Attack of the 50 Ft. Blog

New Blog home.

2011-07-04T20:20:00.001-07:00

From now on I will be posting all content on my new blog host. Please change your bookmarks and come say hi.

http://super75comics.wordpress.com/

Summer 2011 Commision Sale!

2011-06-29T12:40:00.001-07:00

Since I want to pay bills and take a vacation this summer (living the dream!), I thought

I would do a commission drive. Something new this time as well, I will color and print out

a hi-resolution copy of your commission and mail both the original and color version to you.

These spots are limited as I only have a short window open so let me know if you're interested.

11x17 b/w commission (1 character, minimal b/g) = $50 (Additional characters $15)

With 11x17 color print + $40

9x12 b/w commission (1 character, minimal b/g) = $30 (Additional characters $10)

with 9x12 color print + $25

Add $7 for paypal fees, shipping and handling within the U.S.

Sketchcards with spot color are $20 + $2 s+h

I also have some left over stock from my spring conventions, if you're interested.

Sketchbook V2 (40 odd pages of sketches plus an original sketch on the back) = $5 (+$3 s+h)

ICARUS Convention edition, 30 pages of story + 10 pages of bonus material = $5 (+$3 s+h)

Paypal address is super75press@gmail.com

*Please note, if you want me to draw your original character, please contact me prior to payment.

ACE Comic Expo! - recap

2011-06-27T10:47:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I was at The ACE Comic Expo in Albuquerque. We supertrucked out Thursday night and made the 320 miles in just over 4 hours. The drive between Flagstaff, AZ and the ALB is beautiful, lots of good scenery but the I-40 in New Mexico is terrible, they have no reflectors on the roads like we do here, so it was pitch black out and made the nighttime driving more stressful than it needed to be. We arrived at my good friend Shar's house around 11 and proceeded to catch up on old times.

Friday morning Shar and I headed over to the con and set-up. I had a great spot next to Andy Kuhn and Shannon Denton. The crowds for the show seemed small, I guess that was to be expected for a first-time show, and even on Saturday never seemed to get too busy. Shar hung out with me at the table for a good chunk so it was still good times even when it was slow. People seemed to really dig the prints I had on hand and I sold most of my stock. I only did a few commissions which seems to be the trend for me at cons lately, but they were fun ones. I also sold a handful of ICARUS and was able to talk about the book a bit. Overall the show exceeded expectations, even with the small crowds and is a solid addition to my convention rotation, I hope they invite me back again next year. My only criticism about the show would be that they seemed to charge a lot for admission. Their prices were comparable to the Phoenix show which is about 3 times as large. I noticed a large majority of the attendees were not buying anything and I wonder if the walk-up admission price had anything to do with that.

A couple highlights from the weekend.... James O'Barr, creator of The Crow, stopped by my table and picked up my sketchbooks. I did a quick Crow sketch on the back for him and we chatted for a quick bit about how over-rendered art sucks and brush-style is where it's at. Super cool guy. I also sold a Star Wars print to a guy who works at Lucasfilm, he picked up a couple more and said he would try and get one to the voice actress who plays Asoka, so that's neat. I met Chris Evans' Captain America stand-in. He was in town working on The Avengers, and I also met Mitch and Bettie Breitweiser. Besides being adorable, they are the nicest people ever. We also spoke about over-rendered artwork and talked color theory a bit. They were very nice, showed me some samples of books they are working on and gave me some coloring tips as well. So awesome.

Anyway, here are some pics from the weekend.

Me.

Shar at my table. Nice big table too.

Andy and Shannon

ACE Comic Expo!

2011-06-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

This weekend I will be at the ACE Comic Expo in Albuquerque. I will have convention edition copies of Icarus #1.5, the very popular Harry Potter prints, original artwork and a new sketchbook. This limited edition print will be selling for only $5, just like everything else.

How I would make it better - Green Lantern Movie

2011-06-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

I just got back from watching the Green Lantern movie with my kids. I'm going to geek out a bit here, so just bear with me. Here's how I would have made the movie better, if they only had asked. If you have not seen the movie, and actually want to, you should stop reading now. Typos and lack of Green Lantern history sure to follow...

THE VILLAIN - The casting, except for Mark Strong/Sinestro and Michael Clarke Duncan as the voice of Kilowog was all wrong. Strong was the only actor who looked like he even gave a damn. If I were given the choice to write the movie I would have gotten rid of Parralax (who looked ridiculous) and Hammond who I, a heavy comic book reader between 1986-2000), had never even heard of. I would have started the movie out with the lantern corps coming back from a failed mission (possibly mentioning Parrallax here, therefore giving them a main villain for a sequel) and Sinestro being angry about the lack of power he had. He would then argue with Abin Sur over the creation of the yellow ring. Sinestro tricks the guardians into creating the ring, rebels against the Corps and mortally wounds Sur, who then crashes to Earth and seeks out Hal Jordan.

THE ORIGIN - Abin Sur gives the ring to Hal like always, when Hal questions what to do with it, Abin tells him that the ring will imbue him with the knowledge of the other Corpsmen who have owned it before. In one fell swoop we explain how Hal knows the oath, how his powers are supposed to work and how to manipulate them. More importantly, it conveys to him the importance of his new responsibility. They tried something similar in the movie that I don't think was explained enough. Hal is called to Oa for hands-on-training with Kilowog and Tomar Re, and admits to not being able to handle the pressure and responsibility. They tell him he is needed to help strengthen the corp in the wake of Sinestro's treachery.

- THE STORY - Hal struggles with the pressure, Carol Ferris could then serve a real point in helping him rebuild his confidence after he freaked out and crashed during a test flight at the beginning of the movie. Her love, and honoring the memory of his Father gives Hal something to fight for. Sinestro wants Abin Sur's ring, since Abin was one the most powerful Lanterns. He invades Earth and the entire third act could be a huge fight scene between the two, Battle: Los Angeles or Transformers style. Hal comes close to beating Sinestro but Sinestro's experience and hate fuels his power. At the end, Hal is willing to die to save Earth but the other corps members show up and Sinestro retreats. BOOM. Instant sequel where Sinestro builds his own corp in order to attack Oa.

Other nitpicks - the effects were terrible, as were the constructs Hal built. All of the creative (or in this case, non-creative) minds in Hollywood and they come up with him constructing a giant Matchbox car track to stop a falling helicopter and when he is being pulled into the sun, he conjures up two jets? Why not just create a super-fucking-awesome jetpack/booster on his back instead of being tethered to two jets? Ridiculous.

FINAL THOUGHTS - Lame effects, lame villains, lame casting. It should have been Green Lantern vs. Sinestro, instead of saving that for the sequel. Also, there is no real build up of Sinestro getting angry enough, or fed up enough to be putting on the yellow ring at the end of the movie. It made no sense other than to appeal to the fanboys.

Failsafe Promo

2011-06-09T08:35:00.001-07:00

One of the next projects I hope to be working on soon is a one-shot/girl-in-space sci-fi mindbender called Failsafe. The project is contingent on funding so I will be linking and promoting the Kickstarter campaign once it's up and running, but here is a taste.

Phoenix Comicon 2011

2011-05-31T11:43:00.000-07:00

Back from Phoenix CC 2011 and I had a great time overall. Sales were up slightly, people seem to dig ICARUS and people LOVE Harry Potter, sold through most of my HP prints. On the other hand, they seem to loathe Clone Wars, only sold 1 of my Asoka Tana prints. Had a lot of fun hanging with my Comic Improv homies, Derrick J.D. John Dadicus West. Scott Godlewski and Ben Glendenning, even though I barely saw Ben he was so busy. Met some cool new artists and got to reconnect with my long lost love, Rob Osborne. It's always good to see local Phoenicians who have supported me over the years and to catch up with friends that I only see at cons. Next up for me is ACE Comic Expo, end of June in Albuquerque. Looking forward to it. Here is some stuff I drew for people at the con.

Phoenix Comic-Con swag (pt.3)

2011-05-25T10:55:00.001-07:00

Phoenix Comic-Con swag (pt.2)

2011-05-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

Click for full size, these are the prints I will have this weekend at Phoenix Comic-Con

Phoenix Comic-Con swag (pt.1)

2011-05-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

A couple things I will have for Phoenix Comic-Con this weekend.

Phoenix Comic-Con commissions pre-sale info.

2011-05-23T09:38:00.000-07:00

Phoenix Comic-Con commissions pre-sale info. If you're thinking about getting a commission from me at Phoenix Comic-Con and don't want to wait around for it or would like me to spend a little more time on it, I'm accepting pre-con commissions now. Email me @ hurricanekids (at) gmail for more info.

My Great weekend pt.1

2011-05-10T09:11:00.000-07:00

Had a great time this past weekend down in Phoenix. I got to see lots of my great comic friends, had a blast sketching all day at Atomic Comics in Chandler for Free Comic Book Day and hopefully I helped raise some decent money for The Hero Initiative in the process. I only took 1 pic of any of the sketches and it came out terribly so I have no photo evidence to show ya. I do have this...

Shannon Denton took this, and I'll have to get him back one day. Awesome. One of the best parts of the weekend was abandoning my low-carb diet (which is working) and having the best 3 days of dinners I have ever experienced. Friday night we hit up Republic Ramen in Tempe. Delicious udon, edamame, gyoza and Orion beer. Only brewed in Naha, Okinawa, Japan. It was the best.

Saturday night I was treated to a five-course dinner at Cork restaurant in Chandler. I had Kobe beef, ahi, steak tar tar, foi gras ice cream, salmon, amazing roast beef and creme brulee for dessert. Then Sunday night I had homemade lobster tails, delicious steak and homemade creme brulee. Man, it was a good weekend, gained back a couple pounds but it was worth it.

Seventy-Five Volume Two!

2011-05-04T10:28:00.001-07:00

My new sketchbook is now available. $5 from me if you see me at a convention, $5 through IndyPlanet and only $1.99 for the IndyPlanet digital version. 40 pages, cardstock cover, a perfect compliment to Seventy-Five Vol.1

UFC 129 picks

2011-04-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

Here are my semi-regular picks and my nonsense for picking who I pick.

Welterweight bout: Sean Pierson vs. Jake Ellenberger - I'm picking Ellenberger here, he's beaten Mike Pyle and came close to beating Carlos Condit and has just faced the stiffer competition.

Welterweight bout: Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald - This is a tough bout for Diaz, MacDonald was a touted prospect and took Carlos Condit the distance (almost), so we know he's tough. He's not noted as a big wrestler though, so with that I give the boxing and jiu-jitsu edge to Diaz. I love watching Diaz fight so this should be a good one.

Lightweight bout: Mark Bocek vs. Ben Henderson - Ben Henderson put son enjoyable fights and he was a favorite of mine in the WEC. Bocek is a skilled jiu-jitsu guy but Ben has proved he is almost impossible to submit. This is a toss-up for me, but I'll go with Henderson.

So far I have picked all the American guys. That will change, trust me.

Light Heavyweight bout: Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida - Randy wins if he gets Machida against the cage or on the ground, Lyoto takes it if it's a striking match. I think Lyoto is too quick and elusive for Randy and I think he picks Randy apart. Machida is my pick.

Light Heavyweight bout: Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Jason Brilz - I honestly do not care.

Featherweight Championship bout: José Aldo (c) vs. Mark Hominick - Aldo is a beast. Beast! He wins via TKO. Maybe round 2.

Welterweight Championship bout: Georges St-Pierre (c) vs. Jake Shields - I don't think there is a welterweight on the planet that can beat GSP and I should know, I always pick against him. Not this time though, GSP wins on the feet, scrambling out from under Jake's take downs and picking him apart like he did Koschek.

