Cleopatra in Spaaace!

…and I had a great time! Sold a lot. Went to some parties. Met up with friends. Good time all around. Last time I go it alone though, that’s for sure. It was exhausting! Only time I was able to step away from my table was a half hour before the show opened on Friday. And even then it was just a quick glance around. So apologies for not finding my way over to see some of you. I wanted to, but that’s the downfall of soloing a table I suppose.

I just wanted to give a big THANK YOU to all of YOU who stopped by or made a concerted effort to find me (I know it’s tough in the circus that is SDCC). I think there were more people that told me they read Cleopatra in Space then their has at any other convention I’ve been too. That was amazing! And encouraging! Totally charged up to work on chapter 3 now.

I’m not going to do a big con-sketch collage like I usually do since all I really did was head/torso sketches but if you want to see some samples of what I drew, you can check out the few I was able to toss on TwitPic.

Next (and last) stop for me will be Baltimore, August 20-21. Hope to see more of you there!

Comic-Con is only a few days away and I’ll be there! I’m pretty close to where I was last year, this time at table O-02 in the Small Press area (aisle 1800). Here’s a map:

You can click HERE for where that is in relationship to the entire gigantic floor.

What I’ll have: Cleoptra in Space #2 (which debuts at the show), copies of Cleo #1 and limited copies of Cow & Buffalo. Also lots of prints and I’ll probably throw some original art into my suitcase as well.

As far as commissions go, since this show is so insane and I’ll be handling sales solo this year (my lovely, child-carrying wife is understandably sitting this one out), I’m only going to be offering head/bust sketches this time around. But super cheap: only $25. If during the weekend I feel caught up, I might offer more. But judging from last year that’s not likely to happen.

SDCC is always a fun time. Can’t wait! Hope to see a lot of you there!

EDIT: If anyone would like to commission a sketch early for pickup at the show, feel free to PayPal me at mike@cowshell.com. $25 head/bust sketches only.

After two weeks of no updates, I bet the big question on a lot of your minds is “when the heck is chapter 3 going to start?”

Let me first start off by saying I’ve started it! I have it outlined and I’ll be diving deeper into the actual pages for it this week. It’s a really fun story, much more linear than chapter 2 was, very Westerny, and connects a lot of the plot points from both chapters. Now the bad news: you won’t see any of it until the beginning of next year.

Now before you start raising your digital torches and pitchforks let me explain the reasons why:

FIRST AND FOREMOST, and I think a lot of you know this already, is that I’m having my first child this fall. Well not me physically, but my wife is. And from what she tells me I’ll be a big part of this. This is EXCITING! And I could start chap 3 in a few short weeks like I originally planned and update at my typical page-a-week schedule, but realistically I know that come baby time that schedule is going to get thrown right out the proverbial window. So rather than updating only a few pages until October and then stopping suddenly, I’d rather just hold off and update the comic altogether.

WHAT THIS MEANS: My goal is get enough pages of chap 3 completed to allow me to update at least TWICE A WEEK next year. This should be great news for all of you but also great for the comic since I feel I’m doing a diservice to it by only updating once a week. I think a lot of you will agree the story I’m writing simply isn’t paced properly enough to warrent seven days between pages.

LASTLY, starting a family has shifted my priorities a bit. As much as I would LOVE to spend every waking drawing moment I have working on Cleopatra in Space, the sad truth is this comic isn’t exactly a huge revenue maker for me. I draw it because I love comics and love telling Cleo’s story, but paying work has to come first. Now more than ever since I’ll be having a whole new human being to care for. So I’ll be taking on more freelance. Possibly some extra comic work. Maybe even open up commissions again (which should come as more great news to a bunch of you out there). Who knows? Maybe one day any of those things will substitute the need for my current full-time day job.

This was a tough decision to come to. Especially considering Cleo is more popular than ever right now. But ultimately this will be better for the comic and therefore you, my awesome and hopefully super loyal readers.

And I don’t plan on abandoning this site! I will continue to update with extras, new art, and sneak-peaks at my process. Maybe I can even sucker my friends into drawing some guest strips for me. Best way to keep up with everything though will be to follow me on the various social networks like twitter or my most recent favorite, Google+. And if you have any questions or simply want to yell at me, feel free to do so in the comments below and I’ll be sure to respond.

For now, back to the drawing board!

There’s a new interview with me up at Panel Patter today focusing on Cleopatra in Space. I challenged myself to answer with shorter, concise sentences since I feel I can tend to be a touch over-explanatory sometimes. Hopefully I didn’t come off as trite.  :P

Read it HERE.

(Thanks Rob for the great questions!)

I am now taking pre-orders for Cleopatra in Space #2! The 72 pg full-color soft-bound book will be priced at only $10 and all pre-orders will receive free shipping (starting in August, due to increased shipping costs, all shipping for books in my store will be $2).

Pre-orders help cover my costs for book 2 which, due to it’s page count and color printing, was an expensive book to produce. But it’s going to look good. Real good. Especially considering you’re going to get new and never-before-seen art by me, a behind-the-scenes process, and all-new guest art by Tony Cliff, Otis Frampton, Mitch Gerads, Chris Houghton, Tracy Lee, Sarah Mensinga, Jon Morris and Jez Tuya!

