I found out if you draw on low quality tissues the ink bleeds through to the next forming a ghost image. So I did a quick comic (or flip book) of a man appearing. The last image was the first one I drew and the others were the bled ink.

Two photos from MIX.

I had been in the doctor’s office for the better part of an hour. I sat waiting for a diagnosis that I hoped would disprove my suspicions, yet I was ready to take it. After all, working in a biochemical plant is like playing the disease lottery. Even so, it came as a jolt of surprise when the doctor reported that an abnormal tumor was growing within my right arm and the arm might have to be amputated. However, he encouraged calm as I waited for the MRI results to return. Just as I thought, the doctor came out of his office with a grave look on his face. I walked over to him. “Did it come back positive?” The doctor just nodded gravely.

Two days later it was time for surgery. I laid spread eagle on the metal table. The doctor pulled a painful looking needle from the tray beside me. “This will only hurt a bit and then you will fade to black…” The next second I was out cold.

When I came to, I expected to awake in a normal hospital bed with family and friends at my bedside. Instead, I saw various doctors and nurses in a state of panic. I could tell something was seriously wrong. Then the doctor said panicked in a low worried voice, “How does one amputate the wrong arm?!”

fin

new short story...

An rough sketch for a print I call law sharks.

Well tomorrow morning I'm off to MIX... I am at table 67... see everyone there.

a batman scratch piece

For the next week I will be out of town in a place with no computers so I will not post. However when I get home it will be MIX and I'll be sure to post some photos. until then...
The final front and back covers for The Adventures of Alan Moore

ACT I

Curtain opens on a living room. Will is standing alone talking on the phone.

Will: Hey man how’s it going? Yeah she’s coming home. No I haven’t proposed. Can you get off my back about it? Ah it’s fine mom. Hey did you hear about the zombie outbreak by my house? Nah it was pretty minor no need to worry. Wait she’s coming in gotta go.

Ramona comes through the door she is crying.

Will: What’s wrong?

Ramona: I…I got…got

Will: What? What happened?

Ramona: I got bit!

Cries harder

Will: Bit! Bit by what?

Ramona: A zombie!

Will: No! how could this happen?

Ramona (sobs): Well (sniffles) I was walking home form work alone I might add and well I dropped my purse and as I bent over a…a zombie bit me in the arm.

Will: No does that mean…

Ramona: yes I have 3 hours until I…

Will: no this can’t be happening not to you… Wait I have an idea! I just read an article in um the New York Times that says zombies really are still human or something.

Ramona: well ok then…

They sit down there is silence for some time.
Will is sitting in the easy chair looking worried as is Ramona. suddenly she bolts up as if she just had a great idea.
Ramona: you know I’ve been doing some thinking. Maybe once I’m a zombie I can keep myself from eating you or anyone else. I mean I’m still a human right and even if I lose that I’ll still have my humanity. Now that I have thought about it I know that I don’t have to be a bloodthirsty zombie. I can be a nice zombie. In fact I’ll change the way people see the walking dead. I can change the world show them that zombies can be sweet and caring without the craving for Man. And then I can teach the other zombies that just because their undead doesn’t mean their not human beings.

Will: what are you crazy! No we are not accepting this. We will go down fighting!

Ramona: No I’m gonna become a zombie so why fight it.

Will: Why fight it!? Honey why are you talking like that? Wait a second… lack of fighting spirit. That…that’s one of the fist signs!

Ramona: What are you talking about? all I’m saying is that…

Will slaps her.

Ramona: What was that for!

Will: Funny I read somewhere that if you slap them it might…

Ramona: Shut up! I don’t care what you read. Once you’ve been bitten there’s no turning back! God men!

Ramona sits back down and turns away from Will. Awkward pause

Will: look Ramona I’m sorry I that I…

Ramona: No I understand and even though there’s no cure I’m ok with you trying out you (finger quotes) methods for preventing it.

