I'll be @ Miami Zine Fair this Saturday!

Come see me and my Comics from the Wood table at Miami Zine Fair on Saturday!  We’ll be @ Paradise Plaza Event Space, 155 NE 41st Street, Miami, FL (third floor).  4/4/26 12-5PM.  @miamizinefair #MiamiZineFair #MiamiZineFair2026

 

MZF flyer by MZF people, please share.

My friends in Downtown AVL

 

 

 

Tremendous gratitude to Downtown Books and News in Asheville, North Carolina, big seller of my work!  (Also see them at AVL Zine Fest today.) 

Sometimes when I’m in an airport and the only one looking at a printed book whereas the terminal is filled with people, as far as the eye can see in both directions, endlessly swiping their phones, I get concerned that I and several friends and family members are the only people left on Earth who still read printed books.  Apparently not.  At Downtown, their small-press comics and zines section sells enough to more than pay for itself.  At minimum, people must still find these colorful publications to be great decorations for their coffee tables :)

 

Dinosaur Stories on Etsy

Happy National Comic Book Day!  DINOSAUR STORIES is now up for sale on my Etsy site.  In addition to my three dinosaur comics originally published in THE MESOZINE #1-3, it also contains pin-up illustrations, including the Ankylosaurus below.  

The Mesozine #2, new dinosaur comic featuring work by me, Stephen Bissette, Denis St. John, and more

 

Collectors of my work, take note: online sales of The Mesozine #2 are live!  I contributed a two-page comics story and a one-page essay about the science behind my story to this eclectic anthology of fiction and nonfiction works about dinosaurs by diverse talents.  Other contributors include my Center for Cartoon Studies colleagues Stephen Bissette, Morgan Pielli, Bryan Stone, and our fearless leader for this volume, Denis St. John!  The Mesozine #2 is 44 pages total, selling for $10 plus shipping at https://www.deniscomix.com/.  It makes a lovely gift for yourself or for anyone you know who likes dinosaurs.

 

Cover artwork and photo by Denis St. John. https://www.deniscomix.com/ @deniscomix,

Oviraptor sample artwork by me, © to respective creators.

New Comic Book: Follow The Moon, for sale on Etsy

Etsy listing

A wise grandmother sea turtle gathers a crew of young mother turtles on the beach, and shares the story of how their kind came to be.  She tells the misadventures of a mischievous land turtle, who learns the hard way about the importance of following the Moon. 

This story was originally published in the anthology Oh Comics! #27: Moon by Back Porch Comics, 2019. I republished it as this mini-comic, which debuted at ABQ Zine Fest 9, in Albuquerque, NM.

This story is partly inspired by my grandmother, Evelyn Wood Moyle, who, in her elder years, frequently told a story about a bird dropping a turtle on her rooftop!

8.5" by 5.5"
8 pages
black and white

Come see me at ABQ Zine Fest 9

Evidence that comics by me are popular! :)  ABQ Zine Fest 9 will be my singular convention appearance for this year.  Saturday, October 5, 2019, 11 AM - 5 PM.  National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 4th St SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102.  Come see me if you can! #ABQZF9, #ABQZineFest

Follow the Moon, my first print publication of 2019

My five page comics story “Follow the Moon” has been accepted for publication in Oh, Comics #27: Moon, an anthology edited and published by Bob Corby over at Back Porch Comics. The anthology will debut at SPACE (Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo), April 27 & 28, 2019. I will not be at this convention (I tabled in SPACE 2017 and loved it) but my work will. My contribution to the Moon issue is likely to be my first print publication of 2019—unless Carlsbad Caverns National Park sends the Junior Bat Biologist book I illustrated in 2018 to the printer first. I think that "Follow the Moon" is one of the best comics I have ever done. I plan to find more venues to publish it in. However, a book full of Moon stories is a great place to start! In the story, I bring together several topics that fire my passions—marine turtles, Native American legends, and our friendly natural satellite. As is often my process, it started with a single drawing... this one... and later on, I searched for the story behind the image. And I found it.

Notably, there is also a story which preceded the image, a story which my grandmother, Evelyn Wood Moyle, frequently shared in her elder years, about a bird dropping a turtle on her rooftop.  In my comic, I expand upon her anecdote and push it into new territory.

 Page One:

The fourth panel of page two:

And that's all I'm sharing online.  Buy the print version (online sales of the anthology will start after SPACE 2019) to read the full story.

Ross-man the Barbarian; the dragons find him tasty

Awesome 'Possum Volume 4, the natural science comics anthology, edited by Angela Boyle, contains "Saliva & Skin," a story about Komodo dragons written by Steve Bissette and drawn by me. Here are my answers to some questions from Angela:

How did you pick your topic for Awesome ‘Possum?

