2019 was a very busy year!

So, it occurs to me that not only have I not posted here in a bit, but that I've actually been quite busy over the past several months, and the probability exist that I have been remiss about informing all'y'all about what I've been up to during the past year or so.

So, to rectify, I’ve decided to take a few moments and bring all'y'all up to speed on what I’ve been doing.
I suppose that at the top of the list, I’ve been posting movie and comic reviews over at HubPages. You should head over there and sign up to subscribe and receive regular updates as to what I find cool enough to write about.

Some of the film reviews (those dealing with monsters and creatures of the night), tend to wind up over on the We Love Monsters Facebook page as well as in their print editions(s).

As far as comicbook writing goes, I want to start back in 2018 (actually) with the inclusion of my short story Birds of Prey in the Wunderfunders anthology Memorial, The Great War Centennial Anthology The book was published for the 100^th anniversary of the first World War (The war to end all wars).

My short story told the tale of an American who witnessed both the initial flights of Gustave Whitehead and the Wright Brothers, then went off to England to help in the war effort over there prior to the U.S. entering the war. His story (briefly) documents the use of airplanes in the war effort.

My story was penciled by Greg Kimmet, inked by Dustin Pageloff, colored by Melissa Compton, and lettered by Jason Sylvestree, with the splash page colored by Christopher Geary.

Memorial is a sequential art anthology to commemorate those who fought and fell in the course of the first world war, and to benefit the children of the world caught up in the wars still being fought. All proceeds from the book will be donated to Warchild UK.

Next up (in 20190), I was invited by Ramon Gil to participate in a Kickstarter anthology project of his, by writing a short science fiction story (which Ramon then illustrated) for this wonderful SciFies Anthology. My story had kind of a fun twist to it, one which I believe came out very well.

I had previously worked with Ramon on a one-page story for a Phrases to Pages story for Pronto Comics, as well as having contributed the introduction to his first SciFies collection.

Working with Ramon, is always a pleasure (He has also invited me to attend his FIT Diversity Con in NYC on two occasions.)

This was followed by a short Halloween story that I penned for InDELLible Comics’ Tales from the Tomb anthology (The Witch and the Wolf, illustrated by the ever amazing Carl Morgans). InDELLible is comprised of a consortium of writers and artist who have taken it upon themselves to revive the (now Public Domain) characters of the defunct publisher, Dell Comics.

InDELLible also publishes the Popular Comics anthology (which is now up to issue #3). Issue #4 (due out in 2020) will (hopefully) have short story by me included that stars The Golden Age Owl Girl. Other InDELLible comics include Cartoon Cuties by Rock Baker, The House of Spades (which will contain the third chapter of my Wülf Girlz series), and CrackerJack Funnies which carries a Chanukah story of mine (Home for the Holidays), illustrated by the wicked-talented Carl Morgans.

InDELLible also published (in 2019) an InDELLiprose edition that contained prose stories of these same Dell heroes. That initial edition contained a short story of min featuring the Golden Age Owl Girl entitled Byline. A follow-up prose story with both Owl Girl and The Owl (entitled Hate by any Other Name) will appear in the second edition, due out in 2020.

(As soon as these other stories are available, I’ll be posting links as to where folks can acquire them.) In the mean time, just to keep you interested and to whet your appetite, I'll tease you with just a taste of the amazing artwork by Carl.

While these are the most recent, works that I have penned, there is also a short prose story of mine in the Metahumans vs. the Ultimate Evil entitled Northern Lite from 2016. I do have a couple of other short stories that have been written and are slated for publication; more on those as they come to fruition.

In addition to these stories of mine, I have contributed to some other publications, including two articles in Munster Memories, then there is an old interview of mine that I conducted with Mike Grell that was added to the TwoMorrows book by Dewey Cassell — Mike Grell: Life is Drawing without an Eraser, and of course the two Stan Lee books about drawing superheroes, Stan Lee's How to Draw Superheroes and Stan Lee's Master Class in which I wrote four chapters each (allowing me to say, with no ego, and in my best Chevy Chase voice, “I'm Stan Lee and you're not.”)

