Here's what's the haps...

Just a handful of news to throw atcha this week...

COMICS

I've just completed the first eight pages of "Old McMonster's Haunted Farm" (see my March 7th blog post for a peek at the characters) and sent them to Ape Entertainment. Brent Erwin, co-founder of Ape, and the official "thinker-upper" of Old McMonster's Haunted Farm, has posted the first page on his Facebook page, which pretty much gives me the go ahead to do the same below (click the image for a full view)...

 According to Brent, the book comes out in October of this year. I'll post any updates as they come in.

Denver Brubaker, my pal, fellow cartoonist and fellow resident (soon to be former) of Ann Arbor, MI, has asked me to contribute a guest strip to his hella-fun web comic, "Tales of a Checkered man." Denver and his fiancée are moving to Chicago, and he's asked a few of his cartooning buddies to fill for him while he gets settled. I'm told my strip will be posted on his site on April 10th. When it's up, I'll post it to my blog as well. In the meantime, be sure to check out "Tales of a Checkered Man", and soak up all the cartoony genius that is Denver Brubaker!   

This Thursday begins a new storyline in the Dead Duck web comic--"Gangs of New Scotland", or "Quebec to the Future"! It details Dead Duck's long history with the Canadian Mafia, or The Nova Scotia Cosa Nostra. Be sure to follow along for the next few weeks for some undead Canucklehead antics!

CONVENTIONS

I just added a new convention to my list of appearances in 2012--Summit City Con, in Fort Wayne Indiana. It's a one day show that'll be on May 12th. I'll be sitting between my pals Kyle Latino and Tony Miello, and as always, I'll be the one with the banner of a black robed duck and a chicken with a shag haircut and big knockers.

COMMISSIONS

This was a piece I drew for a returning customer who wanted me to draw his character from the video game, "Red Dead Redemption". I ended up designing a decent desperado, but after I finished it, I learned my client wanted the character to resemble himself (he's better looking than this rough mugged hombre I drew). I ended up re-drawing his face on the version I gave him, but I still loved this first version, so that's the one I decided to post below. I call this piece "Shoot Out In Coconino County" because of the silhouetted characters atop the mesa in the background. That's Ignatz Mouse throwing a brick at Krazy Kat's head, both from the classic comic strip "Krazy Kat" (1913-1944),drawn by the great cartoonist, George Herriman. The comic took place in the desert in Coconino County, Arizona. It wasn't part of my client's instructions to add these characters, but given the desert locale, it seemed like a good opportunity for a small tribute to a great comic.

That'll do for this week. Keep following "Dead Duck", and keep following this blog for news on what's coming next from my drawing board!

--Jay