Thank You, Melrose District!

If you're visiting the blog for the first time because you picked up a comic, sketch, or mini-brochure at the 7th Avenue Street Fair last weekend, welcome!  Tabling in the Melrose District was a blast, and it was a pleasure sketching and selling comics for folks passing through.  Here are a few sketches I did -- of my original characters, to boot!  Thanks for requesting them!

Dust Devil, Sonny Gunold (The Sun City Gunslinger), June Monsoon

If you scroll down, you'll find podcasts, sketches from other events, and all sorts of goodies about Amazing Arizona Comics, my comic book series about superheroes in Arizona.  If you'd like to swing by for a sketch sometime in the future, here's this month's calendar of events.  

And remember, you can always read Amazing Arizona Comics Online for semi-daily webcomics -- in color!  The story continues!

Five Day Art Challenge, Day 4: Enter Amazing Arizona Comics!

Fellow mini-comic artist Eric Mengel (interviewed in the latest episode of KaraokeFanboy Podcast!) challenged me to the Five Day Art Challenge on Facebook, which, from what I can gather, is a call to post five pieces of art every day for five days.  Since I'm working tirelessly to finish Amazing Arizona Comics #10 by Amazing Arizona Comic Con this weekend, I thought to use the challenge as a look back at my comics-making career, from childhood to this very week!

When I moved back to Arizona in 2010, I continued my self-publishing efforts as KaraokeFanboy Press (obviously), but I sought a project that explored my love of superheroes and the intrigue of the politics, pop culture, and history of my home state.  Enter Amazing Arizona Comics!  With almost ten issues complete, not to mention countless one-shots, exclusive on-line comics, and strips in other zines, I have a lot of preliminary sketches and unused pages.  This post represents a small fraction from that stash, including a peek at some characters appearing in Amazing Arizona Comics #10!

Snowbird has made several "first appearances in strips that have never seen the light of day, including here, where Sam Brero and Dust Devil spot her cooling off a hot cup of coffee.  An alternate version of Snowy appeared in issue #8, but her first Arizona Prime appearance will be in Amazing Arizona Comics #10!

McGruff appeared in a strip all his own on this very date last year, and in this rejected panel from the 2014 Free Comic Book Day special, he gets the better of Archiewawa.  Look out for McGruff as a member of America's Super Secret Service in Amazing Arizona Comics #10.

Damion Mailer is a cyberwizard-in-training.  Here he faces Hash Tag, from Speed Cameron's California Adventure, but watch out for his first real appearance in (you guessed it) Amazing Arizona Comics #10!

Preliminary sketches of Ana Sazi.

Cover rough for Amazing Arizona Comics #11!

Happy Free Comic Book Day!

Happy Free Comic Book Day!  Here's this year's Amazing Arizona Comics FCBD story, in glorious color!  (Special thanks to Kyle Kazmierczak!)

You read that last blurb correctly!  This post is the home of the "Name June Monsoon's Chihuahua Contest!"  Simply post your suggestion for June in the comments section below.  Entries that combine dog and monsoon puns will have a better chance of winning!  The winner will be posted next Wednesday and will receive a complimentary copy of the brand new Amazing Arizona Comics Quarterly #1!

Please know that by posting your dog name suggestion, you are releasing your rights to the name to me, which means: when June's dog appears in future adventures, I'll happily give you credit for his name, but you are not entitled to any profits garnered from the sales of that or any comic book or strip featuring June's dog. 

Enter: Sam Brero & Dust Devil!

Continuing our countdown to Tucson Comic Con, here's a panel from Amazing Arizona Comics #9 -- Sam Brero and Dust Devil smash into Governor Brewer's office!  But why?  Find out when Amazing Arizona Comics #9 drops on November 2!   

Amazing Arizona Comics #4 Animated Cover!

People ask me all the time, "How does Dust Devil fly?"  Well, as a heroic, demonic imp with dominion over the Earth, DD can create a small, dense cloud of swirling dust to keep him afloat.  Duh!

Amazing Arizona Comics #4, starring Dust Devil and Lou Ferrigno, is available here for $2.  The animated cover is available right here for free!

Sketchbook Sunday: Hugh Midity

Hugh Midity first appeared in a strip I drew for a local gallery, starring Dust Devil, and that strip has since been republished in the local zine Pholx and my Phoenix Free Comic Book Day offering last year.  Here are the initial sketches of Hugh, who was once an innocent lifeguard at a local water park until something radioactive happened or whatever . . .

Also, here's my first sketch of Andy Kaufman, one of my personal heroes, who appeared in Speed Cameron's California Adventure #2.  Click the link to read it for free!

Sketchbook Sunday: Unused Cover -- Amazing Arizona Comics #4

Initially, Amazing Arizona Comics #4 was going to feature Dust Devil rescuing the Arizona Cardinal from the Colonel, who was determined to deep fry the football fowl.  I eventually opted to introduce Lou Ferrigno and the Marijuana Catapult, instead, but not before this cover was drawn, blatantly swiped from Savage Dragon #56 (because I love Savage Dragon).  This wasn't the only unused cover for AAC #4; this issue went through many changes before the final product.

And, because this post expands the cast I introduced in The Fast Food Wars, here's another player: Wendell, whose uncle was so determined to establish a burger chain based on his cute niece, he dressed up his nephew to create her.

The Exclusive That Almost Was

I almost offered a Phoenix Comicon exclusive, which would've been a preview of upcoming issues Amazing Arizona Comics #7 and Speed Cameron's California Adventure #1.  Instead, I opted for making sure I had enough free sample comics to distribute to new fans, namely the Sam Brero origin special and my Tucson/Flagstaff/Phoenix Free Comic Book Day issues.  I think I made the right move.  Here's the cover that preview exclusive would've boasted, featuring Speed Cameron and June Monsoon in a confrontation that really hasn't happened . . . yet . . .

Arizonauts Profile: Dust Devil

Every child experiences a rite of passage -- even demon children.  So it was for young Dustros, when he was sent to Earth from the Netherworld by his devilish parents to plague mankind and earn his "demonhood."  Dustros wandered to Arizona because the heat reminded him of home, and he found an abandoned baby to possess, one left at a firehouse in Phoenix under the Arizona Safe Haven law.  Mere seconds after Dustros arrived, before he was able to inflict any harm to mankind, authorities found his host baby and treated him with the utmost care.  Overcome by humanity's kindness, Dustros decided to stay on our world as a hero, defending mankind against evil temptation.  Revealing his identity to Sheriff Arpaio, and using his demonic dominion over the earth to create dust devils -- Dustros became the Arizonaut known as -- well, Dust Devil!

Countdown Day 29: Sketchbook -- OsamHa-Boob Laden

Originally published in Pholx, June Monsoon and Dust Devil faced Osama Bin Laden, reincarnated as one of the haboobs that hit the Valley last year -- hence, OsamHa-Boob Laden.  Here's the planning page for that strip, which also features Neptune's spear -- always critical when defeating Bin Laden, in any form.