Shadow Hero: The Green Turtle

My publisher First Second just put out a new book by the super talented team of Gene Yang and Sonny Liew called The Shadow Hero. The Shadow Hero is an examination of the actual golden age superhero character The Green Turtle, believed to be the first Asian American superhero. To celebrate the book's publication, :01 asked me and a whole bunch of other cartoonists to draw our own interpretation of the Green Turtle. Today's my turn.

It's a really cool real-life story-- originally created by Chinese-American cartoonist Chu Hung for Blazing Comics in 1944, it is believed that the character of the Green Turtle was meant to be Asian, but that the publishers of Blazing Comics balked at the idea, thinking that the largely white comics buying public of the time wouldn't support an asian super heroic protagonist. rather than draw his creation as a caucasian, however, Hing chose to pretty much never show the Green Turtle's face. Most of the time, he has his back turned to the reader, and in the few instances when he's facing front, he invariably has his arm, a shadow, or some random object obscuring his face. Speaking of shadows, he also occasionally has a bizarre turtle faced shadow following him about, as in my illustration above, with no explanation offered as to why. It's weird, fun stuff, and I recommend everyone pick up The Shadow Hero to see what Yang and Liew did with it.

A Tale of Two-and-a-half Covers

A lot of eagle-eyed readers have noticed that the cover of Aphrodite: Goddess of Love that appears on the back cover of Poseidon is different than the the cover that appears on the actual book. I wrote a piece on the :01 blog that details the reason why. It's an interesting glimpse behind the scenes of the creative and editorial processes.

The Sailor Twain/ Journey into Mohawk Country Connection, Part deux; kinda like the Rainbow Connection, but with less singing frogs

Devotees of this blog will recall a post I made about a month ago detailing an unexpected and hitherto unrevealed link between First Second Editorial Grand Poobah Mark Siegel's awesome ongoing webcomic Sailor Twain and my own historical graphic novel Journey into Mohawk Country (follow the link if you missed it).

Well, I'm a little late in reporting this (mainly due to the mother of all flu bugs laying me out cold since late last year) but in the December, 27th installment of Sailor Twain some very familiar faces made an appearance.

That's Harmen van den Bogaert, the author of Journey into Mohawk Country, flanked by his companions Jeronimus de la Croix and Willem Thomassen, as based on the below drawing by yours truly. Now we know what happened to our Dutch heroes after Journey concluded. Who knew Mermaids played a part?

Pretty cool stuff, if I may say so myself. It's really great that Mark has woven these two tales together like this, and I'll bet Harmen van den Bogaert is pretty high atop the list of characters least likely to be featured in two separate graphic novels. If you're not already reading Sailor Twain, I hope this convinces you to start.

The Sailor Twain/ Journey into Mohawk Country Connection; kinda like The French Connection, but with less car chases

Broke out my Mohawk Country tee for the occasion

So are you reading Sailor Twain by Mark Siegel yet? Mark Siegel, in addition to being a ridiculously talented cartoonist and illustrator, is the Editorial Director of First Second, the publishing house that puts out my graphic novels. Sailor Twain, or The Mermaid in The Hudson is his online comic being updated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Recently Mark held a Sailor Twain Meet-up in the Flatiron building, a wine-tasting party for the new Sailor Twain wine(!).

Here's Mark showing off a model of the steamship Lorelei from Sailor Twain

The booze in question.

Everyone who attended was given a small bottle like the one's pictured below. Once opened, there was a message inside, as befits a bottle.

That's mine, third row, second from the right.

Each of the messages was a "Hudson River Artifact", a tantalizing clue to the mystery of Sailor Twain and, one would presume, the Mermaid of the Hudson River. You can read the messages that people received on the Sailor Twain Facebook Page.

My friend Joe Infurnari got a message in his bottle that was particularly interesting to me. Here's a scan of the text here:

It reads: ‎"To a sympathetic ear,

Harmen van den Bogaert met a sorry end, I've heard from later arrivals. We are both victims of the river, yet his end is still not so sorry as mine. I have been here since 19639 and have no hope of any rescue.

