It’s an old trick, but I kind of like how it worked here in GREYSHIRT: INDIGO SUNSET.

Just finished the pencils to ARMY@LOVE: THE ART OF WAR #4. Here’s page 14 for your viewing pleasure. To figure out what’s going on with poor MAGOON, you’ll have to read the series, of course. In fact, issue #1, with the MONA LISA parody, should be on the stands at your local comic book emporium right now. Don’t miss it!

Michael Zulli wrote recently to remind me of the “Koffup” sequence in the TEKNOPHAGE arc I wrote. The bit involved five candidates undergoing a trial-by-bladder competition to see who exhibited the most endurance in holding endless cups of Koffup. The winner received a position as Assistant Partner in Mr. PHAGE’s company.

Script by Rick Veitch, pencils by Bryan Talbot, inks and color by Angus McKie, lettering by Todd Klein, TEKNOPHAGE #5, 1995.

Here’s a page from an early story I wrote and drew for SGT. ROCK SPECTACULAR #13 while at Kubert School. It concerned the use of “battle police” by the British military during World War One to ensure their troops would follow orders.

Haven’t heard a peep from goombah, Tim Truman or publisher, Dynamite Comics, but it appears the second SCOUT collection has been released and it includes SCOUT #15, the issue I penciled, Steve Bissette inked and Tim wrote back in 1986. Hopefully they’ll send me a comp copy. You can get yours from good ol’ Paneltopanel.net, natch.

Here’s a sick one from the back of the flat files! The story behind it (if memory serves after all these years) is part of the wild creative ferment that went on at Tundra before that publishing endeavor went so famously bust. It was the age of the 24 HOUR COMIC, remember, and there were plenty of other mad strips being scratched out for the sheer hell of it.

ARDNUT was a character created by Paul Jenkins who, in his life before becoming an Eisner Award winning writer for Marvel, was production chief at Tundra. Paul (or Pud as we called him) started doing strange little ARDNUT strips and others followed, fleshing out the character in all possible directions. Here’s mine, based upon a real kid I knew growing up. It was done with no pencils, marker on typing paper; probably executed during some boring meeting in 1992.

Time for a little color after all those pencil sketches, I think. This page from ABRAXAS AND THE EARTHMAN has always been a favorite of mine. In the story, mad CAPTAIN ROTWANG is on the way to the whale planet, KALIGHOUL, to kill the great horned red that took his leg. He meets up with another ship, the Ymir, helmed by CAPTAIN DOLPHIN, just leaving the planet after a devastating encounter with ABRAXAS himself. Not a lot of action here, but some nice foreboding.

If you desire a signed copy of the remastered King Hell edition of ABRAXAS AND THE EARTHMAN (and who doesn’t?) my on-line store is just a click away…

Bulletin: I’ve just received word that NYMAG.com’s Culture Vulture blog is now running the complete 6 page NEIGHBORS story I drew from Harvey Pekar’s script!

Here’s one of my favorite pages from SWAMP THING. It’s from #37, the issue in which ABBY and ALEC first meet JOHN CONSTANTINE. For that whole issue, SWAMP THING is pretty much a head of cabbage, growing out of the ground. On this page, writer Alan Moore was looking for a way to show SWAMPY existing both in the reality of the forest and the mystical realm of The Green and this layout was my solution.

Inker John Totleben knocked my pencils out of the park, of course, with his insanely detailed and truly creepy organic textures. If I remember correctly, there was supposed to be even more Totleben detail added with a color surprint which for some reason didn’t make it into the final book. But it still came out pretty darn good. Script, Alan Moore. Pencils, Rick Veitch. Inks, John Totleben. Lettering, John Costanza. Color by Tatjana Wood. Editor, Karen Berger. 1985.

Here’s the second page I’ve donated to the Diamond charity auction (see previous post for information on where, when and which charities). This is from SUPREME #47 and features SUPREME and PROFESSOR NIGHT. Script, Alan Moore. Pencils and inks, Rick Veitch. Lettering by Todd Klein. Sorry about the wonky scan; the original looks much nicer.

Meanwhile, the market for original comic book art is exploding according to this article in today’s New York Times.