I really wanted to try to get one more issue of the comic out before the end of the year, which has been quite a feat considering how challenging this year has been so far.

In this issue, I am introducing a new character and bringing back an original to tie up some loose ends that may have been here and there in the long history of the Grizzly-verse. This issue has some flashbacks of past issues. Instead of redrawing those images, I've elected to select images from the colored artwork (sans lettering) of past issues to place in the current one. It's been a great way to go back through past issues and get a bit re-acquainted with the older stories.

So I hope you all enjoy Issue 38 - Evil By Design. You can get to the issue by clicking the cover below:

My mother used to sit for hours and hours crocheting while watching television. Often she was crocheting a new blanket with a new pattern, or just burning through some scrap yarn to make something random. Either way, it was usually amazingly beautiful as my mom had serious creative talents. It kept her mind occupied and her hands busy.

I completely understand that thought process. I often do my comic book for the same reason. Creative outlets are relaxing, especially in stressful times (like now).

I finished the final edit last night and posted Issue 37 today. I love the feeling of getting an issue done. This issue has been oddly fun, as some of the panels turned out far better than I expected, if I do say so myself. I'm happy with the final result, especially the cover. There is something so pleasing about drawing Grizzly and then coloring it.

I hope you enjoy Issue 37 - "Wrestling Demons." You can read the whole issue by clicking the cover below.


Grizzly & The Bear Patrol #37 - Wrestling Demons

Questions, comments, or criticisms? Hit me with them. :)

One of the few things that has given me some solace this week was working on this comic book. There is an artistic concept called flow that I experience often. Wikipedia worded the definition so well, I'm going to post it:

"Flow in positive psychology, also known colloquially as being in the zone or locked in, is the mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by the complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting transformation in one's sense of time. Flow is the melting together of action and consciousness; the state of finding a balance between a skill and how challenging that task is. It requires a high level of concentration. Flow is used as a coping skill for stress and anxiety when productively pursuing a form of leisure that matches one's skill set."

I've had some great moments of this lately, and it's definitely helped with my stress levels.

Last night, I got Issue 36 of "Grizzly and The Bear Patrol" finished. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to post it this weekend, but I got lucky and things fell into place. You can read the full issue by clicking on the cover below. I hope you enjoy Issue 36 - "Relative Discord."




Questions, comments, or criticisms? Hit me with them. :)

Last night, I finished up the latest issue of "Grizzly and Bear Patrol." I had tried to upload the issue to the journal, but the system kept locking up after getting a few pages in, so I had to give up.

I've been working on this one for a few months, due to work and other delays, but I will say that I'm pretty happy with the end result. You can read the full issue by clicking on the cover below.

I've been working on this issue for several months at this point. I was looking forward to taking a week off to finish this, but the looming government shutdown put the plans to take off on hold. So I've been doing a page a night or so until I got it done.

I'm pleased with the outcome to be honest. Where last issue had several Bear Patrollers take a back seat, I put those heroes in the forefront this issue. I think folks will get a chuckle out of some pages. Issue notes are attached to the last page.



( Issue 34 - Possession of Malice/To Werk and To ServeCollapse )

Questions, comments, criticism -- just let me know.

After a LOT of work, I finally got this issue done. It's not that I dreaded working on it, but my day job has been very overwhelming of late. I was lucky to draw or ink or color a single page a night. I'm very pleased how this issue turned out though. Notes about the issue are on the last page. I hope you all enjoy it.



( Issue 33 - Hunting for BearCollapse )

Questions, comments, criticism -- just let me know.

In the dream, I was visiting an Irish Pub while traveling in Ireland. I was a regular as the bar owner knew me. For some reason, the owner had left me in charge of the bar the next day. I didn't work there, just was a regular, but I knew some of the routines.

The next day came and I was trying to balance the till. There wasn't a specific amount to keep, but I wanted to see how much money was in it before I got started. It was a mess. There was a lot of coins, but very few bills, which didn't strike me as odd since the Irish is on the Euro with €1 and €2 coins. Also in the till was a growing bill from a specific individual whose tickets were in the thousands and a few $20 bills from the States.

Instead of doing the counting behind the bar, I was at one of the other tables trying to make heads or tails out of the various forms of payment. One of the guys in the bar at that time was complaining that I was taking up valuable real estate in the bar (which was huge, so there was plenty of room). The bartender told him to f*ck off because I was in charge that day.

One guy was getting pretty wasted early in the day and decided that he didn't like me being in charge. The drunk was getting loud and obnoxious and finally got up in my space to tell me his views on me. The owner had taught me how to deal with this situation. I stood up, let the drunk take a swing at me, and then I flattened his nose. The drunk went down cold and knocked out. I grabbed him by the belt and dragged him out of the bar.

The bar was part of a preservation site apparently, with tourists walking through the different parts of the site. I dragged the drunk though all the tourists, many of whom didn't flinch at the sight, making me think they had see this before. I took him into the courtyard, leaned him against a stone wall, and left him.

I then remembered that I left the money on the table. I hurried back to the bar, hoping that the bartender had kept an eye on it. And that's when the alarm went off to wake me.

Ugh! That first day back to work after being off for the holidays is ROUGH! I managed to get through it all, but I'm already looking forward to the weekend.

I managed to count my found money jar for 2022. The total was nothing outstanding and it seemed to follow less than the average, if I exclude the one double-digit outlier. If the missing value from 2019 was the average, I'd have found over $50 since I started doing this.

This issue was a long-time coming. My last Bear Patrol issue was back in June 2021. I did take a break to do the Halloween "Grisly" comic, but I was eager to get back to the characters I love to create. There were a lot of setbacks in trying to get this issue done, including abandoning the previous story and several already penciled pages to restart anew. You can read more about that in the "Notes Page" toward the end. In addition, since the last issue, I have gotten a new computer which required me to download the newest version of the Comic Life software I use for panels and lettering. I know the software designers move things to make functions more user friendly, but sometimes it's like they are hiding them. Still, I eventually figured it out. I hope you enjoy this latest issue.



( Issue 32 - Fear The ReaperCollapse )

Questions, comments, criticisms - I welcome them all, just send me a reply below or a message privately.

Lately, I have been enjoying horror comics. They are usually in black and white, printed on newsprint, and often have more than one story in them. After the last issue of "Grizzly and The Bear Patrol," I decided that I wanted to give a horror comic a try. Coloring them in black and white saved me a lot of time and, having three different stories, I created them in stages, finishing each story completely before starting the next installment.

Loving horror movies like I do, it took some time for me to pick the stories. I selected these three from the six or seven possibilities I drafted. So there may be a second issue in the future.

These are a bit more adult than the Bear Patrol comics, but not so adult that I think most of my usual comic readers will be offended.

So, enjoy "Grisly #1"...



( Grisly #1Collapse )


Questions, comments, criticisms - I welcome them all, just send me a reply below or a message privately.