Another character design for Alan Moore’s Awesome Universe re-imagining. I don’t think this guy ever made it into a story. Pen and ink, 1998.

A lot of times I get zombies when I doodle. This was done with opaque gel pens in a black sketchbook around 1996.

Sometimes I’ll pick up the sketchbook with absolutely no idea of what I want to draw. I’ll just start with a squiggle and move out from there, creating an abstract that seems to come directly from, and speak directly to, the unconscious.

While I was writing the second arc to ARMY@LOVE (issues 6-12) a generational conflict among the characters started to develop. The series is set five years in the future, so I began looking around for a tag that described the current generation of kids in the way that “Baby Boomer”, Gen X, Gen Y and Gen Z had been hung on previous generations. Other than “The Noughts” there wasn’t much out there so I began thinking of what I could come up with that would work satirically.

I asked my son, Kirby, who at 17 was right in the age zone, and he suggested “pwned” which originated in the on-line gamer community as a jokey misspelling of “owned”. I liked it so much I made it the title of the second collection. The rationale behind “Generation Pwned” is explained by ROYDEN in panel 4 of this page from ARMY@LOVE #10.

Also, I’m delighted to report that Gary Erskine has been nominated for an Eagle Award partly for his extraordinary ink work on ARMY@LOVE. You can vote for him over at the Eagle Awards website.

From Greg O’Driscoll’s overview of the gazillions of Superman clones at Playback:stl.

I’m currently sold out of BRAT PACK, but you can order a signed copy of THE MAXIMORTAL, or read a free excerpt, by clicking on the blinking covers on the right.

Another haunted dream. Marker in sketchbook, 2005.

I just noticed that the second collection of ARMY@LOVE has been advance solicited in the current PREVIEWS. Since Gary Erskine inks from digital files printed on separate boards, I’ve got all the pencils to the series. This is Page 19 of issue #10. I’ll be running a bunch of these pencils this month to give you a peak behind the scenes (and remind you to order the book, of course).

In fact, I just checked Amazon.com and they’ve got a terrific preorder deal for ARMY@LOVE Vol 2 that for a limited time can get you your copy for less than ten bucks.

Zombies are all the rage in film and comics these days, so I thought it might be a good time to revisit my first published comic book, TWO-FISTED ZOMBIES! The loathsome thing was printed in 1973 so there might still be copies floating around in back issue bins (if the pulp hasn’t deteriorated like the skin on a rotting corpse). Don’t start eating brains if you can’t find one; I’m planning to include this baby in King Hell’s 2009 release BONG! THE LOST COMIX with a lot of other rare and unseen underground stuff.

Brother Tom Veitch wrote and lettered this feast of the living dead as well as providing the hand color separations for this cover. I was 21 when I drew it all in Rapidograph.

More retro-cowboy character development for Alan Moore’s Awesome Universe upgrade. Pen and ink. 1998.

There’s no joy quite like getting the first printed and bound copies of your new book back from the printer and finding it flawless. Conversely, there is no pain quite like opening the box to discover a botched print job.

I’ve just received my first copies of HEARTBURST AND OTHER PLEASURES, and I’m delighted to report the fine folks at Oceanic Graphic Printing have turned in another jewel. Color, binding, varnish, paper, everything is on a par with both ABRAXAS AND THE EARTHMAN and SHINY BEASTS. So I’m a happy guy today.

HEARTBURST AND OTHER PLEASURES is the third and final collection of my EPIC Illustrated period. The meat of the book is a remastered version of my 1984 graphic novel, HEARTBURST. The “other pleasures” are a half dozen short stories, including the original “THE MIRROR OF LOVE”, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by myself and Steve Bissette.

The book should be hitting stores in mid-May. If you haven’t ordered your copy, Amazon has a great pre-order discount offer that can get you a copy for less than $11.