Fractured Fables cover by Mike and Laura Allred

The artist skimming through the book

Pippi Van Wrinkles, page 1

The book is currently available in comic shops and on Amazon, and in fine bookstores everywhere in October.

This wonderful and desperate Toth panel speaks to me right now for some reason. Anyone else?

This frame is from the Soldier’s Grave story I featured last Tuesday. I know I promised the whole story today, but that’ll have to wait til next week, along with analysis and a couple more of those pages in black and white as a bonus.

If all goes well, I’ll have chapter 1 or more for sale as a mini comic or chap book at the Minnesota Fall Convention on Saturday, October 16. No promises.

I also covered my creative process for writing and illustrating my children’s book, Night of the Bedbugs. So, we all drew together, and they came up with some great stuff, which you can see below. Thanks to Sue Gahan for invitation, whom I met at the 2-day comic convention here in Minneapolis in May.

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Keep drawing, kids!

In the page below, Toth employs stunning chiaroscuro techniques with fluid brushwork, marking the landscape with the footprints of younger and more vital soldiers, leaving Mullah in the dust. Toth first depicts Mullah in silhouette in a gorgeous frame…

…then alters his size and placement within the panels to lead the reader’s eye through the page, as displayed below.

Next week, I’ll post in color and break down the entire story, but until then will leave you with this larger version of the black and white art, cleaning it up and sharpening as much as I could.

More thoughts on Toth, other work, and this story at Bob H.’s Four Realities blog, where he’s written about Toth more than once. Enjoy!

A view from near my table of one of the three rooms/areas of the show. This was taken in the morning as the show began. A short time later and most of the rest of the day, these rooms were pretty packed.

It was a hot and humid day, and the small fan I brought along was little comfort, but somehow I did a buncha sketches, even if my sweaty arm occasionally stuck to the paper:

A quick Hellboy drawing I did in a collector’s sketchbook.

I know, I’m weird. Big fan of spatulas. Never took any drugs, ladies and gentleman!

Many kids, parents and grandparents were drawn to my Night of the Bedbugs book, ABC minis, buttons and juggling beanbags, which was nice to see. A lotta new Bedbugs fans were made at this show, who I hope will follow up and LIKE the Bedbugs Facebook page or visit the bedbugsmania.com web site for games, vids and more.

Taking a break from doing a Micronauts’ Baron Karza sketch for a photo by new acquaintance, and MCAD Artist in Residence, Jim Keefe.

Special thanks to MIX organizers Sarah Morean and Andy Krueger for doing a fine job kicking off this event. I’m already looking forward to next year.

Don considers himself retired from the comic book scene, focusing on teaching and working towards his MA in history of art and architecture and PhD. Still, when called upon to raise funds and defend the First Amendment, Don rose to the challenge and hasn’t missed a beat. Indeed, not only is this piece his first and longest in years, it’s also his best. It’s like he never took the time off. So it was a pleasure for my wife, Mary and I to color away on his array of Bizarre Heroes, and contribute to the cause ourselves.

Here’s a sneak peek panel from one of many great stories by big name creators:

This panel also features fan faves Yarn Man, Rubber Brother and X-Ray Boy.

CBLDF Liberty Annual 2010, edited by Larry Marder with stories from various creators and covers by Jim Lee and Darick Robertson, arrives in stores on October 6, 2010 for $4.99.

“About original comic book/strip/black and white line art - young or old at examining/enjoy sleuthing-out which lines/dots/jiggles/splats/blobs/streaks/smears/nicks/scrapes/ were accidents - and which were intentional bits of genius-business, done so casually, tho, creating such unique effects, touches - of course we read all kinds of significance into every jot and tittle to express deep worshipful “in-tune-ship” with our pet artist-heroes’ art - wrongfully, too, mostly - we fans, of all ages and experience and exposure, are guilty of that sin!”

Well, as I’ve been challenged recently on that very point in regards to Toth’s work, and having to plead guilty per Alex’s charge, I hope I’ll be forgiven if I still indulge in that very pursuit each week at this blog. I just can’t help it. Toth’s work just “does it” for me more than any other and I’ll continue to pour over his jots, lines and dots. That said, I’ll try to be as discerning as possible, and have a post or two planned to poke at some of Toth’s weaknesses (far be it from me, but there you go).

In the meantime, let’s Sleuth-Out!

In the mid-’90s my pal and Trollords partner Scott Beaderstadt and I decided to release a (as it turns out, ill-fated) Trollords Classics collection. It featured the first three issues of Trollords (originally published in 1986, as well as as a new story called Death Dreams, which focused on the Trollords arch nemesis, Death. In the 30-page story, we got to see things for Death’s point of view, and in a large double-page spread his visage from a variety of perspectives. To convey this, we asked as many artist as we could think of and contact to contribute a 2″ x 2″ piece of art with their depiction of “death.”

We were pleased to receive back pieces from Scott McCloud, Michael Golden, Alex Ross, Steve Rude, Adam Hughes, Dave Sim, Neil Gaiman, Kyle Baker, Berke Breathed, Terry Gilliam and Will Eisner, among many superb artists. But nothing made my heart skip as when I pulled out the simple piece sent by Alex Toth.

Some folks depicted their characters, or a skull, conceptual or spiritual takes on the theme. But nobody offered a more pure expression of the idea.

Seeing it for the first time, as bleak as is the outlook, I had to smile. How perfectly Toth. Perhaps he was an atheist, or maybe he knew we all really don’t know what is in store for us “after.” But this simple black square is one of my most prized possessions.

Maybe he was being profound, or perhaps he was just being…lazy.

= - )

Next week, more Toth, and I’ll try and have those faces at the ready.

“I think Alex Toth was an incredibly talented artist, but his page layouts consist mostly of incredibly lazy decisions. All those silhouettes and extremely crowded close-ups…. He avoided faces so much his characters never really came to life. Anybody wanna fight about it.”

Well, I don’t know about a fight, but I linked to these several Toth posts I’ve been doing in response to show how and why I disagreed. Well, Ashley tore into my posts with a fervor and we had a fun exchange. To read it all, you may have to friend him on Facebook, which is recommended, if he’ll have you. He’s a great cartoonist and a brilliant caricaturist. And while I admit he’s got a point or two about specific panels or Toth tendencies, I submit below for your observation and approval a couple dozen faces Toth drew which put the lie to Ashley’s assertion.

Next week, more and even better and varied faces, including more of the female variety and a wider range of emotion. Ashley, I’m just getting started!