Well...the May 4th Pubmoot at O'Dowds went well. There were 12 people there...and all 12 of them consider themselves to be heathen. The food was greasey and good, the Guinness was cold, and I had a lot of fun. CLICK HERE to see the photos from the Pubmoot...

Mark

On the night of May 2nd, 2008...an F-3 Tornado passed over our neighborhood, and more specifically right over our house. It took a bunch of our shingles and some tar-paper off our roof, broke windows, scuffed up the outside our home, bent our garage door, and shifted our house enough that the front door doesn't close quite right. We're going to need a whole new roof and the garage door replaced...plus a variety of other repairs. (Our satellite television isn't working, for goodness sakes!)

But, our next door neighbor's house is condemned, as in our neighbor's house across the street. Both of their houses had significant portions of their roofs torn off and the interiors/belongings soaked with rain. There is damage to hundreds of homes...two were completely destroyed (just gone), and several were knocked off of their foundations. There were shingles, insulation, pieces of siding and lawn furniture every where...tons of sight-seers for two day, and our power was out for a day and a half.

But, amazingly...no one was killed. There were no serious injures. Some folks were cut with flying glass, but everyone is going to be O.K. No one in my family was hurt. When my wife Jennifer heard the "Freight Train" sound, she gathered our three children up and they all ran to the basement. The sirens did not go off. I was at the police station at the time...and couldn't be home with them.

Its hard not to picture AsaThor battling the destructive forces of this Thurse as it descended on our community...strking it repeatedly with his hammer...rolling in conflict with it as it crashed from the sky to the ground...diverting its path to ensure that the only two homes completely destroyed were empty of people that night. And though the damage was done...the people remain, and we will rebuild. That next day I shared a beer with Thor...and congratulated him on his victory in battle.

CLICK FOR 42 PHOTOS OF THE DAMAGE AND CLEANUP EFFORTS

Mark

We're looking at a tentative date of Saturday, May 10th...at 6:00 PM...in Westport. We'll meet at a specific spot, walk through the streets of Westport, and have an informal pubcrawl afterwards. More definite plans posted soon. Even if you aren't a big horror fan...or a zombie-person...this is going to be a lot of fun.

Can you help us spread the word about this event and this website?

Kansas City Zombie Walk

Mark

Jeremiah Allan interviewed me for THIS ARTICLE in the Ottawa University Newspaper. It focuses on the comic books I've created and published over the years, and my history as a self-publisher.

I've archived the story here in case you'd like to read it.

Mark

An Independent on Independents
Interviewing Mark Stinson, Graphic Artist
by Jeremiah Allan

The Campus, Ottawa University's Newspaper

Mark Stinson is a Kansas City police sergeant, married with what he describes as "three wonderful kids" and has interests as varied and diverse as Asatru, the Ghost Vigil program he helps maintain for area youths and the dreaded, oft-maligned comic book.

Stinson has been in and out of the self-publishing arena for over two decades and has learned that the life of an independent graphic novelist takes a lot of time and dedication.

"I started drawing comics in high school, back in 1985," Stinson mused.

He was hanging pencil-drawn comics on bulletin boards, making fun of teachers and school rules, when his father made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

"He said that if I inked my comics and drew them on folded pieces of paper, he would pay to print up to 100 issues. I took him up on the offer, and sold my little photo-copied comic books for 75 cents," Stinson said.

These books became a signature of Stinson's high school years, so much so that his only photograph in the senior slideshow was at his drawing table.

"They became pretty popular. I was selling about 150 copies of each issue by the time graduation rolled around," Stinson said.

Stinson's self-publishing career became a little less prolific in college, where his artwork primarily appeared as cartoons in the school paper and four years' worth of party posters in and around campus.

"After college, I struggled to find what it was I wanted to do with my life," he continued, talking about his progression from the light-hearted stories of his adolescence to more mature stories, adventure-oriented books that were usually full of violence.

