Hey everybody!  For the next ten days I'm doing this:

Maybe you were, or were not around last year to experience my Christmas commission extravaganza, but I have decided to do it again this year.  Basically, I never sell original art/sketches/commissions online, but for the the next 10 days I will, and at a pretty dang fair price.  I do this to raise money for Christmas presents for my family, but this year I am hoping I make enough to buy presents AND buy a new work computer.  I have been using the same machine since Chumble Spuzz volume one and this one crashed recently and has been showing steady signs of death.  Plus it is just really slow.  I will cut it off at 100 orders, so if more than 100 people order before the 25th, the sale will end early.

The pencil commissions will be the same price as last year, but I have upped the price on ink commissions and have added a super snazzy option: Walnut Ink.  Walnut Ink is a rare medium that I love to work in.  It is a very rich sepia ink that you have to see in person to really appreciate, but here are a few scans of Walnut Ink Axe Cop art I did as samples... (click to enlarge)

Obviously the walnut ink paintings are more work for me, so they cost a good amount more, but as of now, no one owns one of these.  It will be a pretty rare and special gift and I'll do you a custom one if you order it by November 25th.  In any case, one thing that happens when I do these sketches all in a marathon like this is they start getting really good because I get into a zone, so these will probably be even better then if you caught me at a convention (and I don't do Walnut Ink at cons!).  So please, make your Christmas better, make my Christmas better, and make my family's Christmas better.  Buy a commission!!

Also, if you did not already know it, Munchkin Axe Cop is in stores!  Check  out this review over at Wired.com.

That's it for now.  See you at Bearmageddon if you are following it. 

Ethan

If it's not yet obvious, this character was very much inspired by Bolt.  Also, Malachai loves the movie "Underdog" and has been trying to work under dog into the script for a while now.  He finally got his "Super Man but a dog" character.

If you haven't been following the Twitter/Facebook feed, the first Bearmageddon shirt is now available:

I don't know how you can go wrong with an Octo-Bear t-shirt.  It's a great gift for Dad this Christmas.

I'm still working on that new mini-series.  We settled on a title.  I'm going to leak it here, right now, even though it won't be out for a long time.  The title of the Bad Guy Earth follow-up miniseries is: Axe Cop. President of the World.

If you read the Bad Guy Earth miniseries, then you know by the title that this miniseries will pick up right where Bad Guy Earth left off.  If you haven't read Bad Guy Earth, well, have a spoiler.  That's what you get for being a Johnny-Come-Lately.

Munchkin Axe Cop should be out any day now, if it is not already.  Also, I plan to do another barrage of Christmas commissions like I did last year, so get ready, I'll announce it soon.  I am hoping to raise enough for a new computer AND Christmas.  That is quite a goal I know, but it's worth a shot.  Thanks for reading, and thanks to Kailey for coloring!  See you next week (or tomorrow at Bearmageddon).

Ethan

I wrote this blog, then lost it.  But here is my RecomMonday for this week:

I was already in a hurry to write the last blog that totally evaporated, so I will just say this: look this book up, it is an AMAZING read.  I know that most of my recommendations have been art/creative related but the point of recommonday is only to recommend things, this I HIGHLY recommend.  It's an INSANE true story of one Navy SEAL surviving after a huge fire fight with hundreds of Taliban in Afghanistan.  The first half of the book is about SEAL training which is intense enough, but the second half is about the fateful mission where Marcus Luttrell went out with three of his close friends and Navy SEALS and only he came back alive.  My description is not doing this book justice.  It is one of the greatest true stories I have ever read.

I wish I had time to say more because this book deserves it, but just read the description:

On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader known to be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded by a small but heavily armed force. Less then twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs remained alive.


This is the story of fire team leader Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of Operation Redwing, and the desperate battle in the mountains that led, ultimately, to the largest loss of life in Navy SEAL history. But it is also, more than anything, the story of his teammates, who fought ferociously beside him until he was the last one left-blasted unconscious by a rocket grenade, blown over a cliff, but still armed and still breathing. Over the next four days, badly injured and presumed dead, Luttrell fought off six al Qaeda assassins who were sent to finish him, then crawled for seven miles through the mountains before he was taken in by a Pashtun tribe, who risked everything to protect him from the encircling Taliban killers.


A six-foot-five-inch Texan, Leading Petty Officer Luttrell takes us, blow-by-blow, through the brutal training of America's warrior elite and the relentless rites of passage required by the Navy SEALs. He transports us to a monstrous battle fought in the desolate peaks of Afghanistan, where the beleaguered American team plummeted headlong a thousand feet down a mountain as they fought back through flying shale and rocks. In this rich , moving chronicle of courage, honor, and patriotism, Marcus Luttrell delivers one of the most powerful narratives ever written about modern warfare-and a tribute to his teammates, who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

This book stuck with me for days after I read it.  I can't begin to imagine going through what these guys, and especially Marcus went through.  I can only say I am thankful there are guy like this out there because if the military only had guys like me to defend the country we'd be in pretty sad shape.  Thanks to all members of the armed forces for your service.  We talk a lot about heroes here at Axe Cop, but real heroes exist and we should read their stories. 

