Busy Busy BUSY

My first week-long blog break in quite some time. Some of you may be wondering exactly what Joe's been up to? The rest of you don't care, but that's cool. It's probably mutual.

This week Tom and I got together and outlined a script for Dan Barlow's submission to the Sci-Fi issue. Dan's got this weird habit of doing awesome sequentials with no script. I don't know how he does it. Anyway, the piece is called Hair of the Dog and will appear in Megazeen #15. This week I've been fleshing out the script as I've been lettering, and also experimenting with computones to make the artwork pop. I also finally got the hang of lettering using layers on Paint Shop, which has saved loads of time and headaches. So, a little writing, lettering and shading. Sample above.

Speaking of the Sci-Fi issue, I've had to issue apologies to at least three people who believed their work would be in the book. It wasn't that their submissions didn't "make the cut" quality-wise or anything. But so much time had gone by since their submissions- literally two years- that honestly I'd lost track of them. The book will be extra-mongo sized anyway. So, in all liklihood, there will be a spillover into MZ16 this summer.

I've been working on a set of three 9x12 acryllic paintings that I will most likely make available for sale at shows and online. The first one is my character Blam from Colossians, done in the style of Carlos Meglia who's a genius. I'm pondering which other characters I'll tackle- in the running are the Manx (of course) and some mainstream characters. But I'm learning not to be too anal about my selection of subject to draw or paint- there's always time to do more later, right?

Mark Melton's Angeldreams #2 is going to press (as a "Megazeen Presents" book this time around) so I spent some time prepping the files and tweaking the covers for the printer. We're also working with our printer to produce a limited run of lithographs of various cover art from Megazeen, Megazeen Presents and others.

Oh, rumor has it that Megazeen just might be getting a little shout-out in Wizard Magazine, courtesy of an article they're running on Enemi Entertainment, a new, forward-thinking indy distributor that MZ has partnered with. More on Wizard and Enemi in the very near future.

So a slacker I have not been. I've actually had one of the best weeks in a long, long time.

And that's a week in the life of the editor of Megazeen.

Megazeen: The Sci-Fi Issue

Here's the Jeff Slemons cover. It's Slem-tastic!

This should be out by the first week in February.

Stop drooling on your keyboard.

Why I Already Plan to Break Half of One of My Resolutions

Jamie reminded me about this one... darnit.

Okay, so I'll break my DC ban for this one, just for my buds at Blindwolf.

How cool does that look?

Fight the System!!!

So here we are in a new year and I've made two resolutions that I intend to keep, and about twelve others that I already broke so why list them here.

One is to get Megazeen back on a quarterly schedule. The Megazeen Sci-Fi issue will appear this winter, the One-Page issue this spring, an as-yet-undetermined issue for summer and hopefully a Christmas issue by the end of year. That's the plan.

The other is that I will NOT purchase a Marvel or DC comic book this year.

That second one is a lot easier to keep. Frankly, I've barely bought any comics that weren't in a dollar box in many months. Especially regarding the Big Two, the price has discouraged me, the slapped-together artwork looks too often like it's done on a conveyor belt, and the quality of the storylines fails to amuse me. This coming from a collector of over 30 years with well over 5000 books. Wake up guys.

That said, I have become far more convicted about the growing indy lines. There is some really hot stuff out there, made by guys that do it for the love of the medium, not the almighty dollar. So, if I can throw them some of my almighty dollars, instead of Marvel and Deceased, I'll feel a whole lot better and I'll buy them a hamburger.

So whilst in my favorite haunt (New Moon Comics) I picked up a handful of indies at Victoria's recommendation. Good calls all around. I'm going to continue sampling the world of indies and undergrounds this year in earnest, and reviewing what I like. If you have any recommendations please leave them in the comments.

First up is ABYSS from Red 5 Comics, by Rubio and Marangon, the guys that brought us Troops and Tag and Bink. Here's the skinny (as Victoria sold it to me): Imagine your rich dad died and you've inherited everything. Then you find out that your dad was Batman. Then you find out he was really Doctor Doom. This is a pure FUN comic, not too heady or goofy, made for comic fans BY comic fans, and it's great to see these guys doing well. The art and dialogue are simple yet clever, and they WORK. After years of Marvel and Diseased, it's hard for me to invest in another universe, but this is so worthwhile.