Two of my buddies gave me copies of their latest books, and I enjoyed them both, so here's a plug:

Ed Piskor's Wizzywig volume 1



This is a character study about a phone freak/computer hacker. It's inspired by the real history of this subculture and it's a very interesting story. Ed's cartooning is even more impressive. He has a detailed, borderline-OCD (very clean, very detailed) style that features meticulous hand-lettering, cross-hatching, and cartooniness. You can read a huge preview of the book on his site.

Pat Lewis' the Claws Come Out



This is a collection of short comics that feature cute girls and classic monsters. And while that could be a recipe for lousy T&A exploitation-style stories (which is obviously the way I would have done it), in Pat's hands its an example of charming cartooning, well-written short stories, and capable women fending off a variety of b-movie inspired threats. Equal parts Buffy and Mad magazine, you can see previews and learn more about this book at Pat's website. Even my wife enjoyed this book (to be fair she hasn't read Ed's comic, or most of mine for that matter).

Frank Santoro and I went to SPACE on Saturday. It was a last minute decision (thanks to Bob Corby for accomodating us), and I had nothing new to promote, sell, or give away. Next year will be different.

SPACE is one of my favorite shows. It's an easy drive from Pittsburgh for me (despite passing like 5 car accidents on our way there). But the show is what makes it fun.

It's a crazy mix of comics - there are art comics, mini-comics, aspiring superhero and fantasy style comics, as well as a variety of new cartoonists, local cartoonists, and veterans (I was pleasantly surprised to see Carol Tyler there). The atmosphere is casual, among both exhibitors and fans. I walked around the show a few times and wasn't heckled by anyone to buy their book (it's a shame how refreshing that is). Although it's not the busiest show, I get the feeling that those who do attend are genuinely interested and take their time to look and talk to the exhibitors. I had a great conversation with a couple older gentlemen about Mort Meskin and other Golden Age topics.

Next year I plan to be organized better, and take full advantage of this show. It was very enjoyable, but driving there and back on Saturday meant missing some of the extracurricular activities and socializing with friends.

My biggest surprise - moving all 3 copies of my Brian James zine to very enthusiastic recipients.

My biggest regret - missing the Rambo showing that Bodega and Sparkplug attended Saturday night!

Here's Frank Santoro's report.

Finally and most importantly, thanks to everyone who stopped by our table to talk comics and look at our stuff. I hope I see you again next year!

I am going to SPACE (Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo) this Saturday in Columbus, OH. I will only be there Saturday unfortunately but I hope to see you there. If anyone attending SPACE is interested in American Virgin art, let me know. I'm not sure what I'm bringing to the show yet, so if you're looking for something in particular, email me. I will probably bring a few color prints of the Candy Tangerine Man poster, some old postcards, books, original art, etc. If you're going to the show, stop by and say, hey.

In other news...we just finished a new Afrodisiac story for Image's Pop Gun vol. 2. It's our longest Afrodisiac epic yet! Here's a page from that story:



And Street Angel fans rejoice! I'm currently finishing up an all-new, 10 page Street Angel story for Adhouse Books' Superior Showcase #3. It's set to debut at Heroes Con this summer.

Meathaus preview at Nerdcore

Nerdcore is publishing the next Meathaus book. It's full of all the awesome cartoonists that you have come to expect from Meathaus - Farel Dalrymple (Pop Gun War, Omega the Unknown), James Jean (Process: Recess, Fables), Tomer Hanuka (Bipolar), Thomas Herpich (Cusp, Gongwanadon), Brandon Graham (Escalator, King City), Dash Shaw (The Bottomless Belly Button), AND Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca! We're real excited to be part of this gang. I met Farel and company at the first SPX I ever attended - 2000. They had Meathaus numbers 1 and 2 there. I've been a fan ever since and this full-color volume looks to be the best one yet!

Click on the links to see a preview (including 3 pages of a new Afrodisiac adventure!), to see the complete lineup of killer creators, and to get ordering information (including a discount if you order from the Nerdcore website).

Images Comics Next Issue Project kicked off yesterday with Fantastic Comics #24!

Check it out next time you're at the comic book shop. It's over-sized, 64 pages of awesome comics by Erik Larsen, Bill Sienkiewicz, Tom Yeates, Tom Scioli, Mike Allred, and others (including a story by Brian Maruca and me).



