Augustagram: Shaping Up a Daily Webcomic

I love Instagram.  I love that the format demands the viewer's attention to the single image,  hyper-focused in the confines of a single, unmovable square.  You can't zoom in, and you needn't rotate your phone to see the whole thing.  It's just a perfectly proportioned picture, and while Instagram seems to allow an endless amount of caption text, "insta" really implies an immediacy . . . that less is more.

This economic, harmonious combination of picture and words is so what I love about comics.  Indeed, Instagram dares us to capture real life as a comic book panel, in the same square shape Jack Kirby used in his six-panel page grids.  With this in mind, I've decided to utilize Instagram to attempt a daily webcomic all August long, hence the term Augustagram.  

Day 1: A woman found a dead frog in her Safeway sauerkraut, so Speed Cameron did, too.  The panels are posted on Instagram in black and white, and my brother colors them afterward.

The story, starring the characters from Amazing Arizona Comics of course, is told in daily panels that take place on their respective day.  This isn't a new idea: Erik Larsen drew an each-panel-is-a-new-day story in Savage Dragon #144, and while you'd think the pace of the plot would be choppy, the consistency of the characters maintains a through-line that makes the real time pace even more fulfilling.  This is their life, from the raucous to the routine -- which is exactly how we real people use Instagram.

Follow Amazing Arizona Comics on Instagram by clicking here.

As the storyteller, I find the creative experience especially fun and challenging, because I'm thinking about characters I've drawn now for over five years in a totally different way.  The existence of Speed Cameron and company so depends on current events, locally and nationwide, but how does that look when the news doesn't take the shape of a super-villain?  How do stories about Cecil the Lion come up in their lives?  What of news that takes a tragic turn, like a movie theater shooting?  Some headlines are too fleeting to satirize in a comic I hope to reprint for years to come, and others are tragic to explore in stories I hope offer some respite from reality.  Yet, when the focus is in the moment, the story becomes both theater and therapy.  The only thing insistent and unavoidable is the present.

Day 2: Rowdy Roddy Piper passed away on July 31.  The news cycle moves so quickly, it's hard to remember what headlines moved us just one week ago.

Thus, presently, August was my month of choice because it's really the only one void of holidays, so I wouldn't have that as a crutch.  These are the dog days of summer, for sure, and I'm testing if my comic has bark and bite.

So, I hope you're following, or will now start to follow, this Amazing Arizona Comics Instagram webcomic all month long.  Who knows what news stories will shape our heroes' lives?  No doubt, the same news stories that shape ours.  

Five Day Art Challenge, Day 5: Amazing Arizona Comics #10

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!

And, so, here we are -- Amazing Arizona Comics #10.  Brilliantly colored by my brother, this issue is full of more pop culture references than a Dennis Miller monologue (as if that isn't a dated reference . . . sorry, Dennis).  Here are five of my favorite panels from the issue, in no particular order, so as not to spoil the plot.  If you visit Artists' Alley table #D-18 at the Amazing Arizona Comic Con this weekend, pick up your own hot-off-the-presses issue for only $2!

Operation: XLIX (Updated with Events List!)

Since Amazing Arizona Comics vows to tell the secret superhero history of Arizona, we couldn't let the Super Bowl pass without exposing how it was almost sabotaged by our own Speed Cameron!  In an effort to publish Amazing Arizona Comics #10 by the Amazing Arizona Comic Con, I'm launching Operation: XLIX -- an opportunity to pre-purchase the issue and receive an exclusive, personal sketch of your favorite Arizonaut!  The goal is to sell at least 49 of these issues by the con, which starts (Gasp!) Friday the 13th.  If you're interested, just click the Paypal button below.  The issue is only $2 for 22 pages of story!  Don't miss out on the Super Bowl Half Time Show you didn't see!

In addition to the Amazing Arizona Comic Con, you'll have a handful of other great opportunities to see Amazing Arizona Comics around town in the next several weeks.  Here's the ever-growing events list!

Coming Soon: Amazing Arizona Comics Quarterly #2

At this point, Amazing Arizona Comics Quarterly is a bit of an annually, but I hope to change that in 2015 -- starting with the long-awaited second issue!  It'll drop at the Amazing Arizona Comic Con, if all goes according to plan, but here it is for exclusive pre-purchase -- buy it now, before the comic con, and I'll include a free inked sketch of an Arizonaut, just to say thanks!