Updates

2011-04-26T09:31:00.000-07:00

I have pages being posted Monday through Friday right now, feel free to check it out and please feel free to leave some comments, I'd love to have some intelligent discussion going on.

Mon, Wed & Fri - Robot 6, part of Comicbookresources.com runs ICARUS, currently we are just over halfway of issue #1, then we'll roll right into #2. Even if you have already read the book, comments and thoughts are always appreciated.

Tues & Thurs - My run on the popular webcomic Jesus Christ: In the Name of The Gun continues. I'm about 9 pages from wrapping this one up, I'm well ahead of the pages that are being posted and I feel like I am finally hitting my stride. Sadly I am hitting that stride towards the end. It's not too offensive in my opinion, but may bother you if you religious. It's more of an adventure comic, it just happens to have Jesus, Ernest Hemingway, Gary Busey, Albert Einstein & Winston Churchill traveling through time, fighting archangels and dictators.

After I wrap that up I'm continuing work on ICARUS and I'll be doing a one-shot called FAILSAFE at the start of the summer. More on that later.

Upcoming appearances -

May 7th, Free Comic Book Day at Atomic Comics in Chandler, AZ
Memorial Day Weekend - Phoenix Comic-Con
June 24th - 26th - ACE Comic Expo, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Cha-cha-cha-changes

2011-04-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to make some changes lately that I hope will positively affect my life. First and foremost is that I am on a diet for the first time in my life. I always thought as I was gaining weight that it was just a phase and at some point I would go back to my normal size. I realized in February of 2010 that this was NOT the case and I had to do something about it. I went to the gym pretty regularly for about 9 months last year, but never really saw a significant weight loss, no more than 10 pounds or so, and that's because I never adjusted my diet.

Last week I made a decision to cut out all fried food, soda, sweets and almost all carbs. I'm not eating any potato, rice or pasta until I get back down to my goal weight. I'm not working out anymore, but I hope to start doing it again soon. One other change I made that I hope will have some health benefits is that I ditched my chair and am now standing at my desk/drafting table. It'll take some getting used to, but it's better for me in the long run. I was used to sitting in front of pages and my computer for up to 10, 12 hours a day sometimes. It's been 6 days on the diet, only 2 with the standing and I'm down almost 5 pounds. I don't think that trend will continue at that pace, but it's better than anything else I have done in the past several years.

On the comic's front, I am close to wrapping up Jesus Christ: In the Name of the Gun V2. It's the longest project I have ever worked on and will clock in around 115 pages when I am all done. I should wrap that up beginning of next month. After that I hope to work on a one-shot for Black Label Comics. No other work lined up this year but I hope to nail something down soon. I also plan to try and make a noticeable difference in my work when I start my next project. I hope to bring a little more excitement to my pages. ICARUS will continue to be plugged away at. I'm still shocked more people have not picked up the .99 download, but it's something that I'll need to work on. ICARUS is still being serialized over at Robot6 so if you check it out over there, I would appreciate any feedback you may have being left in the comments section. Here's some art to look at, as a small reward for reading my gibberish. Some random panels from Icarus #2.

ICARUS on ROBOT6

2011-03-31T09:22:00.000-07:00

If you missed ICARUS when I ran it on my site, and are too stubborn to drop .99 on a digital copy, then you're in luck. The fine fellas at Robot6, the super-cool blog hosted by mega-site Comicbookresources.com is serializing the comic online, with new pages every Mon, Wed, & Fri. Even if you did read it when I was posting pages, it would mean a lot if you could hop over and leave some comments, to encourage other people to do the same. I have a goal in mind of what I want to accomplish with Icarus and a major part of that is increasing viewership to increase downloads. The first page and intro is up here, so bookmark and visit often.

Oh and here is some eye-candy for you, a recent gift for a best friend who is getting married Saturday in Tokyo.

5 for 5!

2011-03-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

Kitty'spryde.com gave ICARUS #1 a stellar review. 5/5 isn't too shabby. Some of my fave bits are....

At first glance it just appears as if it’s about an assassin that kills supers. But as the issue goes on, the premise expands and the last page really knocks it for a loop and turns the idea of the story onto it’s head.

And the last page was a total surprise. That happens so rarely in comics nowadays.

Icarus #1 receives
5 out of 5

A dynamite first issue with an ending that is a total surprise.

Thanks to those fine fellas and if you haven't downloaded Icarus #1 yet, get hopping. It's only $1 on Drivethrucomics.com

MARS pin-up

2011-03-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

A pin-up for my comic ICARUS featuring a character called Mars. He will play a pretty significant role in the book. I am so happy my friend Andy Kuhn decided to contribute, his work is so dynamic and graphic and awesome. Andy drew it and I colored it.

Here is the black and white image before I messed it all up with colors.

UFC 128 Picks

2011-03-18T19:14:00.000-07:00

Brendan Schaub V. Mirko Filipović - I think Shaub is a real up and comer in a lackluster division. I think he beats Crop Cop pretty easily. I'd like to see him face off with Mir. My pick - Shaub via Decision.

Nate Marquardt V. Dan Miller - Miller is a late replacement and he's in deep trouble. I'm sure he took the bout to get in the good graces with the UFC as well as getting a big shot on the PPV. He has lost to any top tier middleweights he has faced in the UFC and Nate should run through him. My pick - Marquardt via highlight TKO. Nate will probably get the chance to beat the shit out of Michael Bisping after this.

Jim Miller V. Kamal Shalorus - On paper this seems like a highlight fight for Miller and a way for the UFC to dismiss one of their many lightweights if Shalorus loses. Miller has more wins over more elite competition but he's not in the mix at lightweight yet, not in my opinion. Miller would need to get past a Clay Guida, Anthony Pettis or even a Ben Henderson to put his name on the shortlist. My pick - Miller via Decision.

Urijah Faber V. Eddie Wineland - Two former WEC champs going at it. Faber is the more hyped fighter and someone the UFC wants to continue to build up and a co-headline bout on this card is huge exposure for them both. Everyone and their mother is picking Faber and I see no reason no too as well. My pick - Faber via Decision.

Maurício Rua V. Jon Jones - I am a big Shogun fan and while I admit Jon Jones is something special to watch, I think it's too soon for his title shot. He has not faced even a top 5 light heavyweight. His best competition was Ryan Bader (who I picked to win) and he ran through him like a freight train. Still, the difference between Bader and the Lyoto Machidas and Rampage Jacksons of the world is huge. I think Jones will hold the belt someday, but if Shogun is 100% with his knee injury I think he takes this. My big concern is that Jones will take Shogun down at will. I just hope that Shogun's game off his back will be enough to convince Jones to keep it standing. Jones is a beast, so is Shogun and I am super excited for this fight. I do not want to see Jones win the belt, at least not yet. Long live Shogun, I'm picking him via TKO but I am not super confident in it.

Big Game

2011-03-17T09:56:00.000-07:00

I recently did a color job over my friend Scott Godlewski on a pin-up for Shannon Denton's upcoming TPB Big Game. I had a blast doing this. If you like it, a print can be ordered through my DeviantArt account.

Drive-thru comics.

2011-03-10T10:40:00.000-08:00

Drivethrucomics.com now carries my comic Icarus. I write, draw, color and even letter this adventure/superhero/assassin comic and have gotten some great reviews on it. If you have not picked it up yet, it's only $1 and the money I make will help me move forward with the series. Issue #2 is in production and should be out the end of next month.

http://comics.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=89281

"Icarus #1 is a somewhat gritty assassin comic where there are solid characters being introduced. Cody's illustrations are a perfect fit for the subject matter. " - Jonathon Pilley - www.omnicomic.com

"Wow. This first issue blew me away. I was really, really surprised with this one. Written, drawn, inked and created all by Ryan Cody; ICARUS #1 is an intriguing first issue that zigs when you think it'll zag and continues to leave you spinning right up until the last page. Fans of Dini's BATMAN ADVENTURES, Bendis' POWERS, Brubaker's SLEEPER, and Eisner & Cooke's THE SPIRIT (books I hold in very high regard) will definitely find ICARUS as much of a surprise as I did." - Ambush Bug -www.aintitcool.com

"His style has the same crime noir feel that Michael Oeming's Powers has, which works well for the story. There is a definite secret and conspiracy feel to this title, and the art direction definitely complements that theme." - Jonathon Chuang - www.brokenfrontier.com

Emerald City Comic-Con 2011 re-cap

2011-03-07T13:12:00.000-08:00

The Emerald City, Seattle, one of my favorite cities in North America. I spent the last 3 days up there for the always magnificent Emerald City Comic-Con. This is my 3rd year being a guest up there and each year has been better than the last.

I didn't get to the show until about an hour and a half after it started on Friday but once I set up it was pretty busy. My busiest day actually. The Thor print I made sold really well (sold out halfway through Saturday) and I sold some original art too, making it a great start to the convention. People love Thor. I was set up next to Brian Churilla, a fantastic artist and writer who everyone should be aware of if they weren't already. I was also across from my buddies at Steamcrow who I love dearly and always are able to supply me with tape, sound advice and evil stares. I was beat Friday night after the drive down to Phoenix and the flight and all the running around so after a nice dinner at Dragonfish, we called it an early night.

The first sketch of the show was this SPIRIT which I had a lot of fun with. Saturday started out pretty well, I sold a lot of prints and some ICARUS comics. In the end though, there seemed to be a huge crowd of people that just weren't into my work. It happens at every show and I totally understand it. I was feeling a bit low at the end of Saturday but after having a few drinks and meeting up with my writer (and publisher) of the Jesus Christ: In the Name of The Gun webcomic, Eric Peterson, I started to turn around a bit. Eric introduced me to Ethan Nicolle (Axe Cop fame) and Doug Tennapel (of Ratfist, Earthworm Jim and being super ridiculous tall fame) and the 4 of us along with my girlfriend Michelle talked for a while. It was fun picking Doug's brain and talking about comics. Those guys really made me feel better about my work. Michelle and I walked around a bit, had another drink at another bar and called it a night. I wish I was able to talk to more creators but I'm notoriously shy and always feel as if I am imposing at these social gatherings.

Sunday was slow as well but when all was said and done it was the best Emerald City I had done. I spent some time Sunday chatting with cool guys like Andy Kuhn and the only Atlanta Thrashers fan in Vancouver, Jason Copland, (check out his Kill All Monsters webcomic). I talked shop with writer Mark Sable and poured over Paul Azacleta's amazing pages for their new book Graveyard of Empires.

I also finally met some guys who I have only known online for a while, Evan Shaner, Mitch Gerads, and Chris Samnee. Chris is one of my favorite artists working right now and he was very nice and humble. I'm a big fan. I geeked out chatting with Guy Davis and didn't get a chance, or the nerve, to talk to Sean Murphy. Overall though it was a great show and I hope to do some work in the next year that will make those awesome fellas at Emerald City Comic-Con want to have me back in 2012. Thanks again, as always, to Brian Meredith for making it all happen.

Emerald City Comic-Con

2011-02-28T12:15:00.000-08:00

I'll be in Seattle this weekend for Emerald City Con. I will have some limited copies of Icarus #1 and my sketchbook as well as some limited copies of prints. I will be taking commissions and sketches so please stop on by and say hey. Look for this awesome banner.

My process.

2011-02-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

Kind of a step-by-step of how I create a page. Thrilling isn't it.

Another ICARUS review!

2011-02-13T22:07:00.000-08:00

Major Spoilers.com reviewed ICARUS #1 on their podcast, gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars, much appreciated! The review starts around minute #30- http://tinyurl.com/67sp5rm

Another ICARUS review

2011-02-09T08:01:00.000-08:00

Brian Cronin of Comic Book Resource's Comics Should Be Good featured a review of ICARUS #1 here - Thanks Brian!

