i'm so freaking cool

Got 'Em Back

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:14:00 +0000

So I got my finished binds back from Houchen and I must say overall I am really happy. The color is unreal compared to what I have done in the past with LBC. It really pops and the gutter loss is minimal also. Some of that art they said I did not line up properly therefore creative some unaligned pictures, especially on my Blackest Night front/back covers. I am not sure what to think but it could have been me. Regardless I am looking forward to moving forward with my Savage Dragon binds...

As a side note I took my Sinestro Corps War binds with me to C2E2 and showed it to Yildary Cinar (artist on Noble Causes and Legion of Superheroes) who draw that picture and Mahmud Asar (co-creator of Dynamo 5) and they loved seeing these in person for the first time. They had not seen any custom binds before.

So They Are Off

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 19:41:00 +0000

I sent five volumes of Green Lantern to Houchen Bindery in Utica NE to be bound. It took me almost a year to get this project finalized, being unemployed and poor didn't help, but I am super excited to get these back and read everything from Sinestro Corps War through Blackest Night all over again.

Comic Binding: Savage Dragon III

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 04:19:00 +0000

Okay, I finally found a few minutes to get back to finalizing some designs for the Savage Dragon project I have been working on. This would be the cover for Volume Three which is actually the fourth volume since the first volume is a Volume Zero. (click on the below image for a larger picture).

Comic Binding: Savage Dragon II

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 21:18:00 +0000

So this is a different look for a cover and instead of using a full body image of Dragon I am instead zooming in on his face. Figured I would try to mix it up and see how things look (still need to replace all of the background images).

Comic Binding: Savage Dragon Volume 0

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 22:10:00 +0000

Here is the initial design of the zero volume for TF's Savage Dragon collection. While I look to integrate some of these issues into the flow of my binding project, TF decided to add a separate volume. That is the great thing about binding projects, you design and map each volume to best suit your needs.

Comic Binding: Savage Dragon (Part 3)

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 02:53:00 +0000

I have taken various elements from a few different designs and come up with this latest concept design for the first volume. Now I am waiting to hear back on this version. (click image for bigger picture)

Comic Binding: Savage Dragon (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 03:55:00 +0000

Here is a completely different take on the Savage Dragon cover I mentioned yesterday. Click on the image for a bigger view...

Comic Binding: Savage Dragon

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 03:31:00 +0000

I am working with another person on some ideas for their Savage Dragon bind. This is different as it is going to be a half bind (the cover and back are custom images and the spine is buckram SEE HERE FOR EXAMPLE. Below are a couple of the initial ideas for the bind. One of them is pretty similar to what I have already worked up for me while the other is different. The one thing I tries this time around was using the cover images in the background instead of character images. I am not sure if I like this way better or not.

COMIC BINDING: The Flash

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:24:00 +0000

I am working on some more cover designs to get my comics bound into hardcover collections. I am not a big fan of the Flash, but Geoff Johns run on the 1987 volume of the book was some really good stuff so I am looking at just binding those issues. Below are my early concept designs using sketches from Yildiray Cinar as the cover art (same as I have done with many of my Green Lantern volumes). I am limited on how much of the design work I can do since I no longer have Photoshop but I got a good start on them using Gimp.

Comic Binding: Justice League of America

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 04:57:00 +0000

Haven't posted in a while. Been unemployed for the past four plus months (and still am) so the comic thing is on the back burner. I have worked on a few new custom bind cover ideas though so I figured I would jump in the way back machine, fire up the blog, and post a few pictures......

Justice League of America (Volume: One)

Justice League of America (Volume Two)

Justice League of America (Volume Three)

Maybe, doubtful, I will post something else before another four months goes by.

Comic Binding: Green Lantern #6 (version 2)

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:26:00 +0000

So up to this point I have been fine with the idea of the picture of the Guardians on the cover of my volume 6 bind but I came across a wonderfully evil picture of Atroucitus that I am considering now. I already was using the Red Lantern oath on the back cover so this sort of makes sense for a cover image. Atroucitus also is a character that seems to know what is going on with the Blackest Night Prophesy so there is some logic to having him on the cover of this volume as well.

I have plenty of time to think about this since LBC is gone and I still have not decided what to do about comic binds moving forward. I really want to get my Green Lantern volume bound to look the same.

Comic Binding: Green Lantern #7

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 11:56:00 +0000

So even though I don't know when I will be able to get more comics bound due to the LBC buy-out, I continue to prep and work on some concept ideas. Below is my first thoughts for volume seven of my Green Lantern binds which would be the start of Blackest Night. I love the white contrast in this cover image and the fact that we are talking Blackest Night but there is great use of negative white imagery. If I go this route I will still need to chase down the artist and get his permission first but nonetheless it looks good for now.

I am also looking at making Blackest Night a two volume bind. That will mean that the first volume is 25 issues and the second volume is 24 issues. To this point I have not done any larger than 21 issues so I have to make sure I am comfortable with the size aspect.

Comic Binding: Green Lantern #4, 5 and 6

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Tue, 25 May 2010 12:46:00 +0000

So there is good news and bad news when it comes to my upcoming "planned" binds. The idea was to do three more Green Lantern binds and then start on Savage Dragon with three binds for that series. Well I have planned out the binds for the three Green Lantern binds and I am really happy with how they turned out, consistent with what I have done to this point. That is all the good news. The bad news is that LBC, the bindery in Waco TX that I used for my first binds, has been sold and closed their doors last week. UGH. It is now a wait and see game to figure out what I need to do from here. I really wanted all of my binds for specific series to look the same but now it looks like I will need to find a new bindery. It is also not that common for people to offer the custom cover option that let's you design you own covers, not to mention that LBC was very VERY reasonable with their pricing.

