post from da phone . . .

'Nother test from the phone . . . Me and our bestest pup Max . . . My inspiration for a side project. ;) sorry such a dark pic.

Test post from my phone . . . Sunset the other night . . .

Free Comic Book Day 2009

hey everyone!

it's Free Comic Book Day this Saturday May 2!

if you are in Southern California , please visit Collector's Paradise at www.comicsandcards.net



i'm honored to be signing there with a bunch of great people.
it should be a lot of fun!
there will also be a bunch of items up for auction that will go to the benefit the Hero Initiative, so check them out on EBAY.
hope to see you there!
:)
all the best,
m . . .

_________________

What is Free Comic Book Day?

Free Comic Book Day is a single day - the first Saturday in May - when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely FREE* to anyone who comes into their stores. *Check with your local shop for their participation and rules.

My Lunchbags Art Blog

okay, i started the Lunchbags Blog a year or so ago. but, then life took over and it just sat there.
well, i just started putting up the art... finally.
wahoooooo!
for those friends that have known about it for a while, you can stop bugging me about sharing them and also about a book. ;)
i'm starting to put it together as a full book finally. and for those that i haven't shared this with, here's the description from the Lunchbags blog . . .



What are LUNCHBAGS?
Yes, you can remember them from school. But what other goodness do they bring?
:)

Wellllllll . . . over the last 4 years or so, with no other purpose in mind than to bring a smile to my kids each day, I started something fun.
My wife was a librarian/teacher's aide at their school . . . soooooo, trying to be helpful every morning, I’d get up and make breakfast and pack lunches and snacks for all of them to help get ’em all outta the house and to school on time.

Sure, i can help get other people to be on time, but myself?
Hah!
Never.

Anyway, i started to draw a little something every morning on my son and daughter’s bags. It was never anything specific. Just whatever sprang into my head the last five or ten minutes before they left. I hoped it would be something to brighten their mealtime a little. Well, after a while, they were telling me that the other kids in their classes kept looking forward to what would be on their bags. Even the teachers were looking forward to them.
Nothing like a little pressure, huh?
;)
Heck, soon friends would sleep over sometimes on school nights, and they’d request a “lunchbag drawering.” And every so often, i’d even sneak a monster or something silly on my wife’s bag to share in the teacher’s lounge.
Well, all this got us thinkin’. We figured, why not share these silly sketches with everyone else. So i started to take photographs of them. At the beginning of the day, and sometimes if they thought about bringing 'em home, even at the end of the day all crinkled and smooshed. And, here we are almost 3 grades later and i’m still scribblin’ on their bags.

Now other fun stuff is going on with our favorite lil' bags. Sooon a wonderful new book collecting them all will be on it's way, and also we have been invited to a couple art galleries to have a showing of the Lunchbags framed in beautiful box frames.
Crazy, huh?

In the meantime, here’s hoping that you enjoy my Lunchbag scribbles as much as I have enjoyed creating them.
It’s a very special thing to be able to do something fun for and with your kids, for no other reason than to encourage and uplift them.

take care and all the best,
mike . . . :)

Just testing my posting from my phone. Wahooo...it works! :}

where the silverstein begins

a very cool book.
very inspiring and very fun to read about a definite favorite of mine.
mr. shel silverstein. ("where the sidewalk ends", "giving tree", "falling up")
go check this out when you can and go have fun being creative.
:)

all the best,
m . . .

Crazy busy!

hey everyone,

sorry it's been forever since an update. i'm still living off the Steelers Superbowl win...

;)

anyway, very busy these days. plenty o' work... 'cause for the last 4 months or so, i've been working away full time at Disney all day and then at night til about 2-3 in the morning on Shazam. and i'm trying to finish a separate side personal project of another book...

but ALSO lotsa kid stuff.

my daughter is playing club soccer and that is kicking into full gear with tournaments and such.

she truly loves the game and she is so much fun to watch play.

and, i just got back from a trip to Washington DC with my son and his 8th grade class.

it was a "history class" trip starting in Virginia and ending in NYC.

an awesome trip to remember.

one of the highlights was seeing Arlington National Cemetary and the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

simply amazing.

of course, now it's back to work.

and the time snuck up on me and i meant to remind you all to not to forget to look for Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam #4 on APRIL 1st!

there are some sneek peeks over on the Magic of Shazam site.

enjoy!

well, enough babbling.

take care all of you and all the best in everything,

mike . . .

Whatta Game! :)

wow!
6!!!
'nuff said.
;)

STEELERS!

just a simple little shout o' WAHOOOOOOOOOO for the black and gold!

some of you may or may not know that i've been a diehard Steelers fan since i was a little kid.

surrrrre i'm a california boy, but i've always loved the Pittsburgh Steelers.

well, they fought a tough game yesterday against their HUGE rivals the baltimore ravens, and they were able to triumph and earn a trip to the upcoming Superbowl XLIII !! wow what a great game it was! so exciting!

wahoooooooooo!

