Are you getting excited for Halloween!? I know I am! Nothing sets the horror movie vibe better than good Oct. 31st! There are a lot of different things that have inspired the story of Fine Wine over the years. Out of all the things that have inspired the comic, horror movies have been the most important factor that has inspired me to make Fine Wine what it is today. If my dad hadn’t gotten me into movies like “The Thing”, “Friday the 13th”, and “Hell Raiser”, Fine Wine would probably not exist. Despite those film titles, the horror movie franchise that has been the biggest influence to Fine Wine is the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise.

Watching A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors, kind of geared me towards the general story for Fine Wine. To those who don’t know, The Dream Warriors followed the last remaining children on Elm Street who develop dream powers to battle Freddy Kruegar (sounds crazy but its an incredible movie!). What I liked most about the movie was how the main characters where portrayed as being survivors than your typical horror movie hero/heroines. Despite acquiring awesome powers to battle Freddy, they were still incredibly vulnerable and seemed to know that it was pretty much an up hill battle when trying to beat a monster that has complete control over nightmares. I really tried capturing that same story element with the characters in Fine Wine. I wanted to make them characters with awesome power who had to survive the day, instead of saving it.

I think that is one reason why I have detached myself from the mainstream comics that Marvel and DC produce every year. I always tend to cheer for the under dogs, the characters who are kind of inadvertent heroes who don’t wake up one day and decide to save the world. As Fine Wine keeps moving a long, you’ll begin to see how the main characters or not your typical heroes.

So I have been working on sketches for Page 12 of the Chapter the past week. I’ve been trying to find time outside of work, but I have been pretty busy the last few weeks. Hopefully the sketch below will tide you over until I can get the page published on the web!

Have a nice Halloween, expect the new page soon!

It’s weird that the Fine Wine site has been up for 2 years! Like many other comic projects I started in the past, I really thought I would have given up on Fine Wine after a hand full of months. I’ve never been this comitted to a project like this one (Fine Wine) ever before. I think one of the reasons I’ve kept drawing Fine Wine, is because of the affinity I have towards some of the characters.

During my senior year of high school, I created the basic framework of a story called “Study Hall”. The story pretty much involved high school students who where descendents of an unknown race (demons/mazaku) that could exhibit strange powers. The main location of the story took place in one of the  study hall rooms of a high school (I never gave the school a name). The main focus of the story was a male character (who was very similar to Graham of Fine Wine) who had just developed his powers. In order to learn how to control his powers, he sought consul with a fellow female demon who shared the same study hall class. The main character would also go to his locker to speak to a mysterious person called “Locker Man” (does that name ring a bell?), who was a demon that moved through the shadows of the school. As the story progressed the main character would have to fight other demons who sought to steal his powers.

When I first created Locker Man in 2005, I knew that if I gave up on Study Hall, I would have to save Locker Man for another story. I felt that his menacing personality, weird character design, and mysterious past made him one of my best characters I have every conceptualized. Locker Man was a character that I couldn’t get rid of if Study Hall happened to go south (which it did….). I’m really happy I was able recycle/refine elements of Study Hall (Locker Man) into Fine Wine. When I think about it, Fine Wine is a more adult/ grown up version of Study Hall, just with some updated and added story elements, as well as new characters, and back story (which we all love).

Looking back to when I made Study Hall and when I began posting Fine Wine on the web, I wanted to say thank you to every one who took the time to listen to my story ideas, view my pages, and support me through out the years. Creating Fine Wine has been a journey, and I’m glad that all of you where there to help me find my way into making Fine Wine what it is today.

Special Thanks to:

• My girl friend Kayleigh Williams
• Gary Mallet
• Jonathon Fox
• Robby Zuchowski
• Jason Mould
• Tim Cosgriff
• Del and Andy Garcia
• Bob Shiner
• James Longaway
• Aaron Metz
• Patrick Borucki
• Ken Burdette
• Brent and Drew VanVoorhies
• Chris Hoffer
• Matt Dolan
• Joe Keyes
• Ryan Quellhorst
• Jerek Kwaitkowski
• Lou and Eb Pesci

and everyone else who was not named, that took the time to read Fine Wine. Thanks guys!

I still plan on making an anniversary book! I’ll keep you guys posted for that!

Paul

It has been a LONG time since I last posted a blog. Its been a pretty wild past hand full of months. I’ve been recently busy with freelance, and finding a new job (and starting it). Hopefully now since I’ve gotten used to the swing of things, I can start pumping out pages more consistantly.

I have a new page on the way that is COMPLETELY inked; all I have to do is color it on the computer! I had hoped to have posted it in late May/early June, but I’ve had a busy couple months, and I was stuck on the last frame of the page. Now that I FINALLY got the last frame drawn I can get it ready for the site soon! Like I said, the page should be up by the end of this week if all goes well (if my freelance projects don’t suck up all of my time).

Thanks to all, for being patient thus far! I always worry that you will stop reading because of the time its been taking to post recently! Hopefully now I can get a couple pages a month (I wish I could draw more). After the new page will be posted, I’m hoping on wrapping up the scene with the angels, and get back to showcasing the main characters more. I can’t wait to show you what type of power Julian has, as well as show you what Graham’s power can really do. I really want to start adding more action in to the story for you guys as Chapter 3 ends. There should only be a hand full of pages before Chapter 3 ends, and the next arc begins!

I’m really excited to get started on the next arc! You will get to see a lot of cool demon and angel powers, and some much needed action!

P.S.

Don’t forget to vote (the link is located at the bottom of the page) for Fine Wine on Top Horror Comics each time you visit the site!