Quixote and Conventions

Here's a Random Quixote Coyote strip:

Welp, things are gonna be crazy for awhile.   I had this strip worked up earlier in the week, but I've been on pins and needles making phone calls and moving puzzle pieces, so I've been a little distracted.  I'll be doing some work here and there until the end of March, and then TORC Press will be on break for... well, pretty much the whole month of April.  I will be at SPACE, but that will be about it for awhile.

Speaking of SPACE, here's my Convention Schedule for the remainder of the year.  I'm mostly sticking to smaller, local shows where the tables are inexpensive or, in some cases, free.  Anyway, here's the rundown:

SPACE-- April 9-19-- Columbus, OH-- The Small Press Alternative Comics Expo is my favorite show of the year.  It's pure comics, which means I don't gotta bring around my crappy Sell-Out Portfolio.  Instead, I can push my comics that I love, and people will actually be receptive to them.  I love that.  Totally worth the six hour drive.

Free Comic Book Day at Comic Quest-- May 7-- Evansville, IN--  The Best Darn Comic Shop on the Planet hosts the Best Darn Free Comic Book Day on the Planet as well.  It's a great show, and I always have a great time.  As an added bonus, the people are surprisingly receptive to Small Press Comics (although I'll be bringing my crappy Sell-Out Portfolio with me).  If you are within driving distance, this show couldn't be more recommended.

CIL-Con-- August 19-21-- Mattoon, IL--  So, in theory, by the time this show happens, I will actually be living in Mattoon, so this show will actually be in my backyard.  After years of driving at least 2 hours (or more) to every single show I go to, it will be very cool to just travel across town to work a show.  Very cool indeed.  Anyway, this will be a bit of an interesting show, because it's a Paranormal Convention, as well as a Pop Culture/Comic Con.  So that's interesting.  I'll be curious to see how things turn out.  I'll need to beef up the crappy Sell-Out Portfolio for this one (Groan), probably add some (Groan) Batman or Spiderman or whatever.  It would really cool if there's a market for Small Press Comics at this show, but better safe than sorry.

Crawford County Comicon-- September 24-- Robinson, IL-- My friend and comics-comrade-in-arms, Micheal Kassinger is hosting this show, which is not too far from me.  There was a similar Con last year that was a pretty decent little show, so this should be fun.  I will definitely need some decent prints in the crappy Sell-Out Portfolio for this show though.  Art definitely sells better than Small Press Comics at this show.

NobleCon--  October 14-16--  Ironically, this show used to be in my backyard, but after I move it will be an hour away.  Ha!  Anyway, my good friends Deb and Dan Longoria are putting on a show in Noble, IL of all places.  I think it will be a very Gaming heavy show, so that will be a bit different.  I'm looking forward to it, as I may try a few different things at the show.  I figure this show will definitely require me to have my Prints on Point.

Anyway, that's the schedule for the rest of my year as of now.

DOLPHINWORLD!!!

So, we got dark this morning, and that made me uncomfortable, because I don't really do dark anymore.  But it's Seven Worlds Week, and my dark side had to come out, so there's that.  And it's time to wrap up Seven Worlds Week, so let's bring out the Brightest, Shiniest, Dumbest, Most Pointless, Most Awesomest World of them all.  I know you've all been waiting for this, and so I give you the Unrepentant StupiAwesomeness that is

DOLPHINWOOOOOOOORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahhhhh!  That felt good.  There's a monkey with a tornado coming out of its head.  That's so nice.

Anyway, the concept behind Ultra Dolphin World is that video games used to be so weird.  I mean, all of those old games were so trippy, y'know?  Why were ghosts chasing Pac-Man?  Why did Pac-Man have to eat those dots?  What the heck was going on with the Mushroom Kingdom, and why were two Plumbers the only people who could save the day?  They were all so weird and colorful and full of character.  The graphics may have been primitive, and the difficulty level may have been borderline impossible, but the sheer amount of inherent possibility in those old 8 Bit Games was amazing. 

Anyway, anyway, the idea is that, way back in the 80s, there was a bizarre video game no one remembers called "Ultra Dolphin Bros".  TORC Press, desperate for readership and realizing the appeal of licensed properties, purchases the Comic Book Rights to this game that makes absolutely no sense.  The higher ups at TORC Press then forced Joseph Morris to try to cobble together a comic about this video game.  And so we have Walking, Talking Dophins and Monkeys with Clouds on their Heads.  Oh it's so stupid.  Oh it's so wonderful.

