The Penguin

Amulet Written and illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi I picked this one up at the library, in the kid's comic book section (there's some good stuff in there). The story concerns a girl named Emily, and her discovery of a magic amulet. Having lost her father in a car accident, Emily, her mother, and her brother Navin move into their great-grandfather Silas's home. When Emily's mother is kidnapped by a tentacled creature in the basement, Emily and Navin set off in search of her. Their journey takes them to the home of Silas and his robotic assistants; it is his dying wish that Emily take the stone and save the strange parallel earth from the wicked Elf King and his army. Along the way, they are menaced by the Elf Prince, Elf soldiers, various strange creatures, and the seductive power of the Amulet. Kazu Kibuishi delivers a solid series, illustrated in a loose cartoon style. The story is kid-friendly, but engaging enough that any comics reader will find it satisfying; there are...

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Whew - that's a lot of uploading. Here's a picture of me, relaxing: Ladies, feel free to faint with passion. That thing on my head, by the way, is the hat I just crocheted - my friend Lauren showed me how to do it. I'm very proud. Here it is, up close: Unfortunately, I made the crochets on the first round way too tight, so it squeezes my head (I have a friggin' huge noggin), so I'm planning to take it apart somewhat and correct the situation. At least it doesn't fall off my head. The nice thing about making your own clothes - besides the fact that you look so impoverished, no one would dream of mugging you - is that they're all custom-made. I have problems with winter hats: they are either beanies, or way too big and hot. This way I at least have a hat I can stand, and I have no one to blame but myself if it's uncomfortable. Also, yarn is pretty cheap. I'm planning to make some fingerless glove kinda things, too. Anyway, by next post I'll have re...

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Page 2: As usual, all images © 2011 Richard M Schlaack.

Here is the first page - let me know if the text is too small to read when you enlarge it. As usual, all images © 2011 Richard M. Schlaack.

Dear All: I'm going to start uploading my comic to this blog, in order for you to see the wonder and glory. I'll upload it one page at a time (except for the covers), and then maybe do a slideshow-type dealio. All right, here's the cover sequence: As usual, all images © 2011 Richard M. Schlaack

Here are some things you may or may not ever see coming up on this blog, maybe, if I find the time: 1. Regular posts! 2. Weekly sketches! 3. Comic reviews every month! 4. Regular updates on my comic work! My problem is, when I find time to work on this blog, I'm either writer's-blocked or too far from a scanner to upload an interesting sketch. I kinda wish I could just upload all my sketches, every day, forever, but then I start to suffer from "polished sketch" syndrome, in which every image has to be Disney-quality before I feel it's okay to upload it. Anyway, stay tuned. Rick Out.

I'm proud to announce that The Human Cannonball #1 is just finished, and will be coming out...when I get some money. Seriously, there is no money available to print this thing. I need to set up a PayPal account and start begging. But who cares! It's done! Pop the cork on the Champagne-in-a-box, and let's party. I'm thinking of taking THC and offering it to Image or Dark Horse or one of those other comic book publishers, because frankly, I'm sick and tired of having no distribution or marketing. 'Tis true, I do like the whole local-hero DIY aspect of Blind Alley Comics (I'm already halfway to becoming Harvey Pekar...on the inside). But when it comes down to it, who are we kidding? Blind Alley Comics has no budget for marketing, distribution, and (often) printing our comics. Even if we managed to sell a comic to all the people we know, we still wouldn't make enough to finance a production level of any appreciable scale. With that in mind, I'm going to...

Howdy, all. I'm not sure if you've noticed, if you've ever been on DeviantArt, but it's kind of...um... pornographic . There's a lot of pretty blatant pornography mixed in with the art. I'm sort of embarrassed to post my art on there, because of the whole shame-by-association thing. Now don't get me wrong; I don't mind a bit of artistic nudity thrown in here and there, especially where it involves black-and-white photography (I am a fan of Man Ray). And I'm not opposed to erotica, where tastefully done (or, on the opposite side, tackily done, because it can be funny and weird and interesting to look at). The human body can be art. I have no problem with that. But I do have a problem when I go on an art site, and it seems like every tenth image is blatant commercial pornography. And I do mean commercial - the Deviant ID for these images is very obviously a group of paid photographers, co-opting an open art site to peddle their wares. Often ...

I'm developing something of a green thumb, or at least a green pinkie. Two years ago I set up a little garden patch in my back yard, and since then I've been trying out various kinds of fruits and vegetables, with varying degrees of success. This year I tried some seeds from a Howell melon and a gourd. I tried to start the melon inside the house, in a little Styrofoam cup; unfortunately, I think it makes the plants weak (or something). The gourd seeds, on the other hand, I planted directly into the ground. Here's the result: BOOM The photo doesn't really do justice to the infestation that is Gordy the Gourd. He has these hand-like feelers on the ends of his vines, which seem to reach out for something to grab; I've caught him trying repeatedly to crawl across the lawn toward the house. Mostly I just redirect his energies back to the fence. Eventually I may have to prune the beast. And the melon? Well, Melanie the Melon is not having quite the same succ...

Dear Friends (and nemeses): Here's the logo for Blind Alley Comics, formerly Dead City Productions: I sure hope you like it...'cause you're going to be seeing a lot of it. So you'd better get used to it. No whining or complaining. At least, not when I'm around. Rick Out.

Here's the completed color cover for The Human Cannonball #1: Ain't it purdy?

