Nick Marino

I made this beat off a recommendation from my friend Dan. And I think it turned out great. I normally hate strings but I think they work well on this track. BUM-BUM-BUM... BUM!!! That's what the strings sound like.

Sometimes when I make beats, I mentally link them to certain artists. To me, Lightning Storm sounds like something Ciara would use, especially after she put out "Oh." Anyway, check out my album, Brilliant Shower. It's 100% original and sexy.

Linkage: You can download the full Superior Tech mixtape here on the blog and check out my Superior Tech playlist on YouTube.

It's been a couple weeks since I tossed out an update, so here it goes:

- I finished scripting the second act of Pepper Jones, Adventure Scientist (remember the sample I posted from the first act?). The third act was practically written as a script, so all I need to do is break it into panels. This project is, for those who don't know, a digest-sized full-length graphic novel I'm co-writing with Shawn Atkins, who's also the artist:

- I've had a few story conferences with Pete Borrebach regarding the direction of our upcoming Time Log webcomic (launching in August!). Again drawn by Shawn, Pete and I thought that this story was locked down... until we went back and looked at the scripts we wrote three years ago and realized they needed to be completely overhauled. So overhauled we have! We should have the first few strips written by the start of June.

- Yeah, I shifted myself from one apartment to another over the weekend, but the real shifting is going on over in Super Haters. I bet everyone thought last week's ending was just a mindless joke, right? Well it may have been mindless but it wasn't a joke! Expect some... changes this week. (Here's last week's ending:)

- I've crossed the 15,000 word mark on my super-secret project (which is technically no longer a secret... you just need to know where to find it).

- And finally, I started stripping. Yep, over at Sequential Underground's Facebook page, the Strip Club is underway. It's a rotating cast of cartoonists telling one big semi-coherent story through a series of comic strips. Here's the first panel of my first contribution to Strip Club, Vol 1:

You might see this song title or listen to this track and think, "Man, this guy's a stoner" or even just "I bet he likes to smoke weed." WRONG ON BOTH COUNTS! I actually hate smoking weed. But I do love flying in hot air balloons. It's been a passion of mine ever since I accidentally commandeered one and flew it around the world in 80 days. True story.

Whatever. Just go check out my album, Brilliant Shower. It's 100% original, unlike Superior Tech.

Linkage: You can download the full Superior Tech mixtape here on the blog and check out my Superior Tech playlist on YouTube.

My third and final SPACE 2010 versus sketch features the two most realized characters of the sketchbook: The Living Bling and Sir Log-a-Lot (thanks to Dan Greenwald for naming the latter).

Sir Log-a-Lot is definitely Burger King inspired, while The Living Bling is someone that my followers will be seeing again in the very near future!

Welcome to my second SPACE 2010 versus sketch! In the left corner we have Ahab 2323, lost in reality while chasing Moby Dickbot through the timestream. On the right, meet Battle Pixie, the royal warrior goddess of her otherwise peaceful fairy tribe. Who will win? Fate will decide!!!

A few weeks back, I exhibited at SPACE in Columbus. I did some badass versus sketches (including a crazy Dazzler one that I gave away) and I'd like to share a few of my favorites with you.

First up is... well, the title says it all. Goat Boy was a very spontaneous sort of thing, while Mecha Ram was a bit more intentional.

It's been a while since I did one of these! I'm trying to get back on the wagon, so here it goes... Diamond is a unique beat for me in the sense that it 1) utilizes a single, short string of sample, and 2) the sample contains no rhythm instruments whatsoever. I have a couple other tracks that do this as well, but they're few and far between. Diamond is the first and best of its kind to do this. The bass and drums on this track are both mine, built around the swirling keyboard sample. Eventually, one day I'd like to either recreate or re-envision the sampled part of this track and make a 100% original version of Diamond.

Since it samples, Diamond's not on my album, Brilliant Shower. But a ton of great original beats are on there, so check it out!

Linkage: You can download the full Superior Tech mixtape here on the blog and check out my Superior Tech playlist on YouTube.

Josh Blair, my table-mate from the 2010 SPACE convention, has shared our collaboration for the promotional 2010 SPACE Anthology. It's called Fart Tennis, if that's any indication of the high concept at work with this piece...

Okay, so not too long ago, I posted some updates about Time Log, my ten-years-in-the-making time travel epic. Now Time Log is here, and there are two awesome ways to get your copy!

- You can download Time Log at DriveThruComics for $1.99

OR

- You can buy a print copy of Time Log over at the AudioShocker Store for $4.00 (we take PayPal)

Reviewers, if you're interested in getting a review copy, email me at nickmarino @ gmail.com.

And for those of you who hate paying for things and/or love the copy of Time Log you purchased and want more, a Time Log webcomic will be launching on the AudioShocker in August. Keep a watch for more.

I've got two awesome things to introduce, both at the same time:

- My new comics project - Pepper Jones, Adventure Scientist
- A new comics creator collective I'm building - Sequential Underground

Over on the new Sequential Underground blog, I've put up the first page from Act I of my new Pepper Jones script. It's an interesting project, so pop over to the script sample post and find out more about this excellent project.

As for Sequential Underground, it's a new initiative formed by some local Pittsburgh comics creators to help cross-promote our different works and, in turn, create a more interactive comics community.

I'm sure I'll be sharing more about both of these projects in the upcoming months, so keep an eye peeled for Pepper and SU updates on the regular.