Rob Schamberger Makes Comix

July 02, 2008

State of the Rob 07022008

* The announcement that it's Platinum acquiring Wowio leaves me...well, you know. I don't think anyone would be excited to find out that one of their good sources of income, passive or not, has been taken over by a company known for not paying. I'll mark this as 'Wait and See' until the new contract shows up in the mail. My fingers were crossed for Google or Amazon, y'know?

* Think about Google running a product like Wowio for a second. Yeah, that's a better world.

* Due to popular demand, my show at Kaw Valley Arts and Humanities has been extended for another month. Unfortunately I won't be able to be there for the July opening, but for those of you who missed the June opening, be sure to make it out for this on Friday the eleventh.

* Thanks to Mom, Roger and Katy for a perfectly lovely birthday dinner.

* The day itself, though, was utterly rotten. I really need to continue to focus on getting out of the need for a day job and move more into doing something I actually want to be doing.

Posted by Schamberger at 07:06 PM

June 29, 2008

State of the Rob 06292008

* I don't know if I've ever been more unexcited for a birthday. I guess it's just from getting old. There's not a lot about being 28 to be excited about.

* Other than making it through 27.

* This past year was very hard-earned. I really went through the wringer and came through stronger for it. Hopefully 28 will be less rocky than 27 has been.

* Wowio is down right now while they're going through the process of being able to distribute globally, which is fine for me. I'd like to have my work available for the majority of the world's population. And to get paid for them to read it for free. More on this when the information is available.

* Otherwise things are progressing apace. I'm about a month ahead on Too Soon, and I think the quality of the art increases quite a bit from here forward. I've been trying out some different approaches and some have frankly fallen flat. But that's art, man. Even the failures are wonderful in their own ways.

Posted by Schamberger at 09:51 AM

June 20, 2008

State of the Rob 02202008

A Normal Workday

* Alarm goes off at 5:30AM
* Stumble down the hall to my office, turn on the computer
* Pee while the computer boots. Hopefully in the toilet
* Check email
* Process daily Wowio numbers in Spreadsheet
* Update daily Too Soon installment
* Update Too Soon archive
* Post new blog entry (Secret: I write all of these on Sundays and then just post them)
* Take shower at 5:45 to 6:00AM
* Put on clothes (hopefully)
* Kiss Katy on the cheek and tell her I love her
* Make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch
* Let the cats know they're in charge and to hold down the fort
* Depart the apartment at 6:10AM
* Arrive at the day job at 6:50AM
* Get tea and water
* Clock in at 7AM
* On top of the normal job, I also run reports, correct appropriate policies, and work on writing up new initiatives for senior management to review
* Lunch at 11AM to 12PM, pencilling Too Soon pages
* Except on Friday I read
* Depart work at 4PM
* Arrive home at 4:45PM - yes, it takes five minutes longer to get home
* Pet the cats and give them treats
* Pet Katy and give her treats
* Cook dinner - normally shells and cheese with salsa
* Although I'm getting tired of that and have been trying out different things of late
* Do my best zombie impersonation for an hour or so
* 6ish PM I go to the office and work on Too Soon pages
* Between 9PM and 10PM I turn in for the night
* Except on Mondays I go to watch RAW at 8PM
* Or Friday nights, those are for the girlfriend
* Wash
* Lather
* Rinse
* Repeat

* Katy's thinking about doing an article for The Comics Journal called 'I'm a Comic Book Widow'. There might be something to that.

Posted by Schamberger at 02:42 PM

June 14, 2008

What a Show!

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who made it out last night for my opening. It was a genuinely amazing experience and I was so glad to be able to share my work with so many people.

Of particular note, I want to thank Katy Ryan, my lovely girlfriend for helping put this together, Carol Kariotis for taking a chance on me and for having such a beautiful gallery space, Dee and Roger Clark for helping me get everything framed, and to all of the Schambergers who could make it out. Also thanks to Rebecca Miller for sharing the show with me.

Here's some pictures that Katy took of the show. She was pretty busy acting as my wingman though so I'll put some more pictures up once I'm able to get them.

This is my best friend of 23 (!) years Brandon, his wife Robin and Robin's daughter Ashley. Yeah, Robin's got a bun in the oven. I'm so excited for them. They're going to be such awesome parents. Katy and I think it's funny that it's the Moore family in front of my More painting. Ba-dum-bump!

Here I am with the Schamberger family. From left to right: My brothers Jim, Jesse (who I hadn't seen in ten years. This was a monster surprise to see him), AJ, me, Dad, and my uncle Ken. Goofy lookin' sonsabitches!

And here's the infamous Preu family. Jason and Sarah are really great friends and it was fantastic they could make it to the show.

More pictures coming soon!

Posted by Schamberger at 10:22 AM

June 13, 2008

Tonight!

From five to eight tonight you can come to the opening reception for my first gallery show at:

Kaw Valley Arts and Humanities Gallery
756 Armstrong
Kansas City KS 66101
913-371-0024

You'll be able to see original pages from my last graphic novel 'Too Late' featuring Kansas City's River Market and the Mutual Musicians Foundation, many of my larger acrylic paintings, and illustrations focusing on jazz, silent films, and noir.

Here's a sampling of what you'll see tonight:

Posted by Schamberger at 03:18 PM

June 08, 2008

Tomorrow Night!

But today, check out the latest installment of 'Too Soon'!

Posted by Schamberger at 03:15 PM

State of the Rob 06082008

* I gave the site a bit of a new look. Nothing drastic, but you'll notice that new picture at the top of the blog here. That's going to change every day. You know why it's going to change every day?

* My new graphic novel, 'Too Soon', is launching today. It'll run at the top of the blog every day. Sorry, your feed reader won't pick it up, so you'll have to come back each day, or every few days, to keep up on it. I'll be doing more frequent blog posts to remind you, though, so don't worry 'bout that.

* Some posts will expand upon the book, some will annotate certain references, and some will be my normal ramblings and art. Every Tuesday will still be new installments of 'Batesville' as well.

* 'Batesville' and 'Too Soon' are related, by the way. More than you'll realize at first.

* I'll be serializing both 'Batesville' and 'Too Soon' on Wowio as one book, launching my new ongoing series there entitled 'The Unbroken Circle'. You'll get to read both in bigger chunks than when they're serialized here.

* Last night Katy and I went to Dennis Hopeless' birthday party. He's pretty excited now that he's sixteen and old enough to drive. Pretty soon you'll be able to get into an R-Rated movie too, kiddo!

* Kidding aside, we had a great time and Dennis' wife Jessie did a fantastic job decorating their house. It's really awesome. It was also great catching up with the KC comics gang who made it out. I'm sure the folks there who didn't know me too well got tired of hearing me talking about the gallery show, but damn it, I'm super excited about it.

* Speaking of, I spent all day yesterday framing all of the art for the show. I'll have around thirty pieces there, including pages from 'Too Late', some illustrations, and a few of my larger acrylics.

* Five to Eight in the PM on Friday the 13th! Be there!

* I'm getting postcards distributed over the course of this week as well. They look really nice.

* Item! My first piece of press for the show, from Compass Magazine:

* I've heard it's also going to be in the next issue of Ink and will be mentioned on Ink's radio update on Jack FM this Wednesday. More as I come across it.

* My cat Monkey has abandoned me:

* More soon!

Posted by Schamberger at 02:13 PM

May 15, 2008

Ducks!

Our apartment complex has a pond in the middle of it that is the home to some ducks, geese, and the occasional other water fowl. Earlier this year these two ducks caught Katy and I's attention as they're from different breeds but they're always together, and normally always separate from the rest of the flock. They're duck buddies. We should probably name them, shouldn't we Katy?

Last night I pencilled and inked my first page of Too Soon. I'm really excited to be working on the book!

Posted by Schamberger at 05:41 AM

May 14, 2008

State of the Rob 05142008

* A week late, but there's the first installment of Batesville. It'll be updated every Tuesday from here on out.

* If you don't want to wait, feel free to download the first 17-odd pages from Wowio. The second installment of that should be going up soon.

* The folks at Wowio wanted me to reformat a little, and I'm still tinkering with how I want to do that. I think it came to me in the shower this morning.

* I should install a dry-erase board in the shower for ideas like this.

* Like, I came up with an amazingly great approach to Legion of Superheroes in the shower a couple of months back. I really want to write that book some day. It's really the only superhero/corporate book I have an active desire to write.

* I've been rereading the Five Years Later/Terra Mosaic/New Earth issues of Legion lately, and they still hold up in my estimation as one of the very best superhero comics ever done. Keith Giffen, Jason Pearson, Chris Sprouse, Colleen Doran, Brandon Peterson and Stuart Immonen? Awe.

* I'm nearly done with all of the thumbnails for Too Soon. I know, I know, this thing seems to be moving glacially, but I'm busting my ass on it every day. I've learned A LOT from doing Black Chamber and Too Late and I think all of this pre-production will be paying off in the long run.

* Ideally I'll be launching Too Soon on June 9th to coincide with my gallery show.

* Speaking of the show, I got most of my frames picked up yesterday thanks to an early birthday present from my mom. Thanks lady! Half-off sales at Hobby Lobby are a blessing.

* American Idol is awful. Just thought I'd throw that out there for you.

* I talked with a customer this morning who lives on the same block as the house from The Amityville Horror. That was kinda cool. Those movies freaked my shit out as a youngster.

Posted by Schamberger at 07:26 AM

May 07, 2008

Big Stuff Goin' On

Save this date: Friday, June 13

Why? It's my first solo gallery exhibition! I just had a meeting this afternoon with the gallery operator, and she's really excited about the show. It will contain pages from 'Too Late', several of my jazz and silent film-era pieces, and a few of my large-scale paintings.

Postcards are in the works, and the operator is talking about trying to find a sax player or a jazz band to play outside the gallery. I'll have more details as they become available!

It will be at the Kaw Valley Arts & Humanities space located at 756 Armstrong in Kansas City KS.

I hope to see as many of you there as can make it out!

Posted by Schamberger at 08:39 PM

May 04, 2008

Normal Posting to Resume Shortly

Sorry for the lack of updates. April was...not a very good month. Most all of the bad stuff is over now though, and I'll be getting more good stuff up here shortly, starting with the serialization of my novel Batesville.

Work on Too Soon is coming right along. Nothing I want to show yet as it's mostly all pre-production stuff, but main production will be starting as early as this week.

Posted by Schamberger at 04:31 PM

April 01, 2008

Most Excellent Weekend

The trip to Florida was totally awesome and there's going to be so many events from it that I just know are going to make their way into future graphic novels.

