Posts
to show you this...
enjoy!
todd
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
perhapanauts:second chances #3--cover
and, of course, i told you all that
to show you this...
enjoy!
todd
to show you this...
enjoy!
todd
Monday, June 12, 2006
the dover demon
okay...
i am a total fanboy. always have been. i am starstruck when i meet favorite actors, bands, writers, etc...
years ago i met and got a chance to hang out with kurt russell (incredibly nice guy). i have an autographed photo from tina fey and amy poehler that i cherish (thanks scott!). and as a "professional" (whatever that means) comic book writer for the past 12 years, i've been able to meet, work with, and drink with, some of my absolute favorite writers, pencillers, inkers, letterers, colorists, and editors. maybe it's the 'fame' thing, but i think it's got more to do with thanking the people who've entertained or inspired me over the years and throughout my life. whichever...
two posts back i gave the cliffs notes version of the story of my favorite cryptid, the dover demon, gleaned from the various accounts i've read in books and interviews over the past couple years. i'm a writer by trade and we are known/allowed/expected to take a little creative license, prose it up here and there to make it more of a story, build the suspense. that's what we do. we try to set the mood and the stage for events to play out the way we imagine them. i projected what i thought people were thinking or feeling as the story unravelled. i always do my best to make sure that the facts are accurate and that i haven't misrepresented anything--or anyone--along the way. (as with anything, but especially in regards to these tales of the unknown and the unexplained, sources are sometimes less than reliable.)
but how thrilled was i when i got an e-mail from none other than loren coleman himself, the foremost cryptozoologist in the country (if not the world) and the guy who christened the little critter "the dover demon" in the first place!
i had corresponded with mr. coleman briefly back in the fall to request information on his cryptid museum and hopefully make some arrangments to visit it. we had a nice back and forth of e-mails and he told me that much of the museum is currently on loan to bates college (see loren's website for more information on times and directions. www.lorencoleman.com), and so i decided to try to get to see it there.
but while loren says that i got most of the story of the dover demon right, he pointed out that i was inaccurate in saying that mothman prophecies author john keel was part of the original investigation. (though i knew i had read that somewhere and was pulling my hair out trying to track it down--only to find that, when i did, it really WASN"T the most reliable of sources...)
it was mr. coleman and a few other local investigators who first checked the stories out and, as i said, loren who gave the entity it's name.
my apologies, and thanks to loren for pointing this out.
if you want even more of the dover demon, check out loren's book, "mysterious america".
all that said, i wanted not only to give you the background on the creature, tell the tale and show you the original drawings, but then show you craig's take on it, 'cause you know...
...he's on his way...
more later~
todd
i am a total fanboy. always have been. i am starstruck when i meet favorite actors, bands, writers, etc...
years ago i met and got a chance to hang out with kurt russell (incredibly nice guy). i have an autographed photo from tina fey and amy poehler that i cherish (thanks scott!). and as a "professional" (whatever that means) comic book writer for the past 12 years, i've been able to meet, work with, and drink with, some of my absolute favorite writers, pencillers, inkers, letterers, colorists, and editors. maybe it's the 'fame' thing, but i think it's got more to do with thanking the people who've entertained or inspired me over the years and throughout my life. whichever...
two posts back i gave the cliffs notes version of the story of my favorite cryptid, the dover demon, gleaned from the various accounts i've read in books and interviews over the past couple years. i'm a writer by trade and we are known/allowed/expected to take a little creative license, prose it up here and there to make it more of a story, build the suspense. that's what we do. we try to set the mood and the stage for events to play out the way we imagine them. i projected what i thought people were thinking or feeling as the story unravelled. i always do my best to make sure that the facts are accurate and that i haven't misrepresented anything--or anyone--along the way. (as with anything, but especially in regards to these tales of the unknown and the unexplained, sources are sometimes less than reliable.)
but how thrilled was i when i got an e-mail from none other than loren coleman himself, the foremost cryptozoologist in the country (if not the world) and the guy who christened the little critter "the dover demon" in the first place!
i had corresponded with mr. coleman briefly back in the fall to request information on his cryptid museum and hopefully make some arrangments to visit it. we had a nice back and forth of e-mails and he told me that much of the museum is currently on loan to bates college (see loren's website for more information on times and directions. www.lorencoleman.com), and so i decided to try to get to see it there.
but while loren says that i got most of the story of the dover demon right, he pointed out that i was inaccurate in saying that mothman prophecies author john keel was part of the original investigation. (though i knew i had read that somewhere and was pulling my hair out trying to track it down--only to find that, when i did, it really WASN"T the most reliable of sources...)
it was mr. coleman and a few other local investigators who first checked the stories out and, as i said, loren who gave the entity it's name.
my apologies, and thanks to loren for pointing this out.
if you want even more of the dover demon, check out loren's book, "mysterious america".
all that said, i wanted not only to give you the background on the creature, tell the tale and show you the original drawings, but then show you craig's take on it, 'cause you know...
...he's on his way...
more later~
todd
Saturday, June 10, 2006
put it on my bill...
okay...
as becky was so kind to report (in the 'comments' a few posts back), they opened up that duck and found only grain in it's little duck belly. no alien.
she and i scoffed, "cover up."
now i see that the duck itself went for close to $10,000 dollars on ebay the other day. the animal hosptial, which thought that they might be able to raise a couple hundred bucks to help out at the clinic, were stunned by how high the bidding went. me too, but i'm a big animal lover so if you look at it as a donation, that's a pretty nice contribution.
apparently the duck came in with a broken wing, hence the alien revealing x-ray. they later related that the duck later died as a result of it's injuries.
the doctors who performed the inevitable autopsy did add that they were a bit tentative when they made their first incision, images of john hurt spasming on the nostromo's dinner table running through their minds. to me, it's nice to know that they didn't dismiss the possibility of something...unknown.
because it's the way i'm wired--i want to believe and i'm always making up stories--conspiracy theories are racing around in my head. there WAS something in there but the goverment seized it. no, wait, BEDLAM seized it! the agency's men in black showed up, took the carcas and 'told' everyone to forget what they saw. they replaced it with another duck that looks exactly- but, wait! the x-ray would prove that they're two different ducks. one of the young vets in the animal clinic notices the slightest difference and x-rays the new duck, the wing on this new bird showing a different kind of break! and because her fiance is a hypnotherapist, she undergoes regression therapy to remember what the men in black made her forget--that there WAS something in the duck, something that the men in black excised while still there at the clinic, a small worm-like alien, still alive and pissed, angry that it's terran hosts--my GOD! they were in league with this alien!!?--would allow it to be ingested like that...by a DUCK!?!? but the vet doesn't trust her memories and needs more proof. she and her boyfriend start their own investigation, heading first to the home of the crazy people who paid $10,000 bucks for a duck full of grain (when there's this really nice place i know of not far away where you can get a delicious "canard l'orange" for just $18.95...) the new duck owner scoffs at her, unwilling to let her touch the bird, but maybe also not willing to entertain the fact that she just might be right. they argue but it all soon comes to an end when two sleek black 1966 lincoln continentals pull up out front and eight men in black emerge heading ominously for house. now he believes, doesn't he? now the three of them, plus the duck owners mildly rebellious teenage son are on the lam, desperately trying to get this faux fowl, this replacement mallard to some authority that will confirm that there is indeed a cover-up going on here, launching their own investigation, exposing an alien conspiracy, and clearing the name of the vet. but somehow, during the incredible chase scene that covers most of san francisco, the young vet gets caught and rendered unconscious. when she comes to she is tied to a chair under a single light in a very dark room. two voices discuss what she knows and what they should do about her. one fo the men in black steps out of the shadows and into the light, holding something in his hand. she defiantly tells them that they'll never get away with this, she'll talk, she'll tell. "but I won't." says the other voice and she has just enough time to register that the voice came from the squirming, wriggling thing in the man's gloved hand, as he forces her jaws and drops the slug-like alien into her open mouth...
man, i don't know what happens next--just a crazy thought...
sorry, got carried away there.
