Results tagged “Job Wanted”

Phil Meadows (who I worked with on Fanzing, Job Wanted, "Melvin and Marvin Middler, Time Meddlers" and Metro Med #0) has just embarked with his wife on a trip to China to pick up their new adopted daughter. I would just like to wish them the best and welcome their new girl, Julianna, to their family.

Sherry Meadows has been blogging the last few months of preparation, and we can watch the site for updates. Phil says they'll arrive on Sunday and will have Julianna the next day. Here's hoping all goes well.

And yes, this is one of the reasons Phil had to leave Metro Med to concentrate on his home life (I'll be kicking off the artist hunt this week). Adoption is a long, arduous process, with nothing but bureaucratic hassles. At one point, getting approval had taken so long that much of the paperwork they had gone through was reaching its expiration date and they'd have to start all over!

Please keep the Meadows in your prayers.

Sean Taylor, whom I worked with on Job Wanted and Shooting Star Comics, has announced on his ComicSpace that he will be writing Dominatrix for IDW's Gene Simmons Comics.

IDW's partnership with Gene Simmons has leaked early but will be officially announced at WizardWorld L.A.

Way to go, Sean!

My comic books for sale site is updated. I fixed up the entry page, lowered prices all over the place, added a ton of pictures and tweaked it here and there. The one thing I have yet to do is add all of my trade paperbacks for sale, but that's going to be a whole separate project. (Don't wait up!)

You can also buy all of my books online (by which I mean ones I've written), including package deals that save some cash. Note that you'll get a free copy of Job Wanted just by buying $50 worth of comics, so bear that in mind. (If you already have Job Wanted, I'll throw in something else. Just let me know.)

Thanks in advance for your patronage, and if you get a chance drop me a line to tell me what you like and don't like about the site. There are numerous technical limitations but I'll improve it any way I can.

I'm just compiling a list of links to reviews of Job Wanted and my other works. I need to keep them in one place and a Monitor Duty post is as easy as anything else.

Job Wanted reviewed by Glenn Carter at Silver Bullet.
And Silver Bullet reviewed our Time Meddlers story in SSCA #4.

Comics Continuum preview of Job Wanted.

Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog review of Job Wanted.

Comics.org listing for Job Wanted. (Note to self: Join comics.org, add cover graphic, update text, rule)

SSCA #4 with our Time Meddlers story was reviewed by:
ComicBooknet E-Mag
Joe Crow in RevolutionSF
Sarah Haslett reviewed SSCA 1-5 but I can only find this Google cached version; is there still a viable link somewhere?
...and we get dissed by Steven Grant.

And I found Eric Spratling's review of Job Wanted for Monitor Duty...which, unfortunately, was lost when our old blog crashed, but Google has it cached. I'm going to save it in our extended entry.

Shooting Star Comics has redesigned their web site and opened their online store. According to Scott McCullar, they moved the site to a new host in order to get the store working and allow space for upcoming online comics which will start in 2006.

I've been waiting for this for a while, which is why I haven't been talking too much about Metro Med #0 since it's debut. Until now, the only way to get a copy was at conventions or via my comics-for-sale site (and I only have a small stack on hand). Now you can get it from Shooting Star's new online store.

Here's the cool part: Shooting Star is going to throw in a copy of Metro Med #0 for free with any purchase from the online store! You can find the previous works by artist Phil Meadows and yours truly in Job Wanted #1 and Shooting Star Comics Anthology #4.

Now, Monitor Duty gets new visitors all the time, including many who probably don't even know I'm a comic book writer, so I'll give a quick recap in the extended entry.

Philipp Neundorf, illustrator of the "Gone To Texas" story in Job Wanted, has published a new Christmas story online. It's in both English and German.

It was up before Christmas, but I didn't read the e-mail announcing it until I returned from vacation, so my apologies for getting this link posted so late.

Remember, you can buy Job Wanted online for $5 (including shipping) via Paypal!

FallCon 2004 is my first FallCon since Job Wanted was published, and I've been looking forward to it for quite a while now. It's this weekend at the State Fairgrounds in The Cities (that's Minneapolis/St. Paul to all you folks who don't know the lingo, like what a Minnesota Flying Wedge is or what we mean by the Minnesota State Bird).

This year I have an inflatable mannequin to display my T-shirts.

Awright, here's the deal...

All the rave reviews for our time traveling comedy story in SSCA #4 is making artist Phil Meadows and I a bit wistful about our first tale that ran in Job Wanted. We received our copies rather late, when there wasn't a lot of time for sending out advance copies for reviewers. And of those reviewers, some of their addresses were wrong, or they got them late in the mail, or the address went to the person who runs the web site instead of the reviewer. (Augie de Blieck said he was looking forward to reviewing it...and then he didn't get his copy! Bwaaaah!) Suffice to say, the number of reviews was meager.

