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Category: Comics

And lo, there was a Comic-Con!

Gregg

San Diego’s Comic-Con International begins Wednesday night, July 22nd, with Preview Night and runs through Sunday, July 26th. When I’m not eating burgers, barbecue and fish tacos, I’ll be stationed in Artist Alley at table GG-12. I’ll be selling sketches, mini-comics, and original art from SpongeBob comics and some animated-style Batman books, as well as doing sketches.

In addition, I’ll have previews of both my PIX: TEENAGE AMERICAN FAIRY story that’ll be serialized in G-MAN: CAPE CRISIS as well as a full set of pencils (all 22 pages + cover art by Skottie Young*) to check out from X-BABIES #1. And speaking of X-BABIES #1, stop by for a FREE promotional bookmark (which’ll also serve as a friendly reminder of when the first issue comes out and how much you’ll want to buy it when it does).

And if that’s not incentive enough, I’ll be sitting, as I often do, with my good friends and fellow comics creators Jacob Chabot (to my right) and Chris Giarrusso (to my left). Three cartoonists in one fell swoop. Something this exciting hasn’t happened in threes since the last time the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus did their thing!

And finally, for those of you wondering, yes, THE MILLION DOLLAR CONAN O’BRIEN will be making its triumphant return to San Diego in recognition of Mr. O’brien’s new position as host of “The Tonight Show”. Come see it with your own eyes!

Sunny San Diego. 7/22-7/26. Artist Alley table GG-12. Let’s go!

*as far as I know this information hasn’t been released, so you can call that a real live “exclusive” for those of you reading this.

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Plugs, Pics, and Pix

Gregg

Golly Gee, so much going on…

Let’s start with some plugs.

First, plug-plug for G-MAN: CAPE CRISIS #1, the first issue of an all-new, 5-issue series by my friend and comics’ superstar Chris Giarrusso, who’s best known in comic book circles as the man behind Marvel Comics’ MINI-MARVELS. G-Man is Chris’ own creation, but it’s in the same spirit of the work he’s known for: kids with superpowers being awesome and funny. I’ve read the first issue and it’s great and when it hits comic shops in August, do yourself right and pick up a copy. And if that’s not incentive enough, the book’s got all kinds of back-up strips in it, a couple by yours truly (more on that in a bit).

gman_cc_miniseries_1Buy this starting in August!

Next plug: KIRBY KRACKLE is a “comic book rock band from Seattle” who I happen to be friends with (that’s right, I know rock stars). They just released their Summer Single titled “Ring Capacity”. And in as much as it’s about DC Comics’ superhero Green Lantern, it’s also a straight-up catchy rocker of a song. And it’s FREE! For serious. Go here, sign up for their mailing list, and boom, they e-mail you an mp3.

single_colorDig it.

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X-BABIES Press Round-Up!

Gregg 2 Comments

With the announcement of the X-BABIES mini-series coming out October of this year, there was a flurry of press releases and interviews on a number of sites. For easy access, here’s a rundown, complete with links, so you can read a bit more about it and see the way my name has been misspelled (sometimes in the body of the same article).

First up, there’s this piece from Marvel.com, where my name was only misspelled once.

Next, here’s a bit from the Robot 6 blog, short and sweet with a link to the marvel.com piece above.

Newsarama.com posted an interview I did with them. They only got the spelling of my name wrong in the headline.

The article at comicbookresources.com attributed one of my collaborator, Jacob Chabot’s quotes, to me (the one about having read EXCALIBUR: MOJO MAHEM a million times).

Here’s a Q&A up at ign.com…who somehow credit Jacob and I for works we’ve never done (Deathlok for me and 2000AD for Jacob – never happened).

My friends Rob and Craig hipped me to this piece at io9.com, which also reports off the marvel.com release.

Someone even blogged about it at their blog, Full.Body.Transplant.

And here’s a site, superpouvoir.com, translated from French, talking about it (they don’t seem to excited…and apparently Jacob Chabot translates to Jacob Chub, which made me chuckle).

And here are some folks on a newsgroup talking about it, not all of it in glowing terms.

So that’s a whole lot of X-BABIES stuff right there. Soon, I might even talk about some of the other stuff I’m working on…

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X-BABIES Announced!

Gregg

Just back from Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC – a great show to be sure – where finally, the project I mentioned a while back was officially announced.

So now it can be told: Starting in October I will be writing a 4-issue mini-series for Marvel Comics starring the X-Babies.

(for the uninitiated, the X-Babies are kiddie clones of the X-Men who live on a world where (a) virtually everything is a TV show and (b) the X-Babies are the top rated program)

Drawing this series will be the super-talented Jacob Chabot, who, if you’ve been reading, know was with me in our effort to pitch the Marvel Animals/Spider-Ham story that didn’t fly.

All of that said, there are a few articles popping up on various comics news sites…at some point I’ll post a series of links for easy access.

That and a few more updates to come. Lot’s going on these days…

x-babies_lineup

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Comics Chatter

Gregg

RE: COMICS!, a column/conversation about comics with Stephen Mayer over at Acme Comics in Greensboro, NC, is up and rolling, for those who care to read my thoughts on, well, comics. So far there’s been an intro column, a discussion of comics’ prices, and this week, talk of decompressed storytelling. If you’re interested in comics, my blathering, or some combination of both, check ’em out.

With Memorial Day behind us, for all intents and purposes, summer has begun. This means summer conventions, of which there are many. I will be at Heroes Convention in Charlotte, NC from June 19-21 and Comic-Con International in San Diego, CA from July 22-26. I’ll post details as to where I’ll be specifically when I know.

