a mirror image... : KISS

Wizard World LA 2008 style

Jason Embury — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:12:00 GMT

headed out to the show today, some last minute prep here then I'm off to sign some books and network and what not for a few days. Strangely enough, I'm thinking 3 or 4 days of sleeping in and not doing ANYTHING are actually more attractive right now. But I'm sure that will change once I get going and start doing things out there.

I've got 2 scheduled signings on Saturday at the show, Hero by Night signing is at noon with creator and buddy DJ Coffman, and then the KISS 4K signing is at 1pm right afterwards with artist Tone Rodriguez and fellow colorist Nei Ruffino. Also I guess I'll be part of some digital draw off, painting competition that Wacom is setting up there over the weekend. I guess they are setting up 5-7 Cintiqs for display in our booth, and we'll be challenging competitors in some form of public humiliation and ridicule :D Actually, it sounds like fun. It'll be nice to play around on a Cintiq and have what I'm doing NOT have to see print or meet a deadline for once. Should be a good time for all.

Need to get cracking here, shooting a commercial today as soon as the plane gets there, and I need to double check what I'm wearing because as the assistant director pointed out to me on the phone last night at 12:30 am (which granted was only 9:30 his time) I can't wear white. So I've had to ditch the shepherd robes and go with something a bit more updated. I think I'll manage. Better make sure my iPod is loaded up and ready to go, that my phone is charged, and that I've got enough to keep me busy on a 4.5 hour plane ride today.

Wheeee! Picture from the show to come next week when I get to it.

a day at the comic shop

Jason Embury — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:58:00 GMT

this morning I took in a copy of the new Hero By Night hardcover trade, a new issue 1 of the ongoing HBN series, and a KISS 4K Kissmas special book into my local retailer. The guys there were impressed with the hardcover for sure. They were also super surprised to find out there was so much more HBN content online for FREE to go check out. So as I’m browsing through the racks I see that the ongoing HBN series has a NEW shelftag on it like many of the DC and Marvel books surrounding it, and I also see they only have 1 left. VERY cool. I continued my browsing, ended up just getting 4 books, stuff I think is fun, stuff that I thought looked good for one reason or another, but mostly, there is a lot of fluff and a lot of just plain crap on the shelf.

2 of my books were all ages books, Batman Strikes (which I first started buying when Jai Nitz wrote an issue for them-because Jai is a cool guy and gave me my very FIRST coloring gig) Spiderman: Back in Black (All Ages-which is like a big GN of Marvel Adventures stuff, and has Fred Van Lente-whose work I really dig-as one of the writers), Superman/Batman #44 (pretty much just for the colors, although after reading, the art work really grew on me, will have to add it to the very short must buy list for now) and an X-Men book, Emperor Vulcan or something (because again, I really like what Brian Reber and Raul Trevino did with the colors on this book) I’ll likely get a chance to read through them in the next week or two here. But geez…..300 books or something on the shelf, and only 4 caught my eye? I’m sure there are many more I would enjoy, but for me a comic is a complete package, if I’m not digging the ART, STORY, COLORS and the entire package, I’m not wasting my money on it. Maybe I’m too jaded in my older age of comic reading, or just too picky. Either way, I’m finding that getting singles every month is a harder thing to do for me as a comic book fan, than just buying trade collections of the stuff that is GOOD.

So I need to get myself in GEAR today, go shave, get a little work done before I have to go pick the kids up from school and then JUMP on work when I get home here. Lots of good coloring to go do the rest of the week (although I might skate off on Friday for a bit with the wife in the morning to go grocery shopping and whatnot before the holidays set in for real next week) Rule number 13 in life should be, “Only read GOOD comics”. that is all.

Happy Days.

Jason Embury — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:05:00 GMT

So yesterday I got 4 boxes worth of comp copies in here, 2 boxes of the hardcover collected trade of the original Hero By Night mini-series, a box of the first issue of the new ongoing Hero By Night comic, and a box of the KISS 4K KISSmas special one-shot. I'm going to run through my thoughts on them real quick here.