We got in Sunday morning, got picked up by my buddy Andy, and headed on over to his place to pick up his brothers Charlie and TJ. We had a quick toast to the Wrestling Gods and then headed from beautiful Tampa to beautiful Orlando. Our hotel room was great, having two bedrooms, a full kitchen and full-sized fridge (which we most definitely needed for the amount of beer we were set to consume), and the most-used area, a screened in porch. We chilled there a little too long as we didn't anticipate the amount of traffic going into WRESTLEMANIA.

We got there a little late, missing two and a half matches, getting there in time for the ladder match. We had to walk maybe a mile to get to the arena, which I'm going to go on record saying that it has the worst parking set-up I've ever seen. But, we still get to the show and had a BLAST. We were all in agreement that this was the best live event for any sort of performance we'd ever been to.

The highlight for all of us was being there for Ric Flair's last match, where he 'passed the torch' to Shawn Michaels. It was really an honor to be there for that.

You may have heard about the fireworks malfunction which happened at the end of the night. We were on the opposite side of the arena, but we could see it happen. We did have some embers fall on us, but I don't think anything adverse came from that.

After the show, we made our trek through a rather unsavory part of town back to our car, then headed back to our condo for drinks into the early morning hours. We thought our check-out time was at 11, but a nice housekeeping lady came to inform us at 10:30 that we didn't have to go home, but we had to get the fuck out of there. So we stuck around for another half hour or so killing a few more beers and got on the road back to sunny Tampa.

Once back in Tampa we head to the beach to a great bar called something I can't remember (the sign of a great bar), where we sat on the beach with our drinks and lazed away the remainder of the day. Our flight back to town was uneventful and we made it back just fine to our apartment and two kitties in time to call it a day and hit the hay.

A great trip all around. Thanks again to Andy for putting up with us! I hope to update this post before too long with pictures from the trip once we've got those all processed up.

Posted by Schamberger at 08:09 AM

March 28, 2008

State of the Rob 03282008

* Katy and I are off to sunny Orlando Sunday morning to attend WRESTLEMANIA (which must be referred to in all-caps). This is my first time going in person, which I am over-the-top-rope excited about, and I'm also excited to see my good buddy Andy 'Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law' Denzer and his kin, who we're going with.

* As I do every year, here's my predictions for the match outcomes. As it normally goes, I'll probably be wrong about all of them except for The Undertaker winning:

Raw/SmackDown/ECW 24-Man Battle Royal
- Winner gets a ECW Championship shot the night against Chavo Guerrero.

I'm going with the Big Red Machine, Kane on this one

Triple-Threat WWE Championship Match
- Randy Orton (c) vs. John Cena vs. Triple H

I'm going with Orton retaining the belt after a Cena heel-turn

WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match
- Edge (c) vs. The Undertaker

It's WRESTLEMANIA, of course The Undertaker's winning.

ECW Championship Match
- Chavo Guerrero (c) vs. Raw/SmackDown/ECW Battle Royal Winner

Chavo will retain his championship.

Money In The Bank Ladder Match
- Ken Kennedy vs. Chris Jericho vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Carlito vs. MVP vs. CM Punk vs. John Morrison

If it weren't for the next match listed, I'd say this will be match of the night. I'm predicting MVP for the win.

Career Threatening Match
- Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels

Match of the night, if not the greatest match ever. The Heart Break Kid Shawn Michaels for the win.

(as a bonus, here's Katy's current MySpace picture)

Raw vs. SmackDown Match
- Umaga vs. Batista

God, who cares? I mean, Umaga for the win via DQ.

BunnyMania Lumberjack Match
- Ashley & Maria vs. Beth Phoenix & Melina

God, who cares? Ashley and Maria, and hopefully it won't go long. Too bad, as Melina and Beth Phoenix are both phenomenal wrestlers.

Belfast Brawl
- Finlay vs. John "Bradshaw" Layfield

I want Finlay to win, but I see JBLLO pulling a fast one for the win.

Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather

Another one which hopefully won't go long. Mayweather, as the celeb always wins.

* I'm a fan of the saying 'Never say never', but I'm probably done with ACT-I-VATE. It got to the point where I felt like Jimi Hendrix playing with the Beatles (we'll see who gets where I got that reference from), plus some behind-the-scenes stuff which doesn't need to be aired publicly. I'm thankful for having the stage while I had it, and I'm in the works of developing more outlets for my works in the future.

* My thirteen-year-old brother AJ and I are making a comic together. He came up with a pretty cool story and I'm having fun making it come to life. It'll be a series of about four six page stories. Here's the first page:

It's fun working with him being the writer on this. Once it's all done I'll have it up on Wowio.

* Man, Countdown's not really good, is it? If you've got 1122 pages and you can't make me care about the characters or the situations they're in, you're doing a bad job. I don't get where it went wrong either, with the strength of the writers involved. The art is okay at best, awfully dreadful at its worst, but the story's the biggest disappointment. 52 was great, and Trinity looks to be strong. Hopefully this book will go down as just being forgettable.

* I just finished reading 'Casino Royale' today. The movie did what I think a good adaptation should, and that's carry over the things that make the source material strong and change it up to fit the medium you're adapting to. The book was fairly sparse in the number of things which actually happened. Bond shows up in Royale, checks out the hotel and the casino, avoids a bomb attack, has the game with Le Chiffre, gets kidnapped, gets tortured, recovers, and says 'The bitch is dead.' That's not enough for a two hour movie where the audience is expecting action/adventure, so the moviemakers brought those elements over and added more in.

* My next book is 'The Corner' by David Simon and Ed Burns, of 'The Wire' fame. It's starting out strong already.

* Over the last couple of months I've read the first five years of Milt Caniff's Terry and the Pirates. I think this is what's making me so disappointed in Countdown. God, a TON of shit goes down in this, and I grow to care about all of the characters as they become more and more three dimensional and fleshed out. A total master's course in how to make a comic. Plus? Caniff can motherfucking DRAW.

* The writing on 'Too Soon' and 'Batesville' are continuing right along. I'm hoping to start drawing 'Too Soon' in the next month or so.

* Personal life stuff is finally calming down after the last year of tumult. Thankfully. Now that the dust is starting to settle down, I'm hoping to get another marble plan going starting April 1st. I'm juggling a lot right now and I want to make sure I'm continuing to move forward.

* And finally, a look around the internet. My good friends Jason and Sarah have brought their second child into this here world. Hello, Beatrix Ninja Maxine Preu! My other good buddy Jason Arnett has been hard at work on an audio project called 'The Well', which is really great. Give it a listen! Check out Golden Age Comic Book Stories. Good god, is there some awesome art on there. Also awesome to look at is LP Cover Lover. I've found so much inspiration on this site. Last but not least, take a peek at Talented Bastard, especially for the latest work from Chris Grine.

Posted by Schamberger at 02:53 PM

February 26, 2008

Status Update

* I'm now well into writing the novel. It took a little while at first to get used to writing prose instead of a script, but I think it will help out my comix writing considerably. I'll start serializing the book here on the site before too long. Working title originally was 'Midwestern' but now I'm going with 'Batesville'.

I've set myself the task of writing on it every day until it's done, which seems to be working out. I like setting regimes for myself, if you couldn't tell by now.

* I've started heavily plotting the next GN, 'Too Soon'. I'm hoping to start drawing on that next month.

* The official announcement goes out late tonight or early tomorrow, but I'm going to bridge the two books with a series of vignettes which will be drawn by other artists. I'm putting out the call to artists to submit their samples to me. The working title for this is 'One Cent Dharma'.

* I've been painting a lot, too, which I always enjoy. I'm doing 32 x 40 'recreations' of the opening scene from 'Too Late', dots and everything. I really love working so large, getting my whole body into the process.

Posted by Schamberger at 07:57 AM

February 11, 2008

The Biff is Fucking Someone's Mom Theory

Let me explain this theory I have to you. Remember in the second Back to the Future when Michael J Fox comes into the wrong future and Biff is banging his mom? I think that somewhere, right now, Biff is doing the dirty with someone's mom.

I'm in ur mom fuqing up ur future

Just stop and think about it. Sure, the most obvious sign is that we don't have hover boards, but we are in the future, and I think we're in the wrong one.

Posted by Schamberger at 09:08 AM

January 31, 2008

State of the Rob 01312008

* 2008 is starting out better than 2007 ended in most all regards. Sure, I'd prefer to be at home drawing all day like I did for the last half of 07, but I'd also like to not be evicted from said home.

* The day job looks to be an alright thing. It's nothing special, but it's money, and that's what I'm after. There's a lot of down time there which is affording me the luxury of working on projects (and to write this post).

* One of those projects is my next thing for Wowio. I'm about a month behind on this, but the extra time I've put into it will be worthwhile. It's called 'Midwestern' and will be a serialized novel updating monthly. I'm working up the story beats on it now and should begin writing in earnest soon-ish. More on this as it develops.

* Fans of my Image book The Believer will enjoy Midwestern.

* The book's going to expand on a lot of the concepts already presented in Black Chamber and Too Late, fleshing out that world and furthering the uber-story that is 'Unbroken Circle'.

* I'm also in the process of researching for 'Too Soon', the next Eddie Mann story. I've just got a few people to interview and then I should get into working on that in earnest. Hopefully there won't be any substantial gap between 'Too Late' and 'Too Soon' on Act-I-Vate, but I'll be realistic with my scheduling as well.

* These last two Garbo pictures are me working out some of the ideas I want to play with visually in 'Too Soon'. I'm going to open up my color palette a little more.

* Friday night Katy and I are going to a burlesque show and I'll probably be going to another Sunday night at Dr Sketchy's. I haven't been to the Doc's for a while now and am itching to do some figure drawing. It'll be sad without Laurenn but I'm sure Rita Bee will do fine.

* Saturday is the wrap party for Too Late with the folks who contributed and some other folks who helped me out along the way. I'm really looking forward to that.

* Now that things are calming down I think I'll work up another Reinventing Rob plan for 2008. I've got a lot going on and need to keep it all straight.

Posted by Schamberger at 12:59 PM

January 12, 2008

Book Am Done (and other good news)

A couple of days ago I finished work on 'Too Late'. I'm really proud of how the complete book looks and reads. I couldn't imagine a better way to spend six months than to to be eating, breathing, and sleeping making a graphic novel. As much as I enjoyed the twist ending on 'Black Chamber', I think the ending to this book is so, so much better.

The day after finishing the book, I accepted a job offer that I think will be very nice. Not comics or art-related, but a nice steady income.

So now I'm beginning work on my next book. It will be following Eddie Mann on his next case and it's tentatively going to be called 'Too Soon'. (Get it?) It's going to be about the history of professional wrestling in Kansas City, KC's current resurgence of Burlesque shows, the sub-prime mortgage crisis and its impact on the city, painting, and the relationship between a girl and her grandfather. It will also continue to flesh out the broader 'Unbroken Circle' story by giving the first glimpse of the bigger story's ramifications on the world.

