These Rhinos are Done Bowling
Here it is, the last of my Kickstarter rewards, this being a Stephanie Brown Batgirl piece. Stephanie Brown seems to have been terminated with prejudice from the DC Universe. I always thought she was kind of cool, and certainly an interesting character design. So here she is. As usual, click for biggimization!
Now, everyone reading this should have recieved their Kickstarter reward (with the exception of my Aunt, who told me I could deliver it personally the next time I see her). So, if I've missed you, let me know.
I loved my Kickstarter experience, not counting the hell that was dealing with Active Images media. More on that some other time. I've got a couple other ideas in my head for what to do next, so expect me to Kickstart something else soon.
From Angels to Demons
A few weeks ago, I finally saw some daylight in my schedule. I got it in my head that maybe I could start doing some Disney villian art to post here. Just something to stretch my skills, mess around with the Cintiq and maybe some try working in Painter or Manga Studio again. That lasted for all of 48 hours when I was hit by the Work Hammer. Now, there's little chance I'll be drawing another bad guy until sometime in the New Year. Them's the breaks, I understand, and out of all the problems to have, too much work is the best.
But, there's no reason I can't share this one in the meantime. It's Chernabog, my favorite Disney villian from one of my favorite Disney films. He needs to be on more stuff… and more cool stuff. (I did get a lovely Chernabog Pop figure, and a Christmas ornament featuring him from my special lady this Christmas, though, so maybe he's making a comeback.) In fact, all the villians need more cool stuff. I can't tell you how much I want some Hades stuff. I just love that design.
Okay, let's cut this short before I go into my rant about the Disney Villian shop at Hollywood Studios turning into a candy shop. But come on, as Stan Lee once said, bring on the bad guys!
And, click to embiggen!
Christmas Time Was Here
My Mom sent me this picture of her Christmas tree. Up at the top is an angel with wings that have long fallen off. I made it in kindergarten back in 19… 86 or something like that. Yeah, let's say 86, that sounds palatable.
I still remember making that. We had the choice to make the eyes and mouth in blue or green glitter, and I chose blue, because it's my Mom's favorite color. It warms my heart to know that she still has it, and that it's still on the tree.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas! I hope you're where you want to be, with who you want to be with, and are having a great day.
As is tradition here at the Thom Zahler weblog, we show this year's Christmas Card art. Also, in case any of you are wondeing, this was put into production long before December 14th.
Have a wonderful Christmas!
(And obey all your local traffic laws.)
See you in the New Year!
Moon Knight Commission
Love and Capes Goes Hawaiian
Among other things I've been doing, I've been catching up on my commission list. This one was one of the rewards for my Rhinos Bowling Kickstarter project. (Which, by the way is finally in the United States, no thanks to my printer.)
The task on this one was to draw the ladies of Love and Capes in Hawai'i. I really like this one because of the characterization. Amazonia is looking for action, Abby is reading a book, and Charlotte is drinking. Each of them is summed up perfectly.
I've got a couple more I'll be showing soon, too.
Also, not for nothin', but I am available for Free Comic Book Day, comic shops of Hawai'i.
That's a Wrap For This One
Love and Capes: What to Expect #6 is off to IDW. That's the last issue of this miniseries.
At this point, I've written, drawn, inked, lettered and colored 25 issues worth of superhero romantic comedy. I say "25 issues worth" because it's actually only been 24 issues (thirteen issues of the original series, five of Ever After, and six of What to Expect) but the wedding issue was double sized so I'm counting that as two.
However I do the math, that's a lot! I'm kind of proud of that.
I can't imagine that I'm done with Mark and Abby, but I know I'm taking a break from them for a little bit. I threatened to do that after the last issue of Ever After, but that didn't quite happen. I've got some other projects running, including the My Little Pony book and something else that you know the name but I can't talk about yet. I'll announce that as soon as I can.
That's Right… My Little Pony!
The news finally broke on Friday! Yes, I am writing and drawing the first issue of IDW’s new My Little Pony micro-series. My issue will feature Twilight Sparkle.
I can’t say too much about the story right now, and I won’t be able to show any art until the book is ready to go, but I’ll share some still with you after it comes out in February.
February? Yikes! I better get back to work. After I finish up the last issue of Love and Capes: What to Expect, of course.
Where I've Been
I've kind of gone off the grid, haven't I? I figure I should share some of the reasons why.
The first is Love and Capes. As I type this, I'm a quarter of the way through the last issue of this arc, and it has to be done by the end of the month. It's fair to say that's sucking up a lot of the oxygen in my world right now.
Also, there are two more projects coming that I can't tell you about. They are things that I know you've heard of. I'm bumping my head on that double-edged sword of success. The cooler the projects, the less I can say about them. At least one of them should be announced next month. As soon as I can say something, I will.
Plus, there was Baltimore Comicon, Cincinnati Comic Expo, Wizard Ohio and New York Comic-Con.
And, for a lot of reasons, I've decided to head out to LA for an extended trip. That's been fun, but there were a lot of logistics to manage. They're now managed and that's settling down.
Fortunately, that means I was able to be here for Halloween, which means that I got to go to the Disneyland Trick or Treat event. The Haunted Mansion becomes Nightmare Before Christmas-ified, with a new story and ride elements. It's fantastic!
Plus, there was candy. Lots of candy. And carrot sticks and apple slices, but really, CANDY!
There were some unique sights there. There was a villains farewell show that was pretty good for not featuring the two villains who are my favorite: Chernobog and Hades. If they were in the show, it would have been awesome squared.
We did get to see something I've never even imagined being at Disney: Super Goof! The Disney characters came out in costume, and Goofy was dressed as his super hero self. That brings back memories of Gold Key Comics and Super Goobers. Hey, Disney/Marvel/Lucasfilm, why don't you bring that back?
Thanks to some friends, we also got to spend Halloween at the Magic Castle, the club for magicians. That was awesome. I can't think of a better place to spend October 31st.
And yes, they had candy, too.
So, I'm going to try to update this blog at least once a week until the crazy times are over, and then get back to better and more regular postings. The same with my Twitter and Facebook accounts. Sometimes it might just be a panel with fake dialogue from the new book, who knows? But it'll be good to bounce around this corner of the internet again.
Pictures of Disneyland follow. Click and embiggen!