Pagan Zoetrope Issue #3 has finally made it’s debut at Planet Comicon this year, and I just about sold out of copies of it. I was so absolutely overwhelmed by the happiness and care that all of you expressed in my book. I also hope to hear back from many of you on your thoughts about it. I believe I pushed myself further this time in both art and characterization.
The biggest challenges that I faced in getting this out was quite frankly, a feeling that I was not able to focus and write what was on my mind as well as I would have liked to have. Especially when the visuals in my mind consistently want to overwhelm the writing. But one thing was for certain, I wanted to have this issue ready for Planet Comicon this year, and I succeeded.
Inspirations in life for me have come from a myriad number of places as of late. I’ve become a mad insane player of Warhammer Online, which in turn is re-igniting my love of the tabletop strategy game that inspired it. What started out as a nice bit of inkwork about 6 hours later became what you see on the right. I’ll upload the finished version to my gallery soon (which by the way has a few new works featured in it.)
So this year while sitting at my booth, I chose to work on a Chaos Warrior to do as my own personal work. Make no mistake, conventions for me are a great time to meet other professionals, network, take photos, read and buy new books, and just spend time working on new artwork every chance I get. I try to give people that are there all day at a convention the opportunity to see me start and finish a particular work from a blank sheet of bristol all the way to the marker saturated last overlay strokes.
Now although I’ve heard no official numbers on this year’s attendance, I think Chris Jackson’s show had it’s best year ever. The guests were phenomenal (Billy Dee Williams and Edward James Olmos were the main draws), but I saw in attendance a lot of the NakaKon crowd and a great spectrum of cosplayers and varieties of portrayed characters. The Iron Men above were awesome as usual, and the She-Ra in the crowd was a great job indeed!
Cosplay usually gets a bad or nerdish reputation. But what most people outside of the hobby don’t get is just how much care, time, and effort goes into the ones that really shine. I mean take for instance above, Batman, a Science or Medical Officer from the original Trek series, and the Plague Doctor from Assassin’s Creed. All wildly different and executed in different manners, but all very well done.
Tank girl was just plain awesome, this unnamed chick in a german helmet with goggles did a great job just looking interesting, but one of the show highlights for me was the completely incredible Mr. Freeze! I mean LOOK at this guys outfit! He managed to pull off this retro animated feel that just totally worked and highlighted the wonderful details he put into it.
The Mortal Kombat group I loved just because there are so few times that you’re going to see a whole group get together and do something like this.
And this year, the 501st had a fellow that portrayed a seriously bad ass version of Darth Maul. I don’t care what anyone says, Darth Maul IS Star Wars for me in many ways. A character that was so severly undersused, but lent a powerful bit of leverage and awesome evil to Episode 1.
But later when I got a chance to eat with the various Star Wars reenactment groups at a local BBQ restaurant, I could not resist and had to snap this photo for the absolute mundane and awesome hilarity of it.
Even eating a pulled pork sandwich with a Pepsi, Maul could kick your ass. In between bites even. After this my camera shut down because no more awesome photos could be taken that day. Not a one.
The second and final day of Planet, my good friend Rick Stasi (far right) hosted a really funny and informative panel with two huge inspirations of mine, Bruce Jones and Bernie Wrightson.
did manage to get some video footage of this that I plan on putting up on the site later, but I only got a good fifteen minutes of it. The stories that all three shared with the people in attendance opened my eyes up to a very different era and attitude in the comics industry. These three guys worked in comics at a time when if your comic ONLY sold 100,000 copies, you were at risk of being cancelled. The honest views on working for Stan Lee and trying to be as Kirby-esque an artist as you could at that time were eye opening and would make anyone look at the comic industry in a whole new light. But both Bruce and Bernie are consumate professionals and it never even came close to degenerating into any kind of whine fest, but it did give a chance for an often overlooked or forgotten time of comics creation to come to life again if just for an hour. I have to give kudos to Rick Stasi for bringing a class act presence to the stage as he was the perfect one to lead what I called the “CCR Panel” or the Classic Creators Review Panel.
Living History and Waging War – Shiloh, Tennessee
The unit I am attached to, the 2nd Colorado and it’s sister group the 2nd Colorado Volunteers (HoneyBadgers) was heading out to participate in the national event of the reenactment of the battle of Shiloh. As soon as I knew I was going, I went to the civil war monument that is located out in Warrensburg and spent some quiet time reflecting on past history. The closest I can get to knowing the people that went through the conficts of the Civil War is often to see the final resting places and read the real names on the grave stones and markers of so many young men that lost thier lives in service. That day out in Sunset Hill Cemetary was overcast and drizzly, with a heavy fog that crept through for a while. Perhaps it was a small sign of what I would see in Shiloh in a matter of days…
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. The Union army, led by General Grant, was encamped principally at Pittsburg Landing on the west bank of the Tennessee river. The Confederate forces under General Johnston and General Beauregard launched a surprise attack on Grant there. The Confederates achieved considerable success on the first day, but were ultimately defeated on the second day.