For a while, we thought that Diamond was going to relist "Job Wanted", since Shooting Star Comics relists their previous anthology whenever their next anthology debuts. This failed to come about because....and this is how stupid the system is...since we didn't sell all that many copies the first time, they didn't want to relist it. Since we were trying to sell a $6 book in the same month that every comic shop in the world has all their petty cash sunk into "JLA/Avengers #1", you'd think they'd let us try again.

SO! ...

If you'll review the book now, you can get it for free.

I've got 1000 copies of this book left to sell, and now it's exclusively sold over the Internet. Most reviewers review books the week they're on the stands, but this is a one-shot so what does it really matter? I'm selling it for a buck less than the cover price and throwing in free shipping, plus I can sign it if you like, so this is BETTER than buying it in the store!

If you're a reviewer, you can get a free copy of Job Wanted by e-mailing me. Give me your name, address and link me to an example of your reviews to prove you're legit. If you review in print, just tell me where. I don't care where you write, so long as you have a readership that'll buy the comic. (Also, include whether you would like to be on review copy mailing lists, which I'll save and forward to both Shooting Star Comics and Dimestore Productions. You'll get more free comics, so long as you review them.)

All I ask is that agree to review the book and that you include a link to the site where they can buy it, regardless of whether your review is positive. If you can spare a few words for our story "Enigma In Outer Space", that would be a bonus.

Everyone else: To help out a fellow American who's down on his luck (a favorite line from 8 Ball Bunny), click over to Job Wanted and buy a copy now via Paypal (or e-mail me for alternative payment methods). I'll have your book in the mail ASAP!

Reminder: Phil and I will be at WizardWorld in Chicago next week, so you can meet us and get a copy there, too. We'll be at the Shooting Star Comics booth during specified signing times.

I wanted to wait until it was official. Now that Dimestore's Kick Start Newsletter is up, it's official:

WE WON!

Phil Meadows and I were neck and neck with the "Fly Guy" Team for the last two days of the contest. It had started out as a proper talent contest, where we were trying to get people to check out Metro Med and vote for it because they deemed it the best. When I returned from Iowa I-CONN to find that in the meantime the FlyGuy team had jumped ahead by 100 votes, we realized it had descended into a "get the most clicks" competition.

I e-mailed the entire old Fanzing mailing list of 500 people (about 400 of whom have changed e-mail addresses in the last year, judging by the "not found" bounce-backs), and as a result we moved from 40 votes behind to 50 votes ahead...but not for long! Midday Saturday, as Phil and I were handing out promotional fliers at Jimmy Jams, Melinda told me over the phone that we were tied 410-410!

On the final day, we were both hitting message boards and e-mail lists to get more votes. I was e-mailing, IMing, begging and pleading like a scared little Bavarian girl. Chris Arndt was getting me tons of votes from people he knew. Gordon Purcell saw my post on Dixonverse, remembered he was going to vote for me after I-CONN and became one of the final votes that pushed us over the top.

At 11:59.30, Ian told me via AIM that we were tied 515-515, so he was going to let the vote go for another minute! I replied that I was glad to tie. He shot back, "You sure? Because just as I was disconnecting the database two more votes came in and you won. I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't watching."

So technically, we won, 518-516. With the voting so frantic in that last half hour, I think it's fair to say that a minute's difference either way and we could have lost by two or five or ten...or been ahead by the same amount. We certainly didn't trounce anybody!

I would like to extend a hearty congratulations to the Fly Guy team of Ryan Sergeant, Edward Webb and Mike Langdale. While we won the top spot in "Mysterious Visions Anthology #1", they'll be taking the top spot in issue #2.

More good news is that fellow Fanzing alum and Job Wanted artist Roz Terrill and her writer hubby put in a terrific effort to garner 355 votes and come in third. She had been also beating us by 100 votes until this last week when I began my vote drive...which made me kick myself, since I was the one who gave her the "give it a try" encouragement to enter the contest when she didn't want to! She'll be the headliner for MVA #3. Dimestore Productions, in recognition of the top three runner-ups strong performance, will be giving all of them good discount deals on their publication as well.

I want to thank EACH and EVERY one of you, and I mean that. With a 518 to 516 win, it's safe to say that every vote was crucial, so if you voted for me you deserve a hearty thank you. Phil and I want to thank Chris Arndt, Chaim Mattis Keller, J. Morgan Neal, Josh Elder, Erik Burnham, Scott McCullar and the numerous other people who helped spread the word to their friends but didn't tell me about it. (Whenever you thank people by name, you overlook some, I know that. Still, this is a start.) I want to thank my far-flung relatives the Bottomleys, Hutchisons, Slones and Almes. I'm very glad that I come from, and married into, stout farming family stock where every branch of the family has four siblings or more; it makes for a very large e-mail network!

