BING CON is this weekend!

We've finally made it to August 25th and BING CON! We've been planning this for months and it's finally here. Let's keep our fingers crossed that we've not forgotten anything and everything goes without a hitch!

DOGS-O-WAR Reviewed...and they liked it!

This just in from MajorSpoilers.com: REVIEW: Dogs-O-War: Book 3 Posted on June 9, 2013 by Dave Conde What would Usagi Yojimbo have been like if it were one of the original titles launched by Image Comics, alongside Spawn, Savage Dragon, and Youngblood? If that question blows your mind (in a good way), then have I got the answer for you! Take a ride with the funny animals from the 1990’s that didn’t live in the sewers. And discover once and for all “Who let the dogs out?” SUMMARY Pros Action scenes are inconsistent, but often quite good Cons Prose, a bit purple A product of its time DOGS-O-WAR: BOOK 3 Writer: Tom Sniegoski Artist: Mark Masztal Inker: Ethan Van Sciver, Nathan Massengil, Eric Powell, Chuck Angell Letterer: Fonts’R’Us Publisher: NOT DOG Comics Cover Price: $9.99 Previously in Dogs-O-War: In the wake of mankind’s near-destruction of the Earth through “viral warfare and genetic engineering”, the world is a wasteland sparsely populated by half-man, half-beasts and littered with pockets of super-technology from the before-times. A few remaining great scientists try to shape the remnants into their own vision, but not all of them want what’s best for everyone. DOGS AND CATS FIGHTING TOGETHER! MASS HYSTERIA! This book is a bit of an odd duck to review here but when our beloved Editor In Chief threw a review copy down on my desk here at the old Major Spoilers Bullpen* I was not about to shy away from a review. Not to be confused with similarly contemporary titled Dogs of War or The Dogs of War, Dogs-O-War:Book 3 is a collection of a three issue limited series (plus a five page intro story) from 1996 and it shows its age. I don’t mean that as a bad thing, but this book is definitely a product of its time. Whether you see that as “old and stale” or “cool and retro” depends more upon you than on the comic because the comic is well done whatever the time period. Let me give you the elevator pitch: An evil scientist named Dusk is taking over the world, with the goal of exterminating all life. Good scientist “Godhead”, aided by a pair of samurai-esque dogs, is trying to rally a rebellion. As you do. Dogs-O-War has all the ingredients for a great comic: Post-apocalyptic wastelands, anthropomorphic animals, swords, chain guns, explosions… It’s twenty pounds of cool stuff in a ten pound sack. Which is also the weakness of this book. There is so much going on, and so much implied depth that I feel that what I’m reading is just skimming the surface. That’s not entirely bad–you want to feel that the universe that you’re reading about is fleshed out, but there’s very little time left for character development. There’s not enough downtime to contrast with the action. In a perfect world this story would have had twelve issues to build an arc that would match the epic nature of the tale that they’re trying to tell here. Another caveat that I should mention is that the prose here is sometimes so purple as to be ultraviolet. That is to say, it’s dripping with melodrama and takes itself exceedingly seriously–to the point of distraction. As I keep saying, however, that’s not entirely bad. Dogs-O-War is intended to be an epic tale, bordering on myth, so the tone is actually in line with that powerful sense of importance. I bring it up because it is the kind of thing that could rub you the wrong way, but personally I powered through and it became part of the charm of the book. Side note: it crosses the line in the narration boxes, where the narrator describes things that are visible in the panel. I think you would get a better reading experience if you just skip the narration boxes and spend the time paying attention to the art. It’s redundant; almost like the accidentally printed the notes to the artist, or the writer didn’t trust the artist to convey the story. CRY HAVOC! The art screams ‘90’s, but without the worst excesses of Liefeld (which, to be fair, even he wasn’t guilty of ALL the time). It’s all in black and white, in the cost-saving indy comic tradition, which highlights the excellent pencil work. The lines are nice and precise and even though the book went through a revolving door of inkers they all did a great job. The standout of the visuals is the character design. Back in the 1990’s everyone wanted to do a spin on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the idea of gritty warrior animals. I really like Masztal’s take on the sub-genre. The titular dogs are good, but when you can do a believable bad-ass koala—that’s when I tip my hat. The action scenes are inconsistent, but often quite good. The lesser scenes seem to be limited by the time/space available to them, but a when they work they accomplish the impressive task of making the mix of guns and swords not look stupid. [Except at tech level “flintlock” guns and swords together on the battlefield is ridiculous, but can still be cool as hell. Remember the first time you saw Star Wars.] THE BOTTOM LINE: Breaking away from the pack I give Dogs-O-War: Book 3 three and a half stars—and yes, part of that is nostalgia for a more civilized age. But the rest of it is that the story is fun, the ideas are coming at you from all angles, and the art is great. I would love to play a role playing game set in this universe. Why is there not a GURPS sourcebook for Dogs-O-War? It may not be for everyone but if my description didn’t scare you, I recommend getting your hands on it if you can, although it’s currently in the approval process at Diamond and Amazon. You can get a copy directly from Sniegoski or Masztal at conventions or from dogboy443@hotmail.com *The Major Spoilers Bullpen is almost as real as the Marvel Bullpen. Rating: About the Author Dave Conde went to Grad school for Accounting and was voted “Most Likely to Quit Accounting and Become a Professional Skateboarder”. This is not demonstrably false. He reads a bit of everything but values the writing above the art. The only books he’ll buy regardless of the story are by Frank Cho, because…well damn. (Once he masters drawing more than one female face, Frank’s going to be unstoppable.) He’s Dave. Solamente Dave. And he can’t be locked up in a cage like some kind of Manimal. He’s outta heeeeeeere.

