dennmann brand

A Rejected Comic

2023-09-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

The following is a strip that I created for a publication. When I handed it in the strip was reject for not being violent enough. The person that requested the strip was familiar with my work and should have known that I do not do really violent stuff. I felt that I had up the level I was comfortable with already for this strip and was not going to go any further. I present to you, Handyman.

I had a part 2 planned with alien invaders and a part 3 planned with a Handyman impersonator who would date the 2 headed girl from the first strip and get a little too fresh with her.

Sometimes I think about what this strip could have been and today was one of those days, so I thought I would finally share it.

Enjoy,

-denny

Space Monstas: A New Beginning

2022-12-31T23:00:00.014-08:00

Note: If you have not read the NEW Scace Monstas strip, there are visual spoilers ahead.

It has been a while. I have been working hard on making stuff, but things just have not felt right for a while. However I cannot just keep waiting for things to feel right, so it is time to move forward. Today I'm releasing a NEW Space Monstas strip over on Instagram at @spacemonstas.

The origins of this strip start when I picked up a copy of Grass of Parnassus by Kathryn and Stuart Immonen (pick up a copy at your local comic shop or from Amazon). I read it, then re-read it and read it for a third time. I was obsessed with this book. Apparently this was a collection of strips that they had done on Instagram. Unfortunately at that point the strips had been removed from Instagram, so I could not see what they looked like in that environment, but I could imagine. And image is what I did, but I started to imagine using my Space Monstas characters, who had been hiatus at the time.

The paper below spent about a month sitting on my desk at work under my Wacom tablet, below my mouse and laptop computer. I would scribble on it a little each day and thing about what I was going to do and how to do it, YouTube is excellent for how to videos.

Shortly over a weekend I became possessed with the idea and drew the whole strip in about 8 hours.

Although some things were not to my liking, so I began to work on the next strip, while continuing to noodle the details of the strip.

Up until the typing of this email I'm still making some minor changes,but I think the strip is ready for the world. I have 2 other strips done. The plan is to release a new strip on the 1st of each month over at the @spacemonstas Instagram account. I hope I can keep up with this schedule. I have already shelved a strip because it just wasn't working, which set me back quite a bit. However I think this way of working has done wonders for me creatively.

Enjoy and thanx for reading,

-denny

All Good Things Must END

2022-04-18T10:20:00.002-07:00

On Friday April 15th, I published what I believe to be my last Cousin Harold webcomic strip.

There are many reasons I brought Cousin Harold to an end, but the main one is that I have changed and want to work on other things.

I originally thought doing a kids comic would be cool and fill a void, but after 10 years there are a couple of things that I realize. I have to build a new audience every 2 to 3 years, kids grow up. I have no way of competing with big name children's entertainment companies, pockets are not deep enough. I'm just a guy who writes, draws, folds, staples, trims and sells his own work.

I still have a few issues of Cousin Harold to publish and 2 trades to collect issues that have been published, so I will still be doing some Cousin Harold stuff for the next year. I have few NEW ideas left for the little guy. Not sure when/if I will ever get them done, but the ideas are sitting there for some short revivals.

Thanx to everyone who has support Cousin Harold since his creation. You made a dream of mine come true.

So what's next? Well I will be posting a little about it next week.

-denny

A NEW Project

2021-02-07T05:00:00.006-08:00

I always have various things in my head that I want to do and I'm usually not sure how they will fit together. Most of the time I am still in need of something before I begin a project. Well thanks to Kerf Loss over on Instagram, I might have found the final piece to start my PILLOW FIGHTERS project.

Since I was a teenager (maybe even younger) I have had an idea of creating something in conjunction with pillow fighting. I always thought of them as fighter similar to professional wrestlers, but with pillows that they would club each other upside the head with. I have started several comics with this theme, but really have not gotten anywhere with them. I have wanted to make pillow fighter figures also, but I wanted them to be different than what I was making for Space Monstas.

Enter Kerf Loss, who is curres currently sharing videos on Instagram where he is sculpting his own action figure with wax. I'm sure it is not an easy thing to do, but he makes it look easy. So after a couple a messages back and forth I designed the following.

Then I placed an order for some wax and sculpting tools. The plan is to sculpt a couple of base bodies and bootleg heads onto these bodies. Each figure will also come with it's own cloth pillow. I have plans to create some unique packaging for these figures. Further plans would be in attempting to get some friends to create their own versions. But I'm really getting ahead of myself here. I first need to sculpt a body that I'm happy with.

