Like A Boss

Hi gang,

Here's the climactic chapter 14. Excitement abounds!

Happy Holidays everyone!

All of the Lights

Alright, here we are with Chapter 13. I get to title it after a Kanye West song, which makes me very happy.

This issue expands on the lighting experimentation I played around with in Chapter 12, and does it a lot better, I think. Awesome visuals! And the story ain't bad either, I think. Some cool elements here!

In fact, I'm thoroughly happy with this chapter. I spent a lot of time thinking out how the plot/images would work out in the middle chapters;for the final four or five chapters (the "endgame") I felt like my hands were tied... I was forced to have everything I started to develop earlier tie up into an ending. Working on them, I just wasn't as excited about these final issues, because I already knew where it was all ending up. But once I saw the finished product here, I was very happy. The second half of this chapter is probably my favorite sequence in the whole thing!

Only two chapters left, so stay tuned over the holidays. And, as usual, tell all your friends!

Backstreets

Hi Everybody,

Here's Chapter Twelve. Getting close to the end of the adventure! This one's fairly exciting; lots of action.

With all the nighttime panels in these last few issues, I've been doing a lot of experimenting with light/shading/gradients/overlays. I hope it looks good! Obviously, some panels come off better than others. Overall I'm pretty happy with it.

Enjoy the comic, and tell all your friends!

Rumble in the Place

Hi team,

Here's another chapter, posted relatively early this week! I worry that the beginning of this one might be a little confusing... I sort of recommend that you read through the last two weeks' comics again (chapters nine and ten) if you forget what was going on the last time we saw Herbert, and the last time we saw Mirabelle.

In this one we get to see some night-time scenes drawn in the new "colorful" (grayscale) style I've developed. Hopefully it looks as good as I... hope... it does. Spell check wants me to change "grayscale" to "graybeard." Weird.

This is a chapter that I had in mind pretty much since the beginning. Nice to get a chance to finally see it online. A few really choice action panels here, I think. Enjoy it!

Mirabelle's Reverie

Hi guys,

Late update this week because of the holiday. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Please enjoy this Mirabelle-centric chapter. She's pretty awesome I think.

This is a fun one. I really like the staircase I drew. Not much else to mention. Hope everything is going well with everyone. That's all I got. Tell all your friends!

Joyeux anniversaire!

Eh, l'auteur, bon anniversaire, mon vieux! Ce n'est pas si mal que ça, quand même; il y aura un cadeau, cependant. Les mimes n’oublient jamais!

"Let's Split Up"

Hi readers,

I'll keep this update quick, because it's very late and I'm sleepy. This is chapter nine, which is quite the awesome one.

It's got a classic buddy-oriented action/comedy setup. You get to spend time with the two male leads. Characters split up, which is always a great plot device. There's some awesome artwork, including one really special page. The Gipper makes another appearance. There's a ton of explosions. I think this chapter delivers everything one could possibly ask of a comic.

Enjoy this one! And stay healthy!

City Sickness

Are you ready?

This is a cool one, format-wise, because it's basically split in half. Doesn't everyone love having characters split up like this? This issue also has my favorite front page ever --- minimal and good-looking. I was finally becoming able to draw Mirabelle in different poses without making her look like a football player. Also, all the townspeople. And the shading. Good fun. Lots more work, but worth it.

I think this chapter marks the point where I finally arrived at a solid artistic style that was ambitious (for me), yet consistent and replicable. From here on out, the issues more or less look like this one, visually. Once I get around to doing Volume Two of the Mime Hunters, I'd like the whole thing to be in this style from Chapter One. That will be deeply satisfying for me.

L'Etranger

Alors, qu'es-ce qui ce passe ici! Ça va pas, non! Si vous croyez que nous allons rester gentilment silencieux pendent que vous nous representez comme des mimes ansi, il faut vous dire que NON! Jamais! Allons, les gars! Trouvez-moi l'artist! J'ai quelque chose a lui dire -- en silence absolue.

Bad Guy Stuff

Good evening, readers

Chapter Seven. We're about to cross the halfway point. This is a fun one. Some villains get fleshed out a tiny bit. The comic shows its first partial nudity. There's a flashback. Olympian feats of agility. Background gradients continue to pop up more and more frequently. I hope you like it.

This was a fun one to draw. Emily was photographing a wedding in Tarrytown, NY; I was holed up in the hotel all day. I drew this one while watching music videos. I put in the equivalent of a full workday and managed to finish the drawing for the entire comic. There was still a lot of work to do in the computer when I got back to Brooklyn, but still, fun. I like spending an entire Sunday doing these, because then I get to pretend that drawing comics is my full-time job.

