NATURE COMICS #2 has won a distinguished achievement award from the Association Of Educational Publishers. This is the second year in a row the free comic, based on WNET’s NATURE program, has been lauded by the AEP. You can find out about getting free print copies for your local school or museum, or just download the whole comic as a PDF at the PBS.org site.

Above is a page from NATURE #1, adapted by Mark Evanier, illustrated by myself and lettered by Todd Klein. Editor is David Reisman.

The view from my deck one summer day in 1997. Marker in sketchbook.

Here’s the finished cover to ARMY@LOVE VOLUME 2: GENERATION PWNED which has just gone off to the printer. It will hit the stores sometime in July, but Amazon.com has a nice price of $10.39 if you preorder now.

Marker in sketchbook, 1997.

Here’s a sneak peak at a just-finished page of pencils to ARMY@LOVE: THE ART OF WAR #3. Can’t wait to see what Gary Erskine does with the inks. The new mini-series gets its initial solicitation in this month’s PREVIEWS, so don’t forget to check the box on the order form. As I mentioned in an earlier post, sales of ARMY@LOVE have been climbing, with the relist of the first trade coming in at 20% higher than the initial release. If this upward trend continues then there is a possibility Vertigo will opt to let me continue doing more min-series and collections. So if you are a fan of ARMY@LOVE, and want the sex, satire and mayhem to keep on coming, feel free to evangelize to friends and strangers alike.

Speaking of evangelizing, the ultra-hip culture magazine, TRESPASS, is running an extended excerpt of ARMY@LOVE in their latest “comics” themed issue. There’s also a new interview with Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbi on their LOST GIRLS graphic novel. More info here.

And Columbia University librarian Karen Green has just written a right-on-the-money piece about the literary roots and inspirations of ARMY@LOVE over on her ADVENTURES IN ACADEMIA column at Comixology.com.

Full review: The Concrete Tomb Of Hradzka.

When I was discussing putting up a link to WNET’s free NATURE Comics with editor David Reisman, he mentioned that there was another link to another science comic I worked on for those guys. Here’s the splash page to “The Secret Life Of The Brain”, a five pager that is included as part of a study guide meant to expand on the PBS mini-series of the same name, produced by David Grubin.  The adaption is scripted by Mark Evanier, with me on pencils and inks and boasts a drop dead gorgeous lettering job by Todd Klein.

David thought they were out of the printed copies, so to get the free comic you just download the study guide as a pdf.

Alan Moore fans (and we know there are a bazillion of you out there) take note. A long lost short story, written by Alan and illustrated by Steve Bissette and myself back in 1988, is finally available again. Originally done to raise awareness of England’s notorious Clause 28, THE MIRROR OF LOVE only appeared once, in Alan’s self published ARRGH (Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia).

Little known outside of England and long out of print, THE MIRROR OF LOVE is now included in King Hell’s HEARTBURST AND OTHER PLEASURES, which should have hit your local comics emporium in the last week or two. If you missed getting a copy, fear not– the good folks at PanelToPanel.net are offering HEARTBURST AND OTHER PLEASURES with an exclusive signed print.

Mindless doodle or foliage? You decide! Marker in sketchbook, 1997.

I come from a big Catholic family, with six wildly creative kids. We ended up in different corners of the world in the 1970′s, so when we finally got back together for a complete sibling reunion in the early 1980′s it seemed appropriate to create a commemorative T-Shirt of the event.

I based the design on the infamous “Pep Boys’ logo, expanding Manny, Moe and Jack out to all six of us. That’s younger brother Mike on the top left, me at top center, younger brother Pete at top right. Older brother Rob on the lower left, oldest brother Tom bottom center and older sister Wendy at bottom right.

The image here is way skewed since I glued my last remaining shirt onto the cover of one of my sketchbooks and didn’t quite get it on there straight. Silkscreen on cotton, 1982.