I'll be starting on the research for it really soon, talking with our fair city's Burlesque girls and getting in touch with a local wrestling legend or two, both of which I'm excited about for entirely different reasons. I'm also going to take a slightly different approach with the art that I'll be working out to get it to a point I'm happy with.

Story-wise, I'm going to use a slightly different narrative style that I'm stealing from George Pelecanos, using more than one focal character to better flesh out the world they're inhabiting. The wider and more ambitious scope I'm tackling with this story will be well-suited by this, I think.

Good times ahead!

Posted by Schamberger at 11:43 AM

December 06, 2007

State of the Rob 12062007

* Black Chamber's over. To quote the immortal bard Ric Flair, "WHOOOO!"

* I've got ten pages of 'Too Late' left to pencil. Yesterday I felt like I broke through to another level with my art. Something clicked and I ended up doing the most detailed pages I've ever done, and they look good.

* That's pages 98, 99, 102 and 103, for those of you keeping track.

* Yesterday I had a seed crystal form in regards to the uber-plot for all of my books. I didn't originally plan for Black Chamber and Too Late to be related, but now they do. You'll only see that in a very small way in Too Late, but there's a big pay-off down the line.

* The line name is going to be "Unbroken Circle". Don't know if I've ever mentioned that or not.

* The Wire Season Three? FUCKING AWESOME. The penultimate episode really pays off in a big way. I'm watching Season One again now. It's amazing the things you pick up from multiple viewings.

* I'm reading George P Pelecanos' "The Sweet Forever" right now. I'm enjoying it quite a bit. He wrote several teleplays for The Wire.

* Veronica Mars Season Three? FUCKING AWESOME. I'm putting it on the record that I don't agree with any of the critics who obviously didn't get the season, and that the network executives are god damned retarded for not picking up Season Four. There's some seriously hardcore moments that keep me thinking back on it, especially with the Logan character.

* I'm beating out what I'm going to do with the next 'Too Late' book. It'll still be very Kansas City-centric, and I'm thinking of incorporating professional wrestling, burlesque, Mr Arkadin and Once Upon a Time in the Old West.

* Also getting ready to start writing 'Midwestern', which will be a series of pulp-style magazines ran on Wowio. These will also be 'Unbroken Circle' related. Twenty pages a month or so.

Posted by Schamberger at 05:20 PM

November 26, 2007

(Most of) 2007 in Review

01. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?

Bury four relatives
Essentially take a year-long sabbatical
Finish drawing a graphic novel (hopefully two by year's end)

02. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more?

My life changed so fucking drastically this year that my resolutions became moot points by June or so. Next year I'm hoping to have things back on track enough and going in the right direction to have new ones set up.

03. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Nope.

04. Did anyone close to you die?

Helen "Grandma" McDonald
"Aunt" Kathleen Schamberger
"Aunt" Doreen Schamberger
"Aunt" Lois James
My mom's cats Lucie and Zippy

Every one of them still hurts to think about. It will take quite a bit of time to come to terms with the losses I've suffered in my life this past year.

05. What countries did you visit?

The US of A.

06. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?

A dependable source of income

07. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

July 1st. A very good birthday, but coming on the heels of three funerals and being laid off from work. Bittersweet.

08. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

The work I'm doing on my graphic novel 'Too Late'. This book's going to be a real milestone for 2007.

09. What was your biggest failure?

Even with all of the tragedies and setbacks suffered this year, I can't think of anything I'd classify as a failure.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Nothing to speak of.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

The Wire Seasons 1-3

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

My cat Monkey. She's become a real sweetheart.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

A family member at my Aunt Lois' funeral. It was like we were all transported to the Twilight Zone.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Rent.
Car.
Comic books.
DVD's.
And a pretty sizable decrease in income at the end of June.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Drawing.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?

Paper Planes by M.I.A.
My buddy Jason Preu got me a copy before it came out and I was digging hard on it. Then it was playing at the first Dr Sketchys and every one since, but the first stands out as that was the night before I got laid off.

This bit of dialogue sums up my year as well:

Everyone's a winner, we're making our name
Bonafide hustler making my name

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. happier or sadder?

Honestly? I don't know. There's a lot of good things in my life, but there's a lot to feel sad about as well.

ii. thinner or fatter?

Slightly fatter.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Nothing, really.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Going to funerals.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

With people who care as much about me as I do them. Take that for what it's worth.

22. Did you fall in love in 2007?

With my buddy cat Korma.

23. How many one-night stands?

None.

24. What was your favourite TV program?

Monday Night Raw

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

I don't hate. That's a weak emotion.

26. What was the best book you read?

Novel? "The Long Goodbye" by Raymond Chandler
Comic? "The Black Dossier" by Alan Moore, Kevin O'Neill and Todd Klein

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Nothing really stands out for me this year. Just continuing with new music from artists I'm already fond of. New Beastie Boys, Chemical Brothers, Black Keys, M.I.A., etc.

28. What did you want and get?

Want? To make 'Too Late' better than 'Black Chamber'.
Get? A body of work that I'm very proud of.

29. What was your favourite film of this year?

Not actually from this year, but the best I saw was 'The Killing'

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

27. Had a party at my pad with a bunch of really good friends and a very special woman who I love very much.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Having had a better final conversation with my Aunt Kathy

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?

Dayjob - Dress Casual
Personal - Comfortable

34. What kept you sane?

Comic books.
Monkey.
Drawing.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Greta Garbo

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

The fact that all politicians lie. I can't get past that.

37. Who did you miss?

Grandma, Kathy, Doreen, and Lois.

38. Who was the best new person you met?

Korma Schamberger

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.

When your life story is written, you're measured by the obstacles you faced and more importantly, how you dealt with them. Have I had a worse year than 2007? Oh hell yes. But only one year I'd consider to be worse. But I made it through that, and I've made it through this.

I've had to reinvent my life from the ground up before as well. I'm sure I'll do it again in the future, too.

But I know what my measure is now, and I'm pretty proud of what that is.

Posted by Schamberger at 11:47 AM

November 21, 2007

State of the Rob 11212007

* Man, I've been busy lately. Probably the hardest I've ever worked on my art and writing has been over the last month or so. Never happier, either. I look forward to the time that I'm able to do this every day for a living.

* Which realistically should be within a year or two. Providing Wowio keeps going, I may be able to generate a livable income just from their service. That's not including the print versions of my books or the eBooks which should be going up on Amazon in the next week or so. Diversifying content across platforms is really the way to go anymore.

* Isn't it funny that I can realistically make an income from doing comics without going to one of the major publishing houses? That I can actually make more from the online versions than I would going with one of the smaller houses? I made $500 off of The Believer from Image. One issue, all of the money made off of it was from one day of sale, and I haven't made a penny off of it since. In my first month with Wowio I haven't quite made that much yet, but I will, and I'll continue to earn off of it for the life of the site.

* Not to knock on the publishing houses, of course. I want to work with them in the future. But as little as five years ago they were the whole puzzle, and now they're just a piece of it.

* Speaking of being busy: I've been working exclusively on 'Too Late' for a while now and that's why I haven't been posting up too much art or other stuff. I'm feeling a little under the weather, so I'll probably just read and maybe get my files ready for Amazon.

*The color version's ready to submit, but I need to get the black and white version formatted. Amazon's new reader only displays in grayscale, so I thought it'd be wise to have both options available.

* Last weekend was the best in a good long while. Friday I finished up reading Moore and O'Neill's 'The Black Dossier' (more on that later), then we went to Laurenn McCubbin's Art Tarts in the West Bottoms. She's done such an amazing job with Dr Sketchys, but this was an AMAZING show! It was great introducing Katy to all my peeps and also catching up with Tony Moore and Jason Aaron, who I went on an ice run with and we all swapped stories about crazy people with guns.

Saturday night we had my friends Brandon and his wife Robin come up for dinner (my universally acclaimed enchiladas which I have rechristened funalottas (no, I won't give out the recipe, you just need to schedule a time to come up and eat them)) and a game of Risk. Neither of them had played before, but by the end of the night they were way into it. By the time we decided to wrap it up, I had Asia and Australia, Katy had Africa and South America, Brandon had North America, and Robin had Europe. It was about to go nuclear.

Sunday we had the only drawback of the otherwise amazing weekend, which was watching Transformers. I had to make up a word to properly describe this movie, and that is SUCKTASTIC! I won't even go into it. Just avoid this piece of excrement and know that this is why I detest Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer's work. For dinner though we had Indian food from our favorite place, Swagat. I am a sucker for Paneer Masala! Then we ordered Survivor Series which was so many shades of awesome that it made me forget about the awful viewing of the morning.

Following on the heels of the great weekend I got two and a half pages penciled and watched Chris Jericho's glorious comeback on RAW.

* I've got thirty two pages left to draw for Too Late, excluding the coda which may run eight pages. I'm really excited to share this book with y'all.

* Oh yeah, 'The Black Dossier'. Wow. Moore had said something along the lines of this may not be the greatest book ever, but it will be the greatest thing ever. Pretty dead-on. I think Todd Klein deserves a ton of praise as well for all of his BEAUTIFUL typography work throughout. Moore, O'Neill and Klein all brought their A-Game for this fine tome. Each section is not only done from a different time period, but in a different genre and format. It's a comic, it's an essay, it's a chap book, it's a Tijuana bible, it's a pulp, it's a beat poem, , it's a series of correspondence through post cards, it's an erotic story, it's an unfinished play by Shakespeare, part of it you have to read with 3D glasses, and every bit of it tells a narrative and expands upon these characters and the amazing world they inhabit, and the creators completely change their styles to properly reflect all of this. AMAZING. I mean, I'm in awe. Everyone involved in producing this must feel incredibly proud of what they've brought into this world.

* Okay, that's it from me for awhile. We're going out of town tomorrow morning and not returning until Saturday. I hate to put down my pencil for that long, but I do need the break too.

* And with that, I leave you with my special Thanksgiving message: A year after the famous original Thanksgiving meal, the Pilgrims went out and slaughtered the Native American tribe. So eat up!

Posted by Schamberger at 08:00 AM

November 05, 2007

State of the Rob 11052007

* I've got 74 pages drawn for Too Late. I was originally thinking it would run around 150 pages, but now I don't think it will go over 130. I gave myself a lot of 'breathing room' in some scenes that I don't think I'll need to take advantage of.

I'm pretty excited about the book, though. It's about as different from Black Chamber as it can be. Like I've said before, BC was Peckinpah and this will be Hitchcock as written by Chandler.

* Did you know that Chandler was originally tapped to write 'Strangers on a Train'? Here's what Hitch had to say about it in 'Hitchcock/Truffault':

A.H. ...and that raises another point. Whenever I collaborate with a writer who, like myself, specializes in mystery, thriller, or suspense, things don't seem to work out too well.

