Collaborator Shout Outs: Paul Loudon and Daniel Miller

 I've done a couple of projects over the past couple years where I felt like I needed to take a back seat in the art department and handed over the wheel to two VERY talented artists. 

The first is Paul Loudon. 

I discovered Paul's work on deviantart (which I haven't used in ages) and I felt like his style was absolutely perfect for the steampunk Alice in Wonderland project I had written. It was Paul who suggested the brilliant title Alice and the Invaders From Wonderland. 

Paul is still doing amazing work and you can see all his new projects on Instagram.

Daniel Miller I've known since college. Incredibly talented artist and we share a love for sarcastic humor. I knew he was the artist I wanted to work on Polly and Handgraves with when I decided to reboot the story I initially published. The one Daniel and I did was vastly superior than the one I released back in 2008.

Here's where you can order the projects we worked on:

Alice and the Invaders From Wonderland

And: 

Polly and Handgraves Investigates: A Sinister Aura Books One and Two

A much needed beach day.

 

Second Beach in Middletown RI is my wife and my go to beach day destination. We had our honeymoon down in Newport back in 2011. It's an area we both love.

I'm old now. I can look however the hell I want.

It's been a couple years since we had a proper beach day. Most of my Summers (including this one) have been spent traveling. So with August nearly in the rear view mirror, it's nice to get at least one day in by the ocean and get a nice lungful of salty sea air.

Also maybe do a little sketching and reading. And perhaps a lobster roll before the day is done

Trying to think of a couple cover ideas for my next Sherlock Holmes graphic novella while I take in the scenery.

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes

 The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes is one of my favorite films. But originally there was supposed to a lot more to it. But were probablt cut for time. And to be honest, the intended deleted scenes actually sounded great. Some of them either only exist as silent film while others only exist as audio and production photos.

Movie studios weren't as precious about keeping deleted scenes as they are now. But I was able to find a script online which did contain the scenes ultimately removed from the final film.

My dream project would be to do a graphic novel of the Private Life of Sherlock Holmes which includes ALL the scenes left on the cutting room floor.

I started towards doing that by adapting one if those scenes into a quick comic book which I brought to 221B Con a couple years ago. 

Cover seen above. 

But I may try to adapt another scenes before 221B Con next year. We shall see...

You Came a Long Way from St. Louis (as the song goes)

 Late July I did what was probably my longest journey. Which I think beat out both Atlanta and Chicago by an hour or so going to my very first Sherlock Holmes conference in St. Louis. 

I had a lot of fun. Met a lot of great fellow Sherlockians. Did a few nice commissions. And I got to see the World's Fair Exhibit at the Historical Museum.

Unlike my last trips, I decided to break my journey into three separate stops. First in Ohio, and then Indiana before finally making it to my destination. The last couple years to Atlanta, I'd drive 13 hours to North Carolina before making it to Atlanta. And its honestly exhausting. Doing this definitely helped. But here are a few highlights from my trip out to the Midwest. 

My room in Indiana. Honestly, it was like the Happines Hotel from the Great Muppet Caper. I was waiting for rats dressed as bellhops to take my bags. They offered a continental breakfast. But after smelling vomit in the lobby I thought I'd pass. A Danish out of a machine at a rest stop was a safer choice.

My very first Steak and Shake. My wife has coworkers from the Midwest that swear by them. Still not sure what makes a steak burger any different taste-wise. It tasted no different than any other fast food hamburger. Which I liked. But it was light-years better than McDonald's. And their claim to fame is shakes and cooking all their French fries in beef tallow. Which was fine but didn't seem any different than anywhere else. But I enjoyed it.

My room in St. Louis was an improvement. Not a vast improvement but no vomit smell is an improvement of some kind.

Of course when I'm out of state, I stop at White Castle. I got my first on my way back from Indiana. 

By far my best room was on my way back when I stayed at a Motel 6 in Ohio. Opted for Popeyes Chicken instead of Bob Evans. One day I'll try a Bob Evans. I mean, I've seen enough of his mashed potatoes and mac n cheese in the grocery store. 

Made a quick pit stop at a rest area in Worcester New York. Took this photo for my Worcester Massachusetts friends.

Redecorating...

 After having the same look for I've lost track how many years I thought it was time to change up the look of the old blog. Also noticing many of the links listed as well as restuarant recommendations are horribly out of date. I'll be fixing that as well. So, watch this space!!

Back to work... so to speak

End of July and August ended up being busy for me. I ended up traveling to three shows where at the beginning of the year I was only supposed to travel to two. But the invitation to A Parallel Case of St. Louis's big Sherlock Haunts! conference was too tempting to pass up. 

The one thing I regret about the St. Louis trip is not being able to see The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes on the big screen. People who know me (but I won't assume you know me from a hole in the wall) know that is one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes movies of all time and Robert Stephens is on my favorite Sherlock list along with Jeremy Brett, Peter Cushing, Nicol Williamson and John Neville.