Will: Ok then I’m going to the Internet.

Ramona: good and can you grab me some raw meat from the fridge.

Will: oh god…snap out it!

Ramona: Snap out of what!?

Will: I don’t know your zombieness.

Ramona: Look are you gonna be this paranoid all I wanted to do was eat raw meat…

Will: that’s the problem… I mean what human wants raw meat…

Ramona: Well I do!

Will: Fine I give up have your raw meat!!

Ramona: well if it means so much to you fine I’m not even hungry any more….

They sit in silence for a minute. Finally Will sighs goes to the freezer brings back a steak.

Will: here you go

Ramona: thank you Will I know it was difficult for you…

Will: well this is as far as I’m going to accept your transformation… I will stop this!

End Act I

Act 1 of the play I'm writing future zombie.

Minnesota's alt weekly city pages does a comix issue every year where indie cartoonists send in comics acording to a certain theme. Anyway my comic snakeman declares independence is up right now check it out. http://www.citypages.com/microsites/comics-beaty/, it is under jp beaty.

well after a long period of work the fist issue of adventures of alan moore are finished and will be printed later this week. It will be premiered at the Minneapolis indie expo http://mplsindiexpo.com/ later this month. For those in the area it's sure to be a great time. Also if any readers want a copy I will try to sell online.

Ok this post may take a bit of explaining. I tried an experiment where I tried to remember a dream I had the night before and draw it. Now the dream in question happened to be a weird one. The dream was a sort of Mesa in the desert with a building made of text on top. So there you go.

“Why did the chicken cross the road?” This simple question has baffled people for centuries. It is time we got a definitive scientific answer to this enigma. This essay will try to answer this age old riddle in a non byes scientific essay. To start we need to be sure it is even possible for poultry to cross a road. If we assume the road in question is say, a county lane, the factors involved would include the status of the road, the ratios of cow pies to soil, the amount of meat in the chicken and friction. My hypostasis was originally that the chicken would be unable to cross the road. To test my theory I went to Dr. Johan Von Strausenburger head of farm animal research at Texas A&M. During my meeting he with he said with no variables changed and no outside factors acting upon the chicken it was physically able to cross the road. He did however say he seriously doubted that under real world conditions that the chicken could cross the road. Just to be completely sure I decided to perform an experiment to test the possibility of chickens crossing lanes. At the lane where I was to do the experiment I met farmer Biff Brownstone. He said he once knew a man who supposedly saw a chicken cross a road. Brownstone then snorted and returned to his work. After meeting Biff I took readings of the various variables of the road. I then released the chicken onto the road. I was shocked to see what happened next. The chicken actually succeeded in crossing the road. Several more tests with different chickens proved that the first test wasn’t just a scientific anomaly. I do believe that this discovery will shake the scientific world for decades to come. To think an animal lacking in human intelligence was able to go through the thought the complex posses of the muscles movement needed to cross a road. It is also truly amazing to think that just 30 years ago it was not believed that animals could even walk. That being said it may be possible for a lower life form to communicate or even to think. This discovery opens many doors but also terrifying questions such as what if animals can express emotion a poses long thought to be unique to humans? To answer these questions further research is necessary. Now that’s its established that chickens can indeed cross roads (much to my surprise) we now must answer the fundamental question of why. For this I go famed animal psychologist Rupert Maunkiul. As I tell him about my studies he reacts puzzled when I told him that a chicken was able to cross the road. After several days of intense questioning we came to the fallowing thesis. While the average person may believe the chicken was motivated by such factors as food or mating we decided to dig deeper into the mind of a chicken.

The start of a satire of scientific studies. As an extra challenge (and a good writing exercise) try and finish it. I'd love to read the results.

Don't worry just because zombies look threatening they really just want to be your friend... right?

In honor of Shark Week I have drawn sharks in humans clothes and humans in the water waiting to attack.

Quick self portrait in ink