Dead Man Holiday

I used to work at a now defunct ComicPlus. I remember it was just over 10 years ago when Colin Panetta's mother dropped him off at the comic shop where I met him for the first time. She would ask me not to feed him or remove his helmet. He showed me his work pretty quickly and I was unsure what to say to him because I have never critiqued another artist's work before. One thing I will say is that I remember his work vividly. I've seen Mr. Panetta's drawings evolve into something totally expected. Which, in many industries could be seen as an insult. But he had a style early on and he has totally stayed with it and added just the right amount of subtle finesse to guide it to a level of maturity that's only going to get better. It's something I'm envious of because I can't seem to settle on one style myself. And here's this whippersnapper with style to spare. And he seems to know how to control it. Makes me wonder if he is still required to where a helmet indoors.

I don't illustrate much anymore, let alone offer up blog entries.
Now I have a reason to post. Because it's related to some of the most recent work I've done that's in the comic industry. And it's in a book by a friend of mine.

It's a comic created, written, drawn and managed by the beforementioned Colin Panetta. It is called Dead Man Holiday. This is a comic that should feel like a labor of love, from what I know of Colin, but it doesn't read like one. If something could be called obscurely familiar and methodically accidental, then I believe this could be the one book that pulls it off. I'm not going to list hints of story development or lightly expose character conflicts. What I am going to do is tell you that if Philip K. Dick and David Lynch had a picnic lunch of intrigue sandwiches and used the comic Wasteland as a blanket to eat upon, then Colin Panetta would be the ant walking off with the best part. He should be very proud.*

I was asked to draw a splash page in the book after I was given a few pages of sequence. This was about 6 months ago, maybe more. I'm not going to display it here on the Dawlism blog. It was intended for Dead Man Holiday and if you would like to see it you should buy the book. Or steal it. It's a good buy.

That is all. Please continue nibbling on your sandwiches made of intrigue.

-good day, sir.

-The Dawl.

* Colin Panetta is not really an insect. But he has been known to steal food.