Archive for ‘blog’
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DID YOU KNOW… this site has a forum? And that it’s been there for over six years? And that people still go poking around in there literally every single day? And that, due to my utter incompetence when dealing with phpBB and CSS coding for message boards, it has not been significantly updated since 2004?
ALL THESE THINGS ARE TRUE. Except the last one, which I rendered moot (MOOT, I SAY) over the weekend. BEHOLD:
Now running on phpBB 3.07 and tricked out with all manner of new BEAUTY (but carefully preserving the e.e. cummingsesque “no caps” fixation I had in 2006), the board is up-to-date, super-slick, mega-pink and fully capable of withstanding the wittiest bon mot you’ve got to hurl.
As a bonus, here is EXCLUSIVE webcam footage of me dealing with the CSS code on Sunday:
Ka-BOOM!
9 Comments
SO….
I just finished an interview with this French comic magazine thingee, and it reminded me: I MUST BE TRANSLATED. Or… well, the first two Serenity Rose books must be, anyhow. I mentioned this in an earlier post, but now is the time to put words into action! (By putting words into other words!)
I’ve already got a Spanish translation in the works, Japanese seems pretty well covered, and some folks have already called dibs on Danish and Swedish, but I’m still looking for French (MUST HAVE FRENCH), German, Portuguese, Italian, Polish, Korean, Tagalog, Yiddish, Jive, Muppetesian, etc. etc. etc. The idea is to create a separate, slightly simplified version of my site for each finished translation.
(NOTE: The translation does not (NOT) have to be perfect. I just need something a little more solid than what, y’know, Babelfish or Google will give me. I already have people from around the world coming to the site to see all my little pictures… It’d be nice if they could understand the STORY, too. Gorgeous wordsmithing is always welcome, but utilitarian translations are just fine for now… Give it your best shot!)
For anyone who feels up to the challenge, I finally went ahead and typed up proper transcripts of “Working Through the Negativity” and “Goodbye, Crestfallen!” and you can find them tucked away right in here:
Okay, now… PLEASE (please please please please please) don’t let those high page counts leave you paralyzed in bladder-loosening terror… I gave every “um,” “uh,” “mmm,” and “blugh” its own line in here (double spaced!), so the transcripts ended up a bit inflated. But either way, translating these things will definitely be a big job, and although I don’t have much in the way of money to give you, I can offer a few things:
1) SIGNED COPIES of SR Vol. 1 and SR Vol. 2!
2) One ORIGINAL SKETCH (any character you want, mine or otherwise) for each book translated!
3) Set of three PRINTS for each book translated!
4) CREDIT AND A LINK on each page when the site goes live (of course)! And if you ARE an incredible wordsmith who really WOWS your audience… well, who knows what our publishing future might hold? YOUR MOMENT IS (POSSIBLY) AT HAND.
CAN YOU ASSIST?
Contact me at SERENITY@HEARTSHAPEDSKULL.COM to claim a language now!
(After the break, an SR Vol. 1 page Babelfished into français. Can you tell which page?)
↓ Read the rest of this entry…
UPDATE 6-24: We have our Japanese and German natives! Thanks, guys!
“Whoa.” -Keanu Reeves, “The Matrix”
Thank you all for the incredible response to my call for Serenity Rose translators last week. I thought I’d have a bit of bother rustling up folks to take on the GREAT TRANS-CHALLENGE, but nope, so far so good. Here’s what we’ve got in the works right now:
- SPANISH
- FRENCH (7 offers!)
- DUTCH (2 offers)
- RUSSIAN (2 offers)
- SWEDISH
- NORWEGIAN
- DANISH
- JAPANESE (2 offers… but still looking to get a native speaker involved)
- GERMAN (3 offers… but again, still looking to get a native speaker involved)
- LATIN (!)
SEVEN offers for French! That just floored me… Right now a very wonderful reader in France has taken the lead, and she’s been able to move really fast so far (which is VERY cool but, as I should probably reiterate for everyone else, not really necessary – take all the time you need). There’s an equally wonderful reader in Quebec standing by to help right now, but if any of the rest of you would like to be involved in proofreading, that would be BRILLIANT. Thanks so much!