Anyway, things are getting absolutely crazy, and I need to get ready for SPACE in a few weeks, so I probably won't post a lot next week.  If I get a chance, I'll hopefully drop a couple of Quixote Coyote strips.  I really enjoyed Seven Worlds Week.  It was a lot of fun.

BrokenWorld

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.






Today, we enter the 6th World in our Seven Worlds Week tour, and, unsurprisingly, it is the world of darkness and horror.  The title "Pulp Horrorshow" has always served as either my testing ground for new concepts or for when I wanted to get down and dirty and dark again.  In this case, it's somewhat both.  For months now I've been trying to write a Horror story, but it's not been easy for me.  Monsters, Violence, and (until the last few years) Gore have always been a staple of TORC Press, but I've always written stories about the battle of Good vs. Evil, with Good usually achieving a hard-fought victory in the end.  But Horror, True Horror, typically doesn't work like that.  Not only does Good rarely triumph, but even if it does, the victory is usually hollow and short-lived.  Sure, you killed Jason, but he'll be back, and he'll probably kill you in the sequel, y'know?  More often than not, Horror is about the inescapable inevitability of Death, and the Fear associated therein.  That's why the Purge has quickly become such a Cult Classic Film series, because it introduces such a terrifying concept, in that for 24 Hours everyone could, potentially, be out to kill you.  From your coworkers that secret hate you, to that neighbor that can't stand the way you take care of your lawn, to that person you accidentally cut in front of at the grocery store, suddenly everyone could become a Grim Reaper hungry for your blood. 

I haven't really tapped into my inner darkness for awhile, either.  Not since the two issue "Death Moth" solo series where I (pardon the pun) attempted to Purge every last Toxic, disgusting, deranged, horrifying concept from my mind and put it all on paper, creating the single most disturbing, radioactive, unreadable comic in the history of the Universe (I made sure I was on a very solid footing relationship-wise with Mei before I showed her that particular comic).  I haven't really sunk to those depths in awhile, so finding a decent Horror story was hard for me.  Luckily, I also recently watched the absolutely brilliant TV series "Hannibal", which gave some concepts and visuals, and started the ball rolling on ideas for a new Horror series.  The concept I ultimately came up with serves as something of a compromise.  In BrokenWorld (World #6), things are much like they are in our world, but the walls between reality are thin, and horrible things are starting to seep in.  People are being slowly driven mad, and there a group of Monsters/Spirits that feed on those that have fallen prey to their inner darkness.

Anyway, I've only got one page done, but here's a page from "Pulp Horrorshow" Volume 5 set in BrokenWorld.  I apologize in advance.

Creepy, right?  It creeped me out a little just drawing it.  Anyway, if you want to know what one of those shadowy figures looks like, here's a drawing I did of him last week.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Bandersnatch.

Anyway, one more world to go, and thankfully, it is quite literally the Polar Opposite of this one.

SuperWorld (Working Title)

We are up to our 5th World in Seven Worlds Week.  I'm calling this world SuperWorld because, quite frankly, I just don't have a better name for it yet.  SuperWorld sounds cool, but it also sounds like something DC would have a Trademark on.  Anyway, here's today's page:

Alright, honesty time folks.  SuperWorld is the least developed of all the Worlds I dreamed up last week.  It was the last one I created, and it's the one I see the least clearly.  It does feature SOL, I know that much.

I created SOL a few years back.  He's a Sun God from a Forgotten Pantheon.  Originally, he looked like a giant Beetle.  He was originally conceived to be a rough combination of Superman, Thor, and any Russian character created by Garth Ennis (I'm not sure why I wrote him like he was Russian.  Made sense to me at the time).  I always liked SOL's exuberant character, but I never quite liked drawing him.  I never could get his color scheme right either.  As a result, SOL sort of disappeared after Bad Rapture.

When I decided to play around with this whole Seven Worlds thing, I thought it might be interesting to give SOL his own world.  Much like AliceIsLost, SOL never quite fit in the world of HFSAC.  SOL's personality and his massive power level make him a very dominant character.  But in TORCWorld Prime, he was definitively stuck at #6 or lower.  By throwing SOL into his own world, though, he is free to dominate the scene as much as he wants.  I gave SOL a bit of a redesign.  I got rid of the Beetle-esque elements, but kept the ridiculous giant moustache and the head-frill (which I expanded to wrap around the entire face, creating a silly, sun-like look).  I decided that since since SOL is a Sun God (which he remains in this World), that I would give SOL a Golden, Armor-like body.