So wish me Luck!

I will keep you updated.

-denny

Side Note - something that I did not notice until I posted these pictures is that both of these drawings move up as you scroll across the paper. I know in handwriting that is a sign of optimism. The girl figure does this way more than the boy figure. Hmm?

Rather NOT Buy from a Flipper

2020-05-17T10:48:00.003-07:00

I thought I would take a second to talk about flippers.

I recently got into buying Japanese Sofubi from creators like RealxHead, Goccodo, Skull Toys, Josh Wang Designs, Knave and Punk Drunkers. These sofubi figures are very limited release and usually you have to win a lottery to be able to purchase them.

Enter the current Punk Drunker's release of Samenchu (Sharkman) up for lottery the first week of May.

There is rarely something that I have seen that I have to have. Usually the clear vinyl is used to mimic classic Microman figures or to reveal the interior (guts) of a figure. This was the first time I seen a figure with another figure inside it. I felt that this toy represented PURE GENIUS and as I mentioned above I had to have it.

I had entered the lottery and waited to hear if I had been chosen. When the winners were announced, I did not receive a winning email. I was a little bummed but knew that the figure would be available on the secondary market from flipper. I assumed it would be later this year and I would have to wait a little while.

Over the second weekend of May, I began to see people posting pictures of their unboxings of this new figure. I thought, "That was quick!" I also always monitor online auctions in case a figure gets posted at a cheap 'Buy IT Now' price. I was shocked to see that one of these figures was already up with a 'Buy It Now' price just above triple it's original selling price. While this price was high, I mentioned that I had to have this figure, so I jumped at this chance and snagged it.

I was a little torn with this purchase. On on hand, I was getting the figure I wanted and paying a good secondary market price for it. On the other hand, I would much rather have give three times the price for the figure to the original creator over the flipper that I bought it from.

It the last couple of years I have sent many creators inquires about their figures, comics, etc. asking if they had one laying around (of whatever I was looking for), because I would rather give them the flipper price, than give the same price to the flipper. Sometimes this has been met with, "Sorry, I'm Sold Out" but to my surprise a few times it has been met with, "Yeah, let me look around" and the item I was looking for is available either at the original price or a couple dollars more.

This process over that last couple of years has lead me to wonder, Why the creators do not set aside a few maybe a handful of their creations to sell themselves online to the highest bidder? Would it be so wrong for these creators to make a couple extra dollars off of their hard work? Would their fans be upset about them essentially flipping their own products? I'm not sure what the answer is, but I do know that many creators are struggling right now and perhaps selling a few of their items to the highest bidder might help.

Right now, me I'm happy that I got this figure, but I would rather have given the money to the original creator than some middle man.

Making a New Figure Part 5

2020-05-14T10:40:00.003-07:00

Time to start working on the header card. The pictures below are the ones that I used to create the figure image for the header card.

I first start by putting the pictures in a rough order to check if they will work out.

It looked good, so I move to the next step and start editing the pictures to make it look like the figure I made.

I would like to note that I brought the Darth Vader Action Figure legs in late on this creation. The photo of Vader's legs had the cloth on them and they did not look right. The figure looked like he was wearing a dress.

Next it was time to finally come up with a name. I have been stuck on the 12 that is on the figure's breathing apparatus. I wanted to work this into the name, but could not figure something out. Then it hit me. Why not see what the word "Twelve" is in some foreign language.

And there it was

Tólf

Tólf is Icelandic for Twelve. That name seems perfect for this figure. Above is the header card for this figure. I will have these figures for sale (along with others) in the middle of June. Announcements will be made on my Instagram.

Making a New Figure Part 4

2020-04-10T10:51:00.000-07:00

Time to Paint! Below is a picture of all the paints I used to paint this figure.

From left to right: Rust-oleum Flat Gray Primer, Liquitex Basics Silver, DecoArt Americana Cinnamon Drop, DecoArt Americana Lamp (Ebony) Black, FolkArt Metallic 506 Silver Anniversary, Citadel Shade Nuln Oil and Tamiya Color X-7 Red. And for my glue I use Gorilla Super Glue Gel.

I start with the Primer. I like the Flat Gray (or a Flat Black).

I then start by painting any under coats. In the case of this figure I wanted a Silver to show through the black on the body.