And thank you to EVERYONE who’s offered their services so here. This whole thing has gone far beyond “exciting” for me, and I can’t wait to start lettering. And, of course, if you’re still interested in adding YOUR native tongue to the list (Brazilians? Italians? I know you’re out there, Korea!), please contact me HERE. (Check THIS post to see what I’m offering). OH! And if your language is already “taken,” PLEASE don’t be afraid to send me an e-mail anyway… I’d like to have some potential translators “in reserve” in case the workload gets too overwhelming for the folks already signed up.
1) Ms. Victoria “Vicious” Whisper will be back on her branch to answer your questions once a week starting NEXT WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30th. Keep sending your queries to VICIOUS @HEARTSHAPEDSKULL.COM. Lots of questions have already piled up in there, but yours could be the best of all.
2) Serenity Rose Vol. 3 is still likely to start up on target this fall. And the first 10 pages will be a STORM OF UNPRECEDENTED FURY.
3) Still waiting on a contract for ELDRITCH!, sadly. Drew and I were hoping to have Anya out there hacking chunks out of Elder Things by now, but reorganization fever at DC seems to have delayed things a bit. As is usual in these situations, those of us tasked to create the artwork in question have been left to wander in the land of shadow and mystery. This is why it’s so important for artists to maintain their OWN websites to bring the things they love straight to the people. More important day by day.
4) SPEAKING OF MY OWN WEBSITE… Interested in showing your support for Serenity Rose? The best way is to buy a print or some original art straight from the SHOP. (You can also buy a signed print of ANY page of the comic by clicking the lil’ “buy a print” icon between the arrows. Sold a few of those already, and man… I sure do love what this printer’s been doing.) Your support will really help ease the “waiting for DC legal” aches.
5) THERE IS A FACEBOOK BUTTON DIRECTLY UNDER THESE WORDS! Smack it before it gets away!
Our pal Sera, as rendered by ELDRITCH!‘s own “DEVILISH” Drew Rausch:
So where IS ELDRITCH!, anyway? Guys, I’m not kidding you when I say “you know exactly as much as I do.” But do not lose faith! We’ll be hurtling science-fueled rocket tattoos straight through the face of evil before too long, one way or another. (YOUR VOTES DEMAND IT.)
This Wednesday, Vicious Whispers…
Guys, I think it’s about time I started getting SERIOUS about my career in the comic book “biz.” So at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con I’m going to get in line to have my work evaluated by the superhero people. Here’s my sketch:
It’s not too bad, I guess. 100% digital artwork this time.
I’m REALLY hoping for one of those “exclusive” deals from Marvel Comics, but man, I dunno… There are a LOT of talented people out there looking for work right now, and I’m not sure I got the muscles exactly right. I just wanted him to look like a REAL guy, you know? Like someone you might see out on the street fighting a fire or whatever.
God, so much competition though… Maybe I should do more than one drawing.
YES.
I WILL be attending this year’s San Diego Comics-Con Extravaganza of Half-Assed Hollywood Bullshit (SDCCEHAHB), safely ensconced within the SLG Publishing booth (#1815) right next to DC Comics. Looks like they’ve got me bolted in there from 1-4 PM Thursday through Saturday, and 1-3:30 on Sunday. Hope to see you guys there! I will certainly have some prints and original art for you, but sadly, no cake.
The FULL schedule and list of other awesome arty-sorts (Including Serenity Rose pinup alumni Ross Campbell, Tommy Kovac, Jhonen Vasquez and ELDRITCH!’s own Dunkin’ Drew Rausch) is up now on the SLG site. Truly, an embarrassment of artists!
Sadly, with my schedule the way it is, I dunno if I’ll have time to shop my supermen portfolio around like I’d hoped… I’ll keep plugging away at it, though!
I now have in my possession a FULL FRENCH TRANSLATION of Serenity Rose Vol. 1: Working Through the Negativity, aka “Tirer Profit Du Negatif,” courtesy of talented and lightning quick Caroline.
Vol. 2 is on its way, too, so it looks like I’ve got a LOT of word-ballooning in my future. (Where was that “ç” key again?)
