Daily Sketch #80

Old Man On a Bench

It's been a crazy busy week with the Baltimore Comic-Con, Retailer Summits, and DBD Sales Conference. I've been in and out of the office all week and it has played havoc with my schedule. But I started to get back into working on Dead Inspector this morning and warmed up with a sketch of an old man sitting on a park bench. It's a bit on the peripheral side but served as a good way to loosen up this morning.
In other news, I've now seen a mostly complete page 1 from my new artist on the Forever Man project and I am blown away! More to come...

Daily Sketch #79

Superman & Wonder Woman

A friend of mine from the old Diamond days is getting married this Fall and is putting together a very cool program booklet. He asked me to contribute by featuring his favorite childhood superhero and that of his future Mrs. - Superman and Wonder Woman. I thought it'd be fun to play with the composition and create a heart in the negative space between the two characters.

Baltimore Comicon

The Baltimore Comic-Con was great! I had a great time and the show went really well for us. Michael and Kenneth were gracious and tireless in their efforts to interact with the fans. Regular sketches will resume tomorrow morning.

Daily Sketch #78

Forever Man Evolving

I keep getting cool new character designs from the new artist working on my Forever Man project and each one progressively blows me away. It's very exciting to see the characters evolve and go in new directions that I did not envision. It's becoming quite the collaborative process and I'm very excited about it. I'm not ready to show off the his sketches yet, but the process did inspire me to sketch up a new version of Alec. His cowardly aspect shows through a bit more here, I think. More on this as it develops.

Plus as a bonus my Black Diamond story is about to see print and I thought I'd show off the rad colors by my good friend Nick Senior. Here's page 1! Look for it in the back of Black Diamond #4 from Ait/PlanetLar.

Daily Sketch #77

Ultimate Hawkeye



Started reading Ultimates2 Volume 2 Trade last night by Mark Millar and Brian Hitch last night. The Ultimates is excellent as always and by reading it in trade format I avoid the frustration of waiting for the next issue when delays hit the series. I've decided that the most creative and badass reimagining Millar and Hitch did was of Hawkeye. They turned him from a quip dropping, Errol Flynn and Green Arrow wannabe into a effective Die Hard military special operative that makes Bullseye look like a girl. Out of weapons and getting tortured? Just use your fingernails as projectile weapons. Take that John McClane.
And as a movie side note - "Blades of Glory" was much funnier than I expected. Very entertaining.

Happy Labor Day to All

No sketch today, off enjoying the long weekend. Happy Labor Day!
My long weekend included visiting my baby "nephew" for the first time, eatin' crabs, and remote detonating a jury rigged fireworks display. Fun all around!

Daily Sketch #76

Masane

The day job is ramping up for the release of Witchblade Anime on DVD from FUNimation on September 25th. I'm not a huge anime guy by any stretch but I've seen the first 5 episodes (of 24) and they are actually really good. I suppose I shouldn't expect less from Studio GONZO. For more info check out the official site. One of the cooler aspects of the project is that FUNimation commisioned a number of our artists to create pieces in their individual styles for the DVD slipcases. Here's my take on Masane, the new Witchblade bearer from the series.

My current favorite track - "New Friend Request" by Gym Class Heroes. "This is not a LOL matter". Heh.

Daily Sketch #75

Workin' on Pages

Sorry about missing a post yesterday, the day got away from me a little bit. I'm working on more Dead Inspector pages in preperation for the Baltimore Comicon. Here's a look at a panel in progress with David and Steve doing some of that detective work referenced in the title of the series.

Daily Sketch #74

Forever Man

A new sketch of Alec King from Forever Man, one of my side projects that looks like it will finally take off. The artist is phenomenally talented and is going to add a ton to the project. I can't wait to see what he comes up with for character designs, layouts, and so on.

In other news, after 45 minutes of whining for food my lovely female cat Valentine decided the meal she just digested wasn't for her... and promptly threw it back up. Sure the concrete basement area where her food is would have been fine, but the basement carpet was so much better. This is Tuesday morning...