F.T. You're referring to Raymond Chandler?

A.H. Right; our association didn't work out at all. We'd sit together and I would say, "Why not do it this way?" and he'd answer, "Well, if you can puzzle it out, what do you need me for?" The work he did was no good...

Here's what Chandler had to say about it:

"Look at that fat bastard trying to get out of his car."

* Back to 'Too Late'. I colored the first seventeen pages yesterday in a bit of a marathon session. I'm really happy about how they all came out. I was on a fence about leaving them in their original state, but as the examples in the last post show, I think I made the right decision.

* Putting Black Chamber up on Wowio has turned out to be a good decision. It's not huge money I'm making off of it, but it's adding up pretty nicely into a nice chunk of change. Also? I'm going to be earning off of these for the life of the site (which I hope is a nice long while). Most comics today live and die from the sales of their first week of release. With this revenue stream, it's all about being slow and steady to win the race. Although if I get to the point where I'm getting a thousand downloads a week, this would be a full-time income.

* Did you notice I quietly put up the third chapter? The full announcement for it of course goes out Wednesday with the normal PR blitz.

* Katy and I are going to WRESTLEMANIA!

* The Fabulous Moolah passed away this weekend. What a broad she was (which I mean in the most endearing way possible)! She debuted in WWE (then the WWWF) at its inception in 1963, although she had started wrestling in the 1940's(!). In 1956 she defeated Judy Grable for the Women's Championship of the World, which she held for the next 28 (!) years. That's a title reign that has not been beaten by anyone else, man or woman, not only in wrestling but not in any other sport ever.

In 1999 she returned to rasslin' after a twelve year vacation to win her fourth women's championship. She was in her 70's! My buddies and I all talk about how hardcore Ric Flair is to still be wrestling at the rate he does at the age he's at. He doesn't have anything on Moolah, though!

Truly a remarkable loss to the world, but just look at how much she gave us!

* The recent announcement about the ComicSpace/Webcomics Nation merger has me thinking more about using the web as a realistic tool for distribution and income. I'll probably put up a new essay at TB about that on Wednesday.

* I finished up Greg Rucka's 'Patriot Acts' last week. Seriously good. I don't know that I like it better than my favorite of his, "A Gentlemen's Game", but it rates pretty close. Man, he just gets it.

* I don't talk about Katy's job too much, or like, at all. She's the editor of Gatehouse Magazine for the Leavenworth and Wyandotte areas. If you're in one of those counties, be sure to check it out. She does good work coordinating everything as well as doing some writing for it.

* She got me this for our anniversary last month. It rules.

* Paneer Masala rules, too.

* Back to working on TL pages!

Posted by Schamberger at 03:13 PM

October 19, 2007

State of the Rob 10192007

* Man, I've been busy lately. Every day, I'm working on something related to my graphic novels. Coloring Black Chamber, drawing (and coloring) Too Late, planning what the follow-up(s) to Too Late will be. I wouldn't have it any other way.

* But unfortunately, soon enough I'm going to have to have it another way. Unless I start getting a thousand downloads a week on Wowio, I'm going back to the workforce. The freelance stuff's just not bringing in enough to do this full time right now.

* I was bummed at first about that, having a lot of self-doubt and the like, but ultimately its only reinvigorated me to continue to improve my craft. I'm excited about what's coming up for Black Chamber, and I think folks are really going to dig Too Late. Hopefully my plans for the book after Too Late pan out, because that would be seriously cool.

* Next week I'll start rolling out a forum/social networking app to promote my work more, and probably start up an email list as well. Within the next month I should be able to announce where you'll be able to buy your copies of Black Chamber as well. Both the inkwash and the color versions will be for sale in the near future.

* Too Late's rolling right along. Today I'm going to start drawing the big chase scene, which I'm excited about. Hopefully people will be able to see some growth artistically between this book and Black Chamber.

* I'm also slowly working on a painting that I'm cautiously optimistic about. It's a manner of working I haven't done since school and its fun working out those old muscles.

* I've been reading a lot lately, too. I finished up the 'His Dark Materials' series and really enjoyed it (thanks Dennis!). I also read the full run of Stray Bullets which blew my mind all over again. Hopefully Lapham will be able to finish that up some day. Right now I'm working on reading all of Morrison's Seven Soldiers and also Chandler's last novel 'Playback'. I'd read the Seven Soldiers stuff while it was coming out, but there's a whole other level reading it in larger chunks that I'm thoroughly enjoying. Reading the last Chandler book is bittersweet. I've been making my way through them over the last couple of years and I'll be sad when there's not another to pick up. I guess it'll be time to finish up all of the Jim Thompson novels after that, huh?

* Back to work!

Posted by Schamberger at 09:08 AM

October 03, 2007

She's Gone

Goodbye Lois. Goodbye Grandma. Goodbye Kathleen. Goodbye Doreen.

I'm really ready for this year to be over.

Posted by Schamberger at 09:51 AM

September 29, 2007

State of the Rob 09292007

* Last night Katy and I hung out with friends, watched the incredibly bad movie 'Shooter' (First Act: Surprisingly solid, Second Act: Jumps the shark, Third Act: Shark Bukakke), then went to the Mutual Musicians Foundation. The MMF is still the best-kept secret in Kansas City. The music is amazing, the venue is the very definition of intimate, and the staff are incredibly friendly. Plus I got some great reference shots for 'Too Late' there as a couple of major scenes happen at the location.

* When we got home around three in the AM, I had a message from my mom that my Aunt Lois is most likely going to pass away this weekend. I'm...really, there's no words. This has been a bad year, gang. I've already lost two aunts and a grandmother this year, on top of getting laid off. I'm really just ready for 2007 to come to an end. I'm pretty sure my Uncle Clarence won't be around too much longer, either. I'm very lucky to have such good friends, my art, and most especially family and Katy in my life. It makes these trials bearable. Here's to hoping 2008 will be nothing but good things happening.

* So I didn't sleep worth a damn, and then went to the convention today. It was great catching up with everyone, and running into folks I haven't seen in years as well. I got a lot of very constructive criticism on my work, some very humbling, some very glowing, but all were things that will help me continue to grow and to improve my craft. I was too tired and had too much on my mind to stick around for long, so I left around 1PM, came home, watched some cartoons, and passed the fuck out until a few minutes ago.

* Tomorrow is the next Dr Sketchy's, which I always look forward to. Laurenn's planning to go bi-weekly with it, which I'm totally stoked about. All of this life drawing has been insanely helpful to me, and I hear that echoed from everyone else who attends.

* And I'm just waiting to hear about Lois. I liked her. She's a very creative person, skilled in many areas but none as strongly as her ability to play the piano. She was mostly a fan of Big Band, and man, she could make those ivory keys scream. She'd get her whole body into it, to where she would just become a blur of sonic motion, laughing and smiling the whole way through. Beside her music, her laugh is the thing that I'll remember the most, and that I'll miss the most. A good, big, honest laugh is one of the best things in the world. I like to think I got mine from her. I know I got my serious interest in art from her, thinking back on it.

* Otherwise, I'm just going to continue to plug away on my art. This past year has definitely put front and center just how important it is to be doing the things I want to do in life. It's too short to not take a chance, and way too long to live with yourself for not taking that chance. Hopefully I can make it work out.

Posted by Schamberger at 06:41 PM

September 07, 2007

Checking In

Things have been super busy of late!

Over the holiday weekend Katy and I went out to Western Kansas for the annual Schamberger Open golf tournament. It was her first full exposure to the family, and she managed to survive! It's always great spending time with Grandma, the aunts and uncles, and the bazillion cousins. We got back in town Monday afternoon and did pretty much nothing the rest of the day to get our strength back.

For the rest of the week, besides battling off some sickness Wednesday that kept me from going to see my folks perform, I've been working on some freelance work and Too Late pages as well as continuing to get the word out about The Black Chamber and AIV.

During the two weeks before this one, I felt like I absolutely hated everything I was doing, but just kept plugging along. After being out of town for four days and coming back to the work though, it's like I'm seeing it with brand new eyes. Like, "Hey, this ain't too bad!" The pages I'd been working on were really difficult and forcing me to draw stuff I normally wouldn't which is where I think the frustration was coming from.

Also this week I finished reading Philip Pullman's 'The Golden Compass', a book I normally wouldn't have picked up on my own, but that Dennis Hopeless got me for my B-day. Thanks for that D, I really enjoyed it and am already into the second book.

My current obsession right now is with Indian food. There's a place within walking distance of us, Swagat, that was almost like having a religious experience when I ate it for the first time, and leaves me feeling post-coital after eating it still. Mmmmmm. I'm really interested in learning how to cook it and have been reading up on it and talking with their staff about how they prepare their paneer, or what they put in their masala. I can totally see why Spain had Columbus try to find a quicker way to get those spices.

Posted by Schamberger at 06:53 AM

August 19, 2007

State of the Rob 08192007

* How the hell did I miss that a new Josh Rouse album came out last month? I'm listening to tracks from it now on MySpace, and of course I'm all about it.

* I did a big photo shoot Wednesday night and have completed five pages since then. The one in the post below is from that batch. I'm doing my best to bring my A Game on these, and I hope that's showing.

* I'm also trying to find homes for these kittens:

They showed up the other day on my porch in the 104 degree weather and I just couldn't leave them out there. Now of course I'm stuck with the task of finding a home for them. The shelters around here are all full, and I'd rather not take them to the pound, but if I can't find a home for them in the next couple of days that's where they're going. They're very sweet, litter trained, and they tested clear for viruses and parasites. They'd make a great addition to anyone's home. Please, please pass their picture along to your family, friends and coworkers and see if anyone would open their door to them. If I had a house and not an apartment I'd totally keep them myself, but I need help for these poor souls.

* The switch to being a freelance artist is coming along swimmingly. I'm making a lot of contacts and have several mailers going out to potential clients over the next few weeks. Fingers crossed!

* Katy's birthday was Friday. We had a GREAT time. Here's the painting I did for the big day:

She liked it alright.

* Wrestlemania 24 tickets go on sale January 13. With Andy living down in Florida now, our chances of going this year are pretty significant. Oooooh Yyyeeeeaah!

* Okay, back to the pages!

Posted by Schamberger at 05:46 PM

August 15, 2007

Sorry Honey

Taken by Laurenn McCubbinn. I swear, I was just reading the articles!

Posted by Schamberger at 01:59 PM

August 04, 2007

State of the Rob

Busy week!

Monday wasn't that bad, mostly just drawing.

On Tuesday, I got an email from an editor wanting to set up a portfolio review. That was the moment I realized I didn't actually have a hard portfolio put together, so I pulled out all of my art and picked out about thirty pieces that I felt were really strong, bought a case and some sheets, and gave the editor a call. He was available on Friday at 11:30, cool by me. I spent the rest of the day running around town taking care of odds and ends.

