Gene Ha

New Top 10 series coming

2008-06-30T10:03:00.003-05:00

Had a great and sleepless time at the Chicago Wizard World. Usually, I lack sleep because I'm staying up late drinking and talking with other creators. This time, it was because I chatted so much during the con itself, I had to finish my paid sketches at night. I usually slept from 4am-8am.

The most common lamentation I heard from the fans was never seeing another Top 10 story again. This means I have to push this news harder: I'm working on a new Top 10 run right now! Zander Cannon is writing, I'm pencilling and inking, Alex Sinclair is coloring, and Todd Klein is lettering. It's everyone from the old team except Alan Moore and Scott Dunbier. We do have a new Scott editing, and Scott D and I both like him a lot. I'm doing a 4 issue run, and hopefully it'll continue for years without me if sales are good.

Special shout outs to the Raging Bullets boys, Red (Liana) and Ed (Steve), Jill Thompson, Olivier Coipel, Jim Demonakos (whose phone contact list saved my butt), Nick Barrucci, Wendy the new girl, and Barry Crain. And to the regulars, Art Lyon and Alex Ross, who make every Chicago con a treat.

I sold a large pile of pages to Albert Moy, art dealer for Jim Lee among others. He should have them scanned and ready for resale soon!

I'll try to blog more details later, but I really have to catch up on my comics work now!

All night drawing George Carlin

2008-06-23T08:35:00.004-05:00

I stayed up till four in the morning drawing a Top 10 page. I'd decided to base a character in the scene on comedian George Carlin crossed with Angar the Screamer. Not quite either, a lot of each. "Wonderful WINO!!!!"

I woke up this morning, went to the NY Times to read Paul Krugman, and I learned that George Carlin had died. Dang. Top story as I type. I listened to a lot of his stuff when I was in high school.

The Comedian is dead.

Gene Colan

2008-06-20T09:04:00.002-05:00

Still blogging about events around the NY Big Apple Con.

While sketching at the con, I was solicited to donate an auction piece. They were raising money for Gene Colan's medical expenses. I hadn't known he was in trouble! I donated an Authority pinup.

You can read about the senior Gene's condition here on this blog. His liver began to give out, but is now responding to treatment. Here's a link from that blog to various eBay items donated to raise funds. Bid aggressively!

I think Colan is the first artist whose work I remember vividly. He did a run in Daredevil that still haunts me. Before then, Daredevil tended to be a bit goofier than Spider-Man. He didn't have a signature of his own. Gene Colan gave Daredevil creeping India ink shadows and paranoia long before that became the industry standard. I especially remember an issue where he went insane and attacked (and beat!) the Avengers to a pulp. I stopped reading Daredevil when Gene Colan left (some hack named Frank Moller or something took over).

Seriously, Frank then took Colan's dark film noir stylings, pushed them, and "dark" and "gritty" became the bywords of 1980's US comics.

Get well-er, Gene! He says that the love and support of his fans are pulling him through, so click here to become his Facebook buddy. And his website, which includes an email link.

Also, thanks to Jolie for making the initial updates on my Wikipedia page!

Wikipedia me

2008-06-13T23:06:00.002-05:00

While I was at the Big Apple Con, a photographer went down Artist Alley and shot us, letting us know it was for Wikipedia. I just dropped by Wikipedia and checked out the photo. It was about 95 degrees Fahrenheit outside, so I like shiny and sweaty.

Also, I've gotten a haircut since.

Anyhow, I saw that the article on me needs work, but you're not supposed to edit your own entry. Anyone interested?

Most obviously, it says that a citation is needed for this claim:

In 2007, he illustrated a critically acclaimed^{[citation needed]} Justice League of America #11

That's easy enough. It's been nominated for an Eisner. That's why I work with writers like Brad Meltzer! To make memorable comics.

Onto other stuff.

In 2006, Ha is set to serve as artist on the first four issues of a relaunch of Wildstorm's The Authority....

