Hot off the press: Watusi #41!

It’s canine vs. contraption when Watusi accepts the challenge of Professor Harvey’s latest invention: the Motilizing Reclivator! Also featuring the talents of jam comic stalwart Keith O’Brien in the full-color one-pager “April Showers Bring…”

This issue’s main story is a substantially expanded version of a decade-old webcomic storyline, and I enjoyed the chance to punch up the rhyming (not a strong suit for me) part of the story a little. Expanding the artwork, on the other hand, was harder than I expected; it might have been faster to have just redrawn it! Even though it took a long time to put all the finishing bells and whistles on this new issue, I’m pleased with how it turned out and think you might enjoy it, too!

Watusi the Talking Dog #41 is a 16-page black & white digest w/ full-color covers; ask for it at your comic shop of choice, or get a copy by mail via my Square store (or old school mail order; direct order info on my Contact page) for just $3.00 postpaid in the US. Prefer digital? You can find it on my Gumroad store (for $2.00 US), too!

You can also get a copy by becoming one of my Patreon patrons during the month of June 2022 at the Correspondent or Art Lover tier– plus, joining gives you immediate access to online bonus comics, including a full-color Human Spring adventure!

[January 2023 UPDATE: I’ve closed my Patreon page.]

The secret (finally) revealed!!

Revealed at long last– the secret origin of Watusi the Talking Dog!! Or maybe “originS” is more accurate, as told in this collection of comics by me, Matt Corrigan, Steve Peters & Daniel Heredia, Steve Skeates, Drew Boynton, Nate Corrigan, Larned Justin, Tom Cherry, Billy McKay, and J.B. Winter!

This “untold origin” project is one I’ve had on the back burner for a shamefully long time; it fell into the cracks when jam comic participation dried up before this invitational issue was filled up and other projects pushed to the fore. But it’s finally complete, and I’m really happy with how it turned out!

Watusi the Talking Dog #40 is a 16-page black & white digest w/ full-color cover; ask for it at your comic shop of choice, or get a copy by mail via my Square store for $3.00 postpaid in the US. You can also get a copy by becoming one of my Patreon patrons during the months of May/June 2021 at the Correspondent or Art Lover tier– plus, joining gives you immediate access to online bonus comics, including a full-color Human Spring adventure!

[January 2023 UPDATE: I’ve closed my Patreon page.]

Hot off the press: Double Dip #3!

Well, maybe “warm” off the press, since Tom Cherry and I finished the latest issue of our two-person anthology Double Dip at the tail end of last year. With the holiday rush behind us, now is a great time to share this issue’s release with the wider world! As always, it’s a joy to team up with Tom to serve you a heaping helping of our different but eerily simpatico cartooning sensibilities…

In Tom’s half of the issue, Dadman & Sonny confront an unexpected visitor, while the alien FooF reveals his secret origin in my story, which incorporates a tactile structure that can only be appreciated in its physical form!

I was thrilled that Tom and I were able to finish this issue in so much less time than it took to finish #2, and that’s even with drawing two covers for it! While I’m not a big fan of variant covers, Tom’s cover gag was such a winner (and of the moment, too!) that it’d be foolish to not use it. My gag was … well, kinda what I used on the first issue, but that’s what happens when there’s a years-long gap between issues #1 & #3, I guess…

Double Dip #3 is a 16-page black & white digest w/ full-color cover; ask for it at your comic shop of choice, or get a copy by mail via my Square store for $3.00 postpaid in the US. You can also get a copy by becoming one of my Patreon patrons during the months of January/Feb 2021 at the Correspondent or Art Lover tier– plus, joining gives you immediate access to online bonus comics, including a full-color Human Spring adventure!

[January 2023 UPDATE: I’ve closed my Patreon page.]

Thanks for the reprints, Patreon patrons!

When I had my work accepted into Memphis’ Monster Market (“a freaky pop-up shop for weirdos like you”), I knew it would require new printings of the Halloween comics I was running low on. Not only would it be an opportunity for me to include my current contact info in them, but it would also let me produce them with digitally colored covers (instead of hand stenciling each copy, which can get a bit tedious when I’ve got to spread out a full run to dry). Rather than going full color with their covers, I kept the new color files in the spirit of the original two-color issues, and I’m pleased with the results!

