Next Level Comix

August 21, 2016
   Took another swing at the splash page opening of "The Trickster."

Daily Whip Out: "An Apache Rancheria On The Gila River, 1866"

   It's a soft opening (first two pages of the book) and it's being questioned by my teammates (Hutton and Mariotte) so we'll see. My position is: I'd rather do a movie style open, as opposed to the usual superhero comix open with the hyper-action poses. Anyway, I'm going to finish this sequence and lay it out the way I see it unfolding and then we'll all decide.

   Three of my Kingman Cowboy Cousins came out to see me on Saturday. That would be Brenda, Sharon and Casey Stockbridge. We shared some Bryan's Barbecue and home town horror stories. (there is still a plague of cattle rustlers riding the range up there)

   When we went out to the studio, Casey said, looking at a wall of my scratchboards and pen and inks, "I like all these—it looks like next level comix." Interesting take by a millennial (he's 26).

The wall above my main art desk in the studio.

Next Level Comix
   I've long aspired to execute Western stories in a graphic novel format, complete with illustrations that look like they could have been done by Russell or Remington. I realize that is a tall order, but that has always been my goal.

"Originality is nothing more than connecting familiar elements in unfamiliar ways."
—James Scott Bell (no relation)