I see SuperWorld as something of a spiritual relative to my old series Gulatta.  In essence, the series is much closer to a traditional Superhero comic than anything featured in the other worlds.  Even then, this is still the TORCverse, so you might notice the two "Police Officers" in the last panel look like robots, or at least men in robot armor.

Of course, for all of this Rambling, the truth is that I really just wanted to draw a dinosaur getting his teeth knocked out.

LostWorld (No, Not That Lost World)

Seven Worlds Week continues onward, cats and kittens!  We have entered our 4th World, which I call LostWorld (and there's no relation to Jurassic Park... although we will get a Dinosaur later this week, so stay tuned for that).  I only have one page from LostWorld ready to go, so here's that:

Lost World features the return of aliceislost, who we haven't seen for awhile.  aliceislost debuted waaaaay back in SDF: Crumpled Planet, my first comic I had professionally printed, and the first comic I publicly sold at a Convention.  alice was a changeling.  She could transform from a doll-like child form to a fully grown adult.  Her adventures (which were originally purely pantomimed) took place in a strange world that was like a Goth version of Alice in Wonderland (I would say it was like if Tim Burton did Alice in Wonderland...but he already did that).  Although alice kind of existed on her own, she was also a part of the greater TORCverse, and interacted with lots of other characters, most notably Cactus Joe & Pengy Penguin and the original version of Broken Tea Cup.  After I brought the SDF "series" to an end, alice continued to appear throughout the TORCverse, appearing in the Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club (the original version) and starring in a string of back-up stories where she actually got to talk for the first time.  Most recently, aliceislost rescued the Death Moth from certain doom in the final issue of Skull Mob, and she was set to serve as a member of Mango Habenero in the new version of SDF (which never got off the ground, which was, again, my bad).  After that she just kind of disappeared. 

That gave me a chance to reboot Alice.  I actually tried this once before, and we'll talk about that in a bit.  First off, for those of you that are new, here's what aliceislost originally looked like:

This is a more recent drawing, so she's not the Barbie-esque stickfigure she used to be.  Anyway, it was a pretty cool design.  Simple, eye-catching.  The problem I had with the design was that two-fold: 1) She was a little too simplistic, and 2)  with that giant hair and giant bow, it was really hard to fit her into a panel.  She's just so top-heavy, not just with all that stuff going on with her head, but also, that's where all her color is.  Also, the only clothes she's wearing is a tube top and a mini-skirt.  I mean, seriously, she looks like she was designed by a frustrated, lonely, 25 year old.  Ahem.  Anyway, I wanted to update her look and her story, so I did this:

This new version of aliceislost was called Lost Alice (worked really hard on the name there, didn't I?).  I made her a normal woman with blonde hair, gave her a slightly more modest dress, a hideous belt (seriously, what was I thinking with that belt?), and a red shawl/cape thingie.  It wasn't a great design, I admit it.  Sometimes you just roll with something and hope for the best.  Lost Alice's adventures were a straightforward adaptation of Alice In Wonderland.  I released an 8 Page Comic which sold a few copies at appearances and none online.  There wasn't any feedback on the comic at all, so I lost interest and buried the book.






So, last week, when I was thinking about Seven Worlds Week, I thought to myself, "Self, it's time to do aliceislost again.  Except, let's do it right this time."  So, she's called AliceIsLost now (again, worked real hard on that name), and I went back to the Goth look of the original.  I made some changes though.  She's got an actual dress this time, I flattened the hair, got rid of the bow, and modified the eyes and nose to make them more "Doll-like", which continues the Doll Theme that she kinda has going.  Anyway, here's the new design (which I unveiled last week):

I think she looks pretty good.  Oh!  On the page above, you can see what Alice's child-like Doll Form looks like.  Anyway, when I get a chance, I plan on doing more AliceIsLost and fleshing out this little story a bit more.

StoryWorld

It's time for our Third World.  It's pretty much a given that when you've got a Multiverse, at least one world is going to be a Fantasy World.  So, continuing with that age old trend, we have StoryWorld.