Some bits - Cody’s artwork is really good. He definitely has a Michael Avon Oeming in Powers vibe, and since I lurve Oeming’s artwork in Powers, you better believe I enjoy Cody’s work here.

If all this comic had was a government agent tasked with killing superheroes and supervillains, I think the book could be an interesting read (especially with Cody’s strong artwork), but the end of the book has a twist that sets the entire concept on its ear, making the book a whole lot more interesting.

UFC 126 picks & more

2011-02-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

The other night I was having some drink sat a bar and they played the promo for UFC 126 a bunch and were showing a replay of a WEC. It got me thinking about some MMA stuff and I even wrote some notes on a napkin. So here we go, starting with my UFC126 picks (main card).

Miquel Torres VS Antonio Banuelos - I'll pick Torres on this one. I think he's too well rounded, he's the favorite and I think the UFC wants to get him back in the title picture or at least get him into a bout with Uriah Faber. So they gave him this fight expecting him to win it.

Jon Jones VS Ryan Bader - Both these guys have egos that bother me, but they are both two of my favorites at 205 and much needed new blood in a division that rehashes Rampage/Rashad & Machida to no end. No love is being given to Bader, he's a -220 underdog as of right now, I expect the betting line to close a bit. If I had the money I would have dropped $100 on him when the line opened and he was an even bigger underdog. Jones is flashy, ruthless and talented as hell and he will probably win this fight. I'm picking the upset though and going with Bader. He's the best wrestler Jones has ever faced and I think he is a better pure power wrestler than Jones. Jon Jones is going to the best striker Bader has ever faced, but I will take the wrestler over the striker most days. Jones has never really been pressured on his back and I think if Bader can get past Jones' reach advantage and take him down, I think he can get a decision here.

Forest Griffin VS Rich Franklin - I'll take Forrest in a tight fight between two pretty evenly matched guys. No knockouts here but a good chance and a pretty entertaining fight.

Anderson Silva VS Vitor Belfort - In his last fight against Chael Sonnen, Silva was manhandled most of the fight. I remember watching it and thinking that something didn't look right with Silva. He looked like he wasn't even trying to stop the takedowns and looked lethargic. He still won, in dramatic fashion no less, against a roided-up Sonnen . I was screaming for the triangle for a good minute before he sunk it in and was ecstatic when he did. Belfort is a great striker and has tons of power, but I still see a healthy Anderson Silva winning, but I don't think it will be easy. I'll pick the favorite here and go with Silva.

Other MMA thoughts - Jamie Varner got cut by Zuffa but I think if he drops weight to the 145 division he may be able to make a run back to the majors. he's only 5'8" and is out sized by most guys at 155. I don't think he beats a guy like Jose Aldo, but I think he may do better. Speaking of Jose Aldo, he's a monster and I think he cruises past Mark Hominick using leg kicks and clinch work. Hominick has never seen leg kicks like Aldo has, just ask Uriah Faber.

Emerald City Con Pre-Order

2011-02-03T07:38:00.000-08:00

March 4-6th I will be in my 2nd favorite North American city, Seattle, to be a part of their amazing Emerald City Con. It is easily one of the best comic conventions in the country with an insane guest list and I am always truly humbled and happy to participate.

Conventions are a great way for me to introduce myself to the public and hopefully convince some comic book fans out there to give my work a shot and I have always been pretty welcomed in Seattle. Last year, and possibly this year, Emerald City will be my only convention outside of Arizona so I'm hoping to really make the most of it. Financially I am just not a popular enough artist to make out of state conventions a realistic option.

I am only able to take a small amount of product up with me, so it is possible (if unlikely) that I will sell out of my copies of Icarus #1 early. If you are going to attend Emerald City this year, and are pretty sure you wanted to pick up a comic or a sketch from me, please consider pre-ordering.

Pre-orders guarantee you a copy of Icarus #1 or a sketch and lessens the chance that I will be returning with excess inventory. Also, all convention-sold copies of Icarus #1 come with a quick & free head-sketch, so there is a bonus right there. A preview of Icarus #1 can be found here. Pre-Orders end February 7th. Paypal me here.

ICARUS #1 (with free head-sketch) = $3.50
Convention style sketch, 9x12 b/w = $15
11x17 Commission (b/w) = $50
9x12 Commission = $30
Original art pages from Icarus #1 can be purchased here for delivery in Seattle or I can mail them.
Email with any questions.

The difference between a sketch and commission is I usually spend much more time on a commission and it is a more finished piece of art. Pre-ordering con sketches allows me more time to work on those as well and guarantees you an original piece of artwork when you get to the show.

If you are not going to the convention, I still take commissions via mail and you can order Icarus #1 (print edition) here, or download for only $1 here and my $5 Super75 Sketchbook is available here. I always appreciate all the support you guys give me, and I hope to see some of you in Seattle next month.

The month of love.

2011-02-01T08:07:00.000-08:00

I have been having a blast so far on issue #2 of ICARUS. The script came out great and I'm about 80% happy with the pages so far, and for me that is a pretty big deal. I am also coming into accepting my work on the webcomic as well. We're almost to the halfway point on JCTNG V2: The Long Year and I'm finally able to just relax about it and draw some comics. The webcomic is my main focus right now, it has to be since it pays the majority of my bills, but I will continue to chop away on ICARUS #2. I hope to wrap that up around mid-March. If I can keep Icarus on a bi-monthly release schedule I will be happy. So February's goal is pretty straightforward; 30 pages of fully finished, print ready, comic pages. I'm excited for the challenge.

Icarus #2

2011-01-25T09:29:00.000-08:00

Some random panel clips from Icarus #2, coming in March. Issue #1 available here.

My man, David Hopkins.

2011-01-21T21:36:00.000-08:00

My friend and writer extraordinaire David Hopkins had some nice things to say about me over on his blog. If you haven't read Emily Edison yet, it's one of my favorite all ages books off the last couple years, and my kids all agree.

ICARUS Play by Play Transcript

2011-01-18T19:29:00.000-08:00

This is a transcript of the feature that ran on CBR's Robot6 blog -

I grew up reading superhero comics, mostly Marvel, but I loved Batman as well. As I grew older, I started developing and creating my own superheroes. The first comic I ever worked on was a self-published little gem called The Hurricane Kids. The writer and I had no idea what we were doing, but we put out an issue or two and went back and forth with several companies about publishing it. After almost a year’s worth of back and forth with a big name publisher, they decided against it — saying that they couldn’t sell it, “Independent superhero books do not sell,” they said. Later that year, I worked on Villains for Viper comics, a small book which featured super-powered characters. It got a lot of attention but just as I was warned, it did not sell very well. I have since pitched a comic with an artist who is far superior than myself, only to get it turned down because the characters had super powers. That artist has since gone on to work at one of the top publishers. Well, I never learn my lesson and have decided to do my own book, complete with everything I love about comics. Action, intrigue, violence, and superheroes, because sometimes I just want to draw a guy getting punched through a building.

Icarus is a story about Major Robert Riley and his mission to assassinate every known superhuman on the planet. A young girl named Delphi sees into the future and predicts the invasion of our planet by a conquering force. This announcement causes worldwide panic and discourse, which is something that the governments of the world can no longer allow. Backed by shadowy figures both political and religious, Riley is ordered to end the superhuman problem for good. He has never failed an assignment and never missed a target, but things are never what they seem when you are dealing with men who can juggle tanks, women who can influence your every thought and Roman war gods.

The title Icarus comes from the Icarus asteroid that is expected to pass Earth on June 16, 2015.

There’s nothing like being thrown straight into the action. Our narrator is Major Riley. While he is the focus of the first issue, the book will also look at Delphi and how the other characters react to the fact that they are being hunted by the same people they have saved and worked for in the past. Superheroes and super villains have the same goal in Icarus — survive and fight. Throughout the first arc, specific dates will show up from time to time as we get closer to the date of the Icarus asteroid passing Earth.

Riley continues to narrate the action, explaining a little bit about his target’s past. Oftentimes super powers can come with unintentional consequences. In this case, our target crippled another player during a college football game, bringing attention to himself, which ultimately led to him having to pass on his professional career and fade away from the public eye. The sports anchor in the first panel is based off of ESPN’s Linda Cohn.

I love this first panel, exploding brain matter and bone, but not too graphic, just enough to get the point across. This shows that even though Riley is an expert assassin, his methods are still brutally violent. Some of the best characters in fiction are those who are educated and technical, but still can be brutal and devious when needed. Every character we will meet in Icarus has multiple motives and that makes it fun to write. None of them are as cut and dry as they seem.

Now we see Major Riley back in his hotel room after his kill. He cleans up and gets right back to work, checking in with the shadowy figures who have given him his mission. Riley is all business at first, but he will begin to show his human side as we delve more into the story.

Here is where we meet Reggie Loomis, The Diabolist. The world of Icarus will feature costumed superheroes but in a very limited role. When word gets out that there is a killer of supers on the loose, these guys and gals will tend to keep their colors in the closet. As a matter of fact, these photos of The Diabolist are the only images of any costumed characters in the entire issue. While I have always loved the idea of superhuman characters inhabiting our world, I am not always a fan of ridiculous costumes.

On this page we learn a little more about Riley’s process. With his previous victim he explains using a unique type of ammunition to take down a specific target. Here he muses about using brute force to get the job done. One of Riley’s greatest attributes is his ability to break down his victims’ weaknesses. I love the idea of Riley looking down on The Diabolist. He’s going to go up against a guy that can emit magical energy from his hands, and Riley seems relieved.

Riley is in a race against the clock, going up against the most powerful people on the planet. He’ll need help from the most unlikeliest sources. Icarus #1 will be available in January from Super75Comics. Order information can be found online at http://super75comics.com. Feedback is always welcome at hurricanekids@gmail.com.

ICARUS Play by Play

2011-01-14T13:25:00.000-08:00

JK Parkin was kind enough to post a play by play preview of ICARUS #1 with commentary on the Robot6 blog of CBR. Check it out, hope you like it.
http://tinyurl.com/6ahmuqh (Thanks JK!)

More ICARUS Shilling

2011-01-11T16:15:00.000-08:00

ICARUS #1 is now available for sale. The digital copy is being sold through Graphicly and is only $1 and is available for all your mobile devices and laptop or desktop. The print copy is being sold through Indy Planet for $3.50 and is available here. Please help support this project, I probably will not be able to finish my story without the support of the individual issues. Also, loads of original pages from Icarus #1 are up in my Etsy shop for cheap! - http://www.etsy.com/shop/ryancody

January commission drive

2011-01-10T10:18:00.001-08:00

I'm all caught up on commissions (though I still need to mail some out) so I'm opening up commissions again. $50 for 11x17 and a special price of $25 for 9x12 b/w commissions. Email me if you're interested at hurricanekids(at)gmail(dot)com. A quick glance at my deviantart gallery will give you an idea of what I offer. Thanks as always.

Amazing Arizona Con re-cap

2011-01-09T21:36:00.000-08:00

Not a ton of stuff to report, the crowds were spotty but it's too be expected at such a new con. People love Robert Kirkman though, that's a fact. Zombie mania was in full effect and I had no loaded weapons on me sadly. I've posted some sketches I did over on the SketchJAM! blog and I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who stopped by and chatted about ICARUS and bought some art. I sold more original art at this con than any other but I have plenty left over that I will posting for sale online in the next few weeks. Next up for me is Emerald City con in Seattle the weekend of March 4th. Big thanks to Scott Godlewski for being a great booth-mate to spend the weekend with, Andy Kuhn, Shannon Denton, Mike Malve and John Layman for being great drinking buddies and Andy & Cory Walker for putting out awesome sketchbooks for me to peruse and drool over. Top-notch fellas.