I have been fascinated by Komodo dragons ever since I was a child. As a dinosaur-loving kid, I was thrilled that there were still a few giant reptiles inhabiting the earth. At age 10, I named one of my pet anoles “Komodo.” More recently, I learned from a Youtube video by the “Hybrid Librarian” (Kevin Garattoni) that until the 1920s, Americans had regarded Komodo dragons as cryptids, like the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot. In 1926, American naturalist W. Douglas Burden led an expedition to Komodo Island to verify the existence of the “dragon lizards.” In 1933, filmmaker Merian C. Cooper directed a blockbuster horror movie, largely based on Burden’s voyage. The movie, King Kong, is still popular 85 years later. Knowing that my collaborator for this project, Steve Bissette, is a wizard of dinosaur comics and expert on monster movies, I suspected that Komodo dragons would be a topic well-suited to his writing style. After I chose our reptilian subject matter, Bissette wrote a script (resembling a film script) and I created the comics pages based on said script.

Awesome 'Possum 4 is live on Kickstarter through April 25! We still need more backers to fund the publication of this book.  By pledging $25, you can preorder a beautiful printed copy of this tome, pending on the success of the Kickstarter fundraiser.

What is your favorite animal or plant?

In recent years, I have been especially fascinated by spadefoot toads, denizens of the arid southwestern U.S. These amphibians stay quietly buried underground for most of their lives (up to three years at a stretch in the case of Couch’s spadefoot), until summer rain storms summon them to the surface. They engage in a frenzy of eating and mating, using the ephemeral pools, then return to their burrows for a long wait until the next “monsoon.” When I visited my friend Lesley, who was a park ranger at Colorado National Monument, we happened to strike it lucky and meet live spadefoot toads in the desert streams. Behind the huge cat-like eyes of the spadefoots, there seems to be an alien mind, one that does not object to hanging out alone in a hole in the ground for 1,000 or more consecutive days and nights.

Why do you think talking about nature is important?

We humans ought to preserve the earth’s remarkable diversity of life, what Charles Darwin described as “endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful.” Considering that we’re in the midst of the sixth mass extinction, it is fair to say that we’ve been doing a poor job at this task so far. People will care more about protecting creatures that they know and like. Telling the stories of wild creatures is a way of getting people to know and like them.

As of April 19, we still must raise a total of $2,121 via Kickstarter to fund this book's publication. And we have only six days to go! This book will make a great gift for someone you know.

What are your favorite drawing tools?

I remain attached to drawing comics in the traditional way—first I sketch the images in pencil on bristol board, then I make the final drawing with india ink on top of the pencils. Then I scan the pages, make some edits and do the lettering digitally. I’m especially fond of liner brushes, which I use primarily for inking the contour lines around foreground figures and objects. My main liner brushes for the Komodo story were a Grumbacher #4 and a Princeton #4, which are very different in size. (The numbers are not at all consistent across the different brands.)

The topmost picture is my self-portrait with Komodo dragons, inspired by Frank Frazetta’s painting “Conan the Barbarian.”

To get in the mindset of a naturalist-explorer, I read Burden's first-hand account.

I warmed up for drawing “Saliva & Skin” by visiting the ABQ Biopark Zoo and sketching (and photographing) live Komodo dragons.

Back at the studio, I posed for selfies and used them as reference material for many of the panels featuring human figures. In this one, I’m reenacting the experience of Maen, the Indonesian park ranger who survived a Komodo dragon attack. Below, the drawn scene as it appears in AP4.

 

My studio while I was working on “Saliva & Skin.” The floor is scattered with reference photos I printed from all over the web, as well as drawing tools and scraps of carbon paper.

If all this intrigues you, you ain't seen nothing yet! Awesome 'Possum Volume 4 is 229 pages long, and contains nonfiction comics about science and nature by over 30 creators. The tales are both educational and entertaining, and feature a broad range of plants and animals, including sphinx moths, lemurs, and Rafflesia. The tome is all-ages friendly and especially good for ages 9-12. The great American author of nonfiction graphic novels about science Jim Ottaviani said,

"You'll witness love of the natural world with every story, and your own love for it will grow with every page. You'll learn stuff, too, and learning stuff is awesome."

But to bring this book to life, we still need some backers on Kickstarter! Do you know anyone who likes nature or science or comics or learning stuff? This book will make them smile.

Book cover ©Kessinger Legacy Reprints. All other pictures ©R.W.S.

Awesome 'Possum Volume 4, featuring Komodo dragons!