(would you believe i only planned on a short little entry today...? i gotta get to work!)
more tomorrow.
todd
as becky was so kind to report (in the 'comments' a few posts back), they opened up that duck and found only grain in it's little duck belly. no alien.
she and i scoffed, "cover up."
now i see that the duck itself went for close to $10,000 dollars on ebay the other day. the animal hosptial, which thought that they might be able to raise a couple hundred bucks to help out at the clinic, were stunned by how high the bidding went. me too, but i'm a big animal lover so if you look at it as a donation, that's a pretty nice contribution.
apparently the duck came in with a broken wing, hence the alien revealing x-ray. they later related that the duck later died as a result of it's injuries.
the doctors who performed the inevitable autopsy did add that they were a bit tentative when they made their first incision, images of john hurt spasming on the nostromo's dinner table running through their minds. to me, it's nice to know that they didn't dismiss the possibility of something...unknown.
because it's the way i'm wired--i want to believe and i'm always making up stories--conspiracy theories are racing around in my head. there WAS something in there but the goverment seized it. no, wait, BEDLAM seized it! the agency's men in black showed up, took the carcas and 'told' everyone to forget what they saw. they replaced it with another duck that looks exactly- but, wait! the x-ray would prove that they're two different ducks. one of the young vets in the animal clinic notices the slightest difference and x-rays the new duck, the wing on this new bird showing a different kind of break! and because her fiance is a hypnotherapist, she undergoes regression therapy to remember what the men in black made her forget--that there WAS something in the duck, something that the men in black excised while still there at the clinic, a small worm-like alien, still alive and pissed, angry that it's terran hosts--my GOD! they were in league with this alien!!?--would allow it to be ingested like that...by a DUCK!?!? but the vet doesn't trust her memories and needs more proof. she and her boyfriend start their own investigation, heading first to the home of the crazy people who paid $10,000 bucks for a duck full of grain (when there's this really nice place i know of not far away where you can get a delicious "canard l'orange" for just $18.95...) the new duck owner scoffs at her, unwilling to let her touch the bird, but maybe also not willing to entertain the fact that she just might be right. they argue but it all soon comes to an end when two sleek black 1966 lincoln continentals pull up out front and eight men in black emerge heading ominously for house. now he believes, doesn't he? now the three of them, plus the duck owners mildly rebellious teenage son are on the lam, desperately trying to get this faux fowl, this replacement mallard to some authority that will confirm that there is indeed a cover-up going on here, launching their own investigation, exposing an alien conspiracy, and clearing the name of the vet. but somehow, during the incredible chase scene that covers most of san francisco, the young vet gets caught and rendered unconscious. when she comes to she is tied to a chair under a single light in a very dark room. two voices discuss what she knows and what they should do about her. one fo the men in black steps out of the shadows and into the light, holding something in his hand. she defiantly tells them that they'll never get away with this, she'll talk, she'll tell. "but I won't." says the other voice and she has just enough time to register that the voice came from the squirming, wriggling thing in the man's gloved hand, as he forces her jaws and drops the slug-like alien into her open mouth...
man, i don't know what happens next--just a crazy thought...
sorry, got carried away there.
(would you believe i only planned on a short little entry today...? i gotta get to work!)
more tomorrow.
todd
Friday, June 09, 2006
april 21, 1977--dover, massachusetts
okay...
for some reason, this has been my favorite cryptid story for the past five or six years. yes, i'm an obsessive type and, yes, i was chupacabra crazy there for a while--from around '96 til 2002--and still am! but when i first read the accounts of this strange night...well, i've just been fascinated with this one ever since! maybe it's the fact that i grew up in the northeast/new england area myself. or that i woulda been just a few years younger than the people that this happened to. or that i've walked down my share of dark, tree-lined backroads, watching both shadows and branches moving and snapping, certain that one of them was moving closer, coming toward me...
so here's the story. i'm condensing it, of course, but if it hits you like it hit me and you wanna read more, there's a more detailed account over at
http://paranormal.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://members.aol.com/soccorro64/doverdemon.htm
late at night, about 10:30pm on april 21, 1977, three kids--teenagers--were driving home on a backroad, farm street, in dover, massachusetts. listening to music too loud, yelling to talk over the music, and who knows what else, they were having a good time. at some point, the driver, bill bartlett, 17, spotted something at the side of the road ahead climbing over a stone wall. not slowing down, and not a little stunned, bill kept driving rather than break up his buddies' conversation, his mind trying to process what he'd seen.
'cause he'd never seen anything like it before.
he pulled to the side of the road about a mile away and asked his friends if they'd seen it too. he described for them a small, pale creature with, seemingly, the body of a baby, with a large melon-shaped head and long prehensile fingers and toes--like a treefrogs. they hadn't and at first thought he was kidding until they really got a look at his face and saw that he was genuinely shaken. they drove back to check it out but what bill had seen was gone.
and his growing uneasiness was contagious.
about two hours later, 15 year old john baxter was walking home--in the dark--from his girlfriend's house on a road that runs sort of parallel to farm street, when he saw a figure walking toward him about 40 yards away. in the dark he couldn't make it out, but was fairly certain that it was a friend of his--or WANTED it to be--and so called out to him hoping for a friendly response. the figure just stopped. as john moved closer, the figure, now he could see that it was much smaller than he'd originally thought, turned and headed into the woods. john followed, thinking that maybe this was a little kid, or even...at one point, a monkey? (funny what your mind will try to convince you of when you don't have reference for something...else...) he even went into the woods after it, chasing it, for a few minutes--and then finally, he got spooked.
and was terrified all the rest of the way home.
the next night, a young couple, will taintor, 18, and abby brabham, 15, were driving home on springdale avenue when they spied the creature squatting next to a bridge railing, caught in the headlights, watching them as the car drove by. both were transfixed. a little farther up the road, will broke the trance when he asked abby if she'd seen that. she said yes and for him to lock the doors.
okay, so i'm thinkin' 6 teenagers, late at night, coming home from parties or whatever, gotta be a hoax, right? buncha friends, they're all in on it. but here's where the average reader needs to make the leap and, as i've said so often before--i WANT to believe--so i make it. (let me know if you do...)
so they go to school (the ones that still go to school) the next day and, though this is a small town and everybody knows everybody, they're not friends, they don't talk to each other, don't really know each other. (being from a small town myself, it's easy for me to buy this; you 'see' people everyday, but that doesn't mean you've ever talked with them or whatever.) of course, they're telling their friends about this weird thing they saw out on the farm road and, of course, each of them draws a sketch of what this bizarre creature looked like.
it's a cop who is investigating the strange reports who puts all the sketches--and eventually, the kids-- together and realizes that all the sketches are very very similar. in taking their statements, the authorities are careful not to let the kids have time to speak with each other and compare or corroborate stories. teachers and parents and whoever all give testimony that none of these kids are tricksters--good kids, a couple of 'em maybe a little wild at times, but they just don't have that in 'em. there are polygraph tests and investigations by cryptozoologists john keel (the mothman prophecies) and loren coleman, coleman dubbing the creature "the dover demon". when it all came together, other reports of strange sights and occurances along the creature's apparent "route" came in; dogs barking, possible (peripheral) sightings, etc.
next year will be the 30 year anniversary and they still have no idea what it was...
here are bill bartlett, john baxter, and abby brabham's sketches.
i want to believe.
let me know whatcha think...
more tomorrow--
todd
for some reason, this has been my favorite cryptid story for the past five or six years. yes, i'm an obsessive type and, yes, i was chupacabra crazy there for a while--from around '96 til 2002--and still am! but when i first read the accounts of this strange night...well, i've just been fascinated with this one ever since! maybe it's the fact that i grew up in the northeast/new england area myself. or that i woulda been just a few years younger than the people that this happened to. or that i've walked down my share of dark, tree-lined backroads, watching both shadows and branches moving and snapping, certain that one of them was moving closer, coming toward me...
so here's the story. i'm condensing it, of course, but if it hits you like it hit me and you wanna read more, there's a more detailed account over at
http://paranormal.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://members.aol.com/soccorro64/doverdemon.htm
late at night, about 10:30pm on april 21, 1977, three kids--teenagers--were driving home on a backroad, farm street, in dover, massachusetts. listening to music too loud, yelling to talk over the music, and who knows what else, they were having a good time. at some point, the driver, bill bartlett, 17, spotted something at the side of the road ahead climbing over a stone wall. not slowing down, and not a little stunned, bill kept driving rather than break up his buddies' conversation, his mind trying to process what he'd seen.
'cause he'd never seen anything like it before.
he pulled to the side of the road about a mile away and asked his friends if they'd seen it too. he described for them a small, pale creature with, seemingly, the body of a baby, with a large melon-shaped head and long prehensile fingers and toes--like a treefrogs. they hadn't and at first thought he was kidding until they really got a look at his face and saw that he was genuinely shaken. they drove back to check it out but what bill had seen was gone.
and his growing uneasiness was contagious.
about two hours later, 15 year old john baxter was walking home--in the dark--from his girlfriend's house on a road that runs sort of parallel to farm street, when he saw a figure walking toward him about 40 yards away. in the dark he couldn't make it out, but was fairly certain that it was a friend of his--or WANTED it to be--and so called out to him hoping for a friendly response. the figure just stopped. as john moved closer, the figure, now he could see that it was much smaller than he'd originally thought, turned and headed into the woods. john followed, thinking that maybe this was a little kid, or even...at one point, a monkey? (funny what your mind will try to convince you of when you don't have reference for something...else...) he even went into the woods after it, chasing it, for a few minutes--and then finally, he got spooked.
and was terrified all the rest of the way home.
the next night, a young couple, will taintor, 18, and abby brabham, 15, were driving home on springdale avenue when they spied the creature squatting next to a bridge railing, caught in the headlights, watching them as the car drove by. both were transfixed. a little farther up the road, will broke the trance when he asked abby if she'd seen that. she said yes and for him to lock the doors.
okay, so i'm thinkin' 6 teenagers, late at night, coming home from parties or whatever, gotta be a hoax, right? buncha friends, they're all in on it. but here's where the average reader needs to make the leap and, as i've said so often before--i WANT to believe--so i make it. (let me know if you do...)
