Envelope Art

Many years ago, when I first mailed Halo and Sprocket as a comic book submission to SLG Publishing, I decided to try to convince the editors to open it sooner by adding art to the envelope. This is what I pasted on it...

SLG, of course, picked it up as a short-run series. Later, Publisher Dan Vado told me that the image did influenced him to open the envelope sooner. It wasn't the art or joke that did it however, it was the fact that I'd actually checked their website before submitting..!

Halo & Sprocket and Grow-Arm-Hair Lad

The first Halo and Sprocket collection has a (fairly popular) scene in it involving "Butter Crackers". I actually stole the concept from myself! Originally it was a single panel gag, along with a "Little Mermaid Fishing Lure" in an unpublished story. Let me explain...

Waaaay back in 1987, I created a comic named Directory to a Nonexistent Universe. It was a take-off of the popular superhero directory books at the time. I did these when I was pretty young, so don't judge them too harshly if you click on and read the three sample pages below...












I created Grow-Arm-Hair Lad very much as a throw-away character. However, he seemed to be one of people's favorites! A few years later, I wrote a stand-alone 8 page story for for him. I eventually decided that the world has enough superheroes, and if I wanted to dabble in comics, I needed to invent something non-superhero. Halo and Sprocket eventually came from that. Here's the first three pages of my GAHL story. You'll see the Butter Crackers in the last panel...

Halo and Sprocket Secrets: Snagglepuss!

Halo and Sprocket: Natural Creatures should be hitting the comic stores today, so it's time for me to start sharing some secrets....

When I do a Halo & Sprocket book, I like to throw in something non-H&S related, just for kicks. One of the things in this newest volume is BIG CAT PUNS. (The idea came to me in a dream, complete with the first panel involving the police lion!)

I always do small roughs of my pages before I draw the finishes. This means I usually know where the word balloons will fall. So, even though you wouldn't know it by looking the finished comic, I amused myself by adding in the Big Cat Snagglepuss..!

New Halo and Sprocket out this week!

Halo and Sprocket Vol 2: Natural Creatures hit the (American) comic stores this Thursday, July 10! Here's a description...

"Welcome to the further adventures of an angel and a robot who live with a young, single woman! Why are clowns scary? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Why do women shave their legs but not their arms? Is it a good idea to play a practical joke on an all-powerful angel? Find out the answer to these questions and others you’ve never even wanted to ask! Logic, metaphysics and human nature collide in these quirky, short stories about the idiosyncrasies of life. Discover why Halo and Sprocket is a favorite among fans and critics alike with these all new stories and 4 pages of little seen newspaper strips."

Click on the back cover to the right if you'd like to read more...

Halo and Sprocket is also available directly from SLG Publishing, then later from Amazon and other fine book dealers!

Halo & Sprocket Desktop Wallpaper

Okay, djp, whoever you are, here's a H&S Wallpaper for you! Just click on the image below for a 1024 x 768 desktop image...

Please "comment" if you download. If there's enough interest, I'll do more in the future...

HS:NC First Review!

Even though it doesn't hit the stores until July, Halo and Sprocket: Natural Creatures has its first review up at Comics Worth Reading.


A big thanks to Johanna Draper Carlson who writes, "This is truly a comic that anyone can enjoy. The humor comes naturally, and the character interactions have surprising depth." and "I always come away from this comic with a new perspective on life."

In the comments section, she takes the blame for calling the book "Natural Causes" instead of "Natural Creatures". No need for that, Johanna. PREVIEWS actually has it listed as "Natural Causes". Not quite sure how that happened...

Nice Pants!

A big THANK YOU to Comic Pants for their enthusiastic praise of Halo and Sprocket (blush) in their Podcast #53! They discuss humor in comics and is worth a listen to even if you're not a H&S fan.

(Btw, switching gears a bit, I really wish I could do away with the anemic version of my Halo and Sprocket: Vol. 1 cover. Graphic novels need cover images created sooner than regular comics to allow for early solicitation to bookstores. I had only a couple of days to create an image. The result is what is seen above. I then had time to refine the cover for the actual book, which is seen below. But alas, when an image makes it to the internet, it will be around forever...)

Preview of Halo and Sprocket Vol. 2!

Hello. Welcome to Kerry Callen's blog. I’m the creator of the alternative comic, Halo and Sprocket. Even though it’s a book about life in general, I get a lot of ideas that don’t really fit in its pages. On this site, I’ll be sharing unpublished work, little seen work, random thoughts on life, and random thoughts about comic books in general.

But first, I’ll start with an eight page preview of the new, 72 page Halo and Sprocket, Vol.2: Natural Creatures, due to hit the stands this July. Available for order in MAY PREVIEWS from Amaze Ink/SLG Publishing (www.slgcomic.com). Read older H&S stories here.