my god how the time flies !!!!

Well looks like this week's Carson of Venus strip will be up sunday. I don't know why it didn't get posted saturday morning like always. I have no control of when they post them. I just pencil and ink them. So tune in, will ya? 

Well the time sure flies! I can't believe i only get around to these update once a month it seems. I get so wrapped up in Carson and trying to hit the deadlines, i don't have time for anything else it seems. And i am sorry about that.  I have done alot of behind the scenes work for Edgar Rice Burroughs inc. for the strips. Logos mainly.... I of course designed the Carson logo. And also did the upcoming Moon Men, a flyer for the Outlaw of Torn, the Eternal Savage logo, and the Land that Time Forgot one too.

So anyway some behind the scenes things, and things to hopefully come from ERB inc.'s comic universe online!  Below also is a tease of Duare from the Carson of Venus strip.  

So all you legionnaires take care..... Captain Spectre is waiting in the wings and you will see things sometimes in the near future!!!! Hang in there and tell your friends and other legionnaires to sign up for the ERB comics.  Everyone helps get us to a large readership that helps support the production of the strips!!! Help!!

busy busy busy.....

jumping catfish has it been a month already....wow.... sorry for the long month between updates, just kind of been a bit busy with Carson and some other ERB things..... like this postcard for them to give away at shows to promote the ERB comics!

And more and more Carson stuff..... i have been designing ships, beasts, swords, rayguns and all cool things for the strip.

Venus is a very strange world. ha!

....and this was a rejected scene as no one wanted to show a cigarette.... sigh.  Even tho Burroughs smoked and it was the 30's when just about everyone did.  oh well. i reworked it.  So no worries.  I do think people go overboard with the 'not showing' it side of history. 

....and here is a shot of our hero Carson Napier as he talks with Mr. Burroughs about his planning to go to Mars.   ooops. That didn't work out so well, did it. 

Well Loyal Legionnaires.... until next time....keep watching the skies! 

Venus is a busy place.....

Well for the current time being, the Lightning Legion Secret Headquarters has been converted to the planet Venus.... or Amtor as it is known on the surface.  If you are a reader of Edgar Rice Burroughs.  

This is mostly the second time i have traveled to Venus.  Once before officially for Bison Books, I did a cover and a few interior pieces for Pirates of Venus.  But this time it is all out full blown sequential art version of the whole series!  wow, I am nervous for sure.  I have been super busy with design and promo work for the series, and trying to get some strips ahead so i don't fall into the trap of being late, as it is a weekly comic strip.  

As i get into the weeks of the strip, i am really starting to feel like Alex Raymond, or Milton Caniff.  The syndicated comic strip was the high point of cartoonists, back in the day.  Bringing the adventures of far away lands, heroes, other worlds, adventure and romance to readers each week is a thrill for me. I hope everyone will come along for the ride.  As the more people signing up, the better the site preforms and the more we will do.  

I have been knee deep in designing spaceships, costumes, monsters, creatures, ray guns, swords, and people for the strip.  It's sure alot of work in such a short time.  But exciting for sure.  

The Burroughs people are increasing the number of strips, and keeping the price the same. So for $1.99 a month you are going to get 7 strips in the months to come.... I can't name them all now as some are secret.  But in addition to the current running Tarzan adventures, you will get the adaption of the whole Venus series, and new adventures in Pellucidar by Chuck Dixon and Tom Lyle.   It's gonna be a site to visit over and over..... each strip being weekly it will be like laying on the floor on sunday morning with the newspaper spread out in front of you....and adventure on every page!!!! 

SO JOIN UP NOW!!!!!!

Rocket to Venus!!!!

Love Forbidden. Adventure Unending. Terror Eternal

Well Loyal Legionnaires..... it seems the good Captain is going to take a bit of a u-turn.  The news is out and i will be pencilling and inking the adventures of Wrong Way Carson Napier.  With the first strip appearing on the ERB inc. sites comic section starting June 1.    With me on the team is Martin Powell handling the script of Pirates of Venus and Lost on Venus, which we will rocket through this year.  I will be producing a strip a week, with Diana Leto adding the colors.  It's going to be a fun ride. 

