Squidface & the Meddler, a Toronto-based online arts magazine, has posted a four-page preview of VORTEX #1. Click the image to view it: (Update 1/13/2017: This link no longer works.)
You can also now pick up VORTEX #1 at Floating World Comics in Portland OR in addition to Domy Books Austin and my online store.
This past weekend I dropped VORTEX #1 off at Domy Books in Austin. You can get it there for $5. I don’t have a shot of it on their shelves but here’s a scan of the cover:
I scanned the cover because the printshop used a color Xerox for the cover and there’s this really interesting and unintentional rainbow gradient. But it didn’t translate in the scan.
I also added an online store to this site where you can purchase VORTEX #1 if you don’t live in Austin. Here’s a description of the issue that I wrote up for the store:
32 black-and-white Xerox interior pages, white cardstock cover with full bleed black-and-white Xerox image, 7×10″
VORTEX #1 chronicles an epic battle of swordblows and slime between my recurring character the Miizzzard and a new alien with unknown powers.
The story begins when the Miizzz discovers a hidden energy source on an uncharted planet. Although this minicomic is the beginning of a longer story, it also stands alone.
It’s $6 for US orders, $7.5 for Canada orders, and $10 to ship to anywhere else. Check that out here (currently VORTEX #1 is the only item for sale in the shop but I plan to add more soon).
This Saturday, December 3rd, from noon to 9pm at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church is the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics fest. Pat Aulisio and Ian Harker will be there with Rub the Blood, an art comics tribute to the Image revolution with two pages by me alongside a whole host of excellent artists (full list and longer explanation here, Robot6 article here, interview with Pat and Ian here, Rob Liefeld endorsement here). Here’s the obligatory comic Facebook shot of Pat holding up Rub the Blood:
The front and back covers are by Victor Cayro.
I won’t be at BCGF but tons of other RUB THE BLOOD cartoonists will be.
Also, if you’re in the area, tonite Pat and Josh Bayer are signing their Retrofit books, BOWMAN and Raw Power, at Jim Hanley’s in Manhattan:
Flyer by Pat.
Retrofit head honcho Box Brown will be in attendance. Pat and Josh will be debuting their collab book The Unforgiving Blade of Conon, check out the sick cover:
There’ll also be copies of Secret Prison #5 which I drew the back cover for.
I meant to get a blog post up yesterday but Glade and I were up until super late prepping our house for E.A.S.T. Here’s a sneak preview of part of our house:
From left to right: painting of Anthony Romero by Anthony Garza, pillows by Glademade, sculpture casting ominous shadow by Alison Kuo, framed screenprint by Rand Renfrow, rocking chair embroidered by Haleh Pedram (with another Glademade pillow), and strange shamanistic wall sculpture from a Pedram garage sale.
“But Mark,” you may be thinking, “What’s in that box on the coffee table? Are those …” you squint “… comics?”
Let’s get a close up:
Dear reader, your suspicions are correct! Every year at E.A.S.T. I like to showcase my major project from the past year. In 2010, that was the unsold artwork from my show Hypermorph at Domy Houston – and this year, it’s VORTEX, a graphic novel that I’ve been working on since the beginning of June. The first 32 pages form a nice semi self-contained narrative so I printed them up as a 7×10″ black-and-white xerox minicomic.
Come by E.A.S.T. Stop #121, 1807 East 22nd St, today (Saturday November 12th), tomorrow (Sunday November 13th), or next weekend (November 19th and 20th) from 11am to 6pm to check VORTEX #1 out! Glade and I also have a ton of other great artwork, comics, prints, and cards for you to see. I’ll be posting more pictures next week.
If you’re not an Austinite and want to order a copy of VORTEX #1, they’re $5 plus $1 shipping. Just leave a comment on this post or see my connect page for other communication channels.
As some of y’all may remember, I drew the cover for Candy or Medicine Volume 12:
Josh Blair, editor of Candy or Medicine, has screenprinted my design on some t-shirts:
They’re available in plenty of colors and sizes. Order them from Josh here. Also, thanks to Josh for being generous and fair enough to split any profits with me.
A lot of cartoonists, whether they end up drawing daily autobio strips or Fusion comics, read superhero comics when they’re kids. The last couple generations of alternative cartoonists grew up reading Jack Kirby or maybe Watchmen. My peers and I grew up with the Image revolution.
X-Force #9.