“I’ll never forget seeing my first dragon,” reads the opening line of a new comics story written by Stephen Bissette and drawn by me for Awesome ‘Possum Volume 4! The book is live on Kickstarter now, so now you have the opportunity to back the book's publication and preorder your copy. Awesome ‘Possum is an anthology series of nonfiction comics about natural science, edited by Angela Boyle. It brings together leading emerging and established cartoonists to tell the stories of earth’s remarkable plants and animals. The tales range from the very scientific to the very personal; they are friendly for all ages and especially good for ages 9-12. Bissette was my teacher at The Center for Cartoon Studies, and is best known for his collaborations with Alan Moore on the DC comic book series Saga of the Swamp-Thing. As dinosaur-loving children who never fully grew up, Bissette and I put our hearts and souls into writing about and illustrating the natural history and human history of one of the few giant reptiles that still inhabits the earth. AP4 also includes stories by other creators about lemurs, llamas, sphinx moths, Rafflesia, and much more.

We’re live on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/861608378/awesome-possum-vol-4

My work also appears in AP2 (collaboration with Bissette about fishers) and AP3 (solo work about frogs and mosses). As in the previous volumes, the writers and artists of AP4 will be amazingly diverse in how they approach presenting the biodiversity of our planet!

Cheers and thank you~

See you in SPACE

I will be exhibiting and selling my comics work at SPACE (Small Press & Alternative Comics Expo) in Columbus, Ohio, March 25-26! Debuting at this show, GUERILLA FOOTBALL: A QUEST BY A CYBORG HORSE TO MAKE HIMSELF WHOLE—a 44-page one-shot science fiction comic book, wherein a transhuman cybernetic horse and orang-utan team up to steal a priceless historic football in hopes of selling it to raise funds to buy themselves human bodies. Their quest is fraught with peril; opponents include the cybernetic football player of the future! I will also be selling just about every other comic book I’ve made or contributed to in the past 14 years, including FROG STORIES, AWESOME ‘POSSUM 2 & 3, etc.
http://www.backporchcomics.com/space.htm

Wind Cave Passages, including mine on safety and ferrets, in comics form!

My fellow Ranger at Wind Cave National Park, Matthew Chuvarsky, recently sent me the final PDF of this year's version of the visitor guide (park newspaper), ready to go to press. All of us seasonal interpreters labored heavily for this production; and the final product seems to shine (despite its destination on newsprint.) I will link to the paper when it becomes available. Matthew and fellow Ranger Amanda Hagerty designed and wrote most of the contents. I must applaud their clever layouts and techniques, such as  the alternating pattern of text and images found on page 3, the gallery of notable speleothems on page 4, and the condensation of a complicated schedule into a highly readable table on page 5. I contributed the draft version of the text for the "summer" section of page 3, and--more notably--the illustrations and comics, interpreting the safety rules and the plight of the black-footed ferrets (and the text on the ferrets as well.)  Features like this are not found in many National Park Service newspapers. I must consider this publication a success, and a victory for me in bringing comics into a new educational venue. Readers young and old connect with the simple iconography and sophisticated narrative power of the comics medium. It makes a fantastic medium for communicating about National Parks and public lands, whether to explain the rules for safety and park protection, or to tell the stories of animals and plants, and evoke a sense of empathy for these residents of the great preserves. Comics have been used before as educational and interpretive tools for land protection: Grand Canyon's nonprofit support organization gives out comics featuring the superheroes Chasm and the Eco Squad (who protect nature against polluters); I have seen comics about the wildlife in Yellowstone (details unknown); the Forest Service distributes comics about fire education starring Smokey Bear; and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has contracted comic strip character Mark Trail and his current author Jack Elrod to communicate about the impacts of global climate change (and how to survive the resultant extreme weather!) (Mark Trail's original creator, Ed Dodd, was a Park Ranger at Yellowstone, where he guided mule pack trips.) A state park in Texas featured a brilliant cartoon sign about why not to feed the animals....

...which probably had some influence on my illustrations for Wind Cave. Having said all of this, there is a great deal more that land preservation agencies and organizations can do with the comics medium; it's potential applications are as diverse as the life in an Amazon Rainforest.

And so, I present my humble contribution to the visitor guide of Wind Cave National Park.

This was my original final product:

The park's Chief of Interpretation asked for some edits, some of which were carried out by Matthew after I departed the park. This is what finally appeared in the park newspaper:

I gave this project my best and fullest effort. I am happy to be part of our Visitor Guide. To steal a line from a skillful and hardworking maintenance employee at Wind Cave, "I aim to serve."

