A very cool piece of fan art sent to me from Kimberly Miranda. How cool is DIS??
Thanks, Kim!!








R.I.P. MIKE WIERINGO
I was shocked by the news this morning that one of my favorite comic book artists, Mike Wieringo, passed away Sunday from heart failure. He was only 43 years young and produced some of the most gorgeous comic book art I've ever seen.

Mike was more than just an artist. He was always willing to take the time to answer one of my fanboy emails or offer advice on drawing tools. His website featured a daily sketch and it was always the first thing I'd look at in the morning.

Mike did one of the greatest versions of Spider-Man around. He just had such a knack with that character and was able to bring out the joyfulness and the energy in Spidey. His art would bring me the same joy as cartoons did on Saturday mornings while eating my favorite sugar coated cereal. It just gave me such a sense of "wow" and "how'd he do that??"

TELLOS was his creator-owned series and if you've never read it, go find it. That was his biggest love and now Image Comics has collected the series in one huge hardcover edition. It kills me that Mike won't be seeing that on the bookshelves. It kills me that he's gone.

When I first met Mike, it was at a convention in Artists Alley. I was a huge fan of this man's work and had this way of making you feel like you've been his friend forever. I spoke with him about his work and about comics in general. I told him that he did my favorite version of Spidey and a week or so later he sent me a page of comic book art featuring Spidey, Kazar and his saber-tooth tiger, Zabu battling Stegron the Dinosaur Man. It went right up on my office wall.

A few weeks ago, Marvel Comics hired me to write a story for SPIDER-MAN ADVENTURES and it was to feature Spider-Man and Zabu. I wrote an email to Mike and told him that, in his honor, the opening scene was going to feature Spidey, Kazar and Zabu battling Stegron. He laughed and said thanks.

And now Mike is gone. It seems that I spend too much time saying goodbye to those who mean the world to me. This has been a tough one. It's been like losing a family member. My heart goes out to his family and for the others who, like me, have spent years admiring Mike's artwork.

Gone but never forgotten.

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LATEST ISSUE OUT NOW!!
TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD #7 'THE FANBOY COMETH"
TOM BELAND RUNS INTO HIS VERY FIRST FANBOY, DAVID! CAN HE HANDLE THIS OR WILL IT FREAK TOM OUT TO NO END? PLUS, CHECK OUT TOM'S PAYING GIG ON THE BEACH!! AND WHAT DOES THE DOCTOR DO THAT IS TOM'S WORST NIGHTMARE? FIND OUT NOW!!

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NEXT ISSUE
TSSTG #8: THE LITTLE THINGS
LOTS OF STUFF HAPPENING IN THIS ISSUE AS EVA IS LEAVING PUERTO RICO, WHETHER LILY WANTS HER TO OR NOT! WILL TOM AND LILY BUY EVA'S HOME AND HOW MANY STACKS OF PAPERS MUST THEY SIGN??! ROMANCE AND HUMOR AWAIT!

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THE NEW TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD TRADE PAPERBACK!!
COLLECTING THE FIRST SIX ISSUES OF THE IMAGE COMICS RUN, PLUS SKETCH PAGES AND PHOTO PAGES! NOW ON SALE!!

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CHECK OUT THE TSSTG COVER GALLERY ADDED TO THIS SITE! YOU CAN ALSO CHECK OUT THE NEW TPB COVERS THERE TOO!

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I'm the writer/artist of the six-time Eisner-nominated series "TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD."

If you haven't read it, it's the story of how I met my wife at a bus stop in Disneyworld. The book is now published by Image Comics. And, yes, I'm a spazz when I go there and see Erik Larsen pencilling pages. I mean SPAZZ.

• UPCOMING PROJECTS!!!

— Two big trades on the horizon from Image Comics:

• TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD TPB: Collecting issues 1-6 from the Image series.

• TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD; 17 KISSES: Collecting the ENTIRE 17-ISSUE CLIB'S BOY RUN!!

— Just finished writing a 38-page FANTASTIC FOUR book for Marvel

— POSCARDS, a new graphic novel published by Random House will feature an 8-page story written/drawn by your's truly. It's a great book created by Jason Rodriguez and it comics out in July.

— My two-page story, as seen in STAN LEE MEETS DOCTOR DOOM has been included in the hardcover collection!!

• OTHER WORK:

• I've written two stories for Marvel in 2006. WEB OF ROMANCE and SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED #12. I'm hoping to do more for them in 2007

• I've also written a story for the Simpsons comics. It's 2006's SIMPSONS SUPER SPECTACULAR where Homer is Gastritus coming to devour Springfield.

I live in Puerto Rico, with my wife, Lily Garcia. Lily is a tv/radio personality here on the island.

• Ummmmm... let's see... I'm left-handed, my father taught me pretty much everything I know about cartooning... and I love to cook. I'm addicted to Food Network. I have it on while I do my artwork.

• I draw on Bristol Board. I pencil with a Prismacolor non-photo blue pencil. I ink all characters and other "living" objects with a Staedtler Mars 3000 Duo brush pen.

• Influences include Al Hirschfeld, Old Hanna-Barbera cartoons (when Yogi was a complete smartass), Rowland Wilson, Gahan Wilson (I've had 7 editions of I PAINT WHAT I SEE and STILL laugh my ass off), Keith Knight creator of the incredible K. CHRONICLES.

• Our cousins, Tony and Jaime Vallés, have completed their first feature film, "CASI CASI" and HBO Espanol has purchased it! My cartoon work appears in the election posters in the film and Lily and I are thrilled for them. I got to see them film it, work the music score and now we're attending the premiere here in Puerto Rico!

• If you have a podcast and need a guest, hit me up! I'd love to be on.

• WHAT I LISTEN TO WHILE DRAWING:

- Rob Sexsmith: TIME BEING
- Bobby Darin: THE BEST OF BOBBY DARIN
- Boz Scagg : DOWN TWO THEN LEFT
- K. D. Lang: INGENUE
- Michael Bublé: IT'S TIME
- Shiny Toy Guns: WE ARE PILOTS
- Ron Sexsmith: TIME BEING
- Stevie Wonder: DEFINITIVE COLLECTION
- The Pretenders: THE SINGLES
- Talking Heads: STOP MAKING SENSE
- Barry Manilow: EVEN NOW
- Luthor Vandross: ALWAYS AND FOREVER; THE CLASSICS
- John Mayer: HEAVIER THINGS
- Andy Montañez: AM/PM
- Lyle Lovett: THE ROAD TO ENSENADA
- THE BEST OF THE MONKEES
- Paul Anka: ROCK SWINGS
- Paul Simon: NEGOTIATIONS AND LOVE SONGS
- THE VERY BEST OF PRINCE
- Bruce Springsteen: BORN TO RUN
- Johnny Cash: JOHNNY CASH LIVE AT FOLSOM PRISON
- Alison Krauss & John Waite: MISSING YOU

• FAVORITE PUERTO RICAN DISHES:

- CHURRASSCO
- CHILLO FRITO
- ARRANITAS
- PLANTAIN CHIPS
- ARROZ Y ABECHUELAS
- THE MOLTEN CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES AT "AL DENTE" RESTAURANT
- BACALAITO FRITOS
- THE MOJITO CHICKEN AT "MOJITOS" REST.
- THE HAMBURGERS AT "EL HAMBURGER"