nothing much....just chillin'

Good morning,

nothing really new to report. Just wanted to mention that Darwyn will be at the Mini Megacon in Orlando this weekend and the following weekend, he'll be at the FanExpo in Toronto. I haven't gotten any info as to his specific schedule yet so check with the respective convention sites or newsletters.

For those of you non-artists (like me!) out there, I'll be doing a giveaway for some copies of the Parker artbook starting in September. Details will be announced first week of September. I think it will be a postcard deal where you get an entry by mailing in a postcard with a picture of your city or town on it. Stay tuned!

go look!

Jonah Hex covers at the DCU blog!

Word from the man

So where to begin? I suppose I'll start with the thank yous. As you folks may or may not know, The Hunter has been successful beyond our expectations and we're already into a second printing. Thank you to all the readers out there-you're the ones who've shown us that the Parker series is something viable and with three more books to go, it's full stream ahead.

The big thanks today go to Calum and all the kids at Strange Adventures. The blog and things like this contest take a lot of time to manage, and they rule my world. Saludos!

On to the Fabulous Draw Parker Contest. Wow. When Cal and I floated this idea, we thought there might be half a dozen entries. Like the response to the book, the contest took off in ways we couldn't have imagined. 46 entries, is it?

I'm sincerely floored by the effort and talent on display here, and can't thank you folks enough for the almost daily treat of seeing a new entry on the blog.

When I saw all the work on display, I really couldn't let anyone go away empty handed- hence the prizes for all y'all (except my friends and pros ha ha. They get nothing but my love).

I can't rant about all the entries, but I did want to talk a bit about our top five.
First, remember these were picked for their unique take-there are dozens of beautiful pieces in the contest but these five floated my boat personally.

#1 winner is Scott Brothers
Scott's Fred Flintstone/Bill Wray-esque mash up stole my heart. Add the art direction and spot on typography for the cover and this is an authentic looking 60s retro winner.


#2 is Brandon Parker
This is an amazing piece when you get over giggling. In some eerie way it captures the emotional dislocation of the Parker world better than anything I've ever seen.


#3 is Ben (two-tone) Jeddrie
This is simply wicked bad. Brilliant design and composition married to one of the famous opening lines that Stark wrote so well.


#4 is Warwick Johnson Cadwell
Warwick's funky take on the running thief sucked me in with it's spare and honest technique. The angle and composition add an odd sense of grace to Parker.


#5 is Ethen Beavers
Ethan rocked me with his bold-ass composition and fearless type layout. Great, confident brushwork.

So there we go. Thanks again, Parker readers. Marsha and I will drop off the prizes at Cal's this week. I hope to see some of you over the next few weeks on the con circuit. Finally, special thanks to my pal Brian MacLachlan for his Jesus comes to Malibu take on Parker. It was too late for the contest, but even with his wedding and honeymoon happening, he chipped in a great image. Thanks pal!

Dar

winnahs, Parker 2nd printing and more

here you go, the winners of the Draw Parker! contest as chosen by Darwyn. I'll be mailing out the prizes as soon as Darwyn gets them to me, hopefully next week.



and speaking of Parker, the first printing of The Hunter has sold out from IDW and a second printing should be hitting stores in September. There are still copies of the first edition available at some retail bookstores so get'em while they last.

Herve Duphot sent along this nice note:

***************
Bonjour,
J'ai beaucoup de retard pour les illustrations sur Parker mais comme j'ai vu que vous les acceptiez quand même pour les mettre sur le blog, j'ai le plaisir de vous envoyer la mienne.
Je suis fan du travail de darwyn et j'ai vu que c'était vous l'encreur alors même que je surfais sur vos sites sans le savoir ;-)

Je ne sais pas si vous parlez français alors j'essaie de traduire ;-(

I know it's too late to send my drawing for the Parker Contest, but i'll be happy to be on your Darwyn Cooke's blog. I'm a great fan. And i discovered that you were his inker after having often surfed on your personnal blogs.
So i join my drawing even though i don't know yet Parker in France.

PS : I try to be a french comics drawner ;-) Darwyn is a great inspiration for me.

My blog : bradasse.canalblog.com

Thanks



***************
I don't know where Herve got the impression I was an inker, but I've straightened him out. I'm a felicitous facilitator in the best of times and a comic book hustler the rest.