so they go to school (the ones that still go to school) the next day and, though this is a small town and everybody knows everybody, they're not friends, they don't talk to each other, don't really know each other. (being from a small town myself, it's easy for me to buy this; you 'see' people everyday, but that doesn't mean you've ever talked with them or whatever.) of course, they're telling their friends about this weird thing they saw out on the farm road and, of course, each of them draws a sketch of what this bizarre creature looked like.
it's a cop who is investigating the strange reports who puts all the sketches--and eventually, the kids-- together and realizes that all the sketches are very very similar. in taking their statements, the authorities are careful not to let the kids have time to speak with each other and compare or corroborate stories. teachers and parents and whoever all give testimony that none of these kids are tricksters--good kids, a couple of 'em maybe a little wild at times, but they just don't have that in 'em. there are polygraph tests and investigations by cryptozoologists john keel (the mothman prophecies) and loren coleman, coleman dubbing the creature "the dover demon". when it all came together, other reports of strange sights and occurances along the creature's apparent "route" came in; dogs barking, possible (peripheral) sightings, etc.
next year will be the 30 year anniversary and they still have no idea what it was...
here are bill bartlett, john baxter, and abby brabham's sketches.
i want to believe.
let me know whatcha think...
more tomorrow--
todd
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
back to basics
okay...
i don't really have a lotta time to talk today...
my pal, scott weinstein, is comin' up from the city for a day or so--to hopefully write some funny, funny stuff--and the place is a mess. not that my place isn't ALWAYS a mess anyway, but the hot water heater blew up/blew out the other day, and though the guys replacing it did a helluva good and fast job of it, the floors need to be mopped and everything moved back to it's original place. y'know...?
anyway, i went on a couple of entries back about how craig has just been thrilling and inpsiring me with the new covers for the new series and, while i love 'em all, i gotta say that i think this one is my favorite! craig wanted it to be a little more active, more frenetic, and i talked him out of it, so blame me if it looks too quiet. but believe me, it's not! the events in THAT issue...well, you're just gonna hafta wait and see...!
also, craig did the colors for these covers and i think he did a kickass job on this! we don't mean to dis our rico, but sometimes an artist wants to take a project from the beginning to the end and that's what craig wanted to do this time with the covers. i think they look awesome!
well, i gotta go mop.
later--
todd
i don't really have a lotta time to talk today...
my pal, scott weinstein, is comin' up from the city for a day or so--to hopefully write some funny, funny stuff--and the place is a mess. not that my place isn't ALWAYS a mess anyway, but the hot water heater blew up/blew out the other day, and though the guys replacing it did a helluva good and fast job of it, the floors need to be mopped and everything moved back to it's original place. y'know...?
anyway, i went on a couple of entries back about how craig has just been thrilling and inpsiring me with the new covers for the new series and, while i love 'em all, i gotta say that i think this one is my favorite! craig wanted it to be a little more active, more frenetic, and i talked him out of it, so blame me if it looks too quiet. but believe me, it's not! the events in THAT issue...well, you're just gonna hafta wait and see...!
also, craig did the colors for these covers and i think he did a kickass job on this! we don't mean to dis our rico, but sometimes an artist wants to take a project from the beginning to the end and that's what craig wanted to do this time with the covers. i think they look awesome!
well, i gotta go mop.
later--
todd
Thursday, June 01, 2006
perhapanauts: second chances!!
okay...
here's whatcha need to know.
the perhapanauts trade paperback, which we have lovingly called 'first blood' (mostly 'cause a the blood, but also 'cause it's our first) due in stores in september, can be ordered right now through your favorite local comic shop or through the folks at amazon.com. it features all of the first four issues--masterfully retouched (or as we like to call it, 'george lucased'...) in a few places to reflect our original intentions where, originally, time would not allow, it also features 2 of our earlier pilot episodes, 'fiepick' and 'seven months earlier' (now presented in stunning rico-vison color) as well as secret files of all your favorite characters and cryptids...and even some you haven't even seen before!! and if you're a regular traveller to these boards, you've already seen the stellar line up of awesome pin-ups by some of the coolest artists in the industry today; kevin nowlan, guy davis, chris brunner, david antoine williams, matt talbot and rich woodall, and nick cardy!!
so that's that.
pick that up and you'll be all set for the ALL NEW dark horse miniseries coming in november; the perhapanauts: second chances! if you loved the first series, this series will make you hate it! no, wait...i mean because it's so GOOD! the new series is gonna totally blow you away! take my word for it--you won't regret it! there are things happening in this story that i can't even believe--and i made 'em up!! tell your friendly comic book guy that he should order one for you! and one for himself...!! and, like, 20 for the store!!
here's what you should be looking for!
only, y'know, with the logo and the dark horse on it and stuff...
(okay, i'm all pimped out. more fun stuff in a day or two.)
later~
todd
here's whatcha need to know.
the perhapanauts trade paperback, which we have lovingly called 'first blood' (mostly 'cause a the blood, but also 'cause it's our first) due in stores in september, can be ordered right now through your favorite local comic shop or through the folks at amazon.com. it features all of the first four issues--masterfully retouched (or as we like to call it, 'george lucased'...) in a few places to reflect our original intentions where, originally, time would not allow, it also features 2 of our earlier pilot episodes, 'fiepick' and 'seven months earlier' (now presented in stunning rico-vison color) as well as secret files of all your favorite characters and cryptids...and even some you haven't even seen before!! and if you're a regular traveller to these boards, you've already seen the stellar line up of awesome pin-ups by some of the coolest artists in the industry today; kevin nowlan, guy davis, chris brunner, david antoine williams, matt talbot and rich woodall, and nick cardy!!
so that's that.
pick that up and you'll be all set for the ALL NEW dark horse miniseries coming in november; the perhapanauts: second chances! if you loved the first series, this series will make you hate it! no, wait...i mean because it's so GOOD! the new series is gonna totally blow you away! take my word for it--you won't regret it! there are things happening in this story that i can't even believe--and i made 'em up!! tell your friendly comic book guy that he should order one for you! and one for himself...!! and, like, 20 for the store!!
here's what you should be looking for!
only, y'know, with the logo and the dark horse on it and stuff...
(okay, i'm all pimped out. more fun stuff in a day or two.)
later~
todd
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
yeah...what?
okay...
i've spent most of the morning researching all of the various names that are used for bigfoot the world over (including the seemingly endless list of names that each and every northern american indian tribe has given him--and there are a LOT of them!) and was just getting ready to get to the real writing when i checked yahoo to see if tonight's LOST is the beginning of the reruns of the second season ('cause i came in late...my friend, sharon, gave me the first season for christmas and we watched it together and now i'm just dyin' to see what's in that hatch! that's how far outta the loop i am! i've been desperately avoiding articles and spoilers all season long and now i'm READY to get all caught up...)
anyway, i'm checking yahoo and i see this;
>This undated photo provided by the International Bird Rescue Research Center, shows an X-ray taken Sunday, May 21, 2006, of an injured duck with a broken wing. The International Bird Rescue Research Center in Cordelia. Calif., plans to raise funds with an unusual duck X-ray, which they say shows the clear image of what appears to be the face, or head, of an extraterrestrial alien in the bird's stomach. Unfortunately, the duck died quickly and quietly of its injuries. (AP Photo/International Bird Rescue Research Center, Marie Travers)<
yeah...
what?!?
that is just crazy freaky.
an alien in a duck?
of course, i'm sad that the duck died but now that he's dead, let's cut him open and take a look at the alien, huh?! that's what i wanna see! stop showing us x-rays and get to it!
also, do they start out by telling us that this is an undated photo and then telling us when it was taken...?
crazy.
(i bet we never see that alien.)
more tomorrow.
todd
i've spent most of the morning researching all of the various names that are used for bigfoot the world over (including the seemingly endless list of names that each and every northern american indian tribe has given him--and there are a LOT of them!) and was just getting ready to get to the real writing when i checked yahoo to see if tonight's LOST is the beginning of the reruns of the second season ('cause i came in late...my friend, sharon, gave me the first season for christmas and we watched it together and now i'm just dyin' to see what's in that hatch! that's how far outta the loop i am! i've been desperately avoiding articles and spoilers all season long and now i'm READY to get all caught up...)
anyway, i'm checking yahoo and i see this;
>This undated photo provided by the International Bird Rescue Research Center, shows an X-ray taken Sunday, May 21, 2006, of an injured duck with a broken wing. The International Bird Rescue Research Center in Cordelia. Calif., plans to raise funds with an unusual duck X-ray, which they say shows the clear image of what appears to be the face, or head, of an extraterrestrial alien in the bird's stomach. Unfortunately, the duck died quickly and quietly of its injuries. (AP Photo/International Bird Rescue Research Center, Marie Travers)<
yeah...
what?!?
that is just crazy freaky.
an alien in a duck?
of course, i'm sad that the duck died but now that he's dead, let's cut him open and take a look at the alien, huh?! that's what i wanna see! stop showing us x-rays and get to it!
also, do they start out by telling us that this is an undated photo and then telling us when it was taken...?
crazy.
