Here is a list of my most recent comics works, including links on where you can read them for free and where you can purchase them!
|
The Front: Rebirth (graphic novel)
Thousands of years ago an alien ship crashed on Earth. Fragments of its metal were shaped into powerful weapons by people across the globe. Now, the ancient and ruthless Sword User schemes to capture the Bow User's son, whose seemingly mediocre powers are the key to humanity's doom!
This the book I probably mention most in my teaching and audio shows. I learned a lot about making comics through the process of creating this story, and I'm very proud of how it turned out. It's easily the most personal of all of my projects. |
|
|
The Origin of Jared
How did Jared come to work for the Brigadier General? What is Dick's connection to the MNSA? Who bio-engineered Orange Guy? Find out the startling origins of your favorite characters from The Front in this full-color, all-ages series!
One thing that I hadn't counted on while working on The Front: Rebirth was how popular some of the characters would wind up becoming. I had originally created the character Jared as a means to write scenes that would entertain my wife. He had no backstory, no elaborate history as a character. He was just there for the fun of it. But readers of The Front asked again and again for the story of how he came to be a player in the graphic novel, so I created this full-color comic for them. It turned out to be a really fun story to work on, and led to some inspiration for future comics. I'm pretty happy with some of the sound effect design in this one as well. |
|
The Replacements (3-part series)
When museum employee Helen is instructed to accession a mysterious collection of strange objects she gets more than a mildly interesting day on the job--she gets a gallery full of crazy monsters bent on destruction! Her only hope lies in a malfunctioning cowboy robot and a displaced '50s greaser.
This was a truly fun collaboration with fellow cartoonist Sara Turner. It was an exercise in improvisation. We didn't really know where we were going half of the time, but the final product looks like we knew what we were doing all along. This fun and impromptu style of creation led to some paneling and moment choices that I'm really happy with. |
|
|
|
Silver and the Periodic Forces
In the year 2287, the galaxy is in peril! One by one, solar systems are being destroyed by a villainous organization known as THE CADRE CATASTROPHE! With the help of his friends in the Earth Protection Force, as well as a magic glove that summons warriors representing each of the chemical elements, Silver fights to stop the Cadre from destroying the galaxy!
This was a re-imagining of a story I created in the 5th grade. Sara Turner and I took the basic concept of Silver and his warriors and built it out into a sci-fi adventure in the style of the cartoons we grew up on. The style and structure presented a real challenge; we restricted ourselves to a 16-page limit with a two-act story structure allowing for a "commercial break" in between. It's a style of storytelling I'm absolutely fascinated by, and the end product is what I hope for in all of my comics. Exciting adventures for young or young-at-heart readers. |
|
|
Sugary Serials (Anthology Series)
Sugary Serials is a comics anthology of all ages, full-color comics created with the sensibilities of the Saturday Morning Cartoon in mind. Get ready for stories with vibrant characters and a good mix of danger and fun. Reading in your pajamas with a bowl of cereal is not required, but highly recommended. Good for big and little kids!
After finishing 2 issues of Silver and the Periodic Forces, I started an online and print comics anthology with the goal of making comics stories in the style of the cartoons of my youth. Every story followed the 1- to 3-act structure with the bold, vibrant characters and environments you would find in Saturday Morning Cartoons of the 1970s and 80s. I was especially proud of the lineup of artists and their stories that appeared in the first year's run of the anthology. This project also spoke to a lot of new opportunities technologies like print-on-demand presented us comics creators. Each story was serialized online for free, then collected in print in the IndyPlanet store. All in all, it's a project I'm happy to be associated with, and I look forward to adding more content to it in the near future. |
|
|
Equalizers of the Divide #1
Long ago, Eirenikos was a world of harmony. But then came the Great Divide, and Baron Noirtok. The Northern Territories were plunged into a dark age of magic and superstition. The Southern Lands became a place of science and learning. Noirtok and his warriors rule the North through tyranny and fear. When his ambitions turned South, he stole the Possibility Stones, legendary talismans of great power. Now, Becky and her Equalizers strive to reclaim the Possibility Stones and put an end to Noirtok's evil once and for all!
This was a story I co-created with Sara Turner for issues 1-3 of Sugary Serials. We collected the 24-page tale in its own volume. Not only was it an interesting exercise in mixing and matching genres (our initial thought was a fantasy/sci-fi story told in a western structure), but it was a project where I got to play around a lot with color theory. In an attempt to really make the world of Eirenikos seem alien, I worked off of a color palette that I call (for lack of a better term) "minor key". Plus it's got a robot bear in it, which I think is pretty cool. |
|
|
Switch Runners #1
After crash-landing on an alien world, a group of explorers discover an amazing energy source that grants their machines the ability to switch from high-speed reconnaissance vehicles to fantastic battle modes! But the brutal Tritannus and his interplanetary band of outlaws will stop at nothing to claim the Ovidian Energy for themselves! It's a fight to the finish, with the fate of the galaxy as the ultimate prize! These are the adventures of--SWITCH RUNNERS!
This one scratched my experimentalist itch while also being one of the most challenging and entertaining stories I've ever worked on. When I co-created Switch Runners with Mark Rudolph, we presented ourselves with the challenge to imagine an entirely fictional toy line to build a story around. Sort of like how comics and animation companies were contracted to build stories around toy lines like Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors back in the 1980s. Along the same lines, we constructed a method of execution where we illustrated background elements to be re-used throughout the story. This sped up some aspects of production, but it also led to some interesting creative challenges. We documented this process in an episode of the Art & Story podcast. This project also marks a turning point in my skill as a letterer. I'm very happy with the word balloon and sound effect placement/design in this book. |
|
|
The Cosmic Adventures of Gena Kranz #1
It was a routine mission to deliver supplies to the International Space Station, but when a malfunction occurred during orbital insertion, Colonel Gena Kranz and her vehicle were sent reeling into deep space! Now Gena travels the cosmos, discovering bizarre new worlds and dangers as she tries to find her way home! These are the Cosmic Adventures of Gena Kranz!
I've always been fascinated by the storytelling style of the Filmation cartoons. They are full of action (not violence), but the stories are always constructed to deliver a positive message for young people. Gena Kranz was my attempt to write in that style, and I feel pretty good about the results. I wasn't trying to invent anything here visually or structurally; this one was more about exploring some pacing and stylistic aspects of my writing. I co-created this one with my wife Anne, who is a bit of a NASA enthusiast, hence the astronaut hero with the name that refers to a hero of the space organization. |
|
|
Mini-Comics
In recent years I've had a lot of fun re-investigating the mini-comics format with an eye on production values. Anne and I have created a handful of books like Rocketosaurus! and Dino Love with the same story and illustration quality we would apply to a fully published book. We added some extra flourish by screen printing our covers. Our latest mini, Tiny Hamilton, was so much fun that we've begun planning for a full graphic novel about the character. You can find our mini-comics in the Tiny Astronaut Store. |
|
|
