Posts Tagged ‘Karl Kesel’
Thank you, everyone reading this— no matter if this is your first visit, or you’ve been here from the beginning. It has been my deep pleasure to be able to present to you what will undoubtably become a time-honored Yuletide tradition passed from generation to generation— Johnny Zombie Christmas.
Thanks especially to David Hahn and Grace Allison— this wouldn’t have happened and never have looked this fantastic without your A-list abilities making my little story look better than it had any right to.
And thanks most of all to my amazing wife, Myrna. I can’t imagine life without you. With you: anything is possible.
ONE LAST GIFT FROM ME TO ALL OF YOU: Please come back here Christmas Eve Day when the entire Johnny Zombie Christmas story will be available as one easy-to-read post— a much more pleasant experience than navigating through the Archives. No need to thank me. It’s Christmas, after all.

First: A huge Thanks to Stephen Green, who pencilled the Johnny Zombie Trading Card above. I met Stevo at Dragon Con 2011, where he quietly asked me if I could look at his sketchbook. I’ll be honest— it was a tiny book, and my first thought was “this guy’s working too small— he clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
Was I ever wrong! The book was filled with wonderful character studies and sketches from life. Absolutely beautiful stuff. I knew this guy was someone to keep an eye on, and asked if I could have his email address. Very soon after getting back home I contacted Stevo about drawing a Johnny Zombie pin-up. He was very interested— but he was also very busy since he was in the middle of winning the MTV Geek Contest to draw a comic created by Stan Lee! As he said in an email “The last couple weeks have been really, really crazy for me.” No doubt! But he still found time to draw an absolutely amazing Johnny Zombie pin-up. Congratulations, Stevo— the future’s got big things in store for you, I’m sure, and I’m proud to be able to say “I knew you when!”
And speaking of the future— specifically Johnny Zombie’s future…
I’ve got tons of Johnny Zombie stories to tell– one that’s pretty epic and includes Johnny’s origin, for instance, and another that would co-star a very cool character— but nothing’s ready to see “print” just yet. There will be new Johnny Zombie comics in 2012, but while I’m pulling those stories together I’ll be starting the new year with a new web comic.
What kind of comic? All I can say right now is that I’m very, very excited about it.
Check back Thursday for details. You won’t be disappointed.

I could not be happier. SECTION ZERO is back.
SECTION ZERO ia a comic Tom Grummett and I co-created in 2000 as part of Image’s Gorilla Comics imprint, along with some other titles by people you may have heard of: Busiek and Immonen’s Shockrockets, Waid and Kitson’s Empire, Perez’s Crimson Plague, and Dezago and Wieringo’s Tellos. It was my first creator-owned comic and, I gotta tell you, I had the time of my life. But then life took an unexpected turn (I got divorced) and in the middle of its first six-issue arc, SECTION ZERO went on indefinite hiatus.
Tom and I always wanted to get back to Zero and finish what we started but first, as Tom has said, “the stars had to come into the proper alignment.” Cut to late 2011. I’ve started this site, and wonder what I’ll do after the first Johnny Zombie story ends. Guess which two words I think of instantly.
Of course, There Is No Section Zero… without me and Tom. Got to admit, I was worried. A lot of time had passed. We hadn’t spoken in a while. Tom was busy drawing Avengers Academy and Hulk and comics with “X” in the title. Maybe he didn’t have the time or interest any more.
A waste of good worrying. You know the friends you may not see for years at a stretch, but the minute you’re back together it’s as if no time has passed? That’s how it is with Tom. He didn’t say “yes”— he said “Hell yes!” (Except more Canadian.)
So here’s what we’re gonna do: Tom and I are working on new SECTION ZERO material now, squeezing it in around our day jobs. At the same time we’ll be posting all the previously published storyline— starting with today’s 5-Page Prologue, followed by 3 pages every Thursday. By the time all that’s posted, we’ll have a ton of new stuff ready. If you haven’t read these comics before, this is your chance. If you’ve already read them you’ll still want to check in because A) Richard Starkings, First Tiger at Comicraft, has insanely and wonderfully insisted on “freshening” the lettering for the book, so the pages have a slightly different look to them, and B) since re-lettering was being done anyway, I’m tweaking the script here and there. The changes aren’t major, just important. For instance: the Prologue originally ended with Kyoti musing about the upcoming 2000 US Presidential election. Considering how that election played out, I really wanted to make his comment a bit more pointed. Things like that.
There’s a lot more to say about SECTION ZERO— both how we got here (over a few mountainous speed bumps) and where we’re going— and we’ll get into all that right here, starting Thursday.
Straight from Tom Grummett’s Vast Vault of Unpublished Art come the SECTION ZERO SKETCHBOOK— accessible through the menubar above (under “Sketchbooks”, not surprisingly) or right here by clicking on SECTION ZERO SKETCHBOOK. In addition to the art— which isn’t just cool, but a great window into the creative process— Tom and I post any memories or thoughts each piece brings to our minds. Have to admit— I’d almost forgotten how Alan Moore helped shape the book until I saw one of the sketches. Then it all came back to me…
As time goes by and Tom uncovers more treasures, we’ll add them to the Sketchbook. Stay tuned.
ALSO: Imagine my surprise this past weekend when I checked my email and found a wonderful Johnny Zombie drawing waiting for me! Heartfelt thanks to Grace Allison who colored Johnny Zombie Christmas and is— as I’ve always said and you can certainly see for yourself— So Much More that just a great colorist!

COMICRAFT


