Woo!!  This page was a BEAST.  Hats off to the color warriors who took this on after I spent two days drawing it.  This thing is chock-full of bearictures.

If you are wondering if you are one of the bearicatures on these pages,  will email those who have appeared so far soon and send them a larger image of themselves.  If you are just dying to know, email me and I will try to get back and let you know if your suspicions are correct.

I just posted a new art piece on eBay.  Another take on the octobear.  This thing will be live for bidding for 5 days, then the highest bidder gets it.  Thanks in advance to all who bid.

I also posted this Axe Cop piece yesterday.

I have been kicking around a lot of thoughts lately.  As a lot of you know, during the hiatus, Axe Cop got a TV series on FOX.  Also, I two other optioned TV shows at Cartoon Network that have just begun to demand some of my time.  On top of that I am trying to keep Bearmageddon alive, post a weekly Axe Cop page AND finish this print-exclusive Axe Cop miniseries.  The only thing out of all of those things that is really making me money right here and now is the miniseries, the rest I do with high hopes.  So, as things get more insane I am trying to figure out how to manage it all. I am probably going to have to go to one page a week on Bearmageddon.  Maybe for the rest of the story, maybe just for a while.  I will get it done, but I just need to be able to get other stuff done, and I want to put all the love I can into every page as I have so far.  Once I get the Axe Cop miniseries done I may have breathing room to do more Bearmageddon.  I may even try a kickstarter campaign of some sort.  I have a lot of thoughts kicking around.  I’ll decide by next week what I will do.  In any case, thanks for sticking with me and keeping up with my comic.  I love it and it’s exciting every time I post a new page.  As a thanks, here is a desktop wallpaper of the mall carnage on today’s page:

Can you find Waldo?

See you here Friday as the bear drama continues!

Ethan

Dear Bearmofos,

I’m sorry this post is a bit late.  I had more laptop trouble yesterday and then I woke up with horrible bowel issues.  Yes sorry it’s true.  As soon as I post this I am rolling back into bed and hoping to die.  Blehgh!!  Thanks for reading.  When I have more energy I’ll list off the bearicatures on this page.

Ethan

We are back!!!

And I am not any more caught up haha.  Oh well, I got a break.  Sort of.  From this project anyway.  It’s time for bear mayhem, you have been patient.  Here we go.

Today’s page is the first three bearicatures in the story!  To find out who they are, check out the roll over text.  Thanks guys for supporting the comic!

HUGE thanks to Mike and all the guest art/comic contributors for filling in and keeping things going during the hiatus.

Well, it’s good to be back.  These next few pages are pretty bonkers.  See you Friday!

Ethan

The long wait is almost at an end…today’s is the last guest art, the comic resumes in 2 days!

Aviv Itzcovitz sent in this comic, I thought it was great.  It also pretty much fits in the Bearmageddon storyline; until Ethan fills in the details of Dr. Medved’s past, this is what I’ll assume happened.  I love fish-for-hands-bear:

He's so pleased with himself!

Aviv draws Stupid Snake and has some other great art on his site, iaviv.com.  I ran through a lot of pages of Stupid Snake — the story is told without dialogue, and the storytelling is impressive.  It’s somewhat violent but…well…this is coming from a comic that regularly shows bears mauling hippies, so who am I really trying to warn?  Thanks Aviv!

So that’s it!  The next posts will resume the storyline and I’ll again retreat to the shadows of “the technical Bearmo stuff.”  Thanks again to everyone that sent in content, this past month would have been really boring without all your help.  If you haven’t taken the time yet to tell the guests artists that you love them, do it now!  Thanks also for putting up with my commentary, I had a lot of fun with it.  Don’t worry though, I’m not quitting my day job to be a blogger.