Here are a couple of sketchbook pages, just to whet your appetite: Sketchbook welcome page freeform geometric designs The second page represents a style I've been working with for five years now; it's a sort of freeform geometric jazz image. Working on these is a very slow, meditative process for me, but the final product is sort of obsessive-looking and slightly mad. I've heard it likened to both Buddhist mandala sand-paintings and some kind of Op-art. The first sketch also contains elements of this patterning; a lot of my art involves this sort of repetitive, highly-detailed, jumpy motion. I hope it catches on. I plan to crank these out for Cons and galleries, hopefully to earn some extra cash. Rick Out.

I should probably provide links to all my stuff, like all the other kids are doing these days. Here's some links: My DeviantArt account My comic book production group Facebook page (currently) My website Fight or Flight webcomic I hope that satisfies your insatiable lust for Rick Schlaack art products. Most of the stuff will look familiar, but the DeviantArt account will have some never-before-seen work.

Howdy, y'all. After my two-month hiatus (summer jobs tend to interrupt everything), I'm back with a first sneak peek at The Human Cannonball #1 cover: The Human Cannonball #1 It's a Work in Progress at the moment; as soon as I get my head back together, I'm going to sit down and see what I can do about the color...a tad bit garish, at this point. You may have noticed the empty circle in the top left corner; this is where our logo is supposed to be. Problem is, we are currently without a company logo. Turns out there is another comic book company called Dead City, hailing from (apropos, non?) Detroit. Myself and the inimitable Joe Haines shall get together and have an intensive powow to figure out a new company name, quick fast and in a hurry. It really sucks; I'm having to change the Facebook page as well - I'll keep up the old page for a while, with a little thing that says, "DCP now has a new name! Go to this link", etc. I suppose it...

You've probably heard me mention Squidgods before. It's a massive comic (124 pages long) that I started in 2005, and finished in 2008. It's one of a class of comics I like to call, "Binder Comics", of which I currently have two. I hope never to have another one. What makes a Binder Comic, you say? A Binder Comic is... • contained within a binder, preferably with plastic sleeves • penciled and inked entirely on printer paper • begun with no particular plot in mind • at least on hundred pages long • takes at least a year to finish • displays changes in the artist's style over time • remains only in its original form for at least three years Squidgods meets all these criteria. It is my second attempt at creating a comic book (after that scintillating classic, Matt Darkk and the Home Alien Control ), and my first introduction of several characters I hope to use in the future, collectively called the Longshots universe (The official title is, Longshots #1: Squi...

Yes, I'm still alive and kicking, even if I haven't written much lately. May has been a busy month: having problems getting a DCP bank account going, getting ready for the Motor City Comic Con, appearing at said Con, and wondering what the hell to do afterward. The Con was...okay. Attendance was way down for both artists and visitors, and the craptacular weather didn't help much (30 degrees difference between Friday and Saturday! What gives?!) It's always a hassle trying to figure out how to set up the table, too. At first Joe Haines and myself were situated on either side of a large Bone Boy standup, but it seemed to confuse people...depending on which side they were coming from, they would sift through one person's art, stop and stare at Bone Boy with a confused and slightly panicked look, and then wander off to find Star Wars collectibles. Inevitably one side or the other would get neglected. Eventually Joe moved Bone Boy down to his half of the table, and things...

For all of you with a Face, there is a Book. And on that Book will also be a little something called DCP. Be sure to check it out - it contains art and comic covers by myself and Joe Haines. I made a nice little linky-poo there for you, so you can check it out: Dead City Productions on Facebook Rick Out.

All right, you fools!...I mean, lovely, wonderful readers... Aeolus 3 is finally here. Currently it's only available through me, but I hope to have a "re-release" of the whole series in local Lansing comic book stores. Right now I'm selling individual copies for $3.00, two for $4.00, and all three for $6.00. You can contact me via my email, turtle.richard@gmail.com, or through Facebook. Rick Out.

Well, maybe not that innocent. Just an announcement that, due to some issues at the County Clerk in Lansing, Dark Corner Productions has changed its name to Dead City Productions . We're hoping to be able to use "Dark Corner" eventually - at least as soon as something called, "Dark (K)night Productions" gets off the books. Rick Out.

Nothing new today. Aeolus 3 is crawling along at a snail's pace. I am currently at work, at the Howell Carnegie District Library circulation desk, and everyone is buzzing about the alleged snow storm ("Snow! Oh my gawd! We've never had snow before in Michigan!) Yup. Anywho, I think I should include some sketches from The Human Cannonball, and maybe some pre-pre-production page shots, just to whet your appetite. I'm not sure when the first one is going to come out, but it should be sometime in September. Maybe. Rick Out.

Just to let y'all know - there's a preview for Aeolus 3 up on my website, www.schlaackdesigns.com (it only works for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers right now, unfortunately, but I am attempting to remedy that situation). I'm also thinking of taking those previews and turning them into downloadable pdfs (with watermarks, natch) so that you crazy kids can view my work in a less-pixellated fashion. Rick Out.

Here is the cover to the last in the Aeolus series: The cover is very, very minimalist - at least for me; the cover on #1 was a doozy, but that's all the montage I had patience for. To try it for the next two covers would feel like unnecessary repetition. Just in case you didn't see them, here are the other two covers: Aeolus #1 Aeolus #2 Speaking of covers, I think you'll know you're at the top of your game when you can get somebody famous to do a cover for you. Hopefully I can get to that point someday...ahh, dreams. Anywho, I'm glad to be wrapping up Aeolus. Sure, I had fun doing it - and got a lot of sharp images out of it - but then that first series is always a trepidatious thrust into the unknown; you hold back, because you're not all that sure where you're going. Aeolus was definitely a learning experience . My main problem was fundamental: I was unwilling to take the time to script everything before I started the roughs. I figured, "what the...