Tuesday, August 6, 2013

One Night On Earth - on Tumblr


I'm in the process of putting together a micro anthology of sorts. I've written five short stories; each of them taking place in a different city (Sydney, Miami, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and San Salvador). What I've been trying to do is recruit women artists to collaborate on these shorts. Now, before you say it's a gimmick, these artists are amazing. I wanted to work with them. And I'm lucky that they said 'yes'. It's no easy feat either; juggling all the deadlines, keeping track on who's working on what and having an ultra tight budget--what was I thinking?!? But so far it's been a positive learning experience for me. I'm building a network of comrades =)

I don't know how Ranae de Liz & Company did it with Womanthology. That's one massive book. And what's great about it, it's still going. It's taking on new themes; profiling new & emerging talent.  Not to mention, recently Gail Simone recruited a slew of female artists and writers for the new Red Sonja series. Bravo I say!

Am I able to pull this little project off? We shall see. For now I have a tumblr going (free and open to the masses) but hopefully later in the year I'll do a small print run and sell them cheap at conventions. I won't be making money off of it (with printing, travel & convention costs). But the point of all this is to put work out there, show what I can do and what these kick-ass ladies have done.




Wednesday, June 12, 2013

ROM Spaceknight: Remake Project - Updated

This post has been getting a lot of views recently (probably because of IDW's announcement of ROM The Spaceknight debuting next year).  And because of that we wanted to update you: this "remake project" featured contemporary artists recreating each page of the original first issue (including a Hostess ad). It finally debuted back in March 2014 and can be found here on the Tumblr page, ROM REMIX.

It even caught the attention of some media folks including Comics Alliance. And best of all, Michael Mantlo (Bill Mantlo's brother) commented and thanked everyone for their contributions.

_________________________________________________________________________

Here's the deal everyone, I'm attempting to put together an homage/remake of ROM Spaceknight #1 by writer Bill Mantlo and artist Sal Buscema. What I'm looking to do is find twenty different artists to each recreate in her/his own style, one of the twenty pages from the original issue (18 story pages, 1 cover and a Hostess Ad). When the project is done, I'll post the entire story online for free and provide a link where people can contribute to the ongoing medical care of Bill Mantlo. If you don't know, Mantlo, the original writer of ROM and many other Marvel comics from the '70s and '80s, was the victim of a hit and run accident in 1992, which resulted in a severe brain injury. He's required special medical attention and has lived in a head-trauma facility ever since. You can read more about his situation from this article or check out Greg Pak's blog post from a couple years ago about Mr. Mantlo, which also contains a Paypal donation link.

Now don't get me wrong, the main goal of the project is to create an entertaining comic for people to enjoy, but if we can also give a little back it'll be all that much sweeter.

Needless to say, the original creative team, Marvel Comics, nor the current copyright holders of the ROM property (whomever that might be) have nothing to do with this project. It's purely for fun, borne out of a love for the ROM comics.

If you're an artist (penciller/inker, colorist or letterer) who's interested in participating, shoot me an e-mail (robertharringtonla[@]gmail.com) or find me on twitter (@robharrington). I'll be gathering a list of everyone who's interested and if we have enough people, then I'll use a random number generator to assign pages. Sorry, there's no pay for the work, it's all for fun and charity.

Now, let's make some comics!

Cover to ROM #1 (Art by Frank Miller)

Art by Gabriel Hardman

Art by Farel Dalrymple

Art by Chris Samnee

Art by Shane White

Art by Jason Copland

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Phoenix Comic Con Wrap Up

After a four day show, we are pooped!

I'm so tired I can barely string words to make a sentence, so here's a list of what went down at PHXCC'13.

