“How Mirka Got Her Sword,” Page 37

The last panel of this page is is another one I got my friend Dylan to pose for.

By the way, in case anyone’s not already reading it, Dylan’s webcomic Family Man is awesome.

Congratulations to Cathy Malkasian

I would have enjoyed winning (cue bitter tears and ranting), but to tell you the truth, I think the judges made the right choice. Congratulations to Cathy Malkasian for winning this year’s Russ Manning Award, in recognition of her gorgeous, eccentric graphic novel Percy Gloom.

Two Further Title Page Sketches

Remember, you can own a paper copy of “Hereville” of your very own!

For folks that pay extra, I do a sketch on the title page. Each sketch is different. Here are two sketches I did recently; you can see a bunch more here.

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Hereville reviewed on ReadComics Podcast

The current ReadComics Podcast includes a two minute discussion of “Hereville,” which they liked (phew!). The “Hereville” talk begins at about 42:15. This is, as far as I know, the first time “Hereville” has been mentioned on a Podcast.

One host, Marty, bought a copy of “Hereville” with a sketch on the title page. I’m pretty sure this is the sketch he bought; I’m glad to hear he liked it. (You can see a whole bunch of title page sketches I’ve done here.)

One of the hosts, Florence, mentions that she read “Hereville” (as well as Castle Waiting and The Underburbs) as an antidote for her depression after reading a ton of Warren Ellis and Walking Dead comics, which really amused me.

I haven’t heard this podcast before, but I enjoyed it, largely because they discussed several comics that I’ve actually read and heard of, so this doesn’t make me feel quite as outdated as some other comics podcasts I’ve heard. To make sure that I did feel old, though, the hosts spent a while discussing if Frank Miller drew “Daredevil” and “The Dark Knight,” before concluding that he didn’t.

“How Mirka Got Her Sword,” Page 36

This is one of my favorite pages in the entire book — possibly my favorite page, period. I really like this page conceptually. Plus, the drawing came out very nicely; I think I’ve rarely done a better job of drawing Mirka than on all the little background panels on this page.

“How Mirka Got Her Sword,” Page 35

I don’t like using tight close-ups very much, but panel four of this page is one of the times it seemed called for.

“How Mirka Got Her Sword,” Page 34

“How Mirka Got Her Sword,” Page 33

A couple of art notes:

This was the first page of “Hereville” I drew entirely on computer. The previous pages all had linework drawn with ink on paper, and then scanned in to the computer for coloring.

I try and do most of my figure drawing without photo reference, but for some poses it’s really needed. Many thanks to my friends Jenn Lee and Dylan Meconis — both of whom do great webcomics of their own, by the way, so check those links out — for their willingness to pose for this sequence. And doesn’t it look like Jenn is having far too much fun twisting Dylan’s arm?