Hardcover HBN trade- Where to start. This is admittedly my very first trade collection, or graphic novel, of any kind. Thus I was prepared to be critical, as I always am when I see any of my work in print. What I wasn't prepared for when I cracked open that first case of books yesterday, was to be COMPLETELY blown away by how awesome it looks. I have several hardcover collections already from Marvel and from DC, and I've seen countless others on shelves in comic shops and at conventions. This HBN hardcover not only stands up there right next to anything DC or Marvel has done, but it surpasses a lot of trades that are out there. I know that the ONLY collected work I own that is nicer, was the oversized Absolute Batman HUSH hardcover that DC put out, complete with that thick black cardboard slipcase and dust jacket. The gold foil HBN logo is NOT obnoxious at all on this thing, and neither are the blue foil flames. The printing and design of the spine of the book is great, and will look wonderful on my shelf of books. The interior page design and layout is spectacular. Zach Pennington, and everyone over at Platinum Studios, REALLY, TRULY, did everything in their power to make this book beautiful. Zach's design work is wonderful. They even included a cover gallery of all the covers from the original series without any text or logos on them, and used a previously never before seen version of the issue 4 cover that didn't make the final cut. Very cool stuff to see all in one package like that. A nice introduction by DJ at the front of the book, of course the 5 pages of extra epilogue content we did just for this edition, creator bios, and a great ad for our ongoing series. Kudos to everyone involved in putting out such a great product are in order. DJ and I work hard to not only deliver great work each issue, but we're continually pushing each other to do better. I really feel that is evident from the time you turn the first page of this book, until you get to the last page of the epilogue. It's only getting better, and I'm extremely energized and excited to see this all come together in such a fantastic way.

Hero By Night #1 (ongoing series)- This won't count as one of the first official reviews since I'm biased. But, this book looks even better than just about any of the pages from the mini-series. Lots of reasons I think for that, going back to how hard I think DJ and I push each other to get better, and how hard we push OURSELVES to not settle for good enough but to strive for maybe one day approaching something that resembles really GREAT work. Thinking back, just doing pages, and more pages, and then doing webcomic work, and more webcomic work, and more pages over the last year, we've started to really become comfortable with working in the world of Hero By Night, and it's starting to show. When you turn the cover and stare at page one I think you become IMMEDIATELY immersed in this new book. Starting with page 1 and continuing through page 4, you're looking at this huge fight scene between HBN and a LAVA MONSTER deep in the heart of a volcano. How cool is THAT? And if that wasn't enough action for you..well, one of the all time favorite characters from the Hero By Night webcomic, makes his first official debut in print. It's funny to think that characters makign their debut in an issue 1 already have a fan base, but with over 250 UNIQUE pages of full color work that we've done for the online webcomic in the last year, there is just this enormous backstory to this book already. Tons of characters and plot lines from the webcomic that ALL tie directly into the books that are being printed. I mean, there are now 110 pages of story in print, plus all the webcomic stuff....so what, close to 400 comic pages worth of material in about 12 1/2 months. DJ alludes to it in his intro to the trade collection, but what readers and fans and kids that have been following Hero By Night, or might just be picking it up for the first time, what everyone is seeing happen RIGHT NOW, is a new hero being born. Everyday for over a year I've spent a good deal of time, up to my eyeballs in Hero By Night. I'm making a living now using things that didn't exist when I first started reading comics, working on a superhero that wasn't around then either. But in the space of a year, there is so much story, history and nostalgia behind HBN, that it really feels like the character has been around forever. I'm proud to say that I'm a part of something that is probably much bigger than DJ or myself. These are stories that are telling themselves for the most part. What our job is artistically, and we've often times reminded each other of this fact, is to let the story tell itself, to do what is demanded by the characters on each page, to not take shortcuts for the sake of taking shortcuts (for evidence of that, look back to the original webcomic of the HBN journals, sometimes as much as 4 to 5 hours being put into a DAILY webcomic the NIGHT before it's supposed to be posted-and that's just on MY end) I think part of what makes HBN so special to me, is the fact that the creative team of DJ and myself both believe in the same type of things when it comes to storytelling, and producing comics. You don't dictate what goes down on the page, the story and characters do, it's up to YOU as a penciler, inker, or colorist, to do what is required of you by the story so that you add something to it, make it something more than just another comic page. You won't always succeed of course, but more often than not you'll end up with something you can be proud of and you'll know that you really have put your heart and soul into producing that page or book. When I look at this first issue, I can see vast improvements on both of our parts, and I can say with confidence that we have both put our souls into this book, and it shows. It may not be a book that is to everyone's taste, whether it be the story or the art, but it truly IS a book that is FOR everyone who loves comics and who loves superheroes.

