If you aren't a part of WOWIO already you need to get going and join up. Free books available immediately. What's not to love? DO IT!

If you aren't already clued in, take a peek and join NOW! WOWIO allows you to support your favorite artists and writer and do it free of charge. Very, very cool.

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To all artists and creators:

Pardon the interruption but it has come to my attention certain legislation, referred to as "Orphan Works", is making it's way through Washington. If you would, please take time to investigate this matter, let others know and provide your thoughts.

It is a sickening concept that goes far beyond effecting simply the works of artists and creators. With this they are picking away at the very fabric of freedom. Were the "Orphan Works" legislation to pass we could easily reach the point where future generations would not even understand what the term "freedom" once meant.

It is not such a stretch to imagine a time when our thoughts, ideas and minds would no longer be our own. A freedom far more basic that any other. Above and beyond simply artists, musicians and other creators, every single person living should be, not only outraged, but terrified at what threats are coming so very, very close.

It is not simply our "creations" at risk, but our very right to "be".

JUST SAY NO!

Finally! At long last ALTERED EGO: The Collected Edition is available from Five Star Comics through IndyPlanet! Be the coolest kid of the block and get your copy today! Visit Five Star Comics on-line and follow the link or visit IndyPlanet direct by clicking the link below!

Consider it charity if you must. Write it off on your taxes. I don't care, just buy the book! I'm not proud.

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Everyone is always asking me who my influences are and then set about guessing who my work reminds them of. I'm always interested and at times totally flabbergasted by their choices. The truth is that I could never put together a complete list of all the creators who have had an influence on me and my work. Every artist, writer, musician and person on the streets influences me in some way but there are few certain comic book artists that hit me at the right time and were the greatest influences in my comic book art style and the way that I, personally, draw funny books. After all, there has never been a comic book quite as great as those you read when you were ten years old and these guys ruled my ten year olds comic book world.

John Buscema (1927 - 2002)
Whoa. I wanted so badly to draw like Buscema. He was the classic, cool artists-artist. Buscema is perhaps the best comic book artist ever and is best known for his work on The Avengers and The Silver Surfer, and for over 200 stories featuring the sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. Sweeet work.

Gil Kane (1926 - 2000)
Kane co-created the modern-day Green Lantern and Atom for DC Comics, and numerous other superheroes, including Marvel Comics' Iron Fist but it was his pioneering work on graphic novels, His Name is...Savage, in 1968, and a seminal graphic novel, Blackmark, in 1971 that make me sit up in awe. While never as famous as many, he was always first. Not ahead of his time but outside of it. I wanna' be Gil Kane.

Joe Kubert (1926)
He is best known for his work on the DC Comics features Sgt. Rock and Hawkman. One of my first and my very favorites. His work was powerful and 'real' like few others. Kubert's art still holds up today and is some of the most powerful comic book art I've ever seen.

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (1948)
If Buscema and Neal Adams were combined and the best parts of each put into one single artist, Lopez is it. His notable works include Atari Force, Cinder and Ashe, Road to Perdition, Deadman, New Teen Titans and various DC superheroes. Under-appreciated and head and shoulders above just about everyone else. If I had to choose one artist I wish I drew like, Lopez is the man. If anyone knows him tell him that I love his work.

Jim Aparo (1932 - 2005)
Jim Aparo was best known for his work on various Batman stories for DC Comics. There is a whoooole lot of Aparo inside my work. Probably more Aparo than any other single artist. He could draw Batman like no one else ... except ...

Neal Adams (1941)
He has helped create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Batman, Green Arrow, and others before going out on his own and creating Continuity Comics. An early and steadfast pioneer for creator's rights. Adams created THE Batman and THE Superman in my eyes. I still can't help but compare every other artists take on those two icons against his versions and they always come up short.

Mike Grell (1947)
Grell's first assignment at DC was on Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes and that's where he caught me and changed my art forever. Right place. Right time. I was a GIANT fan of TOLSH but only while Grell was drawing it. When talking about influences Grell was my number one. Like I keep saying - right place, right time. I was about ten when I first saw Grell's work and I was never the same after. Even my signature was influenced my his.

Finally ... the many and numerous unnamed artists whose work I loved but never knew their names. Because as a kid it's the ride that matters, not who created it and there are just too many for a single mind to hold on to.

You wanna' see other artists' work inside of mine ... ? Look at these guys and see if ya' can do it.

Well, now I've shown you mine. Let's see yours.

I'd love a Medianoche about now.

In this day and age of instant messaging and emails, I'm still waiting to hear back from the printers.

It is freakin' cold.

"All I ask is that life be interesting."