Fan Tattoo

Learning Japanese with Princess Seppuku

While I was drawing the Princess Seppuku comics, I was also teaching myself to read japanese (it's hard, I quit and I've forgotten everything) and making comic strips like this to help me remember the japanese characters...

Golden Age Figurines

Golden Age Figures recently plugged my comics on their Facebook page with - "I thoroughly enjoyed both comics [Princess Seppuku and Holocaust Rex], which feature lovely art in the ligne claire style and high production values for a mini comic. The stories are funny, surreal and somewhat gruesome, reminding me a bit of Jim Woodring's Frank. If this type of comic appeals to you, please check them out and support Mr. Wills' efforts!"
 Anyone familiar with Fletcher Hanks should 'like' Golden Age Figurines, follow them on FB and buy anything that comes of their studios! Each resin figure is a beautiful detailed homage to the greatest comics of the golden age. It's a small company with very limited print runs, once they're sold they're super rare to find. In fact, I'm still looking to purchase a 'Fantomah' if anyone has one to sell...

Check out the Golden Age Figurines website HERE and on Facebook HERE

Comic Con San Diego 2014

July 23rd - 28th. I went to the San Diego Comic Con mainly to be present at the screening of  'Over the Moon', a short film I wrote featuring one of my comic book characters. The 7 minute live-action film was co-written with Timothy Kidd, directed by James Cunningham and should be online around November after it's done it's festival run. Here's a selection of photos from the trip...

Meltdown Comics on Sunset Blvd.

 Inside Meltdown, looking at their wall of original artwork...

And there's the art for 'Jessica Teaches the Tailor'...

 Meltdown's cabinet of Dan Clowes merchandise...

At collector Glenn Brays house looking at some original pages from the early MAD comics.

Art by L.J Jordaan

Art by Harvey Kurtzma

Union Station, Los Angeles about 6am waiting for the train to San Diego

My new buddy Donkey Kong.

Comic Con main floor... so many people!

A harem of Princess Leias.

Some rare unpublished Basil Wolverton original artwork

Outside the Hollywood Historic Hotel on Melrose Ave.

Nice hotel but in the middle of nowhere... 

Luxury Rooms

View from my hotel window...

Kingsize room, non-smoking...

The hired car, a white Chevrolet Malibu...

Heading to the convention center in San Diego.

...some people think it's not good for the soul.

 Original Kurtzman artwork for sale.

I think the asking price was in the $50,000 range

Over the Moon Festival Screening

I'm happy to see 'Over the Moon' has been selected for the New Zealand International Film Festival 2014.  17th July - 3rd August. Session dates and venues still to be announced.

Hamilton Zine Fest Photos

The Ramp Gallery had a small press exhibition on, but was closed at the time.

Mark1 comics, Hamilton

 

The ComicBook Factory table and behind me sat Matt Emery with his Pikitia Press comics. Matt did an excellent talk/slide-show about the 100 year history of NZ comics, and Ant Sang turned up for a couple of hours to talk to folks about his comic The Dharma Punks being reprinted as a collected graphic-novel.

The small stash of mini-comics I picked up. People by Liam B; Beats the Kangaroo 4 & 5 by Aaron Christiansen; Fungus Boy Adventures 8 by Brent Willis, The Dark Side of the Moon by louis Graham; Teen Creeps 6 by Charles Forsman(USA), Return of the Odd Bodz by a bunch of people, a sponsored exhibition booklet with interviews.

Spotted at the zinefest was this t-shirt which reminded me of one of my favorite indy comics, Raw Power by Josh Bayer. (Image is not from the comic.)

Hamilton Zinefest 2014

I'll be attending and selling my comics at the Hamilton Zinefest Saturday, May 17th. Bring your wallet.

Review for The Blighted Eye

"Bray has, over the last nearly 50 years, amassed the most eclectic collection of original comic art in private hands. The book features work by a pantheon of cartooning masters" - Publisher, Fantagraphic Books

"This is an imposing and shockingly beautiful compendium no lover of the medium could possibly ignore " - Win Wiacek for 'Now Read This' (Full review)

The Blighted Eye

Original Art From The Glenn Bray Collection
416 Pages - Full colour

ISBN 978-1606996959

Click HERE to visit the Fantagraphics shop

Unpublished Princess Seppuku Book 3 Panel

Since I should be posting more often, above is from a first draft for Princess Seppuku Book 03, the story was abandoned and a re-write was started, that too has been put aside, I am determined to at least get a third book out.
 I think the dialogue is guy 1 says "I'd like a pack of Lucky Strikes and a pack of triple A batteries please" and Guy 2 is asking for spare change for the bus. I'm not sure exactly.
Of course Princess Seppuku Books 01 and 02 are available (and stock is running low) HERE

Currently working on Holocaust Rex- Book 02 - Should be out sometime between now and never.

Reviews of Treasury of Mini-Comics Vol.1

"...the book stands as a remarkable repository of modern art." - Publishers Weekly
"...a meaty, entertaining volume." - Robert Boyd, The Great God Pan is Dead

This big little book (over 800 pages) came out October last year and included some of my comic work. Here are some reviews - The Comics Journal HERE The Publishers Weekly HERE The Great God Pan is Dead HERE The Poopsheet Foundation HERE

Volume two should be available January 2015.

Treasury of Mini Comics - Volume One

Edited by Michael Dowers - 848 Pages
Black & white with some color

ISBN 978-1-60699-657-7

Click HERE to visit the Fantagraphics shop

Princess Seppuku - Early Story Board

Here's a storyboard page showing a slightly different version of the bear fight from Princess Seppuku and the Hunt for Robot-X (available HERE). In this version shes tears the bears head off and searches inside the body like it's a cookie jar. Panel 6 and 7 are in the wrong order, note the arrow.

Holocaust Rex at the Cursed Gates of Koch

 The new comic by myself and Tim Kidd is finished. It's available here at the new Comic Book Factory Big Cartel shop. Medieval fantasy adventure!

Holocaust Rex Book One:

At the Cursed Gates of Koch

32 pages - Black and White

ISBN 978-0-473-27506-8

Click HERE to visit the shop

The Blighted Eye

A new book showcasing the collection of Glenn Bray's origin comic book art features some pages by me (including the inside title page shown above). I've been fortunate enough to see the collection in person and, by god, it's impressive! So many iconic pages by R.Crumb, Will Elder and even some original Krazy Kat. The collection is huge and so is this book at 400 pages plus. Front cover by Dutch cartoonist Peter Pontiac, I haven't seen much by him translated to english but his drawings are exquisite. Here's the link to Amazon for more details The Blighted Eye

What Else?
The new comic created with Tim Kidd has just come back from the printers, so I'll be putting that together and making it available very soon. And another round of discussions to create more Fot and Angus is looking positive...