Memento Mori Art Show at Anina’s Cafe in Ottawa

The wonderful Kayla Spagnoli has organized an upcoming artshow and I am one of the participants! Titled “Memento Mori,” the show features a number of artists; yours truly will have two pieces in the show and both will be available for sale through the host, Anina’s Cafe. Full details are below, including the wrap-up party or Finisssage on November 30th!

So what is this whole “Memento Mori” thing about? Well, it’s a Latin phrase meaning “remember that you must die.” While death and the notion of death play a big part in the idea behind it, I tend to look at it more as reminder that all things end. Including, of course, all of us. While I’ve dealt with this a lot in my own life (see, for example, here and here), fans of STAR TREK will probably remember a scene from the film STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY that touches on this notion. The scene, in Spock’s quarters, features an avant-garde painting by the late artist Marc Chagall titled “Adam and Eve Expelled from Paradise.” When asked about the painting and why he keeps it in his quarters, Spock wryly notes, “It is a reminder to me that all things end.”

What pieces will I have in the show? Two! And they are at the bottom of this page, right after Kayla’s poster for the show!

The Details!

Date

October 30^th to November 30^th

Finissage: November 30^th

Location

Anina’s Cafe,

280 Joffre-Bélanger Way,

Ottawa, Ontario. K1L 5K8

Telephone: (613) 742-6800

Email: contact@aninascafe.ca

Curator

Kayla Spagnoli

Hours

Thursday to Monday from 8 am to 4 pm (closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays)

Finissage (End of Show) Party Hours

6:30 PM to 9:00 PM on Sunday, November 30^th

EventBrite Page: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/memento-mori-art-show-finissage-tickets-1730771316599

Other Links

• Overview of my Comics: http://www.vonallan.com/p/comics.html
• Wolf’s Head (My Ongoing Comic Book Series): https://wolfs-head.vonallan.com/
• Von Allan Studio Shop Page: http://www.vonallan.com/p/von-allan-studio-shop.html
• RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Von_Allan_Homepage

Wolf’s Head Volume 7 in trade paperback format Worldwide!

As I previously noted, the WOLF’S HEAD trade paperbacks are back in print in brand new editions! Next up is today’s release of Volume 7, collecting issues 13 and 14 of the ongoing digital series. This is a full colour series and is 60 pages in length. Volume 6 saw the series relocate to Alaska, as our heroine Lauren Greene made a decision to move from Michigan in an effort to keep her loved ones safe. As she continues to navigate her new life and situation, she discovers that not everything is quite what it seems. Especially her!

This is also the last of the revamped original trade paperbacks. The next volume (volume 8) have never been in print before! NEVER!

Volume 7, as well as all of the other volumes in this series, are available in better bookstores and comic shops worldwide (and for why I say “better,” please read this commentary). Volume 7’s ISBN is 978-1-989885-29-1. If you don’t see it at your local store, then you can easily order it using that ISBN. Additionally, it is already starting to show up at various online retailers, too. For example:

• Amazon.com
• Amazon.ca
• Amazon.co.uk
• Barnes & Noble
• Bookshop.org (and IndieBound)

As always, remember that I can’t control exactly when and where this volume will become available, but hopefully the above links are a good start. Be patient and don’t be afraid to ask your retailer for help! Volume 7 will be released shortly, with subsequent volumes appearing throughout 2025.

There is a dedicated website for WOLF’S HEAD at https://wolfs-head.vonallan.com with all kinds of additional information!

The Elevator Pitch

Lauren Greene’s world shatters when her mother dies saving a mysterious newborn AI from a secretive corporation intent on turning it into a weapon. Alone and on the run, Lauren escapes to the wilds of Alaska, struggling to protect the powerful life-form — and herself — while barely scraping by. But when a group of locals vanishes inside an abandoned government complex, Lauren is thrust into a high-stakes search that threatens to expose her secret. With the police unwilling to help and danger lurking in the shadows, Lauren faces a terrifying choice: risk everything by asking for help, or brave the haunted corridors alone, knowing that discovery could mean losing the AI forever. As injuries mount and time slips away, Lauren must confront her deepest fears and learn to trust others before it’s too late. Will she find the missing before the secret she’s guarding is revealed or will the darkness inside the complex claim them all?

Read for Free

As many of you know, I’ve also begun serializing the comic book series for free on the Internet Archive (https://www.archive.org) as part of my “Pirate Von” initiative. As I mentioned above, WOLF’S HEAD Volume 7 consists of issues 13 and 14 of the ongoing series. While you can find the links to both on the Internet Archive as well as the “Pirate Von” section of this very website, to make it easier the links to both issues 13 and 14 are below.

Remember! If you enjoy them and would like a physical copy, you can purchase Volume 7 in stores — both online and off — around the world!