I've already drawn two issues of The Authority, but the project stalled after that. No scripts, DC needed Grant more on Batman than WS projects. I found new projects and after over a year I don't want to go back even if the scripts show up. Sorry to people who bought the first two, but my life's too short!

He currently resides in Oak Park, Illinois with his wife Lisa and two beagle-bassets.

I now live one suburb south, in Berwyn, IL. Still with the lovely Lisa and my two crazy dogs. That's about it for factual corrections. Let me know if you rework the HTML!

Is this the worst that Sartre can do?

2008-06-09T08:20:00.003-05:00

I'm trapped in that odd variant of Hell called Newark, NJ. From what I've seen it really does look like the opening sequence of the Sopranos. I'm in air conditioning, but it's supposed to hit 101F (38C) here.

My United flight back from the Big Apple Con was cancelled last night, and I don't fly out today until 2pm. The only miserable part of the whole debacle was United customer service.

Midwestern storms canceled flights all over, so there must be thousands like me. I'm out a day's work and a paying for a night's stay at a hotel. Some people are missing crucial meetings, births and weddings and everything else more important than a comics page.

I read Sartre's No Exit, which portrayed modern Hell as having to interact with people you don't like. As kids we thought the book was about existential despair, but it seems like light dark comedy now. Of course, I only have 6 more hours in this part of Hell.

I'll write up some news of the con later. I should've gotten a photo of Bernie Wrightson and his wife. Delightful people! Wish I could've had a dinner with them.

Remiss

2008-06-06T01:40:00.002-05:00

I've been bad about updating my website. I should've announced that I'll be in NYC this weekend for the Big Apple Con. Now I'm here in New York, and I can't update the page. Bad Gene, no donut!

The con is at the Penn Pavilion Plaza, across the street from Madison Square Garden. Saturday and Sunday.

I'm staying at the Hotel Martinique. I had no idea this block has a little Koreatown on it! I am Korean, but my neighborhood in Chicagoland has no Korean restaurants. Now I can walk down the street and get kalbi at 4am. Amazing.

It's almost like someone designed this area for me. There's a 24 hour fresh mart kitty corner from the hotel, lots of Korean clubs and restaurants, an Irish pub, a kebab cart (still open at 2am!), and one block south is the Empire State Building. This is kinda sweet.

Anyhow, hope to see you at the con Saturday. Sorry about not giving everyone the proper heads up.

Not Sick

2008-05-31T07:11:00.002-05:00

I spent two days with some horrible bug in my system. Thursday, after walking around Berwyn with Lisa, I was suddenly so tired that I couldn't eat breakfast. I collapsed in bed and spent most of the day sleeping. Just crushing two glucosamine tablets for my beagle basset's dinner left me sweating and gasping for breath.

Friday I felt better, and Lisa was off so she could take care of me. Still, I slept most of the day and watched Heroes on Netflix Online as research for a cover I'm drawing. It sucked having no energy, drive or creativity. It's like I couldn't be me for two days.

Woke up Saturday and feel much better. Healthy enough to feel righteous angerI'm going to point out a grave injustice that doesn't involve the chimp in chief. Someone has stolen musical gear from the most literate band in Seattle. I'm offering a reward: if BlöödHag confirms you were instrumental in getting their instruments back, you get to pick any unsold page from my webstore as a reward!:

Stolen from trunk of car in Ballard driveway:

Black Gibson 'the hawk' 5 string nighthawk gtr like one in pic but with Alternative tentacles sticker on body in case with lots of stickers
Yellow Ampeg 5 string SG style gtr in case like in photo (i'm not in moto)
Sunn concert lead guitar amp with black tape on front
Tascam digital mixing board
Ibanez Tube King dist pedal
Boss Digital delay with sharpie on knobs
Boss tuner hella dirty

I am a gigging musician I need this gear... any information would be crucial!
Please call 206-548-7775

To the a$$hole who stole the gear:
I will kill you you pony tailed white dude for f%@&ing up my neighborhood! Punk,we know what you look like! You are lucky it wasn't me who was chasing you last night douche bag.