:)

anyway, the ironic thing is that this weekend i will be going to Arizona as a guest of the Phoenix Comiccon and the Arizona Cardinals are going to the superbowl too, to play the Steelers. congrats to the Cardinals by the way. so i may not wear too much steelers stuff, but i'll certainly be proud 'o my team.

sooooooooooo looking forward to the Superbowl!

:)

take care and all the best,

mike . . .

Merry Christmas !

hey everyone,

i hope you all have a great Christmas and merry New Year!
:)
and, if you get a chance in the midst of your last minute shopping(i know i will be doing that) to visit your local comic store on Christmas Eve(since Wednesday is new comic day still ;) ) then don't forget to check out the latest issue of Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!
i hope you dig it.

and i also hope you had a goood '08 and find yourself heading to an absolutely amaaaazzzzzing '09!

take care and all the best,
mike . . .

Some fun Sketch cards

hey everyone,

so waaaay earlier this year i did some of the Marvel Masterpiece Sketch Cards. it was really fun to draw characters that i've never drawn before. anyway, i guess they are out now, so here are some of the images so you know what your looooooking for.
i really hope you like 'em.
and lemme know if you find any.
:)
enjoy!
take care and all the best,
mike . . .

My friend Jason does coool books . . .

hey everyone,

i just wanted to encourage you all to go visit my friend Jason Lethcoe's new website.
Jason and i have been friends since high school. we've worked with each other at Disney and other studios. we live only about 2 blocks from each other with our families growing up together. aaaaaand we even share an office together. (gosh, it all sounds so "Frank and Ollie-ish", when i describe it. ahahahahaha) ;)
so, i guess essentially i'd say he's a pretty good friend. :)
well, he has been a director and storyboard artist and writer for many years in animation, AND recently he's been writing children's novel series' for Random House Books and Penguin Books. . . .Zoom's Academy, Benjamin Piff, The Mysterious Mr. Spines , just to name few. . .
sooooo, please take the time to go visit his fun lil' new website.
his books are totally all ages and so much great fun. check them out at Amazon or Barnes & Noble or your local book shop.
here's his site . . .www.jasonlethcoe.com

enjoy and send him a hello when you get the chance.

take care and all the best,
m . . .

Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam #1

hey everyone,

SHAZAM!
:)
well the fun day is here.
Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam #1 is finally in stores.
whew! i'm so glad to share this new book series with everyone.
DC Comics has been awesome and i'm having the time of my life working on this project.
please go check it out at your local comic shop, and i really hope you all enjoy it.
:)
and if you want any more info on it please visit all the fun Captain Marvel goodness at my official Shazam Blog.

take care and all the very best,
mike . . .

My Gym Partner is a Monkey

well everyone,

as i'm looking at all the stuff i've been working on, i realized i never put up any of the crazy stuff from Cartoon Network when i worked on Gym Partner. so here are some images from the show. some designs are from the ROBO-3000 episode where all the characters became robots and the other is for the SPIFFANO episode where they spoofed the Sapranos.

aaaaaaaaaaaand, please keep your fingers and toes crossssssed because for some crazy reason they've submitted my work for Emmy consideration for the show.
:)
maaaaaaaaybe i'll have good news next month when they announce the nominees.
maybe.
anyway, hope you all like. it was a very fun show to work on.
:)

all the best,
mike . . .

Fun Kid Stuff

hey everyone,
hope you are allll doing well and getting ready for a fun summer.
we've had a whirlwind of a year at the ol' kunkel homestead. it'll be nice to settle down and try and relax a little bit.
in fact, are some of the things that kept me busy here and there for my kiddos. from school to church to sports, they were images for all sorts o' different activities that they were part of.

anyway, hope you like. don't forget to spend extra time this summer relaxing and enjoying good company.
:)
all the best,
mike . . .

Wizard World LA recap

hey everyone,

well, it was a great weekend. lotsa fun and a lot of great people came by.
thank you to all of you.


i went to the kids area once a day and did sketches for the kids that were at the con and hopefully helped them have an even more good time at the show.
me and my kiddos, my wife and my brother in law all had fun at the booth/table. there was a lot of excitement for my upcoming Captain Marvel series, so it was fun to share some new images with everyone and talk about it with the fans. everyone was super anxious and supportive of it.
thank you all so much! :)
my son got to have fun in the Guitar Hero competition, my daughter did drawings and helped protect the giant Herobear Plush so no one would sneak off with it. ;) we had a number of people wanting our mascot, but he is the guardian of my kiddos so i can't let this particular one go. maybe we'll make some official ones someday. :) all in all, it was a fun time . . .




there was also of course a bunch of amazingly talented artists and writers all around. i'm always in awe of the people around at conventions . . . .some friends and some that i got to meet finally. . . Darwyn Cooke, Dave Bullock, Daniel Bradford, Tim Bradstreet, Cheeks!, Danny Miki, Michael Golden, Jimmy Palmiotti, J. Scott Campell, Jeph Loeb, and plenty more.

i got to know Michael Golden at the Arizona Convention and he's been a great guy, really supporting and enjoying Herobear. i'm tremendously honored that he enjoys it. . .

