SENTINELS ANTHOLOGY #2 SPOTLIGHT ON: MICHAEL BLOECHLE

Within the 2^nd SENTINELS Anthology, we have one huge story with the 3^rd generation SENTINELS as adult heroes. This story focuses on the 3^rd gen team, but it also features every generation of SENTINELS teams. We wanted to do a story that really served as something special to all of the people who had been following us for years. When it came time to spotlight the 1^st and 2^nd generations of the team, I did the finished art off of Luciano Vecchio’s layouts, but we also wanted the different generation parts of the story to feel unique and have a distinct quality to them. For the 1^st generation team, I knew Michael Bloechle would be the perfect colorist to help us achieve that goal! 

Michael (Micha) is an amazing artist from Germany, who entered our 4^th Drumfish Art Contest over on DeviantArt. Michael won third place with his rendition of Stitch all grown up. I remember being truly impressed with the way he colored his work. It was so painterly! I loved it. A few months later, Michael surprised us with a portrait of Firebomb that has to be seen to believe. It was so beautiful! It was so realistic that you could see freckles on her skin in the picture.

Now, I had already known that I wanted to work with Michael one day, but this picture solidified it! Micahel agreed to color the 1^st generation part of the SENTINELS story and I couldn’t be happier with the results. There’s a feeling of time and place with the way he colored the story. It separates itself perfectly from the other stories and stands on it’s own. It also makes my linework look so much better after I destroyed Luciano’s sketches!

Please check out Michael’s work at www.micha-vom-wald.deviantart.com

SENTINELS ANTHOLOGY #2 SPOTLIGHT ON: PATRICIO OLIVER

Patricio (Pato) Oliver is the artist on ClockStopper's story for the 2nd SENTINELS Anthology!

What can I say about Pato???

Let me rephrase that...What can I say about Pato publicly that won't get me in trouble or offend anyone reading this, lol.

I met Patricio when he came to visit NYC in 2014. Luciano Vecchio was attending NYCC with me and had asked if I had room to host his friend. Of course I said yes. Little did I know that I was letting the devil into my home. Honestly, Pato is an evil force of nature! He's wickedly talented, insanely funny and rotten to the core. Naturally, we hit it off immediately and became instant friends, lol.

I love Pato's artwork! His style is very energetic and graphic. His character designs are original and thought-provoking. And he uses color very boldly to express emotion in his work. This all made him the perfect choice to illustrate Luciano's story for Simon (Clockstopper). It's an important part of the Anthology and is the final time we see the 3rd generation SENTINELS as children. This story leads right into the longer story with them as adults and also serves to show some of the changes within Simon and reveal his new superhero name.

How then could I intrust such an important character to the Sith Lord known as Pato? That's easy, I became his apprentice and he forced me to. :P

Seriously though, I'm very proud to have had Patricio involved in the 2nd SENTINELS Anthology and I think everyone will agree once they see his work.

Please check out more of Patricio's artwork at www.patriciooliver.com.ar He has tons of all ages work there, art from his amazing story "The Book of Tenebrae" (of which figurine have been made of!!) and his Game of Thrones art is not to be missed!

SENTINELS ANTHOLOGY #2 SPOTLIGHT ON: BRYAN TURNER

One of my favorite artists and one of the founders of the amazing ID Comics crew, Bryan Turner, is the artist on Viperella's story in the second SENTINELS Anthology. 

Bryan is a super nice guy who is crazy talented. Anyone who has met him knows that. He's a father of four and has an awesome family that he's very proud of. I don't know how he juggles work and family with what appears to be such ease, but he does! Suddenly, him having the nickname "Flash" makes so much more sense to me now, lol. He does so much with so little time!

I love the energy and bold style of Bryan's art. In just a few panels he expresses more than some artists do on a complete comic. His story-telling abilities show a wide range of animation history. So, it's no surprise that Bryan's work was noticed by some big names and he's a story artist at Marvel/Disney now doing amazing things in animation! 

I honestly can't wait to see what he does next. I'm a big fan of his work and I'm lucky to say I knew him when!

Please check out more of Bryan's work at http://bturnerart.blogspot.com/

SENTINELS HOLIDAY SALE!

Here is our second HOLIDAY SALE announcement! This time it's spotlighting the SENTINELS! The proce points offered are much lower than our awesome NEVERMINDS announcements. Our first SENTINELS deal is all 6 of the SENTINELS graphic novels, which include the original four 216 page books and the two Anthologies, for ONLY $35! Crazy, right?