Busy Summer!

When I get plans in motion, I really get things moving. Two big events this Summer. Starting on June 21st I will have a one-man show of my artwork; It All Started With A Dog, and it will include spot illustrations, comic book pages and color pieces. I will also dust off my old LEGO pages and have them on display, both the B&W pages and the hand-colored pages. The show is at the Bing Arts Center in Springfield, MA and there will be an artists reception on June 29th from 6-8. At the end of the Summer, I will be promoting, along with G. Michael Dobbs and Brian Hale, BING CON 2013! The newest comic book/fantasy/horror/multi-media show in the Springfield, MA, this is an event that this area hasn't seen in a long time. Springfield needed something like this to bring artists and exhibitors together at an affordable price and we decided to utilize the Bing Art Center again and organize the event. The show starts at 11am-5pm on August 25th and then at 7:00 pm we will be showing a special Fantastic Feature Film that hardly anyone has seen. It will be comic book themed and we hope that you come back after the con to see the movie. Your admission price also covers the movie. All proceeds will go to supporting the Bing Arts Center. Both event have links on Facebook so check them out and keep checking back for updated information. BING CON 2013 It All Started With A Dog

DOGS-O-WAR are on the Loose!

Hot off the presses, DOGS-O-WAR: The Collected Book Three is ready for you to devour with gusto...and a side dish of raw meat! 96 pages of B&W interiors with a new color cover by series artist and co-creator Mark Masztal! This book collects Dogs-O-War originally published by Crusade Entertainment in 1996-1997 and it appears here how the creators originally wanted it, with fixed production errors and the finest quality standards. The series revisits the world of Shar-Pei and the Godhead and introduces new characters like the female doberman warrior Gypsy, the narcoleptic and minigun wielding koala, Clyde and the bio-machine terror of Dr. Dusk. It also re-introduces us to old characters like the former I.C.E. soldier Flint McHenry and transforming robot Big Man. Aided by inker extraordinaires, Nathan (Deadpool & Batman) Massengill, Ethan(Cyber-Frog & Green Lantern) Van Sciver, Eric (The Goon) Powell and Chuck Angell, Mark has gone all-out-crazy designing some of the most interesting characters in comics and proving that any animal can be anthropomorphic! Special for this collection are issue by issue insights by Mark about the making of the original series and never before seen pin-ups and character designs for proposed follow-up series! Contact Mark at dogboy443@hotmail.com and reserve your copy at the low cover price of $9.99 + $3 shipping and be prepared to be entertained!