Wednesday, I caught up on the Garbo portraits, bought the first 'Scalped' collection (very enjoyable) and, drumroll please, the Paul Pope art book, 'Pulp Hope'. Mind? Blown. Later in the day my postcards came in, all one thousand of them, and the evening capped off with a lead on a freelance job from my mom.

Thursday, I called up the new prospective client and arranged an interview for Friday at 9:30, did more Garbo work, paid bills and had some pizza for dinner with Katy. She had a show to go to around nine, so I went to pick up a six pack from the gas station before Burn Notice started. On the way there, I noticed that my steering was a little off. I pulled in the parking lot and, son of a bitch, one of my tires was flat. I filled it up, got my beer and went home to watch one of my new favorite shows, drink a beer, and lay down the pencils for the last Garbo piece.

Friday, my busiest day in over a month, the day of two interviews and a scheduled photo shoot? That's the day my tire can't hold air anymore. I get it down to the local tire shop, but they're already behind on work and can't guarantee it until the late afternoon. Fuck a duck. The always-able assistant Katy did me a huge favor by taking me to both interviews. The first one lasted all of five minutes ("I already know about you") and I walked out with two trial assignments, and the second was about fifteen minutes ("You've got the exact style we're after.") with one trial assignment. I got home, picked up the car, and finished one of the jobs, and then we were off to First Friday and the photo shoot, capped off by a nice dinner and an end to the busy week.

This weekend, we're going out of town for some well-earned R&R, and then back to rock it out all over again.

Posted by Schamberger at 07:14 AM

July 02, 2007

Birthday Festivities

A big thank you to everyone who came by for my birthday yesterday. Also, thank you to everyone who has been so supportive over the last week. All of you are the best.

Posted by Schamberger at 09:08 AM

June 27, 2007

Yay For Socialism!

Apparently, since I started my claim this week, if I don't complete it until next week, my unemployment check will go up to $407 a week! That works! So children, my words of advice to you: get an unstable job in Kansas. My other words of advice: Get a good job, for fuck's sake, so you don't have to be buggered with this bullshit.

Posted by Schamberger at 08:25 AM

June 25, 2007

So Far Today, I Have...

* Filed for unemployment
* Updated my resume
* Applied for two positions
* Cleaned the apartment
* Did the dishes
* Went to my old apartment and cleaned up there until it got too hot
* Fixed my USB hub so that I can start scanning again
* Inadvertently hacked off Kevin
* Ate a slice of pizza and an apple - not too hungry for some reason

See, I'm trying to do things where I know I can fix an immediate situation, helping me to feel like I'm, you know, doing something.

Now to put up some art, letter a page, talk with the freaked-the-fuck-out-Katy about our new reality, and watch some rasslin'.

Posted by Schamberger at 05:02 PM

Not a Promising Start to the Week

Got laid off this morning. I've already hit the ground running, getting things in order, so this should hopefully only be a temporary setback.

Still, sucks. Happy birthday to me!

If anyone's aware of a decent job opening, please let me know.

Posted by Schamberger at 12:26 PM

June 17, 2007

Moved In

The majority of the moving is now done. I'm sore over my whole body, bruised, cut up, but it feels great to be done with it (mostly). We've got most everything unpacked now except a few boxes. Here's how my space looks right now:

(Click for a larger view)

It's nice having everything all together now, and within reach. The closet is HUGE. I'm able to store all of my comics in there with no problem, and shelving to store art, plus room for growth. I've also got my own bathroom connected, which will be handy not just for shitting, but also for washing out brushes and the like. The complex is also really nice, which is a breath of fresh air compared to how my last place had become.

I've still got more art to hang, and there's some shelving we need, but all of the hard work is now done. We should be completely settled in within the week, which is great. I'll have pictures of the rest of the place up soon, for those who care about such things.

I am SO ready to get back to work on 'Too Late'.

Posted by Schamberger at 03:03 PM

June 07, 2007

Where I'm At Online

ComicSpace - There's a few galleries I've got up there that for now you can only find on that site.

Engine - So far, this has been a great networking area.

MySpace - Just set this up today. It's mainly just another place for folks to come across my art and direct them back here. At least, it will be. Also! So that my girlfriend will finally get off my hump about it.

Posted by Schamberger at 05:11 PM

May 07, 2007

On my mind

I'm paralyzed by the fear that Black Chamber may suck.

Posted by Schamberger at 03:21 PM

May 06, 2007

Weekend Update

* Sorry I didn't make it to the show Saturday, gang. It would have been about one by the time I got there, and I just didn't want to spend fifteen bucks for four hours. I'm strapped from paying taxes and buying CorelDraw, and need to conserve money with the upcoming move.

* We're currently debating between City View and Union Hill to move to. The floor space on Union Hill will be the deciding factor, which I'll be checking out tomorrow evening. Katy and I are both going to be needing a lot of space wherever we end up, what with my art thing and the upcoming business with Mom, plus Katy's got a start-up of her own in the works. We're one of those Go-Getter Couples.

* My Aunt Doreen died last night. I really, really liked her. She was always very kind to me, and a very neat lady. I especially feel for my Uncle Ken now, as they were one of those classically great couples. Also for my cousins Lance and Blake, because she was such a great mom to them.

* I think three deaths in a matter of weeks is taking its toll on me.

* My brother AJ and I went to see Spider-Man today. It was a fun movie. Seeing it through a twelve-year-old's eyes made it especially neat.

* The Black Chamber is all lettered now. I just need to finish up some tidying here and there, and then it's time to submit. Fingers crossed.

Posted by Schamberger at 06:39 PM

May 02, 2007

More Random Stuff

* Lettering in CorelDraw ain't that bad. It took me about an hour to familiarize myself with the program, but once I got going it wasn't no thing at all. I ended up getting twenty pages done last night.

* Ain't ain't a word.

* DJ Shadow's 'The Outsider' is a really, really good album. I haven't really taken it out of rotation since purchasing it. I glean something new from it on each listen.

* I turned in my 60 day notice yesterday to move out of my apartment. End of an era. I was underpaying on it so much that my landlord's eyes kind of sparkled when I told him.

* Speaking of 'end of an era', I'm going to miss Tom Poston. I really liked him.

* I brought a chess board to work yesterday. I'm like a cat with a mouse on that game, man, slowly picking my opponents apart until I finally, mercifully end it. Of course, if I had to play against someone who's actually good, I'd be massacred. I've got no real strategy except for controlling the center of the board.

* In Chandler's Marlowe books, Marlowe keeps a chess board in his apartment and moves the pieces as shown from transcripts of famous maneuvers and games. I'd like to do that myself, but those things are in some sort of code I've never been able to understand. I'm worthless, aren't I?

* I'm going to try to put up a daily 'snapshot' of what I'm working on. Yesterday's post was the first of those. Sometimes it'll be a photograph, or a snippet of a page, or a screenshot, but I thought it'd be interesting to do something like this. I'm sure I won't nail it EVERY day, but it'll still be something cool to look back on.

* I'm really looking forward to the last issue of '52'. I've enjoyed the hell out of this series. I'm excited for 'Countdown' as well. I've dropped almost all of my monthly titles in favor of collections, but I enjoy picking this sort of thing up every week.

* Man, I've had a lot on my mind lately. Lettering 'The Black Chamber'. Writing 'Too Late for Smiling'. Conceptualizing a series to spin out of that. The day job being weird. Submitting 'The Black Chamber' to publishers. Moving. Grandma dying. Aunt Kathy dying. Aunt Lois being very ill, most likely terminally. Aunt Doreen being terminally ill. Start-up business with Mom. My buddy Brandon being out of work. My neighborhood going to shit. Being overweight. Mom's health. Step-father's health. Niece being in the hospital from diabetes. Sanjaya being kicked off of American Idol...wait...

* For those of you going to Planet Comicon this weekend, I'm hoping to have an ashcan of 'The Black Chamber' to hand out. I won't have a table or anything, just wandering the floor and making a scene in front of Kevin and Dennis' table. If you're going, and you want one, say something in the comments here and I'll be sure to hook ya up.

* Seriously, lettering this thing is going QUICK. I really didn't have much dialogue at all, as I really wanted to have the images tell the story, and paced it similar to how Koike and Kojima did on 'Lone Wolf and Cub'. 'Smiling' is going to be a MUCH denser read.

* The new 'D'Airain Aventure' is out today, too! Sweet!

* I'll leave you with Ashley Wood's cover to the new Tank Girl series, as I don't have any art myself to put up today, and seriously, it's gorgeous, isn't it?

(Click for a larger view)

Posted by Schamberger at 07:36 AM

April 30, 2007

"I Want to Kick a Puppy" or alternately "I'm Ready to Move"

It was an overall good weekend.

Friday, we had Mexican for dinner, and I picked up Serenity and a present for my mom. Serenity was more enjoyable to me than Firefly, and served as a good cap to the story.

Saturday, I finished up 'The Long Goodbye'. Good book. It lagged a bit in the latter part of the middle, but it was definitely one of my favorite Chandlers.

I also rewrote the opening part of 'Too Late for Smiling', as what I had written last week just wasn't working for me. It felt too similar to 'The Black Chamber', and I really want this to be different in approach. It's definitely denser. Black Chamber rarely goes over a hundred words per page, and this one's already averaging two hundred per page. I ended up using portions of a radio script I had written a few years back for the opening chapter, which if any of you remember that, you'll appreciate that I'm going to couple that with my 'bodiless voice' approach from Empty House. I'm REALLY stoked to draw that portion already. Actually, this is going to be an insanely fun story to draw.

Saturday night, we met up with a friend and ate at Granite City down south. Very, very good food, and they brew their own beer there as well, which was tasty.

Sunday morning, we headed over to Borders, as I had a ten dollar off coupon. I picked up the new Lethem, "You Don't Love Me Yet", a cheapie Picasso book, the latest DJ Shadow album, and a book on forming LLC's for my mom and I's business.

Then Katy and I headed on over to EH Young Riverfront Park to read our purchases. I got a little burnt on my freshly-shaven head as well as on my bare feet. The new Lethem is very, very good, in case there was any doubt. Still, it was very, very pleasant. We ate at Argosy's Crazy Olives after that, which was good as always.

Then back home, so that I could work some more on the book and listen to the DJ Shadow album. The album is most definitely not what I was expecting. It's a lot harder and...angrier than his other work. I'm noticing that a whole lot more in entertainment. There's something bubbling under the surface in our culture. Wartime brings that out, I think. Still, insanely good hip hop.

In the evening, Katy and I discussed the possibilities of cohabitation, as she's going to be moving in the next couple of months, and I've grown to really hate my apartment complex. In the last six months it's really gone down the shit tubes, and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of having to call the cops. I'm sick of the trash in the lawn, and the trash living in the apartments.

