Hacker's Guide: The SEQUEL

With the Winter Olympics gearing up tonight, golf is probably the last sport on people's minds. But take heart: the snow will eventually melt, and soon you'll be traveling all around the Minnesota and Western Wisconsin region, wondering which golf course to check out. That's where Bruce Stasch and his popular Hacker's Guide comes in. He's introducing a fat new addition to the Hacker's Guide series, and Zander and I designed the cover and the illustrations. Here are a few art samples, but check out the book for more. And consider PREORDERING a copy -- it's the perfect book to keep in your car along with your Hudson Map and the first Hacker's Guide.

Tim McNiff is Touching Our Book!

Check out this fun interview with KARE11's Tim McNiff and local Head Hacker Bruce Stasch. This past winter Zander and I worked with Bruce to create the Hacker character & identity, and eventually produced the cover design and some spot illustrations for Hacker's Guide.

Click the image below to watch Bruce explain why 80% of all Minnesota golfers should have this book sitting in the back seat of their car:



Just a few weeks ago I was stumbling around Barnes & Noble and saw a big golf-themed table display with Hacker's Guide sitting front and center! Ego boosts are fun.

hackersguides.com

Books Are In!

It's always fun to get back-to-back packages of books in the mail.

The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA



First up is The Stuff of Life, the science graphic novel that we illustrated and Mark Schultz wrote. There was a small printing snafu, which meant that the December 23 run of the book had to get pulped! The reprinted version came out officially on January 23. If you're in New York next week, get a signed copy from Zander!

Zander and I started working on The Stuff of Life back in 2006, so it's pretty exciting to finally have the finished product in our hands. Stuff marks the beginning of an era -- it's our first graphic novel drawn entirely with the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen -- and also the end of an era -- it's the last graphic novel we'll do with hand-lettering on the boards. This is due to the publisher's need to be able to make last-minute text changes in InDesign. Our next book, T-Minus (coming out in May) uses several original fonts based on my hand-writing. Our hope is that you, the reader, won't be able to tell the difference.

Hacker's Guide



Next up is Hacker's Guide, a down to earth and very detailed guidebook of every metro-area golf course. Not a graphic novel, per se, but Zander and I created a "Hacker" character, and did the logo, cover design and packaging, and created several illustrations and logos that are used inside the book.

Hacker's Guide may seem like a random project to work on, but it's actually closely connected to the local comics scene. The book is the brainchild of Bruce Stasch, who is an in-law of Lars Martinson. Lars, of course, is an extraordinary cartoonist whose Tonoharu: Part One came out from Top Shelf last spring. Bruce actually offered the Hacker's Guide design project to Lars, but Lars had to turn it down as he is currently globetrotting.

The book will premiere at the Crown Royal Minnesota Golf Show this February. Get your photo taken with a life-size version of the Hacker Guy!

Ordering info:
The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA
Hacker's Guide