Back from San Diego -- a bit of Alan Robinson news

I'm back from San Diego and have survived the convention.

I'll have a full on con report posted some time this week.

In the meantime, I wanted to share the exciting news about Alan's new project.

He and writer Dara Naraghi are teaming on IDW's Terminator Salvation prequel.

The story takes place about a year before the upcoming Terminator Salvation movie with Christian Bale. Click on over to Newsarama to check out coverage and quick interview with Dara.

It's funny, I've known Dara since he and I both had stories in Digital Webbing Presents #4 and checked his terrific self-published work from Ferret Press. He's a great guy and a terrific writer.

His webcomic collection LIFELIKE is out in hardcover from IDW. You can check out LIFELIKE for free on the web by clicking here or moseying over to the excellent KOMIWERKS website.

I caught up with him a bit this past weekend in San Diego and he didn't mention once that he's the one stealing Alan!

For the record I couldn't be more happy for the both of them.

Lost Squad -- In Living Color

Colorist extraordinaire Garry Henderson tossed up some awesome colored pages from issue one of Lost Squad on his DeviantArt page and the Digital Webbing message boards. I just had to share.


DAYUM, if the boys don't look sharp! Garry colored the pages as if the story was taking place in Africa instead of Poland as an experiment. I say these make a fine addition to his portfolio.

Sharp stuff! Garry's done work for Devil's Due and Zenescope. Check out more of his stuff here. If you're a publisher looking for a talented colorist, hire the man already!

Hmmm...Lost Squad versus Rommel's Afrika Corps. Might make a good story.

Chicago con report

Wow this is incredibly late.

I've been toiling at the real job and scrambling to get some work done on a few other projects. The good news is that I've knocked out a ton of script pages in July. Bad news is I'm still scrambling and there's little time to post.

Chicago was again a terrific show. I sold a ton of trades and few single issues. The Freakshow horror combo sold better than expected and I didn't have to cart as much home as I usually do.

Feedback on the Lost Squad was terrific. I had a nice (but short) conversation with comics heavyweight Phil Hester who was very complimentary and had some nice advice as well. I will buy him a beer in San Diego if the opportunity presents itself.

I set up next to writer Ivan Brandon and artist Andy McDonald who are both terrific guys, very professional and talented and put up with my repetitive and annoying sales pitch for Lost Squad. NYC MECH is a terrific book and I highly recommend it. I picked up the second trade from them and I can say it's as crisp and sharp as the first.

Chicago is all about hooking up with old friends and this year didn't disappoint. I hung out with artist Kevin Mellon and writer Dennis Hopeless of GEARHEAD fame and the upcoming CUPID from AiT/Planet Lar. A nicer and more talented pair of guys you will not find. They're my homies.

Here's a Flickr picture of Kevin and myself enjoying ourselves in the midst of the insanity that is the Hyatt on Saturday night.

Kevin's entire set of photos is here if you're interested.

Marvel Adventures Spider-Man artist Ryan Stegman is one of the funniest dudes in comics and, along with Ryan's Fiance', artists Erik Jones (who is a riot himself), Ray Dillon and Renae De Liz (two of my favorite people), and Mellon and Hopeless, we all backed up the truck and went for deep dish pizza one night and had a fantastic time.

Ray and Renae witnessed my rant about how much I think the Goonies sucks. They just listened politely and shook their heads. I'm pretty sure they avoided eye contact for the rest of the weekend. We will continue this conversation in San Diego. Bet on that!

Caught up with artist Ryan Bodenheim who has hooked up with the terrific Johnathan Hickman on the new mini-series RED MASS FOR MARS from Image Comics. I picked up #1 at his table and it is fantastic.

Rich Molinelli and his better half/partner-in-crime Sam were in attendance although I didn't even hang with them until Saturday.