Happy Birthday, Gaffney!

2008-05-29T08:29:00.001-05:00

Hey Mike, welcome to the ranks of the old men. Let's get together and complain about young people today.

Grrrr. Young people. Today. Grrr.

Gene

Early Gene Ha work for sale

2008-05-19T13:58:00.003-05:00

Through a convoluted tale involving friendship, gifts, a car sale and car accident, mysterious disappearances and contacts, Tom Fleming at Fanfare SE Inc. of Kalamazoo, MI, has become the new custodian of much of my early work. This means you can buy some stuff that has NEVER been up for sale before now. You can see the pages on his website and in his eBay store when he has stuff for auction.

This was a stroke of luck for me. I'd given the stuff away before I had a good scanner, so it's fortunate to have it all in one place I can drive to.

I dropped by Fanfare this Saturday and spent six hours scanning everything he had left. Tom's a good guy and has a great reputation. Thanks to all the good folks working the shop too. They were all more than generous!

I'm hoping to put out an artbook someday, so scanning my old work is part of the process. I'm spending a few more hours today scanning my old pages. When comics companies first began the transition to digital imaging, the scan quality was pretty horrible. This is the only way to show good quality scans of some of these pages.

Lastly, if anyone out there knows where Bruce Benman is, let me know! I'm worried about the guy.

Call for submissions

2008-05-14T19:02:00.002-05:00

Hmm. Hard at work on Top 10. Zander has written a scene in a police precinct women's room, and unlike Alan he hasn't included any restroom graffiti. That's just irresponsible.

So consider this an open call for graffiti suggestions! If you have any ideas, especially clever comics reference scrawls, send them to me.

Ideally, they shouldn't be copyright violations. 'Batman likes the leather' is bad. 'Bruce likes the leather' is fine.

Unlike men's room, women sometimes use stall walls to solicit serious relationship advice. Funny is best of all, such as silly poems.

Obviously, all submissions used will become the copyrighted property of DC Comics. So I'm not expecting Alan Moore to send in any ideas.

Someone's gotta take a stand against motherhood

2008-05-09T09:48:00.003-05:00

From the Washington Post, via Shakespeare's Sister:

On Wednesday afternoon, the House had just voted, 412 to 0, to pass H. Res. 1113, "Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day," when Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), rose in protest.

"Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote," he announced.

Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has two young daughters, moved to table Tiahrt's request, setting up a revote. This time, 178 Republicans cast their votes against mothers.

It has long been the custom to compare a popular piece of legislation to motherhood and apple pie. Evidently, that is no longer the standard. Worse, Republicans are now confronted with a John Kerry-esque predicament: They actually voted for motherhood before they voted against it.[my emphasis]

Republicans, unhappy with the Democratic majority, have been using such procedural tactics as this all week to bring the House to a standstill, but the assault on mothers may have gone too far. House Minority Leader John Boehner, asked yesterday to explain why he and 177 of his colleagues switched their votes, answered: "Oh, we just wanted to make sure that everyone was on record in support of Mother's Day."

By voting against it?
....
"The majority has taken, once again, their go-it-alone policy," Boehner lamented yesterday. "It's time for Democrats and Republicans to work together." To induce this working together, Boehner decided to stop the House from working at all.

House Republicans are doing everything they can to prevent Democrats from passing any legislation.

I was curious if the bill included anything pernicious to the GOP (praise for single moms, evolution, or voting for women) but it's about as harmless as you'd imagine. It was submitted by a Nebraska Republican, Jeffrey Fortenberry. He voted against it the second time.

While I'm here, happy Mother's Day to my mom and to Lisa's mom! Unlike some people, I do think you made great sacrifices for the future of the nation, and for us.

And happy birthday to Adam Schlagman, who is too young and creative. I'm giving him just 20 years to solve that problem.

Calgary

2008-05-06T23:46:00.007-05:00

I had a great time in Calgary, I've got some non-work time while I wait for the Hoosier state to finish counting votes, so it's time to do some high intensity bloggin'!

