Baltimore Comicon

This weekend (Sept. 9th and 10th) is the Baltimore Comicon! This is always a nice laid back show with lots of great guests and comics. The Corpse crew will be in the artist alley--- table #3. www.comicon.com/Baltimore
We're going to have some new stuff at the con, including brand new 11X17 high quality prints of Corpse artwork!

And we'll also have prints of some of the covers that you've already seen!

Need directions? Here ya go!

The Making of a Comic

We get a lot of questions on exactly how the Corpse comic is made. It's a little different than most comics because Ken and Buz take turns with the artistic duties. The ongoing series sees the artists swap pencil and ink duties on every other issue. For example, Ken does the pencils for issue #1 and then Buz inks them, then for issue #2 Buz does the pencils and Ken inks them. It keeps us both fresh and since our styles are so similar, the style change is almost unnoticable.
With that in mind, here is the progress we went through for an 8 page story of the Corpse vs. The Bat Creature. (you should see this in print very soon!)

The Layouts
Ken and Buz get together and talk about the story. Together we sit and work on the layouts, passing them back and forth until we get the best layout for the page. Here is where most of the work is done and where we work with each other's strengths--- Buz's dynamics and Ken storytelling.





























The Pencils
Then the layouts go to whoever is doing the penciling on that particular story. In this case it's Buz doing the pencils.



























The Inks
Then the pencils go to Ken who inks them up. In the case of these pages he spotted a lot of solid blacks for contrast and cleaned up the line work.




























The Colors
For the colors on this story the artwork didn't have to go very far. Ken scanned the pages into Photoshop and colored the hell out of them. Since the artwork for the Corpse is very cartoony in style, we went for an animation look to the colors with the bold shades on the figures and realistic looking backgrounds. Unfortunately the we won't be able to color the pages for the ongoing series ourselves, (the coloring is the most time consuming part!) so we will have to find someone who can color like this.
http://www.uploadfile.info/uploads/913e5f5d10.jpg

Covers, covers and more covers!

Been busting out the finished covers for the first 4 issues of the Corpse. We tried to do something a little different with each cover.

#0 Before we decided on doing the sketch cover, this was the original. We liked it so we put it on the back of the zero issue. Anyone who has picked up the Eyes of Asia mini-series will recal the black bar "widescreen" look to the cover.
Pencils/colors by Kenpencil tones by Buz





























#1 One of the first pieces of artwork done for the Corpse. We also used this as a banner for the cons. I experimented with real life textures on this piece with the coloring. That's real grass, real moon and clouds and even real rust on the fence. Also experimented with the logo placement.
Pencils by BuzInks/colors by Ken




























#2 Has got be my favorite so far. Worked really hard to make it look like a really old Tales from the crypt comic right down to the tape on the spine, the yellowing of the paper and the little rips.
Pencils by BuzInks/colors bt Ken





























#3 Was done the same way as the zero issue cover were Buz takes my dinky little pencils and pencil renders the shit out of it. When I sat down to color it I realized it didn't need it. The Corpse fights the Wendigo in the snowy north so it makes sense.





























Hopefully these things will pop out at you when they are on the comic stands.

Update on the Corpse ongoing series.

All is quiet here at Corpse central. We decided to opt out of many of the big summer cons this year like San Diego and WizardWorld Chicago to be able to put more time into the book itself.
But you can bet your ass that we'll be everywhere next year.

We get the question all the time:
"When is the first issue coming out!?!"
We are busting our asses to get at least 4 issues in the can before we release the book. We want to be far enough ahead so that when we put out the book, you won't have to wait forever for the next issue. Issue #1 has been done for a little while and as we speak, Buz is almost done the pencils for #2 (check out the Corpse #0 for a preview!) and Ken is halfway done the inks. Ken is about halfway through the pencils for #3. So don't worry--- we are cruising along. The first issue will be out before next summer's con season. Until then, enjoy the #0 issue.

Speaking of the Corpse #3, here's a spread that Ken just busted out this morning featuring the Corpse vs. The Wendigo.

Corpse Review at Paperback Reader

Just got in a new review of the Corpse #0.
Its brought to you from Dan Head at www.paperbackreader.com

"The Corpse was another of my favorites from Philly. Created and illustrated by artists Ken Haeser and Buzz Hasson, The Corpse is the story of a zombie whose undead purpose in life is to keep the rest of the walking dead in their graves. Issue #0 features the main character’s origin story as well as a half dozen or so pages from the forthcoming first issue and slew of extras as well as a sketch cover by the creators. It was one of the Con’s great deals, and I sincerely hope that I’m not the only one who discovered it.
After reading so many screen-plays-turned-comics, I relished the indie feel of this book. Done in a well-executed black-and-white tongue-in-cheek style, this book was at once gory and funny and oddly touching. Both Ken and Buzz can draw supremely well with the result being that their characters are expressive, their jokes work, and their timing is excellent. I found myself genuinely sympathizing with their undead protagonist, and that’s in a book that doesn’t for a second take itself seriously! In addition to the solid one-shot #0 story, I also really dug the Corpse #1 preview pages and extras in the back of the book, so that now I literally can’t wait to see the start of this series.
Overall, this is a terrific book. Nice job guys. This one’s going on my Pull List.
Grade: A "

From http://www.paperbackreader.com/newcolumn2.php?ColumnID=136

The Corpse takes WWPhilly by storm!