Ethan

Ok, at least one.  He doesn't have a name yet, but he is a little English Bullpup.  Welcome to our new storyline.  HUGE thanks to Kaily Frizzell for coloring this story.  Yes, it will only be posting once a week on Tuedays while I work on the new miniseries for Dark Horse, but it will be in color, and it will feature all of those dog characters people seem to like so much.  Axe Cop will play a role in this story, so it is an Axe Cop story, but the dogs will get more face time than usual.

Well it was Halloween last night and a few fans sent in some very amazing costume renditions from Axe Cop.  Here are three favorites:

Kurt Larson as Axe Cop with the Best Fairy Ever.

Valerie Paquin sent shared this picture of Axe Cop and Uni-Avocado Soldier!  I am pretty sure this is the first Avocado Soldier costume I have seen.  I love it!!

and possibly my all time favorite just for it's "D'AAAAWWWwww!!!" factor:

This is Martin Garner and, I assume, his kid. He posted the pic next to Axe Cop and Wexter of easy comparison.  There was no official Halloween Costume contest this year, but I am pretty sure this would win. In fact, Martin, send me a picture of you and your son not in costume and I'll work you in as "extras" on a future page.  You deserve it.

If you dressed up Axe Cop-themed this Halloween, please send me pics!  You can email to info at AxeCop.com or post them on the Facebook page.  You can also be on the lookout for the official licensed Axe Cop Costume at Halloween Outlets for next year... or just to wear.  Why not?

Well, I'll see you next week with more Dogs.

Ethan

Knowing that "the Dogs" is not quite ready to start drawing, I wanted to get something new posted this week.  I wanted to do a new Halloween episode but I have been in need of a lot of new material from Malachai on the new miniseries and I didn't want to spend a whole session with him working on something else and losing that time.  So I went through old answers he had given to me in the past that I had not use, and I totally forgot I had this haunted house episode waiting for Halloween.  I had him fill in a few blanks today on the phone and I got to drawing.

I know the one of the favorite aspects of Axe Cop is simply getting into his little 7 year old mind and finding out how it perceives things.  I love that aspect on this episode where he really digs into what is scary.  I think he nails it pretty good... in fact I think that whole disco set up would be an awesome start to a haunted house.  I think someone should do that.  I also love that the ghost and mummy need grenades to really fill out their scariness.  And the devil baby.  It really needs no comment.

He actually gave me a LOT for this answer so I crammed as much of it as I could on one page.  A few things I really wish had made it in did not, but maybe when I do my director's cut some day I can work them in.  For now, here are some of the other features of Axe Cop's House of Horrors.

-Pictures of Axe Cop chopping off heads on the walls

-evil Wexter

-A Ghost Zombie Mummy Vampire

-instead of a werewolf... a real wolf.  A real wolf is scarier.

-a zombie on a pogo stick with a gun.

-a zombie with a knife stuck in its head that eats its own brains from inside it's own leaking skull.

-a ghost mansion room

-if the patrons watch the DVD they were given of their traumatizing experience, their nightmares and uncontrollable crying will continue for an additional 6 months for kids, and 3 months for adults each time they watch it.  Constant pants wetting is also part of the trauma
.

Looking back on some of those I really need to draw them.  It just came down to fitting it all on a page.  A lot of Axe Cop stories and answers have fun extra stuff like this.  I hope one day to make a book of all that stuff, illustrated and presented in pieces just as bonus material.

You wouldn't believe it, but when I took Malachai to Universal Studios (thanks for the passes Dark Horse!) the ride he was most scared of was the Simpsons.  He loved the Mummy and Jurassic Park.  He was more terrified of that fake cartoon roller coaster ride than actually dropping at the end of Jurassic Park.  You will probably see the Jurassic Park inspired part of this episode.

I had mentioned before that my old books Chumble Spuzz volumes 1 and 2 were available at SLG for under $4.  These are full length trades that retail for around $13 normally.  Basically, they have too many and no one had been buying them.  Last time I told you guys about this the books went out of stock in a day.  Well, they are back in stock so please buy them up, because SLG is going to be throwing some things overboard and the ones that don't sell will be pulped. 

Well, hopefully by next week I can get this new story rolling.  The new miniseries has become quite a bit more epic than I even imagined it could be... it's more complex and hard to fit together than Bad Guy Earth and I have had to do a lot of struggling through the various plot fragments with Malachai to try to get it all to fit together.  I am excited though... I wasn't sure how to follow up Bad Guy Earth, but now I am confident we have a great follow up coming together.  Thanks for reading, and thanks for you patience as things have slowed down here a little.  It's all for a good cause.  Happy Halloween, and if you are in Southern California come see me at Long Beach Comic Con this weekend!

Ethan