I know there’s been some delays/trouble getting the Footprints collected edition through your local comic shops for some of you, so now you can cut out the middle man if need be. The trade is available for sale at the 215 Ink Shop, direct from the publisher.
Please drop me a line if you order it and let me know what you think!
Hey all, just wanted to announce the exciting news that I’m writing a five issue mini-series for Zenescope called GRIMM FAIRY TALES: BAD GIRLS, which launches in July with issue #1 (obviously). I’m pumped to be playing in Zenescope’s Grimm Universe, particularly at a time when there is more awareness than ever following their successful fundraising for an animated series pilot. More so, I’m excited to play in a world that started as a relatively simple retelling of fairy tales but evolved to a deep and complex fantasy mythology all its own.
From Zenescope’s official solicit text:
What happens when the most evil and powerful female characters in the Grimm Universe join forces? You’ll find out in this new miniseries that brings together an all star cast of girls that were born to be bad. The Mistress of Limbo has gathered together a team of allies from across the four realms of power. Will anyone be able to stand against the united power of Baba Yaga, the Goblin Queen and the Queen of spades? Don’t miss the baddest series in the history of Grimm Fairy Tales.
And the covers:
If you’ve never read a Grimm book before, this series comes after a pretty big storyline and should be pretty easy to get up to speed with. I’m trying for that, anyway. You can order it now from your local comic book store with the Previews order code MAY121391 or find it at your favorite online retailers like TFAW and Midtown Comics.
Happy weekend everyone! I’m delighted to say that we got a wonderful review over at Bloody Disgusting, and we’ve been gifted as “Pick of the Week”! Huge thanks to the folks at BD, and I’m so happy that you dug the book! Here’s an excerpt:
Esposito and Moore fill the book with little details that force you to pay close attention to each panel, no matter how small. They don’t simply rely on dialogue to move the plot forward, but like with all good noir stories, it’s the subtext that plays an essential role. Whether it’s a broken picture frame, a small note, or a hand gesture, “Footprints” is filled with great subtleties that showcase how wonderfully ideas can be presented in graphic storytelling . This is invigorating storytelling, and neo-noir at it’s finest.
You can also check out the full review.
At long last, the Footprints TPB should be in any comic shops that were on the ball enough to order it through Diamond. If you didn’t pre-order it (or if no one else did at your LCS), it might be hard to track down, but you can still tell your retailer to order it from Liber Distribution, buy it digitally on the 215 Ink iPad app (only $3 for the collection!!), or look for it soon on 215ink.com. If it becomes readily available any place else, I promise you’ll be hearing about it from me!
It’s taken me a bit longer to get to the second part of this process blog up than I initially intended, but here we are! Check out Part 1 if you’re not sure what this is all about, but otherwise, read on! Please again note that this isn’t an exact representation of my script formatting, as WordPress opted to be a jerk about it.
PAGE TWO – (5 Panels)
PANEL 2.1
REVEAL of Bigfoot, still wet in his trench coat and fedora, with a look of complete shock upon his big hairy mug. He’s still holding his mail.
What we can see of his apartment is absolutely pristine. Fine vases neatly scattered about with original art hanging from the walls. No hint of dust, clutter, or grime. He’s either the cleanest Bigfoot on the planet or he’s got one hell of a cleaning lady.
FOOT (CAP):
GETTIN’ A LETTER FROM MY BROTHER THOUGH…
FOOT (CAP):
…WELL, I AIN’T ASHAMED TO SAY THAT I DAMN NEAR SHIT MYSELF.
As I mentioned in Part 1, the script I’m using for these blogs is essentially a shooting script, so there’s not a whole lot of differences between the script and what’s established on the pages, at least on my part. However, it’s notable here that in my description I say “the cleanest Bigfoot on the planet,” implying that there are, in fact, more than one of him. As you know from reading the book, this isn’t the case. As I went on and developed the characters in this issue, I realized the story works much better if these characters are THE characters we know as urban legends. Maybe there were more at one time or another (as Motheresa implies in issue #4, I think it is, where she refers to herself as “a mothperson”), but with these characters having survived “hundreds of years,” they have become the last of their species. So, the description I mentioned above is essentially a remnant of an earlier idea that was eventually scrapped.