Daily Sketch #73

Back From LA

D and I made it back from LA last night around 11pm. Which means that it was midnight by the time we got home and after 1am by the time we got to bed. Whew. Bit worn out this this morning, but the trip was well worth it. Ross and Johanna's wedding was beautiful and very intimate. The ceremony was at a church on Mulholland Drive which meant we got a great view of the hills and Valley. Plus it afforded D the opportunity to meet her very first celebrity - Colin Ferguson from "Eureka". He was incredibly friendly and nice even when we bugged him for a picture.
It's shaping up to be a very exciting week or two. While I was in LA, I was able to get two creative projects at work greenlit and I believe secure two artists for side projects of my own. I'm trying not to get too excited about any of it because experience says it could all fall apart during the process. Nonetheless the potential level this week is HIGH.
Oh, and new sketch of Steve from Dead Inspector.

Daily Sketch #72

All You Need Is Love
A good friend of mine from the Diamond Days, Eric Hitchcock, is getting married this Fall and asked me to participate in a really cool sketch project for his wedding. I've started doodling some ideas for the sketch and here's the first "superhero" inspired sketch since Eric's in comics.

Today's update from Los Angeles - I had a great time at Happy Hour with the crew from Top Cow and took full advantage of the "2-for-1" drink special from 5-7. Rob and Alyssa joined D and I for a trip out to Hollywood and Pink's Hot Dogs. The line was about 30 minutes long and the hot dogs kicked butt. I had two - the Chili Kraut Dog and the Bacon Chili Cheese Dog. Yum!

Daily Sketch #71

Introducing Brian

I've been working since San Diego on the possibility of restarting a stalled project I've written currently with a working title of "Forever Man". One of the main characters is Brian, a slick affable sidekick character. He's a quick sketch I worked up of him in order to have some reference & inspiration for the artist I'm talking to. I thought I'd share it.

Update from Los Angeles - D and I arrived yesterday morning after getting up at 3:30am to catch our flight. We had breakfast at Good Stuff with Matt that was awesome and then I went to work while D explored Beverly Hills. Last night D and I wandered down to Santa Monica Pier and rode the famous Ferris Wheel. It was great fun and we finished off the night at Sushi Roku in Santa Monica. Good times.

Daily Sketch #70

Freeze Perp!

David from "Dead Inspector" shows some perp his shield and is ready to throw down. He looks a bit worried though doesn't he? Wonder why?

D and I are off to LA tomorrow morning (bright & early) through the weekend. I'm going into the home office for the rest of the week and D will be enjoying all that Venice Beach and Beverly Hills has to offer. We've got a wedding on Saturday (congrats, Rosss & Johanna!) and then it's back to the East Coast. It's D's first trip to California, so I'm curious what she'll think. And for once faithful reader, I have actually prepped from sketches in advance for the remainder of the week. That's right, you'll still get your daily dose of my amateur doodles. Just on West Coast time.

Monday mornin

Late on Sketch

Been working on the regular pages for "Dead Inspector" this weekend so I didn't have a chance to work up a Monday morning sketch. I figured I'd still post something. How about a weekend recap?

Friday: Superbad is superawesome. Funny as hell. Rude, crude, filled with filthy geekery. As my buddy Jim would say "Awesomeness level HIGH".

Saturday: I scored a perfect score in Guitar Hero 2. Sure it was on Easy, but I'm still braggin'. Also 2 weeks on the road make for a grueling bit of yardwork. And my push mower doesn't fare well against 6-8 inch weeds.

Sunday: Breakfast for dinner rocks. "Big Love" on HBO is great and under-rated. If loving Bill Paxton is wrong, I don't want to be right.

JC Vaughn and I met for a lovely Saturday morning breakfast to discuss "Dead Inspector" and we're pretty excited about how the project is coming together. Expect to see the first 12 or so pages on display at JC's table at the Baltimore Comicon. Curious publishers, please stop by.

And lastly, I leave you with a drawing from the late, great Mike Wieringo. Newsarama has a beautiful collection of creator and friend eulogies - http://www.newsarama.com/general/Ringo/RememberRingo_01.html

Daily Sketch #69

Iggy's Back

Sorry I missed posting yesterday. I got caught up with work and even though I had this sketch prepped I forgot to get online and post it. D'oh!