Then it hit all the piece with the base colors. At this stage I'm a little sloppy, but not messy. I try to get the feel of the colors to make sure that they work together and see if I need anything different than what I planned.

I then glue the figures together and put on the wash coat, which in this figures case was done with the Citadel Shade paint. After the figure dries I will hit the figure over with a final layer in most places, sometime I like the way the wash worked, and will not repaint sections, sometimes I will repaint pieces that I washed. Touch ups usually take another day after the final layer.

Then I have the final figure. Still don't have a name for this guy, probably will come up with it when I work up the header card in the next Post.

Making a New Figure Part 3

2020-04-01T07:55:00.001-07:00

With the toilet paper rolls hot glued into place and marked, the molds are ready to be poured. I mark the outside of my toilet paper rolls to indicate where the front, back and pins are so I know where the side is when cutting the molds after they cure.

I use Mold Star 16 Fast to create my molds. I have used other products but this is the one that I like the best. Also, don't forget to spray the pieces with some type of release agent, I use Stoner Rocket Release. (you can see a can in the background of the picture above.)

Once the molds are done curing, I cut out the pieces. This is probably the hardest part for me, because I cannot see the pieces. I'm not sure what others do, I have tried taking pictures and using them to help me cut, but really the markings that I mentioned above are what help me the most. After the molds are cut I use rubber bands to seal them up tightly and prepare to pour.

I use Smooth-Cast 305 Urethane Resin. For my first pour I do not spray the molds with any release agent, but will do so after the first pull and depending on the temperature, once every 3 to 5 pulls.

After drilling a couple holes in the figure for the piece to be inserted into I have a figure. If the piece come out really sweaty I will use baking soda to let them sit in over night. I have not done this for about a year, I'm not sure what has changed, but my piece are not as sweaty as they use to be.

Next: I paint the figure.

Making a New Figure Part 2

2020-03-22T10:15:00.001-07:00

After picking out the pieces that I plan to use and glueing them together it's time to make the molds. Or at least prep them.

I had originally started doing a two part mold, but I was never happy with them. I then learned to do a cut mold using empty toilet paper tubes. This worked okay but I had a hard time making sure that the figures stood after glueing the legs on.

Recently I started making cut molds for the body with the legs attached (sometimes the head is attached also). The empty toilet paper tube was too small though. Enter the empty Pringles can (with some cardboard tape to it (the photo is towards the end of this blog).

I have two places to fill on each foot. One in the front and one in the back. I was having problems with bubble holes and this was my solution. I use some clay glued to the a piece of cardboard and hot glue the Pringles can to the cardboard.

For the head and the accessories I prep them similar to the body but the will be encased in a empty toilet paper tube that has been covered with duct tape so that the silicone mold will not stick to it. My last couple of head have had some undercuts, so to avoid bubble holes I have run a couple of toothpicks to the head to allow the air to escape when casting.

Finally the arms. I have been molding my arms in the same mold for a while now. There has only been one issue with this, that was when the figures had 2 different types of arms. Another thing I started doing lately is adding pins to the fingertips to help them fill, this has worked so far, but I have not done a human hand since I switched to this method.

Next will be pouring the molds (which I'm in the middle of doing as I finish typing this).

Making a New Figure Part 1

2020-03-13T12:43:00.001-07:00

I have wanted to share the process I go through when making my bootleg figures. However each time I look through my pictures I'm missing some major steps. So I decided to document the figure that I'm currently working on as I make it. Not sure how long this process takes or if I will speed it up because I am doing these post, but here it goes.

The first thing is coming up with an idea. I really wanted to make a 3rd figure to go with what appears to be my space biker figures. Which started with Insecticus (below)

and continued with my current release Derro Nimbus (below)

I originally had a different third figure planned but I really liked the way the leather jack worked out on this figure and wanted to immediately use it on another figure. So the figure I was working on had to be shelved for now.

I usually start my figures with a body, but in this case I needed a body to put the leather jacket on. I wanted something the had groves or divites in it similar to the Greedo body that I used for Nimbus.

1) The Darth Vader body was perfect for this. This body even had legs that matched, which also had boots similar to the Greedo boots.

2) A resin cast of the Terminator Leather jacket all hollowed out. In addition to hollowing out this piece to put this jack on the figures, I have had to shave a little off the figures sides.

3) The head came from an Adventure People Fighter Pilot. Unlike the other 2 figures who have Star Wars figure heads that have been turned backwards and modified. I had found this piece after discovering piece #4 and it was a perfect fit.

