Nerd Alert!

PROFESSOR FRINK #1 goes on sale today! Run, don't walk to your local comic book store!

PROFESSOR FRINK #1!!!

Professor Frink goes on a hot date which gets him--and all of Springfield--in hot water. FRINK SINATRA is a 12 page story written by Ian Boothby and penciled by yours surly, and it's the lead feature in PROFESSOR FRINK #1, a one-shot special from Bongo Comics, on sale February 27.

Andrew Pepoy inked it--as well as the two other stories in the issue. On Saturday, March 2, from 2-5 PM, Andrew and I will be signing this and other comics, as well as drawing free sketches. It all happens at the comic book store Vigilante Press, 1931 W. Chicago Avenue in Chicago. Copies of the issue will be on sale. Stop by and say hello.

Eat, Frink and be Merry

My 12 page FRINK SINATRA story will be in this Frink one-shot from Bongo Comics, on sale the last Wednesday of February, 2013. I hope that it's only the first of many Frink books.

It's Later Than You Frink

Just finished the pencils on "FRINK SINATRA", a story for the upcoming PROFESSOR FRINK one-shot comic book from Bongo. Script by Sir Ian Boothby.

WXMS is on the air!

Image © 2012 Hilary Barta 

Pity the poor souls who work the night shift on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas from the Surly Hack! Art by yours surly, color by Dave Punk.

The Frink of Disaster

I'm currently penciling a story for the Simpsons Illustrated comic book starring Professor Frink. It's a good one, which is not surprising given that it was written by the talented Ian Boothby.

MONSTAH LOBSTAH DONETH!

Images © 2012 United Plankton Pictures, Inc. 

I just finished drawing a nifty Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy story written by Chuck Dixon. It's called "MONSTAH LOBSTAH COMETH!", and will appear in an upcoming issue of SpongeBob Comics due out in April.

Treehouse of Humor

This just arrived through the mail slot.TREEHOUSE OF HORROR #18, with a cover by yours surly. Boo!

EC for me, see?

A cartoon for an APA zine called CARTOON LOONACY.

Some Things Don't Go Better with Coke

This is a panel from a story about the Fatty Arbuckle scandal that I drew for the BIG BOOK series at DC's Paradox Press. I used pen instead of my usual brush to evoke the fine line illustrations of the silent film era. I also made sure to clear using the "Coke" logo on the bottle--but of course it was whited out--and on the original art. From The Big Book of Scandal!, Paradox Press (which was an imprint of DC Comics), 1997. Only a three page black-and-white story, it's one of maybe 50 in the book by as many artists.

Pros and Con

© 2012 United Plankton Pictures, Inc. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy TM & © Viacom international, inc. All rights reserved.

Here's a sketch of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy that I drew at Wizard Chicago Comic Con last weekend. It's almost finished--MM's shorts still needed shading and a few scales.

It was great to finally meet collaborator Ron Sutton and Janet Hetherington, in from Canada for the show. Friday night we saw The Gaucho starring the fabulous Douglas Fairbanks. Four days might be pushing it a bit, but fun was had by all at the show.

Comics Cowabunga!

I drew a 3-page story in the new issue of BART SIMPSON, out now.  You can see an inked page below. I posted the same page in pencils  back in January, which you can see here. The book also has a lot more art by John Delaney, Sergio Aragones and Carol Lay.


© 2013 Bongo Entertainment, Inc.   The Simpsons TM & © Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

Gee Wiz

Tonight through this Sunday I'll be on River Road in Rosemont, Illinois for the Wiz Chicago Comic Con. I'll be camped out at a table somewhere in Artist Alley, selling art, drawing sketches and doing the old meet and greet.  Come by and say hey.

Batter Up and Down

Some of you are aware of LIMERWRECKS, my blog which is devoted to the lowly limerick. But do you know that I also post limericks on BARDBALL, the site of Baseball poetry? I have a new one up today on the dangers of crowding the plate.

The BATS FOR CATS Charity Auction is ON NOW!

Batman is the trademarks of DC Comics. 
Pencils by me, inks by Jim Terry.

The BATS FOR CATS charity auction 

is going on NOW!!! 

I'm one of many Chicago artists who have created and donated Batman themed art to help out the very worthy WILD CAT SANCTUARY.

Here's a link to all the art presently up for auction.

I worked on two pieces. Here is a BATMAN piece I penciled, and here's one of a BAT ZOMBIE that I inked.

SpongeBob Worthy

I drew a short story in SPONGEBOB COMICS #10, on sale tomorrow, 7/11. It's a wacky and weird tale of Plankton, Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, and was written by James Kochalka. Swim on over to your local comic book store and grab a copy!

Under the Cover

Woo hoo! I drew the cover for SIMPSONS SUPER SPECTACULAR #15 — on sale June 27th. It features Radioactive Man and Plasmo, and depicts a story drawn by artist Frank Brunner. You can read about the issue on the Bongo Comics website, here.

Get Wild

UPDATE: There will be an online auction of all the The Bats for Cats artwork. It will be run by the good folks at the Wildcat Sanctuary, and it will probably be held in a month or so. When I have the info I will post details of where and when.


A lot of the Bats for Cats art will be raffled off today and tonight at the benefit for the Wildcat Sanctuary,  being held at the Northdown Cafe and Taproom, 3244 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL. I originally thought there would be an art auction, but now I'm not so sure. Here's the Facebook page for the event. It is sponsored and co-hosted by 3 Floyds, Surly, & Mikkeller breweries, and they will be tapping lots of special beers. This is a benefit for the Wildcat Sanctuary, a non-profit, no-kill facility providing sanctuary to wild cats in need & actively involved in ending the private ownership of exotic animals. The goal is to raise at least $5000, which would feed two tigers for a year.

Just the Bats, Ma'am.

This Wednesday at 8:00pm I'll be at BATS FOR CATS, a Drink & Draw at the Northdown Cafe and Taproom, 3244 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. Some of the city's most talented artists (and I) will be doing Batman themed sketches, with all proceeds going to benefit The Wildcat Sanctuary. Come on by and have a drink and watch us draw like trained monkeys. Poster by the talented Tom Kelly.

Texas Toasted

TERROR IN A TEXAS TOWN (Joseph H. Lewis, 1958)

Well, it was another great night at the Portage Theater in Chicago, with a beautiful mint 35 mm print of a terrific film. With its storyline of a community crumbling from fear and intimidation, in danger of falling prey to divide-and-conquer tactics, the script by blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo makes an obvious reference to the McCarthy hearings. But the plot is shared by many westerns. What's unusual is the slow build and heavy sense of dread, set up in part by the pre-credits flash-forward to the climactic showdown (which I'll return to later).

TERROR IN A TEXAS TOWN has a quiet intensity, with a minimalist score and repeated, rhythmic theme, and the stark, underpopulated feel that permeates many low budget films. But the intensity goes further, extending to Hayden's performance as the Swedish whaler, George Hansen. The actor fills the screen with his lumbering physicality, at times seething with repressed emotion. By far the most interesting character is Crayle, the brooding, black-clad gunman played by Nedrick Young. The personification of the pall that hangs over the entire film, Crale carries death and doom in his tired gait and equally black worldview. His perverse relationship with his companion Molly (Carol Kelly) recalls other such sexually twisted and charged couples in director Lewis's GUN CRAZY and THE BIG COMBO.



The pre-credits flash-forward I referred to earlier is effective, but is also a bit odd in a feature. It is likely it was inspired by the technique to hook viewers used in television shows at the time. But its novelty made me wonder if it was planned in pre-production by Lewis, or added later in the editing by the producer.