Drawing in the Mouse Guard universe made me realize how different the process can be when the subject is more organic and less, you know, cities, machines, and robots. I do love me some perspective but every now and then it’s nice to break out of that and this was one of those opportunities.

Plus, I’ve had this idea (locust plague) for a while so I was pleased that no one snapped it up during the last round of Legends of the Guard. It’s hardly a fully developed concept but I like the idea of how devastating that could be and how the mice would have to deal with it. I think you can ward off locusts with smoke (maybe that’s bees?) but prairie fire is probably also pretty bad if you are small furry animal, so that’s a lose-lose I guess?

Tom’s style and character designs seem simple but I’ve always admired how much expression he is able to accomplish with more abstract, expressive forms. The emphasis he places on shape captures motion in a graphic style that I find exciting and interesting to return to.

When I set out to draw the piece I thought I would make something with a heavy emphasis on robots (no surprises there) and a well placed Tic-Toc, but in the end Coyote stole the show and I think it’s because of the same elements that I mentioned above. He dominates because he’s just too much fun to draw.

It helps that he also always gets my favorite writing, but it’s really the fluid combination of shapes and forms that grabs me. I could draw this guy all day.

Toward the end of High School I decided I wanted to move away from single gags so I could tell stories. The result was my first venture into comic strips. At the time Bill Waterson was my idol and I was very taken with the idea of becoming a newspaper cartoonist (which is at times painfully clear while looking through some of this older material).

Blue Grass Pond

The name I settled on for the strip was Blue Grass Pond. I worked on it on and off for almost two years. I confess that I was not really that productive during this time period and, if I had been taking my art as seriously as I pretended to, I would have a lot more of this comic strip then I do now. Nevertheless, I came away from that period in my life with a better understanding of how easily you can get into trouble with a recurring storyline and about seventy comic strips which my Mom still tells me are awesome.

I have collected the entirety of  Blue Grass Pond here for your viewing pleasure. I hope you enjoy.

As I am now settling back into my routine, I’ve been going through my convention-stack of business cards and knick-knacks and it reminded me to check their site again and there it was!

I’d like to extend a belated thanks to the guys at RadioactiveNerd.com and hopefully we’ll run into each-other again at another show!

You may have noticed that I haven’t updated my site recently. In fact I haven’t updated my site since the Chicago Comic Convention. There is a reason for that (and a long story), most of which I will skip.

In brief, I got exactly what I was looking for from the Chicago show: More exposure. Unfortunately, when one attracts attention to oneself, not all of that attention is good.

In a bizarre turn of events, an unauthorized third party made some allegations about my work to the creator of (what turns out to be) the original Drafted, Mark Powers. The result was that my first contact with Mark was in regard to intellectual property infringement.

This was really a shame, and under different circumstances, I’d like to think things might have turned out differently. Nevertheless, given the manner of our introduction, there really wasn’t much that could be done for either of us other than for me to change the title of my book. Mark has been great about the whole thing, and once we got past the initial awkwardness of the situation, we were able to conduct the whole affair pretty amiably. I wish Mark, and Drafted, the best of success and I look forward to our moving ahead with our respective books with all this behind us.

For my book, I’ve settled on the new title: LAST TOUR. I feel it captures that military grit that is essential to the ethic of the story while emphasizing the finality of the events contained therein.

As you look around the site, you will notice (or may have already noticed) that the name change is in full-swing. The one exception to this is the store, because I have not yet had a chance to re-cover my issues of stock, although this is in the cards very soon. For those of you who are collectors, this is an opportunity to pick up a copy of what is sure to be a rare and valuable “misprint” before the chance is gone forever!

Till next time,

- e. w. lynch

(”Starship Troopers” was a close runner up for the new title. That would have been a great one too.)

As I said before, I love Dave’s work and it was great to get to see someone else draw my characters. I haven’t really had the pleasure before so it was cool to see the attention that was paid to all the little details. Each little thing was like, “Hey, he noticed that! Awesome.”