Over 66,000 Union and 46,000 Confederates fought over the course of the battle, with 13,047 (1,754 killed / 8,408 wounded / 2,885 captured/missing) on the Union side and 10,699 (1,728 killed / 8,012 wounded / 959 captured/missing) in what to date had become one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
[Humorous Trivia time! One of the survivors of Shiloh was Major General Lew Wallace, who managed to get completely turned around and lost with his entire regiment during the battle of Shiloh. A messager from Grant was dispatched to ask Wallace where he was. The exact wordings of the note have been lost to the ages, but might have been along the line of: "Lew, What the Hell? - Grant" Although claiming that Grant's orders were confusing or too vague (and as some southern sympathizers would hint at, probably written out in crayon), his military career took a nosedive and so he then decided to persue a less gunfire laden path in life and today, is best remembered not as a Union soldier, but as the author of the popular Ben Hur. ]
If you’ve never been to a Civil War encampment, it’s about as hardcore a camping experience as most people are going to get. A lot of times people that do come through the camp probably get some semblance of how rough, yet rewarding an experience it can be to do this sort of thing.
Cooperation, respect for the prosperity of the group campsite as a whole and a willingness to pitch in and work together are all hallmarks of a successful camp environment. I can say I learned a lot personally and know that whenever the next major event happens, I will be even better prepared.
Camp life is filled with plenty of moments of play and rest, coupled with gathering firewood, meeting new people from other parts of the country, bartering and trading for things, visiting the myriad sutlers selling thier wares, staying up late at night with your fellows exchanging past stories or just doing firewatch as I did on Sunday morning from 2am till the rest of the camp awoke. I had the pleasure of being able to sit out on a beautiful clear Tennessee night, with a cup of lemonade (yes, that is period accurate) to stare up at the starlit sky and let my mind go for a little while. I heard coyotes not to far from the camp, and about 40 minutes after hearing them while tending to the fire, I heard something by the treeline and the starlit shapes of three coyotes broke the treeline and although keeping thier distance, mired about the edge of camp for a while. I didn’t do anyting but add some firewood and stoke the burning coals as I fanned the flames to maybe catch a better view of them. I caught glimpses of the light in two sets of eyes. Give me the unrelenting mud, rain, the spans of trees and the velvet blue skies of night, dammit, I felt like I was home away from home.
My phone was without service for 3 days. No texts, no facebook, nothing for 3 days. And it was WONDERFUL to recharge like this. The days that the 2nd Colorado was out there, we fell in with massive numbers of reenactors like I have never experienced. Final counts that I heard were around 6,400 on the roster, with a great many units of cavalry and a TON of artillery works all over the place.
Most of the weekend was a blur for me of incredible battle scenes, with the reenactment of the Hornet’s Nest being the most intense and incredible fighting I’ve ever seen. At one point before what looked like a mile wide long line of Rebels formed, I had not yet really dropped into the proper mindset. That was a sobering historical scene to witness played out. To hear of both Major Jim Trent and Captain Brett Price making a heroic stand at the treeline when the oncoming rebels crossed the feilds, crossed our artillery areas and forced the rest of us into the forest was just amazing. THOUSANDS of guns echoed and volley after volley was released into the forest as the Union forces were sent into a withdrawal. I and six others of the 2nd Colorado fell by the edge of the forest in a true blaze of glory. The sheer emotion and overwhelming ambiance of the moment was like nothing else I could fathom at that moment. It was just magnificent.
But there were other moments like Saturday’s early morning engagement when a burning red orange sun was trying to break through a mixture of gunpowder smoke and fog. There were moments when I literally forgot to get photos or one camera or another was running out of battery power.
My photos do not do justice to the numbers that swelled our ranks, the heavy feel of a historical tribute in motion. At times, it almost seemed like time stood still and picked up where it left off.
So, in closing, this whole last month has been a crazy set of times, with more things I am excited to talk about, but it looks like it will have to be put into another update as this one has already grown quite large! 
So until next time, appreciate the stars, the sounds of nature around you, show love and respect for all living things and remember, if you’re not pushing yourself, you’re not living life right. – Mario, the Artisan Rogue