KISS 4K: Merry KISSmas one-shot- not sure where to start with this book. A week ago almost to the day I got a phone call at 4 in the afternoon, and was asked how many pages I could color overnight, because the book had to be AT the printer the following morning. I'm not entirely sure they believed me when I said I could do 13 pages overnight. So after firmly stating I could, and convincing them that I wouldn't let them down, I proceeded to sit down at 5:30 pm and not get up from my workstation except for a bathroom break or to get more coffee until 11:45 am the next day. I worked straight through. I owe some shout outs to a few people that helped me along the way by flatting a few of my pages, and by FINDING me a reliable person to do 3 of the 6 pages I needed done at the VERY last minute in the WEE hours of the morning. So big thanks to Michael, Alex, Chris and Daniel. You guys rock. And you made me not only meet my deadline but look like a badass in the process :D Taking that into consideration, I really don't think that you can tell I did so much work in so little time. The pages look GREAT. Would I have made a few changes here or there if I had more time, you bet. But it turned out great, AND the book was NOT late. A large part of that is due to having wonderful line art supplied by Tone Rodriguez. It was written by THE Chuck Dixon, and I have to say, I laughed my butt off a few times while reading it. Chuck really paced this book out nicely, and it's really a great read. I would definitely recommend it for any KISS fan in your life, or for just a sheer fun read (since I colored the first few issues of the actual KISS 4K book, I will also say with confidence that this one-shot is a MUCH better read)

So to recap, the Hero By Night hardcover is GREAT, go buy one today, you can find them on ebay, you can buy them from the Platinum Store in a week or so, or you can have your local comic shop back order you one. The new ongoing HBN series kicks BUTT, so go get your hands on that as well, and make sure to check out the HBN webcomic where we've got an absolute TON of stuff for you to read for free. Have a Merry Kissmas, and all that jazz. I'm headed to make more coffee, grab a few sticks of incense to burn, and get my butt coloring this morning. If my new set of prismacolor markers come today in the mail, I plan on playing with those for a bit, and tonight, is buddy night with my son while the girls are out having fun. Which means playing some pool, darts, video games, popcorn, coke, and maybe some more episodes of Smallville.

Working hard or hardly working?

Jason Embury — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 17:25:00 GMT

well, a couple pics, a WHILE ago now I was here (see below) in Philly for Wizard World. A blur of a trip, but lots of fun nonetheless.

after I got back, finished our patio out back (pictures to come soon) baseball game for my son on Monday, softball game for my daughter on Tuesday, baseball again on Wednesday, had some bad things happen in the REAL world this week as well, and of course...coloring. and more coloring, not to mention administrative stuff and marketing stuff for Big City Comics. My copies of KISS 4K number 2 came on Friday, and surpisingly, they look fantastic (all things considered) So last night, after a LONG day coloring, and my daughter having her first boy/girl pool party, what does my wife do when she comes in the studio at around midnight and asks that I turn down my music......doesn't WAKE ME UP, but instead, takes a nice picture of what I look like after an 18 hour day, and being wiped out from allergy meds. You can say I'm either working HARD, or hardly working, and both would be an apt assessment of what's actually going on here :D Need to remember to take my camera to Chicago and Orlando (and Baltimore if we do end up hitting that show as well)

down time

Jason Embury — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 16:35:00 GMT

working my way through a small lull right now, watching a lot of Smallville with my son, and generally not working much more than 7 or 8 hour days the last week (and the weekends off) That’s all going to change rather quickly, probably starting this weekend unfortunately. Pages are starting to roll in for 2 books due before the end of May, and I have even more pages from another side project to work on as well.