(i bet we never see that alien.)
more tomorrow.
todd
Sunday, May 28, 2006
back to the creepy stuff...
okay...
so for the past few weeks it seems i've been gushing over all the great guys who did pin-ups for us and i just can't tell ya what a rush it is for craig and me when we get to see other people's versions of our gang! we're still glowin' about them are still getting letters and 'e's from people telling us how cool they are!
this PAST week or so, however, the person who's been knockin' me out with some just AMAZING artwork is craig himself! as we finally get a chance to get rollin' on the second series, craig has been battin' out some AWESOME covers for the new series and though we are both very proud of the first series (as an introduction to the team and the concept), this new story turns everything up to 11! Story-wise, I'm STUNNED at what these characters are letting us put them through! (if the 'haps were to visit our reality tomorrow, i'm sure they'd come after us for the roller coaster ride that Second Chances has become...) and visually, well...craig's covers have left me speechless each and every one seemingly better than the last! how you doin' that, c?!
anyway, i'll be showin' 'em to ya over the next week or so--just gotta get the artist's approval before i do... : )
so that said, i wanna move onto one last thing...that i've always wanted this blog, this perhapablog, to be about YOU as much as it's about us and the comic. i wanted to reiterate that this could and should be more of an open forum for all of us than a place for me to babble on and on each week or so. in the past i've invited people to send in their scary tales and spooky stories of the paranormal or the unexplained. let me make sure that you know that this could also be a place to showcase some artwork as well--and it doesn't necessarily HAVE to be a pic of the perhapanauts (though we'd LOVE to see 'em!)! i have a young friend who was in a recent story structure and comics class with me and he promises that he's done his own perhapanauts strip that i can't wait to see (send it over, jj!) i'm looking for any kinda stories of weird, wild, unexplained stuff, so send it in and i'll put it up here!
i wanna be creeped out!
so that's my challange to you. stories you've heard, crazy stuff that's happened to you, to a friend, to a friend of a friend...
and here is a picture of my dog.
smell ya later!
todd
so for the past few weeks it seems i've been gushing over all the great guys who did pin-ups for us and i just can't tell ya what a rush it is for craig and me when we get to see other people's versions of our gang! we're still glowin' about them are still getting letters and 'e's from people telling us how cool they are!
this PAST week or so, however, the person who's been knockin' me out with some just AMAZING artwork is craig himself! as we finally get a chance to get rollin' on the second series, craig has been battin' out some AWESOME covers for the new series and though we are both very proud of the first series (as an introduction to the team and the concept), this new story turns everything up to 11! Story-wise, I'm STUNNED at what these characters are letting us put them through! (if the 'haps were to visit our reality tomorrow, i'm sure they'd come after us for the roller coaster ride that Second Chances has become...) and visually, well...craig's covers have left me speechless each and every one seemingly better than the last! how you doin' that, c?!
anyway, i'll be showin' 'em to ya over the next week or so--just gotta get the artist's approval before i do... : )
so that said, i wanna move onto one last thing...that i've always wanted this blog, this perhapablog, to be about YOU as much as it's about us and the comic. i wanted to reiterate that this could and should be more of an open forum for all of us than a place for me to babble on and on each week or so. in the past i've invited people to send in their scary tales and spooky stories of the paranormal or the unexplained. let me make sure that you know that this could also be a place to showcase some artwork as well--and it doesn't necessarily HAVE to be a pic of the perhapanauts (though we'd LOVE to see 'em!)! i have a young friend who was in a recent story structure and comics class with me and he promises that he's done his own perhapanauts strip that i can't wait to see (send it over, jj!) i'm looking for any kinda stories of weird, wild, unexplained stuff, so send it in and i'll put it up here!
i wanna be creeped out!
so that's my challange to you. stories you've heard, crazy stuff that's happened to you, to a friend, to a friend of a friend...
and here is a picture of my dog.
smell ya later!
todd
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
kevin nowlan
okay...
sorry for the delay, it was a looooong week.
but here we are.
needless to say, craig and i are hard at work on the next perhapanauts series (rico not so much, but we'll have stuff to him soon enough!) and we're almost 100% positively certain that it's gonna be tremendously better than the first one--and we were pretty happy with that! craig is batting out some amazing covers--they just keep getting better and better!--and i'm thrilled with the way these characters keep changing my story on me! they just keep asking for more!
okay, so, for those of you who didn't go over to craig's site last week and see the awesome job he did coloring kevin nowlan's pin-up, or to see the pin-up itself--well, you're a jerk. get over there! craig's site is waaaay cool!
but i felt a little gyped that i didn't get a chance to gush about what an amazing job kevin did and what a really nice guy he is.
i met kevin and his wife deann at a heroescon in charlotte about 4 or 5 years ago and was thrilled when i got to sit with them at dinner the first night there. we chatted and told stories and i did everything i could not to shift into drooling fanboy mode and i guess i did a pretty good job, 'cause when i 'e'd kevin to ask him if he'd do a pin-up for us, he didn't hang up. (yes, i know you can't hang up on an e-mail--i was just making a point.) anyway, he was kind enough to look at the books and then said that his schedule was loaded but that he would try to fit it in 'cause the book seemed fun.
well, he DID fit it in and all i can say is that craig and i were in jaw-dropping awe as first the sketch pencils came through and finally the inks and kevin made our own characters look new to us. i'd go on, but i'm realizing that the best way to show you is to show you...so here.
thank you, kevin! your perhapanauts have made these two fanboys very, very happy!
later~~
todd
sorry for the delay, it was a looooong week.
but here we are.
needless to say, craig and i are hard at work on the next perhapanauts series (rico not so much, but we'll have stuff to him soon enough!) and we're almost 100% positively certain that it's gonna be tremendously better than the first one--and we were pretty happy with that! craig is batting out some amazing covers--they just keep getting better and better!--and i'm thrilled with the way these characters keep changing my story on me! they just keep asking for more!
okay, so, for those of you who didn't go over to craig's site last week and see the awesome job he did coloring kevin nowlan's pin-up, or to see the pin-up itself--well, you're a jerk. get over there! craig's site is waaaay cool!
but i felt a little gyped that i didn't get a chance to gush about what an amazing job kevin did and what a really nice guy he is.
i met kevin and his wife deann at a heroescon in charlotte about 4 or 5 years ago and was thrilled when i got to sit with them at dinner the first night there. we chatted and told stories and i did everything i could not to shift into drooling fanboy mode and i guess i did a pretty good job, 'cause when i 'e'd kevin to ask him if he'd do a pin-up for us, he didn't hang up. (yes, i know you can't hang up on an e-mail--i was just making a point.) anyway, he was kind enough to look at the books and then said that his schedule was loaded but that he would try to fit it in 'cause the book seemed fun.
well, he DID fit it in and all i can say is that craig and i were in jaw-dropping awe as first the sketch pencils came through and finally the inks and kevin made our own characters look new to us. i'd go on, but i'm realizing that the best way to show you is to show you...so here.
thank you, kevin! your perhapanauts have made these two fanboys very, very happy!
later~~
todd
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
guy's haps
okay...
sorry to make y'all wait so long--
i'd intended to post this saturday, but came down with a lousy cold and was busy just keeping myself upright and moving forward. better now.
and so where were we...? oh, yeah. craig posted kevin nowlan's beautiful perhapanauts piece over on his site--www.craigrousseau.com--we've come to the last of our pin-up parade.
and here it is, ladies, gentlemen, haps fans far and wide, i give you
guy davis!
i'm sure i don't have to read you guy's list of credits, but i'll tell you that i've loved his stuff since way back!
his run on sandman mystery theater alone would be enough as he masterfully brought 1930's new york to life in every issue, never skimping on detail or flavor, he sucked me into that world as no one else could! so too the klunky, wonky steam-punky world of the nevermen! his own marquis is an unsettling tale of dark deeds in darker times and his current work on the b.p.r.d. is what brings me back to that book month after month!
so i hope you can see that i'm a big guy davis fan!
but not as big a craig...
we actually fought over this, over who liked him more.
i said it was me and that was final...and then craig beat the snot outta me.
so craig's the bigger fan.
(y'happy now, ya big baby?)
anyway, craig and guy 'e' each other now and then and i've never even spoken to him, but thanks guy!
love whatcha did with our haps!
your #2 fan--
todd
ps. oh, and because i'm an ass i forgot to mention (in the first draft) that rico colored this bad boy!
sorry rico.
sorry to make y'all wait so long--
i'd intended to post this saturday, but came down with a lousy cold and was busy just keeping myself upright and moving forward. better now.
and so where were we...? oh, yeah. craig posted kevin nowlan's beautiful perhapanauts piece over on his site--www.craigrousseau.com--we've come to the last of our pin-up parade.
and here it is, ladies, gentlemen, haps fans far and wide, i give you
guy davis!
i'm sure i don't have to read you guy's list of credits, but i'll tell you that i've loved his stuff since way back!
his run on sandman mystery theater alone would be enough as he masterfully brought 1930's new york to life in every issue, never skimping on detail or flavor, he sucked me into that world as no one else could! so too the klunky, wonky steam-punky world of the nevermen! his own marquis is an unsettling tale of dark deeds in darker times and his current work on the b.p.r.d. is what brings me back to that book month after month!
so i hope you can see that i'm a big guy davis fan!
but not as big a craig...
we actually fought over this, over who liked him more.
i said it was me and that was final...and then craig beat the snot outta me.
so craig's the bigger fan.
