Category: Comics I Make

My comic book work includes Fut Miso and Panorama. Also thrown in there are a few collaborations as well as some early works. Zegas, my main comic book project, has its own category.

"COPRA" Comics I Make

C O P R A # 16

Copra #16 exists — it is HERE! Who does it feature? This preview might give you a clue.

I’ll admit that this was one of the most difficult issues to produce. I basically knew what the story was, what the dialogue lines and general staging would be, but… I didn’t really know until I started to actually work on it. It was very odd. The process probably didn’t help: I wanted to invoke a little bit of Jack Kirby in this chapter (being that Guthie is based on one of his creations). I’ve been running on a Kirby influence in a spontaneous, gut level, get-it-done kind of way, but this time I wanted to try it a little differently.

I’ve heard of Jack drawing a page by starting at the top left hand corner and continuing down to the lower right hand corner until the page was complete. The drawing sounded like it was more stream of consciousness and less obviously calculated. The planning was all in Jack’s head.

So in the spirit of that anecdote, I decided to forego any layouts whatsoever. I also didn’t break up the stages into workload batches the way I usually do. This meant that I woke up with two blank pages staring at me, equipped with only a vague notion of what I wanted to do. By the end of the day, my aim was to have two complete pages, fully colored and ready to scan.

Wake up, coffee, write, lay out, podcast, pencil, lunch, ink, coffee, walk dog, more ink, more podcasts, dinner, question life choices, stretch legs, more ink, color, pass out, repeat next day.

Sometimes I nailed it, sometimes I was too wiped out to even erase a page. This issue kicked my ass, but I’m really happy with the results. You’ll like it.

And of course, it’s about Guthie, whom last we saw crashing and falling through a window in some far off world. Looks like she survived and when you read the issue, you’ll know how.

So anyway, this thing exists. Bless Bergen Street Comics for furnishing the proof.

It will made available sometime in August/September. I will write all release dates and order codes with blood clouds in the sky and then you will know. You will finally know.

Baltimore Comic-Con is the show I’ll be attending September 5th-7th, but we got a while before that happens. I still gotta put out another issue.

But now, issue sixteen is waiting snugly in its unopened box for you to order it. I will personally package it and ship it to you with nothing but love and respect and eternal gratitude. GET ON IT.

Tags Jack Kirby

"COPRA" Comics I Make

C O P R A # 15

COPRA #15 is now real and alive. I hope you didn’t get too comfortable with last issue’s southern comfort; Gracie’s turn to shine couldn’t be more different than Patrick’s. This issue has everything you want from a Miami story which means yes, someone wears a guayabera.

Here’s a taste:

There’s still a chance of getting issue thirteen and issue fourteen in case you skipped out on the last couple of issues. Catch up with what Grantland describes as “one part Ostrander Suicide Squad tribute, one part forward-facing bizarro beat-’em-up, and all parts startling DIY achievement.”

Before you go, set your gaze on this amazing & timely Gracie piece by Giannis Milonogiannis.

Not only that, but we’re going to be collaborating really soon!

Oh, & check these Lloyd drawings! This one’s by Jaimie Filer (more of his art here) – –

– – and the other by Javier Hernandez (check out his art & comics here).

So let’s prep for the summer – you bring the sunblock, I’ll bring this super breezy, easy going issue of Copra.

–Fiffe

Tags Copra

"COPRA" Comics I Make

COPRA: Round One – Announcement

Post author By Fiffe
Post date May 22, 2014
No Comments on COPRA: Round One – Announcement

COPRA: ROUND ONE is to be published by Bergen Street Press! It collects issue 1 – 6, available for pre-order this summer, and will be on sale September.

Unfamiliar with COPRA? READ ISSUE ONE FOR FREE, drop in on Comics Alliance, or just go by this trusty description:

“They’re ugly. They’re mean. But up until today, they’ve always been loyal. So when one of their own betrays them, the men and women of COPRA have no choice but to turn their nightmarish skills back on every son of a bitch who ever looked at them funny.”

Tags Bergen Street Comics Press

"COPRA" Comics I Make

C O P R A # 14

Copra #14 is here! That’s right – as in available at your usual Copra comics merchant; buy it!

I’m really excited about this issue, I have to admit. Ever notice how sometimes comic titles warn you that “this issue’s a little off-beat, a l’il different”? Well, that would be this one. Last thing I wanna do is spoil it for you, so I’ll just keep it short. Here are a few shots of the comic itself.

Here is one of the pages featuring Patrick ‘WIR” Dale and his hometown pals.

RANDOM EXTRAS

Here are some cool bits of Copra related arts:

A Man-Head custom toy…

… and a super cool Vincent drawing, both by Michael C. Kappeler!

And check out this bit of graffiti featuring old school nemesis Vitas by Satellite Mind!

I want to point out these wonderful reviews that Copra #13 received in the last month. I’m really appreciative that this title’s return has been well received, especially by these fine folks:

The Blackest of Suns – Omega Level – Nothing But Comics! – So Much Yelling

Here are a few short video clips I took while drawing the splash page for this new issue. Inking & holding a camera isn’t the most practical approach, so I kept it brief.

Oddly enough, the rest of the issue looks nothing like this. It’s very clean, meticulous, very… very — aw, you’ll see. So go SEE — Copra #14!

And I’ll see you here next month!

–Fiffe

Tags Copra

"COPRA" Comics I Make

C O P R A # 13

COPRA is back! Issue thirteen is here and ready to go. I’ve been wanting to get to this issue for the longest time and I’m happy to finally get it out into the world!

