Category: Lorenzo Ross Webcomic Creator & Artist

Starting tomorrow I’ll be participating in The 30 Characters Challenge which is held annually by the folks at ComixTribe.com. Comix Tribe is an online community for comic book writers and artists that are serious about improving their craft.

The challenge involves creating 30 characters in 30 days during the month of November. A friend did it last year so I thought this time I’d give it a try. I’m hoping the challenge will help me populate the Alternative City universe as well as give the old brain a workout.

So for the next month look for a lot of posts (hopefully every day) featuring new characters.

A few years ago I did a Mini Comic called Alternative City #0. It collected twelve pages of comics that I intended to try and get published in a weekly alternative newspaper. Alas, this never happened so I decided to publish them myself. If you don’t know what a mini comic is, it’s just a half sized comic that can be done by a professional printer for a lower cost than a full sized book, or in most cases they are printed by the creators themselves at Kinko’s or at work when the boss isn’t looking.

The minis were cool for comic shows when you needed an inexpensive way to get your work into a potential reader’s hands, but they were of poor quality. I recently found the original art so I scanned it in at a high resolution and did a small print run with Ka-blam printing. It took them FOREVER to ship them to me but they are finally here. I have to say I’m happy with the way they came out and at $3 it’s still reasonably priced. Right now you can find it at Chicago Comics and of course the psychic unicorns etsy store.

Carmilla and Victor are characters in Alternative City. If you would like to visit Alternative City you can do so by clicking here and that ‘ll take you to the website that bears it’s name and is home to all of my webcomics. Parts of Alternative City #0 and #1 can be read for free on the website and fresh copies of #0 are at the printers and will be available soon!

Carmilla & Victor don’t make an appearance until #1, but for now here’s a print of them that I just added to the Psychic Unicorns etsy shop.

Just finished two new Complicated Hair strips that will be part of the second issue due out in the next month or so. The cool part is that one of them was inked and lettered in Manga Studio which I have been learning how to use the last couple weeks.

This is going to save me a lot of time in the future and that’s really important when you’re a staff of one. See if you can tell which is which.

Just in case you live in the Chicagoland area and are looking for something to quench your comic book thirst, stop by Chicago Comics. The guys and gals that work there are very friendly and helpful even if you don’t know which issue of The Incredible Hulk  Wolverine first appeared in. Not only that but they carry a huge selection of Indie, small press and self published comics. Among them Complicated Hair and Awesome 5!. If you’re looking for the indie stuff you’ll find it in the back of the store and there is some really cool stuff there. I may place copies in other stores, but I’ve had great success at this location. Chicago Comics is located at 3244 N Clark street.

There’s nothing like seeing your work in print. For me it’s like giving birth. That’s how i felt as I opened the envelope containing my proof copy of Awesome 5! issue #1! My baby!

As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, Awesome 5! is a project that has been in the oven since last year. It will be included in Anthologies Of Interest along with works by several of my buds in the Chicago Comics Coalition. But I just couldn’t wait for that to happen so I made a small print run with Ka-blam Comics. This is just a test order to see how Ka-Blamm prints and how the book sells. The best selling item on the Etsy store is Complicated Hair #1 one of my other children. I’m working on re-printing a bunch of my older comic strips that have not seen the light of day in years and also Complicated Hair #2. Thanks to digital printing print minimums have gone down so you are not obligated to order hundreds or thousands of books and end up using them as furniture.

The cover price for this issue is $3.00 which is limited to this first batch. After these sell I’ll be forced to raise the next run to $3.99. I’m not trying to get rich but I also don’t want to go into debt. If you would like a copy visit the Psychic Unicorns Etsy shop. To preview Awesome 5! as well as my other comics visit alternativecitycomics.com.

Upon finishing Awesome 5! #1, I noticed that since it took several months to complete the story my renderings of the characters was changing. Given the fact that I’m remembering these guys from the time I was in grade school and I’m getting to know them all over again, it’s not surprising that their appearances might change.

That said, here are the new looks of Buzz Saw Boy and Laser Girl. These two are like competitive siblings at times. Buzzy’s the leader that fights with the intensity of a navy seal, while LG is his spunky wise cracking, death-ray shooting counterpart.

The new prints are available at our Psychic Unicorns store, and the book can be read at alternativecitycomics.com.