Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Update, and some artwork!

Locus Year Three is in full swing, and I've never been busier in my life. Not because of Locus Year Three, unfortunately, but because real-life things have all decided to come to a head in my life. Many things going on right now. Most of them good; all of them time-consuming. It barely leaves me time to get Locus pages done on time, let alone actually sit down and give all these commissions the attention they deserve.

A couple days ago, I actually woke up and decided I'd take a day off. I'd just sit around and read comics all day or something. I like to research comics of the 50s, the Comics Code Authority, Seduction of the Innocent...all that crap. I came across the iconic Phantom Lady #17 cover:



And I decided to remake this cover with Silk in it instead:



I hope you like it!

In fact, I hope you like it enough to buy it. For $150, I will give you the original artwork (brush and ink on 100 lb. vellum, 11"x17"), a nice glossy full-color 11"x17" print (like you see above), and a surprise. Or two or three.

I will ship to anywhere on the North American continent for five bucks. For other continents, we'll have to talk, but it's mostly so I don't cause you any import troubles.

Here is a scan of the inks:



Good for dorm rooms, bachelor pads, Man Caves, Basements With Bars and Pool Tables...whatever. Can be hung from ceiling over crib of baby boy to insure proper testosterone development.

It really has a thousand and one uses. Get ahold of me!

Send an email to indigoshift at gmail dot com if you love Silk and want her in your house forever.

And you know you do.

UPDATE: This image is sold! Thanks to everyone for checking it out.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Locus, Year Three

At the end of October, Locus Year Two will draw to a close. The end of Issue 12 is the end of a lot of things, and the beginning of a lot more. To understand this fully, you need to understand Locus from Day One. If you've been a fan since the beginning, this is all review to you--although I will be telling you behind-the-scenes stuff I've never told you before.

If you're a new fan, take a moment to look busy at your Day Job and give the following a read:

LOCUS YEAR ONE

The mantra from the beginning of this project has been "Locus Is An Experiment". Any scientist will tell you that the early experiments always end in failure and/or disappointment. Experimentation is, essentially, the process of fucking up until you can't fuck up anymore. I know that everyone likes a success story, and I know that everyone loves an instant success story full of triumphs and devoid of failures.

But that's not the way the world works, and you know it.

Locus Year One began because I was the first person in history to write, draw, color and letter an official Kiss comic all by myself. I may hold that record for a long time, although I'm sure I won't hold it forever.

Kiss 4K was a good gig. It was a fun gig. I didn't do as good a job on it as someone else would have, but I will always be grateful for the learning experience. K4K was an experiment, too. An experiment in reader interaction. And it was fun to work on a comic promoted by Gene Simmons. It was also fun to walk right up to Paul Stanley and shake his hand. That man is Living Cool. He is The Breeze.

When the Kiss gig dried up, I found myself with a hole in my life. A M/W/F schedule with nothing to update! So I relaunched an old title called "Locus". My friend DJ Coffman put in a good word with me over on Keenspot, and his friend Chris Crosby agreed to host Locus for her first year.

Locus Year One ended both in mild success and mild failure. That wasn't Chris Crosby's fault. Wasn't Keenspot's fault. Wasn't Locus' fault, either. It was the fault of the ad networks.

I live in a country run by loud, belligerent, lily-livered assclowns who think it's their right to tell everyone what is acceptable and what is not. Some of these assholes run ad networks, and they want nothing to do with Boobs, Blood and Bad Language (tm). There is a line you quite simply Do Not Cross, and that line is called "PG-13".

And if you're in agreement with that mindset, fuck you. You're wrong. Here's why:

These morons will tell you that nudity is evil. Breasts should be taboo and hidden. Ladies, what do you really think about someone you've never met insisting that a natural and life-giving part of your body is dirty and evil? Your breasts have been taboo-ed to the point where you are treated like sexual objects every single time your breasts are even slightly noticeable. I think it's fuckin' retarded.

These are the same idiots that tell you stoners are more dangerous than alcoholics. It's the same fear-mongering and the same flawed logic. For fuck's sake, people! One of the first things you ever saw in your life was a tit. And not just any tit...this was your momma's tit. And what did you do with this tit? You put your mouth over it and sucked for all you were worth.

Tits aren't evil. Humans are mammals and mammals are amazing because mammals give nutrients from their own bodies to feed their young. It's a miracle of life and a crown of evolutionary achievement.