And BING CON 2013 is Official!!!

I cannot believe this is the first post of 2013...then I look back and I see I didn't post anything in 2012! Well, I must admit that Facebook had stolen me away for awhile. Things have been happening though, all in a good sense. Tom Sniegoski and I are collecting our Dogs-O-War mini-series, originally published by Crusade Entertainment, into a beautiful soft cover collection featuring a new cover by me and a few never before seen pin-ups and character designs. The graphic novel should be delivered in time for FREE Comic Book Day this Saturday. For this event, I will be at Mike Murray's comic Shop in Agawam, MA along with local artist Christopher Peck and Scott Hanna. It should be a fun day as we sell our books, hand out freebies and sketch for the fans coming by. So along with collecting the Collection and digitally coloring the Freebie book, I've also been working with Christopher Peck on his War Dog book. Chris is an amazing talent and I'm proud to call him a friend. I've been designing his book along with lettering it and providing color to his covers. I've also done quite a bit of freelance work this past year, especially for a large insurance company. that's was a short deadline project, but it was a lot of fun and a lot of hours. I hope you like the new art and I will check back in and let you know how FCBD went! Cheers.

The Fury Splash Page

Here is the finished Fury splash page written by Mike Dobbs, pencilled, lettered and toned by myself and inked by Bill Anderson!

Enjoy

James Robert Smith and his writings

Not much to be said that hasn't been in this article except Bob Smith is a wonderful man, a friend and a great collaborator.

Cheers

The Living End...The Graphic Novel

It's been months that I talked with writer James Robert Smith about adapting his novel The Living End into a graphic novel. Our first foray was adapting his novel, The Flock, into a GN but once the rights were signed over to Warner Bros for the movie deal, all publishing rights went away. After having an early Winter storm that knocked out our power, and still has, I found myself with time to sit and take one of the more picturesque scenes in Bob's novel and lay it out as thumbnails. I changed the zombie money shot a little bit, but I still think it works very well. My goal was to also give our dog star BC, a little more personality, especially with ear, eye and tail positioning. I think he's a huge star!

Fury Update!

Editor-in-Chief Steve Bissette really liked the Fury piece, but he did want to see a few edits. One was dropping the half-face device popularized by Steve Ditko during his run on Spider-Man in the 1960's. SRB felt it was too much of an homage so I drew in the entire characters face. One idea to hit home that this main character was The Fury-in-training was to have the floating head motiff popularized in the 1970's by such stalwarts as John Buscema and Gil Kane. Able Bill Anderson sent me over some reference and I got to draw the entire Fury mask. But now what to do with the credits circle? Easy! Tack it up on the telephone pole! It was an empty spot so I curved the Fury logo and sketched in the creator credits. Now it's time for Able Bill Anderson to work his ink magic.

N-Man & The Fury!

Hello and welcome to "Mark finally draws something!" I've been very busy over the past few months designing and promoting the Panel To Panel book you see on earlier posts. Recently I was asked to provide a pin-up for Mike Dobbs' The Fury script. I've known Marvelous Mike for a long time and I was excited to work with him, so here is the splash page for The Fury's Day Off. The Fury ©Stephen R. Bissette. Speaking of Steve, last year saw me pencilling a couple covers and a 5 page N-Man story. Steve graciously offered to ink these pages and now we see the first Masztal/Bissette team-up! I used the pen name Wild Mark Hare after a signature style I used way back in high-school. Steve brought a different light to my tight pencils...and I like it!

