The Countdown BEGINS: Monday

The countdown to Fan Expo Canada 2012 begins!!  It’s Monday, so it’s only…no, don’t want to know, I have too much to do before Thursday’s opening at 4pm.

But–one of the things I need to do is show off some of the amazing art that came out of this year’s Fit-to-Print Holmes Incorporated workshop! 21 creators working together in different teams produced an incredible Issue 3!

Art by Adam Gorham, colours by Ty Templeton

First up, is Night of the Living, written by James Cooper , art by Brice Hall. This is the second Holmes Inc. for James, and Brice Hall’s first, but he took to it like an old pro. Besides art duties, Brice lettered his pages.  Gaze upon their beauty and wonder!  And you’ll get a chance to buy the issue at FANEXPO, or read the issue online in just another week or so…FOR FREE!!

story by James Cooper; art/letters by Brice Hall

Next up…Hologram Holmes written by Adira Rotstein. Although Adira is new to the world of comic book writing, she’s an established author having published her first YA novel, Little Jane Silver last fall (the sequel is currently in editing). She wrote a fun but touching story about our Holmes family that you’re going to LOVE when you read the full thing.

Eric Houstoun has the pencil duties on this story, his first ever published comic art.  I jumped in to add some inks and greytones (at Eric’s request), and the whole thing ended up being one of the most charming Holmes Inc. stories we’ve ever run.  See for yourself…

story by Adira Rotstein, pencils by Eric Houstoun

This issue of Holmes Incorporated includes a batch of ONE PAGE stories, each written by a different author, and each beautifully drawn by the Holmes Inc. veteran JEFF LONGSTREET.   The first of this group was written by another Holmes contributor who’s been with us since issue #1, Mighty Mike Marano.

We had two first-time participants for the next story, but you can’t tell.  Terror of Penitence House,  written by Oliver Ho (who first took my Writing for Comics class last summer, but he has been taking classes elsewhere, and all that learnin’ shows) . Eduardo Suarez Florido handsomely rose to the challenge of illustrating this spooky story using some techniques involving a computer and one of them new fangled drawing pads.  The final result is a tour de force of mystery and tension.

story by Oliver Ho, art by Eduardo Suarez Florido

And THAT’S just your taste of the first quarter of the quietly magnificent new issue we have coming your way!! Holmes Incorporated #3 will be available for sale at Fan Expo this weekend (as of Friday), in Booth 614, at Holmes Inc. Alumni Rachael Well’s booth A165, and at the Templeton-Smiths tables in Artists Alley, P30A and P30B, as well as a few other spots in the building.   Stop by and pick up your copy, and stay tuned for news on when you can download this issue digitally for FREE!  We’re here for the students and we’re here for the readers.  We want everyone to enjoy this one.

Who says this isn’t the Comic Book Bootcamp Age of Comics?

Ty the Guy OUT!!

Here now,  your BONUS Holmes Inc. Comic Book Moment:

Unpublished promotional artwork for Holmes Inc. #2 by Dawnson Chen.

 AND! If you’d like to learn how to write and draw your own comics, just like these creators did…be sure to check out the courses over at my Comic Book Bootcamp. There are still some spaces available in Writing for Comics Part One, and Drawing the Human Figure from your head.

The Previews Continue! Yay!

I promised ’em, and here they come:  more sneak peaks at the new TORONTO CARTOONISTS WORKSHOP comic that EVERYONE’S talking about in reverent awe.

As if the last blog entry wasn’t enough to send everyone into fidgety anticipation of Friday’s launch of the newest issue, I’m back again to give out the free samples of what awaits our legion of readers when the book gets published on Friday.  I’ve seen the whole book, so I know how wonderful it is, but I envy you people getting to see it for the first time.

Our next preview pages are from the delightful team of Mighty Mike Marano scripting, Gorgeous Grant Howarth layouts and grey tones, and introducing Killer Kellam Templeton-Smith on inks.   

There's nothing worse that having a computer come to murder you, just because of your name!

I wonder what that guy is going to look like when he crawls out of the computer core…I suspect it looks really cool.   I suspect the story is equally gripping! We never give you readers less than the best.