Myself, Scott Godlewski and Shannon Eric Denton.

Our booth. Seriously people, this Godlewski kid is money in the bank, pick up his books, support him and buy some original art from him now while he's selling it for insanely cheap.

Amazing Arizona Con

2011-01-05T10:41:00.000-08:00

This weekend I will be at the Amazing Arizona Con all day Saturday and Sunday sharing a table with my boy Scott Godlewski. I will have a preview of ICARUS #1, original art for sale from Icarus and other projects, a limited edition convention exclusive HULK print and I will be doing sketches all weekend. I also have a few copies of my 2010 sketchbook still available so stop by and say hello.

Another ICARUS review

2010-12-23T10:58:00.000-08:00

"Icarus #1 is a somewhat gritty assassin comic where there are solid characters being introduced. Cody's illustrations are a perfect fit for the subject matter. " - Jonathon Pilley over at www.omnicomic.com reviews Icarus #1, please hop over there to read the whole thing.

I also like how interested he seemed to be in the motivations of the characters. Here is another exerpt -

"There's also a female character named Manny that has prophetic dreams. I get the impression she works with Riles to help in finding his new targets, but other than there not much else is mentioned about her. We're also introduced to a few of Riles' teammates in addition to the two aforementioned targets and Manny, so there should be some pretty good storylines developing over the next few issues. The biggest question is what designates a target for Riles' group and how he became part of the group to begin with. The best part of the issue though has to be the cliffhanger ending and while I'm not going to spoil it for you I can say I was not expecting it at all."

The girl's name is not Manny, but I can see where the confusion comes from, that will be cleared up in issue #2.

The first ICARUS review

2010-12-22T19:46:00.000-08:00

Ambush Bug over at Aintitcool.com posted a review of ICARUS #1 here. It's insanely flattering. You have to scroll down to the Indie Jones section to read it, but here it is in it's entirety.

ICARUS #1
Super 75 Comics

Wow. This first issue blew me away. I was really, really surprised with this one. Written, drawn, inked and created all by Ryan Cody; ICARUS #1 is an intriguing first issue that zigs when you think it’ll zag and continues to leave you spinning right up until the last page. ICARUS is filled with all kinds of fun, with a super hero killer for hire, a girl who dreams of the end of the world every night she goes to sleep, a secret organization bent of eradicating super villains, and a twist at the end that pulled the rug right out from under me. Thing is…I didn’t even know I was standing on a rug! But seriously, this is top notch stuff. Cody’s art is as good as his writing. Reminiscent of Ty Templeton and Darwyn Cooke, Cody has a gift for simplistic design and vivid, iconic panels that make for a quick, yet thrilling read. I can’t wait to see more of ICARUS and you should definitely seek this indie treat out. Fans of Dini’s BATMAN ADVENTURES, Bendis’ POWERS, Brubaker’s SLEEPER, and Eisner & Cooke’s THE SPIRIT (books I hold in very high regard) will definitely find ICARUS as much of a surprise as I did.

ICARUS update

2010-12-16T08:54:00.000-08:00

The last page of Icarus #1 is up on the website. I hope everyone enjoyed the issue. I will leave it online for a couple weeks and then remove it when the print version is available for purchase. Please, if you enjoyed reading it online, think about buying a print copy and supporting the book. Thanks.

Scott Godlewski inks Icarus!

2010-12-09T08:59:00.000-08:00

Here is a little peek at the inked cover to Icarus #1, pencils/layout by me, finishes by the amazing and overworked Scott Godlewski. Scott is kicking ass over at Boom! working on their Dracula book so I really owe him a debt for finding time to ink this cover for me. The print version of issue #1 will be available in January, catch up on it online however at www.super75comics.com/icarus

Big Thanks!

2010-12-06T09:49:00.000-08:00

I also wanted to just give out a really big thanks to all the people who hopped on board my last commission call. The money from those commissions literally put Christmas presents under the tree for my kids, so I really, honestly appreciate all the support. Thanks so much.

That said, I have about 2 slots still open for the Christmas commissions. Contact me if you're interested.

My comic ICARUS is winding down the first issue. You can read it all for free, starting right here - http://www.super75comics.com/icarus/01.html

Thanks.

Holiday commission sale!

2010-11-29T08:08:00.001-08:00

In order to help myself out in what has been a very tough economic year and to offer
something special to those of you who support me, here's my version of a holiday/cyber
Monday sale. Limited time only, I only have a few spots available, guaranteed delivery
by Christmas. All prices are for black and white original pieces on high quality bristol
art board. Digital colors are also available for an additional $15 and will be sent as a
hi-resolution file.

11x17 2-character = $50 + $5 shipping & handling
9x12 2-character = $25 + $5 shipping & handling
Sketchcards = $15 + $3 shipping & handling

Red Hulk Event!

2010-11-16T08:36:00.000-08:00

I will be out at Atomic Comics in Mesa tomorrow from 1-3:30 doing some free Hulk sketches on the blank cover of the the issue of Avengers. I will have a couple copies of my sketchbook for sale as well (only $5) and I will taking commission and sketch orders too. Stop by and say hi if you can!

New Art

2010-11-07T21:33:00.000-08:00

Survey Says!

2010-11-05T12:45:00.001-07:00

I put up a quick 10-question survey to learn more about modern comic fans and buying habits. It's anonymous but if you take it, please let me know and I will put your name in a drawing to win original art, an ICARUS t-shirt or a sketchbook. I really would appreciate your input.

Click here to take survey

thanks,
Ryan

News + Notes

2010-10-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a little bit since I last did an update on what I have been working on and where I'm at online at the various social media sites so I thought I would catch you all up if you're interested in that sort of thing.

ICARUS - Icarus is my new webcomic, I post new pages twice a week, I just started last week and I hope to build a solid following. I do everything on the book from writing to lettering so it's definitely a chore, but it's also a blast. I really hope you all choose to follow along and support the book by buying and sporting an Icarus shirt (order info in the sidebar on the Icarus page) or supporting me by ordering a commission possibly. Here is the first page -

I also do the artwork for the current volume of Jesus Christ: In the Name of the Gun. It's a fun story about a time traveling Jesus as he battles WW2 Axis powers, monsters & more with his buddies Albert Einstein and Ernest Hemingway.

I recently did 20 cards for the Hack/Slash set from 5finity. Here are my two return cards that I am currently selling for only $30 each. They are limited edition and very rare.

- I have a Facebook fan page that was started by a very cool guy and fan, Ed Harris.
- I'm usually on Twitter goofing off and sometimes I post up in-progress pages.
- I post a new sketch everyday to The Daily Sketchjam! I plan to do so for the rest of the year. A couple other really cool artists post there as well.
- My DeviantArt account is here and it's where the majority of my art goes online.

I honestly appreciate every note or comment I get through Facebook, Twitter & DeviantArt. The last 6 weeks have been a trial as I try to find work to supplement my income. It's a hard road for a freelancer in this economy and I really am grateful. Thanks to my beautiful girlfriend and my great kids for putting up with me.

Icarus is live

2010-10-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

The first page of ICARUS went up today. New page every Sunday and Thursday. Please pass along the word and feel free to leave comments. Thanks.

ICARUS set to launch from Super75Comics.

2010-10-06T20:13:00.000-07:00

Icarus is a new web to print comic series from Super75Comics. Created, Written and Illustrated by Ryan Cody, Icarus is set to launch on Sunday October 10^th, 2010. Previous creator credits include a short story in the Eisner award winning Popgun Vol.3 from Image Comics and Villains from Viper Comics, which is currently in development at Universal.

In 2014, a young child with the ability to see the future see an object approaching Earth, a giant spacecraft containing a species intent on invasion and occupation. She locates the most public superhuman of the time, The Golden Templar, and convinces him to take her to a secret group of world leaders. The Amaliorata do not believe her story and cast her away. When she, and other gifted seers go public with their warning, global riots break out and the world is turned upside down with religious and economic collapse. The Ameliorata decide that the super-humans cannot be allowed to roam unchecked and continue to upset the power balance. They order the execution of every known superhuman. Major Fisher Riley is put in charge of exterminating the world’s most powerful individuals. The Ameliorata convince the public that the oncoming object to Earth is only the asteroid Icarus, preparing to make its scheduled pass of Earth.

Icarus is expected to pass Earth on June 16^th, 2015.

The Icarus comic is an endeavor to bring the excitement and energy of big budget adventure comics to the world of small press. Each week two new pages will go online in preparation for a quarterly print release.

For more information please visit www.super75comics.com or contact the creator directly at hurricanekids@gmail.com

Super75comics is a boutique publisher whose previous credits have included The Hurricane Kids and the 24-Hour Comic Book Day project Fata Obstant.

Atomic Comics appearance

2010-09-30T17:17:00.001-07:00

I will be hanging out most the day on Wednesday doing free sketches for people who buy an X-Force blank cover. I will also bring along some pages to ink from Jesus Christ:In the Name of the Gun and possibly some Icarus stuff as well. Stop on by and say hello and watch me work.

UFC 119 Predictions

2010-09-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

A couple good fights on this card but the only one I really care about is Bader vs. Lil Nog. Apparently the winner may get Jon Jones. When a contest looks really tight on paper, I'll go with who is going into the bout with a head of steam and who is the better wrestler. That makes Bader my pick, he's a slight favorite so I'm not alone in my thoughts, and the idea of a Bader/Jones #1 contender match-up is very, very intriguing.

Icarus 10.10.10

2010-09-20T18:19:00.001-07:00

Talking about Jesus

2010-09-14T22:21:00.000-07:00

Weekly Crisis.com recently did a piece on Jesus Christ - In the Name of the Gun. I am the new artist for the second volume. Here is an excerpt where the reviewer refers to me -

Recently, it has returned, back with a brand new artist, and it is updating every Tuesday and Thursday. The art change may be jarring at first, just because it is so different: if former artist Ethan Nicolle was like a more cartoony Brian Bolland or Charlie Adlard, incoming artist Ryan Cody is more along the lines of a bulkier Cory Walker. It’s not bad by any means (specially by webcomic standards, this looks like a high quality indie comic), but it may give readers whiplash when switching from one style to the other. The writing is still as whimsical as ever, and the new arc seems to pit Jesus Christ against Queen Isabella of Spain, who also happens to be a Lovecraftian monster. It just started, so it’s the right time to read through the archive and jump on board.

I like the reference to Cory Walker, who is one of my favorite artists right now. The posts on the Jesus Christ - ITNOTG website generally are unhappy with my work, I dunno if they are just bothered by the change or by my work itself. We just started posting the 2nd scene of vol.2 and I think I am beginning to hit a stride now that I am happy with. Please, if you get a moment feel free to read it and let me know what you think or post a comment on the site, I could use the support.

Icarus

2010-09-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

A new webcomic, coming next month.

Cody Daily 2010 - 257

2010-09-14T13:17:00.000-07:00

I'm still keeping up my Daily sketches going over at The Sketchjam!

HERO New Avengers

2010-09-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

Hero Initiative have announced their new series of sketch covers, and it's The New Avengers. I was fortunate enough to be included again this year so here is what I did, darkened in photoshop. Hopefully it brings in some decent money for this great charity.