4) This piece came from a figure I picked up at Dollar General. For whatever reason I like using Star Wars figure bodies, but I want them to be edited a bit. When I chose to use the Darth Vader body, I knew I would have to modify his chest plate somehow. This is a diving mask and needed to attach to some type of face mask. The head from the Fighter Pilot seems to work perfectly.

5) the arms were a little bit of an issue at first. Vader's body is long and needs longer arms. I also wanted something that was non human. Originally I was going to use Admiral Akbar's arms, but they were not long enough. So I just used his up arm pieces.

6) And the forearms from the Alien figure to complete things.

The above picture is so that you will get some idea of what it will look like put together. The body has some rubber bands wrapped around it to keep the leather jacket in place while the glue and Milliput dries.

This figure is going to be SWEET!

More updates soon as I move forward with this figure.

Making My Own Bikkuriman Sticker

2020-02-11T07:17:00.000-08:00

I discovered Bikkuriman stickers in late 2017 at DesignerCon

and thought I would make my own.

So I quickly designed one for the Space Mummy of Space Monstas.

But when I printed it out on the shiny sticker paper, many of the images did not come out and this paper was not cheap. How do I solve this problem? I sat on it for a while until about

a year later...

The above post appeared on Instagram.

Was it really that simple. The stickers were actually created on different layers and then assembled. I quickly got to work and print my image on clear sticky back paper which I then stuck to the shiny paper. I had done it. I had created my own Bikkuriman stickers on my kitchen table, where I make most of my comics, figures, etc.

I think they turned out pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

I'm a big believer in the DIY way of doing things. I'm always super proud when I can make something that is probably really suppose to be created by a machine. I hope this inspires you to go out and make something.

Thank you for reading,

-denny

What's Next?

2020-02-09T07:52:00.000-08:00

I believe I have neglected this blog for far too long.

Time to start updating on the regular.

Above is a picture of the figures that I have made since November. I started making these guys because I wanted to see if I could make 1 figure a month to launch a month subscription/kickstarter for a bootleg figure. But as I got into making this figures I realized that was really not what I wanted to do. I just wanted to make things and share what I make with people.

A trip to Big Bear Lake with my wife for our anniversary help me remember why I make things. It's a quick little story, while standing in line to get my wife a coffee a guy came over to me and asked about the Space Monstas shirt I was wearing. I told him what it was and he told me that it looked really cool. That experience is why I make things. I have never really been in it to make a ton of money. I make things to share my creativity with the world.

With that said, I hope to start updating here fairly regularly with information about things I'm making, things I've made or how to make things. Plus links to things that I think are cool. Which reminds me I have to go through the link lists and update them.

take care,

-denny

Cousin Harold on Webtoon

2020-02-09T07:34:00.000-08:00

Back in January I started posting New Cousin Harold strips on Webtoon. I really like the way the strip looks over there when read from my phone. Check it out, if you have a moment.

SUPER CARNIVAL 2

2019-06-18T13:28:00.001-07:00

SUPER CARNIVAL 1

2018-12-27T07:40:00.000-08:00

Some new things for the new year.

THE FIRST SUPER CARNIVAL!

See you at

Drawn to Comics or Ash Ave Comics

on January 5th!

HMM?!!

2018-12-02T17:07:00.001-08:00

Where did 2018 go?

Why didn't I post more?

I know I did a lot of stuff, but it seems I got a little to caught up in social media and neglected my blog.

I think I'm about to change that - I have a lot of things to share and will be doing so soon.

-denny

Don't Throw in the Towel

2018-01-28T09:19:00.000-08:00

I wrote a post and got everything off my chest, then deleted it.

I realize that I would rather share some things I have been working on instead of the thought process that got me here. Just know that life goes up and down and the ups are always worth the downs, so Don't Give Up!

- -- The cover of the new issue of Cousin Harold which should be in your hands with in the next month. Planning on doing a short and sweet Kickstarter to help distribute it.

- -- The Dark Time Master figure is close to final production. Hoping to release this figure in the middle of February.

- -- Doing some design work for a storyline called Cousin Harold Backwards C.

Hope you enjoyed this. Have a Great Week!

-denny

Beating Batman

2017-11-26T08:57:00.001-08:00

The goal of this post is to bring my own expectation into focus and help me better understand what I should hope for when selling my comics at a store appearance.

