A Great, Big Update!

Oh, my goodness, I can't believe I have let this blog languish for so long! I've noticed some interest with all the new folks asking to join the Writer of Comics Face Book page and keep thinking I need to do a new post, but then I get (easily) sidetracked and time slips away. Well, here I am with a huge update. Hopefully the first of many more regular posts. ONWARD!

Updates of my newest work in print/digital, Publisher by Publisher: 

Blue Moon Comics

The first two issues of Diversions and Ash-Aman Special Edition #1 are out and ready for your reading pleasure! Issue #1 is available via ComiXology, IndyPlanet, and DriveThru Comics; issue #2 can be gotten via IndyPlanet and DriveThru! I am so very proud of how these books turned out. The artists, JW Erwin, Joe Koziarski, the late Donnie Page, Ian Groff, Greg Rieves, and Russ Martin have given their all--and the amount of talent their "all" is capable of demonstrating just floors me! Hope you dig 'em as much as I do! Visit our Facebook Page, @bluemooncomicsgroup,  for quick updates!

Warrant Publishing Company

I recently had a story published in The Creeps Magazine. I was thrilled to get a sci-fi-centric tale in that awesome mag--and doubly thrilled that it appeared in their 25th anniversary issue! And to top it all off, the story is magnificently illustrated by Martin Peniche! Looks like it's straight out of a 1970s ish of Creepy or Eerie, doesn't it? 

 

Surprising Comics

The sixth issue of Unbeatable Brick was recently released from Surprising Comics (via Lucky Comics), and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Joshua 1:9 Holley KILLED it with the art, and Anna Holley rocked the COLOR! Yeah, it's in color! Check it out!

A-a-a-and Josh is working on a brand new Kragor tale for Diversions! I'll let you know when to expect it!

InDELLible Comics

And last (but not least), I'll have stories in the next TWO issues of InDELLible's All New Popular Comics (issues 4 & 5)! Issue #4 will feature two of my collaborations with my late, lamented friend Donnie Page ("King of the Hill"--in color! and a 12 page Owl story painstakingly inked from photographs of Donnie's pencils  by artist John Gentil, with colors by Haltacolor Art.

 

All New Popular Comics #5 will have a story I wrote three years ago starring The Voice! I've never been happier to wait three years to find an artist, because when you see the art (and lettering and coloring) of Truman Vasco, you're eyes are gonna POP! Stay tuned and I'll share some samples when I get the "go ahead" from InDELLible!

Try my comics! Please? And make sure to visit Blue Moon Comics' website, as well as our Face Book pages to stay up to date on all the comix I'm working on! Lots more to come!

July's Almost Gone, August Is Almost Here, and The Brick Is Still Unbeatable!

Ya didn't think I'd let July slip away without an update, did ya? Yeah, I wasn't so sure either. It's not because things aren't hopping in my little corner of the comicbook world, though. Actually, it's because things are hopping in my little corner of the comicbook world (oh, plus the real-life addition of a brand new gorgeous granddaughter, Joanna Bethany Smith) that I'm so long in posting. Makes you kind of curious about what's happening, huh? Then, read on, Macduff!

Ash-Aman chapter three will appear in Will Lill Comics' Fun Adventure Comics! #9! That magnificent mag will be out around August 15, so don'tcha miss it! Here's the cover for the ish, as well as the superior splash page by the oh-so-talented Russ Martin...

The big news from Surprising Comics, publisher of Surprising Universe, former home of Unbeatable Brick, is that it's now an imprint of Lucky Comics (Beetle Girl et al)! Notice I said that Surprising Universe is the "former home" of Unbeatable Brick? Well, shed no tears! Now that Lucky is publishing the Mark Davis' Surprising heroes, Unbeatable Brick (as well as Skyscraper and Depthon) will be getting their own 8 page b&w mags in the tradition of the Lucky line of comics! That means that, any day now, you'll be able to get your hands (or digits, if you prefer .pdf) on your very own copy of Unbeatable Brick #1! That's right, the origin of Unbeatable Brick from the super-rare Surprising Universe number one-and-only (with awesome art by David Johnson Jr.) will be reprinted in ish #1, then brand new stories, written by yours truly and illustrated by  artists like Donnie Page, JW Erwin, Joe Graves, and more, will come your way starting in ish number two! Dig the covers (yep, Lucky does variants!) to ish #1 by JW Erwin and David Johnson Jr.!