After nearly three years of balancing real world work and his creative passions, Stinson finally completed Void Pulp Comics #1 in 1995.

Stinson financed five hundred copies of the book at a professional printer, and found the entire process highly addictive.

"My dad had taught me that it took relatively little money to self-publish, and I was hooked. Through the rest of the 1990's, I turned to writing and illustrating horror fiction. I self-published thousands of copies of these stories and distributed them by hand, through the mail, and at comic book stores in the area," he stated.

In 2002, Stinson turned his attention back to comics and finished Void Pulp Comics #2, an artistic experience highly different than the previous incarnation thanks to advancing technology.

"VPC #1 had been hand-drawn and inked on paper, lettered by hand, and the gray-tones added with hand-cut printer's film," Stinson said. "VPC #2 was penciled on paper, but then inked [on] my computer. The gray-tones were Photoshopped in. The seven years that had passed between VPC #1 and VPC #2 had seen an entire revolution in how comic book artwork was done. Void Pulp Comics #2 was sold through a website, at local comic stores and at comic book conventions I traveled across the country. It was a great experience."

Around that time, Stinson also become a due-paying member of the Kansas City Comic Creators' Network, a new organization that boasted nearly 110 members at the height of its popularity. Stinson credits part of the group's success to the Show & Tell anthology series that allowed many of its members' work to see print. The first issue was 210 pages long and was a collection of five-page short stories, all graphic fiction, by individual creators."Nothing motivates artists and writers like a chance to be published," Stinson said. "We printed 500 copies of this book, sold-out, and had to order a second printing. The Show & Tell Anthology #1 was distributed nationally by Diamond Distributors. Show & Tell #2 and Show and Tell #3 followed eventually, but neither was quite as successful as that first issue."

With the death of his father in 2004, nineteen years after introducing him to the world of comic book self-publishing, Stinson turned once more to his inspired side to grieve. In honor of his father's life, Stinson printed Jack Skull #1.

"In the comic, Death (personified as a walking, talking skeleton) travels the earth taking people as they die," he said. "The book is about how we die - how we face death. Do we face it with fear, or do we face it with dignity? The last chapter of the book has Death sitting down next to an old man in a park. The old man is modeled after my father. Dad and Death have a little conversation. For me, Jack Skull #1 was a way to honor my father... but also to teach people about how my father looked at death. And I think Jack Skull #1, more than any other book I've published, shows the power of comic books to teach us and touch us about life."

Stinson hasn't published much since Jack Skull #1, a few short stories distributed solely on the web but nothing on paper or in print.

"But, if you look over the dates of my published works," he joked, "everything's a few years apart. I'd say I'm probably due to finish something new and self-published in the next year or two."

To read Jack Skull #1 or sample Stinson's other work, visit www.comixfree.com.

Hey...we're going to Elmwood Cemetery at Noon on March 8th. We're going to do some clean up, explore the cemetery a bit, and tour the beautiful old stone chapel at the center of the Cemetery. The Cemetery and the Chapel are an important part of Kansas City History...why don't you come out and help? It will be fun...

:-)

Bring limbcutters, rakes, and work gloves if you have them. If you don't, then just bring yourself! And make sure you bring a camera if you have one. You'll probably want to take some photos. Elmwood is at 4900 E Truman Rd in Kansas City, MO. Go HERE for more details:

A lot of great folks are already coming to this...I hope to see you there too!

Mark Stinson
http://www.ghostvigil.com

Someone sent this to me today...Mark

When I Was Your Age

When I was a kid adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up, what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning uphill both ways through year 'round blizzards carrying their younger siblings on their backs to their one-room schoolhouse where they maintained a straight-A average despite their full-time after-school job at the local textile mill where they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their family from starving to death.

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But...

Now that I've reached the ripe old age of 40-something, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so damned easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in Utopia.

And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't even know how good you've got it. I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet -- we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves!