The ERB inc. site is a pay site, but more strips are going to be added in the next few months.  I think the total will be six or seven....all for a buck 99 a month.  Not a bad deal considering all the talent lined up.  Currently they are running the Tarzan strip by Roy Thomas and Tom Grindberg.  But then June 1 Carson of Venus starts and more will follow. 

So i have been a bit busy designing logos, and all the costumes, weapons, ships and all that go with these huge planetary romance adventures.   

For the 'look' of Carson i tried to get a mix of the great serial actor Kane Richmond with a dash of Flash Gordon thrown in.  

The nose section of Carson's rocket appearing in the strip.  Sorry i can't show a lot.... you will just have to sign up and read along on a great adventure!!!  

Also at the end of the first years strips, Dark Horse will collect it all and if enough people sign up we will rocket right into the second year of Carson's adventures on Venus.  

As some of you know i am not a stranger to Venus....i worked on the Bison Books version some years back.  

Also i have talked about projects like this....i need these paying projects so i can maybe hit that early retirement, then i can work on more projects like the reason you are here.....Captain Spectre!!!!  So help spread the word about signing up and reading Carson.  And just imagine all the practice i am getting, ha.     Thanks so much for your support and understanding Loyal Legionnaires.  Every thing like this i try gets me a little closer to early retirement and working full time on the stuff i love.

Trying for more updates!

Well, Loyal Legionnaires, I am trying to post more updates....well you know more often is what I mean. Not that I want to bog you down with tons of stuff.  So we have a couple of pieces. 

This first piece is kind of an experiment.  I wanted to try and use more solid blacks on a figure and a bit less feathering and shading. I think is kind of ok..... I am not to comfortable using it yet, but will try some more ways to shade.  This one is kind of from a really rough sketch I did ages ago. I always liked the Tarzan figure so thought I would give it a workover.  Kind of practice for a secret project that I will let everyone in on when I can.  ha. 

This second piece is yet another illustration for the KiGor 'War of the Beast Men' that I am working on.  There will be ten illos in all. I think this is number six or seven, I forget. Anyway it is showing Helene's fighting skills.  I always felt she was one of the toughest pulp heroines around, and I really have fun drawing her.  There should be a pulp story cross over between Helene and Nita Van Sloan from the Spider novels.....now I would read that one right off the rack! 

Well Legionnaires, I do hope you have a great new year!!!! and hope you had a great holiday!  Let's clink our glasses to a great New Year!!! and thanks for looking in. 

tom

my how time flies....

Hey all you Loyal Legionnaires....are you still out there in internet land??? Hope so.

Once again apologizing for the lack of updates. Time just flies the older you get. ha.

I have been a little busy with projects, but it seems to be all over the place so this post is going to wander by the nature of the times.

Well seems that old KiGor wide vision  story I did a couple of years ago for Moonstone is finally going to surface.  If you remember it is a prose story with I think five illustrations I did that spread across the double page spread.  Remember, this is the one.  Written by the great Martin Powell, so look for 'War of the Beast-Men' sometime in the future....I will keep you posted...I promise.

Also been working on another proposed KiGor thing, after all I need a few bucks to pay down some of my medical bills that roll in. Believe me it isn't much of a chance at some money, but then again no publisher pays much at all anymore. It is all back end money and promises mostly. Shame the industry has to resort to this kind of treatment of the talent. Anyway, I feel I draw a bit better than a couple of years ago, so went for a slight redesign of the KiGor character last night while watching 'the Spider Returns' serial. 

I was also dealing with a haunting feeling that the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Deep Ones from HP Lovecrafts tales are closely related. So was playing around with that in my daily warm up sketches...and it is thinking toward another little project for bucks I may have going. 

Also I have been playing around with some color, especially for the Number 13 project for Sequential Pulp/Dark Horse.  I consider myself one of the worst color theorists in the business. Plus I seem to agonize over it way too much when I color something, and it just takes so much time hitting the art one more time after inking it. Sometimes after I ink something, I feel done with it. ha. Anyway here is a un-refined color version of the first page of Number 13. 