Mike, aka TechnoBear

The hiatus is almost over…

Trey Baldwin sent in today’s piece, it’s a Bearcanthus.  To explain it I’d just be copying what he wrote, so I’ll just quote him:

I have depicted an Abominable BearCanthus.  This fearsome fellow is one third yeti, one third Polacanthus (an early member of the Ankylosaur family) and, of course, one third bear.  It has a bear’s strength and ferocity, a polacanthus’ light weight yet durable armour, and the yeti’s nearly man-like brain power and grasping hands.  With said hands, the Abominable BearCanthus is brandishing a poorly drawn ray gun supplied to him by some imprudent person.  Maybe DR. MEDVED?!  HUH?  COULD BE!

I wouldn’t say the ray gun is poorly drawn, but I thought at first it was a radar gun and he was checking car speeds.  Certainly nobody would argue when Officer Bearcanthus is writing them a ticket.  I was blown away by the detail on this piece — all those scales must have taken forever.

Trey doesn’t have a site for his comics yet(but I see that bearcanthus dot com seems to still be avalable).  Maybe this time next hiatus he’ll have a comic up and going about Bearcanthus working in an office, vaporizing or eating his coworkers for drinking the last of the coffee and not making any more.  He’s got a group page on facebook for a comic he’s working on: THE MURD3R MELONZ.  Stop by and drop him a comment.  Thanks Trey!

Join us Monday for the next and final hiatus piece.  Have a great weekend!

Today’s guest art if by Nathan Seabolt.  In the various entries we’ve received, people often offer their Bearmageddon “credentials.”  Nathan writes:

I am a Bearmofo for life (I have even occasionally pooped in the woods-which I think is telling).

Telling indeed.  Not only can he draw them, but Nathan poops with the bears.  He also addressed Ethan and me as “Bearmageddonistas,” which I can only assume is a portmanteau of Bearmageddon and barista.  I can’t say that we’re licensed in that, but it’s a high compliment nonetheless.

Nathan has a few sites to check out: Nathan Draws Daily, Seabolt Illustration, and Atomic Mini Comics.  If you’re of the Twitter persuasion, you can twit him: @mnkyking  Someone other than me needs to tweet at him; I don’t have an account.  Can you take care of this Ethan? Steven? Chainsaw Bear?  You guys draw straws…I’ve delegated.

Also, on a completely unrelated note:  Ethan found this video made by a fan.  I don’t think it was ever submitted, so everyone go post a comment there and make Greg wonder what’s going on with his video…

2 more guest spots until Act 2 of Bearmageddon.  Hang in there just a little longer!

I would like to start this post by pointing out that Steven is a musician.  As any artist does from time to time, he’s dabbling in other areas.  Here we see a venture into the realm of beartooning.

Panel One: not without merit — the facial expression is genuine worry, I think the eyes are actually well done.   The lines around the head…are they lines in a pillow as if waking from a restless dream?  Are they seagulls circling?  Maybe they’re fleas jumping ship because they know something bad is about to happen.  The border around the panel isn’t enclosed.  If a colorist had started work on this panel, the flood fill of color would immediately ruin all surrounding content.

Panel Two: Whoa, action!  Our protagonist is hastily retreating or shooting sonic waves from his shoes to incapacitate the charging bear(potato?).  Wait,  a kite?  Who needs a kite, and who’s a MeatBag?  Bears are certainly more baggy, but most people don’t bark orders at a bear.  Let’s assume the bear wants a kite.  Border: solid implementation.  Top right corner is a close call but all is well.

Panel Three: Whoooosh!  I’m pretty sure that the correct spelling is “Woooosh!”  This is something the colorists could fix.

Panel Four: Our protagonist seems to have escaped, unscathed.  Well, except for having a black right eye and a compound fracture of his left arm.  Technically the latter is out of panel, so it is not required for continuity.  This is the point in the story where we get a pause in the action and we learn to humanize the protagonist.  This panel is crucial to keeping the reader interested in the story — when you can sympathize with the character and put yourself in their shoes you truly get in to the story.  I can’t sympathize with someone who would wear that t-shirt.  I liked the movie just fine; I think I saw it two or three times, but wearing a “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” shirt is just weird.  I am so jaded in the story at this point.  Border situation:  I can’t even begin to describe it.

Panel Five: Hungry from all the escaping, our protagonist finds a bear to snack on.  Or hug.  He definitely has his hugging arms on.

The End!

Steven Wesley Guiles is a “super regular” commenter to Bearmo and he really does make music.  He just finished putting together “Killer Bear Picnic.”  Play it and re-read his comic.

Killer Bear Picnic by newcoolnow

See how it syncs up now?  Eerie!  Also he just invented the “Bearcore” genre.  I look forward to hearing more.  I don’t think Grizzly Bear is considered Bearcore…yet.

Steven’s site is triple superlative New Cool Now.  He’s made some really good music, you should check it out.  Drop him a comment here or there, he’s sure to respond here!  Thanks again Steven!

13 days left. Only 4 more posts after today’s.  Not long now…

Antoine Gagnon sent in “Yogi Diddly” to round out Yogimageddon week.  This is what Octo-Bear would look like through the glasses of Hanna-Barbera. I spent a while trying to figure out the expression on his face and I’m at a loss, other than Antoine likes to draw his characters drunk, so that might explain a lot!

Call it heretical, but I really didn’t watch Hanna-Barbera cartoons growing up.  My pick on cartoons was definitely Warner Brother’s material like Looney Tunes, most anything Disney, and a few random others like Danger Mouse.  Maybe shows like Scooby Doo were too cerebral and I just liked seeing a boulder drop on Wile E. Coyote.  Maybe I just liked the animation and art styles better.  Maybe it’s something you just pick sides on like Nintendo and Sega.  But just like Looney Tunes, everyone knows the NES was better but they got a Genesis as a gift and kept it to be polite.

Antoine’s comic is The Drunken Fools  (the navigation buttons are on the right…I totally missed them for a few minutes) — I liked the Jawa and Adventure Time posts myself…drop by and check them out.  Thanks Antoine!

We’ll return Monday with more guest art.  Have a great weekend!

As promised, violence!  I laughed the first time I read this strip, the “END!” struck me funny for some reason.  This was likely due to the abrupt end with no moral to the story.

This is the second and final page that Jeff Beckman sent in for your enjoyment.  Jeff creates ULTI-MAN — a comic about a superhero that is down on his luck.  Check out his site and drop him a comment or two.  Maybe we can collectively convince him that his comic needs a bear fight, or at least some ill-tempered squirrels.

Also, I apologize that the header image for this comic brings back memories of Flute Cop…er…I mean Jack’s demise.  I didn’t really know how to set up the “guest comic experience” when Ethan asked me to, so I started stealing his art.  The headers gradually working back in time towards the start of the comic, but other than that there’s no method to the madness.  I don’t have any of the comic originals, so I get to use Photoshop to edit out the speech bubbles that get in the way.  So far nobody has yelled at me, but I bet the colorists have figured out what I’m up to.

Would you believe that there is another Yogi-based piece to cap this week?  This will forever be known as “Yogimageddon Week,” by Monday you can let your friends know that you survived.  See you Friday!

END!

Whoa! It’s Monday and there’s content on Bearmageddon!  I think this might be a first folks.   Jeff Beckman sent this comic in — I love the job he did miming the style of the Yogi Bear series.  This is page 1 of 2, you’re going to have to wait until Wednesday for the stunning conclusion.

Jeff creates ULTI-MAN — a comic about a superhero that used to be on top of the world, but not so much anymore.  You should go check it out and drop him (or any of our other guest artists) a comment there or here!  You may not think that leaving a comment is worth it, but it means a lot to the artist.  They spent hours putting something together for your enjoyment, a word of encouragement or constructive criticism is way more fun for them than no feedback at all.

We’re full on submissions from here out — if you send anything in I don’t think I have a place to put it in the march towards Act 2 of Bearmageddon.  If the guest comics get moved to a guest gallery they’ll end up there, but they won’t be in the “hiatus” rotation, sorry!  Early bear gets the camper and all that.