So here's a sketch I really like of Iggy from Dead Inspector.

Daily Sketch #68

In Memorium

The death of Mike Wieringo this past weekend has been weighing on my mind over the last day and it inspired this sketch. The Flash was always Ringo's signature for me, probably because it was the character I first saw him draw. We'll miss you Ringo.

Daily Sketch #67

Chicago Con Report & Sad News


I'm back from Wizard World Chicago! I had a great time at the show. It was my first time in Chicago or more accurately Rosemont, IL. I had my first taste of legitimate Chicago style deep dish pizza at Giordano's (twice!) and a couple of great meals at Gibson's and Red Light. I even made it downtown a couple of times and saw some of the Chicago landmarks. Dark Knight Returns and Wanted were both filming in town this past weekend and D managed to get a few pictures of the Dark Knight filming during a boat tour of the city.


On a much sadder note, I just learned that artist Mike Wieringo died on Sunday from an apparent heart attack. He was only forty four years old and by all accounts exercised regularly & ate healthy. Mike was one of the first pro comic artist I met as a young fan in a tiny hotel show in Roanoke, VA and gave me my first con sketch. His was the first piece of original art I purchased. Mike was ALWAYS one of the nicest, most humble creators at any show. He handled himself with dignity, an open kindness, and had an obvious love of comics. His sketch blog produced pieces that were more beautiful and fun than many finished works. In many ways he was one of the guys that inspired me to pursue a career in comics. I know I wasn't the only one he inspired.

Some of Mike's friends wrote much more eloquently than I what he meant to the world and you can read their words here, here, here, here, and here. In looking at Newsarama, I can't think Mike would have been genuinely surprised to see he prompted 27 pages and over 600 response posts. None of the rest of us are surprised in the least. My heartfelt and inadequate condolences to his family and loved ones. You will be missed, sir.

Daily Sketch #66

One Bad Mofo

Steve from Dead Inspector is one bad mofo, or so D told me last night when she glanced at the sketch. One of the interesting problems I'm running into with the Dead Inspector sketches is trying to come up with new themes to include in the drawings of Steve and David without giving away parts of the story. Guess I better hurry up and finish some more pages, huh?

I forgot to mention that over the weekend I had the pleasure of making it to the Virgin Fest in Pimlico for the second year in a row. It was hotter than Hades, but still a ton of fun. My only real complaint was that the main stage featured acts which were largely mellow. They all performed phenomenally including Amy Winehouse, Ben Harper, and The Police, but didn't really get you pumped up. My favorite act from the entire show was LCD Soundsystem over on the South Stage. They rocked hard. The dance tent was pretty cool too and we managed to catch Sasha & John Digweed and Felix the Housecat. Good times.

Daily Sketch #65

Sometimes It Gets Rough in Pittsburgh

David from Dead Inspector has apparently gotten into some heavy $h!t in Pittsburgh and is in the process of dragging himself up some stairs. Or something like that.

Watched "Hot Fuzz" last night with D and some friends and it was wicked funny. The team from "Shaun of The Dead" worked the same magic on cop action movies. There's a priceless "Point Break" moment at the end that's well worth seeing.

Daily Sketch #64

Invincible Friday

I'm taking a day off today, a mental health day to recharge the batteries from the drain of San Diego and steel myself for the trip out to Chicago next week. The plan for the day is complete relaxation - sitting by the pool and reading, listening to music, and swimming and maybe fit in some movie watching and drawing. But that's about it. Just going to be a lazy bum today.
I was reading my buddy Robert Kirkman's latest issue of Invincible last night and it inspired a quick crack at the character. I'm so impressed and proud of Kirkman for how well he's done and what great creator owned characters he's established.

Daily Sketch #63

Stone Cold Steve

Here's another sketch of Steve from Dead Inspector looking all bad and stone cold. Don't mess with this dude.

I whole heartily recommend everyone run out to your local comic shop or book store and pick up my friend Mark Haven Britt's graphic novel "Full Color". I went to school with Mark and we've been buds for about 7 or 8 years. It's been really cool to watch him evolve as an artist and a great personal thrill to see him realize his vision in this graphic novel. Anyone who's struggled to find their place in life, to grow up, with a dead end job will appreciate this great piece. Check out Mark's official website and buy it on Amazon at a discount.

