Entry 278: Back to the Future, Ogun, Wolverine, Alabaster, & More

Back in Entry 268 I talked about the mostly frivolous activity of thinking about what I would do if I were to take on an existing property. The Challenge goes something like this: "You have to create a comic book series based on (blank). You can do it however you want. You have total freedom. What is it? What do you do?" I don't go to far with it, just get a rough direction.

Entry 277: Enifinity Gauntlet #5

The end is here. The final issue of Infinity Gauntlet is out and the story is over.

Since this last issue came out the question I've gotten the most is: "Will these characters continue on in the regular Marvel Universe?" And there are some responses to the series that act as though, if these characters are not continuing then the content of this story, even if they enjoyed it, doesn't matter. I will point out that it would seem that most people are perfectly happy with a self contained stand alone story. So that's cool, but to address the question--

Entry 259: Amnia Cycle pages 83 &84

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Welcome to another installment of Amnia Cycle.

Five pages left of chapter 4. I'm working on the next page right now. Then I'll create a chapter 4 cover. I'm not sure what I want to do for that cover yet. We'll see.

While I work on Amnia pages I've been listening to music. Lately my go-to "working on Amnia music" has been Mort Garson.

Here is his album Black Mass Lucifer (1971)

There are other albums and tracks of his on youtube. I recommend checking them all out.

blogged and blogged

Entry 258: Low-fi comics

I've titled this entry "Low-fi comics". This entry is about my process for creating a page of Amnia Cycle. I often think of Amnia as being "low-fi." The term implies something raw, unpolished, and flawed. I find thinking of Amnia in this way frees me from becoming to self conscious about it. It keeps me from putting to much pressure on myself to do a good job. The pressure to do a good job can often become debilitating. Of course, I do want to do a good job, but telling myself that this can be flawed-- I find it helpful.

Entry 257: Amnia Cycle pages 81 & 82

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3
Chapter 4

That was a long time to wait for a "but." 

More and more I find myself wanting to transition scenes on a single page. The conventional wisdom is that it is best to change scenes on a page break. Though I do think there are times when changing scenes on a page break IS the best way, I find myself more often trying to change scenes mid-page. It just feels like you are already changing scenes, it is already a little jarring, putting the scene change mid-page joins things together better. You can create smoother transitions. You can have some fun with it, like I'm trying to do here.

Soon I'll be putting up a process post about how I create a page of Amnia Cycle. If you would like to make a comic that looks like this, well I'll show you how.

Blogged and blogged

Entry 256: Amnia Cycle pages 79 & 80

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Talking. Don't you just love talking scenes.

I'll see you next week for some more talking.

Till then

Blogged and blogged

Entry 255: Amnia Cycle page 78

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3
Chapter 4

SMUGATS!

Just one page this week?

That's right. This makes up for one of the times I've posted three pages.

So, Crutch is a nice fellow. I think we'll see him again much later down the road. But honestly, if this were a movie, you could probably take this scene out. Although, I've discovered in making this story up as I go, little scenes like these, that may seem inconsequential, can contain in them seeds of things that grow into important story elements.... So, you never know. Plus, I like this scene.

Notes

-The name "Crutch" comes from a Guided by Voices song "Crutch Came Slinking".

-"Smugats" is something my daughter, Lucy, started saying recently. From what I can tell, it means "Shit" or "Damn".

-The name "Bloodnut" could be a reference to a number of different things, but for me, it's in reference to hematospermia. I've always found the term Bloodnut to be funny and when I needed a name for a gang I used it.

Most of this stuff is off the top of my head, as you can see. 

-The bit about the Humans "creating" the Nuriel was inspired by a joke Brandon Graham told me about Marvel and D.C.

Anyway, till next week.

Blogged and blogged

Entry 254: Amnia Cycle pages 76-77

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3
Chapter 4

New Amnia pages!

What can I say about this? 

This scene and the next couple scenes have been the hardest scenes in the story so far. I think because I'm having to address some plot threads, pull some story elements together, and begin moving the story into some new directions. 

Tara is going to meet Shanna Tyson, one of the names in the mysterious transmission. What will that be like? And next week, get ready to spend some time with Zigzag.

Till then

Blogged and blogged.