I have a whole Private Life of Sherlock Holmes blog prepared, so stay tuned for that.

So I had to put a project on hold while I worked on sketches for that conference as well as the short comic I did with friend Lee Shackleford for LI Who. 

The comic in question. 👆

But I've completed my last convention until late September and I've begun work on another Sherlock Holmes adaptation.  

This time it's an adaptation of a radio play of the Giant Rat of the Sumatra which starred Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. 

It's funny how many attempts they've made to tell a story which I feel like Conan Doyle had no interest in telling. 

But I'm going to try anyway. 

I'm hoping to have this ready for next year's 221B Con. And like my previous projects it WILL BE serialized on my Patreon page first. Click on the link below to become a member. 👇 

The House of Hasenpatt

 

The Black Dandy Strikes... again!!

 

As far as I'm concerned Andy Fish IS the Black Dandy and the Black Dandy IS Andy Fish. We created the character on a whim. Andy has this amazing pop culture knowledge and we both share a love for all things 1930/1940s.  

I texted Andy back in (maybe) early 2010s asking if the crime noir masked vigilante the Spider was in the public domain. He regretted to inform me that the Spider wasn't. But suggested we create our own crime noir masked mystery man. 

And the Black Dandy was born.

Andy's initial idea was we switch off on writing and art. He'd write a chapter and I'd draw it and visa versa. Kind of like the old television shows where a lead character would be sick (or fired) and the announcer would say "Tonight the part of thus and so will be played by"...

A couple of years ago, I decided to revive the Black Dandy in a brand new story. Much like the old movie serials featuring a character like The Green Hornet or Dick Tracy, I decided to have it very loosely connected to our story. That way people can read it as a stand alone. 

Honestly, it was a fun experience for me to bring back the character. Using elements from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in my choice of the sepia tones to elements from The Phantom Creeps. A favorite movie serial of Andy and mine. 

The Black Dandy's arch nemesis Borov was based on the character our favorite ghoul Bela Lugosi portrayed in the Phantom Creeps. 

In June Andy informed me he's fighting two different cancers. And I'll be honest, I'm not taking the news well. Andy's always been a fighter and he's no different now. 

If any of you could do anything to help both Andy and his wife Veronica through his treatment and recovery, it would be greatly appreciated: 

Andy Fish gofundme

You can also get a copy of the Black Dandy with part one of the story Andy and I did right here:

The Black Dandy Strikes!

Plastic City Comic Con

My 2014 Toyota Yaris has probably been my most favorite car I've ever owned since the 1980 Volvo Station Wagon I drove in my early 20s.

Plastic City Comic Con was the last stop on my travels till later in September. And at 39 minutes, it was probably the shortest drive of the conventions I went to.

Keith Gleason is an absolute great guy and runs a really great little convention. Its only a one day show. Which is a trend I've seen happening more and more with conventions.

But I had a great time and I got to see a couple good friends. Dave Gordon who recently published his first situation comedy graphic novel Being Gordy and my college friend Andy Sawyer.

I've known Andy Sawyer since my first year at Mount Wachusett Community College. He's an incredibly talented filmmaker and I've been in three of his films There's Snow Escape,  Don't Feed The Gulls and most recently Take Me To Your Leader.

All were a lot of fun to be a part of and I highly recommend you watch with some Jiffy Pop swimming in butter.

I will definitely be doing Plastic City next year. Last year I missed out because Long Island Doctor Who fell on the same weekend. This year that was thankfully not the case.

Before I left for Sherlock Haunts! in St. Louis at the end of July I had to put a lot of work into my intrepid little Yaris. It needed new brakes, calipers and it turns out a new water pump. Also got a couple brand new tires slapped on it. Jr's Auto Clinic in Marlborough did all the repairs and I CANNOT recommend Jr's shop highly enough.

Being the son of an honest and reliable auto mechanic, they're hard to find at times. But when ya do, you swear by them!!

I've driven this little car from the very top of Maine to Savannah Georgia to Chicago and St. Louis. Needless to say, I've put it (and myself) through it's paces. And I'll be going to Chicago TARDIS as well as 221B Con in Atlanta again. So having her run 110% is a must.

I have a bit of downtime now until my next convention Indie Creator Con in Warwick RI on September 26th. Hope to see you all there.

 

 

Doctor Who: The (old) New Adventures

 

I'm a Doctor Who fan. Through and through. I've been a Whovian since I first saw the show on WGBH Channel Two Boston in the 1980s.

With the prospect there might not be any new Who for some time I thought I'd take the advice of my talented friend Paul Magrs and read some of the Doctor Who tie-in fiction I missed out on in the 1990s which were published under the umbrella "the New Adventures".

Several years ago I read the Timewyrm series which started the range. Recently, I decided to finally read the Cat's Cradle story arc. The first two books had been written by Marc Platt and Andrew Cartmel respectively. Platt had written the now classic episode GHOST LIGHT and Cartmel had been the script editor during the Sylvester McCoy era.

