AFK...

Now I'm back! The Easter holidays were very nice, thank you for asking. Kosher Passovers ROCK (Sharon, your brisket was out of this world!). So on to more secular pursuits; This will be a quick, ad hoc posting just because it's been a few days since my last and I have so SO much work on my table...This table:

Actually, I'm a big fat liar. This is my desk from about two years ago. Still, not much has changed. I still look into the wise stare of Chief Arca (my, I should get that back to Tom Veitch!), and stoke my smoldering concurrence with Bender's "KILL ALL HUMANS" apron. If you look closely, you can just make out the "Fables" story I was drawing. It's an inventory script that will never EVER see the light of day in the "Fables" storyline, now that Jack is in exile. Hmmm...Wonder how this story will ever see print.
Here's something; I was 16 years old when "Star Wars" hit. It warped my little, hormone addled mind. Obviously, since there was a rebellion against a vast evil empire there must be a world where there are great frontiers that need defending! Guys who ride "horses" of some sort and are sorta like cavalry-guys but with some sci-fi stuff happening. I bet they'd be a pain in the ass or a thorn in the side of the local Imperial Forces because they are such excellent fighters! I'd bet they'd look something like this:

LOL! Note that these guys are "BOARDER RAIDERS"! No Imperial tenant would be safe, I'm sure. What's with the pose? Well, there was going to be some sort of "mount" that the facing rider was going to be getting down from. But I probably had to go mow the lawn or some shit and lost my interest in the piece. The positioning of the cigarette hand is unfortunate (snort).

Let's jump ahead 10 years...still fostering my obsession with the Civil War; the influence of which is clear even in the Boarder Raiders drawing. The dash of the Southern Armies caught my fancy early on, despite the Confederate States clearly amoral and illegal grounds for starting the conflict. That's right, I went there. At any rate, there are several more pages to this sequence, but the horses are so badly drawn! They look like Jeff Goldblum teleported a dog and a moose! At any rate, these Rebs marshall against some Feds across there that field, but they get mowed down. Yay!
Speaking of "mowing down"...One of the GREATEST influences of my career in comics was working with my first publisher, Tony Caputo. Bless this man, Lord. I can't tell you what a guiding light he was to me and other creators at NOW Comics. I know that he shaped many careers and fostered much admiration throughout the industry; and STILL does to this DAY!! Whenever I get the news that there is a respected comic contributor in the hospital and possibly on his last legs, as I've just heard with the news of the incredible Alex Toth, I know that I'm not the only person in this industry who thinks to himself, "Man, I wish that was Tony Caputo."
This is from a title called "E'BNN". I never got to actually draw an issue but I did do some sketches for a possible Viet Nam Flashback Issue, which were the vogue back then.

Here's some reconcepting of the 'bots from "Valor Thunderstar", another NOW title. Again, I never got a chance to draw an issue of this book. Be thankful.
Ok, I have to go do some "real work", so I'll end with this; first is a sketch for an intro page to a gaming manual; you're on the thresholds of a town/level (reflected in the pool of water) you're about to enter; the second sketch is for my friend Officer Garrian Manning of the Chicago Police Department; his class at the Academy wore tees with this sketch on it. I hope that he still uses this on tees that he leaves on the crumpled forms of perps like Vic on "The Shield". That would be awesome.
h.e.