And just following up on some earlier bits and pieces:

The aforementioned project with Marvel Comics is moving along. It looks like we’re shooting for an October release, but more importantly, we’re looking at this being “officially announced” in the next two months…possibly even in Charlotte at HeroesCon (see above). Once that happens we’ll be able to talk about it more openly.

And finally, a recommendation: G-MAN: LEARNING TO FLY is a new collection of the creator-owned work of friend and fellow cartoonist Chris Giarrusso.

gmanltfcvr

It just came out last week and it’s great, funny, and fun for all-ages. You can get it at your local comics shop (if they don’t have it, ask them to order copies), Amazon, or you can save a few bucks here. Either way, check it out. It’ll be a nice warm up for his new mini-series coming later this summer (more on that another time as yes, I might be connected in some capacity).

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Re: Comics!

Gregg

I met the fine folks from Acme Comics (of Greensboro, NC), last September at the Baltimore Comic Con. At that show we spoke, naturally, of comics. That led to some e-mail exchanges and now, Stephen Mayer (one of the aforementioned fine folks), has invited/asked me to participate in a column over at their site (acmecomics.com), where he and I, in a series of e-mail exchanges, will discuss comics and things relating to comics. The name of this series, RE: COMICS (get it? because it’s regarding comics…and it’s like, via e-mail and stuff).

So, if you’ve been thinking there’s not enough comics talk here…or you want some more “insider/industry” type talk without so much explaining, check that out. It’s gonna be a guy who works in/helps run a comic shop in the south taking to a cartoonist in NYC. Could be interesting. Maybe even fun. The plan, as I understand it, is for weekly postings. Time will tell. The best laid plans and all that.

And if you actually want to hear specific topics discussed, by all means, let me know. Click on that li’l comments button at the bottom of this post and have at it.

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The time I got to draw everyone.

Gregg 1 Comment

My first work in comics, in 1997, was penciling issue #104 of the comic book title WHAT IF? (Vol. 2). The comic starred the Silver Surfer and a character called The Impossible Man, a shape-changing last survivor of the destroyed planet Poppup, a planet of shape-changers. In his appearances, The Impossible Man typically wreaked impish havoc for the heroes he comes across (typically the Fantastic Four).

In this particular comic, the Impossible Man, using newly acquired infinite power, recreates his home planet, Poppup.

The result of this action plays out on the last page of the comic, when a variety of Poppupians appear. The last page of the plot (the text document a comic artist works from to draw the comic) for this story, written by Tom Virkaitis, read as follows:

PAGE TWENTY-SIX

This is an epilogue. We are now back on Thanos’ old altar. The Impossible Man (as Santa Claus) is returning the gems to the Elders of the Universe (who Impy resurrected). The Silver Surfer is also in attendance. The Elders thank Impy who transforms into Captain America and salutes them all. The Elders teleport away as a group. That’s when another Poppupian shows up as the Red Skull and tries to shoot the Impossible Man. Another Poppupian shows up as the Captain America werewolf and yet two others are arguing as to which one is the “real” Bucky (one is the original, the other is the Heroes Reborn Bucky). The Silver Surfer stands silently as all this craziness surrounds him. We pan back as the Surfer tries to convince himself that he made the right choice. “Right?”

Seems simple enough. A good amount of stuff going on, but pretty straightforward.

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“IT IS ON! We are approved.”

Gregg

Remember that story about the “NEW Marvel Tails” project that never happened? (if you don’t, scroll down two entries and learn all about it)

Well, following that second attempt, the editor we spoke to had suggested possibly exploring another Marvel Comics property for any potential story ideas. After a bit of brainstorming, a new proposal was developed and pitched. And today we got word: “IT IS ON!  We are approved.”

It’s still way too early to talk details as this project’s not on any official schedule as of yet (and even then, you never know; more on that another time)…matter of fact I’m not even going to say what the characters or property are. But it should, when it’s all said and done, be a fun, action-packed, and sometimes even funny bit of comics.

I can say that I’ll be writing. Jacob Chabot will be illustrating. And hopefully you all will be buying/reading.

More news as it becomes “safe” to reveal it.

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From the Reject Pile: The NEW Marvel Tails

Gregg 2 Comments

A couple of years back I submitted a proposal to Marvel Comics for a 4-issues series starring Spider-Ham and the rest of Marvel Comics’ “Funny Animal” characters. Working with me as the artist was the very skilled-in-his-own-right Jacob Chabot.

For those who understood about 8% of that sentence: Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, is a cartoon pig version of Spider-Man. He, and other animal versions of Marvel heroes and villains, first appeared in Marvel Comics’ Marvel Tails, a punny/homonyminous take on their Marvel Tales title. Later, he headlined his own series as part of the Star Comics line which was aimed at younger readers. Since then, this funny animal take on Spider-Man has been a bit of an oddity/fan favorite.

Unfortunately, because a recent attempt at the time to use the character didn’t do very well, sales-wise, the interest in the series I’d conceived was less enthusiastic, regardless of content. The character, essentially, was “radioactive” for the time being.

That was two years ago. Recently, we gave it another shot, figuring enough time had passed for the fallout to have properly dissipated. And it had, because someone else was doing something with Spider-Ham.

A case of bad timing…twice over.

But rather than let it sit on a digital shelf where no one can see it, I’ve decided to share a “what could have been”. So click here and read the pitch as it was submitted…including a wicked piece of art by the aforementioned Jacob Chabot.

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