The Organ Grinder Collection

The Organ Grinder is being collected in its own trade paperback. Taken from the pages of Undertow (7th Wave Comics), the supernatural Western about a one-armed gunslinger and his cigar smoking monkey will soon be available in one slick volume.

I was asked to contribute a pin-up to celebrate the story written by Luke Donkersloot and illustrated by Gibson Quarter.

Here are my three takes at the piece. Enjoy!

TEUTON Trailer

In a recent podcast with Fred Kennedy, Gibson Quarter, Ricky Lima and myself, Fred begged Ricky to cut a trailer for our graphic novel, Teuton.

What you see is the result of that conversation.

Thanks so much to Ricky for the support and his efforts!

This Week In Drawing... 15

This week has been nothing but The Forgetting, a sort of supernatural-horror-thriller that's one of two stories to be featured in Undertow #3 from 7th Wave Comics. The other story, Organ Grinder, is illustrated by Gibson-Fucking-Quarter (GFQ). Both stories come from the twisted imagination of writer Luke Donkersloot.

When Gibson first approached me about Undertow in early 2012, I thought the gig was a mere 4 or 6 page back-up. It was in fact three times as long, if I've done my math right (I haven't). I first met Gibson while working on Holmes Inc. #1, by the way.

GFQ is a swell guy and I enjoy his work (he contributed an excellent pin-up in Teuton: Volume One, you know), so I was delighted he thought enough of my work to want me on board.

I had not previously read Undertow before agreeing to draw in it, although I had seen the cover for issue two thanks to an interview GFQ did with Alice Quinn on Quintessential Comix. With issue three I would be picking up where another artist left off, a proposition that left me feeling more like a guest than a co-creator. Luke had me design his entire cast of characters however, some of whom had not yet been introduced in the first installment. He encouraged me to make it my own.

Luke's story is truly strange and unusual. The premise may sound familiar--the birth of a special child draws a group of immortals out after centuries of estrangement with humanity and each other--a sort of dark and gorey take on Marvel's The Eternals. Where it really takes flight, I think, is where his characters are concerned. The antagonist severs pieces of his own flesh to create golem henchmen and hides out in the space between sub-atomic particles. What?! The protagonist is an immortal shape-shifter who can seemingly regrow body parts, and is aided by John The Baptist after a brutal decapitation. Serious?! The script was a slow burn and exposition heavy until midway when things go full-tilt weird. That's where I really got to cut loose.

Altogether I think it's a slick issue, one that will take readers on a fun ride. I encourage everyone to check this one out. GFQ's Organ Grinder is a bizarre Western that has an interesting Dark Tower vibe.

Now issue three is in the can. It will make it's debut at the Emerald City Comic Con in March. Luke, Gibson, and colourist/inker Greg Harms will all be there. So if you're in Seattle March 1st, go ahead and show your support. The book should make it's way to Toronto shortly thereafter.

In the mean time, be a pal and like Undertow's Facebook page. And because I like you, here's the art in full, complete with both covers.

This Week In Drawing...

Beginning here and now is a new weekly segment where I will showcase all the art I've done in the past seven days, aptly titled This Week In Drawing.

While tidying my work space it occurred to me that I'm now drawing more than ever. I don't just mean work on Teuton or other sequential projects, but I'm also doing more commissions and practice sketching than ever before.

This increased output of art is no accident. I'm trying very hard to hone my craft and become speedier. While there aren't always a series of finished pages and pieces I can show off in a week, there are lots of little sketches, unfinished drawings and lost thoughts on paper that accumulate. It's here in this segment those will be shared.

Powie.

This week I worked on two Marvel sketch variants commissioned by a regular patron of Stadium Comics. The dude is a huge fan of The Punisher and challenged me draw Big Pun dispatching the variant covers' titular characters as harshly as I could imagine.

First was The Death of Spider-Man variant for Ultimate Spider-Man #160. Although I didn't read that storyline, I was aware the Punisher was partly responsible for Ultimate Spidey's downfall. So I chose a composition that reflected that particular plot, but also recalled The Punisher's first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129. (FYI; my favourite Spidey/Punisher comic is Amazing #577)

The second cover, Wolverine #310, I began loosely without much forethought into the composition. Whenever I think of Wolverine scrapping with the Punisher, I think of that issue by Garth Ennis and Darrick Robertson that saw Logan getting his face blown off and being steamrolled. What I recall most is the reaction of Frank Tieri, who was writing Wolverine at the time, and was so very pissed at how Ennis handled Wolverine that Tieri responded in kind with Wolverine #186. Though I think Ennis got the better of them both. Frank Castle proved to be the far nastier fighter in both comics, and Tieri suggesting the Punisher is a closet homosexual at the end of his respective book felt like juvenile name-calling. 

Anyway, this is all to say I couldn't get the image of a shotgun blast to the face out of my mind. I was really pleased with what came out. I put more work into the pencils than I normally do and got cold feet about inking it...

Another commission that came my way was for a young boy's birthday. The lad wanted a Mega Man, and that's exactly what homie got. Here's the sketch and the final...

And of course there was this weeks entry to Spitballin' Comics: Sailor Moon. As I say in that blog post, she's a character I'm largely unfamiliar with and I had low expectations for this particular sketch. My first draft looked like she was doing something indecent with her wand. Then the water colours caused the ink to bleed. When I thought it was pooched I left it for a time, and when I returned I was able to make it work.

Then there is always my regular comic work. This week I turned in the final page for the Teuton: Volume One reprint. You can see all the new pages for the reprint here and here.

While working on Teuton: Volume Three, I'll also be doing interiors for a story called The Forgetting in the third issue of Undertow, which is written by Luke Donkersloot and impeccably illustrated by Gibson-Fucking-Quarter. Learn more about Undertow @ The 7th Wave, and hear Gib talk about Undertow with the wonderful Alice Quinn from TdotComics here.

Here's some early page roughs and character designs for the book:

Lastly, here's some character roughs for a story I'll be writing as well as drawing. I won't say any more about it just yet:

Happenings

PODCAST

Yesterday I joined friends and fellow indie creators Phil McClorey and Brian Evinou for a round table discussion on the plight of the independent comic creator. Moderated by Fearless Fred Kennedy, the recorded rap session will be available on Fearless' FREDCAST! in a week or so.

Fred's podcasts are worth checking out, as they feature an amalgam of great Canadian artists and writers.

I enjoyed my time and did my very best not to mumble incoherently about Batman. Personally, I think I failed to properly relate my thoughts and experiences as a relative newcomer to the comics world. I'll write more about that some other time.


FREE COMIC BOOK DAY

Saturday, May 5th is Free Comic Book Day. To mark the occasion, Stadium Comics is having a tremendous sale, a slew of fantastic guests (including myself), and of course free comics. From what I hear, Stadium Comics has the biggest FCBD event in the GTA. Read all the details here.



Featured here are two of five exclusive sketch covers I illustrated. They'll be raffled away, along with many others, to a few lucky customers who come join the fun. Have a peek at the other amazing sketch covers up for grabs here.

Not to be outdone, my good friends at The Comic Book Lounge are also celebrating FCBD with fun shenanigans of their own.

If you can't make it to Brampton, then I encourage you to visit The Toronto Cartoonists Workshop gang, as well as sexy exciting guests like Kathryn and Stuart Immonen, Mike Del Mundo, Gibson Quarter, and more!