Talked about the UNION STATION movie with writer/inker/sharp dresser Ande Parks. I got my hands on the screenplay a while back and thought it was great and I told him so. BTW, I sold my first comic ever, DIGITAL WEBBING PRESENTS #3 (featuring my story DARK SIDE OF THE MOON with artist Juan Moreno), to Ande waaay back in '02, I think (?).

Can't forget Phil Kost, military adviser and all-around good guy. He and I talked about putting the Lost Squad in a different historical setting and had some terrific ideas. Good to see you, Phil!

Saw Michael Kasinger (MEK71 on the DWP boards), Andy Jewett and a ton of others I'm forgetting. I'll update as the memories come back to me.

Can't wait for 2009.

On to San Diego!

Happy Fourth of July!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July!

Wizard World Chicago recap coming soon, I promise!

Wizard World Chicago 2008

WWC kicks off on Thursday.

I'll be set up in artist's alley at table # 5114. I'm all the way back against the wall. Look for the LOST SQUAD stand up.

I've got great table placement again this year. I'm setting up next to such comic heavyweights as Ivan Brandon and Andy McDonald, Mike Norton, Bryan Glass, David Mack, Taki Soma, Mike Oeming, Brian Bendis, the Kansas City comics crew -- Clay Moore, Jeremy Haun, Dennis Hopeless, Kevin Mellon, Jason Hurley, and Jason LaTour.

Devil's Due is setting up at booth 1123 and I'll be signing there at some point this weekend. I'll update as I get that info.

Come on back and say howdy! I'll be the imposter hawking the zombie nazi comics.

Sweet nectar of the gods.

I spent Father's Day fishing with the kids which conjurs certain Norman Rockwellian images, but all being said, it was a terrific way to spend the day.

I capped off the evening alone on the couch, flipping channels and enjoying my new found drink obsession -- Avery's MAHARAJA Imperial IPA.

It is the sweet nectar of the gods!

When it comes to beers, I'm a hop-head. I LOVE that flowery smell and this baby delivers. The taste lives up to the initial smell test. It has a bitter, citrusy flavor with a hint of malt. It's much stronger than you're regular IPA. It packs a punch at nearly 10% alcohol and something like 110 IBU's.

A fantastic way to end a terrific Father's Day.

FIGHT!

Teaser image from the new project.

Art by co-creator and digital wunderkind Ryan Scott.

And another.

The first rule of the new project is that you don't talk about the new project.

YET.

And, then you'll wanna stick your fist in my mouth 'cause I won't shut up about it.

Blogger hiccup

Seems that Blogger had a bit of a hiccup recently.

They've chewed up and spat out a few postings.

Sorry about that. In the meantime, and for no reason in particular, here's a picture of Mr. T.

The funny thing is, the hat isn't even the most ridiculous thing about this photo.

That is just an INSANE amount of bling. Never mind the weapon, but how does the man get through the metal detectors at airports?

I think it's just one LONG ass gold rope chain he swiped off an anchor aboard a Saudi prince's yacht.

Are those Wonder Woman's bracelets and Mandarin's rings he's wearing? (geekjoke)

More T as the mood strikes me, foo'!

Happy Birthday Alan Robinson!

Alan turns 30 today and in his honor I thought I'd toss up a few samples of his latest artwork.

Here's a few pages from Star Wars Legacy #22 from Dark Horse.


This is a cover Alan created for the Chilean comic CALEUCHE.


The pages below are from YONCHI! Written by Richard Meyers, colors by Cristian Gonzales, and appearing in the POPGUN anthology from Image.
If you want to take a gander at more of Alan's artwork, check out his DeviantArt page, Alan's ComicSpace page, or his blog.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALAN! Thanks for everything, my friend. Have a great birthday!

Lush Life

Yes, there's been a dearth of blogging in April. Guilty as charged. I've been working and writing and spending a little time in Fargo, ND recently (six inches of snow in late April).

Not much Lost Squad news recently and I'm not ready to let the cat out of the bag on the new stuff I've been writing so I thought I'd post a quick book review.

