24 pages down! 8 to go!

Issue #1 of Blood Bath (The Drowning Man) is more than halfway complete! I've also decided to find a letterist to make this look like something that a comic book company could put out quickly. They don't need to worry about "How will this look?" as they'll have an actual copy of how it will look in full on comic book format. That's how we're going to put this out to potential publishers.

We're going to try Image first. Both my artist and my letterist are experienced and they agree that Image is a great company to start with. For those not in the know, Image comics was founded by some of the best comic artists in the early nineties who were seeing their creations for their parent companies make tons of money and them really not seeing much of it. Image comics lets their creative teams hold all licenses for their creations and have full control over their properties. It's kind of like, if I went to company X, they could take Blood Bath, make it into a movie about a couple adopting a strange child that murders people. And I would get to cry. They'd allow that.

Keep tuning in to this bat channel! It's happening!

Finally, an actual update! No shit!

So, the script for issue #1 is in the can and I'm extremely proud of it. I tried drawing it myself as you may have noticed in the posts from two years ago. I storyboarded out the first 5 pages and then started drawing. I had a new art style that was more realistic while using Copic markers. They turned out like pure crap.

Then I went out to find a professional.

Through the website deviantart, I found JC Grande ( www.jcgrande.blogstpot.com ). His style is utterly fantastic and with his shading, it just fit the story perfectly. At first, I could only afford black and white since I'm paying for this with no budget at all. But once I saw what he had come up with, I knew that black and white was the way this story was meant to be told.

Oh yeah, the comic is now called Blood Bath. It's fitting and it jumps out at ya.

I'm lucky to have found such a talent that is a hundred times better than what I could have ever accomplished. I'll post some of his art and some updates in the upcoming weeks.

Please follow me on twitter @BloodBathComic

Oh, and the artist who created this amazing image is imakoi. You can find her at imakoi.deviantart.com

Update!

I've been real busy (lazy) and focused (nope) for the past few months and I've got a lot (3) of new (old) stuff to post!

My creative mind basically works in circles, and I've now finally stopped thinking about my other ideas and have returned to my baby (the one most likely to be successful) "The Drowning Man". This drawing is actually the first one I've ever done of the Drowning Man and is also the only one where I've used paint. The red and some white is paint, but the rest is all pencil. So if you think it looks weird, that's why. I'm too lazy to finish it. Maybe one day. I'll probably just redo it altogether. Maybe make it the cover of the first issue. Who knows?

In the beginning...

This was the movie version shot in Winter 2004 for film school. It was entitled "Punisher: War Journal- The Drowning Man". The Punisher was narrating and although he now does that in all of his comics, Punisher: War Journal was told as if you were reading a page out of a diary.

You can see one of the "action" scenes between the Punisher and the Drowning Man. I say action, because it sure as hell wasn't a fight. I'm trying to remember how long we were planning this venture, but it was a six week minimum for my two actors to choreograph their big fight. One was a martial arts expert (The Punisher) and he was so excited to get the work done. Six weeks later, they saw each other for the first time since the script reading. Fuckers.

You can see my original Ertzbet all covered in blood. She was willing to appear fully nude for the film, but I had a few issues. Firstly, I'm not sure how my crew would react around a buck naked chick. I was thinking about having only the necessary people in the room at the time and only have her naked when necessary. However, the cameraman was the most immature and the one I was worried about most. Next, I wasn't sure how I would react. I probably would have been fine. A very important part would be the raw footage. Although she'd trust me with it, I wouldn't trust myself. And last, her boyfriend wasn't keen on the idea and he was the Drowning Man. So, I left her clothed. I decided that it wasn't truly necessary to move the story forward. With the changes I've made, it is important now. It tells a lot about the character.

You'll see.

Character Origin: Ertzbet

This character has also gone through the most drastic revisions and I'm still not done. There's honestly not that much I can say about her without giving things away. Needless to say, she's going to be very fun to have in the comic. Ertzbet has taken a lot of research to pull off. However with all the ideas I have for her, there are only so many I can fit in to the story.

My model for Ertzbet is the only one that actually IS a model! I'm very lucky to have her as she really knows her craft. You ask her to look a certain way and she nails it every time. Kat Perez' modeling pic is simply from a Facebook page. She's the only one that I haven't had an opportunity for a photo session yet.

The model for Ertzbet is also a coworker of mine and has been in many local print and television commercials. Hopefully with her on board, she can give my comic the exposure I'm looking for, and then I can reciprocate it back to her modeling career.

This character will be featured nude. However, the body doubles I'm using for the poses I'm looking for will NOT be the same model I use for the face. I'm not charismatic enough to pull it off, very married, and then we'd also have the "I've seen you naked" problem to deal with. As for the nude model I use, that'll be a trade secret.

(It's from porn).

Character Origin: The Drowning Man

I've made some changes to the Drowning Man since day one. At first he was the stereotypical baddie for the Punisher to fight. I made a few changes on the set of the movie that I liked, so I adapted them for this story. However, with the lead being changed from the Punisher to Kat Perez, I couldn't just have him be "Bald Man A". He had to have a real story. I had to make him as real as I could. What were his motivations and his past? That's when I started to piece together him being the real story within the story. He is somehow tied to everything.

He was originally the tattooed man and then the Drowning Man. I wanted to make him stand out in a crowd, but having a bunch of tattoos wasn't good enough. I took away the tattoos and added other physical changes that fit the character and his background more.

My model is one of my co-workers. I told him to keep a blank expression for this pose. Part of the reason why he was originally the tattooed man is because my friend Daniel was to be my model way back in 2004, and he has a plethora of pretty scary tats free of charge. But the Drowning Man is here to stay. I hope you enjoy the character and have your curiosity peaked as to just who he is, like the website states

Character Origin: Kat Perez

This character was originally the Punisher. I wrote a script for film school back in 2004 after having this idea since probably 2002. I'll provide some pics of the production as soon as I can scrounge some up. I've got a ton of footage sitting on 6 DVC-Pro tapes in one of my dresser drawers. The film was never finished because production fell apart in the end. My Punisher didn't show up to shoots or my cameraman wouldn't show up.

When my editor, Joannie, got me to blow the dust off this story and try to make it into a viable comic book, I knew that I couldn't use the Punisher if I was sending this story to other publishers besides Marvel. And so the editing began. I wanted to create a female lead that could be taken serious. The average female comic character has huge boobs and she'll kick the guys ass, but with her impractical thong hanging out the whole time. My comic has nudity and sex, yes. But my lead character is a strong female who doesn't take shit from anyone. She doesn't expect to be respected while pushing her chest out.

I had a few one liners from the Punisher and a back story going on the whole time. I wanted to keep some of the sarcasm, but darken up the tone. I had to introduce the audience to a brand new character. With the Punisher, everyone knows who he is and I wouldn't have to touch on that. But this one is like the origin story.

My model is actually my room mate. She's a beautiful woman who can look comical when I'd need her to, and look utterly determined in the next shot. As you'll see with her and my model for Ertzbet, I really lucked out.

I've made HUGE revisions to this story to the point that it only kept some of the main ideas of the original. I'm very proud of my story and very proud of my lead- Kat Perez. I hope you like her, too.