Here's page 1 from the story I drew:

So I wasn't happy with my first Candy Tangerine Man poster attempt. Here is another one. I think this works a little better.

Here's my poster for the Supertrash film festival. It's for a little seen blaxploitation gem called the Candy Tangerine Man.



Also, been meaning to post about the Society of Illustrators Annual show. I had 2 pieces accepted this year!!! The faux Romance style Afrodisiac covers and the Brother Voodoo short strip Brian Maruca and I did for Marvel's indie book. Big thanks are due to Chris Pitzer of Adhouse Books! First, he's the guy who commissioned the work, and then he told me to submit it the show. Glad he's on my side. Thanks, Chris! Sadly, the Brother Voodoo story will not be included now per Marvel's wishes. I just sent the framed prints of the Afrodisiac art, and I was really happy with how they turned out. If you're in NYC 2.23.08 - 3.22.08, go see the show!

Jason Levian of Floating World Comics is putting together a ROM art show/tribute thing for Bill Mantlo. So far I've seen gorgeous ROM artwork by Renee French and Jeffrey Brown. If you're in Portland, be sure to look this up. I think the show is in December.

I never read ROM when it was originally published. I was too young I guess, or I started reading comics when I was too old. I like this era of comics, 70s - 80s. I like how something a little odd, like ROM would run 75 issues.

Anyway here is my drawing of ROM. Enjoy.

This is Rocket. When we adopted him, he was young and full of energy. So the name fit. Now he mostly lays around and sleeps. He can't meow for some reason, but he purrs like a chainsaw.

...Golden Age character, then the gods have smiled on you today, my friend!

As part of Image Comics Next Issue project, Brian Maruca and I are tasked with creating an all-new Captain Kidd story. To learn more about Image's Next Issue project:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=11230

Here's a scan from a classic Captain Kidd story:



Here are some sketches of Captain Kidd from my sketchbook:



Here are some breakdowns from a page of the story:



I don't have a standard approach for breakdowns. Here are some breakdowns for the next PLAIN Janes book. I draw them at 50% of the print size of the book. They're a little more polished because I send them to my editor and she needs to understand what the hell is going on and who's who:



Finally, here is a panel from my Captain Kidd story. If you look at the breakdowns above, this panel corresponds to the one marked 7:

Inked a couple more Kirby drawings for the upcoming Girl-Wonder auction. You can get info about the auction here:

http://girl-wonder.org/category/auction/

Here are the drawings. They are one 11 x 17 bristol. I scanned the images from the Kirby Collector #38 from a proposal for a Wonder Woman animated series (I believe that's what they are from).





I recently did a couple of illustrations for UNICEF about some of the problems and projects they are involved with around the globe. I continue to work on coloring ideas that I eventually hope to apply to an Afrodisiac book.





Good news for all the Spanish speaking Street Angel fans out there. The long, cold wait is over, the Princess of Poverty is in la casa!

http://www.edicionsdeponent.com/cgi-bin/obra.asp?id=111



Here's what I've been doing in my free time:

Hell Up In Harlem: Entertaining, but not a very good movie (if that makes sense). This sequel to Black Ceasar sees Fred Williamson and the awesome Julius Harris takeover the NY underworld. Lots of unnecessary action sequences make this enjoyable in the eye candy department if nothing else.

Henry Fool: Finally saw this gem. Loved it. Watched it twice to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Splendid. Curious to see Fay Grim now.

Inland Empire: In my DVD player now. So far, so good.

Murdaland: This is a new literary journal published in Pittsburgh. Gotta say I'm enjoying it. I've read about 75% of it so far, and while some stories are definitely better than others, overall, it's a fun collection of bleak, crime stories. Makes me want to do some crime comics...

Comic Art 9: The new Comic Art is my favorite so far. This magazine/journal/book makes me remember why I love comics so much.

Jason Shiga's Choose Your Own Adventure Comics: Meanwhile and Knock Knock. Excellent comics. Crazy ambitious, even my wife read Meanwhile and laughed and enjoyed herself. Shiga's a madman of a cartoonist (and I mean that in the best way).

C.F.'s Powr Mastrs: Very enjoyable fantasy/art comic. C.F.'s work is inspirational and crushing at the same time (as all good work seems to be).

