POPGUN vol. 4 is finally out, and I'm in it!

"He Floated Away" is my favorite story to date, and features exquisite art and colors by Manoel Magalhaes and Osmarco Valladao (not to mention Brandon Seifert's bang-up lettering). If you can't find a copy at your local comic shop, it's available (of course) on Amazon.com, right here:

POPGUN vol. 4 featuring "He Floated Away," written by Elton Pruitt

Here's a sneak peek at the first colored page of "Anything For You," my story for Ape Entertainment's upcoming UFO anthology.

Pencils/inks by Brandon Palas with colors by Anthony Peruzzo. Don't you just LOVE the old-school feel Anthony's colors give this? The story's set in the late 1950's and is an homage to all those cheesy B-grade sci-fi movies of that era, so we wanted the look to capture the feeling of a comic book from that time.

Stay tuned for more...

Here's a sneak peek at some work in progress: the first two inked pages from Brandon Palas for our story in Ape Entertainment's upcoming UFO anthology.

One

Two

Brandon's the bomb, guys -- super-talented and a real pleasure to work with!

Well, here it is, gang: the final cover for By the Southern Grace of God.

I've previously invited you to ooh! and ah! over the lovely line art of Mario Cau and the charismatic colors of Bob Rivard. Now, I direct your attention to the 'lectrifying logo goodness of Jason Hanley.

I told Jason I was looking for a logo that captured the feel of a 1970's southern rock album, something like an Allman Brothers Band or Marshall Tucker Band or, of course, a Lynyrd Skynyrd album. I think he really nailed it -- how about you?

I just couldn't sit on this anymore. It's too darn good!

Pencils/inks by Mario Cau; colors by Bob Rivard. This is the cover for By the Southern Grace of God, sans logo (which I should have next week).

If your comic shop carries Desperado Publishing's acclaimed anthology, NEGATIVE BURN, I hope you'll check out issue 21 which hit the stands last week. It features a couple of stories by my friend and excellent writer Caleb Monroe, and also contains the touching tale of "Frog-Boy," written by me and illustrated by the brilliant Renzo Podesta.

Here's the cover to look for:



And here's the first page to whet your appetite:


(click for full-size, readable version)

Yay, me!

NEGATIVE BURN #15 features "Fall of the Triumvirate," an 8-page tale of friendship, guilt, and redemption, written by Elton Pruitt (that's me!), illustrated by Juan Romera and edited by Kristen Simon.

Newsarama's Best Shots called it "an ambitious story with a terrific tone and a well handled touch of magical realism" and called Juan Romera's work "a mixture of Charlie Adlard meets Dean Haspiel — fantastic."

It's on sale now at finer comic shops everywhere. I hope you'll check it out; it's a story I'm especially proud of.

NEGATIVE BURN #14 features "The Barber," a 6-page look at the things, and people, we leave behind, written by Elton Pruitt (that's me!) and illustrated by the brilliant Renzo Podesta. It's on sale now at finer comic shops everywhere!

NEGATIVE BURN 13 features "This Is Where I Am," an 8-page story of a life-changing encounter between a Yankees and a Red Sox fan, written by Elton Pruitt (that's me!) and illustrated by Harvey Award-nominated Noel Tuazon. And the best part is, it's on sale now at finer comic shops everywhere!



For those keeping score, this is the 3rd publication of my nascent career...

This fall, I'll achieve the legendary NEGATIVE BURN Troika:

I'll have three stories published in three consecutive issues of Desperado Publishing's renowned anthology, NEGATIVE BURN.

NEGATIVE BURN #13 features "This Is Where I Am," an 8-page story of a life-changing encounter between a Yankees and a Red Sox fan, illustrated by Harvey Award-nominated Noel Tuazon. The order code is JUN073449 and it ships in October.



NEGATIVE BURN #14 features "The Barber," a 6-page look at the things, and people, we leave behind, illustrated by the brilliant Renzo Podesta. The order code is JUL073476 and it ships in November.



NEGATIVE BURN #15 features "Fall of the Triumvirate," an 8-page tale of friendship, guilt, and redemption, illustrated by Juan Romera. Newsarama's Best Shots called it "an ambitious story with a terrific tone and a well handled touch of magical realism" and called Juan Romera's work "a mixture of Charlie Adlard meets Dean Haspiel—fantastic." The order code is AUG073548 and it ships in December.



There's no better time than today to reserve your copies. I think you'll find a lot of great stories between the covers of each issue. And frankly, I couldn't be prouder than to have three of my own stories included in such an outstanding anthology.

Here are the first couple of pages from "Fall of the Triumvirate," an eight-page story I'm submitting to a new anthology, Sequential Suicide. It'll also be one of four stories in the as-yet-untitled anthology I'm putting together.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

The official Descartes the Zombie production blog is now alive and kicking (pun intended) at IntelligentZombie.com.

Give it a click and check it out. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, except for a couple of others I can think of, to follow the birth of a comic book from inception to that glorious Wednesday when it lands on the shelves of your local comic book store.

As time permits in the near future, most of the DTZ-related stuff will be moved from this site, to make more room here for other items of interest, such as:




And most tantalizing of all,

The evolution of Dierdre continues...

ITAWNICR (Incredibly Talented Artist Whose Name I Can't Reveal) sent me this first look at Derek tonight. And like the incredibly talented artist he is, he nailed it in one take!

Say hello to everyone's favorite intelligent zombie, Derek Hart (aka Descartes).

What? He doesn't look like a zombie? Just a good-looking kid from the Valley, ready for a night on the town?

You ain't seen nothin' yet...

And we're off...

UTSAG (Ultra Top Secret Artist Guy) sent me these first takes on character design for Mike and Dierdre, who are 2/3 of the core cast of Descartes the Zombie. Which, by the way, will probably be henceforth referred to on this blog as DTZ.

I'm loving this:

You go, UTSAG!

My ultra-top-secret artist is on board now for what is shaping up to be a pitch to Dark Horse's New Recruits program. All I am at liberty to say about this artist right now is that he absolutely rocks.

(And that, dear reader, is an understatement along the lines of "The Beatles? They had a couple of good songs.")

Okay, I lied. Thanks to Samantha at Dark Horse, I learned that New Recruits is not the way to go for this project. So, we'll be submitting via the regular Dark Horse submission process.

In the interest of helping any other aspiring creators who may find themselves in a similar position of reading Dark Horse's submission guidelines and then reading about the New Recruits program and saying to themselves, "Wha-- huh? Where am I? What day is it? Do I submit through New Recruits or the regular way?", here is an excerpt from the Dark Horse Creating Comics message board in which Samantha very kindly helped me make sense of this (and I quote):

New Recruits is the place to submit completed projects - projects for which you have completed most, if not all, of the work. It is better suited for one-shot projects, like single volume graphic novels or short stories. New Recruits submissions are reviewed annually... with the best submission(s) earning publication. Last year, we published the best of the best in an anthology called New Recruits, vol. 1.

Regular submissions, on the other hand, cover a much wider territory - writing samples, art samples, comic series pitches...etc. They are evaluated year-round, rather than at one point during the year. Use our regular submissions process if you want to submit work from a project that is unfinished, any kind of 'sample' of your work, or something you don't want to wait that long to have reviewed.

Please note that Dark Horse does not review unsolicited scripts, story ideas, or proposals pertaining to properties currently published by Dark Horse or any property not owned by the submitter. Such material will be destroyed without review.

So, there you go. If you want to pitch a limited series, as I do, you should use the normal submission channels.

Thanks to Samantha at Dark Horse for letting me quote her on this.