The entire French-speaking world will soon join the United Nations of Serenity, but who will be next? (I bet it’s Kyrgyzstan!) If you’ve already accepted the TRANSLATION CHALLENGE, let me know how you’re doing. And if you’re interested in getting involved, you still can! Just email me at SERENITY@HEARTSHAPEDSKULL.COM.
JOIN ME, my friends, and the sun shall never set on the EMPIRE OF CRESTFALLEN!
The air is thick with signs and portents, my friends. Long shadows and ill omens. Earlier this week temperatures in L.A. soared over 500 degrees Fahrenheit (est). Two days ago an uncharacteristic blanket of humidity wrapped us in its hateful folds and sprinkled hot driplets of water in our slubbery faces. And today I was awakened by tremendous claps of thunder, the likes of which I have not heard since my Chicagoan boyhood… and yet there was no rain. Even now I’m looking at a CD box set of Danny Elfman music, and the pricetag reads: “FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS.” Dark auguries, to be sure, each one of them more than enough to strike Biblical fear-wounds deep into the hearts of men… but, I ask, what does it all MEAN?
It means, dear reader, it is time for me to write a new blog post (quick one).
(Man, Twitter and Facebook have really taken the shine off the notion of a “personal blog,” haven’t they? Who the hell wants to write full paragraphs, right? What am I, James Freakin’ Joyce?)
Just a wee status update here, on account of some people have been asking…
As you possibly recall, after our GRAND TRIUMPH in DC’s Zuda webcomic competition last April (and thank you again for your help there), the plan was to use all my newfound ELDRITCH! riches (ELDRITCHES!) to get Serenity Rose Vol. 3 rolling out this fall. Then DC killed their whole webcomic line and left me scrambling for other ways to get the bills paid. It happens. (Seriously, if I wanted job security, I would’ve gone into geriatric nursing.*) So I spent the next few months working a few interesting freelance jobs, searching for a new ELDRITCH! home, pecking away at SR 3 here and there, and wondering if I would, indeed, wind up returning to the regular, 10-6 world of television animation (no).
BUT NOW… my freelance slate is clear, ELDRITCH! has a home (details to follow), and it’s time to get back to hard-core comicking. ELDRITCH! is first up. I’d like to have the script and thumbnails for at least the first two issues finished and shipped off to the increasingly formidable “Devilish” Drew Rausch before I dig back into SR3. So when will Serenity’s third (AND FINAL?) story begin? Well, I’m not taking the “this fall” down yet, but realistically, winter is more likely. The first 10 pages are going to be something special.
(Vicious has graciously agreed to continue whispering through the end of the year, so by all means, keep sending questions!)
I also have an amazing French translation of SR1 to letter, and a fabulous Dutch version, as well. German is coming up fast… Great God Almighty, what have I gotten into!
Exciting times, my friends. Full of danger and portent and electricity blazing through clouds of volcanic ash in an old photo included with this post. So cool!
* It’s not too late!
Scotts Pilgrim and Ramona Flowered, WITH SWORDS. And a whole mess o’ hearts because he loves her so. (Studio audience “d’awwwwwww!” goes here.) NOTE: SP characters just don’t look right without giant, cracked-out pupils. I determined this through SCIENCE.
I never had anything to do with the Scotts Pilgrim, but I did work on some projects featuring the characters below:
For more dark acts of commissionry, dial C for the COMMISSIONS GALLERY.
And to get your OWN zesty Canadians or Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Irkens, kindly launch an e-mail toward SERENITY@HEARTSHAPEDSKULL.COM. The base price for art commissions is $50, and $30 for each additional character on the same page. Shipping is all kinds of free within the U.S., and a measly $3 to parts beyond.
You’ll always be my Clash At Demonhead.
The goddess CHIBI (of my most favoritest BIRTHDAY MASSACRE) screams, “HAPPY NEW YEAR!”
And a happy new year it is! Filled with… STUFF. And THINGS. SOUND AND FURY, signifying PLENTY. (Well, maybe not so much “sound”…) I’ve got TWO (2) new comics debuting here in the first half of 2011 – ELDRITCH! and Serenity Rose Vol. 3 – and man, it’s gonna HURT LIKE FLAMING HELL when those two finally ignite the gleeparts of your cerebral cortex (I hope). Later on this year I’ll also be rolling out some translated versions of SR for those in various (as yet) un-Anglicized regions of the earth. French and Dutch so far, but more be jumpin’ on the griddle. Lots of busy-ness this year!