People are saying good things about Hero By Night #2 though, Blake Petit over at Comixtreme.com made it the Pick of the Week this week, here’s what he had to say,
“In a week full of solid comics, but nothing truly mind-blowing, selecting a favorite was actually quite a chore. After much soul-searching, deliberation, meditation, prayer and Cool Ranch-flavored Doritos, I’ve decided this week’s trophy goes to Hero By Night #2. D.J. Coffman and Jason Embury’s miniseries about a guy who finds the hidden cache of a long-lost hero is original, refreshing, and a lot of fun. If you’re looking for a new look at superheroes without the doom and gloom, but with plenty of excitement and adventure, check out Hero By Night.”
It’s really energizing to get good reviews and recognition for such a fun, all ages book. Both DJ’s kids and my own are absolutely bonkers over HBN, to the point of bugging every day to know what happens next, when does the next issue come out….it’s great to see that kind of excitement in kids under 10. That’s exactly how I used to feel about comics when I was little. There is more Hero By Night news to share soon, but I’m waiting to clear up a few details first I think before I share how MUCH more news there is precisely.

Off to get working on some pages from KISS 4K issue 2 right now, while I ponder how rainy days suck the energy right out of you.

I told you so.

Jason Embury — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 13:16:00 GMT

I did. I was hiding out, mostly. wrapped up colors on Hero By Night #3 last night. whew…what a blur of a week. the next two days are kind of packed to, but nothing quite as pressing. I’ve got a really, REALLY, REALLY cool cover to color for Todd over at New Dimension comics. It’s this amazing Ron Frenz Spiderman cover that Todd had done for him that is a recreation of Amazing Spiderman 252 (the first appearance of the black outfit Spidey in AMS) where Spidey is holding onto two guys (one which happens to be Todd himself) So I’m doing a traditional version, to match as close as possible the original AMS 252 cover, and one where I’m going to tweak it out and do my own thing with a full on rendered up modern version. Then, I’ve got some other pages from another project to get started on. Then a pirate themed bedroom that the wife and I are painting for my son this weekend, then need to get started on pages for KISS 4K issue #2 next Monday. Not that I’m abandoning my poor little blog, just that I’m finding the time to spill my thoughts is evaporating slowly as I move into a very busy summer full of work. Stay tuned true believers, because I WILL be sharing both versions of this Frenz cover when I’m done though, and we all know that you absolutely cannot miss anything related to Spiderman in his black costume (easily MY favorite Spidey outfit)

Wizard World LA report, through tired eyes...

Jason Embury — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:52:00 GMT

Well, I'm back. Wizard World LA was both an absolute BLAST, and at the same time extremely overwhelming I think. There were some great things, like meeting, talking to, and hanging out with all the wonderful people who work at Platinum Studios and the Drunkduck.com website, and then there was the horrendous parking situation on Sunday, the long lines and general disgusting, filthy nature of the LAX airport, at least the parts I was in (not that airports are the most sanitary places, but landing back in Detroit at Metro airport made that place seem like a PALACE in comparison)

I'm going to forget some names, and MAYBE even get some wrong, as I'm still fairly exhausted and I think my body is a bit worn down after all the travelling, but it was especially nice talking to Scott Rosenberg (a very gracious, and fun guy, who you can tell loves talking comics and entertainment with you out of the same deep seeded enthusiasm and excitment that most comic creators have) Dan Forcey (who reminds me of a cousin of mine, extremely laid back, intelligent, down to earth and fun, real easy to talk to) Ann and Karlee (hope I spelled that right) both very high energy women with a wondeful energy for comics and everything drunkduck.com related, Matt (a VERY cool guy so I HOPE that I am remembering his name correctly, who basically organized the show for Platinum, worked his ass off, and showed DJ and I around the Platinum offices Sunday night on our way to the airport, and rightly deserved to sleep and be a couch potato on his day off yesterday) Jim, Howard, Randy, Brian...I know I'm forgetting some people but it's seriously from a general sense of tiredness and exhaustion.
So what went down? a LOT. probably more than I can fit in here in the space and time I have today. I'll share a few pictures though. I do have to get coloring the last 4 pages of HBN 2 in the next day or two after all.

this is what it was all about, one of many kids with their parents that came up and picked up the HBN comic. Kids generally seemed to go absolutely NUTS over the book and the character and as DJ can attest most likely, that is an AMAZING feeling. Now we know it's not just OUR kids that love HBN. :)

Yeah, there were morning where I was THAT tired. 20 hour days leading UP TO the flight and convention probably lent themselves to my state of perpetual exhaustion, but we really had a great time.

