Here's the variant cover to THE WEB #1 featuring artwork by JG Jones depicting the Hangman.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
THE WEB #1 Alternate Cover
Here's the variant cover to THE WEB #1 featuring artwork by JG Jones depicting the Hangman.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Available For Pre-order
Coming in December and available to pre-order now at your local comic book store are the following comic books which contain stories I wrote.
CARTOON ACTION PACK #44 - Available December 2. The Secret Saturdays investigate a possible cryptid dinosaur and find more than they were looking for. Art by Scott Jeralds. Cover by Jay Stephens.
SCOOBY-DOO #151 - Available December 9. A reporter tags along with Mystery Inc. hoping for a story . He lucks out as he finds himself tagging along as the gang investigates a mystery involving a strange painting and an even stranger creature bent on stealing it. Art by Fabio Laguna.
THE WEB #4 - Available December 23. In the second of two parts, THE HANGMAN's investigation into a human trafficking ring brings him face to face with an Umi-bozu, a powerful supernatural being with a secret tie to the traffickers. Art by Tom Derenick and Bill Sienkiewicz.
CARTOON ACTION PACK #44 - Available December 2. The Secret Saturdays investigate a possible cryptid dinosaur and find more than they were looking for. Art by Scott Jeralds. Cover by Jay Stephens.
SCOOBY-DOO #151 - Available December 9. A reporter tags along with Mystery Inc. hoping for a story . He lucks out as he finds himself tagging along as the gang investigates a mystery involving a strange painting and an even stranger creature bent on stealing it. Art by Fabio Laguna.
THE WEB #4 - Available December 23. In the second of two parts, THE HANGMAN's investigation into a human trafficking ring brings him face to face with an Umi-bozu, a powerful supernatural being with a secret tie to the traffickers. Art by Tom Derenick and Bill Sienkiewicz.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
In Comic Book Stores Today
THE WEB #1 hits comic book stores today. The lead feature begins the ongoing adventures of the selfish rich-boy hero, the Web. Written by Angela Robinson (D.E.B.S., THE L WORD, HERBIE - FULLY LOADED) with art by Roger Robinson and Hilary Barta.
The co-feature follows the continuing adventures of the noirish supernatural hero, the Hangman. This portion of the comic book was written by me with some great art by Tom Derenick and Bill Sienkiewicz, and Guy Major and Travis Lanham.
THE WEB is published by DC Comics.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Ahoy, Mateys!
"Greetin's, buckos! Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day. Reckon t' conduct all o' yerr affairs o' t' day, be they business, or social in t' appropriate manner o' speech, that bein' of a seafarin' hearty. "
Friday, September 18, 2009
The Hangman - Script
My last 2 posts showed the same comic book page in it's pencilled form, and in it's later inked and lettered form. Shawn Robare requested that I also post the first part of the process, the script. After failed attempts to figure out a way to attach a text document to a blog post, I decided just to copy and paste the text itself into this entry.
The following is the page of written script for the same comic book page in the previous two entries. You'll notice it's not pretty. With a comic book script, no one will ever read it (usually) beyond the editor, and artists involved in putting that comic book story together into its final comic book form. With this in mind, it's more important to make sure that the artist knows what you want visually put on the page. By artist I mean everyone involved; penciller, inker, letterer, colorist. I often use short cuts by sending them visual reference, or referring to a scene in a movie that evokes the same mood, or physical sense of place. The script is not meant to contain literary flourishes with its description. My scripts vary in length quite a bit. I've written scripts for a 22 page comic that were nearly 40 pages long. For this story, I think things came in at about a page and a half of script in most places to a page of finished comic book art. For this particular page, it was a page of script to a page of art.
Page 6, panel 1
THE HANGMAN STANDS ON A DOCK BY THE FERRY BUILDING. HE HOLDS A NEARLY UNCONSCIOUS TEENAGER BY THE LAPELS OF HIS JACKET. WE CAN SEE THE RED-PURPLE NOOSE BRUISE AROUND THE BOY’S NECK. FOG SWIRLS AROUND THE HANGMAN, SEEMINGLY TAKING ON SPECTRAL SHAPES OF ANGRY GHOSTS PREPARED TO BACK HIM UP.
