Friday, July 25, 2008

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Regrets?

I am wishing I was actually in San Diego right now. I should have gone.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Comic Creator Survey (I stole it)

Seen via Radiomaru, stolen from Jake.

PART ONE: COMICS PERSONALITY TYPE Name: Ryan Cody Age: 32 Sign: Capricorn

Introverted or extroverted?

Very introverted I would say, which makes networking and talking with other creators very difficult in an industry where that contact is easily 85% of getting work.

What are your top 5 procrastination tools?
Internet, TV/Movies, reading comics, my kids and my girlfriend.
What gets your juices flowing?
Excitement over a new project, or reading a really, really well done comic. Also, if I'm being honest, positive feedback from my peers or those I see as better than me in my field.
PART TWO: COMICS CONSUMER
What kind of comics do you like to read? Mostly American superhero and crime comics. that's what I grew up on, that's what I still love today.
What kind of comics do you dislike?
Most manga, just because it's not for me, I never got into it. Also, I've never really gotten into alternative comics much either, just from lack of exposure to them or lack of effort into getting them.
When were you first introduced to comics?
Mid to late 80's. Right after the creative boom of 1986.
What were some of your first comics?

Spider-Man, X-Men and Excalibur. I absolutely loved Claremont and Davis' first 7-8 issues of Excalibur.
When did you first get "The spark"?
When Liefeld starting going absolutely apeshit on New Mutants. The energy and craziness he put in there was very infectious to a 12-year old boy. Couple that with Lee and Silvestri exploding and I knew what I wanted to do. Years later, Mike Oeming did they same thing to me to get me re-interested in comics.
What is your favorite animated movie?
Probably The Incredibles. The scene in the plane with Elastigirl and the kids is flat out one of the best, most tense scenes I have ever seen. Right up there with Will Smith yelling at Ben Vereene on Fresh Prince. I'm not joking either. I really enjoyed Akira and Steamboy as well.
What is your favorite anime series?
Dragonball. I still love the team, but not a team, mentality of that show, as well as the utter destruction these guys caused. Non anime would be the Bruce Timm/Glen Murakami Batman & JLU stuff.
PART THREE: COMICS CREATOR
What kind of comics do you make? I try not to limit myself to superhero stuff, although everything leans that way. I change my mind constantly, but never stray too far from my comfort zone. I want to make stuff that's accessible and fun, and maybe a bit political or something that expresses my views on environment and society, but without any type of preachiness.
When did you first start making comics?
When I was around 13.
What are your favorite comic artists right now?
Eric Canete, Mignola, Jeff Smith, Darwyn Cooke, Mike Oeming, Jim Lee, and a whole bunch of new guys like Toby Cypress and Kristian Donaldson. Anything that's exciting and doesn't look exactly like a photograph.
What are your main influences in comics?
Mike Mignola, Darwyn Cooke and Mike Oeming. Artistically? See above.
Who do you admire in comics?

See above, and anyone who has the balls to be a publisher in today's market, including self-publishers.

Also, some new artwork I found in a box from 2006, and an Elephant guy, an idea I stole from Ottley or Walker from Invincible.



San Diego Comic-Con 2008

It's time for the annual geekgasm known as Comic-Con, and I for one, will NOT be going. I've gone the last 3 years and short of some amazing announcement happening in the next week or so, I'll be passing this year. I have nothing new to promote with Viper Comics or Villains, and I don't have a booth to sell copies of Hollow or commissions at. I don't really like the crowds, and the trip is financially a burden, with nothing new to show for it. Seeing other creators and networking is always a plus, but I don't think it outweighs the hassle. If you, dear reader, are going, let me point you towards a few people and places I was looking forward to seeing, for your amusement.

Steamcrow Press for the best books, atmosphere and monsters around.
Viper Comics (Publisher of my comic book Villains), wonderful group of creators.
Image Comics, all around great publisher of great books.
Khepri retail booth, get your graphic novels here, the best retailer of indy books out there.
ArtJumble/CAKE booth, pick up your copy of CAKE Vol1.
Pixu, looking to be the best book to be released @ SDCC.

And search out local AZ creators Jeff Mariotte, Bret Blevins, Tony Parker, Ben Glendinning and Johnnie Allan (Stykman). All great guys, all deserving of wider recognition. Sorry if I missed anyone, my brain is a little hard boiled right now.

If I did make it out to San Diego this year, it would probably just be for Friday and Saturday, I would really like to make it out to the drink and draw out there.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

digital girl

After working for hours last night on freelance and anthology stuff that I can't show yet, I capped the evening with a quick digital sketch. Pencilled in Painter, colored in Photoshop.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Weekend Comics

I recently paid my $137 in fines to the Phoenix Library (ironically using the money they paid me to teach a series of seminars on comic book art), and yes I said $137. That got me free and clear of over a years worth of late fees, and one very used copy of Ultimates Vol.2. I was very happy to do it though, as it got me and my boys back on track to library good karma. In the past week I have checked out and read, a volume of Noble Causes, the Invincible Hardback, Paul Pope's Batman 100, a volume of Ultimate Spider-Man and most notably, the first Immortal Iron Fist volume by Fraction, Brubaker, Foreman and Aja. I loved every inch of that book, their legacy of the Iron First is fantastic comics.

I also picked up CAKE vol1. on Friday and chatted with those guys a bit. Fun release party, great book, good beer, and I only wish I could have stayed longer. Big congratulations to those guys for having the balls to take on such a big self-publishing venture.

Friday, July 11, 2008

cha-cha-changes....

If anyone actually uses the www.super75press.com domain name to get here, then please note that I'm not renewing it, so please change your bookmarks to http://ryancody.blogspot.com/

CAKE!

I'm part of a wonderful collective of online talent in the ArtJumble blog, and tonight in central Phoenix there is a release party for the first volume of CAKE, an anthology featuring local Artjumble members to the Phoenix area. I know some of these guys through friends, some through the jumble and some through freelance work, but they are a great group of guys, so go on out if you're local, I'm going to try my best to make it out there tonight.



Also, I will be participating in CAKE Vol.2 as well, My story will feature a character of mine called Cara del Fantasma, and I'm pretty excited to get working on it. Here are some quick character sketches and assorted other artwork done this week. Sorry for the lack of updates, I'm doing a lot of freelance work lately that I cannot show, but I'll try and squeeze more comic stuff in soon.




Tuesday, July 01, 2008

I used wordle to create an image map using key words from this blog. Obviously, in the 2+ years I've been posting here, the manga discussion from last month had the most impact and conversation.

I really need to work on a regular comic again.




click to enlarge and go to the wordle site.