The "game changer" - St. Michael's Promise

During a recent interview, I let slip the title of my "game changer" book.

So after months of my teasing, you now you know the title. Here are some pages I was working on last week.



Stay tuned for more info :)

Best,
Mike

Comic Twart art available

Hey all!

I'm going to be offering some new art for sale in the coming weeks, including the stuff from Comic Twart.



Last week's BATMAN art is available here.

Best,
Mike

Free Comic Book Day 2010!

It's been a few years since I did a FCBD signing, so it's high time I get back into the swing! This year I'll be at Lancaster PA's 'The Comic Store'!

Here's an interview for the event. (Ooops, they also seem to have let slip the title of my "game changer" book for Vertigo! ;)

If you're in the area, swing by and say Hi. It's in lovely Lancaster City, right across from the train station. I'll be on hand from 1pm till 4pm, and will have some sneak preview art for my Vertigo book, FEAR AGENT and maybe even CONAN!

The Comic Store
28 East McGovern Avenue
Lancaster, PA 17602-1923
(717) 397-8737

best,
Mike

PS - Photo by Roxanne Todd, for the Lancaster Sunday News.

Comic Twart art blog, Batman!

Posted my piece for BATMAN week over on Comic Twart. Check out the pencils below.

best,
Mike

Knock out

One of the five commissions I allotted time for last week as part of my experiment in doing commissions at home. Had a great time with these, although I don't know when I'll be able to squeeze any new ones into my schedule. Still, thanks to everyone who asked and sorry if I had to turn you down because I ran out of time.

best,
mike

100 followers!

100 awesome, fantastic, amazing people following the blog! Thank you so much! Here's to all of you! :)

Best,
Mike

A CONAN sized cat is out of the bag!

Remember when I posted about how I was sketching CONAN for"fun"? Yeah, well, that wasn't the whole story. :)

It was announced at Chicago's C2E2 convention and on the comics/entertainment news site CBR.com that Roy Thomas and I will be taking over Conan in the near future, starting with issue 25.



For those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Thomas, he's the guy that first brought CONAN to comics forty years ago! He did a LOT of other work in comics too :)

We haven't started just yet, as I'm still wrapping up Fear Agent and my secret Vertigo graphic novel. But I'm excited and honored to get to work on CONAN, and specifically with Mr. Thomas!

Best,
Mike

Knights Templar

This reminds me of my old illustration days. Got the chance to do an illustration to accompany a piece about the fall of the Knights Templar, and their connection to the superstition of the number 13 being unlucky. I love working in comics, but it's nice getting to flex these muscles a bit.

This will be in an upcoming issue of the great Mice Templar comic. More on the series here.

Enjoy,
Mike

Pre-order Fear Agent #28

(above cover to Fear Agent #28, by series co-creator Tony Moore)

If you follow the blog you know I'm penciling the last arc of the much beloved Sci Fi adventure comic, Fear Agent. Well, the first issue of that arc is up for pre-order.

Here is the solicitation:

FEAR AGENT #28: OUT OF STEP #1 (of 5)

Rick Remender (W), Mike Hawthorne (P), Tony Moore (P/Cover), and John Lucas (I)

On sale July 28
FC, 32 pages
$3.50
Miniseries

Heath Huston is mortally injured. His family, all of humanity, has been totally consumed, amalgamated by Tetaldian robotic conquerors. There is no hope. So who will save the asses of the universe this time? A drink is poured, a rocket ship ignited, and a cigar lit—a new Fear Agent will rise.

Four super champions of sci-fi pulp—Rick Remender, Mike Hawthorne, Tony Moore, and John Lucas—reunite, one final time, one final drink. Also includes a special Tales of the Fear Agent by legendary creator Hilary Barta!

• 32 FULL pages of COMIC-BOOK ACTION!


The final tale of the last Fear Agent begins here!

***

We've all be working hard on this series trying to give it the love it deserves for the final story. I'm proud to be working on this thing, and hope you all decide to check it out.

Ask your local comic shop to order Fear Agent for you, and thanks for your support :)

Best,
mike

PS - If you want more info on this book, series writer and co-creator Rick Remender did an interview on it recently. Check it out.

Comic Twart art blog, Jonny Quest's DR. ZIN

This week's pick over on Comic Twart is Jonny Quest. I chose to focus on the Quest gang's main villian - Dr. Zin.

