Happy Halloween

And what better day to post that HELLSHOCK/BLACK MASS/THE DA VINCI CURSE is now renamed DEAD KNIGHT, with a slightly different trailer online, though fans of my writing can still see me get machine-gunned in the face.

And now a word from the Midwestern Anti-Defamation League: in last week's episode of STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP, we saw a character getting a visit from his parents, all the way from Columbus, Ohio. Although Columbus is a thriving metropolis with over a million residents, includes Big Ten Ohio State, and is the state capital, this character's parents are portrayed as squinty-eyed rubes--so much so that the dad still has a record player, and has apparently never heard of Abbot and Costello's legendary "Who's On First?" routine. I mean, seriously. Even funnier, the parents can't spend the night with the son in what is probably a pretty nice mansion, but have to "get on the road" back to Ohio after the show's conclusion at what is probably one in the morning. One is to presume that they are anticipating rolling into Columbus by five or six a.m., instead of five or six days later.

Ah, wilderness. Give me a holler at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Bad Eggs Pg. 21

Note Tilda's new hairstyle, after the "ski cap" comment by my daughter. One of my favorite pages, for some reason.

Bad Eggs Pg. 22

Follow The Volunteers in their self-titled spin-off comic, available whenever I get one done.

Bad Eggs Pg. 23

As the hour grew late during my 24 hour run, I strayed to the philosophical.

Bad Eggs Pg. 24

Thanks for reading my 24 Hour Comic "Bad Eggs!" We will now return to regular programming.

Bad Eggs, Pg. 19

Many true baseball fans will enjoy this sentiment.

Bad Eggs Pg. 20

First appearance of Lumberjack and Splinter, later seen in my "Volunteers" comic. Next time: the startling, somewhat anticlimactic denouement!

Bad Eggs Pg. 16

My tribute to one of my favorite characters, Green Lantern John Stewart.

Bad Eggs Pg. 17

Thrice Man has a point here.

Bad Eggs Pg. 18

Listening to The Man in Black while drawing this, natch.

Bad Eggs Pg. 13

Sort of my tribute to "Mean Streets," with capes.

Bad Eggs Pg. 14

More domestic drama. My daughter thought Tilda's hair looked like a hat. Oh well.

Bad Eggs Pg. 15

Another continuity error brought on by fatigue. "Evil Eagle" was supposed to be one character, but I drew him flying and also getting zapped by Visor. So now I guess it's one of those things like what happens to Iron Man where somebody steals the plans for the armor and builds a bunch of suits. Hey, it works for Marvel.

Bad Eggs Pg. 10

Passing resemblance to Avengers line-up noted.

Bad Eggs Pg. 11

Astute readers of "The Vow," my serialized comic also online for your relative viewing pleasure, will note a seeming continuity error here. It is called "being tired," but I have come up with a better explanation, if anyone notices and comments in the comments section.

Bad Eggs Pg. 12

Terry, aka "Lickety Split," was named for the vaguely criminal boyfriend of an ex-girlfriend.

Bad Eggs Pg. 6

"Lickety Split" first appeared in my serialized comic experiment "The Vow," done at about this same time and distributed to a few unfortunates via the local comic shops. For further punishment, you can read "The Vow" on my blog also, starting here.

Bad Eggs Pg. 7

To see what happened at 24 Hour Comics Day 2005, start here.

Bad Eggs Pg. 8

"Lickety Split" is currently appearing as a foe in my semi-regular 'zine "Volunteers."

Bad Eggs Pg. 9

The first appearance of The Victors, an Avengers-style supergroup whose names I all got from a random superhero name generator on-line.

Bad Eggs Cover

I missed 24 Hour Comics Day this year because of the event's move to October, alas. But in honor of this great annual event, this week I will be posting my first 24 Hour Comic, BAD EGGS, 24 pages in 24 hours done in honor of my 35th birthday way back in 2001.

Bad Eggs Pg. 1

I actually drew the first two pages last and man, was my hand tired. Not that you can see any marked loss in artistic ability, natch.

Bad Eggs Pg. 2

The last page I drew in the 24 hours. I love to rock that 70s JLA old school flava.

Bad Eggs, Pg. 3

The actual first page I drew. Note that I was starting with more of a relationship drama. It didn't take long to devolve. I'm pretty sure "George" is named for George Taylor in "Planet of the Apes" and "Tilda" from Tilda Swinton in "The Beach," both of which I watched, flipping back and forth, while I was drawing these pages.

Bad Eggs, Pg. 4

I said it didn't take long to devolve!

Bad Eggs, Pg. 5

Optical Sloth published a review of BAD EGGS on their site--check it out: http://www.opticalsloth.com/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=7&pid=680

Wasted Days and Wasted Nights

Thanks to all whose kind words and emails reminded me that Black Goliath might not really stay dead for long. Longtime fanboys used to say that all you can count on was that Bucky and Jason Todd would both stay dead, and look what's happened there.

But then I read JLA #1 and my faith in the world was restored. The first storyline is about Red Tornado? 'Nuff said.

I'm rebooting my blog and should have everything up and running again soon.

I think I've glimpsed a little of everything playing in the new fall season and I believe the only new shows I'm going to watch are "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and "The Nine." I didn't want to get hooked on another complicated serial but "The Nine" started right after "Lost" and got me pulled in. I like the storytelling so far but we'll see how long it lasts. "Studio 60" is one of those fantasy shows where everyone is hipper and sharper than you and the stakes are always high. However, unlike "West Wing," the stakes are not the world but a late-night comedy show. As I am wont to say at my day job once in a while, it's only television. But I like it for the same reason I like Robert Ludlum-sized spy books; nobody has to eat TV dinners or go to the bathroom or get bored and just flip through a magazine. People dole out withering cracks all the time even though in most offices, like my own, you can't even joke about the Colts.

I have heard "Kidnapped" and "Heroes" are both good but I don't have time in my life for anything new. I should dump "ER" but it's like a friend I've had for years I've drifted away from but still remember fondly. I catch the Law and Order and CSI franchises when I can, and if I'm sleepy Sunday nights give up and watch "Cold Case" and "Without a Trace." "Earl" and "The Office" are both still firing on all cylinders. Waiting for "24." I like "48 Hours Mystery" but the answer always is "the husband." If there's anything else I'm watching regularly right now, I don't recall it.

"Lost" is crackin' good again but most of what I love I Netflix from HBO.

Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

In Mourning

Not felt like posting much since I found out that one of my favorite characters, Black Goliath, got killed by, of all people, a clone of Thor during Marvel's lame "Civil War." Now that's some weak-ass bullshit right there. Retcon, please.

Some books I found in a 25-cent booksale: Mirgorod by Nilolai Gogol, The Rebel by Albert Camus, An Ice Cream War by William Boyd, Moving Mars by Greg Bear, Starlight by Alfred Bester, Meet Me in the Green Glen by Robert Penn Warren, and Bystander by Maxim Gorki.

Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Keanu, Indeed!

I got this email from my pal Shogo, the D.P. for SEX MACHINE, about THE DA VINCI CURSE/BLACK MASS, a different movie I worked on just after S.M. now making its way through Japan:

it is actually called de vinci war in japan. i accidentally run into it in rental store. i thought this is another bull crap that tries to ride on de vince wave and when i picked it up to take a look closer, i saw your name written in japanese and went keanu (wow!) in the store. you know the funny thing is, of course anything with the title de vinci is very popular in japan and the rental store i went had more copies of de vinci war than Red Eye, Two For the Money or Jet Li's Fearless.

Domo Arigato, b-lovers of Japan!

Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.