Then, not only am I a fairly prolific writer, but I’m something of a one-man production company as well in that I have preform pre-press production and editorial tasks for several clients, including Main Enterprises, Stone Island Comics, Red Anvil/JGM, Glass House Graphics, Macrospasm Studios, Hippy Comix, Big Apple Convention, and others. Some of the many books and magazines on which I have worked appear in the image below.

More to follow as the year progresses...

Cracking the local scene

Hey kids, I know that I haven't posted here in quite some time, but well, I relocated from the North East to Richmond, VA and well, it has been taking some time to get acclimated to the local scene, but well, I haven't been completely dormant.

To be sure, I do spend most of my time these days on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, but, That's not all I've been doing. I'm still assembling books for both Jim Main (Main Enterprises), and Roger Keel (Stone Island Comics), as well as writing and editing comics for Red Anvil (Cyberines, Unit 5). I also did the layout and production for Joe Martino’s prose novel, The Way of the Gray. So, you know I've been keeping busy.

Needless to say, if there is anyone out there who is looking for a reasonably talented, nearly famous writer for writing, editing, and/or production, hit me up.

Meanwhile here are a couple of articles that I've written over the past couple of years.

The first one was while I was the Deputy Registrar of Voters in Norwalk, CT where I discussed how we introduced technology to improve voting and decrease costs to the city (several of which were adopted by the the state to be used in other municipalities)

Norwalk, Conn., Uses Technology to Better Run Elections

 The second article was for RVA Magazine here in Richmond, and talks about the growing comicbook community here. (Oh, and I just recently learned that RVA is the 5^th hippest city in the good ol‘ U.S. of A.! How cool is that?)

Comic Books and Creators Come to Richmond, Unite in Local Online Community

OK, that’s about it for now. I promis to (try) and come back here a tad more often, but now I have to go back and finish writing a Golden Age Owl Girl script or InDELLable Comics new title, (Popular Comics).

Ciao!

Two more from Main Enterprise

Continuing my association with the every jovial Jim Main, the year gets off to a wonderful start as he releases a pair of fine publications (on which I served as Production Manager) first up is The Outer Limits, followed by *PPFSZT! #40.

Outer Limits ($8.99) is a 68 page, trade paperback format, glossy interior pages, index card cover stock book. that is chock-a-block full of amazing illustrations by a whole passel full of amazingly talented artists.


*PPFSZT!#40 ($6.50) is a magazine-sized funnybook with strips, panel gags, illustrations and other fun and entertaining stuff that will certainly brighten up your day.

Both publications are available from Main Enterprises, or by contacting Jolly Jim himself at jmain44@aol.com. We highly recommend both publications (and would have recommended them even if we hadn¹t worked on them ourselves).

So help yourself to a heaping helping of good ol’ funnybook (and TV) fun by acquiring for yourselves both of these very fine Main Enterprises publications.

You'll be so very glad that you did!

A new comic story of mine from Main Enterprises

Hey kids, Mr. Jim Main came out with a new edition of Main Enterprises Presents (#11), wherein a story of mine appears. Illustrated by Tom Ahearn, it is entitled The Babysitter, and is actually part of my Agent Unknown series). The issue also contains Princess of the Trees (Roger Keel & Maya Andres) and Betsy the Bookwriter (Rock Baker and Jeff Austin).

Personally, I think it is another amazing issue of awesome comics from Main Enterprises.

Here's what I've been doing

Over the past several months, I’ve been quite busy working on a number of comicbook -related projects. Here is just a small portion of what I¹ve been doing...

First up, JGM Comics (published by Joe Martino — Shadowflame, Ripperman, The Mighty Titan) and Red Anvil Comics (Published by Dave Ryan — The War of the Independents) have merged, becoming the New and Improved Red Anvil Comics., and they have engaged my services as both an editor and a writer.

Here are a couple of titles I’ve worked on with them, withmore are to follow!

I’ve also been hard at work doing production and layout for Jim Main’s publishing empire Main Enterprises, and here are just a few titles that I’ve helped Jim assemble over the past few months. To acquire these or any of Jim’s other fine puiblications, reach out to him at jmain44@aol.com.

Oh, yea, and of course I’m still writing. I recently penned a article (about comicbook legend, Bill Everett) for Rusty Gilligan’s new mag Recollections.

Needless to say, there is more on the immediate horizon, but this should hold all you kids for now!

More publications from Main Enterprises

 As you all should know by now, I've been doing production and editorial work on several of Jim Main's very fine Main Enterprises publications. Most recently these have included Main Enterprises #10, Rock On: The art of Rock Baker, and Under Western Skies (there are more, but they aren't available as of yet).

MEP #10 is an anthology comic featuring the work of Roger Keel (Words) and John Lambert (Art, Letters and Colors) in Jack Banyon in City of the Winged Serpent, (part three).

Kid Psychodelic: Al Limacher (Story & Art) Rick Pilotte and the Limacher Twins (Inks) and everything else, Rick Pilotte.

A Man Called Buckthorne in Devils Tail: (Pt. 3), by Earl Martin.

Princess of the Trees (Chapter 2): again by Roger Keel (writer), and illustrated, lettered, and colored by Maya Andre.

With Betsy The Book Writer in Paget’s Island: which was written and penciled by Rock Baker, and inked and Colored by Jeff Austin.

Next up Was Rock On, an art book featuring the incomparable work of the amazing Rock Baker, This is a magazine-sized 80-page giant serving up some very special art from Rock. This volume offers up several selected pieces of inked works of Rock’s, most notably with his long-time associate Jeff Austin, along with a hoast of others, including Rusty Gilligan, Ken McFarlane, Scott Shriver, Dan Taylor, Jamie Chase, and Mike Kennedy. There are several never seen before pieces of art that are the illustrations of the TV show, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. 

The book also features material from another Rock Baker project, entitled Crissy Carrots that was to have been a Main Enterprises comicbook featuring Rock’s character. Unfortunately that project just naver quite came together, but here in this volume are some character sketches as well as the first finished strip by Baker and Kennedy, previously unpublished.

Finally is the Magazine-sized art book Under Western Skies which features the stunning Western Art of John Lambert. This is a 12-page B&W book that shows off the amazing talent of John.

I hope that you all reach out to Jim (jmain44@aol.com) if you were interested in ordering one of more of these fine publications.

A selection of Jim’s books can be found online at the Main Enterprises website, but your best bet is to reach out directly to Jim and chat him up.

OK, now that this is all done, I’m going to go back and work on The Del & Gold Key Collector #2 for Jim before he Gibb’s-Smacks me for goofing off.

New titles from Main Enterprises!

Well, I went wit my good buddy and publisher Jim Main the chief honcho of Main Enterprises to a collectibles show in NYC today and while I was there I sold comics and Big Jim sold collectibles. I did OK and he did very OK. Needless to say, the best part of the day was that I acquired the newly-minted copies of both The Attic #3 (in which I have a story, served as production editor, and did layout),

and Western Tales #1 (on which I served as production editor, and did layout.)

If you are looking for Jim, and want to acquire copies of either of these fine publications, or anything else in his backlog then you can reach him here...

It's all in Tribute

So, recently I was with the esteemed Jim Main (the big guy over @ Main Enterprise, the forward-thinking publisher who has been publishing a good deal of my work recently).

We were in attendance at the Newburgh Comic Collectorfest (in Newburgh NY). It was there that I acquired a copy of the newest publication in with my work appears, Dell & Gold Key Collector #1.

This wonderful magazine is chock full of insightful and intriguing info on the old Dell & Gold Key comics, including Magnus Robot Fighter, Tarzan, and Frankenstein. There is some very cool vintage art images and all sorts of interesting stuff that you are going to want to know more about.

While at the Newburgh show, Jim also laid on me a copy of his wonderful pin-up mag, Tribute #6. This particular issue contains some outstanding work by quite a number of ME regulars, including Jeff Austin, Maya Andres, John Lambert, Tom Ahern, Nik Poliwko and many more.

This issue of tribute had a distinctly horror feel to it and really came out quite well (which I probably would say even if Jim wasn't my publisher). Both mags are currently available from Jim (as are a hoard of other fine publications) So you should reach out and touch contact Jim to learn more about all of the delightful goodies that he has available.

Also, you should watch this space, because Jim tells me that he has all sorts of way-cool mags that are slated to come out over the next several months. He won’t tell me what they are (it’s true, I do all of the layout and production work with my eyes closed), but he assures me that they are some way-cool stuff.

OK, that’s about all for me now, I have to put the blindfold on and get back to work for Jim!

It's Still Halloween @ Main Enterprises!

Yes it is boys and girls, if you are already missing the spooktacular month of shocktober then you can extend it for as long as you like with the special Annual Halloween edition of *PPFSZT! form my good buddy “Grim” Jim Main’s Main Enterprises line of comics. Jim has just released issue #39 of *PPFSZT! which is (as previously stated) his annual Halloween issue.

This terrifyingly entertaining issue contains several most-excellent Halloween-themed stories and illustrations — including the very-excellent The Four Horsemen from Des Langford and Simon Mackie; the very funny Pokadot Demon by Rick Limacher; as well as regular features like Brien Wayne Powell's Magnet Man, RIP (Michael Anthony Carroll), Mr. Bruelle Explains it All (Robert Waldo Bruelle, Jr.), and Bill the Cockroach (Henry Gustavson).

Zombies of the Apocalypse
© Freelance Ink

Oh yeah, there are are also two (count ’em TWO) short stories written by yours truly Zombies of the Apocalypse (illustrated by Marshall Loveless and lettered by Mindy Lopkin), and The Tunguska Event (illustrated by John Lambert). The first tale of mine is sort of a gruesome  fun post-Apocalyptic zombie tale while the second is a story I had originally written to be the prequel to a Indie film that simply never came together. With a few minor edits, it is still publishable, and Big Jim agreed to do publish it.

The story concerns the Tunguska area of Siberia in Russia, where at 7:17 A.M. on the morning of June 30, 1908, a mysterious explosion occurred in the skies over Siberia that flattened trees and completely devastated the area. This event has never been fully explained. I am offering up my story as one possible explanation of this mysterious and frightening event.

The Tunguska Event
© Freelance Ink

So if you are in the mood for some very good stories, then you’ll want to reach out to Jim and buy up all of his copies. Jim can be reached at jmain44@aol.com. I’m strongly suggesting that you do precisely that and then tell all of your friends to buy multiple copies as well.

Then if you like what you see, you should check out the rest of Jim’s line of comics, as we are entirely sure that you will be thoroughly thrilled and entertained by what you read there.

Oh, and don’t forget to tell him that Bob S. Sent you (you won’t get anything extra, but it will make him happy that there are folk out there promoting his very fine comics, and publications.

OK, now it is back into the mix for us, as we have more scripts to write (some of them even for Mr. Main)!

Comics Creators Community Spotlight

 This is the latest publication from Jim Main's Main Enterprises.

To be sure, Comics Creators Community Spotlight isn’t so much a new concept for Jim as it is a return to the type of stuff that he has done for years. That is to say, promoting comicbooks and comicbook creators in the Indie community.

When I first met Jim (about a hundred years or so ago), he was working on a couple of similar projects. These types of comic mags were all the rage before the advent of the Intertubes, and well, it was where most of us got our first break in the business.

As for myself, I began on Amazing Heroes (a legendary Fantigraphics publication), which lead to me working for virtually every comics-related magazine published during the ’80s & ’90s.

Well, Jim is using several of my Indie Comic reviews in this first issue (as well as in subsequent issues), so I’m highly recommending that you click the link above and order a copy or 12 (give some to your friends, they'll thank you!).

Oh posted below are some of the reviews of mine that appeared in this issue. If you want to read the teriffic interview with the very talented Joe Martino, and learn all about his very cool up-coming project, The Mighty Titan, you'll have to buy the issue for yourself.

Main Enterprises Presents #7

This is the cover of Main Enterprises #7, where my story Lawe & Order will appear.

Lawe & Order

Quite a long time ago (like 20 years or so), I developed a superhero comicbook idea about a pair of individuals who put on spandex and fought crime. One was a lawyer, and the other was a cop. I called them Law & Order. Then Dick Wolf developed his TV series of the same name, and I put my idea in a drawer. About four or five years ago I “met” Joe Martino on Facebook, and he was looking for a superhero backup strip for a comic he was producing. I offered him (my) Law & Order and we got Hal Jones to illustrate it.

Hal did a great job, but for one reason or other the project took a while to launch, and then never quite did, and we all moved on to other projects. Well, earlier this year I asked Joe if he was ever going to get around to publishing (My) Law & Order (now called The Enforcers) only by then, I remembered that another friend of mine, Carl Herring Jr., already had a comic called The Enforcers, and so I changed the name again to The Mighty Enforcers: Staring Law & Order.

Ultimately I offered the story to Jim Main and settled on Lawe & Order. Jim liked the story and is preparing to publish it (In color), in his comic Main Enterprises Presents. The piece of art you see here is the first bit of colored art I’ve seen of the story, and I think it looks great!

Tales from the Attic...

This post has been slightly amended to reflect a couple of minor corrections to the narrative.

We are huge fans of “Grim” Jim Main, not just because he is a heck of a nice guy (and one of the few folk in fandom who’s actually older than your humble host), but because he has consistently put out some wicked-cool comics and fan publications.

Truthfully, we’ve known Jim for some 30 +/- years (back then he was still older than me, and grumpier too). Jim worked in a comic shop and was publishing fanzines and stuff (he was the original creator of a very cool fanzine entitled Fandom Feature, (which we understand was taken over by a pair of associates, repackaged and eventually sold to Krause Publications to become Comics Collector magazine). for most of those years he continued to publish Indie comics, and comic-related mags.

We re-connected with Jimbo back in 2010, and almost immediately began  submitting comic scripts to him — which he almost immediately began publishing. Since the Fall of 2010 Jim has published seven of my short stories, is in the process of publishing four more, and has me working on another four or five stories. To be sure, just ‘cause he’s publishing my stuff, I like him because in an industry where every Tom, Dick, and Stan Lee-wanabe he is doing what most funnybook self-publishers only dream about.

He’s publishing comics.

Let me reiterate that, he’s publishing comics, and not just a comic or two every year or so, he’s actually publishing multiple titles, and has been doing it for years. To be sure, He is neither rolling in dough (unless it is at the bakery shop), nor is independently wealthy (he has a full-time “real” job), but he is consistently publishing comics. He does so on time, fills them with interesting, exciting, readable material, and then he sells them. His numbers aren’t huge, but he does it over and over again, and that’s nothing to sneeze at in a day and age when the mainstream companies are having trouble moving their books, and most comicbook start-ups don’t ever get past their third or fourth issue.

The Main Enterprise comic we are talking about this time out is The Attic, This second issue offers more tales of horror, fantasy and suspense, and are once again told to the awaiting audience by the quirky, charming, and mysterious host, Mr. Allistair Grimsby, the caretaker of Thorndyke Manor. The magnificent abode of the equally mysterious Sir Gregory Thorndyke who — we are told — has an overwhelming passion for collecting some of the oddest curios the world over. It is the stories behind these unique objects that we are told by the ever loquacious Allistair Grimsby. As it turns out, Mr. Thorndyke keeps the most unique objects in, well, the attic.

Issue #2 spotlights more fascinating items in by stories from writers Roger Keel and Yours truly, along with superb art from the talents of John Lambert, Tony Lorenz, Kevin Duncan, and Hal Jones. There is also a short fiction piece by Sam Gafford, with accompanying art by Jamie Chase. There is additional interior art from Scott Shriver and a front cover by Dan Taylor and back cover by Hal Jones. This issue sells for $5.00, while issue #1 sells for 3.99. Personally, this reviewer thinks that all of the stories in both issues totally rock, but don’t just take our word for it, buy a copy of three for yourselves, and decide that for yourselves.

Oh, when you get there, tell Jim I sent you (but don’t say anything about my thinking that he was grumpy, or old, or, well Grim, he’s a little touchy about those things.

Main Enterprises

Yesterday I drove up to see my buddy Jim Main. I’ve known Jim for quite a number of years (met him back when he owned a comic shop). Well, Jim’s been publishing comics since the dawn of time and recently (over the past couple of years), he’s been publishing some of my stories in his many wonderful anthologies.

He publishes under the company name Main Enterprises, and this weekend I went up to his place to pick up a number of comics (with my work in them) that he was holding for me. (If you want copies of the books to which I contributed, go here, and check out which books you want, then either follow those links to Jim’s ecrater site, or contact me and buy from me direct. Hey I’ll even autograph them for you.)

