(Click on the image to see it bigger.)

(Description of image: Photo of a row of individually-wrapped string cheese snacks. On each snack, a short message is written in red marker. The messages are: “Is your name KRIS?,” “I bite back!,” “POISON,” “Price: $800,” “Not tasty,” “Eat at Your Own Risk,” “Grrrrrrrr…,” something that I can’t make out at all, and finally, “I know where you work.”)

A drawing-in-progress of Mirka from Hereville book 2. I had a lot of trouble with her left foot — not so much drawing it as finding the right angle to draw it at. Those are three of the rejects there on the upper left.

Also, I initially drew Mirka with two right hands. Fortunately, Jake (my studio-mate, creator of the runaway webcomic hit Modest Medusa and Hereville’s colorist) pointed out the problem. Sadly, even after Jake pointed it out, I couldn’t see it; it took him a couple of minutes to convince me.

Thanks, Adrian!

So far no comments have been left, so the odds of winning are looking good. The contest runs until January 22nd. Thanks, Knitter’s Home Companion! KHC is a blog about knitting and kid’s books, so you can see that Hereville fits right in with their themes.

Jenn let me contribute a blurb to Dicebox. Here’s what I wrote:

Molly and Griffen are blue-collar workers in space looking for work and avoiding past mistakes. Jenn Manley Lee’s unique brand of science fiction — part slice of life, part travelogue — is daring, refreshing, whip-smart, and gloriously entertaining.

And Scott McCloud’s blurb:

In Jenn Manley Lee’s elegant pages, the mysteries of the universe are matched by the mysteries of the human mind. Dicebox is science fiction done right.

The book also includes a short Dicebox story written and drawn by me, years ago. (I’m kind of embarrassed by my old artwork, to be honest, but Jenn says she likes it.)

Dicebox is available as a hardcover, a softcover, and a very affordable pdf — all three versions are for sale at Jenn’s store. A warning, though: The book does have a little sex and a little swearing, so probably for grown-ups only.

(Click on the drawing to see it full sized!)

On her tumblr, Emma writes:

Mirka’s a fantastic character and it was so fun to draw her in my style. Also from now on I should just have all my characters dress this way (besides Chapel). LONG SKIRTS AND LONG SLEEVES COVER UP ALL ANATOMY SINS, I tell you!

She’s on to my secret. :-p

She also writes that Hereville “reads kind of like a Miyazaki movie, if Miyazaki was Jewish and had Terry Pratchett’s sense of humor.” I have yet to get into Pratchett (I’m sure I will someday), but I’m a huge Miyazaki fan, so I consider that a very high compliment.

Thanks, Emma!

Then, Saturday and Sunday, I’ll be at the Mid-Ohio Comic Book Con. I’ll be at table 1013; please come and say “hi” if you’re there.

It’s still not finished — there will to be two versions, a hand-inked version that will be auctioned for charity as part of Women of Wonder Day, and a computer-colored print — but I kind of like the clean look of the line art.

From left to right, the characters at the table are Katherine Kane (the original 1950s Batwoman), Betty Kane (the original 1950s Batgirl, Katherine’s niece), Robin (Stephanie Brown), Spoiler (Stephanie Brown), Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Batgirl (Stephanie Brown), Oracle (Barbara Gordon), Batgirl (Cassandra Cain), Batwoman (Kate Kane), Huntress (Helena Wayne), Robin (Carrie Kelly), Black Bat (Cassandra Cain), and Batgirl (Charlotte “Charlie” Gage-Radcliffe, aka Misfit). In the background is Robin (Rochelle Wayne) sitting on a robot dinosaur; Blackbat (Barbara Hardy) on the giant rook; and Robin (Trish Plover) flying near the ceiling. And the dog in the foreground is Ace, the Bat-Hound.