The BATTLE is Over! Let the VOTING begin!!!

Okay people, the pencils are down, the contestants tired from a grueling 90 minute Bay Area Battle. Let's give up up for three talented mofos. Now, let the real battle begin. Place your votes for your favorite team's entry by leaving a comment under their respective piece. ONE VOTE ALLOWED! Double voting will disqualify both of your votes so only pick one!

TEAM KIANI

TEAM GRACE

TEAM ASPEN

The Depths of Hell...BOY!

The topic has been chosen, the ever popular demon lad Hellboy is the choice! The three sketch competitors are sharpening their lead in the depths of San Fran's Moscone Center and duking it out! Stay tuned for details!

ARTSENAL 2008 BEGINS NOW!!!

This is it folks! SATURDAY! SATURDAY!! SATURDAY!!! The Artsenal 2008 kicks off in full-force this Saturday LIVE in San Francisco at WonderCon 2008! The Aspen Comics Booth #615 is the site of what is sure to go down as the start of an all-time classic battle. Join Michael Turner, Ale Garza, Micah Gunnell, Marcus To, Peter Steigerwald, Mark Brooks, Francis Manapul, Joel Gomez, Cross, Ryan Odagawa, Jon Boy Meyers, Humberto Ramos and more as they battle it out in the ultimate sketch battle competition--The Artsenal 2008 brought to you by Aspen Comics and the CBLDF!

The rules are simple: You the fans will have a 2 day topic suggestion period followed by the topic selection by Aspen Comics, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and the three teams respectively. The three teams (ASPEN, GRACE, KIANI) will then duke it out in a 90 minute sketch-off with the fans deciding the winner online and in person at the booth. All votes will be accumulated and added to each respective teams' totals. The team with the most accumulated votes at the end of the Artsenal 2008 will be crowned the champions at the San Diego Comic Con International 2008 later this year.

Don't miss your chance to vote on the topic--AND--the poster whose topic is chosen will win an 11x17 print of the winning teams sketch!!!

Now without further ado, let's meet round one's teams/competitors!


Ale Garza - artist, musician, philantropist. Ale Garza does it all. No stranger to sketch battles, Ale is an underground comic legend and one of the most feared sketch competitors ever! Garza has been training hard in the Bay Area and is looking to claim the first round of the Artsenal for his team and his city! Accusations that he's been using performance enhancers to draw quicker have been proven false and now Ale's ready to lay down the law! Ale's work can be seen in the upcoming Fathom series, his own series Ninja Boy, and Supergirl for DC.

Micah Gunnell - But wait! Ale's not the only hometown hero in the Artsenal's first round as Micah also hails from the Bay Area. When asked if Garza and himself would be able to share the city, Gunnell replied with a "no-answer," which of course means "hell no this city ain't big enough for the two of us!" Micah has worked on such Aspen titles as Shrugged and Soulfire, and also as illustrated the mega-popular Heroes graphic novels.

Mark Brooks - Superstar artist and all-around good guy, Brooks is a special guest entrant in the Artsenal is looking to squash TEAM ASPEN and TEAM GRACE's hopes right off the bat. Just look at the pic above to see the fire in Mark's eyes as he eyes his two competitors and sharpens his lead. Mark has worked on the industry's top titles including the X-Men and Spiderman. Now he's looking to add two more notches to his belt in the form of Ale and Micah!

TOPIC SUGGESTIONS!
Okay people, now's the time to decide what these talented artists will be sketching for 90 minutes! Please post your topic suggestions in the comments section below! And don't forget, whoever chooses the winning topic will receive an 11x17 high-quality print of the winning team's entry!!!

Hide your Children this Con Season

Aspen will be at WonderCon '08!!!

But hide your 5 year olds...

http://www.howmanyfiveyearoldscouldyoutakeinafight.com/

I got 30

(Vince and Frank scored lower)

Happy Happy Birthday, Happy Happy Birthday!

My best San Diego friend celebrated his first birthday Feb 9th and I was there with my camera to commemorate the event.

Now I get to share it with you!

In Dale We Trust

Frank and Phil aren't Muslims, but they spent the morning praying to Keown's Hulk piece.

wondercon 2008

hey guys, no internet connection for the past week, ugh! thought i'd update a quick bit of info... one of my things planned for wondercon this year... my band mates and i set up a show to close out sunday night of the show at the edinburgh castle here in sf... looks to be a rockin time! hope to see you all there! www.myspace.com/mareislandmusic