Also, since I am thinking ahead to doing more conventions next year and the year after, and also wishing and hoping I can take early retirement....so I figured while I had a pay check coming in I thought I would go ahead and get a business card....then I figured I needed two....one kind of serious one, and one spotlighting the cartooning aspect of everything from cartoony to serious illustration type stuff. So here those are.....

So see even tho I don't make it around to posting, and feel I don't have anything new to show, I guess I really do most of the time.....it may not all be finished stuff, or good stuff.....but it is stuff! ha. 

And of course once again I am slowing down due to my health, can't seem to sit at the board for ultra long periods like I used too.  So some days when the day job is long and tough, the evening just isn't very productive.   

So Loyal Legionnaires hope you are still tuning in........and if you are, Thanks for hanging around and waiting on the old man. 

Page 1 inks as promised...

Hey all, well it was a day yesterday, a long day it seemed. And it was early to rise around Lightning Legion HQ this morning, as I churned out the inks for page 1 from the Number 13 story to be adapted by Martin Powell and myself.

I will try to color this thing, but the more I think about it all I may try to find someone to do the 'flats' at least for me. The reason for this is going to be TIME, as always. Also I truly don't do well with color. My color theory, in my eyes, is the worst thing I do....well other than write, pencil, ink, and everything else...ha. Just a thought anyway. As I would like to find a good colorist to work with for most things I am trying to do....anyway more on that at a later date.

I did have a blast inking this, altho it took a bit of time. Has been awhile since I inked much and with my hands and all I have to get used to it all over again it seems. Getting old isn't fun, so don't try it at home - unsupervised...ha.

I have been trying to cut back on buying stuff, since my try for an early retirement is coming up in a couple of years. I will probably starve to death, but at least I will starve happy, working on my own stuff or doing freelance comics. But sometimes you just can't pass something up. These Artist Editions are truly amazing!!!! Especially this one. I missed out on the Rocketeer one as I didn't really know what they were going to look like. I say my friend Scott's copy of the Rocketeer, and kind of wished I had gotten it. But now it is too high.

For those that don't know of these books, you need to see them. They are full color scans of the original art boards and printed in color at full size. Amazing. You might ask about the 'color' of black and white art, but if you think about it they need to be in color. As many artists used blue line pencils, or litho markers or crayons, and white out and tons of other stuff to make the art. With these scans you get to see it all! So if someone spilled grape juice on the art, then it would be purple. ha.

And of course being printed at full size is amazing. You get to see all the detail, the mistakes, the corrections and all. This Wally Wood book is an amazing 15 x 22 inches....holy moley it is huge!!! As older comic art was on bigger boards, and believe me this shows it all.

And of course these are some of the great EC stories that Wally Wood illustrated. Even one of the Ray Bradbury stories is there. Again Amazing stuff....these pages are a true inspiration to any artist, or comic fan for sure. The price is high, but worth every penny.

the beginning of #13 and stuff

Well here are the long awaited pencils to page 1 of Number 13. Number 13 is the adaption of ERB's Monster Men written by Martin Powell with art scribbles by me, coming in the future from Sequential Pulp imprint of Dark Horse comics.

While doing the pencils, and now while doing the inks this weekend, I can't seem to get that old 'monster mash' song out of my mind. ha.

Also, it has been a very long time since I updated the Legion blog here.  I won't go into details since it is the old standard things and I hate even using an excuse. Really there is no excuse other than the medical and all. My mother used to have a saying, 'just pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get going'. That keeps running thru my mind too. Needless to say sometimes it doesn't work really well remembering that. And since I hate to post if I don't have anything solid to show. Oh sure there are sketches, mostly bad ones lately, and there are writing ideas and all, but again nothing solid. So I will try and post the inks to this page later this weekend. I should finish it up tomorrow, if all goes well, so look for it later tomorrow.

I always think of tons of stuff I should post about, but then when I start posting it all seems to go away. Ha, one of the worst things of getting old.

I am kind of pumped because of the newer footage of the John Carter movie. It does look like a good adventure film.  And if you can believe the leaking reviews, it is trending as an adventure film with heart and a story. I sure hope so as more people need to know of Edgar Rice Burroughs and his works. Most modern readers or first timers will probably think his writing is stilted and old fashioned, and well it might be in places for the modern mind.  But people need to realize where all the stuff they have been watching for decades comes from.

