Welcome to the Tuesday addition of the Daily Mega Comics Group Updates!

Still No New Man Update yet. Please bear with me just a little longer. A lot of demands have just hit at the same time and really I had rather deal with them now than later on, and in some cases we’ve put them off too long already. Since we launched this site in June it has been a great experiment. We have been putting it through the paces, now we are tying up all the loose ends, you might say, before our big Grand Opening in 2009! So it’s better to get things worked out while we’re small than when were big. Better to be embarrassed in front of a few than in front of a crowd!  That’s the way we roll around here. Thank you for your patience.

But, we do have the Humants to see about!

Humants #3:

Mageddon has begun to recruit an army of super powered bad guys using the opposite of Khosmenergy, which he calls Negamenergy to transform common criminals into their biggest dream and our worst nightmares! Yesterday we met Perimeter, Master Of Firearms, now add to that the scheming Shyster, The titanic Tower, and the brute known as Smasher Quinn!

Pages 24 and 25 we’re meant to be double page spreads, but with WordPress/ComicPress that’s difficult to do. I’ve posted page 25 here as normal but also supplied this link to pages 24 & 25 joined together as they are meant to be. Enjoy!

Click the images for today’s web comics updates.

Check out Tuesday’s posts for Humants’! CU2morrow!

Good to see you! Welcome to the Daily Mega Comics Group Updates for Wednesday!

Project: New Man # 4 under construction. Like most creators I’ve had my bouts with Writers/Artist’s Block, but I’ve learned to distract myself with a temporary change of scenery or diversion of some sort to get the creative juices going again. I wish that was what I’m dealing with now! No, this is worse! I know exactly what to draw and the script is done, I just have had to deal with so many interruptions keeping me from finishing it. Things that would not or could not wait! It’s like a bad dream where I’m sinking in quicksand seeing a rope that I could grab to pull myself out, just inches away, just out of reach! ARRRGHH!

Working a regular job, running a part-time graphics business, maintaining 3 web comics sites daily, taking care of family and doing new pages for an adventure strips keep me on my toes, to say the least. I’ve been getting up in the wee hours of the morning and working late at night. That has not been the problem. When extra ordinary matters come up like business matters rearing their ugly heads, helping two different associates in two different cities open comic stores, helping a client get his computer back up after a hard disk failure, and really just one thing after another in addition to an already tight schedule, that’s a problem. BUT I won’t give up! So, please, don’t you give up either. We’ll have the Mega Comics Train back on schedule shortly. The bright side, however, is the Humants’ updates have been continuing DAILY, Monday-Friday without interruption. That counts for something, right?

Okay, enough with the soap opera already! Let’s get on to some important matters like comics!

Humants #3:

Mageddon’s Humant Renegades are here!  Perimeter, Shyster, The Tower, and Smasher Quinn! It seems the Dark Lord of the Hecati wants them to be a distraction to our own good guy Humants, so ol’ helmet head can wreak unbridled havoc where ever he so chooses. Pleasant thought, eh?

Freazie came up with these villains mostly in our Small Press days. These are the more modern versions, having undergone some modifications from the originals. Mr. White has always been a very ardent recycler! ;-)  Freazie has the ability to create some interesting characters and it’s fun to see how he has them interact with each other as they plunder through the pages of the stories he writes and draws.

I nominate Shyster for the creepiest of the 4. The scary thing about him is I have known real life folks with this same exact power. Not as well developed, mind you, but enough to get the job done! Brrrrr! Just the thoughts of a master manipulator makes me shiver.

Smasher Quinn is the strong guy you see in every group, but I think Freazie portrays him more ruthless than just about any I’ve ever read in comics.

Perimeter is an interesting one! He’s master at weapons and I think, if memory serves me correctly, he can pluck them seemingly from thin air when ever he has a need for one.

The Tower is of course the field leader under Mageddon’s command.

Yep, our Humant Heroes may be in big trouble now. Stay tuned, web wayfarer! The fun has only begun!

Click the images for today’s web comics updates.

Check out Wednesday’s posts for Humants’! CU2morrow!

Alright! You’re here! Welcome to Thursday’s Daily Mega Comics Group Updates!

