Zita and Squidboy

Here are a couple more recent character commissions. They are Zita and some robot friends, and Tim Canny's own comic strip characters, Squidboy and Fred:

Comic Con’s A’Comin’!

The (awesome) image above was created by Mark Lewis who has a cool drawing blog where he recently reviewed Zita. On his blog you can see the whole Zita poster, in all it’s deco glory. and without the WANTED bar pasted over the top. 

 Today I’m getting ready to head up to New York Comic Con. I’m packing my masks, my story squares and my juggling rings. Why do I need these things? Come to one of my presentations and see! Here are some of the places you might catch me over the weekend:

Saturday 11:30am: author signing at the First Second booth (#1214 on the show floor)

Saturday 3pm to 5pm: Goup Author Event at Books of Wonder (located on 18th West 18th street). I will be with cool guys Zack Giallongo, and Jorge Aguirre

Saturday 7:45 to 8:45 pm: NYCC Panel “The World of Graphic Novels

Sunday 10:45am: NYCC Panel “Comics to Grow On”

Sunday 12-1:00pm author signing at the First Second booth (#1214 on the show floor)

Sunday: 1pm to 2pm: “Ben Hatke’s Three Secrets of Comics” on the NYCC stage.

Sunday 2:30 to 3:30pm: Author Signing at Autographing Table 2

Sunday 2:30 to 3:30: “Kids Read Comics” with Zack Giallongo, George O’Connor, Jorge Aguirre

This is going to be a busy weekend you guys!

Box o' Books

The girls and I are back, safe and sound, from across the Ocean. I miss Gravagna but it is beautiful here in September.

One year ago, at about this time, I turned in Legends of Zita. It was one of the best days in my recent memory. The book was a struggle to make and I was not always certain that it was any good, so when I turned it in I felt like a great weight had left my shoulders. It was a beautiful september day and Anna drove me in to Strasburg in the morning. I bought snacks at the dollar store (to share with my role playing group) and then I hiked back home along the railroad tracks and through pastures and woods.

Now, about a year later, my author copies show up on my doorstep in a big cardboard box, while I frantically work to finish the third book (I'm always a little frantic at the end).

If anyone is interested in a signed, doodled-in copy of the book, I am going to sell about 10 copies of the softcover, and 5 copies of the hardcover. Softcover is $15, and hardcover is $21. Proceeds from these sales will go directly into my "New Scanner Fund." Regular readers of this blog may remember that my last scanner blew up. If you would like one of these books just click here for the hardcover or click here for the paperback.

Oh, and since I mentioned Strasburg: this weekend I finally got to see, in person, the sign I designed for the excellent Cristina's Cafe!

Worlds Collide

Today is the big day for Legends of Zita the Spacegirl! Today the book is released! I hope you love it!

One of the things about making books for large publishers that took some getting used to is the tremendous long wait between the time you turn in your book and the day that it actually becomes available to the readers. In the case of these graphic novels that wait is a full year. This is nothing at all like the instant gratification you get from posting comics on the web.

When I turned in Legends last September I was just chomping at the bit to share it with people. I still am! But now that the story is heading out into the big world most of my storytelling brain is wrapped up in the third Zita story -and I find myself at least equally as eager to share this new story with you.

So here is a panel from Zita 3, that features a cameo appearance by the Little Robot (and his girlfriend!):

And here, for those interested, are some nice reviews and things about Legends:

A BoingBoing Review by Cory Doctorow.

The whole gang on Goodreads.

Kirkus.

Booklist.

Robot Comic #24

The moral of the story is NEVER TRY TO MAKE FRIENDS.

I guess if I'm going to be realistic and honest here on this blog (I generally have a more difficult time with the former) I should mention that there may be fewer comics than usual in the coming weeks. I have officially started coloring the third Zita book. Coloring these books is a long, zombifying process. It's gratifying, though, because hey, when you get to the end you have a book! But when I start to smell the graphic novel finish line I tend to work longer hours and leave less time for extra creative pursuits. Sadly this means fewer Robot Comics and Journal Comics.

But I'll keep the updates coming! Travels and signings coming up, and I've been meaning to scan and post some of the cool odds and ends from my sketchbook.

Right, okay, back to work...

Great hibblety jibbits! It's newspaper format!

JOLLY CONTEST WINNERS

Thanks to everyone who entered, spread the word about Legends of Zita, and left such kind, wonderful comments! This was fun. I wish I could send books to everyone.
With the help of the “True Random Number Generator” on the website “random.org” (what is this fuss about true randomness?!?) I’ve drawn our Jolly Contest Winners. And so without further ado...
The paperback copy of Legends goes to...
ELIZABETH BUTINA!
and the grand prize hardcover copy with art goes to...
Mellcia!
If you could both get in touch with me (benhatke by way of gmail or the address at this link) we can work out where to send your books.

