Quattro = One

I know it's been a bit quiet on the MBS front these past couple of months. We've been slowly working on getting stuff together, but nothing have progressed to the point that a "post" was warranted.

However, two things on the Home Front have taken place that are definitely worth mentioning:

1) Dana's Birthday!
The Littlest Man of the Clan, Dana (AKA Quattro, Moose) just turned the Big 1 Year Old last week... He's growing up fast, in size and skills. Walking, running, eating by himself, fighting in underground Baby Fight Clubs, etc., he's got it all covered!

2) Mackenzie's Kung Fu Tournament!
A couple of weeks ago, Mac entered her second Martial Arts Tournament, competing in Kata (style and technique) and Sparring (hitting other little girls). Last year, she pulled in 3rd place in Sparring, but this year, she brought home the Gold! Mac snagged 1st place, and against a larger group of competitors than last year.

Blue Shift Pages

One of the projects that I've been working on for a while now is Blue Shift, the sci-fi project I am co-writing with Gigi Edgley.Well, as with many projects, so many things can affect the progress of it being made. For this book, we've had a couple of "roadblocks" that have impeded said progress.

Well, hopefully, we should have a "convention" edition of the first issue by November. Sidney Lima is currently working on the first issue, and he is doing a great job of it. As proof of his awesomeness, here are the first 4 pages of the first issue...

-Brian

Doctor Zombie - The Song!

A few months ago, I got in touch with this incredibly talented "Band of The Future" called We Wrote The Book On Connectors, the creators of Mustache Rock! This local band offered a very interesting service; a song writing service. So, after a few emails with the guitarist/singer/heart-breaker Mike Votava, they got to work on what is the coolest comic book promo ever -- A Theme Song!

Yes, you heard me right, folks! WE came up with a theme song... for Doctor Zombie! No longer will you have to read your Doctor Zombie comics in silence!

This awesome song can be downloaded for free at their website, and while you are there, you can check out a TON of other free songs that they have to offer.

To listen to it, just press play on the embedded Quicktime player below...

-Brian M.

Another ECCC passes...

The 7th Annual Emerald City ComiCon had come and gone, leaving me a tattered wreck of a man, a veritable shell of humanity that has been tossed aside by the teeming masses...

...ahem...

Sorry about that. I tend to get a little "dramatic" when it comes to ECCC. It's a huge deal for me, being of the of the top guys that puts it on. It's a large part of my life, and has become so large that it is literally like having a second job for 6-9 months out of the year, just to put it on for a single weekend. The stress from just putting on the show is enough to turn hair gray.

Anyway, besides striving to have a successful show (in terms of attendance, services, etc.), one of the most important things for me to accomplish is to put together as many personal projects as I possibly can. I usually do 1-3 projects/books for Rorschach Entertainment, but this is the first year that I also set up under my personal label of Micro Brew Comics. Of course, the subtle irony of this is that I am usually far too busy to be behind a table and promote any of these works.

That's where the family comes in. This year, the wife was put in charge of running the Rorschach Entertainment booth, which allowed her watch over our 9-year-old daughter Mackenzie as she promoted our latest issue of The Adventures of Doctor Zombie. Together, they pulled off an awesome weekend for all of us, selling over half of the stock that we had for the show.

So, what did we have, you say? I'm glad you asked. We introduced two new MBC books, plus buttons and a limited edition print.

First, we had The Adventures of Doctor Zombie #2, which continues the stories of the Doctor Archibald Zombie and his assistant Marigold Murray, as penned by my talented daughter Mackenzie. In fact, this issue has a double dose of awesome, with two stories drawn by two different artists. In the first story, our regular artist Erik Thompson illustrates what happens when Doctor Zombie and Marigold try to spend the night at the movies, especially with a vengeful magician named Chuck lurking in the shadows. In the second story, we have guest artist Ryan Cody (Villains, Popgun, Hurricane Kids) showing what happens when an irate Dinosaur tries taking his anger out on the city Doctor Zombie is sworn to protect.

We also had copies of The Adventures of Doctor Zombie #1, for those that missed out on the book back in the Fall...

Second, we have a brand new Steve Lawlis book! Steve Lawlis: Zombieville USA #1 continues the tales of Steve Lawlis and his pal Pete Redshirt, agents for the Department of Horror Intervention. In this first of three issues, Steve and Pete are called to a little town in the middle of nowhere to deal with a strange zombie infestation. Expecting a town out of Resident Evil, imagine their surprise when they find a peaceful little burg straight out of Leave It To Beaver. This series is not only drawn by Erik, but he is making his debut as writer. It's good stuff, kids.

Third, we had a limited edition print (only 20 made!) called DOCTOR ZOMBIE & STEVE LAWLIS FIGHT A GIANT APE WITH CYBERNETIC PARTS AT THE SPACE NEEDLE! Drawn by regular Doctor Zombie / Steve Lawlis artist Erik Thompson, this bad boy of a print sold for just $10, and we only have a couple of them left.

Finally, we introduced our first button set, featuring Doctor Zombie and Marigold Murray. We did 60 sets of these, and have less than 20 left.

Oh, and over on the Rorschach Entertainment side of things, we released the third issue of Sprecken: Kalabus Rex. Only one more to go!

As you can see, I had my hands full over the last couple of months, getting all of this ready... of course, this is only the beginning. Wait until next year! We'll be hitting hte convention on an official capaciy, with a full library of books and goodies. Now, I just need to figure out a way to be in two places at once...

-Brian

The Fam!

So... it's been a while since my last update, thanks to a very busy life pre-ECCC,which has consumed my time. With that in mind, here's a quick re-cap of what's been going on.

Mackenzie hit the big "9" mark two weeks ago. She's now quickly working her way up from Child to Tween, but not in a bad way, so far. She had a another mellow birthday this year; some fine gifts (including the much-in-demand Easy Bake Oven), dinner out with the family, and cupcakes and cookies for her friends at school and Kempo.

Dana (AKA "The Moose" AKA "Quattro) just hit hit 6 month mark. Needless to say, he's a big boy. He's pushing 20 lbs and is around 2 feet in length. At the rate he's going, he's going to be bigger than his brother Jack in no time.

Speaking of Jack... Lucky is getting so much better with his words and sentences. Of course, most of the words that come out of his mouth theses days are "Batman", "Justice League", "Flash", "Superman", "Doctor Who", etc. The boy is definitely showing his true geek colors.

With Emerald City ComiCon coming up, I'll be making another post soon to fill everyone in on what is going on with Micro Brew Comics, Mackenzie's Doctor Zombie series, and more...

Pepper Jones by Shane White

Another sweet pinup for Blue Shift just appeared in my email the other day! This fantastic piece is by the super-talented Shane White, who was the artist on the recent Image book, The Overman.

Head over to his website and check out the awesomeness that is Shane's art!

Blue Beetle!

Oh. My. God. This is going to be so awesome!

Pepper Jones by Edward Pun

Here's the latest piece of artwork to come in for the Blue Shift project that I working on with Gigi Edgley. It's by the incredibly talented Edward Pun, who recently did a cover for Dallas McCoy (check it out here).

Is it a cover? Is it a pin-up? I'm not sure yet, but what I do know... it's awesome.