Score Paul Loudon's original artwork!!

New perks!! For a pledge of $70.00 you can score either of Paul Loudon's character design for ALICE or for THE QUEEN OF HEARTS!!

To check it out and to check out other perks, click on the link below:

ALICE AND THE INVADERS FROM WONDERLAND INDIEGOGO CAMPAIGN

Alice and the Invaders From Wonderland Indiegogo Fundraiser: Day 36

36 days left and still miles to go before ALICE AND THE INVADERS FROM WONDERLAND reaches its goal. Your help in getting the project off the ground would be greatly appreciated and you won't go away empty handed. I've added numerous great perks for contributing with the possibility of more to come. The book itself will also feature the artwork from the super-talented Paul Loudon.

To contribute, please click on the link below and be sure to pass it along to everyone you know:

Alice and the Invaders From Wonderland Indiegogo Campaign

The Dreamer by Will Eisner

THE DREAMER is probably my favorite graphic novel by Will Eisner. The book itself is a thinly disguised autobiography depicting Eisner's early years as a comic artists as well as many of the soon-to-be famous comic artists who worked alongside him.

By far one of my favorite accounts in the books is legend Jack Kirby (named Jack King in this book) frightening off a mobster trying to intimidate his employer.

I usually use pages from the book as reference and really recommend my students to check it out. Its one of Eisner's less gritty graphic novels and for the most part a really unique look into those early days when the comic industry was in its infancy.

Not only that,  its a book I hope gives inspiration to young artists that even the artists they admire and look up to for inspiration started out somewhere.

Pick yourself up a copy. Its a great read!!

The Queen of Hearts

Paul sent me his design for the Queen of Hearts and I have to say I am very pleased with the results. Especially how he's improved upon my initial design for the character.

I had envisioned the Queen of Hearts to be the polar opposite of Alice in this story. I wanted Alice in my story not to be all sexed up. I feel like there had been too many versions of the character that made her overly sexual and I wanted the Alice of my story to be fun and adventurous.

As I mentioned before a cross between Harry Potter, Doctor Who and a touch of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The Queen of Hearts, on the other hand, I wanted to be the complete opposite of that. I just told Paul to have at it as far as designing her goes. She physcial form matches her mental form. Vain with a very large ego to boot. If you are familiar with the original story, the Queen was a short little toad looking character. Which is how she appears at the beginning of this tale.

I envisioned her character as someone who was overweight when they were younger but ends up losing all the weight. But instead of being humble about it, becomes just as bad as the people who probably picked on them.

Or a person who was probably made fun of by the "in crowd" in High School. But goes off to college meets a group of  "like minded" people in college and instead of learning from how they were treated in the past becomes just as unbearable as the groups of people who bullied and made fun of them in the past.

Progress on the book is coming along nicely. I will keep you all posted on everything going on.

Re-Imagining Dark Shadows

Some time ago I had submitted some sample pages to Dynamite Entertainment for their ongoing Dark Shadows series.

 

Although the series Dynamite is currently producing picks up where the television series left off, if I would given the opportunity I would want to do a complete re-imagining of the series. Much in the same way the Tim Burton and Johnny Depp created their own version of Dark Shadows.

 

However, when I was creating the pages, my idea was more inspired by both Jonathan Frid's approach to Barnabas Collins earlier on in the series as well as the way he played the character in the House of Dark Shadows movie. More of the cruel and sadistic vampire rather than the more heroic figure he would later become.

 

At least that would be how I would portray Barnabas to begin with.

 

For those of you who are really just getting to know the Dark Shadows series, the thing you need to understand is Barnabas didn't appear in the series till much later on. Most of the earlier series focused on Victoria Winters and her relationship with the Collins family as well as the mysterious Burke Devlin.

 

To be honest, I thought it was a shame Burton didn't use Burke Devlin in the movie. But I suppose for time constraint, I can understand why he didn't. There were a mess of story lines in that series before Barnabas entered the picture.

 

And Barnabas was only meant to be a one-off character. Jonathan Frid took the role because he was trying to get the money to establish himself as a teacher. But the popularity of the character proved to be more lucrative than a career as a teacher. Barnabas became the center of the show and characters like Victoria Winters and Burke Devlin eventually got written out of the show.

 

If I were given the opportunity, I would include those characters but at the same time introduce Barnabas right off the bat...

 

...no pun intended.

