BBC Update 6/26/11

Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest:

TALE OF TWO JO(H)NNY'S:



Phase 3 begins with a red pen.  This has always been the best way to see any and all mistakes that would be glaring to the readers out there.  A red pen issue or proof as it is commonly known as, are a staple for printing. 
  Almost every independent comic publisher I know does this unless you're fool hearty to just put stuff out there.
  I know, I've done that too and paid the price for it.  And it's expensive. 
   Hopefully within the next week I will have a copy back to work on and finished pencils and inks to be added.
I've also included a cover (above) drawn by Mr. Pott himself. Please take a bow.
   
  JOHNNY VEGA NEWS:



"Humble Beginnings" Parts 1 and 2. As well as "All Tomorrow's Parties" Parts 1 and 2 move into Phase 2 for editing.  Though this may take a big longer to see fruition it will be awesome to see and look at in the context of the bigger Vega picture.  And the updated pages from the first three issues of the color Vega books as well.
   Not quiet a re launch of the book and title as it is a consistency issue.  Not unlike when Mike Mignola works on a solo Hellboy story.  Its great to have all these great supporting artists work on the books like Davis on the B.R.P.D. Or Cobin or Fegredo but when the man steps up to the plate you know its gonna be awesome!   
   The John Carter influenced piece was something that I wanted to play around with for other types of Johnny Vega stories that wouldn't fit in the regular Vega Universe. So I decided to create a COMIC that featured these other types of stories in it. I could dust off Pandora's Garage and come up with a Volume 6 which would be kinda cool or a whole new different kind of book called "Weird Atomic Premire" Who knows what will come out of that.

  SCRATCHBOARD NEWS:




Now in all of this down time in between projects scratchboard begins to loom not to far off in the works.  I am aiming for about 15 different 8"X8" pieces of art.  The first of these wonderfully weird pieces you have already seen - "Brain Cage 2".  Others will be posted in due time. 
RELATED ART NEWS: I have been invited and have AGREED to participate into a couple of different art shows this year to get the work of moi (Alan Bennett if you didn’t know already) for a couple of art shows this year. The first is

**Call to Artists** for the PORTLAND GUN SHOW. taking place the 2nd week of July.
Hosted by Joel Barber at the Globe. Located at 2045 SE Belmont St. map link is here

In this this show will feature the everybody's favorite undead Cop- Corpse Cop. Mr. Cop will be sporting his ever present chain gun of death in this heroic piece entitled "Fill in the Blanks" 16"X20". Going price $300.00 smakers.
The second show is called
the 2nd annual 88 STRONG 8"x8". It will be at THE GOODFOOT GALLERY (2845 SE Stark) for Last Thursday, September 29th.
map for this event is at this link
And later in the year hosted by the same guys from Po’boy Art and Framing is the BIG 100 which I hope to participate in again this year with more work.

CORPSE COP NEWS:

Now this a double for the cop on the undead beat.  Firstly is a decent sized scratchboard piece already mentioned above but ALSO IN THE WORKS-


Another scratchboard follow up to "Corpsecile".  A 12 page story called "Arctic Wolf". It is currently being set up for send off to my editor along with the script to really get this project going.

So a very busy summer for the kid.     
And I am out of here.

BBC Update 6/19/11

Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest:

TALE OF TWO JO(H)NNYS:



The work continues on phase 2.  A few Minor set backs have held the book in check as the cross over enters its third week of June.   
   This in of itself is a major thing.  With the. layout and tight pencils and the lettering complete, now comes the fun time with editor.  Refinement.
  But the work is looking good and coming together.  The aim is have this book ready for the Second Jet City show this September.
  Jason and I are both looking to seeing this book completed.


JOHNNY VEGA NEWS:



Well as Vega begins his tour of Alternate Universes (I.E. Crossovers with Darkslinger Comics , NEOtrash. Comix), Johnny swings back into his own Universe with that little known thing called an ORIGIN!
  Yep you heard it here first!  In the ol' Condo of Concepts (Mr. Green take a bow) Johnny's origin can be told as it should.  After working on this character for over a little ten years.    It is about time for this character to get origin he deserves.  Like so much of the old black and white Johnny work he kinda started off in the middle of career.  But in keeping with the campiness of stories I loved as a kid I kept that feeling alive with "Humble Beginnings" as well as with the immediate follow up "All Tomorrows Parties". 
  It should also be fun.

