I am in OUT100!

It's finally poated on the OUT website, and the magazine hits the stands today! Zan Christensen and I made the OUT100 list for 2011! It's really exciting and a great honor!!

Here's the link for the slideshow:
http://www.out.com/out-exclusives/out100/2011/11/17/17th-annual-out100#slide-1



Here is Zan and me at the photoshoot in LA, still decked out in our Laurel & Hardy gear, holding the book that is the reason we were there. BTW, that jacket I'm wearing is worth $1500! (I didn't get to keep it.)


The following is the official press release from Northwest Press:

November 17, 2011—OUT Magazine revealed today that Charles "Zan" Christensen and Mark Brill—creators of the anti-bullying comic THE POWER WITHIN—have been recognized as two of 2011's "OUT 100", described by the magazine as an "annual salute to the year's most inspiring people". Other notable honorees this year include Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Sandra Bernhard, Justin Bond, Dustin Lance Black, David Mixner, Harmony Santana, Chaz Bono, and Tim Gunn.

Christensen and Brill started work on THE POWER WITHIN in October of last year for 24-Hour Comics Day, an event where artists and writers attempt to create a complete 24-page comic book in 24 hours. Their story focused on a boy named Shannon who deals with bullying at school by escaping into a super-powered alter-ego but ultimately has to find the strength to face the harassment in real life.

The decision to do a comic that tackles antigay bullying was prompted by the previous month's numerous reports of teen suicides linked to bullying and harassment. Those reports spurred Ellen Degeneres to speak out to raise awareness and Dan Savage to start the It Gets Better Project.

"We didn't go into this project knowing where it would go," said Christensen, who scripted the book and coordinated the project. "We just felt compelled to tell a story that confronted the epidemic we saw unfolding before us and offered some hope. We're humbled to be recognized for our efforts, and hope that others will continue use their skills and their resources to change kids' lives for the better."

THE POWER WITHIN was completed in Spring of 2011 and released as a limited edition black-and-white comic at Seattle's Emerald City Comic-Con, but Christensen and Brill decided to raise funds for a much larger color print run of the book and make it available for free to schools and other youth resources. Brill continued to work on the book, adding full color and additional art, while Christensen recruited special guests to contribute bonus pages to the project.

The finished book contains pages by a collection of comics industry heavyweights, including Gail Simone (Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey), Phil Jimenez (New X-Men, Wonder Woman), Greg Rucka (Detective Comics, Gotham Central), Matthew Clark (Outsiders, Wonder Woman), Stephen Sadowski (JSA, Warlord of Mars), Dan Parent (Archie, Kevin Keller), Donna Barr (The Desert Peach), Andy Mangels (Gay Comics, Iron Man: Beneath the Armor) and Carla Speed McNeil (FINDER).

The book was published by Northwest Press and made its debut at Comic-Con in San Diego in late July, hitting store shelves later that summer. It was well-received by readers and critics alike.

"It's been really amazing—this project seems like one of those things that was just meant to be," said Brill. "I think Zan and I were both really inspired and motivated to do something positive with this story and people have really responded to it."

"THE POWER WITHIN goes well beyond what’s expected of a project done with the best intentions," said François Peneaud of The Gay Comics List. "It’s a moving depiction of what’s unfortunately the real life of some teenagers in our society, and the creators involved can only hope it will contribute, in its own ways, to the improvement of that situation.”

"Gay comic creators Mark Brill and Charles ‘Zan’ Christensen have created what may be the best comic book of the year," said Andrew Belonsky of Towleroad.com.

To date, Northwest Press has distributed over 700 free copies of the book to over 50 Gay-Straight alliances, schools, churches, community centers and other youth organizations across the United States and beyond. Northwest Press encourages organizations to request copies of the book to use as teaching and outreach tools. In addition to the main story and bonus pages, the book contains a page of discussion questions and resources for LGBT teens.

Portland Comic Book Show!

So here I am at a table I was sharing with Nick Butler (fellow CLAW member, and the driver of our expedition south to the great state of Oregon--and also the credit for this pic goes to him), sketching and surrounded by various merchandise I was trying to unload. ^0^ "The Power Within" comic, of course. The "Mark of Aeacus" comics, also done with Zan Christensen, writer extraordinaire. I also had found my old box of "Platypus Rex, Blood Junction" comics which I did about 12 years ago with Quenton Shaw! I was selling them for half price, and must have unloaded a good 3 or 4 of them! LOL

All in all it was a bit slow. I pretty much broke even, and that was only because I sold a couple of sketches--one of which is shown below, along with myself and the Magic: The Gathering enthusiast who commissioned it.



I also did this Darkwing Duck sketch--from memory, btw. LOL Not that he's as complicated to remember as Darth Vader was... In any case, I think it turned out much better than the first DW Duck sketch I did that started off this blog, AND didn't take any longer to do. Might have taken LESS time, in fact.



Anyway, it was a good show. Had a lot of fun and good talks with Nick on the road about comics and our ambitions! Also got to hang out with a friend who I haven't gotten to see for several years, and that was great too!

Le Fantome

Several years ago when I worked at Sun Sportswear (where we had a Looney Tunes license) I did a comp for a Halloween shirt that featured Pepe le Pew as the Phantom of the Opera, holding a rose towards the poor cat he's been chasing for 40 years. They didn't use it, but I've always liked the idea of Pepe as the Phantom, so to celebrate Halloween I did a new sketch of Pepe in costume and looking ready to go on in place of Michael Crawford! (I used the play version of the Phantom costume. I like the play.)

Happy Harpy and Freaky Halloween!!!!

Tremble before the power of...

Something silly I did at ZomBcon over the weekend. I was there with fellow CLAW member Mark Monlux as sort of his booth-lackey, and I inked this quick sketch. I added the green tint and the glowing red eyes later in Photoshop, of course.

BUILD YOUR OWN!

Now YOU can build your very OWN "Halloweenie Alien Belly-Buster"paper sculpture!! Just print this sheet, cut it out, insert flaps into matching slots and VOILA! Your very own HALLOWEENIE! Attach it to your shirt to amaze and terrify your friends!

Brought to you by BRILLCO!

^0^

Happy HALLOWEENIES!

Yes, it IS an Alien Weenie.

At last night's C.L.A.W. Open Swim meeting we had another of our fun art competitions, the theme of which was: Halloweenies! I decided to take the opportunity to try doing a paper sculpture, because I wanted to see if I could do one in a short time period, under pressure. Also, the idea I had seemed like it would lend itself well to the medium and I hoped to make a big splash by doing something unusual that no one else in the CLAW outfit does. (OK, it was a shameless bid to win through shear novelty!)

The success of the venture turned out to be relative. I DID actually win, edging out fellow CLAW-member James Stowe (who's Classic Monster's Penises watercolor set was shear genius) by a single vote, but overall I was mostly unhappy with the final piece...of art. For one thing, I ended up having to buy a pack of really cheap and extraordinarily crappy construction paper from Walgreens because I couldn't find my pad of good art paper when I got home from work. Also, there really wasn't enough time to do it properly. I had to cut several corners and compromise on details in order to finish in time.

But the idea of an Alien "Belly-busting" Halloweenie seemed to go over pretty well. Also, as you can see from the pic, it was meant to function as a costume element! I thought that gave it added value.

The Madman From Planet Zatar!

So, Saturday, Oct. 1st was 24 Hour Comic Day! I went into it with the absolute determination that I was going to finish this year! But, I didn't. However, I did beat my total from last year AND I still intend to finish it and get it published.

This particular story has a very sentimental meaning to me. The title may seem a bit cheesy, but that's mostly because my friend Todd and I came up with it when we were 12! The story is based on a 4 minute, spontaneously invented, action-adventure Super 8 movie we made at a Special Effects workshop at Arizona State University!

It's the 35 anniversary of the year we made our miniature epic and I wanted to celebrate it by doing the long dreamed of (at least by me) remake of our movie--which as far as I know, no longer exists ANYWHERE but in my head. Todd and I had discussed remaking it once, back in 1979 when I was in Arizona spending the summer with my mom, but it was never to be.

We lost touch shortly after I went back to Texas and I eventually learned, unfortunately years after the fact, that my friend Todd had died of a rare illness. So I wanted to remake "Madman", not just for me, but for him too!

I used a youthful, cartoony style for my graphic novelization for two reasons: one, because I figured it's be faster. And two, I wanted to pay homage to the two 12 year olds who starred in the original film. ^0^

Several things that will be in the comic reflect aspects of the original film--one was the use of a fish-eye lens for a "feverish" POV shot, to show how insane the 'madman' himself had become. (This was based on the paradigm established by the original Star Trek series.)

Another feature of our play-acting was elaborate stunt fighting. We fancied ourselves as amateur stunt-men and were constantly flipping each other around the playground during 6th grade recesses. We got pretty good at it--although it may account for some of my back problems now.

So this is a portion of my graphic novelization of "The Madman From Planet Zatar"!

Dedicated to my friend, Todd Johnson 1965-2005.

I've posted the first few pages, but the remainder will ultimately be used as part of The CLAW's anthology comic book.