As for the pristine/fine art aspect of his apartment (which Jonathan nailed), I just think it’s hilarious that this creature we typically associate with living in the wild as a savage is actually the complete opposite. He appreciates the human world and the things that come with it. And, judging from his taste, perhaps he’s a bit TOO indulgent (a sentiment reflected in issue #3).
This panel also holds Foot’s full reveal, in which he looks…. well, human! Just, you know, hairier. It’s not the most descriptive show of him — and I think Jonathan evolved his look to be even more definitive as the issues went on — but it establishes his look quickly and efficiently. Combined with the background details, I think this panel sums the character up rather quickly.
This is odd.
I’m not typically the type of writer that blogs to spew non-sequitur thoughts onto the internet. It’s just not my style. But since I started this little resume/portfolio whatever-you-call-it, I figured it might be worthwhile to suck it up and just write for writing’s sake.
Since I write every single day about the world of video games and comic books, I’m not going to do that here.
Filed under blog
Exciting news! Friend and Image Comics rising star Kurtis Wiebe (Green Wake, Intrepids, Peter Panzerfaust) has got a great new book coming next month with Grim Leaper — a gory romantic comedy about a guy who keeps dying and waking up in the body of strangers that meets a woman with a similar curse. It’s all very romantical and bloody, and features art from Aluisio Santos.
But, I’m elated to say that the Jack Kirby/Joe Simon Young Romance homage comic that Jeff McComsey and I did will be featured as a back-up story in issue #1, which releases on May 30th.
Kurtis talks about the book on the Comic Book Road Show, also revealing other contributors including Ed Brisson, Jeremy Holt, and Ryan K. Lindsay, all contributing to “More Love Stories to Die For.” We’re all really excited, so be sure to tell your LCS you want it bad!
In an effort to put worthwhile content on this blog that’s not entirely self-promotion, I thought I’d give a look at the process behind the making of Footprints and hopefully show off the nature of the collaboration between Jonathan and I. While I’m going to initially be using pages from Footprints #1 since it’s been available to read for free for quite some time, there were a lot of great instances of a sound partnership in the later issues, as Jonathan and I became better collaborators and, perhaps more importantly, friends. If this is something that might interest you as a fellow creator or just curious party, please read on!
So, obviously I haven’t updated here in a while. It’s been a stressful few months, for a multitude of reasons, none of which will I bore you with. That said, projects have come and gone and things have been shuffled around a great deal. I am, however, working on some exciting stuff that you may or may not ever read, but they are happening nonetheless. For starters, I’ve started working on something new with artist Sean Von Gorman, which you’ll see is quite different from Footprints. Here’s an early cover image:
I’m unsure if I’ll post anything beyond this cover until some sort of plan is finalized, but it’s something I’m excited for and has been a nice change of pace for me. There are some other things coming up for me as well, which you will hopefully hear about in due time.
But contrary to reports, no, I am not dead.
If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll often see me tweet about wrestling-related things. It also used to be a part of my day job. I love wrestling, even when I hate it. Funny enough, many people that follow me for comics stuff do too. The crossover is actually pretty obvious (and something I’ve written about at length here). But dudes in tights fighting other dudes in tights, amirite? Anyway, there have been many attempts at bringing wrestling and comics together — meaning using the larger-than-life athletes as superheroes in their own weird little universe — but I never particularly enjoyed any of them. Put my money where my mouth is, right?
So when opportunity to work with one of the best indie wrestling organizations out there — Chikara Pro — I said “yes” instantly. I’m happy to announce that Chikara will host a story of mine that I wrote as the secret origin of their character Frightmare — a character with fantastic visual appeal — as a weekly web comic, which you can find here.
Here’s a little tease from the first page. If you click it, you can enjoy more. Let the Frightmare begin!
