Richmond Monuments: The South Rises Again (Process)

I already posted this on my Richmond Monuments site, but thought I would post it here for those who aren't aware of my work with the comic.

I have been working on "Richmond Monuments: The South Rises Again." The story involves confederate soldiers coming back from the grave to be confronted by the General Lee statue. The statue feels that by defending Richmond from the zombies, it will help Richmonders think twice before defacing him. I have been mostly working on a lot of character sketches and style variations. Below is some of the process as a teaser for what is to come. The scale is a little weird because the monument is 14 feet tall from the bottom of the horse to the top of Lee's head. So Lee is probably about 10 feet tall, making him twice the height of the zombies.

PS Before you begin seeing some of these strips, I will need to get caught up on Richmond Monuments regular programing.

Below are some of the character sketches. I really love the third one down. Reminds me of something that Osamu Tezuka, author/artist of Tetsuwan ATOM (Astro Boy), would have drawn.


One of my first attempts using my "Little Black Fish" comic style. I realized part way in that you don't normally hold a Civil War saber with two hands.


Second attempt thinking more about the zombie placement, but not dynamic enough.


Good dynamic pose. Even though this was a heck of a lot of fun to draw, after coloring it, I am not so sure it is the most appropriate style for the subject matter.


Probably the style that I am going to go with. It seems like the perfect aesthetic and the b/w projects this great old horror movie vibe for me.


You can help me decide though. Check out the album including both final drafts on the Richmond Monuments Facebook page.

The South Rises Again

I'm working on a zombie sub-plot to Richmond Monuments. Six strips have already been written and character designs are being worked on. It is yet to be decided when the comic will be officially released.

This strip will be more "cartoony" and black/white. My plan is to have these strips appear on the off weeks of normal Monument comic strips. This way you'll get a strip every week!

Cheats Movement: RVA Profiles

Taken from The Cheats Movement.
"I first saw the web comic Richmond Monuments in print. It was the second place winner in the 2011 Style Weekly’s comic strip contest. I noted the name of the designer Bizhan Khodabandeh and remembered him from Style Weekly’s Top 40 Under 40 a few years ago. I then saw the now bi-weekly web comic posted on RVANews.com. Its now syndicated home. Most Richmonders would say that the history of RVA is alive. Well, Richmond Monuments tells a comedic tale of just that — historic monuments coming alive in modern time — often nailing a comedic true about our beloved city. I met up with Bizhan at The Shop to chat about the origins of the comic strip, his process of creating the strip, and his plans for the future. Make sure you check out RichmondMonuments.com every other Sunday to see Bizhan’s latest strip."

Check out more profiles at thecheatsmovement.com

Richmond Monuments

Click to enlarge images.

Richmond Monuments launched October 2nd with an incredible amount of success. The first few days received over 3000 visits thanks to all of your support of use of tumbler, twitter, facebook, blogs and more.

I haven't been too active on my blog lately because a lot of my time has been dedicated to designing this site, learning ComicPress and making comic strips.

The comics can be viewed at richmondmonuments.com. Enjoy.