About a month ago, I had an interesting discussion with Ray of A Shop Called Quest. The chat happened towards the end of the IE Zinefest (ZineQuest). I had had a pretty good day sales wise and was happy with the events turn out, but did not get the feeling that this was true for other vendors at the event. There was plenty of foot traffic, but I had spent a lot more time talking to people than selling to people.

Ray had stopped by (as he does with every vendor) to check how things were going and to see if I needed anything. Not sure how the talk got there but we started to discuss the amount of product I had on my table and how this might have played a big part in my success that day. Many of the other vendors had only a few zines on their tables and maybe a box of original drawings. It seems that the amount of choices had led to more sales for me that day. Which is kind of funny because Eric Mengel and I always feel that the amount of product we have on our tables might actually hurt us. But at least for this event it was a huge help.

The conversation then turned to questions about how many items does a person really expect to sell in a day. What would be an accurate number to expect? At that point I asked Ray if he knew how many copies of Batman he sold that day. Batman is the industry standard an usually used to measure the success of other titles. He did not know the number off the top of his head, but did not imagine it was very high. I headed back to Arizona with the following questions in my head, "How many copies of Batman does a comic shop sell an any given Saturday?" and in turn "How many copies should I expect to sell of my Cousin Harold comic on any given Saturday?"

I asked a few stores about their sales of Batman on any given Saturday and was given numbers between 9 and 11 for the current issue and a mid teens number for back issue sales. What does this mean? Well on any given Saturday a store sells about 10 copies of Batman (which is a comic with a major corporation behind it, that includes a bunch of movies and several different television series dating back over 50 years). I believe it is safe to say that the majority of people walking into a comic shop on any given Saturday know who Batman is.

In contrast the above is probably not true for my Cousin Harold comic. I believe it is safe to say that Cousin Harold is unknown to the majority of people who walk into a comic shop on any given Saturday. I would believe also be safe to say without some kind of I should expect to sell about 10% of what Batman sells, which is only 1 copy of Cousin Harold on any given Saturday.

What does this mean to me? Selling 10 or more copies of my comics at a store appearance should be considered a success. My goal from now on at any store appearance is to Beat Batman and if I do that I will consider that appearance a huge success.

Take Care,

- denny

Making a Comic this Weekend

2017-10-07T08:37:00.001-07:00

This weekend I usually participate in 24hour Comic Book Day, but this year I just wasn't feeling it, but I still wanted to make a story from beginning to the end this weekend. So this is it. I will leave it up here from the week and hopefully have it printed up in time for the PHX Zine Fest.

The origin of this story. I bought a stack of old 1950's and 1960's romance comics and wanted to put Harold into a more real world setting. Hope you enjoy it. This story is planned to run early next year on the Cousin Harold site (which is why I'm only leaving it up here for a week).

That's All Folks! Hope you enjoyed it.

Ideas to Life

2017-09-10T08:45:00.000-07:00

Things are moving along steady here on the south side of Peoria. Outside it is still HOT, even though the local QT tells me the summer is over (they stopped their summer refill special price). I just need it to drop 10 more degrees so I can start production on figures again. It's just too hot during the times when I have time to work.

- -- With that said I was able to stay up a little later last weekend and woke up early a couple of mornings to start production on something I have had in mind for a while. My day job is as a mild-mannered high school mathematics teacher. I decided that this year I was going to bring more of my outside of school life into my classroom. One of the things I thought that I would do was make a figure to hand out as an award for the student of the month in my classroom. Our school mascot is the worlverine, so I made a Wolverine Graduate trophy to hand out to those students. Handed out my first two this week to Phillip and Jazmyn. They both seemed to be very happy to receive them. Several other students shared a photo of the statues on their social media and told me how cool everyone thought it was. My social media accounts were blowing up with likes and messages about the idea, including a couple of teachers who want to borrow the idea for their classrooms and change the head to match their mascots.

- -- Not sure how much I have shared here, but I have been invited to contribute a page to the Ravage 2099 Redux project that Brad Dwyer, Damon Begay and Wil Hines are putting together. The page is almost done and coming up super nice. The page will eventually be on display in a gallery show about the project and printed in a comic edition of the project, later this year. More info to follow.

- -- Sticker Mule keeps sending me discount offers and I keep printing stickers with them. The latest Spac eMummy sticker. First time I tried the Kiss Cut style, really like this will probably be doing some of this with a couple other images.

