"IF I TOOT MY OWN HORN TOO MUCH, WILL I GO BLIND??"

What some nice folks are sayin' about yours truly...

From BIF BAM POP'S COMIC STOP:

Truth is, I got some laughs out of Casey’s story of a seemingly inept doctor to all sorts of monsters and things that go bump in the night, but the main reason I think you should pick up this psychedelic spook story is for Andy Suriano’s trippy artwork. It felt like reading a Ralph Bakshi film on the page – and not one of his lesser films, like Cool World (sorry animated Kim Basinger and wooden Brad Pitt). Zombies, ghosts, man made monsters – if you like any of those, you’ll probably dig Doc Bizarre, M.D.

From a MULTIVERSITY COMICS.COM article:

Andy Suriano's art on Doc Bizarre is a sort of Silver Age blender. He's not as specific in his influence as, say, Tom Scioli's Kirby-ism in Godland -- a Kirby troll or shout here, a skewed and stilted Ditko posture there, a general ambience straight out of old pre-Code E.C., et cetera. Where a lot of retro-comix artists strive for a simplified, smoother, easier digested "retro" aura, Suriano's style is harsh and full of ragged edges. It's perfect for the craggly story Casey gives him, and it gives an uncomfortable physicality to a story that's about, uh, uncomfortable physicality.

You can read the reviews in their entirety by clicking the links.

*(some lucky recipient will get this original sketch!)

FACES OF DOC...

Thanks to Twitter, not only do we know the inner-most workings of Justin Bieber's mind, but our collective world's are that much more connected...and thus more easily able to prod, poke and pester fellow artists into submitting pin-ups! I was fortunate enough to gather a collection of some of the most talented--and eclectic comic book artists and animators and have their work published side-by-side. I guarantee you won't find these folks together in the same book ever again. But I for one, thrive on diversity and think each artist brought their own unique vision to my character in a way I never--nor could ever think of! That's what made these so much fun and felt like Xmas every time one of my friends sent me their image. I love each and every one of their pieces.

I cropped out only their heads above for a small sampling. For a complete look at the final pin-ups, visit each respective artist's sites--as well as pick up your own copy of DOC BIZARRE MD!

Big sloppy kisses to:

Brianne Drouhard

Doc Shaner

Thomas Perkins

Stephen DeStefano

Tony Fleecs

Bob Boyle

Dan McDaid

Mike Allred

PJ Holden

Chris Houghton

*For those of you keeping score at home, that's 60 pages of story, PLUS 60 pages of bonus extras: sketches, development, page process, unused art, covers, pinups and guest pinups all wrapped in a beautiful hardcover!

"THEY'RE HEEEE-EEERE!!!"

IN STORES THIS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30th!!!

"GET YOUR FREE ORIGINAL SKETCH ON!"

Along with GOLDEN APPLE COMICS in Hollywood, CA, HOUSE OF SECRETS in Burbank, CA and geeky hipster online shoppers Valhalla THWIPSTER.COM-- 2 More prestigious shops have joined my "Free Original Sketch Incentive"! For those midwesterners, ALTER EGO COMICS in Marion Iowa and my favorite New York City comics shop: JIM HANLEY'S UNIVERSE!

Those are a lot of options, so this Wednesday (11/30), go pick up your DOC BIZARRE MD HC and get your free sketch on!!!

MADMAN!

Cards on the table: Mike Allred is one of my favorite artists out there. MADMAN has been a huge influence on me and my work ever since the first issue of Grafik Muzik. So you can imagine the tingling in my testicles I got when he suggested we trade pinups in each of our respective books coming out--so here's mine for his what's sure-to-be beautiful oversized 11x17 Madman Super Spectacular 20th Anniversary Monster HC coming out at Christmas!

You can see Mike's pinup in DOC BIZARRE MD, out next week!

"FREE SKETCHES!!"

In an effort to market myself and as part of an incentive for you good folks to purchase DOC BIZARRE MD, I took it upon myself to bust out about 50 original sketches, done on comic book backing boards--to be slipped into the inside (hard)cover. So far, GOLDEN APPLE COMICS in Hollywood, HOUSE OF SECRETS in Burbank and the online deal-givers THWIPSTER.COM are all participating!

If you don't live near any of these places, then the on-line route is for you--OR, you could alert your local comic shop and have them contact me and I would be more than happy to send them these little "treats". But they need to act fast!

Here are a couple samples. As you can see they range from floating heads to more intricate compositions....

The boys at House of Secrets asked for their sketches smaller, as to be easily slid inside books (above) and full pages (below).

"DOC BIZARRE AND THE SICK SPIDERS FROM SPACE !"

DOC BIZARRE MD will be out in shops on 11/30--exactly 2 weeks away. I thought I would offer up some original pages for rent and/or sale in the days leading towards the books release!

Until I set up another blog/site devoted solely to Doc Biz pages, here's a sampling of one of my pinups. Below is the original inked page, on standard comic book paper--roughly 11x17. I have 8 original pinups, unused covers and final cover. Once the book is released I will have available 50 or so original story pages for sale as well. Just in time for Christmas!

If interested, lemme know at astrobug@hotmail.com

CHARACTER CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF A DIFFERENT COLOR

Most people are familiar with my character design work on more humorous or "cartoony" (Ahh! Bad word!) projects. I recently came across a few old files of conceptual work I did in a more serious/action tone. This was a project I worked on a year or two back that shall not be named yet, but I hope it makes it's way into your boxes soon. I really loved the concept. These designs weren't even CLOSE to the final character design--so it should be safe to post. I have more, but thought it would be fun to show two designs of the SAME character--and (CLASS, PAY ATTENTION), just by adjusting proportions, you can transform the character's personality. Personally, I would LOVE to revisit the bottom character sometime. He reminds me of a Caniff character in an old adventure strip. Anyone game?

MASTER LEGEND

While I'm paaaaaainfully waiting for the printer to complete our respectable order #'s for DOC BIZARRE MD (the latest in store date I have now is 11/30. Yeah, I know. Sigh), as well as the remaining 4 PLASTIC MAN shorts to come back from being animated at TOON CITY in the Philippines (the first 2 are back and turned out GREAT, btw)--AND I'm finishing up my storyboarding duties on MOTORCITY for Disney XD, or, more accurately Titmouse Inc. (or even MORE accurately whatever payroll company they use!), I wanted to update this blog with SOMEthing. Below is more than just something--but a few comic pages I did for the above mentioned Titmouse studios for a Live Action Documentary called SUPERHEROES, about--you guessed it: real-life superheroes. I've only seen an early cut, but from what I gathered it's an awesome documentary. Last I heard HBO picked it up and aired it. I'm not sure what work of mine made it, but was really proud of the pages I did--some of my favorites in this medium, I think. All in all, I did 10 or so--and all were done entirely digitally. I typically don't share work stuff on here (not true), but I've been sitting on these for over a year, so hopefully it's ok if I share a couple images. This was one of my favorite freelance gigs. Enjoy.

As time gets nearer, I will try and post updates about Doc Bizarre's delivery, Plastic Man and a few other things I've got cookin'. T-M-N-T anyone?