My Little Girl Is All Grown Up

Roffles Lowell, the interior illustrator of the Jake and the Dynamo series, recently sent me this sketch. For the second book, Dead to Rites, he is planning to update the design of Magical Girl Pretty Dynamo to match the version that Lee Madison used on the cover of the first volume.

I have no strong opinions on Dynamo’s design myself. I’m just thrilled to see other people’s imaginings of her. That being said, I do rather like this updated version. I was quite impressed with Madison’s design to begin with, and I think Lowell’s version gives her a sort of spunky, whimsical character. In my head, I’ve always seen Dynamo (unlike her counterpart Dana) as a tomboy, the kind of girl who usually has a smudge of dirt on her face and who tries to make her voice sound lower than it really is. To me, this redesign conveys that impression.

News on ‘Jake and the Dynamo’

I’ve not been too active here lately, I realize. I’m trying to figure out some things on the book promotion front. I’m new to this, and arguably behind, as there were probably more things I should have done before the publication, but this isn’t something I’ve done before.

Anyway, author John C. Wright was nice enough to give Jake and the Dynamo a plug. You can see it here. He also showcases some of the art by Roffles Lowell.

Speaking of Lowell, he informs me that he just finished the book himself, which he didn’t have the chance to read in its final form before publication. He writes:

I’m really blown away, man. I’ve been itching to see what you did in terms of revision, and while I’m only halfway through as of the time of this writing, I want to commend you. The improvement I’m seeing blows me away.

It’s funny, reading it the first time around I never said to myself, oh, this is a problem, or this seems amateurish, etc. But you really brought this to the next level. The pacing is tighter, the characterizations are sharper, the banter flows more naturally. I like how organically you integrated the exposition into each scene, so that all the intricacies of the setting fill themselves in gradually, never making you feel like you’re pausing for a history lesson. I especially like the way you worked up the relationship between Jake and Ralph. Ralph’s family being fleshed out further really gives a good feel for what normality in this world must be like. It gives you a better sense of what goes through Jake’s head when he sets himself up like a surrogate brother to Dana, despite her behavior towards him. …

… I really like how you brought out the Faust elements more explicitly here than in the serialized version. The ambiguity wasn’t fruitful, I think, and now things are much punchier. It’s like you confront postmodern magical girl nihilism head on, and then move right along into subverting it.

So there you have it. If you do read the book, be so kind as to leave an Amazon review. I don’t ask for a good review, of course, but do leave a remark. It helps us newbs get noticed.

Meet the ‘Jake and the Dynamo’ Paperback

Large, luxurious, very readable, and suitable for coffee tables.

I am really pleased and impressed by the paperback release of Jake and the Dynamo. As you can see here, Lee Madison’s cover art transferred beautifully.

Getting the physical copy in my hand, I was able to appreciate some of the art I’d not been able to get a good look at before, such as the spine:

Spine of Jake and the Dynamo with Pretty Dynamo emblem and lightning boltI had assumed the spine would probably be unadorned, so I was pleased to see the title logo accompanied by Pretty Dynamo’s insignia and a lightning bolt. The back is also great:

Continue reading “Meet the ‘Jake and the Dynamo’ Paperback”

JAKE AND THE DYNAMO Releases in June!

The universe is out to get him. But the universe didn’t count on her.

Current planned release date for JAKE AND THE DYNAMO Volume 1: The Wattage of Justice is June 15th! I’m still waiting for the cover art, and you will be the first to know as soon as I’ve seen it.

Meanwhile, Roffles Lowell, the creator of the interior art, has given us this spectacular picture of Pretty Dynamo carrying Jake through her battle with the kaiju Bigassica.

Jake and the Dynamo Releases on June 1st!

And on another note, Roffles Lowell, the official illustrator for Jake and the Dynamo, sent along this little sketch after I announced that the book was set to release on June 1st.

I believe that’s a picture of Dana having finally conquered Chelsea in Magical Girl Rumble.

#WaifuWednesday Special: Andalusia Trading Card is 50% Off!

On this Waifu Wednesday, are you alone? Are you lonely and miserable, sitting in your mom’s basement with your fedora askew on your unwashed hair as you scratch your unshorn neck and pick at your acne? Are your hot pockets tasteless, no longer satisfying? Does your anime character body pillow no longer comfort you as it once did? Do you wonder if this is all there is to life? Do you yearn for something more? Are you in need of a warrior dame named after an autonomous community of Spain to lift you out of your doldrums?

I think so. In fact, I know so.

