Happy New Year!

Have you guys seen the Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett? I got it for Christmas and we've been watching it in a kind of marathon session of Batman pages and Sherlock Holmes. As much as I love the Peter Cushing episodes, there’s only a limited number of those shows available, and the Jeremy Brett ones seem to stick very closely to the original stories. What fun!

I just finished a New Cover for Batman #7. I'll try to post it here on Monday. It's very strong, and very revealing. Very, very revealing.

Well, I don't know how this stuff happens. But as much as I tried to keep it a secret where the “Blood” piece I put up is going to appear, “Bleeding Cool” got a hold of the information that it, (along with 7 other pages), is going to appear in the new Dark Horse anthology book, "Dark Horse Presents". Bleeding Cool says pages from Frank Miller’s “Xerxes” are also going to be in there, along with “Concrete”, and a bunch of other great stuff.

I can tell you this. I'm beginning to see color pages, and they are truly terrific. Not because I did it, but because of the coloring by Moose Baumann. I'm trying to think of how to show you guys some more of the story, but it's only 8 pages of the graphic novel, and each page is 1/8 of the job. I've got a full page of Lionel, the idiot savant, who’s had the living hell beat out of him, and it's really terrific.

Okay, here's a new piece of news. I've been asked to do the cover on issue #2. I suspect you can guess who's doing the cover for Issue #1. You’ve got to keep your eye on that Dark Horse.

On Batman Odyssey, pages are continuing to come in from Bill Sienkiewicz, and they are a treat. Other inkers? Stay tuned.

My son Joel and I, are working on a new webisode featuring Taco Bell's “Super Delicious Ingredient Force”. I'll tell you more about it on Monday.

Penciling Batman 12

Penciling Batman# 12 As usual, things are NOT what they seem. I don't know how he does it but Batman somehow keeps ahead of everyone, physically and mentally. I keep throwing stuff at him and he leaps ahead. When he acts like he's buying some cock and bull story from Talia, Ra's, Sensi,..BAM, he's got it knocked and we just shake our heads and watch him blast forward.
I even think he's running a scam on that interviewer, (The one with the Band-aid.) Oh, you haven't seen him yet? Sorry.
Who IS that guy?
Next cover is due. I'm trying to decide if we're/I'm going to show Batman's mount .

Yep, I gonna dood it.

BLOOD

BLOOD is coming.

There will be an 8 page preview. Well, hmmm, preview..? It's pretty nasty and in sequence for a Preview. We'll call it a teaser. Blood is a nasty guy. He's a cop, sure, but a very nasty piece of work. He will kill you. And he's not going to last. Likely he'll be dead before the titles. Too bad. They say he was a good cop.

Where will he show up.

Keep those antennae vibrating.

Since we're here talkin', Bill Sienkiewicz has been turning in inked pages... so, I sent him more. Imagine being me and watching my/your work take on a different flavor while still being 'your ' work.

Bill will be melding with me into the second half of the "Odyssey". Then... I don't know... other inkers... will be... um...

I have 5 penciled books ready to go. A few pages here and there? A whole book? A segment?

The story? Denser, and Batman will be going through... not hell... but very close to it. And I promise you, he will come out a changed man.

Geeks, out there? Hydrogen Power? Did you think H-Power cars would be MORE EXPENSIVE? Do you care?

Let's say you do. Not more expensive! Acquiring Hydrogen takes POWER. I know a company that puts scrap metal into a shallow pool. When iron oxidizes, (rusts), it throws off hydrogen Atoms. They siphon off the Hydrogen. Heh. How do you spell American Ingenuity?

What else is new? Later. Lots.
Neal

Guardian Project & Batman

Okay, you're right. But... I've been busy.
"Doing what?" you say.
heh heh.
Thirty covers of thirty new characters which represent all thirty teams of the National Hockey League. Is that cool or what?
can I show them to you? Ummmm.. Darn it, no. I'm sorry. As soon as I can, I will show you.
There's also a poster for the same project that I did that has all thirty characters on it a once. It was printed with the characters in shadow for a pre-publicity poster and given away at the NY Comic Con. Here it is.... with the shadow.

Batman
I've been working with Bill Sienkiewicz on the inking of book 6. Pretty interesting experience. What a talented guy.
Batman has been battered for 5 issues and has seemed to be in control. But, as we are finding out, "Control" is a matter of perspective, and opinion. Now, in issue #6, things go from surface difficult to very dense... and dark.
If you haven't read each and every issue, I suggest you catch up NOW.