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Haunted Mansion Tribute Show Ending Soon

For anyone living in Southern California planning to see the Haunted Mansion Tribute show at the Parlour Gallery at Halloween Town in Burbank, you are running out of time. The show ends Sunday, July 3rd. I'm told it's a spectacular show. Unfortunately, the gallery has not updated its site with pictures or video from the show, so I haven't even seen it virtually, myself, yet.

The three pieces I did for the show can be viewed here. For the other pieces you'll have to attend in person, or search the websites of the other listed artists participating, at least for now. If you do go, let them know I sent you. I'd love to be invited back in the future.

Xombi #4 - On Sale Today

Twenty pages of people having breakfast never looked as good as it does in the exciting new issue of Xombi, which goes on sale today. If you don't believe me, you can view the first three pages as beautifully rendered by Frazer Irving, lettered by Dave Sharpe, and written by me, by visiting the exclusive preview at IGN.


Here's what DC's solicitation text (which I provided) says happens this issue:

Written by JOHN ROZUM; Art and cover by FRAZER IRVING

The secrets of Roland Finch and the Ninth Stronghold are uncovered. As David and his companions set out to forge an alliance against Finch, David takes his first steps toward a destiny he's determined to avoid.

• DC Comics
 
• 32pg.
 
• Color
 
• $2.99 US

On Sale June 29, 2011

This is all true but veiled so as not to ruin any surprises before you read them in the actual story. 

Tonight

Just a reminder to those of you with Cinemax, "Haunted" the episode of Femmes Fatales I co-wrote with  the series' creator and executive producer, Steve Kriozere airs tonight at 11:00 pm.

As the title implies, the episode involves a group of ghost hunters who find more than they bargain for during one of their investigations.

Update: Here are a couple of interviews in support of tonight's episode  with  Actresses Tiffany Brouwer and Annie Lynne Melchor and episode director, Darin Scott and series star, Tanit Phoenix. There is also a clip from"Haunted" . 

This Friday on Cinemax...

This Friday on Femmes Fatales a group of ghost hunters investigating an allegedly haunted house find evidence of more than just cold spots and strange noises, but will they make out out alive in order to share what they've discovered?

This episode was concocted by myself and Steve Kriozere, one of Femmes Fatales' creators and executive producers under an alias forged by combining the names of the two central characters of my favorite comic books of all time.

The Femmes Fatales episode "Haunted" airs at 11:00 PM on Cinemax this Friday. For more information on the series visit the official website.

CBR names Xombi best of 2011 (so far)

Comic Book Resources has put together a list of the best comics (so far) of 2011.

Xombi

It's been a bit since I've posted anything regarding Xombi. To make up for it here's a page of art from issue #4 which goes on sale June 29, 2011. Everyone gets to take a bit of a breather in this issue which includes the best twenty pages ever rendered of people having breakfast courtesy of Frazer Irving.

If that's not enough to convince you to pick up a copy, read this.

Icon and Rocket

The above is the piece that I created for the Static Shock Special which came out a couple of weeks ago. The issue was a tribute to my close friend Dwayne McDuffie who passed away in February and was also one of the four founders of Milestone Media, the comic book company that published Static, Icon, Hardware, The Shadow Cabinet, as well as other titles including Xombi and Kobalt which I wrote. Dwayne also had a hand in created most of the characters in the Milestone stable including Static, and Icon and Rocket who are featured in the piece above. This piece is essentially a modified recreation of the cover to The Marvel Family #28, October 1948 as seen below.

I finally decided on this cover both because Dwayne was a fan of comics from their golden and silver age, and because I thought it represented Dwayne's position in the comic book industry of constantly being attacked and challenged yet never yielding and instead striving to overcome these challenges and to produce the best work possible.

The piece itself was created as a collage in three dimensions using cut paper.

Coming This July

Click on the image to make it bigger. This is the next show I'll have some work in. It should be really great, so if you're in the area stop by to check it out.