The work on the 2008 pages for Project: New Man # 4 is moving right along. Updates will resume soon.

Even if I could have rushed it up some, I really did not want to. I want this issue of PNM to be the best it can be. We’ve come up with a good script and layouts from the 16 year old plot which ties up a lot of loose ends but leaves plenty of questions to lead into the new series.

We are doing the same thing with the Humants title as well. Once PNM #4 and Humants #6 are completely posted we’ll take a break to prepare for the new stories. We’ve done these 2008 pages very much the way we would have done it back in the 1990’s, but there are much better methods and technology available today to speed up the production. So we’ll get all this lined up during the hiatus.

While that’s going on we’ll be running Mega Tales and Epoch 2012 A.D. so there will continue to be daily comics updates on MCG even after the current PNM and Humants material runs out.

Now, let’s find our what’s going on in:

Humants #3:

Wow! Imagine you are in this situation: You just brokered a deal with a very powerful entity to gain great power for yourself. It’s a dream come true! Now everyone who ever doubted you or picked on you is about to see what you can do. Yeah, it’s payback time in a big way! What’s more the one who granted you this power will be dealing out punishment on the very society which has always kept you under it’s thumb! Yeah! The Man is about to get his butt kicked this time!

But wait a minute! What is it this guy is saying? It sounds like after he’s done handing out society’s just deserts, then he’s going to want to take back what he just gave you and more! So instead of a better deal you might have just cashed in your chips for a payout which has some strings attached. This deal has some ties which may cost you not only what little you had, but your very life! Yep, that’s what’s going through Johnathan Towers mind, as well as his associates.

Now then, maybe you thought we forgot about the battle between Chaosta and The Herald, but that’s not the case. We had to set the stage for their grand entrance and meeting with the Renegades! Leave it to them not to use the door!

Yep, this situation is about to get even more interesting! Whatever you do don’t miss tomorrow’s page! Wait a minute! Ulp! Guess what? This is the last page of this issues story, so yep, you guessed it! To be continued! ARRGHH! >:-(

Click the images for today’s web comics updates.

Check out Thursday’s posts for Humants’! CU2morrow!

TGIF! Welcome to Friday’s Daily Mega Comics Group Updates!

The past few weeks, one of the projects which has kept me busy is cataloging my comics collection. Marcus Lusk, creator of the highly acclaimed Tales from the Bog series, Secret Doors and the Elf Trek mini-series, is opening Atomic Comics in downtown Gadsden, Alabama very soon. I volunteered to put my collection of comics which ranges from the 60’s to the 90’s in his shop on consignment. I’ve done this before with other shops but not as many as this time. I had these books cataloged about 12 years ago but my collection has changed so much I needed to make a new list. Plus some  needed bagging and boarded and since these are on consignment I have to label each one also. WHEW! Don’t let any one kid you, that’s a big job! I had forgotten just how much work is involved. It’s not really hard, but it is very time consuming! We’re almost done with it and Marcus just about has the rest of the shop set up, and looking great!  He’ll be open in another week or so, or he may open a while Saturday. We’ll be running some ads for him showing everyone just how to get there, so stay tuned.

Now, up north in Michigan, Freazie White, Jr. has decided to turn the front of his comics warehouse into a retail shop too. I got the privilege of designing some window graphics for him which was somewhat time consuming too since I printed the oversize graphics out, trimmed and laminated them.

With that, maintaining 3 comics web sites, my graphic design business, my full time job, spending a little time with my family, finishing my son’s club house, and fixing computers for clients, it’s a wonder I even get 5 hours sleep a night! Yep, I’m just glad it’s not less! But things should be better in another 3-4 weeks as a lot of these projects will be out of the way and I can get more of my attention on MCG. Looking forward to it!

Okay, time to do the comics update!

Humants #3:

Well, this one caught me by surprise! I was expecting to see the next page in the Humants story today. Geeze, Freazie, why did you have to stop it there for? You know how I hate continued stories! Sheesh! Oh well, in just a few days we’ll pick it up where we left off in Humants #4 with The Herald and Chaosta facing a whole bunch of mad baddies!