I Love(ed) the X-Men

2010-09-02T19:32:00.000-07:00

I started reading comics in the mid 80's. I would pick up random issues of Spider-Man and other Marvel titles to start out with. I wasn't picky with what Marvel book it was, but early on I only read Marvel. The first title I started following regularly was Uncanny X-Men sometime around issue #214. I later went back and started buying back issues like a fiend. The artists who rotated in and out of the X-Men is an all-star team. Barry Windsor-Smith, Art Adams, John Romita Jr., Paul Smith, Alan Davis. I was in love, I think I even bought an X-Men shirt. But my favorite X-artist of all time was Marc Silvestri. When combined with Dan Green on inks, that team was dynamic and amazing. They had great action, sexy girls and powerful heroes and villains, everything an 11-year old boy wants out of his comics. I still think Marc's stuff then is better than his newer work, just a personal opinion as I'm sure others would disagree. I had a chance a year or two back to have dinner with two of my artistic idols, Silvestri and Jim Lee but I didn't really talk to either of them, but 16 year old me was in heaven at the time. I stopped reading X-Men after Joe Mad's run but the book had already been going downhill for years at that time.

Here are two of my favorite Silvesti covers from his run and a recent Colossus vs. Juggernaut commission I did. I threw a little Shadowcat and Wolverine in there for fun. Click for full size. (I'm still very much open for commissions if anyone is interested.)

UFC 118 Main Card Predictions

2010-08-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

and here we go.................... Winners in bold.

Edgar VS Penn - I don't think we saw the same BJ Penn that decimated Diego Sanchez when he fought Franikie Edgar at UFC112. I think Penn took Edgar lightly and I think there was a nagging injury or sickness there too. The best words Frankie Edgar ever heard were "and NEW UFC lightweight champion....", followed a few days later by the worst words he had ever heard, "instant rematch with BJ Penn." I know I always pick BJ to win and I'm a BJ superfan, but the guy is insane when he's on his game, and I think he's on his game for this fight. He's been trying to stand and be a kickboxer in his last couple fights but I'd like to see him work some of his bjj and ground and pound in this fight. BJ by submission.

Couture VS Toney - Unless James Toney connects perfectly with Randy's chin as Randy goes for the takedown, he's not coming close to winning this. I think Randy will take a few moments to gauge his distance and Toney's timing then throw a jab or two to keep Toney on the defense before taking him down and beating the shit out of him. Couture via TKO, ground and pound. Toney will probably call Randy a homo afterward.

Maia VS Miranda - My three favorite jiu-jitsu guys are on this main card (Penn, Maia and Diaz) and I honestly do not know anything about Mario Miranda. I'll take Maia via submission for the safe bet.

Florian VS Maynard - I like Kenny Florian, I think he's a much better fighter than he showed when he fought BJ Penn the first time. He's a very complete fighter and if he really did train his wrestling with Georges St. Pierre as he claims then he's going to be able to nullify "The Bully's" attack, at least enough to win a decision. I think Florian wins via TKO and then the UFC has to try and promote Penn/Florian II, which should be closer than their first fight from a year ago.

Diaz VS Davis - Nate Diaz has always been fun to watch and Marcus Davis has gotten his bell rung a couple times in the last year or so. I loved it when Ben Saunders lit him up with his knees in their match-up. Diaz does not have knockout power but he can use his jab as a way to set up his jiu-jitsu and put Davis to sleep. Diaz via submission.

And yes, I am well aware I picked all the betting favorites. They are favorites for a reason.

Updates!

2010-08-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

Spent last weekend relaxing in Minnesota visiting. One of the highlights of the trip was going to Lee's Liquor Lounge and actually getting to meet and hang out with the bar owner (Lee, obviously). He's owned that corner for over40 years, was a childhood friend of Herb Brooks (Do you believe in Miracles?!) and was very cool. He gave us a private tour of the building and all that jazz. Can't recommend that joint enough.

My friend Scott Godlewski is doing that art on a new Dracula book from Boom that came out this week, try and track it down, it's got some beautiful comic book goodness inside. There's a nice little review here.

Here are some sketches I've done recently, they are both available for sale in my Etsy store as well as a Trevor Bruttenholm sketch I did. New pages are popping up weekly over at the Jesus Christ: Name of Gun comic I'm doing. Not everyone is digging me on the art, but I'm not everyone's cup of tea, I understand that. I'm going to try and do better on the next chapter of pages. Thanks for stopping by.

Suits!

2010-08-17T09:44:00.001-07:00

For the rest of the year as part of my daily sketch challenge over at the Sketchjam!, I am going to try and focus on problem areas I have. First up is people in suits. I've always had a problem with collared shirts and suits, so I'll be doing a bunch of them to try and work it all out.

35 min. Pencil & Ink. This sketch is also for sale in my Etsy shop.

Influence Map

2010-08-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

click for full size

This was started on deviantArt but I thought I would post it here as well. This is a visual sort of map to who I feel influences me. You'll notice mostly comic artists on there. I never consider myself a fine artist so I tend to think in terms of how "this guy handles this" and this guy "brings this" when I draw comics. So that's why most of my influences are other comic guys. Some are very obvious, Kirby, Oeming and Toth. Others you might question. Marc Silvestri drew (to me) the most exciting run of comics I ever read when he was on X-Men. Rob Liefeld, for all the hate he gets, was super exciting and new and really made me want to be an artist in the first place. Other guys on there are fairly new (in terms of comic artists) but I am always thinking about how would Eric Canete draw this or how would Cory Walker ink this and make it looks simple and dynamic at the same time. When I color I tend to try to think a little outside the norm, and nobody does crazy palettes and makes it work better than Rico Renzi in my opinion.

So anyway, there it is and feel free to ask questions or comment away.

Fantastic Four

2010-08-10T09:04:00.000-07:00

This is a recent commission featuring a bunch of really awesome characters. This was a whole lot of fun. If you want a commission of your own feel free to order one on the paypal sidebar to the right.

UFC 117 Main Card predictions

2010-08-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

My picks this month are going to short and sweet. -

Junior dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson - JDS via TKO

Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida - Almeida via decision.

Clay Guida vs. Rafael dos Anjos - The Carpenter Guida via decision

Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves - This is a tough one. I'll go with the wrestler in Fitch.

Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen - Silva takes this any way he wants. Hopefully by vicious knockout.

Unpublished pitch

2010-08-05T16:48:00.000-07:00

Along with RISE I was also part of another pitch last year that was sent out to publishers. "Blackmail" was the working title and it was written and co-created by writer Mark Sable. Mark has written books including Grounded and Hazed at Image comics and Unthinkable at BOOM!. The idea behind Blackmail was that a vigilante and a crime boss face off against each other from behind masks, only to be best friends in real life. It was all about hidden lives, sacrifice and of course, Blackmail. We showed it to a couple different publishers but it never gained a foot hold anywhere. We're hoping to work together on something else soon. Meanwhile, pre-order his new book RIFT RAIDERS from Kickstart Productions.

I really tried to reign in on my cartooning on these pages to convey the darkness and mood that we wanted. I'm still pretty happy with these, which is extremely rare, and yes, on page two that guy does piss himself.

X-Men Villains!

2010-08-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

Over on the Daily Sketchjam I have been drawing a series of quick sketches, all X-Men Villains A-Z. I'm on N so far. Here is what you have been missing. Adversary, Bishop, Callisto, Death, Emma Frost, Fabian Cortez, Garrok, Harpoon, Iron Patriot, Juggernaut, Kierrok & Lady Deathstrike. (Click for full size) I've also added a Paypal button to the right sidebar for anyone interested in getting a commission. Thanks for stopping by.

Not @ SDCC event.

2010-07-23T09:13:00.000-07:00

I will be out at Atomic Comics tomorrow selling $5 sketchbooks and I'll also have some copies of Villains with me for anybody who still doesn't have one and wants one. Free, quick sketch with any purchase. I will also be doing $10 commission sketches (similar to this) and donating 50% of those proceeds to the HERO Initiative charity. So if you're not going to be out at San Diego Comic-Con, come hang out with us.

Atomic Comics Mesa - 11am to 3pm, Saturday, July 24th!!!

Dark Horse Comics is pulling out all the stops to provide a party for comic fans who were unable to attend San Diego Comic-Con. The Red Bull Wing Team will be present with cars, girls and all sorts of stuff and RED BULL! There will be special live cell-phone feeds and online chats with the Dark Horse team at the San Diego Comic Con. We'll have prize packages throughout the day and have local artists such as Ben Glendenning, Daniel Bradford, Brandon James and Ryan Cody stop by to do sketches.

Among the prizes to be given away:

Hellboy figure + graphic novel box sets

Buffy Supernatural Defense Kits

Star Wars Clone Wars graphic novels

Umbrella Academy magnets

Red Bull swag

My current project.

2010-07-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks, and for the next few months, I will be handling the art chores on a comic called Jesus Christ: In the Name of the Gun. Volume 2. Volume 1 came out last year and seems to have a few bit of people who enjoyed it. It will initially be put up online, a new page each Tuesday & Thursday and then collected into a print trade later this year. The first page is up here. Now, to preempt any backlash I may (and probably will) get from working on this project, I will do a quick FAQ here.

Q: How did you come up with this idea, was it glorify or denigrate Jesus, God or the Bible?
A: I did not come up with this idea. I am just the artist.

Q: How can you depict Jesus doing things like fighting monsters and smoking and swearing?
A: The same way I can depict the Hulk smashing rocks or a guy flying with a jetpack. I draw them in pencil and ink. I'm not drawing this book as a believer or as a non-believer, I'm drawing it the same way I would draw any book.

Q: Do you worry about offending anyone?
A: I'm sorry if I do, but it's not my responsibilty to manage each person's sensibilities or beliefs.

Q: What would you say to people who have a problem with you drawing a comic about Jesus?
A: If it bothers you, then don't read it.

Q: What are your religious beliefs?
A: None of your business.

Q: Don't you think you should not be mocking Christ?
A: I'm not mocking anybody. I'm drawing a comic book. It's action-adventure, not a biography.

The bottom line is, I thought it was a fun read and it's a fun story and there's plenty of action and it's a gig. Those are the things I look for in a project. I don't try to preach or push my beliefs on anyone and I don't want anyone pushing theirs on me. Fair enough?

RISE

2010-07-13T09:16:00.001-07:00

I've always thought my best strength as an artist was being a storyteller. I like to take an idea and expand it as far as I can, having as much fun as I can with it but I also including a message or purpose to the story. I've never been a big fan of my own artwork so I thought I would try to develop a story with me as the writer and bring in another artist. So last year I developed a pitch with my friend Scott Godlewski. It's basically my take on our planet that has 3 super-powered individuals. No superheroes, or villains really, just a small group of people with the ability to hold an entire word hostage if they chose to. The main character has been held in a military bunker and kept sedated for the last 5 years, since he went a little berserk. At the beginning of our book he is freed from his restraints and must take out his nemesis before an end-of-the-planet scenario occurs. It's an idea that has been done before as most have, but I also tried to infuse a lot of political and social ideas into the story. One guy is not good and the other is not bad, they just see things differently, all the while governments are trying to control them both. I pitched this around to a couple companies and essentially heard crickets back from them. The ones I did hear back from shied away because it was an indie superhero comic. I never thought of this book as a superhero book personally and was really bummed it never went anywhere. Scott and I both enjoyed working on it and would love to do it one day if we found the right publisher. He's pretty busy kicking ass over on some Boom-Studios books for the foreseeable future and rightly so. There's no telling when or if we'll ever be able to do this, but it's been laying around on my hard drive for a while so I thought I would post the pitch pages.

Written, colored, co-plotted & lettered: Ryan Cody
Black and White Artwork, co-plotted: Scott Godlweski
Cover pencils by Scott Godlewski, Inks and Colors by Ryan Cody
*click on images for larger view

My favorite comics, or Oh gosh Oh Golly Oh Wow!