After the disappointing turnout and sales at the Pittsburgh comicon a few weeks ago, the Corpse team redeemed themselves with a phenomenal showing at this years Wizard World Philadelphia! The #0 issue was flying off the table as fast as we could do a sketch on the cover. People thought the idea of doing a sketch right on the comic cover was one of the cooler ideas that they have seen (look and see how many people are doing it this time next year!).
We got nothing but raves and great reviews from the people who had picked it up. Many read it that night they got it and came back the next day to say how much they enjoyed it and are looking forward to the series when it comes out.

Friday started out slow but soon the place was filled and a nice crowd was gathered around our table in artist alley. The table that day was manned by Ken, his wife Tabitha and their son Kalel who spent most of his time sketching, giving out stickers and being in awe of the Stormtroopers right down the alley from us.

Saturday Buz and Ken were in full force, selling even more comics than Friday and doing free sketches like crazy. As far as we knew we where the only ones in the alley doing free sketches. Yea, it pisses off a lot of the other artists in the alley who are trying to charge $25 for a pencil head shot, but the fans love it and that's what we are there for.

Sunday is usually the slowest day at the con. I like that 'cause we can make the rounds around the alley and say hey to friends and buy other people comics. Not this Sunday. It was our best day all weekend. The Corpse was flying off the table and we sold out of our previous comic series, The Eyes of Asia.

Thanks to everyone who came out to see us. Not only was it a busy show but we met a lot of new cool people and the people at the con where some of the nicest you could ask for.

I'll post up some more pix from the show soon.

This weekend is WizardWorld Philly

Coming up this weekend is Wizard World Philadelphia at the Pennsylvannia Convention Center. We will be in Artist Alley, table #1224.

We always have a great time in Philly, especially since the convention center is less than a half an hour away. Last year we got to sit next to Pat Ollife (Spider-girl, Last Planet Standing) who was the coolest guy you could meet. We traded Spider-girl sketches with him and really seamed to dig our stuff.

Once again we'll have The Corpse #0, The Eyes of Asia, T-shirts, posters, stickers and free sketches galore! Stop by and say hi!

Directions? Here you go!
Need a map of the con floor so you can find us right away? Here you go!

Now you have no reason whatsover to not come out and see us.

First review of the Corpse #0

Just got in the first review of The Corpse #0.
It comes to us courtesy of the guys over at www.bastardsofhorror.com who snagged the issue at this past Pittsburgh Comicon.

"I picked up the #0 issue which wasn’t your usual first issue, it was an issue that has Buz draw you a cover with him signing it which impressed me with the idea of just coming up with this. But anyhow #0 is a full issue with part of issue #1 and a preview of #2 to give you a glimpse at what is coming in the future, which in my opinion is great for when you looking for stuff like this at a comic book convention! ‘The Corpse’ is a story about a zombie “John R. Romero” who like all zombies who rise up from their graves is hungry, hungry for brains… So of course the zombie like all zombies rampages into a house where a family lives and begins to rip them to shreds and eats their brains until he comes to the little boy who screams for his “daddy” and suddenly the zombie remembers he was once a family man also in his past life. Hating what he becomes he runs out of the house in anger and decides it is up to him fight evil like the zombie fiend that he is. The artwork is in black and white but is beautiful and only adds to the story of “The Corpse”! I consider this zombie comic book a gem that must be read all zombie movie lovers as it some overtones of George Romero’s ‘Day of the Dead’s’ character “BUB”! I give it 4 stars and hope to see more of the title “The Corpse”!"

The Corpse zero on sale!

We are still working on building the online store at www.CorpseComic.com. There you will be able to use Paypal, credit cards, checks, ect.
Until then if you want to order the comic and other merchandise, you can print out the sales order form to the left, fill it out and mail it to us along with a check or money order for the items.

Here's a list of what we are offering:
1) The Corpse #0- 44 page comic that includes an exclusive 22 page origin story, an 11 page preview of the Corpse #1, a preview of the Corpse #2 and a sketchbook section of upcoming characters and stories. And the personalized sketch cover.
2) The Corpse t-shirt- Comes in large and xtra large. Corpse face on the front and logo on the back. Click here to check out what the shirts look like!
3) The Eyes of Asia- Our previous book. It's a 4 issue mini series, each issue is 40 pages. You can get the whole mini for $10 or individual issues for #3.50. Check out a review of the book by clicking here!

We only accept checks or mony orders at this time.
Free shipping within the continental United States. For outside the US email us at TheCorpse@CorpseComic.com for your rates.
Any special requests can be written on the bottom of the Sales Order.
Questions or comments please email us!

Free Comic Book Day!

The Corpse crew will be at Beav's Comics for Free Comic Book Day this Saturday May 6th. Beav's Comics is located at:

124 W Main Street
Middletown DE 19709
(302)449-5581
www.beavs-comics.com
beavs_comics@comcast.net

If you're going to be in the lovely state of Deleware this weekend, stop by for free sketches, Corpse #0 and free comics from the biggest publishers.

Map and Directions!

Hope to see ya there!