Hangman Caption: When they do, they’ll find me waiting and know that nothing passes beneath my notice.
Hangman: This will be the only warning given by me, the only chance.
Page 6, panel 2
FROM BEHIND THE HANGMAN AS HE TURNS HIS HEAD AND LOOKS UP AT THE CLOCK ON THE TOWER ABOVE THE FERRY BUILDING. THE HANDS ARE AT 5:20.
Hangman: Change...
Hangman:...or else.
Page 6, panel 3
AGAIN, SHADOWS AND FOG SWIRL AROUND THE HANGMAN.
Hangman Caption: In minutes, dawn will be upon the city. My work this night is through.
Hangman Caption: I call the fog and the darkness to me, shape it...
Page 6, panel 4
WE ARE INSIDE THE BEDROOM OF SOMEONE WITH A LOT OF MONEY, BUT RESTRAINT IN HOW THEY SPEND IT. THE FURNISHINGS ARE ALL OF HIGH QUALITY, BUT NOT SHOWY. AMONG THE DECOR OF DICKERING’S HOME ARE PAINTINGS, SMALL BRONZE STATUES, AND A FEW ARTIFACTS OF THE AMERICAN WEST. THROUGH THE GAP OF A SLIGHTLY OPEN WINDOW, THE FOG AND DARKNESS POUR INTO THE ROOM...
Hangman Caption: ...and use it to transport me across the city, unseen, unnoticed.
Page 6, panel 5
...AND FROM IT EMERGES THE HANGMAN, AS THE FOG AND DARKNESS BEGIN TO WITHDRAW.
Hangman Caption: The night was a busy one. Twenty-six guilty individuals had to answer to me. All received their one and only warnings from me.
Hangman Caption: None required my delivering final justice upon them.
The above script page is for THE HANGMAN #1, which appears as the co-feature in THE WEB #1, which goes on sale next Wednesday.
The following is the page of written script for the same comic book page in the previous two entries. You'll notice it's not pretty. With a comic book script, no one will ever read it (usually) beyond the editor, and artists involved in putting that comic book story together into its final comic book form. With this in mind, it's more important to make sure that the artist knows what you want visually put on the page. By artist I mean everyone involved; penciller, inker, letterer, colorist. I often use short cuts by sending them visual reference, or referring to a scene in a movie that evokes the same mood, or physical sense of place. The script is not meant to contain literary flourishes with its description. My scripts vary in length quite a bit. I've written scripts for a 22 page comic that were nearly 40 pages long. For this story, I think things came in at about a page and a half of script in most places to a page of finished comic book art. For this particular page, it was a page of script to a page of art.
Page 6, panel 1
THE HANGMAN STANDS ON A DOCK BY THE FERRY BUILDING. HE HOLDS A NEARLY UNCONSCIOUS TEENAGER BY THE LAPELS OF HIS JACKET. WE CAN SEE THE RED-PURPLE NOOSE BRUISE AROUND THE BOY’S NECK. FOG SWIRLS AROUND THE HANGMAN, SEEMINGLY TAKING ON SPECTRAL SHAPES OF ANGRY GHOSTS PREPARED TO BACK HIM UP.
Hangman Caption: When they do, they’ll find me waiting and know that nothing passes beneath my notice.
Hangman: This will be the only warning given by me, the only chance.
Page 6, panel 2
FROM BEHIND THE HANGMAN AS HE TURNS HIS HEAD AND LOOKS UP AT THE CLOCK ON THE TOWER ABOVE THE FERRY BUILDING. THE HANDS ARE AT 5:20.
Hangman: Change...
Hangman:...or else.
Page 6, panel 3
AGAIN, SHADOWS AND FOG SWIRL AROUND THE HANGMAN.
Hangman Caption: In minutes, dawn will be upon the city. My work this night is through.