Thursday
  • Woke up at 7am to hit the road
  • Traveled six hours to Phoenix
  • Dropped off stuff at hotel, picked up our badges, and set up
  • Preview day started at 4pm, ended at 9pm 
  • Wil Wheaton came by our table, complimented Jared's art prints.
  • We grabbed grub with the Devastator team and Yehudi Mercado
  • We walked back to our hotel and passed out
Friday
  • Grabbed breakfast in 100 degree heat and headed inside for our Exhibitor table
  • Cosplayers galore, lots of families, Dr. Who fans, and steam punkers
  • Lots of people looking at our stuff
  • Ate dinner with friends at a nearby Greek place, opa!
Saturday
  • Rainbowbeard and Mad Muslim Mulatto were the top sellers.
  • Everything else - wash, rinse and repeat.
Sunday
  • In the home stretch, with two hours to go, the fire alarm goes off
  • We evacuate, then the exhibitors are allowed back in, but the attendees head home early
  • We wrap up and head to dinner with the Yuan Twins and Libya El-Amin from TV Campfire.
Monday
  • Trek back to smoggy Los Angeles.

Calm before the storm

Stinkin' badges!

Inside the Convention Center

Saturday crowd waiting for doors to open

Exhibitor hall

The Adventures of 19XX

Declan & Chang booth

Jared and his Nerd Dollz

Spaceman Dead art print








Fire Alarm Evacuation



Attendees heading home

The Road Warriors



Monday, May 20, 2013

Collector's Paradise Signing

Saturday. Some people go to the farmers market. Others go to the bank. And some writers are fortunate enough to sign at comic book stores. We did all three! The wonderful crew at Collector's Paradise in Pasadena invited us to be there for their Free Comic Book May event. They had lots of great promotions going on, the store was packed with comic fans, kids and adults alike. We even had the great pleasure to sit next to the well known, Jim McCann (Return of the Dapper Men, Lost Vegas).

Last year we signed at the Winnetka store, which was really fun. But the sister store in Pasadena is equally as fun. And, as a novice foodie, both stores are next to nom-worthy restaurants (D'amore Pizza and L&L Hawaiian BBQ, respectively.) What's not to like? Rob and I can't wait to go back.

Next stop: Phoenix Con!

Signing next to Jim McCann.

Back issue sale at the table next to ours.

Things started to quiet down later in the day.

Wide shot of the store.

Jim charming his fans.

The awesome staff even picked up lunch for us!

Stop by if you're ever in Pasadena, CA.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Long Beach Comic Expo 2013

The third annual Long Beach Comic Expo was this past Saturday. We've gone all three years, but this was only our second time tabling. It's one of our favorite shows and it's mostly because it is such an easy convention for us to do. It's only one day, it's smaller and more manageable then larger shows, it still has a great line-up of creators, and best of all, we get to go back home at the end of the day! Hey, the little things add up ;-) So here are some photos from a fun day in Long Beach.

Also, just a reminder, if you live in Los Angeles but couldn't make it to Long Beach, you'll have another chance to catch us next Saturday (May 18th) when we'll be signing at Collector's Paradise in Pasadena from 12-3. Hope to see you there!

Just finished setting up.

Still early.

Tables set up outside the main show room.

The crowd picked up after lunchtime.

Super Dave Crosland with a Danger Mouse sketch.

Artist Alley tables.

Riddler cosplay.

Giulie with her Dave Crosland Danger Mouse sketch.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Free Comic Book Day 2013

Hope you all had a fun Free Comic Book Day! The awesome folks over at the brand spanking new Los Angeles store, Cool Cats Comics, kindly invited us to participate in their very first FCBD event. It was our first time at the store, but now we can't wait to go back! First off, the store is located in a great neighborhood in west LA. It's right next to the popular Landmark movie theatre, where there are plenty of quality restaurants within a couple minutes walk and the surrounding streets are quiet residential neighborhoods. It's a great location! They're just getting started, but if the fun we had there this weekend is any indication of how they'll be running the store, then Cool Cats has a bright future ahead itself. Here's some pictures from the event and from a few other stores we hit up afterwards, before exhaustion overwhelmed us. Long live Free Comic Book Day!

Cool Cats Comics and Cards

Ginger Rabbit Studio table

A good crowd checking out the store

A jam piece for all the attending creators

The ultraviolent (and fun) comic series, Declan & Chang

Giulie jammin'

Mural inside Cool Cats Comics

Earth-2 Comics (Sherman Oaks, CA)

Earth-2 Comics (Sherman Oaks, CA)

Shia Labeouf handing out copies of his comic

Blastoff Comics (North Hollywood, CA)

Blastoff Comics (North Hollywood, CA)