The KISS 4K Destroyer edition. Yeah, it really was THAT big that I couldn't get it in the shot with all the backdrop stuff. It was impressive, the books were all hand cut and hand stitched as well, which just boggles my mind.

The Hero's Wall is what I'm calling this. Oversized movie posters of various covers and pinups from Hero By Night, the WWLA exclusive cover, the HBN WEBCOMIC pinup that we did to wrap up David Day's first year as a hero, the cover to issue 4 and 3 respectively.

The Golden Apple Comics booth. Run by the amazing staff of Golden Apple comics, who were all very organized, polite, and enthusiastic the entire weekend. They probably don't hear it enough by half, but I truly appreciated the hardwork and effort they put in to handling their booth, and the Hero By Night and KISS 4K signings and everything. It was no small task, and they all did a fabulous job, thanks to everyone there.

DJ Coffman standing behind the welcome desk in the entry way at the Platinum Studios offices. A seriously cool place.

Platinum's office building, there offices comprise the ENTIRE 14th floor of the building, and were just as sleek and modern inside as the building is outside.

one of MANY areas in their offices where all the magic goes on behind the scenes. Covered in comics is a great way to describe the entire place. Everywhere you look, there is comic booky goodness. It has to be the single coolest looking office I've ever seen (and I've worked in plenty of advertising, marketing and design places) of course, that's the comic book GEEK in me too, but seriously....the place is simply AWESOME.

so, that's it for now, time to get into my day here and get cracking on some more coloring. Hopefully by tomorrow or Thursday I'll have things back to normal around here, and be feeling 100%. What a trip. Oh and before I forget, while I was gone my issue of Imagine FX magazine came in the mail, nice little half page write up about KISS and their new comic, me and there is also some cool Hero By Night art published in there as well. Be sure to check out the magazine if you haven't before, a great Mike Mignola interview is featured in there this month as well.

Wizard World Los Angeles Appearance March 16th-18th

Jason Embury — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 02:36:00 GMT

I'm going to be in LA this coming weekend, for the debut of the KISS 4K destroyer edition, the Guiness World Record ceremony for the book, as well as the debut of our first issue of Hero By Night (with a special WWLA variant cover limited to 1000 copies) I'll be in artist alley, tables 2208-2212 (one of those is going to be an 8ft table devoted to Hero By Night, not sure which one though) Also I'll be appearing at the Golden Apple Comics booth at various times over the 3 days to do signings and hob nob with fans. Our table is right next to all the drunkduck.com creators, because in case no one is reading the Hero By Night prequel webcomic that we've been running daily for the last 5 months leading up to the release of the print book, it has become the number one comic on their site of over 3000 comics. So if you happen to be in town, stop by and say hi. I don't make it out to THAT many conventions, especially ones on the West Coast, so it would be cool to meet people that I've worked with or conversed with, or to meet any fans of the webcomic and HBN (and even any of you KISS fans out there too :) ) in person if you happen to be hanging out. Hope to see those of you that can make it there.

New KISS comic book coming in May!

Jason Embury — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 13:20:00 GMT

Whew...a bit behind the times it seems. The news of legendary rock band KISS returning to comics with a new book, a new comic division, and a partnership with Platinum Studios seems to have broken last week. I of course have been locked away in my studio the majority of the past week working on a plethora of other projects, and trying to wrap up a few of them shortly here. So, without further ado, I can now officially mention that I will be the colorist on the new KISS 4K comic book. The comic hits in May, regular sized for 3.99 (32-40 pages so a bit longer than your standard comic) BUT, the BIGGEST news is that at Wizard World LA, which I will also be attending, KISS will be debuting the book as a collectors item, Guiness World Record breaking largest comic EVER. 30 inches high by 18 inches wide, the Destroyer edition of the book, will also featured some AMAZING painted pages by the talened Kevin Crossley. Here's a sneak peek at one of the promo images being released which I colored Starchild for.

now, back to coloring my butt off. I've got a bunch of RPG cards to color, and a few to do all the artwork on as well in the next couple of weeks. Important news to come as it unfolds (like when we finally get our basement at a point where it can be called complete....looking forward to getting that 8 foot slab of slate set up and playing some pool before too long here)