Just looking for an excuse to post on the newly redesigned site. I find if I keep the same design for any length of time, I start to get restless. Thankfully with wordpress, it’s pretty easy to find a new theme and adapt it to my own needs.

Also: a teaser panel from The Orchard. Hope to have more substantial Acts of Violence news to post next Monday.

Popularity: 17% [?]

2009 was a real up and down year for me in terms of lettering work. I finally got to work on an Image title (Sky Pirates of Neo Terra). I worked with book publisher Douglas & McIntyre lettering Red: A Haida Manga (shown above), which is a really cool piece of work, where each individual page fits together into one massive piece of artwork.

On the downside, comic publishers seemed to be hit hard by the economic downturn and those who’d published a lot in the past either dialed back their publications schedules or stopped publishing entirely. My fingers are crossed that publishers who had a rough go of 2009 will be able to bounce back in 2010.

In the coming weeks, I will have pages from the crime anthology Acts of Violence posted for your previewing pleasure. The book, which is being co-published by myself, Kevin Leeson, Todd Ireland, Dino Caruso and Chad Boudreau, contains four stories, each ranging from 20 to 38 pages. My contribution, The Orchard, runs 21 pages. The book is complete and just about ready to go out to the printers. Assuming no major catastrophes, the book should be back in our hands just in time for Emerald City Comic Convention.

Also, sometime in late March/early April, I’ll be updating this site to also include short comics that I’ve written.

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Hey! Hey! My first Image comic came out this week. Check it out!

SKY PIRATES OF NEO TERRA #1 (of 5)

story JOSH WAGNER, art & cover CAMILLA D’ERRICO

32 PAGES, FC, $2.99

“SKY PIRATES OF NEO TERRA”
In Neo Terra, a world of forgotten technology and natural magic, reckless young glide-wing pilot, Billy Boom Boom, must outwit the Pirate King to stop him from ushering in a new Dark Age. CAMILLA D’ERRICO, (Burn, Nightmares and Fairy Tales) pencils this high adventure mini-series about loyalty, friendship, and what it means to be a true hero. Based on the Nintendo DS game “The Sky Pirates of Neo Terra”.

This book has been a lot of fun to work on and is a great read to boot! It’s been a blast working with such a talented crew.

Popularity: 4% [?]

This is the year that I get things done. For real. This will also be the year that I make a concerted effort to keep this blog updated more often.
Damian and I are pushing forward on the The Orchard, a 21 page tale that will be part of the (tentatively titled) Acts of Violence crime anthology that a group of writers and I are putting together.

Page 3 pencils from The Orchard:

Once we’re finished this story, we’re hopping back into The Division for Arcana and are hoping to have that complete early in 2009. When it will see print, I don’t know! Since coming across an old post where I claim that The Division will be out sometime in 2007, I’ve decided to stop making predictions. What I can tell you is that the first 3 issues are complete. Issue 4, the last, is currently (and slowly) being written.

Humanoids is plugging along. The artwork is looking great — SO, SO, GREAT — and I wish I could show it off, but I’m not sure how the publisher would feel about that.

I’ve got about a million and a half other projects in the wings, but will get to those at another time.

Lettering work is starting to look a little scarce with all that economic stuff going on. Right now, I’m enjoying the break, but in the next few days I’m going to dive in head first and see how much work I can drum up. A lot of publishers are cutting back on their production schedules in order to ride out the recession, so it’s not going to be easy, no sir.

Popularity: 35% [?]

What happened to October and November, you ask? A good question that I don’t have an answer for. They came and went.

I polished off the script to the first issue of Roger Corman Presents: Humanoids From The Deep and am pretty happy with how it came out. I think that fans of the film will probably dig it. I’ve worked hard to ensure that the script keeps in the spirit of the original while being more than just a rehash. Whether I’ve succeeded or not will be up the readers to decide. Hell, I’m just happy to be involved with a Roger Corman production. ROGER CORMAN! I would have his babies. Seriously.

Super talented Benjamin Hall is rocking out the artwork on the book (see his cover work above) and I couldn’t be happier about it. Not only is he a great artist, he’s also a huge fan of the original film. There’s a lot of great energy going on. We’re both so excited to be involved in the project and are working our balls off to make sure that the book does the film proud.

Other news:

The Mr. T book that I did some pre-press work on is now available for pre-order.

From the publisher:

With the outcome of the recent US elections, the time seems perfect for a real black super hero. British publisher Mohawk Media have answered this call with the worldwide launch of their graphic novel starring TV tough guy, Mr. T.

Author Christopher Bunting says: “Since the announcement of Barack Obama as President-elect, plans have apparently been fast-tracked for a black James Bond, a black Doctor Who, a black Captain America. But what’s missing is a real black hero.”

“Mr. T, star of this new graphic novel, is just the man for the job.”

Bunting continues: “Don’t think that we’re simply jumping on the bandwagon. Mohaw Media released a Limited Advance Edition of the Mr. T graphic novel back in February 2008, and it was made clear that this worldwide edition was to follow.”

The Mr. T graphic novel has already courted controversy, with its storylines concerning sex offenders, domestic abuse, and kidnap.

“One of the great things about Mr. T,” explains Bunting, “is because he’s real, we can tackle all kinds of topical and difficult real-world issues.”

Mr. T, star of smash-hits The A-Team, Rocky, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – the upcoming movie based on the best selling book of the same name – attributes this factor to his successful transformation into a graphic novel star: “People can relate to Mr. T. They know what he stands for: T for tender, but if you’re a bad guy, it’s T for tough!”

“Get that message out: give people their own black heroes!”

Mr. T has shown he believes what he says by providing world-exclusive interviews and a foreword for the Mr. T graphic novel, while also acting as Executive Editor.

Mr. T continues: “I pity the fool who don’t get my book, read it, and enjoy it!”

The Mr. T graphic novel can be ordered direct from publisher Mohawk Media for the exclusive price of £6.95 (UK) / $15.95 (US) including delivery. Alternatively, visit your local comic book store.

Even more news:

Just about complete lettering the ReBoot webcomic. Pages to date can be read over here. You will have to register for the site before you can read the comic. If you’re a ReBoot fan, then it’s well worth it.

Also, be sure to check out the 20 some-odd titles available over at Z2H (the folks behind the ReBoot comic), 90% of which were lettered by yours truly.

Further News Still:

The crime comic mentioned in the September post is moving forward. I did have some trouble finding an artist at first, but eventually teamed up with Damian Coucerio– again.

Damian and I have been working with for the past couple years on The Division, a comic that will hopefully be completed early in 2009 and published by Arcana sometime later in the year. I didn’t want to pull him away from The Division onto something else, but the need to get the crime comic complete over-rode that. In the end, it works in my favour as it gives me a chance to make a few tweaks to the final pages of The Division.

Popularity: 17% [?]