Real Madness Comics: Bobby Madness book I picked up in San Diego and finally read. Fantastic, fun collection of comics.

Rocco Vargas: Daniel Torres sci-fi, futuristic, noir meta-hero. Been eyeballing this for a while at Copacetic Comics. Finally broke down and bought it. Is it me or do European cartoonists all draw well?

Kramer's Ergot 4-6 and Ganzfield 3-5: Been spending time rereading these. Glad I have the luxury of going through them again and again. It takes me a while to absorb this sort of work. Dense, challenging, beautiful...great essay about Hitchcock's Rope in the Ganzfield #3 that I originally missed I guess.

Out of the Past: Dylan Williams' favorite Mitchum movie. No disappointment.

Death of A Cyclist: Not as great as I'd hoped. There were a few moments that lingered in my mind though. When the heroine must decide whether to turn herself in and give up her luxurious lifestyle, it made me think of how much I fall short of my own ideals. Think I might be going through a third-life crisis (assuming I live to be 90).

Alias (season 1): Wow, did this suck. I didn't expect much out of this, but it even managed to miss those low expectations. I can't find one redeemable aspect of this show.

Curb Your Enthusiasm: Makes me laugh, especially at Cheryl's complete lack of patience with Larry. Not sure if all marriages are like this, but mine is.

Weeds: Kind of hit/miss. I enjoy the comedy when it's there, and I like how bleak parts of it can be compared to the comedy. Whatever, I watch it during dinner or lunch so it beats Sportscenter.

Madmen: Quite like this one. Probably my favorite show at the moment.

Here's a commission I just finished of Delirium.



If you'd like to make this your wallpaper:

1024 x 768
1280 x 960
1280 x 1024

And here is the preliminary sketch.

TCAF was a great show, as you may have read elsewhere. I had a wonderful time, lots of great people - cartoonists, fans, show organizers. From my point of view everything worked well. So thanks to everyone who contributed, if all shows were that enjoyable, I could sell my house and live like a rockstar.

I shared a table with Tom "Godland" Scioli, and after talking Kirby all weekend, I came home and decided to draw some. I found a large jpeg of a Kirby pencil drawing of Conan. Printed it out in light blue, and inked it. It was very enjoyable, and won't be the last time I try something like this. If anyone wants it, email me an offer. I have no idea how to price something like this, so if your offer sounds good, it could be yours. It's 11.5 x 17 inches.

Heading to Toronto this afternoon for TCAF. Will have a little artwork and some books for sale. I have a couple copies of the print I made for Iam8bit (an art show that celebrates old video games) available at the show. I'm not sure what I'm charging for it yet, but if you want one, you may want to swing by early (then again, it wouldn't surprise me if I bring all of them home with me either, I never know what will sell at these shows). I'm also going to be selling a couple copies of the out of print and hard to find Project: Superior.

Wolverine was my favorite character when I started reading comic books. I liked John Buscema/Bill Sienkiewicz's version (Wolverine #10 was my second comic book) and I liked Silvestri/Dan Green's version a lot, Mark Texiera's and Sam Kieth's could also be pretty cool at times.

Earlier this year, I did some illustration work for a VH1 documentary called NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell.

Premiere date of the film is August 11, 2007, 9 pm eastern

Here's a preview clip:



You can learn more about the movie at:

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2881114

and

http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/vh1_rock_docs/122259/episode_about.jhtml

I'm going to TCAF, and you should too. This show will be amazing, if you don't believe me, visit their site and read the guest list.

MORE COMMISSIONS!!!

I've decided to do commissions for the show. Same as San Diego, $50 gets you a black and white, approximately 8 x 10 drawing of whatever your heart desires. I've posted a number of the commissions I did for San Diego throughout my livejournal, so check them out, then email me to reserve your very own, one of a kind, kickarse piece of Jim Rugg artwork.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by Slave Labor or the Minx table to say hello. I had a great time at the show this year. I haven't read everything I picked up yet, but my favorite so far is...Jamie Tanner's graphic novel, the Aviary (from Adhouse Books).



And here are a couple more commissions. Thanks to everyone who bought one.

Almost done with the commissions. Thanks to everyone who contacted me about one. I really appreciate it, and hopefully you all are happy with the results. See you at San Diego.