Today, we have a special treat! This is still Humants #3 and page 28 to be specific and even more specifically our very first Legacy Letters Page we had ready to go way back in 1992 when we had to cease publication. Finally after all these years our fans are getting their 2 cents worth! So kick back and relax and journey back with us to that magical time before email and fan forums on the web! How did we do it?

Special note: Our first letters page was actually 2 pages! Unfortunately the last letter on this page is continued on the next page and we’ll have to wait to read the rest until Monday. So until then, have a great weekend. Enjoy some great college football! By the way, ROLL TIDE!

Click the images for today’s web comics updates.

Check out Friday’s posts for Humants’! CUMonday!

Welcome to Monday’s Daily Mega Comics Group Updates! We’re glad you could stop by.

How was your weekend? I actually got a little more rest but I got a lot of work done too. I got some Project: New Man #4 pages penciled, worked on my comics collection, got a little more done on my son’s club house, and watched a little football while I was working. By the way, the Crimson Tide did roll all over Tennessee and that was a joy to watch! I even got to watch some of the World Series. Looks like the Phillies could wrap it up in game 5. I did not have to do any yard work! YAY! The fall is here and the lawn is not growing much. I really don’t mind mowing, I just wish it didn’t take so much time to do. I also had to put a couple new tires on the Chevy Blazer, which is the vehicle I drive most of the time. That did not take too long either. I got two nights sleep of 7 hours or more. When I can sleep a little extra on the weekend it helps me get through the week when I usually get 6 hours or less per night Monday through Friday. But in another month my schedule should be easier as a lot of projects will be completed.

Okay, time to do the comics update!

Project New Man # 4:

The work on the new pages continue. I thought I would let you in on the process a bit by showing you pencils from the pages this week and then next week we’ll get back to our regular story line.

I appreciate your patience in all this. I just have had far too much going on and I did not prepare enough ahead of time to get the new pages done by the deadline. I’m still new to this web comics gig.

One thing that caught me a little off guard was how rusty at drawing comic pages I was. I have been drawing clip art and art for t-shirt designs for the past 23 years so I did not anticipate having a problem getting back into the comic book groove, but I did. It was not your typical artist block because I knew what to draw but it was the “how to draw it” that was throwing me for a loop. I wanted to continue in the same style I drew pages 7-10, but that was work I had done 16 years previously! As with most artists my style had evolved and going back, it seems, is not so easy. Page 11 may not be exactly as it would have been had I continued the pencils after page 10 back in 1992 but I think I came close. Actually by page 13 I became a lot more comfortable with it.

As I did with the October 17th Update, I’ll give you a little background on how this process works. I penciled rough thumbnail sketches of each page first and then sent these to Freazie for scripting with my story notes. While he was scripting, and he has most of the script on the remainder of this issue complete now, I started the full size pencil pages. I have a Comics Page Set-up Template in my computer I can open up in Adobe Illustrator which I print out on 11 x 17 copy paper. This is just a regular sheet of 20 lb bond copy paper, something I started drawing clip art and t-shirt art on 10-15 years ago instead of using bristol or some heavier more expensive paper stock. It has my borders and panel guides indicated. I print out my thumbnail sketch enlarged to 11 x 17 and put this on a light box. With my comic page blank over it I trace off in non-photo blue pencil the outline of the sketch I did previously. Then I take my blue line tracing to the drawing board and with a regular #2 graphite pencil go to work filling in the panels. I can pencil 2-3 pages a day in an 8 hour period if uninterrupted. I have done as many as 6 in one day but I really have to be on a creative roll to do that! It’s not something I’ve done very often. Usually I start out slow and the first page does not come together as fast as the next two. I seem to speed up the more I do on a given day.

Here’s a little penciling side tip: When penciling pages for comics in graphite it’s nearly impossible not to smudge the pencils while working over them. What happens is is the graphite gets on the side of your hand and is transferred back to the paper. To cut down on this I keep a box of Wet Ones handy so I can wipe my hand periodically always being careful to dry my hand with a Kleenex or paper towel before starting back on the next panel.

Tomorrow and the rest of this week I’ll share a pencil page with you and maybe have some comments as we go. Any questions of comments? All are welcome.

