Max Riffner

The Parlor

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Cthulhu Versus The Holy Terror

Okay, everyone’s positive comments convinced me to make my Lil’ Terror sketch into the actual pinup for the new Holy Terror collection. Here’s my final piece. You can click on the image to see it bigger in another window:

This was a fun look to go for; it meant pouring through old wrestling posters from the 1960s. Once I thought of a suitable adversary for The Holy Terror to fight, one that might actually scare him (and really, giant old gods should scare the hell out of anyone), it was a simple matter of laying out the type and aging it appropriately. Thanks to the folks who commented and convinced me to do this, and thanks to my buddy Christian who helped me get the actual illustration right.

Little Terror

My friend and fellow Shocktraumanaut Jason Caskey asked me to do a pinup for the release of the new Holy Terror collection from Desperado. It is about a wrestler who gets a mask possessing supernatural powers. I warmed up with this sketch while watching LSU kick the hell out of Ohio State in the National Championship game (it’s only the third quarter though – much can change). I was going to draw him surrounded by demons, but then thought it was a little too cutesy for the book. Maybe I’ll go back to it. Either way, I thought I’d share.

(Woo! Just noticed – the ID for this post in the database is 666! How appropriate!)

Go Easy, Bro!

I survived the 24 Hour Comics Day event of 2007, and now you can read the fruits of my overcaffeinated labor. Go Easy, Bro! is about a werewolf with taste issues, and a sea creature barman who wishes he could just get back to his writing.

I’ve read through it a few times now. It’s weird, looking at it outside of an insane production pace. I feel like I could probably re-tell this story in about 7 pages with more backgrounds and less big panels. Overall, though, I’m happy with the excercise. I worked out the plot first between 12pm and 1:20pm on Saturday (with my handy-dandy copy of 20 Master Plots), then the first 7 pages (the best 7, in my opinion) were all done in about an hour a piece. As it became more clear that I needed to speed up, I started just penciling the pages so I could get the whole story down on paper at least. I didn’t get done with that until about 7am, which was mainly from trying to figure out my pacing and plotting. After 7am, it was a mad dash for lettering and inking. I finished at 11:57am on Sunday; I had only three minutes left.

I did it though.

Every so often I think I get into a rut, where I start letting myself feel bad about the sort of work I do. Eventually I spiral out of doing anything, making me feel worse. This excercise helped get my back on track, let me feel good about my art again. I’ve impressed myself with such a rushed effort, and I’ve been telling myself “just imagine what you can do when you have time?”

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