Daily Sketch #62

I'm Back!

Did anyone notice I was gone?

So yeah, I totally failed in providing you guys with sketch content while I was in San Diego. I'd planned to get some sketches done the weekend before leaving and then posting them one per day while I was at the con. As it turned out I ended up working most of the weekend preparing for the con and sketch just didn't happen.

San Diego was a crazy whirlwind, filled with a ton of work, lots of fun, and more drinking than I do any other time of the year. It was great to hang out with friends at the show. Shout outs to Madeasy, Phil, Josh, Alyssa, Matt, Brandon, Mandy, and Adrian - you guys kicked butt at the booth. More shout outs to Marz, Mel, Rob, Al, Jim D, Malve, Blair, Troy, Susan, Jonah, Michael, and everyone else I forgot to mention. We had a great panel at the show, probably the best we've had since I've came on board. I didn't make it up to the diner with peanut butter burgers. There's always next year.

The sketch today came together pretty organically, I just started drawing a gesture not sure what I was going to do. It evolved into a picture of Mowgli from Fables stalking some prey. I read two Fables trades on the plane ride back catching myself up on the series. Mowgli played a significant role in the first one "Wolves".

Daily Sketch #61

Die Hard David

Here's a quick sketch of David from Dead Inspector channeling some John McClane from Die Hard (no, I haven't seen the new one yet). I did this one entirely in ink really quickly without any real under-drawing in pencil.
D and I finished 4400 Season 3 last night and it was AWESOME. Seriously this series keep getting better and better with every season. Part of me is thinking that the other shoe has to drop at some point and they're going to jump the shark like every other serial TV series I've watched. I can't wait to start Season 4 though, we thought ahead and started Tivoing it a month or so back. Woot!

I'm off to NYC for a quick visit to Barnes and Noble today and then back tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to upload a sketch tomorrow upon my return. Then a short weekend and I'm off to LA and San Diego. Whew... I've determined I'd love traveling a lot more if I could teleport places. That would be sweet. Although I have to admit I enjoy being on a plane for 5 hours and not having anyone able to reach me. There's a certain freedom in that isolation.

Daily Sketch #60

Page in Progress

Here's a look at a page currently in progress for Dead Inspector with a couple of panels going from my sketch stage to tight pencils.

Daily Sketch #59

Why You Do This?

David from Dead Inspector wants to know. Another panel from a final page from Dead Inspector.

Next week I'll be in San Diego all week for Comic-Con International: San Diego. It's going to be a whirlwind endurance test, it is every year. Tons of fun, but a ridiculous amount of work for me as well. If you are at the con, stop by and say hello to me at booth 2329. I'm going to attempt to get sketches done in advance which would allow me to post new sketches every day on the road. Not making any promises, but it's part of the plan.

Daily Sketch #58

Steve Scopes Out a Very Important File

A bit of a cheat today folks. This is a panel from the upcoming Dead Inspector rather than a daily sketch. I'm going to try and break out an extra page or two before San Diego on this project so JC and I have more to shop around. So you may get some of these sneak peeks rather than daily sketches.

In other news, definitely check out my buddy Larry Young's Black Diamond series over at Ait/PlanetLar. The first two issues are out now with issues #3 and #4 available soon. I admit I'm a bit baised, my first written and drawn short story will appear as a back up in issue #4.

Get Fed!

Howdy!
I decided to make viewing my blog a little easier by signing up with Feedburner to allow anyone who would like it, to get my updates via their favorite feed reader or in your email. It'll save you looking on this site on a regular basis and ensure that you see the new daily sketches when you want. Enjoy!

Daily Sketch #57

David is Stunned

I'm not sure why he is but he is. Just a quick warmup sketch of our hero from Dead Inspector. Happy Friday.
p.s. Does anyone know how to slow time down? I sure could use more of it!

Daily Sketch #56

This is a Monkey

I know, he looks like a cat but he is in fact a monkey. Do not be fooled by his innocent look sleeping on top of a box of thank you notes.

