This is the end, the end of our story...

At long last, the ending of volume 1

5,000 HITS!!

Last night I topped 5,000 hits since I started counting. Thanks everybody!

Merry Boxing Day!!

And a Happy New Year.

New pages with dialogue...

Here are pages 26 and 27 with dialogue! The book is now available online, and it should be shipping any day now!

Final 3 Pages!!

Here are the final 3 pages of the story without dialogue. Don't forget to order your copy of the book from IndyPlanet: http://www.indyplanet.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=667&osCsid=552c07183defe51aeb95fad6c5557726 They make great Christmas gifts!

In celebration of my new book!

Yup. Here's the next 2 pages.

Get 'em While They're Hot!!

Much the Miller's Son Volume #1 is available to order from Indy Planet right now! This includes the entire 36 page story, including the 11 page ending which has never been posted in full online! There's also a gallery section with original art from Rebecca Dart, Mike Myher, Kenny Park and Colin Jack, a watercolour cover by Ted Wilson, and a sketchbook section full of unpublished drawings from the original series pitch! A bargain at twice the price! Here's the link!

http://www.indyplanet.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=667&osCsid=552c07183defe51aeb95fad6c5557726

Weekend update

Here's the next 2 pages. The book is in the hands of the printers. I hope to have copies in my hands some time in the next 2 weeks or so.

More previews!

Here's a couple more pages without the dialogue. I'm almost ready to send away to the printers!

Here's the next 2 pages without the dialogue. I'll post 2 a week until the book comes out. I won't put up the dialogue until after the book comes out though. I need to give everyone a reason to buy it!

Preview panels

I couldn't resist. Here are some rough panels from upcoming pages. None of these are in sequence, and they come from different pages, so don't expect them to make sense.

Page 25! This will be the last new page for a while. I have to knuckle down and finish the book. I want to have it available for sale in time for Christmas, so time is getting short.

Much in print!!

Check this out! My friend Ted Wilson gave me this artwork this morning. It's the cover for the complete Much the Miller's Son comic, available (hopefully) in December!

Page 24

Just 12 pages left!

Proof of my (covert) celebrity

Here are the photos of my drawing found in Powell's, North America's largest bookstore in Portland, Oregon. Here's the original post: http://whadiwannablogfor.blogspot.com/2006/11/hp-lovecraft.html

Page 23

At last some action! This is where things really start to pick up. Only 13 pages left in the whole story! By the way, this was done with my fancy new brush. What do you think?

Post-it doodles

Just breaking in my fancy new brush. It's a Pentel pocket-brush which takes India ink cartridges and has synthetic bristles. It's quite a step up from the crappy felt brush pens I used to use. Expect my strip to look a lot nicer from now on. Herbert the Duck and Marvin the Dragon are characters from Lewis Trondhiem's brilliant Dungeon series. The dude with the scissors is the nameless Snipper-Sniper from Kazimir Strzepek's The Mourning Star.

Page 22

Here it is at long last. You may have noticed a redesign on Marion. I've gone back and redrawn her in all the previous strips, and I'll upload the revisions later. Also page 19-20 has been redrawn, if you go back and look. I'm preparing the strip for a complete edition which I hope to have available in December.

Last weekend in Portland

Well, I was hoping to get some photos from my friend to post, but oh well...

I had a great time in Portland. The Stumptown Comics Fest is a great place to rub elbows with the best underground and small press cartoonists on the west coast. I was lucky enough to meet Mike Allred, Matt Wagner, and Shane Glines. I also got some great new sketches from Kazimir Strzepek, Farel Darlymple, Coleen Coover, Camilla d'Errico, Joseph Bergin III, and Matt Wagner and Shane Glines, among others. I traded my Much comics for lots of great stuff, and bought some cool comics like A Conversation by James Kochalka and Craig Thompson, and The Marquis: Danse Macabre, by Guy Davis.

I was hoping to run into Brandon Grahame in Portland, but no luck. I did meet Al Columbia though! And I was at a party with Peter Bagge and Joe Sacco! I didn't recognize Mr. Sacco until after I had left the party, so I didn't get to meet him, which sucked.

Another highlight was Powells, the biggest independent bookstore in North America. It's huge, covering nearly a city block. I could spend a week in there. But this is the really cool part; in the Horror section, right at the top of the stairs, is a bookcase dedicated to H.P. Lovecraft stories. Right in the middle of the top shelf is a drawing of Cthulhu... It's MY DRAWING!! They must have got it from this very blog! I asked them to let me sign it, and when I get those photos from my friend, I'll post them up here.

So that was my weekend in Portland, and the reason there was no comic strip last week.

Steve

Armour studies

I love the way metal looks when you ink with a brush. As a historical note, these drawings are based on armour from the late-13th to mid-14th centuries, a hundred years or so after Robin Hood was supposed to have lived. As if anybody cares.

In lieu of a new strip...

an illustration.

No comic this week

Sorry guys, no comic this week. I was in Portland, Oregon all weekend at the Stumptown Comics Festival. I'll upload all my news about it soon.

Steve

Page 21!

Children's story sketches

Here is some development art for a comic I'm planning to do for my son, Daniel. I'll be starting it in the new year, after the first 'Much' arc winds up.

Page 19-20

Here's a double page spread for you all!

You say it's your birthday...

Yup. It's my 30th today. Seeing as I'm so old now, I'm gonna take the night off and do the next Much strip tomorrow. I just can't keep up the same pace as I did when I was in my twenties. Cartooning's a young man's game. Boy, when I was a kid we didn't have these newfangled 'blog-a-ma-whatsits' with their weekly updating and their 'j-pigs'. Etc., etc., etc.,

Page 18

Page 17

Better late than never...

Page 16

The Comix and Stories con here in Vancouver was great! I sold out of comics, and I got to meet Farel Darlymple, Steve Rolston and Corey Lewis (among others)! Also listen for my radio interview on Inkstuds coming soon.

Pg15

Moving right along....

Pg 14

Here it is at last...

Fan art entries

This first entry comes from my good pal Tom Pajak. Not only does he manage to improve upon a beloved Maxfield Parrish painting, but he incorporates an important element of all truly great fan art--creepy eroticism. Cheers Tom.

This next entry is a delightful surprise from the desk of renowned comics visionary, Rob Liefeld. He was kind enough to sign it as well, proving once and for all that he can in fact write his own name.

Fan art!

Hey look! This is the front page of my own personalized copy of Tony Cliff's magnificent comic book Delilah Dirk and the Treasure of Constantinople. Jealous? You should be! But you can get your own copy by contacting Tony yourself at http://www.tonycliff.com .

More importantly though, this represents the first official piece of Much fan art! In celebration of this fact, I would like to extend an invitation to all you artistically gifted readers (I know you're out there!) to submit your own Much related artwork. I'll put up a copy of my freshly printed Much comic book as a prize for the best contributions.

Let the drawing commence!!

Steve

Page 13

I was originally going to do a more R-rated version of this,

but I changed my mind.

Page 12

PAGE 12!!!!

Page 11

Hey everybody! Here's the latest.

Page 10

Finally! Sorry for the delay.