Dead White & Blue Comics update

As some of you are aware Wandering Sage Press has given me the green light to proceed with a graphic novel based on my popular "Dead White & Blue" series of paintings. Which is greater than great. The downside: Now I gotta learn to write!

I now have the Dead White & Blue MySpace page up: www.myspace.com/deadwhiteandblue. This is where I'll be posted the bulk of update materials, promo art and cool stuff.

Speaking of art, I have found an extraordinary artist that just happens to live down the road from me to do the pencils and inks, Russell Runion. (www.myspace.com/freakelite). Now some of you may ask "But Billy, you are the greatest artist to walk the mortal Earth. Why would you have another artist do what you do best?".

Her are the top 3 reasons:
3. I don't have time. I've several projects going on and writing AND drawing a graphic novel is just not in the cards. Too much stress.
2. I'm not really into doing sequential or storyboard art. I've tried it and I've found I prefer not to do it.
1. My artistic style isn't what I envisioned for this project. When I first began to work on this in earnest I knew from the get go that my biggest obstacle, other than writing an entertaining story, would be to find an artist that actually got what I am trying to accomplish. I had a general idea of what I wanted this to look like and I coudn't pull that out of my ass. Luckily I crossed paths with Russell. Even luckier still he lives near me. Thank God for MySpace.

Keep in mind that I didn't want this to just be a vehicle to showcase my art. I've seen excellent artists take on such endeavors, i.e. graphic novels, movies, etc, just as another way to force their art onto the buying public. I've also seen very few pull this off successfully. For me, the project itself is the art as I think you will see when it's completed. But do not fear, citizens. I will be doing the cover and I have a few surprises in store for the interior.

I also didn't want this to be a way to force my political beliefs down your throats. Even though the subject would be the perfect vehicle for that it isn't what my art is about. I feel art should be an escape from reality. Not a reflection of it. When you read Dead White & Blue Comics I want you to forget about all the real life horrors going on just outside your windows and be transfixed by the horrors transpiring in the pages you're holding in your sweaty little mitts.

This project will be an entire package that encompasses several genres. You like zombies? Got 'em. You like superheroes? Got 'em. How about action heroes? Got 'em. Mad scientists? Got 'em. Aliens? Got 'em. Got a thing for hot German chicks dressed in leather and high heeled knee boots? Got them too.

Having a lifelong love for B-horror movies, cutting my teeth on 70s comic books and having a generally disfunctional and at times erratic outlook on life should give me all the inspiration I need to create the second greatest story ever told.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Billy