In addition to the Halloween issues, I was able to restock three other comics (including my very first comic, from 1982!) that I had sold out of, thanks to my Patreon patrons . It enabled me to more easily handle the reprints in my printing budget, and at a price that will help make my Monster Market stint more successful!

These are all 16-page black & white digests (w/ color covers in the case of the Watusi issues), and are available from me by mail for $3.00 each ($2.00 for The Guy With a Hammer! #1) postpaid in the US. You could also get copies by becoming one of my Patreon patrons during September or October of 2019 at the Correspondent or Art Lover level & I’ll send the set your way. If you prefer, I could even spread the love & send your copies as gifts to your friends; just let me know their name & address. (Plus, joining gives you immediate access to other online bonus comics, including a full-color Human Spring adventure!)

As always, thanks for reading!

[January 2023 UPDATE: I’ve closed my Patreon page.]

Hot off the press: Double Dip #2!

Double Dip is the book that Tom Cherry and I publish together at an “occasional” (to be charitable) rate, and I’m thrilled to announce that the new issue is finally complete & ready for your hot little hands! Even though getting our schedules in sync for these comics can feel like aligning the sun and moon for an eclipse, it’s been great to team up again with Tom to bring you what is now my new favorite issue!

Of course, a lot of its charm is due to Tom’s 7-page “Little Arlo” gem. I won’t spoil it by saying anything more about it, other than to say it brought me great happiness from beginning to end when I read it!

My 6-page story this issue features Watusi & friends, picking up from the end of last issue wherein they met a dog from outer space that could turn into any breed of dog. And, as it turned out, a monkey! Apparently I didn’t learn my lesson from last time, though, as this story ends on yet another cliffhanger. Fortunately, as Tom said, this means that there’s a Double Dip #3 coming in the future. The near future, I hope. Or at least not another (yikes!) eight-year gap…

As I said above, I am really happy with how this one turned out! Double Dip #2 is a 16-page black & white digest w/ full-color covers; ask for it at your comic shop of choice, contact Tom or me to get your hands on your own copy, or get a copy by mail via my Square store for $3.00 postpaid in the US … or become one of my Patreon patrons during the month of August 2019 at the Correspondent or Art Lover level & I’ll mail you a copy! (Plus, joining gives you immediate access to other online bonus comics, including a full-color Human Spring adventure!)

I hope you’re as thrilled to read these new stories as we are to present them to you!

[January 2023 UPDATE: I’ve closed my Patreon page.]

Hot off the press for Free Comic Book Day 2019: Watusi #39!

It’s been a number of years since I last made a new comic for Free Comic Book Day, the annual day when participating comic book shops across North America give away comic books absolutely FREE to anyone who visits their stores. This year, I’m happy to say, changes that!

Watusi #39 is a special webcomic primer issue; after ten years and a dozen different storylines, a lot of content has accumulated on www.watusithetalkingdog.com, home of my talking dog’s weekly online adventure strip. I figured providing a little guide to all that content would be helpful to acclimate new readers (as well as being a good refresher for long-time readers who only visit the strip from time to time (versus living in it like I do!)) … and this project is what FCBD is all about– sharing good comics with new readers! It’s a 16-page black & white digest w/full-color wraparound cover.

I’ll be distributing copies at Memphis’ own 901 Comics (2162 Young Ave, Memphis, TN 38104) on Saturday, May 4th, FCBD! Can’t make it there? Then it’s still your lucky weekend, because on May 4-5, 2019 you can score a FREE .pdf version of this issue from my online store!

[May 2022 UPDATE: even though FCBD is over, the .pdf version of this issue is still available from my Gumroad store for $2.00; the print edition is available from my Square store (or old school mail order; direct order info on my Contact page) for just $3.00 postpaid in the US.]

Any day is a great day to read comics, but Free Comic Book Day is an especially good one; thanks for making my site one of your stops!