 

I think things like Burke Devlin as well as Jason Maguire blackmailing the family is too good to simply omit.

 

How I would do it would be when Victoria enters the picture, Jason is already wormed his way into the family. When Victoria meets him he is already Elizabeth's fiancé. Willie works as the groundskeeper (very much like in House of Dark Shadows) some time before Jason entered the picture. But little does the family know at that time Willie is Jason's partner. He knows of Elizabeth's secret between herself and Jason how Elizabeth killed Jason's husband and initially before Jason came back into the picture, he was a sort of spy for Jason.

 

Although, Burke Devlin has had a rocky past with the Collins family. In particular Elizabeth's brother Roger. He still cares quite a bit for them. He has long suspected Jason's duplicity. He works out an pay off the governess of Roger's son David in order to bring in a new governess. He is well aware the former governess is having an affair with either Willie or Jason (very Curse of Frankenstein I suppose) and having her out of the way brings in the possibility of hiring someone who might unwittingly stumble upon a fresh pair of eyes. Elizabeth puts out an advert looking for a governess which somehow gets sent to Victoria Winters, an orphan who had been working for years at the orphanage she was found at.

 

All this would be condensed into one issue.

 

All this eventually leads to Willie, who has become obsessed with finding a secret Collins family fortune inadvertently freeing Barnabas Collins from his coffin and Barnabas introducing himself to the family to end the first issue.

 

I know it's unfashionable to admit it, but I actually enjoyed the Tim Burton film. Say what you will I liked it. Would I own it on DVD? Probably not. But I didn't feel ripped off when I saw it in the theaters.

 

However, my version of Dark Shadows would be a trifle bit darker than the movie. More along the lines of the House of Dark Shadows. Although, I  would not have Barnabas stay evil. Yes he'd be a total bastard. But I'd want the reader to still feel a sort of sad sympathy for him knowing he would eventually evolve into the tragic hero later on.

 

That's how I would handle a Dark Shadows series if I were given the opportunity.

Special Holiday Auction!!

 A couple special auctions to kick off the ole gift-giving season!! Right now you can bid on the original artwork used for the book I did with my wife Syd MEMENTO MORI!! Not only will the winning bidder receive the original cover art PERSONALLY SIGNED to them. But they will also receive a copy of the book signed by myself and Syd!!

Also for sale, is the poster art I did for the Kentucky Repertory Theatre's adaptation of William Gillette's 1899 play SHERLOCK HOLMES. Which I also did the set design for. Mind you, this is not a print or a reproduction. This is ORIGINAL ARTWORK!! The winning bidder will receive the art PERSONALLY signed to them along with a copy of my graphic novel SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE PAINFUL PREDICAMENT OF ALICE FAULKNER.

Also for sale is another opportunity to win a copy of THE CASQUE OF AMONTILLADO with an original pen and ink sketch!!

Click on the link below to start bidding on one of these items. Happy Holidays and Happy Bidding:

Special Holiday Art Auction

Special Late Summer/Early Fall Auction

The winning bidder of this auction will not only recieve the original artwork used for Casque of Amontillado but they will also receive a copy of the graphic novel. Both PERSONALLY SIGNED to the winning bidder.

 

Click on the link below to check it out and Happy Bidding:



E-Bay: Casque of Amontillado Cover Art Auction

Amontillado in today's issue of Worcester Magazine

My latest graphic novel The Casque of Amontillado is in today's issue of Worcester Magazine!! If you're around and about the Woo, you may either pick up a copy at your local newstand. Or you can read it online by clicking the link below:

Worcester Magazine: New Graphic Novel is a Poe-tent take on a Classic Tale

Special End-Of The-Summer Auction: Win a signed copy of Amontillado

The winning bidder will not only have their copy PERSONALLY SIGNED to them but they will also received AN ORIGINAL PEN AND INK SKETCH!! Click on the link below and happy bidding:

The Casque of Amontillado on E-Bay

My copies of Amontillado have arrived!!

I just got copies of the book in the mail yesterday and I should be dropping them off at a few of the local places like That's Entertainment, Annie's Book Stop of Worcester, Bedrock Comics and Friendly Neighborhood Comics in a few days.

However, if you don't live in the Worcester area, you can also either order a printed copy or digital copy for your favorite e-reader device at Amazon.com. Click on the link below to order yours:

The Casque of Amontillado on Amazon.com

Casque of Amontillado back up on Amazon.com!!

