Too Funny Not To Share

I was scanning a new batch of reference for the third round of Wonderlost stories and I came across this gem. I left for Japan a year before this was taken, clean-shaven and with short hair. I flew back into NYC looking like this. I walked up to my mom at the airport and looked right at her, expecting a shocked, but warm welcome. Her reply was "Excuse me, sir, but could you step aside. I'm looking for my son."

This made me laugh for hours...

From Tony Fleecs, writer/artist of the amazing comic In My Lifetime, and Wonderlost 2 contributor...

Compass at Summer Comiket

So pre-order sales of Compass 0 have been kicking ass in dojin shops across Japan, and Ryusuke debuted our preview issue at Comiket in Tokyo this past weekend. We were hoping for a warm reception and brisk sales as it's a new title by a rather unknown creative team, but I just got the report back now from Aki that the book sold out on Friday in two hours!! The show opened at 10AM and by noon he had sold clean through the 500 copies he brought!! Wow!! This bodes very well for the future of the book...

Bat For Lashes

Doreen Mulryan was kind enough to pass on the link for the cool new Bat For Lashes video. You can check out their creepy new "Donnie Darko-esque" clip here!

Slacking TV Execs?

I just tried to watch the new ABC animated series Slacker Cats. I like cats, I like animation and I'm a slacker, so I'm their target audience, right? Holy shit, was it horrendous! Pitiful! So bad I couldn't even watch past the first 5 minutes!

How the hell did a piece of garbage like this get greenlit? What are studio executives thinking? How could anyone have watched this and approved it? If it was for kids, I would understand, but it was on at 10PM and had adult overtones, so I don't think it was for the Disney or Nick kid crowds.

Watching Clyde and Lotto sleep was more interesting than suffering through that piece of crap.

Custom Ricochet

I was out in Chicago at Wizard World this past weekend and had the please of meeting LONERS fan John Coffey at the show. Besides being a huge comic fan with good taste, John customizes action figures and informed me he'd made his very own Ricochet figure recently. After exchanging e-mail addresses, he was kind enough to send over the following pics of the high-flying Loner...




Pretty cool, huh?! You can check out more of John's cool custom figures at his site here!

Books Without Pictures

A Loners fan I met at SDCC recently dropped me a line and asked me if I could provide him with the names of some novels that influenced me and the way I write. Two came to mind right away and I thought I would share...





Murakami and Yoshimoto both craft characters that are so genuine and relatable that you can't help but fall in love with them. They make their emotions so tactile that feel what they feel as you turn every page. And there's an eccentricity to both their work that makes each story a pure pleasure to read. I would recommend reading anything they write!

Open Wide

I usually don't make it a habit of taking pictures in the mens room, but in this case I just had to make an exception...

There were two cool things...

...I saw at San Diego Comic Con from artists who came for portfolio reviews.

First was an artist who printed an actual blank blueline comic page on the back of his business card. Before he gave it to you, he asked you who your favorite comic character was and then did a quick little sketch of that character on the back of his card. Yes, it was a little time-consuming, but it sure as hell made an impression on me.

The second was the portfolio of a kid whose samples were about an artist coming to San Diego to show editors his portfolio. It was cute and well done and got editors talking.

Both pretty original ideas and left their mark on all who saw them. Nice job, guys!

In case you missed it...

Nuno Plati and I had a short story in Ivan Brandon's incredible 24seven Anthology, on sale in comic chops everywhere now!

Back to regular posting...

I'm back from SDCC. Summer is half over. Where did the time go? I feel like I've accomplished nothing these past few months. I had all kinds of grand plans for stuff I wanted to do, but a lot of it simply fell to the wayside. Life gets in the way of life sometimes, you know...

I went out to my parents this past weekend for a small pool party/BBQ and got to relax a little and clear my head. I've fallen into kind of a rut with work recently and decided I need to start getting some of my thoughts and feelings out a bit more, open up and write less about comics and more about myself. So not that any of you want to read my psycho-babble, but I'm gonna try and use this blog for more self-expression going forward. It's time to make it a bit more personal again. But no worries, I'll be posting the usual work updates and drunken pics from time to time as well...

