Time F#cker Gets a Front and Back Cover

Since it's completion at the end of April, I've been both brainstorming story ideas for the next few installments as well as prepping the first Time Fucker story for print. It's going to be an expensive venture so I can't make any promises about a release date so I'm offering these images as incentive and update. Folks who've seen versions of this material on Twitter or Instagram will notice that all instances of the F word have been 'censored'. Having an explicit cover would certainly be ballsy but it would also severely hobble this already tough sell. If comics sites can't show the cover, then that's a problem. Fear not, the interior pages will be in their original presentation. The book will have a full color cover with black and white interiors. It will be 32 pages saddle stitched and the print run will likely be very limited (500 or less).

Trip City Salon at Fornino's Park Slope on May 30th!

Trip City is happy to announce the Trip City Salon at Fornino's in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The event will feature comics, live music, readings, girls (!) and of course, booze! As you can see from the event flyer, the roster is stacked with Trip City favorites. Personally, this is the first time I'll have the honor of performing alongside my lovely lady, Plucky Charms who will be performing a song on the ukelele for your pleasure. Vavavoom! Myself, I will be reading Time Fucker . Knowing that I will be in arms throw of the audience has me a little concerned, however. How many heads of lettuce do you think I can dodge!? Come and see for yourself!. Don't you dare miss this one! See you there!

Time F•cker Arrives at Trip City.net Thursday!

That's right! All you salivatin' salacious sci-fi afficionados will finally be…SATED! I feel like a I usually write in this blog with a certain whiff of snake oil salesman. That's because I'm generally uncomfortable with tooting my own horn unless I do it a little tongue-in-cheek. Not with Time Fucker, however. The few times I've mentioned it, my language has been histrionic to say the least…

I've made claims that it will change the course of comics history forever.

Why? Because I'm really excited about it, and I'm overcompensating for my own insecurities. This project has always felt dangerous because of it's audacious title and content (you'll see what I mean) but also because it's very personal. I don't often write but when I do, it's because it's really something I have to get off my chest and for all it's insanity and levity, Time Fucker means a lot to me. Love it or hate it, this is my sense of humor and it's very very wrong. The image to the left explains how Time Fucking works and believe me when I say that this only scratches the surface.

Okay, I'm doing it again!! Always with the huckstering! Thursday April 5th at Tripcity.net look for this image for the first of four installments throughout the month of April. Each subsequent Thursday will continue this first Time Fucker tale titled, "I'm Taking this Laying Down!"

Thanks for your continued support.

New Interview in the latest Trip City Podcast!

No, that's not me up there. I'm much more handsome than that! All kidding aside, head on over to Trip City, where I have an interview with Jeffrey Burandt and Dean Haspiel in Trip City's latest podcast. You'll be amazed at the things I say with a foot in my mouth!

Thanks to Dean Haspiel, Jeffrey Burandt and Chris Miskiewicz for making this happen.

MARATHON: The Making of a Cover

Marathon tells the epic tale of the original long distance runner. In 490 BC, an Athenian messenger named Eucles ran twenty-seven miles from Sparta to Athens, and in so doing preserved ancient Greek civilization from subjugation to the Persian Empire.

That's a very broad overview of the book but it's representative of the first step for creating any cover. Know your book! When I sat down to do the cover, I understood that our protagonist needed to be featured prominently in a direct and compelling way that also illustrated the books high intensity and relentless, grueling action. The thumbnails (images 1-6 below) reflect the various solutions I came up with to try and deliver that message.

With thumbnails, you can nail it within your first few drawings but often times innovation comes from going beyond those immediate solutions and challenging your creativity. My initial tactic was to use some of the dramatic moments leading up to the war at Marathon where Eucles both physically and spiritually leads the Athenian army into battle. Writer Boaz Yakin was correct in pointing out that this only represented a small part of the story and asked to see some cover treatments where Eucles was not in armor. The third page of thumbnails and beyond reflect this change. I then tried showing Eucles dressed in just a loin cloth either running towards the vast Persian army or racing it's fleet back to Athens (image 4). The pitfall with the latter idea was it could be misconstrued that the lone runner was running away from the Persian army. That wouldn't be heroic and it wouldn't be appropriate to the story. The last act of Marathon is spent following Eucles and a band of soldiers as they struggle to outrace a secondary invading fleet heading directly to Athens' shores. My solution to this was to eliminate the Persian force and return to just Eucles and the Greek army. After a few variations with this, the team at First Second and Boaz all agreed that the best solution was the first thumbnail in image 6.