That’s why, in honor of Waifu Wednesday, our one-of-a-kind Magical Girl Lady Paladin Andalusia trading cards are half off for one day only! Featuring Andalusia’s genuine signature and the professional photography of artist Roffles Lowell, this card depicts Andalusia in a striking yet sensitive pose, eyes humbly cast down as she thanks God and the Moon Princess for her latest victory over monsters and Saracens … or maybe she’s just thinking about the Backdoor Boys, because, I mean, Donnie in those tight jeans? Like, OMP.

So don’t delay. Shut up and let me take your money … or something like that.

Chibi Dynamo!

Roffles Lowell, the official illustrator of Jake and the Dynamo, is hard at work on the interior illustrations for volume 1. He sends along this image of Magical Girl Pretty Dynamo completing her transformation sequence, and he invited me to post it, since he has a different picture intended for the book itself.

Meanwhile, I’m hard at work making the changes recommended to me by L. Jagi Lamplighter. I have a window of one week before I’m back at school, and I hope to get it finalized in that time.

Happy Independence Day from Urbanopolis

Roffles Lowell, the official illustrator of Jake and the Dynamo, sends us this delightful image of Magical Girl Grease Pencil Marionette cosplaying as the Statue of Liberty to remind us that imagination is freedom … whatever that means.

I doubt it if mankind’s last refuge, the megacity of Urbanopolis, has a Statue of Liberty. Instead of some colossus welcoming visitors to its harbor, it more likely has some kind of warning. Like a big sign saying, “Screw with humanity and we’ll kill you. We’re serious.”

In fact, while poking around the Internet, I think I found the city’s official flag:

I suppose, in addition to warning away mankind’s uncountable enemies, a statue in the harbor could potentially serve as a beacon to human survivors. Instead of “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses,” it would probably say something like, “Get in the city if you want to live.”

It might be a statue of the Terminator.

“Hasta la vista, universe.”

Team Pizza! (and a J&tD update)

Art by Roffles Lowell

My schedule is still fairly harsh through this coming week, but after Saint Paddy’s Day, things will slow down a bit for me. I hope to be posting more regularly.

Things are coming along smoothly so far on the publication process of the first volume of JAKE AND THE DYNAMO, which is currently under the working title of Down and Out in Fifth Grade. There’s no projected publication date yet, but some of the earliest preliminary work is done. I’m working on the bonus content: I had originally produced an extra chapter, but now I’m unhappy with it, and I’m considering instead including a novelette featuring Rifle Maiden’s misadventures while babysitting the Bubble Princesses.

I believe I’ve chosen a studio for cover art, and I don’t think he’ll mind if I say that I’m talking to Roffles Lowell about the possibility of doing interior illustrations. No commitments have been made, so this post isn’t an attempt to pressure him or anything. But I really enjoy the YA look of his style, and I appreciate that it differs from the standard style of Japanese light novels or Japanese-influenced work. This is obviously a weeb novel, so I like the idea of the art being non-weeb.

In the midst of our conversation, Roffles sent me the above picture of Team Pizza to show me what his work looks like in black and white, and he told me to do with the image as I wish. So this is me doing that. Featured up there, of course, are Pizza Margherita, her faithful dog Pepper, and Crazy Annie Shové, all riding comfortably on the Pie in the Sky.

Jake and the Dynamo Fan Art #3

Featured image: “Jake and Dana” by Roffles Lowell.

I asked Roffles if he’d be willing to draw Jake and Dana together, and he came through. Looks like Jake finally got Dana that juice box he owes her, though from the design on the box, it looks like he didn’t find strawberry milk. That’s probably why she’s pouting. Of course, she’d pout anyway. I like the big brother/little sister vibe he’s captured in this drawing. Three different artists have produced interpretations of the characters now, but I believe this is our first picture of Dana in her non-magical form.

Roffles doesn’t like the way I dress Dana and has told me so, so he went his own route with her clothes. But the joke’s on him: she’d probably be perfectly comfortable in ripped jeans and sneakers.

For the record, Dana’s canonical couture is based on Jake and the Dynamo‘s inspiration. Before I went to bed and had the dream about Jake and Dana that eventually became the serial novel, I was watching the anime adaptation of Shugo Chara, an influential and successful magical girl title from the beginning of this millennium, created by the two-woman manga-ka team Peach-Pit (who are probably best known, at least in the U.S., for Rozen Maiden, which has a substantial internet cult following).

Anyway, the protagonist of Shugo Chara is a fifth-grader whose mode of dress is described in-universe as “Goth-punk.” I attempted to mimic the look, more or less, with Dana’s wardrobe.