Pinup by David Petersen

Nate’s piece also floored me for some of the same reasons but with different elements. Each piece of the composition is familiar to me but new when presented as a pulp-style poster, with scenes from issue one arranged throughout.

Pinup by Nate Pride

I’d also like to extend warm greetings to anyone checking out the site this week that did me the kindness of stopping by my table over the weekend. If you’re new to the site, or unfamiliar with my work, I highly recommend checking out the gallery and the first three issues of DRAFTED. These are the areas where I have cleverly hidden the content of the site.

Seriously though, Chicago Comic Con was great and I am currently working on a sort of show-summary-highlights-post, but I’d like to collect a few links first and that is taking some time.

More to come on this later.

After great effort, and many late nights, these puppies are finally in my possession and just in time for the Wizard World Chicago Comic Convention. Did I mention I will be going? I did? Well, I am. Issue Three will be coming with me.

This issue has been a really long haul. In the space of time it took me to complete the issue:

1. I got married
2. I became a Father
3. I bought a house

When I put it that way it surprises me that it only took a year of my life. It’s been quite a year and I don’t think I can take another one like it. Not in a row anyway.

Just in case you don’t happen to be in or around Chicago this weekend, I will also be making Issue Three available online shortly after the show. For those of you who are collectors or want to show of your “Fan” status or just feel like supporting my compulsion, Issue Three is also available in the store.

He did not disappoint.

I can hardly restrain myself from posting the whole thing, but for now the teaser will have to do. It’s a good thing Issue Three will be available as early as next week, because I don’t think I can sit on this stuff for any longer than that.

My hope is that I can keep posting material of this quality for long enough that visiting the site will become a pavlovian exercise. When you see the link to the latest post, you will begin to salivate reflexively.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Web Comics. I have worked on a web comic project before and most of the comics that I read on a regular basis fall under that heading. Digital distribution allows the most unique and creative work out there to find an audience when no one else would have given it a chance. To be fair, it also means that there are no editors and standards are low (and by low I mean that they do not exist), but I sincerely believe that the web comic model makes sense for any unknown trying to get their work out there. If your work is good, it will take hold, and ultimately your fans will take care of you.

With the completion of the third issue of DRAFTED, I will have sunk more hours than I can keep track of into the creation of this comic and I am effectively keeping it a secret by not making it available on this site. Sure you can buy it from the store, but I can’t expect anyone to buy a comic sight-unseen. I know I wouldn’t do it.

That is why I have decided to make the entirety of DRAFTED available on this site. Simply put: I want people to read it.

I still don’t think of DRAFTED as a web comic. I won’t be posting a new page every week, but does that mean that it isn’t a web comic? You can read it on the web. I think I’ll leave it up to others to answer that question.

I’ll continue to post regular updates to the blog. I want to give you as many reasons as I can to return here on a regular basis. There will be teasers and sketches and random thoughts and robots and other goodies as I try to broaden my skill set, but you should expect that updates to the comic will be few and far between. When I do post an update, however, you can expect to have a whole issue to read.

I think you’ll find the story reads best that way.

I have been a friend of Dave’s and a fan of his work for a number of years now and it was a thrill to have the chance to see some of my own creations rendered in his style. The skill with which he executed the piece and his fidelity to the source are both something to which I aspire in my own work.

I’ve had the piece ready to go now for a little while now. It’s been tough to sit on the announcement because I’ve been so excited to share it with everyone, but with Issue Three going to the printer next week, I’m finally able to let the cat out of the bag (at least a little bit).

Since Drafted Issue Three hasn’t been released yet, I am going to hang on to some of the suspense and temporarily refrain from posting the whole piece now. Once I get the issues from the printer and they are available for distribution, I’ll post the whole piece in the gallery (I want to share it, not hold it hostage). Until then, I’ve got a teaser below to heighten the anticipation.

I can’t wait to see it in print!