AND YET THE COMMISSIONS KEEP ON COMING. Mostly because they’re the best and funnest way for you guys to help me finance all these lovely comics. (Not the easiest, though. That would be original art sales.) Thanks so much to everyone who commissioned a sketch last month!
To learn more of the shadowy underworld of commissionation, knock three times and enter the COMMISSIONS GALLERY.
To get your OWN needle queen, tagger-bot sweetie or magic ring man, kindly launch an e-mail toward SERENITY@HEARTSHAPEDSKULL.COM. The base price for art commissions is $50, and $30 for each additional character on the same page. Shipping is all kinds of free within the U.S., and a measly $3 to parts beyond.
Happy 2011!
HEY! You guys remember when we all got together and won that big “Zuda” webcomic contest last year? The one where you all came out to vote for my ELDRITCH! comic, with all the tentacles and so on? Our pal Drew Rausch drew it? Those were crazy times!
“Yeah, whatever happened with that?” you’re maybe (hopefully) asking. “Is ELDRITCH! just dead now or what?”
NO IT IS NOT. Let me explain, in the form with which I am least comfortable: A PRESS RELEASE (which you’re seeing before any actual “press” does, because… well, why shouldn’t you?):
ELDRITCH! SHOCKED BACK TO LIFE THIS JUNE
Anya Sobczek is a snarling science major with an arm full of Darwin tattoos. Her brother Owen is a sensitive lad in a coven of teenage occultists. The Sobczek sibs don’t get along at the best of times, but now that Owen’s body has started bubbling with ancient tentacled beasties, their rivalry’s about to enter a whole new dimension of cosmic terror.
2010: Artists Drew Rausch and Aaron Alexovich hurled their infectious horror/comedy hybrid ELDRITCH! into blazing combat in DC Comics’ final Zuda webcomic competition. After several centuries it emerged, dazed and confused, with the word WINNER indelibly etched on its forehead.
It was promptly buried in an unmarked grave.
This summer, ELDRITCH! will be shocked back to life.
Aaron and Drew are feverishly happy to announce they’ve partnered with the mad doctors at COMIXOLOGY and GRAPHIC.LY to unleash ELDRITCH! onto every digital format they can sink their claws into, including iPad/iPod/iPhone, Android devices, your home computer and eNecronomicon (pending). Nook and Kindle versions are also in the works.
Starting THIS JUNE, ELDRITCH! will be released in six 24-page monthly installments, priced at $0.99 each. You can download the first nine totally reworked pages HERE: heartshapedskull.com/ELDRITCH/ELDRITCH_preview.pdf
You have waited long enough, Elder Things. Thank you to everyone who helped push ELDRITCH! to victory in 2010, and we hope to drive you all to gibbering madness in 2011. Help spread the infection!
About Aaron Alexovich: Aaron is the artist/writer of the spookycute horror series Serenity Rose and the teen cyberpunk novel Kimmie66. He’s also worked as an artist on Fables, Disney’s Haunted Mansion, Confessions of a Blabbermouth, and (in the animation world) Nickelodeon’s Invader Zim and Avatar: The Last Airbender. AND ALSO MORE: heartshapedskull.com
About Drew Rausch: Drew Rausch is best known for his spooky scratchy cartoon work as seen in the pages of CTHULHU TALES, ZOMBIE TALES, DISNEY’S HAUNTED MANSION and THE DARK GOODBYE. He also co-created SULLENGREY. Proof of his artistic existence can be found at dreadscape.deviantart.com and sullengrey.blogspot.com.
HEY!
Have we got any experts on pre-war Golden Age superhero artists out there? There’s got to be at least ONE, right?
When my grandmother passed away a little over a year ago, she left behind a home full of nearly nine decades of collected memories and miscellany. My mom thought this one would be particularly interesting to me, and boy, was she right:
Here’s what Mom had to say about Ol’ Man Muscles:
“My Mom was a student nurse and taking care of a patient in the wards at Ravenswood Hospital on or about 1941. There was a male patient who was sketching Superman pictures and asked her if she wanted one, and he sketched it for her while she watched. I don’t remember much more than that, except that my Mom kept the picture, not knowing if the patient was famous or not! Unfortunately it was not signed. She remembered that the patient was not that old. So many years went by that she never mentioned the picture that any other helpful details have been forgotten, but every time we DID look through her keepsakes she would get all animated about this picture and was quite upset went it went missing. She always hoped that it would surface again!!”
