New Vugz Project

There's a new Vugz strip coming up. It will be part of a secret project to promote SPACE. More info will be available in the next few weeks over at the SPACE blog. Above is a computer simulation color test for the hand painted strip. The first Vugz strip appeared in Oh,Comics! #18. Vugz will hopefully appear as a webcomic in the next year or so, just as soon as the current long term project, Bunny Blues / Leaves, is completed.

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Oh,Comics! #18 @ ComicsXP

Oh,Comics! #18 "Earth" is now available as a digital download at ComicsXP. 76 pages for only 99 cents.

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342 Mini Comic

Here's a quick look at the cover of 342 my 24 hour comic. It will premiere at Genghis-Con next Saturday in Cleveland and will be available on sale here next week.

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The Results of the Halloween 24 Hours Comics in Columbus

I made it! After a failed attempt back in 2004 I managed to product a 24 hour comic entitled "342" over last weekend. About eight of us started out at noon on Saturday at the Crimson Cup coffee shop in Clintonville. The group included Sunday Comix regulars, Ray Tomczak, Jon Riddle, Mike Carroll, Kira Keck and Sue Olcott, and one of my Explorer Post students, Ryan Buoni.
By 9:30 PM I was about a half hour off pace and was starting to panic knowing how my previous attempt proved I would be moving slower as time went on. Then a stork of genius and the well timed 17 minute snow storm page got me back on track. I didn't hit the wall I expected and managed to pick up time with each page and the "story" started to flow. Then by about 2 AM only the hard core 24 hour cartoonists were left Ray, Jon and me. Mike Carroll who had accomplished a 24 hour book in the past left after finishing all the pencils and was going to finish the inking at home. I found out later that he didn't finish. Ray finished at 6:35 AM. I wrapped up page 24 at 7:24 AM. I took off then to get some sleep. I found out later that Jon finished up at about 9:00 AM.
All three finished strips have characters named Derrick and employ the use of the sound effect "Hork" but other than that have nothing in common.
While my strip isn't as pretty as either Ray's or Jon's it's complete and actually is coherent and comes to a end. Well as coherent as a quest story involving different dimensions, bad poetry and packing peanuts can. (Ray's and Jon's comics are complete and coherent too.)
I'd like to thank the Crimson Cup for letting us hang out there all night and the free coffee, Canada (Kira's mom) for the goodies and the bentos she provide and to Max Ink for setting the whole thing up. Also thanks to the old and new friends who dropped by to cheer us on.
Although we had a ball the common consensus is that we're not going to do it again soon .
My strip will probably be issued as a mini-comic since I have a coupon for copies which runs out this month.
There was a video shot. I'll let everybody know when it surfaces.

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John Porcellino Columbus Stop

John Porcellino the author of the autobio mini comic "King-Cat" was here on October 12 in support of his new collection "Map of My Heart". I was going to write a little something about it but J. Caleb Mozzocco did a much better job of it than I ever could at
http://blog.newsarama.com/2009/10/16/a-stop-on-john

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MOC Indy/Small Press Panel Video

The Indy/ Small Press Panel video from UVN is now up on youtube in 7 parts. Here's the link to the first.http://www.youtube.com/xax66#p/u/6/IsitwdBY8Tg

10/14/09

All parts are now up on http://www.undergroundvideonetwork.com/

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Dali / Disney at The Dayton Art Institue

Kathy and I managed to run over to the Dayton Art Institute last weekend to check out the "Destino" exhibit. In case you're not aware of this, "Destino" was a project started by Walt Disney with Salvador Dali way back in the mid-40's but eventually shelved. Roy Disney discovered the project in the 90's and finished it. It was never officially released. It was nominated for an Academy Award as an animated short in 2003. I think I own the Academy Award Shorts DVD from that year but don't remember it. I'll need to dig it out and check. Anyway the entire thing (about 7 minutes) is up on youtube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzzZa5o1q5k
The exhibit consisted of the video running in a constant loop on a screen and about 12 screen prints of Dali's drawings which are part of the original story board. I would love to see Dali's story boards put together the way Miyazaki's were on the "Castle in the Sky" DVD. You can check out more info at
http://www.daytonartinstitute.org/exhibits/dali.html
The museum also has some nice pieces on display as part of their permanent collection.

Next time: John Porcellino's "Map of MY Heart"