It was a good medium sized convention. It draws in some excellent comics talent, like Bruce Timm, Stuart Immonen, writers Mark Waid and Greg Rucka, or the artists on either side of my con table, Whilce Portacio and Marko Djurdjevic.

Marko, in the foreground
Lisa in the midground
big crowd around Whilce in the back!

Eisner award winner, Russ Manning nominee Steve Rolston, in from Vancouver.

I should be bringing you some fine quality scans of my Calgary con sketches. I did bring my cheapo scanner there, but I forgot my USB cable. Ah well. I used my camera. You'll see some odd shadows and such.

Paid sketches of Gambit and Arsenal for two of the clerks from the Redd Skull Comics shop booth. Every time I needed reference for a sketch, they were the go to guys. Thanks, Teague and Andrew!

A Joker sketch, of course. When I asked for a theme, the buyer said "crazy".

I made this for a guy who collected female faerie sketches. The Brian Froud faeries were pretty well covered in his collection, so I went for a Tolkien/fantasy adventure elf. I suspect this image will show up on some DnD character sheets soon!

Here's the one I'm most proud of. I did a previous sketch for Steven Gettis's literary portrait website, but I never sent him the original art. He's been asking for another for years. After showing up in his home town I finally did it: The Little Prince, a book that really struck me when I was six years old. By chance, this happened to be one of his wife's favorite books!

As usual, I got script and drawn sketches for Mike and Lowell. I'll hold off posting those until Mike can see his sketchbook in person.

I didn't get to wander the hall much. Bill Willingham did. He got in line and got a signed photo from Tricia Helfer, the tall blonde cylon from Battlestar Galactica. He asked her to write "Any time you're in LA feel free to crash on my couch," but she didn't go for it. Cylons. No sense of humor.

Again, never believe anything Bill says about me and penguins.

After the con was over, con organizer Kandrix Foong took a crew of creators and volunteers to dinner and then to Banff.

Dinner with Bruce Timm, Jim Zubkavich, and a lot of Asians!

The guys from Jim's Udon Studios were pretty damn talented. I honestly had never heard of them before, which shows you how badly I need to get out. Wonderful stuff.

I'd also never heard of Banff. I'm a provincial little American. It's really lovely out there. Real Gene quote: "I was just about to say, those mountains look bigger than the Rockies!"

The Portacios

I've met Whilce before, but never had a good long conversation with him till this trip. There's a heckuva lot of stuff I didn't know about him. I didn't know that he'd moved back to the Philipines for a while and taught comics illustration. Among his graduates is Leinil Yu. He Whilce also pioneered Photoshop comics coloring with Alex Sinclair at Wildstorm.

Here are some pictures of Ed the Sock (Steven Kerzner) and Red (Liana Kerzner) showing what makes Canada great! Patriotism and public shagging with puppet fetishism. And here is a Wikipedia photo of Liana dressed as Power Girl! For those who aren't Canadian or don't get the US cable Ripe channel, they're dangerous Canadian TV personalities.

I adore Canadian television. It can't compete with the US stations for big glossy production values, so they bring the wacky hard core. Like Ed the Sock and Red. Or another great show, Trailer Park Boys.

Just gonna finish up with some random photos from Banff. The votes are counted and I need to ink in the morning!

Fixing things up

2008-05-05T20:31:00.000-05:00

Just a little temp post while I republish my site after finding a new web host.

Back from Calgary!

2008-04-30T23:04:00.001-05:00

It's late on Wednesday and I've just gotten back from Calgary. They're amazingly cool people up there, and I also got to hang out with some amazing artists and writers.

I'll try to posts photos later. Some quick highlights: a good charity auction, getting sketches for my friends Mike and Lowell from Whilce, Mahfood, Waid, Rucka, Immonen, and Willingham, hanging out with all those creators over steak, listening to a tale of true lust that compelled a man to smuggle baking soda from Peru, and seeing the beautiful friendship between a redhead and a sock.

