To read Witch Doctor: First Incision, click here.

Rantz Hoseley, creator of Vix!, Displaced Persons and editor of Tori Amos’ Comic Book Tattoo anthology from Image, had some very kind things to say about Witch Doctor

Witch Doctor is the kind of comics we need more of: Witty, self-aware, intelligent stories that acknowledge where comics have been while confidently striding into the future.

Each page is a treasure, with lush, evocative art punctuated by razor sharp dialogue by iconic, yet unique characters. This intoxicating chemistry spins together in a dizzying blend that jolts and revives a genre that many would dismiss as being strip-mined of any potential.

If you’re not reading Witch Doctor, I have no recourse but to seriously question your taste in comics.

Damn. Thanks Rantz!

In other Witch Doctor news… there is no Witch Doctor news. Yet. I’m working on the script for Witch Doctor: Second Incision (which should come out this fall, and is tentatively titled “Haunted Housecall”), and Lukas has been doing some re-designs of our cast based on feedback we got on First Incision and our own revised thoughts on what we’re making. Hopefully we’ll have some real news soon! Thanks everybody who’s read our book and cheered us on!

Saturday, June 7 (tomorrow!) is the 2008 Olympia Comics Festival in Olympia, Washing — and Witch Doctor will be there!

I’m actually here already. Olympia’s one of the place that’s near and dear to my heart (because it’s very, very strange), and Lukas will be joining me tomorrow. We’ve only got 20 copies of the first printing of First Incision left, so come get one early! The Cartoonists’ Expo (the standard “comics convention room-full-of-tables”) will be held at The Vault from noon to 5 pm, and admission is free!

We’ll be sharing a table with Tony Morgan of Gunbaby Graphics, creator of the awesome, dark graphic novel Chicken Leg Bone Boy. Tony was one of my favorite artists in my hometown (Fairbanks, Alaska), and I had no idea he lived in Portland until I ran into him at the Stumptown Comics Fest in April. It’s a small coast! If you like Witch Doctor, you should definitely check out Chicken Leg Bone Boy too.

- Brandon
Eating pizza in the Spar, Olympia

Witch Doctor: First Incision is currently available for purchase at Floating World Comics (corner of NW 5th and Couch, across from Upper Playground) in Portland.

And if you’re in Seattle during the Emerald City Comic Con this weekend, you can get a copy too — just not at the Con. Lukas and I didn’t manage to score a table — so I’ll be selling it on a nearby street corner instead.

I will personally be standing on the corner of Pike and 8th Ave (on the far side of Pike from the Convention Center) to give you your Comic Fix at the following times:

Saturday: 4 and 5 pm; possibly 1 pm if I’ve made it to town by then
Sunday: Noon, 4 pm

Each time I’ll be out there for about 15 minutes, because I’ve got a convention to attend! So to keep you updated, I’m letting people subscribe to my Twitter for the weekend, and I’ll be posting to it when I’m on the corner. Not the easiest way to peddle my wares, but shrug. What can you do? Dance?

You’re invited to the official release party for Witch Doctor: First Incision this Thursday, May 1st, at Floating World Comics (NW 5th and Couch, across from Upper Playground and kittycorner from Just Be/Compound and Backspace) from 6-10 pm.

It’s a conjoined release party for Witch Doctor and new local publications Diamond Comics and Capture Release, and will also feature a reading and slide show presentation by France’s Christophe Blain (Isaac the Pirate) and T. Edward Bak (Service Industry).

You should especially swing by if you missed us at Stumptown Comics Fest, or if you picked up the book at Stumptown and liked what you read.

Here’s a couple photos from Stumptown, taken by Paperback Reader’s wonderfully nice Derek M. Koch, who stayed up late the first night of the con to write a positively gushing review of our first issue. For me, that was one of those moments that made the whole con worthwhile — and we had lots of those!

That’s me in the homemade “Keep Sunnydale Weird” shirt. Yes, I’m a geek. If you couldn’t tell from the whole, um, comic writer thing.

And there’s Lukas, backed by some of his gorgeous and amazing art.

It’s 1:30 in the morning here in Portland. Witch Doctor: First Incision has been online for 24 hours. In that time we’ve had 360 people read our comic (pretty good for a site that averaged 10-15 people a day!), we’ve gotten written about on a local media blog and SFFWorld, plugged by comics creator Eric Palicki, and posted on the Scans Daily Livejournal community.

And then there’s the fan art.

FAN ART?

Yes, fan art! From Jimmie Robinson, creator of the excellent Shadowline/Image series Bomb Queen. Jimmie sent us a GORGEOUS sketch of Penny he did tonight!

I’ve gotta say, I’m floored. But you know what else is amazing? The coloring job Mark Sweeney, colorist of Warren Ellis’ Black Summer and the forthcoming Image anthology Comic Book Tattoo, did of the black and white version of First Incision’s cover! (But the most amazing thing of all is that Mark sent me this a couple weeks ago, and I’m only now getting around to posting it! I’m so sorry Mark! You should’ve seen the look on Lukas’ face today when I mentioned that I still hadn’t shared it. I meant to post it last week as a T-minus-one-week teaser, and lost track of time!)

 
24 hours in, and fan art already. From creators I respect and admire. Amazing.