30 Characters Challenge

Wow, have I been busy. Another month without much in the way of TJC blog updates...what with webcomics and columns and twitter and the behind the scenes things I'm doing, yeah, this blog is getting the short shafterino.

Which is a pity, because this is really my place of record for my journey doing this comics thing. As such, I'd be remiss not to mention the upcoming "30 Characters Challenge" I've gotten off the ground.

Next month, myself and a group of [brave, ambitious, foolish, insane] creators are challenging ourselves to create 30 new characters in 30 days...one for every day in November.

Why? Because the world needs new characters! (And I'm sure a whole host of other reasons as well.) For me, it's going to provide a structure around which to get off my duff and start populating the characters for the Colosseum universe.

You remember Colosseum, don't you? It's getting off the ground in a big way, and as soon as art starts coming in, I'll fill readers in on all the details. I'm working with a very strong artist on the project and researching the heck out of the thing. I'm hoping it has just the right combination of catchy high concept, killer visuals, and edgy, in your face writing that will make it a hit.

Anyway, here's a link to the 30 Characters site. Check it out! And sign up, if you dare!

Baltimore Comic-Con Photo Flood- Part II

More pics from Baltimore!
Had to throw up another shot of that Wolverine costume. This dude was not messing around.
Image had a big presence at this year's show, and the giant Image United banner could not be missed upon entering the convention hall.

I stayed for awhile to see the art auction held after the show ended on Saturday. Some serious money was being spent. You can't really see it here, but the auctioneer is holding up a Neil Adams Batman sketchcard. It went for $500. Wow.


Two really nice pieces. David Peterson was in attendance at the auction, and was there to hand it to the purchaser. That one went for around $500 as well.A Mike Oeming Thor. Apparently, this was done at the show. Someone handed him a marker and he just went to town on it. Dude has some serious chops. $450 or thereabouts.

And this was the highest selling item I saw at the auction. A fully painted Frank Cho Poison Ivy. Could have been yours for the low low price of $4250.

Baltimore Comic-Con Photo Flood- Part I

Hey everybody!

Still catching up on sleep and rest after a wild Baltimore Comic-Con. I'll be doing a full write up on my con experience over at Comic Related, but here I'm going to post all the pics I took.


Here was my Saturday set-up. As you can see, I had a whole lot of merchandise to sell.


Early Saturday, this was the view from my table.

The happiest Sith warriors you'll find anywhere.

I don't think you can label where my table was as in Artist's Alley. It was more like we were in Artist's Lane, which was along the back wall of the convention center (near the restrooms) and close to the vendors.


Some really great costumes this year.
You know what they say...Couples that dress up as psychopathic super villians together, stay together.

This Wolverine was not messing around.

Back with more pics soon...

Interviews and Mentions in the Blogosphere

Don't we all love to feel relevant? Comics reviewer extraordinaire MPD57 had some nice things to say about my work over at his blog recently when he took up the Herculean task of recapping/reviewing every Zuda Comics competitor to date. Thanks Mike! (And by the way, if you missed out on Mike's recent post Thirty Golden Rules for Submitting to Zuda, it's must read stuff for anyone thinking of giving the Zuda gauntlet a try...and some generally good advice for comics creators.

In other news, I spent a good deal of time at the recent New England Comic-Con talking to Scott Harris from The Vault, a solid comics blog. So much time, in fact, he broke up our conversation into a two part interview. Read Part I and Part II at your leisure.