Mock Man Press

I’ve been to Mammoth Cave once myself, in 2009 while visiting Kentucky for DaigaCon, an anime convention. It was raining nonstop, and the gray sky hung over a beautiful but gloomy green landscape of sinkholes and creeks and low hills; when I realized just how many caves were in the area (practically every freeway stop advertised one) I felt like I was walking on top of a giant sponge. At the time Lovecraft wrote this story, around 1906, the “Kentucky Cave Wars” were just beginning, and Mammoth Cave was beginning to become the focus of massive tourism and entrepreneurship. This commercial exploration/exploitation resulted in several infamous deaths as people died trying to find or expand cave entrances. I wonder what specific magazine article, book or encyclopedia entry inspired teenage Lovecraft to write this story.

I managed to get away from the convention long enough to go on a cave tour, and the first thing that struck me was the obvious: real-life caves, unlike the ones in D&D, aren’t designed to be traversed by human feet. While there were long galleries of relatively flat and stable corridors, what really stuck in my mind were the great gulfs of slippery limestone formations going down, down, down, with only manmade walkways and staircases created by the National Park Service preventing you from sliding down to the depths below. Spelunkers are incredible.

On a totally different note, I’ve got work in an upcoming comic anthology: Anything That Loves: Comics Beyond Gay or Straight from Noethwest Press. The theme of the collection is nonbinary sexuality (bisexual, queer, whatever you call it), and I’m contributing a 16-page story. It’s not an adult anthology, and my story will be PG-13-ish. Currently, the anthology is the focus of a Kickstarter campaign, so if you’re interested, why not go over and reserve a copy? Other contributors include Erika Moen, Ellen Forney, Roberta Gregory, Bill Roundy, Mari Naomi, John Lustig, and basically, just a bunch of really cool folks. Organizer/editor Zan Christensen’s concept for the book tackles some ideas I’ve never seen tackled before and I’m really excited to be a part of it.

NEXT UPDATE: Monday!

Another page from my adaptation of HP Lovecraft’s teenage story “The Beast in the Cave,” originally drawn for my friends’ comic anthology Beards. Unlike my pages for Sarnath etc., which are drawn on 12″x18″ sheets, “Beast” was drawn at approximately 8″x10″, thus the lower level of detail.

Here’s what I’m listening to lately as I draw:
* The Double Shadow — An awesome Clark Ashton Smith podcast. Irreverent readings & commentary on often equally irreverent Clark Ashton Smith stories. Lots of mayhem, doom, weird monsters, and speculation as to the motivation of tentacled demigods.
* The HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast — The original, one and only by Chris Lackey and Chad Fifer. Currently reading oldschool (out-of-copyright) horror fiction mentioned by HP Lovecraft in “Supernatural Horror in Literature.”
* A Podcast for the Curious — a.k.a. the M.R. James Podcast. They’re about halfway through his fiction now, and I have to admit I’m finding the stories becoming weaker as James gets older, but at their best, they’re really good ghost stories. And the hosts are great.
* The Yog-Sothoth.com Roleplaying Podcasts — Unfortunately the Yog-Sothoth crew just finished their most recent RPG recording, “Beyond the Mountains of Madness” (most grewsomely, in fact), and I’m totally caught up on their other excellent RPG recordings, so I’m waiting for them to get started on their next campaign, Ancient Roman Lovecraftiness in “Cthulhu Invictus.”

What else is there…? Well, I’ve also been listening a bit to a pair of oldschool British gamers ruminate on RPGs in Improvised Radio Theatre– With Dice!, and while I’m not sure if I’ll stick to it, I’ve just started listening to a comedic (and, I suspect, drunken) D&D play podcast, Nerd Poker. I really should be more educational and listen to NPR or BBC Arabic more, or Arabist.net, but when I’m drawing RPG stuff and Lovecraft stuff, I have to get in the mood… right? Someday I’ve got to check out Wil Wheaton’s “Tabletop,” but since I need to keep my eyes on the page, the whole video aspect is a distraction. Forget videocasts! I’m all about podcasts! Podcasts! Podcasts!

NEXT UPDATE: Monday!

My cup runneth over with artwork! It’s a really busy month. I’m currently working on:

* several awesome but very time-consuming freelance assignments
* a new website (well, actually, a friend is designing it, but I’m digging up art assets)
* a 16-page comic for Anything That Loves: Comics Beyond Gay and Straight (go help Kickstart it!)
* a card game
* preparing for the Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, Oregon next weekend (April 27-28)! I hope you can make it!

Hopefully sometime in the middle of all that I’ll get a chance to read Gary Myers’ The Country of the Worm, his collection of Dreamlands short stories, which I bought on Kindle the other day. I can’t wait! But now, tonight, I’m tired, so I’m off to sleep as soundly as if a sharp-angled bit of limestone just stove in my head.

NEXT UPDATE: Monday!

This is it, the ending of “The Beast in the Cave”! Sorry it took so long, but I wanted to make some small fixes and I’ve been busy the whole week working on my story for “Anything That Loves.” I wrote this story for my friends’ anthology Beards, so this was by far the most appropriate Lovecraft story for the theme. (Though, what is that mycelium-like hair/tentacle stuff growing all over Wilbur Whateley’s brother?) I should also mention that at one point in “Dream-Quest” Randolph Carter is described as having a beard (due to his travels and lack of razors), but I TOTALLY IGNORED THIS for my comic adaptation. Yes, I de-bearded “Dream-Quest.” The clean-shaven Lovecraft would have exonerated me.

A quick list of what I’m working on lately:

* My story for Anything That Loves: Comics Beyond Gay and Straight. It’s 16 pages long, it’s called “Spartans,” and I’m finishing it up this weekend, with colors by Jay. The Kickstarter has ended, but I strongly recommend you either wait for it to come out, or pester Northwest Press, and get a copy of this book somehow. I have a few pages left to ink, and then the coloring.
* A 16-page story for The Sleep of Reason, a horror anthology edited by Spike Trotman. Spike (who, like me, used to draw comics for the defunct site Girlamatic) is the creator of the webcomic Templar, AZ and also wrote the Stumptown Award-winning “Poorcraft” and edited the likewise award-winning art/sex-comics anthology “Smut Peddler”. I hung out with her a bit at Stumptown last weekend and I’m going to work hard to make a comic worthy of being in her new anthology. The thumbnails are done, but I haven’t started penciling yet.
* My Dungeons & Dragons Walkthrough Maps for Wizards of the Coast. These are so fun to do. Stay tuned for more maps this summer!
* Later this year I hope to use this site to relaunch & finish my old high-school/psychological horror/relationships comic, “The Stiff.”
* And of course my card game, “Mangaka”.

With all this, it’s been hectic but I’ll have some more art up for you next week! And hopefully some more things to announce.

NEXT UPDATE: Wednesday!