(y'happy now, ya big baby?)
anyway, craig and guy 'e' each other now and then and i've never even spoken to him, but thanks guy!
love whatcha did with our haps!
your #2 fan--
todd
ps. oh, and because i'm an ass i forgot to mention (in the first draft) that rico colored this bad boy!
sorry rico.
Friday, May 12, 2006
a guy thing
okay...
for those of you who don't know, craig has a blog of his own over at www.craigrousseau.com, and has posted the sweet kevin nowlan perhapanauts piece--colored masterfully by craig himself--over there! so head on over and check it out! and bookmark it while you're at it; craig's is a blog you should be checking out regularly anyway. he posts some pretty pictures over there and usually keeps everyone up-to-date with what he's doin'!
so with kevin's over at craig's and everyone here screaming for guy...
i'm gonna keep you in suspense and instead post this beautiful--and fun!--derek fridolfs pin-up!
what can i say about derek except that we owe him money...
a member of the tellos family from way back, derek has been so kind and patient and always ready to lend his beautiful inks to a bunch of the different tellos stories we did along the way. i say patient because derek--along with a handful of other friends (maybe they're not friends anymore...)--are on a list of people that mike and i owe money to that was promised us years ago by image. derek is one of those guys who LOVES comics, loves drawing, and loves to share his talents and experiences with kids and the community, doing programs and workshops on comics and drawing.
and so when we got the perhapanauts up and running, derek, out of nowhere, sent us this awesome pin-up! we loved it and wanted to include it in the trade, but had already promised those pages out to the other guys. so, as craig said, derek's will be the first in our second collection.
so we got that goin' for us.
it was colored by mark, but i don't know his last name.
derek?
next time: guy davis!
smell ya later!
todd
for those of you who don't know, craig has a blog of his own over at www.craigrousseau.com, and has posted the sweet kevin nowlan perhapanauts piece--colored masterfully by craig himself--over there! so head on over and check it out! and bookmark it while you're at it; craig's is a blog you should be checking out regularly anyway. he posts some pretty pictures over there and usually keeps everyone up-to-date with what he's doin'!
so with kevin's over at craig's and everyone here screaming for guy...
i'm gonna keep you in suspense and instead post this beautiful--and fun!--derek fridolfs pin-up!
what can i say about derek except that we owe him money...
a member of the tellos family from way back, derek has been so kind and patient and always ready to lend his beautiful inks to a bunch of the different tellos stories we did along the way. i say patient because derek--along with a handful of other friends (maybe they're not friends anymore...)--are on a list of people that mike and i owe money to that was promised us years ago by image. derek is one of those guys who LOVES comics, loves drawing, and loves to share his talents and experiences with kids and the community, doing programs and workshops on comics and drawing.
and so when we got the perhapanauts up and running, derek, out of nowhere, sent us this awesome pin-up! we loved it and wanted to include it in the trade, but had already promised those pages out to the other guys. so, as craig said, derek's will be the first in our second collection.
so we got that goin' for us.
it was colored by mark, but i don't know his last name.
derek?
next time: guy davis!
smell ya later!
todd
Thursday, May 11, 2006
first blood
okay...
gotta be quick here 'cause i promised myself that i would just take a quick break from writing the insidious plot to the perhapanauts:second chances #1 to go on-line and check my 'e's. but here i am, throwin' down a blog and i really should be going...
anyway, a couple of things, not the least of which is that the first perhapanauts trade, first blood, is currently up on amazon dot com http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159307607X/sr=1-1/qid=1147231110/ref=sr_1_1/002-0872853-1037600?%5Fencoding=UTF8 for your amusement and pre-ordering fun! not that you shouldn't patronize your own local comic shops...but these DO make great gifts, so why not buy one from each?
as i've said, there's a buncha new stuff inside! not just the gorgeous pin-ups from nick cardy, guy davis, rich woodall and matt talbot, david williams, chris brunner, and yes, kevin nowlan, but an introduction and pin-up by mike wieringo, all new bedlam files (with secrets and surprises galore!) and the newly--and beautifully--colored early stories "7 months earlier" and "fiepick"!
and amazon is only asking 10 and change for it...?! oh, buy two!
okay, moving on...
i ran david antione williams pin-up last week without really giving him all the props i could 'cause i was racing. my apologies, dave. aside from a lot of card work and pieces in dc's who's who back in the day, david has done a considerable amount of work for warner bros. and is even more proud of his upcoming creator project, "hail".
here's his pin-up again, for those you you who may've missed it or have been dying to take another look at it again.
thanks david, for the pin-up and your patience.
and rico colored it.
more tomorrow--
todd
gotta be quick here 'cause i promised myself that i would just take a quick break from writing the insidious plot to the perhapanauts:second chances #1 to go on-line and check my 'e's. but here i am, throwin' down a blog and i really should be going...
anyway, a couple of things, not the least of which is that the first perhapanauts trade, first blood, is currently up on amazon dot com http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159307607X/sr=1-1/qid=1147231110/ref=sr_1_1/002-0872853-1037600?%5Fencoding=UTF8 for your amusement and pre-ordering fun! not that you shouldn't patronize your own local comic shops...but these DO make great gifts, so why not buy one from each?
as i've said, there's a buncha new stuff inside! not just the gorgeous pin-ups from nick cardy, guy davis, rich woodall and matt talbot, david williams, chris brunner, and yes, kevin nowlan, but an introduction and pin-up by mike wieringo, all new bedlam files (with secrets and surprises galore!) and the newly--and beautifully--colored early stories "7 months earlier" and "fiepick"!
and amazon is only asking 10 and change for it...?! oh, buy two!
okay, moving on...
i ran david antione williams pin-up last week without really giving him all the props i could 'cause i was racing. my apologies, dave. aside from a lot of card work and pieces in dc's who's who back in the day, david has done a considerable amount of work for warner bros. and is even more proud of his upcoming creator project, "hail".
here's his pin-up again, for those you you who may've missed it or have been dying to take another look at it again.
thanks david, for the pin-up and your patience.
and rico colored it.
more tomorrow--
todd
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
on with the show...
okay...
i said we were gonna showcase more of the incredible pin-ups that we (and rico) lined up for the trade and so here's another...
this one is by chris brunner. as with the one by david williams (a week or so ago...), this is another great rico get. rico and chris have worked together on a number of projects and, help me out here, rico--do you guys comprise the kickstand studios? i dunno. here's the loop. here's me.
we had wanted to include a sweet credits page in the trade to not only thank the guys who turned in such nice perhapa-pieces, but to also pimp 'em a little bit, list some credits and stuff like that. unfortunately we filled this baby so full of visual goodness that that page got squeezed out. here though, is what rico sent me for chris.
"Christopher Brunner worked on Batman Legends of the Dark Knight 172-176 and is currently working for Upper Deck, responsible for the design of their All Star Vinyl line."
check out that legends arch--you'll be glad you did! chris does a really nice batman and, in these times when the character has been totally lost in his own books (to me at least...) chris nailed the essence of the dark knight in body language alone. nice work!
and so here is chris's molly.
i have a soft spot for molly.
chris nailed that too.
beautiful!
thanks, chris!
thanks, everybody!
more in a day or two...
todd
i said we were gonna showcase more of the incredible pin-ups that we (and rico) lined up for the trade and so here's another...
this one is by chris brunner. as with the one by david williams (a week or so ago...), this is another great rico get. rico and chris have worked together on a number of projects and, help me out here, rico--do you guys comprise the kickstand studios? i dunno. here's the loop. here's me.
we had wanted to include a sweet credits page in the trade to not only thank the guys who turned in such nice perhapa-pieces, but to also pimp 'em a little bit, list some credits and stuff like that. unfortunately we filled this baby so full of visual goodness that that page got squeezed out. here though, is what rico sent me for chris.
