#131:Countdown

Dossier enters its final days, Oscar selfies, Off Panel and more.

ALL THE LATEST

Hello all, hope ye’re all less exhausted than I.

-I’m just back from Cork Comic Expo which was great fun. Honestly, my main reason for going was to catch up with my fellow Irish comic pros, it’d been a long time since we’d all hung out with each other. Couldn’t resist an Oscars-style selfie…

Pictured [L-R]: Stephen Mooney, Chris O’Halloran, Nate Stockman, Jamie Teehan, myself, Nick Roche and Will Slieny in foreground.

The show itself went great, it’s a unique in that you get to meet a different kind of audience than the regular comics crowd. I was hoping to have my OLD DOG comps in time for the show but alas, no.

-I’m currently scrambling trying to get a lot of various stuff done. I’ll be out of the studio for close to two weeks next month so need to make sure I’m on top of things. I just handed in my final RIBBON QUEEN cover and have started working out the covers for a new Boom series to replace that regular cover gig. Was asked to do an incentive cover for a VERY pretty DSTLRY series, which should be fun. Couple of WOLVERINE related covers on the horizon, which are always fun.

-I was back on David Harper’s OFF PANEL podcast. Always love talking to David, this time especially as he was so good to help me with the OLD DOG DOSSER. I wanted the interview section to be interesting and he is always so informed and considered with the questions he asks, bringing out better ansers in me [I hope]. This podcast is no different, David getting into the realities of creator owned, etc. I assume I ramble on too much as usual but a few people have tols me it’s a good episode, so check it out.

-Working on various outlines at the moment, a lot of them in fact. First,PROJECT ARCA, I have some material for the artist so we can start getting a pitch together. Next; OLD DOG. I want to get this moving so I don’t drag my heels on the next installment. I’ve had lots of ideas, but I need to start nailing things down and get the ball rolling. Third; I’m pitching a work for hire project that’s come up recently that’s will be a really exciting challenge. Just in talks at the moment, but will lock something down soon. Fourth; I just got a writing gig offer over the weekend that’s pretty damn cool, but I have to jump on it right away. I think I’ll be writing it and doing covers too. It’s something totally out of the blue, but I think will be a lot of fun. Time for a new codename: PROJECT EXODUS. That’s a lot of writing work on my plate, but since I’ll be traveling for a couple of weeks, I’ll be able to chip away at them while on the road.

-Marvel released this variant I did for BLADE recently. This was fun. It’s amazing to be at Marvel for so long, yet there’s still so many iconic characters I’ve barely had a crack at.

-Was delighted to see Hassan Otsmane Elhaou, our powerhouse letterer on TIME BEFORE TIME, won the Ringo Award for best letterer [alongside Stan Sakai, no less!]. Congrats Hass, you most certainly deserve it.

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OLD DOG/DOSSIER

The first OLD DOG collection is out TOMORROW!!!!

I don’t have my comps yet for some reason which is driving me crazy, but more importantly, retailers have theirs, so you can go pick up your copy/copies!

Coffee & Heroes in Belfast have their copies

I can’t believe it’s out tomorrow. I really am so proud of the book and genuinely think it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. The most challenging, the most rewarding, the most top-of my game. If you haven’t ordered it yet, please do now, it’s dirt-cheap at $9.99 for this first printing ONLY. I’ve also signed off on the Itanlan edition of the book that will be out in time for the Romics show next month.

The countdown begins! The OLD DOG DOSSIER is into it’s final week! We’re currently at €10,648/ 88% with six days to go, soooo close to hitting our goal. I’ve done my first ‘Sketch Artist’ sketch cover, 4 more to do [5 slots left though]

The designer Ryan Brewer has the whole book pretty much worked out. Once he’s happy, I’ll be doing over the process pages and adding notes and commentary in the redact boxes you can see on the bottom of the pages[below]. Then there’ll be one big pass needed of the book before its sent to printers, but the whole shape of the book is worked out and won’t take long to finish. Assuming we get funded!

It’ll be a great companion piece to the book, nt to mention a very rare object, as there will be a very limited print run.

So if you’re reading this, and enjoy OLD DOG, do take a look at the campaign before it ends. This project has been a dream of mne for a long time and I’d love to finally make it into a real life book.

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ALIEN

The ALIEN ANNUAL by myself, Danny Earls, Ruth Redmond & Clayton Cowles is out October 4th. Man, that’s so soon. Really happy with this one-shot story. I can tell ye now, it’s essentially a National Geographic documentary ..but with aliens. It’s essentially a silent issue, which means a lot of the heavy lifting was on Danny’s storytelling chops but he more than rose to the occasion. It’s such a crazy issue, I can’t believe we goat away with this. I don’t think these have been shown yet, but hell, here’s the first page of the annual.

Finished the script for my last issue [for now?]. Did my layouts for Alien #2, starting pencils this week. Below, the colours for my first page of #1 that I showed the inks last week. I’m trying to be a little less painterly on this book, to lean into some starkness and just bump up some texture but I can’t help myself from noodling around with rendering.

This is fun. I’m enjoying it.

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TIME BEFORE TIME

Lettering draft for 29 is done so… I’m all done on the book! Oof, I don’t like this one bit!

It’s only right I show you a peek at one of Joe’s pages, which is tough as they’re mostly spoilery, but here you go.

Joe’s work continues to develop in such interesting ways, it’s amazing to see.

Chris is colouring the pages this week, then that’ll be a wrap on the art production on the book. Sigh.

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OUT SOON

September 20th

OLD DOG [REDACT ONE] [C/W/A/Col]

TIME BEFORE TIME #27 [C/W]

September 27th

THE RIBBON QUEEN #3 [C]

October 4th

ALIEN ANNUAL #1 [C/W]

October 18th

TIME BEFORE TIME #28 [C/W]

CRYPT OF SHADOWS #1 [W]

October 25th

THE RIBBON QUEEN #4 [C]

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