the Wild West Was Here (assembly)

Uncut Pages.

the Wild West Was Here book 1...ish @ Springcon

So its official. I have the first few copies of the book in print. It has three stories, the Bitter Cold, ...Said the Pilgrim to the Duke, and the Mirror Universe Affair. I'll be at Springcon here in the twin cities this weekend so swing by and get one. I'll also have the marvel cuties buttons, a few Yul Brynner t-shirts, and old stuff like post cards and even some of the old wyatt earp books.

Stop by and get a sketch. I hate when people charge for sketches (not commissions... I'm totally okay with $$ for those, but I don't like paying for sketches) So I'll do some sketches for free or donations or whatever. Maybe we'll do a sketch trade. You do a sketch for me and I'll do one for you. Either way, come one down.

Eventually the book will be available elsewhere. Eventually.

Earp scraps

Here is a small selection of some Wild West Pages.

the Bitter Cold

Here's a screenshot from page 1 of "the Bitter Cold"

...Said the Pilgrim to the Duke pg1

You may remember seeing the pencils and inks for this page a year or two ago... or maybe more. Well that's how long it takes to do a single page. Fact.

check it out! Wyatt Earp Stuff....

In preparation for this next issue going to print I've been going back through and reformatting old pages. Last time the book saw paper it was a very widesrceen approach where as now we have adopted the standard web comic format. There are pages that were drawn a few years ago in the old layout that now need to be reformatted (since this has been something like 3 or 4 years in the making...sorry) take a look. The originals are on the top. The reformatted versions are on the bottom.

Also here are the front and back covers for book 2. If you find the colors to be garish its probably because you're using Firefox which handles colors in an odd way sometimes. If you are overly concerned and are loosing sleep at night load the image up in another browser. It will look fine. If it still doesn't look fine you can consider the possibility that you may have poor taste.

Also, if you are reading this you should go buy Justin's story in this magazine!

Cross-Post: DON'T ASK, JUST BUY IT!

Buy a magazine that contains a story I wrote and show publishers that you support authors with sideburns:

http://justinpollock.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/arcane-1-featuring-hazards-by-justin-pollock-on-sale-now/

Cross-Post: Two New Stories Slated for Publication in April 2011

In case you are interested, info on the stories I wrote, where they will be appearing, and when:

http://justinpollock.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/two-new-stories-slated-for-publication-in-april-2011/

Also: haircut travails. Miss it not!

LOOK

So it's not done yet...needs a bit of fine-tuning, I suppose (add more blogroll links and do more with them)...but it is live and out there, so I can share it with you. Test drive it, if you like:

http://justinpollock.wordpress.com

Now that I actually have published work coming out, this place needs to exist. Not a replacement for this blog (although I have been neglecting it lately - did I not tell you about The Internet Troubles?), but a supplement. The blog you're reading now will still be Wild West Was Here updates and comics, the new one will professional updates and horror.

Or at least that is the plan...

Earp in progress

Congratulations to Justin on his news. Here is a progress shot of an Earp page. There was a fair amount of debate on whether the pages should be toned with a spacey blue/green or the more western themed tan. Its still a bit up in the air but for the time being we're leaning towards the tan.

You have not heard the last of me

Hey dudes. You still drop by once and a while? Aside from the faithful commenters who let me know VERY INTERESTING POST THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOU BUY IMITATION ROLEX WATCH CHEAP, YES?

I haven't posted anything lately because I have had what is known as The Internet Trouble. So I thought I would get you up to speed with what has been going on.

Liam is very nearly ten months old now, and he's grown his two front teeth on top. There's a decent-sized gap between them, however, and I cannot help but think that he looks like a baby Terry-Thomas (and, therefore, also Mad Jim Jaspers).

I have been getting into Concrete for the first time thanks to my local library. I am several decades too late to inform you of how good this is, but it is really good stuff. It's just so earnest, you know? You'd never get away with it today. I mean, it's high concept, but there's absolutely no "elevator pitch" with it, you know? "So a senator's speechwriter gets his brain transplanted into a super-tough concrete body? So what's he do with it, fight the aliens that did this to him?" "What? No, those aliens are gone, I don't care about the aliens. Mostly he does things he thinks would be interesting, like trying to swim across the ocean or help out a struggling farm family. Oh yeah, and in one issue he writes a letter to his dying mother." CLICK. Dial tonnnnne.

Been catching up on a lot of comics through the library. I'd been mildly curious for some time to read the Jim Kruger/Alex Ross/Doug Braithwaite joint Justice, but I'd never had the opportunity, particularly since DC packaged the 12-issue series in three separate trades of four issues instead of one package like anyone sensible would do. The art was surprisingly hard to follow. I'm not sure that the "realistic" painting approach translates well to superhero action comics, because I spent the whole time going, "Wait, is that a laser beam? What exactly is happening to Clayface here? Man, could we get John Byrne to draw this or something?" The writing does that thing I hate that every superhero writer thinks s/he has to do where it tackles why superheroes are reactive and just uphold the status quo instead of, you know, feeding the hungry, curing the sick, that sort of thing. Except there is no good answer to that, so asking the question just draws attention to something we're supposed to ignore. Even Grant Morrison did it in JLA #4 and it was just as unconvincing there. If I am willing to play along with genre conceits like superpowers and secret identities, I will also play along and accept that Batman causing massive property damage to stop the Riddler from knocking over a bank is the socially responsible thing to do.

Oh yeah, I also sold two more stories this week, so apparently there is something to be said for this "believing in yourself" thing. Let's hear it for Dark Highlands and the newly launched Arcane for thinking that I am worth somebody's time to read. More on this as it develops.

Battery's running down gotta go now laterz

Earp Page

Big ups to Justin on his first official paid story. Isn't he awesome? Here are some pencils for a panel from the Wild West Was Here, "the Mirror Universe Affair" page 9, written by Justin and drawn by myself.

GUESS WHAT DUDES

Somebody's bought a short story that I wrote.

I have had it confirmed that this is a thing.

Not like that other thing where a magazine was going to buy a story, and then they had to "indefinitely suspend publication." (They were super nice about it, though, and I can hardly hold it against them.)

It's going in a themed horror anthology. You will be able to buy this book, and when it comes out, I will insist that you do so.

Gettin' paid, gettin' published. Not gettin' paid a lot--we're talking dinner at like an Applebee's, you understand. But it's a start.

More on this as it develops. Should probably post some new material as well, huh? Maybe a page of script from The Wild West Was Here coming soon...

Still earping in 2011

Alright, here it is. Nearly finished. And although my pages come along really really slowly justin has been plugging away on his writing. He recently sent me an amazing script. I think he should upload a small excerpt of it here.

Earp in 2011

I hope Justin isn't offended that I'm taking the first post of 2011. Lets hope to see some progress on the book this year. I guess that would start with finishing this page.