FINAL GIRL explores the slasher flicks of the '70s and '80s...and all the other horror movies I feel like talking about, too. This is life on the EDGE, so beware yon spoilers!

Apr 1, 2010

hey comics nerds!

I mean the kind of comics nerds who are so nerdy that they order things out of Previews: yeah, you...the hardcore. A book I inked approximately 43 years ago (finished on the eve of my 21st birthday!), Vincent Price Presents: Dead Air, is finally solicited for a June release. Yay!

Now, I know that those of you who don't pre-order, those who simply buy books off the shelf will surely remember this come June, so I won't need to ever mention it again.

A Comedy of Comics

YOU: Stacie! Why isn't your name listed on the cover or in the solicitation or on the publisher's page? Are you lying about your involvement with this book?

ME: No, I'm not lying. It's just that inkers are scum, and they deserve no respect. I expect my name was listed grudgingly inside the book, if only to avoid the legal ramifications of leaving me out of it. And yes, I by 'legal ramifications' I mean 'an appearance on People's Court with Judge Marilyn Milian.'

YOU: Okay, if that's what you mean, then I hope your name is NOT listed inside.

ME: Me too.

YOU: Hey, how come that picture of the cover you posted up there says it's issue #18, but the publisher's website says it's issue #19? Is this an April Fools' "joke"?

ME: The only joke here is this one: a bishop and his curate are breakfasting together and the bishop says: 'I'm afraid you've got a bad egg, Mr Jones.' To which the curate replies, 'Oh, no, my Lord, I assure you that parts of it are excellent!'

YOU: That's not funny.

ME: It's from 1871!

YOU: Oh, well then. I stand corrected.

9 comments:

Isaac said...

Nice work!

Kinda has an Al Feldstein feel to it. Very cool.

Stacie Ponder said...

Brent Schoonover, the fella who penciled it, is the MAN! I loved inking his stuff. Thanks much!

spazmo said...

Does this getting published make you want to get back into the inking biz? Because you said you weren't really doing it anymore, and that's a shame.

Ed Howard said...

Very Charles Burns-ish as well. Nice stuff, Stacie.

Stacie Ponder said...

Spaz, looking at these pages does make me miss inking. I think Brent and I work very well together- his style is perfect for a brush inker like myself. I can really go to town on it! He's not as bogged down in superfluous details as many other modern pencilers are, and I just love his style. It's a little bit old school

Even so, it's a hell of a lotta work, and the job market is constantly shrinking. Many pencilers are now inking their own work to make extra money, or the inking process is cut out altogether for the publisher to SAVE money. Trying to become an inker (and ONLY an inker) these days would be...not a good choice. Because there's so little work, the major publishers tend to stick with inkers they know, rather than hiring new blood. Unfortunately, I've never been given that break at Marvel or DC.

That means countless hours and dollars spent working on portfolio submissions, going to conventions to shmooze, or working on low-to-no pay books just to get more under my belt. Financially, I can't do that. I don't WANT to do that anymore. If I'm going to work for no pay, I'm going to write for my blog, you know? The Universe has told me enough times that that's what I should be doing, anyway. :)

Though I've never worked for Marvel or DC, I've worked for other top 5 companies. I've worked on major properties like Star Trek, I worked on a book from Gene Simmons of KISS, I worked on BloodRayne which, movie aside, has a rabid fanbase. I got a portfolio review from a well-known editor at DC who said my work was "flawless" and "beautiful"- then he handed it back to me and said there was no work, but I should keep sending in new stuff every week. Really, if I was going to get that break and get work from the Big 2, I think it would have happened by now. I'm totally okay with the way things are...though I can't say that working on an X-Men or Batman book wouldn't be a nerdy dream come true! :)

Still, if Brent or somebody else whose work I dig asks me to work with them on a book, I'll jump just for the fun of it. I get commission work from time to time, too, like covers and pin-ups. But as for PURSUING the work? Nah. I'd rather write about and make horror movies.

Wow, that was probably a LOT more answer than you wanted or needed!

Verdant Earl said...

"You're mucking with a G, you fuckin' tracer!"

Had to go for the cheap Chasing Amy joke. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

*ME: No, I'm not lying. It's just that inkers are scum, and they deserve no respect. I expect my name was listed grudgingly inside the book, if only to avoid the legal ramifications of leaving me out of it. And yes, I by 'legal ramifications' I mean 'an appearance on People's Court with Judge Marilyn Milian.'*

Plus it is a Bluewater book, where creators in general are kinda secondary and cashing in is kind of primary. This seems like such a strange choice for them.

Brent Schoonover said...

I love jokes from 1871! Anyway, just wanted to say publicly that you rock this issue and I am looking forward to seeing it in print!

Walter L. Hollmann said...

Omg omg I have the first issue of this series and now this news that YOU'RE involved??? They will have to scrape my brain from the wall, that is so awesome!