I was always a bigger fan of the Tarzan novels than the Mars. I enjoy them both a lot, just always could really get into the Tarzan and some of the other series more. I don't remember ever playing John Carter as a kid, but I do remember trying to be like Tarzan. ha.

Also, as a bit of news, I started a page on Facebook for Action Science Adventures magazine. This, if you don't know, was the fictional pulp mag that I created when I started Captain Spectre years ago. His adventures, sequential and prose, would have appeared in this magazine.  But lately with the growing new pulp comics and prose items, I have noticed people from time to time will stumble on the term 'action science' for a description of some adventures here and there. So since I came up with the term when Cap started I thought I had better put out some stuff to anchor my claim to it.  The future Captain Spectre stuff will be under this banner or publishing house.
I would hope in the future to achieve to actually put out issues of this, with sequential and prose stories in it. I really like the combo of comics and prose together in one magazine. I have seen a couple of later day pulps that did this and thought it was something I would like to do.  All in the future, but the mind likes to have something to shoot for. ha.

Also the other day I was churning thru old archive discs looking for a couple of files, haven't found them yet but did find some of my discs are losing date.  But in the process found some older stuff. This maybe be a piece not many of you have seen. I did this cover for a game supplement book for a pulp game company a few years ago. Ha a blast doing it.....I sure need to get back on the painting wagon some day soon.....but time is my enemy.  

overdue post

 Here are some of the things I have been slowly working on. These are a couple of additional pages for 'Pre-flight' - the stand alone Captain Spectre adventure I am currently working on. I don't want to give it all away as I want some surprizes left in the book. But I do like getting reactions to the storytelling and art from everyone so I will post as much as I can. Alot of it will be process stuff, from pencils to inks into the color process. I am trying to keep this story short and simple and that is tough to do as I want to pack all kinds of things into it. But I have to try and keep it manageable so I will finally finish one book at a time. ha. I want it to be action packed so keeping the speeches down is tough to get some ideas across. After all it's about the action for Captain Spectre.

Also a character piece for 'Number 13'. Here we have Virginia manning the Maxium machine gun mounted on the foredeck of the yacht, with the chinese cook bringing ammo to her as they strike back at the pirates.

And again apologies to all the loyal Legionnaires for the lack of posts. I have been having a very hard time with my physical and mental states lately. But I will leave all that up to my biographer when they write my pitiful life story.....ha.

Number 13 (Monster Men) progress

Well Loyal Legionnaires, I was wanting to post this in a finished state, but it just didn't make the grade yet. But here are the inks progressing. I really have most of it finished, just need to put the jungle, the vines on the adobe walls and fix a couple of areas. Which will have to wait for a few more days. My hand just won't take anymore this weekend. 

Just six months ago, I could have inked this piece in a day. This is close to two days work and looking at another one for the background. I really hate this stuff that is attacking me. It is getting worse all the time.

So anyway that is about it Legionnaires, I am sorry I wanted to post some Captain Spectre stuff, but nothing new has happened. That is nothing new in the art area. Even tho this stuff is slowing down my hands, it hasn't taken over my mind. So I am learning more about writing all the time. Hopefully all this behind the scenes work that I really can't show will improve the stories greatly. I can only hope. It is a complex thing to design and trim a story to get it into a comic. I think short story or novel might be easier. More room to get the points across. The comics have to be lean and mean, trimmed down to get you to want to turn the page.

Anyway, I am off to my big chair to watch a bit of tv and write some more, and rest my arm and hand.....

Swift, Sure and True.....Legionnaires.

Nov 13 update...

Well folks, and of course Loyal Legionnaires from all over, it seems I just can't keep up. I have a couple of additions to throw at you so here goes.

The first are the finished pencils for a piece produced for the project 'Number 13'. An ERBurroughs adventure published in 1913, adapted by Martin Powell. Number 13 is the original name of 'the Monster men'. We are going to use the original tales' name to try to keep things straight.
This is a piece that I roughed out, sized up in photoshop and fixed a couple of things, then lightly printed out onto board, then I finished the pencils on the printed board. It is a great way to get things composed and organized on the page before committing to highly finished pencils or even inks.

