Cropped Will Cardini artwork

April 3rd, 2014

Cold Heat Special #10 Debuts this Weekend at MoCCA 2014

Filed under: Events,Print Comics — Tags: , , , — William Cardini @ 10:42 am

I’ve been honored to write and draw Cold Heat Special #10 with the input of Frank Santoro. Sacred Prism, Ian Harker’s publishing outfit, is debuting the two-color, 5×7″ risograph-printed comic this weekend at MoCCA Fest 2014 in NYC. If you can’t make it to MoCCA, you can preorder the issue. You can also subscribe to all eight comics that Sacred Prism will publish in 2014.

Here’s a photo of an uncut printed page:

Cold Heat Special 10 Print Photo
You can see, clockwise from the upper left, the back cover, front cover, Page 6, and Page 7.

I’m really happy with how the colors are mixing together. I was worried the purple wouldn’t be visible enough against the blue on the back cover… and that pink pops on top of a 25% blue screen! Here’s a Photoshop simulation of a printed page (via multiplied layers):

Cold Heat Special 10 Photoshop Simulation
Page 1, which is also partially visible in the top-right corner of the previous image.

If you’re unfamiliar with Cold Heat, it was a comic book series written by Ben Jones, drawn by Frank Santoro, and published by Picturebox. Frank worked with a bunch of other fabulous cartoonists on the first nine Cold Heat Special issues, which were side quests starring the protagonist, Castle. You can read the first six issues of Cold Heat for free, and order the non-sold-out specials, here. I’ll let y’all know when I have my contributor copies of Cold Heat Special #10 up for sale in my store.

P.S. Two new pages of Skew were posted on Study Group this past Monday.

July 31st, 2012

Do I Self-Fund, Crowd-Fund, or Submit to a Publisher?

Filed under: Comics Process — Tags: , , , , , , , , — William Cardini @ 10:23 pm

This past Friday my particular corner of the comix internet blew up over this Comics Journal post where Dan Nadel heavily criticizes Kickstarter in general and the Secret Prison #7 Kickstarter in particular. I’ve been riveted to the ensuing shitstorm in comments threads, blog posts, and my Twitter feed. I feel compelled to post my thoughts here.

Click here to read the rest.

April 10th, 2012

Secret Prison #666 Kickstarter

Filed under: Print Comics — Tags: , , , , — William Cardini @ 10:56 pm

Secret Prison #666 is debuting this April at MoCCA 2012! This issue’s a little different from the previous ones – instead of single-page comics, it’s a bunch of double-page team-ups selected by editor Ian Harker and guest editor Pat Aulisio, the editors of RUB THE BLOOD (speaking of which, RUB THE BLOOD is now available in Yeah Dude Comics online store).

Secret Prison 666 cover
Secret Prison #666 cover by Pat Aulisio.

Pat and Ian paired me up with the bad-ass cartoonist Keenan Marshall Keller. We’re both total texture geeks but Keenan’s way more out there than me and is inspiring me to be grosser and more visceral with my drawings than I usually am. I’m loving what we’ve got brewing for SP#666! You can see what I mean about the similarities and differences in our styles in this drawing he did for the Monster Show at Domy Books:

Keenan Marshall Keller drawing
“Amplified Shaman/Acid Jesus” drawing by Keenan.

Ian and Pat are raising funds to print SP#666 via a Kickstarter campaign.

They’ve already met their funding goal for their initial print run and now they’re trying to meet a secondary goal to get even more copies printed. Prizes include SP#666, RUB THE BLOOD, and an 1/8th page ad drawn by myself.

February 21st, 2012

No More RUB THE BLOOD in my Store – Where to Get More

Filed under: Print Comics — Tags: , — William Cardini @ 7:59 am

I’ve sold a stack of RUB THE BLOODs through online sales, thanks y’all! I’m saving a few copies for STAPLE! 2012 here in Austin. If those don’t sell, I’ll offer them in my online store again. But your best bet, if you still want a copy and you won’t be at STAPLE!, is to mail order one from editor Ian Harker for $5 plus $2 shipping.

Ian Harker and RUB THE BLOOD

Ian’s email is doppelgangercomics@yahoo.com.

February 3rd, 2012

RUB THE BLOOD for Sale, RTB Artwork, and Interview

Filed under: Artwork,Press,Print Comics — Tags: , , , , , , — William Cardini @ 7:28 am

Hey y’all, I got my contributor copies of RUB THE BLOOD, edited by Ian Harker and Pat Aulisio, in the mail:

RUB THE BLOOD stack on my cutting board
I’m proud to be in this monstrosity. You can see the front and back covers by Victor Cayro and the interior spread by Mickey Z.

You can now order RTB on my store, it’s $5 plus shipping. (Update 1/13/2017: I’ve been sold out of RTB for years.) You can also order it from editor Ian Harker through mail order, just email him at doppelgangercomics@yahoo.com. I’m also going to be sure to bring these bad boys to STAPLE! where the Gold County Paper Mill will be tabling alongside Glademade for the fourth year in a row.

This also seems like a good post to show y’all the ink drawings that I made for the RUB THE BLOOD art show at Brave New Worlds in Philly this past January. The drawings are 7×10″ ink renditions of the two characters I used in my RUB THE BLOOD comic, Lightbeam and Bludwurld the Living Battle Planet:

Lightbeam ink drawing

Bludwurld ink drawing

Also, I didn’t realize this, but 2012 is the 20th anniversary of Image. In honor of this, Ao Meng has a post up on the Daily Texan Comics blog that discusses the legacy of Image, the Brandon Graham and Simon Roy reinterpretation of Prophet, and RUB THE BLOOD. It includes a short interview with yours truly.