Talk to you folks later!
I'm off to clean the garage! (*whoosh!*)

upcoming conventions

August 22-23rd Mini-MegaCon Orlando

August 28-30 Toronto FanExpo

September 4-7 DragonCon Hotlanta

September 18-20 Monteal ComicCon

and I should have the Draw Parker! results uploaded on Friday. Sorry for the delay!

Parker Halifax book launch! Awesome!!

we interrupt the usual blatherings by me to bring you this report:

Thursday August 6 Cal and the gang at Strange Adventures hosted the Halifax launch of The Hunter. It was stellar. There was a great turnout and I think everyone had fun. We had a great time.

Darwyn and I live in the middle of nowhere, so any evening trip into the city is a hassle, but Cal took care of everything and booked us a pet friendly hotel. We arrived at our swanking room with pooches in tow, brought them for a little walk around Citadel Hill and then made our way to the party. You might recognize one of these pooches from Wednesday Comics issue 1.



Tiina and Rachelle booked us into a place that was hotter than Hades, but that just made for more drinking and less clothing. The Frigate looks like a ship inside, with full masts and sails, with a large mural of Halifax Harbour. They didn't have air conditioning in 1813 so neither does the Frigate. Cal was stylin' as usual and there was even a special guest appearance by fellow Haligonian Steve McNiven. Yeah that guy. He and Darwyn don't get to see each other much - Marvel makes Steve work 20 hours days or something. Steve didn't stay long - back to the drawing board for him.



The evening started off slowly, with people melting into seats and after a little while the beer kicked in and people were getting to know each other. Darwyn mingled and tried to talk to everyone for a bit, then he got to the signing. People were coming up with multiple copies, copies for friends that were away, or for gifts. Hooray! Cal did a limited edition bookplate (which you can order from Strange Adventures) Tiina and Dave set up shop with debit even! Well done team! Wow I like exclamation marks! Special mention goes to Rachelle from livingbetweenwednesdays.com who was supposed to co-host the evening and did help organize it but was ill and couldn't make it last night. I think she went to the AC/DC concert instead but who is to say......Get well soon, you were missed.


Earlier in the day I had read on the twitter that Faith Erin Hicks (@smuu) was nervous about meeting Darwyn so I, of course, called her on it when she shyly came up to have her book signed. War at Ellsmere is one of my favourite books so I think of her as a famous comic artist. It's great for teenage girls (let's say 11 and up). Totally my reading level. I don't see a lot comics that girls can read that aren't stupid. Most young people I know are girls so Faith (and Hope Larson) are staples at my house. You can add some of their work to your order from Strange Adventures too LOL. Throw in a copy of Last Resort, that's an awesome comic by Palmiotti/Gray and a cool artist who's name I don't know. There are boobies so not for kids.

After all the books were signed we did the drawing for the door prizes - copies of the Parker sketch book. I got to do the draw and strangely enough mostly people I knew won. I didn't cheat but it was odd. Darwyn then handed out more prizes - advance reader copies of The Hunter, some Parker-T-shirts and some more art books. Darwyn says the funnest part of the night for him was having multiple women fanning him as he drew.

We stuck around for about an hour afterwards, chatting with everyone and teasing Ben (two-tone) and his super awesome girlfriend. We met Laura Kenins from The Coast who had just written a nice article about Darwyn - the ONLY Canadian newspaper to cover the book at all! The night drew to a close just as the temperature was getting tolerable, we walked back to the hotel, grabbed the ladies for a short walk and then ordered pizza. All in all, a great night was had.

Thanks again to Cal, Tiina, Rachelle, Dave and everyone else who helped out, everyone who showed up last night AND most of all thanks to everyone who has supported the book so far.

over and out
Marsha
**********************
we now return you to your regularly scheduled programme.....

Next week! The winners of the Draw Parker contest!
Have a great weekend and read more comics!

one more Parker and a party in Halifax

Hiya, folks,

Sorry it's been so quiet here for the past week. Darwyn's been in San Diego and I have just been snowed under with work. We'll have the winners of the Draw Parker contest announced in the next couple of days. Stay tuned! In the meantime, the very awesome Brian McLachlan sent along this Parker drawing....
(the contest has closed, but if anyone has a drawing they didn't send in, feel free to do so! We'd love to see them!)



Brian's other work can be seen here and here. Thanks, Brian!

and if you're on the east coast of Canada this Thursday......



we're holding a launch party this Thursday, August 6th. More info here.