Month: July 2008

A Post-Comic-Con ‘Con

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments
Comic-Con was insane, as usual. The drive from Los Angeles to San Diego took almost 7 hours (yes, seven) instead of 3, and as a result, at one point, I whizzed in a bottle (yes, a bottle). For the record, it was an empty Vitamin Water lemonade bottle, which was nice because it gave me, you know, a sense of symmetry. The rest of the convention proceeded with no unorthodox waste removal procedures. I’m catatonic right now, so you’ll have to wait until my next post for non-whizz-related highlights from the convention.

For now, to commemorate the recently ended Comic-Con, a ‘Con:

click above for larger view

This is Shockwave, drawn with a modified transformation that I came up with. The original toy had a gun barrel which was essential for the gun mode, but served no purpose and had no venue of storage in robot mode–my revised transformation imagines that the gun barrel could split apart and slide back on Shockwave’s arms. That’s all. Sleepy-time now.

Con!

~ J.Ho ~ 3 Comments
As in, Comic-Con! But also as in, Khan Noonien Singh!

KHAAAAAAN!

By the powers of black magic and unholy witchcraft (AKA the miracles of modern technology), this entry in my blog is being auto-posted while I am away. As you read this, I am at Comic-Con, wasting my money on action figures of obscure nerdy characters, wasting my time at super-nerdy panels, and most importantly wasting my dignity ogling super-hott booth babes. I will be back next week, and I’m sure I will have a thing or two to say about Comic-Con.

If you are at or heading to Comic-Con, please check out my previous post to see some shameless plugs of my friends and cronies peddling their wares at Comic-Con.

  • Fun Fact: The original title for this post was “From Hell’s heart, I blog at thee!”

Shameless Plugs! Comic-Con Edition!

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments

This is a little last minute, but for those of you who are heading to Comic-Con, please allow me to suggest the following points of interest:

  • Josh and Vinny will be at the Big Boss table in the small press area, promoting their upcoming hardcover, Dear Dracula, as well as Necessary Evil and its recently released trade paperback. Table N9

  • The ever-crafty Karen, Jodi, and Sherri will be at the Tired Girl Collective table in small press, selling pins, pendants, prints, poetry, and probably more. Go here for hamster, pony, cupcake, or bird related paraphenelia. Table L5

  • Last, but not least, rockstar, and artist of Detective Comics, Dustin Nguyen, will be rockin a table in Artist’s Alley. He’s got sketchbooks, some amazing (and super-reasonably priced) prints, and if you’re lucky you might be able to buy a sketch! Table EE-13

That is all.

Serious Stuff. Seriously.

~ J.Ho ~ 3 Comments
I enjoyed Batman Begins, but I had a few gripes with it and just didn’t love it the way everyone else did. It took itself a little too seriously, no?

Given my complaint about seriousness, it was pretty funny to me when I found out that the Joker’s tagline for The Dark Knight was “why so serious?” At any rate, I’m looking forward to The Dark Knight.

The (Kart) Princess Diaries (Part 3 of 3)

~ J.Ho
To wrap up this brief series, here’s Rosalina, the most recent of the Princesses from the Mario-verse. The little floaty star-dude is her pal Luma.

click above for larger view

I’ll be honest with you, I don’t really know anything about Rosalina, other than what I got from skimming her wiki. I haven’t actually played Super Mario Galaxy, but Rosalina is one of my drivers of choice for Mario Kart.

I don’t have anything planned for the immediate future, but I think you can expect to see more Nintendo characters from me. There’s a simple yet iconic quality to Nintendo’s pantheon that makes them a lot of fun to draw.

Summer Reading!

~ J.Ho
Josh is at it again–this time it’s the Necessary Evil trade paperback, collecting the first five issues, and clocking in at 128 pages. Written by Josh, with art by Marcus L. Harris, Vinny Navarrete, and J.C. Grande. And it also happens to have a three pager that I might have mentioned before. Here’s a look at the cover, by Marcus and Vinny:

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It’s out today (Wednesday, July 9), so go support your local comic book store and buy a copy! Right now! Or order it online! Right now!

The (Kart) Princess Diaries (Part 1 of 3)

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments
I was playing Mario Kart with Coheteboy the other day, and I did not do well. Shameful, really.

But at least it provides me a convenient segue into my next couple of posts–in the latest incarnation of Mario Kart, the Princess characters sport sleek-looking jumpsuits when they ride motorcycles. I thought the jumpsuits were really sharp, so I decided to draw the foxxy blue bloods of the Mario-verse. First up, naturally, is Peach:

click above for larger view

If I actually owned the game, or had some decent reference, I might have drawn her (or the other Princesses) on one of the cooler looking motorcycles. OH WELL!

Cue Jazzy Theme Music (Part 4 of 4), PLUS WALLPAPER!

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments
First–in case you missed it, please check out my last post, about Josh and Vinny‘s upcoming book, Dear Dracula.

Today is Independence Day in the States (the holiday, not the thing with the aliens). What better way to celebrate than with my favorite Jonny Quest character, Race Bannon, all-American secret agent and tough guy (not to mention bodguard and tutor to Jonny and Hadji):

I whipped up some wallpapers collecting the Quest cast–the backdrop was taken from a public domain photo, and is meant to evoke the Florida Keys, base of operations for the extended Quest family. For your convienience, both fullscreen and widescreen versions are available below–please enjoy:

click above for 1280 x 1024 (Fullscreen)

click above for 1920 x 1200 (Widescreen)

"Dear Dracula" is creeping your way this Halloween!

~ J.Ho

Josh and Vinny have got an all-ages book coming out from Shadowline and Image Comics later this year, and there’s an interview about it at Newsarama, along with some great preview art. The book is titled Dear Dracula, and tells the story of a weird kid who decides to write a letter to Dracula instead of Santa Claus. I had the opportunity to read Dear Dracula in advance of its release, and now I’m really looking forward to seeing it in stores. But, in the words of Levar Burton, don’t take my word for it–check out the interview and the preview art!

Dear Dracula is available in the July edition of Previews catalog from Diamond Comics (you can find it on page 160 of Previews and the order code is jul08 2222). It’ll hit stores in September, just in time for the Halloween season–ask your local comic book store to order it. And after you do that, be sure to check out Dear Dracula on Myspace!