5, the rhino, and a bunch of our comics online.

When we started talking about 5, one of the early ideas was that of drawing animals with our characters. We never ended up using the rhino, but I just wanted to draw it anyway because it's cool as hell to draw.

Khepri.com is doing a great job at making sure you can get our book anywhere you are. From September 16th to September 22nd, not only 5 was the best selling item, but Casanova 2 was number three and Casanova 6 was number five. De:TALES was there too, on the best seller graphic novels, at number four. If you look at it, I think it might be the first time during this entire year that there isn't a Brian Wood book or comic on the top five best selling items at Khepri. A clear sign of the apocalypse, or a good start for the rest of us, comic book creators?

Becky seems to be well represented as well, with Nebuli, MINIS and American Virgin popping up on the list. This was a good week for the 5 crew.



click on the images above to get any of these AWESOME comics and get your fix on all things "twins". (well, maybe not all, but it's a good start)

More words about the Umbrella.

Comics Should be Good have another review (from Brad Curran) of the first The Umbrella Academy issue. There's also one at The X-Axis.

Aint it Cool News also have a nice review up.

I think that, past issue 2, people will start to get into the story and not discuss so much the "MCR" factor. They're already impressed that Gerard seems to know how to tell a good story, and I think future issues will only make this clearer.

Séance

Well, if it wasn't good enough to have Becky's amazing drawing of Kraken, now I was totally surprised by this "out-of-this-world" picture Vasilis did of Séance. Isn't it great?



I'm so haapy right now.

The Kraken

I like to think our stories make an impression on readers and that the characters really touch them. You know that your job was well done when you get a letter telling a touching story about how your story changed someone's life or how someone gave your book as a birthday present or just to win a cute girl into reading comics. Every response from the readers is a victory. And fan art is just about that too.

On our stories, we usually get more letters than fan art. I got very little fan art of Casanova. I'm getting some fan art of The Umbrella Academy already, but I have to point one out, because it's the first professional fan art we've got so far and that makes me feel really happy. This drawing on the top of the post was done by our very own Becky Cloonan, this monster of modern comics, who not just amazes everyone by being one of the few girls in comics, but also is this "out-of-this-world" machine who makes 2 comics at the same time and manages to make pinups and all sorts of cool artwork.

Becky is the best. She's fucking foda.

Some words about The Umbrella Academy

Well, the first issue of The Umbrella Academy is finally on the stands (or out of them, as I hope we get out of print fast) and people will finally check it out.

There's a short but sweet interview with me nd Gerard about The Umbrella Academy at Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to check it out.

There also are already some reviews at Silver Bullet Comics.

What about you, who already have the comic... what did you think of it?

It's here!

People are really going to like this book.

Landscape and the alien girl.

Another interview with Bá about The Umbrella Academy is up. We're only one week away from the release of the first issue, Bá will finish his third issue today and we'll move along just fine.

I often said that while Bá was drawing Casanova, and I keep saying it as he continues on Umbrella: his pages just keep getting better and better and he's doing a fantastic job, making it look easy, this art of telling stories.

Today, I got my copies of Casanova 9, and so should the comicbook stores. It\s the one with the alien girl on the cover. The only complaint I got about issue 8 was fixed this time around, and the book looks beautiful. My favorite sequence so far is in it, and we first meet two new characters I created for this volume. I'm currently drawing issue 11, which takes place inside a casino, and I also have created new characters for this issue. It's somewhat easier to create a character than drawing the ones Bá drew so much, but at the same time, it's fun to do my version of Rubi Berzerko. And Cornelius is fun as well.

Back to the pages, as we travel on Friday to a brazillian comics festival.

This week, the next, the previous and beyond.

Casanova 9 is coming out this wednesday as we follow up the questions from last issue's last page: WHEN IS CASANOVA QUINN?

It's the second issue I did, and I felt much more confident this time around. I created two new characters and explored more the crazy hair syndrome all the characters I created for the series have.

Bá did the lovely cover, as he always does.

Talking about Bá, the clock is ticking and the release date for The Umbrella Academy is approaching. Searching the internet after news of the book, I found some preview cards of some of the great moments from issue 1. Here they are:







And, if you still haven't read 5, our new comic with world sensations Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos and Rafael Grampá, you can get your copy online at Khepri.com (where 5 has been on the top five best sellers since the end of July). For a fresh look into the comic, here's a sketch I did while working on the comic (showing the cute duo of authors/characters from the comic):

Sugarshock in space!

The newest issue of Dark Horse Presentson MySpace went online today, and so has my second SUGARSHOCK! story. If you think Joss wrote a fun and strange story on the first chapter, wait for this second one (actually, wait for the third one)

Enjoy this new chapter on the band's story, filled with twist and action and ... well, go read it. It's free.

Most of all, it's fun.

Coincidentally, I just finished the next chapter today, and I think all ends up really nice. After three chapters of the and, I really feel I have a good handle of these characters, and they come out pretty easily.

Anarchy speaks.

Click here to read one of the first interviews Bá gives about The Umbrella Academy. Most of the media's attention focus on Gerard, for obvious reasons, and his plans for the series, and it's nice to have a different perspective on ths project.