We've contributed a custom Munny vinyl figure to the Holiday heroes charity auction sponsored by the folks at
Uberbot. Other custom designed figures were contributed by Matt Wagner, Dave Johnson, David Mack and Mike Allred, among other cartoonists and comic creators. All proceeds from the auction goes to Toys For Tots. You can see the auction listings and bid on our Surf Mummy custom figure here. More photos of the Surf Mummy can be seen on our Flickr page.
Happy Birthday to the Henry Morgan (that would be the snarky radio host, not the pirate) of the 21st Century--Evan Dorkin.
(Maybe I'll even bake you a cake!)
Sarah and I have contributed a four-page comic to the Urbz.com website, a tie in promoting the new Sims video game franchise release. Our strip takes place in the punk/goth-themed Central Station section of the Urbz cityscape.
Other cartoonists contributing strips to the website include Peter Bagge, James Kochalka, Chynna Clugston and Jim Mahfood. To see our comic, click on the following link:
I realize this might be old news to most of you reading this, but the six-issue Metal Men mini-series I was writing for DC was cancelled (several months ago). After a few people asked me about the status of the project this past weekend at the Big Apple convention, I figured I should "officially" announce that it was not happening. Although I've been given an official reason for the cancellation, I'm not exactly sure why the project couldn't have been continued. That's show business.
The latest Entertainment Weekly features an article on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block and AS head honcho Mike Lazzo. The article included the following tidbit:
"Up until now, most of the shows have been created by in-house employees or Space Ghost alumni. But with more money (not much money, mind you) to plan new shows, Lazzo is now trolling outside the Atlanta city limits, with a development slate that includes a Jonny Quest-like adventure called the Venture Brothers from the creators of the Tick; a zombies-on-Staten Island romp by Evan Dorkin, the gleefully violent artist behind the comic Milk and Cheese; and, assembled by Some Crank Yankers producers, Minoriteam, a cadre of minority superheroes whose powers are derived from their most obvious stereotypes."
Anyway, a few particulars: the show itself, if there ever is a show, is not about zombies, per se. It's a comedy with horror elements, although each episode doesn't necessarily have to be a "horror" show. However, the pilot has a bunch of zombies in it. And the main character is dead, so I guess he's an animated corpse-like individual. Maybe. Sort of. Not sure yet.
In Hollywood pitch-speak, the project could be described as the Young Ones meets the Little Rascals in the Twilight Zone. Attitude-wise, it's less Eltingville and more Milk and Cheese/Murder Family.
More news if and when there is any.
P.S. I am not "gleefully violent". My comic is. Must I hit someone?
The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft is now available at comic shops and bookstores (as well as directly from darkhorse.com). This is the second volume in the DHC horror series of hardcover graphic novels based on a particular theme, the initial entry being the Book of Hauntings. The editors for the series are Scott Allie and Matt Dryer.
Several artists from Hauntings return with stories, including Mike Mignola, who provides another all-new Hellboy tale. New additions to the series roster include Tony Millionaire (Maakies, Sock Monkey), Mark Ricketts (Nowheresville), Sean Phillips (Hellblazer, The Invisibles), and Scott Morse (Soulwind, Ancient Joe).
Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother, Sandman) and I have contributed another story featuring the characters from "Stray", our entry in the Book of Hauntings. The book also features a vintage Clark Ashton Smith prose story illustrated by Gary Gianni, and an interview with a NYC-based Wiccan High Priestess who is also a lawyer and filmmaker. No, I'm not making that up.
Anyway, the Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft is 96 pages for $14.95, and sits on the shelves of professional comic shops and book stores as I type just waiting for you to pick it up.
