Welcome (Back) to Spookytown

Like I mentioned in a previous post, I'm itching to get back into doing some comic book work. Well, in 2002, I created a comic called "Spookytown" and published a short mini comic as an introduction to the concept. The concept being...

In Spookytown, you’d swear every day was Halloween. It’s always a little dark and ominous and you never know what’s lurking in the shadows. Almost every place is haunted, the moon is always full, every cat is black, there are graveyards around every corner and it's filled with odd and mysterious citizens.

Jack Brannon and his plucky assistant Emma, run Gum Shoe Investigation, specializing in supernatural cases, which seem to be the only type in Spookytown. Business is good for two reasons...he’s the only private eye in town and there is no shortage of dark and dangerous cases in a place like this. It’s Phillip Marlowe meets Buffy and the X-Files, mixed with a bit of Scooby Doo and Kolchack the Night Stalker.

So, after five years, I've dusted off the sketch book and revisited some of the characters and ideas I created back then and I'm happy to announce that over four day stretch, I've got the first draft of a 60-page graphic novel on my desk. Granted, I also have a red ink pen and a lot of notes scribbled in too. I was planning to have my lovely wife read it, proofread it and give me some feedback on it, but I'm thinking I might do another draft first. I'm not sure yet. There are still some kinks that I'm not completely happy with, so I need to works those out.

I've made the original mini comic available in a pdf format, if you've never read it and are interestd in it. But beware, as I say in the back of it... I am not a writer. So, try not to judge it too hard. If you want to check it out, just click on the icon on the left to download it. Anyway, with any luck, I'll finish the script, draw the book and get it published. Should be that simple, huh? Ha ha. And if no one wants to pick it up, I may just publish it myself. Who knows what the future holds for Spookytown?

Drawings from Dallas Comicon Fan Day

I had a great time as always out at the Dallas Comicon Fan Day convention. Thanks to Ben and Mark for having me out. And as always, I did a ton of commission pieces, but I think this show I did more than ever. It was definitely my most successful con. Gabbed with David Hopkins and Tom Martin most of the day. Here are some of the pieces I did over the weekend.

As usual, after these events I get fired up to do some comic stuff. So, the other night, I broke out a comic I created five years (in mini comic form) and I got to work writing a graphic novel based on it that I plan to draw and hopefully get published. Look for some posts coming up about that. I'm kinda excited about it.

I'd love to do some pin-up or covers, free of charge for anyone out there that meets these criteria:

A. You're actually interested in me doing it. I know I'm not as good some artists, so you may think "Dude, no way would we want your stuff."
B. It's a book that's actually being published. I've done too many covers for books that are "being shopped" or "once we do (insert action) it's getting printed"
C. It's something that I think I could pull off.
D. The deadline works with my schedule.

Anyway, the offer is out there.

Todd Carruth, Good Day Team Traffic... Mark Your Calendar!

Todd man, you missed another show. A free one at that! Well, now you have no excuse. I'm giving you 2 months advance warning.

Another free show - CAPE 3, May 5, 10:00 - 6:00, Zeus Comics in Dallas. It's Free Comic Book Day and there will be tons of comic creators. You must come out Todd Carruth. It is your destiny. Put this on your calendar! Hey, maybe you could talk Fox 4 into covering the event?

Click here for all you need to know about CAPE 3.

Dallas Comic Con - FREE SHOW!

Come on out for a free comic convention March 17-18 at the Richardson Convention Center. Apparently it's two shows in one because thy will be having the Great Texas GI JOE Show there as well.

Media guests include:
Morena Baccarin - Serenity/Firefly/Appearing Saturday only!
Ernie Hudson - Ghostbusters, The Crow
Peter Mayhew - STAR WARS, Chewbacca
Walter Koenig - STAR TREK, Chekov.


Comic creators include myself and:
Brian Denham - IRON MAN
Scott Kurtz - Creator of PVP.
James O'Barr - Creator the Crow.

So come on out!

Click here for more info on the show.

When I was 10 years old, I was clearly insane

While organizing old drawings and junk, I came across this gem. If you can't laugh at this work of art, then you my friend just do not possess the ability to do so. There are so many wheel-off things here that I don't know where to begin. Let me list some of the things that make a strong case for childhood mental instability. You have to click on the image to enjoy it to it's fullest.

1. I have a "Space Tank", and a pimped-out one at that.
2. My back seat driver is Chewbacca.
3. My navigator (apparently) is The Atom.
4. My friends Han Solo and Aquaman are out on a lovely stroll together.
5. My cat has got my back.
6. A miniature S.W.A.T. van is riding along side of me.
7. I proudly fly the U.S. flag and the Cal Slayton flag.
8. I fire my laser ray at all times.
9. Lastly and most importantly, no matter who tells you differently, I invented the term "Crunk".

Speaking of The New Frontier

Enjoy one of my favorite songs of the 80s. Donald Fagen's "New Frontier" and it's great late 50s / early 60s era style...

Angels and Nightmares

Recently, I was asked to contribute to an upcoming book titled "The Book of Angels and Nightmares". The concept is simple. Each artists get two pages, one page to draw something angelic, pure and good. The other to create something evil, profane and bad. They even got James O'Barr, creator of the Crow to contribute.

I tried doing the literal angel piece but I can really pull off the whole fantasy style artwork thing. So, I got the idea of doing more of a crime film noir piece. Posted here is my angel image. The publisher of the book asked us not to show both pieces, but to save them for when the book comes out. It's scheduled to come out sometime in the Spring. Click on the image below for more details.