Comixology for November

Lately I've been cutting down on my weekly comic book buying. With so many comics moving up to the $3.99 price point I've just become really vigilant about what I'm picking up. I've dropped quite a few books from the Big 2 and looking at my pull list for this month I don't seem to be getting any indy books. As a creator I really try to promote, push and purchase books from the other publishers. I guess November must be a fluke. I'll certainly try a little harder in December.

Comics Bulletin

As most of you should know I've been writing a semi-regular column at Comics Bulletin for a while now. The column is called What Looks Good and I rotate with a two other great bloggers- Kyle Garret and Brandon Billups. This week I give you my choices for What looks Good in comics this week and also touch on DC's New 52 and their impact on sales at DC and for the industry as a whole. So please go check it out here.

The site just when through a great redesign. While you are there poke around and explore all the cool features, interviews, columns and reviews. It's a great site.

Captain America Movie Trailer

Here's the newest movie trailer for Captain America: The First Avenger showing in previews this weekend.

And the Winner Is...

Last year The Venger: Dead Man Rising was nominated for the Eagle Award for Favorite American Black and White Comic Book Series. Well because of my extended absence from the blog I never got a chance to update on the award.

The winners of the awards were announced on October 29 at the London MCM Expo, a fantastic comic book-movie-fantasy convention; sort of the British SDCC. Not surprisingly, The Walking Dead took the award in the category. And a well deserved win I might add.

I said before and truly believe that for me personally just having my book The Venger: Dead Man Rising included with all the other nominees was 'it' for me. Thanks to all our fans who helped put us on the ballot. Hopefully we can do it again!

What Looks Good

Another quick post from me; but hey it's a start to regular blog updating! Anyway as I said in the previous post I have been 'away' from working on Venger for a bit. I have still been trying to keep up on what's happening in comics and with working on my semi-regular column at Comics Bulletin called What Looks Good. My latest column was published this week with me sharing my picks for the week's new releases and my thoughts on some industry trends. Please go and check it out, it's a great site with some fantastic stories.

Captain America: First Avenger movie trailer

Yes I know I've been away from this blog for what seems like forever. I apologize. I actually have been away from working on Venger all that time too. I'll post again soon and go into it some more. Right now I wanted to post about the fantastic trailer for the Captain America movie Marvel Studios ran during the Super Bowl. Wow, I can't wait.

The Venger: Deadly Beginnings UPDATE 2

As promised here are the final versions of those two pages from Deadly Beginnings I've been previewing. We've already seen the original penciled pages by Jun Joe Monares. And I recently posted the inked version of those pages by Scott Shriver. So today we get the final version with the great toning also done by Scott.

All the pages for this story are now done and complete. The files have been sent to the letterer and Stephen is in the process of finishing that work. I have really enjoyed working with Jun and Scott on these two stories for the Venger Special. I'm hoping that we will be able to continue the team onto more projects in the future.

Captain America Movie promo poster

I've been busy working on more scripts related to The Venger: Dead Man Rising. I'm really pushing to get the Special done soon. I'm going to be posting some more inked pages from the Deadly Beginning story in a couple of days so please check back or subscribe to the blog to get the updates.

Today Marvel released pictures of the promo posters they will be handing out at the San Diego Comic Con. They have two, one for Thor and one for Captain America. I had posted the first look we got at the movie uniform they are using for Cap. I actually really like it. The posters they are giving out are based on movie concept art. I've posted the Cap one below. Looks great to me; hope the movie looks this good.

Captain America: First Avenger concept art

The Venger on MyEbook.com

Well with all the talk of digital downloads of comics and the Apple iPad being the future of the industry I've been looking for ways to get Venger involved in it too. As a small self-publisher it is important for me to find as many ways as I can to get The Venger: Dead Man Rising out there and in front of people. It all falls on me. So far I have the Venger available through DriveThruComics.com and also for Amazon's Kindle as well.

Now I've added another site to get Venger downloads. You can go to Myebook.com and now download digital copies of both issues of The Venger: Dead Man Rising. This is a wonderful site that has thousands of ebooks available, including hundreds of comics and graphic novels. Please check it out and pass it on to any friends that might be interested in digital comics. And check out the rest of the blog for more information about the comic book too.

The Venger: Deadly Beginnings

Hey everyone. It's been a busy few weeks of writing for me. I posted another What Looks Good column at ComicsBulletin.com so if you get a chance to check that out please do. I also finished the script for The Venger: Crossfire and sent that to the letterer. And finally I finished- I think- the edits of  The Venger vs the Wolfman story. I still need to send those to Barri for his opinion.

Anyway now that the writing update is done I thought I would post some new artwork. These pages are from another story from the Venger Special- The Venger: Deadly Beginnings. The whole creative team from the Black Mercy story has returned to work on this very important story in 'Venger continuity', meaning more fantastic artwork from Jun and Scott. In this story we will get the first part of the origin of the original Venger. Here's a look at two of the penciled pages.