Danny Miki was there too. he got to enjoy peeking at the Captain Marvel Transpositioning Decodifier . . .

also, friends from DC were there . . . Dan Didio and Bob Wayne( on the ends) and also, the amazingly talented Darwyn Cooke(yellow hat) . . .
finally, what would a convention be without Peter Parker and his girls. this group was walking around the convention saying hi to everyone. i thought it was a brilliant "group" costume. Peter and all his loves . . . aunt may, mary jane, betty brant, black cat, and gwen stacy. turns out they allllll love Herobear. who knew? ;)
anyway. . . all this babbling to say that i had a lot of fun this weekend and i wanted to say thank you to all the fans and new fans that came by. thanks so much!
some fans were wondering if we sell the Herobear and Sokmunster stuff online and i said, "Oh yess! i'll even autograph it for ya. " :)
so if you are looking for anything, please visit the Astonish Store for our books and stuff.
:)

all the best,
mike . . .
p.s. alsoooooooooooodon't forget to check out the Decoder give away from this convention that i'll be posting on the Shazam blog. also some other updates on things and lotsa goodness. :)

Wizard World LA 2008

hey everyone,

just wanted to let you know that i'll be at Wizard World LA this weekend!
hope to see you there. i'll be in artist alley, so here's my table/booth info . . .

ARTIST ALLEY: Mike Kunkel #2590

it should be a lot of fun!
we'll have lotsa Herobear and Sokmunster stuff. you can see the upcoming Lunchbags stuff. and alsooooooo, #3 of the Captain Marvel Decoders will be there and will be presented to a verrrrrry lucky fan.
:)
so please stop by!

take care and all the best,
mike . . .

Land of Sokmunster Magazine AD

hey all,
well, we were treated to a very nice surprise lately.
there is a magazine called COOKIE. it is a very fun family magazine with cool stuff for kids and parents. wellllllllll, they had an ad/article in the latest issue about kids clothes and stuff and in one of the full page pictures, they showed a couple kids in a library . . . and lo, and behold what are they reading???!
que dramatic music here . . . ;) they are reading The Land of Sokmunster.
we were blown away by this awesome surprise and have had a number of people seeing it and it has been really tremendous. we're very thankful for cool press!

more Sokmunster news coming soon. some of it coming from France . . . ;)

take care and all the best,
m . . .

Something . . . new and fun.

LUNCHBAGS
enjoy.
:)
all the best,
mike . . .

Phoenix Comic Con wrap-up. . .

well, i just wanted to say thank you to all the great fans that came by in Phoenix. it was an awesome Convention. so many great artists and creators there. my son and i drove out and had a great boy's weekend. it was the best time. we even got to meet Wil Wheaton, star of one of mine and my son's most favorite movies of all time "Stand by Me." Alec was blown away to meet Wil all grown up, because he's only known him from the movie. Wil was generous with his time and extremely nice. Stand by Me is also a huge inspiration for the way i tell stories about childhood and friendships and especially the tone of Herobear, so it was a
tremendous honor to share Herobear with Wil and get a chance to talk a little bit.




we also got to meet a lot of great fans of our Astonish books(Herobear and Sokmunster) and the upcoming Captain Marvel book. one fan at one of the booths nearby fell in love with Sokmunster and carried him around, and another fan showed off some amazing tatoos of Herobear. i was extremely honored by this.





one of the other fun highlights was getting to sit in the "Bandit." the replica car from Smokey and the Bandit fame. i love those movies. so silly and fun.




so, now coming up is the Atlanta Comic Expo and then it looks like Wizard World L.A. i can't wait to see more fans and talk and visit more. alsoooooo, if you haven't seen the fun goodness that was given away at Phoenix, please visit the Shazam Blog :)


all the best,
m . . . :)

Happy New Year 2008! :)

hey everyone,

i know it's been forever since i've posted.
i'm sooooooooooo sorry.

i've been so swamped lately.
from working full-time doing storyboards and design for Disney and Henson to developing 4 of my own projects at Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Sony, and Discovery to my working on my dream project Captain Marvel for DC Comics and then throw in family and a couple Holidays and ...WHEW! things have been a little crazy. :)

but it is now a new year and time to look at what is planned . . .