Daily Sketch #55

Rough Day at the Office

Here's a sketch of Steve from Dead Inspector unwinding after a rough day at the office. And for my new friend Justin, he's wearing his sunglasses at night. Maybe I'll add David tomorrow.

As a confessional bloggy side note, I don't have that many rough days at the office anymore. Few days where I end the day thinking "what's the point?" In fact, I'm happy to say that after almost a year at the new job, I'm still loving it. I get pretty psyched about what I'm doing every week and get fired up when something works out the way I envision. I feel like I have an impact in my place of work and like my employer values me and my overall happiness. That being said, the job can get intense, so there are days when I find myself craving a beer to unwind like Steve. End confessional bloggy side note.

Daily Sketch #54

Image Comics & Making Good

Sorry for the lack of posts on Friday and Monday. I was up in Saratoga Springs for a wedding this weekend and my lack of planning ahead precluded my posting on those days. I should start planning ahead and delivering instead of apologizing.

Over the weekend I read quite a bit of George Khoury's book from TwoMorrows' Image Comics: The Road to Independence. It's a really good read and interesting for me as someone who's comic youth was during the big 90s boom and now as someone who works for Top Cow. Reading the founders' interviews along with other people who were in the thick of it during the heyday is pretty fascinating. And the main thing Khoury does incredibly well is get across that good or bad results, the Image days were a revolutionary and pretty magical time. Yes, these guys made some mistakes but they certainly aren't to blame for the "downfall" of the industry. They made widespread creator independence a reality and their legacy will be felt for years to come. Inspired by this I did a quicky sketch of Ripclaw channeling the new look Tony Moore and Jason Aaron have developed for the new Pilot Season issue.

And a bonus "make good" or "I'm sorry" sketch of Bill from Dead Inspector. I think he might be in a coffee shop, writing and enjoying a hot cup of java.

Daily Sketch #53

Happy Fourth of July (belated)!

Sorry I missed posting yesterday, but it was a day full of cooking out and hanging out with friends to celebrate the birth of our nation. My beautiful grill performed admirably in its first full cookout effort and everyone had a grand old time. We ended up skipping on fireworks because of the on and off again rain, but D and I closed out our night by rocking out to some Guitar Hero II.

Oh, and David from Dead Inspector wants to hand you a very important file. Very important.

My Girl's Birthday!

My lady Danielle is celebrating her birthday today. It's a very special day. Be sure to wish her a happy birthday today.

(Plus my younger brother and dad stopped by last night to stay over because he has an interview at John Hopkins this morning, so no daily sketch this morning. Maybe I'll get one up later in the day)

But more importantly...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY!

Daily Sketch #52

The Darkness video game


I had a chance to finally play The Darkness video game (the first game with my name in the credits) this weekend and enjoyed it quite a bit. The story is compelling and Starbreeze did an awesome job establishing mood and setting. I'm not terribly far into it yet, but I'm enjoying it. One of the cooler little tidbits in the game is when you utilize your "creeping dark" ability to scout ahead, you can actually turn back and look at Jackie (you play most of the game in first person mode). When he's using this power, Jackie kneels over and is shadowed with Darkness tentacles coming out of his trenchcoat. It's an incredibly cool visual. I tried to capture the basic gesture in today's sketch.

I watched two movies this weekend - Pulse and The Devil Wears Prada. The Pulse turned out to actually be a pretty decent concept and theme - that the technology we use to make communication easier actually pulls us further apart. Pretty ironic from a guy posting on a blog. The Devil Wears Prada was a D pick, but I have to say I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. It was funny and interesting and Meryl Streep was great.
And check out my buddy Jim Demonakos' blog for his recap of his trip to Washington, DC which includes my drawing of him (his drawing of me is posted a few posts back).

Daily Sketch #51

More Dead Inspector

Here's a quick one I worked up this morning of Steve doing some questioning at a local barber shop. I'd actually originally laid out this shot from the opposite angle, but then thought it might be cool to reverse it and have it inside the barber shop instead of outside.

Also as a Friday bonus, here's some panels in development from a new page I'm working on. JC decided to change up the three panel motif we'd made standard in "DI" to date by throwing a 9 panel page at me. I'm callin' his bluff!

