Hot Off The Drawing Board: A Haunting Panel

David is hard at work on finished artwork for Don't Forget This Song. This panel, from the second chapter of the book, leapt out at me as I scanned the artwork today. The unusual angle creates a haunting mood, which is supported by the lush woods that surround the simple cabin, as young A.P. Carter approaches on horseback.

I can't wait to get started coloring these new pages, but I had to share this panel with you hot off the drawing board. It's a beaut!

And Now For Something Completely Different: Our Oregon Trail Graphic Novel!

Hi folks... while we were in legal purgatory over the use of song lyrics in DON'T FORGET THIS SONG (a chess-game of attrition that we ultimately lost), David and I were not goofing off. We decided to tackle a smaller (i.e., non-color) graphic novel. We're pleased to finally announce it here. (I would have posted this earlier, had I not been stricken with appendicitis, from which I'm still recovering.)

This is a page from local publisher Sasquatch Press' Fall 2011 catalog for our book, Oregon Trail: The Road of Destiny. The cover they chose is a curious hybrid of a rejected earlier illustration and their overall design for the cover. Here's what the real cover looks like:

I'm amused to be listed as "co-creator of Comics Journal." I was the managing editor of the magazine, 20 years ago, but there had been over 140 issues before I put in my stint. I'm sure this will cause some amusing questions in interviews!

David and I are really happy with this book. We both strove to keep its story vivid, real and humane. We both did a great deal of visual and factual research for the project. When I wrote the script, I concentrated on the down-to-earth, flesh-and-blood reality of what this trip must have been like for those who took it.

David outdid himself on the artwork. He brought all the humanity of the story front and center, and helped broaden the book's emotional range. There are some genuinely funny moments--and some heart-breaking pitfalls--throughout the book. Everything David put into this project was graceful, assured and sympathetic.

We're back at work on Don't Forget This Song, and hope to FINALLY have the book finished this year. The Road to Destiny will end up being our first published graphic novel. We often referred to it as "our little B-movie" while we worked on it. We couldn't dazzle the reader with fancy full color. Our hook had to be in our story and our characters.

This book is at the printers, and should be released around the end of August, 2011. You can see the ISBN number on the catalog page. Check in with amazon.com as this month comes to a close.

Here are four random pages from the book, so that you can have a preview of David's superb work:

We'll post updates as we learn of the book's availability. Now, back to our full-color "A-picture..."