IN STORE NOW!

Issue #1 In Brisbane COMICS ETC now! Thanks guys :D

www.comicsetc.com.au

"The Soldier Legacy # 1" to be available from COMICS ETC. Brisbane!!!

I am pleased to announce that the fantastic Brisbane-based comic store "Comics Etc." will be stocking the comic book edition of 'The Soldier Legacy' as of next week. Though I'll be a metaphorical goldfish against the Blue whales that are the American comic books, I sinceley hope that the first issue does well sitting on the "New Releases" wall and then the "Monthly" wall next to the likes of Marvel and DC.

So please! If you're in Brisbane, pick up a copy and you'll be supporting Aussie comics and making a battlin' artist very happy! If not in the area, why not email the guys there and see what they can do, or better yet, let me know too :)

The new comic book edition published under the CFCA Indie banner (Kevin Scarfe's Cult Fiction Comics Australia), boasts 32 full colour semi-gloss pages with beautiful high gloss cover (thanks to "Nova Press" on the Gold Coast) and includes a 2 pages of preview pics from Issue 2, due out Feburary. The colours have been improved from the first 'Special Edition' run so I'm so pleased to have this available.

Thank you again to James, Dave and the Guys from Comics etc. in Elizabeth street Brisbane for allowing me to stock the book.

To visit their store online, visit www.comicsetc.com.au

P.s.: More updates soon as I reach the homestretch in colouring for issue 2 and pencils commence for issue 3.

Long Over Due Update: Melbourne Armageddon Expo, Soldier Legacy #2 and more!

Apologies firstly for the long delay in updates. From the start of July I've been tied up with full time hours at a new job to keep the bills at bay and to make sure my partner Libby and I have the ability to keep a roof over our heads while we continue to study and I work towards my dream career doing something creative.

Anyway, firstly if I haven't already posted this earlier, "The Incredible Koala" cartoon animatic for the Sydney Opera House "Graphic" Animation competition made it into the top ten, but unfortunaley lucked out in the last round. I want to thank those who supported the clip and I'm looking to create more work with 'the little Aussie parody' in the future.

The pencils for "The Soldier Legacy" #2 are completed and colouring has commenced- I hope to have this ready for printing in January for a possible Febuary release at Armageddon Sydney 2011, or by the very latest, Brisbane Supanova in April. I was so thankful for the reception the first issue receive in Brisbane and I'm looking forward to catching up with people there and finding out how they liked the first one. I'm actually looking to have the third issue out by April too, but with a tight deadline and full time work, we'll all have to stay tuned for updates and cross fingers.

For those who missed out this year on getting hold of a copy of issue 1, the 'comic book edition' is now available and I'm happy to say the new gloss cover looks fantastic and the colours have been greatly improved on compared to the first 'special edition' print. (I always felt the dark areas printed too dark, so I added a white layer to knock the blacks back a little and spoke to the Printers.) Thanks to Nova Press on the Gold Coast for a great looking book. There's a 2 page preview of the second issue in the back too ;)

I took a small pile of these down to Armageddon Expo in Melbourne last week; it was all very last minute and I have to give a massive thanks to not only Kevin Scarfe (one of my best friends and Publisher of Cult Fiction Comics Australia/CFCA Indie) but also my good friend and fantasic writer Chris Sequeira for not only convincing me to go, but allowing me to share his guest star table space, along with Black House Writer/Artist Jan Scherpenhuizen. (And thanks to the Armageddon Guys for allowing him to do this).

Mr Sequeira was also kind enough to organise DC comic concept/fan image posters that were commission works for Chris's concepts. I still have some of these A3/A2 prints available of Captain Marvel and 'Batman: Brave and The Bold' which I'll bring with me to Brisbane. I was stoked that Chirs printed these huge prints which we gave to Mr James Tucker (Warner Bros. Animation producer of 'Batman: Brave and the Bold') who was a guest at the con, and he seemed to really dig them (no pun intended :P)Oh, that's Batman and 'GraveDigger' for those who weren't sure ;)

One of the Biggest highlights for me was to have Mr Tucker comment on my work, take a copy of "The Soldeir Legacy' #1 and the posters that we printed. I grew up watching Warner Bros. Animation- from Tiny Toons to Animanics, Freakazoid (does anyone remember this?!) Batman: TAS, Superman: TAS, Justice League and (my favourite) Justice League Unlimited. Some of my favourite epsiodes from these series were storyboarded by Mr Tucker and it was great to let him know firsthand that I enjoyed these in particular. Tecnically, I'm not the offical target audience of "Batman: Brave and the Bold" (we had a laugh as according to Mr Tucker, it's for kids and nerdy fathers who remember the silver age stuff haha), but it's got to be one of consistantly best cartoon series on the box since Unlimited finished. So to meet one of the main minds behind the scenes and also discover how humble and down to earth he is, was an absoloute joy. We chatted about all sorts of things, right down to Jack Kirby inkers, Adam West, old school cartoons, Warner animation and advicefrom a producer's point of view on what I should think about when approaching my own folio work. He was an absolute gentleman and I hope one day to have the ability to get to the states to tour the studio and pursue the elusive dream.

