Gargoyle By Moonlight: Creative Team Announcement

Figure out your destiny. Defeat a demigod. And do it all before sunrise. That’s the challenge facing Gary Doyle tonight.

Get ready, 2012 is going to rock as Gargoyle By Moonlight, a 36-page full-color monster-punching thrill ride, is set to take the (under)world by storm. An action-packed supernatural urban fantasy, this comic is fun old school storytelling, infused with charming characters and told via stunning visuals. I’ve been teasing about all the terrific stuff we’ve been up to, but now all can be revealed. Allow me to introduce the creative team of the next great supernatural hero comic:

Gargoyle By Moonlight, which made its covert debut last weekend at Mid-Ohio Comic Con, is brought to life by a dynamic set of fresh creators passionate about making great comics.

The book is drawn by an absolutely amazing penciler, Brian Atkins. Brian is a St. Louis-based comic book creator who brought the sweeping story to life with his great character work and brilliant renders. He’s a very good storyteller, capable of choreographing dizzying fight scenes and handling emotional moments in a very true way. But more than his craftsmanship, he brought an incredible energy to our collaboration, researching looks, sketching out great costumes, and adding in extra touches—all of which helped me to define the characters more fully. He was totally invested in the project from the get-go, and it shows in every panel.

Brian has been working as a freelance illustrator for the past few years while also pursuing a degree in design. In addition to comic book work, he's created character and logo designs, produced print ads, and illustrated a children's book.

At Mid-Ohio Con, Brian’s Gargoyle By Moonlight pages were oohed and aahed over. Reception for the art and the concept was great: people loved the fun idea and enjoyed the characters. And Brian even received some fine feedback from pros such as Jason Howard and Ryan Ottley. (Yes, we are on our way!)

Coming in over Brian’s exquisite line work is a self-described jack-of-all-trades, Jeremiah "Miah" Lambert. Inking digitally, Miah’s light touch sharpens the work and brings crisp highlights and contrasts to the pages. This book is going to be colored, but let me tell you, the “plain” ol’ B&W pages are as gorgeous as some color books I’ve seen. In addition to inking Gargoyle By Moonlight, Miah is also lettering the book and handling some production chores. Performing multiple roles, he’s been a wonderful teacher and helper as we bring this book to press.

Working out of Peoria, IL, Miah has already built a nice resume of pro work, inking and lettering floppies and graphic novels for companies like AC Comics and Viper Comics. He's also done inking on Transformers and Tonka Truck art for Hasbro Toys.

I’ll be dribbling out all kinds of exclusives sneak peeks in the coming weeks. So stay tuned. Follow me on Twitter and subscribe to this blog so you don’t miss a single panel!
Follow @TDRBach

Project Comic Con: Making Connections; Getting Sketches

This weekend, I attended both days of Project Comic Con in St. Louis--the second year of this newer but growing show. The Con was great; I met some great local talent and I was able to talk with established industry pros. All-in-all, it was an incredible professional experience that provided me with lots of fuel to keep making comics (and a great excuse to indulge myself with some custom artwork).

It was a small show (by some standards), but I think Project Comic Con was better than other cons I've been too. In fact, the con was really the perfect size. Big enough that some major talent showed up (Fred Van Lente, Ethan Van Sciver, Adam Kubert, Gail Simone, Jamal Igle, Ryan Ottley, and Jason Howard to name a few--plus local luminaries Matt Kindt, Cullen Bunn, and Brian Hurtt); but small enough that you could actually talk to them. (The guys putting on the show did a nice job. If you want to check out the show's site, click here.)

But the reason I went to the con was to meet others like me: people who are making comics. I met several up-and-commers who are making comics. It was great to hear their stories (both fictional and personal), and to see what they had done. I'm particularly jazzed about the guys at Ink & Drink Comics and their anthology, Spirits of St. Louis (which I bought and you should, too, when it's officially released next month). They seemed like a great bunch of talented guys, and I hope to work with them soon.

Probably the most fantastic part of the weekend was that in talking with artists and writers at different stages of their comics-making journey (noob to pro), I found that as an aspiring creator, I had a lot in common with all of them. I'm not saying I'm as good, mind you, but we were speaking the same language and shared a lot of the same desires and struggles.

Talking with comics creators is different than just talking comics at your local store or even on a message board, and the energy and excitement in the air really charged me up. That's what great about attending a con: the people there are passionate about making comics and the energy is infectious. (But that may be because of all the handshaking, I don't know.) If you are thinking about making comics, get to a regional show. Even if it's not the biggest or the best, you're likely to meet like-minded creators. And hopefully, you can learn something, get charged creatively, and maybe even find some people to collaborate with.

I've been so focused on making comics that I had been denying myself original art commissions over the last few months. At Project Comic Con, I bought several con sketches, which I'll be posting over the next few days. The one up top is Drake Sinclair from the totally awesome Western-horror comic The Sixth Gun (drawn by series artist Brian Hurtt). To the left you'll see the Mandarin, a wicked little drawing by Brian Atkins, a very talented artist.

Update: My group's anthology is almost done. We are just waiting on the cover. Soon, very soon, I will be showcasing final art from my story. The above header is a preview.