The People’s Publisher

Working in a coal mine, going down down… And what’s going down here at the mighty Zeros2Heroes is a whole lotta comics. Editors are working at a frenzied pitch getting all the art together for our deadline, which is fast approaching.

Kuba has all but completed the paintings for Blake Undying. Jason Cook is over the moon with the pages. And now that Ed Brisson has uploaded the letters we gots us a regular old comical book worthy of, dare I say it, an Eisner. Check it:

Christian Major is freakin’ out with what the Deutschmaschine art team of Santiago, Devon and Luis are creating. Gabriele is a force to be reckoned with, and San’s sweet pencils give this tough gal a tender yet foxy look. The book is chugging along with pages turning around every day. For your consideration: A dialogue between Gabriele and Zahra:

Kuba is also working on Slaughter Incorporated, taking over where Steve Goad left off. Tom Irony is wowed by the spectacular page our man in Poland is producing. Working backwards, Kuba has made his way to the start of the book and has even re-imagined Steve’s take on the Page 01 splash. Compare:

Steve’s Page 01

Kuba’s Page 01. Granted, this is the first step in creating the page, but let me know how you feel they compare.

See You in the Funny Papers!

Julian

We here at the mighty Zeros 2 Heroes are zooming along with book production. So much sweet art, so many talented hands… I’m getting all dizzy!

Kuba Kujawa has done an outstanding job on Jason Cook’s Blake Undying. It is, for all intents and purposes, done. Ed Brisson is almost done lettering, and viola!

Here is an excellent shot following the climax of Page X :

Speaking of Kuba, the talented titan is now barreling head first into Tom Irony’s Slaughter Incorporated. Picking up where Steve Goad left, Kuba has already penciled the rest of the pages in his own inimitable style and will keep going until the last dab of paint is virtually applied. Cheggidood:

Christian Major’s Deutschmaschine is, like the other books, steadily moving forward. Santiago Bou is a formidable talent who’s pencils evoke a classic yet contemporary style. He certainly knows how to convey a story with pictures. Devon Jopling’s inks are solid and Luis Guerero’s colours make everyone (charcters and artists) look amazing. Have a gander at Page 01:

See You in the Funny Papers!

Julian

A grand old exclamation is that: Cor Blimey! One that I would hear exclaimed by me ol’ grandad (may he rest in peace) on numerous occasions. The origin of this seemingly innocuous yet highly profane curse was explained to me thusly:

“Cor” is an olde englishe slang for god (or God as Christians would have it). “Blimey” is more slang, an amalgam of the two words blind and me. Cor Blimey = God blind me.

And speaking of blinded, I am being blinded by the glare of brilliance emanating off of Santiago’s pencils for Christian Major’s Deutschmaschine. Page after page is nailed and shipped to Devon for inks. Devon works her magic with analog inks by printing San’s pencils out and applying inks over mylar. I work that way myself sometimes. Luis is rendering sublime colours (natch!).

Jason Cook’s Blake Undying is fast approaching the finish line. Crucial in that Kuba will be completing Tom Irony’s Slaughter Inc. once his Blake chores are complete. In fact, Kuba has already begun work on Slaughter by working on Page 22 and completing it backwards until he meets up with the last chronologically completed page. Which was 7, before we were so rudely interrupted.

See You in the Funny Papers!

Julian

Hello everybody out there in Internetland. We’re slapping ourselves on the back with the news of Rainmaker and Zeros 2 Heroes being nominated for a Pop Vox award in the Best Digital Campaign category for Reboot (go to www.popvoxawards.com and make your voice popular by voting). The Reboot relaunch campaign from last summer led to the creation of the ReBoot Comic. As editor of the ReBoot comic I can say that what makes this a natural winner was the great response the campaign got from the fans, and the subsequent input they had in the production of the book. Online debates a to whether Bob’s tongue was pink, blue, green or purple were hilarious and made the cration of the comic a labour of love and laughter (amongst other things). The ReBoot book will be launched on the Zeros 2 Heroes Comic Viewer in a few short weeks. Stay tuned. Same ‘Boot time. Same ‘Boot channel.