On a related note, the aforementioned "Stray" story from the Book of Hauntings will be made available as a free giveaway comic from Dark Horse and Diamond Distributors this Halloween. Retailers can order bundles of the promotional booklet through Diamond Previews, 25 copies per bundle for a measly $3 to give away to kids and adults alike. There will also be Marvel and Archie Halloween-themed promotional books available as giveaways. If you're a retailer who is interested in this program, here's the links to check out:
www.86thfloor.com
http://www.86thfloor.com/Advance%20Order/July2004/catalogue/1_Diamond.htm
I will be the emcee for this year's Harvey Awards presentation ceremony, which will be held this Saturday, June 25th as part of the MOCCA art festival taking place this weekend in New York City at the famed Puck building. Being the emcee means I will introduce presenters, attempt to crack wise and make an utter fool of myself without the safety shield of the comics page.
The Harvey Awards are given out each year to comic creators and projects in a variety of categories, which are nominated and voted for by creators and industry professionals. This year will be the first time the ceremony will be part of the MOCCA arts festival. The keynote speaker will be Neil Gaiman, and scheduled presenters include Jerry Robinson, Chester Brown, Kyle Baker, Joe Quesada, R.C. Harvey, Jeff Smith, Patrick McDonnell, among others. Many nominees are attending as well, so it should prove to be a fun evening, especially if anyone gets three sheets to the wind and gives a nutty speech. Other than me, that is.
There are still tickets available for the awards banquet, which allows attendees to enjoy a dinner before the ceremony, and I believe tickets will be available during Mocca on Saturday (but that might be a dicey proposition). The $60 tickets go directly to funding the awards program, renting the room, paying for the awards themselves, etc. Mocca attendees can take their chances and show up at the event at 9 p.m for free available seating (or standing) that is left, first come, first serve. I believe they might be asking for a suggested donation of $10, which isn't necessary for getting in, but such donations would help defray the very expensive costs of presenting the ceremony. If you can't make the awards, by all means try to make the festival, it looks like it will be a fantastic show, with scores of amazing creators on hand to sign, sell and talk about their work. For information on the Harvey Awards and the MOCCA festival, simply use the links provided below. Hope to see you at the show!
Mad #443 features a one-page Dork-style comic strip I wrote and drew, making this my first solo contribution to the magazine. The strip is a parody of the VH1: Behind the Music series, chronicling the sordid career of Def Leppard drummer Rick Allens' severed left arm. Other contributors include comic Sergio Aragones, Marc Hempel, Danny Hellman and Peter Kuper. Mad #443 is now available at comic shops and newsstands for your purchasing or browsing pleasure.
We just got the news that Circling the Drain (the 2nd Dork collection) was nominated for an Eisner in the "Best Humor Publication" category! The full list is supposed to be put up by Thursday, presumably at the SDCC website.
The Subcultures " Art of the Action Figure" exhibit will be opening this Friday at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, with a reception from 5:30pm - 8:00pm. We won't be there, unfortunately, but our very cool one-of-a-kind action figures will be! We created a set of seven designs, based on nothing, just designed for fun, which were brought to life by the good folks at Subcultures. Check out a peek at Surf Mummy to the left! There will be loads of cool stuff there, check out the site for more details.
Update: got word that we can put up an image of the complete set. Dig.
I'm writing a six-issue METAL MEN limited series for DC, to be pencilled by Mike Allred. This was previously the "mystery DC project" alluded to in my journal, but since Wizard Magazine blew the secret, well, I might as well admit it is true. There's no set schedule for the book, I've written two issues so far, and it should be a lot of fun. More later.
Alright, please excuse the slight choppiness of what's going on here. I've stolen a day in between jobs to get this minor revamp finished and up. If I waited to have everything tweaked just so and the way I'd like it, well, quite honestly it would be another month or so before this got done! So think of this as version 0.1. And as for just what this is...this is a place for us to quickly throw up announcements, ship dates, whatever, whether we plan to blog about it or not. Set up this way so Evan can log in and post an update without my help. Hopefully....
If you'd like to syndicate our news, autodiscovery should find your preferred feed, and there is a link to the basic feed over to your right. I'll have nicer links to all the feeds up in version 0.2. Or maybe that'll wait til 1.0. We'll see. Actually, I have not checked the feeds, hopefully they work.
Anyway, again my apologies on the slapdash-ness around here, hopefully it'll get fixed sooner not later. See ya!