IN SHADOWS HE LURKS

Post holiday happies to you all, here is another panel. Hope you dig it. Say... I sure do a bunch of yacking around here about my comics and such, but ya wanna know what occurs to me? Well I'll tell you anyways.... I was figuring that since all you cool kids out there are geeks like me, that you must surely have snagged yourself some geek like treasure over the holidays....right? I sure would like to hear what you got.

My geeky girlfriend, and very bestus buddy got me a boxed set of the graphic novel, MAUS by Art Spieglman. My youngest son got me a DVD copy of MARS ATTACKS, and my oldest boy got me BAT MANGA by Chip Kidd

What did Santa bring you kiddies out there in TV land... Hmmmmm??

OUR PANEL SAID.....

Fa-la-la-la...la fright fans! The Christ-messy season is upon us~ In between coping with ice storms, record snowfalls, and avoiding being trampled at Wally world, I have actually been making steady progress on my comic.

The very latest is that I have only two pages left to draw, and ink. I have been putting final touches and lettering on many of the finished pages, and it looks like I will be on track for a mid winter printing.

"Hey dude.... why we no see pages Man?" You might say.

Well... nifty little story there: See recently I was going over the pages with my very bestus friend and we were discussing how close to completion it was, and how exciting that is. We were discussing that to blog anymore from here would be the equivalent of giving away the entire comic for free, and could impact sales. A very good point! Still..... me being me, I wanted to blog my progress for all you fearsome followers out there... ( all four of you ), so finally we hit upon a diabolical plan.

From here out I will show only isolated panels. MU-ha-haa-wha-ha-haaaaaa! INGENIOUS!

One more bit of info from the main offices of Mitchell Comics... I have decided to paint the cover. Yes you heard me...PAINT! It will be in the classic pulp style with the retro flavor of some of those great Gold Key comics of the 70's ( Ripleys ghost stories, Star Trek, Magnus, etc... ) Oh I cannot wait to get crack'n! The cover by the by, I will indeed post. In fact I will be hounding each and every one of you to post it on your sites, your blogs, your gym locker, your neighbors car... anywhere you might think it could lead to a sale.

Well... that's it for now Santas helpers.

Peace on Earth and all that good stuff~

ANOTHER "SKETCHY" POST

Greetings gore-lovers! Here is yet another "sketchy" post from your hard working hatchling. What pre-pubesent, angst filled teen wouldn't appreciate this page of our terror bound teen hero ZB going a round or two with his very own old man. That's right... here we see our thought controlled Ronnie kicking the snot out of his own flesh and blood Daddy. The senior Butler eventually get's the better of Junior by slipping the mind control watch from his wrist, and then the stage is set for retaliation against Dr. Tse and his dungeon of doom. I really didn't expect to have the space to do this page today, but all the stars aligned to make it happen. I really feel good about it too. I am generally not much for fight scenes but, I really think I nailed this one. Only four frightful pages until the initial art is complete. Then comes the finishing, the lettering, the publishing.... hooo.... baby steps, baby steps.

At least I am one step closer, ......and for today that will have to be cool enough.

Chill dogs~

A VERY "SKETCHY" POST

Greetings o' hoary hosts of holiday hobgoblins!

Ti's I your horrible hombre here to offer up an as yet woefully undigested post-Thanksgiving morsel. The precious pilgrimy feasting was so-ooo fab it kept me away from the drawing board a fortnight or more, and thankfully so. Having some much deserved down time gave me the distance I needed from my new issue to put some sceneage into it's proper perspective. The result is this awesome new page. Well.... that is to say it is going to be awesome, right now it is a minor scribble. In fact... if you kooky kiddies out there can make hide or hair of this frenetic scrap of parchment you got mad skills in the imagination station... know what I mean? No?.... oh well. Enjoy, ....or just sit there and scratch your head.... t-th- that's okay too then.

~later.