Speaking of Dy-no-mite Donnie Page, he and I have been working on a few more projects that are gonna knock you out! One featuring the public domain hero The Owl...

And, as mentioned above, a brand new Unbeatable Brick tale! Check out this splash (literally, it's a splash!)…

Finally, Lucky Comics publisher John Helmer has made me a very tempting offer to bring my old company, Blue Moon Comics, out of retirement as a Lucky Comics imprint. Is it time for the Blue Moon to rise again? We're gonna test the waters with a rarely-seen Blue Moon superhero called The Luminary. If you like it, there could be more to come. Stay tuned!

Luminary promo art by Eric Douthitt

Ash-Aman Is HERE!

Fun Adventure Comics! #7 (from Will Lill Comics, natch) officially went on sale yesterday via Will Lill's shop, comiXology, Amazon Kindle, DriveThru Comics, IndyPlanet, and probably some more places I don't even know about. Whether you like your comics in print, .pdf, or in the handy comiXology readery, Warren at Will Lill has got ya covered! Not only do you get to groove to the amazing artistry of Russ Martin on Ash-Aman, but you get cool stories by guys like Ron Fortier, Jesus Marquez, Todd Jones, Bill Thompson, Rodney Lockett, Joe DeSantos, and more!

Don't forget the upcoming Donnie's Pages benefit book to help the marvelous Donnie Page out with his medical expenses as he battles cancer. Here's another peek at Donnie's creations U.S. Flag and Liberty Lad...

While you're waiting for Donnie's Pages, why not contribute to Donnie's FaceBook fundraiser page?

Oh, and here are a couple sneak peeks at upcoming covers for Surprising Comics' Unbeatable Brick! The first is by JW. Erwin (with colors by Rob Shalda) and the second is by Josh Holley! Man, Brick is lookin' great, ain't he?

That's it for now! Next time, I hope to have more on Night Spider, Max Miracle, Guns & Rosa, and a few other surprises. Until then, be on the lookout for Fun Adventure Comics #8 (on sale in July) which will feature part two of the Ash-Aman saga..."Chaos!" Here's Barry McClain Jr.'s cool Brother Bones cover...

...and here's the scrumptious Ash-Aman splash by Russ Martin!

Summer Is Heating Up!

It's new update time! Are...you...ready...?

First up, did you catch Will Lill's Free Comic Book Day preview of Ash-Aman in the FCBD Fun Adventure Comics! 2018 edition? If not, get thee to DriveThru Comics and download it now! (Sports and exclusive cover by the incredible Russ Martin, don'tcha know!)

Ash-Aman's official debut is only a few weeks away in Fun Adventure Comics! #7, and honest to Irving, you don't wanna miss it! It's the most truly 1970s-style cosmic I've had worked on yet, and Russ' art and co-plotting is gonna blow your mind!

Over at Surprising Comics (which is now an imprint of Lucky Comics!), we're still waiting for Depthon #1 (with THREE underwater adventures written by Bronze Age Aquaman scribe supreme Steve Skeates) and Surprising Universe#2 to get their finishing touches, but here's something to keep your interest piqued:  another sample page from my Donnie Page illoed Depthon story and another page from my Unbeatable Brick story with art by Josepth Graves and Donald Willman...

Speaking of Unbeatable Brick, JW Erwin is still rocking the pencils and inks on our two-part shocker (slated for Surprising Universe issues 4 and 5). Here's his cover art and mock-up for ish #5 (though it could appear on #4--we'll see)...

JW and I are still hard at work on the Night Spider mini-series, and believe you me, this is another comic that's gonna blow your socks off! Here are some more of JW's design pages...