2010-07-07T09:52:00.001-07:00

I remember being twelve and I had just started buying comics. A Spider-Man book here and there, maybe an issue or two of Punisher but I never followed or collected a series seriously and I never paid any attention to creative teams. I remember going to House of Armand comics in Oceanside, CA and walking the aisles, smelling the newsprint and spending hours in there. I loved it. One day I stumbled upon Excalibur #1, a new and expensive book from Marvel. It was one of Marvel's first $1.50 books. After one glance at the cover, I knew I had to have it.

I knew who Nightcrawler and Shadowcat were vaguely, but I had no idea why they were not with the X-Men (I had not read the Fall of The Mutants storyline yet). I did know that the guy in the Union Jack costume was totally awesome and any story that took place somewhere outside of New York or Gotham was new to me. To this day I think this cover is perfect, and this is how I was introduced to one of my all time favorite art teams of Alan Davis and Paul Neary and the first writer I ever knew by name, Chris Claremont.

As seen in the original Prestige Format one-shot prior to Excalibur #1, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler were recuperating on Muir Island after being injured in the Fall of the Mutants. Captain Britain and Meggan were shacking up in a lighthouse (best headquarters ever) and I forgot how Phoenix came into play, I think she was fighting the warwolves in London and that attracted the rest of the members to come to her aid. After their first mission they banded together to be the X-Men of Europe, Excalibur. The first 9 issues or so were absolutely perfect and it was easily, far and away my favorite comic. They sort of lost me when they did a twelve issue story arc where they bounced around time and space. Excalibur turned me onto X-Men and from there New Mutants and forward from that. If it wasn't for this specific cover, I don't know if I would be drawing comics today honestly. So thanks to Marvel, Alan, Paul and Chris for untold hours of enjoyment.

Shadowcat (Kitty Pride) has never been handled as well as she was with this team, in my opinion.

I forgot to mention the time traveling head-thing Widget who was part of the team, as was Lockheed the dragon. If I had a chance to do my version of the team I think I would go with the original line-up, minus Widget but add a Pete Wisdom.

UFC 116 predictions

2010-07-02T13:54:00.000-07:00

Here are my thoughts on UFC 116 going down tomorrow night in Las Vegas. I'm only picking the fights I feel are interesting or I have a rooting interest in.

Kurt Pellegrino vs. George Sotiropoulos (155lbs) - I think Sotiropoulos is on the rise, in his last win against Joe Daddy he displayed beautiful grappling and BJJ technique. Pelligrino annoys me to death as well, so I'm picking Soto here, hopefully with a submission against another BJJ black belt, but most likely he will win a decision. Sotiropoulos via unanimous decision.

Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski (205lbs) - K-Sos was winning their last fight when it was stopped by a bad cut caused by a headbutt. Either way he would have taken that fight I think and I believe he takes this one as well. Bonnar has never impressed me. Soszynski via unanimous decision.

Matt Brown vs. Chris Lytle (170 lbs) - I've always liked the Immortal, and this fight with "Lights-Out" has fight of the night bonus almost guaranteed. They both like to tee off but I think Brown may be more technical although Lytle could pull off a submission as well. I'll go with the guy with the better nickname and say Matt "The Immortal" Brown by split decision.

Chris Leben vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama (185lbs) - Neither guy excites me. I like a slugfest as much as the next guy but Leben relies on haymakers and Akiyama didn't impress me in his last fight with Alan Belcher. Leben is taking this fight on short notice and just fought 2 weeks ago, he has a solid chin but two fights inside of 15 days may be a bit much. Akiyama is the favorite, I think he takes it by TKO.

Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin (UFC Heavyweight Championship) - With only 12 fights under his belt, Carwin has almost 3 times as many as Lesnar. Lesnar has fought an over-hyped Frank Mir twice and split those two, an aging and undersized Randy Coutoure and Heath Herring who is no longer with the promotion. Not exactly a murderer's row. Carwin is in the same boat though with only Gonzaga and Mir as top-tier competition. Mir has faced them both and was knocked out by them both. Both has wrestling credentials and both are almost the same size. This is a very tough fight to call. I'm picking Carwin, I think his boxing is going to be slightly better and that is going to make the difference in this fight. I don't know if Lesnar even gets it to the ground without eating a few shots first and that may be all the difference. Shane Carwin by TKO, round 1.

HERO

2010-06-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

I haven't done much in my short time in comics, not nearly as much as I have wanted to, but I still have plenty of time fortunately. Next to having my first book ever picked up by a publisher, released and optioned for a movie (VILLAINS from Viper Comics), the thing I'm most proud of is my work with the HERO Initiative. I've talked about them here before, I tend to do sketches for them every Free Comic Book Day and I have also done sketch-covers for their series of art books in conjunction with Marvel Comics. They are a wonderful organization that helps comic creators with financial and medical needs. Jim McLauchlin runs things over there and recently wrote an article for Wizard magazine about Wally Wood. He posted the article on their blog and was kind enough to send out an email about it. I'm glad I took the time to read it and I hope you do as well. If you read my blog then I assume you are a comic book fan as well and this is a wonderful and sad article about the life of an amazing artist. Wood's work was beautiful but his life was not perfect, much like the rest of us.

Click here to read the whole article.

The HERO Initiative

Please, when and if you can, think about donating to The Hero Initiative.

What am I worth?

2010-06-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

If we are talking about the value I bring to the world around me in terms of pleasantness, then my net worth is probably right around $-2.33. But I am talking about my art, or more specifically my comic/cartooning artwork. I don't really consider myself an artist, I never mastered painting or sculpting or any other fine art discipline. My work will never hang in a museum, but some of it does hang on people's walls of their studios or homes, and that's pretty cool.

Sometimes I get paid to draw comics, sometimes not, but the real value of my art comes in the form of how much someone will pay for it. I hope I don't sound greedy or anything, I know my place in the pecking order of comic book artists currently working out there today. I often draw for fun and for free, but if it's my goal to make a career, I need to be paid for my work. An aspiring plumber will only unclog so many septics for free until he feels he should be rewarded for his work. Same rules apply here. I attended a con last year and I did free sketches for kids. I was happy to do it, I have kids, some of them are neat little people. In the end though, the majority of the drawings I did ended up being for infants or toddlers, with the parents proudly proclaiming they wanted a sketch of Wolverine. Somewhere between crapping himself and drooling, I doubt that kid asked his Daddy for a Wolverine sketch (yellow costume no-less). I didn't mind the sketching, it was a challenge and I agreed to do it. Over the course of the 2 days however, not one parent offered to buy a commission, a comic or a con sketch of their own. My point is, because I was doing sketches for free, I was given no value by the people.

So instances like the one above cloud my view about what I should be asking for my work. At conventions I do sketches for $15. I think that's a fair price for my 20 or so minutes worth of work to provide the buyer with a unique piece of art. Sometimes I get people who say I should charge more and actually force more money into my hands, sometimes I get people who make faces if I don't do a free sketch for them. I do include a free quick sketch if they buy a copy of my comic or sketchbook, but that would still cost money and they are not interested in that. I usually take on commissions ranging from $30-$50 and I sell most of my original art for only $10-25 bucks. This is a very fair price I think, and I always appreciate the customers who come back every year and support me.

I guess what prompted this entire hot-air filled post was that earlier today I was thinking about lining up some customers for some custom sketchcard art. I have a total of 4 artist return cards from work I did for 5finity cards that I am looking to sell so I tried to gauge my value and check eBay. It was then that I noticed a card I did for a panel at the Phoenix Comic-Con, a card that was raffled off and given away for free was posted up there for a $150 buy-it-now. The person who owns the card has every right to sell it of course, but they are seriously over-estimating the value of my art. So I estimate it at more than free, they obviously have a much higher opinion of me, god bless them. I have a strong feeling that this person would never buy any work from me at a convention however, but I hope they get something for their hard work in setting up that listing.

Okay, the little bit of curiosity and self evaluation is over. All that said, I am currently taking commissions for full size pieces and sketchcards. Let me know if you are interested. super75comics(at)gmail(dot)com.

Projects that never happened....

2010-06-15T10:31:00.001-07:00

Here is a list of projects that I blogged about roughly four years ago or so. Most were unpaid, some offered great opportunity I thought and others just seemed fun. I thought it might be fun (and sad) to go back and update these projects now. Original list in red, current status in bold.

October 2006
- 10 page bonus story for the Villains trade
Finished & included in Villains:Thick as Thieves TPB
- Compose and put together Villains trade – Deadline November 1
Ditto.

November 2006
- Illustrations for Actionopolis book. – Deadline November 30
Never went beyond a handful of illustrations, mostly my fault for not being able to really supply what they wanted. Would have been fun to work with Shannon Denton & Doug Moench.
- Legendary Anthology Project Pages – Deadline January 1
I turned in my story but the anthology never got picked up anywhere, I eventually ran my story in the Hollow one-shot I put out through my Super75Comics brand.

December 2006
- "Jackpot” pitch*
Never got picked up, I was just a hired gun on this one.
- Unnamed Alter-Cody pitch
I can't even really remember what this was, Grant and I shot around so many ideas. Probably no art ever done for it.

January 2007
- Launch Top-Secret web-comic - I did launch a very short lived web-comic called Coral City Aeronauts but I burned out on it. I plan to go back to it someday as a series of short stories.

Projects waiting to hear back from publishers -

Empty Glasses – Written by me, Art by Federico Milella
This one had legs. A couple US publishers liked it and an Italian publisher was interested as well. The artist got bogged down by work and it sort of lumbered off into limbo. It was shame.

The Society of Modern Vengeance – by myself and others, tentatively scheduled for a 2008 release. Again, I had a publisher interested initially but it never really took off, still an idea I like and a title I LOVE. Developed with Adam Cogan, the writer of Villains.

So this just goes to show how often projects fall through, that why I have learned not to talk about them too much until I can see a realistic release date. With that said, I just wrapped a new pitch that I think has a good shot and I'm about to move on to illustrating a new graphic novel for a small publisher, but one with an established fan base so hopefully that all works out accordingly. Don't forget to check out My Daily Sketchjam for all my daily sketches, I've recently posted a few teasers, some Legionnaires and a bunch more.

Thanks!

2010-06-09T17:05:00.000-07:00

So I got a big spike in visits yesterday and some new followers to the blog, I assume many of you found your way over here thanks to Dark Horse comics re-tweeting (what an odd world we live in that I just typed that) my B.P.R.D piece I did yesterday. Anyone that knows me has heard me say that Hellboy is one book I would probably draw for free. I think Mignola created the best character since the golden age and it's no surprise that he has been around almost 20 years and is still insanely popular among fans and creators alike. He just works, design wise and story wise. The B.P.R.D. is just as great and I hope someday I get to work on those characters in some capacity so if any of you have any pull with Scott Allie, you know I will appreciate it. Here is that BPRD piece and some random Hellboy sketches I have done over the last couple years.

My Favorite Artists

2010-06-08T13:44:00.001-07:00

Every once in a while I like to write about things that I like. Chicken katsu, Irish car bombs (the beverage, not the terrorist act), beer, things like that. I also occasionally write about artists that I am currently in love with. I love their art I mean, although many of them are fine upstanding citizens, no doubt about that. I rarely, if ever, buy comics anymore and haven't in a while but I will buy certain comics because of the artist involved. Today's artist is someone I am lucky enough to call a friend, but don't let that turn you off, he's the real deal. Scott Godlewski is the shit, the bees knees, one of the best of the new guys. His work is mainstream enough to fit any DC or Marvel book without being a carbon copy "house" style ripoff. He is realistic enough that his characters and settings all look real without being so realistic that it looks flat. Most of all, his stuff is exciting. He's currently in the middle of a series for BOOM! comics called Codebreakers and then he's moving onto their new ongoing Dracula book this fall. I would otherwise never read or buy a comic about Dracula. Check out his gallery on deviantArt.com or his website.