So let me start by sharing a bit of advice I got from Robert Downey Jr. himself at Comic Con that got me thinking. It's nothing you haven't heard before, but considering who said it and the manner in which he told it to me, it got me thinking:

"It's better to beg for forgiveness than regret never having taken the chance in the first place."

SDCC News Links

SDCC '07: ASPEN SHOWCASE ANNOUNCED

SDCC '07: C.B. CEBULSKI ON CHESTERQUEST & COMPASS

SDCC '07: IMAGE's 24seven

More on ChesterQuest

1 man.
6 months.
3 continents. (Possibly four.)
13 countries. (Possibly more.)
20 cities. (So far.)
12 artists who will be awarded the opportunity to work at Marvel Comics.
Guaranteed.

Possibly the largest worldwide comic book talent search ever undertaken.

Please come to the Mondo Marvel panel this Thursday, July 26th, at 4:45PM at the San Diego Comic Con, Room 6A, for all the details.

Compass Zero - San Diego Exclusive!

Printing in Japan as I write this, we'll have copies of Compass Zero, our San Diego Comic Con Exclusive, on hand at booth 2729 all weekend. It features an eight page original story and all kinds of other goodies and info about the upcoming series. Me, Aki and Ryusuke will all be there to meet and greet, to sell and sign your comics. Ryusuke will have his other Japanese manga and dojinshi on sale as well. Please stop by to see us and say "hello"!

San Diego, Here I Come!

Yes, I will be in San Diego for Comic Con next week and I'm pleased to announce that I have a table in the Image Island section this year, booth 2729! I'll be sharing with David Finch, Sana Takeda of Drain, and Ryusuke Hamamoto, artist of Evangelion and the soon to be released Compass. We'll actually be selling an SDCC exclusive Compass Zero dojinshi at the show! So that's where I'll be hanging my hat for most of the show and I'll have plenty of copies of all my Image and Marvel books on hand for sale and signing. Please stop by and see us!!

As for panels, I'll be attending and speaking at the following ones...

Thursday - Mondo Marvel at 4:45PM - Details of ChesterQuest to be announced!

Friday - Cup O' Joe at 11:45AM and the Image Panel at 1:30PM

Saturday - the Aspen Panel at 1:30PM for a special announcement!

Sunday - the X-Men Panel at 11:45AM

And I have one signing at the Marvel booth at 3PM on Thursday with David Finch as well as Tommy Ohtsuka (Slayers, Marvel Mangaverse) and Gurihiru (Power Pack) who are both flying in from Japan!

And you'll always be able to find me at the bar at Hyatt in the evenings, I'm sure.

Hope to see you all there!

I'm up for auction on eBay... with tequila!

Although I'm more of a beer and whiskey man...

All you aspiring artists are free to bid on me here.

All for the benefit of the Hero Initiative.

More Dracula

There's now an interview and six page lettered preview up at CBR...

Check it out!

Enjoy,
C.B.

Legion of Mosters: Morbius

David Finch and I continue our new tradition of collaborating on a short story at least once a year with our 2007 offering, a Dracula and Lilith story in Legion of Monsters: Morbius. It goes on sale in two weeks on July 18th and if you missed it, your local comic shop can still order it using code MAR072091. Brendan Cahill and Michael Gaydos also offer up a very cool Morbius story in this issue as well.

Here's a sneak peak at the cover, by Greg Land, and a couple pages of the Finch goodness that you can expect inside...

Enjoy,
C.B.

Spider-Man Fairy Tales 2 - On Sale Now!

Sorry this post is coming your way a few days late, but I was out of the country and couldn't get around to properly posting till today.

The second issue of the Spider-Man Fairy Tales went on sale this past Wednesday and should be waiting for you on the shelves of your favorite comic book stores right now. This issue looks at the legend of Anansi the Spider-God with "Marvelous" twist. It was beautifully illustrated by the amazing Niko Henrichon of Pride of Baghdad fame.

Here's a peek at the cover...


And a preview of the interior art can be found here...

http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/rage/

Thanks for reading!

My September Marvel Covers

Loners 6, after Sixteen Candles, by Jason Pearson...



And Mystic Arcana: Sister Grimm, starring Runaways's own Nico Minoru, by Marko Djurdjevic...