Hello all!

The title holds significance; grave and important significance. For one, this news spot has been delayed a little. I have an excuse, I got married! Getting married takes a lot of time, but it is time well spent. I will make up for it with this massive post today. For two though, someone else is back… and he needs your votes!

Josh Alves submitted his comic creation Araknid Kid to Zuda several months ago and ended up a little less than 1st place. Now Zuda has announced their first ever invitational competition and Araknid Kid has been invited to compete again! Woot! The Kid is currently sitting at 6th place but with votes and comments, I’m sure the Parable team can bolster his placement to NUMBER ONE! Vote here  (there’s only 2 weeks left!) and check out the AK promotional site Josh has set up here. The promotional poster can be found in miniature below.

Paul Conrad participated in an exciting project as well. Complete information can be found on his blog, but the gist is this: Artists from around the world are donating art for an auction whose proceeds will be given over to help save the Sayama Forrest (also known as the Totoro Forest) in Japan. The project is called (not surprisingly) the Totoro Forest Project , and was founded by renowned film maker and anime master Hayao Miyazaki. If you thought that Totoro sounded familiar, you’re right! The forest is where Hayao found inspiration for one of his most loved characters, Totoro, from My Neighbor Totoro . The art that Paul is contributing (shown below) is fantastic. He deserves a clap on the back and a friendly high-five.  And make sure to check out the other pieces of amazing work being auctioned off.

The last two things are smaller, but no less important. Caleb Monroe has a new site, it is clean and brilliant. Please check it out. Also since I was not blogging during Canada Day, I missed this. I will post it now since I am Canadian. Sally Thompson created a picture that embodies most everything Canadian: a beaver, a roots hat and is that a Tim Horton’s donut? See the picture below and the original at her blog. All that’s missing is the hockey jersey :) And a happy late fourth of July to all our American friends as well (I couldn’t find an American Style pic, sorry!)

Until next time!

Mike here.  I’ll be in NY this weekend for the MoCCA Art Festival and will have free promotional Parable posters for the first ninety people that walk by and say hi (image below).  I’ll be at tables A17-19.  Hope to see you there!

First off, happy Victoria day everyone. I know it’s a Canadian holiday, but it means that I get the day off and when the weather is this awesome out, thats a good thing. It also means I can write this wonderful blog entry for you all, so rejoice!

Just a couple of things, maybe mundane to some, but I’m plugging them anyway. Mike Laughead is a shirt making machine. I believe this is his official title and if it is not, then we should lobby to make it so. You can vote for his shirts and you should. Many, many have already voted and they were right in doing so. See an example of his fine work below:

As many of you may or may not know, our other Mike, Mike Maihack, has a little pet project called “Cleopatra in Space.” I love this kind of genre/setting cross over- feels fresh. Mike has page number four up as of today for our enjoyment. Check it out at his blog. It’s fun and fast paced and perhaps if enough people like it he will update pages more frequently.

Until we meet again,

Hi all,

You might, at times, read my titles for these newsposts and wonder ‘what does it mean? Is there some cryptic message hidden there, like writing on a wall?’ No, sadly, not usually. BUT today is different. Somewhat. This post has a theme of sorts, of moving and travel and the dangers and excitement that comes from those sorts of endeavors.

Ben Hatke has been traveling with his family lately and his latest blog entry puts him in Gravagna, Italy. His art seems to be traveling too, making appearances in magazines. The Artful Blogger is published by Stampington & Company and encompasses the do’s and don’ts of creating a blog. Ben’s ‘Benedetto Juggling’ below was featured as an example of artful. I think you will all agree. It looks like a neat magazine, make sure you check it out!

In other good news, Jeremy Vanhoozer will be relocating to Atlanta. Why, you ask? For a new job as the Art Director for Cartoon Network Game Studios! Check out his blog and read carefully. What a humble guy, the news is in the second paragraph hidden below his recent drawergeeks submission. Congrats Jeremy on the new job! I’m sure everyone in Parable joins together with that wish. Good luck!!

Tune in again for more amazing news!

Hi All,

I’m going to come right out and say it: this post is a hodge-podge. Whats that mean? It means your brain will literally be assaulted by interesting and varying news bits. But don’t be alarmed! Just take it slow, read it through twice and after you’re done, close your eyes a while and just ponder these jewels of data.

Last time I briefly touched on Kameleo.com and their online comic tutorials. Thanks to a link in Caleb Monroe’s blog I found another website for the other half of comic creating: AKA publishing. Indy Comic News is a brand new website designed to help comic creators and indy publishers get their work out into the public eye. Yup, I’m talking about marketing. The site offers pre-sale listings, press release information, publisher listings and a section dedicated to “New this Month” as well as a comic of the month. Its a great idea and strives to get the word out about our trade.

A couple of Parabler’s have stuff that needs voted on as well. Sally Thompson has two sets up on Don’t Panic that, if successful, will be turned into little Momiji dolls. (they’re message dolls) I don’t think I can describe them very well, you’ll have to check them out yourself. Find her sets here and here.

Mike Laughead has a shirt (which I hope needs no explanation) up on Threadless. It’s pretty amazing so anyone who hasn’t voted, should. check it out here and in the preview below.

This is also awesome. I can’t help myself, I have to post a link to it here. Just… well, who doesn’t like Spiderman? And… popsicle sticks? Don’t worry, follow the link, you’ll see. Created by Josh Alves

Hey all,

I was thinking this week about Viper Comics. I mean, you hear ‘DC’ and you think Superman, Batman. When you say ‘Marvel’ you instantly have images of Spider-Man and the X-Men dance through your head. Even Image has a little mainstream presence with publications of the Luna Brother’s work on Girls and Ultra. When you say ‘Viper Comics’ to Mr. Joe Everyman, chances are they’ll raise an eyebrow and ask for an explanation, which is too bad since Viper has an excellent array of titles. I thought I’d spotlight a few of the ones that, for me at least, stand out.

The comic that introduced me to Viper in the first place is still, in my opinion, one of their better titles. Daisy Kutter details the exploits of a reformed train robber asked to do one last job by a mysterious employer. Armed with a massive shotgun and nerves of steel, there isn’t much that can stop Daisy, robot assassins and powered armor included. The unique setting of wild west and science fiction meshes well with the witty dialogue and excellent action sequences making this comic one of the greats. Check it out this great one-shot story collected nicely in the TPB “The Last Train”. Author Kazu Kibuishi

Ever heard of the show Lost? Oh you have? I guess it’s popular. The reason I bring it up is that Lost’s writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach is the mastermind behind the strangest spy fiction you’ll ever read. The wit and absurdity of The Middleman follows the title character and his newest sidekick, Wendy, as they combat “threats extra-, infra- and juxta terrestrial”. Anything is fair game for the duo; be it aliens, mutants or Mexican Wrestlers (I kid you not). Art by Les McClaine.

Some of Viper’s newer titles are also some their most intriguing. The Lost Books of Eve details the adventures of the world’s first woman as she travels about a fantastic earth in search of Adam who has gone missing. The Underworld Rail Road tells the tales of souls sent wrongly to hell, and the supernatural safehouses that help them make their escape to freedom. Long time running Dead@17, A Dummies Guide to Danger, and Villians are now entrenched standbys and all excellent titles. All in all, Viper is a great publisher for Parable, offering titles with great art and, more importantly, original ideas.

Lastly, I noticed this a couple weeks ago and thought I’d add it as well. Over at Kameleo.com, there are some new free online classes an comic design. Sometimes its good to take a refresher of the basics. Check that out here.

Until next time.

This week I’m indulging myself a little bit. My mind works like “Huh there’s a cat… cat’s have tails, so do Monkeys… my finance’s riding coach had a monkey… I wonder if she’s riding today…” and off into infinity. So when I saw that there were two Parable contributors that also contribute to Flight, my thoughts went something like “Huh, theres a few creators in Parable that also do comics for Flight. I love Flight! I should do a news post on Flight!” I’m really hoping that everyone reading this Blog knows about Flight, but if not, allow me to introduce this most excellent publication.

Flight Volume One featured 22 short comics by 21 contributors, first published back in 2004 through Image Publishing. Flight is now on it’s fourth installment, has seen a doubled page count(352 pages) containing 25 short comics and was released in 2007 under publisher Ballantine Books. The fifth Flight is currently in the works. Flight is a very good example of the kind of anthology that works and works well, bringing together very different views, ideas and stories into one beautiful package with something for everyone. Much like Parable, and we’re happy to have an connection to Flight through two of our contributors.

For those of you who are a bit quicker with recognizing names, you probably know who I’m talking about. For those like me that need a little prompting from time to time, I’m talking about Sarah Mensinga and Ben Hatke, two great connections to a comic anthology that is fast approaching it’s 5th installment with names like Kazu Kibuishi and Jeff Smith gracing the contributor’s list. It sure gives us at Parable something to aspire to!

In other news, I came across this article linked in Kazu’s blog, and I thought it was a great story to point out how mainstream business and audiences alike are starting to pick up comics from creators that aren’t owned by the big two. I thought it was awesome because you don’t usually associate comics with finance.

Happy 2008 everyone! I know there was a serious lack of posts last year- partially due to the actual creation of the content in Parable, but also because of the lack of time I had to make sure everyone was updated on what we were all up to. Well, as we all gear up to start work on Parable 2, fellow Parabler and writer John Gunningham is stepping up to help make sure this site is updated more regularly. He’ll be keeping tabs on all of us to make sure this is your one-stop place to find out what news and creations we have up our sleeves as well as anything else he might feel is important or entertaining for you to know. Make sure you wish him a warm welcome.

And hey! Parable is coming out this year! We’ll have news and  art on that as things develop. Should be a great year!

I’m excited to announce that Parable will be published under the Viper Comics imprint! Viper is probably best known for the publisher of Dead@17, A Bit Haywire and Daisy Kutter as well as a slew of other great titles. The quality of those books and the talent of the creators involved makes Viper feel like a perfect fit for Parable and we’re excited to be joining their wonderful line of books.

Details are still being worked out on the exact publication date for Parable, although we’re looking at sometime in Spring of 2008. Keep your eyes on this site as we’ll announce an exact date as well as preview pages of Parable very soon!

Welcome to a new look for the Parable anthology website.  All of the stories are completed and we are now beginning our search for a publisher.  Bookmark this site, or click on the rss feed at the right, to make sure you’re kept up to date on how that develops.  Once a deal is secured, we’ll be back with release notes and finally some preview art to show off!  And a big thank you to everyone’s patience and support of this project.  All of your emails and comments mean a lot, and we can’t wait to put this book in peoples hands.