update

First, my hand is okay. Went on another ride on Thursday with a local MTB club. It was a mixed bunch of really cool guys (no bellas!?) and as usual, I was 'not as good as, but better than'. Good night.

Obscure Tales is updated. A hard couple of panels. I'm not sure how successful they are, but they went through a lot of iterations to find ones that actually came close to working. Plus, after I finished and posted, I found that the first panel of page 13 looks like the car has a shattered windshield. It doesn't. It's supposed to be a cool lighting effect, but it doesn't work. I'm going to re-work it tonight, so forgive me.

Now, a Comic Review. Not of an issue, but of a comic: PS 238. I may have mentioned this before, but you HAVE to start reading this. It is the first monthly since Excalibur (under Davis) that has me laughing, thinking, caring about the characters and, importantly, looking forward to every month.

You can hit the site for the full story (and online re-print of the first issue), so I won't bore you with a synopsis other than to say it's about a school for meta-human children (of both heroes and villains). However, the issues I just got in from Heavy Ink have some perfect examples me of what I love about the comic.

First of all, it's damned funny! Check out this very subtle joke as we watch the local non-metahuman vigilante crime-fighter relaxing in an arcade:



The joke in issue 29 that still makes me laugh every time I see it needs a bit of an introduction. This is Poly Mer and she's the local stretchy hero ala' Elastigirl:



Here is an exchange between Poly and a girl known only as "eighty-four". Seriously, I laughed as I scanned it, I laughed when it was in photoshop and I'll probably laugh when I check this page. If you don't laugh, you've obviously lost touch with your inner 4th grader:



But, it's not all jokes. Aaron Williams has created a pretty solid universe heavily populated with meta-humans. One evolving storyline evolves the girl "eighty-four". It ask the interesting question about what it takes to be special in a world of many special people. This exchange with an airport security guard is very poignant (and is cobbled together from two pages):


Also, I think that Williams can really draw. He does great hands and he draws kids really well. His eyes and backgrounds need a tiny bit of work, but his only real flaw is his overuse of photoshop for effects and 'signage' type. I'll forgive that though, as he is a one-man operation and if he can't draw type (as I can't), he can't exactly hire someone to do it. I think his writing is top-notch as well. He does a good job of portraying kids as kids.

Anyway. there are now a bunch of TPBs that encompass the all the previous issues, so you can catch up easily. Please hit the site and read up (just a note: the SINGLE arrows are go SINGLE PAGES, the double arrows go to the most recent page). You probably won't be sorry. I'm going outside now.

Listening to while posting: "Break Down the Walls" by Half Way Home

O.T. Three update

Man, what at weekend, no?

In addition to the piles of art made, I also had a good luck/bad luck thing on Saturday. Whilst barreling down some fine East Coast singletrack, my handlebars caught a four-inch Poplar; in effect, I punched it at about 15 MPH. The impact twisted my handlebars to the left and I was shot to the right towards the edge of the trail. I managed to recover and braked to a stop, l leery of removing my glove. The top of my hand hurt and I had torn skin on my knuckle, but otherwise fine. I was still a bit worried, but made it back okay.

Today, my hand aches a little and there is some stinging in places, so I made an appointment with someone who knows more about bones than me. I am hoping they'll call me a hypochondriac and kick me out of their offices telling me not to waste their time. Better safe than sorry. The very lucky bit is, even if something is wrong, it's my non-drawing hand!

Oh, and my bike was fine.

Anyway. Obscure Tales Three is updated. Yay!

Listening to while posting: "It's Too Hot" by The Specials

old art part two

I just finished inking two more pages of Obscure Tales 3. They will be hopefully scanned, finished and posted tomorrow. Not only was this the fastest I've worked (two pages penciled, blue-traced and inked in one day), but, I must say, that these are the two best comic pages I've ever done. Sure, I will likely hate them tomorrow, but as of now, I am very, very happy.

In celebration, here is a rather old drawing I did for my application portfolio for the Maine College of Art. While on duty one weekend night, I sat in a desk chair in the hanger of Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, MI. This helo (pronounced 'hee-low'; naval/ coast guard aviators NEVER say 'chopper' or 'heli'), the Sikorsky HH-60J Jayhawk, was actually the reason I got out of the USCG; it made me airsick, so I took myself off of flight rotation. Nice drawing, though...



Also, for those who may care, I'm going to allow anonymous posting (with security word). This is because I know people that follow this blog that don't have a Google account and don't want one, but, I'd like to hear from them.

Listening to while posting : "Ronnie's Racing School" by Glitter Mini Nine (note: I really like this song and went looking to find the album, but they broke up last year and the album with this song is only on eBay for $80. I like them, but not that much).

comic update. Yay. Again

Another two pages. The action heats up!

Here's a link to Page One

If you like the longer way, or want to see the other stuff, please check out the Arkonbey's Comics link on the right there. Right up top.

Well, I've been working on this since 9am EDT, it's now 2:21 EST. It's gorgeous outside and I'm going out there. Goodbye, for now, internet!

Listening to while posting: "Dishwasher Blues" by the Pink Fits