I'm about half-way through the new Richard Price novel LUSH LIFE and it's fantastic.

If you're not familiar with Richard Price, I'll clue you in: he's the author of CLOCKERS and FREEDOMLAND and writer of such movies as SEA OF LOVE, RANSOM, THE COLOR OF MONEY and a smattering of THE WIRE episodes amongst others. If you dig the crime beats of Lehane and Connelly, you need to go find you some Richard Price. Right. Now.

LUSH LIFE spins a yarn around a tale of murder, a mugging gone wrong on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Told from the perspective of a survivor turned suspect, the homicide detective working the case, and the perps, the book elevates beyond a simple police procedural into social commentary and potrait of an ever-changing urban neighborhood. Some are comparing this book to Tom Wolfe's writing in tone and texture. You'll feel like you're walking the same streets past tenements and upscale watering holes just as the characters do. The prose paints a vivid picture.

And, don't get me started about the dialogue. It crackles. Price is a master. You can have Mamet and Sorkin (both of whom I love), but I'll take Price and have seconds on Sunday.

I'm only half-way through, but already I can't endorse this book enough. Go and read it.

More Lost Squad minatures.

As promised, more Lost Squad minatures from Chris Jachimowicz.

Sgt. Lymangood.

"Bazooka" Jose'.

The Nazi leader Kessler looking particularly evil.

The biker Nazis from issue #1.

Once again, thanks Chris for sharing!

Alan's Newest Gig

Alan is definitely movin' on up!

I got word from him last week that he's been signed on to provide one issue of fill-in artwork on Dark Horse's Star Wars Legacy book. He's slated for issue #22 which is already solicited and set to arrive in your local comic shop on April 8.

Anyone who knows Alan knows that he is a MAJOR Star Wars fan and this is a dream project for him.

Check out his Darth!

We've put our projects on the backburner for now, but for the record, I couldn't be happier for him!

His artwork keeps getting better and his career, in my opinion, is starting to take off. He's got his foot in the door now at Dark Horse and I predict big things from him.

Now, if Dark Horse could just use a writer, on say, their revivals of my old faves EERIE and CREEPY, they could pair the two of us up once again.

Lost Sqaud Minatures.

Uber-fan Chris Jachimowicz is back with more cool Lost Squad stuff.

This time he's painted and modified some 28mm pewter minatures into our beloved ragtag team of soldiers.

Here's Captain Boudreau.

Here's the email I received from Chris: "I’ve attached several pictures of the Lost Squad figures that I have painted up for 28mm play. They are from Artizan Designs, Bolt Action Miniatures, Brigade Games miniatures and West Wind.

I did a little sculpting, such as glasses on the Corporal, hair on Kessler, and the ribbon on Lymangood’s arm to make them more LS-like. I also added built-in MG-42’s to the front of the motorcycle sidecar and a point to the driver’s helmet. All in all I think they came out rather good!"

Damn! So do I!

Major Smithenry and Corporal Berg

The "Chicago Boys": Tinker, Evers and Chance

Nazi Demon Soldier

You can check Chris's earlier creative efforts here. I'll post the rest soon.

Strike over.

Good to see the strike finally come to an end. From the reading I've done and the people I've talked to I get the impression that they believe that they got as good of a deal as they could get. There are a few quibbles (17 days of residual free streaming before the writer sees a dime?), but that it was good to get everyone back to work.

We're waiting on a second draft of the Lost Squad screenplay. Hopefully once that's turned in Rogue will give it a greenlight.

Still working on the hosting issues. My provider is not forwarding the domain properly and I'm thinking about installing a blogging tool to get around this, although I'd rather just stick with Blogger for now.

I got caught up on some TV and will post some reviews shortly.

More to come.

Switching hosts.

We're switching hosts and having a few issues with forwarding the domain to blogger.