NPS publication cartoons are not copyrighted.

a few more Frog Stories

Most of my Frog Stories are inspired by real events involving my various pet amphibians. As a sort of web-exclusive extra, I will share a few more stories about my critters. While my book contains comics, I have composed the extra stories in prose, with a few illustrations.

Horned Frog Gymnastics

Once, Bud (the Argentine horned frog) spied a juicy, mouthwatering earthworm before him. He lunged for it and missed. The worm crawled into a hole. Bud dove in with jaws agape. And found himself doing a head-stand. He kept in place for a few minutes, perhaps baffled by the predicament. By the time he regained his footing, the worm had escaped.

Flash versus Metallica

We introduced Flash (the firebellied toad) to join my two green tree frogs in a 15-gallon terrarium, and thought that the three would be friends. Characteristic of his breed, Flash took to the water dish. He swam about using the classic frog kick, floated with eyes above water and body submerged, stood on the stones, and didn't venture far from the “pond.” Meanwhile, the tree frogs dwelt mainly on the leafy plants or affixed to the glass walls, above the ground. Then Hoppy the tree frog clambered down from his perch and to the edge of the water, in search of a cool bath. And we heard a sound. HREF HREF HREF HREF—surprisingly high and loud. I took a closer look and listen, and found that the barking came from Flash. And then he climbed atop a rock in the pond, and glared down at the intruder. Hoppy, unconcerned, proceeded to the water. And Flash leapt towards him! Hoppy jumped away, back into the foliage. The amphibians might not be so compatible. Later, we found Flash and Hoppy together, with the former's jaws clamped forcefully around the latter's foot. And so, I reached my hand--giant by frog standards--into the cage.  Both animals jumped away, in different directions. Obviously, Flash needed a separate enclosure.

After becoming a lone toad, Flash found a new motivation to burn his territorial fire. Any time I set my boombox to heavy metal, Flash responded. HREF HREF HREF HREF! He heard the challenge and answered forcefully. And he had no fear about pitting his lone voice against the fearsome combination of vocals, guitars, and drums. My mom joked that it was a sing-along among angry young males. With his barking and posturing, Flash looked quite the intimidator, for a critter only two inches long. Were I a frog, I would keep my distance.

Uniquely Comics, part two: The Page as a Whole

An unique aspect of the comics medium is its ability to portray multiple moments in time simultaneously. (Yes, Scott McCloud pointed this out before I did.) Each panel portrays an individual, frozen moment. And when the viewer reads from one panel to the next, his imagination fills in the spaces to create the story. However, before the reader focuses in on the individual panels, he first sees the page as a whole—an entire composition, in which the past, present, and future exist concurrently. (As such, the comics page shows some alignment with Albert Einstein's interpretation of time—and the way in which Dr. Manhattan experiences reality.)

I am a fan of using the entire page as a carefully-conceived, unified composition. One can do this within the standard panel grid—or go “off the grid” and create one's own unique structure and flow.

Will Eisner is a grand maestro of full-page compositions; here is one of countless examples (this one from the Femme Fatales collection from DC):

Some mind-bending page compositions occur in Saga of the Swamp Thing. Below is one from issue #34 “Rite of Spring”--sometimes referred to as "the vegetable sex story." Written by Alan Moore, drawn by Steve Bissette and John Totleben, colored by Tatjana Wood, reprinted in Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Two: Love and Death:

Gary Panter's packed full-page compositions in Jimbo's Adventures in Paradise were an influence upon me...

...when I set out to draw A Humble Joy. And I consider this guinea pig epic to have been a sort of breakthrough success for me; the art show that accompanied its release may have been my fifteen minutes of fame!

The Spirit page is copyrighted to Eisner studios; the Jimbo page is copyrighted to Gary Panter; and the Swamp-Thing pages are copyrighted to DC comics. Low-resolution reproductions are used here for archival and educational purposes only.

Uniquely Comics, part one: Closure

The comic below ("Gargoyle in Flight") arose from an assignment at The Center for Cartoon Studies, a "drawing challenge": to depict a character flying from the city to the country, then going through a window. I did some ambitious drawing for this challenge, using a three-point perspective in the opening splash panel, then one-point perspective in the following two. (And the artists in my audience know that perspective images can be tedious to set up!) And then I used ink washes to cast atmospheric shades of grey over the scenes.

On page 2, I stumbled upon a technique that is unique to the comics medium. In panel one, the gargoyle's wings are up, and his surroundings include skyscrapers and car-filled streets. In panel two, his wings are down, the tall buildings are in the distance, and his setting has become more rural. Our imagination fills in for the great many wing-beats in between! A special use of "closure" (to use Scott McCloud's term.) If ever I teach a course on the comics medium, I'll include these pages.