(I have no idea why my father scribbled “C. 1942-1944″ on there. I think maybe his obsession with WW2 just forces him to scribble numbers like that on things every now and then. Happens to a lot of dads!)
Now, it’s possible that whoever drew this thing wasn’t a paid professional Super-drawer at all, just some guy who could whip up a decent Super-sketch to impress his family. (The “Hey, Uncle Jack knows how to draw Snoopy!” Effect.) But it sure would be cool if it WAS a bona fide Golden Age comic artist.
As far as I can tell, there are about nine people drawing Superman professionally in 1941. There was Joe Shuster, Jack Burnley (the daily strip artist), Fred Ray (mostly a cover artist), and Shuster’s large team of assistants: Leo Nowak, John Sikela, Paul Cassidy, Wayne Boring, Dennis Neville (co-creator of Hawkman!), and Ed Dobrotka. Since all of these guys were working more-or-less anonymously and in the same style, doing a simple comparison between this sketch and various comic pages is… well, let’s just say “a frustrating experience at best.” Apparently it wasn’t uncommon for EVERY SINGLE ARTIST on Shuster’s team to work on EVERY SINGLE PAGE of a given comic. (Clicky HERE and HERE for an interesting look behind the scenes.) I can’t imagine that…
Using crazy Googly magic, I did manage to find Chicago/Midwest connections for a few of these guys. Wayne Boring was a former Art Institute of Chicago student. Leo Nowak was working in Wisconsin at the time (and producing some pretty impressive pin-up art, too). Being a native Chicagoan, my mind instantly zeroed in on the name “Dobrotka,” and indeed, there’s an “Edward Dobrotka” listed on this site as a painter of Chicago scenes before 1950.
The BEST match, however, is Paul Cassidy, noted for being the first to put a big “S” on Superman’s cape. Mr. Cassidy was born and raised in Illinois, worked in Shuster’s shop until 1940, and, in 1941, was making his living as an artist at World Book Encyclopedia in Chicago.
(Tragically, there does not appear to have ever been a Superman artist by the name “Ol’ Uncle Muscles.” SHOULD’VE BEEN, though.)
SO! Can anyone out there back up my “Paul Cassidy” guess? Or point me toward anyone who might? Looking for a few good Golden Age pros here!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to get in line for Antiques Roadshow. (Hang in there, PBS!)
PSST.
Come over here, guys… Let me just crack open the door a teensy tiny bit and we’ll all take a look outside. Just a small peek into the bright and roaring world of WORK-FOR-HIRE. I know it’s scary out there, but bear with me. Remember the last time I had you look at one of my freelance jobs? The LYLIAN comics? That was fun, wasn’t it?
Today’s glimpse into the world of non-comics is THE PENELOPE ROSE by Mobad Games. Whereas my Lylian job was “spooky cute,” The Penelope Rose is CUTTING-EDGE CUTE.™®© Check it out:
The Penelope Rose is an iPad/Phone app that creates a three-dimensional experience with no glasses required. The effect is sort of like peering through the window of a tiny diorama you hold in your hands. Tilt your iPad one way, you get one view, tilt it another, you get another. Up and down and every whichaway. Go ahead, look behind the iPad… there’s nothing there. ALL IS ILLUSION.
Here’s another video to give you the idea:
The characters are all my designs, but every speck of painting was done by the infinitely talented Gian Marayag. The Mobad team (including the infamous Ami “Gofflin” Goff) has come up with something really special here, a fresh, unique and genuinely INNOVATIVE way of telling a story, and I’m proud to have been a tiny part of it. (For more joyful raving, please consult Digital Storytime, The iPad Fan, and this very flattering mention at the mighty CNET.)
Penelope Rose is on sale RIGHT NOW through the App Store for nothing but a cute lil’ $6.99. A CUTTING-EDGE CUTE™®© lil’ $6.99. Please give ‘er a look, download a copy, and become one with the new-ness.