And that (believe it or not) was Locus Year One: The Crusade for Understanding. The fans got it. The Crosbys got it, too. But the ad network ass-wipes were too afraid. Anything that robs those penny-pinching dickheads of even a dime scares the hell out of them.

They took it out on Keenspot, and Keenspot was forced to push Locus to the back of the room. I couldn't live back there, so I left.

LOCUS YEAR TWO

Locus Year Two is when I moved over to my friend Matt Jacobs' comic site, Needcomics--which later became Wevolt.

Matt's a bright guy. He and I met in the Platinum/Kiss 4K days, and he's still a good friend. Matt said he wanted to make Locus a success, and he busted his ass night and day--every day--for a whole year.

I know a lot of you guys didn't like Wevolt, but Wevolt's problems were also Keenspot's problems. Namely: Locus vs the Ad Network Assholes. Believe it or not, everything unfortunate that happened at Wevolt was (directly or indirectly) the fallout from Ad Network Assholes balking at Locus.

I only found this out two days ago, otherwise I would've told you sooner!

Matt had a lot of sweet ad revenue lined up for Wevolt, but every time those ad dicks saw that Locus was the flagship title, they all got wide-eyed and scared and rubbing their hands together all sweaty and shit. They backed out, like the chickenshit idiots they are. I have no respect for people like that. Fuck them all.

I have nothing but love and respect for Matt. In fact, Matt wanted to redesign the whole Wevolt business model to accommodate Locus! Can you believe that? A hell of a guy, Matt Jacobs.

But that's not something I thought was a good idea for him or his project. There are plenty of great comics on Wevolt that would benefit from standard ad revenue options. Why piss in everyone's punch just to keep Locus around? That's no good.

So, as Locus Year Two draws to a close, I would like to announce that Locus will be moving again. And I don't wanna hear no griping this time! Here's why:

LOCUS YEAR THREE

Starting November 1, 2010, Locus will be on her own site. I will have total and direct control over everything, and the things I have planned will be the things Locus fans have been asking for throughout Year Two.

There will be pinups. There will be a fan club. There will be cool little extras and sneak-peeks into my studio, my working process, and my previous attempts at Locus--some of which date back to the mid-90s.

Lots of this will be free. Some of it you will have to pay for. But every penny you spend will be worth it, because I'm not going to go with some generic Webcomic Fan Boy template. The only way for Locus to succeed is for me to pick and choose everything carefully. I will be building a custom experience here. You will get this treatment nowhere else. Your time spent on Locus will be unique.

Ads, for instance. There are people and businesses that would love to advertise on Locus. I know that's true. I've seen like-minded people and kindred spirits all over the internet! They're other artists, musicians, writers, tattoo artists...people like you and me are everywhere. We're all sitting around wishing that the world wasn't dominated by Disney and McDonald's and family-friendly and all-ages and all that kiddie bullshit. We're fuckin' adults! We want monsters and tits and blood and suspense and violence and sex and action!

I will be searching for these kindred souls as potential sponsors and/or supporters of Locus. So even the ads will be part of the Awesome.

You can help me, too...the way you've always helped. Bring more like-minded people to Locus. Spread the word! Not to everyone; just those who Get It.

Speaking of like-minded kindred spirits...

I won't be doing this alone. There are other webcomic-makin' people that I will be in cahoots with. Others who don't fit the standard "fat, bickering nerd" (FBN) stereotype of webcomic creator. Let's leave the Scott Kurtzes of the world to their own little corner of the intertron. That shit is working great for those guys, and more power to them. Good for you guys! You Made It.

But fuck that scene. Locus is all about tits and blood and beer and flame jobs on hot rods and extra jalapenos on EVERYTHING. And I will be in cahoots with other webcomic artists who are also sick of that sad old FBN scene. That shit is ten years out of date, at the least. None of that old shit for Locus! I'll be working with DJ Coffman and Raven Perez to make Locus Year Three the ass-kickinest year ever.

Now, I'm not going to be collaborating with them on shared projects here. When I say "working with", I'm not talking about what you think I'm talking about. This is all behind-the-scenes stuff that will make all our comics standalone successes. Raven has a great property in Raven's Dojo, which I feel is the sister comic to Locus. And DJ is launching something big very soon--as with everything related to DJ, it will be exciting. You will be hearing a lot from me about Raven's and DJ's projects, and they will be talking about Locus as well.