first up, I'm getting ready to leave Disney this month so that i can focus on some of the other projects. not that i'm not enjoying Disney, i just need to work on my own projects and i definitely want to spend a heck of lot moooooooore time in 2008 drawing and writing about lightning bolts.
;)
next, i'm planning my Convention schedule. the first two Conventions i'll be attending will be the PHOENIX COMIC CON(January 26-27, 2008) and also the ATLANTA COMIC EXPO (February 8-10, 2008)


that's it for now...more news to come soon.

hope you allll had a great Christmas and Happy New Year!
all the best,
m . . . :)

The Artist Within

hey all,

i wanted to pass along something cool to you to check out ...i recently had the privilege to meet the author/photographer for an absolutely awesome brand new book coming out from Dark Horse.
it is entitled "The Artist Within"
it is such a great book that profiles so many legendary cartoonists and comic book artists. wonderful pictures and small bios of people such as Sergio Aragones, Jack Kirby, Al Hershfeild, Big Daddy Roth, Mort Drucker, Jack Davis, ... it is very inspiring and cool to see them all in there "studios." and actually it's helped me explain to my kids who some of the famous cartoonists are that i sometimes babble on about. ;)
anyway,if you get the chance, go and peruse it and you may find something for an early Christmas gift.
:)

all the best,
mike . . .

Newsarama Shazam Interview

hey all,

well i'm finally able to show some more of the artwork for Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam.
wahoooooooooooooo!
:)
i was very honored to do a NEWSARAMA interview.
please check it out and ALSO, don't forget to visit the new MAGIC OF SHAZAM BLOG for other updates and behind the scenes fun stuff.
:)
take care and all the best,
m . . .

blog for the big red cheese

hey all,
i just wanted to first thank you for checkin' back here and enjoying the stuff that gets posted to this lil' blog.
i've gotten such a great response to the Shazam announcement. thank you all for being excited about it. it's gonna be fun!
:)
and second, i wanted to let you know that we now have a fun new Shazam Blog for the new DC book . . . Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam.
here's the actual link written out. . .
wwww.kunkelshazam.blogspot.com

along with having news and announcements and regular things like that . . . i'll try to sneak extra sketches, scribbles and behind the scenes stuff for the book toooo.
:)
anyway, thanks again for visiting.

enjoy and all the best,
m . . .

Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!

well gang, it's official.
:)
they announced my book DC this weekend at Chicago con.
wahooooo! i'm having sucha great time here and am so grateful to meet so many awesome people that are excited about the new Captain Marvel series... Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! :) :) :)
i can't wait to share more. i'm hoping that you all like the new fun all ages take on it. finalllllly i can share what all the "slivers" were, so here ya go . . .

:)
i hope you all like and enjoy the new series.
everyone has been very encouraging and i can't thank DC enough. they are excited to establish a very strong All Ages line. not just for kids but for the kids at heart toooo. :)
more to come soon.
take care and all the very best,
mike . . .

Wizard World Chicago 2007

wellllllllllllllll,

i'm heading off to Chicago Con this weekend.
wahooo!
it's my first time to this convention, heck, it's my first EVER to the windy city.
i'm anxious to check it all out!
i figure Saturday is always the busy day so i look forward to exploring the con and maybe even a panel or two.
in fact, i thiiiiiiink i might check out the DC Universe Panel on Saturday from 11:00 -12:00pm. i hear it might be a good one. so if anyone else is there, that might be a great panel to visit.
;)
seeing as i haven't been to a con officially at a booth for nearly 3 years, i thought it would be great to get a chance to sign and visit. well, a friend has generously been able to work out a little bit of time for me at a table on Saturday. soooooooo if you get the chance to visit(after the DC panel) ;) ;) ;), please come by and visit and say hello between 2pm and 4pm on this coming Saturday, in Artists Alley table 4010.
i'll have some Herobear TPB's, some stuffed Herobears, some original artwork, and other fun stuff. :)

okay, enough o' my babbbling. i'll give ya the whole scoop of my adventure to the windy city when i get back.
who knows, maybe even an update while i'm there. i'll try for Saturday/Sunday.
all the best,
m . . . :)

Back from Con

well, the family and i had a chance to sneak down to San Diego Comic Con last week and visit with some friends and have an important meeting or two.
very cool.
i have to admit though, i very much miss having a booth and getting to visit more with fans and friends. i can honestly do without all the hollywood hoopla, i just enjoy a con with fans and readers and other creators, and the excitment that all the books bring.
now, the con is usually a big blur to me, so please forgive me if i can't remember everyone, but there were a number of new and old friends/creators that i was especially thankful to run into and visit and meet and on occasion hang with in person at the con . . . art baltazar, bobby chiu, david colman, stephen silver, courtney huddleston, scott zirkel, scott sava, mike bullock, kevin grevioux, pascal campion, donnachada daly, christian slade, chris sanders, tony bancroft, jann jones, dan didio, jeph loeb, terry moore, tom beland, charles vess, and many more my brain has forgotten but that i am blessed and thankful to know.
it was fun and wonderful to see you all. :)
now back to work and seeing what the future holds.
hey, i had someone ask me about those darn "slivers" that snuck onto my blog there for a while.
was i gonna find anymore?
was i gonna explain 'em?
whoa, whoa, slow down, i said . . . then i quickly had to use the jedi mind trick and change the subject to something else of course...anyone ever been to Chicago Con? i hear goood things about it and i'm curious to see what it's about.
maybe this is a good year to learn more.
maaaybe.

