I decided to make this episode the first ever “Ask (not Axe Cop)” and instead have Flute Cop answer.  I didn't want to let on that Axe Cop knew this much about Flute Cop, since technically the two still have no clue they are brothers.  I don't know how it works that Flute Cop went to college for 100 years, then joined Axe Cop's team except to assume that time and math work differently in Axe Cop's world.  We can also assume that what we know as a “recorder” in our world is known as a “flute” in Axe Cop's world.

They were filming the documentary when Malachai gave me the answer for this one, and he was running all around the room making up these moves.  He made up a ton of them and I fit the best ones onto the page here.

Outside of a new episode, it's official that Malachai and I will be special guests at San Diego Comic Con this year, which is a huge honor.  We are planning an amazing Axe Cop panel and Kevin Murphy of MST3K/Riff Trax has agreed to moderate.  Malachai is SDCC's youngest special guest in the history of the event.

Also, don't miss the special episode of CHOP we did, which was actually a special episode of Nobody's Listening.  WARNING:  It is long, and it is FULL OF BAD GUY EARTH SPOULERS.  We are riffing and reviewing the entire Bad Guy Earth series in this one, so you should read the series before you listen to this podcast.

That's all for now.  It was fun to revisit Flute Cop, and finally found out how he fights.  Until next time…

Ethan

What's funny about today's episode is that I actually had done a sketch in an early sketchbook of a tongue-in-cheek character named “LIBORG” who was a lion cyborg.  I did not think to give him a third-half of a cheetah brain, but other than that I basically had a preliminary sketch done on this character in a sketchbook I know Malachai has never seen.  Great minds think alike.  Another fun fact is that Malachai has assigned the character Liborg to be our brother Isaiah.  He is Liborg.  He tried to assign our other brother Noah, who is a Marine, to be Army Chihuahua, and he refused because he hates Chihuahuas, and he hates the Army.

Also, I know that I could have spelled it Lyborg, but I chose to spell it Liborg for two reasons… one, it retains more of the word “Lion” with the “i” instead of a “y”.  Two, I think a kid would spell it this way without even considering the option of using a “y”.  It makes more sense if you only look at the words Lion and Cyborg and don't get tangle up in the weeds of words like Liberty and Libra that make you think somehow it should pronounced “Lih-borg” or “Lee-borg”.  Just roll with it.

I don't have much in the way of Axe Cop news related links, but I do have this: 

James Kennison of CHOP! has a website called YoureMockingMeArentYou.com where he posts a new piece of Buzz Lightyear tribute art every single day, and recently he did an Axe Cop Buzz.

Also,  super awesome painter Dave Rapoza has agreed to team up with me on the cover for the Bad Guy Earth collected edition, and it is currently looking A to the MAZING.

I'll leave you with that, and I hope you enjoyed the new character, because now I have to draw him for the rest of this comic, along with all those other dang characters.  Lions!!  GAH!!

Ethan

Remember last Halloween how we had an Axe Cop costume contest?  Well, we showed those photos to Rubies Costumes and they were convinced to license some official Axe Cop costumes!  Now we are trying to figure out what the top 3 or 4 best character would be to make in costumes besides , obviously, Axe Cop.  So leave a comment on this blog post and let me know your top 3 choices!

And while I am posting a blog I might as well mention that KBOO finally posted this interview Malachai and I did back when we were in Portland for the Axe Cop TPB vol 1 release party and signing. 

Also, I was on CollegeHumor.com's video podcast Nerd Alert.  Here's the video:

So today's episode is one of the most literal translations, and I have the notes to prove it:

See.  I drew a bunch of bald, hairless Axe Cop heads, and Malachai drew on them.  This is our Ask Axe Cop notebook.  Every page has a question that was emailed to us and each day of my visit we tried to answer a few.  I left the stcky notes in the top so you get some sneak peaks at other upcoming Ask Axe Cop episodes.  Yes, one of them does say “Narnia”.

There have been some great reviews of Bad Guy Earth especially since issue 3 was released.  Here are some favorites…

IGN “Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth may be the funniest comic book ever created.”