-- Captain Dick van Leeuwen,
(scribed by Ned Blum)"

The Harmen van den Bogaert mentioned above is the gentlemen whose actual real-world journal serves as the text for my graphic novel "Journey into Mohawk Country", published by First Second. The real life Harmen did indeed meet a sorry end, read all about it here.

When worlds collide

Pretty awesome, huh? I'm pretty gosh darned psyched that Mr. van den Bogaert has made an appearance in the world of Sailor Twain (and I hope he makes an actual in-comic cameo at some point as well). I just had to share it with all of you.

New page from Hades: Charon's Approach

For your viewing pleasure, a finished (well, black and white, not colored) page from Olympians Book 4, Hades: The Wealthy One. The book opens with a tour of the Grecian afterlife,and here comes ferryman Charon to take you across the Styx. Hope you have a coin for him.

Persephone pin up!

Isn't she lovely? A round of applause for the Dread Queen of the Underworld, everybody! This is the first piece of finished artwork I completed especially for Olympians Book 4, Hades: The Wealthy One. More to come soon.

Hekate and Persephone, not in that order

good news! It was only in the low 90's today! It's like a veil has been lifted from my brain!

In celebration, a few more character sketches for all of you from Olympians Book 4, Hades: The Wealthy One. First up is this sketch of Demeter's lovely daughter Kore, after her transformation into the Dread Queen of Hades, Persephone.



And nextly, someone who has ended up being one of my favorite characters in the book, Hekate, goddess of the Crossroads. She becomes Demeter's loyal companion as she searches for her daughter after Kore's abduction. It's a subtle little craziness in her face that is the thing I like about her so much.

Old Men I drew

The heat continues unabated here in NYC. I've eaten nothing but berries for so many days now that I know what a bear feels like.

Here are a few doodles of a couple of gentlemen you might run into in the afterlife. On the top is Kharon, ferryman for the River Styx. I have to admit, it was pretty tough to not just copy the skeletal design of him from the classic "Clash of the Titans" (not the new version-- that was the worst movie I saw all year-- maybe in several years). Beneath Kharon is Tantalos, who you would only run into if you had been very, very naughty in life. Tantalos is being punished eternally in Tartaros. He stands beneath grape vines that pull up whenever he reaches for them, and in a pool of water that recedes whenever he stoops for a drink. I imagine he's gotten pretty hungry and thirsty over the millennia. This poor dude is where we get the word "tantalizing" from.

Hot as Hades in NYC today...

In honor of the old saying and the fact that the temperature has been in triple digits here in NYC, I thought I'd share this double page spread from my sketchbook, with doodles of an armored Hades, a thoughtful Demeter, and a drawing from behind of a certain demigod who may have been surprised to find himself in the Underworld.

More Hades Dramatis Personae...

...This time, a profile sketch of Hades himself, and a shot of Kore/Persephone, after her transformation into the dread queen of the underworld. Enjoy!

Hades Dramatis Personae: Demeter

Book 4 of Olympians, Hades: The Wealthy One is a bit more like Zeus in its structure, in that it principally tells one big story (in this case, the abduction of Persephone) rather than a tapestry of interconnected tales, as in Athena.

It may be Hades who gets the title nod, but he really shares the starring role with both Persephone and her mother, Demeter. Of all three main characters, until this point in the series Demeter has gotten the most panel time, as it were, but only as a supporting or background character. As a result, I've spent a lot of time sketching the beautiful Goddess of Grain in a wide variety of moods and poses, as she really gets put through the emotional ringer in this book.



The first step when I'm writing a book is to fill up some sketchbooks with "key Scenes" that may or may not make it into the final version. Here are a few sketches of an enraged and distraught Demeter, including an action shot of her in her role as Demeter Khrysaor, or Demeter of the Golden Blade. Looks like she's pretty miffed at Zeus. I wonder why?

Hey, ain't this supposed to be an online sketchbook?

If so, where're the sketches?

been awhile since I posted anything sketchbooky here, so to remedy that, here are a few studies of the gloomy lord of the underworld as he'll be appearing in Olympians Book 4 Hades: The Wealthy One. Enjoy!

Giant Athena/Zeus Release Party!