Leading me to the title of this entry. I got three hours of sleep last night. Three. Hours. Why is this, you ask dear reader? Because of some of the trash living in the adjoining building to mine, who left their puppy on their back patio All Night Long, where it whined and yapped incessantly until I finally called the cops around midnight. They talked to the tenants and they seemed to bring the dog inside, problem solved. So I layed in bed for another hour until finally falling back asleep...

...to wake up around three to more of the fucking dog's whining. It stopped shortly, but I was awake, and stayed awake. My landlord's hearing from me today about the dog and its inconsiderate, immature, and incapable owners, and tomorrow about my notice that I will be moving out of that blight on the face of the Earth.

EDIT: Just got off the phone with management, and they slipped up and told me that those fuckers aren't even set up to have a pet. Kneel before Rob.

Posted by Schamberger at 07:50 AM

April 24, 2007

Update From Rob Land

I think I'm finally getting back on track now. Last week was...rough, to put it mildly. Things are gradually turning back around, though.

Random stuff:

* I should start finally lettering Black Chamber this week. I ordered Corel Draw last Thursday, so that should be in any time now. I'm really looking forward to putting this in the can once and for all. Even if no one publishes it, really.

* I got the next book all plotted out over the weekend and started writing on it. I got all of the little story kinks worked out that were keeping me from getting in and working on it. It's looking to be a fun one to make.

* I'm tired of making millions of dollars for other people. To that end, my mom and I are finally starting up our business together, starting this week. More on that once all of the paperwork is filed.

* Andy, last night's Raw was really fucking awesome. The main event between Cena and HBK went for a full hour! Easily Cena's best match, like, ever.

* Morningstar Farms' Spicy Black Bean Burgers? Fucking good.

* Have y'all been following the marketing campaign for the new Nine Inch Nails album? Lots of idears there for us creative types. The new album? I like it, but I'm not floored by it. Still really solid, though. I feel for Trent, in that Downward Spiral was such a huge success it will always be the elephant in the room with him. I've enjoyed this the most out of his albums since, though. I'm not as angsty as I used to be, though, so I don't know that I'm the target demographic for his music anymore.

* I finally watched Firefly last week. Pretty good. It didn't give me a nerdgasm or anything, but it was still enjoyable. I need to pick up Serenity (movie and comic) now, which I've heard is enjoyable. I guess I enjoy Whedon's comics more than his TV shows.

* Has anyone read the new Lethem yet? I know I'll like it, but I'm still working my way through 'The Long Goodbye'. It's next on my list, for sure.

* Peace out.

Posted by Schamberger at 09:53 AM

April 19, 2007

What a Week

Two funerals in a week can really wear a body out. Then coming back to an apathetic day job doesn't improve things in the least.

I'm exhausted and feeling like I'm in a nasty mood. I don't like that.

So. Share your good news with me. Brighten my day up.

Posted by Schamberger at 05:36 PM

April 13, 2007

She's Passed

She died at around two this morning. This is the last picture I took of her, I don't know how long ago. The fact that my grandfather's standing next to her means it was probably fifteen years ago.

Strange fact: The two of them never smiled at the same time in the same photo.

Mom and Roger and I went to the hospital to clean up her room this morning. Most of her belongings we're donating, which I feel good about. I think the service is going to be on Monday.

I'm not going to give some bullshit speech about loving the people you have while they're still around, because you're going to do that anyway, and no one stops loving people after they die, either. I think my only real revelation from all of this is to live your life being true to yourself and to who you really are. Too many people, like my grandmother, live their lives unhappily. I find that to be one of the most horrible things that I can imagine, spending the majority of a ninety plus year life being unhappy.

Don't let that happen to yourself.

Oh, and love the people you have, whether they're still with you or not.

Posted by Schamberger at 02:35 PM

April 11, 2007

Does it HAVE to come in three's?

My dad just called me to let me know that my Aunt Kathy died a couple of days ago. Heart attack. She was an...interesting individual. She did a lot of bad things towards my mom during the divorce between her and Dad, so it's always been weird dealing with her, you know? The last time I saw her was about three years ago at a reunion, and she was a little too drunk and started spouting off about Mom, and I just shut her down right then and there, really put her in her place, and that was the last time we ever talked.

My grandma's probably going to die tonight or tomorrow. We've been, as bad as it sounds, waiting for her to go for the last ten years or so. She's been ate up by alzheimer's and dementia for all of that time, so this will really be a release more than anything. I don't find it a coincidence at all that a couple weeks back I started reading Chandler's 'The Long Goodbye'.

So, yeah. Two's company, three would be a crowd.

EDIT: Hopefully, this is the third. Vonnegut had a huge impact on me when I finally got into his work a couple of years back. So much so that I actually broke up with a girl last year using a quote from 'Timequake'. For you fellow creators out there, I really recommend picking up a copy of 'Like Shaking Hands With God', a conversation about writing between Kurt Vonnegut and Lee Stringer. I read that before having read any of his work, so it was like getting to know him first, which I think made his books that much more personal. So it goes.

Posted by Schamberger at 08:42 PM

April 08, 2007

Weekend Update

* All of the pages for Black Chamber are now cleaned up

* I think I'm about ready to start plotting out Too Late for Smiling

* My hand really hurts from cleaning up all of those pages

* I'm about through the first season of Law and Order: SVU, and my main thought is: Mariska Hargitay is really hot.

* I mean, my hand fucking hurts

* I'm reading the latest Jules Feiffer collection, 'Passionella', and totally love it. Why have I deprived myself of his work for so long?

* I feel like I've got 'big tit' arthritis. You know, like, you see a stacked chick walk by, and you say "Check out the arthritis on her!" and your friend looks all puzzled, until you give him the visual cue? Yeah, like that.

* I'm really excited to start drawing the next book. I've got a lot of neat visuals planned out for it, and I'm going to do a lot more with lighting for this.

* Hand? Hurts. Yes, I know I whine like a little girl. You know what? I don't care.

* I like the Charlie Parker and Thelonius Monk CD's I picked up last week.

* You thought this was going to be about my hand, didn't you?

* On Friday, I had four different people at work ask me how I got my art into the email I sent them. My answer? Oompa Loompas.

* Oompa Loompas using a fucking scanner.

Posted by Schamberger at 05:03 PM

March 22, 2007

No, That's Not Me on the Cover of This Week's Pitch

I'm putting this up as a public service message, as I know I'll be hearing about it all week:

Posted by Schamberger at 08:47 AM

February 09, 2007

Meanwhile...

So, sorry for the lack of posts lately. I've honestly been working my ass off on getting Black Chamber done. I'm on track to be totally completed by the end of the month with the drawing portion.

So, until I have some art to show off, here is the definitively best scene from any movie ever:

Posted by Schamberger at 02:55 PM

January 25, 2007

On The Believer

'The Believer' was supposed to be my big break. But the Universe just didn't want it to happen.

The story starts in 1998. I was fresh out of high school without a clue of what I wanted to do with my life. I was drawing quite a bit, but I'd fallen off track considerably since graduation, and I was down to mostly sketchbook stuff. I'd gotten it into my mind that I really wanted to revamp The Shadow. Because, really, who doesn't want to? I was writing quite a bit at this point, too. Warren Ellis and Brian Bendis were really hitting their stride right around then, and it really seemed like a rock star sort of thing to do.

So, my long time mentor Phil Hester was doing a signing and I stopped in to BS with him. He was flipping through my sketchbook and came across the Shadow stuff and asked me what I was up to. I told him, and he just nonchalantly said, "I'd like to pitch that with you."

You could have knocked me over with a feather.

So, I wrote up a script for the first issue and shot it off to Phil. He liked it for the most part, and we started putting some feelers out. We were putting it together that it would be our main story and then have back-ups by other folks in the field. We had some Big Names attached to this. Really, make a top twenty list, and except for Ellis, Miller, and Moore, we had them. This was going to be capital C Cool.

Then Dark Horse told us they were going to let the license lapse. Then Phil got the Green Arrow gig. Then I was wondering what the hell I was going to do next.

Luckily, Phil put me in touch with KC local Thom Thurman. Thom and I hit it off right from the get go. We had totally similar tastes and Thom was just a hell of an artist. Phil had told me about how The Coffin was originally a pitch for revamping a comic called Rust, and told me I should do the same with the Shadow script. I did, and then we had The Believer.

We sent it out to several companies, but the one we wanted, Image, said they wanted it. Oh my god, I'd never been so excited in my life. That was the single best email I'd ever read. This was also a week after my 21st birthday. Hell of a present!

It turns out that Image was starting up a new line called Image Introduces, and they wanted to fast-track us to be in the second slot, following a book called Primate. (Primate, incidentally, was what funded the formation of IDW.)

We didn't realize at the time that we were Greg Brady fitting into the Johnny Bravo suit. Image needed a complete book for the second month, because the other people in the line weren't even close to completion.

We got pretty good press when the line was announced. But we started realizing pretty quick that Image just wasn't set up to be doing something like this. There were a lot of production things that they had never done before, and Thom being in production art noticed a lot of the kinks that were coming up. Like, on the cover above, do you notice how that awful red doesn't match the red on the scarf? Or that my name is mis-spelled? Yeah, stuff like that.

Also, the press release was really vague on what the line was. Everyone thought it was an anthology, and we all know anthologies don't sell. With us being the second release, retailers thought it was a second issue, so we got the kind of orders that the second issue of an anthology would get.

Also, our solicits went out in October of 2001, which just so happened to be the worst month in retail history due to the terrorist attacks in New York and DC.

On top of that, we weren't able to use our marketing plan because of the changed climate in the world. Our marketing plan? Personalized death certificates for people who helped promote our book and free minicomics for comic shops to hand out where the owner gets 'killed'. Image rightly said that while before 9/11 this was a great, cool idea, post-9/11 it would be in poor taste.

So, we were the second lowest selling book from Image that month. Due to poor planning, the Image Introduces line collapsed. The original idea was that if a book got positive word-of-mouth and/or positive sales, the book would become a series. We had very, very good reviews on the book. Even the Comics Journal liked us. But, the line got tanked, with the only book going on being Rex Mundi.

Jim Valentino told Thom and I that he liked what we did, but he didn't want more Believer. So, I went with my follow-up project, a Believer-style take on Doc Savage. But, by this point, Thom and his wife had brought a daughter into the world and Thom had gotten a job at Hallmark. He wasn't able to draw a book anymore. His desire to draw a book had gone away, too.

We had some really neat stuff going at our site, doing a free downloadable monthly anthology called FREE COMIX! that ran for six months or so before Thom finally wore out. We had some really cool stories in there from folks like Steve Lightle, Phil Hester and Steven Grant, plus a continuing story of our own called Confidence Man. We were getting AMAZING press on that, with several articles in Newsarama and a feature interview as well. But, all of that folded rather abruptly.