- -- Comic production. I finished drawing the interiors of Cousin Harold 14 and I'm already 2 pages into issue 14. Hoping to get back into the Space Monstas universe next week end (now that the Ravage 2099 page is out of the way).

Hope everyone is having a good time and is in good health.

Take care,

- denny!

Always Grinding

2017-08-27T08:51:00.001-07:00

Out here on the south side of Peoria, it is still HOT! And I'm always grinding, although there might not be much to talk about each week.

- -- I print my stickers through Sticker Mule and they send out a lot of special offers on what seems to be a weekly basis. I thought that I would start taking advantage of these offers and print up stickers. This was the first one.

- -- Yesterday I wrote the final page of Cousin Harold 13, which is the 2nd part of the circus storyline. Very excited with how this story is filling out. Last year the story was just an idea and now I'm over halfway through making it. When people ask me how you make comics. I tell them one page a week, which is still the grind I'm on. The one page a week method, lets me work on other projects. Planning on a Kickstarter to help distribute this book in late September, early October.

- -- The figure above, is something that I recently purchased. The Iron Goth (Night) by Kosrobot. I ordered this figure for a couple of reasons. The first is because it was a little different than the 3.75 figures that I usually purchase and I wanted to see how it was made. The second is a little more serious. As a kid I grew up being told that America was the country where you can do anything you want because of freedom and in other countries things were not the same. As I became an adult I have found out that this was not true, that people in other countries have the freedom to do the same things that I have the freedom to do. In this case, Kosrobot (who lives in Russia) gets to make bootleg figures and sell them to people around the world (the same as I do, living in the United States). I would then assume that his life is very similar to mine and not a horrible prison that I have been led to believe. I'm not sure why this bothers me so much, but I feel like I have been lied to by adults and society regularly throughout my life.

- -- On the super down low, Shawn Demumbrum and I have been recording a podcast where we talk about the comics we have recently purchased/read. This really is just us feeling things out. I feel like the show is a person getting to be a fly on the wall, listening to two guys talk about comics. Both Shawn and I are well read. I purchase comics from around the world (even if I cannot read them). My friends joke that if aliens arrived on the earth the first question I would ask them is "Do you have any comics?" I'm not sure where we are going and what our goals are, but I'm having fun.

Thanx for reading this week.

Take care,

-denny

Another Day, Another Dollar

2017-08-06T08:01:00.001-07:00

Out here on the south side of Peoria it is still HOT! Also my summer of being a creator is over because my day job started this past week. And as Murphy's Law states, things are finally starting to happen as I'm now at a loss for time.

- -- Wrapped up a couple of new Space Monstas figures this week.

Zack Zombie is now out there in the world. The character will be featured in the next Space Monstas storyline. He is also one of the original 7 planned figures.

The Invisible Astronaut. I came up with this figure idea after I started making the Space Monstas figures. I had planned on holding off on making him, but then I got several other ideas and I realized by the time I got around to making this figure I would have a couple handfuls of other ideas. So I was a little stuck because I needed to get through the original 7 figures that I had planned. Then I remembered how the Boba Fett figure was introduced into the world, as a FREE figure. So I decided to make the Invisible Astronaut my first free figure. All you have to do is purchase 3 Space Monstas figures at one time and I will include an Invisible Astronaut for FREE (while supplies last).

These figures were released on Instagram and in person yesterday and already 2 people took advantage of the buy 3 get IA FREE deal. The figures will be up in my online store by the end of the day today.

- -- Working hard on Cousin Harold. The Harold at the circus storyline starts up again shortly and I'm very excited about it. Many pieces of this storyline were inspired by the Japanese manga magazine Coro Coro. Check out what is happening with Harold and friends 5 days a week here.

Those are the projects that I'm working on personally at the moment. However I have been invited to start working on a podcast (today we record the first episode). I have been invited to contribute to a redraw project (hopefully doing my page next weekend). And there are other things in talk.

Take care,

- denny

SDCC - Thanx for an Awesome Time

2017-07-30T08:47:00.001-07:00

Well I'm back on the south side of Peoria where is is HOT, but just a week ago I was in San Diego for the annual San Diego Comic Con. I had a great time and spent way too much money.

- -- People say SDCC is not about comics any more, but the above box was empty when I started the weekend. Sure the whole convention is not about comics any more, but if you are looking for comics there are tons of them to be found. I bought a nice stack of Kirby's FF and Thor books, a new Charles Burns book, a couple of mini-comics and a bunch of miscellaneous comics. I also picked up a couple of Ashley Wood books which were to big for the box.