New Robot Comic tomorrow!

Jolly Raffle Contest Time: Legends of Zita the Spacegirl!

It’s been a long wait (for me at least) but in just three short weeks Legends of Zita the Spacegirl will be released. I’m excited! And I kinda hope you guys are too. . .

Before the first book was released I raffled off a couple advanced copies, along with some original artwork. Not only was the whole “online contest” experience fun, but I think it helped spread the word about my little books. So I’m doing it again. Here’s how it works:

The AWESOME FIRST PLACE WINNER will receive a HARDCOVER copy of Legends of Zita the Spacegirl. They will also receive a small original watercolor (pictured below):

ohmygoshwhatmoredoyouwant?!?

The STILL PRETTY GREAT SECOND PLACE WINNER will receive a PAPERBACK copy of Legends of Zita and a bit of concept art.

To enter all you have to do is leave a comment in the comments section for this post. Be sure to leave some kind of name! “Anonymous” can’t win.

Wait, what’s that? You want to increase your chance of winning? Mentioning the book, linking to this blog or Zitaspacegirl.com or otherwise spreading the word via social media (twitter, Facebook, Google+, blogs, etc) is worth TWO extra entries. (three entries is the maximum).

The contest closes ONE WEEK FROM TODAY. Entries will then go into a randomizer. Afterward I will post the name of the contest winners!

Final note about the prizes: due to my travel circumstances I am away from my author copies. The winners will have a choice of receiving an UNSIGNED copy from the publisher, close to or slightly before the release date (September 4th), or waiting until after September 15th and receiving their book SIGNED and DOODLED IN by me...

Robot Comic #21

Well look at that. The Little Robot is back, and finding love in the strangest of places. But love is like that, isn't it? Unpredictable? "Ghostly." Rising like a specter from the scrap pile of our lives...

More Robot Comics are on the way, as well as a couple more True Dad stories. And, of course, we're starting to creep toward the release of Legends of Zita... I really am going to do a giveaway soon. Honest! In the meantime, it's summer and I've been workign on a rather large, ambitious painting of Gravagna. More on that soon enough...

YEAAAAAAHHHH!!!! Newspaper format is here!

Zita on BoingBoing

A nice review of the Zita books showed up on BoingBoing this morning. I'm a fan of Cory Doctorow and so it's really exciting to me that he (and his 4-yr-old) enjoyed Zita.

Here, also is a little snippet from my sketchbook. Wherein the Little Robot encounters Faerie in the dark woods:

And if seeing this makes you think I might be poking around with a longer robot story well, ...I just ...I just don't know what to tell you. What are you doing looking at my sketchbook?!? Who ARE you?

...

Finally, The Great Jolly Zita the Spacegirl Giveaway Contest ROUND TWO is on it’s way... Keep an eye on this blog if you're interested! I think I’ll be giving away a hardcover copy and a paperback copy of Legends of Zita.

Back from Texas

My visit the the Texas Library Association in Houston was a whirlwind of activity and excitement. My first visit to Texas was brief, and I can’t say I really got to see much of it, but the people were friendly and the Texas librarians are true crusaders for reading. I expect I’ll be back there someday.

One of the highlights of the trip was chatting with the renowned Orson Scott Card at dinner, trading books and talking about history. I’ve been a fan of his books ever since a friend handed me a copy of Enders Game in college. The next morning (was this only yesterday? Oh how travel warps time...) I was up bright and early for a panel discussion about comics and storytelling with OSC and authors Shannon Hale (Rapunzel’s Revenge, The Goose Girl, Princess Academy) and Gareth Hinds who uses his excellent draftsmanship to create graphic novel adaptations of classics like The Merchant of Venice, Beowulf and The Odyssey. It was universally agreed that Shannon Hale won the day.

The most personally exciting moment for me, tough, was getting my very first look at a real physical copy of Legends of Zita. I’d say First Second did a pretty bang up job with production. I thought the printing looked great. In fact, here, take a look:

Legends of Zita flipthrough from Ben Hatke on Vimeo.

So here’s to everyone I met in Texas! You made my short visit a delight.

LEGENDS OF ZITA THE SPACEGIRL

THIS IS IT!

I can’t hold back any more! Here is the cover for my next graphic novel, Legends of Zita the Spacegirl:



Here’s the full wraparound (which you can click to enlarge):


I’m so excited to share this book with you guys! Unfortunately, it won’t be released until September 4th which seems like an eternity to me, but I noticed that you can already pre order it on Amazon. I wish I could just post the whole thing online but I’d get in huge trouble. We’ll just have to wait it out together.

Oh, and special thanks to the talented Colleen AF Venable for the cover design. The illustration is mine, the text layout, etc is her. Colleen writes comics about mystery solving rodents.