Yesterday marked the first day of the Fall season. Fall/Autumn is my favorite season of the year and always has been. There’s something about the light from the sun that’s kind of otherworldly… it feels like there’s an echo of childhood past tinged with the vague whispers of undiscovered wonders. I’ve always felt a slight sense of sorrow at the waning of another over-ripe summer– but there’s also always been something about Fall that energizes me. It’s the crispness of the air at first light and the gentle tug of war that goes on during the day as the last warmth of summer stubbornly hangs on. That hint of the coming bite of chill from October and November is thrilling.

My father owns many acres of wooded land– about 30 or so, I think– and it’s adjacent to some fields that his neighbors used to raise a few cattle at times. I used to climb over the fence separating the property lines when I was a young boy and lay out in those fields, staring up at the Autumn sky… listening to the gentle winds whisper through the trees… pretending like I was the only person on earth. It was beautiful. It was peaceful. I felt like anything was possible and that the world was endless at those times. I could be anyone or do anything I chose. I think perhaps that’s where the vague sense of sadness I get from this season comes from– perhaps my subconscious drifts back to those feelings of endless possibilities to remind me that so many of them are just unrealized echos.

My buddy JAMAR NICHOLAS is initiating what he’s calling JAMARATHON 2004!!! He’s taking on commissions all through the month of October– and a portion of the proceeds from those commissions will go to the AMERICAN DIABETES ASSOCIATION. You can get all the details about this and find out about Jamar himself on Jamar’s blog. Jamar’s a fantastic artist, a wonderful guy– and this is a great cause, so help the man out, ya’ll!!!

That’s it for today.

Mike

Today’s sketch is the last of the scans–this time of WONDER WOMAN– I have from the BALTIMORE COMICON. Actually, I nabbed this from the COMIC ART FANS site. It was done for Randy House (I never got his name at the show… his last name, anyway)– so thanks, Randy… and I hope you don’t mind my showing it here.

OK– sorry to be so brief today, but I’ve got to get back to the grind.

Mike

I’m still feeling like crap– but at least I’m able to work. I spent about 11 years on and off working in the grocery business before I got into comics full-time, and taking sick days was pretty unheard of. The grocery business keeps personnel and scheduling pretty tight to insure maximum profit, so there usually wasn’t anyone to cover for me if I got sick– I’d still have to go in to work. But at least with a more physical type of vocation, I could keep moving and work up a sweat which would help, in most cases, to push the bug through my system faster. It would be miserable– but it would be quick. I think in most ways, having a more sedentary job allows the cold to linger longer and take it’s own sweet time leaving the body. All I know is that it’s moved into my lungs, and they’re already in bad shape from former bouts with bronchitis due to way too many years of smoking cigarettes, so it’s no picnic. (I quit smoking YEARS ago, and can’t even stand to smell cigarette smoke anymore. They say there’s no more militant anti-smoker than an EX-smoker– and that describes me. Just one of SO MANY stupid things I’ve done in my life).

Today’s BALTIMORE COMICON offering comes courtesy of Louie La Palombara III– and it’s of Edie, AKA U-GO GIRL from the late, lamented X-STATIX comic by Peter Milligan and Mike Allred. I really like this character (as did so many X-STATIX fans) and it’s the first time I’ve gotten to draw her. I think of all the commissions I did in Baltimore, this one is my favorite. So a public THANK YOU! to Louie for taking the time to scan in the piece and email me the file.

OK– back to work for me.

Mike

Well, I spent the weekend on my back shivering, coughing, sneezing and blowing my nose. Yep– I caught one hell of a cold from SOMEONE in Baltimore. A phenomenon in recent years at comic book shows is that everyone I sign comics for or sketch something for wants to shake hands (not just with ME– all the comics professionals I talk to have noticed it) . I’ve always figured it could lead to a cold like this–but I guess I’ve been lucky until now. I was feeling just a bit shaky on Friday when I went to the gym to work out– and by the time I got home, my sinuses were scratchy and I was blowing my nose even more than usual (I’ve always had rather runny sinuses, but this is ridiculous!). By Saturday morning, I could barely get out of bed– and that was just to go downstairs and lay on the couch all day. I went through an entire roll of paper towels blowing my nose on Saturday alone. Why paper towels and not tissues? They were nearby and I was feeling too wiped to even get up to go get something softer.

Sunday wasn’t much better– but today I’m feeling like I’m starting to come out of it. I haven’t been this hard hit by a cold in a long time. Hell, I can’t even remember the last time I even HAD a cold. But this has only served to set me even further behind in my deadlines on FF. I don’t know how I’m going to make it–but I’ll find a way.

Here’s another commission from BALTIMORE COMICON. Thanks to Russ Anderson for sending me the scan!

Mike

Over the next few entries, I’m going to post some of the sketch commissions that I did for folks at the BALTIMORE COMICON. For the first time, I asked some of the people I did sketches for to send me scans so I might be able to include them in an eventual sketchbook I’d like to put together. Several of the fine folks I asked to send me scans did so with some nice, high-rez files.

This first one is of SUPERGIRL. My thanks to David Wray for (one) commissioning it and (two) sending me the scan.

See you next time.

Mike