The Penguin

I'm currently hard at work on a very special comic. It's nothing major, but it is one of the fastest and best-executed comics I've ever done. The official title is "Louie, Kid Prodigy: The Ferrophages!" The eponymous character is a boy genius inventor, who becomes involved in a ridiculous romp through his hometown in pursuit of two extraterrestrial monsters. It's a two-part story that will be fully colored. I'm going to have it available online as a free download, and you can order a hard copy for an exorbitant price, if you want (hey, shipping ain't cheap). Here's a couple of tasty tidbits to whet your appetite. The first is not the actual first page, just a workup I did in Photoshop. I think it looks great, but the technique I used would be far too time-consuming; I'll probably do the inks by hand, then color it in Photoshop. The second picture is a workup for a promo poster, which will also be available online. I still need to

Yes, gentle reader, your friendly neighborhood Rick is indeed still alive and kicking and, every once in a blue moon, putting out a comic or two. There are a couple of reasons why I don't blog as much as I'd like. Number one, I'm lazy. Number two, I hate blogs with no pictures, and I can never figure out what picture to put in my blog posts. Hopefully I'll start doing that "Sketch-a-week" thing I promised to do what, two years ago? Something like that. The point being, of course, to actually make this an interesting art blog. The third reason is probably the biggest one, and will perhaps be remedied by the fact that I've changed jobs recently. I was working as a meter reader for DTE until two weeks ago, not only walking and driving all day, but as of August conducting an hour-long commute from Lansing to Howell. You can imagine that this cut into my writing/creating time. I'm not saying it was the toughest job in the world, but oh brother, by the t

Yes, we here at Blind Alley Comics are working feverishly through the night to prepare for the Motor City Comic Con! It's been, what...two years? We haven't attended many Cons, mostly due to financial constraints, though more likely because we're (ahem) lazy. But no more! From this con forward, we will attempt to attend at least one a year. Big things happening. The Bone Boy website is inching forward. Bone Boy #3 is due out in May, as is The Human Cannonball #4. We're lean, we're hungry, we're chock-full of ideas, we're beginning to look askance at our day jobs with sulky resentment. Beyond Motor City Con, we're heading to Chicago Con, and...a remote possibility...San Diego Con. There's a feeling of do-or-die around here. Chicago and San Diego especially will be choice areas for schmoozing, if only to find some distributors. We've been trapped in small-time artboy limbo for too long, and it's time to go big or go get some better cliches.

Howdy gang, just sitting back and enjoying the payday stupor. It's kinda nice being paid on a Friday - all the rush of the past week is over, and now you have the weekend to kick back, maybe take a money bath or whatever. What has Rick been up to...? Well, too much and not enough. I'm currently soft at work (as opposed to hard at work) on The Human Cannonball #4 . It's a 28-page monster; it probably won't be ready for publication until mid-March, and then I've got to go right into #5 without a chance to catch my breath. I'm hoping to have #5 done for Motor City Con this year. Yes, Blind Alley Comics will be at MCC '13, out there in the seedier section of Artist Alley. Look for two scruffy drunks whistling at the Slave Princess Leia cosplayers and hurling gin bottles. Friday will be spent huddled at our table, peering at the other booths in envy and self-comforting contempt; Saturday will see us cajoling and threatening passerby to take mounds of molderin