The Bullpen

[zack kruse]

I THINK there are some dudes here who are aware of this, but I wanted to share.

Last Spring, I started a collective for comic book writers and artists here in Fort Wayne.  There are quite a few of us in the area and I thought it would be a good idea for us to get together, share insights, drink beer, pool resources, help promote one another, critique one another, and so on. So far, it’s been a success for us.

You may not know it, but not only is Fort Wayne my home, the home of the Summit City Comic Con, and DCBS, it’s the hometown of comic book legends like Gray Morrow and Denys Cowan (although Denys is technically from Wabash--but that may as well be Fort Wayne). It’s also home to Alliance Game distributors (one of the largest gaming distributors and branch of Diamond Comics) and one of the annual Diamond Retailer Summits—and a whole mess of smaller gaming, anime, and comic shows.

In a city of less than 300,000 we have four, FOUR, healthy comic shops, just as many gaming stores, and a collectible toy store. Really, that’s quite a few for the relative size of our city. As recently as 4-5 years ago there were even more comic shops than that.

Believe it or not, Fort Wayne is actually a pretty great place to be if you’re a geek in the Midwest.

So along with the convention, Summit City Ink, is kinda my baby and one more little thing I wanted to do to try and give back to my community and the comics community.

Last week on the Summit City Ink blog, we started doing a weekly sketch challenge that, top to bottom, we stole from the ComicTwart guys. Every week one of us chooses a subject and then everyone else does a sketch for it—it can be a quick sketch or something that you put a lot of time into. There are also sketches from shlubs like me who can hardly draw at all and really should spend most of their time behind a keyboard (so don’t judge my smears and scratches too harshly).

If you have a free moment, please do swing by the blog and check out what the guys and I are up to.

http://summitcityink.blogspot.com

[zack kruse]

Sketch Challenge: Greedo

Sketch Challenge: Lieutenant Columbo

[Jay Tomio]

I LOVE Gray Morrow.

[zack kruse]

I LOVE Gray Morrow.

Me too

[Lawrence]

Thats very cool thing you guys have going. Cant wait to see more and to meet all you crazys at Summit City!

[Andrew Tom]

Also, you might notice that there are a significant amount of Summit City Ink members that are members of the forum here. 

All in the family...y'all.   

--Andy

[Jeppe]

Thanks for sharing this, Zack. Some great talent there. I loved looking through the Greedo submissions, and Kyle Latino's version kicked ASS!  I would hang that on my wall  

[zack kruse]

Thats very cool thing you guys have going. Cant wait to see more and to meet all you crazys at Summit City!

We'll see you there!

Also, you might notice that there are a significant amount of Summit City Ink members that are members of the forum here. 

All in the family...y'all.   

Science.

Thanks for sharing this, Zack. Some great talent there. I loved looking through the Greedo submissions, and Kyle Latino's version kicked ASS!  I would hang that on my wall 

Yeah. Kyle's always kick ass...

[zack kruse]

This is gonna be a fun one:

Sketch Challenge: Jesus

[john_k]

+1 follower!

[Bluenote77]

Ok, I've decided that I'm going to have to try and get to Summit City Con. I'm in St.Louis, but I have relatives that live in Kokomo. I've gonna have to talk to the wife about this one.

[Andrew Tom]

Ok, I've decided that I'm going to have to try and get to Summit City Con. I'm in St.Louis, but I have relatives that live in Kokomo. I've gonna have to talk to the wife about this one.

Blue' I'm looking forward to meeting you since I missed you at C2E2.   

[Vernson]

This is gonna be a fun one:

Sketch Challenge: Jesus

Ha!  Scioli Jesus!

Karma!

[Jeppe]

This is gonna be a fun one:

Sketch Challenge: Jesus

Haha, brilliant! Best challenge ever 

[zack kruse]

Ok, I've decided that I'm going to have to try and get to Summit City Con. I'm in St.Louis, but I have relatives that live in Kokomo. I've gonna have to talk to the wife about this one.

Woo-hoo!

[zack kruse]

Ha!  Scioli Jesus!

Karma!

Thank yew!

[Bluenote77]

Well.....after talking to the wife this morning, she ever so gently reminded me that June 18 is my nephew's birthday. Oh, and it's our anniversary. But, she didn't say no either...the saga continous.

[Andrew Tom]

Well.....after talking to the wife this morning, she ever so gently reminded me that June 18 is my nephew's birthday. Oh, and it's our anniversary. But, she didn't say no either...the saga continous.

I'm using the, "It's Father's day weekend and what Dad (me) really wants to do is spend the day at Summit City Comic Con with my pals." excuse.

 

--Andy

[Bluenote77]

What's funny about that is that was the first thing she brought up was that it's Father's Day. In which I replied, "sweet, there's my gift." But what funny was I could watch her thoughts happen as I could tell she realized that it's all those other things as well.

But like I said, she hasn't said no.

It looks like a very cool show, I wanna go.