And there was no e-mail! We had to actually write somebody a letter with a pen. And then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in a mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

And there were no MP3s! You wanted to steal music, you had to go to the record store and shoplift it yourself. Try sticking an LP album under your jacket, buddy. Or we had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and screw it all up!

We didn't have fancy stuff like Call Waiting. If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal. And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes, either. When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was -- it could be your boss, your mom, a collections agent -- you didn't know! You just had to pick it up and take your chances.

And we didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation videogames with high-resolution 3-D graphics, we had the Atari 2600. With games like Space Invaders and Asteroids, and the graphics sucked! Your guy was a little square! You had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever. And you could never win the game, the game just kept getting harder and faster until you died. Just like life.

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 20 channels and there was no onscreen menu! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on. And there was no Cartoon Network! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning. D'ya hear what the hell I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for a cartoon, you spoiled little bastards.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy! You wouldn't last five minutes back in 1977.

Here is a painting from something I'm working on....

Shawn

Hello and welcome to the blog...let's see if I can make it worth your visit.

Shawn

Tonight, I got home from a Kindred Study Group, where we went over stanzas #31 through 45 of eight different translations of the Havamal.

When I got home I gave the kids a bath, and got them ready for bed. They asked me to tell them a story about Thor. I told them I'd look for a good one to read them, but they insisted I just tell them one without reading it to them.

So I told them the story of Thor and Loki regaining Thor's hammer, by wearing women's clothing and pretending to be the Goddess Freyja among the Giants. And I told them the story from memory, and added little details that I knew they would enjoy. They loved the cleverness of Loki...and they knew all along that Thor would end up beating the crap out of a bunch of Giants, and were anticipating it throughout the entire story. They seemed to love it, and to hang on every word.

So when that was done, they wanted to hear another story. So I told a follow-up Loki story. I told them about how the walls of Asgard were built, and how Loki turned himself into a horse to lure away the powerful horse helping to build the walls. And how Loki was the mother of Sleipnir. The kids loved that story! Though they thought Loki having a baby horse was a little odd.

Any how, it was fun telling the stories in my own words...and trying to get the pacing and the details just right, so that the kids would really get into the stories and enjoy them. It was a challenge, but they liked the stories so much more told in this way...than when I read from a book. I thinks its more personal from memory...

Mark

The registration packets were mailed out to those on their mailing list on Friday (2/8/2008). I'm not 100% sure I'm on the mailing list, though I should be. This packet will be available on the HSA website soon. But as a special treat...here it is on our site (Courtesy of the KCWMU). This is the real packet. Download it...print it...fill it out...mail it in!

http://www.ghostvigil.com/documents/2008HPF_PreReg_20SinglePages.pdf

If I'm reading the documents right, a Day Pass is $65...and runs from 9 AM until 9 AM the next day.

If you register before March 31st, you can register for the entire weekend for $120. Before April 30th, its $160. And after May 1st, its $195.

You can sign up to do work-exchange to attend the Festival. You give them $160 as a deposit, work your assignment...and if you do what you agreed to do, you get your $160 back after the Festival. These work-exchange spots are limited...so plan ahead!

Thanks!

Mark Stinson

The Remodeling of this blog continues! I'm adding seperate blogs for all of my interests, but all of these blogs will feed into this main Void Pulp Press blog.

Please be patient with me as I add additional blogs, shuffle posts to the new blogs, and make everything look right!

Thanks,

Mark

You know...I started Void Pulp Press in 1985. I was in High School. An acquaintence of mine was doing a cartoon about one of our teachers, and hanging it on the bulletin board. He got bored with it, and stopped...and I picked up where he left off. I drew a few installments of the parody comic strip with a pencil, and then my dad suggested that I ink the comics with a pen...and he would print them up for me at a copy store. And my multi-million dollar publishing career began! LOL.