Krazy Kuba Kujawa has been at it again whipping up some pretty sweet concepts Jason Cook’s Blake Undying. He sent a couple of cover ideas that are very nice.

Christian Major’s Deutschmaschine is barreling along at a steady clip thanks to the steady art team of Super Santiago Bou on pencils, Delightful Devon Jopling on inks and Loveable Luis Guerrero doing the colours. I’ll give y’all a sneak peak at San’s pencils for Page 01 next week.

Speaking of Kuba, he will indeed be taking over art chores on Tom Irony’s Slaughter Incorporated starting on Monday. Yay!

See You in the Funny Papers!

Julian

Greetings readers, and welcome to an update on Blake Undying, Deutschmaschine and Slaughter Incorporated.

Kuba Kujawa has been painting a storm over in Poland. I would have to say that Jason Cook’s Blake Undying will be completed in less than two weeks. Some pages come together a little faster than others. Take, for example, page 17. This has taken several revisions and the latest version which I just received hot off the internet is a complete re-imagining.

Here is version 1:

Here is version 2:

Here is version 3:

And 4:

5:

Soon.

Deutschmaschine is coming along quite nicely. Santiago Bou has completed the pencils on the pinup, and Devon Jopling will be inking them. Page X is thiiiiiis close to being done. Christian Major, creator of Deutschmaschine (AKA Fetternity AKA inker of Rip Current) has a very strong vision for his Deutschmachine. And here she is, off to inks!

I told you last week that I would tell you this week who will be the new artist on Tom Irony’s Slaughter Incorporated, but it turns out that this aforementioned artist has exams at the end of this month at the art school he is attending in Poland (hint hint). Therefore it would appear he might not be able to complete the project within the designated time frame for Comic Creation Nation Phase One to be complete. I’ll let you know more next week.

See You in the Funny Papers

Julian

Comics are like babies. Some of them slide out without any labour pains at all, while others create harsh contractions, emergency episiotomies, severe blood loss, screaming, cursing… ok, ok… I’m exaggerating. No comic book is really as difficult as the act of birthing a human life. Comics are way more fun.

There were a couple of painful contractions as Christian Major’s Deutschmaschine leaped out of the gate. As editor, I wanted to try out some new folks on pencils. As did Christian. We looked over the Zeros 2 Heroes gallery and saw a number of great looking samples (word to the wise: keep posting your work on the Z2H gallery… we’re always trolling for new talent). Tests were sent, but the prospective talent could not complete the required task. Such is life. Good reasons are supplied by the disappointed newbies, but in the end the show must go on and tried-and-true artists are enlisted to maintain momentum.

We are lucky to have a wonderful artist such as Santiago penciling the premiere issue of Deutschmaschine. SanBou is a triple threat: penciler, colourist and animator. His stop-motion shorts are hee-larry-ous! And to keep your eyes a-poppin’, here is San’s first draft of Page X:

See you in the funny papers!

Julian

As mentioned in my Blake Blog, I was sick sick sick this last week. I hope it’s done, but I found that whenever I felt ok and started exerting myself, I would get feverish and sicker than before. I’m slowly getting back on my feet, with an emphasis on slowly. I hate relapses.

As we create more and more comics here at Z2H, art teams are getting a little harder to assemble. For Christian Major’s Deutschmaschine I wanted to try out a couple of new pencilers who had posted images up at the Z2H gallery. Unfortunately, they were unable to complete the test due to new jobs and personal reasons so I went with a tried and true penciler: Santiago and the ever reliant Luis on colours. On inks we have Devon who is brand new to the Z2H family, but eager as a Canadian beaver to sink her teeth into the dam wood we call comics.

So progress is coming along. Devon, Luis and I held a Skype conference the other day to explain the process for our newbie inker. The day before that, Santiago had already uploaded some pencil sketches which Luis downloaded and coloured. Take a look at the rough below. Remember, this is just a sketch so just imagine how fantastic the finished art will look. This rough of Deutschmaschine does not reflect her finished design: this is her in an embryonic state, but we are well on our way.

See You in the Funny Papers!

Julian