Here comes 2010!

Black Friday, Cyber Monday.... And December's right around the corner. And that means Christmas and family and friends and even more food. It also means we all have to get ready for the New Year. Resolutions, endings and beginnings, promises, winding down and gearing up.

For some of us, that also means gearing up for our creative endeavors next year. One of them I can share with you is my first comic book of 2010. Still haven't nailed down the exact month, but I'd say look for a release in either February or March. I can tell you right now that it's an anthology featuring 7 stories. One of them will be an auto-bio story called "DOS MIL DIEZ: 2010". ("Dos Mil Diez" is Spanish for Two Thousand Ten...hence the '2010'!). It's not really a sequel, but back in 2000 I published a mini-comic called DOS MIL, which was an earlier autobio. I figured now would be a nice time to check back in with 'me' and see what's gone down over the last 10 years. I don't want to make this strictly a walk down memory lane though, so I hope to be pulling some interesting tricks out of my head for this one!

Here's a detail of the cover, at least the main illustration. More to comic later, of course.



Also coming up in early 2010, I'm contributing a short comic to an anthology of L.A. ghost stories, which I'll definitely share more news on as the time approaches. I also have artwork in two other comic books coming out in the next month or two. One is a pin-up for GHOSTFACE and the other is a full-color back cover piece for DEAD MAN HOLIDAY. It sounds oh-so-gothic of me, the creator of EL MUERTO, to be doing artwork for books called DEAD MAN HOLIDAY and GHOSTFACE, I know!! But what can I say folks, I'm ghosting for other publishers!

There are more comics on my agenda to schedule for next year, as well as several new events to follow up on, plan for, or inquire about. And just so many other things to address as well. The really good thing about scheduling all this stuff is the variety of skills they all involve. Projects like this keep me very stimulated, and pushes me to stay as creative and imaginative as possible in whatever I choose to do.

Photo by Ted Seko, cartoonist, podcaster and critical optimist.

Yesterday I was in the South Bay area of Los Angeles, checking out the mighty coastline. (What is it with me and coastlines lately?). Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the tides of ideas I have for new characters and comics and other projects I want to tackle. But really, how much time do you have in a week? Some folks would say to just commit to knocking these various projects out. And I suppose that could be done. But a lot of the ideas I have sometimes can't be developed to a solid presentation, at least for me. So these ideas are tossed back in the sea, where maybe they'll wash ashore after being polished by time.

There's one thing I realize about looking over the vast horizon of the Pacific Ocean though. There is so much potential in our lives, and it's amazing to me that it's all in our hands to attempt to achieve. The complete freedom to try is there. As most of us have experienced though, the waters can get really rough at times, fatal actually. But in the end, the ocean, like life, is only being itself. It really means us no harm, not personally. But it sure is offering up a heck of a lot of potential.

2010. Bring it on!