The second piece is the finished cover design to 'PreFlight' which is taking over, kind of cutting in line in front of the promised 'Solo Flight' issue of Captain Spectre. Again the reason for this juggling of issues is that 'PreFlight' will be a short tale, and easier for me to get to. It will be an introductory tale to Captain Spectre....kind of setting the stage. But it isn't an origin story. It will have a taste of an origin to let new readers know who, what, why, and all that of the Captain Spectre story. But nothing long and drawn out. I have posted this before, but it didn't have the cover treatment done to it. 

And if you want to know a bit more I will post this below the actual good stuff up top. The reason I haven't posted much, is I haven't been able to get much done. I have had many bad days lately and things just aren't moving along at a decent pace. I hate it, and I hate even writing about it. I feel like I am whining, and have never been know to whine much about myself, just about my day job and stupid things. ha. Anyway I will continue to post the medical stuff below the art so as you Loyal Legionnaires pass over the art, you can ignore the last paragraph of my posts. Here's to better days and more art which leads to more posts. 

Lightning Legion update....overdue

Well Legionnaires, it is about time I posted an update. Sorry for the delay in postings, but as you know from past mentions, my home computer went down with a video card malfunction. So many dollars and days later I finally have it back and am up and running. Also there are some health issues, which is going to be a constant in my life from now on. So I am still getting used to all of that too. Then throw in the day job, domestic duties, and all normal things and life really zooms by. Also I am beginning the layout process for 'number 13', the adaptation of ERB's Monster Men novel.

Speaking of the 'number 13' project, I will be pimping it at the I-con convention in Des Moines Iowa this coming week. On Sept 17 I will be at the Adventure Land inn in Des Moines at this great little event. It is a one day con with tons of Iowa comic fans. Such a good group of people put on the con and attend it too. I haven't been to a con in quite awhile and really don't have anything to sell, other than myself, ha. But I need to get out more and will be there all day on Saturday, the day of the con. I will try to do as many sketches as I can for fans.....so if you are in the area please drop by and shoot the breeze as I try to get more people to join the Lightning Legion and look forward to the 'number 13' book.

Here is a bit of a teaser I am working on. Not final of course, I am working on the coloring and all, but I needed something quick to make a table sign out of, and don't have time to do a new piece, just enough time to finish this one up. So an in progress work for sure......

Also here are a couple of thumbnail layouts for the juicy fight scene between number 13 and number 1....

I am still working on costumes, and have actually asked a person that is a professional costume designer to pick some period costumes for me in this project. We are keeping the period the novel was set in which is around 1913, so that will be a challenge in itself. 

Also so many little things have happened and are going on since the last update. I received my two action figures and they are more AWESOME than any photos can do justice too. Hence I don't really have photos of them to show other than the ones you have already seen here. But they will be making the journey to Iowa with me, so they will make their premiere at the Iowa I-con show at my table. It is what I got them for was to attract people to the table, so I can tell them all about the strip and stuff. ha. 

Stay tuned....Loyal Lightning Legionnaires!!!

Number One finally finished.

Well, I finally got this thing inked. It took alot longer than I thought it would. Some of the problem was my hand, some was just time as all the weekend of the 4th I was trying to finish a project for work and just didn't have time to ink on this piece. So now I enter the ranks of Mark Schultz, William Stout, Frank Frazetta, St. John and others I am sure that I haven't seen yet - in presenting Number One and Miss Maxon traveling thru the jungle.

