I’ve disappeared off the map for quite some time.  I have been extremely busy with drawing.

Since my last post in September things have been moving along nicely.  Here’s a rundown of what’s taken place over the past few months. (and I apologize for the cluttered look of this post. After an hour of trying to align it better I give up. I don’t know HTML, I don’t like HTML, and I don’t want to hear about HTML. I’m an artist Jim, not codebreaker)

—-At the end of July I completed the comic “It’s Go Time”.  ”It’s Go Time” is an educational comic book I was hired to do and had a blast working on.  It gave me theopportunity to draw in a simpler style and have a little more fun with.  I was getting a little too stiff and serious with my art and this was a good exercise for my brain and hand.  This in turn let me loosen up with my artwork as I transitioned back to working on Black Dawn.  You won’t be able to find “It’s Go Time” in stores, but the print run is upwards of 10,000 with talks of hundreds of thousands.  The funny part is, the book was done as an educational piece for the government which in turn didn’t have my name in the credits of the book.  Ha!  This will probably hold the record of print runs on a book of mine for a number of years and nobody will know…except anybody that reads this blog.

—-Following “It’s Go Time” I began work on the new phenomenal super hero known as Vesuvius Johnson.  Vesuvius Johnson is a project that has been patiently revving up since I first ran into the idea with Creator/Writer Mike Naylor.  During my 2006 round trip cross country ride on my motorcycle from New Jersey to California, I stopped by to say hello to Mike in LA.  He informed me of an idea he had and I was instantly hooked on the character known as Vesuvius Johnson.  It took a while to get the projected started but the timing was finally right last summer and we got it launched off the ground properly.  In August/September of last year we produced a 4-page preview which was introduced at the first ever Lubbock Comic Con in Texas.  Reviews and feedback were strongly positive!  Watch out world, Vesuvius Johnson is coming your way!!

visit www.vesuviusjohnson.com for more info

—-In October of last year I was finally able to wrap things up with the second installment of Black Dawn.  We had a delay on this for a multitude of reasons.  The book was actually completed July of last year, but I began throwing around a few ideas that put it on hold.  The first was the thought of dropping the purple/yellow
borders we did in the first book.  My thoughts were that the purple/yellow borders gave the book a muddy feel and just didn’t work right.  It looked great on the computer screen…but once printed it didn’t turn out as well.  John, Bruce, and I talked long and hard about this and eventually came to the conclusion we would go with white borders for the rest of the series.  And I must say, that was a very smart direction to take.  I just got a printed copy of the book and it made a HUGE improvement in the quality of the art and look.  There were a few other delays but we finally got the book off to print.

Currently I’m 9 pages into book 3 which should see print next summer.  The story is getting deeper and more exciting as the characters begin to realize what they’ve gotten themselves into.

Check out www.blackdawn.squarespace.com to order the new issue of Black Dawn and to keep up to date on future news

—-On December 1st Mike and I began work on the new Vesuvius Johnson comic book called “Day One”.  This is a thrilling 24 page comic that introduces the world to the beginning of Vesuvius’s exciting journey.  Details of the book remain a secret at this time, but be prepared to have your copy available April 9th.  Make sure you swing by our booth at the first ever Anaheim Comic Con on April 16-18.  We will be premiering Vesuvius Johnson Day One at the show!