Designing a cover

I’ve been busy finishing up my latest print projects (a new Watusi issue that will serve as a primer to the webcomic, and the self-contained print edition of Sultana), both of which happened to have a pair of crowd-filled scenes for their covers. That’s not really my strong suit (or maybe I just don’t have the patience it requires), but I was happy with how they turned out. Especially the Watusi cover which, I realized as I was cleaning up from these projects, still had all of its steps of production documented in some way. So I’ll share them with you in case you want to see some of my working process…

First, I draw up an initial idea in my sketchbook, fairly small. I did try a couple of different variations for this one (which I don’t always do), but landed on the idea of characters gathered in a library:

I worked that up to actual size with a more detailed drawing. To this, I added clippings from past strips & a logo so that I could share it with local cartoonists for feedback (on the whole issue, not just this cover):

I developed that drawing into more detailed pencil art. I wanted to give Emmett Elder something different to do and have Watusi leap more actively from the screen…

I then inked the artwork with my trusty fountain pen. This image is of the raw inks that I scanned in, which shows some rough areas & notes for myself …

… that I clean up in production to get this final line art:

I color that using PhotoShop, which took me a lot longer than I thought it should, partly because I had a hard time coming up with the right background color scheme. The Sultana cover went quicker, so maybe I learned a trick or two from this one! I added the logo (in this case for the Free Comic Book Day variant cover), and it’s ready to send off to the printer! 

Keep an eye out for this issue when it’s released in early May!

[January 2023 UPDATE: this post originally appeared on my now-closed Patreon page.]

I have a question for you…

… if you already read my Watusi the Talking Dog comic online– or maybe especially if you DON’T– what kind of information did/would you like to know before you dive/d into a new body of work? After nearly 10 years and more than that many different storylines, I feel the need to provide an easy introduction for new readers … so I’m assembling a webcomic primer issue of Watusi to serve that function. While I try to make work that is accessible to new readers, I’m often too involved in the process to see things from the reader’s POV. I would love to quench your thirst for understanding (& give you a better reading experience)!

Chime in below & feel free to share …

Hot off the press: Watusi #38!

For the first time in a long, long time I’m happy to announce the release of a new Watusi digest comic! I’ve long been fascinated by the Chinese Zodiac (more so than the Greek one), and this 38th digest issue is my long-overdue “Year of the Dog” issue. It features collaborative comic contributions from Tom Cherry, Rusty Mathis, Mark Morehouse, Keith O’Brien, Kemmer, & Joel Pfannenstiel, plus a 4-page story from Bob Corby’s Oh Comics! #22 (2014), a color centerspread, and my first wraparound cover in 25 years … tho if my plans for 2019 work out, it won’t be my last!

While it may have taken me longer to complete this “Year of the Dog” issue than I’d hoped … at least I got it done faster than my unsuccessful attempt at one in 2006! I’m glad it didn’t take me another 12 years to get it into reader hands!

Watusi #38 is a16-page black & white digest w/full-color wraparound cover; you can order it directly from me, postpaid in the US for $3.00.

I hope you’ll order a copy and give it a read!

[Feb 2020 UPDATE: You can now order a copy of Watusi #38 from my new Square store!]

Hot off the press: Watusi and the Emerald Serpent!

Well, maybe more “warm out of the oven,” since I’ve taken this collection to my last two events (with two more on the horizon: the Memphis Comic Expo, Oct. 22-23 and Wichita’s Air Capital Comiccon, Nov. 12-13) . But with the print copies now in hand, and my shipping costs figured out, I’m happy to share these comics with those of you who aren’t able to catch me at one of my appearances!

Watusi and the Emerald Serpent is the story of an ordinary talking dog thrown out of his comfort zone into a crime-ridden island paradise! Watusi finds himself pitted against an outlaw gang and its lunatic leader in his most epic adventure yet! Inspired by the Kenneth Robeson Doc Savage novels and Floyd Gottfredson’s “Mickey Mouse” strips, this story may be my favorite project so far. Certainly my favorite Watusi story.

As I wrote a couple of months ago, I’ve been working on a print edition of this story, and I’m very pleased with how it turned out. This print edition has been edited and expanded from the story as it was first published online (46 of its 84 pages have new &/or updated content), and I think the changes help the story flow much better. And look better, too! In addition to interior art improvements, I’m also really happy with the full-color covers– I think it’s my best color work to date– and the full-color guest art from JB Winter, Billy McKay, Mike Sullivan, and Tom Cherry really rounds out the package in a classy way. As you can tell, I’m trying hard not to overdo the hyperbole, but I’m really proud of these comics, and hope everyone who reads these issues enjoys them as much as I did making them!

You can order all seven 16-page issues (b&w interiors with full-color covers) as a set from my Square store & have them delivered right to your mailbox!