Also I finished a shirt that I always wanted, I kind of got the idea for it from a Lovecraft hoodie I have that has a logo for the expedition from the Mountains of Madness. So I have been working on this for awhile but just finally got it posted up to zazzle so I could order me one. So I made a shirt for the 1933 East Indies expedition of the S. S. Venture. Also as a tease on the front pocket area I put one of my favorite sayings from the film.....when Capt. Englehorn is talking about the east indies and the location of Skull Island he says a complete fantasy statement that means nothing but sounds cool....Due South, 90 East ...which makes no sense in relation to where they are or where they are going....  I was actually tempted to put my all time favorite line on it. But it doesn't pertain to the ship. It is when Jack looking at the wall and replying to the size of it.....'I was up at Angkor once, and it is bigger than this and nobody knows who built it...'

http://www.zazzle.com/s_s_venture_crew_shirt-235008786817627873

ERB's Number One

Well here is a stab at the most drawn scene from Edgar Rice Burroughs 'the Monster Men'. Bill Stout, Mark Schultz, Frank Frazetta, St. John have all done this scene. So I figured I would give it a try. I didn't even know Mark had done a version until this wednesday when I finally got a copy of his great sketchbook Vol. 5. I got it home and opened it up and bang there was a drawing of Number 13 and Number 1 fighting, which was something not done yet with it. Then a commission piece of this scene. I had previously drawn a version but when I saw Mark's I just tore mine up and threw it away. The pose was almost exactly the same. 

So anyway here are the pencils. I am pretty sure it won't be the cover but it might be a splash page or something if I am lucky.

Here are the inks as they stand Sunday evening.....it is a very slow process right now. My hand is giving me fits lately. So anyway enjoy Loyal Legionnaires, and I promise more Captain Spectre very soon. I still have a couple of commissions to knock out from my friends fund drive I was working on. But Captain Spectre pages are boiling on my workbench to be done. And in my mind. Thanks for tuning in.

Oh, I also added a blog roll over on the right side, down a bit....blogs I follow as they update will be at the top. As I installed this gadget there were 128 blogs I follow on my list...sheesh. But as they post they will drift up. So enjoy that small addition too. It's all about the links and traffic, Legionnaires.

Fathers Day...

I had an idea for a WW2 era Captain America and Bucky drawing. I loved those Kirby issues where the acrobatics were part of their character. They worked as a team facing all obstructions. I also tried my hand at inking in solid bold strokes kind of like Chic Stone. His inking was so solid that Jacks figures just leapt off the page. I did this drawing on spec. Maybe someone will buy it, as I still have until the end of the month to hand over the money to my friend in need. Anyway it is inked, on 11x17 plate finish strathmore board. 

This is a version of the above colored with the limited palette of the old comics industry. I have been playing with different ways to color my images in prep for deciding which way I want to color 'Solo Flight' when I get it all done. 

I did this Creature on spec to start off the commissions, and it sold....thanks David....I had never drawn a creature before, except when I was a kid I tried it a few times after seeing the movies. My favorite Universal monster as when I was a kid I was a big fan of scuba diving. Loved all the shows like Sea Hunt, Aquanauts, and the movies like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. I ended up getting my aqua lung license and doing some diving in some off time in the service. Last real dive I made was in the East China Sea many years ago. Couldn't do any of it now a days, but I do fondly remember it. Deep sea adventures and space stuff were high on my list of kid dreams.

This was a commission I knocked out this past week also, from a friend who used to game with a small group I was part of a few years ago. He was rereading the first Burroughs' Mars books and wanted a shot of John Carter. When I was a kid I was always a bigger fan of the Tarzan stuff than the Mars stuff. And that has kind of carried over. I tend to not draw John Carter but this was one of the first I had ever done, and finished to this stage. I guess access as a kid is a big thing...there were the great Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller, comic books, and the novels. I always enjoyed the mars books, just preferred the jungle adventures. I would think in todays world, off world adventures is the next frontier. When I was a kid Africa was still mysterious, not that it still isn't...just we have taken some of it away. 

So on this father's day I would like to salute my dad. We had our differences for sure. But I never really got to know him. He died when I was young. But that made him more of a legend in my eyes than ever. He was a mystery to me, but he was my dad. I spent a good deal of my life as a diesel mechanic because of his ghost. I wanted to be as good a mechanic as him. Hell I wanted to be able to anything as good as he could. But I never made it. I was a good mechanic, but I was never a builder like him. I felt he could do anything. He built a swing set for me and my brother when we were kids, and that swing set still stands today. I imagine that when the world is finally blown apart in some horrific event that a chunk of earth will float off into the cosmos with that damned swing set still intact. So happy Father's Day to you dad...and happy father's day to my sons who are fathers and doing a better job at it than I ever did.