Meet Wurlick, the wizard who tries really hard but never seems to get it right.

I’m experimenting with process again. This time a new pen, smaller paper and a few other adjustments.

In space, no one can hear you complain about dumb people (or the horrendously shitty two weeks that kept me from making a comic).

I did things a bit differently this time around. Aside from the obviously taller 4 panel arrangement, I also penciled and inked this traditionally. I’m not thrilled with the result compared to my all-digital work, but I like the physical act of drawing on paper. There’s something much more organic, tactile and just… zen… about working on paper that I don’t get when working on a screen. Although I started drawing on paper and always love drawing on paper, the never-ending quest for the perfect line keeps steering me into working with my tablet on screen. It’s like a car with bad alignment that keeps pulling to one side. Every now and then I try to pull it back and point it down the center line. I’m also trying to be a little more accepting of the sort of imperfections that come from traditional inking and just let the art be what it’s going to be. Digitally, it’s far too easy for me to over-tweak and fiddle and spend way, way too much time trying to get everything just right. For Horde at least, that just isn’t necessary.

This is a sketch (done on quickly on my iPad) for my comic artists’ minigroup. We’re doing weekly sketch-jams on the same topic, this week’s topic being The Wizard of Oz. Take a look at the other awesome entries here.

As I drew this, I wasn’t thinking about Proposition 8 being before the US Supreme Court today. But since it is,  it seems appropriate in hindsight to say this about Dorothy here: just try telling him he can’t marry whomever he wants.

It’s not much of a stretch. This stuff (almost) exists here in reality-land.

I’ve always thought it would be fun to be able to fly, but I was never keen on the idea of a jetpack. The concept of strapping a jet engine to ones back seems to have some pretty big design flaws. I wasn’t able to get into The Rocketeer (movie or comics) because I was sure that the first time he fired that thing up he’d burn his ass right off, and if (or rather, when) his legs made it into the engine wake he’d lose those too. Mmm, smells like ozone and chicken.

So I’m holding out for anti-gravity belts, or genetically engineered giant flying huskies I can put a saddle on.

I have some bad news: I will not be at Emerald City Comic Con as planned at the end of this month. Unavoidable commitments that came up over the last month have forced me to give up my ECCC table. I’m pretty bummed out about this and worked hard to find some way around it, but in the end I don’t have any choice but to cancel. It would have been my first time with a table at a con, and I couldn’t think of a better event to choose for that. Thankfully, ECCC isn’t a one-time thing and I plan on being there next year instead. In the mean time, there are several small conventions that are local (or nearly local) that I’m considering.

I planned to debut the first Horde of Neurons book/collection at ECCC, along with the first issue of Frank of Future Earth and a minicomic called Raging Shuttlecocks. While I could just post them all here, I suppose, I’d really like to hang on to them until I do that first convention, wherever it may be. That may mean 3 or 6 months or even a year before some of it reaches your eyeballs and I’m not sure I can hold out until then. But I’m going to try. If anything, you’ll see some sneak peeks at Frank of Future Earth before then.

If you’re reading this you’re still with me after that two-month break, and you have no idea how thankful I am that you take time out of your day to read the tangental weirdness I put into Horde. Going forward, I’d like to pick a scheduled day each week for new comics. Would you, as a reader, prefer to see a new comic each Friday? Wednesday? Sunday? If you have a preference – any day of the week- let me know. I can’t promise that what I post each week will make sense or be the most beautiful art I’ve ever produced, but from this week forward you’ll see at least one new Horde comic every week.

Thanks,
- Jeff

Just be glad it wasn’t Pepper Jack.

All the kids are carving WIZLAYER into their arms. The opening act was an orc-core band, but they were booed off stage for trying to eat the crowd surfers during a bad cover of Rise Above.

Also, apparently witch house is a real thing – house music with an occult theme.