Catching Up

Hey guys,

I know, I know... I am horrible at this blogging thing. So I'm here to catch up with you guys as I seem to do every couple months.

So let's start with the big guns, FUBAR Vol. 3: American History Z is up for funding on Kickstarter. The boys are offering some outstanding rewards for your hard earned money. So please go check that out and snag yourself some goodies here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1607639297/fubar-american-history-z

American History Z features the story "Z-Men" written by yours truly and illustrated by illustrious Sean Von Gorman (The Secret Adventures of Houdini) along with stories with buds like Giles Crawford (you know, like from Igor?), Jeff McComsey, Steve Becker Dominic Vivona, and lots and lots of others.

Next on the agenda is Igor: Occult Detective #2, which is finally moving forward. We've had a lot of road blocks spring up in so many ways to keep us behind schedule on this. But it is scripted and Giles is hard at work on it as I type this. We're really looking forward to sharing the rest of Igor and Mr. Frank's tales with you guys.

For those of you who may have missed it, I managed to squeak my way out to New York Comic Con last month and spent the majority of my weekend hanging out with the 215Ink crew (particularly the outstanding Stephen Lindsay, Will Perkins, and Mike Perkins) and the FUBAR boys! And shockingly, we sold out of Igor: Occult Detective #1!

Also, coming up Phil McClorey is doing another horror-mash-up anthology (after doing the very great Horror in the West) around the theme of Horror Adventure tales which will feature my story "The Island" with art  by the very fucking cool Shane Heron. I'm very excited to see what he does with my Lovecraft/Creepy/Eerie-inspired story.

I've also got a few secret projects in the works with some names that ought to get you guys salivating including... Stephen Lindsay (Jesus Hates Zombies), Will Perkins (Beware), Jeff McComsey (FUBAR), Dominic Vivona (FUBAR), Rob Croonenborghs (FUBAR/Jesus Hates Zombies), Phil Sloane (DeadHorse), and, of course, Giles Crawford!

Well, that's the state of things these days so thanks for checking in and don't forget: Keep Calm and Aim for the Head!

Love for the SPCs

Hey guys,

So much for bi-weekly posts, eh? Honestly, I don't know where the time goes on me. I suppose that the fun of spending most of your "free" time making comics! Hahaha. Sorry. But I'm back with a new post for folks!

I was/am up really early for me (working over-nights generally equals sleeping during the day) and was thinking about my brothers and sisters in arms in the Small Press Commandos. If you don't know who they are let me give you a brief run down... they are the absolute best and brightest comics writers and artists working in the independent community. The idea initially came from Jeff McComsey while putting together FUBAR (yeah, that FUBAR) and I kind of took it and ran with it. Think of it as a digital comics studio where we can all share our work, bounce ideas off one another, and help promote each other. It started off as about thirty of us and since since grown to nearly two-hundred members.

Since the inception of the Small Press Commandos, I've discovered so many new series and these guys are taking more and more of my money. I think SPC books take up between fifty and seventy five percent of my comics budget these days, depending on the month. (The other fifty to twenty five going to Dark Horse, Image, IDW, and occasionally Marvel or DC.) So, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite titles within the last couple years.

AMERICAN TERROR Vols. 1 & 2
by Jeff McComsey
Alterna Comics

American Terror follows Victor Sheppard as he comes out of retirement as a gun-for-hire. Gritty, funny, and seriously bad-ass! McComsey nails the dirty gritty world of Sheppard. Sadly Volume 3 is kind of in limbo right now but you should not miss this title!

BEWARE
by Michael & Will Perkins
215Ink
Only the first issue of Beware is out now but man is it great! Think 1950's science fiction with a bit of real science thrown in and tons and tons of humor. It great and weird and just, damn, so fun! Will's art walks a great line between realistic and cartoony that is perfect for the series.

BLUE MOTH
By Rolf Lejdegård
215Ink
Blue Moth follows interstellar mercenary/soldier I'm not sure what... badass? Blue Moth as he battles against various galactic menaces. Again the humor here is great! Rolf's art is absolutely gorgeous and the writing is super cool. It may be a little abrasive for some folk with more fragile sensibilities but holy crap do I love this series.

BREAKNECK
By Mark Bertolini & James Boulton
215Ink
Breakneck is the story of Ethan Shade a D-List super villain who accidentally murders a popular superhero during a botched bank robbery -- then all hell breaks loose. Bertolini's writing here is just fantastic in his little darkly humorous super villain story. You can't help but feel that the deck is stacked against Ethan which makes you feel bad for him. My only complaint about this is that sometimes Boulton's art is a little sloppy and it can be hard to tell what's going on. But Bertonlini's writing more than makes up for it.