Email has been spotty, but is now back in full effect.

We'll have everything fixed soon and will be backing posting soon.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

*Side note: I've noticed a few Hollywood industry types browsing the site. If you work in the biz and are inclined, drop me a note at mailcall {at} lost-squad [dot] com. I'd love to pick your brain.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Looking forward to 2008!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

I wanted to wish everyone a terrific Holiday season!

Looking forward to a fantastic 2008!!

Advice from Neil Gaiman

A month since my last post. Apologies for the dearth of posting. With the WGA strike shutting down Hollywood (and thus no movement on the Lost Squad movie) and my real job sucking most of my time (and thus not a lot of movement on new projects), there hasn't been much news or tidbits to post.

So, allow me to ramble a bit...

I was talking with a friend a week or so ago and he asked me when it was I knew that I could write. When had I received validation that my stuff was good or entertaining (or, at least, didn't suck)? I'm my own worst critic when it comes to my stuff and I have HUGE bouts of self-doubt every time I sit at the keyboard. Writing is hard for me and when I first started noodling with short stories and short comic scripts I found the self-doubt to be almost crippling.

Back in 2001 I had a hard drive filled with unfinished stories that I had abandoned after my inner critic's whispering voice would become a shriek. I would quit writing rather than produce something I thought sucked.

In June of that year Neil Gaiman came to town promoting the release of AMERICAN GODS. I'm a huge fan of his work (SANDMAN is brilliant) and it's always a treat to hear him read his work aloud. At the signing I asked him if he had any advice for someone struggling to write and find their voice. He wrote an inscription to me in my copy of his short story collection SMOKE AND MIRRORS which read, simply: "FINISH THINGS".

He explained that much can be learned from writing a story which is bad. It was better to have a completed story that was lacking than a terrific unfinished tale. I know it sounds simple and obvious, but it was this blunt bit of wisdom that actually helped me break through. It was just the medicine that I needed.

I believe that the reading took place on a Wednesday night and the next day I decided to put the advice to good use and enter the ETC magazine short fiction contest. Problem was, the deadline was Friday. I came up with a story about an engaged couple who visit a psychic to have a reading about their future and the message the bride-to-be receives on the sly from the medium. It was called SONDRA'S PSYCHIC READINGS. I wrote it quickly all the while pushing that inner critic to the back of my mind and revised it in haste. I just managed to deliver it in person under the 4:00PM Friday deadline.

You probably see where I'm going so I'll cut to the chase: I won second place. Not bad for a 2000 word story that I dashed off just to prove a point. I learned that maybe I could write and that I needed to let my mind go and just get the story out of my head and onto the paper. That's when the real writing can take place.

I continued to write short prose and took a shot at writing short comic stories that eventually found their way into Digital Webbing Presents.

So, thank Neil Gaiman for the Lost Squad. He had a hand in it as well.

Thanks, Neil.

L' ESCADRON PERDU

The Lost Squad invades France!

French publisher Akileos are publishing the adventures of the Lost Squad in Europe.

Here's a shot of the cover.

The Akileos representatives approached Devil's Due and myself about the foreign reprint rights at Comicon in 2006. They were very enthusiastic about the project and at that time, wanted to have the black and white artwork colored.

While they didn't opt for color, they have put together a terrific looking volume for the European market.

And, I can add the title of "Scenariste" to my resume.
Check out the squad speaking French.

Anyone interested in purchasing the Akileos volume can find it available from Amazon.fr , FNAC.com, or Sceneario.com

Indie Pulp interview

The fine folks over at the Indie Pulp blog turned their gaze on little ol' me for their Sketchbook Spotlight interview. It's 20 questions where I ramble about myself.

The site went live last June and contains a ton of cool commentary about Comics and DVD's. Give it a gander.

BIG thanks to Bernie Gonzalez for the exposure.

Check out Bernie's artwork over at the Element X Studios site. SHARP stuff!