Did you miss me? You know it’s Free Comic Book Day this weekend…

So I guess the plants are dead, huh? It’s been about a month.

But here I am with an update, quick and dirty: this Saturday, May 5th, is Free Comic Book Day. If you have a local comic shop in your area, go on in and pick up some absolutely free comics. Take along someone who doesn’t read comics. Spread the love. Comics need all the help they can get these days.

I’ll be doing a signing at Image Collections in Streetsville, Ontario, Canada. I realize that limits a lot of those reading this, but that’s where I’ll be, with my buddy and fellow creator Chris McQuaid. I’ll have copies of my official FCBD release, the 215 Ink-published “Apes With Uzis” with artist Peebo Mondia. Big thanks to Andrew DelQuadro and Jeff McComsey for getting these books into my hands.

Here’s the link for Image Collections: http://www.imagecollections.ca/

If you can, come by and say hi! I’ll deface your comics for you.

Some updates…because it’s April already?

Yes, I’m back. I hope you watered the plants for me. And brought in the mail, you know I hate it when it looks like I’m not home.

So, things have been a-brewing at HQ lately. I’ve cranked out scripts for a whole whack (yes, that’s the proper unit of measure) of new projects in the past couple weeks, and have lined up art on 3 of them so far. I’ve been productive, yes I have.

Without giving too much away, here’s what’s new:

1) An all-ages book about a seven-year-old boy and ghosts.

2) A crime/supervillain story. Not like Breakneck, not at all. This was birthed out of a couple of other ideas that never worked on their own.

3) My first official foray into the world of science fiction, and man, do I love the concept. I realize I’m my own biggest fan, but this really is a great idea. I’m currently patting myself on the back for it.

4) A rough outline for a Twin Peaks-style story set in a hermetic little town full of weird dudes and freaks and stuff.

5) Okay, this isn’t new, but I’ve been putting together stuff for the possibility of a Breakneck trade coming out in a few months (hopefully). It’s been fun going back over all this stuff. Also starting to prep Breakneck issue 5.

That’s about it. I’ll leave you with a recommendation (I stole this bit from my buddy Steven Forbes, who used to always recommend a song at the end of his blog updates.) Go and listen to “Lights Out, Words Gone” by Bombay Bicycle Club.

Cheers.

4)

Another Update: Free Comics!

Yep, Free Comic Book Day is creeping up on us. First Saturday in May. And this year? I’ll have something out on FCBD. This is a big deal in the comics industry. What I’d like to do, faithful blog readers, is for you to check out this link:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1607639297/fubar-press-215-ink-free-comic-book-day-2012?ref=live

This is the link to the 215 Ink/FUBAR Kickstarter to raise funds to distribute some indie comics on FCBD, a day which is normally dominated by the bigger publishers. You see that “Apes With Uzis” cover? I wrote that story. Yeah.

And look at the incentives! You can win Breakneck swag! What’s stopping you? I know they’ve already passed the goal, but all the additional funds mean additional comics can be printed. The more comics out, the better.

Join the revolution! Support 215 Ink/FUBAR press/Liber Distro. Support kick-ass indie comic creators. Support something OTHER than X-Men and Batman.

And then listen to “Nantes” by Beirut.

Cheers.

Some regular updates and some cryptic updates.

Sooooo….what’s everyone been up to?

Me? Oh, I’ve been writing. Yup, you read that right. Finally in some kind of groove. I finished the short script for Comixtribe. I still have to tweak some dialogue, but other than that, it’s good to go. I’ve sent the structure of the script to Carl so he can start thumbnailing.

I had my FUBAR 3 pitch approved, and have written the first draft to send off to Jeff at FUBAR base alpha. It was a fun, quick little story to write, based on a period of American history that’s among my favorites.

I just accepted a new comic project, something potentially pretty major, something that a fellow writer and a guy I’d consider a buddy asked me to take a stab at. I don’t want to give too much away (this is the cryptic update, by the way), but I’m excited to start working on it. It could be something pretty big.

Antihero’s submission package is pretty much ready to go. Got the 8 pages. Got the (badass) cover from David. Need to proof the pitch part, but I’ve had it ready for ages, so I should be able to get this ready by the weekend. Here’s a quick peek of the logo David designed:

Huh, that worked. First image I’ve posted here. Good to know.

Also, Old Ghost’s submission package is nearly ready as well. Waiting for the final touches on the cover (and the cover, my God, Rolf killed it), and that’s ready to rock.

Also emailed Markosia today to start to process of sending issue 3 to them.

Things are moving ahead quite nicely! That’s it for now. Do yourself a favor and go listen to “Oblivion” by Grimes. Strange song, not sure why I love it so much. But I do.

Cheers.

 

Updates, updates, updates!

Okay, my poor, sad, neglected blog, I’m back. Glad to see you’re not dead.

First off: I finally finished the second draft for my top secret Comixtribe short. Only two weeks or so late. But it’s done. Looks like maybe a few tweaks on the dialogue, and we’ll be good to go. My constant partner-in-crime Carl Yonder is going to work on this with me. This will mark the sixth (I think?) project Carl and I have worked on.