If this kid isn't on an X-Men, Avengers or Batman book within 2 years I will have lost all faith in comic editors and fans. He is part of what is good about the new wave of artists.

Phoenix Comic-Con Wrap!

2010-05-31T13:37:00.000-07:00

I had a great time at Phoenix Comicon this weekend and I just wanted to say a big thanks to Matt Solberg and everyone who helped out at the con. I had a lot of fun sketching for and talking to everyone who came by. Some of the highlights for me were meeting and chatting with Tim Bradstreet and Cory Walker, drawing a bunch of Thors without helmets and hanging out with friends Andy Kuhn and the amazing Rob Osborne, who I only get to see at conventions. Another highlight was just getting together with the wonderful local artists we have here in the valley. Dan Bradford, Dan Davis, Ben Glendenning, Tony Parker, Patrick Scherberger, Shannon Denton, Jim Hanna and the whole lot. We are lucky to have such a great community. Sorry for all the name dropping. I'm putting up some of my con-sketches up on The Daily Sketchjam!

Me, sketching for Thomas of the Geek Speak boards, him and Bob are two wonderful and supportive gentlemen.

A Deadpool for a lil' Pool.

Jim Hanna

Patrick and Shannon must have called each other that morning so they could coordinate. It's cute.

Phoenix Comic-Con

2010-05-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

I will be at Phoenix Comicon this weekend at Table T54. (MAP) I will have copies of my comics as well as my new sketchbook and some brand new prints for sale. I will be doing commission sketches as well and doing free, quick head sketches with purchase of a sketchbook. I will also be part of a panel discussing the importance of social networking for the freelance creator on Friday @ 4:30 with Scott Godlewski, Matt Bennet and Ben Glendenning. I will also have a new short story debuting in Mysterious Adventure Magazine, available at Booth #T129

Come out and say hello!

Bisbee Trip

2010-05-17T08:52:00.000-07:00

I highly recommend anyone in Arizona take a weekend trip to Bisbee, AZ. 100+ year old architecture and friendly bars make it one of my new favorite places.

Update

2010-05-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

Just some random thoughts. I am extrememly bored by most comic art I see in online previews. Many book and styles look so similiar and watered down that they just seem to flow together without anything popping out. When I was a kid getting into comics we had some of the most awesome and differing styles available. Rick Leonardi, John Romita Jr., Paul Smith, Alan Davis, Brett Blevins, and Mike Mignola to name just a few. If you are unfamiliar with any of those names, please Google them, you'll thank me later. The artists out now who do truly energetic and unique work are in the minority and mostly on smaller, less publicized books. Guys like Eric Canete, Sean Murphy, Dan Panosian, Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez and Dave Johnson are still keeping it real and keep me inspired. I just wish there was more reward for these guys who do great work. Google those guys too, you'll be glad you did.

Anyway, I picked up some calligraphy markers the other day and sketched this. Really loving that Alex Toth vibe here, his marker work is a huge inspiration to me. More later!

Recent commissions

2010-05-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple recent commissions I've done. All traditionally done with ink and marker. I'm still open for more commissions as I try to line up some new work, so fee free to contact me if you are interested.

FCBD ReCap

2010-05-03T10:58:00.001-07:00

Saturday was Free Comic Book Day 2010. I had a great time doing some sketches at Atomic Comics and look forward to it again next year. Here are a few of the sketches that I did.

.

I sat next to artist/writer/editor Jay Fotos.

Artist Jim Hanna and "friend".

See everyone next year!

Free Comic Book Day!

2010-04-26T16:43:00.001-07:00

This Saturday is Free Comic Book Day! I will be Signing & Sketching at the Atomic Comics in Mesa. Every year Atomic likes to help out The Hero Initiative so this year we will be doing sketches in exchange for a $10 donation to the HERO Initiative. The sketches will come on these nifty over-sized sketchcards. Sketches for kids 10 and under are free but will not be on the cards. On top of doing some totally awesome kickass sketches, I will also have copies of the Villains trade paperback and my brand new sketchbook on sale for only $5. Can't beat that with a stick.

Click on the images for full size.

New Interview

2010-04-19T11:09:00.000-07:00

Recently I did a short and fun little interview with Tim over at The Marvel Smartass blog and I also contributed to Tim's other site 5 Minute Marvels where we tackled Atom Eve from Invincible. Please check them both out.

Alphabet Series

2010-04-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

So in case you don't follow my Daily Sketchjam - here is what I have been posting for the last couple days.

A is for Alita

B is for Bizzaro

C is for Cable

D is for Daredevil

After I reached the milestone post of 100, I decide to do a series of Alphabet sketches, so for each letter I will pick a character that starts with the letter and try to incorporate the letter's shape somewhere in the sketch. Wish me luck and check the Daily Sketchjam...... Daily!

UFC 112

2010-04-09T15:43:00.000-07:00

Only two fights intrigue me on this card. The are the two title fights and I'm picking both champs. Outside of the Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight divisions, the UFC is having a hard time finding contenders for the lower weight classes. BJ Penn should dominate Edgars via TKO, or rear naked choke. I anticipate BJ winning the stand up but if Edgar lasts into the 3rd he will probably take him down and finish him off. Damien Maia is my favorite BJJ fighter right now and probably the best in the world. Sadly he has to get Anderson Silva to the ground long enough to work a submission and I don't see that happening. I would be happy if Maia did win however as it would drastically free up that division and allow Silva to take on huge fights in other weight classes.

If it's art you are looking for - look no further!

Website Update!

2010-03-31T21:56:00.001-07:00

I updated www.super75comics.com, please check it out and let me know what you think!

UFC111 picks + some art

2010-03-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

If you haven't been checking out the Daily SketchJAM then you have been missing most of my art postings. I am currently working on a new short story for The Phoenix Comic-Con, so I will be quiet with art postings here for the next couple weeks, but I post there everyday along with a couple other fantastic artists.

I sketched this and then the awesome Derek Toye threw some colors on it.

This was a commission for http://heyoscarwilde.com/

Here are my real quick, non-researched UFC 111 picks - Winners in Bold.

Georges St-Pierre vs. Dan Hardy: St-Pierre is annoyingly great at everything, he doesn't have knockout power but could catch Hardy in a submission or most likely will grind out a decision.

Shane Carwin vs. Frank Mir: A lot of people are picking Frank Mir here but I like Shane Carwin. Mir got destroyed by Brock Lesnar in their last fight and has since beaten a very beatable Cheik Kongo and now he gets right back into the title picture? Mir did have an impressive win over Nogueira but even that looks suspect after Cain Velasquez dismantled Big Nog last month. So I am going with Carwin via TKO.

Jon Fitch vs. Ben Saunders: Saunders is getting a big step up in competition on short notice to take on Fitch since Alves was refused a license to fight. Fitch had been training for a short stocky kickboxer and now with only 3 days notice is taking on a very long fighter with an incredible thai clinch game. I have always liked Killa B and I've always found Fitch to be a very tough and durable opponent, but very boring as well. This fight either goes to Fitch by decision or Saunders by TKO. I'm counting on Saunders.

Nate Diaz vs. Rory Markham: Diaz via submission, Round 2

Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Brown: Brown via TKO.

Emerald City ReCap

2010-03-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

Emerald City was a blast. Seattle is one of my favorite cities in the world so it is always a great place to visit. The con was packed both days and I was able to meet some great people from all over the globe who attended the con. Big thanks to everyone who bought a poster, sketchbook or comic from me. Your support makes it all worth it. I did not get to visit with as many of the other guests as I would have liked to and I am way too cool to name drop the guys I did chat with. Big, Big, Big thanks to Brian Meredith and the whole staff of ECCC and all the cool Vancouverites and Pacific Northwesterners for stopping by.

The Good.

Books I picked up: Anchor by Phil Hester & Brian Churilla and Incredibles Vol.1 (Boom Studios) and Polly and The Pirates Vol.1 (Oni Press)
Beer I enjoyed: Rainer
Best Food I ate: A tie between ramen at Uwajimaya and homemade curry at my friend's house.
Best Bar: Bimbos Mexican Joint, they had $6.50 pitchers of Rainer.
Music that got me by on the plane: Johnny Cash Live @ Folsom Prison & The Arctic Monkeys.
Best Airline: Alaska return flight.
Best Host & show assistant: The pimp in the hat below.

The Bad.
Flight there, passengers and crew of US Airways. Worst company and service ever.

Next con is Phoenix comic-con, I'll post about that when we get closer to it in May.

EMERALD CITY CON

2010-02-27T15:05:00.000-08:00

I will be a guest at this year's Emerald City comic-con. I am excited to go back this year and I hope it's a successful convention both personally and professionally. I will be at J-03 right next to the amazing team of Phil Hester and Brian Churilla. Hopefully some of their mojo rubs off on me. I will have the debut of my new (and 1st) sketchbook, Seventy-Five Vol.1 as well as more copies of the Villains trade. Both of those are smoking deals at only $5 a pop. I'll be doing $15 sketches and taking commissions as well. Another cool thing that I am a part of is that I contributed to a small series of concert type gig posters for the show. Along with poster artists Jesse LeDoux, Jeff Kleinsmith and comic artists Shane White, Stefano Gaudiano, and Dean Trippe. I'm in great company there. I can't wait to get up there and talk with some fans and hang out with friends. If you are in the area, stop by and say hello.

My "gig" poster will be available at the Clone Press booth #507 (click for full size)

Seventy-Five Volume 1. (click for full size)

UFC 110 Predictions

2010-02-19T12:24:00.000-08:00

There are some fighters I like and I'm looking forward to seeing this weekend, so I thought I'd post some picks and uneducated analysis.

Big Nog vs. Cain Velasquez - I have never seen a fighter be able to take as much punishment as Nogueira, he'll take a beating while setting up his ground game or biding his time. I think his loss to Frank Mir had a lot to do to injury but with that said, I'm going with the slight underdog Velasquez. I have been impressed with Cain's wrestling ability and that will give him control of the fight. He threw Ben Rothwell and Cheick Kongo around the octagon like they were in a different weight class. Nog will be his toughest fight, but I think he can control the match and get a slight edge. So I'm going Cain by split decision.

Michael Bisping vs. Wanderlei Silva - Even though Wanderlei has lost several recent fights, they have all been against elite competition. Bisping has stepped up to elite competition once and got his ass handed to him by Dan Henderson. I think Bisping is always going to be the third of fourth best in his weight class in the UFC, but I don't think he can take Wanderlei, and he would get completely outclassed if he fought Anderson Silva, Vitor Belfort or even Rich Franklin. I don't think Wanderlei takes this easily, but I do think he wins via TKO. Silva easily wins the battle of most awesome fight names as well. The Count should lose to the Axe Murderer.

George Sotiropoulos v. Joe Stevenson - I don't really care much about this match-up but I hope Sotiropoulos wins just because Joe Daddy is talking about getting another shot at BJ Penn soon and I think that would be hazardous to his health. BJ licked Stevenson's blood off his gloves after their last fight, a rematch would end even more badly for Joe.

Keith Jardine v. Ryan Bader - Much like Cain Velasquez has the wrestling pedigree to dominate a match, so does Ryan "Darth" Bader. Jardine has a weird stand up style that may give some fighters the fits, but Ryan will just take him to the mat and work him over. I'm thinking Ryan Bader by decision.