Here we are 28 years later. This blog has served several purposes...and for a long time it was called the Kansas City Comix Scene. But, the Comix Scene here in town has changed...I've changed...and the goals of this blog has changed. So I'm renaming the blog...and rebooting the look of it. First...the change of name. Void Pulp Press will be the name, and the new look will be coming soon!

Mark Stinson

EDIT: The changes are fully in progress at this point!

Well, its been a year and a half since I finished page 5 of this story! And its been years and years since I initially pencilled this. But I finished page 6 today.

CLICK "READ MORE" TO SEE HOW THE PAGE DEVELOPED.

Read more!

Perhaps some of you have not read an H.P. Lovecraft story. Or maybe you haven't read one in a few years. If you haven't read Lovecraft...or very much Lovecraft...its easy to disregard him as just another "horror author."

But he was heavily influenced by Lord Dunsany...a writer/poet who heavily influenced Tolkien as well. And while Lovecraft did write tales of weird horror, featuring old gods and cosmic threats that dwarf the wisdom of mankind...he was a wonderful fantasy author as well. There's a sense of wonder even in Lovecraft's darkest stories.

I read a wonderful Lovecraft story to my kids tonight, as a bedtime story. Its called "The White Ship." Its about a lonely lighthouse keeper...and his journey upon the White Ship...a magical ship that takes him to worlds of dream. There are only a few dark moments in the story, which I was able to change as I read it. I don't want to give the kids nightmares! I told Elizabeth, I hoped she dreamed of travels aboard the White Ship tonight...

Read the story if you are interested. It will take you 10 or 15 minutes, and it will leave a bitter-sweet smile on your face.

THE WHITE SHIP

Mark

O.K. Playing a Role-Playing Game the other night for the first time in awhile made me start thinking about gaming. And recently, I began purchasing/downloading game books on the internet.

I have a large collection of Dungeons & Dragons, Alternity, True20, and Classic Traveller gaming material. And this has prompted me to think about what games I would like to play.

First...I never really got to give True 20 a fair chance. It seemed like a great game system. And now I've found their resource materials for playing True20 Fantasy, in a variety of historical eras, even. But the True20 game I really want to DM or play...is one called Sidewinders...which is basically Old Wild West Gaming. Man, I miss Boot Hill!

Second, Alternity is kick-ass. Wizards was stupid to stop promoting and making materials for that game. The dice dynamic was amazing...and puts d20 to complete shame. Complete shame. So, I'd love to play Alternity again...expecially something in sort of a Bladerunner setting...something cyberpunk like that.

Third, I really miss Traveller. Simple rules...trying to make a buck in space...huge over the top combat scenes (at least that's how we played it!)...and you have a game that was perfect when we were 14 or 15. Looking over the old Classic Traveller materials has made me hungry to dust off this old game and put together a one-shot or two-part Traveller game.

So, what games are you hungry to play? What games do you miss? What games would you kill to play again soon? Go over to Lords of RPG and post the game you'd like to play on our Message Board.

:-)

Mark

P.S. I updated my Lords of RPG gaming site, if you want to check it out.

At the 2008 Festival, I would like to give some workshops on Heathenry. I have three ideas for workshops, and I'd enjoy doing all three...but I want everyone's input.

1. The first workshop would be a primer on Heathenry, and the differences between Asatru and Wicca. While both are pagan beliefs and there are some similarities...there are many interesting differences that actually assist us in defining both of them...and understanding both of them better. While I come at it from a Heathen perspective, I have read extensively about Wicca...and have a great interest and respect for Wicca. So I think this would be a topic that would spark some amazing discussions within the workshop. I would also talk about some of the controvertial topics that come up when you talk about Heathenry...while it would not be a major part of my talk, I would talk about the prison ministries and the subject of Race...and the attempts by white supremicists to twist Heathenry to serve their own purposes. I think this would be a lively workshop.

