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.”
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!
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:
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!
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!
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.
Next episode should go up on Tuesday as usual, see you then!
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.
Ok something in the embed code has made these videos screw up this blog I have attempted to post (and have had to retype) about 3 times, so i am just doing links. Three different TV appearances came out online today by some strange happenstance, so here they all are…
You are probably wondering why you are seeing a fresh new Axe Cop episode posted bright and early on a Tuesday morning. Well, welcome to the new paradigm shift, CollegeHumor.com has joined Axe Cop's team! Basically, we have partnered up. CollegeHumor is posting Axe Cop episodes on their site, and we are linking back to them from our site. We give them content, and they give us traffic. It's a beautiful thing. Huge thanks to every one at College Humor for helping spread the Axe Cop love. I encourage you to go to their site and check out what they have going on over there. Car Sondrol, the man behind the awesome sound tracks and sound design of the last couple Axe Cop motion comics does a lot of the music in their videos.
Today's episode is DOUBLE STUFT. I mean, it is twice the usual size because I loved both of these pages so much I wanted them to post at the same time. This whole scenario with the unicorn and the brain is one of my favorite insane ideas Malachai has ever come up with. I have been excited to post it ever since he came up with it when I was visiting him last Christmas. Mice and babies… now we know why they have that look in their eyes. They are constantly thinking about unicorns.
It's been another good week, especially on Twitter. Big thanks to Brian Posehn, Damon Lindelof and Felicia Day for their twitter promotion of Axe Cop. I'm excited that people are enjoying the Bad Guy Earth series, it's my favorite thing we have done so far and I am really looking forward to releasing the final issue. Also, we got these new Bat Warthog Man tee shirts!!
I'll be at Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland this coming weekend. I'll have some posters and books on hand and will be doing comissions. I'll also be doing a panel with my awesome editor Shawna Gore. Also, this just in, I will be in Lancaster PA at Franklin & Marshall college speaking on the 27th, then that weekend I will be in Anaheim at Wizard World. I'll be all over the place that week! Get the details on those appearances in the Appearances section of the web site.
Well this blog has gotten long. I hoped you enjoyed today's episode as much as I did. See you next week at our new time!
It's a big day. Bad Guy Earth #2 hit shevles today. Malachai and I got our early advance copies yesterday and sat together and read through them. It was pretty cool. Here I am on my second month-long visit working with Malachai on our next series of stories and we take a break to sit there and read the comic we created last time I spent a month with him. Our hard work all paid off and printed into a nice little full color book, and just yesterday morning Mtv Geek named Bad Guy Earth #1 the best comic book of March 2011!. After reading the full comic Malachai saw an ad for Dr. McNinja at the end of the comic and looked up Dr. McNinja on my iPad and read three story archs. He is a fast reader… something like 187 words a minute. He read a 200 page Hardy Boys book the first week I was here. He loves to read, and he got all excited to do another team up with the Doc. I need to talk to Chris.
Speaking of Bad Guy Earth, I posted the extended version of the Bad Guy Earth trailer on YouTube. This is the longer version that was created for the Axeiversary event in L.A. at Meltdown Comics. Dark Horse decided to shorten it for the official trailer, but I decided to go ahead post the full version because the voice acting is pricless and I think Hand Cuff Man makes this scene. Here it is:
A lot is on the horizon right now… for one thing, Axe Cop's weekly release date will be switched to Tuesday mornings starting next week. You'll find out why then, it's a pretty cool announcment that I am pretty excited about. Also, hopefully starting in May, I will be releasing 3 episodes a week. Basically, we want to get a volume 2 of Axe Cop done, and one page a week is not going to cut it. Now that Bad Guy Earth is done it's time to dive in and start really pumping out more content. Remember the good ol' days when I was doing 5 pages a week? Yeah me too.
Also awesome… these guys made Axe Cop the topic of their presentation in their Storytelling Class. Some impressive memorization and some very funny moments. I applauded my screen, this deserves a look from any fan of Axe Cop:
What else? Well I did another podcast interview on “With Special Guest” and I think it went pretty well. I definitely got asked some questions I have never been asked before. Speaking of podcasts, I bet some of you are wondering what happened to CHOP. Well, it's unclear, but I know James (the Chop master) has been realy busy and has had to put some things on hold. He may have to drop CHOP, but right now it seems it's up in the air.
I'm bummed too have missed Wonder Con, and especially this guy. I will be at Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland on the 16-17 of this month. Come and get your Axe Cop books and say hello if you live in Portland. I'll also be at Wizard World Anaheim at the end of the month. You can find out more info in the Appearances section of the site.
I'll end by reminding you that StickerYou! is offering custom Axe Cop sticker sheets. You can set up your own sheets how you want and order the high quality stickers in the mail. Malachai and I plastered our notebooks with them.
Well, I hope you got your copy of Bad Guy Earth #2 today. Issue 1 is just about sold out. In my opinion, each issue gets better in this series. Issue 3 contains some of the most insane things I have ever attempted to draw, I'm really excited for it to come out. Also, the current story arch, Bat Warthog Man Can't Find His Friend, is about to hit one of my all time favorite Axe Cop moments you have not yet read. I can't wait for you to see it. Until then, thanks for reading.