Other highlights were giving copies of the Soldier comic book to Mr Daniel Way (Punisher vs Bullseye, Wolverine:Origins, Deadpool), Mr John DiMaggio (the voice of Bender in 'Futurama' and Aquaman in 'Batman: Brave and the Bold') and Australia and NZ's own Jay Lag'aia (Star Wars, Playschool.) They seemed very nice and hopefully didn't ditch the books when I finished talking to them (!). Mr Lloyd Kaufman and his wife Pat were extremley lovley and also Down to earth people and we had a great conversation about New York and the difference between Kangaroos and Wallabies :)

I also got a chance to briefly speak to My Stewart McKenny and thank him, as he gave me some great advice regarding my artwork in Brisbane and hopefully the positive results will be seen when issue 2 is printed. I really hope those who picked up the first issue enjoyed it enough to give the second issue a shot (this being the first of a four part story). Overall it was a great weekend, caught up with some friends, met some new ones and sold some books and prints.

Well, I gotta get back to it, thanks for listening to my dribble . More updates soon.

Actually, before I go, I just want to say a quick thank you to Mr W.Chew Chan for spending some time giving me some fantastic help regarding my pencils when we caught up briefly in Sydney. Hopefully when I hand him a copy of #2 in a few months he will see I've tried to impliment his advice.

Ok, I just read over this and I've realised there's a lot of 'thank you's and fanboy-ness over the professionals and the industry help and friends I meet; I guess I just appreciate the fact that I can still work towards the dream, receive the advice and help I need to improve and not have to think the day job is the be-all and end-all.

Now I'm done :)

Preview Pencils and Update

Just quickly, on page 14/15 at the moment. Production slowed down the last few weeks while I was participating in the "Graphic" animation competition from the Sydney Opera House. Was a Top ten finalist for round 2 but didn't make it through to the final round. *shrug. Oh well.

(http://incrediblekoala.blogspot.com is the blog address, with links to the facebook page if you want to find the animation link on Sydney Opera house...if you're interested that is :P)

Plus, I started a new job at the same time, and the hours have been full time in the city, so again, not much time.

But I'm back on track and the penicls are going ok. Here's a view of page 1 and page 4, and more updates to come soon :)

Update on "The Soldier Legacy" series.reads: I'm doing it :)

Work on issue 2 is slowly commencing as part of my Doctorate. I have written a draft script breakdown, which at this stage will be a part 1 story of a 3-4 issue story arc.

More info to come.

I was motivated by the positive response the comic received at its Brisbane Supanova release, (with several fans coming by the next day saying "Hey, I finished it. When's the next one?"), so I'm here to assure you "yes" the next one is about to commence with new supporting characters and more action featuring "The Soldier" in New Guinea 1943 and the "Young Soldier" (I should really come up with a name) in the dark surburbs 2010 , thanks for the support. I was also really touched that actual soldiers got a kick out of the idea, and picked up copies. One guy picked up one for his brother serving overseas, so to them I thank them and hope they enjoy the story.

I have also refined the original Issue 1 script to adapt it to a short animated film. Several drafts have been written and storyboarding based on issue 1 will commence soon. More info to come as I get the work done :). The script will be slightly different to how "The Soldier's" origin story plays out in the book, and so far, a little less "wordy". Unfortunatley when you are dealing with dialogue in a film, you are now dealing with the elemnt of time. A person can read a page of a comic book all day, there may be one piece of action going on in that panel, but it could be accompanied with a paragraph of inner monologue to "slow down" what is occuring in the 'physical' story to focus on perhaps the character's motivations, fears etc. In film, that action could take a second; the dialogue really has to move on. I'll work it out, and hopefully get some feedback on it too.

Gotta run :)

Supanova 2010 quick recap

CFCA Editor in Chief Kevin Scarfe with Marvel/DC great George Perez with "The Soldier Legacy".

Tim McEwen and Me.

Stewart McKenny and Me.