You might have noticed TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK in big nasty red letters if you happened to go on Amazon.com recently. That's because I had to tweak the file a little bit and reload it onto the site.

But that's all been squared away and the book is once again up and running and available for purchase.

Copies will be available for my upcoming shows. However, if you cannot wait that long, you may now order your copy today by click on the link below:

The Casque of Amontillado on Amazon.com

You may also order the book for your Kindle, ipad or other electronic reading type device:

The Casque of Amontillado for Kindle

Casque of Amontillado is now up and available on Amazon.com!!

It's here!! And you can purchase your copy at Amazon.com today!! Click on the link below to order:

The Casque of Amontillado

Amontillado for the Kindle

The printed version of The Casque of Amontillado should be up and running on Amazon.com in a couple of days. HOWEVER!! You can now download my latest graphic novel based on the short story by Edgar Allan Poe to your Kindle, ipad or other ereader device today. Click on the link below to order your copy:

The Casque of Amontillado

Order your copy of The Casque of Amontillado

Copies should be available on Amazon.com in a couple of days and I'm finalizing the Kindle version as we speak. However, you can order copies off of Createspace right now. Click on the link below:

The Casque of Amontillado

Amontillado Cover

The book should be up and running sometime before the day is over. But for the time being, here's the cover:

Sneak Peek at the Casque of Amontillado

 

Here are the first three pages of The Casque of Amontillado. A graphic novel I have been working on between projects since March.

I wanted to do a different version of Poe's tale utilizing two things that have fascinated me over the past several years. One of which being the Capuchin Catacombs in Rome and the other being the Catrina's and the Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico.

Since Amontillado is set during both a city-wide celebration and deep within underground vaults I thought both elements would be suitable for my version of the tale.

The mask Fortunato is wearing in the first panel is actually based on gravestone art. In particular the art found at the top of colonial gravestones. I had thought about having him wearing make-up but I decided I would have him wear a removable mask. And I thought the looks of the winged skulls found on those particular gravestones fit the feel of the story. Just sans wings.

Right now I'm in the computer graphics phase of the project as well as in the process of touching things up as well. So I'm hoping to have everything ready by the end of August at the latest.

So par usual, I will announce the books release on this blog. Stay tuned!!

Paul Loudon

I came across an artist based in Manchester England by the name of Paul Loudon (who also goes by the name Lantern Jaw) on the web. I really like the work he's doing on a proposed comic book called Bust-Up which features a team of female superheroes as pictured in the image above. His work on that reminds me of a cross between Dan Clowes, Darwyn Cooke with a touch of Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez from the Love and Rockets series.

But a great deal of his work is not in this particular style. But I think it's one that works really well for this project and I would definitely get my hands on a copy when he releases the series.

Check out his work on his website:

Paul Loudon

The Game is Afoot... again?

Another Sherlock Holmes graphic novel in the works? Well, I can't say too too much just yet.

However, watch this space for any further news and developments...

Alice Faulkner reviewed on Comic Should Be Good

Greg Burgas wrote a good review for Sherlock Holmes: The Painful Predicament of Alice Faulkner. Even though his remarks weren't entirely glowing about the book, I still found his review to be very fair and very unbiased. As much as he talked about what he didn't like about the book he also spent a great deal of time talking about what he really enjoyed about that.

I understand as a fan of Sherlock Holmes, we all have our idea of how the character should, look, act and feel. I do it all the time. So, I can't hate on Greg for doing something I'm completely guilty of.

Greg Burgas seemed to like (or be intrigued by) my style even though one critic in the comment section seemed to feel:
"The art looks freakish, all right, and not in a good way. The story would have to be great to overcome my aversion to this style."

However, on Greg Burgas's end I found it to be a great review and while I don't agree with everything he says (I can't help it) we can both agree that Benedict Cumberbatch is a great Sherlock Holmes.

Click on the link below to read the article:

Bid on Alice Faulkner+ORIGINAL ART!!

BACK IN PRINT!! And it never felt so good ;-) To celebrate the nationwide THIRD PRINT RUN, here's your chance not only to win a copy of Sherlock Holmes: The Painful Predicament of Alice Faulkner PERSONALLY SIGNED TO YOU but also a chance to win some ORIGINAL SHERLOCK HOLMES INSPIRED ART!! Click on the image below to place your bid today: