Hey Guys,
I’ve been hard at work on the last two Sgt. Rock covers. While #5 is just about complete, I think I’m going to rework it. Black Cat Guy posed for it and did a great job, but it seems a bit lacking. So what I’m thinking of doing is making the cover #6 and add some more figures. I know this means nothing to you all at this point as you can’t see the image, but you will later on today when I post it. I’ve got to finish these two covers before I leave. I also am doing well with my commissions and should complete five more before I leave. Our world class travelers Sllamky and Delvie’s work is also on my art table and ready to go. I will get to them when I return. I’ve done a bunch of Delvie’s but still owe Scott four (am reduing his Winter Commission). Well, I’m having some coffee then it’s back to work.
Talk to you all tomorrow.
B

Hello All,
I just completed the final issue of “Sgt. Rock - The Lost Battalion.” It is Day Six and I had to cram seven issues (which I pleaded for) into six, but think I did it. I did add an extra page and hope DC will give me that, as it’s so important. I am greatly relieved and pretty damn proud of the work. I will finish the cover to Day 4 (they are all titled “ ay 1″, “ ay 2″ etc. as opposed to numbered issues — hope this doesn’t piss off any collectors) today, cover to Day 5 by Friday and Day 6 by Sunday.

Again, I’m really exciting, the ending is quite sad and it even brought tears to Deb’s eyes so hopefully, others will feel the same.

I got an email from a 442nd veteran today, and will contact him via email. I am so terrified that I’m SHAKING. I’m just glad I didn’t see it last night, or I wouldn’t have slept. I’ll be posting another Hellion up next week (I plan) titled, “covering Rock” but will post it here first.

Until tomorrow and I’ll post the cover when I complete it tonight.

Billy

Hey all!
First off, much apologies for the site being down. It seems that the forum has grown so much that I needed to upgrade AGAIN. Maida did a terrific job putting out any fires and now we’re up and running for the long haul. Again, I missed everyone and am very, very, sorry.

That said, I’ve finished the fifth issue script to “Sgt. Rock - The Lost Battalion” today. I actually finished it last week, but with the hope that it was going to be a seven issue series, but received the news that we’ll only have six yesterday. I was incredibly depressed, but decided to get back to work today and finally finished it. The actual battle took place over seven days (and each of our issues is labeled “ ay One” etc.) so the series really should be seven issues but what are you gonna do? Again, I was really bummed as I felt I’m not doing justice to the men who served — the whole damn story is like a Hans Zimmer soundtrack, and know it would be SO much better if I had that last issue.

There’s just so much info, drama and humanity to be added but again, I will do my best to portray the valor of those men as best we could.

I spent the weekend with 1400 other history nuts, doing a full scale WW2 Battle of the Bulge reenactment at Fort Indiantown Gap, PA. It was an absolute blast and one of the best times I’ve ever had. I had the opportunity to portray both a German (Friday) and US correspondent (Thursday, Saturday) and hung out with a bunch of great guys and gals, took almost 800 photos and experienced an inspiration that I’ll never forget. Solof, Angel Doggie and Black Cat Guy promised to come — so guess what guys, there’s another in March! I’ll write more about it in detail for my coming Newsarama column.

Anyhoo, let me get back to work, but man, am I exhausted from all the running around, setting up all the photoshoots, getting up a 5am and just having a grand ol’ time.

I’ll talk to you tomorrow!

Thanks to Keara at from WestHost tech support and TrueSatan, babjusi, BlackMage and Fiery at The Simple Machines Forum, it’s finally back up again.

I hope too many messages weren’t lost…

I have been diligently working to get the forums back up, but it’s been a difficult road so far.

When Billy told me there was a problem, I attempted a forum upgrade.

We didn’t have enough server space to do the forum upgrade, and we crashed in the middle of the forum upgrade, leaving the database in a half upgraded state.

At some point during my forum upgrade attempt, our web host upgraded our platform, so I lost back ups of the forum before the attempted forum upgrade.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to re-install the forum and still keep all members, posts and messages.

So, I’m working on it. It’s just slow going right now.