Audio and text review by Adam Ford  “Big Dumb Fun”

Comics Bulletin Warning: language (reviewed by a drunk 25 year old)

Comic Impact  “Reading this comic book makes me wonder why anyone else would bother making comic books.”

Comic Vine “I wish we had more fun comics like this on the stands”

And with that, I need to get to work on some art for the Munchkin Axe Cop card game.  See you next week!

Ethan

Most of this story ended up getting written during my last Christmas visit with Malachai, and he was really fascinated with brains if you couldn't tell.  It all reminds of “the Brain That Wouldn't Die” which is one of my favorite episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

I am currently working on getting everything together for the Bad Guy Earth collection.  It will be a pretty full color book with all three issues of Bad Guy Earth in it, plus 36 pages of bonus material- a majority of those being a special “Making of” section I put together.  I share picturres, notes, sketches and all sorts of details from our time working on this epic story.  If you haven't got part 3 yet, I think today is the day to do it.  The first two are available on Dark Horse Digital now as well.  I don't remember for sure, but I think the release date for the Bad Guy Earth collected edition is some time in October.

Good news for fans of CHOP!  We will be recording a special episode tonight reviewing Bad Guy Earth.  If you have questions or comments about Bad Guy Earth, send them in here.  I believe we will actually be doing this as an episode of “Nobody's Listening” which is James and John's regular podcast which you should be subscribed to anyway.

I guess that's all I have to report at the moment.  I'm going to try to have a new Ask Axe Cop for Thursday, so watch for that!

Ethan

I'm pretty excited to finally be releasing this video to you guys.  In my opinion it is the best by far.  The guys really put some work in on this one.  Well, you  better just watch it rather than read me blabbering…

Yep!!  Wasn't that amazing?  Predicting that people will want that closing theme song as a free download, I already prepared it.  You can thank Carl Sondrol for this sweet piece of music:

AXE!

Other due credit on this video…

Animation/ Production by Promo Scape

Promo Scape is:
Animation: Glenn Cooney
Title and Credits: Donald Lim
Producer: Tony Laughton

Score and Sound Design by Carl Sondrol


Voices:
Narrator: Bob Souer


Axe Cop: David DeAndrea


Flute Cop/Dinosaur Soldier: Lee Gordon


Avocado Soldier:
Maurice LaMarche

Ralph Wrinkles: Big Lou Johnson

Mrs. Snoward: Mary Thomas

Snoward Children: Keegan Courtwright, Elias DeAndrea, Eliza Thomas


Axe Cop theme song by Step Dad



Axe!” (closing credits song)
 
Music production, Lyrics: Carl Sondrol
Vocals: Will Wheaton, Angeline Gragasin
Guitar: Max Crowe
Trombone: Chris Murphy
 
Inspired by Isaac Hayes’ SHAFT!

Please spread the love and share this video far and wide.  A lot of work went into this thing and they once again all involved did it out of their love of Axe Cop.  We are all in their debt, you guys are awesome!

Ethan

I will admit, I laughed out loud while drawing Axe Cop attempting to blow the intercepted dinosaur horn.  We never really get to see him fail, though there have been times.  This episode of Ask Axe Cop comes to mind.  Regardless, it always makes me laugh.  I imagine Axe Cop acts a lot like a cat when it falls off of something.  He just acts cool like he meant to do it.

Well, I'm happy to post today's episode, but the big exciting news is that TOMORROW is the release of the final installment of the Bad Guy Earth series! 

This is my favorite issue of the series.  Someone asked me at the Stumptown Q&A what the craziest thing I have ever drawn was and I said it is in this issue, it is the double page spread and you will see what I am talking about.  Malachai's forte is finales and climactic moments.  My friend Josh called Axe Cop the “Bonnie Tyler of Comics”.  All epic, all the time.  That is why I think issue 3 is the best, because it is the finale, and it is where Malachai thrives.  So be sure to go grab up your copy fast!

Issue one of Bad Guy Earth is basically sold out and very hard to come by unless you can find it at a convention or something.  But have no fear… Dark Horse Digital is now open for business, and you can get Axe Cop comics for your iPad, iPhone, or just read them on your computer.  I have been reading through the available Axe Cop digital comics on my iPad and it is a really fun way to read them when you use the guided reading feature.  The punchline panels really hit hard when you can't glance over at them before you read the panel before.  I've had a lot of fun reading back through our last year+ of work.  What a great feeling.

