Comic Book Characters

Thank you for keeping an eye out! #NguyeningIt

Help nominate me for the RINGO Awards! Click here and use the list below as a guide!

•Best Writer: Aaron Lindenthaler-RETRO
•Best artist: Don Nguyen-RETRO, Battle Grapple Rebel, Cthulhu Invades Wonderland, Holiday Spirits 2
•Best Inker: Don Nguyen-RETRO
•Best Letterer: Jérôme Gagnon -RETRO
•Best Colorist: Ellie Wright -RETRO
•Best Cover Artist- Don Nguyen-RETRO, Athena the Undying, Holiday Spirits 2
•Best single issue or story- RETRO
•Best presentation in design- RETRO
•Favorite hero- RETRO
•Favorite villain- RETRO
•Favorite new talent- Don Nguyen, Aaron Lindenthaler

If you’ve been following this blog, you know my activity on it has been very infrequent. I’ve been concentrating on work and other platforms more. I hope you’ll join me. I’m easy to find : @NguyeningIt on the most social media platforms.

I wanted to thank those checking in time to time & those here since the beginning. I went from doing daily sketches & wanting to be in comics to having some really wild experiences in comics.

One of the things I love doing is sketchcards and I’ve had the honor of being part of the inaugural Marvel Anime trading card set from Upper Deck. This year’s release is WandaVision. Check out this TikTok video for the entire set or visit my website to see all the randomly inserted sketchcards. I have 3 AP (Artist Proof) cards waiting for approval. I’m also into my next set but we can’t talk about that yet 🤫😉

I’ll be at a few events this year. Here are some coming up:

LatinX Comic Arts Festival in Modesto, CA 3/17-18

Rare opportunities

If you’ve followed this blog, you’ll know RETRO was started quite a while back. We began with storyboards. Aaron animated those into a motion comic short. We’ve now created a shortfilm featuring actor Reno Wilson (Mikev& Molly, Good Girls, Transformers movies) and a full comic book. The regular cover and the live-action variant look killer (I am biased though).

I hope you can join us this Wednesday at the Comic Bug in Culver City from 12-3 as we sign & promote. We’ll then head to the Manhattan Beach location to do the same from 4-7P!

Time to get it! #Kickstarter #crowdfunding #comics

You may remember how Retro started out as storyboards on this very blog in or around 2016. Aaron Lindenthaler had an idea and asked if I wanted to be involved. In 2019, he animated those boards into a short film that premiered at the famous TCL Chinese Theaters in Hollywood, California as part

We are now expanding that into a comic book series & live-action short film featuring Reno Wilson (Mike & Molly, Good Girls). Check out the trailer below!

If you like comics by Ed Brubaker or David Lapham or enjoyed the Jason Bourne movies, Looper, Taken or Memento, this project is for you! Ellie Wright (Immortal Red Sonja, Batman the Shadow) is helping on color. Jerome Gagnon (Holiday Spirits, Orange Cone productions) is handling letters. Hope we can count on your support! Simply visit WhoisRetro.com to bring this project to life!

So many things happening…

If you’re a fan of Wrestling & like things like Star Wars, Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica, then Battle Grapple: Rebel is for you! As I type this, Battle Grapple Rebel is over 100% funded and working to hit 100 backers to get the interior pages colored. Click here to tag in!

I also did a movie poster homage for David Schrader & Tony Donley ‘s latest project called Cannibals on Mars. If you’re a fan of The Thing from John Carpenter or George Romero flicks, I think you’ll dig this comic!

Retro (yes, the one where I posted storyboards!) is coming back in full force as a comic book and live-action short film!

Visit us on Facebook or Instagram to follow & when we launch. Aaron Lindenthaler writes, I do pencils & inks, Ellie Wright (Immortal Red Sonja, Batman the Shadow) colors & Jerome Gagnon (Holiday Spirits, Cthulhu Invades Wonderland) letters. Actor Reno Wilson (Mike & Molly, Good Girls) plays our titular character in the short film!

Pablo the Gorilla #2: Dropping the Deuce is in its way. I’m working on getting over 30 pages roughed out & I’m currently at 32. I’m working on the ending and then I’ll be heading to fine pencils next. So keep an eye out!