Please bear with me. I’ll update if I get any closer…

If you’re bored, you can read about my very first marathon which I ran in Disney World a couple of weeks ago

So much for Global Warming. It is incredibly cold here this week. The way my house is set up it’s freezing downstairs (53 degrees) and boiling upstairs (like 80 degrees). We have two heating zones, and for some reason, when it gets really cold (say, below 25 degrees outside) the heater just gets all screwed up and doesn’t “blow” right. We’ve had the thermostats replaced (the heating system’s only about 13 years old) but no one knows just what’s up. So that’s my gripe for today.

I’m finishing up yet another commission today and will finish the script to issue#5 by next weekend. Then I’ll give myself another ten days to finish #6. I’ll also be doing a commission a week and the covers for the last three issues. I’ll start issue #1 art this month as well. I’m really, really psyched about all of this. I’ve also looked at my convention schedule up to the end of summer and here it is. I’m won’t be at the first Big Apple show as it’s the same weekend as the Paradise Con in Toronto. I also and might be going to FX January 25-27 as I should just stay home and draw. The Wizard shows are up in the air (aside from Philly) at the moment. After the scripts are done, I’ll update the website and also start my Hellion For Hire columns again.

Here it is:

1. Stripboekenbeurs Rijswijk
March 1 & 2
Holland
(of which afterwards, I will be heading to the Lost Battalion battlefield in the Alsace region of France)

2. Mega Con, Orlando, FL
March 7-9

3.NY Comic Con
April 18-20

4. Pittsburgh Comic Con
April 25-27

5. Motor City Con
May 16-18

6. Wizard World Philly
May 30 - June 1st

7. Paradise Con, Toronto Canada
June 6-8

8. WW Chicago (?)
June 26-29th

9. San Diego Comic Con
July 23 - 27th

Whew! Nine shows in the first seven months…

As with many of my journal entries, I begin by complaining just how sick I am to you all. Today is no different. All of us are sick. It went right down the family tree. I’m sure many of you with children will understand the situation. Oh, golly it stinks. I’ve actually been sick since the day after Christmas, but have been okay doing some commissions and writing, but now I just hit the wall. OH I hate this crap. Anyway, let me get back to a commission and hope you all had a great New Year’s Eve and will be back tomorrow.
Cheers!
Billy

My studio’s an absolute mess!!!! I mean it (as does our whole house) looks like the door was left open allowing a mighty wind to sweep through. I’ve been working on commissions, a little of Rock and just laying low. I got some wonderful Christmas presents this year — (thank you Joe for the ornament and book!) but at the moment am just overwhelmed by the incredible Christmas mess (well, I don’t think I’ve cleaned my studio since the Spring) so I guess I better get to cleaning here today. We’ve got Deb’s college room mate and her family coming to stay with us for the weekend and New Year, plus we’ll be having two other families staying with us that night. Oh, there’s so much cleaning to do!!!! Maybe, I’ll take a bath first. I also want to go hunting today for a few hours, just to get out of the house. Rock is coming along real well and I’m looking forward to drawing the darn thing the third week in January.
Well, until tomorrow.
Tally Ho!
B

Yes, I’ve got five pages left to the script for Day Four. I’m really digging this. I went to the dentist today and am scheduled to get a root canal Wednesday morning. I’m bummed because it’s the only time they can fit me in and I’ll miss William’s Christmas concert. It sucks. What sucks more is that I’ve got another appointment with another dentist for a crown at 1pm. UGH!

Anyway, I’ve come up with a really cool scenerio for Rock but want to run it by some of my WW2 experts to see what they say. It involves Rock, taking his signature machine gun belt off his neck, tying it around a couple of grenades and chucking at a bunch of Germans. The explosions would be pretty damn lethal I think. What about you guys?

Here’s a link to the boards. You can see all my new friends helping me out. I’m planning to go to the Vosges mountains the first week in March.

http://p081.ezboard.com/ftexasmilitaryforcesmuseum36thinfantrydivision.showMessage?topicID=2487.topic

I also had a nice conversation with Mimi and will tell you all about that later.