For those of you unfamiliar with the series of books written by Virgin or the series written by BBC Books in the late 90s and you're looking for new Doctor Who adventures, I'd definitely recommend picking up some of the books. Both Virgin and BBC Books offered new fiction featuring the current Doctor at that time as well as books featuring past incarnations of the Doctor.

I'm on Patreon Now...

 Well, that's half true. I've actually been on Patreon for a while. It's just been trying to find how to make it work for me. AND to get people interested. 

I had done a one day convention in Cape Cod Massachusetts (maybe?) last year. And I happened to overhear one of the artists talking about Patreon. I had one. I knew many of my artists friends had one. But I hadn't figured out how to properly utilize it for my benefit. 

I heard the young artist mention he produces 'zines. Many of the artists at this particular show made em. Which was great because I've noticed a trend of less and less artists working on or selling their own books so it was nice to see people getting their stories out there.

Well, during the conversation the artist mentioned that he had been posting the stories on Patreon exclusively before going to print and using the money made on the platform to go towards the printing cost. 

I thought that was a really good idea. And restructured my Patreon page so subscribers get a first look at a project I'm working on. Which I've done for my last few projects. 

If you're interested, go to my patreon page today. Honestly, I don't charge a lot for a membership:

The House of Hasenpatt

New Sherlock Holmes Graphic Novellas

I've attended 221B Con over the past three years and I've tried to have a new book available just in time for the show. This past year I did two.

My last full Sherlock Holmes adaptation was back in 2009. Which... as much as I don't like to admit it... was back in 2009. But I made up for that last year.

The idea was I'd give myself a deadline and complete it before 221B Con this past April. Seeing that I had the first one Case of the Haunted Chateau done in September, I decided to task myself and do a second one. Whicj turned out to be Murder in the Casbah.

So while you wait for the third one to be completed, you can order both books mentioned above here:

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Haunted Chateau

and

Sherlock Holmes and the Murder in the Casbah

A Night In Casablanca (1946)... I've changed my mind!!

 I was looking back at an older blog post about my ranking if the Marx Brothers films and I think I ranked it lower than A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races.

Well, I don't agree with that anymore.

While I still think the films they did at Paramount (with the exception of the Coconuts) are their very best, I actually prefer A Night in Casablanca over either Opera or Races. Despite the fact most consider those two classics.

The problem with the films they did at MGM was despite their name being on the title, they really weren't the stars of any of those films. They became co-stars in their own movies to the sappy romantic leads. Whereas in the Paramount films you knew they were the leads.

I always preferred Harpo being a bit of a bastard in the earlier films rather than the child like sympathetic character MGM turned him into.

Having watched Casablanca (the Marx one not the one produced by those other Brothers) again several years ago, this almost felt like a return to the feel of the Paramount movies. True the Brothers are beginning to look a bit long in the tooth. But it does give them one last enjoyable outing. Which can't be said about any of their later films for MGM.

And best of all, that over baked glazed ham Allan Jones is nowhere to be found.

Give A Night in Casablanca another try. I did and I'm glad I did.

Polly and Handgraves Investigate: A Sinister Aura

Polly and Handgraves are characters I created that I really like. Originally I published them back in 2008. But I always felt like I could do the story better. So I did with talented artist Daniel Miller and released the story in two parts. I'm happy witg this version and you can get them here:

A Sinister Aura Part One

And

A Sinister Aura Part Two

The next story is in the works!!

 

See You At Plastic City Comic Con This Weekend!!

 

I did Plastic City Comic Con the year before last and I had a great time. I unfortunately had to cancel last year because it ended up being the same weekend as LI Who. But that's not the case this year and I'm glad I'll be able to attend. 

Keith Gleason who runs it is a great guy and runs a great little show. If you're an artist looking to do a convention, I highly recommend Plastic City.

I'll have books, prints and original artwork available for purchase. Both pen and ink sketches and my original comic book art.

I will also be accepting commissions throughout the event. So come find me in the Cole Porter Room this coming Saturday in the city where the pink plastic flamingos come from.

It's Been A While, hasn't it???

 

Getting to chat with Katy Manning and gift her with some artwork at Long Island DoctorWho. 

I'm seeing that my last blog post was in 2019. Which is pre-Covid. Jiminy Crickets but that was a while ago!! And much has happened since then. 

In 2020 the plan was to start doing conventions again regularly after a few years absence. My first stop would be 221B Con down in Atlanta GA. I had my flight and my Airbnb all lined up and I was ready to go...

...but we all know what happened next. I ended up getting pretty sick right at the beginning as well and I wouldn't have been able to travel anyway. 

However, in the past few years I finally began to do conventions regularly each year. I was finally able to make it down to 221B Con starting three years ago. Which has been a fantastic experience for me and a show I look forward to doing every year.