January 6th, 2012

RUB THE BLOOD Art Show Tonight in Philadelphia

Filed under: Print Comics — Tags: , , , , , — William Cardini @ 7:34 am

Tonight, from six to nine pm at the Philadelphia comic book store Brave New Worlds, is an art show of drawings done by contributors of RUB THE BLOOD that’re either related to the theme of the anthology or original pages.

Here’s the flyer:

RUB THE BLOOD flyer

I’ve got two 7×10″ ink drawings of the two characters I created for my RUB THE BLOOD contribution, Lightbeam and Bludwurld the Living Battle Planet, in the show. I also sent them some copies of VORTEX. Check out Ian Harker’s Secret Prison post about the show for more information, including a pic of the installation, and instructions on ordering RUB THE BLOOD through the mail.

December 2nd, 2011

RUB THE BLOOD Debuts this Saturday at the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest

Filed under: Print Comics — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — William Cardini @ 7:42 am

This Saturday, December 3rd, from noon to 9pm at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church is the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics fest. Pat Aulisio and Ian Harker will be there with Rub the Blood, an art comics tribute to the Image revolution with two pages by me alongside a whole host of excellent artists (full list and longer explanation here, Robot6 article here, interview with Pat and Ian here, Rob Liefeld endorsement here). Here’s the obligatory comic Facebook shot of Pat holding up Rub the Blood:

Rub the Blood cover by Victor Cayro
The front and back covers are by Victor Cayro.

I won’t be at BCGF but tons of other RUB THE BLOOD cartoonists will be.

Also, if you’re in the area, tonite Pat and Josh Bayer are signing their Retrofit books, BOWMAN and Raw Power, at Jim Hanley’s in Manhattan:

Retrofit Signing Flyer by Pat Aulisio
Flyer by Pat.

Retrofit head honcho Box Brown will be in attendance. Pat and Josh will be debuting their collab book The Unforgiving Blade of Conon, check out the sick cover:

Cover to The Unforgiving Blade of Conon by Pat Aulisio and Josh Bayer

There’ll also be copies of Secret Prison #5 which I drew the back cover for.

October 26th, 2011

RUB THE BLOOD Kickstarter

Filed under: Print Comics — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — William Cardini @ 11:57 pm

A lot of cartoonists, whether they end up drawing daily autobio strips or Fusion comics, read superhero comics when they’re kids. The last couple generations of alternative cartoonists grew up reading Jack Kirby or maybe Watchmen. My peers and I grew up with the Image revolution.

X-Force #9 Cover by Rob Liefeld
X-Force #9.

To honor this influence, Pat Aulisio and Ian Harker have put together a 90’s Image comics tribute anthology called RUB THE BLOOD. I’ve got a two-page story in there called “Lightbeam vs Bludwurld the Living Battle Planet” (I bought the above issue of X-Force as research for my story) alongside comics and art by Pat, Ian, Josh Bayer, Kramer’s Ergot contributor Victor Cayro, Catch Up contributor PB Kain, Keenan Marshall Keller, Peter Lazarski, Benjamin Marra, Jim Rugg, Thomas Toye, and Mickey Z (P.S. Did y’all know that Benjamin Marra and Keenan Marshall Keller were in a show alongside Nathan Fox and Zach Soto at Domy Books in Houston? Check out the flickr for the show, called HARDBODIES). You can see samples of artwork (including mine) in this dope, NSFW promo video that Pat and Ian made for the RUB THE BLOOD Kickstarter:


The second part of this video recreates shot-for-shot this Liefeld Levi’s ad from the 90’s.

The Kickstarter campaign is to get RUB THE BLOOD printed up for the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest. It’s already fully funded but if you want to order a signed or unsigned copy, or get some original art or comics from me, Pat, or PB Kain, the page is here.

Here’s additional artwork by Pat Aulisio:

Pat Aulisio RUB THE BLOOD artwork

And Victor Cayro:

Victor Cayro RUB THE BLOOD artwork

September 9th, 2011

SPX 2011: Secret Prison #5 Debut

Filed under: Print Comics — Tags: , , , — William Cardini @ 1:00 am

Y’all are only getting one post this week because I was out of town for Labor Day weekend, hanging with the Kentucky branch of the GCPM. I’ll have more detailed posts about that for y’all soon, but right now I want to talk about the debut of Secret Prison #5 this weekend at SPX 2011 in Bethesda, Maryland.

As I’ve mentioned, I’m the co-featured artist for this issue, which means I drew the back cover. Here’s a shot of Ian Harker, the editor, holding up the published ish:

Secret Prison #5

My comix hero, Tom Scioli, is the featured artist. He drew the cover and a four-page interior comic.

The issue will be at the free table all of SPX.

Also debuting will be a new mini by Pat Aulisio called “C’mon Man” that features his faceless guy and the bear/deer/lion god he rides.

March 25th, 2011

Please Help Fund Secret Prison for 2011

Filed under: Print Comics — Tags: , , — William Cardini @ 7:00 am

Secret Prison, a free comics newsprint anthology out of Philly, needs your help to continue in 2011. In 2010, they funded their three issues with three separate Kickstarters. For 2011, however, they’ve decided to try to raise all of the funds with one Kickstarter. They’re over halfway to their goal and they have until 11:59pm EDT on Sunday, April 3rd to raise the rest. Check it out here.

If you pledge, you can get old issues of Secret Prison (I had something in #2) or subscribe to all their publications for 2011 (I’ll be in #4 and I plan to submit to the rest). You can also get rad art, like this:

Bart by Pat Aulisio
Bart by Pat Aulisio, two-color screenprint cover variant poster.

or this:

2 Bad 2 Be Dad by Ian Harker
2 Bad 2 Be Dad by Ian Harker, two-color screenprint cover variant poster.

I’m also offering up a 9×12″ black and white drawing for anyone who wants to throw down a James Joyce.