how's that for random?
:)
well that's it for now.
more random thoughts and fun scribbles to be posted soon.
:)
all the best,
mike . . .

My Gym Partner is a Monkey Comic cover

hey everyone,

well, to take a break from the sliver fun, i thought i'd put up a little bit o' extra work i did last week.
some of you may or may not know that i've been working as a character designer at cartoon network for the last 3 and 1/2 years. i was on Juniper Lee for most of it, and the last year or so i've been on My Gym Partner is a Monkey.
this is such a great, fun show!
i love it for all its wackiness and silly humor! it gives such a great opportunity to draw a lot of crazy designs and special poses.
anyway, i recently was asked to do the cover for the debut issue of Gym Partner in the Cartoon Network Comics from DC. just something fun on the side. i'm not gonna be able to do the inside story as i've got some prior committments that are gonna consume for a bit, but i really wanted to help out by doing the cover.
so here's the cover image. sooon i'll post some of the ruff pencil designs and poses from the show too.
enjoy and all the best!
m . . .

more SHHHHH!

well, after rich johnston's comments on Comic Book Resources, i don't know whyyyyyyy, but i couldn't help but send out a few more slivers o' fun. . . it just seemed like the right thing to do.
:)
you know, its amazing how connected to the world of rumours and secrets he might realllllly be. . . . . ;)


not that i'm admitting anything that is.
;)

enjoy and all the best,
mike . . .

p.s. funny thing . . . someone explained to me the other day that "NDA" means . . .

N o
D irect
A nnouncements
;)

Glorious TechnoKunkel

hmmmmmmmmmm . . .
someone tipped me off about an interrrrrresting comment on Comic Book Resources...
according to Lying in Gutters there's a new SHAZAM! series written and drawn by ... me. . .
:)

" IN GLORIOUS TECHNOKUNKEL

Mike Kunkel is writing and drawing a new ongoing Shazam! series. Check his blog to see some of his teases and a wee mention on Jeff Smith's board, too. "

"teases" on my blog, huh? hmmmm. why, i have no idea what they're talking about.
;)
now, iiiiiifffffffff i was blessed with this opportunity, then i'd be almost giddy about it and Heaven knows i'd realllly love for it to be in TechnoKunkel...so iiiiiifffff this is perhaps, possibly, maybe, could be, per chance true, then i'd do everything i could to indeed make it be gloriously technokunkely fun for all ages.

if that is.

;)

all the best,
m . . .

Ultimate Spiderman Cover on EBAY! :)

hey everyone,

Remember a few month's ago the Spidey Cover? Rememmmmmmmmber... well, for issue #100 of Ultimate Spiderman, Marvel and the Hero Initiative, asked 100 artists to do one of a kind covers for the book as a fundraiser for the Hero Initiative Charity.
so, now the last batch of the covers are being offered on EBAY for charity auction.

here's the link to ALL the remaining covers including MY spidey scribble :). . .
Hero Initiative EBAY Auctions
If you get the chance to check out 'em out please visit with some spare couch change and find a favorite one to support and help very, very good cause.
:)
take care and all the best,
m . . .

Uncle Kunkel

welllllllll, i figured i'd take a little break from all the "sliver fun" and show you some other fun stuff. . .

this picture is actually what all the slivers fit into.






;)just kidddddddding!


actually, my lil' sis is gonna have a baby this year, so it would appear that i will now be officially "Uncle Kunkel."
;)
i helped out recently to do their Baby Shower invite, and since she and my brother-in-law live in Hawaii, i created some Aloha fun.
enjoy!
:)

all the best,
m . . .
p.s. more slivers may still find their way to the ol' blog world of Astonish. ;)

Shhhhhh . . . some more ;)

wellll, i still can't say anything. sorrrrrrrrrrrrrry. though i CAN say how i'm sooooooo excited about this!
:)
:)
:)
but in the meantime . . . here's another sliver of fun.
:)
some of you have had some great guesses. i can't confirm anything, but i might deny some guesses.
it's not a new Herobear. . . yet. howeverrrrr, i am working on a brand new graphic novel now of Herobear and the Kid. so look for more of that coming in the near future.
it's not Spidey. nope, no webslingin' storytellin' from here yet. maybe someday the right situation will arise.
no, this is something else. something equally as cool and fun. same as spidey, it's something i've wanted to work on since i was a little kid.
anyway, that's all the babbling about it for now.
more again soon.