I present to you, Page One of "Bearskin":

I recently read an article where they claimed the four bases of "Speculative Fiction" are Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror, and (the more recent addition) Superheroes.  Of those four, Fantasy is definitely on the bottom of the list for me personally.  I don't have a problem with Fantasy, per se.  It just interests me less than the other genres.  So, it was really hard for me to come up with a decent Fantasy concept.  I ultimately scored a download of Grimm's Fairtales, and I dug around until I found something that interested me that hadn't already been done a thousand times before.  What I found was "Bearskin", a neat little FairyTale about a Soldier who returns home from the war, but because all he's ever been good at is being a soldier, he's bored and homeless.  Obviously, the Devil shows up and makes a wager with the dude, because that's what the Devil does.  The Soldier will be given a grimy coat which is magically enchanted so that whenever he reaches in the pockets, he can pull out gold.  The Soldier has to wear this coat, as well as a Bearskin, for seven years.  In that time, he cannot shave, cut his hair, trim his fingernails, or bathe.  In addition, he cannot sleep indoors or on an actual bed, but can only sleep outdoors on his Bearskin.  If the Soldier wins, he gets to keep the magic, gold producing coat.  If he loses, well, you can probably guess what the Devil planned to do then...

I thought it was a neat idea and a neat character, and I dreamed up all sorts of neat adventures for this grimy, hairy, ugly Soldier to have.  It was gonna be cool.  Except, it wasn't right.  No matter how hard I tried to bring myself to start a Bearskin comic, it just never got off the ground.  My Muse wasn't interested.  It just wasn't TORC Press enough.

So I sat on the idea for awhile, and then I had an odd thought, "What if, instead of a story about a man who looks like a bear, what if the Hero was just a Talking Bear in people clothes?"  CLICK!  Just like that, I had my story.

Anyway, this is a sample page of Bearskin.  I've actually inked a total of 5 pages, but this is the only one I've colored, and with things being crazy right now anyway, I thought I wouldn't stress over additional pages for now.  If you like this little sample, let me know, and I'll roll out more Bearskin in the future. 

TORCWorld PRIME

Since it's Seven Worlds Week, and I'm only doing this Monday through Friday, I figure I'll need to double up on a couple of days.  So, this evening, we have TORCWorld Prime, also known as the Central TORCverse.  This is the original universe I've built over the last 16 Years.  Currently, the Flagship of this Universe is Cactus Joe the Clown, Pengy Penguin, and the legendary Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club.  In addition, there's the perpetually in-over-his-head Octopus Jones, the brutal beast known as the Death Moth, and Prometheon the Firebringer (and we might see these guys in a later theme week.  Maybe).  SOL and aliceislost used to belong to the Central TORCverse, but... well, we'll talk about that later in Seven Worlds Week.  Anyway, the three pages we've got here I've already posted before.  I was briefly working on a Trade Paperback idea that was a little too big, and it was getting in my way, so I dropped it.  After that, I worked up a Streamlined version of HFSAC that I sent out as a Submission to a handful of Comic Book Publishers.  It's been well over a month, so I'm gonna assume my little Submission has been met with rejection.  Anyway, in that time, I've missed HFSAC, and I didn't really like my Streamlined Version (I reserve the right to change my position if a publisher picks me up (Insert Laughter Here)).  So, I thought I would pick up with the story I had left off on with the failed TPB idea, and turn that into HFSAC #7.  I'm not gonna be on a set schedule with this (in fact, as crazy as my life is right now, it could be months before HFSAC 7 sees completion), but I hope to put out a new page or two every so often.  Anyway, here's The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #7 Pages 1-3:

So, here's why I love the Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club so much, and why I missed being in this world so much.  And there's a lot of different reasons.  For starters, it gives me a Soapbox to stand on to preach my little messages.  Because the story is about a War between Community-Minded Individualists and a Massive Neo-Fascist Military-Industrial Complex Theocracy.  So I get to let my Lefty Flag fly without just bludgeoning people over the head with it (too much).  Which is good, because I think Art should have a perspective and a message.  I may not agree with Steve Ditko's Randian Philosophy, but I RESPECT the fact that Ditko had the Guts to present his message in his artwork, and attempt to present it in an entertaining and thought provoking manner.  That's supposed to be the point, otherwise, it's all just Shapes and Forms, really.

I also love the comic because it's an Epic, and I loooove Epics.  I love Star Wars.  I love the Lord of the Rings.  I love Jack Kirby's Fourth World.  I love the Infinity Gauntlet.  I love all of that stuff.  And HFSAC is EPIC.  I mean, check out that double page spread up there.  That's some Epic Biz, right?  So far we've had Epic Battles between Massive Armies.  We've had Epic Space Battles.  And we've had Epic Giant Monster Battles.  So, yeah, it's Epic.  Way Epic.  Heck, we even revealed the Secret Origin of the Universe Itself! 

