DC Conspiracy | Blog

'Skunk Ape' panel

2008-12-12T14:03:00.000-05:00

Here's a panel from the next 'Skunk Ape,' which will appear in the January edition of Bash Magazine.

Damn it, I'm Vixen!

2008-12-01T08:12:00.004-05:00

Click here! Vixen the reindeer feels a bit slighted by all the attention Rudoulf gets and tells you all about it in my new animated cartoon just in time for the holidays... Click here!

Next Project

2008-11-28T18:01:00.002-05:00

I've penciled and inked seven pages from my next book, which I hope to have ready for the Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo in Columbus, Ohio, in mid April. Here's a glimpse...

Ghosts in the Machine

2008-11-19T21:26:00.001-05:00

Apparently we are experiencing some technical issues with the blogging system... good thing we're working on a rapid fire redesign and upgrade.

TapHouse

2008-11-13T17:00:00.003-05:00

Click to Enlarge The first issue of "Dr Dremo’s Taphouse of Tall Tales and Short Stories: The Wonders of Science" is now available at... Big Planet comics in Georgetown 3145 Dumbarton St. NW Washington, DC 20007 202-342-1961 Bethesda 4908 Fairmont Ave. Bethesda, Maryland 20814 301-654-6856 College Park 7315 Baltimore Ave. College Park, MD 20740 301-699-0498 AND Fantom Comics in Tenleytown 4500 Wisconsin Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20016 (map) Phone: (202) 362-5051 hours: 10-9 | sunday noon-6 Union Station 50 Mass Ave. NE Washington, DC 20002 (map) (Street Level, West Hall) Phone: (202) 216-9478 hours: 10-9 | sunday noon-6 If your looking to pick one up go to one of those locations and politely demand one.

This Weekend!

2008-10-27T13:56:00.003-05:00

There are 2 very fun events THIS WEEKEND! *** Art Outlet presents: Ofrenda - Art for the Dead Featuring Aritsts’ Shrines, Altars, Paintings, Photography, Magic, Music, Dancing, and Spoken Word based on the Dia de los Muertos tradition. AlMAZ ETHOPIAN RESTAURANT 1212 U St, Washington, DC Friday, Oct 31, 7:30 pm - 2:00 am and Saturday, Nov 1, 7:00 pm - 2:00 am Suggested $5 donation. Come dressed Day of the Dead style! *** The DC Craft Mafia presents: The UNUsual Suspects - Arts & Crafts Fair Featuring 50+ Amazing Vendors: Bath & Body, Ceramics, Children's Goods, Clothing, Fine Art, Handbags, Home Decor, Jewelry, Paper Goods, Toys and More! ANASTASI ROOM (The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad Building) 5020 Battery Lane, Bethesda, MD Saturday, Nov 1, 12 Noon to 6pm Free Admission. Donate $1 to The Washington Humane Society and get a doorprize ticket! *** For details, visit http://www.arty4ever.blogspot.com/

24 Hour Comic Book Day

2008-10-24T17:57:00.003-05:00

Last weekend, Krissy and I each represented the DCC for this year's 24 Hour Comic Book Day, which was graciously hosted by Laughing Ogre Comics in Fairfax, VA and which also had 4 of our pals from the Bad Monkey Brain crew. Here's Krissy's 25-page comic (links to a PDF). And here's my 24-page stream-of-conscious thing:

Dawn's Dictionary Drama

2008-10-17T22:04:00.003-05:00

My new Webcomic, Dawn's Dictionary Drama, is up and live. For each of the 110 comic strips in each story, I was given a random word that I needed to incorporate visually into the comic — either by having a character say it, or by having it appear on some object. At the start, the words are easy. As the story goes on, the words become more difficult to use. As an example, in the first story, one of the first words is Personal and one of the last words is Caramelizing. Check it out!

2008-10-03T10:11:00.002-05:00

I did an interview with comic creator Jim Rugg for Brightest Young Things as part of their SPX coverage. The new installment of Tales from the District will be up next week and we are looking for stories. All the pertinent info is in the link.

2008-10-03T07:44:00.001-05:00

Click to Enlarge The first issue of "Dr Dremo’s Taphouse of Tall Tales and Short Stories: The Wonders of Science" will be premiering at this years SPX. It will be available at table W4B and the DC Conspiracy table D9

New books for SPX!