There comes a time in every artist’s life when he or she must draw Sailor Moon. For me, that time was last week.
When will YOUR number come up, fellow artists?
But nah, it was fun to do, even if all the research involved nearly inverted my skull.* There’s just something really charming about those character designs, filled with girly glee as they are. Big ups to Squeek for the commission request! She also requested a Sailor Saturn (WITH GLAIVE).
The smokily sexual fella up there is the mysterious “Tender” from Dawn Metcalf’s dark YA fantasy novel LUMINOUS, due out this summer. Go take a look… It features SKINLESSNESS.
For more sparkles and hearts and exotic but dangerous strangers, please enter my COMMISSIONS GALLERY.
And to get some help sparkling up your OWN home, please send to me an e-mail: SERENITY@HEARTSHAPEDSKULL.COM. The base price for art commissions is $50, and $30 for each additional character on the same page. Shipping is all kinds of free within the U.S., and a measly $3 to parts beyond.
SPARKLES!
*For instance:
HELP MEEEEE!
FOUR (4) VICIOUS WHISPERINGS are up on eBay today, including fan-favorites* “GIGER,” wherein V grows a bio-mechanical tail, and “FAUCET,” wherein V defines art via liquid Mona Lisa:
Brrr… CLOWNS…
Happy bidding, all! This whole thing comes to a crashing end this THURSDAY, APRIL 28th, around 4PM PST. Thanks for taking a look! You can see ALL my auctionations HERE.
*Also “me-favorite.”
Serenity Rose Vol. 1 ( le journal intime d’une sorcière autochtone ) is now available en Français, courtesy of the indefatigable Caroline Dumont. ( Merci, Caroline! ) Click Petit Sera to see:
And please, if you are a French speaker / know some speakers of French, we’d love it if you could help us spread the word. To the walls of Faceblogtwitter with you! And merci beaucoup.
The GRAND TRANSLATION PROJECT rolls on! Caroline will be working on Volume 2 en Français later this year, and I have a Dutch version in front of me now waiting to be lettered. (Might be a while, lil’ Dutch script, but never fear… Your time will come!) There will also be a version en Español in the near future, because such a thing is NECESSARY.
And of course, if you would like to try your hand (or, more importantly, your brain) at translating Serenity Rose into YOUR language, please look over the archived translation posts HERE for more info. If you’ve already called “dibs” on a language, please let me know how it’s going! One day you, too, could share in Caroline’s glory.
“Bienvenue chez toi, Serenity Rose.”
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ELDRITCH! (for those who aren’t already sick to death of hearing me bang on about it) is a bloody Lovecraftian horror/comedy comic scribbled out by me and illustrated by “Devilish” Drew Rausch. It’s filled to bursting with strange humans, stranger monsters, Darwin tattoos, meat cleavers, magic spells, twitchering black tentacles, poorly-remembered Bon Jovi songs and all the best stuff there is! Starting TODAY we’ll be selling ELDRITCH! as a series of six 24-page digital downloads every six weeks, with each one priced at an almost unfathomably low $0.99.
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You have a few options to choose from, the simplest being a pdf file downloaded straight from us right HERE. The pdf will work on pretty much any device you own (try your toaster!), including iPad/Phone/Pod, Nook, Kindle, Android thingummy, and, of course, your desktop (Mac and PC). Basically, if you’re reading this… you can read ELDRITCH!
And just for today, we have a special-type offer: Buy your copy of ELDRITCH!, send a message to serenity@heartshapedskull.com, and you’ll be entered to win ORIGINAL SKETCHES by both me and Drew. And for every 100 copies we sell today, we’ll pick a new winner. There is, quite simply, no better way to injure yourselves with our work.
Thank you so much for your support, guys! The indie comic scene is NOT an easy place to get a small voice heard, and I really appreciate what you’ve done to help amplify mine. It means a lot, and more and more as time goes on. The comic world is shifting beneath us, and as scary as it can sometimes be, it’s also the most exciting time of my life.
Please let me know what you think! Both content-wise and format-wise, I mean. (Did the pdf work for you? How does it look? Was the process simple enough? That Ted Newbarn, he sure is a freakish character, ain’t he?) We’re still working out the kinks here, so we’d LOVE it if you could leave a comment here, at the ELDRITCH! site, or – for those so Facebook-inclined – at the ELDRITCH! Official Fan Lair.