BBC blog Update 6/12/11

Images of the crossover pages 23 and 24


Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest:

TALE OF TWO JO(H)NNY'S
Phase 2 now in it's last couple Pages the book begins to move into Phase 3 - editing.  LIke so many projects the questions always remain-where can we trim the fat to make the book accessible for readers.
As a creative individual I write and draw for myself and what I would like to see out there since it isn't being done.  FEAR Agent is about as close as it gets to what I'm doing with Vega with Green Lantern Corps.  Mixed with Flash Gordon.
  But back to the story-  with the editing.  Sometimes before a work is complete I like to know how much art I'm going to have to produce as opposed to how much art will be covered up by text & word balloons.  Time is valuable when it comes to this.  In talking to another artist buddy of mine Dan DePaulo from NEOtrash Comix confirmed this thought.  To a guy like me when you're working a regular 9-5 kinda job and then working on the side- art can become daunting.
  But if you want that stuff out there you got to put in the time.
   With that being said -


Image Rough Pencil with Computer Color Underlays from Johnny Vega "All Tomorrow's Parties"

JOHNNY VEGA NEWS.
  The rough script has been translated into several pages of layouts for both Vega's Origin story "Humble Beginnings" and the immediate follow up "All Tomorrow's Parties".  Of course editing must take place and I think that as the help from Kat Meyers of Darkslinger Comics (trademarked Adam Watson 2011. ) she might be over inundated with tons of Vega material.
   But this character has a future I feel otherwise I wouldn't have been working on him for over a decade.
  Weird to think it's been that long.  Anyway lots of new exciting things for the Man of the Future. 


Images from Johnny Vega "Humble Beginnings" Part 1. Layout pages 1-8

And so June Begins

Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest:

TALE OF TWO JO(H)NNY'S


Let the pages COMMENCE!
You heard it here phase 1 one of the cross over is now complete and onto phase 2.  Its time for setting up the lettering and word balloons in place to see if artwork needs to be expanded upon for the  story to flow evenly between the script and the art.
   Then it will be onto Phase 3.
   Of course in the case of Phase 2 there is the issue of expanding pages.  Jason has written a brilliant action oriented story involving one space ranger Johnny Vega and Jason's gun toting hit man,  Jonny Morbid.  In such a crossover there is going to be a lot of revelations made by both parties.






This leads to the expanse of the book.  Especially in such a jam packed book.
   Jason has definitely taught me something that I had forgotten about and I believe it is a problem that all comic illustrators run into when they write their own stories - action and fun. 
  Unfortunately we artists/ creators have a tendency to be "up in our collective heads".  The stories are clear to us but not those around us.   
A page of the crossover


  When working with Adam Watson on the crossover with David, The Ghost Assassin, I learned quiet a bit.  Pacing and lack of dialogue can keep a mood and keep a story flowing just as well. 
For more check out this crossover for purchase at myebook.
  Vega had been suffering from a couple of things when I first started him about 12 years ago.
  But at the time he was simply an homage to the movie serials of the '30s.   But as the stories grew in their complexity the character had to grow and change he couldn't just be a carbon copy of space heroes of the past.  So I began to change him from the inside out while trying to keep the flavor of those stories.  That's when the crossovers began to exert a particular kind of influence on the over all story arc of Vega.
  Anyway,  I'm getting off topic here.
  I didn’t want to trim any of what Jason had written down so I took the previous drawn figures and moved them into bigger panels.  This meant more pages. 
  So there you go.  A kinda long winded explanation but gives the story the room it needs to breathe. 

IN OTHER NEWS


Scratchboard is rocking hard with the  latest piece for Ben Perkins "Perkins' Essence". And now a updated larger "Brain Cage".  The original 5"X7" was sold up in Olympia but the image was such a impression on me and those around me I thought I would reproduce the image.  It is in line with the 8"X8" format that I used for the Big 100 art show last year.