Regardless, here are the next three planned volumes....

ShadowHawk #5 FINAL

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Wed, 19 May 2010 11:53:00 +0000

So all of the characters have now been correctly identified (thanks to a little help from Jim Valentino)

ShadowHawk #5 Cover

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Mon, 17 May 2010 13:31:00 +0000

Homage covers are always so much fun but in this case the real fun was picking out all of the characters....

EDIT: a few more have been identified...

Comic Binding: Savage Dragon #1 and #2

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:06:00 +0000

So I continue to work my way through the designs for the first several Savage Dragon books that I plan to send off to be bound in the next 30-45 days. After a couple of experiments I have come up with what I think is my choice for volume one. I was already pretty much set on my idea for volume two because I always loved this cover from the series.
Now I will let these sit for a couple of days and come back to them and see if they are still good to go. If they are then I will start prepping the issues associated with each of these binds.

Comic Binding: Savage Dragon #1 (version 2.2)

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:50:00 +0000

I got a lot of feedback about Jimbo being on the cover so prominent and Dragon's back being to the reader on the cover. I might still go with that image but I wanted to take those comments into consideration and decided to try another idea. I went with two different size Dragon's on this one and actually am playing with the colors.

I still need to play around with this idea a little more and see if I like it or will stick with my original.

Comic Binding: Savage Dragon #1 (version 2.1)

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Fri, 07 May 2010 06:03:00 +0000

I decided to go back to one of my original concepts for the Savage Dragon cover and finally see what it looked like fully executed. I wanted to put some of the cover images of faces blown up and then add a BIG Dragon image punching something from one of the actual covers. In addition I tried two different concepts with the background images on the cover. On one I faded out the images to make the front image really prominent and on the other I left the colors at full saturation. I am going to let these sit for a few days and then come back and revisit my thoughts.... but I welcome yours.

Before I get too far down the line with the designs I think I need to write out my complete map because at 20 issues per volume I only made it to issue #13 in the first volume... this is going to be a BIG project.

Organization Is The Key

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Thu, 06 May 2010 16:00:00 +0000

For anyone that has seen High Fidelity with John Cusack there is a scene with him organizing his record collection... for the millionth time. Well some of us do that with comics....

Comic Binding: Savage Dragon #1 (version 3)

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Tue, 04 May 2010 20:13:00 +0000

Well with the first binds in house I have to say I am pretty darn happy. I have been reading my Noble Causes collection and it sure is easy and convenient to just grab a volume off of the shelf. With that in mind I am planning my next large binding project. I still have four or five issues of Green Lantern's current run to bind but after that I am going to focus on Savage Dragon (as I have shown before).

The below is my third attempt at coming up with a cover for this volume.

I just need to decide early on if I am going to try and keep a consistent trade dressing through all of the volumes or if I am just going to mix it up. That will ultimately decide how I proceed.

Christmas in July.....err April

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:23:00 +0000

So I got home last night to find a nice sized box waiting for me in my office. I was like a kid as Christmas as I carefully tore into the surprise knowing what awaited me on the inside. Pardon my bad photography (and flash reflection) but here are the first three volumes of my Green Lantern binds and the complete Noble Causes binds

I am pretty excited how these turned out, especially considering the fact I chose the more economical option on my binding solutions.

Ships Ahoy

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:51:00 +0000

So I got an e-mail and phone call on Tuesday that my six binds were done. They should arrive today so hopefully I can get some pictures and post them here tomorrow or over the weekend. I have heard some great things from people about binds they got and then one person gave his an average rating so it will be interesting.

In other news I need to (1) stop buying back issues on ebay and (2) start planning my next set of binds. I know what I want to do but I need to get moving on scanning some covers to do more custom covers. I also need to give my pull list a good hard look. I am getting sucked into too many books right now for sure :-(

Still Waiting

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 16:53:00 +0000

Eager and impatient to hear that my binds are complete from LBC. This pretty much is me right now....

Future Binding Projects

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:09:00 +0000

So assuming that my first binds come back and are as cool as heck, which I am really crossing my fingers hoping that they will be, I am looking into my binding future. Below is my high level thought process of what projects I might work on in the coming months and into the end of the year.

Already Sent:
Noble Causes - 3 volumes
Green Lantern (05) - 3 volumes

Future Plans:
Green Lantern (05) - volumes 4 thru 8
Savage Dragon - 8 volumes
Green Lantern (90) - 3 volumes
Brigade - 2 volumes
Outsiders - 2 volumes
FreakForce - 1 volume
StormWatch - 5 volumes
Batman and the Outsiders - 2 volumes

Other series that I am also highly considering sliding into the order and rotation would include Deathblow, Backlash, Battle of the Planets, The Authority, Flash (87), Brit, and Shadowhawk. I really would love to do The Maxx but I am missing 3/4 of the series and I am trying to get away from chasing too many back issues right now.

Cleaning Up My Mess

noreply@blogger.com (michaeljsmith) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:47:00 +0000

I put all of my comics in my office for the time being, 13 long boxes and comics all over my desk. I recently purchased some book shelves to put them on the shelves for easy access. It is apparent that for every comic I get rid of there 100 that I buy..... AHHHHHHH

Pictures to come sometime in the future.