Doctor Zombie, Mac Style!

About 6-8 weeks ago, before ECCC, I was taking Mac to her Kung Fu lesson, as I am prone to do 2-3 times a week. As we were driving there, she expressed interest in writing a story. I simply told her to go ahead a make one up, as she is quite talented in the Off-The-Cuff-Story-Telling Department.

Picking one of her favorite subjects (Doctor Zombie, see other posts or the Steve Lawlis site for more info...), she immediately weaved a tale called "Marigold's Birthday Surprise". It was a fun little romp as Doctor Zombie and Marigold Murray try to celebrate her birthday, but their plans are ruined when a devil appears and takes away Marigold for refusing to go out on a date with him. It falls to Doctor Zombie to use his genius to create potions in order to save her.

Although the story was short, it was good, really cute and funny. I told a few of my fellow writers, such as Brian Joines (the talented mastermind behind the Indy hit 7 Guys Of Justice), who just loved it. So, with the help of my regular Steve Lawlis artist Erik Thompson, we proceeded to put it down on paper. I turned the story into a 16-page script, and Erik is already halfway done with the artwork. Once we are done with the artwork, we will put this out as a limited Doctor Zombie Special through Rorschach Entertainment.

Mackenzie CANNOT wait to see this book done. Not a day goes by that she does not ask about it. She's only 8 years old, and she's already looking forward to having a comic book of her very own. I think she is plotting to take me out of the picture so she can write more Doctor Zombie stories...

The Road To Emerald City

This is the time of year when my brain melts.

As one of the 4 Founding Fathers of the Emerald City ComiCon, a portion of the operations of the show (i.e. setting it up, processing all of the info coming and going, design, print, etc.) falls on me. We all have our areas of expertise, and we all bust our asses all year long to make this show happen. However, with less than a month away, TONS of little things crop up that need to be taken care of on a daily basis. Along with a normal family life and work, this makes for a very scatter-brained Brian... hence, the meltiness of my brain, as of late.

Anyway...

Besides the running of the actual show, there has also been certain preparations for the show that I have been working on, in regards to Rorschach Entertainment. As it stands, RE will have a busy year at the show. We have a couple of new books, an artbook (by Sean Dietrich), and a special guest.

After a long delay, Issue #2 of Sprecken: Kalabus Rex finally makes its debut this year, continuing with the original miniseries of Sprecken that I started at last year's show.

I have also lettered the first issue of a brand new RE series called Bolt Magee, created by Steve Lawlis artist, Erik Thompson. It's a great little book by a talented creator, so pick it up if you're at the show.

Lastly, Gigi Edgley will also be making an appearance at the show, sitting behind the RE booth to promote our venture, Blue Shift. Although the miniseries is still in production, she will have the ashcan on hand for sale, as well as a brand new art print (see above) by artist Camilla d'Errico (who will also be at the show).

As for me, I will be running all over the show floor during the event, but I will try and make time to spend at the RE booth when I can.

Don't Mess With The Warrior!

8th time around!

Yesterday was Mackenzie's 8th birthday. For her, it was a modest and mellow event, considering her past birthdays almost always ended up with an evening at Chuck E Cheese. No night out, just the family at home with a small dinner, some cake, and a few choice presents. As part of my effort to cut back on the amount of useless crap my kids tend to end up with, she got quality over quantity. No crappy toys this year...

Her presents this year consisted of 2 light-weight jackets (one track and one hoodie), a couple pairs of nice jammies, a Hannah Montana music CD, a movie called ROXY HUNTER (about a 9-year-old girl detective), a pair of silver Converse shoes, and the Grand Prize Of Them All, a pink Nintendo DS.

She was very excited about all of them, especially the DS, of course. Like the rest of the family, she loves her Gameboy, and this is the first one she has owned that was not a Hand-Me-Down. All in all, a good day for her...

Octo-Bot!

Mostly as an exercise in creativity and/or stress release, I have a tendency to start working on designs for no particular reason. With all of the various projects (whether freelance, personal, or work related) I am working on, I find it's a nice break to just play around with something that has no deadline.

One the of the ideas I have been playing with is the "Mighty and terrible Octo-Bot, with its Tentacles of Doom!" (as shown here). This design really serves no purpose, other than being a fun looking image. But, it might make a neat t-shirt design.

Recently, some friends of mine (such as artist Sean Dietrich) have been getting involved with submitting t-shirt designs to sites like Threadless and Design By Humans. I'm not sure how well they've done with those submissions, but considering that those designs that are chosen are printed and paid for, I'm thinking about submitting this design for consideration. However... I'm not sure if this design is strong enough, or if I should drop the words, or change the color. I may play around with it a bit first...