A Modest Proposal

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By 1990 I’d written and drawn 18 minicomics on my own and contributed to quite a few minicomic anthologies published by other folks and I was feeling deluded enough to think I was ready to do a “real” comic. In my case a “real” comic was something printed rather than photocopied, that had a color cover and that would get distributed in comic book stores. I had two ways of going about it – I could self-publish (something quite a few artists were doing at the time) or I could find a publisher. I figured I’d see if I could find a publisher first and go the self publishing route if that didn’t work out.

I’d done eight issues of The Highly Unlikely Adventures of Moe and Detritus minicomic and had gotten fond of the characters. So I put together a proposal – a cover, two pages of a cast of characters, 4 pages of sample story and a back cover. I found that proposal recently while sorting boxes so I’m presenting it here.









Lord, that lettering is tiny. If you click on the above images you can see larger versions but the writing will still be almost illegible. And those images have been enlarged from the original proposal.

I don’t remember how many publishers I sent the proposal to. I know I sent one to Piranha Press, DC Comic’s alternative comics imprint. I’m sure I’ve got the rejection letter from Piranha somewhere in my files. It was a personal note suggesting that I try for something a bit less ambitious than a 30 issue limited series.

If I sent the proposal to anyone other than Brave New Words I no longer remember who they were. I definitely didn’t get any other replies. BNW picked up the series and we managed a run of five issues in a little over a year before we mutually agreed to cancel it. The four pages of sample story saw print as the first four pages in the first issue of Misspent Youths.

Don’t Get Sick!

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I might not be able to draw much (at all) these days but some of the work I did earlier this year is seeing release now. Acute Care is available now at DriveThruMedia from 3Hombres Games. Dave Schuey wrote it and I did the illustrations. Imagine your worst doctor’s visit ever. Add in angry spirits and alien horrors and start running! (Too bad you’re strapped down. Good luck!)

Spirit Medicine

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Ten-Ghost by Adam J. Thaxton

Lucy Alraune Greeble, Ten-Ghost Who Finishes the Test Satisfactorily.

Child of mandrake, earth and blood. Doctor. Shaman. Non-person. Oath keeper. Wanderer in this world and many others.

Lucy is a nomad spiritual physician. Her travels take her wherever her skills are needed. That could be a hermit’s hut in the far wilderness, the home of the scheming wealthy, the land of the dead, a town on the edge of a wounded dream or a hospital in a throbbing metropolis.

Ten-Ghost tells the story of about a year of Lucy’s travels. It’s been a long time since I’ve read any science fiction or fantasy and this book reminded me why I don’t do that much anymore. A good SF story requires some work from the reader. You need to put yourself into an alien world and figure out what’s going on based on the clues that the author gives you. Without a lot of time to read these days I haven’t felt like I’ve had the time to work with a story. Nonfiction books or mystery novels are easy to slip in and out of during the few minutes I’ve got available for reading.

Ten-Ghost is Weird Fiction. Thraxton drops you into Lucy’s world, a place of spirit life, multiple gods and cultures and beings and expects you to keep up. The chapters are basically short stories, each one building on the previous. I didn’t read the back cover blurb until I’d gotten about a third of the way through the book. I can’t say it does the story justice. The story is a quieter one than the blurb implies.

When I read SF stories my imagination conjures up the world I’m reading about. It helps me center myself in the story. Often times I do by using the cover art as a starting point and the world I visualize gets built from there. I couldn’t really do it with the cover here. It’s not a bad piece of art, it just doesn’t match the world I built. The book had a lot of great visuals. I wish I had time to illustrate this review with a sketch.

And, for the sake of transparency, Adam sent me a copy of this book. He did not actually ask me to review it. If I hadn’t like it I probably wouldn’t be writing this post. Since I did, a positive review seems like the best way to say thank you.

Ow, My Sanity is Adam’s long running, crudely but effectively drawn Lovecraftian manga. It’s on hold now while he finishes other projects but there’s plenty to read.

And apparently there is a sequel on the way. Yay!

The Highly Unlikely Adventures of Moe and Detritus #2

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Here’s the second issue of The Highly Unlikely Adventures of Moe and Detritus. I also stole this one from my friend’s Facebook gallery. And many thanks to him for posting these pages so I could!

This issue introduces Buffy Crawfield, who would go to have a reoccurring role in Misspent Youths and Chickenhead, who would have a reappear in later issues of Moe and Detritus. The back cover ad is for an album by Ruptured Internal Organs, a band that Moe opens for in the first issue of Misspent Youths. Not that I knew any of this when I drew this story. I was making it up as I went along.











The Highly Unlikely Adventures of Moe and Detritus #1

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Way back in 1988 I drew and published (via a copy machine at this new 24 hour copy chain called Kinkos) the first issue of The Highly Unlikely Adventures of Moe and Detritus. I really had no idea what I’d do with the characters and I certainly didn’t plan on making The Pile one of the regular case. But there you go.

And here you go. A friend of mine recently posted these scans online at his Facebook account. Now I’ve swiped them and sharing them with the rest of you.

If you have a hard time reading the lettering just click on the page for a larger image.











This minicomic was 8 pages plus a cardstock cover. If you count you can see that there are only 11 pages here. I used the back cover to advertise Cheap Thrills, my first minicomic series. My friend didn’t include a scan of that so it’s not included here either. You’re not missing much.

Frankenstein on the Bus

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So I’m commuting again and so I’ve got time to read. I’m expecting to be reading textbooks when school starts again next week but in the meantime I’m trying to make it through a stack of recently borrowed library books.

The Secret Laboratory Journals of Victor Frankenstein by Jeremy Kay

This one is a breezy cliff notes adaptation of the original Frankenstein. It’s a “reproduction” of Victor’s journals, handwriting, sketches, bills to tradesmen and all. As with most adaptations of the story, the account of the creation of the monster is greatly expanded. Kay also adds in the characters of Franz and Praetorius as Frankenstein’s partners in monster building. Frankenstein comes off as less self centered and the Monster more evil in this version.


The Bride of Frankenstein by Elizabeth Hand.

The copy I’ve got is subtitled Pandora’s Bride but that text is missing on the image I swiped from Amazon. This sequel to The Bride of Frankenstein film is never boring. The Bride saves Dr. Praetorius from the destruction of Frankenstein’s laboratory and off they journey into a movie fairy tale version of 1920’s Germany. It’s pure pulp. Henry Frankenstein and his Monster are both in hot pursuit. Pandora (as the Bride names herself) encounters an array of real historic figures and characters from M, Metropolis, The Blue Angel, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and probably other films I don’t recognize. I’d read another story with these characters if Hand were to write one.

New Phone Number

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Nizzibet and I have a new home phone number. While it feels a little silly to post about it, given the crazy variety of ways that we keep in touch with each other these days, it also seems sensible to get the word out any way possible. We had our old phone number for at least 15 years but, for some reason, when our new phone arrangement was being set up we were told it would be a month before we could get our old number attached to it. Rather than have a different number for a month and then changing back we’re just giving up the old one.

I’ve emailed most of the folks that we communicate with regularly but I’m sure I’ve missed a few people. If you haven’t gotten the new phone number by now (and you want it) please send me a note via the email address on the right side of this page and I’ll be happy to update you.