, Molly & Choopie. It was a great character moment both in terms of writing and in the body language and facial expressions. And gave some interesting insights into both Big & Choopie. “I’m still stupid.” Hehehehehe! Actually, you planted a lot of seeds about the characters throughout the story that I’m interested in seeing where you go with them.
If you’ll allow me to get “preachy” for a moment, this is really the kind of comic I like and that I’ve been missing. You have both the big action stuff and the character moments - all at the same time!! If you needed to impart information, you did so in a very natural way and the story kept moving instead of stopping for a “we must tell you something important” moment. Does that make sense?

Anyhow, I just wanted to let you both know how much I enjoyed it. Have a good weekend!

Best,
Roger

Roger Ash
Content Editor, Worlds of Westfield
www.WestfieldComics.com




thanks, roger!
that made it all worth while!
if everyone enjoys the book half as much, we'll be delighted!


and here's a great winter-time calvin and hobbes


now get back to work!
smell ya later!
todd