Afterlife Artist Quest VI

Another batch of artwork came in this morning. Gade offered a sketch of Thaddeus...



Kristofer Diaz offered a sketch of several characters...


While Philipp S. Neundorf did a series of sketches...






Finally, Jake Ekiss redid the scene in which Thaddeus attacks a group of demons from the first volume.


Ekiss sketches...

Afterlife Artist Quest V

Rich Fuscia submitted these:

Afterlife Artist Quest IV

Afterlife Artist Quest III

Jared Souza ambitiously created his own two page story:

Afterlife Artist Quest II

Ethan Wenberg did a series of Guardians.

Afterlife Artist Quest I

I recently posted an ad looking for an artist to take over on the final two chapters of Afterlife. Keep in mind that some of these samples are simply sketches, whereas others obviously put more time into fully paneled pages, toned images, etc. At any rate, here are some of the samples for your perusal (please note, these are from FOUR DIFFERENT ARTISTS and were sent in quite quickly):

Political Predictions (New Hampshire)

I have made a few interesting predictions of late, and I've decided to put myself to the test. Granted, this all depends on today's results in New Hampshire. Since everything could change by the end of the day, my long term predictions could be moot.

If Obama wins today, I think he'll end up winning the Democratic nomination as long as he doesn't screw up in the next few weeks. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if we ultimately see an Obama / Edwards ticket. It would be smart for Edwards since he would then be the heir apparent after Obama (assuming Obama gets two terms). Of course, it just occurred to me as I was writing that he'd inherit the presidency if Obama was assassinated during his administration since we still live in an incredibly racist society despite the fact that we have our first serious black and female Presidential candidates (the sad point being that it took us this long).

If McCain wins, I think that he'll have a very tough fight on his hands, but he could stage a miraculous comeback (since he was politically dead up until the past week) and the chance to win his party's nomination since Republicans as a whole don't feel strongly enough about any other single candidate. The party is quite splintered right now and McCain could be the one candidate the entire party rallies behind. Obviously, Giuliani could still end up winning, but the other candidates are dead. Romney is out (he just doesn't know it yet), and despite his big win in Iowa, Huckabee doesn't have a chance (though he could turn up as a third party candidate later in the game), and the few others (Fred Thompson, Ron Paul) are a joke.

It's my opinion that McCain is the Republicans best hope to win in November. Although Guiliani could still end up with the nomination, many Republicans don't like his values which I think will invite a third party candidate (Huckabee?) and split the conservative vote almost guaranteeing a Democratic win -- unless Clinton does end up with the Democratic nomination. She's the one candidate who will rally Republicans to the polls no matter who is on the Republican ticket just so they can vote against her.

Let's see what happens!

A Tale of Two Fingers

T.S. Eliot once wrote that April was the cruelest month, but for me it has been this last December. No sooner do I finally feel better after recovering from a nasty cold that lasted two weeks, then I go for a bike ride and end up in the pavement. Worst of all, I may have broken two fingers -- the index and middle of my right (dominant) hand. Needless to say, even typing this entry is difficult.

Wil Wheaton Enjoys "Afterlife"

No, the headline doesn't mean Wil Wheaton's dead. It simply means that after meeting him at San Diego's Comic Con (we were on a panel together), he expressed an interest in the themes I discussed about Afterlife. Since we shared the same editor, I made sure he received a copy. (Wheaton has a story in the new Star Trek: The Manga that Tokyopop just published along with some other very good writers and artists -- it's worth checking out!) When I ran into him a few months later, he expressed a lot of love and enthusiasm for the book and offered to write a foreward for volume two. How could I refuse?

(For those of you who don't always recognize actor names (you know who you are), Wil Wheaton is probably best known as the lead in Stand by Me as well as for his role as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation.)

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