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Did you know the word for “comic book” in Dutch is stripverhalen?
It is both the word for “comic book” and the place I hope to go to when I die.
Anyway… HALLO DAAR! Just a quick post to let you know Serenity Rose Boek Eén: De negativiteit voorbij is now available in DUTCH, courtesy of our friend Stewart Newdale (A good man… and THOROUGH). Stewart’s already finished Boek Twee, as well, so our organization can expect full domination of the Netherlands within the next few months, right on schedule. Watch your back, Mark Rutte of the VVD!
As before, if you are a Dutch speaker / know some speakers of Dutch, please help us spread the word far and wide. I want you to scream so loud Van Gogh can hear you no matter HOW many ears he cuts off.
The word for “witch” in Dutch is heks. Serenity Rose: Een stripverhalen over HEKSEN.
So which will be the next language to join Dutch and FRENCH in conquering the GRAND TRANSLATION CHALLENGE? Right now it looks to be either Spanish or German, but who knows? Portuguese, Afrikaans, Farsi, or some ancient Enochian dialect could swoop in at any moment and claim the prize. To see how to get your words of choice into the race, please examine THESE PAGES. And, as always, dank u zeer!
“Welkom thuis, Serenity Rose.”
And I will be there next week, I guess. (Hoo boy.) Mostly I’m just there to pitch my new, Hollywood-friendly Serenity Rose concept to all the important entertainment industry people:
BUT in between all the awful shilling and selling out I will, as usual, be sat at the SLG Publishing booth (#1815), hanging out, talking to all you genuinely important people, and possibly preparing delicious sandwiches. (Ask for my “Special Mustard!”) Here’s the full schedzicus:
THURSDAY: 1-4 PM
FRIDAY: 1-4 PM
SATURDAY: 1-4 PM
SUNDAY: 11 AM – 3:30 PM
According to the chart I have, ELDRITCH! artman Drew Rausch and I will be occupying the exact same physical space for all those signing times, which will be both horrifically uncomfortable and, I hope, very, very funny.
EDIT 7/15: Not going to have those print copies of ELDRITCH! #1 for the con, unfortunately. They were simply too terrifying to be seen by human eyes. Drew will be happy to do detailed architectural renderings on the backs of our giveaway ELDRITCH! postcards, though. And I will be happy to shred them for sammich fixin’s.
See you next week!
TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY (Hooray!). And the greatest gift of all is, of course, the gift of you reading ELDRITCH! #2, the latest chapter of my Lovecraftianish horro-monstomedy with spectacularly hideous art by Dastardly Drew Rausch (impenetrably scribbley page layouts and shtoinky Don-Martinesque SFX by me).
“Chapter Two: A HISS FROM THE CRADLE.
“Owen Sobczek is filled with angry black worms. His fearsome skeptic sister Anya wants to know WHY. They might have been conjured by Owen’s coven of wealthy teenage occultists. They might have been built behind locked doors in the Newbarns’ suspiciously lovely home. Or they may have crawled out from someplace much, much darker.
The terror writhes deep under your skin in the new chapter of ELDRITCH!”
Digital Download | 24 Pages | Available NOW.
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We really stepped up our “game” for this one, guys. The way Drew handles Owen’s creepy pal Chaston Willoughby III… it’s just UNREAL. I still have nightmares about that guy’s teeth, and he’s not even the MONSTER in this one. Eerie, eerie teeth. Unsettling chompers.
The SECOND greatest gift you could give me for my birthday, though, would be a 3D rendering of Serenity Rose in her legendary “Heartbreaker” pose, with maybe some sweet electro-industrial thwanging in the background. Anyone got one of those?
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Heartbreakers: Sera from Lathan Lindsey on Vimeo.
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How cool is THAT? Thanks so much, Lathan! (One day she must be animated.)
Thank you for supporting the comics, everyone! And especially thank you to everyone who came out to see Drew and me in San Diego. I apologize for all the weeping and violent profanity, and promise it will never happen again. At least until the Alternative Press Expo in October.
Happy Birthday to me!
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