STITCHING TOGETHER

Here we are.... back to the operating , er... I mean drawing table. I have nothing too noteworthy to show you, ( 'cept this nifty widdle unfinished page I'll be hammerin on this weekend ) the real news is what I am not going to show you, the story is finally done. Yes... that's right, for those of you who have not been paying attention in class, ...... I have been pumping out pages of this comic for months now with no script, no thumbnails, no "real" idea where this comic was going, or what it would be when it was done... if it was done! What I am trying clumsily to say is simply this... I "know" now. I know what the remainder of the pages will be, what the dialogue is... everything. It just finally stitched itself together.... as I knew it would.

I don't really recommend this method of comics making. It certainly is not for the faint of heart, but for some reason it just works for me. It isn't always easy. You have to trust that the pages being fed to you from inside your subconscious will coalesce into some kind of story that will be readable, and entertaining. That is a tall order some days. It is almost like drawing in a darkened room.

The reason I do it this way is because the finished product I find to be more compelling, more balanced, and more seamless than trying to make the art fit the script. It gives a wide berth to creative impulse because you are not tied down to word, or form. The hope is that some of the anxiety, and sheer suspense I feel waiting to see where the art takes the story to will transfer to the reader also.

Any-hooo, Didn't mean to get to deep on you peace puppies out there in retro land. I'll be saying so long now... watts, and watts of work to do! Later~

LEFT OVER CANDY

Just some left over trick-o-treat candy for all you hungry geeks up in da house. Yo check it dudes... I am sending out the first lettered page in this strand. Partly because I want to make up for the fact that it is only sparsly outlined so far, partly to hook you doggy-dogs into the story, and partly because I'm so frickin' jazzed about this page.

Now, just sos you know.... This is not how I letter a page, and it WILL be re-done correctly, and with tweeked dialouge, but I just thought after 8 previous pages to ogle you may want to actually read a page for a change. Consider it a belated Halloween treat.

Now do me a favor and leave me some feedback. This page really pumps me as I said because it is the second pivot pin to the story, and I would really like to know if it is solid. Alright... I know its really just some scribbles, and hen scratching, but can you at least imagine it as being solid? Huh... can yeah?

I know you could. You guys rock~

YOUNG HEARTS

I know it's quite a switcheroo from last nights post, but tonight's ominous offering provides nothing less than the motivation for the entire rest of the issue. That is correct, oh fearsome faithful, our raging romeo, ( in his real life role of the undead Robbie Butler ) just cannot leave his former fem fatale' alone for very long. He is obsessed with winning her back into those happier days of yore before he became the rotting corpse that stands before her today. Alas... what pretty teen girl in undies could ever hope to make it with a smelly sack of decomposure like our ol' fiend ZB? She gently scorns his advances, which in turn propels him into the lab of our bald protagonist for assistance in rejuvenating his once handsome countenance. Of course the good doctor sees only opportunity in having complete control of an unable-to-die ally at his wicked summoning. Oooooooo this is turning into a real twisted tale ehh,  comic fans?

TRICK O' TREAT

Greetings groovy ghoulies, I managed to bang out the splash page for my new ZB comic today, and I couldn't resist "treating" all you tricksters to a terrible taste.  The yolk is on you, however, on account of none of the previously purloined pages have one iota of insufferable dialogue to let you know just what the tale entails! Truth is, faithful fiends, not even I, the horrific host of this Hallow'eve honorarium, have a single solitary clue either.  Yupp... you guessed it, The solemn saga has yet to be written on this creepy crafty-werk.  I pretty much am making it all up as I ramble along from page to putrid page.  I am only one parchment away from the mid-journey with this splash page however, and I am starting to gel a tale that will rock you rotten reprobates in true Zombie Boy fashion.  Please stay tuned fright fans, the best, ( or worst ) is still..... yet to come!

BAD BOY-Z, BAD BOY-Z

Looks like our ever-rotting Romeo has gotten himself in a bit of a bind with the local boys in blue.... why, there is just never any knowing what our little fiend will get mixed up in next. Pray to the great pumpkin he finds the straight and narrow soon ~  Hey... and don't forget to check out the comic-con in Portland Sunday.

SHHHAZAMM!

Hey there horrible hombres, new Zombie Boy page. Dig it. More to come... get your trick-or-treat bags ready.

Peace to all~

A SHOCKING DISPLAY!

Zap, crackle, pop!.... why just look kookie kiddos. It is the latest ZB boy page! Are you shocked at the frequency Hmmmm? Well I am.

Shmmmmm-oooo-kinnn~

IN A MAD DASH...

TWO HOURS.

That is all the time I had available to me on Thursday. Finding myself with such a small window it seemed a little silly to try to tackle an entire comicbook page. "I'll wait until I have a larger space to work." I could have said, ( and have before ) " The work looks better if it comes out as a steady stream." ......er, can we say BS?

So there I sat. Blank page in hand, and fingers flying madly. Creativity flowed, thunder clapped, ( litteraly... it rained buckets yesterday ) and I didn't think, I didn't mull... I just worked the page. Two hours later I was forced to stop. I stood up, and looked finally at the piece as a whole, surprised, and impressed with how much was there. I know I will need to go in with at least another two hours, or more of touch up, but all the basic elements are there.

There is a valuable lesson in all of this. Mainly to not be so dismissive about short time spans, as opportunities. Space is another issue. It is easy to say to yourself, "Hey.. why bother I am not in my studio now, so it probably won't be any good." I did this with a sheet of copy paper, a two sided sharpie, a pencil, a 6" wooden ruler, and a pen. The conditions were less than ideal. I had an uncomfortable chair, poor lighting conditions, it was humid, and my drawing surface was an old clipboard propped up on my knee.

Nevertheless, just 120 minutes later my story had moved forward another leap. Call it shlock-art if it makes you feel superior. I call it progress.

Peace, my doggies~

THIS WON'T HURT A BIT

Whoa..... we seem to be traveling backward a weensy bit in the ZB story. Here is another page that falls just behind, ( or is it two pages behind.... haven't quite decided yet ) from the page I showed you early peepers last time. See.... this is just the convoluted way I go about creating my Zombie boy stories. Even I don't know just how, or where, the story is going just yet. I get an idea, like... some bad guy doctor is trying to control ZB's mind, and I sorta run with it for awhile til it takes shape. Meanwhile... I plug in images, and such front and back of the original page until it all starts to gel into a story. Crazy?? .... yes, I know, but that is what happened with the first ZB story, and just look at what a hit that turned out to be! Any-hoo... If you compare this page with the previous post you will see it makes sense... ( sorta ).

I don't know, ( nor does anyone else at this point ) just how the dialouge will all shake out to tie the two pages together, but that is, ( for me anyway ) exactly what lends excitement, and motivation to it. Ya see.... I am as anxious as you oh, residents of geek-land, to find out just what is going to happen next.

Keep your optics open~

THE BOY IS BACK IN TOWN~

Hello hapless hungries of horror....

Perhaps the eldest among you remember this eclectic enterprise begining with an undead do-gooder name of ZOMBIE BOY? The handsome, ( yet slightly rotting ) youth is roaming the streets again pondering the premise of his newest exploits in issue#3. Here we see him under the influence of a mendacious, and maniacal medicino who has outfitted our poor lad with a mod looking mind control wristwatch. Will our hero be swayed to sinister doings in such a state?

Stay ever alert faithful ones. More is yet to come.

DAS FUN MIT DER ROCKKETS

oH-OH... it looks like zat sh-neeky Adolf is up to his tricks again! Zis is not looking too goot fer das koo-coo Amerikkaners~

Just a silly WWII summertime practice page I thought you geekophiles might take a gander at if your not too busy at the beaches.

Have a groovy summer~
Mitchell

COOL.... NEW GHOUL!

Pull up a stump groovy goblins.... I'm here to tell you a frightfully good bit of news about my new project for FREE LUNCH COMICS, a dark and twisted tale of a naughty old soldier who left his platoon behind on the sands of some distant tropic isle during the darkest days of WWII. There his buddies were ambushed and mowed down by machine gun fire while our little fiend escaped to arrive home as a bona-fide hero.

However... on one dark and stormy night more than half a century later his old commrades in arms come to bring him to task for his cowardice so very long ago...