As Bruce Willis might say: fasten your seat belts. Next week this comic goes into overdrive. In the meantime, tell all your friends! Awesome!

Get On The Good Foot

Hi gang,

Here's a new chapter. Chapter six! We're blowing through these faster than anticipated; I need to kick up my production rate if I want to be able to run these weekly through the end of the series. Luckily, Richard just gave me an awesome gift: a "non-photo" blue pencil! Now I won't have to waste precious time erasing!

This is the first episode to feature a lot of dialogue. It was an experiment in trying out some actual storytelling, with characterization and jokes and conflict and so forth. It's also the first time we get all four heroes interacting together.

On the visual side of things, this also pushes things a bit further than before. I really like the gradient on the cover; you'll see that technique a lot more as we go forward. We're at the point now where nearly every panel has a background, and I'm starting to use the computer to fill in black spaces, which I find pleasing on the eye.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one as much as I do. Tell all yer friends!

The Comeback

Good evening, gang!

Welcome to Chapter Five. I'm extremely proud of this one. Last week the comic started to kick into high gear; this week, it arrives.

I'm especially happy with how the artwork for the new characters came out here. One of the most fun parts of putting together this comic was actually learning how to draw faces and bodies and stuff. Not that I'm a great artist, by any means, but it's a big improvement from where I was when I started.

I drew this issue while on vacation in Maine; the pencil sketches for the early pages were done in the hotel we stayed at when we spent two days in Acadia National Park. The rest was finished in a marathon session next to the river in Solon, Maine, one of my favorite places. Naturally, then, this issue brings back a lot of good memories for me. I think that was the last time I was in Maine! It's been too long.

Anyway, enjoy the comic! As always, tell your friends!

The Awesome Escape

Hi everyone,

Here's chapter four! By my estimation, this is where the adventure really takes off. It was during this comic that I realized that this project was actually turning out to be something kind of cool, and that I would probably finish it. As such, I started paying a little bit of attention to the plot, making sure that it was fulfilling and devoid of holes.

Also notable: from this point on, the artwork is all done by me. Prior to this, Emily had helped out with under-sketches every once in a while. I'm proud of the art, because I've never excelled at drawing... prior to this project, my experience was pretty much limited to stick figures. I think these comic strips are actually cool looking. Hooray?

Trapped in the Prison

Hi gang,

Another week, another chapter of MIME HUNTERS, for your enjoyment. This week's chapter is more transitional than many of the others, but (I hope!) still awesome. We were trying out a new, more loose drawing style here, which shows up in the early pages. I think the stylistic shift is pretty exciting!

This chapter introduces a mysterious new character. There's no blood in this one, for the first time. There is an explosion though. So don't worry!

As usual, stay tuned for next week and tell your friends!

The Saga Continues!

Hi gang,

Here's the newest issue of Mime Hunters. Thanks for all the positive comments after Chapter One, readers! It only gets better from here. Chapter two develops Herbert and Pablo a little more, uses black and white more creatively, and has some good action sequences. I hope you enjoy it.

Not much to write about this week, except for that I sure do love the front cover of this chapter. I think it's a big step up, visually. Other than that, stay tuned for next week! And tell all your friends!

The Saga Begins!

Hello gang,

Welcome to Mime Hunters - - a brand-new adventure comic by me, Beau Alessi, with much much much help from Emily du Houx. Every Thursday night I intend to post a link to the next 8-page chapter of this story. Here's where it all begins. Click the picture to see the comic!


First, to clear up some early confusion, Pablo (the goat) is part robot, and those are flames from his turbo-engine shooting out of his ass. I assumed it would be obvious but many were baffled.

Beyond that, if you want to hear some meandering thoughts on why I spent the last 9 months drawing these, read further...

A few words: I'm not really a comic aficionado, more of an enthusiast. Which is to say, this is a very amateurish piece of work from someone who's not extremely familiar with the medium. I'm hoping that I managed to bring some kind of "outsider's perspective" to the world of superhero comics, maybe.

I also know that there's a thriving internet webcomic community, but from what I can tell, those mostly deal with comedy-oriented 3-panel strips, or some variation on that formula. They also have a lot to do with videogames, computers, or indie rock. This is different, in that it's a more long-form serialized "superhero" comic. Although I shun that label as well, because most superhero comics seem to have some kind of "enormous breast quotient," and I'm not talented enough to draw enormous breasts. Again, like I said, when it comes to comics, I don't really know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, maybe, I thought the world could use a crudely-drawn, amateurish adventure story about some dudes who fight mimes. Maybe with some comedy? And some violence? And maybe, just maybe, a message of some sort? Or not?