enjoy and all the best!
m . . .
:)

Shhhhh! again ;)

arrrrgh, i still can't yet tell ya what cool stuff is coming, but here're some more "slivers".
i know they're not much, so save your thunderous applause for the real reveal.
;)
there will be some goodness announced hopefully by Free Comic Book Day 2007.
:):):)

enjoy and thank you all for visiting this lil' blog o' stuff.
:)
take care and all the best,
mike . . .

Shhhhh!

hey gang,

sorry for the lack of new posts lately.
there's been a lightning storm of stuff to keep me busy, and things have had me super swamped. however, i'm hoping that verrrrrrrry soon i can announce something verrrrrrrry cool.
verry, verrrry coool and fun.
unfortunately, i can't say just yet. . . but, shhhhh, i can give you a couple "slivers" of a sneak peak . . .

sliver 1. . .

sliver 2. . .


hahaha . . . i know, i know . . . not much there. i'm sorry. but if you knew what to look for, there are clues in this blog post of what it might be . . .

i'll leave it up to you until i leave another sliver of info.

more soooon!
:)
all the best,
m . . .

EMPEROR in "King of the Beasts"

soooo . . . a long time ago. . . BEFORRRRRRE CGI penguins were popular . . . my friend scott sava and i sold a show called EMPEROR to Nickolodeon
and we went into development to do a little short cartoon for them as a test pilot. well, one thing led to another and we finished it about a year or so
ago. it test rather well, but they weren't too sure because looming on the horizon was Dreamworks and their sale to Viacom . . . which owns
Nickolodeon . . . which now has become the place for Dreamworks to develop tv series stuff . . . liiiiiiiike a penguin series based on the penguins in Madagascar.
arrrrrrgh.
anywaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, the rights have all reverted back to us(yea! :) ) and i'm trying to figure out what to do with it now. i'd like to re-imagine the characters into a 2-d world again and then take it into publishing and merchandise imagery of this little Napolionic emperor penguin trying to take over the world from his Zoo enclosure. he's greedy and power hungry and is only trying to remind everyone of who should be first in line . . . him.
;)
he's very much in the vein of daffy duck or plankton from spongebob and i love that, because it gives him a fault that can be used to make him vulnerable and thereby, likeable. he's not perfect and he reminds us of what happens when we get too full of ourselves.
of course, HE likes to remind everyone, including his little brother Ollie, and a crazy squirrel named Eugene, that he is an Emperor penguin for a reason . . . HE should be in charge, and his basic view on everything is very simple . . . . "How does it benefit me?"
;)
sooooo, now that we're looking for a direction and new home for Emperor, it seemed like a good idea to at least share it with everyone. here for your enjoyment is the humble lil' short that we did for them pretty much all by ourselves using each of our companies The Astonish Factory and Blue Dream Studios to produce a 6 minute mini-pilot . . .
Emperor is insulted that his own little brother would rather be a lion when he grows up . . . Emperor decides to explain that just because there aren't any emperor penguins in Africa, it is no excuse for the lions to be promoting themselves as "king of the beasts."
:)

i do hope you like it. it was a lot of work, but fun and also a very good learning experience. i guess we'll see what happens next with the little penguin
that would be emperor . . .
:)
enjoy!
m . . .

kids in the class #9,#10,#11 and #12

here's the last four . . . numbers 12, 11, 10 and nine
seems that this is taking a bit more o' my time.

so, luckily there're no more
kids in the class,
just one of their teacher,
to round out the mass.

enjoy!

:)
m . . .

kids in the class #7 and #8

here's number 7 and lil' number 8
today i gave two, so you wouldn't have to wait . . .

:)
m . . .

kids in the class #6

another of the pics is 'ol numba 6 . . .


:)
m . . .

kids in the class #5

and 5 is here, so give a cheer . . .

:)
enjoy!!
m . . .

kids in the class #4

well here it is 'ol #4,
stepping out onto the floor . . .

enjoy!
;)
m . . .

kids in the class #3

one more from me . . . #3.
:)
i can't stop rhyming! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh


;)
enjoy!
m . . .

kids in the class #2

#2 for all of you.
see, i can rhyme . . . :)

enjoy!
m . . .

kids in the class #1

hey everyone,

so at my kids' school, they are having a fund raiser that all the classes are participating in. each of the classes offers up something to be auctioned. soooooooooooooo, since i have so much free time . . . i agreed to illustrate a book with all the kids in my daughter's class all doing their favorite sport and with their favorite animal.
:)
only 'cuz i loves my lil' girl. :)
aaaaand my son too, but he had too many kids in his class so i said no way. heehee
;)
actually they're doing somethin' else, so i get to do this cool illustrated book.

i'm just about done and i decided that i'd share 'em with ya. over the next two weeks i'll post a new image every day so you can see them all done.
i'm really having fun with this and i hope you enjoy all the images.
all the best,
m . . .
here's kid number 1 . . .

