Damn, Jesus is FUNNY!

Not much to update on the comic front today. Still waiting for the last of the pages from Mark for House of Worship. Once I get those, things will start to pick up again. But I've been prepping the rest of the pages, and right now it looks like the anthology is coming in at a whopping 138 pages! Now that's a hefty book! People will certainly be getting their money's worth.

On an unrelated note, I found this today:


This is an honest-to-God, no bullshit flick! I mean, damn, I didn't even throw JC into spandex in the comic... although after laughing myself silly at this poster, I many have to at some point.

I love the notion of stuff like this - juxtaposing a known figure against something completely bizarre. It would be like taking Abe Lincoln and making him a werewolf hunter...

Say, that's not a bad idea. No stealing it! I wrote it here first, so it's my IP!

Yeah... honest Abe running through the woods at night... a thick fog hanging in the air... Suddenly a cry rings out, shattering the silence. It is the cry of a wolf! Abe's hand tightens around the handle of his ax... Sweet! Now I know what my NEXT project will be.

Hell, since all of this shit is 'supernatural' in nature, I can even through an ancient 'relic' into the mix that will transport Abe into the future where he will have to team up with -- you guessed it -- JESUS to fight zombies and figure out a way to get Abe back to his own time!

I'm an effin' under-appreciated genius -- or a shameless hack. Either one works for me!

~ S

Who Dat Angel?

One of the main character of the upcoming mini-series Jesus Hates Zombies: Yea, Though I Walk... is the Archangel Gabriel. And as I first thought about him, I pictured him as a beloved character from my youth... a hero from a little fantasy film from 1981 that featured awesome stop-motion goodness from Ray Harryhausen.

I told this to Lauren (actually, it was much shorter when I told her - I simply told her the name of the film and character) and she came back with this:



It's freakin' PERFECT! Of course, she also hit me with another image, but that would be giving too much away in one post...

So 10 points and much respect to the first person to correctly figure out who Gabriel is modeled after.

~ Stephen

Yea though I walk...

Now that the anthology is just about finished, work has begun on the JHZ mini series that is being written by me, with artwork by Lauren Monardo. I've decided to put out a little 'teaser' image that Lauren recently did. This 'teaser' will also be going in the anthology.

And, obviously, the name of the mini series will be Jesus Hates Zombies: Yeah Though I Walk...


~ Stephen

One Page to Go!

I woke up this morning to find that Jordan Dalton had emailed me all of his pages, so the first story in the anthology -- Beginnings -- is complete. I also had an email with another page from Mark for House of Worship. That leaves only one final page from House of Worship to go. Once Mark turns in that page, everything for the anthology is DONE.

It looks like I'm going to be going through Ka-Blam Digital Printing. I've heard nothing but good things about them, and they've got reasonable rates.

So get ready, folks... Jesus Hates Zombies: Those Slack-Jaw Blues is going to be unleashed very, very soon!

~ Stephen

Who We Are

So I received pages from the 2 artists still completing their stories with assurance that this will be the week that they're done, AND I got the inside cover finished. We're sooooo close!

I decided a long time ago that since so many people were contributing to this anthology, I wanted a unique way to showcase who everyone was. So I enlisted Lauren Monardo (as I tend to enlist her for everything I possibly can) to create zombifications of all of the contributing artists. These zombifications will make up a big portion of the inside cover -- and they're done!

So here they are, the JHZ faithful in all of their zombified glory!
(obviously you need to give the image a 'click' to actually see them)


~ Stephen

Cool Piece

I thought it would be interesting, as the anthology gets so close to being finished, to see all of the different interpretations of zombie ass whoopin' Jesus. So I put this piece together featuring a shot of Jesus from a panel from every story in the anthology. Damn all of these artists ROCK!

Click on the image to enlarge it.

~ Stephen

Pencils and Inks

I'm a major appreciator of art. I love it. I love sketches, rough pencils, layouts, inks, tones, colors, paintings... you get the idea -- I love art in all its many forms. So I figured for my post today I'd show you guys two examples of some great art in its various stages. First up is a penciled panel by Mark Lauthier from the story House of Worship:

That's Mark's interpretation of JCs faithful zombie sidekick Laz.