Have a good weekend, all! I'll be bustin' out the XBox360 this weekend for some quality time.

Daily Sketch #50

Another unrealized idea

Here's a quick sketch of another character sketch for yet another unrealized idea. It's been floating around in my head for a number of years, but actually crystalized somewhat recently and even seemed relevant with current events. It's an ensemble cast, but here's the grizzled old military leader figure. Just playing around with some visuals and doing something different than the typical crew cut look.

Oh, and check that out - 50 Daily Sketch posts. Pretty cool:)

Daily Sketch #49

My Name is Wally West...




When I was a teenager reading comics, one of my favorite long runs was Mark Waid's run on the Flash which started with issue #80 or #82 for me. Mark used to always start every issue with "My Name is Wally West and I'm the Fastest Man Alive". He made every issue exciting and also easy for a new reader to pick up. On the first page you got a complete encapsulation of who the character was. At WizardWorld Philadelphia it was announced that Waid would be coming back to write Wally on the Flash again. I'm curious to see if you can go home...

Anyway, in tribute to that great run here's a quick Flash doodle. Forgive me for any costume inconsistencies I drew it from memory. I tried to give Wally a runner's physique, which now being a runner I can appreciate more.

Also, yesterday The Darkness video game arrived in stores. I can count the number of times I've "geeked out" in the last few years on 1 hand. After working in your chosen field for a few years you lose quite a bit of the hero worship you may have had before. But seeing my name in the instruction manual of a game which sold out at not one but two Targets and 1 Gamestop I went to get the game from was pretty fabulous. I finally found a copy at Best Buy. I haven't had a chance to play it yet, but I'll post a review of the actual game play when I do. Please note this prompted the first video game system I've owned in about 7 or 8 years. Oh, and I picked up Guitar Hero 2 as well. Because... well, it just kicks major butt. And I came to rock.

Daily Sketch #48

More Alec King


Another quick warmup sketch of Alec King, the star of Forever Man. Still working on getting this project off the ground, so more on it later.

My apologies for the lack of sketch yesterday, I was off at the American Library Association show in Washington DC. The book and library shows definitely have a different vibe than comic shows, so it was an interesting experience. I had a good time and got to hang out with my buds Joe Keatinge ("I'll have a fancy blue drink with a star fruit in it"... that's me. In case you were wondering), Jim Demonakos, and Alan Payne. Jim did a doodle of me at dinner last night and for your viewing pleasure here it is -

I did one of Jim as well, so check out his blog later this week to check it out. Plus his blog is more entertaining than mine.

Daily Sketch #47

Sketch, thumbnails, vacuums, & pure rock

Sorry about the lack of sketches this week. I got back from Wizard World Philadelphia and then on Wednesday took off again out of town to visit my boy John in North Carolina. The reason for this 5.5 hour impulse drive? Rush, one of the most kickass classic rock bands of all time, was playing near Raleigh-Durham and John had an extra ticket. The two of us have been wanting to see Rush live since we were wee high to a grasshopper and heard "Roll The Bones" for the first time. Getty, Alex, and Neil did not disappoint.

Today's sketch is of one of my characters Alec King, the Forever Man. More on this later.

And as a bonus to make up for my lack of post, here's a look at some thumbnails from Dead Inspector. I don't usually give a look at this part of my process, so I thought it'd be a cool extra today. Oh, and we just bought our Dyson. It totally lives up to the hype. Totally. It turns out years of research really does build a better vacuum.

Daily Sketch #46

Bermuda Jackie

An alternate look at Top Cow's Jackie Estacado...

Back from WizardWorld Philadelphia, where I had a really good time and the company had a kickass showing. We brought the noise and the funk, as did the dueling Marvel booth and clothing company with the DJ behind us. It was great to hang out with industry friends and I even managed to do the few things I wanted to in Philly - all you can eat sushi and running up the stairs at the Art Musuem like Rocky while "Eye of the Tiger" blared on my ipod. All and all, good times, but an exhausting show particularly the four hours of tear down I did solo and the hour of traffic I ran into outside of Chester, PA on the way home. Which is why there was no post yesterday... I just needed to rest.