And a big thank you to the Fanzing and Monitor Duty readers who came through in a big way this last week. Getting Metro Med off the ground is the culmination of a dream I've had for ages, and all those years of work on Fanzing Magazine (and now Monitor Duty) have, in fact, paid off.

Phil Meadows and I are getting ready to turn in our finished two pages for the final Small Press Idol voting, which begins on Wednesday. Phil's nervous, which is why I'm grateful for all of the reviews currently pouring in praising his art.

: RevolutionSF reviews Shooting Star Comics Anthology #4 and has this to say about our story:

Michael Hutchison and Phil Meadows' "Time Meddlers" in issue 4 is, page for page, the funniest story in the entire series so far. It's two British gents, screwing up the time stream trying to get rich. Honestly, this one knocked over my giggle box. There's one time-trip that comes up suddenly, and I didn't realize where they were at first, but -- I'm ruining it. Never mind.

But she is much kinder to "Melvin and Marvin Middler, Time Meddlers":

The time travel story, about two guys trying to exploit a time machine to collect old comics and otherwise make money, was cute, funny, and well-illustrated. I especially liked the throwaway Titanic car joke.

So far, the reviews for Shooting Star Comics Anthology #4 are enthusiastic and positive, and while I'm hardly an unbiased source I do have to say that the last few issues have been far more consistently entertaining from front to back. The SSC team is now putting out the books on a quarterly basis, luring at least one professional guest shot in every issue and offering a solidly entertaining product. If it's not on your pull list, call up your comic store and add it! (And I say that not out of any self-interest. Our story in #4 was only a guest shot and they don't have any more openings for a couple years!)

Meanwhile, if your comic shop doesn't have SSCA #4, I believe Shooting Star will have the book available from their web site soon.

We'd like to thank everyone who has given the book such good reviews. Now...does anyone have any in-depth feedback on Phil's art or my writing? We're always looking for tips on how to improve. Just give us a shout!

Inkplosion is now highlighting the latest work of Philipp S. Neundorf, called "DCLXVI." It's very Vertigo-ish, full of mature content, so be warned. Phil's European, so the women are almost always naked...and you get to see a couple having sex to a George Bush speech.

(Well, if you hadn't clicked the link already, I bet that got ya!)

Seeing this artwork makes me appreciate all the more the opportunity that landed in my lap when Philipp offered to provide artwork for Job Wanted last year. If you haven't seen his story yet, you'll want to check out "Rogue." Copies of Job Wanted are now available to purchase online (for a dollar less than cover price, and that includes free shipping).

I've received an invitation to attend the Iowa Comic Book Club's Comic Book I Con on June 27th. Phil Hester and Ron Wagner are amongst the confirmed 2004 guests. If you can make it to Des Moines, swing by and I'll sign some comics for ya!

That's right...comicS! I'll have copies of both Job Wanted and Shooting Star Comics Anthology #4, which hits the stands today.

Phil Meadows and I attended the Minnesota Comic Book Association's MicroCon 2004 on Sunday, and it was an awesome experience.

I was up until 3:00AM the night before getting the Metro Med web site built enough that we could advertise it on the fliers. It was six hours long. The chairs were a tad uncomfortable (nice chairs, I'm just a chubby guy who doesn't fit in them quite right). And we only sold a few issues of our comic and a couple other items.

Despite all that, it was a great convention that left me stoked. And here's why:

Phil and I printed out a photo-quality print of our Metro Med contest entry pinup and had it on display in a plastic easel, and we promoted it on part of a flier that we were handing out. The response was inspiring and astounding.

Visitors wanted to buy the book. They asked if we had copies available now so they could buy it. They said it was an ingenious idea. They loved the print and praised Phil's art. They said they'd go vote for us in the Small Press Idol because they want to read the book. They wished us the best in making it happen. They listened to more details about the book and liked what they heard. One friendly young woman even took a few fliers and said she was going to drop off photocopies of it at some comic shops in Chicago!

I've never had an experience like this. It's such a change from the friendly and polite interest we've gotten in our two previous works. (Nothing against the quality or subject of our previous stories, just that you say "anthology" and people glaze over.)

This experience convinced me that I'm on to something, and Phil and I are going to push ahead on making this happen as a series, somehow. I'd be all for self-publishing if not for the fact that this comic really needs color. But once our first 8-pager is done we'll shop it around to a few companies, plus we'll talk it over with Dimestore. One way or another, baby, we're going to turn this mother out.