I’m also, for the first time, offering an Artist Edition which will include an original pencil sketch by me (something more substantial then my usual book doodles). The Artist Edition will be priced at $15. Both the regular editions and Artist Editions will be signed.

So what are you waiting for? Pre-order Cleopatra in Space #2 right now!

This incredible fan art comes courtesy of Holiday Wars artist, Michael Odom:

Make sure you click on it to get a larger view because, holy cow, that is some serious attention to detail. And the most ferocious Khensu I think we’ve seen yet! Scott King (writer of Holiday Wars) told me he hoped to have it colored some day. I hope that happens, but I think it looks gorgeous just the way it is.

For those not-in-the-know, Scott and Michael’s (almost) daily webcomic Holiday Wars centers on the Easter Bunny waging war on all holidays in an effort to gain immortality. It’s like the Nightmare Before Christmas meets Highlander. I’m not really sure what else you need to know to check it out.

I wanted to share my favorite memory from this year’s Heroes Con:

It was early Sunday afternoon and, although sales were a bit up from the previous year, it was mostly due to sketches and original art more so than book sales. I was a little bummed about not selling as many Cleopatra in Space books as I had hoped but still pretty content that there were people who enjoyed my art enough to pay me money to see their favorite superheroes drawn in my style.

I was buried in one of those sketches (a Catwoman I believe) when I looked up to see–and I apologize if I should have known or remembered who this was but my mind had become the consistency of tapioca pudding by that day–a fairly large* man standing at my table holding a Cleo book wanting to buy it. Not for himself, which I immediately found out, but for his daughter too shy (or scared) to purchase it from me herself and who was currently hiding behind this fairly large man’s frame. She was maybe five? Six? Seven years old? I’m terrible at identifying age. She was young for certain. At any rate, this man asked if I would sign the Cleo book which of course I did and he handed me a five and I handed him back the book and then he handed the book to the little person standing behind him who MADE THE LOUDEST MOST EXCITING SCREAM OF GLEE revealing herself from behind her body guard clutching at what you would think was the greatest ice cream cone in the history of ice cream cones (sorry, when my mind goes to something really great all I can think of is ice cream). With a giant grin plastered to her face, staring at the cover, she ran down the aisle with another girl who magically appeared out of nowhere or who I simply didn’t notice (most likely the former). Then the fairly large man quickly thanked me and made his way down the aisle in the direction his daughter had ran off to.

Fifteen, maybe twenty, minutes later that same girl came running down the aisle still clutching and smiling at that holy grail of  a book her dad had given her. My first thought probably should have been, “Where the heck is her father?” but instead it was, “Wow. This five or six or seven-year-old girl REALLY loves that comic!” I mean, it was awesome that it was my comic, but it really could have been any comic. The fact that this five or six or seven-year-old girl was THAT excited about a comic–and that her dad was there to make that happen–was pretty much the best thing I witnessed from behind my table. THAT RIGHT THERE is why I love Heroes Con so much and why you’ll see me back there every year.

*This man was most likely not that large but that is how every one looks to me at first glance from behind my table. I am a smallish human. Any man over 5″5 looks like Hagrid to me. Regardless of beard.

Yup! Heroes Con is this weekend. I’ll once again be situated in Indie Island. This time at table AA-523 (only a couple tables over from where I usually am) and with my good friends Joel Carroll, Jason Horn and Dean Trippe to the lefts and rights of me. Which you can see from this map (click to enlarge):

I’ll also be on a webcomics panel Sunday morning. Here’s the info on that:

Sunday 11:30 AM
WEB COMICS–Group Effort
(Room 206)
Meet the Small Press groups who have developed their own multi-strip brand: Curt Franklin, Chris Haley, Mike Maihack, Kevin Church, and Benjamin Birdie will sit down and talk to Comic News Insider’s Jimmy Aquino about creativity in the Small Press World.

That should be fun. And don’t forget about the Catwoman piece I painted for their annual auction. I managed to find a frame for it too. See:

That’ll be on Saturday night at the Westin across from the convention center. It’s a big party that helps benefit the show (allowing guests like me to go as well as keeping ticket prices super-low or even free if you’re under 12).

So lots of stuff to look forward to. I’ll of course have Cleo books, prints, buttons, a pregnant wife, etc… as well as sketching for those who catch me early enough (I am a notoriously slow con sketcher).

Can’t wait. Love this show. Hope to see a lot of you there!

My buddy Joel Carroll drew this adorable Cleo & Khensu for my birthday last week. Thanks, Joel!

This fan art I just received from Harry Myland is so adorable!

I love how Harry decided to draw young Cleo during her school “daze.” Haha. I think it’s the first one I’ve gotten! The widescreen effect and half-tone effect are nice touches too. Simply love this.

Harry draws an absolutely gorgeous b&w webcomic called Nomad Tofu. It’s now in its 6th chapter and 119th page! My recommendation is to pour a nice cup of hot tea and make your way through Tofu’s archive for your Saturday morning webcomics reading. :)