So, I found myself desperately trying to find another artist. I hooked up with several promising folks, but I found myself a constant victim of Art-Flake-itis. Finally, I came to a breaking down point where I had to decide between quitting or the long arduous journey of teaching myself to draw again. Obviously, I chose the latter.

The Believer is something that I'm still very proud of, though. I would have loved to really explore the concepts I'd planned in there, and I will some day in some other form, I'm sure. It was a strange set of circumstances where it was more that we were in the wrong place and time than that we had a bad book. Because the book most assuredly was not bad.

I'd love to continue to collaborate with other artists, but I am quite enjoying not having to worry about them, too.

Posted by Schamberger at 10:37 AM

January 09, 2007

Something that definitely rocks

Well, I can finally say it, since the announcement got made. I've accepted a new position at the day job. I'll be starting up several new ventures for the company, which is the kind of work I enjoy doing the most. So, same pay, but managing about a tenth as many people. That's a'ight in my book. I'll get about a week and a half vacation in between, some time this month, and then I go back and start up my new job.

Pretty cool.

Posted by Schamberger at 05:29 PM

December 03, 2006

2006 In Review

01. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?

Become middle management
Fire someone
Hire someone
Use inkwash
Get published more than once

02. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more?

Overall, yes. Also, my resolutions for next year will more than likely be my most ambitious yet.

03. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Jason and Sarah Preu welcomed in the lovely Roman Awesome to our plane of existence. Otherwise some broads at work popped some kids out.

EDIT: Oh yeah, Andy's wife popped out a little critter. We're still holding out that it's not his, though.

04. Did anyone close to you die?

My Aunt Ree
Not necessarily close to me, but a kid I'd known since grade school, Dallas Bromley

05. What countries did you visit?

The US of A.

06. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?

Finish motherfucking Black Chamber

07. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

October 13th, when I met the lovely Katy Ryan

08. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Began to draw in a way that I'm getting comfortable with.

09. What was your biggest failure?

Getting so stressed out at the day job that I had a heart attack. Fuck that jazz.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Heart attack
Some flu here and there

11. What was the best thing you bought?

The complete Little Nemo

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

My cat Monkey. She's become a real sweetheart.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

A broad at work. She makes me weep for humanity.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Rent.
Car.
Comic books.
DVD's.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Drawing.

16. What song will always remind you of 2006?

Teenage Riot by Sonic Youth

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. happier or sadder?

Honestly? The same.

ii. thinner or fatter?

Slightly thinner.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Exercise and drawing. Relaxing.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Stressing about the day job.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

With people who care as much about me as I do them. Take that for what it's worth.

22. Did you fall in love in 2006?

Yup.

23. How many one-night stands?

A handful.

24. What was your favourite TV program?

Monday Night Raw

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

I don't hate. That's a weak emotion.

26. What was the best book you read?

Novel? "It's Superman!" by Tom De Haven
Comic? "Criminal" by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Left of the Dial

28. What did you want and get?

Want? An improved life.
Get? An improved life.

29. What was your favourite film of this year?

Miami Vice

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

26. Crashed a party at Kevin Mellon's house.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Finishing Black Chamber

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?

Dayjob - Formal
Personal - Comfortable

34. What kept you sane?

Comic books.
Monkey.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Greta Garbo

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

The fact that all politicians lie. I can't get past that.

37. Who did you miss?

Actually, no one

38. Who was the best new person you met?

Katy Ryan

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006.

Honesty and transparency makes you invincible.

Posted by Schamberger at 05:30 PM

November 18, 2006

2007 Looms

So, I find myself starting to ponder on what the hell I'm going to do next year. What the Plan is. This year has been all about Hard Work. Developing my craft as an artist. Pushing myself at the day job. Work work work. I think next year is going to be about harvesting the fruits of those labors. 2006 has been about building a foundation for Future Rob to build a house on. 2007 is going to be homebuilding. I'm going to get myself closer to doing what I want to be doing with my life, to a greater extent than I'm already doing now.

Off-Topic:

* I just realized I've had this site going for a year now. Go me.

* I finished watching West Wing Season Four today, and it kills me that Sorkin left on such a cliffhanger. Because, like, I really don't want to buy the next season, after all the bad reviews I've heard, but damn...

* I've been on vacation for the last week and thoroughly enjoying it. I've gotten quite a bit of Black Chamber done, too. Look forward to checking out the page count tomorrow.

* I'm reading Tom De Haven's 'It's Superman' right now, and wow, what a book. It's like Chandler doing Superman, if you can imagine.

* Why has it taken me this long to start loving Sonic Youth? Damn, I've really been in a cave my whole life, haven't I? Rob, meet Culture. Culture, ridicule Rob.

* I'm going to put together an annual compilation CD starting this year. I think I'm going to call it 'Schambergerama 2006', and have it go with a collection of choice pieces of my art. The only way to get one is to meet up with me in person somewhere around town. It'd be cool if other people did the same thing, like, get a tradition going. "Here's a mix CD and a small collection of my art/writing/whatthefuckever, what have you been up to?" That'd be fun.

Posted by Schamberger at 06:39 PM

October 30, 2006

Weekend Round-Up

Saturday was...eventful. Productive. Yes. I came into the office in the morning first. Why? To do work? Nope. Master prankery. I filled up two of my coworkers' cubes with packing peanuts, chuckled maniacally, then got back on the road.

I went to the local convention, caught up with some friends I hadn't seen in a while, got a good critique on my Black Chamber pages from Phil Hester, went to an Ed Brubaker panel that was really well-done, and BS'ed for a while with Mellon and Hopeless. The show didn't seem very well-attended, but I think they didn't really promote it that well, either. Too bad, because there was some top-notch talent there.

After that, I picked up the first season of Justice League Unlimited, watched some of that, until my lady friend gave me a call and invited me to a Halloween party, which I decided to attend. I hadn't met any of her friends yet, so that was fun. My costume? Someone who was invited at the last minute and didn't have a costume to wear AKA The World's Best Looking Man.

Sunday, I did two paintings for this Friday's show (I'll scan them in soon-ish), and got together with Mellon, Hopeless, Mrs. Hopeless, and Grant "Gold" Bond for dinner. We had some good conversations, and it's always good to hang out with them. Good for them, of course, because my company raises the quality of anyone's life. The highlight of the night was their story from the show about a guy showing off a sculpture made from vegetable ivory of a penisvagina.

Then? I went to bed. This morning at work has been great, of course, because of the reaction to The Grand Prank. Now I'm stuck with the dilemma of what to do with two giant bags of packing peanuts. Anyone moving soon?

Posted by Schamberger at 11:21 AM

October 14, 2006

The Month That Wasn't

Where did the last month and a half of my life go? Ugh. The overtime's killing me. All of the backlog at the day job will be caught up this coming week, so that's nice. It'll give us more time to recreate it, I guess.

I'll be traveling to Columbus OH some time in the near future. I've got two employees out there I've never met, and I finally talked the boss into letting me. This means I will have to finally use a cel phone. I've fought off this century for about seven years now, but I must finally succumb.

I'll be taking a week off from work in November. I'm looking forward to that. Lots. I really, really need the vacation. I plan to overhaul the gallery sections of this site during that time. A lot of the art on here is not very indicative of where I'm at now, I think.

I'm listening to the Easy Star Allstars right now. Picked up both of their CD's yesterday, and it's blowing my mind. See, they're a reggae band that covers classic groove albums. A total 'duh' concept, you know? Taking albums that stoners would love and doing them reggae. Duh. Rob circa 1998 would have been all over this. Their first is Dark Side of the Moon, and the current one is OK Computer, and they're both AWESOME. Total awesomeness.

DMZ #12 came out this week. It's gorgeous. Lived up to expectations.

Joe Kubert's amazing. I picked up a buch of Sgt Rock comics last weekend and have just been poring over them and bowing to the master. (Kevin, what's he like in person? If he's a douchebag, lie to me. I'd hate to have another one of those moments like when I met John Byrne.)

I'm now reading the collected short stories of Raymond Chandler. It's a massive 1300 page tome, but so far it's worth it in every regard.

I'm watching the second season of The West Wing while working on Black Chamber pages. The rich dialogue of the show makes it really conducive to doing something creative. Sorkin gets it, doesn't he?

I've decided that I'm going to hand-letter my next graphic novel. That gives me a few months to bone up on it and get myself ready. Expect to see me posting lots of crappy lettering samples over the next while as I try to beat the crap lettering out of me.

I love you all.

Posted by Schamberger at 08:02 PM

September 26, 2006

Hey! I'm Not Dead!

I've just been kicking my own ass lately between the dayjob and the Black Chamber stuff. I've clocked in over a hundred hours in the last couple of weeks at said day job, and on top of that plugging away at the book in my off time (what exists of it). Did five pages on Sunday alone. Machine!

So, until I get some art up in this mug, here's some of my patented random thoughts:

* I miss watercolored coloring for comix. For reals.

* Brendan McCarthy is amazing.

* Outside of Solo #12, this is my most looked-forward-to comic of the year.

* The new Ray LaMontagne album is incredblamazing.

* Not only did I do my first termination today as a manager, I let two go at the same time. Afterwards, I had a meeting with that department, which went verbatim like this: "As I'm sure you overheard, I sent them home. I'm looking into ways of filling those positions, but in the meantime, I'm expecting all of you to continue the exemplary work you're doing. Well, that's all I had for you." They all stand there a bit dumbfounded. Then, I stand up, slam my fist on the desk, and yell, "BACK TO WORK OR YOU'RE NEXT!" Got some amazing productivity today from all of them.

* I've got until Friday of next week to complete eight paintings. What, me workaholic?

* Jaime Hernandez is amazing.

* I've killed enough time here. Off to work!

* Oh! Check out Sequential Shop Talk, a new group blog I'm associated with. So far it's just myself and Grand Mellon Sexay, but we've got some invites out as well. There's bound to be some quality reading to be found there, if you're into making comix or just interested in the creation side of things.

Posted by Schamberger at 06:37 PM

September 16, 2006

Why Did It

Take me this long to discover that Eric B and Rakim are the shit? What cave have I been living in? J, once again, thanks for the tunes.

Posted by Schamberger at 08:09 PM

September 14, 2006

Nuckin' Futs!

Dayjob's three syllable cuh-razy right now, hence the lack of post-age. It's probably going to be like this through next week as well. Pages are still coming along, though, so for those of you who care about such things, you can stop crying into your pillows at night.

READING: Pride of Baghdad (just finished, actually, and found it quite enjoyable), Hitchcock/Truffault (still!), and a whole heap o' comix (I find myself busier making them than reading them of late, though).

