The Inevitable Apocalypse

So! The Chicago Con is rapidly approaching, and with it comes the Apocalypse! Gary Reed wrote us a really great intro, and Raf is getting it press ready as we speak. I'm amazed that Tranzfusion will be able to turn us out a book in a week, and I'm really excited to see the finished product. I hope you are too, because this is some of our best work all in one tidy little package.

BEHOLD THE APOCALYPSE!

HERE'S A LOW RES PREVIEW OF SELECT PAGES FROM THE APOCALYPSE PLAN. HOPE YOU LIKE 'EM!

Back cover.

As the title suggests, this is the back cover. I think my favorite thing to draw in this book is the city. Much of the page material that I added to Raf's already excellent script was just shots of the buildings as things happened to them. It's been something I've been trying to focus on more, getting the scenery to be as important as the characters. Because in the Apocalypse Plan, the two buildings are meant to represent the stakes that Lamb, Goat, Abaddon, EVERYONE are playing for.

Comic Con exclusive cover!

Raf and I had decided that it wasn't enough to just have the book ready in time for the comic convention. So we created some extra fun just for the occasion. What you're looking at is the Chicago Con Exclusive cover, of which we will have a limited and numbered 100 copies. IF you purchase this jam packed book, we will also GIVE you the Caught in the Trap ashcan for free! Can't be beat!

A toast!

Yesterday I drew the last page of The Apocalypse Plan! I was waiting for the ticker tape and balloons to come shooting out from the ceiling, for the dancers and the clowns to burst from the closet.

When none of this happened, I just drank a beer and smoked a cigar like a manly man. Meg was asleep, it was too late to really call anyone. And all of the dancers and balloons were probably saving themselves for Michael Jackson's memorial today. As they should, I suppose.

But the book is done. Granted, I have to draw a few extra things here and there to tweak it a bit, but it's done. And it is probably some of my best work, if not the best stuff I've drawn. I'm very excited about it coming out, so much so that I am going to be drawing a Chicago convention-exclusive cover for it.

Who knows, maybe the party begins after I finish THAT...

APOCALYPSE UPDATE!

TRANSFUZION PUBLISHING is pleased to announce that principle art and story on the graphic novel THE APOCALYPSE PLAN has been completed. The creative team of Rafael Nieves and Dan Dougherty expect another week of additional work and post production before the book will be ready to go to print.

Said Nieves, "I've waited a long time for TAP to be released, and I couldn't be happier with Dan's work. He is a true artist and professional, and I think this will prove to the world what I already know; he's a force to be reckoned with!"

The world premiere date for the book has been announced as Thursday, August 6th, at Wizard World Chicago Comic-Con.

A preview of the OGN is set for early next week. Stay tuned for more announcements!

THE ROAD TO HELL, PART TWO: THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE DAN

The story of how I met Dan Dougherty is the stuff of legend, and chronicled in the introduction I wrote to his collected BEARDO comic strips. If you've not heard of BEARDO, shame on you! Check the links over to the right there... Go ahead, I'll wait...



You're back? Good. I hope you enjoyed what you read, and will order multitudinous copies of the book, if only to read the intro. You won't be disappointed...

Dan is not only my collaborator on THE APOCALYPSE PLAN, he is a dear friend, and, I hope, a frequent partner in crime on future projects. First, he's lightning fast on the drawing board; he can pencil, ink, and add grey wash on a page in a day, which is pretty impressive by itself, but combined with the fact that he has a wonderful eye for composition, anatomy, architecture, perspective, and all that, makes him formidable, indeed. My master plan is to tie him down to a few more projects before one of the majors snaps him up. Secondarily, and you will know this if you actually took the time to read a BEARDO strip, he's a great storyteller. You'll know that, too, if you pick up CYCLONE BILL AND THE TALL TALES, the graphic novel he wrote and drew, which can still be found, I think, at Moonstone Books

Dan has been proven as asset to TAP not only in terms of the art, but also in massaging some of the finer points in the storytelling. That's why, when you look at all he has and can accomplish, I suffer his horrible atttitude and snarky demeanor.

The first project Dan and I ever worked on was a 10 page horror story called CAUGHT IN THE TRAP, for a horror anthology that will happen sometime before I die. It's stunning, and we will be making it available for purchase as an ashcan at WizardWorld Chicago this August.

I so loved what he did that I asked Dan if he would take on TAP, and the fool agreed!

Dan Dougherty is a multi-talented man, and if you need more reason to buy THE APOCALYPSE PLAN, then buy it for the purty artwork. Yeah, he's just that good. And, I hate him.