And here we have a completely inked and toned panel byJordan Dalton from the story Beginnings:


I'm like a kid on Christmas morning when I open my email to find artwork waiting for me.
~ Stephen

For God's Sake, Cover Yourself!

Here they are, the front and back covers of Jesus Hates Zombies: Those Slack-Jaw Blues. Click on them to see larger versions.



Let me know what you think!

~ Stephen

Teaser-tease...

Just popping in to drop a tidbit from a panel by my boy Down Under -- Mark Lauthier.


Like I said, that's not the whole panel, just a tasty treat to wet your whistle...

Believe me, the story Mark is working on, House of Worship, hits so many levels of bad-ass-ish-ness that you're going to feel like you took a Holy Louisville Slugger upside your noggin'!

~ Stephen

Why I'm a Writer

My plan from now on is to drop a blog a day in here, regardless of what's going on (or not going on, as the case may be).

Today, there's not a whole helluvalot goin' on with the comic. I did receive an update from each of the artists still working no their stories, which is encouraging. I'm ok with waiting, as long as I know the work is being done. Hell, when you can't afford to pay your artists, patience is a BIG TIME virtue! You've gotta have flexi-deadlines because it's not like the artists involved can afford to drop everything and work on this project since it ain't puttin' food on their tables. (yet!)

One of the artists, Jordan Dalton, sent me a GORGEOUS page that he's just completed. His ability to use tones to bring a black & white page to life amazes me. He creates a living, breathing world that is devoid of color... and that's no easy feat! Wanna see what Jordan's view of my idea of downtown Heaven looks like?


Simply awesome... it's as gaudy and obnoxious as any large city here on Earth!

And now it's time for a little laugh at my expense. Here's the reason why I must rely so heavily on the talents of others to bring the JHZ world to life:


Yes, that is what JC would look like drawn by me...

Done laughing? Yeah... I know... thank GOD I have artists who are willing to work with me! LOL!

~ Stephen

New Look, Same Blasphemy

Ok, ok... so it's been 3 months since I last posted... I've been busy! I've had... er... stuff and things going on... Yeah, that's it. But I'm back now, and I PROMISE to be more diligent with my posting!

So what's going on with JHZ?

LOTS and LOTS and LOTS!!!

First, the anthology is nearly done. There are only 2 stories left to be completed. Once that's done, I'll somehow scrape together the money to start printing this thing! Please check out the ComicSpace page to see some really great stuff from the book. Each and every artist involved in bringing this crazy idea to life is my hero. They've rocked my socks off with the level of work they've done!

I also just recently turned in an exclusive 12 page JHZ story to Alterna Comics for a book they're publishing in October called Alterna Tales #2. Lauren Monardo provided the art, and we both feel like we've turned in a pretty sweet stand-alone JHZ story that you're not gonna find anywhere else but in that anthology! It's only gonna cost a couple of bucks, so if you dig JHZ, please please please pick it up! The more they sell, the better our chances are of getting a mini-series run for JHZ with Alterna Comics. And 2 creator/artist friends of mine have amazing books publishing through Alterna: Jeff McComsey's American Terror: Confessions of a Human Smart Bomb and Michael Bracco's Birth and Novo. Both books absolutely rule, so I highly recommend picking them up!

Wanna see the latest JHZ ad? It features artwork by Steve Willhite, one of the talented artists who's contributed to the anthology:


The cover to the anthology is also finished, and it features an amazing painting by Jeff McComsey:


The back cover is also completed, and it features more kick-ass artwork by Lauren Monardo. I was also lucky enough to get 2 terrific endorsements for the back cover by 2 people in the comic business that I really respect: Chris Ryall, the writer of Zombies Vs. Robots and the Editor-in-Chief at IDW Publishing and Matt Billman, the co-creator of the brilliant comic Living With Zombies. The simple fact that these guys would take the time to check out JHZ and then allow me to use a quote by them for the book blows me away. I'm eternally grateful to them both.

Well, I guess that's a pretty badass update for now, ain't it? There will be a lot more to come soon, I promise!

~ Stephen