Unreleased @PablotheGorilla pages #PerchancetoDream

I had the honor of being invited to join Ed Dukeshire’s Digital Webbing Presents 3. these 2 pages were originally looking to be released 2020/2021 as an interim short/prelude for Pablo #2. DWP is deferred to its anniversary year and I’m currently working on Pablo #2. So, I thought it’d be nice for anyone in Pablo’s troop to catch up a bit. 😉🦍🍕

It’s been a minute

Crazy how time flies! It was just a few years ago that I posted work-in-progress storyboard art for Retro. Now Aaron Lindenthaler and I are working toward finishing the first issue of the comic! Here is the regular cover for the first issue.

Check out the trailer for the original short release!

Join some amazing comic book legends at @the_exp1! #theEXPExpo! Today & tomorrow!

Some amazing comic book legends are up today at the EXP Expo! We’re talking about Dan Jurgens, Jim Starlin, Mark Bagley, John Romita Jr., Ron Lim, Brian Haberlin & more! That’s a lot of characters covered between Marvel, DC & Image!

https://comicshoppingexperience.com/

Check the schedule below. Also, find me on the indie creator panel starting at 5 p.m. PT/ 8 p.m. ET. I’ll be with Travis Gibb, Cory De La Guardia, William K. Holland, & Nicole Fernandez!

This event runs through tomorrow so don’t miss out.

What a journey!

I know I don’t post as often as should, but that’s a good thing as I’ve been busy with projects. I thank you for hanging around and checking in on my blog every so often. Your company is greatly appreciated.

As you know, 2020 has been wild to say the least. Most of the time, it has been truly heartbreaking. I lost a good friend before the pandemic hit. I think about him in particular now because the Dodgers are in the World Series and he was a huge fan. He was also an amazing artist and we would have had a lot more conversations about this year.

I had my largest convention schedule planned for this year but COVID-19 took care of that. It was going to be a lot of firsts for me. Surprisingly, other opportunities have presented themselves. As you know, I was honored to be a part of Gerry Conway’s Skulls for Justice campaign.

Since then, I’ve had the privilege of doing a sketchcard set for Marvel & Upper Deck’s Marvel Anime trading card series. I started posting them on Twitter & I guess someone in Japan found the Venom card already. I’m fanning out that I’m in a set where Peach Momoko is the headline artist. Insane! Here’s a look at all of my cards:

I’ve also been working quite a bit with my friend Mike Korpi. He’s an amazing writer and I wanted to bring his stories to life. You may remember we were in Wannabe Press ‘ Cthulhu is Hard to Spell: The Terrible Twos right before the pandemic hit.

We now have an opportunity for a comic book anthology hat trick. Our second and third anthologies are live now on Kickstarter. The first one is from the creator collective we belong to: the Sketchy Bug Group. The book is called Danger Arcade and features 10 stories by 21 creators plus pinups. Click here to check out the campaign! The cover is by Mike Penn from Heavy Metal magazine. Ed Dukeshire (from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers & Hulk) is doing letters for some of the stories, including ours! Our project was recently backed by BOOM! Studios as part of their 100 First-time Comic Kickstarter Campaigns initiative. We have 2 weeks left to fund and we’re almost at 50%! I hope you’ll consider it.

Mike and I are also in great company with a horror anthology that we’re a part of called Nightmare Theater. This campaign just launched today and is over halfway funded. It features a ton of phenomenal talent like Ringo Award-Winners Rylend Grant (Banjax, Abberant), David Pepose (the O.Z., Spencer & Locke, Going to the Chapel), David Avallone (Bettie Page, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, Drawing Blood), Terry Mayo (Wicked Righteous) and many more. It’s insane. The book is over 200 pages! Mike and I have a story in it we’re sure you’ll love and I did a pinup.

I also did a pinup for my friend Steven Prince and his book Monster Matador! It’s also live on Kickstarter with only 5 more days left, if I’m not mistaken.

I hope you enjoy these amazing projects. If you support any of them, sounds off below and let me know! If you find any of my sketchcards, let me know!

Things are moving along

The comic book creator & fan group In a part of is doing an anthology! It’ll center around a theme of danger and adventure and will bring talents both old and new. We have a cover (seen here) from Heavy Metal illustrator Mike Penn! We also have industry talent that have been involved with projects from IDW, Boom, Marvel, DC and more! We also have indie, Kickstarter and underground comics represented. There’s a little something for everybody!

Yours truly is on the project with talented writer Mike Korpi again. If you enjoyed Cthulhu is Hard to Spell: The Terrible Twos, come join us October 5th. We will also be a part of a third anthology that I’ll update info on soon!

ICYMI: Loose to fine pencils #Lobo #TheMainMan @DCcomics #fanart

In case you missed it, here’s the process.