To honor this influence, Pat Aulisio and Ian Harker have put together a 90’s Image comics tribute anthology called RUB THE BLOOD. I’ve got a two-page story in there called “Lightbeam vs Bludwurld the Living Battle Planet” (I bought the above issue of X-Force as research for my story) alongside comics and art by Pat, Ian, Josh Bayer, Kramer’s Ergot contributor Victor Cayro, Catch Up contributor PB Kain, Keenan Marshall Keller, Peter Lazarski, Benjamin Marra, Jim Rugg, Thomas Toye, and Mickey Z (P.S. Did y’all know that Benjamin Marra and Keenan Marshall Keller were in a show alongside Nathan Fox and Zach Soto at Domy Books in Houston? Check out the flickr for the show, called HARDBODIES). You can see samples of artwork (including mine) in this dope, NSFW promo video that Pat and Ian made for the RUB THE BLOOD Kickstarter:
The second part of this video recreates shot-for-shot this Liefeld Levi’s ad from the 90’s.
The Kickstarter campaign is to get RUB THE BLOOD printed up for the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest. It’s already fully funded but if you want to order a signed or unsigned copy, or get some original art or comics from me, Pat, or PB Kain, the page is here.
Here’s additional artwork by Pat Aulisio:
And Victor Cayro:
This past Labor Day I took a trip to Louisville and hung out with GCPM members Jeff:
Jeff likes to put my high school artwork on his walls for some reason.
And Chuch:
I also got to meet some members of the Louisville branch of the GCP for the first time (no pics sorry).
What’s really exciting is that Jeff had stacks of the Summer/Fall issue of our literary/comics magazine, Catch Up, ready to mail out to contributors (click here for a full list):
The Summer/Fall issue has a poetry book and a separate, full-color magazine-sized comics section. They come bundled together in a nice brown paper bag screenprinted with our logo. Here’s a shot of my copy:
Mike Miles did both of the covers. I edited the comics section and drew interior illustrations for the poetry book.
You can buy a copy to this issue or a one-year, three-issue subscription at the bottom of this page.
Y’all are only getting one post this week because I was out of town for Labor Day weekend, hanging with the Kentucky branch of the GCPM. I’ll have more detailed posts about that for y’all soon, but right now I want to talk about the debut of Secret Prison #5 this weekend at SPX 2011 in Bethesda, Maryland.
As I’ve mentioned, I’m the co-featured artist for this issue, which means I drew the back cover. Here’s a shot of Ian Harker, the editor, holding up the published ish:
My comix hero, Tom Scioli, is the featured artist. He drew the cover and a four-page interior comic.
The issue will be at the free table all of SPX.
Also debuting will be a new mini by Pat Aulisio called “C’mon Man” that features his faceless guy and the bear/deer/lion god he rides.
Hey y’all, sorry I made a mistake with my blogging and released an incomplete post early on Monday instead of today. Here’s the post that I intended to publish this morning:
Here’s a print that Glade made for our show at Austin Books (Speaking of our show, if any of y’all want to see our prints at Austin Books and haven’t yet, this week is your last chance! Tomorrow is the last day.):
This print is called “Flower Hypercastle.” It’s a digital print of a gouache painting. This past Saturday Glade and I just hung out at home, painted, and watched Mad Men. I spend so much time working on comics on the computer that I forget how relaxing and visceral painting can be. I’m going to try to make painting more a part of my regular art routine.
Something I’m excited about but haven’t mentioned on here yet is that I’m the co-featured artist for Secret Prison #5. It’s especially exciting because I love the work of the featured artist, Tom Scioli. Gødland is one of my favorite comics. I’m bringing it up now because it’s debuting at SPX in a week and a half and they’re looking for people to buy ad space before this Sunday, Sept 3rd. Here’s an information sheet (with a small preview of Scioli’s dope cover):
If any of y’all want me to draw your ad for you just drop me a line at mark p hensel /at/ g mail /dot/ com.
Hey d00dz, right now I’m working on a seven-page Miizzzard comic for Math Fiction Squared, the sequel to the 3D comic that I was in last year. Like the first one, Math Fiction Squared is edited by Pat Aulisio and will have digitally printed blue/red anaglyph 3D interior pages and a screenprinted cover. However, it’ll be a little smaller: 8.5″ square. I’m really stoked about it!
Here are some sketches:
Here’s a screengrab from my work files in Manga Studio Debut:
Look for it in May. I’ll let y’all know when it’s out.