Next, the first of TWO entries by Racin’ Rob Pincombe, our assistant editor, and easily the hardest working man in comics, no matter what you hear about Tom Brevoort.

The MIND SPIDERS OF MADAGASCAR…written by Rob and beautifully illustrated by Dapper Dawnson Chen.   Warning: If you have a phobia about Mind-Spiders, you might want to look away, and latecomers will not be seated during the fight sequence with the SPIDER-QUEEN!

Wait…we’re stopping it there?  But…what  happens next?  What’s so extraordinarily BAD?

We’d like to tell you, but we have to move on to another thrill-a-minute mystery.  The script for this oceanic opus was written by the Amazing Yolanda Cheung, who intended to draw the tale herself, but was called away by a higher duty.  Racin’ Rob and Killer Kellam stepped in on the art chores at the last minute, and I’ll be darned if they didn’t knock it out of the park!  You heard me right- the writer of the last story, stepped in and drew this next one, and the inker for OLD WOUNDS, stepped in an inked another one.  This is the sort of dedication that you readers deserve.

Who doesn’t love an old man kicking ass in a transforming aquatic wheelchair?  Can I get a witness?

And wait until you witness THIS western tale.  Written by “Calamity” Kathleen Gallagher, with art by Dynamite Danny Setna!  Kathleen’s had a few stories under her belt, and we’ve come to expect genius from her (which she never fails to deliver), but this is Danny’s first time in print anywhere, and yeehaw, that boy surprised us editin’ hombres with his detailed line-work!

Is there anything more wonderful than a crime spree that just MIGHT involve non-farting cows?  I told you Kathleen writes a fun script.

Don’t forget, you can still download issue #1 (with stories by Rob Pincombe, Kathleen Gallagher, Mike Marano, and a host of other clever writers, teamed up with artists as impressively skilled as you’re seeing up above) all for free at a bunch of digital comix websites you can find HERE at the Holmes Inc Hompage on the Web.

Wait, did you say “FREE”?

Yes I did.  And issue #2 will be free in just a matter of days as well.  We want you to see these amazing, soon-to-be-stars before Marvel, DC, IDW and Dark Horse snatch them away from us and pay ’em what they’re worth.  (Note to Marvel, DC, IDW and Dark Horse editors:  Please snatch these guys away from us and pay ’em what they’re worth!)

And if you’re in the Toronto area THIS Friday evening, drop by to the TORONTO CARTOONISTS WORKSHOP,  587A College Street (at Clinton), and meet the creative team that made this issue great.   We might even find you a copy of the book in print form, and I’m fairly sure we’ll get you something to  snack on.

Don’t worry, the previews are still coming.  Tune in tomorrow for even more Holmes Incorporated sneak peaks.   We’re not even close to running out of talent!

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your BONUS Holmes Incorporated Comics Moment:

Artwork by Daniel Wong with colours by Keiren Smith.  Where do we FIND these artistic wunderkinds?   It must be something in the water in Toronto.

Holmes Incorporated and YOU! A shameless plug.

The Holmes Incorporated Homepage is buzzing lately, with all the promised tutorials, sneak peeks, bells and whistles that we can muster.

The new pages include work by comic-stars-in-waiting Christopher Yao and Robert Pincombe, and there’s a useful writing tutorial by Plot-Master Mighty Mike Marano on how to create a “Story Map” (you’ll thank me for sending you there after you read it, I promise),  and the aforementioned Mr. Yao walks you through creating a page from thumbnails to pencils.

Here’s a  sneak peek at Christopher’s finished inks.

And check this stuff out:

And a cool inside look at the design of the Deerstalker Aircraft.

Artwork, comic books, AND learning?  Where can we go to get this kind of fun?

Here, folks.  You go here to the HOLMES INCORPORATED homepage and find out what’s what with the latest issue.  It’s too easy and too much fun not to.

Ty the Guy OUT! SHAMELESS PLUGGING!  SHAMELESS!

Here now, your shameless plug, bonus moment:

Shameless.

Once again, I become a preposterously minor character in a vague spin-off of a legendary franchise!

Third in a series.