Writer Steve Kanaras was most kind in choosing me to bring his 8 page story to life. It will appear months from now in an up comming edition of his horror anthology ONLY IN WHISPERS, which has been the home to some very talented writers and artists.

It's a little odd vacilating pages between this creepy comic story, and the historical kid friendly FIRST IN FLIGHT ( see post below ) but, all in all it is very good to have so much work to keep me busy. Both projects came as a result of me making connections within the organization of CAG which serves as a guild for budding comic creators. Joining that group was one of the best career decisions I've made thusfar, and I highly recomend it to any of you who are looking to get some real world experiance in the small press industry.

I hope you all enjoy my putrid pencils this week... Keep your peepers propped open for more ghoulish goodies in the weeks to follow, until then stay comfy in your coffins kiddies, and don't forget.... when your out on the prowl, to sink your fangs into a stack of comics~

JUMP START

Greetings geeksters! Just here to keep you posted on my preperations for the CAG annual story I am working on called, ( tentitively ) FIRST IN FLIGHT. The actual script for the story is just begining to be hammered together this week, but since I got my first round of reference photos heading into this past weekend, I decided to jump ahead and whip up a splash page.

Now... this page above, ( and the one below ) are strictly sample pages, ( think of them as elaborate thumbnail sketches ) I did them just for pure fun. It also helps me practice the background scenery. Because these two pages will not be going into the book, I took the liberty to make up some dialouge based on my rough understanding of the story outline, just to have the opportunity to practice my word balloons, lettering, ect. The actual story will, ( I am pretty sure ) use computerized text and lettering.

These are only warm-up excercises after all, so I have decided to limit my time spent on each page to about 3 hours. I wasn't able to polish this one up as much as I would have liked given my self imposed time constraints, but all in all it was a pretty good excersice~

Now if I could just get some details about that Ghoul story to start scribbiling on....

TEST FLIGHT

A hale, and hearty, how-de-do there comic book fans, and fanettes... Boy do I got big doings to share with you folks! Seems a couple of weeks ago I went to a comicon in Boston and hooked up with a group called CAG ( the Comicbook Artist Guild ) I was seriously impressed with the talent in their ranks, and thought to myself "This is just the group of folks you need to be hanging with. " I forked over my membership dues lickity split, and soon found it paying off in spades!

In less than a months time I have landed two stories in two seperate publications, with two very promising, and talented writers! The page above is from a historical story by writer Robert Sodaro that deals with the first powered flight. It is a little known fact, but the very first powered flight took place nearly two years before Kittyhawk, and not by the gruesome twosome the Wright Bros. who actually stole their ideas from the hero of our story, a German imagrant by the name of Gustave Whitehead.

This story was selected to be included in the CAG annual comic featuring the years best Artists and Writers. Quite a huge honor since I have only been a member of this group for 30 days! I haven't read the script yet, but Robert gave me some research links to get me started, and since I had some time today I banged out the above page. I sent it off to him and his response was phenomenal, ( actually it was a string of happy and joyus explatives, but I'll spare the more sensitive among us ) he is just as excited as I am to get this baby up in the air.

Next time I'll post you guys some stuff related to my other project, a creepy, errie, scarry ghoul filled monster story....

Stay tuned Faithful viewers~

IN LIVE-INK COLOR

Hey there Creepy cousins.... It is I, your humble horror comix hombre with a special serving of late winter lunacy. I have been buying bucket loads of old horror comics lately at conventions in Boston, and it has influnced me enough to produce this fun little frolic into vampirisim~

The page is a meld of all things wonderful about the genre, The darkened room with creepy figure, the voice of reason crying out to deaf ears, being cast out into the night midst a creepy fog, and the grappling with ones own sanity.... ahhhhh, just gotta love that stuff!

Not to mention of course, that I topped it all off with color! As many of you know I generaly stick to black and white, ( for the most part because it is cheeper to reproduce, and thus, easier to market ) however... this was such a fun and nostalgic page, I just felt it had to have that old school color groove working for it.

Hope you are all looking forward to the soon arival of spring, when all things dead become new again.... even VAMPIRES! ( just foolin )