On top of all this, I have another possible suprise for Axe Cop fans on Thursday.  If not Thursday, soon.  I can't wait!  Oh yeah and thanks to everyone who came by my table at Anaheim Comic Con this last weekend.  I had a good time, though it seemed lightly attended, it gave me a chance to kick back and talk to some true fans of Axe Cop.  Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow when Bad Guy Earth 3 hits stands!!

Ethan

P.S.  I have noticed a severe drop in episode comments since we changed up the commenting functionality, so I went ahead and re-enabled commenting specifically on the episodes for now.  I'm running a little test to see if people are just tired of commenting, or if my wonky site is just stifling your inspiration to post.  We like interaction here so please feel invited to chime in and join the conversation.

At the time I am writing this blog, it is actually the last night I will be spending during this month-long stay with my family in Washington working on more material with Malachai.  I'm exhausted, but at the same time I know how much I am going to miss having them all so close and easy to access, especially Malachai, only because over these month-long writing sessions we become pretty inseparable, and even though the breathing room is appreciated the bond doesn't let up easy and I know I'll get home and get the Malachai blues. 

What I love about today's episode is how it is another one of those “well, duh” type of moments where it only makes sense that if a bad guy steals a bunch of good guys he will kill them off pretty quick.  We are pretty used to bad guys tying them up or locking them away and walking around announcing all their cruel plans, taking their sweet time and giving the good guys amply time to travel through space, find them, and kill them and save their friends.  Not in Axe Cop.  Axe Cop is real life.  You get caught by the bad guys, they eat you.  Immediately.

Well, I am writing this so close to my last update (the new Ask Axe Cop episode, check it out if you missed it, it went up Thursday) that I don't have much else to say, plus I am pretty wiped out at the moment.  Enjoy the episode and i look forward to turning all the stuff we came up with this month into more insane material.  Also, Bad Guy Earth #3 comes out, I THINK on may 4th.  It's my favorite of the three.  Malachai thinks mainly in finales, so in a 3 act structure (which is what I attempted to turn his story into with Bad Guy Earth) the third act is the act he is most often in when he is spouting off stories to me.  I can't wait for you to read it!  Oh yeah, and I'll be in Anaheim at Wizard World on the 29-31 so come see me!

Ethan

It's been a long time since we updated the Ask Axe Cop episodes.  The good news is that we finally have, and today's episode features art from Plants VS. Zombies creator Rich Werner!  Rich is a big friend of Axe Cop and was cool enough to draw his rendition of “Zombies VS. Plants” in the last panel.  Check out a bigger version here (click to enlarge):

PvZ remains one of Malachai and my favorite games ever. 

Hopefully you will be seeing a lot more updates from us in the coming weeks.  I have plenty more Ask Axe Cop and story material from Malachai from this visit I have been on.  I want to try to put out a few pages of story and one Ask Axe Cop per week once I get back to LA. 

If you weren't at Stumptown in Portland, the panel we did was filmed and is up on YouTube for your viewing pleasure.  Shawna Gore, our amazing and awesome editor joined as the moderator and it turned out to be a pretty fun Q&A.  Shawna had recently found out that she was among the lay-offs at Dark Horse just before this event, so that definitely brought us down, but the joy of Axe Cop over ruled our gloom.   Still, just looking at the still shot of this video I am trying to imaginee making an Axe Cop book without Shawna there and I can't.  We'll always be friends but I really going to miss you as an editor Shawna.

I had a great time at Stumptown in Portland.  Thanks again to Indigo and everyone else who made it such a great experience. 

I have a new Ask Axe Cop in the works that will have a cool little surprise in it.  Other than that, the best links of this weeks really are in the last blog entry with all the videos including one from CNN.  If you haven't checked those out, do it now!

Also:  I apologize to those who were going to come see me in Lancaster, PA.  We are going to reschedule that trip for a few reasons.  Mainly bad planning on my part. So my trip to PA on the 27th is cancelled for now.  I do hope I can make it out another time though.

Ethan