Look, Ma! I'm Writin'!

I've had a pretty decent week, productivity-wise, having nailed down the plot for the final issue of the Muppet Show: On the Road story arc, finished writing the first issue, completely scripted the second issue, started writing the third, and written the first three weeks of the re-started Mugwhump the Great strip. And I've drawn stuff-all!

I've discovered something -- I get cross and irritable when I write all day. I don't know if it's the act of writing so much as the fact of not drawing that's doing it. I know I can't take holidays without climbing the walls after a day or two unless I have something to draw, so I suspect it's related. That said, writing is such an immersive experience that it almost hurts to be interrupted, and I suspect that has something to do with it as well. I normally just write in the early mornings, when being interrupted isn't an issue, but the Muppet scripts were way behind and I needed to catch up.

Anyway. Almost caught up. Then it'll just be back to early mornings for a bit, drawing the rest of the day, and my family will like me again. As much as they usually do, anyway.



It lives! Dean Haspiel with the ACT-I-VATE PRIMER. With Mugwhump starting up again soon, it's impeccable timing.

Pyjamas are great

Oh, I've had such a lovely week. While Shelli Paroline works on drawing the upcoming Muppet Show #0, I've been writing, just writing. And working "gentleman's hours", which in my case means getting up at 7am instead of 5:30am. I could get used to this. But, alas, it's time to get back in the saddle again, before the extra time the fill-in has bought me is entirely frittered away. Still, I want to take this opportunity to thank Shelli as publicly as can for saving my health and my sanity. Really, it was getting that bad.


On to other things! I've given up my regular illustration spot in Inside Soap magazine, and will jump off that particular horse as soon as they get a replacement cartoonist. That's going to buy me an extra 4 or 5 days a month - it means a bit less money, but it'll mean I can do some other things once in a while. (I mean, I love working on the Muppets, but I like a change every now and then too.) One thing I've done over the last week is work out the next chapter of Mugwhump the Great, which I've now got no excuse for not starting up again as soon as the nice people over at ACT-I-VATE will have me back. I'm planning to pick it up one month from now - October 20th. Mark your calendars!

Speaking of Mugwhump and ACT-I-VATE, I'm reliably informed that our guy at IDW, Scott Dunbier, has held a copy of the much-ballyhooed ACT-I-VATE PRIMER in his trembling hands. He says it looks amazing. And who am I to disagree?

The Asgard Connection

By now I expect everybody's heard that Disney has acquired Marvel Comics. I don't really know that there's anything to be said about it, except that for now it seems to be business as usual as far as my work goes (working both sides of that particular fence as I do). For those who want to get a bit more info, I recommend checking out The Comics Reporter, reading Tom Spurgeon's analysis and following the links.

Having addressed that elephant in the room, I heard this past week that we've got a definite artist for the Pigs in Space one-shot (or Muppet Show Comic Book #0, as it's now officially designated) - it's Shelli Paroline, whose Muppet work can already be seen on the Muppet Robin Hood covers. Should be all kinds of fun. And a big thank you to Shelli for taking some of the pressure off my work schedule, so I can continue to bring my best work to this comic.

And now, for absolutely no reason, here's a creaky one from the vaults - the first page of a series I did for Dark Horse Presents back in the day, Doctor Spin, with scripts by Gordon Rennie. It ran for four issues, starting in DHP #115. Still quite fond of it - I really knocked myself out on the artwork, to deafening indifference. Anyway.