2. This workshop would deal with Alfs (Elfs), Wights, and Trolls...with some comparisons between the Celtic beliefs and the Norse beliefs about these spirits or creatures. There are some similarities between the Celtic and Norse beliefs, but again...there are some very interesting differences that are fun to talk about. This workshop will deal with how to get along with these beings (essentially "The Rules to Follow"...how to avoid getting them upset with you...and how to be a greatful benefactor for anything they might do for you.) I'm researching this workshop now...and having a lot of fun with it. The unseen beings of the Otherworld are an interesting lot.

3. The third workshop would focus specifically on Heathen religious rituals. Blots, Fainings, and Symbels, how each is done, and what each one means. Each of these have a unique history...and while people do these three rituals very differently, there are very specific steps that are usually included. For those unfamiliar with traditional Heathen rituals, and mostly aware of Wiccan rituals...I have to think this will be new material for them. I don't want to put on an actual ritual, but instead talk about them and walk everyone through their steps.

Like most pagans, it is not my goal to "convert" anyone to my religious beliefs. My main goal by being able to present workshops at the Heartland Pagan Festival in 2008 is to let everyone know a little more about Heathenry (a fairly misunderstood topic.)

So, do these workshops sound interesting? Do you have any suggestions to make them better? Perhaps you don't like the sound of one of them? I'd like to hear some opinions...

Thanks,

Mark

hey all!
I've got a new blog. This one will still be up for now, but probably not updated anymore.
The new blog address is

http://davebryantgo.blogspot.com/

and here is a vid too, just for fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXjZqiqVSpU

-Dave

The 2008 Heartland Pagan Festival will be Thursday, May 22nd through Monday, May 26th, 2008. This Festival is a yearly event put together by the Heartland Spiritual Alliance . It is a large gathering of pagans at Camp Gaia...and people attend from all over the country. They usually have anywhere from 500 to 1000 people attend the Festival.

Though the registration packets have not come out...and the workshops have not been scheduled (we're getting a pretty good jump on this talking about it already), I know we're hoping to contribute to the Festival with workshops and possibly holding a Heathen Faining.

In 2007, I was a featured speaker at the "Festival of the Three Moon" (the Festival's title in 2007), and also presented two additional workshops. All of these talks and workshops were about the paranormal. My friend, Jamie King assisted with the workshops, and we both found the Festival and the Festival-goers to be amazingly kind and open to new people and new ideas. We really enjoyed it.

Jamie is hoping to present some paranormal workshops, and I will be presenting workshops about Heathenry. (Details on what the workshops will be about will be posted here very soon.)

Here's the HSA's Mission Statement...

Heartland Spiritual Alliance is an organization, which is dedicated to promoting the appreciation and acceptance of a variety of alternative religions and philosophies. HSA encourages participation in educational programs and activities; most of which deal with the various nature oriented or nature connected religions of the world, the similarities within all religions and the respectful free exchange of spiritual beliefs. We strive to maintain a well organized, dynamic and smooth running organization within an atmosphere, which allows people of all religious traditions to coexist peacefully. One of our goals is to consistently host a Festival, which promotes personal and spiritual growth and leaves a living legacy for the next generation.

This event is well worth attending...

Mark Stinson

O.K. I haven't drawn anything new in quite awhile. Too busy with ghosts, and such. But for a CCN Message Board Sketch Challenge...I drew two images of Thor. Not the Marvel Thor...the mythological Thor...

Mark

Ambigrams are words or phrases that can be read in more than one way or from more than a single vantage point, most commonly right-side-up and upside-down. The Ambigram.Matic Website is the world's first and only online Ambigram Generator! Flip any word, different words of the same length, or even an entire (symmetrically spaced) sentence on its head, and read it both ways!

These were a few words I typed in...putting only one word in the top space and hitting "Go." Can you read all of them? You can also put two different words of the same length in the two spaces, and get a combined Ambigram. See what you can come up with!

Mark