I am actually proud of the final product. As the weeks go on, if you choose to follow this, you'll see the art improve drastically, and an actual plot develop. It might be worth watching, just so you can see a running document of the creative process at work, or some such thing. And I think it has a good ending. Maybe in another year, Mime Hunters: Volume 2 will be ready to go online? We'll see...

So, yeah, add this to your bookmarks, or RSS feed, or whatever, and spend a minute reading it each week! And tell all your friends! I think it might be a worthwhile investment of your time. At the very least, keep it in mind when it's a slow Friday at work and you need any kind of minor stimulation to ease the pain.

One last thought: COMMENTS are appreciated! I want to know what people think, both in regards to the comic, but also (this is important!) in regards to the site I've built to display it. Since this doesn't follow the usual 3-panel format, I had to think up my own way of displaying it on the web, and I'm not sure how it's gonna look on all of the different computers out there. If you try to read the comic, but your web browser isn't handling it correctly, let me know!

And with that, I'll shut up! Thanks for checking this out!

New Header!

Well, I put together a pretty cool (I hope!) image for the main banner of the site. In a few days, I'm going to post the first chapter, and then continue once a week from there.

The comic is 120 pages, and I'm very proud of it. It turned out to be a lot less stupid than I thought it would be when I started, although it's still pretty stupid. It's going to be fun to watch the art improve from chapter to chapter. I'm excited about the whole thing.

Friday, September 24th: this is the place to be!

Opens in September

I don't think anyone reads this, but just in case, I wanted to make an update so people don't think I've abandoned the site.

I've been working like CRAZY on this comic. The more I work on it, the better I get at drawing. The better I get at drawing, the more detail I want to put in. The more detail I want to put in, the longer it takes to finish!

I've now got 72 pages complete out of a planned 112. I plan to start debuting the comic online in September, with weekly 8-page installments. The first series should be wrapped up in December. Hopefully, it will continue with a second Volume at some point in the distance, but I'll definitely be taking a significant break. This is tough, but fulfilling work! More so than I imagined.

I've posted one panel I'm fond of, as a preview. It's starting to look really awesome, which is frustrating, because the artwork at the beginning of the story pales in comparison to what I'm doing now. Part of me wants to go back and touch up or retouch certain parts, but I think it'll be better to just post things as I originally drew them. That way you get to see the evolution of the artwork. Maybe when the whole thing's been posted, I'll take some time to go back and "remaster" some of the panels from the first half of the story.

Anyway, I'm more psyched for this than ever, the story is coming together in a better way than I imagined, and the artwork is better than I ever thought I'd be able to do. I can't wait to share it.

So: I am making a promise, now, to my nonexistent readers, that these will start getting posted online in September.

Update and Wallpaper

I just finished issue 5. I did the entire thing in one day, but I barely had time to do anything else that day outside of playing some mini-golf and going grocery shopping. The issue is very exciting, because it widens the scope of the Mime Hunters adventure. I can't wait to get this comic up and running. Just another month or two before I can fully launch it, I think.

In the meantime, I decided I'd share an awesome picture that I've been using as my desktop wallpaper. As a preview of the characters who will be featured - here is Quackmeyer, the wizard. He's one of the heroes. Enjoy!

The Big Baby

I'm still working on trying to figure out a feasible schedule for updating. I'd like to put out a new episode every week, but first I need to spend time building a substantial buffer of already-finished episodes. I might have to go for every two weeks, but even that seems like it could be rough. Once I start this project, I don't want to be slack on the updates, so I'd rather wait to get started until I know I have enough material to blow through an entire story arc without any unscheduled lapses in production.

Anyway, I figure'd I'd post a particularly awesome picture from tonight as a preview; this is a newly-conceived villain/henchman called The Big Baby. Enjoy:

Starting a blog

Good Morning.

I'm starting a blog. Hopefully I will post my ongoing adventure comic book series, "MIME HUNTERS," on a regular basis. I am still trying to figure out a schedule that will be sustainable without overworking me. So nothing yet.

I can also use the blog to post my new songs and video projects, of which there are many.

I also plan on sharing trivial information and passing thoughts. For example, I went to the dentist yesterday, and they did some work on a tooth (upper-right quadrant, 2nd tooth from the front). I woke up in the middle of the night to a painful snapping. A significant chunk of the tooth had broken off and was floating around in my mouth. Emily tells me I grind my teeth when I sleep. I assume the dentist will be able to fix everything. Let's hope so!