• A Distant Soil Webcomic,  Blog

    When Cartoonists Party!

    Rantz Hoseley and Val Trullinger, my much appreciated background assistant and colorist on Amazing Fantastic Incredible Stan Lee are out in Lost Angeles attending a party full of glamour and excitement! Look how happy they are! I am home wearing velour sweats, big pink fuzzy slippers that look like pigs, drinking canned Starbucks, and working on a painting. I pity me.

  • Blog,  Comics History

    Happy Birthday, Rose O’Neill!

    Rose O’Neill, one of the most important and influential cartoonists of all time, was born today in 1874. Her creations “The Kewpies” were a worldwide sensation. At a time when women weren’t even able to vote, Rose O’Neill was one of the top illustrators in the world, and a prominent suffragette. O’Neill’s charming and feminine works are largely ignored by comics pundits today. Here are two previous articles I’ve written for this site about Rose O’Niell. This one tells the tale of Rose’s career and her marriage to one of the men who helped create the first moving pictures. And here is the tale of her creation of The Kewpies.…

  • Blog

    R.I.P.Dwayne McDuffie

    News just coming in that Dwayne McDuffie, who was my boss on the Technique miniseries at Milestone, has passed away due to complications from surgery. Denys Cowan, me, Dwayne. About 1994. Dwayne was incredibly cool to me at Milestone. Nothing about the demise of the series was Milestone’s fault in any way. I was not only treated with respect and kindness at every turn, but the publisher paid me a very fair kill fee. I really liked the people at Milestone, and Dwayne sent me a wonderful letter about my work on the project, which I treasure. I scanned and sold the remainder of the unpublished art recently, and had…