Falling Rock National ParkI will once again be at San Diego ComicCon next week, July 17-21! Stop by and see me at table 0-6 in the Small Press Pavilion. I will have issues of Falling Rock, including the brand-new issue 8, dinosaurs in space prints and coloring book, and my two graphic novels.
The eighth issue of Falling Rock is a truly unique production. For the first time, I handed over the entirety of drawing duties to someone else. My friend, the incredibly talented illustrator Oscar Woodruff, has drawn issue 8 from cover to cover. He and I worked on a story idea from one of my early comic strips, and I think the strange marriage of my words and his art is compelling.
As always, if you are a subscriber you will receive your copy in the mail. Otherwise, if you’d like to get your hands on this issue you can purchase it over at my Books page.
I will also be at San Diego ComicCon once again this year, from July 17-21, at Small Press table O6. Please stop by and say hello!
Without further ado, here is the cover. It’s an understatement to say I was blown away the first time I saw this, and each subsequent viewing has not diminished my awe.
Hey Portland! Come on out to the Doubletree by Lloyd Center and see me at the inaugural IndieCon! I’m tabling at B4 with Reid Psaltis.
Fear not, dear reader, Falling Rock National Park has not gone away. I’ve been chipping away at issue 7 for the past year. It certainly is the longest time between issues, and for that I apologize. Family, and life, sometimes necessitate a break from comics. This is a good thing.
I wanted to share a bit of the process for this issue, since it is already quite different from all previous issues. So far I’ve been penciling pages digitally, on my iPad. This is what they look like right now:
When I finish a page I print it out on 11×17 paper. Currently I’m thinking that I will still ink issue 7 on paper with a brush, as I have done in the past. Issue 7 is, like #6, one single story. It will run 24 pages and it will contain jokes. That’s all I will say for now.
Thanks for sticking around! I wish you happy holidays, and stay tuned for more updates in 2018. Onward!
Falling Rock National Park #6 is at the printer right now, being printed! Real ink is being laid down on real paper, and when the process has completed I will have in my hands 500 copies of the greatest detective story ever told! Want to know who is the culprit? You’ll have to read it yourself to find out.
Subscribers have already been emailed, and I will be taking preorders for this issue at my Buy Books page.
If you live in Los Angeles, I hope to see you at WonderCon! March 25-27. I’m exhibiting at Small Press table 93. I’ll have #6, as well as previous issues, Tomb of the Zombies and Jack Ketch, prints, and maybe even a special surprise (involving dinosaurs).
Since today is Throwback Thursday, I thought I’d throwback a little art from my high school art class. The first colored pencil drawing represents the first of many explorations of those mysterious Easter Island heads. The second is a portion of a final exam. Our teacher had us draw one picture for the final – whatever we could do in an hour. I went with comics. This is packed with in-jokes that I don’t remember and features all the people who sat with me for the year. We were a good group.
These past few weeks I’ve begun work on Falling Rock issue 4. I have three longer stories which are all in various stages of completion. I think I’ll use whichever I finish writing first. Right now the top contender is a story involving a couple new characters, including a very famous cryptid.
This part of the process is always exciting. I have a few ideas which may or may not turn out, but everything I’m doing is pure creation.
In addition to the longer stories, I have a few single page stories (or “gags”). Maybe I’ll do a future issue comprised exclusively of these.
It’s fun to think about what a new issue will look like. I haven’t done anything too high-concept yet, but these are still early days. What issue will be my Sgt. Pepper? 100?
In other news, Cryptozoology News reported a sighting of a giant lizard-man in the desert. I couldn’t help but think it was the world’s first Ernesto sighting. Keep your eyes peeled, dear readers! The next time you’re hiking in the desert you may have a close encounter with a very tall lizard wearing a baseball jersey.
Issue 3 of Falling Rock National Park is finished! Here is the finished cover:
Subscribers will be getting their copies as soon as they get back from the printer.
If you don’t subscribe, why not start now? Reading more comics is a great New Year’s resolution.
Stumptown Comics Fest was the first comic convention I ever attended, way back in 2009. One year later, it was the first comic convention I tabled at. Located that year in the Lloyd Center Doubletree ballroom (really one floor of a parking garage with carpet installed), Stumptown set the tone for me for how comic conventions should be. It was packed with interesting people, some of whom I now proudly call my friends. It taught me about trading the comic I made for another comic somebody else made. I met famous cartoonists, who mingled with us self-published nobodies and didn’t even complain about our smell.
Was Stumptown perfect? Heck no! Cartoonists love to complain as much (if not more) as other people. But I’ve come to realize that the “faults” of a show can also give it character. Make it special, even. MoCCA is held in a century-old armory that is stuffy in even the best weather conditions. Emerald City promoted Patrick Stewart every day for nearly a year but failed to mention all the cool kids in Artist Alley. SPX’s website crashed the second it was open to the public. In the end, these bumps bring us together, or at least give us fodder for in-convention sketches to pass around.
The last few years it was pretty clear that the directors of Stumptown had lost interest in the show. I can’t blame them for wanting to move on. Organizing a comic convention every year can be sweaty thankless work. If you’re not 100% into it, you shouldn’t force yourself. Having the mantle of Stumptown hanging over your head, while dreading the angry tweets from indie cartoonists if it doesn’t go well, is no way to live your life. Better no Stumptown than a Stumptown everybody hates.
I’m sorry to see Stumptown go, but am forever grateful for the world it opened to me. My path in comics would be quite different had Stumptown not existed. To use a handy metaphor, Stumptown is my George Bailey.