So what are you doing May 1st? WRONG! You're going to come to the gigantic book release party we're having at the best comics shop in the known universe, Bergen Street Comics! In addition to me and my own books, Zeus: King of the Gods and Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess, I will be joined by Mike (Foiled) Cavallaro, Pascal (City of Spies) Dizin, and Leland (Resistance Book 1) Purvis.

Our release party starts at 7, and there will be refreshments and stuff, but kids and kids-at-heart should join us earlier at 5 for games (like, Make Mike Cavallaro Cry, What's Pascal Eating Now, and Pin The Tail on The Purvis) and a general celebration of Free Comic Book day (our books will NOT be free, but we will have free materials that are way cool). Plus-- anyone who buys one of our book will be entered into a drawing to win the original black and white artwork for the jam piece above, by all 4 creators! Snap!

Athena is out today! Run! Now!

So if you're the sort of person who enjoys making their comics purchases in a bookstore or online, today is the day that Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess is released! Woot!

If you're more of a comics shop traditionalist, you will be able to find Athena tomorrow at all finer comics shops with the normal Wednesday comics shipment.

New Title for The Glory of Hera!

Well, it will be almost a year until the book hits stores (not like Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess, out next week, but the book formerly known as The Glory of Hera will now officially be known as Hera: The Goddess and her Glory. The folks in sales thought it was important that we continue the naming style we had established so far with Zeus: King of the Gods and Athena: Grey Eyed Goddess, with the god or goddess's name first, followed by subtitle. Certainly when all twelve volumes are completed, it will look nicer this way, and help people to find the separate volumes easier.

I'm still hard at work coloring Hera: The Goddess and her Glory but let me tell you-- so far it's my favorite of the series. In addition to telling the story of the courtship and wedding of Zeus and Hera, you also get to see the story of Io, the Twelve Labors of Heracles, meet Jason and the Argonauts and see what happens on that mysterious day every year when Hera abandons her position as the wife of Zeus and Queen of the Gods. Cool stuff, if I may say so myself.

Now one of these days I'm going to go through this blog and change the three million references to Zeus: Father of the Gods to Zeus: King of the Gods. Titles!

MOCCA fest in NYC!

Hey, if you're in the NYC area this weekend and are a fan of some of the best comics art there is, come on down to the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art's annual Art Festival! There will be tons of great stuff to see, and yours truly will be signing copies of Zeus, Athena, Ball-Peen Hammer, Journey into Mohawk Country, and whatever else you stick in front of me at the First Second Booth on Sunday at 2 pm. Hope to see you there!

Olympians Book 2: Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess out soon!

On or around April 13th, I believe, you'll be able to get your very own copy of Athena: Grey Eyed Goddess at your favorite bookstore, comic shop or etailer. In honor of this momentous occasion, and also as a nod to the new Clash of the Titans movie that just came out, here is a preview of one of my favorite pages from Athena, a wordless section depicting Perseus and Medusa. Enjoy!

This Is Why it Pays to Have a Good Editor, part the second

A while ago I did a post about why great editors are a good thing to have, and here's another reason-- They do interviews that thousands of people will read and say nice things about you. Click here, pleasely, to read an interview at Comic Book Resources with First Second editorial Team Supreme Mark Siegel and Calista Brill.

In addition to saying nice things about Olympians, they also give some shouts out to the new books by my studio neighbors Leland Purvis and Mike Cavallaro. Please give it a read!

Zeus review at the Blog at Newsarama

The venerable blog at Newsarama has recently published this very, very nice review of Zeus: King of the Gods. It was especially cool for me to just happen across this, as I am a regular reader of the blog. A nice surprise, to say the least. I especially like that the reviewer praises the all-ages quality of the books, something I strove to accomplish. Please check it out.

Book Club Discussion of Zeus at Good Comics 4 Kids!

Six different bloggers weigh in on Zeus: King of the Gods at the Good Comics for Kids website over at SLJ. It's a pretty cool piece, with discussions on the randiness of Zeus, speculation on Hera and Athena, and Greek myth baseball cards. One line to sum it up? "For the most part, this book club meeting has been a love-fest." Well, gawrsh. Please check it out.