Hangman Caption: I call the fog and the darkness to me, shape it...
Page 6, panel 4
WE ARE INSIDE THE BEDROOM OF SOMEONE WITH A LOT OF MONEY, BUT RESTRAINT IN HOW THEY SPEND IT. THE FURNISHINGS ARE ALL OF HIGH QUALITY, BUT NOT SHOWY. AMONG THE DECOR OF DICKERING’S HOME ARE PAINTINGS, SMALL BRONZE STATUES, AND A FEW ARTIFACTS OF THE AMERICAN WEST. THROUGH THE GAP OF A SLIGHTLY OPEN WINDOW, THE FOG AND DARKNESS POUR INTO THE ROOM...
Hangman Caption: ...and use it to transport me across the city, unseen, unnoticed.
Page 6, panel 5
...AND FROM IT EMERGES THE HANGMAN, AS THE FOG AND DARKNESS BEGIN TO WITHDRAW.
Hangman Caption: The night was a busy one. Twenty-six guilty individuals had to answer to me. All received their one and only warnings from me.
Hangman Caption: None required my delivering final justice upon them.
The above script page is for THE HANGMAN #1, which appears as the co-feature in THE WEB #1, which goes on sale next Wednesday.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Not Just Tracing
For anyone who still thinks that inkers are merely tracers, I invite you to compare the above page taken from the forthcoming first THE HANGMAN story appearing in THE WEB, published by DC Comics, with the exact same page as posted sans inks, yesterday.
The inking was provided by one of my favorite illustrators of all time, Bill Sienkiewicz . I was privileged to get to spend a bit of time around Bill back in my early days at Marvel when he was working on ELEKTRA: ASSASSIN. Now, I'm even more excited to have him contributing to something I'm writing. You can see that he's really taken Tom Derenick's pencils and made them into something that really melds both their abilities, and is surprising and exciting. I'm impressed by Tom's ability to anticipate some of what Bill brings to the page by leaving a lot of open areas for Bill to drop in shadows and highlights. This work really suits the mood of the series to a t.
The fine lettering is by Travis Lanham. Guy Major will be providing colors, the only step I haven't seen yet.
I'm very proud of how this series is coming along, and really looking forward to the next batch of artwork to make its way to me. THE HANGMAN is the regular backup feature in THE WEB. The first issue goes on sale September 23rd at a comic book shop near you.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Hangman - Pencil Preview
Here's a look at a sample page of the detailed pencil work that artist Tom Derenick has put into THE HANGMAN. I'm very excited to be working on this project. There's a lot of pleasure to be had in shaping a new character from the ground up. I'm also feeling a lot of gratification as the pages of artwork come across my desktop.
THE HANGMAN appears monthly as the back-up feature in THE WEB, starting on September 23rd. Drop in tomorrow to see what the above page looks like inked and lettered.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Halloween Countdown 2009
There are now less than 20 days left before this year's Halloween Countdown begins. If you're planning to participate, and haven't contacted me yet, please do so. I'm putting together this year's link list to participants.
To make things easier this year, Shawn Robare put together a Countdown to Halloween launch page. The purpose for this page is to give people a starting point to visit all of the wonderful blogs and websites which will be delivering fantastically horrible tricks and treats throughout October.
Bookmark that site now, and visit it often between now and October 31st.
At midnight on October 1st I will post the list of links to participants there (and here). If the last two years are any indication, more blogs and websites will join the festivities as the month progresses. I will update the list as often as necessary until Halloween is behind us. The past three years were a lot of fun, and I expect even greater things from everyone this year.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Big Changes at DC Comics
Hot on the heels of last week's announcement that Disney was acquiring Marvel Entertainment, some big changes have been announced today for DC Comics as well. You can read Heidi MacDonald's article on the developments at DC here .
How any of this will affect me personally is probably at a minimum, though the article does mention "Midnight,Mass." as one of the projects currently in development for television. As many of you know, this was a series I created for DCs Vertigo imprint a few years back (which, incidentally, Heidi MacDonald was the editor on).