James Baker's Blog

Finally I am free of paying work to concentrate on the stuff that I wanna do; comixes! I wish it were possible to do this full time, but sadly the financial calculus just doesn’t add up… I either need to sell a whole lot more of thses things or the cost of living needs to drop to what it was in the 1920′s…
Speaking of comics, my NERVE BOMB issue #Zero will be in stores next Wednesday the 3rd of september… sheesh, that took a long time.

I am now updating this NEWS page via the service provided by BLOGGER. They provide an easy to use interface so I may be posting more frequently from now on. In the past I had to code each post by hand in HTML.

It is my duty to let all of you know about Maverix Studios‘ proudest moment: Sho Murase‘s book SEI: DEATH AND LEGEND is being published by IMAGE comics and will be out in NOVEMBER 2003!!

One of our own has graduated from the ranks of self-publishing to being picked up by one of the major comics publishers who plan to print the book in in glorious full-colour.

You may have heard it from me first because Sho is not the kind of person who blows her own trumpet.

There is a listing for it on the COMICS CONTINUUM website, and there is an interview with Sho at NEWSARAMA.

32 pages, standard size, professional. The streets of San Fiasco are being ravaged by a colossal robotic granny! Who can stop the geriatric giant? Enter San Fiasco’s own Professor and Rocket Rabbit! The Professor, a young woman of extreme intelligence and beauty. Rocket Rabbit, umm…a robotic rabbit with big rocket bunny ears. This unlikely duo take their directions from the “Big Suit.” No, really it’s a big suit. A really, really big suit with a little fat guy sitting at the controls inside the collar. Can our heroes save San Fiasco? And what of the evil Dick Pump and his girl Silicon Valerie? Or the schizophrenic Smart Ass (also answering to Wise Ass, Dumb Ass, Bad Ass, and Kick Ass)? And just who or what are the Deeks? And, what should we make of The Apes of Wrath?! You can find the answers to these questions and get a glimpse at the bizarre Los Troppo Drongos in the magnificently drawn pages of Nerve Bomb Comix!

I just got back from the SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON where I sold my comics and sketchbooks. I now have two issues of Nerve Bomb comics, though sadly no new issue for this year as I focussed on SKETCHBOOKS this time around. I expanded and reprinted last years GOURMET GRUEL sketchbook and also made a new one. They are both squarebound and very nicely printed by the folks at Dreamweaver press. I am quite happy with how they came out.

The trip to the con was a bit nerve-wracking though for a different reason than last year when we drove all through the night. The flight from San Francisco to San Diego took about 6 hours due to fog at the San Diego end. There was a scary attempt to land in the fog that was aborted at the last second with a hair-raising pull-up. I swear that I saw some buildings right outside my window as the fog parted… I think the plane had come out of the haze in a place the pilot wasn’t expecting because he pulled back on that joystick pretty abruptly.

Then we circled SD airport till we ran out of gas and went to LA to refuel. Then we went through the whole thing again though we were able to land the second time. When I got to my hotel they told me they were full up and I would have to sleep on a folda-bed the first night. This, even though I had booked in March and paid a nights deposit in June… Something like that seems to happen to me every year.

For a more detailed report on the 2003 con, check out Angstorm’s photo essay. To buy the stuff sold by Maverix Crew visit the Maverix store, and of course my stuff is available here.

It’s been a busy time lately, trying to promote the book. I am dealing with my first wave of orders via the Diamond catalog PREVIEWS. They were lower than I had hoped so it looks like I need to put more effort into promoting the title… I have been pretty consistently mailing out copies to reviewers and the REVIEWS are starting to come back.

For Immediate Release

Pint-sized Robotic crime-fighter (and sexy sidekick) to be represented by NERVE BOMB COMICS!

SAN-FIASCO’s favorite cartoon Heroes; ROCKET RABBIT and THE PROFESSOR, will have their adventures serialized in print by NERVE BOMB COMICS, satrting with NERVE BOMB COMICS issue# ZERO

Already famous in their home town of SAN FIASCO for their flamboyant walloping of many a colorful villain, ROCKET RABBIT and THE PROFESSOR said at a press-conference today that the comics will bring their brand of goofy humor and gratuitous action to a wider audience. ‘We plan to TEAR the comedy/action envelope.’ Said Rocket.

Nicknamed ROCKET RABBIT by the SAN FIASCO city newspapers because of his rabbit-ear shaped rocket thrusters, the tiny robot is loaded up to (and including) his artificial eyeballs with supersonic, ass-kicking, laser-shooting high tech gadgetry. It is safe to say that more space was made in his design for crime-fighting gear than thinking equipment.

Due to his gullibility, ROCKET is always accompanied by his inventor and crime-fighting partner… THE PROFESSOR. Providing the brains and detective skills of the duo, the mysterious battle-babe’s plethora of gadgets and natural athleticism make her a formidable physical presence as well.