One of the things I hated about the Steamlined version of HFSAC I worked up was that the cast was intentionally very small, to make it easier for new readers to pick up.  Well screw that!  I love the fact that HFSAC has a Huuuuuuuuge Cast.  I mean it is ridiculous!  The HFSAC group has... geez... 21 Space Gods in it?  That's insane!  What is wrong with me?  And then you throw in all the Ortex Bad Guys, and the Crimson Empire, and the Omni-Army, and Tsao & GEAR, and Zarathon, and the Mercenary Union!  It's so complicated!  And I love that!  All those epics I mentioned earlier have massive casts full of characters, and I love creating characters, and HFSAC gives me a massive tapestry to just keep creating all sorts of amazing and bizarre characters.  So I love that.

But what I really love, is that for all that bigness, the book is also really intimate.  Because at the end of the day, this story is the continuation of the friendship between Cactus Joe the Clown and Pengy Penguin, and this bizarre family they have built around themselves.  This is about the Clown's Courageous Bumbling.  This is about Pengy Penguin's Heart.  It's about Taco Parties and Penguin Dancing.  It's about Friendship.  And it's Pure Comics Joy, and I love that.

CoyoteWorld

It's Seven Worlds week (see the previous post for more details).  Although it's not the central TORCWorld, we're gonna start with Quixote Coyote, because I promised new Quixote Coyote on Monday:

CoyoteWorld is similar to our world, it's just full of talking animals and is a little simpler.  And, apparently, there's ghosts. 

Seven Worlds Week

I had a photo of this piece up on Instagram a few days ago.  Here's the finished color version:

Right.  As I'm sure I've whined about a bit by now, things are kinda crazy for me right now.  I'm getting ready to get married, trying to buy a house, sending out comics submissions, and trying to survive the last little bit of winter at the Sawmill.  So, I've been trying to find ways to keep myself sane during the week (I'm cool on the weekends, cause I get to hang with Mei). 

Somewhere along the line, I started really thinking about the idea of Multiverses.  Maybe it was from watching too much of The Flash, maybe I was getting nostalgic for old Hannah-Barbera cartoons.  I dunno.  I just found myself thinking about the idea.  Interestingly, the TORCverse has never been an actual Multiverse, it's only ever been a singular universe.  Everything that happened, from Cactus Joe fighting demons in a grimy back-alley, to the Cosmic Fool racing through space, to aliceislost exploring the Lost Lands, to a cartoon cat and dog (Walt & Sped) having silly little adventures, everything was happening in the same universe.

The events of Bad Rapture kind of ended the possibility of the old version of the TORCverse.  Ortex taking complete control of the Earth made it a little hard to continue doing things the same old way.

When I started doing Quixote Coyote it was obvious from the onset that the series didn't take place in the classic TORCverse.  Quixote Coyote takes place in its own world (or Universe, if you will) populated exclusively by talking, anthropomorphic animals (and ghosts that look vaguely humanoid, apparently). 

So, I got to thinking, what would a TORC Multiverse look like?  Instead of everything being crammed into a singular universe, what would it be like to have different Universes, each with its own individual flavor?  So, I meditated on that a bit, and I came up with SEVEN WORLDS, which led to the creation of the drawing above.  All seven worlds are represented in the drawing.

Anyway, this week is Seven Worlds Week, where from Monday through Friday, I'll put up on the blog at least one page from each different world.  This is just a fun little exercise for me, and not my usual thing where I try to drive myself crazy doing seven books all at once.  I'm just messing around a little, trying to have some fun.  I'll be taking the week after this off so I can start getting ready for SPACE.

Having said all of that, if you're out there reading this, and you like one of the pages from Seven Worlds Week, LET ME KNOW, either here on the blog, or via email, or on Facebook.  Positive Feedback is always, always welcome, and will often help direct where I put my attentions.  Quite honestly, I would have stopped producing Quixote Coyote if I hadn't received positive feedback from a few people, so if you like something, let me know.

The Aftermath

Here we go:

That wraps up the "Quixote Coyote vs. Mr Skullface Man" section of Night Three.  I've decided to go ahead and take Friday off, because I'm old and tired.  There should be a new strip on Monday, and I might try something a little different next week.  Maybe.  Haven't decided yet.  Anyway, our ridiculous Haunted House shenanigans will continue on Monday.

Big Boot!

Here we go again:

When I think of Quixote Coyote's fighting style, I often find myself thinking about how Mario fights in the Super Mario Bros games.  A lot of it involves not getting hit, jumping at the right time, and hitting the enemy when the time is right.