Me and Marvel/DC writer Marv Wolfman.

Me and my "Mary Marvel" partner Libby :D

Fan sketch I drew of Mary Marvel.

Hulk vs. Hulkbuster Iron Man sketch for a fan

George Perez and Me.

Me and some really cool fans.

I am sending the crowd to sleep during a talk on Aussie comics :P Featuring Paul Abstruse, Kevin Scarfe and Chris Sequeira.

Me and "Sherlock Holmes" writer Chris Sequeira.

Me and Kevin Scarfe at the Cult Fiction Comics table :)

Thanks again for all the people who came to the "Cult Fiction Comics Australia" table and picked up a copy of "The Soldier Legacy" issue 1 (or even a comission sketch :D). You certainly kept me extremely busy, and I had a fantastic weekend meeting new people, speaking about the book, getting feedback from both the punters and the pros and generally soaking in the atmosphere.

I've thrown up a few pics from the day here, otherwise you can shoot over to my "fan page" on facebook ( search "Paul Mason Comics and Artwork"-thanks to my supportive and wonderful girlfriend for doing this without my knowledge :D) and see some more pictures there. I got a big kick out of catching up with Dave, Chris, Blake, Zac and the whole crew from last year, I think pretty much all of you got a sketch done of your favourite characters, and it was really refreshing doing cool battle scenes like "Hulk vs Hulkbuster Ironman" or "Deadpool and Spider-man vs the Scarlet Spiders" etc.

I was also very pleased I got to spend some time, chatting to W.Chew Chan (great bloke) and spend some time speaking to the greater writer Chris Sequeira (another great bloke), who was also at our table promoting his upcoming "Pulse of Darkness" release, also I got to spend a few mintues getting tips on Artwork from George Perez and a great deal of time from Stewart McKenny (whose Captain America print sits framed above my work area- thank you sir). I also was bold enough to hand a copy of the Soldeir book to Paul Jenkins, Marv Wolfman, Geroge Perez and Stewert McKenny (who came over later and asked me to sign it....extremley flattered), and another Aussie great Tim McEwen popped over to pick up a copy, for which I am very thankful. Paul Abstruse who was there plugging his book was great to catch up with again too.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, I almost sold out of my first issues and I was drawing sketches right up to 25 minutes after the event's colse *phew. I want to thank CFCA boss Kevin Scarfe and my partner Libby for a all their help and support too :D If I've forgotten anyone, my apologies, it's not intentional, I'd remember when I see you, I know some of my friends from my animation course came by to support the book, Barry, Leon, Dmitriy and others, thank you, and Kate, Alyx, Siobhan, thanks again.

New update shortly.

Thanks for your patience.

Paul

The Soldier Legacy issue 2 Concept art part 1

Quick update for concepts based on issue 2 script. More updates to come, including images from Supanova 2010.
Thanks all, gotta run.
Paul.

2010 Update

Well I've been incredibly patient but this month hopefully the Soldier comic will see print for the lead up to the conventions this year. The original print run in October/November ended up being only a handful for hand in purposes at uni, but that was fortunatley a success with the project, along with the deveolpment book and theory thesis "Marvel in the 60's" landing me a great result for my honours course.

I'm pleased as the result gave me such a positive mark that I have been able to apply for a doctorate postgrad position, for which my studio practices will incorporate a short film (animated) based on "the Soldier Legacy", and a several part comic book story arc which can be repackages at the conclusion into a graphic novel. Basically, the idea is to research the marketability of Australian stories using the comic book/animation medium- a small scale look at the current trend in mainstream comic companies that "licience" their characters across several mediums for maximum exposure (particularly in the superhero/action genre).

I guess there is a number of different elements to the research, such as:

> The concept of "hero" in Australia (story elements: this elemnt will allow comparisons to not only America (superhero genre origin), but also other western (e.g.: UK) and non-western country (e.g.: maybe Japan? undecided as yet)

>The Comic book Industry in Australia and posssiblities (this will take some researching, discussion and interviews)

> Character developments and cross media: perhaps featuring artists such as Todd McFarlane (spawn), Mike Mignola (Hellboy), Eric Larsen (Savage Dragon) (?), John Higgins (Razorjack)(?), comparsions to Kirby and Ditko? Image comics. (Will need some definition), methodology such as adaptations of comic book characters to animation, examples etc.

I'm looking forward to continuing the work with the characters from the Soldier Legacy, but I guess the main test in determining whether the future works will be feasible will be the reception of the idea at the conventions this year. Fingers crossed.

Anyways,

Gotta run.