"Christopher Brunner worked on Batman Legends of the Dark Knight 172-176 and is currently working for Upper Deck, responsible for the design of their All Star Vinyl line."
check out that legends arch--you'll be glad you did! chris does a really nice batman and, in these times when the character has been totally lost in his own books (to me at least...) chris nailed the essence of the dark knight in body language alone. nice work!
and so here is chris's molly.
i have a soft spot for molly.
chris nailed that too.
beautiful!
thanks, chris!
thanks, everybody!
more in a day or two...
todd
Sunday, May 07, 2006
scott weinstein and dreams come true
okay...
when i was a kid, waaaaay back when, i was fortunate enough to be sleeping over at a friend's house the night that saturday night live debuted. ordinarily, i wouldn't have stayed up to watch it, but because i was hangin' with kevin, we were instantly hooked. and continued to be for the next 5 years.
over the years, i've watched it pretty religiously, good times and bad, mostly for the comedy (especially when it was good), sometimes simply for nostalgiac reasons (which carried me through those...painful seasons). something about the show, to this day, evokes memories of that golden time when i was 13 years old--and belushi was god.
i met scott weinstein almost 10 years ago, introduced by a wonderfully funny girl i'd done a play with, when the two of them were interns on the show. overwhelmed by the fact that dani and i were getting to see a honest-to-god saturday night live dress rehearsal, i wasn't ready when mary ann raced up to me and excitedly (she was always excited, wasn't she scott?) shoved this wide-eyed guy at me telling me that his name was scott and he was a huge spider-man fan! we shook hands and talked a bit, but they had to rush off to get the show ready and i was still agog that i was actually in the building where all that magic had happened!
we lost touch.
here we are 10 years later and scott is still a huge spider-man fan and now a segment producer on the show! we got back in touch last year (thanks to scott!) and have not only become fast friends, but have begun working on a few writing projects together that i couldn't be more excited about! we have traded back and forth the typical books, cds, dvds, comics as we expand out common influences and introduce one another to stuff we might've missed.
plus, scott has been kind enough to score us some tickets to the show not once, but twice!
and i can't thank him enough.
last fall craig and i went down to nyc to see the eva longoria show and had an awesome time! it's amazing to watch the craft and coordination of the show's well-timed crew and scott showed us around the offices,, etc. afterwards. (we also got to go to the after-party which was cool 'cause we got to meet a lot of the writers who were more interested in our comics careers than in answering our questions about theirs...!) we had a great time!
last week, scott called me and told me that he could get tickets to last night's tom hanks show, would i wanna go? WOULD I WANNA GO?!?!? whadda you, kiddin?!? craig couldn't make it and my best mate and current boss (i guess) was practically drooling over the idea (i work with jeff doing carpentry sometimes and light construction), so i asked scott if i could bring him and he said sure!
we had a great time and with tom hanks, the red hot chili peppers as musical guests and the usual high energy of the cast, the show was a blast! the place was electric! i dunno how it looked at home, but we in the studio had a lotta fun!
thanks, scott! you da MAN!
i'll post more pin-ups tomorrow, but just wanted to jot down a little something while i'm still exhausted...
later~~
todd
(i was looking for an image from last night's show, but i'm just not that good at tracking that stuff down...)
when i was a kid, waaaaay back when, i was fortunate enough to be sleeping over at a friend's house the night that saturday night live debuted. ordinarily, i wouldn't have stayed up to watch it, but because i was hangin' with kevin, we were instantly hooked. and continued to be for the next 5 years.
over the years, i've watched it pretty religiously, good times and bad, mostly for the comedy (especially when it was good), sometimes simply for nostalgiac reasons (which carried me through those...painful seasons). something about the show, to this day, evokes memories of that golden time when i was 13 years old--and belushi was god.
i met scott weinstein almost 10 years ago, introduced by a wonderfully funny girl i'd done a play with, when the two of them were interns on the show. overwhelmed by the fact that dani and i were getting to see a honest-to-god saturday night live dress rehearsal, i wasn't ready when mary ann raced up to me and excitedly (she was always excited, wasn't she scott?) shoved this wide-eyed guy at me telling me that his name was scott and he was a huge spider-man fan! we shook hands and talked a bit, but they had to rush off to get the show ready and i was still agog that i was actually in the building where all that magic had happened!
we lost touch.
here we are 10 years later and scott is still a huge spider-man fan and now a segment producer on the show! we got back in touch last year (thanks to scott!) and have not only become fast friends, but have begun working on a few writing projects together that i couldn't be more excited about! we have traded back and forth the typical books, cds, dvds, comics as we expand out common influences and introduce one another to stuff we might've missed.
plus, scott has been kind enough to score us some tickets to the show not once, but twice!
and i can't thank him enough.
last fall craig and i went down to nyc to see the eva longoria show and had an awesome time! it's amazing to watch the craft and coordination of the show's well-timed crew and scott showed us around the offices,, etc. afterwards. (we also got to go to the after-party which was cool 'cause we got to meet a lot of the writers who were more interested in our comics careers than in answering our questions about theirs...!) we had a great time!
last week, scott called me and told me that he could get tickets to last night's tom hanks show, would i wanna go? WOULD I WANNA GO?!?!? whadda you, kiddin?!? craig couldn't make it and my best mate and current boss (i guess) was practically drooling over the idea (i work with jeff doing carpentry sometimes and light construction), so i asked scott if i could bring him and he said sure!
we had a great time and with tom hanks, the red hot chili peppers as musical guests and the usual high energy of the cast, the show was a blast! the place was electric! i dunno how it looked at home, but we in the studio had a lotta fun!
thanks, scott! you da MAN!
i'll post more pin-ups tomorrow, but just wanted to jot down a little something while i'm still exhausted...
later~~
todd
(i was looking for an image from last night's show, but i'm just not that good at tracking that stuff down...)
Friday, May 05, 2006
rrrrrrrico rrrrrrenzi!
okay...
before we go any further with our "pin-ups on parade", i think this would be a good time to stop and give some solid props to our colorist extraordinaire, rico renzi. while rico didn't do the coloring on all of these magnificent pin-up pieces for our upcoming trade, he did do most of 'em! and, just as importantly, rico's the guy who lined most of these beautiful pictures up, asking several of his friends if they'd be interested in doing something for our book.
and we're thrilled that he has such talented friends...
but more of that later. this is about rico.
so more than doing all that, rico is the colorist on our book. when craig and i were putting this thing together, i naturally left the art choices to craig who, without too much deliberation, said that rico was our man.
now there are rare times when i'm writing that i actually surprise myself, many times when craig sends me the pencils that he surprises me, but when it comes to the colors it seems like rico ALWAYS surprises me! his color choices are incredibly unique, unconventionally vibrant...and deviously well-thought-out. rico not only sees the pictures, he sees the story; something very rare in colorists these days. he studies the script and uses his unique palette to add to the story that we're telling, utilizing color to bolster the suspense, the humor, the drama. he brings our gang to life in ways that no other artist could.
it might seem that i'm going on about color more than i should, but i think that it's one of the overlooked aspects of comic book storytelling. when it's done right, it can make your story sing. done wrong, it can actually destroy it. (i know, i've been there.) and rico, of course, makes it sing.
and just to give a couple examples of my favorite ricos; check out page 14 of perhapanauts 4. when craig drew it, it was scary. when rico colored it, it was terrifying! the dark browns and purples and reds all seem to be there just to make those bright yellow eyes burn! you can feel her, that half-bodied bitch, just hanging there in the air above arisa.
two pages back, i had asked, in the plot, for the aswang to screech down on arisa out of the dark, black shadows. rico knew better and lit up the background with orange, backlighting her to horrifying effect! genius!
another rico favorite of mine is the cover to perhapanauts 2. craig and i were just transfixed by the amazing choices/samples that rico sent over and when it was done...it's just brilliant! we love it so much, we're using it as our banner for upcoming shows (which >ahem< actually, rico is making for us too...)
anyway, just thought i'd take a mo' to point out our unsung rico. next time you finish reading another perhapanauts, take a second look through at what rico brought to it. great stuff!
more pin-ups next time!
todd
before we go any further with our "pin-ups on parade", i think this would be a good time to stop and give some solid props to our colorist extraordinaire, rico renzi. while rico didn't do the coloring on all of these magnificent pin-up pieces for our upcoming trade, he did do most of 'em! and, just as importantly, rico's the guy who lined most of these beautiful pictures up, asking several of his friends if they'd be interested in doing something for our book.
and we're thrilled that he has such talented friends...
but more of that later. this is about rico.
so more than doing all that, rico is the colorist on our book. when craig and i were putting this thing together, i naturally left the art choices to craig who, without too much deliberation, said that rico was our man.
now there are rare times when i'm writing that i actually surprise myself, many times when craig sends me the pencils that he surprises me, but when it comes to the colors it seems like rico ALWAYS surprises me! his color choices are incredibly unique, unconventionally vibrant...and deviously well-thought-out. rico not only sees the pictures, he sees the story; something very rare in colorists these days. he studies the script and uses his unique palette to add to the story that we're telling, utilizing color to bolster the suspense, the humor, the drama. he brings our gang to life in ways that no other artist could.
it might seem that i'm going on about color more than i should, but i think that it's one of the overlooked aspects of comic book storytelling. when it's done right, it can make your story sing. done wrong, it can actually destroy it. (i know, i've been there.) and rico, of course, makes it sing.
and just to give a couple examples of my favorite ricos; check out page 14 of perhapanauts 4. when craig drew it, it was scary. when rico colored it, it was terrifying! the dark browns and purples and reds all seem to be there just to make those bright yellow eyes burn! you can feel her, that half-bodied bitch, just hanging there in the air above arisa.
two pages back, i had asked, in the plot, for the aswang to screech down on arisa out of the dark, black shadows. rico knew better and lit up the background with orange, backlighting her to horrifying effect! genius!
another rico favorite of mine is the cover to perhapanauts 2. craig and i were just transfixed by the amazing choices/samples that rico sent over and when it was done...it's just brilliant! we love it so much, we're using it as our banner for upcoming shows (which >ahem< actually, rico is making for us too...)