Happy Birthday, Speed Cameron!

On Facebook, today marks Speed Cameron's birthday, because, back in 1988, November 1st was the day my family first moved to Arizona.  I remember this because trick-or-treating was skimpy that year, lest we heave a Hefty bag of candy onto the plane.  If only we knew then that in a post-9/11 world such a feat would be impossible -- anyway, to celebrate, here's an exclusive comic strip.  This two-page spread originally appeared in the local zine Pholx back in 2011 and is now colored, thanks to my "bro-ducer" Kyle Kaz.  Enjoy!

Remember to visit the Amazing Arizona Comics webcomic tomorrow for a new strip, starring June Monsoon and Sam Brero at the Arizona State Fair!

Coming Soon: Zombie Santa!

This is the last week of the inaugural Amazing Arizona Comics webcomic, starring Speed Cameron in a fully colored edition of the story that premiered way back in Amazing Arizona Comics #1.  This story might be coming to a close, but the webcomic is just getting started, with the birth of Zombie Santa (pictured left) right around the corner, and then an adventure at the Arizona Fairgrounds.  It's never a dull day for Speed Cameron and the Arizonauts!  Stay tuned!

Amazing Arizona Comics Webcomic Starts Today!

The Amazing Arizona Comics webcomic launches today!  Bookmark it to read the semi-daily adventures of Speed Cameron, June Monsoon, and all the rest -- in glorious color!

Who Needs San Diego Comic Con?! It's All About Amazing Arizona Comics!

It's San Diego Comic Con weekend, so I couldn't let it pass without offering some Amazing Arizona Comics hype!  Check out this latest preview of not one but two upcoming stories -- and you decide which will be completed and published first!  The last of these pages gives explains it all, including how to vote via email, but if you're reading this blog, you need only post "Sam" or "Cam" in the comments, and your voice will be heard!  This year, vote for something that actually matters!

Recipients of  my new Amazing Arizona Comics newsletter received this preview first, as a PDF, and if you'd like to be on that list for exclusive comics, previews, and announcements, simply email me and say so!

2014 Phoenix Comicon Memories #2: KTAR Interview with Bruce St. James!

I had the amazing opportunity to talk to KTAR's Bruce St. James live on-air during this year's Phoenix Comicon, discussing geek culture, and of course Amazing Arizona Comics.  The video has a photo or two but is intended for the audio only -- so press play, kick back to listen, and enjoy!

Special thanks to Bruce and producer Michael Russell for the opportunity.  As a fan of their show, I was honored to chat with them!

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. 

What About the Twinkie?

All of our lives, we're taught to think in fours.  Four corners in a room.  Four directions on a compass.  Four quarters make a dollar.  The Fantastic Four.  The Fab Four.

Think of some of the most timeless teams in film and television.  Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion.  The Beverly Hillbillies.  The A-Team.  The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  The Golden Girls.  Foursomes, all, and when we lose one, we lose the whole.  That's how I feel about the recent passing of Harold Ramis.

As Egon Spengler, Ramis portrayed an eccentric genius that could only exist in a world where the dead rise from the grave.  He grounded the first wildly successful science fiction comedy with the best sensibilities of both genres, making the Ghostbusters franchise believable to kids of the '80s like me.  When my family moved to Phoenix in 1988, and I experienced my first red-skied summer monsoon, I donned my plastic proton pack, looked up at the storm, and proclaimed, "This is it!  This is definitely it!"

Twenty-six years later, I'm proclaiming that again at the headlines of Ramis' passing.  Sure, three quarters are better than nothing, but in the end they just don't fit the bill, and moving on without the whole just doesn't make sense.  You will be missed, Mr. Ramis.  Thankfully, your great work has left you a rich afterlife.

#SB1062

Once again, Arizona has made national news for a controversial state bill.  Amazing Arizona Comics #1 explores how SB1070 affected superheroic law enforcement (still available for sale in the right column!), so here's a standalone page that may become a bigger story based on how 1062 would affect an Arizona with superheroes.  Click here for easier reading.

