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The TREKKER OMNIBUS inspired me to travel far and wide this fall– four conventions in two months. That’s a lot of travel for a sedentary cartoonist. But it was full of great conversations and connections with fans and Trekker enthusiasts both brand-new and “experienced”. Now I’m back in the familiar saddle and back to work in earnest. And first up is this over-due blog up-date.

First, I HAVE to mention one of the great thrills of my traveling was to discover the amazing, award-winning LEGENDS Comic Shop in Victoria BC. The proprietors, Lloyd Chesley and Gareth Gaudin, are both exhaustively educated and enthusiastic about comics and creators from the birth of the business up to the very latest worth-while publications from around the comics world. Any conversation in this shop is sure to inspire and inform you. If you’re at all like me, you will not want to leave.

Next, I cannot let the passing of comics great Nick Cardy go by without comment. I can across only a handful of Cardy’s comics in my youth, but what an impression they made. Cardy’s work was full of texture and life, and of course his women were always gorgeous. The few issues of Brave and the Bold and Teen Titans that I found remain treasures to this day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And lastly for this post-con update, I have to correct a huge oversight. One of the absolute profound influences on my whole idea of what comics should look like was shaped very early on by the work of Wally Wood. I was reminded of this in a very indirect way. At the New York convention, someone commented that they really liked the low-slung gunbelt that Mercy wears. And in a flash, I remembered Wally’s stunningly sexy “Iron Maiden” character, for Tower Comic’ T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, who also worn a low-slung pistol belt to great effect. Can a woman dressed from head to toe in an iron suit be fetching? If the artist is Wally Wood, the answer is “of course”! The low-slung piston belt is just part of the appeal. But again, as a young comics fan and aspiring artist, it sure made a lasting impression.

I could go on and on about Wood’s art and it’s profound influence on me (as well as on a legion of other artists, of course), but he makes his own best case in every immaculate, sensual image he drew. Wood mastered everything from classic 50’s sci-fi, to larger-than-life 60’s superheroes to slapstick cartoons for the early Mad magazine. Absolutely untouchable, and a total original.

Okay, now back to work. I am in the midst of drawing the follow-up story to the currently-posting Avalon Bay. Mercy gets lured into an adventure that raises the stakes and the scale of things higher than she could imagine, and she’ll experience a profound seismic shift in her world. Can’t wait to have it ready to share with you!