Beachland Ad

Just a quick post today. I've got some more posters and some things to post tomorrow, but I just wanted to get this up before I got lost in the work on my desk, or the hyper-fun that is cleaning the studio.

This is an ad for the Beachland Ballroom & Tavern I recently drew for The Lake Erie Monster comic book. I really liked drawing this. It's a cleaner, more simple style, with the limited palette: three tones of the same earthy brown color and that green.

There's a archive of all the ads Jake Kelly and I drew for The Lake Erie Monster over at the site, HERE.

The Lake Erie Monster #1 Available NOW!

Just a quick note to all those that haven't yet seen this posted over on thelakeeriemonster.com, the first issue of The Lake Erie Monster is now available for order online in the Shiner Comics Store! Also available is The Lake Erie Monster Movie Poster, and a smattering of other gems. There's only one copy left of Jake Kelly's Spacefighter Z comic UPDATE: Spacefighter Z is SOLD OUT!, but there are plenty of Stormbringer Preview Mini-Comics.

Another note, I only have 3 Skeletonwitch posters left, but I do have more All Dinosaurs posters from the video premier show. I also dropped the prices of the two 6 x 9 drawings I have available, FUR and BUDS are each now only 20 bones. Get them while they're still LUKEWARM.

UPDATE: I added Jake Kelly's KING KONG Poster to the store, we got 5 of them left!

The Lake Erie Mosnter #1 Release Party TONIGHT!

Firstly, Jake Kelly and I have a new website, thelakeeriemonster.com! Which is the main site for our new ongoing quarterly horror anthology comic book, oddly enough, titled The Lake Erie Monster. The first issue is finally ready to hit the streets, so we're throwing a release party. Here's the announcement, as it was posted over on thelakeeriemonster.com:

Announcement for the Release of The Lake Erie Monster #1, the new comic book by John G and Jake Kelly

A little over a year ago, local artists John G and Jake Kelly collaborated on an art show called TEN IMAGINARY MOVIES. For the show Jake created ten full size posters for made up films: z-grade horror flicks, 70's sci-fi trash and giant monster movies. John was responsible for creating the phony ephemera that heightened the illusion of reality: movie stills, VHS boxes, action figures and comic book adaptations.

The fake comic book adaptations were for the Cleveland-set THE LAKE ERIE MONSTER, and once the show was over the pair decided to continue their collaboration and turn this imaginary comic book adaptation, of an imaginary film, into a reality. Jake scripted a toxic waste monster story set in 1970's era Cleveland and John created appropriately dark and compelling artwork. They are serializing the epic tale over the fist five issues of the ongoing series, each also containing brand new supplemental horror stories by the artists. The result is a Rust-Belt horror anthology, complete with a cackling host (a zombified Commodore Perry) and presented in full, eye-gouging color.

To celebrate the release of the first issue, the duo are having a party at BLUE ARROW RECORDS (16001 Waterloo Rd.) on Saturday, March 31st from 6-9pm. There will be a limited edition art print for the first 30 who buy the book. John Neely (of "the BIG O" radio show, as heard on 89.3 WCSB) will be spinning Cleveland and greater Ohio punk rock records.

The Lake Erie Monster #1 will be available in area stores and for mail order online at the Shiner Comics Store in April.

For further information or preview pages contact:
John G: jgritty@gmail.com
Jake Kelly: coloredcondor@yahoo.com
Website: thelakeeriemonster.com

Those are the details. If you're in Cleveland TONIGHT, please come out, hang with us, buy a copy of the comic, a poster, listen to some jams, shop for records and old magazines and paperbacks. Maybe mosey over to the boutique and check out some fancy vintage clothes and jewelry. We'll be getting some pizzas, some punches (spiked and un-spiked)(it's first come first serve so get there early).



This is the cover. We did release a black and white version of this comic in November at the last Genghis Con. However, there were only 50, and they were gone that day.

The version we're releasing this evening is the "official", full color, version. It features a bit more content than that Genghis Con version, including a bunch of original ads we created specifically for the book (which you can check out over at our Advertiser Archive on thelakeeriemonster.com. We're also offering a free poster for the first 30 people that buy the book tonight, as well as stickers and buttons and all kinds of other stuff!

I've got a couple other updates to post soon, so stay tuned. Tomorrow is April 1, so all new Melt specials for you and all your fancy friends!

Full Melt Pager

This is the Melt ad for the Best Of issue of Scene Magazine, which appeared all over the Cleveland area this week. This is kind of a departure from our usual bigger full page ads that have traditionally been one big image. However, I think this still has the same feel and unique qualities of the overall Melt visual style, and it pushes what we've been doing in a new direction without completely abandoning the way we've done things in the past.

This was something I never would have done had I not just spent a good part of the last few months putting together ads for The Lake Erie Monster #1. I just recently created an Advertiser Archive for the ads Jake Kelly and I designed for the first issue over on our website, thelakeeriemonster.com.

Here's the ad I drew for Melt featured in the comic:



As you can see, it's a riff on the old Hostess ads from older comics. The Lake Erie Monster is an ongoing quarterly comic, so you can expect many more adventures from The L'il Big Cheese Club!

Spacefighter Z Comic by J. Kelly

Five copies of Spacefighter Z, Part One: The Final Report of The Dolly Five by J. Kelly are now available at the Shiner Comics Store. If you missed it's debut at this year's Genghis Con, now's your chance to get a copy of this sci-fi/horror masterwork!

Here's the first three pages:




For those new to the Spacefighter Z concept, it's part of the pantheon of ideas known as the Ten Imaginary Movies series of posters painted by J. Kelly. This series spawned an art exhibit where I, John G, created a multitude of fake ephemera for these imaginary films. This is the same project that our new horror comics anthology, The Lake Erie Monster, came from (more info on that, SOON!).

You can see more about the Ten Imaginary Movies at Kelly's blog, Pave The Ocean!

We'll be posting the Ten Imaginary Movies Poster Set in the Shiner Comics Store soon, so keep that interweb tuner clicked in right here for the latest signal broadcast faxes!

The Lake Erie Monster #1

Sometimes we do great things. The Lake Erie Monster #1, an all new comic by myself and J. Kelly, is debuting at Genghis Con this Saturday, November 26th, 2011 AD, at the Beachland Ballroom. The issue is 24 pages of black and white comics with a color cover, for a mere five bones.

I'll be posting more about my Genghis Con set-up later, but hopefully before the show! Stay Tuned!