Concrete Desert Comics

Tilling the Soil

Justin — Sun, 23 May 2010 19:34:05 +0000

So we’re experimenting with different backgrounds. The one we have up at the moment is my personal favorite thus far, but even still, it’s just a rough of what the final version will be. When we get closer to the launch date, we’ll likely revisit the subject and put up the refined piece. In the meantime, we’ll be working on a lot of little tweaks to the system and get our title card prepped up. And of course, if you or anyone you know might be interested in submitting either comic or text pieces, feel free to contact us via the comment boxes for now… Which reminds me, I should set up a contact page…

Plucked

Justin — Sun, 16 May 2010 02:11:44 +0000

Okay, so with the test over, we’ve pulled the first page of Super, so that it doesn’t sit there at the top of the page for the next several months while we build up to our official launch date. I may put a placeholder image there in its stead, but we’ll see what comes down the pike.

Buds

Justin — Sat, 15 May 2010 01:20:58 +0000

So we thought it’d be a good idea to post a couple of previews on here since there have been an inordinate amount of visitors for a site that is barely up (and not even in an official capacity, at that) and hasn’t been promoting itself at all. So first off, let us present you with the title from the first short story by Gilbert Cuevas:

And we’ll give you just a taste with a few panels from the first two pages. First, our protagonist:

Then his lovely but worried wife:

and finally, the other woman in his life, a floating blue entity that’s shaped like a fertility goddess:

Next up, we have a few character sketches from Gramm Matthew for a currently unnamed H.P. Lovecraft inspired piece written by fellow contributor Matthew Webb:

Pretty sweet stuff, if I do say so myself. That’s about it it for the moment, but next week will see some sketches from the first Justin Newberry piece (that’s me) and maybe some stuff from a few of our other contributors. Later!

Growing…

Justin — Thu, 13 May 2010 21:47:50 +0000

Hey! Yahoo updated our PHP in record time (this is why they always get our business), and we can now upload pages! As a quick test, I ran the first page from Aberrant Press’ original graphic novel Super. We’ll be spending the bulk of our time now working on the actual look of the website, because it’s a little bare bones, as you may have noticed. In the meantime, we’ll also be posting profiles of our creators so that you can get to know us a bit better. Included with the profiles will be preview panels from upcoming work.

Bug Spray

Justin — Thu, 13 May 2010 01:42:19 +0000

Looks like our host doesn’t naturally support PHP 5, which means that this page isn’t fully functional yet. Having an older version of PHP creates a bug in the software that keeps us from loading the comic pages independent of the actual blog posts. So for the time being, all images will be posted in the text section. On the plus side, the host said they would upgrade us to PHP 5. In a few days, we should be all clear. Until then, we’re stuck with the bug.

Seed

Justin — Mon, 10 May 2010 09:01:52 +0000

Today, the site basically goes live. We don’t have any content to post as of yet (well, we do, but first things first, y’dig?), nor do we even have the look of the site finalized, but it’ll be out there in the universe in case anyone wants to watch this thing as it grows. The plan at the moment consists of us working out the visual presentation of this place while looking for a few more contributors to add the current stable of talented Vegas artists we’ll be showcasing here to start. After that, we’d like to launch sometime around August or September, putting up new work every few days depending on schedules, with a print version coming out once every month or two. Currently working on contributions are the following:

Justin Newberry:

Writer/artist of various upcoming short stories and maybe even a continuing story if time permits. Owner of Aberrant Press. Recent work includes the almost finished graphic novel Super for Aberrant Press, pencils and lettering on Greg Boucher’s continuing online superhero epic True North and assistant color work for The Luckiest Boy from IDW.

Gilbert Cuevas:

Writer/artist who’ll be working mainly on short stories while he continues editing his current film, Tales from the Android’s Dungeon. Past work includes penciling Super for Aberrant Press, creating both the comic and film Desert Rose for the same and working on various independent films including his own.

Gramm Matthew, Esquire:

Writer/Artist whose main focus for the time being will be working on shorts and an adaptation of works by HP Lovecraft with fellow writer Matthew Webb. He is the creator of the book Disposable Graffiti for Aberrant Press along with the band The Brier Patch Boys, an eclectic mash-up of electronic mixes, punk compositions and banjos.

Joseph Bergin III:

Writer/Artist who will be working on a number of short pieces while spending a year abroad working in Japan. Recently, he has contributed a wide array of work to publishers such as IDW (The Luckiest Boy and Hyperactive before that), Ape Entertainment (Attack of the Monstrology) and The Las Vegas Weekly.

Brandon Lin:

Brandon is currently a student at the Art Institute in Las Vegas working on his degree in video game design. He will be contributing short stories and a possible series to the anthology.

Jared Africa:

Just released from service to the United States Navy, Jared is attending college and will be doing pieces as his schedule allows.

Matthew Webb:

Writer who will be working with the aforementioned Gramm Matthew on a Lovecraft adaptation.

We’ll be adding more (hopefully doubling our current roster) local talent over the next couple months before we put up our first salvo of material. Feel free to join us in the meantime though, as we refine what this thing is gonna look like and let us know if you or someone you know might be interested in submitting some work!