More details later. It's almost midnight and I must sleep. Remember, never believe Bill when he discusses my obsession with penguins.

Computer Troubles

2008-04-23T12:16:00.003-05:00

I have no idea why this is true, but computer problems always seem to come in clusters.

I decided to switch my website host. It turns out that I didn't update my Admin Contact info first, so a bunch of emails needing responses (request for payment, approval of transfer, etc) got sent to a dead email address. Also, we changed the server name early so I couldn't get to my normal email address.

My normal email is back.

I gave up transferring the website until the Contact Info is finished updating with WhoIs.

Lisa's computer was slow so I ordered more RAM memory. The day after I installed it her hard drive went bad. We've got it at a repair shop to see if there are bigger problems with the RAM, the hard drive, or something even more sinister.

I suspect simians. Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose? (Free Gene Ha doodle to the first person to get the geeky pop culture ref).

Finally, my Comcast internet mysteriously went down for a few hours this morning. It went on long enough that I spent half an hour on the phone.

Each of these problems has been sucking away my normal work time. Then I'm heading to a Canadian convention for a week. Not getting much done this week, gah! I love my computers, but sometimes I get really nostalgic for the pre-Internet 80s.

Debate blogging

2008-04-16T20:24:00.004-05:00

Okay, watching the debate. Came in late. Charles Gibson began advocating for the Laffer Curve, though not by name. He stated as fact that we'd get more tax revenue from Capital Gains Taxes if we reduce the tax rates on them.

Currently, people who get their income from investments (or investing other people's money) pay 15% on that income. So a billionaire hedge fund manager pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.

The concept behind the Laffer Curve is pretty simple. If taxes are 0% the government won't collect any revenue. If it's 100% it's not worth doing anything taxed, so the government gets almost no revenue. The best tax rate to get the most revenue is between 0% and 100%. I agree with that much. The question is where the optimum tax rate is. Conservatives always claims it's lower than the current tax rate.

The thing is, the economy always grows over the long term. Of course you'll eventually get govt revenue higher than before the tax cut if you wait a decade. Conservative economists have quit trying to show that a US tax cut produced more revenue than we would've gotten without the cut (though spin doctors and credulous journalists like Charlie Gibson haven't stopped stating it as fact). The failure of the Laffer Curve is why Bush I had to raise taxes to erase the Reagan budget deficits. Bush I's balanced budget eventually led to the Clinton economic boom.

I'm mildly annoyed with Gibson. But I'm disgusted that both Democrats let a shaky GOP talking point get treated as a fact.

[TPM blogged nicely during the whole debate, in a more readable style than I did. There's a reason why I draw instead of write!]

Update (April 19): Here's an explanation from the Congressional Budget Office. In short, when investors learn there's going to be a capital gains tax cut, they hold off selling investments until after the cut, then sell! Sell! Sell! This creates a short term surge in capital gains revenue, but no long term change. In the long run, therefore, the government loses revenue:

The sensitivity of realizations to gains tax rates raises the possibility that a cut in the rate could so increase realizations that revenue from capital gains taxes might rise as a consequence. Rising gains receipts in response to a rate cut are most likely to occur in the short run. Postponing or advancing realizations by a year is relatively easy compared with doing so over much longer periods. In addition, a stock of accumulated gains may be realized shortly after the rate is cut, but once that accumulation is "unlocked," the stock of accrued gains is smaller and realizations cannot continue at as fast a rate as they did initially. Thus, even though the responsiveness of realizations to a tax cut may not be enough to produce additional receipts over a long period, it may do so over a few years. The potentially large difference between the long- and short-term sensitivity of realizations to tax rates can mislead observers into assuming a greater permanent responsiveness than actually exists.

Berwyn's claim to fame leaving

2008-04-14T08:27:00.003-05:00

If you've seen the movie Wayne's World then you've seen Berwyn, IL's pride: Spindle. It's better known as the Car Kebab. It's only a few blocks from my house.

