April 8, 2009
Went home for lunch and whipped out a scratchboard of the two guys talking when the Apache Kid rides into San Carlos:

Notice how much more sinister the bearded guy became in this incarnation. And, by the way, the eye glint is a happy accident.

This is part of my effort to do a cleaner narrative for Mickey Free, The Graphic Novel with more concise, clear images and with plenty of white space. Ever since the excerpt of Mickey Free ran in True West I have been wrestling with cleaning up the narrative so that it's lean and mean. The excerpt was way too crowded with styles fighting styles, color and black and white jammed up against each other. I still plan on having scratchboards and colorized panels, just not so scattered and hodge podge. It needs to breath. Hopefully, in the spread-out-version I will have the room to do this.

As I was finishing this scratchboard and getting it prepped to scan, my phone rang and Lynda said she had a caller who wants to know when Mickey Free will be for sale. I said, "Tell him I'm working on it even as he speaks, and it will be ready for his Christmas stocking."

And speaking of Lynda:

News From The Front Lines
"I just spoke with Mrs. George M, who called to let us know they are very happy with True West magazine. They are grateful we agreed to finish out their Cowboy subscription with our magazine.

"She called today to renew her husband’s subscription to True West for three years. Mrs. M. said that her husband LOVES True West far above any other magazine he receives."
—Lynda Gager

“There is not and never can be any such thing as true history. Nothing is more uncertain, more contradictory, more unsatisfactory than the evidence of facts.”
—William Godwin, 1797