So, all of a sudden its almost July. Wow.
Well, we have a few news items from the decidedly un-arctic base. First, we were going to go to the San Diego Comic Con (or SDCC in nerd speak) but those plans fell through. We now have our sights set on the Chicago Con this summer and the…er…I forget the proper name but the Mpls Con this fall, more on that as plans develop.
On a project tip, Mike has finished the Hostile Make-over story line in Hulk vs Bizarro. He is hard at work on finishing a few other projects, and may be close to figuring out how to get us in print!
Things may slow down for a bit as summer trips and the like steal time away from us, but, as always watch this spot for news and updates.

So, I was trolling the internets when I happened upon this site. It has a few cool galleries of golden age comic covers. If you go there just click on one of the three circles at the top of the page to see the galleries.
Inspired by viewing the galleries I’ve decided to share some of my personal favorite comic covers, enjoy!

There are tons of great Spiderman covers, but I absolutely love Mysterio

Dave Mckean rules.

The second appearance of GI Joe #21 in this blog. It is safe to say this is one of my all around favorite comics.

One of my favorite Arthur Adams covers, and arguably the best Wolverine.

One of the covers that sent Gaines to court. I think the drool is a nice touch.

Hard to pick just one George Perez cover, but I just love his work on Crisis.

Dead heat between this issue and #3. I went with #4 because i like how Logan still suits up after Kitty skewered him on a sword.

I love this series! I just started reading it (I acquired all the comics legally, you can be sure of that) and it kicks ass. I recommend doing an image search for more of the covers from this comic.

Not much to say here, I just think this cover is cool!

The issue that launched a thousand emo girl outfits. One could pick any of Mckean’s covers for The Sandman, but this is my favorite.

Not much to say about this that hasn’t been said by everyone else, but I love how it acts as the first panel, continues the circle motif, etc etc.

Neal Adams could draw covers like no one else. How cool is Havok here?

And finally, one of the most iconic covers ever.

So, there we have it. I’d like to wrap things up with an image just for fun…Simpsonized Watchmen

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For more cool fan-art Simpsonized characters check out this site here. Make sure to check out the archives!

We ended up in the top 9 in the competition, which is good enough to get us published in an Anthology along with other material AND we’ll be featured on the Cover. Rock on. Thanks a billion times for voting!!!

The Associate will continue. We currently exploring some options for continuation of our story. Check back here for updates. To show you all we’re serious, we’re going to continue to post Associate related news items here along with our other updates and rants

To begin with, here’s a little something extra:
Because I mumbled when I sung the chorus, the Lyrics to THE ASSOCIATE THEME:

All the beast have been put to sleep,
in the evening, can’t you see them?
Words of power lose their meaning,
in the evening, can’t you see them?

All the lies that are my life,
are just cold hands that hold me down,
Cold hands hold me down.

Download MP3
Yes, that’s me on guitar & vocals

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Today the third and final, for us anyway, round of the Small Press Idol contest draws to a close. I thought it would be fitting to wrap up my commentary on the three pages we submitted to the contest today as well.
This page begins an important sequence which, over the next few pages, draws Cain into an investigation that will form one of the main story lines for the first season. I’d rather not get too far into details here, but essentially Cain has used the synthesized hallucinogen as a means to view the psychic history, or echoes of the space occupied by the hospital. This page allows the reader to follow Cain as he finds a kind of familiar landmark in the ether from which he can explore the echoes further. What will he find? Well, for that you’ll need to wait for the rest of Issue Zero to be published.
For some insights from Mike on this page, here is a section of a post of his from the Associate’s Small Press Idol forum:

“Jason had a lot of descriptions for this page, but left me the freedom to break down the information into panels. I wanted to show Cain as “walking” through the hospital, symbolizing a journey through a vision. This hospital is most definitely haunted. It’s our belief that all these old institutions are haunted in some way. People would be put in to these facilities and left to rot, and eventually die. Mass, unmarked graves can be found behind these hospitals all over the country.1,000s of lonely dead.
But what Cain sees here are not ghosts.

Jason used the perfect term here to describe it: Echos. A sort of psychic residue left behind by suffering and nefarious deeds. I think it’s safe to say, without giving away the story, that these children have been being experimented on in numerous ways - the why and what of these experiments will be a focus of our first Season’s story arc and tie to much bigger events.

I wanted all the hospital staff to have no faces, but to be a moving blurry image of a face. This is how I think the children would remember the staff in their minds and thus in this projection. The children’s faces are their real faces. They are all deformed and mentally stunted. I wanted them to be sort of creepy, but not threatening, not evil, they are the victims here. Horrible, creepy, disturbed victims…”

So there you have it True Believers! With our commentary and contest wrapped up what is next for The Associate?
Well, I think our Issue Zero will still be published in one of DimeStore’s anthologies, but we are out of the running for the contest’s grand prize: being published as an ongoing series.
Michael and I have pretty much plotted out the first season, which will be something like 24 issues, and have sketched out a basic plot line for season two. When will we begin work on season one you may ask…well, I have no idea. Currently Mike is hard at work on finishing the final HvB strip in the “Hostile Make-Over” story line, plotting out new Dr Immortalis adventures, pencilling Vent, as well as beginning a new project with one of our fellow Small Press Idol contestents. So, I fear the inhabitants if the Associate universe will have to wait until later this summer…at least.
Last, but certainly not least, I’d like to extend our thanks and gratitude to all our fans and fellow contestants who voted and got others to vote for us in the Small Press Idol and Zuda competitions. While we didn’t win, we did learn a great deal and made some new friends in the community.
So, thanks again everyone, and watch this spot for updates and news!

Today is the LAST DAY to Help us retain our Cover Slot!
for The Associate in Help us retain our Cover Slot!

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We’ve always planned The Associate to be written much like a TV series would be laid out. So, in that spirit, and for the last day of Small Press Idol, I’ve written and recorded an Associate Theme song: DOWNLOAD MP3