Berwyn isn't famous for much. Check out the Wikipedia page. It only has one photo, of the Spindle. The other claims to fame are the World's Largest Laundromat (disputed) and that a co-founder of the band Survivor is from here. (BTW, I'm still listed as a resident of Oak Park, but I'm in nearby Berwyn now).

When it was announced last year that the Spindle was going to be torn down to build a Walgreen's on the spot, volunteers began a fundraiser to save the artwork. At least for me, all the joy went out of the effort when the Spindle's creator, artist Dustin Shuler, demanded a 5% cut of all the t-shirt sales. Probably because of this, the current t-shirt no longer has a picture of the Spindle on it (check it out, the solution is pretty clever!).

Here's a list of all the artwork from the parking lot. Note how the Spindle listing has a Shuler copyright notice, but no one else's work does. Dustin is a litigious bastard.

If you've taken a fancy to the Spindle, would you like to own it? It's now on eBay. Be warned, shipping fees are harsh.

Quick link on US foreign affairs

2008-04-07T13:37:00.003-05:00

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I read Paul Krugman for economic policy, and people like Chet Richards for foreign and military affairs thinking.

Here's an excellent article by Mr Richards from the Armed Forces Journal. What we're doing wrong, and how we can fix it. No soaring rhetoric, just simple concrete changes we can make to our policy. They're big changes.

Schemin' Scott

2008-04-02T19:12:00.002-05:00

Just got off the phone with Scott, hard at work at IDW.

Scott is a scrappy, can do, think-different kinda guy. This made him a good fit at Wildstorm, independent outpost of comics. It didn't always work at Wildstorm, wholly owned subsidiary of DC/Time Warner/~~AOL~~. I'm amazed both that they got rid of him, and that he lasted as long as he did.

I'm gonna predict that he'll do really well at IDW. When he comes up with a wacky, never been done, garage band idea there I don't think it'll have to get approved by the College of Cardinals before the Pope is allowed to weigh in. Expect many clever things, and the periodic brilliant new comic.

Rock and Roll doesn't thrive when it has to be approved by committee. Comics is a rock and roll artform.

Escape from 1700 Broadway, NY, NY

2008-04-01T09:31:00.002-05:00

Scott Dunbier's editor gig with DC has expired, allowing him to finally edit again! Confusing? That's the nature of modern corporate politics.

You can read about DCs twisted Dilbert thinking here and here. He wasn't fired, he was just told to stay away from the office while he continued to get paid. He'll now be at IDW. It'll be good to have him back in comics again.

As most of the real comics geeks already know, DC had to give partial ownership of Superman to the Siegel family. People who think this is unjust are plain wrong.

When Siegel and Shuster created Superman in the 1930s, copyright on a character could only continue for 56 years, maximum. So by the rules of the game, DC was going to lose their ownership in 1995.

Siegel and Shuster did sign a release giving the company Superman "to have and hold forever," but this doesn't supersede copyright law. DC still couldn't own the character past 1995.

In the 70s, revised copyright laws allowed people and companies to extend their copyrights beyond 56 years. In fairness to creators who had sold off their rights, they were given a chance to claim ownership on the extended copyright. That's what Jerry Siegel's heirs did.

So don't complain that the Siegels shouldn't get a share of Superman. By the rules of 1939, DC shouldn't have a share either.

Anyhow, congratulations to the Dunbiers and the Siegels! I declare today Scott Free day!

Comics Work update

2008-03-20T16:44:00.002-05:00

First, something non-comics. I hate feeling like I've been cheated by a purchase, so really enjoying having found The Consumerist website. Directions on how to arm David against Goliath International.

Getting slowly done with that first issue of Top 10, the new series. Sorry for the wait. The pencils are going quickly, but the detailed rendering of the 'inks' is taking me forever.

I did do some side projects, one because my Top 10 editor asked me to, and the other because I'd said I would and it was the chance of a lifetime.

