Come to ROCKETSHIP this FRIDAY, AUGUST 1st! It’s my first gallery show, an exhibit with fellow Brooklyn cartoonists Dash Shaw and Julia Wertz. My contribution is an unpublished 8-page Batman:Black & White story.  Lettered on the boards and unlikely ever to be published, this is the only way anyone is ever going to be able to read it. The opening reception is at 8PM, with beer and wine available.  Fancy, no?  I’ll be the one with the pencil moustache and monocle.

It was a long and difficult week, but absolutely worth it. The booth was a complete success, and we’re hoping to expand next year. Thanks to everyone who stopped by, even just to say hello. It was a great show, and I even managed to set up my next project with boy genius Brian Azzarello. I’m very excited for the future.

Come to Booth #1322 to find me,  Jill Thompson, and Brian Wood. Look for us in the program book as “Jill Thompson, Brian Wood, Cliff Chiang” and we’re off the main walkway in the 1300 aisle, next to First Second Books. We’ll have books, art prints, original artwork, and Jill and I will be doing commissioned sketches. I’ll also have the original art for the pinups and the JLA Anime pieces up for sale, and other assorted limited edition goodies, like framed canvas prints. Starting Thursday, I’ll also be taking a very small list for commissioned sketches at the start of the show each day, so try to find me early if you’re interested in getting one.

I’ll also be sketching at the DC booth at these times:
WED 7-8pm | THURS 6-7pm | FRI 6-7pm | SAT 10-11am | SUN 11:30-1pm

Booth map after the jump. (more…)

There’s an article here at the the New York Times (requires free registration) talking about a musical production of Greendale, with a couple brief paragraphs about the upcoming graphic novel. They also feature a piece of character art that I did, making this the 2nd time my art has been in the Times (here’s the first, waay over on the right). That’s right, baby, I’m all OVER the NYT. They didn’t use any of my choice quotes, but then again I was drunk and surly the whole time. My pal Jack Daniels and I kept hassling them about their comics section getting smaller and smaller each year. “Whutever happena Ziggy? Dat guy’sh funny.”

Before I remembered the existence of Ma-Mutt on the Thundercats show, my initial sketch had a Scottish Terrier, which feels like an old-fashioned dog to me because they look like old men with mustaches. Or is that just me? OK, they look like your mom.  Zing!

Hope you enjoyed this series.  It was a lot more work than I’d intended to take on before Comic-Con, but I really got a kick out of the idea and have plans for more images somewhere down the line (including Black Canary, Zatanna, Wonder Woman, and Sue Storm), and I’ve gotten some great suggestions, too.  I’ll have the original art for these at the show, so visit me at Booth #1322 if you want to check ‘em out

This pinup originally started as a gag involving Princess/Jun getting tangled up with her yo-yo weapon, but in the end I chose to go for a more elegant hood ornament pose that would play up her costume. There’s something about the colors and lettering that evoke vintage Japanese toy box art, which of course only reminds me of all the money I’ve blown on eBay trying to recapture my youth. When will it end? How many Superfriends lunchboxes does a person need? (Answer: three.)

The last pinup goes up tomorrow.  Any guesses?

Another classic pinup we’ve all seen is the girl riding the bomb, but I wasn’t able to find any mid-century bomber nose art that actually featured the motif. I guess all those images came after Dr. Strangelove. I replaced the bomb with Supergirl’s original rocket from Krypton (peep the purple and green!), and played up the Silver Age comic feel with the halftone pattern in back. This may be the most wholesome thing I’ve ever drawn, so afterwards I went on a 3-day bender where I came back with a pocket full of pesos and wearing someone elses’s clothes. Ahh, New York…

Yo Joe! This piece originated with the Cobra Commander helmet gag, but some late additions, like the foot locker, the bullet hole and the last-minute camo pattern, made me pretty happy. It’s funny — as a kid I never had many GI Joe toys, but as an adult I now have an arsenal of illegal semiautomatic weapons, combat knives, and heavily modified military vehicles. Go figure!

Last time I was in LA, I painted this on my ese’s lowrider.* I started out with the idea of the Venus Flytrap and the Lana Turner hair, but when I added the big flower and the tattoo-style lettering it finally came together. I almost put a teardrop tattoo by her eye, but I decided to rein it in and keep it in the realm of 40′s glamour. If I were to revisit this, though, I’d have the tattoo and put some stars and light rays around her head.  Big ups to Bill Maio for the Ivy request! Vatos Locos forEVER!

* Ese and lowrider may not exist.

At the recent New York show, Jennifer Stewart of Dragon Comics asked me to draw any Masters Of The Universe character I wanted, so I picked Teela.  While I remember the toys and cartoon pretty fondly, I was a little stumped; I needed an angle, some kind of hook that would make it memorable. I squinted a bit at the costume reference and realized that it had the silhouette of a crazy 40′s style bathing suit (albeit with ram horns and a tiara, but that almost makes it more Hollywood), and that even her hair kinda fit the time period. Then it all snowballed in my head and became bomber nose art.

This is the first in a series of 6 pinups that I’ll be debuting this week, leading up to San Diego.  Taking inspiration from Elvgren, Vargas, and even modern guys like Ragnar and Bawidamann, they’re all pretty tongue-in-cheek and self-aware, which should elevate it from your standard cheesecake.  Come back tomorrow for another one!