Stephan Bonnar v. Krzysztof Soszynski - I think The Polish Experiment takes this one and Stephan Bonnar is finally let go by the UFC. They have showed him tremendous loyalty thus far in his career, but he cannot seem to put together the wins. Soszynski by desision.

Brian Foster v. Chris Lytle - I'll go with the underdog and pick Foster. No real reason other than Lytle likes to stand and Foster is a wrestler, so he can take Lytle down and grind out a decision.

Goran Reljic v. C.B. Dolloway - CB is another local guy like Ryan Bader, but he does not have the talent that Bader does. I think Goran Reljic sends CB and his lip curl out of the UFC. Reljic by TKO.

Seventy-five Vol.1

2010-02-09T09:19:00.001-08:00

Next month I will be releasing my first ever sketchbook. Seventy-Five V1 features 48 black and white pages of sketches, character designs and unpublished pages from the last couple years. In part it is a way to show work that I haven't posted before as well as a personal document for myself. The plan is to release this at The Emerald City Comic-Con in Seattle and then sell them online after that. I am currently asking for pre-orders as well to help fund my trip up to Seattle, so for a limited time I am offering a special offer.

For $30 (Plus $5 s+h within the US) I am offering a copy of 75V1 as well as my normal 9x12 b/w commission. $50 for the usual 11x17 commission still applies but I will throw in a copy as well. So it's a free copy of the sketchbook for anyone who has been thinking of getting a commission from me. I can hand deliver both at the convention to anyone who is going, or they will be mailed out the first week of March. I am only taking about 15 spots for this so if you are interested please email or message me here.

Thanks again for all the support and kind words.
- Ryan

* For anyone just wanting the sketchbook, I can't take pre-orders yet but once I have the online sale info available, I will post it.

Thailand trip recap

2010-02-09T08:52:00.000-08:00

After high school I went straight to work full time and except for a couple months of stretches, I have always worked full time or a school/work split or a school/stay at home with kids split. So when I had the chance to take my first ever "real" vacation in almost 15 years, I jumped at the chance. I spent 10 days in Thailand (and about 2 and a half on planes to and from) and it was awesome. We flew into Koh Samui and took a ferry over to Koh Phangan for three days where I witnessed the unholy abomination of excess known as the Full Moon Party. It's a world famous party among travelers all over the globe and I'm glad I got the chance to take it in, even it wasn't my cup of tea. I think I am too old for all of that now. I felt very much out of place.

After Koh Phangan we took a ferry over to Koh Tao where my girlfriend and her brother went scuba diving and I went into full relax mode. The two and half days on Tao were my favorite part of the trip and where I had a few moments of absolute peace and relaxation, something I can't ever remember having since I have been an adult. After Koh Tao we spent a night at Chaweng Beach on Koh Samui before flying back up to Bangkok for 3 days. In Bangkok we visited Khaosan Road and the Grand Palace. So I got a bit of everything there. All in all it was a great trip, I didn't do enough sketching while there but I'm putting a couple of them up on the Sketchjam over the next couple days. For next year I'm planning on a camping tip through Ireland, so if any Irish comic peeps out there want to let me couch surf, hit me up!

Me @ Chaweng Beach, Koh Samui, Thailand.

Koh Tao, Thailand.

The Grand Palace complex, Bangkok, Thailand.

Koh Tao, Thailand.

Big Hands

2010-01-19T15:48:00.001-08:00

I've been waiting to hear back on a freelance gig the last week or so but I have been staying busy with commissions and my sketch-a-day blog. So most of my little sketches are getting posted there. The next couple months are promising to be pretty interesting. Next week I leave for 10 days to Thailand. It will be the first vacation of more than a 4-day weekend I think I have ever taken since I have been an adult. It will also be the first time I've been back to Asia in 16 years. If you've ever seen the movie or read the book The Beach, that's where I'm going. Hopefully my trip ends up better than his did. I'll be bringing along a small sketchbook and I'm going to try and fill that up while I'm gone. Then in March I will be at The Emerald City Comic-Con in Seattle where I will be debuting a new 48pg sketchbook. I will post more on that later. Here is some newer stuff by me, as always check out the sketchJam and my Deviantart account as well.

2010

2010-01-03T15:18:00.000-08:00

I'm going to try to do a sketch a day all year long. We'll see how long it lasts. I'm doing it as part of the Sketchjam blog!

Last year was another year where I didn't really get anything big out. I self published a few books and showed up in Image's Popgun anthology but other than that and another contribution to the HERO Initiative sketch-covers, I was pretty absent. That's not to say I didn't try though. I pitched a book with an established and well received writer but most publishers passed on it for a variety of reasons. I also tried to get another book picked up that I wrote and my friend, the amazingly talented, Scott Godlewski drew, but it had the most feared word in indie publishing attached to it, SUPERHERO. Even though I never even considered it a superhero book really. Everyone passed on it because of that.

Well, I never learn my lesson so this year I'm developing my own book, ICARUS, which is chock full of fucking superheroes. I'll serialize it online and publish it myself if I need to. The last couple years my focus has been on trying to break into a top 5 or 6 publisher as an artist or writer and I think I have wasted my time pursuing that. I don't have a mainstream appeal with my style, but I'm still a functionally sound artist that can tell stories, so that will be my focus for the upcoming months along with continuing to pursue new freelance opportunities. Good luck to all my amazing creative friends out there and I hope we all have a great 2010.

Me & My 3 friends

2009-12-31T15:48:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I need a haircut and a shave and a diet, but Happy New Years to all of you out there.

Moonstone Sketch cards

2009-12-28T18:35:00.001-08:00

Here are some of the cards I recently did for Moonstone and 5finity productions. I did some kick-ass versions of Watson (from Sherlock Holmes) that Moonstone canned afterward, but overall it was a pretty fun project.

As always, click for full size. I'll be back on Thursday to liveblog my annual New Years/Birthday tradition of downing as many Irish Car Bombs as possible before falling asleep. Good times!

Happy Holidays

2009-12-24T12:27:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to say a quick thanks to all of you out there who have supported me this year by either picking up one of my books or getting a commission or even just offering words of support. It means a lot and Happy Holidays to everyone that celebrates.

$30 9x12 commissions will continue through January, so send me a message if you are interested.

Thanks again.

Weekend Recap

2009-12-13T17:20:00.000-08:00

Thursday and Friday was spent camping with my son's 6th grade class in southern Arizona. I had a great time hiking and spending time with him. Here is a shot from our hike in the Chiracua mountains.

Then on Saturday morning I hightailed it back to Mesa to take part in the Atomic Comics/HERO Initiative Wolverine 100 signing and book release.

Mike Malve, owner of Atomic Comics and HERO Initiative board member, Patrick Sherberger, Tony Parker and Scott Godlweski all holding down the fort and kicking ass.

Ben Glendenning, Tone Rodriguez, Patrick and Tony all sketching and having a good time. We moved a bunch of hardcovers and had a great time sketching in them and talking to all the people who showed up. It was a win/win for us and HERO.

My Atomic Comics HERO signing photo gallery - lots of insanely cool Wolverine sketches.
HERO Initiative

Art! & UFC 107 picks

2009-12-09T09:40:00.000-08:00

click for full size.

The top piece is a sketch inside one of the Wolverine 100 hardcovers I did for the HERO Initiative. I will be signing for them this Saturday as well as the flier shows. The character work is some work I just finished for a program that Shawn at Spazdog comics is gearing up for. It's for a school presentation series that's he starting up to talk to pre-teens about empowering themselves. I think the art is pretty self-explanatory and it was a lot of fun to do. "Be your own hero" I think is the basic gist of it. I've been keeping fairly busy but I'm always on the lookout for new opportunities and I'm also doing $30 commissions this month, so hit me up if you're interested or know anyone that is.

I'll be offline the next couple days so here are my UFC107 picks.

BJ PENN vs. DIEGO SANCHEZ (UFC Lightweight Championship)
It's no secret BJ is my favorite fighter right now. I've picked him in his last two fights and while he didn't take out GSP, he defended his lightweight belt against Kenny Florian. He toyed with Kenny for a few rounds but once he decided to finish it, he did it and made it look easy. Sanchez has never fought anyone of BJ's caliber and in his two 155lb matches so far he failed to finish Joe Stevenson (who BJ brutalized) or Clay Guida (a 155lb gatekeeper who will probably never get to a title shot). BJ has finished everyone in the last 5 years except Matt Hughes, GSP and Lyoto Machida, all elite level fighters and champions. I think Diego will be a tough test, but I don't see him winning this fight. My prediction is BJ via submission in round 3.

Frank Mir vs. Cheik Kongo - I hate Frank Mir, so I hope Kongo wins but I can see Mir taking him out with his more rounded skills. Still, I'll take the underdog and predict Kongo by KO in round 2.

John Fitch will beat Mike Pierce because he has the awesome beard.

Kenny Florian vs. Clay Guida - I think the Carpenter is fun to watch, but can't compete at the same level as the top lightweights in the UFC. Even with his new camp at Greg Jacksons I don't think he'll edge it out, but I don't know if Kenny will finish him. I predict a razor-thin split decision by Florian.

Attack of the 50 Ft. Blog

New Blog home.

Summer 2011 Commision Sale!

ACE Comic Expo! - recap

ACE Comic Expo!

How I would make it better - Green Lantern Movie

Failsafe Promo

Phoenix Comicon 2011

Phoenix Comic-Con swag (pt.3)

Phoenix Comic-Con swag (pt.2)

Phoenix Comic-Con swag (pt.1)

Phoenix Comic-Con commissions pre-sale info.

My Great weekend pt.1

Seventy-Five Volume Two!

UFC 129 picks

Updates

Cha-cha-cha-changes

ICARUS on ROBOT6

5 for 5!

MARS pin-up

UFC 128 Picks

Big Game

Drive-thru comics.

Emerald City Comic-Con 2011 re-cap

Emerald City Comic-Con

My process.

Another ICARUS review!

Another ICARUS review

UFC 126 picks & more

Emerald City Con Pre-Order

The month of love.

Icarus #2

My man, David Hopkins.

ICARUS Play by Play Transcript

ICARUS Play by Play

JK Parkin was kind enough to post a play by play preview of ICARUS #1 with commentary on the Robot6 blog of CBR. Check it out, hope you like it.http://tinyurl.com/6ahmuqh (Thanks JK!)

More ICARUS Shilling

January commission drive

Amazing Arizona Con re-cap

Amazing Arizona Con

Another ICARUS review

The first ICARUS review

ICARUS update

Scott Godlewski inks Icarus!

Big Thanks!

Holiday commission sale!

Red Hulk Event!

New Art

Survey Says!

News + Notes

Icarus is live

ICARUS set to launch from Super75Comics.

Atomic Comics appearance

UFC 119 Predictions

Icarus 10.10.10

Talking about Jesus

Icarus

Cody Daily 2010 - 257

HERO New Avengers

I Love(ed) the X-Men

UFC 118 Main Card Predictions

Updates!

Suits!

Influence Map

Fantastic Four

UFC 117 Main Card predictions

Unpublished pitch

X-Men Villains!

Not @ SDCC event.

My current project.

RISE

My favorite comics, or Oh gosh Oh Golly Oh Wow!

UFC 116 predictions

HERO

What am I worth?

Projects that never happened....

Thanks!

My Favorite Artists

Phoenix Comic-Con Wrap!

Phoenix Comic-Con

JK Parkin was kind enough to post a play by play preview of ICARUS #1 with commentary on the Robot6 blog of CBR. Check it out, hope you like it.
http://tinyurl.com/6ahmuqh (Thanks JK!)