anyway, just thought i'd take a mo' to point out our unsung rico. next time you finish reading another perhapanauts, take a second look through at what rico brought to it. great stuff!
more pin-ups next time!
todd
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
ladies and gentlemen...the fabulous nick cardy!
okay...
i am now and will always be a fan boy...
i love comics! i love the art, love the stories, love the characters, and especially, i love those people who have, do, and will entertain me with their talents, their dreams, their visions.
and i love nick cardy.
for those not familiar, nick drew teen titans, aquaman, bat lash, and brave and the bold in a series of impressive runs throughout the 60's and 70's. he is a cartoonist, an illustrator, an amazing storyteller (both as an artist and as a conversationalist) and he is now my friend.
i've written this before; about how mike and i met nick at heroescon back in '98. how we continued to hover around him and thank him for all the years of enjoyment he gave us with his wonderful, imaginative art. how we became fast friends and make it a point to (try to) take him to dinner whenever we'd see him at a show. we added craig to the mix in, when? 2000?
since then, nick and i chat on the phone from time to time and, with the commission of the perhapanauts pin-up you see below, at least three times a week. the conversation does not stay on comics for long. we talk about movies, history, life, relationships, dogs, ghosts, and everything. he has become a mentor to me and he's just a really great guy!
if you're smart you'll pick up the teen titans showcase (now on sale!) and see the fun and energy he puts into all his work, then and now!
thanks, nick!
this pin-up was, of course, colored by our incomparable rico renzi. i'll be talking more about him next time!
todd
Sunday, April 30, 2006
too bogged to blog...
well, i'll TELL ya where i've been...
in trying to juggle writing the new perhapanauts series (which, just so's you know, we're calling "second chances", for a myriad of reasons...), writing a short spider-man/fantastic four job for marvel licensing, teaching an after-school course in story structure and comics, spending time with my dad, hiking with jake, and working a 9 to 5 helping my friend, jeff, re-build/re-design a beautiful kitchen (as i am sometimes wont to do...), i've just been too bogged to blog.
on the plus side, the next perhapanauts venture should be more exciting--and more surprising!--than ever! some cool things're gonna be happenin' to the haps and i can't wait for craig to draw it! and for rico to color it! and for you to read it! i think that the events of the next batch will be so unexpected that i'm tempted to add "all new! all different!" to the title! really!
as for what's cookin' here, well, here's where you loyal few (you know who you are...) who continued to check back after so long an absence get to say that it was worth the wait...in hopes that people will still buy the trade after they've seen 'em, craig and i have decided to post the incredible, awesome, beautiful pin-ups right here on the site for you to drool and gush over several months in advance! we count ourselves truly blessed to have gotten such nice pieces from such good friends and we really hope you dig 'em too!
so every couple of days, i'll be posting a new one for your kind perusal. you've already seen the gorgeous pin-up by our 'johnny raygun' pals, rich woodall and matt talbot (exquisitely colored by steve dillon of golden goat studios!), and the sketch version of ringo's introduction piece--i'll post rico's finished color version next time--so why not whet your appetites with this sweet david antoine williams number (also colored by rico!) of big comin' at ya!
hope ya dig it like we do!
talk to ya soon!
todd
in trying to juggle writing the new perhapanauts series (which, just so's you know, we're calling "second chances", for a myriad of reasons...), writing a short spider-man/fantastic four job for marvel licensing, teaching an after-school course in story structure and comics, spending time with my dad, hiking with jake, and working a 9 to 5 helping my friend, jeff, re-build/re-design a beautiful kitchen (as i am sometimes wont to do...), i've just been too bogged to blog.
on the plus side, the next perhapanauts venture should be more exciting--and more surprising!--than ever! some cool things're gonna be happenin' to the haps and i can't wait for craig to draw it! and for rico to color it! and for you to read it! i think that the events of the next batch will be so unexpected that i'm tempted to add "all new! all different!" to the title! really!
as for what's cookin' here, well, here's where you loyal few (you know who you are...) who continued to check back after so long an absence get to say that it was worth the wait...in hopes that people will still buy the trade after they've seen 'em, craig and i have decided to post the incredible, awesome, beautiful pin-ups right here on the site for you to drool and gush over several months in advance! we count ourselves truly blessed to have gotten such nice pieces from such good friends and we really hope you dig 'em too!
so every couple of days, i'll be posting a new one for your kind perusal. you've already seen the gorgeous pin-up by our 'johnny raygun' pals, rich woodall and matt talbot (exquisitely colored by steve dillon of golden goat studios!), and the sketch version of ringo's introduction piece--i'll post rico's finished color version next time--so why not whet your appetites with this sweet david antoine williams number (also colored by rico!) of big comin' at ya!
hope ya dig it like we do!
talk to ya soon!
todd
Thursday, April 13, 2006
dial-up hell
okay...
so i live in dial-up hell.
i live in an area so remote and rural that the advent of just about any other form of internet hook up is denied me. truth! calling my phone or cable companies for information and/or updates on when the 21st century will be arriving in our area is an exercise in frustration and inspiration to scribe a remake of that old tv series, "green acres". so i DO have to wait for it to connect each time i wanna go on-line. i wait for pages to download and sometimes attachments take forever...but i really love my house, where i live. it's great for me and perfect for jake. lots of room to run and explore. so, i'll continue to suck it up...and hope.
why'd i tell you that? well, to tell you this.
i don't like to spend a lot of time on-line. i probably would if it didn't take so frikkin' long. but it does and so i try to get in and out quickly and not waste so much time just WAITING!
but i realized just recently that the things that i DO wait for, that i DO apply more patience to, are primarily weird related. i will wait interminable lengths of time for a page to load if its going to reveal a cool new story about the isnashi. i'll sit in fervent anticipation if the site is going to relate to me a creepy "something-was-in-the-room-with-me" ghost story. have you ever noticed that? you can find a vast reserve of patience when the goal is something you're (borderline) obsessed with.
funny.
anyway...
i can't always get the internet to work for me. i mean, i'm okay, but--and maybe this is 'cause i have feelings of inferiority due to my dial-up restrictions--there are some things i just can't do.
a friend recently sent me a 'funny' email which listed all of the various uses for the word "sh!t" and it was actually kinda funny. i say 'funny' 'cause i get a lot of 'funny' emails that aren't funny at all. and if i gotta wait for the email to load...oh, man. don't get me started. so it listed all the variations and, as i said, a couple of 'em were funny, but it reminded me of something else.
about 10 years ago or so, i heard a similar discourse on the word "f^@k". it was absolutely brilliant, funny, and voiced by the guy who used to do the narration on all those old film strips they used to show us in school from the 50's and 60's. it was even funnier because it was done with that voice that you immediately associate with authority and knowledge. it was about 3 minutes long and we made tapes of it and passed it around. with the entire internet at my disposal, you'd think that i could track it down again, but no such luck.
ah, well...i'll keep looking...
so, my apologies. i think i started out with an idea, but lost it somewhere along the way.
i blame the dial-up.
more on the perhapanauts, weird stuff, and the AWESOME artists we have doing pin-ups for us in the upcoming perhapanauts trade next time!
see ya soon!
todd
Thursday, April 06, 2006
paranormal at about dot com
okay...
a while back i made a list of some of the weird, wild, paranormal, cryptid, unexplained phenomena websites that i've happened across in my insatiable quest for more weird, wild, paranormal, etc. junk to feed on. i listed several and they're all good, but the one that i keep coming back to is www.paranormal@about.com. and particularly the YOUR TRUE TALES pages. this is the place i go to read stories rather than news reports and/or the latest scientific evidence. i'm a story person; love to read 'em, love to write 'em, love to tell 'em. but the real beauty of this section is that the incidents and experiences posted are written by real people. and you can tell! now, i'm not saying that they're all true; prob'ly not. but in the course of reading each and every submission, you get to choose whether you believe them or not. in some cases the author of a particular piece might come off bad. he (or she) is lying, you'll say. in others, you do that old "well, i believe that HE believes what he saw." and in others still--and they're not as rare as you might suspect--you ABSOLUTELY believe and it's the hairs standing up on the back of your neck that tell you you do.
granted some of them are well written, others passably so, and there are many that are so filled with spelling and grammatical errors that you'll literally wince...but i've found that that doesn't really play into my own psychic litmus test as i try to gauge who is sincere and who is makin' it all up. does the fact that somebody's a poor speller make their experience any less real? that they're really not a very good storyteller mean that something very bizarre didn't actually happen to them?
i think you can tell.
so go check a couple of 'em out when you have a chance. a couple of my favorites are "the dark scribble", "sinister being", and "it destroyed our lives" (this one is kinda long and filled with many of those wince-inducing errors, but i found myself thinking about it/spooked by it long after i logged off).
and while these are a mix of all manner of stories of the weird and unexplained, if you want to mainline on nothing but cryptid stories, check out the WEIRD CREATURES pages. i love "the dump creature" story and there's one in there, can't remember the title of it, but it had to do with three boys in a cabin being harassed by...something...outside.
check 'em out.