2008-09-23T09:18:00.005-05:00

The Small Press Expo is just around the corner. Members of the D.C. Conspiracy are busy putting the final touches on several projects to premiere them at the show. Here's what you'll find at this year's SPX from the DCC: PLASTIC FARM #13 The first chapter of the all new comedic story-line "Seasons of Growth in The Fields of Despair". A flashback story detailing Chester's arrival at Greybridge Home, we also delve deeper into the mystery surrounding Chester's true nature and parentage. (Rafer Roberts will be at table W-11 at SPX.) A Moment of Clarity Volume 1: The Big Boss on Level 10 (2nd edition): Eleven year old Johnny's got two big problems at the beginning of his sixth grade year: the school bully Tyler won't leave him alone, and he's got a big crush on the new girl in town, Sarah. How can he attract the one, and make the other one go away? A Moment of Clarity Volume 2: Candynomics, Chapters 1, 2, & 3: Johnny's plans to save up his allowance for a present for Sarah are put on hold as his family goes through a financial crisis. Instead of giving up, Johnny decides to earn the money -- by selling sour gumballs in his school's thriving black market for candy. But he's not the only player in this gumball game... Clearance Sales and strappie sandals! Girl Ninja is a stylish, energetic character who roams the mall in search of demons and designer clothes. At the same time, her Kunoichi (female ninja) training keeps her ever poised for the first signs of evil or injustice. This keen sense is only overpowered by the naive feminine side of her modern desire and passion for clothes, shoes, nails, handbags, and anything under the Dolce and Gabbana sun. Along the way, she runs into an assortment of strange characters with their own tribal ninja skills. Friend or foe, she’ll fight to defend her mall, her style, and her life in this Mange-style fighting comedy. Animal Stew #2, compiles 20 installments of Matt Dembicki's tongue-in-cheek comic strip pertaining to odd animal stories. It's tasty! Spadefoot, 90-pages, by Matt Dembicki and Andrew Cohen. Full-color, full-monty. $13. $10 if you let us scribble in it. (Matt will be at table D11-B at SPX.) Frank Naif brings you Super Secret Bungling and Crookery, a collection of his witty Web comic on national security and politics, in general. Who says our government is broke? It's a coffer of humor!

'Spadefoot' trade now available!

2008-09-17T12:29:00.001-05:00

I self-published 50 copies of the Spadefoot trade, which is 90 pages, full color. I know I'm biased, but it looks pretty snazzy. The colors are very crisp! I'll have 'em at SPX next month, but if you want to order a copy, they are $13 plus $2 shipping and handling. Andrew and I will sign them, if you like, but it'll only downgrade the value.

A Moment of Clarity Volume 1 Reprint Sale!

2008-09-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

In celebration of the reprinting of A Moment of Clarity Volume 1, "The Big Boss on Level 10," John Bintz is running an Internet-only special up through Small Press Expo. From now to October 3rd, this redesigned Volume 1, with an all-new cover illustration and cleaned-up interiors, is just $8.99. That's almost $3 off the regular cover price of $11.95. Also, if you're following John on Twitter, you can email him with your order request and you can get the book for only $7.99. Go, social networking! Be sure to stop by all of the DC Conspiracy members tables at Small Press Expo this year on October 4th & 5th!

CrumbSnatchers at SPX

2008-08-20T10:41:00.003-05:00

Click to enlarge It's coming in October (for SPX) and it is in Previews right now! PAGE 312 LITTLE FOOT PUBLISHING Diamond order code: AUG08 4208 CRUMBSNATCHERS GN SRP: $4.95 (it's got a little picture of the cover and everything right up there in the upper left hand corner) You should convince your store to order it. That would be a great favor to me.

Dremo Image

2008-08-11T08:58:00.000-05:00

Click to enlarge An image from an upcoming DCC project.

My roadtrip/SDCC reports and pics

2008-07-29T15:32:00.000-05:00

3,311 miles in 9 days plus five days at Comic-Con. And I have pictures. And I have articles.

'Trickster' cover

2008-07-16T08:52:00.002-05:00

Behold, the cover to the Trickster anthology! Illustrator/cartoonist Peter Kuper (Spy v. Spy, World War III Illustrated, Stop Forgetting to Remember) generously provided the illustration and comic book writer/artist Rafer Roberts (Plastic Farm) rendered the design and logo.