Humants #3:

Here’s the second page of our very first Legacy Letters Page we had ready to go way back in 1992 when we had to cease publication. Not only do we have some interesting fan letters from our 1991-92 publications but we have some fan art as well! These were done by a fellow by the name of Chris Seaman who was at the time publishing his own comic book called Harry Shag. I don’t remember if he showed this to us at an convention or it was something he sent to Freazie. We always got a real kick out of interacting with fans at the conventions. We never knew what we would hear or see next! Everyone was always most supportive and encouraging. One thing about our early publishing I recall is, we had almost no complaints or criticisms. This was amazing to me, but I guess folks saw we were just starting out and had mercy on the obvious warts and gaffs in our work.

We’ll finish out this issue with some pin up pages and a couple of unused covers. Next week Humants # 4 will burst on the scene! Stay tuned!

Click the images for today’s web comics updates.

Check out Monday’s posts for Project: New Man and Humants’! CU2morrow!

Welcome aboard! It’s time for Tuesday’s Daily Mega Comics Group Updates!

Wow! The World Series got suspended! First time it’s ever been delayed this long and they are not sure when it will resume because of all the bad weather. I remember a few delays in the past for maybe 30 minutes. This has been a historic year in so many different areas.

Did you know? Web Comics are supported mainly by advertising and merchandising and also with new web comics through donations. If you like what you see on this site or if you think we have potential please consider a donation through PayPal. It’s fast easy and secure. If you don’t already have a PayPal account it’s also easy to sign up for one and takes only a few minutes. You can then send money anywhere you have an email address. You can find the link in the Left Side Bar right under the Mighty Mega Checklist. If donating is not your bag then maybe you would like to check out some of our advertisers or affiliates located in the Side Bars and on the Project: New Man and Humants main pages. We have some great book offers through Amazon in the Right Side Bar. Soon we’ll have some MCG merchandise to offer you as well so stay tuned! Remember, your support could help out a starving artist near you!

And so with the message for our sponsors out of the way, time to do the comics update!

Humants #3:

Today for page 30 we have a very nice pin-up of that Martial Arts Master Humant known as Sojourner. Freazie White, Jr. did all this one on his own back in 1991 just prior to our big convention tour. Great job, Freazie! We wanted some pin up style art to have on hand at the tables to sell so each of us did a few of various Legacy characters.

Sojourner comes from the middle east. We’ll have a bio on him in the next issue.

Coming up next: we have a special pin-up of The Herald in store for you tomorrow, then a look at Christopher Torres Humants pencils for the cover of #4 and our next issue preview and the color back cover. Next week Humants # 4 will make it’s World Wide Web debut! Stay tuned!

Project New Man # 4:

More pencils for you to see. I started knocking off some of the rust with page 12 and started picking up some speed to boot.

I could have just penciled these last chapters of The Haunted Man in my current style of drawing but I wanted to have as much consistency as possible in that issue. Freazie and I tried to do that in each issue but often fell below expectations.

The original Image Comics style which actually started at Marvel with Art Adams, Jim Lee and Rob Liefield was a hot prospect in the early 90’s. They were actually better when they started, unfortunately as time went on the artists over did the trend they had begun. As on friend of mine said, who had been an art instructor, “There is only so much detail the human eye can pick up”. His point was they were over working the art, which to some extent I believe was true.

Something for artists to keep in mind where comic books and comic strips are concerned is the focus should be on the story telling more so than the art. Sure we want good looking art but not to the point it distracts from the story. All the pros I ever had access to prior to the 1990’s would tell me to strive to achieve a balance. The late, great Alex Toth said over and over, “It’s not what you draw, but what you don’t draw.” I may be paraphrasing slightly but the essence is there. An artist must make use of everything at his disposal including negative space to keep a reader interested. One of the complaints I heard about the Image Style was it would not hold the readers interest. Still, they sold a lot of books, at least early on. But as I eluded to earlier I think they did it better when they started before they got so involved with the detail. Some of their early art was simpler but still rich in detail and easier to follow. One of the best examples of this and most consistent of the Image artists was Eric Larson.

Well, I’m out of time for rambling today. More tomorrow. See ya!

Any questions of comments? All are welcome.

Click the images for today’s web comics updates.

Check out Tuesday’s posts for Project: New Man and Humants’! CU2morrow!