The next step is to pencil a full size version of the cover (image 7). Once I had approval on this, I was cleared to go ahead with the inks (image 8). Inking Marathon was done using a high contrast print of the pencils as my starting point. I then added ink washes and line work to finish the image (image 9). When I colored the cover, I tinted the inks with the same pantone as was used in the interior pages to ensure a consistent look between the full color cover and the monochromatic interior pages. After a few failed attempts (not shown), I settled on two color treatments; one with a full color background (image 9) and the other with an intense red background (image 10). At this stage there was no consensus on which. Colleen AF Venable, First Second's designer, created two versions (images 11 and 12). I had an idea for what I would like to see for the logo for the red cover and Colleen intuited that perfectly! That is why I think the red cover with white logo was met with such unanimous praise and agreement.

The final cover (top) shows Colleen's brilliant final type treatment for the logo. The whole thing comes together wonderfully and delivers the key epic story elements and emotional intensity that is the heart of Marathon.

Marathon by Boaz Yakin and Joe Infurnari hits bookstores and comic shops early June 2012.

This post was originally presented at Trip City.

MUSH! and Trip City at Book Court in Brooklyn Dec. 8th!

You are invited to Cousin Corinne's LIVE COMIX BLOCK signing with presentations by Glenn Eichler, Joe Infurnari, Nick Abadzis, & Dean HaspielThursday, December 8th @7:00pm [sharp] BookCourt - 163 Court Street (b/w Pacific & Dean), Brooklyn, NY. http://bookcourt.org/ Curated & MC'd by Dean Haspiel http://deanhaspiel.com/

Glenn Eichler and Joe Infurnari's MUSH! SLED DOGS WITH ISSUES. Venus wants Buddy to quit asking her to “make puppies.” Buddy wants Winston’s help wooing Venus. Winston wants Guy’s respect. Guy wants Dolly’s job. Dolly wants to know the meaning of it all. Nobody knows what Fiddler really wants, not even Fiddler. But mostly . . . these sled dogs just want to run. Sounds simple? It should be, but even dogs have their office politics. Office politics with sharp, sharp teeth. From Colbert Report writer Glenn Eichler and dogchanneling artist Joe “Fur” Infurnari comes a postmodern tale of heroism on the tundra, epic romance, and yellow snow. (Hint: don’t eat it.) Mush! is Arrested Development meets Call of the Wild—two great tastes that taste pretty funny together.

Glenn Eichler has written for numerous TV series, in addition to developing and executive producing the MTV animated hit Daria. His previous graphic novel was Stuffed! with artist, Nick Bertozzi

Joe Infurnari grew up with his nose cold, wet, and buried in comics. His work has been recognized with multiple Eisner nominations, numerous publications, and membership in the prestigious web comics collective, ACT-I-VATE. He is a cat person. http://joeinfurnari.com/

Nick Abadzis' award winning, LAIKA with Alternative Endings. Laika was the abandoned puppy destined to become Earth's first space traveler. This is her journey. Nick Abadzis masterfully blends fiction and fact in the intertwined stories of three compelling lives. Along with Laika, there is Korolev, once a political prisoner, now a driven engineer at the top of the Soviet space program, and Yelena, the lab technician responsible for Laika's health and life. This intense triangle is rendered with the pitch-perfect emotionality of classics like Because of Winn Dixie, Shiloh, and Old Yeller. Abadzis gives life to a pivotal moment in modern history, casting light on the hidden moments of deep humanity behind history. Laika's story will speak straight to your heart. http://www.nickabadzis.com/

BookCourt is proud to celebrate TRIP CITY, the Brooklyn-filtered literary arts salon: http://welcometotripcity.com/

Nick Abadzis will be reading "Perfect Imperfect" Dean Haspiel will be reading his new BILLY DOGMA story, "The Last Romantic Antihero." And, Joe Infurnari will bookend the night with ULTRA Lad! in "Memoirs of the Kid Immortal!"

Be there or be square.

Launching Today! Trip City!

Today marks the launch of a new web initiative I am part of called Trip City. A Brooklyn-Filtered Literary Arts Salon, Trip City's membership draws from a broad spectrum of concerns and disciplines. Comics, photography, music, prose, art and illustration all have a home there thanks to the site's diverse membership. I have the good fortune of working alongside talented friends and colleagues like Dean Haspiel, Seth Kushner, Nick Abadzis, Kevin Colden, Nick Bertozzi, Jen Ferguson, Amy Finkel, Jennifer Hayden, Chris Miskiewicz, Jeff UK, and Ron Scalzo. Already at the site, you will find Seth Kushner's Culture Pop profile of author and creator of the hit television show, Jonathan Ames. Already at the site are new comics by Kevin Colden and Chris Miskiewicz, art from the two Nicks (Abadzis and Bertozzi) and the two Jennifers (Ferguson and Hayden) and a full length podcast with founding members of Trip City as well as an interview with Michael Moore!

So please head on over to Trip City and share your thoughts through our comments section, like it on Facebook and if so inclined, tweet about it. Your thoughts and support are a big part of why we do this. Thank you.