Amazing Arizona Research

While living in Phoenix is research enough for my superhero-driven political satire Amazing Arizona Comics, I often take pictures or collect memorabilia in, about, or outside of the city to keep the inspiration coming.  Here's a picture of "Mr. Arizona," from an event in downtown Mesa a few years ago.  I don't know if that's his real name, but in a shirt like that, what else can you call him?  

Cool Cosplay

I get to see a lot of cool cosplay at the cons I attend, and rather than post endless slideshows of fat Batmen, I like to feature one great costume at a time, ideally revealing the wearer's creativity, originality, and most importantly to me practicality.  So, since Thor: The Dark World is coming out on DVD this week, here's a pic of the Avenger and me at a sneak preview of his first film a few years ago, at the Tempe Marketplace.

This Week's Intake

I have a lot of reading to do.  Dig my haul from the Los Angeles Zine Fest last week!

In the meantime, I'm still nose deep in the old funnybooks.  Savage Dragon #193 was at the top of the heap this week.  Like my fellow Fin-addicts, I've been anxious for this issue, which officially passes the reigns from Dragon proper to his son, Malcolm Dragon.  As "the 1st issue in a bold new direction," I didn't find the issue open enough for new readers.  Too many details about Malcolm's life, like even a mention of his half-sister Angel, were excluded in favor of old school adolescent angst and superhero slugfests.  In the end, that combo still makes for a great time in the hands of creator Erik Larsen.  He had me with two words this issue: the Worm Ring.

Coming Soon . . .

Amazing Arizona Comics Quarterly #1 will drop next month.  In the meantime, here's an excerpt from an enclosed essay, titled, "The Initial Spark: The History of Arizona's First Superhero."

When Arizona became a state, President Taft and his administration quickly sought to tap its rich supernatural potential to develop their own mythological superhero.  From northern Arizona’s vortexes to border legends of lights in the sky, the military had no shortage of possible power sources within the Grand Canyon State, but their attempts yielded little results.  During World War II, the government became desperate, and, among other fringe efforts, they hired several unemployed cartoonists to interpret Native American and Mexican iconography for new ideas.  One of those cartoonists had a hidden agenda . . .

Interesting . . .

Find out what's in the tube -- and how it might help save the world -- in Amazing Arizona Comics #9, available next month at Tucson Comic Con, and in color via download right here!

Ouch!

Find out who's attacked Speed Cameron -- and why -- in the next issue of Amazing Arizona Comics -- available at Tucson Comic Con and right here on November 2!

Speed Cameron . . . In My Little Pony Form!

Speed Cameron . . . In Lego Form!

Animated Arizonauts Profile: Speed Cameron!

Before he became a living speed camera, Speed Cameron was just Cameron Wheeler, a reckless youth that, one dark, stormy night, was struck by lightning and the flash of a speed trap at the same time.  He wasn't the first to join Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Arizonauts program, but his eagerness to defend the law quickly made him its leaders and spokesman.

When the Arizonauts went public, Speed Cameron led the charge to expose Sheriff Apraio's controversial methods, but revelations about his origin have given him a new outlook on life as a superhero.

Monsoon Punch!

My first animated gif!  It's Speed Cameron vs. June Monsoon (Guess who's winning?) in Amazing Arizona Comics #9, coming soon!  (The gifs will only get better from here, folks . . .)

Speed Cameron's Free Comic Book Day Adventure!

Happy Free Comic Book Day!  If you picked up the print version of this little Speed Cameron strip somewhere around Phoenix, thank you for visiting the blog!  Remember, mention the Sign Spinner at Artists' Alley table 1723 at this year's Phoenix Comicon for a free sketch!

Bonus!  Come back tomorrow for another free comic strip, starring Picacho Pete in Tucson!

Happy President's Day!

Happy President's Day!  To celebrate, here's a panel from the next chapter of America's Super Secret Service -- Speed Cameron visits the Oval Office.  More coming soon!

America's Super Secret Service: Prologue (Colored & Complete!)

Behold, America's Super Secret Service: Prologue, colored, complete, and clickable!  That's right -- some of these individual panels link to the news stories that inspired them, revealing why America needs a Super Secret Service in the first place!  More to come in 2013!