Evan Dorkin's Blog, page 13

Second Metal Men DC Nation Short - Preview Clip

You can see the clip for the second Metal Men short here. I'm guessing the new short is running tomorrow at 10 a.m. EST.

For even more laughs, check out the Youtube comments below the clip offering expert opinions from a variety of cartoon-loving mouth-breathers. I just hope everyone chiming in there is fourteen or under, it's too depressing to believe otherwise. Can you imagine working full-time at Dc or Marvel or some network or whatever and getting this kind of monkey feedback every day? Maybe that explains the defensive nature of so many people who deal with this stuff week-in, week-out.

Wild. Simply wild.

Fun Strips Under Construction

For a future issue of Dark Horse Presents.

More Art on the Chopping Block

Some new stuff on eBay, SD Captain America, M&C, Mad illustrations and a strip, Fun Strips, etc. Auctions can be found here.



As always, thanks for looking!

DC Nation: Metal Men

Well, one of the things Sarah and I have been sitting on for a while (besides uncomfortable office chairs) is now out in the open, so, here you go: we wrote a batch of Metal Men cartoons for the DC Nation series. I also did the character designs, although they were simplified quite a bit from what I submitted.

There are five shorts, each is a minute and a half or so, iirc, and they were animated at Augenblick Studios. While the cartoons can be seen in any order -- they're all self-contained -- there is a sort of invisible continuity to them. Sarah and I referred to it as, "Birth, School, Work, Death" , and I guess "Destruction" could be slipped in there, along with "Goofiness". Mostly goofiness, to be honest.

You can see a preview of the first short here. Apparently the first cartoon is airing this Saturday on the Cartoon Network, before the Teen Titans Go! show. I think. We had no idea they were going to announce this so we're playing catch-up. Anyway, I hope DC Nation viewers enjoy them, especially the kids. Nothing against longtime fans and responsometer wonks -- there's two or three Ross Andru/Mike Esposito-designed villains in the mix -- but the kids were who we were thinking of while working on the stuff.

For your eyeball edification, my designs for the DC Nation:

Batman vs Clayface Commission Pencils

Commissions always take me longer than I expect them to, this one is the unfortunate winner of my "longest a paid customer's had to wait" award. It ran so late I started adding more business and characters to make up for the wait, which, of course, extended the wait. Originally this was an animated-style Batman versus Clayface, now it's, well, you can see what it is. I enjoyed working on it, even though I found the animated style harder to work on than expected -- Clayface was especially fun, as was Killer Croc, the only character I got down on paper without a fight. I didn't nail the animated style as well as hoped, the figures are stiffer than I was going for in my mind, but I like the piece. I went overboard on tightening the pencils because I'm afraid to ink loose pencils, especially in a style I'm not familiar with -- but I also got into tightening the pencils for its own sake and the OCD kicked in and the worry and then, etc etc. Inking this will be interesting, since it's inked in pencil in so many places. 10" by 14" on Bristol, fyi.

The Return of The Latest HOF Art Auctions

New stuff on the block for those who want new stuff. From. Us. Coupla few sketch cards, pin-ups, something from Mad, something from a Hectic Planet trade.

Here's where to click to see what there is to see and bid on stuff.

As always, thanks for any bids tossed our way.

Signed and Personalized HOF Books By Mail

So, here's the deal -- my local comic shop, Comic Book Jones, has started up an online mail order site, Comic Book Jones Trans-Global. Some of my books are available through the site, including the Beasts of Burden: Animal Rites and Milk & Cheese hardcover collections. Since I'm in the shop every one or two weeks, I figured I'd offer to sign copies of any of my books ordered through the CBJ site. People have asked me about selling signed copies  -- something I'm usually unable to do -- and I don't do many conventions, so here's a way to get a personalized copy of something I worked on if you or someone you know is interested in such a thing.

Basically anything they sell that I had a hand in I'd be happy to sign. That means shipping will take some extra time, of course, but the trade-off is a personalized book and a little sketch, just the way I sign stuff at shows. The HOF-related items they are currently listing are here.

Questions about getting a book signed can be sent to the Jones Clan at ComicBookJones@gmail.com -- drop them a line and they'll hook you up. When I'm in the shop getting comics I'll sit down and scribble in your  book for you. No additional charge for signatures/sketches, btw.

This offer lasts as long as it lasts.  Act now, act later, see what happens.

From Latveria With Love

Sippin' Doom, 2 1/2" by 3 1/2" sketch card

Uhhhh

Hey. Nothing really going on of any note, unfortunately. Beasts of Burden is still not scheduled. The animation stuff we worked on is still in production or gathering dust or lost in a drawer or something. The comic series I pitched is probably not getting picked up by the publisher I pitched it to, which isn't the end of it, of course, but it certainly wouldn't make for a good beginning. We have some art appearing in upcoming issues of Mad, I was very happy with what we did and hope it prints nicely and looks okay. I have a Dark Horse Presents gig for 8 pages of House of Fun comics, which is cool. Otherwise, things aren't going so hot, except for the actual heat (we hit 93 degrees in the house at about midnight last night, our new record). So, yeah. Staying in there, seeing what happens, hoping things pick up, waiting for the thunderstorms to come and cool the house off a bit.

Anyway, here's a Bill and Ted commission I finished up the other day. I'm trying to catch up on everything I owe folks during the lull.




Hope you're beating the northeast heat as best as you can. Later, skaters.

Super Live Adventure Podcast and Other Gabfests

Hey, folks. If you live on Staten Island -- like I do -- well, I pity you. But it does mean you can see me interviewed this Tuesday for an episode of the Super Live Adventure Podcast, which is run by two guys also stuck here on this forgotten and misbegotten borough of NYC.

Here's the information, for your information, about the recording this Tuesday evening on the Island of Satan:



But wait, there's more: If you're someone who really likes podcasts, and really likes comic books, and really likes the idea of hearing me and several other cartoonists talk about comic books on a podcast -- well, then, boy howdy-howdy are you in luck. Because The Comics Alternative Podcast talked to some of the cartoonist-type folks sitting around behind some of the tables at Heroes Con last week, and I was one of those people behind tables they spoke to...uh...last week. They also spoke to Eric Powell, Peter Bagge, Maris Wicks and a few other folks wishing someone would just friggin' buy something already while they were sitting around doing a podcast interview and screwing up a sketch of Thanos. The Heroes Con episode of the podcast can be found here.

Finally, there's a write-up on The Beat of the Humor in Comics Panel from Heroes Con. That panel...well, look, forget it. I don't want to get into it. It was a fun panel, on the whole. But if you were there, well, for once it wasn't something I said that sucked the air out of the room and created an uncomfortable moment or three. Maybe we should have managers to handle interviews for some individuals like they do in professional wrestling. Have a Grand Wizard of Cartooning or a Bobby "The Brain" Heenan-type do the talking for folks who tend to put their foot, ankles and occasionally legs in their mouths. All Grand Wizards of Cartooning and Comic Book "Brains" please take notice, I see this as a potential growth industry as conventions continue to take over the world and cartoonists continue to be fairly unsocialized creatures.

Anyway, there you go, a big dollop of comic book talkety-talk talk for you to do with what you will.