Entry 253: Infinity Gauntlet Teaser + Sag A* Concept Art + Dr. Who & Over the Garden Wall Fan-art

Hey! It's me!

Oh man, it's nice to be doing a blog entry. I've got a bunch of things I've been meaning to post about. So here goes. I'll get a handful of things done here in this entry.

First of all, the image I've posted above. What can I tell you about that?  This is a teaser image for my next Marvel job. It's loosely tied into the big Secret Wars event this next summer (2015). It will be kind of like my Edge of Spider-Verse issue in that it's a tie-in but also it's a self contained story where I'll have a lot of creative freedom. It's called Infinity Gauntlet, and though it has that tittle and marketing has teased it with the old "Infinity Gauntlet" logo, it will not be a re-telling of the old story or anything like that. It will be it's own thing and it will have a lot of me in it. Right now, we're still developing this. The teaser can be thought of as concept art.

Anyway, look for this next summer!

By the way, I colored that piece myself.

In other Marvel news: After I completed S.H.I.E.L.D. I proposed adding an extra 2 page sequence to it. It's like I just couldn't be done with it. I had to make it a little longer. Anyway, they let me do it. So, I finished the last issue of Shield-- AGAIN!

Also, I've got a few Avengers related covers coming up.

This is concept art for Sagittarius A*. 

I'm thinking I might be putting Sag A* on the back burner a bit so that I can focus all my personal work time to Amnia Cycle. I've been working towards getting Amnia ready for a print release. I'm not sure when it will happen but I want to have a lot done before I start putting it out. Maybe aiming for next summer would be good. I could have it released around the same time as Infinity Gauntlet... Is that a good idea? We'll see.

If you aren't familiar-- Sagittarius A* and Amnia Cycle are online comics I've been putting out. You can find them here:

Amnia Cycle

Sagittarius A*

The nice thing about Sag A* is that it's all written. I can return to it at any time. Amnia on the other hand is being written as I go. So letting it linger for too long means I can loose the thread.

What's this? Dr. Who fan-art? Why yes it is. 

Over the last several years now I've been enjoying the modern Dr. Who show and it's prompted me to go back and check out the classic Who. Until recently all I had done was go back and sample episodes from past Doctors. I quickly determined that Tom Baker was the guy I wanted to watch more of. I'd occasionally throw it on while I was working. Eventually I had watched all the Tom Baker episodes available on Netflix, and honestly it was only just starting to click with me. It took me a while to get into what it had to offer. So, not long ago I acquired the entire Tom Baker Dr. Who run and started watching it from the beginning and as you can guess I've become quite a fan of it. I've liked all the actors who have portrayed the Dr. in the modern version, and I've only scene bits of the other classic Dr.s, but I am of the mind that Tom Baker is the ultimate Dr. Who. He's perfect. I could go on, but suffice it to say that Tom Baker Who is my hero.

More fan-art!

I recently watched the animated mini-series-- Over the Garden Wall. I watched it with Lauren and Lucy and it was quite enjoyable. We all had a nice time with it. 

I often get caught up in this feeling that all entertainment is garbage. Most comics, movies, tv shows, books are all garbage. And, really, that isn't wrong. Most entertainment is junk food. That is how it is and has always been. It's a matter of fact. There is no reason that I should get so cynical about it. Getting cynical can keep me from appreciating the few good things there are to appreciate. 

So when I enjoyed this show and I recognized some things in it that I thought were of quality, it was one of those little reminders that I don't have to be cynical. 

The last thing I'll mention, and it's related to my cynicism, is that I joined Twitter!

That's right, I swore I would never do it, but I have. For me it's kind of an experiment. I'm checking it out, seeing if it's for me. It's been a few weeks now and I gotta say... I still don't know what to think of it. At this moment it feels like it's not a thing that I like. I think the spike in my cynicism is directly linked to joining twitter. But I also know that I felt this way about tumblr when I joined that and now... well now I'm just kind of numb to it...

Anyway! haha Follow me on Twitter! 

@DustinWeaver12

I'll hopefully be posting some more Amnia soon. Also I'm still going to do a post with a bunch of info on my Edge of Spider-Verse issue.

Till then.