The second SENTINELS deal is buy any SENTINELS figurine and get TWO original hand colored headshot sketches of any character of your choice, drawn by Rich Berantovech.

Both of these offers are only for a limited time! Don't wait until it's too late!

NEVERMINDS HOLIDAY SALE!

It's that time of year again and since our Holiday Sale went pretty well last year, we decided to do it again! We plan to offer some different deals this time around, starting with this special NEVERMINDS offer!

This limited supply offer features all three figurines designed by Jamie Fay of the main NEVERMINDS ladies; Alanis, Nina and Samanya. AS well as the four issues of NEVERMINDS that have been released so far. The figurines are usually $40 each and the comics are $5 each ($20 for all four). That's a total of $140! But, we have set aside ten sets that we are offering for ONLY $100! That's a $40 savings! 

Don't miss out on this amazing deal! Once they go, that's it!

Check back for future Holiday Sale announcements!

http://www.drumfishproductions.com/

http://www.freewebstore.org/drumfishproductions/index.aspx?pageid=1777230

SENTINELS ANTHOLOGY #2 SPOTLIGHT ON: JOMAN MERCADO

Joman Mercado is an amazing artist who’s work I first saw when he entered the second Drumfish Productions Art Contest on DeviantArt. A resident of the Phillippines, Joman won second place in the contest with his interpretation of Firebomb and Phazer from SENTINELS.

I was extremely impressed with Joman’s illustration style. His linework is super clean and precise. His choice of colors always compliments the subject he’s drawing and his coloring technique is very painterly and original! I knew right away that I wanted to collaborate with him one day. We were working on the second SENTINELS Anthology around this time and I was happy when Joman agreed to work on Kickback’s story for the book.

Of all the third generation SENTINELS stories, Kickback’s has the most panels on one page. (Sorry about that, Joman!) But being the professional he is, you would never hear Joman complain. He simple delivered an amazing looking page with everything exactly on there as it was asked. In addition to that, Joman really captured Kickback’s personality and look. He draws younger characters great!

I’m still hoping to one day Joman and I work on a story together, but for now, I think everyone will agree that he knocked it out of the park with his artwork for Nicholas Lynch’s story! Please check out more of Joman’s work at http://jomanmercado.deviantart.com

LUCIANO VECCHIO ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT AVENGERS #1 VARIANT COVER

Please give CONGRATULATIONS to Luciano Vecchio, who's variant cover for the all-new, all-different Avengers #1 is out today! This is a BIG deal for him. I mean, it's the cover for AVENGERS#1!!!! It's so awesome! I'm so happy and proud for my original partner in crime on SENTINELS and can't wait to see what he does next! GO out and support Luciano by picking up his variant cover to Avengers #1!

SENTINELS ANTHOLOGY #2 SPOTLIGHT ON: NICHOLAS LYNCH

Since he was able to talk, my nephew, Nicholas Lynch, has had a gift for storytelling. Of course, most of stories back then were made up and he used them to get out of trouble! But, he developed a quick wit and great sense of humor that would make you laugh even though you know you shouldn’t be.

When he was just 12 he wrote one of my favorite books I’ve ever been given. It was a Christmas gift to me and was about my new puppy, Harlee, who was only a few months old, and how she spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with the family causing all kinds of chaos. Nick used that truth to create a story about all the adventures she had during that time. It was hilarious! I really loved it and was completely impressed by how talented a writer he was. And I’m honestly saying that because I laughed out loud reading what he wrote. I’m super proud of him and what a great person he has grown to become.
When it came time to gather creators for the second SENTINELS Anthology, there was no doubt that I wanted to have Nicholas write something. And who better for him to write than the SENTINELS resident smartass, KickBack! Fitting, huh? lol. I teamed him with artist, Joman Mercado and they created one of my favorite 3^rd Gen character stories that I hope readers will find as perfect for the character as I do!

SENTINELS ANTHOLOGY #2 SPOTLIGHT ON: ROGAN JOSH

SENTINELS ANTHOLOGY #2 SPOTLIGHT ON: ROGAN JOSH

I met Josh a few years ago and was immediately impressed with his work and love of comics. Josh (Rogan Josh) is an incredible artist whose style is unlike any other comic work I’ve seen before.  Using what he has coined as “modHero” style, his work is very graphic and designed with extreme consideration to positioning and color. His figures, backgrounds and symbols are bold and pull you into his work immediately.  His work has been featured in many galleries and most recently at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum.