Anatomy of a scene

2008-07-01T15:52:00.006-05:00

I really love watching directorial info in the special features of a good movie. When the director blocks out the way he shot a scene, why certain events were critical and why others ended up on the edit room floor have taught me a lot about storytelling. How to shave the fat. Getting down to what the story is really about. Anyway, not that I think I'm a great shake, but I thought that someone might get some information out of my process for working in art. Maybe I'm doing something that someone far more talented than myself will find useful, and go on to create the next great work. It'd be nice to think anyway. step 1 PENCILS I did the pencils pretty quickly. This was a single piece for August Adams novel 'National Dark Roast Day'. Very clever book. I really enjoyed reading it, and I was honored that he would want me involved. Anyway, I'd like to say that August approached me with the most composed and professional proposal I'd ever scene. Not only did he tell me exactly what he was looking for (with finished dimensions) but he provided a copy of his novel, and the location in the story where my scene would take place, so I could just read what was necessary. Really impressive. Anyway, after some discussion with August on the pencils I made some changes and moved on to inking. Step 2 INKS I was working at 200% ratio. It's not a scale that I'm used to working with, so I kept trying to keep in mind that every line was going to be twice as thin in it's finished proportions. I tried not to add too much detail, so that when the piece was finished it wouldn't look cramped or too dense. Step 3 Grey tones It used to be that inking was my favorite step in the creation process, but lately I really think it's been grey washing the piece. I used Dr. PH Martins conentrated watercolor, and chose sepia so that it would be easy to determined what was a hard black line, what was watercolor, and what was pencil marks. Using the Sepia also made the original art really beautiful. I was pretty happy with it at this point, and August seemed to be right on board, so I went ahead and moved on. Step 4 Colors I would just like to say that I HATE working in color. I am very uneasy, and unsure of myself in this step. It sucks. I never color anything that I'm really happy about. I mean, I think my colors are 'okay' but I also think that someone else with a stronger sense of color theory could make my work look a lot better. Anyway, I wasn't really sure if I liked the colors, but I wanted to do my best and make it look as sharp as possible. Seriously, looking at this makes me feel like someone with a mutant pimple planted between his eyebrows heading into his senior prom. "Please don't look at it!!" Step 5 Corrections Immediately after sending the finished work to August I thought, "nope, there's got to be more green in there." The whole piece looked too washed out, and it would severely compromise what I thought was a pretty solid piece. So, another hour in Photoshop and I had something I was really proud of. Probably from start to finish this was about 12-16 hours of work, and I thought it came out well. I'm super excited that it's been finished and August is happy. Mostly that's because I foresee myself spending the rest of the year working in various projects in black and white after the last two were color. Anyway, that's how I work. Hope you enjoyed!

New Techniques

2008-06-29T20:32:00.002-05:00

Click to Enlarge This project is still in the planning stages, but I'm really enjoying trying out a new style.

Final 'Spadefoot'

2008-06-28T05:29:00.001-05:00

The final page of Spadefoot, sans lettering and colors. Andrew did some wonderful pencils. So much so that I'm a little intimidated to do the colors!

Altar of Meat 2008!

2008-06-21T00:04:00.002-05:00

2006... 2007... It's time for the third annual DC Conspiracy BBQ. Some old favorites return, some go away, and some new recipes enter the mix. But first my supplies... And for me to drink, of course... And my sister, who was "helping" me: The Feta Burgers make their return this year: Joined by my new bacon-cheeseburgers (turkey bacon, mozzarella, and eggs): Ready to go on the grill... My Italian Chicken makes its THIRD trip to the DC BBQ: And this time it's joined by my new Chipotle Chicken (tomatoes, chipotle peppers, brown sugar, wine, lemon juice, and garlic): As you may notice, my BBQ ribs are not making an appearance this year. There are just too many people coming and I don't have the time to make enough for everyone. But I hope the new burger and chicken recipes will make up for the loss of the ribs. See you all tomorrow!

Writers: Finding Artists

2008-05-29T09:15:00.001-05:00

In case anyone is interested I started a thread over at DC Conspiracy on how writers can find artists and how to work with them once they've found them. Like I said in the thread, I'm not claiming to be an expert on this but I have my methods and I think they've been working so far. Head on over and check it out if you're interested.

CrumbSnatchers promotion

2008-05-23T07:29:00.002-05:00

Starting today I am going to be posting preview pages and extra stuff from CrumbSnatchers every Friday at the Little Foot website. I assure you they are not scary... They are tons of fun. Enjoy!

It's Eisner Voting Time

2008-05-19T10:12:00.001-05:00

Comics professionals should head over to http://www.eisnervote.com and vote for this year’s Eisner recipients. I’m not going to beat around the bush – my book Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened has been nominated for Best Anthology and any votes that can be thrown my way would be appreciated. I really don’t want folks to blindly vote for the book, however – I want you to know what it’s about, see if it’s your thing, and, if so, give it a vote. Therefore I’m reposting all of the reviews and features with artwork or full-stories from the book. Give it a look if you have the time, pick up the book at your local comic shop, bookstore, or library if you feel so inclined, and then make up your mind.

1 – The first page of every story in Postcards
2 – Publisher’s Weekly preview of Stuart Moore and Michael Gaydos’ Tic-Tac-Bang-Bang
3 – Comic Book Resources’ preview of Tom Beland’s Time

And in case you wanted to see some of our bigger reviews, head on over to USA Today, Daily Candy, Ain’t it Cool News, Bookslut , Washington Post, and the 2007 Kirkus Reviews’ Graphic Spotlight.

And then go vote in the Eisner’s. Even if you don’t vote for Postcards there are a still a lot of nominees that deserve your love.

Why aren't you people at the LOC?

2008-05-09T21:03:00.001-05:00

To those of you still in the DC area, the Library of Congress has acquired the first appearance of Spider-Man. Seems that approved researchers will be able to see it in person.