Annie Awards part deux

well gang, it was a verrrry fun night last night at the Annie Awards . . .
:)
my wife and i got all dressed up and went to the awards show and saw a lot of friends that i haven't seen in a while. it really was a tremendous gathering of talented folks. and to top it off . . . I WON! wahoooooooo! how crazy is that?! i thank God for the blessing and opportunity. considering i didn't know about the online voting or how it all worked, i had said earlier that it's all in God's hands. i had no way of even voting for myself! ;) Thanks to everyone that voted! and congrats to all that were nominated and all the other winners. there are so many great artists i'm thankful to work with and be around in this industry.

the very cool part of the award too was that the presenters were Harland Williams and
Edie McClurg. Edie is in one of my ALL-TIME favorite movies . . ."Ferris Bueller." she played the secretary "Grace." and Harland Williams was a voice in a short that i did with my good friend Scott Sava at Nickolodeon. so it was very great to have them present my category and ultimately the award.
:)
anyway, it was a wonderful night. i'm very thankful and honored. the nominees i was with are all amazing artists and it was great to be included with them in this category.

a friend was very kind and sent this pic to me last night of me up on stage babbling in front of the audience . . . i actually have a very blurry memory of what happened and what i said, so it was nice to see that i wasn't passed out on the floor.
;)
take care and all the best,
mike . . .

The Annie Awards

well, i just wanted to ask for everyone to keep their fingers crossed this weekend. . .
:)
i've been very blessed and honored with being nominated for an Annie Award for Best Character Design on an Animated Television Series. the nomination is for Juniper Lee and i'm nominated with some really amazing other artists too. . .

Ben Balistreri – Danny Phantom “King Tuck” – Nickelodeon

Mike Kunkel -– The Life & Times of Juniper Lee “Party Monsters” – Cartoon Network Studios

Carlos Ramos – The X’s “Homebody” – Nickelodeon

Eric Robles – The X’s “You Only Sneeze Twice” – Nickelodeon

so the awards are on Sunday night. fancy-shmancy evening attire and all the hoopla. i'm excited to go and very excited for everyone that has been nominated for the evening. it's a great feeling to be included with so many talented people.
so much talent in this industry, its nice to be reminded of everyone that is out there that is working so hard to entertain the world with cartooooons. :)
thanks to all that voted and i'll let everyone know on monday how it went!
:)
also . . . here are a few samples from the episode that i was nominated for.
enjoy!
:)
p.s. and if you want to visit and learn more about the Annies, here's the link to the annie awards :
http://www.annieawards.com/

Spiderman Cover

hey all!

well, i got to achieve a very fun dream of mine. . . draw Spidey officially for Marvel!
:)

recently for Marvel and the Hero Initiative, a hundred artists were asked to do covers for issue #100 of Ultimate Spiderman as a fundraiser for the charity.

you can read more about it here . . . http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=9471

anyway, i was late as usual, but i finally finished mine and here it is. i love drawing Spidey. his shape and poses can be so fluid and full of animation. i did it all in pencil, since i stink at inking. :)
enjoy! i hope ya like it.

now i've just got to convince them to let me do a complete Spidey story . . .
;)


all the best,
m . . .

Another fun Juniper Lee comic story

well, i did some more Juniper Lee comics freelance.
here's the latest story . . . penciled by me and inked by the fabulous Millet Henson. :)
Juniper gets a cold and has to help her brother take down an odd old 50's sci-fi type monster.
i had some fun with this one.
:)

enjoy and all the best!
m . . .

Merry Christmas to All!

well, everyone, i hope you have a verrry Merrrry Christmas!

all the best,
m . . .
:)

my brain wandered off . . .

i realized i wrote that in the last post, and it struck me kinda funny. :)
so i had to scribble up some scenes of my brain wandering off and me and it hanging out together playing checkers and watching old movies late at night.
you could almost look at these with the theme song of "Me and My Shadow. "
:)

i wonder if anyone else has this happen to them.

of course, knowing my brain, these may not be the last of the images of it wandering off onto adventures.


anyway, enjoy!

all the best,
m . . .

posted post-its

found my brain wandering off in a meeting. . .
:)
enjoy!


m . . .

an odd dragon

something fun for a book i'm working on . . . :)
enjoy!
m . . .