Haunted Mansion Tribute Show

     



Above are the pieces I did for the 2nd Annual Tribute to the Haunted Mansion show at the Parlour Gallery in Burbank, California. On top is "The Singing Busts" and the pair below is "Dracula" a reproduction of unused concept art by Marc Davis for one of the changing portraits.

The pieces were done as cut paper collage assemblages and can be purchased through the Parlour Gallery at Halloween Town. The show runs through July 3, 2011.

Click on the images to make them larger.

DC Comics Announces My New Project For Them

DC Comics has been getting a lot of coverage as they've unveiled news of their forthcoming reboot of their universe of super heroes which will begin in September. All week, they've been unveiling which titles and creative teams will be involved in the reboot.

Today came more announcements including which project I'll be working on. To find out more visit the official announcement at i09.

Ask Me Anything #10

Do you have any burning questions you'd like me to answer? Something bugging you about Xombi?  Well, now's your chance to find out the answer. It's the first Monday of the month which means it's time for "Ask Me Anything," where you can in fact ask me anything. Anything at all. Whether you want to know what I'm reading, what I'm writing, what I had for lunch, or really anything at all, here's your opportunity to find out the answer to whatever question you have for me.   Head down to the comment section and post your question. I'll either post my answer in the comment section as well, or answer it in a special post all its own sometime later in the month.

Please take the time to view the previous questions so that we don't wind up with a lot of repetition. You can see the previous questions by visiting Ask Me Anything  #1, #2 ,  #3, #4, #5, #6 , #7 , #8 and #9.  Answers not found following the questions can be found in the archives section for each associated month.

Now ask away.

Opening Tonight

For anyone in the Burbank, CA area the Parlour Gallery at Halloweentown  will be holding the opening of their 2nd Annual Tribute to the Haunted Mansion group show tonight form 7-11. The show runs through July 3rd, 2011. I will not be in attendance, but I have two pieces in the show, one featuring the singing busts and the other based on an unused changing portrait concept by Marc Davis. For further details visit the website.

From the Archives 11

The above is a portrait of Lydia Lunch created by J. K. Potter whose strange photographic illustrations were created without the use of a computer which makes them all the more remarkable. I met him when I was buying a large photographic print of the above piece at a gallery show of his work in New York City in the mid-1990s. He was a very likeable guy, and was pleased when I informed him that this piece inspired the creation of two characters from the then current original run of Xombi (he was more pleased to discover that I'd actually credited him in print for this); Manuel Dexterity and his sinister sister Manuella.

Manuel Dexterity and Manuella were two of the more popular creations from the original run, though their appearances were brief. Manuel was the focus of a single issue, while Manuella was seeded through a few subsequent issues in the same storyline. As characters there wasn't much to them. Both were bizarre assassins, and neither spoke their own words. Manuel only spoke the innermost regrets of his victims. But as visual elements, these hand-centaurs were pretty cool to look at. They would have made some truly creepy action figures.

The scene depicting their birth led to the only real incidence of censorship that I encountered while working at Milestone, but that as they say is a story for another day.

Static Shock Special - Preview

Here's the actual cover to the Static Shock Special I discussed in the previous post. There's also a preview of it available here with pages from the story by Felicia Henderson and Denys Cowan. This issue also contains a page of art that I created specifically for this issue.

Static Shock Special

 

The Static Shock Special hits stores today. Starring the popular Milestone Media character of Static, this issue is a tribute to Static's creator, Dwayne McDuffie, who was also one of my closest friends, who died earlier this year. This issue features the work of a number of Milestone alumni and friends of Dwayne's, including myself. Instead of contributing a story for this issue, I provided a page of pin-up art featuring Icon and Rocket, two more characters created by Dwayne for Milestone. My piece, which reinterprets an old Marvel Family cover, is more of a symbolic tribute to Dwayne, the characters he created, and Milestone Media.

Here is the solicitation info from DC Comics:



Written by FELICIA D. HENDERSON; Art by DENYS COWAN, PRENTIS ROLLINS and others; Cover by DEREC DONOVAN
A special one-shot paying homage to Dwayne McDuffie and the world of Milestone Media, with tribute material from Milestone co-founder Denys Cowan and other Milestone alumni.
• DC Universe 32pg. Color $2.99 US
On Sale June 1, 2011




  

The Vincentennial

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vincent Price.

