Hereville book two work-in-progress: Mirka and the bullies

Dicebox book one flip-through!

My friend, the brilliant cartoonist Jenn Lee, is self-publishing the first book of her sci-fi webcomic Dicebox. Last week she posted the flip-through:

Jenn let me contribute a blurb to Dicebox. Here’s what I wrote:

Molly and Griffen are blue-collar workers in space looking for work and avoiding past mistakes. Jenn Manley Lee’s unique brand of science fiction — part slice of life, part travelogue — is daring, refreshing, whip-smart, and gloriously entertaining.

And Scott McCloud’s blurb:

In Jenn Manley Lee’s elegant pages, the mysteries of the universe are matched by the mysteries of the human mind. Dicebox is science fiction done right.

The book also includes a short Dicebox story written and drawn by me, years ago. (I’m kind of embarrassed by my old artwork, to be honest, but Jenn says she likes it.)

Dicebox is available as a hardcover, a softcover, and a very affordable pdf — all three versions are for sale at Jenn’s store. A warning, though: The book does have a little sex and a little swearing, so probably for grown-ups only.

Hereville fan art by Emma T. Capps!

Check out this drawing of Mirka by the fabulous, 14 year old Emma T. Capps. Emma does the comic strip Chapel Chronicles; there’s an article about her here.

(Click on the drawing to see it full sized!)

On her tumblr, Emma writes:

Mirka’s a fantastic character and it was so fun to draw her in my style. Also from now on I should just have all my characters dress this way (besides Chapel). LONG SKIRTS AND LONG SLEEVES COVER UP ALL ANATOMY SINS, I tell you!

She’s on to my secret. :-p

She also writes that Hereville “reads kind of like a Miyazaki movie, if Miyazaki was Jewish and had Terry Pratchett’s sense of humor.” I have yet to get into Pratchett (I’m sure I will someday), but I’m a huge Miyazaki fan, so I consider that a very high compliment.

Thanks, Emma!

Barry will be at the Mid-Ohio Comic Book Convention

I’m in Ohio today; I’m typing this from the library of Worthingway Middle School in Worthington, Ohio. I’ll be speaking to the kids here today, then this afternoon I’ll speak at Kilbourne Middle School, and tomorrow I’ll be visting McCord Middle School. School appearances are always fun for me, and this time I’m expermenting with some new material, a “workshop” on writing and drawing a comic strip. Wish me luck!

Then, Saturday and Sunday, I’ll be at the Mid-Ohio Comic Book Con. I’ll be at table 1013; please come and say “hi” if you’re there.

Oracle’s Last Supper

Here’s the line art for the still-ongoing drawing I’m making of “Oracle’s Last Supper,” featuring nearly every female hero of DC’s “Bat” family arranged in a “Last Supper of Christ” pastiche, plus a dog. There are 17 figures in all. Please click to see it larger.

It’s still not finished — there will to be two versions, a hand-inked version that will be auctioned for charity as part of Women of Wonder Day, and a computer-colored print — but I kind of like the clean look of the line art.

From left to right, the characters at the table are Katherine Kane (the original 1950s Batwoman), Betty Kane (the original 1950s Batgirl, Katherine’s niece), Robin (Stephanie Brown), Spoiler (Stephanie Brown), Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Batgirl (Stephanie Brown), Oracle (Barbara Gordon), Batgirl (Cassandra Cain), Batwoman (Kate Kane), Huntress (Helena Wayne), Robin (Carrie Kelly), Black Bat (Cassandra Cain), and Batgirl (Charlotte “Charlie” Gage-Radcliffe, aka Misfit). In the background is Robin (Rochelle Wayne) sitting on a robot dinosaur; Blackbat (Barbara Hardy) on the giant rook; and Robin (Trish Plover) flying near the ceiling. And the dog in the foreground is Ace, the Bat-Hound.

Stephanie Brown takes a photo of Stephanie Brown posing with Stephanie Brown

These are figures from a drawing-in-progress I’m working on, featuring the Last Supper done with 16 Batgirls, Batwomen, female Robins and female Black Bats. Plus Oracle,Spoiler, Huntress and Ace the Bat-Hound.

School appearance via Skype!

I just did an author visit at the Agnon School in Cleveland via Skype, and it was so much fun! I got to talk to their 4th grade class, do live drawing demonstrations for them, show them an animated film of my drawing process, and answer their questions.

And when I was done, I was right here in my studio in Oregon.

To conclude: living in the world of the future is teh awesome.

Here are the live drawings I did for the kids. When I do this presentation, I first demonstrate for the kids how to lay out a face by using the eggshell-with-a-cross method, which is a very easy method. Then, I call on the kids to answer questions like “what should the nose be like?” or “what expression does this person have?,” and then I draw whatever they tell me to. (I draw a lot of mohawks and afros, therefore.) It’s a lot of fun. After the presentation is over, I email the drawings to the librarian, so she can print out a copy for any kids who want.

Right now it’s mostly well-off schools that have Skype setups, but nothing about being able to use Skype is so outrageously expensive that any school couldn’t do it. All that’s required is a computer monitor large enough to be seen by the whole classroom, and an internet connection. For the kids growing up now, talking to creators and other folks from all over the world is increasingly becoming an ordinary part of education.

Many thanks to Aimee Lurie, the kick-ass librarian at Agnon School who put this all together!

Rochelle Wayne, also known as Robin, on a gigantic toy dinosaur

Ongoing work-in-progress for a drawing that will be auctioned off as part of this year’s “Women of Wonder Day.” The woman in the drawing is Rochelle Wayne, who was Robin in an “Elseworlds” Batman comic set during the French Revolution. Rochelle Wayne was designed by the wonderful José Luis García-López; my attempt to draw García-López hair looks pretty silly, but it was fun to try!

The completed drawing will include 4 female Robins, 5 Batgirls, 2 Batwomen, 2 female Black Bats, Huntress, Spoiler, Oracle, and Ace the Bat-Hound.

Why I Go To Comic Book Conventions (a somewhat embarassed confession)

I’ve realized this year that a major reason I go to comic book conventions isn’t for fun, but because I feel a need to be legitimized as a cartoonist. After so many years of getting nowhere with cartooning, it means a lot to me to go someplace where readers, and especially other cartoonists, will say “Oh, you did Hereville? That was really good.”

It’s also, sad to say, why I enjoy being nominated for awards. (Did I oh-so-casually mention that Hereville was nominated for an Eisner, a Harvey, and an Ignatz? I did? Well, then, let me just casually mention it again.)

I was talking about this to another cartoonist — someone who has won major cartooning awards and is published by a prestigious company. And he told me that despite all that, he still feels the same need for legitimization. It never goes away, apparently.

In conclusion: Maybe I’ll try to go to fewer cons this year.

Sketch of the 1950s Batwoman and Batgirl

Katherine (Kathy) Kane and her niece Betty Kane were the original Batwoman and Batgirl, in the 1950s.

This was kind of interesting to sketch. I had to draw things I virtually never draw, like — well — superheroes. And high heels.