   

   

TEASER FOR WOLF’S HEAD VOLUME 7

And here’s a little teaser image to help cement the idea. Two digital comics inside one trade paperback volume!

Other Links

• Overview of my Comics: http://www.vonallan.com/p/comics.html

• Wolf’s Head (My Ongoing Comic Book Series): https://wolfs-head.vonallan.com/

• Von Allan Studio Shop Page: http://www.vonallan.com/p/von-allan-studio-shop.html

• RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Von_Allan_Homepage

• An explanation for why you never saw WOLF’S HEAD in Diamond's PREVIEWS: https://www.vonallan.com/2025/01/Diamond-Comic-Distributors-Wolfs-Head-and-Me.html

Wolf’s Head Volume 6 in trade paperback format Worldwide!

As I previously noted, the WOLF’S HEAD trade paperbacks are back in print in brand new editions! Next up is today’s release of Volume 6, collecting issues 11 and 12 of the ongoing digital series. This is a full colour series and is 60 pages in length. This marks a departure from the series so far, as Lauren relocates from Michigan to Alaska, meets loads of new people, and has a number of new adventures! Whew, does she ever!

Volume 6, as well as all of the other volumes in this series, are available in better bookstores and comic shops worldwide (and for why I say “better,” please read this commentary). Volume 6’s ISBN is 978-1-989885-28-4. If you don’t see it at your local store, then you can easily order it using that ISBN. Additionally, it is already starting to show up at various online retailers, too. For example:

• Amazon.com
• Amazon.ca
• Amazon.co.uk
• Barnes & Noble
• Bookshop.org (and IndieBound)

As always, remember that I can’t control exactly when and where this volume will become available, but hopefully the above links are a good start. Be patient and don’t be afraid to ask your retailer for help! Volume 7 will be released shortly, with subsequent volumes appearing throughout 2025.

There is a dedicated website for WOLF’S HEAD at https://wolfs-head.vonallan.com with all kinds of additional information!

The Elevator Pitch

Lauren Greene, a former Detroit police officer, has started over in remote Alaska with her dog, Sankō, and a young Artificial Intelligence that a ruthless corporation wants back at any cost. To get by, she’s working doing deliveries for a local food bank, scraping together a living while trying her best to stay out of sight and protect the AI. But, when a homeless man she’s never met vanishes near a long-abandoned Cold War missile complex, Lauren can’t just ignore it. Her search takes her underground, where she discovers not only Alaska’s buried secrets but also something terrifying that shouldn’t exist at all. Now, while being hunted from the outside and facing dangers she can’t explain from the inside, Lauren has to decide: does she open herself up to new friendships and risk everything, or stay alone and lose potential friendships she desperately needs?

Read for Free

As many of you know, I’ve also begun serializing the comic book series for free on the Internet Archive (https://www.archive.org) as part of my “Pirate Von” initiative. As I mentioned above, WOLF’S HEAD Volume 6 consists of issues 11 and 12 of the ongoing series. While you can find the links to both on the Internet Archive as well as the “Pirate Von” section of this very website, to make it easier the links to both issues 11 and 12 are below.

Remember! If you enjoy them and would like a physical copy, you can purchase Volume 6 in stores — both online and off — around the world!

   

   

TEASER FOR WOLF’S HEAD VOLUME 6

And here’s a little teaser image to help cement the idea. Two digital comics inside one trade paperback volume!

Other Links

• Overview of my Comics: http://www.vonallan.com/p/comics.html

• Wolf’s Head (My Ongoing Comic Book Series): https://wolfs-head.vonallan.com/

• Von Allan Studio Shop Page: http://www.vonallan.com/p/von-allan-studio-shop.html

• RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Von_Allan_Homepage

• An explanation for why you never saw WOLF’S HEAD in Diamond's PREVIEWS: https://www.vonallan.com/2025/01/Diamond-Comic-Distributors-Wolfs-Head-and-Me.html

Pencils and Inks for the cover of Wolf's Head 13

One of the things I'm not great at is showing work in progress, especially for my ongoing comics project WOLF'S HEAD. Here is a small effort to change that!

Up first is a cell phone photo of the tight pencils of the cover. In general, for interiors, I don't pencil this tightly. That's mainly because I ink my own work and I prefer to do some of the "drawing" in ink.

The pencils are followed by the inked illustration. This obviously doesn't have the cover logo and whatnot on it, but it's complete aside from that. I used to do all of my inking by hand, using a brush, but I found that the scanning process required a lot of very fussy work. Nowadays I digitally ink, in Manga Studio (now known as Clip Studio Paint), and that completely side-steps all of that pesky scanning and corrections. I do still ink "traditionally" from time to time, but I have to admit I really prefer digitally inking. Faster, cleaner, no scanning, and digital inking has the lovely advantage of "take-backsies" if I screw up. Nice!

And you'll actually notice I did screw up, so the inks also show a few corrections.