Batman: City of Scars

There's a great Batman fanflick doing the rounds right now that I just had to blog about. Batman: City of Scars was created by Bat in The Sun Productions which is the team behind another excellent fanflick Patient J. Batman: City of Scars packs so much into its 37 minutes it is amazing. Deeply rooted in the comics version of the character it explores the psychology behind the Batman and the twisted relationship between him and a truly maniacal Joker.

Also be sure to check out the rest of the blog for more updates of  The Venger: Dead Man Rising. I have other movie clips and I'll also be posting some new artwork later this week.

The Venger vs the Wolfman UPDATE 2

Another quick update for you guys. I've been doing some rewrites on The Venger Vs the Wolfman story that will be appearing in the Venger Special. Barri has done a great job with the plot and anything I do is just some polishing and making sure it matches with established continuity. Also more illustrations for the story keep coming in as well. Here's the latest which is the finished version of one I have previously posted ...

Venger vs Wolfman illustration by Eleonora Korsatz

Captain America movie costume

The last couple of days there has been a lot of rumor talk regarding the costume Chris Evans will be wearing in Marvel's Captain America: First Avenger movie that will be filming later this summer I believe. For months the bloggers have gone back and forth on what should and would the uniform he wears look like with alot of it focused on what looks good on film might not be the same as the comic. I love the character of Captain America. But I'm more of a realist and not a purist. I realize that what we see in the comic books every month just won't work in a motion picture. Remember that low budget Matt Salinger movie?

Well it seems that finally some of the concept art Marvel Studios is using to develop the uniform has been leaked. Check out Aintitcool.com for a look at all FOUR images. I have to say I approve. They look close to a combination of the designs Bryan Hitch did for 'The Ultimates' and 'Captain America Reborn'. They look realistic and purposeful and close to something that might be from WWII. And folks need to remember we will probably get another uniform for the Avengers movie too and that might be a little closer to his classic look.

costume design from the Captain America movie

The Venger vs the Wolfman UPDATE

I haven't updated progress on this story in a while so I'll try to catch up. This is an 'illustrated prose' story that will be appearing in the Venger Special along with the Black Mercy and Deadly Beginning stories. I had posted a teaser for the story, which is written by my friend Barri Lang and myself. The story is modeled after the old pulp novels of the past and features the original Venger. The illustrations that will be placed throughout the story are being penciled and inked by Eleonora Kortsarz who is doing some beautiful work on them. Here are some of her original unfinished sketches for the project.

The Venger Special: Black Mercy LETTERED PAGES

Just got the proof pages back from the letterer for 'Black Mercy: No Mercy'. They look great! Fantastic job from the whole team: Jun on pencils, Scott on inks and tones and Scott B on the lettering. The Special is really coming together. We are still in production of the second feature for the book, 'Deadly Beginnings'. Still it is great to see the Black Mercy piece ready for publication. Here's a sample...

Eagle Award Nominations

I wanted to post and let everyone know that I am in the running for Favorite Writer for the 2010 Eagle Awards. I believe I am also listed in the Favorite New Writer category. Please stop by and vote for your nominee in as many of the categories you would like. And if you feel like 'writing in' The Venger: Dead Man Rising for Favorite American Black and White Comic Book series that would be great and much appreciated by all of us. This is the link....2010 Eagle Awards.

The Venger Special: Deadly Beginnings

As I said before work continues on the Venger Special. The Black Mercy story is done art-wise and needs lettered. Now Jun and I are tackling the next and probably most 'important' of the stories that are in the Special- 'Deadly Beginnings'. I've hinted at this story a few times over the years. I guess it can best be described as Venger: Origin Part 1. It's going to be great. Here's a look at some of the breakdowns for it...

What Looks Good @ Comics Bulletin

Sorry it has been so long since my last post...wow, I just checked- two months! That is horrible and I do apologize. But do not worry it has been a very productive time for the Venger team. The Venger Special is still the focus and we are working hard on it. On top of that I have moved from doing reviews to a regular weekly column over at ComicsBulletin.com. The column is called What Looks Good and  covers my take on the weeks new releases in comics and more. I rotate the column with a couple of other great guys. This week we did a jam column with all 3 of us. Please come over and check it out and the other great stuff at the site.

The Venger Special: Black Mercy FINISHED PAGES

Hey everyone. Last time I posted the first two penciled pages for the Black Mercy story by Jun Joe Monares. These look great and wait til you see the others! Today I am posting the finished version of those pages, with inks and tones by Scott Shriver. The Venger Special is coming along at a steady pace and hopefully soon I'll be able to give a time for publication. Anyway, here are those finished pages. Enjoy.

The Venger Special: Black Mercy PENCILS

Hey everyone, hope 2010 is going well for you. Well work on the Venger special continues now that the holidays are behind us. Last time I posted some breakdown sketches that Jun had done for the Black Mercy story in the Venger Special. Today I want to post some of some of the penciled pages. Jun has a very dynamic sense of layout and very detailed linework. Those are two things that I personally always want to see in artists I work with. I'm very happy with what he has been showing me in the pages. Next time I'll post some finisged pages- with inks and toning.