Herobear . . . the French Edition

well, we're reallllllly excited that we've finished translating the 3rd volume of the first Herobear story into French. this is the last French volume of the first story arc. it's been so great.
now, the interesting and tricky thing of all this was that Volume 2 of the French version ended in the middle of the original English version of issue 4. which was fine to end on a good cliffhanger. . . except that it made it difficult to start Volume 3 of the French version on the very next original page. soooooooooooooooooo, i created 2 NEW pages for Herobear to be a new page 1 and a new page 2 of Volume 3 so that the original page could flow better from where it split from the original.
whew!
is that confusing or what?! ;) anyway, all that to say that i created TWO NEW Herobear pages that have never been in any of the Herobear books and will only be in the French version. so, because i care about all 'o ya, i thought i'd share 'em here with you. :)
First here they are separately . . .



and here they are combined and fitting in with the Original pages and the new cover . . .


well i hope you enjoy 'em. :)
some of you have asked, and yes we are hoping to get some copies of the French Editions available on the website. i'll let you know when they are available.

as always, take care and all the best in everything,
m . . .

knee and erthall

here's a hairy 'ol caveman design i did for some freelance amongst a bunch 'o other designs. there are others, however, i can only show this one for now.

enjoy!
:)
all the best,
m . . .

More New Ham and Eggs

some more new scribbles of our favorite pig and chicken . . .



even scribbles in my sketchbook . . .
:)


Enjoy!

all the best,
m . . .

New and Old "Ham and Eggs"

sooooooooo recently, i found myself scribbling a new direction for an old group of characters. . . it was a comic strip/cartoon stories called Ham and Eggs.
It stars a happy-go-lucky-glass-is-overflowing Pig named Hamilton and his half brother, a realist-glass-is-half-empty-and-someone-better-not-spit-in-it Chicken named Eggbert. Two characters, with two totally different perspectives, and all of their friends that they live near in the Neckutha Woods. :)
anyway, i'd done some images and thought about doing something with them, but the designs were never quite there for me. i liked the characters that were evolving and their personalities, but the designs didn't make me laugh right off the bat. i wanted them to be funny looking and make you smile just from looking at them, and then you could enjoy the stories even more.
well, here we are a few years later, and i've think i've found my cast. i love where they are and what they look like now! :) and the rest of the gang is coming out really fun too.

so here's the old Ham and Eggs . . .


i like the old ones just fine, but again, they didn't have the immediate response i wanted. they didn't feel funny and endearing to me, so i couldn't quite move forward with anything with them.

now, moving forward, here's the new and improved . . .





now, to me, these feel much more like the personalities and the imagery i've been looking for. i'll post some of the other characters soon too. it's fun when you let something cook for a while and then when you come back to it, something clicks. and this feels like it's clicking. :)

anyway, thanks for letting me babble . . . i hope you enjoy these too. . .i know i am. :)

take care and all the best,
m . . .

New Juniper Lee Comic Story

hey everyone,

well, i found myself doing more freelance . . . :)
i did another Juniper Lee story for the Cartoon Network/DC comics. this one was 8 pages. very fun with "dustbunny" creatures and a "spider-like" creature named Cob.
anyway, here are my pencils for it.
enjoy!
:)

all the best,
m . . .

Final Week for Astonish Factory Art Sale

hey everyone,
thanks to you ALL for visiting and helping with the Astonish Factory September Art Sale.
it has been a grand success and you've all helped to raise a bunch for TOYS FOR TOTS.
we can't thank you enough. it has been really great to find some good homes for all the artwork. we may just have to make this an annual event. :)

anyway, this is the last week of the Original Art being offered, so please visit and enjoy.
:)
here is the link once more . . .
astonishfactoryexclusives
take care and all the best,
m . . .

Two New Herobear Art Pieces

well gang,
here are two more pieces for the Astonish Art Sale.
the one that is colored is one of my all time favorites. it is an early promo art piece i did for the story. it was created way before i ever did the first Herobear book. i'm so glad we are offering it, but i do admit i'll miss it. :)
the other one is just the fun of comics and books. our two friends, Herobear and Tyler , enjoying "new comics day." always a goood day. :)
hope you are all liking the art and having fun seeing the hodge-podge of different pieces being put up.
thanks so much for stopping by.

here is the link again to all the fun . . .
astonishfactoryexclusives

take care,
m . . . :)

Another Original Page from Herobear

this is one with Herobear, Tyler and X-5.
i always was partial to the top panel where Herobear and Tyler are watching what X-5 just did. Herobear doesn't look too happy about it and x-5 just looks so smug. darn robots. ;)
anyway, hope you are enjoying the updates from the Astonish Factory Sale.
everyone has been extremely supportive and awesome about this. thanks to all for their comments and visits.

please check out the link when you get a moment. . .
astonishfactoryexclusives

take care and all the best,
m . . . :)