Here's the once in a lifetime opportunity. In Spain last year, George Perez asked if I'd like to color a cover by him someday. I said yes! Pencillers don't often get to work on the same piece, except in jam covers. The offer became real a month ago. This is a small corner of a cover for TwoMorrows Back Issue magazine.

Here's a corner of a cover for my Wildstorm editor. Financially, it was a total waste of time doing this cover. Creatively it was worth it because it let me experiment with 'penciling' again. I penciled using marker, tech pen and white paint. The results were dynamic but fuzzy. All the tight glossiness is thanks to inker Andrew Pepoy!

I drifted away from using inkers because I wanted to use more tight hatching in my work. Now that I hate hatching that's not a problem. I took control of coloring because I didn't like the coloring in comics in the late 90s and early aughts. Coloring has gotten better. I'm considering becoming a traditional penciller again so I can meet monthly deadlines.

I love my current technique, but damn is it slow!

Spitzer

2008-03-11T13:34:00.002-05:00

It seems only fair that I should comment on Elliot Spitzer, after teasing Republicans so much lately.

A few months ago I read a magazine profile of Spitzer. I disagreed with the writer, who thought he was the worst big state governor in the USA. I thought my boy Blagojevich (sp?) won that prize.

Sigh. Yeah, NY kicks Chicago ass again. Your governor sucks more.

If I lived in New York state, I think I'd occasionally vote Republican in local races. I don't do that here, because the IL GOP is crazy. In NY you get to vote for Republicans like Pataki and Bloomberg (though he's independent now). In Illinois we get Keyes and Jim "deport all illegal aliens unless they're my employees" Oberweis.

Anyhow, a law and order Democrat who hires $4000 'escorts'. Hopefully he'll resign today.

P-KhEWWWH!!!!

2008-03-11T12:37:00.002-05:00

It's a silly little thing, but I just made myself laugh. I'm working on the cover of a DC/WS crossover, and as I drew an explosion I whispered a sound effect under my breath. I haven't done that for years.

We get runny noses here

2008-03-10T10:38:00.003-05:00

Influenza mostly gets spread when people (in cold climes esp.) wipe their runny noses, then grab door knobs and public surfaces and other people touch those surfaces. Then we get on a plane and spread that to other, sometimes warmer, places.

Just bringing that up because my old pal and former Wildstorm editor Scott has had the flu for about a month. He lives outside San Diego, which is warm. I knew a month ago he was sick, but I'd just assumed he'd be feeling better by now.

Send him your best wishes and prayers, especially if you enjoyed any WS or ABC books over the last few years.

For anyone else out there feeling sick, sending out my prayers and best wishes that you feel better soon. And here's some technical background on why you're supposed to keep warm, drink fluids, and get fresh air if you have the flu:

In fact, [fever] may serve an important purpose- most bacteria and viruses that infect humans find it hard to replicate at higher than normal human body temperatures. The main danger from fever is rapid dehydration- the human body uses twice as much water with every degree of temperature rise. Because of this, most physicians now recommend that we balance the risks and benefits of fever by only treating and attempting to reduce fevers greater than 101 degrees F, 38.33 degrees C.

Fever can increase the need for oxygen. Oxygen requirements increase 7 percent for every 1 degree F increase in body temperature over 98.6 degrees F. For example if a fever is 103.6 degrees F (39.77 degrees C) there is a 35 percent increase in the body’s need for oxygen.

Norberto!

2008-03-06T18:26:00.003-06:00

Back in 2001 I went to my first foreign comics show. It was a great little show in Spanish Galicia, in a town called Cangas. I met some amazingly friendly folks. One who stood out was Norberto, an artist working in the Spanish market. He was especially good at the sexy girls. Last year I met him again at the show in Avilés, Spain.

He did inks on this, but I think it shows off the Norberto style well.

I just got an email from his agent, showing off his latest project: he's inking for US companies! Congratulations to Norberto Fernandez, and expecting the quality of the sexy girl drawings to improve at Marvel now. Give him some pencilling jobs!