Current music:

"Red Flags and Long Nights" -She Wants Revenge

Thus, Africa.

My story and cover art for "Haunted Mansion" #3 have been sent off to SLG. I headed over to Jeromy's (the colorist) house and watched as he added his final touches this weekend and then I did a little of my hookymajojo and finished it up. This has been such a huge thing for me. It's such a high profile project and I'm so happy to have been able to do this. I had no idea that the cover art was all supposed to be done by Roman until after reading his blog entry about not getting the art done in time and was heartbroken (but still excited for me) to miss out on an issue. I had originally submitted the art to Dan when he first announced it to the general SLG creative pool calling for pin-up art and story ideas. The book, along with all the Disney licensed titles were already being developed by select creators Dan had contacted early on or who were already attached. I figured my piece would be a pin-up in an upcoming issue or in a trade paperback compilation. Not in my wildest dreams did I think I'd land a cover gig. I feel incredibly lucky, like I won the lottery or something. I know it bums Roman out (he lamentably refers to missing out on the issue's cover as his "punishment" for not having his ducks in a row) but I hope his fans don't think it was some cannibal move on my part. I have this image of his dark Dirgey army all pissed off that some other guy did the art and stole food from his table.

The story I contributed is just a 2-page gag story that I ended up having to finish at the last minute. IT'S NOT MY FAULT THIS TIME! I penciled the pages earlier on and had the story set up quite a bit ahead of time, but I got a new computer for Christmas and no longer use my old Mac OS9 programs, which included the copy of Adobe Illustrator I normally use to ink (and sometimes draw) with. I didn't want to ink it by hand, since my hand inking is rather sub-par to my computer inking and spent most of the time stressing out about whether I could get even get it done. I had a free 30-day trial version that expired right about the time I was starting on this story. Luckily, just last week I found out that a newer 30-day trial version of the program was online and was able to download it along with the new Photoshop and InDesign. So I've bought myself another 30-days (60 if I download them to Melissa's computer) to save up and finally buy the actual Creative Suite. My old versions were stolen from various places I'd worked at and for once I want to be a good little boy and pay for my programs. Fat lotta good that did me.

"Haunted Mansion" #3 should be in stores by the end of March. (It seems to be running late, though I'm told not because of me. Phew!)

---In other news---
There is a great article about SLG's panel at the New York Comic-Con over at Comic Book Resources. It's a pretty good read. Dan goes on and says some stuff about the state of the industry that is worth taking note of. My favorite part:

On the topic of what, if anything, Vado and Slave Labor were planning on doing to commemorate the companies twentieth year of publishing, Vado replied, “Well, I suppose I’ve been drinking a lot lately.”

Oddly enough, Comic Book Resources is a site I visit every day but had no idea they had an ad for my plushies (and Jamie Smart's plushies) on there. Jeromy showed me when I was over at his house and I was flabbergasted. It's a pop-up ad and since I have my browser set to block pop-ups I never even knew about it. Rad!

Be sure to check out the new Belle and Sebastian inspired anthology "Put the book back on the shelf" from Image. SLG's Editor-in-Chief, Jennifer de Guzman contributed a story that is illustrated by her husband Brian Belew. She's done her share of plugging my stuff, I figure I should return the favor. Don't just take my word for it, though. Even big shot comic writer Brian K. Vaughan listed it in his top five picks last week.

My friend (and local comics shop owner/comics addiction enabler) Robert Scott has started a blog. He's like the Dr. Phil of comics. I think. I've never watched Dr. Phil but I get the impression he's all about "tough love". Such seems to be the theme of Robert's blog. He's often been rather outspoken and opinionated about the industry in other online outlets, but I see him as saying what needs to be said. Robert may come across as harsh at times, but I tend to agree with what he has to say. He's stirred up some hornet's nests over at places like "The Engine" (an industry forum I am banned from for not going by my full name) and it's cool to see him set up a one-stop place to speak his mind. He is good at getting the mud sloshing and cogs turning in me old noggin.

Also, my pal Ron pointed out to me that someone has registered "ghoulyboys.com" and "theghoulyboys.com" who is not connected (as far as I can tell) to either production company involved in the movie. And since it ain't me, that leaves me to believe this person is one of those folks who read about announcements in the trades and then buy up domain names with the title so they can sell them back to the movie companies for ridiculous amounts of money. I might be willing to believe it was a coincidence if it weren't for the spelling and the timing (it was registered on Feb. 4th, just a few weeks after the announcments). I spelled the title uniquely to make it more proprietary. See, "Ghouly" is the incorrect spelling of the word. It should be "Ghoulie", but by changing it I tried to make it specific to my comic book. Something I picked up from my old comic creator friend Carlos Saldaña who told me many, many years ago about making the title of your comic something either spelled different or have a long addition to it (i.e. "The Invincible Iron-Man" as opposed to "Iron-Man") so that it's easier to trademark and claim as your own thing, all the while developing brand recognition for the shorter name or alternate spelling in case of any future conflicts.