If people are going to compare me to Grant Morrison and have me come out ahead, I may just develop the Shatner-esque ego I've been accused of.
And Done. Now I Can Start Again!
Last page done! Woo. In fact, woo and hoo!
This issue will lead into the big wedding issue in #12. Not that I'm showing the last page, but I will say, it's the first time the last page has had a full eight panels on it. In previous issues I've had a half splash or even a full splash. The ending of this issue isn't as "big" as previous issues, but that's fine. It's the calm before the storm.
Now to package this thing up and get it to the printer.
2009 Harvey Nominees Announced and… Great Googly-Moogly!
Wow! I've been nominated for not one, but two Harvey Awards. I've been nominated for Best Letterer for Buzzboy, which is cool enough, but I've also been nominated for Best Cartoonist for Love and Capes. That's fantastic. Amazing. And humbling. I'm up against some great competition, too. But hey, it's an honor just to be nominated. And yes, I am practicing saying that.
The awards are given out (well, I'd say earned) at Marc Nathan's awesomely awesome Baltimore Comicon in October. All of the cool kids will be there. You should be there, too.
Almost There, Stay on Target
Yeah, I like name checking and putting in some in-jokes here and there. Why I didn't think of making a Rick Castle joke sooner, given that Abby owns a bookstore, I'll never know. Well, it could be that Castle came out only while I was working on #11, and page 23 has the first bookstore scene in the entire issue. That could be it, but I still feel like I missed a boat.
Just one page left.
Get Your Jokes Ready
It's a horny toad. You'll see more of him later in the week, but he's been what's taking up my day today. Why? For what? Well, you'll just have to stay tuned, won't you?
Twenties One and Two
My friend Sean suggested I change the pacing of one of my jokes on page 21. I'd be upset if he wasn't right. In fact, the suggestion was something that I was toying about doing myself. I expanded one joke, and finished off with a cut line from an original draft.
All of this makes little sense, I'm sure, since I'm not showing the page. But it gives you an idea of how this process works. And will work over the next two pages until this bad boy is done. Man, am I looking forward to that.
So, now, our heroes are back on Earth. Why's the Crusader flying from an aircraft carrier? What adventure did he just have. Even I don't know. Make your own story.
The Famous Blackjack Page
Page 21 is done. Well, done-ish. The more I think about it, the more I think I need to move a few things around to really make it sing. I do the plots in advance, but sometimes they take on a life of their own. For instance, this whole "In Leandia" segment was originally going to end pages ago. I think it's working well, and now can't imagine doing it in less.
Yes, much thinking will be done. I'll try to fit that in between Secret Project X, a new cover for the Fort Worth Weekly, and, of course, a trip to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. You have to have your priorities.
Blink and You'll Miss Her
Okay, I admit, I have no 
idea who Blink is. (I know now, though, so I know she's from the X-Men books. Don't worry.) But it's part of the fun of doing convention sketches, when someone comes in with a character you've never heard of. As well as reference, man is reference important. At HeroesCon, if necessary, I could use the insanely useful iPhone to pull some reference off the web. At San Diego, that's not going to be possible, I presume, since I think everyone in the Creative Services and Hollywood has an iPhone, and that's going to slam the 3G network at the San Diego Convention Center.
Back to Blink, though. She was fun to draw. I think this is a definitely different pose, and her skin tone was fun to color since it's not a traditional tone. It made it fun to color.
A Little Early for Independence Day
I don't know why I didn't think of doing a 
Stargirl piece before, but when someone commissioned me for a sketch at HeroesCon, man did I take to it. My booth neighbor, Rich, was pretty impressed with it, validating my opinion. There's something about the pose and attitude that comes through so nicely. And, this is another one that I ran through my iPhone pic/blueline print process.
Twenty-Twenty
One of these days I'll figure out why these pages always take until 11:30, no matter when I get them started. Hmm, maybe if I were smart, I'd start at 11:00 and then each page would only take half an hour.
Here's a scene from the next page. Dialogue's been stripped out to keep the scene secret like. Still, it's a funny enough visual, I think you all will appreciate it.