More Panel to Panel from Paint & Pixel

Here are some more images from Paint & Pixel, a couple promo pieces I had promoting P2P and a nice shot me and my friend Phil Owen. That's me on the left, before my severe hair cut of this past weekend.

Cheers

Panel to Panel!

So what have I been doing for the past 4+ months? Well, I've been designing Panel To Panel. A huge book filled with interviews and art work from some of comics heavy hitters as well as indie superstars. We're talking Dave Sim, Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, Rick Veitch, Mark Bode, James Kockalka, Stan Sakai, Dave Mack, Mark Martin and many, many more. 274 pages of goodness. How can you buy this great book you say? Well first we have to get it funded. John Rovnak, the publisher of P2P, has posted the book on Kickstarter to raise the funds to print and get this book published. What can you do? You can follow this link, check out our video and page examples and read through the description of the book to see if it's something you would like to be a part of. We have a lot of incentives attached to many different investment packages. Signed bookplates, t-shirts, hand-drawn avatars, original artwork and grey wash portraits as well as your name in the book as a contributor and a copy of the book. I believe in this project and I need your help. Won't you support a fantastic project and help us get the first volume underway?

Cheers,
Mk

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

And now something a little more in the mood of the Holiday.

Ho-Ho-Ho!

Damn, It's Danzig

Here is the finished Danzig piece I teased earlier. Bill Anderson knocked a homer with the inks and then I dropped in the digital color. I think it looks smashing! Look for it in the Panel 2 Panel Magazine coming out early next year.

Cheers!

Eagle; inked, toned...done

Here is the finished Eagle pin-up that I pencilled and Bill Anderson inked and then digitally toned. This piece really worked for both of us, even though I don't think either of us were crazy for our initial work. look for the Eagle Compendium coming out this Spring from a comic publisher soon-to-be-names.

Cheers

The Living End is going to be published!

My pal James Bob Smith sent me a message this morning that Severed Press out of Australia is going to publish his zombie novel The Living End, A Zombie Novel (with Dogs) next Spring. Now whether or not I have the cover is another matter. I'm sure they have a fine stable of artists that produce their covers, but I hope, with the revisions I've made this morning, that Gary at Severed Press will see my love for this novel and give this kid a shot!

Cheers

New art...finally!

Along with doing some semi-fun commercial art, I've had time to put together a pin-up for Neil Vokes' Eagle compilation, a dinosaur spread for a pillowcase art kit and a Glenn Danzig pin-up for Panel-2-Panel's latest magazine. Bill Anderson is inking the Eagle and Danzig pieces while I'm handling the Dino's.

Rock-n-Shock Wrap Up

We're back from R-n-S 2010 and it was great. We saw, we conquered, we made money, we ate poorly, but we had fun cracking jokes and wondering why people wear what they were wearing. Oh...and elephant piss. Quite pungent. Seems the circus was held at the DCU Center a week before us and all of the animals were kept in the room we were using. Seems the caretakers of the animals poured buckets of elephant piss down what they thought was a sewer drain. It turned out to be an electrical grate so the piss hung around. We were shocked by the smell when we to set up. It dissipated a bit as the weekend went along, but it was still nasty. Anyway, my daughter joined Mike, Marty and myself and got to meet her dreamy Ghost Hunter. Our pal Jeff A. stopped by and shared some thoughts with us and finished off his Fango collection. I bought some movies, drew a lot of Zombies, including the girlfriend of Akihiro (The Human Centipede) Kitamura and that was very cool. I also got to say hi to Adrienne Barbeau, buy her book and have a picture taken with her. All-in-all, a great weekend.

Until next year!

Albany Comic Con

I will be at the Albany Comic Con in Albany NY this Sunday from 10-4. I'll be there with my amigos Bill Anderson and Dennis Webster. We'll be talking about our new project Silent Scream and I will have comic pages for sale, prints for sale and samples of my latest work from Steve Bissette's Tales of the Uncanny. I also be doing sketches and if you ask nice, I'll even Zombify you!