Last night, we had a meeting for the Toronto Cartoonist Workshop group — the talented bunch of creators who are writing and drawing the Sensational Holmes Incorporated second issue that I’m editing.  (I’ll start to show off some of the fantastic images from the new stories soon!) and after the meeting, one of our crafty and skilled writers (Mighty Mike Marano) got to chatting with me, and I mentioned that I’d appeared as an actor in some old Canadian TV shows about twenty years ago, and I foolishly told him the name of one of them:  Katts and Dog.

Dog and Katts. Note: I am neither of these actors

And so Mike promptly got to looking for it on Youtube, and found a clip or two online, because Youtube is a level of hell where all your past mistakes are in streaming form.

Before we go to the clip,  talk show rules require I set it up….  I play an annoying rookie cop – an academy classmate of the main character, Katts.  The role required sighing, snorting, barking and behaving like a dick whenever the camera was on.  My dialog included the memorable line, “Woof Woof, punk, I’m a dick.”.  It’s where the Emmy I keep in my “sun room”  comes from.

Seconds before a sigh. Soon, I'll be barking. Note: I'm the one on the right.

After you watch this clip, I’ll explain why this is even remotely interesting…

Okay…so I’m looking for a link to where you can buy the DVD set, or the IMDB page for this show or something, as is nettiquette correctness dictates, and found out that the only DVD sets of this old show available or in French.  And in French, the series has a different name:

Rin Tin Tin Junior!?!?   Being in Katts and Dog, I could care less about, but I was in a Rin Tin Tin TV show!  That’s cool, even accidentally!  I remember meeting the dog, but we didn’t do anything on screen together.  I think his name was RUDY.   But ignore that I’m terrible in the part, and that I never worked on screen with the dog, or that his name wasn’t originally Rin Tin Tin….I worked with a Hollywood legend’s fifteenth generation, French-Canadian heir…. Rin Tin Tin JUNIOR!!

It seems the series was set in San Fransisco or Paris. Or both. Perhaps it involved a magic transporting genie-dog who flew between cities. I've never seen the show.

Apparently, in either the French of the English version of the series, I had a two second moment in the starting montage of one of the seasons.  Which means, when it was on the air, I would have friends tell me they saw me on TV all the time, even though I wasn’t actually on the show, but I got whopping residual checks for like, fifty bucks every year or so for a while.  The instant fame caused me to seek drugs and whores, but Dr. Drew cleaned me up.

By season three, the dog adopted an orphan, and a drunken Katts was arresting street car tracks. I had long ago left the series, by this disappointing season, unaware for years that I'd even been on it.

First I was made a subway station  in Gotham City, then a minor character in Planet of the Apes, and now, again… in the deepest corners of the most obscure records of Hollywood history, I am an astoundingly unimportant footnote in the legend of Rin Tin Tin!

Oh the life I lead.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your BONUS Rin Tin Tin Comic Book Moment:

What kind of a heartless monster would trick a dog and a child?

T-Minus TWO DAYS and counting. Holmes is on the way!

We’re down to the wire.  I can see the wire over there, and it’s rushing up towards us at breakneck speed.  Holmes Incorporated is less than 72 hours from your hot little hands, and the air is electric with anticipation.

Today’s sensational story is written by Manly Mike Marano , penciled by the Amazing Alex Greychuck, and inked by Dapper Dean Dumont.   (Just one more day of the alliterative names, whew!)  While I love all the stories in this issue, this one holds a place in my heart as being the only tale to actually feature the original master detective, Sherlock himself.  But don’t worry, we ain’t wallowing in Victorian language and situations.  I’m fairly sure I recall some modern day machine gun-toting drug dealers show up later in the story.  But you’ll have to buy the issue to see all the gunfire.

An unsolved case?  So it wasn’t always so elementary, was it Watson?

Personally, I hope I never run into Mind-Spiders of Madagascar, but I’m a timid sort and faint easily.  For those who can survive that kind of heart stopping thrill, have we got a comic for YOU!

Here’s yesterday’s entry.  Go HERE for more previews.  Go HERE for a large image of the cover!  Here for more pages!  Here for even MORE pages! and HERE for more preview art again.  With 52 big pages to fill, we’ve got tons of stories to tell, and the game is afoot in every darn one!   See you at the convention this weekend, you lucky comic fans!

Ty the Guy OUT!

In honor of the mind-spiders, here now, your comic book moment of zen: