Ok! Here's the first installment of the new memoir-style comic I'm doing called "BDVille." The first page is here, but read the rest here!

Power On?

So some (I hope many) of you might be asking - what ever happened to Power Out?

I was working on the book earnestly in the beginning of the year when a golden opportunity landed in my lap - illustrating Jon Gruber's book on Health Care reform. Paid jobs in comics are rare rare rare, so I put Power Out aside and spend the summer working on Health Care Reform.  I wasn't sure when / how I would return to Power Out - I certainly wasn't making any money off of it (or I should say, what little money I made didn't cover the costs of printing the books) and unless I was prepared to live in my parents' basement for an extended period I wasn't sure when I'd get the book done.

But extremely talented cartoonist / journalist Sarah Glidden encouraged others to apply to a program she was doing in Angoulême called La Maison des Auteurs. I didn't think I would get it but hey, now I'm in France, working alongside some of the most talented cartoonists I've met, finishing up Power Out. And just my luck, mtv.com/geek is serializing Power Out in January, just to add a little more of a kick in the pants to finish it promptly.

This was a fun commission

You may have noticed I've tinkered with Power Out quite a bit - perhaps too much for some folks' tastes. There was a point when I was working on it in 2010 when I realized the story had gotten away from me, I couldn't really say what it was about with ease, and there was no bridge to the ending I envisioned. I hired Tucker Stone - a guy who's perspective on comics is consistently spot-on - to edit what I had and try to make a more focused work. I love what we came up with, even if it meant I'd have to go back and rework a huge chunk of the first two chapters. It's stronger work now, and I owe a great deal of that to Tucker.

So what's going to change? I'd certainly say there's more character development with Justin. He had a tough line to walk originally - he was a unique character but also served something as a cipher, which is a bit discordant. Now he's got harder edges, and since it's a little more clear why he's the way he is, I'm hoping he will actually be easier to identify with, if not someone the reader can substitute themselves for. Carrie plays a larger role, particularly in the beginning which makes sense because she plays a more important role in the end. Most importantly, the central theme of the book - the pleasures and perils of relationships, and the danger of disconnecting (Justin) or engaging too wholeheartedly (Carrie) is clearer while not quite being on the nose.

Anyways, I'll be pimping this come January, along with Health Care Reform. Yay. I kind of hate self-promotion while understanding how important it is. But I hope you like revisiting Power Out along with me, and please don't hate the changes too much!

My carte-postale for MDA

So Angoulême is pretty great so far.  Still getting comfortable (and working off jet-lag). My french still sucks, but hopefully I'll get better fast. I've met a lot of very cool and exceptionally talented artists. And I mean a LOT - there's tons of cartoonists and animators here. I'm going to start working on Power Out again tomorrow, but figure I'd post some pictures of where this all is going to happen.


La Maison des Auteurs (MDA) where I'm working. It's a pretty amazing facility, and I'm sure I'll have more photos of the interior soon. Very talented people work here.



I live above a tattoo parlor a block from the MDA. I have no idea how old the building I'm living in is, but I'd be shocked if it wasn't at least 400 years old.



Here's the staircase leading up to my apartment. It gets really dark at night, and there's lights but since it's France and they don't waste electricity, you turn on the light and then you have only like ten seconds till it's pitch black again. I'm afraid I'm going to completely eat it running down the stairs at some point.



This is the square in front of MDA. They used to impale people here in the middle ages.



this is the Hôtel de Ville, or olde city hall as Americans would call it.