IN CONCLUSION (FINALLY)

Wow. That was a lot of talk. What does it all mean for you, the Locus Fan?

It means that I'm at a point in my experimentation where the test tubes don't blow up the whole lab anymore. Those of you who have been around since the beginning will be happy, because this is the year all your waiting for me to get my shit together finally pays off. Haaa!

I have big things planned for Year Three. I have a new and interesting way I'll be doing things, and much of it will be new to webcomics in general. I will be introducing these ideas slowly, and I will be giving credit where credit is due, because a lot of these ideas aren't mine. I didn't sit down and magically dream up the Be-All and End-All of Locus Success by myself. I've been fortunate enough to have friends in this field who are willing to share ideas behind the scenes with their friends, and I will be taking the ideas that are the best way to give you guys the Locus stuff you've been asking for all last year.

But I'm just telling you this. Stick around and let me show you. It'll be fun, I promise.

Whether or not you stick around is up to you. I'm glad you were here as long as you were. When I said my fans are my friends, I meant it. The Locusts, The Locultists, and the Howlin' Monkeys.

You are all my friends, and I love you all. Thanks for sticking around up till now, and I hope you dig Year Three.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Locus Issue 12, Page 19

Wevolt's down again, so here's Page 19. Sorry, guys.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Locus: Issue 12, Page 13

Wevolt.com is experiencing technical difficulties today, so here is today's page:




And the accompanying Author's Notes--stripped of links, since they're all links that are on Wevolt as well:

It's our friend, Dr Wells! This is the last we'll be seeing of the good doctor for awhile--his part of this story is nearly done for now.

I hope that this dialogue helps out those of you who feel like you're missing some plot points. If you have questions, leave me a comment!

I skimped a bit in that top panel, but I originally was going to color it a different way. That way turned out way too dark so I did a hasty and last-minute repaint up there, and it still isn't right.

I'm busy right now. Soooo busy. I'm writing three comics for you guys at this point! And I realize this is the first you've heard of this, so let me explain:

I'm working on a crossover with James Riot and Barry Linck, both of whom have awesome comics of their own. The Path and Phineus: Magician for Hire are both on Wevolt, and they're a lot of fun to read.

This crossover is called Wevolt Trinity, or just "Trinity" to its friends. It will have Locus, Phineus Beam and Chance McGavin flying down to Antarctica to visit the Mountains of Madness. Now, I've already shown you the Mountains of Madness in Locus--that's where Isaac was just recently. So the Trinity comic is definitely a canonical Locus story. Trinity, in fact, takes place before Locus Issue 1. She will look a little different and act a little different. Oh, and Spook will be there.

That's the second comic I'm doing. It will update daily for awhile. We're fiddling with a new format that makes it easier to update more often. If you guys like the look of Trinity, let me know and I'll do Locus the same way. I'll even update it 5 days a week--I can do it at that format.

So go check out that comic and let me know what you think of it.

The third comic I'm writing for you is something I've been kicking around forever. It's the story of how Spook and Silk first met in the Wild West. It's also the story of how Spook's gun came to be made.

I grew up on spaghetti westerns and old issues of Jonah Hex, Weird War and EC reprints. This comic will have a little of all of those things in it.

I'm making it as an incentive to join the fan club I haven't set up yet. So you might not see it for awhile, but I'm working on it.

And finally, my friend Murch has decided to make his own Wevolt site, and will be publishing prose there. So you guys go give Murch Writes a look and keep your eye on him. He's writing a while novel over there!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Jack Kirby was amazing

Read this:



If that's not the most epic thing you've read this year, you're lyin!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

I'm moving!

For the few of you who follow this, I should tell you that I'm moving this week, and won't be online for at least the rest of this month. Today is, in fact, my last day of internet access for awhile.

It's a long move and I'm an old man, so I really want to just get this move done with and then relax at Hambone's house for a couple of days. I will be taking a few days off to celebrate finally getting out of the goddamned desert. I've been wanting to move since I got here almost five years ago, so I will be doing a lot of celebrating. :)

If you don't hear from me for awhile, that's why. See you on the other side!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Frank Frazetta passed away today



Frazetta was easily one of the greatest artists of all time. Unlike other fantasy painters, he managed to capture a raw brutality and savage movement in everything he did.

Unfortunately, Mr Frazetta passed away today after a stroke. He lived a long and full 82 years.

