This is not the end of zeros2heroes.  I really believe that.  But maybe we are nearing the end of the beginning or something like that.  All I know is we need some direction from The Top.
I've been around here since September 2007 and have at least checked in once for all but a handful of days in that time, so I believe I am qualified to say that.
This used to be such a cool place.
And that is why it is so sad to see it like this.
Where is everybody?  And perhaps even more to the point: for those of you still here just why are you bothering to do so?  Some of us have properties here (and while I can't discuss details let me say that there is some hope that some of these properties may have a chance to be developed further, and that is very cool) but what about the rest of you?
I'm not saying there needs to be a contest every second month or anything like that but Z2H burst on the scene less than three years ago, calling themselves 'The People's Publisher'.  And indeed they have been successful in getting about two dozen books and a manga anthology 'published'.  Kudos to them for that!
But back in the day this site was killer to visit.  Even without a contest I would look forward to coming here nearly every day to see what Fetternity or Lord Maim or Crackwalker or Titan.inc or WillGibson had done or said.  We checked out new artwork and artists, we pitched stories and critiqued one another, we posted blogs and discussed things (mostly in a civil manner), we welcomed newcomers, we made friends and helped one another improve our work.
What are we doing now?
And while Z2H can't be held accountable for everything that happened I believe they own their share.  While I love the fact they let us do a lot of "our own thing" here, and do not rule with an iron fist nor a Doom Laser unless it's necessary you might think they would engage us and give us a little direction from time to time.  ChiefZero wrote to us on November 18 to ask our input on having the site revamped and he received more than 50 responses to that blog.  I am sure work is going on behind the scenes, but what about an update every second or third month?  What about giving us some hope that some new contest or initiative might bear fruit somewhere down the line?
And by the way, that November 18 post was the Chief's only blog on this site since Halloween 2008.
All of this is not to complain, not really.
Like most of us I like this place, I really really like this place.  And I want it to be cool, fun and relevant again. 
Is that asking too much?

If you're not under a rock somewhere you should know that Canadian child actor Corey Haim now all grown up passed away this week.  CBC did an article.

So what was your favourite Corey Haim movie?

I liked "The Lost Boys" just for  the vampires and own a copy ( yes on VHS, get over it! ) but my favourite Corey Haim movie is "Dream a little Dream".  I know he played more or less the same character in each film, but the music, story, teen angst of "Dream a little Dream" really struck me at the tender age of twelve.  And hey, the two Coreys were darn dreamy themselves back then!

(First off, sorry I haven't been writing much this month. I've been training a new job at work, rearranging my hours, so say nothing of the progress I'm making on Yonder. I hope to have a bigger blog up in the next week or two. But for now...)

While one Oscar montage controversially omitted Farrah Fawcett, another montage included too many out-of-place picks - as seen in last Sunday's horror tribute. Presenters Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner acknowledged the genre doesn't always get the respect it deserves, and some of that can been seen in the choice of clips.

While there were well-deserved glimpses of classics like Rosemary's Baby, Psycho, The Exorcist and Jaws, there were also more than a few head-scratchers in the montage as well, including Child's Play, Saw and . . . .the Leprechaun?

Though the tribute did a good job of highlighting the many actors who've gotten their start in horror - including Johnny Depp (Nightmare on Elm Street), Kevin Bacon (Friday the 13th) and Jennifer Aniston (Leprechaun), the overall montage made the genre look more hammy than horrific. In particular, the montage uses shots of the lumbering Jason and Leatherface seen in the mediocre sequels, instead of the iconic first appearances which originally made them cinema legends.

Perhaps most baffling was Stewart's assertion that "it's been 37 long years since horror had its place on this show, when the Exorcist picked up two Academy Awards." In reality, it's been 19 - when"Silence of the Lambs" (also included in the montage) won five awards, including Best Picture. "The Exorcist" isn't the first horror movie to win either - it's preceded by "Rosemary's Baby", which won Best Supporting Actress in 1968. Instead, "The Exorcist" is the first horror film to be nominated for "Best Picture"

Admittedly, it was refreshing to see a tribute to horror, but several goofs along with several out-of-place clips make this a nice little gesture instead of a true golden tribute to the genre built on screams.

At 7:58pm on March, 9th, I finished the outline for Shannon. Took longer than expected, but it's done. I'm glad. Glad and proud. I like the direction the outline took, and I got all the points and an ending I wanted.

Recently, I've fallen in love all over again with a series from my childhood.

Went to Staple yesterday and had fun. Bought a few books, one with a sketch of Freddie Mercury in the It's a Hard Life video, and the third BPRD book signed by Guy Davis. I liked it a lot.

Crick .. crick ...                                                                 

Today

A podcast interview with twin brothers and artists extraordinaire, Gabriel Ba` & Fabio Moon. I had the tremendous pleasure of listening to these guys essentially interview one another for two hours at SDCC last year.

Enjoy!

Their blog!


awesome.

M

A new Valentine's Dei page went online today, so if you haven't seen it yet, go take a look. It's awesome!

It's also the first day of a new month. Which means the ranking at TopWebComics has reset. When we launched last month, the month was already half gone. Which meant were well behind the 8 ball with our votes. Regardless, we still managed to do fairly well.

But now we're on even ground, and we mean to claw our way into the top 100. So if you dig our comic (hell, even if you don't), pretty please vote your Zed asses off to help the cause! I don't know where Riot got the idea we can vote every eight hours; that's not entirely true. You can vote once a day. But you can vote once a day on every computer in the whole world. So you should vote on every computer in the house, and every computer in the office, and every computer you encounter in your daily life. Don't forget your iPhones ;)

And don't forget to tell your buddies and parents and pets and alien abductors and a handful of random people in the street about my comic (I know Riot will happily do the latter).

Obviously the aim is to gain new readers, and I figure the higher we are in the rankings the better our chances of finding them.

So help your not-so-local starving artist and vote for Valentine's Dei.

Much obliged.

Staple! The Independent Media Expo is this Saturday in Austin. I'm excited, as I haven't been to a expo in a while. Luckily they will have good artists and I will try and network to see if I can find a good artist for "Shannon".

Today

I wanted to pop in briefly t let you all know that I, and the rest of the folks behind the curtain at Z2H are in fact very mush alive and well. THE SQUIRRELS HAVE NOT TAKEN OVER...yet ;)

Here's a few viddys of Sean Gordon Murphy (whose work can be seen in the pages of JOE THE BARBARIAN written by Grant Morrison)

We LOVE process:


watch it unfold.

The Manga Memoirs site has translated Volume 1.  It looks fantabulous!

Does someone else know, who can fill me in,  is " hot pink shorts" some kind of indy film inside joke,  or did some one just really, really like the pun.  I think Z2H Media spreading into indy film is great, Canada really needs a boost in that department.  But " Hot Pink Shorts" ? 

It's snowing in Texas, or so says Autolycan (and who are we to unbelieve?).  In honor of the fact that they now have more snow in Austin than on Cypress Mountain, home of the so called Winter Games I offer you your latest opportunity to create a character for all to enjoy.  Remember the rules:
1. One entry per Zed (Will Gibson)
2. Maximum Five words.
3. Complete sentences only.
4. Tense in the present only.
5. No lifts longer than twelve seconds.

So here we go: Li-fan loved playing in snow.

It's snowing! It's snowing! Never expected snow to fall in Austin. It's going to be an interesting day.