Blogged and blogged

Entry 250: Amnia Cycle pages 74-75

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3
Chapter 4

What can I say about this weeks pages?... The Library is owls. 

I suppose I can mention that I'm actually putting together some extra Amnia material for a printed version of Amnia Cycle that will happen when I feel like I'm ready to take things to that level. 

I might not have new pages next week because I'm almost done with S.H.I.E.L.D. and I'm focusing on that right now. So I might show you guys a panel from the Amnia print bonus material.

Blogged and blogged  

Entry 249: Amnia Cycle pages 72 & 73

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Zoohurst!

For a long time this scene looked different in my mind. It looked and felt like things I've seen before in other comics. It looked and felt like a kind of Moebius version of a person travailing across an alien world to an alien city. The images start creating themselves in my mind so easily. It would have been so easy to do it that way. But the idea of it made me bored…. This couldn't be boring. 

One day my daughter was making a giraffe out of blocks. I asked her what she was building. She told me it was a building. I said, "It looks like a giraffe." And she told me "No. It's a building." And I realized, holy shit, she's right! What am I? An idiot. It's a building! It was an amazing building. A pretty lame giraffe, but an amazing building. Thus, Zoohurst was born.

Another thing I wanted to capture here was not the feeling of an alien world, but instead a familiar world. To me, it's super exciting to arrive in a city. When you are driving on the highway and the traffic starts getting thick. You know that you are getting close to a center of activity. Then you go around a bend in the road or you come over a hill and suddenly you see the buildings off in the distance. I get excited every time… I wanted that. 

I hope you are ready to explore Zoohurst with me!

Blogged and blogged

Entry 248: Amnia Cycle pages 70,71

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Does that thing look familiar? (hint: the end of chapter 2)

In time, this will all make perfect sense… I hope.

Also, in chapter 3, I knew I drew that hood on that first officer for a reason. He's a Nuriel! (Comic making tip: If you are making your comic up as you go, put a hood on someone. You never know who they could end up being.)

Join me next week for more Amnia Cycle

Blogged and blogged

Entry 247: Edge of Spider-Verse IS OUT!

Edge of Spider-Verse #3

Is Out Now

Hello, my friends, good people still checking in on my blog, I have a new comic out today!

That's right, my Edge of Spider-Verse issue is now out! This is the comic where I have written, drawn, and colored it all myself. It's a big deal for me. Please pick it up from your local comic shop or buy it digitally or whatever.

It's new reader friendly. It is a complete, stand alone story. You don't need to know anything about the Marvel universe to appreciate this story.

Thank You.
Blogged and blogged

Entry 246: Amnia Cycle pages 67,68,69

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

 

And so begins Chapter 4 of Amnia Cycle.

It feels really good to be getting Amnia pages out again. In this chapter we'll be exploring this new setting and learning about what's going on in the Shadow Zone. Turns out they've got  their own conflict happening. We'll learn something about that strange energy ball that Byzner fell into, and things will get even more strange when Tara tracks down one of the names on her list. 

In other news-- Edge of Spider-Verse #3 is out this week (9/24) I wrote, drew, and colored the whole issue myself. Please check it out. 

Also, for everyone wondering about S.H.I.E.L.D.-- I'm back to working on it now. The last issue is being drawn. As I type this page 14 is on my desk. So, we're close! I've seen colors for the second to last issue. Sonia Oback is back and it's looking great. I'll put together a post with some preview images soon. So check back for that.

New Amnia Cycle pages next Monday.

Thanks!

Blogged and blogged

Entry 243: Edge of SPIDER-VERSE #3 preview

Spider-Man : "Through The Door in the Dark"

IS Coming

That's the actual title to my Edge Of Spider-Verse #3 story.

The issue will be out September 24, 2014

It's written, drawn, and colored by me. Here is a preview.

Entry 242: Fan-art for JODELLE

I did this fan-art for Guy Peelaert's The Adventures of Jodelle a while back.
Fantagraphics's recent reprint of this is a really cool book with a lot of bonus material. I highly recommend it.

Check out a bunch of fan-art by me right here Fan-Art

Blogged and Blogged

Entry 239: MY Spider-Man!