And finally, as I mentioned earlier in this post, Donnie Page knocked it out of the park (as he always does) with his Depthon pencils. Soon after he finished work on that story, Donnie learned that he has Stage 4 Prostate Cancer that has spread to multiple organs. Donnie has set up a FaceBook Donations page where you can contribute to help him with his medical expenses as he fights his cancer like the super-hero he is. As soon as we learned of Donnie's situation, a whole bunch of his pals from InDELLible Comics, Surprising Comics, Lucky Comics and Charlton Neo pow-wowed on the best way to help our uber-talented buddy...so naturally t'was decided to do a benefit comic featuring Donnie's own work, as well as art and stories from some of his favorite comicbook folk. I can't go into a lot of detail here, but Colnk Adink, Jim Ludwig, Mark Davis, Stephen Butler, and many others are putting together a sure-to-be-awesome benefit called Donnie's Pages! Stay tuned for details, but I can tell you that it's gonna feature at least two tales that Donnie and I have collaborated on: "King of the Hill" (thanks to Charlton Neo publisher Mort Todd for coloring and lettering it--as well as letting us use the story prior to it being published in an upcoming Charlton Neo mag)...

...and Donnie's own creation, U.S. Flag and Liberty Ladd! Get this: the page below (as well as the whole U.S. Flag story) is brand new, astoundingly penciled by Donnie as he takes his meds and prepares for chemo. I TOLD you Donnie's a super-hero!

Remember, you don't have to wait until Donnie's Pages comes out--you can help him RIGHT NOW by following the FaceBook Donations link. Thanks in advance for your generous help!

Happy New Year! 2018 Is Gonna Rock!

Happy Holidays, everyone! Yeah, I slipped up and haven't filled you in on what's going on in the comicbook writer part of my life for a while--well, ever take that to mean that nothing's going on. Nossiree, that usually means that I'm busy as a bee! Busy doing what? I'm so glad you asked...

I've written an article on Neal Adams' Batman for Fanscene's 50th Anniversary Celebration of 50 Years of Comic Fandom in Ireland and the UK! Yeah, what's a Yank like yers trooly doing in there? They (Steve Poulacheris and publisher/editor David Hathaway-Price) asked me! Do you think I'd say "no" to getting to be part of a publication with articles by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and dozens of titans of fandom? I'll update this post when the e-zine is posted (I understand it'll be available as a pdf as well). It's actually due to be released sometime tomorrow, so I'll updated as quickly as I can. Here's the cover and a teaser image from my article (which, as you can see, starts on page 501)!

Yeah, I know you know I write about comics, but you're here to read about the comics I write, right? Okay, how about a sneak peek of "High Moon" from the soon to be released The Creeps #13?

I have more Unbeatable Brick news! Seems a few exceptional artists have taken a shine to our pliable pal, so I'm in the process of writing three more Unbeatable Brick eight pagers (which will bring us up to a total of six UB stories--and counting). A self-contained smash-em-up, "The Madness of Polarr!" to be illustrated by Josh Holley (here's Josh's take on UB and Polarr)...

And JW Erwin is doing a two-parter featuring giant robots, the evil of the Iron Baron, and his secret evil society, SPEER, and introducing ElecTrish--who's really gonna shock ya (and UB, too)!

Unbeatable Brick is poised to take over the world--and hardly anyone knows it yet! In fact, Surprising Comics publisher Mark Davis is toying with giving UB his own regular mag. Stay tuned!


Meantime, Russ Martin is still producing jaw-dropping art for our upcoming Ash-Aman mini-series planned for next year. Just dig this cover...

Joe Koziarski is knocking me out with his Guns & Rosa pages (for Charlton Neo)...

Aaaand, Will Lill publisher Warren Montgomery is releasing the third Monty's World tpb in February, which will reprint the first FIVE ISSUES of Fun Adventure Comics! That means all the Midnight Stranger stories, Kragor, Alex Miracle, Black Rose, and "Snake Eyes" (plus all the cool stuff from the other FAC! writers and artists) in one gi-normous book! You can pre-order it right now from Amazon, Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, and more!

And yep, "King of the Hill" is on the way from Charlton Neo (editor Mort Todd is lettering it now); Joe Graves' two-part Unbeatable Brick tale (featuring the villainy of the Deadly Duo) is coming soon (part one is about ready to be lettered, part two is being laid out), Fantastic Giants by me, Steven Butler, and Mort Todd is still in the works, and I have more Kragor stories that need artists!

There's also a possibility that my "creature of the night" super-hero Night Spider (formerly Black Spider) just might be swinging your way in 2018!

Stay safe--and stay tuned!