EXTINCT
by Fabian Rangel Jr. & Jethro Morales
215Ink
Holy damn do I love Extinct. It's like an 80's horror/adventure movie in a comic book! Think the Goonies or Monster Squad and you're pretty close, but you know with werewolves. Well, Monster Squad has a werewolf too but... anyway... holy shit! Writing teenagers is tough especially when you're not one anymore, but Rangel Jr. nails it with Extinct. And Morales' art always impresses. I really can't say anything bad about this at all. Really this is a must own comic for anyone!

FOOTPRINTS
by Joey Esposito & Jonathan Moore
215Ink
I know, I know there a lot of 215Ink titles on here, but there's a damn good reason for that... they put out awesome comics! Footprints has a premise so great that I wish I had thought of it. Bigfoot is a 1950's style detective hunting down the murderer of his brother the Yeti. So he assembles a team of other cryptozoological creatures to help him out including the New Jersey Devil and Nessi. Esposito is great here, winding a neat little mystery and Moore's sketchy style art is beautiful. This one really is just all sorts of amazing.

FUBAR VOLS. 1, 2, & (COMING SOON) 3
By Jeff McComsey, Steve Becker, Shawn Williams, H. Giles Crawford, Jim McMunn, Jonathan Moore, Shawn Aldridge, Joe Dunn, Rob Croonenborghs and many many more!
Alterna Comics
You knew this one was coming. But seriously, this is not here because I worked on it. This is on here because if you want a real true idea of what all of these guys are able to pull off you just need to read FUBAR. Almost every Small Press Commando has worked on these and they always bring their A-Game! If you like zombie or war comics FUBAR is for you!

JESUS HATES ZOMBIES
By Stephen Lindsay, Daniel Thollin, Rob Croonenborghs & others
Alterna Comics/215Ink
Let me tell you something about Stephen Lindsay -- he's the funniest son of a bitch I've ever met. Hands down. And holy crap does JHZ show that off! It's got all sorts of craziness... Jesus and Abe Lincoln fighting zombies, werewolves, evil angels, zombie-dinosaurs... you get the point. It's nuts! And JHZ looks great! The art always delivers especially Croonenborgh's run on the series.

KUZIMU
By Brett Uren
215Ink
Kuzimu follows Pt'eros, a dead man who, during a living death, must face the ghosts of his life. The highlight of this is truly Uren's art. Holy crap is it gorgeous! The story is interesting and very cool, based on East African myth though it does get a little wordy at times.

VIC BOONE
By Shawn Aldridge, Geoffo, Jim McMunn, & others
215Ink
Vic Boone is last but certainly not least on this list. Holy crap, I don't even know where to start... Vic Boone is a 50's style detective set in a modern Portland, OR where 50's sci-fi stuff exists now. Robots, clones, gorilla henchmen, flies with human heads, holy shit! It's smart, it's beautiful, I cannot sing enough praises for Vic Boone. Buy this! NOW!

Alive! It's ALIVE!

Hey all,
I know I've been terrible at keeping up with this over the last year. I'm going to try to rectify that with at least bi-weekly posts. We'll see how that works out. Hah!

Anywho, I'm super proud to announce that Igor: Occult Detective #1 is now available for purchase from our website: igoroccultdetective.com which will also have updates.
Giles recently moved backed to PA from Australia and has finally found an apartment and should be moving in shortly. So he'll be commencing work on Issue #2 very, very soon!
Issue #1 is also available digitally through the 215Ink iPad app as well as through the Cloud 9 Comix app! And just to get you guys hooked early on, it's FREE through both!

As for my own progress, I'm currently working on the script for Issue #12 as well as working on developing some other projects AND lettering Issue #1 of MonsterMatt Patterson & Bob Bieber's Wolff's Run!

Well, that's all the updates for now, kids! Check back and see if I can keep up some sort of regular posting schedule!

Holy Crap, I Suck...

Wow... I'm a horrible, horrible blogger apparently. I can't believe I haven't posted on here since Halloween. A TON has changed since then.

First and foremost, FUBAR Vol. 2: Empire of the Rising Dead landed on the New York Times Best Sellers list back in January, effectively making me a Best Selling Author! Who woulda' thunk it? I still don't think about it too much, and often outright forget until someone brings it up. Heh. Not only is this a big deal for me, but this is a HUGE victory for independent comics. This is proof that a comic put out by small press creators, with no advertising budget, with no major publisher, can still sell if it's GOOD!

Second on our lovely little list is that Igor: Occult Detective #1 is now available digitally through the 215Ink iPad app, as well as the Cloud 9 Comix app for Android/iOS/Kindle and will be coming in print next week! If you're local comic shop doesn't already carry 215Ink comics, tell them to get in touch with either myself to get copies directly from me, or to contact andrew@215ink.com to them (along with 215Ink's other outstanding titles -- like critically acclaimed and award-winning titles like Vic Boone, Jesus Hates Zombies, and Footprints) in their shop ASAP! Or you can order them from me online once I make them available. So, that just about covers it. Apparently, not as much has happened as I thought. Hmmm... Guess I've just been really busy. :P