The Minnesota Comic Book Association deserves a big salute for the fine guest services. (The lunch at MicroCon was a healthy and delicious homemade wrap sandwich. Much appreciated!) Their evil henchmen are the best, and we'd like to thank Nick of MNCBA for fitting us in. That's no small feat; MicroCon has grown so much that they don't have enough room for all of the professionals who can attend! It's one packed con. I wouldn't be surprised if they look to expand it the way they did FallCon. But MNCBA gave chairs to both Phil and myself and we are very grateful.

We missed Erik Burnham. We'll be sure to get in early for FallCon's attendees list so that Phil, Erik and I can sit together and promote Job Wanted and Shooting Star (and maybe even Mystic Visions Anthology if we win and get published in it).

Fuzzball Comics, the Shooting Star imprint that released Job Wanted, is sponsoring this week's Dime Store Chat. As the sponsors, Phil Meadows and I will be the hosts, talking about our two published works (the sci-fi mystery "Enigma in Outer Space" in Job Wanted #1 and our guest story in Shooting Star Comics Anthology #4 entitled "Melvin and Marvin Middler, Time Meddlers."

We'll also be discussing Metro Med, which has been a very hush-hush project until we used it as our entry for Dime Store's Small Press Idol. This will be the first time that we've gone into any detail about the project.

Join us Tuesday evening at 7:30 PM Eastern/6:30 Central/5:30 Mountain/4:30 Pacific/3:30 Alaska/2:30 Aleutian/1:30 PM Hawaii. (Oh, and Rob Ricochet, for you over in England that'll be a half hour after midnight.) All you need is a DimeStore ID...the same as you use for the forum, which you should have since you went there and voted for us, right? Right? Then proceed to the Dimestore Chat Room and log in!

Oh, and as a sponsor we're sending out comics to the attendees. Did I mention that?

I'll post a reminder tomorrow.

This is the LAST DAY to vote for Phil Meadows and me in the "Small Press Idol" contest. This is an AMERICAN IDOL-ish contest held by Dime Store Publications for independent comic book creators.

To VOTE, go to our page on the DimeStore Forum, register as a user and then vote for us.
Broadband version.
Dial-Up version.

Our entry is from a project called "Metro Med", which combines medical drama (like "E/R" and "Chicago Hope") and superheroes. It's about a special hospital that deals with all of the injured superheroes who come in with damaged radiation shields, poisonous skin, radioactive home planet fragment bullet wounds, half of their body in another dimension...or in the case pictured, a robotic suit that is defending itself from the doctor's scalpel.

We could really use everyone's vote. So far, we only have 22 votes. that may be enough, but if everyone gets last minute votes we could run the risk of losing. Please vote for us if you would. I have complete instructions on how this contest runs and how to vote in the Extended Entry below.

Roz Terrill, cover artist for "Job Wanted" and many issues of Fanzing, also has an entry in the Small Press Idol and has just let me know that she plans to appear at the Olympia Comics Festival in May. Don't forget to vote for Roz!

Phil Meadows and I have done a time traveling comedy. Not only is it different in tone from the tense space drama we did for Job Wanted, but this time Phil's shading style is completely different from the old fashioned dots-and-hatching look of "Enigma in Outer Space". (That was intentional, as it was supposed to have some 50s pulp feel to it.)

The new story features full page bleeds and quality computer shading.

I guess you've been wondering why it seems like Phil Meadows and I haven't been around much lately.

Dime Store Productions, the printer/publisher who provides the affordable printing that made Job Wanted and Shooting Star Comics Anthology a reality, has a new contest called Small Press Idol. Like American Idol, it is a way for independent writers and artists to audition for a part in an upcoming comic book from Dime Store.

Phil Meadows and I have collaborated on an entry and we just submitted it today. It doesn't appear on the list yet but it should be there by tomorrow.

Regardless of whether this piece makes it to the finals and wins a free published story or not, this is a work that will be published one way or the other. It's all very hush hush for now, but I'll be sure to tell you all about it when we're ready to make announcements.

This is the third time I've collaborated with Phil Meadows. That's right, third. I haven't mentioned it before, but we were invited to do a story for Shooting Star Comics Anthology #4, available this May. SSCA #4 is available for ordering from Diamond Preview right now, so please call your comic shop and ask them to get a copy for you. SSCA #3 was a top-notch entry in their series (far above the uneven quality of the first two, if I may be so bold) and the stories I've seen for #4 make it look to be the best yet, so you may want to just have them hold all future SSCA quarterlies in your pullbox!

Tomorrow, I will post two pages of preview art from our story, "Melvin and Marvin Middler, Time Meddlers."

As I mentioned yesterday, we at Fuzzball Comics have decided to offer one copy of Job Wanted signed by four contributors from all over the country as a charity auction to raise money for our friend Roz. Please pass the word to every comic fan you know. (This is easily done by clicking on the time for this post, which opens a page that you can mail to a friend.)