Out of all the actors who have been associated with horror over the years, Vincent Price has always been my favorite. This is because of a few factors. Growing up in the 1970s, he was ever present on television, not simply in broadcasts of the vast number of movies he'd starred in, but also by his guest appearances on so many television shows, commercials, and his regular place on Hollywood Squares, so he was a very familiar face and name, and I associated him equally with humor and horror which meant that even though I saw him in numerous sinister roles, I thought of him more as someone who was really kind and funny who just happened to like pretending he was devious and evil. He was one of a trio of actors who I followed from appearance to appearance and can honestly say I've seen him in almost everything he's ever done. The other two actors, incidentally, were Kirk Douglas due to his role as Ned land in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Steve McQueen thanks to The Great Escape.

Vincent Price, like Bela Lugosi and John Carradine, also had a policy of saying "yes" to just about every role offered to him. Unlike Lugosi and Carradine, both of whom I think are fine actors, Price almost always seemed able to elevate the quality of any movie or tv show he did simply by being in it. He brought a professionalism, sense of grace and elegance to all of his roles, even the ones he was clearly not giving his all and simply falling back on a selection of mannerisms and deliveries that seem to define the camp side of his performances as exemplified by Michael McKean's impersonations of Vincent Price on Saturday Night Live. Even his campiness had a real charm to it, with his peculiar cadences of delivery completely distinct so that you know who it is speaking right away. Lugosi and Carradine may have brought fine performances to otherwise awful material, but I'm a lot more selective about what I'll watch with them in it.

In my youth, Vincent Price was one of a handful of genre actors that I wrote to via Forrest Ackerman. I think all of them wrote back to me, or at least sent an autograph, but Vincent Price's was my most prized one. Somehow during the years I went away to college and tucked it away somewhere safe, the letter itself was lost, but the autograph he sent me I still have. I'd rather have the letter though. It was brief and I'm sure he wrote hundreds more just like it, but he made it seem like the letter I wrote to him was very special to him, and as a kid, getting that letter from such a familiar face that existed only on tv and in ads in TV Guide for cheese slices, or in the pages of Famous Monsters was almost like being invited to his house for lunch.

I also feel great affection for him because out of all the actors tied to the genre, Vincent Price is the only one that I associate with Halloween. Like Ray Bradbury, the headless horseman, or It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, the Halloween season just doesn't feel complete to me without the presence of Vincent Price.

So, today, I raise my glass to Vincent Price, and will make sure to watch at least one of his movies on this day.

Take a look at some of the events lucky residents of Vincent Price's home town of St. Louis, MO got to partake in here at the official Vincentennial website and make sure you order one of their t-shirts to commemorate the occasion. I'll be wearing mine today.

If you're in the St. Louis area also be sure to stop by the gallery at Star Clipper Comics. They have a great exhibit of original artwork featuring Vincent Price. The show runs through the end of June, and I'll be eagerly looking forward to the piece I bought once the show closes. Star Clipper has also been a supporter of Xombi, so if you've been enjoying it, be sure to let them know.


          

Xombi #3 on Sale Today

Xombi #3 is on sale today at a comic book retailer near you. In this issue David Kim must battle an ancient creature that is said to be God's wrath incarnate plus all sorts of surprises.

Scroll down to the previous post for a link to a five page preview of this issue.

Read the First Five Pages of XOMBI #3 Now --For Free

Xombi #3 goes on sale tomorrow. For those of you who can't wait, or those of you on the fence about whether you want to buy it, or not, you can read the first five pages courtesy of the excellent folks at i09. Their preview of Xombi #3 can be found here, with a title which embraces the absurd nature of the comic itself.

New Xombi Interview

Just in time for Xombi #3, The Outhouse has posted an extensive interview with me pertaining to all things Xombi past and present.


Art by Frazer Irving