Well, in addition to the books with my work that I acquired from Jim, he was nice enough to gift me with a couple of his other titles that didn’t contain my work, but are still nifty-cool. One of these books was Tribute #2 and the other was *PPFSZT! Annual #1 — Jim’s first full-color comic. The comic is beautiful featuring work from quite a few of the many talented creators who regularly contribute to Jim’s various books.

I also hear that an upcoming issue of *PPFSZT! (#35) he did manage to include a photo of my glorious self (one of the few photos ever taken of me that I actually like). Even though I don’t have anything in the annual Tribute, or *PPFSZT! #35, I strongly recommend that you check out the, along with Jim’s other titles as well, they are all quite good.

Some of the other comics that Jim publishes include Soundwaves, This comic is a very unique title from Main Enterprises because of its musical nature. Soundwaves contains illustrations and comics that are all on a musical note! And still there are more titles.

I tell you, Jim is a publishing machine! I’m not quite sure how he has the time to produce all of these comics, but he somehow does, and well, I, along with all of the numerous very talented creators, are very pleased that he does, as we are able to get our work into print.

So, if you are in the mood to support Indie comics, then hurry over to Main Enterprise’s ecrater site, and gobble up a whole bunch of them, as they are some of the coolest comics I’ve seen of late.

Well that’s all for me now, I’ve got to finish reading *PPFSZT! Annual #1. (Did I mention that it is full color?)

Let’s hear it for Jim Main!

So, 30some years ago or so I met Jim Main. Little did I know that throughout most of the intervening years since then and now, Jim has been publishing a revolving set of Indie comics under the umbrella of Main Enterprises. A couple of years ago, I re-connected with Jim, and he began publishing my short stories. to date, Jim has published several of my short stories, six of which are currently in print two more are illustrated and awaiting publishing, one has been accepted and awaiting an artist, two more are under consideration, and I have  another pair of scripts in the works.

That’s *PPFSZT! #28, 30, 33, 34, The Attic #1, & Main Enterprises #6.

Pretty Cool, eh?

An early Christmas gift

Just got the word from “Grim” Jim Main that my Christmas tale of mirth and mayhem (Santa and the Angels) will be appearing in his Santa-Themed issue of *PPFSZT! #34. How cool is that?

My story Slabbed, just showed up in *PPFSZT! #33, which Jim is telling us is literally flying off the shelves (no really it is a vampire, bat thing with actual wings I’m told, so you’'d best have some cloves of garlic on hand).

That issue has been written up over at examiner.com, so we are hoping that the additional exposure of the comic is helping launch Jim’s funnybooks into the stratosphere.

Well, as we’ve been telling folks, Jim has been publishing quite a number of our stories lately including Regret (The Attic #1), Too Much Coffee, Man! (*PPFSZT! #28), and Tea Party (*PPFSZT! #30).

Rest assured folks, that there are a whole bunch more stories of mine waiting in the wings, over at Main Enterprises, so keep knock, knock, knocin’ on Grim Jim’s door.

(Not so) Scary comicbook

Not nearly as frightening as it perhaps
should be

So, because I've been contributing short stories to a number of small press publishers for the past few years, on occasion I’ve pick up some other horror anthologies (books to which I’m not contributing), and have been — well — seriously underwhelmed by what I’ve seen. The stories I’ve read, itn the anthologies I’ve seen keep going back to the “Uncle Creepy”/EC style of “gotcha” ending that I’ve been reading all of my life and, well, it just isn’t frightening any more.

Yeah, yeah I know that when I was 10, this stuff was scary, but I’m not 10 any more, and even if there were 10-year-olds reading comics these days, the crap that publishers are throwing at us just don’t do it, plus so much   of  of the art is simplistically bad and the stories themselves are just bad. That I have to wonder how these writers and artists (and editors) can get work.

I hate to sound arrogant, but seriously, not only is my stuff much better than what I’m reading, but so is the work of my fellow creators whose work appears alongside mine in these anthologies is also way much better than what I’m seeing in other anthologies.

To this end, I want to direct folks to the Atlas Unleashed titles to which I contribute, Free Lunch Comics, and to Main Enterprises. Three examples of most excellent work.