Hey gang! Lots of new things going on for me.

First thing is first – The Gathering, a comic I drew a two-page story for (written by Chicago native Jason Hissong), is available for sale!

The Gathering Front and Back Cover

From the website:

Gathering is a self published anthology series featuring original stories by some of the most talented up and coming writers and artists in comics.

Most of the creators involved were friends who gathered together from the Jinxworld forums with the common goal of putting together a comic book for the ‘fun of it’ but it quickly became so much more.

The first edition of Gathering, The Thing With Feathers: An Anthology of Hope will be available this July.

Order it online and have it delivered straight to your house for tree-fiddy, at the link provided above.  This comic is awash with massive comic talent, both up-and-coming and established artists and writers doing what they know best.

Second item of the day – John Pata of Oshkosh Horror and Oshkosh Zombie Walk fame (he also wrote/directed/produced the hilarious 30-minute zombie comedy “Better Off Undead”) interviewed me at his website. I talk about my School: A Ghost Story comic, the ups and downs of self-publishing comic books,  and I make a pass at John Pata.  Give it a look if it piques your fancy.

Speaking of Oshkosh Zombie Walk, it’s coming up soon!  September 4th is the day, and not only will I be there, I am giving away a piece of original art for one of the contest winners in the post-walk competitions held in the time theater that night.  Here is the art I am giving away (click for a larger view):

Maybe you will be the lucky one that will have this hanging on your wall.  That would be neat, eh?

Fourth item of the day – While I will be at Oshkosh Zombie Walk, I will ALSO be at GeekKon in Madison, WI (man I need a clone machine) for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  GeekKon is a three-day anime convention, lately it has gained quite a bit in popularity so I’m quite excited to have my first table there!  Click on the link for more info.  Since Zombie Walk is on Saturday at 6pm, I will be leaving early from the convention on Saturday to make it to Oshkosh on time (like I said, I need a clone machine) so if you attend GeekKon on Saturday and don’t see me there, come back tomorrow.  I’ll tell you my zombie apocalypse adventures while you look at my books and art

Item #5 of the day (you didn’t think I was done yet, DID YOU?) – My art will be both on display and for sale at the Grand Opera House for October’s Gallery Walk in Oshkosh, WI.   My School: A Ghost Story pages and original art will be for sale at prices anywhere between $40-$120/page, and it will look all cool hung up in the Grand Opera House walls.  Gallery Walk is always the first Saturday of every month, so swing by on Oct.2nd at the opening event from 6pm-9pm.  I’m sure they will serve free food and coffee there too.

Last thing – here is a commission I did for a regular poster at Brian Michael Bendis’s Jinxworld Forums, to which he gave to Marvel comics editor Jen Gruenwald for her birthday at Comic-Con International in San Diego (click on the image for a larger view):

So – lots of new things going on!  Have to say things are going pretty good in the comic department.  I am still accepting commissions, so if you want me to draw something for you, fire off your idea to me and I can get you an original drawing produced and turned around to you typically in one week.  I’m fast and friendly, just ask your mom.

See you around somewhere gang, thanks for dropping by the Deftoons Sanitarium, where you come for the Defferding, but stay for the midget porn.

Here’s the latest political cartoon, finished late last night.  One thing worth celebrating this year are the great rulings of the court striking down various forms of censorship.  This is at least one freedom that has stood tall and strong against government.  Definitely worth celebrating!

I just saw that Harvey Pekar passed away.  I gotta say that he is one of the most endearing and heartfelt men in history, if not just in the comics business.

I am not too proud to admit that I did not discover Harvey’s works in full until around the time his big movie came out (to be fair, the stores I shopped at never carried his works, or if they did, I did not see them).  I truly was not aware of him until the movie started making the rounds at film festivals and the big media push went into full throttle.  The more I got to know his work, the more I could not believe how I missed him all those years.  I identified with him immediately, especially his love for the blues.  Harvey Pekar not only just loved the blues, he lived it.   From reading his comics, you could tell he was a man that felt despair, loneliness, he felt that aching chill down his spine, crushing his soul and making him feel resentful of the world.  But there was still that lingering hope, that drive for him to keep on pushing, hoping something good will eventually come along:

“I felt more alone that week than any. Sometimes I’d feel a body lying next to me like an amputee feels a phantom limb. All I did was think about Jennie Gerhardt and Alice Quinn and all the decades of people I had known. The more I thought, the more I felt like crying. Life seemed so sweet and so sad, and so hard to let go of in the end. But hey, man, every day is a brand new deal, right? Just keep on working and something’s bound to turn up.”

I hear you, Harvey.  I really, really do.

Rest in peace man.

School: A Ghost Story #6

So, the big news is that School: A Ghost Story #6 will be a webcomic some time over the next month.  Stay tuned for more of that in the forthcoming weeks.  In the meantime, you can catch up either buying the first Volume that collects the first four issues, along with issue five, at the store link above, or you can purchase the PDF files on the cheap at DriveThruComics.

Commissions!

I’m available for them!  Shoot me an email with your idea!  Here is a quick list of rates based on size (all black and white):

I want to make some art for you.  Let me make some art for you!  I like to make art, you like to get art!

Hey gang!

The Deftoons Sanitarium project is under construction for the time being, until then visit my DeviantArt site here or check out my portfolio here.  Feel free to shoot me an email at deftoons@deftoons.com either way – hope to hear from ya!