LISTENING: TV on the Radio, Miles Davis, Groove Armada, Dusty Springfield, Paul Oakenfold, David Bowie, Radio 4, Belle & Sebastian, and whatever else I'm in the mood for.

WATCHING: NYPD Blue Season Two (again (Carusso's a real dickbag on and off camera, isn't he?))

PAINTING: 'Rasslers

Posted by Schamberger at 07:05 PM

September 08, 2006

Managerial Whoa's

6:30 AM, Walking in the door

Employee 1 From T Department: Rob, what are we supposed to do with these phones?

Rob: What phones?

E1FTD: These phones. (Points to shiny new black phone sitting on his desk)

Rob: (Raising his brow, a mix of bewilderment and humor dominating his facial features) You know more than I do at this point, buddy. Let me clock in first.

Rob gets back to his desk to discover another new shiny black phone sitting on his desk. Fascinating. This should make for an interesting morning, yeah? Great way to begin the cap for the week. Well, the macro's not working for the spreadsheet that pulls up the orders to be done today, so Rob sits down to manually put it together. Over a hundred today. Great. Two trainees in that department, and an inundation of update requests. "I can manage it," thinks Rob. Of course, he has to, it's his job description. Rob is...

THE MANAGER

The two trainees are ready to fly solo, though, so breaking the orders up, it will only be twenty four a piece for the four old-timers, and a handful of easy ones for the trainees. That will please the rabble.

6:45 AM, Chaos has already been unleashed

The shiny new black phones are beginning to remind Rob of some sort of Lovecraftian Tentacled Beast of Doom. This is not a good thing. The genius in the IT Department (a department that Rob is just POSITIVE had its first two letters dropped off) just dropped off the Lovecraftian Tentacled Beasts of Doom, and didn't find himself arsed to actually set the fuckers up. Swell. Rob's people are starting to file in. They're coming in early, because Thursday was a busy day and they want to get their work caught up. Good little drones. Except, and here's the rub, they have to use phones to do their jobs. They don't have phones anymore. They have Lovecraftian Tentacled Beasts of Doom.

Crisis mode. Rob is starting to feel alive for the first time in the day. He calls the Help Desk. He thinks, most of the time, it should be called the No Help Desk. Luckily, this is an off day, and an actual helpful person picks up the line.

Rob: I need these phones set up.

Actual Helpful Person: What phones?

Rob: The new phones that your genius didn't set up.

Actual Helpful Person: New phones?

Rob: New phones. Don't work. Rob smash.

AHP: Please don't smash the new phones, Rob.

Rob: Rob angry. Rob smash.

AHP: We just need to put some software on the computers.

Rob: How this make puny phones work?

AHP: Trust me.

"Okay, so these phones are kinda cool," thinks Rob. He doesn't tell the Help Desk clerk that, of course. That would be giving them ground, and Rob can't do that. But, now half an hour's been killed getting the new phones set up. The extra lead time to make up for the prior day has been soundly vanquished. Rob goes to buy a muffin. Blueberry. Mmmm. Warm.

7:30AM, Rob tries to eat his muffin

Rob gets a call from his employee in Ohio. She doesn't have a phone yet, she tells him. Obviously, she is telepathically submitting this message to Rob. You go, girl. Rob is beginning to sorely detest the Phone Guy. The Phone Guy is Rob's bane in existence. Rob puts Phone Situation Number Two on his list. Rob decides to make one person from T Department responsible for all email requests. The workflow is instantly sped up by this decision.

Employee 2 From T Department: Are you going to send us our list, Rob?

Rob: GET OFF MY BACK, I'M TRYING TO EAT MY FUCKING MUFFIN!

E2FTD: Eat your fucking muffin after you send us the list, please.

Rob likes E2FTD. He's going to promote her next week, he decides. Good ol' gal. Rob finishes up the list and shoots it off to E2FTD, and then sets in to eat his muffin. Rob's boss pokes his head into Rob's office, as the muffin is about half consumed. "Girl in Ohio no phone. T Department fucked by phone guy too. Puny spreadsheet still no work. Rob want muffin. Argh." Rob's boss smiles and walks back out. Rob likes his boss, he lets Rob do things Rob's way. Rob finishes his muffin.

8:00AM, the rest of the employees arrive

E2FTD alerts Rob to the fact that the two new employees have defective worksheets. Another macro that doesn't want to work. Rob thinks they should be called micro's. Rob has to call the president of the company to come down and fix them. Why does Rob have to do this? Because the --IT department can't be arsed to, of course. Rob decides this will also be a good time to corner the Prez over some Accounts Payable situations that have arisen in the last two hours, in between crises. Rob and the Prez both decide that they have no idea how to fix the AP problem, but the Prez does fix up the two new computers. The crowd rejoiced. Yay.

Rob greets the rest of his employees. He makes a point to walk from desk to desk every morning and talk with each person about how they are doing. One's son quit his job. One's planning to go salsa dancing tonight. One got a new dog. One just nods and says he's doing fine. One is excited for a concert next week. One may come play poker at Rob's friend's house on Saturday. One didn't do much last night. One did a whole lot last night.

A compatriot from a sister company stops by to talk with Rob about XML. Rob knows a little bit more than the average man about XML, but not, alas, enough to help the compatriot. During this discussion, Rob's computer crashes, losing the report he was putting together. Oh, bother.

Somewhere along the line, Rob enters a time warp and it is all of a sudden a quarter to eleven. Rob goes to talk to the Accounting Department about the AP problem. Rob comes out of that talk even more confused. It shouldn't be this hard to print fucking checks. Rob is now hungry. Cheesey potatoes and broccoli. Weight Watchers brand, because Rob is trying to regain his girlish figure.

Rob pencils a page of his graphic novel during his lunch break. Said lunch break is only disturbed twice by minor emergencies.

The afternoon, of course, is quite dead. Rob mostly walks around, seeing if anyone needs help. They don't. It's a helpless situation. Rob decides to type up a story in third person about his day.

Posted by Schamberger at 02:34 PM

September 05, 2006

State of the Rob

The back of my neck is sunburnt and has made it up to the mildly annoying level, as my shirt collar rubs against it. Said sunburn was acquired this past weekend during the annual Schamberger Open out in Western Kansas, where most of the Schambergers reside. The tournament was fun, mainly because none of us actually know how to play the damn game. My twelve year old brother AJ took the trophy for the second year in a row.

It was more subdued this year than last, mostly because there are quite a bit less of us drinking. Most of the time was spent comparing our heart conditions, which made me feel about sixty years older than I actually am. The drought has been really hard on the farmers this year. Third worst in recorded history, actually. My Uncle Earl lost his entire corn crop in the matter of a couple days. Yikes.

Back to the day job today, where I've got three new employees starting. One of them is in Ohio, which is equal parts frightening and exciting. I now have more people working for me than were in the whole company when I first started with them. I've got two departments under me, with a possible third in the works. I'm getting moved into a new office in the next week, which will be the twentieth time I've moved since starting with them three and a quarter years ago. I keep a Post-It note with tally marks on it by my name tag, as I've become a bit of a legend with that around these parts.

I only got three pages of Black Chamber done last week. Equal parts of extra hours at the Day Job, creative dissatisfaction, preparing for September's Day Job gallery (which had a great response, as always), and the holiday weekend all contributed to this. I pencilled up a page last night, though, and will do another during lunch today. So, two more done tonight, at the least. Back in the saddle.

Bought Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie's 'Lost Girls' last Wednesday, but haven't read a word of it yet. Argh. I need more hours in my day. I'm overall behind on the amount of books I need to read this year. There's a new Dennis Lehane out that I should be able to breeze through, then I'll read some more Chandler, which is always fast-going. Hitchcock/Truffault is just one of those books you have to take your time with, I've found.

Watched the first season of The West Wing last week. Great show. What season is Sorkin's last? Is it still somewhat as good after he leaves? He seems kind of goofy in his interviews. David Milch comes off as nervous until he starts really talking, but Aaron Sorkin just seems like someone I would make fun of in person, but still respect. Of course, I can't really talk, as I have crippling stage fright and would just be a blubbering idiot on screen. Sorkin and Milch get a lot of respect from me, though.

I need more hours in my day. I'll put some art up from BC tonight.

Posted by Schamberger at 09:54 AM

August 20, 2006

My Apartment

I thought about going with a title like 'Back to the Lab', 'Crib', or 'State of the Pad', but all sounded equally lame. Thought it'd be fun to show where I do most all of my work, and talk over how I'm planning to change it up.

Here's what'cha see once you walk in the front door:

Yes, I take the term 'Living Room' to heart. I do my drawing on the floor there in front of the tube, watching DVD's while I work (right now it's season four of NYPD Blue). I'm planning to get rid of the couch against the wall there in the next week (just need a hand hauling it to the dumpster, but I've got someone lined up for that), and then moving my drafting table in. Seems to make more sense.

I hung up those tree paintings along the wall, to nice effect:

Lord, I hate that couch. About as much as the cat sitting on it hates my mom.

Here's three Black Chamber pages, laying out on the floor, so that I can be sure to keep myself consistent while working on the latest:

Down in the left corner there are the four issues of Batman: Black and White that I read over again last night. Damn, that was a great miniseries!

Anyway.

Here's my bedroom, where across from the bed I set up a small couch:

On weekend mornings, I'll lay there and do some reading while drinking tea. Just a great, relaxing way to start off the day. I'm still working through Hitchcock/Truffault, but this morning I also read Gilbert Hernandez' 'Sloth', which goes right up there with Rick Veitch's 'Can't Get No' as the best graphic novels I've read so far this year.

Moving on into the office, here's a nice view of the whole room:

The computer desk is obviously a hub of activity, as the over-run appearance can attest to. You can also see that the drawing table has become nothing more than an overglorified shelf. I really need to actually put that thing to use!

Here's my graphic novel bookcases:

I've no idea how many GN's I've got. I do know that except for two, I've read them all, though.

Here's my other bookshelf, made by my stepfather Roger from my old waterbed:

As much as I hate my couch, my old waterbed will forever be my most hated piece of furniture ever. The bookshelf it's evolved into, though, is very much beloved. You can also see my leaning tower of Pisa comics boxes to the right there. I really need to build some shelves for them one of these years.

Now get the hell out of my apartment. I've got work to do!

Posted by Schamberger at 03:44 PM

August 01, 2006

Why I Love Being on the Internet, Reasons 374 and 375

After congratulating Dan Goldman on his and Anthony Lappe's very, very excellent Shooting War getting picked up by Warner Books, Dan gave me a really damned cool response:

"I've been to your site quite a few times over the last year or so... you're a pretty talented little fucker yerself. Looking forward to your OGN..."

He thinks I'm little! The diet/workout regime's working after all!

Then, today, I got this super cool email:

"Hello