Here is my cover for Spider-Man : Edge Of Spider-Verse #3

This project is a very special one for me because it's a big step towards my goal to be primarily a Writer/Artist. That's right, they are letting me write and draw a Spider-Man comic. It's true that I wrote the Rocksteady and Bebop issue, and I did some art assistance on it, but this will be my first published work as a writer/artist... And it's SPIDER-MAN!... Well, sort of.

Actually, this is a "re-imagining" of Spider-Man. This is a Spider-Man in an alternate, parallel universe. Hints the name "Edge of Spider-Verse". Every issue in this series will be a different Spider-Man or Woman in a different universe. So, for an issue, I get to create my own version of Spider-Man. Which, in my opinion, is so much better than working on the regular Spidey. This way I can really cut loose and get creative.

So what is my version of Spider-Man like? I'll be showing you some concept stuff later. For now I'll say that my story is kind of a sci-fi medical thriller. It also has a bit of sci-fi horror. It is also a Super Hero story. I was thinking a lot about Osamu Tezuka, David Cronenberg, and Stan Lee as I came up with this.

Anyway, I'm in the middle of working on this now... I hope it turns out good.

Blogged and blogged

Entry 237: AMNIA CYCLE Chapter 3 Cover

Behold!

AMNIA CYCLE   CHAPTER 3    COVVVVEEEERRRRR!!!!!

My readers, you may have noticed that I've been taking an extra long break between chapters 3 and 4 of Amnia cycle. I've taken a break between the previous chapters but this one is a little longer. The biggest reason this break has been longer is because I've moved out of Periscope studio and into a whole new studio space.

Me, Jeremy Barlow, and Ben Bates have settled into our new studio, for the most part. It's been tricky adjusting to the new set up and I don't think I'm up to %100 productivity. But you know what enough excuses.

Let's see, what's going on with me?

Final issue of S.H.I.E.L.D. is only half done at this point. Colors on issue 5 are underway. We got Sonia Oback back. I haven't seen any of it yet, but we're trying to make these last two issues as good as we can.
I've started simultaneously writing and sketching Amnia chapter 4. Once I get a big chunk of it done I'll start rolling out those pages.
I've got a big "Blast from the Past" post in the works. I love doing these posts. I think this one will be a good one. Lot's of never before seen art.
Then there is a secret project that I've begun working on. It involves me writing, me drawing, and Marvel. It'll only be an issue and you'll never guess what it is, but I'm excited about it.

Maybe in my next post I'll show you guys some SHIELD 6 art.

Till then
blogged and blogged

Entry 235: AMNIA CYCLE pages 65,66

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

And that, my friends, is the end of Chapter 3. 

So, Amnia is back! And she's got some hair! We haven't seen Amnia since page 10, which was about 3-3.5 days ago in the time frame of the story... It actually could have been 4.5 days ago... Whatever. It's in space, what's a "day" anyway in space. So, what does seeing Amnia here mean? Was she not taken by the Nurial as Tara believes? What is this planet Amnia is on? ... Honestly, none of this will be addressed in the next chapter, at leased not directly. No, you'll have to wait till Chapter 5 for the answers to those questions. But Chapter 4 is going to be a lot of fun! We'll get to know Zigzag and Braeburn a bit better. Oh yeah! What about Braeburn being a Nurial? That's strange right?

Just like I've done between the previous chapter's, I'll be taking a little break from posting. This time the break might be a little longer so that I can focus on finishing S.H.I.E.L.D. The next Amnia post I do will be the cover for Chapter 3. 

Thanks for reading!

Blogged and blogged. 

Entry 234: AMNIA CYCLE pages 63 & 64

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Words. Who needs them? Am I right?

I wondered about that with this one. I worried that people wouldn't understand what was happening on that first page. I thought I could add some dialogue to help the reader through it a little, but I decided against it. I guess I just figure if it's strange and confusing that that is okay, good even. This whole section of the story is supposed to be a little strange and dreamy. 

What about the computer thing Braeburn is making off with? Is it clear what that is?

Anyway. Only two more pages in this chapter. Then I'll be taking a little break. I might take a little longer with this break than I did with the other chapter breaks so that I can focus purely on S.H.I.E.L.D, which is getting done right now. I'll have an update soon.

Blogged and blogged