- -- One of the best parts of this years SDCC was doing the Space Mummy Figure Drops. This was tough to do in the convention center with so many people and security, so most of the drops happened off site. I also did a couple drops in Arizona before leaving.

I basically provided a couple pictures to hint at the location of the figure via Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

The best place to drop the figures turned out to be the garage where I was parking my vehicle. During one of my trips back to drop off some of the comic I had purchased, I ran into a guy on the elevator. He noticed my shirt and then told me that he knew who I was and was on the hunt for the Space Mummy figure.

His name was Daniel and he was one cool dude. It was so Awesome to meet someone on the hunt for one of my figures. This 10-15 minute meeting was my highlight for the convention.

I hooked Daniel up with a couple of Space Monstas comics to go with his new figure.

- -- Maybe the second highlight of the show was handing out Cousin Harold comics Friday morning at the start of the show. My wife and I handed out 200 books in 10 minutes to a bunch of happy con goers. Great Times!

- -- I'm not a big fan of cosplay, but these guys are my favorites (and also close friends). Always great to see them at shows.

I'm sure I could go on and on about SDCC, it is my favorite show each year. But it is over and I have to wait another year for a new adventure. That also means I have to get back to work.

- -- Which means it's back to making figures and comics. wrapping up Zack Zombie and the Invisible Astronauts this week. I'm sure I will have a few more pictures to share next week. On the comic front. I'm back to working on Cousin Harold and the circus storyline. I'm also doing a page in a special project for a friend (will share more once the page is complete).

That is all for this week.

Take care,

- denny

SDCC is this Week!

2017-07-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

Out here on the south side of Peoria it is still HOT! Good thing I'm heading out to San Diego on Wednesday.

I will not be tabling at SDCC this year. I'm a comic fan at heart and SDCC is the only show I attend as a fan. Last year I tried to table, but it just wasn't for me. With that said I will still be promoting my comic and resin figure work at the show this year with 2 special giveaways.

- -- First up is the Cousin Harold SDCC Special. This book is a collection of 3 of my favorite stories. I will be handing out copies of this book outside the convention center on Friday (Probably in the morning hours. Check my Instagram for more info on Saturday morning.

- -- Second up is the Space Mummy Figure Drop figure.

I will be hiding these figures around San Diego as I travel. Both inside and outside the convention. I will be sharing hints on Instagram about where to find them. Also I will be hiding 2 in Arizona before I leave.

- -- Wrapped up production of the Space Mumm (Black Matter Variant). This figure came out of my greatest discovery from earlier this year, photocopying on black paper. This figures will be in my online shop by the end of the day Sunday - $40 each.

- -- I'm wrapping up production on Zack Zombie and the Invisible Astronaut. Trying something new here, the Invisible Astronaut will be available for FREE with the purchase of 3 Space Monsta Figures or for purchase. Hoping to having these finished by the end of July.

Okay that is all for this week.

Take Care,

- denny

Always Something Going On

2017-07-09T10:37:00.000-07:00

It has been HOT out here on the south side of Peoria, record breaking HOT! And this heat has been messing with my productivity. Hoping to get on my grind a little harder this last few weeks of summer. Thinking about pulling some late nights.

- -- I'm so thankful that my family puts up with me. I do not have actual space for my creative energies, so I have to take space where I can find it. This is 1/3 of our kitchen table.

There are at least 4 different figures at some point in the creation process in these piles. Seriously though I'm working on way too many projects at one time.

- -- The San Diego Comic Con is coming up and while I'm not tabling this year I'm still putting together some stuff for the show. First up is the Cousin Harold SDCC Special. This is a collection of 3 of my favorite stories.

Sent this off to the print this past week and if all works out, I should have them to hand out at SDCC. Probably somewhere out front during the show Thursday or Friday. I will let you know via Instagram when the book is being handed out.

- -- Also I have made up these Space Mummy resin figures to do some Figure Drops (Art Drops) during SDCC.

Again I will be letting you know during SDCC via Instagram when and where I'm hiding the figures for you to find.

- -- In addition to this stuff I'm working on the Cousin Harold webcomic each and everyday/ Plus putting in some work on the next Space Monstas comic.

Hope you are out there creating also!

take care,

- denny