After that initial meeting, Josh read the entire SENTINELS series and told me he really enjoyed it! At the time, I wasn’t really planning on doing another Anthology (just yet), but Josh asked that if I ever did another one, he could be involved. I was curious and asked what he’d be interested in doing and Josh said he already had an idea for a story for Phazer! I was sold on the idea very quickly and with that, Josh kicked off the beginning of the second SENTINELS Anthology! 

Josh’s story for Phazer really captures the character. It was important to me that someone who cares about the character and understands him spotlighted Phazer. Phazer has a lot of supporters and represents the LGBT community in a positive way since he was introduced over 10 years ago. He’s also a role model for the 3rd generation SENTINELS. As the co-founder for GeeksOut, a nonprofit organization that represent the queer geek community, I knew Josh would do an amazing job on Phazer’s story and handle him perfectly.

Josh’s story for Phazer is also significant because he did all of the writing and art for the story himself! And you won’t believe it once you see his work, but this is Josh’s first sequential comic story ever! And to say he hit the ball out of the park is an understatement. Josh went above and beyond for this story and I can see this is just the beginning of his sequential work (at least I hope so!). 

I’m proud to have Josh involved in the SENTINELS Anthology and I hope everyone reading this will check out more of Josh’s work at www.modhero.com and order the second SENTINELS Anthology at: http://www.freewebstore.org/DrumfishProductions/SENTINELS__ANTHOLOGY_2/p1777237_14809770.aspx

SENTINELS ANTHOLOGY #2 SPOTLIGHT ON: HOLLY MONGI

Holly Mongi is an amazing artist who’s work I originally saw at the first NYCC Anime Show over 5 years ago. I was immediately impressed by the beautiful watercolor technique Holly used on her art. I’ve never been an artist who was able to grasp watercolors very well. I’m just not good at it. But when you see Holly’s work, she makes it look so easy! Her work stood out from everyone else’s at the show. It also helps that Holly has an animation background and her character drawings are so fluid and full of movement. I can’t say enough great things about Holly or her work! Over the years, I’ve been lucky to get some excellent commissions from her in my sketchbook. That’s why, when we began working on the second SENTINELS Anthology, I made sure to get her involved!

Holly drew Electro-Cute’s story in the Anthology and found a very creative work to work a lot into just one page. The story is touching in a way I didn’t expect and Holly’s sensitive art style makes it all the more special. Written by Todd Latoski, Electro-Cute’s story is another great example of what two creators can do when they collaborate so well!

Did I mention how insanely busy Holly is?  Not only does she work as a lead animator at an educational video game company, but she also has her own graphic novel, Aviary, that she is working on! I love the story so far and hope people check it out at www.aviarycomic.com . But the biggest project Holly has right now is as a proud new Mom to a beautiful baby!

SENTINELS ANTHOLOGY #2 SPOTLIGHT ON: TODD LATOSKI

I've been friends with Todd Latoski for a number of years now and it's been a pleasure reading his work during that time. He's also been a big help to me every year I attend Megacon in Florida. 

Todd is one of the few returning creators from the first SENTINELS Anthology that contributed to this second one. For the first Anthology, Todd wrote a great story about Electron and how he discovered his powers. So, I thought it was only fitting that he would write Electron's sister, Elena's story for this new one. Todd was one of the first creators to get their work completed and I loved the idea he came up for Electro-Cute. It was perfectly in character and fits into the larger story in the book where we see Elena as an adult. Illustrated by the amazing Holly Mongi, I think the story is touching and shows a softer side of a character that's usually portrayed as tough. But that's no surprise to me, because I've always been a fan of Todd's writing. In fact, I've very excited to read the printed version of his first original graphic novel, which he hopes to have out soon! It will be just the first in a series of children's mystery stories that I know people will love! Todd has been working on the book for a while now and speaking from experience, I know how hard it can be to get your first project out there, so I can't wait for him to start sharing the book in previews for the public!

When he's not writing his mystery novels, serving as the editor of Sleuth magazine, or writing reviews and reporting on Megacon, Todd can be found acting! Over the last few years, Todd has gone from few line character roles, to being the lead in some productions! Congratulations, Todd! I hope to catch one of his shows next time I'm in Florida for Megacon.