Enjoy :)

Mike

Game Changer VI

More sneak peeks from my "Game Changer" book. I'm hoping Vertigo will make a formal announcement soon, where I can at least say what the ACTUAL title of the book is ;)

Check out past previews for this book.

Enjoy!

Mike

The Outdoorsman

Did this little commission from Pat Hoover, creator of The Outdoorsman. I gotta say this character is a hell of a lot of fun!

If you dig monsters and webcomics you should seriously check The Outdoorsman out. Great, Monster killin' fun :)

best,
Mike

Sketching barbarians

Felt like sketching a certain barbarian..you know, for fun.



Enjoy.

Mike

Fear Agent on CBR pt. II

Rick did an interview about the final arc of Fear Agent over on CBR, with a few finished art previews. Swing over and check it out.




And tell your friends :)

Best,
Mike

PS - Check out previous Fear Agent posts here. Lots of art!

ARCHIE & the GANG

Last week's Comic Twart subject was ARCHIE & his gang. Here's the piece I posted.

To be honest I was going to skip this week, as I didn't think I had any good ideas for the ARCHIE gang. Then it hit me, I could reinvent the comic as a prison drama :)

There's a made up back story here, and a bit of an expansion on Andy Kuhn brilliant piece. Teen age pregnancy caused Archie's life to start to slide into the wrong direction. Veronica, coming from a wealthy family, was pressured into an abortion. Betty gave birth to Archie Junior. Archie would have to skip college, and take menial jobs to get by. Reggie would rub it in every chance he got,



which would lead to a fight with Reggie. Archie would end up killing him in the process.

Jughead, not being able to bare the idea of his friend going to jail, tries to help Archie hide the body. When they're finally caught, both were given long jail sentences for Reggie's murder. In prison Jughead and Archie would expand on their volatile relationship.



Jughead would also come to understand his issues with women once in jail.



"Moose" Mason's size and clumsy strength would lead him to a career as a correctional officer, but the murder of Reggie would affect him on a personal level. He'd hold it against Archie, but would secretly envy his friendship with Jughead.



Betty, now a single mom, continues to pine for Archie while raising their son. Archie Jr. would begin to develop psychological problems from his father's incarceration, leading to overeating and an attraction to gangster rap music.

Veronica would finally move on and leave Riverdale, which was always too small for her anyway.



Unfortunately her past would follow her when the rumors of her hidden abortion would come to light, based on tips from an "anonymous informant".


It's all a very sad affair ;)

Best,
Mike

PS -I found these images on a cool blog called Bully Comics. Special thanks, and props, to Bully! :)

"Raising Crazy" on Twitter

After tons of requests to start this, I finally gave in and began a Twitter feed for my son's crazy antics. It all started with me posting funny things he'd say or do on my own Twitter page, but has grown into plans for a web comic. For now I'll be posting all his nutty adventures on his own Twitter feed, "Raising Crazy", and eventually I'll use the material for the comic strip.

Anyway, enjoy...and if you're on Twitter please follow along :)

Best,
Mike

ARCHIE work in progress PT.I

This week on Comic Twart, Ramon picked ARCHIE & his GANG. Which, I'll be honest, I didn't like at first. I was ready to bow out this week, for the first time. But then the bestest idea ever hit me! I could do a revamp of the characters, set in the future a bit, after ARCHIE's life has gone terrible wrong.

The funny thing is that the brilliant Andy Kuhn kinda did the "Year One" of what I wanted to do. Teen pregnancy leading up to where I'm gonna take ARCHIE and his gang makes perfect sense!

My piece is gonna have almost the entire gang in it. This sketch has ARCHIE, JUG HEAD, BETTY w/ LIL' ARCHIE (expanding on Andy's idea), AND MOOSE. You can't see it yet, but VERONICA is in there too. I'm was hoping to have MR. WEATHERBEE in there as the warden, but he may have to be cut.

Anyway, if I pull this off then you will all crown me king of Riverdale! Or Warlord. Haven't decided which I want to be yet.

Mike

Dan Dare

Here's my piece for DAN DARE week on Comic Twart. Check the rest of the awesome pieces out here.

Best,
Mike

Fear Agent sneak peek PT3

Rick just posted a sneak peek of John Lucas' inks for this page on Twitter, so here is the pencil version from me.

Best,
MIke

DC Sketchbook PT. I

Every year DC Comics sends a cool gift out to freelancers for Christmas. This year was a cool little sketchbook. I've been exclusively doing Batman sketches in it. Just feels right.

Here's a few of them.







Best,
Mike