I never met him, but I'm gonna miss the hell out of him.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Locus now a part of Outland Entertainment!

Press release can be found here.

Nothing I can talk about in detail just yet, but it's all good news. I'm stoked!

Stay tuned! Awesome stuff coming later this summer-ish.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Good News, Bad News, and Rock & Roll!

I have good news and bad news. Everyone wants to hear bad news first, so here you go:


I'm not taking any more commissions until after June.
I'm embarrassingly behind on everyone's artwork as it is, and now I have a lot of Real-Life stuff to deal with as well. Namely, the Big Move. I'll be moving out of Arizona in a couple months, and the preparations have been murder. A 1300-mile move is difficult in the best of times, and in these Crappy Economy Times, it's even more hectic. Whee!

For everyone who is currently waiting for artwork, thanks for your patience. I'm working on your art, I swear! It's just been slow going lately.

Of course, Locus will still update M/W/F. Nothing short of my death or near-death will stop that.

And now, the Good News:

I will indeed be printing up 11"x17" posters of the cover to Locus, Issue Nine. However, these will be limited edition posters. I'm only making 50 of them, and they will be signed and numbered. Cost will be $10 each, plus $2 for shipping (in North America) or $5 anywhere else. I haven't announced this formally until now, and there's already a list of people waiting for me to print these things up. So get on the list now! They're first-come, first-served.

Send me an email (indigoshift@gmail.com) with "Locus #9 Poster" in the subject line so I can add you to the list.

I should have these printed up and ready to ship in the next couple of weeks.

Finally:

An old project that got shelved two years ago has been moved from the back burner. I met Cockpit at Wizard World LA in 2008, and we decided to work together on something cool and fun which I can't talk about just yet. The project got shelved because we all got way too busy, but we're kicking it into gear again. So stay tuned! It's an exciting project.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Hampstead and Xel'Duum

I really got into Crack the Skye by Mastodon after seeing them in concert back in November. One of my favorite parts about this album is that Rasputin is in it.

Rasputin is also in my comic, Locus, under the name of Wilfred Hampstead. So, of course, I got thinking about Hampstead while I was listening to the album, and came up with this:



Colored version looks like this:



Such is the art that comes out of my hand when I'm listening to awesome southern rock/metal/whatever on endless repeat for a month or two.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Locus Issue 8, Page 22

Woke up to an unpleasant surprise this morning: Needcomics.com--the domain that hosts Locus--is down. Argh!

For the forseeable future (hopefully not too long) I'll be putting new Locus pages up here. So be sure to check back every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Here's today's page:



You'll need an account at Blogger to post comments, unfortunately, but if you have said account, feel free to comment and talk my ear off!

All this has me worried about Matt, who owns Needcomics and Panelflow. I haven't heard from him in a couple weeks, and I'm a little worried about him.

EDIT:

She's back online at her regular haunt. Total downtime was less than four hours or so, which doesn't bug me at all. And I'm glad Matt didn't die in a fiery car crash or something! :)

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Locus Trade Paperback #1!

It took me a long time to get the first three issues of Locus collected in one book--a lot longer than I'd planned. But it's finally done! And it's an impressive book, if I do say so myself.

TPB01 collects the first three issues, all 12 pages of bonus artwork (which are available in the individual issues), 16 pages of the original Locus comic (which was online briefly in 2001), three all-new covers, and one future cover you've never seen before (because I needed something for the back cover). It's 104 pages and a quarter-inch thick!

Even better: you can order it online yourself (by visiting this site) or you can get it from your friendly local comic shop (by giving this link to your comic shop owner). I make a little more on the "order it online yourself" version, but feel free to grab it any way you like!

I'll have news on the second trade paperback in a month or two.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Issue Six of Locus now in print



Finally! Issue Six is now available in print form. Grab your copy here.

I'm also working furiously to get caught up on private commissions and free comics for those who are kind enough to donate. You can read about this free comic deal here.

Finally, I created one of those movie-style trailers for Locus. It took me about a half hour, so it's nothing too special. Just me learning the ropes. I'll be making a better one as time permits. You can see my very first comic trailer on YouTube.

My very special thanks to Cockpit for the use of their song, "Shot in Hell". I'm told that the cowbell used in that song is the very same one used by Tommy Lee when Motley Crue recorded Shout At The Devil. I have no reason to disbelieve this, so click that YouTube link (and that Cockpit link) and bask in the rock & roll history!