1) Ghost Lines

2) A Breakneck short that has yet to see print

3) Our FUBAR 2 short

4) An upcoming short in the 215 Ink anthology

5) A long-form Graphic novel called Teaser that we’ve been working on for a year or so.

6) And now the super-secret Comixtribe story. Carl’s also designed some logos for me as well. I can always count on getting top quality work from the esteemed Mr. Yonder.

Next: artist David Pentecost is working to get the cover image for Antihero done. Once we have that, I’ll start the submission process for it.

Also: Rolf Lejdegard just hit me with the cover for Old Ghost. It’s brilliant. I’ve asked Carl to design another logo for me, and once that’s done…we start the submission process.

I got the lettered proofs back for Long Gone issue 3, and it looks incredible. And Aaron’s already halfway through issue 4′s colors. I cannot wait for this to be ready.

Over the past couple of weeks, even though my actual writing output has been minimal, I’ve been struck with at least a dozen new story ideas. Some great, some not so great, but at least the idea-factory in my head is still working.

Last thing: I met yesterday with my old high school art teacher. He was the guy who would let me sit in class and draw comics all day. He wasn’t too disappointed that I ended up as a writer (I gotta go with my strengths, right?), but I hit him up with copies of Breakneck 1-3 for him to read. He also asked if I’d be interested in speaking to a writer’s group at the school about writing comics, and of course I would be. Looking forward to setting that up.

That’s all for now. Do yourself a favor, go listen to “Me and the Devil” by Gil Scott-Heron. If your hearing works, you’ll be a happy camper.

Forgot one thing!

Wow, two posts in two days?

Yesterday I gave a basic update on my current projects, forgetting one thing: I was lucky enough to again be asked to contribute to FUBAR volume 3! As you’ll recall, FUBAR 2 became a New York Times bestseller, and plans are underway for the third volume already.

I sent off 3 pitches to the story editors yesterday, two that I liked, one that I LOVED, and I hope they let me write that one. It’s one of my favorite parts of American pseudo-history, and it fit so well into the idea of zombie infestations through out American history.

So yeah, just wanted to put that out there. I’m a lucky guy to be associated with the Small Press Commandos, and I can’t wait to start writing which ever pitch gets accepted.

As you were.

Wow, it’s been 20 days since I posted here.

Yeah, it’s been a while. Things have been up and down over at Bertolini HQ.

However, some good news: I’ve done some writing finally!

I was approached by Andrew DelQuadro, publisher of 215 Ink, and Jeff McComsey, architect of the FUBAR books, to write a short story for a Free Comic Book Day release! I’m not going to give much away, but it was a big deal for me to have something with my name on it out for FCBD. That’s great exposure, right there. And it was an “Apes With Uzis” piece (the concept created by Rolf that I may have mentioned before), and I knocked that sucker out over a weekend. Twelve pages. It felt good to get that story written, and I can’t wait to see the artwork as it comes to life.

Also, I’m VERY nearly done with an 8-page short for an upcoming ComixTribe release that is now overdue, but due to some, ah, let’s call it “setbacks” over the past couple weeks, it took me some time to get moving on it. But I’m happy with how it’s progressing, and hope to finish it later today.

Still off work, but that’s going according to plan. As previously mentioned, I’m covered until the beginning of May. The plan is to stay off work until after March Break, so that I can spend that week with my boys, and then hopefully return to work around the first of April. Again, that’s the plan, so lets see how successful it is.

Comic books are a “hurry up and wait” kind of game. I have so many things that are in progress right now, waiting on one piece or another, that it’s almost like nothing is happening, but that’s far from the truth. Here’s what’s coming up:

1) Almost finished getting the colors for the last issue of Long Gone. Then issues 3 and 4 will need letters, and that series is finally done.

2) Had the rights to Ghost Lines released back to me, and approached 215 Ink about publishing it. Things are moving in the right direction there, and I couldn’t be happier. This is a fully completed 4-issue miniseries that’s been gathering dust, and I can’t wait to see something new happen with it.

3) Submitted the first issue of Broken to 215 Ink. Again, sounds like it’s a go, just waiting on their publishing schedule for the rest of the year.

4) Old Ghost’s submission package is 99% complete. The 8 pages are illustrated, colored, and lettered. Rolf’s going to put a cover together for us, but being the busy man he is (blood sacrifices to the ancient alien sex gods take time, from what I understand), that’s still a couple weeks off.

5) Antihero also just needs a cover, David’s been working on it, and then THAT book will be ready to submit around.

6) We’ve got 20 pages of Scum of the Earth completed. It’s fucking gorgeous. Rob has submitted it to a few contacts he has, and we’re very hopeful something big can happen with it.

These things take time. Luckily, right now, time is something I have a lot of. Until next time (and I’ll try to make it less than 3 weeks), do yourself a favor and listen to “Perth” by Bon Iver. It’s about as perfect a song as you could ask for.