NERVE BOMB issue# zero (the premiere issue) features the first full tilt ROCKET RABBIT and THE PROFESSOR story in which SAN-FIASCO’s favorite heroes meet the attack of a 100 foot tall little old lady who is stomping the downtown. This issue also features a back up story: Los Troppo Drongos where a trio of quirky characters has a stream of consciousness romp in a land called Lunatopia.
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Spokesperson for NERVE BOMB comics, JAMES BAKER expressed excitement at promoting his new stars. ‘The adventures of ROCKET RABBIT and THE PROFESSOR are whimsical, a little rude, and have as many plot twists as we can get away with. Nerve Bomb comics showcase a lively collection of stories and characters, but being the work of one artist, they will retain a distinctive voice.’

Nerve Bomb is a 32 page B/W comic book quarterly (with a full color cover) created, and drawn by JAMES BAKER, and published by NERVE BOMB comics.

Nerve Bomb is distributed by Diamond Comic distributors. (product ID# jun032446) Issue Zero is Re-offered in DECEMBER 2003 Previews (shipping to stores JANUARY 2004)

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THE COMIC BOOK NETWORK ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE #424 - 06/13/2003

“My View” by David LeBlanc
Looking for another “funny book” that isn’t the same old stuff. This one should give you some chuckles. These are the adventures of Rocket Rabbit, a small robot with rocket thrusters out the top of his head that look like a bunny’s ears, hence the name. His inventor and sexy side kick, the Professor, has to watch over him/it closely because although he is fully armed for crime fighting he is not a rocket scientist by any means when it comes to intelligence. They are often called to handle major problems in the city of San Fiasco by Big Suit, a man in a very large robot shell – like you would see The Brain use in Pinky and the Brain. He heads up The Company and they are agents among such comrades as Seamus Opossum, Cliff Hanger, and Squid Girl.

A lot of the humor in this book has to do with the plethora of characters and their strange appearance and/or abilities. The bad guys in “The Collective”, formerly Doom.com and The Co-Op of Evil have their share. Some are not even people like the mesmerist Doctopus and the schizophrenic super genius Smart Ass and his villainous personalities Wise Ass, Dumb Ass and Kick Ass. My favorite is the mistakenly augmented with silicon instead of silicone porn stars Dick Pump and Silicon Valerie who can communicate directly with machines. Their plot is to wipe out Rocket Rabbit and the Professor with the devious Pasta Antipasta Bomb.

This is a rollicking spoof of super hero comics complete with mad villains, doomsday giant robots, witty heroic banter and surprise alien invaders. They even promise talking apes next time, always a fan favorite. The humor is light and clever. The art is accomplished and detailed. On a quarterly schedule it should maintain the quality evident in the first issue. But there is more! There is a six-page back up feature called LOS TROPPO DRONGOS. This is a surrealistic adventure of a midget, a cat and a dog. It is hard to explain there is no dialogue. The ever-shifting terrain and shapes they encounter remind me of the sixties underground comix either drawn by or meant for people on LSD or other mind altering substances. This is not a bad thing as it causes you to scan every inch to catch every detail and try to figure out just what the heck is going on. An interesting style you don’t see that often. The book as a whole is very entertaining. I think it is worth looking at to see if it appeals to your tastes.

When I returned from my recent month-long trip back to Australia I was happy to find out that DIAMOND DISTRIBUTORS has agreed to distribute my NERVE BOMB comics as a quarterly title. Which is of course an exciting development, as the self-distribution thing hasn’t really been pushing the material out there… Anyway, my first listing in the PREVIEWS catalog will be issue ZERO in JUNE 2003 and that will ship to stores in AUGUST.

Obviously there is no guarantee that the title will get many orders even if it is listed in the catalog, so I am devising my public-relations media assault at the moment. If anyone has any suggestions as to stores that may be interested please let me know. Alternatively, tell your favourite comic store to order some copies in June!.

Amongst some other things, some sample illustrations from the book I have been working on have been added to the PrOjeCts section. My Dad (Robert J. Baker)wrote a lot of limericks about elephants a few years ago, and I took on the task of illustrating them. I have so far done about 13 out of a possible total of 20 or so.

Other than working on these, I have still been fiddling around on coloring my old comic-book stuff, as well as figuring out some new material and preparing for a trip home to Australia in March.

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James Baker's Blog

Comixes

Sei Death and legend

Review on almost normal

Comic-con 2003

Nerve Bomb issue Zero PRESS RELEASE

Pint-sized Robotic crime-fighter (and sexy sidekick) to be represented by NERVE BOMB COMICS!

Nerve Bomb Review on CBN

Nerve Bomb gets (proper) distribution

Pachyderms