and as always, if YOU'VE got a story of something weird to share, send it in. we're dyin' to hear it.
take care~~
todd
Monday, April 03, 2006
hey, that reminds me...
reading rich's tale below, reminds me of something that happened to me...
years ago, too many to want to admit to, i used to work with mentally and emotionally disabled kids (that's the current pc--the term then was mentally retarded). it was, looking back, a dream job and i can't begin to tell you how much i grew and learned from those kids and their take on things. great memories, great times. they were great!
this was a residential school for mostly educable kids and at some point someone had the bright idea to put me in charge of the small disorganized boy scout troop that had floundered along over the years. (i can tell you now that i never did any better; it only continued to flounder under my care and beyond.) wanting it to be fair, i opened this up to all the boys and, being a bit of a magnet at the time (i was young. to them todd=fun!), we ended up with about 15 young men and boys who, if nothing else, looked great in their uniforms.
mostly this was just an excuse for all of us to get out of the dorms once a week for some laid back male bonding.
my co-captain for this activity was my friend, rolf, who got a job 'cause i recommended him and because his father, my theater teacher, told me i'd better. rolf was a big guy, muscular, and always-smiling, and he had a great rapport with the kids. we were great friends on and off-campus and decided at halloween time that the best thing that we could do was take the boys hiking at a nearby lake and tell ghost stories around a fire, making smores and drinking hot chocolate. the next thought--and remember WE were very young ourselves here--was to get a great big pumpkin, hollow it out from the bottom, carve it with a really scary face, and leave it stashed behind the lean-to nearby. then, as i came to the part of the story where the vengeful farmer replaced his missing head with a jack-o-lantern, rolf, who would have slipped away just as the kids were at the edge's of their seats, would step out and scare the bejeezus out of 'em.
(i will note here that, in light of ALL the various definitions and forms of abuse that are flying around out there these days, this was not abuse. at the time there was a strong movement within the mental health community to "normalize" kids like these and expose them to all the same things that regular kids their age--mental and physical--would be exposed to. we cleared it with our supervisor, the ghost stories...although maybe we neglected to tell her EVERY detail...like, about the pumpkin head... anyway, these kids were ASKING for it! literally. they WANTED to be scared, BEGGED us to scare them, and, in our defense, we did leave the two boys we thought wouldn't be able to handle it back at the school.)
so we pack up the scouts, pack up the snacks, get the fire going, and start out with a couple spook stories of the tame/lame variety, rolf periodically snapping his head around to peer out into the dark as if he heard something. some of the more observant kids noticed, but when they asked him rolf would just reply with, "nothing."
then we got to the story of the night, the final story, the one everybody was waiting for...heh, heh, heh...
though i can easily picture all the guys faces intently listening in the flickering firelight, the ones i remember best were our two littlest ones, martin and jay, who were probably 10 or 11 at the times, but much more "with it" than the other guys. they were across from me and more worried about being scared than actually being scared. y'know what i mean?
so, i launched into the story and got serious right away, making references to local farms and landmarks to add the extra touch of realism. rolf had removed himself to the back of the group, mocking concern for one of the boys who he teased was getting scared. as i built the suspense i kept trying to catch rolf's eye to motion him around back to don the pumpkin head and put the icing on the cake. but everytime i tried to get him, he looked away, or looked back at me quizzically, "what?" i dragged the story out, trying to quickly invent an ending where i hadn't originally needed one. i droned on and on.
just when i was becoming exasperated with my own story and rolf's apparent stupidity...the pumpkin head stepped out from behind the lean-to--behind me!--and stopped my story mostly because my heart had leapt to my throat! he raised his arms and i saw most of the boys leap straight up into the air and begin running before they ever touched the ground. i swear. you've seen this in cartoons--all the best toons can do it. fred flinstone, wile e., homer. i saw this happen. 10 or 11 boys lift off and begin running back to the van. the only two who stayed were our littlest, martin and jay, rooted in their seats, their eyes wide, the fronts of their boy scout pants suddenly going dark.
i was up, of course, and moving away, but ran into rolf who was laughing and laughing as he grabbed me. the pumpkin head took off his pumpkin head and it was my brother, jeff, eager to play a part when rolf called him that afternoon and wanted to turn the trick. excellent.
we caught up with the rest of the boys back at the van and martin and jay, now in on the gag, were thrilled when pumpkin head returned to terrorize the van once we were all inside. (the best part; in the dark and the turmoil, none of the other guys noticed martin and jay had wet their pants. we sat them on some towels and snuck them back inside when we got back to the school.)
and if you're still thinking that on some level this was wrong...
...the following year they begged--BEGGED!!--to get a visit from the pumpkin head again...
sorry that was so long.
thanks for stickin' with me.
later--
todd
years ago, too many to want to admit to, i used to work with mentally and emotionally disabled kids (that's the current pc--the term then was mentally retarded). it was, looking back, a dream job and i can't begin to tell you how much i grew and learned from those kids and their take on things. great memories, great times. they were great!
this was a residential school for mostly educable kids and at some point someone had the bright idea to put me in charge of the small disorganized boy scout troop that had floundered along over the years. (i can tell you now that i never did any better; it only continued to flounder under my care and beyond.) wanting it to be fair, i opened this up to all the boys and, being a bit of a magnet at the time (i was young. to them todd=fun!), we ended up with about 15 young men and boys who, if nothing else, looked great in their uniforms.
mostly this was just an excuse for all of us to get out of the dorms once a week for some laid back male bonding.
my co-captain for this activity was my friend, rolf, who got a job 'cause i recommended him and because his father, my theater teacher, told me i'd better. rolf was a big guy, muscular, and always-smiling, and he had a great rapport with the kids. we were great friends on and off-campus and decided at halloween time that the best thing that we could do was take the boys hiking at a nearby lake and tell ghost stories around a fire, making smores and drinking hot chocolate. the next thought--and remember WE were very young ourselves here--was to get a great big pumpkin, hollow it out from the bottom, carve it with a really scary face, and leave it stashed behind the lean-to nearby. then, as i came to the part of the story where the vengeful farmer replaced his missing head with a jack-o-lantern, rolf, who would have slipped away just as the kids were at the edge's of their seats, would step out and scare the bejeezus out of 'em.
(i will note here that, in light of ALL the various definitions and forms of abuse that are flying around out there these days, this was not abuse. at the time there was a strong movement within the mental health community to "normalize" kids like these and expose them to all the same things that regular kids their age--mental and physical--would be exposed to. we cleared it with our supervisor, the ghost stories...although maybe we neglected to tell her EVERY detail...like, about the pumpkin head... anyway, these kids were ASKING for it! literally. they WANTED to be scared, BEGGED us to scare them, and, in our defense, we did leave the two boys we thought wouldn't be able to handle it back at the school.)
so we pack up the scouts, pack up the snacks, get the fire going, and start out with a couple spook stories of the tame/lame variety, rolf periodically snapping his head around to peer out into the dark as if he heard something. some of the more observant kids noticed, but when they asked him rolf would just reply with, "nothing."
then we got to the story of the night, the final story, the one everybody was waiting for...heh, heh, heh...
though i can easily picture all the guys faces intently listening in the flickering firelight, the ones i remember best were our two littlest ones, martin and jay, who were probably 10 or 11 at the times, but much more "with it" than the other guys. they were across from me and more worried about being scared than actually being scared. y'know what i mean?
so, i launched into the story and got serious right away, making references to local farms and landmarks to add the extra touch of realism. rolf had removed himself to the back of the group, mocking concern for one of the boys who he teased was getting scared. as i built the suspense i kept trying to catch rolf's eye to motion him around back to don the pumpkin head and put the icing on the cake. but everytime i tried to get him, he looked away, or looked back at me quizzically, "what?" i dragged the story out, trying to quickly invent an ending where i hadn't originally needed one. i droned on and on.
just when i was becoming exasperated with my own story and rolf's apparent stupidity...the pumpkin head stepped out from behind the lean-to--behind me!--and stopped my story mostly because my heart had leapt to my throat! he raised his arms and i saw most of the boys leap straight up into the air and begin running before they ever touched the ground. i swear. you've seen this in cartoons--all the best toons can do it. fred flinstone, wile e., homer. i saw this happen. 10 or 11 boys lift off and begin running back to the van. the only two who stayed were our littlest, martin and jay, rooted in their seats, their eyes wide, the fronts of their boy scout pants suddenly going dark.
i was up, of course, and moving away, but ran into rolf who was laughing and laughing as he grabbed me. the pumpkin head took off his pumpkin head and it was my brother, jeff, eager to play a part when rolf called him that afternoon and wanted to turn the trick. excellent.
we caught up with the rest of the boys back at the van and martin and jay, now in on the gag, were thrilled when pumpkin head returned to terrorize the van once we were all inside. (the best part; in the dark and the turmoil, none of the other guys noticed martin and jay had wet their pants. we sat them on some towels and snuck them back inside when we got back to the school.)
and if you're still thinking that on some level this was wrong...
...the following year they begged--BEGGED!!--to get a visit from the pumpkin head again...
sorry that was so long.
thanks for stickin' with me.
later--
todd
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