Did I mention that half the print run comes with a free fold out poster?

There’s a lot of COPRA news brewing. Collections are beyond the planning stages and are being made — physically made! Super exciting! I’ll drop the details as soon as I know them. Compendiums are gonna happen, too, the 4th one at the very least.

In case you’re stopping by for the first time, make sure to check out COPRA #1 – the very first issue posted in its entirety for your reading pleasure. Get acquainted, look around, tell your friends and check in every month for new issues.

One last time: COPRA #13, it’s here.

Tags Copra, Copra Compendium

Comics I Make

All-New Ultimates

Variant #1 (Marquez)

Characters Sketch

ALL-NEW ULTIMATES is a superpower teen crime Marvel comic written by me, drawn by Amilcar Pinna, colored by Nolan Woodard, and lettered by Clayton Cowles, debuting April 09, ’14.

You can get them at your local comics store (find your nearest one) or read them digitally. Look for covers by David Nakayama or variant covers by David Marquez & Ron Wimberly. Here’s a preview of the first issue!

To tide you over, here are some more preview/interviews at Comic Book Resources (One, Two) and Newsarama (One, Two).

Issue #1 (Nakayama)

Variant #2 (Wimberly)

Tags All-New Ultimates, Marvel Comics

Art & Illustration Comics I Make

G. I. Joe Samples

G.I Joe sample pages I staged, pencilled & inked back in 2011. Featured: Roadblock gunning some Cobra Troopers, Snake Eyes vs Storm Shadow, Baroness & Destro being voyeurs.

This was pre-Zegas, pre-self publishing, trying to work the work-for-hire hustle one last time before submitting to the notion that cartooning was gonna have to be a hobby. I set my scope to IDW thus (I’d worked for them before & they seemed to hire from a wide spectrum of ability that accommodated relative newcomers). Since G.I. Joe was the only title they published I was [very loosely] familiar with, I drew a sequence I thought would show my “strengths”. I don’t remember whether IDW rejected or flat out ignored my knocking on their door, but thank god they did either way! Not being able to land a job I knew I could crush was becoming my personal industry standard, but I wasn’t gonna let that dopey job get me down (no offense). Hence, Copra Press.

Anyway, I think I would’ve had a great time drawing Snake Eyes kick the crap out of anything, actually (and c’mon: Baroness). But as it stands, these pages represent the end of an era and the beginning of a new one.

Tags G.I Joe

"COPRA" Comics I Make

C O P R A # 8

COPRA #8, it has arrived.

It is ready to be ordered and read and held close to your beating heart.

Remember last issue’s breather? We chucked that plan out the window with “Otros Mundos”, our latest multi dimensional adventure.

But wait… here’s something I don’t do enough of: process pics!

These are probably the tightest layouts I’ve done in a while… and only for a mere 2 pages, for the most basic staging purposes (the rest of the issue was planned out in a series of notes, not thumbnails). I make the majority of the decisions while I’m pencilling, then I quickly commit to those decisions when I ink (usually on the same day, which is why I don’t get a chance to scan that particular stage).

That was a two page spread. This is what the pages look like before they get colored:

As for this month’s guest art spot, it features the work of Adrian Johnson, illustrator, cartoonist and 1/3 of the great Sidebar comics podcast (I direct you to their immense Barchives).

I’m diggin’ this fauX cover, Adrian. Believe me, I wish I could charge fifty cents an issue!

* * * * * *

Attn: Readers in the UK and abroad! Impossible Books is now open for business and they’re carrying all of your future favorite small press books.

* * * * * *

So there you have it, folks, your midsummer funnybook. Flexible enough to be rolled into your back pocket and sturdy enough to survive beach conditions. Whatever you do, you must get it first, so do precisely that!

See you in August.

–Fiffe

"COPRA" Comics I Make

Copra Compendium 2

The second Copra Compendium has arrived and you can buy it here! Bergen Street Comics Press has collected Copra issues four, five and six, coming in at 76 pages colorful, loving brutality.

See that group shot up there? I bet you can tell that’s new art for the cover… and it is (the compendium also includes the original covers, but I wanted to do something new).

Also available is the new printing of the first Compendium (collecting issues one, two and three). That one’s also a 76 pager and includes a new back cover, too.

So catch up on your Copra and check back in for further issues (#7 is already on sale). The eighth issue will be available very soon, it just needs to get printed and shipped right after I color it! Here’s a brief look at the home stretch.

Thanks to the established readers of the series – I hope you don’t get tired of me saying how much I appreciate your support – and thanks to those of you trying out Copra for the first time. We think you’ll love it, but let us know what the verdict is.

–Fiffe

Tags Bergen Street Comics Press, Copra, Copra Compendium

Comics I Make

ZEGAS #2 Sells Out!

The second issue of Zegas has sold out! Even with its very limited print run, I never thought the moment would come (I always saw myself as an old man sitting on a throne made up of unsold copies of Zegas #1 and Deathzone!, actually). I’ll be honest: selling out is not ideal if you want your work to get out there and reach new readers, and since I can’t quite add Zegas to my self-publishing schedule and budget, these first two issues will remain out of print for the foreseeable future. A collection may be in order but again, not for a while.

Borrow a copy from a friend, check it out from a library, or look over some of the pages here. In fact, there’s a list at the bottom of that post of comic shops that carried issue 2, and they may still do. Might be worth asking.

Of course, Zegas #0 is still available, which is just a good a starting point as any.

Zegas #2 will always remind me of my brief flirtation with crowdfunding, and of all the support I received throughout its entire process. I’m really proud of the results, and I have many of you to thank for that.