Daily Sketch #45

Investigatin' in Hard Ink

Here's another look at David and Steve investigating the scene of a crime, now in more detailed ink rather than pencil. Not quite happy with the way David's face turned out, but over all not a bad little sketch.

I'm off to Wizard World Philadelphia for the weekend, so likely no sketch on Friday. If you're at the show, stop by and say hello!

Daily Sketch #44

Damn that little girl is freaky...

D and I have been watching the 4400 lately on DVD. Well kind of. We actually started with the first season back in January and ran through it pretty quickly because it was only a 1/2 season. So we added Season 2 to our que on the fabulous Blockbuster Online. I guess they only have 1 copy in stock because it took us 5 months to get the first disc. We almost lost interest, but that was quickly rectified when we popped disc 1 into the DVD player. The series is very, very smart sci-fi and highly under-rated. The most unique thing about it is that it is never afraid to go to in the unexpected direction and make big changes in the status quo. And the good guys don't always win. The above sketch is of Maia, the precog little girl from the show.

Here's the Reader's Digest summary - 4400 missing persons mysteriously and suddenly re-appear in a ball of white light near Seattle, Washington. They are all exactly the same age as when they disappeared, whether they went missing in 1930 or 1999. Some of them come back with greater than human abilities...

Highly recommended.

Daily Sketch #43

Detective Work


David and Steve do a little detective work at the scene of a crime. Today's sketch is a little light because I received some new pages of script in and wanted to jump on working out the layouts.

I'll be in Wizard World Philadelphia this weekend, so stop by and say hi if you are there.

And finally I leave you with further proof that John Mayer is hardcore. First Chappelle and now Kanye. Heck yea. Check out the bling.
(props to my buddy Jim D who found this first)

Daily Sketch #42

File Morgue

David from Dead Inspector hangs out in the dead case file morgue at the Pittsburgh Police HQ. Good times.

In real life good times - this weekend I saw the most kickass 80s tribute band, The Legwarmers at my favorite indoor concert venue in the area Ram's Head Live. They put on a pulse pounding, non-stop fun 2+ hour show and by the end of it I thought I'd lost my hearing and my voice from singing along. Highly recommended if you live in the Baltimore/DC area! They're playing again in Falls Church at the end of the month. This might be a must do activity for ALA.

Daily Sketch #41

Exhausted Reporter

David's girlfriend in Dead Inspector is a smart, tough reporter named Ashley. Sometimes all that research and investigating wears ya down!

Daily Sketch #40

Second Verse, Same as the First

David and Steve are back today this time wearing some sharp new ink threads and looking very detective chic.

My buddy and writer on Dead Inspector, JC Vaughn gave me a nice plug on his Well-Defined Productions blog, so I thought I'd return the kindness. JC has a ton of cool stuff in the pipeline including a new series from Moonstone called "Zombie Proof" and his weekly strip from Antique Trader, "Antiques" was nominated for a Harvey Award.

Oh, and my day job received 5 Harvey nominations which is pretty excellent. Make sure you get out there and vote (but you have to be a comic professional to vote)!

Daily Sketch #39

David and Steve Ready to Throw Down



The detective partners from Dead Inspectors strike an iconic pose and let the world know they're ready to rock n' roll. I'm thinking I might add some ink and tighten this one up tomorrow.



Side thought for the day, I was listening to the radio this morning as I was getting ready for my day and heard a commercial for a deluxe massage for Father's Day. Okay, I can see that. But it was immediately followed by "everything for your Father's Day gift needs including botox". What?!

Who gets their dad botox for Father's Day?

Daily Sketch #38

Clark Kent by request

Following my All Star Superman inspired sketch, I thought I'd post my take on Clark Kent at D's request. I don't think it's my definitive take, but not bad for my first crack at it.

I just got back from BEA in New York and I had a fabulous time. It was my first time at the show and I took D with me. She did some sightseeing in Manhattan on Friday and checked out the show on Saturday (resulting in us lugging around an extra box of free books to the train station). We had a great dinner at Del Posto on Friday night and another fun one at Carmine's on Saturday night with some of the awesome Image creators that were at the show.